Skip to content 10/16/2026 Democratic Socialism, the Global Oil Landscape, and America's Founding Fathers Oct 16 · 59 min ...more
10/16/2026 Democratic Socialism, the Global Oil Landscape, and America's Founding Fathers
October 16, 2026 · 59 min
Today on Washington Watch, Tony and guest asses the global energy market and geopolitical conflicts, LifeWise's lawsuit over a school's policy to hide Bibles, mail ordering abortion pills, and common misconceptions about the faith and religious beliefs of America's Founding Fathers.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
October 16, 2026 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Today on Washington Watch, Tony and guest asses the global energy market and geopolitical conflicts, LifeWise's lawsuit over a school's policy to hide Bibles, mail ordering abortion pills, and common misconceptions about the faith and religious beliefs of America's Founding Fathers. ...more Show the full description Show less Today on Washington Watch, Tony and guest asses the global energy market and geopolitical conflicts, LifeWise's lawsuit over a school's policy to hide Bibles, mail ordering abortion pills, and common misconceptions about the faith and religious beliefs of America's Founding Fathers.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
In this video 0:00 Democratic Socialism and America's Founding Fathers21:40 Global Oil Landscape and Energy Policy39:00 Lifewise Academy Bible Education Victory45:41 Surviving Secret Abortion Drug Poisoning52:22 Democratic Socialism, the Global Oil Landscape, and America's Founding Fathers
Democratic Socialism and America's Founding Fathers 0:00 Hello. I'm Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and host of Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. Every day, we offer a biblical perspective on the news as well as insightful interviews with elected0:12 leaders, newsmakers, and culture experts. We have a great program planned for you today, but first, get up to speed on the top headlines with Washington Stan's news brief.0:27 Welcome to the Washington Stan news brief. I'm Quinn Delamater bringing you Friday's top stories. Tragic news out of Oregon. A sixteen year old shooter opened fire on Thursday0:39 at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon killing multiple people. Here's Bend police chief Mike Kranz at a press conference on Thursday evening.0:49 At one zero two PM, our first officers arrived on scene. Moments later, an officer reported that the suspect had been shot by a community member who had seen the suspect enter the school and pursued him1:01 into the school and engaged him. Our officers entered the building and confirmed the suspect was dead. They cleared the school to ensure there were no additional threats and then rendered emergency aid to the victims.1:13 Officers at the scene located five people who had succumbed to their injuries, including the suspect. The deceased at the scene include three children, ages five, eight, and eleven,1:25
1:35 Oregon governor Tina Kotick also spoke at the briefing, thanking the community member who intervened to stop further loss of life. Kotick remarked that no parent or community should have to live
1:47 through such a hardship. And this just in, Katie Zachariah will reportedly no longer serve as White House press secretary. According to Reuters, the president's spokeswoman has been
1:58 let go after only five days on the job. Here's a look at what president Donald Trump had to say as played by Newsmax.
2:07 Katie is off to a start that the news has been so nasty there. I've never seen anything like it actually. She'd
2:13 reconsider it?
2:14 And I said I said to her, honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider. You got a beautiful husband and family. I met the family yesterday. Beautiful kid. It's like from a
2:25 picture postcard. And I said you should reconsider because you don't wanna go through it. What do you want her to do? I just want her to be happy.
2:34 And next up, the entire senate democratic caucus is lashing out at those who are suspicious of mifepristone pollution and water. US senator Patty Murray, a democrat from Washington,
2:47 led the group in writing a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency asking it to remove the abortion drug from a list of possible contaminants in drinking water. The letter reads, this
2:58 action is a stark departure from past EPA practice and serves to further this administration's attacks on reproductive health care and distracts from your agency's critical role protecting
3:10 Americans from known chemical pollutants in our water systems. While mifepristone is often falsely labeled as reproductive care by the left, the pill's purpose is killing
3:22 children in the womb. According to a report, abortion drugs cause sixty four percent of all abortions in the US in twenty twenty three. Students for Life president, Kristen Hawkins, took
3:33 to x to say, you'd think the party that constantly lectures Americans about protecting the planet would welcome more testing, but apparently, when it comes to the left's obsession with
3:45 ending the lives of pre born children, even clean water becomes a partisan issue. And switching gears, the Vatican announced on Friday that Pope Leo will
3:57 appear in the public on Sunday for the first time since undergoing lung cancer surgery. The seventy one year old Pontiff has reportedly shown steady improvement since his
4:08 procedure and is able to work and do normal daily activities independently. On Friday, the Vatican also released the first images of the pope since his surgery,
4:21 showing him celebrating mass and standing unaided. Leo will lead a traditional noontime prayer on Sunday while preparations continue for his planned November trip to South
4:33 America. I'm Quinn Delamater, and that's Friday's news. You can dive deeper at the Washington stand, and we'll be back next time with more stories that matter.
4:53 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
5:05 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Casey Harper.
5:11 The president, if it wasn't you who gave the order for a star shield to come down in Ukraine? Is it wasn't you who gave that order?
5:18 Well, I don't know. I know that... I think it's the same. I'm not sure that it ever came down, but, I'm pretty sure it's the same. But I just checked it this morning. It wasn't us. I checked it this morning. They say
5:29 it's the same as it always has been.
5:32 That was president Donald Trump earlier today telling reporters he's not responsible for Ukraine's Starlink access, adding neither is Elon Musk. Welcome to this Friday, October sixteenth edition of
5:43 Washington Watch. I'm your guest host, Casey Harper. Thanks for joining us. Coming up, president Trump's controversial diesel agreement with Russia is sparking bipartisan back backlash. Will the deal bring diesel prices
5:55 down, and how long could shortages continue globally? Brigham McCown, director of the Initiative on American Energy Security at Hudson Institute, joins us to discuss that and more. And a school district in the state of
6:07 Washington that required students to seal their Bibles and envelopes has agreed to apologize over their hostility against the nonprofit that provides some voluntary privately funded off campus Bible
6:19 education to those public school students during school hours. Holly Randall, counsel at First Liberty Institute, will join us to discuss the case and what it means for students. Plus, we'll share the story of Katherine
6:30 Herring, a woman who survived being secretly given the abortion drug when she was pregnant. Her story is one of many that have come out as a result of the Biden era policy on the abortion drug, and they need to be heard.
6:43 Also, author and speaker Cynthia Scott will join us to discuss the common misconceptions and beliefs about the faith of our nation's founding fathers and how those men would view the restrictions on Christians in America
6:54 that we're seeing today. All that and more is coming your way on today's edition of Washington Watch. Well, let's begin with the conflict
7:06 in Iran. President Trump says the US may have to target Pickaxe Mountain. That's that deeply buried site linked to Iran's nuclear program. Well, joining us now to discuss this is Washington Watch reporter Mary
7:17 Stackhouse. Mary, what did president Trump have to say about this?
7:21 Well, Casey, in an interview last night on Newsmax, president Trump warned that the US may have to bomb Pickaxe Mountain. This would be to ensure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. He went on to say that the US
7:31 would be able to knock it out fast. He added that he's not considering deploying US troops on the ground in Iran. Yesterday, there was a report that president Trump was weighing using a bomb known as the, quote, mother
7:42 of all bombs, unquote, potentially after the November midterm elections target being Iranian inner... Energy infrastructure and nuclear sites. It is the, GBU forty three
7:54 b massive ordinance air blast. President Trump was asked about that during last night's interview. Here's what he had to say.
8:00 The mother of all bombs is not nuclear. Okay.
8:03 Not tactical nuclear? No. No. It's not nuclear
8:05 at all. This is just a extremely large bomb. It's like a tiny nuclear bomb and, but the mother of all bombs is one big bomb, but it's not nuclear. Now when you use nuclear, we don't have to.
8:17 President Trump said that while the US has heavily damaged Iran's nuclear infrastructure, withdrawing before removing the possibility of Iran getting a nuclear weapon could require future military intervention. Casey.
8:30 Alright. Thanks, Mary. Wanna move north to other international news. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky earlier today criticized president Trump's deal to import diesel from Russia. He's not the only one. So what did
8:41 president Zelensky have to say here?
8:43 Casey, speaking at an EU summit in Brussels earlier today, president Zelensky said that Ukraine cannot accept diesel deals. He said that allowing Russia to resume diesel sales on international markets, that it could pave
8:55 the way for easing exports and other sanctions. President Trump has been critical of president Zelensky saying that president Zelensky is, quote, not a good guy for us to deal with, unquote.
9:07 President Zelensky has rejected this claim. During the summit, president Zelensky commented on that. Here's a clip. Can you imagine?
9:14 Yesterday was thousand dawns in Ukraine. Thousand. But but the American side said that it's difficult to speak with Zelensky. It's less difficult to
9:26 manage with Putin. Of course.
9:30 Well, he, of course, used some sarcasm there. Now during the summit, president Zelensky also addressed the disruptions earlier this week to Ukraine's Starlink and StarShield services. He said that its Starlink satellite
9:42 communication service had improved, but it has not fully been restored. He warned that disruptions with the service had put civilian lives at risk. That's because Ukraine relies upon the service in its efforts to
9:53 intercept Russian drones. Now earlier today, president Trump told reporters that any limit to Ukraine's access to the star shield system was not imposed by the US. Casey?
10:04 As always, thanks for the updates, Mary. Alright. I wanna continue this discussion on the Russian diesel deal. It's very important. So joining us now to go into this further is Brigham McCown, a senior fellow and
10:15 director of the Initiative on American Energy Security at the Hudson Institute. He's also a former senior senior US government energy infrastructure regulator. Brigham, welcome back to Washington Watch.
10:26 Hi, Casey. Thanks for having me on tonight. It's a pleasure to be with you.
10:30 Well well, thank you for joining us. There's a lot of concern about this deal we've been talking about and even some criticism, about... Of the president. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he says that this diesel
10:41 deal can't offset the impact of the disruptions globally, like the Strait of Hormuz, but it's just gonna put more hands or more money into Putin's pockets. How do you assess all this?
10:52 Yeah. Well, I mean, there's a little bit of truth sprinkled all around. Right? I mean, the deal that president Trump has initiated, if it goes through with Vladimir Putin, gives us about three
11:04 days' worth of diesel fuel. That's not enough to make a meaningful difference in this country or around the world. Russia and Ukraine's war has been going on for a long time, but the diesel shock
11:16 that we're currently seeing is as a direct result of the Persian Gulf War. You know, one piece, I see this as a bargaining chip with Europe who still remains
11:28 a major supplier of both Russian oil and gas. And so, we'll see how all this ends out. I'm not sure there's not more at play than than what people are
11:39 are really talking about today.
11:41 You know, it's an interesting point that it could be throwing a bone to Russia because what I've seen and my understanding is this isn't gonna make its way to the US or really help Americans at all. Right?
11:50 Well, I think that's right. I mean, Russian refiners have been hit very hard. Short, that has taken, diesel fuel off of the market, and that that impacts prices. I think refineries are running
12:02 anywhere between fifty and sixty percent due to the Ukrainian strikes, but Russia's targeting Ukrainian infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and civilians. So, you know, I think it's a little hard to tell,
12:14 Volodymyr Zelensky to stop when Putin's doing something. And, you know, again, I think this was, a carrot for Putin to stop doing the attacks. I think it was president Trump who
12:26 unilaterally said there is a energy ceasefire hoping it would stick. It hasn't, so we'll see what happens next.
12:34 Does it undermine the US when we make these unilateral announcements that aren't followed through on?
12:41 Well, you know, I think it's part of the art of the deal. And and whether or not president Trump actually thinks this is gonna be followed through with or not, we'll see. I think this has to do more with trying to get a
12:51 partial ceasefire between those two countries. But, as other critics are pointing out, there's a twenty twenty two law in place that requires the president to notify the congress. One of those
13:02 things is that there's been a cessation of hostilities, and then we have a a brand new law that was just passed as well that was aimed at tightening the screws on Putin, not loosening them. So
13:14 all of this, all of this... We'll see how all of this shakes out, Casey.
13:18 Can you explain to us kind of how important a refinery is? I mean, I know a refinery is just one step in, you know, the creation of gasoline, for instance, in a long process. But my understanding is there's actually
13:29 somewhat limited number of refineries, and they're very expensive and and hard to repair. Is that sort of part of the concern here?
13:36 Well, that is absolutely true. And, you know, for the United States, refining capacity has been dropping. We've lost refineries in California. We've not been able to permit a new refinery
13:48 in in decades, due to opposition to our continual use of fossil fuels. We don't have excess capacity. In fact, refiners this summer delayed a lot of
14:00 maintenance that usually occurs during the summer months, keeping the refineries running flat out. That preventive maintenance is gonna have to be made up. We simply don't have enough refining capacity.
14:12 They're complicated. It's a process, and, you know, Persian Gulf diesel is down to a quarter of it, the exports that it was prewar. That has a huge
14:24 effect when there was no cushion to begin with.
14:26 Was... I was just gonna ask you, what are some steps our government can do to address this problem? But it sounds like you'd start with the refineries.
14:33 I would. I would. I would, I would do a couple of things. Number one, I wrote an op ed that came out in, within twenty four hours, and I think it's a timing coincidence, the EU and the United States, agreed
14:45 to release reserves. The, European countries maintain a minimum stockpile of diesel that they've been sitting on this entire time. So that will help some. Ending the war in Ukraine
14:58 would be another good start. Ending the war in the Persian Gulf. Getting rid of the Iranian regime would be another big piece. But what we can do at home is this. We should
15:10 put a, we should go ahead and suspend the federal gas tax on all diesel fuel through the end of the year. We should suspend the tax on home heating oil. That has
15:22 a cost, but I think that needs to be done right now while simultaneously... We need real permitting reform out of the congress that's done a lot of talk and hasn't had any action because we have to
15:34 start building things again in this country, and we simply can't do it, the way the permitting, regulations are set up and the way that people can just sue for years to stop what they don't
15:45 like. It is really hamstringing us, and it's showing up today.
15:50 You know, what's interesting in all this is how energy prices are impacted and often delayed maybe from an initial decision. So decision made today for the benefit might not actually impact prices for months.
16:02 The International Energy Agency warns that diesel supplies could remain tight, for instance, well into next year. So what's keeping the market from recovering more quickly here?
16:12 Well, I think it's the ongoing uncertainty. Market's price in uncertainty, and we saw that with the Persian Gulf conflict where even before a single barrel had been lost, the price skyrocketed,
16:25 and that's because of risk. Everything is priced on risk. Can we get to this, fuel? Can we not get that fuel? Where is it going to go? So the markets have to be calmed, and part
16:36 of doing that is coming up with a with a with a finite plan on how to fix things. Even if you can't fix things today because building a new refinery, it takes time. Expanding
16:49 our capacity takes time. But one thing we can stop doing is stop digging a hole. We have to stop closing down refineries. Europe has done the same thing. They've closed their own refineries
17:01 in order to be more green when they're simply now importing diesel fuel or WER before this conflict started from the Middle East. New Zealand doesn't have a refinery any longer. Australia has
17:13 been shutting down its refineries. The madness has to stop, and we have to be realistic about the energy that we need today while we're looking forward to maybe how we can modify that in the future.
17:25 It's probably our our our last question here. But there's a few things happening at the same time. Strait of Hormuz has been intermittently shut down by the Iran war. Of course, we see the ongoing issues with Russia
17:36 Ukraine war, the refinery attacks that we've talked about, which hits Europe in particularly hard. But now we're also seeing the Bab el Mandev Strait, which the Houthis are shutting down, and they've gotten a lot of
17:46 power. In Yemen, we got less than a minute left. Is this gonna permanently shift the global oil landscape? Or you think when these conflicts end, we'll snap back
17:57 to normal?
17:58 Well, I mean, normal means getting rid of the Iranian regime. They are the focal point behind all of this. They they control, the Houthis. They control Hezbollah. They control all of these proxies
18:10 that they've been using around the world. And so we should not take them seriously when they say they're for peace or they don't want nuclear weapons. We know that is simply not the case. Saudi Arabia alone has been
18:21 attacked over a hundred times by Iranian proxies. What we are going to see is the logistics sup... Supply chain, that chain shifting to where we're using different pipelines. We're
18:32 avoiding key choke points. And, ultimately, that backfires on Iran because Right. They won't have anything to block by the time we're done.
18:40 Yeah. A lot of uncertainty, and it's all priced in as you said. Well, thank you for joining us today, Brigham McCown, director of the initiative on American energy security at Hudson Institute. We'll be right back,
18:50 folks, after this.
18:55 The pray vote stand summit. That's not just a title. It is a description of the action that we're taking. We need to pray first. We need to be bold in our spirit as we pray and abide in Christ. We need
19:07 to vote biblical values. And then no matter what happens, we need to stand on that biblical truth.
19:13 It isn't that the church has gotten political. It's that the political secular world has waded into theological waters. Yeah. And so we're just addressing these things from a biblical perspective.
19:24 We have more abortions now in this country than we did when Roe was the law of the land because of the abortion drug. It is turning every mailbox in in America into a planned parenthood. The only way to make
19:36 the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe, the only way to make it real is to ban the abortion drug in the United States of America.
19:43 It took us forty nine years to overturn Roe versus Wade. Obergefell is not settled law. Obergefell is next.
19:52 Most whistleblowers don't get victories like this. You know, this never happens, and this is just a testament to how God is so faithful, and he writes the best stories.
20:01 Ultimately, Sharia is antithetical to the constitution. In Islam, the false god of Islam says, die for me. The God of the Bible says I love you so much, I died for
20:13 you so you can live for me. There's the difference.
20:17 Capitalism means the unequal distribution of wealth. Socialism means the equal distribution of poverty. And that's what we've seen. That is the history of
20:29 socialism.
20:29 Candy and I have been to sixty eight countries, and we've lived overseas. And I can tell you, there is no place like the United States of America.
20:39 We don't get to decide
20:41 the times in which we live. Our responsibility as Christians is to bear witness to the truth of the gospel and the truth of Christ and the truth of God and the truth
20:50 of God's word in every arena of life.
20:54 Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray because God is able. God answers prayer. Let that be our testimony in the future. Yeah. We stood. We
21:06 voted. We did what we knew to do, but we prayed, and god came, and god did what only god can do.
21:12 Father, we pray now for the Jewish people that this would be a time of intense revival.
21:25 Own
21:31 Christ into your life to be your savior, to confess him with your mouth that he is lord, that you would do that and find that peace, that abundant life, that everlastingShow more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Tony Perkins93.3K followers
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.