Spencer Pratt: Social Media Phenom ... or SERIOUS Candidate? | 5/22/26

Summary

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Steve Deace Show | Spencer Pratt: Social Media Phenom ... or SERIOUS Candidate?

Date: May 22, 2026 | Blaze Podcast Network
Host: Steve Deace, with Todd Erzin and Aaron McIntyre
Episode Theme: Principled conservatism with a snarky twist; exploring the interplay of social media, political influence, cultural decline, and whether viral figures like Spencer Pratt amount to genuine political movements or mere online stardom.

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Overview

This episode opens with Steve Deace reflecting on his recent trip to D.C., the motivating power of witnessing American heritage, and the responsibilities carried by conservatives today. The subsequent discussions include:

• Dissecting the current state of American political and moral decline
• Analyzing Donald Trump’s outsized influence over the GOP
• Assessing Spencer Pratt’s “phenom” LA mayoral candidacy: meme or meaningful?
• How online personalities translate into actual political power
• Listener feedback with pointed critique, personal stories, and meta-commentary on influence and loyalty in conservative media

The hosts maintain a conversational, irreverent, but deeply concerned tone, blending snark with earnest urgency about the health of the country.

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D.C. Recharge, Heritage, and Responsibility

[00:21–03:32]

• Steve Deace recounts a personal trip to D.C.

  • Witnessing American history up-close in the Capitol reminded him what’s at stake: “It was encouraging. I came away encouraged. I came away with my battery recharged to remember what’s at stake here—the heritage...the legacy that we were blessed by our Lord to be born into…” (Steve Deace, 01:29)
  • Deace was especially moved by seeing one of only three original Thomas Jefferson portraits and being present at the last dinner in the almost 200-year-old Capitol Hill dining room before its renovation.

• Reflections on Purpose and Movement:

  • “[It was] good to be reminded what it is we are fighting for here...the awesome responsibility before us.” (Steve Deace, 01:49)

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Audience Generosity & Values

[02:50–05:54]

• Recognition from Preborn’s Dan Steiner:

  • Dan Steiner praises Deace’s audience as one of the most generous when it comes to charitable donations, specifically for pro-life causes.

• Steve Deace responds:

  • “That might be one of the greatest compliments you’ve ever received, given the principle here at stake.”
  • Deace talks about supporting Preborn: donations to fund ultrasounds, postnatal care, and the necessity of standing up for the “new family” through tangible actions.
    • “Let’s keep it going...for as little as $28 you can reach one mom...none of it though really is [free]. That’s where you and I come in.” (Steve Deace, 04:32)

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Issue #1: Degeneracy & Decline—The "DACE Group" Breakdown

[06:14–18:56]

• Montage of cultural/political absurdities:

  • Compiled by Aaron, the montage features stories such as "Camp Crinkle" (ABDL/furry subcultures), LA political candidates joking about detaining “Zionists,” the normalizing of radical identity politics, prayer described as "sectarian," and climate-alarmism meeting democracy-alarmism.

• Key Moments:

  • “These aren’t trolls. I mean, they effectively are, but they’re not substantively that. ...This is not even a demagoguery...we are foreigners to them, and this is why I say all the time, you can't share a country with this. And you won’t. It’s just a matter of who unshares first.” (Steve Deace, 16:25)
  • “Sectarian language. That’s usually a term when you’re talking about the bad El Mandab terrorists...To these people, people who pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we’re morally equal to those...terrorists...That’s just incredible. The invincible ignorance...” (Aaron, 12:42–13:05)

• Panel consensus:

  • Culture is in moral freefall, and the radicalization and normalization of fringe ideologies threaten basic social fabric.
  • Deace evokes Roman paganism and the framing of Christians as “foreigners,” warning: “You can't share a country with this...whoever unshares first will win.” (Steve Deace, 17:38)

• Memorable exit question:

  • “Rank this week’s level of total depravity.”
    • Todd: “10.”
    • Aaron: “10.”
    • Steve: “That’s a 26. What we saw.”

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Issue #2: “King Trump”—Is Trump Unquestioned Master of the GOP?

[19:08–29:34]

• Trump’s Primary Dominance:

  • Trump-endorsed challengers sweep Republican primaries (e.g., Bill Cassidy loses in LA, Thomas Massie in KY).

• Is Trump truly king?

  • Todd: “That’s false…It’s about wins on the scoreboard for our way of life. That remains to be seen.” (20:04–20:22)
  • Aaron: “He is king of the political machinery…But when it comes time for legislative wins? Not a whole lot to go on there.” (21:23–22:52)
  • Steve: “He is this dread, the dreaded sovereign…over that process. But even that is…somewhat limited.” (28:02–28:10)

• What could Trump do to wield true power?

  • The panel notes he has NOT “primary’d” key RINO incumbents for leadership positions or successfully forced substantial policy change.
  • “He wants the job. No excuses.” (Todd, 24:59)
  • They agree: Trump's real capital is in elections/political theater, not in swaying the laws or legislative power structure.

• Final call:

  • Trump will pick the 2028 GOP nominee, but otherwise, his sovereignty is real in primaries but not in governance.
    • “He’s going to pick our nominee. I think that is absolutely true...he is actually the sovereign king over [the party machinery].” (Steve Deace, 29:07)

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Issue #3: Spencer Pratt – Meme or Mayoral Material?

[31:49–42:30]

• Background:

  • Reality TV star Spencer Pratt runs for LA Mayor—known for inventive, viral online campaign ads (notably, a “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” parody in response to TMZ hit piece).
  • Pratt pivoted to serious 10-minute explainers on policy, especially addressing homelessness/drug addiction.

• Panel Analysis:

  • Steve Deace:

    • Lauds Pratt’s ads: “These are some of the greatest ads I’ve ever seen…It aims for the groin.” (Steve Deace, 33:44)
    • Warns that social media “phenomena” can be real or fake—points to past viral GOP candidates who flopped at the ballot box.

  • Todd Erzin & Aaron McIntyre:

    • Todd: LA is probably too far gone: “There’s just not a critical mass of regular voters...But if I’m wrong and he wins LA...he should instantly become the Democratic frontrunner for President...he’s shown a way that a lot of Americans are looking for—Normie America.” (37:32–38:24)
    • Aaron: Explores three outcomes:
      1. Pratt loses badly—“LA is cemented as lost.”
      2. Pratt makes a competitive showing—“he could start an independent movement.”
      3. Pratt keeps it close (within 10 points)—“maybe LA isn’t so far gone.”

• Insightful Quote:

  • “There’s a really, really important lesson...Have you noticed he is on the attack every day?...You have to keep people’s attention if you’re running for office.” (Aaron, 43:34–44:39)

• Key Exit Question:

  • What’s more likely: Spencer Pratt elected LA mayor, or Republicans hold the House?
    • All agree: Republicans holding the House is more likely.

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Rapid Fire & Predictions

[42:30–47:07]

• Online Grifter Hypotheticals:

  • Aaron: “Professional Meat Smokers Caucus” (42:42)
  • Todd: “Anti sports, bro. I mean, I will take all your money, all of it.” (42:55)

• Pop culture predictions:

  • Todd: “Adult Christian men will be the primary ticket buying demographic to go see Supergirl.” (44:50)
  • Aaron: “Cutting and running from a current conflict in the next three weeks.” (45:22)
  • Steve: “He-Man movie is going to outperform Mandalorian and Grogu at the domestic box office this summer…Star Wars is a dead letter.” (45:46)

• Memorable exchange on pop culture:

  • “Demented and sad, but social.” (Todd quipping on He-Man and Star Wars audiences, 47:07)

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Interview: Rep. Chip Roy’s Texas Attorney General Run

[52:10–59:27]

• Why run for Attorney General?

  • “We've got to fight to save Texas in this country. And the election is... Do you want a proven conservative, but more importantly in this case a proven lawyer to be the Attorney General of the state of Texas?” (Chip Roy, 52:51)

• Central issue:

  • The “March of Islam” as a threat to Texas, and the need to have an AG willing to name and fight this explicitly.
    • “We cannot win a war we don’t acknowledge exists. And a war is raging. The Islamists want to make Texas an Islamic state…” (Chip Roy, 56:23)

• Call to Action:

  • Urges audience to “drag your friends and family to the polls” for the runoff.

• Steve’s endorsement:

  • “That is one of the most important elections…in the country this year.” (Steve Deace, 59:28)

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Book Preview: “Why Independence Day?”

[59:55–62:46]

• Steve announces the release of his latest book, tying American liberty back through thousands of years of faith-based history, and celebrates robust pre-orders.

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Listener Feedback Segment: Accountability, Loyalty, and Meta-Commentary

[68:22–96:03]

• Hostile Mailbag Example:

  • Listeners criticize Steve for not defending Thomas Massie from Trump, accuse him of caring too much about being on the “winning team.”

• Steve’s Reflection:

  • Responds candidly, invites critique, and explains his calculus: “Who’s in a better position to advance our worldview right now—a single congressman from Kentucky or the President of the United States?”
  • “At this point, it’s really more for me...how much of our way of life can I preserve for our kids and grandkids and not lose my soul or integrity or...my own Christian testimony.” (Steve Deace, 75:02–75:59)

• Personal Encounters:

  • Listener “Beau” thanks Steve for intervening during a leukemia transfusion crisis, connecting him with Dr. Peter McCullough.
  • Deace: “These are the cool things about God giving you a platform…It’s a privilege…not an obligation at all.” (Steve Deace, 85:28–86:11)

• On Compromise in Leadership:

  • “Don’t muzzle the ox as it treads the grain. Well, what if it’s not treading grain? You approach the ox differently. What if it never treads grain? …Oxen meat is delicious.” (Aaron quips, 95:00–95:22)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• Steve Deace on Modern Fragmentation:

  • “You can’t share a country with this. And you won’t. It’s just a matter of who unshares first, us or them.” (17:38)

• On Social Media & Real World Impact:

  • “The social media world has created these online phenomenons...It just wasn’t so big we were going to take over a district like that.” (Steve Deace, 33:44)

• On Pratt’s Campaign Instincts:

  • “He understands in this day and age you have to keep people’s attention…And I think that’s a really important lesson.” (Aaron, 43:34)

• On Why Trump Isn’t Fully “King” of the GOP:

  • “When it comes time for legislative wins, answering the question, what did you do? Just not a whole lot to go on there.” (Aaron, 22:52)

• Chip Roy on Existential Threats:

  • “We cannot win a war we don’t acknowledge exists. And a war is raging. The Islamists who want to make Texas an Islamic state…” (Chip Roy, 56:23)

• Steve on Audience’s Generosity:

  • “One thing that Dan [Steiner] said to me...when it comes to large donations, you are one of the most generous audiences...” (Steve, 02:50)

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Final Reflections

• Restoration, Heritage, and Moral Clarity:
  • Steve Deace circles back repeatedly to the necessity for moral clarity, spiritual renewal, and gratitude for America's unique legacy.
  • The show remains a blend of critical cultural observation and political analysis, urging listeners to take part in pragmatic activism and principled stand against cultural decline.

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[End of Summary]

Transcript

[Steve Deace]

And greetings. Happy Friday. Good to be home. Good to be back home here in the Friendly Confines. Good to see Todd erzin and Aaron McIntyre again. I'm Steve Days. But I will tell you this, even though I've turned a trip like this down like 50 times, I finally decided, you know, what if I need to say yes once or they're going to stop asking, you know, and something just told me I needed to go. Even my wife was like, you need to go. I needed to go on this trip to D.C. i mean it was quite the trip and it was a got to connect and meet some, some cool people and see some friends. But most importantly, it was, it was good to be reminded what it is we are fighting for here. To be surrounded by all that history and to get a, an up close view of it again, guys. And to sit in just the, the Capitol Hill dining room that has stood there for 200 years and they're about to close it down to renovate it. We were actually the last dinner that's going to be held in there for the next 18 months while they renovate it. And you're just to see one of the only three original presidential portraits of Thomas Jefferson we have left. It was good. Don't get to use this term a lot in our current political trajectory. It was encouraging. I came away encouraged. I came away with my battery recharged to remember what's at stake here, the heritage that we are a part of, the legacy that we were blessed by our Lord to be born into when we could have been born into literally any other place on earth and therefore the awesome responsibility before us. So I'm gonna, we're gonna do a show when we come back from Memorial Day weekend on Tuesday and we're gonna launch why Independence Day? On, on Tuesday, May 26th when we come back to launch. I am gonna, we're gonna have, you know, what I did on my D.C. vacation. There's some photos I want to show you guys. One video in particular I want to show you that I, I think will really speak to what it means that America is great because God is good. So I needed it and want to thank all the folks that helped to organize that trip. For sure. I needed it, man.

[Todd]

I'm encouraged that you're encouraged. This is what I was hoping for from you going there.

[Steve Deace]

Well, one of the people I got to meet was Dan Steiner who is the head of Preborn and got to give him a copy of why Independence Day? And he took a look at it, was very excited about it. He had very kind words for our network and for you guys in this audience in particular. All right. I mean, one thing that Dan said to me, he goes, I don't know what it is about your audience, but when it comes to large donations, you are one of the most generous audiences. That, that we are a part of is the Steve Day Show. And we're. We. We are on every major platform and every major show right now. So it could. That's incredible.

[Todd]

Is that a greater. Have you had a greater honor in your life?

[Steve Deace]

You know, when I shared that with you guys via text when I got back yesterday, and then you texted to me, that might be one of the greatest compliments you've ever received, given the principle here at stake. It hadn't really dawned on me yet that, you know what? Yeah, you're right. I mean, I had to pause when you sent that to me.

[Todd]

This industry's full of nonsense. I dare you to do better than that.

[Steve Deace]

Yes. I mean, well, you guys have been incredible. I mean, I've written a few checks to pre born, but not all of them, all right? I mean, maybe 1% of the checks that have been written there have come from the Day's household. The rest of all come from you. So let's keep it going. You know, for as little as $28, you can reach one mom to make sure that she becomes a mom and not a murderer. With your donation at preborn today, $140 could reach five mothers as soon as today. And. And then this is the part, you know, the ultrasounds to convict the conscience is tremendous. But this next part is why we're aligned with them. It's that they understand, though, that's a big step. But it's just the first one. This is a new family now, and they want to get that new family started off on the right foot. So they're there for up to two years after that baby is born with all kinds of prenatal and postnatal care needs, baby clothes, diapers, counseling, and so much more. All of that is free. None of it, though, really is. That's where you and I come in. Make your tax deductible donation today to preborn.com Steve. That's preborn.com Steve. All right. Coming up on today's show next hour. Forgive me. Indulge me. Yes, it will be your turn on a feedback Friday, but one of my best friends has only a couple more days left to try to save what's left of the state of Texas as its next attorney general. So we're going to give one last push for our good friend Chip Roy, who's going to join us at the top of next hour. I mentioned it will be a feedback Friday, but let's kick this thing off with the DACE group. Your weekly look at the week that was is just us. Figured we were gone for a couple of days. There's plenty enough for us to talk about and for us to break down amongst ourselves because we really haven't had a chance to do that while I was gone and away. So let's get to it. Issue one, bleep. Lord Nefarious says.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Camp Crinkle is sort of this camp where everyone is crinkly, everyone's wearing diapers. We've built out Zesty Cheese Ranch, this kind of interesting little baby fur campsite. Baby Fur is the segment of ABDL

[Steve Deace]

which is adult baby, diaper lover and furry combined. So it's often furries. So cute.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Animal characters, but they usually will role play as younger characters.

[Todd]

What about this passage from Mike Johnson

[Steve Deace]

declaring that our rights to do not derive from government, they come from you, our creator and heavenly father.

[Todd]

Is this him putting God over the Declaration of Independence?

[Steve Deace]

ICE is not just the federal police force that he's developed, it is his. And there's a historical analog here, which is the ss. The SS was unaccountable to the parliament. They answered only to Hitler. A Democratic frontrunner in a Texas congressional

[Todd]

runoff is now facing backlash over anti Semitic remarks.

[Steve Deace]

Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist and housing activist, is running for a seat in the newly redrawn 35th congressional district. Galindo posted on Instagram last week saying she'd turn an ICE detention center into a, quote, prison for American Zionists and called Zionists pedophiles.

[Todd]

That post is still up.

[Steve Deace]

There is sort of like that stigma within the furry community, Right. And I get from the outside, there

[Aaron McIntyre]

is a consent thing. Sometimes it gets misunderstood where people assume

[Steve Deace]

that because you're role playing as a

[Aaron McIntyre]

younger character, you want to hang out with younger, you know, with children, which it's not. It's all consenting adults. Ronald Reagan, he famously said the nine

[Todd]

most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[Steve Deace]

It's a good quote, but I disagree. Council member Hugo Sotomartinez, who has endorsed you, he wants to explore ways to let non citizens vote in city elections.

[Aaron McIntyre]

I know that there are some cities

[Steve Deace]

that already do this, but, you know, politics is all about timing. With Donald Trump in the White House. Is this the right time for Los

[Aaron McIntyre]

Angeles to go down this path?

[Steve Deace]

Well, I think we need to explore it. Pete Hegseth, for example, who you had praying there, he gave a fictitious account of George Washington that historians say isn't true. Apocryphal, right? Yeah, apocryphal story about Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge. It's a painting you'll see all over Christian nationalist sites. But what's notable there is that he prayed, he said, as Washington did, in

[Aaron McIntyre]

the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

[Steve Deace]

Right, so this very again, sectarian thing. We're facing two existential crises, climate and democracy.

[Todd]

And it's now or never for both.

[Steve Deace]

They are very interconnected. We have to solve them together. We can't have a stable democracy with an unstable climate. And we can't have a stable climate unless we have a democracy.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Either Maga extremists are going to break the country or we're going to break them.

[Todd]

And our goal is to break them.

[Aaron McIntyre]

We will defeat them. We have to beat them electorally and then we have to break their spirit.

[Steve Deace]

It's people who want to be the children. They want to be cared for, they

[Aaron McIntyre]

want to be looked after. There is this belief that baby furs equals pet. It has no connection at all. Your average baby fur one, not a two. They probably hate pet more than most people.

[Steve Deace]

I gotta tell you, I didn't come back from a battery recharging trip where I got to see a lot of that history that apparently is apocryphal, even though it's emblazoned all over the walls, the floor, literally the floors, the walls, the floors, the statues of the capital of these United States. If I had not come back and got some inspiration and encouragement from seeing that heritage for myself, that montage right there, holy cow, would make me want to hurt people. I'm just going to say it out loud. It would make me want to hurt people. Like some people. Like needle whooping that their daddy clearly didn't give them when they were 10, 11, 12 years old. And that's one of the reasons why they turned out like that.

[Aaron McIntyre]

You know what they say? Hurt people hurt people. Like hurt people hurt people.

[Steve Deace]

Yes. So let's get to it. Todd, what was the most vile of the vile that you just saw there, my friend?

[Todd]

Well, tip of the cap to you, Aaron. Obviously that was your point and you need to keep making it if necessary because it's reality. And Steve, actually, you used the reference that I was going to go with because it encapsulates everything else. The apocryphal notion of Washington in prayer. See that it. That's just one example of what everybody is trying. The dog they are talking to you about. We're not really pedophiles. That. That's just apocryphal. It's the same damn speech. They're trying to make you look at reality and think your. Your definition is actually the upside down and that they. The the most insane radical tyrants ever to exist in all of human history. And I know there's been a lot of them, but they want the title for themselves and they're going for it. They think they're the most normal thing ever. They know they're not, but that's the thing. They. They have had so much luck convincing you that their version is actual reality. What? Why would they stop? Because, yes, even when they have to take a couple steps back, you let them go forward again and they're betting on it that you're gonna let him do it again.

[Steve Deace]

Aaron, same question to you.

[Aaron McIntyre]

I mean, Todd, are you talking about things like this? From the View quote, there was very limited destruction of property and violence during the BLM uprising. I saw that clip right after I hit render on the, on the montage that you just saw. You know what I think would be a great idea, handing these people power. I think that would be a tremendous, tremendous idea. Just one of the best ideas in all of mankind is giving people like that who talk about what I focused on, not the apocryphal story of George Washington kneeling in prayer, the sectarian language of Jesus Christ our Lord. Sectarian language. That's usually a term. Sectarian is usually a term when you're talking about the bad El Mandab terrorists on the other side of the. Yes, because to these people, people who pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we're morally equal to those, you know, terrorists on the other side of the globe. That's just incredible. The invincible ignorance we saw at the front and back end. But probably the worst of the worst is the Katie True thing. I don't want to beat a dead horse here because we spent some. We spent a good amount of time talking about that earlier this week, but that kind of speaks to where we are. Not only do we have these just spiritually deranged people running around that exist that are eager to hop in front of a camera and tell you about it, like the diaper furries or whatever they call themselves, the progressives. The communists on our television aren't even doing a very quality job anymore. And I'm not saying this as some sort of a wink and nod, underhanded complaint, underhanded, slight. But to say right there, hey, this prayer or these words, I can't remember who Katie Tour was talking about, talking about our rights coming from God and not from government. Is he placing those words above the Declaration of Independence?

[Steve Deace]

Nice.

[Aaron McIntyre]

When those words are literally in the Declaration of Independence. And I know we beat this horse earlier this week.

[Steve Deace]

No, beat it some more.

[Aaron McIntyre]

That's just low IQ nonsense. It's not even quality propaganda anymore. And again, I don't mean this as some sort of haha, wink, wink, see what I'm doing? It's just drivel.

[Todd]

And because of that, Aaron, obviously there's going to be a red wave. These midterms. Right? See, that's the problem. That's my point.

[Steve Deace]

Let me, man, I don't want to hijack this conversation. We have three other topics to get to, but I think I'll try to be as brief as I can be. I think something needs to be said. Right. It seems weird to us now because we are still standing on the shoulders and coasting off the fumes of what used to be known in the west as Christendom. But during the pagan era of Rome at its nascent ascendancy, Christians were accused of a lot of weird things, being polytheists practicing cannibalism while their Lord said to eat of his flesh. And we would look at that stuff today because we've got literally a couple thousand years of tradition that historically that our own nation is predicated and founded upon that. Even if you don't necessarily agree with that theology or think Jesus rose from the dead. For a lot of you listening in this audience, you might be a conventional Jewish, you might be irreligious but conservative. You're not like instantly like offended or you're like, this sounds weird that you guys do this because you're, you're, you've been so exposed to it and the people that practice it that you just recognize it's, it's a belief system, whether you share it or not, it's normalized. But our customs and stuff in the, in the, in the pagan era of Rome were not. And we're given the most disgusting descriptions of who we are and what we think and what we believe. Now why do I bring that up? Because that's what Aaron's alluding to. See, we're in a godless pagan era of America and so praying in Jesus name is now sectarian. It was a custom not even a decade or two ago. It was an expectation barely a generation ago, given what the founding vision and morality and worldview of the country was. To them, we are foreigners. And I'm going to use that term very specifically because I want it to sink in. I want you to absorb it. We are foreigners to them. Like, when you have a bunch of Haitian refugees move into Ohio, you're like, these customs are weird. We don't live like this. What. What is happening here. That's who we are to them. And so it sounds crazy. And to us, that's what we sound like to them. These aren't trolls. I mean, they effectively are, but they're not substantively that. They're not merely that. This is not a trolling. This is, this is not even a demagoguery. It's really not. Even before we even get to political posturing, it's like, wait, Haitians eat cats. It's like you guys pray in Jesus name. We are foreigners to them. Foreigners. And this is why I say all the time, you can't share a country with this. And you won't. It's just a matter of who unshares first, us or them. And whoever does it first will win. Exit question. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being how much you'd be willing to drink out of the Potomac and 10 being how likely Lindsey Graham contributed to whatever is currently in the Potomac. Rank this week's level of total depravity.

[Todd]

Todd, 10.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Aaron, 10.

[Steve Deace]

I mean, that's, that's a 26 what we saw. I mean, wow. Let's get to issue two. King Trump.

[Aaron McIntyre]

If he's not batting a thousand in his primary endorsements this cycle, President Trump is extremely close. Most notably this week, Trump endorsed challengers unseated established incumbents first in Louisiana, where a weekend primary saw the ouster of incumbent Senator Bill Cassidy in favor of a Trump endorsed challenger. Not only did Cassidy lose his primary, he came in third place. Then in Kentucky, seven full term serving Congressman Thomas Massie lost his contest to another Trump backed challenger. Trump also announced this week his support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his Senate primary runoff against incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Trump's political machine is truly flexing.

[Steve Deace]

All right, so first question here. True or false? This week's primary results confirm yet again that President Trump is the unquestioned king of the Republican Party.

[Todd]

That's false.

[Steve Deace]

All right, explain.

[Todd]

Well, it has. It's a version of. You've talked this week about audience versus influence and things like that. I would say my, my position on John Thune versus Donald Trump still stands. Obviously, John Thune is taking L's right now in a personality and electoral contest. But ultimately, at the end of the day, it's about wins on the scoreboard for our way of life. And that remains to be seen yet on how this plays out. So I'm, I'm optimistic we're trending in a better direction. I just don't think this is definitive. We've been down this road before.

[Steve Deace]

All right, Aaron, true or false, what do you think?

[Aaron McIntyre]

Well, I think this is left open ended on purpose, and that allows us to kind of get into why we believe what we believe. And I think Todd is barking up the right tree there. It is false. But we have to take into consideration a bifurcation. Are we talking about the political machinery and winning elections, or are we talking about the legislative, the congressional machinery and winning on politics?

[Steve Deace]

Good distinction.

[Todd]

Exactly right.

[Aaron McIntyre]

And what matters the most, you are. What did you say earlier this week? You are what you do.

[Todd]

Yes.

[Aaron McIntyre]

And with what you do is just winning elections. That doesn't really, that's, you know what that means. You won an election. You know what that doesn't mean. You know what that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean that necessarily all the policies that you won that election on are going to be made law. So at the end of the day, you are what you do. And the Republican Party, what are they doing? John Cornyn, talking to a reporter from Forbes I think the other day, saying, you know, my message to Texas voters, look what we've done over the past six months.

[Steve Deace]

You've been there for like 20 years.

[Aaron McIntyre]

And then I looked it up, and you know what I found? We've actually been way too hard on the Republicans. They've actually accomplished a lot in the, in the last six months, like also they did. And then after that, they also, no, you are what you do. And the Republican Party has not really done a whole heck of a lot of much. Some of that is the majorities, some of that is the margins, but most of that is a lack of political will. So a very long winded way of answering what appears on its face to be a simple question is that, no, he's not really the king of the Republican Party. He is the king of the political machinery of the Republican Party. And I think that's clear and that has to be taken into consideration. But when it comes time for legislative wins, answering the question, what did you do? Just not a whole lot to go on there.

[Steve Deace]

All right, let's. What would happen if he. If he did more directly exert what. What could. Let's be specific because we've talked about this, the show, and so let's back up our own words, specifically when we say things like, you know, I. I'd kind of like to go after Jonathan at least as hard as we went after Thomas Massie. Now, it's easy to quantify what it looks like if you want to take Thomas Massie out, because there's a. There's an election happening. So there's a. There's a certifiable process by which you can, if you're the president, exert your influence and generate an outcome. Because there's going to be. People are going to vote and there's, you know, they're going to keep score. Right. And the game's going to go final on election night. You see what I'm trying to say? There's a game taking place. Right. You know, so what is it he's not doing right now that he could do that he could do, for example, where Thune and those people are concerned. So when we say, let's be as hard on the Rhinos as we are on Massey, give our audience some examples, what do we mean by that? What would that look like?

[Aaron McIntyre]

There cannot be this bifurcation that I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about. So the bifurcation between political machinery, what he does in the primaries, cannot be different from what we get in the legislative process. So the answer to what to do differently is primary. Thune threatened that primary, but primary, you know. How much do you know about Ed Gallrain?

[Steve Deace]

Nothing. I don't know anything about it.

[Aaron McIntyre]

How much do you know about Julia Letlow?

[Steve Deace]

Nothing, other than they got endorsed by Donald Trump. That's all I know. Yeah. I'd never heard their names prior to their endorsements.

[Aaron McIntyre]

So it's not just endorsing against some of these RINOs in the primaries. It's finding good candidates. And that's easier. That's easier said than done. But finding good candidates, quality candidates to actually get your legislative agenda done, that's how this is supposed to work.

[Steve Deace]

Right? How would you answer that?

[Todd]

Well, I think it kind of looks at things backwards. If we're talking about kings. There's a level of power that along the lines of what Trump anointed himself with, only I can solve. You just. You get things done. Listen, Steve, there's.

[Steve Deace]

Give us an example.

[Todd]

What would it look like getting policy passed? It's this is behind the scenes, the smoke filled room, all of it. If you want to be there and you want to get things done, there's. There's how many NFL teams, they all have coaches. Everybody needs a coach. People need to do things. But the ones who really get things done, they're not really reinventing the wheel. They're not. It's not an entirely new playbook, but they just know how to put all the pieces together better than the other guys who aren't morons and idiots themselves. I. You. It's really. He's the president. He wants the job. No excuses.

[Steve Deace]

Okay, so we could threaten a primary. Thune, he's up in the next cycle. He's up in 28 is when he's up again. All right, we could argue and you get smart people in a room. You could argue tactically. Is that too far in advance to threaten Thune when the president would be coming to the end of his term, what's his lame duck status, et cetera, et cetera? If you got a. If you got 10 smart people in the room, would they all agree that's the right tactic? Because. Or maybe it's too far off for an immediate impact. Let's pick something that would be clearly of an immediate impact. All right? And I'm leading to a theory. I'll tell you guys, when I'm asking a question that is leading to something. A lot of times I'm not. This time I am, because I have a hypothesis. All right, so we're gonna go after Thune as majority leader.

[Aaron McIntyre]

All right.

[Steve Deace]

Who in this caucus, with the help of Trump, would get the requisite votes, do you think, to defeat John Thune for majority leader, like in a week, like a week from now, we come back and the president's like, you know what? We're gonna. This has to go. This can't happen. So we're gonna replace the majority later. Who could do that with the president's help?

[Todd]

Right now, I'm not even so sure anybody would. But here's the thing. In the past, if he did the things we talked about on this show, ignore court orders, which he hasn't really done.

[Steve Deace]

I agree.

[Todd]

Arrest somebody, which he hasn't really done. We'd be having a different conversation if he did those things then. But we haven't. So we're here. And so my answer is probably nobody. And that's not good.

[Steve Deace]

You agree with that Real quick, Aaron, because we're close to chart.

[Aaron McIntyre]

I kind of. Yeah, I think that's probably the leading option. Do you think somebody like Hollywood.

[Steve Deace]

No, I don't think there is anybody. And I think one of the things the president is doing is exerting his authority where he actually believes that he has it. And you run into a situation where if he exerts authority and capital where he doesn't have it, does he look weak overall? Right. Where he has his most authority is on the foreign stage and holding, being the gatekeeper of what is the right wing of the Republican Party, you're not allowed to get to his right.

[Todd]

This is also over.

[Steve Deace]

And that's why he keeps doing it over and over and over again, because that's where he has the capital in these other places, he frankly doesn't have any. There's too many Republicans there that were here before him. They know they're going to be here long after he's gone. And so they know they can just. They can just wait him out.

[Todd]

Well, you're answering the question. He obviously isn't the king then.

[Steve Deace]

I don't. I don't think he's the king. No, I think your answer that he is in charge of the political process. He is overseeing that. He is. He is this dread, the dreaded sovereign, to use a kingly term, from antiquity, over that process. Okay, but even that is somewhat limited because, again, I mean, there's too many people that are in office that he's either not tried to take out or is unable to, that are. And it doesn't take many. We're not. I don't think it's like 30 senators, but if it's. If it's five or ten, that's enough. Then. Then you don't have enough. You don't. And so that's where we are now. If Daniel were here today, what he would say is, you know why he's in that position. And Daniel would be correct, by the way. He was in this position because for 10 years he did not do something about those people and get rid of them. And so they're all still there. And of course, Daniel comes from a heritage of. He knows what happens when the Lord says, go into that land and get rid of everybody who ruined it, and you don't do it. He kind of has a. He knows. He knows the history of what happens when you let the bad people hang on. He kind of knows that's his history of his people. Right. You know, and that's what's happened here. Well, he didn't disrupt the process as much as we had hoped. And now those folks are kind of entrenched to know they can wait them out. That's what's going on. Let's get to the exit question, though, because here I do think he's king. I think this is a true, true or false, the only opinion that really matters in the 2028 GOP presidential primaries. Trump's he's effectively going to pick our nominee. I think that is absolutely true because of what we said. He is actually the sovereign king over.

[Todd]

I think that's true right now at this moment. I agree.

[Aaron McIntyre]

True. That means for you the pressure's off, right?

[Steve Deace]

I'm gladly, gladly not receive it. Totally fine not having it again. I'm good. Done my tour duties. I'm good. Been there, done that, bought the T shirt. All right, when we come back, is Spencer Pratt. The phenomena. Is it real? We'll get to that and more next.

[Chip Roy]

The steve day show.

[Steve Deace]

Now, fellas, I want you to know with Father's Day coming up, I had absolutely nothing to do with consulting with Kexi about the kinds of cookie box to put together for Father's Day. But I'm going to tell you right now, when I tell you what the lead cookie is, it's going to sound like I did. It's going to sound like something I came up with. It's the peanut butter marshmallow cookie, warm peanut butter cookie melted chocolate gooey marshmallow. That's the first chair in the Father's Day Kexi box Orchestra. Does that not sound like something I would have given them right then and there?

[Todd]

They just know Steve by now.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah. Give me chocolate peanut butter and gooey. I'm in. Okay. There's a s' mores cookie as well, and so much more. Kexi cookies are absolutely incredible. All right. These are limited for the holiday, all right. And you can get it right [e-mail] order by June 14th. So you get the limited edition Father's Day cookie box as it says right there on the screen. These are flowers for dad. If any of my kids are listening, they can order me these flowers for Father's day. All right. Kexi.com is where you want to go. You got to order by June 14, though, to make sure they get to dad on time for Father's Day this year. So don't wait too long. K e k s I kexi.com go to kexi.com for a limited time, get their Father's Day box. All right. Order by June 14 at kexi.com all right. Let's continue on here on our weekly look at the Week that was. Let's get to issue three. Is this whole Spencer Pratt thing. Is it for real?

[Aaron McIntyre]

LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt faced a hit job in recent days when TMZ tried to insinuate Pratt is lying about his current resident status, that he doesn't actually live in the Pacific Palisades and is actually staying at the Hotel Bel Air, ignoring, you know, the fact Pratt's home burned down in the wildfires early last year. Unbothered, Pratt opted to lean into the attempted hit job.

[Steve Deace]

Now this is a story all about

[Aaron McIntyre]

how my life got flipped, turned upside

[Steve Deace]

down, and I had to take a

[Aaron McIntyre]

minute to run for mayor.

[Steve Deace]

I'll tell you how I became the

[Aaron McIntyre]

prince of a town called Bel Air. In West Los Angeles.

[Steve Deace]

Palisades, my backyard, is where I spend

[Aaron McIntyre]

most of my days. Meeting hummingbirds, relaxing, all cool, avoiding all

[Steve Deace]

the bums outside of the school. When a couple politicians, the world are no good, started making trouble in my neighborhood, I got at one little fire,

[Aaron McIntyre]

my mom got scared and said, you're

[Steve Deace]

moving in with Harvey Levin in Bel Air.

[Aaron McIntyre]

And that's just one example of Pratt's steady stream of engaging and entertaining campaign content. Pratt frequently posts these types of creative videos to get his message out. That message, at times has been long on promises, short on details. But that changed in a big way this week. In particular on the issue of drug addiction in Los Angeles, Pratt put out a 10 minute 5 point policy explainer on how exactly he intends to tackle the homelessness and drug addiction problems in his city. It certainly seems like Pratt is a genuine serious person, genuinely concerned about his city. With insanely good political instinct. He doesn't seem to be a clout chaser disguised as a political candidate. As we've seen from time to time, we'll see how successful he can be against incumbent mayor Karen Bass.

[Steve Deace]

So here's what I mean by I think he is for real. But is the, I'm using the term, is the phenomenon for real or is it just an online thing? These are some of the greatest ads I've ever seen. The, the, the. The Bel Air takeoff ad is among the greatest ads I have ever seen. Okay, it is punchy. It is funny. But when I say punchy, though, it's not just ha ha ha. No, it, it in, in its own way, I mean, it, it aims for the, for the groin. I mean, it punches right in the sensitive spot hard. Okay, but is this something that could actually win? We live in an era where the social media world has created these online phenomenons, and sometimes they become they get huge accounts. They. They raise a whole bunch of money. There was a black woman that ran in an, like a plus 79 Democrat district in one of the Tea Party years, raised a butt ton of money. She got like, I think 5% more in the general election than you and I got in that district. She had no chance, but she was pretty, she was black, said a lot of conservative things. It looked like it was kind of a big Tea party Air Force, and it was. It just wasn't so big. We're going to take over a district like that. And so she was able to build an online presence for herself way beyond what the reality on the ground was. Right. Maybe the most extreme example I'm talking about is I'm sure if you've been on righty social media for more than five minutes in the last, what, three years? Okay, you have seen this woman. In Texas, we worship Jesus Christ. Not a stupid rock or a dead pedophile like Muhammad. I get into Congress and I'm banning halal hijabs, or as I like to call them, bomb concealers. And I'm turning the mosques that you paid for into public toilets. I look forward to making Texas the worst place for terrorists, Muslims, illegals, pedophiles, and groomers who live in, so help me God. And don't forget tomorrow, Sunday, so go to church. So I'm sure you have seen this woman. That was one of the few of hers I could find that wasn't littered with F bombs. Okay. She has built. She has become an online phenomenon. Now she's a real person. I've seen her do interviews, but I can't remember what job it was in Texas she ran for there. And I think she got about 2% more than we did. I remember, right, yeah.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Here's the results from the Texas US Congressional District 31. John Carter won the March primary 59.7%, Valentina Gomez, 10.2%.

[Steve Deace]

So that's an improvement. I think it's her second race. The first race, I think she had like two. Okay. So I'm not. I. He is a. He's a. He's for real. He's more serious than her. But I want to use her as an example of what is possible in this era of complete cherry girl fakeness. All right. Where you can have a wide audience on the halal, Right. That's my new term, by the way. Okay. On the halal, right. But it's. It's just outside of buying your nicotine patches, it's. It's angry Arabs and they can't vote in American elections. And they're not going to buy, you know, the kinds of stuff that families that would normally be our core audiences will buy. Right. So could he really be the mayor of la? Todd?

[Todd]

Well, I have a quick question. You tend to do a lot of research once you're curious at this level. Do we know anything about his past voting record or anything like that?

[Steve Deace]

Nothing.

[Todd]

Okay.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Completely blanket reality. A douchebag. A douchebag reality TV star. That was kind of his role. I can't even remember. Was it the Hills or something like that?

[Steve Deace]

I don't remember the show.

[Aaron McIntyre]

I don't remember. I guess he just played the role of the douchebag and that was how he's known.

[Todd]

Well, I don't, I don't think he can be. Because of Aaron's montage. Because in the montages that Aaron runs over and over and over, you're saying

[Steve Deace]

LA is just too far gone. There's not a critical mass of just regular voters.

[Todd]

But if I am wrong and he wins la, I, I think I'm saying something that actually is kind of self evident and obvious. He should instantly become the Democratic front runner for President of the United States. I'm not kidding. Because if he can win la, he has overcome that. And it's a proof of concept that almost no, everybody else wants to be that. And he's shown a way that, let's face it, a lot of Americans are looking for Normie America. I just, I just want something in the middle. I'm not an ideologue. I don't really care. You're all too serious about this.

[Steve Deace]

You're saying it would show their party's not quite as captured, that there is still a natural consequence breaking point where they abandon enough of their own craziness that they can't afford this anymore and have to move into reality.

[Todd]

Al will have done it for him in a way that they clearly aren't doing it on a lot of other levels.

[Steve Deace]

Well, I'm fascinated by you taking that angle because something I heard several times, including a couple times, frankly from Speaker Johnson, he took us into the Billy Graham Prayer Room. That's the one place in the Capitol or not the Billy Graham Prayer Room, I'm sorry, into the Congressional Prayer Room. And it's half, it's, it's literally halfway between where the speaker and Majority Leader are in their, in their offices. That's where it was built and placed on purpose, was meant to be a place for people to come and to pray for wisdom. And guidance. There's no cameras to. That was the one place we could not film. That's considered the most sacred place in the Capitol dome. Okay. And one of the things that Speaker Johnson said to us was when he first came to Congress, you could still get some Democrats would come in here and pray with you, but they won't do it anymore.

[Todd]

Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

He also said, you know, that we used to. When he first came to Congress, there were still several Democrats would come to the bipartisan Bible studies. He says there's only a couple that will do it now. And they want their presence there kept secret because they know that their base will absolutely destroy them for it. Because of, as you were pointing out, what Aaron had in his montage as big. So we believe over here that that is Aaron's montage is the mainstream of the Democratic base. For Spencer Brat to win in LA would mean that may not necessarily be the case, is what you're saying. And I would argue that's a hopeful thing for America if that's not the case. Because having one political party just completely gone to the spirit of the age and a dual duopolistic system means that eventually they'll drag the other party with them, as we see over and over again, just at a much slower rate. Right. Okay. Because what happens if the other party starts going in the opposite direction just as fast? Well, Sumter, that's what happens. Right. And so you have a tendency to say, all right, we're not going to do this, we're not going to. It's kind of crazy. Let's just slow it down. But you're still going in the same. To the same place that they are, just at a acceptable rate of speed. Your point being then there, that if it, if this is so far gone that some normalcy is still possible, they ought to make that the face of their party right away. Right?

[Todd]

Yes.

[Steve Deace]

Okay, Aaron, what say you?

[Aaron McIntyre]

So I think we have to look at this with maybe three possible outcomes here to determine whether or not he is more than just a social media phenomenon. I mean, I looked at the following of Karen Bass. It is, I think, less than half of Spencer Pratt's following. Nithya Raman, who is also running for, I think, as an independent, maybe Democrat in the primary. She has less than a percent of Spencer Pratt's following. So that's one thing. But I think the outcomes of the primary here will be very telling. If it is North Korea level margins, even after all of this, then we'll know it's just too far gone.

[Steve Deace]

Then the opposite of what you said is true. The cementing of they're just a demonic manifestation is that's in concrete now.

[Aaron McIntyre]

And I fear because of the homelessness and a drug addiction problem in la, who's out on the streets, that machinery that's used, I fear it could end up with that eventuality. I think the second possibility we need to investigate as well. What if he doesn't win and he gets trounced, but it's like he gets like 20, 25, 30 points or I guess maybe 15 to 25, then he

[Steve Deace]

could start like an independent political movement in the community.

[Aaron McIntyre]

And then there's a third eventuality that I think is probably the lowest but possible as well, where it's actually close, where he's within five to 10 points. And I say that close, Los Angeles, Democrat machine notwithstanding, that's what close would be, within like 10 points. Then you were talking about, hey, maybe there's elements in Los Angeles of all places that are not so far gone that maybe this is worth some more investment. There's one thing. Go ahead, Steve.

[Steve Deace]

Let's get to the exit question. What is more likely Spencer Pratt gets elected mayor of Los Angeles to Republicans hold the House. Aaron.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Republicans hold the House.

[Todd]

Agreed.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, agreed. Let's get to the kicker topic. If you could be a grifter online, if you could play create a grifter, which cause would you be willing to grift online for, Aaron?

[Aaron McIntyre]

The Professional Meat Smokers Caucus.

[Steve Deace]

So basically just one of your favorite pastimes.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Yep.

[Steve Deace]

I respect that. Might as well be, you know what? Do what you love. Do what you love. Indeed.

[Todd]

I'm trying, I'm trying.

[Steve Deace]

I think I know what your answer is gonna be.

[Todd]

Anti sports, bro. I mean, I will take all your money, all of it. And it. Steve, you just said.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Is this the man of lawfulness you just.

[Todd]

Yes.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Is spoken of.

[Todd]

You just said on the show. You know, the kind of, you know, you'll. If it saves lives, you know, you'll take money from a certain.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

Oh, yeah.

[Todd]

I mean, if you're. I'm trying to save sports. If you're, if you're, if you're trying to kill sports, if you want sports dead and you say, I think I know you're trying to save it, but I'll give you your money because I think it's not going to work because I see how much hate people. People hate you online. I'll still take your money. Let's do this together. It'll be beautiful.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Steve, there's something else about Spencer Pratt. I want to say I don't want to get step on anything that you need to get in here. I think despite the content, it's really funny, it's engaging, it's creative, it's ruthless when it needs to be. That's all well and good. There's a really, really important lesson, though, I think, for anywhere, not just Los Angeles, anywhere. Whether it's his own talent, whether it's just coming from an entertainment background, whether it's just the instincts that God gave him. Have you noticed he is on the attack every day? He's creating this stuff, this content every day. And it's not all just funny. Some of it is pretty serious as well. Some of it touches the heart as well. He understands in this day and age, you have to keep people's attention and it's easier and cheaper than ever. Especially maybe if you live in Los Angeles where this talent is everywhere, the production talent is everywhere. You have to keep people's attention if you're running for office. And so I think that's a really important lesson. No matter if you're on a campaign, if you want to start a campaign, keep people's attention or at least put the effort to doing so.

[Steve Deace]

That's. That's a great point. That's one that goes back to my first wide release book. That's one of the ten commandments of political warfare. Play offense. All right, let's get to predictions. We've got about two minutes here, Todd.

[Todd]

Despite being mocked to their faces, adult Christian men will be the primary ticket buying demographic to go see Supergirl.

[Steve Deace]

Oh, you're talking about the, the comments that she made where she looked up people that were mocking her.

[Todd]

Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

And said, well, several times it says Christian dad.

[Todd]

There's several stories about that now.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, okay, I got you. I was trying to figure out what you were alluding to, and then I remembered I saw something about that while I was in dc. All right, Aaron, go ahead.

[Aaron McIntyre]

I think in the next three weeks, regardless of what the quality of a deal is, whether or not a deal actually comes, I believe we'll see some sort of cutting and running from the current conflict. I just think there's too much pressure now with the war Powers resolution. I just think there's too much pressure. I think he's going to get out of there one way or another.

[Steve Deace]

Okay. You ready for mine?

[Todd]

I don't know. Am I?

[Steve Deace]

No, you're not. You're not ready for mine. I'm on a streak right now, though. I did predict the Massey Thing wrong. Okay, but he was leading in all the polls until the story came out about him and supposedly some woman claiming that she was his side piece or something. I have no idea if it's true. That's why I didn't comment on it at the time and didn't bring it up at the time. But that, that story here in the last two weeks flipped all the polling. He was actually leading. But I am on a bit of a heater right now in these predictions. I am. All right, the he man movie is going to outperform the Mandalorian and Grogu at the domestic box office this summer to demonstrate that as a franchise, Star wars is effectively a dead letter and either has to be retired. You're talking about a franchise that has no cinematic legacy at all except for a Dolph lundgren film from 40 years ago that we all. That's kind of a cult classic because of how poorly made it is. All right, it was a cartoon. It hasn't been a hit cartoon since you and I were little kids. That was also 40 years ago. They've tried to bring it back unsuccessfully several times. But I'm going to tell you this. I think it's going to their marketing and the way people are responding to it. I can just see way more nostalgia for that than another Star wars film. It's going to outperform it, I believe.

[Todd]

Demented and sad, but social. The only outperforming question is is will more men leave he man being homosexuals than the Mandalorian and Grogu?

[Aaron McIntyre]

What Pedro Pascal making?

[Steve Deace]

I ain't no homosexual nothing, but I like the way he man handles his rig. What's that?

[Aaron McIntyre]

Pedro Pascal making out with Stephen Colbert didn't do it for you, Todd.

[Todd]

I'm just saying that didn't make you

[Aaron McIntyre]

want to watch Mandalorian.

[Todd]

He man wants that title.

[Steve Deace]

Well, it's going to win a title. I mean, I think it's going to pummel the Mandalorian and Grogu at the box office this summer. Even though the Star wars, the superior brand, it's opening over the Memorial Day Traditional 3 Day Weekend. Looking at the tracking numbers, I don't think so. All right, we're to come back. Congressman Chip Roy. And then your feedback is next. Stay tuned. As the crispy chicken sandwich from 7 11. People always call me loud and I'm like, yeah, I know I'm crispy.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Did you expect me to whisper?

[Steve Deace]

If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a hair handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy Throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me and baby, I'm a whole meal and with seven rewards I'm just $4 quiet, no crispy, saucy and $4 very only at 7 Eleven Valley through 62326 participating stores only while supplies last the app for full. And greetings back here with our two live and on demand on Blaze tv, radio and podcast. You can let us know what you think about what we think via the stevedase.com inbox. Take advantage of that by emailing the show [e-mail] that's D E A C E like us on Facebook, Me, we and Gab. You can follow me at Steve Day show on X Instagram and Tick Tock. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at Day show on YouTube and then you can also make sure if you're a podcast listener to subscribe to that hit the subscribe button. Or if you're on Apple iTunes, you click Follow to make sure you never miss an episode. It's there in your podcast feed every single time. And then finally, tens of thousands of you could do this or have done this. We'd love tens of thousands of more of you to do it. Leave us a five star review on the podcast platform of your preference. And again, thank you for each and every one of those. And thanks to our friends over at Jevity for sponsoring this portion of the show. I know I'll get to it. It's too expensive. I don't know where to start. Listen, there's, there's never a reason to delay making sure you're as healthy as you can be, that you've got the blueprint for staying as healthy and active as you can be as you get older especially. And that's where Jevity comes in. First of all, they're launching a free tier, right, so you can upload your own blood work. Maybe you don't want to go through them. You've got your own stuff done and that's fine. And then you're going to have your most recent labs. You can have that looked at by one of their, you know, providers to take a look at your situation and what those results say, help walk you through them and, and come up with a blueprint for you and what to do now moving forward to be as healthy as you can be. What's a good protocol for you? Or you can do what I did and that's have them do your panels. It's exhaustive. They go through hormones, inflammation, metabolic Health, nutrient levels, everything that you're looking for. It's very impressive. I've been on the supplements now for three weeks as part of my protocol. And I gotta say, I feel. I feel great. All right, so you can start for free, see your data, and then you decide what comes next. That's how healthcare should work. It's your health, it's your choice, it's your timeline. So make the call. That's your call. Start right now. Go to gojevity.com and if you stick around and decide to go with Jevity, use my code DACE for 20% off. All right. CO goevity as in longevity. G E V I T. I use the code DACE for 20% [e-mail] code DACE. Well, if you'll indulge me here for a minute, we've got a very important primary election coming up on Tuesday. I've been saying, I think it's the most actual important primary. I think the most. The three most important positions, given the current place, we are as a people, the three most important positions in our government that we can actually vote for our president, governor, and state attorney general, in that order. All right, so Texas has had a superstar attorney general for the last few years, and Ken Paxton looks like he's on his way to the United States Senate after getting Trump's endorsement in that primary. He'll have a tough battle against Talarico, but it is still Texas, where Democrats haven't won statewide and many a moon. There's a runoff now on Tuesday as well in the state attorney general race. And I think one of the finest men that I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is running in that race. It's coming down to the wire neck and neck. So if you're. If you'll indulge me, what's the point of owning your own show if you won't give some free airtime to one of your best friends to plug his campaign one more time? Especially when it's as important of a race as this one is. So Congressman Chip Roy is here with us. So, Chip, the day is Tuesday, the runoff. Where do things stand now in Texas?

[Chip Roy]

Steve, first of all, great to be on. Thanks for all that you do. Thanks for your great show and the fellows that work with you there. Heading into this Memorial Day, we know we. Why we do what we do and why those men and women that gave the last full measure of devotion that we remember this weekend, that's what we're all fighting for. And when I'm on the campaign trail, you know, I talk about three things. There's no real point to living free in this country. And the only thing that matters is not what's on our tombstone that I'll never see or what's in the footnote in history book I'll never read. What matters is whether we're able to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether or not we leave our family in the way that we as husbands and fathers want to leave, you know, our family behind and make sure they know God and know Christ and, and then thirdly that they're able to live free. And that's. That's it. And that's what this is all about. And so this campaign is about something a lot bigger than me. It's not a title. I could have stayed in Congress. I could have keep, I could keep doing interviews and shows and you know, do this thing. But we've got to fight to save Texas in this country. And the election is, the campaign is going well. We're up against a self funder as you know and as your listeners know and you've been gracious to have me on a few times and, and particularly here at this last moment here with the final vote coming on Tuesday. Today is the day of early voting in Texas. We feel good numbers are trending the right direction. We got some really good godsent support from some people that he has blessed with resources in Texas that leveled the playing field. My opponent was out spending me four to one in the first primary and we ran a pretty positive campaign is what I've always wanted to do. And we've run a positive runoff but we punched back because you know what, when someone's attacking you, you've got to punch back. And this race is pretty simple. Do you want a proven conservative, but more importantly in this case a proven lawy to be the Attorney General of the state of Texas. And at this time you noted it, we need leaders as attorney General, especially in Texas. You know, Lord willing we'll have a Republican in 29, but we don't know. We need someone who can be in there and fight for our people when we're dealing with the March of Islam, when we're dealing with criminals on our streets where the Marxist the red Green alliance is destroying our way of life and targeting our way of life and we got to deal with the border and illegal aliens and support the president and also deal with corporate America kind of steamrolling the people. Those are all issues I talk about on the campaign trail. And look, reaction's been great, but we've got to get our message out, and you're helping here, and God bless you for what you do. And I just need everybody to get out and vote. Every vote's gonna matter. It's gonna be a close race. We feel like it's trended in our direction, but the forces of the Austin swamp, which are every bit as big as the D.C. swamp, and I know you know this in Iowa and Des Moines and other places and other state capitals, but I promise you, in Austin, it's pretty acute. The swamp dwellers in Austin, they don't want to see a Chip Roy come in to go shake things up. They'd like to get somebody they can keep under their thumb, and they know that I will not do that. So they're pushing back, but we're doing pretty well, and the people of Texas are responding well.

[Steve Deace]

I mean, somebody spent over $100 million to essentially watch John Cornyn lose a Senate seat in this primary because he outfunded Ken PAXTON Almost like 9 to 1 in that. In that Senate primary. So I would imagine many of those exact same forces are probably aligned against you here as well, because they do recognize this is a. This is. Your predecessor had. Has turned that into a national platform to punch back on our. On. On the left in our opposition. And so they clearly see that you are somebody that would carry that mantle further, even further forward, and that's what they're worried about. But what. Is there an issue, Chip? Is there an issue that. That has changed the trajectory of this race so that you've got the momentum down the stretch that has maybe overcome the. I guess we'll even just say the stigma of being seen as a congressman in an environment right now where people aren't happy with the direction of a lot of things. What's made them see you as Chip Roy again and not Congressmanship Roy again? Is there an issue there that's. That's kind of a touchstone?

[Chip Roy]

Yeah. And I think you. You probably know what it is. Let me just preface it by saying the key difference right now is that we've got the resources to let people know that. That I'm a real lawyer. I've been in court. I've been a prosecutor. My opponent is not. He's never stepped foot in a courtroom, and that matters. You'd be ready on day one. But number two, you've got to have somebody who's willing to stand up in opposition to the March of Islam across the state of Texas and has the capability and the backbone to do it. And Steve, this is an existential threat that I hope we'll talk about on a longer form on your show and otherwise, that we need to focus on this pretty much nonstop in perpetuity until people in this country understand what Charlie Kirk and I talked about last summer, that we cannot win a war we don't acknowledge exists. And a war is raging. And the Islamists who want to make Texas an Islamic state and turn America to an Islamic state, that war is raging. And you gotta have an attorney general who's not only willing to stand up and say it, but has the ability to go into court and win it. We've got to state very clearly and emphatically that this is a political ideology that is waging jihad against the west in their own words, in their own memoranda, in their own funding, in their own mission. And we need to argue that, that you can't masquerade behind the First Amendment while you're trying to destroy the very civilization that our forefathers fought, bled and died for, particularly as we head into this Memorial Day weekend. And that, I think is a critical issue that people don't fully understand is the extent to which that is true. And one final point. If you're not willing to publicly state, and I don't believe my opponent has, that Islam is incompatible with Western civilization fully and completely, and mean it and say it no matter what that means, with people scowling at you when you're chairing a hearing with Amy Mack and with that young man, Marco Hunter Lopez, a Wiley ISD high school student who I had in a hearing that I chaired two weeks ago. By the way, I'm the only member of Congress that's held two hearings on Islam. I promise you, a lot of the weak kneed Republicans, including people who masquerade and champion themselves as conservatives, they're not the ones out there holding these hearings. I am. And the reason I am is because those men and women that died that we will celebrate this weekend, they didn't do it so that you can have moms coming here and trying to transform America into an Islamic state. Not on my watch. And as attorney General, this is going to be one of our central issues. And that issue has been really front and center as we've been going across the state of Texas, my friend.

[Steve Deace]

That's great to hear and amen to every word. How can people, what do you want them to do? What can our audience do to help here down the stretch, the final few days?

[Chip Roy]

Yeah, that's it, man. Just call Your friends, get out and vote. If you're a Texan, if you haven't voted, please show up today or on Tuesday. Drag your friends, your churchmates, your family. You got to make sure you spread the word. The Austin Swamp is scared. That's why they're throwing everything they have at us. And trust me, they are. They're calling on everything they can. They're trying to get a lot of people who are paid for play. My opponent is buying votes. He's going off and buying groups, spreading money around. You need someone who that's, you know, inoculated from all of that, who will stand up and fight for you. So drag your friends and family to the polls, do what's right, get us elected, and then I'll fight for you as Attorney General.

[Steve Deace]

Good to see you, brother. God bless you.

[Chip Roy]

See you, brother. Thanks, team.

[Steve Deace]

You. Appreciate you. You bet. As Congressman Chip Roy, hopefully the next Attorney General for the state of Texas. That runoff election is Tuesday, and Chip does have the momentum right now. So let's. Let's pray and hope that he gets across the finish line, because that is one of the most important elections, I think, in the country this year. All right, coming up on Tuesday, we are releasing my next book, why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. Here's a preview.

[Aaron McIntyre]

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

[Steve Deace]

Releasing on Tuesday. Why Independence Day? America is great because God is good. And, folks, we've just had. I mean, I'm going to do my first external interview for the book later today on the Clan Buck Show. So I. I've just begun calling in favor. Otherwise known as marketing. That's essentially what I'm doing. Just call it, my friends. All right. Can you hook a brother up? That's our marketing plan. All right. Just calling the people I know. All right, so today I'm gonna do my first external interview for the book on the Clay and Buck program right after we're off the air here. We've only been marketing just to you guys, our social media audience and then our audience here. And we're one of the top 20 best selling new release children's books of any category in the entire country right now. We're among the top 20 best selling Christian children's Christian books, period, in the country right now. I. I just looked. This is just weird to look at. I'm one spot ahead of the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Don't say anything else. That's.

[Todd]

That's right there. Leave it lie. Yeah, beautiful.

[Steve Deace]

Now that'll kind of take your breath away a little bit. And I mean this, you guys, again, I've just now begun to call in my favors. All right, so you guys have been great to help us get this thing launched, and I think you're gonna love it. We're gonna do a full read of the book for you on Tuesday as well. I'm gonna share with you guys a lot of what I got to see in dc, including some pictures and video, because I want to be able to share with you because it was just so very cool. And it just ties into everything that our book is about and that we are about and that we're trying to preserve and fight for and pass on to the next generation. All right, so keep those pre orders going here over Memorial Day releases on Tuesday. Why Independence Day? America is great. Because God is good. And Todd, we're coming down to the close of your countdown. We're not quite there yet. The close of your countdown. Top 10 events counting down to independence. Take it away.

[Todd]

Well, Steve has long said that worldview is destiny. And one of the worldviews rising to the top of the pile at the time of the American Revolution was utilitarianism. Utilitarianism believes that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness or pleasure, and wrong if it tends to produce unhappiness or pain. Not just for the performer of the action, but also for everyone else affected by it. It stands in opposition to any ethical theory that regards some actions as right or wrong independently of their consequences. Under such a definition, it seems more than fair to say that many modern day Americans could accurately be called utilitarians. What then did one of the British fathers of that philosophy, Jeremy Bentham, have to say about the Declaration of Independence at the time it was written? Considering that the preamble of our nation's founding document called the pursuit of happiness an unalienable right quote of the Preamble, I have taken little or no notice. The truth is, little or none does it deserve. The opinions of the modern Americans on government, like those of their good ancestors on witchcraft, would be too ridiculous to deserve any notice if, like them, too contemptible and extravagant as they be, they had not led to the most serious evils. And he went on to close on the topic. To accomplish American independence is not quite so easy as to declare it. There is no peace with Americans but the peace of the King and no war with them, but that war which offended justice wages against criminals. We too, I hope, shall acquiesce in the necessity of submitting to whatever burdens of making whatever efforts may be necessary to bring this ungrateful and rebellious people back to that allegiance. They have long had it in contemplation to renounce so many questions. Number one, so what fundamentally is happiness? Two, even if we weren't then, are Americans ridiculous and contemptible and extravagant and ungrateful in pursuing happiness? Now will. Three, will Bentham ultimately be right, that independence was just too much for us because we are really made to be ruled, just like Loki said. Steve has written a children's book in the hope we are not too far gone to answer these questions correctly and plant the flag of liberty for our prosperity. So it is time to ask yourself this final question, Dr. Jones. What do you believe?

[Steve Deace]

Well, to learn what our founders believed and where they got it from. As we've been saying all along, our 250th birthday is quite literally an event 3,000 years in the making. And we're going to walk you through every bit of that history over the course of 48 pages and beautiful illustrations so that you can learn and be encouraged right alongside your children and grandchildren as well, in why Independence Day America is Great Because God is Good. Again, why Independence Day? America is Great Because God is Good. It's the conclusion of the trilogy of children's books we've been doing on America's Christian heritage, starting with why Thanksgiving? And then why Easter? And now why Independence Day? America is great Because God is good. He can pre order it today and Amazon, as many of you have, which is why we've had such a successful launch even before I started guilting my friends into helping me sell it. Right. I'm sorry, marketing. Even before we started marketing the book. All right, so thank you guys very much. We have some breaking news we we should address before we get to feedback. Friday, Tulsi Gabbard has resigned.

[Todd]

No.

[Steve Deace]

As head of the Department of National Intelligence.

[Todd]

Really?

[Steve Deace]

The. The reason being given is that her husband has a rare form of bone cancer. I don't know if this is a new diagnosis or something that he's been battling for a while and maybe it's just gotten more serious that. I don't know. I was not, you know, aware of that situation. But that doesn't mean it's not real. I just didn't know. So I. I don't know if this is a new diagnosis or. He has been fighting this for a while, and it's kind of coming to a head. But that. That announcement was. That came out literally just as you were reading your. Your Countdown to Independence today.

[Todd]

I. Well, prayers to her. It's. You're in this weird position of there's no good reasons for her resigning. You know, cancer is a terrible, terrible need to walk away from a calling like that, or this is cover for something that's not good in an already broken intelligence community. So I'm just going to withhold judgment and wait and see how this fleshes out over the weekend. And if we can know more terrible

[Aaron McIntyre]

news and obviously prayers for her, her husband and their entire family. If. I mean, that's. It sounds like, as I'm reading here, it's a very rare form of bone cancer. And so that's a pretty. Pretty good reason to be by his side.

[Steve Deace]

So with that news, I just. I. I thought about. Should I interrupt? But I remember we're not gonna have a show on Monday with the holiday. Right. And so we can't let a news like this go by for three days. There's no good segue out of this story. Not just her overall value, but then the reason for the resignation, there's just no good segue. So let's get to feedback Friday. You guys ready to go?

[Todd]

Yes.

[Steve Deace]

All right, this is from. Let's start it off with Austin Sharpe, who writes. Steve, you'll never be a great man like Thomas Massie. You'll always be a sellout because you prioritize being on the winning team more than anything. You are not willing to sacrifice when you know there will be no gain, because your integrity will not allow you to sell out. Massie is a Renaissance man that has more talent, knowledge and skill in his pinky toe than much of Congress combined. I can't believe your dismissive and pathetic take on your show today regarding Trump's maniacal desires to oust our best legislators. Charlie was also a man of great character and integrity that admired Massey greatly. But you would trade that friendship for a pot of stew because it conflicts with your advanced bromance. You could have defended his character, but you instead chose to let the machine spend a record fortune to make an example out of him. Pathetic. So before I respond to this. You guys had no idea. We're gonna lead off with this. I'd not shared this with note with you guys or anything at all. Okay. So I would. I felt before I responded to it, I gave you guys a chance to go ahead as the guys I kind of hired. I've watched my six and tell me when I'm driving off into a ditch. That's part of Aaron's job. Don't drive into a ditch. One of his favorite sayings. Right. So is Austin. Does he have a legit complaint here, do you think?

[Todd]

If you're going to write something that long, your first sentence shouldn't be so hysterically stupid to say that he hasn't sacrificed anything. Everything after that I don't care about because I know for a fact you are completely wrong about the degree of sacrifice Steve has put into his career. So that's all.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Everything he said is accurate. It's just the thing is that I can't say that out loud because he's still. Steve still pays me. So. No. I have a question for you, Steve. How is. Is it your right ear?

[Steve Deace]

It's my right ear.

[Todd]

Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

With the 10. How's it going? The tinnitus is still there. Hasn't gone away. Yeah.

[Aaron McIntyre]

How's your house?

[Steve Deace]

I live in the same house for the last 20 years. Live in the same house I lived in when I was a local radio host. I like the house. It's a nice neighborhood.

[Aaron McIntyre]

But you've got a. You've got a getaway, though. Ranch.

[Steve Deace]

I don't. No. I don't have any kind of second home. I don't. My truck's six years old. My wife's Jeep Cherokee's five years old. Yeah.

[Aaron McIntyre]

So where.

[Steve Deace]

I mean, I make a nice living. I'm not poor. I'm not trying to, you know, where's the.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Where's the millions from the movie that you. That you made?

[Steve Deace]

Oh. I mean, after taxes and everything else, I think I made a total of $48,000. That was my profit from the film. Yeah.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Nearly got you killed twice, in fact.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah. For $48,000. But I'm going to tell you right now, I do it all over again because of all the emails I've got sitting here right on my folder on my desktop from the people. From people all over the world that were changed by that film. And. And I am trying, by the way, right now to do it all over again, in fact. So. Yeah.

[Aaron McIntyre]

You've never criticized Trump at all. We've never. We've never. This show has never shrunk because we've always just said yes to Trump.

[Steve Deace]

You mean like a year ago at this time when we got invited to do the show from the White House and we kept it secret for a month until the day we actually were live at the White House because we knew there were people inside the White House that would never want us anywhere near the grounds.

[Aaron McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

That would cancel it if they could. Yeah.

[Aaron McIntyre]

That's all the questions I have.

[Steve Deace]

Tough affair now. Why am I sharing this? Well, one, I think that I should be held accountable to the same standard hold everybody else. I try to do that. I can't very well because I'm a human and I'm biased. But as much as I subjectively can, I try to do that. But two, I wanted to again reiterate why I handled this primary the way that I did. I don't agree with a lot of what Thomas Massie has done in the last year. Now, have you seen me be very critical about that this entire time? How often have we talked about it publicly or even privately?

[Todd]

I can't even remember a time. I certainly can't remember a time on air until this last week where you had a couple of comments and I don't think we even did off air.

[Steve Deace]

I absolutely think that he took a story I care deeply about, like the Epstein story that he previously didn't exercise much judgment over and just turned it into an issue that would allow him to make it personal against Donald Trump and saying things like, I'm going to go on the House floor and read all the names. He could do that. Don't you think if Thomas Massey had done something like that, he probably would have won his primary? I think if he had done that, probably, you know, who wants, you guess who wants justice for the Epstein victims more than anybody? Republican primary voters do. Republican primary voters do. You certainly wouldn't be knocked down by Republican primary voters for naming names. He. He could do it today. Right. Do it tomorrow. I mean, there's no better way to go out than to go and do that. Right. There are things I've seen Thomas Massie do in the last year that I don't believe that Thomas Massie we used to have on or that I used to know would do. I don't. I don't know him well enough to know that for sure, though. What I do know for sure is that over the long course of his career, I think he has been an honorable, exemplary member of Congress. And I don't agree with the president on what he has said about his overall record. So why haven't I complained about things in the last year? You know, dude's wife died. We all respond to grief of that level differently. I can tell you that Thomas Massie was there when our former colleague and friend Steve Baker nearly collapsed dead last Christmas. Thomas Massie, I think, flew to North Carolina to be with him. So at the same token, right now, who's in a position to do more good for my worldview? A single, a single congressman from rural Kentucky or the President of the United States?

[Todd]

The President.

[Steve Deace]

The President who probably has done more good from my worldview in the last two years. One single congressman from Kentucky, no matter how exemplary he is, or the president,

[Todd]

United States also, by the way, do you live in the district?

[Steve Deace]

I don't even live in the district. I have no idea how I counted.

[Todd]

How many votes did you cast there, Steve?

[Steve Deace]

I cast none.

[Todd]

Are you writing these strongly worded letters? Because by all means, take it up with Kentucky voters. Go ahead.

[Steve Deace]

But I mean, I wasn't even sure about putting chip on here in the last hour. I don't know how much we could influence a race in Texas, but we probably can influence a state ag race in Texas. More than one rural Kentucky congressional district would be my guess.

[Todd]

Whether you can or you can't. You didn't, you didn't try. So what are you, you had nothing to do with the outcome there?

[Steve Deace]

His argument is that I should have tried. I'm telling you, though, why I did not. I just, I don't really agree of much of what he's become in the last year. And I just made the choice to honor the man that he once was by not criticizing it. But it's also why I didn't see a purpose in getting in the way of this. So you're welcome to agree or disagree with that all you want. You know, and, and I, I've about had it with people who don't know Charlie invoking Charlie's name. I've about had it with that. And I'm going to tell you right now, there is no way, no how, that Charlie would have sided with Thomas Massie over Donald Trump. And if you think that you just didn't know the guy for more than three seconds, okay, was just never going to happen. So I, I, I don't blame you for being frustrated. We need more contrarian voices, though. We do. You know, I, I would prefer to not have a movement that is driven by a singular personality. The problem is we lied to ourselves for two decades that we were a movement driven by principles and didn't actually advance any of them. And so our people were left with nothing more than, well, let me try the strongman personality and see what he can do. He doesn't do as much as I would like, but he still does more than virtually anybody else has. And so, I mean, I was. I was just telling someone today in conservative media name, a lot of you would probably know, and they were venting their frustration. And I, I said, I, I share it. But tell me, tell me what other movement there is doing anything at all against the enemies of this era? What. What counter movement do we have? Do you know what it is? There was the Maha movement, but that's essentially now a branch of the. For now, at least. It may not. That may not be a permanent thing, but for now, it's a branch of the Maga movement. Right, Right. So there are no other places to. If you want to fight back against what we're up against. There's nowhere else to go. No one else. I wish he would do more. I wish he'd do it better sometimes, but no one else is more of a threat to the enemies of our civilization than Trump and his movement. So that's the general we have. This is the army we have. You know, you can sit it out and say, it's not for you. I respect that. How many of my friends that have done that, do I go back to them and say, hey, losers. Because I've been the person that set it out in the past, so I get that too. But, you know, at this point now, it's really more for me more than anything else. How much of our way of life can I preserve for our kids and grandkids and not lose my soul or integrity or get disqualified and disqualify my own Christian testimony in the process? And that's the moral math that I'm doing every single day. And frankly, Thomas Massie teaming up with Ro Kahana, of all people, just to troll the president and then not deliver the goods, just. I didn't view that as a good expenditure of my political capital, but thank you. You may disagree. You get to do that. I get to make those decisions because it's my name on the show. Any thoughts on that?

[Todd]

It's a credit to you that you read it, but you spent more time on it than you needed to.

[Steve Deace]

Okay, we'll come back. More of your notes here, including a pop culture mention that absolutely should be getting more recognition for his greatness. We'll get to that and more here. In a moment. Stay tuned.

[Chip Roy]

The steve day show.

[Steve Deace]

So just to show you I'm being straight up, went through TSA PreCheck at Reagan national yesterday to come here and guy pulls my bag aside. Never seen a guy in my life. He clearly does not recognize me. So he has no clue what I do or who I am. Probably, I'm gonna guess 30, 35 year old black guy. And he pulls my bag aside as it's going through a scanner, says, wait a minute, I kid you not. He says, is that one of those, those Chirp power massagers? And I said, yeah. He goes, okay, that's what I thought it was. So I don't know if this is TSA protocol. Hopefully I can get anybody fired. But he didn't open it up, just put it back on the roller and sent it over to me. So I hope, I hope that, I hope some guy that's one less employee at Reagan national that when you pull the bag aside, you're supposed to automatically go ahead and go through it and everything else. He just would have opened it up and saw for himself. That's what that oblong oddly shaped devices inside my bag. But just goes to show you, when I say I take it with me wherever I go, I take it with me wherever I go. That's just one of the things that you have at your disposal on the menu there at Chirp to help you stay active, get active, take preventative health seriously. There's the Chirp contour. It's a decompression massage table and so much more. All right, so go to go cherp.com Steve Right now, take advantage of 10% off your first order. Go chirp. C H I R P gocherp.com Steve Take 10% off your first order. They've got all kinds of things that you need that will help you to get and to stay active. Gocher.com Steve 10% off your first order there. All right, continue on on some Feedback Friday and I completely agree with this pop culture take from Tom German. He says since you guys, since your pop Culture Tuesday segment about that rock band list, I thought I'd revisit a thought that re I I thought I'd revisit something I've been thinking over the years and that is that Steve Perry has never been mentioned, you know, on any of the Mount Rushmore scenarios as one of the great male vocalists in the history of pop music. All right? And I just think he deserves his due. All right? I mean that guy has one heck of a voice. He's got to be high on the list of some of the male vocalists. And you know what? Tom is correct. Yes, it is actually. It's absolutely one of the greatest, most distinct.

[Todd]

Yes.

[Steve Deace]

Voices in the history of pop music. And I don't know why, I mean, Journey was particularly in the late 70s, early 80s, one of the best selling bands in the country. One of. One of the biggest touring bands in the country. And they're, I mean, I think the, the Filipino guy that is their singer now who basically is just a Steve Perry interpreter. Right. Aren't they coming to Des Moines here in a few weeks, I want to say, on their farewell tour, you know. Yeah, but Steve Perry. Totally agree. Maybe the most underrated voice in the history of American pop music.

[Todd]

Yeah, sure.

[Steve Deace]

I mean, the songs just aren't great. The voice, the vocals are just distinctively awesome.

[Todd]

Yes.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, totally agree. Aaron, are we not in your age group? So you have no take?

[Aaron McIntyre]

I. No, I mean, Journey kind of transcends the, the generation that they came out of. You still hear Journey on the radio. I mean, if you listen to the right stations. So I, I do think your point about the distinctiveness of, of his voice, that needs to be taken into consideration. Because if it was anybody, any, any other singer, those are some great songs. Still, what gives it that extra pop, no pun intended, but that extra pop is, is definitely his voice. So really weird omission.

[Steve Deace]

Do you guys remember who the keyboardist is for Journey? No, you don't?

[Todd]

I don't think.

[Steve Deace]

Jonathan Kane. Jonathan Kane, yeah, he's the keyboardist there, you know, on Separate Ways and all those hit Journey songs. He's been their keyboardist for like 40 years. You know who he's married to?

[Todd]

I don't think so.

[Steve Deace]

Paula White. True story.

[Todd]

Oh, like the White House.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, White House Faith advisory leader. Yep, all the way. I think it's her third husband, I want to say is Jonathan Cain from Journey. Yeah. And I guess it's led to all kinds of internal squabbles in the band between him and Neil Sean, who's a pretty big lib.

[Todd]

I'm sure our dear letter writer thought he had a nice success story there. He convinced you to talk about this and now he's doing the Homer Simpson gift. I didn't, I did not want this to end in the Paula Wright road. No.

[Steve Deace]

True story. Jonathan Cain, long time. That's why she's Paula White Kane these days. That's why.

[Todd]

Okay.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, let's go to Beau next. Bo says, steve, I want to thank you again. You guys gave Me, an amazing gift. Back in 2023, I was battling an aggressive, rare form of leukemia and my red blood cell count got so dangerously low that I had to go get a blood transfusion. That deeply disturbed me. Because while people around the world were literally dropping dead from the COVID jab, the hospital would or could not honor my request for blood from an unvaccinated donor. I have such a strong conviction against getting the jab. I had stood strong up until that point against the public pressure and the mandates, even when it threatened my job. And then this. Amidst all the other agents of death, like cancer and chemo that were already destroying my body. I was faced with the choice to accept blood that was likely corrupted by an experimental genetic serum or die from the loss of blood cells. Would that witchcraft permanently alter my genetics now too? Would it propel my leukemia into a turbo cancer and render me less likely to fight it? I was terrified. While I cried out to God for help and desperation, I had this thought that I should reach out to you. Perhaps with all the research you were doing and all your connections, you might know an agency or someone that could help me find an unvaccinated donor. I emailed you not knowing what to expect, if anything. I know you guys get not thousands of emails every day, but it is hundreds of. He said thousands, but that's more like hundreds. Well, not only did I wish it was thousands because that would mean we had probably millions of listeners. We have thousands, so it's hundreds. Well, not only did I hear back from you, but to my astonishment, you went on my behalf to the great Dr. Peter McCollo and got me the answer that I needed. Seriously, brother, you have no idea what that meant to me. In the midst of our crisis. I don't know how to say thank you enough for showing that kind of love and care for some rando dude you'd never met. That was an unspeakably difficult time for me and my family. And you were a timely messenger of comfort and helped me. So you guys host a. Have a. You guys have a special place in my heart. By the way. I'm happy to share that by God's grace, I'll be two and a half years cancer free this May.

[Todd]

Amen.

[Steve Deace]

That's from Beau. That's very cool. So thank you, Beau. Honored that. You know, these are the cool things about God giving you a platform like this is being able to be a part of stories like this. And so thank you for sharing. It's greatly encouraging to me and to our team because this is the stuff that makes you endure. Don't you me bros 47s. You know, a non principled takes on the secret origins of Judaism and how America is really just a, a pagan front for the Freemasons.

[Todd]

They're just like the founding father, Steve. They're just like Publius.

[Steve Deace]

Yes. So I mean I, I can't, unfortunately, the amount of people that come to us for help, I can't come close to helping them all. But every now and then I'm in a position where I can and I, if I can, we will. And that's the. I don't view it as that I get that that's a privilege that I get somebody who's got as many issues as I do, who's as jacked up as I am that the, the Lord gives me an opportunity to take part in these kinds of stories. It's a privilege, man. Not an obligation like at all. So thank you very much and congrats to you and your family. And give, give by the way, give just as much credit, if not more to Peter McColl that he made himself available to help some rando guy that he didn't know either, you know, and it's been too long since we've had him on. We should bring him back and reconnect. But you're talking about a guy I, I don't know anybody in America from a standing perspective that lost more to Covid than Peter McCullough did. He was the elite of the elite in the cardiac world. The founder of multiple journals, on the boards, the health boards and the websites of. I mean USC is one of the most renowned private schools in America. The University of Michigan, one of the most renowned public schools in the world. And he was accepted through the front door of all these places, either degrees and or fellow standings at all of these various schools. Quite possibly he was the greatest cardiologist in America before March 16th of 2020. I don't know anybody who risked more of their reputation and their standing amongst their peer group than Peter McCollough did during COVID

[Todd]

And he's a good dude. Yep, he's a good dude. You know, I've got to meet him in person.

[Steve Deace]

One of the reasons, by the way, we've not had him on as much is he has a very thriving private cash medical practice right now. It just so happens that his peak hours for appointments, right, is 11. He's on Central Time in Dallas, like we are here. So his peak office hours just so happen to be 11 to 1, right during the day. That's one of the reasons why it just hasn't happened more often than the last couple days of couple of years. So it's good news. You know, he's found another, another pathway to help people. He's back as a, you know, a PCP in the health world. Sounds like the wellness company that he started with. I can't remember who else he started. Was it Harvey Risch? I think they started that together.

[Todd]

Yeah. I mean, sounds like. See him on the commercial and I

[Steve Deace]

mean, I see their stuff now. I mean, I listen like major sporting events on Sirius XM and stuff when I'm out and about and I hear their ads. So that stuff's not cheap. So they've clearly grown. That's good to see. All right. Yeah, we got time for this. Dan Barnes writes, you often quote Paul, who's quoting Moses, about not muzzling the ox while it treads the grain. How are we to judge when an ox does a good job treading that grain but refuses to go to certain areas of the field? Like the FBI under Cash, Patel has done some amazing work arresting violent criminals, going after child predators, helping ICE with deporting some illegals, and generally improving day to day operations across the board. However, they obviously are not adequate addressing all things Epstein related from what I can tell. And they might even be trying to scapegoat the wrong person with the January 6th pipe bombing. It is interesting, I should note, as a side note, it's Brian. What's the suspect's name?

[Todd]

Cole.

[Steve Deace]

Brian Cole. Thank you. That his attorneys now no longer want that guilty plea is standing. They. They are. They are demanding a trial. That's the last I heard as of just a couple days ago. So I'm all for trials. We bluffs get called when we have trials and people got to bring forth evidence and people get to examine said evidence and cross examine. So I'm all for trials. So. So back to. Back to Dan's note. Setting aside those last two items, I would say Cash has probably earned a solid A as far as I can tell, on day to day operations that he seems to be treading a lot of grain. However, there are other areas of the field that we need to tread before the job is done. Maybe we will eventually need a new ox, but as of right now, he does seem to be a decent ox treading a lot of grain. Should we give him his due for that? I know we don't have a lot of time left under Trump and the thought of more disruption by trying to replace Cash does Seem dangerous to me. Who could we have actually get the Senate to approve? That would be better. I have a hard time coming up with names. Maybe this ox will do the easier parts of the field and later we get a better ox that isn't afraid to go to the hard parts. What are your thoughts on how to discern a path forward in this regard? Well, Dan, I thought, you know, was very discerning. Even if I didn't necessarily agree with every, you know, every, every syllable of it. The, the, your, your attempt to seriously and maturely discern the situation is very clear by how you articulated this and soberly approached it. So a lot of respect. And I'll just, I'll just tell you, I have this issue myself with someone I've known for years that worked with Cash Patel.

[Chip Roy]

Right.

[Steve Deace]

And I am ecstatic that Dan is back. His voice is greatly needed. But I don't believe anybody in this audience, and I mean anybody like. And of course, after I say this, three of you are going to email me that you do. I know that, but I'm gonna say it anyway. I don't. You know what? Let me. I'll make it more specific. I will bet less than 1% of this audience believes that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide unaccompanied by any kind of accomplice or coercion whatsoever. I bet it's 1% or less of this audience believes that. And yet Dan and Cash have both told us that that's the case and that really provided a lot of evidence that it is. Remember that surveillance video they tried to put out last year? And Jason Buttrel, who's, you know, Glenn's right hand man in terms of analyzing that kind of stuff, just absolutely. Just tore it to shreds as a scam in 15 minutes. Remember that?

[Todd]

Yes.

[Steve Deace]

Okay. That notwithstanding, I mean, if, if you took 90% or more, I'm guessing, of Dan's daily podcast content and asked me if I agree or disagree, I probably would not only agree, but like, vehemently so, you know, so I am trying to figure your dilemma out, Dan, because I feel the same dilemma. I'm trying to figure it out at the exact same time that you are. And I don't really know the answer. I don't. You know, when you, you can tell when I don't think I know something, I won't talk about it. Steve, you talk about things all the time you know nothing about. But I don't know that yet.

[Todd]

I think I do.

[Steve Deace]

I think that I do. That's right. If I Know in my single digit self awareness, if I know I don't know what I think about something yet or what I, or what I'm talking about, I won't talk about. I mean, how many, how many evergreens have we done? Breaking down a feature article in Popular Mechanics. How many have we done?

[Todd]

I'm also hoping you stop talking about he man. We're trying to get you to that.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, see, I only talk about the things I know, okay? Or at least that I think that I do. You know, that's a better way of putting it. And, and, and if I don't know, you know, sometimes you guys will ask me about people who used to be on the show a ton and. But you haven't said anything. Why aren't they here? Because you don't blast this person. But they're not around. You know, I, I don't know what happened to them. I kind of think they went crazy. Maybe they think I did. I don't know. You know, but I also, you know, don't want to completely solely everything about that person that I've previously, previously liked and admired. So I just don't say anything. I don't know. You know, I had somebody remind me today, hey, did you hear this person went nuts? I said, yeah, in fact, I've seen it. And they're like, well, why haven't you said anything? And I said to this person, well, really admired the work that they did up until the point they went nuts. So I'm just gonna move on. You know, I don't, I don't know. You know, if I, if I'm. If I know that I don't know, I really won't talk about it. I won't get into it. Because I try to operate in areas where I have certainty. It just turns out I have. I think I have certainty in way more areas than I actually do. It's called being human. So, Dan, I. I don't know you guys want to respond to any of that at all.

[Todd]

I don't know.

[Steve Deace]

I don't think you said anything factual. I mean, they have done some good things. Cash has, has arrested a lot of very bad people. That has happened. Dan is correct about that.

[Todd]

He's on the clock still. Just let him arrest some more people. And I will allow for the fact that he didn't early on because of reasons, but there's still work to do.

[Aaron McIntyre]

So don't muzzle the ox as it's treading grain. Well, what if it's not treading grain? You approach the ox differently. What if it never, never treads grain? Well, from what I've read, oxen meat is delicious. Smoked low and slow, very flavorful.

[Todd]

Yeah. Oxtails are a thing. Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

Are they really?

[Todd]

Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

Like, even. Even Western palates.

[Todd]

Oxtail. Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

Okay.

[Todd]

I mean, I've never had it, but I've seen it. Yeah. I'm cooking the Food Network. Yeah.

[Steve Deace]

Okay. You guys have cookout plans for our family dinner for Memorial Day.

[Aaron McIntyre]

It's early this year. It's snuck up.

[Steve Deace]

It's the earliest it can possibly be, is what it is. This year, we have the earliest Memorial Day we can possibly have and the latest Labor Day we can possibly have, which means you're gonna have the longest summer we can possibly have. And since it's the 250th birthday of America, I think that's cool.

[Todd]

That's good.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, that's cool. It's hot dogs for us. We're a big hot dog family.

[Todd]

I love hot dogs.

[Steve Deace]

Yeah, we're a big hot dog. Everybody in the family loves hot dogs. All right, that's gonna do it for this week. We're gonna have Monday off for the holiday, then we'll be back on Tuesday. Hopefully you enjoy your long holiday weekend as well. Get to connect with some friends and family and honor the sacrifice of those that made this holiday possible in the first place. All right. Until then, go hard. Romans 8, 28. Sat.