The World and Everything in It: April 21, 2026

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Is freedom for Cuba really next on the president’s to-do list on foreign policy?

TRUMP: Very soon this great strength will also bring about a day, 70 years in waiting …

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, can Iran wait out the U.S.?

And, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on America250.

Later—

CHANDRAVEL: You're nervous going in, but then as soon as you start talking, … and it becomes a conversation.

A physician-led campaign to stop assisted suicide from spreading to Virginia.

And WORLD’s Hunter Baker wants a Senate that actually works.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, April 21st. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Now news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Iran » Vice President JD Vance heads to Pakistan today for another shot at peace with Iran.

That after negotiators left Islamabad earlier this month emptyhanded.

Preparations are underway in Pakistan for another round of talk, though Iran still hasn’t committed to participating.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott says President Trump prefers diplomacy to more bombs.

PIGOTT: He wanted to see a deal before Operation Midnight Hammer. He wanted to see a deal after Operation Midnight Hammer. He continues to wanna see a deal, but he's going to see his objectives completed here. The fundamental, the fundamental one of which is that the Iranian regime can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

Operation Midnight Hammer was the US strike last June that hit three Iranian nuclear sites.

Tehran has refused to commit to never pursuing a nuclear weapon.

The current ceasefire expires Wednesday evening, but Trump says an extension is "highly unlikely."

Tensions grew sharper over the weekend. Sunday, a US Navy destroyer intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman. After six hours of ignored warnings the destroyer radioed the vessel called Touska:

AUDIO: Vessel Touska, [SIC] vessel Touska, vacate your engine room. Vacate your engine room. We're prepared to subject you to disabling fire.

Five-inch rounds tore into the engine room and US Marines rappelled onto the deck. Iran has vowed revenge.

Israel-Lebanon » In Jerusalem:

SOUND: [Siren]

A nationwide siren heard Monday night in recognition of Israel's Memorial Day.

SOUND: [Trumpet]

A trumpet also was blown at sundown as the day officially began. Followed by a Jewish prayer.

SOUND: [Prayer]

The siren is scheduled to play again today for two minutes as Israelis honor those who have fallen defending the country. That Day of Remembrance to be followed by celebrations this evening to mark the beginning of Israel's Independence Day.

Meanwhile, Israel and Lebanon have reached the midpoint of an agreed-upon 10-day ceasefire.

Negotiators are hoping to extend the truce. The Times of Israel reports that a second round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon will take place on Thursday.

The Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah—based in Lebanon—has criticized the talks. Nevertheless, the group has thus far chosen to observe the ceasefire.

House Ethics on Sexual Misconduct » The House Ethics Committee weighed into a growing conversation about sexual harassment on Capitol Hill with a statement on Monday.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more.

HARRISON WATTERS: The committee says convincing witnesses to go on the record is a challenge, and that it only goes public if their allegations have been substantiated.

This comes after independent reporting led to the dual resignations of Texas Republican Tony Gonzales and California Democrat Eric Swalwell. Both lawmakers faced investigation for various degrees of sexual impropriety with staffers.

In March, South Carolina Congresswomen Nancy Mace forced the House to vote on a resolution requiring the Ethics Committee to publish records on sexual abuse allegations in Congress.

That bill failed, but on Monday, the Committee voluntarily listed the names of 28 House lawmakers going back to 1976 who were investigated for sexual abuse and improper relationships with staff. The list includes an ongoing investigation of Florida Republican Cory Mills for alleged sexual misconduct.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

Missing scientists » At least 10 American scientists are dead or missing, many with national security clearances. Now Congress wants answers. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer:

COMER: It, it's very unlikely that this is a coincidence. So, uh, Congress is very concerned about this. Our committee is, is making this, uh, one of our priorities now because, uh, we view this as a national security threat.

Comer sent letters Monday to the FBI, NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Pentagon demanding briefings by next Monday. The scientists worked on nuclear weapons, rocket propulsion, and classified aerospace projects. Some vanished on hiking trips. Others turned up dead — under circumstances colleagues can't explain.

FBI Director Kash Patel says his agency is running down every case, looking for links to classified access and foreign actors. But a former FBI agent who reviewed the cases says each has a plain explanation. One case was an unrelated shooting. Another involved a neighbor with a violent criminal record.

Louisiana shooting » In Shreveport, Louisiana, teddy bears and flowers keep piling up at a makeshift memorial after a father shot and killed eight children before dawn Sunday — including seven of his own.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith:

SMITH: This by far, uh, was probably one of the most challenging incidents that SPD has ever faced.

Police say 31-year-old Shamar Elkins also wounded his wife and her sister. The murdered ranged from three to eleven. One was his nephew.

Elkins died after a police chase. Investigators say it's unclear if officers killed him, or he took his own life. The shooter did have a criminal record.

SMITH: The FBI, our partners, uh, that is a piece that, uh, they're taking on to find out as much as possible about Mr. Elkins past.

Court records show Elkins had a 2019 felony firearms conviction. His brother-in-law says Elkins sought treatment for mental health issues VA hospital in January and seemed to be doing better when he came home.

I'm Kent Covington.

Still ahead: What’s next for Cuba’s communist regime? And later, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on America250.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 21st of April.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up: The latest on the war with Iran.

On Sunday, U.S. Marines captured an Iranian-flagged cargo ship. It’s the first time the U.S. blockade has been challenged.

SOUND: [Helicopter]

Meanwhile, talks continue ahead of Wednesday’s deadline to extend the ceasefire or resume fighting.

Joining us now, Alex Vetanka. He's a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and a leading voice on Iranian regional security. Alex, thanks for joining us this morning.

ALEX VATANKA: It's great to be back with you. Good morning.

EICHER: In your most recent policy memo, Alex, you described an economy in Iran under severe strain, sanctions, inflation, now war damage. How weak is Iran right now in real terms?

VATANKA: So look, based on the information that the Islamic Republic officials are putting out themselves, this war has cost the economy about $270 billion. That's roughly 50% of the GDP of the country. So pretty significant if you put that next to, for example, what this war has cost the United States in real terms. So this is not a small affair for the regime in Tehran. And the big question is, how is that reality shaping their sort of next steps going forward as we wait and see if diplomacy is going to have a chance to succeed or not? Because obviously, certainly in this case for Iran, the stakes are great when you look at the economic metric and it could get even worse.

REICHARD: Alex, do you think we're looking at a system near breaking then, given what you just said, or one that can keep on functioning?

VATANKA: I've been in this business for so long now, I have to be very careful predicting the demise of the Islamic Republic. But look, it is true that the regime is not popular with its own people. But it's also an entrenched regime. And this war has proven that beyond doubt, that you cannot just, you know, attack it from the air and it collapses. So it has a capacity to fight on another round of war. That's certainly what they think they can do. But looking down the path long term, we have to recognize this is a regime that long time ago lost the Iranian people.

This is a regime that's in power just because it represses its people to stay in power. And there's a huge question mark of how long you can keep doing that. Certainly when you have external pressures as well on top of all these domestic issues that the regime has had to deal with and frankly has failed to tackle properly in a way that reduces anger in Iranian society because the anger is still there and the regime doesn't seem to have any solutions.

REICHARD: If you had to crystallize it in a single sentence, Alex, what explains Iran's resilience?

VATANKA: This is about their survival. They really don't have anywhere to go. I mean, if you look at, you know, if you want to make the comparisons to 1979 and the Shah of Iran, when he was in that similar situation with a lot of pressure on him, he decided that you didn't want to fight on. But he had an option to leave the country and he did. They have nowhere to go.

EICHER: We talked about the naval blockade just a moment ago, and you wrote, Alex, that “the impact of that blockade will depend heavily,” I'm quoting here, “on enforcement and international compliance. The key question is not whether pressure exists. The key question is whether it can be made decisive.” What would have to go right for it to be decisive in your mind?

VATANKA: Well, look, so much of this is about patience, essentially. United States, certainly President Trump has been on with the sort of impression that he could have a quick victory in Iran, that he could put the pressure on and they will cave in. I think fundamentally that's been a mistaken belief, that this regime is more likely to stay and essentially even be willing to fight on if necessary, unless they can get a diplomatic compromise that they can live with.

But if, let's just say for sake of argument, the U.S. is willing to be patient, to stay the campaign on the economy for weeks and months to come. Then you're raising other issues. For example, the real fact that Iran's single most important trading partner is China. What would you do with Chinese tankers or ships going into Iranian ports? Would you stop them if United States Navy or other countries? And what about assets that the U.S. Navy has to deploy in places like the Indian Ocean?

So it raises lots of issues in terms of the determination of this White House to sort of finish the job, if you will, because you can do that. But it requires time, investment, and focus on that mission that we haven't necessarily seen so far in how the U.S. has conducted this war.

EICHER: So this really comes down to a question of who can last. Tehran essentially betting it can outlast the U.S. politically. Is that essentially the case as you see it, that it's just a matter of who has the will to go the distance?

VATANKA: Unfortunately, that seems to be where the Iranians are at right now. And the simple reality also is that this is a regime that is willing to, if you will, I don't want to be draconian about it, but lay waste to the country of Iran just to prove the point to Donald Trump that he can’t strong arm him into a deal they don't want. So yeah, in some ways the Iranian regime feels they have everything to gain if they can prevail, stay in this longer than Americans, they consider to be far less patient in terms of how long they're willing to stay in this world.

REICHARD: Alex Vetanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and a leading voice on Iranian regional security. Alex, thanks so much.

VATANKA: A pleasure to be with you. Thank you.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Conflicting paths to change in Cuba.

The communist nation has spiralled into economic turmoil since the U.S. imposed an oil embargo.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Now new reports of diplomatic talks sit in contrast to recent rumors of military action.

WORLD’s Lindsay Mast has more.

LINDSAY MAST: More than three months of dwindling oil supply have hit the communist country hard. Gas sales are limited to 5 gallons per vehicle. Buses stop running at 6 p.m, and some international airlines have grounded flights to avoid refueling problems.

MIKE GONZALEZ: Cuba could produce a lot more oil. Cuba does not produce enough oil to cover its needs, and it needs to import most of what it uses.

Mike Gonzalez is a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation who was born in Cuba and writes frequently on Latin America. He says oil from a Russian tanker allowed to dock in Havana recently would’ve provided about a week’s worth. And he says it’s unlikely it will benefit ordinary Cubans.

GONZALEZ: That will again, of course, go to the government. You know, police cars can have all the oil they want, but ambulances do not have oil.

As the crisis has deepened, President Trump has repeatedly alluded to regime change possibly coming through military action. He’s linked it to both the surgical removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the ongoing war with Iran. Here he is in March:

TRUMP: Cuba's a mess. It's a failing country, and they're going to be next.

Yesterday, though, Cuba confirmed reporting by Axios that a delegation from the State Department recently met with Cuban officials. The Axios article did not name anyone involved, except for the grandson of retired Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

Gonzalez says Castro holds tremendous power, and nothing will change with him around.

GONZALEZ: Don't think that the president Miguel Diaz-Canel has any power. Raúl Castro, at 94, continues to have the power. And as long as he's allowed to stay on the island regime, nothing can happen in Cuba.

As recently as last week, President Trump has signified military action may still be in play. Here he is at at a Turning Point USA event Friday:

TRUMP AT TPUSA EVENT: Very soon this great strength will also bring about a day, 70 years in waiting. It's called A New Dawn for Cuba. We're going to help them out with Cuba.

Cuba’s history of allowing America’s enemies to gather intelligence and conduct military operations there has long concerned American officials—particularly given the island’s closeness to U.S. shores. Additionally, Gonzalez says Cuba’s track record of infiltrating the government means any diplomatic maneuvering must be tightly managed.

GONZALEZ: Marco Rubio has to keep his cards very close to his vest. I do believe that probably the only people who have the inside information are Trump and Rubio.

Last week at a rally, the Cuban president stated that the country does not want military conflict with the U.S., but that it’s prepared to fight.

DIAZ-CANEL: We are called upon to be ready to face serious threats and military aggression; we do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare ourselves to prevent it. And if it becomes inevitable, to win.

Gonzalez says true regime change is the only pathway to Cuban self-government.

GONZALEZ: The Helms-Burton Act says that we actually pursue regime change in Cuba. This is nothing new. We have to have a transition to democracy very quickly as soon as the conditions are in place, the conditions on the ground, civil society institutions, voluntary institutions that create the ability for people to rule themselves and elect their own leaders.

He also says that’s long overdue.

GONZALEZ: Not since 1952 have Cubans been able to decide their own future. This is not acceptable. Cubans are the children of God, just like everyone else. They have every right to self-determination, to rule themselves, and that's what really needs to happen.

Cuba says the recent talks did not include any deadlines or threats of military action.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Justice Clarence Thomas spoke last week at the University of Texas at Austin in honor of this country’s 250th anniversary. Hosted by the Civitas Institute, Justice Thomas reflected on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence and how his own life shaped his understanding of it. Here now are excerpts of the hour-long speech, edited to fit our available time.

CLARENCE THOMAS: The second paragraph of the Declaration proclaims, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

Throughout my youth, these truths were articles of faith that were impervious to bigotry and discrimination. ……. Despite the multiplicity of laws and customs that reeked of bigotry, it was universally believed among those blacks with whom I lived and who had very little or no formal education that in God's eyes and under our Constitution, we were equal…. At home, at school and at church, we were taught that we are inherently equal, that equality…came from God, and that it could not be diminished by man. …

….When you lived in a segregated world with palpable discrimination and the governments nearest to you enforced laws and customs that promoted unequal treatment, it was obvious that your rights or your dignity did not come from those governments, but rather from God. … We knew that life, liberty and property were sacrosanct.

All too often…Intellectuals want you to believe that our founding principles are matters of esoteric philosophy or sophisticated debate. …But the principles of the Declaration of Independence, as I encountered them, are a way of life. They are not an abstract theory.

…We should not forget that the Declaration established the principles that produced— despite all of our imperfections— our miscues and our tragic mistakes, it gave us the freest, wealthiest and most powerful nation in the history of the world. It provided the moral principles by which Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King would criticize the institutions of slavery and segregation. …..

In essence, the signers of the Declaration were saying that they were willing to die for the principles they were asserting the supreme act of courage. Those principles were more important than their fear….. What changed the world was not the words, but the commitment and spirit of the people who were willing to labor, sacrifice and even give their lives, what Lincoln in Gettysburg called the last full measure of devotion for the Declaration's principles….

It is that devotion that we are missing today and that we must find in our hearts if this nation is to endure…..

When Americans look to Washington and wonder why it so often disappoints, it Is not because there are too few people who know what is right….It is instead because there are too few people who are willing to do what it takes to do the right thing, to sacrifice the popularity, flattery, comfort and security that are the purchase price for principle.

What are your principles worth to you? My answer then was the same I would give today….they are worth life itself. …

…. Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government. It holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from government. …The Century of progressivism did not go well. The European system that Wilson and the progressives scolded Americans for not adopting…. led to the governments that caused the most awful century that the world has ever seen, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Mao all were intertwined with the rise of progressivism…Many progressives expressed admiration for each of them shortly before their governments killed 10s of millions of people. …. we must find in ourselves that same level of courage that the signers of the Declaration had so that we can do for our future what they did for theirs.

Each of you will have opportunities to be courageous every day. It may mean speaking up in class tomorrow when someone around you expects you to live by lies. It may mean standing up for your religion when it is mocked and disparaged by a professor…. It may mean running for your school board when you see that they are teaching your children to hate your values and our country…. One thing I do know to be true: it will mean waking up every day with the resolve to withstand unfair criticism and attacks.

….So by all means, celebrate the Declaration of Independence. …But I implore you to celebrate it by standing up for it, by defending it, and by recommitting yourselves to living up to its ideals…Take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure and with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence let us mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred honor. Thank you and may God continue to bless our country. 

[The full speech is available here.]

NICK EICHER, HOST: Hard to believe the perpetrators thought they could get away with this:

Authorities in California say four people staged a series of fake bear attacks—inside luxury cars.

A Rolls-Royce and a couple of Mercedes-Benzes.

The goal? A six-figure insurance payout—which they got but won’t be keeping.

They submitted video of the so-called bear attack on the interiors.

But a wildlife expert took one look and said, It’s a guy wearing a bear suit!

Now they found out their sentence and they’ll be spending their weekends wearing prison jumpsuits instead.

And spending weekdays working so they can pay their restitution.

Turns out their story just didn’t bear scrutiny.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, April 21st.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: physician-assisted suicide.

Right now, the practice is legal in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Fourteen states are considering legislation to legalize it. Advocates call it death with dignity that preserves patient autonomy. Opponents call it a corruption of medical ethics that can lead to coercion.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy talked to two people working to stop assisted suicide from coming to Virginia.

MARY MUNCY: Earlier this year, two medical students walked into Virginia Delegate Leslie Mehta’s office.

NIKHIL CHANDRAVEL: It's like a little mini Oval Office with a sofa and armchairs as well.

Nikhil Chandravel and a fellow student sat across from Mehta at a large oak table. It was their first meeting with a legislator. Their goal: convince Mehta to abandon a physician-assisted suicide bill.

Chandravel started with the history of racial injustice in healthcare in Richmond.

CHANDRAVEL: Back in the 1800s local physicians were also grave robbers, and they targeted the graves of African American slaves and freedmen. And since then, there's been generational mistrust for the healthcare system.

He told Mehta, a black woman, that physician-assisted suicide would deepen that distrust and that it often discriminates against elderly and disabled people.

CHANDRAVEL: Based on her experience as a caretaker for her loved one, she was able to recognize that there is a lot of, there's a lot of burnout among caretakers, and there might be some undue pressure on these individuals to take their own life, to spare their family.

Mehta is also a Christian, so they mentioned how the Church has participated in social issues in the past.

CHANDRAVEL: The thing about these conversations is you're nervous going in, but then as soon as you start talking, and especially with a lot of these legislators, they are so friendly and gregarious, you forget that you're like trying to pitch something, and it becomes a conversation.

They finished their conversation by challenging Mehta to consider her faith in her vote, then they went to talk to the next legislator.

Chandravel is in his final year of medical school on his way to a career in emergency medicine. About a year ago, a physician with the Christian Medical and Dental Association approached him about gathering students to help with the campaign.

CHANDRAVEL: I viewed that as our duty, as as Christians. But also, as citizens in a participatory Republic, we have a duty and obligation to speak up and to be involved.

The physician who approached him is Donald Stern.

DONALD STERN: About two years ago, I heard that the Virginia General Assembly was considering this bill that would provide for physician-assisted suicide. And I said, ‘I don't believe this. I just, I've got to do something.’

The bill had come up in previous legislatures. But this year, the state is completely controlled by Democrats, who are more likely to vote for assisted suicide.

Chandravel and Stern first worked to change the Virginia Medical Society’s statement on physician-assisted suicide from “neutral” to “opposed.” Then, when the legislative session began, they gathered other physicians to crowd the assembly hall in their white coats and met with as many legislators and aides as possible.

STERN: I had nine major talking points, which I've kind of gleaned from the literature about why we should be opposed as physicians to physician-assisted suicide.

He presented things like the Hippocratic Oath. Many graduating physicians swear to do no harm. Or evidence that poor people in Canada disproportionately use medical aid in dying. Or that once assisted suicide is allowed, safeguards quickly fall.

The other side advocated for patient autonomy.

STERN: That is the patient's right to make their medical choices.

After about two weeks of spending most of every day at the Assembly building… Chandravel and Stern felt like they were making progress.

Just in time for the bill to be considered in a subcommittee.

STERN: We had probably a dozen folks testify in opposition to this bill,

Some doctors talked about evidence, others shared personal experiences. The other side told the assembly about patients suffering at the end of life.

STERN: The subcommittee still voted to carry the bill forward.

The bill would go to the full committee.

The next week, Stern sat in the front row with several other physicians in their white coats, looking the legislators in the eye as they deliberated. Chandravel was finishing rounds, keeping an eye on his cellphone.

STERN: The resolution came up and there was a Democrat on the committee who said, ‘I voted for this bill last year with some reservations. My reservations are even more so this year.’

He voted against the bill. Another Democrat voted against the bill. The Republicans voted against it:

STERN: It did not pass the full Health and Education Committee. Another miracle before our eyes.

They texted Chandravel a picture of the results.

CHANDRAVEL: I went to the bathroom, locked myself in, and called them just to, like, just make sure I was reading that right.

The bill was dead in the Senate. The House never took up the cognate bill.

Chandravel left the hospital and treated himself to dinner to celebrate.

Chandravel says the win took effort, but it wasn’t complicated. It came down to three things: showing up, convincing your side to vote, and convincing the other side not to vote.

He felt like he was fulfilling his favorite verse, Esther 4:14: “Perhaps you were born for such a time as this.”

CHANDRAVEL: I was born in India. I was born in a really small town in the middle of nowhere, and I feel like God's brought me to near the center of American Empire, right? There's got to be a reason for that. And I think all of us in whatever position we are. There's a reason that we were born to do whatever God has for us, and Esther says this too, like, ‘if not I, then who?’

The fight in Virginia isn’t over. The bills will likely be reintroduced next year. Stern and Chandravel are already working on their plan to stymie them.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

The U.S. Senate has long been called the world’s greatest deliberative body—but these days, it’s not doing much of anything, let alone deliberating. WORLD commentator Hunter Baker says it’s time to change that.

HUNTER BAKER: For decades, we have watched nominees for high office face a 60-vote threshold in the U.S. Senate. Judges. Cabinet officials. Even legislation. The result is a government that often struggles to act—even in moments of urgency.

But if you go looking for that requirement in the Constitution, you will not find it.

Nearly two decades ago, the Senate eliminated the filibuster for nominations. That change made it easier for presidents—including Donald Trump—to fill key positions, including seats on the Supreme Court.

But for ordinary legislation, the 60-vote rule remains.

Republicans now hold the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. But even with that alignment, they have struggled to pass major legislation. Because they do not have 60 votes.

Utah Senator Mike Lee, in an interview on the America First Legal podcast, says the problem is deeper than a procedural hurdle.

LEE: What I call the zombie filibuster is perhaps the single biggest impediment toward the Senate being able to act in a way that is responsive to the legitimate demands and expectations of the American people. … The status quo is untenable, where unless you can have 60 votes at the outset of anything, you can’t expect to pass it. That is untenable in this day and age. It just doesn’t work.

The filibuster is often defended as a tool of careful deliberation. A way to slow things down. To force consensus.

And in theory, that sounds right.

But in practice, the Senate today is not a chamber of extended debate. It is a chamber of predictable votes—where members line up with their party, and the 60-vote threshold functions less as a brake… and more as a blockade.

The result is a system where winning elections does not necessarily translate into governing.

Consider what it takes to achieve unified control of government.

When a party, such as the Republicans in 2024, wins the presidency, the House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate, it has already run a gauntlet.

The House is purely based on population.

The Senate is based on equal representation by the states regardless of their population.

The President navigates the Electoral College.

The entire House is up for grabs every two years.

The President every four.

Senators serve six year staggered terms.

That means there is never more than 1/3 of the Senate exposed to the electorate every two years.

In addition, the three bodies have to work together to pass legislation.

When a party clears these hurdles, it has earned the opportunity to govern—and to be held accountable for the results.

But the 60-vote rule introduces yet another barrier.

It makes it harder not only to pass legislation—but to fix problems.

Presidents are judged by what they accomplish. Voters expect action.

But when legislation stalls, even under unified government, frustration builds—and midterm losses often follow.

So what is the alternative?

Some, like Senator Lee, do not argue for eliminating the filibuster entirely—but for restoring what it once was: a tool of real debate, not silent obstruction.

LEE: We can either, one, enforce the talking filibuster so that we make them actually work for it, make them speak if they want to filibuster, or alternatively, if we don't want to do that, then it's time to nuke it.

That is a stark choice.

Force senators to stand, speak, and defend their objections—or remove the barrier altogether.

Either way, the goal is the same: a Senate that actually works.

The Constitution already built a system with checks, balances, and competing interests. It is not easy to pass laws—and it was never meant to be.

But it was meant to be possible.

For WORLD, I’m Hunter Baker.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: We’ll talk politics with Hunter Baker on Washington Wednesday. And, WORLD Tour. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says, “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’”—John 9:1-3

Go now in grace and peace.

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