In this episode of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast the guys discuss the latest with Iran. Is it possible to effectively negotiate with fanatical terrorist zealots willing to die for Allah? If not, where does that leave the U.S. on issues like once and for all ending nuclear aspirations, fully opening the Strait of Hormuz and Regime change? How will this affect Trump, the midterms, the World economy and National Security if one or all don’t happen?
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, a view of culture, current events, and politics through a biblical lens brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the Preborn logo to donate to save babies now. and by SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. And now, here are your hosts, Neil Boron, Bob Duco, and John Rush.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to another edition of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. John Rush, host of Rush to Reason, back with us. He was out of town away for a couple of weeks getting some good R&R, but glad to have John Rush back. John is it? John, is it? John Rush, is it? Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was trying to remember his name.
SPEAKER 03 :
Anyway, he’s heard daily on KLZ in Denver. The other voice you just heard in the background is Bob Duco, host of the Bob Duco Show on WMUZ in Detroit. And my name is Neil Boron, host of Neil Boron Live on WDCX Radio in Buffalo, New York. Boy, we’ve got so much to talk about. And I don’t know about you guys, but it seems like… in past years anyway, sometimes we would be scraping for a topic or at least try to decide what the most favorable topic would be to talk about. These days, they’re just coming to us on a silver platter, and I’m not happy to have to talk about these things, but we’ve got a variety of issues before us. Obviously, the war in Iran, somebody could also say that Donald Trump now seems to be in a war of words with Pope Leo and maybe in a different kind of war regarding his intentions behind a truth social post that seemed to indicate that in some way he thought he was the Messiah or whatever his intention was. We’re going to talk about that. His own supporters, though, calling the post blasphemous. So there’s much to talk about. But as we get back into this, let’s start with Iran again, if you don’t mind, guys. We’re at a very interesting impasse here. And, you know, probably the last time we talked, we were looking at the idea of, you know, the potential elimination of an entire civilization. Those are the words that Donald Trump was using But certainly that he was going to take out infrastructure in Iran if a negotiation, some kind of deal wasn’t reached. The deal wasn’t reached, but now the U.S. is involved in blocking, helping to block the Strait of Hormuz, which seemed like the worst thing in the world. We’ve got to get that Strait open. Now we’re involved in helping to block it. So there’s a lot of stuff to talk about here. And, John, you’ve been away on vacation, so we’re not going to start with you. We’re going to start with Bob this time. Bob, make some sense out of where we’re at right now. I mean, certain people in the media and others are saying, listen, it’s already a defeat for Trump because they came away from that extended negotiation, sort of brokered through Pakistan, didn’t get anything they really want. They weren’t able to secure the idea that. You know, Iran will abandon their nuclear aspirations, weren’t able to get a promise that the Strait of Hormuz would be open, and no regime change. As a matter of fact, some are saying the regime that’s in power right now may be more fanatical than the one previous. So all of this, in some ways, you can see the… The nation’s media jumping on that saying Donald Trump has failed at every turn. I don’t personally believe that because, you know, as Yogi Berra said, it ain’t over till it’s over. But on the other hand, your thoughts about where we’re at with all this?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I think if we part of this in trying to assess where we are has to be what we’re going to use as our point of reference as far as comparing this. And to me, that’s what’s kind of making my eye twitch about this, because the Trump haters, the anti-Trump crowd, they are going to compare this. They’re going to compare this Iran war to absolute perfection, which doesn’t exist anywhere in a fallen world. But if you compare what’s happening in Iran right now to previous military efforts with the United States, then suddenly it’s entirely different. You know, what the press considered one of the most successful military operations In recent history was Operation Desert Storm. This was the original attack on Iraq. Now, we’re not talking about the second attack that ended up dragging out into the long Iraq war. We’re talking about just the first one. And when we did the first Operation Desert Storm. This is considered hugely successful, even though we lost 75 aircraft in that. 75 aircraft. We’ve lost one at this point, and we rescued both of the pilots in that case. So relatively speaking, to take on a country like Iran… And the fact that even peace negotiation discussions are still happening and there are reports that they’re going to resume potential peace talks tomorrow. What I’m saying, everybody, is just kind of settle down and wait just a little bit and see how this thing plays out. I do have confidence. Call me naive, but I do have confidence in Trump conversation. Kushner, Witkoff, Vance, the negotiation team, I do have confidence in the Trump administration to come from a position of strength and somehow bring this thing to a resolution. The Strait of Hormuz, Trump gained control of the Strait of Hormuz, so we’re not letting anybody go through except people we decide can go through as long as it’s not from Iranian ports. And so that’s what they’re doing right now. And then this morning he posted, now we’re in control of the Strait and we’re going to open it up to everybody. And so it’s like, let’s give it time. I still think that Trump is going to be able to successfully get a peace negotiated a deal with Iran. It may be taking a little longer than we expected, but I’d be surprised if that doesn’t happen fairly soon.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. And John, you know, I’m sure you weren’t watching the headlines every moment of every day, but you probably have some idea of where we’re at with this. So your thoughts regarding where we’re at with the war in Iran?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I think a lot of what Bob just said I would agree with, and I personally don’t think it’s going as bad as some would think. It’s funny, you guys interview different people, I do as well, and depending on who you interview, some people are like us, feel like things are going pretty well, others feel like the world has ended, and it’s far from that by a long shot. The reality is, and this is something too that I even talked about yesterday, the reality is what Donald Trump has done and has really already accomplished, has really set a whole different stage energy-wise right now in the world. What I mean by that is, and I don’t think most people understand this, there are more ships now coming to the U.S. Our exports of oil have jumped up almost 2 million barrels a day. We are now becoming the, what do you want to call it, the reserve for what was going through the straits. People are now sending ships to us to get filled up. It’s getting to the point to where you know, Iran is going to run out of cash. What Donald Trump is doing by shutting off the straits is really just he’s taking away their cash, their gold, if you would. I mean, eventually they’re going to run out of money. And I think that’s exactly what his plan here is in all of this. So if we can’t beat them, you know, warfare wise, which, by the way, we’re doing very well with, as Bob pointed out. But on top of that, we’re now cutting off their money supply. And the question is, how long can they go without having that cash influx? And The other thing that this hurts by doing all of this, which everybody needs to remember, is Russia and China as well. And by the way, the Brits. And it’s something that doesn’t get talked much about, by the way, guys. It’s something I wanted to talk about today a little bit. All of this, I feel, you know, now, was the nukes with Iran and all of that a part of Donald Trump’s plan? Absolutely. But on top of that, I think there was a trifecta here because it wasn’t just, in my opinion, Iran that Trump is looking to go after. He wanted to shut down the proxy service that Iran was giving to Great Britain. He wanted to affect China in a great way, which he has done. And he also wanted to poke the eye of Putin in Russia. So at the end of the day, Donald Trump has accomplished all of those things. It’s not over yet. I think in the end, it’s going to be very good when it’s all said and done. And it’ll be a different world as far as that end of things is concerned. And as I said a moment ago, our exports are up hugely. And if you look at the world economy, ours is doing really well compared to everybody else’s. There are places in Ireland, by the way, where there is no gas in the tanks. Europe is really struggling right now because they put all of their eggs in one basket and and have been propping up Iran for years. And frankly, I’m tired of it, and it’s high time it stopped, and I’m glad Donald Trump is doing this.
SPEAKER 05 :
By the way, can I chime in real quick? I just want to add one thing to what you’re saying there, John, because I think that this is important. The media has such a dishonest and corrupt ability to shape the minds and perceptions of a lot of people and convince them how they should feel. How much have we been seeing in the news about, oh, the price of oil, the price of oil is just terrible, it’s just disastrous? Here’s a little bit of reminder for everybody. At this exact point that we are right now, at this exact point in 2012— It was also an election year that year. Barack Obama eased into reelection. The Democrats, okay, they had a great time as far as the House of Representatives and the Senate goes. Things were fine, and we were being told everything was fine. Do you know at this very point in Barack Obama’s presidency in 2012, do you know what the price of oil was a barrel? It was $123 a barrel. Now, that was in 2012 dollars. If you adjust to inflation, that’s $175 a barrel. So right now at this very moment in an election year, everything was hunky dory and the price of oil was the equivalency of $175 a barrel. As we record this right now, it’s $87 a barrel. The highest that it got to was around $110 a barrel in the worst of this. And the media is telling us it’s so terrible and it was so wonderful under Obama. So don’t fall for the feeble Jedi mind tricks of the press that tells you how to feel.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it’s amazing how many people say they can’t buy food for their children while they’re holding on to a $1,500 smartphone and wearing $800 Air Jordan sneakers.
SPEAKER 05 :
And making $1,000 car payments on their $80,000 SUV. Exactly.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 05 :
I just roll my eyes at that stuff.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, we can’t talk about it.
SPEAKER 02 :
And really quick, by the way, stop on the way to work for $7 coffee.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 05 :
This is true.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s not five bucks anymore, folks. It’s seven, eight bucks now. That’s for a half a cup of 15 if you want to get a full cup of coffee. And really quick though, guys, I mean, seriously, and I think it’s something to remind a lot of folks of as well. Some people will complain about, to your point, Bob, the price of a barrel of oil because that’s what the news media is feeding. Those are the same exact people that have no problem buying a latte or a frappuccino or whatever and do that on a daily basis, which, by the way, if they just cut all of that out, the price of fuel would have no effect upon them at all.
SPEAKER 03 :
Booyah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
You know, Planned Parenthood just put out their latest annual numbers from their last reported fiscal year. And sure enough, over 450,000 abortions that they continued to commit. The rest of their services are going down, but abortions are going up for them. Abortions are still happening. And you know how we can change women’s lives, change their minds about getting an abortion? Let them see an ultrasound image of their baby. That’s right. It’s the number one thing that’s going to make them change their mind. That’s what Preborn does. They provide ultrasound machines and images in pro-life centers all across the country. Problem is it takes money to place them and it takes money to operate them. But if you can just help financially, We can save these babies’ lives, okay? Now, $28 is the average ultrasound expense to help stop one abortion, to help save one baby’s life. How many babies’ lives would you be willing to save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. Pray about a number. If you’ve given a pre-born already, give again. We just need you to keep on giving on a regular basis because abortions keep happening on a regular basis, and we can change these women’s minds forever. on a regular basis too. So $28 times, fill in the blank, pray about a number. And for some of you, we need you to buy ultrasound machines. They’re 15 grand a piece, great tax write-off for you. You’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions over the years. But for everybody else, $28 times, fill in the blank, pray about a number. And everything you give to pre-born, Every penny goes to ultrasounds, nothing for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So, yeah, go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born, give right there. Or just give over the phone by calling 833-850-BABY. They answer 24-7. So call 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call, Neal.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so if there’s a resident expert on the War Powers Act, I think it’s you, Bob, but, you know, This all started on February 28th, at which time a clock started ticking. It gives Donald Trump essentially 60 days to take some military action without congressional approval. That’s got to be coming up in late April, but I think it’s probably early May, first week of May, probably. What happens at that point? Are we neutered, like can’t move forward without congressional approval? How does that timetable affect what’s going on right now?
SPEAKER 05 :
The short answer is I don’t know. It is a 60 day thing that after 60 days you have to get the consent of Congress. But what do you do when you already have military action underway? I mean, is Congress actually going to tell Donald Trump you have to? You have to stop. You have to cease fire. Because guess what? If that happens, you don’t think Iran is going to start firing missiles again? You know they are. And then what? We’re not allowed to fire back? And it could very well be a thing that… I don’t know how it works as far as if you have a ceasefire and you stop military action, that if you start up military action again, does that reset the 60-day clock? I’m guessing no. Is it 60 days of continuous military action and missiles, or is it just 60 days you can take a break and then get a new fresh 60 days? I’d be surprised if that were the case. I don’t know. So I’ve got to imagine that Trump and his people are talking about this right now, With John Thune and certainly Mike Johnson in the House, and they’re probably trying to figure out what do we do if we come up to April 28th and we’re not able to cease military operations yet and we don’t have a peace deal yet. I’m not sure what is going to happen at that point. If Trump keeps on going and doesn’t go to Congress and Democrats are going to take this to the courts and maybe Trump is thinking, hey, by time this makes it to the Supreme Court, we will have then had a peace agreement deal. And so better to ask forgiveness than permission. I just don’t really know, Neil.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, I don’t know that any of us really know, and we ought to keep an eye on that for sure and definitely be praying about the future of where all of this heads, because lives are at stake in both Iran, for sure, but amongst our military and in places like Israel and other places around the world. So one of the thoughts, I mean, in fact, one of the bragging points early on was look at we took out the regime, you know, the leadership of the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard on day one, like they were gone. Okay. And some degree of patting ourselves on the back for our ability to do that. I mean, it was pretty strategic and fantastic from a military perspective to be able to accomplish something like that. But now the concern is that some of the folks who’ve taken power, you know, Motaba Khamenei, the son of… The former leader who was killed on day one may be a more radical version of his own father and that the people in line are extremely radical and have an incredible history of human rights violations. So these are like, you know, maybe maybe we misinterpreted that or underestimated that. John, I’ll start with you on this one. But I. I wonder what your thoughts are there, because obviously one of the goals, I think probably three major goals. One is stop the nuclear, you know, their ability to get nukes. Secondarily, make sure the Strait of Hormuz remains open because it affects the world’s economy, literally. And then thirdly, regime change, which hasn’t happened and who knows, may not happen, although they may have a plan for all of this. But your thoughts, because there’s actually possibly a more radical regime in control right now.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, possibly. And again, how that all pans out, I don’t know. I will say this. I don’t think, and Donald Trump has said this, he’s not backing away from any of the demands that he has on the negotiation sides of things. In other words, he has already said it’s 100% or it’s nothing, it’s no deal, and we’ll continue down the path that we’re headed. So I think in Donald Trump’s mind, and I think the White House currently thinks, There either is regime change when it’s all said and done, Neil, or they’re just going to continue on. And I think the thing that folks forget about is, and I was reading this the other day, and it’s sort of a reminder even to myself that eight presidencies, eight, and remember, some of those were two-term presidents, but eight presidencies, Iran, has been allowed to build up the armament that they have right now. Really almost purposely turning a blind eye to what they’ve been doing. Again, I mentioned earlier the Brits and others that I think are involved with a lot of that, and the reality is we have let them do this for far too long, and they have literally got underground… where they have built up these armaments, and they lie. I mean, we’ve seen that. They lie. How far do their missiles actually go? What’s their capability? I mean, the reality is these are individuals that cannot be trusted at all. It has to be changed. The world will not be safe, period, until that’s done. And Donald Trump’s the guy that’s going to make that happen. I’m firmly convinced of that. How he gets it all done, how it works after the 60 days is up. Those things, like Bob said, I don’t know the answers to either. But at the end of the day, I can tell you this. This is going to end the way that Iran thinks it should, and it’s going to end the way Donald Trump wants it to end.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, and I’m going to ask Bob the same question in a second, but back to you for a second, John. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, talked about it a little bit on my program, but, you know – Did Donald Trump or the Trump administration in general, Secretary of War Hegseth and others, underestimate their commitment to radical Islam? And what I mean is these are people that have no intention of ever surrendering ever, I’m convinced, and want to bring about a world apocalypse because they believe ultimately that brings forth their radical Islamic messiah. And and but because the reason I say that is because sometimes Donald Trump acts as though we saw this. Bob and I talked about this last week. I think we saw it in Gaza when there was talk at the end of the. you know, as things were winding down in Gaza, that he was like, hey, this would be a great place to build a resort. You know, like he’s thinking like a real estate developer. I don’t know that any of that matters to radical, fundamental Islamic terrorists. And I just wonder if in that sense, there is no negotiating with these people on that level because they don’t think like we do. They’re committed to something that makes no sense to us. I don’t know, John, your thoughts?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I don’t think that the White House, Trump, Hegseth, others are that naive. I mean, I think these are individuals that are very versed in what’s going on around the world probably as much as anybody is. In fact, they know things that the three of us will never know because they get intel on things that we’ll never have and aren’t privy to, and rightfully so, by the way. That’s the way I believe it should be. If the American public knew everything that was going on, It’d be an utter disaster. And no, I don’t think they’ve underestimated any of this. I think they have to be careful in how they communicate some of these things, i.e. to the general populace, because I’m sorry to say, and I’m not trying to be rude here, but the general populace is very ignorant. I mean, I’m sorry, guys. They just are. I mean, I watch people in public. I travel. I do things. I go places and so on. And unfortunately, we have dumber people around us today than I think we’ve ever had. And so you have to be extremely careful in how you present some of these things or it’s utter disaster.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, Bob, how do you weigh in on this one?
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I keep going back to the big picture in this. And this is what I think a lot of people lose sight of because we get caught up in the minutiae of the day-to-day aspect of this and what’s going to happen with the Strait, okay, and what’s going to happen with Iran. And, you know, where are we going to—we’re coming up on 60 days pretty close, okay, and Iran still hasn’t given up. And the peace talks, you know, they break down. And so—and our allies aren’t getting as involved as they should be with us. And I’m not saying that there’s no validity in talking about those things, but— But these are all branches of the tree. The tree trunk itself is that Iran had to be stopped from becoming a nuclear nation. They had to be stopped. And John was right what he said earlier. We’ve had eight presidents that have allowed the buildup thinking that negotiations, diplomacy, sanctions, economic pressure, that those are things that are going to bring Iran to function like a normal country. And It’s not. It’s not. All they are are delay tactics for Iran. And now when they’re on the verge of becoming nuclear, we got to remember, OK, North Korea, there was a time when North Korea wasn’t nuclear. They were building toward that. And the United States kept warning them, you can’t go nuclear, you can’t go nuclear. And you know what? They let them do it. And now they’re nuclear. And we have to treat Iran or we have to treat North Korea differently than we would if they weren’t nuclear. Because if Iran were to become nuclear, now we have a bunch of radical mullahs. At least Kim Jong-un doesn’t. He’s not wanting to usher in Armageddon. But the mullahs in Iran are. And so if they became nuclear, they could use the Strait of Hormuz to extort the world. They can control and manipulate the price of oil and the price of gas all over the world if they’re nuclear because it’s like, hey, nobody dares launch missiles at us because we got nuclear weapons. Just like we launched cluster bombs indiscriminately throughout the Middle East, we’ll launch nuclear missiles indiscriminately throughout the Middle East. These are a bunch of radical nutcases. We cannot allow them to go nuclear. And if Trump didn’t do this and the window of opportunity to stop them closed up and they officially became a nuclear nation, everybody, especially on the left, will be screaming at Trump. You let it happen on your watch and you saw they were ready to get there and you let him get there because you didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger. Then they’d really be calling him a taco. Right. So, no, I think Trump, we’ve got to keep our eye on the big picture. This was a necessary thing to do. Even if it’s messier than we hoped it would be, it’s still better than your average military action that we’ve taken in previous years.
SPEAKER 03 :
Man, those are some wise words. I want to thank SunPowerLED for giving us the opportunity to talk about these things in detail every single week, things that affect the American people. And whenever we can, bring some sort of biblical perspective. I want to talk about some of that in the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. But first, I want to thank our sponsor, Preborn. We’ll hear about it in a minute. SunPower LED, which you can find both at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And you’re like, well, what is SunPower LED and what is photobiomodulation? Well, it’s light therapy. And you’ve all seen the opera singer who can explode a champagne glass when she hits a certain note in it and holds it for a while. Well, Just like sound waves have power, light waves have power. And God has designed it such that certain wavelengths of red in the air, infrared light can actually be used to help heal our bodies. Yeah, light that God created. You can learn all about it by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Sun Power LED. But light therapy has been used for all kinds of applications, plantar fasciitis, knee pain. joint pain, migraines, tinnitus, arthritis, pain, you name it, it’s all there. You can learn about it at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And if you happen to order something, use the promo code Roundtable10 to save yourself 10%. Bob, in the minute and a half we’ve got remaining here, let’s talk quickly about our other major sponsor, Preborn.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. You know, Preborn saves babies’ lives by showing ultrasound images in pro-life centers to moms who choose life when they see a picture of their baby. By the way, they commonly accept Jesus Christ as Savior too. So this is about showing as many ultrasound images as possible. It takes money to do this. That’s why so many of you in this audience give to Preborn on a regular basis. And we’re asking the rest of you in the audience, If you’re not giving, would you please start giving? And for those of you that are, will you give again? We never want to stop the process of changing moms’ minds and saving babies’ lives. So here’s how you give to pre-born. You go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and you click on pre-born. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. And you decide how much you want to give. Right now, $28 is the average ultrasound expense to help stop one abortion. How many abortions would you like to stop? Take $28 times fill in the blank. Pray about a number. And that’s what you give. So CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And don’t forget, 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds. Nothing for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. You can also give over the phone at 833-850-BABY. They answer 24-7. So call right now, 833-850-BABY. And just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, thank you. And when we continue here, the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, we’re going to talk about how the president’s MAGA base may have been affected or is being affected by the war in Iran, as well as some of the things he’s posted recently on Truth Social. So we’re going to talk about that. Thanks for listening. The second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast is coming up next.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is a Crawford Media Group production.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, good to have you with us on today’s edition of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. My name is Neil Boron, host of Neil Boron Live on WDCX Radio in Buffalo, New York. Bob Duco, just to the west of me over there in Detroit, is the host of The Bob Duco Show. on a massive station, WMUZ in Detroit, and John Rush, host of Rush to Reason, holding down the fort, you know, in the western part of the United States on KLZ in Denver. And every week we get together to talk about issues that are affecting the church, the world, our lives in general, and we hope to do so from a biblical perspective. And so thank you for listening and supporting our sponsors, Preborn, and also SunPowerLED. So in the first half, we were talking about what we know currently about the war in Iran. Remember that we record this on Wednesday mornings. So by Wednesday afternoon, everything we’re talking about could be null and void. But based on what we know now, we see a variety of things happening. And while I want to get into some conversation about recent posts the president made on Truth Social and also some of the interaction he’s having with Pope Leo right now, I want to start by asking about how the war you think may be affecting his standing within his own base, remembering that this is a year, I mean, this is midterm year. How many people or do you think anybody is throwing up their hands saying, that’s it, I’m done? Because a lot of what he ran on was the idea that I’m about peace. In fact, he was pushing to be offered a nobel peace prize not long ago uh the no new wars you know mantra that he talked about when he was running for office now i’m not sure that we’re in a long-term war right now only time will tell where this goes but uh there’s some inkling that his mega base is beginning to retreat from him on some of these issues and that could be of great concern heading into the midterms so john i don’t know what you’re hearing about that or what you’re talking about on your own program but i’d love to know your thoughts
SPEAKER 02 :
No doubt that if we don’t get this thing wrapped up and at least have a somewhat of a resolve as we head down the stretch into the midterms. And what I mean by that is, you know, that’s that’s November when the votes actually happen, although early voting in some states and others will happen, you know, two or three weeks prior, depending upon the state and how they do things. And people start making up their minds even prior to that. So the reality is, I think. the window of time, given that we’re middle of April right now. So if you take another 30 days, middle of May, middle of June, middle of July, meaning I think Donald Trump has 90 days. That’s about it. 90 days to figure out how to get all of this stuff sort of wrapped up and have some resolve to it and get gas prices down and so on. Because unfortunately, as I said earlier, unfortunately, most voters are not real bright. I’m sorry, guys. And I’m not trying to be rude here. But We have had a school system for the past 50 plus years that has dumbed down our country. Most people don’t research things. They take headlines. They look at CNN. They look at their local news. They don’t do the deep dive research that you guys, that we do on a regular basis. They don’t do the interviews that we do, that you two do, and that I do. And at the end of the day, they’re just not that bright. Meaning, meaning you’ve got to have better headlines than we have right now. Or yes, in fact, it will affect us in the midterms. I don’t know if it’ll affect us with the hardcore supporters. We’ll talk about some of that with what just happened with the post that was put out. People have short memories and some of that stuff will go away. But when it comes to the economy, gas prices and what they hear daily, In regards to a war, I’m afraid to say if he doesn’t get some of those things wrapped up, yes, in fact, it will affect us in the midterms.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I, for the most part, agree with John. Bob, what do you think?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I would have to agree, too. I think John’s 90-day thing is probably about accurate. I’ve been saying all along, if the war is an afterthought and the dust is settling by the summertime, certainly leading into fall, then I think we’re going to be in fairly decent shape, as good a shape as we could be in going into midterms when we have the White House. So this is key that it not drag on. I mean, even some of the—remember, Trump’s hardcore base is going to stick with him. But a lot of his supporters are also the swing voters that have swung toward him, and they want to feel a sense of safety. But as far as the stuff about, you know, Trump talks about he’s a no-wars president and, you know, he’s a president for peace and whatever, I got news for you. Stopping Iran from going nuclear, that is being a peacemaker. What Jesus said, Jesus didn’t say, you know, blessed are the peace lovers. He said, blessed are the peacemakers. Sometimes you have to take decisive action to create peace. Sometimes the bully on the playground needs to be knocked on his rear end to bring about peace on that playground. And in this particular case, if we allowed Iran to go nuclear, and I’m going to keep driving that point home, if we allow them to go nuclear, the world just became a dramatically less peaceful place. successfully keeps them from going nuclear and turns Iran into a new and improved Iran that actually is willing to work with its Middle Eastern neighbors and others in the West, then the world is a way better off place and give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for turning Iran into a different country than they’ve been for the last 47 years.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well said, well said. And Bob, it’s like you were driving a B-52 and just dropped Moab, the mother of all bombs, when you said Jesus didn’t say blessed. What did you say?
SPEAKER 05 :
I said Jesus didn’t say blessed are the peace lovers. He said blessed are the peacemakers. And sometimes you have to take decisive action to make peace.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re 100 percent right. So that’s just serious food for thought for people that are just enraged about the fact that we’re in any kind of a conflict with Iran. What would have happened if they got nuclear? Less peaceful, less peaceful world. And by the way, it’s not like we have to guess. They’ve already said they’re going to destroy Israel. They want to wipe them off the face of the map. And the U.S. comes second. And once they’re they have the ability, honestly, even if it’s from like suitcase nukes, or some other way to get nuclear weapons over here right now, they don’t seem to have the missile capability to do it, but either way, they’ve already stated what their goal is and they haven’t backed down on it. 47 straight years of moving in that direction. It was time to come to an end. So well said, um, there’s another kind of war going on 70 some odd or more million babies have been aborted in the United States since 1970 and an incredible number of millions worldwide every single year. Bob, uh, Ultrasound technology is beginning to have a major impact on that by allowing women who are carrying what they think is a blob of tissue to understand that they’re actually a mom carrying a baby. And so Preborn, we’re very grateful for their sponsorship here on The Roundtable.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And, you know, when a mom sees a picture of her baby, an ultrasound image of her baby, she doesn’t go across the street to Planned Parenthood. She chooses life almost all the time. And by the way, commonly accepts Jesus Christ as Savior too. Well, Preborn is the pro-life group that’s showing these ultrasound images in pro-life centers all across the country. Problem is, folks, the demand is higher than the supply. And so we need more ultrasound machines and we need money to activate them. And that’s where you folks in the audience come in. Give to Preborn. Make it part of your regular giving, your missionary budget in your household to save babies’ lives. You know, $28 is the average ultrasound expense. to help save one baby’s life, change one mom’s mind. How many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank, pray about a number, and that’s your gift to preborn. And hey, we need some of you to buy ultrasound machines too. They’re 15 grand a piece, great tax write-off for you, and you’re saving thousands of babies’ lives. But everybody else, $28 times fill in the blank. And everything you give, every penny goes to fund ultrasounds, nothing for overhead. So you can give by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on Preborn. And right there while you’re at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Neil, we wanted to check out SunPowerLED.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, which SunPower LED is the name of a product. It’s a variety of different units that can be used, devices that can be used to help harness red and near infrared wavelengths of light and then get them into our body to the cellular level to energize the mitochondria in the cells, which I often say is like replacing the batteries on your remote, your TV remote. Sometimes it dies and when you put the batteries in, boom, all of a sudden it’s working again. Well, when the cell is energized, it does what a cell was designed by God to do, and that’s to heal our bodies. So people have enjoyed the results and the positive results of what SunPower LED can do by energizing the cells to help deal with issues like epilepsy and seizures, spinal stenosis, knee pain, vision problems, tinnitus, migraine headaches, joint pain of all kinds. arthritis shingles even you can learn how light can be used to help heal your body by going to crawfordmediagroup.net just clicking on the button labeled sun power led it will teach you about light therapy there’s an opportunity to connect with a free webinar they do each week no strings attached q a learn all about how light can be used to heal your body At CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPowerLED. And if you happen to purchase a product at any point, use the promo code Roundtable10. And just because you’re a listener to the Roundtable, you’ll save yourself 10%. Roundtable10 by clicking on SunPowerLED at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. So we’ve talked a lot about what’s going on in Iran, and obviously it’s created a lot of fodder for talk show hosts, podcasters, news media of all kinds have been talking about it now since the war began on February 28th. But there’s a new war kind of brewing right now regarding Iran. a truth social post that Donald Trump put up. And guys, I got to be honest, what in the world is the president doing in the middle of the night? He’s put out some ridiculous stuff. I think some of it in some bizarre way intended to be funny, but this latest one was pretty offensive and to a huge portion of his voter base, you know, conservative Christians, conservative Catholics. And it’s literally Donald Trump depicted as Jesus wearing the same kind of outfit Jesus would wear with the white robe and the red sash or whatever you call that thing. And surrounded by an angelic glow. He’s got glow coming from his hands, one of which is on the head of somebody who looks like they’re a sick patient. There’s medical personnel and military personnel around them and a lot of patriotic images. So anyway, the accusation is, what does he think he’s Jesus? Like, this is blasphemy. How far are we going to go with this whole thing? And I’m sure in many ways, you know, we have the ability because of our own ideas and understanding to misinterpret things at times. But I don’t feel like I’m misinterpreting this. When I look at this, I go, this is just wrong. This should not be posted. I was personally offended by it. My faith is not rocked. I’m not going to stop being a Christian. But I think it was entirely inappropriate for the president to do that and largely impact his own voter base. What is he thinking? The midterms are coming. Anyhow. Let’s talk about it because he’s also in a war with Pope Leo. We can bring that into the conversation at some point. Anyhow, John, what did you think when you saw that post?
SPEAKER 02 :
It really comes down to it’s a poke in the eye at Pope Leo. Pope Leo, by the way, for all of you that don’t know, is a guy saying that, you know, we shouldn’t really be as worried about Islam as a lot of people think we should be. I mean, this guy is off his rocker, by the way. I get where Donald Trump is coming from. I understand that. his frustration with the Pope. Would I have put that post out in a way to, you know, go against the Pope? No guys, you, you know me and no, I’m smarter than that. And not saying Donald Trump is ignorant, but in this particular case, bad move on his part, I wouldn’t have done it. Does it, you know, does it upset me to the point where I’ll no longer follow him or look at all the good things that he does? Of course not. His, his good far outweighs the mistake he made in the middle of the night. And was it a mistake? Yes. In fact, it definitely was a mistake, Neil. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Well, I agree 100%. Bob, let’s get some feedback from you. And then I got a bunch of questions related to all of this and how it all ties together. But your initial reaction when you…
SPEAKER 05 :
My initial reaction was the wincing of, oh, he doesn’t get it. And I understand that Donald Trump, sometimes he’s just – he’s not necessarily going to understand the sensibilities that some Christians are going to have to images like that. And by the way, Donald Trump also is somebody with his pride and his ego that will never, ever, ever – take something down that he posted. He took this down, okay, because Christian said, no, that’s not right. His own base said, no, that’s not right. And he’s like, all right, then, you know what? It offended people. I take it down. Yeah, I agree with John. I think this was an attempt at poking the eye at Leo. Somebody creates an image. He sees that image, and he’s like, yeah, here, let me put that, you know, see how the Pope likes that, and just didn’t realize it. You know what? People are going to see this like I’m comparing myself to Jesus. I’m really not doing that, but okay. I to me, the worst thing Trump did after the fact was to try to claim I was just thinking it was a doctor. Come on. Nobody’s buying that. OK, so I don’t have a problem acknowledging that. But see, here’s this goes to what I’ve said about Trump many times. OK. This is where you find out if you’re a Trump derangement syndrome person or if you’re just a normal non-cult following supporter of Donald Trump. All right. We are able to I can criticize Donald Trump. I can say I think he’s wrong about this. I think it was poor judgment on his part. I’m glad he took it down, but he shouldn’t have done that. He was insensitive and didn’t realize the perception that this would have. OK, so it’s one of the negatives about Donald Trump. And I’m willing to acknowledge that. TDS syndrome people, what they do is they don’t want to bring up Donald Trump when he posted right before Easter about how Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and his glorious resurrection and he is risen and a president of the United States given language like that. TDS Christians don’t say to their friends, hey, did you see this great thing Donald Trump said? Great for him. They sit in silence, silence, silence until Trump does something like this. Then they turn into Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg and just pounce and pounce and pounce and pounce and pounce for days. So I’m not saying go to one extreme and ignore it and not be willing to criticize it or try to defend it. Nope, not at all. I also say to my brothers and sisters in Christ who just don’t like Trump personally, don’t go to the other extreme and play it like MSNBC and make this the top news for the next week and a half. That’s all I’m saying about it to everybody. It was wrong to do it. Let’s acknowledge it and then let’s move on and let’s equally at least focus on the positive things that he does. That’s kind of the big picture way I look at it.
SPEAKER 03 :
i was shocked i didn’t like it i thought it was junior high school childish you know whatever he was trying to do i don’t know but it was like come on man on the heels of course of uh the easter sunday f-bomb uh that he put up you know uh open the effin straight you crazy We’re not even allowed to say the words that he’s posting on Truth Social.
SPEAKER 05 :
And right on the heels of him proclaiming the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Inconsistent messages? Absolutely. But how many times do anti-Trump Christians, how many times do they not want to talk about Donald Trump? Until he does something wrong, what percentage of time do they spend criticizing him versus what percentage of the time do they spend complimenting him? And I’m just curious to see what the ratio is for some of the TDS Christians out there, if it’s any different than CNN.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it would be interesting to see that. I think people have a right to their own ideas and opinions and the whole thing. It doesn’t mean that they’re right or that I’m right. My point is that it’s going to strike different people differently. I mean, for instance, around Thanksgiving, he said of Governor Tim Walz that he was seriously R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D, you know, mentally incapacitated. Okay, but come on, man, you’re the president of the United States. You use that word, you’re going to influence the entire community of people who have children who are disabled in any way, because that just hits home. It’s like, why are you being so insensitive to use that particular word? And I just think he obviously needs to get the messaging right. He needs help in this area. The AI poop video, you know, where he’s flying an airplane wearing a crown during the No Kings protests. dropping what appears to be manure or some kind of stuff on people, his opponents. The Robert Mueller post, you know, he just died. Good. I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people. Okay, well, a human being created in the image of God for whom Christ died, just died. Show some class. And I just don’t get what he gets out of all this. And yet, let me say something that’s going to be highly controversial. You can all write to Bob Duco and John Rush if you On the other hand, we live in a world where people don’t really speak the truth. You know, it’s like you walk into church on a Sunday morning. How you doing? Good. Good. How are you doing? Good. Oh, really good. When, in fact, you’re struggling with porn addiction or your marriage is in trouble or something else. right the false face kind of thing two two-faced kind of conversation and how many times have politicians just lied to our face we really care about you people we’re serving you i’m a servant of you the voting public no you’re not you’re lining your pockets you don’t care about anybody that elected you so Donald Trump, on the other hand, says what he thinks about people. And it’s not pretty. It’s ugly. It’s like watching a train wreck or a dumpster fire in some way. But on the other hand, he lets you know if he’s not happy with you. And it’s pretty clear where you stand with him because of the words that come out of his mouth. Let me also point out that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
SPEAKER 02 :
i don’t know is there anything to be respected in some crazy way john about the way that the president talks about people i think the one thing with him and you just said it at least you always know where you stand with him you know unlike a lot of others that are out there where you you you probably will never know where you actually stand with him and i think that’s what i appreciate about trump and yes he gets himself in trouble at times because he says what he thinks i mean I kind of can relate to that because I unfortunately tend to do the same things. You pretty much always know where you stand with me because I’ll just tell you. Now, is that a good character trait or a bad character trait? You know, it’s offensive to a lot of people. I’ll tell you that right now because I’ve experienced that in my own life. Most people don’t want to hear the truth. And the reality is he does speak the truth. Sometimes he’s very rough and brash in how he does it. And again, even going back to the to the post that he put out. And again, I wouldn’t have done that. Am I offended by it? No, I’m never offended by those things because you just sort of look at the source and move on and it’s not a big deal. But, you know, to your point, Neil, there’s one thing about Donald Trump. You always know where you stand.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so I’m not saying that the things he says are right. Please hear me about that, those of you that are listening. I think he needs to clean up his act, he needs to grow up, and at times needs to openly say, I was wrong, will you forgive me? But John, I just need to say, I really appreciate your forthrightness. I mean, I don’t always agree with what you say, but on the other hand, when you say that you flat out don’t like me and Bob, I can respect you for that. But… You know, on the other point, on the idea of forgiveness, I think he would be well served, as Riley Gaines said, you know, a big supporter of Donald Trump, that a little humility could be a good thing. You know, like and I don’t know, I just I pray down the road that this these kind of things aren’t the because somebody mentioned the. The independent voter, you know, the uncommitted middle, you’ve got your hardcore Dems and nobody’s going to change there. You’ve got your hardcore Republicans or MAGA and virtually no one’s going to change there. So it’s everyone in the middle. Which way are they going? And if you influence them too far in any election, you’re toast. Donald Trump got most of those votes and won clearly in a landslide in his presidential election as president. you know, just two years ago. So you can see how influential that middle would be. But I think he’s foolish to not correct himself on that. And I don’t know. There’s so much that we could say about his posts and why he does these things. And I don’t know. Let me just ask, you know, street level question. Bob, do you ever get tired of having to defend Donald Trump? Wouldn’t you love to be able to just say, man, that was the sweetest, kindest thing he ever did. And he he asked forgiveness and he showed some humility. I would love to be able to talk about that on the air sometime.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know something? I would love it, too, if Jesus Christ were president of the United States, and then I’d have somebody perfect and flawless who would never do things worthy of criticism. But we don’t have that, all right? I kind of see Donald Trump as a political version of what George Patton was to the military, all right? This is a guy who was very effective. He knew what he was doing, but he also had a lot of flaws, foul language, and would smack a soldier when he wasn’t supposed to do that, all right? That’s who Donald Trump is. And you take the good with the bad. But I’m sticking to my guns on the fact that when it comes to Donald Trump, no, I will not go to one extreme, which is to defend everything that he does and treat him like he’s some kind of messiah and never, ever be willing to criticize him. I will never go to that extreme. I never have. However, I will also not allow myself to basically be CNN and MSNBC and spend the majority of my time rattling off, he’s got this fault and this fault and this fault and this fault and this fault. Because you know what? Then I’m no different than Whoopi Goldberg or Joy Behar. At that point, I’m no different. So let’s acknowledge them. But you know something? I got a lot more positive things that I can say about him than I do negative. The positive outweigh the negative. Let’s be willing to at least, if two-thirds of what he does is good and one-third is bad, and I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s about 90-10. But let’s say it’s 66-33%. Then let’s spend 66 percent of our time rattling off. He did this good thing and this good thing and this good thing and this good thing. OK, yes, he did this bad thing, this bad thing and this bad thing. But look at this whole long list of good things that he did. Let’s encourage Christians to support Donald Trump instead of joining MSNBC to chip away at his support. That’s the only thing I’m suggesting. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
And to show you how my mind works, I’d be wondering about the other 1% because I did the math on that 66. Oh, well, you know, this is true. You can find 1% that’ll say just about anything. All right, real quick, like 30 seconds each because then we got to hear from our sponsors. But does the church need to respond? Should we push back on this and publicly call them out saying this was wrong? And especially shouldn’t parents say this to their kids? I think For sure, parents need to, and I would be pleased if anybody says, listen, that’s not how a Christian speaks. We can support his policies, but we don’t agree with that behavior. John, should we push back on that?
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m going to go one step further. I don’t like those images, period, because I don’t even think it depicts Christ in the right way. So frankly, I don’t like any of those personally, and I would be one to teach my kids, don’t look at that stuff, period, because none of that is correct anyways.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Bob, 15, 20 seconds here.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I think we acknowledge it. I do. But I think at the same time, we say, you know what? He also took the post down. So he listened to the complaints about this. Should the church push back? The church did push back, and he listened and took it down.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Great point. So our sponsors make it possible for us to talk about these things. Bob, Preborn is one of them. And boy, are we proud to represent Preborn here on the roundtable.
SPEAKER 05 :
We certainly are. I mean, they’re saving babies’ lives all over the country. They do this by showing ultrasound images of unborn babies to expectant moms in pro-life centers. But it does take money to operate these ultrasound machines. Mom sees a picture of her baby. She chooses life. She changes her mind about getting that abortion, which is great. But how do we show her the image? By paying for it. $28 is the average ultrasound expense to help save one baby’s life, help stop one abortion. So how many abortions will you be willing to stop? You’re paying to activate ultrasound machines in pro-life centers, folks. Preborn supplies these ultrasound machines. So you give to preborn to do this. $28 times fill in the blank. Pray about a number of babies’ lives you’ll save. $28 times fill in the blank. That’s your gift to Preborn. And as always, 100% of what you give to Preborn goes to fund ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So you can call them. You can give over the phone. They answer the phones 24-7. Call 833-850-BABY, 833-850-BABY. And you can also give online at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Just click on Preborn, CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on pre-born and then while you’re there, Neil, we wanted to check out SunPower LED.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. In 2021, I almost bought a farm. No, actually the farm. I almost bought the farm. I had COVID really bad and I’ve had it several times, but the first time I ever got it, it knocked me out. And I was on the verge of needing to go to a hospital to get on a ventilator. And you know what happened to most of the people that got on ventilators? I mean, it wasn’t pretty. i was able to take a deep breath but i was getting nothing out of it it wasn’t changing the amount of oxygen in my blood and so when the levels are supposed to be at 98 99 or 100 and mine were in the 79 to 82 range i knew something wasn’t good and i got introduced to light therapy from sun power led it harnesses certain wavelengths of light that god created And then it allows them to get into your body to be to reach the cellular level, to energize cells, to do what they were created to do. And that’s to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing. And literally in a matter of days, a situation that had persisted for almost a month turned right around and I was healthy and able to get back on my feet again. It was incredible. If you want to learn about light therapy from SunPowerLED, just go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on the SunPowerLED logo, and learn all about it. By the way, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 if you want to save yourself 10% at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Guys, great conversation today. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot more to talk about next week. And I want to thank all of you for listening. Support our sponsors and tell others to join us weekly for another edition of the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. God bless. We’ll see you again soon.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’ve been listening to the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. A view of today’s culture through a biblical lens. Brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on their logo to donate. And by SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. You can download this podcast from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and more from your local Crawford Media Group stations website or at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And please give this podcast a five-star rating on your Apple app. Look for the notification on your app for when the next weekly edition of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast is ready for you to download. This is a Crawford Media Group production.
Episode 349-Iran, SCOTUS, and Virginia Gerrymandering