WORLD Radio Rewind

LEIGH JONES: This is WORLD Radio Rewind: a 10-minute review of some of our news coverage and features from the past week on WORLD Radio. I’m managing editor Leigh Jones.

First up, two reports on vaccine mandates. President Biden announced last week that the federal government would use its regulatory powers to require vaccines in many American workplaces. On Monday’s program, Nick Eicher talked to financial analyst David Bahnsen about the effect that might have on the economy.

NICK EICHER: David, I read a handful of stories on the mandate and came across several—and I grant this is anecdotal—business owners quoted suggesting they’re a bit relieved to have government be the bad guy here, they’ve wanted to require a vaccinated workforce, but they didn’t want to be the bad guy. Now they can say, my hands are tied, you’ve got to get the vaccine, government says so.

So the economics of that—studying the tradeoffs—you have the heavy hand of government, but isn’t the tradeoff that maybe Covid goes away completely and faster and we get on with normal life? How do you analyze that?

DAVID BAHNSEN: Look, I do think that you'll get more vaccinated people out of this to some degree. But then there's tradeoffs. The trade off is that it further exacerbates the distrust of government. It further exacerbates the split that's taking place. There are a substantial amount of non-vaccinated people that are still not going to get vaccinated. They're digging in their heels. So we are living in times where civilly and socially, there is a great deal of unrest, and that rift has been getting worse, not better for about, you know, five years. I think this is going to make that worse, and that has an economic cost to this is something I've been arguing for for some time. I wanted more people vaccinated but did not want mandates. Because I wanted persuasion and human empathy and argument and friendship and conversation to make the case not mandates and unfortunately, they're going about it in a way that I think is yeah going to get more people vaccinated but also going to further divide the country, and that has all kinds of effects, and one of them is economic.

EICHER: David Bahnsen—financial analyst and adviser. He writes at dividendcafe.com. And that’s your Monday Moneybeat. Thanks David, appreciate it.

BAHNSEN: Thanks so much, Nick.

LJ: On Tuesday’s program, Sarah Schweinsberg explored another side-effect of the vaccine mandates: workers who feel forced to quit their jobs.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: In some respects, Rebecca wasn’t all that surprised by the Biden administration’s new vaccine mandate. She figured the government would require federal employees and maybe even medical workers to get vaccinated. But she was surprised her company got caught up in the requirements. Rebecca works for an appliance repair business in Washington state. It has about 130 employees. We’re not using her last name to protect her job.

REBECCA: I don't think anybody thought that it would be mandated for private, like, employers, especially. So yeah, I think I am a little surprised on that.

Rebecca doesn’t want to get the vaccine. She and her husband have been struggling with infertility for the past two years. She’s concerned about how it could affect her hormones. She also doesn’t want to get it for religious and political reasons.

REBECCA: I don't feel like the government should be telling us what to do.

Her husband works at a hospital, so he’s also affected by the mandate. If the federal government is able to implement its vaccine requirements, they could both lose their jobs.

REBECCA: So our life is up in the air.

But that’s a big ‘if” says Jonathan Emord. He’s an attorney who specializes in health law claims. … Emord believes lawsuits will swamp the mandates—lawsuits that could take months if not years to litigate.

EMORD: It's going to drown the nation in a cesspool of litigation. And as a result, years will pass before there's any resolution to this.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

LJ: Next up, Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor has faced withering criticism from opponents over his handling of the COVID crisis in his state. But many Republicans love him, and not just in Florida. In a recent straw poll at a conservative conference, DeSantis edged out former President Donald Trump as the top candidate for the 2024 presidential primaries.

On Wednesday’s program, Mary Reichard talked to WORLD national editor Jamie Dean about the governor’s early political career. 

JAMIE DEAN: Right, in 2018 he ran for governor—and this is really where we see DeSantis for the first time competing on a broader field that’s much more similar to the current field of national politics. Florida is divided pretty evenly between Republicans and Democrats. And the state is sort of famous for nail-biter elections decided on razor-thin margins. So it really was a bigger test for DeSantis.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Obviously, DeSantis won the governor’s seat, but tell us about the race.

DEAN: Well, it was a predictably close race: He won by about .4 percent of the votes, and that sent the contest to an automatic recount, which confirmed the DeSantis win. And it showed he could win an election on a bigger stage under tighter conditions.

So after he came into office, how did he govern?

DEAN: Well, DeSantis certainly governed as a conservative, but he also took positions that might have surprised some people. For example, he really emphasized environmentalism, particularly the importance of clean water and a healthy environment for the state’s economic well-being. He even appointed a chief resilience officer to prepare the state for the effects of sea level rise.

Jamie Dean’s lead article on Governor DeSantis is in the September 25th edition of WORLD Magazine. Jamie, as always, thank you.

DEAN: You’re welcome.

LJ: And finally, we end today with the wounds of war. The U.S. pullout from Afghanistan has been especially difficult on those who fought there during the last 20 years. On Thursday’s program, Josh Schumacher explained why so many veterans are struggling.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Retired U.S. Army Sergeant Noah Gilson suffers from PTSD. The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan triggered a flood of emotion.

GILSON: It angers me, it frustrates me, it makes my heart saddened to know that you have a situation where the president allowed such an occurrence to take place. And, and I don't just blame the president, I blame the the acting cabinets, where we shouldn't have allowed that.

Gilson’s anger and frustration isn’t uncommon. Dr. Brian Marx is deputy director for the National Center for PTSD at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

MARX: There's certainly not a one size fits all answer. But we certainly have seen the news reports, and the footage that is being played on social media and TV is really quite upsetting for a number of folks who have served in Afghanistan, in particular, over the last, you know, 20 years or so…

Dr. Marx says the Afghan pullout can be especially hard on veterans with PTSD because they often suffer from distorted beliefs about themselves and the world around them.

MARX: We are seeing in patients in terms of increased symptoms and increased distress really feeling like the country has kind of betrayed them or betrayed the mission that they served.

Veteran Noah Gilson is leaning into his faith to get him through what amounts to a period of mourning. And he’s taking comfort in the knowledge of God’s sovereignty.

GILSON: If nothing else, what war teaches you, is God's ultimate control. I mean, I have seen God's divine authority. He allows what he wants to allow, and he doesn't what he doesn't.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

LJ: That’s it for this edition of WORLD Radio Rewind.

We’ve posted links to each of the stories we highlighted today in our transcript. You can find that on our website.

Next week, gas prices are rising and the Biden administration is doubling down on efforts to cut U.S. oil production. Meanwhile, electric vehicles are more popular than ever, but car makers are still struggling to reach sales goals. And we’ll take a visit to Texas, where pro-life groups are stepping up to help women with unintended pregnancies.

For the latest news, features, and commentary from WORLD News Group, visit wng.org. For WORLD Radio, I’m Managing Editor Leigh Jones.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.