Tim Wildman: We have to take back this word progressive
>> Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Foreign.
>> Tim Wildmon: Welcome back, everybody, to the program. Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening. We got another 25 minutes of sterling radio.
>> Ed Vitagliano: that's sterling. That, that, that ups the pressure a little bit.
>> Tim Wildmon: Sterling.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You have to be sterling.
>> Tim Wildmon: Like silver.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I know silver, sterling. It, I'm gonna have to up up my game.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm talking about. I like your attitude.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, sir.
>> Tim Wildmon: You want to get better. I do want to be progressive.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I want to be sterling. I was. I've been more on the copper level up to now. I'm going to try to go to sterling.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're going to have to take back this word progressive. I don't like the way that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I like what Abe does. He says regressive.
>> Tim Wildmon: They're regressive. We're progressive. Yeah, you don't like it either?
>> Ed Vitagliano: it's been tainted.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay?
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's like. I'm sorry, I don't. I don't mean. It's like the word gay. That used to be, you know, put. Don you now your gay apparel. Yeah, I'm not donning any gay apparel because the word is an error. Different.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know what I'm saying?
>> Ed Vitagliano: It means something different.
>> Tim Wildmon: So the world's changed. Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. So I can't use progressive either.
>> Tim Wildmon: So no gay, no progressive.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: What else? What other words have we lost?
>> Steve Jordahl: Ah.
>> Tim Wildmon: you don't even want to take back.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, I, I don't know. I can't think of any off the top of my head.
>> Steve Jordahl: But I, I was hearing somebody on, the radio yesterday say, talk about, Well, it would have, they did this because of the Klan. And he said, wait a minute. The Klan is in group as in tribe, not as in Ku Klux Kluh.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's Steve Paisley. Jordan. Steve, how you doing, brother?
>> Ed Vitagliano: That is a good word. I mean, a good example of that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fred Jackson with us here, too. We're all a clan here. Is that.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, we can't. See, we can't do that either.
>> Tim Wildmon: We can't.
>> Ed Vitagliano: No, we can't use that word because why? There's folks out there who already think we're part of the clan. We can't.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but that's a Southern poverty law center there. If they. Anyway, probably need to move on right here.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And by the way, there's nothing funny about the Ku Klux Klan. Seriously, folks. No, that was an abhorrent and demonic organization.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: So.
Steve: Using the word Mafia without referring to an Italian gang backfires
But we are having a little fun at the use of language.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Ed Vitagliano: How it can backfire.
>> Fred Jackson: Like the word Mafia.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Like, we'll use that in a sentence where it's not referring to.
>> Fred Jackson: Right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, man, that's. See, that's.
>> Tim Wildmon: No, that's gratuitous.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes. I would say it's like gratuitous violence.
>> Tim Wildmon: That was a gratuitous stereotype, of the Italian heritage.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That's. That's like a. That's like gratuitous violence in a Godfather movie.
>> Steve Jordahl: I had to pay Mafia at the county fair. What is that from?
>> Tim Wildmon: M. The Godfather.
>> Ed Vitagliano: What is that?
>> Steve Jordahl: No using Mafia without, without referring to an Italian gang.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, no, you can't. Can't. Can't do it.
>> Steve Jordahl: I just.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I thought you were trying to. I thought you.
>> Tim Wildmon: That was. That was the Mafia scene. Going with the wind.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I'd hate for something bad to. For your little business.
>> Tim Wildmon: Was that Cool Hand Luke? What was that?
>> Ed Vitagliano: that might have been that.
>> Tim Wildmon: What we have here is a failure to communicate.
>> Steve Jordahl: Communicate.
>> Fred Jackson: You're gonna be sleeping with the catfish.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Gonna be sleeping with the catfish.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's a good line, Fred.
>> Ed Vitagliano: That is.
>> Tim Wildmon: Fred be sleeping with the catfish.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And the gators.
>> Tim Wildmon: The Southern mafia sleeping with the gators.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, well, folks, I got.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, I got a good one. We need to reel this show back in. Sort of did.
>> Ed Vitagliano: There.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. All right, Steve, what's your first,
Democrats are moving so far to the left, says Doug Schoen
>> Steve Jordahl: All right, well, the roiling, roiling continues in the Democrat Party. they just can't seem to figure out where they're going, what their identity is. And more fallout from that. We have just learned that Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, who's the number two man in the Senate, is not going to run for reelection.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Number two man for the Democrats.
>> Steve Jordahl: For the Democrats. Yeah. Right, sorry. and he's not going to run for reelection. Add to that there was a poll that they just put out. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is leading Chuck Schumer by double digits in a new head to head poll of the 2028 New York primary if AOC runs for Senate.
>> Tim Wildmon: Wow. Really?
>> Steve Jordahl: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: What poll is that?
>> Steve Jordahl: no survey by the liberal firm Data for Progress.
>> Fred Jackson: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: Never heard of.
>> Steve Jordahl: First shared the politico. 55% of Democrats likely voters say they supported and lean toward AOC, 36% towards Chuck Schumer. so the old guard is kind of moving out. All the new guard is like AOC and company, the really, really radicals. Didn't we just go through four years of this and got sick and tired of it. And so we.
>> Tim Wildmon: Four years of what?
>> Steve Jordahl: Of woke. Of, AOC type.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, but there, but they, they are doubling down as we see with the El Salvador situation and Democrats flying down there to, give.
>> Tim Wildmon: Save the day.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Give. Give an MS.13 gang leader a pedicure. Yeah, listen, I'm not sure what's in Dick Durbin's head. he is 80 years old, so it could very well be that he's just exhausted.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, that's just the second quarter in Congress.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay. So now he's been in office since 90, 6, 44 years. Yeah. So, so. Or this could be a sign that the establishment Democrats see the handwriting on the wall, that the party is being taken over by the woke crowd and they don't want to be humiliated by losing an election. Like if Dick Durbin got primaried, maybe he figures he could, he could be booted out and that'd be more humiliating. So if that is the case, I would look for Chuck Schumer maybe to, to follow suit here.
>> Fred Jackson: Old timers Democrats like Doug Schoen, longtime adviser, Democratic Party. We, have a cut of him Talking about this AOC Schumer poll, this morning. Cut 12.
>> Speaker E: My party has moved so far to the left, both in reaction to Donald Trump's first term and now the second term, that there is anger. There's a desire also for a new generation of leadership which AOC reflects. And Chuck Schumer has been in politics, I think since about 1978 or 80. That's many, many years, 40 odd years. And I think there's a desire for a change. He is a master politician. I don't count him out. But AOC could be a presidential candidate in 2026 or could run against Senator Schumer. She's formidable in either role.
>> Fred Jackson: Wow, that's Doug Schoen. He'd been around a long time. He, he goes back to Clinton years.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Steve Jordahl: Dick Durbin is getting out of politics for the same reason that Nick Saban got caught out of college football. The game around him had changed so much. He just didn't want to deal with it anymore.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Didn't want to deal with it. That's interesting. That shown quote that we just, we just played. He is admitting that his party has moved so far to the left. And we did say, I, think we said it on this show, that Donald Trump is almost like the catalyst for all of this. When he was first elected in 2016 and now reelected in 2024, it's making the Democratic Party show itself in all its debauchery in terms of its policies. so he's admitting that, that the party has moved so far to the left, but is admitting that someone like AOC is formidable to the establishment Democrats. That is also quite an admission.
>> Fred Jackson: And what he is admitting also, it's moved far, far to the left and it ain't coming back.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: That's what he's saying. It's not coming back.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, if you, if you see Schumer either say he's not going to run for reelection or get beat.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And you have Dick Durbin the number two. And these, these aren't the only ones from the establishment that are stepping back from the game. that is an indication that the, the foot soldiers of the Democratic Party, are in the process of taking the party. And listen, a lot of the people who would support that are young people. This is where you get these poll results. 55% or whatever, who are okay with violence against Trump supporters or who applaud the young guy who shot the the, the, the pharmaceutical CEO, the health care CEO. This is, this is getting a little bit on the scary side if you're a middle of the road, long time regular Democratic liberal.
Is AOC going to be able to convince more than half the country
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, and my question is is that wing of the Democrat Party going to be able to convince more than half the country that they get. They need a shot at governing? Back to DEI pilots, back to all of these, you know, woke things that that we just got rid of after Biden, plus all the Democrat economic disasters, giveaways. I mean this country is not able financially to survive another Democrat administration.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They just, I would, I would say my opinion is at this point, no, they are not going to convince a majority of Americans. He. Look, I saw, I saw a, a video posted on X. It was some young lady, I don't know, she looked about, she was 30 years old or whatever and she was complaining about what Doge was doing and she said it's the taxpayer's responsibility to take care of me. She was talking about her food and and housing. She said that it's the taxpayer's responsibility to give everyone a house. Yeah. And I thought if this is the way a lot of these young people think.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Maybe aoc, the AOC crowd is going to be able to convince half the country. I don't know.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well then they have to change or else they become irrelevant. And well, how does Gavin Newsom and his pretending to be going to the center fit into this, too, because he's trying to carve out a lane. I don't believe it for a second, but at least he's making, the right noises about coming to the center and having a more moderate Democrat party.
Man wearing an N95 mask stole Homeland Security Secretary Christine Ohm's purse
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, let's move on. Next story.
>> Steve Jordahl: Okay, Christine Ohm was having dinner in Washington, D.C. she was having actually with her family. She was at the Capitol Burger, joint in Mount Vernon Square with her grandkids. And a man wearing an N95 mask walked up and stole her purse. According to NBC Washington, from under the table. Had $3,000 of cash in credit cards, her DHS identification, passport in the bag. Here's the kicker. Her Secret Service detail was in the restaurant less than 20ft away. Now, they've released a picture of this guy, but they're not releasing to the public yet. They're asking for help finding him.
>> Ed Vitagliano: My guess is that her purse, her information, her, her Something in that purse, has a tracker in it. I, I. That, that would be my expectation that if you're someone in the Trump administration, if you're a woman in the Trump administration, you're the secretary of whatever, whatever department you're the secretary of. You got a purse. You have an air tag or something in it.
>> Tim Wildmon: What's a Secret Service agent doing. Yeah, because she had Secret Service protection. This is the, this is the secretary of, Homeland Security. Homeland Security. You can't make this stuff up. It's like an SNL skid.
>> Ed Vitagliano: They, it sounds like they were chowing down, thinking we're in an enclosed space. There's, there's.
>> Steve Jordahl: We've got Secret Service protection.
>> Ed Vitagliano: We got Secret Service here. And they, and they weren't paying attention. This is the kind of unexpected thing the Secret Service is also, you're having.
>> Tim Wildmon: You know, you're having dinner at a restaurant, and you got three grand.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: In your purse. That purse ain't coming off me.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: That purse is in my lap.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: because, first of all, I'm disturbed that you would have a purse, but I get the idea, Ed.
>> Tim Wildmon: Ah, times have changed. Men carry, What do you call them?
>> Ed Vitagliano: They call them man purse. Man purse.
>> Tim Wildmon: They carry those things in Europe, if you're not.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Only if you're French.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm saying.
>> Ed Vitagliano: You're a French guy.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm just,
>> Ed Vitagliano: Listen, this is hard to figure, isn't it? How does this happen?
>> Steve Jordahl: There was a separate incident a couple weeks earlier where in the same area another purse was stolen. I read That I don't know exactly what it has to do.
>> Tim Wildmon: There you go. Should have had briefing on that.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Be prepared. There's a purse thief in this nearby area. anyway, it's, it, it's. It sounds unbelievable that the Secretary of Homeland Security for the United States of America with Secret Service protection and three.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Grand in her purse, cash and family sitting around.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: How, how, how does that even happen? Yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: you know, if this was in Moscow and this was a high ranking official in Putin's government, right. Who had Secret Service around him, that guy would be dead. Yeah, that guy who, if he went for a purse from that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> Fred Jackson: That guy would be dead.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. So did they catch this person yet?
>> Steve Jordahl: No.
>> Tim Wildmon: No.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Ed Vitagliano: well, listen, this has not been a good year for the Secret Service or the last.
>> Tim Wildmon: It hasn't.
>> Ed Vitagliano: 612 months. 6 months, whatever you want to say. We had a president, presidential candidate, all those kind of things with Trump assassination attempts. But, but for, but for Kristi Noem to have a purse stolen, I mean, m. My. I'm wondering. These Secret Service agents must have been on their phones. They must have been, you know, eating.
>> Tim Wildmon: Somebody wasn't watching.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Chris was. Were not watching that table.
>> Steve Jordahl: Chris Woodward had the, thought that maybe the path between the Secret Service of the table was too steep.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh. Because of the roof.
>> Steve Jordahl: Too slow. They couldn't quite make it.
>> Ed Vitagliano: This is that it's not been a good year for the Secret Service.
>> Steve Jordahl: It has.
The birth rate in the United States is 1.66 births per couple
>> Tim Wildmon: So, next, story.
>> Steve Jordahl: The birth rate in the United States is 1.66 births per woman per couple. 20, 22. Well, per. Per woman.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay.
>> Tim Wildmon: what else could it be?
>> Steve Jordahl: Single months.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, yeah. Okay. I wouldn't try to start anything. they usually go per. Per couple because you could be a single mom, but you had to have a guy.
>> Steve Jordahl: Oh, okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: It's. So anyway, I wasn't trying to start anything.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, no, it's just.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Anyway, I had to move.
>> Steve Jordahl: M on. No, the, But the relevant number, the relevant Data point is 1.66 births.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.
>> Steve Jordahl: replacement rate is 2.1%. Two, point one. That means that accounts for, the,
>> Ed Vitagliano: Replacing what? Man and the woman.
>> Steve Jordahl: And the woman. And a little more for growth than those that we lose.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Now, the 0.1%. Yeah. Is for infant mortality.
>> Steve Jordahl: Infant mortality. And that's just to keep even. And we're not the only one place in the world where growth rates, birth rates are way down. This is a big, huge issue for Elon Musk, by the way. He's brought it up several times.
>> Tim Wildmon: He's. He's doing his part.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah, he is, he is. but, it has come to the attention of Donald Trump. Americans may soon, according to, not the. Be Americans may soon have more reasons to have children than just to experience a deep sense of fulfillment and Wonder. How about $5,000 baby bonus that, Donald Trump has said he's sound. It sounds good to him. Would that work? You think $5,000 is incentive enough for a couple to.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Okay, first of all, let me just say this. If that is going to happen, I want this, policy literally grandfathered in. Okay. I want, I want 10 grand. I had. My wife and I had two kids.
>> Tim Wildmon: We're doing student loans. We're going to go way back.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And we, and we lost one in between the two we had due to miscarriage. So that's the 2.1%. We did exactly what we were supposed to do. Now, I don't think this is, this has not worked in other countries. In Europe, for example, or Japan. try here. And here's the reason, I think is because it's. Money does sound like it's a explanation for why couples are not having children. But the reality is, I think it has to do with worldview. If you are. If you do not have a Christian view of humanity and human nature and the future, you don't really want to pass. You don't want to pass your faith on or your values on. And this is why these kinds of pot. Russia's tried this and it's not working. So I also think it encourages people to have women to have babies out of wedlock, because if you can have five grand for four kids.
>> Tim Wildmon: We tried that in the Great Society.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. I just don't think this is going.
Tim Ferriss: I think the value of having children has diminished
>> Tim Wildmon: To ask you this.
>> Steve Jordahl: I got another data point for you.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, 1. Did you say the birth rate in the United States now is what, 1.66, I think. And we have to have 2.1 to maintain.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: Or to have replacement numbers.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, I just knew that is a big problem. And I, I'm not. Hopefully, you know, that will correct itself, so to speak. in Japan, there's, there's. So they got their zero birth rate. I mean, am I right? I mean, look at birth rate in Japan.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I mean, it's like, it's one of the lowest.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's like they're saying in a hundred years there's going to be no Japanese people.
>> Ed Vitagliano: In 2023, it's 1.2.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.
>> Ed Vitagliano: And. And, its birth rate in 2024 fell to a record low, a 5% decline from the previous year.
>> Steve Jordahl: How about this for a data point? In the Muslim world, the birth rate is 3.1.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Right. But that's. That is not for Muslims in developed countries. That is for Muslims in Muslim majority countries.
>> Steve Jordahl: It's also a stated reason, purpose, in the United States and other countries, this is their jihad by birth.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Steve Jordahl: they basically want to. I mean, they are poised, to increase, their tribe is increasing and everybody else is decreasing. And that just can't be good for, well, this lately.
>> Tim Wildmon: The same is true in, Europe. Let's see, Western Europe, the birth rates, Canada, probably same thing. I would say.
>> Fred Jackson: I would say same thing.
>> Tim Wildmon: So, I think the value of having children has, diminished. I say the value. I don't mean monetarily. I'm talking about the desire to get married and have multiple children and, you know, and carry on humanity. Yeah. I think, and I. We're speaking broadly and generally here, but, to Ed's point, I think. I think the worldview among a lot of people, younger people, has changed and a lot of them are waiting. I'm not, I'm not judging this as. There's nothing inherently wrong or immoral or evil about this. I'm just going to give you an analysis. They're. They're waiting till they're in there, waiting later to get married, and then many of them are choosing not to get married. probably a higher percentage than ever before. Or if they do, they just want dogs or aquarium. They don't.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Huh?
>> Tim Wildmon: they, they don't want, they don't want the responsibility of raising children.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Now I, I think a lot of that's rooted. Again, we're speeding, speaking broadly and generally because there's a lot of single people who want to get married. They want to have kids, they want to have a family, but they haven't met the right person. So, it's no fault of their own that. But, but they, but I'm saying that. But that's still a reality, that a lot, a lot of. A lot of people are waiting to get married till later. But I do think that I'm going to use this word. There's a lot of selfishness out there that used to not be there, in our culture. And so it's me, me, me, me, me, take care of me. And I don't need no stinking kids around keeping me from doing what I want to do and having what I want to have. That mentality is in western civilization right now. And it's also an Eastern civilization. I think we mentioned Japan and other countries, Fred.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, I think too, it's a result of the femin movement, which redefined what success was for women. Yes, it redefined it, saying, women, you need to be out there and become corporate leaders and climb the ladder and do all of that. And if you don't do that, women, you're a failure. So staying home and having kids was all of a sudden defined by the feminist movement as you're not doing what you're designed to do, and that is to be the corporate CEO. Not again, to your point, Tim. Not that it's wrong for a woman to head a company.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right, right, right.
>> Ed Vitagliano: But women are the only ones who can get pregnant.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
Steve Martin: Why don't men stay home and have babies
>> Tim Wildmon: Here we go. I knew it would see the light.
>> Steve Jordahl: After she's cooked dinner, she could be the CEO.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's.
>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, that was what I was saying is you can't shift this and say, well, why don't men stay home and have the babies? Well, men can't get pregnant. I'm trying to have a serious.
>> Steve Jordahl: You are so nice.
>> Tim Wildmon: I know a lot of men that cook dinner too 2018, and they like it that way.
>> Ed Vitagliano: I was trying to make serious point like I normally do.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Fred Jackson: Did you succeed?
>> Ed Vitagliano: Not in this crowd.
>> Tim Wildmon: Question. Question. Will hang over us for the next 24 hours. thank you, Steve.
>> Steve Jordahl: My pleas.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thanks to Chris Woodward, Ev Itagliano, Jenna Ellis Jackson. Jenna Ellis, Brent Crey, our producer. We appreciate you listening to today's issues. We'll see you back here tomorrow.
