On today’s program: Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, FRC’s Executive Vice President and former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, analyzes President Trump and Vice President Vance’s Oval Office meeting with President Zelensky and
SPEAKER 12 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow, what a day, a day packed with news. Good afternoon. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss, the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. Thank you so much for joining us. All right, coming up on today’s program, You probably have heard by now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House to sign a huge mineral deal with the United States. At least that was the original plan. That was the plan until a shouting match ensued in the Oval Office between Zelensky on the one side and President Trump and Vice President Vance tag-teaming on the other side. And all the while, cameras were rolling.
SPEAKER 11 :
You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III. You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country. It’s back to you. Far more than a lot of people said they should have.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it was heated indeed. And how should we read this situation now? I’ll be discussing that here in just a moment with our very own Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, and then later on with Congressman Randy Weber of Texas. And Representative Weber will also provide an update on the budget bill that we’ve been discussing throughout the week. And then Iowa. Iowa has now become the first state in the nation to remove gender ideology from the state’s civil rights code.
SPEAKER 03 :
I resist anybody discriminating against anybody, assaulting anybody, doing anything wrong against anybody. But this bill addresses protecting women and children.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, so will Iowa’s Republican governor now sign it? Iowa State Representative Stephen Holt will join me with all the latest from that state. And the outrage continues on the left over the Washington Post owner and, of course, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in particular his announcement regarding how his paper’s opinion section is going to be run going forward.
SPEAKER 18 :
But this is really an anti-democratic move. It says that, no, the only opinion that is permitted here is my opinion, and you have to share that, and there’s no room for you on my pages and on our site if you have an opposing point of view. That is anti-democratic in nature.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow, that was Washington Post former executive editor Marty Barron on MSNBC’s Morning Joe’s program. I’ll be discussing this story and highlight a great alternative to the Post. All that will be with Washington Stands editor-in-chief Jared Bridges a little bit later in the program. And you might have seen it, but the New York Times recently published a lengthy article entitled, How My Dad Reconciled His God and His Gay Son. Well, how should Christians respond to an article like this? It’s an article that’s clearly trying to cause readers to sympathize with this pastor and his son. And I’ll be discussing this and other trends and news items of the week when I’m joined by David Claussen for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment. So as always, We have a packed, packed show coming your way in the next hour. If you happen to miss any portion of it, be sure to check it out on our website, TonyPerkins.com. All right, now let’s jump into the big news item for today. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met today to sign a minerals deal. Zelensky arrived in the United States already with pretty high tensions between him and Trump. And frankly, it seems those tensions spilled over into a press conference as the two leaders literally got into a shouting match. And now the overall deal has been canceled. So what does all this mean on multiple fronts? What does it mean for the war between Ukraine and Russia? What is the next step for Ukraine and the United States? The questions go on and on. And here now to discuss these issues is Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. He’s the executive vice president here at FRC. Lieutenant General Boykin previously served as the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence under the George W. Bush administration. General Boykin, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you.
SPEAKER 19 :
Good to be with you, Jody.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, listen, I know you’re busy and thank you for joining us by phone right now. What a day it has been. I’m sure you’re staying on top of the Zelensky interaction with President Trump and Vice President Vance today. Very, very terse exchange over Ukraine’s future. General Boykin, your opinion. What led to this breakdown and what are we supposed to read into this situation now?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, I think that in some ways it’s classic Donald Trump. He said he’s going to get out of the Ukraine. He said he’s going to bring that war to an end. And I think that he knows very much that the only impediment to doing that is Zelensky. And so I think I was not surprised by anything he said to him. But the veracity with which he said some of it was something that I hadn’t seen before between two heads of state. But I think what this does, though, is it marks the end of the conflict there with any kind of support from the United States. I don’t think he’s going to put up with that. And it was a very bad era, unforced era on the part of Zelensky, I think, in terms of the way he acted.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow, very interesting. You know, I was with you, shocked at the whole thing. I’ve never seen anything like this as well, and you certainly have much more experience than I do. But Trump said Zelensky was gambling with the possibility of World War III. In your opinion, what do you think the president specifically meant by that statement?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, since this whole thing started, we’ve been talking about this could lead to World War III because if you remember back when they went into the invasion, they had been up working with another country on a nuclear exercise. You remember that? They were practicing the launch of nuclear. So that was a message to us. That was a message to the whole world is that we are ready. We’re serious about this, and we’re ready if necessary, if pushed, to use a nuclear weapon. So I think they haven’t done it simply because they never really intended to do it, but they wanted to make sure they put the marker down on this. But they’ve got a lot to lose. If they pop a nuke, you’ve got about three nuclear countries sitting on your border there, and that wouldn’t be a good idea. So I don’t think that’s going to happen, certainly not as the situation is right now. Now, if it gets worse and Vladimir is backed in a corner, you can see a tactical nuclear weapon or something. But I don’t think at this point that’s something that we should be expecting.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that’s good to hear. You know, I think a lot of us knew tensions were high going into this meeting, but I don’t know that any of us anticipated what we actually saw and what came out of it. So where do the peace talks go from here, General Boykin? How is this going to affect the war at large?
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, the way I see this thing unfolding is I see that— I say the U.S. brokering some kind of agreement. Now, the Russians, they’re not going to be pushovers on this thing either. But I think that we’re going to see something, some peace agreement, ceasefire, if you will, that will be brokered by the United States with Russia. And then it will be handed to Zelensky and said, here it is. If you can if you can. Live with this. We’re good to go. If you can’t, then the U.S. support is going to be very slim in the future. But here’s something else, though. I think that, and I think you and I have actually talked about this before. I think we ought to take all the Russian money that we’ve frozen and we ought to start putting it in our own coffers. Because we’ve spent so much money. What is it, $30 billion?
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 19 :
I think that’s what Trump said today. About $30 billion. Well, why don’t we either take that money and give it to Zelensky and say, this is it. We’re out of here. And call us when you have your party at the end of the war. But I don’t think that there’s much else we can do. We could take you know, the money from Russia, the money from North Korea, places like that, and have them start funding more. But he’s got to lean on the Europeans and he’s got to demand that they start paying their share. Because remember, when he was first in office, he went over and talked to NATO and he said to NATO, pay your share. We’re not going to carry you anymore. And he went over and talked to all the heads of Islamic states, and he said, run them out, run them out, or we’re not going to deal with you anymore. He’s talking about run out the terrorists. And they started doing that. So it’s hard to say which way this thing will go, but I think that he’ll get an agreement with the Russians, and Zelensky will probably reject it. And at that point, I don’t know where we go from there.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. Actually, the president said it’s more like $300 billion that’s been spent because I recall just being there myself in Congress, the amount of money going to Ukraine was unbelievable. How do you think all of this now is going to impact other countries, be it Ukraine? adversaries like China or be it allies like many of those in Europe? Is there a shakeup going to happen there, in your opinion?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, you can look at it two ways. You can look at it as it could be considered a failure for the United States because we got in it. And if you get in it, be in it to win it. And obviously, we weren’t ready to go the distance. So you could look at it that way. But on the other hand, you could look at it and say, this was not Donald Trump’s war. And Donald Trump has said all along, even before he was reelected, that if I get reelected, we’re going to get out of there. We shouldn’t be there in the first place. So We’ll see what it does, but I think the Chinese are smart enough now, and Trump has shown so much resolve. I don’t think the Chinese want to be horsing around right now because they’ve got too much to lose, and they’ve got too many internal problems, not the least of which is their economy. And then the North Koreans, they’ll do what the Russians tell them to do, basically. I don’t see much change. threat as a result of this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Speaking of Russia, one last time, General Boykin, and we’ve got less than a minute. Are you aware of any response from Russia to the developments today?
SPEAKER 19 :
I have not seen anything, but I’ve been on a couple of different podcasts and all the day and took up the time when all of this was going on. So I haven’t seen anything yet, but there will be something that will come out here pretty quickly if it hasn’t already.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. Great point. Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, thank you so much for taking time. I know you’re busy today, as always, but discussing these rather shocking and important developments today. Thank you, my friend. God bless.
SPEAKER 19 :
Good to be with you.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, coming up next, we’re going to continue this conversation with Congressman Randy Weber of Texas, and we’ll also get from him some updates in regard to the budget resolution that now is making its way to the Senate. So much more Washington Watch headed your way. Stay tuned. We’ll be back right after the break.
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During these challenging times for our nation, Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we’re making an eternal impact. 2024 was a year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, DC. Last fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand published 2,000 articles of news, commentary, and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC’s outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere with the community of believers on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God’s intervention in America. In May, FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel’s peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Government, launching early this year in January 2025. This series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us, and we look forward to 2025 and standing for faith, family and freedom.
SPEAKER 02 :
Looking to grow closer to God in the new year? FRC’s Stand on the Word spiral-bound journal is here to help. Dive deeper into scripture with thought-provoking questions, note-taking space, and context for each book and author. This second edition, covering Isaiah 2 Revelation, will guide you in tracking your journey through God’s word while deepening your faith in Christ. Order now at frc.org slash store or text journal to 67742. Perfect for you and your loved ones.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. I’m your Friday host, Jody Heiss, and welcome aboard. All right. Earlier this week, we covered the budget resolution that narrowly passed the House of Representatives. But I Frankly, what seemed to many of us as a daunting task actually became an amazing victory. And since then, the bill has now moved to the Senate where it remains to be taken up for a vote. But what is the future of the budget resolution? And will there potentially be any changes to the America First platform that passed the House? Well, here to discuss these developments is Congressman Randy Weber from Texas. He’s a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, as well as the all-important Energy and Commerce Committee. He represents the 14th Congressional District of the great state of Texas. Representative Weber, always good to see you, my friend. Welcome to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Jody. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow, what a day. Listen, I want to get to the budget. I want to get to the budget. But before we get there, I’ve got to get your take on what happened today in the Oval Office between President Trump and President Zelensky.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I’ve seen bits and pieces about it. My comms director has been in touch. We’ve had so much stuff going on today. It turns out, apparently, that, you know, he was coming over here, apparently, to sign for a minerals deal, and he started putting pressure on Trump. Let me just tell you, Trump’s one person you don’t want to put pressure on. It devolved into an argument, and President Trump basically laid down the law. Did you see bits and pieces of it, Jody?
SPEAKER 05 :
I saw the whole thing, yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, okay. So you saw where he said, look, I’m paraphrasing. He said, if it wasn’t for America, you guys would be nowhere. So he said, you need to talk about signing a peace treaty so that we can make this happen. Well, Zelensky didn’t like that. So I think basically President Trump told him, look, when you’re ready to talk peace, come on back, and then we’ll talk. And by the way, he did call out the former president for giving him $350 billion, I think it was. And he did call that out and say—I think he said the stupid president— K, $350 billion. So I hope Zelensky learned a lesson. And we all pray for peace. We want peace in that region. But you don’t come over here to the United States and into the Oval Office and insult our chief commander, our commander in chief.
SPEAKER 05 :
especially when the United States has done so much to try to help out. I don’t know if you saw literally just moments ago, so you’re probably not aware of this, but Senator Lindsey Graham has come out now calling for the resignation of Zelensky, so we’ll see how that shapes up. If I can, Congressman Weber, I do want to shift to the budget situation. What’s been the overall reaction since passing the bill in the House?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it’s been a really, you know, I would say it’s been fun to watch the Democrats if it wasn’t so sad. And actually leading up to the passing of the bill in the House, they have actually been all over the media calling us everything you can imagine. And Jody, you and I were around long enough to remember that when Paul Ryan was running for vice president. They had a picture. Oh, we’re going to kill Social Security Democrats. They had a picture, a video of him with grandma in a wheelchair pushing her over the cliff. Do you remember that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Over the cliff. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah. How can we forget? Yeah. Well, you know, their their tact is to try to scare Americans into voting for all these giveaways and things, these programs that they want. And they’ve been doing that all the way up till the passing of this bill night before last. And, you know, I’m telling you, there you saw the one of them said that Elon Musk has only been in the country 20 has only been a citizen 22 years or something like that. Now, it’s okay if all these illegals come across the border. They want to house them. They want to feed them. They want to give $57 billion to hotel rooms in New York so they can take care of illegals. But Elon Musk, he’s only been here 22 years, and he’s only contributed hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to our effort over here. And they just have been on a tear about it the whole time. I don’t know if you saw the Energy in Converse episode. went from like 10.30 in the morning day before yesterday to like 11.30 at night. We had to get our part out on a bill. And all they did want to do was throw stumbling blocks in our way. We ought to be working together. Americans voted for President Trump. Democrats, get over it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And, you know, one of those scare tactics that you mentioned, I know Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries right now is all over the Medicaid thing, saying it’s going to end as we know it because of Republicans. So let me just ask you, just point blank, is there any plan to address the future funding for Medicaid, particularly in terms of taking it away from people?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, yes, but let me first go back to Hakeem Jeffries and company. They’ve been all over the video after Trump got elected. Hadn’t hardly been in office, what, two or three weeks, if that much. And they literally said on camera, Jody, that they would fight this, fight this, and they would fight it in the streets. Now, if that’s not inciting violence, I don’t know what is. Medicaid. The Medicaid system is supposed to be about medical aid. Who knew, right? It’s supposed to be about medical aid. Unfortunately, it’s transformed into housing, food, transportation. We’ve got—in fact, I voted against the first farm bill when I first got there, my first term, because they wouldn’t separate SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, from the farmers—from the spending bill for the farmers. You know, they’re bolstering them up when they have crop failure and bad weather and stuff. Because we’ve got able-bodied American men, males, on SNAP, on Medicaid, that need to go out, get off their— behind side and go out and get a job. And it’s the same way in Medicaid. We’re giving this to the states. You know, I spent four years in the Texas legislature and Governor Perry, to his credit, when Obama tried to increase the Medicaid to the state of Texas, Perry refused it because he wants people to be responsible. I would even add to that, Jody. I would rather states be taking care of this. They’re watching what’s going on in all of their facilities. You know, here in Washington, D.C., we can’t see what those people are doing. Or they go in the grocery store, and you’ve seen this. They buy beer. They buy cigarettes, dog food. So they’ve been abusing Medicaid for a long time. Let’s cut out the waste, fraud, and abuse. Keep it for the young mothers and young kids that actually need it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that’s the issue. That’s what’s taking place is dealing with the waste, fraud, abuse portion. And that needs to be dealt with. Listen, I’ve just got a matter of a couple of seconds, but I want to ask you, are we going to avoid a government shutdown mid-March? Kind of a yes or no is all we have time for.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, March 14th, I haven’t been hearing a lot of talk about it, except for the Democrats would delight if they shut one down while we had all three branches of government. But I don’t foresee that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Representative Randy Weber, dear friend, thank you for taking time to be with us today on Washington Watch. Have a great weekend.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Jody. You too.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, friends, coming up, Iowa’s leading the way on the transgender issue in politics. You don’t want to miss it. We’ll bring it your way right after the break.
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Oh, beautiful for spacious skies
SPEAKER 01 :
At the 2025 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, hundreds gathered with Christian and government leaders at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. to pray for the nation and ask God to forgive us of our sins.
SPEAKER 08 :
We gather here not to appeal to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are appealing to heaven. Today we make our appeal not in the authority of a political party or in the name of a denomination. We come in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 16 :
who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth and we have been commissioned to operate in that authority father we pray in jesus name for our complacency our greed our pride our gluttony our sloth and tolerance of sin lord your word is the food that can make america healthy again
SPEAKER 15 :
May your word be exalted and believed in our nation again.
SPEAKER 02 :
Lord, we ask that you allow us to become that shining city on the hill once more for your love, your grace, and your mercy.
SPEAKER 13 :
Thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy, for the opportunity that you have provided us to heal our land. We ask you to do it, Lord. We ask you for the wisdom, discernment, and stamina to do the thing that you have called each one of us, all of us here, to do. May we be found faithful. We trust it, pray it, believe it all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you. All right, the Iowa state government passed a new bill, which frankly has the transgender activists all up in protest. The bill in question reportedly removes gender ideology from state laws. They are now the first state to do so. Iowa is. Hats off. Way to go to you. But the move has spurred a massive protest in the Iowa State Capitol as literally hundreds of people have gathered to protest the signing of the bill. So what exactly will this bill do for Iowa? And what are the implications of such a move? Well, here now to talk about it, and frankly, let me just… Add an additional word to talk about this great news is Iowa State Representative Stephen Holt. He actually is the manager of the bill in the statehouse. Representative Holt, welcome to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you. It’s great to be here.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it is our honor to have you. So this bill started in your chamber as a Senate bill, Senate File 418. So break down quickly for us the specifics of the bill and what it does.
SPEAKER 09 :
So I’m a state representative. I’m actually in the House, and the bill did begin in the House. The identical version in the Senate actually passed a few minutes before ours, so we used the Senate version ultimately to pass it. But I’ve been working on this bill for about eight months. So it removes gender identity as a protected class in Iowa code. Back in 2007, When Democrats had full control of Iowa government, things are very different now. Republicans have super majorities and control the governor’s office now. But in 2007, they controlled government and they put gender identity as a protected class and code. Of course, gender identity is a feeling. And the Civil Rights Code is normally about immutable characteristics based on truth. So fast forward the last five or six years, Republicans have been playing whack-a-mole, passing legislation to protect women’s sports in Iowa. We passed legislation to mandate that bathroom and changing facility use would be based on biology at birth. We passed legislation to prohibit hormone therapy and gender mutilation surgeries on our minor children. And we found out that Iowa taxpayers were paying for these surgeries for Medicaid patients and individuals incarcerated in our correctional facilities. We passed legislation to stop that and it was struck down. The Iowa Supreme Court said it’s because gender identity as a protected class in code. So we realized that that these two things cannot coexist. We can’t have all of these laws protecting girls sports and their private changing facilities and all of these things that we’ve done. We can’t have those in code and also have gender identity as a protected class. So we knew it was going to be a very difficult and challenging situation. I worked on the legislation for months with the Alliance Defending Freedom and other legal experts. And it was introduced in the House, introduced in the Senate. As chair of the Judiciary Committee, I floor-managed it. It passed yesterday, and the governor signed it. Just Governor Kim Reynolds signed it just a few minutes ago.
SPEAKER 05 :
That is awesome. Awesome news. Congratulations. High fives, exclamation points across the board. Fantastic job. What would anyone be opposed to this bill? What would be any chief concerns among those who oppose it? It sounds like nothing but common sense.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, because it restores… equal footing in the law. It restores that everyone is treated equally in the law. And unfortunately, members of the transgender community believe it is their right, if they’re a biological male that identifies female, they believe they should be able to go into female restrooms, female changing facilities, female sports. We’ve seen Peyton McNabb in North Carolina, 17-year-old High school volleyball player now has permanent brain damage because she was hit by a ball spiked by a transgender player. We’ve seen what happened with Riley Gaines. We’ve seen, you know, we had numerous reports in Iowa of girls not wanting to go into their restrooms and their locker rooms because they’re a biological man. In those, the transgender community, 2,500 was the figure that was in our Capitol screaming lots of profanities and obscenities over the last few days. They demand that their rights be elevated above the rights of everyone else. It’s that simple. And that is no longer the case. Women will not be erased. And it’s amazing to me that the Democrats who once supported women’s rights are now supporting erasing women. It’s just unbelievable.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is. All right, just a couple of minutes left. I know one of the aspects of this whole thing that we, FRC, have been on top of is the whole religious liberties aspect of this, where gender identity laws have unconstitutionally bypassed and trampled religious convictions. Does this law need to or has it done anything to address that concern?
SPEAKER 09 :
We actually passed, and I formatted this too last year, we passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act last year. which we believe requires a strict scrutiny standard for any kind of government intrusion on religious liberty. So we believe that would address the religious aspects of this. And this legislation really just removes gender identity as protected class. And transgender individuals, their rights will be protected, just like the rights of every Iowan by the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Iowa Constitution, and Iowa law. They’re just on the same footing now.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, listen, again, Representative Stephen Holt, thank you so much for joining us, first of all, here on Washington Watch. But thank you far beyond that for you and your colleagues, a spectacular job that you have done in Iowa, leading the way for our entire country and for other states to follow suit. That certainly is our prayer. But I want to just personally say thank you for a job well done. And thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you so much. It was great to be with you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Our pleasure. All right, friends, that’s great news. Don’t go away. We’ve got more we’re bringing your way, not the least of which is our weekly Biblical Worldview discussion with David Claussen. But in addition to that, Washington Stance Jared Bridges is going to be joining me as well. So we’ve got a lot yet coming your way. Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back in just a moment.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But do you know the Bible talks about four institutions of government? Do you know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing, separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 14 :
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. So great to have you joining us today. All right, this past Wednesday, I don’t know if you saw this or not, but it’s pretty important. The Washington Post’s owner, and by the way, Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, he issued what many are calling a rare announcement. He basically said that his paper’s editorial section is going to pivot to publish daily opinion stories that support and defend the two pillars, basically. We’re going to have a paper that kind of talks about free markets and free speech and all that kind of stuff. And many people are shocked by all of this. And so they’re going to present the viewpoints and take it from there. A lot of people are upset. So what does all this mean for… I guess we can call it prestigious and yet very much troubled legacy paper. And what does it mean for its competitors that are trying to offer a different perspective? That’s going to be an interesting discussion. And here now to break it all down with me is Jared Bridges, who’s the Washington Stands editor-in-chief. Jared, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 10 :
Great to see you, Jody.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, so give me your thoughts on this announcement from Bezos. Is he becoming conservative all of a sudden, or what’s happening here?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, if you can measure that by liberal angst, then you might wonder that. I don’t know if he’s taking a more conservative move or not, but, yeah, I mean, these— Leftists are just blowing. I mean, when I first saw this thing, I think the heads are going to explode from this because he said he’s going to have focus on free markets and personal liberties and any viewpoint that opposes that’s not going to be welcome there. And so now you have, you know, former Washington Post editors and and people all across the left doing things, just saying this is just the end of democracy. And well. Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post. He owns it. He’s the boss on the free market, no less. And so they’re acting like they’ve missed a couple of days on their next day shipping on their Amazon Prime packages. But I think it’s… The left is upset because they’re not going to get to offer their viewpoint, which has pretty much ruled the Washington Post for the past, I don’t know how many ever, you know, years. Right. Yeah, I mean, when’s the last time, Jody, you read a conservative Christian perspective from a biblical worldview in the Washington Post? Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I would be very comfortable to say never. And frankly, I don’t know that that part is going to change much, but at least some of the messaging is going to change. Do you think it really is going to be a significant change going forward?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, I think what Bezos is doing is he’s signaling on our opinion pages, we’re going to have an opinion, right? And you have these… The liberal media has wanted this to be some sort of carousel of views and all views are welcome and all views are supposedly equal. They’re not equal. And we know that. We know the Washington Post hasn’t been offering a carousel of views. And now they’re going to say, here’s where we’re coming from. Like it or not, here’s where we are.
SPEAKER 05 :
So that is a good segue here because I think this next question is very important. The Post, obviously, there’s so much competition out there in the new media sphere. But one of those rising and powerfully influential competitors, I believe, is just gaining an influence month after month. It’s the Washington Stand. And for those in our audience who may not be aware, Jared, tell us a little bit about the Washington stand and its mission. As we’re talking about the mission of the post, tell us about the Washington stand.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, we publish news and commentary every day from a biblical worldview. That’s where we’re coming from. And, you know, our mission is to equip followers of Christ with the truth and wisdom so that… So they can rest assured that they have the truth from a source they can trust. So we want to help people think about the issues from a biblical worldview. And that’s where we come from. You don’t have to guess, okay, what view is this coming from? And what am I supposed to do with it? We tell you up front. And then we work through the issues with you. And we do that with news and with opinion. And we’re trying to do that from an avenue that doesn’t get as much play in the legacy media.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I would just add to that, Jared, and you’re humble to… to perhaps bypass this, but this is from you and your entire staff at the Washington stand. These articles are written with an extremely high level of intelligence and knowledge and research backing it up. And then underneath all of it is a biblical perspective, as you said, and a biblical worldview of it all. And I just think there’s not much out there any better than the Washington stand. So let me just real quickly give you an opportunity to direct people. Where can they go to latch hold of and to become a part of the Washington stand?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, well, those are kind words, Jody, but we do have a team that is focused on doing the Lord’s work, the Lord’s way, and we are committed to doing that. You can find us at WashingtonStand.com. Sign up for our daily email there. You can also find us on the Stand Firm app, and we will cover issues important to Christians.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I just want to say thank you, Jared Bridges. You and your team at the Washington stand do an outstanding job, and you as editor-in-chief, it all falls in your lap to make sure it happens, and hats off to you. Thank you, and thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thanks, Jared. Always good to be here.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. All right, before I go to my next guest real quickly, I just want to encourage each of you who are listeners or viewers of the Washington Watch program to take advantage of a 40% discount, 40% discount on a brand new book that’s being released. It’s from FRC’s very own David Claussen. The book is entitled Life After Roe, Equipping Christians for the Fight for Life Today. Folks, this is an important book. I’ve just received my copy. This is the first major book to be written on this topic since the overturning of Roe. And specifically, this book dives into and looks at the life issue from a theological perspective, a biblical perspective, a historical perspective, and a political perspective, all of it wrapped up in one. And so listeners and viewers of Washington Watch can get 40% off by putting the code WashingtonWatch. How simple is that? Just go to LifeWay.com, LifeWay.com, and enter the special code WashingtonWatch, and you can get 40% off this extremely important book, and I want to encourage you to do so today. Again, that’s LifeWay.com and special code WashingtonWatch. All right, it has been. Speaking of David Claussen, yet another extremely news-packed week around the country, and we always love ending the program by bringing David on and talking about all the news from a biblical worldview perspective. David, thank you for joining us again. Always great to have you.
SPEAKER 17 :
Happy Friday. Great to be with you, Jody.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, I mentioned your book. Listen, there’s all sorts of things happening. One of the things this week that comes to my mind was the American Medical Association releasing a study that over 22,000 babies have been saved since the Dobbs decision. And that just comes from just 14 states. Give me your reaction to that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, what a phenomenal report, Jody. And my response to this story is, praise God. And you know what’s interesting? This is published in an academic journal called JAMA. And this is no conservative Christian outlet by any means. They’re just reporting on the statistics. And what they’ve shown is that in these 14 states, that have passed strong pro-life protections, there are 22,181 babies alive today that likely would not have been alive if those strong pro-life protections were in place. And so what an encouragement. You know, Jody, we have talked about My wife and I, we welcomed our son into the world only three months ago, and I can’t imagine a world without Daniel. And I imagine these families would also say that they can’t imagine a life or a world without their children. And so just praise God that these pro-life laws are in place. They’re under siege, of course, we know that, but thankfully they’re in place and there are lives today that are with us that would not have been had those laws not ever been passed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Fantastic news. And as you say, those laws are under siege. And so we’ve got both sides of the coin. We’ve got good news, bad news. We’ve got good news, lives are being saved. But there is the other side of the coin, David. So speak to that. I mean, chemical abortions are up. I think probably overall abortions are up, largely because of the chemical abortions. So kind of give us a more full picture of the life battle and the issue right now.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, Jody, I do actually unpack this in the book that we just talked about. And it’s important for conservative Christians to be familiar with this two-pill regimen of chemical abortion. I think most people, when they think about abortion, they think of surgical abortion. They think of those abortion clinics. It’s upwards now. Over 60 percent of the abortions that take place in this country are through chemical abortion, through these abortion drugs. And what’s important to know, you know, these were hastily approved in the year 2000 under the Clinton administration. But when they were approved, there were still a lot of safeguards in place. You had to go to a doctor at least three times. You couldn’t go take them after 49 days gestation. So there was different, and you had to have reporting requirements for adverse effects. What’s interesting though, Jody, is that the Obama administration and then the Biden administration walked back most of those safeguards to where now you can get these pills through the mail without ever seeing a doctor. And so Lord willing, under the Trump administration, now that RFK is over HHS, that they’ll get their folks in place at the FDA, and that we can actually put back into place some of the safeguards that were previously there. Because right now, it is kind of the wild, wild west when it comes to these pills.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely it is. So that just highlights why we must stay vigilant and active on state as well as federal issues on this whole thing. David, let me switch gears on you. There’s, again, so much that we could talk about, and I But I’ve got to get to this. New York Times published a lengthy article on Sunday, and it’s one of those heart-wrenching kind of stories. And the title catches your attention. It was, How My Dad Reconciled His God and His Gay Son. And the article actually includes some journal entries, a pastor whose son comes out as gay, at age 13. And of course, initially this pastor, the father’s horrified, but then he gradually comes to the point of accepting and even celebrating his son’s identity. So all that to kind of give a little backdrop perhaps for our listeners and viewers. But let me throw it back to you. This article, how should Christians respond to such an article? How should Christians who find themselves in a similar situation, be it sympathize with this or deal with this kind of scenario?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, Jody, there’s a reason that this article was given massive real estate in the New York Times, arguably one of the most influential papers in this country. And the reason the editors and the writers gave it so much space is they clearly want their readers to empathize with the situation, with this pastor and with this son. And it is interesting to go through these actual personal journal entries that were published as part of this article, where you’re right, about 2013, I think it was, This man, his 16-year-old son, comes to him. He says he identifies as gay. Initially, the father is outraged and upset. And then the journal entries take us through his own journey of acceptance and then celebration. And, Jody, this is how a moral revolution works. You’ve heard of the Overton window. In one generation, what was unthinkable, then it becomes maybe kind of radical, but people are now talking about it. Then it becomes accepted. Then it becomes more sensible. And then it becomes policy that everyone’s expected to get on board with. We’ve seen a moral revolution when it comes to the acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. And you kind of see this moral revolution take place through the lens of this father’s eyes. What I would encourage our viewers to see, though, is look beyond just the individuals that are profiled here. Look at what this father says in these journal entries about how his view of Scripture shifted. Let me read very briefly, Jody. One of his entries said this, “‘Jesus, I want to do some real thinking about what it looks for me to cling to you, to know you, to love you, to build my theology on you and not on the Scriptures.'” Now, Jody, that is a massive statement. Again, this is someone, a pastor, who says, I want to build my theology on Jesus, not the Scriptures. My simple response to that, Jody, is that you and I, we don’t know who Jesus is without the Scriptures. You can’t separate Jesus from the Scripture. Jesus himself in Matthew 5 says, the Scriptures testify about me, that he came to fulfill the Scriptures. And so if you go down that path of saying, I get to choose kind of in the scripture, what I can take from it and believe, but other parts I can reject, this is the fast track to theological liberalism. And you’ll start overthrowing key doctrines of the Christian faith. And so I would encourage our viewers to look beyond the headline, look even beyond the story and realize how we view the scripture is absolutely determinative if we’re gonna stay faithful in our theology.
SPEAKER 05 :
Great word. Real quickly, where can people also go to get more information about the Center of Biblical Worldview?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, you can go to frc.org slash worldview. That contains the interviews you and I do, Jody, as well as our booklets, other resources, articles. So frc.org slash worldview.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, David, it’s been a busy, busy, busy week. You deserve a break. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Enjoy your family, and God bless you. Thanks for joining us today on Washington Watch, as always.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thank you, Jody.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, friends, that wraps up another week. Have a fantastic weekend, and shine, shine, shine for Christ. We’ll see you next week right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 12 :
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.
