Skip to content 4/6/2026 Resurrection Sunday, Global Crises, and How Christians May Influence Manners in the Public Square Apr 6 · 54 min ...more
4/6/2026 Resurrection Sunday, Global Crises, and How Christians May Influence Manners in the Public Square
April 6, 2026 · 54 min
Tony and guests discuss global Resurrection weekend events, DHS funding, the heroic rescue of crew members from a downed U.S. fighter jet, and Christian perspectives on today’s coarse rhetoric.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video April 6, 2026 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Tony and guests discuss global Resurrection weekend events, DHS funding, the heroic rescue of crew members from a downed U.S. fighter jet, and Christian perspectives on today’s coarse rhetoric. ...more Show the full description Show less Tony and guests discuss global Resurrection weekend events, DHS funding, the heroic rescue of crew members from a downed U.S. fighter jet, and Christian perspectives on today’s coarse rhetoric.
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Iran Escalation and Heroic Rescue 0:00 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 and newsmakers,0:13 all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.0:18 Per the president's direction, today will be the largest volume of strikes since day 1 of this operation. Tomorrow, even more than today. And then Iran has a choice. Choose wisely0:31 because this president does not play around.0:35 That was secretary of state secretary of war, rather, Pete Hegseth earlier today at a White House press conference with president Trump addressing the situation in Iran. Welcome to this Monday, April sixth edition of0:46 Washington Watch. I'm your host, Tony Bergens. Thanks so much for tuning in. Well, coming up, the longest partial government shutdown in history may be inching toward an end. Congressman Brad Knott, a member of the0:58 House Homeland Security Committee, will provide an update on where things stand. Plus, as the conflict in Iran intensifies, the successful rescue of an American aviator from behind enemy lines is being hailed1:10 as a major achievement. And as president Trump's deadline for an agreement comes tomorrow night, Iran continues to reject proposals that would end the conflict. Middle East expert doctor Michael Rubin will1:22 provide his assessment of what may come next. And CBN reporter Chris Mitchell reports from on the ground in Jerusalem on how Israel is coping both militarily and spiritually with the continued1:34 missile attacks from Iran. All of that and more straight ahead on this Monday edition of Washington Watch.1:46 Well, the conflict in the Middle East is escalating. Secretary of war Pete Hegseth earlier today said the largest volume of strikes on Iran since the war began would take place today. Meanwhile, over the weekend,1:58 there was a remarkable rescue of 2 US airmen who were shot down in Iran. Joining me now with more on these developments is Washington Stan's Casey Harper. Casey,2:10 welcome back. Bring us up to date, on the latest with the conflict, in Iran.2:15 Absolutely. Thanks, Tony. Well, you played that clip from the press conference held by the White House today. Secretary of Ward Pete Hegseth and president Donald Trump both gave an update on the war. They hit several2:25 topics, of course, the Strait of Hormuz, the president's threat about that tomorrow, and the intense bombing campaign that happened today, I guess, to sort of send a message about what could be coming tomorrow if they2:36 don't follow through. But they really focused on that daring rescue, and the success of what he described as the most complex and harrowing combat searches to take place in military history. This is, of course,2:47 the rescue that, happened in Iran. So the pilot of that aircraft was rescued first, and then the second airman was rescued after hiding in mountainous Iranian terrain, eluding capture from Iranian forces for hours, which2:59 is a2:59 pretty harrowing3:00 event. And, actually, secretary of war Pete Pete Hegset had this to say about that stunning rescue.3:06 The Iranians are still asking themselves right now, how did the Americans do this? 1 downed airman evaded capture for more than a day, scaling rugged ridges while3:18 hunted by the enemy. When he was finally able to activate his emergency transponder, his first message was simple, and it was powerful. He3:30 sent a message, god is good.3:34 God is good indeed. A pretty powerful, story there. But but after the congratulations, president Trump got down to business, and he doubled down on his threats to hit Iranian infrastructure if they don't reopen the3:45 Strait of Hormuz by tomorrow evening. Here's a clip.3:48 We are obliterating that country. And I hate to do it, but we're obliterating, and they just don't wanna say uncle. They don't wanna cry as the expression goes uncle, but they will. And if they don't,4:01 they'll have no bridges. They'll have no power plants. They'll have no anything. I wanna I won't go further because there are other things that are worse than those 2.4:11 Now, president Trump has said this is not just a threat. He's very serious about this deadline. There's talk about negotiations of a deal through Pakistan, Tony, but time's running out.4:21 Alright, Casey. Just, for our listeners, that was a clip from earlier today at the, White House Easter egg roll. That was not he was not on a Ferris wheel. It was, the music in the background.4:32 Soundtrack there.4:33 It it there was it was interesting. Alright. We're gonna have more analysis on, this a little bit later with doctor Michael Rubin. I wanna turn now to some domestic issues. The house, again, not acting on a bill to fund4:45 DHS to end the partial government shutdown, but it it it appears to be inching toward a resolution. What's the latest, Casey?4:53 Yeah. That's right. We have some hope that we haven't had in weeks prior. Now senate majority leader John Thune, he sent the DHS funding bill to a house vote in a pro form a senate session today. Now today does mark the5:04 40 seventh day of the partial government shutdown, which makes it 1 of the longest shutdowns in history. And but president Trump, in the meantime, has taken some action. He signed 2 mem memorandums, first to5:16 get TSA workers paid to kind of unclog those airports. And then after that 1, he signed another to cover the rest of DHS employees, FEMA workers, cybersecurity, which is important. We just had a major, cyberattack.5:28 So that's holding them over, but that is only temporary. And president Trump said that these circumstances were warranted because it was basically a national security emergency. Now we've, mentioned a few times on the5:39 show the impact that this has. We'll see, Tony, if, they can actually get a deal done anytime soon. I think there really is, as you said, the real hope on this 1.5:48 Alright. Casey, we're gonna go, here. I'm gonna go back to this issue of DHS funding with 1 of our members. But before that, the, any big events or any big developments at the White House,6:00 annual Easter egg roll that you need to tell us about?6:03 Well, you heard the soundtrack. I mean, there was clearly a a lively atmosphere in the background of the president, but it's a great tradition. A lot of kids, very, great to honor the lord's resurrection. The president,6:13 first lady Melania Trump, took part in the event, making their presence there. It was held on the South Lawn as is tradition where American families were invited to participate and celebrate Easter. They had an6:25 egg roll, lunar, exploration. They had, writing to our our troops and egg coloring from children. And we actually have a a clip of the president from the event.6:34 Today is a very special day. It's a day where we celebrate Jesus. It's a day where we celebrate religion. Our country is doing so well like it has never done6:46 before. You'll see that very shortly. Things that we've done have not been done before. We've broken every record on the stock market. We've broken every record in our military.6:58 Now the president, insisted not on plastic, but real eggs, Tony. So there were 40000 real eggs on the White House lawn today.7:05 It's just hard seeing the the president standing there next to a bunny top telling kids about the stock market.7:11 Yeah. I think they were enthralled by that.7:12 Yeah. Yeah. Alright, Casey. Thanks so much.7:14 Thanks, sir.7:15 Alright. I wanna go back to the fight over DHS funding and get the latest on the developments with a member of congress. Joining us now, congressman Brad Knott, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and theDHS Shutdown Standoff 7:26 Transportation Infrastructure Committee. He represents North Carolina's thirteenth congressional district. Congressman Knott, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us.7:37 Hey. Good afternoon, Tony. It's good to be here.7:39 Alright. So I think we're approaching day 51, day 52 of the DHS, shutdown, the longest agency shutdown in the US history. Are are are we close to a resolution?7:52 You know, we're we've we've maintained roughly the same posture, and that posture, unfortunately, has been the democrats want to stop all immigration enforcement. That's what this boils down to, truly.8:04 I mean, we we passed in the house an appropriation to fund the Department of Homeland Security, and it actually received some Democrat votes to get out of the house and go to the senate. And the senate has8:15 said, we want to hollow out the ICE funding and the border patrol funding. Otherwise, we're not going to play ball here. And so they have they have essentially held the entire department hostage in an8:27 effort to to halt immigration enforcement. And we in the house have have passed 4 times now, bills to fund the department and to get this ball moving again,8:39 and we are still working feverishly to get that done. I do believe there will be, some type of package in the next week or 2 to to bridge the divide. But the Democrats have not budged 1 inch on this,8:51 and the, the Republicans are having to carry the water.8:54 Well, I understand among many conservatives in the house, they they just they feel like this is a bridge too far to carve out, immigration funding and and and and and not fund9:06 it, and that they just can't do that?9:09 Well, the the the effort here is is basically this, Tony. It's a little bit complicated, but to pass a bill to fund everything in the department except immigration and border security. And9:21 then we would simultaneously pass a bill that's called reconciliation, which some of your viewers may be familiar with, to, to fund the ICE operations and the border and the border security9:33 operations. And if we do a reconciliation bill, we do not need any of the Democrat senators or the house numbers to to vote for it because they've made it very clear again, they are not going to be voting for any9:44 funding, for ICE or border patrol. And let me just emphasize this. Nothing has been finalized. There's a lot of negotiations going on. I hear those concerns, but at some point, we do have to say, how can we9:56 get creative to fund immigration enforcement, border patrol, and the other parallel agencies within the Department of Homeland Security?10:04 But are are you concerned, congressman, now that this is become gonna become the the the standard of how we deal with disagreements? You know, congress, I mean, we have been narrowly divided10:16 in terms of partisan divide for the last decade. I mean, there's just not going to be a huge swing in the number of seats. So I think after the next election, still gonna have a very slim majority, whoever is10:28 in the majority. And the the government funding is usually the easiest tool to hold hostage. Isn't there a way that I think there's a few bills that have been introduced that would allow10:40 government to continue to operate and be funded while congress works through the budgetary issues?10:47 Yeah. To to answer very distinctly, Tony, I am very afraid of that. I think that that whenever you can enable a group of extreme, members of the congress and the Democratic party10:59 here to hold the entire nation hostage over some type of ideological issue with immigration enforcement, and that therefore enables them to to essentially splice out the appropriation11:11 process. Again, the entire government was funded for the first time in in over a decade, by the appropriations process. And the 1 thing that the Democrats have really dug in on is immigration11:23 enforcement, and they are peeling back the layers that we worked through and deliberated through to try to make this point. And I am, very concerned this could become the norm. And, again, there has been no11:34 final conclusion as to how we're gonna bridge this divide. And my hope is that we can maintain the appropriate decorum and get a full appropriation passed in short order, and we'll see if that happens.11:47 Congress, I'm not just have a couple minutes left, but it I find it interesting. You mentioned the Democrats, you know, kinda grinding the at least this agency to a halt. But they like a lot of the Republican policies.11:58 For instance, you've got some of those who, some Democratic politicians like, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, actually out promoting tax cuts. I mean, that's kind of, that's kind12:10 of a Republican policy of trying to limit government, put more money into the pockets of of of of people. I find it interesting.12:19 Well, I wouldn't take it seriously, Tony. I'm sure you are at least skeptical here. The Democrats have become the party of extreme extreme regulation, and then extreme spending. And just look back to last12:31 July, the Republican party worked feverishly to deliver tax reform and tax relief to working families, to small businesses, to senior citizens. And not 1 member of the12:42 Democrats, the house or the senate. They didn't just vote against that, those those tax reforms. They fought those tax reforms. And secondly, just look at their record in their states. It's12:54 atrocious. Whether it's California, Washington State, New Jersey, now Virginia, when Democrats get power, taxes and spending go up.13:02 You know, I I think it's so important that you point to their policies that most of the time don't match their rhetoric. They're out there campaigning on wanting to give more money to the American13:14 people to voters, but in reality, their policies take more money out of their pockets. Congressman Brad Knott, always great to see you. Thanks so much for, taking time to join us today.13:24 Absolutely. Thank you, Tony.13:26 Alright. Have a great day. Congressman Brad Knott of North Carolina. So this is it's an important point that he brought up. You know? And you're gonna hear a lot of the rhetoric as we go into the campaign cycle, into13:37 the election cycle. Don't listen to what they say. Look at what they've done. The past performance is the best predictor of future performance in13:49 most cases. So look very carefully at their record. Alright. When we come back, doctor Michael Rubin joins us in Oakville.14:02 When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for 1 people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.14:09 And to assume among the powers of the earth The separate and equal station to which the laws of nature14:15 And of nature's god entitled them.14:18 A decent respect to the opinions of14:20 mankind requires that they should declare the causes14:23 which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self evident.14:28 That all men are created equal.14:30 That they're endowed by their creator. With certain unalienable rights.14:35 That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.14:38 That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Happy 200 and fiftieth.14:48 Happy 200 fiftieth.14:50 Happy 200 and fiftieth.14:52 Happy 200 and fiftieth birthday, America.14:54 May God bless America.14:59 I think all people really need to have this type of education.15:02 Well, I can tell you that it's been an amazing course period.15:05 I think this course is a reminder that a biblical worldview should really impact everything. It impacts our government from the federal to the state to the local. It should impact what we're doing with our families and15:16 with our work. God and Government is a video driven bible based training course from Family Research Council that explores the connection between biblical principles and American15:28 government. In this 6 session video series, FRC president Tony Perkins equips participants with a practical understanding of civil government from a biblical world15:40 view. I would encourage all people to take it. I almost wish I would have took it earlier that I could have taught my kids this.15:46 I wish I had known these things when we were homeschooling because I think children and my adults now would just greatly be influenced by that information.15:53 So I'm an attorney and for me, it gives me some direct practical knowledge of what I can do to try to impact my legal community to make better legislation, to try16:05 to encourage legislators to make choices that have a biblical worldview, which is what we really want.16:11 Any pastor would benefit from taking this course because we are dual citizens. Right? We are citizens of the kingdom of God, but we're also seated citizens of this great land, and that that comes with responsibility.16:21 Even as someone who has been involved in these types of issues for a while, you're learning little bits and pieces of new stuff all the time. But it's also approachable enough that newer people, younger people, high16:31 school, college students, they can really glean something from this. So I would encourage everybody to take this course, whether it's the videos, whether it's doing it in person, bring your bible study group through it,16:42 bring your home school group through it, and equip yourself for these challenging days ahead. View the course16:48 at f r c dot o r g slash god and government or on the stand firm app.Show more In this video 0:00 Iran Escalation and Heroic Rescue7:18 DHS Shutdown Standoff17:01 Iran Strategy and Civility's Decline37:03 Israel Under Fire: Spiritual BattleRon Johnson, Andrew Clyde, Blaise Misztal, Michele Bachmann, Gary Hamrick Tony Perkins
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