The month of June has been hijacked. By the anti Christian culture to show. Their pride in homosexuality
>> Chris Woodward: The month of June has been hijacked.
>> Ed Vitagliano: By the anti Christian culture to show.
>> Chris Woodward: Their pride in something God calls an abomination.
>> Ed Vitagliano: When you support afr, you help us.
>> Chris Woodward: Continue to stand for godly values and.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Provide the resources for you to stay.
>> Chris Woodward: In the know about the enemy's tactics.
>> Ed Vitagliano: To say thank you for your gift.
>> Tim Wildmon: This month, we'll give you the booklet.
>> Chris Woodward: Inside the LGBTQ push of the 1990s. To help strengthen your convictions, just go to afr.netoffers afr.net offers.
Today's Issues offers a Christian response to the issues of the day
>> Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the.
>> Tim Wildmon: Issues of the day.
>> Chris Woodward: Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. I'm, Tim Wildmon with Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Ed.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fred Jackson.
>> Fred Jackson: Hi there, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: Chris Woodward.
>> Chris Woodward: Hello.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. I like your enthusiasm, Chris.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. But maybe say it a little louder next.
>> Tim Wildmon: Maybe maybe dial it back to four cups of coffee before we do the show.
>> Chris Woodward: Okay. As I take another sip. Yes.
It's summertime here, and we're debating the best way to the beach
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, well, thanks for joining us. We were just, It's summertime here, and we're debating the best way to the beach highway wise. And, a lot of people. It's vacation season, right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: People, I tell you when you get a good deal, if you don't care about now, people I'm, talking about for, for anywhere you want to go on vacation, right. Is, in the. At the end of August or 1st of September after all the families with kids who have to get back and be in school have gone, left. You did this last year?
>> Ed Vitagliano: My wife and I, we went down October, right? Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Went down to the beach in October and. And you, had it all to yourself.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It was awesome.
>> Tim Wildmon: Because the weather's perfect.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Weather is. It's way better. My wife and I have reached the stage in life now. People, who get up in age may not all be the same way.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But we don't do hot at the beach.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I never, I. Even when I was a young guy, a teenager or whatever.
>> Tim Wildmon: You were buff?
>> Ed Vitagliano: yeah, well, I was. I was kind of skinny. I don't know if I was buff, but. But you know what? My friends and I, we'd go to the beach in New Hampshire. There's a little part of the state that hits the coast and, all the time and, you know, we'd do stuff on the beach, throw football or whatever. But I never liked just laying out in the sun.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And, you know With. With a blanket and getting sweaty. Just.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. That didn't appeal to you?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Did not appeal, no.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fred, you like going to the love.
>> Fred Jackson: Desmond, Now, I've gone down in February, you know, get a good forecast, and I go down and I'm. I'm there with everybody from Wisconsin, Minnesota. Everything's relative. Everything's relative, Right. You think Wisconsin, Minnesota in February. Think Destin in February.
>> Ed Vitagliano: yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Even if the highest. 59.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right. Take your. I'm like, I don't like hot weather.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: And certainly to stay out on the beach in hot weather.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: No, there's just no way for that. So I enjoy walking along with my parka.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Now. I like walking when my wife went and I went. Went down to the beach. We like walking in the morning.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: On the beach. Finding the odd shell, what have you. but in terms of just laying out, like people who get tans and sand everywhere, I don't get it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Chris lays out. Don't you, Chris?
>> Chris Woodward: I do, I do.
>> Tim Wildmon: Got you a sun. Sun. A sun. What do you call those things at home?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Suntan? Tanning bed.
>> Tim Wildmon: Tanning bed.
>> Chris Woodward: No, I don't have a tanning bed. I do enjoy being out, outside, especially this time of year. We do go to the beach every once in a while, but I'm happy with, you know, going to the hills or the mountains.
>> Tim Wildmon: Head for the hills, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, well, altitude.
>> Tim Wildmon: You'll never hear me complaining about hot weather.
>> Chris Woodward: No.
>> Tim Wildmon: Can't help. That's true.
>> Chris Woodward: I've been here 50 years and I've never. I've never heard you go pan.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's. I detest cold weather. I think you do.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're. You're on another level.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I know. It's biblical.
Tim Ferriss: It's never too hot to golf
>> Chris Woodward: Now, what is. What is too hot for golf? It's, like, for you, what is too hot for golf?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, my uncle famously told me when I was golfing with him one time, because I mentioned this, it was like, 98 degrees. And he said. I said, man, it's hot out here. I don't know we should be out here or not. He goes, tim, it's never too hot to golf, period. Duly noted.
President Trump announced a tentative trade deal with China today
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right.
>> Tim Wildmon: it's, it's what's today.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Did I mention today's June 11?
>> Tim Wildmon: June 11, 2025. And leading the news headlines is what?
>> Chris Woodward: President Trump today is celebrating a tentative trade deal with none other than China. He announced this today that the US Will get magnets and rare earth minerals and some other stuff from China under a new trade deal and that tariffs on Chinese goods will go to 55%. This is a story on our website afn.net details are still going to be coming in, but again, President Trump has announced a tentative trade deal with China. It would be a huge win for him if he were to do this. It would follow the trade deal with the UK and some other countries that we've been in talks with to improve trade. And in the immortal words of one president Tim Wildmon, stocks go up and stocks go down. But right now the stock market appears to be responding very positively about the new tentative trade deal with China. The Dow, for example, is up, 1, 118. The NASDAQ 26 and the S&P 7.
>> Tim Wildmon: So your 401 Chicago Mercantile.
>> Chris Woodward: Give me a second and I'll get back to you. But I'll tell you this. Gold is also up, 15 points. So William Devane with Roslyn Capital is having a good.
>> Tim Wildmon: I need June corn.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And what's. I'm sorry, what's, the pig. yeah, something that they sell, with pigs.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't know what we need.
>> Tim Wildmon: August hog prices.
>> Chris Woodward: Okay, hold on.
>> Tim Wildmon: We need.
>> Fred Jackson: These are less desperate.
>> Tim Wildmon: Less, less. I'm sorry, I missed it.
>> Chris Woodward: How can fluctuate. But a whole hog typically costs between 600 and $850 for.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right.
A trade deal with China to stop the tariffs looks imminent, Tim says
All right, so you. So, so, a trade deal with China to stop the tariffs.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Is imminent.
>> Chris Woodward: Looking like it. They still have to sign off on some stuff. But both countries, which don't like one another being near agreement on something is a positive thing for all Americans.
>> Ed Vitagliano: well, in China, Tim, as you've pointed out many times, China and the US are kind of joined at the hip. We, we need each other in terms of economics, even while we are wary of each other when it comes to military.
>> Tim Wildmon: And we're both codependent. China and the U.S. we're codependent. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: listen you. All this talk about tariffs and people talking about what kinds of things would go up in price makes you kind of go, I don't know. I sure, I sure kind of like that, you know, cheap Tupperware or whatever you talk, you're talking about. It is nice to have stuff that's inexpensive.
President Trump says trade deal with China is done, subject to final approval
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, so, this is according to Fox News, Chris. Say President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. That's today. That the trade deal with China is done.
>> Tim Wildmon: And subject to final approval between him and. And Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pen Xi. That's how he's. That's his first. How you pronounce she? All right.
>> Chris Woodward: Those are not pronouns. That's his name.
>> Tim Wildmon: So anyway. So that's a big deal.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, it is true.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's a big deal. A big, big deal.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And. And what? he, I guess he must have posted this on Truth Social or whatever, because it's in all caps, right? Full magnets and any necessary rare earths.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're quoting Trump in his file caps.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. All caps will be supplied up front by China.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students, using our colleges and universities. I'm not sure I like that. But anyway, which has always been good with me. Trump continues. We are getting a total of 55 tariffs. China is getting 10%. Relationship is excellent.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. I will tell you to give everybody an idea of how big, and how necessary things like rare earth minerals are. We are surrounded in this room and we're using rare earth minerals to broadcast to people. Okay. Everything from the headset to this phone, my computer, Bren's board, all this stuff. You somewhere today, America are using something or touching something that involves a rare earth mineral. And we need those things. That's so, to. To. To have an agreement on that is huge.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Well, good deal.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Otherwise we're going to have to invade Greenland. Well, don't they have rare earth minerals there?
>> Chris Woodward: I'm told they do.
Danish parliament approves bill allowing US military bases on Danish soil
>> Fred Jackson: And there's news on that front, too.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. Go ahead, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, the news on that front is that, in Denmark this morning, Copenhagen, Denmark's, parliament today approved a bill to allow the United States to have military bases on Danish soil. A move that comes as US President Donald Trump seeks to have a greater presence in the kingdom's semi autonomous territory of Greenland. So this is a big deal, too. Everybody thought. Remember when Trump started talking about Greenland?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: The Danish people really upset with that. Who does he think he is?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: But now, it just has to be, signed off. But now they're saying, yeah, we're open to more US Bases here in Denmark. And Greenland is semi autonomous, as this AP story says. I think you're going to see more US Bases on Greenland. We have one there now. It's Air Force Base. I believe it is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I'm not sure.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We wanted what President Trump and the military wanted, because the North Pole and coming over the North Pole from Russia and.
>> Tim Wildmon: Santa, I'm just saying I want to get. There's more than just Russia, right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, you are exactly right. I'm not falling into that trap. The Santa trap. but there has been a need for more bases. And I have to believe that what Denmark has done is try to preempt any move on the part of Greenland. The people of Greenland, it's only like 50,000 people there. They would benefit greatly from having the presence of a US Military base because that pours money into the local economy. So perhaps Denmark is trying to preempt any kind of move on the part of Greenland to ink a deal or to go independent from Denmark so that they can ink a deal.
>> Tim Wildmon: What if war breaks out between Denmark and Greenland? Whose side do we take there?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I don't think Greenland has much of an offensive capability. No.
>> Tim Wildmon: it's Denmark.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: so, so the population of Greenland, 20, 25 is 55. almost 56,000 people estimated to your point. 50,000. So just, 10,000, 12,000 more than Tupelo.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: that live in the whole country.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Where our flagship station is located here in Mississippi. Tupelo.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah. So, and we don't have enough.
>> Ed Vitagliano: There's no, there's no rare earth minerals.
>> Tim Wildmon: Are here that I'm aware of. so, the point is that, we're, we are so, Denmark, the country of Denmark owns, Greenland. Is that right?
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's, it's, it. Now the people of Greenland, they own it, but I, I, I think they would have to declare independence from Denmark in order to, it's kind of like, I guess, probably like the uk you have this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. But the formal, the bottom line, whether it was Denmark or Greenland or whoever, the United States of America has worked out a deal to put a military base there. That's the bottom line, what we're saying here.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, it's actually, the story actually says military basis. The day, the Danes, bill to allow the United States to have military bases on Danish soil.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. They got the land.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep, they do.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, they just, you know what, the money talks and that's what, that's what's happened here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And you know what? half the time I'm just going to just, I'm going to admit something here. Okay. I've already shared, I've already shared my heart about the beach.
>> Tim Wildmon: You have. Okay, so share it again. Share some more.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So half the time I think President Trump is clowning around and he's just trolling and he's just trying to get a rise out of the Democrats.
>> Tim Wildmon: Gulf of America.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, Gulf of America. this thing with, you know, buying Greenland and Canada, the 51st state I think that is trolling Canada. The 51st straight. But when he started talking about Greenland, I thought, that guy. Here he goes again. But he's serious, and it looks like he's got a win with this.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And now, in all seriousness, not only the, advantage geopolitically, so to speak, putting a military. We already have one, as you say. But having access to the land of Greenland to put American troops there. And military helps us, you know, with our reach around the world.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: So to speak. To be ready. And if we have to, we're in a hot war. Yep. God forbid. With Russia, for example. You know what I'm saying?
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: so it gives you, in Russia, you know, they're all over the North Pole. Speaking of the North Pole.
50,000 people in Greenland could potentially become very, very wealthy
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: But they're military is what I understand. And so, yeah, this is a. But the, the, probably the, you mentioned rare earth minerals, probably the natural resources and the minerals and all that untapped in Greenland is, enormous.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So 50,000 people in Greenland could potentially become very, very wealthy.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think that's what I think they're seeing dollar signs. I think so. Little fishermen, you know, I'm saying, going out catching your salmon, that might be.
>> Chris Woodward: Why they don't want to become part of the US Then they have to, you know, pay. Pay up to Uncle Sam if they start becoming millionaires.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: But no, that wouldn't deter me, Chris. Paying a little taxes. I was going to, you know, Democrats.
>> Chris Woodward: Are going to say they need to pay their fair share now that they're part of the U.S. all right, there is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: There is, by the way, one, I think one as, Fred said, one Air Force base in Greenland used to be formerly known as Thule or Tooley. Remember that, air base. And I have, I have read. Read it. I didn't know how to pronounce it. I forgot about it. But they renamed it and, I guess Greenlandic is just one of those languages. It's just baffling to me because it's spelled. The new name is P. P as in Paul I T U F F I K. And it's pronounced be do feet. So I'm just going.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think Trump's going to rename it Stonewall Jackson. Fort Stonewall Jackson there in Greenland Port Stonewall, huh?
>> Ed Vitagliano: yeah. All right, then just let the Democrats try to change that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Let them watch them head spin off their body.
Elon Musk says he regrets social media post about President Trump
All right, you're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. What's your next story, Chris?
>> Chris Woodward: Well, Donald the winds continue to come in President Trump. Yes. In another story on our website, and I shared this just a moment ago on our Today's Issues Facebook page, Elon Musk is backing off from his feud with Trump, saying he regrets social media post about Trump. That quote went too far. Early this morning, Musk posted on X. I regret some of my post about President real Donald Trump last week. They went too far.
>> Tim Wildmon: So which one?
>> Chris Woodward: Well, his posts, there were. Yeah, there were several. I could take the rest of this break or this segment to rattle off the things that he had to say about Trump. but again, it looks like this feud between the two guys that were best friends ten days ago, appears to be ending, which would be good for Trump because it gets it out of the news.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, I just soap opera.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Elon Musk is, the richest man in the world. he's not used to kind of like President Trump.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, they're two peas in a pod.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, when you're pods in a pea, when you are, very wealthy and have built successful businesses and your word is law, you're not used to people not doing what you think they should. So I think Elon Musk got very frustrated with the way Politics works in D.C. i think he thought that President Trump ought to start lopping off heads in the Democratic Party. But that's party. I mean, the Republican Party, well, and the Democratic Party, I'm sure, but that's just not the way politics works in D.C. and I think Elon Musk got frustrated and he took it out on social media.
>> Tim Wildmon: I tell you what happened.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who doesn't do that sometimes?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, he is an eccentric kind of guy.
Fred Denson says Trump and Elon Musk are peas in a pod
Talking about Elon Musk, when I say two peas in a pod, Trump and Musk are alike in that they're not used to taking no for an answer. And then you get both of them, somebody's going to end up taking a no. You know what I'm saying? True. And so Trump, President Trump, and I'm a fan of, almost everything he does. I think he's been an excellent president for U.S. and leader. But his weakness, is he acts like a child, sometimes a fifth grader. And so it's got, he got, he got karma right here. he got into a public feud with a guy who has a microphone as big as his. Most of the people that Trump goes after, don't have the, don't have the ability to fight back. for instance, when he called Nikki Haley bird brain, all those Times.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, that was, that was a fifth grader. That's what I'm saying. Call, especially calling a woman that over and over and over and over again. And I'm going like, karma is. You get into it and somebody calls you a name.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm talking about. So I'm glad, hopefully this is over because it's been embarrassing for both of them.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: and Elon Musk, he, as I say, eccentric, guy. But I think what happened, the bottom line here was happening. We don't know the behind the scenes. Maybe there's m. More behind the scenes that we don't know about. But, Elon Musk, ah, spent and volunteered his time to help President Trump win and then did the, whatever it was, five months or four months of, and pointing out all the waste and fraud in the government, federal government. And then what Elon Musk would say. President Trump would have an answer for this. I know, but what Elon Musk would say was, I do all this for you, Trump, and then you turn around and push a piece of legislation which is a bunch of waste and fraud and by the, and adds to the national debt by trillions and harms our country. That's what he would say.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And my Tesla stock took a nose dive while dealerships, were being burned to the ground.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. What do you say? So Musk has an emotional and financial investment in what he's done for the last four or five months. And then he would say now. And then Trump comes in and supports a, a big, beautiful bill that, that, that adds to our national debt by trillions and trillions of dollars. I'm just telling you, that's what he would say. And he did say it. what Trump would probably say, Fred, is, yeah, but I'm trying to deal with the economy in the moment.
>> Fred Jackson: Yep.
>> Tim Wildmon: And I can't solve all its problems, but we need to get this, Our economy jump started. bigger. That's probably what he would say.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. And I think Musk has come around. I think he went on a rant. He was very emotional. but he's come around to saying, wait a minute. My companies have a lot of contracts with the federal government. And Trump's the kind of guy who would say, we don't need that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: So I think everybody's calming down and we're getting back to the point where the focus is going to be on this big, beautiful bill, that the Senate is working on.
>> Tim Wildmon: You like the big, beautiful bill, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, I haven't read all 1100 pages.
>> Tim Wildmon: Much, like many Republicans, but 897.
>> Fred Jackson: I think I like the basic thrust of the bill is to continue the tax breaks that Trump brought in back in 2017. I like that idea. I mean, obviously, I think in this discussion, when Musk really went ballistic over this, I think, the truth was brought home by senior Republican senators. The government is not a private company. And everybody has to realize that there are so many players. A private company doesn't have to get everything passed through 400 politicians in the House and 100 politicians in the Senate. But that's the reality of our government. This is, you know, it's a cake in the baking. And this is why it takes so long to do these things. And we all get frustrated, but what's the alternative?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: The alternative is a dictator who decides everything.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. And as I've said, that the system in D.C. is broken.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And you're not going to straighten that thing out overnight. It's going to take years of, persistent and consistent effort to rein in the federal government. I'm not sure it can be done, but.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm sorry.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, you're not that evil.
>> Tim Wildmon: Sounds like mockery of what you're saying.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I understand what the mockery is for the very idea of reining in the federal government over years, over years. because I'm not sure it can be done. I'm not sure the members of Congress who have to do it, if it's going to be done, want to do it. But I'm speaking hypothetically.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, you are.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And. And it deserved a little scorn.
>> Tim Wildmon: It did.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The fact that I said it.
>> Tim Wildmon: okay, so we'll, You know. Yeah, you're right.
Our federal government is basically out of control
Our federal government is basically out of control.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And, And so we will.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That light. You're gonna hear that laugh.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: One day when you say something.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. We're gonna do. But, whatever bad's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's happened. It's coming.
>> Tim Wildmon: Happened. That horse left the barn.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And locking.
>> Tim Wildmon: Train left the station. That ship has sailed. What else we got?
>> Ed Vitagliano: that pizza's been made and eaten.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right. we'll be back with more pepperoni about three or four minutes here. Abraham Hamilton iii, our constitutional lawyer, is.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Going to tell us if the Trump can call out the Marines.
>> Tim Wildmon: Trump's calling out the Marines. And can he do that? We're gonna ask. Gonna ask Abe about that. Stay with us.
Over 60% of abortions today happen through the abortion pill
>> Ed Vitagliano: This June 24th marks three years since Roe v. 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 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, 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 key word baby. That's £250, baby. Or go to preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being.
>> Tim Wildmon: Prepared to make a defense to anyone.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Who asks you for a reason for.
>> Tim Wildmon: The hope that is in you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yet do it with gentleness and respect.
>> Tim Wildmon: Having a good conscience so that when.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You are slandered, those who revile your.
>> Tim Wildmon: Good behavior in Christ may be put to shame first.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Peter 3, 1416. American Family Radio.
>> Tim Wildmon: This is Today's Issues.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts.
>> Chris Woodward: Of today's Issues are available for listening.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And viewing in the archive@afr.net now back to more of, today's Issues.
Today's Issues features Abraham Hamilton III for the next few minutes
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Ed, Fred, Chris. And now we thought, well, we don't have enough people on this show, so we need another person. And we've added Abraham Hamilton III for the next few minutes. Good morning, Abe.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Good morning.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, we were talking about, or were we were we talking off the air, on the air about the latest, situation in. Why don't you set it up for us?
President Trump sent Marines to Los Angeles to help with anti ice protests
>> Chris Woodward: All right, so, there is still unrest in Los Angeles, where President Trump several days ago sent the National Guard and now the Marines, to the city of Los Angeles to deal with anti ice protesters or riots. The update with this story is that the mayor now Karen Bass, former member of Congress has put in place a curfew for la. But people are still concerned that, what's been happening in LA will continue to be a problem and maybe even spill over to other cities. But what we brought in Abe to discuss was whether or not President Trump, or really any president, could deploy something like the Marines to try to put down, protests or riots inside the United States. They. It's our understanding, Abe, that presidents have and do have the power to send in the National Guard, but the Marines is a different ballpark. So can a President do something like this?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: So my, my answer very simply is the President can't deploy the Marines to engage in any type of, like, law enforcement activity. Any type. I mean, you have law, posse comitatus, you have other formal forms of law that prohibit domestic utilization of our national military. That is the purpose of the National Guard. But when you say Marines are being deployed, the simple question is, what are they going to do? You know, if they're there to provide like, administrative support for the National Guard, then they certainly can do that, but they won't be like, they won't be roaming the streets. And, you know.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, you don't know that.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: well, the law doesn't allow them to do that. So if, if that is what Marines were doing, I would be among the first to say that is an illegal utilization of the United States Marines.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So in other words, you're talking about even the Army. It doesn't have to be just the Marines we're talking about. But the military can't set up checkpoints and say, hey, I want to see your id. you're not supposed to be on this road. we're going to arrest you. Pull your vehicle over that, that, that's the purpose of keeping the military and the law enforcement in separate.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. And it goes back to the Founding Fathers, the Constitution Convention in Philadelphia, when arguments were made concerning. Well, we have a. We had. We've just displayed the capacity, using various militia and things of that nature to repel England. Well, what stops a despotic, tyrannical president from turning that same force on domestic citizens? You know, which is why there's that division between our national military. It's for external, external facing purposes, not for internal domestic function.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, I'm just going to. Here's my feeling on this. I'm gonna share my heart in.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yep, share it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Can I share it?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Abs? We.
>> Tim Wildmon: This is a terrible idea President Trump has. Terrible idea. 700 active, active duty US Marines, sending them to Los Angeles. What are they going to Do. Marines are fighting machines. what, are you going to give them guns and tell them to go street to street, taking on the riders? I mean, this is terrible idea. Now, that's what the National Guard is there to. And this curfew is going to be a big help. Okay. I think that the mayor has instituted.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, they've already ignored it.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And isn't the curfew like just a, particular square mile? It's not the entirety of the city.
>> Fred Jackson: That is correct.
>> Tim Wildmon: Which is wise. I mean, that's. You don't want to curfew the whole city of Los Angeles right now. I mean, but, but I think you, you use the National Guard, you use the state police, you use, whatever you, whatever. You have to call in more guardsmen. But, call in the Marine Corps for. To, to, be, be deployed. Now, that's my opinion. You guys may not share it, and that's fine. Our, listeners may go, well, you're wrong, Tim. Okay, this is seen in the Bible. Okay? We're not, we're, we're not, we're not, disagreeing on Scripture here. I'm just saying I think this is a bad idea to deploy the United States Marine Corps, 700 active duty to Los Angeles, California. To do what? That's the question. President Trump answered that question as Pete Hex answered that question.
>> Chris Woodward: well, not correct terms.
>> Tim Wildmon: Why not?
>> Chris Woodward: I can't explain what goes on in print.
>> Tim Wildmon: You're the newsman, Chris.
>> Chris Woodward: I don't know that I. The only person that knows what's going on in Donald Trump's mind is God.
>> Tim Wildmon: Elon Musk.
>> Fred Jackson: The phrase that's been used is to restore order. I had two questions for you, Abe. Newsom has tried to make the point that it is the governor's, responsibility. It is the governor that has the power to call in the, The National Guard.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Is his name Gavin George Wallace?
>> Fred Jackson: Okay, so you're saying the president has that right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right. And has past presidents have exercised that right?
The president does not have the authority to dispatch national military for domestic matters
>> Fred Jackson: Number two, though, President Trump, in some of the news conferences he's had in the last few days, he was asked the question, what about insurrection? Is that a justification for calling in Marines? That phrase is being used. that word is being used. Insurrection. If there was, you'd have to define what an insurrection is. But if there was an out and out insurrection, would the president then have the right to send Marines in?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: No. Still no. Okay. No, the president does not have the authority to dispatch our national military for domestic matters. That's why we have guardsmen. That's what we have. State police. That's what we have. Local police officers, local law enforcement. That's one of the major distinctions between, between our nations. And like foreign nations, like Mexico and others, they don't have local police. It's Policia Nacional. It's the military and police all in one. in the United States of America, we have separated that intentionally so that we avoid that kind of conflation of national military force that could be turned on our domestic citizens.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Because as an example.
>> Fred Jackson: Ah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And I'm, I'm in agreement with Tim on this. With regards to the Marines, there were democrats who called January 6th an insurrection. They used that language. And that's where it gets tricky. That's where it gets tricky. If you're going to be a president who wants to call out the US Military to put down an insurrection. It all depends then on how you define an insurrection. And it seems like the founders and then other laws, too, that were passed were to avoid that situation of turning the US Military into an instrument of terror against the citizens.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, that's, that's, that. That is, again, the, the function and the purpose of having that division between domestic law enforcement, law and order keeping function is not the function of the national military. You know, and so, to Tim's point, what, what are, what are the Marines going to do? Like I said, I don't have a problem with them serving as administrative support for the National Guard, but why describe it as a deployment of active duty Marines that are going to be doing administrative support? I just. I don't get that.
Gavin Newsom says deploying National Guard is illegal in Los Angeles
>> Fred Jackson: All right, so Newsom yesterday went to court. We haven't got a decision yet. He went to court, to say what Trump did with the National Guard is illegal. now, of course, he probably went judge shopping, like Democrats have been doing.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: That's why I refer to him as Gavin George Wallace. Newsom. I mean, you literally have this exact same situation to where the federal law was passed. Congressionally enacted federal law was passed. The state government refused to abide by federal law. Kind of like federal law says illegal immigrants need to be deported, things of that nature. State government is refusing to do so. The president, at that time, it was JFK with George Wallace. Now it's President Trump with Gavin Newsom that dispatches the National Guard to help to implement federal law, just like JFK did with George Wallace. And unfortunately, Gavin Newsom is doing the George Wallace remix role pretty well.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, let me ask you this. you had a similar situation in New Orleans, that you experienced with Hurricane Katrina. Now, not civil unrest because of protests, but because of just, the situation on the ground trump the flooding and people displaced and things of that nature. And you had some of the looting going on and so forth and so on. But in a situation like this, what's the chain of command? Who has ultimate authority? Do the. Does the National Guard do the Marine Corps? Do the, county sheriff, the city mayor of Los Angeles, who has authority but you?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I mean, obviously the president in dispatching and deploying the National Guard, has his role with the National Guard. But you would hope you have interaction between federal law enforcement and that chain of command is established within that internal framework with the situation. Hurricane Katrina, you add, the Army Corps of Engineers were present for engineering purposes because the Army Corps was, was responsible to help to design the levy system. But the Army Corps of Engineers weren't going street by street doing any policing or anything that nature. It was a combination of state police, the National Guard and local police officers that were doing that. And they were working under the authority of the state governing forces. Under the.
>> Tim Wildmon: Under governor.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah, under the governor, working with the Louisiana mayor, the New Orleans mayor at the time. So the governor was one calling the shots in coordination with the mayor.
>> Tim Wildmon: I got you.
>> Ed Vitagliano: My personal opinion is that the U.S. marine Corps. I just looked up the numbers that There are only 168,000 plus in the marine Corps.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Total.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay? Total. This is a specialized part branch of the military. They're too valuable to their. As Tim said, they're. They are. They are trained to kill. To kill things. Kill. Kill people and break things. And you don't put them that are, that kind of specialized. You don't put them in a situation for which they're not trained. I doubt they're able to carry live ammunition. So even if they're walking around with their weapons, I don't think they are able to defend themselves if a large group of people attack them. And you don't want to put them in that position. And I don't, I don't like calling out the military for this kind of thing because they're. They're just not trained for it. And you could wind up. If they did have live ammunition. These guys want to go home and see their families too. You could have another Kent State kind of situation where rioters get shot and killed.
>> Tim Wildmon: according to the Associated Press, I'm reading the 700 Marines arrived in Los Angeles. In the Los Angeles area. They have arrived, but they haven't been called to respond to the protest as of Tuesday afternoon. And we're only there to protect federal officials and property. The Marine Corps commandant said, that's a good. That's fine. I still disagree fundamentally, constitutionally, with deploying them in the first place for any reason whatsoever. Although Abe gave out maybe one that's acceptable, that is some kind of administrative role. But 700 is too many for an administrative role. Sounds like, to me. so anyway, we'll see. We'll see. Hopefully all this dies down and fades away.
The First Amendment protects American citizens rights to peaceably assemble
>> Ed Vitagliano: I do have one additional question.
>> Tim Wildmon: Go ahead.
>> Ed Vitagliano: For Abe. so we, we know that the First Amendment gives us the right American citizens to peaceably assemble.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Keyword.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. So what we're seeing in. Because all these people who are defending it, even many on the left in the media and the Democrats, they're saying, well, Maxine Waters says it's peace, peaceful, okay.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Such a bastion of truth.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. So, you're not allowed, even if you are protesting something that you think is a legitimate wrong and you're petitioning the government for redress of grievances, you're not allowed to riot and burn things and loot. Right? That's not considered, protected by the First Amendment.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: No. The First Amendment, as you rightly said, protects American citizens rights to peaceably assemble. And I would just take issue with people conflating these riots with petitioning the government for redressing grievances, because petition is a term of art that has a specific application. You don't petition on the streets. You use the courtroom for that purposes. But the First Amendment protects the right to peaceably assemble. The moment an assembly moves over into non peaceability, you've crossed the threshold, you've crossed the line into criminal activity. So when you have burning property, when you have, destroying other people's property, when you have attacking police officers, when you have bricks and concrete blocks being hurled at people, you have not. You've exited the realm of peaceable assembly, and you've entered the realm of criminal rioting, which is why the local law enforcer should be involved in helping to maintain law and order by helping the citizens to understand. You have the right to peaceably assemble. You can shout, you can do these other things, but you cannot violate the law. You cannot break people's property, cannot destroy people's property, cannot assault individuals, you cannot attack anybody. And once you've crossed that threshold into criminality, you should be treated as a criminal.
What if riots get out of hand and exceed ability of local police
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, and just one, one last question, because this is, this is very helpful, Abe. So let's say the riots, whoever, whether this is organic or whether this is staged and being paid for. All those kinds of questions aside, what if this gets out of hand and exceeds the ability of local law enforcement and state police and even the National Guard to contain it?
>> Tim Wildmon: And you're going, huh? You're. You're going to be called up.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What. What can the government. What do you do at that point? Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: So when you say felt inability to contain it, are you limiting to the city of Los Angeles? Is it beyond the state? Does it bleed over into other states?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, all of that. Let's say in Los Angeles, the numbers continue to grow. I think they arrested like 29 people yesterday. M. That's a fraction of what's there. Let's say hundreds of thousands of people and Los Angeles is being shut down. And then this spreads to other. Because it's just going to happen in blue states and blue cities. I don't say.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I'm pretty sure it won't. It won't bleed over into certain areas. It won't get into Idaho, it won't get into other areas.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So what happens under those circumstances is that. Do you declare martial law? I mean, that we. And do you think that's what the left, the right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Who would declare martial law?
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The president. Right.
>> Tim Wildmon: If it's martial law for the whole country.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I'm asking. Let's say it spreads. Let's say it spreads to Chicago and New York City and Detroit and the cities are burning and law enforcement.
>> Tim Wildmon: We already, we already saw this movie.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Like five years ago.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, no, I'm not talking about Occupy.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wall street or these BLM rights.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. Let me, let me, let me.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm sorry, let me. I will, I will shut my mouth.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No.
>> Tim Wildmon: And let you converse with Abe. And Abe, can you agree with.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, no. God's sake. You don't have to shut your mouth for the present.
>> Tim Wildmon: Shut my mouth.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I am, I'm. What I'm trying to describe is a situation beyond all this, because in these areas where you have those little zones.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That in 2020, the summer of. The police decided to take a hands off approach because they did not want confrontation. Okay. What if this is not just, hey, we're setting up our little zone here, we're taking over the city.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Yeah. So you would have to have law like you just described, like the summer of love. And like Portland and other places, the police decided not to enforce existing law.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: So in order for this to happen as you're describing it, you have to have law Enforcement officers who are paid, trained, and swear oaths to enforce existing law, who agree not to do so. And so then if, if that continues to spiral, I can assure you that you won't have other locales that would agree with that. You have others who, who will step in. And as much as we have, you know, criminals and all their criminals will not be able to outgun trained law enforcement officers. You know, I've seen what law enforcement officers have in terms of their capacity to restore law and order. And I am, I am very confident that if you have one locale of rogue law enforcement officers that, that will not, metastasize beyond that one locale. I, I'm confident of that.
Chris: Martial law declarations would have to come from a governor or president
>> Ed Vitagliano: All right, all right.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: In terms of martial law declarations, it would have to come from a governor or a, of a, of a president. But that, that is not a realistic. In many ways, I really think many regressives want to provoke President Trump to do something, a misstep of that, that form so that they can say, see, we told you all along.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I hope he doesn't.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Authoritarian. Yeah. And I, I don't think he will. And I pray that he won't.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, you couldn't. Martial law, America anyway.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: No.
>> Tim Wildmon: Impossible.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: I can name 10 people right now who aren't going to participate. That's only my family member.
>> Ed Vitagliano: My family members.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: That's called the. Not gonna do it. Not gonna do it.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. yeah. So I, I'm thinking this is going to quell down. I know that people are calling, saying watch for Saturday, but, the BLM riots from. Was that 2020. When was that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: 2020. After.
>> Tim Wildmon: They were much, they were much more extensive. At least now this is maybe early. and, you know, you do have your antifa types and so forth. Anyway, what people are reacting to, I think is, the people who are doing the writing there, some of them are emotional because they have family, friends or whatever that been affected by people being arrested and deported. And so I do think it's organic. But, you know, some people say, no, it's all planned. I think it's. Maybe it is some.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Maybe both.
>> Tim Wildmon: Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Maybe it's both. But, we'll probably know more this time next week whether this is going to spread across the country. I know that we had some demonstrations in New York and what in Austin or San Antonio. But, I told Ed during the show prep, there's always protest in New York. Just depends on what day of the, you know, what the cause is for. The day. But, they're not burning down the city. Okay. And Mayor Adams quite frankly said we're not going to tolerate anything like that protest like what we see going on in.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: it was a former police officer himself.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. In, seeing going on. And I want to know, you know, when you see a story like this, Chris, maybe you know the answer. Somebody here on the panel has the answer. See a story like this, what's happening in Los Angeles? You know, Los Angeles is the second largest city in America. You're talking about in the metropolitan area, probably 15 million people or more. Maybe more than that. 20, I don't know. In the greater Los Angeles area, are we talking about widespread riding going on over, you know, half the city?
>> Ed Vitagliano: No.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Centralized. Yeah, it's just in that one where, where the, the curfew was implemented. It's just in that one little area. I'm saying little in terms of geographic.
>> Tim Wildmon: So. So this is a small area. Tiny, comparatively speaking.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: But it might be a place that you would drive to, to get to a specific part of town.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, my question is sometimes news stories get blown out of proportion because there's, you know, there's so much coverage of it when in fact it's only involving 300 people in a one mile area. You know what I'm saying? But, but you say Los Angeles, you're going like, well, you look at the images like the whole city's burning down.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?
>> Tim Wildmon: No, it's it's a small area. Tiny area, comparatively speaking.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And population wise, Los Angeles proper is 3.7 million. The Greater Los Angeles area is 18.6 million.
>> Chris Woodward: Is that all?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: And what did I guess?
>> Ed Vitagliano: You guessed maybe 20. You said maybe 20.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, there was a, to your point, there were, there are people out there that are saying, you know, media is misleading you over the violence and the extent of all this yesterday. And I'm not saying I agree with this lady, I'm just bringing it up as one example. Yesterday there was some lady on X, formerly known as Twitter, that was, she had a video of herself like blowing bubbles and what was supposedly burning down Los Angeles or whatever. So there are people out there that are saying, you know, Trump's the showman, he's doing this for publicity and headlines or whatever, and LA is not burning, despite what Fox tells you and all these kinds of things. You will see more of that in the coming days, I guarantee you.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, if it bleeds, it leads, you know, in, in, in the news. That's the news, service for many people. So.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: And I think the news service has a vested interest in trying to create a counter narrative to the Trump got elected deport illegals. And they're, you know, try to say, well, not everybody's in agreement with that when a large percentage of the American people are in agreement with it, including legal immigrants to our country.
>> Fred Jackson: Oh, yeah, that's right.
>> Chris Woodward: I watched a debate two nights ago.
There's a vacancy in Arizona where a Democratic congressman passed away
There's a vacancy in Arizona where a Democratic congressman passed away back in March, and they're having a primary, for both Republicans and Democrats. And so on Monday night they had the primary between three Republicans running for this Democrats, seat. And then last night they had five Democrats and they're.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: They had a primary. Did they have a debate?
>> Chris Woodward: Well, they're having a primary debate. The primary. Excuse me. Anyway, the, the three Republicans are all in agreement that what Trump is doing is right here. And then last night the Democrats were like, trump is terrible. This. He's a dictator. so that issue is, being. It was the first question in both debates in Arizona. Hey, what do you think about what's going on in la, which is far away, right from their district here? So it's, it is a national issue. Not only something we're talking about on this show, but even in elections far away from the scene.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I've had all my questions answered.
>> Tim Wildmon: Have you now?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. All right. Have you shared your heart enough?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I've shared some of it. There's more in there, Tim.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You don't want to save it.
>> Tim Wildmon: We don't share your whole heart right now. There'll be time enough for that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. Make sure the whole world can see.
>> Tim Wildmon: What goes on Ed, when the dealing's done, huh? you mean sing the rest of that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Not really.
>> Tim Wildmon: Or leave it to Kenny Rogers?
>> Ed Vitagliano: I didn't even. Which Kenny? The. The. The normal face or the.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, man, I didn't. I, didn't want to get into body shaming. You started that. Tell me Kenny Rogers, the late Kenny Rogers guys passed away.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, man.
>> Tim Wildmon: Talking about, you gotta know.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You gotta know when to let your face just be your face.
>> Tim Wildmon: Gotta know when to close out the hour.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Gotta know when now times and know when to not Botox.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we'll be back in five minutes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Did I say that out, loud?
>> Tim Wildmon: For better or for worse.
>> Ed Vitagliano: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
