Tariff Takedown, War with Iran, and State of the Union

The Bulletin

Christianity Today

News, News Commentary, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.4 • 586 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the President is not authorized to impose tariffs, affirming that Congress alone has the power to tax. Entrepreneur and pastor Mark Franco joins Russell, Mike, and Clarissa to discuss the future of tariffs. Then, President Trump suggests that he would launch a strike on Iran if they do not back down from their nuclear weapons program. Jonathan Schanzer stops by to share about Iranian protests and possible regime change. Finally, President Trump’s annual State of the Union address lasted a record breaking 1 hour and 48 minutes. Mike, Clarissa and Harvest Prude recap the highlights. REFERENCED IN THE EPISODE: Trump’s SOTU Heralded a Revival. The Data Is Mixed. - Harvest Prude ABOUT THE GUESTS: Mark Franco is the president and CEO at MXD Process, a company that oversees the manufacturing and supply of industrial process equipment, and serves as the managing partner at Soterra Capital. Prior to that, he was the principal at Franconia Enterprises and president at Unified Manufacturing and Design, LLC. Mark is a pastor at Sojourn Community Church. Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and he is also on the leadership team of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power. He previously worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the US Department of the Treasury. Schanzer has appeared on CNN, Fox News, Al-Arabiya, and Al-Jazeera. Harvest Prude is Christianity Today’s national political correspondent and a congressional reporter based in Washington, DC. She is a former reporter for The Dispatch and World, having served there as political reporter for their Washington bureau. GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN: Join the conversation at our Substack. Find us on YouTube. Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice. ABOUT THE BULLETIN: The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today’s editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Russell Moore, inviting you to join me on The Russell Moore Show, where we look for signposts in a strange land standing fast to what really matters.
0:09.7	Every week, I talk with thinkers, artists, and leaders about faith, culture, and living a life of integrity, kingdom over culture wars, truth over tribalism, pilgrimage over partisanship, witness over winning,
0:22.3	and Christ over everything. Join us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:36.0	From Christianity Today, you're listening to The Bulletin, a podcast about the people, events, and issues that are shaping our world.
0:43.0	I'm Clarissa Mall.
0:44.5	Today, Russell Moore, Mike Cosper, and I join with guests to talk about the Supreme Court's takedown of Trump's tariffs, a potential war with Iran, and responses to the State of the Union address. Welcome to the show.
0:59.6	Last Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,
1:07.0	does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the
1:13.1	court saying, quote, the framers gave Congress alone access to the pockets of the people and did not
1:19.2	vest any part of the taxing power in the executive branch. Joining Russell Mike and me to discuss this
1:24.9	big news is Mark Franco, a pastor, entrepreneur,
1:28.6	and CEO of MXD Process, a company in the manufacturing and industrial processing sector.
1:35.0	Mark, thanks for joining us today on the bulletin.
1:37.6	Thanks for having me.
1:39.1	Mark, I'm curious as a business owner, how have these tariffs affected your work over the last year?
1:45.5	So, MXD, we're a manufacturer first, but we do use a lot of imported raw materials and
1:53.2	semi-fabrications to be able to deliver a very innovative and cost-effective product to our U.S.
2:00.1	customers. It's not just the increased costs of the tariff itself.
2:03.6	It's actually the chaos that it's created in that you don't know how to price anything.
2:08.6	And thus, our customers who feel that chaos as well find it cost-effective to just wait to purchase.
2:16.6	So it's actually the disruptiveness of business,
2:19.6	that's maybe the most difficult part of this. I could deal with cost structures and such,
	...

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