Ed Vitagliano: Welcome, everybody, to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward.
Fred Jackson: Good morning.
Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.
Chris Woodward: Hello.
Ed Vitagliano: In just a few minutes, we will have Dr. Frank Turek on. He is the host of I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. We are going to talk about some things related to the Christian community, and we always love to have Frank on with us.
Periodically, I watch some of his videos at lunchtime when he is on college campuses. Has anybody else watched any of those interactions with students?
Fred Jackson: He is a very gifted and very smart man and handles those situations so well. He clearly has compassion for young people.
Ed Vitagliano: We are blessed to have a relationship with Dr. Frank Turek. He will be on in just a few minutes.
It is the middle of the week as we head toward Christmas. I know I say this sometimes on the show, but I cannot believe how fast the year is going by. Time is really flying, but 2022 is going to be a great year.
Tony Vitagliano: 2022. Mark it down.
Ed Vitagliano: I am not quite sure I understood what that means.
Tony Vitagliano: Time flies so much. It did not even seem like we were in 2022.
Ed Vitagliano: My dad told me years ago, "If you have to explain your jokes, son, you should not have said them."
Tony Vitagliano: When is Canadian Thanksgiving coming up?
Fred Jackson: It has passed.
Tony Vitagliano: It has passed?
Fred Jackson: It was on Monday.
Tony Vitagliano: That is why I was not here. I was celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.
Ed Vitagliano: How does a Canadian celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving?
Fred Jackson: Seal flipper soup.
Ed Vitagliano: Seal flipper soup?
Fred Jackson: I do not know whether or not I believe it. Do you think I should?
Ed Vitagliano: Tell us what that means, Fred.
Fred Jackson: You are not being serious.
Ed Vitagliano: No.
Fred Jackson: Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated the same way it is here in the United States. The reason it is a little earlier is that it gets colder earlier in Canada, and they take the crops out of the ground earlier. So they have Thanksgiving.
I am curious, though. I have not seen this since moving here to the States. When I was growing up, our church had a big display at the front of the church when Thanksgiving came. They had crop displays and that sort of thing. It was the neatest thing, kind of like a cornucopia celebrating God's blessing.
Ed Vitagliano: Yes, all of God's blessings.
Fred Jackson: They even had canned vegetables and that sort of thing. It was a reminder of where all of this comes from and the blessings God gives us through the hard work of farmers.
Ed Vitagliano: Amen.
Tony Vitagliano: We had to ask about the seal flipper soup because Canadian culture is so exotic. They are such an exotic people.
Chris Woodward: I Googled seal flipper soup, and Fred knows this. It is a traditional Newfoundland dish.
Fred Jackson: There you go. Newfoundlander.
Chris Woodward: Seal flipper soup, commonly prepared as a thick flipper stew, is a traditional dish made by slow-cooking dark, rich seal flippers with root vegetables, bacon fat, and savory herbs.
Tony Vitagliano: You had me until bacon fat.
Ed Vitagliano: We are learning something here, folks. We tell you that you are going to learn something on this show.
Tony Vitagliano: Do they just take the seal flippers, or do they use every part? Do the poor seals have to make it through the rest of their lives?
Fred Jackson: Without their flippers, what would they do?
Tony Vitagliano: They must have caught them.
Fred Jackson: There was a seal hunt. I am not sure if it still exists, but there was a seal-hunting season on the east coast.
Tony Vitagliano: Then Brigitte Bardot came. Remember her?
Ed Vitagliano: The famous French actress.
Fred Jackson: She came off the coast of Newfoundland, and Hollywood saw her campaigning to save the seals. So the hunt diminished. The seal population also went down because its food source, cod, haddock, and other fish, began to dissipate. European fishing from Portugal and Spain came to the waters off Canada and fished them out.
Ed Vitagliano: I know Brigitte Bardot was also famous for stopping the kitten hunts that used to go on.
Tony Vitagliano: You mean puppy hunts?
Ed Vitagliano: We have to move on.
Chris Woodward: When Tim is not here, there is no leash. I tend to run wild.
Tony Vitagliano: You and Tim need each other.
Chris Woodward: We keep each other straight. He will start down a path, and because I have known him for so long, I will just look at him and shake my head. He knows he had better stop.
Ed Vitagliano: All right, Chris, go ahead and be the voice of reason.
Chris Woodward: That is a scary thought. Let us begin with some breaking news that Fred put on the website just before the show began. Social Security recipients are going to get a cost-of-living adjustment of about 3.6 percent. This is an annual benefit that Social Security recipients receive from time to time, and people have been watching closely because inflation has been such a problem.
There are people of working age who are dealing with food insecurity and an affordability crisis. The news from the Social Security Administration is that the annual cost-of-living adjustment for older adults and people with disabilities is going to increase by about four percent beginning next year, with some recipients still complaining that it is not enough.
Ed Vitagliano: Was that a crack born of envy? The whole point of the story was that us old people are going to get a cost-of-living increase, and you had to insert that there are younger people who cannot afford their groceries.
Chris Woodward: That is part of the story.
Ed Vitagliano: Who wrote the story?
Chris Woodward: The Associated Press, which Fred posted.
Fred Jackson: In your defense, Chris, and Tony as well, you probably will not have Social Security on behalf of Tony, myself, and Brent.
Tony Vitagliano: You are welcome.
Fred Jackson: That is what you can do for your country.
Ed Vitagliano: Is that a larger increase than normal?
Chris Woodward: I think Social Security usually increases by about two percent. It follows inflation at a certain point in the year, and then they set the amount. The best one was a few years ago when it was eight percent in one year. That was related to COVID.
Fred Jackson: This will help. The story also mentions that AARP is critical of these cost-of-living adjustments, saying they are not enough. That is true. You look at gasoline prices and food prices. This will help, but it is not going to overcome where prices are right now.
Ed Vitagliano: That is true for everybody. Most jobs do not have a cost-of-living adjustment. They may give employees set amounts for automatic raises, but I doubt those raises can keep up with the inflation we experienced under the Biden administration and are now experiencing under the Trump administration. It would be hard to keep up with what inflation has been over the last five or six years.
You will get a lot of stories about seniors who depend solely on Social Security after they retire. Many seniors are going back to work just to get by. I have seen it myself in the town where we live. Some seniors are working because they want to work and do not want to sit at home, but others say they need that income to survive.
Fred Jackson: I had my fiftieth high school reunion this past week. I did not go, but I have been communicating with some of the friends I was in high school with. They were asking when I was going to retire. A lot of them are retired because we are all in that sixty-eight-year range.
I tell them the truth. I like what I am doing. I am not sure what I would do. Play video games all day and wait for the hockey game to come on? I guess I will work as long as I can and as long as AFA wants me. At some point, I may slow down and not be able to string two words together.
Tony Vitagliano: We will help you.
Ed Vitagliano: We want to welcome Dr. Frank Turek to the program. He is the host of I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, heard Saturdays at 9 a.m. Central and Sundays at 4 p.m. Central right here on American Family Radio. Frank, welcome back.
Frank Turek: Gentlemen, how is everyone today?
Ed Vitagliano: Wonderful. We are looking forward to a bowl of seal flipper soup at lunchtime. You probably did not hear that conversation. Anyway, things are going well here, Frank. Where have you been recently, and where are you going in terms of your speaking schedule?
Frank Turek: Last night I was at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and it is on our YouTube channel. I had a lot of good questions last night. Tonight we will be at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Missouri. All the details are at CrossExamined.org. It starts at 6:30 Central, and it will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
I hear you guys talking about inflation and what is going on. Under the Biden administration, inflation was 9. something percent, very high. Under Trump, it is 3. something percent. It is amazing how the media selectively reports certain issues as if the sky is falling when inflation is at 3. something percent, while they were not saying much when it was triple that under Biden.
Obviously, prices are an issue, but this kind of inflation is almost always caused by an increase in the money supply. Inflation means an increase in the money supply, which drives prices up because there are more dollars going after fewer products. That is pretty much government policy.
I think you can trace most of this back to COVID, when under the Biden administration we printed so much money. That drove more dollars after fewer products, which is why prices went up. I do not see the Democrats offering any solution to 3. whatever percent inflation with their policies. It seems like their policy is simply to impeach Trump. That is all they want to do.
Ed Vitagliano: If the midterm elections go as some of the polling indicates, and we all know how that works out, do you think the Democrats will try to impeach Trump if they win the House? This is not why we had you on the show, but it is interesting.
Let us say the Democrats flip the House while Republicans, from a conservative point of view, are able to hold on to the Senate, which is not a done deal. Do you think the Democrats will waste political capital impeaching Trump on issue after issue again? Does it matter whether they hold the Senate? If they impeach Trump in the House and hold the Senate, they would almost be on the hook to try to remove him. What is your take on all that?
Frank Turek: There is no way they will ever succeed in impeaching and convicting Trump. They may impeach him in the House, but they will not convict him in the Senate. And for what? They are already on record as saying that if they take over the House, they are going to have all these hearings looking into things Trump has allegedly done.
Yet, when the Russia hoax came up, it was all a hoax. It was Biden who was actually threatening Ukraine unless something he wanted done happened. It was not Trump. They made all that up to subvert or interfere with Trump's first term and make him ineffective. That is what they are going to do in the next two years if they win the House. It will all be political theater.
Mike Johnson, with whom we have done a couple of tours at the Capitol, is quite optimistic. You can see those tours on our website and on the CrossExamined YouTube channel. Mike Johnson is the Speaker of the House, and he thinks Republicans are going to maintain control because he believes Republican voters are being under-sampled in these polls.
Of course, it is all going to be based on turnout. Half of Christians will not vote in this midterm.
Ed Vitagliano: The left is voting. Social issues are voting. Why are Christians not voting?
Chris Woodward: That is part of the issue we wanted to discuss with you. It is the old argument that Christians do not think it is their responsibility to vote. They say we should just leave things up to God.
Other people have issues with the so-called baggage a candidate might have. In a race in Texas, for example, some people have had issues with Ken Paxton's decisions and things he has done off the campaign trail. They say they are not going to vote for him, even though they voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and again in 2024.
You combine that with recent comments from Ryan's previous supporters that some Trump supporters might sit this thing out, and you have a major concern about voter turnout and things not going a certain way.
Frank Turek: In our book The War on Reality, we have a whole chapter on why Christians should vote, but let me give you two quick reasons.
I hear people say, "I do not get involved in politics. I just preach the gospel." To that I respond, "I guess you do not think the gospel is very important."
They ask what I mean. I say politics affects your ability to preach and live the gospel. If you do not think so, go to some of the countries I have visited. I have been to Iran. There is no First Baptist Church of Tehran. I checked. It is not there.
I have been to Saudi Arabia. There is no Calvary Chapel of Mecca. They do not legally allow it. We recently returned from Egypt. If you want to start a great church in Egypt, you are going to have trouble because they have politically ruled it out.
If for no other reason, we ought to be involved politically to protect our ability to preach and live the gospel.
Number two, we are commanded to love people. How do you love people from a political perspective? You put laws in place that protect innocent people from evil by punishing wrongdoers.
If there is a party that does not want to punish wrongdoers right now, it is the Democrats. They are literally letting illegal alien criminals go so they do not have to hand them over to ICE, which would deport them.
When you do not punish the guilty, you wind up punishing the innocent. Letting these people out into the streets and allowing them to prey on the innocent is exactly what government ought not to do.
Maybe the mic-drop question for people who say we should not be involved politically is this: Are you telling me that in 1860 Christians should not have gotten involved in politics to outlaw slavery? Is that what you are telling me?
Usually people realize that they should have been involved. Welcome to politics. Everybody is involved in politics, and if godly people do not get involved, Satan will.
You are going to be made to care when they come to your house and say, "If your child has gender dysphoria and you do not transition that child, we are going to take the child from you." You are going to be made to care.
I think it is amazing that people can be so dense that they do not think voting matters. When you look around the world, would you rather live in North Korea or the United States? Would you rather live in Saudi Arabia or the United States? Why do you pick the United States every time? Because of politics. You have the political freedom to preach and live the gospel, be safe, and be secure in your home and as you go about your business. That is why. Christians who do not think that is important need to wake up.
Ed Vitagliano: Frank, the Democratic Party today has the Democratic Socialists of America, which I think the party as a whole is adopting as a platform. Tell our listeners what true socialism is and what it means for individuals.
Frank Turek: Maybe the best way to do that is to look at what has happened in socialistic countries over the last hundred years. In the twentieth century, more people died under socialist and communist regimes than under any other regimes in history. A hundred million people died under socialism and communism.
Socialism is generally where the government begins to take the means of production. In New York City, Zohran Mamdani wants to have a government-run grocery store. How well do you think that is going to do when there is no incentive to make sure the right products are on the shelves? There is no reason for a government bureaucrat to care about that. It is not going to go very well.
I ask people in Florida, "How many people do you know who are getting on rickety boats to escape for a better life in Cuba?" None. They are all coming in the other direction.
How many caravans are going from the United States to Venezuela? They are all going in the other direction. When the Berlin Wall was up, how many people were trying to get from West Berlin to East Berlin? None. They were all going in the other direction.
Socialism cannot produce freedom, and it cannot produce food. There is no incentive for people to be productive in a socialistic environment because if you do not own something, you have no incentive to work hard at it.
When was the last time any of us washed a rental car? Why do we not wash rental cars? Because they are not ours. We do not care. You need ownership to motivate prosperity, and when you motivate prosperity and initiative, everybody wins, from the bottom to the top.
It amazes me that only eight Democrats in the House voted against socialism when it was put to a vote last month. Only eight out of about 215. Socialism is the wrong way to go, and yet we now have an entire party going in that direction.
Fred Jackson: The older folks in this room remember the Soviet Union. We lived through the Cold War. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we heard Russians say they had to wait ten years to get a new car because there were not enough cars.
Everything was rationed because state-run factories produced according to central planning. The central planners decided how much of everything would be produced, and that is what was produced. It was not enough to meet demand. People waited ten years to get a car or a washing machine. Scarcity was simply the way things operated in the Soviet Union.
I remember stories of Russian leaders who came to the United States for summits. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they wrote their memoirs or spoke about their visits. They said they were stunned when they walked into grocery stores or Sears because that was not how life was for the vast majority of people, even political leaders in the Soviet Union.
They had access to more than the average person, but they were stunned by the sheer amount of everything and the choices available.
Ed Vitagliano: The last question, and we will make this as quick as possible. Why do you think young people are falling for socialism again?
Frank Turek: They judge it by what it promises, not by what it delivers. Would it be nice if everybody had an adequate amount? Of course it would. The problem is that socialism does not deliver that. It does the opposite. Everybody equally shares in misery, not abundance.
The best way we have found, although it is not a perfect system, to bring the most people out of poverty into prosperity is free-market capitalism. That is simply the way things work because of human nature. We have to incentivize people to work, and if they are incentivized, then you will have prosperity.
We have set up a website to help people see whether they are registered and where every candidate in their jurisdiction stands. People can go to VoteYourFaith.net. They can see whether they are registered, how to vote, when to vote, and where every candidate in their jurisdiction stands on every issue.
Ed Vitagliano: Frank, give us your website again. Also, this event tonight is open to the public, correct?
Frank Turek: It is open to the public at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. If you are not anywhere near there, it is about an hour north of Kansas City. You can watch it on the CrossExamined YouTube channel.
Ed Vitagliano: Thanks, Frank. God bless you.
Frank Turek: God bless you. Get out and vote.
Ed Vitagliano: That was a passionate defense of our way of life. We are going to take a short break and return.
Host: In 1953, authorities found a Japanese soldier hiding in the Philippine jungles. The soldier, who had been hiding there for nine years, was unaware that World War II was over. The soldier wasted nine years of his life foolishly hiding in the jungles.
As strange as that story may seem, it is not as strange as another story that could be told over and over again about countless individuals who are hiding, they think, from God.
We are much like the first man, Adam. We know we have sinned against God and attempt to hide behind a bush. Not literally behind a bush, but we hide.
Sometimes we hide behind our work. We work on Sunday, or we work so hard during the week, or our job is so confining.
Sometimes we hide behind the faults of others. "Joe is a Christian, and look at him."
Sometimes we hide behind our independence. "I do not need God."
However we do it, there are many who are hiding from the God who searched for Adam and searches for us.
It is true that God is searching for us. We do not have to hide anymore. Jesus taught us that. God is not a God from whom we have to hide when we have sinned against Him. He is a God who will forgive if we ask Him with a devoted heart.
This is one of the greatest truths the Galilean ever proclaimed. Remember the younger son who had sinned against his father? Remember how the father loved him and ran to meet him? God is like that father. He is searching because He loves us. That was the reason for the cross, the tomb, and the resurrection. He was searching for mankind, trying to bring all people to Him.
We cannot hide from Him. Even though Adam hid himself, and even though God asked where he was, God knew where he was. Adam could not hide, and neither can we. We can ignore God, disregard Him, or even run from Him, but we cannot escape Him.
The soldier in the Philippine jungles was living under the false assumption that if he was found, some terrible and lasting punishment awaited him. For that reason, he dared not expose himself.
There are people fleeing from God and hiding from Him because they believe some terrible and lasting punishment awaits them. The soldier found that those he thought were his enemies had become his friends. That is what the repentant sinner finds about God. Although he thinks God is going to punish him, he finds forgiveness when he truly asks for it.
Why did the soldier remain hidden all those years? Because he made no attempt to find out the facts of the situation.
Why do so many of us hide from God for so long? For the simple reason that we have made no attempt to find out the facts about the love of God.
When we try to make ourselves safe and secure apart from God, we lose everything God has promised and has in store for us. The greatest injustice we could do to ourselves would be to remain hidden and fail to seek the love of God that awaits us.
Ed Vitagliano: Welcome back. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward.
That was a great defense by Dr. Frank Turek of our free country and fairly free capitalist society, our free-market system. I am not sure we are anywhere near being as free a market as Adam Smith, the economic philosopher, would have described, but it is the best game in town.
Frank gets to hear what young people are saying all across the country as he appears on college campuses in defense of the gospel and Christian truth. He has a finger on the pulse of what is happening among young people.
All right, Chris, what is our next story?
Chris Woodward: Let us talk about Iran for a moment.
Iran says a ship sank after striking a mine in the Strait of Hormuz. We are still talking about the Strait of Hormuz months after the United States and Israel started going after Iran to prevent it from having a nuclear weapon.
A cargo ship has sunk after hitting a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. It was the first time Iran had reported a ship sinking after hitting a mine during the war.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors these kinds of incidents, has not verified this, so we are taking Iran at its word. We do not necessarily know where the ship was from. But if Iran has indeed sunk a ship, we are back to having problems with this situation.
In a related segment today on Fox & Friends, national security and foreign policy expert Rebekah Heinrichs discussed the situation. President Trump says we have decimated Iran's capabilities, yet Iran is still blowing things up and causing havoc. Heinrichs said the United States is winning, but Iran is not giving up.
Rebekah Heinrichs: I think at this point the United States has so badly degraded Iran's military, and U.S. Central Command has been so successful in protecting ships going through the Strait of Hormuz, that we are pretty comfortable because we have such a military advantage against the Iranians.
As you said, the Iranians have not given up yet. They are trying to fortify their nuclear sites, and I think that means they know President Trump is almost certainly not bluffing. He has the will and the capacity to go back at the Iranians to make sure they cannot rebuild or reconstitute their nuclear facilities.
Ed Vitagliano: In our discussions about Iran still being Iran, we have talked about how they may be holding out because they know our midterm elections are just around the corner. I thought of those discussions today when I watched that segment with Rebekah.
Fred Jackson: If Iran is trying to reconstitute its nuclear capabilities or continue exploring the creation of a nuclear weapon, the Trump administration knows about it. I think our intelligence and Israel's combined intelligence are going to know almost everything that is going on there.
If they try to reconstitute their nuclear program, I have very little doubt that it will be bombed to smithereens again. I am not sure we have the capability to permanently end these facilities since they have been created under mountains and solid rock, but we would certainly know if they were trying to do it again.
Ed Vitagliano: The Iranian regime is evil, but that does not mean it is not smart. It knows we have an election less than three weeks away, so it is going to try to create as much havoc as possible, along with its proxies.
When you look at what has happened in the last two or three days, you see this ship hitting a mine in the Strait of Hormuz. You also see the Houthis, Iran's proxies, involved in a separate war between the Houthis in Yemen and the Saudis. There was a drone attack on a Saudi Arabian airport the other day, and we all saw the video.
The Iranians and their proxies understand that if they can create chaos and limit American visibility over the next two and a half weeks, they may win the hearts of Americans who say, "Look at what is going on in Iran and what Donald Trump has created. We are losing there, so we need to vote for the other party to put a check on Donald Trump and end this."
I think we are going to see a lot of chaos leading up to the election because their hope is that if Donald Trump's power is diminished, the war will end and the Iranian regime will escape.
Tony Vitagliano: Fred brings up a really good point. Just about everybody in the world, certainly those running countries, understands how American politics work.
I believe in the fortitude and courage of the American people. However, if people are not pushed far enough by circumstances, they like having two-dollar gas and prices at the grocery store that allow them to get whatever they want. That is human nature. We all want life to be easier rather than harder.
Regimes like Iran know that all they have to do is convince the American people that Donald Trump is the villain. Then they will vote for Democrats, and Democrats will not do what Donald Trump and other Republican presidents have done, which is go after Iran militarily and degrade its ability to wage war and terrorism.
Donald Trump did what no other president had done and said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The Iranians are hoping that chaos will lead voters to clip Donald Trump's wings.
Chris Woodward: I agree with Fred. The Iranian regime is evil, purely evil, but it is not dumb. It is not a hard sell for Iran to make to American voters who may be in the middle or still trying to decide.
Unlike previous conflicts that were started by a direct attack on the American people, this Iranian conflict was started, for all intents and purposes, by our first strike, simply in terms of geopolitical facts. The message Iran is making to the American electorate is not a hard one because we started it and it is continuing.
Iran's currency is at zero. It has nothing going for it economically. The only thing propping up the regime is the Revolutionary Guard's boot on the neck of the populace. Things are bad there, and we do not even know whether all the reports leaking out describe how bad conditions really are.
The Revolutionary Guard is trying to keep the chaos going long enough to get to the midterms and put restraints on Trump.
I know people on Fox News were talking about how many barrels of oil are going through the Strait, but we are still getting reports of tankers being sunk. The fact is that 19 million barrels of oil may go through, but if there is a threat that a tanker will be sunk, or if a shipping company faces the risk of hitting a sea mine and sending its inventory to the bottom of the strait, insurance and shipping costs will increase.
Barrels may still be going through, but that does not mean the cost of transporting the oil is going down. Iran knows this, and it is working with its allies, the Houthis, to use that pressure. It may not be able to stop every tanker, but if it hits one occasionally, it will keep costs elevated, which will keep prices elevated and put more pressure on the American people. They will then put pressure on the current administration, which is what Iran wants.
Ed Vitagliano: I want to remind our listeners that when you say we started this, I know what you are saying because we have had this conversation many times. The Iranians started this in 1979 in terms of their spread of terrorism and other actions.
We are talking about how the American voter may view this. In their minds, this may look like we initiated the war with Iran, and that is why prices are going up.
Chris Woodward: I am not excusing Iran's history of spreading terrorism or its direct conflicts with us. I am saying that is what the American populace is going to think. The average voter is not thinking about 1979. They are thinking about 2026.
Ed Vitagliano: I know some of our listeners may be concerned, so let us be clear. We understand that this is an evil regime. It has been evil since it took over in 1979, captured Americans at the embassy, and became a source of terrorism. We understand all that.
We are talking about what people will be thinking in the lead-up to the midterm elections. They will be asking, "Why did we attack them? Why did we not wait until after the election?"
I am quite sure the administration knows exactly what Iran is doing in terms of its nuclear program. If Iran tries to increase its nuclear activity again, it is going to get flattened. I do not know whether the threat can be completely stopped because the regime in charge of Iran wants to continue. Until that regime is gone, it will keep trying.
There are B-1, B-2, and perhaps even B-52 bombers that could provide some discouragement for them.
Chris Woodward: I do not have audio for this next story, but it factors into our discussion about the election. Let us go out west for a moment, where in Washington state, two high school female runners are protesting having to race against a biological male.
It became so bad that Charlie Garrett and Sierra Redd, the two female runners, walked off the course in protest of having to compete against a male. People are wondering how this could happen after the Supreme Court ruling about males and female sports.
In my discussions with groups such as Concerned Women for America, many states that have allowed or are allowing males in female sports have interpreted the Supreme Court opinion as saying states can do whatever they want.
States continue to disregard policies from the Trump Department of Education saying that this violates Title IX rights. This was an issue in 2024, and I am curious whether these kinds of incidents might cause some people to say, "I am not going to vote for this liberal because deep down this man or woman is also in favor of this kind of thing."
I know the economy is the big issue, but another thing that might be driving people to the polls is this Title IX mess. Fred, what do you think?
Fred Jackson: We have been talking about what the news media has been talking about, which is economic issues. That is primarily what people vote based on.
But there may be no accounting for the craziness of the Democratic Party, which is threatening to take command of the party through socialism, gender and sexual madness, and immigration craziness.
It may be hard to measure this because I do not think most people who oppose men in women's sports or locker rooms are comfortable talking about it with members of the media. They may keep their mouths shut when it comes to that, but they may turn out when they are pulling the lever in the voting booth and vote on these issues. That is hard to measure.
Tony Vitagliano: The transgender issue was a big election issue in 2024, and Trump and the Republican team were right to focus on it.
But every poll, and I do not completely trust polls, says that for this election the economy is the main issue.
When the average American drives by a gas station, diesel is still $6.09. That is my own experience driving to work in the morning, and that is in Mississippi. In California, it is over eight dollars.
This is the kind of thing that matters. President Trump says it is going to get better after the election, but that is not where people are right now. When they fill up their cars, I have a small SUV, and it costs $40 or $45 to fill it up. That is a lot more than it was two years ago.
Ed Vitagliano: That is why we wanted to talk to Frank. The bigger issue people have to look at is socialism. The Democratic Party is socialist. It wants to turn this country into a socialist nation.
If you think prices are bad now, wait. There will not only be a price problem, but also an availability problem.
Fred Jackson: It could lead to problems such as gas stations not having diesel to sell.
Tony Vitagliano: At least they have it to sell now.
Fred Jackson: You may run into problems with commodities not being available because the government will control production.
I keep going back to where I came from, Canada. Canada is now a socialist nation. Go on Instagram or other social media and listen to the cries of Canadians about what is going on there. The prices of things are a problem. It is not just bread and gasoline. It is medical care.
Listen to Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Listen to what he says he wants to do. He reflects the Democratic Party. He wants to socialize medical care.
That is similar to Obamacare. You say, "I have health insurance. Is that not nice?" What does your health insurance get you? You have to go to a certain doctor. You cannot shop around for doctors.
This is the thing that will really hit people badly. In Canada, imagine going to your general practitioner with a bad hip. The doctor says you may need a hip replacement and puts you on the schedule. The first appointment is six months away.
They shrink the availability of what is available to you. That is why I think Republicans have a winning issue right now. Yes, get the economy where it needs to be, but people also need to think about what socialism does in so many areas, including education.
Your schools will be taken over by a socialist mentality, and many public schools are already failing in many ways.
Ed Vitagliano: Presidential elections are big, but this midterm is critical for the country.
I know I sounded somewhat gloomy in my previous point, but that is why we keep bringing people like Frank Turek and Alex McFarland on the program to encourage people to go out and vote.
The Democrats are using the economy as a Trojan horse. They are saying, "Let us in, and we will make everything more affordable." What people do not consider, as Fred pointed out, is that what is inside the horse is socialism and destructive policies.
Even though social policies such as transgender ideology, men in women's sports, and gender-reassignment surgery are increasingly unpopular, many Democrats still support them. They are simply putting those issues aside because they know affordability is the winning issue right now.
That is why we have to do our part as Christians and vote. We cannot be fooled by the talking points the Democrats are emphasizing, which center on affordability.
As far as the war with Iran goes, do not let the Democrats fool you into thinking that if they get into power, the war will suddenly end because of them. Strategically, they know we may be there for a while longer.
President Trump did what they did not have the courage to do, and they will continue the same policies. President Barack Obama continued policies under the Bush administration. He was criticized by the far left for continuing to strike targets in Libya, Syria, and other places.
We stayed in Afghanistan and Iraq during Obama's eight years, despite his saying he was going to get us out. There are geopolitical and strategic realities in the Middle East that the Democrats understand. They will not be able to do anything to end this war as they claim.
Fred Jackson: Before the break, I typed in, "Was Venezuela once one of the wealthiest countries?" We all know the answer, but I wanted to get the statistics.
In 1950, Venezuela ranked as the fourth-richest country in the world. By 1970, it was the richest country in Latin America and one of the twenty wealthiest economies worldwide, with per-capita income comparable to Finland and Japan.
Then it turned socialist, its wealth disappeared, and its standard of living plummeted. It may take a long time for Venezuela to recover, but this is what socialism does. It destroys what was built by an admittedly imperfect economic system, capitalism.
I believe capitalism, to be truly blessed by God, needs core Christian convictions to help channel its power. But folks, you do not want to let the Trojan horse in.
Ed Vitagliano: Welcome, everybody, to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward.
Fred Jackson: Good morning.
Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.
Chris Woodward: Hello.
Ed Vitagliano: In just a few minutes, we will have Dr. Frank Turek on. He is the host of I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. We are going to talk about some things related to the Christian community, and we always love to have Frank on with us.
Periodically, I watch some of his videos at lunchtime when he is on college campuses. Has anybody else watched any of those interactions with students?
Fred Jackson: He is a very gifted and very smart man and handles those situations so well. He clearly has compassion for young people.
Ed Vitagliano: We are blessed to have a relationship with Dr. Frank Turek. He will be on in just a few minutes.
It is the middle of the week as we head toward Christmas. I know I say this sometimes on the show, but I cannot believe how fast the year is going by. Time is really flying, but 2022 is going to be a great year.
Tony Vitagliano: 2022. Mark it down.
Ed Vitagliano: I am not quite sure I understood what that means.
Tony Vitagliano: Time flies so much. It did not even seem like we were in 2022.
Ed Vitagliano: My dad told me years ago, "If you have to explain your jokes, son, you should not have said them."
Tony Vitagliano: When is Canadian Thanksgiving coming up?
Fred Jackson: It has passed.
Tony Vitagliano: It has passed?
Fred Jackson: It was on Monday.
Tony Vitagliano: That is why I was not here. I was celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.
Ed Vitagliano: How does a Canadian celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving?
Fred Jackson: Seal flipper soup.
Ed Vitagliano: Seal flipper soup?
Fred Jackson: I do not know whether or not I believe it. Do you think I should?
Ed Vitagliano: Tell us what that means, Fred.
Fred Jackson: You are not being serious.
Ed Vitagliano: No.
Fred Jackson: Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated the same way it is here in the United States. The reason it is a little earlier is that it gets colder earlier in Canada, and they take the crops out of the ground earlier. So they have Thanksgiving.
I am curious, though. I have not seen this since moving here to the States. When I was growing up, our church had a big display at the front of the church when Thanksgiving came. They had crop displays and that sort of thing. It was the neatest thing, kind of like a cornucopia celebrating God's blessing.
Ed Vitagliano: Yes, all of God's blessings.
Fred Jackson: They even had canned vegetables and that sort of thing. It was a reminder of where all of this comes from and the blessings God gives us through the hard work of farmers.
Ed Vitagliano: Amen.
Tony Vitagliano: We had to ask about the seal flipper soup because Canadian culture is so exotic. They are such an exotic people.
Chris Woodward: I Googled seal flipper soup, and Fred knows this. It is a traditional Newfoundland dish.
Fred Jackson: There you go. Newfoundlander.
Chris Woodward: Seal flipper soup, commonly prepared as a thick flipper stew, is a traditional dish made by slow-cooking dark, rich seal flippers with root vegetables, bacon fat, and savory herbs.
Tony Vitagliano: You had me until bacon fat.
Ed Vitagliano: We are learning something here, folks. We tell you that you are going to learn something on this show.
Tony Vitagliano: Do they just take the seal flippers, or do they use every part? Do the poor seals have to make it through the rest of their lives?
Fred Jackson: Without their flippers, what would they do?
Tony Vitagliano: They must have caught them.
Fred Jackson: There was a seal hunt. I am not sure if it still exists, but there was a seal-hunting season on the east coast.
Tony Vitagliano: Then Brigitte Bardot came. Remember her?
Ed Vitagliano: The famous French actress.
Fred Jackson: She came off the coast of Newfoundland, and Hollywood saw her campaigning to save the seals. So the hunt diminished. The seal population also went down because its food source, cod, haddock, and other fish, began to dissipate. European fishing from Portugal and Spain came to the waters off Canada and fished them out.
Ed Vitagliano: I know Brigitte Bardot was also famous for stopping the kitten hunts that used to go on.
Tony Vitagliano: You mean puppy hunts?
Ed Vitagliano: We have to move on.
Chris Woodward: When Tim is not here, there is no leash. I tend to run wild.
Tony Vitagliano: You and Tim need each other.
Chris Woodward: We keep each other straight. He will start down a path, and because I have known him for so long, I will just look at him and shake my head. He knows he had better stop.
Ed Vitagliano: All right, Chris, go ahead and be the voice of reason.
Chris Woodward: That is a scary thought. Let us begin with some breaking news that Fred put on the website just before the show began. Social Security recipients are going to get a cost-of-living adjustment of about 3.6 percent. This is an annual benefit that Social Security recipients receive from time to time, and people have been watching closely because inflation has been such a problem.
There are people of working age who are dealing with food insecurity and an affordability crisis. The news from the Social Security Administration is that the annual cost-of-living adjustment for older adults and people with disabilities is going to increase by about four percent beginning next year, with some recipients still complaining that it is not enough.
Ed Vitagliano: Was that a crack born of envy? The whole point of the story was that us old people are going to get a cost-of-living increase, and you had to insert that there are younger people who cannot afford their groceries.
Chris Woodward: That is part of the story.
Ed Vitagliano: Who wrote the story?
Chris Woodward: The Associated Press, which Fred posted.
Fred Jackson: In your defense, Chris, and Tony as well, you probably will not have Social Security on behalf of Tony, myself, and Brent.
Tony Vitagliano: You are welcome.
Fred Jackson: That is what you can do for your country.
Ed Vitagliano: Is that a larger increase than normal?
Chris Woodward: I think Social Security usually increases by about two percent. It follows inflation at a certain point in the year, and then they set the amount. The best one was a few years ago when it was eight percent in one year. That was related to COVID.
Fred Jackson: This will help. The story also mentions that AARP is critical of these cost-of-living adjustments, saying they are not enough. That is true. You look at gasoline prices and food prices. This will help, but it is not going to overcome where prices are right now.
Ed Vitagliano: That is true for everybody. Most jobs do not have a cost-of-living adjustment. They may give employees set amounts for automatic raises, but I doubt those raises can keep up with the inflation we experienced under the Biden administration and are now experiencing under the Trump administration. It would be hard to keep up with what inflation has been over the last five or six years.
You will get a lot of stories about seniors who depend solely on Social Security after they retire. Many seniors are going back to work just to get by. I have seen it myself in the town where we live. Some seniors are working because they want to work and do not want to sit at home, but others say they need that income to survive.
Fred Jackson: I had my fiftieth high school reunion this past week. I did not go, but I have been communicating with some of the friends I was in high school with. They were asking when I was going to retire. A lot of them are retired because we are all in that sixty-eight-year range.
I tell them the truth. I like what I am doing. I am not sure what I would do. Play video games all day and wait for the hockey game to come on? I guess I will work as long as I can and as long as AFA wants me. At some point, I may slow down and not be able to string two words together.
Tony Vitagliano: We will help you.
Ed Vitagliano: We want to welcome Dr. Frank Turek to the program. He is the host of I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, heard Saturdays at 9 a.m. Central and Sundays at 4 p.m. Central right here on American Family Radio. Frank, welcome back.
Frank Turek: Gentlemen, how is everyone today?
Ed Vitagliano: Wonderful. We are looking forward to a bowl of seal flipper soup at lunchtime. You probably did not hear that conversation. Anyway, things are going well here, Frank. Where have you been recently, and where are you going in terms of your speaking schedule?
Frank Turek: Last night I was at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and it is on our YouTube channel. I had a lot of good questions last night. Tonight we will be at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Missouri. All the details are at CrossExamined.org. It starts at 6:30 Central, and it will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
I hear you guys talking about inflation and what is going on. Under the Biden administration, inflation was 9. something percent, very high. Under Trump, it is 3. something percent. It is amazing how the media selectively reports certain issues as if the sky is falling when inflation is at 3. something percent, while they were not saying much when it was triple that under Biden.
Obviously, prices are an issue, but this kind of inflation is almost always caused by an increase in the money supply. Inflation means an increase in the money supply, which drives prices up because there are more dollars going after fewer products. That is pretty much government policy.
I think you can trace most of this back to COVID, when under the Biden administration we printed so much money. That drove more dollars after fewer products, which is why prices went up. I do not see the Democrats offering any solution to 3. whatever percent inflation with their policies. It seems like their policy is simply to impeach Trump. That is all they want to do.
Ed Vitagliano: If the midterm elections go as some of the polling indicates, and we all know how that works out, do you think the Democrats will try to impeach Trump if they win the House? This is not why we had you on the show, but it is interesting.
Let us say the Democrats flip the House while Republicans, from a conservative point of view, are able to hold on to the Senate, which is not a done deal. Do you think the Democrats will waste political capital impeaching Trump on issue after issue again? Does it matter whether they hold the Senate? If they impeach Trump in the House and hold the Senate, they would almost be on the hook to try to remove him. What is your take on all that?
Frank Turek: There is no way they will ever succeed in impeaching and convicting Trump. They may impeach him in the House, but they will not convict him in the Senate. And for what? They are already on record as saying that if they take over the House, they are going to have all these hearings looking into things Trump has allegedly done.
Yet, when the Russia hoax came up, it was all a hoax. It was Biden who was actually threatening Ukraine unless something he wanted done happened. It was not Trump. They made all that up to subvert or interfere with Trump's first term and make him ineffective. That is what they are going to do in the next two years if they win the House. It will all be political theater.
Mike Johnson, with whom we have done a couple of tours at the Capitol, is quite optimistic. You can see those tours on our website and on the CrossExamined YouTube channel. Mike Johnson is the Speaker of the House, and he thinks Republicans are going to maintain control because he believes Republican voters are being under-sampled in these polls.
Of course, it is all going to be based on turnout. Half of Christians will not vote in this midterm.
Ed Vitagliano: The left is voting. Social issues are voting. Why are Christians not voting?
Chris Woodward: That is part of the issue we wanted to discuss with you. It is the old argument that Christians do not think it is their responsibility to vote. They say we should just leave things up to God.
Other people have issues with the so-called baggage a candidate might have. In a race in Texas, for example, some people have had issues with Ken Paxton's decisions and things he has done off the campaign trail. They say they are not going to vote for him, even though they voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and again in 2024.
You combine that with recent comments from Ryan's previous supporters that some Trump supporters might sit this thing out, and you have a major concern about voter turnout and things not going a certain way.
Frank Turek: In our book The War on Reality, we have a whole chapter on why Christians should vote, but let me give you two quick reasons.
I hear people say, "I do not get involved in politics. I just preach the gospel." To that I respond, "I guess you do not think the gospel is very important."
They ask what I mean. I say politics affects your ability to preach and live the gospel. If you do not think so, go to some of the countries I have visited. I have been to Iran. There is no First Baptist Church of Tehran. I checked. It is not there.
I have been to Saudi Arabia. There is no Calvary Chapel of Mecca. They do not legally allow it. We recently returned from Egypt. If you want to start a great church in Egypt, you are going to have trouble because they have politically ruled it out.
If for no other reason, we ought to be involved politically to protect our ability to preach and live the gospel.
Number two, we are commanded to love people. How do you love people from a political perspective? You put laws in place that protect innocent people from evil by punishing wrongdoers.
If there is a party that does not want to punish wrongdoers right now, it is the Democrats. They are literally letting illegal alien criminals go so they do not have to hand them over to ICE, which would deport them.
When you do not punish the guilty, you wind up punishing the innocent. Letting these people out into the streets and allowing them to prey on the innocent is exactly what government ought not to do.
Maybe the mic-drop question for people who say we should not be involved politically is this: Are you telling me that in 1860 Christians should not have gotten involved in politics to outlaw slavery? Is that what you are telling me?
Usually people realize that they should have been involved. Welcome to politics. Everybody is involved in politics, and if godly people do not get involved, Satan will.
You are going to be made to care when they come to your house and say, "If your child has gender dysphoria and you do not transition that child, we are going to take the child from you." You are going to be made to care.
I think it is amazing that people can be so dense that they do not think voting matters. When you look around the world, would you rather live in North Korea or the United States? Would you rather live in Saudi Arabia or the United States? Why do you pick the United States every time? Because of politics. You have the political freedom to preach and live the gospel, be safe, and be secure in your home and as you go about your business. That is why. Christians who do not think that is important need to wake up.
Ed Vitagliano: Frank, the Democratic Party today has the Democratic Socialists of America, which I think the party as a whole is adopting as a platform. Tell our listeners what true socialism is and what it means for individuals.
Frank Turek: Maybe the best way to do that is to look at what has happened in socialistic countries over the last hundred years. In the twentieth century, more people died under socialist and communist regimes than under any other regimes in history. A hundred million people died under socialism and communism.
Socialism is generally where the government begins to take the means of production. In New York City, Zohran Mamdani wants to have a government-run grocery store. How well do you think that is going to do when there is no incentive to make sure the right products are on the shelves? There is no reason for a government bureaucrat to care about that. It is not going to go very well.
I ask people in Florida, "How many people do you know who are getting on rickety boats to escape for a better life in Cuba?" None. They are all coming in the other direction.
How many caravans are going from the United States to Venezuela? They are all going in the other direction. When the Berlin Wall was up, how many people were trying to get from West Berlin to East Berlin? None. They were all going in the other direction.
Socialism cannot produce freedom, and it cannot produce food. There is no incentive for people to be productive in a socialistic environment because if you do not own something, you have no incentive to work hard at it.
When was the last time any of us washed a rental car? Why do we not wash rental cars? Because they are not ours. We do not care. You need ownership to motivate prosperity, and when you motivate prosperity and initiative, everybody wins, from the bottom to the top.
It amazes me that only eight Democrats in the House voted against socialism when it was put to a vote last month. Only eight out of about 215. Socialism is the wrong way to go, and yet we now have an entire party going in that direction.
Fred Jackson: The older folks in this room remember the Soviet Union. We lived through the Cold War. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we heard Russians say they had to wait ten years to get a new car because there were not enough cars.
Everything was rationed because state-run factories produced according to central planning. The central planners decided how much of everything would be produced, and that is what was produced. It was not enough to meet demand. People waited ten years to get a car or a washing machine. Scarcity was simply the way things operated in the Soviet Union.
I remember stories of Russian leaders who came to the United States for summits. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they wrote their memoirs or spoke about their visits. They said they were stunned when they walked into grocery stores or Sears because that was not how life was for the vast majority of people, even political leaders in the Soviet Union.
They had access to more than the average person, but they were stunned by the sheer amount of everything and the choices available.
Ed Vitagliano: The last question, and we will make this as quick as possible. Why do you think young people are falling for socialism again?
Frank Turek: They judge it by what it promises, not by what it delivers. Would it be nice if everybody had an adequate amount? Of course it would. The problem is that socialism does not deliver that. It does the opposite. Everybody equally shares in misery, not abundance.
The best way we have found, although it is not a perfect system, to bring the most people out of poverty into prosperity is free-market capitalism. That is simply the way things work because of human nature. We have to incentivize people to work, and if they are incentivized, then you will have prosperity.
We have set up a website to help people see whether they are registered and where every candidate in their jurisdiction stands. People can go to VoteYourFaith.net. They can see whether they are registered, how to vote, when to vote, and where every candidate in their jurisdiction stands on every issue.
Ed Vitagliano: Frank, give us your website again. Also, this event tonight is open to the public, correct?
Frank Turek: It is open to the public at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. If you are not anywhere near there, it is about an hour north of Kansas City. You can watch it on the CrossExamined YouTube channel.
Ed Vitagliano: Thanks, Frank. God bless you.
Frank Turek: God bless you. Get out and vote.
Ed Vitagliano: That was a passionate defense of our way of life. We are going to take a short break and return.
Host: In 1953, authorities found a Japanese soldier hiding in the Philippine jungles. The soldier, who had been hiding there for nine years, was unaware that World War II was over. The soldier wasted nine years of his life foolishly hiding in the jungles.
As strange as that story may seem, it is not as strange as another story that could be told over and over again about countless individuals who are hiding, they think, from God.
We are much like the first man, Adam. We know we have sinned against God and attempt to hide behind a bush. Not literally behind a bush, but we hide.
Sometimes we hide behind our work. We work on Sunday, or we work so hard during the week, or our job is so confining.
Sometimes we hide behind the faults of others. "Joe is a Christian, and look at him."
Sometimes we hide behind our independence. "I do not need God."
However we do it, there are many who are hiding from the God who searched for Adam and searches for us.
It is true that God is searching for us. We do not have to hide anymore. Jesus taught us that. God is not a God from whom we have to hide when we have sinned against Him. He is a God who will forgive if we ask Him with a devoted heart.
This is one of the greatest truths the Galilean ever proclaimed. Remember the younger son who had sinned against his father? Remember how the father loved him and ran to meet him? God is like that father. He is searching because He loves us. That was the reason for the cross, the tomb, and the resurrection. He was searching for mankind, trying to bring all people to Him.
We cannot hide from Him. Even though Adam hid himself, and even though God asked where he was, God knew where he was. Adam could not hide, and neither can we. We can ignore God, disregard Him, or even run from Him, but we cannot escape Him.
The soldier in the Philippine jungles was living under the false assumption that if he was found, some terrible and lasting punishment awaited him. For that reason, he dared not expose himself.
There are people fleeing from God and hiding from Him because they believe some terrible and lasting punishment awaits them. The soldier found that those he thought were his enemies had become his friends. That is what the repentant sinner finds about God. Although he thinks God is going to punish him, he finds forgiveness when he truly asks for it.
Why did the soldier remain hidden all those years? Because he made no attempt to find out the facts of the situation.
Why do so many of us hide from God for so long? For the simple reason that we have made no attempt to find out the facts about the love of God.
When we try to make ourselves safe and secure apart from God, we lose everything God has promised and has in store for us. The greatest injustice we could do to ourselves would be to remain hidden and fail to seek the love of God that awaits us.
Ed Vitagliano: Welcome back. Ed Vitagliano sitting in for Tim Wildmon this week. I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward.
That was a great defense by Dr. Frank Turek of our free country and fairly free capitalist society, our free-market system. I am not sure we are anywhere near being as free a market as Adam Smith, the economic philosopher, would have described, but it is the best game in town.
Frank gets to hear what young people are saying all across the country as he appears on college campuses in defense of the gospel and Christian truth. He has a finger on the pulse of what is happening among young people.
All right, Chris, what is our next story?
Chris Woodward: Let us talk about Iran for a moment.
Iran says a ship sank after striking a mine in the Strait of Hormuz. We are still talking about the Strait of Hormuz months after the United States and Israel started going after Iran to prevent it from having a nuclear weapon.
A cargo ship has sunk after hitting a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. It was the first time Iran had reported a ship sinking after hitting a mine during the war.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors these kinds of incidents, has not verified this, so we are taking Iran at its word. We do not necessarily know where the ship was from. But if Iran has indeed sunk a ship, we are back to having problems with this situation.
In a related segment today on Fox & Friends, national security and foreign policy expert Rebekah Heinrichs discussed the situation. President Trump says we have decimated Iran's capabilities, yet Iran is still blowing things up and causing havoc. Heinrichs said the United States is winning, but Iran is not giving up.
Rebekah Heinrichs: I think at this point the United States has so badly degraded Iran's military, and U.S. Central Command has been so successful in protecting ships going through the Strait of Hormuz, that we are pretty comfortable because we have such a military advantage against the Iranians.
As you said, the Iranians have not given up yet. They are trying to fortify their nuclear sites, and I think that means they know President Trump is almost certainly not bluffing. He has the will and the capacity to go back at the Iranians to make sure they cannot rebuild or reconstitute their nuclear facilities.
Ed Vitagliano: In our discussions about Iran still being Iran, we have talked about how they may be holding out because they know our midterm elections are just around the corner. I thought of those discussions today when I watched that segment with Rebekah.
Fred Jackson: If Iran is trying to reconstitute its nuclear capabilities or continue exploring the creation of a nuclear weapon, the Trump administration knows about it. I think our intelligence and Israel's combined intelligence are going to know almost everything that is going on there.
If they try to reconstitute their nuclear program, I have very little doubt that it will be bombed to smithereens again. I am not sure we have the capability to permanently end these facilities since they have been created under mountains and solid rock, but we would certainly know if they were trying to do it again.
Ed Vitagliano: The Iranian regime is evil, but that does not mean it is not smart. It knows we have an election less than three weeks away, so it is going to try to create as much havoc as possible, along with its proxies.
When you look at what has happened in the last two or three days, you see this ship hitting a mine in the Strait of Hormuz. You also see the Houthis, Iran's proxies, involved in a separate war between the Houthis in Yemen and the Saudis. There was a drone attack on a Saudi Arabian airport the other day, and we all saw the video.
The Iranians and their proxies understand that if they can create chaos and limit American visibility over the next two and a half weeks, they may win the hearts of Americans who say, "Look at what is going on in Iran and what Donald Trump has created. We are losing there, so we need to vote for the other party to put a check on Donald Trump and end this."
I think we are going to see a lot of chaos leading up to the election because their hope is that if Donald Trump's power is diminished, the war will end and the Iranian regime will escape.
Tony Vitagliano: Fred brings up a really good point. Just about everybody in the world, certainly those running countries, understands how American politics work.
I believe in the fortitude and courage of the American people. However, if people are not pushed far enough by circumstances, they like having two-dollar gas and prices at the grocery store that allow them to get whatever they want. That is human nature. We all want life to be easier rather than harder.
Regimes like Iran know that all they have to do is convince the American people that Donald Trump is the villain. Then they will vote for Democrats, and Democrats will not do what Donald Trump and other Republican presidents have done, which is go after Iran militarily and degrade its ability to wage war and terrorism.
Donald Trump did what no other president had done and said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The Iranians are hoping that chaos will lead voters to clip Donald Trump's wings.
Chris Woodward: I agree with Fred. The Iranian regime is evil, purely evil, but it is not dumb. It is not a hard sell for Iran to make to American voters who may be in the middle or still trying to decide.
Unlike previous conflicts that were started by a direct attack on the American people, this Iranian conflict was started, for all intents and purposes, by our first strike, simply in terms of geopolitical facts. The message Iran is making to the American electorate is not a hard one because we started it and it is continuing.
Iran's currency is at zero. It has nothing going for it economically. The only thing propping up the regime is the Revolutionary Guard's boot on the neck of the populace. Things are bad there, and we do not even know whether all the reports leaking out describe how bad conditions really are.
The Revolutionary Guard is trying to keep the chaos going long enough to get to the midterms and put restraints on Trump.
I know people on Fox News were talking about how many barrels of oil are going through the Strait, but we are still getting reports of tankers being sunk. The fact is that 19 million barrels of oil may go through, but if there is a threat that a tanker will be sunk, or if a shipping company faces the risk of hitting a sea mine and sending its inventory to the bottom of the strait, insurance and shipping costs will increase.
Barrels may still be going through, but that does not mean the cost of transporting the oil is going down. Iran knows this, and it is working with its allies, the Houthis, to use that pressure. It may not be able to stop every tanker, but if it hits one occasionally, it will keep costs elevated, which will keep prices elevated and put more pressure on the American people. They will then put pressure on the current administration, which is what Iran wants.
Ed Vitagliano: I want to remind our listeners that when you say we started this, I know what you are saying because we have had this conversation many times. The Iranians started this in 1979 in terms of their spread of terrorism and other actions.
We are talking about how the American voter may view this. In their minds, this may look like we initiated the war with Iran, and that is why prices are going up.
Chris Woodward: I am not excusing Iran's history of spreading terrorism or its direct conflicts with us. I am saying that is what the American populace is going to think. The average voter is not thinking about 1979. They are thinking about 2026.
Ed Vitagliano: I know some of our listeners may be concerned, so let us be clear. We understand that this is an evil regime. It has been evil since it took over in 1979, captured Americans at the embassy, and became a source of terrorism. We understand all that.
We are talking about what people will be thinking in the lead-up to the midterm elections. They will be asking, "Why did we attack them? Why did we not wait until after the election?"
I am quite sure the administration knows exactly what Iran is doing in terms of its nuclear program. If Iran tries to increase its nuclear activity again, it is going to get flattened. I do not know whether the threat can be completely stopped because the regime in charge of Iran wants to continue. Until that regime is gone, it will keep trying.
There are B-1, B-2, and perhaps even B-52 bombers that could provide some discouragement for them.
Chris Woodward: I do not have audio for this next story, but it factors into our discussion about the election. Let us go out west for a moment, where in Washington state, two high school female runners are protesting having to race against a biological male.
It became so bad that Charlie Garrett and Sierra Redd, the two female runners, walked off the course in protest of having to compete against a male. People are wondering how this could happen after the Supreme Court ruling about males and female sports.
In my discussions with groups such as Concerned Women for America, many states that have allowed or are allowing males in female sports have interpreted the Supreme Court opinion as saying states can do whatever they want.
States continue to disregard policies from the Trump Department of Education saying that this violates Title IX rights. This was an issue in 2024, and I am curious whether these kinds of incidents might cause some people to say, "I am not going to vote for this liberal because deep down this man or woman is also in favor of this kind of thing."
I know the economy is the big issue, but another thing that might be driving people to the polls is this Title IX mess. Fred, what do you think?
Fred Jackson: We have been talking about what the news media has been talking about, which is economic issues. That is primarily what people vote based on.
But there may be no accounting for the craziness of the Democratic Party, which is threatening to take command of the party through socialism, gender and sexual madness, and immigration craziness.
It may be hard to measure this because I do not think most people who oppose men in women's sports or locker rooms are comfortable talking about it with members of the media. They may keep their mouths shut when it comes to that, but they may turn out when they are pulling the lever in the voting booth and vote on these issues. That is hard to measure.
Tony Vitagliano: The transgender issue was a big election issue in 2024, and Trump and the Republican team were right to focus on it.
But every poll, and I do not completely trust polls, says that for this election the economy is the main issue.
When the average American drives by a gas station, diesel is still $6.09. That is my own experience driving to work in the morning, and that is in Mississippi. In California, it is over eight dollars.
This is the kind of thing that matters. President Trump says it is going to get better after the election, but that is not where people are right now. When they fill up their cars, I have a small SUV, and it costs $40 or $45 to fill it up. That is a lot more than it was two years ago.
Ed Vitagliano: That is why we wanted to talk to Frank. The bigger issue people have to look at is socialism. The Democratic Party is socialist. It wants to turn this country into a socialist nation.
If you think prices are bad now, wait. There will not only be a price problem, but also an availability problem.
Fred Jackson: It could lead to problems such as gas stations not having diesel to sell.
Tony Vitagliano: At least they have it to sell now.
Fred Jackson: You may run into problems with commodities not being available because the government will control production.
I keep going back to where I came from, Canada. Canada is now a socialist nation. Go on Instagram or other social media and listen to the cries of Canadians about what is going on there. The prices of things are a problem. It is not just bread and gasoline. It is medical care.
Listen to Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Listen to what he says he wants to do. He reflects the Democratic Party. He wants to socialize medical care.
That is similar to Obamacare. You say, "I have health insurance. Is that not nice?" What does your health insurance get you? You have to go to a certain doctor. You cannot shop around for doctors.
This is the thing that will really hit people badly. In Canada, imagine going to your general practitioner with a bad hip. The doctor says you may need a hip replacement and puts you on the schedule. The first appointment is six months away.
They shrink the availability of what is available to you. That is why I think Republicans have a winning issue right now. Yes, get the economy where it needs to be, but people also need to think about what socialism does in so many areas, including education.
Your schools will be taken over by a socialist mentality, and many public schools are already failing in many ways.
Ed Vitagliano: Presidential elections are big, but this midterm is critical for the country.
I know I sounded somewhat gloomy in my previous point, but that is why we keep bringing people like Frank Turek and Alex McFarland on the program to encourage people to go out and vote.
The Democrats are using the economy as a Trojan horse. They are saying, "Let us in, and we will make everything more affordable." What people do not consider, as Fred pointed out, is that what is inside the horse is socialism and destructive policies.
Even though social policies such as transgender ideology, men in women's sports, and gender-reassignment surgery are increasingly unpopular, many Democrats still support them. They are simply putting those issues aside because they know affordability is the winning issue right now.
That is why we have to do our part as Christians and vote. We cannot be fooled by the talking points the Democrats are emphasizing, which center on affordability.
As far as the war with Iran goes, do not let the Democrats fool you into thinking that if they get into power, the war will suddenly end because of them. Strategically, they know we may be there for a while longer.
President Trump did what they did not have the courage to do, and they will continue the same policies. President Barack Obama continued policies under the Bush administration. He was criticized by the far left for continuing to strike targets in Libya, Syria, and other places.
We stayed in Afghanistan and Iraq during Obama's eight years, despite his saying he was going to get us out. There are geopolitical and strategic realities in the Middle East that the Democrats understand. They will not be able to do anything to end this war as they claim.
Fred Jackson: Before the break, I typed in, "Was Venezuela once one of the wealthiest countries?" We all know the answer, but I wanted to get the statistics.
In 1950, Venezuela ranked as the fourth-richest country in the world. By 1970, it was the richest country in Latin America and one of the twenty wealthiest economies worldwide, with per-capita income comparable to Finland and Japan.
Then it turned socialist, its wealth disappeared, and its standard of living plummeted. It may take a long time for Venezuela to recover, but this is what socialism does. It destroys what was built by an admittedly imperfect economic system, capitalism.
I believe capitalism, to be truly blessed by God, needs core Christian convictions to help channel its power. But folks, you do not want to let the Trojan horse in.
Ed Vitagliano, Fred Jackson, Tony Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward discuss Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment and the economic pressures facing older Americans. They also examine how inflation and energy prices may influence the upcoming midterm elections.
Dr. Frank Turek of CrossExamined explains why Christians should participate in politics and voting, arguing that civic engagement helps protect religious freedom and innocent people. He also discusses socialism, private ownership, free markets, and the historical consequences he attributes to socialist governments.
The hosts consider Iran’s reported mine strike in the Strait of Hormuz, the threat of renewed nuclear development, and the possibility that regional chaos could affect American voters. They also discuss biological males competing in women’s sports, Title IX, and whether cultural issues will influence the midterms.
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