Latest / The Stan R. Mitchell Show / The Stan R. Mitchell Show — Ukraine, Iran, and my suggestion for President Trump | July 17, 2026

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The Stan R. Mitchell Show — Ukraine, Iran, and my suggestion for President Trump | July 17, 2026 · The Stan R. Mitchell Show

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[music]
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SPEAKER_00: What is going on, everyone?
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SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Stan R. Mitchell Show.
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SPEAKER_00: My name is Stan, and this week we are going to start the show by talking about Ukraine.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, we'll cover other topics as well,
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SPEAKER_00: and there will be timestamps if you want to jump to a different subject,
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SPEAKER_00: but there are several developments happening in Ukraine that have not gotten
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SPEAKER_00: the kind of news they deserve, and these are big developments.
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SPEAKER_00: Now the first one I want to discuss involves a body of water
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SPEAKER_00: that I don't expect most Americans to know about.
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SPEAKER_00: Now there's a graphic,
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SPEAKER_00: I have an image to what I'm going to be discussing in the episode notes,
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SPEAKER_00: so if you have no idea what I'm going to try to describe,
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SPEAKER_00: Just click the episode notes.
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SPEAKER_00: Go look at this beautiful map, which you can see by just going to the episode notes.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: It's free to see this.
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SPEAKER_00: I'll try to explain this, though.
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SPEAKER_00: So, Ukraine is mostly a horizontal country, almost like a rectangle.
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SPEAKER_00: To the south of it is something called the Black Sea, which you may have heard of.
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SPEAKER_00: To the east of Ukraine are several Russian-occupied provinces.
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SPEAKER_00: That Russia controls.
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SPEAKER_00: And behind those occupied provinces to the east is a large body of water called the Sea of Azov.
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SPEAKER_00: This Sea of Azov is a major supply route for Russia.
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SPEAKER_00: They use it to take tankers to The Stan R. Mitchell Show.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: During the past four years,
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SPEAKER_00: this has been a protected area because it has Russian troops to the front.
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SPEAKER_00: There's been no way that Ukraine could fly aircraft
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SPEAKER_00: or they couldn't even get drones there because Russia had good air defenses.
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SPEAKER_00: It's just been a protected area that was just assumed it would stay that way.
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SPEAKER_00: But the past week,
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SPEAKER_00: because Ukraine has had increasingly sophisticated and more advanced drones,
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SPEAKER_00: including sea drones,
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SPEAKER_00: and these are those like speedboats that are filled with explosives,
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SPEAKER_00: no sailors on them,
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SPEAKER_00: controlled by various forms of technology,
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SPEAKER_00: but satellite signal and,
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SPEAKER_00: you know, every how they use them with cameras, they've attacked these ships.
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SPEAKER_00: And in the past week, They've hit almost 120 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov.
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SPEAKER_00: That's just in nine days.
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SPEAKER_00: And you can see satellite imagery of these ships starting to get stacked up.
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SPEAKER_00: It's exactly like the Strait of Hormuz near Iran.
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SPEAKER_00: There are choke points happening,
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SPEAKER_00: and Russia has had to suspend all traffic through the Sea of Azov.
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SPEAKER_00: And so you can see these long lines of ships on both sides of the sea that want
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SPEAKER_00: to get through, but there's a couple of choke points they cannot get through.
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SPEAKER_00: And so this is really starting to have a wider impact on Russia
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SPEAKER_00: because this involves some of their exports that they can't get out.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how Russia or Vladimir Putin is going to react to this, but this is a big deal.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, just imagine 120 ships being hit.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, they haven't been sunk.
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SPEAKER_00: Many of them just had aerial drones hit their control rooms where basically many
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SPEAKER_00: of these ships are The Stan R. Mitchell Show.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Hit many of them in the place where the captain would be and the navigator
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SPEAKER_00: and basically he's burned out about a house size room of electronics and everything.
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SPEAKER_00: This isn't easy stuff to fix.
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SPEAKER_00: This is something that will Russia is dealing with the fact
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SPEAKER_00: that their logistical route through the Sea of Azov is now cut off.
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SPEAKER_00: So again,
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SPEAKER_00: two choke points completely cut off,
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SPEAKER_00: sea traffic suspended until they figure out how they're going to deal with this.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, I guess in theory they could shift air defenses to that area,
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SPEAKER_00: but the problem is that they've moved a lot of their air defenses away from
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SPEAKER_00: the front to the capital city of Russia and also near St.
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SPEAKER_00: Petersburg, two of their big cities that they want to make sure they protect.
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SPEAKER_00: They are just...
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SPEAKER_00: They're increasingly strained,
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SPEAKER_00: as far as air defenses go,
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SPEAKER_00: to stop these attacks from Ukraine,
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SPEAKER_00: which are targeted and very successful,
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SPEAKER_00: whereas when Russia bombs Ukraine,
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SPEAKER_00: they're just bombing civilian centers,
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SPEAKER_00: and while the casualties are terrible, they're not strategic.
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SPEAKER_00: It's not something that will help them win the war,
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SPEAKER_00: whereas Ukraine is actually attacking Ukraine.
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SPEAKER_00: Various pieces,
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SPEAKER_00: components that will affect the strategy,
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SPEAKER_00: such as the ships they've hit,
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SPEAKER_00: also the many places where they've hit oil refineries and oil storage containers
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SPEAKER_00: on land.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a great segue into the fact that there is a continued limit
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SPEAKER_00: on how much fuel you can buy inside Moscow itself.
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SPEAKER_00: But worse than even that...
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SPEAKER_00: The price of gas is $22 per gallon.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, I will put in the episode notes...
6:41
SPEAKER_00: The Stan R. Mitchell Show.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: There is some pretty serious talk that senators from both parties in
7:12
SPEAKER_00: a bipartisan measure are looking to revise and approve some Russian sanctions
7:20
SPEAKER_00: that are pretty serious.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: Basically, in honor of the legacy of Senator Lindsey Graham.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, I do hope if I have time to talk about Lindsey Graham a bit later in the show,
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SPEAKER_00: but this is something that is not great news for Russia.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, in the past,
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SPEAKER_00: President Trump hasn't been a big fan of sanctions and he may try to stop this,
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SPEAKER_00: but there is definitely momentum for some additional sanctions getting
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SPEAKER_00: through Congress.
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SPEAKER_00: Two final quick things to just mention on the Ukraine front.
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SPEAKER_00: Both of them are a big deal.
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SPEAKER_00: First, as President Trump mentioned last week,
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SPEAKER_00: the U.S. will begin allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles.
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SPEAKER_00: That has advanced just 14 hours ago as I'm recording this.
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SPEAKER_00: This is on Wednesday.
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SPEAKER_00: Lockheed Martin agreed to back U.S. licensing processes.
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SPEAKER_00: For Ukrainian Patriot air defense production.
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SPEAKER_00: Also on the air defense front,
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SPEAKER_00: Europe has agreed to allow Ukraine to produce some of the air defense missiles
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SPEAKER_00: that are European in nature versus just US.
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SPEAKER_00: So both of those things are pretty big news for Ukraine.
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SPEAKER_00: Won't be immediate, but it gives them something to hold on to.
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SPEAKER_00: And they've already shown that they...
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SPEAKER_00: Fueled weapons much faster than any of the analysts give them credit for.
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SPEAKER_00: But the second thing I wanted to mention,
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SPEAKER_00: and it'll be the final thing on this topic,
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SPEAKER_00: the Center for Strategic and International Studies released a report that the ratio
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SPEAKER_00: of Russian to Ukrainian casualties has always been in favor of Ukraine.
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SPEAKER_00: It was about 2-1 or maybe 3-1 for much of the war,
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SPEAKER_00: which means that for every Ukrainian who died or was wounded,
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SPEAKER_00: there were 2-3 Russians.
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SPEAKER_00: And that was partly because the Russians were doing attacks.
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SPEAKER_00: Anytime you attack, you have to have more troops.
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SPEAKER_00: You're going to take more casualties because you're covering open ground.
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SPEAKER_00: But also because Ukraine was fighting for its own defense on its own soil defense.
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SPEAKER_00: And people who are fighting in those type of situations typically fight harder
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SPEAKER_00: because they know that behind them are their family and friends and their land.
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SPEAKER_00: So there's always some advantage to being in the defense.
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SPEAKER_00: So again, in the past four years, it's been about 2-1 to 3-1.
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SPEAKER_00: For every Ukrainian hit, there was 2-3 Russians.
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SPEAKER_00: Having said that, there has been a big change.
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SPEAKER_00: And in 2026,
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SPEAKER_00: according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
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SPEAKER_00: because Ukraine is using so many drones now,
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SPEAKER_00: they've made that their number one strategic effort.
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SPEAKER_00: And they've done that partly because they don't have as many bodies to put on
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SPEAKER_00: the front line as the Russians do.
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SPEAKER_00: But because of that,
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SPEAKER_00: that ratio,
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SPEAKER_00: instead of being 2 to 1 or 3 to 1,
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SPEAKER_00: In the first half of 2026,
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SPEAKER_00: meaning for the past six months,
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SPEAKER_00: it has climbed to almost 8 to 1,
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SPEAKER_00: which means for every Ukrainian hit, there's almost 8 Russians.
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SPEAKER_00: These zones of drone coverage where Russians have to cross dozens of kilometers,
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SPEAKER_00: many miles of...
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SPEAKER_00: There aren't even any Ukrainian troops.
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SPEAKER_00: It's just like, hey,
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SPEAKER_00: if you cross the next three miles,
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SPEAKER_00: three to five miles,
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SPEAKER_00: or however how deep that zone is,
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SPEAKER_00: and of course Ukraine's been expanding that zone deeper and deeper,
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SPEAKER_00: if you cross that area...
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SPEAKER_00: You're going to probably be seen by a drone and it's going to hit you,
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SPEAKER_00: whether you're in a truck or on foot.
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SPEAKER_00: And so, this is big news for Ukraine,
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SPEAKER_00: but it's also news for Russia,
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SPEAKER_00: because if you're Vladimir Putin or you're his military commanders,
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SPEAKER_00: although it's not clear that he gets all of the bad news,
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SPEAKER_00: you have to start to think about the fact that you've gone from a 2-to-1
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SPEAKER_00: or 3-to-1 loss ratio to 8-to-1.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's horrific.
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SPEAKER_00: If you want to read that report, I've got a link to it in the episode notes as well.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: And while you're there,
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SPEAKER_00: you can sign up to be on the email list since from time
11:53
SPEAKER_00: to time I do send out short briefings or news summaries.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: It's free to do so.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: If you want to sign up for $5 per month to support the show, that's awesome too.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: But just check the link in the episode notes wherever you're listening
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SPEAKER_00: and it will lead you to the Substack page.
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SPEAKER_00: And you can see the map so you know exactly what body of water has been cut off.
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SPEAKER_00: And you can also see some video on the strikes on the ships.
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SPEAKER_00: You can see additional information about that report on the casualties.
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SPEAKER_00: Let's move from that war zone in Ukraine to the war zone around Iran.
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SPEAKER_00: As you guys know,
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SPEAKER_00: the Iran war nightmare for the president has continued to worsen the past week.
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SPEAKER_00: It has just been back and forth hits between the United States and Iran.
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SPEAKER_00: And the escalation just continues rapidly.
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SPEAKER_00: Going back to since last week,
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SPEAKER_00: the strikes, we as a country, the United States attacked some railway bridges.
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SPEAKER_00: Iran managed to hit another ship.
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SPEAKER_00: The strikes then going into Saturday ended up getting more and more fierce.
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SPEAKER_00: After Iran hit the ship, there was a container ship that was under the flag of Cyprus.
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SPEAKER_00: It had some wounded folks and a civilian crew member missing.
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SPEAKER_00: And so the U.S., Hit more than 140 Iranian military targets in response.
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SPEAKER_00: Then Iran retaliated.
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SPEAKER_00: Targeted military assets of the U.S. in Jordan, Oman, Qatar.
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SPEAKER_00: All of those spots.
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SPEAKER_00: Kuwait has also reported incoming fire.
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SPEAKER_00: United Arab Emirates has well intercepted an attack.
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SPEAKER_00: I've yet to see much reporting about Saudi Arabia, but...
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SPEAKER_00: I'd be surprised if they haven't hit Saudi Arabia,
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SPEAKER_00: but five or six of the main countries are taking attacks.
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SPEAKER_00: Our military isn't reporting on everything that's happening.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course, during operational tempo, you don't want to explain everything happening.
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SPEAKER_00: So they're keeping some of that stuff straight.
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SPEAKER_00: But we're now into five plus days of attacks back and forth from both sides.
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SPEAKER_00: It's very clear that the peace deal is done.
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SPEAKER_00: The U.S. has even said it would blockade Iran again.
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SPEAKER_00: And so, where are we?
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've had over 300 plus strikes over the past five nights as one media...
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SPEAKER_00: Swartz said that it doesn't seem to make any sense that a sixth night
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SPEAKER_00: or even two weeks or a month is going to make that much of a difference.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, the president is saying that he will escalate.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he hopes to do.
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SPEAKER_00: And he's even threatened to take over Karg Island,
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SPEAKER_00: which is where that's that island we've talked about so much where Iran has
15:03
SPEAKER_00: an oil export terminal.
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SPEAKER_00: But even that would not help reopen the strait, which is 600 kilometers away from that island.
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SPEAKER_00: And there are huge risks to putting troops on that island and taking it.
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SPEAKER_00: They would be, in many ways, almost surrounded.
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SPEAKER_00: They would face attacks from multiple sides.
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SPEAKER_00: Now, at the same time, the economic risk and the economic, you
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SPEAKER_00: We are striking expensive infrastructure.
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SPEAKER_00: They now cannot sell crude oil because the blockade is back in place.
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SPEAKER_00: And so this is devastating for them as well.
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SPEAKER_00: But it is politically devastating, especially for the Trump administration and Republicans.
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SPEAKER_00: Take a listen to what one of the senior reporters for The Hill had to say
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SPEAKER_00: on how this could affect President Trump in the coming days, weeks, and months.
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SPEAKER_03: They're just going to use this as purely a partisan political bludgeon against Republicans.
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SPEAKER_03: Graham Plattner blowing up Amin was bad news,
16:27
SPEAKER_03: but the resumption of this war is good political news for the Democrats.
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SPEAKER_03: Chuck Schumer is already out there calling the MOU an utter failure, slamming Trump repeatedly.
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SPEAKER_03: Democrats are going to have another Iran war powers vote,
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SPEAKER_03: even though they've already passed a resolution.
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SPEAKER_03: This is something that's going to keep gas prices elevated,
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SPEAKER_03: fertilizer prices elevated,
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SPEAKER_03: and that's going to be critical to winning in Ohio and Iowa,
16:49
SPEAKER_03: two must-win states now that Maine is falling apart for them.
16:52
SPEAKER_03: So I don't think the Democrats are going to give Trump any benefit of the doubt.
16:56
SPEAKER_03: They're going to just continue to hammer him on this.
16:58
SPEAKER_03: And I think Republicans are just in a tough position because what can they really advocate for?
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SPEAKER_03: They want this war to be done, but it's really tough to argue for complete capitulation to Iran.
17:08
SPEAKER_03: And the Democrats are like,
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SPEAKER_03: this isn't our problem,
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SPEAKER_03: this is your problem,
17:11
SPEAKER_03: and we're going to punish you every single day right up until November 3rd.
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SPEAKER_00: Those remarks come from Alexander Bolton with The Hill, and I think he's right.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: Now, the president is fully aware that time is not on his side,
17:27
SPEAKER_00: and here are his words on what he plans to do to try to end this sooner rather
17:34
SPEAKER_00: than later.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Do you anticipate that the strikes we're seeing this week against Iran will expand?
17:41
SPEAKER_01: Are you considering hitting energy targets or other locations inside of Iran?
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SPEAKER_02: I'll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we'll hit energy targets, yeah.
17:52
SPEAKER_02: But we're gonna hit them very hard tonight.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna hit them very hard tomorrow night.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna hit them very hard the night after.
17:59
SPEAKER_02: And then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the- Power plants.
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SPEAKER_02: Next week comes the bridges.
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SPEAKER_02: We're going to knock out all their power plants.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.
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SPEAKER_00: So there's the president's plan.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: Of course,
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Iran has its own plan,
18:21
SPEAKER_00: and one of the things they're doing is by attacking targets from as far away
18:27
SPEAKER_00: as Jordan all the way to the south, they are stretching the conflict.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: And we talked about this a few weeks ago,
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SPEAKER_00: how American air defenses can only cover so much ground.
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SPEAKER_00: And so they are stretching the battlefield across 3,000 kilometers,
18:43
SPEAKER_00: as I saw in one media report.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: And the U.S. just, quite frankly, can't really defend 3,000 kilometers of airspace.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: And so Iran is definitely landing some strikes of their own.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: And we'll just have to see how this plays out.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone truly knows how it will play out.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: As you guys know that I've said from the beginning,
19:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a fan of the Iranian administration or what they have done.
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SPEAKER_00: It's probably wrong to even call them an administration,
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SPEAKER_00: but the leaders there,
19:16
SPEAKER_00: what they've done to their people,
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SPEAKER_00: all the terrorism they funded, all the terrible things they've done.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: But it would have been really,
19:23
SPEAKER_00: really nice to have more allies on our side as we try to confront what is
19:28
SPEAKER_00: a very real and large threat from a capable foe on a country that's larger
19:36
SPEAKER_00: than Afghanistan and Iraq together.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is a very large,
19:41
SPEAKER_00: physically,
19:42
SPEAKER_00: size-wise, physically, it's just the size of the country alone is daunting.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I looked it up because I wanted to make sure I had my facts correct.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: And Iraq is about 170,000 square miles in size, which obviously we invaded Iraq.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Afghanistan is 252,000 square miles.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: So 252,169,000.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: So rounded up to 170.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: But it's basically Iraq and Afghanistan is 421,000 square miles.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: Of course, reminder, we fought inside Afghanistan for almost 20 years before withdrawing.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: So 421,000 square miles.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know how big Iran is?
20:31
SPEAKER_00: Iran is 636,000 square miles.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: And we have fewer troops around Iran than we had in Iraq.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: So 636,000 square miles compared to 421,000 square miles when you count Iraq and Afghanistan.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: And oh, by the way,
20:50
SPEAKER_00: once we took Iraq,
20:52
SPEAKER_00: we very quickly started pulling together their police force and bringing back some
20:57
SPEAKER_00: of the folks who had served in And essentially we were using,
21:01
SPEAKER_00: fairly quickly, Iraqi soldiers to complement American strength.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Which is the same thing we did in Afghanistan.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: We eventually helped create the Afghan National Army and...
21:15
SPEAKER_00: We can debate their effectiveness or lack thereof,
21:18
SPEAKER_00: but we had lots of bodies of locals who spoke the language and helped us fight.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: We have none of that in Iran.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: So it's a larger country, much, much bigger than Iraq and Afghanistan.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: And we have fewer troops there.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: And we currently, at least publicly, have no troops on the ground.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: There's been some talk that maybe Kurds up in the Northwest might help us to some degree.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: There's obviously some help from Israel, but we don't have many allies.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Many allies helping defend the Middle East or some of these countries.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: It would be just so nice to have more assets from France,
22:02
SPEAKER_00: the United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: But the president has worn out his welcome with many of these countries,
22:09
SPEAKER_00: and that's something I've been critical of him for now.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: I think it was General Schwarzkopf back in the 90s said that fighting with allies
22:22
SPEAKER_00: on your side like we did during Desert Shield and Desert Storm is very difficult.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to coordinate and some countries think that they're doing more or less
22:32
SPEAKER_00: or some countries don't even want to be in the danger zone.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: It's very difficult to fight with allies on your side.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: But he said it so well that the only thing harder than that is fighting
22:44
SPEAKER_00: without allies on your side.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: And so it would just be really nice if we had more allies on our side as we confront
22:52
SPEAKER_00: a regime that is evil and has done so many harmful things across the world.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: But it is what it is.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: We are where we are.
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SPEAKER_00: And so the president's strategy at this point is to potentially escalate.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so we're going to take a break.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And when we come back, we're going to talk about The passing of Senator Lindsey Graham.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'm also going to talk about something that like the number one thing
23:18
SPEAKER_00: that drives me crazy about the administration and share some pushback from
23:23
SPEAKER_00: a conservative that I shared those thoughts and they had some good counter thoughts
23:29
SPEAKER_00: on that.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: So more to come plus the faith section.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: So stick around.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: A small monthly subscription is one option, or you can even do a one-time gift.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Either way, I'm grateful you're here.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that just due to timing of the show release
24:34
SPEAKER_00: that you guys have probably seen and read and heard about everything that I did want
24:41
SPEAKER_00: to at least discuss a few brief thoughts.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: The first and most obvious one is that the unexpected passing
25:02
SPEAKER_00: of Senator Lindsey Graham does complicate the GOP agenda in Congress.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: There's been some talk about that,
25:09
SPEAKER_00: but he served on some key committees,
25:12
SPEAKER_00: and I think we'll see in the coming weeks where the Senate is so closely divided.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: His loss is going to make things more difficult for President Trump.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to get into the weeds on politics.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: I've read some articles about it.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: But we'll just see.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: But it looks like that could make it more difficult for the Republicans and President Trump.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: The other thing,
25:37
SPEAKER_00: and this is kind of obvious,
25:39
SPEAKER_00: is that his passing and in his passing and with his passing...
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Ukraine lost one of its strongest and most staunch supporters.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Lindsey Graham was literally in Ukraine the weekend before he passed,
25:56
SPEAKER_00: just days before he passed.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: He was in Ukraine, touring the area.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: He was just a strong ally for Ukraine, for standing up to Russia.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: And I always appreciated and admired that So I did want to mention that.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Now he's been, in the short term, replaced by his sister.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: Her name is Darlene Graham Nordone.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: She will finish his Senate term.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, there are some folks jockeying to replace him long term.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: But Ukraine definitely...
26:33
SPEAKER_00: For Ukraine, one of its most vocal supporters was without question U.S.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Senator Lindsey Graham.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Again, just hours before it returned from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: And as I wrap up this short little segment about Lindsey Graham,
26:50
SPEAKER_00: I know that I could mention things he said about President Trump in the past.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: I could mention him making a phone call to Georgia.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: I could do lots of things.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: But I choose to be more positive.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: And I want to share a positive message from two of, in many ways, his biggest enemies.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: The first one is from former Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Now again,
27:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing these because they're positive,
27:18
SPEAKER_00: and I try to put out a positive vision almost every week.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to put out this bit of light in the world, if you will.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: He had a short message, but here's what he had to say.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Again, they had sparred and fought a lot at the end of the last few years.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: But after hearing of the passing of Lindsey Graham,
27:39
SPEAKER_00: former Congressman Adam Kinzinger said, Before Trump, we were friends.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: We traveled together on congressional trips around the world,
27:52
SPEAKER_00: including visiting Syrian refugee camps where we met children
27:56
SPEAKER_00: whose lives had been shattered by war.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: And he shares a photo of them,
28:01
SPEAKER_00: you know,
28:01
SPEAKER_00: smiling and hands clasped together as they were clearly, at that time, friends.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: He continues, These moments reminded us why public service matters.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: After Trump was elected,
28:15
SPEAKER_00: we went in very different directions and we eventually stopped speaking.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: I never hid those disagreements and I won't rewrite that history today.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Rest in peace, Lindsey.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: My prayers are with his family and all who loved him.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: I really like that.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: Because I think Lindsey Graham himself would be proud of the fact that
28:51
SPEAKER_00: That he did care deeply and strongly about America's role in the world.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: He did care about visiting those who were suffering the effects of war and invasion.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: He traveled a lot.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: So that's the first positive thing I wanted to share.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: And then the second one is probably a little bit more surprising.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: It comes from Hunter Biden.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Obviously the son of Joe Biden.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: A man that endured lots of attacks from obviously many Republicans,
29:28
SPEAKER_00: including Senator Lindsey Graham.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: But he shared a message that I think helps us remind us that politics should not be
29:39
SPEAKER_00: the most important things in our lives.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: And this is, I thought, was a good message.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to share.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is from Hunter Biden.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he had to say.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: When I heard about Senator Graham's death last night,
29:54
SPEAKER_00: the first thing I thought about was not all the things he said and did in service
29:58
SPEAKER_00: of Donald Trump.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: I thought of the time before Donald Trump when he was a brother to Senator John McCain.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: A time when senators from different parties could fight about politics and still be friends.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: A time when a conservative Republican from South Carolina could say of my father,
30:19
SPEAKER_00: quote, If you can't admire Joe Biden as a person, you've got a problem.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: He's the nicest person I've ever met in politics.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: As good a man as God ever created, end quote.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: This is the Senator Graham I will remember today.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Not because I have forgotten what came after.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: Because in that memory, there is hope.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Hope for a country where brothers can fight like hell over policy and still share
30:46
SPEAKER_00: a meal and a laugh and the loss of the people they love.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: I will choose to remember the time before Trump because I believe in an America after Trump.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: So that was the message again from Hunter Biden,
31:01
SPEAKER_00: which was obviously a kind message from a gentleman who had been attacked
31:06
SPEAKER_00: a lot earlier.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: But I wanted to just, let's just end on a positive note for this segment.
31:15
SPEAKER_03: And that's where I'm going to leave it, right there.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Alright,
31:19
SPEAKER_00: let's move now to what I would say is one of my biggest criticisms of
31:27
SPEAKER_00: the Trump administration.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: And this is something that you guys know I'm not the biggest fan of.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: I did not vote for him,
31:35
SPEAKER_00: but anyone who's been listening for the past year plus knows I have been as fair
31:40
SPEAKER_00: to him as possible.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: And what I'm saying now is something that I would almost think is advice to him
31:47
SPEAKER_00: and his leaders in his administration.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: But one of my biggest criticisms
31:54
SPEAKER_00: of this administration is how often they will make major announcements and
32:01
SPEAKER_00: then they will reverse them a day or two later.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: Now, the one I'm speaking of most recently is just this week,
32:10
SPEAKER_00: the president said that the U.S.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: itself
32:17
SPEAKER_00: would require ships to pay 20% charge on their cargo to cross Hormuz
32:26
SPEAKER_01: under U.S. military protection.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course,
32:29
SPEAKER_00: let's not forget that just a couple of months ago,
32:31
SPEAKER_00: Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, said that tolls are illegal.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: And let's not forget that it was also put in the Memorandum of Understanding that Iran could.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: But besides all of that, Rubio says a couple of months ago, not going to do it.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: Then they put it in a plan.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Then the negotiations fall apart with Iran.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: And then President Trump just throws out, well, we're going to do it.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: The U.S. will charge since we are protecting ships.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: He makes this announcement everywhere,
33:07
SPEAKER_00: all over the media,
33:08
SPEAKER_00: on his social media, on various, you know, it's all over the news.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Less than 24 hours later, he changes his stance on that.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: Less than 24 hours later.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: He then says Gulf states will invest in the U.S. as repayment instead.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: And this happens according to all the various media reports
33:33
SPEAKER_00: because shipping industry executives, company leaders, largely opposed the fee.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: In fact,
33:43
SPEAKER_00: the International Maritime Organization,
33:46
SPEAKER_00: which is an agency within the United Nations,
33:49
SPEAKER_00: they said that mandatory tolls in the strait are illegal.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: And so after this happens,
33:56
SPEAKER_00: I share a CNBC headline that says that President Trump had walked back the decision
34:04
SPEAKER_00: to charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: And I said one of my biggest criticisms is how often
34:12
SPEAKER_00: the administration reverses its decisions, like a day or two later.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: And this, again, was less than 24 hours.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: So you make a major announcement, 24 hours later, you're like, yeah.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Going to go 180 degrees a different direction.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: And what I don't understand is I've read a few leadership books in my day.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: I've read tons of biographies,
34:35
SPEAKER_00: studied presidents,
34:36
SPEAKER_00: studied CEOs of organizations because I used to be an ambitious guy
34:41
SPEAKER_00: who thought he'd be a big business executive someday.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: But what I don't understand is effective leadership always usually has planning,
34:52
SPEAKER_00: staff work, Input from people responsible, like department heads, you know?
34:58
SPEAKER_00: You guys tracking with what I'm saying here?
35:02
SPEAKER_00: You deliberate among yourselves.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: You make a decision.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: And you do all that before you announce it.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: Not afterward.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: But President Trump constantly fires from the hip.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: And it's much worse this term than the first term.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: In the first term, he had folks like Secretary of Defense General Mattis.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: He had some big name folks that would reel him in on some of his decisions
35:34
SPEAKER_00: before he would make these pronouncements,
35:36
SPEAKER_00: which were just blatantly over the top, not very well thought out.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: And so I shared that on social media because I feel pretty strongly about that.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: And I did get some feedback.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: I thought I'd share some of that feedback,
35:52
SPEAKER_00: including one from a conservative reader and listener.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: But one person who agreed with me said that President Trump has no plan.
36:02
SPEAKER_00: That he just reacts emotionally.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: And it does seem that way often.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: He gets very mad about something.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: And he will claim that as a strength.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: That his unpredictability is a strength.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: And I would just say as a counter that it's wearing thin.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: He's worn out our allies.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: He's frayed some of our relationships.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: And his policies, at least to my eye, they just increasingly look incoherent.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: And they look about as stiff as a wet reed.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: Because you can't say something one day.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: You can't say, hey team, we're going to go this direction.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: And then 24 hours later say, nope, go in another direction.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Sorry I said that.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Of course,
36:45
SPEAKER_00: he doesn't say sorry because he's not really the kind of guy to apologize or admit
36:50
SPEAKER_00: a mistake.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: But I digress.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: I did want to share,
36:55
SPEAKER_00: so one of the conservative listeners and followers of mine,
36:59
SPEAKER_00: which I do appreciate all of them,
37:03
SPEAKER_00: again, I did not vote for President Trump, but I do consider myself center-right.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: And I do my best not to irritate people or make people mad every week.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: But I will just give a shout out with just the first name
37:19
SPEAKER_00: to this conservative listener and reader and supporter.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate, again, every single one of you guys who do listen to the show.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Her name is Marge.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: And Marge said that this is a tactic, not a deficit.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: She said it keeps them guessing and that there are a lot of enemies out there.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: And I appreciate her saying that.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: She added in a later comment that,
37:44
SPEAKER_00: after I had made just a short comment,
37:45
SPEAKER_00: that I appreciated her saying that and that I was going to share that as
37:48
SPEAKER_00: a counter view.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: She said that those who have read his books agree that this is classic Trump.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: Now, I have read some of his earlier books.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: I, in fact, used to be a huge fan of his.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Going way back to the 90s, I owned...
38:05
SPEAKER_00: A couple of copies, actually, of his book, The Art of the Deal.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: And I used to love watching The Apprentice.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: Probably watched like eight of the 14 seasons or every many seasons there was.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: I eventually soured on him.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: But that's neither here nor there.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: I do my best to give the man a fair shake.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: But I would respectfully say that he could be a little more strategic in some
38:29
SPEAKER_00: of his decisions, in my humble opinion.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think it would...
38:35
SPEAKER_00: It would sow less chaos.
38:37
SPEAKER_00: I think even among his supporters,
38:40
SPEAKER_00: he just says things one week and then things another week,
38:44
SPEAKER_00: and he can't possibly think that the back and forth on some of these issues...
38:52
SPEAKER_00: Of course,
38:53
SPEAKER_00: President Trump makes this even worse for himself because he rarely reaches across
38:58
SPEAKER_00: the aisle on anything.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: He would rather name-call the other party, the Democrats.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: He would rather even turn down aid requests for blue states.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: He just cares about his supporters.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: And there are weaknesses to leading that way.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: I think everyone would agree that that can lead to at least some weaknesses.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: Now,
39:44
SPEAKER_00: I do want to go ahead and say right now that no matter who the next president is,
39:47
SPEAKER_00: whether it's someone on the right or on the left, I will also...
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Be critical of them.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: I don't intend to try to tell people how to vote before the election.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: I think,
39:57
SPEAKER_00: as I try to say almost weekly,
39:59
SPEAKER_00: that we can discuss politics without disliking each other.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: And we can discuss politics without putting down the other side or name-calling.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: So I try my best to do those things.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: But while I know he has supporters out there, I will always try to call it the way I see it.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just not going to suspend Belief.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm just not going to suspend what are facts that are just obvious out there.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, we just can't suspend disbelief on this stuff.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: And even if you support the president,
40:36
SPEAKER_00: the truth is the man campaigned on releasing the Epstein list.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: Then he did everything he could to stop its release.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: He even called it a democratic hoax at one point,
40:45
SPEAKER_00: which makes no sense if you campaign on literally releasing it.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: President said there'd be no new wars.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: We're in Iran.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: We're not getting out of that anytime soon.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: And even as I try to encourage him or give advice or whatever,
41:02
SPEAKER_00: a good example of why you need good planning,
41:06
SPEAKER_00: good department heads, good legal counsel are his tariffs.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: That was one of his number one policies.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: But because he wanted to not listen to legal counsel,
41:20
SPEAKER_00: He put these sweeping tariffs in as part of an Emergency Economic Powers Act,
41:25
SPEAKER_00: the IEPA, International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: He puts these sweeping tariffs in,
41:35
SPEAKER_00: and it took forever to get through the Supreme Court,
41:37
SPEAKER_00: but ultimately they were ruled unlawful.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: Because the statute does not authorize a president to impose tariffs.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: That is a power reserved for Congress.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: Which everyone told him that in the beginning.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: And the craziest thing is he probably could have gotten them through Congress.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: But he didn't want to listen.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to move fast.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to break things.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to drain the swamp.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: He didn't listen to advisors.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: If his advisors didn't tell him, then he didn't have good advisors.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: He did something that almost all attorneys in the middle or on
42:12
SPEAKER_00: the left said was illegal at the time.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: Clearly lots of corporations believed it too.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: They're some of the main folks who filed lawsuits to stop it.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: And so he loses that in the Supreme Court and he had to refund over $81 billion
42:30
SPEAKER_00: to affected businesses.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: UPS.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: There's like a huge list of them.
42:35
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like I just believe effective leadership has strong advisors around it.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: Heck, I wish I had like 10 advisors for the podcast, but instead it's usually me solo.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: Just a couple of folks that give me feedback every week.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to John up in Maine.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: But it's like, listen to people.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: Get expert opinion.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: It's not rocket science.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: I think that would help his administration.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: Before we wrap up, I want to take a minute to come back to something deeper.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: We spend a lot of time each week talking about the country.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: Where we are, where we're headed, what's at stake.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: But if that's all we look at, it'll just wear you down.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: Because a country is only as strong as its people.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: And people are only as steady as what they stand on.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is,
43:41
SPEAKER_00: most of us don't think much about faith or even about what really matters
43:46
SPEAKER_00: until life forces us to.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: When we get that phone call or that doctor's report or the job
43:53
SPEAKER_00: that you thought was secure is suddenly gone,
43:56
SPEAKER_00: those are the moments that cut through the noise, that wake us up, that frighten us.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: So this is the part of the show where we step back.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Open scripture and remind ourselves what actually matters.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: It's not politics.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: It's not personalities.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: It's something stronger than that.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: It's wisdom from God carried across thousands of years.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, I haven't always believed it.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: But my life has gone better when I've turned to it,
44:29
SPEAKER_00: listened to it, and tried to follow its way.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: So if you don't care, I'm going to share a little from it.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: And I hope you'll stick around and listen.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: Here are some words of wisdom from a tweet that I came across,
44:47
SPEAKER_00: and it reads, For a better morning, talk with God first.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: For a better night, talk with God last.
44:57
SPEAKER_00: For a better life, talk with God all day.
45:00
SPEAKER_00: I thought that was pretty good.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: Obviously,
45:03
SPEAKER_00: the more you can talk and pray with God,
45:06
SPEAKER_00: the better your day and your night and your life will be.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: Alright,
45:11
SPEAKER_00: moving along,
45:12
SPEAKER_00: let's jump to the book of Hebrews,
45:16
SPEAKER_00: just a single verse there,
45:19
SPEAKER_00: which is,
45:20
SPEAKER_00: Strive for peace with everyone,
45:23
SPEAKER_00: and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
45:27
SPEAKER_00: Or, you might see it as, make every effort to live in peace with everyone.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: But the short of it is,
45:33
SPEAKER_00: as a Christian,
45:34
SPEAKER_00: we should try to, as it said, make every effort to live in peace with everyone.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: Alright, moving along, saw another great quote from a pastor, former pastor D.L.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: Moody, who said, Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: The other 99 will read the Christian.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: It's just a great reminder,
45:59
SPEAKER_00: if you're a person of faith,
46:02
SPEAKER_00: the average person around you that you work with is not going to read the Bible.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: But how you treat them, the kindness you show...
46:11
SPEAKER_00: Agreeing or volunteering to work that extra shift to help them or to replace them
46:16
SPEAKER_00: while they go visit a sick one or deal with a family emergency or whatnot.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: Like being that person that is just different is sometimes the thing that will spark
46:29
SPEAKER_00: a conversation and allow you to tell them what makes you different.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Alright, moving along.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about giving good advice.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: There's a verse in Proverbs 12,
46:42
SPEAKER_00: verse 26, which says, The godly give good advice to their friends.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: The wicked lead them astray.
46:51
SPEAKER_00: Again, the godly give good advice to their friends, the wicked lead them astray.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: And the person that shared it asked this question,
46:59
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever shied away from giving advice to a friend for fear that you will step
47:05
SPEAKER_00: on their toes?
47:07
SPEAKER_00: And I think for all of us the answer is yes.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: We often worry about offending someone, especially our friends.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is that love tells the truth.
47:20
SPEAKER_00: You do so in a kind way, but if you want to love someone, tell them the truth.
47:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, the next one, I kind of threw some together as a theme.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: But the next one is from the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 9.
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SPEAKER_00: Have I not commanded you?
47:43
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and courageous.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: Do not be discouraged.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: So we shouldn't be discouraged or afraid to tell our friends.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: We also shouldn't be afraid to tell folks who don't even believe with the message
48:02
SPEAKER_00: or what the message is.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: Because as the verse says, Have I not commanded you?
48:06
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and courageous.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: Do not be discouraged.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
48:17
SPEAKER_00: Alright, the next one.
48:19
SPEAKER_00: Jumping over to the New Testament.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Just a good reminder on how we should be living if you're a Christian.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: This is from James 1, verse 19.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: Again, everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: Alright, two more.
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SPEAKER_00: Next one is a quote from a pastor,
48:47
SPEAKER_00: and the quote is,
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SPEAKER_00: Joy is the flag that flies above the castle of our hearts,
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SPEAKER_00: announcing that the King is in residence.
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SPEAKER_00: King being Jesus Christ.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: So, Joy is the flag that flies above the castle of our hearts,
49:04
SPEAKER_00: announcing So,
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SPEAKER_00: if you are a believer,
49:07
SPEAKER_00: you should have a flag of joy that flies around you,
49:09
SPEAKER_00: that flies over you, that announces that the king is in residence.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a beautiful quote.
49:31
SPEAKER_00: And then we'll end with one final verse from the Old Testament,
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SPEAKER_00: Book of Isaiah, chapter 40, 31, one of the more famous verses.
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SPEAKER_00: I know I've read it a time or two in the past, but can't ever read this one too much.
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SPEAKER_00: Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
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SPEAKER_00: They will soar on wings like eagles.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: Again, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: They will soar on wings like eagles.
50:01
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a great reminder that not only in the current day that you're living,
50:07
SPEAKER_00: but as most folks get older and they see their body get weaker and wither,
50:14
SPEAKER_00: They don't necessarily have much hope,
50:17
SPEAKER_00: and they see their life draining away,
50:19
SPEAKER_00: whereas Christians believe that these bodies that we have will be replaced
50:25
SPEAKER_00: with bodies that don't age,
50:28
SPEAKER_00: that don't hurt, and so we have a long-term hope that we will renew our strength.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: But even in the short term,
50:39
SPEAKER_00: when you Know that you have an all-powerful creator that is on your side
50:47
SPEAKER_00: and often loves you so much and often steps divinely into your life
50:54
SPEAKER_00: and moves mountains for you.
50:58
SPEAKER_00: It makes you more optimistic.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't I mean, he always will.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to say there's some kind of prosperity gospel.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: The reality is that many Christians will be hated.
51:07
SPEAKER_00: You may literally face threats, especially in America.
51:13
SPEAKER_00: We're in a safe situation right now,
51:15
SPEAKER_00: but across the world,
51:17
SPEAKER_00: many Christians are attacked and threatened,
51:21
SPEAKER_00: and we should remember our Christian brothers and sisters, but...
51:25
SPEAKER_00: Even those who face, as the Bible says, don't fear those who can take your physical bodies.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: You should have no fear of that.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: You should have fear and love for the one that can restore and save your soul.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: But again, the quote is, Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
51:45
SPEAKER_00: They will soar on wings like eagles.
51:47
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 40, verse 31.
51:48
SPEAKER_00: A great one to indwell them.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: I like to end the faith section each week by saying that if you're skeptical
51:58
SPEAKER_00: or you're not sure if what I've shared is true or not,
52:02
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to encourage you to read the Bible for yourself.
52:05
SPEAKER_00: Not secondhand, not through headlines or arguments, just open it and read.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: I've linked a Bible resource page in the episode notes that talk about translations
52:18
SPEAKER_00: and a good place to start.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: But if you don't want to click anything or take the time to read
52:23
SPEAKER_00: that short explanation I provide,
52:26
SPEAKER_00: just start with the book of Mark in the New Testament.
52:29
SPEAKER_00: And then read a little bit of Psalms or Proverbs each day.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: Let the text speak for itself.
52:37
SPEAKER_00: And if it's all a bunch of hooey or drivel,
52:40
SPEAKER_00: then you'll know pretty quickly that I'm off my rocker.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: But if it's the Word of God...
52:48
SPEAKER_00: Then I think God will speak to you through the text.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: And I think if you're unsure, you shouldn't be afraid to read something.
52:57
SPEAKER_00: I know I've read many texts about Buddhism,
53:01
SPEAKER_00: Islam, other faiths, Hinduism, and none of those texts spoke to me.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible did speak to me.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: And so my challenge is, open the book yourself.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: Read it as a skeptic.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: And see if it's full of absolute truths and feels like the Word of God.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: If you don't own a Bible or don't have one handy, There are free apps on your phone.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: There are bazillions of websites that have the Bible on it.
53:35
SPEAKER_00: So you can read it from your phone.
53:39
SPEAKER_00: One final word.
53:40
SPEAKER_00: If you're a veteran and you're dealing with depression,
53:44
SPEAKER_00: PTSD, or thoughts of suicide, please check out the link in the resource notes.
53:51
SPEAKER_00: We need you in this fight.
53:54
SPEAKER_00: And you cannot give up.
53:57
SPEAKER_00: After all, who is going to take care of your family someday?
54:02
SPEAKER_00: Do you really want your military friends to feel guilty they didn't check on you more?
54:07
SPEAKER_00: I know it's taboo to say that it's selfish, but it is selfish.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: There is a purpose for your life,
54:15
SPEAKER_00: and you're just dealing with a lot of pain right now that feels overwhelming.
54:19
SPEAKER_00: It can get better,
54:22
SPEAKER_00: and I believe it will start to get better if you listen to the resource link
54:27
SPEAKER_00: that I have in the episode notes.
54:30
SPEAKER_00: And then start moving toward God, community, and your true purpose in life.
54:36
SPEAKER_00: If you're at the end of your rope,
54:37
SPEAKER_00: you have nothing left to lose by listening to my voice a little longer
54:43
SPEAKER_00: and trying something different.
54:45
SPEAKER_00: Our country needs your strength, perseverance, and wisdom.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: Remember that most Americans are good people, even if they vote differently than you do.
55:18
SPEAKER_00: Aim to be a little bit more disciplined this week than you were last week.
55:23
SPEAKER_00: Mentally, physically, and spiritually, raise the bar just a little.
55:30
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be perfect.
55:31
SPEAKER_00: You just need to aim to be a little better than you were last week.
55:36
SPEAKER_00: When you fall short, forgive yourself quickly.
55:39
SPEAKER_00: Start again.
55:41
SPEAKER_00: Now, when the news discourages you, and I believe it will...
55:46
SPEAKER_00: Because even on the best of weeks, the media is looking for bad news.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: But when the news discourages you, don't give up on this country.
55:57
SPEAKER_00: Try to remember that division weakens us.
56:02
SPEAKER_00: Unity strengthens us.
56:05
SPEAKER_00: This is wisdom.
56:07
SPEAKER_00: And it's also biblical.
56:09
SPEAKER_00: So guard what you feed your mind and your spirit.
56:13
SPEAKER_00: What you take in and absorb will shape what you become.
56:19
SPEAKER_00: Don't ingest poison.
56:23
SPEAKER_00: And that's mostly what cable news is.
56:26
SPEAKER_00: If you are a person of faith,
56:29
SPEAKER_00: make sure you make some time this week to spend time in your Bible.
56:33
SPEAKER_00: If you are not, try reading the Bible this week for the first time.
56:38
SPEAKER_00: Or for the first time in a long time.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: You know what kind of results you're getting with what you've been doing.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: It might be time to try something new.
56:48
SPEAKER_00: Now before we leave,
56:50
SPEAKER_00: I need to mention on the off chance that you don't know that I am an author
56:55
SPEAKER_00: in addition to being a podcaster.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: I write compelling stories that matter about courage, faith, and the fight for what's right.
57:07
SPEAKER_00: I've written a dozen books to date.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: They are military thrillers,
57:13
SPEAKER_00: police detective mysteries, or whodunits, war literature, a western.
57:20
SPEAKER_00: One of them is even a motivational self-help book.
57:23
SPEAKER_00: And I've been fortunate to have sold more than 70,000 copies to date.
57:27
SPEAKER_00: So thank you if you're one of those who have purchased one of my books.
57:32
SPEAKER_00: All of my books are available for sale on Amazon,
57:35
SPEAKER_00: but if you go there, the list can be a little overwhelming.
57:39
SPEAKER_00: So people say, what book do you recommend, Stan?
57:42
SPEAKER_00: I would recommend one of my top-selling books called Little Man and the Dixon County War.
57:49
SPEAKER_00: It is a fast-moving western.
57:52
SPEAKER_00: It has tons of action, and it has one of the best unexpected endings that you will ever see.
58:01
SPEAKER_00: In fact,
58:02
SPEAKER_00: I was blessed enough that at one point this book climbed as high as number 16 on
58:08
SPEAKER_00: the Amazon UK paid list in the United Kingdom.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: And that was with no outside marketing, no book publisher pushing it, nothing.
58:18
SPEAKER_00: That was word of mouth and people talking about it on social media.
58:22
SPEAKER_00: So that's the book I recommend when people say, Stan, what book should I start with?
58:28
SPEAKER_00: I should also say before we end the show that if you believe what I'm doing
58:32
SPEAKER_00: on this podcast matters in this moment for our country,
58:36
SPEAKER_00: you can partner with the mission to help keep the show independent and steady.
58:42
SPEAKER_00: You can do that through either a monthly or one-time gift,
58:45
SPEAKER_00: and there are several ways to support the show in the episode notes.
58:50
SPEAKER_00: No pressure to do so, just huge gratitude if you do.
58:56
SPEAKER_00: Until next time.
58:58
SPEAKER_00: Stay hopeful, stay humble, and keep working to be the light in your corner of the world.
59:05
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Stan R. Mitchell Show.