Today, before taping The Huckabee Show, near Nashville, I visited The Hermitage, the country home of our seventh president, Andrew Jackson.
I was impressed by its austerity — though it also had somewhat pretentious Greek flourishes, which I found interesting for America’s first “populist” president.
Jackson, once a hero to Democrats, has become more controversial in recent years, such that the party dropped him from its pantheon of heroes (and Trump put his portrait in the Oval Office).
But whatever you think of Jackson as president, what I found most impresssive was his love for his wife, Rachel Donelson Jackson. She lived to see him elected, but died before he was inaugurated.
Jackson never overcame her loss. He wore a black band of mourning on his hat for the rest of his life, and never courted or married again. The epitaph on her grave, next to his in the family garden, is the most beautiful I have ever read.
I think that’s what makes a populist a populist — not a hatred of elites or a flair for incendiary rhetoric, but a deep capacity for love, starting with those closest to you, and then your community, and your country, all before the world in general.
This week, we are tackling two major areas of contention between the Trump administration and Democrat governors: fighting crime, and redistricting. The president is sending the National Guard to blue cities -- and blue states are trying to stamp out Republican representation. Is this a civil war situation?
Special guests:
- Bradley Jaye -- Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on redistricting
- Tom Manza, California Business and Industrial Alliance, on Gavin Newsom
- Jon Fleischman, veteran California political expert, on the special election
- Dan Backer, veteran political lawyer and consultant, on corruption
- DJ Mark Anthony, on a recent visit to Rome and visiting Pope Leo XIV
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's portion is the last of the month of Av -- also known as Menachem (Comforter) Av -- which begins in mourning and ends in celebration and anticipation of the New Year and the process of repentance and renewal.
In a similar vein, the portion features Moses offering the Israelites a choice between a blessing and a curse. They are masters of their own fates: if they obey God's commandments, they receive the blessings -- and vice versa.
The key commandment is to reject idol worship. There is said to be something magnetic about the practice of worshiping idols in the new land, such that it would be constant moral battle, both individually and collectively, in the land.
Nowadays, according to Jewish tradition, humanity has lost the urge for idol worship (and the antidote, which is divine prophecy) -- but there are several near substitutes, such as lust or excessive appetites for worldly pleasures.
We are wired for compulsive behaviors, bad habits, and even addictions. These ...
We have so much to talk about this week -- Trump's efforts to negotiate peace through negotiation, and Gavin Newsom's efforts to divide Americans through gerrymandering. We'll also talk about Playboy leaving LA and California.
Special guests:
Frances Martel - Breitbart News foreign editor, on Russia & Ukraine
Bradley Jaye - Breitbart News congressional correspondent, on Newsom
Harmeet Dhillon - DOJ Civil Rights Division chief, on the fight against DEI
Jessica Vaugn - Playboy model on political commentator, on California
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET, 4-7 PT
Call: 866-957-2874
