Ep 1169 | You Need to Calm Down (About Tariffs) | Guest: Ron Simmons

Summary

Podcast Title: Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Host/Author: Blaze Podcast Network
Episode: Ep 1169 | You Need to Calm Down (About Tariffs) | Guest: Ron Simmons
Release Date: April 9, 2025

---

Introduction to American Girl’s Cultural Shift

In this episode of Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey, Allie delves into a topic close to her heart: the recent cultural shifts within the American Girl brand. As a devoted girl mom and long-time admirer of American Girl, Allie expresses her concerns over the brand's progressive pivot away from its original, more conservative values.

Nostalgia and Concern: Allie reminisces about her childhood with American Girl dolls, highlighting how the brand once emphasized virtues, appropriate confidence, and the unique value of being a girl. "I remember their lives, I remember their stories and all of their different personality traits because they just kind of left an indelible mark on my young, impressionable mind" (00:30).

Promotion of Diverse Holidays: Allie critiques American Girl’s recent introduction of dolls celebrating a variety of cultural and religious holidays, specifically pointing out the inclusion of an Eid al-Fitr outfit. She questions the brand’s decision to promote Islam alongside other holidays without giving equal representation to Christianity. "I simply find that strange... if you realize that America, this is American Girl, is actually a country with a Christian, or some would say Judeo Christian foundation... Islam as now a very formidable part of American society, it is actually okay. I just want to give you permission in case you needed it" (06:38).

Lack of Christian Representation: Allie notes the absence of explicit Christian symbols in American Girl’s holiday collections. While other religions’ symbols like the Star of David and Islamic motifs are prominently featured, Christian symbols such as crosses and nativity scenes are either minimized or relegated to the bottom of the cultural celebrations page. "But at least I have not seen any crosses, any mangers, any nativities for these Christian holidays" (31:00).

Introduction of Progressive Dolls: She highlights the brand’s expansion to include boy dolls, LGBTQ+ representations, and dolls with social justice causes, which she perceives as a departure from the brand's original mission. "In 2021 of the year was a doll named Kira Bailey... The same year AG released a street chic collection of dolls with blue and purple hair" (26:15).

Alternative Options: Allie advocates for alternatives like Faith Friends dolls, which uphold Christian values and provide a more aligned choice for parents seeking biblically grounded toys for their children. "They are a Christian alternative... get it. That's part of what sharing the arrows is as believers" (29:45).

Conversation with Ron Simmons on Tariffs and the Economy

Transitioning from cultural discussions, Allie engages in a thoughtful conversation with her father, Ron Simmons, regarding the escalating tariff war and its implications for the U.S. economy.

Current Tariff Situation: Allie outlines the recent developments in the U.S.-China tariff conflict. "After China threatened to impose an additional 34% tariff on American goods, Trump added an additional 50% to their existing tariffs, bringing the total tariff against China to 104% (31:45)." She also mentions China's retaliation with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods and the European Union's potential countermeasures.

Economic Impact and Market Reactions: Ron emphasizes the importance of a long-term perspective on stock market investments, advising listeners to avoid making hasty decisions based on short-term market volatility. "If you have money that you need to use within the next 12 months, that money should never be in the stock market" (31:50).

Fairness and Reciprocity: Ron concurs with Trump’s strategy, highlighting the need for reciprocal trade measures to level the playing field with China. "President Trump is not saying, hey, you charge us 2%, so we're going to charge you 20%. That's not what he's saying... What we're looking for is kind of tit for tat that 2% versus 2%, 10% versus 10%" (37:18).

Positive Long-Term Outlook: Despite the immediate concerns, Ron remains optimistic about the long-term benefits of the tariff war. He believes that these measures will ultimately strengthen the U.S. economy by encouraging domestic manufacturing and reducing the trade deficit. "I believe that this is something that we're witnessing that I think in the long term will benefit your kids, my grandkids and their kids and kids of theirs for generations to come" (47:58).

Impact on Consumer Prices: When addressing fears of rising consumer prices due to tariffs, Ron reassures listeners that significant price hikes are unlikely for everyday items. "I just do not see it happening. It hasn't happened yet... I do not see it increasing prices at home on the things that you and I buy every day" (48:34).

Advice on Housing and Interest Rates: The discussion also touches on housing market concerns amidst fluctuating interest rates. Ron advises focusing on long-term investment and cautions against adjustable-rate mortgages, suggesting fixed-rate options instead. "I would never buy an adjustable rate mortgage. I would only buy fixed mortgage and I would try to do it on 15 years if you can" (49:42).

Population Growth and Immigration: Allie raises concerns about the intersection of tariffs, housing prices, and immigration, suggesting that stricter immigration controls could alleviate some economic pressures. Ron acknowledges the complexity of the issue, noting the delicate balance between individual liberties and economic impacts. "If someone's here legally and they want to have their parents live with them or whatever the scenario is, I mean, that's just... that's their freedom" (54:15).

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Allie expressing gratitude for her father’s insights, reassuring listeners to remain calm and informed amidst economic uncertainties. "You need to abandon American girls... As far as, as grocery store items and things like that, I don't see there being a big change in those" (49:04). Allie encourages her audience to stay connected and informed, promising more in-depth discussions in future episodes.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Allie Beth Stuckey (00:30):
  "I remember their lives, I remember their stories and all of their different personality traits because they just kind of left an indelible mark on my young, impressionable mind."

• Allie Beth Stuckey (06:38):
  "I simply find that strange... if you realize that America, this is American Girl, is actually a country with a Christian, or some would say Judeo Christian foundation... Islam as now a very formidable part of American society, it is actually okay."

• Ron Simmons (37:18):
  "President Trump is not saying, hey, you charge us 2%, so we're going to charge you 20%. That's not what he's saying... What we're looking for is kind of tit for tat that 2% versus 2%, 10% versus 10%."

• Ron Simmons (48:34):
  "I just do not see it happening. It hasn't happened yet... I do not see it increasing prices at home on the things that you and I buy every day."

• Allie Beth Stuckey (49:42):
  "Interest rates people, what happened Allie, with it's not yalls fault. Your generation and the generations behind you is that you were exposed to, to historically low interest rates where you could buy a house with a 3% mortgage."

---

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the episode's key discussions on American Girl's cultural evolution and the economic implications of current tariff policies, providing listeners with valuable insights and expert perspectives.

Transcript

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

American Girl is celebrating Ramadan. That's right, American Girl. We will look at the progressive shift of American Girl and what it means for us. We will also be talking to my dad who is going to calm us all down about the stock market and tariffs and tell us what is really up. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. We've got my dad on at the end of this episode the last 20 or so minutes to talk us off the ledge when it comes to tariffs, the stock market, the economy. He'll be answering some practical questions addressing some concerns that you guys sent me on Instagram. First, we're going to talk about this cultural story that I've been wanting to talk about for a while about American Girl. As a girl mom, this makes me very sad and concerns me so we'll get into that in a second. But just a few announcements. Number one, we've got some behind the paywall subscriber content coming for you on blazetv.com so make sure you subscribe. You can go to blaze tv.comali for our relatable at home stuff. It's parenting, it's homemaking, it's cooking. It's really good. We've got other kinds of content, content that's coming down the pipeline too. But also when you subscribe you will get access to all Blaze TV exclusive content. And it's not just that we want you to pay, it's that we are trying to build a community. We're trying to protect the content that you want to see, the ideas that you want to hear about. And unfortunately we just can't trust Big Tech where we get to give you our content for free to keep our content alive and to allow people to see it. We just never know when they could pull the plug because they don't like what we have to say. So subscribe to belizetv.com also if you haven't gotten your tickets for Share the Arrows, make sure you do that. Share the arrows.com if you are a Christian woman who needs courage, who needs fellowship, who wants to be surrounded of thousands of like minded Christian women, then you need to be there on October 11th in Dallas, Texas. We've got awesome spring speakers that you can see up there. We've got Ginger Duggar, Volo, Elisa Childers, Shawna Holman, Katie F. Taylor Dukes, Francesca Battistelli and yours truly. It is going to be awesome. I can't wait. Also, if you are in the South Carolina, North Carolina, parts of Georgia area, or maybe even if you want to drive a little bit farther than that, then you should come hear me speak at Clemson University tomorrow night. Doors open at 6pm it's in an auditorium. I put it on Instagram so you can see the details of that. And it starts at 7pm it's going to be pretty casual. I'll giving, I'll be giving remarks and then I'll also do a Q and A. But it should be fun. You don't have to be a student, you don't have to purchase a ticket. Don't worry, it will be heavily secured just in case there are any troublemakers there. But I don't have that expectation. I think it's going to be fun. And guess what? My dad's going to be there too. And so if you want to meet my dad and if you want to meet Chief Relay to BRO then you should come to Clemson University tomorrow night. And thank you to the Turning Point chapter there for hosting me. All right, uh, let's see. Do I have any more announcements to give? If you love this podcast, leave us a five star review. Wherever you listen, subscribe to YouTube if you haven't done that already. You can watch on Spotify now, which is really fun. Um, let's see. I'm just gonna get them all out of the way because sometimes I forget to make these announcements or ask these questions. If you haven't bought Toxic Empathy and you need the facts to feel equipped in having contentious political, cultural, theological conversations with your family and your friends about people, you know, about the things going on in the world, you need Toxic Empathy. How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion. I'm Very Grateful to the Lord. It was a New York Times bestseller and hopefully it equipped a lot of you and continues to to raise a respectful, raucous for the things that matter, you can go to toxic empathy.com or you can get that book wherever books are sold. All right, I promise. That's it. I promise. Let's get into it now. Let's get into this American Girl story. I saw this circulating on X a couple weeks ago and we've kind of been pushing it off just because there have been so many pressing things that we had to discuss. But as I said, I'm a girl mom. I'm a girl mom who has three little girls who love dolls and would love American Girl. I would love them. I would love to take them to the American Girl store. I grew up reading the American Girl books. They were some of my favorite books. I remember their lives, I remember their stories and all of their different personality traits because they just kind of left an indelible mark on my young, impressionable mind. And they were always really sweet. I mean, they always championed basic virtues and also just showing appropriate confidence as a girl and the value and the uniqueness of being a girl. And so I would say, even if maybe you have some contentions with American Girl of old and I'm just not remembering correctly because I was young, I would say certainly their impact has been a net positive. But we've started seeing some sketchy things over the years because as we know as a principle, if an institution is not explicitly biblical, not just explicitly conservative, but explicitly biblical, it will end up veering into degeneracy, it will end up veering to the left, questioning basic realities like gender, breaking down the moral values that we have agreed upon at least as culturally Christian Americans for a very long time. And that's certainly what we've seen with American Girl. And we'll get into some of that background in a second. But I'll tell you about what I saw that I was like, well, that's interesting that that is the direction that we are going. American Girl posted a picture on their Instagram of a doll wearing a pink hijab to celebrate an Islamic holiday, Eid Al Fitr. I apologize if I'm not saying that correctly. This is Islam's feasting holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, a month of fasting. Here's Sat 2.

[Unknown]

Eid Mubarak to you and yours. Today I'm going to make some baklava to celebrate Eid al. Eid al Fitzer is a feast that's celebrated by Muslims worldwide. It celebrates the end of Ramadan when we fast for a month from dawn to sunset. It's ready. Happy Eid Al Fitzer. Oh, too soon. Still hot.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Okay, I simply find that strange. Now, if you are still living under the impression that we live in a neutral, multi ethnic, multicultural, multi religious society, that we simply have to say, okay, if Christianity is represented, then every other religion has to be equally represented, then you probably see no problem with this. But if you have awoken to the reality that there is really no neutrality, that the existence of right and wrong and truth and falsehood, that they not only exist, but that they actually matter. If you realize that America, this is American Girl, is actually a country with a Christian, or some would say Judeo Christian foundation. And what is meant by Judeo Christian is that There are principles in the Old Testament that both Jewish people and Christians agree upon that helped lay the foundation of America that provided the principles that are in the Declaration of Independence, namely that we are created by a God who gave us inalienable rights, and that that power supersedes the power of any government. The imago DEI was the driving force behind the principles and the pillars of Western civilization. And that is something that both Jews and Christians agree upon. And so when we see Islam as now a very formidable part of American society, it is actually okay. I just want to give you permission in case you needed it. It is actually okay to say, huh, Is this good? It is actually okay to say, well, you know, when I look at Muslim majority countries everywhere, most of them are completely wrought with archaic violence and chaos and oppression of the most vulnerable. When we look at all of the major terrorist groups around the world, you can ask Rock, you can ask ChatGPT, you might have to dig a little bit deeper. You can even look on Wikipedia. All of these terrorist groups, save a couple, are Islamic in nature. When we look at the religious affiliation of the groups most violently persecuting both Jews and Christians around the world, it's all Islam. Okay? That is not to say that every person who is Muslim is violent. That is not to say every person who is Muslim is going to be a terrorist or is going to be a radical extremist. But obviously we see the common denominator there. I mean, the greatest terrorist attack that we've had on our soil was committed by people who did so in the name of Islam. And yet, ironically, Darkly, ironically, since 2001, we have only seen greater acceptance and greater mainstreaming of Islam. We've also seen how this has evolved a lot of communities. We're actually seeing in Texas right now, outside of Dallas, this whole epic city controversy. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but that's an acronym that basically stands for, like, an Islamic community that is apparently trying to be governed by Islamic law. It will be its own city that is kind of separate from the metroplex, separate from the regulations that rule the metroplex of dfw. And there will be Islamic schools, Islamic mosques, and basically an entire separate city just for Muslim people. Okay? So that kind of thing was unheard of 10, 20, certainly 30 years ago. That is going to change our communities and our communities values. And you can't. You. You have to expect that if a large group of people in a concentrated way come from a country that is wrought with violence and oppression because of the religion that is driving their laws, that that is going to have possibly a similar impact when they move somewhere else. Right? And we've seen those trends throughout Europe. Hear me when I say that doesn't mean that you shouldn't love your neighbor, doesn't mean that you shouldn't live in peace with them, because of course you should. But that's just the reality. And so, yes, I do think it is odd for a company like American Girl to be promoting this as if it is the same as promoting Christmas or Easter or even Hanukkah. You can see it on their website. They're selling this. The Eid al Futur outfit, the Muslim holiday, meaning festival of breaking fast in Arabic comes at the end of Ramadan. And so they explain even the spiritual significance of this. And on the Instagram post, some people ask questions and express some concerns. They said, that's awesome. Can I have a Christian American Girl doll with a cross and Bible? I'd love that. Obviously, I think that there is a little tongue in cheek there. That comment received these kinds of responses. Girl, there's a time and place white Christians try not to make everything about themselves challenge. That's not the point, Girl. You basically have a holiday like every other month and especially own December, even though there are also Jewish holidays there too, deal with not having an American Girl doll. So you see just the antipathy towards Christians, especially in favor of Islam. Now, most of these people that have that kind of attitude are progressive themselves. And it is very odd that progressives would support such a regressive belief system that stands against everything that they say they stand for. But we had Pastor Andrew Sedra on this show who grew up in a Muslim majority country, and he pointed out the truth, that the commonality between progressives and Islamic ideologues is a hatred of Christianity. And so of course there is going to be a partnership there. So are there other holidays that American Girl is promoting? Like, are they promoting them all equally? Which I would say they don't have responsibility to do their American Girl. And I don't think that they have to represent every belief system around the world in their dolls. But are they even giving a nod to Christianity and Christian holidays? We'll take a look at that in a second. Let me pause and tell you about our first sponsor. It's We Heart Nutrit. So thankful for We Heart Nutrition. I have been taking their supplements for a while now, over a year, and I've really seen a difference. You know, having little kids, my kids have gone down for the count with all of the germs going around, you know, you get a cold, you get a stomach flu every six season, and yet, I don't know, I've been the only one that has avoided having a full blown sickness. Just a couple months ago, I thought for sure I was getting the flu. I kept feeling it come on. But I was taking my wheat heart nutrition supplements and I never got there. I never got all the way sick. And so I think that they've really not only made a difference in my immune system, but also my hair and my nails, my overall energy. I just started taking their new supplement maybe a couple weeks ago now. And they're calling it the Swiss army knife for women's hormones. And it is called the wholesome balance product. And it's got saffron, ginger, curcumin, key B vitamins, all in research supported doses. It's for women of all kinds of stages, whether you're dealing with PMS or menopause hormones. This is for you. Go to weheartnutrition.com use code ALI. You'll get 20 off your order. We heart nutrition.com code ALLY. Okay, so they post on Instagram about all of these different holidays. They did post about Christmas on December 24th. I don't think they ever talked about the significance of what Christmas actually is, but it does. There is like a Christmas post on December 24th saying, Merry Christmas. There's a Happy Hanukkah one on December 25th. And then on December 26th, they celebrate Kwanzaa. You guys, Kwanzaa is not an American holiday. It has nothing to do with African Americans. Has nothing to do with even African history. It was like something that was completely made up by a weirdo. Bree, do we have that information about what Kwanzaa is? Yes. So it was created by Maulana Karenga. And he was not convicted of murder, but he did have a controversial history. He was convicted of felony assault in false imprisonment in connection with a violent incident involving two women from his organization. Okay, so that's Kwanzaa that American Girl is celebrating here. The fact that anyone is ever pretending to celebrate Kwanzaa like Kamala Harris is just ridiculous. Okay, then we're celebrating Lunar New Year, January 29, 2025. Again, like, what country is American Girl actually representing? Here? We're rep. We're Also celebrating on November 2, 2024, Dia de los Muert of the Dead. This very, like, morbid holiday that is celebrated. If you can even call it a holiday separate or celebrated in Mexico. We've got Diwali being celebrated November 1, 2024. Okay. I only know what Diwali is because of the office. And then, okay, at least we actually have something that is an American holiday. I am totally fine and great with them celebrating Juneteenth. Juneteenth is actually a good thing that happened in the United States. States. And so I think it's a little bit of. It seems a little bit like obscure, but it's become less obscure over the past few years. And I have no problem with that. We're happy about the ending of slavery and slaves freed. So this is an American holiday that American Girl is representing and celebrating there. And I say that's fine. I just think it's strange that a company that is supposed to be celebrating not only women, but Americanism is trying so hard to celebrate every single single holiday, every single celebrated under every single thing celebrated under the sun. So they have this whole cultural celebration subsection of its website. None of the Christmas outfits are for sale. The very last, the very bottom of the page there is text saying what Christmas is. It's a Christian holiday that honors the birth of Jesus. But this is not celebrate or this is not put in any of the collections that are being sold on this cultural celebrations page. The only Christmas specific items they sell currently it's a Christmas accessory set which includes small toys and Christmas cookies. A book titled Molly's Christmas Surprise. Same thing with Easter, if you could even consider this. Easter, it's like a bunny and some cookies. Now they do have like St. Lucia Day on their Instagram. It does look like they kind of have an easter post from 2024. Again, very bunny centric, which I just think is interesting because for the other religions the religious symbols are actually put there. Like you've got the Star of David for the Jewish doll. You've got the different Islamic symbols for the holidays that they are celebrating. But at least I have not seen any crosses, any mangers, any nativities for these Christian holidays. And they certainly are doing what they can to try to put this to the bottom of their cultural celebrations. Again, it just doesn't surprise me. That's what institutions do when they are becoming more. When they are becoming more liberal. American Girl was founded by a woman named pleasant Rowland in 1980, 1986. She just wanted to write books and have dolls that represented different points in American history. And then she sold American Girl to Mattel for $700 million, which is wild. And then obviously since it has been owned by Mattel, it has become increasingly progressive. They began to abandon the girl part of their name. In 2017 they released its first boy doll, Logan Everett. Then too in 2021 of the year was a doll named Kira Bailey. Who wrote who they who they wrote. They wrote about her that she had lesbian aunts the same year and a u n t s not a n t s. The same year AG released a street chic collection of dolls with blue and purple hair. Okay. Also in 2021, American Girl introduced the World by Us line which featured three characters who came with their own social justice cause. You had that Peters climate change activist Haritza Okoa. Soccer and immigration. This like a soccer player but an immigration activist telling about her immigration experience. You had McKenna Williams, she was an anti racist activist. And then they also had a girl of the year in 2022 that was supposed to be like a figurehead for the Stop Asian Hate movement. And then of course they had the huge woke controversy of their 2022 edition of a Smart Girl's guide to Body Image. We'll get to that in just a second. Let me tell you about our next sponsor for the day. It's Good Ranchers. We love Good ranchers. Just had the pork chops a couple nights ago. So good we only added salt and pepper. They tasted amazing. We love their better than organic chicken. We love their ground beef that we eat all of the time. I love have to use it for hamburgers and for tacos and enchiladas and all that good stuff. They've got seafood, they've got all different cuts of steak. It's all high quality. Best of all, it's all from American farms and ranches. You don't know where your beef is coming from if you are buying it in the store. That Made in the USA sticker means nothing. It just means manufactured in the US you don't know where your meat is coming from unless you're getting your meat from Good Ranchers. This is a Christian family owned company. They want to help revitalize this industry that has served as the backbone for America for so long. So get your meat from Good Ranchers. It'll show up on your front door on dry ice every month. You can look at my custom box. It's the Ali Beth Stucky box. It's got all of the really good basics. Go to ranchers.com ally you'll get $40 off good ranchers.com ally. So in 2022 they released a new edition of the Smart Girls Guide to Body Image. And those of you who are my age, you're a millen probably read one of these books about our changing bodies when we were pre teens and teens and of course it was really sweet and wholesome. But now it has changed and it has introduced gender ideology into books meant for 8 to 12 year old girls. They faced a lot of backlash for this, for pushing children really not even just as young as eight, but actually as young as three into changing their gender through their popular body image book. The book contains lines that give advice to prepubescent girls on how to change their gender without their parents knowledge. A passage in the book marketed to Girls aged between 3 and 12 advices this if you haven't gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body's changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity. Isn't that insane? Like American Girl is pushing permanent sterility to children via puberty blockers. It also provides a list of resources for organizations the children can turn to. Quote if you don't have an adult you trust, okay, so driving a wedge between parents who love their children, who want what is best for their children, who know their children best, and the children themselves in the name of gender ideology, in the name of telling a young girl you might be born in the wrong body, maybe you should get pumped with testosterone, cut off your breasts, take out your uterus so you can pretend to be a man. The author of this book will not have to deal with the distress and deal with the long term depression and deal with the lifelong physical and emotional repercussions of a child butchering their body because they were introduced to this kind of insanity through her book. It will be the parents that American girls suggesting you shouldn't trust because they're not affirming you, who are dealing with that, who suffer through that, who will find their child in the aftermath of a suicide attempt. It will be them going through that tragedy, not the author of this book. This is absolutely reckless. I think this far more than any other cultural thing that I've talked about today is the reason that you need to abandon American girls. I mean this is evil, sick, demonic, life ruining, body butchering stuff. That American Girl, the American Girl of our youth, it's a little different, but the same company is pushing on young women and I, I don't want my daughters to stumble upon this kind of ideology and I just can't support it. And so even if I'm not trying to shame you, if you've taken your daughters to the American Girl store and you've get gotten her an American Girl. Like, I still think that a lot of the dolls and a lot of the stories are really sweet, but we really like Faith Friends doll. I don't know if you've heard of that company, but it's a Christian alternative and they actually are unapologetically Christian. And all of the accessories and all of the fun things that come along with the dolls all support a girl's confidence in Christ and biblical values. And I've given these to several people as gifts. It's Faith Friends doll. You can find them on Instagram. But I love the alternatives to this kind of degeneracy and this kind of just compromise that they are popping up and that we have the opportunity to support them. And so I just encourage you to do that. Like, American Girl is different. And by the way, like, this is Mattel. This is what Mattel is doing now. I just posted the other day on Instagram my Barbies and how much I loved playing with my Barbies growing up. But I will say, like, Mattel was obviously kind of sketchy back then, as I was my. I was a lot more interested in my Barbies from the time I was 8 than my daughters were. I was like, all these memories were coming back, but some of their clothes, it's crazy how skimpy these outfits were for Barbies that six year olds are meant to play with. Like, no business. And why did I have a Baywatch Barbie? Like, why? A lot of you reminded me that they came with this little dolphin that made a noise. And now I remember that. Now I remember that. But Mattel has kind of. I don't want to say they've always been sketchy, but they've been sketchy for a while. Like a lot of these corporations, they are also bound to these ESG metrics that incentivize them to be more progressive, including when it comes to gender. And somehow in a very contradictory way, that includes the promotion of Islam. And that is, again, that's not a neutral ideology or a neutral idea that a company like American Girl needs to be promoting. I'm interested what you think about all of that. Maybe you disagree on some of it and I'm willing to hear your feedback, but I'm telling you in general, like, this is not a good direction. And again, the commonality among a lot of these groups that seem to be totally disparate when it comes to their values is just a hatred for Christianity and a hatred for Christians. And we can't expect the secular world to love Jesus and to understand and promote Christianity. But what we can do is we can support companies who do, who. Who get it. That's part of what sharing the arrows is as believers. All right, let's get into this conversation with my dad about tariffs in the economy. If you're worried, I understand that. Or if you're like me and you're like, this is a little over my head, and I'm just kind of hoping and trusting that things are going to be okay. But I really want to understand it. I don't want to be. We don't want to be ignorant of it. We don't want to just say, la dee da. Politics matter, policy matters, people matter, and this policy affects people. And so we should do our best to try to understand what's going on and to make really wise decisions that are controlled by the Holy Spirit and by wisdom and not by headlines and not by the stock market. And so my dad and his trademark Mark style is going to calm us down and inform us of what's really going on. Before we get into that conversation, let me go ahead and tell you about our next sponsor for the day. It's Every Life. So thankful for every Life. As you will hear my dad say, America needs more people. They need more babies. They need American families to be making more babies. And that is what Every Life America's Pro life diaper company is praying for. They have started this initiative to try to get as many of you as possible to be praying for married couples, moms and dads, or husbands and wives to have more children in 2025. CR and I are a part of this initiative. There are a lot of other awesome families who are a part of this. And we are praying for y'all. We are praying for more adoptions. We are praying for more babies. And we know that God is the giver of life and he can. He can do it. Like, he can answer these prayers, and he has preordained prayer to be a vessel through which he works. And I'm so thankful for Every Life and everything they do. Not only this initiative, but also the awesome diapers that they sell. We use Every Life exclusively in our home for diapers, and I love knowing that they're made from really clean, good materials and also that they just work. And so they're an awesome company all around. Go to everylife.com pray join us in praying for more babies in 2025. That's everylife.com pray dad. Thanks so much for joining us again. Okay. People are freaking out about tariffs, this tariff war. Let me Give the most recent updates and then we'll get you to walk us back from the ledge. So after China threatened to impose an additional 34% tariff on American goods, Trump added an additional 50% to their existing tariffs, bringing the total tariff against China to 104%. That's 10% universal, 34% reciprocal, 50% additional. Effective midnight April 9, China retaliated with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods, up up from the earlier 34%. The EU is also expected to vote on countermeasures against U.S. imports today after Trump rejected their 0 for 0 offer earlier this week. People who are against this tariff war are saying this is going to raise prices in the US Astronomically, it is going to hurt the economy and it is going to hurt Trump's agenda and everything is ruined. What are your thoughts?

[Dad]

Well, first of all, let's talk about what people should be doing now. And really they shouldn't be doing much. I think I've said this before on the show, Ali, and that is if you have money that you need to use within the next 12 months, that money should never be in the stock market market. Stock market is a long term play and you shouldn't do anything related to the stock market. Right now I would not be selling. I haven't been selling and I don't know that I'd be buying yet because I what I like to do and I'm willing to give up not buying at the absolute bottom. So you'll give up a little bit of the uptick. I want to see the market kind of start going back up for a few days before I would get back, you know, engaged if I had some cash laying around. But if you're already in the market, if you're already in got that within your 401ks, do not change that now in the future. Again, remember, if you've got money that you know you're going to need to access within the next 12 months at a minimum, do not put that money in the stock market. Put it in a short term CD or the money market, something where there's virtually no risk involved. Now, as we go on to the tariff scenario, and I'm glad you brought up China right off the bat because that's really the biggest elephant in the room, so to speak. Meaning that, you know, I heard it explained the best actually by President Trump. A lot of people think he hasn't done a good job explaining and understand what people may feel that way. But remember, if they were charging us 34% tariffs on everything that we sent over there. All right, all the goods that we sent over there, then that means that that revenue went directly to their government, and their government doesn't have anything that would be positive for us, help build up their military, help continue their cyber wars against us. So, and I think somebody quoted that, that was hundreds of millions of dollars a year. And so I think what he's trying to do with the other countries, if he can get good deals with the other countries, which I know that he will, then I think he's trying to box out China a little bit, and that would be okay, too. I think China is different than the rest of the world, pretty much. You know, you might include Russia and Iran and North Korea in that same group, but I think it's pretty different than the rest of the world. As far as the rest of the world's concerned, these deals are going to come to play. I wouldn't spend a lot of time worrying about them. Over 70 countries have already called and said, hey, let's see what we can do. And I do think, and I agree with Elon Musk, that if we can get a zero for zero trade deal with the European Union, that's what we ought to do now. There's more to it than tariffs, though, Ali. There's also barriers sometimes. It's not just them putting a tariff on our goods. It's just not letting us sell any particular. A particular good in their country, no matter what. Right. Whether that be, you know, whether it's timber or something like that. They have an absolute ban on even. Not even not worried about the tariff. They just don't even let us sell it. Some countries don't. But I think all this is going to get worked out. I think you'll see some significant improvement by the summertime and by the end of the year, I think it will have all been something that we certainly were concerned about. It's okay to be concerned, but taking rash action is exactly the wrong thing to do. Our economy is still very, very strong. All right, people that want to work can work. People that want a good wage can get a good wage. Things are a little bit more expensive. We're still unwinding from the Biden four years of hyperinflation, and it's just going to take a while to get that done.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Yes. And just to bring it back to the basics. And you've explained what a tariff is, but for people who are like, okay, I'm overwhelmed by all of this vocabulary. As a reminder, a tariff is a tax that we Pay when we import a good abroad. So if we are trying to. Or export, rather if we are trying to export, say it's maple syrup to Canada, Canada would say, okay, we're going to put a 50% tariff on that so that we have to pay that tax. And our product being sold in Canada is more expensive than the local maple syrup that they are selling. And that is a way to protect their local economy and protect the products that are being made domestically. And so all of these countries have tariffs on our products. We have tariffs. Tariffs have always existed. But the problem that President Trump has zeroed in on is that we are paying a lot more, that it's not proportionate and that it is not reciprocal. Right. Especially with China, our average tariffs like.

[Dad]

Two and a half percent.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Right. So in with China, as you said, it's not fair because they are competing to be the world superpower. They are nefarious. They're stealing our technology. And Kevin Leary from Shark. Is it Leary? O'Leary from Shark Tank. He said on CNN, oh, I don't think it should be just 100%. I think it should be 400%. With how bad China is here, that is, it's 13, 104%.

[Kevin O'Leary]

Tariffs in China are not enough. I'm advocating 400%. I do business in China. They don't play by the rules. They've been in the WTO for decades. They have never abided by any of the rules they agreed to when they came in for decades. They cheat, they steal, they steal ip. I can't litigate in their courts. They take product technology, they steal it, they manufacture it and sell it back here. Never has an administrator.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

400% terrorists.

[Kevin O'Leary]

I want Chi on an airplane to Washington to level the playing field.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Okay, what are your thoughts on that?

[Dad]

I think he's exactly right. Now, I think 400 is just hyperbole.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Yeah.

[Dad]

So I'm not really that concerned about that. But I think the point is, is that, you know, this is a, in a sense, this is a war. And we have to realize that if the enemy is fighting with those types of weapons, we're going to have to do the same thing or something similar to get them to the table to quit the fighting. And China never pays attention to any of the rules, just like Kevin said. And we're going to have. So therefore, we have to be kind of a bully. And I think that President Trump is doing that. The other thing to consider, Allie, is that I was listening to. I was on the phone yesterday with Heritage foundation people that have an economist in this area, and he was saying that there's $600 billion of revenue that US businesses don't get because of the tariffs and trade barriers that other countries put on us. So just to think about that $600 billion of revenue that could be in the US economy, not from taxes, but just because we can't export all that we would like to export to other countries. And then the other thing is, Ali, and this is a little bit maybe complicated, and we may have to come back on another time and go over it again, but we have an income tax. We have a federal income tax. We do not have a federal sales tax. Almost all the other countries in the world have what's called a VAT tax, a volume added tax, which you and I would think about that as a sales tax. Okay? And those are federal taxes. So that when somebody buys a US Product abroad, their government gets revenue. The federal government of the UK Gets revenue from that. So, like, it used to be 17%. I don't know if it's still the same. All right. When we in the US Buy a product from, say, the uk, Our federal government doesn't get any revenue from that. So it's a little. And that's not anybody's fault. That's just the way the system works. So it's a little bit of a paradoxical, in a sense, playing field there. And when you try to calculate what's fair in this, you have to consider that as well, as we're definitely funding the federal governments of many countries to a large extent and including the countries that don't want to increase their defense spending up to what levels it should be, While there's nothing that we purchase as citizens of the US from other countries that aid in reducing our deficit or increasing our federal coffers.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Quick pause to tell you about our next sponsor, and it is Lumen, y'all. Lumen is really cool if you listen to my episode with Casey Means, and I've talked about this a couple times with different health experts. Now, you know that metabolic health is the missing piece for a lot of people when it comes to feeling better, when it comes to overall wellness, that our metabolism has to be in check. How we actually metabolize our food, whether we are burning just carbs or fat, it has a big effect on our energy, our ability to work out and just overall how we feel. And that is why Lumen exists. It is the world, world's first handheld metabolic coach. It's a device that measures your metabolism through your breath on the app, it lets you know if you're burning fat or carbs, gives you tailored guidance to improve your nutrition, workout, sleep and even stress management. So it's really amazing. You just blow into this little device first thing in the morning and then all of this information about what your body is up to as far as your metabolism is uploaded. It syncs very quickly with your Lumen app and you can see what's going on and that can help you determine and the your next steps for the day, how much protein you need, what kind of workouts you should do. Go to Lumen me relatable. You'll get 15% off your lumen. That is L U M E N me slash relatable. You got a lot of people saying that this is simply not conservative, that it's not going to work. Obviously it's going to or the companies are saying it's going to raise the prices on some products because if these companies have to pay more to export their stuff in order to compensate for that, they are going to raise the price. Right. Of their goods and their services that they're offering. So people say tariffs are actually a tax that we pay and spending more money on these products. So some people are saying that's a bad thing. It's also not conservative and this should go through Congress. And then other people are saying it's short term pain for the ultimate good. Trump, Trump is telling those companies, hey, if you don't want to pay those tariffs, then you should bring your manufacturing to the United States rather than to China or to Vietnam or to Thailand, where they are now. So what is your take on that debate?

[Dad]

Well, first of all, tariffs are legal. So Congress has already said tariffs are okay. Now if they want to change it, they can do that. But it rests where it rests with the, with the executive, you know, with the executive department. The, the idea about it not being conservative, I disagree with that. And what the reason I do is because fairness is always conservative. And President Trump is not saying, hey, you charge us 2%, so we're going to charge you 20%. That's not what he's saying. Now, he might put that out there initially to get people to the bargaining table, but what we're looking for is kind of tit for tat that 2% versus 2%, 10% versus 10%. And I think that's where we'll get to, hopefully we'll get to zero in a lot of them. And I would tend to agree with him. And some of this is, you know, what happened when we, when we put together NAFTA and a lot of the jobs went to Mexico and to Canada and we, we have to, you know, rein that back in so that some of those jobs can come home. It won't be all of them, but some of those jobs need to come back home. And companies, I believe, will realize that.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Yeah. President Trump, like you said, he is exercising his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 1977. He's declaring this a national emergency or economic situation, and he's imposing these tariffs under the IEEPA in order to address the, quote, national emergency posed by the large and persistent trade deficit that is driven by the absence of reciprocity in our trade relationships. The explanation for that is what you've already given, that we are funding federal governments that not only don't have our interest in mind, but are actually trying to compete against us in very nefarious ways, especially China, which is why they are taking some of the worst tariffs you've got. Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu, he met with Trump on Monday, pledged to eliminate Israel's trade deficit with the United States after The administration imposed 17% tariffs on Israeli goods last week. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the European Union is ready to negotiate with President Donald Trump over terror tariffs, offering the zero for zero tariffs on industrial goods. He, I guess, rejected that deal. He didn't think it was a good deal. But it does seem to be, at least right now it looks like it's kind of working, that these leaders are saying, yeah, okay, we'll do what you want.

[Dad]

Yeah. And, and I agree. And the stock market overreacts, right?

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Yeah.

[Dad]

I mean, there's nothing that's happened to an individual company in the last week. Okay. Relating to what, you know, they haven't lost a bunch of revenue or business or anything like that. The stock market overreacts on the good and the bad. And that's what's happened. It's overreacted. You have people in the market that, what they call short sellers, they want to bet the market's going down. And so they essentially, in, in ways which I don't agree with, don't think it should even be legal, but it is essentially can force the market down. Some of these big traders, especially in this high frequency trading, which is where they're trading, literally making thousands and thousands of trades every second. And that's what ends up making these big swings in the market. And that's why you have to, if you're going to be in the market, you have to be in it for the long term and it will almost always perform well for you over a long term period. So I would just tell you, people, don't panic. I don't see it increasing prices at home on the things that you and I buy every day.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

You don't think very much because that's something that we're maybe a little bit.

[Dad]

Temporarily, but not in the long term. It's, it's, it, I believe it's just going to be fine. There will be some more bumpy roads. I think they can communicate a little bit better than what they have. You know, maybe get somebody else other than the President communicating about it in a little bit better way. But I'm confident. Listen, what, what people need to understand too, Allie, and I know we're probably running out of time, but people need to understand that we are witnessing a potential transformational change in our federal government. And I think change is for the most part for the good and it's not easy to overcome what essentially has been since the Civil War a pretty center left ruling as far as it goes on taxes and spending and our dealings with other countries. And so I believe that this is something that we're witnessing that I think in the long term will benefit your kids, my grandkids and their kids and kids of theirs for generations to come.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

So when we hear short term pain, that's a phrase that I keep hearing, it's short term pain. I've even seen some commentators say, oh, if you feel like you can't buy that new device, it's fine. Don't look at your 401ks right now, it'll all be okay. Like how short term are we talking? When do you think people are starting, are going to start to see, okay, that worked and I'm feeling the benefits of this trade war.

[Dad]

Well, I think the benefits will be that the market stops going down, obviously from a stock market standpoint, which, which, which I think that'll be very soon. And then as far as the benefits that they'll see individually, like when they go the grocery store or go shopping, which is like, I guess what we're talk, talking about is I think that'll be gradual over time. I don't think it will. But here's what I don't think. I don't think you're going to see a radical increase in prices.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Right.

[Dad]

I just do not see that happening. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe if there's a big ticket item or something that you're looking at, you know, if you're looking to buy a new Rolex until they get it worked out with Switzerland or whomever it is that's selling those these days. You know where they have a 25% tariff now. Maybe you should wait on that. But as far as, as grocery store items and things like that, I don't see there being a big change in those. I mean I could be wrong on that, but I just, I just don't see it.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Interest rates, a lot of people are thinking about, you know, they've asked me when is a good time to buy a house. And I don't know the answer to that, but I want to know if you do.

[Dad]

Well, the interest rate people, what happened Allie, with it's not yalls fault. Your generation and the generations behind you is that you were exposed to, to historically low interest rates where you could buy a house with a 3% mortgage, right? Interest rate, which is crazy. The average mortgage over the last century or so has been about 6% interest rate. So we're not far from it. I would like to see it get down to 5%. I do not see it getting back down to 2 and 3%. I actually think that was not great for the economy. It allowed people to buy houses that they really couldn't afford. And some of those were on these adjustable rate mortgages that have now are getting ready to bump up to 5, 6% and they're going to be in a world of trouble. I would never buy an adjustable rate mortgage. I would only buy fixed mortgage and I would try to do it on 15 years if you can. And anywhere, I think anywhere in the 5% range, whether it's 4, 7, 5 or 5 and a half, I think you're fine, fine. You're fine on that. Now the challenge we have in the U.S. in most parts of the U.S. we have, we still have a housing shortage. So that makes prices higher. Just because we have a housing shortage. We have, we just, we're having a hard time keeping up with especially single family homes. And you know, in the fast growing places that's going to make prices be a little bit higher. But I don't think, you know that you're going to see a big fall off the cliff of interest rates right now. I do think they'll come down some and I don't think housing prices are going to, you know, just fall out of the bottom. So if you're looking at buying a house and you can afford it and you've got a, you know, reasonable interest rate, what I've mentioned before Then, you know, again, houses should be long term purchases if possible.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Here's what I would love the government to crack down on too, because all of this also intersects with the immigration debate and H1BS and all of that. And both agree there's a level of immigration, good immigrants, that can be good, but there's a lot of reform that's needed, especially with overstaying visas and illegal immigration. But something that happens is that many of these immigrants who are coming in on H1BS or they're coming in from poorer countries, they will infiltrate a neighborhood and they will have multiple generations living in one house house who are all income earners and the typical American family who is trying to live on one income, the mom and the dad with the two kids cannot compete against the offers that are being made on these houses. And typically what happens is that it actually ends up being this kind of chain effect, this domino effect. I mean, people know they'll go into a neighborhood and it's people from all one country or all one ethnicity who are living in these multi generational homes. And that changes the market and that makes it very hard for the normal young couple to be able to afford a house. And these are supposed to be single family homes. So I would like to see a crackdown on that kind of thing. I think, I mean, I'm not an economist. It seems to me common sense that that would help the housing market. So immigration, the economy, the price changes of these houses, it seems to all kind of intersect. And I just hope that the Trump administration is looking at all of, of it.

[Dad]

Well, you know, I don't, you and I may not be totally in sync on this. I mean, if, if someone's here legally and they want to have their parents live with them or whatever the scenario is, I mean, that's just, I mean that, that's their freedom to do that. And I agree, it does change the dynamics, especially have, you know, multiple earners in the household. It can make, they'd be willing to pay more because you got, you know, more than one family living in there. I' not so sure what you can do about that, though. I'm not, you know, I think we'd have a hard press saying, okay, there's a maximum number of five people that can live in this home. Now, maybe there is a top number there that you, you could crack down on, but that's an interesting dynamic. Allie. I, I don't really know the solution to that one, but I do understand the concern. And the, the effects are real. You're you're not missing that at all. It's just that that's a little bit more complicated when you are talking about people's liberty and their freedom on their own property.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Well, if we have less immigration overall, then that will solve at least one part of the problem.

[Dad]

Maybe that's not where one reason our society. I will agree with Chuck Schumer on one thing. We just don't tell anybody. Okay, everybody, let's keep this a secret. And that is our population is not growing fast enough. We need more babies. I mean, that's part of the problem that we have is we need families to, you know, have more than, you know, one or two children. They need to have, you know, at least three children so that you've replaced yourself and added to it. And, you know, I think we're seeing some of that, but that still, it's still. Our average birth rate is certainly down.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Yeah. And that's a whole big cultural, spiritual problem that we got. We got issues. We got issues. But you're here to tell us. Okay.

[Dad]

But it's going to be okay.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Going to be okay.

[Dad]

Good.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

Okay. Well, thank you so much, Dad. I really appreciate it. You always calm us down and tell us what's really going on. Next time we'll have you back in the studio and we'll have a longer conversation about everything. But thanks so much.

[Dad]

Okay. All right, take care. Bye.

[Allie Beth Stuckey]

All right. Hope you enjoyed that conversation with my dad. I hope that made you feel better. Just a reminder, please subscribe to Frontier magazine by Blaze Media. It is back with issue number two. If you missed the first one, you missed something huge. But that is okay because now you can be a part of history. I mean, this is just like, just such a beautiful piece of art. You will actually like looking at it and having it in your home. But the journalism, the commentary in it is truly unique and original. It's going to make. Make you think, it's going to make you smarter. People are going to be impressed by the perspectives that you give in conversations because of what you are reading and seeing in Frontier magazine. Go to blazeunlimited.com Alli Lock in your subscription before they sell out again. Go to BlazeTV Blaze unlimited.com ally all right, that's all we've got time for today. I will see you back here tomorrow.