Latest / ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes / Happy birthday Todd! Kristen New filling in for Todd while he is away!

Transcript

Happy birthday Todd! Kristen New filling in for Todd while he is away! · ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes

0:01
Speaker 1: From the principal Toyota Studios, it's Morning in Memphis with
0:06
Speaker 1: Todd Starnes.
0:08
Speaker 2: Good morning, Memphis. I am Kristen New, and I'm here
0:12
Speaker 2: with Helen. And I am in for Todd Starnes today
0:15
Speaker 2: as he gets back from Georgia. He will be on
0:18
Speaker 2: his national show at 11. And last night, the Rays...
0:24
Speaker 2: Beat the Brewers. They squeaked it out here at the end,
0:27
Speaker 2: so they stay alive as we continue our baseball dreams
0:31
Speaker 2: here in October. And October, it is a schizophrenic weather month.
0:37
Speaker 2: We have, it's cold in the mornings. Helen, I am
0:40
Speaker 2: driving in here with my heater on. It is in
0:43
Speaker 2: the mid-50s, but then it turns to summer by afternoon.
0:48
Speaker 2: It is crazy weather here, and that is why we
0:51
Speaker 2: are all halfway sick all the time.
0:53
Speaker 3: Yes, I have my heat on in the morning, and
0:56
Speaker 3: then when I drive home from work, I have my
0:59
Speaker 3: AC on. And I usually get blasted with the heat
1:01
Speaker 3: when I originally get in my car.
1:02
Speaker 2: I'm like, take it off, sweaters. And I'm like, oh,
1:04
Speaker 2: my gosh. So, you know, at some point it's going
1:06
Speaker 2: to even out. It's supposed to rain this weekend. And, y'all, no,
1:10
Speaker 2: they are not moving Halloween, okay? I have seen that
1:14
Speaker 2: on all of these shows. Pages, these community pages about trick-or-treating. Halloween, people,
1:20
Speaker 2: it's on Halloween. So they're not moving it. But we
1:24
Speaker 2: do have a special, special day today. Today is a
1:28
Speaker 2: marvelous day. It's a miraculous day because it is Todd
1:31
Speaker 2: Stern's 29th birthday. And we are super excited to celebrate it.
1:36
Speaker 3: 29 years young.
1:42
Speaker 4: 29.
1:43
Speaker 2: Todd, if you're listening, I don't know, you may have
1:47
Speaker 2: slept in today, which you deserve it, but we are
1:49
Speaker 2: super excited for your birthday.
1:51
Speaker 4: So....
1:55
Speaker 2: How can we celebrate Todd's birthday today? I think one
1:58
Speaker 2: of the best ways to celebrate Todd's birthday is to
2:00
Speaker 2: pick up a book, The Golden Age. Todd's newest book.
2:03
Speaker 2: It's a great book. You can get it for Christmas gifts.
2:06
Speaker 2: You can get it autographed by Todd. He will personalize
2:09
Speaker 2: it for you. It makes a great stocking stuffer. So
2:12
Speaker 2: that would make Todd's day. You could also go online
2:15
Speaker 2: here at the Mighty 990 or Stop Memphis Crime. Wish
2:18
Speaker 2: Todd a happy birthday today. And he will be back
2:21
Speaker 2: this afternoon. And you can call in and talk to
2:23
Speaker 2: him and wish him a happy birthday this afternoon.
2:26
Speaker 3: Also, if you want to send stuff to the station,
2:28
Speaker 3: you know, we would love treats as well. So, you know,
2:31
Speaker 3: anybody wants.
2:32
Speaker 2: To call in. That's right. I should have brought some
2:34
Speaker 2: sausage balls. You know, that's kind of my like my
2:36
Speaker 2: specialty is sausage balls. I'll have to do that. So, yeah.
2:40
Speaker 2: So we're celebrating Todd's birthday today. We're talking a little
2:43
Speaker 2: bit about Halloween this morning because as I got into
2:47
Speaker 2: the studio, I was asking Helen. Do you celebrate Halloween
2:50
Speaker 2: and how are you going to do it? And what
2:52
Speaker 2: are you going to dress up as?
2:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and there are some, I'm a Christian, but
2:58
Speaker 3: I know there's some Christians that they won't celebrate Halloween.
3:00
Speaker 3: So it's interesting seeing the differences of the people who
3:03
Speaker 3: celebrate and don't. But I'm going out, my maid of
3:07
Speaker 3: honor is coming into town tomorrow. So we're going out
3:10
Speaker 3: and we're dressing up as like Disney villains. So I'm
3:14
Speaker 3: going to be Hades. He's just so funny in the
3:17
Speaker 3: movie Hercules. It's almost like he's not a villain.
3:20
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's Disney. You can't scare the kids
3:24
Speaker 2: too much or the parents are going to be upset
3:26
Speaker 2: by that. Yeah, so we're talking about Halloween. There's a
3:29
Speaker 2: lot of Halloween activities going on this weekend. So this
3:32
Speaker 2: is kind of the kickoff to the holiday season. So
3:36
Speaker 2: throw your diets out the door. Just don't even worry
3:40
Speaker 2: about it. You're just going to have to deal with
3:42
Speaker 2: it until... After New Year's is kind of my philosophy.
3:45
Speaker 2: I'll just, you know, wear stretchy pants. It's fine. It's fine.
3:49
Speaker 2: Helen's been food prepping. She's got she's trying to get
3:51
Speaker 2: ready for her wedding. So we were talking about dieting
3:54
Speaker 2: and how hard it is to do that during the holidays.
3:58
Speaker 2: But we'll be all right. But we do have some
4:00
Speaker 2: breaking news in yesterday that we do have to cover today.
4:04
Speaker 2: And we're going to spend the majority of the morning
4:06
Speaker 2: covering that. It has gone national and it does involve
4:10
Speaker 2: our dear friend, Senator Brent Taylor. this one I'm struggling
4:14
Speaker 2: with Helen because he is a friend of mine personally.
4:17
Speaker 2: He is a friend of Todd Starnes. Todd Starnes has, um,
4:22
Speaker 2: endorsed his campaign, uh, for Congress. And, um, he's a
4:27
Speaker 2: friend of the station and he has always been very
4:29
Speaker 2: gracious to come on and give us time to talk
4:31
Speaker 2: about everything. And then also Brent Taylor has endorsed just
4:34
Speaker 2: about every Republican candidate that is running. But Brent is
4:40
Speaker 2: involved in, um, And a scandal. I mean, it is gone.
4:44
Speaker 2: It's gone viral. It is gone national. And it is
4:48
Speaker 2: a sexting scandal where in 2021, he sent out some
4:54
Speaker 2: nude photos. And apparently the nude photos that he sent
4:58
Speaker 2: out were not well received by the person who sent them.
5:02
Speaker 2: And he calls it a youthful indiscretion, which is an
5:08
Speaker 2: interesting term to use since it happened recently. in 2021.
5:14
Speaker 2: And Todd Sarnes called him personally, and he asked him
5:18
Speaker 2: to come on the show yesterday at 1.45, and Brent
5:22
Speaker 2: Taylor came on, and he gave Brent Taylor an opportunity
5:25
Speaker 2: to explain everything. And so what we're going to do,
5:29
Speaker 2: and for those who missed that interview, we're going to
5:32
Speaker 2: replay the interview after the break in its entirety. We're
5:36
Speaker 2: just going to start right in after the break, right
5:38
Speaker 2: into the interview, and And then we're going to open
5:41
Speaker 2: up the phone lines. So if anybody wants to call
5:44
Speaker 2: in and react to that interview, we'll be happy to
5:49
Speaker 2: open up the phone lines, talk to you guys. There's
5:52
Speaker 2: a lot of reaction online to it. I think if
5:55
Speaker 2: you haven't heard about it by now, you're probably, you
5:59
Speaker 2: just were checked out yesterday because you cannot open social
6:02
Speaker 2: media without hearing about it right now. And everybody has
6:06
Speaker 2: an opinion on it. And we're going to talk about
6:09
Speaker 2: a little bit if it is if it's going to
6:11
Speaker 2: affect the race. OK, so we have a very important
6:15
Speaker 2: race in the congressional nine district. It is that newly
6:18
Speaker 2: carved district that the Democrats are really hell bent on
6:22
Speaker 2: keeping that district. And it is driving turnout to the polls.
6:27
Speaker 2: I believe that is one of the biggest drivers of
6:30
Speaker 2: voters to the polls is that ninth congressional district. And
6:34
Speaker 2: we know that there is always an October surprise there. Okay,
6:37
Speaker 2: that's just politics. I was kind of waiting on an
6:40
Speaker 2: October surprise. I will tell you, I did not have
6:43
Speaker 2: this one on my bingo card. But it is what
6:46
Speaker 2: it is. So we're going to, like I said, we're
6:49
Speaker 2: going to hear that interview. I want to know what voters,
6:53
Speaker 2: especially voters in the 9th Congressional District, what they're planning
6:58
Speaker 2: to do if they haven't voted yet. Because you basically
7:03
Speaker 2: have two choices, right? You have Brent Taylor. who all
7:08
Speaker 2: of his voting history has been excellent. I mean, he
7:12
Speaker 2: has really been a great, you know, state senator. And
7:16
Speaker 2: then you have the Democrat Socialists. So we're going to
7:19
Speaker 2: cut to traffic with Commander Chuck. And as soon as
7:22
Speaker 2: we get back, we'll play that interview. So stay tuned
7:24
Speaker 2: for that.
7:30
Speaker 5: We appreciate you joining us. I have to imagine it
7:33
Speaker 5: is a difficult day. But, sir, I guess the first
7:36
Speaker 5: question that a lot of folks would have is, what
7:38
Speaker 5: the hell were you thinking, sir?
7:41
Speaker 6: Well, that would be a good question. And I will
7:44
Speaker 6: tell you that that is what I have been telling people,
7:50
Speaker 6: that you can tell we're seven days from an election.
7:54
Speaker 6: You can tell who the frontrunner is when these types
7:56
Speaker 6: of stories come out. just mere days before the election.
8:01
Speaker 6: And look, I will readily admit and acknowledge my indiscretion.
8:07
Speaker 6: And it's unfortunate. And what's really frustrating is that my wife,
8:15
Speaker 6: who she and I worked through this together long ago,
8:19
Speaker 6: we've moved on from it. But what's frustrating is now
8:21
Speaker 6: my wife has to relive all of this in the
8:24
Speaker 6: waning days of the campaign. And The thing about it
8:29
Speaker 6: is Tennesseans, they don't care about the personal struggles in
8:33
Speaker 6: my family. They care about the personal struggles in their family.
8:37
Speaker 6: And none of this discussion about my past indiscretion has
8:43
Speaker 6: anything to do with lowering energy prices, lowering gas prices,
8:48
Speaker 6: lowering diesel fuel prices. And as a result... It just
8:56
Speaker 6: serves as a distraction. But that's why I'm running for Congress, Todd,
8:59
Speaker 6: is I want to make sure that I go to
9:02
Speaker 6: Congress and will work to reduce prices, reduce the cost
9:06
Speaker 6: of living. And that's why I'm running against Democrat socialist
9:09
Speaker 6: Justin Pearson, because if he were to ever get elected
9:12
Speaker 6: to Congress, he would be an ongoing public embarrassment to Tennessee.
9:17
Speaker 6: And the choice is clear in this election. People will
9:21
Speaker 6: have the opportunity.
9:21
Speaker 5: Let me jump in here, though, Senator. But don't you
9:25
Speaker 5: think these revelations are a public embarrassment too?
9:29
Speaker 6: Oh, they are. It's very embarrassing because obviously I'm sitting
9:35
Speaker 6: here having to talk about something that my wife and
9:38
Speaker 6: I had to work through together and talk about it
9:42
Speaker 6: in an open way. No family– Would want to have
9:45
Speaker 6: to do that. Every family has different types of struggles
9:47
Speaker 6: that they want to have to discuss publicly.
9:49
Speaker 5: But no, no doubt about that, Senator.
9:51
Speaker 7: But no, no, no.
9:52
Speaker 2: Hold on.
9:52
Speaker 5: But Senator, no doubt about that. I completely understand. But
9:56
Speaker 5: knowing that those photos were out there, why would you
9:59
Speaker 5: put your family? through this by entering a race? And
10:02
Speaker 5: you had to have known that this was going to
10:05
Speaker 5: come out.
10:07
Speaker 6: Well, again, you know, I put that in my past
10:11
Speaker 6: and what other people decide to do with something that
10:15
Speaker 6: I may have shared with them, whether it was a
10:17
Speaker 6: text communication or a picture. What they decide to do
10:20
Speaker 6: that is up to them. What I wanted to do
10:25
Speaker 6: is to move forward. My wife and I worked through
10:27
Speaker 6: this together, and we have moved on from it. And
10:32
Speaker 6: the great thing is she has forgiven me. My God
10:34
Speaker 6: has forgiven me. And I'm looking forward to going to
10:38
Speaker 6: Congress to help lower prices because none of this has
10:42
Speaker 6: anything to do with lowering gas prices or diesel prices.
10:46
Speaker 6: The choice is clear in this election. Competence matters.
10:49
Speaker 2: Or chaos.
10:51
Speaker 5: And I completely agree with that. I think the concern
10:54
Speaker 5: here is the Republican Party has built itself as a
10:57
Speaker 5: party that was fighting for the culture war issues. And also,
11:03
Speaker 5: these kinds of things would put any congressman in a
11:06
Speaker 5: position where they could be blackmailed down the road if
11:09
Speaker 5: these things had not come out. So again, I think
11:12
Speaker 5: it is a legitimate question to be raised. But I
11:16
Speaker 5: heard you say that you talked to your wife, and
11:19
Speaker 5: that's a personal thing. You talked to God. But what
11:22
Speaker 5: about the voters and your constituents and your supporters in
11:26
Speaker 5: the 9th Congressional District? Are they owed an apology here?
11:30
Speaker 6: Well, again, the apology is to my wife. That is
11:35
Speaker 6: the person that I committed this indiscretion to. against. She's
11:44
Speaker 6: the one that was owed an apology. I gave her
11:48
Speaker 6: that apology. We worked through this together. And so that's
11:53
Speaker 6: what we're working through. But look, you just raised the
11:56
Speaker 6: issue about people being blackmailed. Well, obviously, that won't be
12:01
Speaker 6: the case here because I have discussed this openly and
12:04
Speaker 6: publicly before an election. And then the other thing is,
12:09
Speaker 6: this goes to show you, and I had a reporter
12:11
Speaker 6: earlier ask me, They said, you know, what about, how
12:14
Speaker 6: could you do this as a Christian? I think this
12:16
Speaker 6: exemplifies the whole story of being a Christian, and that
12:22
Speaker 6: is that it's about redemption. And as I said, my wife,
12:26
Speaker 6: I asked for her forgiveness. She's given it to me,
12:28
Speaker 6: and my God is forgiving me.
12:29
Speaker 1: No, I understand. Yeah.
12:31
Speaker 5: I understand that, Senator. And look, I know it's a
12:35
Speaker 5: tough spot to be in, and I hate asking these questions,
12:40
Speaker 5: and I know it's got to be difficult for you.
12:42
Speaker 5: But I've been getting a lot of text messages from
12:45
Speaker 5: your constituents, and they are just really shocked. And really,
12:49
Speaker 5: they feel like they've been let down as a result
12:52
Speaker 5: of all of this. What do you say to those
12:55
Speaker 5: constituents who feel let down?
12:58
Speaker 6: Well, I would say this, and that is, if you
13:03
Speaker 6: elect me to Congress, the one thing you can know
13:05
Speaker 6: for certain is that I will stand in front of
13:08
Speaker 6: you and tell you the truth. just like I did
13:10
Speaker 6: when I had to talk to my wife about the
13:13
Speaker 6: indiscretion years ago that we worked through, and just like
13:17
Speaker 6: I'm doing today by coming on your program and others
13:20
Speaker 6: and facing the voters and telling them the truth. I
13:25
Speaker 6: think that is what people are looking for in a congressman.
13:28
Speaker 6: And yes, look, I made a mistake. I had an
13:31
Speaker 6: indiscretion years ago that my wife and I have worked through.
13:34
Speaker 6: She's having to relive all this now. But The important
13:38
Speaker 6: thing is to recognize that when I made a mistake,
13:41
Speaker 6: I stood up, I faced folks and told the truth
13:43
Speaker 6: about it. And that's what we're looking for in a congressman.
13:48
Speaker 5: So and I just want to make sure we're clear
13:51
Speaker 5: about all of this. Was it just one person that
13:55
Speaker 5: you you texted? Were there multiple individuals?
13:59
Speaker 6: Well, I'll let the Nashville scene. They're the ones that
14:01
Speaker 6: did the reporting. I'm not disputing the premise of their
14:05
Speaker 6: of their articles. I do believe there are inaccuracies in it,
14:09
Speaker 6: but the premise of it is what I acknowledge, and
14:13
Speaker 6: that's what I acknowledge to my wife, and she and
14:15
Speaker 6: I worked through this years ago, and it's unfortunate and frustrating,
14:19
Speaker 6: but look, I understand. I deserve to be held accountable
14:23
Speaker 6: on this, but it's frustrating that she has to relive.
14:27
Speaker 8: All of this.
14:28
Speaker 5: Again, I just want to be clear. Are there Was
14:31
Speaker 5: this one instance or were there multiple people who received
14:36
Speaker 5: these text messages?
14:38
Speaker 6: Well, again, I think there could be inaccuracies in the article.
14:43
Speaker 5: What were the inaccuracies? I know that, but you and
14:47
Speaker 5: I are on, and you've been a frequent guest on
14:49
Speaker 5: this program, Senator, and we're not hanging anybody out to
14:52
Speaker 5: dry here. We're just asking questions that came out of
14:54
Speaker 5: the story. And these are questions that people are asking
14:57
Speaker 5: of us. So it was just a simple question.
15:01
Speaker 6: Well, it's a simple question. The simple answer is I'm
15:04
Speaker 6: acknowledging the reporting in the Nashville scene. And whether it
15:10
Speaker 6: was one or multiple, one was too many. And I'm
15:13
Speaker 6: acknowledging the indiscretion that I made. And it really doesn't
15:16
Speaker 6: matter whether it was one or more. It was an
15:19
Speaker 6: indiscretion that my wife and I have worked through together.
15:23
Speaker 6: We've moved on from it. And she's forgiven me. My
15:26
Speaker 6: God has forgiven me. And the voters will have an
15:29
Speaker 6: opportunity in seven days to render a judgment on that.
15:33
Speaker 6: But I believe most Tennesseans, again, aren't concerned about the
15:37
Speaker 6: personal struggles in my family. They're concerned about the struggles
15:41
Speaker 6: in their family. And electing a Democrat socialist like Justin
15:46
Speaker 6: Pearson will be a constant embarrassment and would impact their
15:50
Speaker 6: families for years to come.
15:52
Speaker 5: Just two more questions. And you mentioned youthful indiscretion. you
15:57
Speaker 5: were in your 50s. Do you still want to go
15:59
Speaker 5: with that description? It was a youthful indiscretion.
16:02
Speaker 6: Well, the older I get, the younger 50 becomes. But
16:06
Speaker 6: maybe a more accurate term would be passed indiscretion.
16:09
Speaker 9: I see.
16:10
Speaker 2: I see.
16:12
Speaker 5: What are you I'm just curious. I know you're getting
16:14
Speaker 5: you're fielding a lot of calls from from the media.
16:17
Speaker 5: Does this take you off the game as we're heading into,
16:20
Speaker 5: like you said, the final stretch here? And are there
16:22
Speaker 5: any more shoes that are going to drop between now
16:24
Speaker 5: and Election Day?
16:27
Speaker 6: Look, it does not take us off our game. We're
16:30
Speaker 6: moving forward. We've been working hard in this campaign. We've
16:33
Speaker 6: got seven days left. Again, what I have heard is
16:36
Speaker 6: from constituents who were shocked that this type of reporting
16:41
Speaker 6: and smut would come out a week before the election.
16:44
Speaker 6: And it's clearly time to try to impact the election.
16:48
Speaker 6: But look, I'm a big boy. I'm willing to be
16:53
Speaker 6: held accountable for my past indiscretion. And again, I think
16:57
Speaker 6: the important point to draw from all this is, do
17:00
Speaker 6: you want somebody who's going to tell you the truth
17:02
Speaker 6: when things get hard? And clearly I have demonstrated that
17:06
Speaker 6: I will stand in front of my wife and tell
17:09
Speaker 6: her the truth when things are bad. And I will
17:11
Speaker 6: stand in front of the voters as I'm doing today
17:13
Speaker 6: with you. When things are bad, I'm going to tell
17:15
Speaker 6: you the truth. You don't have to worry about shading
17:18
Speaker 6: the truth or hiding something.
17:20
Speaker 5: All right. Well, Senator, we we appreciate you coming on
17:24
Speaker 5: and answering the tough questions. And certainly we, you know,
17:29
Speaker 5: several days to go before Election Day. We'll see how
17:31
Speaker 5: all of this plays out. But good luck to you
17:34
Speaker 5: out there on the campaign trail. Thank you for coming
17:36
Speaker 5: on the show today.
17:37
Speaker 6: I appreciate you, Todd.
17:38
Speaker 2: Thank you.
17:39
Speaker 3: All right.
17:39
Speaker 2: Our number is 901-260-5926. We're going to open up the
17:44
Speaker 2: phone lines after we hit up traffic and weather with
17:47
Speaker 2: Laura Huckabee. So we have some callers, and we are
18:02
Speaker 2: still discussing the Senator Brent Taylor sexting scandal and Todd Starnes' interview.
18:08
Speaker 2: We're going to go to caller one, who is Penny
18:10
Speaker 2: in Germantown. Hello, Penny. You are on air with Kristen
18:14
Speaker 2: New at the Todd Starnes Show.
18:17
Speaker 10: Thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to
18:19
Speaker 10: say that I voted for Brent Taylor on last Saturday,
18:22
Speaker 10: and I would vote for him again today. His indiscretions
18:25
Speaker 10: are personal. His voting record stands on its own. I
18:31
Speaker 10: am sorry that his wife and family have to go
18:33
Speaker 10: through this. But the choices on my ballot, there was
18:38
Speaker 10: no doubt on who I was going to vote for.
18:41
Speaker 10: I do believe that most people slash politicians have their
18:46
Speaker 10: own bags of tricks that they hope do not come
18:48
Speaker 10: forth in their life, much less in a political race.
18:52
Speaker 10: I'm sorry it happened. He's going to have to deal
18:55
Speaker 10: with it. But he would have my vote. I voted
18:58
Speaker 10: straight red Republican the whole way down. There was another
19:01
Speaker 10: person on the ballot that I had really had to
19:04
Speaker 10: think about. But this actual voting cycle, I really didn't
19:09
Speaker 10: vote for myself. I voted for my grandkids.
19:12
Speaker 2: You know, that is true. We are voting for our future,
19:15
Speaker 2: our nation, our grandkids. Did you find Brent Taylor's explanation sufficient?
19:21
Speaker 4: Yes.
19:22
Speaker 10: You know, it's none of my business. That has nothing
19:25
Speaker 10: to do with my voting for him and what he
19:28
Speaker 10: has done so far. You know, everybody makes mistakes. I'm
19:34
Speaker 10: sorry it happened. I'm sorry his wife particularly or his
19:38
Speaker 10: children have to live through this again. But I do
19:41
Speaker 10: believe that, you know, at this time in the race,
19:44
Speaker 10: they're going to pull out everything they can on anyone
19:47
Speaker 10: they can.
19:48
Speaker 2: You know, that is true. That is true.
19:50
Speaker 10: My choices on that ballot were very limited.
19:55
Speaker 4: I would have not.
19:55
Speaker 10: Voted if I had to vote for the other candidate.
19:59
Speaker 10: That's just putting it the way it is. I believe
20:03
Speaker 10: that Brent Taylor will do the most that he can
20:05
Speaker 10: do for this area. We have a lot of problems.
20:10
Speaker 10: This city has a lot of problems in every realm
20:13
Speaker 10: of politics or offices that are held here in this city,
20:17
Speaker 10: especially Memphis. And we need a strong person to come
20:21
Speaker 10: in and take care of that. And I think he
20:23
Speaker 10: would be the person to do that. I don't think
20:26
Speaker 10: that other choice was anything that that I would go for.
20:30
Speaker 10: It just it just was not. This city's in trouble.
20:34
Speaker 10: I call it the armpit of the South, and that's
20:36
Speaker 10: exactly what it is.
20:38
Speaker 2: The blue armpit of the South.
20:39
Speaker 10: Yeah, but we've got more problems here than you want
20:43
Speaker 10: to count or that probably we even know about. But no,
20:46
Speaker 10: Brent Taylor made a mistake. I'm sorry he made that mistake,
20:49
Speaker 10: and I'm sure he's even sorrier this morning that he
20:52
Speaker 10: made that mistake. But I do believe, you know, that
20:56
Speaker 10: his family to be put through this again is horrible
21:01
Speaker 10: and anybody that has to put up with it or
21:03
Speaker 10: live with it or live through it. But he was
21:06
Speaker 10: my only choice. And again, I voted for my grandkids here,
21:11
Speaker 10: not necessarily for myself this time. I'm 65 years old.
21:17
Speaker 10: Things that are happening now are going to carry over
21:19
Speaker 10: for many years to come, especially in our area. And
21:24
Speaker 10: we need people to come in here that's going to
21:26
Speaker 10: hold the line. I really think the whole city needs
21:30
Speaker 10: to be shut down. bring in the military and let
21:32
Speaker 10: them get rid of what we got going on and
21:35
Speaker 10: just start over. It's a shame that this city is
21:39
Speaker 10: what it is. When I used to visit here, it
21:41
Speaker 10: was the most beautiful city.
21:43
Speaker 6: You would want to visit.
21:44
Speaker 9: I agree.
21:45
Speaker 2: Penny, it was, it was, I grew up here. Thank
21:47
Speaker 2: you so much for your call. So Penny is, she's
21:51
Speaker 2: taken the road that we need to look at Brent
21:54
Speaker 2: Taylor's voting record over his past indiscretions. And that is
21:58
Speaker 2: what she has done. And that is what she is
22:00
Speaker 2: going to continue to do. We're going to go to
22:02
Speaker 2: our next caller. We have Corey in Memphis, Tennessee.
22:05
Speaker 3: Corey.
22:06
Speaker 2: You are on air with Kristen New filling in for
22:09
Speaker 2: Todd Starnes. And what is your opinion on the Senator
22:13
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor apology?
22:16
Speaker 7: Great day, y'all. Only Jesus is perfect. All this confusion.
22:21
Speaker 7: God is not the author of confusion. We supposed to
22:24
Speaker 7: be helping each other down here. Too much division. And
22:27
Speaker 7: I don't see how people not see what Justin is doing. Chaos.
22:31
Speaker 7: Last time I was on here, it was about Justin
22:34
Speaker 7: making a statement that Jesus is gay. When you start
22:37
Speaker 7: talking against God, people ain't got common sense no more.
22:42
Speaker 7: What a common sense is now. They're just like they
22:45
Speaker 7: talk about Trump. Trump didn't create these problems. We, as
22:48
Speaker 7: God's children, created these problems because we sinners. So when
22:52
Speaker 7: a man makes a mistake, so? Who is perfect but Jesus?
22:57
Speaker 7: Everybody walks around. So many of us walking around here
23:00
Speaker 7: like we perfect.
23:01
Speaker 2: So, Corey, do you live in Congressional District 9? Are
23:04
Speaker 2: you a Do you live in Congressional District 9? Would
23:08
Speaker 2: you be voting for Brent Taylor for Congress?
23:11
Speaker 7: I would pick Brent over Justin any day. I agree.
23:14
Speaker 7: That's common sense stuff.
23:16
Speaker 2: I agree, sir.
23:17
Speaker 7: Justin create too many. If Justin gets what, if only
23:21
Speaker 7: thing with Justin, like everywhere he go, it's a problem.
23:24
Speaker 7: It's chaos. Who wants all that? Every time it's something
23:28
Speaker 7: that's embarrassing. And I'm Black. So it ain't about no
23:32
Speaker 7: black and white. No, it's about, hey, where's God at?
23:35
Speaker 7: Where's the common sense at? See, we done got away from, see,
23:38
Speaker 7: this is the Holy Bible Belt.
23:40
Speaker 11: Like Ms.
23:41
Speaker 7: Penny was saying earlier, this is the Holy Bible Belt.
23:43
Speaker 7: You know, Memphis, let's go back to being God-fearing. We're
23:48
Speaker 7: doing what God loves, using common sense instead of all
23:52
Speaker 7: this new age, I like drama. Oh, let me talk
23:56
Speaker 7: about this one, let me tell you.
23:58
Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
23:59
Speaker 7: Nobody talk about nobody.
24:00
Speaker 2: Yes, sir. I agree. And, you know, politics has gotten
24:03
Speaker 2: very drama filled. It's almost it's almost like watching some
24:07
Speaker 2: sort of sitcom every day. So thank you for your call.
24:12
Speaker 2: So Coy is also on Team Brent on this that
24:15
Speaker 2: agrees with Penny that we have a problem here in
24:18
Speaker 2: the ninth congressional district. And our two choices is Brent Taylor.
24:24
Speaker 2: Or a Democrat socialist, Justin Pearson. So I'm going to
24:26
Speaker 2: go to the next caller before we get to a break.
24:29
Speaker 2: We're going to go to Samantha in Bartlett. Samantha, thank
24:33
Speaker 2: you for calling. Welcome to the show. Do you find
24:36
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor's explanation sufficient?
24:41
Speaker 4: I do.
24:42
Speaker 9: I'll be completely honest with you. I don't care what
24:44
Speaker 9: he does in his private life. I really don't. It's
24:48
Speaker 9: gotten to the point where everybody's going to have something.
24:52
Speaker 9: Everybody has a skeleton. I worry about my safety, my kids' safety,
24:58
Speaker 9: my future grandkids' safety. I don't care about this. It's just,
25:03
Speaker 9: to me, it doesn't matter. I voted for him early.
25:06
Speaker 9: As the lady said before, I would vote for him again.
25:09
Speaker 9: Justin Pearson attacks our law enforcement police officers. He calls
25:14
Speaker 9: them names.
25:14
Speaker 2: I just.
25:17
Speaker 9: To me, this is just nothing. I would vote for
25:20
Speaker 9: him again.
25:20
Speaker 2: Okay, well, thank you so much for your call. So
25:24
Speaker 2: it seems like the overwhelming attitude towards this is that
25:28
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor may have had some discretions in his past.
25:32
Speaker 2: Those discretions were called out. This has gone viral. It
25:35
Speaker 2: has gone into a national news story. But people who
25:40
Speaker 2: live here in the 9th Congressional District They have bigger concerns,
25:45
Speaker 2: and those bigger concerns are that they do not want
25:48
Speaker 2: a Democrat socialist to win the 9th Congressional District. They
25:51
Speaker 2: are looking towards their future. They're looking towards their kids' future,
25:55
Speaker 2: and they're willing to forgive Brent Taylor's indiscretion in order
26:00
Speaker 2: to keep our 9th Congressional District under red control. But
26:04
Speaker 2: it does bring up a broader question of whether or
26:07
Speaker 2: not that you feel as a voter or a supporter—
26:10
Speaker 2: Or even if you're a candidate, do you feel that
26:13
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor owes you an apology? Because now this has
26:18
Speaker 2: kind of been inserted into your daily life. I did
26:22
Speaker 2: see there are some people online in the comments who
26:26
Speaker 2: take an opposite view. And maybe if you guys take
26:29
Speaker 2: an opposite view of that, and if you want to
26:31
Speaker 2: call in, we would be happy to talk to you.
26:34
Speaker 2: Our number is 901-260-5926. So call in and see what
26:40
Speaker 2: you think. Y'all really at the end of the day,
26:44
Speaker 2: no matter what drama comes out, we have we still
26:48
Speaker 2: have two choices. The ballots are set. So you have
26:50
Speaker 2: Senator Brent Taylor running for ninth congressional district or you
26:54
Speaker 2: have the Democrat socialist Justin Pearson and you have a
26:57
Speaker 2: decision to make at the polls and polls are open
26:59
Speaker 2: today and tomorrow from 11 to 7. And then they
27:02
Speaker 2: shut down and opened again on Tuesday for Election Day.
27:05
Speaker 2: So you guys do have a decision to make. We
27:08
Speaker 2: are going to hop to a break. And then we're
27:10
Speaker 2: going to keep our phone lines open if anybody still
27:12
Speaker 2: wants to call. All right, we're back. And we're heading
27:15
Speaker 2: straight to the phone lines so we can try to
27:17
Speaker 2: get through everyone. Right now we have Tracy from Cordova
27:20
Speaker 2: calling in. Tracy, welcome to the show. And you take
27:24
Speaker 2: an opposite view of some of our last callers, do
27:26
Speaker 2: you not? I do. All right, let's hear it.
27:30
Speaker 8: Back in July, there was a debate between the candidates,
27:38
Speaker 8: and a woman named Marie called in and mentioned, you know,
27:44
Speaker 8: a state senator sexually harassing one of her friends. And,
27:50
Speaker 8: you know, Todd was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't
27:52
Speaker 8: know what she's talking about. And the discussion went on about.
27:58
Speaker 8: Whether or not people should drop out of the race
28:04
Speaker 8: or step down from their elected position if they sexually
28:10
Speaker 8: harass somebody. And Brent Taylor said, absolutely. So why are
28:17
Speaker 8: you all not calling for him to step down from
28:20
Speaker 8: his state senator role and drop out of the race?
28:25
Speaker 2: Well, if he drops out of the right, the ballots
28:27
Speaker 2: have been set. So they're going, I mean, the voting
28:31
Speaker 2: is happening right now. So there, there is just right
28:34
Speaker 2: now two choices. Now, once he wins, if you're demanding
28:38
Speaker 2: him to, to drop out, then the, you know, of
28:42
Speaker 2: course that's, that's up to the people, whether they want
28:44
Speaker 2: to demand that or not, but there's nothing that we
28:46
Speaker 2: can do right now. Now that the ballots and people
28:49
Speaker 2: have already voted. I mean, we're, we're, We only have
28:53
Speaker 2: two days left of early voting. So right now where
28:55
Speaker 2: we sit, these are our two choices.
28:57
Speaker 8: He has sexually harassed somebody.
28:59
Speaker 4: And I.
29:03
Speaker 8: Haven't heard one apology to the person he sent nude
29:07
Speaker 8: pictures to. It's all been about his wife, but not
29:14
Speaker 8: to the person he sent the pictures to.
29:16
Speaker 2: Well, you know, that's a good point. And there's a
29:17
Speaker 2: lot of people who who think that they're owed an
29:19
Speaker 2: apology as well. A lot of supporters who have put
29:22
Speaker 2: money into his campaign, who have put signs in their yards.
29:25
Speaker 2: And that is a valid, valid point. And I absolutely
29:28
Speaker 2: thank you for your call, Tracy. We are going to
29:30
Speaker 2: move on just because there's so many callers. Let's get
29:33
Speaker 2: to Sandy. Sandy, you're actually calling from Mississippi.
29:36
Speaker 4: I am.
29:39
Speaker 2: But my.
29:40
Speaker 4: I've lived in Germantown. My family still lives Germantown, Collierville area.
29:44
Speaker 4: So I keep up with what's going on in that area.
29:48
Speaker 2: What do you feel about this? Do you think that
29:50
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor has done a sufficient job in his explanation?
29:53
Speaker 4: You know, I don't care.
29:56
Speaker 8: Okay.
29:57
Speaker 4: As hard as that is for me to say on
29:59
Speaker 4: one level, because his supporters are going through this, his family,
30:05
Speaker 4: I don't know if the woman was sexually harassed or not.
30:10
Speaker 4: It's coming out very late. We don't know the details.
30:15
Speaker 4: But regardless, I just don't care. I think that people
30:19
Speaker 4: who are so enmeshed in, oh, my gosh, he's a
30:23
Speaker 4: sexual harasser. don't realize what time it is in this country.
30:28
Speaker 2: And at this point, Sandy, like I told the last caller,
30:32
Speaker 2: what are we supposed to do about it now that
30:34
Speaker 2: the ballots are set and we are already voting? What
30:39
Speaker 2: are we supposed to do? I mean, we could admonish him, yes,
30:43
Speaker 2: but it's still not going to change anything as far as.
30:46
Speaker 10: Correct.
30:48
Speaker 4: And if– people need to look at what's happening globally, nationally,
30:53
Speaker 4: and locally. It's all the same. They're trying to pretty
30:57
Speaker 4: up socialism, which we all know is just a step
31:01
Speaker 4: towards communism because once you give the government more power,
31:04
Speaker 4: they take more power. They always will. And if they
31:08
Speaker 4: think sexual harassment is bad– and I do– They need
31:13
Speaker 4: to look at the murder and mayhem that goes on
31:16
Speaker 4: in these communist countries. Right.
31:18
Speaker 2: So that is, and I'm sorry to interrupt, that is
31:21
Speaker 2: our two choices, like you said. We have an imperfect
31:25
Speaker 2: candidate or we have communism. I do need to, I'm
31:29
Speaker 2: sorry to cut you off, but I do need to
31:30
Speaker 2: move on to the next caller. We do have a
31:32
Speaker 2: full call list here. And I'm going to move on
31:34
Speaker 2: to Bob from Fayette County. Hi, Bob.
31:36
Speaker 11: Hey, good morning.
31:38
Speaker 2: Good morning.
31:39
Speaker 8: Hi.
31:42
Speaker 1: Uh, it, Kristen, as you and I know, we, we've
31:44
Speaker 1: known Brent Taylor for a number of years now, and, and, uh, I'm,
31:48
Speaker 1: I'm very confident that faced with political questions, he's going
31:52
Speaker 1: to do the right thing. Uh, I do believe he
31:55
Speaker 1: owes an apology to the taxpayers. And, uh, and I
31:59
Speaker 1: know Brent, if we were having coffee right now here
32:01
Speaker 1: on my front porch out here in Moscow, we would,
32:04
Speaker 1: I would be telling him the same thing. And the
32:05
Speaker 1: reason is because What we vest in our people that
32:09
Speaker 1: we elect is this concept of special trust and confidence.
32:12
Speaker 1: And it goes beyond the ability to win elections or
32:15
Speaker 1: fund them. It goes beyond being able to vote a
32:18
Speaker 1: certain way on a certain bill that someone else has sponsored.
32:22
Speaker 1: All of those things are evidence of political competence. But
32:26
Speaker 1: what we're lacking right now, and I think we sense
32:29
Speaker 1: it all across Tennessee and across America, is a body
32:34
Speaker 1: of political figures who have a strong moral compass. And
32:39
Speaker 1: in a sense, I'm glad this broke now because in
32:42
Speaker 1: this same area with the former 8th Congressional District, prior
32:47
Speaker 1: to our new congressman, the congressman we've had for several
32:50
Speaker 1: cycles now, David Gustaf, we had a similar form of
32:55
Speaker 1: scandal that caused us to lose a congressman.
32:58
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
32:59
Speaker 1: And I would rather have this happen now during the
33:01
Speaker 1: election cycle when people can make up their mind about
33:03
Speaker 1: how they want to cast their vote. And obviously we
33:05
Speaker 1: do not need a Democrat, godless, crazy Democrat socialist, Justin Pearson,
33:11
Speaker 1: in office. Brent Taylor is clearly the better choice.
33:15
Speaker 11: Clearly.
33:17
Speaker 1: This is a good opportunity for us to ask ourselves,
33:20
Speaker 1: and I'm a little concerned by some of the callers
33:22
Speaker 1: who've called, because they don't care what he does. What
33:24
Speaker 1: he does offline matters. What we all do offline matters.
33:29
Speaker 1: And if we don't get our moral compass straight, and
33:32
Speaker 1: I want to call out Corey, the black gentleman who
33:35
Speaker 1: called in and said Jesus is our only hope. He's right.
33:38
Speaker 1: He's absolutely correct. And if we don't have a high
33:42
Speaker 1: moral compass that we're following, then it doesn't matter how
33:46
Speaker 1: competent you are.
33:47
Speaker 2: That's how So we need to teach. We need to
33:50
Speaker 2: kind of maybe use this as a learning, like a learning.
33:53
Speaker 2: We need a teaching moment that we do need to
33:56
Speaker 2: do better. But at this point in time, like you said, Bob,
33:59
Speaker 2: that's what we've got. So thank you for your call, Bob.
34:03
Speaker 2: You always have such wonderful words of wisdom, and we
34:06
Speaker 2: do appreciate you calling. Let's go to the birthday boy.
34:10
Speaker 2: The birthday boy has been holding patiently on the line
34:13
Speaker 2: for his own show. Hello, Todd. How are you?
34:16
Speaker 11: Kristen, you're doing a great job and loving the calls
34:20
Speaker 11: from our KWAM listeners. You know, we were catching a
34:22
Speaker 11: little bit of blowback from our interview yesterday. But the
34:25
Speaker 11: reality is we would have done the same thing if
34:28
Speaker 11: a Democrat had been caught doing something like this. And
34:32
Speaker 11: it's important for us to be fair and balanced in
34:34
Speaker 11: our coverage. And I want to say, first of all,
34:37
Speaker 11: the calls today, absolutely fantastic. And clearly there are a
34:42
Speaker 11: lot of different opinions on this story.
34:44
Speaker 7: Right.
34:45
Speaker 2: And I think people are fearful that this might hurt
34:49
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor's position here as he's running for Congress. And
34:53
Speaker 2: they're a little worried. They're more worried about the Democrat
34:57
Speaker 2: socialists getting elected than they are worried about something Brent did.
35:02
Speaker 11: Well, let me say this. I did find, as I
35:05
Speaker 11: was thinking about all of this, driving back from North
35:08
Speaker 11: Georgia yesterday, I got about 1.30 this morning, and I
35:11
Speaker 11: was thinking about this driving back, Kristen, I think there
35:14
Speaker 11: is one thing that all of us in the Mid-South
35:16
Speaker 11: can agree on when it comes to this particular matter.
35:19
Speaker 11: The next time we get a text message from the
35:21
Speaker 11: Brent Taylor campaign, we're all going to take a breath
35:24
Speaker 11: before we hit that button.
35:27
Speaker 1: All right.
35:29
Speaker 2: You know, at some point, you've got to put some
35:31
Speaker 2: humor into this because I've been a little stressed out
35:34
Speaker 2: about this. I got to be honest. This kind of
35:37
Speaker 2: hit me from left field. But as I have kind
35:40
Speaker 2: of thought about it more. And then listening to these
35:43
Speaker 2: callers at the end of the day, Todd, it's either
35:47
Speaker 2: Brent Taylor, who has a solid, solid voting record, or
35:51
Speaker 2: a Democrat socialist who will turn us into a third
35:54
Speaker 2: world country.
35:55
Speaker 11: And Christian, I hope KWAM listeners know across the Mid-South,
35:59
Speaker 11: we're going to hold all of our elected leaders accountable.
36:02
Speaker 11: We are living in a very dangerous age. And I
36:05
Speaker 11: think that, you know, there is a great fear about
36:08
Speaker 11: the rise of communism in this country. And it is
36:11
Speaker 11: a legitimate concern. We're going to keep all of this
36:13
Speaker 11: going at 11 o'clock.
36:14
Speaker 7: All right.
36:15
Speaker 2: Well, it was a tough interview, Todd. I hope I
36:18
Speaker 2: never have to get interviewed by you. That was a
36:20
Speaker 2: great interview.
36:21
Speaker 8: I loved it.
36:22
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for calling in. Thank you for
36:23
Speaker 2: letting me host these last two days. It's been wonderful.
36:26
Speaker 2: And guys, turn on to Todd at 11 a.m.