On today’s program: James Lankford, U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, comments on his Senate leadership election and lists his priorities for the Senate Republican conference. He also shares about his inquiry into why federal prisons are freezing out
SPEAKER 16 : 0:00
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 04 : 0:20
And I want to thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to serve as leader. And to those who were supporting another candidate, I promise to be a leader who serves the entire Republican conference.
SPEAKER 10 : 0:33
Welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. That was South Dakota Senator John Thune on Capitol Hill earlier today following his selection by Senate Republicans as the new Senate Majority Leader. Thune, previously serving as the Senate Whip, takes up this position in a move that signals that Senate Republicans may not be easily swayed by external pressure. Trump supporters push to upend Senate tradition and elevate Florida Senator Rick Scott to the top post. Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, who was also elected to a leadership role today as vice chair of the Republican Policy Committee, will give us a behind-the-scenes look at what happened today. Meanwhile, House Republicans are gathered on Capitol Hill, currently casting their votes to decide their leadership for the 119th Congress. I’ve gotten word that Mike Johnson has been nominated to remain speaker, Steve Scalise as the majority leader, Tom Emmer as the majority whip, and this just came in that Lisa McClain will serve as the new House Republican conference chair. Other leaders will be elected over the next hour. We may have further updates before the end of the program. Additionally, Matt Carpenter from FRC Action will provide us with the latest status on the remaining undecided House races. As of this afternoon, we can confirm that Republicans have secured enough seats to retain the House majority. In other news, while FEMA has faced criticism for bypassing Trump supporters in hurricane-affected areas, the Bureau of Prisons has similarly come under fire for resisting collaboration with faith-based organizations as it searches for solutions to reduce recidivism rates. We’ll dive into this developing story with Senator Lankford as well. The Trump transition team is reportedly considering a draft executive order to establish a warrior board of retired senior military personnel. This board would have the authority to review three- and four-star officers and recommend the removal of any of them deemed unfit for leadership, a move that has the left going bananas.
SPEAKER 08 : 2:41
These are people who have stood up as patriots for our country and confronted and opposed Donald Trump. And this is what Donald Trump will do to get revenge and retribution against them.
SPEAKER 10 : 2:54
That was New York Congressman Dan Goldman expressing his views on CNN. Well, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, FRC’s executive vice president, will join me to express his views. We’ll discuss whether or not this is a good or a bad idea. And finally, what is the greatest strategic challenge facing the incoming Trump administration?
SPEAKER 03 : 3:15
If you look out at a strategic level, the competition with the People’s Republic of China is going to be defining for what the world looks like over the course of the next 10, 20 and 30 years. And so that has got to be a paramount priority for the incoming administration.
SPEAKER 10 : 3:31
Not so sure it’s competition, but that was White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier today. Asian expert Gordon Chang will be joining me in studio to provide his insights on this critical question. Well, our nation enters a very pivotal period, a critical period, and I want to invite you to join us in prayer for God’s protection and his guidance. From now until January the 20th, as we prepare for the transition in leadership, we’re facing global and domestic challenges. We’ve got the world’s on fire, and then we have a potentially hazardous lame duck session of Congress underway. And we believe this moment calls for heightened spiritual vigilance. So I invite you to join us in what we’re calling Operation Prayer Shield. That’s a time we’re going to be sending out each day, prayer points, guidance, weekly gatherings by conference call to pray for our nation and the incoming administration. So join us. Text the word SHIELD to 67742. That’s SHIELD to 67742 to be a part of Operation Prayer Shield. Well, today is a big day on Capitol Hill with Republicans in both chambers holding elections to decide who will serve in leadership roles in the 119th Congress. Now, most watched was the selection of the next Senate GOP leader, something Republicans haven’t done in 18 years. This has only happened once since I’ve been here. Now, since that was Mitch McConnell, he won the job back in 2007. And in the end, Senator John Thune of South Dakota was tapped to succeed Leader McConnell, who is retiring as the longest-serving party leader in the history of the United States Senate. So what might we expect to see in the Senate come January? Join me now to discuss this and much more. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, who serves on four Senate committees and, as I mentioned, was elected today as the conference vice chair. Senator Lankford, welcome back to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 07 : 5:32
Thanks, Tony. Good to see you again.
SPEAKER 10 : 5:34
Congratulations on your election to the leadership team there in the Senate.
SPEAKER 07 : 5:38
Thank you. There’s a lot of work to be done. I think the American people were pretty clear last week during the election to say, hey, we want things to be different. So it’s time to be able to work to make sure things are different.
SPEAKER 10 : 5:47
Let me ask you a question about that, because I my view of what took place today in the selection of the leader of John Thune, who was number two under Mitch McConnell, sent a message to there was a grassroots effort. driven by a lot of Trump supporters to upend the process and elevate Rick Scott as the top post. Was this the Republican senator saying that we’re going to do it our way?
SPEAKER 07 : 6:13
No, I’ll tell you what it really was. None of the three of them are opposed to Trump. And it was very interesting, the social media push that got there that just exploded saying, Trump wants this person, wants Rick Scott, not John Thune or John Cornyn, was interesting because President Trump actually never spoke on this. I’ve noticed that President Trump is not a shrinking violet that doesn’t express his opinion when he doesn’t have one. When he has an opinion, he says it. He never spoke. Tucker Carlson did. Elon Musk did. But President Trump never did. It seemed pretty clear that he was staying out of this race on it. And I think a lot of people in the Senate took that as a hint on it to be able to look at it and say, who’s out there? When you look at even four years ago, there’s a scorecard that’s done is how often members vote along with the president. John Thune voted with the president. Ninety one percent of the time was actually one of the highest numbers in the Senate for voting the President Trump’s position. So all of this spin out there to saying Thune is secretly or openly opposed to President Trump is not true. In fact, based on how he voted, it definitely wasn’t true. And President Trump never expressed an opinion of the three of them on which one he would prefer.
SPEAKER 10 : 7:20
How lively was the discussion there behind closed doors as you made these decisions today?
SPEAKER 07 : 7:25
We had about a two and a half hour conference last night. That was a lot of back and forth with all three of the candidates to be able to discuss everything. And then today, about another two and a half hours again of just presentation, conversation, where we’re going to go on it. But I have to tell you, it was very amicable. in many ways. It was differences of opinion. How would you deal with things? But John Thune gave very solid answers on a lot of things like, what are we going to do on reconciliation? We’re going to try to expand it as much as we can. What are we going to do to be able to push through President Trump’s nominees? How quickly can we get those done? Are we going to protect the filibuster? The answer was yes. I mean, there were a lot of things that members were asking that he gave very solid answers to.
SPEAKER 10 : 8:03
Did it get into the ideological differences between the three candidates, or was it mostly just process?
SPEAKER 07 : 8:10
mostly process, quite frankly, because ideologically, quite frankly, the three candidates are very similar. In some ways, it’s like three candidates are all conservatives running in a primary where you realize, okay, there’s very little difference between ideology and these three individuals. It’s how they actually do it, how they communicate, it’s process of what they actually do. So quite frankly, I didn’t see a difference between the three of them, and I’m friends with all three of them. That’s part of the challenge here. We’ve got 53 members, and just about everybody knows all three of them, except for the brand new members coming in, which is always the challenge for the new members. But this is the time the election is always done. Literally, this election date was set two years ago. It was the same date it was done two years before that and two years before that. New member orientation happens this week during that new member orientation when the new members are already here. We have leadership elections for the next two years after that, so everybody can participate. So this was the date that’s long been set, but members had to kind of choose which one do we think process-wise is going to actually be most effective for the next two years.
SPEAKER 10 : 9:14
All right, Senator Langford, let’s move from process personalities to policy, because I’ve heard one of the first policy initiatives that the Senate is liable to take up in the new Congress is going to be a border bill. What might that look like?
SPEAKER 07 : 9:30
I actually am doubtful that a border bill is the first one that comes up. I think what happens is President Trump starts enforcing the border in a very solid quality legal way. We see the numbers drop dramatically. And so the importance of moving a border bill will not be the same as it was a year ago when there was mass chaos at the border. Now, there are still loopholes in the law, especially the asylum law, that do need to be fixed in law that can’t be done with executive action. But I think the importance of passing that first will drop pretty dramatically. We’ve got 12 appropriation bills that have got to be done. We have a farm bill that needs to be done. We have tax policy that expires at the end of this next year. We’ve got energy issues that need to be done and permitting. So there’s a lot of other things I think will come first and a lot of things that are very important, though the nation knows I’m very passionate about keeping the border closed and being able to keep it secure. So I think that will come, but I doubt it’s first.
SPEAKER 10 : 10:21
All right. Well, let’s talk about another issue that you have personally jumped into. You serve on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. Yesterday, you and the chairman of that committee, a Democrat, Gary Peters of Michigan, sent a letter to the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons after learning about its handling of faith-based organizations who applied to provide recidivism services to federal prisons. Now, I opened the door back in Louisiana to faith-based organizations, we found that the recidivism rates dropped for those engaged in faith-based policies. Your letter points to the fact that these faith-based groups have been given the cold shoulder
SPEAKER 07 : 11:01
They have, and that’s been very, very frustrating. It was actually a part of the First Step Act. It was an amendment that I actually brought to that bill to be able to make sure that we were opening up federal prisons to faith-based anti-recidivism programs that are out there. We don’t want someone who’s actually gone through the process, they’ve served their time for 10 years to be able to ever end up back in prison. The best way to be able to do that is to be able to have some programs and training, job skills, other things. But faith-based programs have been very successful in state prisons, but they’ve been prohibited in federal prisons. So in the First Step Act years ago under President Trump, I actually got that amendment into the bill to be able to make sure the federal prisons would stop blocking faith-based initiatives, but they have never actually done that. They continue to be able to block these faith-based initiatives. Faith-based initiatives can apply, and the federal entity, the Bureau of Prisons, will just say, hey, you don’t have enough evidence this works in federal prison. Well, the reason they don’t have enough evidence is they’re never allowed in to be able to actually do it. So they’re giving this kind of convenient out to be able to get out. So I was able to convince the Democrat current chairman of Homeland Security to join me in a letter, brought him all the evidence. It’s something we worked on for months, literally, to be able to push him to say, this has got to be able to shift. So I do think it’s very important. And quite frankly, for all of us that come from a faith perspective, we have seen what happens when a soul is redeemed by Christ and been forgiven and has a new purpose in their life. Why would we want to prevent people in prison from having the opportunity to be able to have total life change and turnaround before they’re released after they’ve done their time.
SPEAKER 10 : 12:31
Right. I mean, and the evidence is very clear that this does help. It reduces recidivism, which reduces the cost to society and to taxpayers. I have a feeling, Senator James Lankford, that in about two months, things might change a little bit at the Bureau of Prisons. What do you think?
SPEAKER 07 : 12:47
Well, I want to make sure it is very, very clear that it needs to change and that the bureaucracy at the Bureau of Prisons doesn’t hold it down.
SPEAKER 10 : 12:53
All right. We’ll just pray that they don’t hold it captive. Senator James Lankford, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us today. And again, congratulations on your elevation to a leadership post there in the Senate.
SPEAKER 07 : 13:06
Thank you. Appreciate that. Keep praying for the nation. We have a lot to do still.
SPEAKER 10 : 13:09
You’re absolutely right. We do. And folks, we do need to pray. And again, I invite you to join us in Operation Prayer Shield for the next two months. It’s a really vulnerable time because, I mean, look, we’ve got a void of leadership. in the White House, okay? And our enemies see that. And so this is a time in which not just we, but our allies, Israel, Taiwan, some of these others are vulnerable. We need to be praying. And we need to be praying that the incoming Trump administration, the president in particular, makes the right decisions on who’s going to be a part of his team. Coming up next, we’re going to get an update from Matt Carpenter from FRC Action about the status of the seats in the House. And Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin joins us in studio. So don’t go away.
SPEAKER 06 : 14:02
Let’s not be discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let’s stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
SPEAKER 13 : 14:19
The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don’t defend it, who will?
SPEAKER 12 : 14:35
Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don’t say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You’re naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
SPEAKER 15 : 14:57
Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we’ve relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we’ve relied too little on the power of God and God’s ability to open doors that we can’t open and do things that we couldn’t even hope to begin to do.
SPEAKER 11 : 15:15
This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that his spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
SPEAKER 10 : 15:37
Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
SPEAKER 18 : 16:02
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SPEAKER 17 : 16:30
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SPEAKER 10 : 17:02
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us on this Wednesday afternoon. All right, before I get into this next segment, I want to bring in Matt Carpenter, Director of FRC Action, for a quick update on the House races for the U.S. Congress. Matt, thanks for stopping by.
SPEAKER 05 : 17:18
Thanks for the invite, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 : 17:19
All right. So we know as of this afternoon that the Republicans will have the majority in the 119th Congress. But we still, I think, as of about an hour ago, nine House races still outstanding. So what are we looking at?
SPEAKER 05 : 17:33
Well, Tony, at my count right now, you’ve got five that have yet to be called. You’ve got the Alaska at-large congressional district there where Democrat incumbent Mary Peltola is actually trailing Republican Nick Begich. And then you’ve got four in California alone. You’ve got California 9, where Democrat incumbent Josh Harder is leading in that race. Republican John Duarte is leading in his reelection effort there in California’s 13th congressional district. California 21, Democrat Jim Costa is leading. And then also in California 45, Michelle Steele, Republican incumbent, is leading. And these are all by very slim margins. Tony, we’re talking just a few thousand votes. In some instances, just tenths of a point. But I do also want to mention for our audience, yesterday we had two races also called in California. I’m kind of picking up a pattern here, but in California’s 27th congressional district, Republican incumbent Mike Garcia went down. He was a two-term Republican. He lost to George Whitesides, who was a self-funded candidate. And then also in an open seat in California’s 47th congressional district, Democrat Dave Min defeated Scott Baugh.
SPEAKER 10 : 18:48
So based on my calculations, we’re looking at possibly the Republicans at a high watermark of 222 to 213, which would be essentially the same that they had in 2022. Right.
SPEAKER 05 : 19:04
Yeah. If everything kind of lands where it looks like it’s going to land at the moment, I think it’s 222 for the Republicans. And 213 for the Democrats, just a four-seat majority for Speaker Johnson there in the House.
SPEAKER 10 : 19:18
And then we’ve got, you have to factor in, we’ve had the president make nominations from the House. We have Elise Stefanik to the United Nations. We have Mike Waltz to the White House and National Security Advisor. And then this afternoon, the announcement that Matt Gaetz would be nominated for attorney general. I mean, that drops it down to 119. You have to have 218 to pass a piece of legislation. This means nobody can go to the bathroom, nobody can be sick, and nobody can be cantankerous.
SPEAKER 05 : 19:50
That’s right, Tony. And, you know, I was looking into some of the laws, particularly in New York, about these special elections. Both Governor DeSantis and Governor Hochul in Florida and New York, respectively, they’ll have to call a special election to fill those seats. Governor DeSantis here in Florida has has a little bit more leeway. There’s no statutory requirement that he has to call for a special election X number of days after a vacancy happens or even really how long a special election has to happen. He only has a 30-day window really where he can announce the special election before election day. So he has a lot of deference as to how he wants to play that out. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul has a 10-day window after a vacancy emerges. where she’ll have to declare a special election. And then 70 to 80 days after that, you’ll actually have the special election. But all three of those seats, Stefanik in New York and then Walls and Gates in Florida, those are safe Republican districts. Stefanik won reelection recently by like 25 points and Walls won by 33 points. So ostensibly, you just assume that those will end up in the Republican column after the special elections are called. But obviously, we’ll have to see how that plays out.
SPEAKER 10 : 21:00
Yeah, well, there’s no question they’ll probably go to Republican, although lots of money will go into those races. Those will become very expensive races. But it’s the 100-day agenda that then becomes at risk because those seats won’t be filled, most likely, until those 100 days have expired. Matt Carpenter, thanks so much. We’ll be checking in, I guess, later in the week as we get more of these seats called.
SPEAKER 05 : 21:24
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 : 21:25
All right, folks, stay tuned to Washington Watch. We’ll give you the latest as that information comes forward. All right, federal prosecutors have charged a CIA officer with two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. The officer, Ashif Rahman, was indicted last week in federal court in Virginia and was arrested by the FBI yesterday in Cambodia. The information, he has been charged of – he’s been charged – for disclosing classified documentations allegedly showing Israel’s retaliation plans against Iran. We’ve talked about this on the program before. So some are asking, are we putting the wrong people in sensitive key roles? Here in studio to discuss this, retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, Executive Vice President here at the Family Research Council. General Boykin spent the last Four years of his 36-and-a-half-year military career serving as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. He was one of the original members of the Army’s Delta Force. General, thanks for joining me today.
SPEAKER 14 : 22:31
Good to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 : 22:32
So you held probably about the highest security clearance you can have. I had one at USURF, clearly not that high. How significant is this?
SPEAKER 14 : 22:44
It is very significant. I was at the CIA when the Aldrich Ames thing unfolded. And I have to tell you, this is very, very serious. It has not only shown us that we have not done a good job of who we provide with clearances, it also shows us that… Our leadership is not doing its job, and that is part of why this guy had this level of clearance that he did have is because they didn’t screen him properly.
SPEAKER 10 : 23:17
I mean, that’s a pretty high level of clearance that he had, right?
SPEAKER 14 : 23:23
That’s one of those where the FBI goes and knocks on your neighbor’s door. and wants to know all about you. So this is a very serious situation and not the least of which is the damage that it has done to our relationship with the Israelis.
SPEAKER 10 : 23:39
Is there a concern that there are more individuals within the government that are at risk of exposing national secrets?
SPEAKER 14 : 23:50
No question about it. In my mind there is absolutely, there’s another one of these guys out there somewhere. The question is, do we catch him before he actually does something that will get people killed? And that’s what could have happened here. If they had given the Israelis, and they did, I mean not the Israelis, but if they had given the Iranians that much information about where they were going to be hit, you can bet some of those airplanes with people dropping those bombs, they were in great jeopardy.
SPEAKER 10 : 24:26
Wow. All right, General, don’t go anywhere. We’re going to come back. We’re up against a break. We’re going to come back, and I want to talk to you about something else. The transition team is entertaining an executive order that would create a warrior board of retired general officers to review current officers. We’re going to talk about that, whether that’s a good or bad idea. All right, folks, join Operation Prayer Shield. Text prayer shield, or shield, rather, to 67742. Don’t go away. We’re back after this.
SPEAKER 02 : 25:01
Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It’s true that all ideas have consequences, but we’re less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life’s biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 10 : 27:01
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us on this Wednesday. All right. And here to continue our discussion is retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, executive vice president here at the Family Research Council. So this this penetration into national security, releasing this type of sensitive, classified information, this is different than the deep state, which is another battle that’s happening within the federal government. What’s the difference?
SPEAKER 14 : 27:26
Yeah, there actually is a definition for the deep state. I didn’t know it until Trump came into office the first time and I had to look it up. But that’s people from an administration who stay on for the next administration with a specific purpose in mind of doing all they can to disrupt the policies and the actions of that administration that replaced the administration they came in.
SPEAKER 10 : 27:53
Not necessarily criminal, just wanted to be a pain. No, no. it’s ideologically driven now that could be one of their tactics is to do something to just like this guy has done here just to create a a problem for that administration but this is different this is different explain do you think this is like a one-off this guy just didn’t like the policy with israel or could this be a plan i mean this could this be a penetration into our national security apparatus
SPEAKER 14 : 28:25
Well, I think this guy’s probably an ideologue. If you look at his name, and again, names are deceptive. But if you look at his name, he’s from the Middle East, apparently. I mean, that’s what it looks like.
SPEAKER 10 : 28:38
And everybody in the Middle East— Let me ask you, should that be considered when we look at security classifications? Yes. I mean, doesn’t this prove that it should?
SPEAKER 14 : 28:49
This guy should have never gotten a clearance. I don’t know what they found in his record, but they can’t turn their head but just so many times and look the other way when it comes to this kind of thing.
SPEAKER 10 : 29:00
Is this the result of the, you know, we hear in the president-elect, Trump is talking about this DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion. When you put that above military readiness, national defense, is this what you get?
SPEAKER 14 : 29:15
It is absolutely what you get. Yes. And listen, I think Pete Hegseth is going to have a real tough job, but I think he can do it. But stopping this DEI is the number one action that needs to be taken in the military. and then the military universities, if you will, where they have a ROTC or the service academies, we gotta stop this.
SPEAKER 10 : 29:49
So let’s talk about how one of the proposals to go after this is, The Trump transition team is considering a draft executive order that creates what’s called a warrior board of retired senior military officials to look at three- and four-star officers and recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership. Because you talk about DEI and all of the woke policies that have infiltrated the military. These are the guys responsible for it.
SPEAKER 14 : 30:19
Yeah, that’s right. And this is going to get a lot of resistance. I mean, there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to stand up and say, this is going to ruin our military. But the point is, you’ve already ruined our military. You’ve already put our military in a dangerous position because you haven’t let them get out and train the way they should. You’ve stuck them in a classroom doing things that you call DEI. Now, this is not the first time this kind of thing has been done. And George Catlett Marshall did the same thing in 1941. And very similar to this, not exactly. But if you want it to work, you can make it work. And you can bring in people with special instructions. You can bring in the right kind of people that aren’t going to be there for a vendetta or something like that. They’re there to help the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps. and Space Force to get better and get the leadership that they need to take them into the next war. And there is another war coming.
SPEAKER 10 : 31:24
You think this is a good idea? Yeah. This could clean up our – I mean, we’ve watched over the last 15 years our military steadily deteriorating with a focus on the social experimentation that’s been taking place going back. It began with Bill Clinton but accelerated under Barack Obama.
SPEAKER 14 : 31:50
It’s about leadership. It is all about leadership. And when you have leadership that will buckle to anything that they’re told to do without at least showing that they don’t agree with it and giving their reasons why they don’t agree with it, you’re going to get this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER 10 : 32:07
Will this at all affect having seasoned leaders? I mean, what kind of vacuum will this create?
SPEAKER 14 : 32:20
That’s a good question. What you have is you have, first of all, you have some guys that were told, well, we don’t have another job for you. It’s time for you to retire because they weren’t woke. You can bring some of them back and some of them will come back and some of them will be delighted to come back. But at the same time, you’ve got people that are standing in the wings that aren’t getting promoted because we’re promoting these people that are woke, that have a woke agenda themselves. So this could be… This could change our Army, our Navy, our services.
SPEAKER 10 : 32:54
Do you see this as potentially undoing some of the dangerous policies that we’ve seen, like the transgender and all of that? Could that lead to this? Could that lead to revisiting those policies?
SPEAKER 14 : 33:05
Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 : 33:07
All right. Well, I got somebody I’d like to nominate for this warrior board.
SPEAKER 14 : 33:13
I’ll go.
SPEAKER 10 : 33:14
Well, that’s who I’m looking at. If called, I’ll serve. I will definitely make that recommendation. All right. Speaking of threats and why we need to have a strong military and backbone is China. In fact, President Biden this weekend is going to be having his probably last meeting with the CCP Chairman Xi Jinping in Peru. We’re going to talk about China, the challenges facing the Trump administration, and what they need to do as they hit the ground in January with Gordon Chang, Asian expert. He joins me in studio next. Don’t go away. We’re back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 01 : 34:02
Jesus said in John 15, these things I’ve spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. In 2024, in these divided and uncertain times, how can this be possible? By abiding in him through his word. At Family Research Council, we wanna help you do that, which is the reason for the Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. In just 10 to 15 minutes each day, you will have read the entire Bible in just two years. But more importantly, you will be abiding in Him daily. Find our Bible reading plan at FRC.org slash Bible. And join Tony Perkins each weekday for a 10-minute devotional inspired by the daily reading and designed to encourage you on this journey through the Bible. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. And remember, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.
SPEAKER 02 : 35:01
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together no matter the cost if you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active governance engaged conservative or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself go to frc.org sagecon and take the quiz to find out The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 10 : 37:01
All right. Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. Join Operation Prayer Shield. All right. These next two and a half months, they’re going to be absolutely critical. And after you talk with my next guest, or after I talk with him and you listen, you’re going to want to text Prayer Shield. Text SHIELD to 67742. That’s SHIELD to 67742 to join our prayer effort over the next two and a half months. Very critical time. Very critical time. Our word for today comes from Hosea chapter 3. Hosea the prophet is instructed to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him. When she leaves and pursues other lovers, Hosea isn’t told to divorce her or stone her as the law demands, but instead go after her, bring her back, and love her again. Verse 1, Then the Lord said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who took to other gods and loved raisin cakes of the pagans. So I bought her for myself for 15 shekels of silver and one and a half homers of barley. This story illustrates how humanity has often sought love in all the wrong places, turning away from our Creator. Yet God in His love comes after us. He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins so that we might be restored to a relationship we don’t deserve. Though we deserve death through Jesus, we’re given a future in a relationship with our Creator. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, President Biden is preparing to meet one last time with Chinese President Xi Jinping this Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump continues rolling out his cabinet picks, several which so far are sending a message to China on what they might expect from the incoming administration. And what is that message? Well, joining me now to discuss this, Gordon Chang, a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He is the author of several books, including his latest. I just got it. Plan Red, China’s Project to Destroy America, which came out last month. You can follow him on X under the handle at Gordon G. Chang. Gordon, welcome to Washington Watch. Great to have you in the studio. Thank you so much, Tony. So what is the message that these picks by President-elect Trump have sent to China?
SPEAKER 09 : 39:32
Certainly President Trump has said to China I am taking people that you don’t like and that is the ultimate Message because really what he’s doing is he’s saying I’m not afraid of you I’m not gonna take someone that you’re happy with I’m gonna put this in your face and this is important because it shows Beijing that they no longer own the American political system in 2020 There was throughout China. All these people were saying, oh, you know, now we can once again control outcomes at the highest levels of the American political system because they then felt that they did own the Oval Office.
SPEAKER 10 : 40:10
No longer. So we’re not engaged in friendly competition any longer.
SPEAKER 09 : 40:16
No, and President Trump during the campaign said that he was going to impose tariffs of at least 60% across the board on Chinese goods. At this time, that is critical for China because Xi Jinping, who has turned his back on consumption as the only sustainable basis for the Chinese economy, now needs to export because that’s his only way to rescue a grim situation. President Trump saying, uh-uh, you’re not going to do that with the world’s largest market, mine.
SPEAKER 10 : 40:43
It’s interesting that it’s reported that Biden is going to be discussing artificial intelligence and global warming. You know, Trump saying, I want reparations. I want to be compensated for what China did to the world through COVID-19. Different types of conversations, two very different approaches to China.
SPEAKER 09 : 41:04
Yes, and we do need those reparations, and the reason is that Xi Jinping deliberately spread that disease beyond China’s borders. That killed 7 million people outside of China, including 1.2 million Americans, according to Johns Hopkins. People can argue about the number, but anything above zero is unacceptable. China is now working on diseases that can target the American population and leave the Chinese immune. There’s no deterrent for Xi Jinping. Trump needs to put those reparations so there’s a deterrent.
SPEAKER 10 : 41:32
I want to go back to what you just said a moment ago, because we’ve been talking about this topic on this program leading up to this election for Ukraine, Russia, and Iran, is that our economic policy can go a long way in weakening our military adversaries. With what you’re just saying, their economy is kind of on the ropes, is it not?
SPEAKER 09 : 41:57
It certainly is. It’s not growing at the 4.6% base that they claimed for the third quarter. It may not even be growing at all. But even if it were growing at 4.6%, it’s not growing fast enough to pay back Chinese debt. And right now, China’s having its 2008 downturn, President Trump comes along at a critical moment for China with those tariffs, basically denying a good portion of the US market to Chinese goods. It means Xi Jinping may not be able to save his regime. That means Trump can win without firing a shot. What does that do to the US economy? Actually, it does much less than most people say. You know, you get a lot of experts in New York and Washington to say, oh, the American people will pay those tariffs. The 2018 tariffs that President Trump imposed, we know that China picked up 75% to 81% of the cost of it. They absorbed the cost of those tariffs because they needed continued access to the US market. Right now, China needs our market more than they did in 2018. So I think we’re going to see this. And by the way, Tony, even before Trump takes the oath of office, China is driving down the value of its currency in anticipation of those Trump tariffs. In other words, China’s already paying for Trump’s tariffs.
SPEAKER 10 : 43:09
The other thing, Gordon, that this could do, could this not help us do something I think needs to be done, moving manufacturing out of China?
SPEAKER 09 : 43:19
Absolutely. Steve Madden, the American footwear maker, two days after the election said it’s moving 46 percent of its production out of China. This comes after 2021, where Steve Madden was saying it was moving shoe and apparel production out of China. Other companies are going to have to do the same because they see those tariffs and they know that they cannot access the U.S. market if those tariffs are in place.
SPEAKER 10 : 43:42
But that also, when you go beyond shoes, I mean, shoes are important, but when you go to medical supplies, pharmaceuticals that we were dependent upon during the COVID, I mean, they created COVID, spread it, and then they held back what we needed to defend against it.
SPEAKER 09 : 44:00
Yes. And they’re willing to do that again because we know they’re doing that, for instance, with rare earth minerals because they’re trying to go after our semiconductor rules. And we know what China is doing. We’ve seen them do it. So we have no excuse. And that’s why I think it’s a good thing that we start getting manufacturing out of China and back either back into the United States or into our hemisphere. If we put it into our hemisphere, we stabilize Central America. That means no more migration through Mexico to the southern border.
SPEAKER 10 : 44:29
You create you You create jobs down there.
SPEAKER 09 : 44:31
Create jobs. You create stable relationships. You create families. All sorts of good things happen.
SPEAKER 10 : 44:36
Well, you also deal with the issue of, I mean, environment, don’t you? Because you’re not putting these cargo containers moving all the way across the ocean.
SPEAKER 09 : 44:45
Yeah, there is much less carbon to get goods from Central America into the U.S. than across the Pacific. So there is a very important climate aspect to it. And by the way, all these climate activists, they never talk about this. I mean, this is just critical, and they always ignore it, which means they’re not climate activists. They’re basically China activists.
SPEAKER 10 : 45:08
Well, China’s not too concerned about the environment with their cold-fired plants that they keep putting online.
SPEAKER 09 : 45:13
the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. And yes, they continue to increase their carbon impact, except when their economy slides. And then you see the carbon come down. But that’s not because of their trying to make themselves more carbon friendly. It’s because their economy is failing.
SPEAKER 10 : 45:34
So Donald Trump, incoming president-elect Donald Trump, his policy, economic policy toward China with these tariffs could have a positive domino effect on many things. It deals with national security. It deals with the economy, manufacturing. I mean, this would be a very significant move.
SPEAKER 09 : 45:58
across the board win for the United States and for freedom. You know, Reagan brought down the Soviet Union. Trump with these tariffs could bring down communist China.
SPEAKER 10 : 46:08
Do you still think they are our most serious threat?
SPEAKER 09 : 46:12
There is really no other threat because we talk about Russia, Iran, North Korea. Those regimes would not be in place. They would not be able to challenge the United States were it not for China’s support.
SPEAKER 10 : 46:23
So let’s talk about this interim period. Do you think that we are vulnerable from some action by China during this time where we, I mean, let’s be honest, we’ve got a vacuum of leadership when it comes to the White House, this administration? It’s possible.
SPEAKER 09 : 46:37
But we’ve seen China for the last 10 days be very, very quiet in its peripheral seas. And the reason, I think, is because they want to give Trump a very wide berth. So Trump is already having a beneficial impact on security in East Asia as well as our security. China can do anything. It could lash out because they are desperate. But so far, we’re seeing the Trump effect, which is peace and stability again. Biden couldn’t do this. Trump did this just by getting elected.
SPEAKER 10 : 47:07
Xi Jinping is 71 years old. He doesn’t have a lot of time. If they don’t take a move soon on Taiwan, they’re not going to have it during the four years of Trump.
SPEAKER 09 : 47:19
Yes. And the other thing about this is that there’s a closing window of opportunity because Xi Jinping in China is facing not only the economy, he’s facing continuing debt defaults, accelerating capital flight, worsening food shortages, failing local governments, deteriorating environment, eroding demography. So in the sense, this is a closing window because he has to either use it or lose it at some point. And yeah, you could be right. It could be before the inauguration.
SPEAKER 10 : 47:47
What does the Biden administration do?
SPEAKER 09 : 47:50
Basically, the Biden administration tries to appease China.
SPEAKER 10 : 47:53
But if China were to take a move on to Taiwan, what do you see, based on the four years we’ve had of the Biden administration and the disarray we have there now, what would they do?
SPEAKER 09 : 48:05
You know, I don’t know. I mean, we’ve heard Biden four times say that he would defend Taiwan militarily, but four times we have seen him allow his subordinates undermine and undercut his words. What China saw was not the resolution from Biden. What they saw was the disarray in the Biden administration. That, I think, has emboldened them, because we have seen China get bolder and bolder during the Biden years, and it was only the prospect of Trump getting elected that actually pushed them back. This is really extraordinary, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 : 48:37
All right, Gordon, we’ve got just a few minutes left. Let’s talk about, I want a little bit about your book, Plan Red, China’s Project to Destroy America. What are their top three approaches to do that? What are they using?
SPEAKER 09 : 48:51
They infiltrate the political system.
SPEAKER 10 : 48:53
They’re doing a pretty good job of that.
SPEAKER 09 : 48:54
They’re doing an excellent job of that, and especially during the Biden years where there was very little pushback.
SPEAKER 10 : 49:00
Can that be ferreted out? Can the incoming Trump administration identify that and move that out?
SPEAKER 09 : 49:05
Yeah, we know the politicians who have been bought by China. And they’re in both parties. And they are both parties, and they are liberals and conservatives. And some of the worst offenders, Tony, are actually conservative Republicans.
SPEAKER 10 : 49:17
I’ve watched it. I’ve watched it. My interest in China over the last six years has grown, especially since I was sanctioned by China, and looking at who is basic on the payroll.
SPEAKER 09 : 49:29
Is on the payroll.
SPEAKER 10 : 49:30
Of the Chinese Communist Party.
SPEAKER 09 : 49:31
Yeah. The second thing is fentanyl. That’s 70,000 to 75,000 Americans die each year from doses of illicit Chinese fentanyl. And that’s the Communist Party’s attack on us because those are not, quote, unquote, criminal gangs. In China’s near total surveillance state.
SPEAKER 10 : 49:46
You think that’s intentional?
SPEAKER 09 : 49:48
Oh, absolutely. Because in China’s near total surveillance state, these gangs could not operate. But we know Chinese diplomats support the fentanyl gangs. We also know the fentanyl gangs run their money through China’s state banking system. Some of the fentanyl producers are even state owned. And we know China’s TikTok, it promotes illicit drug use in the U.S.
SPEAKER 10 : 50:08
So over 223,000 residents have died from fentanyl during the Biden administration. Is that exploiting a… a weakness in America because, look, they’re not forcing fentanyl down people’s throats, but it’s coming across and it is exploiting, I think, a moral weakness in our country.
SPEAKER 09 : 50:29
It is exploiting the moral weakness. Some people, though, die not knowing they’re taking a drug. It just happens to be in something that they touch. So police officers, for instance, have died from fentanyl that way. But yes, there is the moral weakness, but also they are spreading it. They’re making it available. And that means more and more people are coming into contact with it, which means more and more people are dying.
SPEAKER 06 : 50:52
Third.
SPEAKER 09 : 50:53
Third thing, that is, I would say COVID, because that’s 1.2 million Americans. But, you know, we can argue about that. You can say China’s stealing $500 billion of U.S. intellectual property each year. That’s our future.
SPEAKER 10 : 51:08
How deeply have they infiltrated American society?
SPEAKER 09 : 51:13
Every point of contact they use, their Communist Party United Front Work Department, Tim Walz, who was the vice presidential candidate, you know, Eric Swalwell. This is the Democratic Party in New York and conservative Republicans who, for various reasons, have had narratives which support Communist Party ones, which to me is just indescribable, inexplicable. But it’s there.
SPEAKER 10 : 51:37
And they also harass those Chinese residents, those who have come to the United States, who have fled communist China and made this their home. They’re harassed by Chinese agents.
SPEAKER 09 : 51:49
And coerced and blackmailed and forced into doing things they don’t want to do. And also college students. Those 300 or so, 300 or so thousand college students from China on our campuses, they’re surveilled by Chinese consular officials and Ministry of State Security agents. And this is our country, Tony. We know what the Chinese are doing. These are crimes that the Chinese diplomats are committing and we let them do it. Just no more.
SPEAKER 10 : 52:15
Right. Gordon, it’s one of the challenges of having a free society, and this is why it’s so important from my perspective, and I think you agree with this, that we need God’s hand of protection upon this nation. We need to be a country that is morally sound in order that we might be politically and militarily great.
SPEAKER 09 : 52:33
We will not have a country unless we have morality and faith. Those are the bedrocks of a strong society.
SPEAKER 10 : 52:42
We need that hand of God protecting our country once again. Gordon Chang, always great to see you. Thanks so much for stopping in studio today, and thank you for the book. I will be reading this.
SPEAKER 09 : 52:53
At a critical time, you are an inspiration to the American people. You are our defender.
SPEAKER 10 : 52:59
Thank you, Gordon Chang. I appreciate that. Thank you for being a voice for sanity in today’s discussion. Well, folks, I want to thank you for joining us as well, and I want to encourage you to be a part of Operation Prayer Shield. Text the word SHIELD to 67742. That’s SHIELD to 67742. We stand at a critical moment, and it’s the external and internal threats that we face, and we need God’s hand upon this nation. We need to be a country God can bless. All right, folks, until next time, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul found in Ephesians 6, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, when you’ve prepared, and when you’ve taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.
SPEAKER 16 : 53:45
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
