← The Tim & April Show
The Tim & April Show
39. Texas Democrats Face Arrest Threats & Trump Boasts $200 Million Ballroom Plans
01:39:31
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- [00:00]
April
Jack Daniels is proudly served in fine establishments, questionable joints, and everywhere in between. So no matter where you go in every bar, you'll always know someone by name.
- [00:14]
Tim
Jack Jack and Coke shot at Jack. Jack Daniels, please. Right away.
- [00:19]
April
That's what makes Jack Jack.
- [00:21]
Monty Mader
Please drink responsibly.
- [00:22]
Tim
Responsibility.org Jack Daniels and Old Number 7 are registered trademarks. Copyright 2025 Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey.
- [00:28]
Monty Mader
40% alcohol by volume 80 proof. At New Balance, we believe if you.
- [00:34]
Tim
Run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it.
- [00:44]
Monty Mader
Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way.
- [00:49]
Tim
You'Re free to discover your way.
- [00:53]
Monty Mader
And that's what running is all about.
- [00:55]
Tim
Run your way@newbalance.com Running.
- [01:01]
Monty Mader
This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Podcasts. Follow us everywhere, whether you're cooking in the kitchen, chilling in the living room, or pretending to fold laundry in the bedroom. And with Wayfair, every one of those rooms can tell a story of its own. Their curated collections of furniture styles and prices make Wayfair the trusted destination to turn your home into your happy place. Shop everything home@wayfair.com with free and easy delivery. Straight to your door with Wayfair.
- [01:28]
Tim
Every style, every home. Amazon Pharmacy presents painful thoughts 20 more minutes to kill in the pharmacy before.
- [01:37]
Monty Mader
My prescription is ready.
- [01:39]
Tim
Maybe I'll grab some deeply discounted out of season Halloween candy. I never had a chocolate pumpkin with raisins before.
- [01:49]
April
Those were raisins, right?
- [01:51]
Tim
Next time use Amazon Pharmacy. We deliver. And no, those were not raisins. Amazon Pharmacy Healthcare just got less painful.
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Monty Mader
You're listening to a new evangelicals production.
- [02:09]
Tim
The Tim and April show where we unravel faith, politics and culture. Hello everybody. Welcome to the Tim and April Show. I am April and I am joined by a very special guest host today, Monty Mader. If you don't know her, she is everywhere right now on the Internet. She has blown up. I'd like to say I knew you win because you are. You are a big deal. Monty Mater, she's a content creator. She does political and religious commentary. You even do Bible studies, which I think is amazing. And you are a singer. You're a rock vocalist. And you and I met in person for the first time back at the Summit for Religious Freedom where you and I jammed out to some Carmen because we realized we were both raised on Carmen.
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Monty Mader
We rocked out. Dance to it some good Carmen times.
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Tim
It was fun time. So welcome Monty. Thanks for guest hosting with me today.
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Monty Mader
Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. I did advocate for keeping Tim's name on there and just surprising me. But this, this works out so that people know where to find me later.
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Tim
Yes. Yeah. So if you're not following Monty, you should definitely. And shout out to Tim, who is on his kind of mandatory vacation because his boss, Melinda Hill at TNA was like, you need a break. So he's on break right now. So, Tim, if you're watching, and I don't know if you are, you're missed. We still talked about you, but I'm very glad that Monty's here.
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Monty Mader
And it's.
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Tim
It's like a red headed takeover, which I think is fun.
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Monty Mader
I kind of like the idea that to me, it's the. The. The devil angel on your shoulder thing. But like redheaded women versions.
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Tim
I love it. Wait, are you the devil and I'm.
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Monty Mader
The angel, I guess, in this uniform? Yes.
- [04:07]
Tim
I was just. Just because of the cool spiky jacket. If you're listening on podcasts, you're missing Monty's amazing. What would you call that? They're like little spikes all over your business blazer.
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Monty Mader
It just has 3,000 silver studs in it.
- [04:23]
Tim
I love that. I think. I think that's amazing. You know what, speaking of dress, I wanted to show you this and then we'll move on to our actual stories because we have a lot to talk about today. We're talking about what's happening in Texas with the Democrats fleeing the state to avoid the redistricting that the GOP wants to do. We're talking about Trump's $200 million ballroom. And we'll probably just mention a few other things. And of course, your favorite weird Christian beep. We've got that coming at the end too. But I wanted to show you this headline. Monty, I didn't tell you this ahead of time, but I made headlines this week. This Christian nationalist conservative site called Protestia made an article about me. The headline says, J29 Coalition Head Endorses Book by LGBTQ Affirming Exvangelical Married to a cross dresser. Wow.
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Monty Mader
They just. They just went right in there, didn't they? Who's this guy?
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Tim
Who's this guy? So that guy is Caleb Campbell. He is. He's more conservative than me. So that's the. So they're actually going after him and saying that he should be canceled, basically because he had me on his podcast to talk about Christian nationalism.
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Monty Mader
Wow.
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Tim
So, yeah. Yeah, I just thought that was hilarious. Also, I am also a cross dresser because I wear men's sweatpants because they're more Comfortable. In my opinion, just a patriarchy.
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Monty Mader
I just, you know, I wish I had free time to be that concerned about what people wear and who they're married to and all of those things. I wish I had that amount of time, but I do not.
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Tim
I know. It's funny, too, because they actually pulled an excerpt from my book, like, in the article to. To prove how terrible I am. And the quote is literally just being me. Being like, I just think we should choose love over dogma. They're like, the horror. She doesn't believe in biblical inerrancy. Oh. Anyway, I've had a lot of fun laughing about that headline. Like, of all the things. Of all the things going on in the world, we gotta go after the woman.
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Monty Mader
And they're invariably either calling me trans or they're attacking my nose ring. And I'm like, you are spending a lot of time thinking about my jewelry and my genitals. And the fact that that's the only thing you can say to me has said that I have won the argument. I have won the argument. You have nothing to say also. Just, you know, I guess you're welcome for filling you with visions because you're obsessed with my appearance. It's great.
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Tim
Yeah, it's great.
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Monty Mader
We love it. We love it.
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Tim
It's so funny whenever I talk about my spouse, so Beecher's non binary, which is why they're saying cross dressing. But whenever I talk about them, I get a lot of those comments too. We're like, can't tell which one of you is trans. Like, that's not an insult. It's.
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Monty Mader
It's.
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Tim
I don't care. They're just so.
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Monty Mader
Also, have you seen how beautiful trans women are?
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Tim
Yeah.
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Monty Mader
Like, I want.
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Tim
I know.
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Monty Mader
Put me on a stool and teach me how to do my makeup, please. I know.
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Tim
Totally. We have a super chat. So. By the way, super chats will all get read live as they come in. So I have a super chat from Deanna Much. She says, I donate to T and E and Monty. Thank you both for all your work. With no nearby family support system, on my deconstruction journey, you guys have helped me more than I can say. I can't say thanks enough. Thank you so much, Deanna. That means so much. All right, shall we just dive right in to the stories? Okay, so what's going on right now is Donald Trump. A few weeks ago, earlier in July, there was this clip that was going around about how he asked Texas to basically redistrict, gerrymander their voting district. So that Republicans can pick up five more seats. And typically, redistricting is only done right after the latest census, which is every 10 years. So he's asking them to do this in the middle of a decade, which is not normal. Cassidy, do you want to pull the clip where he says the part out loud that kind of started this whole situation? Yes.
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April
Are you calling them for a complete redrawing of the congressional map? Just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats. We have a couple of other states where we'll pick up seats also.
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Tim
So there he is saying Tennessee is one of those.
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Monty Mader
One of those places that they're trying to pick up seats. Tennessee is like having this competition with itself to do any and everything that Trump wants, and it's not going well, but I wouldn't be surprised if they try to do that here as well.
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Tim
I feel like Tennessee and Texas are constantly battling for who can be the most up Trump's booty.
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Monty Mader
You know, it's 100% true. And what's been so insane about this is we've talked about this, is that there's no pretense of decorum or morality or we need to redistrict. Like, they've always done this. Like, this has always happened, which is why we have the Voting Rights Act. But there's no pretense. Pretense of it being anything other than trying to steal seats this time. And, And I saw today that they're actually calling for a census so that they can redistrict more states further, which never happens in the middle of a decade. It's such a clear power grab that it's. It's pretty shocking and scary.
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Tim
Well, yeah, and they're just. They're admitting it out loud. Like, Republican and red states are heavily gerrymandered. And that's been historically. Which we'll get. We'll talk about that in a second, too. But previously, they've at least tried to hide it. Like they weren't openly being like, yeah, that's exactly what we're doing. They would be like, no, we're not doing that. This is just the fair way to do it. And they try to make it seem like they're doing it for the benefit of everybody. And. And now they're just admitting it.
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Monty Mader
We would never. Oh, my gosh.
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Tim
Yeah. Now it's like, so, yeah, so Donald Trump, he says, texas, hey, get me five new seats. And Texas is like, yes, Daddy. So they go to the vote and. And the Democrats. So there's 150 members of the Texas Congress, representatives, and they need a hundred present in order to go to a vote. There are currently 54 Democrats. So if all 54 Democrats are not there, they cannot go to a vote. So Democrats actually did something and they took a stand. And when Republicans brought this to the floor in Texas, Democrats walked out. They broke quorum and they walked out and kept them from having to do the vote. It was, it was this whole big thing. Yeah. Good for them. Which we've seen this happen previously this year, like where Democrats have walked out and then it really just kind of delays the inevitable. Inevitable. Because once they come back, they don't have the numbers to actually stop the vote. Yeah, but they're taking a stand and they're bringing national and global attention to what the Republicans are doing, which is a good thing.
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Monty Mader
Incentivize blue states to actually step up to the game. And like you can't win a game against people who are willing to break all the rules and break the law. Like the Democrats have played this game of we're going to be the intellectual and moral and we're going to play by the rules and we're going to do this. And it's kind of this self righteousness conversation, which I understand. At the same time, when you have a group of people who have said we are going to break the law, we are going to disenfranchise people, we're going to do all these things, you have to match that energy. So I think the biggest benefit to this is the Texas Democrats taking this action. Got the blue state governors on board to say, okay, if you choose to do this, we will get rid of these independent organizations that we've had drawing our districts to be fair and we will be able to swing more seats than you possibly can because the red states are already so gerrymandered. And it is high time that people like Newsom and Kathy Hochul step to the plate and start like sink your teeth in and get a little aggressive. I think that's the best thing that has happened because of this because I think the Democrats have been sitting on their hands for way too long.
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Tim
No, I completely agree with you. So California Governor Gavin Newsom said that if this passes in Texas, they will redraw the map. California, New York, Illinois and Maryland have also said that they would do the same thing. And I agree with you. You have to fight at this point. You have to fight fire with fire because you're not going to win if you're going against people that are willing to cheat which the red districting of what they're trying to do in Texas is a form of cheating. They're just automatically going to get five new seats by just redrawing in the middle of a decade.
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Monty Mader
Well, and if you're looking at the map of Texas already, the districts are insane. It's insane. And it's the reason that Texas is always red, because 42% of the vote that came from Texas voted for Kamala. Texas is not that red. It's not as red as we think it is. It's that these districts are absolutely batshit crazy and they just want to make them even more insane. And again, they've openly admitted that their intention is to steal these seats.
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Tim
Yeah. And I do want to point out too, and we're going to get to these clips because one thing that the Republicans are saying to defend it is like, well, Democrats gerrymander too. Everybody gerrymanders, so we're going to gerrymander even harder. And so they're projecting again. But I want to say too, it is true that both parties do redistrict and gerrymander, but it's not equal. Republicans by far are at the advantage of the redistricting and a lot of that is because majority blue states hire independent third party organizations to redraw the maps because they want to be fair and they don't want to have the, like the image of them cheating where Republicans just don't care and Republicans just redraw the map. And just, just so we're clear, and the 2022 report from the last census hold the drawing of 177 districts in America versus just 49 for Democrats. So Democrats only controlled 49 versus 49.
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Monty Mader
Is a big difference.
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Tim
It's a huge difference. And it's also important too that out of. So the Brennan center does this study and they found that 11 Republican drawn mats had extreme partisan bias versus just four that were drawn by Democrats. So it is true, both sides do it, but Republicans benefit far more from it.
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Monty Mader
Well, and it's just so much more frequent. And it's like it goes back to the every accusation is a confession because the data is there. And we can say, okay, this is. And even the reason that one of the primary tenets of the Voting Rights act was that certain areas who were known to gerrymander know to suppress votes, especially for minorities, in order to redistrict, they had to have federal approval. Almost all of those counties that had to have that federal approval are in the south because they have such a long history of doing this. Like, so there's not just the history there. The data is there to say, yeah, this does happen on both sides, but overwhelmingly on in Republican favor.
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Tim
Oh, yeah. And it has a huge history of racism in it. It was like initially the main reason was to suppress black people from voting way back in the day in the South. And that's still the case today. Like, that's still a huge part of that reason as well. Let's go. Videos. So, so the Democrats leave and we're going to play some videos of Democrats responding to what's happening. But the senator, John Cornyn, who's a Republican in Texas, has called for the FBI to go round up Democrats. Ken Paxton, the attorney general, has taken steps to remove them from their office. And I think they've given him a deadline, which is that they have to be back to vote tomorrow, which is Friday, or they're going to start trying to the process of trying to get them removed from their seats. Greg Abbott has asked the Supreme Court to vacate the walkout leader. So Jean Wu of Houston was the kind of the leader that led the walkout and they have issued warrants for their arrest. So many of them fled the state. So, so a lot of them are in New York or, or in Illinois. In fact, yesterday a lot of the hotel that a lot of them are staying at, there was a bomb threat on that hotel. And they're still investigating on who made the threat. They don't know if it's related, but I mean, it's a little. It would be.
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Monty Mader
It just so happens that a bomb threat comes in in Chicago, exactly where a majority of these Democrats are staying.
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Tim
Yeah. Yeah, totally. I love the pettiness, though. Jasmine Crockett, the image that you're seeing right now, she framed her arrest warrant and put it in her office. Right, right. And so they're civil warrants. They're not like criminal warrants. But let's watch some of the videos of what the Democrats are saying in response to how mad Republicans are that they left. We could start with James Talarico or. No, that's fine. We'll start with this is Representative Ann Johnson talking.
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Monty Mader
Abandoning your job is going to Cancun in the middle of a deadly freeze.
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April
Right.
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Monty Mader
Abandoning your job is cutting healthcare when people need access. Abandoning your job a job is cutting public education when we already have one.
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Tim
Of the worst education systems in the nation.
- [18:11]
Monty Mader
What we are doing is the fundamental protection by our founding fathers in the Texas Constitution. When Donald Trump called Georgia Republicans and said, I just need you to find me 11,000 votes. They said, no, sir, that's a step too far. But when he called Texas Republicans and said, I need you to steal me five seats, they said, does July work for you? Well, it doesn't work for us as Texas Democrats.
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Tim
And this is such a good point too, because they're saying that Democrats are abandoning their job when, I mean, every point that she made. Yeah, Ted Cruz, he's just always present or absent when there's a Texas emergency, just like every time.
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Monty Mader
And she brings up a good point that the, the Texas Constitution specifically has this protection in place for if this situation were ever to occur. So, like, they're, they're not breaking any laws. Like, there is no, there's nothing to charge them with. It's just a threat to scare people into submission. Because it's this very. It's this power drunk authoritarian attitude that the GOP has adopted that we're going to be able to strong arm anyone to do whatever we want them to do, but there's no law actually being broken. It's protected in the state constitution. You think the states rights.
- [19:27]
Tim
Right. It's literally built into the constitution as a way to protect minority parties if the majority goes authoritarian, which is exactly what's happening here. Okay, and then we have a video from James Talarico. But before we start this, we have another super chat from Patrick H. Says, april, please invite Monty to come to Nanocon next July 2026. I mean, she's already in Nashville. Come hang out with a bunch of atheists, cool Christians and happy Heath. So, Monty, you're invited to Nanocon next July.
- [20:01]
Monty Mader
I will be there.
- [20:02]
Tim
I was, I was just there.
- [20:04]
Monty Mader
Love atheist, cool Christians and happy heathens. Happy heathens in particular are my favorite.
- [20:09]
Tim
Yeah, it was a fun time. I was just there. When was that? A weekend ago. A week or two ago. I don't know, time. But thank you. I know. Oh, yeah, I did text you. See, I already invited her. Patrick. Thank you, Patrick, super chat. Okay, let's watch James Talarico. And for the record, I love James Talarico. He is out there fighting Christian nationalism. Yes. He's doing such great work and he's a Christian, so. Which is like, I feel like the kryptonite to a lot of the Christian nationalists because they think it's impossible to be a Christian and be a Democrat. And then James Talarico's like, hold my beer. Yes, you can.
- [20:49]
Monty Mader
Exactly. It's. It's one of those things. It's the reason that I have a platform is because their, their, their barrier to entry is this. The Bible says. So when you know the Bible and you can speak to it and you've studied it, like James can you immediately just hurdle over that barrier to entry and say, no, we're actually like, I'm actually going to listen to the teachings of Christ. And for him, he's so sincere and so upfront with how much this means to him. I think that that's why he's so powerful.
- [21:18]
Tim
Yeah, I completely agree. All right, let's go ahead and see what he has to say.
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April
This American democracy of ours was founded on that same self evident idea that all people are created equal. Which means that democracy is a lot more than just a constitution. It's a covenant. It's a relationship between neighbors. It's a promise that we make to each other to share this country. Even when we have disagreements, even when we are all so beautifully different, we promise to share this community together. And Donald Trump and Greg Abbott and my Republican colleagues back in Texas are attempting to break that sacred promise. With every suppressed vote, with every gerrymandered district, they are breaking that promise to share this country. And so I feel it is my obligation as not just a legislator, but as a, as a Christian, as a person of faith, to speak out against it. Because 2000 years ago, when the powerful few abused the many, that barefoot rabbi walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice. And so I think for those of us who love democracy, for those of us who love our neighbors, it's time to start flipping tables. And that's what my colleagues and I are doing here in Illinois.
- [22:42]
Tim
I love that so much.
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Monty Mader
I love it. My podcast is called Flipping Tables, and that's such an important thing to me. Like, and again, I would be in the same boat where people are like, oh, you're not a real Christian, because I approach the Bible with scholarship. But the story of Jesus flipping tables is my favorite story. And to me, it's this beautiful picture of what, like, righteous anger looks like and how righteousness sometimes behooves you to civil disobedience. And I love that. I'm amped now. Let's. I'm ready to fight. I'm ready to go.
- [23:14]
Tim
Yeah, no, I know. And shameless Plug. Your podcast is great called Flipping Tables. And I was on it at one point, so you can go back and listen to us talk about Christian nationalism. Yeah. Now that we're friends in real life. Yeah.
- [23:28]
Monty Mader
Now that I know you in real, in real person, you are a Real person.
- [23:33]
Tim
Oh, my gosh. I know. I feel like it's so. I love flipping tables, too. Like, the way James used it, because so many Republicans and Christian nationalists use that verse as a way to, like, we gotta flip the tables of the culture war. You know, they. They use it to be like, you know, we gotta get angry about abortion or about queer people having rights because it's God. But Jesus only showed. Never showed anger to any minority group. The only time that he gets angry, he calls out the hypocrisy of religious leaders and people that were exploiting the marginalized and exploiting the poor. That's what got Jesus angry. And to see so many Christian nationalists, conservatives, use Jesus as if he would somehow, I don't even know, like, be mad that queer people exist is. Is just stupid.
- [24:23]
Monty Mader
Especially coming from Jesus, who. Who specifically said in Matthew 19 that, you know, eunuchs will inherit the kingdom of heaven, which was the closest that they would have had to kind of a minority, like, sexuality community, because they didn't fit into a specific, you know, traditional binary in that culture. So. But it's what I think is interesting about this idea of, like, well, a real Christian is going to be anti abortion, anti gay, all these things. All these things that Jesus never talked about. But Jesus. Constant, constant messages of love your neighbor, love your enemy, do good to others. The Good Samaritan talks about reaching across racial and religious lines to help because helping is right. All that stuff they just totally ignore. Like, all the stuff he actually said. Don't need that. I don't like that. No. Thank you.
- [25:12]
Tim
Yep, the. The cherry picking is strong. We have another super chat from Joseph Compton, the fourth. Thank you. Says they spent four years complaining about the Democrats cheating just to turn around and cheat themselves. You are 100% correct. I think it was projection the whole time.
- [25:28]
Monty Mader
I think it was, too.
- [25:31]
Tim
Okay, I got one more video that I want to play of Representative Jalanda Jones in Texas. And she. I love her. I didn't know who she was until. Until she started making the rounds. She is just calling out Republicans for being the hypocrites that they are. And I am here for this energy. Let's. Let's watch it.
- [25:53]
Monty Mader
I'm a lawyer.
- [25:55]
April
Part of my practice is criminal defense work. There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says. So, respectfully, he's making up some. Okay. He's trying to get sound bites, and he has no legal mechanism. And if he did, subpoenas from Texas.
- [26:13]
Monty Mader
Don'T work in New York, so he.
- [26:14]
April
Gonna come get us how? Subpoenas in Texas don't work in Chicago. He's gonna come get us how?
- [26:20]
Monty Mader
So let me be clear.
- [26:22]
April
He's putting up smoke and mirrors. And I'm hopeful that the media doesn't follow that.
- [26:29]
Tim
I. She's at. She is so right, though. Like, so much of this is just political theater. Yeah. Because both you have Ken Paxton and Senator and Senator Corden, they're, like, fighting each other right now because they both are in races and they're trying to appeal to their constituents over who can be the biggest Trumper. Yep.
- [26:49]
Monty Mader
Well, and Ken Paxton's affair was just aired, you know, because him and Angela are getting divorced because of his repeated affairs. So he has, he has a vested interest in trying to salvage his reputation. I love her. Like, she makes me feel like I could kick through a wall. And I love, I love this type of conversation, again, coming from Democrats, where it's just, it's up front, it's forward, it's honest, it's. We're not dancing around the issue anymore. And I'm going to call you out. That is just. When she said, he's going to get us how I was like, so good.
- [27:23]
Tim
Yeah. It's almost like, come get us. Come get us there. What do you. What are you doing? Yeah. Dare you. I will say I do. I do think Democrats are. Have been in a tough position because I would argue that we are actively living through an authoritarian takeover and in the moment. And I've seen a lot of complaints, and I've complained, too, of, like, Democrats, what are you doing? You can only post on threads that this is not cool so many times, you know, like, do something. And so I appreciate that these Texas Democrats are actually doing something about it.
- [27:55]
Monty Mader
Yeah. And it's, it's, it's coming to that point. And I think that, you know, when, when Gavin Newsom had his podcast in and he was trying to attempt that meet in the middle thing, which I understand intellectually what he was trying to do. I think now he gets the picture that, like, oh, they have no interest in meeting you in the middle. They have no interest in morality. They have no interest in decorum. And so now I feel like Democrats are starting to realize, and I think more so on the governor level down first, that there is no playing ball. Like, that doesn't exist anymore. And if we decide that we want to save the democracy that we have and save the Constitution as is, that it's going to take extreme action to do so. And we're seeing with the things like alligator Alcatraz and the deportations and skipping due process. It's going to take civil disobedience to stop these things, because they're not going to stop if we ask them nicely.
- [28:51]
Tim
Yeah, you're totally right. And even the reaction to the Democrats leaving, like, them doing something, seeing the reaction from Republicans, issuing arrest warrants, calling the FBI to come get them, is. Is showing the authoritarianism that they are taking a stand against. Like the weaponizing of the Justice Department. And Trump was just asked too, on a video. Yeah, it's not a crime. It's literally built into it as a right for a minority to do.
- [29:23]
Monty Mader
They're just mad that they won't. You. They won't do what you want. And so therefore you want to arrest them because they won't do what you want. That is like the definition of an authoritarian regime.
- [29:33]
Tim
Mm. Yeah. And actually Trump was just asked about what he thinks about them asking for the FBI to go and get the Democrats. It's a video clip. You have it, Cassidy. So we can see what Trump says, because he still matters.
- [29:49]
Monty Mader
Annoyingly, this morning, well aware of his party's narrow majority in Congress and the midterms approach, President Trump is now arguing.
- [29:58]
April
Republicans are entitled to more seats in Texas simply because he won the state. I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know. And we are entitled to five more seats. But the congressional map is not linked to presidential races.
- [30:16]
Monty Mader
Instead, it's usually tied to the once a decade census.
- [30:19]
April
Still, the president pushing for a new Texas map to give Republicans five new seats in Congress. But a vote can't happen without Democrats.
- [30:28]
Monty Mader
Present, and dozens have fled the state. Texas Governor Abbott has already threatened to arrest them. Now he's calling on the state Supreme.
- [30:36]
April
Court to remove the.
- [30:38]
Tim
Because I think that that was not the clip that I was thinking of, which is totally fine, but he was asked about the FBI and he basically said, yeah, the FBI might need to get involved, which is again, arrest them for what?
- [30:54]
Monty Mader
What exactly for.
- [30:57]
Tim
Oh, yeah.
- [30:58]
Monty Mader
But then we have the go ahead. Sorry.
- [31:01]
Tim
No, no, no, you go, you go.
- [31:03]
Monty Mader
So it's like the. Because we already have ICE is out here, you know, executing arrest without warrants, without probable cause. So what's to stop the FBI from being thrown into that mix of. Well, the big boss said so. I was just following orders. But right now you don't have a crime that they can even issue a warrant with.
- [31:22]
Tim
Also, the entitlement that he's somehow entitled to more seats because he won the state. That's. That's not how any of this works, Donald. The. Oh, it's just. Oh, my gosh. I know. So in this, this clip here, he's asked about what he thinks about the blue states that have said that if Texas passes this, that they will also redistrict theirs mid decade, which they aren't planning to do otherwise. And here's Trump's response.
- [31:55]
April
Congressional map, right. Would get you five safe. Red seats means that California, New York, Illinois and Maryland are all going to redraw their maps to add safe. Well, they'll do it anyway. Is it worth it? Yeah, they'll do it anyway. Why? If we stop over there, they would have done it anyway. Look, a lot of these states, you know, I watched this morning as Democrats are complaining and they're complaining from states where they've done it. Like in Illinois, like in Massachusetts. I watched this lunatic, Pocahontas. She's a total lunatic. I don't know what she's on. She's all jumping up and down like, I've never seen anything like it. Talking about supporting the communist mayor. And he's not a socialist. He's a communist. Okay, this is not a socialist mayor. This is a communist. If you look at any of his policies and go back six months, you don't have to go back further than that. So they want to put a Communist in New York. Now, the good news is we have a lot of power over that because we're the ones with the money. We send the money. We don't send the money. It's up to the White House. A lot of power in the White House. But when I watched her jumping up and down, talking about that and supporting the Communists. But if you look at what's going on with the redistricting or whatever you want to call it, the Democrats have done it long before we started. They've done it all over the place. They did it in New York, they did it in a lot of different states, but in Massachusetts. So somebody used this as an, as an example today. I was interviewed this morning, and they said, you know, it's pretty unfair. Trump got 40%. I'm not proud of that, but I think I probably got more. But that's okay. I got 40% in Massachusetts, and yet they have 100% of the vote in terms of Congress. So there's no Republican, there's no anything. So I should. We should have 40%. You know why? They redistricted. And they've done it all over the place, and they've done it in California, by the way, before this. They've done it in California. So we'll see what happens. We have a wonderful governor in Texas. He feels strongly about it. It's going to be up to him. I think there's tremendous support for it. And, you know, we've watched the Democrats destroy our country in four years. They've destroyed, between their open borders that we talked about transgender for everybody, all of the horrible things that they've done. High taxes, horrible medical provision for people. We've watched them destroy our country for four years, and people don't want that. And people in Texas, as you saw, I got the highest vote in the history of Texas. I love Texas. Texas likes me, obviously, but I got the highest vote. And that was checked out on the show. Did you see that? Where they checked it out? They said he actually did get the highest vote in the history of Texas, which disappointed them. They were very disappointed to hear that.
- [34:40]
Tim
Okay, pause it, pause it. I can't handle it. He is a professional rambler.
- [34:48]
Monty Mader
So racist. Holy shit.
- [34:50]
Tim
So racist. I guess he was talking about Elizabeth Warren.
- [34:55]
Monty Mader
Yep, he's called that before.
- [34:57]
Tim
Yeah. Oh, my gosh, Monty.
- [34:59]
Monty Mader
I feel like I'll say how upset people, and by people, I mean mostly Republicans, have gotten over Zoran Mamdani. I think it's absolutely amazing. Like, he's an incredible person. The policies are amazing. And it's like, oh, my God, look at a politician who's actually advocating for life to get better for the average person. And the wealthy are losing their minds because they can't. They don't know how to express the difference between communism and socialism. Socialism to begin with. Communism is just the trigger word they've been using since, you know, Joseph McCarthy. But it's just. Oh, my God. And then we just talked about how Republicans have this long history of gerrymandering. What was it, 20? 22? 177 districts. District versus Democrats had the option of 49. And out of those, they found four Democratic districts that looked to be partisanly, like, separated. That's crazy. It's crazy. But again, they have to keep saying they cheated. They cheated. He's even. I probably got more votes in Massachusetts. What? What are you talking about?
- [36:04]
Tim
Also notice, like, I feel like one of Trump's main defenses is literally just to bring up the culture war topics. Like, someone's like, well, why are you redistricting? Like, what do you think about this? He's like, well, trans people. Like, what does that have to do with gerrymandering? Just trans People are always catching strays for no reason. Like, trans people just want to exist and live like, and they're not trying to harm anybody.
- [36:35]
Monty Mader
And they're just. There's such a small, like a teeny tiny percent of the population. And it's like this. The idea of they are somehow responsible for the problems in America is just so utterly insane. And it goes back to like after post Watergate when Republican, like campaign managers and people that were working for this new, this new right that they built would send out these mailing campaigns to raise money for political candidates. And they would do things like this. At the time, their trigger words were abortion, Roe versus Wade, and then just the gay community as a whole. And they would lie their face off and get people incensed and get people mad. And people would send in money and for every $250 they would raise from those mail in campaigns, $11 would go the actual candidate and they would just pocket the rest. But they hate is a powerful, powerful motivator for action. So if you can find a group to target. And the group always changes. Right, as culture changes, because they didn't care about abortion until they lost the battle to segregate schools. So when they couldn't blame black people anymore, they switched to abortion and gay people. When gay rights, you know, the marriage rights were passed and the sky didn't fall, well, they had to switch to trans people. So it's always moving. But hatred is a powerful motivator for action. And they're using it to rake in so much money that is not going to candidates that they are just pocketing. And they've been doing it since 76.
- [38:01]
Tim
Well, yeah. And like all these people, they claim to be the party of Christian values, because I'm sure you were told similarly to me that you can't be a Christian and vote Democrat, that the Republicans are the party of the Christians. Yeah, it's. It's a deeply held belief and it is taught in these circles. And yet you have Donald Trump, like, we don't even need to, like, the list of his quote unquote sins or just unchristian lifestyle is long. Like the adultery assault, the Epstein list.
- [38:41]
Monty Mader
I mean, like what it confirmed broken eight of the ten Commandments, like in recent history, and then also said in an interview that he's never prayed or asked for forgiveness.
- [38:51]
Tim
Yeah, I mean, they're not sending their best. And then you got Ken Paxton too, who's in the talking about all this Texas stuff, and he just got caught in affairs and getting divorced. You have Ryan Walters, we talked about him last week who got caught with porn on his TV office. And he's the guy trying to put the ten Commandments and Manda man mandate the Bible be taught in their public schools. Like, I feel like the loudest proponents of making Christianity the law of the land have the most skeletons in their closet.
- [39:25]
Monty Mader
Yeah. And honestly, I. It has grown to the point especially since deconstruction, because you and I grew up very similarly, like, very, very conservative. My family was very alt right and all my family was Republican politicians. And all of those things is the more as I get older, the more outwardly vicious someone is about these topics, the more I suspect and I wait for the time that their skeletons come out of the closet. Like, if someone is just irrationally, viciously, like homophobic, I immediately start to suspect, ah, something's going on for you. Because that's weird. That's weird that you bring this up every conversation that you're obsessed with it. And so every time people are kind of overt like that, I start to wonder, ah, I wonder what you've got going on. Because it's either a deflection or it's an admission of some kind.
- [40:13]
Tim
Oh yeah, it's total projection too. Because I remember growing up, especially as a female in the church. They like, sex was talked about all the time, but it was always degraded and it was like the worst thing that you could ever do. But.
- [40:29]
Monty Mader
If you were a woman, seriously.
- [40:32]
Tim
And the way that they are. Yeah, no, you're totally right. I mean, I remember having to like play these thought games in my head of, oh my gosh, what if I were to get pregnant sometime, like for whatever reason, and then thinking like, I would rather tell my parents that I had killed someone as then tell them that I had got pregnant, like outside of marriage.
- [40:53]
Monty Mader
The pregnancy nightmares.
- [40:56]
Tim
Yes. Oh my God, yes. I'm not the only one.
- [41:01]
Monty Mader
I had those started when I was 12 and I knew, I knew that if I, if I ever had sex when I was in high school or if I, God forbid, getting pregnant is the worst thing you could do in these circles. Like the worst thing. My dad would have beat me to within an inch of my life and then thrown me out of the house. Like, I would have been homeless. That's how my family was. And it's just this insane conversation. And I did like on my podcast yesterday, recorded an episode about the witch trials and how a lot of the conversation that we have around purity culture specifically comes from the 13 and 1400s witch trials. And the book called Malleus Maleficarum, which was the hammer of witches that they used to prosecute women. And it's this insane amount of confession that they kind of go through when they, when they go through these, these type of morality, I call it morality rhetoric that doesn't really have any basis because how are you going to tell a nine year old little girl that she's making a grown man stumble? But you're not going to have any accountability for the grown man who's attracted to the nine year old. But then that makes their complete dead silence about the Epstein files make a whole lot of sense because they're already used to justifying men being attracted to children.
- [42:17]
Tim
I mean I remember being a kid and being taught in youth group, cover up your shoulders because men, grown men might lust after me like a 12 year old, like. And that was just, that was just normal talk. That was everywhere it was ever. It was always putting it on the women to control the women, never on the men to control their behavior.
- [42:39]
Monty Mader
Yeah, the first time I got kicked out of Sunday school, nine was a big year for me. Nine was when I started to realize that the church didn't treat women equally. And it was so nine was the first time I got a dress for what I was wearing because it was gonna make a grown man stumble. But then I was in a Sunday school where that was part of the conversation in a Sunday school class. And I remember asking the teacher, well, if men are supposed to be leaders, shouldn't we expect them to lead themselves? And she asked me to leave.
- [43:08]
Tim
Oh, of course she did.
- [43:10]
Monty Mader
I was never allowed in her classroom again.
- [43:13]
Tim
What a. I love nine year old you.
- [43:16]
Monty Mader
That is amazing moments of like brilliant Clari. I also remember nine was how old I was because after that I got sent to adult service and that was the first time I heard a wives submit to your husband's sermon. And I remember being enraged, like furious. And I went home, took my bible, threw it across the room and was like, I'm not getting married then, like, I'm not going to submit to someone just because they're a man. And my, I was upset the whole day and my dad finally asked me about it. I said, dad, I'm not going to submit to someone just because he's of a part boy. I'm gonna, I'm gonna respect someone who does good things.
- [43:52]
Tim
Like.
- [43:53]
Monty Mader
And I was just not. I like. But nine was a big, you know, but then you get into the part where they, you know, you're inherently sinful, you're inherently broken Your questions are evil. It's your pride against God. I was able to kind of suppress all of those nine year old questions and feelings to play along through high school and college and do the good Christian girl thing. But those things bothered me then and it always was so suspicious to me when men would be overly critical of like what a child was wearing. And now as an adult, I can look back at the families, the families in my church and in my schools that were the most conservative and the strictest, who fought, whose fathers were really like protective of their daughters. Almost exclusively in every single one of those families, the dad was doing something to one of the kids almost across the board.
- [44:42]
Tim
Gosh, that's awful. But I'm glad that you had the forthright to like to have asked those questions at nine. But that's, but that's part of the, the reason that they tell you to suppress your instincts, that your instincts are inherently sinful and you can't trust your flesh because you're naturally going to question these teachings that say women are less than because they're not born with the right private parts, which is.
- [45:08]
Monty Mader
Yeah, well, and you know, the whole, like Genesis blaming Eve for initial sin and all of those things. And it's this idea of they, they package it and sell it in such a bizarre way of like this whole, it's like a separate but equal doctrine is how they sell it. Like, oh, you're equal, but your roles are different. And I'm like, if you're in a relationship, if you're in a relationship where one person gets to make all the decisions, one person has all the resources, one person gets all the leadership, only one person can lead, only one person can teach. That is by definition an unequal relationship. You can't sell that package to me. That's not equality. But they have to stamp it that way because they have to get women, especially white women in the church to fall in line. Because historically we're the ones that have supported and followed this movement because of how they've sold it to us. You know that. Oh, it's just, it's my role to be this submissive. Like your role is whatever you want it to be. Yeah, well, and I think God doesn't mind questions. It's men who don't like being questioned.
- [46:09]
Tim
Amen. Amen to that. And I do think a lot of women are, they could, they're both victims of this, this system and also proponents of it. Like they are complicit, you know, because some of the biggest misogynists I knew in the church were women that were upholding the patriarchy hardcore. But also I can. I try to have grace, too. I'm like, well, they also are just going by the same indoctrination that is telling them they have to be less than a man.
- [46:39]
Monty Mader
Yep.
- [46:40]
Tim
Anyway.
- [46:41]
Monty Mader
And most of them, you've been. When you've been taught that since you're three, and they control all the media you can access, they control the news you read, they control who you interact with. And the other thing that the church is very good with, and we see this in the Trump administration as well, is they're very good at strategically planting women in positions of power that are still below whoever the top dog is, so that women see representation. And women are like, oh, see, they're not excluding us. I'm just not special like her. They do that with the pastor's wife churches. And if you haven't read Becoming the Pastor's Wife by Dr. Beth Allison Barr, I would highly recommend it. But then within the Trump administration, we see, like, the Caroline Levitts and the Kristi Gnomes, where you still have to look a very specific way. You have to be pleasing to the male gaze according to their version of what the all American woman looks like. But it's those women in positions of power that help keep other women in line. Like, they're the medicine, this, the spoonful of sugar that helps the bitter medicine go down. And if they didn't have any women at all, I think a lot more women would notice that. And they're very good at strategically placing people to keep other women in line. Hi, my name is Yasmin. I'm from Brazil. I started donating to the new evangelicals.
- [47:58]
Tim
Because I really believe what you all.
- [48:01]
Monty Mader
Do is very important. I grew up Presbyterian in a progressive family, but a conservative town. And because of that, I always struggled.
- [48:12]
Tim
A lot because I grew up and I am a queer woman. And so my relationship with the church was very complicated because a lot of.
- [48:26]
Monty Mader
People really don't believe that queer people should be part of their community, that we should be accepted.
- [48:33]
Tim
And I grew up with that guilt, with that pain.
- [48:38]
Monty Mader
And so that really pulled me away from the church for a long while. And now I'm kind of, like, slowly stepping back towards my fate.
- [48:47]
Tim
And it really makes me happy to.
- [48:50]
Monty Mader
See there are people like you guys, There are groups like you guys that take on a more accepting and loving and kind approach to religion, and that you're trying to get that to become more of a mainstream thing. And I think that is incredibly valuable to all of us who felt excluded.
- [49:13]
Tim
From our own faith. Yeah, you know what, speaking of immature, Donald Trump has been doing some redecorating at the White House. So he recently was found on a rooftop do walking on the roof and people were. Yeah, they were asking him questions. So let's go ahead and play this and then we'll talk about why. What he mentions in this. Sir, why are you on the roof?
- [49:53]
Monty Mader
Mr. President, what are you doing up there?
- [49:56]
April
Taking a little roof. Come down and talk to us.
- [50:02]
Tim
What are you building?
- [50:03]
April
Let's go to work. Are you considering more renovations, sir? Hello, Peter.
- [50:17]
Tim
Are you going to fold up?
- [50:18]
April
Hi, sir.
- [50:23]
Tim
So I don't know what charades he was doing right there with his, with his little hands, but. So if it's a little hard to hear, but he was walking on the roof, that's at the White House because he was observing where the ballroom is going to go. So he's trying to. They announced recently that they're going to be adding a $200 million ballroom to the White House.
- [50:45]
Monty Mader
Can't afford pediatric cancer research, but we definitely need a gold plated ballroom.
- [50:53]
Tim
So much gold. I don't know if you've already seen this too. Cassie, do you have the picture from the Oval Office compared to when Joe Biden was there? So Donald Trump's already redecorated the Oval Office and has added so much gold. As you could see here, the top picture is Joe Biden and Trump and it's just got some greenery on top of the fireplace and a few pictures of presidents. And then below it looks like something you'd see in like a comic book villain's office, like a villain's palace. That's like I'm gonna take over the world. Because it's so gaudy.
- [51:35]
Monty Mader
The office of a cartoon supervillain.
- [51:39]
Tim
Yes.
- [51:39]
Monty Mader
And like it's so cheap. Like this looks like spray painted gold filigree from objects that you got at Home Depot or something. Like it doesn't even look nice. There's a way to pull off white and gold and luxury. This is. This. I don't know what this is, but it's not.
- [51:56]
Tim
Honestly. Looks like a TBN set too. Like the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
- [52:00]
Monty Mader
Home Depot. It wouldn't. It wouldn't be. It wouldn't. Surprise.
- [52:06]
Tim
Yeah. So anyway.
- [52:09]
Monty Mader
Atrocious.
- [52:10]
Tim
It is awful. It is so tacky. But Trump's did that and so now he's wanting to add a 200 million dollar ballroom that's going to be called gold everywhere. Do you have the rendering of the inside of the ballroom, Cassidy, that you can pull up, it's just gold. I mean, it just. It looks like someone threw up gold onto the. I don't know. I just. It just doesn't feel like America. Like, when I think of America in the White House, I feel like we've tried intentionally not to give off the look of a palace and the look of a king. And then Donald Trump's coming in and trying to make it feel like a dictator's palace.
- [52:50]
Monty Mader
Yeah, this. This feels like something like Stalin would build as the addition to his, you know, his primary residence kind of a thing. And the. The two thoughts I had when they announced this was the first thought I had was, that doesn't sound like something that you would build if you plan to leave. And the second thought I had was, does it really cost that much? It seems like a lot of money for. Even with this gold plating, because they're not going to use real gold. But like this gold plating and even with luxury marble, I was like, that seems like it shouldn't cost that much.
- [53:25]
Tim
No, it doesn't. It doesn't look like it should cost that much. I heard you have some research about what it should cost. But first, I want to go to Caroline Levitt. She did a press House press press conference at the White House. Those are the words. Do you have that video, Cassidy? So here she is announcing the ballroom.
- [53:49]
Monty Mader
You have one other announcement from the White House and from the President. We are proud to announce that the construction of the new White House ballroom will begin. For 150 years, presidents, administrations, and White House staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex that can hold substantially more guests than currently allowed. President Trump has expressed his commitment to solving this problem on behalf of future administrations and the American people. The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world. Yet the White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders in other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent. Approximately 100 yards away from the main building's entrance, the White House State Ballroom will be a much needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of innately designed and carefully crafted space. With a seated capacity of 650 people, which is a significant increase from the 200 person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House. In recent weeks, President Trump has held several.
- [54:58]
Tim
I love how she says. And this is in their official White House press release, too. But it says, For 150 years, presidents administrations and White House staff have longed for a large event space. Out of all the things that people have longed for, I don't think a tacky ass gold ballroom is one of them.
- [55:23]
Monty Mader
I'll take things nobody ever said for 1,000. Like, there's no way that anybody said that. Nobody. This is just strict, like just ego stroking.
- [55:32]
Tim
Yeah.
- [55:33]
Monty Mader
No, it's like gold plated jet that we apparently need. Like again, can't have healthcare, can't have good education, can't give teachers raises, but we need a gold plated ballroom.
- [55:47]
Tim
I know. Cassie, pull up that picture of the child cancer photo. I saw this image online and it just, I feel like it says so much. It's a picture of a kid with cancer looking onto this gold ballroom.
- [56:04]
Monty Mader
Oh, that hurts.
- [56:06]
Tim
I know. I. And it's very much let them eat cake. Right. You have Donald Trump. Well, after the big beautiful bill, which we've talked about on this. You've talked about it on your platform too, is going to harm so many Americans. It's going to take health care away from people they just to. RFK Jr announced this week that they're cutting $500 million of research for MRNA vaccines that were also going to, they were getting close to be able to use that to fight cancer. And so you are one.
- [56:39]
Monty Mader
The cut.
- [56:40]
Tim
The cuts that Donald million.
- [56:42]
Monty Mader
They already cut.
- [56:45]
Tim
Mm. Yeah. And so the idea that everybody's wanted a ballroom when most people just want healthcare, just want affordable wages, it's, it's very much Trump's like kind of sitting on his throne of gold, maybe quite literally, and has no care for the people, the citizens of America, that his policies are harming.
- [57:13]
Monty Mader
Yeah. And I think one of the things, and granted this administration is not particularly known for their education or any appreciation of history, but when you look, we're very much sitting in kind of the, the financial area of what began the French Revolution in the first place. So prior to the French Revolution Starting, you had 2.5% of the population, which was nobility, and the clerics who controlled 45% of the land, they barely paid any taxes and they controlled essentially all the wealth. And then the 98% on the bottom paid almost all the taxes and had very little wealth and land ownership. And when we look at the differences that are happening here in the U.S. like, the bottom 50% of U.S. citizens own 2.5% of the GDP of the economy and the top 10% own 67%. Like, we are very much in this space of you can only take so much away before you do actually Have a revolution on your hands. But it's very much, I've been thinking French Revolution for several months because it's just falling right along with this period in history where you had, again, the equivalent of the millionaires and billionaires in France at the time, spending money like the coffers would never end. And for a regular family in France, a loaf of bread could take income just to get a literal loaf of bread. And it's this, it's this insensitive and like endless greed. And I think that applies to everything kind of across the board that no matter how much money they have, it's never enough. It's never enough. And it's for showmanship and opulence. And the jet that he is spending $1 billion in tax funds to retrofit, he gets to take with him when he leaves. He gets to take that plane with him. That's why he pushed so hard for the plane. Hillary couldn't accept a diamond tennis bracelet, but he gets to take the jet with him. It's absolutely insane.
- [59:08]
Tim
Especially when you, you saw him earlier this week. He's bragged about this even in his first term, too. And I've seen a lot of MAGA people use this because Trump donates his salary, which I think is $33,000 a month. I think that's the number his presidential salary. He donates that to charity. And so they make him seem like, oh, my gosh, he's such a huge giver and so selfless and doesn't think for himself. But he, the Republicans just ruled that after the presidency, he gets to keep the $400 million jet that cater gave him that's going to have an additional up to $1 billion of changes that they have to make in order to get it up to code to be his presidential plane like that. The, his presidential salary is pennies in comparison to how much money he's making by not even to mention all the, all the trips he does takes to Mar a Lago on White House on, like, the White House's dime. The government, like the federal, like 30%.
- [60:10]
Monty Mader
Of his presidency so far. Golfing, flying to different countries, flying to Florida to golf. And you know that if any Democrat did that, we would never hear the end of it.
- [60:21]
Tim
Yeah, no, it's, it's just so annoying. It's so annoying. We have another super chat from Dr. Leaders. Thank you so much for the super chat. Okay, so you told me you did some research to see because the $200 million for a ballroom sounds like a. Just like A lot of money. Because it seems like you could get a lot more. Yeah, it seems like a lot. Tell me about your research.
- [60:46]
Monty Mader
I researched a bunch of buildings across the country that cost around $200 million to construct in recent, recent time. Within the last five years. Five to six years. So that I can see. Okay, is this comparable, Is this a realistic amount? So I think, and I also think that Cassidy has some photos that I sent her. The first is the spheres at Amazon HQ1 from Seattle, Washington. This was built in 2018, around $200 million. This is a biophilic workspace. It's built to prioritize employee well being and it's a nature based design. There's 40,000 plants in there and insanely expensive because of the specific type of steel and glass that they had to be able to use to build these spheres so that they're weather resistant, they don't collapse. Like a very engineering heavy type of facility. And the building materials for this, these three spheres. So the three spheres in total at 65,000 square feet cost $200 million to build this type of facility. Wow. The second one I found was the parent museum, Perrot Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas. So this was also about Perot.
- [61:53]
Tim
I know that from Dallas. Yeah.
- [61:55]
Monty Mader
And it's, it's180,000 square feet. It's a science museum. There are five floors of interactic interactive exhibits, LED gold certified. It's, it's like got dramatic escalators, there's all these different like technologies built within it. Like very, very high tech, multiple floor exhibit that's 180,000 square feet. Which I thought that that was kind of the best comparison of like, I don't know that a 90,000 like square foot ballroom, even if it's a luxury ballroom could possibly cost that much. And the last one that I pulled up was actually the federal courthouse in downtown LA. This was built in 2016 and it's got 630,000 square feet. It's a 10 story glass cube blast resistant design. It's got also several floors underneath to help with any earthquake movement. And it's a lead platinum standard building. And this costs around $200 million. So to me it strikes me the closest estimates I could find for a ballroom. What they're talking about should only cost about $75 million was the highest estimate I could find. So it makes me wonder, and he says that it's his money and also private donors. It makes me wonder if this is a little bit of money laundering. And helping people buy some things from him. Hey, we'll fund your ballroom, but I'm gonna need this on the back end is what that feels like to me, especially with his background with Roy Cohn and working with the mob. The big Paul Castellano from the Genovese family used to supply concrete to Trump Construction in New York City. It feels very kind of mob, like, overestimate the building costs, pocket the money. Make it look good again. None of that is verifiable. Construction hasn't started yet. That's how it feels. And that's how, like, compared to estimates of buildings that cost $200 million, it doesn't seem to match up. And estimates from as buildings that are in this kind of venue space, this luxury venue space, I could not find a single one that cost even close to $200 million.
- [64:05]
Tim
Cassie, can you pull up the renderings again for this ballroom? And it's so hideous. Yeah. Oh, like, there's something so beautiful about.
- [64:15]
Monty Mader
The way the White House sits on that lawn with that, you know, the gorgeous cul de sac in the front. And just that it's just so gaudy and ugly. And why.
- [64:27]
Tim
Are they not even gonna make it be white to match the White House? It's gonna be, like, golden. That is hideous. And that does not look anything like any of the buildings that you showed us. Like, that does not look like it should cost that much at all.
- [64:42]
Monty Mader
Comparable at all. And there's. And there's no. You know, a lot of these buildings, especially the Perot Museum and the Federal Courthouse, these are highly, like, technologically advanced buildings. And even the spheres from Amazon are technology advanced in the sense of how they have to be built and the type of glass you have to have and all of these things. There's nothing sophisticated about this building at all. Like, we're not having escalators or, you know, different things that would be needed in these other buildings. I can't fathom how they're justifying $200 million.
- [65:17]
Tim
It looks so. Like, it just looks bad, too. It throws off the symmetry of it all. And it.
- [65:25]
Monty Mader
Yeah.
- [65:25]
Tim
Like, it's not even center on the White House from this rendering anyway.
- [65:30]
Monty Mader
It's not. And it's also like, you know, the. The Founding Fathers were also, like, because of the age of spiritualism that they lived in, they were very particular about where things were located. And so to kind of, like, slipshod, just throw this up and be like, yeah, that's fine. It's just so. It just. It really does ruin the aesthetic of how the Mall and how the White House is supposed to be positioned in relation to the mall. Like, that was all very specifically planned. And this just feels, it feels like a distraction from the Epstein files. It feels very slipshod. The money is very suspicious. And then to pave over the Rose Garden, to put this like, beach platform out there, like you're in Washington D.C. what are you doing? It's just very, it's very distasteful in a lot of ways.
- [66:17]
Tim
Yeah, I saw someone say too, that you don't spend $200 million to add something to the White House unless you plan to stay there for longer than four years. And that honestly has me worrying a little bit because, I mean, he's already hinted at the idea of running for a third term. Republicans have already tried to pass legislation that would give him the ability to do that.
- [66:37]
Monty Mader
Oh, yeah, Representative here in Tennessee was the one who proposed that. Like, he really thinks that if he licks boot enough, he's going to get an upper position. Andy Ogles, I have news for you. It's not going to happen, baby. But it's, it's been all these hints and they released like Trump 20, 28 merch. But then he'll backpedal and he'll say, I don't think I'm going to run. And then, oh, I might do it. Oh, I'm not going to do it. I, I think he has every intention of not leaving if he can get away with it.
- [67:02]
Tim
Oh, yeah, no, totally. He wants to be a king. I mean, the White House official Instagram posted a few months back a picture of him that said King Trump and him in a crown. He posted that weird AI video of Mar A Lago Gaza of a gold giant golden statue of him in Gaza. Like, the man thinks he's a king and he wants to be a king. Oh my gosh. I know. King Nebuchadnezzar. Yeah. Speaking of breaking the ten Commandments, we have another super chat from silly Bebo. Brittany. He gave Obama crap for golfing in 2015, 2016? He sure did. Remember that whole projection thing we mentioned earlier?
- [67:41]
Monty Mader
Yeah, yeah. Keep an eye on Obama over a tan suit.
- [67:46]
Tim
Oh.
- [67:47]
Monty Mader
Can you imagine if he had any involvement in the Epstein files or decided he was going to build a really shady 2 million 200 million dollar ballroom. That's insane.
- [67:58]
Tim
It is so wild to me how people are. So many MAGA people are trying to sweep the Epstein stuff under the rug. Although there are a few. Like Joe Rogan is calling it out and is not Falling for it. I've seen, seen a few more MAGA people historically that are not falling for the Epstein stuff, which is good, but too many still are.
- [68:20]
Monty Mader
I think the Epstein files are really gonna kind of draw the distinction between the people who, like, this is gonna be their, like their final thing. This is gonna be the thing that breaks the blinders off because it was something they truly care about. And then it's gonna show us who are the people that it does not matter what he does, that they're going to go with it anyway. And actually Ledger just released a study where they surveyed like Republicans and Democrats asking a bunch of different questions about the current events, what's been going on recently. I'm going to pull it up because I actually have, I forgot that I have this research. So they asked Republican voters if Trump was officially implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking activity, would this make you more likely to vote for a different party or would it not affect your vote for Donald Trump? And 47% said it would not affect their vote. 26% said they weren't sure, and 27% said they would be likely to vote for another party.
- [69:16]
Tim
That 27% though, would change the election.
- [69:20]
Monty Mader
It would change the election. I mean, that 47% is real disheartening. But that 27% would change. It would be enough to change the conversation because these are people that have held the line, they have toed the line for Trump. And if 30% of his voter base was to walk away, it not only takes away the power of his movement, but it also shatters that group as a whole. And the more that it fractures the power it has.
- [69:46]
Tim
Well, and I think that's actually a good point to make because I can get discouraged because it does seem like we're losing so many battles and Trump is just kind of steamrolling his way to get exactly what he wants and Republicans are just rolling over and letting him take it. But I, I think that's probably pretty accurate, that 47 of the people that voted for him are probably his like die hards that would vote for him no matter what. You have a, you know, it was like an additional 20 some percent that say they're unsure. But I think it's, it's important to remember that the majority of people that voted for Trump even this last, last election are not the die hard MAGA people. They're people that probably don't really know what's going on, but voted for Trump because they just always vote Republican because that's the Christian party And that's just what they've always done, but are not actually politically aware. And then you had people that just voted for Trump because they just really didn't like Kamala Harris and didn't really like the Democrats or, you know, it was. Didn't like what Joe Biden had done. So I think that actually kind of gives me hope in a weird way and is a good reminder of, like, we actually have more people on our side that are not or just not die hard Trump people, then we realize and those numbers are going to matter, which is why when people start changing their minds, and I've seen a few people online and on videos that are coming out and saying that they regretted voting for Trump after, you know, whatever it is. There's a million reasons that people could regret it at this point. But that's a good thing. You know, and I understand the, the, the, like the knee jerk reaction of being like, well, you're an idiot. Why would you. Like he said he was going to do all of this stuff like you, you can't say you didn't know. And while I agree, while I agree with that, it's a good thing that people are changing. Whatever it takes, like, we want people to change. Like, that is a good thing, even if it takes baby steps.
- [71:39]
Monty Mader
Because, because ultimately, I mean, and I was having this conversation yesterday that the fever is going to break. What they're doing politically is not sustainable. They've also made the mistake that they've dropped the masks. They have gotten so power drunk that they have forgotten to have even the thinnest veil of pretense. So there is no excuse. And eventually this is gonna break. Now, we don't know how long that's gonna be. We don't know what the fallout's gonna be or how long it's gonna take us to rebuild, but I truly do believe that once this fever breaks, we're gonna be able to rebuild some of these systems so America can actually be as great as she always claimed she's been, but she's never been. And I also think that, like, Christian nationalism is never gonna hold the same power it did after this, because they have come out and they have shown exactly who they are and exactly what they stand for. And the Epstein files in particular throw that into stark contrast because their stance has always been, you know, the LGBTQ community are grooming kids. They're doing this. And I'm like, you are supporting an actual pedophile. You're the more. The moral clause of your argument is null and Void. And I think it's really going to create a lot of changes. And the foundation of this, of Christian nationalism and white supremacy in America, has done such a good job of rebranding itself that I think one of the good things about what's happening right now is we see everything for exactly what it is. There's no pretense, there's no hiding it. Like, it's very clear. You exchanged your white hood for a red hat, and we see you now, and it's going to be hard, messy. And I don't think he's going to leave willingly. But I know that this will break because it's not sustainable. Like, the economic policies they're passing are not sustainable. There's only been two other times where Republicans controlled all three branches of government and were able to push through policies like this. The most recent time was George W. Bush's both of his presidencies, except for one year where. Or one House session where Democrats controlled the House. That immediately led to the Great Recession in 2008 and the time before that. Democrat or Democrats, Republicans controlled the government from 1920 to 1932, and they passed very similar laws to what they're doing now, including rolling back child labor laws, putting the children to work in factory jobs, menial work, which is what they're trying to do now. And it led us directly into the Great Depression and the introduction of social systems into our economy. So they've done this before, and it's always been bad. Republican presidents have always overspent. Democrats like Democrat budgets. They have always passed policy that never works. They're not the party of fiscal responsibility, they're the party of the wealth healthy. And they always have been. So we've already seen that this is not going to work. And when the economy collapses to varying degrees, whatever happens, then the. The fever is going to break. And. And so we have this historical precedent of this is going to break. We don't know how difficult or how challenging it will be. It will be difficult. But I think this time what's different is that the pretense is gone. And I think that that's a very good thing.
- [74:43]
Tim
Yeah, no, I agree with you. And if we look at history, these big authoritarian fascists, men who come in and claim to be kings and do all the things that Trump's trying to do right now, they all fall. They don't last forever. So. But it doesn't mean that we don't have to live through some dark, dark times in the process.
- [75:04]
Monty Mader
So, I mean, I never thought in My lifetime I would, like, have to deal with. With actual Nazis. Didn't think that that was real or that I would be hearing conversations about why Hitler and the Holocaust weren't that bad.
- [75:18]
Tim
Oh, my gosh.
- [75:19]
Monty Mader
I know that is. That is shocking to me, especially as someone, because even growing up the way that I did, and my family was the kind of family that stockpiled arms against the government, they're going to come to your house and hold you up at gunpoint and ask you if you believe in Jesus, and it's your responsibility to say yes. And all those things. I know you got some of that, too. And my dad made us independently study theology my entire life and American history and also World War II history. And he definitely had us, like, watching and reading things that were not appropriate for children. But his whole point was, you need to be able to recognize fascism when you see it. And now I'm like, oh, look, it's here. And people play it off and dismiss those moments as, you know, as if, you know, the most recent jubilee. I can't remember his name, but, you know, the. One of the men he was arguing with was like, oh, you know, I know some people were hurt in the Holocaust. Like, just dismissed it as if 6 million people didn't die. And I never thought that that would be something that I would encounter in my lifetime. And I don't know if anyone's been to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. it's. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Like, just one of the most difficult things that I've been through. But I went to Liberty University and I had to study theology as part of my degree. They required it, and I was able to study abroad in Israel after a previous Gaza incident. But they also have a Holocaust museum there, which is maybe the most horrific thing I've ever seen. But one of the. They have a separate building that's an outpost, and they had these mirrors set up, and there's candles reflecting these mirrors. So you just see thousands and thousands of candles. And 24 hours a day, every day, they read the name, age, and country of origin of children who were killed in the Holocaust every hour, every day, all year, every year. And it is thousands and thousands and thousands of names. And so to be able to look at that time in history and say, oh, he wasn't that that bad? Is. Is not just cognitive dissonance. It's. It's allegiance to evil. Like, you have. You have made this decision that this is the movement you're aligning with. And, you know, Germany was 97% Christian nations and Christians loved, you know, Hitler. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer was kicked out of his church for speaking against him. And it's just weird to see that happening now. I think that's something that's been the most shocking to me, is how quickly that pivot has gone from, we're not racist because we support Trump. How dare you to. Yeah, I'm a fascist.
- [77:51]
Tim
I know.
- [77:52]
Monty Mader
Like, real, like, six months.
- [77:55]
Tim
I mean, being against Nazis used to be, like, one of the things that Republicans and Democrats could always agree on, you know, like, Nazis were the bad guys. Yeah. And now they're like, well, maybe not. It's like, oh, my gosh. Just. I mean, in a way, it's good, though, that they're showing their true colors. Right. And a lot of people who may not been able to see through it hopefully will start having their eyes open. You know, let those who have eyes. Let them see. As the Bible says, not to be all Christian. We have another super chat from Big D says some Republican must have seen rules for thee, not for me, and a fortune cookie and took it way too damn far. No kidding. I don't know what they did, but they are definitely doing that. And we have another super chat from Cedar says, my grandma said God didn't like ugly, and Christian nationalists are looking pretty ugly right now. I. Yeah, I mean, they're. They're pretty awful. Okay, so we are running a little behind, so I'm just going to give a quick couple quick updates on just some news stories, and then we'll get to our weird Christian Beep Epstein. I just want to say I do think all this ballroom stuff and a lot of the stuff that Trump is pushing out there is just to distract from the Epstein files. We need to keep talking about that, you know, because. So the Wall Street Journal that released that birthday letter of the naked woman that Trump drew as a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein, Trump sued them, and so now they're delaying that deposition. They both. Both parties agreed, and I read that as delaying it, because once you go to court, Trump will have to prove that. That it was a lie, which means there's going to be stuff going into court records about Trump and Epstein, and I don't know if he thought that through before he sued them, but he got them to agree to delay that deposition. Also, the DOJ recently interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell and claims that she completely cleared Trump and said that Donald. She never saw Donald Trump do anything wrong, because of course she did. Because then right after that, they moved her to a lower. What is it, lower security prison. Yeah. Yeah. So they gave her a cushier location. That's not suspicious at all.
- [80:16]
Monty Mader
And also, specifically, she met with the assistant Attorney General who used to be Trump's personal lawyer. So someone who is protected by attorney client privilege. And he knows exactly what Trump has done, and he's not obligated legally to say anything. He can go in and talk to her, lead her on, give her these favors, and who knows, they might still pardon her. They're very much trying to spin this conversation that she's somehow a victim too, when, like, let's keep in mind, like, Epstein abused over a thousand children. Like, that is an insane number.
- [80:49]
Tim
And Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked children. Yeah. She's not a good person.
- [80:57]
Monty Mader
Participated in sexually assaulting them. Because the victims have testified that she not only connected them with Epstein, but she also actively participated with both the victim and Epstein. So she is, like, across the board, not a victim.
- [81:12]
Tim
Yeah. A couple other things in the news. Sudan is also facing a massive famine and genocide. That is not being talked about, which is tragic. Obviously, what's happening in Gaza, they are still starving the people there. I will say I loved the. I appreciate the countries that are just air dropping aid and food into Gaza. Like, Canada just did it, which I'm glad that they're doing it. But it's also just sad that people are so desperate that, like, people are getting hurt in the process of trying to get the. The aid. And it's. It's just tragic all the way around. But that is still happening. Florida also has said that they're. They're planning a second alligator, Alcatraz. And didn't you say, too, that they're pulling. They're using some of their emergency funding to build it.
- [82:03]
Monty Mader
Yeah. So they, they've used. They used FEMA funds to build the first one, and they're using FEMA funds for this one. Right. As hurricane season is hitting, like, we're. We're hitting hurricane season in Florida and they're taking away FEMA funds. They've also transferred FEMA staff to work for ice. Like, again, right at the beginning of hurricane season, which has historically been getting worse and worse every year.
- [82:27]
Tim
Yeah. I mean, just look at what happened in North Carolina last. That was just last year. And they're still feeling the effects of that, and they have not recovered fully from that. Yeah, we are.
- [82:38]
Monty Mader
A landlocked state got hit because of the hurricane rains.
- [82:43]
Tim
I know, it's so. It's so stupid. So anyway, so those are Some. Some. Some highlights. So let's get to our final segment, and it's a doozy. It's not as fun, but we got our final segment. Do you have our little stinger? Cassidy Christian? There's our fun little jingle. So this week, we've got Maddie Pruitt, and I don't know her husband's name. If you don't know her, she was a contestant on the Bachelor. Do you watch the Bachelor, Monty? I never have. Okay. That's one of my guilty pleasures. I. I have watched the Bachelor, so I did watch her season. She's a Christian. She kind of became somewhat famous after the show started. She. I think she speaks in churches. I don't know what she. What she's doing, but she's kind of viewed as this Christian leader in that world because she had saved her. I don't know if she saved herself. I feel like. I feel like I remember hearing a virgin narrative around her. I don't know.
- [83:49]
Monty Mader
Lying about it, too. You know, I don't know.
- [83:52]
Tim
And I could be wrong about that. But. But they were definitely painting her on the. On that Bachelor season. And then since as this, like, really good Christian girl who. She's married now, and they just had a kid, so it's her and her husband on whatever podcast they have talking about their child. So let's watch it.
- [84:13]
April
Have a child. You don't just discipline them for being good and obeying you, right? Like, if Hosanna obeys us, we're not like, come here, girl. Come here. All right, pull them down. Get the.
- [84:24]
Monty Mader
You know, mama.
- [84:25]
April
Get her. Which will be hilarious when we start spanking Hosanna, which we will go on the record, because the Bible so clearly says. It says folly is bound up in a child, but discipline drives it far away.
- [84:40]
Monty Mader
Well, it also specifically talks about discipline with the rod.
- [84:43]
April
With the rod. It says it will not kill them.
- [84:44]
Tim
Some people could say, well, you can.
- [84:45]
Monty Mader
Discipline them with timeouts. Hold on.
- [84:47]
Tim
It says with the rod, she gonna.
- [84:49]
April
Get a little bit. It's not gonna be.
- [84:50]
Monty Mader
Yeah, and it's not. And it's gonna be in a very loving way of saying, hi, sweetheart. Do you know why you're being disciplined? Mommy does not want to discipline you. Mommy does not enjoy having to spank you. But there are consequences to disobedience.
- [85:07]
Tim
I hate it. I. I hate it. The. The amount of bleed that they have about hitting their. Their child, which I think their daughter.
- [85:17]
Monty Mader
Hosanna is a baby. She is a baby right now. So they are one new parents. Their daughter's a baby, and they're, like, having this radical joy about how they can't wait to hit her when she gets older.
- [85:31]
Tim
I know. Not to mention the whole spare the rod thing. That verse has been used to support child abuse so much. But if you actually look at the. This is where cultural context and, like, proper interpretation of the Bible is so important, so it doesn't get abused. But the. The same word that they use for rod in that is also talking about, like, the Lord is my shepherd. Thy rod and thy son staff, they comfort me. Like, you can also interpret rod. Right. Rod is also just meaning, like, shepherding. Like. Like shepherding your children as not not beating them.
- [86:08]
Monty Mader
Yeah. Because so here, like, I grew up on a cattle ranch in Gillette, Wyoming, and we also had sheep. And you understand the comparisons of people and sheep when you work with sheep. Sheep are very dumb. And sheep only. They will follow the group. And, like, if a sheep has decided it wants to go one direction, you can hit it as much as you want. It's not changing direction. What you have to do is physically move it. You have to guide its head so that it knows where you want to go, or stand in front of it, or gently push it or lead it. And that's why the shepherd had the hook. In order to hook a sheep's neck and direct their head. That's how you move them. This is not about striking them. One, it doesn't work on sheep, so that would be impractical from, like, a biblical sense. But two, you're just making up an excuse so that you can hit your kid.
- [86:58]
Tim
Yeah.
- [87:02]
Monty Mader
My big pivot with this. Because, April, did you grow up in a spanking household?
- [87:07]
Tim
So I did get spanked, but I didn't get spanked a lot. I got the threats of spanked more than I actually got spanked, but I was spanked.
- [87:16]
Monty Mader
Okay. Because I grew up in, like, a very serious spanking household. To the surprise of no one. My dad had what was called the same spoon of inspiration. And it was this huge wooden spoon that he would. And my dad also had this thing. He would quote these verses. But in my family, when you would get spanked, you weren't allowed to cry or scream. And if you did, you would get spanked longer. And so I grew up in these churches that were very, like, violent with spanking rhetoric. And that was something as I got older, and we have decades now of research of how harmful this is. But as someone who's a very data interested person, it wasn't the data that changed My mind. It's the fact that if I walk up to someone on the street with a belt and I belt them, I'm getting arrested and charged for assault. If I do that to a dog, I'm getting arrested for animal cruelty. But for some reason it's okay to do it to a little kid. Are you kidding me? And the allegiance that people have to wanting to beat their children as if there is no other option. I do not understand. I don't get it.
- [88:24]
Tim
Yeah. Well. And it causes psychological harm. Like studies have shown that it doesn't actually correct behavior in the long term. It can control them in the moment. But as soon as they get old enough they're not going to look back kindly on being beaten. And it just doesn't work. It leads to fear. I will say though it is in line with the way a lot of evangelicals and Christian nationalists view God. It's. It's a way to make themselves godlike and the theology of how they view God. Because if you can look at God and you believe God is all loving and. And you know, and is. Is unconditionally loves us. And also if you don't happen to believe the exact right things that that un unconditionally loving God would then send you to hell for all of eternity. Send his child to be tortured forever with no redemption just for not believing the same things. And that is love. Then it makes sense that they could justify beating the crap out of their kids, laughing about it and then being like, but this is love. Because their ideas of God are so messed up and abusive too.
- [89:38]
Monty Mader
100 and that's. I think that's why they have so much allegiance to Old Testament God and very little allegiance to Jesus is because it's a very different, you know, Old Testament God is out killing people, causing genocides. You know it. He calls himself a jealous God. He admits to deception in the Old Testament. And they like that because it falls in line with how they want to act but also how they believe because they want people that they oppose to go to hell. Like that's part of the core issue of it is it doesn't just help you fill your pews because people are afraid of eternal judgment. It also allows you to have a revenge fantasy on people that you don't like. And what ends up happening in these spanking households. And again, as someone who grew up in this. And when I was deconstructing I would make the joke. I mean I think I turned out okay. But now I look and I was like, you know, you really strict parents, you don't raise good kids, you raise good liars. They get very good at lying, they get very good at manipulating, they get very good at hiding things. And they get very good at like understanding that they cannot trust you with anything. And so what you end up with is someone who not only has attachment issues. Right. Because you were beat by this person that's supposed to protect you, but also people who have learned the art of deception to protect themselves. And then you look at how like, you know, a lot of these kids end up in high school or college getting into a lot of trouble and they don't go to their parents or they don't ask for help because it's not a safe place for you to be. And there's this idea that like strictness is going to save your children. It's not like what, what we crave when we're trying to understand how the world works is connection. We crave connection, we crave understanding. And when you're a kid, your frontal lobe's not developed, you don't know how the world works yet. And it's just, it's just not helpful. But it is a powerful reflection of their own belief in who God is.
- [91:31]
Tim
Yeah. And it's easily translated to what we're seeing Christian nationalists do on a large scale right now in this country is they feel like I think even a big piece of why they're so against abortion. They claim it's to save babies. They don't actually care about babies based on every other policy that they put out there. But they want to punish women. They want to punish women for having sex and they don't believe that if they have the are able to get an abortion, then the woman can just go out and do what she wants scot free.
- [91:57]
Monty Mader
Because we have autonomy.
- [92:00]
Tim
Exactly. It's, it's about the projection of. I think it's envy also because when you are in this dogmatic world, you have to suppress your very natural human feelings. You have to live with such a heavy mindset all of the time. You have to second guess who you're friends with. You're constantly afraid of going to hell. Yeah. And so when you see women or queer people or whoever out there living their best life and doing what they want to do, there's almost this like, well, they're either going to pay in the afterlife or I'm going to make them pay now and make it so that they can't actually do that because I can't do it. I don't want them to do it either.
- [92:39]
Monty Mader
Yep. And it's a lot of that. And it really does come to especially, like, making women pay for not being what you want them to be. And that's. That also falls in line with this, the. The maga conservative rhetoric. Like, I'm someone who's, you know, I'm a rock vocalist. I'm very alternative looking. I've got three colors in my hair, a nose ring, tattoos, long nails. And it. It enrages people in a way that is completely irrational. And it's because I have chosen to accept myself and what I love and what I want to look like. And it's not about, you know, you grow up in the church and it's. You got to be the skinny white girl next door. Like, that's the beauty standard. That's what the men want to see. And you need to, you know, stay hot for your husband always. And your body's not yours, it's your dad's until it's your husband's. And so when they see women choose not to build their life around those standards, it does enrage them. And it's like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna force you to have these kids. I'm gonna force you to stay in this abusive marriage because you. You deserve it. This idea that a woman's sexuality means that she should be punished is integral to the core of, like, the patriarchal doctrine that they've married themselves to and also, like, accurate to ancient history, because in ancient sexual standards, the only person who had sexual agency was free men, and sex was something that happened to an object. A person with agency committed an act of sex on an object which was women or enslaved men or a younger man. And it did not threaten the man's masculinity at all, provided he took the dominant role. Because even in those times, he couldn't take a submissive role, even with his wife. But it comes from that kind of standard of women are this object to be in service to this person who has sexual agency. And we don't align with those things as a whole anymore. Like, we don't think that women are actual property. We don't think that slavery is okay, which the Old Testament condones. But they've. They have decided that that's one of the Old Testament ethics they're going to carry into now. And it's the. I think it's the reason they're demonizing education as well, is because women are doing so well in education. We are outscoring men. We're out graduating them. We're getting better jobs. We're finally getting rewarded for all this work because women have always out outscored men in education as long as that's been tracked. But now that women are getting money for it, it's giving them options. They're delaying family so that they have a nest egg so that they have something to fall back on. That's why education is being demonized. Is this woman. I'm going to put you in your place by taking options away from you.
- [95:20]
Tim
You make up so many great points. I mean, it's all about projection. It's all about control. But please don't spake your children. There are studies to show it does not, it's not beneficial for the, for the kids at all. It actually, it does the reverse. Yeah. And they're, they're human beings. No, no child deserves to be hit because they don't have the brain capacity to like. They will internalize that for a long time. Yeah. Monty, thank you so much for being with us and for guest hosting, co hosting with me today. Can you tell everyone all the cool things that you're doing and where they can find you?
- [96:01]
Monty Mader
Yeah. So first, thanks for having me. This was really fun. This is a very different format podcast. I'm like, oh, I need to do some more of these, but you can find me Monte Mater. And it's Monty with an E M O N T E M a D E R on all the platforms, Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky. I'm also on Patreon where I do kind of some exclusive content. I teach bi weekly scholarly Bible studies where it's not about conversion. I don't want to convert anybody to anything. It's really about, let's learn about these cultures, let's learn about the, this text, let's learn about the language and hopefully dispel some dogma and help heal some religious trauma. And I have an upcoming album and book coming out next year which will all be announced on my pages. But that's, that's where I'm hanging out today.
- [96:46]
Tim
Yeah. So go follow her. She's got Almonte's. Really does. You put out so much good content and you are like an energizer bunny. I just feel like you, I love it. But she, honestly, I learned so much from you. You are a brilliant. You're just brilliant. And the content that you put out is wonderful. Your podcast is wonderful. Your Bible studies are wonderful. You are just a, a wonderful human being. And I am so glad that you are here and that we've become friends. In real life. So everyone go follow Monty. If you haven't subscribed to the Tim and April show here on YouTube, leave us a review on Apple or on Spotify, wherever you listen. And I will be back next week, next Thursday, live at noon with a different surprise guest host. So I guess you'll find out next week. But, Monty, thanks so much for being here. Do you have any final words before we depart?
- [97:36]
Monty Mader
Love your people and flip some tables.
- [97:40]
Tim
Amen. Hear, hear. Thanks, everyone, for joining us. And I'll see you next week.
- [97:50]
April
Sam.