In this insightful episode of Washington Watch, guest host Jody Heiss breaks down President Trump’s new budget proposal aiming to make significant cuts in non-defense spending, delving into its potential impacts and implications. Congressman Mark Harris joins the discussion to provide a detailed analysis of the President’s agenda and shared shared priorities on religious liberty, as marked by the National Day of Prayer ceremony. The episode further explores other significant topics such as the proposed Colorado bill targeting parental rights, which could have unprecedented consequences for families disagreeing with state-imposed ideologies. Meg Kilgannon discusses her transition to the Trump
SPEAKER 20 :
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. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. Hope you have had a fantastic week getting ready for the weekend. But before it all gets here, we’ve got a lot of news to cover. As I said, I’m Jody Heiss, and we are honored to have you with us. And by the way, Tony will be back in the chair next week after his trip to Israel. But coming up today, First of all, the White House has released President Trump’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year. It is calling for $163 billion in cuts to non-defense federal spending. And so what does all this tell us about his key priorities? I will be talking here in just a few moments with Congressman Mark Harris about that. And speaking of priorities, encouraging news yesterday, President Trump made it clear that protecting religious liberty Protecting religious exercise is among his priorities.
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In just a few moments, I’ll also be signing an executive order creating a presidential commission on religious liberty, which is really why we’re here, more than any other reason. We’re bringing back religion in our country, and we’re bringing it back, as I say, bigger and better and stronger than ever before.
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So encouraging to hear. Of course, that was President Trump during yesterday’s National Day of Prayer event at the White House. And I will also be speaking with Congressman Harris about that as well. And the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard University continues. The president is now threatening to take away Harvard’s tax exempt status. What would that look like? Wow. Well, FRC’s Meg Kilgannon will be joining me to discuss that. She’ll also provide an update on a horrible bill in Colorado that we’ve been talking a lot about this week. Basically, the bill would take children away from parents who don’t bow to the radical gender ideology.
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To have the state come in and compel certain types of actions, speech, to compel experimental drugs or to face the potential of losing their child is directly interfering with what the United States Supreme Court has said is a fundamental right grounded in the United States Constitution.
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Well, that was Focus on the Families. Nicole Hunt testifying yesterday on Colorado’s HB 1312. That’s the bill in question, and we’ll be discussing the latest on that. And then in international news, the United States continues to exert tremendous pressure on Iran while also trying to negotiate a deal that will shut down their nuclear program. We’ll get the latest when I’m joined later by Benham Ben Taliblu. He is the Iran Program Senior Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. And then to close out the program and the week, we’ll be joined by Dr. Owen Strand for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment. And among the topics we’re going to discuss is the remarks that were made earlier this week by Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who thinks AI relationships we’re going to fix the problem of loneliness in our country. Incredible.
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I think that a lot of these things that today there might be a little bit of a stigma around, I would guess that over time we will find the vocabulary as a society to be able to articulate why that is valuable and why the people who are doing these things are like, why they are rational for doing it and like, and how it is adding value for their lives. But also I think that the field is very early.
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Just a few years ago, we’d never think this kind of stuff possible. Artificial intelligence, the new relationships, and the answer to loneliness. Well, we’ll be talking about that later, and we’ve got a lot to unpack for you today, so stay tuned. Much is coming your way, and as always, our website is TonyPerkins.com. If you happen to miss any portion of today or you want to go back and check out other programs or you want to check out a lot of resources, be able to go to that website, TonyPerkins.com. All right, let’s jump into our first topic of the day. As I mentioned moments ago earlier today, President Trump unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. We’ve all been anticipating this. And the proposal makes budget cuts to non-defense spending by about $163 billion, while, of course, providing significant support for our nation’s military. And some people are saying it’s not enough cuts, though. The budgetary proposal also advances a lot of President Trump’s agenda by realigning budgets in other departments to foster security and American prosperity. So how has this proposal been received as it’s coming out and people are learning more about it and what will be its impact? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Congressman Mark Harris. Great friend, Family Research Council. He now represents the 8th Congressional District of North Carolina. Congressman Harris, welcome back to Washington Watch.
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It’s great to be with you on this Friday afternoon.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes, happy Friday. You made it through another busy week. So let’s let’s talk about the budget proposal from the president. What’s your overall reaction to it to this point?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, to be honest with you, it came out and dropped this morning, you know, early, and we’ve really been going through the numbers throughout the day. And to be honest, I think it’s a real positive step in the right direction. We’ve been saying as we’ve looked at it, it’s really the president’s agenda that’s being unfolded here. I mean, the previous administration, you know as well as I do, they treated the federal budget like it was a slush fund. and using it for all kinds of things. And the president is really stepping up and putting forth a budget that really, if we’re able to move this through Congress, is going to be of historic proportion.
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Now, why do you say that? What are some of the big ticket items, so to speak, that the president addresses in his budget?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, you know when you start looking at the things that he’s cutting, I think it’s $70 million in these DEI type of things that had been there to somehow get teachers involved in with students and really just sort of adopting these anti American ideologies. I think the best way to describe it and pulling money back from that is going to be a big thing. Of course, you’ve seen the USA ID things that he’s clawing back as well. environmental justice, which is really just getting the American taxpayer off the hook for the $100 million that we’ve been having to pay for the Biden administration’s progressive Democrat agenda. And really those kind of things are just a few of the things that kind of pop out at you at the beginning. But again, anytime you’re able to make these kind of significant savings in spending, I think it’s a major win. And I mean, you know, from being in Washington yourself, it’s not an easy place to claw back spending.
SPEAKER 18 :
No, it certainly isn’t. It seems like when you open the door to a little bit of spending, it is so hard to get that spending back out the door later. So this really is a golden opportunity, no pun intended. But it’s an opportunity that we certainly can’t squander. I think from from What little I am picking up from this that it seems to be dealing with spending that really contradicts the will of ordinary working Americans. I mean, there’s just so much waste. And Doge has certainly been finding so much waste to wasteful spending as well. So it’s encouraging. Now, let me ask you this, Congressman. I think people are confused largely with the difference of the reconciliation bill and the budget that the president just put forward. Number one, how is this budget going to impact reconciliation? But secondly, can you kind of, for our viewers and listeners, kind of explain the difference of the two?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, obviously, we’re looking at a 10-year span in reconciliation. We’re looking at a 10-year And again, I’ve talked with you before and with Tony before about the reconciliation process which allows people to for us to be able to move things with only 51 votes in the Senate where we don’t have to hold out for that 60 vote threshold. It’s only spending and so reconciliation allows us. to look over the long haul at the 10 years. And again, the framework that we’ve been working off in the house is looking at one and a half to $2 trillion in spending cuts, but it’s also making the present tax cuts Long term, I mean it’s going to extend them even make them permanent. So those are the things that are going to come along with reconciliation and all this past week I’ve been involved in reconciliation markups on the Judiciary Committee. We went through that on Wednesday on the Tuesday before that I went through the reconciliation markup with education workforce and again we’re finding savings or areas. where we really need to just reconcile and get our budget back to where it needs to be. That’s the one big beautiful bill that the president is continuing to move forward on. What we’re hearing in this budget today is for budget year 2026. So, I mean, look, when you look at $163 billion that he is finding in savings that’s going to take us back to pre COVID levels spending. And that’s what I think again, as you alluded to earlier, American people recognize that during COVID and particularly during the last four years of the Biden administration, there was so much out of control spending that somewhere we’ve got to get We’ve got to get get the horse back in the barn if you will, because it had gotten so out of control. And of course we’re facing this $37 trillion national debt and we’ve got to bend the curve on that. So the president is taking steps exactly like you said he was going to do. And one of the things that I think your listeners will greatly appreciate is there $6 million in his budget that’s being cut that have been going to NGOs to kind of take the pro abortion message around the world. And every pro life individual should be grateful that we’re finding this money that’s going to be cut out of the upcoming budget that the previous administration was using to just propagate death sentences of unborn children around the world.
SPEAKER 18 :
very very encouraging congressman harris let me ask you about this uh if we can switch gears real quickly the national day of prayer yesterday another word of encouragement came from the president on on several things that he said but starting the religious liberty commission through executive order what do we know about this commission and as a former pastor yourself what do you hope will be accomplished from this commission well i had the blessing of being there yesterday
SPEAKER 15 :
at the signing of the Commission, which was sort of the centerpiece of the whole National Day of Prayer event. I think when he laid out the individuals that are going to be serving on it and really the purpose behind it, I mean he is. He is really recognizing this president that is important that all Americans, and because of our faith, we have a right to live every day, live and worship and work in ways that are consistent with our faith and not be punished for them, not be investigated by Justice Department for the things that we believe and the things that we hold dear in our faith. And this president has made it clear that at the White House, faith engagement has an open door And I just think the whole Commission idea that is trying to again let people know around the world that in the United States of America folks are free to live and work. in a way that is consistent with their faith. And the government is not gonna be coming in and trying to restrict that. And I just think that’s a major message that this president represents. It’s a major message that he’s delivering. And I’m excited about it. You could just tell, there seems to be a new spirit. A lot of leaders from the Christian community and really all faith communities, the rabbi that spoke yesterday, are all there recognizing that this president is serious about supporting religious liberty and religious freedom in this country.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, it’s such an about face from what we have experienced over the last four years in particular. And it is so refreshing to people all across the country to have a president that is leading the way to protect religious liberty. And we’re all encouraged by that. Congressman Mark Harris from North Carolina, always an honor to have you on the program. We’re so grateful to see you there in Congress and already stepping up, doing great work. Thank you. Have a great weekend.
SPEAKER 15 :
Jody, thank you. God bless you.
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All right. Coming up next, the United States continues to pressure Iran on negotiating about the nuclear program. We’ll be talking about that right after the break. So don’t go anywhere. Back in a moment.
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At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. That’s why FRC President Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55,000 people have been killed and 21,000 abducted in the last five years alone. The congressman also stressed that 89% of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria.
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Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution.
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Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
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This is systematic religious violence. Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. The Biden administration’s removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians.
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Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
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These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
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Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
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We live in fear because at any point it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak.
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FRC is calling on President Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
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Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We’ve created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
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Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. So glad to have you joining us today. All right. Let me let me kind of give you an update of what’s going on. We are having difficulty getting our next guest on. I should say on their end, they’re having difficulty getting with us. But I want to tell you what we’re going to talk about. Maybe he’ll be able to join us. Maybe not. But the State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said yesterday that the fourth round of talks between Iran and the United States is going to be a It’s going to take place sometime in the near future. It was scheduled to take place like right away. But as you well know, there’s a lot taking place right now with Iran supporting the Houthi terror group in Yemen. And now the president, President Trump is calling for sanctions on countries that buy oil from Iran. And so there’s a lot of moving pieces right now. And we may or may not be able to have our guests to talk about that. All right, well, I am told he is here. He finally made it in, so let’s continue that discussion on this very important topic. And here to talk about this is Benham Ben Talibu. He’s Iran program senior director and the senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Benham, welcome to Washington Watch. Glad you made it.
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It’s a pleasure to be with you. Thanks for having me and apologies for the technical difficulties.
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Hey, listen, we all understand the devil lives in technology, it seems sometimes, but we’re glad to have you. All right, so walk us through some of the latest developments, what’s happening with the meetings. They’re kind of up and down, in and out. What’s going on? What’s the latest?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I for one, I’m glad that the U.S. has taken a step back at this. We were in between round three and round four of direct or indirect, depending on who you believe, the Iranians or the Americans, nuclear talks. Round four. Hello? You’re on. There we go.
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Keep going.
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Round four of the nuclear talks were supposed to be scheduled for May 3rd, it seems like. But the Iranians are saying that there was an American renegotiation at the last minute. The Americans are saying that they never committed after round three. Round three was a very important round because there was technical talks, not just political talks. But from the outset, President Trump has been quite clear that he won’t let the Islamic Republic of Iran get a nuclear weapon, and he’s looking to do this as peacefully as possible. Now, most unfortunately, the government of the Islamic Republic is trying to turn President Trump’s deal-making instincts against him and trying to turn President Trump’s penchant for being a peacemaker. against them and run the clock on these negotiations. So that’s why I said this brief stall, this brief diplomatic flare-up that we have that has delayed round four of nuclear talks to what many are alleging could be May 7 or May 8 is indeed an opportunity to step back because the more the U.S. has been desiring to engage or being seen as engaging, it’s actually been undercutting its own position. And I’ll tell you why. Because President Trump has brought back the maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic. It was remarkably successful in term one. It has the potential to be more than successful in term two. But by being seen as wanting a deal, the U.S. talking points has undermined some of its own sanctions, such that the Iranian currency, the rial, has actually appreciated rather than depreciated relative to the U.S. dollar about 20 percent since these conversations have been going on.
SPEAKER 18 :
Interesting. Well, yeah, I think, point well taken, what you said, pulling back is probably a position of strength for the United States in all of this. And when you add to all the mix, Iran’s support of the Houthis right now is a huge issue with this. In fact, our Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that they will pay a huge consequence And the president echoed that on Truth Social, agreeing with Hegseth. So what do you think of all this? What do you think they’re talking about? And how is this going to impact the negotiations, you think?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I for one actually think that at this point in time, given the weakness of Iran’s regional situation, you basically had the Israelis over the past year, year and a half, neuter Iran’s terrorist proxies to the north of Israel, that’s Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran’s terrorist proxies to the south of Israel, that’s Hamas in Gaza. And then you also had the collapse of Iran’s only state ally in the Middle East. that’s the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and now you got President Trump and Pete Hegseth and the whole US military under the auspices of CENTCOM using military force preemptively in a big way against the Houthis in Yemen and so all of this means that there’s a real credible military option on the table and that the US can actually connect the dots here between terror sponsoring state and actual terror group or terror patron and terror proxy whereas for about 20 years the Iranians benefited from this smokescreen of no these are local terrorists and I think President Trump is rightly connecting the dots here because it’s been the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran that has put state-level military capabilities into the hands of non-state actors like the Houthis, which have essentially allowed the regime in Tehran to not just project power in one critical waterway, which is close to it, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, but now a second critical waterway where lots of energy and other trade goes through, which is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. And they’re doing it through these long-range strike capabilities, these drones, these missiles. And the Houthis today are the only proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to have actually used anti-ship ballistic missiles. And they’re the only force thus far in history to be live firing anti-ship ballistic missiles at actual targets. So this regime is breaking history and breaking norms as we speak.
SPEAKER 18 :
Wow. So last question, our time’s running out, but considering all the negotiations so far, let’s start there, so far between the U.S. and Iran, do you expect, are you anticipating that there will actually be progress made in their nuclear program?
SPEAKER 04 :
If you’re reading Iran’s nuclear program, unfortunately, the Ayatollah’s hand is still on the throttle, and one of their tools to build leverage in these nuclear talks is to continue to escalate their nuclear program. So in the short to medium term, until we have a full resumption and escalation of the maximum pressure campaign, I would expect the Iranian nuclear program, unfortunately, to continue to grow. If President Trump is successful in wielding his credible military threat, and newfound economic leverage against the regime, then you actually do stand a chance of being able to do that very, very necessary thing, which is to not just kick the can down the road with respect to this nuclear program, but to actually work to dismantle it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Very interesting. Well, listen, we’re going to be keeping a pulse on this. And I want to thank you, Benam Ben Taliblu, Iran Program Senior Director and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, for joining us today on Washington Watch and trying to break down this very complicated issue. We appreciate it a great deal. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you. Bless you. Have a good weekend.
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All right, coming up next, I’m going to be speaking with Meg Kilgannon, FRC’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies. She is moving on to a new role, a new role with the Trump administration. I’ll be talking with her about that and much more when we come back on the other side of the break. So stay tuned.
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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 are 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 from the trees.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m your Friday host Jody Heiss and so glad to have you joining us today. All right, as we close out this week, specifically marking President Trump’s first 100 days in his second term, it’s absolutely undeniable that he’s made his mark on so many different areas, including education policy. His administration is making education great again. They are returning to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. And they are getting away from the Biden administration’s laser focus on woke indoctrination of our kids. And to be very honest with you, the Trump administration is going to be in for a great treat because of an incredible addition that is joining their team next week, beginning next Monday. Family Research Council’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies, Meg Kilgannon, will be joining the Trump administration’s Department of Education. She will continue the good fight, trust me. And at the same time, let me just tell you, she will be leaving a huge hole here at FRC. It’s been an honor to have her as a colleague and a frequent guest here on the program. Only fitting that here on her last day that she joins us. Meg, thank you for being here. So great to have you.
SPEAKER 14 :
Oh, thanks for having me, Jody. It’s such an honor to work for Family Research Council, and it will be an honor to work for our country at the Department of Education. I will miss all of you, but I am counting on everybody’s prayers for me and for everybody else who’s working to try to save the country.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, you certainly are going to have that, and we’ll get to some of those prayer requests a little bit later before we end our discussion here. But, Meg, why don’t you, with that, just segue into this next chapter of your life at the Department of Education. This will actually be the second time that you’ve served there under a second, this time, a second Trump administration. So what will your new role be? What will you be doing?
SPEAKER 14 :
I will be in the office of the I’ll be the director of strategic partnerships in the office of the secretary. So the office that I had in the previous administration will be part of this office. And I’m so excited to get there and to meet everybody there and to reach out to the people that I worked with before when I was in the department. And, you know, we’re burning daylight, Jody, because we have to shut that organization down that Department of Education is slated to be closed, and so we’re going to need to be very focused in our work on getting that done so that we can send education back to the states where it belongs.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, that’s what I wanted to ask you as there is a process to shut down the Department of Education on a federal level or at least the biggest bulk of it. How is all this going to unfold? Do you have a sense of what the plan is or at least enough of it that you can share a portion of that with us?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, there have been, you know, drafts of this idea have floated around in the conservative movement and been published on all kinds of places over the years of how you could shut down the Department of Education. And so I’m sure that this will look a lot like some of those plans. But one of the One of the examples, it’s a great example of the challenge that you face when you’re doing this is we had, and there was an article in education, in Ed Week this week, talking about the fact that the Trump administration has remove funding for the Safer Schools Act. After the shooting in Uvalde, do you remember when the young man went in and killed a couple of teachers and about 19 students, I think, in Texas? The Congress passed this massive Safer Communities bill. where they were spending just billions of dollars on things. And there was a tremendous amount of money that was slated to go into public schools, enough money to hire a psychologist or a psychiatrist for every school in America. And, you know, if I remember the circumstances of that shooting, it wasn’t a lack of psychiatrists that caused that shooting. It was the fact that a door was left open and someone was allowed to access the school who had a gun, right? So this is the kind of thing, though, when you’re trying to close the Department of Education but you have legislation from Congress directing the department to spend money, these are the kind of things that have to be rolled back systematically. And so the Legislative Affairs Office will need to be working on Capitol Hill to get bills in place or to assure that functions have been completed and we can close out those functions. It’s going to take a whole team of people in the department to get the department closed. So even though we’ve had a huge reduction in force that’s happened, we still need this political staff who are hired to work for the president, for the people who voted for him, to get that shut down. So I’m really excited to join that team.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I am too. And I think some of that would probably take some legislative action. We’ll see how that goes. But what an enormous task and excellent example that you just gave. I think that really lets people understand a little bit about what you’ll be doing there. We’ve got only about a minute. Meg, if you will, hang on over the break. I’d like to bring you back and continue our conversation. But the president has floated the idea of yanking Harvard’s tax exempt status. In about 30 seconds or so, give us your initial thoughts on that and we’ll carry it over into the next segment.
SPEAKER 14 :
I think we’re going to see all kinds of ideas discussed of how to rein in higher education in this country so that it is no longer working to advance, you know, un-American and evil agendas. And so if it’s a reduction in funding from the government or revision of a tax status, everything is on the table, I think, is the point of doing something like that. We are not going to put up with this kind of behavior from people who should know better.
SPEAKER 18 :
Wow. We’re going to continue this discussion with Meg Kilgannon right after this break. We’ve got a lot more to cover. Meg, I want to thank you for hanging on for us for a few more moments as we will talk more on the other side of the break. All right. Stay tuned. Much more coming your way here on Washington Watch. We’ll be back in just a moment.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow Outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 18 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you so much for joining us today. I’m your Friday host, Jody Heiss. All right, for those of you who may just now be joining us, I’m continuing a conversation with Meg Kilgannon. She’s currently FRC’s Senior Fellow for Education Studies, but beginning next week, She will be moving on to the Trump administration’s education department, where she is absolutely going to help make education great again. And at the same time, she’s very likely going to be heavily involved in accomplishing the Trump administration’s goal to shut down that federal department for good. Meg, thanks again for joining me. It’s always good to have you. Thanks for holding over the break. Sure. OK, so we got so much to talk about and it’s just like juggling here where to start. But let’s let’s do this, because one of the things that you have brought the attention over and over and over on this program is the need for parents and community members to take action. to have their voices heard, particularly regarding issues affecting families. And this is not something that should just be left to the experts. Families ought to get involved. You’ve talked about that type of thing over and over and over. Can you speak to that again real quickly?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, there is, you know, Tony says it best when he says that the, you know, you can outsource the, you can delegate the authority over your children to others to educate them, but the responsibility remains with you. And that is very true. And so the same is true in a government of, by, and for the people. We can delegate our governing responsibilities to other people and we can hope that they do a good job, but there is, there is just, always a need for people to be informed and engaged in their local government and their state government and at the federal level. But especially at the state and local level, your town council, your local school board, your local school, your church, your neighborhood, your family. That is the building block of society. And so we need to be engaged always and seeking to do God’s will in all of those places. It’s our responsibility as citizens to do that.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I think a great case in point is a case that we’ve been dealing with, in fact, on this program several times this week and trying to underscore it for people’s attention. And that’s coming out of Colorado and that radical bill that has come forth to potentially even take custody away from parents if they do not embrace this gender ideology. And yet now that bill has been watered down precisely because of what you’re talking about. Parents got involved. citizens got involved. They don’t want this kind of overreach from the government. Tell us, you’ve been involved in this. Tell us a little bit more about that bill.
SPEAKER 14 :
This is a great example of what it means to be engaged at the state and local level. I mean, in Colorado, you have a Democrat control of the government, and they are committed to the gender ideology and to transgender rights and And so they have this bill that is horribly overreaching that was going to involve a very hidden part, actually, of government, which is family court and what happens in divorce proceedings and things. And not everybody is going to family court. Not everybody’s involved in a divorce proceeding. So it’s less obvious than when people are at school. Everybody’s going to school together mostly, and so we see what’s happening in school. So this was going to be keeping the gender ideology inside the family court system. And they have removed some of that from this bill, which is good. But the bill is still an overreaching bill that is dangerous for families. And they have taken this one part out because people, thanks be to God, people showed up and complained about this part of the bill. And so that was removed from the bill. But that just means that it’s not time to go home and congratulate ourselves. We have to keep vigil. We have to keep watch about this because we know they wanted it in. We know they’re going to come back and try to get it in. keep vigilant.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, Meg, I just again want to say thank you so much for all that you mean to the FRC family and to so many others. We are rejoicing for this new role that God is placing you in in the Department of Education. You mentioned as we started that there’s some things that you want people to be praying about. Let’s circle back to that. How can our audience be praying for you as you move forward?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I mean, for me, that I will conform my will to God’s will. That is my prayer every day for me and for my family and for everyone. That’s our work here on earth is to be a servant of God. And so we are in a wonderful situation at FRC where that is a goal of this explicit goal of this organization. And I’ll be working in an environment now where That’s not necessarily the explicit goal of everybody there, and so I just would ask for people to pray for me and for everybody who is in government service, whether we’re political appointees or career civil servants, that we are all seeking to do the will of God for the good of people in our nation. That would be tremendous.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, thank you so much, Meg Kilgannon. And if I can just take a moment of personal privilege, I just want to say to you personally, it has been such a pleasure to call you a colleague here at FRC. You are an absolute joy to work with in every way. You are on our best morning meetings, you are you’re like a one person think tank. The things that you bring to the table over and over and over are so well thought out and so well articulated. And it is so grounded in biblical truth. And I just want to personally say it’s an honor. I’m excited for what’s in store for you. When I think of you today and I have what came to mind was proverbs 22 29 which you’re familiar with it says you see a person skilled at their work they will stand before kings they will not stand before officials of low rank and i see this elevation in your life as a result of your faithfulness with the gifts that god has given you so May the good hand of God be upon you as you now go to the Department of Education. And thank you so much for all you’ve meant to us here at Family Resource Council.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you, Jody. It’s been my honor and privilege. Thank you.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right. God bless you. All right. We want to shift gears now to our weekly Biblical Worldview segment. A few days ago, this is an incredible story. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat down for an interview, and that interview now is making waves. In it, catch this, he said that the epidemic of loneliness that our nation is facing in this period of time is is something that perhaps can be corrected by artificial intelligence. Unbelievable. Join me now to discuss this is Dr. Owen Strand. He’s a senior fellow at FRC Center for Biblical Worldview and the senior director at the Dobson Culture Center at the James Dobson Family Institute. Dr. Strand, welcome back to Washington Watch. Appreciate you being with us.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much, Jody. Thanks for having me back.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, so let’s get into this that Zuckerberg was talking about. First of all, let’s begin with what he was talking about, the epidemic of loneliness. Yes or no?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, there’s definitely an epidemic of loneliness, and one of the reasons why there is an epidemic of loneliness is because of outlets like Facebook, which Zuckerberg famously created. Now, I’m not saying if you have a Facebook page or something.
SPEAKER 18 :
Great point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, you’re this terrible person, but I would say that part of what has happened in America over the last 10, 20 years is that we’ve traded in investing in real life friendship face to face across the table or what have you for virtual engagement. And that’s not all bad, but fundamentally what we don’t need is more fake friends. We need more real friends.
SPEAKER 18 :
Absolutely. So I think it’s a great point, a great point coming out of the gate that Facebook itself has contributed to the epidemic of loneliness. So now, interestingly, his solution is artificial intelligence. Is that really an authentic potential replacement for human relationships?
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I’m sure that there are all sorts of ways technology can continue to help us to a limited degree in our life. I’m just going to go on record public confession. I’ve never liked Siri. I’ve never used Siri. That’s a rival product, of course, to Meta and Facebook. But I personally just find it weird to talk with, you know, some sort of virtual assistant or whatever they’re called. I do think that technology helps us. You and I are talking right now through the aid of significant technological advancement. But honestly, Jody, as Christians, we have to say the Tower of Babel alone would tell us that you’ve got to watch technology carefully. There are limits to what it can do for you. And when you start asking technology to replace the goods of personal interaction, you know, corporate fellowship in a church or friendship with actual real-life human people or a spouse or something like that, I think you may either be over the line or very near it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I totally agree. And so let’s unpack that a little bit for us. Unpack for us how God designed us, how He designed us to be in fellowship both with Himself and with fellow humans.
SPEAKER 05 :
Amen. Couldn’t agree more. The image of God means that we are fundamentally made by God for God’s glory, and we are made for relationship. We are made for nothing less than relationship with Almighty God. But of course, Adam and Eve in the pre-fall Garden of Eden weren’t made just to commune with God. They were made to commune and fellowship and know each other. And that extends from there to the rest of the human race. So God is a personal God. He’s a personal being. He’s not a stone monolith in the sky. And God has made the human race so that we can be personal beings and we can enjoy personal interaction and personal relationship. And there’s all sorts of ways we can spell that out. There’s husband and wife. There’s parent to child. There’s church family. There’s friends in the neighborhood. There’s loving your neighbor. At every stage of the Christian faith, personal engagement and personal relationship, as we can develop it, matters tremendously.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, you have, if I can shift gears a little bit, you have an article, an excellent article, by the way, in the Washington Stand, talking about Elon Musk’s comments regarding global infertility. Tell us, if you can, some of his specific comments, and do you think his assessment of all this was correct?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, Elon Musk is doing a ton of good. I would say in broad terms and in terms of Doge and the buzzsaw he’s taking to government overreach and bureaucratic bloat. But fundamentally, Elon Musk is almost single handedly trying to solve our global infertility crisis. According to the Wall Street Journal, he is apparently sired. 14 children or something like that by four different women. And he’s on X a good bit these days talking about how we’ve got to overcome global anti-fertility and anti-natalism. And he’s dead right on that. And I want to publicly say, I agree with you, Elon, insofar as you’re watching this. But here’s the thing, Jody, it’s not just that we need to produce offspring. As Christians, we go a little bit further and we say, we need actual fathers and mothers who are married to one another, one man, one woman for life in normal terms, to raise those children, love those children, protect those children, train those children. So yes, to reversing the anti-natal, anti-birth trends. That’s a huge problem in the West and across the world. But no to just have kids. We got to build families, not just have children.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, yeah, let’s go on that. I love that last statement. Let’s break this down. The difference between having kids, like evidently Elon Musk has done, the difference between having kids versus building families. Let’s say someone says to you, I can have kids. I don’t need a husband or I don’t need a wife. I can manage this alone. What would you say to that person from a biblical perspective?
SPEAKER 05 :
I would say good luck with that. I mean, you can fundamentally you can have have kids and raise them by yourself or in some sort of weird arrangement, you know, with hired help or something like that. There are definitely people who do that. And in some cases, putting aside the humor for a second. You know, if somebody abandons a family, sadly, it’s often men who walk away from a family for any number of reasons. There are a lot of heroic single moms out there who keep things together, but that’s far Jody. That’s far from an ideal arrangement. The way God has set things up is best. And it’s for again, wherever possible, a father and a mother to be wedded for life and stick together. And in gospel terms to know Jesus Christ is their Lord and savior and to live repentantly, to walk humbly day by day, to work on their marriage, to grow as a husband or a wife, a father or a mother, and then to pour into those kids self-sacrificially day after day, month after month. Parenting doesn’t involve self-sacrifice. Parenting, as lots of us get to find out firsthand, is self-sacrifice. but the the reward of parenting is that as god works and blesses these kids actually grow up you know they learn things they mature and god willing they become christians and then are unleashed into the world to make real contributions uh to to neighbor and to to god and that’s that’s what we’re after this glorious vision above all things
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, and that’s what God has created families to do. It’s all relational. It’s relational towards Him, and that is best learned in so many ways in our relationships with one another. And from that, we learn better how He relates to us. But I just thank you for bringing all this to our attention, Dr. Owen Strand. Senior. fellow here at FRC Center for Biblical Worldview. Your thoughts on this program always are outstanding. Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you very much, Jody. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER 18 :
You bet. Have a great weekend. All right, friends, that wraps up yet another busy week here at Washington Watch. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Keep the torch ablaze. Keep shining. And Tony will be back with you next week for more right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 20 :
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.
