554. Did We Start A War? Was Venezuela Constitutional?

Summary

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Apologia Radio Ep. 554: Did We Start a War? Was Venezuela Constitutional?

Date: January 9, 2026
Host: Jeff Durbin (“Ninja”), Luke the Bear
Special Guests: Jared Hudson (Navy SEAL, Senate candidate), Zach Lautenschlager (constitutional activist & historian)

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Overview

This episode of Apologia Radio dives into two hot-button issues: the dramatic U.S. special forces raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and the constitutional question of whether such an operation was justified under U.S. law and Christian just war theory. The discussion leverages the expertise of a former Navy SEAL and a respected constitutional historian to explore the logistics, ethics, and historical precedents for U.S. military action abroad. The episode is also threaded through with the show's signature gospel-centered, bold, and humorous approach.

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1. Main Theme & Purpose

• Dissecting the U.S. Special Ops Raid in Venezuela: A play-by-play on the operation to capture President Maduro—how was it executed and who was involved?
• Was it Constitutional? A substantive discussion on whether this action fits the boundaries of America’s founding documents, principles, and biblical teaching.
• Larger Questions: What are the dangers of American overreach? How do Christians approach issues of war, individual responsibility, and civic engagement?

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. The Venezuela Raid: Operational Breakdown

Timestamps: 08:30–17:18

• Apologia plays and describes dramatic footage of explosions and helicopter insertions over Caracas.
• Jared Hudson, Navy SEAL, on the operation:
  • Special Mission Units involved: Night Stalkers (160th SOAR), Delta Force, SEALs, and FBI HRT.
  • "You are using the most elite [forces]…the most elite on the face of the planet." (10:54)
  • They operated with extreme secrecy, including building a mock-up of Maduro’s building weeks in advance for rehearsals—even bringing the President to observe.
  • "It was a phenomenal execution of a very high-visibility, high-risk operation." (13:49)
• Casualties & Aftermath:
  • Venezuelan casualties estimated at 40; possible minor U.S. injuries, but no U.S. fatalities (17:18).
  • Venezuelan defenses (even with Russian tech) proved no match: “That was easy. That was piece of cake.” – Luke (14:41)

Notable Quote

"These dudes could get called tonight…without a mock-up. However, that is the level of precision that went into this operation." – Jared Hudson, 12:40

B. Mindset of Elite Operators

Timestamps: 14:57–16:32

• For SEALs/Delta, such raids are "like breathing…just another day at the office."
• "It’s not crazy—they’re just there to do their job: snatch a bad guy and bring him to justice…or kill a bad guy—in this case, snatch him." – Jared Hudson (15:22)

C. The Constitutional Question: Can America Do This?

Timestamps: 17:44–25:23

• Zach Lautenschlager (Constitutional Activist):
  • The U.S. is allowed to defend its interests globally, supported by constitutional precedent.
  • Presidents have often abused war powers post-WWII, but early America also used force abroad (Quasi-War, Barbary Pirates—see examples at 20:04).
• Letters of marque and reprisal are tools Congress can use to authorize international action—but are often neglected in modern times (22:44).
• The U.S. shouldn’t be global police: "I don’t want to be the nation that tries to police the world…I don’t think that’s just or righteous." – Jeff Durbin (17:44)
• Biblical and Just War Theory: Nations are held to account by God’s law—the U.S. should not act as if it’s above others or international law (24:00–24:54).

Notable Quotes

“If the federal government wants to do something, they have to point to the exact clause in the Constitution which authorizes them.” – Zach (21:05)
“You don’t need a declaration of war to go down and clean out Maduro…But congressional oversight matters.” – Zach (33:27)

D. Past Abuses and Lessons

Timestamps: 32:00–35:14

• LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson) as case study: Lied to send Americans to die in Vietnam with no constitutional basis.
• "He was knowingly violating the Constitution…by the time Johnson became president, he knew it wasn’t going to help, but ‘I can’t back out, we’ll lose face.’" – Zach (32:38)
• The need for congressional oversight and formal processes (e.g., letters of marque) is crucial for legitimizing military actions.

Notable Quote

“If you don’t have congressional oversight…it’s not an excuse to say, ‘well, we just couldn’t possibly get it done.’” – Zach (33:27)

E. Principles of American Government & Civic Duty

Timestamps: 40:06–49:00

• Distinction between Democracy and Republic:
  • “A democracy is actually a fairy tale. It never does exist. It can’t exist…the combination is properly referred to as a republic.” – Zach (42:32)
  • American government is a constitutional republic—elected officials bound by law, with the Constitution limiting federal powers.
• How to “keep” the republic (Benjamin Franklin’s challenge):
  1. Run for office (like Jared)—but also,
  2. Individual Responsibility: “Do your job as a man or a woman…in your family, church, job.”
  3. Local Focus: Most tyranny starts local. Get involved at the city/county level; know who’s running.

Notable Quotes

“You’re not going to go save your nation by yourself. God is the one who does this, and he uses people.” – Zach (47:39)
“If you are not self-governing…the civil sphere is actually the lowest sphere.” – Zach (48:23)

F. Practical Q&A & Community Action

Timestamps: 51:26–53:35

• Local law enforcement and civil unrest (ICE protests): Jared describes how law-abiding counties “deal with it pretty quick,” emphasizing local culture and structures of government.
• Importance of local elections and resisting laziness: “If you’re not willing to get out and vote, there’s no way you’re going to be able to take up arms and defend your family.” – Jared (53:09)

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3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• AI Trump parody (07:21): Jeff plays an outrageous AI-generated clip of Trump mocking ICE protesters, illustrating dangers and advances in AI-generated media.
• Humor and camaraderie:
  • “I want to sink it!” — show opener, referencing the bold approach Apologia advocates (01:18)
  • “If the book of Deuteronomy came to life, that’s what it would look like.” – Jared, referring to Zach (05:59)
  • Ongoing ribbing about Presbyterian vs. Baptist governance (44:02)
  • Lyndon Johnson's scandalous legacy brings laughs and history lessons (32:39, 60:29)

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4. Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Opening & Guest Introductions | 02:36–05:57 | | Operation Venezuela: Explanation & Analysis | 08:30–17:18 | | Operator Mindset & Casualties Discussion | 14:57–17:18 | | Constitutional Justification: Historical & Legal Frame | 17:44–25:23 | | Examples of Executives Violating Constitution | 32:00–35:14 | | Democracy vs. Republic; How to Keep It | 42:32–49:00 | | Local Government, Civic Duty, and Community Defense | 51:26–53:35 | | Election Call-to-action & Closing Q&A | 53:39–57:45 |

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5. Flow, Tone, and Language

• Language & Tone: Bold, direct, humorous, often colloquial, with a gospel-centered and Reformed Christian ethos. Cross-talk is lively and collegial, mixing patriotism, historical perspective, and a constant call to personal responsibility and civic engagement.
• Speaker Attribution: All expert analysis is clearly marked: Jared (military/LEA), Zach (constitutional/history), Host team for commentary and humor.

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6. Conclusion

The panel affirms the operation’s technical excellence and its constitutional/biblical justification, while warning listeners against both executive overreach and civic passivity. The message is to “do your job”—in faith, family, community, and, where called, public office—grounded in both American and Christian tradition. The show concludes with clear calls-to-action for civic involvement, supporting godly candidates, and vigilance in defending local and national foundations.

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Select Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “It’s like breathing…this is what you are prepared to do, because you’re the tip of the spear.” — Jared Hudson (15:22)
• “If it doesn’t say you can do it, you can’t. That’s the 10th Amendment.” — Zach Lautenschlager (21:05)
• “A democracy is a fairy tale. It never does exist. It can’t exist.” — Zach (42:32)
• “Starts with you, then your family, then your community…if you’re not willing to get out and vote, there’s no way you’re going to be able to take up arms…” — Jared (53:09)

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Non Rockabotus. Must stop. I don't want to rock the boat.

[C]

I want to sink it. Are you gonna bark all day, little.

[B]

Doggy, or are you gonna bite?

[D]

Delusional.

[B]

Yeah, delusional is okay in your worldview, I'm an animal.

[E]

You don't chastise chickens for being delusional. You don't chastise pigs for being delusional. So you calling me Del using your.

[B]

Worldview is perfectly okay.

[E]

It doesn't really hurt.

[D]

She hung up on me.

[C]

What? What?

[B]

Desperate times call for faithful men and not for careful men. The careful men come later and write the biographies of the faithful men, lauding them for their courage.

[D]

Go into all the world and make disciples.

[F]

Not go into the world and make buddies, not to make corrosives.

[D]

Right.

[F]

Don't go in the world. Make homies.

[C]

Right.

[F]

Disciples.

[B]

I got a bit of a jiggle neck. That's a joke, Pastor.

[D]

When we have the real message of.

[C]

Truth, we cannot let somebody say they're.

[D]

Speaking truth when they're not. Take an amazing journey to a place.

[C]

That will blow your mind and move.

[G]

Your mind so you will never be the same again.

[B]

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. Psalm 144. One, everybody. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Apologia Radio. This is the gospel heard around the world. I am Jeff. They call me Ninja. That's Luke the Bear, right?

[C]

There.

[F]

Hi. Happy New Year.

[B]

Happy New Year, y'.

[C]

All.

[B]

This is the new year. We have all kinds of great things planned for Apologia Studios and end abortion now. Thank you so much for joining us. You can go to apologia studios.com to get more. That's a P O L O g I a studios.com go there after the show today. Go there, Sign up for All Access. I'm gonna big shout out to all of our All Access partners and ministry with us. You are the reason that, that we do everything we do, that we can do everything that we do. So whatever you've seen from Apologia, whether it's the on the street evangelism, the engagement, the debates, the sermons, everything that's there is because people just like you are part of All Access with us. And so when you're all Access, you all get, you also get all kinds of really great additional things. The academy, you get the collision, full episodes of Collision. You get the after shows. Ask me anything and more is to come in 2026.

[D]

Lor.

[B]

Thank you guys for being with us. Don't forget also to sign up for Bonson U. It is a free, free, free thing for you to get top tier theological education. Bonson U, one of the greatest philosophers and Christian apologists in the history of the Christian church. All of his life's work is there for you. Seminary level education for free at bonson u. Apologiastudios.com go sign up if you haven't yet. You are truly missing out. Welcome to the show. So grateful to be with you guys today. Lots has happened. We sort of slow down during Christmas time. It's just sort of our thing. We down. The year is rough and long. We slow down, we take a break during Christmas. So we're not really doing a lot of things in December, but we're back and ready to hit it and talk about some of the things that have been happening. Obviously you've heard, you heard a lot of the things going on right now. You've got Somali daycares and stolen money, all of that. We do want to address some stuff like that. You've got the, the reason, the thing that just happened with the ice and the shooting of the woman and questions of self defense. We got so much to talk about. But of course the big ticket item and the news we want to eng with is Venezuela and the capture of Maduro and his wife and an utterly epic display of military might and proficiency by our United States Armed forces. It is just unbelievable. That thing went Down. And so we do have two special guests joining us today to talk about it. We're excited to introduce you guys to them and to hear from them.

[C]

We.

[B]

One is Jared Hudson. You've seen him before on Apology Radio. He is a Navy seal. Jared Hudson is also running for, forgive me, Senate. Yep, Senate as well. And so be in prayer for that. Things are going well for that Jared. Welcome to the show again, brother.

[C]

Thanks for having me, fellas.

[B]

Absolutely. He is. He is running around everywhere right now. And so this is another time we actually have him while he's going somewhere in his car. Jared, thanks, man, for taking the time to meet with us today. And then we also have somebody that you know very well because he's been a regular attendee on Apologia Radio. We've worked with him across the country. I've been in more states and more capitals with this man than I actually can remember. And it is Zach Lautenschlager. Zach, welcome to the program today, brother.

[D]

Pleasure to be back, Jeff. Good to see you guys.

[B]

When Jared saw Zach set up here with his camera, the musket behind him, and that beautiful beard, Jared said, if the book of Deuteronomy came to life, that's what you would like. That's what it would look like was.

[C]

A purse right there with a headset on.

[B]

There you go. There you go. All right, so we want to get right into it today, so this benefits our listeners. Well, let's start with this first, man. AI is getting crazy. This is. I told Luke I was going to do.

[F]

This is one of the best things.

[B]

This is our president, Donald J. Trump, speaking about the situation with ICE and yeah, here you go, everyone.

[G]

My fellow Americans, it is with overwhelming enthusiasm that I am declaring that anyone who protests or interferes with ICE and their operations is officially gay. Big time. With that being said, go ahead and call your dads, tell them about your alternative lifestyle as a gay communist, and then, who knows, maybe eat a lollipop. I don't know what flamers do with their time, but I'd imagine it's something along those lines. Maybe decorate a bathroom. Who knows? In either case, this is who you are now, and everybody knows that. Cats out of the bag. Cat is out of the bag.

[B]

It's getting crazy, okay?

[D]

It's.

[B]

It's getting to the point where you almost can't recognize and just. Even the cadence, they got. The AI Got the cadence, right? And lollipop. And, man, it's just fantastic. Anyway, let's get right to it today, okay? So onto the serious stuff for now. Okay, so we're obviously need to speak about the constitutionality of what took place, but I'd like to bring Jared in after, play a few clips here. And Jared, you can talk to us as a Navy SEAL about sort of the kind of preparation and readiness and just go into something like this and the execution. And so if you guys haven't seen the videos yet, we'll play a few of them for you right here. This is some of the explosions in Caracas. Imagine waking up to that in your bedroom at two o' clock in the morning. I mean, it's like, who's got fireworks? And for real, that does sound like South Phoenix.

[F]

I can just picture my, My ring app right now with those gunshots.

[B]

That's a regular sound in South Phoenix. I can. That's. That's the truth, honestly. Here's some more.

[C]

Okay.

[E]

Singularos sola una singue de la mana.

[B]

I was thinking, you know, if you are an enemy combatant against the United States of America, that has got to be one of the most terrifying sounds to know that, oh, that's the Americans above us right now. Because, I mean, you know, you can't. You're not going to be able to hide anywhere.

[F]

Yeah. And what I was reading, I mean, I will have Jared get into this, but with all of our technology and stuff, basically they didn't even know about it till they were about, what was it, like 20 meters away or. They're not flying. Those helicopters are 100ft off the ground. Like senses on you all at once, like, oh, what is happening?

[B]

It's over. All right, here's some more. This is apparently, this is the helicopter above where Maduro's building was, and this is them rappelling in.

[F]

I hadn't seen this.

[B]

Epic. Absolutely epic. All right, so obviously there's much more we can see, but Jared, I'm bringing you in here. Just the level of proficiency, excellence might. All of that is just. Is stunning. Stunning to witness it truly, truly is. Talk to us with your experience about an operation like this. What are some of the first things you think the American people would like to know about or should know?

[C]

Yeah, well, the first thing is the special mission units. You have, you know, 1 60th, you have the night stalkers, you have the special operations helicopters that came in. Y' all saw the video at the start. Then you have Delta fast roping in. That was Delta with their FBI HRT counterparts out of Quantico. Most of the guys are former Rangers, SEALs, SF, whatever it is. They go to HRT after their military service for the FBI, they were partnered with Delta. We do that a lot. The DEA counterparts that were there, I worked with the DEA a lot in Afghanistan because we're burning poppy field. So they have a special operations segment that works with them. And that would be what makes this a law enforcement operation. But you're using special operations assets and they fall under, you know, jsoc, Joint Special Operations Command. You have two sides of Special Mission Unit. One would be the SEAL side and there were seals standing by. They actually wound up moving to take down some of the ships. I think the day after the Maduro raid or a couple days after the Maduro raid. They were part of this. And then you had obviously Delta who went in and actually snatched Maduro. So across the board, you've got a pretty massive operation when you, when you look at it from 30,000 foot. But it's also a very precise operation because you're using the most elite portions of your fighting force, which is the United States of America's most elite fighting force on the face of the planet. You are using the most elite of those. And that's what happened with, with Delta going in, snatching the guy with development group, the SEALs, sitting out, dealing with stuff to take down ships. And one of the most amazing things I can talk about this now that I was talking to some buddies at HRT about, they built a mock up, which is not uncommon. They built a mock up, you know, weeks ago, a couple months ago, maybe two months ago at the most, and they brought the President down to where the mockup was built and they had him. And watch, hey, this is what it's going to look like. Now. These dudes could get called tonight and told they're going somewhere tomorrow and they could do it without having to build a mock up. However, that is the level of precision that went into this operation. And on the other side of it, that's the level of operational security that this administration has in place. Because ain't nobody knew about it. I mean, nothing leaked out. It was literally, they're here. Oh no, we're in trouble. Black bag that narco commie, take him to New York so he could stand trial for the crimes he committed against the American people. I mean, what better than a bunch of pipe hitters showing up, black bagging a dude in his bed and drag him out to serve, you know, to, to enact justice of this great nation. I mean, it was a, it was a phenomenal execution of a very high visibility, high risk operation.

[B]

Man, that is. It is just such an incredible thing to witness. So you made a good point. When you have, like tier one groups like this, they're. They're constantly ready to execute something like this. But when you also give those guys who are already ready an opportunity to rehearse this thing, you know, for, like you said, about two months time, it's just. It's just an incredible, incredible thing to see. Unbelievable. Luke, do you want to add anything?

[F]

Yeah, I mean, just, I. You know, I've been reading up on just the amount of technology that went into this that I think the coolest thing to me was basically Russia just pooped their pants. Right? Because from what I was reading, Venezuela's was using, you know, all the highest tech. It was like $2 billion or something they spent on the highest tech from Russia that was supposed to stop us. And we were like, yeah, no, that was easy.

[B]

That was easy.

[F]

That was. That was piece of cake. So it makes me feel good.

[B]

It makes.

[F]

A year ago, when Sleepy Joe was in office, I didn't feel this good about our military.

[B]

None of us did.

[F]

You know, I'm feeling. Feeling real American again lately.

[B]

Yeah. Jared, tell me about the mindset. I think people would be curious about this. I'm curious about this. Tell us about the mindset. When you are trained to this level and you've rehearsed this like this, what. And you go into a mission like this, what's the mindset? What's the mood? What's the temperature of. Of the men when you're. When you're going into a combat situation like this?

[C]

Yeah, I can tell you, you know, without. Without being there on the op, which a little bit of professional jealousy is. Is there because that's the op that everybody wants to go on. Right. But personally, without being there on that, I mean, it's not. It's. I hate to say it like this. It's another day at the office. I mean, this is what these guys are standing by and they're ready to do. It's what we've been training to do. It's like breathing for me. During the global war on terror, whether it was Afghanistan, Yemen, you got, you know, Iraq, Philippines, all of the places that seals deploy or that I got to deploy. During the global war on terror, we took down ships, we. We got high value targets in Afghanistan. And as you go through that process, it is literally like breathing, because that is what you are prepared to do, because you're the tip of the spear. Now. You take guys like Delta and seal Team six at the tip. Truly at the tip of the spear. Special mission unit and 1/60 SOAR. And it's like, it's just one step above that. These guys are the best in the business, and it's like breathing for them. They're not eat up. They're not worried about it. It's nothing crazy. They're just there to do their job, which is snatch a bad guy and bring him to justice. Or kill a bad guy in this case. He'll snatch him.

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

Do we. I haven't got a chance to hear this. Do we know where. Were there casualties on the other side during this operation? I didn't get to hear anything about that. Do we know that?

[C]

Yeah, there were during the. During the. The. The.

[F]

When.

[C]

When 1 60th came in and they were kind of, you know, shooting the rock as 20 millimeter guns. I think they had the. Was it the 230 chain gun? I've got a couple of videos from buddies from. From that they killed some of the. The enemy fight force as they were flying in.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And then on the. On the ground, I do believe some of the Delta guys smoked some of the guards and. And some of that when they went in and fast roped in. I think y' all saw some of the video nods. They had to kill some of the guys to get in and snatch Maduro and his wife.

[F]

I think I saw 40 casualties, ah, from Venezuela. Maybe two US.

[B]

I think I saw so two US injuries.

[F]

I don't know if it was.

[B]

I don't think we had any if.

[F]

And I don't think they were deaths, but maybe injuries.

[B]

Yeah, probably slight injuries. Wow. All right, Jared, man. Thank you, brother. Appreciate that. So. All right, Zach. Now, I think the other important side of this, because you. You can't. We. None of us can dismiss the.

[C]

The.

[B]

The power and the might and the proficiency of a moment like this. And we should be giving glory to God for it, for sure. But the next question comes with the stickier questions of are we allowed to do this as the United States of America, which is supposed to be a constitutional republic, are we allowed to do something like this? I mean, you know, you have China, you know, making comments to us now like, you know, we're not allowed to police the world, Which I actually agree with that. I don't want to be the nation that tries to police the world. I don't think that that's just or righteous. And so there's a lot of criticism coming to the United States of America because we did this. But I'd like to hear from you in terms of the constitutionality of a move like this. Well, was it constitutional? Are we allowed to do things like this? Did we do it in this case? Were there any failures or fall offs? And I think you offer a lot of insight in this area. So, Zach, help us with that.

[D]

Well, those are all, those are great questions. That's exactly what we do need to look at. We need to ask the question, the answer, simple answer to the question, are we allowed to do this? Is resoundingly yes. We are allowed to defend ourselves and we are allowed to defend our interests worldwide, and we are allowed to do so constitutionally. The sticky problem that we have is kind of twofold. Number one, since World War II, our presidents have done so in an increasingly illegitimate manner and have abused war powers like Lynn Baines Johnson did, which led to the Congressional War Powers Act. And so there's still a raging debate over how do you do this? But it's important to remember that these are not new questions. We do not actually live in a world that our founders would not recognize. It's laughable when people say that, well, the Constitution doesn't work anymore because the timelines are so much shorter, et cetera, et cetera. Well, the timelines are shorter, that is true, but the Constitution is written very well. It covers all of that with astounding alacrity. And this is not the first time we've dealt with international terrorists. We did that before the turn of, before 1800. We were doing that.

[B]

Did we?

[D]

We did. Using muskets and ships and cannons. That's where the USS Constitution comes from.

[B]

Can you give us an example of that, Zach? I'd like to hear something like that.

[C]

Sure.

[D]

So the first action that, that we took was what's called the Quasi War. It was from 1798 to 1800, and we were dealing with piratical acts from the French and their privateers and their allies. And so before, before 1800, before Jefferson was president, you have, you have to go out and you have to defend the United States. We have to remember that every ship that sails out of here and that flies the American flag is a piece of the United States that is American territory. And we are obligated to defend those ships from whoever wants to attack. For example. It's just one example. People tend to talk like, well, we've never gone anywhere in the world until World War II or maybe World War I. The United States just didn't do anything anywhere. And that's just absurd. We Were doing it from the very beginning. And so the question is always, number one, is the president appropriating to himself powers from Article 1, which is the constitutional. That's where all the constitutional powers come from, all the constitutional powers for Congress to Article 2, which is where the President gets his powers. The President has, depending on how you split it, about eight powers. Congress has, I believe, 22. Someone will probably correct me on that, but has way more than double, almost triple the number of constitutional powers. And it's important to recognize that unless we're going to adopt the abhorrent left leaning implied powers doctrine which says that anything in the Constitution says you can't do, then you can do it. In other words, if it doesn't say you can't do it, you can, which is the exact opposite of the 10th Amendment. The 10th Amendment says if it doesn't say you can do it, you can't. So in other words, if the federal government wants to do something, they have to point to the exact clause in the Constitution which authorizes them to do that and then they can do it. Well, that is, that's what's called an express powers theory. It is the express and obvious meaning of the Constitution. It's why we have the 10th amendment. And therefore the President can't just run around and say, well, I'm going to go declare war, I'm going to start a war. I'm going to do these things. Unfortunately, we have people today who are so sick of things like things that Johnson did or things that Bush did, just to name a couple. Most presidents since World War II have violated the Constitution when it comes to how we use the military one way or another. And they get so sick of it that they say, well, unless Congress declares a war, we can't go and do things. That's laughable. It's laughably absurd. One of the powers that's given to Congress expressly is to grant letters of marque and reprisal. We don't even know what that is.

[B]

No, what that means is it is.

[D]

A legal process for putting a country on notice that you are either doing things actively which damage us or you are harboring people who do. And if you do not stop, we are going to respond in kind. And in fact, the reprisal part of that means that we will actually even authorize private citizens. If you've got enough money to go get a warship and you want to go out and be a privateer, you can, you're a pirate. If you don't have a letter of Marque. If you do have a letter, you're an authorized agent of the United States government. And that was how it was used. We used those in the Quasi War. We use those when dealing with the Barbary pirates all the way up to about 1820 is that section. And then we use them all throughout until, like World War II, we were still using them. And so Congress is fully capable of issuing letters of marque and reprisal. And we actually followed Congress didn't do it, but we did a bunch of what you would do with that. When we had warrants against Maduro and we put him on notice and we did different things. The point of this, all of this, it goes back to both just war theory, biblical theory of just war, which Greg Bonson still articulated best, in my opinion, for the modern times.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And you go back and look at what are the laws of nations. This is the biblical term for how God governs nation. The nation. So you don't have a superpower that governs the nation's names. They're equals. And that is the highest form of civil and human authority. There isn't a UN in God's economy. You can have treaties and you can have things, you can have international courts. But the UN claims to have authority to make countries do things over and above the laws of nations. And so if we go back to a biblical perspective on just war and the laws of nations recognize that we can't just make any nation do anything we want. We can't just say, well, we're going to blow you off the face of the earth because we don't like you. We're going to take your oil, we're going to do whatever. And so of course, there's always some nation out there. And there's a good. There's a good saying or a good advice. Never take advice from your enemies. If China says you're doing something wrong, take that with a big grain of salt. Right.

[B]

Or tell them to stop.

[D]

But on the other hand.

[F]

Yeah, right.

[D]

Too bad.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

But on the other hand, it is legitimate to criticize nations for going rogue. And we actually still tacitly agree, everybody agrees that there is a higher law law that you can actually violate a higher law, even if the UN didn't promulgate it. Right, right. And that laws, that nations and kings are responsible, that law, that's the law of God. We are responsible for that law, too. We can't just break into our neighbor's country and take what we want when we want it.

[B]

There you go.

[D]

Eventually that's what LBJ was doing. You could argue that Bush did that to some degree that George W. Did. We think we can, we don't have to debate it, but we can agree that at certain times US Presidents have done so. So it's, it's patent fact.

[B]

And so, Zach, hang on, hang on to that thought. I want you to know, don't forget that thought because I, I want to, I want to expatiate upon that. Thank you guys everyone for watching. Right now, quick commercial break, Come back. I want to ask some more detail questions about specifically what went down to get to this point, what was right, what was wrong. And then also I'd like to, maybe to give us some examples of how presidents have just, just outright straight lied or violated. And how do we, how do we know the difference, you know, what's right, what's wrong. And so everybody, big things happening right now across the country. Zach has actually been with us across the country. Jared joined me in Alabama for a TPUSA event for end Abortion. Now you need to understand something. Please, please, please hear me on this. There is no abortion free state in this nation. None. That is a, that is a fiction and it is a fiction spun unfortunately by the pro life establishment. And we are not in a good place. We are not, yes, Dobbs happened, yes, Roe is overturned. Understand however, that the numbers are rising above what they were with Roe. So when people tell you like, you know, we're there, we've, we've made it and you know, we have these abortion free states, absolute lie, it's not true. And so we do not have equal protection and abolition in any state in our union yet. However, because of your prayers, because of your support, because of you standing with us, we have bills of abolition and equal protection happening across the country this year, this session even. We have states like Georgia, we have, where there's next week our friends in South Carolina have a hearing, I believe next Wednesday in the state of South Carolina. We have, there's bills taking place across the country. Some of these bills are bills that we're responsible for, that we've put in and other bills from our friends and other pastors and organizations, we're supporting them, we're all working together. We have bills happening in South Dakota, we have bills happening in Tennessee. Texas, a new one that has not happened yet. It's a brand new one. Illinois, it's happening. We have the bill almost finished and, and, and going in for the session and so be in prayer for that. We're going to need your help this year financially and your hands and your feet. So quick break. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about it in this, this little commercial break. Guys, stay With Us and EndAbortionNow.com is where you guys go. Be right back.

[E]

Hello everybody. I'm Jeff Durbin with endabortion [e-mail] we're almost at 10 years. 10 years. And your faithfulness together with us in this ministry has led to tens of thousands of lives being saved, literally saved from death. Not only the United States of America, but around the world nations like Germany, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and others. Ten years ago when we started this ministry, we had three goals. One, we wanted to raise up and equip local churches to do what we were doing at Apologia Church, to go to the abortion mills, to go to where they were actually taking the lives of, of these children, to go with the gospel, to go with hope, to go with peace, to save lives where they're being taken. And since that time, literally tens of thousands of lives have been saved and over a thousand local churches have been raised up and equipped to do exactly that. They're out this very day saving lives. Thanks to your giving and your prayers and your support, we've been able to communicate the gospel explicitly as Christians, we with the word of God in this area of abortion through our media platforms. And tens of millions of people have been impacted by that content and have had their hearts and minds changed or ignited over this issue. Thank you for being with us in this. We've also been able to get bills of abolition and equal protection across the United States of America. It has truly been mind blowing how God has been working through local churches, pastors and Christians to actually establish justice at the legislature next session in 2026. We have bills of abolition and equal protection happening once again across the United States of America. States like Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, and a new one that's never happened before in Illinois. We are so close to once and for all abolishing this and truly criminalizing it so it ends in one of the states, Georgia. We have about 25% of the house of Representatives, the Republicans there as co sponsors on our bill of abolition. That in itself is historic. This takes so much effort and so much work and we need you with us, we need your partnership, we need you to join us when we get to states with these bills to rally there together with us to call the legislators there to demand justice. We need you to have your church sign up, you get trained for free. You get equipped for free. We want nothing from your church. We want to just simply raise your church up to go and save lives. Will you do this again with me in 2026? Will you help me to be done with this ministry, to stop doing it? That is our heart's desire. Prayerfully. Consider giving generously to endabortionnow.com for 2026. Every bit of your giving, all of your praying, helps to actually save lives, literally from death. Brothers and sisters, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you, all of you who have been with us since the very beginning in this. God has done things beyond my ability to comprehend. It's a humbling experience to be a part of this ministry. And I'm going to ask you to please be with us again in 2026. Will you help us to abolish this, to end this in Jesus name? Go to endabortionnow.com to give there and don't forget to keep [e-mail] and please keep checking in with us so you know what's happening across the country and so you can help us not just financially, but also with your very hands and your very feet. Again, I want to thank you so much for doing this ministry with me. Endabortionnow.com thank you.

[B]

Welcome back, everybody. Thank you for staying with us. Do all the things, if you would. It helps with the algorithm, the likes, the shares and all that stuff. Let people know. Good conversation. Actually very helpful. Jared was just complimenting Zach on his historical knowledge here and constitutional knowledge. Zach has always been a big help in this area. He is, he's a blessing. So Zach, I want to engage with those two things. One is I want to ask the question about, like, what did we do right here? What did we do wrong? What could we have done better? And then I guess maybe I'd like to start though with the question of you mentioned presidents in the past that have just straight violated the Constitution or lied to the American people. I'd like to maybe give you an exam, give an example of that. Like what, what, where, where's the, where's the real dramatic fall off? We can point to and say, this, this can't be done.

[D]

Well, one of the most is Linda Baines Johnson, lbj, who I believe is the worst American president in history. People like to point to fdr. I don't like FDR very much at all either, but Johnson had him beat. He lapped him a couple of times. Johnson was sending Americans to die in Vietnam while directly lying about it. He was knowingly violating the Constitution. He admitted he was violating the. The Constitution. And besides, he was just a horrible person. Exposing himself to his staff was a regular part of his life. In fact, there is a crude term for a body part that is his last name, because that's his last name.

[B]

That's where it comes from.

[F]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[B]

Well, that's amazing. Let you guys figure that out.

[D]

He actually exposed himself to the press corps once.

[F]

Wow.

[D]

And they did not. They did not talk about it. So Johnson was a horrible human being, was a liar, was a thief, and sent tens of thousands of Americans to die illegitimately in Vietnam. Completely illegitimately. And these are boys who are just faithfully serving their countries. So by the time Johnson became president, we knew what it was. It wasn't like even with jfk. JFK was trying to figure out, what is this? And how do we stop the domino effect? By the time we got to Johnson, he knew very well, he admitted it in the White House tapes, that this isn't going to help. But I can't back out now because we'll lose face. And so he sent people to die.

[F]

Wow.

[D]

That's the kind of thing that happens if you don't have congressional oversight. Now, look, I get that Congress is a problem. I understand that it. It's. But this is not new. Congress has always been a problem there. It's fairly tame now. They used to have sword fights on the floor. Andy Jackson beat one of his. Someone who tried to assassinate him, beat him to death with his cane on the steps of the Capitol Building. And so to pretend that, oh, well, it's more dysfunctional now. No, I'm sorry, it's not. Congress has always been dysfunctional. It was dysfunctional when we wrote the Constitution, for Pete's sake. It was dysfunctional when my great, great, great granddaddy served in it in the second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration. That was all dysfunctional. And so it's not an excuse to say, well, we just couldn't possibly get it done. You don't need a declaration of war to go down and clean out Maduro. And in fact, it would have been a great diplomatic move to pass letters of marque and reprisal, putting them on notice. If you guys don't stop, here's exactly what you're doing. Here's exactly what you need to do to remedy the situation. And if you don't, there'll be consequences whether we send our military or we close someone else. With authority to do it. That's. And in fact, you know, everybody talks about letters of market reprisal, so it was really weird to have a ship that was equipped to. To. To go out and was privately run. We use contractors to this day. We do it all the time. It's not that strange. It's just we could do it constitutionally and it could work. And when we do that, we honor God. We recognize that we're not the world's authority. We. We don't get to tell everybody what to do just because we have the. The power to. To make you do it. That is an assault on God's authority. And that is what our founders said, that if you can't have a powerful nation running around telling everybody else what to do because they are attempting to play God.

[F]

This is why we got to get Jared elected. So we can go to D.C. and clean up that. Clean up the Capitol.

[D]

That's right. You got to keep working on it.

[F]

They'll do some sword fighting.

[G]

Yeah.

[C]

I would like to say one thing, and you're mentioning it, you know, and you probably realize you're saying it. But even geopolitically, if you look at what's going on in the rest of the world after we snatch Maduro, after we stop the Russian oil ship with court order sanctions, as you go through this process, this is what true peace through strength looks like.

[D]

Agreed.

[C]

This is keeping us from putting boots on the ground in other countries, but we're still impacting what's going on in those other countries because of swift, efficient, constitutionally backed legal operations that are mitigating risks to being in war somewhere, the risk of loss of life, and also making sure that the enemies of this nation are being brought to justice.

[F]

I have a question about that, Jared, if you're allowed to answer this, I mean, do you feel like your time in the seals, did you have to go put boots on the ground because of a bad decision by a president, One of our presidents?

[C]

Yeah, I would say. I would say yes and no. I mean, yes in the sense that you've got a bunch of. And it might not just be a president. It might be the entire system altogether. Right. And the bureaucracy behind it. That's where I would say the. No, I don't think it was only a president. I think you have a lot in the system of these neocons that make money. They line their pockets, are talking about Johnson. They. They're the ones who are sending people down. Like you said, you got young men, young women who just want to serve their country. And they, they, they, they take that patriotic heart and they use it for something evil. Right. And it's not the individuals that are deploying, but it's the individuals that are making them deploy. So I think it's bigger than just, just a president, though. I think a lot of times, or at least over the last 20 years, when I was in, it was the entire system.

[D]

Yeah, I would agree that a thousand percent, thousand percent. And the nest, the necessity of dealing with all of that and dealing with it from all sides. When, when people ask the founders specifically, this is a conversation we're all familiar with. Benjamin Franklin walks out of the, out of the Independence hall, they've just adopted the Constitution. And she asks him, Dr. Franklin, what form of government have you given us? And his answer is, a republic, madam, if you can keep it. If you can keep it. And keeping it is a lot of work and it requires just about every form of every discipline you can imagine is going to be involved in keeping the republic. Because as soon as you start getting some resources, which we got very early on, and as soon as you start getting some international respect and the ability to do things, the impetus to use that, and you got a bunch of pencil neck pencil pushers who want to go out and make people do stuff internally and in both domestically and internationally, they're going to want to do it. They're just people, they're fallen, sinful people in government. Government, this is what government is. And the only way you're going to rein it in is to have voters and people who will get involved and say, yeah, well, I'm going to do my part to make it stop. And because we jump in, well, we didn't fix everything in one blow. Oh, well, that's it, we're done. America's finished. Time to ignore the Constitution. You hear it again and again and it's been the cry, why did Washington say that if you want to change the Constitution, you must go through the process? In his farewell address, why do you think he took time to put that in the farewell address? It's because people at that time were saying, oh, this Constitution doesn't work. It's broken already. We just need to, we just need to take power. Hamilton was one of them. And so it's not weird. This is the way it's always worked.

[B]

It's just we're lazy. Yeah. Let's do a quick commercial break and a shorter one and we'll come right back. I want to have some more thoughts along that line when you talk about Venezuela, what took place, constitutional rules about doing things like this. And you talk about it's a republic. Ma', am, if you can keep it. I'd like to ask questions related to that. How do we keep it? Because I will say that as much as you'll say that it was good here and you know, it's always been bad here or there. I think we're in a place right now where we have to confess that we are. We're in a bit of trouble when it comes to the Republic. And, and I definitely want to hear from you as to like, what are some of the main things we have to keep in mind to make sure we can keep it? What do we need to do to do as a form of resistance at the moment or. Or calling things out at the moment so that we can keep it. So everyone get ready for that with Zach Lauten, Slogger and Jared Hudson. Mount's not working right now. Sorry. That Johnson thing is messing me up.

[C]

We'll be right back.

[B]

This episode's brought to you by ion [e-mail] Go and check out the health benefits, the wellness benefits and longevity benefits of NAD treatments. NAD is nicknamed the Fountain of Youth for a reason. You have an abundance of this in your system when you're young. As you get older, it drops off. And now we found a way to get NAD into our systems. They do it through IV treatments, but they're very expensive and it's also extremely painful and difficult. However, Ion Layer found a way to get a high dose of NAD into your system through a medical patch you wear on your arm. You wear it for about 14 hours. You get a high dose of NAD treatment into your system and no pain at all. And it is a fraction of the cost of what you would pay through for an IV treatment. In the coupon code, type in Apologia in all caps. They're going to hook you up with a great discount for an already amazingly cost effective product. And they bless Apologia Studios and help us to stay on the air and do all these programs with you. Don't forget. Also, Ion Layer has added a glutathione patch as well. Glutathione, the master antioxidant. Go check out the health benefits of glutathione. I'm doing this stuff anyways. It's blessed my life in tremendous ways. And so if you want to focus on your health, wellness and longevity, nothing better in my mind than ionlayer.com for your NAD and Glutathione treatments ionlayer.com don't forget to put apologia in all caps in the coupon code. Welcome back, everybody. What form of government? A republic, ma', am, if you can keep it. A republic. You hear so much today about its democracy, democracy, and I think it needs to be challenged. When you, in terms of looking at the origins of this nation, the belief system of those who, who gave us this nation, what was behind the constitution. But Zach, that point right there, a republic, ma', am, if you can keep it, we're in a place right now where obviously we've moved away from a republic. I think if you were to ask the average American citizen what kind of government we have, we would just say, well, it's a democracy. And they wouldn't even know how to define what a republic is or what's different between a republican, republican or democracy. So maybe, Zach, start with that. Define the definition between, or give the definition between a republican and democracy and then tell us how do we keep it? Zach?

[D]

Well, I appreciate that question. A democracy is actually a fairy tale. It never does exist. It can't exist. A pure democracy is where everybody that lives there votes on every question that government must answer. You want to have water, you want to have your streets plowed, you want to have a park, you want to have taxes. Every single question is a public vote. That is pure democracy. And so of course, that's never happened. It didn't happen in the Greek city states. It didn't happen anywhere. An element of democracy is what we mean. And in that sense, America is a democracy because we have a democratic element. We vote on some things, but that combination is properly referred to as a republic because a republic means we elect people to make those decisions and they are governed by law, in fact. And I'm going to give you a little bit with this, but I know you agree the word, the Greek word presbyter or presbyteros and the Latin word from which republica, from which we get republic are the same thing. They mean people who are elected to make the decisions. And so there is a sense in which even Baptists are Presbyterian in the form of government because you do elect elders. It's not multiple layers.

[B]

I don't appreciate the jab, Zach. I don't appreciate the jab at all.

[D]

Well, I was trying to low key it so that you have to smile a little bit.

[B]

So you're saying that the Presbyterian form of government is like the republic form of government. Government in, in a sense.

[E]

Right.

[D]

Republic.

[B]

Well, then I now reject it.

[D]

That's right. We're going full congregational, boys.

[B]

Just go ahead. Sorry about that.

[D]

So our American form of. Of civil government grew out of church governments. And everyone in America practiced some form of a Presbyterian government. In its simplest form, even Congregationalism, is an electing of officials who will then lead. Right. And so that is what that means. That's where that comes from, its simplest form. Presbyterians, of course, have made it overly complicated and now want to argue that no one else is Presbyterian unless you do it the way we do it. I'm an elder in the Presbyterian in the opc and I don't agree with that. So a republican form of government in America is what we call a constitutional republic. The Constitution is not the law of the land in the sense that the people have to obey it. The Constitution was not written for. For the people. There is not one single line, one single clause in the original Constitution or in even most of the amendments that should be applied to the people. And the laughable, laughable way in which activist judges say, well, the First Amendment means is you can't do X, Y and z. Private citizen is. Is patently absurd, and everybody knows it. The Constitution is the law of the land in the sense that it binds government. It is the law that the federal government specifically must obey. And then there are a few things that are specifically applied to the states. States give up the right to coin money. States give up the right to conduct diplomatic relationships with foreign nations. States can't prohibit what other states bring into their states, things like that. But for the most part, the federal government or the Constitution limits the federal government. And so when we say we're a republic, we mean we use a democratic process to elect people. Those offices are defined by the Constitution. And then the people who sit in those offices are bound to obey the Constitution in this sense. If it doesn't say you can do it as a federal official, you can't. And not just any federal official, you can't say, well, the Constitution says federal officials can do this. No, it's much more specific. Article one says the Congress may do this. Article two says the executive, the president may do this. Article three says that the courts, the Supreme Court, and every other federal court may do this. And then 10th amendment says, okay, all you guys. If it doesn't say that you can specifically do this is you can't unless you amend the Constitution. Here's the process for that. Love it.

[B]

All right, so how do we keep it, Zach?

[D]

Well, I. You do things like what Jared is doing, partially. I mean, that's one thing you can and some should do, run for office. Take advantage of the fact that this is a fantastic free market opportunity. Can you raise enough money to deliver your message to convince enough people to vote for you? Well, then guess what? You're no longer, you know, Mr. Knucklehead, you're now Senator Knucklehead. Thank you very much. And you're going to go and do your job, hopefully. Right? That's as human. That's what we do. And so that's one way. Another way is to ask. And we're to start at the top. Right. Because Jared is here and I appreciate the fact that you're running for an open Senate seat. Let's go down to the other end and say, yeah, but what about us beyonds who aren't going to have the opportunity to run? Well, the first thing that we do is recognize that our nation exists because God created it. And we live here because God. Because God created us here. And the Bible tells us that God determines the times and places in which nations exist and live and which nations we're in. And therefore it. You're not going to go save your nation by yourself. God is the one who does this. And he uses people. He will use you.

[C]

You.

[D]

And so what's your first job? Do your job as a man or a woman. What is your core job? Do your job as an individual and your responsibility before God. Do your job in your family, do your job at your job, do your job in your church. This is where it starts. And if you are not self governing, which is the first sphere of government, and then you are not involved and participating and contributing your role in your family government, whether that's as a parent or a child or. And then if you are not contributing and doing your job in your church, which is the other sphere of government, whether you are an officer or you attend, but you need to do your job there and then you will be able to do your job in the civil sphere, which is actually the lowest sphere. Arguably it goes individual, family, church, government and the, and the, your job, you know, your, how you make money fits into one of those. And so that's where it starts. Young men ask all the time, what can I do? Well, there's all kinds of dangerous ideas out there about how if we just got rid of enough of the people that look like people I don't like, that would save America. We would save America if we got rid of everybody who has this skin tone or everybody who comes from this country. Hogwash. It's not going to save America. It's going to save America is obeying God. Do your job. Do your job.

[B]

That just sounds so biblical.

[D]

That may involve rounding up some people, some Somalis who are running leering centers in Minneapolis. You've got that job. Praise God for that, right?

[C]

Sending the money they bring in over to our terrorist Al Shabaab that we're fighting in Africa.

[F]

That was a good transition because I actually was going to pivot the conversation a bit just because I literally just got a notification that ICE protesters in Minnesota now are barricading streets with trash cans and wooden pallets. Jared, you're a sheriff, correct?

[C]

Yes, sir, I am. Yeah. I'm a sheriff's deputy and I'm animal ICE agent. I'm a federal task force office.

[F]

So if this were to happen in your neck of the woods, how might you handle that situation?

[C]

Oh, well, I can tell you with. With who we're sworn under and what we deal with. I mean, it gets dealt with pretty quick. Not only does it get pushed out of the way, people get slammed, People get shot. People get smoked with flashbangs and gas. Try not. When I say shot, I'm talking about the, the. The non lethal munitions. And then if it has to get lethal, if guys get run over. I've been in that situation like the guy was the other day, where somebody's running their car at you, like, please don't hit me with a car because I don't want to shoot and kill you. I mean, law enforcement officers don't want to kill these people, but it's like, I'm gonna go home to mama and the girls, and it's between me and you. I'm gonna smoke you. And so that, that's kind of what we deal with here. But it also depends on the area. It's that it's the elected officials. John Locke always, he said, in the second taste of government, the close former government of the people is the most effective form of government. And your local officials that are elected oftentimes dictate what is going to happen in that community that you live in. And I think you, I mean, Zach just hit the nail on the head. It starts with you, then your family, then your community, or, you know, your church, your church government. And then finally it's. It's big government. And so I think for our community, it's hard pressed for that to happen. You let a couple people start blocking roads in Blount County, Alabama, or Gardendale, where I'm at, and some of the good old boys are going to be out there slinging arrows and shooting guns. I mean they're, they're not going to let it last very long, let's put it that way. Especially if my kids got to get to the hospital or I got to get to work to pay my bill. Right. Pay my mortgage, my house bills and all that. So that's just kind of the community we live in.

[F]

Yeah.

[D]

Slinging arrows, you've nailed it. Exactly. Because once you start looking at civil government, what you should do, you should look at your county and city governments because that is where most of the tyranny is going to come from. And you don't think that's true. I know everybody here does. For our listeners, if you, after 2020, if you don't think that's true, you really need to look around a little bit. Recognize that the majority of the tyranny that you live under comes from your local or can come from your local government. If you do not, if you're not involved and you let the wrong people take over. And Democrats, Marxists, love, love, love, love getting themselves elected in Republican controlled areas. They do it all the time. I guarantee that if you look around in your jurisdiction, your city, your county, you will find a flaming Mamdani level Marxist idiot in office somewhere.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[D]

In the most conservative state in America.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So we got them in Phoenix for sure. We got them in Phoenix for sure.

[F]

Yeah.

[D]

Oh man. Yeah. You're not kidding. Maricopa county is one of the most corrupt places in America, I believe, as far as government goes and elections go.

[B]

Amen. Yes.

[D]

So getting involved in those races doesn't mean you have to run. You can look around, go, who else could run? How do I do this? It comes down to the ability. And you go out and knock on your neighbor's doors. Can you deliver literature? Can you figure out how to communicate? And can you put that on a print on a piece of paper and put it in the mail? It's not actually that hard. It takes some study and some work. But you can do it. I was doing it in high school.

[F]

Yeah.

[C]

I would go as far to say. You said it earlier. You said our biggest problem is we're lazy. I mean, what did Frederick Douglass. Things are rooted in the ballot box, the jury box, the cartridge box. Right. Our elections, our juries, and then finally the cartridge box. And guys, if we, I don't believe we've completely lost elections. I don't believe we completely lost our court systems. But my gosh, if you're not willing to get out and vote. There's no way you're going to be able to take up arms and defend your family, protect your family. You're too late to do the most important thing you're supposed to do, and that's elect good local, good state, good federal officials that bring about our Christian conservative values that we hold so dear in this nation.

[B]

Excellent. So speak.

[E]

Go ahead.

[F]

As I say. So how can people help you get elected?

[B]

There you go.

[D]

That's what they say.

[F]

You're here.

[C]

Yeah. You go to. Go to hudsonforalabama.com you can check us out, like us, follow us, share all that good stuff and spread the word, you know, across Alabama. Obviously, it's an Alabama election, but being one of a hundred impacts everybody across this great nation. And y' all been mentioning it the whole time. The primary thing when you're, when you're running for a position like this is it's a position to serve. And as a Christian, we understand service. Because what did Christ say in both Matthew and Mark? He says in the Gospels, I came to serve and not be served. The job of an elected representative is to serve the people who are the leaders of this nation that they're elected to represent. The second thing is making sure that we have not just national security from our foreign adversaries, but security from the criminal enterprise and the communities that we live in. When you elect a representative government, they are supposed to help toe the line with the citizen and maintain their right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. It's just like you were talking about in the Constitution, Zach. It is a line drawn in the sand for the government, not a permission slip for the people. And making sure that we maintain those, but we also make sure that criminal enterprise or foreign adversaries are not taking away people's constitutional rights. And then the final aspect for me, this is a US Senator from the state of Alabama. Make sure that we bring every bit of public and private investment we can to this state and not let it go to places like Minnesota. Stop the funding of terrorist organizations. Stop the funding of killing ICE officers or trying to kill ICE officers and breaking the laws of this land in places like Minnesota. And funds Christian conservative areas so we can go after things like the right to life. Right. Protecting the unborn, protecting the communities that believe in that, and making sure that we uphold every American's dream so that, you know, whoever you are, you can hang on to your own piece of the American dream, which I believe is built on Christian conservative values.

[F]

Amen.

[B]

Amen. And Zach, what Are you up to right now? How can people check in with you, support you? What's up with you?

[D]

Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm particularly excited about what Seth Gruber and White Rose Action are bringing to the table. White Rose Resistance. There can be some areas of, you know, how we look at things a little bit differently, and so check them out. But he is one of the new voices on the block calling for equal protection and full criminalization.

[B]

That's right.

[D]

Abortion.

[B]

That's right. And I've been talking.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, I know. You guys have been. It's awesome. Great dialogue. I have been after them for a couple years to set up a political arm that will actually go in and aid in what? In the burden, the national burden that an abortion now has largely been carrying alone. And we have done so. I just finished setting up everything.

[F]

Sorry, I was just talking to Kevin Crew this week because he's working with our team there in Idaho.

[D]

Yeah, right on. Yep. So that's very exciting. Go check out White Rose Resistance if you've not already. And stay tuned for White Rose Action, which is going to, to put it bluntly, kick butt, kick politician. But if there are politicians who are voting against criminalization, criminalizing abortion, or voting to keep it legal, there are going to be consequences.

[B]

That's right. Right in the Johnson.

[D]

That's just.

[B]

Just looking for the opportunity that's always.

[F]

Been thinking about this whole time is.

[B]

Where can I. Yeah, where can I put that back in? So thank you, Jared and Zach. Thank you both.

[C]

I love you, brothers.

[B]

I'm really grateful for you and looking forward to having you on again sometime, keeping you in prayer. And, Zach, I do appreciate you giving me another. Another just great tidbit of historical information that will keep me giggling at night when I'm going to sleep. Thank you.

[D]

Thank you, guys. Appreciate you so much. Right on.

[C]

Thanks, fellas. Thanks for having me.

[B]

Absolutely.

[F]

For you, man.

[B]

All right, everyone, thank you so much for being with us in the show today. We're gonna. And after the show today, we're gonna go and do a after show on All Access. So if you guys are partners with us in ministry, we want to spend some extra time with you. So we're gonna head over there to apologiastudios.com if you guys are not all access yet, make sure you guys go over there, sign up for All Access guys, be a part of this ministry with us. There's no end to the stories that we get on a regular basis of Latter Day Saints coming to Christ, Jehovah's, witnesses coming to Christ, atheists coming to Christ. Life's being changed around the world. God's just been blessing tremendously. So big thank you again to everybody who's a part of this ministry with us. Many of you guys have been with us since the very beginning and so we're so thankful for you. We have big plans for this year. Be in prayer for us. Big plans, new programs, new ways to engage the culture with the gospel. We're very excited about it. And so thank you guys for being in this ministry with us the entire time. So we're gonna head over to All Access, but before we do, want to encourage you guys to go to the store at apologiastudios.com go to the store, get some tracks. We got great gospel tracks. There's tracks for Mormons, there's tracks for Hope for Tomorrow on depression and suicide. There's just a lot there for you guys. T shirts, swag, all that stuff for you guys@ apologiastudios.com in the store. And don't forget everyone to go and.

[F]

Check out heritage defense.org if you homeschool your children, please sign up with them. Make sure you're protected in case any three letter agency decides to come knocking on your door. You have a lawyer on call, you can go to heritagedefense.org put apology in the coupon code and get your first month free. And then of course, I want to thank Harry Said, Heritage Fence, Josiah Stowe and our guys at Dominion Wealth. Josiah's been in the chat today, cracking me up. They're great. Reformed that money. Love those dudes. And yeah, I think that's it.

[D]

Heritage.

[B]

Awesome. Bradley Pierce, our constitutional attorney, he's actually finishing up the bill for us right now. For Illinois again. This will be the first for Illinois Bill of equal protection. Praise God. We'll be announcing all the details as we get a little bit closer. I'll keep it on the, I'll keep it, I'll keep it quiet for now in terms of the details until we have it all finished up for you guys. But, but Bradley's just such a gift to the church writing these bills. Most of the bills across the country have been written by Bradley Pierce. And so he's working that up right now being prayer for him and Heritage Defense. Yes. If you don't have it, you guys got to get it. Especially you guys, you guys who are homeschooling. You get this. It is unbelievably cheap for what they offer you. Three later agency comes to Your door, you hand them the phone, the attorney's on the line, talks to them, and just delivers the death blow to that kind of tyranny and kicks him right into Linden. I'm gonna find every way, right. I'm gonna find every way, right. To use that. Lyndon Johnson. What a perv.

[F]

What a perv. What a. That's all you're gonna get out of today's show, is that Lyndon Johnson was a total.

[B]

Look. Every time you're with Zach Lautenschlager and you talk about history, you will learn something new. Sometimes the stuff that you go, whoa, I can't believe that. Other times, it's like, that's really cool.

[F]

Other times, you're like, that's super nerdy.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He'll. He'll tell you everything. And. And he's actually just a wealth of information and so grateful for everybody. Thank you guys so much. If you guys would go sign up for All Access, join us in the after show. We'll catch you guys next week. Thank you.

[F]

This video is brought to you by Amtech Blades. We are very excited to be partnering with Amtech. Bill Rapier, long time Navy Seal, DevGur operator, amazing brother and friend. Looking for a battle ax to carry on your person to chop some wood. They've got you covered. Looking for a blade to carry on you every day. Also got you covered. Look at this. I gotta check my mail. What do we got going on here? Oh, look how sharp that is. What is this? Oh. 5% off. You can go to amtechblades.com, put apology in the coupon code, get 5% off your order, and he will match that and give 5% to End Abortion Now. Again, amtechblades.com. we're grateful for them. Check them out.