Allen Jackson NOW

Allen Jackson: Good evening, and welcome to Nashville. I'm Allen Jackson. Few events have changed America as dramatically as the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost overnight, everyday life came to a halt as schools closed, businesses locked their doors, churches were told they could no longer meet in person, and families found themselves separated from loved ones during some of life's most difficult moments.

Americans were repeatedly told to trust the experts and follow the science. Throughout that time, few voices carried more influence than Dr. Anthony Fauci's. His public and private recommendations helped shape decisions made by elected officials across this country. Now more than six years later, Dr. Fauci appeared before a Senate hearing and repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than answer questions from lawmakers.

But this story isn't only about Dr. Fauci; it also raises difficult questions about the role of the national news media. According to the newly released diary entries, Dr. Fauci developed unusually close relationships with several prominent news anchors. At the same time, many Americans who questioned lockdowns, school closures, or the growing reach of government authority found themselves targeted.

Instead of challenging those in power, the legacy media became the amplifier for Dr. Fauci's message, leaving little room for competing viewpoints or honest debate. Why do Fauci's private diary entries tell a different story than many of his public statements? What responsibility does the media bear for promoting one narrative while dismissing credible voices that question the government's response?

There are waves of deception that seem to be crashing over our lives in this season. When you see what's taking place in society, it can be confusing and disorienting. I would suggest that we're going to have to become more astute consumers of information and pay attention to the world that we're living in. Don't just embrace every talking point offered up by the media or by agenda-driven elected officials or bureaucrats. Don't fall under their spell.

We have seen the deterioration of trust in places that I thought were cornerstones of trust. During the lead-up to the 2016 election, the FBI claimed that the Trump campaign had ties to Russian collusion. We saw congressmen and senators stand in front of cameras on a daily basis and accuse Trump of being a Russian agent. This Russian collusion hoax was then echoed in the evening news every day, even though it ended up being proved a totally false narrative.

The previous administration set our border was secure, and the legacy media happily passed along that narrative, which they knew to be false. They told us an unsecured border was just our imagination. They covered up the mental and physical decline of former President Biden. They simply refused to tell us the truth. They said President Joe Biden is as cogent and sharp as ever, even though it was plain to see that that wasn't the case.

The President of the United States recently released documents that showed that foreign countries like China interfered in our elections in unprecedented ways. And yet there were media networks like CNN, for example, that just outright refused to air his primetime speech. Just as a reminder, CNN is supposed to be a 24/7 news channel.

Now we see how mainstream media for the most part is ignoring the astounding revelations found in Fauci's diaries. It's in his own words. The diary portrays a striking disconnect between Fauci's private assessments and the public guidance he was giving on major media networks at the height of the pandemic.

The guidance he gave to the general public about masks, social distancing, transmission risks, and natural immunity differed from what he wrote in his diary. This is the same Fauci who said attacks on me are attacks on science. Fauci's guidance was repeatedly used to defend prolonged school restrictions, church restrictions, masking, and social distancing requirements. The most powerful politicians in the nation, the media, and the CDC stated emphatically to follow the science.

What gave me pause was science doesn't change at the state line. The science in Tennessee should be the same as the science in California or the science in New Jersey. Government overreach affected churches across America. I would suggest to you that deception, lies, and a refusal to acknowledge the truth is a spiritual conflict more than it's a political one.

Because of the absence of God in lives, a person's moral compass is broken. If a person has no moral compass, they'll say whatever they need to say that's self-serving. You think of life in terms of how I get what I want, how I get my objective, and how I get my agenda accomplished. You don't even think in terms of whether it's true or false; you just want to get what you want. I want to remind you that truth cannot be defeated.

There's a moral and spiritual authority in the truth. If you suppress the truth, it's like holding a ball under water; eventually, it'll come up again. This is the question I get asked often: What can we do? First, put the word of God in your heart and then determine to become a person of truth. Speak the truth.

You can start at your kitchen table. Bring the truth to your home and then take the truth to your extended family, then to your friends with your discretionary time. Determine to be a person that brings a biblical worldview. If we'll do that, we'll see changes come to the highest levels of our nation. In a moment, we'll be joined by the executive editor of NewsBusters, Tim Graham. I'll be right back.

Guest (Female): This year, we celebrate 250 years of God's faithfulness to our nation. From backyard picnics and ballgames to laughter shared with family and friends, we've been given so many blessings to enjoy together. In a world that feels increasingly divided, these moments remind us of what matters most: faith, freedom, family, and community.

Allen Jackson Ministries wants to help you carry that message with you wherever you may go. This outdoor blanket and canvas tote bag are simple reminders of God's goodness and a way to spark meaningful conversations about faith and the hope we have in Him. Request your limited-edition tote bag and outdoor blanket today with your gift of $100 or more at AllenJackson.com or call 800-880-5102.

Allen Jackson: Tonight we're joined by the executive editor of NewsBusters, Tim Graham. Welcome to the show, Tim.

Tim Graham: Thank you.

Allen Jackson: Over the weekend, Senator Rand Paul released a significant portion of Dr. Fauci's personal diary entries from 2019 to '22. Ahead of the hearing on Capitol Hill, we learned a lot. We learned a bit about how he reveled in his newfound celebrity and his influence. Much of the mainstream media chose not to cover it. It seems to me, does the media owe the American people something of an apology?

Tim Graham: We certainly think so. I think that we've had this feeling for quite a long period of time. I mean, all throughout 2020, there was just an assumption that anything that was going wrong with COVID was Donald Trump's fault.

You'll remember that we had these obnoxious press conference questions where people would stand up and say, "Mr. President, you've lost as many Americans as we lost in Vietnam," like Trump had killed them all. They used it; they weaponized COVID against the president. And yeah, I think what these Fauci messages showed was how much Fauci was a part of this, that Fauci was even feeding hostile questions to anchormen to ask Trump officials. There's a lot there that they don't want us to revisit.

Allen Jackson: We've got a soundbite from Jake Tapper in 2020. I think it was July of 2020. Listen to what he had to say, and then I've got a question.

Jake Tapper: The White House war on science and medicine has only gotten worse. But today, the nation's top infectious disease expert is punching back amid new attacks from the White House. Let me not be diplomatic. The White House campaign to undermine Dr. Fauci is dishonest, it's disgusting, and it's deranged. The White House is instead launching an aggressive smear campaign against a guy trying to save our lives.

Allen Jackson: So are we waiting for Jake Tapper to correct the record now that he's seen the diaries?

Tim Graham: Well, remember, about this time in July of 2020, he's having dinner at his house with Anthony Fauci, which might explain just how hot that take is. It's one thing to say President Trump is feuding with the top government scientist. He's a scientist; Donald Trump is not a scientist, and you can try to do that sort of thing.

But when you start calling it disgusting and deranged, this is why people think CNN is not a news channel. This is just a lecturing channel where they tell you what to think. But what he's not disclosing there and what he's not disclosing now is, yeah, I was having dinner with Fauci. They had several of them, and in some cases, Fauci writes Tapper asked me to send him questions to ask Trump people. So I mean, it's super cozy. And that, I think, is something they never really share with people, that these people and their networks are all colluding to present the news in the way that they want it.

Allen Jackson: During the hearing on Capitol Hill, Dr. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right repeatedly and didn't answer any questions. President Biden had already given him a blanket pardon, so there was no real threat to him, I suppose. It seems to me the American public deserves better than that. Maybe 60 Minutes will do an exposé, or maybe the women on The View will convene a panel and correct the record. What are you looking for?

Tim Graham: I'm honestly looking for Dr. Fauci to submit to an interview to somebody who's going to ask him some honest questions. So let's not nominate Jake Tapper. Let's not nominate people he has dinner with or people who send him texts saying you were so impressive, Mr. Fauci. That was George Stephanopoulos.

So just, yeah, we need somebody to go back and actually ask him about these statements that he made. Which is, "Dr. Fauci, you said that the lab leak was garbage," and then but in your private writings you're like, "Oh, it's plausible." And then he later comes out late in the game and says, "I always said it was plausible." No, you didn't, and it's all on the record.

So, I mean, he also played up how deadly COVID was in public while privately he said, "Oh, the death rate's much lower than that." So there's that, and then there's that whole segment of the media collusion going on there that nobody's going to ask him about. So the problem with or maybe the success of Fauci using the Fifth Amendment is the focus really was on his non-answers and not on the questions.

Allen Jackson: Following the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association dinner over the weekend, the media, not surprisingly, began complaining about President Trump. They said his speech didn't support freedom of the press. It seemed a bit that they didn't like him criticizing them. It seemed odd to me. They spend most of their waking hours criticizing the president. I have a question. What say you? Is this a double standard?

Tim Graham: Yes, absolutely. I mean, the press always believes if you have a dinner and the reporters are inviting you over, it is required for you to explain how essential they are to democracy. Now, the president did say we understand the press has a role in our democracy. He made those steps.

And then he went on to say you're a loser, you're a loser, and make fun of people, suggesting they weren't very good at their jobs. They cannot take criticism. And yes, the double standard is these people and their networks call him Hitler, and Stalin, and Pol Pot, and Mao, all kinds of mass murderers. And that's considered journalism. That's not even comedy.

So, yes, there's a double standard there. And especially bad, though, is this assumption that they are the First Amendment and to criticize them is against freedom of speech. And we want to all remind the journalists: criticizing you is the First Amendment. Telling people you stink is freedom of speech; it's not the opposite of freedom of speech.

Allen Jackson: Tim, we need to take a short break. If you'll stand by for another segment, we'll be right back. If you happen to have your phone in your hand, you can try logging on to AJNow.com. You can send us an email. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. We'll be back in just a moment.

Allen Jackson: I have learned as a pastor, there's a tremendous difference in a crowd and a community of faith. When people decide to step out of the crowd and invest their time and their resources, they become a part of a community and it changes their lives. Well, I want to give you that invitation. I'm grateful you're a part of the crowd who watches the ministry. I want to ask you to consider becoming a monthly ministry partner. I believe if you'll make that regular commitment to what God is doing through this ministry, it will bring momentum to your spiritual life and it will help us reach more people than we've ever reached with the gospel before.

Allen Jackson: America is turning 250 years old. That's something that should unify us. We have so much to celebrate. There is no place like America. Our freedoms and liberties, they are unmatched in this world. Everything that's good about America, our laws, our opportunities, the prosperity we've enjoyed, they've come to us because of our faith.

We've created a series of emails celebrating 250 years of our country. Find out how Christianity has played a role in this nation from its founding until now. You'll receive a new email each week throughout the series. Each one is designed to help you see our blessings and our heritage in a new way, how faith has played a powerful role all the way through. It's one way we're celebrating America's 250th. We hope you'll join us. You can sign up now at AllenJackson.com/250.

Allen Jackson: We're back now with the executive editor of NewsBusters, Tim Graham. Tim, the Governor of New Jersey recently announced that they had over 6,000 illegals on their voting rolls, that as many as 400 of them had actually cast votes. Seems like that should be major news, but somehow it seems to have just dropped out of the news cycle. Are you surprised by that?

Tim Graham: No, but I think what's interesting about that is they've spent so much time in the media trying to suggest there's no evidence that illegal immigrants vote or that they're eligible to vote. They had to report this for a brief period because the person reporting it was the Democrat Governor of a state.

But then they tried to make the explicit point, well, just because these 400 people voted doesn't mean it affected any elections. That's not the point. Now, we can obviously say we remember the year 2000 where George W. Bush was finally found to have beat Al Gore by like 500 votes. So those votes matter. We've had like the Senate race in Minnesota a few years back that was decided by less than 300 votes, so that matters.

But then there's the whole idea that Abby Phillip came on CNN and tried to say, well, these illegal alien voters didn't know that they couldn't vote, which is ridiculous. Illegal aliens know they're illegal. They know they shouldn't be voting. So the silliest thing you can say is they didn't know they were doing anything wrong.

Allen Jackson: We're watching something, it seems to me at least, as unprecedented in our history: the Democratic Party if not being overtaken, at least being significantly infiltrated by the DSA. People like Jillian Michaels are showing up on Fox News to call out the alarming facts about the DSA platform. But the Democrats for the most part aren't talking about it. Should we be concerned?

Tim Graham: Yes. It would be easy for Republicans to say this is great, let's get all of these crazy DSA people to win primaries; that makes them easier to defeat. I think that would be a mistake.

I think these people with their completely anti-democratic platform, where they want to abolish the Senate, they basically want to abolish the presidency, they basically want to abolish the Supreme Court—they're saying all this out loud on Fox News Sunday—yes, we don't want them to win any elections anywhere.

And I think, yes, the news media, they all want to say, "Oh, it's a big tent." Joe Scarborough's saying, "Oh, there shouldn't be any fight at all." They're trying to make this not a problem. It's a major problem not just for the Democratic Party, but for the United States.

Allen Jackson: You know, it wasn't that long ago that our political parties' differences were how to implement social programs, how to divide the budget. They weren't over whether we were going to completely reject our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. We've shifted to a whole new place, and yet I don't really hear an honest conversation taking place in the media. What do we do to ignite that so at least the people can be aware?

Tim Graham: Yeah, I think it's just you have to keep explaining what these people seek to do. And the thing the media is doing that really upsets me is that they're comparing it to the Tea Party in the Republican Party under Obama.

The Tea Party was all about empowering and deepening our constitutional rights. It had a great reverence for the founding of America. To try to compare that to these people and their dismantle American democracy platform just makes no sense to me whatsoever. The threat is there, and the threat has to be called out repeatedly.

Allen Jackson: Well, you're someone that's worked in exposing and combating liberal media bias for decades. What would you say that the average American doesn't know or understand about the way the networks cover the news?

Tim Graham: Well, you can tell that public trust in the media is very low. It's really hard now to watch reporters on television or on their social media and not understand they're coming from a very political direction.

I think maybe if it's one thing that people don't understand, it's what these Fauci messages show, which is there's just such an internal collusion between the Democrats and these government actors and these Democratic operatives. Behind the scenes, they're asking the Democrats for, "Give us your questions we can throw at the Republicans."

Behind the scenes, they're like, "We'll quote you as a senior government official while you trash the Republicans. We'll make you look non-partisan." They love making Anthony Fauci look non-partisan, when it's quite clear from the messages he really hated Trump and the Republicans.

Allen Jackson: Tim, as much as the media collusion is a problem, it seems to me there's one more lane that has been uncovered and that's the entrenched nature of these professional bureaucrats that ignore the will of the people and often the direction of the elected officials. How do we overcome that bureaucracy that seems so deeply rooted?

Tim Graham: Right, it's what we call the deep state because obviously, yes, most of our federal government employees stay there for decades. They don't come in and come out like political appointees.

And I think we can just make the assumption in most of these cases that the government officials that are in there decade in and decade out, at some place like, say, the Environmental Protection Agency, they're going to be very hostile to when Republicans are elected and come in to do things. And one of the things that these hostile permanent employees will do is leak damaging stuff to their liberal friends in the media.

I think that the closest approximation to what happened then is, yes, it's the president coming in with Dodge, the president coming in and offering people retirement plans for them to get out. That is to some extent at least to sort of shake the tree and change it up a little bit. But government is permanent. I mean, the only thing you can do is maybe shrink it.

Allen Jackson: Well, Tim, I thank you for your time today. We appreciate your hard work and the insights you bring.

Tim Graham: Thank you much.

Allen Jackson: We'll be back in just a moment.

Allen Jackson: I want to give you a personal invitation to join my podcast called Culture and Christianity. You don't compromise the truth, but you say it where the people know that you care about them. We're trying to understand how to take our faith outside the walls of the church and live it out in the marketplace.

Guest (Female): I just never understood the double standard because they punished me while my peers were allowed to talk about how devastated they were that Roe versus Wade was overturned.

Allen Jackson: I brought in some friends, people that are trying to do this on a regular basis.

Guest (Male): They're never going to stop me because the truth is the truth. I'd rather be on God's side than to be a coward.

Allen Jackson: Now we've been living in a season of unprecedented deception, propaganda, manipulation.

Guest (Female): Our best option was to run. We were timing ourselves. I was trying to think, how can I protect my kids?

Allen Jackson: Well, I want to be a part of seeing culture and Christianity intersect. I hope you'll join the podcast soon.

Allen Jackson: Thank you for taking the time to send us an email. Your thoughts and opinions are always a highlight. Roy from Davy, Florida, said, "Commander Lippold describes the situation and prescribes what must be done. Exactly right. President Trump has negotiated beyond all rational limits. Hit the IRGC hard while minimizing civilian deaths and injuries. Regime change has become another necessary, absolutely essential goal." Roy, I don't disagree. I think that the negotiations have proven to be fruitless. Now it's time for an expression of strength.

Lisa from Fort Mill, South Carolina: "Socialism certainly achieves equity for the masses, excluding those in charge and their friends, by making us all poor and without purpose, reason, and self-esteem. God's purpose and grace will prevail. Help us keep the faith." Lisa, if we will truly keep the faith, then I believe God will help us keep our freedom and liberty. If we hide our faith or forget it, we will lose our freedom.

Steve from California: "Where's the line between First Amendment freedom of speech and giving aid and comfort to the enemy or treason? How can we discourage members of Congress and governors who work to discourage and divide us?" I might frame the question just a bit differently. I believe their assignment is to uphold and defend the Constitution. Their job is not to be encouraging always; sometimes the truth is discouraging. But they do have an assignment and have committed themselves to maintaining law and order.

Ignoring the laws is not good practice. And we've been tolerating this for too long: sanctuary cities, sanctuary states, where they ignore federal law and demand federal money. That is a betrayal of the offices they have been sworn to uphold. I don't believe we should tolerate it any longer. We can use our votes, our opinions, and our voices, and we can make a difference.

Folks, God's moving in the earth. If we will join Him in that, His purposes will come forward and that's the best news for all of us. Thank you for your time today. Good night.