WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hart on the Hill: Looking Forward

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

This week, Micah Hart discusses the past month in politics, the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, and how the Democrats can move forward from a brutal election cycle.

Welcome back to this farewell season of Heart on the Hill. I am so grateful to be back for this final season. It is going to be a great one. I am excited to go on all of these journeys with you as we explore what is going on throughout the world of politics. There is going to be a lot in the next few weeks. I can tell you that for sure because, well, we have a new president coming into town next week. And it's going to mean there's going to be a lot of changes. There's going to be a lot of differences than the Biden administration.

and there's going to be a lot of change because also you have a House and Senate that are both Republican majority. So things might move pretty fast. They might move slow. Not really sure, but we're going to go on this journey together. We're going to do this one last time together as we go through this semester and just

discuss everything going on in the world of politics because it is a, it's a crazy time still. There is a lot going on. There are a lot of policies. I think we'll see. I think there's going to be a still a lot of drama in politics. even though Republicans have the majority throughout these three parts, they are still going to definitely

have some drama because, look, there's elections to win and there are different things to consider. So we are going to be tracking all of that this semester together as we journey through what politics is and how I think politics should be viewed and how it should be considered as you live your everyday life. So I am very excited to continue this show and continue what I have many. able to start here. It's been truly a blessing. So thank you for tuning in every week and just allowing me to share my thoughts with you about what is going on in our world because there is so much out there that I don't think we talk about enough. And I think there's stuff out there we talk about too much or that it's not being talked about the right way by legacy media.

And that needs to be corrected or at least discussed in more detail and given the other side of things because look, we don't get all of it when we listen to certain outlets. When we listen to legacy media. We need to listen to, I think, podcasts and other programs that have different opinions, have views and have thoughts on these things. And especially for me as a young person, that these things matter to me. And I am thankful I get to use my voice here to express what matters to young people. Express what matters to me. I am a voter. I am a citizen. I am a part of this country, in my opinion matters just as much as the rest of every voting American. So these are things I'm very thankful for that I get to talk about on this show and express and give a voice to and hopefully

let you listen and hear my thoughts and maybe you disagree. And that is great. That is wonderful. It's great when we can listen to different arguments and say, I may not agree, but I want to listen to that to that to hear that side and also be able to refine my own argument. And I do that a lot of the time, too. So it is great to have these discussions. And I'm so blessed to. be here. But let's just get into things because there's a lot I want to cover today. Well, first off, I just want to give you a little update since we've been on our little break for the last month or so. A lot has happened. We may have been resting over Christmas and stuff and government did for a little bit, but they were back in action pretty quickly. And

the house actually confirmed a speaker. And I know that's a little bit shocking. I think we were all waiting to see what would actually happen there. I don't know if we thought that we'd have one really quickly. I at least didn't, to be quite honest with you, I thought we'd have a little bit more of a battle like we did with. We saw with McCarthy on all of those ballots, one after one after one. It took so long. I remember I was watching that thing and I watched this one. I was like, oh boy, here we go again. And guess what? We finally got to it. We got a speaker in there, which is good. You want to obviously have the government running and being able to do things and you can't really do that without a speaker of the house because then the members couldn't be sworn in until they

had one because the House Speaker has to swear them in. So Mike Johnson will again continue on his rule as the House Speaker and I want to applaud everyone who was involved in that just watching from an outsider's view. You saw the dynamic. You saw all of the trying to get the votes and I will say this. Donald Trump did a really good job of trying to bring the party together, especially in the house where it's such a narrow majority as I've talked about and I talked about a few months ago of this is going to be a really narrow majority, especially since you're taking people eventually, not right now, but you're going to be taking people out of the house

to go serving the Trump administration, but right now, too, it's still a narrow majority. And so it was very tough for Mike Johnson to get that. You had to be so specific and have very, almost every vote. And he did get there. And I think a lot of that was Donald Trump being able to talk to members and say, this is part of our agenda. We need to get this done so we can move forward.

And on day one, start with something. And also, importantly to note, they had to certify the election a few days after. So they needed to get a speaker in line to be able to certify the election and move things forward. It would have stalled everything if they hadn't. So I think that did put a lot of pressure too on Republicans to be like, you have to vote this way. And Donald Trump talking to them, having these conversations,

talking to people was really important. I think it's something that's going to differentiate this administration from Trump's previous one where I think it's going to be day one. We're getting to work. We're doing things. Trump knows what he's doing, I think, more so now. because look, last time he was an outsider, that is what was appealing about him.

But then there also comes the issue of, now how do you get to work? How do you start things as somebody who's not from D.C.? Hasn't done that, hasn't been in politics for their whole life. How do you move forward and figure things out? And start an administration. Get things done. Make sure to use your leverage properly.

And I think Trump is going in there now. He has this mandate from the American people where he won every swing state. And he's able to go in there and say, look, I want this done. and I think a lot of the time they're going to listen at least in the house. I think the Senate is going to be still pretty good for Donald Trump, but I also think there might be a little more pushback there, but again,

we will see about that as time goes on. But this goes to say, I think you're going to be looking at a starkly different administration. I think you're going to see some changes in the way Trump governs and his understanding of the government, which I mean, I think can be used for a lot of good.

I think you need to get policies done. For a fact, we know, the American people are fed up with the situation at the border. The American people are fed up with all of these wars that are going on. They want peace. They want security. The world wants peace. The world wants security. We want a safe border.

We want safe communities. We want our freedoms protected. We want our rights protected. We want to make sure that people can live out the American dream here and that people can afford the American dream. Something that Joe Biden has. not allowed the American people to do. The American people, I think for four years, have struggled through economic issues through not feeling safe where they are anywhere, really, honestly.

There is a struggle there. And Joe Biden has been really not, in my opinion, doing much to fix these issues. And Donald Trump, I think, can come in now, having both majorities and try to get things done. I think a lot of these things will be priorities from, especially the southern border and prices, economics. He's a businessman. I think he'll get to work. on day one. We're already seeing some of Trump's, the Trump effect, I think, going into place. I mean, if you're looking with what is going on with a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and with Gaza and all of that going on, you're seeing some of the Trump effect, I think, string to play in that Trump's going to be involved. He's going to get things done. And I want to now switch to that

in just a second, but I think really it's time to focus too on, like Trump is going to get things done, I think pretty quickly and it's going to require a lot of the action. So we'll see how that goes in the following days when he's inaugurated in just a few days. So with Israel, as I was saying with the Israel and Hamas and in Gaza, the situation, the horrible brutalities we've seen there, you're seeing what's happening now with negotiations. And Israel's security cabinet, according to AP, is they've convened to decide whether to approve this deal or not. and it's going to go to a full vote as well now. So we'll see what happens there.

But it would basically put a pause on everything and do a hostage exchange. Under this deal, basically 33 hostages would be set to be released in the next six weeks to Israel in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. And that's basically what they're saying there. And I want to just talk about this for a second. As you all know, Israel has been a very big. thing for me. I've been very focused on Israel. I really feel for those people in the atrocities that they face on October 7th. It was horrible. And I still think about those things and what should happen

here. And I think whatever Israel does, they need to do, I don't want the United States telling them what to do, right? They are a sovereign nation. They have a right to decide what they do. And they have a right to exist. And they have a right to decide what's best for them. They do. They really do. And I think people get so frustrating like we should be telling them this and that no no one should and no organization like the un has any say in any of this with all due respect the u.n can say whatever they want but israel has first and foremost their goal is not to the u.n their obligation not to the u.n nothing to the u.n right nor is ours their goal and every country's goal should be to their people first and foremost we have america first israel needs to have israel first right that's how these societies need to govern

is putting their people first. And if that meant for Israel continuing, that meant for Israel continuing, if that means a ceasefire, that means a ceasefire. It's what they need to do so they can best protect their people now. And in the future,

this isn't just about the short-term thing, right? It's not just about resolving peace now, or putting peace now, putting a little band-aid on everything, right? No, they're trying to see what's going to happen five, 10, 15 years down the line. How can we make sure we're in the best position possible? and so I really want to emphasize that this is what needs to be done for Israel because they're

negotiating with thugs terrorists that's who they're dealing with right and so they need to be very cautious obviously in these discussions in these decisions to make sure they're doing what's best for them people I think are trying to pit a lot more blame on Israel and move it away from what's happening in the rest of the area and you have remember this is Hamas, this is a terrorist organization. Israel has a lot of enemies in that area. They're in a tough area in the Middle East and allies like us need to stand with them, not against them. We stand with countries that support freedom, support democracy. Israel is very supportive of those things. We need to stand with them, help them. They've supported us.

We support them. We have a good relationship with them. And I think we need to stand with them, whether it be against Hamas, whether it be against the Houthis, whether it be against, whether it be against Iran, we need to stand with our allies and we need to support our allies. This is a time for us to choose to do what is right. This is a time for us to choose to stand with our allies and stand up against thugs to stand up against horrible atrocities. We need to stand with our ally and we need to continue to stand with our ally through the thick and through the thin.

You have to stand with your allies as chaos continues and ensues. and so I think really we need to continue to just think about what's going on there and see what happens obviously we want these hostages to come home and we want them to come home alive and well that is our goal and should be everyone's goal in this is bring the hostages home make sure they can go back to their families because look we can sit here all day I can sit here all day and say things about the what is going on there politically right and talk about those things but I am not one of the families dealing with the hostage issue of their loved one has been away for such a long time in the hands of a horrible people and we don't know what is happening there and i can't talk from that point of view but i can empathize with it and i do and i really do know that this is more than just about politics it's about people it always is and it's such a tough issue where you're like you have to negotiate you're negotiating with horrible horrible people but it's to get people home who have families who have loved ones who just walk want to go home, right? And so that's what a lot of this has to come down to too, too. It's like,

those families need to be talked to. There needs to be discussions there of, look, we can all say things, but we're not experiencing that. We're not. And to those families, my love goes out to you, my heart goes out to you, and my care is there for you because you deserve it. You deserve the love. You deserve the compassion that you should be getting. So we'll see where this goes and I'll keep you updated as to what is happening. So I think this is an interesting story that I kind of want to connect to what is going on also today where Trump is meeting with Mayor Eric Adams from New York, and they're going to have some discussions just about different things, how they can work together. And he's the mayor of New York City, right? So there's a lot of immigration issues there and a lot of

that. So they're going to meet. And I think another part of this, too, goes to a Michigan Democrat who says she won't caucus with her party, because. she thinks it's, um, she's better off by herself. Uh, state rep Karen Witsett, um, she told Fokener Focus or Fox News that like, she understands why Trump won. And I think that's something too that I, I have noticed in, um, politics is that there is some understanding by Democrats that they, that they did not do well in 2024 and that they need to change their course, but others will not. They're sticking their heels in. And let's be honest, that is why the Democrats lost.

And I think some of the times Trump's been having, they've been having the confirmation hearings, and I've been watching some of them. And some of the questions you get from Democrats to some of these nominees, like specifically Pam Bondi, who is a, was an attorney general for the state of Florida, very qualified. They're asking about her qualifications.

They're going on different questions about topics that I don't think the American people honestly care about. The American people, what they care about. They care about securing their border. They care about lowering prices of food, lowering housing prices, having housing available. They care about ending the nonsense abroad that we're seeing in their craziness and what is going on there. They want security. They want just to go back to their normal way of life where they can live their lives and live out the American dream,

knowing they can afford the American dream. And I think that Democrats really missed the key there in the election in November. And that if they're staying on their course, they're just going to destroy themselves. They're not going to be able to add anyone. Look, if I was a Democrat in leadership right now, right, I would be going to those leadership meeting saying, let's look at what happened in November and how we can correct. And that means looking at the issues, who did you connect with? What did you lose from 2020?

Who did you lose from 2020? Why was there a difference here? What made that different? Was it a candidate? Was it a policy? was it your Senate control? What was it that made people move away and shift to Donald Trump, who they claim is just this horrible person, right? How could people then go to this horrible person if you prevented all this joy and hope and optimism, right? They should be looking and saying,

why didn't we give this joy? Why didn't people want this joy that we've been saying for so long? What really happened here? And I don't know of exactly what they're doing behind closed doors there to address all this, but they really need to consider what is going on and how they need to fix things. Because look, 2026 is, I mean, it's still a little bits away, but it's not terribly far. And Democrats really have no control in D.C. right now. So they need to look at a plan to start getting that. What does that mean? Who does it mean you recruit in certain states for House seats for Senate seats?

Because if they don't, they're going to continue losing. And I think it's a lot of a messaging issue of, look, people aren't watching. the legacy media as they used to anymore. They're going to podcast, which we saw in the 2024 election from both sides trying to go to podcasts. I think Trump did a better job at it than Kamala Harris. I mean, look, also looking at the fact that the issues, Biden really didn't set up Kamala Harris well to be able to take on any legacy there of success. There was not much. People are struggling. People saw everything going on with Lake and Riley. What happened to that poor woman? of she died at the hands of legal immigration. And so you're seeing these things. People saw these

things. And they said, you know what? I want a new way. And they remembered what they saw with Trump and they went to that. And also though, the hard thing too was Kamala Harris literally said she wouldn't change a single thing when she was on the view. She said that she wouldn't change a single thing about what Biden had done, which is crazy to think about because there were so many things the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was horrendous. You think about the economy. You think about everything going on in the world with Ukraine, Israel, even China, and you say, you wouldn't change a thing. Listen, now, you can agree with politicians all day, and I know she was his, is his vice president, but you also disagree. No person's going to agree 100% with one person. If they do,

that's concerning. You shouldn't be agreeing fully with just one person on things. You have your own views and you have your own reasons for your views. And so I was like, that's really interesting that she said that. And I get it. It's tough. political operatives there, but still, the case being that. And I think you're going to honestly see some Democrats start to move. Eric Adams going to meet with Trump, John Fenerman, too. He has been, he's Senator from Pennsylvania, has had some relations with Republicans now talking to them, having conversations, and that's good. That's what we want. We want to have this bipartisanship, have these discussions. That's important. And I think you're seeing this tactic out of the more

Democrat side we saw in the election and moving to like, we need to actually get back to what matters and focus on what the American people are because we missed the pulse. And that's why I think they're saying we missed the beat of America at that moment. How do you get back to that? And so that's going to take a while, I think. And Republicans too now are going to have to look and say, what do we do moving forward to keep our majority in the Senate and keep our majority in the House? Because that's important too. If Trump only has two years of Republican leadership, you're only going to get a certain amount done. You need those full four years as a Republican to get everything you want done and leave that lasting legacy. So we'll see what happens. Usually they're rough for the majority party in the

midterm election, but we'll see it's really how also the president is doing and what the president does. And the first 100 days are going to be really critical to that, I think, and seeing what President Trump does with executive orders as well there, what Congress is able to pass how fast they're able to pass it. How fast are nominees able to get their appointment? done and confirmed and be able to start their jobs too because this is it's a long process to start presidential administration people just think it's done in November and get the election and you move on right now there is a long process of deliberations of who's going to be in the cabinet who is going to um who is going to help us get the job done and who is going to get confirmed and how are they

going to get confirmed what's the schedule like for confirmations it takes a while so it's a whole process and I'm going to be here with you throughout the whole process and we're going to discuss everything going on with Donald Trump, with the White House, with the Senate, with the House, and see really how we can find more to politics as well and in our daily lives and how we can also live our daily lives knowing that it's okay to not always focus on politics. Well, it's been a great show today. I am so blessed to be back here discussing everything going on in our world. There is so much going on. And I really truly am fortunate to be able to discuss it with you and give my thoughts on it. I know sometimes

it may be a lot to listen to all the politics I'm talking about, but just know at the end of the day, like, these are things that really do matter and it's okay to take a break from them too, though, and have a break away from the news. I think that's good. I mean over break. I stepped away a little bit, not fully from the news, just to give myself a day off or two off, you know, just to make sure I'm caring for myself too because the news can be so toxic and so dividing and we have to remember at the end of the day too where our common ground rests and who we are as a people as a person you are who you are and as a nation who we are. That's really important to the fabric of our nation and our culture and that's what makes us so special. So thank you so much for tuning in. I am so fortunate to be here for this final farewell season and it is going to be a great one.

So continue to tune in please. and you've been listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7F.