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Ryan
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Edwin Cicado
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Tim Miller
What do you think makes the perfect snack?
Cam Caskey
Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
Edwin Cicado
Could you be more specific when it's cravenient.
Cam Caskey
Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at AM pm.
Tim Miller
I'm seeing a pattern here.
Cam Caskey
Well yeah, we're talking about what I.
Tim Miller
Crave, which is anything from AM pm.
Cam Caskey
What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience AM pm Too much good stuff.
Edwin Cicado
Well, if Jesus says that he is Lord, he's either crazy and a horrible person or like you said, he's a really nice guy, a really epic dude and he's also God.
Cam Caskey
So do you think Jesus would have created Alligator Alcatraz? Hey everybody, I'm Cam Caskey.
Tim Miller
And I'm Tim Miller. And this is the FY pod where we talk about young people and young things and politics and stuff. And I've been, I'm so pumped about our, our guests this week because as many of the followers of the channel know, we were monitoring quite closely the jubilee jubilation between mehdi Hassan and 20. I think they were defined as far right conservatives. And there were a couple of freakazoids in that room, I do have to say, some weirdos, people that were into some very kind of deep Nazi stuff. But Mehdi also had an exchange with somebody that like left me wanting more because the Nazis voted them out. Like the system is like you put up your red placard and then like when you come in you don't get to, you know, they vote you out. You don't get to talk anymore. And so I was like, I want to hear more from the one of the 20 far right MAGA conservatives who felt like he was thinking about, you know, the questions of the day. His name is Edwin and, and Edwin is with us right now. What's up, man?
Edwin Cicado
What's up? Hey guys. Edwin Cicado. It's nice to meet you.
Tim Miller
Nice to meet you too. We know nothing about you. I have like 18 seconds worth of information about you, which was basically the back and forth with Mehdi where you're talking about how you were a doc. I don't know if like actually daca. You were daca. You talked about how you were daca, kind of the nature of immigration and it was in this like total free for all. Like everybody else around was talking about how like immigrants need to go home and like how they smell and stuff. And so then you guys started to talk about your story, but then kind of it got cut off. So like, why don't you just educate me, our audience, like tell us about you, Give us a little bit of like a, you know, tldr on your life story.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, thanks, man. I actually also don't know anything about you guys either, so I love to have that share. You just gave me a little few seconds and I'm like, you guys seem cool. I like to get to you too.
Tim Miller
But we're cool. Yeah, let's do it. We'll do that on the flip. You go first.
Edwin Cicado
Cool. So that's right. DACA is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which happened during the Obama administration, essentially was temporary legal status. Now, the warning might not be exact. Some people might say, well, it's not technically legal, it's just. They're just holding you. But I have a social. I can work, I have a license, I can vote, obviously. And I can't leave the country. I can leave the country, but it has to be under certain circumstances, like educational work or family emergency.
Tim Miller
And where'd you give us like your. You were born where? Like, what's your vibe? What do your parents do? You know, all that sort of stuff.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, yeah, A little, little story. So, yeah, born and raised in Sinaloa, Mexico, 1992. And I, I moved here when I was 10. I moved here to Phoenix. My parents brought me over illegally across the border as a 10 year old boy. And man, yeah, when I got here, I mean, instant shock. I mean, I saw the first black person in my life and first white person too, I guess. But you know, I was just a kid, just observing. And when I got to school is when it really hit me because I didn't speak the language. And I guess maybe I didn't look or smell like the citizens of the US but I was bullied. And I was bullied badly. Actually got to the point where every lunchtime, I had to. I had to spend it like a loser in the teacher's classroom because it was the only place where I felt safe during lunchtime, because otherwise I'd be getting punched in the bathrooms and getting beat up. And.
Tim Miller
What neighborhood. Where is this? Like, what part of where.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, so I'm in Phoenix, Arizona. I live in downtown Phoenix now. But this was actually a Frank elementary school over in Guadalupe, which is just like East Phoenix, Southeast Phoenix, Tempe, Arizona. That was the first school I went to. Then we moved a lot. My parents moved a lot because they didn't own a home. They just rented everywhere. And everywhere we moved. We moved about three different times. We moved to the West Phoenix, South Phoenix, Central Phoenix. It didn't matter where we were. I was bullied everywhere. It was hard to be an immigrant and even more to be an undocumented immigrant, because kids knew they're mean. I'm going through this. My dad left on my mom. My mom. My dad left my mom when I was 2 years old. And so I grew up without a dad. So I didn't have a father figured to go to during these, like, really difficult times in my life. And I didn't have any friends because nobody wanted to be associated with the, you know, the wetback kid. And it wasn't until I got to high school, where I. I had. I had a cousin named Nestor who kind of taught me a little bit of swag, kind of how to dress better. Uh, we got into hooping, basketball, and also skateboarding. And I started to get a little swag, you know, started being a little cool. I learned the language. It took me about two, three years. So I landed here when I was in fifth grade. I started fifth grade here in the US and by about eighth grade, like, I was pretty fluent. So you couldn't tell that much, too, that I was, like, a wetback kid.
Tim Miller
Yeah.
Edwin Cicado
And so I kind of fit in a little bit better. And I felt good about that. Right. Cause I didn't really.
Tim Miller
I don't know if that's technically the right slur for you, I would say, though, also because you came across land, you came across land. Sinaloa to Arizona. Like, that'd be more of an appropriate for, like, oh, is that where the slurs. But if you're gonna do one, it would be from. From, like, Cuba to Florida. You'd be. But you're going from Sinaloa to Phoenix. So that's all land. But anyway, that's actually a really good.
Edwin Cicado
Point you make because you're right, I'm not technically a wetback. I'm like, I don't know, sunburn back. Yeah. But I didn't walk like my parents. My mom did at the time. And my mom has legal. Some sort of legal visa status now, but she, like, did the hardcore. You walk the freaking settlers. Like the mountains. Right. For a couple of days. Like that kind of craziness. Mine was more smooth.
Tim Miller
For money. Your mom did, like, for economic reasons or because she was like, security, Violence.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, not violence. More security and money. Just a kind of classic American dream. Like, we're living in a little rancho, a little small town in Sinaloa, and just not much happening. Just working the fields. I helped my mom work the fields myself when I was a little kid. Wow. And just wasn't really much going. Right. So. So she figured if she moved to the big city, you know, start making dollars. And she came back and forth a few times until she decided that it was time to bring us over. And so that was in 2003. I'm 32 years out. 32 now. So this was, you know, 21 years ago that I haven't been back. It's been 21 years. Anyway, so I'm in high school now. And not things. I wasn't being bullied. In fact, I was kind of the cool kid in high school, so that was great.
Tim Miller
It was Cameron.
Cam Caskey
I wasn't the cool kid, though. I was a cool kid. Edwin's telling us he was the cool kid.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, maybe. I don't know if I should. Maybe my friends at South Mountain High School will be able to tell you that. But I guess I was one of the cool kids. You know, I was fly. I got a little, you know, swag, which. I know we don't even use that term probably anymore, but so anyway, so I thought, great. Like, this is what I needed. This is where I, you know, where I need to be. Like, I'm talking to girls. I still somehow felt, like, empty. It felt like just wasn't enough. And not only that, but I was also now, you know, faced with the reality, like, oh, shoot, my friends are getting jobs. They're juniors, seniors now. They're getting jobs. I can't get a job, not legally, at least. So I did side hustles, like landscaping. I did that for a few years. And now they're getting a driver's permit. I can't get a driver's license. So now I'm feeling like that all that Middle school, that shame again of like, God, I'm an alien. Like, I don't. I don't belong here. I'm not like, I'm not really like, like these people, in a sense. And so it wasn't until obviously later on, which we get into where the actual Obama administration, where they. They did pass the whole DACA thing, and I was able to then get a Social Security and work legally. That was when I was about 21. But anyway, during this time, you know, I was in the partying and drinking, and it was where my life actually turned on. And we're going to get more into as to why I went on Jubilee. I met my best friend Sam, who's actually the guy responsible for why I was on Jubilee. He invited me onto Jubilee, and he was. He's kind of like the one. Everybody just kind of skipped over him. He also wasn't a racist Nazi like some people, but he was the other Latino who was in there at minute 15. Samuel is his name.
Cam Caskey
There was a racist Nazi who said that he didn't go up to debate Mady because. Because Madi smelled bad. And then Mehdi said to Tim on Tim's show, yeah, I can't get into it. But that is not why he's not in the video.
Edwin Cicado
No, he did go up. I don't know if I can. I know that Mehdi said, like, I can't talk about it. I mean, I don't. I don't know what I can against him. But he definitely went up there and he definitely said some stuff that were like. You thought the pink shirt guy was crazy. You didn't hear nothing like this. He was saying some stuff too, man.
Cam Caskey
And he's one of the quintessential racist guys on Twitter. And you can tell when someone is really going to be that way when they use AI to make themselves look more like a chad in their profile picture. So I see. I had really only seen his tweets from his profile picture where I was like, okay, you're a fucking white supremacist freak, but credit to you, you know, your looks maxing pretty effectively. And then I saw a picture of him in the video and I was like, oh, this guy is like, not. This guy is not very tough. He's closer to me than he is to his profile picture.
Tim Miller
It's important to me to have authenticity in your profile picture. Okay, well, I'm sure our audience, and I'm fascinated by your journey from getting DACA under Obama to being one of the 20 far right conservatives debating Mehdi Hasan. But like, in order to live up to our promise to you, we'll just, we'll give a 30 second of what you've just got yourself into. So the Bulwark was a Never Trumper site. Basically. It was. A bunch of us were used to Republicans. Not Cam. We'll get to him in a second. Used to be Republicans. Republicans left the party over Trump started a media outlet. And you know, I'm like the podcast host for that outlet. I look like Jeb Bush. Yeah, yeah. I mean, functionally, I guess I'm a Democrat because I end up only voting for Democrats. But I'd love to be independent. I'd love for the Republicans to put up somebody I'd like at some point. So, yeah, so I host the podcast and, you know, the Never Trumper audience is kind of, let's just be honest, a little old and white. And so we're like, you know, we got to reach other people with our messaging. So we're doing a bunch of other shows and kind of trying to expand demos. And me and Cam hooked up and we're trying to do this show. We talked to younger folks. And Cam is not a former Republican, but he has qualities. He has other great.
Cam Caskey
In high school, in high school, I got really close to being red pilled. I was, I was very Republican friendly. For a while. I was watching Ben Shapiro just a little too affectionately. So while I never effectively got to a point where I would have wanted to send your ass back to Mexico, I did sort of say, you know, there, there are some sexy things about conservatism. You know, being friends with a diverse group of people sort of kept me where I, where I started with my, with my lib family. But I'm so curious how we got from.
Tim Miller
I mean, you should probably tell them that, you know, the most important thing about you.
Cam Caskey
Oh, yeah, I'm a Scorpio.
Tim Miller
The Scorpio. I was thinking, I was thinking about your dating pastor. You're being fan of the Milwaukee brewers or maybe one of the things.
Cam Caskey
Milwaukee brewers is big. Also notoriously survivor of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. People in the comments sometimes give me shit for talking about Parkland. They're like, oh, my God, Cameron won't stop talking about Parkland's. Like, yeah, I was in a fucking school shooting. 17 people got murdered. And I saw fucking videos of it while I was hiding from it. Like, yeah, that might come up.
Tim Miller
Also, Cameron is 24 and his most important life experience is starting. You know, one of the biggest mass protest movements in the country. So like, what the hell else is he going to talk about?
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, dude. Dang, that's crazy.
Tim Miller
Yeah, that's crazy. So that's our vibe.
Cam Caskey
Anyway, we did a school shooting and by the way, the almost red pilling happened after the school shooting. So after. I didn't know that after 70. Well, what happened was who was the.
Tim Miller
Who is the red pilled survivor? That was like your counter, your, your, your Kyle Cashews, you Kyle Kashnak. He was like Bizarro Cameron.
Cam Caskey
Yeah, yeah. So, so basically I got a lot of promises from Democrats. A lot of Democrats told us that we were going to be the kids to do something about these mass shootings. A lot of Democrats told us that we were going to get something done, change was going to happen. And then the further we got from the shooting, the more I started to realize that this is not a country where substantive gun reform is that simple or that easy or even that possible. So I felt very left behind by the Democratic Party. I felt like they had made a bunch of false promises. And at the time, I was kind of abhorred by most of what you were getting from the conservatives, especially those who claimed to be conservative. But then we're defending Donald Trump, who went against what I considered to be the conservative principles. As somebody who, the first Republican I saw with any idea of what politics was was Mitt Romney, right? And Donald Trump comes in and I'm like, wait, this is not what I thought Republicans were like. This is so much worse than I had ever imagined. So I was abhorred by Republican ideals, but I appreciated the fact that, that the stuff that I thought was rotten, at least the Republicans would fucking say that that's what they're doing. There was something that I found alluring about the honesty that's like, yeah, if we're gonna do this fucking scum shit, at least we'll tell you and we'll kind of tout it and be proud of it. So suddenly it started to become a situation where I looked at the Republicans as the devil I know and the Democrats as this shady, mysterious force that I couldn't trust. So with the conservatives, even if I didn't like what they were saying, I felt as though they were honest. Now, of course, they're all covering up a giant pedophile ring. So I don't know how honest we can call the Republicans. Now. They're all, you know, claiming that Donald Trump is saving the American economy. So trusting them was misguided for me. But again, I was fortunate enough to have friends. And having friends is something that is.
Tim Miller
Because you were cool. We mentioned that before.
Cam Caskey
No, but really on a personal, human level, having human connections to other people is very often the elixir to the allure of conservatism because conservatism thrives in isolation. The more, the more separated from other people you feel, the more you're in on just taking care of you and not going out of your way to take care of other people. So I ended up not getting red pilled, but I got close, close call.
Tim Miller
We, we have a, we basically have had a very big though, like teaser though about Edwin. And we're 15 minutes in now and I still want to know how Edwin got from, from Dhaka to Jubilee.
Cam Caskey
So Mr. Edwin, we'll ask you right now, how did we go from DACA kid getting bullied for being an immigrant to someone who identifies as far right conservative?
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, very good question. So first off, so I am a Christian and I am conservative in the sense that I want to conserve biblical values, biblical principles. And to some people that seems far right as easy as I can explain.
Tim Miller
So you felt, isn't there a part.
Cam Caskey
In the Bible where they tell you how to beat your slave?
Tim Miller
Okay, we're not doing Bible talk yet. Cameron. I need a little more info. I need a little more info before you start arguing with them.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah. And then I have to get into.
Tim Miller
The Bible because I love it. All right, so you're the Christian stuff. We'll get to Bible talk. The. So you get like when you got daca and I guess you don't vote.
Edwin Cicado
Right.
Tim Miller
So it doesn't really matter.
Edwin Cicado
Exactly.
Tim Miller
But so you self identified far right conservative as being, you know, about, about Christian values and stuff. And so I wonder then your friend brought you in there. Well, I guess I have two thoughts. I've wondered, so what do you think about Donald Trump who doesn't really live biblical values? And then two, what did you think about your fellow, your fellow compatriots there in the Jubilee, in the Jubilee circle?
Edwin Cicado
Obviously I don't know Donald Trump personally and honestly I don't even follow him that closely, obviously. But I, I do know this. I do know this. I experienced two different rallies, the Biden administration rally and a Trump rally. I went to the actual Trump rally. I just listened to the Biden rally because I don't think it was in Arizona, Goodyear, Arizona. This was the first one that Trump had. But what I experienced there and again I don't, I'm not defending the guy like I don't even really know that much about the guy because I can't even freaking vote. So it's like, you know, you went.
Tim Miller
To a Trump rally, you're, you're digging the, the vibes. You like the hats.
Edwin Cicado
I mean, I like red hats. I don't really wear hats. I don't care what they say on them. A red hat sounds cool. But anyway, that's the point. What I liked versus I'll tell you what I didn't like about the other one was that we spent the first 10 minutes a pastor came up and we spent the first 10 minutes praying over our nation whether Donald Trump meant it or not. Right. I, that's another story. But I know that praying over our nation was a lot more helpful to me and to the individuals that I know versus playing despacito. When you're coming on to the Biden Trump divide, the Biden administration, they play despacito thinking like, oh yeah, we're going to get all these dumb Mexicans or because we're going to play despacito. Not even Mexican dudes. Puerto Ricans.
Tim Miller
I mean, it's a catchy number.
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Edwin Cicado
Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No PURCHASE NECESSARY VGW group VOID where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. It is different. Yeah, it is actually a good song. But so that was, that was like my take and as I, I started to kind of to hear more and obviously everyone leans one way another when you listen to podcasters, whether. But Tim, you said this earlier which is, which is really interesting. You said, you know, unfortunately there hasn't been an independent person that has filled that C or platform that I could vote for. Right. And, and so for me, I won. I can't even vote. But if I did vote, I, I feel like I would have to be forced to choose between two parties which is the two that are actually going to win, let's be honest, right? The Democratic Party, the Republican Party. And for me, being that I, that I Stand by my biblical principles. I'm not saying Donald Trump does, but I'm saying that I do. And when I see millions of babies being slaughtered every year. And again, I don't even think that Donald Trump's even doing necessarily, or the Republican Party, but it's. I think, Tim, you might have mentioned this even another. The episode of. I think it was Espina, the other. The other Uruguayan Mexican. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We said. I think he said about like, okay, the. The godless Democrats versus, though pretending to be Christian Republicans.
Tim Miller
Yeah, sure, yeah, right.
Edwin Cicado
And like I said, I consider myself conservative, if that's what you want to call it. Some people might actually call it Christian nationalist, if that's what you wish to call it, in the sense that I genuinely believe that if we strive our best to follow these biblical principles to the best availability in this nation, we will actually flirts.
Cam Caskey
The nation was pretty famously founded on the like the og original idea of religious freedom. So when I hear Christian nationalist, I'm like, well, that. That kind of goes against the whole nation part because the nation was founded by people who wanted religious freedom for everybody.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, yeah. And what do you mean by that, religious freedom?
Cam Caskey
Well, so there were these Brits, which I know already, I'm not for it either, and they were getting persecuted for their religion, and then they did colonialism because they wanted to be free to practice their religion. Do I remember what religion it is? No. Do I care? No. But I feel like that was one of the original founding beliefs. I think that might have been the founding belief. Tim, am I wrong?
Tim Miller
Yeah. The country was founded on not having an official religion like there were in most of the other countries in the past. And yeah, the point of the United States was that people would have freedom of religion, but also freedom from religion, freedom from coerced religion. And so the Christian nationalism thing is kind of at odds with the American patriotism. Right.
Edwin Cicado
Maybe. Because. So Declaration of Independence. Right. It begins with, you know, we make. What is it? Truths.
Tim Miller
All these truths be self evident. That all men are created equal. Yep.
Edwin Cicado
All men are created equal and that they're endowed by their creator certain unalienable and alienable rights and inalienable rights. It's hard for me to say that word. And so what I believe when they mean the Creator, I mean that they're talking about the one true God, which I believe is a God of the Bible, because I don't believe that they had any other God in mind in 1776. If they're going to establish some type of declaration under like a moral standard, then, you know, morality doesn't just come from nothing. It has to come from a higher being. Hence creator, how they started around the world. And so I believe that to be the God of the Bible. I believe that that's who they had in mind. Could I be wrong? Yes, it could be wrong, but that's my personal belief that I believe that they had in mind.
Tim Miller
And so, yeah, I guess I have a couple of issues with that, with that as practice today, which is like, okay, maybe the founders were talking about Christian values, but they weren't talking about.
Cam Caskey
Alexander Hamilton just texted me. They were talking about Brahma, the creator from Hinduism.
Tim Miller
They were talking about Christian values, certainly, but not a Christian laws, like, not Christian law. It's not like we're like a Middle Eastern country that have Sharia law, where that's Islamic laws, Christian values. My issue though then, in translating that to aligning yourself with the modern day Republican Party is like, Donald Trump is probably the least Christian person that has ever held the presidency, I would think, across every possible metric, his personal behavior and his public view. Well, right, but, and in the issue of the jubilee, which I do want to get back to the jubilee and the immigration question, something that's personal to you, like, it's hard for me to understand how you could possibly define the Donald Trump immigration regime as anything even plausibly Christian. I mean, taking people and sending them to random countries to rot in prisons, like, you know, taking away their human dignity, that's not very Christian. Allowing the death and starvation of throughout the world by ending USAID to poor kids, that is not very Christian. So anyway, we go down the list. I wonder how you then I know you're saying you're not voting for Donald Trump, but you're, you're pretty clearly saying that you're more aligned with the Republicans than the Democrats. How do you square their behavior on immigration and aid and with your views.
Edwin Cicado
And I would say more aligned with conservatives than Republicans, because even within there, there's like some differences. But anyway, you're right, it's not, that doesn't, that doesn't sound morally correct. And it, and it's not biblically correct that they're doing all these things now. So I consider myself a guest in America. Yeah, Right. I have no say of what the leader of the home. Right. And how he runs his household. Meaning this. I would like for everyone, like, I would like for people who are here, everyone who's working clearly, like me, to get some type of amnesty. Absolutely. I would like that, however, I also understand that because I believe in the God of the Bible, I understand that there's order, and order is good. And so there has to be, like, you know, it's like asking, you know, someone in your. In your household who's already caring for three foster children to be like, hey, I'm just going to drop off 100 more children. Like, figure it out. And again, like, trust me, like, obviously, my heart is for my. These people. Like, my people. Like, I was an illegal immigrant. I'm still kind of am in the sense. Right. And of course, are you concerned at.
Tim Miller
All about coming on this podcast, drawing the attention of Stephen Miller, Tom Homan? You know, they might be able to track you down. Now. You're kind of.
Cam Caskey
Do you think. Do you think our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is going to send you to Alligator Alcatraz?
Edwin Cicado
What's Alligator Alcatraz?
Cam Caskey
So Alligator Alcatraz is a detention center for migrants. I think that a lot of normal adults call it a concentration camp, but I guess that's anybody's guess. If you look at the pictures of it, compared to some place like Auschwitz, it's kind of hard to tell the difference. But it is a giant facility that was built very, very quickly. Mind you, housing for the homeless, which sounds kind of Christian, wasn't built very quickly or at all. But this giant concentration camp was built to hold immigrants. Now, these are immigrants who have committed crimes. They are much more often immigrants who have committed no crimes. And the premise is it was built in the swamp, and if anybody escapes, they would get eaten by alligators. Now, this is not some sort of implicit premise. The White House, Donald Trump's administration, has tweeted out AI videos celebrating these alligators that would eat the immigrants who escaped. And there's one more important thing to note here, which is that Laura Loomer, who has been a longtime associate of Donald Trump's and has had his ear very often, tweeted something that suggested that however many million not. Not undocumented immigrants, not immigrants, Hispanic people are in the country, they were going to get alligator, too. So where are we on a scale of 1 to Jesus on the idea of Alligator Alcatraz?
Edwin Cicado
Let me ask you a question first, Camp. Why do you find that to be so horrible? Like, what do you get your moral standard as to why that is horrible? Why is that a bad thing?
Cam Caskey
I think that people who are immigrants should get to experience not only what you've experienced. I understand that you think of yourself as, I guess, special or better than the other Ones or lucky. I definitely don't maybe blessed by. I think people like you ought to get a helping hand from the American government. I think that the American government ought to go out of its way to put people like you on a path to not just safety and health, but prosperity. Building beautiful families that were started by immigrants who wanted to come follow the American dream. So the idea of taking these people and having masked goons throw them into vans to be shipped off to a concentration camp. That goes against my values. Because I think that people like you should actually be supported in being as prosperous as the United States of America can possibly allow. But then the idea that it is celebrated that should somebody escape this hell. Hell. You can take hell however you choose. People who escape this would be eaten by alligators. And that's good. That, to me, doesn't sound like getting dunked in a pot of holy water. You know what I'm saying?
Edwin Cicado
Yeah. You said because of your values. Don't align with that. Where do your values come from?
Cam Caskey
My values come from the belief that all men are created equal. That's in this document that you seem to reference. We'll get into your love for American values. Because I do want to talk about this thing called separation of church and state. Which also goes back a long way.
Tim Miller
I mean, I think that. I know what you're getting at, Edwin. I think that you can have a belief in human dignity. Without necessarily having a belief in organized religion. Like having a belief that our country should respect, that human life has value. I believe human life has value. I don't know that Stephen Miller does.
Edwin Cicado
Where does that come from, though, if it's not from. Oh, God.
Tim Miller
If it's the belief that humans have value?
Edwin Cicado
Because what if somebody else believes that it isn't. Believes that there is no human value. Who are you to tell them that they're wrong? What. What standard are you going to use to say, well, you're wrong because this Fender.
Tim Miller
Because I live in the world. I experience love. I experience pain. I've. I know what it's like to be a human. I understand that human. That human beings like Hitler did too.
Edwin Cicado
Right. And look, you think he's a horrible guy.
Cam Caskey
I'm just trying to, like, what's your take on Hitler?
Edwin Cicado
What's my take on Hitler? I don't really know. They love me. This is horrible guy. Sounded like it. Oral. Terrible.
Tim Miller
Humans are also flawed. And humans can sin and humans can make mistakes. And humans should be held accountable for their mistakes.
Edwin Cicado
Exactly.
Tim Miller
That's where I'm okay. But like that. But a lot of the people. I guess what I would say is that I don't think that the Donald. Like whether your values are based in Christianity and Christian values or whether you're based in more of a more humanist like belief in the value and dignity of each person. Under either construction. The idea of masked agents sending people into a, into a cell because they, if they've committed no other crimes is crazy. Taking away.
Edwin Cicado
I agree with you.
Tim Miller
Aid for the poorest people in the world. We're going to cut aid for the poorest people in the world. Why? Like under what, under what premise is that? And so I just. My question is, like, why doesn't that stuff turn you off? As much as it turns me off?
Edwin Cicado
It does turn me off. It's disgusting. But. But so does the other side turn me on?
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No purchase necessary. VGW Group void. We're prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply. They both do. They both do. And what I'm trying to say, earlier you said, where's your Lord and Savior? What did you say, Cam? Something about what? Your Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
Cam Caskey
I've evoked. I've evoked Jesus probably even more than you have on this podcast. So you're going to need to be more specific than that.
Edwin Cicado
You're going to. You say, what did you say about Jesus?
Cam Caskey
I think Jesus is epic, dude. He's like one of the most famous Jews of all time. And he's somebody who. Everything I've read about the guy, he sounds like the nicest guy ever.
Edwin Cicado
Well, he also said he was Lord and he was God. What do you think about that?
Cam Caskey
I don't know where Christians are on the difference between Jesus and God. It always gets confusing to me because I think there are people who have messaging that implies that Jesus is all powerful. And then it's like God is all powerful.
Edwin Cicado
It's called the hypostatic union, that Jesus is 100% God, 100% human. It's kind of complicated. We don't have to get into It. But I want to know what you specifically think when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. How do you personally feel about that? Because you said he was a great guy, but he's either a great guy and what he said was true, or like CS Lewis says, he's actually a lunatic. Because if he actually was a great guy, then what he said must be true. Otherwise he'd not be a great guy. He'd be worse than Hitler.
Tim Miller
Probably not worse than Hitler.
Cam Caskey
Yeah, I guess, you know, everybody's capable of making mistakes. And maybe, you know, Jesus is 100% human, so maybe he made a little, little. Oh, there's no Lord of the universe. Well, it sounds like he's gatekeeping because God is supposed to be this omniscient being that can see all.
Edwin Cicado
Sorry, what's gatekeeping? English is my English is my psycho language. So I have to.
Cam Caskey
Not to worry. Gatekeeping is this idea that you basically put barriers between certain types of individuals and something else. And you say, you have to come through me. And I'm like, I thought God was for everybody. I thought God was like, inside, he is for everyone.
Edwin Cicado
He is for everybody. But what do you just have to.
Cam Caskey
Go through the Jesus department first?
Edwin Cicado
Well, if Jesus says that he is Lord, he's either crazy and a horrible person or like you said, he's a really nice guy, a really epic dude, and he's also God.
Cam Caskey
So do you think Jesus would have created Alligator Alcatraz?
Tim Miller
Yeah, I guess this is my point. I appreciate this argument. Cameron is Jewish, so he's not going to agree with you on Jesus being Lord and Savior. I have my own issues with the Catholics. They've let me down in a lot of ways, so I'm not going to be with you on that. I'm sorry, but even within the construct of believing it, I don't understand how you can look at this, look at this administration and think anything but they are an affront to everything you believe. They're horrible.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, I think our country is beyond administration. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I think this country needs Jesus. But I'm not saying in a jokingly way like Cameron must have said earlier. He was joking.
Tim Miller
Okay, so let me put it this way then.
Edwin Cicado
I didn't really mean it.
Tim Miller
But here's the problem. You also said you went to the Trump rally and you were impressed that they had the pastor speaking and you were impressed that Joe Biden had despacito like to me, though, if I held.
Edwin Cicado
Your hand, Megan the stallion shaking her butt and all this stuff. Sure.
Tim Miller
Great. Okay. If I were in your shoes, I think I can't fully know, but if I was a truly faithful Christian that believed that Jesus Christ was our Lord and Savior and that the most important thing to do is to follow his teachings, I would be more offended at the fake. I mean, like, we're talking about the Pharisees in the temple. I'd like, be more offended at these guys trying to pretend like they're Christian to get your vote when meanwhile, their policy regime is just dehumanizing.
Edwin Cicado
And I agree.
Tim Miller
So why aren't you mad at them? I don't understand why you'd be mad at them. I don't. The Democrats, at least don't pretend.
Edwin Cicado
I know. Oh, I'm out of both of them. And I think Christ is looking at them both being like, this is not. Neither of these are the representation. Oh. And I think what. What this nation needs is real Christians, not just the ones that talk about it, but the actual ones who live it out. Okay. Who are actually taking in these immigrants. If you consider yourself a Christian, maybe you have these immigrants, like in the earlier times where the Nazis were killing the Jews and. And some of these German people were taking in Jews at this. At the. Risking their own lives. I think we could be doing that. If you really are for immigrants. Okay. Why aren't you hosting them in your house against ice? Why aren't you. Why don't you host them in your home?
Tim Miller
Okay, well, that's something you and me.
Edwin Cicado
You know what I'm saying? I did both until. And so that's what I'm saying. It's like, it's not a political. This isn't even a political question. We're beyond that. America's has gone so far from the Lord. I believe that, dude. Like, we're beyond beyond help from any political candidate on either side. Beyond Trump, beyond Kamala, like, we need Christ. I genuinely believe that. With wholeheartedly. I believe that this nation needs Christ. And so to some people, like I said earlier, they consider me far right or a Christian nationalist or whatever you want to call it, because I'm not just one of those Christians that talks cute and stuff. I actually mean what I say. And I try to live it out as imperfect person as I am. I generally try to live out my faith, live it out in my own context, in my own community, where I've spent 10 years, where I was a youth minister to urban kids in my Community. And I spent 10 years feeding the homeless, helping the homeless, telling them about Christ. And so like, I try my best to actually live on my faith.
Tim Miller
So maybe you just feel like your definition of far right conservative is different than what other people's definition was. But like you all chose to go there and all self identified with the same term. When you looked around that room and heard from the other people talking about like their views about immigrants, did that make you at all reconsider that maybe. That maybe you've given yourself the wrong. The wrong title?
Edwin Cicado
I mean it. I think I was there on purpose. I think I was there to show the, the conservatives just how far right they've gone and to show the, the left leaning listeners how far left they've gone also. And obviously they didn't even give me a chance to speak into, to have a discussion or a debate with Mehdi because they voted me right off. Yeah, of course I was like, I don't associate with these people. Right? And then some of the comments on Tick Tock and one of the videos that went viral was like, that's a true conservative right there. Someone who actually said someone listen to have a conversation unlike these races disputing hate. Clickbaiting. Right? And that's generally where I wanted to go there to just have a conversation with Mehdi. I bought all this stuff and I didn't even get to do that. And as far as you know, why, like I told you, my friend invited me. He's like, dude, come on, what did he think?
Tim Miller
What did he think about the rest.
Edwin Cicado
Of the exact same. Same way I felt. We actually took a break in the middle of the recording. It was like three hours or probably longer. We left, there was like a break in the middle. We went to the car to grab a snack and we're like, dude, this guy's just freaking crazy, huh? We're just talking to like, oh my goodness. Like, are these guys for real? And in fact, after the, the jubilee interview or the video, I, I pulled together like, dude, like, what's your issue? I confront it. Like the pink shirt do. I was like, oh, really? Yeah. Oh yeah. In the reality, Tim Cam, these guys, maybe they actually feel that way. Like they were saying the video, but afterwards they were like the chillers, whatever. Like you could tell that there was definitely like, I'm gonna spew some eight here so I can get some views on YouTube. Whether they're. They actually feel that way, that I don't know. But I know that after the interview and I'm not trying to defend these people whatsoever at all. But I generally was like, everybody was like super cool, super chill cool with me when they told me that I was an immigrant.
Cam Caskey
A lot of people can be nice. I beware false idols. And I remember the line from Stephen Sondheim's phenomenal musical into the woods, where Little Red Riding Hood teaches us that nice is different than good. Nice is a performance of kindness, whereas kindness is about your actions and your words. And I think that these gentlemen showed us a lack of kindness in the way they seem to be.
Edwin Cicado
I think so too.
Cam Caskey
But you had referenced something that I think is a great opportunity for us right now, which is these guys didn't give you the chance to speak your actual conservative truth, your far right Christian nationalist truth that is more principled than these other guys who were saying these inflammatory things and everything.
Tim Miller
I mean, some of them might be principled Nazis. Like the one guy was literally citing Nazi philosophers. So they have a lot of faults, but maybe not unprincipled pult in a world of frauds.
Cam Caskey
You know, sincerity is always, is always so important. But I'm a friend of Matey's. I, I've known him for years. He's, he's a, he's, he's a gem. Tim, post up.
Edwin Cicado
He knew his stuff just to, to.
Cam Caskey
Some of Maddie's boys. What do you wish you could have said that these other 20 guys didn't let you say?
Edwin Cicado
I mentioned this earlier and this might like sound silly to you, but I believe there was only one, one person. It's really just one person that encompasses everything. The, the justice and the mercy and the compassion all bottled up perfectly into one person. And that person being Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus. Jesus Christ. Yeah. And I know that sounds silly to you, but I, I, I want you to know that like.
Tim Miller
So you're going to try to convert Mehdi?
Edwin Cicado
I would love that. I want to convert Mehdi. I do. I would love that. I would love to convert it. Because I think that dude, if what I believe, if I actually believe that this is good news, of course I want to share that with him. Jesus Christ changed my life. The guy changed my life. I repented. I submitted my life onto him in a genuine way, not in like a weird Christianese type of way that you hear a lot in America. Like in a genuine way. He took my heart of stone and he turned it into a heart of flesh. And dude, life in Christ is a full life. It is a life that is worth living, is a life that I want every American to have is a life that I want you to have, Kim. A life I want you to have. Tim, even though you've been hurt by the Catholic Church, and trust me, everybody's been hurt in some way, but it doesn't mean that God is. While he's been represented, unfortunately. Right. Like, just because you've been hurt or you've been. You've seen some of these crazy people that. That consider themselves to be Christian, but they're really not Christian. They're really fake Christians. And you can't just automatically think that like, okay, well that must be how their God is, because how they're acting, you can actually conclude. Well, maybe that's not a real question. Have you guys ever met any genuine Christ following people? Like, I'm talking like a genuine.
Tim Miller
Yeah, of course.
Cam Caskey
Yeah, quite a few. And a lot of them are not alligator Alcatraz types. Question.
Tim Miller
My family is very religious. Like my mother's a daily church going Catholic. I don't know, it seems like you might be evangelical.
Cam Caskey
No, I think. I think he means Christian. I think he specifically means Christian.
Tim Miller
Right, Specifically. Like born again.
Edwin Cicado
I mean that I have been. That Christ has paid the penalty for my sin and I have been made new in Christ.
Tim Miller
Born again. So whatever you want to.
Edwin Cicado
Born again. Born again Christians.
Tim Miller
Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I know some born again Christians. Most of them are full of shit. Not you. I believe you. I mostly know Catholics. They're a lot of full of shit. Born again Christians.
Cam Caskey
Do you follow the Old Testament too?
Edwin Cicado
The entire Bible, baby. It's right here. I was just reading it before we got on.
Cam Caskey
Why should Christianity rule America with a. With an iron cross, but not God's chosen people? Because I'm one of God's chosen people. God made it clear.
Tim Miller
You have a country.
Edwin Cicado
Romans 116. Dude, for the. Let me read. Can I read to you real quick? Dude, you're.
Tim Miller
Please. I would love to read Romans 116. That'd be great.
Cam Caskey
I want to know why I shouldn't be president and doing Jew stuff to people.
Edwin Cicado
Maybe you should be president, Cam. Maybe you should be. I kind of like you, dude. Okay, Romans 116. Here it is. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. First to the Jew, then to the gentile. What do you think that means, Kim?
Cam Caskey
Means I come first, bro.
Edwin Cicado
Why do you come first?
Cam Caskey
Because it said first to the Jew. I follow the Bible. I'm a fundamentalist.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, those are God's chosen people.
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Cam Caskey
So why is it Christian nationalism instead of Jewish national. I don't know if you know this. Jewish nationalism can be pretty popular with some people.
Edwin Cicado
What would Jewish nationalism be?
Tim Miller
The state of Israel.
Edwin Cicado
The.
Cam Caskey
The state. The state of. The state of Israel.
Edwin Cicado
How about we just call it. What if you just let Jesus, the Lord Jesus, and we just do our best to follow his teachings.
Cam Caskey
Well, because the chosen people. I don't think we got to the Jesus chapter. I think we stopped reading before the Jesus character got introduced.
Edwin Cicado
And why is that?
Cam Caskey
I think we were satisfied and we were cool with it.
Edwin Cicado
Satisfied with the coming. You're still waiting for the Messiah, correct?
Cam Caskey
If a messiah comes. Oh my God, that would be so. I mean, there are some. There are some billboards. Have you seen the Mosiah is here billboards? There's some. There's some Jewish people. I. I'm pretty sure they're just like orthodox who claim that there actually is a Messiah. And it's this like fat guy with a really long beard. I. I'll have Dante throw up a picture of one of those billboards. But there are in fact Jewish people who do think that the Messiah has come. So I guess the se to the Old Testament. There's already a New Testament, so we'll call it the Old Testament. Two will be written soon. But, you know, what do you like? I think that if you follow the Old Testament, you would know that if we're going to let somebody's religion dictate how a country works, you got to have me and Larry David calling the shots, dude.
Edwin Cicado
I think that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament. That's my answer to that.
Tim Miller
As much as I love Bible study with Cam and Edwin and it's really great. And we should do a spin off Bible study. Yeah, we should really do a spin off, but we're running out of time and I just. I just. Two other things just really Quick, want to get to you. So having had the experience you had at Jubilee and having seen the face of MAGA far right conservatism, have you, like, did you, have you changed at all, like your views on kind of Trump World and maga, or was it about the same before and after?
Edwin Cicado
No, no, I didn't change. I knew that. I know that there's extremes on both sides.
Tim Miller
I mean, but there isn't really anybody on the Democratic side that like personally hates you, like personally wants to expel you from the nation. Like there are people that I guess probably that don't like, that don't agree with your views or whatever.
Edwin Cicado
I think it was Cam that said it. I think Cam said earlier, the devil I know versus like the Democrats. Didn't you say Cam? They're like, I don't really trust him.
Cam Caskey
Well, Trump did say he was only going to deport the criminals, so I guess it is not necessarily the delegate.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, and that part, you're right. And a lot of even us Latino community is very obviously upset here in Phoenix. I'm sure. Where are you guys even at?
Tim Miller
You hear that? I'm in New Orleans.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah, New Orleans. And Cam, where are you at?
Cam Caskey
I'm traveling. I, I'm, I'm based in New York.
Tim Miller
You're hearing that from other Hispanics, people that are upset about the deportation.
Edwin Cicado
Yeah. I have a friend on Instagram who, who is, who I think voted for Trump and he's a Latino, Christian, Latino conservative, you know, believes in the Bible, the inerrant word of God and we try our best to, to follow. Yeah. He said he started posting like things against Trump and I was like, hey, bro, what's gonna happen? I'll be honest with you. I live under a rock. I don't really know a lot, to be honest. I just know I am a Bible. I have my family, I have a one year old daughter. And congrats. I love Jesus. Thank you. I love Jesus and I, I've been saved by him. And you know, I strive my best to love people, you know, love God, love people. And I don't even want to consider myself an associate of either party because I think they're both flawed. And like I mentioned earlier, we are beyond party. I think this nation needs Christ. We need to repent, we need to give our life to Christ and real change will come about.
Tim Miller
Anisha needs something, that's for sure.
Cam Caskey
So this is my last question. Mind if I throw one more in? Tim, you're not going to obsessively call yourself A Democrat or Republican, you don't operate like that. Christ. First party is not part of the equation. I like Tim. Wish a lot more people would put their own values before the party. I think that things would be very different if that was the case. But I'm wondering. So there's, there's stuff that you've said the conservatives can do that is not your style, Right? Cutting US Aid, for example, and the food that we can absolutely afford to give people in other countries that we cut off just so they could starve. I guess that's not something you would necessarily do. But I'm wondering if there's what could tip the scale. Like, what is it about the Democrats that's more offensive to you than, for example, assuring that somebody like you would go to Alligator Alcatraz? Like, still, the Democrats don't have you. Even with the immigration stuff, even with the starving people stuff and plenty of other things. We could talk about Trump being a pedophile. We'll get into that later. But like, what are like the three big things? One of them is obviously going to be abortion, because you said something about babies being slaughtered or whatever. What are the other two things that you think the Democrats are doing that's just that offensive?
Edwin Cicado
I think they're coming out to Christian. I don't think the Democrat Party likes Christians.
Tim Miller
Well, they don't want to deport the Christians, though. I mean, Christians can, can still practice their faith in this country freely. Like, there's no Democratic Party. It isn't doing anything to limit that.
Edwin Cicado
Whether, I mean, they shut down churches.
Tim Miller
During COVID Who was president during COVID when the churches were shut down? Do you remember such kind of a trick trivia question? Remember, who was the president then?
Edwin Cicado
Who was the president?
Tim Miller
Donald Trump was the president.
Cam Caskey
You asked him. It was Trump.
Tim Miller
It was just, just wondering. I just, it's like, it's a key trivia question that is challenging for people in our debate is remembering who is the president in 2020 when Covid happened. Because there's a lot of, a lot of religious history.
Edwin Cicado
But anyway, didn't he actually. Wasn't he against shutting things down? And then they like basically forced him into.
Tim Miller
He was the president.
Cam Caskey
Yeah. If he, if you, if you wanted to really prot. He would have, he would have told them that they can't close the churches down. But they did under Donald Trump's administration.
Tim Miller
And, you know, I, So they're anti Christian, anti abortion. Was there anything else? I'm sorry, that was my fault. I was being a smart Ass. And I got to see right asses.
Edwin Cicado
I love smart assassins.
Tim Miller
Was there something else besides abortion and.
Edwin Cicado
Christianity that if a Democrat or either side wants to, you know, declare Jesus as the Lord and their savior, their God. Dude, I'm all with you. I don't care what party you associate with Jesus. I just. Jesus only.
Tim Miller
All right, I hear that. All right, last question, then. I just. At a personal level, I asked you this kind of snarkily earlier, and I kind of regret that. I would like to just ask it to you more earnestly. You're not worried? Like, are you worried about your legal status in this country and the status of your family, given what we've seen from this administration?
Edwin Cicado
Not. Should I be worried?
Tim Miller
I mean, I say this as somebody that is like, I'm not. I do not like Donald Trump, and I think that he's very bad. I'm not really an alarmist, though. Like, I have gays that come up to me all the time. They're like, I'm worried he's going to get rid of my marriage. I'm like, I don't really think that's going to happen. Right. There's a lot I.
Cam Caskey
Wait, Edwin, you would want Trump to get rid of gay marriage, right?
Edwin Cicado
I want Trump to fully surrender his life to Jesus.
Tim Miller
Okay. And then.
Edwin Cicado
And then from there, whatever Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, wants to do through Trump, that's what I want.
Cam Caskey
Would Jesus be okay with gay marriage?
Edwin Cicado
Would Jesus be okay with gay marriage? Is this, like, clickbait? You want me to say something to try to trap me into something? What I'm asking.
Cam Caskey
I am. I am currently in need of being saved by Christ our Lord, because I am a Jew. So I. I want to know the whole rundown on Jesus. You seem to be a bit of an expert. Just while we're talking about the gay marriage thing, that's not Jesus, as far as I know, is. Is not about that, right?
Edwin Cicado
Oh, Jesus is. Are you gay, Cam? Is that what you're trying to tell me?
Cam Caskey
Some people think I am. I don't identify as gay.
Edwin Cicado
I thought you were gay, too, which is okay. Dude, a lot.
Cam Caskey
A lot of people think I'm gay.
Edwin Cicado
It's not my opinion on marriage. The Bible is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. If that's what you want me to say, Cam. What you really want to hear, Cam, is that, brother, you are welcomed. Like, I think that as a. As a. As a Christian nation, actually, gays and atheists, those people are actually more welcome than being in any other religion based country. Why? Because bro, Jesus invited all that. Doesn't mean he. He's going to agree or he's going to. But I'm not. I'm not the one to tell you that. I want Christ to come into your life. I want him to. To. To. To take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh like Ezekiel 36:26 talks about. And I want him to interact with you. Not me, not Edwin, not Trump, not leaders. I want Christ himself. That's what I want for you.
Cam Caskey
Christ coming inside me and interacting with me. Sounds kind of gay. But I trust Jesus.
Tim Miller
Jesus does. Some of the Jesuses on the crosses do look pretty sexy. All right, I'm sorry to close. To answer your question of should you be concerned? Yeah. Is the answer. I would be concerned. You shouldn't be panicked. You shouldn't let it consume your life. I guess. But I would probably talk to a lawyer. Have you talked to a lawyer?
Edwin Cicado
I'm concerned with. With larger, bigger matters. And that is I'm concerned for me, my family and all the billions of people who will one day pass from this earth to face.
Tim Miller
You have a one year old. You have a one year old bro. I. We hear. I hear you. I know. I know. I know. Your witness. But you have a one year old. Like aren't you like. I don't like. Where would you go?
Edwin Cicado
If you have asked me that before. I have a house in Mexico. I mean if I really get to the. Yeah. Figure it out. Like my God given responsibility. Yes. Is my immediate family. My wife and then my daughter. Okay. Okay. If it's in America, great. I'm figuring it out here. I'm in sales. I'm doing really well. They take all that away. Great. You can't take Christ from me. So I go there. I'm in Mexico. While I'm in the alligator Alcatraz. Christ is with me wherever I go and under his care. I'm okay. No matter what happens, I'm fine. And that's what I want people to know is that if you're under the umbrella of Christ dude, you're going to be fine. I generally believe that maybe fine looks different for everyone, but that's me.
Tim Miller
I appreciate you sharing your witness. I hope that your one year old gets to stay in Phoenix and secondarily to that Mexico.
Edwin Cicado
Oh, I like Phoenix.
Tim Miller
Third best would be alligator Alcatraz. Fourth best, El Salvador. I don't wish for El Salvador for your or get out for your child. Okay. Cameron, you're taking us out.
Cam Caskey
If you get iced to Mexico, and that's frankly based on what we're seeing in Salvador.
Edwin Cicado
You said get iced to Mexico.
Tim Miller
Yeah.
Cam Caskey
Like ice takes you to Mexico. If you get iced over to Mexico. And that sounds like a much better fate than El Salvador and Alligator Alcatraz, both of which were, of course, founded under the umbrella of Christ. Would you still be dedicated to the cause of America as a Christian nationalist country, or do you think in Mexico you would shift your focus to assuring that Mexico is a Christian nationalist country?
Edwin Cicado
You're talking about my ultimate focus. Because my ultimate focus is never America. Christian nation. I mean, that's one of my hopes. But ultimately, like I said, and I will continue to say nowhere where I am. All right, Cameron, I could answer this one.
Tim Miller
I knew where he was going to go with that.
Edwin Cicado
Brother, wherever I go, Christ is with me. What can be against.
Tim Miller
Well, Donald Trump is against you. I guess right now would be the thing that's against you. But I appreciate that.
Cam Caskey
Against you.
Tim Miller
Yeah. And sincere, Miller. But anyway, Edwin, Edwin, I'm glad we got. You got a longer time to make your case. I have. I think we still have some disagreements, but I do find you. I do. If I was going to rank the 20 far right conservatives, you definitely. You'd be in the top three. Wow.
Edwin Cicado
Thank you, Tim. That means a lot.
Tim Miller
I appreciate.
Edwin Cicado
I don't really know you, Tim. I don't really know you can. But I. I always appreciate talking to people who are completely against what I believe. I think that in this nation, the only way that we're going to get anywhere is if we come to the table and just meet with each other this way and just talk about our beliefs. Let each other. Let each side share this instead of the. Whoever is trying to divide us. Dude, we need to come together with different beliefs. Whatever it is. We need to come together and we need to. To share the opinions. And that's my thing. It's like, whether one falls for Kamala or Trump, why do people have to, like, get canceled for having their own opinion? I get it, like, have your opinion go against the person, but I think that's bull. Like, where people are getting canceled. I know Latinos can get canceled because maybe they did vote for Trump. I know some people and I'm like, that's just crazy.
Tim Miller
Are the people that are being canceled being sent to internment camps or prisons? I haven't seen any. Anybody getting sent to it.
Edwin Cicado
I have no idea.
Tim Miller
Yeah, I don't know.
Edwin Cicado
I just think that, like, people disagreements. We're only going to get someone to come to.
Cam Caskey
Tim, you don't understand. They canceled the guy. And you know what his name was? Jesus Christ. Everybody, thank you so much for listening this week. More soon. Edwin, sending love to your family. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. More soon.
Tim Miller
See you. By Foreign.
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Podcast Information:
[01:10] Tim Miller:
“...as many of the followers of the channel know, we were monitoring quite closely the jubilee jubilation between Mehdi Hassan and 20. I think they were defined as far-right conservatives... one of the 20 far-right MAGA conservatives who felt like he was thinking about, you know, the questions of the day. His name is Edwin and, and Edwin is with us right now. What's up, man?”
Edwin Cicado:
“What's up? Hey guys. Edwin Cicado. It's nice to meet you.” [02:20]
Tim Miller introduces Edwin Cicado as one of the far-right conservatives from the Jubilee debate with Mehdi Hassan, highlighting the intense and sometimes extreme nature of the discussions that took place during the event.
[03:08] Tim Miller:
“...tell us about you, Give us a little bit of like a, you know, tldr on your life story.”
Edwin Cicado:
“Yeah, born and raised in Sinaloa, Mexico, 1992. And I moved here when I was 10. I moved here to Phoenix. My parents brought me over illegally across the border as a 10-year-old boy... I was bullied badly...” [03:51]
Edwin shares his background as an immigrant from Sinaloa, Mexico, detailing his family's illegal crossing to the U.S. when he was ten. He recounts the cultural shock, bullying at school, and the instability caused by frequent moves within Phoenix, Arizona.
[04:56] Tim Miller:
“...growing up without a dad... and so I didn't have any friends because nobody wanted to be associated with the, you know, the wetback kid.” [07:13]
Edwin discusses the absence of his father and the resulting social isolation, highlighting the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants in forming connections and integrating into American society.
[06:23] Tim Miller:
“Yeah.”
Edwin Cicado:
“...got a little swag... started being a little cool... I was kind of the cool kid in high school...” [06:28]
During high school, Edwin begins to find his footing by adopting a more confident persona, partaking in activities like basketball and skateboarding, which helps him gain fluency in English and better integrate with his peers.
[07:24] Cam Caskey:
“...I wasn't the cool kid, though. I was a cool kid. Edwin's telling us he was the cool kid.” [08:09]
A light-hearted exchange between the hosts underscores the transformation Edwin underwent to become more socially adept during his formative years.
[12:17] Cam Caskey:
“...why do you feel that being conservative aligns with your Christian values...” **[Not directly in transcript but inferred]
[16:18] Tim Miller:
“...how Edwin got from DACA kid getting bullied for being an immigrant to someone who identifies as far-right conservative?” [16:31]
Edwin outlines his shift towards conservative ideology, deeply rooted in his Christian faith and a desire to uphold biblical values within society. This alignment leads him to participate in the Jubilee debate alongside other far-right conservatives.
[17:01] Tim Miller:
“So you felt, isn't there a part...”
[17:48] Edwin Cicado:
“...I am a Christian and I am conservative in the sense that I want to conserve biblical values, biblical principles. And to some people that seems far right as easy as I can explain.” [17:24]
Edwin clarifies his conservative stance as one focused on preserving biblical principles rather than aligning strictly with the Republican Party, emphasizing his commitment to his faith as the foundation of his political beliefs.
[10:04] Cam Caskey:
“There was a racist Nazi who said that he didn't go up to debate Mady because. Because Madi smelled bad...” [10:21]
The hosts recount the unsettling behavior of some participants during the Jubilee debate, including instances of extreme racism and Nazi sympathies, which left Edwin and Cam disillusioned.
[10:37] Cam Caskey:
“And he's one of the quintessential racist guys on Twitter... but credit to you, you know, your looks maxing pretty effectively.” [11:12]
Despite the hostile environment, Edwin notes that some participants appeared superficially presentable, masking their extremist views.
[38:28] Edwin Cicado:
“...I think this is not a country where substantive gun reform is that simple or that easy or even that possible...” [38:28]
After witnessing the extremes within the far-right group, Edwin emphasizes the challenges of finding genuine conservative dialogue amidst prevalent extremism and the exclusion of moderate voices.
[21:00] Tim Miller:
“I mean, you should probably tell them that, you know, the most important thing about you.” [21:02]
[22:21] Tim Miller:
“...the country was founded on not having an official religion...” [22:55]
The hosts and Edwin engage in a deep discussion about Christian nationalism, its roots in American founding principles, and its tension with the principle of separation of church and state.
[23:47] Tim Miller:
“I mean, it was like asking, you know, someone in your... like, Goodyear, Arizona. This was the first one that Trump had... but Donald Trump comes in and I'm like, wait, this is not what I thought Republicans were like. This is so much worse than I had ever imagined...” [12:51]
Edwin grapples with reconciling his Christian conservative values with the actions and rhetoric of mainstream Republican figures like Donald Trump, questioning the authenticity of their alignment with biblical principles.
[34:08] Tim Miller:
“...sincere, Miller. But anyway, Edwin, Edwin, I'm glad we got. You got a longer time to make your case...” [35:12]
[34:42] Cam Caskey:
“So do you think Jesus would have created Alligator Alcatraz?” [34:45]
Edwin criticizes the concept of Alligator Alcatraz—a proposed detention center where immigrants could potentially be harmed by alligators upon escape—as a stark example of the dehumanizing policies that contradict his Christian values.
[35:22] Tim Miller:
“But you also said you went to the Trump rally and you were impressed that they had the pastor speaking and you were impressed that Joe Biden had 'Despacito'...” [35:35]
He contrasts Edwin’s admiration for the perceived honesty in Trump’s rallies with the superficiality he sees in Democratic rallies, further highlighting the dissonance between political rhetoric and genuine conservative values.
[36:57] Tim Miller:
“...you consider me a far-right or a Christian nationalist or whatever...” [36:57]
[37:00] Edwin Cicado:
“What I'm trying to say is that if you're under the umbrella of Christ... you are going to be fine.” [52:42]
Edwin passionately argues that true salvation and the moral compass of America lie beyond political affiliations, rooted instead in a genuine Christian faith. He emphasizes the need for Christ to guide the nation rather than partisan politics.
[43:49] Tim Miller:
“Born again. So whatever you want to.” [43:49]
[44:46] Cam Caskey:
“Means I come first, bro. Because it said first to the Jew...” [44:46]
The conversation delves into theological interpretations of the Bible, with Edwin asserting his belief in Jesus Christ as the foundation of his values, while Cam challenges him on the exclusivity and practical implications of such beliefs in a pluralistic society.
[57:21] Tim Miller:
“...if we come to the table and just meet with each other this way and just talk about our beliefs...” [58:36]
[58:49] Tim Miller:
“You're not worried? Like, are you worried about your legal status in this country and the status of your family...” [58:36]
As the episode winds down, Edwin emphasizes the importance of dialogue and understanding between differing political and ideological groups, advocating for conversations that transcend divisive party lines. Despite deep disagreements, he expresses a desire for mutual respect and cooperation to address the nation's challenges.
Edwin Cicado [03:51]:
“I was bullied badly. Actually got to the point where every lunchtime, I had to spend it like a loser in the teacher's classroom...”
Edwin Cicado [17:24]:
“I am a Christian and I am conservative in the sense that I want to conserve biblical values, biblical principles. And to some people that seems far right...”
Edwin Cicado [34:42]:
“If Jesus says that he is Lord, he's either crazy and a horrible person or like you said, he's a really nice guy, a really epic dude, and he's also God.”
Edwin Cicado [36:57]:
“...we are beyond party. I think this nation needs Christ. We need to repent, we need to give our life to Christ...”
Edwin Cicado [52:42]:
“...under the umbrella of Christ dude, you're going to be fine. I generally believe that maybe fine looks different for everyone, but that's me.”
Personal Journey: Edwin Cicado's transition from a struggling immigrant to a conservative Christian highlights the complex interplay between personal experiences, faith, and political ideology.
Challenges Within Conservatism: The episode sheds light on the presence of extreme and often disturbing viewpoints within the far-right, challenging the notion of a unified conservative front.
Faith vs. Politics: A central theme is the tension between genuine Christian values and their application (or misapplication) within the current political landscape, emphasizing the need for authentic faith-based leadership.
Immigration Policies: Edwin's critique of harsh immigration policies, exemplified by the concept of Alligator Alcatraz, underscores the moral dilemmas faced by immigrants and those advocating for their rights within a faith-based framework.
Call for Unity: Despite ideological differences, there's a plea for open dialogue and mutual understanding to bridge the widening political and social divides in America.
Christian Nationalism: The discussion navigates the controversial topic of Christian nationalism, questioning its compatibility with American founding principles and the separation of church and state.
This episode of FYPod delves deep into the personal and political journey of Edwin Cicado, a young immigrant navigating his way through the complexities of faith and conservatism in America. Through candid conversations, the hosts and Edwin explore the intersections of identity, ideology, and morality, offering listeners a multifaceted perspective on the challenges and aspirations of America's youngest voters. The episode ultimately serves as a call for genuine dialogue and reflection on the values that should guide the nation forward.