43. Trump vs Survivors: The Battle over Releasing the Epstein Files

Summary

The Tim & April Show — Episode 43: Trump vs Survivors — The Battle over Releasing the Epstein Files

Podcast: The Tim & April Show – A New Evangelicals Production
Hosts: Tim Whitaker & April Ajoy
Date: September 5, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the ongoing political, legal, and cultural battle surrounding the push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, and the Trump administration’s recent actions and rhetoric. Tim returns from sabbatical as the co-hosts untangle the issue’s latest developments: survivor press conferences, the repeated stalling and shifting stories by Trump and officials, and the rare emergence of bipartisan Congressional action demanding accountability. The hosts then tackle major headlines like Florida ending all vaccine mandates and recent US government actions, plus the dire situation in Gaza. As always, they wrap with their signature “Weird Christian Sh!t” segment, this time featuring Steven Furtick.

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Detailed Breakdown

[02:28] – [07:17] Tim Returns; Sabbatical Reflections & Show Direction

• Tim’s Return: Tim is welcomed back after his sabbatical, reflecting on how much he missed the show and his collaboration with April.
• Personal Updates: Tim mentions moving into a new house and using the time off to reflect on his direction, highlighting a newfound focus: “I’m laser focused on exposing Christian nationalism to a wider audience... I feel really passionate about exposing the danger and the fruit of Christian nationalism because it's what's taken over our politics right now.” (Tim, 06:26)
• Show’s Evolution: April recaps “Girl Power August” and previous powerhouse guests, and Tim shares his excitement for the podcast’s future.

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[07:17] – [10:44] Episode Topics Preview & Light Banter

• Main Story Teaser: The episode will tackle new developments regarding the Jeffrey Epstein files, survivors’ press conferences, and the complex maneuvers of the Trump administration.
• Other Headlines Preview: Florida eliminates all vaccine mandates; the US bombs a supposed drug trafficker boat; ongoing crisis in Gaza; and their “Weird Christian Sh!t” finale.
• Banter: Birthday shoutouts, sports (college vs. NFL football), and pop culture with a sidebar on the recent Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce engagement and why celebrity news interests people.

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[10:44] – [40:33] The Battle Over the Epstein Files: Timeline & Analysis

Background to the Epstein Scandal & Political Context [10:44–14:28]

• April recaps who Jeffrey Epstein was: Wealthy financier, trafficker of underage girls, and linked to notable elites including Trump. Right-wing conspiracy claims tie prominent Democrats to Epstein’s crimes.
• Central issue: MAGA/QAnon circles long demanded the release of the “Epstein client list,” arguing Trump would be the one to deliver transparency and justice.

Trump's Timeline & Flipping Narratives [14:28–20:06]

• Timeline Walkthrough: April details the Trump administration’s evolving position:
  • Early promises: “Trump said that he would release the files… because he fights for children.” (14:08)
  • Phase One Binders: “A big nothing burger” (14:28) – influencers receive mostly public or irrelevant documents.
  • Key meeting (May 2025): Pam Bondi tells Trump his name appears “multiple times” in the files. (15:19)
  • Refusal to release further files: Citing “tens of thousands of videos… with children in a spornographic way” as justification for not releasing, even though no one was calling for those specific videos. (15:44)
  • DOJ Memo (July): Declares “there is no client list” and Epstein “died by suicide,” reversing years of right-wing conspiracy claims.
  • Shift to calling it a “Democrat hoax:” Trump grows annoyed by the topic, calls attention to the files “dead in the water,” and labels questions on the subject as politically-motivated attacks. (16:40–17:40)

Congress and White House Obstacles [20:06–26:38]

• Bipartisan attempts to force a vote: Mike Johnson ends Congressional session early to avoid voting on releasing the files. - “Family values, biblical values… Mike Johnson… stops the release of the Epstein files... to protect Trump.” (21:21, Tim)
• Ghislaine Maxwell—a lesser-secured transfer: After an interview in which she exonerates Trump, she is moved to a minimum-security prison, which the hosts call “insensitive to the survivors.”
• Critical quote: “The Trump administration decided to interview Ghislaine Maxwell to clear Trump’s name and not the survivors. Why would you interview the one that was doing the trafficking?” (25:06, April)

Latest Congressional Action & Survivor Testimony [26:38–40:33]

• Recent events:
  • Survivors tell their stories in a closed-door session. Rep. Nancy Mace leaves due to a panic attack triggered by her own recent survivor experience.
    • “I feel the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us.” ([27:30], Nancy Mace)
  • 33,000 new pages released—but per Rep. Thomas Massie, that’s only “1%” of what DOJ holds, and almost all is already public. (26:38)
  • Discharge petition needs 218 signatures to force a vote on file release; four Republicans (Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Massie) have signed on, needing two more. The White House threatens that any Republican who signs will be viewed as committing a “hostile act.” (30:41)
    • “Imagine that—they’re calling it a hostile act for just releasing files that could bring vindication and justice for… victims.” (April, 31:13)
  • GOP split: “If they are willing to do this, I will shake your hand… major props to MTG and Lauren Boebert. I mean, we have to give credit where credit is due. I’m thrilled to see it.” (Tim, 30:33)

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[40:33] – [55:23] Survivor Press Conference & On-the-Ground Reactions

• Powerful survivor appeal: A Republican survivor directly addresses Trump (35:47):
  • Notable quote: “‘Mr. President Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican—not that that matters, because this is not political… I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person so you can understand this is not a hoax. We are real human beings. This is real trauma… Please humanize us.’” (36:00–36:43, Survivor at press conference)
• Tim’s commentary: “One of the telltale signs of fascism is the dehumanization of certain people groups… This survivor saying ‘humanize us’—she’s actually clapping back against fascism.” (37:00)
• Hosts reaffirm: “I don’t care who is on that list. If Joe Biden is on that list, I want to know… this should be the lowest bar of civil society, and instead we have the government trying to stop the process…” (Tim, 38:55)
• April’s takeaway: “If you were innocent, you wouldn’t be covering it up. Innocent people don’t go to the lengths the Trump administration is doing to cover it up.” (40:03)

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[41:03] – [52:59] Political Fallout, White Evangelical Loyalty, and Right-Wing Response

• Contradictions in ‘family values’ rhetoric: “What happened to the party of family values? You sold out for power and glory for yourselves…” (Live chat, read 40:33)
• **Tim: “We have to be honest, April, their God is evil…Their version of godliness betrays everything they say they hold dear.” (43:37)
• MTG and Thomas Massie Publicly Commit: MTG addresses the risk survivors take in naming names and promises to read the abuser list on the House floor under Congressional privilege. (44:53, 47:45)
  • “But I will tell you, I’m not afraid to name names. And so if they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor and I’ll say every damn name…” (MTG, 45:59)
• Trump’s dismissive language: Plays Trump calling the case a “Democrat hoax” after survivor testimony, leading to MTG publicly rebuking Trump and party officials who label file-release efforts as “hostile acts.”
  • “The hostile act was Jeffrey Epstein raping 14-year-old girls. That was the hostile act. And it was—It’s not a hoax.” (MTG, 51:24)
• Host sentiment: “She had me in the first half, lost me in the third quarter, had me again in the fourth quarter…” (April/Tim, 52:09)
• Contemplating Republican cracks: “In some ways binaries are important… but when it comes to people, people are really complicated. Even people that say the craziest things—if they’re on the right side of justice, what do you do with that?” (Tim, 53:02)
• Will Trump ever lose support if implicated?
  • “I am convinced at this point there is nothing that Trump can do that would make the white evangelical voting bloc change…” (Tim, 55:28)
  • “The Southern Baptist Convention hid decades of sexual abuse—including child abuse… There’s a pattern here that these particular types of men tend to get protected.” (Tim, 56:14)

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[58:40] – [67:00] Florida Ends All Vaccine Mandates

• Announcement: Surgeon General of Florida says “we’re going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them” (60:46)
• Tim’s reaction: “They are cheering. They are cheering vaccine mandates going away… Vaccine mandates are the reason children don’t die of measles…” (62:09)
• April’s context: “This will lead to death. People will die because of this… herd immunity… keeps kids who can’t be vaccinated from catching deadly diseases.” (65:35)
• Concerns: Will insurance still cover vaccines? Massive win for for-profit healthcare. The removal is “anti-intellectualism” rooted in extremism, celebrated by Christian nationalist pastors (“Let’s go!” Landon Schott, [70:02]).

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[70:15] – [74:32] Christian Nationalist COVID Rhetoric

• Landon Schott (pastor) on vaccines:
  • “If you believe the same thing as woke preachers, wicked politicians, and godless celebrities, there’s a chance that you may be on the wrong side. COVID was a spiritual architect... next time the evil, the demonic comes knocking to shut down the church, that you… say, ‘no’…” (70:42)
• April’s reaction: “The way they turn everything into ‘Christian persecution’ when people were dying is so infuriating.” (71:38)
• Hosts highlight: Ongoing hypocrisy—pastors and leaders elevate faith over fear for COVID, but not when it comes to guns, immigration, or other threats.

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[74:42] – [80:39] Gaza Crisis: New Revelations

• New leaked White House plan (“Gaza Riviera”): “They want to essentially pave over the graves of dead children in Gaza and make it into some kind of futuristic dystopian tourist spot… a proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, potentially a genocidal act.” (75:03)
• Stats: 92% of Gaza destroyed; at least 18,000 children dead.
• Outrage at US complicity: Both hosts are infuriated at the lack of political will, especially among Congressional Democrats, to halt the genocide funded with US tax dollars.
  • “Children are having their heads blown off… and now there’s a report about a forced exodus + tourist trap.” (79:33, Tim)
  • “$5,000 is not a lot of money to completely relocate and start over in a brand new country.” (79:43, April)

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[80:39] – [84:16] US Bombs ‘Drug Trafficker’ Boat in International Waters

• Summary: US military destroys Venezuelan boat, says it killed 11 “drug traffickers.” Legal experts question legality under international law; no due process; state violence normalized.
• Ali Stuckey reaction: Tweeted approval, “Hard to emphasize how much I voted for this” (83:01) despite her “pro-life” reputation.
  • “Who knows who was on that boat? You can’t just go out and start shooting. This sets a dangerous precedent.” (April, 84:16)

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[84:16] – [90:34] Weird Christian Sh!t: Steven Furtick’s Cocaine Metaphor

• Feature: Steven Furtick (Elevation Church) makes bizarre analogy during a service: “I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something. I’m so excited. And I never did that before, for the record. For the record.” (87:05, 88:18)
• Hosts laugh: “I think he doth protest too much… That was one too many ‘for the records.’” (April, 87:45)
• Reflection: The moment, though light, underscores the frenetic and sometimes surreal state of evangelical church culture today.

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[90:34] – [92:55] Closing Thoughts/What’s Next

• Perspective: “Do you ever wonder the odds of us showing up in this timeline? Out of all possible moments in history…” (Tim)
• Programming notes: Show off next week for a Gaza summit; normal episodes resume after.
• Sign off: “For the record, thanks friends.” (92:40)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “I’m laser focused on exposing Christian nationalism to a wider audience…because it's taken over our politics right now.” (Tim, 06:26)
• “Trump said that he would release the files…because he fights for children.” (April, 14:08)
• “Cash Patel, Dan Bongino…they come out, complete 180: ‘He died by suicide. There is no list…’ What happened?” (Tim, 16:17)
• “Family values…Mike Johnson…tries to stop the release of the Epstein files to protect Trump.” (Tim, 21:21)
• “We need to know and accountability needs to happen. If Joe Biden is on that list, I want to know.” (Tim, 38:55)
• “If you were innocent, you wouldn’t be covering it up. Innocent people don’t go to the lengths the Trump administration is doing to cover it up.” (April, 40:03)
• “This administration ran a campaign of protecting family values and protecting kids. And they welcome Andrew Tate, hang out with Maxwell to get her testimony, to prove that Trump’s a good guy—are you kidding me?” (Tim, 24:31)
• “This is a government that is sending federal troops to cities…The damage is done. This is authoritarianism on display. This is Christian fascism on display.” (Tim, 84:58)
• “Children are having their heads blown off…this is not complicated. Do something. Jesus Christ. It’s unbelievable.” (Tim, 80:39)
• “I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something. I'm so excited. And I never did that before. For the record. For the record.” (Steven Furtick, 87:21, 88:18)

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Key Takeaways

• Epstein Files Battle: Growing bipartisan pressure for transparency is being met with fierce resistance from Trump and key Congressional Republicans. The administration’s shifting narratives point to possible incrimination, while survivors bravely press forward demanding justice and visibility.
• Right-Wing Contradictions: Republican “family values” rhetoric is exposed as hollow by their protection of the powerful over vulnerable survivors, their attacks on vaccine mandates (despite public health consequences), and their willingness to bypass due process when it serves their narrative.
• Uneasy Alliances: Even polarizing figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene are publicly breaking from Trump on this issue, showing rare political complexity and potentially opening space for reckoning within right-wing ranks.
• Global Watch: The ongoing crisis and Genocide in Gaza is compounded by dystopian visions from within the U.S. government, evidencing a broader moral and ethical crisis.
• Christian Nationalism: The episode repeatedly highlights the dangers of rising Christian Nationalism driving policy and shaping public discourse—especially under the guise of moral clarity.

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For Further Interest

• Contact Your Representatives: Hosts urge listeners to pressure Republican members of Congress to sign the discharge petition to release the Epstein files.
• Follow-Up Content: New Evangelicals platform offers continued discussion, resources for deconstructing faith, and coverage of urgent justice issues.
• Next Episode: Brief programming break for a Gaza summit; regular shows resume in two weeks.

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This summary aims to equip both listeners and non-listeners with a clear and engaging sense of the episode’s flow, central stories, and memorable moments, using citations and quotations faithful to the hosts’ original tone and intent.

Transcript

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[A]

You're listening to a new Evangelicals production, the Tim and April show where we Unravel faith, politics and culture. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Tim and April Show. Joining me today is the OG Co host of mine. Tim is back.

[B]

Welcome back. Hi. Ah, back in my natural habitat.

[A]

What's up, April? How was your break? Your sabbatical?

[B]

It was really good. Hello, friends. By the way, thank you for tuning in live. I saw someone say, where's the comment? I wanted to say, welcome back, Timothee Chalamet. I was like, there we go.

[A]

I know. That's a throwback.

[B]

I love it. I love it. So, yeah, no, I will say, in one way, it feels like time flew by. In another way, I was like, wow. I have to get my body moving again to get the life prepped, to get all my stuff together. So it feels so good to be back. It really does. I think out of everything that I get the privilege of doing with the new evangelicals and with you, I think I miss doing this with you the most. I think out of everything, because we were in such a routine, you know, of, like, we were always talking and sharing things, and we were always prepping together. So I was like, you know, it felt great to be able to have time away and I can talk about what. What. What I did, but I was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. So it's great. I love it.

[A]

Well, I'm glad you're back. You were. You were missed. Although it was kind of fun. We had a girl power August. Cause it was just me, and all my guests were women, so.

[B]

Well, you. You. You had such a powerhouse lineup. I. You know, the. The episode. So I leave on sabbatical, right? And who do you have to fill my place? Monty freaking Mater. Like, she's a savant, you know, like, she's brilliant. She could talk about anything. So, you know, so credibly. And I'm like, man. Also, I mean, I love Monty. We've all gotten the chance to hang out, so I was bummed. And then you had promise on who's amazing? And then you had our TNE executive director, Melinda Hale, who's also amazing.

[A]

And.

[B]

And then you had one of my favorite people ever, Janice on. I mean, gosh, you got all the cool people. Of course, when I leave.

[A]

Yeah, well, I'm sure. I'm sure they'd come back at some point for you too, Timothy Chalamet. But you were missed. You were missed. So I'm glad that you are back.

[B]

And I feel good to be back.

[A]

You had a break. I think it is important to. It's a good reminder. Everybody needs breaks sometimes, and there's nothing wrong with taking a break.

[B]

It was nice to pump the brakes and to be able to kind of sit and reflect on just, you know, my life and where me and my partner are at. Sarah. We also moved into a new house throughout break. In fact, I'm in a whole new studio space. I tried to make it look as similar to the previous one as possible, but I have much more room. Good, good. I'm not in my guest bedroom anymore. I have a lot more room, which is really nice. I have not shaved, which I need to do at some point. I'm a little scruffy, but yeah, it really was a good time to just kind of think, what do I want to do? You know, what's my direction in life? Because. And I'll tell you why, April. And I'd be curious to kind of hear your thoughts on this. I feel like you and I got into social media stuff and content creation. I mean, at least for me, I got into it by accident and it was really over this idea of deconstructing faith. Right? Like, okay, what do I do with this, like, evangelical fundamentalism that I was given? And I'm rethinking things, but I still want to stay Christian. So a lot of what I did was very much based on, like, what, you know, how do we think about theology differently and Christianity differently? And I love that, and that's a huge part of who I am. But at this point, I'm really focused, like laser focused. And anyone who's watched our content on TNE will will should be able to see the shift. I'm laser focused on exposing Christian nationalism to a wider audience, you know, and it was kind of great to have some clarity around, like, what do I really want to focus on in like, in like the public square? I'm not a theologian, right. I'm not someone who is, is, is, is educated in that way. But I feel really passionate about exposing the danger and the, the fruit of Christian nationalism because it's what's taken over our politics right now, you know, so I'm, I'm really pumped to, to, to be doing the show with you and think about just the future as tne evolves with, with Linda at the helm and my role in all of this. So it was a very good sabbatical. It was really nice.

[A]

I'm very glad, I'm glad that you had a good time. Well, we've got a very jam packed episode coming up. We are going to talk about all Things. Jeffrey Epstein and the files and the survivors that just held a press conference yesterday. There are some updates. There are lots of updates on that.

[B]

There's a lot.

[A]

And there's also just a lot of other wild things in the news that doesn't feel real. Florida's getting rid of all vaccine mandates, including for school children. We'll talk about that.

[B]

The.

[A]

They just exploded a boat that they claim had drug traffickers on it.

[B]

Yeah. Our government is. Our government is. Is bombing boats in international waters because they're alleged drug traffickers. Oh, my gosh.

[A]

I know. And then we have more information on what's happening in Gaza, which is still terrible. And then we'll. We'll end it all with our weird Christian beep. This one's really funny. This.

[B]

This is a good one. Yeah, no, this is a good one.

[A]

Do you want to dive in, or do you have anything else you want to chat about before we.

[B]

My birthday's tomorrow. I turn 37 tomorrow. I'm an old man. And football starts tonight. Go Birds, baby. Go Birds. I'm pumped to watch the game.

[A]

Football started on Saturday.

[B]

What game?

[A]

College football.

[B]

No one cares about college football.

[A]

I actually went to the UK Football game. University of Kentucky football game, which doesn't. Kentucky's terrible at football. We just went for the fun of it. But we did win. We beat Toledo. But, you know, there's like, a whole group of people that don't believe NFL is real football. They think the real football is in college.

[B]

Yeah. And they probably like pineapple on pizza, too. Like, they're probably just way out.

[A]

I do like pineapple on pizza.

[B]

April, you cannot. I just got back. It's my first day back. Let's not start off on the wrong foot.

[A]

Oh, get out of here.

[B]

I'm going to pretend I never heard that. Pineapple pizza. Jesus Christ.

[A]

I know. And then Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey got engaged while you were gone, too.

[B]

Who's that? Congrats. Can I say something? I might get canceled over this. I've always been this way. I just do not understand. And get the fawning over when any celebrity gets engaged. Like, I don't care. I'm happy for them. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy that Taylor has found her person. Great to me, like, all of the videos and that. I just. Why? Why? I don't understand it. But I'm happy for her. So congrats.

[A]

Listen. Well, we'll take all good news. Love is love.

[B]

I guess you're right. I guess you're right.

[A]

I Think Taylor is a. I would say I don't really care, generally speaking, for most celebrities. Taylor Swift, though, has made an entire career of writing about breakup songs.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

So I just think it's more interesting. People have cheered her on for a while. I don't know. I don't really care either, but it was.

[B]

Maybe I'm cynical. I don't know.

[A]

You are a little cynical.

[B]

I'm trying to get better. I'm trying to get better.

[A]

All right. I mean, the world is on fire, so.

[B]

Oh, it really is. It is. Friends, look, if you're just joining the Live, thank you for being here. Please make sure to give the video a. Like, it helps get it out to more people in the YouTube algorithms. Make sure to subscribe to the channel. We go live every Thursday and we release a video prerecorded, usually on Tuesdays now. So make sure to sub to the channel and all super chats get read live and they go directly to supporting this work. So thank you very much.

[A]

Thank you very much. All right, Jeffrey Epstein. Okay, There is a lot of new stuff, so I'm gonna give y' all a brief update of where we are at.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

And I'm gonna start with the timeline. I'm just gonna go through a timeline of Trump's entire administration so far as it pertains to Jeffrey Epstein, because there's been flopping. Okay.

[B]

Y.

[A]

And I guess for background, if you don't know who Jeffrey Epstein is, I don't know how you want it.

[B]

I'm happy for you, though.

[A]

Yes. So he was. He was a very, very wealthy man. He had his own island, they call it Epstein's island, where he trafficked young girls, like children, underage girls. This is common knowledge. He was arrested and imprisoned for it. And his. I don't know if it's his partner or his wife, Ghislaine Maxwell. I don't know. Were they ever married?

[B]

I don't know. I can look it up.

[A]

I don't know. It doesn't matter. Anyway, sure. The chat will tell us was quite literally his partner in crime. She's also in prison for trafficking. And it's very widespread. And he was friends with Donald Trump. He was friends with a lot of very, well, wealthy, powerful people. And so for the longest time, if you were in right wing circles, they brought up Jeffrey Epstein all the time. They claimed Joe Biden went to his island. Basically, any one that they didn't like politically, they claimed, went to Jeffrey Epstein's island. Like it was a huge conspiracy. Talking point in maga. So Jeffrey Epstein allegedly died by suicide in prison during Trump's first term. Okay. That's important. Most people, a lot of people on the right did not believe he actually killed himself. They believed it was murder because he knew a lot of things, and people didn't want what he knew to get out because that was before he went to trial.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Okay, so let's get caught up. Leading up to the election, Trump said that he would release the files. That was part of the. Something that he had campaigned on a lot of MAGA believed. Okay. Trump is transparent. Of course he's going to release the files because he fights for children. Donald Trump is a hero of children. And, you know, and especially if you go into the Q and on, they believed that there was this underground child trafficking ring that Donald Trump was, like, by himself, stopping.

[B]

Yeah. There was a pizzeria in D.C. where someone actually showed up with a gun because they were convinced, thanks to QAnon, that there were children being trafficked in the basement. And he shut off the lock, and it turned out to be a storage closet. So it was a very real conspiracy that did cross over into the mainstream. I'm sure you remember the Cabinet. Cabinet gate with Wayfair. Right. Wayfair had these cabinets that were, like. That were misclassified, and people were like, oh, this is. This is code for buying children. So it was a huge thing.

[A]

Yeah, it was. It was a very big thing. Okay, so Trump gets inaugurated, Right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

This is the timeline. I'm gonna go through this quickly. January 30th. FBI Director Cash Patel vows to expose all Jeffrey Epstein Connections. Okay. February 21st. Pam Bondi is asked about the Epstein client list, and she says, it is sitting on my desk. February 27th. Pam Bondi released what she called phase one binders that were full of Epstein files, but they ended up being. There were things that were already declassified, and there was very little new information. It was basically a big nothing burger. They had this entire presser around it where they had these influencers come in, where they handed out these binders and made this. This huge, like, hoo ha about it. I don't know if hoohaha is a thing, but I just made it a thing.

[B]

We can roll with it.

[A]

They made a big deal, and it was. It was a nothing burger. Yeah.

[B]

Here, I got it. Yeah. Sorry, I'm a little rusty these days. I'm not that quick on the draw. Here it is.

[A]

There's these influencers holding the binders. Obviously, this is before they read Anything, because there ended up being, like, nothing in there.

[B]

By the way, the guy on the left is D.C. drano. He says the most hateful racist things online. Behind him is Libs of TikTok. Who has the binder in her hands? I'm not sure. The girl in the middle with the blonde hair. The person on the right is a Turning Point USA operative who's. Who's doing everything he can to turn New Jersey and Pennsylvania red. So these are like some pretty big. They have millions of followers, they have big names, and they are far right. So they're the ones who got this, this, these, these, you know, binders of supposed Epstein files.

[A]

Okay, Yep. All right, so in May of 2025, and I want to specify that this news did not come out until months later. So they didn't announce it at the time. But in May of 2025, Pam Bondi. This is according to the Wall Street Journal, Pam Bondi briefed Trump and told him that his name appeared multiple times in the Epstein files. That's important. May 7th is when they said that they're not going to release more files. And Bondi claims because there were tens of thousands of videos of Jeffrey Epstein with children in a Spornographic way, and which no one was asking them to release those things, but she was using that as like, no, we're not releasing that.

[B]

Right.

[A]

July 7th, the DOJ sends out a memo and says there is no client list. Epstein died by suicide after.

[B]

All. Right. Cash Patel, director of the FBI. Dan Bongino again, a former right wing pundit who's now deputy director. They come out all of a sudden, like a complete 180. Oh, he died by suicide. And there is no list. Like, everyone's like, wait, but you guys were the loudest people before you got into this administration. Saying the opposite. What happened?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Okay. So then, July 8, people asked Donald Trump about Jeffrey Epstein, and he's like, why are you still talking about this, man? Why are we talking about him? He's. We talk about him for too much. It's dead in the water. He's. Trump starts getting annoyed. He's like, we're done. Like, case closed. Basically, the DOJ sent out that memo as kind of like, case closed. Nothing to see here, y'. All.

[B]

Right? Right.

[A]

Nothing to see here. So then, July 12, Cash Patel says all the conspiracies are false. We were wrong.

[B]

Right.

[A]

July 13, Pam Bondi. TRUMP says that Pam Bondi is doing a fantastic job amid a lot of backlash that she was facing because she of her 180 on the Epstein files. Yep. July 15, Trump says that the Epstein case is boring. Says and then claims that Bondi never told him that his name appeared in the files.

[B]

Of course.

[A]

Which was not what was reported.

[B]

Right.

[A]

July 16th is when Trump starts calling this a Democrat hoax. Says the Epstein case is a Democrat hoax. July 17, Caroline Levitt says that they are not recommending that the White House is not recommending a special prosecutor for the Epstein case.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

July 17th. That same day is when the Wall Street Journal reports on Donald Trump's racy birth card letter to Jeffrey Epstein, where he drew a naked woman and signed his signature as pubic hair.

[B]

Yep, yep, yep.

[A]

It was a thing.

[B]

It was a thing.

[A]

Yeah. So after that release, Trump then asked Pam Bondi to unseal the grand jury transcripts. Now, the grand jury transcripts are not the files. That's just the. The transcripts of what happened in court. But I think a judge blocked that because of an ongoing. What's ongoing? So that. So that was not released.

[B]

And I think the judge said, you can release the files if you want. You just can't release this. So.

[A]

Right, right. So they won't. And that. And no one was asking him to release the Grant jury transcript. They want him to release the files. It's important to note that Trump did sue the Wall Street Journal over it, but I think they both parties agreed to delay the deposition because Trump would. Would have to depose a lot of information to go to court.

[B]

Right. And also, that's also too. When the video of Epstein started floating around again of his deposition, and when he was asked about underage girls and Trump, he pled the fifth. He was like, actually, I'm gonna plead the fifth on that. So, like, all this. All this smoke is coming out. It's billowing out of the White House, and Trump's like, no, nothing to see here, guys. Like, just. It's just a hoax. Just a hoax.

[A]

And I do think it's important to note, too, that Trump has previously also sued a lot of various.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

People and things. And then drops the case later. But because some people will look, oh, well, he's suing them for defamation or whatever. And then you think, oh, it's because he's innocent. But it's literally a tactic to appear innocent.

[B]

Exactly. And also to. Also to bully other news outlets and organizations into either killing the story, lest he tied them up in court for. For years, you know.

[A]

Right, right. And Trump does have a backing and money, which he still raises money every single day in his tax. They still get them to pay for all these lawsuits.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Okay. July 22, Trump then starts this whole new campaign. Like, and this is at the peak of the Jeffrey Epstein stuff. Like, Joe Rogan's turning on him. A lot of MAGA people are starting to turn on him. So then Trump then urges the DoJ to go after President Obama, claiming that he was a part of some big election rigging scheme in the 2016 election that Trump won. Okay, so. So that. That was his whole thing.

[B]

Tulsi Gabbard comes out. Yeah, exactly.

[A]

It's like, well, actually, the real villain is Obama.

[B]

And okay, I could spend over a decade. Are you guys kidding me?

[A]

Like, talk like. They all talk about Trump Derangement syndrome. They all have Obama Derangement Syndrome.

[B]

100%.

[A]

It's projection. That's what it is. Also on July 22, and this is important. So there was some bipartisan push to force a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, which if Congress, if the House votes to release it, they release it. That's a. That's a thing. So they were trying to force a vote. So Mike Johnson ended their congressional session early to avoid going to that vote.

[B]

Can we.

[A]

I mean, he never paused right here, right? Yes.

[B]

Just for a second. Let's be clear. Family values, biblical values. I'm a Christian nationalist. I've been cho. I'm like a new Moses. Mike Johnson, right, that dude, the one claiming to help drain the swamp and get rid of America's filth. Stops. Stops or tries to stop the release of the Epstein files, AKA arguably one of the most prolific pedophiles of our time. Right. Who. Who abused hundreds, if not thousands of young girls. And. And Mike Johnson, the man who's claiming to stand for those family values and to protect kids because, you know, trans women in sports or something, stops that process from those files coming out to protect Trump. I just want people to sit with that and think about how, you know, April, you and I always say they can't go any lower and they've officially have come full circle and are now protecting the associates of pedophiles after running on campaigns of ending that kind of stuff, AKA the deep state. It is wild to watch. Wild.

[A]

It is certainly something to. To watch for sure. He. So Mike Johnson ends it early. He doesn't say it's because of Epstein, but. Come on.

[B]

But what's he going to say, you know, I have to protect the pedophiles. We have to end this session early. No, he's never going to say that. You know.

[A]

Right. And I will say he has gone on the record to say they don't want. He doesn't want to do a vote. He thinks it's pointless because he's saying, oh, the DOJ is doing an investigation. Doesn't matter. Okay, so. Oh, also, in July, the DOJ interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell and then they came out later and said, oh, she said Trump did no wrong. And then right after that interview, they moved her to a lesser minimum security prison in Texas that is nicer than the prison that she was in.

[B]

So, so, AKA the woman who helped Epstein traffic children for his sick sexual gratification has been now moved to a lesser, you know, a lesser security prison. And the. Our government is taking her word for it. Oh, well, hey, this person who obviously has great moral character, is upstanding citizen of the US Obviously says that Trump is innocent. So here's the proof. As if, as if we're supposed to take this person's evidence or words on the surface as, like, as gospel. Are you. How dumb, how depraved do they think the average American is? I mean, this is crazy. I don't know how else to say it. April. It is absolutely wild that, that, that, that this administration ran a campaign of protecting family values and protecting kids. And they welcome Andrew Tate back to the U.S. they, they hang out with Maxwell to get her testimony to prove that Trump's a good guy. Are you kidding me?

[A]

I know God well. And even, even, like the way that they are catering to Maxwell is just so insensitive to the survivors out there. Like, she is a child predator.

[B]

Yes, yes. And those, those children are now adults and they are alive today, as we're going to find out in a few minutes here. And they have things to say. And what a slap in the face again. Department of justice, my ass. That's what you call that? More like the Department of Corruption, you know, the Department of Protecting Pedophiles over. Over survivors. Are you kidding me?

[A]

Although I find it very. I find it very telling, too, that the Trump administration decided to interview Ghislaine Maxwell to clear Trump's name and not the survivors. Why would you interview the one that was doing the trafficking?

[B]

Because Trump is the predator who want.

[A]

And she wants a pardon from Trump. Anyway, yeah, sorry, back to your timeline.

[B]

I apologize.

[A]

No, you're fine, you're fine. Okay, so then it's been a month. So. Yeah, it's been. So it's been over a month since the house went on their usual session break. So they came back into session this past Tuesday after Labor Day. Back in August, though, the House oversight committee did issue subpoenas for the Epstein files. So on Tuesday, when they're back in session, the House oversight committee received and released 33,000 pages of more Epstein files. But many of a lot of that, most of that was already in the public domain. And according to Thomas Massie, he's a Republican congressman from Kentucky, he said that what was released only 1% is of what the DOJ has. So 33, 000 pages is just 1% of everything that they have. And he said 97 of that 33, 000 pages had already been released. So again, it's similar to the phase one binders and a bit of a nothing burger. Y. They're just kind of releasing things to hoping that people will shut up, but they're not actually releasing what they're asking for.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

So also that happened on Tuesday. And so this, this is where we're getting caught up. Okay. Tuesday, they had a closed door meeting at the House oversight and government reform Committee where survivors of Jeffrey Epstein told their stories and shared their testimonies. It was closed door, so we don't hear what that was. But Nancy Mace, Republican, she had to leave in the middle of the hearing because she's. She said herself she started to have a panic attack.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, here's the video. It's. It's not. It's not a long one, but it's a short one. But here she is. There it is. I mean, Nancy Mace is not. She's not a bleeding heart liberal by any stretch of the imagination, to be clear.

[A]

No, no. And she, she tweeted later and explained that. I don't know if you, if you have that tweet.

[B]

Oh, I do.

[A]

People were talking about it. And so she said that the reason that she left was because. Here's what she said. She said, since it's already been reported. Yes, I left the oversight briefing with Epstein victims early. As a recent survivor, not two years in, I had a very difficult time listening to their stories. Full blown panic attack. Sweating, hyperventilating, shaking. I can't breathe. I feel the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us. And then she says, God bless all survivors. So I just, I want to say I can't stand Nancy Mace. I think she's not a good person. And also, she did not deserve to be sexually assaulted.

[B]

100. Not even the question.

[A]

You can, you can like as Someone who's also been that, like I can. It is a pain that I would wish on nobody, even, even like a terrible person like Nancy Mace. And to be clear, she's still terrible. She's still ranting against trans people and starting a war on people that, that are marginalized and are already facing a lot of trauma. Like, she's causing a lot of harm. And also, she didn't deserve to go through that. And to her credit, you know, a broken clock gets it right twice a day. She did sign the discharge petition that I'm going to get to in just a second. So. So that happened. And then Yesterday, so Wednesday, September 3rd, the Epstein survivors bravely held a press conference where they shared more of their stories publicly. And then Thomas Massie, who I mentioned earlier is the congressional. He's a congressman from Kentucky, said he, he started a discharge petition. Now, what this will do will basically go around Mike Johnson. So Mike Johnson is saying, we're not taking it to a vote. This petition would force a vote. So they need 218 signatures. They are expecting all Democrats to sign it, which means they need six Republicans to sign. Four Republicans have already signed it. And those four get ready for this.

[B]

Buckle up.

[A]

Nancy Mace, who I already mentioned. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

And Lauren Boebert.

[B]

I, I am pleasantly surprised to make note, to be very clear, like you said, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Right. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene have said reprehensible things. Okay? No doubt about it. And I disagree with them probably on 99% of. Of things. But the fact that they are signing off on this and they're going against Trump, the MAGA agenda, so to speak, is a big freaking deal. And my hat's off to them, like, absolutely, I will shake your hand over this any, any day of the week to agree that these files should come out and that. And that the survivors should be absolutely supported throughout this time. So major props to MTG and to Lauren Boebert on this. I mean, we have to give credit where credit is due. I'm thrilled to see it.

[A]

And listen, like, I will take. When we're talking about fighting for survivors and we're talking about doing the right thing, I will take help wherever that help comes from.

[B]

100%. 100%.

[A]

So, yeah, but they still need two more signatures and it's going. Mike Johnson doesn't think they're going to get the signatures because Mike Johnson and the White House and the Trump administration are pushing hard to keep Republicans from signing this petition. In fact, the White House said that if a Republican signs that petition, that it will be viewed as a, quote, hostile act against the Trump administration. Imagine that they're looking at it, they're calling it a hostile act for just releasing files that could bring vindication and justice for, for child victims of sexual assault and trafficking. That would, that's what's going to be views as a hot, as a hostile act.

[B]

Well, and also, don't forget, Trump called it a hoax. Right. So if it's a hoax, what, what's the fear of releasing the files? It's a hoax. Right? Like that. That's the thing is when, when you build your world on lie after lie, you end up standing on nothing because everything is contradictory. So you can't release these files, but it's also a hoax. Well, that doesn't make any sense. Right, so someone is lying. Obviously, it's Trump. It is. Again, we, we just have to keep being honest. We have to keep being truth tellers, friends. Like we are looking at a maga cult that has officially protected a man who's named in the files of one of them of being an associate, at a minimum of one of the most predatory men to ever have lived in our lifetime who preyed on children. And the Republican Party largely is circling Trump and saying, we're not gonna sign off on this through these files. Think about that again. Where's QAnon? Where are the people who believe in the deep state? Hey, I found your deep state friends. It's right here. Turns out you voted for it. It turns out the very deep state cabal that is grooming children and sexualizing them and trafficking them, you actually voted for that party because that's what they're protecting right now. In the name of God, by the way, again, these are not people who are like, you know, secular or who are largely, like, not religious. These are hardcore Christian nationalist types of folks, folks who believe that they are followers of Jesus, folks who believe that they doing the will of God, folks who believe that it's their job to clean up America, to make America godly again. And they're protecting, they're protecting Trump and Epstein, by the way. By them not releasing these files to the public, you're causing further harm to the survivors and you're protecting a pedophile. What is wrong with you? Like, what the hell?

[A]

How?

[B]

I mean, you really did sell out your soul to gain the whole world. And it stinks like shit. Whitewashed tombs.

[A]

I also want to point out to you, so Thomas Massie and did a joint petition and joined forces with the Democrat from California named Ro Khanna. So this is a bipartisan effort to release these files. So that basically gets us caught up. And we have some videos from that press conference. I will say, I don't know if you saw the news, but Donald Trump. The White House also planned a flyover their jets during the press conference. So sometimes you couldn't really hear what they were saying. Was very distracting to them. White House claims, of course, that it had nothing to do with that, but it does seem a little suspicious, as does their entire reaction to everything. Epstein.

[B]

If you work in marketing, your tabs tell a whole story. One for the deck, one for the logo, three for the versions you're afraid to delete. Dropbox Daz searches across all your tools, then helps you draft copy that actually hits. Because stuck isn't a strategy. Learn more at Dropbox.com-hi, my name is Mary and I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, and I'm a monthly donor to the new Evangelicals. I'm really thankful for the work they're doing, and I think that there is a really important job to continue. That's why I offer my support. Between the pandemic, Donald Trump, the dehumanization.

[A]

Of the LGBTQ community, I just think.

[B]

We really need to reevaluate what we're doing as a church, as evangelicals, as new evangelicals. So, yeah, glad to be a part of this community and love the work. So this clip, I think, is really worth playing here. This is one of the survivors. And again, Trump called this a hoax this week, and this is her response to it.

[A]

Mr. President, Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican. Not that that matters, because this is not political. However, I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person so you can understand this is not a hoax. We are real human beings.

[B]

This is real trauma. What does it feel like emotionally to hear that?

[A]

Devastating.

[B]

It's being gutted from the inside out.

[A]

Not that I would know what that.

[B]

Feels like, but I imagine it's the anxiety buildup with the depression and the survival mode, and then your nervous system goes limp and, ironically, is shot.

[A]

And it feels like you just want.

[B]

To explode inside because nobody again is.

[A]

Understanding that this is a real situation. These women are real.

[B]

We're here in person. To say that it's a hoax is just not.

[A]

Please humanize us. I would like Donald J. Trump and every person in America and around the world to humanize us, to see us.

[B]

For who we are, and to Hear.

[A]

Us for what we have to say. There is no hoax.

[B]

The abuse was real. Now, what goes on behind closed doors, I can't speak for that. What happens around the world politically, I cannot speak for that. But I am here with all of these women, including our attorneys, and I.

[A]

Would be more than happy to meet.

[B]

With him, and I will meet him halfway. It's powerful. That's powerful. You know, one of the, one of the telltale signs of fascism or Christian fascism is a dehumanization of certain people groups. Right. We talk about this all the time. Whether it's immigrants, usually it's minorities. Right. It could be immigrants, it could be trans folks. As we saw with the latest, with, with the horrific Minneapolis shooting, a lot of right wing pundits went right to, to the shooter's gender identity to blame it on that when we know statistically it is completely not part of the motive. And so this is once again, this survivor saying, humanize us. And what she's saying is she's actually clapping back against fascism. Right? She's saying, I'm not gonna be dehumanized by this machine because that's what Trump and his regime does. Right from the beginning. When Trump came out of the scene, it was calling people fat and ugly and it was making fun of disabled folks, and it was calling your political opponents ev and corrupt, saying that, you know, immigrants are poisoning the blood of society, that dehumanization costs something. It costs something. And this is why you and I and many others are so concerned about the powerful uptick in Christian nationalism, because it's built on dehumanization of the other. And it's really powerful to watch someone who suffered under the weight of that dehumanization call out the world's most powerful man by name and say, you will not dehumanize me. This is not a hoax. I'm a real person and here I am. I mean, it's really powerful.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, these women are brave to put their faces out. I mean, they're going up against true power. And I, I wish them the best in their. I, I hope that, that they can get justice, that they can live to see justice be brought to the men and women that harmed them.

[B]

Yeah. Maybe this is a good time to be clear for us. I mean, this should go without saying, but to be clear, I don't care who is on that list. I don't care if it's Jesus Christ himself. I. We need to know, and accountability needs to happen. I don't care if there's A D in front of their name or an R, it does not matter to me if Joe Biden is on that list. I want to know. If Bill Clinton's on that list, which I would not be surprised. I want to know if anyone that I like as a politician is on that list. I need to know. And if they are on that list and they're guilty of those crimes, they need to be held accountable, like, hard stop. This should be. Again, you would think that you're in a society that like the bare bones as well. If someone trafficked children and abused them and had really powerful people around him in politics that might be complicit in that abuse, we should probably do everything we can in our power to root that out and to find out who it is and hold them accountable so it never happens again. And instead we have a certain party of the government trying to stop that process from happening because their guy might be implicated in it. Think about that. Wow. Wow.

[A]

I'll say if you were innocent, you wouldn't be covering it up. Innocent people don't go to the links that the Trump administration is doing to cover it up. I'm not saying it's that Donald Trump is on it. He's either on it or he's covering up for people that he knows and cares about. We have another super chat from Joseph Compton the fourth says, what happened to the party of family values? You sold out for power and glory for yourselves, 100%. Absolutely.

[B]

This is why April and I left that space behind, right? I mean, this is our story. We saw it. And it's really weird, again, being told by your Sunday school teachers who raised you as a child. Hey, if you're not voting for the guy who brags about sexually assaulting women, you're not a real Christian. I mean, think about that. This is not new, right? April, you and I, many people have been calling this out since the beginning. And Trump was caught on a hot mic bragging about sexually assaulting women, and 80% of white evangelicals voted for him.

[A]

That's what I don't understand. Like Nancy Mace, for example, also went on a, made it, wrote a tweet defending Trump, that Trump was the one who kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar A Lago, and he's the one that defends women.

[B]

And if I had that, I think. I think I do.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This one, right?

[A]

Yeah. So she said, President Trump is the one who banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar A Lago. President Trump is the one who cooperated with the feds to get this guy President Trump is the one who, who is committed to protecting women and kids. Did they not forget that he has been found liable by a jury and judge for rape? Like when we, when we call him a rapist. That's not hyperbolic.

[B]

I, I don't know what this is. This is what is, like, I don't know, like, my, my. I, I don't even have the words to express, like, 80% of our faith tradition that radicalized us to read the red letters and follow those red letters voted for this man every time. Every time. And all you can be led to believe is that either a sexual assault is low on their list of priorities to, you know, it's low on their list of bad things that people do. And honestly, I think given how much the white evangelical church covers up these things, that could be pretty accurate. Or they gaslight themselves into believing it's not really true, it didn't really happen. But either way, they betray their own values. You know, that's what's so hard to reconcile is like, when you're taught your whole life to care about truth and care about justice and integrity and care about the words of Jesus, and you start doing that and then you're labeled a woke heretic. You're like, wait, guys, I didn't move. Like, my evangelical values led me out of evangelicalism to find Jesus somewhere else. Because what you guys did was you sold out. You sold your values out, and you still do. 80% of white evangelicals in 2024 voted for a man who we knew tried to overturn the election, who tried to incite, who incited the January 6th insurrection, who was found liable by a jury of his peers for sexual assault, who was found guilty of dozens of crimes in a court of law, again, by a jury of his peers. Right? Who we know does lie through his teeth, who does brag about sexually assaulting women, who we know did pay cover up money to an adult film star when he cheated on his wife who was then pregnant with this, with this person. And you still. Oh, oh. And you also, he also said that immigrants are poisoning the blood of society. When Jesus tells us to welcome the immigrant. And you said, this is the person who is embodying godly values. Your God is evil. Your God's evil. We have to be honest, April. Their God is evil. Jesus. I'm so hyped up over this. I'm so angry that our tradition is responsible for so much of the harm that we're seeing today. To the point where it's the Republicans, where by the way Christian nationalism is most concentrated in that is protecting a pedophile and one of his, quote unquote, best friends. Give me a break.

[A]

I know. We have another super chat from Joseph Compton, fourth again. I'm so sick of hearing Magus say that Democrats are on the list, as if that would change my mind about releasing the Epstein files. Completely agree. Do we want to play what other videos we want to play?

[B]

We have, I got Marjorie Taylor Greene.

[A]

And yeah, we have Marjorie Taylor Greene.

[B]

I want to give, look, this, this couple minutes here is really powerful. So she addressed. So Marjorie Taylor Greene is part of, she's part of the press conference that, that the survivors hold. And I gotta say, like, my hat's off to her. She did a great job with this. I wanna play a few minutes of it.

[A]

Thank you for everyone watching at home. I think it's important to put yourself in these women's shoes. As you're questioning. Why can't they just name the names? What you don't realize is they just told their stories of being raped and being abused, being victimized, being manipulated, being coerced, and basically held in a prison of captivity of sexual abuse while they were young, young teenagers and extremely young, vulnerable women. And in Jeffrey Epstein's home and the places they went with him, they saw the most powerful people in the world in his pictures, and they saw him with those people. Can you imagine how terrifying it would be to name names like that? These are some of the richest, most powerful people in the world that could sue these women into poverty and homelessness. Yeah, it's a scary thing to name names, but I will tell you, I'm.

[B]

Not afraid to name names.

[A]

And so if they want to give me a list, I will walk in that capitol on the House floor and I'll say every damn name that abused these women.

[B]

I, I.

[A]

I mean, I, absolutely.

[B]

I, maybe we. Yeah, go ahead and listen.

[A]

Well, I was gonna say again, two things can be true. I, Marjorie Taylor Greene, I don't believe, is a very good person. She harms a lot of people. And also, if she does this, if she helps the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein find justice, I'll support her while she does that, 100%.

[B]

I want to play this clip, too, of Thomas Massie kind of echoing that sentiment of like, hey, we'll read these lists, these names out, because the survivor said, look, if you guys don't release a list, we will release our own list. Right? So, so we know this could be a very real thing. And by the way, to be clear, Thomas Massie, according to the Heritage foundation, which is a right wing Christian nationalist think tank, is has a 90% scorecard rating for the Heritage foundation, meaning this, this is not some rhino. This is not a Mitt Romney type. This is a, a, a right wing conservative. And again, I want to be as fair as possible. I will oppose these folks on, on almost everything when it comes to how they think about our trans neighbors, when it comes to Gaza, when it comes to, you know, God in America. Absolutely. But if they're willing to do this, I will say, you know what, I will shake your hand on this and say thank you very much. Listen to what he said here. I think this, this clip is really powerful as well. The survivors said that they had decided to compile their own list, but the reality is if they try to release that list, they're going to be sued into homelessness, they will be attacked, they.

[A]

Will have death threats.

[B]

And so what my colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene volunteered to do and I volunteered to do as well, is to read that list on the floor of the House of Representatives because our founders put into the Constitution speech or debate immunity, which says that we can't be prosecuted for what we say on the floor of the House. So we're willing to help those survivors get those names out there. And as my colleague Ro Khanna has said, we trust the public to determine who were donors to the Epstein scholarship fund and who were users of the women who were exposed to sexual abuse. To differentiate between those two groups of people. It's powerful. It's powerful.

[A]

I hope they do. I hope they do. And I hope the truth comes out there and that we can truly see justice. I mean, they've been waiting for justice since they were children. I mean, you see brave women today, but they were children when they were trafficked.

[B]

Exactly. Exactly. Right. I think I want to play one more clip just because I want to really hammer home this point. It is of mtg again. Again. I never thought I'd play this many videos of her on the show, but. So this is what's interesting, right? And I don't have my finger on the pulse all the way just yet, but this does seem to be a pretty divisive thing inside the MAGA right wing media world. Like, I haven't seen Charlie Kirk really go hard after Trump. I haven't seen Matt Walsh go hard after Trump. But MTG is really pushing back on Trump's language and real America's voice. This is Steve Bannon's outlet. It seems to be in support of her. So I'm not sure how this is going to shake out on the political level, but I do think it's worth listening. This is right after Trump said this. Actually, you know what, why don't I play that first? I'll play the clip of Trump calling it a hoax first real quick, just so people have the context.

[A]

And this clip is from this week after the survivors gave their testimony.

[B]

Yeah. Okay, so here we go. Is the Justice Department protecting any friends or donors, sir? So this is a Democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation. We gave him everything over and over again, more and more and more, and nobody's ever satisfied, from what I understand.

[A]

I could check, but from what I.

[B]

Understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given. But it's really a Democrat hoax because they're trying to get people to talk about something that's totally irrelevant to the success that we've had as a nation. So since I've been president. Okay, so, so he says that now again, mtg, I mean, she's one of his most loyal supporters. She goes on Real America's Voice that Steve, spanned an outlet. And she says this today.

[A]

He called it a hoax while these, we, these women were speaking out and they were saying, we're not a hoax, we're human beings. And, and I think, I think we need to see, see something turn around there. And I'll say this, Eric, he can.

[B]

Prove, he can prove it to us by releasing. Let us, let us decide if it's a hoax or not. I mean, I don't. I love everything they're doing. You know, I'm MAGA through and through.

[A]

Well, I just want to finish up on one thing. It's not a hoax because Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted pedophile that takes away the whole hoax things. It's not a hoax. It's not a lie. And on that note, Eric, every Republican should be able to sign on to this, and that's the real hoax that they're afraid to sign onto it because somebody who, you know, who is a real coward from one of the Trump admin officials came out and called this a hostile act against the Trump administration. I take very big offense to that because I put my life and my fortune on the line fighting to get that man elected. And whoever said that has their job because of people like me that fought all the horrible Republicans, stabbed him in the back after January 6th. And I was one of those that fought on the front lines and said, no, he is the leader of our party. He is the president and we're going to make him president again. Well, that coward attacked me and attacked anybody else and called it a hostile act. The hostile act was Jeffrey Epstein raping 14 year old girls. That was the hostile act. And it was. It's not a hoax. She. She had me in the first half.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Lost me in the third quarter. Had me again.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In the fourth quarter.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

It's like, I mean, yeah, I agree, but not how you got there.

[B]

Yeah, right, exactly. Like, okay, we could shake hands on the end result. We'll get the details later. But I mean, wow. Right? Wow. Wow. It's just. It's just wild.

[A]

I mean, I will tell, I will say this her crazy. I mean, she has said crazy things. Jewish space lasers, totally blame hurricanes on Democrats. She's out there. But that level of out there also might make her read names.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And great.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Use the crazy for good, you know.

[B]

I mean, if she's willing to brag about Jewish space lasers publicly, reading names off a list is like no big deal to her. You know what I mean? Which again, this is why I think it's so important that. How do I say this? In some ways binaries are important, right? We obviously are completely pro queer rights. That's a binary for us. But when it comes to people, people are really complicated. And even people that say a lot of weird and crazy and bad things and even vote in horrible ways at times if they are on the right side of justice, what do you do with that? Right? Because think about it this way. What if I'm not saying this is true, I'm throwing this out as like a thought experiment, but like, what if this was the crack in the door for MTG that got her to really start pulling the whole thread, right? Well, if the guy I gave my whole life for politically is actually protecting pedophiles and actually himself might be a pedophile and he's bullying the party to now go against me as I'm trying to seek justice like I thought he would want to do. Then what have I believed my whole political career, right? Like, what if that this is a thread that could undo so much of how she sees the world, right? And so I want to, I want to hold space for that possibility. And again, I'm not sure if that's what's going to happen, but like there is a possibility where this is the first domino and I don't want to shame her into like going back to the MAGA crowd because other people were like, well, you're still A pos. You're still a horrible person. You know, instead of like, actually, yes, you're right on this mtg, Marjorie, you're totally right. So let's keep thinking about this correctly. Let's keep walking down the path of what the implications are for your commander in chief to be literally telling the House of Representatives to kill a bill that would force the files of a pedophile that he was best friends with to be released. Right.

[A]

That's how I think about will be interesting. If it is released, if it comes out that Donald Trump is not as innocent as he claims, who's going to turn on him? Who's going to turn and who. And who's going to find a way to somehow justify.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That he's actually still good. I don't know.

[B]

I wrote a substack about this. In my, my opinion, the majority of white evangelicals will not turn on Trump even if he comes out in those files. They will create alternate realities where either they were, you know, it was a forgery or it's not real, or, you know, well, there's things that we just don't know behind the scenes. I am convinced at this point there is nothing that Trump can do that would make the white evangelical voting bloc change their vote for him at all. I mean, if Trump was right about one thing, it is that he could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and his supporters would still support him. There's nothing, there's, there's been plenty of.

[A]

Opportunities for them to bail.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Up until this point.

[B]

Well, and also, and also think about who white evangelicals revere as, as, as, as pastors and like, you know, faith leaders. The Southern Baptist Convention hid decades of sexual abuse, including child abuse. John MacArthur was just celebrated when he passed away by white evangelicals. That man has credible accusations that he covered up not one, but two different pastors on the staff who molested their own children. Right. Like Ravi Zacharias, when, before he passed away, was believed over the victim that he assaulted. I mean, there's a pattern here that, like, these particular types of men tend to get protected. Robert Morris, Gateway Church. Right. He kept that in as a secret with him and his inside team for decades, that he molested a child when he was in his 20s. So I just think that, like, it's, we have to be evidence based and the evidence shows that white evangelicalism isn't that, like, isn't that upset about child predators. And I hate to talk like that. I don't like sounding that extreme. But look at the data look at the evidence of the men that they vote for, that they platform that they celebrate as good gospel preachers who ran the race strong. They're not good people. And by the way, can I just say, April, we're not asking for a very high bar to be cleared like most people. The overwhelming majority of people, even people who might not be great, even people who might be narcissists, they don't sexually abuse other people. They don't sexually abuse children. Like, this is such a low bar to clear. Please don't sexually assault people. And even that for some reason in white evangelicalism is like. Well, there's probably a reason behind it. It's. It's crazy.

[A]

It. It is. It is crazy. But we'll see if they get to this. This petition signed. They need two more Republicans out of however many. Like, out of like two. I don't know. Yeah, like, call your. Yeah, call your reps. You're. If you have a Republican representative that is not Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Bobert, Nancy Mace, or Thomas Massey, call them. Put pressure on them to sign this petition. Absolutely. Yeah. So we'll see. Do you want to move on to. There's a bunch of other stuff going on schedule.

[B]

My bad. I mean, it's fine. Yeah, I figured we might be. But friends. Again, thank you so much for being here. It really means the world. Please make sure to like this video. It helps get it out to more people on the YouTube algorithms and subscribe to the channel. By the way, if you are looking for, like, a better path forward in your faith that is not just, you know, everything that's wrong with America, which is important to talk about. I recommend getting involved with the new evangelicals. They're the organization that I founded that also sponsors this show. We actually have Theology 101 happening tonight. We have Dr. James McGrath doing a free session on how to approach the Bible when you're a skeptic or deconstructing your faith. So that's all free via thenewevangelicals.com connect. I recommend getting involved. It's a really great organization. There's a great community there as we're all trying to find a better path forward in our faith. So, anyway, yeah, let's get into the next big. Wow, this was shocking. I'm not even gonna tee it up. I'm just gonna play the video. I think. I think we just would just play the video and let.

[A]

Folks, where are we at? Where is this video from?

[B]

Okay, yeah, I will do that. Let me grab the video. Oh, here it is. This is from Florida. Oh, shocker.

[A]

It's gotta be good news.

[B]

What's the, what's the, what's the official term? Is it like the Florida Health Department head, like, Secretary of Health for Florida? I don't know. Whatever the proper term is. So, so this is the guy who runs the Department of Health in Florida, and he came out with a huge announcement. Yeah, I will leave it there. And let's see what you guys think about this. It is. It's something country. So we, we do have some, Some great announcements to make today. Great announcements. The, you know, and we're going to. We're going to hear more about the Florida MAHA Commission. But what I'm most excited about is, is an announcement that we're going to make, that we're making now, which is that the Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law.

[A]

All of them.

[B]

All of them.

[A]

Them. All of them.

[B]

Every last one of them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They are cheering this. Yeah, Every last one of them.

[A]

All of them.

[B]

They're still cheering.

[A]

Imagine them. How do you understand.

[B]

Every last one of them? Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and. And slavery. Okay, wait, I'm sorry. Who am I as a government or anyone else? Or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body? Okay. Slavery.

[A]

He just compared vaccines to slavery.

[B]

Oh, boy.

[A]

What?

[B]

Oh, boy?

[A]

What timeline is this? Where are.

[B]

We are so far down Schitt's Creek? Like, we are so far down. You think vaccines that have saved. Vaccines have been estimated to save over 100 million lives. You think that is slavery?

[A]

They are estimated that vaccines every year, every single year, save about 4 million lives worldwide every year.

[B]

This is the Surgeon General of Florida and they are cheering it. They are cheering. They are cheering. Vaccine mandates going away. Vaccine mandates are the reason why kids don't die of measles. It's the reasons. I'm not sure about you, April. I got chickenpox as a kid. Kids don't get chickenpox today. You know why they're vaccinated, right? They're vaccinated now. Like, there's a reason why we have vaccine mandates for public school and for the military because it's not fair to kids, especially immunocompromised ones, to be around kids who might spread something that might actually kill them when they don't have to. Like, this is literally 101. This is just so baseline.

[A]

Just in the Last several months, there was that measles outbreak in Texas that we talked about that was in a Mennonite group that was unvaccinated, where two children died. Those were preventable deaths. And the two kids that died had no pre existing conditions. They were healthy kids.

[B]

This, this is the result of the quote, unquote Baja Agenda, Make America healthy again. And by the way, this always happens every single time someone will DM me or comment saying, but you know, vaccine injuries. Look, even Jessica Melody Rivera, a good friend of the show who's an epidemiologist, will say nothing is 100% safe in life, period. You can, you can get sick taking Tylenol for certain people, you know, or ibuprofen, whatever it might be, but they are overwhelmingly safe. Now, do vaccine injuries happen? They absolutely can, but they are very rare. And there is so much regulation around the vaccine industry. It is wild. And we have studies, we have humongous studies. We have decades of studies, decades, literal decades of pools of hundreds of thousands of people showing the efficacy of vaccines.

[A]

To be clear, if you have a child who has an allergy to something that's in a vaccine, you can get a vaccine exemption. No one is forcing. It's not that hard to get a vaccine exemption if you really don't want your children to be vaccinated.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But to get rid of the mandate, I don't know what that's gonna like. There's just people out there that aren't going to do things if it is extra work. I don't know if they're gonna still. If, like health insurance will still cover, right.

[B]

Vaccines.

[A]

Like, there's a lot of questions.

[B]

This is a huge, this is a huge win for the for profit healthcare industry. Wait, it's not mandated. Oh, we don't have to cover it. We don't have to cover it.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, this is, don't forget our healthcare system absolutely sucks, okay? It's absolute horseshit. People go bankrupt because of medical debt in this country all the time in other countries that we compete with, that's like ridiculous. In fact, one of our former board members for tne, his name was Simon, he was from Australia. We would always talk about American health care versus Australian health care. He couldn't believe that we have deductibles. CO pays. When I told him that I have, that there have been times in my life where I refused to call an ambulance because I wasn't sure if I could afford the CO pay, his jaw hit the floor. Okay? So, yeah, our health care system absolutely Sucks already. And this is doing it no favors. No favors.

[A]

No. To be clear, this will lead to death. People will die because of this. Because, like, herd immunity. Like, there are children who cannot get vaccinated because they have various diseases and, like, literally can't get vaccinated. Other kids being vaccinated creates herd immunity, which then keeps those kids that can't get vaccinated from catching deadly diseases. Like, the studies are vast. What's. What's the. Ron DeSantis has that stupid slogan where he's like, florida, where woke goes to die. Well, now it's just where health goes to die.

[B]

Right? Where kids go to die.

[A]

I mean, it's crazy tourism. Who's gonna go visit, like, a polio hotbed in Florida?

[B]

Right? Right. You wanna go to Disney? Are you sure? Are you sure?

[A]

No kidding.

[B]

We got two super chats, I think, that came in. Let me read those real quick. TJ, thank you so much, TJ, for the super chat. Oh, he's talking about TNE Connect on top of Theology 101. Does TNE do virtual small groups or zoom Bible studies? So we are. We have a few different groups that are starting up. I recommend going to the T Any Connect app or on the website and signing up for a free account. The LG101 will be kind of like a Bible study in a way, but with a lecturer. And we're also starting up our book club as well, which will. Which will be a small group esque. And also, thank you again to Joseph Compton. He says, I finally understand what Take Back America means. They mean take America backwards. Yeah, exactly right.

[A]

Thank you, Joseph.

[B]

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[A]

See for [e-mail] hey everyone, Melinda Hale here, Executive Director of the New Evangelicals. Thanks for listening to our podcast.

[B]

I just wanted to take a minute.

[A]

To personally invite you to be a part of our community.

[B]

At tne, we're creating space for people.

[A]

Of faith who care about justice, compassion and living out the teachings of Jesus.

[B]

In real tangible ways.

[A]

As a nonprofit organization, not only do.

[B]

We offer thought provoking podcasts, but on our new app and online platform, TNE Connect, we offer free educational resources, additional content, and a space to connect with.

[A]

Like minded people for meaningful conversations and encouragement.

[B]

So if what we're doing has been.

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Helpful to you, if you've learned something, felt seen, or been challenged to grow.

[B]

Head over to thenewevangelicals.com to join TNE Connect or make a donation.

[A]

Your support means the world to us.

[B]

Thanks for being a part of the movement. I wanted to play the response by one mega church pastor who's a huge Christian nationalist. I criticize stuff all the time. In response to this ruling, I guess we can say where is it? He tweeted now. He didn't tweet. I pulled this up from his stories.

[A]

That is big. Oh this guy.

[B]

Yeah. Landon shot. Oh my. Insufferable. Insufferable. If you want to watch me respond to him and his mega church pastors, you can go to the New Evangelicals YouTube channel. I did a full four part response to one of their podcasts. So Florida announces no vaccine mandates.

[A]

He.

[B]

He writes on his stories in all caps. Let's go. Let's go. Like what do you do? What? The anti intellectualism is astounding in these spaces.

[A]

And they're so proud of it.

[B]

They're proud of it.

[A]

They're so proud of it. It's so. I don't understand.

[B]

What are we doing?

[A]

I don't. I don't get it. And they're like, my body, my choice. They would never be okay with that when it comes to a woman's autonomy, though.

[B]

Of course not.

[A]

This is so hypocritical.

[B]

This is Landon on his podcast talking about vaccines. I just think this is worth playing. This clip. I mean, April, have you seen this clip?

[A]

I don't know. I haven't.

[B]

Perfect. Perfect. A blind react. I love those the most.

[A]

Just.

[B]

Just listen to this. Are you saying that I can't get a vaccine? Are you saying I don't have faith? Are you saying. No, we didn't say any of those things. I'm saying this. If you believe the same thing as woke preachers, wicked politicians, and godless celebrities, there's a chance that you may be on the wrong side. And that is what you need to evaluate. Covid was a spiritual architect. And I'm not judging pastors who fail. But what I am saying, you do need to have a soul check and a spiritual check and a discernment check, is that next time the evil, the demonic comes knocking to shut down the church, that you will actually be the first person to say, no, we will worship Jesus till the end of day.

[A]

Oh my God. It was a frickin global pandemic. The way that they turn everything into Christian persecution when people were dying is so infuriating. Oh my gosh.

[B]

It was a spiritual IQ test. And if you get vaccines and godless people get vaccines, what side are you on? The utter stupidity of that. The utter stupid. I mean, Landon, you know, Landon uses social media. A lot of godless people and media elites use social media like that. That's how dumb it sounds like. Okay. And who cares? Who cares? That has nothing to do with the efficacy of vaccines.

[A]

The whole idea, like going back to the whole Covid thing with they shut down the church. Oh my God, they did shut down the church.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Like literally. If you. If you take the Bible literally.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which these people do. Which these people do. The church is a gathering of two or more people, not forsaking your assemblies. They did not have giant buildings where thousands of people came in for hotbeds to spread diseases. Back in the old days. That was not what this assembly of your faith meant. It was like house churches. It was small groups.

[B]

They have such a persecution kink. Like they're talking about a global pandemic when the whole world was shut down, including not the church, but mass gatherings of anything sporting. Remember the NBA? How awkward those games were when they finally brought it back because they had the resort in the stands, right?

[A]

The bubble.

[B]

The whole world shut down, okay? And these men are like, we were persecuted for being a bold liar because they hate God.

[A]

They hate God and they hate us. Trying to keep people alive, you nincomput.

[B]

That's what they are. They're foolish. They're foolish. And to your point, you're right. The church is a small group of people. Like, dude, the acts church, it was not a mega church, okay? You can worship God and be in community in very small groups. These are the most entitled people. They're so entitled. And they're honestly, I mean this. They are stupid. They are stupid people. They're anti intellectual. They don't care about science, don't care about data. They care about dogma and propaganda and they care about spitting everything in their favor. It is, it is mind blowing to them.

[A]

They also were like, faith over fear. Faith over fear. But they never apply faith over fear to anything else else. Not demons that come out of your tv?

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Not guns. They need a gun because they have to protect themselves. What about faith over fear?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Huh.

[B]

How about Disney? Why are you so afraid of Disney? Why are you so worried about your kids watching Bluey? Faith over fear, you know, like I don't know.

[A]

But trans people are dangerous, right? By existence.

[B]

Faith over fear. But we need all the guns we can buy all the time for any reason. Because what if. Faith over fear.

[A]

Anyway, I'm so annoyed.

[B]

I'll be too. I mean, this is my first, my first episode back in a month and I'm already pissed off.

[A]

Yeah, great, great.

[B]

I do want to mention. Okay, we are running out of time here. I want to mention two things just kind of quickly. Number one, I'm not sure if you, if you all saw this, but there was a leaked report about Gaza. Did you hear about this? Got 38 page report. I have it here. Let me pull it up real quick.

[A]

I heard, I heard about it. Loosely.

[B]

This is from the Guardian. Look, we've been tracking, We've been talking about Gaza for a very long time. I've done a lot of episodes on Gaza and it really is unbelievable that we're watching a genocide happen and that so many politicians, including many Democrats, by the way, refuse to call it out like it. I mean, I mean, when Ms. Rachel is the prophet of the moment and Cory Booker isn't, you know, something is deeply wrong. So this is from the Guardian, A quote, leaked Gaza Riviera plan dismissed as insane attempt to cover ethnic cleansing. So there is a 38 page report that's circulating in the White House. This is a picture of what's in the report. They want to essentially pave over the graves of dead children in Gaza and make it into some kind of futuristic dystopian tourist spot. Now, in order to do this, okay, the plan suggests what it calls temporary relocation of all of Gaza's more than 2 million population. A proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, potentially a genocidal act. And let me just say, because people really don't understand, 92% of Gaza has been destroyed. 92% of Gaza has been destroyed.

[A]

I saw a video on thread that showed the Strip before.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And after. And it is just completely demolished.

[B]

92%. Think about that. Imagine 92% of Philadelphia being bombed. I mean, that put that in perspective. Okay? And by the way, many people in the Israeli government have been very open. They want to take over Gaza. They want to cleanse the land and take it over, and that's what they're doing. There's currently a siege happening inside the city. Over 60,000 people, estimates put, have been. Have been killed. Over 18,000 children have died. Okay. And there's a plan circulating, apparently it would all. It would use all private funding, but their goal is to push out the people that remain there. And what they would do, this is, according to the article, Palestinians would be encouraged into voluntary departure to another country or into restricted secure zones during reconstruction. Those who own land will be offered a digital token by the Trust in exchange for rights to develop their property to be used to finance a new life elsewhere. I mean, this is crazy. This is like, this is truly dystopian nightmare stuff. They also talk about in this. Where is it that they would give. Is it in this article, they would essentially give Palestinians $5,000, some food money and some rent money to go to a different country. And the plan does not cover what would happen if a Palestinian refused to leave. How much more obvious can it be?

[A]

Do you remember back in. When was that? February, March maybe, when Trump tweeted out that AI video of Gaza where he was a gold statue of Trump and he called it Trump. Was it Trump Gaza?

[B]

Yep, that's Trump Gaza.

[A]

There's like that weird song that went with it too. Like, and then they acted like it was a joke, but I think he was joking. I think he genuinely wants to put a giant Trump sign in Gaza and call it like a new Trump.

[B]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[A]

And this is. It is absolutely disgraceful too, because even beyond the bombs, Israel is starving.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

The Palestinian people like the images coming out of Gaza of The like, you can see their bones through their skin. Because Israel's stopping aid from getting through. Yes, it is. Is. It is. I mean, it is a genocide. There's no other word for that.

[B]

There's no other way. We have to. Again, we have to tell the truth. It is a genocide. Okay? They are sniping children in the head. Gaza is home to the most concentrated group of child amputees out of anywhere in the world. I see images, videos daily of infants, half their faces burned off. Like, what do you like? And again, like, even Democrats in America aren't calling this out nearly enough. It is, it's. Our tax dollars are funding this. They are funding the genocide of an entire people group. And now we're finding out, thanks to the report of good journalism, that there's a 38 page report circulating in the White House about moving the rest of the Palestinians out of their, their ancestral land to pave for, you know, to make it some kind of a tourist destination where Trump and Elon Musk is also mentioned in the plan. Would be able to benefit.

[A]

And $5,000 is not a lot of money to completely relocate and start over in a brand new country.

[B]

No, look, you know, April, we talk a lot about, right, like colonization and empire. You're watching it happen in real time. This is colonization. This is what colonization looks like. It's bloody, it's brutal, it is dehumanizing. And there's always an agenda behind the empire that funds it. This is what they want to happen. This is what they want. It's, it's, it's horrible. So I wanted to cover that and just let you all know that. Let you all know that we did see that. We are covering it. It's still happening. Please call your representative, demand that we stop using tax money to fund the genocide of an entire people group. It is unbelievable that we are here and it is even more infuriating that we can't get the majority of Democrats to speak out about this. Like, guys, this is not. Again. This is not complicated. This is not complicated. Children are having their heads blown off by the idf. Do something. Jesus Christ. It's unbelievable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, the other story I wanted to cover briefly, then we'll get ready to wrap up with weird Christian shit. Is. I'm not sure if you saw this, April, but our government is now arbitrarily bombing boats in international waters who they think are terrorist related. Yeah, Drug traffickers. Yeah, that's the thing.

[A]

I saw this. I don't like. And I saw an interview where Pete Hegseth was saying, we knew exactly who's on that boat and what they were doing, but then gave zero details on who was on that boat and what they were doing.

[B]

Of course. Why would we trust the administration of propaganda? Pete Hegseth lied about being in a group chat, in a signal. Group chat, group chat, giving away classified intel. Like, I'm going to trust what Pete Hegseth, the disciple of Doug Wilson says. You're joking, right? Like, you know what I'm saying?

[A]

It's crazy how they're skirting due process for all the immigrants that they're deporting. Like, and what they're doing to Kilmar Abrego Garcia still trying to do to him, like, yep, yep. Like, you can't trust them when it comes to this immigration process.

[B]

So here's what it says. It says a strike carried out by the, by US Forces on a boat in the Caribbean Sea which the White house says killed 11 drug traffickers, may have violated international human rights. And is it maritime? Is that how you say that? Maritime law? Legal experts have told BBC. So just very briefly, the story is this. During Trump's big announcement that they're moving Space Force to Alabama, he just dropped this, like, little note of like, oh, yeah, also right now, we just took out this drug trafficking boat. Here's the thing, though. If you can track this boat, why not arrest them when they hit US Soil and actually give them, you know, due process and put them on trial and have them go through the legal system. Why does Trump get to arbitrarily assassinate people? Because allegedly they're drug traffickers. How. How is that? When did we start? Well, sorry, the US Government's been doing that for a long time. I should be clear about that. Even under Obama, right? Drones, drone strikes went way up. But, like, again, that's a bad thing. We don't want to keep doing that. We don't want to be a society that just snipes people out of thin air because we think that they're automatically bad.

[A]

Innocent until proven guilty. That's like a, that's a huge motto of our Justice Department.

[B]

The reason I bring this up is because our favorite right wing pundit, maybe out of all of them, Ali Stuckey, had something to say about this. Okay? Now remember, Ali Stuckey is the pro life. You know, protect the kids. I'm a person who wants life. Murder is bad, she tweets out. Hard to emphasize how much I voted for this. In a response to Fox News, sharing the, sharing the story that the US Military Destroyed a Venezuelan drug boat, international waters.

[A]

Of course she would write the book Toxic Empathy because she has no empathy. So she has to think it's toxic if she's literally celebrating murdering who knows.

[B]

Who, who knows who? We don't know. For all we know, there could be women and children on that boat. We really do not know. We do not know. And Ali Stuckey, the bastion of biblical values and understanding the true gospel, bragging about how happy she is that she voted for this. What, for murder? That's what you're happy. I mean, these people in the Christian framework are made of the image of God. They're worthy of the same dignity and respect that Ali has. And Ali's like thrilled, thrilled about this.

[A]

They should be arrested and then tried if they're drug traffickers, as they said, and then they give the opportunity to defend themselves or like, we need to know, you can't just go out and start shooting. Like, honestly, this, this sets a very dangerous precedent for if we just let this go unchecked. For what? The government could just start shooting anybody and then just say, yeah, well, they were doing this or they were doing that. If there's no due process, they can literally do that to anybody.

[B]

Well, this is a government that is sending federal troops to cities, which, by the way, the judges have ruled was illegal. I'm not sure if you saw that, but the judge ruled that what Trump did in LA was illegal. So that's great to know, but guess what? They already did it. The damage has been done. Right?

[A]

Again, we can impeach him again.

[B]

This is authoritarianism on display. This is Christian fascism on display. They're going to weaponize the power of the state and use it, wield it as a sword to harm either their enemies or the people that they think are destroying the country. And they don't care about due process for immigrants, they don't care about due process for people who are in international waters and allegedly heading towards the US Right? They don't care about that. If you're not white, if you're not straight, if you're not a good God fearing patriot, a true Christian like us, and therefore a real American. We don't give a shit about the rights that you think you're owed because you're less than. That's how this works.

[A]

Yep. We have another super chat from Destiny, the grunge girl. And then she said with it later, it says, happy birthday, Tim. I remember a few months ago you said your birthday was in September. One day you can show us a picture of Your Mohawk as a kid. Also, shout out to April. You guys are awesome.

[B]

Oh, thank you. Super nice.

[A]

Shall we get to our favorite segment?

[B]

Yes, yes, yes, we shall. Here we go. Go.

[A]

Christian.

[B]

I miss that little chime. I missed that little jingle.

[A]

So fun. Today's weird Christian peep comes from Pastor Mega Church Pastor Steven Fertick. Were you ever a Steven Furtick fan?

[B]

I was. I've actually been to Elevation before. I. I knew one of the drummers over there. Where is my video that I pulled the though for this? I don't know. No, I. I pulled it. I'm telling you, I pulled it. I know I did.

[A]

I believe you. I saw it earlier.

[B]

I was complaining. I was complaining about. About how low quality it was.

[A]

Yes, I recall. I recall.

[B]

I can't see it. Can you keep stalling? This is so unprofessional.

[A]

So Stephen Furtick is a pastor of Elevation Church. Where is that at? Is it in North Carolina?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. They have, like, a bunch of campuses.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

A bunch of. Here we go. There we go. Oh, wait, Sorry, I'm a little behind. There we go. Yeah. Stephen Furdick. Well, he's something. I'll just. I'll just leave it at that.

[A]

Should we just play it and then we'll discuss.

[B]

Yeah, here we go. I know every Adler. I know them all. Keep the be going. Keep the be going. I'm clapping, I'm praising. I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something.

[A]

I'm so excited.

[B]

And I never did that before. For the record.

[A]

For the record.

[B]

For the record. For the record. But I'm clapping my hand.

[A]

I think he don't protest too much.

[B]

Yes, exactly. Like, I don't know, bro. You're. You're really emphasizing how you've never done this. For the record, I think that was one.

[A]

One too many. For the records.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I think he. I think maybe he caught himself. He's like, I gotta. I gotta backtrack. For the record. For the record.

[A]

For the Raven ordered some cocaine, which I don't. I have no idea what that's like.

[B]

Yeah, there's definitely none in the back or anything. I definitely do not.

[A]

Tried that before.

[B]

No. What. What. What's. What. What is cocaine? I never heard of it until right now. It's a. For the record. For the record. Come on, Church. For the record. Can we. Can we play it one more time? It's hilarious.

[A]

Yeah, it's only 23 seconds. You can see the moment where he's like, I gotta fix that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here we go. I know Every Adler. I know them all. Get the be going. Keep it be going. I'm clapping, I'm praising. I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something.

[A]

I'm so excited.

[B]

And I never did that before. For the record. For the record. But look at. But I'm clapping my hand. What is that? Is he speaking in tongues at the end?

[A]

You know what it sounds like for. No, that is not speaking tongues. That's like. I. I don't know what that is. Perhaps one did snort cocaine.

[B]

Look at the crazy. I mean, this is low quality, but look at the crazy eyes.

[A]

What did he say? How did. What was his exact verbiage on the cocaine?

[B]

Let's see. Keep the be going. Keep the be going. I'm clapping, I'm praising. I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something.

[A]

I'm so excited.

[B]

I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something. I'm so excited.

[A]

You know what it sounds like to me? Did you ever watch the classic Disney movie the Jungle Book?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It reminds me so much of this. The monkey song was like, jungle vip.

[B]

I snorted. Geez. Yeah, so there's that.

[A]

That's suspicious. That's weird.

[B]

Yep. So we live in a really dark time. For the record, have you ever wondered how the odds of us showing up in this timeline, at this moment in history, like, out of all the possible realities that could exist, out of all the possible moments in history that we could exist, it's right now with this. With Trump, with Steven Furtick talking about snorting cocaine and then saying, for the record here, for. Yeah, for the record. For the record. For the record. It's just. It's like, what? Like, it's a wild time to be alive. It's just a wild freaking time. I can't believe it. Wow.

[A]

It is weird. But when I do have those moments where I think that. And then I think it probably would have been. There are other times in history that would have been worse to live through. Like the bubonic plague. Well, the Crusades.

[B]

Don't. Don't speak to World War II. Don't listen, April. All three. All three of those things.

[A]

Where's my wood?

[B]

Right? All three of those things are on the table. They are on the table at this point. Like, I really. I mean, we had a pandemic that Americans, some of them, didn't believe was a real thing, that. That died. Right. I mean, World War 3 could be a real thing with this megalomaniac in the White House. You saw him get all mad that a bunch of dictators met with with. Is it the guy who came in?

[A]

Child.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Sabrina Carpenter's new song, Man Child.

[B]

No.

[A]

Donald Trump.

[B]

It's just wild. But anyway.

[A]

Yeah, well, we're here.

[B]

We're back. I do have sad news, though. We're not going to be live next week.

[A]

Oh, right, yeah. You're leaving again. But it's for a good cause.

[B]

Yeah, I'm going to a. A huge summit on Gaza. Actually. It's called Church at the Crossroads in Illinois. I'll be there covering it for the new Evangelicals. So I will not be in town. I said, April, you planned four episodes by yourself. There's no reason for you to do another one, you know, again. So we're. We're just going to take off for Thursday. There will be no live on Thursday. And then we'll be back after that. Actually, I'll be back because April will be out of town. So the next two weeks are a little weird. I fully admit that. But we are getting back into the swing of things. Friends, I'm back from sabbatical. We're definitely planning some pretty cool things for the Tim April show. We have a very big announcement we're going to make pretty soon about the show, which I'm really pumped to finally be able to share with all of you. But we will be off next week, so FYI.

[A]

Yes. But we have episode releasing Tuesday.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And we might have one on Thursday or the next Tuesday. Anyway, we will still have shows coming out, so.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Don't fret.

[B]

All right. We did it, April. We're back.

[A]

We did it.

[B]

For the record, thanks, Friends. Yeah, for the record. For the record. Yeah, I like that. Friends, make sure to give this video a like, subscribe to the channel so you don't miss anything. Thanks so much for being here. I am Tim Whitaker.

[A]

And I'm April Ajoy.

[B]

Goodbye, Sam.