Is It FINALLY Time to Leave NATO? | Guest: Jordan Schachtel | 4/3/26

Summary

Steve Deace Show | "Is it FINALLY Time to Leave NATO?"

Host: Steve Deace | Blaze Podcast Network
Guest: Jordan Schachtel
Date: April 3, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the current controversies and shifting alliances in American conservatism, focusing on the status of NATO, the future of U.S. foreign policy, and the internal struggles facing the Republican Party. Featuring guest Jordan Schachtel, a seasoned national security commentator, the conversation also explores domestic political dynamics, particularly the effectiveness of Republican leadership and the influence of populist voices. The program maintains its signature principled conservatism with sharp, witty banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump Administration Shakeup: Attorney General Firing

• [00:00–06:04]
  • Steve, Todd, and Aaron address Pam Bondi's removal as Attorney General, arguing the role is now "the most important job in the executive branch other than president."
  • Steve insists the new AG must be a "Pete Hegseth-level stone cold killer" (metaphorically), someone both adult and sane—not a grandstander, but a real power wielder.
    • Quote: "This is not hyperbole to say that this could be an appointment that determines the direction of the rest of the Trump era and presidency." — Steve [03:40]
  • Panel skepticism prevails about the odds of getting a truly transformative AG.

2. Day's Group: The State of Progressive & Leftist Messaging

• [06:04–17:18]
  • A rapid-fire satirical collage ("bleep lord nefarious") of recent progressive rhetoric, with Steve and panel responding.
  • Jordan Schachtel finds Don Lemon’s political ambitions both "vile and insightful," critiquing media egos.
    • Quote: "This is an epidemic in the media... Everyone thinks that they can be president, governor, but very few leave the studio to attempt any of these ambitions." — Jordan [11:13]
  • Panel discusses the erasure of inconvenient immigrant narratives and the politicization of immigrant tragedies.
  • Irony pointed out: Progressive leaders seem disconnected, blaming policies on constraints only Trump allegedly imposes.
  • The comedic segment "Gays of Hormuz" is highlighted as the year’s most absurd, yet revealing, political moment.

3. The NATO Dilemma

• [17:19–29:54]
  • Trump and Rubio’s recent critiques of NATO’s value and one-way street of obligations frame the discussion.
  • Jordan Schachtel:
    • Agrees NATO’s Cold War-era purpose is obsolete but says arms sales remain a benefit for the U.S.
    • Argues European members’ coziness with China undermines alliance.
    • Quote: "Strategic purpose of NATO is long past due to be reexamined... there's some benefits... but ideologically it’s fast going extinct." — Jordan [18:42]
  • Steve suggests transactional, not traditional, calculus: if mutual values are gone, NATO should be dollar-for-dollar.
  • Aaron posits leaving NATO could force Europe to "grow up" or reveal their dependency and drift to China.
    • Quote: "It’s a loving thing to do to give Europe the chance to actually fend for itself." — Aaron [27:40]
  • Consensus: No immediate U.S. exit from NATO expected—status quo inertia will persist.

4. GOP's Midterm Prospects & Legislative Stagnation

• [32:12–41:46]
  • Recent polling shows GOP struggling with Independents. Special elections and operational failures (e.g., border/budget deals) discussed.
  • Panel debates achievable wins: Passing the SAVE Act (border/immigration), symbolic votes condemning political violence, and fixing communications strategy.
    • Quote: "It's not one specific bill, but there needs to be a lot better of unified message... It’s just all doom, gloom, Epstein conspiracies." — Jordan [36:58]
  • Steve pushes: Even if the administration pulled out of Iran, what domestic reforms are possible?
  • Exit question: Will they fix anything? All but Jordan say "no."

5. GOP Power Struggle: Trump vs. Senate Leadership

• [41:46–44:39]
  • Who really controls the Republican Party?
  • Todd: John Thune wields more domestic control than Trump, despite rhetoric.
    • Quote: "Thune just keeps going back, doing it over and over and over to us because it's value added. He's going to do whatever the hell he wants to. He's invincible." — Todd [41:55]
  • Jordan: Sees an ongoing power struggle, but not a failed system; activism can still drive real change.

6. Feedback Friday: Deep Dives into Listener Questions

• [51:25–77:59]
  • Bundling Theology Thursday content — feasible, may be tackled soon.
  • Memorializing a local radio host and a discussion of family legacies.
  • Defining "anti-Zionism" vs. "Marcionism" (theological heresy of Old/New Testament separation) in response to listener inquiry about Tucker Carlson:
    • Quote: "You can be an anti-Zionist and not a Marcionite... but in practice, it’s pretty impossible." — Aaron [63:12]
  • Extended segment: The cultural and spiritual confusion among young men online; calls for older men to lead by example.

7. Key Quotes & Memorable Exchanges

• On Don Lemon’s Ego:

  • Jordan: "I see this happening all the time in the media where personalities start reading their own news and it's very unfortunate that this is. This is an epidemic in the media."
    • [11:13]

• On NATO:

  • Steve: "There has to be some leverage in here... we're happy to keep NATO together... every dollar we spend, you match it dollar for dollar. At the very least."
    • [21:49]

• On the GOP's Future:

  • Aaron: "All we can do is so low that I don't actually expect them to do anything. I don't. So I'm trying to look for the most effective symbolic victories."
    • [36:45]

• On Masculine Leadership:

  • Steve: "We skipped pretty much a generation of this... A man is somebody who does what he knows is right, even when he doesn't want to do it because he loves the people he's doing it for more than he loves himself."
    • [92:04]

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Notable Timestamps

• [00:00] – Pam Bondi fired as Attorney General, setting table for broader discussion.
• [06:04] – Day's Group: Progressive soundbite montage and reaction.
• [17:19] – Is it finally time to leave NATO?
• [32:12] – What Republicans could fix to improve midterm chances.
• [41:46] – Who runs the GOP: Trump or Senate leadership?
• [51:25] – Feedback Friday: Theology, anti-Zionism, masculine leadership.

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Tone & Final Thoughts

True to Steve Deace’s style, the episode is a cocktail of snark, deep institutional critique, and urgent calls for principled leadership—laced with both hope and cynicism. Jordan Schachtel’s expertise enriches the debates, especially on NATO and U.S. foreign policy. The conversations are dense with current references and sharp humor, appealing to both seasoned conservative listeners and those seeking a counter-establishment perspective.

The episode is a must-listen for anyone tracking the right’s evolving foreign policy, the fate of perennial institutions like NATO, and the ideological leadership struggles within the GOP. Listeners are left both challenged and motivated to consider—not just what conservatism rejects, but what it should build and defend.

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For more: Check out Feedback Friday, where Steve and the team respond to challenging theological and cultural listener questions, unfiltered. [51:25–end]

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Happy Friday. Welcome to the Steve Day show here live and on demand on Blaze tv, radio and podcast. I'm Steve Dacey's todders and he's Aaron McIntyre. Gentlemen, before we get into the brunt of the show on Friday, of course we're gonna have the day script for you feedback Friday. We had some news breaking just as we were signing off yesterday and I felt like we should take a minute or so to acknowledge it here because it is something that frankly, I've been calling for, for over a year. And the Pam Bondi reign at Attorney General should have ended the day after the whatever that binder stunt that she pulled with some of the top influencers and online voices we have in our entire movement. So let's go ahead and. Because we've got all kinds of credible people, we can just waste their credibility on stupid stuff with stunts like that, right? We got all kinds of throw on trees. Yeah, they're just everywhere. All right, people with huge audiences and credibility. Let's go ahead and blow our wad on them every chance we get. And that's exactly what she did. That, that clown show should have been a firing right away, but it wasn't. And she was permitted to do whatever it is that she's been doing for the last year. She has been reassigned. There is an interim there, her deputy Todd Blanch, that our own Sarah Gonzalez said will be 100 times worse than Pam Bondi if she, if he gets the job. Okay, so there's a lot of rumors about what finally was the reason that, that Trump decided to move on. You know, our policy on the show typically has been the entire Trump era. So this is going on 10 years now. Anything from an anonymous source, either way, we tend not to respond to. So I don't want to get into any of those rumors. I just want to talk about real quick what must come next. What must come next is there, must be. This is the most at this stage of our republic, I believe Attorney General is the most important job in the executive branch other than president itself. There needs to be a Pete Hegseth level stone cold killer, given that job. Has to be, has to be, has to be, has to be a stone code killer in that job. You know, I could give you a handful of names, but it's not about the name, it's about the profile. Somebody who is a stone cold killer, metaphorically speaking, of course, to Eloise over at right wing Watch. But we, we, we need a Pete Hegseth level of, of, of, of, of of power wielder in that position. We have to have that. This has been this position for virtually the entire Trump presidency, except for the one thing Bill Barr did in the year he had the job, which was a very important thing, which was shut down, the Russia collusion thing. But then he basically did nothing else on nothing else. Played the bagpipes once and took a snotty sip of water. That's what he did the rest of the year after that. This position has been a problem throughout both of Trump's administrations. Okay. And I just, to me, it's inexcusable. The guy that watched the DOJ get weaponized to essentially try to put him in prison for maybe the rest of his life. We. We have to have a Pete Heath level figure, meaning someone who's an adult, sane, okay. But a killer. Not, you know, Matt GAETZ in between 16 facelifts, having Douglas McKinnon on to say that Iran's completely decimated the US military three minutes into operation Epic Fury. An adult, sane, but a killer. Right? Check all three of those boxes like a Pete Hegset does. That is what that position needs. It's not hyperbole to say that this could be an appointment that determines the direction of the rest of the Trump era. And presidency has that potential, I believe. Thoughts on that, and then we'll get to the day. Screw.

[B]

I'm just preparing to be disappointed because what you just said is so obvious that it is inexcusable. And that was the nature of the hire. When he hired Pam Bondi, no one said, oh, yeah, we got our gal then either. Yet the fact that it happened after multiple attempts on his life, after all the lawfare to try to put him in jail again, There is a reason why this keeps happening. I don't necessarily know it. I have my guesses just like everybody else, but they're all bad. So we need that. The best we can hope for is somehow Abraham Lincoln finally finding Grant after all of the generals who couldn't cut it. I'm not going to hold my breath, though.

[A]

Aaron, you get the last word.

[C]

I've seen Lee Zeldin floated already as a potential pick for.

[A]

He's an adult, he's saying. But meh.

[C]

If your initial impulse after Pam Bondi is Lee Zeldin, I'm not gonna hold my breath. But, yeah, you could make an argument. Steve, what you're saying about the future is already in the past. Now, the first two years of the second administration of Trump have largely been shaped by a doj. It's done some Good things. One thing that they didn't get enough credit for probably, and that we didn't really cover that much because we started dropping bombs on Iran the weekend that this happened was that they arrested another like two dozen people involved with the church storming. But where are the big, high, high profile arrests? This has been the timbre of at least the administration of justice for the last two years under the second Trump administration. So it's already sh, it's already shaped his legacy in some, in some way shape or form. Whether or not two years of somebody who's a stone cold killer can undo that, I'd like to see. I'd like to, I'd like us to at least try.

[A]

Let's get to the day's group. Your weekly look at the week that was brought to you by the new book by Dr. Michael Youssef, Unholy Alliance How Progressivism Brought about an Islamist Invasion. Michael, of course, grew up in the Middle East. He's got a PhD in cultural anthropology. He traces 1400 years of cultural jihad and explains how it's now merging with the modern left here in the West. Two ideologies that seem opposed. Right? How can you be a queer for Palestine when you can't be a queer in Palestine? Well, he's going to answer that question for you and then lay out a clear six point action plan to help us respond with courage, conviction and clarity against this growing confusion. This book is out now. Get your copy of An Unholy alliance by Dr. Michael Youssef today at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Your weekly look at the week that was welcomes our good friend back, Jordan Shackle. Good to see you again, my friend. Thank you for joining us. Let's get to it right away. Issue one, bleep. Lord Nefarious says, for each other will carry us through. Yes, our love for each other will carry us through. We're here. It's not political, it's not religious, it's not ideological. There is only one solution. Communist revolution. Communist revolution. There is only one solution. There is only one solution. Tell me why you wanted to come out and what's your message for the community here?

[B]

Well, it's pretty straightforward. We have to end the assaults against working people. We have to end the assaults against immigrants.

[C]

Ultimately, we want to make sure that every community member that calls Providence home feels safe. And we can both agree that this mural behind us does not reflect Providence's values.

[A]

Here's our pledge to you, our Somali Minnesotans, your great grandchildren will still be here when that Orange clown is in the dustbin of history.

[C]

Obviously have permanent allegiance based on being

[A]

born in whatever country you're from. That's what everybody recognizes.

[C]

But you also have local allegiance when you are on the soil of this other, other sovereign. You know, if I steal someone's wallet in Japan, the. The Japanese authorities can't arrest me and prosecute me. It's allegiance meaning can they control you as a matter of law? I'm just on vacation in Japan. I'm still locally owing allegiance. In that sense, he's our current. He's our dictator.

[D]

But it doesn't make any difference in

[A]

the appearance is fraudulent, as is everything about the regime.

[C]

Think of the worst thing that you've

[A]

ever seen humans accomplish.

[B]

This is so much work. Your sign says that you tell your grandkids that you didn't stay silent.

[A]

Would you like to share what you

[B]

would like to say? No.

[A]

No.

[B]

So you did stay silent. I shout with the crowd.

[A]

I'm not a. Oh, are you going to tell your grandkids that? Nice. If I wanted to, I know people are going to think I'm crazy.

[C]

They.

[A]

This is going to be the headline, and people are going to laugh about it. I think I could be president of the United States.

[C]

I could definitely run this country better than.

[A]

Than.

[C]

Than Donald Trump.

[A]

Paper towel roll cut.

[B]

But, yes, you would see market improvement.

[A]

Do I ever think about it?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Could it happen?

[A]

Yeah, it could happen.

[D]

Isn't it a little bit homophobic that we're so focused on the Straits of Hormuz and not the case of homose?

[A]

I agree. Yes, for sure. Why do you think they're willing to leave the gays of Hormuz behind?

[D]

I think it's just history historically. Like, you know, gays have always been

[A]

very discriminated against, which is wrong on so many levels.

[D]

Even in war.

[A]

Yeah, even in war. It just takes more reform in government, obviously, and then also educating society. Just feel like if we're gonna go in there, we can't leave the gay people behind.

[D]

I don't think we should go in there at all. But if we're going to government, the gaze of H. We could turn it into Fire island for sure.

[B]

That's so good.

[A]

Let's get to it. Jordan, you can lead us off as the guest. What was the most vile of all the vile you just witnessed and why?

[D]

I. I think both vile and insightful was. Was Don Lemon and the ego of media commentators to believe that everyone loves them and wants them to be president.

[A]

What? You seem to be suspicious that there's a wide swath of people that would vote for Don Lemon to be president. What evidence do you have? What evidence do you have of such claim other than all the evidence that actually exists? What other evidence do you have, Jordan, to such a claim?

[D]

Very suspicious. But I see this happening all the time in the media where personalities start reading their own news and it's very unfortunate that this is. This is an epidemic in the media. Not just in left wing media, but in right wing media. Everyone thinks that they can be president, they can be governor, but very few ever, you know, leave the studio to attempt any of these ambitions.

[A]

What do you think, Todd? What Cheers.

[B]

The. The mayor of whatever town that was Boise, right? No painting over the mural that was

[A]

a state rep. Yeah. Okay.

[B]

I again that she was murdered in cold blood. Wasn't it just like about a month before Charlie was. I think the timing of that.

[A]

Yeah, it was very. It was, it was soon after.

[B]

Close.

[A]

Yeah. Soon after that Charlie was murdered. Yes. Yeah.

[B]

And again it's on video. Everybody saw it. Her throat slit, just trying to get home from her job. She is legitimately trying to live the immigrants American dream. And a guy who also a Ukrainian

[A]

immigrant in fact from the precious land.

[B]

But another this guy, that representative looks like you know, first or second generation like he immigrant looked like he was of Hispanic scent. But just know see that's where it's not all the lies about illegal immigrants or immigrants in general and that the melting pot and what always make no you can't even see a human being there less than a year later. No, we got to paper that over because that's not our values. I folks, the elections we're about to lose again, think about Spanish Civil War. Start thinking about camps. Think about it because that's where they want you. They hate you that bad.

[A]

To be fair, you can't expect an invading enemy army to mourn or celebrate one of the casualties of war that they caused. That doesn't typically happen. Right. There's. There's not, you know, typically, you know, memorials for the people, the casualties caused by enemy armies. They don't typically have much sympathy for the casualties they cause, do they? Go ahead, Aaron.

[C]

I'm sorry, I'm confused. And maybe you all can help me sort this out. So we have Chicago's mayor Brandon Johnson at the no Kings protest a week and a half after an illegal alien, sometimes called by Brandon Johnson's persuasion like Democrat left wingers, an illegal immigrant. We have an illegal alien executing an 18 year old college girl. Okay, cut to Brandon Johnson saying we need to stop the assaults on our immigrants. Cut to a Democrat state lawmaker carrying out the whims of a Democrat mayor in Providence saying that the mural dedicated to the slaying of an immigrant from Ukraine, Flagland, doesn't reflect our values. Cut to Tim Walls at the Yasqueen protest in the Twin Cities, saying that his promise, his special promise, he made it a very special promise to the Somalians that their great grandchildren will be here long after Donald Trump. I'm just having trouble following that messaging. Can you synthesize that? Can you make sense of that for me? Because I'm having a hard time.

[A]

I love when people like Brandon Johnson, who's the mayor of a prominent American city, acts like he's completely and totally not able to pursue his own policy goals and that there's nothing he could do. I mean, the stuff he says he cares about, that he wants to make sure happens, there's just. There's literally nothing he could do to pursue those policies, to act on them. He's completely powerless in the hands of Donald Trump. There's nothing he could do.

[B]

Maybe David Landerman has the answer.

[A]

See, I was gonna ask you about him next because the other two guys are probably too young to remember David Letterman as we once knew him. Okay. Is that performative or do you think just Keith Olberman level? I let Trump break my brain in old age and I've just lost my damn mind.

[B]

I have no doubts it's Keith Hoberman. Yeah.

[A]

So there's like, think of the worst things in all of human history, and they don't stack up to the stuff that we're doing right now.

[B]

And how many times in all of

[A]

human history and how many times did

[B]

Dave Letterman invite Donald So he knows the man personally?

[A]

Right.

[B]

That's still.

[C]

Do you like the geriatric commie excursion? David Letterman saying this is the worst thing in human history. Cut to I didn't keep silent. I'm going to tell my grandkids I shouted with the crowd. That was a nice little geriatric commie excursion there.

[A]

Indeed, indeed. Let's get to the exit question. I don't know that anything's going to be Gays of Hormuz, like, the whole year. I mean, if there is something this year that tops it, I might put myself through the Denver TSA voluntarily just to go ahead and put myself out of my misery. If there's anything dumber, more retarded and funnier than that, and also depressing, then I. I'm not sure I Want to lay eyes on it? And it's April 3rd. Exit question on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the likelihood Lindsey Graham lusted after a single woman that he just saw at Disney World, and 10 being the likelihood that what he did with that bubble wand that he got at Disney World would be considered a crime against nature. Rank this week's level of total depravity. Todd 10. Aaron 8. What? 8. Yeah. Wow.

[D]

Jordan, it's a 10 again.

[A]

It's an absolute 10. I mean, that is an absolute. That's, that's, that's a rock solid 10 right there. No doubt.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's get to issue two. Is NATO toast? Should it be?

[C]

Both President Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been highly critical of our so called allies in NATO this week, including the latter saying the

[A]

United States is constantly being asked to help in a war and we have more than any other country in the war in the world on a war that's happening in another continent in Ukraine. But when the US Had a need, he didn't get proper positive responses. So right now he's just making the observation that I think there was a couple of leaders in Europe who said that this was not Europe's war. Well, Ukraine is not America's war. And yet we've contributed more to that fight than anything other country in the world.

[C]

And I've been a big supporter of

[A]

NATO and one of the reasons why I've been a supporter of NATO is because I believe that these basing rights give us leverage and give us flexibility and operational capability all over the world. But if NATO is just about us

[C]

defending Europe if they're attacked, but them

[A]

denying us basing rights when we need them, that's not a very good arrangement. That's a hard one to stay engaged in and say this is good for the United States. So all of them is going to

[C]

have to be revised, examined.

[A]

All right, so back in the day, Jordan, this is how we first connected with you. You used to be one of The National Security SMEs here at the Blaze. So this one and your topic is right in your wheelhouse. All right, Has NATO outlived its usefulness? What do you think?

[D]

So I agree with, with the, with some of the answers that I've heard about NATO outliving its usefulness. However, NATO is an important asset for the United States because it allows for our defense industry to sell the cool things that it has to the Europeans. And the Europeans are faithful buyers of NATO aligned apparatus and assets. And all Kinds of stuff that makes, that goes boom. However, I think the strategic purpose of NATO is long past due to be re examined. The problem that we run into, and this really deserves like a three hour lecture, but the problem we run into is that we, I think that sober minded people realize that China's a big threat. We should have some kind of alliance to deter and combat China's influence operations and how they're pushing around all of our allies in East Asia. The problem is that our European allies don't feel the same way about China. They are very open not just to trade with China like us, but also, you know, economic and you know, bolstered economic and political relations. And whenever we talk to the Trump administration, talks to them about it, they complain and say, oh, the US is pushing us away. So you know, we have to open our doors to China. Which is kind of like a cop out entirely. But, but yeah, I think NATO is in desperate need of reform. But you know, unfortunately I don't have all the answers or how that exactly works. I think that you know, it's pretty much as outlived its cold war purpose. But there are some, there's some benefits to NATO like the arms sales and the equipment sales, but in terms like ideologically it's, you know, it's fast going extinct.

[A]

If he could, if he could, do you think that there's anything Keir Starmer would not do to the British people that Xi does in China? If he could, is there anything he wouldn't do?

[D]

The British political class is extremely authoritarian. We saw this during COVID Instinctively, you know, they're there for censorship, regulation, shutting everything down. Um, they are, you know, the, what we think of when we think of like the Revolutionary War and you know, the, the evil monarchs and they're kind of embracing that, that new identity under a different political regime. And you know, there's a lot of bad foreign actors with a lot of influence over the UK government. You can see it. The Islamic infiltration is basically a death sentence. And they, you know, they don't, they don't really have a navy. I read that, you know, none of, none of their military stuff actually works. Like they don't have a functional aircraft carrier right now. This is a, you know, a famous hundreds year empire naval empire that does not have a functioning navy basically. So it's sad to see that in the addition to the authoritarianism.

[A]

So then there's got to be an answer here. All right. If we have the really the only military that ultimately matters on this planet because it's the best one. So if we have the only one, we have almost no values in common with these people at all. If they weren't limited by what's left of the restraints of government that Western civilization commands, they would act and behave exactly like the Chinese do. And if they're already cozying up to the Chinese now, there has to be some leverage in here, Jordan, to at the very least just simply say, hey, we're happy to keep NATO together. We're not giving you guys like a red cent until you match every dollar for dollar. How's that? At the very least, very least, very least, every missile, you match it. As the other 31 countries, every missile we fire, you match it missile for missile. Every ship we send, you match it ship for ship. Every dollar we spend, we match it dollar for dollar. At the very least, I think we ought to demand that, yeah, I think

[D]

that our so called allies, whatever you want to call them in Europe, they know that the President and the Trump administration are always watching the markets carefully. So they kind of use that to their advantage when they're negotiating over whether to let our flights land or to offer military support, which they haven't offered any to the Iran effort. So I think that they know that we're a little handicapped. They want to see the spike in oil prices means that their leverage increases against us. But I think long term, you're right. Enough is enough with these games. And if we're going to be the only country keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, there should be a cost to pay to pay for that. They should somehow find a way to help us out on other fronts. It's just such a one way relationship right now.

[A]

All right, Todd, what do you think?

[B]

Well, the entrance of Trump on the scene instantly raised this question on the other side amongst all those so called allies because they had relied for a long time on everybody here in America, whether a Republican or Democr. You know, these are august institutions. This is the way things have always been done. These are the secret handshakes. And Donald Trump comes along and there's this sense that he, like, this is what really worried him. This is why Covid ultimately came along, that he just didn't care about anything of that, which isn't even true. Donald Trump really loves a lot of that stuff. But there was enough of a worry, a concern that he could not just be put into the same lane as everybody else. We saw it Republican, Democrat, in terms of the Middle east negotiations over the years, he was just a different cat and So I understand the worry over there on their end, but I don't. There's not enough backing and support from anybody other than Donald Trump over here on the right or the left, which points to my original psychosis to back him on this. Once again, you're talking about reinforcing the tit for tat in NATO. Well, look what he tried to do with tariffs and a judge swoops in and does something, they would just do the same thing here. And the American people, as much as they talk about American first, they also like to travel and they want goods from everywhere across the world. I don't think anybody's really willing to make the sacrifices that it would cost to go in on things like NATO or a lot of other things. Ending NATO or a lot of other things.

[C]

Aaron, I think the most loving and compassionate thing we could do for Europe NATO is to leave. I really do think that is a loving thing to do because I think you would see one. I'm just armchair geopolitic. Geopolitic in this. I think one of three things happens. One, a lot of these countries seeking some sort of, seeking some sort of economic leverage, seeking some sort of economic relationship, run into the arms of China. Well, if we're essentially talking about these countries as, as basically dependents of the United States, do you really want a dependency that's just gonna, at the drop of a hat, go run to China anyway? I don't think that makes for good allies. I think, number two, it might probably not, but it might serve as a wake up call, meaning, hey, we can't actually defend ourselves. We have to defend ourselves. We can't right now without the backing of the United States. We need to get serious about shoring up our own defenses. What are the things that are standing in the way of that? All of this utopianism that we try to pursue via policy and letting in the third world immigrants from nations unknown. Maybe that needs to stop. Again, I think that's a very low probability, but at least there's a possibility of that. And then I think the third thing that could happen is that they, they would just kind of wither away. And again, if you're talking about alliances, do you want alliances with countries that without us they'll just wither? Do you want alliances with countries that

[A]

sounds like subsidies, not alliances.

[C]

Correct, correct that without us they'll just go run to our enemies. Or maybe, and this is the third or the second option that I provided, but probably the least likely they might actually be able to be served a wake up Call. I think it's too late for the United Kingdom, but some of these other countries, maybe, maybe they could use a wake up call. But you can't just look at the broad number. You can't look at the big number of spending for NATO. You want to look at the per capita spending.

[A]

Mm.

[C]

And the United States has the second highest, highest per capita spending in NATO, just below Norway. Here's the other countries below us, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Finland. Not France, not Germany.

[A]

Not the ones with real.

[C]

Not the ones with real capital. They're not spending anywhere near the numbers that we are. So it's long past time. It's long past time. And I would argue it's actually a loving thing to do to give Europe the chance to actually fend for itself.

[A]

Listen, if we're not bound, you can only be bound in human relationships, really at this level by one of two things, tradition or transaction. So you either have shared traditions, enough shared values, things of that nature, all right, that you do things like support Norway and Luxembourg as subsidies, or you're, you're, you're bound then by transaction. And so Jordan gave. The only argument for NATO he gave is they're buying a heck of a lot of our munitions on the marketplace, on the open market. Okay, cool. Then moving forward, then it's just dollar for dollar. All right, we're in with the other 31. We. Every dollar we spend, the other 31 nations combined have to match every missile we fire. The other 31 nations combined have to fire every soldier we deploy. The other 31 soldiers nations combined have to deploy. Since it's no longer shared traditions, then we're just. It's just transactional. Then at that point, dollar for dollar, match.

[B]

Yeah. But part of that transaction. Is there going to be a cost on the American front? I just. Let's say for the sake of argument, I know tourism is a big thing, but they say no more Americans, no visas. Let's play this out. You're not coming here. If you're going to break this relationship with us, do you think Americans are going to resent that or going to blame?

[A]

Most of the Americans that resent that will never vote for us anyway. I would get you the ratio of Americans that resent that's probably 70, 30, 80, 20. They're people, not ours.

[B]

I would guess you got more confidence in our people than I do on that front.

[A]

No, I just think they're too lazy like me to travel abroad very much. Exit question. What's more likely to happen in the next year? We are still intact in NATO or the current Iranian regime is completely toppled. What's more likely to happen in the next 12 months? I've got 40 seconds, Todd. Go.

[B]

The American Iranian regime is not going to be toppled.

[A]

All right, Aaron, what do you think? We're still in NATO as is.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

What do you think, Jordan?

[D]

Yeah. NATO's going to be intact for a long time.

[A]

See, then I, here's the thing. I just, you know, and what is the point of doing all these disruptions and stuff if we're just not going to disrupt anything, then they're just talking points. We just ruin markets. We just wreck people's 401ks. For what then? For what do we do it for then?

[B]

Secret and just cut the just keep

[A]

the money train and the, and the and the stuff flowing and kick the can to the next generation. What's the point of doing all this angst just to keep doing everything that caused the angst in the first place? What was the point of it then? More in a moment.

[C]

Awesome. The STEVE DAY SHOW how many discounts

[A]

does USAA Auto Insurance offer?

[C]

Too many to say here. Multi vehicle discount, safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount.

[A]

How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit usaa.com autodiscounts restrictions apply. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do.

[B]

@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for

[A]

3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail]. All right, back here on the Steve Day show. We'll get back to the day scoop here in a moment. First, got to tell you about relief factor. You may need a little relief with the way some of the things are trending right now. But that's not what this supplement does. It goes after the inflammation in your joints that's often manifesting as chronic pain. Now listen, if you've got clinical issues, go get a licensed medical professional. But if you got chronic issues, that's that to lingering achy, stiffness, soreness that just won't achiness. It just won't go away. Relief factor may be what you're looking for. We're not promising you some kind of panacea or antidote, but over the years, over 1 million people have tried the three week quick start from Relief Factor. Over 70% of them saw such good results with the product, they stuck with it long term. So why don't you see if you don't see a difference in your chronic pain and quality of life in three weeks or less, especially when it's going to cost you just 20 bucks to find out, a $20 wager at 70% odds of success is a pretty good value bet. Make it today when you go to relieffactor.com again. Head over there today. Reliefactor.com let's bring back our good friend Jordan Shacktel as we continue on with your weekly look at the week that was. Let's get to issue three. What's one thing Republicans could fix right now that would help them in the 2020, 26 midterms?

[C]

Last week in the middle of the night, the Senate passed a bill that funds DHS without funding ICE and cbp, a bill that House GOP leaders called a joke before attempting to pass their own funding bill. Well, those House leaders, notably Mike Johnson, are now tucking tail. Johnson released a joint statement with Senate Majority Leader John Thune announcing support for the funding bill from the Senate that doesn't fully fund ICE and CBP and again promising those entities will be fully funded via reconciliation, the Save America Acts seemingly nowhere on the agenda.

[A]

All right, so listen, the numbers are bad, all right? And normally I would take something first of all, Fox News polling over the years has not been very good anyway. But I would take something like Fox News saying that Trump is upside down by 50 points with Independence to say puff, puff, pass, man. Puff, puff, pass. All right. But then, well, then we lost a special election in a state legislative seat two weeks ago in Trump's own district in Florida. And our base showed up. But we lost independence in that race by like 20 points and lost in Florida. So I'm inclined to think they may not be minus 50, but they're at least not where we need them to be. Right? Scott Rasmussen, not to be confused with Rasmussen polling, he did create it, but he sold it many years ago and has his own firm now. He's been showing polling that has shown essentially in the last week. In particular, support for Operation Epic Fury is on the decline. Right. And it makes sense. You know, originally told people four to five weeks. We're at that juncture right now. All right. The jobs report today was very Good. We should note that, I mean way better than was forecasted. However, this happened under Biden and it's happened a few times also under Trump where it gets forecasted down a little bit later on. Right. So I want to believe that that's great news but you know, you gotta wait a week or two to see if that forecast stands when the final numbers come out.

[C]

Right.

[A]

So what can we control? What can we fix here? Right. What is it? And Todd, I'll start with you.

[B]

Well the key point, he said what can we control that will help in the next election? Yeah, I mean I hate to be Captain Obvious, but it's the SAVE act, which is exactly why they won't do it because it's not just something people want as a obvious principle, very much like birthright citizenship. But then you can, people will want to go out and be part of the experiment right away. All right, let's. I would hope it would be a large voter turnout on the right to prove the point that this was necessary. Like look, we are going to win all the elections or it's going to be a lot easier if we just show up because they won't have their thumb on the scale with illegals. That's. But we can do that. It's the reason we're on recess right now is because we, the right doesn't want to. And as Steve has always said, they hate their base and they don't mind losing because wins for them are measured differently than they are for us.

[A]

So you mean, you mean Republican leadership? Because the right wants this very badly. Okay, just wanted to clarify that. Yeah, Aaron, go ahead. What do you think? What's one thing we could do that's achievable we could do?

[C]

I am trying, okay. I'm making a concerted effort here. I'm taking off my snarkat my curmudgeon hat. Here I am trying to do things, suggest things that are achievable with this Congress. Ok, I'm trying, I'm trying. I just wanna let that, I just, I'm putting that out there. Cuz things that I would typically suggest like take just get Democrats on the record on votes on hot button issues like trans baby killing, all of that stuff which John Thune in that interview with Fox News a couple of weeks ago said he doesn't want to do with the Save America act because that was a possibility. You recall that? So things that are actually achievable. Here's one thing, the Charlie Kirk act, an act of Congress condemning political violence and anybody who actually, you know, posits political violence, maybe even specifically, specifically mentioned in the actual Jay Jones in Virginia. How about that? Get the Democrats on the record on that. Maybe that's a layup. Maybe I'm. Maybe I'm thinking that the Democrats, you know, would fall for that ploy. Something like that. That's achievable. Right? Right. Could they do that? Would they do that?

[A]

I don't know.

[C]

I'm just at this point.

[A]

But if that's all we can.

[C]

All we can do is so low that I don't actually expect them to do anything. I don't. So I'm trying to look for the most effective symbolic victories.

[A]

All right, Jordan, floor is yours. What could they do?

[D]

As Aaron mentioned, we live in an era when the executive really dominates the legislative process, too, even though Congress is supposedly independent from the White House. My sense is, and my sources on the Hill tell me, is that, you know, House leadership takes their cues from the White House. So it's really, I guess, about a comms and a prioritization thing. Like, obviously the White House doesn't want to get blown away in the midterms either. It would be much more devastating directly for Congress. But, you know, the President doesn't want to be a lame duck in a handful of months or just a completely dismantled lame duck if it goes poorly. So I think it's really just. It's not one specific bill that you could pass, but there needs to be a lot better of unified message on Iran, on innovation, on the future of America. Just a general sense of positivity in this TikTok Instagram Reels era. It's just all doom, gloom, Epstein conspiracies, everyone's out to get me. And a lot of the, unfortunately, you know, there's select members of the Republican legislature that play into that and basically just, you know, throw a nuclear bomb into any serious effort that is being made. So, you know, it's a tough situation for the speaker and for the Trump administration, but I think it's really, you know, the biggest problem is the comms problem.

[A]

You're touching on something that I said to Todd and Aaron privately a few days ago, which is, let's just say they just, we in, in the next five minutes. Trump just said, you know what? We're just, we're done in Iran, did everything. We're coming home, putting all our focus here on at home. What's the agenda that we think they could move if they did that. You see, even if they did what some of our people want them to do and just say we're gonna pack up. We did enough, killed enough of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. All right? Israel's safe for at least the next 10 years. And now, now the whole world knows that even the Gulf states hate Iran and don't want to perpetual war in the Middle East. We proved our point right? And we've got Venezuelan crude now. We'll just put that on the market for ourselves. You guys figure out the state straight at home movers yourselves. We don't care. All right? Just came home. We're going to focus on ourselves. Okay, let's say that happened. What agenda is movable if they did that? What is.

[C]

Well, we're being told by the Senate essentially here. And I know there's different. I know it's supposed to be strictly budgetary, but we're essentially being told by the Senate we can do anything we want through reconciliation. We're gonna get more funding than we were even asking for via traditional bill funding bill for DHS and border protection. Right. That's what they're telling us. We're gonna get three years of funding for these particular aspects of ICE and cbp. So if we can do anything via reconciliation. And I know some of the things we can do like policy wise, that would get challenged in courts.

[A]

Let's make it through the Senate. What's it gonna call it? Not the sergeant in arms. I can't think of this. Whatever this is. Parliamentarian parl. Yeah. That looks after whether that even actually follows the rules of order or not.

[C]

Once again, like so you could do anything. But I do one thing really quick. I've said it a million times. I'll say it again. Congress, with very, very, very limited exception is always, for better or worse, a reflection of the people, not an aberration of it. Always, always, always. With very few exceptions.

[A]

Todd will give you the last word for the exit question. Go.

[B]

It's so obvious regarding education. Our schools, yes, largely funded by the states, but if. And I want to get rid of the Department of Education, but if we're going to have it after what we've seen with COVID and transgenderism, and they are absolutely staffed by teachers, colleges that are led by communists and groomers. When's the last time we had a national discussion about that? See, there's all kinds of things we can do and we just don't do them because their victories are different than ours.

[A]

Let's get to the exit question. Will they fix the one thing each of you said that you thought they could fix? Will they fix it.

[C]

No.

[A]

Aaron's a. No, no, no, Jordan.

[D]

I hope so. I mean, there should be a sense of urgency because it's not looking good in the midterms right now. So I hope so. I'm torn about it.

[A]

Well, that brings us to the ex. To the. No, not the, I'm sorry, the kicker topic. And you actually segued it, Jordan, when you talked about how much the House is in coordination with the White House on messaging. But we don't have a unicameral legislature. We have another chamber there. So if the House is in concert with the White House, who's the Senate in concert with then? What's the Senate working with then? And so that brings up this question, ultimately, who really runs the Republican Party, Donald Trump or John Thune?

[B]

Who really does domestically? Perception is reality amongst the people right now. It's clearly John Thune.

[A]

Why do you say that?

[B]

Because Donald Trump has insisted rhetorically, multiple ways what he wants, the SAVE act, et cetera, et cetera. And Thune not only doesn't sit there and feel any pressure to like, hum and a homina, he went on vacation, sends everybody home. There's not threatened at all, not going to do anything. Not enough people paying attention to really care that, yeah, he doesn't feel I looked. South Dakota has been. Republic hasn't had a Democratic part of its legislature since my senior year in college. Dune just keeps going back, doing it over and over and over to us because it's value added. He's going to do whatever the hell he wants to. He's invincible.

[A]

Well, they have John Curtis in Utah, the allegedly most red state in the Union, doing that appearance last week on Amnesty and the host was like, I thought we were going to argue. But no, I mean, you're completely to everybody as left as I am on it. Yeah, Aaron.

[C]

Well, it's Thune. But if you take his word at face value, he doesn't control anything either. He's told you multiple times, we don't have the votes to do this. We don't have the votes to suspend the filibuster. We don't have the votes to even pass the Save America Act. He's telling you that he's not really in control, but he's definitely in more control than Trump is domestically.

[B]

Learned that from Ditch.

[C]

Yes, that's. I didn't want to go off the board and do the cute thing where it's, oh, it's this option you didn't give me. But I was going to say Mitch

[A]

McConnell because this is the spirit of Ditch, basically. Yeah. What do you think, Jordan?

[D]

Yeah. So there's a real power struggle and I would say that despite the obvious flaws in our system in 2026, it's still better than all the rest of them. You guys know plenty of lobbyists and legislators and there's a real process in D.C. as much as we kind of despise a lot of these people, if you have enough energy, manpower and resources or if you can mobilize that, you know, you can affect change in Washington D.C. and you know, despite, you know, all the black pilling we see on the Internet, like that is a place where you can still accomplish something that you know is near and dear to your values. So there's definitely a power struggle going on between Dune and Trump. But, but I'm not so black as black pilled on the process as I think that a lot of the, you know, the online commentariat is. They seem to just have completely likened us to some like, you know, one party state where everything is impossible and to accomplish. So. But, but I think that the Senate, you know, historically and today has kind of acted to like, they, they kind of like to flex their power. It's a much more prestigious position than being, you know, a House member. So they like to kind of protect their, their power circle there.

[A]

As of Monday, there were still 84, a total of 84 Trump cabinet form of cabinet appointments or judicial appointments. It's April 2026 and there were still 84 cabinet and judicial appointments from Trump that still had not been confirmed by the Republican Senate yet. 84 on January on, on the, on April 1st, 84 blue slips.

[C]

I think we're making our way to blue slips.

[A]

We just run out of those. Can we not just like run a Hobby lobby and pick some up or they were those, are those stuck in the Straits of Hormuz? Is that a supply chain issue? I mean, we're just out of blue slips or.

[C]

I think they're at the bottom of the Potomac along with the rest of the sewage that seeped in.

[A]

Let's get to our predictions. Jordan is the guest. You go first. Go ahead.

[D]

I'm liking your Michigan squad. Oh, are we talking about politics or just general predictions?

[A]

You can make any prediction you want to, especially if it's going to be something I like. Go ahead.

[D]

My inherited Duke squad, you know, embarrassing, humiliating loss. That was awful. But I think that Michigan has, has the roster right now.

[A]

I don't know if you've seen this trend that the LAT in the last eight Times a team has eliminated Duke from the NCAA Tournament, they lost the next game. Have you seen this trend? It's a crazy trend. Yeah, the last eight times a team has eliminated Duke in the NCAA Tournament, they lost the next game. So if that trend holds, good luck for the the Illinois Fighting A line I tomorrow afternoon. All right, Todd, yours.

[B]

Based on the early receptions, JD Vance's attempts to unify the party and become the candidate for GOP president United States is not going to be made easier by the book he's putting out, which I really want to read, but it's already started a minor religious war, and it's going to to only elevate when it comes out, because that's where we are as a culture.

[A]

Why do you think it's starting in my. Because I don't know anything about it. It's new as a book about faith, and it's coming out in June. Tell me what?

[B]

Communion and My Journey to Faith, which explicitly is Catholicism.

[A]

Oh, so it's explicitly Catholic.

[B]

I don't even think it says that in the subhead. But people know he's Catholic. But the church on the COVID of the book is like a country Protestant church. And instantly it started, you know, full retard fight for no reason whatsoever.

[A]

I mean, Terry Prejean, has she chimed in yet?

[B]

I'm sure she has.

[A]

Okay, well, hopefully the people of Iraq have maps. Aaron, go ahead.

[C]

We're not going to get a fire in the belly. Stone cold killer Attorney General. And you're right, the Senate is feeling their oats right now. They will not. They'll tell Trump who will be the next Attorney general if it's not Todd Blanche.

[D]

I'm just, I'm gonna spend as a Florida man. I don't, I don't see that our governor is gonna, gonna head over to D.C. anytime soon.

[A]

I, I need to find the gays of Hormuz for myself. I mean, I, I could use little pick me up. So here's my prediction. I. I agree with Jordan. I think Michigan's going to win the NCAA tournament or my pick before the tournament. And I don't pick my team very often, but it's the best Michigan team I have seen. The game tomorrow against Arizona I think will be incredible, but I think the advantage that we have is, yes, they have a lot of size, too, but their guys that have size are 18 and 19, and our guys who have size are 22 and 23. So I don't think the margin is going to be very much because, I mean, the stat profile of these teams is incredibly similar, but I think, I think Michigan probably WINS Something like 83, 78, 84, 80, something like that. Jordan, thank you for joining us, brother. Appreciate it. Thank you.

[D]

Yeah, thanks, guys.

[A]

You bet. God bless you. We come back and it'll be your turn on a feedback Friday when we do. Stay tuned. Sa. All right, back here with hour two, live and on demand on Blaze tv, radio and podcast with todders. And I'm Steve Dace. He's Aaron mcintyre. He's the most important person. Can't just like throw him in because without him, there's no us. All right. And we would love to know what you think about what we think via the Steve Dace.com inbox. Take advantage of it by emailing the show [e-mail] that's D E A C E like us on Facebook, me, we and Gab. You can follow me @Steve Dacia1x Instagram and tick tock. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel at Day show on YouTube. That's at Day show on YouTube. And then if you wouldn't mind and you love the podcast, please leave us a five star review as tens of thousands of you have. We love you, each and every single one. We appreciate and we'd appreciate even more of those. So thank you. You can also hit follow if you're on Apple, itunes or subscribe everywhere else. And that's how you will be assured that every time we do a new episode, it is for sure right there in your podcast feed. And our portion of the show here, Feedback Friday brought to you by Conduit Clothing. There is no better time than right now to wear your faith on your sleeve here for Holy week, culminating here with Good Friday and then Easter Sunday or resurrection Sunday. And you get to do so with some really cool casual gear. Hoodies, sweats, T shirts, hats and more. All right, all kinds of cool casual gear where you literally wear your faith on your sleeve and. And you get a free hardcore ESV bible as well that you can then give away to somebody who really needs the word of God. Maybe your shirt caused a conversation and you got, you know, hey, I've got the word here with you. I've got an extra with me. I got an extra copy. I'll give it to you right now. Right, so this isn't just about cool casual gear. It's really about the great commission. Okay, so you get free shipping with the promo code Steve as well when you go to conduitclothing.com c o n d u I T C O N D U I T. Free shipping with the code steve@cuit clothing.com promo code steve. Conduit clothing. Be a conduit for christ@cuit clothing.com promo Code steve. All right, are we ready for some Feedback Friday? We are way behind on Feedback Friday notes, so I'm going to try to get through as many today as I can. Which means like four.

[B]

That's about right.

[A]

That's about right, Brian.

[B]

I'll give you six.

[A]

Six.

[B]

I'll give you six it is.

[A]

Listen, it is the season of miracles. All right, let's get to it. Brian Santillo, this one will be very quick. And Aaron, it's for you.

[C]

Oh, no.

[A]

Brian. Brian Santilla wants to know, and he's not alone. He is approximately the 7,000th person that has asked me this question. Which is good. That's good. Have you guys ever considered taking the Theology Thursday segments on Romans and putting them into a bundled downloadable package? I've been asked this, this question more times than I can count. How much work for you would that be?

[C]

Well, given we're not going to Israel, I should probably crack down on that. Honestly, that would be a great project for an intern to be sicked on. We haven't gotten any intern requests recently, but given we're not going to Israel, I'm not tied up with editing that content, so I really should get cracking on that. Okay, we've got one immediate project here in the next week that I got to get tackled first. But then after that. Yes, I should start.

[A]

So this is relatively doable then?

[C]

Yeah, I think so.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I think so.

[A]

All right. All right. So thank you, Brian. All right. Kurt Widener says, my cousin Mark left Pittsburgh soon after graduating college, ended up doing radio in Iowa. I barely knew him, and I just watched a tribute that was put together for him and believe he was standing in the gap all these years as a quiet family man that loved his wife and kids. He did a drive time show on KSCJ in Sioux City. I may be wrong, but I think his life is worth honoring, not because of the great things he did, but because how devoted he was to his family and community. So I did look up your cousin Mark, Kurt, who did pass away recently, longtime host on KSCJ in Sioux City, Iowa, which is in the far northwest corner of our state. So you're right, he was worth honoring, which is why, to honor him, we read your note, brother. So thank you very much for honoring your cousin Mark. Now, this one, This one's interesting. Diane wants to know, can you guys explain the differences between an anti Zionist and a Marcionite? Would you consider Tucker to be a Marcionite? So I alluded to this the other day. We talked about this briefly yesterday with, with John Harris, who was outstanding on yesterday's theology Thursday. Make sure you do not miss that. And let's define terms. And we're not the oracles. Like, we're not the ultimate definers of terms. We're not where the world goes to have their terms defined. Right? Okay. We're just going to do the best we can. Let's define terms for the sake of this conversation. It doesn't mean our terms are even the most precise or correct, but they're the terms that we are going to use to determine the answer to these questions. Fair? All right.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

All right. So let's. Let's define a Zionist as it's currently defined. Because this also. This also might have been defined a completely different way prior to May 15, 1948 as well. But as Todd, proud replacement theology guy, likes to keep pointing out, fulfillment theology. Thank you. Very quick clarification there. As Todd wants to keep pointing out, regardless of what your eschatology was or is, there is a nation of it called Israel. Now, we have to deal with that reality. Right? Okay. So Zionism, let's just say, is the belief that the only people that really have a historical claim on this particular plot of land are the Jews. Where the plot of land where is biblical Israel historically resided are the Jews. Are we okay with that?

[C]

That's what I would give as the classical definition.

[A]

Are we okay with that as a definition?

[C]

Claim, operative, claim, claim.

[A]

You have to fulfill a claim, right? You have to be able to defend your claim. You have to believe we'd be able to prove your claim. Okay? Right. So notice I didn't say edict. I didn't say dictate. I said claim. All right. Are we okay with that, Todd?

[B]

I'm okay with it because it's sane, but I just. It doesn't matter. You're trying hard to do something that just within Protestantism. I don't even. There's people on will just fight you right there and call you names, and it happens all the time. I'm not telling you anything you don't.

[A]

I know, but I'm not. I'm talking to Diane right now, who asked a very earnest question, okay? And she is not alone. All right, so as best as we can, let's answer it. Are we okay with that definition of Zionism? For now.

[B]

Well, I think you at least have to address that. The part about it being act the same Israel as ever was. I mean, because that's on the table, right, For a lot of people.

[A]

You mean expanding the borders like, well, into Lebanon, the West bank, which, by the way.

[B]

No, no, it's ancient.

[A]

Israelis didn't actually do themselves either.

[B]

This is prophetic Israel. It's not just historic, It's. It's not demographic. It. It. It's actual the same Israel.

[A]

Well, I think that's a separate question. I think that is a totally a separate question. Okay. I mean, you could have. You can have a. You can create a Jewish homeland that doesn't necessarily have a prophetic significance. You could just do what we did after World War II, which is, hey, you know, we. What, we just watched a holocaust happen. Okay, so how about we just give you guys a sanctuary in return?

[B]

I know you can. I'm just saying a dispensationalist is going to give her a very different answer than the one you're trying to offer.

[A]

I know, but that's. I'm hosting the show and the three of us are. So I'm not arguing for the sake of our. Since we're the ones that invoke the mar. And I am the Marcion reference to Tucker. I wanted to answer this one. So for the purposes of this discussion, are we okay with that definition?

[B]

Let's see where it goes.

[A]

All right.

[B]

It's a start.

[A]

So therefore, that would mean an anti. Zionist. Anti would mean. Against. Would mean someone who does not believe that the Jewish people. For the purposes of this discussion, someone who does not believe the Jewish people have a historical claim to that land any longer. Are we okay with that? Yes.

[B]

Or a claim. Or a claim that's any more relevant than anybody else's claim.

[A]

Anybody else? That's a good point. That's a good codicil. Okay. All right. So we're okay with that. All right.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Now let's define a Marcionite. All right. Marcion for the purpose of the succession, was maybe the biggest name in all of Gnosticism, One of the first great centralized heretics that the church confronted in its earliest days, post apostolic era, who believed that the. The New Testament needed to be divorced from the Old Testament. They're two different gods. They're not the same God, they're not the same religion or anything at all. Are we okay with that definition?

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You okay with that? Yeah. All right. Did you guys hear. And somebody, one of my buddies alerted this to me that when, when Tucker was doing an interview last week, he said, quote, I was reading the New Testament today. He thought that was very interesting. I mean, how often have you said to your friends, I'm reading the New Testament. How often have you done that? Or have you said, I'm reading the Bible? How often have you done that? Or even said, I'm reading the Old Testament. For that matter, how often do you make that line of delineation?

[C]

Usually it's, I'm reading this specific book.

[A]

Yeah. Or I'm just reading the Bible, or I'm reading Romans or I'm reading the New Testament today. All right, so with those terms established, then, can you be an anti Zionist and not a Marcionite? And I would argue. Yeah. Because of what you tried to inject into the conversation a few minutes ago. Right.

[B]

Which is why I thought we'd end up getting there sooner or later, which is now.

[A]

And that could ultimately just simply be because I think the covenant with Israel has been fulfilled and we are in the church age now. And the church is the covenantal is the primary covenantal conduit to the kingdom of God on earth and no longer the nation of Israel, that there's no historical claim there because that covenant has been fulfilled. Now, that being said, we do have a nation of Israel there. We have to deal with that. All right. I might be opposed to them expanding any of their influence further into that region because of what chaos I think it may cause, which it has caused some. Right. You could make all these various distinctions at that point. Right.

[B]

But which you wouldn't be allowed to do if it was still a prophetic covenantal as a. You'd have to say it's against God. If I didn't want you to expand to some degree.

[A]

To some degree, you would. Yeah. In this. In this viewpoint, to some degree, you would. I agree. All right. All right. Does it require me, though, divorcing the Old Testament from the New Testament and uniquely essentially assigning some form of blame to Jews and their interests for me to have the other view?

[C]

This is where it gets stick.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Because I would argue. No, it does not. And I would say that that's your difference. All right. That's your. I would say that's your difference. And that's why I think what Tucker is really arguing here is he's trying to divorce the Old Testament from the New Testament. That's what he's really arguing. And that's what most of the arguments against the term Judeo Christian are really about. And that's what most. No, I shouldn't say most. That's what too much of the whole Christ is king stuff is about, is to essentially isolate Judaism away from Christianity in a way that, that gives you permission to then other Jews. Thoughts?

[C]

This is an extremely interesting question. It shows. What's the name of the email shows?

[A]

Diane's pretty smart.

[C]

Yeah, you're thinking through these things very critically. It's a very interesting question. I think the more interesting question than that, because Gnosticism comes in many shapes, sizes, forms, flavors. Can you be an anti Zionist and not be a Gnostic? And again, I think the answer to that is is yes, in theory, but it's very hard.

[A]

But you know why it's very.

[C]

In reality it's.

[A]

You know why it's very hard? Because the nation of Israel exists, keeps coming back to. We have to deal with the fact the nation exists. You have to deal with the fact there is no military in that region that could reasonably be able to conquer Israel. Even if we were not propping Israel upon in any way, shape or form. Their military is dramatically superior to every other nation in that earth or in that region. So even if you wanted to say, if you wanted to be one of the people that says no nation has a right to exist, no nation does, except whatever rights they can secure by their own ability to defend and protect themselves. Well, whose military gives them more of a right to fulfill that claim than Israel's in that part of the world? Nobody's does.

[C]

Because if you want to claim that you're not agnostic, but you are also an anti Zionist, you have to answer the following question. What do you do with the Israelis?

[A]

Correct. What are we gonna do with all of them then?

[C]

And if your answer is displace them, kill them, send them out, the final solution type of stuff, then you've been given some sort of special, special knowledge or revelation. So that's what I'm saying. In practice it's pretty impossible to be an anti Zionist and not be a gnostic.

[A]

Not that it's not impossible, but in practice it's very difficult. Which is why you should ask people like Tucker, what do you want instead? And you guys have been hearing me say that, that publicly and privately now for well over a year. Ask Tucker what it is he really wants instead. Now he is starting to tell you. I mean, it's very clear he wants an alliance with Islam. It's very clear that he does. He lectured us on Islam at America Fest. He has gone and to. He's gone to both Qatar and Saudi Arabia and, and spoke of those nations in glowing terms. Talked about how welcome he fed as a Christian in Saudi Arabia when they're where there are no, not a single, a publicly open Christian church anywhere in the land. He'll tell you how there's more Christians in Qatar. He's right about that. There's about twice as many Christians in Qatar than Israel, but none of them are citizens and almost all of them are vagrant or migrant workers. There's 180,000 Christian citizens in Israel, meanwhile. So it's, it's pretty clear he's, he's getting there. Like the line that he dropped last week. Well, radical Islam, right? He gave that air quotes. Remember that? When he said that? He gave that air quotes, all right, who are really just, you know, people conquered by, you know, colonial interest. That's what the left thinks of as created radical Islam. He's, he's, he's beginning to tell you what he really wants. What he really wants is an alliance with Islam. It's pretty clear that's what he wants. And he's getting more and more blatant about telling you this. He. Then, then you're left with the question, then what do you do with the 9 million Jews in Israel? Then what do we do? What do we do with them then? This is why it's very difficult. As Aaron articulated, you were correct in what you were trying to get me to draw out before we got there, but you wanted me to skip the steps of how we were going to end up where you knew we needed to get.

[B]

Okay, I just knew we were getting there.

[A]

All right, but, but there was no way. But, but we need to walk the audience. The audience doesn't have time to study this at the rate people like us do for a full time job. So we have to walk them through the various steps of why this is it. It's not impossible, but it's very difficult because you keep coming back to the question that Aaron just said, well, what do we do with the 9 million Jews there then? What do we do with the fact that Israel has the most devastating military in the entire region? What do we do with that then? What do we do? We have to, those are, those are realities we must acknowledge. Correct?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure isn't. Are we getting to the point with Tucker? I think everybody agree that this is causing chaos, damage, confusion, whatever you want to do. Everybody rightly points out. And when Steve even specifically does it, you don't see me yet in the way of it. When he points out the lack of clarity coming out of this papacy and the one previous to it. Because people are going to be confused. Isn't it time we find out who Tucker's pastor is?

[A]

If he ever had me on, the first thing I'd say is, hey, before you ask me any question, where do you go to church?

[B]

Who's your pastor?

[A]

But now, like, where do you study?

[B]

It shouldn't I know, it's probably if he's going somewhere, it's a small church in Maine or something like that. And I get, just because Joe Blow in your church, you know, pops off, you are not like suddenly nationally accountable. This is Tucker Carlson. Like, if I want to know who this guy's pastor is, like, let's continue.

[A]

That's a great question. Let's take this conversation for, well, I want us to detangle from Israel. Okay, cool. So you're fine then with Israel then just doing whatever it wants without us holding them on a leash? Well, no. Well, then you need us to hold them on a leash. Well, yeah, well, we want to detangle. Well, they want. What do you want then? Yeah, what do you want? Okay, well then, well, I don't want, I don't want any more Zionist influence. Okay, do you want to arm the so called Palestinians then? Let's just go ahead and make the sectarian fight. Let's just have October 7th full time. You have to see, that's why when you're dealing with people who are smart, or at least you thought were, and they are saying things that don't preemptively answer, what are very obvious questions like this, you then have to answer what else is going on here. Like, I'll just tell you right now, Joe Webb, if he's not already, is in five minutes going to be a Marcionite. He's absolutely heading down that road 10,000%. And I haven't been following this stuff very closely, but I recognize that last year that was the, that's how that story arc was going to end. Okay, so that's the road that Tucker is going down now. He doesn't have to finish that road. Tucker could just end up being, you know, like I said the other day too, just this generation's Ron Paul where he's prophetically great on a few things and then other stuff is just wacky and zany. That just isn't what the real world is. I almost took a, I almost went to work for Ron Paul's campaign in Iowa in 2012. Then we had a debate because I Liked everything he said about disrupting and blowing the system up. Then we had a debate before the Iowa straw poll and he said, well, if I was Iran, I'd want a nuclear weapon too, to go against Israel. I'm like, yeah, I'm out. Can't do that. That's no, I mean, that's just a world that does not exist, that we want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Literally. You said that out loud, like, yeah, thanks, guys. Good luck to you. Not happening. So that's the best case scenario. The worst case scenario, Diane, is you're correct. The best case scenario is he has this wacky anti Zionist view that isn't really achievable given the realities of there is a nation of Israel, there's 9 million Jews there, and they're the best armed military in the entire region by far. All right, so that's so you can have. So on top of that, though, he still does like, like Ron Paul does incredible work on monetary policy, fiscal policy. Tucker still does great stuff on, you know, vaccines or some of the other topics, you know, when he's not talking about Israel, which that's all he does now. But some of the other stuff that he used to be talking about, you know, other than Israel, he still did like, Ron Paul does great stuff on that other stuff. But on this stuff you just know, yeah, I guess that guy's living in a world that's just not real. And you're. Listen, very few people have been more exposed to the Ron Paul movement than I have because they trained me on politics. I learned from them. And they spent years organizing our home state for Ron Paul and then ran Ron Paul twice and then ran Paul once to run for president of the United States. I mean, I had, I've had high ranking Ron Paul organizational people in my home as guests for dinner or poker night over the years. So I'm very familiar with this movement. I had a lot of friends in the movement. And that's why I tell you about 70% of the time they're 100% right. And on the other 30% of the time, you're wondering what planet are you from? That's the best case scenario for Tucker, the worst case scenario is he'll just be a smarter, well, better platform Joe Webbing and just go full Marcionite thoughts on that.

[B]

If we, we're going to get clarity sooner rather than later on all of this. If we talk to somebody other than and apply the same standard that all of these rabbit holes that he from the Tate brothers and Everybody else these

[A]

weird which is my also Muslim simps

[B]

as well which is what my kind of strange bedfellows rationale when you as I've said you were ahead of the curve on this ahead me I just thought you know Tucker was like abandoning ship on the normative ways of whatever the right was and who can blame him for that because that's been garbage. But you were absolutely right about your instincts on the deconstruction. But if let's hold him to his standard. You want to go down some weird rocks. I want to know who Your pastor

[A]

is 100% because here's what you all here's how you can tell whether someone has is is earnestly exploring and again you guys are listening to somebody it I've been doing shows questioning pre millennial dispensationalism for 20 years. 20 years you guys have set through some of these shows. Now the difference is I'm genuinely fascinated with what the word of God says to what Tucker and Joel Webbing do which is the I'm going to force the word of God to affirm my narrative. Which is why you want to know what church they go to. Who's teaching you how to do this? Where are you learning exegesis and hermeneutics from? How are you learning to be rightly divided? Who are you accountable to? And here's how you can always tell if if someone no matter how contrarian they are or they're not here's how you can tell if someone particularly this is a good rule of thumb on Good Friday. Here's how you can tell if this is a Christian voice. You should be entertaining and and do they take sin, redemption, repentance and regeneration and and utterly strip that from their message and instead Christianity is often used as a vehicle for a narrative, for a pet cause or issue, right or left. Because the heart and soul of the gospel Jesus didn't die for a cultural heritage. In fact, the people who were so adamant about their cultural heritage were the ones who put him up on the cross. Jesus died for sinners. Sin, repentance, redemption, regeneration. Behold, like he says to Mother Mary in the clip of A Passion, I make all things new. That's what this is about, starting with you and me. And if you're following someone that you like, never hear that message from. But all you hear is the Bible applied to some pet cause or issue. The most haunting part of C.S. lewis's screwtape letters and the first time it's one of those things that stuck with me my whole Life. Ever since I read it. There's a section when. When Uncle Screwtape says to Wormwood, now listen, I'm paraphrasing here. Now, now listen, we don't care if it's pacifism. Now remember, this book came out in the heart of World War II. All right? So that's the language here. Whether it's pacifism on the left or patriotism on the right, we don't care which direction it's from. If you can force your man to make his faith nothing but a means to an end for his cause, You've basically got your man. And then the next thing that Uncle Wormwood. Uncle Screwtape says to Wormwood, and we have a cage full of such men down here.

[C]

Be careful. Asking for revival.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So listen, the. The. The cultural traditions and heritages that we fight for on this show, we fight for them because we think they're biblical. If we didn't think they were biblical, we wouldn't fight for them. But never, ever, ever, ever forget, if the choice for God is a saltier church in a weakened America, it's going to be a saltier church every time. And if you're a real Christian, you're okay with that. Because it's that saltier church that you're going to spend eternity with, not your white boy summer neighbors. The heart and soul of the Gospel is sin, repentance, redemption, regeneration. Now, are there other important organs and functions needed in a body other than the heart and the soul? Is your liver important? Are your kidneys important? Is your digestive system important? Is the brain important? Are your. Are your. Are your arms and legs, your appendages, are they important?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So I didn't say that's the only thing that's important about the gospel. Is that what I said?

[B]

No.

[A]

But if I strip the heart and soul away from a being whose appendages are just fine and intact, do I have a human being there?

[B]

They're dead.

[A]

I don't. They're dead. The heart and soul of the gospel is sin. Repentance, redemption, regeneration, other things. Values, virtues, causes, right and wrong, moral clarity. Those things are all very, very important. But they're important other functions in the body. The body dies without his heart and soul. And you know that I'm right. Because otherwise there'd be no such thing as deathbed confessions. If your heart and soul did not automatically change in a moment before your last breath. And it. Because it couldn't, because you were wrong on all the causes and virtues and values up until that point, then there would be no deathbed confessions. Correct. God would say, well, listen, you were wrong for the last 30 years, so it doesn't add up. Sorry for you, but the gospel makes it very clear that's not how it works. He leaves 99 behind to find the one lost sheep. The workers who started the first day on the last day get the same wage as the workers who were there working the whole entire time. Sin, redemption, repentance, regeneration, heart and soul of the gospel. Ask yourself when you hear Tucker Carlson talk about these things, when you're Joel Webbing and that elk talk about these things, or when you're inspired to further investigate what the word of God says. And the book of Enoch doesn't count, By the way. My good buddy, Dr. Jeremiah Johnston. I watched all three hours of his defense of the Gospel on Sean Ryan show last night. Holy moly. That was terrific. And you're gonna love this as a Catholic. He brought relics. All right. He's good. He doesn't want to call him that. He's Protestant, so they're artifacts. They're not relics. They're artifacts. All right, but he brought the. He brought the evidence that demands a verdict. I mean, and you could just tell from watching Sean, right? He blew his mind, like, several times, right? No. And Jeremiah's approach, like, no, no, we're not chasing any of those stupid rabbit trails. He shuts them all down right away. He says, and now we're coming back to the heart of this, the heart of worship here. Sin, repentance, redemption, regeneration. You got three hours to watch a Lord of the Rings film or a football game. And I reserve three hours to watch a Lord of the Rings film and a football game. All of the time. You got three hours for this. Don't skip a minute of it. Your eternity might be at stake. If you do, the amount of confidence you will gain in the gospel, and if you're not there yet, the amount the evidence will weigh on you to realize you're probably in the wrong. It's. It's among the most compelling gospel defenses I've ever seen. And he wields in archeology, church history, actual history. I mean, it's incredible. Do not miss this. It's incredible. All right, we've done three so far, so I've got to get to four in the next segment in order to hit the over.

[B]

Well, unless you just decide not to do anything in the segment, you're there.

[A]

No, you said six. You thought we'd get an Easter. No, but you said Six.

[B]

We're at four, which is why we needed to raise the buy last.

[A]

Now watch me cheat during the break and just start looking for all the really short ones. I'm not gonna do that, though. I've got six pages of feedbacks. All right? And if I'm, if I'm keeping them, it's because I think this is stuff we should discuss on the show. So I gotta, I gotta crank up the volume.

[B]

It's not cheating if you're actually reading something that's there. If you're just making it up, then you're kind of stallions.

[A]

What if I sent my mom in instead? Is that okay? Then we'll come back more in a moment. The steve day show. Hey, back here on, on the Steve Day show here on BlazeTV radio and podcast. And if you want to make sure you don't miss the brand new show starting here at the Blaze, Stu and Dave Do America. That's the Stu and Dave Landau. All right. They're launching a new show called Stu and Dave do America. And what makes this one an interesting dynamic is these two guys personalities could not be much different, right? So very different personalities, but very insightful at the exact same time. Not a, a polished panel show, not a scripted show. This is going to feel more like an organic conversation. Just the latest thing we're offering subscribers here at the Blaze. Take advantage of that in my name, Dace. My last name Anyway, to get $20 off an annual subscription to Blaze TV. When you go to BlazeTV.com DACE and use the code DACE for $20 off, that's BlazeTV.com Days Code DACE for $20 off, your annual subscription comes out to like a quarter a day, less than 10 bucks a month. All right. Blazetv.com dace code days. Don't ever miss anything we do just for you here on Blaze tv. All right. Should we go back to Feedback Friday? Yeah. This one is from Josh Outwater in Eskimo, living in Lindsey Graham's home state. Just a quick note of encouragement. The gospel of Christ was shared at my daughter's barbecue celebration we just did for her last weekend. About 40 to 50 people came and God's local holy thermometer. My church of Christ mother in law was there. So blue haired, freaks, artists, rednecks, military, even a few wicked neighbors all showed up. When it was time to eat, my brother did a reformed Baptist prayer and included a short rendition of the gospel. After listening to you guys for two years straight, God reminded me, just do the thing wherever we are just do what you know is right. And no, we did not have mass conversions or baptisms. But as you reminded us over and over again, seeds were planted in the word does not return void. Amen.

[B]

That's a flex.

[A]

That is a flex. I saw some polling today. 20 from Scott Rasmussen. 26% of Americans say they're reading their Bible somewhat regularly, a few times a week. While that number is probably the lowest it's ever been in American history, that's still like 90 million people. We've seen God work wonders with way less than that. If we could just take that 90 million people who are reading their Bible regularly, disciple them, motivate them, mobilize them. More than enough to put a debt in the spirit of the age, man. More than enough.

[B]

You just. You need to. What are my excuses slash idols? And why do I rely on them so much? And why won't I smash them there? At the end of the day, that's. I'm paraphrasing what you said about like, just do the thing. What the reason we don't is because of what I just said. And we have got to deal with that. Steve just gave you a chain of four steps that what the whole ball game is. The first one is sin. You can't make sense of the other ones unless you specifically. Yes, generally we do. I'm a sinner. I go to church. Jesus loves me, and we get the head knowledge. What about the heart knowledge? The heart beats. The heart's got to do something. So with that first, what is my sin? What are my idols? Why won't I do the thing as you said, you just nailed it. You blew it all up right there in the backyard at a barbecue. Amen.

[A]

You blew it up. Remember what movie that's from?

[B]

I don't.

[A]

Planet of the Apes. Classic ending of Planet of the Apes. Charlton Hester gets to the end of the beach and he sees the Statue of Liberty. He realizes he's been on Earth the whole time. One of the great endings of all.

[B]

Oh, it is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I haven't seen it since probably the first time I've seen it as a kid. And I. Yeah, I remember it. That blown mind blown right along with the rest of the audience.

[A]

Andrew Schnick says, one of the reasons why I hate your show sometimes is that you seem to have gotten thinking like a politician down. Every decision that a politician in office makes is to be judged by whether or not it's good politically in the next election. Why can't the reasons why we went to war against Iran. Be that, one, we saw Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon, and two, we wanted to disrupt terrorist networks. We could, we could. And this is a fair criticism here. I mean, I have to weigh this my whole career, you know, and it can be a disadvantage for me because I have so much. I have a lot more experience within the nuts and bolts of politics than most of the people that do what I do, even at the highest of levels. So sometimes I do have. And you guys have worked here in period of times where I've seen things pretty technocratically and broken down polls and down to the last, you know, syllable. All right, but in this particular circumstance, Andrew, the way, the reason why I'm looking at everything that much or so often that way is because I. My view, it doesn't have to be yours, but it's mine, is that we're mired in a cold civil war. And every election now at this point is literally like the Marne or Bull Run. It's a battle. Okay. It's not an election. It's a battle. And yeah. I have to ask myself all the time then, and there are hills worthy of dying on. Is Iran a hill worthy of dying on and risking the entire rest of the Trump presidency on? Maybe. Probably. The closer you live to Iran, the answer is yes. And the further away you do, the answer is no. But that's the answer to your question. It's a fair criticism.

[B]

It's a fair question. But this is what we've been talking. I am more vague on what we are doing now than I was at the very beginning. At the very beginning. I absolutely had that default in me. But, and I, I have no reason to believe before any of this started that Iran is any less dangerous than it has genuinely been over the years. For all of, like Steve has said, our, our entire existence almost. Because this, you know, Steve and I were what, you know, 6 and 7 when this is all really going on. But I don't. You, you're making a. You're inferring that it's actually more dangerous in many respects than it's ever been. And it would have to be to risk all the other. Again, domestically, we're living amongst domestic terrorists here. You, you have a fair claim. It is. There's nothing you can do. Even if it's as bad.

[A]

Somebody planted by Iran.

[B]

Yeah. To make it the only claim.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It just, it, it just isn't unless they are like, unless you know for sure that they had. They actually have nukes right now. And five of Them are appointed and we didn't act. It was. But I, I don't think you, at

[A]

the very least, we've learned in this conflict that Iran is in the serious testing stages of intercontinental ballistic weaponry that no one other than Trump claimed they had before it started.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we saw that a few days ago. That's the. At the very least, we can say that.

[B]

So I just think you're asking us to just do them. Shut our eyes. I'm not.

[A]

I'm not. I think it is an act of God in Romans 13 is fulfilled every time an American missile or bullet kills a member of the Iranian Command and Revolutionary Guard. And I say that with no remorse on a good Friday whatsoever. I also, though, don't think it makes me a terrible person that I would like to fight as hard. I'd like to fight the enemies in Tehran as hard. Or the ones we're here, we have here at home that Todd mentioned. As hard as we are, the ones in Tehran. Let me give you a quick analogy, Andrew. All right? Your cousin wins the lottery. It's your favorite cousin even, right? Your favorite cousin. Maybe his name's Even Israel would be a funny name for your cousin, but let's just go with it. Your favorite cousin Israel wins the lottery. You're ecstatic for him. The problem is your wife is sick. Seriously, so. And you're not sure when she's going to get better. So Iran, Iran not being able to threaten Israel to the extent it has for the last 50 years would be a little bit like Israel winning the lottery. See where I'm going with this? Right? Right. So you're happy for your cousin. It's even your favorite cousin. You guys are tight, okay? But you, your, your ability to find joy in what's good for your cousin here, even your favorite cousin is mitigated by the fact that your, your wife closest to you is sick. And seriously, so. And you're not sure when she's going to get better. That's what we're trying to explain here. I want to share this note that came in via Facebook because my daughter Anastasia sent this to me. This is from Elizabeth and it's very long. So let me just sum it up. Okay. Elizabeth says she struggles with how much we ridicule Lindsey Graham for being a closeted homo and included Elena Kagan in that earlier this week. And maybe we should instead look at this as these are individuals that maybe have been struggling with same sex attraction and have been denying themselves and that should be lauded because she has a close Family member who also has unwanted same sex attraction. And it has been doing what he. Doing what he. She didn't mention was he or she. But doing what they can to live a pious life and denying those desires. All right. Rather than acting on them in order to be faithful. All right. I think this is a very, very good question. So that's why I wanted to address it because we're not. First of all, I wasn't even mocking Elena Kagan when I brought it. I legit thought she was a lesbian and that's why it struck out. Stuck out to me so much that she voted our way on the Colorado case. I know. It turns out she's officiated lesbian weddings. I found it funny that Grok's correction of me that she wasn't a lesbian gave all the descriptions of what would make someone think someone was a lesbian. That. So Elena Kagan is not the same thing as. I think that's the first time we've even brought that up in depth where she is concerned. Like ever. One of the few. Lindsey Graham is a reoccurring thing on the show. And it. But again, it has nothing to do with the fact that he's a closeted homosexual. Has everything to do with the fact that he is a complete and total betrayer of his own base for the last 30 years. So there's all kinds of people that have sexual issues we don't address or discuss on the show. Not our place to discuss on the show. They're not. Not in our way of what we want to do and accomplish. So it's not worthy of bringing up. Right. But in this case it's not. Has nothing to do with Lindsey Graham's alleged same sex attraction. It's with Lindsey Graham's fatal attraction to stabbing us in the back and selling us out all the time. And so we're. And so you've given this more thought than we have. This is where we're just immature guys and just picking the most low lying fruit against someone we can't stand to push back on them. And it's really not any more meta than that whatsoever. And mad props to your family member who is. Who is in the. Who's in the Roman 7 battle fighting their own flesh. All right. Got nothing but respect for that.

[B]

In the meantime, perhaps you'd be more comfortable by introducing yourself to Steve Scott Bessant content.

[A]

That's true. Because I. I can't listen. I. I'm a Scott Bessant. Well, maybe I shouldn't say fanboy in this Context. But you know what I'm trying to say. How about. How about I don't even say enamored? I like the way Scott Besson handles his rig. I do.

[C]

Even worse.

[A]

That is worse. You're right. Scott Besson's just a really good treasury secretary. Fair. Let's just start. And ended with that maybe. Okay. And that's not even faint praise. I think he's been fantastic. Think his messaging has been great. Hope he repents of his homosexuality before it's too late. But he's been a fantastic public server. As far as we know. Right?

[B]

As far as we know.

[A]

And we've said that every single time. Right. Okay. How much time we have here? Let's do this. From Randall. I. I am not sure if your X algorithm is the same as mine, but if it is, then I'm sure you've seen these Christian so called men shaming women for not being virgins prior to being saved and calling them all kinds of vile names. I'm not really concerned with that. With that in and of it. With one of those posts from some guy named Trevor Sheets. I have no idea who Trevor Sheets is. You know who he is.

[B]

You missed this whole thing.

[A]

I know this argument. I just don't know what a Trevor Sheets is. So he was like the fulcrum of this thing or something?

[B]

Yeah. And it went for.

[A]

Who is he? Who is he? I don't know.

[B]

He's an online Protestant.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Christian influencer.

[A]

I never heard his name in my life.

[C]

Is that the guy who said my wife was promiscuous before we got married?

[B]

Yes. But before that, I mean, he's been. He's very antagonistic against Catholics, but in this case, he. Apparently he was a virgin when he got married, but his wife had a history of sexual infidelity, promiscuity. And so he shared this whole story and it was on both sides. He was getting attacked from both sides. Protestantism, you see.

[A]

So Randall says these younger men seem bound and determined to hold women accountable for their sins without holding men accountable for theirs too.

[B]

That's. Yeah.

[A]

He says, I'm 29. I do not relate with Gen Z or Gen Alpha at all. But at the same time, I kind of want to big brother them and help them out. How do I do this? What advice do we give these men? Side note, interesting that a lot of them hide behind a non accounts. Sure. There's a Todd rant there somewhere.

[B]

There is.

[A]

Now everyone's gonna hate my answer. And I mean everyone. All right. There's a Price to pay for skipping a generation of masculine leadership in the culture. As my oldest daughter Anna once asked me, daddy, what's a man? And after thinking about it for a second, I said, a man is somebody who does what he knows is right, even when he doesn't want to do it because he loves the people he's doing it for more than he loves himself. We skipped pretty much a generation of this, what I just described, a lot of it. So there's going to be a cost to this. And one of the costs is what you just described, Randall. Right? Like if I, if, if I don't update the roof of my home over the course of 50 years, eventually it'll sink and there'll be a cost to that. And you can't. And once the roof sinks, you can't say, well, how do, how do we fix this? Well, it suck, it's broke. So you have to absorb some of that cost. Some of this is unavoidable. Some of this is the wages of sin is death. We skipped a generation of what was expected of men in virtually every walk of life. And so these are the, the social stigmas and societal costs and the human toll we're in. We can't fix it. We have to look at the future and what can we do better? So we don't skip. And the first thing is don't skip another one that starts with the men in the third act, not you at 29. That starts with the men like Todd and I who are raising adult kids. We're sending kids off into adulthood and marriage and our parents and grandparents, the young men need to see the older men finish their race because without that, anything we would say falls on deaf ears. There's, there's no, there's no works there with, to go along with the proclamation of faith. We have to finish. Well, this is going to be a long slog. This is not going to be. We're going to fix this with a tick tock video. This is not going to be. We're going to fix this with one message or, or sermon. What can you do at 29? Better, just do better, just be better than that, by the grace of God. But this is going to take a long time to fix because now we also have the women moving more and more left wing and more and more feminist in response to the masculine failure we just described. So this is going to require a generational fix. Generational. Let's close there and get you guys comments on that.

[C]

Is it true in our society, it's become Incredibly feminized, incredibly tailored to feminine this and that. That in general, that tailoring tends to, and I'm putting this in mild terms, tends to ostracize masculinity.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Yeah, it's true. Is it true that in the created order that the God of the universe set in motion, that men are given responsibility? Yes. Yes. Is it true that there are a lot of females out there, maybe in the dating pool, would be. Dating pool, who have a long history of sexual promiscuity? Yeah. Yes, that's true. Does that mean that you get any free pass from before even confronting that, before even working your way through that, ensuring that you are living up to the way that God designed for you, seeking purity in your thoughts and actions?

[B]

No.

[A]

It's not based on what everybody else is doing.

[C]

It's not based on what everybody else is doing. I saw a post the other day, well, take care of yourself first. And I'm not saying that in the selfish sense. Make sure that you're taking care of sin in your own life, your attitudes, your thought patterns, what have you. Before you get to any of that,

[B]

what you described is a lot of men who were given one talent and they proceeded to dig a hole in the ground and bury their master's treasure there. And when the master came to settle accounts, he condemned them and he said, you wicked and lazy servant, you. It might be hard, but start doing something with that one talent.

[A]

Everybody get to church this weekend. Honor the sacrifice. Go hard. Romans 8:28.