Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues. That's what you're listening to right here on American Family Radio. Today is October 1, so Christmas is right around the corner.
Host: My wife, Allison, went in the store the other day and said Christmas is in full swing.
Tim Wildmon: Hobby Lobby, by chance?
Host: Hobby Lobby.
Tim Wildmon: They're always Christmas. They're always here around Christmas.
Host: Yeah, if you've got a hot day in July and you want to feel a little chilly, go into Hobby Lobby.
Tim Wildmon: Hey, who breaks out Christmas early, too, is Cracker Barrel. They'll do it in August.
Host: So they can get you in the mood.
Tim Wildmon: I tell you what, Christmas is the...
Host: By the way, welcome, Steve Paisley and Jordan.
Steve Paisley: Hello, everybody.
Tim Wildmon: Christmas helps save the day for the American retailer out there. If it weren't for the Christmas holiday season...
Host: And China really likes Christmas, too.
Tim Wildmon: They do. Christmas makes a lot of money. I'm guessing Christmas makes 10 percent of the income, or more, for a lot of stores.
Host: More than that, probably. I've heard a lot of stores try to break even until they get to Christmas. That's when they make their money.
Tim Wildmon: So, Steve, you're headed off to your little R&R next week, are you?
Steve Paisley: Just this weekend. I'm taking off tonight. Heather and I are going down to Florida. We're going to be in Pensacola.
Tim Wildmon: Pensacola, yeah.
Steve Paisley: For a couple of days. We're coming back on Sunday.
Tim Wildmon: You got a place on the beach there?
Steve Paisley: We're renting a condo.
Tim Wildmon: Yeah?
Steve Paisley: Pretty close. Not on the beach, but within walking distance.
Tim Wildmon: That's a stretch.
Host: The Gulf Coast area from Gulf Shores all the way over to Panama City Beach, that's kind of where it is. It stops, really, and then you don't have much of a beach from Panama City Beach down to Tampa, right around the corner in Florida. But that's just a beautiful beach and beautiful water there. The water will still be warm, the weather will be nice, so it will be a good time. The summer vacationers won't be there.
Steve Paisley: Yeah, I was looking at the hourly forecast. I know it's been changing a little bit with these storms that are coming and going, and it didn't look good last night.
Host: The hourly forecast?
Tim Wildmon: You need to become more charismatic.
Steve Paisley: Oh, okay.
Tim Wildmon: I do not understand that.
Host: That's where you pray to control the weather on your vacation. Do not receive that forecast.
Steve Paisley: Yeah, you don't receive that forecast.
Host: I know. I will not.
Tim Wildmon: That's man's forecast.
Host: That's not God's forecast.
Tim Wildmon: It is man's forecast.
Host: And I will see how God honors that when I go out in the rain. If I get wet, then God is honoring that.
Tim Wildmon: You just deny that happening, too.
Host: That's one way to deal with that. So, yeah, that's where the Blue Angels are.
Steve Paisley: Yes, that's what I hear.
Host: Yeah, so you'll hear them.
Steve Paisley: I spent 15 years in Colorado Springs.
Host: Oh, yeah.
Steve Paisley: Every year, the Air Force Thunderbirds would come.
Host: You got to see your share of Thunderbirds.
Steve Paisley: The Thunderbirds do the Air Force version of the Blue Angels, right?
Host: It is.
Steve Paisley: The Air Force Academy hosts graduation, and every year the Thunderbirds have their air show at the graduation. Focus on the Family's campus is directly across the freeway. You've got a perfect view of the stadium, and the Thunderbirds would practice the day before and then on the day of. We would get some shots. I don't know if it's on my phone. I think it's on my Facebook page, of some of the airplanes flying right over the campus of Focus on the Family, maybe a couple hundred feet above. Just really low.
Host: Well, hey, if you want to take a pretty drive while you're down there, go from Pensacola to Navarre.
Steve Paisley: Okay.
Host: Along the Florida coast, that is a national park, or at least a state park. It may be a national park. It is unspoiled. There are no condominiums and no restaurants.
Steve Paisley: Navarre?
Host: It's the only drive from Pensacola Beach, where you'll be, right?
Steve Paisley: Right.
Host: You've done that before, Ray, probably, haven't you?
Ray: I have not, but I'm just looking at Navarre. That's right on the ocean, man.
Host: Yeah, so you drive from Pensacola to Navarre. The reason I suggest that is Navarre, Florida, which is right before you get to Fort Walton Beach. Anyway, it's unspoiled. It's just the natural beauty of the white sand and the emerald waters. It's absolutely stunning.
Steve Paisley: I will be comparing that. Heather and I, on our honeymoon, went to Monterey Bay. There's a drive there that goes from Carmel to Pebble Beach, actually. It ends right about at the Pebble Beach golf course. It's called 17-Mile Drive, and it is some of the most stunning scenery. Not only does it have the beaches and the water, but it has some of the most expensive and beautiful homes you'd ever seen. The multimillion-dollar homes are right on the beach.
Host: When you look at those, you go, "I'll never attain that."
Steve Paisley: Isn't that the truth? But it's fun seeing it. It would be fun to live there and not have to pay the property taxes.
Host: That's when you need to move into the name-and-claim-it mentality.
Tim Wildmon: Well, that's true. And not only that, but all of those millionaires are leaving California because they don't want to be taxed into oblivion.
Host: Who's still out there, Mayor...?
Steve Paisley: I think... I don't know. He's not mayor anymore.
Host: Okay, but he was mayor of Carmel.
Steve Paisley: Carmel. He was mayor of Carmel.
Host: And so that's near your old stomping ground.
Steve Paisley: Right there. I grew up there.
Host: You know what the theme was for his campaigns?
Steve Paisley: What?
Host: Go ahead, make my day.
Steve Paisley: It was great. That's what it was.
Tim Wildmon: All right. What's your first news story?
Host: Well, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders seems to find herself in some hot water.
Tim Wildmon: Is she in hot water?
Host: Well, she is doing something that most Republicans, at least, are in favor of, which is instituting a work requirement for those who are on welfare there. If you're receiving welfare, she wants you to put in some work, if you're able-bodied.
Tim Wildmon: If you're able-bodied.
Host: Yeah. She produced an ad that showed a guy named Brad. This was her prototypical guy that the program is aimed at. In this ad, Brad is a white guy, and I say that because that's the genesis of the problem here, who is sitting around playing video games all day and not working. She says, "If you're working to pay to support Brad, he should be working, too."
There are a lot of people who say she's taking advantage of the only person you can possibly still discriminate against, which is white men. The narrative goes that they're the least likely to have to use that program because they're the least likely to be on benefits. So why are you putting a white guy in the ad?
I wouldn't have done an ad with anybody because race is such a tricky thing to deal with publicly, especially in today's world. Anyway, here's the problem, according to what they're saying.
Tim Wildmon: Well, let me play this. I won't play the ad, but let me play Matt Walsh, if I can. He's one of the people saying he's tired of being a white guy and being the only person we're still allowed to criticize. He's not going to take it anymore.
Matt Walsh: According to Republicans in Arkansas, contrary to what you're seeing every day with your own eyes, the truth is that lazy white men are the real problem. Yes, it's white men. White men are the ones dragging us down. They are the cinder block chained to our ankle, pulling us as a nation into the icy depths. They're defrauding the government. They're ripping off the treasury. They're unwilling to work or improve their own lives or contribute to society.
So forget everything you've seen or think you've seen about Somali daycares and EBT scams and home health care shams and welfare fraud, all that rampant, pervasive corruption that's overwhelmingly committed by nonwhites, many of them not even Americans. In the eyes of the Republican Party establishment, you should focus your disdain instead on an imaginary epidemic of 20-something white male welfare queens.
Host: For those who don't know, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, used an ad featuring this 20-something-year-old guy sitting or lying on the couch, playing video games. He's the problem because he's not working and he's collecting welfare.
What Matt Walsh and others are saying is, "That's not who's doing that, for the most part." I don't know whether they're saying black women or black men. The numbers he put out are these: First of all, there are 40 million Americans on SNAP, which is the one program he looked at. That means there are 40 million Americans who we think cannot feed themselves and would starve.
Thirty-five percent of those on SNAP are white. They make up 60 percent of the population. Twenty-five percent of the people taking SNAP are black, and they make up 14 percent of the population. So they say the numbers are skewed.
A couple of things here, and then we can move on. White people are terrified of being called racist. A lot of white people feel like they have to explain themselves. It's as if you're a racist unless you prove you're not. So you're de facto a racist in America today if you're a white person.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a white woman governor. I'm sure her team said, "Hey, you can't put a black single woman in a welfare cleanup program. You'll be, you know, that will be the end of your career." It would be a national controversy. The NAACP and others would say, "Quit stereotyping black women in this way."
I think the best thing to do there is this: I believe that playing racial politics, or racial identity politics, is a slippery slope. You get to the point where you ask, "What is the point of what I'm trying to say?"
If I'm identifying the reason why you have stereotypes and caricatures, it's because of the environmental problems people face and how they're raised. It's not because, and this is me talking here, young African American males commit 50 percent of all violent crimes in this country. That is a statistical fact. Think about that.
The African American population is 13 percent of the U.S. population. Of that, let's just say 6 or 7 percent are males. About 2 percent are going to fall into the 13-to-35 age category, which is where the vast majority of violent crimes are committed in the United States. But if you point that out, you're a racist.
Here's what I'm saying: It's not because they're black or male or young. It's because they don't have dads in their homes any longer to give them guidance and a model to look up to. That's the vast majority of what's wrong. You leave single black women to raise children, which can turn out fine. We all know examples of that. But if you do that in large numbers, you're going to have problems.
A lot of these young black women remain in poverty. Why? Because they drop out of school when they're 15, 16, or 17 years old, they have multiple children, and they get on welfare. It's a system that just keeps repeating itself.
What I'm saying is, it doesn't have anything to do with their skin color. It has everything to do with their environment and their culture. If it had something to do with skin color, you couldn't explain why that happens to white people, too. It happens to Hispanics, too. People of all colors, ethnicities, and races can do bad things and good things. They are capable and incapable. They abuse welfare and don't abuse welfare.
Does that make sense, what I'm talking about here?
Tim Wildmon: Exactly. The figures you quoted there have been around for a long time.
Host: Right. And that is why the prayer has to be that, on a moral level, we need to follow God's plan for marriage: one man for life. That's where it is.
Tim Wildmon: But in so much of America today, including African American culture, having babies out of wedlock is just like breathing.
Host: Well, that's what I'm going to say. It's happening among whites, too. Regardless of skin color, when you veer off God's plan, there's going to be trouble.
Tim Wildmon: That's right. There are going to be problems. Any thoughts on this? And then Steve and I...
Steve Paisley: The only thing I want to add is to go back to that original ad, which a lot of people, including some conservatives, were critical of. I thought it was a pretty good ad if you don't read too much into it. She's trying to drum up support for the idea, "Don't sit there on your backside playing video games. Get a job, right? Prove that you're doing something useful in society, and then you can get welfare." I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
It's a good debate to have, but it's also a political ad. To me, I don't read much more into it than that. It's a political ad in the political season.
Now, back to my original point: White people are terrified of being called racist. So what this is, is Governor Huckabee Sanders, I'm sure they had a team meeting and said, "What kind of person are we going to put in this ad?" They probably said, "Don't put a black person in there. You want us to? We're going to get some guy." He looks like your stereotypical college kid. I don't know why I thought it was funny, but Brad. I don't know, that's a great name. Brad is kind of everybody's name.
Host: White people aren't going to be offended, but at least Matt Walsh is, so it's easier to pick on them.
Steve Paisley: That's why I remember reading about this kind of thing in Great Britain. The BBC was doing articles against Christianity, but they wouldn't do the same kind of scrutiny against Islam. They were asked about it, and the BBC said, "That's because Christians can take it. They have broad shoulders. If we do something critical of Islam, we're likely to be bombed."
That isn't exactly what they said, but that's almost verbatim what they said. It's the same way in America. That's why you see these home security ads, and you never see anybody but a white male on there.
Host: Well, he doesn't break into the home, right?
Steve Paisley: This is what Matt Walsh is pointing out. The only good thing about this is that at least you did see a white guy in an ad.
Host: Anyway, that's what it is. Especially since George Floyd's situation, that's heightened things. As I said, your career can be ended if you're in some occupations and you're called a racist. It doesn't even matter if it's true or not. Just the accusation can end your career. So there's a lot of sensitivity about that issue.
Tim Wildmon: Next story, Steve.
Steve Paisley: The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, was at Quantico, Virginia, yesterday, talking to military personnel, including a lot of junior officers and enlisted troops. He was at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, and he had this to say to the troops.
Pete Hegseth: The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top. Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength, because that's all that really matters when the missiles are flying.
You see, the delusional media will downplay all of the progress of the past year. But this group right here, and I look forward to hearing from you all tomorrow morning as well, knows how real and how important cultural change is and has been.
Tim Wildmon: There's Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War.
Host: It used to be called Secretary of Defense.
Tim Wildmon: What happened to that?
Host: President Trump started renaming things. He renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Tim Wildmon: Which is harkening back to what it used to be called. It used to be the Department of War.
Host: So he's Secretary of War, not Secretary of Defense.
Tim Wildmon: And the department is now the Department of War, so he's the Secretary of War.
Host: What Pete Hegseth is going after, that's a great little talk he gave there.
Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
Host: This has been the theme since Pete Hegseth became Secretary of War: to get rid of the wokeness. During the Obama years and the Biden years, the DEI stuff was in the military.
Tim Wildmon: The DEI stuff ruled. There were quotas for this group of people and that group of people.
Host: I had an acquaintance who was in the military during the Biden years. To get the numbers and quotas right, they actually had people who couldn't make it through boot camp. They created what was called pre-boot camp because they were recruiting people in terrible physical shape who could never have made it through boot camp. They had a pre-boot camp to try to get them in shape enough to make it through boot camp. That's how bad it became.
The DEI stuff and the inclusivity. He just said our strength is not diversity. He said our strength is unity.
Tim Wildmon: And, by the way, Ray, that's all coming back. All the diversity, the DEI, all the woke policies are coming back if Democrats are successful in the midterms. That's what I'm hearing.
Host: Well, look, friends, the point we've tried to make over and over again is get out and vote. Get out and vote in the gubernatorial election, the Senate elections, and the House elections. We say this every time: The future of America hangs in the balance. That's always true in these big elections, but it's never been more true than it is coming up to the midterms.
Tim Wildmon: All right, we've got about three minutes left here, Steve. People aren't asking people over anymore, are they?
Steve Paisley: No one's going out to dinner anymore.
Tim Wildmon: You mean hosting dinner, having company over?
Steve Paisley: According to a survey that was taken, it looked at the percentage of people who have people over to their house. Since 1975, there's been a 71 percent decline in people hosting company at home.
The reason they're giving is that screen time has taken over table talk. It's so much easier to turn the TV on and get on your phone. People think, "I don't want to ask people over, and I don't want to be asked over."
Tim Wildmon: Is that a bit curmudgeonly?
Host: Okay, well, I can't help the way I feel. I could play a little Alex McFarland, who says that you're violating the Great Commission, because having somebody in your home is a great way to make disciples.
Steve Paisley: In all seriousness, that story is real. America has changed in the last 30 years. People used to invite people over to their house for dinner or whatever it was. It does not happen hardly anymore. I think that screen-time thing is real.
Tim Wildmon: That's probably real. What about you? You've never invited me to your house. I'm kind of wondering why that is, Fred.
Fred: I tell you what, I think what's happened is that households are busier. You've got Mom and Dad both working, and they're tired at night and tired on the weekend. You've got kids very involved with sports and all of those things. People are very busy and away from their homes.
Host: And then COVID came along.
Fred: Yeah, and then I think more people are picking stuff up, either takeout or drive-through or something like that.
Host: Don't you think, Ray?
Ray: Yeah, it is. You can look at the article we used for this story on our Facebook page.
Steve Paisley: I'm still laughing about what you said, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: What was that?
Steve Paisley: "I don't want to ask anybody over. I don't want to be asked over." I think you spoke for a vast majority of people, probably. I don't want to be asked over because I don't want to have to come up with some reason why I don't want to come over.
Host: That's the gentleman we deal with here on AFR.
Tim Wildmon: That's right. "Please leave me alone. I'm tired. I've talked to everybody I want to talk to."
Host: All right.
Tim Wildmon: I'm not happy.
Host: No, we'll see you tomorrow.
Tim Wildmon: We'll see you tomorrow.
Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues. That's what you're listening to right here on American Family Radio. Today is October 1, so Christmas is right around the corner.
Host: My wife, Allison, went in the store the other day and said Christmas is in full swing.
Tim Wildmon: Hobby Lobby, by chance?
Host: Hobby Lobby.
Tim Wildmon: They're always Christmas. They're always here around Christmas.
Host: Yeah, if you've got a hot day in July and you want to feel a little chilly, go into Hobby Lobby.
Tim Wildmon: Hey, who breaks out Christmas early, too, is Cracker Barrel. They'll do it in August.
Host: So they can get you in the mood.
Tim Wildmon: I tell you what, Christmas is the...
Host: By the way, welcome, Steve Paisley and Jordan.
Steve Paisley: Hello, everybody.
Tim Wildmon: Christmas helps save the day for the American retailer out there. If it weren't for the Christmas holiday season...
Host: And China really likes Christmas, too.
Tim Wildmon: They do. Christmas makes a lot of money. I'm guessing Christmas makes 10 percent of the income, or more, for a lot of stores.
Host: More than that, probably. I've heard a lot of stores try to break even until they get to Christmas. That's when they make their money.
Tim Wildmon: So, Steve, you're headed off to your little R&R next week, are you?
Steve Paisley: Just this weekend. I'm taking off tonight. Heather and I are going down to Florida. We're going to be in Pensacola.
Tim Wildmon: Pensacola, yeah.
Steve Paisley: For a couple of days. We're coming back on Sunday.
Tim Wildmon: You got a place on the beach there?
Steve Paisley: We're renting a condo.
Tim Wildmon: Yeah?
Steve Paisley: Pretty close. Not on the beach, but within walking distance.
Tim Wildmon: That's a stretch.
Host: The Gulf Coast area from Gulf Shores all the way over to Panama City Beach, that's kind of where it is. It stops, really, and then you don't have much of a beach from Panama City Beach down to Tampa, right around the corner in Florida. But that's just a beautiful beach and beautiful water there. The water will still be warm, the weather will be nice, so it will be a good time. The summer vacationers won't be there.
Steve Paisley: Yeah, I was looking at the hourly forecast. I know it's been changing a little bit with these storms that are coming and going, and it didn't look good last night.
Host: The hourly forecast?
Tim Wildmon: You need to become more charismatic.
Steve Paisley: Oh, okay.
Tim Wildmon: I do not understand that.
Host: That's where you pray to control the weather on your vacation. Do not receive that forecast.
Steve Paisley: Yeah, you don't receive that forecast.
Host: I know. I will not.
Tim Wildmon: That's man's forecast.
Host: That's not God's forecast.
Tim Wildmon: It is man's forecast.
Host: And I will see how God honors that when I go out in the rain. If I get wet, then God is honoring that.
Tim Wildmon: You just deny that happening, too.
Host: That's one way to deal with that. So, yeah, that's where the Blue Angels are.
Steve Paisley: Yes, that's what I hear.
Host: Yeah, so you'll hear them.
Steve Paisley: I spent 15 years in Colorado Springs.
Host: Oh, yeah.
Steve Paisley: Every year, the Air Force Thunderbirds would come.
Host: You got to see your share of Thunderbirds.
Steve Paisley: The Thunderbirds do the Air Force version of the Blue Angels, right?
Host: It is.
Steve Paisley: The Air Force Academy hosts graduation, and every year the Thunderbirds have their air show at the graduation. Focus on the Family's campus is directly across the freeway. You've got a perfect view of the stadium, and the Thunderbirds would practice the day before and then on the day of. We would get some shots. I don't know if it's on my phone. I think it's on my Facebook page, of some of the airplanes flying right over the campus of Focus on the Family, maybe a couple hundred feet above. Just really low.
Host: Well, hey, if you want to take a pretty drive while you're down there, go from Pensacola to Navarre.
Steve Paisley: Okay.
Host: Along the Florida coast, that is a national park, or at least a state park. It may be a national park. It is unspoiled. There are no condominiums and no restaurants.
Steve Paisley: Navarre?
Host: It's the only drive from Pensacola Beach, where you'll be, right?
Steve Paisley: Right.
Host: You've done that before, Ray, probably, haven't you?
Ray: I have not, but I'm just looking at Navarre. That's right on the ocean, man.
Host: Yeah, so you drive from Pensacola to Navarre. The reason I suggest that is Navarre, Florida, which is right before you get to Fort Walton Beach. Anyway, it's unspoiled. It's just the natural beauty of the white sand and the emerald waters. It's absolutely stunning.
Steve Paisley: I will be comparing that. Heather and I, on our honeymoon, went to Monterey Bay. There's a drive there that goes from Carmel to Pebble Beach, actually. It ends right about at the Pebble Beach golf course. It's called 17-Mile Drive, and it is some of the most stunning scenery. Not only does it have the beaches and the water, but it has some of the most expensive and beautiful homes you'd ever seen. The multimillion-dollar homes are right on the beach.
Host: When you look at those, you go, "I'll never attain that."
Steve Paisley: Isn't that the truth? But it's fun seeing it. It would be fun to live there and not have to pay the property taxes.
Host: That's when you need to move into the name-and-claim-it mentality.
Tim Wildmon: Well, that's true. And not only that, but all of those millionaires are leaving California because they don't want to be taxed into oblivion.
Host: Who's still out there, Mayor...?
Steve Paisley: I think... I don't know. He's not mayor anymore.
Host: Okay, but he was mayor of Carmel.
Steve Paisley: Carmel. He was mayor of Carmel.
Host: And so that's near your old stomping ground.
Steve Paisley: Right there. I grew up there.
Host: You know what the theme was for his campaigns?
Steve Paisley: What?
Host: Go ahead, make my day.
Steve Paisley: It was great. That's what it was.
Tim Wildmon: All right. What's your first news story?
Host: Well, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders seems to find herself in some hot water.
Tim Wildmon: Is she in hot water?
Host: Well, she is doing something that most Republicans, at least, are in favor of, which is instituting a work requirement for those who are on welfare there. If you're receiving welfare, she wants you to put in some work, if you're able-bodied.
Tim Wildmon: If you're able-bodied.
Host: Yeah. She produced an ad that showed a guy named Brad. This was her prototypical guy that the program is aimed at. In this ad, Brad is a white guy, and I say that because that's the genesis of the problem here, who is sitting around playing video games all day and not working. She says, "If you're working to pay to support Brad, he should be working, too."
There are a lot of people who say she's taking advantage of the only person you can possibly still discriminate against, which is white men. The narrative goes that they're the least likely to have to use that program because they're the least likely to be on benefits. So why are you putting a white guy in the ad?
I wouldn't have done an ad with anybody because race is such a tricky thing to deal with publicly, especially in today's world. Anyway, here's the problem, according to what they're saying.
Tim Wildmon: Well, let me play this. I won't play the ad, but let me play Matt Walsh, if I can. He's one of the people saying he's tired of being a white guy and being the only person we're still allowed to criticize. He's not going to take it anymore.
Matt Walsh: According to Republicans in Arkansas, contrary to what you're seeing every day with your own eyes, the truth is that lazy white men are the real problem. Yes, it's white men. White men are the ones dragging us down. They are the cinder block chained to our ankle, pulling us as a nation into the icy depths. They're defrauding the government. They're ripping off the treasury. They're unwilling to work or improve their own lives or contribute to society.
So forget everything you've seen or think you've seen about Somali daycares and EBT scams and home health care shams and welfare fraud, all that rampant, pervasive corruption that's overwhelmingly committed by nonwhites, many of them not even Americans. In the eyes of the Republican Party establishment, you should focus your disdain instead on an imaginary epidemic of 20-something white male welfare queens.
Host: For those who don't know, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, used an ad featuring this 20-something-year-old guy sitting or lying on the couch, playing video games. He's the problem because he's not working and he's collecting welfare.
What Matt Walsh and others are saying is, "That's not who's doing that, for the most part." I don't know whether they're saying black women or black men. The numbers he put out are these: First of all, there are 40 million Americans on SNAP, which is the one program he looked at. That means there are 40 million Americans who we think cannot feed themselves and would starve.
Thirty-five percent of those on SNAP are white. They make up 60 percent of the population. Twenty-five percent of the people taking SNAP are black, and they make up 14 percent of the population. So they say the numbers are skewed.
A couple of things here, and then we can move on. White people are terrified of being called racist. A lot of white people feel like they have to explain themselves. It's as if you're a racist unless you prove you're not. So you're de facto a racist in America today if you're a white person.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a white woman governor. I'm sure her team said, "Hey, you can't put a black single woman in a welfare cleanup program. You'll be, you know, that will be the end of your career." It would be a national controversy. The NAACP and others would say, "Quit stereotyping black women in this way."
I think the best thing to do there is this: I believe that playing racial politics, or racial identity politics, is a slippery slope. You get to the point where you ask, "What is the point of what I'm trying to say?"
If I'm identifying the reason why you have stereotypes and caricatures, it's because of the environmental problems people face and how they're raised. It's not because, and this is me talking here, young African American males commit 50 percent of all violent crimes in this country. That is a statistical fact. Think about that.
The African American population is 13 percent of the U.S. population. Of that, let's just say 6 or 7 percent are males. About 2 percent are going to fall into the 13-to-35 age category, which is where the vast majority of violent crimes are committed in the United States. But if you point that out, you're a racist.
Here's what I'm saying: It's not because they're black or male or young. It's because they don't have dads in their homes any longer to give them guidance and a model to look up to. That's the vast majority of what's wrong. You leave single black women to raise children, which can turn out fine. We all know examples of that. But if you do that in large numbers, you're going to have problems.
A lot of these young black women remain in poverty. Why? Because they drop out of school when they're 15, 16, or 17 years old, they have multiple children, and they get on welfare. It's a system that just keeps repeating itself.
What I'm saying is, it doesn't have anything to do with their skin color. It has everything to do with their environment and their culture. If it had something to do with skin color, you couldn't explain why that happens to white people, too. It happens to Hispanics, too. People of all colors, ethnicities, and races can do bad things and good things. They are capable and incapable. They abuse welfare and don't abuse welfare.
Does that make sense, what I'm talking about here?
Tim Wildmon: Exactly. The figures you quoted there have been around for a long time.
Host: Right. And that is why the prayer has to be that, on a moral level, we need to follow God's plan for marriage: one man for life. That's where it is.
Tim Wildmon: But in so much of America today, including African American culture, having babies out of wedlock is just like breathing.
Host: Well, that's what I'm going to say. It's happening among whites, too. Regardless of skin color, when you veer off God's plan, there's going to be trouble.
Tim Wildmon: That's right. There are going to be problems. Any thoughts on this? And then Steve and I...
Steve Paisley: The only thing I want to add is to go back to that original ad, which a lot of people, including some conservatives, were critical of. I thought it was a pretty good ad if you don't read too much into it. She's trying to drum up support for the idea, "Don't sit there on your backside playing video games. Get a job, right? Prove that you're doing something useful in society, and then you can get welfare." I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
It's a good debate to have, but it's also a political ad. To me, I don't read much more into it than that. It's a political ad in the political season.
Now, back to my original point: White people are terrified of being called racist. So what this is, is Governor Huckabee Sanders, I'm sure they had a team meeting and said, "What kind of person are we going to put in this ad?" They probably said, "Don't put a black person in there. You want us to? We're going to get some guy." He looks like your stereotypical college kid. I don't know why I thought it was funny, but Brad. I don't know, that's a great name. Brad is kind of everybody's name.
Host: White people aren't going to be offended, but at least Matt Walsh is, so it's easier to pick on them.
Steve Paisley: That's why I remember reading about this kind of thing in Great Britain. The BBC was doing articles against Christianity, but they wouldn't do the same kind of scrutiny against Islam. They were asked about it, and the BBC said, "That's because Christians can take it. They have broad shoulders. If we do something critical of Islam, we're likely to be bombed."
That isn't exactly what they said, but that's almost verbatim what they said. It's the same way in America. That's why you see these home security ads, and you never see anybody but a white male on there.
Host: Well, he doesn't break into the home, right?
Steve Paisley: This is what Matt Walsh is pointing out. The only good thing about this is that at least you did see a white guy in an ad.
Host: Anyway, that's what it is. Especially since George Floyd's situation, that's heightened things. As I said, your career can be ended if you're in some occupations and you're called a racist. It doesn't even matter if it's true or not. Just the accusation can end your career. So there's a lot of sensitivity about that issue.
Tim Wildmon: Next story, Steve.
Steve Paisley: The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, was at Quantico, Virginia, yesterday, talking to military personnel, including a lot of junior officers and enlisted troops. He was at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, and he had this to say to the troops.
Pete Hegseth: The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top. Diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength, because that's all that really matters when the missiles are flying.
You see, the delusional media will downplay all of the progress of the past year. But this group right here, and I look forward to hearing from you all tomorrow morning as well, knows how real and how important cultural change is and has been.
Tim Wildmon: There's Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War.
Host: It used to be called Secretary of Defense.
Tim Wildmon: What happened to that?
Host: President Trump started renaming things. He renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
Tim Wildmon: Which is harkening back to what it used to be called. It used to be the Department of War.
Host: So he's Secretary of War, not Secretary of Defense.
Tim Wildmon: And the department is now the Department of War, so he's the Secretary of War.
Host: What Pete Hegseth is going after, that's a great little talk he gave there.
Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
Host: This has been the theme since Pete Hegseth became Secretary of War: to get rid of the wokeness. During the Obama years and the Biden years, the DEI stuff was in the military.
Tim Wildmon: The DEI stuff ruled. There were quotas for this group of people and that group of people.
Host: I had an acquaintance who was in the military during the Biden years. To get the numbers and quotas right, they actually had people who couldn't make it through boot camp. They created what was called pre-boot camp because they were recruiting people in terrible physical shape who could never have made it through boot camp. They had a pre-boot camp to try to get them in shape enough to make it through boot camp. That's how bad it became.
The DEI stuff and the inclusivity. He just said our strength is not diversity. He said our strength is unity.
Tim Wildmon: And, by the way, Ray, that's all coming back. All the diversity, the DEI, all the woke policies are coming back if Democrats are successful in the midterms. That's what I'm hearing.
Host: Well, look, friends, the point we've tried to make over and over again is get out and vote. Get out and vote in the gubernatorial election, the Senate elections, and the House elections. We say this every time: The future of America hangs in the balance. That's always true in these big elections, but it's never been more true than it is coming up to the midterms.
Tim Wildmon: All right, we've got about three minutes left here, Steve. People aren't asking people over anymore, are they?
Steve Paisley: No one's going out to dinner anymore.
Tim Wildmon: You mean hosting dinner, having company over?
Steve Paisley: According to a survey that was taken, it looked at the percentage of people who have people over to their house. Since 1975, there's been a 71 percent decline in people hosting company at home.
The reason they're giving is that screen time has taken over table talk. It's so much easier to turn the TV on and get on your phone. People think, "I don't want to ask people over, and I don't want to be asked over."
Tim Wildmon: Is that a bit curmudgeonly?
Host: Okay, well, I can't help the way I feel. I could play a little Alex McFarland, who says that you're violating the Great Commission, because having somebody in your home is a great way to make disciples.
Steve Paisley: In all seriousness, that story is real. America has changed in the last 30 years. People used to invite people over to their house for dinner or whatever it was. It does not happen hardly anymore. I think that screen-time thing is real.
Tim Wildmon: That's probably real. What about you? You've never invited me to your house. I'm kind of wondering why that is, Fred.
Fred: I tell you what, I think what's happened is that households are busier. You've got Mom and Dad both working, and they're tired at night and tired on the weekend. You've got kids very involved with sports and all of those things. People are very busy and away from their homes.
Host: And then COVID came along.
Fred: Yeah, and then I think more people are picking stuff up, either takeout or drive-through or something like that.
Host: Don't you think, Ray?
Ray: Yeah, it is. You can look at the article we used for this story on our Facebook page.
Steve Paisley: I'm still laughing about what you said, Tim.
Tim Wildmon: What was that?
Steve Paisley: "I don't want to ask anybody over. I don't want to be asked over." I think you spoke for a vast majority of people, probably. I don't want to be asked over because I don't want to have to come up with some reason why I don't want to come over.
Host: That's the gentleman we deal with here on AFR.
Tim Wildmon: That's right. "Please leave me alone. I'm tired. I've talked to everybody I want to talk to."
Host: All right.
Tim Wildmon: I'm not happy.
Host: No, we'll see you tomorrow.
Tim Wildmon: We'll see you tomorrow.
Tim Wildmon and the Today's Issues team discuss Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ welfare work requirement ad and the criticism it has received over its portrayal of a young white man receiving benefits. The conversation considers welfare responsibility, racial politics, family structure, fatherlessness, and the importance of following God’s design for marriage. The program also examines remarks from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to military personnel at Quantico, including his call for unity over diversity and opposition to ideological programs in the military. The hosts warn that DEI policies could return if Democrats succeed in the midterm elections and urge Christians to vote. The closing discussion considers a reported decline in Americans hosting guests at home, with the hosts connecting the trend to screen time, busy families, and reduced personal fellowship.
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