Month: March 2026

Arguably the most Trump-obsessed pastor in America, Rev. Donnie Swaggart, bucks Trump endorsement of Miguez and openly touts Edmonds for Fifth Congressional District.

State Sen. (and pastor) Rick Edmonds addresses the congregation of Family Worship Center during the morning service of Sunday, March 22, 2026 emphasizing that, “We need a good dose of the Holy Ghost inside of Washington, D. C.” [Note:  Photo published in conformity with Fair Use.]

Rev. Donnie Swaggart, son of the late televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, is arguably the most Trump-obsessed pastor in America.  In turn, Trump, according to numerous statements made and Facebook posts published by Jimmy Swaggart Ministires, has openly touted his strong ties and allegiance to the Jimmy Swaggart telecast, with a particular focus on the “classic” broadcasts, which entail videos from crusades of decades ago.

In a November 29, 2020, service at Family Worship Center, Donnie Swaggart delivered a “letter to President Trump.”   In the just-linked video, Swaggart stated his early support upon Trump’s candidacy announcement, expressed personal love and respect, thanked him for various actions, and compared him favorably to Abraham Lincoln, describing Trump as one of the two greatest presidents to serve the country.

Other noteworthy Trump references by Jimmy Swaggart Ministries / Family Worship Center, and/or individual social media posts:

  • A post thanking Trump for acknowledging the ministry’s impact, which states: “Trump also told them he has watched over 200 of Jimmy Swaggart’s Classic sermons on TV.”
  • Similar references in related ministry content, such as announcements about Trump’s phone call to Jimmy Swaggart, where he expressed appreciation for the ministry and its broadcasts (SonLife Broadcasting Network).

These accounts stem from private communications, including a personal phone call Trump made to Jimmy Swaggart (documented in a June 2021 Facebook video from the ministry titled “President Donald Trump calls Brother Swaggart”), during which Trump reportedly mentioned watching the ministry’s content “for many years.” The precise number of “over 200” classic sermons is attributed to what Trump conveyed in conversations with ministry members or during events honoring the connection.

The late Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart celebrated his 90th birthday on March 15, 2025.  The next day, March 16, 2025, an absolutely incredible broadcast aired over SonLife Broadcasting celebrating his very special day, and that broadcast included a letter from President Donald Trump along with Donnie Swaggart openly stating that, in a New York Times interview, President Trump stated that he has watched “over 200 of dad’s sermons.”:

3/16/25:  Rev. Donnie Swaggart touts a letter from President Trump celebrating his late father’s, Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, 90th birthday on the previous day, Saturday, March 15, 2025.  [Note:  Video published in conformity with Fair Use.]

We will note the fact that we provide no link to the New York Times article because we were unable to find such a link with the statement Swaggart attributes to Trump.

As no doubt everyone is aware, President Donald Trump has endorsed State Sen. Blake Miguez for the U. S. Congressional Fifth District Seat in Louisiana.  It was therefore more than a tad intriguing that, during the service of this morning, Sunday, March 22, 2026, Pastor Donnie Swaggart openly touted the candidacy of another candidate, State Sen. (and pastor) Rick Edmonds for that same Congressional Seat:

3/22/26:  After being introduced by Family Worship Center (FWC) Pastor Donnie Swaggart, State Sen. Rick Edmonds praises the Swaggart Ministry (with particular focus on Donnie’s son, Gabriel (also a pastor at FWC), whom Edmonds says, “makes me happy!”).  [Note:  Video published in conformity with Fair Use.]

We edited nothing out regarding the above video; however, we know some people simply aren’t willing to watch a seven-minute plus video, so we’d like to also publish the final 19-second commentary of Swaggart wherein he openly flaunts the fact that FWC is not “endorsing” Edmonds in a manner only Donnie Swaggart can do:

3/22/26:  Nineteen (19) seconds of FWC Pastor Donnie Swaggart, in a way only he can do, provides the disclaimer that FWC is not “endorsing” Edmonds.  [Note:  Video published in conformity with Fair Use.]

Since Swaggart is clearly “wrapped up, tied up, tangled all up in” Edmonds, we are only going to make a couple of statements entailing Edmonds:

First, while Swaggart is correct that Edmonds is a pastor, what he (Swaggart) conveniently left out is that he (Edmonds) is not a pastor of a Louisiana Church but rather First Baptist Church in McComb, Mississippi.

We’re sure that’s just because Edmonds can’t resist heading to the Dinner Bell in McComb after service (yes, that’s tongue-in-cheek), but it does make one question how a resident of the Fifth Congressional District (ostensibly in Baton Rouge, which is 96 miles from McComb – Burns knows because of all the trips he has made to the Dinner Bell) can be such an effective preacher at a church for which he resides so far away.  It’s just a question!

Second, and this one admittedly does stick in Burns’ craw, is how Edmonds handled a public records request which we submitted to him  in January of 2024.  That will require a bit of background:

One of our very first guests on Sound Off Louisiana was a gentleman who reached out to us by the name of Craig Mills, on whom we conducted an extensive series on Mills’ claims of adoption scams being rampant in Louisiana.

Mills worked extensively with Edmonds in helping to alleviate the alleged scams, and on July 1, 2018, we published this feature of Edmonds announcing his candidacy for Secretary of State in which he touted working with Mills to accomplish adoption reform in Louisiana.  Here’s a two-minute video of his presentation with strong focus on Mills:

6/27/18:  Edmonds touts his accomplishments on adoption reform after initially becoming educated on same by one of Sound Off Louisiana’s earliest guests, Craig Mills.

Okay.  There’s background as to what served as the foundation for our public records request of Edmonds.

For reasons which we are not going to divulge at this time (but which may be stated in coming days or weeks), we made a public records request of the Louisiana House of Representatives for emails to and from Edmonds’ official House email address account pertaining to HB-54 of the 2021 Louisiana Legislative Session, which created the “crime of adoption deception.”

The initial response to us was that there were some 180-200 pages of emails (we’re going from memory but will likely amend this feature with the exact number soon); however, Edmonds had opted to exercise his right to exempt about 75 percent of all of those pages, and he only agreed to provide a total of 53 pages, which he did and which we provide here.

We let Edmonds’ staff know in no uncertain terms how dissatisfied we were that Edmonds would opt to exert privilege on such a vast number of pages deemed responsive to our request, but even more galling to us was the fact that what he did provide, on virtually every single page (and we welcome anyone to view the link we just provided), there was no reference to HB-54 of the 2021 Legislative Session whatsoever!

As far as we’re concerned, it was as if Edmonds said (and we’re not so sure he didn’t say it privately), “I don’t want him or anyone else seeing those emails, so I’m just going to provide him a ton of utterly irrelevant pages such as Republican Delegation crawfish boils, etc.”  Being perfectly candid, we’d prefer Edmonds’ long-time ally, Gov. Jeff Landry, and his approach to public records, which is to simply deny the request and force litigation, over providing a bunch of completely and totally irrelevant documents, which is precisely what Edmonds did to us!

In wrapping this feature up, Rev. Donnie Swaggart is quite the little prick in the 19-second video above about the “non endorsement” of Edmonds saying, “We can’t…..”

Well, we’re under no such restriction at Sound Off Louisiana, so we’re concluding this feature by reiterating our endorsement of State Sen. Blake Miguez for the Fifth Congressional District (though we initially made that endorsement as Miguez sought to be a U. S. Senator).

We want to stress that we made that endorsement long before President Trump endorsed Miguez for this Fifth Congressional District race.  Lastly, we again find it interesting the Swaggart videos above given the documented history of the Swaggart and Trump coziness and the fact that Swaggart was only too willing to ignore Trump’s endorsement in this particular situation.

As Louisiana House Speaker DeVillier publicly endorses Rep. Bayham’s braiding bill, Pelican Institute lambasts Cosmetology Board’s initiative to advance permitting to full licensure requiring 600 hours of instruction.

At the March 2, 2026 meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC), Louisiana House Speaker Phillip DeVillier smiles as he prepares to respond to a question posed by Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns on the 2026 push to free hair braiders to be able to practice without the need for 500 hours of classroom instruction (600 if the Cosmetology Board gets its way this session).  Senate President Cameron Henry looks toward DeVillier in anticipation of him being the one to respond to Burns’ question.

On March 2, 2026, the BRPC had dual guests in preparation for the 2026 Legislative Session:  Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry and Louisiana House Speaker Phillip DeVillier.

DeVillier focused much of his opening remarks on outmigration, thus opening the door for Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns to pose a question about Rep. Mike Bayham’s HB-266, which is essentially a replica of last year’s bill designed to free up hair braiders.

Here’s Burns’ question and DeVillier’s response:

3/2/26:  DeVillier responds to Burns’ question on Bayham’s bill.

Even as DeVillier publicly endorses Bayham’s bill on March 2, the Pelican Institute lambasted the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) only two days later on March 4, 2026.  From the Institute’s release:

Today, 37 states no longer require a permit to braid hair, freeing entrepreneurs to earn a living using a skill that is often passed down through generations of women. Unfortunately, Louisiana loves to buck a trend. If the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology (LSBC) gets its way, it will soon become more difficult and more expensive to become a licensed hair braider. 

At its March 2026 board meeting, the LSBC discussed legislation to increase the number of hours required for an alternative hair design permit from 500 hours to 600 hours. Their justification for the increase is to align the required number of hours for a permit with federal student loan lending requirements. The majority of LSBC board members own or are affiliated with a cosmetology school; there are no consumer members on this board.

Eight states that still license hair braiders require 50 hours or fewer of training. None of our neighboring states require a license to braid natural hair. 

We already covered the LSBC’s intention to pursue full blown licensure in this January 25, 2026 feature.  From that feature:

LSBC Chairman Jennifer Cobb Reed introduced yet another non-agenda item (she’s making a habit of that practice just as she deployed the same inappropriate mechanism for the hiring of Erin Marceaux not long back) which would call for requiring 600 hours for what would be a future license for hair braiding rather than the existing 500 hours for an “alternative hair permit.”  The discussion makes it crystal clear that the purpose of the planned change is to facilitate Federal funding for hair braiding instruction:

The Board is pursuing increasing the hours requirement via Rep. Candace Newell’s HB-912.  Let us present the LSBC’s discussion of its initiative at its March 2, 2026 meeting (mere hours before Burns posed his question of DeVillier above):

3/2/26:  LSBC discusses push to increase classroom hours to practice hair braiding in Louisiana and convert the existing “alternative hair permit” to a full-blown license.

DeVillier often references Texas as one state to which Louisiana citizens outmigrate.

Not only has Texas lowered the number of hours for obtaining a cosmetology license from 1,500 to 1,000 (whereas Louisiana’s efforts to do the same were thwarted by DeVillier, Rep. Mike Johnson, and Governor Jeff Landry), but here’s the deal in Texas regarding hair braiding:

Regulations governing hair braiding are administered by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) under the broader framework of barbering and cosmetology laws (Texas Occupations Code, Chapters 1601–1603).

Natural hair braiding—defined as twisting, wrapping, weaving, extending, locking, or braiding hair without the use of chemicals, dyes, bleaches, or adhesives—is not regulated and does not require a license.

This deregulation took effect on June 8, 2015, following the enactment of House Bill 2717, which removed natural hair braiding from the scope of licensed cosmetology and barbering practices.

The change addressed concerns that prior requirements imposed undue burdens on practitioners, particularly given the cultural significance of the practice and the absence of significant public health or safety risks associated with it.

In Texas:

  • No licensing or certification is required for performing or teaching natural hair braiding services.
  • Practitioners may offer these services without completing formal training hours, examinations, or obtaining any specialty certificate from TDLR.
  • Related unregulated activities encompass basic non-chemical hair styling and similar services.

It’s time leaders at the Louisiana Legislature along with Gov. Landry practice what they preach and pass Bayham’s hair braiding deregulation bill; furthermore, the next time a bill is presented to reduce the number of hours for a cosmetology license, the Legislature needs to pass it and the Governor of Louisiana needs to sign it into law.  Otherwise, all the cries of continued outmigration to states like Texas and Mississippi are nothing more than empty words with no actions whatsoever to remedy the matter!

 

As Fifth Congressional District candidate Magee slams U. S. Senate candidate Letlow as “part of the swamp in supporting Socialist scam carbon capture,” host Woody Jenkins slams Gov. Landry on “blocking already paid for widening of Airline Highway in favor of a toll road from the Old Bridge to I-12.”

Fifth Congressional District Republican candidate Austin Magee who, at the Ronald Reagan newsmaker luncheon on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, slammed U. S. Senate Republican candidate Julia Letlow as, “part of the swamp in supporting the Socialist scam of carbon capture.”

On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, the monthly Ronald Regan Newsmaker Luncheon was held with Republican candidates for the Fifth Congressional District invited to attend.  Only three (3) candidates opted to do so, and perhaps the most interesting one of the three was Austin Magee, whose campaign slogan is, “I can’t do any worse than the rest of ‘em!”  The other two candidates who opted to attend were State Sen. Rick Edmonds and State Rep. Michael Echols, who has deep and strong ties with and to Gov. Landry.

Incumbent Fifth District Congresswoman Julia Letlow, who is running for U. S. Senate after quite literally being dragged into the race by President Trump (after months-long urging by Gov. Jeff Landry directly to Trump for him to do so), certainly wasn’t spared a lambasting by Magee!  That opportunity arose (and he took full advantage of it) when Phillip “Bert” Callais, who recently appeared as a Sound Off Louisiana guest on the topic of “election integrity,” asked a question on carbon capture and sequestration:

3/10/26:  Magee responds to question on carbon capture, after which Echols does the same (Edmonds had to return to the Capitol for a committee meeting).

Arguably even more intriguing at the forum was the first question posed, which was by host and former State Representative Woody Jenkins.  The question posed of Echols and Magee by Jenkins centered on what Jenkins asserts are efforts by Gov. Landry to block the widening of Airline Highway from the Old Bridge to I-12.  Further, Jenkins asserts that widening initiative is “paid for” by the Move EBR plan passed by EBRP voters.  Jenkins also contends that Landry is backing instead a toll road covering that same stretch of Airline Highway:

3/10/26:  Echols and Magee respond to Jenkins’ question regarding Gov. Landry allegedly blocking the widening of Airline Hwy from the Old Bridge to I-12 paid for by Move EBR funds in favor of a toll road covering the same stretch of Highway.

CLICK HERE for the luncheon in its entirety.