Congress DOES Need a Raise: Here's Why | Guest: Bob Vander Plaats | 5/18/26

Summary

Steve Deace Show | Congress DOES Need a Raise: Here's Why

Date: May 18, 2026
Host: Steve Dace (with Todd Erzin & Aaron McIntyre)
Guest: Bob Vander Plaats (The Family Leader)
Theme: Principled conservatism with a snarky twist—why Congress might actually need a pay raise, populist conservatism’s motivations, revival in America, and the eternal wrestling with political realities.

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Episode Overview

This episode tackles a controversial question: “Does Congress actually deserve a raise?” Steve Dace explores the reasons for and against increasing congressional salaries—ranging from the practical to the philosophical. Alongside co-hosts Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre, and with guest Bob Vander Plaats, the show unpacks the political price of low pay, the consequences of stock trading, Christian revival in American culture, the future of the conservative movement (particularly the role of Trump), and the ever-present tension between principle, reality, and strategy in modern politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Enduring Influence & the State of GOP Primaries

• Bill Cassidy’s Defeat: The rare ousting of Senator Cassidy in a Louisiana Republican primary, largely due to his vote to convict Trump during impeachment. The loss is emblematic of Trump’s ongoing power within the party.
  • Quote: “Primaries can matter and bad legislators can be ousted. It just requires the will from certain people.” (Steve Dace, 01:32)
• Lack of Principle in the Movement: Steve laments the degradation of a principled conservative movement and how Trump’s influence has filled the void—if imperfectly.
  • Quote: “We thought [Trump] was going to co-opt this conservative movement, we then realized never really existed.” (Steve Dace, 13:24)
• Voter Motivation: The main driver for primary challenges is now loyalty to Trump rather than ideological conservative purity.
  • Quote: "Is it the motivation I would prefer? No. Is it... the only motivation we currently have? It appears so." (Steve Dace, 16:08)

Timestamps

• [00:01–01:32]: Bill Cassidy’s defeat & the rarity of GOP Senate primary losses
• [08:07–14:51]: Why GOP voters oust, or more often, keep bad legislators

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2. Should Congress Get a Raise? The Pay vs. Corruption Dilemma

• Mike Johnson’s Defense: Speaker Mike Johnson argues members of Congress are underpaid (31% less than in 2009, adjusted for inflation)—and this may lead to lower-quality candidates and more temptation for shady side hustles (e.g., stock trading).
  • Quote: “If you stay on this trajectory, you're going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress… at least let them like engage in some stock trading so that they can continue to, you know, take care of their family.” (Mike Johnson, as summarized at 02:36)
• Steve Dace’s Proposal: He proposes Congress get paid more (half a million a year), but in exchange, bar all side investment and stock trading—trading higher pay for higher restrictions/integrity.
  • Quote: “Pay them all a half million a year, but all their assets and everything are frozen... more pay, more restriction.” (Steve Dace, 23:13)
• Addressing Corruption: Strict limitations on non-congressional income are vital if society expects moral uprightness and minimizes temptation.
  • Quote: “Should such dark reminders of the doctrinal correctness of total depravity ever emerge at some point in the future—to just hand members of Congress the amount of inside knowledge they have and then tell them… full freedom to invest… seems to me a little naive.” (Steve Dace, 21:15)

Timestamps

• [02:36–03:15]: Mike Johnson on salaries and trading
• [20:59–25:51]: Dace lays out his “pay more, restrict more” fix

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3. The Need for Revival: Rededicate 250 and America’s Christian Identity

• National Faith Event: The Rededicate 250 rally in D.C. features high-profile speakers, including Trump administration members and faith leaders, calling America to return to its Christian roots.
• Contest for National Identity: Bob Vander Plaats emphasizes the event was authentic and prophetic—not mere GOP rallying but a real appeal for spiritual revival.
  • Quote: “We want to inspire the church to impact elections, influence policy, ignite partnership… what you saw yesterday wasn’t an attempt to replace the church. It was an attempt to basically ignite the church, fan the flame.” (Bob Vander Plaats, 34:43)
• Left’s Alternative—Godlessness: The pushback centers on “separation of church and state”—redefining it as protection of the state from the church, not vice versa.
  • Quote: “What the left is offering is godlessness. Shut up God’s word, everybody lives for their own selves.” (Steve Dace/Bob Vander Plaats, 38:43–38:54)
• Abortion as the Great National Sin: Dace and Vander Plaats contend revival is stymied while widespread chemical abortion by mail exists—even in pro-life states.
  • Quote: “We want revival…but we still want it to be all about us.” (Bob Vander Plaats, 43:41)
  • Quote: “Can we get to revival as long as this [abortion-by-mail] is hanging over us?” (Steve Dace, 41:48)

Timestamps

• [31:50–38:54]: Rededicate 250, state vs. church, and American foundations
• [39:50–46:07]: Abortion’s spiritual weight; legal and practical battlefronts

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4. Political Reality versus Principle: Navigating the Age of Trump

• Strategic Adaptation: Steve Dace reflects on coming to terms with the lack of an ideal, principled movement and the need to “accept reality, do the best you can, or shake your fist at the Cloud.”
• The Trump Era as a ‘Winnowing Fork’: Trump’s ascendance has forced politicians—and citizens—to display where their true loyalties lie; the base now pursues loyalty over ideology.
  • Quote: “I've never seen one person in modern American political history that has prompted more people to tell you who they really are and reveal their true motivations.” (Steve Dace, 14:51)

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5. Ask Me Anything: Listener Q&A

Steve and team handle a series of pointed, sometimes humorous questions:

• Congressional Primaries & Trump’s Loyalty Tests (63:38): Steve argues Trump’s base won’t be alienated by his attacks on less-than-100% loyalists, even reliable conservatives like Thomas Massie.
  • Quote: “The base is Trump and Trump is the base. You’re operating under the assumption this is ideologically driven. It is not.” (Steve Dace, 63:39)
• Circumcision Debate (72:03): An awkward, comedic segment as Steve and team wrangle with the relevance of circumcision today—eventually concluding it’s mostly cultural/health tradition, not religious mandate.
  • Memorable Moment: "I’m not really much of an expert on uncircumcised penises… don’t have a strong grip on that one." (Steve Dace, 76:57)
• Idolatry vs. Passionate Interest (81:02): If a hobby makes you less Christlike or less interested in Christ, that’s when it crosses into idolatry.
  • Quote: “I’m not capable of just kind of casually doing stuff… Does it make you less Christlike and less interested in Christ? That’s the line.” (Steve Dace, 83:36)

Timestamps

• [63:38]: Trump “loyalty primaries” and risk of alienating the base
• [72:03]: Circumcision and Christian ethics (humorous highlight)
• [81:02]: The difference between passion and idolatry

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Congress’ Pay Structure:
  “Pay them more and restrict them more… all your assets are frozen, but you get half a million a year. Isn’t that much more preferable to what we have now?”
  — Steve Dace (23:13)

• On Political Movements Post-Trump:
  “It’s not good enough, but it’s the only thing resembling a movement we have.”
  — Steve Dace (17:02)

• On Christian Revival:
  “There’s one God. We are not it. We are one nation under that God. To go back to our history and rededicate this country to God… we pray for revival individually and collectively.”
  — Bob Vander Plaats (32:13)

• On Broadcast Honesty:
  “When you let Trump break your brain, you just want your narrative to be so true… I can’t surround myself with insane people.”
  — Steve Dace (19:13)

• On Abortion as the National Albatross:
  “Every mailbox in America right now can be an altar to Molech. Every single mailbox.”
  — Steve Dace (39:50)

• On Listener Questions (Humor):
  “I’m not really much of an expert on uncircumcised penises… don’t have a strong grip on that one.”
  — Steve Dace (76:57)

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Summary Table of Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamps | Highlights | |-------------------------------------|---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GOP Primaries & Trump Loyalty | 00:01–14:51 | Cassidy’s loss; movement motivations; Trump as winnowing fork | | Congress Pay & Stock Trading | 02:36–25:51 | Mike Johnson’s defense; Dace’s proposal; corruption/temptation debate | | Rededicate 250 & Christian Identity | 31:50–38:54 | National faith event; separation of church/state; left’s alternative | | Abortion & National Revival | 39:50–46:07 | Mailbox abortions; spiritual/practical implications | | Reality vs. Principle in Politics | 16:08–19:13 | Accepting the current shape of the “movement”; strategic adaptation | | Ask Me Anything (Q&A Segment) | 63:38–95:50 | Trump loyalty primaries, seriousness vs. idolatry, circumcision, regrets etc.|

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Tone & Language

• Conversational, humorous, and at times snarky: The show mixes philosophical depth with accessible analogies, dad jokes, and open self-deprecation—especially around awkward topics.
• Candid and introspective: Steve often pauses to recount his own ideological journey, regrets, and practical experiences in politics and faith.
• Principled but pragmatic: There’s a refusal to paper over unsavory realities in politics, instead aiming to grapple with them honestly.

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For New Listeners/Readers

This episode is a quintessential Steve Dace Show outing—mixing hard-nosed political analysis, Christian worldview, and a willingness to poke at both sacred cows and sacred truths. If you’re interested in the intersection of politics, faith, and social commentary—always with philosophical and self-critical depth—this episode captures it all.

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Quick Reference: Must-Listen Segments

• Congressional Pay/Corruption Dilemma: [20:59–25:51]
• Nation’s Spiritual Crisis—Abortion by Mail: [39:50–46:07]
• “Ask Me Anything” (Humor Highlight, Circumcision): [72:03–77:27]
• The Reality of Political Strategy in the Age of Trump: [16:08–19:13]

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Conclusion

Steve Dace, joined by Bob Vander Plaats and his co-hosts, provides an unflinching look at what real political reform would require, why cultural and spiritual revival can’t be faked, and how populist motivations now dominate the American right. Even the most serious segments are tempered with laughter and plain talk—the antidote, perhaps, to letting politics “break your brain.”

Transcript

[Steve Dace]

It's the Steve Day show. And here's what happened while we were away, brought to you by the rarest of events in modern politics. Over the weekend in Louisiana, Senator Bill Cassidy is out, not only losing his weekend GOP Senate primary, but finishing in third place. It's the first time in nearly 15 years a sitting GOP senator has lost his primary in a non special election. Truly the rarest of events in modern Republican politics. Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators to vote in favor of convicting President Trump five years ago in his second impeachment trial. Former Congressman Jason Chaffetz pressed Cassidy on that point over the weekend.

Knowing what you know now about the farce that was put forward to the American people and the Congress, knowing what you know now, would you still vote to actually convict Donald Trump of the

charges that he was put up for?

Reporters always love to ask that question.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

I'm a doctor.

[Steve Dace]

You give me all the information I can, I make a decision, I move on. I don't keep on going back.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Oh, what happened five years ago?

[Steve Dace]

I'm thinking about what's going to happen five years now. With all due respect, let me finish, Jason, you just touted everything you've done for the last five years. Why can't you answer that question? Did you or did you not know Now, Jason, if I, I want you to answer that question. Would you or would you not actually vote to convict knowing what you know now? It's a simple question. Yeah. Jason, you may go back and flagellate yourself over decisions in the past. I do not.

So primaries can matter and bad legislators can be ousted. It just requires the will from certain people that Louisiana Senate primary heads to a runoff featuring Trump endorsed Congresswoman Julia Letlow and Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming. Over the weekend in D.C. the Rededicate250 event took place featuring various high profile speakers from government like President Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and well known faith leaders like Franklin Graham, all speaking on the necessity of America returning to its founding faith.

As my dear friend, the late great

Charlie Kirk put it, all law reflects a morality. Neither law nor morality appears in a vacuum, but ultimately come from religion. And the morality and religion that formed the American consciousness were decidedly Christian, founded upon the principles and the divinity of Jesus Christ. Newly resurfaced comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson went viral over the weekend discussing and defending members of Congress ability to trade stocks.

Well, look, you know the, the salary of Congress has been frozen since 2009. You know when you adjust for inflation, a member of Congress Today's make it 31% less than they made in that year. It goes down every year. And over time, if you stay on this trajectory, you're going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress. I mean, it's just people just make a reasonable decision as a family on whether or not they can come and move to Washington, have a residence here, residence at home, and do all the things that are required. So the counterargument is, and I have some sympathy, look, at least let them like engage in some stock trading so that they can continue to, you know, take care of their family.

Not to worry though. President Trump tells Fox News.

To what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal? Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters that I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about American financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

That's right. That's a perfect segment.

[Steve Dace]

I'd make it again. You can imagine how many people stop the sound bite at I don't think about America's situation. So what's your response to that framework?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

It's very simple. When people hear me say it, everybody agrees. Short term pain.

[Steve Dace]

It's going to be short term pain, but the pain is much less than people thought.

International news US And Nigerian forces killed a senior ISIS commander on Friday in an operation President Trump claims greatly diminished the militant group's power. The president named the target as Abu Bililal Al Malnuki, second in command of ISIS globally, adding he'll no longer terrorize the people of Africa or help plan operations to target Americans and back at home. And in California, Governor Gavin Newsom says he's not worried about the eventuality where a Republican is guaranteed to take his place.

We all have agencies. We can shape the future. There's still a lot. Look, I've said this before, so I'll repeat it. I don't anticipate this need to be the case. But there is a break the glass scenario and there's many people that have a deep understanding of what it would look like if Democrats were locked out. And we're going to do everything to make sure that doesn't happen.

Learning Chinese today. Today's phrase is that seems rather insurrect pop culture news. Alex Cooper, host of the uber popular podcast Call Her Daddy, which promotes sexual promiscuity, abortion and unabated secular feminism. Announced she's expecting her first child with her husband. This is wonderful news for her and her family and hopefully her audience recognizes the same. And finally, if Rocky IV cast Ellen Page.

Planning,

That's what happened while we were away.

Bill Cassie, the first Republican senator in 14 years to lose a primary in the conventional way. That's a major part of our problem. And I'm going to make people mad because to an extent, I agree with both Mike Johnson and Donald Trump and I'll explain why in a moment. Stay tuned. Next on. And greetings and happy Monday. Hope you had a great weekend. I'm Steve Dase alongside Todd erzin and Aaron McIntyre. We are the Steve Dase show here live and on demand on Blaze tv, radio and podcast. And we are brought to you by our friends over at Birch Gold Group. When there are moments of uncertainty, like all the uncertainty we have in moments just like this, Birch Gold is who you can trust to help you. And now through May 29, Birch Gold is giving first time gold buyers a rebate of up to 10 grand on qualifying purchases. For details and a free information kit on diversifying into gold, Text Steve to the number 98989. Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or 401K into a tax sheltered IRA in physical gold. So you've got the same hedge of protection that the smart people and the rich people have been using for thousands of years in gold. So text Steve to get started today to the number 989-898, see if you qualify for a first time gold buyer rebate of up to $10,000. Again, text Steve to 989-898 today. Text Steve to 989-898 Today. All right, coming up on today's show, we're going to get into the rededicate 2:50 with Bob Vander Plaats of the Family leader here at the bottom of the hour. Next hour, it'll be your turn to ask me anything. But there's a few things in Aaron's montage I would like to highlight here if we could. Let's, let's start with a headline that in many respects articulates where many of our problems are concerned. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is the first Republican senator in a conventional runoff to lose his primary in 14 years. 14 years. Gentlemen, I ask thee, is Bill Cassidy of Louisiana the only Republican senator you can think of over the past 14 years deserving of losing his primary?

[Todd Erzin]

He is not.

[Steve Dace]

No, no. Off the top of your head. Could you come up with at least 5 more? At least 5 more over. Under 5?

[Todd Erzin]

I would hope so.

[Steve Dace]

Way over, right? That's like an easy bet.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

In fact, you can't take that bet. It'd be like minus 750. They don't want you to bet on that. If the over, under, if the win total on that is only five, they don't, they don't want any action on the over.

[Todd Erzin]

What are we even doing here?

[Steve Dace]

If we. Correct.

[Todd Erzin]

Throw some of these guys into the abyss.

[Steve Dace]

Correct. I saw a comment in my X feed this weekend from our good friend and former Blaze colleague who's now at Fox News, Chris Pandolfo. When I noted that only one Republican senator being ousted in a primary in 14 years is a big reason why we are in this mess. And he pointed out, literally the only thing that Republican primary voters care about is voting to impeach Trump, well, that's one more thing than they thought about before. That's 100% improvement right now. If we were to look at those who all voted against, who voted against Trump's impeachment and that question by Jason Chaffetz there, essentially what Trump was impeached for was for going to get information on exactly what we later found out to be true about whatever the hell was going on. And what you like to call the reverse. Wakanda, Ukraine, everything that. Why are the Western leaders so ingrained in this? What is it with the Biden administration? Everyone's just beyond obsessed with this. For what reasons? That's essentially what the entire perfect phone call was about. So he was impeached literally over a scam. Now, if you looked at the names of those who voted to convict, they're all terrible. They're all people that would be on our list of folks that should get primaried out. Like there's, there's nobody in there, like 100% pro life voting record that's voting to impeach or to convict Trump in impeachment. They're all terrible people. So if Chris is right, and sadly he is, but that's one more motivation than we had before. Fair. And I think this is a teachable moment because I think this speaks to the mo, to understanding the Trump phenomenon and, and some things, frankly, that I had to come to understand and I had to go through a process by which I had to admit myself. Certain things I didn't want to believe were true. And then I had to go through another process by which I was willing to behave in accordance with these realities, rather than tilting at windmills. And the reality is when I started, it'll be just a couple more weeks from now. June 6, 2006 is when who flipped on the bird for the first time and put this former local sports talk radio host on as their full time news radio guy on afternoon drives on the multi award winning radio station known as News Radio 1040 who where Ronald Reagan was our first sports director. Now I'd done a lot of fill in stuff here or there, but that's when the full time gig began, was on that day. And that's when my full time career in the political world began. When I was given that at the ripe old age of 32 I was going to turn 33amonth and a half afterwards. So I was only 32 years old. I am handed a 50,000 watt neutron bomb here in the state of Iowa. I thought for sure I'd been a Christian for only a few years. I'm very idealistic and I still thought the Purpose Driven Life was a good book and Tim Keller and the Gospel Coalition had something meaningful to say. And who knows, if we went back to 2006, that might have still been true back then. Fair might have still been true. Aaron, back then, maybe, I don't know. But when I got in, I really believed I was part of, of a movement. A movement based on how Mike Pence described it about a week ago, of deep conservative principle. That's, that's what I thought. I, you know, Aaron was a Rush baby. I grew up in my teenage years and in my college years having a lot of how I thought about the political process in my early adult years formed by Rush, Rush, Levin, Beck, Hannity. I listen to those guys constantly when I'd work in the mail room at Blue Cross. It was just those guys all day long in my headphones, with one exception, the hour that Jim Rome did open phones. I listened to that, okay, because it used to be very funny. At least it was funny to me. When I was 20, 21 working in the mail room, I bought all the books. I believed that we were part of a deep seated movement and I still think that we were. But the people that we were voting for and many of the folks representing us sadly were not. And so while there are moments that I still am frustrated by Trump, the truth of the matter is nothing was happening. Even, even if these rhinos are being removed for the worst possible reason, they were disloyal to Trump. Even if that's what you think now, I kind of think it's a Correlation that leads to causation, meaning all the Rhinos that were the least loyal to Trump are all, with the exception of. This is why there's so much interest in the Thomas Massie primary right now. Because this is the first time, really. And yet Bob Good as well. But that, but Bob Good went, you know, directly went after Trump during the presidential primary. That was going on with Trump and DeSantis and Trump wasn't president yet. This is the first time that truly. And Trump endorsed, you know, primary candidates against Chip Roy in the past too. But this is, this is really the first time the entire full operational death star of the Trump political machine has gotten behind getting rid of a guy who's been a fairly reliable voter on the right for the most part. He's a libertarian, which, you guys know what I think that means. Which is 70, 75% of the time he's 100%. Right. And the other 20, 25% of the time, you're like, what are we doing here? Right? So for the most part, Trump has been a vetting tool. I mean, think of a lot of the folks when we were originally opposed to Trump in 2016 because we thought he was going to co opt this conservative movement, we then realized never really existed. Right. But think of the people that were like, leading a lot of those fights, like Bill Crystal and stuff. He just announced over the weekend he's a Democrat now.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

You know what I'm saying? Like, Trump's been a huge winnowing fork. I mean, to me, it's supernatural. I've never seen one person in modern American political history that has prompted more people to tell you who they really are and reveal their true motivations. I mean, much of pol. Much of success in politics comes from not revealing your true motivations. All kinds of people in the Trump era are anxious to do it. So I mean, it's not 100, man, but I would say it's at least we're batting.800. Fair. Sure. Probably batting around 800. Like takes head Williams best season multi. It's a force. Multiply it by two. That's essentially what we're doing. Aaron, you okay with that? About 800 is the batting average. If you're, if you're disloyal to Trump, it usually just means you're disloyal to our base virtually comprehensively. Yep. And there's always exceptions. Massey is one of them. Okay. Chips, one of them. But, but for the most part, this has been a pretty solid one to one correlation. Now, is it the motivation to respond to our friend Chris. Is it the motivation that I would prefer. No. Is it the motivation that when I started doing this 20 years ago, that I thought I was going to be on the right side of history fighting on behalf of. No. Is it, though the only motivation that we currently have?

[Todd Erzin]

It appears so.

[Steve Dace]

Is there any other motivations at all that will gather the attention of a critical mass of our people to get them to actually take part in the primary process and get rid of some of these fools?

[Todd Erzin]

Much to my everlasting frustration.

[Steve Dace]

So I. So that's the choice we all have to make. We either live in the world that we're in and make the absolute best of it, or we, you know, yell at shake fist at Cloud, or you let. Well, there's a third option. You just let Trump break your brain. And I have friends that have allowed this to happen to them, too, which is why you don't see them around here anymore. Has nothing to do with whether we agree or disagree. It has to do with. Okay, you just let him break your brain. I mean, we can't have a constructive conversation at this point. I love Daniel to death. He has taken the shake fist at Cloud. He has taken that. That tactic. Correct?

[Todd Erzin]

At times, yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. We have a mind every time we possibly can at the same time, Right?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Because he's not wrong. Is anything he's saying, like, technically wrong?

[Todd Erzin]

No.

[Steve Dace]

No. So tactically, we all have to decide what. How are we going to. If. If. Well, when I say we, all those of us who thought we were part of a conservative movement that we then found out doesn't really exist, these are the three options. Right. Live in the times that we actually have and try to do the most good you can shake fist at Cloud because it's not good enough. And it's not good enough. It's not. But it's all that we have. We don't have any other options. It's not good enough. It's not good enough that we're going to spend way more time in political capital getting rid of Thomas Massie than getting John TH. To pass the SAVE Act. It's not good enough. Not. That's not good enough. But it's also the only thing resembling a movement that we actually have. Do you know of another thing resembling a movement that we have?

[Todd Erzin]

No.

[Steve Dace]

Any place else where we could go to try and further our political goals for the country?

[Todd Erzin]

No.

[Steve Dace]

Neither do I. So those are your two options. And then there's the third option, which is you just let Donald Trump break Your brain. And a lot of people have sadly chosen this option. I refuse to. I refuse. Not going to happen to me. Which is why I've had literally every position you can have on Trump throughout the entirety of his ascendancy without losing your mind. But it's where we are. It's not good enough. But is. Are we now? Do we have a hundred percent more Senate rhino senators gone than have been gone in the last 15 years? Yeah. So see my point? There was no movement before this. There was no movement before this. Are we getting enough from the movement that Trump has spawned? No. Is it giving us more than we've gotten from anything else? Yes. Yeah. So that's where we are. I'm not empowered to do anything about it. I'm not God. I don't transcend moments, you know, So I don't blame anybody. Unless you let Trump break your brain, then we're going to. That, to me, we're, that's a fellowship breaker. I can't surround myself with insane people. But if you're not letting Trump break your brain, then we can completely disagree on a moment to moment basis on the other two options. And I'm totally fine with that as long as we're just honest with each other. Right?

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Dace]

But, but when you break your brain, that's when you, when you let Trump break your brain, that's when it's just really clear. You're, you've just given up on being honest. You're not met. You're really not much different than the lefties where you want your narrative to be so true. You've just let Trump break your brain. That's what they do. That's what they do. But it's where we are. So a couple more things that will be even more disappointing. Mike Johnson is correct to a point. Now, there should be absolutely no stock trading whatsoever. That should absolutely be banned. You're just the temptation to not use information, you know, and profit off of it. You know, I'm sure all 435 members of the House of Representatives are fine and upstanding individuals. Can I get a witness on that? The creme de la creme of integrity and credibility. Okay. But since total depravity is, is an official doctrine of this program, the, the fine par excellence of, of panache and moral upstanding that each and every member of Congress currently is. So we're not talking about them, of course. Right, of course. But there may come a day in the future when maybe one slips through. Maybe one, maybe a guy. I don't know, gets caught stuffing bribes and a. In a refrigerator randomly. You know, maybe a guy running for Congress in a state like, I don't know, like Texas, and so traumatizes his side piece that she commits suicide. That's really dark. I don't know how. Apologies for my imagination for concocting even such a unseemly event, hypothetically speaking, of course. But should such. I'm just illustrating absurdity by being absurd, right? Should. Should such dark reminders of the doctrinal correctness of total depravity ever emerge at some point in the future to just hand members of Congress the amount of inside knowledge that they have and then tell them, by all, all means, you have free will, full will, and full freedom to invest, and I'm sure you'll never act on such knowledge. Seems to me a little naive. Fair.

[Todd Erzin]

Fair.

[Steve Dace]

That being said, Mike is correct. They are underpaid. Mike is also correct. The amount of good candidates we don't get because they can't afford the pay cut. I saw Tim Burchett, who's been on our show, I saw him tell Joe Rogan he sleeps at his office, goes and works out in the gym, takes a shower because he just can't afford all this stuff. I can just tell you from working with, from knowing Ship as well as I do, he flies back and home, back and forth to Austin as much as he possibly can. He's not living in some Georgetown brownstone when he's up here. So there is a caliber of candidate that we're not getting that just could not afford to take this job. That's very true, which is why I'd pay him all a half a million a year. We're just printing off money nowadays anyway, right? We don't seem to care. I pay them all a half million a year, but all their assets and everything are frozen. They can't do any investing. Everything's frozen. But we'll pay a half million a year. And you have no say whatsoever in a 401k? Nothing. All your assets are frozen. But we'll pay a half million a year. What's wrong with that? Isn't that much more preferable than what we currently have, which is we're paying them 30% lower the rate below the rate of a cost of living adjustment for their job, but then giving them full freedom to completely shake down, you know, donors, funders, lobbyists, and the stock market. What do you think would be more inclined to present a better Congress?

[Todd Erzin]

Your option? I still have concerns on multiple fronts, but you make a reasonable case.

[Steve Dace]

I just think that. I think I would absolutely pay them more and pay them more and restrict them all the more. Pay them more and restrict them all the more. Pay them a half a million a year.

Do you want to be talking about this during a midterm?

Well, that's another question. All right, that's another question. But I'm just telling you, I mean, the amount of people who own like a successful restaurant and are good churchgoers and would make great members of Congress, but just can't let that business go by the Wayside at $180,000 a year, but at the same time would be the kinds of people that would not go there just to, you know, shake down the system and line their pockets from the Aaron Burr school of government is quite often quite a lot. Quite a lot. So I'd pay him a half a million a year and. But, but restrict them from literally anything.

[Todd Erzin]

If you tie this to actually winnowing down the bureau bureaucratic state. I'm all. I'm all in.

[Steve Dace]

I'm. I'm into all those things, too.

[Todd Erzin]

It's at the point.

[Steve Dace]

But right now, it's the worst of both. I know that this sounds like a lot of money to most of the people in this audience, and it is, but you're not at a job where they're literally handing you sheets with trillions of dollars that you get to allocate. Right? They are. We are. We are putting the ability to just print infinite, infinite amounts of money into these people's hands at. And at that point, the amount of money staring that. That's in their palm of their hands every day makes $189,000 a year look like chicken feed. And so I would. That's why I'd pay them all the more, but restrict them more as well.

I, too, I'm supportive of pegging this to inflation. Just the inverse. The more there's inflation, the less they get paid. The less there's inflation, the more they get paid.

Well, I'm with you. The problem is our people love the inflation. They want all this stuff from government. Who's. Who's standing up and volunteering and saying, you know what, take it back, I don't want it.

[Todd Erzin]

That's what I'm saying. You got it.

[Steve Dace]

This is a black hole of a conversation.

Correct? Yes. Yes, correct, Correct. Steve, why did the Tea Party fail? A, grifters B, this conversation. Yes. Let me also say this while we're in the. So these are, these are. Dad, we're Having some dad conversations on Mondays, on Monday today, these are the conversations the old man will have. You, after your mom tells you you can be whatever you want to be, then you go in the garage and dad will kind of, you know, give you a little more reality check. That's kind of what we're doing here.

[Todd Erzin]

Okay, well, that's why we're screwed. Because even most men who are dads don't like to have dad conversations.

[Steve Dace]

The truth of the matter is Trump is also correct. The dumbest thing he could do at this point is to acknowledge that we have financial constraints. See, because we're in this nexus, this vortex I just talked about for the last few weeks, where our people don't have the resolve to do what it will take to uproot the Iranian regime. But the Iranian regime is not just going to go away at the exact same point in time, and so not on its own anyway. So we have to come up with some rationale for why this was justifiable at all. Then why'd we do this at all? Why don't we just do an operation Midnight Hammer 2.0, go bomb some nuclear facilities, go back home, and if we find more, we'll just be back in three weeks and we find more, we'll come back two weeks later. See what I'm saying? Why'd we. Why are we doing this blockade and this largest deployment since Iraq and everything else? Well, now that we are, though, we have to win. The dumbest thing that Trump could do is say, listen, I'm well aware of the fact people can't afford gas and the clock is ticking because what's the Iranian regime going to think when. When you say. When you say that out loud? Just wait it out. That's all we got to do. Just wait it out. They'll get bored. They'll walk away. They won't be able to take the heat. Now, this entire conversation is why I wasn't in favor of doing this in the up front. All right? When we get to this precise moment that we're in right now, this. And we've been in this stall pattern for three weeks, we're not bombing them. They're not dying. We're not doing anything. What's going on? All we're doing, though, is paying more and more, even though no one can really explain it to us because we get, like, no oil from Iran anyway. But I digress. I say anything incorrectly so far?

[Todd Erzin]

No.

[Steve Dace]

No. All right, so. But it's. But it's all. But again, this is where your Old man will just tell you. Well, let's. Let me rephrase that to benefit Todd. This is what dad used to do, tell you about how things really operate.

[Todd Erzin]

Thank you.

[Steve Dace]

Okay. Dad used to do this. All right. Is everything I just said where we truly are, though?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Did I say I did say I liked it? Did I say I approved of it? Did I say I wanted it? Did I say I prayed for it? I wished for it, in fact? No, but is it where we are?

[Todd Erzin]

It is.

[Steve Dace]

It is. So therefore, the dumbest thing the President could do is say, listen, I'm well aware of the fact people can't afford gas. I feel the clock ticking. Iran's just like, all right, cool. You know, we'll just wait it out, find some more nine year old brides and breed with them and, you know, in the name of Allah. And he'll be back, you know, better, Bigger and better than ever. This is why I was against this, because I know we don't have the resolve to do what this takes. Not that the Iranian regime does not deserve what it takes. That's not why I was against it, because I knew we didn't have the resolve. I knew we didn't. I knew their resolve would be long, would be tougher than ours. Because they're mania. Because they are the maniacs we think they are. They are. And we were never going to be willing to go in there and completely eviscerate them for fear that we had no idea what came next. Well, here. That's where we are. Well, now we have to fix it now. And so we're in this. We're in this Mexican standoff. We're in this. You know, the whole thing with the, you know, hardest part of playing chicken is knowing to blink that you quote all the time. That's where we're at now, right? The Iranian regime won't go away. We need some kind of deal that we can go back and sell to our people that made this all worth it. Not to mention our own, the Arab. Our Arab allies, who do want the Iranian regime to go away. We need to be able to sell this to them, too. And the Israelis, who, the minute we leave, will probably try to make the Iranian regime go away, if we're being honest, okay? And so here's where we are. Everybody's just kind of sitting with a spider man gif, just kind of pointing at each other. That's what's been going on for three weeks while you and I pay astronomical ginormous gas prices and more for everything. Else that gas transports. But at this point, we're pot committed now. So the dumbest thing is to show you've got a weak hand. That's the dumbest thing he could do. So the President was right. That's exactly what he should say.

[Todd Erzin]

Thank you for that bad medicine, Bon Jovi.

[Steve Dace]

You're very welcome. Am I John or am I Richie? Which one?

[Todd Erzin]

Whoever you want to be.

[Steve Dace]

Richie Samburo or Jon Bon Jovi. I've rocked them all. Yeah. Did you like that?

[Todd Erzin]

I did.

[Steve Dace]

More in a moment. The steve day show. Well, you all know I love my miracle made sheets crafted with NASA inspired silver infused fabric that helps regulate your body temperature all night long. Whether you're a cold or hot sleeper, it doesn't matter. These sheets will keep you in that comfort zone all night long. And that NASA inspires inspired silver infused technology. Well, it also is quite an antibacterial substance as well. It'll get rid of about 99.7% of the bacteria on your sheet. So they are cleaner and fresher longer while also being very comfy as well. I get to travel all over the country these days, even every now and then sleep in really nice hotels that other people pay for. I put these sheets up against any. I mean they're phenomenal. That's why I've gone back and bought more. They're the only brand of sheets that have been on our bed since they came on board with us about three years ago. I think they're absolutely fantastic. So you can upgrade your sleep today. All right. And you're going to save over 40% off when you use my promo code dace, you'll get another 20 off as well. All right, so 40 off just going just for going to try miracle.com days and then you'll get an extra 20 off plus a free three piece tile set. When you use my promo code days they make an amazing gift. They've got a 30 day money back guarantee. But you won't be using that because you're going to love them. Right. Try miracle.com days. Use the code days at checkout. Try miracle.com dace code dace@ checkout. Good to see our good friend Bob Vander Plaats from the family leader brother. How are you?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

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[Steve Dace]

They straight up are terrific sheets and

[Bob Vander Plaats]

we have a guest room that it'll be good. So thank you for introducing me to that.

[Steve Dace]

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[Bob Vander Plaats]

i will.

[Steve Dace]

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[Bob Vander Plaats]

Slash days.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah, use the code Dace. The. With the slash that we can check out. All right, so rededicate 250 yesterday on the, on the Mall in Washington. A lot of people that you and I both know were there and, and had a, and speaking there about America's 250th birthday and the need for another great awakening, the need for revival. That event in and of itself, your thoughts on it?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Well, I got to tell you, I, I don't know what my thoughts were going to be going into it. I knew they were going to do it us. That's a good thing. But once it happened and I tuned into some of the speeches, the prayer by speaker of the House Mike Johnson was probably an eight, nine minute prayer. I didn't time it, but it was a long prayer. But I thought what an excellent way to rededicate this country back to God. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete HAGSA, Vice President J.D. vance, President Trump. They had him reading the scripture again that he read for America reads the Bible. But Steve, I don't think it should be underestimated of saying there's one God. We are not it. We are one nation under that God. And to go back to our history and to rededicate this country to God. We pray for a revival individually and collectively. I don't think we should underestimate what happened here save a national mall.

[Steve Dace]

I totally agree. And, and here's the thing. You can. There is some, there are, there's language that can be used where at times this kind of stuff has made me uncomfortable. Are we operatives for a political party or are we trying to do something really prophetic? Okay, and in, in Speaker Mike Johnson's case, as a general rule, you don't typically give eight minute prayers because it's performative. That's just not typically how the human condition operates. Okay.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

All right. So I thought the phrase used by the Vice president of the divinity of Jesus Christ, I thought that was one of the, that was the key phrase I thought in his entire talk because you know, that's a. Who's God is Jesus God? Is it the triune God? Who's this God that we get our rights from? Okay, so the clarity there. Rubio essentially took my book, boy, did he do well. And did a three minute video of that could have just literally been, you know, the adult live action version of why Independence Day that comes out a week from today. Why Independence Day? The story that it tells the 3,000 year old story that is our 250th birthday. That was fantastic. So there were, there were a lot of things there that I think were intentionally wanting to spark revival and awakening and not just go team and vote Republican this fall kind of thing.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

And that's what I thought was excellent because we talk all the time the family leader, we want to inspire the church to impact elections, influence policy, ignite partnership. What you saw yesterday wasn't an attempt to replace the church. It was an attempt to basically ignite the church, fan the flame of all these local churches and all these local communities, you know, that be praying for revival in this country. That we would be about a heart of the gospel I thought was really clear. They're there unashamedly about Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. This is what this country is founded on and cast that vision with it. And to see leaders who we say are ministers of God, like Mike Johnson, like Marco Rubio, like J.D. vance, like Pete Hagseph, like Jack Graham, like Abigail Robertson, so many of them. And even though the messages weren't orchestrated, it sure seemed like they had some divine orchestration to them. And so when I watched that, we had our team kind of watch different portions of it today during the team meeting, I'd say praise God that we have leadership today who understands we still all will bend the knee one day.

[Steve Dace]

So let's contrast that with a couple different things. Let's contrast it with what? First and foremost, what are opponents on the other side, would they offer?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Well, the opponents, you're seeing what they're offering. And again, and I don't want. But Satan's goal here isn't new. That's why we call this spiritual warfare. Satan's goal is to shut up the truth of God's word. I mean even Satan believes that there's God, but he wants to shut up the truth of God's word. And so what you started seeing right away, and you saw it on CNN's website, a lot of other people tweeting about social media about it, is this whole ide idea of separation of church and state. And how dare you proclaim that we are one nation under one God and Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of all. And there's no doubt the separation of church and state is very real. It's just very misapplied today, right?

[Steve Dace]

I mean the original western understanding of that even idea because all of human history, the idea of separation of church and state, regardless of your ideology, regardless of what your religion Was. Did not exist throughout all of human history. All of human history. I mean, going even back to the Old Testament, the gods of Canaan or the Lords of Canaan would refer to themselves as things like BAAL Peor, like I am the representative of the demon God BAAL in this region. So they were always. They've been a fused institution throughout history. The idea that they had separate spheres largely comes out of the Reformation. Okay? And that's. That is where. That's. That is where essentially the Western tradition of this understanding comes from. Or what to Jefferson defined to the. To the Dan Barry Baptist who were complaining that the Congregational Church in Connecticut run. Ran the show and left them out that there's a thin wall, there's an implied thin wall of the separation of church and state. But it was to protect the church from the state, not the state from the church. What these guys want is essentially the. The state to replace the church. That's what they mean.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

And the state to control the church. You believe what we want you to believe. You teach what we want you to teach. And you're right, Steve. It was never about the church's influence into the state government or into the government. It was to keep the government from control of the church. And basically, in as simplistic terms as you can put it, it's a way of God saying, listen, I don't share my throne. It's a little bit of the Mars Hill speech. If you go to the Book of Acts, you know, I don't share my throne. I am God, you are not. And this institution is still mine. So the church should still have influence. And that's why I thought the rededication and that God's name was high and lifted up above each and every other name yesterday, I thought that is what was so good about it.

[Steve Dace]

All right, so essentially what the left is offering is godlessness. That's essentially what we're describing.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Shut up. God's word. Everybody lives for them own selves, you know, the spirit of humanity.

[Steve Dace]

So you and I. So you and I both agree that from what we saw, there really was, as best as we can, an earnest attempt for the most part, in that rededicate 250 yesterday to try and urge and pray and beg for revival, for great awakening. What the left offers is godlessness. Okay? At the same time, though, we have this albatross hanging over our people, our civilization right now. And if you look at some of the most. Well, the sternest punishment that God gave his people in the Old Testament was when they violated what Moses told them to never do in his farewell address. Never go down into the valley and offer here as we go into Canaan. All right. Where the two main gods were Molech and. And baal. Never offer your children. Don't ever do this.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Amen.

[Steve Dace]

Okay. Never offer your children to, To Molech. And they do. And that's where the book of Jeremiah begins. That's, that's why Nebuchadnezzar. He's essentially. There's a giant buckle on, on, on the heavenly father's belt and the name on it is Nebuchadnezzar. He's going to take his belt off. He's a spank his people. Jeremiah starts chapter one saying they went down. We went down into the valley of Topith, which is a Hebrew word that means hell. We went down in the valley of Topeth and threw our babies into the. Into the fire for Molech. All right? And that was essentially the final, if not ultimate idolatry that God would not forgive. Right. But we have this albatross hanging over our people right now at the same time in a similar vein where every mailbox in America right now can be an altar to Molech. Every single mailbox. And so while it's a great thing that we have fewer Planned Parenthoods than we've ever had since, since the early days of national legalization of abortion, we can't totally claim the credit of overturning Roe v. Wade for this because it's a. It's also really. It's a lot less expensive just to just to mail stuff to people than it is to have a bunch of brick and mortar institutions. Right. They can get protested and prayed against and everything else. You don't want that spectacle either. Right. Particularly with Republicans in charge because they're not going to prosecute your protesters and your prayers the way the Democrats will for you. So how do you avoid all this? You just go peer to peer marketing and just turn every mailbox into an abortion mill. And so we have that kind of hanging over us right now, regardless if

[Bob Vander Plaats]

you're a pro life state or not.

[Steve Dace]

Right. Every single mailbox in the country, no matter how stringent your. I think it's Iowa and Florida right now, I think have the most stringent abortion laws in the country. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Because the post office is a federal office and can just supersede all that and just put that right in the mailbox that any supervision or physician supervision whatsoever. So here we are. How do we. So we all understand what they're offering over there is godlessness. What we're trying to figure out over here is how do we get to revival? Can we get to revival as long as this thing is hanging over us, do you think?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Well, let me give a couple of responses to that. First of all, what happened yesterday that was to ignite revival, because revival begins in the house of the Lord. And it really begins with Steve, with Bob, with Todd, with Aaron. Draw a circle around yourself and say, this is where revival begins. And so it begins with us, okay? And seriously, that was a whole ignite that. Okay? And we knew that those who opposed that were going to yell and scream, separation of church and state. Shut up. God's word, all of that. Go back to the scripture. Go to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus is famously quoted as saying, upon this rock, I'll build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. That's where they're doing child sacrifice. He was definitely against it. So what we've often asked is how in the world can God grant a spiritual revival that we individually and collectively pray for? And which was really called on yesterday in the rededicate service while we still kill the children. And I think it was more than just ironic that the Sunday May 17th is the rededicate America. And right before May 17th, a couple days before SCOTUS says, Listen, we're going to continue to allow mifepristone to cross all the state borders. We're going to put a halt on that. We're going to remand it back to the. To the Louisiana district so that they can figure it out. But in the meantime, you get to keep killing the babies by this drug. And you had two justices in the dissenting opinion, which was published, Scalia and Alito, basically saying there is never a reason, there's never a right to create or to conduct a criminal act. And that's what you're doing, a criminal act. You're killing a baby. So to me, that is the juxtaposition that we're in today is that we want revival, but we still want it to be all about us.

[Steve Dace]

So you have audience with all the pro life leadership that won't talk to me anymore. Okay. Can I offer them a suggestion through you?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

I'd love to.

[Steve Dace]

And if you like it, by all means, take all the credit for it, because then they might actually do it. Okay.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

You know me well.

[Steve Dace]

All right. If you don't like it. This was ever had, except for the hundreds of thousands of people listening to it right now they need to go after this on the grounds that you guys told us in Dobbs we can make our own abortion laws, that there isn't a federal abortion law. Roe v. Wade is not the law. It should not be any kind of impediment to us doing any abortion restrictions we want to do. Okay, this, this drug is violating our sovereignty as a state. Without question, it is undermining your own Dobbs ruling. You are now saying, except for when they do okay, that this, the federal government cannot impose on your abortion restrictions except when they do okay, so you need to clarify this. What this, this needs to be clarified. All right, do it. Do they have a right when it's. We make it very clear in our state, this, these are the laws we have by the duly elected legislature of this state, signed into law by the duly elected governor. All right, can an agency of the federal government come in here and when you've already told us we could do this, when you already, you already ruled in our favor already, so can an agency of the federal government come in here not just against us, but against your own interpretation of what our sovereignty is as a state to begin with and completely overrule and undermine that? And I think that is the argument that needs to be made.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

You're right, it is. The argument needs to be made. I think in Louis, Louisiana, they're trying to make that argument of saying, listen, we're trying to uphold the Comstock act, which is an 1873 Act.

[Steve Dace]

See, I would, I would. You cannot, I would put them against their own Dobbs. This was your decision by this court. All these same justices just a few years ago told us we had the power and authority to do this. This now undermines your. Will you enforce your own ruling? That's what I.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

So they counter themselves. So the question becomes, and I really believe it's the biggest question, when they make a ruling like this or a decision like this, why would you do it? This makes no sense on any level. This makes no sense.

[Steve Dace]

If we have a bunch of states try to say that we, we're not going to let this into our state, they're going to just turn around and say, well, you can't overcome with the, the post office and the federal government over overrides. So we need to clarify, do we have the authority to restrict abortions in our state or do we not?

[Bob Vander Plaats]

And I think it also gives credence, though, to a federal ban as well, a federal minimum as well. And so I think this has become a big issue. But to me, if you want revival in this country, you can't go on killing the killing of children. And that's what we're doing. Roe v. Wade gets overturned. Abortions are up because of this violating state lines.

[Steve Dace]

Thank you, sir. Good to see you.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Good to see you.

[Todd Erzin]

All right.

[Steve Dace]

All right, we have next hour. Please tell me you have some good questions this week. We got some good ones?

[Todd Erzin]

I think so, yeah. Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Are they inspiring at all or. They're going to require a lot more dad answers like I just gave in the opening show?

[Todd Erzin]

Some of both.

[Steve Dace]

Okay.

I think we might have one of the least favorite questions that Todd has ever selected.

Really?

One of my least favorite.

Oh, one of your least favorite. Is it going to be one of my least favorites?

I think there's the possibility, yes.

Because, well, now I'm very intrigued. I mean, I need, you know, me. Snotty questions go first.

[Todd Erzin]

This didn't seem like out of the range of the normal no bula base that we get.

[Steve Dace]

Okay, so we will do your. It'll be your turn to ask me anything. Coming up in the next hour, I'll get through as many of those questions as I possibly can. And then what remains. We will tackle the rest of those in the overtime for BlazeTV subscribers. How many did you give to Aaron? How many?

[Todd Erzin]

How many questions? About a dozen.

[Steve Dace]

There's about a dozen baker's dozen, so we'll probably get through about half. That's typically how it works. Usually.

[Todd Erzin]

You know, it seems like lately you've been sprinting ahead a little bit. I mean, we get close to 10 lately.

[Steve Dace]

Okay, all right.

[Todd Erzin]

I think that maybe you've become more dismissive of a lot of them, too. You just won't even go there.

[Steve Dace]

You're like, no, that's true, too.

[Todd Erzin]

This is beneath me.

[Steve Dace]

And that's. There's a lot of truth to that as well. Back with hour two here in a moment. Stay tuned. All right, back with hour two, live and on demand on Blaze TV, radio and podcast alongside Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre. I'm Steve Dase and you can let us know what you think about what we think via the stevedace.com inbox by emailing the show. Steve dace.com that's D E A C E like us on Facebook. Me, we and Gab. Follow me at Steve Day show on X Instagram and Tick Tock. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel at Day show on YouTube. Pardon me. Little frog in the throat. There we go.

[Todd Erzin]

There you go.

[Steve Dace]

If you like the podcast version. You can also subscribe to that or if you're on Apple itunes, hit follow. That way you'll know for sure that you're never going to miss an episode. And then finally, make sure to leave us a five star review. Tens of thousands of you have. Thank you for each and every one of those.

[Todd Erzin]

You okay there buddy?

[Steve Dace]

A little frog in the throat there. Sorry about that. We are brought to you by our friends over at Tacovas. They craft quality western boots for everyone from generational ranchers and lifelong cowboys to first time boot buyers. Every one of to Cova's boots, handcrafted with over 200 meticulous steps for broken in comfort right out of the box. Whether it's a long day or a big night, To Covis are built to last and impressed. There's no compromise between quality and style. I wear my To Covas a lot this time of year, getting all that yard work done, especially when you're mowing and stuff with all the rain and stuff we've had with all the mud and everything else. So right now, get 10 off at to covis.com Steve when you sign up for emails and texts, that's 10 off at to Covas. T E C O V A S T E C o v a s.com Steve to covas.com Steve to Covis. Point your toes west and get 10% off at tokova's.com Steve well, we are counting down the days. One week until from tomorrow is the release of my latest and 14th book. It is the conclusion of the trilogy that we have done on America's Christian heritage. We've done why Thanksgiving? We've done why Easter? And now it's time for why Independence Day?

Every Fourth of July, we light up the sky. We wave our flags, we celebrate. But if your kids asked you why, could you tell them the real story? It's a story that starts 3,000 years before 1776. A story most people have never heard told this way. A miracle in the desert. A miracle on Christmas night. Commandments carved in stone. A constitution written on paper. What's the connection? This 4th of July, give your family the story they've never been told. The one that explains everything.

That's right. America's 250th birthday is a story 3,000 years in the making. And you and your children are going to learn together why America is great. Because God is good. You can pre order your copy [e-mail] Help us to get the word out. You guys are the marketing budget for this and all the books that we do, we rely almost exclusively on you guys and your your support of our efforts. So thank you. We had a very successful opening week of pre sale launch. The book comes out a week from tomorrow [e-mail] for pre orders today. Why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. And part of that countdown is we have been going through Todd's top 10 moments leading up to the Declaration of independence. The top 10 moments leading to independence and liberty. So Todd, what's next?

[Todd Erzin]

Well, it is particularly providential that I'm going to read what I'm going to read here after listening to Bob talk about how concerned he is that we want revival but without giving up any of our comfort. Well, here we go. After the Sons of Liberty were formed in 1765, they were back on the scene in December 1773 for their most famous act, the Boston tea party. About 60 colonists dressed up as Indians, boarded British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor to make the point that taxation without representation and the East India Company's monopoly on trade was not a tolerable status quo. These days the men play fantasy football and video games while the moms for liberty do hand to hand combat with the tyrannical school boards. But back in the day, the men actually showed up and did something refreshing. Isn't does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men, said Sam Adams. The Tea Party was viewed as an act of treason by the British government and the Intolerable Acts were enacted in reaction to close Boston harbor until the tea was paid for, followed by further quartering of British troops among the colonists at their expense. With self government increasingly on the ropes, the first Continental Congress was called to Philadelphia in the fall of 1774 to include each of the 13 colonies except Georgia. What happened in Boston was not staying in Boston. Ben Franklin said it best. We will either hang together or we will hang separately. In the past, Steve has told you about American revolutionary pastors known as the Black Road Regiment who proudly fought for the cause of liberty. An early precursor of such a man gave the invocation for the first Continental Congress with these words, O Lord, our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King of kings and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne. Behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires and governments. Look down in mercy, we beseech Thee on these our American States who have fled to thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on thee. To thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause. To thee do they now look up for that countenance and support which thou alone canst give. Take them therefore, heavenly Father, under thy nurturing care. Give them wisdom in council and valor in the field. They defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries. Imagine being led by such men. Instead we get John Theude not passing the SAVE act, but 15 months after the Boston Tea Party. We got Patrick Henry imploring, is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery forbidden? Almighty God, I know not what course others may take. But as for me, give me liberty or give me death. War was almost here, so I know

[Steve Dace]

last hour I had to do part of the dad thing of telling you how things really are, not how you prefer them to be. Right. But another part of the dad thing is that just because this is the way things are doesn't mean they always have to stay like this.

[Todd Erzin]

Amen.

[Steve Dace]

Okay? And we can't. It's just. It just never works. You can't have any form of a sustainable movement on just the absolutely most in tuned and committed because eventually that will have a very short shelf life that will fizzle out or those folks will die out and nothing comes of it. There's always been normies. There's always been normies. So the rationale for the American Revolution was not no taxation without representation. In fact, if you look at the. The 18 grievances, I think is the number against King George III in the Declaration of Independence. That's really only mentioned once. The one that's mentioned more than any other, by the way. Abuse of the judicial system. I think it's mentioned three times. Times. But even back then you had normies. And to get the normies, you need kind of a populist message. No taxation without representation was that message. That was the message that got the folks that weren't hanging out at the pub with the Sons, Sons of Liberty hashing things out, you know, that. That weren't reading dispatches from the White Horse Inn. The average person who was just a tanner, just a farmer, just a merchant making a living as a colonist, didn't like paying the taxes. But what are we going to do, right? You know, like go to war or something, right? This is nothing new. This is absolutely nothing new. Now what is new is there's never been more of an incentive to be a complacent normie for a man than there is right now. There has never been more incentivization structures in place to feed your son of Adam instincts, to just be passive when the world goes to hell, literal hell. There's never been a higher volume of those distractions and complacencies and incentivizations than there are currently. But there's always been those distractions, complacencies and incentivizations. They've always been there from our first father, who just stood there while Eve was tempted. This is ingrained in us. This is why we need dads. Do you want to ingrain it? Even, Even the righteous leadership that Todd just articulated needed a populist message to reach the normies. And no taxation without representation was that message. So the more things change, the more they stay the same. We're coming to the end of the Trump era. It will be over sooner than you realize it. There's going to be a moment if we're still fortunate enough to be here four or five years from now, and if it's not, if we're not, it'll be other people that will be like, remember when, like Donald Trump was like the. Every. The show we did every day, right? Like, we can look back on the, the Obama era now. Like, remember when Obama was like everything we ever talked about? Now you just don't even think about him on most days. Father Time is undefeated. What will sustain what gets you the normie voters is you do need that broad appealed populist message that turns multitudes into disciples, that turns normies into patriots. That's what's missing today. But the good news is it's been found in every other previous era. And so just as this device right here in my hand can do more to incentivize complacencies and compromises than any device previously created by us as a species. You know, would it also be used to. To create the opposite? The opposite. That very, that very message that turns multitudes into disciples and normies into patriots. So thank you, Todd.

[Todd Erzin]

Thank you.

[Steve Dace]

All right, don't forget, get your copy today, pre order it releases one week from tomorrow, May 26th. Why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. And if you guys would please, if you're on our socials and you see the video, if you could share the video, if you could share the link on Amazon, would really appreciate it. We were one of the top 20 best selling new releases in all kids books of Last week. So let's. That's incredible. I mean you guys are literally our marketing budget. So thank you guys very much. Releases one week from tomorrow. It's the end of the trilogy of the children's books on America's Christian heritage. Why Independence Day? America is great. Because God is good. You can pre order today at Amazon. All right, are we ready for some more? Why some ask me anything.

[Todd Erzin]

I'm ready. I did my part. Now it's up to you.

[Steve Dace]

All right, we went to our Facebook followers for the questions this week. Todd has selected the questions, Aaron has the ones he selected. Let's get it rolling.

Ziggy Maggot is up first. Who asks who would play Steve Dase in a made for TV movie?

I have no idea. First of all, do they even do made for TV movies anymore?

Oh yeah.

Isn't this all streaming now?

That's a good point.

I mean, do networks do television movies anymore? I honestly do not know.

[Todd Erzin]

Do they?

[Steve Dace]

I mean, I think they like Hallmark. That's true, yes.

Oh, wow. So if we're talking about that, if that's all who does made for TV movies anymore, then I hope a really good looking soap opera star. Because that's who typically stars in that, right? The prettiest guys on earth. That's who's typically in those. Right? I think our wives never want to watch some guy with a, you know, a dad bod and a fold over over his belt line. Well, he's never romancing the chick at Christmas time. No.

[Todd Erzin]

There's a guy been on the weight loss journey of his own. I mean, I think it would work out. Kevin, he played King of Queens. What's his name?

[Steve Dace]

Kevin James.

[Todd Erzin]

Kevin James.

[Steve Dace]

But he's like a movie star. This would be like a way step down for him. Not just playing me in general, doing so on a television network.

[Todd Erzin]

I think Kevin James, I think he perfect.

[Steve Dace]

You think Kevin James would work? Yeah, I'd be totally fine with Kevin James.

Sorry, I'm doing an AI analysis real quick.

[Todd Erzin]

He's also had a religious revival in his.

[Steve Dace]

Kevin Spacey or William Shatner?

No, no, no, they're both way too old.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, Kevin James. Put some glasses on there. He can go loud and boisterous. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of.

[Steve Dace]

I personally like Kevin James a lot, so I'd be totally fine with that.

Kevin Spacey or Bruce Willis?

[Todd Erzin]

No, what are we doing?

[Steve Dace]

What are we doing with Kevin Spacey here? What is this? What is this?

Claude is insistent. You look like Kevin Spacey.

Claude is Gay. And so is Kevin Spacey.

So, yeah, David Oatney has this question.

Okay. Yeah.

Wall of text.

Okay. Yeah.

As you know, in the last couple of weeks, we have seen Trump go undefeated in primaries and primary endorsements. The one primary that he might, and I stress at this point, might lose is the primary involving Congressman Tom Massie of Kentucky in his race against Ed Galrain. Is that how you say his last name? Galrain? I've not heard that name before prior to this race, I should say. In the recent past, you've said that you love Congressman Massie and he has an excellent voting record, which is true. So the question is this. If the President persists in campaigning not only against Rhinos, but against anyone he perceives as not completely loyal to him, despite an outstanding voting record such as Congressman Massie has, does he risk alienating his base even if he wins these primaries?

No.

We're in year 10, aren't we?

No. No, he doesn't. No. The base is Trump, and Trump is the base. You're under operating under the assumption this is ideologically driven. And I had to come to the conclusion that it is not. And then I had to decide how I was going to behave in light of that. Right. So I looked around and I'm like, the good thing is there's, like, five other options of people who are leading principled movements to take on the spirit of the age, and I just chose one of those. And there's not five other options that there's not. Is there even one other option? Is there, like, even one other option?

[Todd Erzin]

Not most days, no.

[Steve Dace]

No. This was, like, the only option.

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Dace]

So then I had. Then it took me a while to then accept the fact that it was the only option and then decide what I was going to do. I think I just had this conversation last hour, right? It was, I got to shake my fist at this, or was I going to try to do as much good as I could possibly do? And so some of my friends have chosen to shake their fist at it. God bless them. I made the decision. I just can't be. I can't be motivated by a negative. Listen, I'm the guy that wrote the book of the Demonic Takeover America. And it took me longer to write the conclusion than the entire book because I didn't want to have a nihilistic ending, you know? So I am not wired to just, you know, black pill to that extent. That's why we kind of mocked the whole Vantablack thing while trying it. I am wired to, like, I Need to believe. Just the way I'm wired. I need to believe I'm a part of something that matters. Doesn't mean I'll lie to myself about that. But that's why I look for some other options. Well, is there. Is there another option where it might be less personality driven and less capricious based on this person's mercurial personality, where I could be involved for a while? There was one that was the, the anti Covid movement. Right. That eventually became Maha, but they're now part of what,

[Todd Erzin]

Trump.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. So again, so is there any. Is there any place to go here that. That isn't led by Trump? That is having an affirmative. I mean, look at the churches that are more prominent. They're a church that. Which church is more likely to do something about Drag Queen storytime hour at the library down the street? The church that is still doing Tim Keller Bible studies or the church that is hosting MAGA rallies? Which one do you think it is, Aaron? Which one?

The. Probably the latter.

Yeah. What do you think? Which one do you think it is?

[Todd Erzin]

Probably what Aaron said.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. So again, I thought, okay, well, you know, we've got the church, right? We just rely on the church. Can we rely on the church Normally?

[Todd Erzin]

Quite often not.

[Steve Dace]

Then it dawned on me, and this is. See, now, now you're learning because I think I've told this story before, but I'll keep telling it. Now you're learning why Trump's near assassination attempt was so such a mover to me. Because that eliminated any doubt in my mind that for whatever reason, and I don't exactly know why, and I don't understand why. And by the way, I am sure there are parts of me and my personality and the way I do things that have a lot of seasoned saints that are like, I have no idea why there seems to be a calling on Steve Dase's life. I'm so much more pious, I'm so much holier, I'm so much calmer. I'm so much more mature. That's. And they. That's probably. There's probably a lot of people that are a lot more. But those things better than me. Fair, sure, but. But there's clearly some level of calling on my life. Nevertheless, that's how I went from a mailroom clerk to where I'm at today, because it wasn't something I could have possibly planned or concocted on my own. Fair.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

Likewise, I had to accept that it's not necessarily what I think Trump is, but what our enemies think that he is. And they tried to bankrupt him, and they tried to put him in prison and then tried to kill him. So, again, it's. It's not the guy I would have picked if the Holy Spirit had come to me and said, hey, could let you pick the, you know, pick the quarterback on this team, not the guy I'd have picked. But it's pretty clear there's some anointing here. I don't even know how you could possibly deny it at this point. Now, David had an anointing of anointings, but there were moments he had to be confronted. There were moments that he was wrong.

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Dace]

There were moments where he had to be called out. And. And. And those moments when he fell would cause pain to lots of other people, including his own children at times, correct?

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Dace]

Now, as Trump also suffered because of his own mistakes at the exact same time. Yes. Right. How much humiliation has he suffered because of the relationship with Stormy Daniels, for example?

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

No one did that to him. Did that to himself. Right. Okay. So that's the thing with God, is he can both anoint and hold accountable at the exact same time. He's, like, really good at this, and we're really not. So how much have you guys seen me, either on this show or on social media, blast people for backing Thomas Massie in this primary?

[Todd Erzin]

None.

[Steve Dace]

Have you seen me blast anybody for not backing Thomas Massie in this primary?

[Todd Erzin]

Not that I'm aware of. None.

[Steve Dace]

You know why? Because I understand both sides. Now, I will say this, if you want my political analysis. I think Thomas Massie has made several mistakes. And you know why I haven't said anything? Because I do like him, I do respect him, and his wife died barely two years ago, but I think he's made several mistakes. They're cozying up to Rokahana. I. I mean, help me understand. The day before a Republican primary, you're gonna go do an interview on the Young Turks. That's what he's doing today. How many Republican primary voters in rural Kentucky do you think you're reaching on the Young Turks?

[Todd Erzin]

I can't even.

[Steve Dace]

Small number, maybe.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

And so Massie took the bait. The reason why Trump's probably going to get him this time, and he didn't get him the last time, the last couple times. Because Massey didn't take. He wants an adult conversation. Right. He wants to put me in a corner. Right. He's trying to pin me down on this question.

[Todd Erzin]

Right. Fair.

[Steve Dace]

Let me return the favor. How about a pin you down answer? Would you like that back?

[Todd Erzin]

Sure, sure.

[Steve Dace]

Why not? Turnabout's fair play. I'll give you one of those. How you like them apples? So here we go. All right. He took the Trump bait. He made it personal. You're never going to beat Trump. Making it personal. Take it from a senior strategist on the Ted Cruz presidential campaign. You're never going to beat Trump. I mean, I've still got scars. You'll never get a beat Trump. When you let him, when you agree with him, it becomes personal about how ugly your wife is, about how small your hands are. Whether you lied or not. There's Trump's undefeated. You'll never beat him at that stuff. Massey took debate. That's why he's probably going to lose tomorrow. And it's further evidence that he took the bait that he's going to talk to the friggin Young Turks the day before his primary. He's going to talk to the Young Turks. So I was perfectly fine just letting this process play itself out because I really have no say in what's going to happen anyway, right? I've not commented on it. I've not said a word. Okay. But since Todd put the question in there, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. Trump set out here with a clenched fist. Thomas Massie said let me walk right, right, right into that face first a few times. Hey, Tom Massey's buddy Rokahana. How much should wrote Aaron, you've got. You're younger. Maybe our memories are failing. Can you point out all the clips in your montages over the last few years you played of Rokahana greatly concerned about the Epstein files before Trump got into office. Go ahead. Can you fire those up for me? I think you have them saved. Go ahead. I'll wait it.

It's been a minute.

Yeah. The whole thing's a scam. Okay. The whole thing's a co opted scam. All right. Did you hear about the 15 to $30,000 some Pakistani chic gave to Massey's campaign? He fell into the trap. He stopped making it about issues and let Trump make it personal. So that's probably why he's going to lose tomorrow. How's that? You wanted to corner me Answer or corner me Question. Thought you wanted. You thought you were going to pin me down. Be careful what you wish for. Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies. That what you're looking for There.

[Todd Erzin]

That's good. That's good.

[Steve Dace]

All right, let's keep it rolling. I'm feeling good. Now. I'm loosened up now. Okay, let's keep it rolling.

Circumcision. Marilyn Reed has this to say. You said nothing's off limits. Circumcision. Parents who are having boys now are thinking about this more and more. As Christians, my understanding of the scripture for believers is that it's not necessary. I've been wondering, because when I've spoken up against transgenderism, I've spoken about no good reason to cut off perfectly healthy body parts. Just curious what you think.

I honestly don't know. I've never. This is one I've never really thought of. I don't know. I am.

He's so red right now. Oh, my goodness.

I mean, I wasn't sure what to say next. I mean. I mean, I was.

[Todd Erzin]

Or was that like five minutes, five seconds ago?

[Steve Dace]

How do you like me now?

[Todd Erzin]

And I was like, I don't think I've ever.

[Steve Dace]

I don't think I've ever seen Steve go this red.

Well, I'm sitting there thinking, say it. Say it.

You can see the perspiration.

I mean, I don't know what to. I mean, I am circumcised, but I don't know if that's relevant to this. I don't know if I take an. If I take a position against my own. Against circumcision, am I. Am I against my own manhood? You know, I don't know the state of Todd's and errands, and I don't want to. Okay? I. I don't know. I have. What have you done? Maybe I'm not as smothered up as I thought, all right? I don't really have a position. You know what? Let me look this up. I am sure there is a reason why. Okay, let me look this up.

I thought it used to be some sort of medical claim about.

Sanitary. Sanitary, Sanitary. That's what I thought, too, okay?

But I'm not sure if that's been debunked or something like that.

To circumcise their sons.

All right?

I've not really even thought about it. I mean, we had our son circumcised. I mean, I don't know if it's just tradition. I don't. Have you thought about that? You have had no reason to. Okay? You have no sons. What about you, Aaron? You have one. I mean, have you guys thought about this at all?

Yeah.

And, yes, you did. Okay?

But it's not for such an uncomfortable conversation.

All right, so here we go. Okay.

So, Grox, I don't think it's necessary, though.

Grox says a lot of it is just the cultural and social norms. Okay. And then there are perceived medical benefits, lower risk, like penile cancer, which is rare anyway. And the American Academy of Pediatrics, who we don't always trust these days. Right. Because isn't that the group that's.

[Todd Erzin]

Yes, we do.

[Steve Dace]

That was big on training your kids.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

But so. But even they're still saying that the health risks outweigh or the health benefits still outweigh the health risks, even though a lot of the. The health risks at the time were more prevalent than they are today. Right. In. In general, sanitation concerns and other things that were prevalent for a lot of the dietary laws and stuff that you saw in Leviticus are things that are not nearly as prevalent as what we have today. Right. Like imagine if you're concerned, for example, about what pigs eat on a 21st century farm. Imagine what they ate on a farm 3,000 years ago. See what I'm trying to say? Okay, so are there uncircumcised males in heaven? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's nobody really. You know, I used to joke about who volunteered to the. Who volunteered to be the deacon of the Corinthian and Galatian and all these Greek churches go out there. Hey, I'm on circumcision duty. That might have been a vetting tool. Right. The guy who volunteers for that, it's probably the guy you got to know, has to be excommunicated. Fair. Okay. Are there circumcised men in hell?

[Todd Erzin]

Of course.

[Steve Dace]

Of course. Yeah. So. But I have. This is the. I almost said the longest. I just.

I wouldn't assign any sort of. This is the longest compulsory, one way

or another, which is why I have no position on it. This is the longest I've ever thought about this issue and this question ever.

I would say, as a general rule of thumb, though, if you don't have any consideration. So maybe you're not doing it for the perceived sanitation benefits, or maybe, you know, hey, why do I look different than dad? Something like that. Okay.

Or the other boys in gym class or after practice. Yes.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Okay.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

If you worked through that and you're like, you know what? I don't care, then I would say, no, don't go through with that. If those other two things are considerations, then I think it's permissible.

I think it's permissible. Sure. I think another consideration probably should be, I don't know, because I've never been a Western woman before. I have no idea what the expectations of Western women are and those kinds of things. And I, I don't know. I'm going to confess, I'm, I'm not really much of an expert on uncircumcised penises.

[Todd Erzin]

And if this don't really have, I

[Steve Dace]

don't have a strong grip on that one.

[Todd Erzin]

If this conversation is representative of the rest of the men out there, I think it's why nobody else isn't expert on this either and just lets it ride.

[Steve Dace]

I think I'd rather go back and talk more about the Kentucky primary that I haven't really wanted to talk about.

[Todd Erzin]

I'm quite certain about that. Who's our new friend? Who, who did I pick out again? Marilyn, wasn't it Marilyn, MD. Well, I didn't, I had no idea you're going to succeed on this level. Maryland.

[Steve Dace]

That was Maryland. You broke me. The break is here. I One of the rare times I feel like I'm saved by the commercial break, that rarely happens normally. I feel like it gets in my way. Right now I'm feeling like it, it's, it's, it's hitting me right at the right time. Perfect. More in a moment. The St. Steve Day show chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more. Botox Onobotulinum toxin a prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It Prevents on average 8 to 9 headache days a month versus 6 to 7 for placebo. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing 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 Lambert Eaton 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.

[Todd Erzin]

All right.

[Steve Dace]

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Matt Cooper is next. He wants to know how do you distinguish between idolatry towards something and a passionate interest? How do you distinguish between passionate interest and true idolatry?

Excellent question, excellent question. And I think it comes down to does it make you less Christlike and less interested in Christ? I mean, the way I'm wired, I can't do anything half assed. I mean, I think you guys would attest to that. I'm just, I can't. It's like impossible for me to even consider like mailing something in that I'm a part of. I just, I have to feel like I did the absolute best I could do otherwise. What was the point? Is that a fair assessment?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, I think for the most part, so.

[Steve Dace]

Oh, for the most part. Well, when have you seen me half ass something? Now I'm.

[Todd Erzin]

No, no, I just, I think it has to do with what it means to be wired. That's, that's what I yeah.

[Steve Dace]

So. And, you know, that's why at times I struggle with contentment, because I am wired that way, which is kind of the downside of it. But.

[Todd Erzin]

But we're wired by. I don't think it's an. We're wired by our experience and our past.

[Steve Dace]

Yes.

[Todd Erzin]

And I think sometimes people just think that's just how I am. And that's almost always.

[Steve Dace]

We're hardwired. The hard wiring we have is we're sinners. And then the past that we have before we come to Christ determines the way that that wiring is works its way out within each and every one of us. That's why some of you are not tempted by things at all that members of your own family are. And they have no idea why you're tempted by the things that you are. Okay. One of the subtle, smart things that the Bible does is when Paul says that he asked for God to take this thorn out of his flesh, but then doesn't tell us what the thorn is, because if we had really knew what it was, you'd be inclined to say, well, that's not my problem. So, I mean, maybe God can't help me, or I don't resonate with that. But. But it's. It. Not naming it is key because we all have a thorn in the flesh. A few. Just a matter of what those are and why they're there. That's kind of what you're alluding to, I think. Totally agree. So I'm not capable of just kind of casually doing stuff, whether it's a hobby, whether it's a marriage, whether it's parenting, whether it's literally anything. Okay. I'm not really capable of just being like, oh, well, this is just kind of nice, you know? So, you know, I. I mean, I'm. I'm pretty much there. I'm either full tilt or on the way there with pretty much everything I get involved in. And if I can't do that, then I kind of uninvolve myself. So I had to really come up with an answer to this because I could turn every. My passion for on every front, could be mistaken for an idol. Does it make you less Christlike and less interested in Christ? Now, the classic definition of an idol is that which you conform to other than Christ. That's the classic definition. You allow it to shape, you, mold you determine what you think is right or wrong. But you asked me a very specific question, right? How do I know if I'm just passionate about a hobby or an interest or. It's idolatrous if it's. If it makes you less Christlike or less interested in Christ. So, like, you guys are very passionate about youth sports, right? Your whole family.

[Bob Vander Plaats]

Yeah.

[Todd Erzin]

Well, yeah.

[Steve Dace]

It's a way of life for you guys as a family. You guys have invested time, talent and treasure into this, the entire childhood of your children, right?

[Todd Erzin]

We have. But it also wasn't by, like, it wasn't destined to be that way.

[Steve Dace]

Okay. How many times did you allow your family to say on a regular basis, we'll miss Mass because we have a sporting event that.

[Todd Erzin]

That never happened. You. We did not miss.

[Steve Dace]

But yet the amount of the energy level that you guys put into this, the dedication level, the time amount from the outside would look like a very passionate interest in this topic at the same time. Right?

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

But you did not let it get in. You did not let it conform. Your religiosity.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

Your worship. It didn't get in the way of that. Right? That's exactly what I'm talking about.

[Todd Erzin]

But we. And another part, it doesn't. It. Even if it's not that it's setting, let's say it doesn't get in a way, in a overt sense, like you said, that's a. And it's a perfect example. But then does it compete? Does it. Does what you give to it?

[Steve Dace]

Which is why I also said rise

[Todd Erzin]

to a level of religiosity that diminishes the actual religion.

[Steve Dace]

That. That's. That's why I added the other caveat. Does it make you less interested in Christ because you could maintain your equilibrium. You could be into your real sports team, but you're not a yeller, screamer by nature. So from the outside, someone may look at it and think, well, you completely have your calm. You're good. Okay. But are you missing church because of. On a regular basis? Because of blank. You see? So that. So it's not just more Christ, like. Right. But does it make you less interested in Christ at the same time? That's how I would answer it. Great question, though.

Next. This is the one that I previewed or teased at the end of last hour that made me upset. Maybe it was an overreaction. We'll see what you think. Todd. To Lose says, if we lose the Iowa Governor's race to rob sand and that precipitates into Iowa becoming a blue state like Minnesota or Illinois, what is the line that is crossed that would cause you to relocate to a red state? And which states would you consider?

I don't have a problem with this question at all. Not at all.

We haven't even had the primary and we're already asking what the eventuality of this thing going super blue. Come on.

I think it kind of speaks to state of the primary. But yes, you're right. I have refused to force myself to answer this yet because I. Because just kind of what you're saying, Aaron, I kind of feel like contemplating this becomes a self defeating prophecy. Right. But Rob Sands gonna have to do a lot. All the stuff we've done in Iowa has not been by executive order or some agency fiat. It's statute, it's law. So he would have to do quite a bit. I would. I am not your average person. I have a lot in, in this fight. I have a lot of contacts, I have a lot of relationships, I have a very high name id. And the next time we have a governor's race, I won't have to worry about the Trump endorsement being the end all, be all that determines everything and what your personal standing is with Trump. All right. At the time that I was thinking of running last year, it was interesting we were discussing this at a suburban D.C. restaurant because we had just been invited to the Trump White House to do our show from there, you know. Yeah, but, but I also thought it would be really uncouth to walk in there after getting this invite and say, hey guys, while I'm here. And you guys kind of both agree that's, you know.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Be a little more self aware, you know what I'm saying? So. Yeah, but I, I would probably take the tax before I let Rob sand drive me from his state. I'd probably try to drive him from the governor's mansion now. But I do know there aren't a lot of other people that have the contacts I have, the access to resources. I do. And the name id I do. So, yeah, I certainly would not rule out the possibility that he could do this to our state if he was given a couple terms in particular. Yeah, but, but where we would go, that I'd have to answer at the moment because the answer I would give now may not be the same answer that I have later on. Right. You know, like I would have never said Florida five years from now. Five years ago. I'd say it now. Are we sure we're going to say Florida five years from now? I hope so. But there's no guarantee. Right. You know, so he would have to do a lot, and I think he will try, which is one of the reasons why I've spent so much time and energy on this incredibly frustrating primary cycle, because I'm certain he will try. How successful he will be remains to be seen.

All right, next we go to Matthew Bartlett, who says, what is your biggest regret to date? How do you deal with it when it enters your mind?

I try to avoid regret as much as possible, and here's why. What's the. What's the Bible verse I end every show with nowadays? And over the years, it's changed, but for about the last, what, six, seven, eight years, we've ended it with Romans 8:28. Right? You guys remember what Romans 8:28 is? For all things work together for the glory of God and for those who are called according to his purposes. In other words, a sovereign God gets to take our regrets and our mistakes and he gets to retcon them. He gets to redeem them. He gets to. He gets to make the most outstanding prostitute at the brothel one of only, you know, two women mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. He gets to. He gets. He gets, you know, Joseph to look at the brothers who sold him out and to say, hey, what you guys meant for evil, God used for good. He gets to say to Paul after he asks him, why are you persecuting me? And then gets to make him the. The apostle to the Gentiles. And the amount of mistakes I have made, am making, and will make is incalculable. But regret means I wish I could go back and do it over again. And I think a lot of those things in my past are what God used to mold me into the man I am now that he's still molding and to give me the. The life that I have today. And I don't want to get in the way of his process. Does that make sense, what I'm trying to say? So I think, as a general rule, I'll answer it this way. It's. It's the stuff I do now, when I blow it now, it bothers me now because I have the Holy Spirit at work in my life, and I'm way more aware of what's good, true, and beautiful than ever before. But I'm not going to pick something from 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago, because I think that, you know, even. Even you can make it. You can make a case. The greatest political, professional miscalculation I've ever made, and we've talked about this privately as a team, is I could have been on the ground floor of the entire Trump era. I was one of the first people he tried to woo, and I rebuffed him knowing what we know now, that seemed, that would looks like a, that was a, that was a poor decision. Right. But here's what we don't know. What we don't know is if I was really on the inside, would our, would our personalities be able to mesh at that intimate of a level? You see what I'm saying? I'm not one that gives like unilateral allegiance to human beings, like really easily. And that is something that Trump kind of wants from the people closest to him. I'm kind of a more of a distinction guy. Would that have worked long term? It might have worked. I, I don't, I don't know. I have no clue. I've never been on the inside of the inside of the inside of Trump's world. I'm, I'm only giving you a, you know, a point from what I've seen from the outside. But here's. Even though professionally you can make the case, that's the worst mistake I ever made. Here's what's happened since I did that, though. I've written four best selling books, including a number one bestseller. I got to produce my own movie. I have a great marriage overall. I have great kids overall. So I think it's pretty clear it's, it's limited the ceiling of my success level in this era. That's fair. But I also wouldn't say I'm unsuccessful though either, you know, so I'm just not big into a lot of regrets except for the stuff I do now that I know better that I shouldn't do.

[Todd Erzin]

Well, for what it's worth, any time you do have shown, particularly around 2 sign of trying to rethink that, you know how hard I push back against that. And if I'm the guy who's Mr. Coattails guy over here, like. Yeah, if your benefit would have been my benefit, absolutely not. Operating according to courage of conviction is such a rare thing in the, in these days. And Steve does it as much or more than anybody. So there's overthinking a political calculus when the moral calculus was always more important is the way to go. And in terms of the politics of the eight years, that's always where he goes all in. And that's good enough for me, man. Always.

[Steve Dace]

Amen.

Next we go to Tate. What do you think about all the international NFL games? Should the NFL expand its brand overseas?

I don't really understand it. I don't.

[Todd Erzin]

There's just too much money, Steve.

[Steve Dace]

I mean, they are, they, they can't spend the money they have in the NFL. So I don't. I don't really get it at all. I don't. You know, I guess, but I'm not necessarily.

[Todd Erzin]

It's two questions ago. It's three questions ago. That's what it is.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah.

[Todd Erzin]

It's idolatry.

[Steve Dace]

I don't. I just don't. You know, I don't think you have to. You're already the biggest entertainment brand in America. Who cares if you're the biggest entertainment brand in Germany or Mexico? And I. But I don't get it doesn't make much sense to me. I thought a better idea if. If you wanted to grow your game internationally, you want to make it more popular as a game. I thought a better idea was when they used to have kind of the spring tryout league. Remember that when we were growing up, that World League of American Football that Kurt Warner was originally in? Do you remember that?

[Todd Erzin]

No.

[Steve Dace]

They used to play those games in the spring and play those in some of these global areas. But I don't really get it at all. But I think the worldview of the commissioner and of the owners just tilts to globalism as a general rule. So it's kind of like part of their. That's their belief system. But it makes no sense to me.

Just a few more left. Tracy Cooper says there's some controversy around the worship music from Bethel Church, Elevation Church, and Hillsong Church, where whose pastors are considered unbiblical or heretical by several respected evangelical pastors and teachers. I recently heard one pastor ask on a podcast, if your pastor doesn't quote these pastors in his sermons or teachings, why would the worship team at your church sing their music? What are your thoughts on this?

That's an interesting point. I'm not opposed to it. We'll make this the last one. We'll get to the rest of the overtime. But I would also say many of the psalms are written by David, who was accomplished, a murderer and an adulterer. Right. You know, so is anybody standing up in church saying we shouldn't probably sing psalms, David wasn't perfect?

[Todd Erzin]

Well, I don't know. Is there?

[Steve Dace]

I don't know.

[Todd Erzin]

I don't know.

[Steve Dace]

I don't hear that one. But if I'm. I'm way more interested in why you make decisions than which decisions you make, you know, and so if you're making this decision on that basis, then I'm totally fine with it. Hey, if we wouldn't go to these sources for our homilies and our messages, why would you go to them for our worship? I don't have a problem with that. I also don't think, though, you should on the other, go to the other extreme of, well, you know, I know they're heretical, but they're great songs, so we're just going to sing them anyway because, you know, they're cool. I'm way more interested in why these things are done. I also don't know that every single worship person at Bethel and Hillsong didn't really love the Lord and were all fakes and frauds at the exact same time. You know what I mean? That's why I'm more interested in motivations as to why you do these kinds of things. I like that particular motivation. I want a congruency of the sources I go to for for the messages as we went to for worship. Okay, I think that's a good one. Are we going to finish these in the overtime for subscribers? For the rest of you, see you tomorrow. Until then, go hard. Romans 8:28.