On today’s program, hosted by Jody Hice: Meg Kilgannon, FRC’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies, reacts to President-elect Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Doug LaMalfa, U.S.
SPEAKER 14 : 0:00
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 03 : 0:20
Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss, the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. We have a lot to bring your way today. Let me give you some of the highlights. President-elect Donald Trump continues to make head spin, literally, on the left while he rolls out a list of nominees for his incoming cabinet. And among those is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who he tapped to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
SPEAKER 18 : 0:54
And the question that we have to all ask, when we’re confronted with nominations like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Are these the best individuals available to the incoming Trump administration?
SPEAKER 03 : 1:13
Yes, watch the heads spin. That was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries earlier today. So what should we consider about Kennedy? What kind of difference could he make in the lives of American people? Well, I’ll be discussing that here in just a few moments with FRC’s Meg Kilgannon, who herself served in the Education Department during the first Trump administration. And speaking of serving the American people, a group of Republican congressmen are now demanding answers from news that came to light about the staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA. But they were instructed evidently to avoid providing storm assistance to homes displaying Trump campaign signs. Well, originally, fingers pointed to the now-fired FEMA supervisor, Marty Washington, but she is saying that she was just following orders from those higher up in the agency.
SPEAKER 12 : 2:15
What’s reprehensible is they’re not being transparent. Why is this coming down on me? I am the person that jotted down the notes from my superiors, and my notation in Teams chat was exposed. But I’m just simply executing, again, what was coming down from my superiors.
SPEAKER 03 : 2:35
Wow. Sounds like FEMA has a lot of explaining to do. And California Congressman Doug LaMoffa will be joining me here in just a little while to talk about what he and his colleagues want to find out. And there are many people who are still trying to figure out how so many demographic groups shifted to Trump in the 2024 elections, including Gen Z. Although Vice President Harris still had an overall edge with young voters, Trump still gained considerable ground.
SPEAKER 19 : 3:07
According to ABC’s exit poll data, voters between the ages of 18 and 29 shifted to the right by 13 points in 2024.
SPEAKER 03 : 3:16
That was ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez this past weekend. And political commentator Kyle Campbell, who is the host of the Politically Basic podcast, will be joining me later to talk about the voter turnout, the trends, the shifts, and the surprises that we saw specifically from Gen Z. and to close out the program and the week i’ll be joined by frc’s david clausen for our biblical worldview segment we’ve got a lot to discuss about this week’s headlines and how we as christians should be thinking about them so we’ve got a packed packed show for you today. If you miss any part of it, keep in mind the website tonyperkins.com where of course you can find this edition of Washington Watch as well as past editions as well and tons of resources. So be sure to bookmark that web page. Also, and I want to underscore this for you. THIS IS A CRITICAL TIME FOR OUR COUNTRY AS WE PREPARE FOR THE TRANSITION OF LEADERSHIP IN WASHINGTON. AS ALL THIS UNFOLDS, OUR COUNTRY FACES UNQUESTIONABLY BOTH GLOBAL CHALLENGES AS WELL AS THE EFFECTS OF A CURRENT LAME DUCK SESSION HERE IN CONGRESS. And look, we at FRC, we believe that this particular season calls for a heightened spiritual awareness and unity and vigilance. So during this time that’s known as a lame duck, specifically we’re talking about from now to January 20th of 2025, we are inviting you to join us in what we’re calling Operation Prayer Shield. This is just a collective prayer effort. in which we’ll seek God’s divine protection. We’ll seek his guidance. And we want you to join us. Many of you were involved in praying for the election. Well, now we need to pray for the transition of leadership and for this lame duck session and for all the issues at stake. Simply text the word SHIELD SHIELD, S-H-I-E-L-D, to 67742. And what you will get in return are some weekly alerts, some daily prayer points, and a whole lot more. So again, text the word SHIELD to 67742. All right, let’s jump into our first topic for today. There’s been a flurry of news related to President-elect Trump’s picks for various cabinet positions, but perhaps no one has received as much backlash or support, for that matter, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He, of course, ran for president as an independent, but then later dropped out and endorsed Trump. No question, he’s a complicated figure. but we want to talk about him and President-elect Trump’s pick for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And Meg Kilgannon, who is a senior fellow for education studies here at FRC, is joining me now. She previously served at the U.S. Department of Education during the first Trump administration. Meg, thanks so much for joining me. Great to see you.
SPEAKER 11 : 6:26
Great to see you, Jody. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 03 : 6:29
All right. Boy, there’s a lot of buzz about RFK Jr. Tell me your initial reaction when it was announced that he was tapped for HHS.
SPEAKER 11 : 6:41
It’s been quite a week of announcements, right? So to have that one come yesterday was just the end of a really big week. I was surprised that it was HHS that he was being named to head up, but I was not surprised that he was given a prominent role in the administration. I mean, we remember that the Democrats, the Democratic Party refused to have a primary to challenge Joe Biden. But Robert F. Kennedy mounted a Democratic Party primary campaign before he left the Democratic Party to become an independent, because they weren’t going to have it. They weren’t going to have any conversation on their side. And there was a long process of getting the endorsement from RFK Jr. by the Trump campaign. So I’m not at all surprised that he’s been given a prominent role. As a pro-life conservative, of course, I would prefer a pro-life person in this position, obviously. But I think that there is a lot of common ground with this pick that we can obviously need to pray about and hope for really, really good results should he make it through the confirmation process.
SPEAKER 03 : 7:58
Yeah, those are some good points, Meg. There’s no question that this has been, this whole umbrella, if you will, underneath HHS has been a passion of his. He’s been very much involved and outspoken, I’ll put it that way, on his positions with so many of these. In fact, let me just do this. Talk about the umbrella of HHS. This is an enormous agency, and some people may not be aware of just how big it is and what all comes underneath HHS. What are some of the agencies that come under this?
SPEAKER 11 : 8:31
Right. Well, there’s the Center for Disease Control. There’s the Food and Drug Administration. There’s the National Institutes of Health, just for starters. It oversees Medicare and Medicaid. There’s a tremendous, you know, there’s $2 trillion of spending that goes through HHS, but a lot of that spending is not discretionary spending. A lot of that spending is entitlements. is healthcare for American citizens and under the Biden administration for illegal immigrants. So we have a lot to unpack with that and it’s a lot to oversee, but there are a lot of pressing health concerns facing Americans. And that is why the let’s make America healthy again part of the Donald Trump campaign that was, of course, the RFK Jr. part of that was so resonant with so many people. I think a lot of people were surprised in unpacking who voted for Donald Trump that he did pretty well with suburban women, all things considered. And I think that maybe RFK Jr. deserves some of the credit for that because the concerns that he raises—
SPEAKER 03 : 9:39
So what are some of the reforms that Kennedy has promoted that have resonated with conservatives and non-conservatives?
SPEAKER 11 : 9:49
Right. Well, he has always been a person who has been interested in investigating some of the claims of the problems related to the vaccine regime that has been grown with the FDA’s encouragement over the last 20 years. And he’s willing to talk about that issue. And because he’s willing to question that whole presupposition that vaccines are always good, he’s been vilified in the media. But there are a lot of people who share his concerns. And of course, all of the controversy surrounding the so-called COVID vaccines just played into this. So there’s a lot there that needs to be investigated and examined. And he is an attorney. He’s known for his environmental work as well. He’s a person who’s familiar with how government works. And I’m curious. I’m enjoying thinking about what he might do and the kinds of things that he might question as the head of HHS.
SPEAKER 03 : 10:53
Yeah, I agree with you on that. I’m really sitting on pins and needles to just imagine. where this is going to go. But now, Meg, at the same time that he’s got some good things, he’s got some things that he wants to uncover, investigate, get to the bottom of, at the same time, you alluded to this a while ago, that there are some potential concerns that conservatives have with Kennedy’s nomination. You mentioned specifically where does he stand on the life issues. But unpack for us some of the concerns that probably we need to at least be aware of as this gets under way.
SPEAKER 11 : 11:31
Well, you know, there was a brief shining moment there in his run for presidency when he was asked some questions about abortion, and he actually gave some nontraditional answers from someone in the Democratic Party. He actually said, you know, that he was for limits, and he made some very positive statements, but he unfortunately walked back. So I think where he is on abortion is open for questioning. And as a person who’s pro-life, I don’t want there to be any question, right? But we live in a democracy and a republic where I don’t always get my way. So I’m going to pray a lot about this and hope for the best. And he does still have to make it through confirmation. So I would love it if there was talk of some other appointments in undersecretary positions of people who are strongly pro-life that could give Maybe Senator’s a little bit of leeway in supporting this nomination. You know, there’s all kinds of deals that are made in this process. And so we’ll just have to see how it unfolds.
SPEAKER 03 : 12:36
Yeah, good point. Those undersecretaries are critical. Less than a minute or so left, Meg. What do we know about his character? I would say most people really don’t know much about R.F.K. Jr.
SPEAKER 11 : 12:47
Right. There have been some tell-all books written about him. One very recently that revealed some disturbing things about his character. And that will all be litigated by the press and by the Senate as he goes through the confirmation process. It’s certainly not something that’s going to be a surprise to anyone. So this, again, is something that we need to pray about. We’re not asking him to be our pastor. We’re asking him to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
SPEAKER 03 : 13:22
Very interesting. And that question of character doesn’t just apply to RFK Jr. Some of the others who have been nominated, likewise, have to go through that fire. Thank you, Meg Kilgannon, FRC Senior Fellow for Education Studies. Always great to see you and talk with you. We deeply appreciate your expertise.
SPEAKER 11 : 13:40
Thanks, Jody.
SPEAKER 03 : 13:42
All right, friends, after the break, we’ll discuss the calls for answers as it relates to FEMA avoiding providing storm assistance to homes that were displaying signs in favor of Trump. So don’t go anywhere. We’ll cover that for you right after the break.
SPEAKER 04 : 14:02
Let’s not be discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let’s stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
SPEAKER 05 : 14:19
The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don’t defend it, who will?
SPEAKER 01 : 14:35
Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don’t say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You’re naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
SPEAKER 08 : 14:57
Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we’ve relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we’ve relied too little on the power of God and God’s ability to open doors that we can’t open and do things that we couldn’t even hope to begin to do.
SPEAKER 13 : 15:15
This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that his spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
SPEAKER 09 : 15:37
Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
SPEAKER 07 : 16:02
Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We’ve created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
SPEAKER 06 : 16:30
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SPEAKER 03 : 17:02
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. Glad to have you on board with us. All right, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA, they’re facing increased scrutiny after a whistleblower alleged that disaster relief efforts were intentionally denied to supporters of Donald Trump. Now, originally, fingers pointed to since-fired FEMA supervisor Marnie Washington, who told employees under her authority to avoid Holmes advertising Trump. Now, this took place specifically during the disaster relief in Lake Placid, Florida, during the midst of all the hurricane season that we’ve just come through. But she has since come out to say that she was just following orders from higher up in the federal agency.
SPEAKER 12 : 17:54
What’s reprehensible is they’re not being transparent. Why is this coming down on me? I am the person that jotted down the notes from my superiors, and my notation in Teams chat was exposed. But I’m just simply executing, again, what was coming down from my superiors.
SPEAKER 03 : 18:14
Well, among those who are demanding answers are members of Congress, including my next guest. Joining me now is Congressman Doug LaMoffo, who serves on three different committees, but he represents the 1st Congressional District of California. He and I also shared the same hall during my time in Congress. Congressman LaMoffo, my friend, always great to have you back on Washington Watch. Good to see you.
SPEAKER 10 : 18:40
Jody, good to see you again, my friend. How you been?
SPEAKER 03 : 18:43
I’m doing well. Hope you are. All right, let’s just start with this whole situation. Tell us what you know about this situation with FEMA and denying assistance to people who had Trump signs.
SPEAKER 10 : 18:56
Well, I mean, we’re all hearing the same story here, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. We have two different letters out that we’re going to run through some hearings in the Transportation Committee. Our chairman, Sam Graves, and some of my other colleagues are going to demand these answers. It’s not unlike the Secret Service story here a while back with Trump in Pennsylvania. I mean— it’s pathetic how we have so much government and so much of it isn’t really functioning well for us. And I think that FEMA is something that we have to be able to trust as well, because now, look, take my zone up in Northern California. We’ve had so much wildfire, so much forest fire and damage to communities, to homes and such. And so FEMA has been an important part of helping people get back up on their feet, you know, in ending the fire and then the the picking up the pieces after the fire. So we have to be able to trust the organization to be on point. So it’s very disturbing this is allowed to happen under the Biden watch here that Ms. Washington, and now she wants to point uphill on this thing that there must be, it’s coming down from up higher. So that means it isn’t maybe just isolated to this Florida, or perhaps North Carolina or that region. It might be more cases of that around the country where there’s an issue like that and in the past as well.
SPEAKER 03 : 20:16
Well, and that’s exactly right. And when FEMA goes to work, it’s because there’s a major crisis. And people need help at that point. And never should our government be involved in discrimination based on political viewpoints. But especially, you would underscore that during a crisis. Well, after all this was found out, the director, Deanne Criswell, she tweeted that the employee that you referenced has been terminated. And that’s OK. But the fired employee went on to say that she was just following orders. Now, do we know, Congressman LaMoffa, if Director Criswell is looking into that claim, whether or not that’s being taken seriously?
SPEAKER 10 : 21:01
Oh, my colleagues and I intend to ask her this in committee. So she’ll be one of the ones that we’ll be targeting for having the chance to grill her on this because if it indicates that this individual is pointing upstairs, that it’s coming from on high, then that’s an even bigger problem. And it’s really sad because I mentioned my own district once again. We had the fire in Paradise, California back in 2018. And we really needed, and FEMA, you know, largely came through for us on that. And so that was under the Trump administration. We want to be able to trust these organizations, not to have them weaponized, as we see time and again in many organizations of the federal government, that they’re using it for political purpose. And so Ms. Criswell needs to come answer that as well. Maybe she’ll have a good answer, but she needs to have that opportunity, and we need to be able to get that opportunity to question her on it.
SPEAKER 03 : 21:53
Yeah, absolutely. And I do want to get to the letter, but you’d mentioned that this is probably not isolated. And it appears, my understanding, that the whistleblower actually said it’s not isolated to Florida, but that this was extended to the Carolinas as well. But, you know, our… As we get to this whole letter, what is it that you all, you and your colleagues are demanding? What are some of the answers that you’re looking for and where do you think this is going to lead?
SPEAKER 10 : 22:26
It really drills down to the basics of how are the people in charge at FEMA, the different layers, the different levels administering the aid, and how can they possibly put out a memo and think they’re going to get away with it. That’s the crazy thing about this business around here. People try to get away with these things that are completely outrageous. And so when we interview this lady or others involved and see, yes, did we also have a problem in North Carolina around the same timeline? Because unfortunately, it seemed like the aid and the effort was getting out kind of slowly. And I don’t want to just be a critic because things can never… seem fast enough for the people that are the victims in the situation. And it’s difficult to get that out. So I don’t want to be just a critic. But why does it seem like it’s not mobilized as quickly as it can? And why did that happen in North Carolina, seemingly? Whether it’s Priswell or regional directors of this, we need to have them all be able to account for why did it happen this way, and how can a message like this go out from Washington under the direction, you know, Miss Washington, at the direction of somebody above her or on her own. Now, as we know, we had a whistleblower that came forward, thankfully for that, so we get to the bottom of this.
SPEAKER 03 : 23:46
And we’ve got less than a minute, Congressman, but what would your message to Americans be who may think that they’ve been targeted?
SPEAKER 10 : 23:55
Well, the U.S. House of Representatives is the people’s house, okay? We’re the ones that directly represent people most closely to their government. And so we have the job of oversight and accountability, and we will demand accountability on this and get to the bottom of what has happened here But we want them also to know that we’re the watchdogs and we’re not just going to accept this. So it takes time sometimes to slog through this investigation, investigative process. But putting them on notice right now means that any further FEMA action is going to be much more directly in aid to the people we believe.
SPEAKER 03 : 24:33
Thank you so much, Congressman Doug LaMalfa, California’s first congressional district. Great to see you. Thanks for coming.
SPEAKER 10 : 24:40
Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 03 : 24:42
All right, friends, coming up next, Politically Basic host Kyle Campbell will be joining me to discuss Gen Z, all the voter turnout, the trends and shifts and surprises in this demographic group. So stay tuned. Stick around. We’ll be back right after the break.
SPEAKER 15 : 25:00
Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It’s true that all ideas have consequences, but we’re less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life’s biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 03 : 27:02
Good afternoon. Hope you’re having a great day. Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. I’m your host, Jody Heiss. All right. After the past 10 days or so since the decisive victory of President-elect Donald Trump, many on the left have been trying to figure out why Election Day didn’t work out in their favor.
SPEAKER 02 : 27:22
Somehow you also have to explain why the gender gap went down, why Kamala Harris did worse among women than Joe Biden did. Somehow you have to explain why Trump got more black voters than any Republican since Richard Nixon. Somehow you have to explain how he massively improved Republican standing among Hispanic voters.
SPEAKER 03 : 27:40
Wow. Questions, questions, questions coming from every direction among the left. That was New York Times columnist David Brooks this past week on PBS NewsHour. And, of course, there’s the Democratic Party’s loss of some of the younger voters, voters that normally support them. In fact, according to ABC News exit polling, voters between the ages of 18 to 29 shifted to Trump by 13 points in 2024 compared to 2020. That’s huge. So what could be the explanation for all of this? Is it an easy one or a difficult one? Well, joining me now to discuss this is a political commentator, Kyle Campbell. She’s the host of the podcast Politically Basic. Kyle, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you.
SPEAKER 17 : 28:27
Hi, Jody. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 03 : 28:29
Well, listen, it is our privilege. So let’s start with the younger voters, Gen Z. What can you tell us about the trends, the shifts that took place, the surprises that came up on everybody’s radar?
SPEAKER 17 : 28:44
Absolutely. They’re giving us a lot of great data after this election. And I’m not sure it was so much a shift as an earthquake amongst Gen Z voters and two very different campaigns who approached these voters completely differently. And it resulted in that deafening loss for Kamala Harris’s campaign and the left. And really what we’re seeing, you know, in 2020 is About 33% of young women voted for Trump. It was 40% this year in this election. 56% of young men voted for Trump. So we’re seeing big numbers up on the board for him. And really, I think one of the biggest issues that helped Trump win and caused the Harris campaign to lose was that Trump went for these voters. He wanted to know, what are your real concerns? What are your daily struggles? And how can we craft policy and messaging to address that? What we saw with Kamala Harris, to her real detriment, is that they sort of expected the youth vote because younger voters tend to vote Democrat. And put blinders on. They really didn’t take the time or attention to really find out what were the real struggles and concerns of young voters. And it really was the economy. You know, they’re facing kind of a bleak future economically and not able to attain the things they want. that their parents’ and grandparents’ generations were. But they decided to sort of forego that and instead of find out, really place abortion at the top of that list for those voters instead of asking them themselves.
SPEAKER 03 : 30:20
Wow, well said. I think he hit it right. It really was a political earthquake. I mean, that is the correct wording. Look, we know that the Harris-Waltz campaign, they worked hard, okay, and no doubt they paid a lot to get celebrity power, but that really… ended up being a rabbit trail that was totally non-effective and impactful for them. In fact, to me, a stunning study came out that said only 8% of Americans actually, of young people, of young Americans, actually looked at celebrity endorsements in social media. 45% turned to their family, their friends. So was the Democrats, were they just totally disconnected on so many fronts?
SPEAKER 17 : 31:11
Oh, 100 percent. I mean, Jodi, if Taylor Swift’s endorsement can’t get it done for you, you know you’re off track. I mean, and what we have found is that amongst all voters in our nation, we don’t look to celebrities and pop stars to give us political guidance. We look to them for entertainment. We look to others who are more connected to our day-to-day lives to guide us in this arena. So, again, a really big L up on the scoreboard and a lot of millions of dollars wasted on people who already have a lot of money, like Oprah, Beyonce, Cardi B, who don’t represent the values and the day-to-day struggles of the American world. So it kind of came across again as pretty condescending, knowing that all of this money was spent on these endorsements. And the people did not want to hear from those types of people who cannot relate to what they are going through. So, again, complete disconnection there and resulted in a really big loss for them.
SPEAKER 03 : 32:16
Yeah, and when you say condescending, I think that’s well said. The left, they’ve been putting some of the blame on what they refer to as uneducated women. So you would be left to think that if you’re a woman who did not vote for Kamala Harris, you must not be smart. So, I mean, how do you respond to that?
SPEAKER 17 : 32:36
Well, Jodi, I think a lot of mistakes were made by the Kamala Harris campaign. And that was one of them. Again, there was an expectation of a vote based on DEI and identity politics. Just because you’re a woman, you were supposed to vote for Kamala Harris because she’s a woman. Just because you’re a person of color or a minority, you were supposed to hand over your vote to her. And what they were messaging, though, to the voters all across America, regardless of your educational background or your history or your status, was that they thought the American voter was stupid. And they are not. They’re smart and wanted to make the decision for themselves. and not have a campaign tell them what to do or expect a vote without their participation. It was shoved down everyone’s throats. And from the very beginning, when Kamala Harris was installed as the nominee, that messaging was made from the get-go. And so I think right away, they could have recovered, but right away, the American people thought, you know, we’re not going to just hand that over to you as always.
SPEAKER 03 : 33:42
Thank you, Kyle Campbell, host of Politically Basic. Great insight. Thank you for joining us on Washington Watch. Thanks, Jody. Always a pleasure. All right, after the break, we’re going to wrap up the week and this program with our Biblical Worldview segment with David Claussen. So stay tuned. We’ll be back in a moment.
SPEAKER 09 : 34:08
Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But do you know the Bible talks about four institutions of government? Do you know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 15 : 35:02
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
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Good afternoon and welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss. Glad to have you joining us today. All right, again, I want to encourage you to join us for what we’re calling Operation Prayer Shield. This is a collective prayer effort in which we’re literally seeking God’s divine protection and guidance as we prepare for the transition of leadership in Washington. And we believe, and I know you believe with us, that this season calls for a heightened spiritual vigilance and unity. And so we’re asking you to come on. Let’s all join together in praying to get updates and tons of information about this, to pray wisely and specifically and with purpose in all of this. Simply text the word SHIELD to 67742. SHIELD, S-H-I-E-L-D to 67742. All right, over the last week and a half, there’s been a lot of discussion among Democrats about what went wrong in this election season. And they’ve got all sorts of questions, like was Kamala Harris uniquely that bad of a candidate? Did Joe Biden drop out too late? Did the Democrat Party focus too much on cultural issues? On and on and on the questions go. And meanwhile, of course, President-elect Trump has been busy this week appointing several people to his cabinet. But underlying all of this, regardless of which direction of interest is grabbing you, how should Christians think about all of these issues and even more? Well, joining me now to discuss these topics in our weekly Biblical Worldview segment is David Claussen. He’s the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at the Family Research Council. David, thank you so much for joining us. Always good to have you on our Friday afternoons. Hey, great to see you again, Jody. You know, I wasn’t sure if you’re going to be here. I know you’re just days away from being a dad for the first time, so we’ll try to be direct and to the point because I know action could happen quickly, but we’re all prayerful and excited for you and your wife.
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Thank you, Joe. Nine days is the expected due date, so definitely appreciate our listeners’ and viewers’ prayers. Nine days, Lord willing. Nine days.
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How exciting. Okay, David, if I can keep your focused attention here for a few moments, let’s talk about the aftermath of the election. Some Democrats have stated publicly that they think their party went too far on the transgender issue. One example that comes to mind, Representative Seth Moulton, candidly distanced himself from some of the extreme transgender rhetoric that was coming from his party. And his comments, as we all can imagine, have been widely panned by some of his fellow Democrats, although some have agreed with him. So what do you make of all the Democratic intra-party squabble that’s taking place right now?
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Yeah, it really is a mess, Jody. And I think when you kind of look at what’s happening, I think as Christians wanting to kind of look at it from a worldview angle, it’s good to take a step back, first of all, and realize the issues that are kind of being debated and discussed right now in this kind of intra-party feud, these are issues of the created order. To use a real fancy seminary word, these are issues of ontology, of being. This is really actually quite basic. Male and female, created he them. This goes to the first pages of the book of Genesis. But it shows you, Jody, just how far the extreme left has pushed the Democratic Party, that even suggesting, as the representative from Massachusetts has done, that maybe we’ve gone a little too far. And I think in the congressman’s comments, Jody, he said, you know, I don’t like the idea of my two daughters having to compete against biological men and And there was actually another congressman from New York who said the same thing. Just, Jody, even raising the issue for some people is just a bridge way too far. And so I think it’s a good thing, Jody, again, I want both political parties to understand that there are only two genders. I want both political parties to be in favor of policies that protect the intimate spaces of girls and women. I want both parties to to be against cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries for minor children who are confused with their gender. So I hope, Jodi, that the conversation taking place on the other side of the aisle leads to rethinking some of these positions, getting in line with the created order. But frankly, I guess we’ll see what happens.
SPEAKER 03 : 41:59
Yeah, I’m with you, hoping that all these things that you just suggested come about. It never ceases to amaze me that we’re even having this discussion, like there’s more than two genders. What planet are we living on? But I guess the fact is that there, look, I was in many of the hearings in Congress where these type of conversations, debates were taking place. So my question, David, do you think that the left is going to walk back some of these extreme positions like transgender surgeries and so forth, or are they going to just keep pressing in?
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For the sake of a flourishing civil society, Jody, I hope so. But again, I’m doubtful. Let’s take a look just at the backlash against Congressman Moulton’s comments. You have the governor of Massachusetts criticizing him, saying that he’s playing politics with the issue. You have other kind of members of the so-called squad, AOC and folks kind of that are of her ilk, really doubling down. You have MSNBC contributors like Joy Reid coming out saying that the idea that we would try to think about some of these things that are such, you know, core civil rights issues, that’s how they view kind of the whole LGBT moral revolution. So Jody, I don’t think we’re going to see much of a reconfiguring of the position. I do think, though, that, again, President Trump and his campaign, they were brilliant. The most memorable campaign commercial from this cycle is when President Trump said, Kamala Harris is for they, them, I’m for you. It was a great campaign commercial. And again, my hope for the sake of human flourishing in this country, I hope the left will reconsider. But just even based on the kind of response to the situation we’re talking about now, I’m going to, we’ll see. I’m not hopeful.
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Yeah, I’m not holding my breath either. We could talk about this forever, but let’s switch gears. A lot of other things in the news this past week, not the least of which, of course, is President-elect Trump. He’s been super busy with all sorts of appointments to his cabinet, his cabinet picks. All right, so how should Christians respond to some of the news coming out of Mar-a-Lago right now, specifically related to these picks?
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Yeah, what an opportunity for a civics lesson. You know, so many people have followed the election. My hope is that specifically Christians around the country would continue paying attention just because Donald Trump won the election, will take the oath of office in January. Don’t disengage from the process. I think it’s, again… what we’re seeing play out since the election is really important. And Jody, I think a big principle that we’ve talked about is elections have consequences. Who sits behind the resolute desk there at the White House, they get to make picks. They get to appoint ambassadors who represent and export American values. President Trump will get an opportunity to appoint hundreds of judges. And as we’re seeing, Jody, the President gets to pick cabinet secretaries who are given just all sorts of authority. And some of the picks, Jody, that I’m seeing are just incredibly encouraging. Marco Rubio, my home state of Florida senator, he’s well respected on the world stage. And as a Christian, I know where his convictions are on the social issues. Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel. This is a former Southern Baptist pastor. He was actually the president of the Arkansas Baptist Convention back in the day. There’s other, you know, FRC’s friend Mike Waltz being the national security advisor. So a lot of these picks, Jody, are just incredible. Men and women of skill, of experience, and many of these are believers, Jody, and I think we should be incredibly encouraged by that.
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yeah and you know you just hope that those uh voices uh around the president right now would be able to speak into his orbit the biblical message on on multiple different issues of these agency leaders now that they’ll be able to to have some some comment there And many of these people, of course, I’ve been able to work with, and like you, I’m just encouraged by. I think of Tom Holman, for example, on the border. I’ve been with him multiple times on the border and beyond. And boy, he’s serious about defending our border, which, again, is a biblical issue to be able to do that. So it’s… There’s some question marks and there’s some great encouragement. Let me give you one of the question marks. We talked about this a little bit earlier in the program. RFK Jr. being tapped now to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He’s received a lot of attention, both positive and a lot of concerns and question marks. What’s your take on that appointment and the reaction that it’s all generated?
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Yeah, I think, Jody, as a general rule of thumb, a president deserves to have their picks confirmed. A president wins his election on a specific agenda, and I think there should be a level of deference. With RFK Jr., though, I do think people like Mike Pence are raising concerns that are valid. RFK Jr. has been pro-abortion for decades. There was a few minutes, it seemed, on the campaign trail when he was running as an independent that he expressed some pro-life sentiments, but then he walked those back. And so, again, Jodi, I think there should be deference to a president’s picks. But I do think the Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent. And in this confirmation hearing, Jody, I hope that convictional pro-life senators will ask RFK Jr. questions related to his views on the life issue. You know, the HHS secretary, Jody, oversees the CDC, the National Institute for Health, you know, Medicare, Medicaid issues. importantly, the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA. And so under the banner and the umbrella of HHS, a lot of issues dealing with transgenderism, dealing with abortion. And just think the current cabinet secretary, Javier Becerra, has been, again, the most energetic supporter of abortion that I think HHS has ever seen. Maybe it’s a toss-up between him and Kathleen Sebelius under the Obama administration. But again, Jody, I do hope that senators will do their constitutional duty and get RFK on the record in saying that he’s going to serve the president who did run on a pretty pro-life campaign platform.
SPEAKER 03 : 48:57
Yeah, and you talk about, and I agree with you, presidents should have, generally speaking at least, the right to make the appointments that they choose within the parameters of the Senate and them fulfilling their responsibility to confirm them and so forth. But when you add to that the The obvious unquestionable mandate that comes with this particular election and the people across the country and virtually every sector overwhelmingly said we want to get behind this agenda. Does that add a certain emphasis to the responsibility of the Senate to confirm these people?
SPEAKER 16 : 49:41
I think it does. And again, this was an election that looked like it was just going to go down to the wire. And I think almost all of the post-election analysis and discussion has just been, Jody, I think I saw that every state, maybe except Washington state, moved right. That was something that no one foresaw in the polling. It is true, Donald Trump, the president-elect, the former president, has a mandate. But I do think, again, that those of us who supported him and encouraged Christians to vote, I think, again, we still have a responsibility and obligation and duty to remind the powers that be to hold them accountable. And again, what an opportunity on this HHS secretary pick, and I think other cabinet positions as well, to remind the incoming administration that you’re in power in part because tens of millions of Christians, even though they were told they weren’t being faithful, even though they were told that this wasn’t loving their neighbor, they voted for the incoming administration. And so I think there’s a deference also that the administration should show to the millions of Christians who supported them in the campaign.
SPEAKER 03 : 50:54
Yeah, and I agree with that. And you know, you look, we don’t have time to get into Tulsi Gabbard as well as RFK Jr. But the president-elect is going beyond just standard Republicans. I mean, it appears as though there is an attempt to reach across the aisle, if you will, to people that he believes are experienced enough in certain areas to step up to the plate. All right, our time’s running out. Let me throw this last one out. We’re still waiting on a couple of races, but officially now the House of Representatives has been called for Republicans. So this means that we’re gonna have a unified government in Washington with Republicans in control of the White House, the Senate, and the House. So the 119th Congress is going to be vastly different from what it has been in the past. Your thoughts on that?
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Yeah, what an opportunity. And we know that times like this, Jody, are usually very brief and fleeting. And so the incoming administration, this first 100 days, they need to be aggressive. We don’t have the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, so some very lofty, great legislation that we would support probably is not going to have a chance because of that 60-threshold vote. But my goodness, we can see through reconciliation tax cuts that were promised on the campaign trail with the bully pulpit of the executive and through – Executive orders, we can see things immediately on day one put back in place. Mexico City policy, we can see some of these egregious SOGI executive orders put in place by the Biden administration. We can see those rolled back on day one. The Department of Defense’s abortion travel policy, that can be nixed on day one. And so the incoming president working with his majorities in the Senate and the House, they can make sure that the Hyde Amendment is put into place and fully enforced. So there’s going to be opportunities for wins, whether it’s pro-life wins, pro-religious liberty wins, and just conservative wins. But it’s going to take everyone working in concert because, again, these majorities, they don’t come around often. They can be fleeting. So let’s be praying that the folks… who have these opportunities take advantage of them.
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Thank you so much, David Claussen, Director of FRC’s Center for Biblical Worldview. Always great to have you on Fridays. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Jody. God bless. Have a great weekend. All right, friends, that wraps up another week here on Washington Watch. Hope you have a great weekend as well. Go to church, find some people, pray and give thanks, and then come back and join us for our time of prayer. Shield to 67742 for more info. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you next week on Washington Watch.
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Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
