January 9th, 2026

On Friday’s Mark Levin Show, there needs to be Republican unity ahead of the midterm elections. Any fraying or splintering—such as a handful of Republicans voting against President Trump’s interests on key legislation—could lead to electoral losses, ended careers for some lawmakers, and two years of investigations and allegations plaguing the administration and supporters. Republicans must support the President’s agenda, as Democrats are in a weak position with low ratings, but GOP disunity could hand them victories and drag down the party and conservative movement. Also, an Iranian regime collapse would reduce oil flows to Communist China from Iran and Venezuela. The Iranian people who are seeking freedom are enduring a horrendous police state amid widespread protests involving all ages, families, and backgrounds, despite being disarmed. The Iranian protestors need our help now, there needs to be immediate U.S. military action, without troops, to help. Later, there’s an intentional invasion and a failure to act will lead to losing everything, as has happened in London, Paris, Canada, Australia, and now New York City. The Democrat Party is devoured by Stalinist and Islamist elements. There’s a dark time in the country with escalating leftist violence backed by Democrat mayors and funded militias from billionaires and foreign entities like Qatar, aiming to overthrow the nation through groups like CAIR.  Finally, Jim Trusty calls in to break down the legal aspect of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis and Hamas supporters in NYC.

Photo by Grace Cary

The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.

Rough transcription of Hour 1

Segment 1
Hello America. Mark Levin here on this wonderful Friday.  Our number 877-381-3811.  877-381-3811. There’s a lot to delve into today, and we will delve into a lot. But before we delve into the predictable, I want to talk about something. And that’s the midterm elections. Why now? Because it’s important. I’m starting to see some fraying of a handful of Republicans. And, you know, Abraham Lincoln gave that famous speech about a house divided. If the Republicans don’t stick together, and certainly for the vast majority of them support the president’s agenda, they’re going to lose the midterm elections. And if they lose the midterm elections, some of these congressmen and senators will have their careers ended. And the president will be spending the next two years as well, members of his administration and family, as will the rest of us, dealing with investigations, allegations in the lead up to the 2028 election. The Democrats are actually in a very bad position. You’re going to learn on Sunday on Life, Liberty and Levin from Mark Penn that their ratings are extremely low. The only thing. That can help them win. Is the Republicans. Depending on how they conduct themselves. But if you start to have some running for the hills. They’re going to drag down the rest of the party. And the conservative movement. Here we have a piece in The Washington Post. Significant numbers of Republicans joined the Democrats in voting against President Trump’s interests on the high profile pieces of legislation yesterday, suggesting his party’s unyielding loyalty to this point in his term has started to splinter. Now, what’s interesting about language like that from the Post. Really, a bill doesn’t come to the floor unless there’s been a lot of give and take already between the Trump administration, Republican leadership, other Republicans. There’s a lot and a lot a lot that goes into it, a lot of discussion, a lot of compromise among Republicans. So it’s not the Trump agenda in that sense. It’s the Trump agenda in that’s the direction he wants to take the country. But there’s also many, many Republicans in the House, in the Senate who’ve participated in this, only to have a few of their fellow Republicans undermine them. Early in the day, the Senate advanced a bipartisan measure intended to block the Trump administration from conducting further military action in Venezuela. Five Republicans joined every Democrat senator in advancing the resolution following the White House’s capture of Venezuela’s president without explicit permission from Congress. I dare them and anybody else to tell me where he needs explicit permission from Congress. When in fact he does not. Congress is not in charge of military action and military decisions. Congress is in charge of funding the military. And if it chooses cutting funding from the military, it has absolutely no none. Actual role in military actions of any kind. That’s what our history has demonstrated. That’s what our debate that we have read and the framers have demonstrated. And that’s what the Constitution provides. I just want to be utterly clear about this. Now, the resolution is expected to get a chilly reception in the house of a pass of the Senate, which it did. Was Speaker Mike Johnson unlikely to bring it to the floor, but it gave Senate Republicans an opportunity to come out against continued military action in Venezuela, which Trump and some administration officials have refused to rule out without congressional approval. Well, of course, they refused to rule it out. That’s suicidal and they don’t need congressional approval. Since when do you need congressional approval? Democrat and Republican senators alike. Having gotten congressional approval, Trump survived House votes to overturn two of his vetoes, which requires two thirds of the chambers. But at least two dozen Republicans voted with Democrats to defy as well, demonstrating a greater willingness than seen last year to buck his party’s president. Defying, defying his will. Two dozen Republicans voted with Democrats. That means about 200 Republicans voted with the president. 35 Republican lawmakers voted to override Trump’s veto. The Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, a bill meant to aid a decades old Colorado River project. Water project. A water project. So here’s Trump trying to control spending. 24 Republicans joined the Democrats. 25 Republicans, I should say, but it wasn’t enough to overturn the veto. And also the musky the Murkowski Reserved Area Amendments Act, which codifies tribal land rights in Florida. After those votes, House Democrats, with the help from Republicans, passed a bill to extend expired enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. Obamacare. Massive fraud. The whole damn thing is a fraud. From theory to reality. Four Republicans are five. First jump ship and then 17. Total lawmakers voting against their party’s president is common in midterm election years, particularly for vulnerable lawmakers who represent swing districts. Yet the repeated rebukes of the president and the number of lawmakers defecting are unusual. They say they represent a continued challenge for GOP leaders with limited majorities who are struggling to corral their colleagues behind the president’s agenda. Okay, This is a a suicide pact by these Republicans who are turning on the president and turning on that agenda. And if this keeps up, we will get slammed in the midterm elections. No matter how low the Democrat numbers are. You have to have a united party going into midterm elections. You really do. Then, of course, we have the war Powers situation. The war powers situation. We had these Republicans in the Senate, five of them who voted with the Democrats, every single Democrat, as I pointed out. Saying that, you know, if you’re going to say we’re going to have approval or anything goes, Fred, No, you don’t get approval. You can vote to defund or limit funds or whatever you want, but you cannot. You don’t have veto power. Unbelievable. And there’s more. So I wanted to point this out to you. That this stuff is going on. Some Republicans who are against the override said they wanted to signal support for Trump in their votes, while others cited concerns over fiscal responsibility. Armed with protest, said Greg Stubby, Republican of Florida, who was against overriding the Florida measure. They’re not working with our federal law enforcement officer as it relates to immigration and enforcement. I believe that projects that exclusively benefit local communities should be paid exclusively by those local communities. I agree with Tom McClintock, one of the few Republicans left in the California delegation. We’ve got to stop robbing Saint Petersburg to pay Saint Paul. And he’s right. You’ve got these local projects. I mean, these Republicans run on fiscal conservatism, right. And responsibility. Well, why are they? Why is the federal taxpayer paying for all this stuff if it really doesn’t have a federal connection? Then it belongs in the state. So I wanted to bring this up. I wanted to point out that. Some of these Republicans are off on their own. They’re acting rogue. They have a thousand reasons. They can tell you why. But I one reason why I tell you this better stop. Because the ship will sink. It will sink and it’ll be a disaster. I’ll be right back.

Segment 2
I want to complete what we began some time ago, our roster of little known delegates to the Constitutional Convention. And it’s unfortunate that they are little known because they all had such a crucial role even before the Constitutional convention. And so let’s address a few of them as we as we wrap this up. Let’s see, how many more do I have to go? Not many. Let’s go to Jupiter. Marsh. Governor Marsh from Pennsylvania. He helped draft the first state constitution of New York. Was then a young firebrand in the Constitutional Congress. He was the most active delegate at the convention, speaking 173 times. And obviously it moved from New York to Pennsylvania. James Wilson, who is known to many but not enough from Pennsylvania. Born and educated in Scotland, Wilson came to America in 1765 and set up a legal practice in 1768. Wilson signed the Declaration of Independence and was second only to Gouverneur Morris in terms of the number of speeches that he made at the convention. A very important delegate. Both of those men were very important delegates. Most people know nothing about them. So I’ve covered really the roster of the relatively unknown, in some cases completely unknown. Delegates at the Constitutional Convention. And I’m not going to get into their known right now. We’ve got all year to do this and we’re going to do this and other aspects of our own history so more and more people can can know about it. But I will remind you that that there were other great men there, many of whom you’re quite familiar with, Alexander Hamilton, as an example, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and of course, George Washington, who was the president of that president of the Second Continental Congress when they met. Very active, very, very important man. So we will get into a lot of this. And I promise you that I’m not ready to launch it, but we will be very soon. My new podcast, which will both promote this program and everything we do, but fundamentally will be focused on history and philosophy and economics. Americanism, you, Mr. and Mrs. America. And from time to time it will have to be used to confront, challenge and and take on elements in our society, whether it’s the Marxist Islamists or the woke Reich neo fascists and have come to learn there’s not a ton of overlap between radio and. Audience. Versus the Internet. See, many of you are on the Internet, but you don’t believe on the Internet. You’re like me. You use it as you use it, but you’re not there, you know, 10 hours a day. But there’s a whole sort of underworld that spends day after day, hour after hour on the Internet. And what you come to learn is there’s there’s some very good people, but it’s largely a cesspool. Because it brings in foreign bots funded by foreign governments. It brings in foreign individuals who are very, very hostile to our country and our culture in the entire West, as well as some good people. But I dare to say that too many are actually quite evil. And this is the problem we’re having with some of these podcasters who you used to know and used to respect and admire, who have gone nuts because their business model and their grift moves them in the direction of foreign governments. Alien listeners and viewers, many of whom are hostile to this country. You know, in some ways reminds me of NBA basketball. You know, they really wanted to break into communist China, that market and with their with their souvenirs and their clothing and play some games there and so forth. And they see a huge market there which takes them beyond the United States. National Football League sees a huge market in Europe as an example. Well, these podcasters in that sense are similar, but not in the sense of being as evil as so many of them. Mars is perverse as so many of them are in that they’re reaching out to virtually any country. Any people because they get paid. Just so you understand by the number of eyes who are watching the video, you click on and watch the video. And the more of those you get, the higher up in the process you go in, the more money you make. Not crazy. So it doesn’t matter. So it’s not like, you know, let’s say it’s network TV or cable TV or radio, for that matter. You’re really focused on a market. You’re focused on an American market, maybe a particular age group or sex or whatever it is. And and you do it that way. Not the way the other world works is that you don’t care who they are, how old they are, where they’re from, what they believe. But you do know that there is a massive worldwide market well beyond the shores of the United States, that if you can tap into that, you’ll become extraordinarily wealthy. And that’s what they’re doing, little to foment this. I think I read some big percentage, maybe was 40% of his viewers are overseas and a big chunk of that. Pakistan. Okay. Pakistan. You have to believe Qatar will send a big chunk of his viewers are probably in the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world, because that’s his target audience. Me again. Kelly She’s flailing around like a flounder on the beach. And she’s trying to figure out what her. What her area is, but she has apparently settled on the the Qatar Olsen model. They see a lot of people out there. And so that’s pretty much what they’re doing and so forth and so on. Has a perverse, perverse effect, doesn’t it, on what these people say and how and how horrendous they are. All right. Much more when we return. I’ll be right back.

Segment 3
We have two brand new fantastic life, liberty and live in programs this weekend. Now look, I understand what goes on in the world. There’s a lot of football games going on, a lot of other things going on. May I suggest you set your DVR or however you record for 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Saturday, 8 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, maybe do it now so you don’t forget because these are two very important shows. On Saturday I’ll be going over the declaration of war versus making war an exquisite detail and I’ll be calling out those who are phonies and frauds and are saying otherwise. It’s important that we get that out on television. And our guest will be Jack Keane for the entire hour. And he’s fantastic. He’s a brilliant man, retired four star general. There are a lot of four star generals out there. He was vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He’s seen much military combat action. And we’re going to go through Venezuela and Iran and we’re going to keep an eye on Iran. And I want to get into that in a minute, as well as Russia and Ukraine. And then Sunday, big, big show in many ways. I’m doing this show, of course, for you, but for Supreme Court Justice members as well. I’m going to take another whack at this issue of the Constitution and who has power over what when it comes to commerce and tariffs and taxes and so forth. And again, you’ll know more than any other citizens in our country as well as to gas. I decided, you know what? Let me bring two moderate Democrats on who I consider friends who are very good, Julian Epstein and Mark Penn. And let’s discuss the Democrat Party and let’s discuss what’s happened to it. And let’s discuss is there any way to salvage it? Because honestly, ladies and gentlemen, as a constitutional conservative all my life and as a Republican, we need a Democrat Party that is a rational, moderate party, not a party that seeks to destroy our country. And these two are very worried about it. And we’re going to talk about it and talk about what can be done about this. So that’s going to be a fantastic show on Sunday as well. So I encourage again, set your DVR is 8 p.m. Eastern Time. That way you have options or watch a live if if if you prefer to do that. So let’s talk about Iran for a moment. Why is it relevant to us? It’s very relevant to us. If this regime falls, that means oil that’s flowing to communist China, as well as the oil that has been flowing to communist China from Venezuela will not will not flow as much as it has been. In other words, it’s incredible, an important national security issue for we, the people of the United States. But in addition to that, there are tens of millions of people in Iran. 70 million. If a guitar lesson wants to ask a question and they want their freedom. And these are good people. They’re in a police state that that is horrendous. And now the chief prosecutor in Tehran, who obviously represents the Islamic regime, has announced that they are going to execute anti-regime protesters, particularly those who they consider the most aggressive. And if they’ve done any damage to any property whatsoever, they plan massive executions. If this revolt. If this revolt doesn’t work. Massive. Now, the president has said multiple times, including today, and we’ll get to that in a moment, that he’s prepared to use our military power and not troops, obviously, but our military power. I would suggest that now’s the time. Now’s the time because they’re doing everything they can. This is a population that was disarmed. They’re coming into the streets all ages. All ages, entire families, all backgrounds. They want their freedom back. And I want them to have their freedom to. This is a big deal. This prosecutor said we will show no leniency toward instigators of unrest. They will be charged with a facade fraud that is spreading mischief on earth, which carries the death penalty, he said. The death penalty. So that means every single protester who they can identify and they’re now tens of thousands of them. They intend to go door to door. They intend to do some of the most horrendous things that this regime always does. It’s just. Just disgusting. The president was asked about this. And he made the point that. Yes. Yes. That he will take action if he needs to. Let’s go to Cut 19. Run. Let’s go to cut. 19. Mr. Producer. This is what he said briefly. Go. So Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching this situation very carefully. I’ve made this statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved. We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts. So we don’t want that to happen. There have been cases like this where President Obama totally backed down. But this is something pretty incredible, this happening in Iran. It’s an amazing thing to watch. They’ve done a bad job. They’ve treated their people very badly and now they’re being paid back. So let’s see what happens. We’re watching it. We’re watching it very closely. All right. And I trust the president completely in this regard. And to me, the it’s time to pull the trigger. That’s just me because. They took out all the Internet. In the last time they did that, they started slaughtering people. Making it difficult to get communications out to the rest of the world. And so. You have these precious people, these young girls and guys and these families and the elderly have taken to the streets. I have no doubt that there’s slaughter, additional slaughter taking place. They’ve already arrested thousands, just so you know. When they take me to those prisons, most of them don’t come out. This is a horrendous regime under the name of Islam. Horrendous. President yesterday on Fox News cut one. Mr. Producer with our buddy Sean Hannity. Go. Are you following the protesting that is taking place all over the country of Iran? Yeah, I’m following. Have you read the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is now has a plan B to go to Russia or someplace? Yeah, he’s looking to go. Do you believe that’s in Iran? And we think the country is on the verge of collapsing? Well, it could be. I mean, what they’ve done is they start in the past, they’ve started shooting the hell out of people and all of a sudden people without any weapons whatsoever is standing there and a machine guns gunning them down. Or they can grab them, take them to prisons and hang them and kill them. So they played rough. And I said, if they do that, we’re going to hit them very hard. So we’re going to hit them, but we’re ready to do it. If they do that, we’re going to hit them hard. And so far, for the most part, there’s been some of it, but for the most part they have. And there have been people killed, some of them the crowds are so big that some of them have had really like who are stomped on literally. It was it was terrible. The crowds are just they’re massive. The enthusiasm to overturn that regime is incredible. But there’s been people killed. But it’s more from death by it’s literally stomping. It’s not anymore, though, You know, it’s now it’s the regime killing people in the streets and grabbing them, particularly girls they love to torture girls and women and dragging them in the prisons and so forth. There’s more of that going on than I think people are dying underfoot from the mobs. I’m sure there’s some of that, but I don’t think that’s most of it. And so now you you see what’s taking place in Iran. Now, there’s no question. That the setting for this was created by the prime Minister of Israel and the IDF. The country of Israel when it literally defeated militarily Iran in 12 days. A massive accomplishment. And when our president ordered our incredible bombers to take out their nuclear sites, this laid the foundation for the ability to people to rise up if they chose to. Now they’ve risen up. We’ve said that we will help protect them. And I feel like that she was dropped. It’s time, if not tonight, over the weekend. I have no inside information, but that’s something I believe in. You will notice, I think, that most of the media have underplayed this course in spurts in a staccato way. They’ll put out a little bit of information, but they don’t treat this as a major event. It is a major event. It’s a big deal. And I feel part of the reason is you have the Marxist Islamist. A crowd that is really supports the regime. And then you have the woke right neo fascist who also support the regime, in fact, their leader, Qatar. Carlson, as you may remember, interviewed the the president of that regime, basically another kiss butt interview. And I will remind you that Qatar is allied with with Iran. They have shared oil reserves, among other things. And so you have all that going on in the background. You’ve got all that going on in the background. But to me, it’s a really simple thing that if this regime falls, we are safe from this regime. The whole worldwide network and terrorism will not be eliminated, but it will be severely damaged. Tens of millions of people in Iran, the Persian people who are more Western than they are any of the rest of this. They will be freed and you’ll have a free Iran that will contribute to society. You have a free Iran that will be aligned with us, not communist China and Russia and North Korea. These are all very, very positive things. Mr. Producer posted something today I’m a little bashful about. It was very kind of him. You know, ladies and gentlemen, there was a big battle over this. Whether the United States should green light Israel’s war against Iran, and then whether or not the United States should bomb their nuclear sites. Those of you who’ve listened to this program for at least ten months know that we led this battle. I didn’t choose to lead the battle. It was just something I believed in. And so we came under an unrelenting attack by the woke right neo fascist, the Qatar ites, the Iranian ites, the Russia ites. They’re all one in the same relative handful of isolationists who would have this country diminished as a superpower, endangering the people of this country. It was a hell of a battle and still is. And when that battle broke out, I can count on one hand the number of people, friends and allies who decided to jump in. Now, if you go on the Internet, you got a lot of Internet generals and in fighters on there who post things, talking back and forth to each other. Some of them are very cool. Some of them are really nuts. And somehow they think that’s that’s battling the woke right neo fascist. No, that’s just posting. That’s not battling anything. And so I took it upon myself as part of my responsibility as an American citizen and somebody behind a microphone and a camera, having spent my entire life. Fighting against these enemies in for our republic and our allies to do something about it. And that’s what we did. And I’m proud of you folks in this audience for standing by me. And I stand by you. I’m blessed to have you. Make no mistake about it, there was a very solemn. And lonely, period. But we didn’t care, did we? You do what’s right. That’s what you do. And now this movement. This movement against this element of our society. The Marxist Islamists and the woke right neo fascist. This movement against these forces is real. It started with you right here, and we’re not going to stop. We’ll be right back.

Segment 4
All right. God, I love it. All right. Okey dokey. I shall return.