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In this episode of the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast, hosts Neil Boron, Bob Duco, and John Rush embark on a provocative discussion about the recent military developments off the coast of Venezuela. With a sharp focus on the implications of U.S. involvement and Trump’s executive actions, they delve into the legal and ethical intricacies of using drones against drug shipments. The hosts also contrast current strategies with historical U.S. military actions, painting a vivid picture of international relations and policies.
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 :
Well, thanks for joining us here for another edition of the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. My name is Neil Boron, host of Neil Boron Live on WDCX in Buffalo, New York. Every week I get together with Bob Duco, host of The Bob Duco Show on WMUZ Detroit, Michigan, and John Rush, host of Rush to Reason on KLZ in Denver, Colorado. He’s our wacky… headed toward the West Coast liberal guy in Colorado. He’s a libertarian is what he is.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wacky with a capital W. There we go.
SPEAKER 03 :
We have a number of important things to talk about today, none the least of which is the military buildup off the coast of Venezuela. What’s going on with Venezuela? Let’s talk about that. National Guard activity, ICE deployments, And, you know, other stuff that’s in the news right now, including the look ahead to the midterms in 2026, been a variety of elections lately that haven’t bode very well for the GOP. And so what has to happen for the GOP to hold on to the House and the Senate come midterms? And we’ll get a chance to talk about that a little bit later. But first of all, something happened yesterday. I was in Toronto. And of course, we record this on Wednesday mornings. I was in Toronto all day Tuesday. I missed this one. But, John, you brought to my attention something that I had seen in the news previous, and that was that Donald Trump wanted to ban the use of the auto pen or call out the Biden administration’s use of the auto pen. What happened yesterday?
SPEAKER 02 :
He basically declared all of what Biden did with the auto pen null and void. So everybody that had a commuted sentence, a pardon, anything that the auto pen had been used for along those lines, he basically made null and void. Now, can he do that is the question, and I’m sure it’s going to be challenged. And quite frankly, and I love Donald Trump, I probably would have approached this differently had this been me. Unless I said this on air yesterday, unless he’s got some inside knowledge of, you know, emails and a string of things that prove that, you know, Joe Biden had no idea what was actually being done, you know, with the auto pen. You know, having my father who passed away recently, but had dementia, Alzheimer’s. I mean, I think the problem that you have is with those sorts of individuals, and I can see, you know, Joe Biden having very similar, the similar, how should I say this, behaviors that my dad had. On the same token, there were times where, you know, my dad was very cognitive and knew exactly what was going on. And what was so weird about that disease is, you know, you can be that way one minute and five minutes later be completely in outer space per se. So the problem is, I don’t know how you’re going to prove that. whether Joe Biden actually, because Joe Biden’s already said, oh, no, I knew everything about what was going on. I knew I knew what the auto pen was being used for, so on and so forth. I think Trump’s got a real uphill battle in proving that he didn’t know what the auto pen was being used for.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And somewhere in the White House is that hall of presidents, you know, pictures of all the portraits of previous presidents. Instead of a Biden portrait, there’s a picture of an auto pen. Right. So is this just another attempt for, you know, for our current president, Donald Trump, to just take a swipe at Biden? Because I don’t think there’s really much in the way of any teeth to this. Bob, do you have an opinion on this?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, it is a case. I’m really with John on this. I think it’s a case of overreach on Trump’s part. But here’s the challenge. I do believe that there is some substance and legitimacy to the auto pen question with Joe Biden. But the problem is, if you have some real legitimate issues that need to be challenged, And then you do a broader brush sweep over all auto pen uses. You give ammunition to your political enemies under the media to say, oh, yeah, but all presidents have used auto pens. Donald Trump, you have, too. So to me, it would have been smarter to be surgically selective about this and say anyone who’s been pardoned. by the auto pen. I’m considering null and void, and we’re going to revisit each one of those cases. And then there’s a logistical issue of, okay, well, do you actually go out and re-arrest those people and put them back in jail? But at the same time, there is a very real constitutional issue, and that is that only a president can let somebody out of jail, can commute a sentence or pardon somebody. Only a president can do that. Handlers of a president do not have the constitutional authority to do that. So technically, if it is a case where Joe Biden actually didn’t really pardon those people, then they should be arrested and put back in jail. But I’m with John. I don’t know how you prove something like this. Joe Biden can issue a statement. Yep, I was cognitively aware of each one of these pardons and I gave my approval for that. And then you’re going to have to have congressional investigations where White House staffers and including the person who’s in charge of the auto pen operation itself, which, by the way, he did say, hey, it turns out we got emails from him. saying, boy, I don’t even know if Joe Biden has actually approved these things. He was expressing concern. But so now we’re going to bring him for congressional testimony to try to get down to the bottom of which ones Joe Biden actually was cognitively aware of, which ones he was not. And frankly, I just think there’s bigger fish to fry. So I would say let’s not null and void them Let’s just bring it to the attention of everybody. This is what the Democrats were allowing to happen for people to be pardoned without the president actually being the one to do it. Shame on the Democrats. Let’s hurt them politically with this and then move on to other –
SPEAKER 02 :
I now want legislation passed whereby these sorts of things, pardons, commutations, and so on, can never be allowed to be auto-penned in the future. Unless they’re physically signed by the president, I want legislation saying that they’re null and void.
SPEAKER 04 :
Great idea, John, because you know what that does? then that does at least bring attention to what the Democrats did with the auto pen. It brings attention to that in a way that is looking like we’re moving forward and not looking like we’re going back and trying to punish from the past. So, yes, you’re right. It would make Trump and the Republicans, it would make it look like they’re taking the high road, the responsible road, while at the same time forcing the media to report on the auto pen issue.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. That’s what I would have done. But that’s a very good suggestion.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And it would be taking the high road because you’d be moving the it would be moving forward as opposed to chasing another rabbit hole. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I also look at this from, you know, and Bob, you mentioned that, you know, the money sides of things. I mean, now this gets really expensive, you know. Yeah, they’ve got to have all their attorneys on their side, but we have to have ours on our side. And at the end of the day, all this does is really cost taxpayers money when it’s all said and done. And I’m with Bob, with you on this. There’s just so many other fish to fry, and you could make this so much better for the midterms even, which I know we might get into as well. But you could make this look so much better heading into 2026 than the way it’s being done right now.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And by the way, I don’t want to take the auto pen thing and just sweep it under the rug. It is I think most Americans, at least most middle of the road Americans, would be extremely troubled by the idea of people walking the street, criminals walking the streets right now that were let out of prison, not by the president of the United States, but by some of his employees who just decided, let’s use the auto pen for this. Right. I think they would be troubled by that. So I think the American people should know about this and we should force the media to report on this. But it’s got to be done in a smarter political way. And I don’t think this is a smart political way to handle it. And by the way, one of the things that I did want to mention very quickly. as we go through this podcast, is that it’s nice to know that when you give to Preborn, for example, you’re not signing anything with an auto pen. You’re actually making the decision to save babies’ lives. And we appreciate the sponsors to this podcast. We appreciate SunPowerLED. We appreciate Preborn. And we appreciate you folks supporting them. You know, Preborn is the main pro-life group that saves babies’ lives all across the country in pro-life centers. They have ultrasound machines and they show ultrasound images of unborn babies to expectant moms. And those moms usually choose life when they see a picture of their baby. They don’t go across the street to Planned Parenthood. They choose life. Very often they accept Jesus Christ as Savior too. But it does take money to operate these ultrasound machines. It’s that simple. So we’re asking you folks to continue paying for ultrasound images. It does take money, and $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. So pray about a number of babies’ lives that you’d be willing to save. Take $28 times fill in the blank, and then that’s your number. Maybe you’ve given a pre-born a few times in the past. would you give again right now? What a great Christmas gift to save a baby’s life and save many of them. So $28 times fill in the blank, pray about a number. Here’s how you give. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on pre-born. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. And hey, we need some of you out there to buy ultrasound machines. They’re 15 grand a piece. What a great tax write-off at the end of this year for you. And your forever legacy is you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions, okay, over the years. But if you could do that or just the $28 times fill-in-the-blank number of babies’ lives, either way, CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. And don’t forget, 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So you can also call 833-850-BABY, and they answer 24-7. So 833-850-BABY. But, Neil, when they go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, we don’t only want them to click on pre-born. We want them to click on SunPowerLED because this photobiomodulation process is incredible the way that it helps people.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and if you’re not in need of healing or you’re not currently in pain, it’s very likely you know somebody who is. It might be a mom or a dad or a friend or a loved one or maybe even a coworker. And photobiomodulation is a big fancy medical term, but it simply means light therapy. It means harnessing certain wavelengths of red and near-infrared light having that light enter the human body through the products that SunPower LED offers, getting to the cellular level, exciting the mitochondria, waking up the cells to do what cells were created to do, and that’s to heal our bodies. Light therapy from SunPower LED is so far beyond what you can get off Amazon. I mean, there are some cheap imitations out there, but they’re literally powerless compared to what you can get at SunPower LED. And over the weekend, over the Black Friday weekend, SunPower LED had incredible number of sales. I think a lot of people were waiting for Christmas. Hey, if you know somebody who’s dealing with issues like migraine headaches, tinnitus, spinal stenosis, back or neck pain, knee pain, plantar fasciitis, and you don’t know what to do because you’ve tried everything else, find out what SunPower LED can do for you, and you’ll find… out all of this by simply going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPowerLED, put in the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 and you’ll get a 10% discount just because you’re one of our listeners. CrawfordMediaGroup.net and SunPowerLED is there, so is Preborn, of course. So let’s turn the table here. We’ll keep our eye on the whole, you know, auto pen thing. See how that develops. John, you had a great suggestion. Maybe we’ll mail that into White House, see if they can zero in on what you were saying. But, you know, I wanted to talk a bit about Venezuela, the whole idea, you know, that the U.S. now has warships stationed off the coast of Venezuela. head of the country and there’s civil war on the horizon and who knows what’s actually going on there. And I wanted your opinion. One thing that came to mind immediately when I watched this begin to unfold was the idea that MAGA, like one of the tenets of Make America Great Again is to not get involved in potentially endless wars or useless wars. trying to be the police of the world. You see people like Marjorie Taylor Greene backing off of supporting Trump, literally resigned, says she’s going to be out come January. Sort of a breakdown of solidarity amongst MAGA-minded people. in the GOP. So I don’t know, like what’s going on here? Why is Donald Trump focused on Venezuela when it just as easily could be Colombia or Mexico or even China, you know, shipping fentanyl to the US. Bob, let’s start with you on that. Any thoughts about what’s happening with this buildup and are we actually gonna get involved in a ground war in Venezuela?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I don’t know about the ground war. Certainly we’ll have to see. But the taking out of the boats, let me just say, first of all, that when you have speedboats that are loaded with… hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs that’s in essence poison being shipped here to the United States to end up killing a bunch of people in the U.S. and fueling and funding the drug cartel industry and the drug dealers in this country. This is a clear and present danger to the people of the United States. And so I don’t have a problem with, even though I know some people do, I don’t have a problem with the president ordering drone strikes on these boats to take them out, to stop them from coming into this country and killing our citizens. Now, I do have to say. I’m seeing a lot of fake outrage from the media and from the Democrats and from the liberal left about this. Oh, he’s the president. He’s going around Congress. He’s acting like a king. He’s acting like a dictator. You can’t do stuff like this. These people aren’t getting due process or whatever. Okay, this is fake outrage because I want to remind everybody, when Barack Obama was president, do you know that Barack Obama launched over 540 drone strikes in various places, over 540 just in Libya alone? This was without going through Congress, okay? But this was because he saw a danger and a threat to the U.S. As a matter of fact, he launched drone strikes against suspected terrorists, including a United States citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Let’s remember, Anwar al-Awlaki, he joined al-Qaeda. He was a recruiter for al-Qaeda, but he was a United States citizen. And Barack Obama ordered drone strikes in Yemen to kill him and his 16-year-old son. And just so you know, on my show, I said… I support Barack Obama doing this. I know people are going to say, oh, but the guy didn’t get due process. He’s a U.S. citizen. No, you become a terrorist, and you’re fighting against the United States. You are now an enemy, and if we can kill you, we’re going to kill you. And so I defended Barack Obama doing that, just like I— You know, just like I supported his other drone strikes that he did. But Democrats didn’t have a problem with Barack Obama then. They didn’t have a problem with Bill Clinton when Bill Clinton didn’t go through Congress to send military troops into Bosnia in 1994, into Serbia in 1999. And so there’s a part of me, you know, George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama and Manuel Noriega. who, by the way, ended up accepting Jesus Christ in prison. How cool is that? But I’m just saying there is a precedent for presidents saying, I don’t have to go through Congress if I’m just going to launch some specifically targeted military attacks for a specific purpose with a particular people because they’re a danger and a threat to the United States. This is something that presidents have done in the past. It’s only because Trump is doing it now where it’s being treated as though this is something novel. And he’s acting like a dictator going around Congress. So I support taking out these boats. Trump isn’t doing anything differently than others. Actually, if Trump went in and invaded Venezuela and took out Maduro, that would be no different than Bill Clinton was doing in Bosnia or Serbia than George H.W. Bush did in Panama with Manuel Noriega or Barack Obama did with his drone strikes even on American citizens over in the Middle East. So it’s like, give me a break with the fake outrage.
SPEAKER 03 :
Is it a stretch to say you might even say Iraq with Saddam Hussein given that they didn’t actually find any chemical weapons or nuclear weapons?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, but that was congressionally approved though. So we did go through Congress on that. And by the way, Hillary Clinton was a yes vote on that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Let’s keep that in mind. John, what are your thoughts about what’s happening in Venezuela?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, while you guys were talking, I kind of look at a different angle. Yes, as far as all the illegal drugs and everything Bob just said, can’t disagree with anything that he said. I have no problem with watching these things get blown completely out of the water. I think one of the things that never gets talked about, by the way, is – because it’s kind of an unknown number. There’s estimates out there that illicit drugs, illegal drugs that come into the country, not just what the cost of the drugs are, but then treatment for people that end up addicted and so on. And if you look at the overall overarching cost of, of illegal drugs coming into the country, it could be as high as $800 billion a year. It’s a huge number that I don’t think, A, the press, most people, no offense, most people, including politicians, don’t talk about it because in a lot of cases, I think these guys are on the take in a lot of ways from some of this stuff. And I mean that sincerely. I think there’s a lot of folks that that use them and are in that world and don’t want to see any of this come to end. And by the way, Donald Trump is not one of them. He wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing right now if that were the case. He’s one of the few presidents, in my opinion, that we’ve had that actually is doing something about drugs. You know, the war on drugs all the way back to the Reagan era. You know, just say no to drugs. Well, Trump’s taking that one step further. Let’s blow him out of the water in the process.
SPEAKER 03 :
Given the fact that some people who are caught in a crime or in some type of a situation where government steps in or the military steps in, all of a sudden it’s what they do with interrogation after they take hostages during any kind of an actual war event. So they blow up a boat, two people are left floating, hanging on to the remnants of the boat. And then there’s this allegation that Pete Hegg says, Secretary of War says, kill everybody. Whether or not that’s true, I think there’s debate about that, but either way, Wouldn’t those people be valuable to help provide information about what was going on if they can even hear if their eardrums haven’t exploded or whatever? I mean, like maybe there’s a reason why you want to take those people into custody, but they end up get blown up as well, allegedly. So I don’t know. Like, is this is this really the best way? Because I brought this up on the podcast.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, really quick. Yeah, I think it is, because to me, it sends a message to the next guy that wants to be the boat driver. Do I really? You really want to be on the steering wheel of this boat or not knowing I might get blown out of the water. You’re sending very wild messages to these guys. The U.S.
SPEAKER 04 :
is not only going to destroy the drugs. I’m going to get killed by them. Correct.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I agree. Okay, hang on. But then this has happened multiple times. So apparently the boats number two, three, four, and five, whatever, they didn’t get the message. No, this is worldwide news. People know that the U.S. – put drone strikes on them. I’m not saying this isn’t the best way to handle it. I’m only asking that didn’t deter the next boats and there’s going to be more boats probably. So if that isn’t working, but this question was raised earlier, like the minute they get into U.S. waters, If you know they’re coming, take them into custody at that moment. That’s it. Now we got you, and we got the drugs as well, and we’ll destroy the drugs. But we’re going to use you as informants. We’re going to find out what’s going on in your country. We’re going to disassemble the drug cartels that you’re a part of in Venezuela. I think that there’s maybe other ways to handle it. Maybe not the best way, but other ways to handle it.
SPEAKER 02 :
My gut feeling is, and Bob, you might be a better expert on this than I, I’m guessing that there’s more leeway to do what he’s doing in the quote-unquote international water end of things than there is once they get to our shores. Once you get to our shores, you now have all of the NAACPs and all of these people that are out there that want to go defend these guys now and for some odd reason not do what Donald Trump is doing. I’m not sure, Neil, at the end of the day, you really get what you’re thinking you get if you allow that to happen. That’s my thought.
SPEAKER 04 :
And there is another issue. There is another issue at play as well. And that is that it’s not like these speedboats are zooming up toward Florida and that we’re shooting them between Cuba and Florida. That’s not really what’s happening. OK, what we’re doing, these speedboats are not necessarily on a one way trip directly to the United States. These speedboats are moving to other areas, even some areas in South America, for the purpose of then distributing or are moving up to southern Mexico for the purpose of then transporting these goods to a bunch of drug cartels that can then head toward the United States and flood this stuff into the U.S. as well. So there’s different means for them to try to get this into the United States.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, they’ll run like Costa Rica, Guatemala, things like that. That’s right. That’s exactly right. So they’ll run up to like, you know, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, things like that, Bob. So, yeah, in a lot of cases, they’re not actually going to land that boat. That’s right. They’re not going to land that boat.
SPEAKER 04 :
Let’s get the drugs in North America. And then when we get them in North America, we may have difficulty getting them over the border while Trump is in office. But three years from now, if somebody else is in office, they open up the borders again. We have really built up the inventory now. In Mexico and in South America. And so next time a Democrat opens up the borders, look at how big the flow is going to be into the country at that time. That’s why Trump is like, no, he’s going Barney Fife. We’re going to nip it in the bud. We’re just going to take him out, take him out, take him out, take him out before they even get too far off the shore. we’re shutting down this operation in international waters. That’s what we’re doing. That way we’re not going into Venezuela directly. They get into international waters, bye. We’re not letting you set the stage to eventually get into the U.S. So knock it off.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, another aspect of this, we’ve only got a couple of minutes here, but allegedly there was a phone call with Donald Trump telling Nicolas Maduro, look, you got a pretty narrow window here. Get out of the country and you can leave with your family. Nobody’s going to harm you. Is this really about merely stopping the flow of drugs from Venezuela or overthrowing the government? Bob, do you have an opinion?
SPEAKER 04 :
I don’t know. I don’t know.
SPEAKER 03 :
Probably both.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think – yeah, probably a little bit of both. I think he would love to see the government overthrown, there’s no doubt, from within. And if he can create an uprising, then obviously I think that that’s a good and positive thing. But there is something we’ve got to remember about Trump. Trump is the kind of guy – who takes people that are horrible, dangerous enemies. And if he can get some kind of regime change in there, he wants to try to take them from enemies to friends. Look what he’s doing with Syria right now. OK, you had the old dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was good friends with Vladimir Putin in Russia. And now you have this new president in there who, by the way, is a former member. Of of I believe it was ISIS directly or at least indirectly. The guy was an Islamic jihadi terrorist that we actually captured in Iraq during the war in Iraq. And he’s now the president of Syria. But he claims he’s going more moderate and he’s walked away from terrorism and he rejects it now. Should we trust him? No. But you know what? Trump is saying, I’ll tell you what, I’ll invite you to the White House. We’ll talk. We’ll shake hands. And I think Trump has kind of the godfather mentality of keep your enemies close – keep your friends close but your enemies closer. And I think that’s part of Trump’s philosophy and style. And so if he can turn Venezuela into some kind of a borderline trading partner with the U.S. with somebody other than Maduro, I think that’s his long-term vision. That’s my best guess. So –
SPEAKER 02 :
Most people realize this. They’ve got the most valuable natural resource for them is oil. They have the world’s largest proven reserves ever, and it’s really not even being tapped into. So I guarantee you that’s part of the play here as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think you’re absolutely right. You absolutely are. And one of the things that we constantly say to you folks is how much we appreciate you supporting our sponsors. And remember, if you have already given to Preborn, maybe multiple times, would you prayerfully do that again? Okay. Especially going into the Christmas season, folks, this is a chance to save babies’ lives. It takes money to save these babies’ lives. What you’re doing is you’re paying for ultrasound images. It’s that simple. $28 is the average ultrasound expense to save one baby’s life, to change a woman’s mind about getting an abortion in a pro-life center in America. Okay. 28 bucks. So how many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. Pray about a number, and that’s your gift for today to pre-born. And listen, if you can buy an ultrasound machine, we need some of you out there to do that. They’re 15 grand apiece. What a great 2025 tax write-off for you. But you are then responsible for stopping thousands and thousands of abortions over the years. So what do you say? Either 15 grand, buy an ultrasound machine, or pay for individual ultrasound images, $28 times fill in the blank. Everything you give goes to fund ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. So here’s how you give. They answer the phones 24-7. You can call right now 833-850-BABY and give over the phone, 833-850-BABY, or just go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn and give right there. there. And while you’re at CrawfordMediaGroup.net, also click on SunPowerLED and Neil, the great work that they do helping people recover from all kinds of health issues.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And what they offer is what’s called light therapy, photobiomodulation. It’s simply harnessing certain wavelengths of red or near-infrared light on the light spectrum, blowing up to massive proportions, and then through the technology that’s available from SunPowerLED, shooting those rays into your body there’s no uv rays you’re not going to get skin cancer but what you will do is energize the cells in your body to heal your body and so people are being set free from debilitating back and neck pain things like spinal stenosis they’re recovering faster after surgery even annoying issues like tinnitus that they’ve had no you know no They’ve not been able to find anything to help deal with it. No advancement made on that front at all. They’re being set free from things like tinnitus and migraine headaches. If you want to learn what SunPowerLED can do for you, just go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on the button for SunPowerLED, and then watch some of the videos. Learn all about it. And by the way, if you order a device, maybe you want to get one for somebody you love for Christmas… Use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 and save yourself 10% just because you’re a listener to the National Crawford Roundtable. Yeah, so you can find Preborn and SunPowerLED at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. If you order a device from SunPowerLED, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10. Second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast coming up in just a moment.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is a Crawford Media Group production.
SPEAKER 03 :
listening to the national crawford roundtable podcast again my name is neil boron host of neil boron live at wdcx in buffalo new york we also cover southern ontario toronto and beyond bob duco of the bob duco show detroit michigan he’s with wmuz they also cover windsor another part of canada uh john rush host of rush to reason KLZ in Denver is host of a great talk show there. And I have the privilege every week of talking with these guys about important issues that are affecting our world, trying to look at them when we can from a biblical perspective. If the word of God lends direct insight, we want to try to bring that into the conversation. And obviously, there’s a lot of things that concern us, you know, and as we head towards a new year here, Christmas first, but then a new year on the horizon, we’ve got the midterms coming up. There’s a lot of unanswered questions about where the country’s headed economically and otherwise. And I wanted to talk about some of those things because they’re having an impact on real human beings. And so I’m grateful to have the opportunity to talk to you guys about this. So we touched on a couple of important things earlier and some of it revolving around the conversation regarding Venezuela and drug trafficking and maybe the overthrow of the government in Venezuela, like what’s actually going on there. So let me just start by asking with the elections coming up in November of 2026, all eyes are on what’s going to help or hurt. uh the gop chances of hanging on to the slim majority they have in both houses of congress how does something like venezuela just as a for instance let’s start there is that going to be good or bad some media are reporting who knows if you can ever believe any of these things that donald trump’s you know approval ratings right now are at an all-time low so is this a boost for him is this something worth worrying about and by the way i don’t mean to indicate that something as important as important as stopping drug trafficking is really just about getting reelected. But obviously, all of this plays into concerns about whether or not the GOP can hang on to their majority. So, John, let’s start with you. Any thoughts about how that issue, you don’t need to belabor it, but what does it do for the Trump administration long term? Do people really care about what’s going on there? Or as the mega, you know, the mega millions have said over the years, we don’t want to be involved in foreign war. So does it help or hurt?
SPEAKER 02 :
Depends on the outcome, and I think that’s where Donald Trump needs to be very calculated as we head down the stretch in the midterms, much like the auto pen issue we talked about in the last segment. Reality is, in other words, if he gets a win in Venezuela, and by the way, with the amount of resources they have, those people there should be as rich as Saudi Arabians. There’s no reason why that is a poor… you know, desolated country like it is. It should be one of the richest countries on the planet, knowing the natural resources that it has. And if Donald Trump can turn that around and show success and uplift those people that are there right now and show that, listen, we didn’t go in and war tour this. You know, we didn’t tear this country up by war. We actually built it up and help these people have a life now they wouldn’t have had otherwise. That’s what we want to do in America as well. Well, that’s the message. If you can make that happen, Neil.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And Bob, before you comment, let me just say I saw one news article that said, you know, on the surface, it looks like 90 percent of the people are behind Maduro. And those are the numbers he’s quoting. But that behind the scenes, if you ask private citizens in Venezuela what they think, 70% want to change in authoritarian rule there. They want to see somebody else in control. So I think that you’ve got communist oppression, socialist pressure, whatever, on these people, and you’ve got them afraid for their lives to say anything, to get a brutal dictator leading the country. So who knows what the truth is, but I think the people of Venezuela want change. They’ve seen enough upheaval over the last few years. Okay, your thoughts? How does this affect… you know, the Trump campaign headed into the midterms.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I don’t know that the Venezuelan strikes themselves on the boats. I don’t know that that’s going to have a direct impact on next year’s elections, because my guess is this is going to be an issue that probably will hit its peak point and then peter out unless it ends up turning into some kind of big litigation process and Congress and the Supreme Court getting involved in constitutional authority and whatever. But other than that, I think Trump is looking at Venezuela in the long term. He’s playing the long game with them. John is absolutely right. Venezuela, with all the natural resources they have, the oil that they have, they should be one of the world’s top oil exporters. As a matter of fact, Venezuela really ought to be the Dubai of South America. If that could get turned around, there’s no excuse for them not being an extremely wealthy country and having cruise ports set up there in Venezuela. and everything. So I think Trump is looking at the long game. Let me change the world for the better one country at a time and see if we can turn Venezuela into a good place, just like his long-term vision for Gaza is. Let’s turn it into a Dubai on the Mediterranean. As far as the election go next year, let me just say, Neil, that when we hear things like Donald Trump’s poll numbers are the worst ever and such, Trump’s poll numbers have dropped down a little bit over the course of the last two to three weeks, but I just want to remind everybody of something, okay? Two and a half weeks ago, just two and a half weeks ago, Donald Trump’s real clear average of all of the polls of his approval rating was a half a point higher than Barack Obama’s was at the very same point in his second term. So right now, it’s a little bit under that. Barack Obama in his second term was about 43.5% approval in the real clear average of all of the polls. Right now, Trump is at 42.4%. And that’s only because there have been some really low polls, a couple of really low polls that have come out recently that have driven that number down. So Trump is actually very much in the ballpark of where Barack Obama was at this very exact point in his second term. And remember, that’s with Obama getting slobbering coverage from the mainstream media day after day. And everything he did pretty much reported through a positive lens and any of his negatives ignored by the press with the exact opposite of Donald Trump. Anything positive he does swept under the rug. Anything negative, it’s trumpeted large all across this country. So with that, with Trump having to run uphill into the wind with the mainstream media, he still is give or take president. the same place that Barack Obama was in his second term at this very same point, poll-wise. So I think we’ve got to put that into perspective.
SPEAKER 03 :
And officially, no matter what the polls say, I think the average thinking American thinks it’s a good idea to stop drug traffickers in their tracks. And the nonsense of just having open borders and allowing this stuff like it isn’t harming us, it’s destroying our country. And so I applaud the administration for taking action. We’re going to continue the conversation here, and I’ve got several other things I want to talk about related to the upcoming midterm elections. But I also want to thank our sponsor, SunPower LED, for making it possible for us to even do these conversations on the Roundtable podcast. They’re a major sponsor of ours. And SunPower LED is an incredible organization. They’ve learned to harness the power of light. Now, you know, sound waves have power. It’s why a sonic boom can knock you out of bed in the middle of the night. Or an opera singer can burst a champagne glass by hitting a particular note and holding it. Light has power, too. It’s why people get depressed in the wintertime because they’re not getting enough vitamin D. And harnessed light, red and near infrared light, can enter the human body, wake up the mitochondria in our cells, literally energizing the mitochondria. then allowing our body to do what it’s created to do and that’s heal itself so there have been fantastic results for all kinds of problems arthritic pain migraines joint pain problems healing vision problems tinnitus epilepsy and seizures spinal stenosis if you want to learn about it for yourself we urge you to go to crawfordmediagroup.net just click on the link for sun power led watch some videos get involved be a part of the free webinar they do every week Learn about how light therapy can help heal your body. No drugs involved, no surgical intervention. And if you use the promo code roundtable10, you can save yourself 10% because you’re a listener to the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. And we have another great sponsor, Preborn. Bob, they’re doing incredible things to save human lives. Preborn.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. I mean, preborn, the pro-life group, they’re all over the country in pro-life centers all across the nation. And in those pro-life centers are ultrasound machines. What happens is they show ultrasound images of unborn babies to the expectant moms. And when a mom sees a picture of her baby… That’s the first time she’s ever seen what her baby looks like. She doesn’t go across the street to Planned Parenthood. She lets her baby live. So paying for ultrasound images is literally saving babies’ lives, protecting them from being killed through abortion. That’s where you folks come in. When you give to pre-born, you’re paying to activate those ultrasound machines. Because if we don’t have the money to activate them, they sit there and gather dust. It takes money to operate them. And this is where we all come in. So $28 is the average ultrasound expense to save one baby’s life, to change one mom’s mind. How many baby’s lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. And you’ve probably given a pre-born already. I’m asking you, make this part of your regular giving, especially as we go into the Christmas season. What a perfect thing to do as a Christmas gift. Save a baby’s life. Save as many as you can. So $28 times fill in the blank. And we need some of you out there that can buy ultrasound machines. They’re $15,000 a piece. It’s a great tax write-off for you coming up on the end of the year. And you get to know that you’re stopping thousands of abortions over the years. So what do you say? $15,000 for an ultrasound machine or $28 times however many babies’ lives you want to save. Either way, 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds, nothing for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So yeah, here’s how you give. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born, give right there. Or they answer the phones 24-7. You can give over the phone. 833-850-BABY. That’s 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. Neil?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, thanks, Bob. You know, one of the One of the topics of conversation over the last few months has been the Trump administration’s decision to send the National Guard into various cities where law and order are a thing of the past. Democrat controlled cities for the most part. And, you know, the idea here is, hey, look, if law enforcement isn’t willing to enforce the law, we’re going to send the National Guard there to help. clean up some of the problems. So in Washington, just a few days ago, two members of the National Guard were shot at point blank range. One of them, Sarah Beckstrom, has already died. Andrew Wolfe, a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, is fighting for his life, at least at the time of the recording of this podcast. And this is now apparently being investigated as an act of international terrorism. But And the suspected killer, the suspect, Ramanula Lock and Wall, 29 years old, flew across the country. He’s from the West Coast, somewhere in the state of Washington, came to the Capitol and a point blank range gun these two people down, I guess, to say, hey, look, you know, we want you kind of people on the streets of our nation’s capital. You don’t belong here. Go home. Horrible, absolutely horrible what happened. Let’s talk about that for a minute, because obviously sending National Guard troops, it’s not unprecedented. It’s happened before, but it’s also not very popular in certain circles. Definitely with the legacy media and liberals and progressives, they don’t want to see anybody in these Democrat cities, you know, fighting for power. to uphold the law or to at least enforce the law by their mere presence. So I don’t know. Where are we at with that? Has this been a good move on the part of the administration? People are now dying as a result of this. I guess that was to be expected in some sense, although it’s a horrible tragedy. Bob, let me start with you on this one. Your thoughts about, first of all, what happened, but secondarily, how this is playing out in front of the American people. Is this the right thing to do?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, first of all, sending the National Guard troops into these high crime cities, yes, it’s the right thing to do, okay, because you’re saving people’s lives. Nobody is so unrealistic as to think that you’re going to eliminate 100% of every crime that happens. No, this is about dramatically reducing it. And in Washington, D.C., when you have carjackings that are down 40%, 50%, 60%, when you have homicides that are down, when you have all these various crimes that are down, rapes that are down, The bottom line is that people are living safer than they were before. Are they 100% safe? No, of course not. But it’s safer than they were before. There are people’s lives that are being saved, which, by the way, Washington, D.C. is overwhelmingly minority. The high crime areas that have been focused on by the National Guard, the people’s lives who are being saved are predominantly African-American lives. So Democrats in the media ought to care something about that. Now, as far as this guy… There’s this Afghan who killed the National Guard troop and injured the other one. First of all, this guy was part of Joe Biden’s botched Afghan withdrawal. We got to remember he was over there. He came to this country. He wasn’t properly vetted. They claimed that he was, but he really wasn’t. Yes, at one point. We can argue that maybe he was vetted because he was working with the CIA while he was over in Afghanistan. So it’s like, okay, well, he’s one of the guys working with us. But we don’t really know if that was nothing more than an attempt on his part to, hey, let me try to work my way into the U.S. Maybe he always had an Islamic jihadi mentality toward us, and he just tried to act like our friend for a while. Or maybe he really was, and he just got radicalized when he was over here. I don’t know. But all of those Afghans that flooded into this country during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, they weren’t properly vetted. They get here in this country. They’re walking the streets. And then before you know it, one of them ends up carrying out a jihadi attack. So I can understand Trump saying, you know what, that’s it. Until we can get a handle on vetting properly, we’re going to stop people coming to this country from third world countries. We’re just going to put a pause on that. until we can get a handle on making sure who’s here, who’s coming here, and what kind of cooperation are we getting from their country of origin. That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and before you go on, it’s also been reported that this suspect had his asylum application approved during the Trump administration. Yeah, it was in April. OK, so but here’s the thing. So if the borders are open and people are coming in, we don’t even know who they are. And they say, oh, well, there’s no real terrorists out there. This is somebody that actually worked with the CIA, entered the country, I think, in 2021 is whatever that Biden’s Operation Allies thing. And and then was, you know, got his asylum application approved under the Trump administration. My point being that even when you know the guy and even when he’s working for you, you maybe don’t really know who he is. That’s how dangerous. This can be bringing in people.
SPEAKER 04 :
They’re just basically getting rubber stamp, rubber stamp, rubber stamp for their approval. This is part of what the Trump administration is trying to catch up on. So this is – the press is trying to turn – the liberals are trying to turn this into, well, Donald Trump is the one who approved his asylum in this country. No, he was already approved for this and the Biden administration was in the pipeline. It was just finalized as an automatic process while Trump was in office. What Trump is doing now is saying, wait a minute. we got to get a handle on this. We got way too many people coming into this country from third world countries. We’re pulling the plug on it right now until we can get a handle on this. To me, I think that’s the right response.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, John, I didn’t I cut you off and didn’t give you a chance to talk.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, you’re fine. No. And I’m going back to just the presence in some of these cities. I was reading this morning where it looks like New Orleans might be the next place that Trump sends some troops in, which, by the way, the governor has actually asked for that. I mean, these are, again, Democrat run cities that are overridden with crime, homelessness on down the line we go. And the reality is, Neil, at the end of the day, let’s just say this. the people that are against Trump, that hate him, they’re going to vote that way no matter what happens in these cities. On the same token, you take some of these people where they actually have a better life when it’s all said and done and they don’t have to worry about where they’re walking at any time of the day and things along those lines. In other words, they start seeing their city in a different way than what they saw it once before. You know, Neil, that can do nothing but bode well for us in the midterms. I don’t see it having any negative effect. Those people that are out there They’re against Donald Trump for doing this. They’re going to be against him no matter what, period. The reality is those folks in the middle that are probably looking at it both ways saying, well, my life is a lot better today than it was six months ago before the National Guard showed up. In fact, everything that the press talked about happening didn’t, and I’m now safer than I was prior. That doesn’t hurt us at all, Neal.
SPEAKER 04 :
He does need the economy, though, to turn around.
SPEAKER 02 :
And the economy has, well, that’s a whole podcast in and of itself talking about Jerome Powell.
SPEAKER 04 :
But if that doesn’t happen, I don’t think all of his foreign policy success and border protection success and drug crackdown success, I don’t think that’s going to be enough to carry the day if inflation is still running at 3%.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Well, thank you for making the segue, because that was my next question on the issue of the economy and affordability. A lot of young people. In fact, I heard a stat the other day. I can’t quote it directly, but somewhere in the neighborhood of, you know, people originally bought homes for the first time ever, you know, in their mid 20s, like, I don’t know, 40 years ago. And something like 20 years ago, it had grown to about 32. Now it’s 40, you know, that people are able to even think about buying their first home.
SPEAKER 02 :
Because their expectations are too high. I’ve talked about that before. No offense. I talked about this a few weeks ago. You know, my first home was, you know, 900 square feet. These guys want to live in 2500 square feet. So, yeah, I didn’t have my first 2500 square foot home until about house four. So no offense, Neil. These people need to lower their expectations. John, you expect us to live in 900 square feet. Are you kidding me right now? Yes, I do, if that’s your first home. Absolutely, if that’s what it takes to get started. Well, you’re right.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s a walk-in closet for the young people today.
SPEAKER 03 :
What you’re saying is huge.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, thank you, Bob. That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 03 :
John, what you’re saying is huge, because actually, you’re right. That’s a factor I don’t think anybody’s looking at. When you hear a stat like, well, the average age to buy a first home now, first-time homeowners, is 40. Well… Okay, but what about expectations? How does that put a curve on a number like that? And you’re 100% right.
SPEAKER 02 :
By the way, you bring up a great point, Neil, and something where I talk about in my program a lot. You can look at all sorts of data, but the reality is what’s in the data? What’s causing the data to to actually be that way. And in this case, the reality is the expectations of people and what they want and how they want to live exactly like their parents are living that, by the way, started out like I did, you did, and Bob did. The reality is they don’t want to start that way. They don’t want to be at the bottom rung of the ladder. They want to start in the middle rung of the ladder. It doesn’t work that way.
SPEAKER 03 :
By the way, the first car I ever owned, I didn’t own until I was in grad school in 1981 was a Toyota Corona. I bought it used for $900. So there you go.
SPEAKER 02 :
And by the way, really quick, just to just attack on what you’re saying a moment ago, Neil, and I know I said this a couple weeks ago, but these same people that wait to buy a home until they’re 45. have probably have multiple new cars up until that point that had they done what you did, they might have been able to save up more money and not had the debt and been able to buy a house. It’s called sacrifice and lowering your expectations, something we have not taught the past several generations.
SPEAKER 04 :
And patience, by the way. Patience.
SPEAKER 02 :
You don’t need it all now. That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think if this was visual, I’d give you a standing ovation, John, because I think what you said is huge. But progressives, nobody’s going to change their mind. Hardcore Trump supporters, nobody’s going to change their mind. It always comes down to the middle. So how is the middle affected by this? And I think groceries at the grocery store, a sense that even if it’s just a sense, forget about expectations. People are like, I’ll never be able to own a home. I can’t afford to get a new car. So how does the economy, how does affordability play out? I think it’s a huge job. Bob, you brought it up. I think it’s a huge issue headed into the midterm. So let’s start with you on this one.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, this is something that, in my personal opinion, OK, the economy right now is doing OK. Yes, I know Trump’s posts. Economy’s doing great, all capital letters. No, it’s doing OK. And actually, for all of the tariffs that Donald Trump has issued around the world to basically force people to the negotiating table, for all of those tariffs – The economy is actually remarkably doing much better than the naysayers said that it was going to do. Inflation has not spiked up to 5%, 6%, 7%, 8% or 9% like it did under Joe Biden. It’s still hovering around 3%. That’s not bad when we’re getting new trade deals negotiated all over the world, which is going to benefit the U.S. in the long term large and U.S. manufacturing. But I hate to say it. I just I think that your average voter, especially the independents and the swing voters or whatever, they’re going to be like, OK, the eight wars that are stopped. Yep. You know what? That’s great. But it doesn’t seem to affect me when I go to Kroger. And so I don’t think that Trump is getting the amount. I don’t think the weight he’s getting credit for the amount of weight of what he’s accomplishing on the world scale as far as the Middle East translates. trade deals here in the United States, cracking down on drugs, cracking down on crime. I think these things hold more weight in actuality than they do in political perception, unfortunately. And so one way or another, he’s going to have to laser focus on get inflation back down to 2% high ones. If he can get that happening, unfortunately, If he can get the GDP consistently running up 3%, 4% on a regular basis and get the housing market moving and active, then I think the Republicans are in good shape for next November. If not, I hate to say it, but I think a lot of voters are going to say all of the other great successes Donald Trump has is basically a brick on one side of the scales, but the economy is going to be two bricks on the other side. It shouldn’t be that way, but I think it is. And so that’s where they need to turn their attention, in my opinion.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s the economy, stupid.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Unfortunately. It usually comes out of that.
SPEAKER 04 :
But he’s done so many great things outside of that. And the economy is not bad. It should be horrible.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and really quick, I know we’re short on time, but just to throw this in. He knows all of this, and he knows until he gets a Fed change because Jerome Powell is fighting him at every turn. Right, that’s true. He knows that he’s got to do everything else outside of what the Fed could do to help get the economy back on track, which, by the way, to his credit, him and Besant and others, they are doing that. They’re working around the Fed as much as they can. Donald Trump knows that you’re not going to have a huge uptick until May.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, and real quick, because I agree with Bob, it comes down to what you’re feeling in your heart or in your wallet when you’re standing in line at Kroger. Is messaging enough to turn the tide? Because, Bob, everything you said is true. He’s done a lot of great stuff. I don’t think anybody cares when they’re standing in line at Kroger. So real quick. Right, but you know what, though, Neil?
SPEAKER 04 :
I’ll tell you this. Next summer, if the housing market can pick up in May, as John said, and I think it will, by the way, but as this happens… What Trump is at least doing right now is he’s building a resume of talking points of accomplishments. And so next fall, Republicans are going to be able to say, oh, by the way, Donald Trump’s coattails, they do matter because the economy is getting better. But let’s not forget everything he accomplished in 2025. And so right now he is building a resume that I think he’s going to be able to use and Republicans will be able to use next fall if the economy improves.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ten seconds, John. The economy’s got to improve. Like I said a moment ago, he really needs to be, as Bob said, be laser focused on that. I know the changes will come in May with a Fed chair change. I hope, in fact, if he does enough announcements ahead of time on who that Fed chair might be, you’ll actually see some things, I think, in the markets go that direction, whereby you might be able to get a head start on the housing end of things, a 30-year mortgage and so on, because no… It’s not directly affected by the short-term rate. There’s other factors in it, including who is the next chair going to be.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Well said. You know, I want to encourage you, if you’re thinking about something really outside the box for Christmas, you need to look at purchasing one of the products available from SunPower LED. Harnessing light. And this is not big pharma. It has nothing to do with pharmaceuticals and nothing to do with surgical intervention. It has to do with harnessing light. using red and near-infrared light to help heal our bodies and to rid our bodies of things like arthritis pain and tinnitus and seizures as a result of epilepsy, problems healing, vision problems people are having, back and neck pain, knee pain, plantar fasciitis. Light therapy has been doing incredible things. The light therapy available from SunPowerLED. By the way, if you use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 when you order one of these products, at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. You can save yourself 10% on a purchase, which is a great deal for Christmas. So check it out at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on SunPowerLED and see what light therapy can do for you. Bob, we’re down to 60 seconds. Tell us about Preborn.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, we want you folks to give to Preborn, save these babies’ lives. Remember, there’s two types of givers that we’re looking for right now. One, the heavy hitters that can buy an ultrasound machine for Preborn. They’re $15,000 apiece, great tax write-off for you, and you know that you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions over the years. And for everybody else, $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion. So we’re asking you to pray about a number of abortions that you’ll stop by paying for ultrasound images of those babies. It’s in pro-life centers across the country. So take $28 times fill in the blank, pray about a number, give that. For everybody else that can buy an ultrasound machine, Do it, 15 grand, okay? And bottom line, we’re saving babies’ lives. We appreciate you folks doing this. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. And don’t forget, 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Neal?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, folks, enjoy the season. Relish it. Remember the reason for the season. Thanks for being a part of the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. And God willing, we’ll see you again next time right here.
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.
