Decision Day: Will Kirk Murder Truthers FINALLY Face Reality? | Guest: Josh Daws | 7/7/26

Summary

Steve Deace Show – Episode Summary

Decision Day: Will Kirk Murder Truthers FINALLY Face Reality? | Guest: Josh Daws | 7/7/26

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Episode Overview

On this episode, Steve Dace returns after a brief illness to lead a packed show featuring:

• Analysis and reaction to the preliminary hearing in the high-profile murder of Charlie Kirk
• Reflections on the America 250 celebration and the current state of the nation
• Commentary on the divisiveness sown by online "truthers" and grifters post-Kirk assassination
• A spirited discussion on faith-based filmmaking and Pop Culture Tuesday
• In-depth interview with Blaze Media's new VP of Technology, Josh Daws, on the promise and peril of AI
• A recurring round of “Fake News or Not” digs into elite collusion, media manipulation, and modern patriotism
• Debate over the enduring impact of the U.S.-hosted World Cup and America's global cultural appeal

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Charlie Kirk Assassination Preliminary Hearing

• [00:01–03:13] Steve opens by recapping the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, accused of killing Charlie Kirk at UVU.
  • Prosecutors presented compelling evidence, including multiple surveillance videos and eyewitness accounts.
  • Judge Tony Graf was visibly shaken by video evidence.
  • TPUSA employee provided close-range footage, has faced harassment from Candace Owens followers alleging a cover-up.
  • Steve links this event to past high-profile assassinations, framing it as the most significant since JFK, MLK, and RFK.

"This is the most high profile assassination since JFK, MLK—at least since... the late 60s."
— Steve Dace [19:54]

2. America's 250th Birthday and National Mood

• [03:13–04:03; 09:00–14:15] Recap of Trump’s patriotic July 4th remarks, contrasting the American system with communism, and reflecting on "pomp and circumstance" in D.C.'s celebrations.
• Steve gushes about the July 4th atmosphere ("America maxed"), including fireworks on the Potomac and spiritual revival events.

"It was America—America maxed over the weekend for sure, gentlemen. I'm feeling it."
— Steve Dace [14:13]

• The team shares personal tales: Steve’s travel chaos, flooded basements for Todd and Aaron, and feelings of unity and gratitude.

3. Cultural & Political Fractures

• [19:58–23:40] Steve boldly critiques those spreading conspiracy theories around the Kirk killing, blaming "gnostic retards" and social media grifters (e.g., Candace Owens, Sean Ryan), arguing these acts are spiritually detrimental “ops” meant to disrupt Christian unity.

"There's nothing the enemy fears more than a Christian church united on first principles... The closest I've ever seen to that was coming out of Charlie's funeral."
— Steve Dace [25:45]

• Argues that the campaign of division is not rooted in real policy disagreement but spiritual manipulation and opportunism.
• Explores the distinction between legitimate division (e.g., faith differences with Todd) and manufactured disunity.

4. Faith-Based Filmmaking & ‘Young Washington’

• [09:48–18:16] Steve praises the new Angel Studios film, "Young Washington," calling it "exceedingly well done" and predicts a possible Washington trilogy.
  • Commends the ability to produce a gritty, masculine, yet family-appropriate war drama—contrasted with softer, female-focused Christian filmmaking trends of prior years.

"What we're seeing is... men are like, yeah, we're coming back to church. And that means the men are going to want things a little tougher, a little grittier. And this movie does that."
— Steve Dace [17:10]

5. AI and Society – Interview with Josh Daws

• [32:31–43:37] In-depth interview as Steve probes Josh Daws’ views on AI’s potential and peril:
  • Promise: AI democratizes creativity, reduces cost barriers for film, tech, etc., can enable conservative and Christian creators to bypass legacy gatekeepers.
  • Peril: The risk of “outsourcing your thinking,” loss of agency, and potential for psychosis when people treat AI as oracular wisdom.
  • Data Center Controversy: Talks about rural anger over AI data centers, need for companies to better benefit and integrate with local communities.
  • Intellectual Property: Josh admits the line between fair use and piracy is complex but stresses that some use of public data follows creative tradition.
  • Ethical Use: Urges Christians and those of goodwill to ethically engage and innovate with AI, being morally grounded.

"AI is probably the first open-ended tool of its kind in human history... It can be directed towards incredibly wicked ways, ends. It can be directed towards incredibly productive ends."
— Josh Daws [34:41]

"What I am not sold on is the people who are using and wielding AI."
— Aaron McIntyre [47:33]

6. Fake News or Not – Culture and Media Critique

• [51:24–87:11] Lively group evaluation of recent news and culture moments:
  • Elite Unity After Government: Bush and Clinton’s post-presidential friendship signals a class-first, not principle-first, politics.
  • Downplaying of Marxist Influence: Lampooning a claim by a conservative lawyer that “nobody Marxist was running” in 2024—panel sees “democratic socialist” and cultural Marxist as a distinction without a difference.
  • Media Manipulation: Decries staged or overblown "white nationalist" narratives, and how establishment media fixates on "OnlyFeds" moments for propaganda.
  • Lost Patriotism: Looks back at a 1968 celebrity “God Bless America” TV special, reflecting on how such unified national displays are likely impossible today.

"That country never existed. Not for my generation... nostalgia is okay if it plants seeds in the future. But most people like nostalgia, not the actual duties and beliefs."
— Todd Erzin [74:05]

7. Pop Culture Tuesday – Soccer vs. Exported Americana

• [87:57–95:42] The crew debates whether the cultural effects of the U.S.-hosted World Cup or the wave of positive European and global tourist experiences in America will have more lasting value.
  • General skepticism that soccer will have staying power in U.S. culture—participation is declining and the major sports culture “check out” dynamic remains dominant.
  • Stronger belief that the “honeymoon” effect—Europeans surprised by American kindness, prosperity, and culture—could subtly erode anti-American narratives abroad, but lasting impact still doubted due to global ideological trends.

"Either we have men without chests, or we should just, you know, stop lying to ourselves..."
— Todd Erzin [94:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On AI and Ethics:

• "If you allow your creativity to wield AI, you are the hammer and AI is the nail. If you outsource your creativity to AI, you are the nail and you will be the nail."
  — Steve Day [46:16]

On Kirk 'Truthers':

• "So some of you now, it's decision day for your Gnosticism. Will you double down on your cult? Then you're the same fools that were buying those rags in the supermarket lines. You're not the smart people. You're the mark."
  — Steve Dace [29:21]

On Generational Nostalgia:

• "Most people like nostalgia, but they don't like reality. And that, to the degree that was reality, it came with duties and requirements and beliefs. We've moved on to other things."
  — Todd Erzin [74:05]

On Collaboration of Former Presidents:

• "There's just too much money. These guys...look at each other and it's like, man, we just gotta play the same card and life is good...I don't think they really do like each other, but they're both happy playing that same game."
  — Todd Erzin [53:29]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:01–04:03 — News recap and Charlie Kirk assassination hearing update
• 04:06–14:15 — Reflections on July 4th in D.C., traffic adventures, and the spirit of America
• 14:15–19:58 — Pop Culture and faith-based filmmaking (“Young Washington” review)
• 19:58–30:35 — Spiritual commentary on division, “Gnostic” grifters, and the importance of first-principles unity
• 32:31–45:22 — Interview: Josh Daws on AI’s risks, promise, and the Christian approach to technology
• 51:23–87:11 — Fake News or Not (Clinton/Bush, Marxism debate, media stunts, lost patriotism)
• 87:11–95:42 — Pop Culture Tuesday: Soccer’s fate in America, reverberations of global tourism, and cultural self-doubt

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Final Takeaways

• The show delivers a blend of snarky, honest critique on politics, faith, and culture.
• Steve and his team rail against the corrosion of national unity, the rise of professional grifters, and the trivialization of truth in political media.
• The discussion of AI highlights both ethical anxiety and hopeful potential, provided a moral people are wielding the tools.
• The team waxes nostalgic but ultimately skeptical about Americans’ appetite for collective national renewal, whether through tradition, art, faith, or sport.

Episode Tone: Principled, sarcastic, introspective, at times biting—yet hopeful in flashes (“America maxed,” the vision for Christian unity).

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode:
This rundown covers everything from the headline news of the hour (Charlie Kirk murder trial, national scandals) to wider reflections on Christian unity, AI’s promise and peril, and the ongoing struggles for American cultural confidence in a divided era.

Transcript

[Steve Day]

It's the Steve Day show and here's what happened while we were away brought to you by evidence On Monday in Provo, Utah courthouse, a preliminary hearing got underway for Tyler Robinson, who's accused of killing Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University on September 10th of 2025. The purpose of this week's preliminary hearing is to discover whether there's enough evidence prosecution has available to take the case to trial. Utah prosecutors displayed for the courts, but not the cameras in the court, various documents, pictures, maps and videos from the day Charlie Kirk was assassinated on the camp of uvu. One video was displayed for the court which caused this visible shaken reaction from Judge Tony Graf. One Utah law enforcement official who testified as a witness says there is video evidence of Tyler Robinson visiting UVU four times in the lead up to, during and once after the heinous event. Another witness described how an employee of Turning Point USA provided police with physical media containing footage of the assassination from TP USA cameras just feet away from where Kirk was seated. That TPUSA employee for months has been on the receiving end of harassment from the Candace Owens cult, claiming he was somehow involved with a cover up. The preliminary hearing continues. This week, since we last spoke, the Nation celebrated its 250th birthday in Washington, D.C. 850,000 fireworks lit the skies as the culmination to the America 250 celebration, which President Trump used on multiple occasions over the past week to call out the rise of American Communism.

[Donald Trump]

Communism is a loser and it always will be. The communist system is the opposite of the American system and the communist system has never worked. Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We're not going to let it happen.

[Steve Day]

Trump also reminded America that we're not just an idea.

[Donald Trump]

On this anniversary, we must remember. We have to remember. We can never forget that American liberty has not endured for 250 years merely because of words on paper. Liberty has prevailed here because of the culture and character of the people who declared it, defended it and preserved it.

[Steve Day]

We learned last week that Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized since June 14th after being found in his D.C. home unconscious. It's unclear what his current state is. In Maine, Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner is being accused of rape. The woman, a 41 year old Maine resident named Jenny Racicico, detailed the alleged incident to Politico in three interviews over the past couple of weeks. The publication also spoke with the man Racico dated and confided in the years after the alleged incident and reviewed documents, including emails between Racico and her therapist and messages between Racico and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office. Racico says she dated Platner for more than two years, on and off, before he entered her rural main home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual. It's the latest and rumored not to be the last scandal plaguing the Platner campaign, who has denied the allegations. And finally, more from President Trump's remarks during the celebration of America 250 over the weekend.

[Donald Trump]

For 250 years, the United States of America has been the hope, the promise, the light and the glory among all of the nations of the world. All over the world, they try and be like us. Nobody can be like us. And with God's help, we will always be this or even better. Here on our National Mall, we're celebrating freedom's triumph over tyranny, liberty's conquest over oppression, and the enduring victory of the American spirit from the July 4, 1776 to July 4, 2026. Big dates. That's big dates. Two big ones. And tonight, our country is stronger, freer, richer, safer and pro than ever before.

[Steve Day]

And that's what happened while we were away.

[Steve Dace]

So I was there. It was an absolutely incredible weekend in D.C. we'll get into that. It's also decision day for some of you gnostic retards out there. We'll get into that as well. Why is Mitch McConnell still a senator? Where's his wife, by the way? Where's Elaine Shao?

[Todd Erzin]

China.

[Steve Day]

Yeah, there it is.

[Steve Dace]

And has Graham Platner just. Has he. Has he considered just identifying his consent? That's how things work over there, right? That and more next. And greetings. Happy Tuesday. Welcome to the Steve Day Show. I am him. You are Todd Erzin. You are Aaron McIntyre. Almost forgot what you guys looked like it'd been a minute. So let me again say to the team here, thank you guys for filling in for me at the last possible minute. I woke up last Wednesday and it was the worst stomach bug I've had. And many, many a moon. Many a moon. The kind that had you, like, getting, like, really melancholy with the Lord and, like, making deals like, don't let. Just keep. Just don't let me pass this on to anybody else, just put it all on me while you're just laying on the cold floor for relief. That kind of a stomach bug.

[Steve Day]

Did anybody else get it?

[Steve Dace]

Amy ended up getting it. Really, the next day. Same symptom track, but similar to me, though. About six hours of if the scarecrow offered death or exile, your answer is yes, Then about six hours of okay, glad it's over, but I'm never going to eat anything again the rest of my life. And you know, 12 hours later, like, I jumped out of bed Thursday morning, man, by 10am I had the lawn mowed, the laundry started and already lifted. I mean, I just felt like I had a 10,000% energy boost the next day after, you know. But that first day, it was rough. So thank you guys very much, man.

[Steve Day]

No problem.

[Steve Dace]

It's good to know that I can have this capable team ready in a pinch to more than fill in. So. All right, here is what we have lined up for you today. We have a new addition here to the Blaze team whose speciality is AI. And there's been a ton of conversation about AI. We have varying perspectives regarding it amongst the three of us here on this show. We have varying perspectives about it, you know, among us here on the network. So to AI or not to AI? That is the question that we will ask Josh Dawes coming up here at the bottom of the hour. Next hour, it's going to be fake news or not. And then for Pop Culture Tuesday, we're going to talk soccer, but not unironically. All right, we did just conclude the United States did it's run in the World cup last night and the event unfortunately goes on for the rest of the world we don't care about. So we're just wondering, is this now the new American soccer renaissance? Maybe this is the question, what's more likely to be a pop culture phenomenon moving forward? What's more likely to have staying power, a soccer renaissance in America or Euro travelers having a renaissance of fondness for America? Because I'm sure you guys saw all those videos that went viral for the last couple of weeks, showing up at, you know, Buc EE's and Costco's and everything else. And like, and you have your. And you have air conditioning, too. What is this magical land? Okay, we've been lied to by our statist overlords across the pond, right? So we'll get into all that coming up in Pop Culture Tuesday. But let's begin with what was an incredible weekend in D.C. and I, I had to tip the cap to Dan Steiner and our and the outstanding team at Preborn. I was originally, Amy and I were just going to go there to speak to the Make Heaven Crowded event that was added as part of America 250, courtesy of TPUSA faith. And then I got a text at the last minute from Dan Steiner, the Grand Poobah over there at Preborn, saying, hey, we've got a bunch of our biggest donors, and a lot of them are fans of your show. And, you know, we're renting a boat. And I thought maybe just like a boat. I didn't know that was gonna be like a cruise ship. We're renting a boat to take them out on the Potomac for the fireworks. And like, we're totally in on that, knowing full well with the traffic and everything. We did not know I was way worse than anything I've ever seen. Port au Prince times, Atlanta, Georgia. Okay? And that's the. Atlanta, Georgia is the traffic of. Is to traffic what Denver TSA is to airline travel. I mean, it's. There's a place where you pull over there where you just finally just give up. You're not getting home tonight. Just pull over and find a ditch and cover yourself. That's what the traffic in Atlanta can be like. This was way worse. Throw in Port au Prince. No traffic laws, none. Everybody just did what was wise in their own eyes. And you know what? Todd can tell you from traveling with me, that is normally the stuff of nightmare fuel for me. Right?

[Todd Erzin]

Oh, it doesn't even have to get

[Steve Dace]

that nearly stuff's got to be on schedule. We got to know where we're going. Right? Still balancing everything else while we're on the road. You know what? Don't regret it at all. It was incredible. The entire evening was incredible. The vibe was incredible. The aura was incredible. The fireworks were incredible. If you've not seen it, I've got a 4K shot of the grand finale of the fireworks from the Potomac up on my X feed at Steve Day show. It's pinned right there to the top. You can watch that. It was, man. It was America. It was, it was. And it. And in many respects, my experience as part of America, 250 really was America. There's the pomp and circumstance where, you know, the Trumps were. You knew the Trumps were going to do that, right? If there's anything we all agree they're going to know how to do, it's throw a party, right? I mean, the pomp and circumstance was off the chain as we used to say back in our day. Okay, but, but we did the spiritual revival thing with Make Heaven Crowded as well. Got a chance to get out and see Young Washington, which is the same team 2521 Entertainment and Angel that did Young David, the King David animated film that was like a masterpiece last Christmas. They have collaborated here as well on Young Washington. If you guys, with what you guys have been dealing with, have probably not seen this yet, right? It's incredible. It's incredible. I don't know John Irwin the director at all. Just heard the name, I've never met him. I'm going to tell you right now, John Irwin ended up doing one of the best directing jobs you're ever going to see in a movie this year because he had a very difficult task he had to portray. This is really a gritty war drama is really what it is. And you know, the war of the era, we're not bombing from afar, okay. These are up close shootings. It's the French Indian War. So they're not abiding by any of our, you know, Englishman rules of warfare at all would be savage according to the, the standards that of that era. And so he's got to depict this in a way that makes you feel it otherwise what's the point of the film, right? But it's still angel and still are people. So no one wants to see like bones sticking out and guts, you know, hanging, you know, down somebody, down to somebody's kneecaps, you know. So how do you do that? What's that line? How do you make you feel the, the magnitude of the moment without, you know, crossing a line that the audience that you most need to sell rebels, right? I don't know because I don't think with anybody with our worldviews made a movie like this one before. It's a gritty war drama. But John Irwin understood the assignment and completed it. Just fantastic directing in this movie. It's exceedingly well done and there are several money lines there. And with the, what the film does a great job is planting the seeds

[Donald Trump]

of,

[Steve Dace]

of the legend that George Washington would eventually become where, where his disdain for aristocracy came from, his motivate, how you know, the, the line that's already gone viral where Thomas Gage will become a key figure in the American Revolution. By the way, he'll become a, a key military official for the Red Coats by. So it was fascinating to see the, the, the preview of that engagement between these two men because they're gonna square off on a much bigger scale in about 15 to 20 years, right? You know, and Thomas Gage says, this isn't. What are we doing this for? This isn't. My land is across the ocean. Washington says, we'll see. That's diff. What's the difference between you and me? This is my land. Right? I mean, the movie is just exceedingly well done. I saw a post in my feed that someone recommended, you know what, after this opening weekend success, and they announced they're already gonna get to work on a sequel. Someone suggested a trilogy. So you did one Young Washington. The next one needs to be General Washington, and then the third one can be President Washington. I thought that was pretty genius, right? So I know one of the producers of this film, and I texted it over to him. He's like, that might be what we end up doing, in fact. So great minds think alike. But I mean, I'm feeling the Americana. Not even the traffic of the most insane traffic I've experienced in my life. Not even getting stranded for five hours in the Detroit airport, which is very nice, by the way, but getting stranded for five hours in the Detroit airport yesterday because some moron on the crew at Delta Airlines didn't balance out the. The. The fuel in the plane that we were about to take off in.

[Todd Erzin]

Not even that is that important.

[Steve Dace]

It kind of is. Kind of is. I mean, you don't want to be 30,000ft tipped over, right? You know, so none of that. None of those logistical things that another. And in most other circumstances would more than ruin my weekend and help me to ruin everybody around me at the exact same time. I'm being honest, just spitting facts. None of those things dampen at all the. I hate to sound corny, man, but the spirit of the. Of America that I came out of this weekend with, I mean, I. It was. I. America maxed over the weekend for sure, gentlemen. I'm feeling it.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah. July 4th, I. My basement flooded. So I had a different story.

[Steve Dace]

I know that's the Charlie Brown. I got a rock. So, guys, Saturday night, I'm like, sending our crew here on our private text, like, pictures from this, like, yacht that I'm on. And I'm getting, like, no reaction. I'm like, wow, tough crowd, man. Then I find. Then I get back and I found out both of you had your. Your basement's flood. And I felt. No, I felt bad because I had no idea. Right? And. But that's still a dude foul. I mean, ignorance is no excuse in the eye of the dude code. Correct. So, I mean, that was.

[Todd Erzin]

That was the Dude. Crowd felt like in tatters. So let's just.

[Steve Dace]

Not amongst the three of us though the code remains. And so now, yeah, I can sure where you guys were, it looked like I was rubbing it in, so my mistake. I had no idea.

[Todd Erzin]

There's just a different kind of fireworks over here. But, yeah, it's happening all over Iowa. We got water everywhere.

[Steve Day]

So everybody's got water. Do you have water in your basement?

[Steve Dace]

I don't. I don't. Yeah, I found Formica.

[Steve Day]

Everybody's got water in their basement.

[Steve Dace]

When I heard the news from you guys, I thought, should we ever be fortunate enough to do another film and the Lord gives me a choice. Flood out your man cave basement or MRSA again. I'm going with MRSA again. Straight up.

[Todd Erzin]

Let's not.

[Steve Dace]

I'm going with the MRSA again.

[Todd Erzin]

Let's not do that. Okay.

[Steve Dace]

I mean, at least I know Very, very painful but quick. Very, very painful but quick. Yeah.

[Steve Day]

So this was the first weekend of Young Washington, correct? Yes, first weekend. Did you see the comparison to Supergirl production marketing budget?

[Steve Dace]

I did see some of that.

[Steve Day]

And the comparison is hundreds of millions of dollars for Supergirl and a return this weekend up against young George Washington of like $10 million. Young Washington this weekend. I think it had a production Marketing budget of $30 million. Return of 21 in its first weekend. And that's before word of mouth spreads and more people go to see it again. Again, if you are capable of telling a good story. Well, the crown's in the gutter for whoever wants it to go out and have a pretty, I think, profitable experience at the box office. I don't know how many more examples we need of this.

[Todd Erzin]

All right. And I get an alternative to going to Sea Odyssey now, so that's. Yes, I'm going to take it.

[Steve Dace]

You're going to love Young Washington. Yeah, you guys are both going to love it. You are. I mean, it is. And it kind of signals this kind of Kayla of uplifting and hope filled Longhouse era of really emotional, empathetic, female driven. And some of the movies I really like and are really good. But that's. That's kind of been what most of, you know, our film notwithstanding. That's been what a lot of the. The last era of faith based filmmaking has been. Is that. Is that fair? It's emulated a lot of church culture in that, particularly in the evangelical world.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, probably.

[Steve Dace]

Since a lot of it is geared towards women, a lot of Christian radio is geared towards women, that a lot of these have been Films that would be more geared towards women. Is that fair?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

And I think what we're seeing is we're transitioning to a different era now where the men are like, yeah, we're coming back to church. And that means the men are going to want things a little tougher, a little grittier. And this movie does that. And what it does so well is it does that without crossing any lines of anything that's going to make you uncomfortable as a parent whatsoever or as a believer whatsoever. We used to do this. You know, Hollywood as an industry did this for like 50, 60 years. They were. They. They were. Well, maybe 40 or 50 years, they were able to do this. And then, you know, starting with the whole Hays Code and then the counterculture of the 60s, you get into the 70s, and a lot of these standards are gone now.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

But it. But, you know, those of you that are boomers, maybe some of you are even older in our audience. You remember a time where gritty war films were made all the time, and they were able to do so without being gratuitously disgusting. Right. And this film does that. So hats off to that entire team, but in particular, director John Irwin. All right, the other big issue, there has not really been a ton of news over the weekend, which is good. You know, you think we've not done a live show together since, well, it's been a week because I was sick the next day, right. And then Thursday was the Independence Day show. Friday we were off, and Monday we had an evergreen. So we've not done a live show together since last Tuesday. There really hasn't been a whole bunch of breaking news around the country during that period of time. It's almost like the entire world has just decided, you know what? We. We like the World Cup. You guys want your July 4th? We'll just take a break. It just hasn't been a ton of breaking news for the last seven days. But the biggest news that's happening right now is the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson began yesterday out in Utah, the likely murderer of Charlie Kirk. And I'll let the proceedings play themselves out if you guys are able to follow any of this on X. Whether it's Jack Posobic, my buddy Andrew Colvett, Blake Neff, Tyler Boyer, the plenty of Erica, plenty of. In fact, Charlie's native account has been resurrected to run the proceedings as well. So there are plenty of places to go where you can be watching and you should be watching in real time. This is the most high, if you can. This is the Most high profile assassination since JFK, MLK, at least since Mo. So we're at least going back to the late 60s, right. We had MLK and RFK the same summer, I think that was 1968. So that's well before either you and I are born, right? That's well, well, well before Aaron is born. So in the lifetimes of the three men doing this show, this is the most consequential, successfully consequential assassination in America. Right?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

We almost had one more consequential out there in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, by. But that one missed by about a centimeter. This one, sadly, did not. And what's transpired over the last. What was that? Charlie was murdered on September 10th. So that was 10 months ago, which transpired over the last 10 months, particularly maybe over the last nine and a half months after Charlie's memorial. Maybe the last time I felt this kind of unity high was coming out of Charlie's memorial. And I know a lot of you did around the world that were there or watched it as well. I still would make the prediction it was, or the assessment that it was in terms of volume of eyes and ears, the largest singular proclamation of the gospel that's been ever done in the history of this planet. And what's transpired ever since that event has been an attempt by a cache of folks to disrupt that unity. And I think every single last one of them are demonically oppressed or influenced. It's just a matter of whether they realize it or not. And there have been great attempts to divide us. And there are things that are worth dividing for. You know, I like to go to the. I like to go to this example a lot because it's right here in front of you with Todd. And I mean, Todd and I can share a brain on many, many things, but on the most important day of the week, we go to a different church. And it's because we do not agree on, essentially, we don't agree on justification by faith alone. We basically don't agree with that. And that's important enough to the two of us, our convictions there, that on the most important day of the week, we go our separate ways, even though we're fairly well aligned the rest of the days of the week.

[Todd Erzin]

Fair.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah, there are important things to divide over, but we haven't really had, like a consequential policy fight. You could argue that the mishandling of the Epstein debacle from the Trump administration might be worthy of dividing over at the same time. And none of the three of us were certainly very happy about how that was handled on this show. At the same token, though, they also released more files than we've ever been able to see before. That's also true. Right. Okay. And a lot of the people that made promises to us that they were going to tell us the truth about what was really in there and that they were going to come clean. How many of those people have come clean to tell us? No, none of them have. Thomas Massey is not. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not. Rokahana has not. None of them have. Right. So aside from the Epstein thing, there has not been, like, a singular issue worthy. Well, some of you may say Iran. And while I wasn't a big fan of the war, I don't. I mean, I mean, I just saw some polling this morning. Overwhelmingly, the Republican base is in favor of our alliance with Israel. Overwhelmingly in favor, in opposition to Iran. So maybe that's divisive for about five or 10 significant accounts on X, but it's really not all that divisive amongst Republicans. The divisiveness in this case really became, hey, can we bomb Iran later? I'm all for, by the way, I'm all for bombing Iran, like, back to, like, the crustaceous period. I'm fine with it. But right now, I. I'd like to take my own country back so we have some. The luxury of bombing Iran. I'm in a civil war right now. I got to win that. That's where I think a lot of our people are. That's not the same as. Iran is great. Gave us some chocolate cake. That's not the same thing. Right. Okay. You know, we're not Elizabeth Warren aids, who now serve the Caliphate. True story. That happened over the weekend. And so a lot. That's how, you know, a lot of this divisiveness is an. Is not an illusion, but it's also not real. What do I mean by that? It's a. It's a spiritual manifestation. It's an op. Because I'm just going to tell you right now, there is nothing the enemy fears more than a Christian church united on first principles to stand up against him. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. And the closest I've ever seen in my lifetime to anything like that. And maybe this is what life was like, you know, coming into the original religious right in the 80s after two decades or three decades of Billy Graham crusades. Maybe life was like that. I, you know, but I was just a little kid then, as were you, so I can't say. But in my Adult life and certainly in my life. Walking with the lord now for 23 years. The closest I've ever seen to that kind of first things unity was coming out of Charlie's funeral. Which is why it's no coincidence that we're going to up the ante of divisiveness now right away. We can't let that happen. And, and what you're. What you're seeing now that real evidence is being presented and that there really is no defense whatsoever. I just reposted something from our colleague, Liz Wheeler. It'll be the best thing you read on social media today, I promise you. Just summing up the amount of evidence that was presented in the preliminary hearing, the lack of challenge from the defense, and that there's. This is. This is as close to an open and shut case, even before we get to Tyler Robinson's confession. Confession, confession that we've ever seen in a high profile assassination like this. And that's why I use the term Gnostics. This idea that now anything that looks truthful can't be true in and of itself is an op. So what's true? What is true? That's what's true. Steve, how do we know it's true? Because it's true. Well, they could have just fabricated all this evidence. Well, you sound like Sean Ryan. You're not making as much money as he is, I can promise you that. But because there's gold in the Gnostic Hills, brother. Gold in the Gnostic Hills.

[Todd Erzin]

You bet.

[Steve Dace]

Feed my suspicions, feed my traumas, feed my betrayals. And by the way, pretty much all your suspicions, betrayals and traumas are pretty much justified. We're not here to argue against any of those. Right. What we're here to argue against is what's your solution to those things? I mean, the opposite to a web of lies is not your own web of lies. And you may have seen that over the weekend. Sean Ryan interviewed Candace Owens. Here are some questions that Sean Ryan did not ask in this interview. Candace, how much of your evidence will Tyler Robinson's defense team be using on his behalf? Have you reached out, have you brought your evidence to Tyler Robinson's defense team, or have they reached out to you? Who in Tyler Robinson's family has called on you and said, by all means, please bring us your evidence. Our loved one is being falsely accused. And who would have more interest in Tyler Robinson's fate than his family and his attorneys? And so if they have yet to do that, then why not? See, a lot of you are sending me notes how do I answer this? How do I answer that? You can't. You're not the attorneys. You can't answer everything. That's not what to do to a gnostic. What you do to a gnostic is you turn their own premise back against them. If you're right, then why not these things? Who would be more interested in Tyler Robinson's fate and innocence than his own family and his own defense? If Candace has cracked the code of Egyptian airliners and anti Zion and Zionist conspiracies, I would. I would assume they'd be interested in this. Right, because he could face the death penalty and should. It's very similar to the Brett Kavanaugh thing back in 2018. If you have credible evidence that Brett Kavanaugh is an unconvicted marauding rapist since the summer of 82 in Georgetown, get off X and call the cops. All the cops. They handle these things. You don't need to know the evidence, just common sense. If what she was spewing was true, the people that would need it to be true would be interested in her truth. But as you're seeing now with the preliminary hearing, there was never any truth to this. She's just an opportunistic grifter, crazy cult leader, demonic spirit of Jezebel. But I repeat myself. And that was true from the very beginning when we started confronting her on this show as early as last fall. So some of you now, it's decision day for your Gnosticism. Will you double down on your cult then? You're the same fools that were buying those rags in the supermarket lines. You're not the smart people. You're the mark. And they're laughing at you and cashing in on you all the way to the bank. Or there's an alternative. Reclaim your own brain. More in a moment, The steve day show. All right, so listen, at a gyno I was supposed to have a lunch meeting with this week, have to push it back because two of his friends just had their moms pass away. And I said, oh, man, I'm very sorry to hear that. He goes, I know, but kind of feels like we're at the age where more and more of this stuff is going to start happening, Right?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

And then your kids are looking at you like they're looking at me and saying, sooner or later, I have to have that talk with. With you guys of, you know, what's this look like at end of life? That's where our friends trust and will. That's where they come into play. This is who Amy and I use for our documentation for our family, our estate planning there. Yeah. Why? Because they've got an easy to use website, simple to navigate, and all of your information and documents are going to be securely stored with bank level encryption. You can also easily share all your estate planning documents with trusted friends and family with their new shared document access feature, so that your loved ones know their role in your future as well. And each will or trust is state specific, customized to your needs, whether we're talking about care, wishes, guardian nominations, final arrangements, power of attorney, etc. So trust and will means affordable estate plans, priceless peace of mind. So go to trust and I know the ampersands in the logo, but the word and is in the website. Trust and Will comm/days get 20% off when you go to trust and will.comdays for 20 [e-mail] days. Well, we recently made a new addition to the team here at the Blaze. And his job, my understanding is his job is to essentially make us all soulless zombie renderings of. Of algorithmic codes where we have totally and completely surrendered all of our agency and every last spark of imago day that was once in us so that we can make the movie Wall E a prophecy. Now, I'm not sure what the title for that job is. That would seem to be a rather long title, so I'm sure it's shorter than that. But the man that now has that title, Josh Dawes, is here with us on the show. Josh, how are you, man?

[Josh Dawes]

Good. Hey, Steve, how are you?

[Steve Dace]

I'm well. Was that an accurate description of what you have been hired here to do, or did I exaggerate a little?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, absolutely. I, for one, welcome our AI overlords.

[Steve Dace]

So you are essentially here to help us usher as a company into the. Into what's left of the 21st century. That's essentially why you're here, right?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, I'm VP of Technology, so I'm here to kind of help us harness all that technology. There's a lot to be concerned about for sure, but there's also a lot of opportunity that this is, is this new technology is bringing us, so hopefully we can harness that for the Blaze.

[Steve Dace]

All right, so you spent what, over a decade at Disney, I think I read, right?

[Josh Dawes]

I did, yep. 12 and a half years.

[Steve Dace]

All right, so 12 and a half years at Disney. Let's start there. Is this is AI? Is it technology? See, in fact, let me just do this for you here first. I am greatly conflicted on this because I do think the technology is inevitable. I do think it has some tremendous benefits. I also am incredibly concerned about what an era of folks who showed with one thanos snap of a fake medical report from Imperial, you know, college in London that shut down the entire world, who knows we'll ever open it again, is particularly ripe to just take its consciousness and its agency and its imago day and just sign it over to be a cog in a machine in order to gain virtue signaling points. Right. You know, so I'm very conflicted at where I'm at on AI in total, I'm in a rural state where the data centers are hated like in every other rural state, you know, so on the other hand, we all want our phones and iPads and devices to move faster, which would require some data. Okay, so I haven't fleshed out really what my own position on all of this is, but with that as a backdrop, let's start with this question. Is this, are we harnessing AI or is AI harnessing us?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, that's a good question. It really depends. It depends on what you bring to it. AI is probably the first open ended tool of its kind in human history where it wasn't created for a specific purpose. A hammer was created to drive nails, a saw is created to cut wood. AI is just super powerful and it can be directed towards incredibly wicked ways, ends. It can be directed towards incredibly productive ends. And so, you know, it's there, it's offering an easy button to people who want an easy button. You know, kids who don't want to study for the test or write their own essay can, can just have ChatGPT do it for them. But it's also available to the most creative minds in the world who just haven't had the opportunity or resources to build software or make films that Hollywood would never greenlight. So there's so many opportunities with this that yeah, it really depends on what you're hoping to get out of the technology.

[Steve Dace]

So then, as somebody whose job is to be at the cutting edge of this, what are you the most excited about? But what are you the most concerned about?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, well, I'll start with what I'm most concerned about. I'm definitely concerned that people are going to start relying on it to, I don't like to say outsource your thinking, but to let,

[Steve Day]

I don't know, to

[Josh Dawes]

kind of go to it for counsel when we, when we're facing a tough decision. You know, as Christians we should want to go to the Lord and pray and seek wisdom. And that can be frustrating because he doesn't always, you know, spit out, like, actually, you know, you're brilliant. And that's a wonderful idea. You should definitely go do that. We have to wrestle with the scripture, and those things take time for us to discern, for us to kind of labor in that process of seeking discernment. And I see a lot of people kind of going to chat GPT and kind of just going with what it says. Like, okay, it says, my idea was great, so I'm just going to go do that. And so that, that kind of psychosis, I think, is very concerning. And that's where I've tried to kind of help people understand what AI is and isn't and kind of clear up those misconceptions. Because I think there's two sides of that on the. There's the AI bros in Silicon Valley that are, you know, think that they're creating God. They think that they're ushering in this new consciousness that's gonna. That's got super wisdom that we can tap into.

[Steve Dace]

They literally are posting this stuff online, Josh. I mean, one of the prominent guys is saying, we're gonna. Humanity's gonna cure death. You know, I'm like, well, we actually already did cure death like 2,000 years ago. But I digress. But yeah, they are literally saying stuff like this online.

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, absolutely. And the transhumanists think that it's gonna help us transcend humanity. But on the other end, you've got doomers that are frightened about AI with good cause, that are fundamentally kind of, it's the horseshoe theory coming back and saying that it's fundamentally going to rewrite what it means to be human. We're surrendering all of our humanity to the machine. And so the imago DEI is essentially going to be erased by this. Well, my theology doesn't allow me to go there either. You know, we are designed by our creator in a way. We have the imago dei, the image of God, and we are like him. We like to be creative. We are designed to be creative. And so I think if we can bring that to these tools, we're going to see just a golden age of creativity, which is what I'm most excited about. To get back to the other part of your question, the things happening in AI filmmaking world right now are just incredible opportunities to tell stories that Hollywood would never touch in a million years and to do things that I think those of us on the right, we've been so frustrated by our lack of influence in Silicon Valley and in Hollywood. And now all of a sudden the things that were kind of keeping us out of those spaces were the incredible cost to develop software to film movies. And now the cost of both is dropping precipitously thanks to this technology, which is creating like tons of new opportunities.

[Steve Dace]

Two areas where I think there's a lot of concern. Let's address intellectual property and data centers. All right, how many do we really need and then how much? What's the line between private property rights and the technological realities of the world in which we live? But then also intellectual property, I mean, what you just said about movies, we're maybe a year less away from some 23 year old in Singapore that doesn't care about copyright laws. And neither does this country putting out a non woke DC movie better than anything James Gunn has been willing to do in three years running Warner Brothers. Right. And what happens when he just puts it out there on a Reddit forum or it gets downloaded, you know, on a torrent or someplace? Right. You know, and everybody's in the watching that all over the world with copyrighted characters. And he's kind of outside the realm of getting sued from Singapore. Right. But he can do it with today's technology. Right. So what do we do with that?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, I'm not a lawyer, so I'm, I'm not prepared to kind of adjudicate how those situations should be handled. I do know that from an ethical standpoint of just being able to use the technology that has been trained on all of this data, where the data and the movies, the written material, all that was obtained illegally. I think those things are being worked out in the courts. I think I've got a friend who's part of a class action lawsuit, I think with Anthropic, because they obtained his book from a piracy location and I think those should be prosecuted under the law. That's not an appropriate use of that training data or not an appropriate way to gather training data. Now, as far as whether or not legally obtained material can be used to train it, that's just how creativity and how human advancement has worked throughout history. You know, there's nothing I sit down and write that isn't going to be influenced by everything else I've read it just that's how it works. Like, you know, I shot a feature film earlier in my career and there was a scene out on a lake and years later I was watching revisiting a movie I'd watched years prior and I realized instantly I copied this scene. I didn't I didn't remember watching this, but it made its way into my, into my screenplay and was kind of beat for beat, the same thing. And I think that that's just what AI is, is doing. It's building on what, how the human creativity already works. And so it's just enabling that kind of on a larger scale.

[Steve Dace]

What about the data centers and property rights in rural states like mine in particular? People are ready to go to DEFCON 1 over this. This, this is one of those parochial issues that, that has way more, you know, ability to divide our base than Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene could dare to. Fever dream, right?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Okay, so what do we do about this?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, this is where these, these AI companies are their own worst enemies. Just the way they've gone about this and talking about apart from the data centers is they, they present it as a scary thing that's going to destroy all jobs. Instead of like presenting the positive, you know, that this is going to create a bunch of jobs. And I think that's where we're at with the data centers. We need to, I think they need to do more to make them places that benefit the community. There's no reason these can't be placed underground. Like, let's put a beautiful park on it. A place that, you know, is, is not just taking from the community, but also giving back to the community. And not in some like, you know, you know, we're giving back to the world by providing this technology. No, this, the community that you want to place it in needs to have kind of a stake in this. And I think, I think they'll figure that out. Just because the demand for the data centers is so incredible right now, they're going to have to figure out a way to work with these local municipalities so that it is a win win. And I think we can get there. Elon's exploring some interesting ideas of putting data centers in space, which is another thing. So I think there's solutions to it. I think we've just got to be creative in how we come up with this. And I think the AI companies themselves need to hire a different PR team because they're doing a terrible job.

[Steve Dace]

I've got about two minutes left. What didn't I ask you that you want to stress to our audience?

[Josh Dawes]

Yeah, I think the thing, I just want the audience to look, to look at the opportunities. It's really easy to get scared by just the rapid change, but it's also creating some incredible opportunities. I think we'd miss out if we're not exploring that and figuring out what, what doors are going to open because of this. And so just be open to the technology, you know, play with it, figure out, just really wrestle with how do we use this in an ethical, you know, a way that's, that's good for us, good for society, because it's here, it's here to stay, whether we like it or not. And we're going to need to figure out how to use it. And as Christians, you know, I'm, I want Christians to be on the forefront figuring out how to, to use it, to take dominion, to fulfill the cultural mandate.

[Steve Dace]

Thank you, Josh. Welcome to the Blaze. Appreciate the time.

[Josh Dawes]

Thanks, Steve.

[Steve Dace]

You bet. All right, we've got about two and a half minutes. What'd you guys think of the conversation reactions?

[Todd Erzin]

Well, when he talked about the hammer and the saw analogy, I thought that was interesting. This is wide open unlimited power, which means at the very least, we need a moral and religious people. Like at our founding, 250 years ago. We don't have that right now, so that's a problem. And then secondly, the entertainment side of things, I acknowledge all of the possible benefits for new storytellers. I also know we had really good stories in the past and we apparently ignored all the lessons there. So what's the point of having good stories if we do not live them out in reality? I think that's a question that continually needs to be asked because we failed the assignment so far as a people.

[Steve Day]

If you outsource your creativity to AI. Well, put it this way, if you allow your creativity to wield AI, you are the hammer and AI is the nail. If you outsource your creativity to AI, you are the nail and you will be the nail. And that's my big fear, is that most people to this day, even though this has been around now for years and there's been so much news coverage about it and so many people talking about it, still just kind of use these various chatbots as a glorified Google. And that's about the worst possible use I can think for AI, because I still, I use some of the best. I, I think, I think Claude is, is one of the best AIs out there. Even though it might be a little bit woke. I don't trust it at all to do research. I just don't. What I do trust it to do is to write programs for me to describe what I'm trying to do and it accomplishes it. And I'm making sure that I'm wielding it and I'M putting my own creativity into it, unfortunately, because of the moral and religious people that Todd is talking about. If we were that people from 250 years ago, I would, without hesitancy, say full bore headfirst into this age of AI because I think we would be a people who would be able to use it productively and creatively to do things and increase productivity, efficiency, all of those good things in a way that really benefits not only our economy, but the mind, body and soul. I'm still, it's, it's not that I'm not sold on AI. I'm not sold on the people who are using it and wielding it. That's, that's what I'm not sold as sold on as of yet. So interesting conversation.

[Steve Dace]

Hour two is next. We'll lead it off with fake news or not. Stay tuned. All right, back here at hour two, live and on demand. You're on the Steve Day Show. Let us know what you think about what we think via the stevedace.com inbox by emailing the show stevedace.com that's D E A C E like us on Facebook, me, we and Gab. You can follow me at Steve Dash show on X Instagram and Tick Tock. You can also subscribe to our Rumble channel at Steve Dace on Rumble. Don't forget to subscribe. If you are a podcast listener, you do that by hitting the subscribe button there. Or if you're on Apple itunes, you hit follow and that's how you're going to make sure that you don't ever miss an episode because it shows up in your podcast feed each and every single time. And thank you if you've done that and thank you if you're one of the tens of thousands that have left us a five star review who love the podcast as well. So thank you guys for all of those. All right, and what is next? Oh, this part of the show brought to you by our friends over at Ghostbed. Sorry, had a little computer malfunction there. Our friends over at Ghostbed where they are responsible now, they have provided the bed for my son for his first place out on his own. He absolutely raves about his ghost bed. The bad news with the ghost bed is he's sleeping better at night which means we're now more worried about him oversleeping and stuff. Before when he was on a rotten bed, it kind of just cash out. Things you say about your sons you'll never say about your daughters. Your 40 year old daughters can call you you're like, like, I don't like my dad. We'll get you one. Your teenage son's like, this bed sucks. I mean, I don't know. Get another one. I got nothing for you. That is how it works too, Aaron. You're going to see this, man. That is exactly how it works. All right? Abby will call you at 50. Be like, sure, we can loan you some money. Sure, sweetie. Three seconds after Ben gets out of the house, you're like, dude, man, broke. Go get it. But he does love his ghost, Peter. And you can also improve your comfort, your sleep. All summer long. They've got cooling properties in the bed. If you're a hot sleeper, maybe you're a cold sleeper. They help you with that too, all right? It helps you keep cool all night long. Whatever you need. It is good for temperature regulating so you're not throwing the covers off at 2am all right? And Ghostbed still has their Fourth of July sale going on, so you guys get an extra 10 off on top of that.

[Todd Erzin]

All right?

[Steve Dace]

And with financing, some ghostbeds come out to just around a dollar a day. So go to ghostbed.com Steve. Use the promo code Steve. That's ghostbed.com Steve. Promo code [e-mail] Steve. Yeah. With your sons, you're like, love you, buddy. I'm sure you got it with your daughters, you're like, oh, no, I'll take care of it. Yep, that's what it. That's at least that's life in the day's household. That's how it works. Maybe that's not how it's supposed to work. That's how it works around here. All right, you guys ready to play some fake news or not?

[Todd Erzin]

Let's go.

[Steve Dace]

All right.

[Todd Erzin]

See if we're still in practice.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah, we haven't had a chance to do some of this in a bit. So you guys know how this works. I've got a series of propositions, clips, statements in recent times that have caught my eye. And I'm going to let Todd and Aaron decide whether they think what they are about to see is fake news or news not. All right, let's start here with number one. And this is a. A glowing photo of besties Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. And it's Bill Clinton wishing George w. A happy 80th birthday. To my friend, your friendship and that of your father and your entire family has been one of the great gifts of my life. It's always reminded me that long before we're politicians, we're Fellow Americans and above all, human beings. See, you and I are old enough to remember what Bill said about his pops.

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Dace]

Out of touch, didn't care about people. Right. Yeah. Okay. And for the next month, I'm especially grateful to have finally someone that is older than me. Wishing you many more years of good health, happiness and friendship. Our country is stronger when we remember what unites us is greater than what divides us. And there's the two of them sitting together, having a laugh. And see the little logo in the background there? Clinton foundation is one of the sponsors. That was a very fine and upstanding endeavor, was it not, gentlemen? Is that fake news or not?

[Steve Day]

I think the implication of what you just said is a little bit too hard on that individual. Okay, One of these people signed balanced budgets and Defense of Marriage Act. The other one is George W. Bush.

[Steve Dace]

What is Bill Clinton doing associated with a left winger like George W. Bush? Yeah, I'm feeling you, Todd.

[Steve Day]

So, no, it's not fake news. What was the proposition anyway? Whatever the fakest news is, that's what it is.

[Todd Erzin]

Well, there's so many paths to go down with this, but I think this is not fake news for this reason. And it's a reason that applies to many other issues I analyze as well. There's just too much money. These guys, when it comes to that, after being president, all. All roads lead to that, right? And then they look each other and it's like, man, we just got to play the same card and life is good. Right? So, yeah, they. I don't think they really do like each other after the fact. They really are friends now because they're playing the exact same game and they're cashing in in the exact same way. And, you know, if it really wasn't about the. You know, there's. Maybe they really didn't believe in their principles. Maybe the principles weren't really. There wasn't really as much at stake in it. Politics makes things over, right? You can analyze this from a bunch of different psychological and emotional perspectives. But. But the one constant is that there's just too much money and they're both just as happy playing that same game.

[Steve Dace]

So it dawned on me, there may be someone listening or watching right now who might say, well, Steve, why is this any different than Reagan and Tip o'? Neill? Right? Reagan famously called Tip o' Neill from the hospital after he had been shot. They were. They famously got together after hours on more than one occasion for a cocktail and just to connect as friends while they were fighting it out all Day long over policy with Tip o' Neill as the Democrat speaker of the House, and Reagan is the Republican president. Why. Why is this different? Well, number one, the eras are different. All right? In Reagan and Tip o', Neill, you had the generation. They both represented a. A generation that faced two existential fights together, the Depression and World War II, and overcame both of those. So the eras are different. That's number one. So that we have an era where the social compact is still mainly intact. They're the last generation of that era, whereas Bush and Clinton represent the generation that undid our social compact. So the eras are. Are completely different, number one. Number two, these two men are completely different than those two men. That's number two. And then number three, look at the behavior of Reagan after his presidency compared to George W. Bush. And this is, I think, the most important factor. So until Reagan announced, and I want to say, was it 94, 95 when he. When he announced the Alzheimer's was somewhere in there?

[Todd Erzin]

I'm gonna have to trust your memory on that.

[Steve Dace]

I think it was somewhere in 94, 95 where we'd have to look that up. Ask the AI yeah, ask the Oracle. I think it was 94, 95, somewhere in there that Reagan first announced the Alzheimer's, because I remember it being either right as the Contract with America was being campaigned on or had just gotten won the election up until. But. So that's. And that was when Reagan left public life. And then we didn't really hear much of him at all until he passed away. I think that was in 2004. In, in. In the, in the. But in the case of Reagan, he was still very active from a movement standpoint. In the case of Bush, he's not only not been active. George W. Bush has not been active from a movement standpoint. He's actually cited against us on things like immigration and other things in public. So number one, different generation. You still have. You still have a largely intact social compact. These two men represent the. The era that face down the Depression and the Japs and the Nazis. So the generation is different. The, the Personas and characters of these individuals is different. But third and most important, I think is those things are clarified by the behavior post office of these two men. Reagan was still actively speaking out on issues. Actively, as much as possible. He respected the office of didn't, you know, double or backseat drive things. But he was very outspoken, like with Rush back in that era and things of that nature. And George W. Bush, when he has spoken out, has been spoken. He's been outspoken against us, against his own base thoughts on that. And I think that's why these two situations aren't similar.

[Todd Erzin]

I agree with all that. I just don't think it's that complicated. I mean, also these guys have in common is that they both did not pass on a legacy. Look at Clinton passed on the world to Bush. Bush passed on the world to Obama.

[Steve Dace]

Great point.

[Todd Erzin]

They like. So at the end of the day they're both guys wondering what, what was really, what was the point of it other than to cash in at the end of this whole thing. I just, I think it's just simpler at the end of the day that really as messy as a lot of our politics are, it's a very, you know, it's a JV crap throwing scrum that really isn't about a depth of principle. And that's why they can end up like this together because they're just the same beast.

[Steve Dace]

That's a great point.

[Steve Day]

Yeah. It's just the cha cha slide, except only to the left. It's just, I mean I brought up Bill Clinton signing DOMA and a balanced budget. George W. Bush didn't do those things. He ushered in Barack Obama who, you know, ushered in a reckoning which is Donald Trump. That's definitely a move to the right. But the jury's still out where we go from here. But it is the cha cha slide. Just to the left, to the left, to the left, to the. That's basically what we saw these two individuals.

[Steve Dace]

So. Right. I mean if Bill Clinton had in Medicare part D, we're all socialists. Right. But George W. Bush, Bush did it and so it's guns and butter. Right. And if, if George W. Bush does the Defense of Marriage act and balance budgets and crime bills and three strikes and you're out. And welfare reform two years max and then you're off. He's, you know, a Nazi. Bill Clinton does it. He's a new Democrat. That's kind of what Aaron's tapping into, that energy right there. All right, let's get to the next one on a fake news or not. All right, this one's up next. I had an attorney, so I was, I was pointing out on my social media over the weekend. I just, it just kept, it was just striking to me. It kept dawning on me how much different this last 250 would have celebration would have been if the Marxist had won in 2024. And just thinking about what the messages that would be conveyed. The, the, the, the symbolism that would have been demonstrated it would have, it would have articulated how irreconcilable these views really are. In response to this, I had an attorney, I won't name him though, out of fairness to him. I had an attorney for Pacific Legal foundation and they're a long time well known conservative slash libertarian legal advocacy group. And he said to me in response to this post, there are like 14 Marxists in America and none of them were running for president on a major ticket, end quote. And so that got me to thinking, is that fake news or not? Nobody Marxist was running on a major ticket in 2024. What do you guys think?

[Steve Day]

What year is it? What year is it? Because I seem to recall, Steve, didn't you get into some trouble when you were on who and you just openly talked about Barack Obama being a Marxist?

[Steve Dace]

Yes. Yeah.

[Steve Day]

Was he a Marxist?

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Day]

Yeah, he was a Marxist. So to me that's absolutely fake news. I mean we had a Marxist win twice. These are arguments from, no offense to that individual. Like you said, done a lot of pro bono and some, some good work, a lot. But this is like an argument from 2008 or 2009.

[Todd Erzin]

This guy friends with David French, Even if he doesn't think it's as bad as we're as far down the road, isn't there really enough proof of concept that the all of their language is ultimately shrouded in advancing various stages of a Marxist reality? And I'm totally with you. To go even further, Steve, what you said, this is why, that's exactly why I enjoyed the fourth of July to the degree that I did. Not because I'm not pessimistic about the state of things, but because I know exactly what you're talking about when you say how bad this would have been in terms of, you know, trannies on the White House law. And that actually happened. How further advanced that would have been. Absolutely, I agree with you on that.

[Steve Dace]

Are we, do we believe on this show democratic socialist is, is a distinction with or without a difference compared to Marxist or Communists? Because I would say, I would say a distinction without a difference. I mean I think it's, you know, tomato, tomato.

[Todd Erzin]

And again, it's not just we did these things, Steve, when we were Aaron's age coming up and it was, it was philosophical exercises, slippery slopes things, important things to do we don't have to imagine anymore. That's what's so disappointing of about a big brain guy like him. It's here, we see it all over the place. What are you talking about, Mr. Pacific Legal Guy? It's everywhere.

[Steve Day]

Do you think this is simply. I'm going to give some flowers to some. To a person that I don't think any of us, to varying degrees, necessarily thinks should be calling shots for the American right or the church. However, in one very narrow instance, I heard an explanation of cultural Marxism from one James Lindsay spelled out in comprehensive yet digestible format that explains the differences between traditional Marxism and cultural Marxism. Do you think that's where the difficulty is coming from here? Well, possibly, because the traditional. Here's how I would define it.

[Steve Dace]

I could see the pacific legal people being really into James Lindsay, for example, knowing them by reputation. So I could see that.

[Steve Day]

Okay, And I'm kind of playing fast and loose here, but I'm just trying to make this as accessible as possible. The traditional Marxism of yesteryear seizing the means of economic production. Cultural Marxism is seizing the means of cultural production. And that's where we get into the trannies on the White House lawn. Do you think that maybe is the disconnect that we're seeing from takes like this?

[Steve Dace]

Maybe. But I would also then turn around and argue. If we were on a panel together, I'd argue in response, this era is not deserving of this level of. Of nuance. And no. And your parent, your opponents will not grant it to you see, this is my problem with James Lindsay. I think he's really smart. I think he has a lot of things to say that I would agree with. I think it's a terrible idea to have someone who doesn't believe in God, though, get appointed, become Sheriff of Nottingham over what the proper reaction to such things are. And what's the. What's our rules of engagement as Christians, and how far are we allowed and not allowed to go? Because some things in the world are very simple, all right? Saint or sinner, God or not. Right. Some of the most profound things in all the universe are very simple, male or female. And if you can't get some of those simple things right, and then you're gonna find new. You're gonna try and find nuance where none exists elsewhere.

[Todd Erzin]

This guy needs the whole notion of go out and touch grass like this. If you're gonna be, as a rule, online, whether you are working for wherever this guy works for or just an anon, if you're gonna give definitions of reality, it's kind of important that every once in a while you experience reality, because this guy isn't experiencing it.

[Steve Dace]

Let's get to number three. Saw this report from ZeroHedge looking at the oil Prices and they're quoting. I think it's Citibank expecting oil prices to sink to as low as $60 a barrel here in the not too distant future. Is that fake news or not?

[Steve Day]

It's fake news Today I've seen reports that they're shooting at the tankers again. I guess Iran took maybe a week off to bury Khamenei. Have the funeral for Khamenei and let us celebrate the fourth. Very, very kind of them. Thank you for letting us celebrate Independence Day without having to worry about Hormuz. I think I saw a report they're shooting at tankers again. I don't know, it's still hanging out around 70 bucks a barrel. WTI anyway. But until I see it with my eyes, it's gonna be fake news.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, it's fake news until it's not just a statistic. It's like a statistic on one day. Like a vote on one day versus a lived experience. Things you act on, things you can touch and feel. Until I experience that in for example, the grocery store or something like that where the shipping to get things there has knocked everything down. Yeah, it doesn't, it. People aren't voting on one data point, they're voting on a reality. Like I said, this hasn't reached reality yet.

[Steve Dace]

Next, this post from Melanie Durigo. Now Melanie, you don't know her because you shouldn't. Melanie is the executive director of an organization in New York state trying to make the state a single payer healthcare system state. She's a big activist in now and with the rainbow jihad. Okay. She posted this over the weekend. I feel like this photo of this black woman, of this black woman surrounded by dozens of masked anonymous white nationalists is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time. And of course this is the, this is the latest from the Patriot Front guys, the one white nationalist group that the Biden regime, or even pretend one seemingly never went after or wasn't the least bit interested in their origins or where they came from. Now to me, I think it's an only feds production. Okay, but you guys tell me, is this fake news or not?

[Todd Erzin]

It's fake news on so many levels. I mean there's footage of this chick going around just acting like a fool and so this isn't, people are saying this isn't even a real photo. She's a real person, but she's been AI'd from the time. I don't know, but it's perfect because of who these this is either an OnlyFeds production or these are. This is the out in public anon version of all the fools online. And they just managed to have fun. The time to have their secret handshake and their Dockers commercials. It's pathetic. This is all fake and gay.

[Steve Day]

I want to read this post to you from a News Nation reporter. Back on February 6th of this year, the fallout from Trump's Truth Social. President Trump's former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney tells me this just cost the GOP the midterms in the house. I talked to several House members that are just beside themselves and they don't know how they're going to handle it on the road. Mick Mulvaney told me moments ago he spoke to another reporter about this on NewsNation. Said it's cost them the midterms. Do you have any idea what this Truth Social is about from February 6th?

[Steve Dace]

No, no clue.

[Steve Day]

In completely unrelated news, I feel like this photo of this black woman surrounded by dozens of masked, anonymous white nationalists is gonna be a defining picture of this moment in American history for a long, long time.

[Todd Erzin]

So there was just how. Just this weekend there was also another violent mob of black people. And this time they were. It's on camera beating up a white police cop. Why is. Why is that not the thing that's going to be the statement? Okay, whatever.

[Steve Dace]

I mean, to me, she looks completely comfortable. I mean, she knows she's surrounded by a bevy of federal agents.

[Steve Day]

Yep.

[Josh Dawes]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

All right, this last one is about two and a half minutes. I just want everybody to watch. All right, this is from the Fourth of July about 60 years ago. Okay, watch this.

[Donald Trump]

That's the only thing any of us have going for us. And I believe this. If tomorrow, all of us, every single one of us, gets out of bed and says, this is my country and I'm going to do good for it, we'll make the greatest step forward since a pilgrimage foot found Plymouth Rock tomorrow. Remember, this is my country and I'm going to do good for it. Just might work. We'll never know unless we give it a fair try. Oh, yeah. And there's one other thing I'll say tomorrow because I say it every day of my life. God bless America. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountain to the pries to

[Josh Dawes]

the ocean widely

[Donald Trump]

God bless America My home sweet home God bless America Land that I love Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the

[Steve Dace]

light from above

[Donald Trump]

from the mountains to the pries to the ocean White with gold God bless America My own sweet Lord God bless America My own

[Steve Dace]

sweet. So that aired on network TV for the Fourth of July almost 60 years ago. And if you guys were not able to see it, there's John Wayne in there. Johnny Cash is in there. Ed McMahon's in there. Lucille Ball is in there. Michael Landon is in there. Rowan and Martin are in there. One of the Smothers Brothers is in there. Phyllis Diller's in there. William Shatner's in there. Lorne Greene is in there. Feels like I'm missing some folks that were very well known.

[Todd Erzin]

Did you say Lucille Ball?

[Steve Dace]

I did say Lucille Ball. TV figures from that era or the era right before that.

[Todd Erzin]

And Margaret. That's.

[Steve Dace]

And Margaret was in there. I mean, there was a. There's a lot of people in there.

[Todd Erzin]

A lot.

[Steve Dace]

All right, Fake news or not.

[Steve Day]

So you said that was about 60 years ago.

[Steve Dace]

About 60 years ago.

[Steve Day]

In the middle of the 60s.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. Which was 1968, I think, is when that ran.

[Steve Day]

Which was the. The counterculture.

[Todd Erzin]

Yep.

[Steve Day]

Totally different country. Fake news that never. That never existed. Right. That country never existed.

[Steve Dace]

It's not in your lifetime.

[Steve Day]

I was. I was born in 93.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Day]

Fake news that never. That country never exist.

[Todd Erzin]

I'll say fake news in that even most people that look at that fondly and say, we wish we could go back. If you just said, okay, here's the 10 bullet points. If we just do this now. And they're. They're doable. They want to. They wouldn't want to do them because that was a people. Without all the tech that we have, without all of the air conditioning, without all of the things that we just.

[Steve Dace]

You keep air conditioning out your mouth. All right, We.

[Todd Erzin]

We don't see. I mean, we just don't. We really don't want that anymore. That's because it's not unattainable. It's a decision. And most people like nostalgia, but they don't like reality. And that, to the degree that was reality, it came with duties and requirements and beliefs. We've moved on to other things.

[Steve Day]

The other things we've moved on to is. You remember mid March of 2020, when

[Steve Dace]

they all sing Imagine? Is that where you're gonna go? Yeah, I thought about that.

[Steve Day]

That was precisely where I was going to go.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah.

[Steve Day]

So we're on to other things. It's not bigger and better.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. When this aired, Imagine would not even be a song, a single for, like, another two or three more years. I think that was 70 71, that was like John Lennon's first big hit after the Beatles broke up was Imagine so. So, Aaron, you're saying that our celebrity culture would not be capable of manifesting something like this today, Is that what you're saying?

[Steve Day]

Hell, no.

[Steve Dace]

All right, let's, let's, let's look at some.

[Todd Erzin]

But most average Americans aren't either.

[Steve Dace]

Are we sure. Are we sure you couldn't. That Tom Cruise. Would Tom Cruise say what John Wayne said there? Oh, yeah. In terms of a commiserate major star. Tom. John Wayne at that point, the most bankable star in Hollywood history at that stage of his life. Tom Cruise right now the most bankable star in Hollywood history. Right. So one for one comparison would. Would Tom Cruise. I mean, it'd be. It'd be different. It's the 21st century now. 60, almost 60 years later. But the spirit of what you heard John Wayne say there, to kick something like this off, would Tom Cruise do that, do you think?

[Todd Erzin]

I think Tom Cruise probably.

[Steve Dace]

I think he probably would too.

[Steve Day]

But he's like 60 now, isn't he?

[Steve Dace]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Day]

Chris Pratt.

[Steve Dace]

So who would be in this today? Chris Pratt, I think would be in it today. Agreed. Off the top of my head and not. And with all due respect, love Rob Schneider. Ok. You can do it. Okay. Love Rob Schneider. We're talking people that haven't, like, completely revealed themselves as being among us, that are still considered mainstream draws. Right. We kind of all know that Chris is one of us, but it's kind of like wink, wink, nod, nod kind of thing, you know? Right. Okay. You know, we kind of know. You know, he gives us code words.

[Todd Erzin]

That's. McConaughey would do it.

[Steve Dace]

McConaughey would do It.

[Todd Erzin]

But it's not about it. As bad as. Even if we flesh this out and get to 10, the. It's the other side of the camera. Everybody was sitting down in front of their T's.

[Steve Day]

Now they are the. What the. What was the poll? There's been multiple polls that have come out. Democrats not proud to be an American. Like, majorities. That's what Todd is. They are the ones behind.

[Todd Erzin]

We just saw Scott Wiener get thrown under the bus for daring to think Israel had a right to. No, it's not going to work.

[Steve Dace]

Pop Culture Tuesday is next. The steve day show.

[Todd Erzin]

All right.

[Steve Dace]

The conversation we were just having, I think carries perfectly into Pop Culture Tuesday. So during the break, we're going to get to the soccer stuff, I promise, because that is the topic of the moment. But, but I think we've got a dangling part of Sybil here, a loop that I think we need to close. So during the break, I tried to see if it's just off the top of my head, I could come up with 10 relatively still popular mainstream to very popular mainstream celebrities that would do something our. For our era. Something akin to what you saw John Wayne pull together with his various relationships and connections almost 60 years ago on network TV for the 4th of July that we just watched. Right. Okay, here are some names I am confident would do this. All right, Tom Cruise. I just came up. My goal is to come up with 10. I am confident all 10 of these guys would do this. Tom Cruise, Chris Pratt. Stop me if you think it's a no. Matthew McConaughey, Garth Brooks, Adam Sandler, Billy Bob Thornton, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Costner, Sylvester Stallone, Charlie Sheen. I am confident all 10 of them would do it.

[Todd Erzin]

I'm.

[Steve Dace]

You're not confident?

[Todd Erzin]

No.

[Steve Dace]

Which one are you the least confident in?

[Todd Erzin]

Oh, there were several. Well, there. Sandler.

[Steve Dace]

Really?

[Steve Day]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Dace]

Because he's like a. He's been a pretty big right winger for a long time.

[Todd Erzin]

Again, it's what's on the other side of the camera. Why? I just don't. It's not the same world. Why would they do this? I'm not even confident. Like I said, I threw McConaughey out there. I'm reasonably confident of it, but I just don't think this is. The whole thing is not even marketable. Well, people would ask. They're entertainers. They're also businessmen. Why are we doing this? What's the point again? Just going to get hated for it. Even the people that like this stuff take it for granted all the time.

[Steve Dace]

What struck me, though, before I even got to your level of depression, I can tell one of us had their basement flow for the weekend because I disagree. I think all 10 of these would do it. I do. But I think your larger point of who's the audience for this, I do think is also important too. I agree with that as well. What. What struck me, though, is this. I came up with the list of these 10 guys and a few others I could have put on here, too, that I just only thought 10 was enough for now. And I, for the life of me, now, I only had two and a half minutes here during this commercial break. I thought of it halfway through the break, which is a six minute break. So I had three minutes. I wrote these 10 names down at about 30, 45 seconds, and then the rest of the Time I thought, who's my woman? We mentioned Lucille Ball was on there. Right. Phyllis Diller was on there. Right. Okay. And Margaret was on there. Right. Okay. Who's the. Who are the women on that would do this that are still mainstream successes? And I was struggling to come up with them.

[Todd Erzin]

Patricia Heaton.

[Steve Dace]

Is she still a mainstream success, though? She's very much identified with us now, which is why, for example, Kelsey Grammer is kind of having a career renaissance. But I didn't put him on this list because he's kind of identified with us now, you know, and so I kind of would put Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammer kind of in the. In the same camp. I could not come up with a woman. I'm sure there is somebody. I couldn't think of who that was. Can you guys think of someone?

[Todd Erzin]

Well, you got the one I thought of.

[Steve Dace]

Okay. I'm sure there's got to be some contemporary country stars that would do it. Who's the pop woman that everybody thinks is a right winger? If you said her name, I would know it. She's talking about her husband and how much she loves her husband and stuff all the time. There's like, a major pop star that I think people think is a right winger.

[Steve Day]

Who is the actress we were talking about earlier this year? Sydney Sweeney. Would she do this?

[Steve Dace]

That's a good show with Sydney Sweeney. Do you think I could see her doing it? Maybe that's one. I could see her doing it.

[Todd Erzin]

I don't think so.

[Steve Dace]

No. I think I just came up with somebody and I forgot who it was that I thought would maybe do it. But I think this is kind of. I think this is what's more fascinating. Coming up with women that I think would do it is way harder that are. Oh, the gal from no Doubt who's out there working on Hallow with. I didn't even.

[Todd Erzin]

Gwen Stefani.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah. She's out there partnering with Mark. Mark Wahlberg on that. And Mark Wahlberg, I think, would absolutely do it. He wasn't on my list. All right, so if you want to toss Adam Sandler out, we'll put Mark Wahlberg in there. He's arguably a bigger star anyway. Maybe Gwen Stefani would do it. You know, there's a lot of thought that she's kind of a closet right winger. There's another contemporary pop star in that Olivia Rodrigo realm that our daughters pay attention to that I don't know anything about that. People think is kind of a saved herself for marriage, is doting on her husband. There's a lot of talk that she's kind of like a closet right winger. I just can't think of the name.

[Todd Erzin]

People have moved on TV movies, even from movies. I mean, look at the best you can say for what Christopher Nolan was trying to accomplish was give an Odyssey that the younger generation would actually care about the classics by casting very young Spider man, his, you know, Zendaya, things like that. And then also try a version of Hamilton, you know, where race doesn't matter, you know. Okay. But even now that people are like, this is so upside down and Nolan is as trusted as anybody else. My point about TV movies, nobody cares. Nobody would want to sit down even if they would do. Would go over like a fart in church.

[Steve Dace]

I think what you're saying is now that maybe. I think you've clarified your position, I think even better by invoking what's happened with Nolan in the Odyssey, that if you assume a guy like Nolan, remember, Nolan was the guy demanding the theaters would open and everything, and he held his movie out.

[Todd Erzin]

Yes.

[Steve Dace]

Okay. I mean, Nolan's been a guy that. I mean, if you go back and watch the Dark Knight Rises, that came out in 2012, a presidential election year. Remember Ben Shapiro's review for Breitbart? That's. How long ago was that? That was. Ben was still writing for Breitbart back then. He was talking about Mitt Romney, essentially is the hero. I mean, that's. He wasn't wrong. Rich guy saves up all his money, you know, and tries to save it from the Occupy Wall Street Marxists. That was kind of the analogy of Romney as the GOP nominee that year. I mean, Nolan has been willing to defy a lot of the woke conventions of his entire career and has been a huge success for it. And now all of a sudden, with this classic of Western literature, now he wants to go ahead and glom on to the identity carousel. Right. When it's dying out in terms of popularity with the consumer. If he's doing that for the reasons that you're claiming, which is possible looking at his track record, I think it's possible. The problem he's running into is the audience he's trying to appeal to will not hear it.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

They don't. They don't want. They don't want Western civilization in any form. They're trying to destroy it.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

And so what you end up with that, therefore, is those of us who are appreciative of Western civilization and maintaining it as a heritage and passing it on. We look at then I can never pronounce her name right. And I don't want to butcher it, so I'm not going to try. But she's an outstanding actress. I've seen her in many things over the years. But having. If. If she's. If she's Helen of Troy, I'm Aunt Jemima. Okay. She's not Helen of Troy. Right? She's not.

[Todd Erzin]

That's just Lupita.

[Steve Dace]

Yeah, Yeah. I can't ever remember her name, and I didn't want to butcher it. She is a great actress, but she's also not. She's also not Helen of Troy.

[Todd Erzin]

Right.

[Steve Dace]

I mean, it's a. It's akin to casting. Archie Bunker is Shaka Zulu. What are we doing here? Okay. And so the problem is the audience that you're trying. And this is what you're. I think you're trying to say, the audience that you're trying to placate for this on the other side of the camera will not be placated because they want to destroy things like Homer's Odyssey. And then. And then when they ask that actress, Right. You see that clip going around over the weekend, well, what's your view of the Odyssey and what you think? I mean, she starts to lecture Homer about why there wasn't more feminist, you know, voices in. In the. The. In the. The In. Or. Or the Odyssey. Right.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

And so therefore, you can't appease one side of the part that doesn't want it to be. They want to be iconoclasts, stained glass window smashers. And then those of us that are into this content, all you're doing is offending us. So you're in a no man's land, is that what you're saying?

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, and I listen. Nostalgia is okay if it legitimately plants seeds in the future. And I assume Nolan was smart enough to figure out what I'm saying. The 10 guys on your list would figure out I. Why there's. There's the opposite of a payday for me on this. It's all gonna boomerang back on me, and quite frankly, none of. With very rare exceptions like Tom Cruise and Top Gun. It's like you don't. You don't get paid back for that level of patriotism in this country.

[Steve Dace]

That's fair. All right, Aaron, you good on this? You ready to move on? Let's get to the soccer topic, then. On a Pop Culture Tuesday, what is more likely that the United States, with the crowds and the TV ratings and everything else, this World cup being hosted here, the run of the US Team, which sadly ended last night for those who watched against Belgium. And I didn't watch a second of it, but I'm also an American, so I to me, if we're going to be in anything, we might as well go ahead and win it. Whether it's the World cup or a war, whether I want to be in it or not. If we're going to be in it, we might as well win it. Not to mention the idea, I kind of like the idea of punking the world at something that they care where way more about than we do. That's kind of the most American thing ever, and we'll just give it a shot and still punk you anyway. But the US team got eliminated last night. So what's more likely the, the lasting cultural impact here, this soccer moment here at home, or how much the rest of the world got in, particularly Europeans got to see Americana up close and personal. Aaron, you were talking about the Japanese tourists coming here earlier in the year, right. And then going back home and just amazed at how much, you know of Americana and cowboys and pizzas and everything else, Right? So now we've got Europeans leaving all these videos about Costco and, and BUC EE's and Interstates and ball games and air conditioning and all these kinds of things. Then how nice the people are. And this is nothing at all like what they were told in their, their factories of indoctrination back in Europe. And this is way better and way cooler than they would have imagined. Which of those two propositions, a transcendent soccer moment here at home or goodwill built in towards America abroad? Which one of those trends is more likely to survive live longer than this World Cup?

[Todd Erzin]

I don't think either one of them is particularly likely, but I.

[Steve Dace]

That's the most hot answer. Two positives, and neither one of them will happen.

[Todd Erzin]

But the most likely one is, is Europe actually for a little while having a bit of a honeymoon, at least amongst a certain generation. You know, I don't exactly know the demographic country to country across the world. I mean, it's amazing. These tickets are cheap and third world nations are coming over, you know, to watch. So it, it's a vacation they've been planning for their entire lives. I don't know. But soccer is already in trouble in America because, you know, I've had a front row seat to this participation on youth soccer and it's happening in other sports as well, but was already going down because it's becoming too cost prohibitive and you have a lot of other options on the table. The irony of this thing is, and I've talked these, the States have been flooded with coaches from Britain, and they can't get jobs over there in England to coach soccer because it's just so saturated. So they come over here, and then the price we have to pay to have our kids play there is getting ridiculous, and the draw on your time is too much. So soccer is already in trouble. Participation is down. So even if they won the World cup this year, it would help. But seeds were planted already for this. The decline or just a flatlining of soccer in America.

[Steve Day]

It's funny, I almost agreed word for word, minus the last specific part. Kind of a perspective that Todd, amongst the three of us, uniquely has. But I don't necessarily think either will happen. We're talking about scant minorities of a lot of these countries who are actually coming over here. To the extent, though, that we see those tourists, there was just another one, a German tourist in Boston who stayed even after Germany was knocked out and just coming to tears with how kind and how amazing America was. You know, that's great. He'll go back and maybe he'll tell his countrymen, hey, it's not as bad as some of the stereotypes or some of the propaganda that we've been fed. It's not nearly as bad. But I think that probably has the best chance of. Of having a more lasting effect. I think soccer in this country, if we were perennially good at it, it would be another thing. Like, I saw a post. I saw a post, hey, no more excuses for the rest of the country, for the rest of the summer to have 10 beers on a weeknight, legitimately. 10, 10 beers on a weeknight because the US got knocked out. I think that's more of the appeal or the allure of basically any sport right now. It's just for a lot of people, for a lot of men, it's just an excuse to check out. It's just an excuse to kind of carouse. It's an excuse to just enjoy the largess. Let's call it that.

[Todd Erzin]

And we've got the main event coming up here for six months.

[Steve Day]

So I just. I think that's really where a lot of sports kind of start and stop. It's just an excuse to check out for another couple of hours, two, three hours on the weekend, or if we can get it on a weeknight, something that's big and important. I just don't think there's much appeal to soccer, particularly right now.

[Steve Dace]

Have we made Generational inroads with young Europeans getting access to Americana in ways that their local indoctrination would not permit them otherwise.

[Todd Erzin]

I said there might be a honeymoon, some nice memories. I don't. Here's my. I'll use the same standard. How did the great, legitimately great superhero movies of recent vintage had real lessons of valor. Did they translate over into the public here at large in terms of the

[Steve Dace]

men doing it is kind of ironic that in 2019, the number one movie in the world, its money line was whatever it takes.

[Steve Day]

Yeah.

[Steve Dace]

And then within six months after that film's theatrical run ended, or eight months within that film's theatrical run ending, we all decided to shut the entire world down over a glorified fluid.

[Todd Erzin]

It's not a shtick, I swear. I believe this to my very core. I don't. The public is the joker in that. In the Joaquin Phoenix.

[Steve Dace]

I don't believe in anything.

[Todd Erzin]

I don't believe in anything. And we don't. And let's stop lying to ourselves about that. We don't. So, no, they're gonna go back to Europe and then it's just full on Europe. There might be a bit of a honeymoon, but we either we have men without chests or we should just, you know, stop lying to ourselves. At the very least, nostalgia is not going to overcome the degree Aaron said we. Our men like to check out. They're not serious people.

[Steve Dace]

Aaron. You get the last minute.

[Steve Day]

I just. This World cup experience, I mean, I saw last night just flood of, hey, we don't have to pretend to care about soccer. It's not that I don't think anybody cared about soccer.

[Steve Dace]

I was a part of that, by the way. I helped that fight.

[Steve Day]

Yes, it was. This is just another excuse to kind of distract ourselves, you know, the World cup is here. United States didn't do any better than the last World Cup. Right, Todd? It was kind of the same result.

[Todd Erzin]

Yeah, Right.

[Steve Day]

It was just again, an excuse to check out for a little bit. That's kind of how I see this World Cup.

[Todd Erzin]

And they need it. Here's what a great point. And they need it so bad that they even go to the things that they claim that they loathe, like soccer, to get it if they have to. I guess this is a doable fix until football comes along.

[Steve Dace]

Carrie Underwood and Nicki Minaj, those are the two suggestions I'm getting in the inbox of women who would do that today. Carrie Underwood and Nicki Minaj. Now that's it. That's a duo. That is. That is a duo for sure. We're gonna stick around and do overtime for the rest. You see. Tomorrow. Go hard. Romans 8:28.