Skip to content 8/28/2025 Analyzing Violent Acts in America and Thoughtfully Responding with the Love of Christ Aug 28 · 54 min ...more
8/28/2025 Analyzing Violent Acts in America and Thoughtfully Responding with the Love of Christ
August 28, 2025 · 54 min
Jody Hice and guests investigate various factors behind yesterday’s mass shooting at a Catholic School and Church, the growth of violence in America, and successful steps to curb it.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio August 28, 2025 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Jody Hice and guests investigate various factors behind yesterday’s mass shooting at a Catholic School and Church, the growth of violence in America, and successful steps to curb it. ...more Show the full description Show less Jody Hice and guests investigate various factors behind yesterday’s mass shooting at a Catholic School and Church, the growth of violence in America, and successful steps to curb it.
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Addressing Tragedy Through a Biblical Lens 0:01 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and0:12 newsmakers, all from a biblical world view. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heiss.0:19 We currently have 9 patients that were involved, in the shooting yesterday. 6 of those patients are in satisfactory condition. 5 of those patients are children. We have 2 patients in serious condition,0:31 1 adult and 1 child, and we have 1 child in critical condition presently.0:37 That was doctor Thomas Clement, interim CEO at the Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, giving an update on those who were injured in yesterday's attack by a gender confused0:48 gunman during a church mass. This is Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heise. We'll be discussing yesterday's shootings from various angles today. My1:00 guests are going to include Kansas congressman Ron Estes, Maria Kefler of Advocates for Protecting Children, Ariel Del Turco. She's the author of FRC's report on1:12 hostility against churches here in the United States. And then doctor Ben Carson will be joining me a little bit later in the program. But first, let's get the latest, in regard to the1:24 details of what's coming out from yesterday's shooting. And I want to, bring in right now Libby Emmons. She's the editor in chief for the Postmillennial and Human Events.1:35 Libby, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you so much for joining us.1:40 Thank you. Thank you so much.1:41 Okay. What more have we found out about the shooter from yesterday?1:46 Well, so the shooter from yesterday, Robin Robin I'm sorry. I just I just had his name on the tip of my tongue. Robin Weston, Westman. He was1:58 a transgender individual, 23 years old. He had attended the school, the Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Also, his mother had worked there.2:10 We know that he killed 2 children and, injured 14 children, as you were just mentioning, along with 3 adults. We know also that he left behind2:22 a manifesto about how much he hated God, and he was, you know, very anti Christian in those messages. He was also opposed to Israel.2:34 He was very pro Gaza. He had a message on 1 of his, magazines that said, kill Donald Trump. And we know also sort of an interesting detail that emerged this2:46 morning that he had regretted his gender transition. He, was gender transitioned in 20 19 when he was about 17 years old. He changed his name. His2:58 parents had approved that name change and signed off on it because he was a minor. And in the notes that he left behind, he said that he, regretted the transition, that3:10 he wanted to cut his hair because this was a vestige of his transition, and that he was ashamed and embarrassed to do so. And that's pretty interesting, I think, him saying that he3:21 felt neither like a man or a woman. And there really is a lot of self hatred in there. Also, in the notes left behind, we see a drawing of him looking into a mirror and having a3:33 demon look back at him.3:35 Wow.3:36 Incredible information. How how is the legacy media treating the fact that the shooter was transgender, gender confused, however we wanna phrase this?3:49 Yeah. That's an interesting point as well. As soon as the just within minutes, you know, of the of the shooting in Minneapolis, we saw mayor Jacob Frey coming out on the scene. He was giving a press4:01 conference, and he was speaking about how important it is not to vilify the transgender community. He was speak he also, you know, had had best wishes for the families4:13 and grief and all of that, but he spoke at length, not just at that press conference, but later in the day about how important it was not to vilify the transgender community, assuming that everyone was just going to pile4:25 on to, you know, all trans people everywhere. And that was his main focus. Jen Psaki was speaking about, also how thoughts and prayers were not,4:36 relevant at this time as had mayor Frey. And you also had Jake Tapper talking about, you know, how it is important to stand by trans people. You also had the New York4:48 Times going at length to use female pronouns. Now, what's interesting about the media that has been going above and beyond to make sure they're using female pronouns for this man is that5:00 he was saying himself that he regretted his gender transition. So 1 wonders if he would have wanted that in the first place, not that his, preferences have any bearing on anything at this point because he's5:12 this horrible killer. But that's that's what's that's what we've seen is, you know, them using these pronouns. There's some reporting that's out there and you wouldn't even know that it was a man because they're using5:23 the female pronouns and not really addressing that he was trans. And also, media has not wanted to discuss that he's transgender. That's not something that5:35 they want to deal with. And it turns out that he is part of a, short list of transgender individuals who have committed mass5:47 murders over the past several years.5:49 Yeah. We've seen so much of this, and, it's it's becoming, evident that these people have serious, serious problems on multiple fronts. Alright. Real quickly, I've got6:01 another guest I need to get to, but, enough with the villain for right now. Let's turn to the heroes. Yesterday's shooting could certainly have been much worse. What details have come out regarding6:12 what happened on the scene?6:15 Well, we've heard a lot about officers who were rushing in to save children, which was really a stark contrast to what we saw at the Uvalde school massacre a few years ago where officers were holding back, and there's6:27 been a lot of praise for the first responders on the scene. 1 thing that really struck me was there was a young boy who was talking about how when the shots rang out, he and his friends dove under the pews. This was6:39 just a fifth grader, and he said that his friend shielded him from the bullets, and his friend actually did take a bullet in the back and was taken to a hospital. Hopefully, he will be recovering.6:50 But there was a lot of praise for the first responders there. And after that too, I think that, a lot of Catholic schools are probably going to consider having police officers on the7:02 scene maybe for the whole day to prevent these kinds of things from happening.7:07 Thank you so much, Libby Emmons, the editor in chief of the Postmillennial. I appreciate you joining us today on Washington Watch.7:16 Alright. I wanna7:16 I wanna switch over. Joining me now to provide a congressional perspective on all of this and the broader issue of crime in our nation as a whole, congressman Ron Estes, who represents the fourth congressional7:29 district of Kansas. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us again on Washington Watch. Great to see you.7:35 Well, thank you, Jody. It's good to be on again.7:37 Alright. Let's, this tragic situation, let me first get your thoughts on the shoot shooting that took place yesterday.7:44 Well, it's really a sad story that you you see another story where where children are killed and injured. There's there's no place for that kind of violence in our schools or, targeting elected7:56 officials or anyone, from that. And it it's sad that there's that kind of anger and hatred that would would drive these individuals to go, commit those those heinous act of crimes.8:07 Yeah. And, you know, 1 of the reasons, congressman, in all the love and respect in the world that I wanted you on with us today, this whole issue of crime has hit very8:19 close to your home. Earlier this summer, an intern there at your office was the victim of senseless violence here in our nation's capital, and he was killed. While he walked down the8:31 street less than a mile from the White House. And our continued prayers and thoughts to to that family. But can you just take a moment to,8:43 talk about that and to tell us a little bit about that intern?8:47 Yeah. It really is. It is a sad story. I mean, you know, Eric Tarpenian Jackham was a a 21 year old. He was about to be a senior at, University of Mass Massachusetts Amherst. He was serving8:59 as an intern in our office, and, he was a great young man. And it it's, it's a sad state that in our nation's capital, there have been over a hundred people killed on the city streets this9:11 year, that, you know, we we should want to be proud of our capital. We should want to be able to have a showcase that we could have Americans come visit, or we could have foreign dignitaries come and visit, and and, you9:23 know, Eric's tragic, death is is 1 of those things that it should never have happened, and, you know, as a parent, I I want my children to have the opportunity to to take advantage of some of these things, but,9:35 you know, for him to come and and lose his life because of that's a a sad state, and we we need to make, sure that we we provide safe streets, that we protect Americans across the country. Of course, Washington9:47 DC is a a federal district. It's different than the cities in in different states, and and president Trump's really stepped up in terms of saying the federal government has a responsibility to help maintain, law and9:58 order in, in Washington DC and and helping make sure that that happens.10:03 Yeah. It's, I'm glad you brought that up because it really is it seems to be making a drastic change in just a short period of time what the president has been doing here in Washington DC. Your thoughts on that? What are10:14 you seeing and hearing from others here in Washington?10:19 Yeah. It really it stands out. I mean, there's a stark difference now, you know, in the first 10 days or so that the, the, the enhanced, law enforcement support from the National Guard happened. There there weren't any10:31 murders, unfortunately, in the last couple of days. There there has been another 1 just because of the crime in the streets. But, you know, that offsets the first 7 months of the year. There were, over a hundred people,10:41 killed on the streets in Washington, DC, which which is, you know, worse than other capitals around the world, Bogota, Lima, and and Madrid, and and even Chicago. I mean, it's worse. 610:53 times worse, the rate of, murders per hundred thousand citizens in, in New York City. So, between the murders, rate about 27 and a half per hundred thousand11:05 people, and the and the carjackings and car thefts, about 840 per hundred thousand people. It's, we wanna make sure that, the the streets are safer, and the president's been doing a good job. We've seen a marked11:16 decrease. I mean, violent crime's gone down 40 percent, in the last couple of weeks, which is which is important for Americans to feel safe and and foreign visitors to feel safe as well.11:27 It really is. So, you know, I guess on the negative side of all this, it it all comes to an end in 30 days. So what do you think needs to happen following that 30 days? What do you anticipate happening?11:38 Well, I think part of what we've seen is is by having the national guard available to help, patrol the streets, You know, the the police department in Washington can actually focus on solving some of the cases that that11:50 have been a backlog, for them. You know, they they really have not solved yet, Eric's staff and and wanna make sure that, they have the the time to do that. And then, ultimately, it also belies some12:02 of the discussion around defunding the police. I mean, going back several years ago, the Washington DC local government, which had been granted some authority, by by congress, but they they decided to to,12:14 cut the funding for their police, and it it's nowhere near recovered, the same trajectory it would have been on based on the on the growth rate and and the inflation rate, since that time. So, I I12:26 think that's part of what needs to be addressed as well is making sure that, the adequate funding is provided to help make sure that we have, safe streets for our Americans, whether it's in Washington DC or or Chicago or12:37 Nashville or Minneapolis or anywhere else.12:40 We've only got less than a minute left, but, the president's talking about a comprehensive crime bill. What do you think that should look like kind of from a 30000 foot perspective?12:49 I think, the our primary overall goal in looking at that is we wanna make sure we protect Americans. Protect them whether in Washington DC, whether they're in Wichita, Kansas, whether they're in in New York, or even13:01 in California, you know, with, you know, some of the the the riots that have been there in terms of the protest, against, the illegal immigrations. We wanna make sure that Americans are protected. So we wanna make sure a13:12 crime bill actually focuses on the funding that's being provided, from the federal government is utilized to help support those law enforcement, help make sure that they do their role, that they can protect American13:23 citizens throughout their their city or their state, wherever their area of responsibility is.13:28 Thank you so much, congressman Ron Estes of Kansas. Always great to see you. We appreciate you coming on. Our friends, coming up, the legacy media wants you to avoid they want to avoid13:40 reporting, what was really behind the gunman yesterday and all the transgender, confused aspects of it all. So, what what do we do with all this? We have a definite13:52 problem, and we wanna dive further into that issue. We'll do so right after the break, so don't go anywhere. We'll be back right after this.14:01 3 years ago, the Supreme Court issued its historic Dobbs decision, a ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade, which for nearly 50 years imposed abortion on demand, silencing voters and14:13 bypassing the democratic process across the country. The Dobbs decision was a huge step forward against abortion, but it didn't outright ban it. It returned the power to the people. Now,14:24 29 states have laws on the books protecting life. However, there's a catch. Abortion numbers since Dobbs have actually gone up with an increase of 12 percent since 20 20,14:36 climbing from 930000 to over 1000000 in each of the most recent years. So how can this be? The answer is simple, the abortion drug. Today, over14:48 60 percent of US abortions involve abortion drugs, many of these without medical oversight. In 20 21, the Biden administration quietly removed bare minimum long standing14:59 safety protocols for the abortion drug that have existed for 20 years to protect women from life threatening risks and ensuring informed consent. The Biden DOJ then declared that they would not15:11 enforce the Comstock Act, which prevents the mailing of anything that causes an abortion. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. A study shows nearly 11 percent of women15:23 who take the abortion drug end up in the emergency room with serious complications. Unless the Trump administration reverses these reckless Biden era policies, pro life laws15:35 will remain largely symbolic without a full review and repeal of mifepristone, unborn lives will remain in grave danger and pregnant mothers will remain at risk.15:47 Let's stand for life and end this mail order abortion drug pipeline. Sign the petition urging the Trump administration to take action at f r c dot org slash stop chemical15:58 abortion.16:01 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.16:13 Family Research Council invites you to join our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan as we reflect upon the life of Jesus, the Word who dwelt among us. Come with us16:25 and discover the glory of the Word. Read the gospels and witness the life changing story of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. Come read how Jesus transformed the lives of16:37 common people, and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come with us for 10 to 15 minutes a day and read the entire New Testament before the New16:49 Year. Find our Bible reading plan and daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc dot org slash bible. Join us in Stand on the Word.17:02 Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. So glad to have you joining us. Alright. The left has been telling us for a long time that the solution for gender17:14 confused kids is to transgender them. So they're saying that experimental drugs and irreversible surgeries are somehow the answer, but it's obvious to everyone that17:26 certainly did not help the situation yesterday in the deadly church shooting in Minneapolis. So what could have potentially have helped the gunman? And what can help those other17:37 individuals who are struggling with gender dysphoria? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Maria Kefler. She's cofounder of Advocates, Protecting Children and author of Desist,17:49 Detrans, and Detox, Getting Your Child Out of the Gender Cult. Maria, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you for joining us.18:00 Back.18:01 Well, so I don't know if you heard a while ago. I had, Libby Libby Emmons on with me, and she mentioned that in the manifesto yesterday, the shooter18:13 actually regretted wrote had written that it regretted transitioning, saying that he was tired of being trans, that he wished he'd had never brainwashed himself and so forth.18:24 So, the left is trying, I guess, probably to say that those comments are coming from an outlier in the the trans community. But what can anyone honestly say18:36 in regard to medicating and mutilating children that somehow that's the solution for gender dysphoria?18:45 Yeah. It's not. There's nothing healthy about the current path that kids are being put on if they, express any kind of gender confusion. For18:57 decades, watchful waiting was the standard of care, where if a child thought, you know, they'd rather be the other sex, you'd wait. Help them get through puberty naturally,19:09 and the vast majority of these kids, when they go through puberty, they align with their birth sex. There's no data supporting the the affirmation model, which I don't even like to call19:21 it affirmation. That's too positive of a word. It's really appeasement. And we see thousands and thousands of people detransitioning. I'm not even exaggerating. A few19:33 years ago, if you looked at the, subreddit, d trans, r slash d trans, there were a couple of thousand people in there, which is quite a lot. I just went and checked today and there's19:43 57057 thousand detransitioners. So we know this is not a healthy path to put kids on. What we find is this really is cult like.19:55 The this man was correct that he was brainwashed. I don't think he brainwashed himself. I think he was brainwashed, by public schools, social media, smartphones, a lot of private20:07 schools unfortunately are doing it too. It's throughout the culture. Any problem you have, they say you'll be fixed by transitioning, which is not the case. We need to20:19 be speaking truth and love to people who have mental health issues. This is a mental health issue. Issue. Kids, even young adults, people who are doing this, they're hurting. They've got something wrong,20:31 whether it's autism, mental health issues, prior trauma. Something's wrong. And when they latch on to this idea of gender ideology, suddenly nothing else gets looked20:43 at. Nothing else gets treated. So, they need to have their real mental health issues taken care of. They need to be told the truth. Hey, your body informs your sex. You're20:55 male, you're female. There's nothing else. Doesn't matter what your preferences are, what colors you like, what you like to do in your free time. You're a man, you're a woman, you're a boy, you're a girl. That's truth.21:06 And then the love that comes alongside that is let's figure out what's really hurting you and get that treated and fixed.21:15 So21:16 That's really what needs to happen.21:17 So what do you say to those who would equate parents, and I'm gonna use the same term you you did with the same bit of, dislike for this phrase. But what do you say to those who21:29 equate parents who refuse to be gender affirming, that they're bad parents or that to do so is even child abuse.21:40 Well, that's part of the cult. Right? Cults do a number of things to recruit and retain their followers, and 1 thing is to vilify anybody who doesn't agree with the cult dogma. And that's what we21:51 see happening when you're called names, transphobe, hater, bigot, those are just thought stopping devices to try to get you to stop thinking deeply about what the cult is22:03 doing. It's hard on parents. I talk to parents all the time who are dealing with this. The kids can be really militant, really angry. The the neighbors, they, you know,22:15 sometimes are losing family members who disagree. But I'd I'd like to speak to parents who are going through this. We're talking about your child's health. We're talking about their future. We're talking about their22:27 fertility. As hard as it is to take a stand on truth, it's always the right thing to do as long as you are coupling it with, hey, I love you. That's never gonna change. The fact that I22:39 disagree with you about this is not evidence that I don't love you. In fact, it's evidence I love you so much. I'm not willing to let you hurt yourself. And so I'm gonna do22:51 what I think is right to try to help you so that you can get back to good health, back to understanding what reality is.23:00 That's, very important points there. Let me ask you this. Moving on from the transgender issue itself, you're talking about talking with parents. Would you have recommendations of perhaps how parents23:12 may need to or want to talk to their children about school shootings? What kind of advice would you give there?23:19 That's really hard, and I would say it depends on the age of the child. The younger the child is, the more careful you need to be about not scaring the child. If we're talking about23:31 kindergarten, first grade, second grade child, if they don't know about the school shootings, I think I would really hesitate bringing it up. If a child, a young child comes to you and says, you know, that they've heard23:43 about this, with the younger kids, I'd say, you know, up to 10, 11, 12 years old, focus on the safety. You know? Yeah. There are some people23:55 in the world who are really broken. And sometimes broken people try to hurt other people, and that's awful. But your mom and and dad and your teachers, we're all doing24:07 everything we can to keep you safe. We're gonna keep you as safe as we can.24:11 Maria Kefler, cofounder of Advocates Protecting Children. By the way, I love the name of your book. Great job. Thank you for putting that out there for us, and thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch.24:23 Thanks so much.24:24 Alright, friends. We've got much more to cover as we try to bring all of this to you from as many angles as we can, trying to make sense and giving good advice through it all. Coming up, we're gonna deal more24:36 with yesterday's attack. As shocking as it was, it may not be surprising, especially when you consider the rise in hostility against churches over the past few years that's taking place right24:48 here in the United States. We'll discuss that right after the break, so stick around. More straight ahead.Show more In this video 0:00 Addressing Tragedy Through a Biblical Lens24:55 The Rise of Hostility Against Churches33:35 Spiritual and Societal Roots of Violence54:02
11/13/2026 Regardless of Who Appears to Be in Power in Washington, a Christian’s Call to Service Doesn’t Change Tony Perkins
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