Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host Tim Wildman
>> Chris Woodward: Today's Issues continues on AFR with your.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to Today's Issues. We do podcast this show, so if you can't listen live, you can go to our, our AFR website. Just go to afr.net click on the podcast, and you can listen, to the show anytime you want to. by doing that. And, and, and we have Approximately, usually about 150,000, anywhere from 130 to 160, 70,000, podcast downloads a month of this show.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Wow.
>> Tim Wildmon: So evidently. Ah, Ed, you are a star, man.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's a team effort, huh? it's a team.
>> Tim Wildmon: I appreciate your humility.
Chris Woodward welcomes Fred Jackson, Ed Battagliano and others
okay, so Fred's here. Fred Jackson, Ed Battagliano, Tim Wildmon, and now Chris Woodward. Good morning, Brother Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: You got a bunch of stuff there in front of you. Got some. You got. You're gonna bring the stories, huh? Huh?
>> Chris Woodward: Well, I have several things to go over, should we need it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
Chris Bell: Are we still going after Greenland? That's gone away
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so first thing we want to talk about is, Secretary of State Marco Rubio's speech in Germany. Right. Where did he speak and who did he speak to?
>> Chris Woodward: He was speaking in Munich, to various European leaders, and American leaders as well, because Rubio was there to represent, the Trump administration. And he wasn't the only one that went over there. and he talked.
>> Tim Wildmon: What did he say about Greenland? First, I want to know that. Are we still going after Greenland?
>> Chris Woodward: That's kind of gone away. Why? well, you don't hear as much about it anyway.
>> Tim Wildmon: Trump said, we're taking it one way or another.
>> Chris Woodward: He did. He also said, help us on the way in Iran. And that's still a big question.
>> Tim Wildmon: He doesn't mean.
>> Chris Woodward: I think he sometimes says things, and it takes a while before we find out what the. Okay to your question is.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So we still may be taking Greenland. He just. He's just not talking about it anymore.
>> Chris Woodward: That's. That's a good way to put it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Now, somebody, what do you think? One other thing, Chris. What do you think about.
>> Ed Vitagliano: About Greenland?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, President Trump, when he. When he talks sometimes, he said things like, help is on the way. Talking to Iran.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And. And to the. The people that were out in the streets. And then he says, we're taking Greenland whether they like it or not.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Do you think he's just, bluffing, or you think he's gonna take. Do those things?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I just think it's NewSong York Street. It's just, you know, what do you. Who are you looking at? What are you looking at? I just.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think that's his personality.
>> Tim Wildmon: So you don't ever know whether he's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He shoots from the hip.
>> Tim Wildmon: I got you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And, and that since he is not a polished politician that you commented without commenting.
>> Tim Wildmon: I didn't. Did that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And so I think that does create in political opponents an unknown.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They don't know if he's being serious. Greenland does it. I would not support taking Greenland by force. You know, by military action. I would be opposed to that. I don't think he has the constitutional right to do it. but Greenland doesn't know if he's going to do it.
>> Chris Woodward: If it could be that they're negotiating behind the scenes and part of the tactic is to be silent on the topic.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. I just know if this were a Democrat doing this kind of stuff, we would be all over it in a critical way.
>> Chris Woodward: You'd have a, you'd have an AOC clip. That makes sense, right? If.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, I disagreed with taking Greenland by force.
>> Fred Jackson: That.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, I think you said that on the show. I just think, okay. With President Trump's international foreign policy, you know, it's like with every president, it's the good and the bad and the ugly.
>> Chris Woodward: Right, Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I mean, he's done some big things. Number one was bombing the Iran nuclear facility.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right. I mean, big, big things in his first administration.
>> Tim Wildmon: Took some guns. I'm going to tell you that it was the right thing to do. Absolutely. but I mean, then to the other side, the bad, just throwing around. We're going to take those. We're going to take Greenland for ourselves. No matter what that was. He backed off that. I think sometimes he backs off after he tests the winds. Yeah, he says something and maybe this is how you do deals in NewSong York, right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I think, I think it is.
>> Tim Wildmon: So you just, you just say things out loud. We're going to take Greenland whether they like it or not. When you, you don't really mean that. You know what I'm saying? You're just testing the waters to see is there any. How much resistance is there's us taking the Greenland. Because if there isn't, we'll just go ahead and take it.
A lot of our politics in this country has been reduced to what's best
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think that is the way things are done in new. Not that I have firsthand knowledge. I have watched movies and that's the way they. Especially mafia movies that's the way they. That's the way they operate, you know? you know, well, we'll just sue. We'll just sue and take your business, and that doesn't work. you know, don't have somebody else start your car in the morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Swim with the fishes.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm just going to give you one example. I know we don't like to hear this necessarily as conservatives, but I remember when President Obama didn't support the uprising in Iran, and people and Republicans and conservatives were like, going, Arabs, you're just leaving them to. You could be supporting them and helping them, and you're not doing anything to help. This. This is a key moment. You remember that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I was not. I was not one of those.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I. Because it's. It's limited. I mean, you either, I agree. You either go to war against Iran in support of that uprising, or now you can. The CIA does stuff all the time behind the scenes. That, that's. That's an option where behind the scenes, nobody knows. You, you give them aid, kill, kind of like the left, and who knows, Soros groups are probably supporting protesters in our cities. That kind of stuff can be done behind the scenes. But I would never have agreed with President Obama or President Trump using the military, in. To overthrow Iran.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, listen, I think it. It's sort of. It's, not good. But our. A lot of our politics in this country has been reduced not to what's best for what's right or wrong or what's best for our country or not. It's been reduced to what team are you on?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, that's true.
>> Tim Wildmon: So whatever team are you on, that's who's right. You know what I'm saying? And I think in that particular moment, I just think it creates a lot of cynicism and inconsistency.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, politics creates strange bedfellows or something like that. But part of the reason for that, what you're saying, I do think that's true, is that both sides of the political spectrum view the other side as an existential threat to the country. So the left considers conservatives, Nazis and fascists, and the right considers the left to be communists. And I would say we're closer to the truth than the left is.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I agree.
Rubio made a speech saying U.S. and Europe share Christian values
What's your story about Marco Rubio?
>> Chris Woodward: This is about Marco Rubio, somebody that represents the Trump administration abroad, meaning internationally. And one of the things that Rubio is making the news for is a speech where he's trying to say that the U.S. and Europe, we have things in common. We have things in common beyond just our, ethnic heritage and stuff like that. We also share what Rubio called our Christian faith. Clip 16.
>> Marco Rubio: For the United States and Europe, we belong together. America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent, long before the men who settled and built the nation of my birth arrived on our shores, carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable, link between the old world and the new. We are part of one civilization, Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.
>> Fred Jackson: Huh?
>> Tim Wildmon: what a great speech. Or at least that segment of it there. You like Marco, Ruby? Me, too.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think he's brilliant when it comes to foreign policy, international relations, and he's conservative on the domestic side of things. He appears to be a very sincere and faithful Christian. And, so I like the guy.
>> Fred Jackson: I think there was a deeper message there. And because m. The migration story keeps coming up over and over again. I think the point that, the secretary was trying to make in his speech is that Christian values are what has made Europe and to the extension into the United States, it is what has made these countries successful, bringing those Christian values there. And I think without saying it, but there's a message there. He is saying what migration is doing is threatening, for Europe in particular, and to a certain extent, the United States. People with different values, very different values are coming in. You know, I was trying to figure out this morning, someone said immigration without assimilation is invasion. and Bobby Jindal, former Louisiana governor, said that. And that's very profound. People who come to a country, if they don't adopt the values of that country, but try to impose their values, they are trying to change what has made these countries great. Marco Rubio says it's Christian values that have made these countries great. And we are wrestling with that in this country right now, too, at several very hot points.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, it could be that his comments there that we just heard about our Christian faith, that might explain why a lot of Americans had no idea that this speech even took place or that Rubio had said it. Because you guys may have mentioned this in the last hour, but, our friends at MrCNewsBusters, they have an analysis out that found Virtually none of the Sunday talk shows talked about Rubio's speech. matter of fact, the sole mention of Rubio's speech was on CBS's Face the Nation, where the substitute host referenced the speech in passing before throwing to an interview with Senator Thom tillis. They aired 14 seconds of Rubio at.
>> Tim Wildmon: The podium, I think, with, Vice President J.D. vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that the future of the Republican Party at the national level is in pretty good hands.
>> Ed Vitagliano: would you include Ron DeSantis?
>> Tim Wildmon: I would, I would. I would include Governor Ron DeSantis. if you look at his record, he is a conservative rock star. Okay. The things he's been able to do, in Florida in his two administrations. but he is, You know, I think he has one more year. I'm not sure. Maybe this is. I'm not sure. One more year, I think, of in the Governor's mansion in Tallahassee, and then he'll be a free bird, so to speak. And that may have been why he was golfing with President Trump over the weekend, to see maybe where he could plug in in the Trump administration. Because I think, Governor DeSantis, you know, he's not. He's too young just to sit around.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Ron DeSantis current term as Florida governor ends on January 5, 2027.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, well, there you go.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So the election here in November will determine the new governor.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, well, there'll probably be an opening in the Trump administration for a cabinet, level position somewhere that, you know, Governor DeSantis would fit into. I, think he would be a great justice, department. Who's the Justice Department head right now? Excuse me. You talking about Pam Bondi? she's the Attorney General. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pam Bondi, if he wanted. She's a Floridian, too. She, But, you know, if she wanted to leave and he wanted to come in, DeSantis, I think he would be an excellent Attorney General. The only part that, is. Well, I was going to say President Trump, though, he keeps people, you know, despite his volatile personality, he seems to. Am I right? He seems to keep people around in key levels of, his administration. I was going to say he may be. The personality of DeSantis is pretty straight laced.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: In fact, President Trump said he needed a personality, transplant. Transplant. You remember that, like in. He has no personality.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, and that, that is kind of, kind of true. I'm a big fan of Ron DeSantis, but like you said, he's Very straight laced. listen, I, And I'm not saying this in a partisan way. I thought Al Gore had the same issue. You remember, he was. People said he was kind of robotic. He was kind, of a nuts and bolts kind of person. And, you know, you got to loosen up a little bit. Marco Rubio is a little bit like that. But Marco Rubio does kid around a little bit more. well, who knows?
>> Tim Wildmon: I think the, Donald Trump has set the bar pretty high far as far as being an entertaining personality.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: At a, At a presidential type level. So anybody compared to him is going to look like a librarian. Am I right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: so.
Do you think Ron DeSantis would be interested in a Supreme Court vacancy
But I do think that Desantis, his qualifications and his actions that he's taken as governor, you could see him in the, Trump administration after he gets through in Tallahassee.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, let me. I asked you this during the break. Do you think, Ron DeSantis would be interested in a position on the U.S. supreme Court should a vacancy arise?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, you know, Ted Cruz was asked about this.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: A couple of weeks ago because President Trump had floated the idea maybe Ted Cruz would be a good Supreme Court justice. I would be standing up and applauding that as a conservative, but Ted Cruz sort of said, no, I'm not interested in that.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm a, I'm a political animal, I think somebody called himself. So I want to be in the daily mix. I don't want to be, you know, sitting behind a, you know.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The Supreme Court desk in a black robe.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I don't think that. I do think personality matters a lot on a Supreme Court justice. You, you know, not. That's not. It is. You know, it's pretty mundane. And, now, not all the. Listen to the cases and deciding them, but I'm talking about being out there in the mix on politics, trying to make a difference, instead of judging the constitutionality of a law, I think.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think Ron DeSantis is more of an action guy. Doer.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: But I think. I think you're probably going to end up, you, know, if it starts. If it was right now, I think you'd. Vance would be the presidential nominee easily on the Republican side, and probably Marco Rubio would be his vp. Now, I don't know if Marco Rubio wants to be the guy who attends funerals.
>> Marco Rubio: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, because the vp, you, know, I don't know if he wants to do that for four years. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I don't know if he would take that. But Marco Rubio and J.D. vance, they're. They're best friends, so, Marco Rubio has even said, if JD Runs, I'm not going to run against him.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, that's what Marco Rubio said.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, he did say that, didn't he, Fred?
>> Fred Jackson: I believe so, yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's only. Marco Rubio is only 54 years old.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so 36.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, he does. So the question would be if he would be willing to be J.D. vance's vice president. And wait. Course, that election's 20, 28. So you add another three years, we'll say he's 57. Then eight years of J.D. vance, he's 65.
>> Tim Wildmon: I like the way you talk, man. As president, I don't know if that's going to be reality. But you're saying best case scenario.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Best case scenario for the GOP, he would. He would be 65.
>> Tim Wildmon: Rubio.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Rubio, if he. That's doable.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, Trump's 97, so. So, yeah, it's doable.
>> Chris Woodward: Trump is the oldest person ever elected.
>> Ed Vitagliano: President, but Marco Rubio may say, now I just like being in the Senate.
>> Chris Woodward: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's run for president. He had kind of the same problem.
>> Tim Wildmon: Going to be trying to decide whether to take Social Security or not. Probably that's going to be his first choice.
>> Chris Woodward: Better do it now before it runs out of money in 2032.
>> Ed Vitagliano: all right, now, wait a second. Do members of Congress. They don't. They don't get Social Security. Do they have their own.
>> Fred Jackson: They get their own pension.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They get their own pension. Yes. Yeah, they, they. They don't have to rely on Social Security.
>> Chris Woodward: Probably why they won't fix it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's exactly right.
That's a pretty good trifecta of conservatives leading the party
>> Chris Woodward: All right, say that somebody gets robbed every two weeks.
>> Tim Wildmon: I do think, you know, I do think with J.D. vance and Marco Rubio, I think that's. That's a pretty good team there as far as leadership post Trump.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, all the three we've been talking about, J.D. vance, Marco Rubio, Santis, they are intelligent, knowledgeable, conservatives on constitutionalism. All of them are conservative principles, and they are excellent communicators.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yep.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And so that. That's a pretty good. That's a pretty good trifecta of conservatives leading the party if your opposition is aoc. And, Gavin Newsom's no lightweight. I think he's kind of destroyed California, but real cream.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Little dabble.
>> Chris Woodward: I heard somebody joke one time that if Newsom runs, somebody on the other side of the aisle should have a bumper sticker that says, gavin Newsom will do to America what he's done to California.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, there's a lot of. There's a lot of Democrats that would be okay with that.
>> Tim Wildmon: And yet he'd be elected. He'd be reelected tomorrow.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, exactly.
Americans rank clergy at a record low in honesty and ethics, Gallup finds
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, next story. Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, I have a, some new findings from Gallup. one of the things that Gallup looks at is, what kind of professions do you Americans, trust more than others? And in the latest look at this, Gallup found that Americans rank clergy at a record low in things like honesty and ethics.
>> Tim Wildmon: Why?
>> Chris Woodward: It does not say, but, I have a possible answer for you there. Just 27% of the American public now rank clergy as high or very high on the scale. Six other professions reached record lows in their honesty and ethical standards. these are pharmacists, high school teachers, police officers, business executives, stockbrokers, and telemarketers. Five percent of Americans trust telemarketers in terms of honesty again.
>> Fred Jackson: And journalists weren't even on the scale.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, yeah, we all know the answer to that. Why.
>> Tim Wildmon: But why bother polling percent? That's pretty high for telemarketers.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. Yeah. I may have stumbled across another story.
>> Tim Wildmon: Now, is their approval rating.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It doesn't, calm down, because this is demanding some response. Some response here, because I'm saying there are probably actually members of the clergy now who are saying, well, at least we're not as bad as telemarkers.
>> Chris Woodward: Now visit our church. Yeah. It could be that. One reason why some Americans out there don't trust clergy or hold them as high up as they used to, is because from time to time, pastors, and priests do make the news for bad things, things the government found them guilty of. That could be one of the reasons why.
>> Tim Wildmon: What profession ranks high as far as the American people's admiration? Chris? Did they say, just. Only the bad news.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, 50% of Americans, still hold teachers in high regard.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. even algebra.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, well, that's a puzzle.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't.
>> Chris Woodward: To give you an idea of how far things have go, clergy. In 2013, 47% of Americans ranked clergy as high or very high on the honesty and ethical standards scale. So it's down 20% in a, decade.
>> Tim Wildmon: That.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's. That's strange.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Thank you for the bad news. Without any real apparent explanation, we could change it, but, you know.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, we'll see.
>> Chris Woodward: Well, if you're a pastor or a priest and you're listening to the show.
>> Tim Wildmon: do you, I mean, set an example.
>> Chris Woodward: Set an example and hold. Make integrity great again?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think maybe part of the explanation. Let me do your job for you, Chris. Part, of the explanation might be social media does, serve to broadcast individuals failures.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And, and, and it's broadcast everywhere.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And that can degrade the opinion of people, on, on a whole category of individuals. Also, this might have something to do with the turn of some, especially young people, against religion in general. but, yeah, I'm just speculating because Chris gave us no other option.
Fred: I think we should pray for Tim Allen to become a Christian
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we're about out of time. We got 30 seconds to go here, Chris.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just picking.
>> Chris Woodward: Oh, no, no, no.
>> Tim Wildmon: You got a happy story?
>> Chris Woodward: I do. Tim Allen, beloved actor, done a lot of TV shows and films. He has completed a 13 month Bible journey and says he will do it again. He recently posted on social media that he began reading word for word scripture, and he is planning on doing it again. He obviously has been a person that has been looking for answers in terms of how we got here. What is the meaning for life? And so I think we, as the body of Christ, should pray for Tim Allen. Because about 30 years ago, he was writing books, of things we would not talk about on this show. the book was called I'm not really Here. And it got into a lot of, like, hippie dippy stuff. So he's clearly looking for answers from God.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think we should pray for him so that he might become a Christian. And then after he dies, it's to infinity.
>> Chris Woodward: there you go. I see what you did there.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think he is a Christian.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Is he?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: To infinity and beyond. He was the voice behind the Toy Stories. Buzz Lightyear. All right, we're out of time, Fred. Thank you.
>> Fred Jackson: All righty, Chris.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you. Thank you, Ed, so much. Appreciate your contribution.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I detect sarcasm.
>> Tim Wildmon: our thanks to, let's see, who else? Brent Creeley, our producer, and Cole Greene, our videographer. And, have a great Monday afternoon, everybody. We'll see you tomorrow.
