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And welcome to the program on your Wednesday afternoon. Gorgeous Wednesday going on out there. And as usual, we've got a ton of stuff to talk about today. This is, I have found that right around seven o'clock in the morning, 11 o'clock in the morning, and then about 2.30 in the afternoon, that's where everything just goes crazy.
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It just absolutely goes nuts. Those are the three times that I can, Oh, Oh, two 30s Watch out quarter to three that, that area there. Uh, so we've got a lot of stuff breaking. We're trying to get to as much of this as we can. Um, let's, uh, let's go to, um, uh, Esther in Powdersville. How you doing Esther? I'm good. Okay. just wanted to give you, I just wanted to give you, uh,
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I called Lindsey Graham's office and Tim Scott's office concerning uh their vote for Senate Majority Leader. And I'm going tell you, you know, I know, and everybody else knows, trying to get a straight answer is like trying to find your shadow in a dark room. Isn't that the truth? It ain't going to happen. Yeah. So what did they say? Well, the girl that I spoke to, her name was Margot. And she said...
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She just didn't have that information. Oh. And I asked her if he voted, who did he vote for, Senate Majority Leader, did he vote for John Boone? I just don't have that information. And I said, well, can't you find out for me? Can't you ask somebody in the office around you and let them know, I mean, let me know? No, she said, the best thing to do to that response is to email him.
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Oh, you know what you're get. You're gonna get a form email asking for money. yep, yep. So I said, well, no, I'm right here. I said, I'm on the phone with you right now. You could ask somebody in the office. Yeah. No, no, you need to email him to get a response. Yeah. So like I said, that's what I got from him. Now, I called Tim Scott's office.
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Tim Scott's fellow, his name was John, he hesitated to tell me his name so I questioned whether that was his real name. But anyway, he said, he was honest, he said that that was done by secret vote. And I said, why is anything done concerning the public and your constituents done by secret vote? I said, anything they do in that office should be made public to everybody.
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I said, I'd like to know whether he voted, did he vote for John Thune to be the Senate majority leader? It's done by secret ballot. uh I you not ask him to let me know how he voted? It's done by secret ballot. And I said, anything done in that office should be made public.
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to anybody that they represent. Exactly. Well, that's just the way they do it. understand. Anyway, they both wanted me to email them. Right. Of course they did. Of course they did. Pretty amazing. I appreciate you being on top of that. Thank you. So what we were talking about with Esther is yesterday we were wondering um who voted for John Thune to be the Senate Majority Leader.
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And that is a that's a secret ballot. And Esther said, and I said yesterday that I don't think any vote that they have in Washington should be done on a secret ballot. Because if you do something on a secret ballot, I'm not being represented. I can't make sure that I'm being represented.
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And that's my right as an American taxpayer and as a voter. I want to know how my representative voted. But no, they do that on a secret ballot because, you know, just because they do. So thank you, Esther, for staying on top of that. Well, speaking of Senator Tim Scott, oh, my goodness, he has finally come out and said something. Listen, Joe, you and I should both agree. Frankly, everyone in the studio should agree when you have
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80 plus percent of Americans, black ones, white ones, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, mixed kids, all say the same thing. Voter ID? Common sense. When the vast majority of every demographic in this country comes to the same conclusion that Save America Act should be passed, we should pass it. Only thing standing in our way? Democrats at this point. I'm hopeful that we'll find a path forward on the Save America Act.
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Senator Scott, you don't mind to um just correct you a little bit here. It's not just the Democrats. It's also some of your colleagues in the Senate that are holding this thing up, either four or five of them, which so many people are talking about, but nobody will name names. You all got to start naming names in Washington. Have a little more testicular fortitude and name names of these people. So, but oh, but
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So now we've got John Thune and we got John Cornyn. John Cornyn is in a race for the Senate in Texas against um Ken Paxton. Ken Paxton right now leading in the polls with or without Donald Trump's endorsement, Ken Paxton is leading in the polls. So now John Thune has actually changed course here.
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No, I'm sorry, John Cornyn has changed course and is now saying that he would be for doing away with the filibuster. What? Yes. According to NBC News, Senator John Cornyn flips on the filibuster to pass the Save America Act as Trump weighs endorsement. I'll bet he did. um
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Cornyn said he'll support whatever changes the Senate rules and the Senate rules that may prove necessary to pass the Save America Act. Cornyn's comments came as a part of an op-ed that he wrote in the New York Times ah today called Why the Save Act Matters More Than the Filibuster. And we'll see what happens with that. So now even John Cornyn is saying, do away with the filibuster. But we know why he's saying do away with the filibuster.
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because he really wants that seat. He really, really wants that Senate seat. interesting things going on right now. Also, got to get to this. um Apparently, the FBI has warned police departments in California that Iran could retaliate for American attacks by launching drones at the West Coast as according to an alert, alert reviewed by ABC News, we recently required information
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As of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the US homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran. The warning came just as Trump administration launched its ongoing assaults against the Islamic Republic. Iran has been retaliating with drones against targets throughout the Middle East.
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So no comment from the FBI on the West Coast with that, but they are alerting police stations in California to be on the lookout because it could be that, I don't think they're gonna. I don't think they're gonna. I really don't. I saw one guy over in Iran talking today how they've got a missile that they can launch from under the water.
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that goes 100 meters per second. Oh, 100 meters per second. That's a little over 200 miles an hour. That's about 220 miles an hour. Kyle Berkshire hits a golf ball 240 miles an hour. And you're gonna scare, you think, first of all, yeah, I bet they don't, I bet they don't have that.
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even if it was going to go, how fast does it go? It would go 100 meters a minute or something like that. ridiculous. 100 meters a minute. Okay. There you go. right. A hundred meters a second. I think that's what it was. little over 200 miles an hour. When we get back, the state legislature did something good and then they did something bad. We'll tell you both of them. It's the Charlie James Show.
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News Talk 98.9, WORD, the voice of the Carolinas. All right, let's go to the WORD Talk Live. We'll talk to Scott Engreer. Scott, what's on your mind this afternoon? Yeah, hey, hey, Charlie. Thanks for taking my call. The biggest concern I've got right now and that's what ran is we are going to end up getting involved in a breach on the ground, long term quagmire. And I think that
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That is a huge concern. Of course, costing us a million dollars a day, not to mention wives on both sides. course, it will be absurd. Okay, Scott, I appreciate your call. Well, let me tell you something. This war in Iran has been cheaper.
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than the Somali fraud that went on in Minneapolis. It has cost a lot less than that. So there you go. I don't think it is. I don't think it's going to be a quiet. Donald Trump knows good and well. Pete Hegseth knows good and well. And you should know good and well. This is not going to become one of those forever wars that we've all been used to because previously,
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They had these ridiculous rules of engagement. Everything had to go through the PR department. How's this gonna look? What have got? No, they are going in there to win it and come back home, period. WRD Talkline 800-9050-989. That's also the Common Sense Retirement Planning Text Line. Would love to chat with you on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon. Let's see who we got on the phones there. Who we got there, JJ?
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I Randy is in travelers rest. How you doing, Randy? I'm doing pretty good. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, sir. What's up? Talk about the yesterday you had Congressman Timmons on. Yeah, right. And and he was talking about the the sex abuse slush fund that they have there in Congress. And yeah, I voted for him. I like him. Yeah, I like him. You know, I voted for him. And I would say that I don't think he could be more wrong yesterday.
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just because, you know, he talked about how he didn't want to release the names of, you know, some of the accusers and all that stuff. And all because of damage to them. And all I want to say is whose money is it that they're using to pay? And the answer is mine. And you know something, if you're going to use my money, I want to know who used it and paid whom how much for what.
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and uh... it's just because it's my money but i know well not a hold on don't you believe that these accusers some of them who have done nothing except being harassed by members of congress don't you think they deserve a little bit of privacy well you know that the thing about it is that you know i admit that some of them aren't victims and that's why i'm calling them accusers right i understand yes yes and i've said that on this program as well yes
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But what about the actual victims?
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Yeah, and I understand that, you know, but I mean, I just look at it as the fact of it's my money. That's all. Yeah, I understand that, Randy, and I appreciate it. But here's what you need to do. You need to go ask a woman in your life that if you were sexually harassed by someone in the office and you complained and you want a suit against them or whatever, they paid you, you signed a non-disclosure agreement.
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Would you want your name to be put out there for everybody to know? Ask them, ask several members, female members of your family. Let's go to Walter and Anderson. Walter, welcome. Hello, Charlie. How are doing today? I'm doing good. What's up, man? They're talking about the cost of the war. Well, we haven't heard about the cost of the war in a long time. mean, what about the Afghanistan debacle and everything like that? And like you said,
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just the Somali fraud in Minnesota alone, just in Minnesota is ridiculous. absolutely. Thank you, Charlie. Have a good day. I appreciate it, Walter. Thank you. that's it. It's all about the cost. yesterday in the House of ... Well, in Columbia in the state legislature, they did something that I thought we had already done up until a few weeks ago, and that is comply with the one big beautiful bill. So they passed legislation.
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And we are now going to go into compliance. Now, if you have already filed your taxes, this means that you're going to go after. Yes, it's exactly what this means. You're going to go back and have to file an amended tax return if you want to take advantage of the no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and the tax breaks that seniors are going to get. Hey, way to go, state legislature.
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Here we go, in the middle of March, you guys are really helping us out when taxes are due next month, and a lot of people have already filed. Good job, good job. So they did that, but then they passed a budget. Now this was a big, big budget. Now if you ever want a reason, if you're sitting there going, oh Charlie, I'm kinda... oh
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I'm kind of tall in here. I don't know if I'm going to be voting in these primaries coming up in June. If you need a reason to vote in the primaries coming up in June, I want you to listen to Representative Mike Kasky and what he said to Sarita Edgerton. Are you ready? balance of the house rules, ah you will find that there is no provision requiring you to actually read anything. And I think that after this short
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couple weeks you've been with us, you'll find that too often nobody reads anything. Excuse me?
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Wait a minute. Did you actually just say that in the well of the house? You actually just said that in most cases people don't read anything? Well, let me ask you something, Micah Caskin, all of you Rhino members in Columbia. How are you representing anybody if you don't read the bills? How do you represent that? That bill
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That budget was huge. It was a massive budget.
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And people are like, how am I supposed to read all of this before the vote? Well, you weren't. You weren't supposed to read all of that before the vote. You were just supposed to trust people like Mike Kasky and Merle Smith and others in leadership. You're just supposed to trust them. We'll tell you. That's not representation. That is the way that Columbia works is so
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smelly and dirty and slimy and greasy. It's not even funny.
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These people, they're not even reading the bills.
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They have no idea what's in a lot of the things that they pass. That's how we get into the condition that we're in here in South Carolina. That's why we're actually funding in the new budget a lesbian podcast.
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Yeah, you heard me right, JJ. That's right. That's right, JJ. You heard me. Heard me right. Your taxpayer dollars are going to fund a lesbian podcast for whatever reason. I have no idea. Lude artwork, tons of other stuff. Now, that's horrible. But the really bad thing is
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is they come along and they actually increase. This is the largest budget South Carolina has ever had. We're going to talk to some folks next hour about this. This is the largest budget South Carolina has ever had, and they're trying to claim to you.
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That they're cutting taxes?
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How do you increase spending and cut taxes at the same time? Well, the answer is you don't. This tax plan that they have actually increases taxes for about 20 % of South Carolinians. But a lot of people don't know that because Mike Kasky, Davey Hyatt, Merle Smith, they count on one thing, all the little acolytes
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Don't read the bills.
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That's a shame. really is representation doesn't happen in Columbia. We'll be right back. This is the Charlie James show news talk 98.9 W.O.R.D. the voice of the Carolinas. All right. Let's go to Harry in Greenville over on the W.R.D. talk line. Harry, what's going on with you? Hello, Charlie. Thank you for taking my call. Yes, I just wanted to call and express my extreme frustration. Nothing new, but extreme frustration with Senator Tim Scott. Yeah.
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heard the the the message that you played from him the audio uh... blaming the democrats yeah uh... what a cheap shot uh... the last time i counted the republicans are actually in control of the united states senate we have a so-called republican president uh... and yet just like they do here in south carolina and the state legislature they blame democrats when they can't pass good legislation
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to claim democrats when back legislation does get passed uh... i'd just so that up with them charlie i'd just so how do you know do you feel we can do you feel is is responsible for the government shut down
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I believe the Republicans are responsible for the government shutdown. How? Because they could pass a uh spending measure with the 51 vote majority. No, it's got to have 60 votes unless it's in a reconciliation bill. Okay, I'll set that aside and I'll take a... No, no, no, no, no, you can't do that because that's the same thing that has to do with the SAVE Act.
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they can't pass it as long as the filibuster is in place it takes sixty votes period no but what i'm saying charlie is they can change the rules yes absolutely they can and they just want now and which one and that's exactly what i said to begin with you know you're you're blaming the democrats tim scott but you've got four or maybe even five republicans that are not going to back this thing exactly
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exactly so we give both the the rhino republicans who are willing to sell america out uh... we give them a pass just so that we can blame the democrats and that's just dishonest how i don't know where where i don't think they're doing it so we can blame the democrats i think they're doing it because they truly do not believe in the save america act and they don't want president trump's agenda to be passed well i would agree and based on that charlie i'm not sure that we could actually
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call them Republicans. No, no, no, no. That's why they say they're Republicans in name only. don't, they're rhinos, definitely, Harry, I appreciate it. So, Thune is talking about bringing the SAVE Act to the floor of the Senate next week. Now here's my thinking of what he's going to try to do, okay? He's going to bring the SAVE Act, not going to do away with the filibuster.
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not going to bring in the standing filibuster. He's going to make no rules changes whatsoever. He's going to come in and he's going to put the Save America Act on the floor of the Senate. Now here's what's going to happen. Every single Republican in the Senate is going to vote for it. Every single Republican is going to vote for that bill.
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because they know that they've still gotta have 60 votes to pass it and they don't wanna look bad. They don't wanna, oh yes, I'm voting for this. It'll never pass. Yeah, I'm gonna vote for this. There's no way this thing is doomed. I'm gonna vote for it. Yeah, you watch, here we go. I'm voting. Look at me voting for it. Here's me voting for it. It's not gonna pass.
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they get a pass. When the bill doesn't pass, they get a pass. Because now they can say, hey, oh, oh, we tried, oh, we tried so hard to get that bill passed and I just could not do it. When they were not gonna do it all along. Let's go to Orrin in Landrum. Orrin, welcome. How are you, Charlie? I'm good, what's up, man? What a thing about, I wanna put two things. First thing about what,
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Mr. Temlin was talking about yesterday about the slush fund for the people who have had to pay off these accusers. Yeah. I'm 100 % behind protecting the woman, the accused, their identity should not be revealed. But the congressman or the senator who had to pay it, they should be revealed. Oh yeah, I agree 100%. And it should be grandfathered all the way back to when this first thing began. Everybody's ever done, I'll tell what you'll find.
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You'll find one or two or three people on there five or six times. Yeah, I'll bet you will. I'll bet you will. Absolutely. And the other thing about Tim Scott is, yes, I blame the Republicans for this, that Thune doesn't want it passed because he doesn't want the, he doesn't, he doesn't, wants oh the, basically what he wants is one government for everybody. But Thune, if he's supposed to be a leader, he's supposed to that.
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Tim Scott, felt insi- and I'm a big fan of Tim Scott, but I felt insulted when he said, it's just, it's just the Democrats. That's, that's a, that's a, that's a cheap, easy way of saying we're not going to pass it. He insulted me when he did that. They need to start calling out members of their own caucus and getting- me two of them. All right, go ahead. I can name me two of All right.
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Tim Scott and and Lindsay and and Misty Graham So you saying there with all the talk and all the the appearances they're not gonna vote for the Save Act or or they're not or they're not gonna vote for Doing away with the filibuster. That's the big thing That's weird because I mean even even we're hearing that John Cornyn is Now saying he is willing to go along with whatever rules changes. They that need to be done
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in order to pass the save that you think that's a real thing or is he just trying to get that endorsement from Trump? Yeah, I think he said it, but it's easy for him to say that because he knows it's not going to get to that. Yeah, maybe so. So he can say, well, I was prepared. was going to do it, but gee whiz, couldn't, John Thune, couldn't get the, so gee, I did everything I could. He knows it's easy to say that when you know it's never going to come up. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Orrin, I appreciate it, buddy. Let's go to Mike in Table Rock. How you doing, Mike?
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I'm doing okay. right. The reason I'm calling is I'm okay with the side that, but like you said, it's not going to, uh, is it's going to get hung up. Hopefully you'll pass.
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Well, we'll see. We'll see. I those Republicans, those Republicans, and this is all the stuff that we need to remember. I appreciate it, Mike. We need to remember these people. Now, when we talked with Congressman Timmons yesterday, he said something that kind of surprised me. That not only does the House want the SAVE Act passed, but they've also got the SAVE Act 2.0 ready to go if it doesn't pass.
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So if something, if it fails in the Senate, they're ready to go, they've got the votes, they'll send the next save act, and this is something they need to keep doing. And if I were Donald Trump, I would stick fast and firm.
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to my decision that there will be no endorsements of either Ken Paxton or John Cornyn until the SAVE Act is signed.
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Now, like we said, John Cornyn just said, in an op-ed that he put out there today, that he would be for any rules changes in order to get the save back to pass. You buying that? I'm not sure I'm buying that, but there you go. All right. When we get back, you know we've actually got never Trump senators here in South Carolina. I know that's going to shock you, but we do.
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It's the Charlie James Show, News Talk 98.9, WORD, the voice of the Carolinas. All right, let's go back to the phones. We'll talk to Mike in Table Rock. How you doing, Mike?
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Why do you mean, did you have you had an issue getting an ID? It is you got some idea that some people don't have ID. Actually, did because I had a misspelling of my name and I had to get my work certificate. OK, and so it took a little bit of time. It's like a week. Or you could have it today.
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If you wanted to ride down and say, no, I'm not buying that mic. Everybody's got ID. Everybody's got ID. There are hardly anybody walking around out there right now that doesn't have ID. So no, enact it now. Enact it before the midterms. Let's go to Tim in Capobello. How you doing, Tim? I'm all right. How are you? I'm good. What's up, Well, I got some comments about the war and then I've got some more comments after I just called. The war thing.
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Everybody keeps saying they don't want boots on the ground. They don't boots on the ground all this and that and other I say whoop them as bad as we got to whoop them where they can't never raise their head again I mean you don't you don't join the military just to get to wear camouflage and play with nice rifles That ain't what you there for I mean there to whoop folks And I think we can do that. I think we can do that with bomb planes drones and ships
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Well, maybe, but if we can't, we can't, you know what I mean? if push comes to shove, whoop them. While, while we're in the notion of this, whoop them. Okay. The other thing, these people up there, they ain't got to haunt us to pass this save act. They ever want to need to be primaries. And the main one to me is Lindsey Graham. I mean, he, he just like a boat sitting on a pond. Any way, which way the wind's blowing at the time.
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That's the way he's going. He's a sorry excuse for a man, in my opinion. All right. A lot of people feel that way. OK, let me say one more thing. All right. If you if you too dumb to figure out what I'd be, you need to get to vote. You ain't got sense enough to be voting anyhow. All right, Jim, I appreciate it. Thank you, buddy. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. So yeah, but look, everybody's got ID.
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Stop that, that's all. You've been listening to too much CNN, you've been listening to too much NPR, you've been listening to too much NBC. If you think there are people out there that don't have ID.
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It's an easy thing to do. I told you the other day, I decided, said, let me just see. I said, Charlie to myself, said, Charlie, let's see how long it would take you to get uh an official copy of your birth certificate. Remember, nobody has their original. Everybody's got an official copy. So let's see how long that would take. So I went to my home state of Georgia's vital records department.
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I put in my name. I put in my county of birth. I put in my city of birth. Put in my birth date.
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and I took it all the way up until it was going to ask me to pay and I didn't need to do that because I've already got my birth certificate and I know exactly where it is.
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took it all the way to as far as I could go and it took about a minute.
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It would have gone by faster if I were a better typist. It took about a minute. That's it. That's all it takes.
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and then they will send it to you in the mail. Now, if you need it even quicker, you could get up tomorrow morning, you could drive to, let's say you're in South Carolina, you could get up tomorrow morning, you could drive to Columbia.
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and you could get it for about $17. You could get it in about 45 minutes after you get there and you'd be right back on your way. That's just how easy it is to get all of this going on. Let's go, where are we going? Dave in Spartanburg, how you doing, Dave? Oh, Charlie, I wanna talk about, I saw Doom talking about the SAVE Act last night. He well, we don't have the votes. Right. If I'm Trump, I would tell him.
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here's what i'm gonna tell you i want to see the vote because i want to see who doesn't want so that you know every one of the people who does now because there are republicans that don't want he's one of them that's they don't want to break it up he's one cornyn collins murkowski i could almost list them you gotta put them on record put them on the vote that they didn't want to vote for see they know if they vote for it they're gonna have to vote for it
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because if not, they're going to be voted out. So they don't want to bring it up. Well, we can't do that. It's a sham. I don't know how people have to respond to see that. Yeah. It's all a shelter. You're right about that. Here's what. But you know what I like that Trump said, Dave? Trump said it's time. That's what being a leader does. It's your time to be a leader. If you've got people that don't want to, you know, if you can't get the votes, go be a leader. I appreciate it, Dave. Thank you.
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Let's go to DC in Greenville. DC, how are you? Fine. I'd to speak about our end. All right. The first true uh casualty in war is truth. And I don't believe that we will win until we control, secure, and control the borders. And I hope we're there until we win the war.
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and that we stay there as long as we need to to keep it one. Which borders are you talking about? Our borders, our southern borders, or the borders of Iran? Right now, I'm talking about the borders of Iran. Okay. But we need to figure out after we take, while we're taking care of Iran, we need to figure out what we need to do to sustain.
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constitutional liberty into the future of the United States. Well, that's where President Trump and a lot of other people are hoping the people of Iran are going to step up. they... of Iran don't have the military power or ability to control their borders. Well, yeah, you're right about that. But, I mean, we'll see what happens. It's going to be a complicated mess anyway. And understand your sentiment there, DC. I appreciate it. Are we going to Slavic?
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Is that what we're talking about? Slavic and Spartanburg. How you doing, Slavic?
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um First time caller you get the bell man. There you go. What's up? Hey, um they're talking about not passing the data because they can't get IDs but when the legal come to America they give them IDs and driver licenses so they can get jobs and cash their checks. uh They can give out illegal IDs and driver licenses. How hard is it for Americans to get?
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ID and voter ID. Shouldn't be hard. It's not. It's not hard. These people, they're just, you know what they're doing, Slovak, they're just making excuses, ridiculous excuses so that they can keep pandering to the illegal immigrants in this country. I appreciate your call. Thank you very much. We got to hit a break here. It's the Charlie James show. News Talk 989, WORD, the voice of the Carolinas.
Mar 11, 2026
