Thursday, April 16, 2026
4/16/202626 min
This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.
On today’s edition of The Briefing, Dr. Mohler discusses the resignations of Congressmen Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell, the push for assisted dying and abortion worldwide, and the deadly consequences of libertarianism.
Part I (00:14 – 13:33)
‘Sin Seizes the Opportunity’: The Moral Failures of Congressmen Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell
Part II (13:33 – 21:06)
Libertarianism Across the World, Part A: The Economist Pushes for UK Legalization of Assisted Suicide
Part III (21:06 – 24:13)
Libertarianism Across the World, Part B: The Economist Pushes for Brazil to Legalize Abortion
- There is little prospect of legalising abortion in Brazil by The Economist
Part IV (24:13 – 26:11)
Libertarian Freedom is a Problem: The Theological Presupposition of Libertarian Freedom Has Deadly Consequences
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAlbert Mohler· Host0:00
[upbeat music] It's Thursday, April 16th, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. I wanna start out with some recent headlines that have caught the attention of Americans, of a bipartisan story. And so just in the last several days, two members of Congress have had to resign over sex scandals. And that includes Eric Swalwell, who resigned, uh, as a Democrat from a congressional seat in California, even as he dropped out as a leading contender for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination there in California. Everything just fell apart for him in a matter of hours, certainly in a matter of days. He eventually had to not only drop out of the California governor's race, he also had to just resign from the House. And, and more on that in just a moment. But you also had Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, a Republican, who also had to resign from the House rather than face discipline and an expulsion process. And, and in this case, it was because he also had been involved in sexual misbehavior. In the case of Eric Swalwell, I still have to use, uh, the, the legal definition that he is accused of having participated in sexual misbehavors, even of sexual crimes. When it comes to Representative Gonzales, now former Representative Gonzales, the Texas Republican, it was about sexual misbehavior with a former staffer who later committed suicide. So we really are talking about very dark situations.