In this episode of Washington Watch, host Jody Heiss delves into the latest political maneuvers from the U.S. capitol with insight from key leaders. From the immediate actions taken by newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ongoing debates about immigration and sanctuary cities, listeners are given a front-row seat to vital policy discussions. Joining Jody are esteemed guests Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, who break down how state dynamics and federal policies intersect, influencing law enforcement and public safety across America.
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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 03 :
Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. So glad to have you joining us today. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. I’m the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. Again, thank you so much for joining us. We’ve got a lot coming your way today. Let me kind of hit some of the highlights we’ll be covering. Recently confirmed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took swift action yesterday suing Illinois and Chicago for obstructing federal immigration law enforcement.
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What they’re doing is they are choosing illegal aliens over the safety and security of their own citizens and the men and women of law enforcement who are out there trying to protect their citizens.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that was Attorney General Bondi yesterday on Fox’s Hannity during her first interview since her confirmation. I’ll be discussing this later in the program when I’m joined by Chad Wolf, the former acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. I’ll also ask him what he thinks about how Illinois’ Democrat governor, J.B. Pritzker, responded today to A.G. Bondi’s lawsuit.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think it’s a massive effort to distract from what they are doing across the country to take away things that working class, middle class people, families, the most vulnerable really need.
SPEAKER 03 :
Interesting. So is that what the Trump administration has been doing? Well, I’ll be joined in just a moment by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to get his take on the executive orders and actions that we’ve seen so far. Meanwhile, Democrats continue to have a meltdown over what Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are doing. Elon Musk has got to go. The richest man on the planet is engaging in an illegal power grab across our government. Wow, that was Congressional Progressive Caucus Whip Representative Guy Garcia. So is it a power grab or is it fiscal responsibility that Democrats are opposed to?
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Elon is doing a great job. He’s finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste. You see it with the USAID, but you’re going to see it even more so with other agencies and other parts of government.
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Well, that was President Trump earlier today. So given last month’s projections from the Congressional Budget Office, you would think that Democrats would support efforts to keep us from falling off a fiscal cliff. But maybe they need somebody to explain the numbers to them. In fact, maybe we all do. They’re pretty frightening numbers. And I’ll be joined by former Congressman Dr. Dave Brat a little bit later to go over those projected numbers. And then to close out the program and the week, I’ll be joined by David Claussen for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment to discuss many of the headlines from this week. So as always, friends, we’ve got a packed show coming your way. You don’t want to miss any part of it. But if by chance you do, our website, of course, is TonyPerkins.com. Be sure to keep that handy. Also, I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to download FRC’s Stand Firm app. If you don’t already have it, this is something you want to get. There’s so much on the app, but the reason you want to download it now is for our first 100 days toolkit. This is a critical window of opportunity that we have as a country, so we need everyone to stay involved. If you want to find ways to help move important priorities forward, then you will want this toolkit. There’s so much information there. So if you’d like links to download StandFirm app, text the word toolkit, that’s one word, no spaces, toolkit to 67742. All right, now let’s jump into our first item for the day. While the media is trying to keep up with the flurry of executive orders, over 90 so far, that have been coming from the Trump administration, there’s also quite a bit of activity at the state level that oftentimes goes overlooked. Officials are either embracing and running with what’s been coming out of the White House or they’re pushing back. depending largely, of course, on whether it’s a red or a blue state. So what sort of impact are we seeing right now in the states with Trump back in the office? Well, joining me right now to discuss this is Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. General Marshall, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s great to have you again.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thank you. Good to be with you, Jody. Hey, you need that app right now with the fast and furious executive orders coming out of Washington.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. You’re not kidding. I mean, it is really it is difficult to keep on top of it all. And you have been very much involved with a number of these. Let me begin with the executive order on female sports. It has to be exceedingly gratifying to see that after you and some other attorney generals from red states worked so hard to see this come to fruition.
SPEAKER 17 :
Oh, and had the privilege of being at the White House on Wednesday when the president signed that order. You know, you saw the visual of those precious young female athletes standing around the president as we made abundantly clear that we understand who is a woman and who’s a man. And despite the fact that we have a Supreme Court justice on the court that couldn’t define that, the federal government now has a policy that’s able to do it. And then we are protecting the integrity of women’s sports. And the president outlined the numerous reasons as to why this was so critical, whether it be the gains that occurred during Title IX for women to have access to our athletic fields, whether it’s the safety of young women when confronted by transgender individuals that are participating against them and the health risk that goes along with it. But this is about preserving for young ladies the opportunity to compete fairly and honestly for recognition in the sports of their choice. It was a great day not only for our nation but for the RET states that have worked so hard to be able to establish that through both litigation as well as legislation in our own respective states.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m so pleased that you were able to be there in person. You certainly earned the right to be there. And again, thank you for all the work that you did. President Trump also signed another executive order to protect children from chemical and surgical mutilation, that which the left falsely calls gender affirming care. But that’s another area that your state really paved the way. And I think at this point we’re seeing this whole issue take a different direction. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER 17 :
Oh, absolutely. And one thing is that we were able to through the litigation that we had in Alabama is to expose the medical and legal fraud that was gender affirming care. And you’ve described it. This is child abuse. And not only did we expose what was going on between Rachel Levine, an activist embedded within the Biden administration, the activist lawyers that were working with the WPAS and the other organizations establishing so-called standards of care. But we began to see this for what it was. This was simply a way to to impose a radical gender ideology across the country under the guise of treatment for kids. You know one thing that was exciting and I don’t know if you saw the news today where the Department of Justice through my friend Pam Bondi has notified the court in the case involving the state of Tennessee that the Department of Justice and the federal government has changed their position that in fact they do not believe that the Tennessee law similar to Alabama that protects kids is otherwise violative of the Equal Protection Clause. And one thing that we hope is that the court will still weigh in to be able to firmly and squarely say that states are allowed to protect kids in these situations. But really proud of the work that we’ve done here in Alabama to make sure that not only we’re protecting kids, but also pushing back against a radicalized medical establishment that doesn’t have kids at their best heart, but instead are working to promote a political agenda.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. Yeah, I mean, I sit here listening to you, and really all you can say is just wow. And it’s almost like there’s just a tip of the iceberg. There’s just more and more and more of these type of executive orders that, frankly, many of these need to be codified. That’s a topic for another day, I suppose. But you and some other red state attorney generals have also stood— with President Trump’s immigration policies. In fact, I saw the DHS has just shown that migrant encounters on the southwest border have plummeted by some 74% since President Trump took office. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. What do you say about that?
SPEAKER 17 :
Now, I mean, it’s amazing when we enforce the law right when we empower our law enforcement officials to be able to do their job, which they’ve not been able to do on the border for the last four years. But you want things that Republican Attorney generals are uniquely able to do is to be able to support the Trump administration when they’re sued. which they will be sued on many of the immigration orders that are coming. You’ve seen already the challenge to birthright citizenship, the effort of the Trump administration to resolve an issue that otherwise has been out there for a while. While that’s being litigated, we’re going to have the ability to weigh in as we already have with briefs to be able to support the effort of the administration here. But look, President Trump has said he’s going to make the border a priority, not only the southern border, right, but also the northern border to make sure that not only people are coming here unlawfully, but to stop that flow of fentanyl that’s killing people across our country. And so we’re pleased already to see what the borders are is doing in coordination with local law enforcement, which Secretary Noem is doing in being able to allow for those under her authority to be able to enforce the law and a president that stood clear to be able to say that this is going to be a priority moving forward for this administration.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it really is a coordinated effort. It really is. And speaking of Secretary Nome that you just brought up, I know before she was confirmed, you and 17 other state attorney generals sent a letter to her asking her to review former President Biden’s temporary protected status. That was a major issue. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, it was a parole program that Congress had many years ago that was designed for a very limited purpose in being allowed people, for example, that needed medical treatment in our country that couldn’t get it where they live to be able to come here, receive that treatment and go home. Instead, it became the vehicle through the use of an app for hundreds of thousands of individuals to come into this country, not fully vetted, not going to a place in which there was a sponsor to be able to allow them to work, but instead became a vehicle to fill this country with individuals from outside of the normal immigration process to have the ability to come into the United States. We thought it was wrong. We think courts have adopted that approach as well, and we’re glad to see that the Trump administration, through the stroke of a pen, has ended that process.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s just remarkable. We’ve just got less than a couple of minutes here, Attorney General, but what else are you looking for? What are you anticipating to see from this administration, and how do you see you and other attorneys generals coming alongside them?
SPEAKER 17 :
I think you’ve seen recently the letter that we sent to Costco relating to their DEI policies. The Trump administration has made it abundantly clear that that’s not going to be the policy of the federal government. But the other thing he’s done is to direct the attorney general to look at the possible liability and investigations into companies that are advancing a racially discriminatory policy. We’re glad to be able to highlight that issue relating to Costco. We are pleased to see that many other woke corporations have transitioned back to a common sense approach and how it is they deal with their employees. And we’ll look for other issues like that to be able to support the Trump administration moving forward.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it is breakneck speed, the manner in which this administration is moving forward on so many campaign commitment promises. I want to thank you, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, for the incredible work that you have done in your state and the coordinated effort with so many other state leaders. And thank you for coming on Washington Watch to break this down for us.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thank you, Jody. We’re just getting started.
SPEAKER 03 :
Just getting started. I love that. Great job. We appreciate it. All right, friends, we’ve got much more coming your way on Washington Watch. I can assure you this next segment, you don’t want to miss this one either. Former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf is going to join me to react to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s orders when she is calling on the DOJ to stop all funding for sanctuary cities. Whoa, you don’t want to miss this. Stay tuned. It’s all coming your way right after this 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, D.C. 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.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. An honor to have you joining us today. All right. This past Wednesday, Pam Bondi was officially sworn in as the 87th U.S. Attorney General. And I think to no surprise to anyone, she wasted no time, no time, when it came to addressing the lawlessness in many blue states and cities where the lack of immigration enforcement has led to the countless American lives being affected, including many who have been murdered at the hands of illegal immigrants. But not surprisingly, there’s been quite a bit of pushback as well.
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I think it’s a massive effort to distract from what they are doing across the country to take away things that working class, middle class, people, families, the most vulnerable really need.
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That was Democrat Illinois Governor J.B. Pritchard earlier today. So how might this battle play out in the long run? And on whose side is the law? It’s a very important question. Well, joining me now to discuss this is former Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. He’s currently the Executive Director, Chief Strategy Officer, and the Chair for the Center for Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute. Secretary Wolf, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to see you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it’s good to be here. I appreciate you guys having me on again.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s always an honor to have you. Listen, let’s first just, by way of pulling everybody into the discussion we’re about to have, remind us of some of the consequences of sanctuary cities and the policies that have been so destructive and harmful to Americans.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, absolutely. I mean, the biggest consequence is criminal aliens getting sheltered or having that sanctuary in those jurisdictions. And so the idea here is it’s kind of a simple one, but it’s kind of I think a lot of people misconstrue it. And certainly the blue state governors and mayors and others. they talk about sanctuary, they wanna be a welcoming city and that’s fine, but all they are doing is providing sanctuary for criminal aliens. So as you have an illegal alien in your community and they commit a crime, they go to jail and instead of allowing ICE to pick up those individuals in a jail setting, which is very safe, they release those individuals back into their community to not only reoffend, but now ICE has to go into those communities, find who they are, much more dangerous for everyone involved. And so that’s what sanctuary cities provide is a safe haven and sanctuary for criminal aliens in their community. And it baffles me, frankly, sometimes while most communities don’t quite understand that because I don’t think they’re being, you know, they’re not being told the truth by their leaders.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. And I guess one of the highlights, and certainly by no means the only one, many, many, but right in my, virtually in my backyard, Lake and Riley, the murder there. And that’s just one example of many, many heinous crimes that have been committed. So how did former President Biden’s policies exasperate all the lawlessness that we saw come about, really at unprecedented levels, particularly as it relates to illegal immigration?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, we probably don’t have enough time for me to go through all of the different policies that they put in place over the course of four years that contributed to the worst border crisis. But a couple of big ones is they continued or they I should say they reintroduced this idea of catch and release. which is to say they apprehend individuals who come across the border, but then they release them into American communities. And they do that on the taxpayer dime. And they provide NGOs a lot of money to help facilitate all of this. And we saw this at record numbers, record numbers of individuals, illegal aliens being released into American communities over the four years of the of the Biden administration, while at the same time They didn’t allow ICE removal officers to do their job, to do the job that Congress told them to do, which is to say to remove dangerous individuals and other individuals that don’t have a legal right to be in the United States. If they don’t have that right, they should be repatriated or deported. And you saw during four years of the Biden administration those two numbers or that number at the lowest ever. while at the same time you had the highest number of an illegal alien population coming into the country, you had the lowest number of actual deportations. And when those two numbers are like that, it makes for some very unfortunate consequences and just terrible results, which we saw.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I can imagine how you would respond to this, but what’s your assessment of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order pausing all the funding for sanctuary cities?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it’s absolutely the right move. The United States government gives a lot of money to a lot of these big cities like New York City, like Chicago, Denver, LA, and others. And we provide federal grant funding. The Department of Justice does, of course, the Department of Homeland Security and others. And then those are the same communities that say, no, not only are we not going to help you actually enforce immigration law, but we’re actually going to put roadblocks up to stop you, to distract you, to obstruct you. And that just shouldn’t be the case. If they want federal dollars, they should play along with federal law enforcement that, again, are just trying to protect their communities. So the idea from Attorney General Bondi is to say, We’re going to stop doing that. So she’s halted DOJ funding for those communities. And they’re actually I think they filed suit against the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois and Cook County specifically on obstructing law enforcement officers, immigration officers from doing their job.
SPEAKER 03 :
Only about a minute or so left, but do you think this is going to have an impact on some of these primarily Democrat governors and mayors to finally enforce a law regarding immigration?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think so. I think there’s going to be enough pressure. You’re going to have members of their community saying, hey, ICE, because ICE is going to be going into their communities. And every time ICE goes in there and pulls out, you know, five sex offenders and someone that’s wanted for murder and all of that, I think those people, you know, the community members will see, look, these people should not be in our community. They should be off the streets. And that’s what ICE is doing. So I think the more and more that they see that, they’ll start to understand and they’ll ask their city officials to change that policy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I certainly hope so. The time is now, and if we don’t get this corrected now, I don’t know that we’ll have a better opportunity any time in the future. I want to thank you, former DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. You’re an amazing leader, and thank you for coming on Washington Watch this evening.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I appreciate it. Thanks again for having me.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, you’re welcome. All right, friends, so much to cover. So much to cover, and we’re going to keep pressing on. On the other side of the break, we’re going to transition a little bit to another big story. Dr. Dave Bradd is going to break down all the latest Congressional Budget Office numbers. He’s going to weigh in on the crackdown on the government spending by Doge. A lot more coming your way. You don’t want to miss it, so stay tuned. We’ll be right back on the other side of the break.
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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.
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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.
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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
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May your word be exalted and believed in our nation again.
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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.
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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 03 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heist. So great to have you joining us today. All right. Now, I want to bring a news item your way right now that, frankly, it hasn’t received the attention that it deserves. Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, known as the CBO, they released their latest projections of what the federal budget and the economy will look like in the current year as well as over the next 10 years. Well, the projections are shocking. They’re based off the CBO’s economic forecast, which does reflect developments in the economy through December 4th of 2024. And it also includes some legislation that was enacted through January 6th of this year. So while I could just throw out a bunch of massive numbers to you, but to do so, we’d all just miss the significance. So I’ve brought an economist to go over those details with us. Joining me now to unpack the numbers is Dr. Dave Brat. He’s a senior VP for business relations at Liberty University and a former member of Congress. Dr. Bratt, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 19 :
Great to be on, Congressman. Always great to see you as well.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. These numbers that the CBO put forth to me is just shocking. Actually, they came out right before Inauguration Day. So I think for that reason, a lot of this has gone under the radar. But basically, they’re projecting another $24 trillion debt over the next 10 years over and beyond what we already have. So I’ll toss it to you. Describe where we stand right now.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, I’ll just put it in a little context. Most meaningfully, you and I are parents, and most of the people listening are parents and grandparents. And what you’ve got to realize is this debt, we’re spending it all right now, and the debt goes to our kids. Right. So most of us are in the Christian community. I think it says in the Big Ten, the tank. Do not steal. We’re roughly stealing from our own children. Right. That’s how bad it is. But you never hear the moral side of this thing. Right. And then to make matters worse, I’ll just explain why we got the numbers we got. We’re running two trillion dollar deficits right now. That’s the amount of debt you go into each year. And if you add up all the deficits together, you get the debt. So as Jody just said, if you run $2 trillion deficits for 10 years, you add another $20 trillion in debt to the already existing $30 trillion in debt. And I’m just using loose numbers just so I don’t want to lose track. The numbers don’t matter as much as understanding them. And so how is this working in a little more detail? We printed $9 trillion, which created the inflation you got. That’s another hidden tax of 25% on the value of your dollar over the past five years, right? So 25% loss of your purchasing power over the past five years. And the deficits are going to government spending. And they’re counting government spending as part of economic growth. So just to put that in perspective, it’s like you borrowing from your rich uncle $2 trillion and then telling your neighbors, my firm is growing by $2 trillion today, right, because you borrowed from your uncle. That’s not growth, and everybody knows that’s not real growth. You didn’t grow anything, right? You just went into debt. So this is a total disaster. And then one other little piece is productivity. According to Robert Gordon at Northwestern University, probably Democrat, but it’s his life’s work. Our productivity has been going down in the U.S. for the past 70 years, and now it’s at 2%. And if you look at those CBO reports that Congressman Heiss was showing, we’re going to grow at 2% for the next 10 years as well. You grow at roughly your productivity growth. So the people that, you know, you’ve got a bunch of conservative, libertarian-minded economy. We’re going to grow our way out of this. You get the cheerleader types. That is not true either. I wish it were. I would say so. So it paints a pretty bleak picture. And CBO, the folks that are putting out these numbers, have productivity going down from 1.9 percent to 1.5 percent over the next 10 years. So we’re in debt up to our eyeballs. Congress seems incapable of doing anything. Right. They just went down on a trip. They’re going to cut 300 billion over 10 years. That’s 30 billion a year. That’s like a teaspoon. And so, Jody, there’s a little overview of what we’re looking at.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thanks for the good news there. Yeah. Two questions, and we’ve only got a couple of minutes here, but is there any good news in this? And if not, I mean, how close are we to an economic going over the cliff? Let’s just put it that way.
SPEAKER 19 :
The economic going over the cliff, it used to depend on the bond market vigilantes, right? They’d come in and tell all of us, yeah, there’s going to be a calamity. So that’s on the economy side. We’ll see about that. We’re running deficits to prevent that, and we’re printing money to prevent that. But sooner or later, reality will hit. That’s all tied into the stock market bubble as well. The good news is President Trump yesterday at the prayer breakfast says, for the earliest days of our republic, faith in God has always been the ultimate source of strength and beats in the heart of our nation. He went on, I wish I could read all the quotes he laid out, but just the There is a turnaround in this country spiritually, psychologically. There’s positive energy again. We’re not scared. Markets will be less fearful of doing the right things instead of all these crazy initiatives. And so there is good news. I think the kids are waking up to this stuff. And so there’s a glimmer there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s great to have a little bit of silver lining in the clouds of what seems to be enormous irresponsibility with our financial house in this order in this country. Dr. Dave Brat, former member of Congress, senior vice president of business relations at Liberty University. Always, always great to see you. God bless you and your family. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER 19 :
God bless you back. Thanks, Congressman.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. All right, friends, stay tuned. We’ve got much more coming your way on Washington Watch. Joining me next will be David Claussen. We’ve got a lot to go over as far as the headlines from a biblical worldview perspective. And we’ll do that right after the break. So stay tuned.
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 03 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, your Friday host, and we’re so honored to have you on board with us today. Listen, before I dive into this final segment, I want to again encourage you to get involved with helping move some very important policies forward during this new Trump administration, and we’ve got some resources to help you do just that. We have what we call our first 100 Days Toolkit. It’s available exclusively on FRC’s Stand Firm app. And just to give you an idea, the toolkit will equip you with all sorts of resources that would help you find your members of Congress, how to support some key legislation, some insights on some nominees, how to pray more effectively, and much, much more. There’s also included, I’m very excited about, a Trump commitment tracker. This actually monitors many of the commitments that were made by the Trump campaign during the 2024 election. And then we check them off. One by one of those commitments are fulfilled. By the way, that commitment tracker can also be found at FRCaction.org slash Trump tracker. But I encourage you, if you’ve not already done so, I encourage you very much to get the StandFirm app, and then you can get a hold of this toolkit. And you can do so simply by texting the word TOOLKIT, that’s one word, no spaces, TOOLKIT, to 67742. All right. It has been. Yet another busy, busy, busy week in Washington, D.C. We’ve got more executive orders. We’ve got Elon Musk and the USAID. There is so much to talk about. And we’ll… Get to some of those headlines right now through the lens of Scripture. Joining me as he does each and every Friday, when available at least, is David Claussen. He’s the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at the Family Research Council. David, thanks again for joining us. Great to have you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Hey, happy Friday. Good to be with you again, Jody.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, happy Friday. It just seems like it’s been a couple of days. There’s just so much seems coming under the bridge week after week right now. All right, let’s start. Let me throw this one to you. Wednesday, President Trump signed yet another executive order. There’s over 90 of them now. But this past Wednesday, one entitled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports. Now, I’ve got to say, David, that for probably the average American, this is difficult to even fathom why such an executive order is necessary. But given what we’re watching these days, it certainly is necessary. So let me throw that one out to you from a worldview, a biblical worldview perspective. What’s significant about this executive order?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, Jody, this is a significant executive order. Last week, I published a piece at the Washington stand called Making Social Conservative Great Again. And frankly, I need to revise that article because there’s been so much more that’s happened, including this executive order. And I have it pulled up. And I think this is really important because one of the things that I’ve I’ve been paying attention to during these three weeks of the second Trump administration is how carefully worded so many of these executive orders are, Jody. They are not sloppy. They are not hastily written. You can tell that a lot of thought has gone into these. Let me just read a portion of this executive order to give you an idea of kind of the worldview that’s behind it, actually. And so it says this. It says, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. Then it goes on to say, it shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth. Now, Jody, this is wonderfully clear language, and this is needed. And we know this is needed because over the last four years, you saw the Biden administration rewrite Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination for educational programs that are federally funded to include gender identity and sexual orientation. Over the last four years, we’ve seen competitive swimmers like Riley Gaines at the University of Kentucky, Paula Scanlon, who had to compete against a biological male who went by the name Leah Thomas. And so this is needed. You know, critics will say this is only a small portion of people who identify as transgender, but this has taken medals and scholarships and opportunities away from women because this gender ideology has been allowed to run amok. That’s why even pretty… People on the far left, even like Martina Navratilova and J.K. Rowling, have said what’s happening in the United States with sports is kind of out of control. And this executive order, Jody, again, gives clear guidance to the executive branch that this will not go on anymore. Very briefly, Jody, what’s interesting is it also includes guidance to the Secretary of State and other cabinet-level secretaries at the United Nations to lobby for common sense on this issue, to lobby the Olympic Committee for common sense on this issue. It orders that there be a convening of sports-specific governing bodies to make sure they’re getting in line with this. So very comprehensive, and this is a return, I think, to creation order common sense. And I think that’s why as Christians, we should be very excited what we’re seeing in this executive order.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it certainly is creation order common sense. And again, we’ve talked about this before, but when it comes right down to it, common sense is found and rooted, grounded in transcendent truth and the truth of God’s word. And this is yet another perfect example of that Speaking of executive orders, yesterday was the National Prayer Breakfast, and there were many powerful statements that were made there. Dave Bratt, a former guest who was just on with me, referenced that as well. But afterwards, he signed yet another executive order entitled Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias. Wow. Could you summarize that order and kind of give us your take on it?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, there might be some people who hear this and think, really? Anti-Christian bias? Where would that be? Well, Jody, what’s interesting is that the Trump administration doesn’t leave us guessing. Actually, in the executive order, it details examples of extreme hostility toward Christians in just the last couple of years under the Biden administration. So the order kind of lays this out, talks about really the abysmal failure of the Biden administration to stand up for those of us who are Christians and have a biblical worldview. specifically notes that there was over 100 attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers and charities. It mentions that even the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning this, trying to draw to the Biden administration’s attention, and yet the Biden administration did nothing on it. It goes on to cite that famous 2023 FBI memo, Jody. Of course, you remember this, where it referred to the radical traditionalist Catholics who that the FBI should potentially go into churches to look at these radical Catholics who just simply hold to it, you know, the biblical understanding of gender and sexuality. And it specifically also, this executive order mentioned that last year on Easter, the Biden administration referred to the day as the day of transgender visibility. And so it really, the first part of the order simply takes the Biden administration to task, incites other examples of where we did see Christian bias, and then it simply goes on to establish a task force. And one of the things, Jody, that I would encourage, you know, watchers and listeners when they’re paying attention to what happens in D.C., whenever a task force is created, First thing you should do is see who’s on the task force. If it’s a lower-level, mid-level political appointee, it means maybe the administration is not serious about it. This task force to review and root out anti-Christian bias is to be chaired by the attorney general and the secretary of state, secretary of defense, secretary of treasury. Several cabinet level officials are actually to be on this task force. So this tells me that the administration is taking this very seriously. And I’m excited to look at the report that will come out in the next two years, I think, on what they find and how they’re combating this.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s amazing. And even when you were talking about the Catholic situation, I remember that vividly. But when you talk about the radical traditional Catholics, I mean, there’s been the way they are for centuries, and yet all of a sudden they’re deemed as radical. I mean, that in itself is such an oxymoron. If I can, David, let me switch gears with you. There’s been a lot of hand-wringing over the work of USAID this week. I don’t know how else to say it, but for those who perhaps are not familiar, USAID is the U.S. Agency for International Development. Okay, and I’m sure you’re seeing it if you follow the news at all. Everyone’s watching this right now. This agency is tasked with administering foreign aid around the world. Well, Elon Musk, through his work at DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, they’ve targeted USAID as an example of massive, massive waste, fraud, and abuse. So in your opinion, David, in your view, how should Christians be looking at the approach that’s taken by the administration towards specifically USAID right now?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, Jody, I actually have some of the examples of the waste they’ve discovered. But even before just kind of looking at that list, I think Christians looking at this, you know, again, USAID, it’s a $40 billion budget, over 13,000 employees. And again, the main task is foreign aid, ostensibly. And, you know, a lot of American Christians are looking at this and saying, well, shouldn’t we care for the world? Shouldn’t we care for the the poorest among us. And USAID has done some good. But what’s interesting, Jodi, is kind of the, especially the center-left, far-left Christians really criticizing this. And let me give you just very quickly two principles. You know, as Christians, we believe in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We believe that everyone in a sense is owed neighbor love. But there’s another principle. It’s called the principle of subsidiarity that says that there is a greater love that’s owed to those closest to you. This is right out of the pages of Scripture. 1 Timothy 5, 8 actually says anyone who does not provide for their relatives, especially for their own household, they’ve denied the faith and they’re worse than the unbeliever. So clearly this, again, idea of subsidiary that you owe the closest affection and care to those in your family. Then from there it goes out kind of like concentric circles. from your family to your church, to your community, to your nation, and then to others. And so I actually think the impulse of the administration right here, that American citizens should be, you know, with ballooning debt, you know, out of control spending, that American citizens should be the ones that the American government most cares for. And so I think the impulse behind this is actually, you see echoes of this Christian principle of subsidiarity.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great point. We’re hearing a lot about the waste. What are some of the more egregious ways that tax dollars have been spent in USAID that should be an alarm to all of us?
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m laughing because some of this is so ridiculous that you almost have to smile to get through this, Jody. But the White House put out a release on this. In the last year or so, here’s what USAID has funded. $7.9 million to teach a Sierra Lincoln journalist to avoid, quote, binary gendered language. $20 million for a new Sesame Street show in Iraq. $4.5 million to combat disinformation in Kazakhstan. $2 million for sex changes and LGBT activism in Guatemala. $6 million to transform digital spaces to reflect feminist democratic principles. Honestly, I have no idea what that means, Jodi, but $6 million. Another $2.1 million to help the BBC value the diversity of Libyan society. And one more, $16.8 million to help promote inclusion in Vietnam.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. Unbelievable. Well, that’s why we have to deal with it. And I’m so glad that it is being exposed. The light is being shined on it and action is taking place. Our time’s clicking away. Let me shift gears to another very important issue, and that deals with President Trump’s press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in D.C. this week. I know you’ve been to Israel many, many times, but the Comments that the president made regarding Gaza Strip has a lot of people kind of wondering what does he really mean with all of this. So what are your thoughts? From a 30,000-foot view, help us have a better understanding of what the president was talking about with taking over Gaza Strip.
SPEAKER 18 :
Very briefly, Jody, because I know time’s running short, but since the creation and the founding, really, of the modern state of Israel in 1948, you’ve had these Arab Palestinians living in what’s known as the West Bank. That’s what the international community refers to. to biblical Judea and Samaria, land to the west of the Jordan River, and then in the Gaza Strip in the southern part of the country near Egypt. You’ve had Palestinians living there since 1948. Since 1967, after the Six-Day War, Israel went in there and has maintained the security of that area. They actually withdrew in 2005 after the Oslo Accords and some arrangements that the Sharon government put in place, Jodi. And as soon as the Israelis pulled out, and by the way, there was 21 Israeli communities that were living in the Gaza Strip. They had to all pull out. It was a major ordeal back in 2005. 2006, they had their first election in actually in the Gaza Strip, and the reigning Fatah party was actually kicked out, and Hamas took over. Excuse me, they didn’t take over, they were elected. And so since 2006, Hamas has been operating in the Gaza Strip, has been launching thousands of missiles into Israel, and of course all this culminated in the October 7th attack. And in response to that, Jody, the Israelis have done what they’ve had to do to fight back against Hamas, and that area now is decimated. It’s uninhabitable. And I think what President Trump was expressing is his realization that this 141 square miles is just not fit for human living. And I think the way I look at what the president said is really aspirational. His desire for American leadership to help lead in this, to make this area a place where you could actually live for the Palestinians and for others to be able to not have to live in just absolute squalor, which is what has become of the Gaza Strip under Hamas leadership.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I think aspirational is exactly what he was getting to with all of this. I think people are going way beyond the intent by taking it further. Less than a minute to go. I love the fact that the president is referring to this no longer as the West Bank, but as Judea and Samaria. That’s powerful. Any closing comments real quickly on that?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, the phrase Judea and Samaria, these are the parts of the area that are north and south of Israel. These are names that have been used for this area for over a millennia. And again, the fact that the West Bank is used by the international community has often been seen as a way to delegitimize Israel. I love it that President Trump is using the biblical term for this area.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do too. I think that that’s extremely effective. It’s wise and it’s the truth. It is what we’re talking about. And people here at the West Bank, they don’t have any, they can’t connect that. But when you hear of Judea and Samaria, people understand that’s a very, very historically important region. Thank you, David Claussen from the Center for Biblical Worldview here at FRC. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Thanks for joining us. All right, friends, that wraps up this week of Washington Watch. Have a wonderful weekend. We’ll see you next week right here.
SPEAKER 10 :
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