SHOCK POLL: Are We Overlooking RUBIO? | Guest: Rob Eno | 5/15/26

Summary

Steve Deace Show Podcast Summary Episode: SHOCK POLL: Are We Overlooking RUBIO? | Guest: Rob Eno | May 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

The May 15, 2026 episode of the Steve Deace Show, hosted by Steve Deace with co-hosts Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre, delivers their signature brand of "principled conservatism with a snarky twist" for a feedback-driven Friday. Joined by Rob Eno, Blaze Media Editor, the crew tackles a shocking new poll suggesting a surge in support for Marco Rubio in the GOP 2028 presidential primary, discusses disturbing cultural trends showcased by viral videos, analyzes the state of marriage in modern America, and answers listener feedback on faith, politics, and more. The tone is frank, critical, and deeply rooted in faith and conservative analysis.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Viral Evil: "Bleep. Lord Nefarious Says" Segment

Timestamps: 02:50–13:22

• The segment features two viral video clips:
  • A young woman hosts a “no gender” (i.e., abortion) party on Mother’s Day, celebrating her terminated pregnancy.
  • A transgender individual, Mia, coldly describes (in an interview) murdering both parents following gender surgery conflict.
• Analysis by Steve, Todd, Aaron, and Rob:
  • Total condemnation of the callousness and celebration of violence and death.
  • Rejection of attempts to “victimize” the perpetrators or blame it on misinformation or mental illness exclusively; the acts are called evil.
  • Frustration that mainstream (even in “red” states and conservative regions like Utah) institutions and media play along with ideology, e.g. using “preferred pronouns” for perpetrators.
  • Memorable Quotes:
    • Rob Eno: “That is just, it was just absolutely disgusting to sit there and, and listen to it… [Someone] sitting there with fake breasts casually talking about, ‘Well, I didn't really want to kill my dad, but I figured I had to get him too,’ was just beyond insanity.” (07:00)
    • Steve Deace: “It didn't require any of your imaging tactics or skills whatsoever. This just was just a pure voyeuristic look at what is literally just happening.” (10:57)
    • Aaron McIntyre: “Those people are nuts. They need prayer, they need counseling. They need to repent themselves… The crazier spiritual darkness are the people who golf clap. That's what I mean.” (12:07)
• Takeaway: The segment illustrates how numb and divided society is, even to shocking events, and underscores the panel’s pessimism about the nation’s moral trajectory.

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2. The “Rubio Surge”: Are We Witnessing a Shift for 2028?

Timestamps: 15:22–29:22

• Context: Recent polls (Atlas Intel) suggest Marco Rubio is leading GOP nomination polling for 2028 (with 45%), ahead of J.D. Vance and Ron DeSantis. Rubio has a high-profile foreign policy role in Trump’s cabinet.
• Analysis:
  • Skepticism about the poll’s meaning; general agreement that such early polling doesn’t matter much this far before the midterms.
  • Rubio’s surge seen as a combination of increased visibility and significance of Trump’s focus on foreign policy.
  • Steve Deace theorizes that Rubio's numbers are more a reflection of division/dissatisfaction within the GOP/right now than genuine enthusiasm for him.
  • Concern raised that Rubio is at risk of lacking a loyal core base, being too 'establishment' for MAGA but perhaps too close to Trump to court the Never Trumpers.
  • Noted demographic splits: older (more establishment-leaning) voters might back Rubio, while younger, "America First" types prefer Vance.
  • Memorable Quotes:
    • Steve Deace: “My theory is...this poll is just a proxy for the dissatisfaction with the direction of the Trump administration as a whole.” (22:26)
    • Rob Eno: “This party doesn’t have a base... The Republican Party is fractured like nothing that I’ve ever seen.” (26:59)
    • Aaron McIntyre: “All I think this is right now is a snapshot that shows this space is very divided overall on what our priorities ought to be.” (24:14)
• Takeaway: The panel isn't convinced of an actual Rubio surge but sees an unsettled, divided GOP searching for direction.

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3. End of the West: The Collapse of Marriage

Timestamps: 31:08–40:08

• Data Presented: Drastic decline in marriage rates for both men and women by age 30 over the decades (1975: ~91% women, ~81% men; 2025: ~25% women, ~16% men).
• Aaron’s Perspective:
  • Traditional answers—government should incentivize marriage and children—are necessary but insufficient. Problems are spiritual and cultural.
  • Technology, lack of hope, and economic stresses are factors.
  • Ultimately: must raise children to “endure, to understand their purpose is not the American dream... but to be fruitful and multiply.”
• Todd:
  • “We can’t turn it around because we don’t want to. Wanting to would mean clearly identifying the idols... and then smashing them.”
• Rob (the “white pill”):
  • Observes glimmers of hope, notably in churchgoing, Gen Z and especially Catholic circles, with revived interest in marriage and family.
  • “A crying church is a growing church… You may see a resurgence in people under 30 getting married if this isn't just a fad.”
• Advice to Singles (43:00):
  • Aaron: "Don't give up... Make peace if maybe God's plan for your life is not getting married."
  • Rob: "You just gotta ask. Find people with similar values—church groups over dating apps."
  • Todd: "Being a man is not a leisure pursuit."
• Advice to Bachelorettes (42:55):
  • Todd: "Your emotions are not your God."
  • Rob: "If there’s someone you’re interested in, make the move."
  • Aaron: "Have standards, not unrealistic expectations."
• Takeaway: America is in demographic crisis, but hope remains if the faithful rededicate to family and spiritual priorities.

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4. Feedback Friday: Questions from Listeners

Timestamps: 57:56–95:53

• Vaccine Exemptions (59:23):
  • Geography matters—easier in red states. Be clear on your priorities; willing to make sacrifices like homeschooling or relocating?
• Cremation vs. Composting Debate (64:08):
  • Cremation is largely a cost issue and not theologically identical to "body composting," which carries a pantheistic ethos. Motivation and intent matter.
• Advice to GOP Strategists in Jungle Primaries (75:52):
  • Think tactically—splitting the Dem vote is worth considering, provided power is used for substantive change if won.
• On Church Gender Messages (77:16, 81:34):
  • Criticism of feminization of the church: “Moms do too much, dads don’t do enough.” Pulpits never address biblical womanhood or hold women accountable.
• Voting and Despair over Institutional Corruption (83:32, 88:13):
  • Christians should never let despair (over issues like Epstein cover-ups) drive disengagement. If you can’t vote in good conscience, find another constructive front to serve. “Despair is not a setting for the Christian.”
  • “If directing your energy in a place makes you less Christlike, that's not where Christ wants you to be.” (93:54)
• General Advice:
  • “There’s always hope, and that hope is found in our Savior. We work towards that great hope, not in our own strength but in his.” – Aaron (95:50)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Aaron: “I hope I never do this again.” (Segment on viral evil, 10:24)
• Steve: “This party doesn’t have a base. The Iran war is dividing everything.” (26:59)
• Rob: “A crying church is a growing church... You might see this start to turn around.” (37:19)
• Todd: “Men, being a man is not a leisure pursuit. And if you think it is, you’ve already found your wife.” (42:40)
• Aaron: “Despair is not a Christian setting. That’s the language of the world.” (91:33)

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Segment Timestamps

| Segment/Topic | Timestamp Range | Key Moments / Quotes | |-------------------------------|------------------|------------------------------------------| | Bleep. Lord Nefarious Says | 02:50–13:22 | Clips, reactions to evil, moral loss | | “Rubio Surge”/2028 GOP | 15:22–29:22 | Poll skepticism, party division | | End of the West (Marriage) | 31:08–40:08 | Marriage data, spiritual crisis, hope | | Bachelor/Bachelorette Advice | 40:08–45:09 | Practical, spiritual recommendations | | Listener Feedback | 57:56–95:53 | Vaccines, body composting, despair |

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Concluding Thoughts

The episode weaves together urgent cultural critique, spiritual counsel, and political analysis, providing a sobering but not fatalistic diagnosis of America’s social and political crisis. The hosts encourage prayer, endurance, “making the main thing the main thing,” and always placing hope in Christ. Despite vivid pessimism about current trends—and the schisms within the right—the panel spotlights paths for individual and communal action rooted in biblical faith and strong families.

Theme: Endurance and clarity in the face of cultural decay, with hope remaining for those who stand firm in faith and seek truth.

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For Further Listening:

• Skip introductory ad copy (first 2 mins) and product pitches throughout.
• Focus on timestamps above for main event and panel discussion content.

Transcript

[A]

And greetings. Happy Friday. Welcome to the Steve Day Show. Here live it on demand on Blaze, TV, radio and podcast alongside Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre. Good to be joined by Blaze editor Robino here for the day scoop in a moment. We are the Steve Day Show. We're brought to you by our friends over at Pocket Hose. It's the number one expandable hose in the world. Super lightweight, easy to manage, easy to store. Turn the water on and it grows. Turn the water off and it shrinks back to pocket size. This thing, it's one of those tools that you're going to think to yourself, like, when Tebow came out, why didn't they do this like a long time ago? It's amazing. Last season, this season, I mean, the difference for me, when I installed this and then went into the shed and pulled out the hoses from last year and they're all wrapped up, but they're all kinked and stiff and everything else. And I'm like, this is just a way better product because it is reinforced with liquid crystal polymer that's used in bulletproof vests and that makes the anti bursley practically bulletproof. And that polymer fiber is actually five times stronger than steel. And it comes with the pocket pivot as well so that you're not tripping all over and having to reassess where the hose is as you're working around the yard. That spigot goes in a 360 degree rotation. It follows you as you move. This thing's incredible. For a limited time, when you purchase the new Pocket Hose ballistic, you'll get a free 360 degree rotating pocket pivot and a free thumb drive nozzle for that as well. So just text Steve to 64,000 for this great deal. I'm sorry. Text DACE to 64,000 for this great Deal. That's DACE to 64,000 for your two free gifts with purchase. Again, text DACE to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply. And this is one of those things you're going to think, where's this been all my life? Why haven't they invented this a long time ago? Text dates to 64,000. All right, coming up next hour, it'll be your turn on a feedback Friday. But let's kick it off with today's group foreign. Good to see you again, Rob. Thank you for joining us. And your weekly look at the week that was it begins as it always does, with issue one, bleep. Lord Nefarious says.

[B]

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I'm gonna need four more so I can sell them.

[C]

So I'm.

[B]

Put them back in. No, you want to take four? You want to take foe? You want to take all the pillows? Damn, that's money. You dropping the money. How many? It's right there. Just take the big one, then post the small ones. Woo. The. Just take two for right now. Drake. You can take two. When you get home, take the big one, then wait to take the rest. Okay. That ain't no gift. Woo. Yup. Whoo. Whoo. That's the best gift. This the gender? Yes. No gender. No gender. We got one. Drake Killing.

[D]

According to Mia, her surgery was all set to go until her mother put a halt to it.

[E]

What led up to it was. Well, I got a call from my social worker from the hospital, had one thing going on, and she took that away from me. I was like, well, you know, enough is enough. I'm taking somebody with me.

[A]

So when did you. When did you have that decision that

[D]

enough was enough and that it was gonna.

[E]

The same day? Same day, yeah. When she refused to apologize.

[D]

So when you walked into that house,

[A]

was your mom your only. Only target? Your dad just got in the way or were you?

[E]

No, my dad was part of it, though, to a lesser extent. I got parked there and pointed the gun. I was, you know, I told myself to throw away that part of me really, you know, that hesitant like always.

[F]

And

[E]

like, ran to the door, shot at her first a bunch of times, trying to make it quick. Dad was instant.

[D]

Afterwards, Mia says she went back upstairs.

[E]

Go back upstairs and do one more round on dad just in case. Make sure he's dead.

[C]

Before she left, Mia says she realized

[D]

her mother was still alive.

[E]

I do remember actually coming up just in case. Cause she hurt her, like bleeding quite a bit, like choking. So I went to shoot her again.

[D]

Okay, so do you remember that?

[A]

Was that after you came back upstairs?

[E]

Yeah, it was dad first.

[A]

And then you heard your mom. She was still.

[E]

Still kind of light. Yeah, some noise. There's still kind of light. And then I shot her again.

[A]

So I think that might be the very first ever acapella bleep Lord Nefarious says we've ever had. And I think Aaron made the right decision to not accompany it with any music and just to let these two events kind of stand on their own. If you're listening on the podcast, maybe you didn't get a chance to see some of the visual. Let me go ahead and sum it up for you. We have a young woman celebrating having a no Gender party on Mother's Day. On Mother's Day, celebrating that she murdered her child. She's very proud of it. Clearly a victim of misinformation and clearly a vulnerable woman who had no idea what. No, that's not the case at all. She's a murderer. She's proud of it and is flaunting it and even flaunting it, by the way, with another, another child celebrating the no gender party with her. And, and of course the reason she says she did it is because the guy that got her pregnant already told her just flat out, no, I'm not going to step up and be a dad. So that's, that's what made her feel fully justified in doing so. And then the other video is the trainee murder of his parents who is just in the most cold blooded manner possible, describing how he murdered his mother and father, why he did so. And the reporter who is presenting the video though, wants to make sure that the right pronouns are being used and keeps referring to him as she. Is that a pretty good summary of what we just watched?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So with that, I have no specific question other than what is your reaction to what we just watched? And Rob is the guest. You always get to go first. Go ahead.

[D]

Yeah, that was just absolutely disgusting. I guess we now know why we, we only got two of them to just see. You know, there's a mental health crisis in this country and a lot of times that's what, you know, these, these trans people are dealing with. And we just, you know, tell them that their delusions are fine. And then we have this over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And we're the bigots for calling it out, obviously, but that is just, it was just absolutely disgusting to sit there and, and listen to it. The first thing I did, I didn't really understand what was going on when I was watching it, but, but now I get it that she had the abortion, murdered her child because the guy won't stand up. But I mean, that's an everyday occurrence in the United States, which is probably more disgusting. But to just see, to just see that trans, that dude sitting there with fake breasts casually talking about, well, I didn't really want to kill my dad, but I figured I had to get him to was just beyond insanity.

[A]

Had to go upstairs, realize I had to go back, finish mom off. Couldn't just leave her like twitching like that, you know?

[D]

Yeah, yeah, just disgusting talk.

[F]

Right now. A lot of these betting markets are predicting, right, that a Democrat in the Red, red state of Iowa who silently sat by and winked and nodded as Iowa Democrats unanimously voted for trans porn in the schools and for boys to be in girl sports and locker rooms. And just like yesterday, all of this happened. Right now the betting markets, right, are saying that it's at least 50, 50 that an Iowa Democrat's going to win here, right?

[A]

A little higher than that.

[F]

Little higher than that. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, that.

[F]

My thoughts are that nobody cares about this even in red so called red state Iowa. It's just the most honest analysis I can give you. Hell is here dancing. People are like, I got a guy on the other line about a set of white walls.

[A]

Gas is five bucks a gallon. Are you saying they care more about that? Is that what you're saying, people?

[F]

Yeah, they definitely care more about that. Demons are welcome, though. Demons are welcome.

[A]

Can they give us cheap gas

[D]

or

[F]

would you yet be struck? I don't know. I, I, I'm lost. I've said many times. I keep trying to say the same thing in the words that come through. I don't, I'm incapable. I'm incapable.

[A]

Aaron, let me ask you, why did you choose to go with these two and this particular format?

[C]

They were two trending stories from this week. That was the main thing I tried to make. What's in bleep? Lord Nefarious says either trending this week or breaking this week. They were both longer clips and they were both 200 proof evil. And I hope I never do this again.

[F]

You're gonna tomorrow. You're gonna tomorrow. That's my point. Thank you, Aaron. Setting me up. You're going to tomorrow. No one cares.

[C]

Tubular Bells. That's the soundtrack. Yeah, it's from the Exorcist. But even that cheapens what we just saw. I just wanted people. I didn't even put the background on that first video, the branded background on that first video.

[A]

I just,

[C]

just no ifs, ands or buts. Just see what hell is.

[A]

In other words, it didn't require any of your imaging tactics or skills whatsoever. This just was just a pure voyeuristic look at what is literally just happening. And we just turned the camera on. That's it. Yeah.

[F]

They're fighting tooth and nail online about the 2014 playoff though. Tooth and nail. That's

[C]

Todd. Preorders start for Grand Theft Auto 6 on Monday. You want to know I've said this over and over again and I'll keep saying it over and over again because it needs to be said over and over again. The people who are Engaging in the madness, the demonic oppression, willingly or they are oppressed one form or another. But I'd say increasingly willingly in the demonic doctrine of transgenderism. Those people are nuts. They need prayer, they need counseling. They need to repent themselves. I've often said, though, the crazier mental illness, the crazier spiritual attack, the more zany spiritual malady are the people who know better and just stand back and golf clap. Oh, yay. Beautiful slay queen at what they know is wrong. What they know is messed up. What they know, maybe deep down is demonism. What do I mean by that? It's law and crime. Who produced that video of the dude in Utah who thought he was a woman? It's law and crime. Just as natural as a hand and glove, not even batting an eye, covering a story, a cold blooded murder of his parents for the expressed motivation that his mama was able to mess up his meatball surgery where they create a gash in his pelvic region. Law in crime, hand in glove, not batting an eye respects the pronouns of that individual. That's what I mean. The crazier malady, the crazier spiritual darkness are the people who golf clap. That's what I mean. So for future reference, when I say that again, and I will say it again, that's what I'm talking about.

[A]

I think asking some kind of cheeky exit question would just cheapen this entire conversation. Are we in agreement on that?

[F]

Yes.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And I also have one more.

[A]

Go ahead. Of course. You bet. Go ahead.

[D]

The interesting thing about Mia we've been covering, the story here at the Blaze is that he went to the same school system as Tyler Robinson.

[A]

They don't say in Tyler.

[D]

Yeah, absolutely. The Washington county school systems in Utah. We have been trying. Utah, Utah, Utah, Utah.

[A]

Red is literally, literally the most churched state in the country. The state of Utah.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

Thank you for that.

[D]

And it's in southern Utah, which is the most conservative part of Utah.

[F]

Nobody cares.

[D]

Yeah. It's near St. George, which is where, like, I think the second temple for the Mormons was built. Yeah. And we've been trying to get information through public records requests. And much like Utah Valley University, the. The worst people in the world to get public records from are government organizations in Utah. I don't know why they decide that they need to circle their wagons and not do anything when you ask them to do it. But we have been trying now almost for eight months to get the trans propaganda that they use in their school systems and have over the past 10 years and they act stupid and just there's no way to sue them in that state. But yeah, same school system.

[A]

I mean, that's the state they gave us John Curtis for a senator who. Remember that clip that Aaron you had about a month ago where he was on some left wing media outlet and the host even said, I thought I was gonna have to argue with you, but no, you're just as much for amnesty as I am. He thinks he wants to. He's gonna probably be elected governor of Utah next, is what it looks like, by the way, just to kind of further your nobody cares mantra there. I have no idea how to segue out of this. So we're just going to do it. Okay, let's get to issue two. Are we witnessing a Rubio search?

[C]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been in front of the cameras a lot recently, including last weekend's trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo, where he received an unusually warm reception. Rubio, despite being sanctioned by China, is also accompanying President Trump on his summit with Xi Jinping in Beijing. At least one pollster, Atlas intel, they were the pollster that had the 2024 election pegged, shows Marco Rubio leading the 2028 GOP nomination PAC at 45%, followed by Vice President J.D. vance at 30% and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 11%.

[A]

All right, are we buying this? Are we buying that there is a big Rubio surge happening in the last week? Trump has both said that he'd love to see advance Rubio ticket. He's also said that. And by the way, I thought Vance had a great line in response to this when he was asked. He also said maybe we ought to let Rubio and Vance go at it for a while. I've been saying to you guys privately, I think people are underrating the odds that Trump would allow some form of a tryout just to see what would happen for a while. Now, if you're Rubio, is that enough for you to go in with your political capital? Would you really go in and challenge the MAGA heir apparent without the assurance of a Trump endorsement? Just for just the chance of it would seem like a huge risk. But, you know, that's. We could see that. But I thought Vance's response to this was funny, which is, you know, it's really not like the President of the United States to want to stage some kind of televised tryout show, which I thought was very good. All right, so are we buying this? Is it? No. I'm not going to put any caveats on it. Are we buying the Rubio surge?

[F]

Todd, you know that talking about presidential election.

[A]

That's why I went to you first

[F]

before the midterm is even here is is you doing to me like what I do to you. When we talk about Ellen Page playing Achilles, it's like I'm in my defense,

[A]

in my defense, the reason why this was originally scheduled is because one of our, the original guest co host we're going to have this week is a big Vance guy. So I was and have not had a chance to talk to him about it and I thought it'd be curious.

[F]

You don't need a reason.

[A]

But he had a last minute family situation and couldn't show up today. And so we have a more than capable replacement. But by that point Aaron had the rundown, the show was prepared. So I had a rationale for doing this other than just trying to torture you. I did. But go ahead.

[C]

I mean that's good enough.

[F]

That it is. I accept it. I enjoy that.

[A]

All right, never mind. Then I guess I didn't need one. All right, go ahead.

[F]

Not trying to hide or run for it, but my, I'm not buying it really because I don't think there's a reason other than nothing else at all is really going well or great. So I guess we need something. Not we, the show. I mean broadly the whole movement. Like let's try to gin up some positive energy somewhere. Maybe here. Why? I don't know. Again, I have as few answers. Maybe this isn't good programming on my part. I take full responsibility for that. But I'm like, I, I don't have anything really to say about this. Just like I didn't about the other one. Nobody, nobody really cares. They're trying to find something to make people care. And that's probably the most likely answer for why we're even as an entire movement talking about this. Now they're clearly both decent men, capable men, but we've got all a hundred other things that should be priorities other than turning this into sports radio. But this is what the entire movement does because it's not good at really doing anything else.

[A]

So Rob, you buying into this at all? What do you think?

[D]

I think, you know, he's been around a lot so I think that that might be it. I looked a little bit at Atlas's methodology before coming on. I did not know they are a fully online Internet poll. They find you while you're surfing and then try and figure out who you are and then like a better version

[A]

of YouGov like a better version of YouGov, basically.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that might be why they were, you know, dead on for the 2024 election when other people aren't, because nobody answers the phones anymore. Right. So they've got an interesting way of doing that. Do I think that Rubio has surged a little bit because he's gotten the spotlight? Probably. Like Todd. Do I think that it matters right now before the midterms? Probably not. But there are people going to Iowa, right. I mean, you're starting to see one

[A]

of them is not Marco Rubio. But yeah, there are people coming here. Vance was just here last week.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, so there are people coming. But I think what's going to be interesting is, you know, what, what that poll sample is and who's voting. I don't know if you've seen. Not to change it to the Massey race, but I don't know if you saw that Qantas poll that came out a couple days on the Massey race that basically shows the divide in the Republican electorate between old boomers that watch Fox News and the younger Vance type, America First MAGA people. It's insane what the difference was. It's right there at that 55 year old cutoff.

[A]

We would be right at the cutoff of this. Yes.

[D]

Yeah, yeah. It's absolutely crazy. And I think that that's really what's going to. I would think that those people, the older people are going to go to Rubio and how many of them are going to be around in two years as they age out? I guess age out is a nice way of saying it, but yeah, this party, this movement is vastly divided on what it means to be America first, on what it means to be patriotic, on what needs to be done to go to the future. And I think that that's ultimately what's gonna do it. But hey, you know, a couple years as Viceroy of Cuba for Marco Rubio, maybe he'll win the presidency.

[A]

All right, Aaron, you buying this?

[C]

So we have not talked about, as Todd was kind of invoking there. We haven't really talked about 2028 that much because we know how much Todd loves it and just makes him too comfortable. So we could try to avoid the topic altogether to the extent that we have maybe more than anybody amongst the three of us regularly on the show, at least in the background. Other places I've discussed this publicly, I've been far more cautious about writing off Marco Rubio than maybe, maybe the three of us. I don't know, like I said we haven't talked about it that much. However, I don't think that Marco Rubio is 15 points ahead at this point. I think it's closer than maybe a lot of people who think that Vance is a shoo in would like to admit. I don't think it's a 15 point lead. I do believe that there will be some sort of primary process. Steve, we were talking about this on the over, I'm sorry, on buy seller hold earlier this week. We were kind of game theorying out who Marco Rubio support could be. You made a comment along the lines of better be careful not to get the Never Trump cohort behind you because then they'll do to him what they tried to do to Ron DeSantis. That was rattling around in my brain for a while. And I have a question for you about this. How do they pull that off, though, when he's currently in the administration?

[A]

Well, see, this goes to a theory. I was going to just let you guys give your general answers and I have a theory as to what this poll symbolizes and I think it'll answer some of your questions. My theory is with this poll is just as a proxy for the dissatisfaction with the direction of the Trump administration as a whole. Okay. And JD Is, was, I mean, as, as crown princes, JD And Rubio were each given their own realms to have sovereignty over. Right. So JD Was essentially given the domestic agenda and the fraud, waste and abuse. Okay. And Rubio is of course, Secretary of State, national Security Advisor. And that's where the Trump administration is actually expending. All of its political capital is in that arena. And so you're going to constantly see Rubio playing offense in its messaging. You're going to constantly see Rubio with a coherent message because that's where Trump is. Trump is literally taking all the political capital that he won in 2024. And this is not a judgment or a criticism. I'm just, this is an analysis is an observation. He is, he is spending it all on Iran in the Middle East. Whether you agree with that, whether you like that's what he's doing, maybe you hate that's what he's doing is irrelevant to me. I mean, I, I'm, that's not the analysis I'm giving you. It just that that's what he's doing. And we've never heard Donald Trump ever, as a politician ever say, ever say anything like, I guess we'll just have to pay $5 in gas for a while. This is the guy that will literally, I Mean, he stood up to my old producer Rebecca at an event televised nationally in Iowa during the last caucus cycle and said, we, we're probably not going to be able to be pro life and win the next election. We just, he just did. I mean, this is the guy that if he doesn't think it'll win, he'll stop doing stuff we've never seen a hill Trump will die on.

[F]

Not that I expect anything to make sense, and I totally am jiving with what you're saying, but if that, then why is Rubio rising? He should, he's, he's the leader of the thing that the base doesn't want.

[A]

He's not rising. Well, this gets to what Rob, that one base doesn't want to. We're determining what is the base right now. Ok, we don't know the answer to this. This time last year we were on, we were coming, we were coming on the tail end of Trump's offensive right out of, right out of the inauguration gate. We were all very united. There was an agenda. Right now nobody knows what the agenda is. Right now we are clear Right now. Right now we know that we're spending way more political capital on Iran and the Middle east than we were willing to spend to clean up Minneapolis, our own borders, Mac, mass deportations or anything else. And so this has created a mass schism right down the middle right. And Vance is seen for now as the, and especially by the online crowd because I do think a lot of this is an online phenomenon. I recognize some of the people that are adamant about being pro Rubio because they were, they were with us on the desantis side. And then when I got to know who they were, I realized these guys are just old, never Trumpers. They're just old rhino establishment people. So there is a danger there for Rubio to get caught in a no man's land where he's not MAGA enough for maga. But he, all the people that really support him and write up the biggest checks, we all know aren't maga. And then Vance could just turn around and brand him as, you know, the same thing that we, that's what Trump did successfully to Desantis. But we're, we're years away from that. All I think this is right now is a snapshot that shows this space is very divided overall on what our priorities ought to be, what the issue priority ought to be. And so the people that are happy are the ones that have very strong feelings about Israel, the Middle east in the affirmative, doing something about Iran. Those are the people that are very happy. This is clearly a real conviction for Trump. We've never heard him, we've never seen Trump. He's been a political figure now for over a decade in America, an omnipresent one. He has never been willing to die on a Hill and not. And expend the amount of political capital that he is on dealing with Iran. And so if you are of that era, and Rubio represents a lot more of that wing, then you're very happy with the priorities of what we're doing right now. If you're not, and if you're closer to the, if you're not, if you're, if you're thinking, I'm not going to be 41 for another decade, okay, and maybe by then I can afford a house.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And no, you really don't think that. You're not sure you buy anything the intelligence community is selling you because they lied to you about hundreds of Hunter Biden's laptop. They lied to you about a P tape, they lied to you about WMDs in Iraq. The only thing you know for sure is you can't afford to fill up your damn gas tank. If you're in that group, okay, then you're, then you have a different take on things. And so I think this is just nothing other than a symptom of the current overall environment at the moment. That is my theory. Thoughts?

[D]

Yeah, I absolutely agree. I mean, we were paying, What, a buck 97 for gas two weeks before in Texas, two weeks before that went off. And you're absolutely right. This base is not a base. The Republican Party is fractured like nothing that I've ever seen. And it's just something that is going to have to be worked through. And I think this Massie race on Tuesday is going to be something that shows that, right. This is just the party, if you want to call it a party, and I'm always loathe to call it a party. I consider myself a conservative before I consider myself a Republican. But this party doesn't have a base. The Iran war, as you go on to see Boomer cons, to use a term that I probably shouldn't use. A lot of them make up our audience. But to see people that watch Fox News, they think that everything is going swimmingly in, in Iran and that, you know, people should buck up and pay the $5 in gas because we're finally going to destroy Iran and it's just going to come down right after that happens. It'll, it'll be Quick and everybody will be happy. And you brought up the housing thing. I found some data.

[A]

Quickly, I've got only a minute. Go ahead, Rob.

[D]

Yeah, sorry. The seven. It's seven times the average income of an American to buy a house right now for most of my lifetime, it was about four times to three times. It's just in that that's what's causing all of this. But just wanted to say that I thought you were right. That's it.

[A]

All right, let's take the exit question here. One year from now, which of these candidates won't be running in Iowa for president? Won't be A, Marco Rubio, B, Ron DeSantis, C, Rand Paul, D, Josh Howley. Which one won't be Quickly, just give me a name.

[C]

Rand was the one that. And Josh. Holly. But Rand was the one that stuck out to me. Probably not.

[F]

Okay, Ron DeSantis.

[A]

Ron DeSantis. What do you think it is?

[F]

Holly?

[A]

Holly. Won't be a year from now. Okay, This is

[C]

if what Rob is, if his analysis is true, that means that 2028 is already lost.

[A]

Well, if. Well, his scenario is correct, that would. You're. There is a danger of this being Rob.

[C]

I'm not saying you're wrong either.

[A]

I think we don't know if he's right or wrong, but I think he could be right. That's my own opinion. But I think a lot of things are on the table unsettled right now and this poll reflects that. Okay. And the only group of people that are really happy are the people that think that we do have a generational debt to settle with Iran. I think everybody else is not happy and thinks that we have generational debts to settle. Much more closer to home. We'll come back more Dace Group in a moment. The steve dace show. All right, back here on the Steep Day show, we're powered by our friends over at Relief Factor. Now, no guarantees here. We're not claiming it's some kind of magic potion or antidote, but over the years, over a million people have tried the three week quick start from the drug free supplement Relief Factor and they saw such good results when it came to living with less pain that they stuck with the product long term. It goes right after what is the likely cause of the pain in your joints and that is too much inflammation in the body. And so again, we're not going to make any promises to you, but if I told you it costs you just 20 bucks to find out if you don't see a difference in your pain. Level in three weeks or less. Why wouldn't you take that? Those odds, those are pretty good odds. 70% odds for just 20 bucks for a better quality of life, go to relieffactor.com take advantage of that three week quick start today at relieffactor.com well, let's get to issue three. End of the west update.

[C]

And now, how a Civilization Dies. This data went viral over the past week, compiled from various academic and government sources like the US Census Bureau, showing the percentages of men and women by age 30 who are married by decade. In 1975, 91% of women by the age of 30 were married while men were at 81%. In 1995, that number drops to 64% by age 30 for women, 54% for men. In 2015, 37% of 30 year old women were married, while 28% of men could say the same. And in 2025, only about a quarter of women are married by age 30, just about 16 and a half percent for men.

[A]

Erin, you're the closest one on this panel to this age group and marrying age, at least for first time marriages anyway. So let me start with you. How do we fix this?

[C]

Well, that's easy, Steve. No, it's generally my answer to these questions has been something along the lines of that which you incentivize, you get more of. That's what you disincentivize, you get less of. And I'm talking about in the context of governance. I think that's probably one of the iron laws of governance and I think it has everything to do with God's design for government. In the book of Romans, we've talked about that. So if government is doing its job, it's punishing evil. Okay, government also, what is it incentivizing? It's punishing, it's disincentivizing evil. What's it doing at the same time it's incentivizing good. Good behavior. The question is who gets to define who is good, of course, or what is good behavior. So in the context of, of marriage, my usual pat answer is that which you incentivize, you get more of that which you disincentivize, you get less of. So are there policies in place that we could be incentivizing marriage, incentivizing having a lot of kids, incentivizing, disincentivizing being single. However you look at countries, South Korea would be a prime example. Japan may be another example as well, although it sounds like they've maybe had a few more successes but not along the lines of getting out of their. A demographic death spiral, which we're barreling towards right now. South Korea has had a lot of policies in place for going on decades now, years now. I should say that you would think, incentivize getting married, having children. I think it's some sort of tax benefits. And they're pretty hefty tax benefits as well. That hasn't really helped in Korea, hasn't really helped so much in Japan. Facing similar types of spirals. So what is the real cause of this? I've seen it postulated just recently. The real cause for this is the fact that everybody's on their phones and they're stressed out. And mammals won't mate when they're stressed out. Maybe our technology has something to do with that. Maybe we're messing too much with our circuitry. I've seen it postulated recently as well, that when you don't have economic hope, when you don't really have hope that you can have and you can attain, you can build a better future, that's when things start to go southward. That's when things start to spiral when it comes to this. I've also seen it recently postulated that, hey, this is an unknowable thing we're messing, which we're trying to address forces that really cannot be understood. Populations wax and wane throughout history. So let's just let it go. Don't touch it, don't let immigrants, don't let yourself be replaced with immigration, but just let it go. We don't really understand the cause. Here's the real fix though, at the end of the day, and I'm telling you the truth. Just in the last two or three weeks, I've heard all of these things that I just unloaded right there. I've heard all of those. Here's the honest truth. You have to raise children to endure whatever. To endure whatever. You have to raise your children to understand that their purpose in life is not the American dream. That would be really nice. That'd be really cool, having a two car garage. I have a two car garage. That's really nice. I have a nice house. It's really nice. I'm one of the lucky ones and one of the diminishing numbers of those, at least in my generation, who's been able to do that. But you know what Bella and I's prime directive is we really believe this in our lives and we really want this, and we've been really trying for this. You know what our prime directive is? No matter the house, no matter our living situation, no matter income situation, making babies, who we raised to make babies in the future and raise them up in the church and the way they ought to go.

[A]

So the first commandment, God gives humanity.

[C]

Yeah. So I think that's the real fix. No matter your circumstance, no matter how things are in the uncontrollable realm, no matter how high the gas prices are, no matter how high the mortgage rates are, figuring out a way to be fruitful and multiply. And more often than not through human history, the last couple of generations, last few generations, and really our country as a whole has been an exception to the rule. Enduring has been the name of the game, especially for believers. So you got to raise children to endure. That's, I think, ultimately the real fix.

[A]

Doc. That's great stuff, by the way.

[F]

Brother. Well, we can't turn it around because we don't want to. And wanting to would mean clearly identifying the idols that are stacked up that we prefer currently over fixing this and then smashing them. We just, we do, we do not want to. So Aaron's right about enduring generationally through that. And you know, it's going to take a level of pain. Just the most honest answer I can give you. And we, I just, it, we just all know it. No, the church doesn't want to. Men don't want to, women don't want to. And it's all because we love our idolatry right now. Love it.

[A]

Rob,

[D]

I'm going to go with a couple things. First thing is, I think if you look at these trends, 1975 was two years after Roe v. Wade. Yep. People used to get pregnant and they had to get married. Right. Like, that's what my parents did. My, my mom was an unwed teen mother was 20 by the time she had me. But they got married. You know, that's what happened when this happened. But I'm not as, as the resident black pillar here. I'm not as black pilled on this as Todd may be. I remember growing up as a kid and you grew up in Catholic circles around that time. Both Todd and Steve, you know, Catholic families, when I was a kid, did not have a lot of kids, two, maybe three, one a lot of times. But they weren't the huge Catholic families that people think of in the 50s or 60s. Since I've been going back to church all around the country when I travel, but especially here at St. Ann in Capell, Texas, the amount of young families with like four and five kids and needing the van to Take the kids to work is amazing. I think that, as Aaron said, those people that go to church are starting to do it. And I think you see in Gen Z, I mean, the hottest place on a Sunday in Manhattan right now is the Catholic Church. They have lines out the door. And you're seeing that at churches across the country with Gen Z, with these kids that are in this demographic range, you know, up to 30. It's weird to think that Gen Zers are now pushing 30, but in their 20s and 30s, you're starting to see that. You see our friend Peachy Keenan, who used to write with us, sometimes writes for Frontier magazine, has said for a long time the women will follow the men, that if the men start going to church, the women are gonna go to church because that's where they're gonna find men. Right? And if those people are looking to get married, and I think they are, I think you're going to see a resurgence in people under 30 getting married if this isn't just a fad and a flash in the pan and people really are going back to church. So I think that we may have hit the low point, and I think that you might see this start to turn around. I certainly see it in the parishes that I've gone to, especially my home parish here in Texas. A crying church is a growing church. And if there's One thing that St. Ann does is there's a lot of crying and there's no more cry rooms. It used to be that a Catholic church, that if you had kids, they would stick you into a cry room so that the kids could be away and not be seen. And that's not what's happening nowadays. And I think that that's great.

[C]

We could Rob Ray of Sunshine.

[A]

Look at Rob with a little white pill. It's a little one, but it's a white pill nevertheless. It's a white pill nevertheless.

[D]

The country's gonna be destroyed, but we're gonna have kids.

[A]

Cyanide, I should remind Rob, also comes in white pills.

[F]

Yes, yes.

[A]

All right, let's get to the exit question. What's the best advice that you could give to any bachelor in this audience for finding a wife? Aaron?

[C]

Bachelor.

[A]

Bachelor. Yeah,

[C]

I would say don't give up. Don't give up. The desire to get married is not a bad one at all. As I said yesterday, I think it was yesterday. I can't remember. The days run together. If you're having trouble, if you're like in your mid-20s starting to push 30, and this is something that you really strongly desire is that has it gone from a good desire, a healthy desire, to a source of, maybe a source of idolatry that you're so preoccupied with this that you can't think about anything else? And it has to look this way and has to go this way, has to be this way. I would take that to the Lord and really examine, make your peace with, hey, maybe God's plan for my life is not getting married. And if you're at peace with that, I told the story in passing. And I told the story in passing. You know, I kind of made this peace with myself in my life. I was really enjoying being single. I'm like, you know what, God, if this is what you have for me, then I'll be okay with that in my relationship with you and doing things, you know, as a single. And then I met my wife six months later. So again, God's not a cosmic vending machine. I'm not saying that that same sort of thing that will happen with your life or your search for your partner, but that's kind of my advice.

[D]

Rob, as the man with the least amount of game on the panel, I'll listen to what you guys say. But no, seriously, you just got to. The one thing I've not done in my life is you just got to ask. You got to ask, you got to ask, you got to ask. It's got to be like, it's like being a salesperson. I think that, you know, people hide behind. You know, I came of age during this dating app thing. You know, match.com was around when I was in my 20s. Right. It's that that is not the way to find somebody and that's how I tried to do it and it didn't work. So, you know, know, go to places where there's going to be people that, that are like minded. Your church probably has a, probably has a singles group go to that. That's where you're going to find somebody with, with values that are aligned because you're certainly not going to find it on match.com or bumble or Hinge or Tinder or any of those sorts of things. There's, there's success stories in that, but it's basically become a swipe left, swipe right and never actually talk to somebody thing. You know, that's basically the dating world

[A]

today or AOL dial up chat rooms.

[F]

Todd, being a man is not a leisure pursuit. And if you think it is, you've already found your wife.

[A]

Okay, let's do our kicker topic. What's the best advice you would give for a bachelorette in this audience for finding a husband.

[F]

Todd, your emotions are not your God.

[A]

That's really good. A lot of women need to be told frankly, because you feel something does not mean it's true. And I understand that's easy to hear from us as guys, okay? But I say this not just as a guy, but someone who's been married for almost 30 years and has raised two daughters. Just as we are constantly telling the guys, your desires, your conveniences, your leisure pursuits are not truth women need to hear. Just because you feel something doesn't mean it's true. Right? Your feelings have to be held to a standard of truth. And then if you hold yourself to a standard of truth, your feelings will change as opposed to letting feelings be your truth. Could not agree more with that, Rob.

[D]

Smack the guy over the head if he's not making a move. Every single guy that I know that is married. That is what's happened. Because men just don't take shots. My mother did it to my dad, friends I went to college with. All of their wives did it to them. It's counterintuitive. But if there's somebody you're interested in, make the move.

[A]

Aaron.

[C]

Man looks at outward appearance. The Lord looks at the heart. And I don't mean that in an attraction sort of way. I think it's good and healthy and right and okay for you to be attracted, but that should not be the only thing. But what I do mean it more, much more, is what I have talked about over and over again, standards versus expectations. Standards are that which you have in your closed hand. Meaning he has to love Jesus. He has to be productive, have a job. He has to show some desire, some effort at actually getting to know you. Like, actually know you. Things like that. Those standards, expectations are how maybe in your own mind, you want that to look. Well, he loves Jesus and therefore he's serving in the worship group. Or he loves Jesus and therefore it has to look like this. Loving Jesus this way. Be really careful about that because those expectations can kind of disguise themselves as standards. And I think that's unhealthy. Can be unhealthy.

[A]

That's good, too. Let's get to predictions. Rob, I'll go to. You go ahead.

[D]

The New England Patriots are going to have a horrible season next year.

[C]

Yes, they are.

[D]

Schedule looks horrible. We'll just go with that. So I'll go back to the Black Pill for this at the end.

[A]

That's going to be an interesting season. With the star running back counter signaling the head coach. That'll be interesting.

[F]

All right, Todd, the Odyssey movie will be the bud light of 2026. One of the greatest financial disasters cinema history.

[A]

What an analogy that is.

[C]

Wow, Aaron, you see this from time to time. When a random candidate in a random place has viral moment or viral moments, they end up just being an online phenomenon and that's kind of it. And you never hear from them again.

[A]

Like that one Hispanic chick in Texas.

[C]

Spencer Pratt is not an online phenomenon. There's a reason why he's taking arrows right now. Now, I don't know if that's going to be enough for him to win the LA mayoral race. I kind of doubt it. But that guy the midichlorians of political messaging from a populist perspective, he's pretty long on the promises, pretty short on the details. But the midi chlorines for political messaging and populist instincts off the fricking charts.

[A]

Yeah, he is stepping on some shibboleths for sure. He is smashing some shibboleths of the damned for sure. All right, my prediction this week because last week's turned out to be dead right, there was going to be no Richter scale movement or anything off of any UFO release for much of the not for necessarily the good reasons. But we it would literally take aliens landing on that first Wednesday night NFL game in primetime and interrupting that for people to give a rip. We're going to learn the reason that Southern states aren't going as far as we would like to in eliminating race based districts like South Carolina for example, is they're concerned about two things. Race rioting is one. You ready for this one, Todd? Here's the other thing. They're going to be concerned about black college athletes in those states that may be induced to sit out games in protest that might be induced by social media to essentially make a statement against fascism and racism in air quotes by sitting out key games and not playing in order to protest getting rid of all the racial gerrymandering. And I think those are the two reasons we're going to learn. A lot of these red states didn't go as far as they they could have and should have in order to win.

[F]

But it's not idolatry.

[A]

Robin, it's good to see you brother. Thank you.

[D]

Thanks for having me on.

[A]

You bet. It'll be your turn on a feedback Friday. Next it. All right, we're back with hour two live and on demand on Blaze TV, radio and podcast with Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre I'm Steve Dase. Let us know what you think about what we think via the steveday.com inbox, which you can take advantage of by emailing the show Steve dace.com that's D E A C E like us on Facebook. Me, we and Gab. You can follow me at steveday show on X Instagram and TikTok. You can also find me if you will by subscribing to our YouTube channel. That's a way tougher find though, but give it a shot at day show on YouTube. Also, check out our podcast version, as so many of you do. If you want to make sure you don't miss an episode, click that subscribe button on your podcast feed. And if that feed is from Apple itunes, you click follow instead. And that's how you're going to know for sure that every time we do a new episode, it's for sure right there in your podcast feed. You can also leave us a five star review as tens of thousands of you have. We say thank you to each and every one of you for that as well as we say thank you to our friends over at Van man for sponsoring this part of the show. You know, maybe you're still under the, the, the delusion that a lot of these personal care brands that claim to be All Natural are still these kind of small companies, you know, these, these plucky, you know, entrepreneurs when in the. When in fact many of them were just bought out by massive corporations and private equity firms over the last few years. And those real ingredients have all too often been substituted with cheaper chemical substitutes. That's not the story though, with Van Man. They've gone in the opposite direction. They're doubling down on their identity, who they are. That's one of the reasons why they helped kick off the tallow movement. They're staying committed as well. Their tallow bomb, made from grass fed tallow, there's no reason, or there is a reason why that matters so greatly. Because the fatty acids in that tallow are nearly identical to the oils in your skin that it naturally produces. So your body's going to actually recognize that attempt and not fight it instead, as it does sometimes with the chemicals. That's where you get the breakouts and some of the other things that you're concerned about. So this is why right now, give your eyes the care they actually deserve. Go to vanman shop/dace. Use the code DACE. You'll get 15 off your first order. That's Vanman Shop DACE promo code DACE. For 15 off your first order with the promo code DACE at Vanman Shop. DACEcode. DACE. Well, of course, we are very excited that we are counting down to the release of my next book, why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. Here's a preview.

[C]

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

[A]

That's right. Our 250th birthday, folks. It's an event that is 3,000 years in the making. And we walk you through all of that history all the way up to the present day in a way that your children can understand, so that they are then inspired to now carry on that. To accept that legacy, be honored to accept that legacy and then carry it forward for the next generation. So it's the completion of my trilogy of children's books on America's Christian heritage to go along with why Thanksgiving and why Easter? Why Independence Day? America Is Great Because God Is Good is doing pre orders right now releases May 26th pre orders right [e-mail] and last I checked, we were one of the top 20 best selling new releases of all children's books in America. So thank you very much for that. All right. America is Great Because God Is Good is the subtitle to why Independence Day? You can pre order it today. And we've been counting down to Release Todd's top 10 moments that led up to Independence Day. So today, now, Todd, we're at number five.

[F]

And we've come to the Boston Massacre. After the Stamp act, there was the Townsend act, which gave British customs officials more power to search colonial ships and seize goods. The protests that followed brought with them an increased presence of British soldiers to keep the peace, with the expectation under the law that colonial citizens had to provide the soldiers food and lodging. Something had to give. And In March of 1770, it did, when British soldiers guarding the Boston Custom House got into an argument with a local apprentice that ultimately attracted a large crowd of protesters numbering roughly 300 people. A total of nine British soldiers were there. When the tension finally boiled over after a matter of hours during due to the soldiers being pelted with snowballs and clamshells. In between cursing and insults, one soldier fired without orders, and others followed suit. Three American citizens were killed instantly. Two died in a hospital. Another eight were injured. The scene was made famous in an engraving by none other than Paul revere, who once said, quote, every great venture requires risks, and I stand ready to bear it. And history remembers those who did not wait for others to take a stand. Also taking a stand would be future president of the United States, John Adams, who refused to let the cause of liberty serve as an excuse to diminish the pursuit of justice. When he accepted the role of defense attorney for the British soldiers and risk being labeled a traitor, A colonial jury was convinced by Adams to acquit six of the eight soldiers, While all avoided what could have been the death penalty. Said Adams, facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, and they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. As a patriot, though, Adams knew far more than that. And no matter how proud he was of doing his duty as a lawyer, the trial was over, but the road to war and possibly an entire new nation had clearly been entered into evidence for the colonialists to consider with blood and treasure of their own. Adams own final verdict on the Boston massacre was this. On that night, the foundation of American independence was laid.

[A]

When I talk about, we're going to do everything it takes to win except that which God explicitly says we can't, but we're going to do everything else, that means we're going to be cunning, we're going to be shrewd, we're going to be ruthless, we're going to be wise, we're going to be prudent, we're going to do what it takes to win except that which God says we cannot because we. It gains. It does nothing to gain the whole world but lose your soul in the entire process. And I. I kind of see this story as the first American example of what I'm talking about in that we have one of one. One of the leaders of. Of our revolution. And. And yet in the midst of that, he still understood there was a higher law here that had to be upheld. There was a higher standard here that had to be upheld. And. God will not bless our efforts if we don't recognize that. This world is ultimately not our home, but it is. It's to prepare us for the home we're going to. And playing God's game by the devil rules, by the devil's rules is not how you demonstrate that I am of another kingdom, it's actually how you take on the things of this world. And so even in the midst of this, even in the midst of risking his own life, he will, just a few years after this, pledge his own life, fortune and sacred honor against the British Empire. Even, even in the midst of that, though, he understands we're all still accountable here to the same God. When you get to eternity, if you are blessed to get there by the grace of Christ, you are going to meet red coats. You're going to meet red coats and you're probably not going to see a founding father or two. Unfortunately, if you end up spending eternity separated from God in a place called hell because you rejected that grace of Christ, you're going to meet redcoats and probably a founding Father or two while you're there. And I think this is a subtle, very important moment in the history of the country that we cannot lose our soul while fighting for our way of life. And I think that is something that we have to make sure that we maintain in this era as well.

[F]

Yeah, it's no coincidence that John Adams was the one who said immoral and religious people and no other.

[A]

Thank you, Todd, for that. Again, you can pre order your copy of why Independence Day America Is Great Because God is Good. It's available right now for pre order at Amazon. Many of you have. Thank you guys so much. I think you'll absolutely love the book. I think it's the best of the three, as it should be. It's the. It's the culmination. It's the. It's the rest of the story. Paul Harvey. So I think you'll enjoy it greatly. Available for pre orders [e-mail] all right, you guys ready for some feedback Friday?

[F]

Yes.

[A]

All right, this one, Todd, starts for you. Jayla Corbin wants to know, how were you able to navigate the many pitfalls of the vaccine exemption process for your children? How were they able to be admitted to school camp or other events requiring proof of immunizations? They try to make it virtually impossible to refuse the unsafe and ineffective jabs and survive in today's society. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Now, she doesn't tell us where she lives, that that may have something to do with this, too. So can we kind of start with a blanket statement? If you want to live this way and live in a blue state, you're. You're making a really hard way of life damn near impossible. Can we just start with that maybe? Yeah, that's just a Reality. We're not saying we're happy about it, not saying it doesn't suck. There's beautiful country in places like Oregon. I can see why people would want to live there. Still. Much of California is absolutely the same Gold coast that it was before. Okay. Colorado remains amongst the most beautiful scenic places in this entire hemisphere. But you just have to understand that, you know, we're in an imperfect world. The world has fallen. So some of those plush hills and great landscapes and tourist attractions that may be the reason why you're living there. Well, that's the trade off for this. If you want to live, if you want this value system, it's way harder than it's going to be in many other, in some other places that maybe don't have those kinds of plush hills and exotic landscapes.

[F]

Well, Steve just already knows how to answer my questions on this front. If this is a priority to you, in every state there is a little pocket and you need to find, find them of the, the so called, you know, experts, the, you know, the real experts on this kind of stuff. The ones who have been fighting against the tide for a long time. They'll tell you all the tricks of the trade in that particular state. But overall Steve is absolutely right. And if this is the priority in your mind that you say it is, you're going to have to be willing to sacrifice either with a location switch or with a lifestyle change that means homeschooling. You know, all kinds of things that it's just a lot of people just won't consider. Listen, it was, it was I when I researched it was way easier in Iowa and certainly the districts, even as bad as it turned out to be for other reasons in that district it was, I had no problems at all getting, just asking for the exemption and getting it. But I made sure that we, when we started off in my kids started off in Catholic school and then ended up going to public school for a variety of reasons. But I made sure I, you know, didn't back myself into any corners there. So other than same thing with camps like I don't you just either this is a priority for you or not and there's a lot of, there's a lot of people that I just in the end of the day they'll end up the plunge in the needle because they'll look in the mirror and they, whatever sacrifices they had to make to do that were just too much. I just, you got to be very clear headed about how where this stacks on your list of priorities. Just like anything else it's just a grown up decision, that's all.

[A]

Aaron, you guys have any thoughts how you've navigated this with the kids that you have that will be of school age here before you know it?

[C]

You have to go into this understanding that really from the moment they exit the birth canal, there are people who are not the parents of that child. That would be you who believe that they have a right to your child. That's the reality of the situation. Your job as a parent is to protect, to guide, to nurture that child. That is your responsibility. Now, there will be other people who can help along the way, but ultimately they don't have the responsibility. They don't have the claim. Whether that's in the hospital, hey, take all of these vaccines, whether that's in the schools, hey, you got to do this, you got to do that. It's your job. So that's kind of how we see this.

[A]

Okay, let's get to the next one because this one I got a lot a variation of this question. I got this a lot last week after we had Dusty Deavers on talking about the. Told you the composting thing. You did. I'll give you guys a little peek behind the curtain here. When Todd told me we were going to talk about this, I. I'm like, I'm happy to have Dusty on whenever he's a compelling individual. But I'm like, what is the hook here? I asked you that. Okay. Turns out this actually did have quite a bit of interest. Right. And you know, Dusty can make and turn almost anything into a hook because he is a pretty compelling individual. By the way, the governor down there, Kevin Stitt, did veto this legislation last week. I saw. Right. So this is a variation of a question I received quite a bit. Okay. How is composting bodies. This is from Matthew Sitler. How is composting bodies any different from cremation? How is this different than cremation at all? It produces something useful rather than a pile of ashes. I think that killing someone to get compost is radically different than allowing a body of an already expired person to be turned into compost. If that is so terrible, why is there not the same outcry against cremation? So I received this question a lot. The fact that there's not the same outcry. Let me start here. The fact that there's not the same outcry should indicate something here. Okay. All right. So the, the reason that people were pursuing the composting thing was an attempt, as we discussed with Dusty, was an attempt to achieve some form of transcendence without the only real form of transcendence that is offered to us as a species, it's essentially turning your remains into a Tower of Babel.

[F]

Great way of putting it.

[C]

All right.

[A]

That this is your attempt to raise, to reach to transcendence. When as a species, the only form of transcendence that's available to us is we accessed our heavenly Father through and only through his Son. For I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

[C]

All right?

[A]

I am the good shepherd, my sheep, hear my voice, Enter through the narrow gate. There is. There is no other name under heaven by which men must be. May be saved but the name of Christ. Right. And so this is an attempt to apply that level of transcendence while rejecting true transcendence at the same time. And that's why I pointed out to Dusty that blue states were leading the charge here. That's why. Because they are blue because they're godless. They're not godless because they're blue. They're blue because they're godless. Now, anybody? Anybody? Okay. Everybody okay with that answer to start with?

[F]

Right?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Now, on the cremation question, people are incinerated by volcanoes, by weapons, by fire. Right? That no one sits there and. And weeps outside of a. Of a tragic fire. Because while these bodies have been turned to ashes and so on the. The day of resurrection, they can't be put back together again. No one does that. They. They do weep for the. For the deceased. Right. But they don't weep that well. You know, these bodies can't be put back together again because, you know, everybody in here was essentially turned into a vat of ash. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

[F]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. The number one reason people choose cremation is frankly, cost. And if you look at the average cost, I did a little research in advance of this question. These are nationwide averages. Direct cremation, Right? So just cremation and then your remains put into a container, no Service is about $2,200 on average in the nation. Direct burial in America with no viewing, no funeral, meaning we just put a body in a casket and we bury it. That's what direct viewing or direct burial means. That begins. The average starting price for that begins at $5,000 if you want cremation with a service. So there's some form of a viewing, a ceremony, a funeral. Right. The average cost around the country is about $6,280 for that. If you Want traditional burial with the service. The starting price for that on average around the country is $8,300 and can eclipse more than $10,000. So at the. When Christ is crucified, he is given a burial plot, a tomb, through Joseph of Arimathea, one of the Pharisees that ended up following him. Now he is flanked, of course, by two criminals on either side, as we all famously know. Right, so what would have been done with their bodies? Well, what the Romans would have done is they would have had, not far from the place of the skull there where they were, where they crucified such people. Not far from there, they just would have had a dumping ground of bodies. They just would have done. You could have walked by there at any point in time you wanted if you wanted to risk yourselves. Because of course, that kind of a dumping ground, they weren't going to even spend the time to bury these bodies. That's manpower taught. We're going to have our men do things that, you know are for the glory of Rome, not burying a bunch of political prisoners. In fact, they wanted the bodies to be out there, to rotate, to further put fear in the populace. Because what would attract rotting corpses, what would attract those kinds of things? Ravenous animals, dogs, coyotes, that would view these things as food. Wolves, of course, all kinds of rodents, insects, etc. And so they on purpose wanted a macabre setting. I mean, these executions were done in public. They were not done in some chamber, they were, they were not done within some prison. Crucifixions were done on the side of the road. You're, you could literally be traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover and your children would just see from dozens of miles outside of the city, just people dying up on stakes. At age 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. When we talk about not going to see rated R movies today at 40, imagine your 5 year old is just walking, heading to, heading, heading to Jerusalem for the Passover. And you know, hey kids, you know, bounce your eyes, turn around, we're entering into a parade of your countrymen up here on crucifixes, bleeding out after being tortured. Think of how we viewed as adults, Mel Gibson showing you a lot of average is about 30% of what crucifixion really is in the passion and how much that disturbed a lot of adults in early 21st century America. Now imagine you're just there with an entire brood and your family just is subjected to watching this. It was to ins, it was to instill fear. And then these bodies would be discarded to Attract the animals. Right. It was also considered kind of an ignominious death. According to Jewish tradition, cursed is the one who dies upon a tree. They were trying to enforce all of these tropes in order to induce and provoke fear of Rome. So they're not this. I hope I answered your question. A lot of you had this question, but they're, they're, they're not the same at all. If anything, the argument against cremation would go in the opposite direction, which is you are now intentionally deny. You can, if you want to make the argument, and some traditions do this, that you are intentionally denying the value of the body by voluntarily cremating it. I totally get why you might come to that conclusion. Okay. That you're not viewing the body as a temple. Now, the problem with that argument is even if we give you a proper barrel, what will happen to that body in the grave? What will happen?

[F]

It'll degrade.

[A]

It'll degrade and decompose. And so the only thing that will eventually be left, after a not too short period of time, there will be bones in a skeleton available that is not in a cremation container. But all the flesh is gone in both cases. Correct. So they're really not the same at all, if you, if you stop and think about it. But I understand why this question was asked. It's a good question. And so I wanted to answer it because a lot of you did ask this.

[F]

Listen, if. No matter what, we should always be looking for utility to make the best out of a situation. Listen, I don't think you asked the question with any malice, but your logic can be applied in Fuller. We should just be. We should be going out of our way. As long as we're going to have abortion, we should make sure we harvest all the dead baby body parts and use them.

[A]

Correct.

[F]

Research.

[A]

Correct. Which is again, why the blue states were the ones that led the charge on this. 100%.

[F]

Yeah, that's, you know, that, you know,

[A]

we are essentially just nothing but a vat of upright natural processes. And this is, if we're going to get really deeply theological, what the composting thing is two religious views called pantheism and panentheism. Pagan views. Right. And so one of them essentially is the circle of life. If you all know the song from the Lion King, that we're all one in one circle of life with whatever the creative force of the universe is. And so we're not sinners, we're not separated from God. We're therefore not in need of salvation, okay? Or we're all part of his divine plan just the same that he takes part in, or that force takes part in with us. But again, there's no natural sin. There's no need for a salvation. People are basically good. All right? These are the views of pantheism and panentheism. So this idea of, hey, we know. We put you back in the ground, all right, to become a plant or something, all right? You're really just one step away from just. I'd rather be a Hindu. At least there's a chance I might come back as a living being, right? I mean, if you're going to give me. You're going to sell me a lie, sell me a way better one then, you know, I. I could be, you know, my body, my. At the end of my life, my legacy is I'm a dung hill to fertilize your crops. At least give me Hinduism, which promises me fake transcendence via, you know, becoming the chance of being another living being, maybe even a human being again.

[F]

It's just really, we. We play what are ultimately psychological games with ourselves to deny reality. It is possible to have a beautiful death, but that is not the same thing. Death is not beautiful.

[A]

See, this is a very important point. There is no dignity in death. No, there can be meaning in death.

[F]

Yes.

[A]

That's what you mean by a beautiful death.

[F]

Death is a curse.

[A]

But death is a curse. It is not something to be exalted. It is not something to look forward to. That. The curse of sin was death. The last enemy is death. All right? There is no dignity in death. Death, in and of itself, is an indignity. There can be meaning in death, great meaning, in fact, but. But in and of itself, the act is indignant. That's why we weep. That's why we don't want to suffer. That's why we don't want to watch ourselves slowly decompose. That's why no one says, I look forward to when my kids have to change my diapers. No one does that. Because we know that death in and of itself is a curse. It's an indignity. That is a very important point. Aaron, did you want to add anything good?

[C]

I mean, there are. There are others. I mean, I know people who, for different reasons, believe that cremation is something to be avoided for Christians because of the. I think the reason, like the resurrection at the end of time. So that's one thing as well. I just think what Todd underscored there is what you have to keep in mind, obviously, and I think it's very apropos. We talk about this as if it's some sort of just utilitarian. It's very utilitary. It can get to be a very utilitarian topic while forgetting at the same time that this is the ultimate indignity and it is the curse. I think you have to keep in mind as well that I lost my train of thought. I was going to say something important and I lost my train of thought totally. It's my first day on the job. Just underscoring what Todd said, don't think about this as the world thinks about this. Don't think about this as a utilitarian concept. At the same time, there are things that are permissible, whether it's cremation, I think there are disagreements on that as well. But keep your motivation. Is it the motivation to cremate? To be one with the planet? This is what I was going to say. The motivation to cremate to be one with the planet. Is that your motivation? Then the act of cremation is probably wrong. If the motive is this is what we can do, this is what we can afford right now, then I think it's probably permissible. But this has everything to do with one, keeping in mind what Todd said and two, what is your motivation for this? And clearly what we talked about with Dusty Devers, the motive behind this was some sort of hippie dippy pantheism, panentheism nonsense. So just keep that in mind.

[A]

I think we can do this one quickly. This is from Tom. Just thinking about the California governor race and how maybe the GOP should take a page from the Democrat playbook. Currently Steve Hilton is in the lead with Tom Steyer in second and that Becerra cat is close behind in third. If only the top two advance after the primary, would it be beneficial for the GOP and other PACs to not only fund the Republican candidates but also fund the lower polling Democrats and try to boost their numbers and soften up leading Democrat. Soften up the leading Democrats in the race. A Republican winning is already tough to imagine. So why not try to spread out the Dem vote as much as possible in this jungle primary for a chance at Hilton and Bacara, the two Republicans to get the top spots. Just a thought. I love the show. I don't know if this would work, but you're thinking in the kinds of ways we need to be thinking more of. Yes. Yeah, you're thinking of. You're itemizing. Do everything it takes to win except that which God says forbids that we can't do, but do everything else. Whether this would work or not, I don't live in California. Pretend to know. But you're thinking, I think, in the direction of this is the kind of ways to think and how we actually win.

[F]

But if you win using that, then use your power to change that dreadfulness and a lot of other dreadfulness in California. Otherwise, none of it's worth doing. Do something

[A]

that's very important, too. It's not just amazing what Ron did in Florida. It would be amazing in and of itself. But when you stop and think about the fact by barely 30,000 votes, he beat a guy who was literally doing cocaine off a gay hooker's gluteus maximus. And 99.99% of people when they win a race like that are like, I got to be real careful here. I don't have much of a mandate. And my man won that race. Okay. It just went completely to the. To the nth degree. Yeah. Every opportunity had, nevertheless. Right. That's kind of what you're saying.

[F]

Yes.

[A]

More feedback. Friday in a moment, The steve day show. All right, Back here on the Steve Day show, powered by our friends over at Jace Medical. Make sure you're ready for the next time. That could never happen here when it happens again, particularly when it comes to things like supply chain chain shortages, election year, viral outbreaks. That's a thing we got to start game planning for now, apparently. Yeah. It is what it is. So Jace Case can literally be your lifesaver. They came on board our show and on our network because they were greatly concerned. They saw what had happened early in the scamdemic with hydroxychloroquine. What was happening right at that moment with ivermectin. That's why you can get ivermectin, by the way, in your Jace Case if you want. Right. So they thought, hey, if they're going to do this to drugs of recent vintage that have been, you know, exalted, what would they do to, you know, historical things like penicillin and doxycycline and more? And since they came on board with us now, gosh, it's been almost five years, they have greatly expanded the menu of what they do to make sure you're fully prepared, from first aid kits to customizable Jace cases now with a lot of the medications and things that you or your loved ones may need on a daily basis. Just make sure you're ready for when you're not ready. All right. Use the code DACE at checkout for a discount on your [e-mail] j a s e jace.com enter the code DACE at checkout for a discount on your order. It's one of those things. You don't need it until the day you do, and then you were thankful that you had it. All right, Code DACE at [e-mail] all right, back to some feedback Friday. KD writes. If women aren't interested in the biblical paradigm and role it clearly lays out for them and indeed have not just no, no wish for it, but open hostility to such a suggestion, what then do we do as a society? Please regale us with a great story about the last time you heard anything from the pulpit about biblical womanhood. This I don't disagree with. What it means to actually be a Christian woman. When was that sermon ever given? I've been a churchgoer for over a half century. I've never heard this once in my life on the responsibilities of being a Christian woman. I've listened to plenty about men and our responsibilities, but I've never heard one thing about being a Christian woman. Have you not just mentioned I'm talking about, like, any kind of service, like what we typically, typically do with the men. This is a symbiote. And I don't disagree with this at all. I mean, I've said for years the typical evangelical mega church mentality is is Mother's Day is Moms do too much, and Father's Day is Dads don't do anything at all. Now, in a I don't think we necessarily disagree with that. That's why I say things like if we were doing our job, there wouldn't be a Moms for Liberty. But it's similar to why I'm not exactly happy that the government's UFO files gained no foothold. It's not for the right reason. Do you see what I'm saying? The average megachurch evangelical church in America is not saying, moms, you do too much, and dad, you don't do enough for the reasons the three of us would say it. Do you see what I'm trying to say? They're doing it because they're largely feminized institutions and their core audience are women. They're playing to women. The music's for the women, the services for the women. That's why they're doing it. I mean, they have. And Aaron can tell you this. I mean, he would have been taught this at Northwestern School of Northwestern Bible College Broadcasting School that, you know, the much of a Protestant Christendom is her name changes. Right. What's her name now, Aaron? Do you know what the current name is?

[C]

The real Linda. Linda was the real one. And I'm not making that up. That was Linda.

[A]

They literally get all these ministries and stuff together, the music channels, the, the mega churches, and they're all consulted that there's this composite suburban female that is their core audience, and that everything they should do should be directed at what, what will satisfy her. So that's why you don't hear those sermons. Okay. Because a lot of those same churches that say, you men on Father's Day, you're not doing enough. How many of those churches, Aaron, would you say have vibrant men's ministries that they're actively engaging the community? How many you think that is?

[C]

Pretty small number.

[A]

Pretty small number. Yeah. So it's not being said for the same reasons that we say things like this. It is being said in order to placate the women, to pander to them. It's just straight up pandering. Straight up what it is. All right? And if, if the men of that, if, in a minute, if the men in a lot of those churches actually got together and said, you know what, after one of these years hearing the Father's Day message, you're not doing enough. If a bunch of men got together in many of these evangelical churches and said, you know what? I've heard this, we've heard this all our lives. We got to do something about this. And then went to the pastor and said, hey, we want to form a men's ministry. And here's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 things in the community we got to conf front that pastor be like, dude, what are you talking about? Anyway, I got a tea time at a squash game. So, yeah, on this one, kd, I, I, I don't disagree with you fundamentally at all. You just described like a, a half century of feminized evangelicalism. I, I don't disagree with that. I, I've, I mean, I've been to evangelical churches all over the country. I have been to how many evangelical services in my time now over the last 20 years? In the hundreds. The amount. I mean, it's very rare to hear women ever confronted or challenged on anything. So, yeah, I don't deny it at all.

[B]

No.

[A]

Anybody else want to say anything?

[F]

We good? No, we're good.

[A]

Okay. Stacy Lucas writes, I've really been struggling with our government over the Epstein files. For the first time in over 20 years. I'm seriously considering just not voting. How do you vote for someone when the government is actively covering up for potential satanic pedophiles? Especially as a Christian mom with two young sons, I'm at the point where I just want it all to burn down and usher in the second coming of Christ. All right, let's start with your last sentence first. You and I cannot induce the coming of Christ. We don't provoke God to act in that way. And it's important to understand that it is. It is not. Is there, Is there a. Is there a. A biblical eschatological conclusion that as the world gets worse to the end, then Christ returns? Yes, but remember, before we get to that, and if that, even if that is your view, before we get there, we have Paul, who's living in a time where he thought he was going to see the return of Christ, saying, we can't do evil so that good may come. So let me start there. We are not. We. We are not permitted to advance evil, to turn a blind eye to it, to. So that we think if we just continue to let it pile up, Jesus will return. In fact, if that were to be the circumstances at the end of days, I would imagine it probably wouldn't go very well for the people who played into that. That would. Those would not be the people that Jesus is anxious to rapture away. We have from the parable of the talents. What happens when you're. You operate out of fear and you take the talent that is given you and do nothing with it. You're condemned into the same lake of fire as evildoers. So dispel yourself, Stacy. First of all, of that notion. You are not going to induce the return of Christ by sitting out. You are, though, going to break his heart that you're not fully utilizing the reason that he saved you in the first place. Now, let's not have another false choice, though, because I also don't believe you are required to just vote all the time. I don't think you have to vote. I don't think yet. Of course, I think there could be and probably already has been. And in the past I've thought there were no good options, and so I didn't. In the past, there's been several elections where I thought if this was the last thing I did, could I justify this to Jesus? And at the time, I thought the answer was no, and I shouldn't betray my conscience. So I didn't. So I'm also not going to give you the false choice in the other direction and say There would never come a period in time where things are so dark. At this point, our best witness is to challenge the integrity and premise of this process more than participating in it. Some of you, including people who are friends of mine, think that we are already there. I don't blame you for that at all. All right. The Bible holds the rights of conscience in very high regard. So as long as you're not using your conscience or your freedom to indulge your sinful nature, and I would argue just allowing evil to spread would be indulging your sinful nature. Because when you say things like that, that's despair talking. That's not the gospel. If your worldview begins with the premise that God supernaturally intervened into human history to reroll a stone away and make a dead man alive, you're not permitted despair at that level. You're not. It's antithetical to your worldview. It's anathema, I would argue. So despair is not the language of the Christian, it's the language of this world. But if the world were to fall into such despair that you would say, this is just not my fight here. This is. It's very clear that God is. This is Romans 1 level nihilism. God has deserted this space. And it's not the space that God wants me to cast my pearls onto swine. I. I've taken that position in the past. Right. Have you ever heard me condemn someone if they had an honest reason to say that? And even if I didn't agree, no, no. As long as though here's what you also can't do, you can't then, then say, because that may apply to you and your conscience, that that is true for absolutely everybody else and they don't see it your way, then they just aren't as devoted as you are because ultimately you're not the standard Christ is. So if they can maintain their Christian witness and engage a scenario, then by all means, who are you to judge them? If you cannot though, then you should. Not fair.

[F]

Yes.

[A]

So if, if I'm not going to sit here and say for examp, I'll just say this on your specific example.

[D]

It.

[A]

This would seem to be a justifiable reason why someone might just say, you know what? I think this era of politics really just isn't for me.

[F]

Yes, understandable.

[A]

I mean, if we literally cannot arrest one person who was involved in a satanic pedophile ring, then there must be another thing that the Lord wants me to do with my time. And chances are, if you've come to that conclusion. There probably is. Go and figure out what that is, I'm sure. Is this the only possible front to push back on the things of this world and the spirit of the age is in the political arena. You could be the hands and feet of the gospel. You can help people that are in despair. You can help the less fortunate. You can just work on local issues. The good news is when your culture is under siege, as we are, there is not a shortage of fronts by which you may go and serve. Correct?

[F]

Well, not only that, if you haven't already been doing these kind of things that Steve just mentioned already, yet you have this opinion, you don't deserve to have this opinion.

[A]

That too. Yes, but if, but if this is a bri. If you're like at this point, the national political system for me, I just, I can't. Then don't would be what I would say. Then don't. But. But you know, you. There are, there are, there's again, there's plenty of battlefronts to be engaged on than voting in the midterms. I happen to think it's very important. I could be wrong. This is where we give each other grace, provided we see Christ like fruit bearing in whatever it is that we're doing. You guys want anything to that at all?

[F]

No, already did.

[A]

Okay. Aaron, you good?

[C]

You're just not allowed to completely let

[A]

go of the rope. No. That's kind of what Stacy sounded to me like. Yes.

[C]

So if you want to tap, grab

[A]

another part of the rope at least.

[C]

Yeah, grab another part of the. Maybe a part of the rope that's closer to your hometown in your home, but you're not allowed to just let go of the rope, no matter what eschatological position you're coming from. Guys, there's this misnomer, I think, you know, if you think that things are just going to keep getting worse and worse, that's kind of the premill eschatological perspective. Until Christ returns, that should actually spur you, motivate you, create a sense of urgency to build, evangelize, do everything you possibly can right now because the moment is nigh. The moment is near where that clock is going to stop ticking and all of this unbelieving world isn't going to have another chance. So you need to get busy. Okay. So that's from that perspective, the premium perspective, the pre mil perspective, I should say, gets a lot of flack from the Post and Amil because they always say, and I think there's some truth to this, that Eschatology is missiology. And if you think that things are just going to get better and better or worse and worse until Christ comes, that just exposes people, exposes human nature. Well, I. There's nothing I can do. Things are going to get worse and worse. The opposite is also true from those other perspectives. If you think that things are going to get better and better and build and build and build until Christ comes back as we evangelize the nations, you can also say, well, it doesn't matter what I do, because things are just going to keep getting better. Both perspectives should spur you, motivate you to a sense of urgency. Right now, you're just not allowed to let go of the rope either way.

[A]

And that, and that's when you, when you start, when despair enters in. That sounds like I'm about to let go of the rope. Okay. Despair is not a setting for the Christian. Anguish can be Jesus. Jesus, I mean, had a level of anguish that caused a rare medical condition where you sweat blood right out of your capillaries. So yeah, there can be high ends of anguish. But, but why did he have that? Because he knew he was about to go take on a full frontal assault against the devil and his, and his dominion on this earth. And then when he, then he accepts that that's his mission and he fulfills it. So anguish, nervousness, tension, even a lack of faith. Can I really do what God is calling me to do? Those things are all part of the human condition. We see those things all modeled by Christ and the apostles in the New Testament. But the idea of despair is a paralyzing force. I'm just going to give up. I'm not going to do anything. That's not the same as anguish. Despair is not a setting for the Christian. It's not a Christian perspective setting. It's the language of this world. And there will be seasons, by the way. I've had them. You know what? I'll just be very blunt because that's how I typically roll. The state of the governor's race in my home state has, has me. I'm just, I'm flabbergast you guys have heard this. I'm, I'm beyond flabbergasted by the whole thing. The whole thing is just a colossal disappointment to me. How it's all turned out and, and I've done as much as I can, but I'm deeply disappointed by where things stand and have been for weeks. I had one more opportunity, I thought maybe to try to initiate something that might help the Situation doesn't look like that's going to happen. So at this point, I kind of. I've done what I can to continue to engage a hopeless situation would make me feel despair. You see what I'm saying? And so for me, it's time for me now to direct my energies in a place where I don't. If directing your energy in a place makes you less Christlike, that's not where Christ wants you to be normally fair.

[F]

Okay?

[A]

So I'm gonna. So I'm directing it in other places where I don't. I'm not tempted to become who I don't want to be, the, you know, a person of despair. So there are seasons. Like, some of you have come to me over the years and said, things are just so bad right now. I love your show. I just don't think I can. Listen, man, I think I need a break. You know what I've said to every single one of you every single time I've ever received that note, Every time I've replied, you should take a break. We take breaks. We do. We may do more shows than almost anybody does, 240 original shows a year, but that means we also take four weeks of breaks. We need breaks. It's okay to take a break. Totally cool with it. I'm not offended at all. When we're done. When I'm done doing what I need to do for this show to be as good as I can make it, you know what I'm doing the rest of my time, everything other than this. I'm taking a break. All right. Any final thoughts before we get out of here today?

[F]

Well, that was a so reminded show. Gotta make the main thing the main thing. And you had reminders in Aaron's montage today that evil is absolutely making the main thing the main thing. So I. If that doesn't. There's all kinds of motivations. Some are aspirational. Some are a defensive position. But God wants you either way. The only question remaining is how much you want him. Sorry, Aaron.

[C]

No, you're good. I just think the mantra of all three of us, we try to figure out different ways to say this, is, yes, things are dark. There are no excuses, though. But there's always hope. And that hope is found in our Savior. And we work towards that.

[A]

That.

[C]

That great hope, not in our own strength, but in his.

[A]

Amen. Go hard. Romans 8, 28.