In this episode of Washington Watch, host Tony Perkins brings a deep dive into the latest challenges facing Washington, D.C. The topics range from looming government shutdown fears, spurred by partisan splits over budget priorities, to significant international issues including Israel’s incursion into Gaza City. Perkins is joined by influential policymakers and reporters to break down what’s happening in our nation’s capital and beyond, providing listeners a thorough understanding of the issues from a biblical perspective.
SPEAKER 17 :
From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 01 :
It seems like Republicans have already outright rejected the idea of your plan. Are you willing to shut the government down?
SPEAKER 05 :
Ask the Republicans if they’re willing to shut the government down. That’s where they’re headed.
SPEAKER 20 :
That was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicating that our country may be headed toward a government shutdown if he has his way. Welcome to this September 18th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks so much for tuning in. Well, coming up, Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza City with the goal of bringing the war that Hamas started on October 7th, 2023 to a close. However, the intensifying ground campaign in Hamas’s urban stronghold is intensifying international condemnation. I’ll dive deeper into the issue with Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma later in the program. Congress is gearing up to pass a CR in an effort to prevent that government shutdown. I’ll be joined by Congressman Mark Harris of North Carolina to discuss the latest on the CR. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he wants to designate the Antifa movement as a terrorist organization. In his post on Truth Social he added, quote, I will also be strongly recommending that those funding Antifa be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Trump’s signal of new action against left-wing groups comes after the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk last week. What role did these left-wing groups play in creating an atmosphere of hostility towards conservatives that has repeatedly, repeatedly led to violence? Joining me now to discuss this, Washington Stand reporter Casey Harper, who has been following this story. Casey, what more can you tell us about President Trump’s statement that he wants to designate Antifa a terrorist organization?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, thanks, Tony. As you said, President Trump made that announcement on True Social, saying, quote, I’ll be strongly recommending that those funding it are hit with the highest legal standards and practices. A pretty strong statement. Well, President Trump’s signal of new action against left-wing groups, it comes, as you said, after the assassination of Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10th. President Trump and senior officials in his administration have repeatedly blamed left-wing groups for creating an atmosphere of hostility toward conservatives before Kirk’s murder. This also comes after the recent revelations that Biden’s Department of Justice targeted 92 conservative organizations in an investigation they labeled Arctic Frost. And Tony, it is true that not just conservatives, but also Christians are facing threats, violence, and even persecution from left-wing individuals and organizations. For example, at a Dearborn City Council meeting just last week, Mayor Abdullah Hamoud told resident Ted Barham, who’s a Christian minister actually, that he was, quote, not welcome in the city. After that minister objected to street signs honoring Arab-American news publisher Osama Siblani. The minister criticized Sebalani for past comments he believed supported Hezbollah and Hamas. Now, although the signs were installed by Wayne County and not the city, the mayor escalated the exchange during the public meeting, Tony.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thanks, Casey. We’ll actually dive a little bit deeper into this and have a discussion with Dr. Andrew Bostom. Casey, what other stories are you tracking?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, a lot going on this week, Tony. Congress is working to pass a CR to extend funding for the government past September 30th. With that looming government shutdown on the horizon, Republicans are trying to work with Democrats, but so far there’s not much progress on that front. Democrats seem like they want a government shutdown and are not willing to cooperate. Now another headline from today is President Trump’s visit in the UK. During a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Kerr Starmer, President Trump said that tariffs were crucial to boosting current investment levels in America and emphasized the importance of, quote, sane regulation in the U.S. economy. His visit as he departs today included high-profile meetings and ceremonies, culminating in the announcement of a $205 billion U.S. investment package into Britain. During the press conference, President Trump also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had let him down. He made the comment after a question from a reporter on the efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
SPEAKER 14 :
The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin. But he’s let me down. He’s really let me down. It was going to be Russia and Ukraine. But we’ll see how that turns out. But that turned out to be, I thought it might be among the easiest of the group. But we have settled just about every conflict. And as you know, we’re working very hard on Israel and Gaza. All that’s happening over there. Complex, but it’s going to be… It’s going to get done.
SPEAKER 06 :
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Israeli tanks advanced further into Gaza City today, with smoke rising and communications cut off, which is a show of that further escalation in ground operations as Israeli forces targeted key neighborhoods and moved towards those densely populated areas. Israel has urged civilians to flee to a southern humanitarian zone amid the increasingly dire conditions there. It’s offensive against Hamas, though, and efforts to free hostages have drawn some international condemnation, Tony.
SPEAKER 20 :
Certainly has. Thank you, Casey. Appreciate the report today. Well, joining me now to discuss this and more is U.S. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. He serves on four Senate committees, including the Finance Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. Senator Lankford, thanks so much for joining us today. Always great to see you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, good to see you as well, Tony. Thanks for all the work you do.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, I appreciate it. Let’s start with something that you and I share in common. We’ve spent a lot of time in Israel concerned about the Middle East, understand the role of Israel, not just in geopolitics, but as believers, as Christians, it occupies a very important part. What can you tell us the latest? I know you also are part of, you chair the Abraham Accords. Are we making progress?
SPEAKER 05 :
We are making some progress, but it’s painfully difficult. And we are also at the five-year mark for the Abraham Accords. And we think about how significant that has been in the region. The Abraham Accords were a moment to be able to make friends when we needed to be able to make friends. And now we’re in a situation where those relationships continue to hold. The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco continue to be able to maintain communication with Israel, even during this ongoing war. But right now, Israel, as you’ve mentioned, and your reporter also mentioned, Israel is on an offensive actually in Gaza city to be able to find, locate, and actually redeem their hostages that are actually there. Israel has said over and over and over again, this war would be over if Hamas would give up its hostages. Hamas knows its very existence is based on killing people and taking hostages. And so they refuse to be able to release even the bodies of individuals that were killed in the terrorist attack, much less those that are still alive. And I can’t imagine what they’ve experienced over the last two years of being a hostage.
SPEAKER 20 :
I know as you have, I’ve talked to some of the hostages that have been released and just harrowing experiences. This comes, this latest push into Gaza City, my sense is in conversations with those in Israel and also through observation, understanding how difficult urban combat is, but this surge to me appears to come as Israel understands the international community is closing in on them. I mean, we’ve got the European Commission suggesting that tariff sanctions be placed on Israel. We have the United Nations General Assembly later this month, and we have some of our own allies in Europe wanting to, saying they’re going to call for a Palestinian state.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we got the president saying with Keir Starmer today, even in the UK, is saying that they’re going to call for a Palestinian state unilaterally. France has done the same, saying they’re going to call for a Palestinian state unilaterally. That doesn’t solve the problem. Plus the fact, even if you declared a Palestinian state, who’s the head? Where’s the leadership? What would that even look like? Who can Israel even negotiate with? Because there’s such chaos in Judea and Samaria, and then clearly in Gaza and what’s happening there. So There’s no way to be able to recognize something that doesn’t even have an organizational system to it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Senator, you and I have been together in Judea and Samaria. In fact, we were part of the first groups, official groups to go into that region. It is much larger, about 24 times larger than what we have in Gaza. And Gaza, by de facto, was a two-state solution. I mean, this would be a disaster for Israel and their national security. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. And again, you’re back to the most basic thing of leadership there. The Palestinian people don’t trust the Palestinian Authority. You have multiple different political parties there. You have no organization. They’ve not had elections in a long time. And now you have a group of sheikhs in Hebron. that are saying, hey, we don’t want to be a part of the Palestinian area at all. We want to form our own emirate in this area. And several of the sheikhs coming on board as well and saying, hey, we want to look at a totally different solution, not a two-state solution, but an agreement between Palestinian people and Israelis. to be able to how we can actually cooperate together.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s not getting a lot of media attention because that is a major development. We’ve not seen that before, where you have Arabs, those living under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, say, we don’t want this corrupt government. We want to operate the way this area did prior to about 100 years ago when they began to carve up and create this nation state. They were tribal, and they want to live under the families. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
One of the most successful nations in that entire region is the United Arab Emirates, and it’s a group of families that have organized together. They form their own government and their own coalitions, but each is an emirate, a group of families there with leadership on that. That’s a very Middle Eastern model, and the two-state solution is very often the West trying to impose the way we do government, not the way that’s actually done in the Middle East. There are Middle Eastern families there in the Palestinian area saying, no, we want to do emirates. We want to break away from the P.A.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right. I mean, this, as you said, a pretty recent development after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the West imposing and just basically going in and drawing lines and dividing it up. All right. I want, Senator, I want to, before we run out of time, we just have about three minutes left. I want to shift to domestic issues, government funding. Here we are again. Democrats trying to, I think they’re taking a wager. I think they’re saying if the Republicans don’t blink, we’re going to shut down the government.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, they are. Right now, the Democrats are trying to be able to prove to their far left progressive base that we’re fighting against Trump on it. But when you run into a government shutdown, it’s always a charge of the light brigade. Every time Republicans have done it, Democrats have done it. But at the end, it spends more money. It wastes taxpayer dollars to be able to do it. It’s all the drama. We look terrible on the world stage. Government shutdowns don’t help us. They actually hurt us long term. This particular one, Republicans have said, OK, let’s just keep the government open for the next seven weeks. Exactly the same funding as we have now so we can continue negotiations and be able to finish things out the next seven weeks. And Democrats have said, no, we want an extra three hundred billion dollars to do an extension of covid era funding. insurance pieces that they had done during the covid time period when president biden was in place they want an additional 300 billion dollars to keep the government open seven weeks now just think about that and all the debt and deficit that we have for the next seven weeks they want 300 billion dollars to be able to add to it to be able to increase covid area health care funds so we’ve said hey let’s talk about things but we’re not going to do 300 billion dollars in this process for seven weeks
SPEAKER 20 :
This is what the White House has called for and what the House is poised to passion. I was speaking with the majority leader, Steve Scalise, earlier this morning. A clean CR. It just continues what we had in place. Democrats voted for that, did they not?
SPEAKER 05 :
They did. During the Biden administration, we had 13 different continuing resolutions. Almost every single Democrat voted for every single one of them to say, hey, let’s just keep the negotiations going until we can actually get the appropriations work done. This is common practice. If we run out of time to say, just don’t shut it down, keep it going, let’s keep negotiating, we’re getting close. We already have wide agreement on three of the 12 appropriation bills. We have nine to go. We can get those done in the next seven weeks on it. That’s the right way to be able to go, not to say… I’m going to shut the government down if you don’t give me $300 billion and more COVID.
SPEAKER 20 :
Your sense, the House is going to pass it. They’re going to leave town. That creates a lot of pressure for the Senate to adopt what the House has.
SPEAKER 05 :
It does actually, except that the last time that this happened, Chuck Schumer and a group of Democrats in the Senate voted for that continuing resolution and their progressive base just pounded away on them for doing that. So I think Chuck Schumer is going to try to prove that he is fighting against Trump and is going to shut the government down. And it’s going to say, no, I won’t do a clean CR just to be able to keep it going. I want to be able to add some something to it. And this time it’s his new health care piece that he wants to be able to add into it. And so we’ll see how the fight goes. Ultimately, though, it’s better for us to keep the negotiation going and not have a shutdown.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah. Senator James Langford, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 05 :
You bet. Good to see you again. Keep praying for the nation. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 20 :
Folks, we need to be praying. A lot to pray for. All right. Coming up next, we’re going to be joined by Congressman Mark Harris. Don’t go away.
SPEAKER 10 :
Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued its historic Dobbs decision, a ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade, which for nearly 50 years imposed abortion on demand, silencing voters and bypassing the democratic process across the country. The Dobbs decision was a huge step forward against abortion, but it didn’t outright ban it. It returned the power to the people. Now, 29 states have laws on the books protecting life. However, there’s a catch. Abortion numbers since Dobbs have actually gone up with an increase of 12% since 2020, climbing from 930,000 to over 1 million in each of the most recent years. So how can this be? The answer is simple, the abortion drug. Today, over 60% of U.S. abortions involve abortion drugs, many of these without medical oversight. In 2021, the Biden administration quietly removed bare minimum longstanding safety protocols for the abortion drug that have existed for 20 years to protect women from life-threatening risks and ensuring informed consent. The Biden DOJ then declared that they would not enforce the Comstock Act, which prevents the mailing of anything that causes an abortion. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. A study shows nearly 11% of women who take the abortion drug end up in the emergency room with serious complications. Unless the Trump administration reverses these reckless Biden-era policies, pro-life laws will remain largely symbolic. Without a full review and repeal of Mifepristone, unborn lives will remain in grave danger and pregnant mothers will remain at risk. let’s stand for life and end this mail order abortion drug pipeline sign the petition urging the trump administration to take action at frc.org stop chemical abortion in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory
SPEAKER 16 :
Family Research Council invites you to join our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan as we reflect upon the life of Jesus, the Word who dwelt among us. Come with us and discover the glory of the Word. Read the Gospels and witness the life-changing story of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. Come read how Jesus transformed the lives of common people and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come with us for 10 to 15 minutes a day and read the entire New Testament before the new year. Find our Bible reading plan and daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc.org slash Bible. Join us and stand on the word.
SPEAKER 20 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you’d like to find out more about Washington Watch and the Family Research Council, go to tonyperkins.com. Better yet, download the Stand Firm app. Go to the app store and get the Stand Firm app. That way you can have access to Washington Watch no matter where you go. Also, you can have access to our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, the Washington Stand, and my daily devotional, Stand on the Word. All of that is found on the Stand Firm app. Yesterday, Congress moved one step, the House moved one step closer to keeping the federal government funded past the looming September 30th deadline. Now, what they did is they approved in the House a rule to advance the House continuing resolution. Now, it was a party line vote, 216 to 210. House Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly still eyeing a Friday morning floor vote on the stopgap funding measure. They’re still trying to get a few more votes together. Congress will be out next week, and so this will pass the House, and as we were just talking about with Senator Lankford, it will go over to the Senate. What will they do with it? Well, we’ll see. You heard what he had to say. All right, joining me now to discuss what’s happening in the House, Congressman Mark Harris. He serves on three House committees, including the Judiciary Committee and the Education Committee. He represents the 8th Congressional District of North Carolina right outside of Charlotte. Congressman Harris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you.
SPEAKER 19 :
Tony, it’s always great to be with you.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right. So the House getting closer, inching closer. I understand there’s a handful of votes yet to be wrangled to pass the CR. Talk a little bit about the internal conversations among Republicans. What are the concerns about passing a clean CR?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, of course, I think the main concern that many have about any kind of CR is all of us have run on wanting to get back to regular order. We want to see the appropriation bills get passed. Obviously, this was a bit of a unique situation where a lot of time was eaten up so far this year in getting the reconciliation bill done and getting it through. So we find ourselves facing this deadline of September 30th that’s upon us. We’ve only got just a handful of appropriation bills through. And so the reality is there’s going to have to be a CR. Now, I’m a proponent, quite frankly, and have been all along of a year long CR if we’re going to do one more long term, simply because that is going to at least hold spending at a level place and avoid any kind of increase in spending. But It seems like the better play at this particular point is going to be a short-term CR that’s going to get us to November 21st, and it’ll be clean, and that’s going to give us more time to get more accomplished with many of these appropriation bills that are out there. the Democrats to give some top numbers to our appropriators. But we’re making progress and I’m hopeful that we’re going to get that come Friday.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, I agree with you. I think a longer term CR is probably better because every time you have a vote, there has to be negotiations. And when there’s negotiations, things have to be given up. And while it might not necessarily be in the CR itself, as it’s described as a clean CR, there are side deals that have to be made to get votes. So that is problematic. And to your point, there’s been all this discussion about getting back to regular order, meaning passing the 12 appropriations bills, having the discussions, having the committee hearings on those. And I know the House is proceeding. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t get all the way through the process. It’s been almost 20 years since that has happened. What kind of commitment is the House leadership making to ensure that you get back to that regular order?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, again, I think the Speaker’s made it very clear that that’s his goal and would like to see us get there. Again, we do have to deal with the Democrats and making sure we have an idea of the top numbers with appropriations that they’re going to deal with when it gets to the Senate. Obviously, that’s the big challenge the House has. If the Republicans all stick together, we can pass something through the House, but then it gets over the House. Senate, and it’s going to be Chuck Schumer’s problem. And again, it’s got to be seven Democrats that avoid the shutdown, really, by stepping up and passing it.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right. Well, we’ll see what happens here. I want to switch gears a little bit because you serve on the House Judiciary Committee, which yesterday heard testimony from FBI Director Kash Patel. Now, during that hearing, as I was watching it, you brought up the Biden administration’s weaponization of federal agencies targeting not criminals, not violent crime, but Christians in churches.
SPEAKER 19 :
Absolutely. We brought up the question to them up front that was it wise to spend resources on spying on the Catholic Church? And I specifically use that word spying because what they’ve been doing is absolutely atrocious. And we genuinely felt like we needed to step in and ask the FBI director. And I even carried it one step further. and pointed out having been a pastor for 36 years, was it possible that I was on Ray’s FBI watch list? And the director, Kash Patel, assured me that while he couldn’t speak to that at the moment, that he would assure me that I would not be on his watch list or their watch list of the FBI under his leadership.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, actually, I’d like to be on my watch list. I want them to watch the program. I want to hear the truth of what’s going on. Now, I understand his response to you is that he went a little further. He’s said that the FBI would be, quote, zealously protecting our First Amendment rights, end quote. And that’s for all Americans. I mean, I think you and I agree that every American has a right to speak and their speech should be protected and should be targeted because we disagree with it.
SPEAKER 19 :
Oh, you’re exactly right. And this is a very, very serious issue, a touchy issue that I think all of us have got to be aware of. We had a hearing just a few weeks ago that we brought in Nigel Farage there from Great Britain, where we’ve all watched this thing just get crazy with censorship and hate speech. And any time the government uses that and puts something in place, It seems like Christians are the ones that get the black eye. And again, you found where people are being arrested for praying silent prayer even outside of abortion clinics. And so we’ve got to be very wise in how we approach it.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right. Just a minute left, Congressman Harris. Any other major takeaways from yesterday’s hearing?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, it was obvious to me that Kash Patel and his leadership there at the FBI is making an incredible difference. I mean, you’re seeing the crime rates come down. You’re seeing the amount of fentanyl that’s been stopped at the border and all of those things. The work that’s being done has been phenomenal. The Democrats, they honestly don’t have anything to do but just to attack him personally. And one thing I was very impressed with Director Patel, he made it very clear on a number of occasions, you can hate me, you can attack me personally, but don’t come after the good men and women of the FBI who are simply doing their jobs to protect this country. And I think President Trump and Director Patel are setting a whole new standard for all of us.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, Congressman Mark Harris, always great to see you, my friend. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Great to be with you. All right, folks, stick around. There’s more Washington Watch straight ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
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I’m defending the family by working in the Center for Biblical Worldview to provide cutting-edge research and resources for pastors, ministry leaders, and Christian parents.
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SPEAKER 20 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. All right. The city of Dearborn, Michigan, has been getting some new unwanted attention the past few days after a video clip went viral of its Muslim mayor telling a Christian resident, who apparently is a pastor as well, that he is not welcome in the city. The remark was made following the resident’s objection to the renaming of a street in the heart of Dearborn after a newspaper publisher who has made pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah statements. Is this the type of message we should be hearing in America? Should this concern us? Joining me now to discuss this, Dr. Andrew Bostom, author of Sharia vs. Freedom, the Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism. Dr. Bostom, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to see you. Good to be with you, Tony. All right, for those in our audience who are not aware, can you give us a little background on what’s been unfolding in the city of Dearborn and what makes this unique?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, Dearborn is one of, I believe, a couple of cities now in, I think, Hamtramck is the other, that has a Muslim mayor. It has a very large, now it’s a majority Muslim community. And what you’re seeing play out are what a lot of us have feared, is that in a predominantly Muslim enclave of city, town, etc., you will see application of Islamic law. And this isn’t a clear-cut case of, for example, blasphemy, criticizing Islam’s prophet Muhammad. But what this pastor did is go against the mores of the community, where this is, in their eyes, this is a respected Muslim. And how dare a non-Muslim criticize the decision to name a street after him? And obviously, I don’t think there’s anything legally that can be done to the pastor, but there may be all kinds of extra legal pressures put upon him. And the point is, Tony, that this is not considered legal. uh negative from from an islamic perspective uh you know this is the way christians are supposed to behave in a in a muslim community they are supposed to bend to the will of the muslim majority and not do anything that that offends the sensibilities of muslims but is that the american way that we have to surrender our first amendment freedoms because we’re living in an enclave of muslims
SPEAKER 20 :
Of course not.
SPEAKER 04 :
And the problem is that we don’t have the political strength, the religious strength, the social strength to just say this is intolerable and there should be higher officials in the state of Michigan that chastise this mayor and even threaten him if they have to.
SPEAKER 20 :
And federally, things should be done to threaten funding to Dearborn. He said this from the city council in his role as the mayor. So it wasn’t like he posted this somewhere on social media. He said it from his official post and capacity. Now, let me say something, because there are going to be people who say, well, you believe in religious freedom. What if a Christian was the mayor? Well— Okay. But there’s a difference between Islam and Christianity. Christianity allows freedom. Christianity actually allows this Muslim mayor to be a mayor in America. Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Is there a Christian mayor somewhere in a Muslim country telling a Muslim resident that they have to leave the city?
SPEAKER 04 :
Of course not. And it’s far worse than that. There’s not a single Muslim country or region where Christians are free and safe. And in fact, what we’re seeing right now in real time is the tragedy of what’s happening in sub-Saharan Africa, where countries such as Nigeria, Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, the Central African Republic, have massacred or forcibly displaced millions of African Christians. Jihadists allowed to roam free in these countries within the past 10 years. And there’s about 34.5 million people that have been displaced across Sub-Saharan Africa. Essentially half of them, about a little over 16 million, are Christians. Christians in many Muslim countries can be detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned. They’re incarcerated for their faith in Bangladesh and Iran. They’re being driven underground in places like Yemen and Algeria. And even a society that gets a lot of attention, the vestigial remnant Christian community living under the rule of Palestinian jihad terror groups is almost extinct. and the surviving families have moved abroad or are trying to leave.
SPEAKER 20 :
But all of those things that you just talked about, the harassment, the arrest, the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries, That doesn’t happen here in the United States of America.
SPEAKER 04 :
Of course not. Not to Muslims. Muslims, you know, certainly it’s in vogue, have a protected status in this country. We monitor so-called Islamophobic hate crimes. And there’s all kinds of public opprobrium cast upon anyone who says something that’s deemed negative about Muslims. It’s the opposite.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s the difference between Islam and Christianity. We welcome people into our home. We just don’t want them kicking us out of our own home.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And but but I think, Tony, ultimately, there’s nothing that this mayor did from his perspective, from the mindset of the of a leader of really what’s a Muslim community now. He did nothing wrong. He’s protecting the mores of this Muslim community. And the problem is us. The problem is the non-Muslim political and religious leaders that are afraid to call out these behaviors and just label them as unacceptable.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s a matter of courage and intestinal fortitude for us to stand up and defend the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian ethic and foundation of that Constitution. I think we have to be willing to say those things.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely, absolutely. Otherwise, our hard-won freedoms will dissolve. And we will basically be functioning under, if not the letter of the Sharia, the spirit of the Sharia.
SPEAKER 20 :
Dr. Boston, we’ve got to leave it there. Always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, Tony. Take care. All right, folks, stick with us. More to come after this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Family Research Council is committed to advancing faith, family, and freedom from the East Coast to the West. So FRC is going to Southern California for this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. Join us for this powerful gathering of Christians desiring cultural renewal and spiritual revival. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit brings together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action. Together, we will seek God’s guidance for our nation and engage in meaningful discussions on the intersection of faith, government, and culture. If the spiritual foundations and the cultural walls of our nation are to be rebuilt, we all have a role to play. May we each find our place on the wall as we build for biblical truth. Register now at PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
SPEAKER 18 :
Jennifer, it’s so exciting to be here with you today talking about our new book, Embracing God’s Design. Who is actually going to benefit from reading this book in your view?
SPEAKER 09 :
There are so many different audiences that can benefit. The first one are counselors themselves, because we have some material in there where we really address the gender dysphoria diagnosis and what is wrong with it. We have information for people who are wanting to go back to embracing God’s design for their life.
SPEAKER 18 :
This is really magical to have the therapist and the individual who suffered come together and write about why this is happening and why we’re seeing this.
SPEAKER 09 :
And we brought all of that experience to the table. We want to see people walking in the fullness of who God has called them to be and not a false identity.
SPEAKER 18 :
Order today at embracethedesign.com.
SPEAKER 12 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ and in all of life follow outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week
SPEAKER 20 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in on this Thursday. All right, I want to invite you to join like-minded believers for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Southern California. Now, this is going to be a powerful event. It’s going to bring together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials. pray, to talk about voting? How do we impact this culture? How do we stand and defend? You know, we’re at a point where we’ve got to be very clear that the gates of hell will not prevail against the truth. Everything is coming against it, but we’re going to stand firm. So I invite you to be a part of this year’s powerful gathering at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. That’s my battle buddy, Pastor Jack Hibbs. To find out more Go to PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org. All right, today’s word comes from 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul reminds us that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, sudden and unexpected to a world asleep. But believers are sons of light and sons of the day, so we need not be caught off guard. Our call is to alertness, to sobriety, grounded in the gospel. Here’s Paul’s checklist for people of the day. For us as believers, wake up, refuse spiritual drowsiness, shake off apathy, and pay attention to what God is doing around you. Sober up. Clear your mind and heart of the intoxicants of fear, outrage, and distraction. Let Scripture steady you. Look up. Watch with expectancy for Christ’s return and read the times through the lenses of His promises, not the headlines of the paper. armor up put on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of hope of salvation faith anchors love compels and hope protects your mind we may not know the timetable but we do know our posture awake steady hopeful and ready live today as children of the light bright with faith warm with love and guarded by hope until he comes To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742. All right, as we often do on Thursdays, we want to take a look back at some of the big news items of the week with our panel of pundits from the Washington Stand. Joining me now for that panel is Washington Stand Editor-in-Chief Jared Bridges and Managing Editor for Broadcast Casey Harper. Guys, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks, Tony. I should say welcome back. You were here earlier. Welcome back. All right, let’s start where I just left off in the last segment, Dr. Boston, talking about this news coming out of Dearborn, Michigan, where a Muslim mayor telling a Christian resident, happens to be a pastor, who objected to the renaming of a street in the name of a local newspaper publisher who had been pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah, and he told him, you’re not welcome here. Get out of the city, Jared.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I don’t think our founders, when they were writing freedom into our Constitution, meant that freedom meant you could take freedom out, away from people. And I think this is kind of what we’re seeing here.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, you know, there’s a term in the Constitution, in our founding documents, ordered liberty. And And the mindset was that under Scripture, and I know people are going to push back on this, but John Adams, second president of the United States, says our law is made for a moral and religious people, is wholly inadequate for the government of any other. And I would bet my life on this, Casey, that he was not referring to the Koran.
SPEAKER 06 :
No.
SPEAKER 20 :
He was referring to the Bible.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, the idea of mass Islamic immigration would have been unthinkable to the founders. I think it almost goes without saying. But I think that we’ve seen a lot of things, a lot of pushback on free speech lately, and this is part of it. He can’t even speak up at his own city council here without a government official who has a lot of power over him telling him he can’t be there and he should be quiet. I think Islamization of a Christian society ultimately leads to free speech crackdowns because – they just have a different set of values and what’s offensive than the inherent the indwelling population and when you don’t have any unity over a common faith it’s inevitable that people are always going to be offended there’s going to be have to be the laws going to have to come in but it’s never going to the laws can’t regulate it but see that’s also a part of the problem we have as a broader culture today finding that unity when we’ve lost that common religious ethic
SPEAKER 20 :
I mean, going back to the turbulent times of the 60s, which I’ve made some references to over the last week because of the parallels of the assassinations and the upheaval. But there was, at the end of the day, there was still a common thread of faith, Christian faith, that we saw draw the nation back together with the Jesus movement in the 70s and into the 80s. That’s what gives me the greatest concern right now, Jared. But there’s also in this administration, not a hope of solution, but opening the door to the solution if Christians in the church will be aggressive in sharing their faith.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, and that’s what Christians are called to do. If they love their neighbor, they’re to share their faith with their neighbor. They’re not to show their neighbor the door if their neighbor is legally allowed to be there. Right. I mean, we’re too—it’s diametrically different than what this Islamic approach in Dearborn is, is to— you know, submit or leave, or right now it’s leave. But for Christians, we see our neighbor doesn’t agree with us. The Bible has a lot to say about how to live with your neighbor.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, that’s why I made that point with Dr. Boston. That’s why in America you have a Muslim mayor and a Muslim community. Not that I endorse it, but because of the freedom that’s allowed under the Christian ethic, You don’t see that in a Muslim majority country. It doesn’t happen. But I want to move on to the next topic, unless you had something, Casey.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, I was just going to say that they have not just different theology than us, than Christians, they have different values. And that’s what Christians get wrong. They think, well, they just are like a different kind of faith with different names. There’s totally different value, different culture, different tradition.
SPEAKER 20 :
And again, I know that this gets pushback from people, but you look at the record, and we’re going into the 250th anniversary of the United States. This nation was founded upon biblical principles. Biblical principles. Judeo-Christian, as they’re often described. Right. So this is an example of how ingrained free speech is in this country. Attorney General Pam Bondi has gotten some real pushback this week from conservatives, from those on the right for her comments about cracking down on hate speech. I think we have a clip. Let’s play that clip of Pam Bondi on that podcast.
SPEAKER 13 :
We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything. And that’s across the aisle. We’re seeing people online who are posting hate speech. They should be shut down. They should be stopped from doing this, and they should know there are consequences for your actions.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, this has been walked back to some degree, Casey, but this is a little concerning.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is very concerning to me. I mean, the Wall Street Journal, you spoke of the pushback. It ranges from Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Matt Walsh, all the way to the Wall Street Journal, across the spectrum on the right condemned him. condemned her comments. And actually, the Wall Street Journal editorial board said that before she goes on more podcasts to talk about Charlie Kirk, she should watch some podcasts of what Charlie Kirk actually said, because he would have condemned this very thing. Charlie was on the record saying that hate speech does not exist. It’s not a legal category. It should never be prosecuted. And this is the resurrection of a corpse of something the right thought they killed when they defeated a lot of the last administration.
SPEAKER 20 :
I am not at all afraid of what other people have to say. In fact, I think what gives rise to this quote-unquote hate speech, which is a nebulous term that’s undefined, but what foments the violence, I think, and the hatred that is behind the speech, which, by the way, is in the heart. Jesus said it’s out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. But I think what gives rise to that is a lack of debate and conversation we’re not we’re not discussing with even our differences as a nation we’re not discussing them what we’re doing is we’re going together in our in our different uh you know groups and railing against the other group there’s no interaction
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, part of it goes back to our previous point, though. We’re not on common footing from which to have a conversation. I mean, you have the secular liberals who believe that you can be whatever gender you want.
SPEAKER 20 :
Those are not liberals. Not even liberals anymore.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, they’re not liberals anymore. We could debate with the liberals.
SPEAKER 20 :
Because the liberals had a different viewpoint, but they still agreed that there was a common, there was transcendent truth to a degree. There were certain things that were real and true. The left does not believe that. The left wants to silence anyone who opposes them, and they can’t debate because— Not unlike what’s happening in Dearborn.
SPEAKER 08 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 20 :
And they cannot defend their positions because, as you said, there’s no common ground to be found.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I think the theme that we’re pulling out of this is that free speech actually working is an outgrowth of a society that’s unified around a common faith and ideals. So we can have these barrier guardrails within which to debate. So how do we get that back?
SPEAKER 20 :
Revival. I mean, it really is. This is the moment for the church. I believe that our nation stands at a place of decision because we cannot sustain this path that we’re on of not even being able to have a conversation. I mean, when you cannot agree that a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl, there’s probably very little you can agree with.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’re speaking from two different playbooks. Right.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s different worldviews. And the only way to bring that back together is to, again, not everybody thinking the same, not everybody going to the same church. We’re not even talking about that. What we’re talking about is a recognition that, in fact, there is truth. There is truth. I mean, I know that we live in postmodern America, some describe it, and truth has been determined by relative morality for some time. But this is a logical course that it takes where you can’t even – even science becomes redefinable.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. And that’s where we have to look back to the things that’s not redefinable in Scripture.
SPEAKER 20 :
So how do we – well, I want to bring up one more topic before we kind of land this plane. And that is ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, was booted off the air. I never watched him, I’ll have to say. So I’m not – late night for me is nine o’clock yeah so i i i haven’t watched late night since johnny carson so uh i don’t know if you know who that was yeah he’s in my history book okay so um i i i don’t partake of it but i i mean unless they’re advocating for violence they can they have a right to be stupid and i understand what he said it was it was insensitive it was it was not funny it was stupid But should we be, now I think the ABC has a right to do whatever they want to do, but I understand that it’s possible that the FCC had their hand in this.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, you had FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, he said on a podcast, you know, this is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. And that’s not quite a, you’ve got a nice network there, it’d be a shame if something happened to it. But it’s it was certainly a threat. And you had to the government be doing that. Well, I mean, these are public airwaves, for one. So the FCC does have an interest in it because it’s airways paid for or regulated by the FCC.
SPEAKER 20 :
But do we have to agree with everything that’s said?
SPEAKER 08 :
No, we don’t. And there may be a few things at play here. Kimmel’s show didn’t even get as much viewership as Colbert’s show. CBS canceled Colbert’s show. because it was losing money, so it might have been convenient for them to do that. But they are threatening them to, I mean, it was a response.
SPEAKER 20 :
So what exactly did Kimmel say?
SPEAKER 08 :
Kimmel said, he said, the MAGA gang is desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
SPEAKER 20 :
So he lied. Yeah. So either either he is he has no idea what’s going on or he just flat out lied because we know that’s not the case.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. And he you know, he’s said egregious things before.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s not it’s not when I was first a reporter. I used to we had it was a very similar format as what we have here. And I would interview the left and I would just let him talk. I didn’t want to silence them. I wanted them to talk because the more I let them talk, the more I exposed how unhinged they were. And I think you see this. I know they do it under the guise of humor. They’re not even funny. But it just shows how unhinged they are and how disconnected they are to the truth.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, I think everything that’s said is true, and it’s probably a little worrisome that the FCC is publicly maybe intimidating companies to do this. But if you’ve had the misfortune to regularly watch Kimmel’s show, it is pretty much the anti-Trump show every day. It’s not a wide-ranging show that goes on all kinds of diverse political topics. It is every monologue is just making fun of Trump. And I think there is a question without even agreeing with what was done here of what obligation to public airwaves have to be even some semblance of just serving the public versus serving one side.
SPEAKER 20 :
I mean, valid question. I mean, I think there’s a sense of decorum that we should have, especially when it comes to our leaders. But do we have that same for Joe Biden?
SPEAKER 08 :
I think we do.
SPEAKER 20 :
As Christians, we have to. We need to respect our leaders.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and the thing we need to watch out for and the right needs to watch out for, the administration needs to watch out for, is setting precedent to where the next and another administration future down the road is a show like this going to be censored.
SPEAKER 20 :
That is always my consideration in this is looking downrange. Yeah. How is this going to be – what precedent will this set that – I mean, rules, procedures, policies need to be universal in terms of how we treat everyone. Do we want to be treated that way? Now, I’m not going to be criticizing people who were assassinated or presidents. I’m going to talk about their policies. But could that be interpreted as criticism?
SPEAKER 06 :
Or even Antifa being labeled a terrorist group. I mean, there’s some evidence for that. A lot of the BLM riots seem to have Antifa people there stoking violence. But when it turns out you can just bomb terrorist ships that are called Venezuela in the ocean, and then you’re labeling people terrorist groups, it raises that same question about precedent for the future.
SPEAKER 20 :
I mean, a lot to pray about. Jared, Casey, thanks so much for joining us. And folks, thank you for joining us as well. We share all this with you, not just to inform you on what’s happening here in the nation’s capital, but to inform how you pray. Look, I’m optimistic because as Christians, we know that God can move on the hearts of people. He can transform their lives. And as he transforms lives, he transforms communities and countries. And we need to be praying and working to that end here in the United States and around the world. Until next time, keep standing.
SPEAKER 17 :
For more information on anything you heard today, or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family, and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
