CHAOS? Here Are 8 Things We Know About the Iran War | Guest: Bob Vander Plaats | 3/23/26

Summary

Steve Deace Show Podcast Summary

Episode: CHAOS? Here Are 8 Things We Know About the Iran War

Date: March 23, 2026
Host: Steve Deace (A), with co-hosts Aaron McIntyre (B) and Todd Erzin (C)
Guest: Bob Vander Plaats (D)
Network: Blaze Podcast Network

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Episode Theme & Purpose

This episode tackles the chaotic and rapidly developing situation of the Iran War, dissecting what is actually knowable amid conflicting reports, media narratives, and political rhetoric. Steve Deace and the team lay out “8 things we know about the Iran War” as a framework for understanding the moment. The show emphasizes principled conservatism, skepticism toward both media and government talking points, and a commitment to facts over speculation. Besides war analysis, the episode discusses the passing of Chuck Norris with guest Bob Vander Plaats and fields challenging listener questions on faith, forgiveness, and politics during an “Ask Me Anything” segment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Do We Actually Know About the Iran War? (14:17–21:54)

Steve Deace, Aaron McIntyre, and Todd Erzin pause to clarify only what is genuinely knowable about the Iran conflict:

The 8 Knowable Facts:

1. Significant Damage to Iran: Iran’s war-making capabilities and high command have suffered substantial, though unquantified, degradation.
   • “I think it is clear some level of significant damage has been done to Iran’s war making capabilities.” (A, 14:42)
2. No Clear Post-Regime Plan: There is no identifiable leader or group ready to take over if Iran’s regime collapses.
   • “We still don’t have any clue whatsoever who could take over and subdue this country of 90 million people should the regime fall.” (A, 15:16)
3. Economic Costs Domestically: Americans are paying a premium at the pump, with raised fuel prices impacting prices everywhere.
4. Bond Market Pessimism: Bond markets are not optimistic about America’s economic rebound, signaling deep financial concern about the war.
   • “The bond markets signaled... they weren't all that optimistic about the American economy's ability to rebound from this war.” (A, 17:39)
5. Bibi Netanyahu Still Active: Israeli PM Netanyahu’s continued presence and leadership are confirmed.
6. Iran Can Still Strike: Iran’s missile-launching capabilities remain intact—they have not been completely destroyed.
7. Arab Coalition Holding: No significant defections or weakening have happened among the US’s Arab partners opposed to Iran.
8. President as Dealmaker: Trump’s signature unpredictability and penchant for negotiation introduce constant uncertainty and posturing.
   • “The President of the United States is a consummate dealmaker... things could be said that are not true or overstated for the point of leverage.” (A, 20:30)

Analysis:

• The panel agrees chaos rules, multiple things can be true at the same time, and much is still unknowable.
• They highlight the president’s use of mixed signals (“bombs for breakfast, negotiations for lunch, and pullouts for dinner.” (B, 20:30)), blending pressure with public optimism for both negotiation and economic signal purposes.
• Market and bond pressures—the cost of the war—may influence political and military decisions as much as battlefield progress.

Memorable Quote:

• “Therefore it’s entirely possible we have no clue really what is happening. ... And that’s probably the truth for the foreseeable future.” (A, 25:46)

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2. The U.S., Israel, and the Arab Coalition (26:26–29:33)

• There’s debate about how much Israel is really driving US actions and whether this is a “tail wagging the dog” scenario.
• Steve emphasizes Trump would not be so easily manipulated, and the U.S.-Israeli relationship is shaped by mutual interest: both want to end the Iranian regime, as do Arab allies.
• “I think Trump is trying to control the war... it’s the only thing that the Arab coalition, Trump and the Israelis all agree is, has to go: the Iranian regime.” (A, 28:13)
• Israel’s societal resolve post-October 7 is highlighted, with Americans struggling to relate to Israeli unity and determination.

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3. Domestic Fallout: Gas, Airports, & Political Maneuvering (24:39–25:45, 39:18–40:50)

• While Americans are watching videos of chaos at major airports and dealing with rising fuel prices, the panel argues these inconveniences matter more than the ongoing war to most people.
  • “I think the American people wouldn’t care if we literally just bombed Iran every day for the next 10 years if they were paying $2.85 for a gallon of gasoline.” (A, 25:14)
• Democrats’ strategy to nationalize elections and the counter-strategy to localize GOP campaigns in red states is discussed.
• “If we allow Democrats to invade your state with a nationalized election, you’re in a precarious position.” (A, 40:50)

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4. Chuck Norris: Faith, Friendship & Legacy (41:30–48:17)

• Bob Vander Plaats shares personal memories of late actor and Christian Chuck Norris: his humility, authenticity, and commitment to Christ.
  • “He was an authentic warrior for Christ. ... You need Jesus.” (D, 44:58)
• Chuck’s legacy, principles of faith, family, freedom, fitness, and willingness to stand firm, and his open sharing of the gospel are highlighted.
• Notable anecdote: Norris’ reluctance to sign meme/joke books that were not “authentic” and his personal “stamp of approval.”

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5. Ask Me Anything: Faith, Forgiveness, and Politics (53:51–96:44)

A segment featuring wide-ranging, probing listener questions with detailed, honest answers.

Highlights:

A. Forgiveness & Restoration (54:09–62:52)

• Forgiveness doesn’t require repentance from the offender; restoration of relationship is a separate question.
  • “Do not conflate forgiveness with restoration. ... We forgive because he forgave us. What did we do to earn our forgiveness? Nothing.” (A, 54:53)
• The emotional and spiritual burden of bitterness versus the Christ-modeled release of anger is deeply discussed.

B. Sunni-Shia Divide and Unknowns in Iran (63:10–68:58)

• The religious, generational, and ethnic complexities that will shape the post-regime landscape if Iran falls. No clear “good guy” successor exists—worries about chaos mirror those prior to Iraq or Libya.
  • “You get...just line up these questions all the next hour, and my answer is just going to be the same over and over again. I don't know.” (A, 68:40)

C. The Ten Commandments, Faith & Works (69:47–76:27)

• The relationship between doctrine, law, and salvation—behavior as the evidence of belief, not the condition.
  • “How would we know what you believe other than what you do? ... If you love me, you'll keep my commandments.” (A & B, 72:11–72:27)

D. Protestant-Catholic Tradition, Early Church (81:49–88:14)

• Steve encourages reading both Protestant and Catholic formative writings for a fuller context—a stress on learning from tradition while keeping Scripture as the final authority.

E. Dispensationalism & Eschatology (88:16–89:56)

• Steve laments the complexity and in-house disagreements regarding end times theology, joking, “my brain is busted.”

F. October 7th, Intelligence, and Conspiracy (90:45–91:34)

• Pushback against claims Israel “allowed” the October 7 attack: “Nobody credible in Israel believes their own government allowed October 7 to happen.”
  • “Credit to you, you’re actually not as anti Semitical as maybe you thought...turns out you actually care more for the Jewish people.” (A, 91:30)

G. Trump Critiques & Purity Tests (91:40–96:44)

• The show’s evolving position on Trump—supportive for strategic and survival reasons in the current crisis, but not blind to his flaws.
  • “My big picture view is that we’re in a cold civil war. ... My current read is that we are in a survive or fail exercise as a people.” (A, 95:05)
• Steve rebuts accusations of “softness” on Trump since a White House visit, pointing to a consistent record of candor, skepticism, and strategic support.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Bombs for breakfast, negotiations for lunch, and pullouts for dinner.” — Aaron McIntyre (20:30)
• “It’s entirely possible we have no clue really what is happening.” — Steve Deace (25:46)
• “Forgiveness and restoration are separate.” — Steve Deace (54:53)
• “Nobody credible in Israel believes their own government allowed October 7 to happen to them... you actually care more for the Jewish people, it turns out, than they do themselves.” — Steve Deace (91:30)
• “The only person whose opinion matters on that is Donald Trump’s.” — Steve Deace (76:47)
• “If we allow Democrats to invade your state with a nationalized election, you’re in a precarious position.” — Steve Deace (40:50)
• (On Chuck Norris): “He was an authentic warrior for Christ. ... You need Jesus.” — Bob Vander Plaats (44:58)

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Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Topic | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 14:17 | Start of “8 Things We Know About the Iran War” | | 20:30 | Trump as dealmaker, the role of subterfuge and uncertainty| | 25:14 | Americans’ priorities: “I don’t think it’s about bombing...”| | 26:26 | Israel’s role, Trump’s independence, Arab coalition | | 39:18 | Political implications for red-state strategy | | 41:30 | Chuck Norris’ legacy with Bob Vander Plaats | | 53:51 | Ask Me Anything: forgiveness, faith, Iran outlook | | 63:10 | Sunni-Shia divide, dangers of regime collapse | | 69:47 | The Ten Commandments and genuine faith | | 76:47 | 2026 electoral politics: Trump, Vance, DeSantis, Rubio | | 88:16 | Dispensationalism and end times theology | | 90:45 | Oct 7, intelligence, and anti-Semitism claims | | 91:40 | “You’ve been soft on Trump since the White House” email | | 95:05 | “We are in a survive or fail exercise as a people” |

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Tone & Style

• Direct, fast-paced, conversational
• Principled but irreverently humorous; snarky conservatism
• High skepticism of mainstream and alternative narratives; grounded in “what can be reasonably known”
• Blends political realism, faith analysis, cultural critique, and a willingness to entertain pointed audience challenges

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For New Listeners

If you missed this episode, you’ll come away with a realistic, if unsettling, inventory of what’s actually knowable in the Iran War, a sharp critique of Beltway and media spin, practical advice for red-state political survival in a turbulent election year, poignant reflections on living and dying well (via Chuck Norris), and a bracing, sometimes uncomfortable honesty toward challenging questions about faith and national fate.

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Next episode tease: More listener questions and a promised deep-dive into the shifting rhetoric of Tucker Carlson and the conservative foreign policy cleavage—keep an eye out for “Deconstructing Tucker.”

Transcript

[A]

And greetings. There we are.

[B]

I forgot to turn off the automation from when you were gone. Sorry about that.

[A]

That's all good. Good to see you. Aaron McIntyre. Good to see you. Todd Erson. I am Steve Dace. Happy Monday to all of you. And we have been a little topsy turvy between vacation and some unforeseen personal circumstances, but heaven permitting, we are planning on regular programming for the time forward. A couple of dates. I'm going to be on the road for some speaking engagements, but we'll still bring you daily shows for the foreseeable future, allergies notwithstanding, among other things. You guys have good, long weekends.

[B]

It was great.

[C]

Excellent.

[B]

Spent very little time watching the tournament, spent all the time outside. I mean, this weather was just fantastic.

[A]

Yeah, it was a great weekend. Until yesterday. It was. The weekend was great. Had my, my uncle who had bypass surgery over the holidays, he finally got able to come out of the house and came over on the big screen at the house. He's a lifelong Iowa fan and he would be what I used to call my old sports talk radio days, Jihadic Wing Hawkeye, okay? Like he can't envision a world that Iowa State's ever good at anything, right? And he came over and watched the game and it was hilarious. We watched that entire Iowa game together and I mean, he, he wanted everyone benched, everyone expelled. And I'm like, this is where I get this. This is, this is how I inherited this from him. Made me laugh out loud several times in a very nervous way, very self convicting way because I, like, this is what I look and sound like.

[C]

Yes, yes.

[A]

But no. We had the granddaughter over the whole weekend too. We just, we had a, we had a great spring break weekend. But anxious now to get back into the swing of things. We're brought to you by our friends over at my Patriot Supply. Have there been any disruptions of anything important lately that you guys can think of?

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

What's diesel right now? Is it up to 10 bucks a gallon yet? Is it?

[C]

If you want to fly like a couple of states over, make sure you block off like five days.

[A]

Indeed. They're America's number one. My Patriot Supply. They're America's number one preparedness company. Over three million satisfied customers. I'm one of them, all right. In my shed, man, I've got the, I've got the, the food, I've got the water filtration system, okay? And you can get their best selling four week emergency food supply that I have. And it comes with an additional week of food for free. This stays good for well over 20 years with proper storage. It's at least 2000 calories made with real ingredients, no artificial flavors or colors. All right. So that you know you're prepared for when you need to be prepared. All right. Get this now. All right? Get your free week added to your four weeks. Get your free week of emergency food at preparewithday.com today. That's preparewithdase.com today. Also want to let you all know, coming up this Thursday at noon Central, if You are a BlazeTV subscriber, Pat and Jeffy are doing the off the Record. All right. So your chance to go behind the scenes with a Q and A with them. That's coming up with your Blaze TV subscription. All right. So you can subscribe to BlazeTV [e-mail] days and get $20 off your subscription. Get all of our coverage that we do for you each and every day, everything exclusive like this upcoming off the Record with Pat and Jeffy coming up for you on Thursday at noon Central. Get all of that so you don't miss a beat of any of our exclusive Coverage here at [e-mail] DACE. You'll get $20 off at BlazeTV.com days. All right. Coming up on today's show, our good friend Bob Vander Plaats is going to join us. He wants to talk about the passing. Bob and Chuck Norris were quietly friends and had known each other for many years. In fact, I got to meet Chuck Norris once through Bob, in fact. And so some, some life lessons at the meme. The best Chuck Norris meme from his passing is the one where he's delivering his own eulogy. Have you seen that one?

[C]

No.

[A]

Yeah, the one where Chuck Norris is delivering his own eulogy at his funeral. Phenomenal. Phenomenal stuff. All right. Bob's going to join us to. Well, maybe late, we're not sure, right. But the late great Chuck Norris that's coming up at the bottom of the hour. Next hour, it's going to be your turn to ask me anything. And again, I got to think. We got some doozies lined up, don't we? I got to help.

[C]

We have to redefine what doozy means.

[A]

Oh, don't tell me that. It's just with everything going on, I mean, I've got to think. Come on, there's gotta be some fence swingers in there somewhere.

[C]

Somewhere people are working things out.

[A]

All right. We'll get to that coming up in the next hour. But before we get to all of that. Let's get to Aaron's rundown of what happened while we were away.

[B]

What happened while we were away brought to you by creating off ramps President Trump posted early this morning on Truth Social. Quote I'm pleased to report United States of America and the country of Iran have had over the last two days very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East East. Based on the tenor and tone of these in depth, detailed and constructive conversations which will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions, end quote. Iran denied those reports that they've been talking to Washington and that message came after Trump's warning on Saturday that if Iran didn't open the Strait of Hormuz, the United States would indeed begin large scale attacks on the country's energy infrastructure. On Sunday, Iran's UN Representative said that the strait remains open to all shipping vessels except those linked to Iran's enemies. Crude oil futures fell sharply this morning on the news from Trump. Too early to see whether transits of the Strait of Hormuz has picked up late last week. Central Command says three weeks into Operation Epic Fury, 8,000 targets have been struck all over Iran over the weekend. However, Iran reportedly showcased capabilities they'd not yet used to our knowledge, allegedly firing intermediate range ballistic missiles at US Installations on Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean, more than 4,000 kilometers from mainland Iran. That type of range could theoretically put any major population center in Europe within Iran's reach, indicating once more Iran keeps self justifying the entire operation. Let's go back home where President Trump announced over the weekend his plan to help alleviate the hellish TSA wait times at several airports all over the country. Owing to the Democrats shutdown of dhs, Trump said he wanted to deploy more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at various airports to help TSA and this morning the ice surge. Those airports according to CNN started to ramp up including Chicago, O', Hare, Hartsfield, Jackson in Atlanta, JFK and LaGuardia in New York City, Phoenix and eight other major airports around the country. Trump late last night pressed Senate Republicans not to make any deal with Democrats on so called reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement until Democrats join in to pass the Save America Act. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Democrats are recalcitrant.

[A]

The photo ID amendment will be the

[D]

next amendment and I think all these

[A]

things in the Save America act, as

[D]

we've all said, are common sense.

[A]

We think they're supported by overwhelming majority

[D]

of Americans and in many cases, as

[A]

Senator Hustedt also pointed out, you had 36 states that have adopted photo ID laws. Why wouldn't we have a nationwide one?

[D]

And to hear the Democrats, hear the leader of the Democrats say in response

[A]

to a question we're not opposed to photo id, but then to block even getting it up and considering it, and

[D]

furthermore to offer an alternative that bans

[A]

and prohibits specifically photo ID I think speaks to where they are.

[B]

Yes, according to Thune, the Democrats alternative or compromise basically includes making voter ID requirements illegal at the federal level. Meanwhile, the angst over ice from Democrats and their recalcitrants on voter ID now takes place against the backdrop of yet another totally preventable and heinous murder in Chicago. 18 year old Loyola Chicago student Sheridan Gorman was walking with friends late last week at Toby Prinz beach less than a mile from their campus. A male suspect approached the group on foot, took out a gun and opened fire. Gorman was pronounced dead at the scene, Department of Homeland Security announced over the weekend. The suspect, who was identified and later arrested, is an illegal alien from Venezuela who was caught and released at the border by the Biden administration in May of 2023. DHS says he was released from local custody after a shoplifting arrest in the sanctuary city of Chicago on June 19th of 2023. A latter offense of course took place before the enactment of the Lake and Riley act, which in theory would have prevented the illegal aliens released from custody. Just another entirely preventable heinous act of evil enabled by lax borders and pro crime Democrat policies. And finally, Tucker Carlson is talking about none of the above. Instead, he recently interviewed a pseudo intellectual from Beijing for reasons and also gave an interview to the Economist where he said this we can no longer be

[A]

the sole author of terms of commerce of anything.

[B]

We have to share power with China,

[A]

of course, because of their scale.

[B]

And that's what happened while we were away.

[A]

Aaron's montage brought to you by our friends over at Kexi Cookies. You know how much I love Kexi's cookies. Substantial. They are cookies. Cookies that are like cakes. They're incredible. They taste like homemade with real ingredients. And they have their limited edition Easter box right now which includes their iced lemon loaf. All right, now I've not tried this one, but I'm told that this is great bright buttery top with that perfect sweet glaze. And once that Easter box sells out, it's gone for good. Now, I wanted you guys to know the kinds of sacrifices that I do for you guys in this show. All right? I never got my Christmas box from Kexi. And you know why? Because they were out of them. And one of our listeners emailed me and said, man, I wanted that Christmas box, but I just found out they're all sold out. And I told Kexi to give that listener mine. That's why I never got my Christmas box.

[C]

The Great Kexi martyrdom of 2025.

[A]

It was indeed. And I know I did the right thing. I know I did, okay? But I've had doubts the last few months.

[C]

There's scars.

[A]

There are. So listen, these things do sell out fast. I'm living proof, all right? I sacrificed mine for the good of this audience last December. All right? So go to kexi k e k s I kexi.com use the code days for 15% off your entire order and get that Irish cream brownie or the iced lemon loaf wall you can right now, kexi.com k e k s I use the promo code DACE for 15 off to make sure you've got delivery by Easter. Okay, Let's, let's save the Tucker clip because I think, I think the events of the last several days since we all have seen each other in person, call for a, a renewal of the deconstructing Tucker deconstructing segment. Fair.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Johan Budsman, agree me on that.

[C]

I agree.

[A]

There's, there's, there's more on the plate than just that statement. I mean, you are, I think you are watching an accelerating deconstruction in that statement there. And I, you know, you and I, Todd, were talking before the show. Rush would have signed on 12 minutes ago if he were still alive. Can you even imagine what Rush Limbaugh would do if he were alive today with a clip of Tucker Carlson saying we have to share power with China? Can you even imagine what Rushed would do with that?

[C]

Well, I can imagine enough that it probably wouldn't have even been said in the first.

[A]

Probably not even said in the first place. Yeah.

[C]

Plus there's a lot of deconstruction going on. This is the point I was making about what's coming on an hour too. Yeah, you'll be addressing this at least tangentially because some of our own questioners are deconstructing as well.

[A]

Now, to be fair to Tucker, he's not the first person within the Republican Party structure to suggest sharing power with China. The Bushes actually suggested this over 30 years ago and gave the most favored nation status. And you know who was vehemently opposed to this at the time? Pat Buchanan was. That was one of the reasons why he primaried George H.W. bush in 1992 because he was afraid that exalting China would accomplish virtually everything that it ultimately did. Everything that he was fearful of turned out to be accurate. And. Yeah, but again I'm told that Tucker's the reincarnation of Pat Buchanan's foreign policy or something. You're told a lot, I think Papuan. Do you remember Pat Buchanan, do you think, you think would have loved the idea of sharing power with China? What do you think? Probably not.

[C]

Probably.

[A]

Probably not. Hey, we'll get to more of that tomorrow. Let's discuss the war and I want to emphasize the term discussion. I have received numerous notes from people, mentions online asking me what is going on and I think that is a perfectly fair question. Okay. So let's start with some, let's, let's do some statements of fact, the three of us. Okay.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And let's start with what we, we're confident, we know that all and we this has to be unanimous otherwise it's stricken from the record.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

All right. Is that fair? You get with that, Aaron.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. All right. I think it is clear some level of significant damage has been done to Iran's war making capabilities.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Is that, we think that's factual?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. Some significant damage has been done to the Iranian high command.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

All right. Now I'm using the word some because there's no way for us to verify how significant. But the fact that it's significant, kind of those two things are meant to balance one another. We don't know how much but we think it's significant. But somewhere between somewhat significant and very significant those two things have happened. Fair.

[C]

Yeah. All right.

[A]

We still don't have any clue whatsoever who could take over and subdue this country of 90 million people should the regime fall.

[C]

That's absolutely true.

[A]

OK. And in an interview this morning, Trump was quoted as saying this is a regime change war. He was quoted as saying that in an interview this morning.

[C]

Okay. Yeah. I will say it's absolutely true when you say we, we like I mean maybe, maybe Donald Trump knows, but we don't know.

[A]

I mean like, like when Donald Trump told Europe last year that Iran has missiles that that is that it could reach them and they all scoffed. And then we saw what we saw over the weekend. I'm going to get to that too though. Okay. Because there may be Some things about that, that we. I'm glad you brought that up. Let me qualify who the we is. I meant we the people, what we can know. Okay. All right, so now that, now that I've. Let's start from, go back to the beginning. Now that I've qualified who the we is. Okay. So the we in this, in this think, in this thinking exercise is we the people. All right, so with that, now re. Establish or establish. Let's reestablish these statements of fact. There has been some form of significant diminishment of Iran's war making capabilities.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. There has been some form of significant diminishment of the Iranian high command.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. All right. There has. The American people are paying a premium for this at the pump. And the longer this goes on virtually everywhere else. Because what goes at the pump is what transports virtually everything else.

[C]

Yes, well, it's not going down. So. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Over the. Right before the close of business on Friday, we had the bond markets. And I'm not gonna sit here and act like I'm some expert on this. I'm not. I know just enough to host a show like this. But while people, while people like us, you know, are more concerned about what the price of oil is because that determines how much we're gonna pay for gas today, the people that work in the bond markets are looking at, you know, economic futures to come the next quarter, maybe the rest of the year. And at the end of last week, the bond markets signaled in various ways they weren't all that optimistic about the American economy's ability to rebound from this war. Okay, we could agree on that.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. All right. Is there anything else that we the people can say, we know to add to the current. Those four statements. Those are, those are the four that I had. Is there anything else that you guys think we could add to make it a 5? Oh, statement of fact. BB Netanyahu is alive. Okay.

[B]

Are you sure about that?

[A]

Okay, are we. So he was actually literally walking around the streets of Israel yesterday. So is that so there, there, those five. Is there a sixth that we should add? Because all the analysis we're going to do is off of just the statements of fact and nothing else.

[B]

Okay, I think one more that we could add if we wanted to is that Iran's ability to launch missiles has not been completely destroyed.

[A]

That's good too. Yeah. So, because. All right, so clearly that's true. All right, so there's number six. Well, then along those lines, how about this for number seven? All right. There has been no significant retreat from the Arab alliance in its opposition to Iran, meaning that they're not weakening, they're not saying, okay, this has gone on long enough. And of course I'm talking about Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and to a lesser degree, even Qatar.

[C]

Okay, I would say that's true. And it's all the more striking considering the longer this goes. It seems pretty clear to me, I guess I'm entering this into evidence that Israel is very much an equal, if not leading partner in this entire thing.

[A]

All right, we'll get to that. We'll get to that in a second because I think that could also be a debated point. All right, so we're at 7. Then. If we throw in that we have not seen a severe dent within our Arab coalition on the other end so far, we all agree to that statement of a significant dent there from what we know. From what we know. All right, we the people know. So those seven things. All right, now, now let's try to make sense of the current situation. Actually, you know what I just thought another number eight. The President of the United States is a consummate dealmaker, is almost always in deal making mode. And any deal making requires some level of negotiation, posturing, subterfuge, deception, whatever terms you want to use. Which, which means things could be said that are not true or overstated for the point of, of leverage, but then they may turn out to be true later on. Right. And the President likes that because it also means he often uses that and thinks he uses that. And there's lots of life advice to suggest he's correct, that he often uses that uncertainty to his advantage. I think we should factor that into this, too.

[B]

That's why we have bombs for breakfast, breakfast, negotiations for lunch, and pull outs for dinner.

[A]

Correct. All right, so those eight things, okay, with those eight things there, what do we think that is happening here with those eight things? I'm going to give it my best guess. You guys can tell me whether you agree, disagree or not. Okay. I think, I think we have to factor in that multiple things are true at the exact same time. I think just like when gas prices got very high about a week ago and the President gave all those interviews and said, hey, I think we're just about done here. And then we saw that quick decline in gas. I think it is very, very possible that this statement that we're going to suspend for five days and give Iran time, they're giving us good concessions is really to try to get the bond markets and the oil markets to slow down. And that's just as possible that it's posturing on that front as it is that maybe there is a significant break in the negotiations, although the Iranian government, at least what's left of it, we don't even really know who's running that right now. Okay. So it's very possible the president is getting conciliatory messages from a sector of the Iranian government that thinks it's running it, and then another sector that thinks it's not went on Iranian national news earlier this morning and said, we're not negotiating at all. What are you even talking about thoughts on that so far?

[B]

Well, around this time last year was Independence Day, and we kind of went for almost a week, maybe four or five days of absolute chaos in the markets, like the stock markets, steadfast from the White House. And I guess it could be coincidence, but what started to go haywire. The bond markets.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that's when we started to kind of pull back a little bit. Now, that could be coincidence. It could be coincidence this time. I think that's something to consider. I also think something to consider is kind of what you mentioned in passing there. We've been hearing all the way for four weeks now about the Mosaic defense system that Iran has deployed. How much of their entire leadership structure is a Mosaic system. How do we know that, whom we're negotiating with? And again, this is from our perspective. I'm sure the people in Central Command and the people in the administration have a much better perspective on this. Like, whom would we negotiate with at this point that has any sort of sway or power that is actually, you know, has teeth to it? That's something that we don't know right now. So it could be any number of those things. And I think President Trump's messaging, that's why I said bombs for breakfast, negotiations for lunch, and pullouts for dinner. He's trying to calm all of these various factions, he's trying to calm the markets, trying to calm political forces, he's trying to calm negotiation forces while at the same time posturing for negotiation forces. So it's still very, very much chaotic. So I'm not really sure how much is knowable in terms of the actual battlefield conditions. I would just say based on the eight things that we do know, specifically how we ended with the Arab coalition, the Gulf coast countries not pulling back, that seems to indicate that this is going fairly well. Also, what we would say, what we heard last week from some Central Command, actually, I believe it was Dan Kane from Joint Chiefs of Staff saying that we actually have attack helicopters and Warthogs basically strafing the Strait of Hormuz. That's also a very good sign, meaning that their air capabilities are very much diminished if not completely taken off the map, which is a very good sign for the overall health of the operation. That's from my layman's perspective.

[C]

I'm open to your analysis, but already last week before a long weekend we were talking about this thing seems to have reached this level of stasis. Americans relationship with this war. Not overly concerned about it. And so when I, I set that up next against all those videos of airports. What, what are Americans more tuned into that and what. Yeah. And therefore how much are the bond markets in a 48 hour period? Really? The obsession of a president versus that the SAVE Act.

[A]

The gas situation matters quite a bit. But we're not yet, except for diesel. It's gone nuts. But we're not yet like, we're still within like hovering range of where things were at their worst under Biden. Okay. You start seeing a four, the Midwest in front of a gallon of gasoline. See, I, I think, I think the, the American people wouldn't care if we literally just bombed Iran every day for the next 10 years if they were paying 285 for a gallon of gasoline. You see what I'm saying? Okay. Like I don't, I don't think it's about the, about bombing the Iranian regime. I think it's about what's it going to cost me if we do this. I think it's more about that. Right.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And I think that's what gets into the airport situation too. All right. Okay. It's the old Ronald Reagan line. You know, recession is when your neighbor doesn't have a job and a depression is when you don't have one.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Okay. All right. So. Okay.

[C]

But the price of gas, while rising, has not reached the level of inconvenience that people in those lines at the airport are experiencing.

[A]

Correct.

[C]

That's my point.

[A]

I knew that was your point. Yes. That's why I agreed with you that there's a way greater inconvenience there. When you're talking about Denver and Atlanta, those are what the two most traveled airports in the country, maybe the world.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And what the videos we're seeing out of there are just absolutely absolute insanity. Right. Okay. Therefore it's entirely possible we have no clue really what is happening. It's entirely possible that by the time we come on the air today, or tomorrow there's a ceasefire as it is, that the Iranian regime has been toppled. And that's probably the truth for the foreseeable future. And maybe the foreseeable future is 48 hours. Maybe it's three weeks. We don't know that either.

[C]

Let's back to my other assertion. I think the likelihood of something like that happening, a ceasefire, has more to do with what Israel thinks, that at any point in your and I adult lifetime about this kind of stuff.

[A]

All right, let's talk about that, because that's being discussed quite a bit. All right. And I've been saying this to you guys privately and a few friends of mine. I've said it to our management here at the Blaze. I've been saying this privately for about two weeks. And I saw Glenn, I saw over the weekend that on his show Friday, Glenn Beck said this out loud to his audience. I have the same analysis. I've had the same analysis privately that, that Glenn mentioned Friday, and that is this. I don't think that this is a. I agree that Israel is having more of a say here, but I don't think it's in the way people think. I don't think it's a tail wag the dog. I mean, I, I just. I don't think you ever get Donald Trump to do something he doesn't want to do. I mean, how many times for the last decade of the Trump era have we all prayed, pleaded, begged, cried, okay. Looked the other way, ignored, you know, just Trump just acting out the way that he wants at any particular given time, wishing that he would not want to do those things that he. He's like the id. And what do you. What you used to call him. It incarnate. Is that what you used to call Trump instead of as an ID incarnate?

[C]

Right.

[A]

So I. This idea that now Suddenly, because at 78 years old, that's like the age people get more flexible, typically, Todd. Right. That's when they typically get more malleable. Is it that age? It is not. So I have a hard time believing in the last act of Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood is suddenly like, you know what? I think I should just be a little bit more passive. I don't think that's the case. I think that what we don't understand over here is how resolved the Israelis are.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Generationally resolved and united. Bibi Netanyahu is only facing a political attack from his right. Hey, why haven't we made this glass already? Why is Lebanon literally not an Israeli colony by now? I Mean, that's, these are the, I'm being somewhat facetious, but not that much. These are the conversations that have been happening over there since October 7th. And I think because we have not been generationally united for a long period of time, we're having a hard time in America resonating and understanding this. But, but, but Trump is the prophylactic here. I mean, the Israelis would just, I think we don't understand what the Israelis would do. If, for example, if there were, if there were a regime in place that was not friendly to Israel and they really thought they were totally on their own, what might they do then? I think people have it backwards. I do think Israel is having more of a say this time than ever. But it's not necessarily for the reasons people think. I think Trump is trying to control the war and I think because there's what's the one high value target that both the Arab coalition and Israel agree has to go? What's the one this Iran is. Iran is. And I think that's what our, I think that's why Trump involved us. Because what's also a target that Trump has despised for the last 50 years, this Iran, it's the only thing that the Arab, the, our Arab coalition, Trump and the Israelis all agree is, has to go is the Iranian regime.

[C]

That's why it's so it's paradoxical. Trump is both the opportunity and the prophylactic at the same time. I mean, because I mean look at, they were watching for years Biden and Obama just like opening the door for Iran basically, what if not now when

[A]

the Israelis did everything that the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden era wanted them to do and look what it got him. It got him October 7th. And I think people don't understand how resolved they are to say that can never ever happen again. If not now, if anything, we are holding them back. More in a moment. The Steve Day show chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more can make me feel like a spectator in my own life. Botox Onobotulinum toxin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It's the number one prescribed branded chronic migraine preventive treatment. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing severe serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including als, Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lamborghinis syndrome, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-844botox to learn more.

[D]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying.

[A]

It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today.

[D]

I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

[C]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3

[A]

month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail]. Hey, if you're struggling with too much chronic pain, that's that achiness, stiffness, soreness in your back, your knees, your neck, your hips that just lingers and won't let go. Chances are that's from too much inflammation in your joints and that's where relief factor comes in. Now we are not guaranteeing you anything and it's not some kind of a magic potion. But over the years, over 1 million people have taken the three week quick start I'm about to propose to you and over 70% of them saw such good results that they stuck with the product long term. So why don't you see if you don't see a difference in your pain in just three weeks or less. Especially because, and here's the best part, it's only Gonna cost you 20 bucks to find out. That's it? It's just 20 bucks to find out? That's a pretty good value bet. 20 bucks to see if you have a sustainable, better quality of life. All right, get started today with the three week quick start at Reliefactor.com head over there right now to Reliefactor.com it's just 20 bucks to try the three week quick start at Releffactor.com and we welcome in our good friend Bob Vander Plaats from the Family Leader. Good to see you my Friend, how are you?

[D]

I'm doing really good. Building off of relief factor. What eased my pain last night was an Iowa Hawkeye win.

[A]

So, you guys, it's been a minute. Not in this century has Iowa been to the second weekend in the NCAA tournament despite winning a lot of basketball games. It just hasn't.

[D]

1999, I believe it was.

[A]

It was, yeah.

[D]

Sweet 16, Iowa State, Sweet 16 Nebraska.

[A]

That's never happened before, by the way. Iowa and Iowa State have never been to the sweet 16 at the same time.

[D]

And I think another storyline is Nebraska's coach, Fred Hoiberg, the mayor of Ames, Iowa. There's a lot of Iowa connection making up this sweet 16.

[A]

That environment for that Nebraska Vanderbilt game was insane.

[D]

It was.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

It was hard not to root for Nebraska. I mean, to see that fan base comes.

[A]

They were the last power conference school in to never win an NCAA tournament game.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so good for them and their football programs. Put them through shinola for going on a second decade.

[D]

We will be cheering on the Hawkeyes.

[B]

Yes.

[D]

So just make sure everybody's aware of that.

[A]

So I. We're going to get to the legacy of your late friend. Although I need. I'm going to need proof of death because I've seen plenty of memes of Chuck Norris doing his own eulogy over the weekend. All right, but before we get to that, you, You're. You had already endorsed Adam Steen for governor here in our home state. You bet yourself, about a month ago. But then the family leader as an organization came out and did this last week. Tell us why.

[D]

Well, first of all, the family leader, that's a rare move. Matter of fact, we did it in 2010 when we ousted three Supreme Court justices that the ministry decided we're going to go all in to get rid of these three judges. And Steve, you'll remember that race very well. People said we couldn't do it, but with your voice, with our organization knocked out three Supreme Court justices. And really the last time we did it was in 2022, the midterms. We had six incumbent Republican in name only who voted against us on parental rights and school choice. We decided to get into those six primaries, not only me personally with my endorsement, but also the organization with our endorsement, and went 60 in those primaries. So what I'm saying, when the ministry gets involved above and beyond my endorsement, typically good things really happen. And the presidential endorsements, they've always said we're staying on safe harbor. We have too much of our organization divided amongst the candidates. You go ahead, you make your endorsement, but we're staying out of it. So for the ministry to say we're going to get in behind Bob's endorsement, and now we're going to put the ministry at work to notify our base that is completely statewide, 2,200 churches, 2,400 pastors, thousands of activists, as well as donors. We're going to try to make a dent in this primary because we really believe it's imperative that we continue the legacy of Kim Reynolds, that we take the baton and not only do status quo, but we take it to another level. We see Adam Steen as that type of a candidate who shares our worldview, but also has the ability and the experience to lead on day one and take Iowa to the next level. We also know you have to win if you're going to govern. And I've said this over and over. I've said it on your show. I said at the press conference, Iowa does not elect congressman to be their next governor. We try it over and over again. We did with Fred Grande, we did with Jim Ross Lightfoot, we did with Jim Nessel, and yet we got Tom Vilsack, we got Chuck Culver, and Rob sand is better than both of those guys. So the ministry said, you know, we need to get in. And so the perceived front runner right now is Randy Feenstrap. Our goal, not against Randy, but it's about winning. We think Adam Steen will be the best position as a general candidate. That's why we got all in.

[A]

What difference does it make that the whole organization is now involved as opposed to just your personal endorsement?

[D]

Well, to get personal endorsement, I can't do anything on ministry time. So even if I was going to talk about a candidate, I'd take a paid time off pto and I'd have to document that. But not a dime of the ministry money could go behind my endorsement. Now, what you do is you open up the floodgates and you say through email, through social media, through paid advertising, through mailers, through whatever saying, get your network.

[A]

So the full menu of the organization that we've raved about to our audience that you guys have built is now at full disposal.

[D]

In a race like this, it's all in now. We're going to see what it can do. Because first of all, they have to agree with us because as you know, Iowans and even our base, they're very. They're very independent, they're very savvy. They like to make up their own mind. But I think they're going to take a real look. Because when I saw Steve, when our board decided to get involved, it wasn't just that they were unanimous behind Adam Stein. They were like enthusiastically unanimous behind Amstein. And almost like, we have to get all in. They're almost pushing me more than I was pushing them. So I think it's a great opportunity for us to show what is there. It's a real test of the organization.

[A]

Well, and the reason I wanted to talk about this on our national show, first of all, we've had Adam on a few times, so the audience knows him. But if you are in a red state and you want to defend your territory and what is looking as if it's going to be, shall we call it, a challenging midterm election environment?

[D]

You bet.

[A]

The more that you can make it about the interest of. You see, the Democrats are going to want to nationalize all these things. All right? Right now, Trump has maybe the worst approval rating, depending on the poll you look at. He's had his entire presidency right now. Okay. And of course, they wrap this thing up, gas prices go back to some form of normal. It'll, it'll stabilize, but it's still, it's not like it was, you know, in plus territory before this all began. Okay. So the more that Democrats can nationalize this, the more ground they're going to be able to take in this midterm election, the more in our red states, like Iowa, that we can build, pardon the expression, an iron dome around our states and make it about what's best for the state and not what's happening at the meta national level, where a lot of people are disappointed and disgusted, regardless of how they vote in the last election. The more likely we are to be successful. If you run a congressperson for a statewide office, it gets very difficult to do that. Rob sand can essentially just make Randy. Just link Randy Feenstra as a sitting member of Congress to the entirety, to everything.

[D]

Everything.

[A]

I mean, it'd been one thing if maybe Randy had resigned from Congress and he's in a slam dunk district, we could have instantly replaced him with somebody at least as good as him, probably better. Okay. And he could have said, hey, I'm, I'm all in for the people of Iowa, but since he has stuck with Congress this entire time, now they're going to link him with stuff like right now, the TSA is not funded. And yes, I understand Democrats did that, but they're not going. Democrats aren't going to their media and to voters saying Guys, we did this. Okay. They're blaming it on us. Right.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

All right. And so the more that you let. You let someone, like, see, in our state, we have a 200,000 voter registration

[D]

advantage over Democrats, which means we should win.

[A]

We should win. Even. Even in a terrible environment, we should win.

[D]

Yeah. Florida should beat Iowa.

[A]

Yeah. But if we allow them to nationalize this race beyond just what's good for the people of Iowa, that's when things become very problematic.

[D]

And that's why I said at the press conference, Steve, I said everything that's wrong with D.C. randy's gonna have to carry that bag.

[A]

Right.

[D]

Anything that is positive from D.C. that's gonna be credited to Trump, not to Randy. So therefore, he has to carry all the bag, none of whatever the good might be. And then you run into a divided Iowa. Were divided on a lot of different issues. I think he's. He just has the makeup of the worst candidate for such a time as this. And I think Adam has the makeup of the best candidate for such a time as this. And if we localize it like we did in 2022, like you just talked about Iowa, you know, they did well in 2022. Florida did well in 2022. We need Iowa do well again in 2020.

[A]

And we would advise in your red states, you try to do that this cycle as much as you can, localize it as much as possible. And if you allow Democrats to invade your state with a nationalized election, you're in a precarious position, I think, in this environment, as it stands for, without question. All right. Over the weekend. Listen, I know the death rate remains the robust 100% it is every time I check. But it just didn't seem like Chuck Norris was ever going to die. But he did at 86 years old. Had a medical emergency, passed away over the weekend. What our audience may not know is you kind of had a friendship with him going back several years.

[D]

Had a really good friendship with him. As a matter of fact, Steve, I kind of laugh because I remember being in church one Sunday and I was the state chair for Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign and came home, checked my email. That's what we used to have to do. We didn't have it on our phone. Checked my email in my office, and I got emailed by Chip Saltzman, who, you know really well, and said, hey,

[A]

he ran Huckabee's campaign that year.

[D]

Yeah, we're going to run this campaign commercial featuring Chuck Norris. How do you think he'll Play in Iowa. And I was like, slam on the brakes. Not just pump the brakes. Slam on the brakes. We're gaining a lot of momentum. Don't insert a Hollywood actor like Chuck Norris in a state of Iowa caucus. I don't know how this is going to play. Don't do it. They ignored my advice. They went and did it. I'm glad they did, because Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses. And part of it was Chuck and Gina Norris went all in for Mike Huckabee. But by them going all in, what that meant was when Mike Huckabee wasn't at a stop, Chuck and Gina and I, we were at a stop. So we were traveling in a bus together. And you get to know each other really well when you're traveling in a bus together. And one is, the guy was authentic. He was humble, his wife sincere. Absolutely loved Chuck. Chuck absolutely adored Gina. And we just struck up this friendship. And obviously, when you win, you feel really good about winning. Right. And then Mike Huckabee wanted me to run for governor in 2010. So I run for governor in 2010. And Chuck and Gina say, we're all in with you. Slay hosted a fundraiser for my campaign.

[A]

I got to meet Chuck and his wife there.

[D]

Yeah. At the Lone Wolf Ranch. They did. And then they came here in Iowa the weekend before the campaign. And the humility of Chuck. I still remember this. I remember Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa said, so, Mr. Norris, whose endorsement's more important? Is it Sarah Palin, who was a rock star at that time for Terry Branstad, or is it Chuck Norris for Bob Vander Plaats? And Chuck looked at Kay henderson said, It's Dr. Dobson's for Bob Vander Plaats. Kind of like just total humility, total whatever, total deflection. But that's who he was. And so then after that, after the campaign, he and Gina and I, we stayed in contact. They hosted our boys at a Final Four. When the Final Four was in Houston, we stayed at their ranch. And then we had a if some 14 event in Downport. And Chuck shared his testimony at his kitchen table with our boys at the Final Four. And it was a moving testimony. And so when he agreed to come out to Davenport, when the newsboys were there and the newsboys were at their all time high, then God's not dead. And they're doing a free conference for us to launch, F7. 14. Chuck said, hey, Gina and I just want to come see the newsboys with our kids. So we're Going to do that. Then I want you on stage. I want you to share your testimony. And so we're on stage, and I asked Chuck, and Chuck says, bob, listen, I bought into all the lies of the world. It's fame, it's riches, it's all the things you can have, all the pleasure, all the sex, all whatever. He goes, bob, I had it all. And I've never felt such a void. Just empty.

[A]

Kind of like Solomon or Ecclesiastes kind of stuff.

[D]

Yeah, and he's getting vanity, vanity.

[A]

It's all vanity.

[D]

And he's getting emotional up on stage. And Gina is there with him. And they pointed to Gina. Gina read the Word to me. She encouraged me to get in the Word. And finally I gave in. And I bent my knee to Jesus Christ. And he was all about team Jesus. He was all about Jesus. And he wasn't just wear it on your sleeve. He was an authentic warrior for Christ. I remember my youngest son said to me after that concert, he goes, not too often you see Chuck Norris, the ultimate tough guy, get choked up on stage. But he was talking about his relationship with his savior. And so, 86 years old, it still shocked me. I knew how old he was, but it still shocked me. 86 years old, and we're still shocked at death. And even Chuck Norris knew, and he wanted to let everybody else know, you need Jesus. And so to me, I mourned with Gina. I mourned the family because of the earthly loss. But I rejoice with him because I know where he's at today.

[A]

We had about two minutes here. What's the biggest lesson you think our audience could take from what you knew about Chuck Norris?

[D]

Well, the one thing. And this goes back to 2010, 2008, but I remember when we were campaigning with Chuck, either for Huckabee's campaign or my campaign, people would bring up the Chuck Norris joke book, and they'd want him to sign it. And he'd look at the joke book, and if it wasn't his, he goes, that's not my joke book. I'm not signing it. Meaning that's an inauthentic article. And I never would have those jokes in my book, but if it was authentic, then I would sign it. And so after my campaign for governor, he and Gina and I were sitting down one day and said, you need to come up with your own stamp of approval, your own Chuck Norris silicon.

[A]

So he knew about the memes and all that kind of stuff. He was very aware of it.

[D]

And some of the stuff he found funny there. So he just found like, that's not who I am. I want to make sure people know that's not who I am. Kind of like, where are you getting your source from? So he came up with a seal it was centered on like the one

[A]

Chuck Norris went to a feminist rally and they made him a. And he got. And they made him a sandwich. Have you seen that?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Yes. Yeah.

[D]

So but he had this seal and the Seal was on five Fs. Faith, Family, Freedom, fitness and fight. Be willing to fight, be bold, be courageous. And that stamp was his seal of approval. And Steve, it still gives me shivers that he would give that seal of approval to Light from Lucas, the book that I wrote. And tell me, you know, Bob, I think Lucas is the toughest kid I know. So Chuck Norris, well done, friend, good and faithful servant. I'm sure you heard those words.

[A]

I just saw he like, climbed some mountain like a month ago. Did you see this?

[C]

The same thing? Yeah, a few months back.

[D]

Well, he stayed. I think that's why it was a shock. He stayed in shape, took his fitness very, very seriously. If you saw him even at age 86, you wouldn't think he was an 86 year old. But what's amazing, I remember my mom died at age 86. And when my mom died suddenly as well. But she was not near the shapes Chuck Norris was. But I was like 86 years old. And we're still shocked at death. You know, we all need to come to grips with our own mortality. Chuck, did we know where he's at today? He just changed addresses. Just like Billy Graham.

[A]

Nice. Good to see you, my friend.

[D]

Good to see you.

[A]

Thank you. Good stuff. All right. I'm nervous, Erzin, because I was greatly looking forward to this week's Ask me Anything. All right.

[C]

I don't know why.

[A]

All right, Because I mean, I've got to think. We've got. With. With everything happening. There's got to be some humdingers in there, man. Some barn bars there are, but some doozies. Like we can have like real serious conversations. No, I mean, you're trolling me a little bit, aren't you?

[C]

No.

[A]

You're not.

[C]

No. I mean, gird your loins.

[A]

It's that bad? Or did you just pick the worst ones?

[C]

No, it's. It's not great.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

It's not great, Bob. And not this buff. Different Bob.

[A]

Different Bob. Yeah, I got the reference. All right. I guess we'll find out now. I'm on tilt. Your turn to Ask me anything when we return. Stay tuned. Saaand Greetings back with hour two live and on demand on Blaze TV, radio and podcast alongside Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre. I'm Steve Dace. You can let us know what you think about what we think via the Steve Dace.com inbox by emailing us [e-mail] that's D E A C E like us on Facebook, Me, we and Gab. You can follow me at Steve Day show on x Instagram and TikTok. Please subscribe to our new YouTube channel at day show on YouTube. That's at da show on YouTube. And then if you would not mind, if you're a podcast listener, hit subscribe or follow the the Apple issue was fixed. No idea what caused the glitch, but we appreciate that. I think maybe you guys had a substantial help in making that happen. So thanks to all of you. All right, leave us a five star review. If you dig the show, tens of thousands of you have. We'll take tens of thousands of those. More. Thank you. You can also hit subscribe or if you're an Apple, itunes follow to make sure that every time we do a new episode, it's for sure in your podcast feed. And thanks to the many more of you that have done that for us. And thanks to our friends over at Beam who want to make sure you've got many more good nights of sleep. How much would you pay for a good night's sleep? Maybe one of the best night's sleep you've had your entire life because for as little as a $25 a night, that's. That's one purchase away. When you get the Dream Powder from our friends over at Beam, several different flavors. I like the chocolate peanut butter myself. It's made with a powerful blend of all natural ingredients like Reishi, magnesium melatonin and more. All right. It's the old hot cocoa that Nana and ages past used to give you before bedtime, but without all the carbs and the sugars. All right. And right now you can get it for being a part of our show by using the promo code, Steve. You'll get up to 40% off. It's their best discount they've given out and it's yours right now. It comes out to about $1.25 a night for a good night's sleep. Do it right now with my code, Steve. When you go to Shop Beam B E A M like laser beam shop beam.com Steve. That's shotbeam.com, steve. Use the code Steve for up to 40% [e-mail] Steve using the code Steve and the brand new issue of Frontier is now out. If you want to get the latest copy of our magazine here at the Blaze. It's just one of the benefits you get from being a Blaze Unlimited subscriber. Blazeunlimited.com Dace is where you can go. Use the promo code FRONTIER40. You'll also get access to maybe the other issues that you've missed. And this, this is the ultimate subscription tier now. No limits between you guys and us. More, more access to what we do here at the Blaze than ever before. That's why It's Blaze Unlimited. Blazeunlimited.com Daish Use the code [e-mail] Dace Code FRONTIER40. All right.

[C]

It just is what it is, man.

[A]

All right, man. Okay.

[C]

I mean, it's such a different audience. You open this up three times a week. Most weeks, not every week, but we do Mondays, Wednesdays, different versions. And Fridays, read feedback.

[A]

So Monday, would you ask me anything? Wednesday, buy seller, hold, and Friday's Feedback Friday.

[C]

This is the one that's always the most antagonistic, has the most people just looking to hurt and slay.

[A]

Oh, well, I'm not bothered by that. I'm anxious for that.

[C]

So. Well, okay, so there's. That's just. And it's. That's there more and more. And it's there more and more around one particular, very depressing, ridiculous set of issues. So here we go.

[A]

All right, Here we go. I've not seen the questions. Todd has selected them this week. They come from our followers on X, formerly known as Twitter. Aaron, you have those questions. Let's fire away.

[B]

All right, we'll begin with King K, who says, person to person, how is forgiveness transacted? Is repentance from the sinner necessary before the innocent party forgives? Please give scripture references and examples to buttress. Some say forgiveness without repentance is possible, but I can't find examples in scripture.

[A]

Well, I mean, Peter asks Jesus, how many times do I forgive? And Jesus says, yeah, Jesus, he said, do I forgive my enemy? 70 times, I think is the quote. Right. And Jesus says, no, seven times 70. I think that's pretty close to accurate. Right. And there's no qualifier there at all. Jesus doesn't say, wait for the person to come to you and ask for forgiveness. And then to forgive. Does he do that? No. No. All right, so now here's the thing, though. Do not, do not conflate Forgiveness with restoration. Because in the very next verse, Peter says, well, when should I instantly restore my enemy who wronged me? And Jesus says, be a naive waif and do it every single time so he can keep wronging you and hopefully harming you and the people closest to you. Is that what Jesus says? No, no. In fact, do they even have that conversation at all? No, no, no. All right, so forgiveness and restoration are separate. Okay, so we love, as the apostle John says, we love because he first loved us. Why do we forgive? Because he forgave us. What did we do to earn our forgiveness? Nothing. Nothing. All right, so that's why we forgive also. You know, my wife is a professional counselor, has multiple degrees, but doesn't mean I'm any kind of expert. But as a general rule, what does holding on to bitterness and angst do for someone's mental and emotional health and well being, just as a general rule, feels great. Doesn't it work? Well, yes, indeed.

[C]

Right.

[A]

I mean, it makes you feel like you can just go take on the day, right? No. Okay, so there's a practical similar to the Levitical law we often mock as New Testament believers because we don't understand a lot of the cultural references and the things, and they seem very antiquated and very specific and dogmatic to us. But just as there was a general theological premise at stake with the old law, the 613 laws, which is, here's how to live very specifically distinct from all the other pagan gentile nations so that people will see your God is different from theirs. Right? But in many cases, like the dietary laws, Right. Think of how many people have shellfish allergies here in the 21st century, right? What do you think people, what do you think kind of allergies people had? Eating the animals that are at the bottom of the seabed, taking in the. The waste materials of all the fish at the top of the food chain, Right? Okay. I mean, think about pork, for example, right? Even in modern day Iowa, we're worried about pork runoff and how many antibiotics we're feeding our pigs and things of that nature. That's with sanitation and medicines that they didn't have in the ancient world. Well, what do you think pigs ate in the ancient world, Todd? What do you think they ate? Pumpkin, spice, everything that wasn't like glass, okay? Therefore, what are you eating if you eat them? That. Right. So there's a spiritual principle, but there was a. Often a practical one at the exact same time. Okay. And so there, the spiritual principle here is we forgive because we were forgiven. But the. But the practical result of obeying Christ is the letting go of that angst and the letting go of that resentment so that the person. Because here's the thing, if the person's not come to you for forgiveness, they're not very bothered by what they did to you. So you holding on to that is bothering you. It's not bothering them. If it was bothering them, they would have come to you for forgiveness. Right? One would hope their conscience would be pricked. They would be coming to you. So chances are, if they're not coming to you, they're good with what they did to you. And you holding on to it is not good for you. You're letting them do it to you again and over and over and over again. Now, that's not the same as restoration, right? I mean, we don't have to automatically restore somebody to be in a position where they can disappoint us again and betray us again with no evidence whatsoever that they have learned from what happened the first time that they did or the previous time that they did. So those two things are not the same. Don't conflate the two things. Okay? You guys want to add anything to that at all?

[C]

Just person to person as a starting point is as a Christian, you can never just live on that island. The whole of the law, as Steve mentions many times, is the first and the two great commandments. And the first one, love the Lord with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and then your neighbor as yourself. So you've got to take care of the first one for the second one to even make any sense as a Christian. But once were we. Steve has also said that many times on this show, you've been that broken, had the potential to be that broken, perhaps in different circumstances with the Lord, give blessings for the restoration and relationship you have with God so that you can then apply it to the brokenness of the one on one.

[B]

Right? Yeah. I said it was in the context of a tragic story. I think it was the track player or the track star in Texas who was murdered by an opponent in Texas last year. And the guy's father came right out and said, you know, I forgive. That's between him and God. I'm not going. This is not what that's about. But I had said publicly, I'm not sure if I could do that. Now. Is that the same thing as saying, I'm not sure if God says I should do that? No, we all know what God says we should do. The test of your Faith happens when we should do it. And we come up to that moment where we actually have to do it. And I said, I'm not sure if I could do that, because I'm just being honest. I'm not trying to be cute or humble or anything. I don't know if I could do that. Those are tests of our faith. And with the Holy Spirit guiding us, we all hope that we should do that. However, does that mean if the killer was never caught, but you knew who the killer was or never brought to justice, does that mean that you automatically just bring the killer into your home the next day? No forgiveness, no remorse, nothing like that? No. You'd be an idiot to do that. You can forgive the person and not absolve the person from the consequences of their actions. One of those consequences would be stay away from me.

[C]

Yeah. This is not a. The worldly math will never.

[B]

Without forgiveness, stay away from me, or without repentance and restitution, stay away from me.

[A]

You have a right to boundaries. Sure you do.

[C]

The worldly math would never add up. If it was, we would now be advising Erica Kirk. You know what? On second thought, you never should have forgiven him on stage. What was worth it? Have she been treating kindly since then? I don't.

[A]

I was just going to bring up her.

[C]

Not only is he probably not called her and said, you accept my forgiveness. Everybody else is saying, oh, you probably killed your husband. But was that what Was it worth her doing that? Absolutely. I hope she holds that tight and her relationship is only deepening because she did that.

[A]

I'll just. For my own personal life, I have. I don't have any. You guys hear me privately, you know, going off over and over and over again about Tom Anania, my biological dad, or Dave Dace, my stepdad. No, no. Unless. And they almost never come up unless it's in the context of a ministerial lesson on the show, like, say, right now.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Okay. Or to explain maybe some of my idiosyncrasies, because we all are somewhat products of our environment, but I don't have any grudges against. In my. My kids would attest to this. My kids haven't heard me, like, in the home railing against them growing up. They don't hear it now. In fact, many times they don't even. They have to stop and think, who are these guys? Because that puts so many boundaries between them and our family. However, if either one of them wanted to call me on this device or send me a note on this device, they both have my numbers and how to contact me and say, listen, I want to talk, I want to reconsider where things stand. I would take the call right away. Does that mean I'd give in right away? That what that means? Nope. But I'm open. I'm open for business now. You've got to close the sale. And I'm. I'm not an easy mark to close. Okay, but I'm open for business. But I don't have any grudges whatsoever at all. I don't. None. I've moved on. Lord has healed me in that arena. And I can also see that the way I was raised helped prepare me for what the Lord was going to call me to do. So like Joseph, now I understand it. Now I'm on the other side of it. I get it now. I get it.

[C]

And if you had not found that peace when that call came, you would not be prepared to deal with it in the way that God expects of us. If you had not reconciled with yourself, God first, that first commandment. This is why it's so important. You said we've inverted the relationship and we made the second one first. That's the danger of doing it here. God. I'll only start accepting your terms if you fix this over here, correct? No, you have to accept my terms first with God. Then maybe we can work on this.

[A]

That's a great point. It's because God fixed me now that I am able to do that. Latter point. Correct. That goes back to what Aaron just said. I don't think I could do that. And Aaron's probably right. Humanly, he could not. It would require something supernatural to happen. Correct? Yeah.

[B]

Peter told Jesus he would never deny him. And then.

[A]

And then he did. Yes.

[B]

Next we go to Jim. How do you think the Sunni, Shia divide will shape up during or after this war? I wonder if there may be unforeseen adverse consequences as far as that goes.

[A]

Well, your question belies why I was not overly enthusiastic about this going in. All right. Because in a strange way, if we had not seen mass protest in the streets of Iran. I want to make sure I say this properly, so I'm not taken out of context. Okay. But if we had not seen massive protests in the streets of Iran leading up to this, I'd be way more jingoistic about it. But it's because we did that I had concerns going in. I have concerns now. It's because the regime was teetering, was at its weakest moment. And what would it do? What would it be capable of doing? Right. So One thing I didn't get to last hour I wanted to get to was the whole thing with the intercontinental ballistic missiles. All right, so previously we knew that Iran had medium range missiles, which goes out about. Aaron, I want to say about 2,000 miles, right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. And intercontinental means it goes out to like 4,000 miles. Correct.

[B]

So what they launched this weekend reportedly is intermediate range ballistic missiles.

[A]

So I. CBM.

[B]

No, no, no, no. Intermediate IR.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

IRBM instead of ICBM. ICBM means it can go anywhere on the planet, basically. IRBM means it can go up to a range of 4,000, 4,000 miles, which

[A]

would put Europe in danger, for example. Part of me wonders maybe if they had been working on this technology and that's what Trump was alluding to and they, and the reason. And now that they're kind of at the end of their rope, they're testing it. You see what I'm trying. Because I think one of them blew up. Right. One of them failed to report.

[B]

Again, reportedly one.

[A]

We shot down one. Okay. Yeah. So I wonder if this was almost like an experiment of we're at the end of our rope here. I do worry about what the regime will do to its neighbors, the people, to its own people if it's on the, if it's at the end of its rope. I am worried about that. Okay. Whereas opposed to a more Gaddafi like strike, like what we saw when you, before Aaron was born, what you and I saw when we were kids, where Reagan essentially bombed, you know, Libya back to the Stone Age, and we kind of never heard from Muammar Gaddafi ever again. He kind of, you know, real back to my, back to my kennel. I'm just going to hide out here and enjoy my harem and oil sales and realize that I tried to hit above my weight and the United States told me that was a very terrible idea. And I have received said message. Right. That's if we were, if I, if I, if I was confident that that would be the end result of this, I'd be like watching every highlight tape I could possibly watch. Right. Because we're just playing Missile command with an evil regime's military defense. But it's because I'm concerned about how teetering the regime was coming in that I have more concerns. Like your question. There's a, there's a third branch of your question that you haven't even considered or maybe you have just didn't include it beyond the, the Sunni, Shia, because most of the Arab countries, all of them actually, that are anti Iran, are All Sunni. Okay. Well, there's also a very large non religious population in Iran, particularly among the young. So like they're not like, think of the most, I guess we'll call it modern Sunni nation on earth. Uae. Would we all agree? That's probably it. Right.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

All right. Fair. All right. I mean the women wearing. It's pretty hot there year round, right? They're in the middle of a desert, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Are the natives there? Native women there wearing bikinis in Dubai, Are they doing that? Don't see a lot of bikinis in Dubai, I'm guessing.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Amongst the native females of the United Arab Emirates. Probably not. See where I'm going with this?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

See there's a third and that. Well, actually there's another ingredient then. They have the Kurds that are in northern Iraq. They want their own country too. Okay. Or northern Iran, I should say. They want their own country too. So the Sunni Shiris are. Shias are the headliners here. But there is a substantial non religious population in Iran among the young. You have the Kurds there too. I mean, your question is a good one and I don't know the answer, you know, and so that's why I have concerns. That's why, that's why my. We're America and this is, you know, this is my. This is why my 1980s kid hasn't fully kicked in yet. Okay. Because my 1980s kid is just. Would love what. I just watch highlight tapes all night long of us playing Missile Command with the Iranian military and just, you know, my wife would have to force me to go to bed. But my concerns are, well, you know, what happens if they realize they're on their last legs and they're like, they go con here from hell. Heart I'd stab at thee. Right? What happens if we wipe them all out? Who takes over in five minutes? I don't know the answers to these questions. I think these are all good questions to ask. I don't know the answers to them. And I have to hope that the people that are making these decisions do or at least have better information than we have. Because what we do know is as I said at the start of this and as I said going into it, there isn't even an, as far as we know, there isn't even an El Sisi level of general within the Iranian national army, let alone some lequilessa long term dissident that has the respect of the people and could win a small d democratic election like we saw with Wilhela and Poland. Are you Guys aware of any of those kinds?

[B]

No. And this was by design. This is by design. They will not tolerate any. Even token.

[A]

I mean, they just executed two of their best wrestlers for going out into the streets last month. Okay. So, yeah, I. You get. You guys could ask me. Just line up these questions all the next hour, and my answer is just going to be the same over and over again. I. I don't know. Which is why I was very hesitant about this from the very beginning.

[C]

Aaron, I love what you're doing here. We've. These are two pretty weighty questions so far. The nature of forgiveness and, you know, Islamic religious sectarianism. And, like, Aaron chose these, like, out of order.

[A]

Oh, did he?

[B]

I didn't realize that.

[C]

Like, that. I thought you were trying to soften me up.

[B]

I did that on purpose.

[C]

I thought he was trying to soften you up.

[A]

By the way, for those of you who don't know, Sunni and Shias, where they come from, when Muhammad died, he left no heir. And so there were two tribes of followers who both claimed that they had the direct line of descendancy to Muhammad. And that's where the origins of Sunnis and Shias come from.

[B]

Next we go to AI logical. Are the 10 Commandments really just suggestions if entry to heaven is based on what you believe and not on what you do?

[A]

Well, you have to remember that the Ten Commandments are introduced in a covenantal relationship. So, for example, was murder bad before Moses came down from the mountain?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Was it punished by God before Moses came down from the mountain? In fact, let's go back to the very first murder. All right, if you're in the Ken Ham group, then you think the very first murder occurred about 1600 years. Okay. Before 16, 1700 years or so before Moses came down the mountain. Or no, 1600 years until the flood, from Adam and Eve till the flood in the young earth model, I think it is. And then maybe it's like another. So about 3,000 years. Okay, you think it was about 3,000 years between when Cain slays Abel and Moses comes down the mountain? I think my math on that is right. I know we're gonna have some young Earthers. It's a long time in the audience that you correct me on this, but it's roughly. I think, that time period. All right? And so since. Since there were no Ten commandments, God looked at Cain and said, you know what? I guess I didn't even think of this one. And I realized this would be bad if you guys started killing each other. So, you know, we're gonna grandfather you in and everybody gets a do over after you. Is that what happened?

[C]

It is not.

[A]

It is not. God punished it, nevertheless. Right. Which seems to indicate there is some law that is written on our hearts.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Okay. Which is why, remember the verse when we just did Romans for two years, that when pagans or gentiles do what is right without having received the word of God, they are confessing that they know in their hearts what is right and what is wrong. And therefore Paul says, quote, they are a law unto themselves. End quote. Right. We did that in Romans. Correct. All right, so the Ten Commandments are introduced as part of a covenantal relationship, meaning that now you are in relationship with God and he is. If you let him lead you. This is the best line. This is the baseline expectation of behavior of what is expected of you and what you will then model to the

[C]

world

[A]

is what it looks like to be in a covenantal or right relationship or whole relationship with God. And so the same thing applies to the New Testament believer as well. Is there some part of his question there that I did not answer that I should have? Do you think

[C]

I'd have to look at the exact language again?

[A]

All right, put it up there again. Make sure we got it.

[B]

Are the Ten Commandments really just suggestions? If entry to heaven is based on what you believe and not what you

[A]

do, so ultimately, how would we know what you believe other than what you do? What do we typically call people who claim to believe something but act opposite of that?

[B]

If you love me, if you love

[A]

me, you'll keep my commandments.

[B]

Keep my commandments. Can we keep his commandments? Perfectly.

[A]

That's why we have to love him.

[B]

Why do you think I came to. Don't mistake why I came. I didn't come to abolish the law of the Moses and the writings of the prophets, but to accomplish them. He's the perfect fulfillment of God's perfect law.

[A]

And then, yes, the answer is yes. Yes. And of course we're going to fail because we're at war with our own flesh until the day that we die. All right? And so on Todd's side of the street, that's why they. That's why they have a lot of those sacraments. They are meant to be reminders. They're meant to be acts of penance. They're meant to be acts of restoration because you have broken covenant with God by taking advantage of his grace. And I'm doing a Reader's Digest, you know, summary of Catholicism. Are you okay with that for now, just for, you know, elementary school level explanation. All right? But this is, I mean, this is the ongoing struggle that we have. This is why we confess our sins. This is why you should see growth over the period of time, right? This is why, you know, to paraphrase Luther's opening preamble of the 95 theses, all the Christian life is a life of repentance, right? So because there is that, to quote the kids today, the struggle is real.

[C]

Right? Which is why the first question and this question are basically the same question. Again, forgiving. You can't have it be out on an island. You have got to have the God ordered first commandment, right? And then the second one, the doing, love your neighbor as yourself, forgive. Those aren't. In no way are those options, right? Are they incredibly hard? Absolutely.

[A]

I mean, I found them easy peasy. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's great. It's called a narrow road for a reason, folks. It's called a narrow road for a reason. It's hard to stay on that road.

[C]

But this is, you know, this is faith without works is dead stuff. The faith is the works.

[A]

Agreed. I don't disagree because how would I know what did you believe based on what you do? Well, Steve, what about people who confess in their deathbeds and so they cannot put up a life of fruitful obedience? Well, the master answered that question too, gave us the parable of the worker. And some workers have been there the entire time and they were rewarded for their loyalty, right? They were paid the, they were paid the great wage the entire time that they were loyal to their master. Right? Which means so and then someone came and worked one day, got paid the same wage, but over the course of the period of time, who was paid more? The one who was loyal to the one who got. Who worked that just that one day. Which one was paid more? The one that was loyal the entire time they were paid the same wage.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

But since the one that was loyal had been there day after day longer, those wages compound. And so he was rewarded more for his faith, was he not? Yes, he was more rewarded. The one that was faith with faithful, obedient over the course of time was rewarded more than the one who was not, right?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

They were given the same forgiveness or wage. But if you're walking in that forgiveness more consistently and longing longer than someone else has been, you will have been compensated more. The worker is worth his higher. Is that not fair?

[C]

Right, Right.

[A]

So the. So because the person that confesses on their deathbed, the only Work they can do because they're on their deathbed. Is that what, that confession?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yes. So they have been paid the same wage, but because they did not walk in a life of faithful obedience, they suffered the consequences of their disobedience while the faithful obedient were reaping the fruits and the rewards of their actual obedience. Correct?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So, like, it compounded, like an interest, everybody was paying this, paid the same interest rate, but if you are. If you were receiving that rate longer than the other person, then it was compounded for you, was it not right? Is that about the fairest system you could possibly come up with?

[C]

But even setting. Even. Yes, but even setting the payment aside, one really important aspect of the parable of the worker is you got to keep showing up to work, otherwise you're in the parable of the sower and a lot of people in the parallel of the hour. What's implied in there is you stop going to work and you got more to worry about than just not getting your paycheck.

[A]

These have been great questions so far, Ersin.

[C]

They're not. Yeah, these were not right at the top.

[A]

All right, all right, let's try to squeeze one more in.

[B]

Aaron John says, if President Trump ends his term with underwater approval numbers, would a Rubio Desantis, in either order, presidential ticket be stronger than a Vance Rubio ticket due to Vance's association with Trump?

[A]

The only person whose opinion matters in that is Donald Trump's. I just, I'm going to need. I'm going to need prima facie evidence that a collection of our. A cachet of our people's opinions matter more than the singular opinion of Trump. Because this entire era, have we seen that?

[C]

No.

[A]

No. And I just, I don't. In fact, if this midterm goes as bad as we all fear and all it's going to be is impeachment, our people are going to rally to Trump all the more while he's being impeached. You see what I'm trying to say? Yeah. They're gonna, they're gonna rally to. It's similar to them arresting him in March of 2023. Our people are gonna rally all the more to impeachment. For what? Policies you don't like, for winning, beating you in the last election are. People are gonna. Are gonna unite behind him even stronger if he's impeached or they go after him to impeach him.

[C]

I should say the thing I find fascinating about this is not that they're buddies, but, like, how much daylight do you see between Vance and DeSantis on a regular basis in supporting Trump policies much, but people keep setting these two up as like obvious polls of a.

[A]

Now listen, now if you want to reframe the question, do you think it would, could change Donald Trump's mind? Yeah, I do, I do. You know, since last Monday when Bob and I kind of argued about this and I was adamant that I think it thought it was too premature. Well, that's, that's before Joe Kent and Tucker Carlson pulled an op on Donald Trump in the middle of a war and basically tried to Pentagon Papers him and undermine his entire presidency with a clearly coordinated hit.

[B]

Oh, by the way, breaking news. Joe Kent has reneged his position that Israel controls Donald Trump. Just this morning he did. Yeah.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

He said, I don't think he meant to do that, but he said President Trump is working to get peace with Iran. If he can make that happen, it'd be a very good thing for our nation and our allies in the Gulf. He said the Israelis will be against this, but POTUS is strong and can get them on board, end quote. So that seems like a total.

[A]

Yeah, I, I, that's 180. That's before. Well, he's had about four. 180s, this Joe Kent guy has. But that's before they pulled a straight up op on Donald Trump in broad daylight in the middle of a war. And they tried the Pentagon Papers, Donald

[C]

Trump, I'm hoping Kent did that because he got the hey Joe, you want to go to jail conversation from somebody.

[A]

I mean, you start, you start threatening Trump's political brand at the level that Tucker and Joe Kent currently are. And yeah, I could see his opinions on quite a few things. Joe change. But it'll have to be his opinion. You see what I'm trying to say? It won't be any cache of our own opinions. It'll have to be his. More of your questions here in a moment. The Steve Day Show Spring Fest means more sun, more fun and more free at lows. Keep your yard in line with an additional free EGO 56 volt battery when you buy a select EGO mower trimmer or blower. Plus keep landscaping fresh with stay green. 1 cubic foot garden soil, 5 bags for $10. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid through 4 a while supplies last selection varies by location. Soil offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii.

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[A]

All right, back here on the Steve Day show, don't forget about our friends over at Conduit Clothing. Their goal is not to just sell you some really cool casual gear, but also to. To spread the word, literally. All right, what's conduit mean? It means to be a conduit for Christ. All right? And so this is a chance to literally wear your faith on your sleeve, quite literally. And you get free shipping with the code Steve. And they've got hundreds of Bibles. They're trying to give out ESVs all over the country, and they want you to get one of those Bibles and then give it to somebody that doesn't have the Word and needs it. All right? So cool clothes with the right worldview and message, with the opportunity to also get the word of God into the hands of many more people across the country. It sounds too good to be true, but it's not. Be bold. Be obedient. Be a conduit for Christ. Mission before money. Conduit clothing.com c o n D U I T C O n D U I T conduitclothing.com use the code Steve for free shipping. Conduitclothing.com promo code Steve for free shipping. All right, let's get back to some Ask Me Anything.

[B]

We will continue on with Stevenson, Tennessee. Who asks, for those of us who came up in the sola scriptura brand of Protestantism, where should we be looking for concise but compelling tales of the early Church and the saints?

[A]

Well, first of all, I'm not aware of a Protestantism that isn't sola scriptura except for the heretical ones within the main line. So I don't know that there's a. I mean, that's ultimately what it means to be a Protestant is that Scripture is the final authority that binds the conscience of the believer and the church alike. But that notwithstanding, I mean, I, I don't have a. I don't. I read a lot of the. I've read a lot of the Church Fathers themselves. I read a lot of Augustine himself. I read a lot of Aquinas himself. I, I think you need. Everyone needs to understand that there is a paradoxical. I've said this a million times, and I'll probably have to say it a million More because it's hard to understand. But there is a paradoxical aspect to Christianity, okay? And you're just going to have to live within the world of paradoxes because as a believer in and of yourself, you're one, right? You're saved, but you're being saved at the same time. You're being sanctified, but you're not fully sanctified. And you need to be fully sanctified. It's a process. And so therefore I'm fine reading people from different Protestant perspectives and then holding that up to what I think the word of God really says. And if I think that's what the word of God really says, I agree. And if I don't, I don't. And I do that with all. Essentially the Catholic Church was Christianity almost exclusively, except for the Orthodox Church, you know, for 1500 years. You know. So I'd urge you to go read all those things for yourself. I don't have a problem with any of that. I think I've made it pretty clear. I think one of the dumbest things that maybe the dumbest thing Protestantism has ever done is a rejection of church tradition outright. I just think that was retarded, which means beyond self induced stupidity. Because I do think we need some context to our faith when we're living it out now in a post apostolic era. How has that played out? What has that looked like?

[C]

Right.

[A]

And so I don't have a problem with any of that context at all. I don't. I encourage it.

[C]

In fact, I think it's a smart take to read about. And it goes in both directions. If Catholics want to read about Protestants, read the specific lives of Luther, Calvin, etc. Because again, Christ, the. The. The sum of the law, of the law, the fulfillment of the law was not just a doctrinal statement leaflet that was helicoptered down out of the clouds. It was actual incarnate. It was Jesus himself and our lives lived. So many of our fights, we get in these. Here's my term paper. Here's your term paper.

[A]

Like everything's very theoretical.

[C]

Read about a real human life.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And it really helps crystallize a lot of things. And you. A lot of your presuppositions. You might have new problems, new issues to deal with, but a lot of times they'll just be more honest.

[A]

I want, you know what, I've been meaning to say this for a while and since let me do it here, I want to make sure I make it very, very clear. I'm not attempting to paper over differences between Catholics and Protestants whatsoever. And I'm pretty confident if I lived in the 16th century, I'd have been a total Protestant. Slap. Right? But I'm not living in the 16th century. Right. There's no Queen of Scotland trying to grab me on the way to John Knox's church. There's no cardinal after giving the benediction at Saint so and so's Cathedral hunting me down for thinking the Pope's not infallible and Scripture is the final authority. I don't live in the 16th century. And so because I'm not living in that period of time, I am permitted the benefits of acknowledging where we have significant agreement and then debating the places we don't in a more benevolent manner. Does that make sense?

[C]

Oh, it makes complete sense.

[A]

So I'm not living in that period of time. I'm not. So the need for me to up the ante of a vitriol or anger or frustration or insulation or defensiveness just. It doesn't exist in this era. Now, have you seen me utter those kinds of things in other contexts? Plenty of times. Because I think in this. Because that means this is the era where maybe those kinds of more confrontational characteristics are more required. Okay? But in this era, nobody, nobody Catholic is attempting to impugn on my conscience and as a Protestant and my belief that the Scripture is the only perfect thing on the earth. They're disagreeing with it, but they're not trying to impugn on it. So there's no need for me to impugn in return, I'm happy to disagree. You want to ask me questions? I'm happy to answer any questions you have. Like the three times a week we do some variations of ask me anything, but it's in the areas where I think in the times in which we live, my conscience is being impressed on that. I will more aggressively and confrontationally press back. This is not one of those areas. Doesn't mean I don't understand the differences. I do pretty thoroughly for a layman, frankly. But I. But, but, but my conscience isn't being pressed upon because I have differences in this area. It would have been in the 16th century, but it's not the 16th century.

[B]

All right, ready to move on?

[A]

You bet.

[B]

Conan Peace says you've expressed that you don't fully agree with dispies. That'd be dispensationalists. I don't either. But I am premillennial and pre wrath to post trib before rapture. And I think pre trib is close to Heresy. Plus that the requirement for Jesus return is for Israel to repent and ask for him. Thoughts on the nuances? I'm just going to leave that up.

[A]

That is a lot of nuances. Okay, that, that's a lot. And credit to you, that means you have really thought all of this very through to come up to those nuances. Okay? I don't know. I don't know the answer. I don't. And I've read so many books on this. Here's the mistake I made. I would maybe not recommend other people make is I actually set out to find out with various persuasions of the church throughout history thought on these matters. And then I doubled down on that stupidity by then reading what they all thought of one another and the other viewpoints at the same time. Okay? And my brain is busted. I should have just, you know, when I first got saved, I knew the left behind books. I read them all. I should have just stuck to that. I'd have felt very strongly about all of this, right? And I'd give you guys all the dogma on this you want. And then I did this thing where I thought, well, I wonder what the Church has thought for 2,000 years. And I've been regretting that decision ever since. So my mistake. But credit to you, you do have nuance, no doubt about that. And that's not meant to be flippant at all. That's an impressive amount of nuance.

[B]

Next we go to King Max, who has this. Do you think that the most sophisticated intel in the history of mankind was truly surprised by the events of 10 7? If yes, you aren't paying attention attending. If yes, you weren't paying attending. If no, does that skew your view on the current world events? Worldview in scare quotes? Anyone? Can, Can I get. Can I try that again, please? Okay. King Max says, do you think that the most sophisticated intel in the history of mankind was truly surprised by the events of October 7th? If yes, you aren't paying attending. If no, does that skew your view on current world events? Worldview. Worldview. And scare quotes, by the way. Worldview, anyone? Question mark?

[C]

Here we go.

[A]

Well, number one, you guys need to make up your minds. Because on one hand you guys tell us Israel's a weak country, a godless country, and only exists because of the United States. But now you want to give him credit for having the most sophisticated intelligence in the history of mankind. So which is it? And then on top of that, nobody credible in Israel whatsoever believes that their own government allowed Oct. 7 to happen to them. And in fact, they're more unified since October 7th as a people than they have been in a generation. So credit to you, you're actually not as anti Semitical as maybe you thought. And maybe some of your friends think you actually care more for the Jewish people, it turns out, than they do themselves. So that's true empathy, my friend. Thank you.

[B]

All right, next we go to Dave.

[A]

Is that one of the ones you were warning me about?

[C]

That was one.

[A]

Okay. All right.

[B]

Dave says, would you agree?

[A]

Probably not. I'm sorry. Get to the rest. I'm sorry.

[B]

You have been soft on Trump

[C]

ever

[B]

since your visit to the White House. You have not been the same man. Iop. What does that mean?

[A]

I don't know. I was gonna ask you guys what IOP means.

[B]

Doesn't he mean imo, in my opinion, probably means that.

[A]

Okay, probably means that. I mean, I gotta be pretty honest. I was kind of soft before we went to the White House. I mean, from the very beginning, I told you guys, we need this to work, and I am in this needs to work T mode. Okay? We had to win this last election was my. My analysis. We desperately need this to be a success. Did I not say all these things right after the election?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

I mean, I'll tell you guys where I'm coming from every single time. I'll just tell you flat out. I told. I mean, I. I said it to. In 22 and 23, there were only three candidates that I was even considering voting for because I thought they were the only three attempts at disrupting the current system. Did I not say that? And we. Did we not do segments on all three? All right. Did we not look at the. We did a voter guide on RFK Jr. Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. Did we not. Okay, did I not say the entire time I was supporting DeSantis if he. If we can't win, I'm going all in to win. But if we can't, I'm. I'm going in for Trump the very next day. Did I not say that the entire time? Did anybody with a significant platform in the United States of America risk more for Ron DeSantis than me? It's. I'm at least on a short list. I'm at least on a short list. Right. And then. And then. So, not to mention the fact I put my entire organization and presence in my own state behind him. Did I not? Right then. Then what happened after we lost and he dropped out? What did I do? Exactly what I said I was going to do. Right?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And then that whole. That whole campaign cycle, I was like, we have to win.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Okay. And then after we won, I said, this needs to be successful. Did I not say that up front? Going in.

[C]

Right, Right.

[A]

So, yes, yes. I could do shows all the time, but there's still plenty of aspects of Trump's Persona that just grade on me. All right. The comments that were made yesterday on the death of Robert Mueller, just completely unnecessary and over the top. But I can understand why a non Christian, because he's not one. I can understand why a non Christian, you know, who was, you know, persecuted by that and also has the ladies on the View openly rooting for him to die so they can, you know, jeer him. I can understand why a non Christian acts and behaves that way. Okay. Even though it's unbecoming of a president. On the other hand, though, tell me what that has to do with literally anything that matters for the future of the country. Nothing is the answer. Nothing.

[C]

What was this person's name again? Aaron.

[B]

Dave.

[C]

Just Dave.

[B]

Dave Reed.

[C]

Okay. Yeah. These purity tests are so odd.

[A]

And there needs to be some purity test.

[C]

We all agree on that standard. It's called the standard. But these purity tests are always like, what's at least implied, if not flat out requested, is like the worst possible outcome for everybody in order to be a real American. I don't. Which banks, and this has been asked before. This is a unique question for me, but do you have a family? Like, do you have anything that you do not want to just burn down?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, we're in a big. My big picture view is that we're in a cold civil war. And whether we want to be into these two camps, that's the reality of where we are, at least as far as I read it. You may not have that read and God bless you, but it's my read. And since the show's called the Steve Day show, my read means a lot. It was my read that Desantis was a better candidate than Trump. It was my read the Scandemic was a scam. I mean, the whole thing's always going to go by my read because it's my show. Okay. My current read is that we are in a survive or fail exercise as a people.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And I'm not comfortable, by the way, being the team GOP guy. Have I ever done that? My 20 year career, have I ever done that?

[C]

No.

[A]

No. But we're. But. But because of the circumstances have changed where we're not in the Circumstances we were in 20 years ago. But literally, our very survival is at stake. I kind of feel like that's my only option. If I prove me wrong, I'd love to be proven wrong. And so if you want me to criticize Trump, have him do things that get in the way of us being successful, like put boots on the ground in Iran. That'll do it. All the other stuff, if it doesn't get in the way of us being successful, I don't care. I don't care how. Listen, I don't like all the cigars that Ulysses says Grant smokes before breakfast and the bourbon that he has for lunch, and I don't like that either. But were we winning?

[C]

Yeah. And I love cigars.

[A]

It's okay. And so I like winning. I like winning. And so it doesn't bother me if we started losing. That stuff would bother me.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Yeah. It's just that simple. And I'll always tell you exactly what I think. Always. We have time for one more. No, we'll save it for the overtime.

[B]

Yeah, I don't think so. We've got seven more for the overtime.

[A]

All right, we'll get to those. I'll get through them as fast as I can in the overtime blazetv.com days. Those. Those weren't painful at all. I thought those were good.

[C]

There's a few more painful ones coming. And there was definitely a psyop after last Monday show. I look how low I've set the bar. And see, then you. You. You had. You went subterranean, dude.

[A]

I was on tilt heading into that break. I'm like, oh, no, it's just gonna be. Is it just gonna be Judah night? Okay, it's just gonna be Judah. You know, when. When we started our. Our thing at Middle Tennessee University last week, I looked over at Lucas Miles. I said, you know, we're just gonna sit out here in the cold, in the rain for two hours, just answer questions about Jews, right? He goes, I know. But then the chapter president for tpusa, I should have bought that young man at least a Coke Zero, okay? Because he put out signs to provoke the crowd, to get conversations going. And since he put on a sign, islam has no home in America, we ended up getting just a bunch of questions about Islam and not two hours of questions about Jews. That's. I would much rather prefer that conversation. So, worked out great. All right, guys, final thoughts before we get out of here.

[B]

I agree with that sign. I think that needs to be more and more aggressively pursued and messaging from GOP candidate for dog catcher all the way up to president of the United States. Was this on video, by the way?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. They recorded the whole thing.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. So we should be getting the video from them here soon.

[C]

Yeah, I agree. We our conversations, Tucker, with China or this conversation with Islam. We finding ways not to make the main thing the main thing.

[A]

Amen. All right. We we're going to finish off your questions in the overtime subscribers. For the rest of you, we'll see you Tomorrow noon to 2 Eastern, right after Glenn Beck, right here on Blaze TV. Until then, go hard. Romans 8:28.