55% of American adults say assassinating Donald Trump would be justified
>> In a recent survey of 1,200 left of center American adults, 55% responded that assassinating Donald Trump could be justified. We're swimming in shark infested cultural waters. Some are suffering from Christianophobia. Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. Please give today to help AFA keep equipping you and others to stand for Christ. Help us shine his light into our dark culture.
Today's Issues is hosted by Tim Wildman of the American Family Association
Welcome to today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today's Issues is the name of this program and it's Thursday, July 20th. No, it is not. Forget, that. Don't write your checks for that. Thursday, July 17, 2025.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: Good morning, brother.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning. Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: What was that expression you just used?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Correctamundo.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, is that Spanish?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, I just made it.
>> Tim Wildmon: You just made it up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I just have been saying that since high school and it probably means nothing. Yeah, I don't know what it's this. It's Latin for something, but.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, it's Latin, not, Spanish?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's not Spanish.
>> Tim Wildmon: It sounded a little Spanish there.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It. And it could be, now that I'm saying it. I don't know where I got that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thanks for that, minute of vital information that I asked for.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's the danger you run any time you ask me a question.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're both culprits in that, waste of one minute. Good morning, Fred Jackson.
>> Fred Jackson: Good morning, guys.
>> Tim Wildmon: anything good happen in your world, Fred? You want to share?
>> Fred Jackson: It's all good.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Fred Jackson: I was, as. As other people have said at my age, I was able to put my feet on the floor this morning. This is the day the Lord has made, and I'm going to rejoice and be glad.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Amen.
>> Tim Wildmon: Every day that you get up and breathe. That's right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I want to, correcto myself. That is Spanish. I just looked it up. The phrase correcto mundo means, translates to right world, or the world is right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, there you go. I know my Spanish. I just can't speak it. You know what I'm saying?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?
>> Tim Wildmon: correcto, when it sounds, it sounds Spanish. All right. Good morning, Christopher Woodward.
>> Chris Woodward: Buenos dias.
>> Tim Wildmon: They right there. That's a good French right there. You're gonna, you're not gonna fool me. so, you're wearing a that's an auburn tiger orange you got on right there, right? or is that Florida gator orange?
>> Chris Woodward: It's a Father's Day shirt that I'm proud of.
>> Tim Wildmon: It is a pretty shirt. Yeah. so you did. I just.
>> Chris Woodward: I have not. Yeah, I have not hit the transfer portal. I'm still a proud bulldog.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wondered if you were trying to compete with Steve Jordan for recognition.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I hate to keep dragging this out, but I did one of our listeners. Guy I'm friends with on, Facebook.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Ah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He said correctamundo comes from the Fonz. So I may very well have been saying this since high school.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's true.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fonzie.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Correctamundo.
>> Tim Wildmon: Henry Winkler's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Tim Wildmon: Greatest.
Just listen to some happy music this morning, Fred says
>> Chris Woodward: And we'll now sing the theme song to Happy Days.
>> Tim Wildmon: That was a great theme song, by the way.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, that's weird, because I just listened to that. I just listened to that this morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: Did you really?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I was mixing, a little drink in the. In the kitchen, and first I listened.
>> Tim Wildmon: To Gomer Pile drink in the kitchen. That early.
>> Frank Gaffney: Not.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Not.
>> Tim Wildmon: Bad. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's just my, nobody wants to drink.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm sorry.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But anyway, so I just. Just listen to some happy music. I listened to the theme song to Gomer Pyle USMC and followed it right up with Happy Days. So.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Strange.
>> Chris Woodward: Did you know that the phrase jump the shark comes from Happy Days?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, it does.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep.
>> Tim Wildmon: I tell you, I can't the. The theme to Gomer Powell. maybe I'm the only one. I get emotional. You know what I'm saying? I get. I get so. I can't listen to that very much.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You get emotional?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. It's just something stirs in me that causes me. When I hear, you know, Gomer Powell.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Something, stirs in you.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think the mischief is stirring in you right now.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we're gonna. We're gonna get this show on the right tracks.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We promise.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, so, Fred, Ed, and Tim, you're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. We're here every Monday through Friday. Go ahead, Chris.
One thing that's hanging over this administration's head is this Epstein list
>> Chris Woodward: All right, so President Donald Trump reentered office about six to seven months ago, and things have been going, pretty well for the president in terms of, you know, the economy. he's done. He signed some bills. He got his one big beautiful act, which was his kind of, his big legislation that he really wanted legislators, to debate and pass, and he got Iran Yeah, he bombed Iran.
>> Tim Wildmon: Little bombing of Iran.
>> Chris Woodward: It was a big, beautiful thing. but one thing that's hanging over this administration's head six months into its return, to office is this Epstein list.
>> Tim Wildmon: And I say that Jeffrey Epstein.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes, I say that it's hanging over his head because, he said he would release the list or he thought, the Biden administration should release the list. Pam Bondi said that they would do it. And they did put out some information earlier this year, but that turned out to be a big nothing burger. And in recent days we have been told that it was all a made up thing. It's not a big deal. Don't focus on it. And now you have people that voted for Trump, campaigned for Trump now saying we should release this Epstein list. Why in the world is this being held in the dark here? So it is a big issue for this president and this is a show called Today's Issues.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. I say free the list. You know, I'm saying free it. Free the list, Free the list, Free Willie. Okay, in all seriousness, and we're trying to quit talking about this story because it's sorted, but, it keeps rearing its ugly head in the news because there's a, there's a great, war, of words going on between people in the, Make America Great, Make America Great Again movement, which I'm, I'm for. I mean, I, you know, I'm sure, and, and, and now President Trump and some on his team.
You keep your head in the sand, which means ignorant
so about the Jeffrey Epstein files. Now, in case you've had your head in, under, in the sand. I was going to go under a rock, but that would.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, that's painful.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's hurt. Yes, exactly. And I would mix in metaphors.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?
>> Tim Wildmon: Wouldn't that be. Well, yeah, keep your head in the sand, which means ignorant. Right. You keep your, you hide under a rock.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. None of us are rocket surgeons on this panel. Right?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes. So, there's a metaphor there too. I've also mixed. Oh, yeah, no, I got, I got that. Yeah, it took me a minute. Yeah, you're a rocket surgeon.
The MAGA world has been calling for the release of all the Jeffrey Epstein files
All right, so, Jeffrey Epstein, just to review, was a big, wheeler and dealer in New York City for many years. He was a socialite, a celebrity, a, influencer. and so he was also got known as a, guy who, had, an island in the Caribbean which turned out to be where he had, underage girls go. And people went there. People were there to do things. They were terrible. Right. And people flew on his plane, they were friends of his. So he and many, many celebrities and big names, Bill Gates has been mentioned. He even admitted to, that he didn't admit to do anything illegal. He admitted to being friends of Jeffrey Epstein's and going on, and as.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Far as we know, the parties that he hosted in New York City and the thing and his gatherings on the island, right. Were not, apparently not solely about traffic girls. There may have been people like Bill Gates who went there and did not participate or maybe less credibly had no idea they were going on.
>> Tim Wildmon: Including among his friends was then, New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump.
>> Frank Gaffney: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: And they were pals with Jeffrey Epstein. So he had many, many high, high profile, friends and so forth and so on. And I'm sure many of them had no idea what he was doing and some of them were on the periphery, but they got pictures taken with him, so forth and so on. So. But the scandal has been who was going to the island with him and participating in, in illicit activities that, that in the illegal activities with underage girls and, and anyway, that whole world, his top assistant went to prison, federal prison for this. What's her name?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Maxwell.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I know, I'm personally, I'm setting this up again because I know some people go, I know the name and I hear about this, but I don't know what all he did. Well, that's some of the stuff that he got into and what he did, Jeffrey Epstein, and then he went to prison, federal prison for it, for it. And then he, quote, committed suicide while in prison. Okay, well there's a lot of people who say he didn't commit suicide. He was killed because he knew, he knew where all the bodies were buried, so to speak. And somebody very rich and powerful and influential didn't want him spilling the beans on them or, and other people. There you go, I've said it. Right, right. So, the MAGA world has been calling for the release of all the names associated in this file with investigations with Jeffrey Epstein. Of course he's dead, he can't speak on this anymore. But that speaks for him, those files. Well, Pam Bondi, the Attorney General for President Trump, said a few months ago, I've got the file on my desk and I'm going to go through it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, well. And she was asked, do you have the list? And the list. So there's files related to the investigations and there's supposedly, according to some, a list of all the people who have visited the island, and perhaps who participated in these illegal activities. So she was asked, do you have the list? Are you going to release the list? And she said, I have it on my desk.
>> Tim Wildmon: I.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Along with the JFK and MLK files.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So was she talking about the list or the files?
>> Tim Wildmon: And the idea is, Fred, correct me from all. And then, Chris, I wanted you to play this. The idea is that Jeffrey Epstein would have been having these people caught in compromising positions or on trips they shouldn't have been involved with or doing all kinds of things that they don't want the public finding out about. Jeffrey Epstein would have kept, files on this, so to speak, in order to blackmail these people to get them to do things they otherwise maybe wouldn't do. that influenced our government, is that. And maybe foreign governments. Is that if I laid out, and with Ed's help here have I laid.
>> Fred Jackson: Out the whole scandal that's been part of the script. Of, course, a lot of people are wondering, okay, Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. 2019, I believe it was.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, 2019. So a lot of people are wondering, okay, then Joe Biden comes along. He's president, he's got an administration, he's got a justice system. How come they didn't say anything? If there were high profile Republicans in the list, you would think they would have. Oh, let's talk about this silence. But here's the problem that, President Trump has gotten into the MAGA people are saying, okay, now we're in charge. And as you just pointed out, Pam Bondi has said, it's files on my desk. I'm going to get to it. And now they're saying, okay, why aren't you releasing something? Joe Biden didn't do it. So we could speculate. There were Democrats on the list. Now that you have the file on your desk, Pam Bondi, how come you're not releasing the information? Could it be there are Republicans on the list that you don't want out there?
>> Tim Wildmon: Or foreign leaders that foreign leaders trying.
>> Fred Jackson: To protect or CIA people or Mossad people from Israel? So all of this is out there. So there's, there's this giant ball of speculation, Right. And some MAGA people say, let's burst the bubble on that so it get out there in the public.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but President Trump, is in a war m with his own top supporters on this.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And he. Yesterday, President Trump poured gas on the.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead.
>> Chris Woodward: I may have to, avoid saying some things, but I'm about to read His Truth social post.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Just, just because of profanity.
>> Chris Woodward: I mean, okay, yes, I have shared this in my personal Facebook page, but not the today's.
>> Tim Wildmon: So what are you about to read?
>> Chris Woodward: his Truth social post.
>> Tim Wildmon: Who's true?
>> Chris Woodward: So, Donald.
>> Tim Wildmon: My truth. Ed's truth. whose truth?
>> Chris Woodward: President Donald J. Trump's truth. social post from yesterday.
Frederick Douglass: Trump says he doesn't want Democrats' support
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, go ahead.
>> Chris Woodward: He said, and I quote, the radical left Democrats have hit pay dirt again. Just like with the fake and fully discredited Steele Dossier, the lying 51 intelligence agents, the laptop from Hades, which the Democrats swore had come from Russia. Parentheses. No, it came from Hunter Biden's bathroom, exclamation point. And even the Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia scam itself. A, totally fake and made up story used in order to hide crooked Hillary Clinton's big loss in the 2016 election. These scams and hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at. It's all they have. They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at.
>> Tim Wildmon: Skip all that. What did he say? Skip that. he's just doing his greatest hits.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Collection there. What did he say? I'm not criticizing you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I got, I'm saying.
>> Tim Wildmon: Give me, tell me what he said about Epstein.
>> Chris Woodward: Okay, so he says, I've had more success in six months than perhaps any president in our country's history. And all these people want to talk about was strongly prodding, with strong prodding by the fake news. And the success star of Dems is the Jeffrey Epstein hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work. Don't even think about taking. Talking, of our incredible and unprecedented success because I don't want their support anymore.
>> Tim Wildmon: Whose support?
>> Chris Woodward: Ah, the people took that as him taking a shot at Matt.
>> Tim Wildmon: Read that again.
>> Chris Woodward: Okay, let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work. Don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success because I don't want their support anymore. Make America.
>> Tim Wildmon: Who are you talking about, Fred?
>> Fred Jackson: He's talking about Republicans, about Tucker Carlson, other MAGA friends.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Trump saying he doesn't want their support anymore.
>> Fred Jackson: That's what he's a set of. Truth social. Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: He doesn't even drink now. Right. Totaler. Right.
Charles Barkley: President Trump says allegations about Jeffrey Epstein are a hoax
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, so here, here are the possibilities as I see it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And then I'll tie it back to what we just. What Chris just read.
>> Tim Wildmon: You want Chris to read that again?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, I do not. That's long. That was long.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Here, here are the possibilities. Jeffrey Epstein was a perv and trafficked young women for himself and maybe a few others. and he got arrested and, was put in prison and knew he was never getting out and he committed suicide. Okay, that's one possibility. And in that possibility, I would say, because this is what it seems like, President Trump believes that there are, yes, there were videos taken from his compound on his island, but that was all, a particular type of pornography that is an abomination. And that was all taken by the FBI and their investigations that will not be released. But there were no videos and there is no list of people who participated in these illegal activities. That's, that's all in one basket. That appears to be what President Trump is saying. That's why it's a hoax, that people are saying there's more to it than that. He's saying that's not true, or some of that is true and some of it isn't. and we have no need to pick out which might be true and which isn't, or that the real conspiracy theorists are saying, no, it's all true, and there's a cover up. And there's a cover up because there are too many important people who are involved in all these illegal activities. And to release all that information could bring down governments, could, could flip the economy, and so on and so forth. I don't know which of those are true, but I think the Trump administration has blown the opportunity to keep this from mushrooming. I think they ought to come out and clearly state what they have, what's true and what isn't, instead of insulting the people who want answers to questions that have not been answered yet by the Trump administration.
>> Tim Wildmon: Red. Well, he called it a hoax, Fred. Like Bigfoot. Yeah, he did.
>> Fred Jackson: and those, I'm just reading some other networks, they're dealing with this right now, just like we are. and I think it is providing right now some good fodder for Democrats, to say, look at the division, look at the blow up within the Republican Party over this. so it's going to be, going to be interesting to see if Trump holds the line and just tries to blow through this and let's move on to something else.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Or in some late night tweet on Truth Social, he says, here are the basic ingredients. Or Pam Bondi. Apparently Pam Bondi is going to Alcatraz off of San Francisco today. That,
>> Tim Wildmon: What?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: What for?
>> Fred Jackson: Well, we know she's going. This is just breaking news in some of the networks, but, they're not telling us exactly what she's going to do there. The speculation. Talk about speculation. Speculation is she's sussing it out for places to put, illegal immigrants under.
>> Chris Woodward: Rounding up, I will say too, not Pam Bondi. Caroline Levitt is scheduled to have a press briefing today at 12 o' clock central. We do plan on covering that on radio and in print later this afternoon. I would be shocked if a reporter does not ask her about this right off the bat.
>> Tim Wildmon: Probably will.
>> Chris Woodward: Like you're not doing your job if you don't ask about the Epstein.
>> Tim Wildmon: But now he calls somebody weaklings. Who are the weaklings?
>> Fred Jackson: Oh, I just think he is. It's one of the words he's using to describe Republicans.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: He's referring to Republicans who have, who.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Have fallen prey to the Democratic hoax. yes, about Epstein.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's all a MAGA kind of.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's, it's a good chunk of maga, but it's kind of like that, you know, that.
>> Tim Wildmon: I don't know.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Star wars, remember?
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: These aren't the droids.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: I will say this for President Trump, he can get away with more stuff and, and really not have to pay the consequences for, for, for his words. More than anybody I've ever seen since Charles Barkley.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, as an example.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: During the, during the campaign, he referred to Marco Rubio, who is now his Secretary of State, as little Marco.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. You know, he insulted lying Ted Lion, Ted Cruz. You know, it just, he's, he said Rhonda. Sanctimonious. Yes, well, the bird brain Haley. Never mind. She was his UN Secretary.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. So, I mean he can, he can get away. He, he use, he hurt. He can hurl insults with the best of him, even at his own people. He's killing his own people stupid and weaklings. And it, the whole thing's a hoax. and listen, you know, that's not taken away from any of his policy positions, which I think he gets elected on.
>> Ed Vitagliano: He's killing it in terms of his policies.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. But his, his, his rants and things that he does to insult people. That. Those are. I think a lot of people, ah, have separated those.
This issue of the Epstein files could erode some of Trump's support
You got the ranting Donald Trump, who will even go after his own m. People with insults. And then you got the can do president over here who, who executes policy. That is, is very good. So is that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, no, I think, that most of his supporters have factored in.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That he is, you know, we've said this for, for years. Going back to his first administration, that he's a New York City street fighter. And guess what, that people who are that type of personality, they don't always say the polite thing. they're going to punch you in the nose, they're going to use colorful language. And so I think most of his supporters have factored that in this. However, this issue of the Epstein files slash list, if he doesn't get on top of this, this has the pot, has the possibility to erode some of his support, I think maybe not, you know, to the end of his administration. But a lot of MAGA supporters do not like elitists. They don't like celebrities. They think that there is a two tier justice system as evidenced by the lawfare against Trump before he, before he won reelection and they hate that kind of stuff. And if they think the Epstein case is getting a pass and all these celebrities are going to get away with murder, not literally, but, you know, with untold perversions, they, they're going to be very angry.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I think, I think he just needs, I think he needs to have someone needs to have from his administration a long press conference and lay out why Trump thinks this is a hoax.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. Because what's going to happen is Levitt will come out and give a statement, like she normally does, and then they move on into questions and she'll revert back to her statement.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, I just to be able to call your own top supporters stupid M. And that you believe in Bigfoot is when, you come to the Epstein files.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: I just don't know how, how you move on from that to the next day to work with them on getting something else done. But I guess you do.
>> Chris Woodward: And we're six months away from really gearing up for another midterms. Democrats will use this to see he doesn't really care about you. And oh by the way, don't vote for J.D. vance in 2028.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, if the attempts to bury this story, who knows if it's going to work. I don't think it will. I think it can erode trust.
>> Tim Wildmon: But Trump says there's no story to bury.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Then, then prove it. You need to have somebody ask. So when Alan Dershowitz said, I've seen the list, I know some of the names who are on it. the famous attorney who said, I can't tell you who those names are because I'm under a gag order. Okay. That, that needs to be. I want to know the answer.
>> Chris Woodward: If there's Not a list. Why is the Maxwell lady still in prison?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, she's in prison because Jeffrey Epstein did traffic young ladies, at least for himself, and she helped facilitate that. That's why she's in prison.
>> Tim Wildmon: We are moving on. We're moving on to the next. We got other, stories to talk about.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We have doctor, we have a guest.
>> Tim Wildmon: Have guests too. So we'll be back with more. We're gonna, we're not gonna talk about this story anymore today, at least. See you tomorrow. I mean, be back in a minute.
Today marks three years since Roe versus Wade was overturned
>> Ed Vitagliano: This June 24th marks three years since Roe versus Wade was overturned. But here's what you may not know. Abortion numbers have surged to a 10 year high. The battleground has shifted from the courtroom to our homes. Today, over 60% of abortions happen through the abortion pill. Taken in silence, often alone. PreBorn Network clinics are standing in the gap, meeting women in their most desperate hour. And here's what they're seeing. Young mothers, terrified and misled, are delivering their babies, tiny, perfectly formed, onto bathroom floors. These precious babies, once called just tissue, now lie lifeless. 11% of these women who take the abortion pill will suffer serious health complications. Countless others carry emotional scars for a lifetime. When you give to PreBorn, you're not just saving a baby, you're saving a mother too. You're giving her hope, financial support, and the truth. PreBorn has already rescued over 350,000 babies. But there are so many more who need our help. Your tax deductible gift makes this mission possible. To donate now, dial 250 and say the keyword baby. That's £250, baby. Or go to preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. First Peter 1:13American Family Radio.
>> Tim Wildmon: This is Today's Issues.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts of today's Issues are available for listening and viewing in the archive@afr.net now back to more of Today's Issues.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues. That's the name of this program on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr, Tim, Ed, Fred and Chris.
There are still 97 people missing following devastating Texas flooding two weeks ago
Fred, before we go to our guest here, you were reminding us that the, flood. Flood, tragedy in Texas story still, got a lot of unresolved parts, right?
>> Fred Jackson: Well, there are still hundreds of people searching. we just put an Associated Press story on the site this morning. And they say there's still 97 people in the Kerrville area that are still missing. So the recovery operation, looking for people and we assume now have all perished. but when you think about the level of the devastation caused by that flooding and so it perhaps is not surprising. The story is kind of turning now toward okay, what can we do to avoid this again? remember the flooding occurred two weeks ago this morning. It was early Friday morning when the first alert went out at 1:30 and then another one at 4:30 in the morning. So a lot of people are now kind of talking about okay, what can we do to try to ensure that this level of devastation doesn't happen again. There's nothing you can do to stop flooding. But there are systems that are in place that we can better warning so that people in the area are warned more in advance to get out of that area before the serious flooding occurs.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think people's heightened sensitivity to flooding or the possibility of flooding is really high right now and probably will remain so. I'm talking about all across America. I saw yesterday in New Jersey, same thing. It didn't kill people, but what, Two died. Oh, two died. Yes. And on a flash flood.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Situation. So yeah, this, people especially in that, that river there, the Guadalupe.
>> Fred Jackson: Guadalupe.
>> Tim Wildmon: Guadalupe River. They won't, that won't ever happen again. It'll flood again, but you won't copy. You won't catch people off guard again. Yes. Like they were. The reason that happened sadly, well at all I think was the middle of the night. You know, it took place between 1 and 5am People were asleep. they didn't hear their phones couldn't get to people. I mean it was the camp. Camp counselors at that camp didn't have their phones. Yeah. So.
>> Fred Jackson: And it was like 25 rose 25ft in what, 40 minutes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. You're watching it in real time. Rise. I mean by minute. By minute. By minute.
Ted Baer is publisher and founder of Movie Guide
All right, you're listening to today's issues. As I said, our guest now is Ted Baer. Ted is a longtime friend of ours. he has the Movie Guide. He's publisher and founder of Movie Guide, which a lot of people listening to us, I know have used and still use to get reviews of maybe movies and television programs they would consider and are they appropriate for your family to watch, for children and so forth. Movie guides been around long time and Dr. Ted Baer, is the founder and he's Got a new book out, called the Golden Age of Hollywood and Broadway, the Legacy of Robert Allen, behind the Scenes, of. And it's, Robert Allen is Ted's father. Good morning, Ted.
>> Frank Gaffney: Good morning, Tim. That little. Those two little towns where most of the flooding. There's a sign there, or used to be there from Texas Historical, that my great, great, great, great grandparents, both families were the first families to come in with Conestoga wagons and name the towns. And I used to go there in the 50s. And the Guadalupe was just a little creek. And you drive through it, there was no bridge. And, it is devastating. In fact, up until the 60s, almost all the people were relatives. And of course, then a lot of people from the north moved in.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Frank Gaffney: It's a very sad situation.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Frank Gaffney: But it's even more sad because we all. My family lived on top of the little hills, and nobody would live in the bottom land. That's where you farmed. You didn't live in the bottom land.
>> Tim Wildmon: Are, ah, you talking about along that river? The Guadalupe River?
>> Frank Gaffney: Hunt and Ingram, Kerrville area. That was all family.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow. I didn't know the connection there. we're talking to Ted Bear, by the way. Ted's last name is not Bear. Okay. So if you type that in, you're not gonna. I don't know what you get. You get some kind of bear in Russia or something. I don't know. Ted.
>> Ed Vitagliano: B.
>> Frank Gaffney: Here's a different. Here's the different bears.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Frank Gaffney: While we're chatting, somebody, the other day called me Be A be. H A R. Now that's, Arabic. And then medved is Russian for bear. And then my name is Celtic. And then Bahr is German. So B A E H, R is. Is an old Celtic name. So there you go.
>> Tim Wildmon: Are you even legal, though? Would be my question.
>> Frank Gaffney: so, want any more history?
>> Tim Wildmon: I'll give you a history.
>> Frank Gaffney: Oh, by the way.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Frank Gaffney: I started Movie Guide at the same time as my great friend Don Wildmon started afa. We started about the same time. And, you know, we were both on Oprah Winfrey about the Last Temptation of Christ. And it was one of my favorite times with your father. because Oprah said none of you have seen the film. I said, I've seen it several times because the head of the studio is a friend of mine. So I can tell you all the changes. Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, yeah, that would have looked about my father. Yeah. Yes. No, there's so much stuff we could talk to you about, Ted. You've been. You Know, around for a long time doing ministry and and trying to influence people in Hollywood who are influential themselves to, you know, to good morals and values and, and doing the best you can. Introduce them to Christ, too along the way. but this book is called, the behind the Scenes of the Golden Age of Hollywood and Broadway. Subtitled the Legacy of Robert Allen. tell us about it, if you would.
>> Frank Gaffney: Well, if anybody's wondering whether Hollywood had a golden age, they did have a golden age. There was a period in history and there are pictures of my father when he did nine Westerns, the first Texas Ranger movies. And he's got a white hat on. He did 62 movies in all. He won the box office award. But you know, people were quite different. Even the people that were on the edge, the studios tried to keep them sane and tried to keep any bad information out of the, out of the press. And it was a very different world and it was a fascinating world. And he's got those. I mentioned the 62 movies and his career was fascinating. He got out of Dartmouth and he was working for a bank. It went bankrupt because it was the Great Depression, 1929. And then he worked for Curtis flying service, flying planes and it went bankrupt. So he was walking around the street to join a breadline and a big agent said, you're a good looking guy, I'll put you in movies. He went over to Warner Brothers to sign the contract and they gave him the name Bob Allen, Robert Allen. And I don't know whether you know Tim, but in those days they gave everybody, including John Wayne, who was a friend of my uncle's, and all these people, another name. And the reason is that the studio owned, Warner Brothers, owned his name and would lend him out to their studios to make movies. So you sort of were the possession of the studios and, and the studios were in control. And all that blew apart with Lou wasserman in the 60s and, and now, you know, and the, the church film office was dominant at that time. They kept movies clean.
The Protestant Film Office, which we inherited, went from 100% family films
The Protestant Film Office, which we inherited, the files and the Catholic Film Office and even the Jewish Defense League. And then they all shut down in the early 60s. And when the Protestant Film Commission shut down, it went from 100% family films, the Greatest Story Ever Told, the Sound of Music, all those great movies. Three years later it went to 82% R rated. The first. Sex and Satanism, the first. And it was because the church left Hollywood. The church had been a dominant influence from 1930 to 1965. And it just. And all the Hollywood executives said, don't leave. You know, I've got recordings from the last, meeting of the Protestant Film Commission. And the head of Paramount Pictures said, don't leave. So those were the Golden Age. And part of the destruction of the golden age was the church got tired of being an influence in society. That's why what your father did and what we do is so important, because we've got to be a voice into the darkness. You know, when I started moviegod, people said, you can't talk to Hollywood. I said, well, one of my sons went on to be a missionary in an area pat New guinea that had been cannibal. Where. Where can't we go with the gospel, Tim? Do you know, do you have any idea? It's anywhere, and we should be there.
>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Our.
Ed: Ted Baer writes about the Motion Picture Code dating back to 1890s
Our guest right now is Dr. Ted Baer, founder and publisher of Movie Guide. And we are discussing with, Ted, his new book, the Golden Age of Hollywood and Broadway, the Legacy of Robert Allen. Ted, this is Ed. a lot of people don't. I would guess probably most people do not know what you're talking about in terms of the television, guide, and the movie guide. The kind of rules that governed, entertainment. That you were not allowed to take God's name in vain. You were not allowed to have a protagonist who was a criminal. You were not allowed to. To, make a criminal look like the good. The good guy in a film. obviously you weren't allowed to have sex, but you also weren't allowed to disparage marriage. I mean, all these were rules that governed entertainment. And. And most people don't know that because most people who are alive today are younger than me. I'm 66. but they're, They have grown up with the filth and the violence and the promotion of wickedness. And they just think that's the way it's always been.
>> Frank Gaffney: Well, you're right about that, and I'm impressed with your knowledge because we've got a great historical background on Hollywood going back to the 1890s. But the short version of the Motion Picture Code was that you couldn't portray violence in such a way that a susceptible youth would want to copy it. You couldn't, portray sex in such a way that a susceptible youth would want to, you know, be perverted by it. So all of those were put in terms that were very positive. And you couldn't slander or mock Anybody's religion because the code was written in 36 when the Nazis were, you know, targeting Jews. And that's what they didn't want to do in their. My daughter in law, who writes for Fox News, just wrote an article that the press was very pro Hamas and really propagandized. You couldn't do that. So those were sensible rules that you didn't mock anybody's religion and you didn't mock, you know, sex and marriage, just as you said. In fact, if anybody wants a history of that, send me a note@tedovieguy.org or write, you know, buy the book, please buy the book. That's. So if you want to know how to make the industry better, if you forget the past, you can't improve the future.
Tim Ferriss writes about Hollywood and Broadway in new book
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, how do, this is a fascinating. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but fascinating, book about what? A lot of the things you've talked about the last few minutes and your father's life. It's about the golden age of, Hollywood and Broadway. Ah, Ted's dad. And a lot of cowboy movie stuff in here too. So tell us, how people can order the book, if they want to get it.
>> Frank Gaffney: Well, right now, if they do it quickly and they go to movieguide.org for the first, you know, few purchases, we'll give them a special gift. Now the special gift is a link to one of my father's movies. If they don't want that, I don't know what else I can give them. And then Amazon, of course, is selling it right now. And that's the big platform. And the reason for doing it is to influence, help people to choose the good and reject the bad, but also to tell you that anybody can change. My father came to Christ seven years after I did. I came to Christ because of somebody who'd gone to the Billy Graham Crusades in New York, who urged me to read the Bible. And it changed my life. I'd gone to Dartmouth and Cambridge and all these fancy schools and, and hearing, the gospel made the difference. So anybody can change. And we've. Had you mentioned it, Tim. a lot of people who come to the gala have changed. People who are wonderful, people like me, who were leftists, who were Muslim, who are all different backgrounds, have come to Christ and started to make movies with extreme Christian content. When we started, there was only one movie with positive Christian content. Now there's so many of them. There were 200 Christmas movies last fall. A lot of them Produced by a friend of mine who come to the gala. So things have changed radically. And Tim, you've helped with all that because you've helped us for many, many years.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, thank you.
Chris: I teach how to succeed in Hollywood without losing your soul
>> Chris Woodward: It's Chris here. I have a question for you. We're talking about this at a time in which there are some big studios that are making faith based stuff. Sony, I believe, has a faith based division. You've got the Kendrick brothers still out there doing their thing and doing a great job there. you've got, even Amazon now has like the House of David and stuff like that. So there is faith based entertainment out there. What, if anything, should maybe like Christian colleges or what should the church, the Body of Christ do to make more Christian filmmakers going forward to build on what does exist today?
>> Frank Gaffney: Well, I've been teaching this for a long time. I was head of a department of City University of New York and then head of a department at Berkeley. Don't be angry at me. I still feel you have to go into the pagan territory. But I teach how to succeed in Hollywood. How to succeed without losing your soul. And Alex, Kendrick was one of my first radio engineers. You know what those people do? Oh, yeah, when he was a young teenager. But I try to get people to make movies that actually compete with Hollywood and make more money. the average Christian movie is doing about, you know, six, $7 million at $10 a ticket. That's 600,000 people in a country of 360 million people. The average Hollywood mo. For instance, Superman just did a couple hundred million. And at $10 a ticket, that means they're reaching 20 or 30 or 40 million teenagers in the country. And our biggest movie last year, which was great, and the producer came up to me and said, I'm a Christian. And he introduced me to the director and he said, I'm a Christian. And he introduced me to the writer. I'm a Christian. And it made $2 billion at the box office. So at $10 a ticket, that's 200 million people in the United States. And that's what we want. I want to see and m. You know, Hollywood is a, is a business. I mean, part of what you read in my book about my father is the business of Hollywood. You need to understand the business. 60% of a movie is marketing. You can have the brightest wonderful movie, like one of my favorite movies. And I'm going to see the star and the director next week is Last, Rodeo. But it didn't have any marketing. Hollywood spends 60 $70 million of marketing. If you're in, you know, buy ads in Dallas. Let's say, you're spending $100,000 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, $300,000 for the newspaper, another couple hundred thousand dollars for the radio. And you're. You're spending maybe $2 million a market in Hollywood opens movies in 5,000 markets. So we've got to learn that it's more than just being inspired. You have to learn the craft. And I teach that. And there are good schools that teach that too. except most of them are left wing and people who go to them. I, love usc.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I've taught.
Check out Movie Guide. That's, uh, if you want to say
>> Tim Wildmon: So let me ask you a question, Ted. We're talking to Ted Baer. Movie Guide. Check out Movie Guide. That's, if you want to say, okay, what about this film, that film, television show, whatever. Movie Guide has it all covered for you if you want to know the content of it and, so forth. The, book we're talking about is behind the Scenes of the Golden Age of Hollywood and Broadway. The Legacy of Robert Allen by Dr. Ted Baird. B, A, E H, AH R. Ted Bear. And his dad was an actor in Hollywood back during the Golden Age.
Tim Ferriss: Ted, what are your top three favorite movies
Well, all right, so I gotta ask you, what are your, top three movies, that you enjoyed? you know, and. Or actors from the Golden Age, if you will. Sad. Your dad, obviously.
>> Frank Gaffney: Well, Tim, you're asking me a question that I always avoided when I was teaching at Berkeley or usc. They'd ask me, what's your favorite movie? And I'd say something totally obscure, like the Cannes Film Festival winner Tree of Wooden Clogs, because nobody had seen it. But if you want the actual movies that I loved, you know, I love my dad's movies, which you just said don't use. It's a Wonderful Life, the Sound of Music, My Fair Lady. I was. My father was on Broadway when My Fair lady opened, so I went to that. I was a little boy. I'd go to all those plays, Camelot, great plays. And they became great movies. My Fair lady was absolutely terrific, and Sound of Music was absolutely terrific. So there would be three. I have a list of the hundred best, and I try to get kids to look at the hundred best. Because if you look at what's good, you'll do what's good, and you won't fill your mind with filth. And when you look at what's bad, then you get attracted to doing bad.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's hard to get young people, now as I said, most people are younger than me, that I interact with, but it is hard. I've tried to get my kids to watch some of the older movies, and I understand they can't go back and catch up, you know, you know, 60 years worth of movies. But it is hard to get them to. To watch some of these movies. But like the three you mentioned, Those are just spectacular.
>> Tim Wildmon: My Fair Lady.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, It's a Wonderful Life and, My Fair Lady. I found abuse it Sound music.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I can watch that.
>> Chris Woodward: I own all three of those.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I. I do. You really?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good. That's good.
>> Tim Wildmon: You own them all. You're like a Hollywood local.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, I do.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, you mean your own copies.
>> Chris Woodward: I'm on a first name basket.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Chris Woodward: With Spielberg.
>> Frank Gaffney: Well, if you want to send me an email. Not everybody, because I can't give it away because we release these hundred films and, you know, best films for 4th of July, 10 films, etc, or best films for Labor Day. But send me an email, Tim, or. And I'll gladly send you my top hundred list. And you could look at them. Don't tell your audience. Which I'm telling them right now because I don't want to give it away to everybody because it's proprietary information.
>> Tim Wildmon: I got you. I got you. Well, anyway, listen, Ted, thanks for. Thanks for being a. As you said, we've been ministry partners, so to speak, for decades. And, and what you like. what are you. You 70 something by now? What are you. How old are you?
>> Frank Gaffney: 70, 79.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Ah, you're not a girl.
>> Frank Gaffney: And remember, and I, I spoke at your. Your father's great birthday party many years ago. and he was. He was a mighty man of God. And we stood together against the destruction of the Dallas film office. So it's just been great to be involved. And I've done programs with you, Tim, from a bridge in the middle of Kiev.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah.
>> Frank Gaffney: And the signal was terrible, so I remember that well.
Ted Bear: Movieguide. org has great reviews of all new movies
>> Tim Wildmon: Ted Bear, our guest B A E H R Movie guide is the ministry. movieguide.org all right, Ted, thanks so much, brother. Take care.
>> Frank Gaffney: God bless you. Have a great day.
>> Tim Wildmon: Bye bye, Bye bye.
>> Frank Gaffney: Thank you.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. You're welcome. Wow.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What a great wow. And it's been an excellent ministry. By the way, folks, if you go to movieguy.org all the brand new movies that are out. Superman, the new Superman movie is reviewed there. The new Jurassic World movie. F1, the movie.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wonder what happens in that movie. Jurassic Park Part 17. Do you think they'll be chased by any dinosaurs.
>> Ed Vitagliano: My, I, I hear that there are dinosaurs that run this island that run amok.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow. And people go there, and people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And there's. There's dinosaurs and then people running and screaming.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, wow.
>> Fred Jackson: And one of the dinosaurs has a dress.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, it's not that bad.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, wow. Cross dressing dinosaurs, huh?
>> Fred Jackson: I'm only kidding.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'm just letting folks know that movieguy.org has up, to date.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They also have all kinds of articles. They have movies that they recommend. Ted mentioned the Last Rodeo. That gets a very favorable review. and, and these are all detailed reviews that tell you exactly what's in it that is appropriate or Christ honoring and those things that aren't. And so, it's a, it's. It's an excellent resource for people who want to know whether they can go see this and, and go see this with their families.
>> Fred Jackson: You know, listening to him, it's just a walk down memory lane for someone my age. Because I go back to TV shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best and, you know, moms and dads never had to worry about their kids watching that kind of programming.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's the end. Those programs are still popular. we're on, like, TV Land and some other places I watched,
>> Chris Woodward: When I was like seven or eight years old, I started watching Leave it to Beaver. And to this day, I will still watch it if I see it on somewhere, or I'll just pull it up on demand. I've seen probably all the seasons, several times. Yeah, it is a good show.
The three movies he mentioned were The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady
>> Tim Wildmon: What were the three movies he mentioned?
>> Ed Vitagliano: A, Sound of Music. Yeah, It's a Wonderful Life and My Fair Lady. My Fair Lady.
>> Tim Wildmon: Was that Barbra Streisand?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, no, that, I.
>> Chris Woodward: That was, Breakfast at Tiffany's Lady.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Rex Harrison. Oh, Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn. I can still remember Audrey Hepburn.
>> Chris Woodward: She beat out Mary Poppins for that role.
>> Ed Vitagliano: To get My Fair lady her voice in that. Which she does. The Julie Andrew street urchin kind of voice. And then London. Wow. What a. What a great movie.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fair Lady.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Great music.
>> Tim Wildmon: Have you been. Well, it's been a while. I'm familiar with the, with the title of it. I don't know the other ones I obviously seen. The Sound of Music's a great movie. I watch that once a year. Anyway. All right, we'll be back, momentarily with more of today's issues. stay with us. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
