Point of View November 25, 2024 – Hour 2 : Trump Administration Expectations

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View. And now, Kirby Anderson.

[00:00:20] Seminary Today, I mentioned on Friday when we had Pena Dexter, Kelly Shackelford in studio.

[00:00:25] Pena Dexter and I were at the 100th anniversary of Dallas Theological Seminary.

[00:00:30] One of the testimonies was from Kelly Shackelford as well, but another testimony came from U.S. Senator Ted Budd.

[00:00:37] And I thought it'd be great for you to hear his story for just a few minutes.

[00:00:40] Individual that has a bachelor's degree, then also he and his wife both attended and graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary.

[00:00:48] He earned a Master of Theology in Educational Leadership.

[00:00:51] Later on, then got a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest.

[00:00:56] Hadn't really not thought about running for office, but then North Carolina's 13th Congressional District

[00:01:03] really opened up in 2016 and served three terms in the U.S. House, then launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina,

[00:01:11] was elected November 8, 2022. Serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee,

[00:01:16] the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee,

[00:01:20] the Senate Health, Education and Labor Pensions Committee,

[00:01:23] as well as the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

[00:01:27] And so we welcome now to the microphone U.S. Senator Ted Budd.

[00:01:31] It is great to have you in the program with us.

[00:01:34] Kirby, it is such an honor to be here.

[00:01:36] I don't, you know, when you would come before chapel years ago,

[00:01:40] this would have been in the mid-90s at Dallas Seminary,

[00:01:43] I was learning from you and I appreciate reconnecting.

[00:01:48] I was just talking about you a day or so ago about how you used to take any question that we could ask

[00:01:53] and handle it with such informed winsomeness.

[00:01:57] And I appreciate what you're still doing today in that very same manner.

[00:02:01] Well, let's talk about your background at Dallas Theological Seminary.

[00:02:06] Oftentimes people say, you know, you're not electing a president, you're not electing a senator, really.

[00:02:11] You're electing them, but you're not really going to candidate for them to be pastors.

[00:02:15] And my joke used to be, well, yes, I recognize that you're not necessarily looking for a pastor,

[00:02:21] but there are a few senators I might actually have teach my Sunday school class.

[00:02:25] I used to say Sam Brownback, now I'll say Ted Budd, because some individuals that serve in Congress,

[00:02:32] either in the Senate or in the House, actually have a seminary degree.

[00:02:35] And what about your experience there at Dallas Theological Seminary?

[00:02:40] It was an amazing experience.

[00:02:41] And what I wanted coming out of Appalachian State University, now I had met my wife who was unbeknownst to me at the time.

[00:02:48] She was at Marshall University in West Virginia.

[00:02:51] We both decided, not knowing each other, through Josh McDowell Ministries to go, you know,

[00:02:58] we had been exposed to them through Campus Crusade at each of our universities,

[00:03:02] went to the Soviet Union and didn't realize it at the time, but it was falling apart beneath our feet in the summer of 1991.

[00:03:11] We started dating, decided to get married, go to Dallas Seminary.

[00:03:15] And it was probably one of the single most formative experiences in both of our lives.

[00:03:20] Great professors, wonderful churches that we were part of.

[00:03:24] And I would imagine, Kirby, there's not been six months of our life where we haven't been back to Dallas

[00:03:29] to either see the campus or see lifelong friends from the area.

[00:03:33] Well, Ted, if you ever can begin to have a little bit of free time, the studio is just kind of north of where the seminary campus is.

[00:03:42] And we'd love to have you in studio sometime if that is working out.

[00:03:45] But I thought, in addition to maybe talking about your background at Dallas Seminary, let's talk about the background of some of these ministries,

[00:03:53] because we've been talking on this program for some time about all of the disasters that have struck North Carolina,

[00:04:01] the storm recovery, the work of Samaritan's Purse, and just the real significant ongoing need that is taking place in your particular state.

[00:04:11] Can you speak to that?

[00:04:13] I sure can.

[00:04:14] And, you know, we went home.

[00:04:16] If you think about the calendar and how that drives either the House or the Senate, this is an election year.

[00:04:22] So they push us all out to our states and our districts to either get reelected or help others get reelected.

[00:04:28] So our calendar was not in Washington.

[00:04:30] And as soon as I got here to North Carolina, the storm hit and completely upended the efforts that I was going to work on behalf of other candidates,

[00:04:39] and it completely focused on the western part of the state.

[00:04:41] Not about politics, but at first it was about recovering and saving lives and making sure people had what they needed,

[00:04:48] making sure that government wasn't in the way as individuals were trying to do rescues.

[00:04:53] And there's 100 counties in North Carolina, and 25 of the western counties were devastated and have emergency declarations.

[00:05:01] It's like nothing I've ever seen.

[00:05:03] We have the beach, flat, sandy area on the eastern part of our state.

[00:05:08] And when you get big rains or hurricanes, it does damage, of course, billions of dollars of damage, but it spreads across fairly evenly and dissipates.

[00:05:17] When it happened here in the mountains of North Carolina, the water would stack upon water and it would hit a bridge, create a dam,

[00:05:25] and then that dam would break by toppling the bridge, and then it would accelerate even faster downhill and then take out the next town or infrastructure.

[00:05:36] So it was like nothing I've ever seen.

[00:05:39] The ground was already saturated by the time Helene got here.

[00:05:43] It was already flooding even before the hurricane, and then a hurricane dumped on top of that.

[00:05:48] In some cases I've heard, not everywhere, but in some cases up to 48 inches of rain.

[00:05:54] Yes.

[00:05:54] And it's not going to take weeks or months.

[00:05:58] It's going to take years to recover.

[00:06:00] And, unfortunately, a lot of dollars as well.

[00:06:02] And my job as a senator is, one, help folks work together, get government out of the way, bring the resources of government at every turn an appropriate possibility.

[00:06:13] In the early days, Kirby, that was the 82nd Airborne National Guard, the 101st Airborne.

[00:06:19] And then groups that were there that are so well-known, like Samaritan's Purse, they're based there.

[00:06:26] I mean, it was the home basically of Billy Graham, whether it was near Asheville, Black Mountain, Swannanoa area,

[00:06:33] or where Franklin lives in Samaritan's Purse up in Boone, where I went to college at App State.

[00:06:40] That was, you know, that may be 100, 150 miles away, but it still did a tremendous amount of damage.

[00:06:46] And Samaritan's Purse, once they were able to get their employees to work, which took a while,

[00:06:51] they were able to come out and really coordinate and just lead with so much skill in the area.

[00:06:58] So I'm grateful for them and local church, volunteer fire departments, Christians helping out Christians.

[00:07:04] It was just amazing to see the body of Christ support one another in a devastated area.

[00:07:09] You know, just recently we were in Augusta, Georgia, because we have a very significant network, the Good News Network there.

[00:07:16] Just all saw the devastation there.

[00:07:18] And then we were in South Carolina.

[00:07:19] Then we came back to Savannah.

[00:07:21] I've not made it to your state recently, but I got a perspective on two things.

[00:07:26] Number one, that saturated soil was knocking all these trees down and people can really understand how such big trees would come down.

[00:07:36] But when you're basically in mud, the trees drop very quickly.

[00:07:40] But then the other that you were talking about, neighbors helping neighbors.

[00:07:44] I sat with one individual said, I wouldn't even have been able to get out my front door if I didn't have a chainsaw.

[00:07:50] So a lot of this has to do with the fact that as much as we appreciate the work of FEMA, and we've certainly talked about some of the controversy surrounding FEMA right now.

[00:07:59] A lot of it just simply comes down to neighbors helping neighbors, groups like Samaritan's Purse or individuals like the Texas Baptist men or whoever that group might be to actually do the things that need to be done even before the federal government shows up.

[00:08:18] I would want to give a great shout out to the Baptist on mission.

[00:08:21] You know, it's been women involved in helping the group as well as far back as when I was at Katrina, just, you know, cutting trees off of roofs as a volunteer myself in 2005 and hammering tarps, those blue Samaritan's Purse tarps, putting them on roofs there in Mississippi and in Louisiana.

[00:08:43] Let's take a break.

[00:08:43] We'll come back and continue our conversation for a few more minutes with U.S. Senator Ted Budd.

[00:08:48] All that coming up right after this.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:02] Donald Trump hasn't even been sworn into office, and yet governors in blue states and the legacy media are already criticizing a deportation program that hasn't even begun.

[00:09:11] Unfortunately, some of the comments aren't merely hostile but grossly inaccurate.

[00:09:15] If we're going to have a worthwhile debate about deportation, then let's get accurate facts on the table.

[00:09:21] First, Tom Holman, the newly designated border czar, has made his three-step process very clear.

[00:09:26] The primary focus will be the deportation of national security threats, with a secondary focus on individuals with a criminal record in this country or their country of origin.

[00:09:36] Second, there are more than 1.2 million people in this country illegally that have had full legal due process and have received a final deportation order from an immigration judge.

[00:09:46] These were numbers from September a year ago.

[00:09:49] The actual numbers may be close to 1.5 million to 1.6 million.

[00:09:54] Byron York points out in an ironic twist, the Trump administration may end up using the Mayorkas memorandum created by the current Secretary of Homeland Security in the Biden administration.

[00:10:04] The memo lays out the rules for deporting illegal immigrants.

[00:10:08] It sets as the first priority the apprehension and removal of non-citizens who are a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security.

[00:10:16] It explains that the first group were terrorists and spies.

[00:10:20] The second group were criminals.

[00:10:21] The third group are those who are a threat to border security.

[00:10:24] These would be immigrants who were apprehended after November 2020.

[00:10:28] Critics are already howling about the possibility of deportations, and the decibels are certain to increase.

[00:10:34] But Americans need to know that these first deportations will be the removal of people most of us don't want in this country.

[00:10:41] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:47] Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:10:53] That's pointofview.net.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:03] A privilege to have you with us for a few more minutes, U.S. Senator Ted Budd from the great state of North Carolina.

[00:11:08] He mentioned Josh McDowell just a minute ago, and I thought I just might mention as a program note,

[00:11:13] on Thursday, which is, of course, Thanksgiving Day, we're going to replay the interviews I've done with Pastor Jack Hibbs the first hour

[00:11:20] and with Dr. Sean McDowell, who's the son of Josh McDowell, the second hour.

[00:11:23] So in case you would like to listen to Point of View on Thanksgiving Day, those are some of the interviews coming up.

[00:11:30] But, Ted, for just a minute, I thought we might talk about some of these appointments,

[00:11:35] of which I've got a long and growing list that have been put forward by President-elect Donald Trump.

[00:11:41] I think he's wanted to flood the zone, and except for the withdrawal of Matt Gaetz,

[00:11:46] most of these individuals look like they probably will indeed be confirmed.

[00:11:51] But I'd love to get your thoughts about that.

[00:11:54] We were supposed to have a guest this hour to talk about that.

[00:11:56] He's going to join us tomorrow.

[00:11:57] So I guess we're switching from where you were yesterday and today and tomorrow.

[00:12:02] We're going to put some of those together.

[00:12:04] And I know later in the week we're going to be talking with Scott Coulter about some of these appointments.

[00:12:09] But what are your thoughts so far as you are beginning to get a very good sense of what Donald Trump wants to put in his cabinet?

[00:12:17] What do you know about some of these individuals?

[00:12:20] So I was able to be in the transition room at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday night and able to see how they set it up.

[00:12:27] And it was just so well organized to see the laptops, the flat-screen TVs,

[00:12:34] how they would present the material and go from eight candidates to four to two to one and come up with the final.

[00:12:41] And if there's a case of a withdrawal, like Matt Gaetz, who was a colleague of mine in the House, by the way,

[00:12:47] they can tee up the second in line.

[00:12:49] In this case, Pam Bondi, which she'll do absolutely wonderful.

[00:12:53] I know Pam.

[00:12:54] I know many of these candidates.

[00:12:55] I know Scott Besant.

[00:12:57] I think these are highly qualified individuals.

[00:13:00] Sometimes it leans more towards the composite.

[00:13:04] It's going to be more about loyalty.

[00:13:05] Sometimes it's going to be more about somebody who has deep expertise.

[00:13:11] Either way, they're going to put great folks around them that aren't about business as usual.

[00:13:16] They know that we need to focus on lethality and being a credible threat to hostile nations when it comes to our military.

[00:13:24] They know we have too much debt.

[00:13:26] We're paying more on our interests than we are on our whole defense,

[00:13:29] and that's a very dangerous place for a nation to be.

[00:13:32] These are very, very skilled individuals who have success in their own right.

[00:13:36] And, by the way, if there's any questions about these individuals,

[00:13:39] they are going to come before the appropriate Senate committees.

[00:13:43] I'm going to be interviewing some of these candidates, the ones that come under my jurisdiction,

[00:13:48] and there will be some good conversations.

[00:13:50] We'll ask tough questions and see if we can get a majority of the committee votes,

[00:13:55] pass them on to the floor, and on from there.

[00:13:57] Well, let's see if we can talk about it since you're on the Armed Services Committee.

[00:14:00] John Ratcliffe, of course, I suspect you served with him in the House as CIA Director.

[00:14:05] Pete Higseth, who is actually one of the individuals that spoke for us at the Point of View banquet as Defense Secretary,

[00:14:11] I would think they are going to get some tough questions simply because we are very concerned about the foreign policy

[00:14:18] and really the situation we find around the world right now in terms of defense and in terms of intelligence.

[00:14:24] What are your thoughts about those two individuals?

[00:14:27] Well, probably one of the most dangerous intersections in the world.

[00:14:30] I'm not sure how you see it, but that's how I see it.

[00:14:32] I've traveled the world with the Senate and met with leaders.

[00:14:35] And I tell you what, there's a great cost to being weak as a nation.

[00:14:40] And we've done this to ourselves, and it's hurt not only us, it's hurt our allies around the world.

[00:14:45] So when we're strong, we have a safer country ourselves, and it's safer for the rest of the world.

[00:14:50] John Ratcliffe, he's a great Texan.

[00:14:52] He's a great member of Congress.

[00:14:54] I had the privilege of serving with him for four years, I believe.

[00:14:57] And then he was DNI already under Trump, so he knows the intelligence apparatus.

[00:15:01] He was a FISA judge, I believe, before that.

[00:15:05] So he knows the legalities of intelligence.

[00:15:08] He's very skilled.

[00:15:09] And I look forward to that will go before the House and the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.

[00:15:16] Pete Hegstaff, he'll go before my Armed Services Committee.

[00:15:20] We'll have a good conversation about his military history, whether or not he has the capability to do the job.

[00:15:29] There's been questions about any challenges and folks that were concerned about his past.

[00:15:36] We'll ask those questions, and we'll see how they have an effect.

[00:15:39] I'm sure all these folks will be background checked.

[00:15:42] But, again, he's been cleared.

[00:15:44] We'll ask questions about it and see if he can get the majority of the votes in the House, excuse me,

[00:15:50] and the Senate and then on to the Senate floor for a full vote.

[00:15:53] One other one I thought I might get into is, of course, you mentioned the immigration.

[00:15:57] My commentary today has to do with deportations.

[00:16:00] I quote from Tom Holman.

[00:16:01] It won't necessarily have to be confirmed, but you have the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.

[00:16:05] And, again, these are issues that the American people voted on.

[00:16:10] Immigration, inflation, the two I's, seem to be really big issues right now.

[00:16:14] And I think those are going to be ones where we need a great deal of scrutiny, don't you think?

[00:16:20] Well, the whole campaign was about two things.

[00:16:22] It was about Americans feeling that things are unaffordable and that they're unsafe.

[00:16:26] Unaffordable has to do with inflation, whether that's housing, whether that's fuel or diesel for your truck or your car,

[00:16:32] whether it's clothes for kids.

[00:16:34] And unsafe, it might be walking across a shopping center parking lot.

[00:16:37] It might be at the border, you know, whether you're in Arizona or a big border state like Texas where you are.

[00:16:43] People feel unsafe.

[00:16:44] You know, we're 1,000 miles away here in North Carolina, and we feel like every county here is now a border county because of Biden's policies.

[00:16:52] So people are tired of this.

[00:16:53] And we've got some good candidates in there.

[00:16:55] Kristi Noem, she's been a strong governor in South Dakota, and I think she'll do a great job running this administration, the Homeland Security part.

[00:17:03] Again, she'll have to go before the committee.

[00:17:06] She'll do a great job of that.

[00:17:07] She'll be well prepared.

[00:17:08] But she's smart, and she knows most of these people that will be on that committee.

[00:17:12] And I had a chance to serve with her in the U.S. House before she was governor as well.

[00:17:17] Well, now, the thought is, since we were talking about foreign policy, of course, Marco Rubio, you served with him, Secretary of State.

[00:17:22] But one that I thought I'd also get your thoughts about, because I was going to talk with our guest about that, and I will tomorrow,

[00:17:29] the first non-Jewish ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

[00:17:34] And I suspect, of course, you know both of those individuals pretty well.

[00:17:39] Well, of course, and I've had a chance to work a lot with his daughter on the campaign trail, and she's an impressive governor herself.

[00:17:46] Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing a great job in Arkansas.

[00:17:49] I did not see that coming with Mike Huckabee.

[00:17:52] He's going to do a wonderful job in Israel.

[00:17:54] But, again, these are not business-as-usual individuals.

[00:17:57] These are people that believe in the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

[00:18:02] And that's our greatest ally in the Middle East.

[00:18:05] It's the only democracy in the Middle East and a great force for peace and stability in the region.

[00:18:09] And I think that everything that Governor Huckabee will do, and then Special Envoy now,

[00:18:15] will do a great job to bring about more of a strong relationship,

[00:18:20] will restore anything that's been damaged since October 7, 2023,

[00:18:25] and will really help to revitalize the region.

[00:18:27] Well, and I love your line, I didn't see it coming.

[00:18:29] Neither did Mike Huckabee, because he's told the story on himself that he is just minding his own business on Tuesday.

[00:18:36] The phone, his phone goes off, and he looks at it and says,

[00:18:39] that's not a number I recognize, and so I pick it up, and it's Donald Trump.

[00:18:43] And he said, now, Donald Trump is not one for small talk, so he goes right into it.

[00:18:46] He says, Mike, I want you to be the ambassador to Israel.

[00:18:49] And so then people are saying, what does that mean?

[00:18:51] He says, I have no idea that he and Janet are trying to figure out what that means right now

[00:18:56] in terms of his television show and all the rest.

[00:18:58] So sometimes even the individuals didn't see it coming.

[00:19:02] But just before we wind down for today,

[00:19:04] I wanted to maybe get your thoughts about how we can encourage you

[00:19:08] and most importantly support for you,

[00:19:09] because indeed I wanted people to know more about your background,

[00:19:13] and certainly we hope you can be on the program in the future.

[00:19:17] And if you're ever in Dallas, let us know, because we'd love to get you in the studio.

[00:19:20] But how can we pray for you as an individual in the United States Senate

[00:19:23] having to go through all the confirmations here?

[00:19:26] And I believe we're going to run out of money December 20th,

[00:19:30] so we're going to have to pass some kind of appropriation.

[00:19:32] So there's a couple things on your bingo card before we even get into January, right?

[00:19:38] We certainly do.

[00:19:39] I always take the opportunity to ask for wisdom in all of these.

[00:19:43] And then leadership, not just in the state, but also among peers,

[00:19:46] because it takes either a majority or 60 votes to do what we do.

[00:19:51] And also continuing to work with my House colleagues and those in the state,

[00:19:55] for us in Raleigh in this case, to help those in Western North Carolina.

[00:20:00] And we always like to keep the main thing the main thing.

[00:20:03] If my personal disciplines stay rigorous, if I'm in the Word, if I'm in prayer

[00:20:08] and taking care of my family, then I'm able to take care of North Carolina

[00:20:12] and our country.

[00:20:13] So if I keep the Lord as a priority and walk in His Spirit,

[00:20:18] then the rest seems to take care of itself, even though it's still a lot of work.

[00:20:23] Yeah.

[00:20:23] U.S. Senator Ted Budd, let me just mention we have a link, of course,

[00:20:26] to his website, budd.senate.gov.

[00:20:28] We also have a link to both his Twitter or X post as well as Facebook.

[00:20:34] It's all available at our website at pointofview.net,

[00:20:37] in case you want to contact him or certainly find out a little bit more

[00:20:40] about some of the things he's going to be working on.

[00:20:43] And I would encourage you to pray for all the senators

[00:20:45] as they look at some of these very important confirmations that need to take place.

[00:20:49] So Senator Ted Budd, a delight to have you on the program,

[00:20:52] and I look forward to a future opportunity.

[00:20:55] Thanks, Kirby.

[00:20:56] Let's take a break.

[00:20:57] And when we come back, let's get into a couple of other issues.

[00:20:59] I hope you appreciated that conversation.

[00:21:01] And if you can do what you can to encourage any person that is in elective office,

[00:21:07] whether you agree with them or not, we are to pray for those in authority,

[00:21:11] and that is certainly the case.

[00:21:13] But in this space, I think it might be encouraging to hear from an individual

[00:21:17] that not only has a good business background but a seminary background as well.

[00:21:22] Pretty unique individual.

[00:21:23] We'll take a break.

[00:21:24] Come back with more right after this.

[00:21:30] In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle,

[00:21:35] not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas.

[00:21:39] London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism,

[00:21:43] and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon.

[00:21:47] London was in many ways the center of the world economically, militarily, and intellectually.

[00:21:53] Marx sought to destroy religion, the family, and everything the Bible supports.

[00:21:59] Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers.

[00:22:04] Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth.

[00:22:08] It is truth for all of life.

[00:22:10] Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today?

[00:22:15] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox

[00:22:20] when you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net.

[00:22:27] Every weekday in less than two minutes, you'll learn how to be a person of light to stand against darkness in our time.

[00:22:34] It's free, so visit pointofview.net slash sign up right now.

[00:22:40] Pointofview.net slash sign up.

[00:22:47] Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:57] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:02] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:09] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:13] Back for the final half hour, let me just mention as a program note that tomorrow we're going to talk about caregiving.

[00:23:18] And then I think we'll be able to get Jordan Sekulow on.

[00:23:21] He was not able to be with us today, so we'll get his evaluation of some of these Cabinet appointments and confirmation ahead.

[00:23:29] And it was good to kind of get behind the scenes from Senator Ted Budd about what will be taking place,

[00:23:34] and we'll look more at that as the day unfolds.

[00:23:38] I thought I'd also mention, since we were talking about the number of Christians in the Cabinet,

[00:23:42] certainly we just talked about Mike Huckabee as a pastor in the Cabinet.

[00:23:47] Another pastor in the Cabinet is Scott Turner.

[00:23:50] He will be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

[00:23:54] You might remember the previous secretary for HUD under Donald Trump, and that was Ben Carson.

[00:24:00] And, matter of fact, when Ben Carson was with us at the dinner, I asked him if he had real interest in getting back into the political realm.

[00:24:09] And he just reminded me that he wasn't really planning on it the first time.

[00:24:13] But after he had spoken at that national prayer breakfast and asked people what people might think he should do,

[00:24:20] they said he should run for the presidency.

[00:24:21] It was really not on his list of things to do.

[00:24:25] But Rand was not elected, obviously, but was very well loved and then was appointed by Donald Trump to be the HUD secretary.

[00:24:32] And one of the individuals that has worked with him is Scott Turner.

[00:24:36] Scott Turner is also a pastor.

[00:24:37] He's been the associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church.

[00:24:41] Before that, he had actually served in the Texas legislature, even ran for Speaker of the House.

[00:24:46] And for those of you that know football, he was really one of the fastest people out there on defense when he played in the NFL.

[00:24:55] And, matter of fact, if you've ever heard his story, was it, I think I've got it right, 20 years for 4 seconds, or 4.2 seconds, something like that,

[00:25:05] all the years he worked to try to, when he came to combine, the football combine, running one of the fastest speeds,

[00:25:13] and thus was able to be drafted in the NFL.

[00:25:16] It's a fascinating story.

[00:25:17] But anyway, a lot of people here that we've heard of, some we've interviewed.

[00:25:22] It's a long list, and so we'll see how that unfolds.

[00:25:25] But it is kind of interesting to have pastors like Mike Huckabee or Scott Turner that are actually most likely going to serve in the cabinet,

[00:25:33] and many others that we can identify.

[00:25:35] And so that is certainly the case.

[00:25:37] We'll get into more of that with Scott Sekulow, as well as with Scott Coulter.

[00:25:43] He is with the Danbury Institute.

[00:25:46] And I heard about him recently on another talk show and thought, well, I need to get him on, first of all,

[00:25:52] because of his own background as an individual that's looking at these issues from a Christian point of view,

[00:25:57] and second of all, because of his ability to kind of explain what some of these different cabinets do

[00:26:03] and what their responsibilities are.

[00:26:04] So we're going to spend some time talking about that with him on Wednesday.

[00:26:09] And then, of course, as I just mentioned, Thursday we will have a repeat program,

[00:26:15] an interview I did with Pastor Jack Hibbs, an interview I did with Dr. Sean McDowell,

[00:26:20] then Friday Terry Crisp and Pastor Bruce Miller, and then we will be back live on Monday.

[00:26:26] And, of course, I mentioned Jack Graham.

[00:26:28] He's the senior pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church and all sorts of other individuals I think you're going to enjoy hearing from.

[00:26:35] But my commentary today, let's just mention that real quickly, is on the issue of deportations.

[00:26:40] Of course, one of those people that has been put forward by Donald Trump is a man by the name of Tom Homan.

[00:26:47] He is the newly designated border czar.

[00:26:50] And, of course, he does make some pretty strong statements,

[00:26:55] which have been responded to by different mayors in blue cities and governors in blue states primarily.

[00:27:06] And yet, if I would try to at least encourage you to do a little bit of research

[00:27:12] and maybe try to inject a little bit of facts in the midst of a lot of hyperbole out there,

[00:27:18] it is the fact that even though Donald Trump hasn't even been sworn into office,

[00:27:23] we have some of these governors, some of these mayors,

[00:27:26] some of the people in the legacy media criticizing the deportation that is not going to take place

[00:27:32] because he's made it very clear that there's kind of a three-step process.

[00:27:36] And the primary focus, first of all, will be the deportation of national security threats.

[00:27:41] And as Tom Homan said the other day, when people say,

[00:27:45] I want to protect our residents,

[00:27:47] Yeah, but you're talking about protecting individuals who we know are national security threats.

[00:27:55] These have been deemed to be such.

[00:27:57] Then a secondary focus will be on individuals with a criminal record,

[00:28:02] either in this country or in their home country of origin or both.

[00:28:07] And again, do you want those criminals walking the streets?

[00:28:10] I don't think most people do.

[00:28:12] And the other issue is we've had this incredible backlog that has taken place.

[00:28:18] The best estimates were a year ago about 1.2 million people in this country who are here illegally,

[00:28:26] who have gone through a full legal due process and have actually received a final deportation order from an immigration judge.

[00:28:36] It's time to go.

[00:28:38] My argument is, although a lot of people disagree with me, so I recognize I may be a loner out there,

[00:28:44] that once it's very obvious that some of these people are going to be deported,

[00:28:49] that a fair number of these people might self-deport rather than face the embarrassment,

[00:28:55] face the difficulty of being picked up.

[00:28:59] If you know sooner or later you're going to get picked up,

[00:29:02] don't you think you'd want to pick up with all your belongings and maybe even any resources you might have

[00:29:10] and then self-deport rather than just be snatched off of a worksite or off the street or in a home?

[00:29:18] I mean, just think about why I think some people would do that.

[00:29:21] And again, if you think that number 1.2 million is a large number,

[00:29:25] recognize that was from September a year ago.

[00:29:28] So here we are now December almost in 2024, certainly the end of November right now, November 25th.

[00:29:37] And so most people estimate that number is probably closer to about 1.5 million, maybe even 1.6 million.

[00:29:44] So we're talking about people that it's time for them to go.

[00:29:48] But then in the commentary, I also point out, and this comes from our friend Byron York,

[00:29:52] who writes for a variety of columns, including, of course, the Washington Enterprise and some of the others.

[00:29:59] But he talks about the fact that they probably will be following what's called the Mayorkas Memorandum.

[00:30:05] And that actually was developed by the current head of or the Secretary of Homeland Security

[00:30:12] and the Biden administration.

[00:30:13] And again, it has the same three-step process.

[00:30:16] The first is the apprehension and removal of noncitizens who are a threat to our national security,

[00:30:22] public safety, and border security.

[00:30:24] And then it goes through the first group are terrorists and spies.

[00:30:27] Second group are criminals.

[00:30:28] And the third are those who are a threat to border security.

[00:30:31] And that has to do with immigrants who were apprehended after November 2020.

[00:30:36] So again, in most cases, we are talking about individuals who I think the average American citizen

[00:30:44] would not want to be in this country.

[00:30:47] And so when you hear the hue and cry and the outrage and all the rest,

[00:30:52] it's talking about something that has not happened, may not even happen anytime soon,

[00:30:57] and as just an attempt to try to confuse the American citizens and even the future voters

[00:31:05] into having some kind of outrage.

[00:31:08] I obviously have said on this program before, the first time a bus full of people that are here illegally on a bus

[00:31:16] being transported on a bus across the border or being put, for example, on a plane to fly to their host country,

[00:31:25] you're going to have two things.

[00:31:26] First of all, there's going to be the natural outrage that you will hear from certain voices,

[00:31:30] which we've already identified.

[00:31:31] And number two, I think you're going to have some that say, well, they're really serious about this.

[00:31:36] Maybe I need to deport myself.

[00:31:38] So we'll see where that happens.

[00:31:40] Since we were talking with Senator Ted Budd, one of the other articles I've posted for you to read is by Dan McLaughlin.

[00:31:49] Republicans' good night in the Senate should have been great.

[00:31:53] And that is, I think we can now conclude that Republicans have 53 members of the United States Senate.

[00:32:01] So that gives them obviously a majority.

[00:32:03] But Dan McLaughlin says, you know what?

[00:32:06] Could have been at least three or four more, maybe four.

[00:32:10] That 57 is a lot different than 53.

[00:32:14] So first of all, he starts out by saying, was it the best of times or the worst of times?

[00:32:18] Republicans exceeded expectations by adding four seats, three of them by defeating incumbent Democrats.

[00:32:24] But an additional four victories would have given them the largest Senate caucus since the 1920s.

[00:32:30] And then he goes through talking about what was happening in Montana, in Ohio, and a variety of other places in that regard.

[00:32:38] And then reminds us, of course, of Dave McCormick unseating Bob Casey and a number of other situations like that.

[00:32:46] But then reminds us that there were certain individuals.

[00:32:49] And he focuses on a couple, whether it's Lake and Brown and a few others that fit into that category.

[00:32:56] Could have been different.

[00:32:57] But in the end, simply says, in 2025, having a three-seat majority rather than a seven-seat majority may significantly affect Trump's capacity to get controversial cabinet picks confirmed.

[00:33:11] But also looking ahead, in 2026, Republicans will be defending Susan Collins in a blue Maine, Tom Tillis in a purple North Carolina,

[00:33:21] plus Iowa, Texas, Kansas, and special elections in Ohio and Florida.

[00:33:26] So as good as it was, it could have been better.

[00:33:31] And if you'd like to read about that, maybe there's some lessons to be learned for an upcoming election.

[00:33:37] It's on our website at pointofview.net.

[00:33:40] Let's take a break.

[00:33:40] We have more to cover right after this.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:01] Back for a few more comments before we call it a day here on Monday.

[00:34:05] And again, if you want to find some of the articles that I'm quoting from, they're available at the website pointofview.net.

[00:34:11] If you'd like to know a little bit more about our two guests talking about worship or about Senator Ted Budd, that's on our website as well.

[00:34:18] And one last article I thought I would mention looks at a hot spot that we don't talk about very often.

[00:34:24] You know, when we talk about hot spots around the world, we talk about Ukraine.

[00:34:29] We usually, of course, talk about the Middle East.

[00:34:31] And then sometimes we talk about China.

[00:34:33] But there's another one that I don't want to ignore, and that is Latin America, Central America and Latin America.

[00:34:39] And that has to do with this very important piece about what is called the Trump effect.

[00:34:46] Latin America's dictatorships are already panicking.

[00:34:49] Now, that's not good news for the people living there.

[00:34:53] But nevertheless, it's something to talk about.

[00:34:56] The Trump effect we've already talked about in terms of all of a sudden, you know, Vladimir Putin wants to talk with Donald Trump.

[00:35:03] All of a sudden, Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran want to talk with Donald Trump.

[00:35:08] And China wants to talk with Donald Trump.

[00:35:09] He's not even elected yet.

[00:35:10] But the Trump effect also is working south of the border.

[00:35:15] And this, in this particular article by Arturo McField says,

[00:35:20] In Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro's dictatorship is releasing political prisoners.

[00:35:26] In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and his wife passed a radical constitutional reform consolidating their power.

[00:35:34] And in Cuba, the regime is amplifying its repression and surveillance over its citizens.

[00:35:40] He comes to the conclusion that the autocrats are in panic mode.

[00:35:44] And this is because Donald Trump, president-elect, has announced that he will promote what we've heard before, peace through strength,

[00:35:53] which is a strategy that Ronald Reagan implemented as part of his foreign policy.

[00:35:58] And so let's look at those three examples.

[00:36:01] Nicolas Maduro, right there in Venezuela, first of all, congratulated Trump on his victory,

[00:36:08] praised the civility of U.S. citizens, and is begging for a dialogue.

[00:36:14] Isn't that interesting?

[00:36:15] With almost 2,000 political prisoners, this individual who was anointed by Hugo Chavez is now looking for clemency.

[00:36:23] So isn't it interesting there what might unfold?

[00:36:27] Then we move from Venezuela to Nicaragua.

[00:36:30] Daniel Ortega, how many times have we said that name in the last three decades here at Point of View,

[00:36:36] is in fear mode, he says.

[00:36:39] His police state's espionage activities have been redoubled at all levels, inside and outside of his party.

[00:36:46] He's banishing priests, musicians, and anyone who dares to speak his mind.

[00:36:51] And that, I think, is one of those concerns that we should pay attention to as well.

[00:36:57] And then finally, we come to Cuba, which has also responded to fear with more repression.

[00:37:03] The regime, with about 1,200 political prisoners and 65 years in power, knows that bitter days are coming ahead.

[00:37:12] And part of that has to do with the fact that Marco Rubio is a son of a Cuban migrant.

[00:37:19] Might also mention that so is Senator Ted Cruz.

[00:37:23] And that means some things that aren't necessarily positive for Cuba.

[00:37:28] Because you have, first of all, Marco Rubio, who will be the Secretary of State.

[00:37:34] And then you have Michael Waltz, who will be also what's called the National Security Advisor.

[00:37:41] And as a result, those two individuals, he says, would be nightmares for the dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

[00:37:51] They'll put the abuses of these dictatorships on Trump's agenda.

[00:37:55] And let's not forget that that is one of the reasons we're dealing with such mass migration.

[00:38:01] Because of the repression of some of these regimes.

[00:38:05] So for those of you that maybe have a Hispanic background, maybe you have family in Central America, all of Latin America,

[00:38:14] or you would like to know a little bit more, this goes on for about three pages,

[00:38:18] of why this is changing kind of the nature of what is happening in some of these countries.

[00:38:25] And once again, just illustrates why we certainly need to pay attention to that as well.

[00:38:30] Just before we go, though, I thought I'd end with a comment that maybe is relevant to a commentary that aired on this program on Wednesday.

[00:38:41] We talked about election security.

[00:38:43] We, of course, the week before, had done an interview with Hans von Spakowski,

[00:38:48] in which when he's been asked about the state of election integrity, his response is,

[00:38:54] well, we're in better shape nationally, you think?

[00:38:56] I think that's true.

[00:38:58] But it still depends on which state you live in.

[00:39:01] Because, first of all, some states don't have as good of election integrity laws.

[00:39:06] And even if they have some, some of the state attorneys general or secretaries of state sometimes don't enforce those laws.

[00:39:14] And he points out, and in the interview pointed out, and I point out in my commentary last Wednesday,

[00:39:19] which would be November 20, if you'd like to read it again, that they have this election integrity scorecard,

[00:39:26] which he used to analyze all 50 states in the District of Columbia, and no state got 100%.

[00:39:34] Some did pretty well, but interestingly enough, there were still need.

[00:39:39] And I think it's a reminder of that.

[00:39:40] And so I thought for just a minute we've called out different states.

[00:39:45] Today we'll call out California because Matt Vespa reminded us that as recently as just about a week or two ago,

[00:39:53] we were still counting ballots in California.

[00:39:58] Now, again, it might have just been one of those.

[00:40:01] Lake County, California only had 30% of the ballots tabulated according to, what was that, November 15th?

[00:40:08] Okay, so that was 10 days ago.

[00:40:10] But, again, you had some of these individuals that were saying in Lake County that they had only tabulated 30% of the votes.

[00:40:19] Then you had somebody else just the other day, just a few days ago, say California still has 459,192 ballots left to process.

[00:40:30] Now, of course, in this case, it didn't really affect the presidential election.

[00:40:34] It might have affected some of the various local elections, could have even affected election to the Assembly or to the Senate.

[00:40:42] But it's just ridiculous.

[00:40:44] I think almost all of us now, after two weeks after the election, still counting ballots, something is seriously wrong.

[00:40:53] And, of course, I can pick out other states as well.

[00:40:57] But California, you would think, would be willing to try to do the same kind of efficient job that Florida did.

[00:41:04] Because, as we pointed out on Friday with Pennedexter and Kelly Shackelford, what was kind of an eyesore in Florida in 2000,

[00:41:14] those of you that are old enough to remember the hanging chads,

[00:41:17] or to remember some of the counting that went on again and again,

[00:41:21] or more recently some of the counting into the late nights there in Pennsylvania.

[00:41:27] And the question as to whether or not Dave McCormick was going to be the United States Senator from Pennsylvania

[00:41:34] just illustrates that we have more work to be done.

[00:41:37] So as some of these state legislatures convene once again, it's time to get with the program.

[00:41:44] We're in the 21st century.

[00:41:47] When I go to an ATM machine, I don't have to wait more than a few seconds for it to recognize who I am

[00:41:54] and for it to give me the money that's in my account.

[00:41:57] And yet we live in a world that you would think we're still going to tellers in a bank

[00:42:02] and people have to check a lot of records and look it all up and write it all down before they give you your money.

[00:42:08] It does seem to me that in the 21st century, we should be able to count these votes.

[00:42:15] Florida was able to turn that around.

[00:42:18] I think it's time for some of these other states, and I'm looking at you, California, to turn this around as well.

[00:42:24] Well, that's all we have for today.

[00:42:26] I know that Jordan Sekulow couldn't be with us today, so hopefully everything will work out.

[00:42:30] He can be with us tomorrow.

[00:42:31] All during the week, we're going to try to focus on some of these cabinet picks.

[00:42:35] You'll learn a little bit more about them, and as we will even talk about on Wednesday, what do some of these people do?

[00:42:41] Oh, that's a question Elon Musk and Vivek Rameshwamy are going to ask as well.

[00:42:46] So we'll get into all of that as well.

[00:42:48] If you'd like to read some of the material that we've been able to put online, it's available for you 24-7,

[00:42:54] so go to the website, pointofview.net.

[00:42:57] Click on that banner that says Giving Tuesday just around the corner,

[00:43:00] and your financial support can help us bring this program to you.

[00:43:03] I want to thank Megan for her help engineering the program.

[00:43:06] Steve, thank you for producing the program.

[00:43:08] We'll see you back here tomorrow right here on Point of View.

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