← Real America’s Voice
Real America’s Voice
Just the News No Noise with John Solomon and Amanda Head, January 19th, 2026
00:50:01
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- [00:00]
Jeffrey Steele
This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.
- [00:05]
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- [00:56]
John Solomon
Good evening, America. Welcome to the latest edition of Just the News. No noise. I'm your host John Solomon. On this Martin Luther King holiday. We got a lot of great discussion ahead for you here in Washington. I'm going to bring in my amazing guest co host and we've got a great lineup of guests. I also want to mention Congressman Brandon Gill is going to join us in a second. He's on the front line. A lot of major common sense pieces of legislation that were long neglected and now getting done like stopping fraud in student visas, stopping fraud and dead people from remaining on public welfare rolls. All of that we're going to get to in just a little bit. But I want to bring in my amazing co host Amanda Head on this Martin Luther King Day. I feel like the last decade before the 2024 election was like a bad case of Alice in Wonderland. Every time you turn around like that can't be possible and it turns out it was true. Oh, we're going to, we're going to pretend that men can compete in women's sports and give them the gold medal. Or we can do, we can just look the other way when billions of fraud are going out the door because otherwise you're a racist if you question it. It feels like there's been a heavy dose of sudden injection of common sense in Washington. And these bills that are passing, maybe the Democrats not sounding that common sense, but they're passing at much more frequency. It feels like things are finally getting done.
- [02:07]
Amanda Head
Yeah, I think that there are a number of factors that have led us to this place. Number one, four years under Joe Biden, the American people got to see firsthand what a lot of those progressive economic policies would ultimately end up doing to their wallets, to the prices at the gas station, things like that. I think you also had a cultural shift where Hollywood became less important. As you look at the last 10 years or so, you look at award shows, fewer and fewer viewership Numbers, they just don't matter that much anymore. So their opinion on things doesn't matter that much anymore. And the other thing is that Covid, we learned during COVID what was being taught in schools. And the American people, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, uncles, even students were finally like, okay, this is fed up. This is an upside down world. And I am so glad for a couple of our guests that we have on tonight, Dr. Wright and Dr. Daniels, because they're going to talk to us about Martin Luther King's legacy and what he actually fought for. And you compare that to what was what Democrats would love to see taught in the classroom. And it's two very different value sets and lessons in history.
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John Solomon
Part of that insanity in that decade was going back to the notion that your skin color determined what sort of person you're going to be, oppressor or oppressed. And of course, that corrupted a couple of generations. And so to create a lot of this strife that we see on the streets today because we bore that sense of conflict. But on this Martin Luther King Day, there are people going back to the true preachings of Martin Luther King. We're going to get to all that. But first, we had a great opening guest today. All right, folks, we've been talking a lot about all the things that have been allowed to go on the waste, fraud and abuse category for so long in America. They're getting cleaned up one after the other. One of those areas, student visas, letting foreign foreigners into this country who had dangerous intentions, maybe fraudulent intentions, bad sentiments that they brought into this country. We're not going to take it anymore. At least that if the new law introduced in Congress by Texas Congressman Brandon Gill becomes law. Joining us now to discuss that and a whole lot more, a great congressman from the state of Texas, Brandon Gill. Sir, good to have you back on the show.
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Congressman Brandon Gill
Yeah, thanks for having me.
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John Solomon
All right. This is an item that I think has been on a lot of people's radar. No one really stepped into the void until you introduce this legislation. We've had students who've come here, lodged protests, defrauded our country, brought pathogens in that could kill crops or people. You're cracking down. Tell us what your bill does.
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Congressman Brandon Gill
Yes. What we're focused on is the roughly 50,000 students every single year who come in on a student visa and then overstay their student visa and stay in the United States when they, when they shouldn't be, whenever the they're not here for the purpose they were originally allowed to come into the United States for so what this bill does is we're ensuring that, first of all, we're not having students from hostile regimes, think of countries like China come into the United States and study sensitive programs, things like nuclear engineering or aviation programs. I don't think that it makes sense to allow students from adversarial nations to come in and study things that could very easily be used militarily against the United States. But we also crack down on those visa overstays, puts in a process of ensuring that students show up in person to their interviews to make sure that they're still studying the thing that they came here to study and that they're still in the same program. And it cracks down on students coming in and changing programs or changing schools that go beyond what they originally, again, intended to do.
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Amanda Head
Well, and Congressman, this is another America first agenda being applied through you in Congress because this, I mean, that's 50,000 at least, American students who might have a shot at getting in to some of these universities.
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Congressman Brandon Gill
Now, you know, I hear from my constituents all the time and you hear them talk about, well, my child was trying to get into X, Y and Z program at a school, and we couldn't. And then we looked at it and we saw that that program that they couldn't get into was filled with foreigners. I mean, that is an absolute travesty. We ought to be putting our people, our students first, before any foreigner coming into the United States. I mean, we represent the American people, and American institutions should be serving the American people and serving our national interests. And that's not happening whenever you see foreigners taking the spots. Very, very well qualified, by the way, American students and certainly I don't think that serves the American interest whenever they're studying things that are going to be used against us. So that's what we're looking to crack down on. And you know, we have a lot of problems in multiple visa categories with people coming into the United States overstaying their visas, doing things they weren't actually intended to do in the United States. And that's what this helps crack down on. I mean, we ought to be looking out for the American people and not for foreigners. That's not our job. And we're going to put an end.
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John Solomon
To this important and common sense stuff going on. I want to talk a little bit about some of the other things that Congress got done for years. I would see the same report come out every year by the GAO and the inspector generals. X amount of billions of dollars paid to dead people who were on the rolls. And didn't get removed. The legislation passed last week by Congress for the first time puts a real and common sense fix in to protect the American taxpayer.
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Congressman Brandon Gill
Yeah, listen, we've been doing a lot of work on waste, fraud and abuse this entire year. I serve on the House Doge subcommittee. And what we've been doing is identifying whether it's NPR and left wing media that our tax dollars used to be paying for or the NGO industrial complex that's being that's weaponizing our tax dollars to promote weird woke ideologies that most Americans find repugnant. We're looking for the areas in particular where you see the most egregious waste. And the Somali fraud, which is something we've been working on quite a bit, is one area in particular. We had a hearing just last week where we had some Democrats who tried to defend the fraud say that it either wasn't happening, it wasn't happening on the scale that we all know it was, which we think is about $9 billion, or that maybe it's not as bad as what we're saying. And none of that's true. So we've got a lot more work to do. But we've been really digging in on this. I mean, we're running a $2 trillion annual deficit right now. The GAO estimates that fraud could be as high as $500 billion. You're talking about about a quarter of the deficit could be from fraud or other types of improper payments. So I think we're just scratching the surface here. And again, there's a lot more work to do and that's going to be our task for probably several years now.
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Amanda Head
Incredible. When you look at cases like Minnesota, it's a blue state, and then you've got Minneapolis, which is a blue city. And it's very clear that there were relationships with Democrat and leftist organizations. So that's what allowed this to percolate so much in that state and in that city. But when it comes to red states, blue cities, like Texas, for instance, with Austin or, or other red states, will blue cities. Do you think that there can be instances of fraud on this scale in those cities or would it be a little bit to a lesser degree because you don't have the whole state that's involved?
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Congressman Brandon Gill
You know, there absolutely could be fraud. And whether it's a red state or a blue state, I think we ought to be looking at them. You know, I can tell you that Texas runs their programs a whole lot better than Minnesota does. You know, one of the problems with Minnesota, just to Use that as an example is you had programs, whether it's the daycare centers or the autism centers or different health care programs that were administered by the state but funded by the federal government, which creates a pretty poor incentive structure for the state to carry out those programs efficiently. So you had state officials just like Governor Waltz, who knew that these programs were being defrauded and knew it was to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and willingly looked away because they didn't want to do anything that would step on the toes of the Somali community, which was a major voting bloc and has been for Democrats. I mean, what we learned in the hearing last week was that Tim Waltz has known about this fraud since he got into office, so for over a decade now, and did virtually nothing to stop it. Again, it's using the American tax dollars to essentially buy off votes. You know, I think that there is fraud in red states as well. I would imagine it's not quite as large and egregious, but we ought to be going after this wherever it is, whether it's Medicaid, Medicare, other social programs that the states are administering, or blue cities in red states, just like you mentioned, Austin is one that we ought to be looking at who in many cases may be using state dollars or federal dollars and programs that are administered by the city. And these are things that we. We ought to be diving in pretty deep in.
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John Solomon
You mentioned that extraordinary testimony from the Minnesota legislators. We understand from Tom Emmer, the number three House Republican, that those whistleblowers that the state legislators are referring to now cooperating with Congress in the federal investigation. If it is shown that Tim Waltz knew that fraud was going on and turned a blind eye, should the United States Justice Department charge him criminally?
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Congressman Brandon Gill
They absolutely should. I think what we need to know is what exactly did Tim Waltz. Now, we knew he had a pretty good idea because this had been well reported on. But what was put in front of his desk, what emails were sent to Tim Waltz, what did he respond to, what exactly did he know for 100% and then deliberately mislead the American public about. And I think that if he is guilty, if we can find, especially if we can find a paper trail, and I imagine it exists, he should be prosecuted. I mean, elected officials have an obligation to taxpayers, to the people that they represent, to ensure that whenever we pay our taxes every April, that that money is being used efficiently, that it's being used effectively, and that it's not going to. To massive criminal fraud rings run by foreigners in the United States who refuse to assimilate into our culture. So I think that yes, absolutely, he ought to be prosecuted if he's found guilty here.
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Amanda Head
Speaking of those who don't want to assimilate, I know that you recently joined the Sharia Free America Caucus. Very important work to be done. How do you make sure that Sharia does not enter our, our country and plant here?
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Congressman Brandon Gill
Well, I think the issue with Sharia and mass Islamic migration is at core, it's an issue of immigration more than anything else. You know, we ought to have an immigration system that determines who do we believe would be good in the United States, who do we believe would be self sufficient, would assimilate into our culture, would become productive members of American society to keep producing all the things that make America great, that would heap keep our cultural foundation strong. And what we're seeing with, especially with mass Islamic migration is that's not what's happening. I mean, I hear from my constituents all the time who are really worried about the massive surge in mosques that are popping up all over Texas, particularly in the Dallas area. I have constituents who are telling me that they've lived on ranch land or farmland for decades or their family has for decades, and now there's a mosque that's popping up and they don't want to be woken up by an Islamic call to prayer at 5am every morning. The reality is that there are certain political ideologies that are fundamentally unassimilable into the United States that are incompatible with our constitutional framework. And Islam as a political ideology is one of them. Islamic ideology has a very different conception of freedom of speech than we do in the United States. It has a very different conception of freedom of religion or the separation of mosque and state than we do in the United States. And those are not compatible. And we ought to have an immigration system that recognizes that these ideologies are incompatible and simply says if you adhere to these, to these worldviews, you are not welcome in the United States. You cannot immigrate into the United States. And if we don't do that, we're going to continue to have problems with a growing domestic Islamic terrorism that I think most Americans find not only abhorrent, but terrifying.
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John Solomon
Yeah, no doubt about it, Congressman. So many big things you're working on, so many common sensing. I think when people look at the work of the Congress the last few months, there's just common sense, things that were long neglected now getting done. I know you're on the front line of that. Thanks for joining us. Say great to have you on the show.
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Congressman Brandon Gill
Thanks for having me.
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John Solomon
Yeah. What a great interview. What a just really plain spoken great, right to the center of the issue sort of stuff that Brandon Gill is doing these days, guys. All right. We're going to take a quick commercial break. We have a lot more for you ahead right after these messages. Hey, America. The FBI has been warning about a type of real estate fraud on the rise called home title theft. And your equity is the target. Here's how it works. Criminals forge your signature on a single document, use a fake notary stamp and file it with the county. And just like that, boom, they're on record as owning your home using your ownership. They then take out loans against your equity or even sell your property. And you're not going to know about it until you get a foreclosure or collection notice in the mail. And that's not going to be a good moment. That's why I partnered with Home Title Lock so you can protect your equity. And find out today if you're already a victim, use my promo code jtn@hometitlelock.com you'll get a free title history report and a free trial. Their million dollar triple lock protection, that's a great deal. A million bucks to protect your home. That's 24,7 monitoring of your title records, urgent alerts to any changes. And if fraud occurs, their US Based restoration team will spend up to a million bucks to fix it. Find out why I trust Home Teddleock. Protect yourself like I did. Don't be a victim. Protect your equity today. Go to hometitleock.com and use that promo code jtn. That's hometitlelock.com promo code jtn.
- [16:00]
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- [16:36]
John Solomon
Welcome back, America. We talk often on the show about health and health policy, particularly in the public space. We learned so much from COVID We're still learning from COVID So many extraordinary changes occurring now under the Trump administration, ones that Americans have been clamoring for for a long time. And I think that's going to build a lot of Trust in the public health establishment. Joining us now, the Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services and the head of the United States Public Health Services Commissioned Corps, one of the most important health bodies in America. He is Admiral Brian Christine. Admiral, great to have you on the show.
- [17:07]
Admiral Brian Christine
John. Amanda, thank you for letting me be here today. It's a real pleasure to be with you. It's a great opportunity. And as we start this out, I want to start by saying thank you to President Donald Trump and thank you to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Because it is their vision, it is their inspirational leadership that is changing this country, making us healthier, making us greater. And really, without them, we wouldn't have these new dietary guidelines.
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John Solomon
Yeah, these are historic. Everybody's talking about them. It literally is a flip of the pyramid. The science drove this. Tell us a little bit about the changes in the dietary guidelines and why they're going to make such a difference for Americans.
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Admiral Brian Christine
Yes, absolutely. So what you said is the science. You mentioned the word science. People need to understand that in this administration, under this Secretary for Health and Human Services, we are led by science. We believe in radical transparency and we are led by gold standard, gold level science. And that's what we've. The dietary guidelines changes that we've made really do flip the pyramid. Just as like you said, now, what we are emphasizing, we're emphasizing protein, protein from whole natural nutrient rinse nutrient dense sources, meat, fish, both plant and animal sources. Emphasizing the animal sources. We are remembering and we're understanding that saturated fat are necessary in our diet. They're not to be feared. And what we've done, we are moving away from those highly processed, sugary foods that really in the past was the base of the pyramid. The most common thing that we ate, you think growing up was maybe we'd have some sugary cereal for breakfast or maybe you'd have pancakes. Now, what we know is we emphasize protein, we emphasize healthy fats, we emphasize good carbohydrates, fresh fruits and vegetables, and we move away from the highly processed, sugary, fake food.
- [19:01]
Amanda Head
Amazing, Admiral. This is a complete 180 that is taking place under the Trump administration, but it's not new to them. There are other administrations who I know have recognized the value of protein and good fats and things like that. Why did it take so long for this to happen? You're there at hhs, you know the infrastructure there. Is it just too clunky and burdensome and difficult to wade through that to get it done? Why? Why did this administration become the one that got to do it.
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Admiral Brian Christine
Yeah, Amanda, great question. We know that there's certainly influence from big food, big agriculture in the past, so that the prior guidelines did emphasize things like these highly processed, sugary foods. But what we have now, we have our John the Baptist. We have our voice crying out in the wilderness. Secretary Kennedy saying, no, we have to make this country healthier. We have to move away from fake food. We have to move into these proteins that are really dense in nutrients and really strengthen our bodies. That's why the difference is occurring under Secretary Kennedy. We are moving in the right direction. These are the guidelines, as they should be. These are the kinds of food that our body has always been meant to eat. It's the best food for us. He's crying out from the wilderness. And we are enacting these guidelines under this president, this secretary. There is no doubt that our country is going to be healthier because of these guidelines.
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John Solomon
Yeah, it's a pretty remarkable moment. And the speed at which it happened, I think also is commendable. It happened so quickly. I was talking to someone the other day and they explained it. I thought it was in the most perfect layman's terms. This is a back to the future strategy. We're now going to eat like the way Grandma used to cook for us before the era of microwaves and processed food. It seems like for a decade or two or three or four decades, we traded the convenience of processed food for our health. And that this is the moment we ring the bell and say, nope, time to go back to Grandma's good old cook. And is that a good way of looking at how this pyramid flips, John?
- [20:58]
Admiral Brian Christine
I think it is. You made the point. We've traded health for convenience. Listen, we have to know and we have to make sure that we are giving our bodies the foods that we need. The foods like we've talked about, the proteins and the fresh vegetables and the healthy fats. You know, if people say, well, it's too expensive to eat that way, for instance, that's simply not true. Go out and look at the average price of a Big Mac in this country is 6, $7. What's the average price of a pound of ground beef is going to be around $5. And you can make many more patties. So, yes, convenience in the past moved us away from the food that we should be eating. If there's an argument that it's too expensive to eat healthily, that argument simply doesn't hold water. Absolutely. The way we're moving now under Secretary Kennedy is the right way. And it is. It is a seismic shift. It's funny, I was in the grocery store in the commissary, the military grocery store at Fort Myer, Virginia, this past weekend, and I was looking in the meat section, and there was a woman there, and we were talking about the meat. And she said, you know, I. There are these new dietary guidelines, and my husband and I are so excited for our kids. She didn't know who I was. She didn't know my role. But people are talking about this. People are happy about this. Parents, the young, the elderly. It crosses racial lines. It crosses philosophical lines. Everybody wants to be healthy. Everybody wants healthy food. That's what we've got in these guidelines.
- [22:22]
Dr. Matt Daniels
Yeah.
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John Solomon
Pretty exciting.
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Amanda Head
Well, Admiral, I am all for grabbing a sleeve of Ritz crackers, but the reality is, is that a bag of carrots is cheaper, and it's just as easy to grab carrot out of the fridge. But the secretary said something last week in the press briefing room. He said, you know, you might think that it's cheaper, but you're going to pay on the back end. Meaning that if I eat a sleeve of Ritz crackers and that becomes the norm for me, then there are all sorts of health issues that I'm going to end up paying for 10, 20, 30 years down the line. So even if it seems cheaper up front, you're still going to pay for it.
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Admiral Brian Christine
Amanda, that is a great point. Thank you for bringing that up. Yes, it may seem cheaper to grab that sleeve of rich crackers or to go buy that Quarter Pounder with cheese, but it's not because our country pays collectively for the chronic disease epidemic that we have been discussing at the Department of Health of Human Services. Now, since Secretary Kennedy was moved into his position, we've been talking about chronic disease, obesity, heart disease. We know that these chronic diseases, this epidemic of chronic diseases is fueled by poor dietary guidance from the past. It certainly plays a role. So you're right. It may seem cheaper on the front end, but it's absolutely not. We know that preaching the gospel of healthy food. We are preaching the gospel of a healthier America.
- [23:41]
John Solomon
Admiral, going along with that, we got. We took convenience over health. I think we also took a more sedentary lifestyle and away from moving. People need to get moving more. I know there's a lot of other exciting things that Secretary Kennedy and you have on the public health agenda. What can we see coming over the horizon to get America fit and eating well again?
- [24:02]
Admiral Brian Christine
Well, I'm glad you brought that up, and I'm glad that you brought up the fact that I do lead the Commission Corps of the Public Health Service. These are 5,500 physicians, nurses, therapists who we take commission from the President. We wear this uniform proudly. We are the tip of the spear for public health care in the United States. And in the Commission Corps, we have launched Mission Fit, U.S. public Health Service Mission Fit, where I'm challenging my officers to get out, to do more, to do physical therapy. Together, we are going to mirror the other uniformed services. We are physically ready. We are mentally ready. We are going to be working together as a team. Secretary Kennedy preaches that gospel as well. He talks about it. He lives that lifestyle. That's what we're doing in the Corps. That's what we want the whole country to do. We want our kids, all age groups, get out there, get out in the sunshine, get out in the fresh air, be fit and eat healthy food.
- [24:55]
Congressman Brandon Gill
Yeah.
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John Solomon
This is one of the few health things we hope, health movements we hope is contagious. More fitness and better eating is going to make America a lot healthier. Admiral, thank you for your service to your country. Thank you for the innovation that you brought to public health. It's a great honor to have you show today. Thanks for joining us.
- [25:10]
Admiral Brian Christine
It is such a pleasure. John and Amanda, thank you for this. And I will tell you, this is a new time. There is no greater example of how our administration now is different than the last administration. I sit before you as the Assistant Secretary for Health, a man in a man's uniform, truly committed to health because I'm inspired by the president and inspired by Secretary Kennedy.
- [25:33]
John Solomon
That's pretty darn awesome. Pretty cool. And we're grateful for that service. Sir, thank you so much for joining us. What a great conversation. All right, folks, a lot to think about there. We're going to take a quick commercial break. More ahead right after these messages.
- [25:48]
Grainger Commercial Announcer
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- [26:24]
John Solomon
Welcome back, America, and welcome to this Martin Luther King Day holiday special. It was on his end during his famous speech at the mall In Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. King spoke about a time when he hoped America would look beyond the color of one's skin. A colorblind society said we just focused on merit and what was in our heart, what made us good intentioned people. For a long time that was moving in a direction, but in the last decade or two, that notion has dropped out of academics. The idea of DEI and going back to race as whether you're an oppressor or not oppressor has seeped back into a lot of places in America. Our next guests are trying to get the true intention of Dr. King's speech and his lurk back in school. Joining us now, distinguished university professor of law, Political science and human rights at Anderson University, Dr. Matt Daniels, and the President and CEO of Urban Ministries, America's largest African American church publisher, Dr. Jeff Wright. Gentlemen, welcome. Glad to have you on the show.
- [27:23]
Admiral Brian Christine
Thank you.
- [27:24]
Dr. Jeff Wright
Thank you.
- [27:26]
John Solomon
All right, this is an exciting idea and I think on this day particularly it seems so prudent to talk about it. Matt, let me start with you. I think in the past couple decades, some of the teachings of MLK and his philosophy sort of got either edited or changed a little bit in the conversation. Academia, tell us a little bit about that.
- [27:48]
Dr. Matt Daniels
You know, a simple way to think about it is we can choose as a country to focus on our differences or we can choose to focus on what we have in common. So there are plenty of ideologies that want to focus on and accentuate our differences, including race, but there are others. Or we can focus on what Dr. King focused on and the founders of our nation and that's our common human dignity. And we can try to build a society that respects and honors and protects the dignity of all people.
- [28:22]
John Solomon
I love it.
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Amanda Head
Dr. Wright, I want to ask you, John mentioned at the top, DEI measures that have seeped into education and what goes hand in hand with dei. DEI is victim and oppressor. What does it do to a society or, or a population when you make people feel like victims? What, what kind of effect does that have on a society?
- [28:43]
Dr. Jeff Wright
Well, it's a great question. I mean, there are some people who actually are victims and then there is the use of victim and victim language for other purposes. And one of the things I think is just compelling and is clear. I mean, we understand the history of the country. We know in fact that these are multi generational impacts. But you know, obviously there's a whole substructure that has emerged to use victimhood as a way of getting economic benefits or Other types of privileges. I think that that distinction has been muddied, of course, tremendously in the left right polarization that characterizes so much of the dialogue. And it is really, really important to understand that. I mean, I know very few people viewing themselves as victims. That people do want to see justice and understanding of our history. And those are the things that I think Dr. King clearly stood for. And it wasn't so much a matter of what kind of personal things that have happened to me or somebody else, but what kind of society that we want to be. And that's one that is rooted in justice and the kind of courage that brings spiritual and mentally active resistance to the things that would upset justice.
- [29:58]
John Solomon
Yeah, it's an exciting thing. A lot of times in Washington we are good at analyzing a problem and then we never develop a solution. But you gentlemen have created something really remarkable. A new curriculum. Tell us about it and what it achieves, aims to do.
- [30:13]
Dr. Matt Daniels
Well, John, my entry to this was doing counterterrorism work actually in D.C. for about 10 years and working abroad. Everywhere I go, the logic of darkness is the same. It's what I call the three Ds deep. Demonize, dehumanize, destroy. You can do this with race, you can do it with social class. Marxists and fascists do it. You can do it with religion. ISIS and Al Qaeda do it. And in Rwanda, they did it with tribal differences. Demonize, dehumanize, destroy. And from now until the end of history, the only cure for the 3D's is the 1D of the dignity of all people. If you can get that into someone's heart and mind before they've been reached by the three Ds, you can substantially reduce the ability of these ideologies to weaponize them and to turn them to violence. That's a strategy we've used overseas effectively for quite some time. And I realized that we needed to also deploy it here at home in the form of an educational initiative that would celebrate the dignity of all people. And I thought that there was no better place to go than the work of Dr. King for teaching that to a new generation.
- [31:24]
Amanda Head
Dr. Wright, our founders described what they wanted to see in this country as a more perfect union. Obviously understanding that you no nation is going to be perfect, no matter how far along the road of progress that they are. I know that this curriculum places a special emphasis on having your voice heard, but doing it in a non violent way. Is that something that you think really, really needs to be impressed upon young people? As we see what's happening in the news right now.
- [31:50]
Jeffrey Steele
Yeah.
- [31:50]
Dr. Jeff Wright
You know, nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It's active, you know, spiritually and mentally aggressive. Resistance to evil is a requirement. Especially today, we have a generation that wants to escape from violent reactions. It's a matter of a core understanding of who we are as a people, one people from many groups. And so Dr. King was very clear about that. And in all of the work that he did, making certain that people understood that a part of nonviolent resistance, not reacting and responding, even when the most aggressive kinds of hatred were unleashed on them, even and often by people in authority. Think of police dogs at children's marches and other things. It requires a certain conviction to be able to understand that, you know, the arc of the moral universe is with those who are being attacked. And non violent responses are just crazy. I was a core part of King's teaching. Seeking friendship and understanding and not necessarily revenge and fighting back.
- [32:55]
John Solomon
So important. All right, so we have parents out there, we got educators, We've got policymakers all watching today. How do people plug into this new curriculum and bring it to a new generation of young students in America?
- [33:09]
Dr. Matt Daniels
Well, we have a K12 curricula published by McGraw Hill that's available in a number of states. One place to start, we have resources for the faith community. Those are also available through HarperCollins. We have a corporate training curriculum that will be launching this year. And at my current school, Anderson University, we are starting a higher education program to actively try to train a new generation of ambassadors for these principles. Let's remember this debate is not new. There were many critics of Dr. King even within the black community in the 60s, but history has proven him to have been right. 50 years of social science research have confirmed that nonviolence is the only way to advance justice in a democratic society. And violence just leads to more violence and more misery.
- [34:04]
John Solomon
Important words to learn and live by and to educate by. Dr. Daniels. Dr. Wright, what a great conversation. What a great idea. A lot of people have been buzzing about this. I'm so honored to have you on the show today. Thanks for spending some time with us and explaining it all.
- [34:18]
Dr. Matt Daniels
Thank you.
- [34:19]
John Solomon
Yeah, What a great idea. All right, folks, we're gonna take a quick commercial break. When we come back, a little music. Yeah, we're gonna go a little culture today. We've got hall of fame singer and songwriter Jeffrey Steele. He's written for every major artist you can name. He's got a new song, and he's performing, performing it himself. He's going to debut it here right after these messages.
- [34:40]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
I wish I had a voice I would raise it now for all the silent ones no one seems to care about Speak for all of us and crank the volleys him up and let the simple truth cut through the noise.
- [35:06]
Jeffrey Steele
I wish I had a voice.
- [35:12]
Amanda Head
Welcome back, everybody. Man. What you just heard was part of the new single titled a voice by the hall of fame singer and songwriter of hits such as Rascal Flats, what hurts the most, Tim McGraw's the Cowboy and me and many, many more. His name is Jeffrey Steele and he is here with us now. Jeffrey, it's not often that we have someone from the entertainment industry who is at the very top of their field, but that is certainly you. Thanks so much for joining us tonight.
- [35:38]
Jeffrey Steele
It honestly, it is such an honor. And yeah, and I'm just one of the few kind of behind the scenes guy. A lot of people in the industry that want to kind of say things to the world are kind of being squished a little bit. So as a guy who's behind the scenes, who's not responsible, you know, I can go out there now and do it, which is pretty fun for me. You know, I'm like, I'll say it. Let's go. So here I am.
- [36:03]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. And what a voice that is. Tell us about your inspiration behind this song.
- [36:09]
Jeffrey Steele
Well, it started off as just a regular. You know, I write every day. It's what I do. Produce records, write songs. And so I get a call from a friend of mine, Chris Wallen, and he wants to get together and write a song with an artist which can go a million different ways. It can be bad, it can be great. And so I'm just sitting there at my piano trying to. To think about what this artist needs. And this artist that we were writing with, that guy by the name of Colin Ray, has a great voice. So my first instinct was, man, this guy has a great voice. He's got a great voice. And. And then I went, wait a minute, Voice. What a great title for a song. And I started playing a melody and just started. The chorus just fell out. And then it. Then I realized, wow, voice. So many things I can say about the world right now. People feel like they're not spoken for. I feel like I'm not spoken for. I feel like everybody has one, but they don't get a chance to use it. And I feel there's a lot of people that aren' being spoken up for.
- [37:01]
Congressman Brandon Gill
So.
- [37:01]
Jeffrey Steele
So when I got into that frame of mind as A songwriter. I mean, it was like 30 minutes we knocked it out and we just sat there looking at each other go, whoa, what did we just do? You know, so that's how we got there, you know. Yeah, 30 minutes doesn't always happen like that.
- [37:17]
John Solomon
I was going to say that's a rarity. I wish I could do a story in 30 minutes. That's pretty impressive.
- [37:22]
Admiral Brian Christine
It is.
- [37:23]
John Solomon
The first time I heard it, Jeffrey, I started to think about myself as an early young reporter during the Reagan years. And the Reagan people would say there's a silent majority out there and they're with the common sense patriotism of America, but they don't always get a voice. And I kept hearing that play through my head as a young reporter as you were singing this song and then you do this video. And I think the video is another masterpiece on top of the song. Tell us the inspiration for the video and the people in the video.
- [37:50]
Jeffrey Steele
Well, we, at first, you know, a bunch of people that were surrounding me, telling me to do this said, man, we gotta call a casting cut and you know, we can hire some really great looking faces that have really good angles and you know, and, and I said, well, wait a minute. I, I, I've got people in the last 20 years of my life that I've come across that have changed my life, that have set me on a different path and they're, they're absolute heroes and I've become friends with them and I play their charities and I hang out with them, eat dinner with them. They're my friends. And, and I said, let's get them in the video. And they might not be the right. I said, no, I think they will be. And, and so what we did, John, we, we also did a document and with each one of the characters in the video telling the story of how I met them through what they went through. And we have, you know, we have like a Sergeant Mario Lopez who was blown up by a 300 pound IED in Afghanistan on his second mission. Blew his arm off and his hand off and part of his face off and people like that, you know what I mean? Real people that aren't spoken for. And the more I just kept looking at this thing, the more it just kept becoming, wow, man, nobody has a voice anymore. Like, everything's going so crazy right now. And I just want to say to you guys, we've been watching you forever and I'm not giving you any credit for this. You're not going to make any money off it. But you, honest to God, you all, if it's not for people that are trying to tell the truth and put the truth out there, guys like me who my job is to document what I see, I can't do it. They have no platform to do it on because nobody wants to put it in the normal music business formats anymore. They're afraid of it. So I'm just really appreciative of that. But that's how the story came to be with all the characters in the video. And it's powerful. I mean, it's powerful.
- [39:47]
John Solomon
It is powerful.
- [39:48]
Amanda Head
Jeffrey, I want to ask you to peel back the curtain a little, because your discography is extremely diverse. You've got everything from the country folks that we mentioned, Lynyrd skynyrd, Trace, Ashley Atkins, 38 Special, all the way to Cascada, which, during my fun days in Hollywood, Cascada was a staple on my playlist. But you've got this really interesting background with these singers. When it comes to the relationship between you and these artists, that's. It's a very delicate symbiosis between writer, producer, absolutely. Artist. Who were some of your favorite people to work with. Where you found that balance was just perfect.
- [40:25]
Jeffrey Steele
Oh, my gosh. Well, first off, Aaron Lewis was great recently with Am I the Only One when we wrote that song. But going back to the old days, like when. When Miley Cyrus, you know, I grew up with Billy Ray Cyrus in the music business, and we just been lifelong friends. And so I've known the family my whole life and all of our kids and all their kids. And so when she came out of Hannah Montana, they brought me in to write all the songs for her first album and for the animated movie Bolt and. And she was an amazing. And is an amazing songwriter. She's very, very, very talented. But. But what I have to do. And it's ZZ Top wrote with ZZ Top, and that was amazing. Leonard Skynyrd in the room with six guys trying to write a song. Amazing, but not necessarily fun, but amazing, you know, to be in the history of that. I've been around a lot of history, from Scott Weiland and STP and the Velvet Revolver, you know, all the way to Tim McGraw and. But I've always been one of these guys. I'm the youngest of five kids. I was surrounded by all this music from the 60s and 70s, and I was this young kid who just couldn't stop and turn it off. And so when I got to Nashville, they could never figure out, as an artist, where to put me. And so I Just kind of drifted behind the scenes as this guy that developed and produced and wrote for other people because I could see things musically. I can't explain it, but I could see where people were trying to get to with their sounds and their lyric ideas. So the trick for me was how to keep the integrity of what I wanted to write and infuse it into their music so they could say what they wanted to say. That was always the trick of that. As a. As a songwriter. That's a very. It's a tightrope for sure.
- [42:06]
Amanda Head
Do you know who Cascade is?
- [42:07]
John Solomon
I don't know who Cascade is. Sorry. Throw any questions at me. I'm good. By the way, am I? The Only One is my anthem when I'm in a mood. I put that in the car. I. I just feel so good. You and Aaron killed that. It's such an amazing.
- [42:20]
Amanda Head
See, you're rocking the Stone Temple Pilots like he mentioned.
- [42:22]
John Solomon
Yes, that's.
- [42:24]
Jeffrey Steele
And John, we're here because, you know, like we could, you know, we couldn't get that song played with Aaron. We couldn't get it played through the normal channel. Then it was, it was. It was people like you and all the social medias that gave us a. Became the new record company for us that. That gave us an opportunity to.
- [42:42]
John Solomon
I love it.
- [42:43]
Jeffrey Steele
To say what we wanted to say. We're literally getting shut down between 2020 and in 2024 and. Yeah, but somebody had to say it. And I knew that I didn't have a bunch of employees and buses and you know, I was behind the scenes. So all these writers that are going down the road that are singers that felt this way, they couldn't say it because they were going to get canceled. So I knew that I could say it for other people. And then it just got to a point where I just. I just felt a calling from God. I swear that when I wrote the song, he goes, this is you. This is your voice. You've kept quiet for 40 years. You know, I had an episode in the 90s where I lost my voice and had to retrain and learn how to sing again. That's what made me a songwriter. So I've had this incredible journey where this, this, this metaphor of this song is just a metaphor for not only me but everybody that's in the video. And I think everybody in America right now just doesn't feel spoken for. I really feel that you've done it.
- [43:37]
John Solomon
For us and you've done it so many times. I mean, you're a seven time Grammy Award Winning singer, songwriter.
- [43:43]
Jeffrey Steele
You.
- [43:43]
John Solomon
You've written for anyone that has ever sold a big album. I mean, it's just amazing. What made you decide? This is the song I want to go. I'm gonna do. It's me. I'm singing this one.
- [43:54]
Jeffrey Steele
Okay. This is great because I wrote it and I played it, and I literally did not even know the song. I was scrolling the lyrics off my phone on a chair while I was singing it, and the crowd got on their feet, and John Rich. I was with John Rich. And John goes. He goes, jeff, you gotta. You gotta put this out. You don't need another hit song on another artist. You go put this out yourself. Said, man, I'm too old for that. I'm not John. I mean, come on. He goes, no, you gotta do it. So he kind of pushed me. He kind of pushed me, to put it mildly. And that was really the catalyst for me. And then my kids. My kids were all telling me, dad, put it out, Put it out. So good. I'm putting it out. I didn't have any intentions of doing this, if you asked me six months ago, you know, before I wrote the song. But I'm here, and I just feel like, like I said, a lot of artists feel the same way, but they're afraid to speak up. And I get. I get why they are. And I'm not. I'm not. I love my country, and I feel like it's going away, and I'm gonna do anything I can. And. And, you know, my. My career is based on Francis Scott Key, the Star Twangle banner, greatest, greatest country song ever written, Right?
- [45:10]
John Solomon
That's right.
- [45:11]
Jeffrey Steele
And if we don't have free speech, and this is just me getting on a soapbox for a second, but if we don't have free speech, especially as songwriters, man, we're nothing. We have nothing in this country. We can't say what we want and let people hear it. We're in big trouble. And here I am, so I didn't need to be here.
- [45:35]
Amanda Head
So glad you are here. Happy to be here, Jeffrey. Stick around.
- [45:38]
Congressman Brandon Gill
Yes.
- [45:38]
Amanda Head
We're going to be talking to you a little bit more after this conversation. Commercial break. But we are delighted you're here. Everybody. Stick around.
- [46:02]
John Solomon
Welcome back, America.
- [46:03]
Jeffrey Steele
Hey.
- [46:03]
John Solomon
A couple times on this show, we've launched some pretty cool songs. John Rich has been here a few times, and you, our incredible audience, have taken these songs to number one. We want to do it again. We're with hall of fame singer songwriter Jeffrey Steele. His new single, I know it's Going to go viral. A voice. You're going to get to listen to it here first. And my only ask of you tonight, go download this song after the show. Let's bring him to number one for all the courage, all the greatness he has put into songs. Jeffrey, before we have you start playing, how do people get the song just.
- [46:34]
Jeffrey Steele
By all the usual links. There's a pre save link and then there'll be a link just out that goes to Spotify, itunes, all the usual social media, you know, and streaming services. I would recommend you go to itunes, though, because then we make the charts.
- [46:53]
John Solomon
That's what we're gonna do. Everybody. Itunes, that's where I download my music. Let's go download it tonight. Let's bring this to number one. Jeffrey, you are an extraordinary American treasure. Your courage, your voice, your writing are an amazing thing. And we're just so grateful you debuting your song here tonight. We're going to go out on the show with this great song, the voice. Take us away.
- [47:13]
Jeffrey Steele
Thank you. I'm the soul soldier.
- [47:32]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
I fought and died for you gave up my life.
- [47:36]
Jeffrey Steele
To give you the right to live the life you choose I'm the farmer.
- [47:45]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
Out here dying on the vine trying to feed your family.
- [47:53]
Jeffrey Steele
Barely feeding my.
- [47:54]
Admiral Brian Christine
Mind.
- [47:57]
Jeffrey Steele
I swear to God sometimes I.
- [48:01]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
Wish I had a voice I would raise it now for all the sad ones no one seems to care about speak for all of us and crank the value of the simple truth cut through the nose.
- [48:27]
Jeffrey Steele
I wish I had a voice.
- [48:33]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
I'm the hero frontline nurse I give it all I got they praise me till the day I smoke.
- [48:44]
Jeffrey Steele
My mind and lost my job here can't reach the cops.
- [48:50]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
Proud to wear this badge but it's hard to put.
- [48:55]
Jeffrey Steele
Bad guys away with my hands behind.
- [48:59]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
My back.
- [49:02]
Jeffrey Steele
I wonder what my dad.
- [49:03]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
Would think of that yeah, yeah, yeah I wish I had a voice I would reason now silent no one seems to care about speak for all of us crack the volume of let the simple truth cut through the noise I wish I had a. Here's the truck they're phasing out She's a housewife but you can't say that now I'm the laid off factory worker whose factory's chat abound we're the coal miners, the firefighters the charlie kirk choir all light and our lighters finally waking up yeah, we had enough of a liars setting the world on fire.
- [50:13]
Jeffrey Steele
Where the children.
- [50:18]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
Crying out for help A.
- [50:21]
Jeffrey Steele
Million miles away from home can't speak for ourselves.
- [50:30]
Jeffrey Steele (singing)
Will you be our voice? Will you raise it now for all the silent one. No one seems to care about it. Speak for all of us and crank the volume up and let the simple truth cut through the noise. Will you be? Yes, I'll be. I will be. Your voice. Your voice.
- [51:36]
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- [52:05]
Jeffrey Steele
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.