Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to us on this Monday, October 19, 2026. I'm Tim Wildmon, and thank you for listening to AFR. Joining me in the studio today is Ed Vitagliano. Good morning, Ed.

Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim.

Tim Wildmon: And Fred Jackson. Good morning to you. We hope everybody had a nice weekend. Did you guys have a nice weekend?

Fred Jackson: I had a wonderful weekend. It was really nice to be outside and be comfortable. I take advantage of this time of year. Fall is my favorite time of the year. It always has been. As a New Englander, this was always my favorite time because of all the foliage. It was football season, you start to put on sweaters. It is good.

Tim Wildmon: It's a great time to be alive.

Fred Jackson: Better than dead.

Tim Wildmon: All right. Although I've got to tell you, I'm just tired of seeing the horror movies advertised.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, me too.

Tim Wildmon: Every day. I never liked horror movies, but they're advertised all the time as you get around this time of year.

Fred Jackson: Every night.

Tim Wildmon: Speaking of horror movies, we had one press secretary.

Ed Vitagliano: Oh, man. I hardly knew ye. Bless her heart.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I didn't. We were having our show prep meeting this morning, and I was going, like, you hadn't even had time to learn her name.

Ed Vitagliano: I did not know her name.

Tim Wildmon: Katie Zachariah.

Ed Vitagliano: Okay, Katie Zachariah. She'll be a trivia question now, right? Who was the shortest presidential press secretary in history?

Tim Wildmon: And her name is?

Ed Vitagliano: Katie Zachariah.

Tim Wildmon: Listen, nobody remembers. One week.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, nobody. I'm not laughing because it's funny what happened to her.

Tim Wildmon: Okay, it's not funny.

Ed Vitagliano: It's tragic, quite frankly. But on the question of who hired her, I was texting with some friends about her first press conference at the White House. They were saying it was cringeworthy. It was really bad.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Ed Vitagliano: She was in over her head. She lasted how long?

Tim Wildmon: She lasted five days. A week ago, she had her initial appearance there. The press had gathered, and that room at the White House was full of media because it was her first day. People were talking about it, and they expected a high degree of performance. It didn't work out that way.

She came out, and the media calls it the topper. That's when the White House spokesperson comes out and has a little statement to make about what the president is up to, kind of the itinerary or agenda for the day.

Ed Vitagliano: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Katie Zachariah came out and read that word for word. “The president is out there campaigning.” I was sitting there thinking, “Oh, no. This is not good.”

Then Katie Zachariah had a list. Remember there was a previous White House spokesperson who had a list of reporters they were going to go to, and we thought that was bad. I think we were critical of it at the time.

Ed Vitagliano: Karine Jean-Pierre.

Tim Wildmon: Yes. Katie started to go to, “I'm picking this reporter,” then she looked down. “I'm picking this reporter,” and she looked down. “I'm picking this reporter.” It lasted about twelve minutes, and then she said, “We have to go because the president is heading out to Marine One to take off for a campaign stop somewhere.”

Well, immediately there was a reaction in the media. “Oh, this is good. This is terrible.” Conservatives were reacting to it.

Then I think it was on Thursday night that Hannity on Fox News interviewed Katie Zachariah live. One of our colleagues here said it was an execution. It was that bad.

Ed Vitagliano: I think it's okay to say Hannity likes the Trump administration.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah.

Ed Vitagliano: You couldn't have found a more friendly venue for her to go on.

Tim Wildmon: Yes, but it didn't turn out that way for Katie. It was merciless.

Ed Vitagliano: There was a problem. I mean, Hannity was merciless?

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yes.

Ed Vitagliano: In a realistic way, because what we learned about Katie was that she was calling herself a lawyer, but she had never taken the bar exam after graduation. That was one of the things the media picked up on. Hannity went at her. Why did you say that you were a lawyer?

Then President Trump, on the rope line on Friday, on his way out to another campaign stop, indicated where this was going. He said he had had a conversation with Katie before going to the rope line and heading for Marine One. This is what the president had to say.

Donald Trump: I said to her, honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You ought to think about it, but I would reconsider. You've got a beautiful husband and family. I met the family yesterday, beautiful kids, like from a picture postcard. And I said, you should reconsider because you don't want to go through what you're going to go through.

Tim Wildmon: So why didn't you tell her that before she got the job?

Ed Vitagliano: I know.

Tim Wildmon: This is not a huge deal in terms of the stuff that's going on around the world, but in terms of what this looks like, this is on the administration. I doubt it falls on President Trump. Surely he has people who pick these kinds of folks, and he may meet them, as he obviously did to make that comment in the scrum. But somebody should have known she was not up to the task here.

You don't take somebody fresh out of high school and throw them into a starting quarterback position on the college level, or when you get to the professional level. Somebody should have known. Surely they had practice runs and could tell that she was not going to be able to do it.

Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, but she's blonde and pretty.

Tim Wildmon: Well, that makes you notice her. Do you think that had anything to do with it?

Ed Vitagliano: Well, it seems like that has to be one of the reasons. I used to get that all the time. “You got this job because you're good-looking. You look like Brad Pitt.” And I said, “No, it's because of my brain and my abilities.” So I know what it's like to deal with that, to be objectified. Don't you, Tim?

Tim Wildmon: I do, and so I feel bad for her. I know she's probably thinking, “I only got hired because of” you know.

Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, she's probably smarter than me, but she wasn't smart enough for this job. Carolyn Levitt just set the standard. She was a rock star. It's unfair to follow somebody and put them up against someone of that caliber, but you have to be able to do better than that.

Tim Wildmon: So who's next? Who's going to be the press secretary? Whoever is going to be the press secretary or the president is going to be dealing with the election coming up, then perhaps the Democrats taking over the House, and who knows about the Senate. It's going to be a very adversarial environment. It's a big job ahead.

Ed Vitagliano: I bet they do their homework this time in the administration, whoever picks the next one.

Tim Wildmon: Can you get Carolyn Levitt to come back?

Ed Vitagliano: I don't think so.

Tim Wildmon: I'd double her pay. Whatever it takes. Here's your check. You fill it in and come back. Just do three days a week or something like that.

Ed Vitagliano: Anyway, we'll see what happens with the next pick.

Tim Wildmon: I am sorry to hear about you being objectified.

Ed Vitagliano: It was earlier. It was a few years ago.

Tim Wildmon: I'm just saying, you're not over it.

Ed Vitagliano: I don't like it.

Tim Wildmon: I know how it is for people to say that. It's hurtful.

Ed Vitagliano: I won't talk about it anymore.

Tim Wildmon: I don't blame you. I'd rather move on. Good luck and God bless Katie Zachariah. She's got young kids to raise. I think she has three or four kids.

Ed Vitagliano: I guess so.

Tim Wildmon: All right. Next story for Ed.

Ed Vitagliano: A couple of big stories out of the Canadian province of Alberta. A very tragic story first from Canadian Forces Base Wainwright. It's about 130 miles southeast of Edmonton, the capital of that province.

On Saturday afternoon, there were a bunch of soldiers there. It's one of the big army bases in Canada. They were doing an exercise on the base, and apparently there was a small grass fire nearby. The military people did not think it was any threat to the soldiers who were on this training exercise.

There was a huge gust of wind, about sixty miles an hour, that took the flames into a wooded area of the base, and that fire just took off. In ten seconds it was a little grass fire, and thirty seconds later, this huge fire erupted.

Very sadly, four soldiers lost their lives. At least thirty-nine have been sent to the hospital, and nineteen of those are said to be in critical condition. Needless to say, an investigation is going on, but this is one of the largest losses of life on a Canadian Forces base in recent history.

All of this is happening as the people of Alberta are voting today on an initial step to possibly separate from the rest of Canada.

Alberta is Canada's Texas. It is rich in oil and gas. In fact, it has the fourth-largest deposits of oil and gas in the world. The folks in Alberta are fairly conservative in their politics. They have believed for a long time that they are giving more to Canada than the federal government is giving back to them.

There is a fairly large contingent there voting today on an initial referendum about whether to have a formal vote on separating from the rest of Canada.

The prime minister of Canada, Carney, has been busy trying to encourage the people there not to separate. Interestingly enough, the province's premier, Danielle Smith, has also encouraged people not to vote to separate. What she's interested in is getting a better deal, for instance, on oil and gas. One of the proposals is to build a big pipeline to the west coast of Canada so that Alberta can open up its markets more.

We'll wait and see. Albertans are like Texans. They're proud to be Albertans, but they're sick and tired of a federal government not giving them what they deserve while demanding a whole lot from Albertans in income tax. I'm sure the liberal and progressive policies are irritating to people in Alberta.

Fred Jackson: They are landlocked, so you would think those considerations would enter into a vote like that. If we declare our independence, then what? We have to cross Canada in order to sell our oil, for example. They do have the United States directly south, so that would be an avenue for their products to go. Do you think that's the kind of thing they're considering, or is it merely the ideology and taxes?

Ed Vitagliano: I think it's the taxes. People in Alberta have been contributing to what's called the Canadian pension fund, so what happens to that? There are complications involved with it.

There's also the problem with building a pipeline to the west coast. They have to go through British Columbia.

Tim Wildmon: British Columbia. It's a long way.

Ed Vitagliano: Well, they're leftist.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Ed Vitagliano: They're environmentalists.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Ed Vitagliano: I think that's why the premier of Alberta is looking for leverage to get a better deal on oil and gas. Carney has said he is willing to push for this pipeline to the west coast, so we'll wait and see.

Tim Wildmon: Can a Canadian province become its own country? You couldn't do that in the United States.

Ed Vitagliano: That's what they're voting on, a referendum. Of course, there would be legal challenges.

Tim Wildmon: If you were Texas, maybe other states would consider it. I think Texas has always declared itself to be a republic. If Texas were to leave the union, they would become their own country, which would be complicated for Alberta because it is stuck in the middle of Canada.

Ed Vitagliano: You couldn't do that in the United States, practically speaking. I understand. The Texas Constitution says they were a republic before.

Tim Wildmon: I've heard that before, something about the Texas Constitution.

Ed Vitagliano: I'd have to look that up. That was off the top of my head, but I think I've read something about it. They were.

Tim Wildmon: I've thought about that before. Some people on the left and the right have mentioned splitting up the United States, with red states and blue states forming their own countries. But it would be a logistical nightmare. You couldn't do it because you've got all these federal government programs. You've got Social Security and Medicare. Who's going to pay for the military? It's just not that easy.

Ed Vitagliano: I don't think Texas ever would. I seriously doubt that Alberta will. I don't know that much about Canadian politics, but it is a huge deal. Even in the United States, Texas would have to jump through all kinds of legal hoops. I'm not sure it would be legal. They would vote to leave anyway, I don't think. So why do it?

Tim Wildmon: The reason we're bringing this story up is that there is a potential for Alberta, a province in Canada, to leave Canada and become its own country. Is that what the vote is?

Ed Vitagliano: The vote today is whether to hold a formal referendum on separation.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, I got you. Step one.

Ed Vitagliano: In Canada, there's also a problem on the other side with Quebec. Quebec is becoming more radically left and more francophone. They want to become France over here.

I think they're using the same kind of political wedge there. In the last provincial election, the group that would favor greater independence from the federal government is now running that province.

Tim Wildmon: I remember going to Montreal one time, about twenty-five years ago, and there were so many signs and so much French.

Ed Vitagliano: That's the official language.

Tim Wildmon: The official language. So a lot of Quebec, and Montreal in particular, is French-speaking.

Ed Vitagliano: Quebec City is the capital. Montreal is, of course, the commercial center. It is a French-speaking area of Canada.

Tim Wildmon: They're probably boiling over there.

Ed Vitagliano: I'm sure they are. It got so bad in Quebec, and this happened many years ago, that it was outlawed for a store to have a sign in the window in English. It had to be French. French only.

You'll remember many years ago, De Gaulle, who was the president of France, came to visit Quebec when Trudeau Sr. was prime minister. De Gaulle basically gave this big speech saying, “Vive le Québec libre,” and Trudeau put him on the next plane out of there.

There was also an execution of a Quebec cabinet minister at that time, so it got pretty rough in Quebec. That separatist feeling is still very much there. Canada has its problems.

Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Tim, Ed, and Fred. Fred, next story.

Fred Jackson: Speaking of French, France has its problems right now.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, do they ever?

Fred Jackson: I know we're coming up on a break here, but there's much to discuss about the riots there. It started out around a two-week school break, but the students in the public schools, not universities, began to riot in the streets. They say the public schools are in terrible shape.

But it has grown to much more than that. Words like treason are now being used. They have lit up Paris and destroyed buildings. It has been incredible there.

Tim Wildmon: It reminds me of the BLM and Antifa riots a few years ago that Americans are very familiar with.

Fred Jackson: Yes. There have been over two thousand arrests.

Tim Wildmon: That's even worse, I think.

Fred Jackson: Do you want to hold the break?

Tim Wildmon: Let's go to the break. What are we going to play when we get back?

Fred Jackson: We have somebody from the Heritage Foundation basically saying this goes well beyond a problem with schools.

Tim Wildmon: Right, I agree.

Fred Jackson: This is more about radical leftist groups, Muslim groups, and communist groups. It's much bigger than what people think. These are anarchists, a lot of them. Europe is teetering on that in several countries, and the massive immigration of Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East is definitely playing a role here.

In France, they're ten percent Muslim now.

Tim Wildmon: Did you know that?

Fred Jackson: Oh, yeah.

Tim Wildmon: I'm not saying all Muslims are violent by any means, but there is a protest going on, and we'll continue with this when we get back.

Tim Wildmon: Fred, back to our story. We were talking about the riots, which are very serious and going on across France. It's making international news. I said these are the BLM and Antifa types that were responsible for all the riots in the United States after George Floyd was killed.

Fred Jackson: You remember that? In 2020, a lot of big cities across America experienced vandalism, riots, looting, and burning.

Ed Vitagliano: Mike Gonzalez is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He was asked about what's going on in France right now, and he says the riots go far beyond kids being upset with their schoolrooms. He says the riots are pushing French voters away from Emmanuel Macron, the president, and that the radical left is involved.

Mike Gonzalez: What we're seeing here is our future. Americans may ask themselves, “What should I care?” We don't choose this. We don't want this future. It could be ours.

These are huge political riots now taking place across France. The speech that Emmanuel Macron, the president, gave yesterday was insufficient and has been panned across the country. On the contrary, the speech by Marine Le Pen, the leader of the party that our media loves to call far right, though it isn't far right, was fantastic. She is going to get herself elected in elections this May. The first round is in March, and the second round is in April. It looks that way, anyway, because these riots are really making our case.

Tim Wildmon: It's interesting. Somebody has gone through some of the groups there, including communist groups and Palestinian groups. It's kind of like what we saw in the wake of the October 2023 massacre in Israel. You had all these groups in the United States within forty-eight hours supporting Hamas.

Ed Vitagliano: It's called the coming together of the red and the green. What they're talking about is socialism and radical leftist Muslim groups, all of that sort of thing.

Our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was in Athens about a week and a half ago. He gave an incredible speech there, and I want you to listen to part of it because he warned against the movement in Western Europe, and here in the United States, to denounce people who believe in nationhood, who believe in being proud of their nation, and who are not embarrassed about the distinctiveness of nations.

Marco Rubio: I think here, too, we have much to learn from the men of ancient Greece, because they knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else.

Over time, we in the West came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional. We felt embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world. Prosperity somehow became a source of guilt. We no longer believed we deserved and had earned our greatness. The word nationalism became a dirty word, and so we tore down our monuments. We condemned our own history, and in too many places we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit.

In the process, we opened our borders, outsourced our industry, and allowed our militaries to wither and decay.

Ed Vitagliano: He talked about opening borders. We know that's what's happened in France and Britain. This invasion from third-world countries involves people who have no interest in assimilating into Western values. They want to bring the values from where they came.

Fred Jackson: Before the break, Tim mentioned that ten percent of France's population is Muslim. He is exactly right, but I looked it up during the break. Part of the problem for France going forward is that the concentration is even higher in the major cities. Paris is estimated to be ten to fifteen percent Muslim, Marseille twenty-five percent, and Lyon eight to twelve percent.

Once you have let that many people in who have no interest in assimilating, they don't want to become French and adopt French culture as their own or raise their kids to be French. They want to remain as they are. These are primarily Muslims from North Africa who have come to France.

One of the problems is that you're talking about civil war. If you want to get rid of these people, if they're burning and looting, and I'm not saying it's all these immigrants, but if they're doing that, you've got a civil war on your hands. I'm not sure it can be done. It's probably going to tear the country apart.

I saw a video over the weekend of a young woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. There were young men, military-age men with their faces covered, looting her father's store. She was out there trying to get them to stop. She was reportedly telling them, “I voted to defund the police. I voted in favor of immigration.” They were just laughing at her.

She's probably lucky that's all that happened to her, but she was learning the hard way that this isn't really just about politics. This is about ideology and looting. I fear for the nation that once was France. I'm not sure how long it can survive.

Tim Wildmon: All right. Next story, I want to talk about this. Will J.D. Vance run for president? How's that for a teaser? Everybody's assuming that he will. He's vice president, obviously, if you haven't been paying attention.

Did you see this over the weekend? He was commenting and said, “I don't know yet. I don't know if I'm going to run yet.” We have that audio.

J.D. Vance: Is there a chance you don't run for president in 2028?

Of course there's a chance. We've got four little kids. My wife has never loved politics. She loves public service. I think you can do a lot of good in this job, and I've tried to do as much good as possible.

People ask me this question all the time, and I think they assume, because I'm a politician, that of course I'm going to run for president in 2028. The way I think about big life decisions, my wife will tell you this, is that I'm a procrastinator. I hate thinking about it.

First of all, after all of these fine people elect Mike Rogers United States senator for the state of Michigan, I won't have to think about it. Then I will actually have to make a decision. But anything could happen.

Tim Wildmon: Do you like that answer?

Fred Jackson: First of all, I don't think you admit to being a procrastinator when you're going to run for president.

Tim Wildmon: I have a hard time making decisions. We like people who just tell it like it is, except when they do.

Ed Vitagliano: I think this is a typical thing to say before the midterms because nobody's really going to announce that they're running for president in 2028 until after the midterms. In fact, most of the time, I think they wait until after the first of the year. After the midterms, you're heading into Thanksgiving and Christmas, and people aren't paying attention. You want your decision to run to make a big splash politically, so generally people wait until after the first of the year.

One of those who didn't was Donald Trump. It's not a hard and fast rule, but I think that's what Vance is doing. I think he's going to run for president. J.D. Vance and his family are young. I think he's got a good shot, if he runs, to get the nomination and to win. I think he's basically postponing it until after the midterms and the first of the year.

Tim Wildmon: Fred, I believe what he said. I didn't call him a liar.

Fred Jackson: No, you didn't.

Tim Wildmon: What I heard is that he's talking to his wife. You heard him say she doesn't like politics. How many young kids do they have?

Fred Jackson: Four.

Tim Wildmon: She just had a baby.

Fred Jackson: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: So they have a very young family. The president of the United States is probably the most difficult job in the world. He would have to say goodbye to his family, basically, for four years.

Ed Vitagliano: But is he not doing that already?

Tim Wildmon: Pretty much.

Ed Vitagliano: As vice president?

Tim Wildmon: You're making a point. If he's doing that already, maybe he's saying, “I don't like this.”

Ed Vitagliano: I've never been president, but I do know a lot of people who have worked in previous administrations. The pressure is enormous, from your schedule to your daily press briefings and the decisions you have to make, which affect millions of people.

Tim Wildmon: Absolutely. The pressure is enormous on the leader of the free world, the president of the United States of America. However, you do have benefits, too. You get to fly on your own plane with a bed, and your family can be part of that. You get twenty-four-hour security. You've got people who wait on your hand and foot. There are some advantages to offset some of the pressures.

What I heard him talking about was that he seemed genuinely undecided about whether or not he was going to run. You didn't say he wasn't.

Ed Vitagliano: You said you believed him. Do you think he will?

Tim Wildmon: Most people think he's just going through the formalities and that he will run for president. The good thing Republicans have going for them right now is that if J.D. Vance decides he doesn't want to be president, they've got a guy ready to go in Marco Rubio.

Fred Jackson: If Vance doesn't run, what do you call that?

Tim Wildmon: The man who's ready to go is Marco Rubio.

Fred Jackson: Why are you laughing? That's awesome. Tell me that wouldn't be a good slogan.

Ed Vitagliano: It would be a good slogan to have in 1968.

Fred Jackson: Okay. “The man who's ready to go is Marco Rubio.” It's typical New England. It rhymes.

Tim Wildmon: In all seriousness, I've surveyed big groups of conservatives over the last six months at our tours and events. I have them close their eyes, and I give them two names for president and ask whom they would support. I give them Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, and guess what? It's fifty-fifty. Every poll I take is fifty-fifty.

There's a lot of support for Marco Rubio should he be the guy. We've heard that J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio are close, so they're not going to run against each other. I would be shocked. If J.D. Vance says, “I'm in,” then Marco Rubio will say, “I'm supporting J.D.,” and maybe they would be a ticket. Who knows?

When I heard J.D. Vance say that over the weekend, I thought he didn't sound completely sold on what everybody presumes he's going to do. That's what I'm saying, run for president in the next election cycle, which is two years from now.

Ed Vitagliano: Let me just say why I think he will run. This is not like running for the school board. This is your moment. If you think you can help the country, and I think J.D. Vance probably does, and I think he would make a good president from what I know about him, this is your moment.

You don't turn this down when you're the vice president. The next logical step would be to step into the Oval Office if you win. You don't turn this down and then come back in four or eight years. This is your moment. If you think you can help the country, you run. Your wife understands that, and you have plenty of help with the family. This is your moment to try to help. That's why I think he would probably do it.

Tim Wildmon: None of us knows that now. That's why he says he doesn't know. It would be unusual for a vice president to say, “I don't want the job.”

Fred Jackson: Don't you think Ron DeSantis might be interested?

Tim Wildmon: Governor DeSantis is termed out now. This is his last gubernatorial election in Florida. He's a two-time elected governor of one of the largest states and a very popular governor.

Ed Vitagliano: An excellent governor.

Tim Wildmon: Yes, an excellent governor. He is much admired by conservatives and Republican voters across the country. But this is one of those situations where, for J.D. Vance, it's his to lose.

Ed Vitagliano: Governor DeSantis hasn't even said he was going to run.

Tim Wildmon: Now, J.D. Vance interestingly enough said that Ted Cruz is running. Did you see this?

Fred Jackson: Ted Cruz is running?

Tim Wildmon: Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas, hasn't announced that he's running, but J.D. Vance said something to the effect that everybody knows Ted Cruz is running for president. He's out there on the campaign trail.

Ed Vitagliano: I don't think Ted Cruz has a shot.

Tim Wildmon: That's why we're here. People listen to us for your expertise, Ed, so I'm going to throw it over to you.

Ed Vitagliano: This is not real expertise, but Ted Cruz doesn't have a shot, okay? I like Ted Cruz. He's a fine senator, but I'm going to put him in the category of those who don't have a shot at the Republican nomination.

Ron DeSantis is an excellent governor. Of the three remaining candidates we're talking about, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, and Ron DeSantis, he is probably the best executive with that kind of experience. It's proven. However, he's not an inspiring speaker. He's a little bit on the wonky side.

Marco Rubio doesn't really have the executive experience, but he is so smart. I think he's the smartest of the three in terms of everything a president would have to know, international and domestic. He would be great in debates, but he's not an inspiring speaker either.

Tim Wildmon: Who inspires you?

Ed Vitagliano: Well, you're just knocking them off.

Tim Wildmon: DeSantis is uninspiring?

Ed Vitagliano: I'm just saying that when I say uninspiring, I mean they sound very smart, but they don't get the juices flowing.

Tim Wildmon: I think J.D. Vance gets your juices flowing.

Ed Vitagliano: He's the best of the three.

Tim Wildmon: His ideas might find more of the middle of the road as a way to help him get elected. In terms of inspiring speakers, I would say Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. Donald Trump can, even to this day.

Ed Vitagliano: I'm just saying when he was running, when he was in his prime. Don't tell him that he's past his prime.

Tim Wildmon: He would get people fired up. That's why he won.

Ed Vitagliano: He had a personality that was larger than life, and he could also use his experience on television. He's very self-confident.

Tim Wildmon: I agree. As a conservative, I would be happy with any of those three, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, or Ron DeSantis.

What does worry me a little bit as a conservative Christian is that J.D. Vance seems to waffle on Israel a little bit. I'm sure he wouldn't say that, and there are probably a lot of people listening who don't mind him second-guessing our relationship with Israel. But I do. He has said some things that made me question whether he has switched over to the Tucker Carlson side of that.

Ed Vitagliano: That could be a legitimate concern. I hadn't thought of that.

Tim Wildmon: That's the one thing. Everything else about J.D. Vance, I like and appreciate about his policies and ideas. Quite frankly, I appreciate his humility when he was talking. We haven't had a lot of humility at the presidential level in a while. I appreciate him saying, “You know what? I don't know yet because I've got these small children and my wife and I have to consider it.”

Ed Vitagliano: Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis are rock solid on Israel.

Tim Wildmon: Absolutely. But I'm saying there is a lot of support for Marco Rubio. I think there's almost as much support for Marco Rubio as there is for J.D. Vance. That's been my observation among people who vote in Republican primaries that I've surveyed.

I guess the reason I wanted to bring this up was because I was a little stunned. I thought, “Surely he's going to say, ‘Absolutely, I'm running,’ or ‘I'm ninety percent sure.’” But he was like, “I don't know. I procrastinate on these things.” I thought that was the funny part.

Ed Vitagliano: You don't say, “I have a hard time making decisions. I'm waffling. I waffle a lot. I pass back and forth between running for president and not.”

Tim Wildmon: That's what he said.

Fred Jackson: We've got about a minute to go before our break. You're not running for president, are you, Fred?

Fred Jackson: No, not this year.

Tim Wildmon: You made that decision?

Fred Jackson: I made that decision.

Tim Wildmon: Two weeks from tomorrow is Election Day in this country. We've talked about what the polls are saying. Speaker Mike Johnson says, “Don't believe the polls.”

Mike Johnson: We have great energy on the ground. I'm going to the swing districts, the places that the pundits and the pollsters say we're going to lose. They are wrong. I believe we can defy history and keep this majority, and our voters just need to ignore all the noise and go vote.

That's why the enthusiasm has picked up right now. They understand this is a contrast election between common sense and crazy, and the American people are not signing up for crazy. That's why we're going to win.

Tim Wildmon: Do you think he's trying to talk himself into believing that? We try to talk ourselves into believing something because everybody else is saying the Republicans are going to lose, and Mike Johnson is saying, “No, we aren't. Don't believe those polls.”

Ed Vitagliano: You've got to get people out to vote.

Tim Wildmon: That's it. It isn't over until it's over.

Ed Vitagliano: That is true. There are so many tight races that it's going to depend on who gets their people out.

Tim Wildmon: Absolutely. I also think the liberal news media tries to put conservatives in this country into despair, almost leading up to every single election.

Ed Vitagliano: Right.

Tim Wildmon: We'll be back momentarily. Stay with us.