The World and Everything in It: February 24, 2026

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The U.S. and Iran prepare to talk the talk, and maybe, walk the walk.

ARAGHCHI: If the U.S. attacks us, that is act of aggression. What we do in response is the act of self-defense.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, President Trump prepares his first State of the Union of his second term … facing the same political headwinds he faced in his first. 

Later: Ukraine marks the beginning of year five of war. Today, a pastor who stayed to tend to his people.

YAROSHENKO: This is the time when we need to serve people more than anyone else.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on the president’s penchant for personal attack.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, February 24th. 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: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Blizzard » Many Americans in the northeast are hard at work this morning with snow shovels in hand:

SOUND: [Shoveling snow]

That includes in Brooklyn, where one resident said he was getting his morning wortkout on the sidewalk.

RESIDENT:  Well, the snow's wet and heavy. I'm outta breath. I might have broken a sweat. It's like a warmup for the day.

That comes after a historic winter storm slammed numerous states shuttering schools and businesses and snarling travel.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani:

MAMDANI:  This has been a full force winter weather response operation with 2,600 sanitation workers deployed on every 12 hour shift, and over 2300 plows, including 700 salt spreaders, mobilized citywide.

The storm dumped more than 30 inches of snow on Providence, Rhode Island. And some areas saw winds of up to 80 mph. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu:

WU:  We saw upwards of two inches an hour for several hours and met the official criteria for a blizzard, uh, as deemed by the National Weather Service.

Officials declared emergencies from Delaware to Massachusetts, and hundreds of thousands of people are grappling with power failure from downed electrical lines.

Huckabee comments » A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Israel says recent comments made by U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee have been taken out of context.

Huckabee is facing criticism over remarks he made during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week.

Carlson questioned Huckabee about his views on Israel's borders, and whether they should revert to his interpretation of the borders God promised to Abraham in the book of Genesis.

TUCKER: You're saying that's the original deed.

HUCKABEE: It would be fine if they took it all. But I don't think that's what we're talking about here today.

That sparked outrage from some Arab and Muslim countries, who say those borders would include parts of modern-day Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and others.

But Huckabee went on to say that Israel has no desire to seize those regions. And he said, in fact, over the years Israel has voluntarily withdrawn from some territories it held under its control.

UK police arrest former ambassador Mandelson » British police have arrested former Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.

Police are investigating Mandelson over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein roughly 15 years ago.

He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.

At least 73 killed in attempt to capture El Mencho » More than 70 people were reportedly killed in Mexico’s attempt to capture a notorious cartel leader and in the aftermath of his death. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Authorities say Mexican special forces over the weekend tried to capture the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho.”

Cartel members have responded with widespread violence, blocking roads and setting fire to vehicles.

And the Associated Press, citing unnamed officials, reports that at least 73 people have been killed. More than 30 of them were cartel members, along with at least 25 members of the Mexican National Guard.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is known for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S., and for staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Mexico shelter in place » Meantime, the U.S. government is urging Americans in parts of western and central Mexico to shelter in place, amid the cartel violence.

The U.S. Embassy and Consulates are telling citizens in cities like Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Michoacán to stay indoors and avoid travel until conditions improve.

Actor Beau Yetty, who is currently in Mexico, remarked:

YETTY:  It's unnerving, especially the day before you could see pillows of smoke going into the air and it, it really was, uh, something you'd see in a a war movie.

U.S. government staff in several locations are also sheltering in place. Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Monday:

CORNYN:  We're in communication with the State Department to try to make sure we can get our people back safely. But it's no secret that, uh, Mexico has long been controlled by the cartels and corruption, uh, that is, uh, facilitated by the government.

Officials also stress that U.S. citizens should monitor official advisories.

Meanwhile, some popular resort areas including Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen — are reported to be returning to normal operations, and flights are resuming at affected airports, though disruptions remain possible.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: more from Washington on what to expect at tonight’s State of the Union address. Plus, the possibilities that may lay ahead for Iran.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 24th of February.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

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

First up on The World and Everything in It. The State of the Union.

Tonight, President Trump will address a joint session of Congress, highlighting his wins and concerns from the last year, and looking ahead.

We’ll have reaction tomorrow on Washington Wednesday, but right now, a look at what to expect tonight.

WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta has the story.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: As President Trump prepares to address the nation, several news networks released polls on Monday gauging Americans’ view of his performance so far. Here’s ABC News:

ABC: Our new poll out today shows the president's approval rating stands at just 39%. That means 60% of Americans disapprove of the president's job currently in office right now.

Added together these ratings roughly match the same point in Trump’s first term. That November, Democrats won majorities in the midterm elections.

This year, Republicans have asked Trump to focus more on the economy and issues at home to shore up support ahead of the elections. According to a CNN poll, 57% of Americans want to see the president discuss the economy and the cost of living.

They also want to hear about immigration. The ABC poll found that 58% of Americans think the Trump administration has gone too far with its immigration deportation efforts. The White House is hoping to turn attention to the victims of illegal immigration, instead.

TRUMP: We are gathered here today for a truly solemn occasion.

On Monday, the White House hosted the families of people murdered by illegal immigrants during the Biden administration.

TRUMP: Everyone in this room not only suffered an infinite loss, they were the victims of politicians who put the comfort of foreign criminals before the safety of American citizens and American patriots.

Tariffs are also top of mind in Washington this week, following a decision from the Supreme Court to strike down the president’s emergency tariffs enacted last year.. On Friday, Trump called the Court partisan and un-American by ruling his tariffs unconstitutional…and insisted tariffs aren’t going away. He invoked new global tariffs under a different authority, but Congress must codify them within 150 days.

TRUMP: All we're doing is we're going through a little bit more complicated process. Not complicated very much, but a little more complicated than what we had. We'll be able to take in tariffs, more tariffs.

Tonight’s address also comes amid a partial government shutdown since Congress has not passed funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have demanded reforms to the administration’s immigration operations, and talks with the White House have not resulted in any agreement. In the meantime, agencies such as TSA and FEMA are working without pay.

The chamber will not be at full capacity as some Democrats continue to make their displeasure with the President known. Last year, when President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress to cast his vision for his second term.

SOUND: [Members heckling]

Democratic members booed, shouted, or waved signs that said “lies.” One member was even escorted out of the room by U.S. Marshals. This year, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told his members to maintain decorum.

JEFFRIES: The two options that are in front of us in our house is to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion.

Several members are opting for the latter by appearing at alternate events. Senators Adam Schiff, Chris Murphy, and others are speaking at the National Press Club tonight for an event called State of the Swamp. Left-leaning organizations are also hosting the “People’s State of the Union” on the National Mall tonight.

Those who do attend the President’s address or watch are likely to be in for a long night. Between the economy, immigration, foreign policy and tariffs, the President has a lot of ground to cover and he knows it.

TRUMP: It's going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Washington.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: pressuring Iran. 

More nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran are set to take place Thursday. Meanwhile, the U.S. has amassed what some say is the biggest military buildup in the Middle East in more than two decades. And protests against the regime of Supreme Leader Ali Khomaini have started again, weeks after his government brutally crushed an uprising in January.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Joining us now is Barbara Slavin. She is a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University.

REICHARD: Ms. Slavin, good morning.

BARBARA SLAVIN: Good morning.

REICHARD: There are confirmed reports that protests started again in the last few days. Many of them happened during memorials marking 40 days since the January protestors were killed. What are protestors saying now?

SLAVIN: The demand is the same. I think 80% or more of the Iranian people would love to get rid of the system of government they've had for the last 47 years. But of course, this is all easier said than done, as we saw in January when protests were put down absolutely brutally, and I have no doubt that the regime would do the same to these protests, although I think they're letting people let off a little bit of steam. As you mentioned, 40 days is a mourning period in Iran, and so it was expected that people would protest again 40 days after the last protests, also, college campuses have reopened, and college students historically have protested in Iran.

REICHARD: So we've got external pressures and internal pressures. Reports are saying that the regime, as we mentioned, killed anywhere from several 1000 to 10s of 1000s of protesters, unarmed people, at that. Describe for us the risks these protesters now face anything different than January.

SLAVIN: Because of the external pressures, the enormous military power that has been assembled next to Iran in the Persian Gulf by the United States, I think the regime feels even more obligated to be very, very harsh with internal protests, because it knows its vulnerabilities that said during the protests in January, and now we've not seen cracks in the regime or in its repressive forces. And so those who hope that somehow this government is going to magically go away, even if the United States attacks. I think should be cautious in those estimations.

REICHARD: You know, President Trump promised just last month that help was on the way. Is there a path to regime change that doesn't involve outside help? And how much do you think the military buildup has emboldened the protesters to come out again?

SLAVIN: You know, that's a really hard question to answer. Again, the solution is going to have to come from within Iran and it's going to probably have to come from within the Iranian regime. The supreme leader of the country is 86 going on 87 he will pass from the scene. There will be others in the military and with within the clerical ranks who will move forward. And one of the things I hope the United States is trying to do is to identify people within the regime that it might be able to work with, perhaps similar to what it did with Venezuela. This is more realistic than expecting that the son of the Shah is going to return, you know, triumphant, and the whole country will fall down before Him. That is very unlikely. Most people think there is likely to be some sort of military regime based on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that might be less hostile to the United States and a little bit more tolerant of the Iranian people. There's also the possibility of chaos Civil War, something like what we've seen in Syria or Sudan, with external actors trying to pick winners and losers. So it's it's not a happy prospect, and we should be very clear eyed about the potential downsides of regime change, as well as the potential benefits.

REICHARD: Final question here, Barbara. What do you see as the best-case scenario for the people of Iran as to how this situation ends?

SLAVIN: Well, I think an agreement that relieves some of the onerous economic sanctions, that allows people to breathe, that supports the currency, so people can afford to show their views about various subjects would be good. And then obviously internal change within Iran that is accepted by the system, because they cannot go on like this in perpetuity, opposed to the views of 80% of the population.

REICHARD: Is there anything that you really want to get in here that I didn't give you the opportunity to answer a question?

SLAVIN: Yeah, I don't think President Trump should feel that he has to take military action just because he's assembled a so- called Armada. To take military action without a clear goal, without a full appreciation of the potential consequences, would be very, very irresponsible, and he is our Commander in Chief, and he has to take these decisions of war and peace very, very seriously.

REICHARD: Barbara Slavin is a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. Barbara, thank you.

SLAVIN: You're welcome. Thank you very much for asking. Appreciate it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: President Trump has said he’s considering whether to take military action in Iran, but the administration does appear to be ready for his orders. 

That’s based on the additional military assets that have been moved into the Middle East. At least 16 ships, including two carrier strike groups, more than 100 fighter jets, and refueling aircraft and missile defense systems. They are now part of the American military presence.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Joining us now is retired rear admiral Mark Montgomery, he previously commanded a Carrier Strike group in the Pacific, and now is senior director of the center for cyber and information technology at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Good morning.

MARK MONTGOMERY: Good morning. Hi, Mary.

REICHARD: Tell us more about the buildup. How big is it?

MONTGOMERY: So you have to look at it as how much of our deployable military. So when we say we have roughly just under 300 ships at any one time, only about 100 are at sea, and about 80 are on deployment that is away from home port a significant amount of time. And so, you know, this represents about 50% of the ships that are on deployment, even, maybe even higher for the maritime for the aircraft, a little harder to estimate that way, but it's probably about 50% of the deployable capability we have, and I should mention, we also have, you know, we have a bomber force in kind of us, you know, B-2, B-1 and B-52s, all of which are starting to cut over some level of of their bandwidth to this mission. But that doesn't really burn readiness because they're in their home airfield. So, you know, I'd say roughly, these are very rough numbers, but around 50% of like our deployable assets are now in the Middle East.

REICHARD: So it's a lot, in other words. Can you walk us through the main options President Trump is considering more diplomacy and sanctions or potential military measures, and the implications of each?

MONTGOMERY: Sure, so I mean, he is still conducting negotiations with Steve Witkoff, his Swiss Army knife of negotiations, not sure to what end those will achieve. The Iranians are pretty professional negotiators who, you know, are not known to be getting cornered in negotiations, and certainly not by someone like Witkoff, who has marginal experience in the region, but I'm sure the President is still interested in hearing how they're going. He then has a series of options on the military side, and you know, that are pretty scalable, from like, a very precise, targeted, very short, one or two or three day campaign to, you know, several weeks long campaign, independently or bilaterally with our Israeli allies. You know, the short version one is just to pick one of the two or three target sets. And I would break the target sets up into three broad areas. One would be hitting the nuclear enterprise, you know, and completing the job. The second kind of a more likely one, is hitting their defense industrial base. And then finally, he could order hit hits on the IRGC senior leadership. That's Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps senior leadership, you know, who are the most aggressive and authoritarian of the military elements, our security elements inside Iran, or he could hit a mix of all those lines of effort. And that's the multi week or two week long or three week long campaign, best executed alongside our Israeli allies, and it has both the most risk and will cause the most damage.

REICHARD: Iran’s Foreign Minister told CBS News that hitting American bases in the region was a possibility if the U.S. launches a strike:

ABBAS ARAGHCHI: If the U.S. attacks us, that is the act of aggression. What we do in response is the act of self-defense.

So what do we know about Iran’s capabilities to retaliate?

MONTGOMERY: They have extensive capabilities of retaliation: cruise missile, ballistic missile, short range and intermarriage, ballistic missiles and drones. And they will use all of them they did in responding to the killing of the IRGC commander Soleimani by President Trump back in 2020 they conducted strikes against the U.S. bases that they could reach. So yes, they will 100% launch at our bases, and likely some of their weapons will get through. Not many, but, you know, a handful. They'll hit Israel as well. Israel and the United States have Arrow, THAAD, those are long range missile defense systems. The ships off the coast in eastern Mediterranean, what's called the SM-3 and SM-6 missiles. So we'll shoot down a lot of the incoming Iranian stuff, but some will get through.

REICHARD: Meanwhile, we’ve heard reports of Iran doing joint military exercises with China and Russia…what do we know about Russian and Chinese support for Iran if the U.S. launches strikes?

MONTGOMERY: Well, certainly there is an axis of authoritarians, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and they maintain a very transactional relationship in military areas and economic areas and cyber and technology areas. You know, they're not there to participate in any military way, shape or form. They're there to, you know, for kind of diplomatic and signaling purposes. An interesting marker on this was last year's 12 Day War, where Russia and China were nowhere to be found when Israel, when Iran, was kind of getting pounded hard by Israel, and then Israel and the United States. So there's limits to that relationship.

REICHARD: Mark Montgomery is a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mark, thanks so much!

MONTGOMERY: Thank you for having me.

NICK EICHER, HOST: To catch a thief … police in Thailand had to get creative.

An elusive burglar in Bangkok had broken into a commander’s home three times — stealing tens of thousands of dollars in valuables.

This guy was very good at spotting a tail. He so much as sensed a cop — he ran. So officers tried something different. They stopped tailing him. And became one.

They took on the disguise of one of those red-and-gold lion costumes … you know, the kind that snake through Lunar New Year parades. They danced. They swayed. They inched closer.

Then, at just the right moment — the lead officer snaps the papier-mâché head back. Police spill out, tackle the suspect, and cuff him.

He may have been good at spotting a tail. He just didn’t expect that tail to wag.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, February 24th.

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

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a pastor who stayed.

Today marks four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

When Moscow’s forces crossed the border in 2022, many local pastors fled and didn’t return. But today– the story of a pastor who stayed even as Russian forces advanced on his town.

EICHER: Here’s WORLD correspondent Caleb Welde with a story on an evangelical church in Romny, just 60 miles from the front.

CALEB WELDE: Yoryslav Yaroshenko knows he’s a special target.

YAROSHENKO: History said, from 2014, the first people who was killed by Russian soldiers… it was pastors and their children.

Still, the morning of the 2022 invasion, the first thing the pastor did was drive towards Russia. Yoryslav’s brothers, their wives, and their children lived just 20 miles from the Russian border in a town called Sumy.

YAROSHENKO: And when we go out from Sumi, like, maybe 10 or 15 kilometers, my friends called me from Sumi and say that Russian troops are in Sumi, and they fighting inside the town.

The Russians were presumably ten minutes behind them. Pastor Yoryslav brought his brothers to Romny– just sixty miles west of Sumy. He needed to get them and 32 members of his church further west.

YAROSHENKO: We call all our church members, and say them what to do and say them that you have time to evacuate right now.

Yorysalv’s wife Ira spent hours that morning trying to withdraw cash from an ATM to pay for gas and anything else the church members might need.

YAROSHENKO: We understand that this is the time when we need to serve people more than anyone else.

Amid the sound of more explosions, Yoryslav asks his wife Ira to evacuate too.

YAROSHENKO: …but she said, I'm your wife, and if you choose to stay here, and so for the people of the church, I will still, I will stay with you. I will not leave you.

He said this remains the most powerful moment in their relationship.

YAROSHENKO: In that moment I feel like big warm inside of me, because I know that she will not leave me alone. We will be together in good or bad situation, in peace or in war, we are together and she is with me.

Eight members of the congregation decided to stay in Romny. Their decision had implications.

YAROSHENKO: If I can't evacuated all people from the church and from my town, I can't leave it, because this is my responsibility…

But Yoryslav says their decision was understandable. That it was incredibly stressful and hard to make big decisions in that moment. Plus, several of the church members were older and had only ever lived in Romny.

YAROSHENKO: …to find new place, to find new people without friends on the western Ukraine, so you can come on the place you don't know, with no money, to the people you don't know. You even don't know, will someone receive you or not? Will someone help you or not?

That first night in Romney, in every direction around Yoryslav and Ira, the sky was lit up orange—from fires and explosions. The couple decided it’d be safer to move into the church. It had thicker walls and was further from the main road. By 7 the next morning, it was clear the window to leave had closed.

YAROSHENKO: There was 28 tanks, eight helicopters…

By 10, the town was surrounded.

YAROSHENKO: They put checkpoint there and there.

News spread fast about the checkpoints.

YAROSHENKO: They just killing people on the checkpoints. Just stop them and kill them. Even on this point that I will show you right now, they stopped a taxi and killed the driver without reason. Just Just Just kill her.

With the town locked down, the food they’d stored up was the food they had. But then, people began asking for the food and spreading the word the pastor was sharing. But Pastor Yoryslav says it wasn’t really a question whether or not they’d share.

YAROSHENKO: We believe that God will provide us in every situation. That's why we share with them all we have.

Five people also move into the church with them.

YAROSHENKO: We was lived in, one in only, in one room, all together, because it was safety, it was emotionally easy, because you understand that some people are around you, and also because we have cameras on our church and the screen in in this room so we can see outside, what, what is happening outside.

But food is running out. Three weeks in, they’re down to a few pounds of flour and some buckwheat. They have no idea that while they pray, a church hundreds of miles west of them is filling jars with ready to eat borscht and buckwheat and meat. They also don’t know a Christian man has decided to try to get through the Russian checkpoints to deliver the food.

YAROSHENKO: So we eat everything, And the next day, first humanitarian aid came to our church.

It’d be another month before troops liberated Romny. And still today the war continues outside Yoryslav’s doorstep. Many of the four-hundred pound drones headed for Kyiv fly low over his house. Also, much of his own town is hostile to him because he’s an evangelical. The Soviets saw evangelicals as a dangerous cult and many people in Romny still believe them. The weekend I’m there there’s machine gun fire out the window at night and Sunday morning explosions during church.

YAROSHENKO: As for me, when I will come to the heaven, I want to see Jesus Christ, who will say, I know him.

Until then, Pastor Yorysalv says his job is to stay at his post.

For WORLD, I’m Caleb Welde.

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. Up next, barbs for the bench.

After that 6-3 Supreme Court case against President Trump’s emergency tariffs that we reported extensively yesterday … the president did weigh in. He turned his fire not only at the opinion. He reserved special scorn for two of the justices he appointed.

WORLD Commentator Cal Thomas says disagreement is one thing. What followed was something else.

CAL THOMAS: Presidents have disagreed with Supreme Court decisions before.

They have criticized the reasoning.

Warned of consequences.

They have urged Congress to step in.

But after a 6–3 ruling last Friday against his emergency tariff authority—including three conservative justices he appointed — President Trump went further.

He went after the justices themselves.

Listen:

TRUMP: They also are a frankly, disgrace to our nation… they’re just being fools and lap dogs… they’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.

Consider the last four words, “Disloyal to the Constitution.”

The irony is difficult to ignore.

The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, cited the Constitution directly—specifically the separation of powers. The Court said Congress, not the president, holds the authority to impose tariffs under the emergency statute he invoked.

Reasonable people can differ with that interpretation. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas dissented. They were forceful. They predicted the result would leave a “mess,” even that it lacked “common sense.”

But their argument was about doctrine and consequences—not about the motives of their colleagues. They didn’t degrade the other justices.

The president did, and then some. He went beyond questioning the majority justices’ judgment. He personalized it.

TRUMP: I think it’s an embarrassment to their families.

Later, when asked whether the justices would still be invited to his State of the Union address tonight, the president added this:

TRUMP: They are invited — barely… honestly, I couldn’t care less if they come.

There was a time when presidents defended their authority vigorously — while preserving the dignity of their office.

They pressed their case.

They challenged the ruling.

They respected the institution, even when they believed it was wrong.

Today, public discourse sounds different.

More coarse. More personal. More juvenile.

There is already enough contempt in our culture.

Films are saturated with it.

Social media amplifies it.

Cable news rewards it.

Do we really need the presidency to contribute to the decline?

Some defend this tone as authenticity. They say bluntness signals strength.

Perhaps.

But presidents are not merely political combatants.

They are representatives of the nation.

They set a tone and model a standard.

Tariffs themselves are not the central issue here. One can argue that many countries impose baseline tariffs on U.S. goods. One can argue Congress should revisit trade law.

One can even argue the Court ruling was mistaken.

But none of that requires calling justices “fools.”

None of it requires questioning their patriotism.

None of it requires suggesting they are an embarrassment to their families.

Strong leadership does not require coarse language or personal insult. I would argue it requires the exact opposite.

For WORLD, I’m Cal Thomas.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Reaction to the State of the Union Address tonight, Hunter Baker will be along for Washington Wednesday. And a South Carolina couple teaching teens how to overcome social anxiety. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

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

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: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” —Psalm 51:1-4

Go now in grace and peace.

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