Latest / Restoration Spotlight / Is America Really Fighting a “Culture War”?
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- [01:00:00:05 - 01:00:18:25] Speaker 3 Well, I'll tell you, it'll fix it all. It's the Christian church dropping this ridiculous idea that your faith is a private compartmentalized aspect of our lives. And there is something to do with the last, I don't know, hundred years where liberalism pushed all of Christianity out of the public square. [01:00:18:25 - 01:00:22:20] (Music) [01:00:25:14 - 01:00:57:28] Speaker 3 Well, howdy and welcome back to the Restoration Spotlight podcast. This is season two, and I am your long-lost host Hayden Ludwig, executive editor for Restoration News. I brought some wingmen with me today. So let me introduce some of my Restoration of America colleagues, beginning with John Pearman, our legal counsel. We have Dan Curry, our chief strategy officer and publisher of the First Right newsletter. And of course, the fabulous Grace Riley, host of Restoring America, which is an awesome show. And I highly recommend you check it out. So John, Dan, Grace, thank you for being here. [01:00:57:28 - 01:00:59:16] Speaker 4 Thanks, Hayden. [01:00:59:16 - 01:01:01:03] Speaker 1 Yeah, thank you. [01:01:02:13 - 01:01:27:09] Speaker 3 So, we're one month out from the election. I can't believe it. It's time flies. The news cycle is relentless and relentlessly unpredictable. Top of the docket today comes out of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. You guys remember that name? Grace and I don't know who that is, but John and Dan, the little guys on this show, they know. So John Pearman, why is Rod Blagojevich, after all these years, back in the headlines? [01:01:28:23 - 01:01:29:18] Speaker 5 I wish he wasn't. [01:01:30:18 - 01:01:46:15] Speaker 5 He should still be in a prison in Colorado, actually, as we speak. But he was pardoned at the end of Trump's first term. That trip that he made to New York to be on The Apprentice clearly paid off on some level for him [01:01:47:22 - 01:01:53:20] Speaker 5 after having been convicted for what were largely termed as payoffs themselves. [01:01:54:26 - 01:02:10:17] Speaker 5 Rod Blagojevich is out there trying to push a story saying, "See, I was right all along. I never tried to sell the Senate seat." So just for everybody's sake, refreshing the recollection for all. He was the guy who said, [01:02:11:19 - 01:03:05:02] Speaker 5 as governor, when Obama won the presidency, Blagojevich had the ability to appoint the next US senator from Illinois. That is the governor's right in Illinois, and he was the governor thanks to the fact that Dan and I were unable to defeat him in our attempt to elect a different governor. But that's a whole side. But the bottom line is, he was caught on a federal wiretap saying, "I'm not just gonna effing give this thing away for nothing. This thing is effing golden." And that prompted the US attorney at the time to step in and arrest him in his house, I think, on a Sunday morning to stop him from selling that effing thing. And I think the US attorney at the time said that Abraham Lincoln was doing cartwheels in his grave or something along the lines. [01:03:06:22 - 01:03:11:03] Speaker 5 So fast forward. Now we have some FBI [01:03:12:14 - 01:03:40:21] Speaker 5 records being released and opened up, and the records apparently show that Rahm Emanuel, who was a congressman at the time, but going to be the chief of staff for Obama, who was president-elect and Obama, who was a US senator and president-elect, having conversations about who they would want appointed into that Senate seat and what they were trying to do to get Blagojevich to go along with who they wanted. [01:03:41:26 - 01:04:12:10] Speaker 5 I think Dan and I each think that those things were performative because I don't think it was a well-kept secret that the feds had a wire on Blagojevich. But anyway, so this is a nothing burger, probably in the scheme of things here. Blagojevich is trying to use it to say, "See, I was innocent," but people are forgetting that he was also convicted on 17 other counts. So yeah, it's including lying to the FBI multiple times. So anyway, that's the name we're new. That's what happened. [01:04:12:10 - 01:04:15:08] Speaker 4 Nothing without corruption, apparently. [01:04:15:08 - 01:04:30:16] Speaker 3 Yeah, I was expecting that to happen. I don't know that Grace was born at that point. Dan, you had a blog. You were covering this at the time, right? You may have been a Democrat at the time, but you were covering the story. What's the English, the Bush angle? [01:04:31:24 - 01:04:32:27] Speaker 3 Well, there [01:04:35:27 - 01:05:35:10] Speaker 1 are a lot of different angles to this and there's a lot of nuance. And John kind of glossed over the fact people don't realize that Obama and Emanuel both were questioned by the FBI in December after he was elected, he was president-elect. They were both questioned by the FBI and the media tried to downplay that. But see, the significance of this story is that the Bush DOJ was investigating Blagojevich and Obama gets elected president, he's president-elect. He does not realize that Blagojevich is being wiretapped and he and mostly Rahm Emanuel are actively lobbying Blagojevich to appoint Valerie Jarrett very aggressively lobbying. And at some point along [01:05:36:25 - 01:05:40:14] Speaker 1 the Obama people became aware that they [01:05:42:16 - 01:05:47:11] Speaker 1 were being wiretapped and they changed their tune and all of a sudden they were, you know, for [01:05:48:19 - 01:06:03:01] Speaker 1 other people being appointed. But I think the real significant story here is that the Bush DOJ could have entrapped Obama and Emanuel had they, you [01:06:04:02 - 01:06:05:23] Speaker 1 know, taken the posture and something nefarious. [01:06:05:23 - 01:06:08:22] Speaker 5 Entrapped is probably not the best word. Yeah, I'd use a different word. [01:06:08:22 - 01:06:09:08] Speaker 1 Or they [01:06:11:22 - 01:06:22:13] Speaker 1 could have sent people in to talk to the FBI officers to talk. Just comparing contrast is to 2016 when Trump [01:06:23:23 - 01:06:41:11] Speaker 1 is president-elect and the Obama DOJ is trying with their might to ensnare Trump's people in the investigation. And then they did ensnare them with General Flynn and others. [01:06:42:22 - 01:06:44:16] Speaker 1 Bush did the exact opposite. I feel more comfortable with [01:06:44:16 - 01:06:49:01] Speaker 5 using entrapment in that context. Entrapment can be used there. Yeah. Interesting. [01:06:49:01 - 01:07:43:28] Speaker 1 Entrapment is there. Okay. From the legal side. So anyway, totally different posture. The Bush DOJ, I think, arrested Blagojevich maybe sooner than they wanted to because they were worried that Obama and Emanuel were possibly implicating themselves to a point where they would have had to make a decision on prosecuting them. So the Bush DOJ pulled the trigger on Blagojevich's arrest. And so they took the, they could have nailed Obama's people, but they laid off of them on purpose. Whereas Obama, when Trump came in, did the opposite. So that's the big, to me, that's the big angle to this story is just the complete dichotomy in the two DOJ's in kind of similar situations. [01:07:45:09 - 01:07:49:23] Speaker 4 Yeah. I agree. It's fast forward to now how much worse they've even gotten since then. [01:07:49:23 - 01:07:50:16] Speaker 3 Yes. [01:07:50:16 - 01:07:52:19] Speaker 4 Since 2016. It's insane. [01:07:54:24 - 01:08:35:13] Speaker 3 Well, great. I mean, because you brought it up, you know, I don't know how you feel about it, but I look at this and I go, this is the do nothing GOP of my right. You don't blame the voters. They had nobody else to vote for, right? But the pre 2016 Republican party, it just played by these gentlemen's rules where they lost and lost and lost and lost. And we got Obama and because of Valerie Jarrett, we got the 2015 Iran deal, right? Which may have led to the war we're in the middle of right now. There's all of this corruption that we got. Remember all the USAID spending that Trump and Doge exposed, that pretty much all came out of the Obama administration. So they were corrupt from the start is what I'm hearing. [01:08:35:13 - 01:09:43:13] Speaker 4 Yeah. And I will say for the record, everyone, I was alive and remember both Bush and Obama. But I will say Obama was when I was growing up. So having the nice political conversations with my family, my grandma loved talking about Obama and everything wrong with him and his administration. So I learned how radical Obama was and what a turning point he was for the country. So there's some background there, but I really got involved in politics around the Trump years when Trump ended up entering the scene. So I do have this more distant, but memory of exactly what you're describing Hayden. And even just looking from 2016 to now, even it's just absolutely insane to see the differences. And I mean, I think there are so many different examples of the corrupt DOJ and just the way that they've been weaponized to go after people for political reasons where from my time in politics, that's been an incredibly normal thing or normalized thing where [01:09:45:02 - 01:10:34:00] Speaker 4 pretty much my full time actually working in politics, that's all I've gotten to witness is the DOJ being weaponized and going after people throughout all the Trump years. So it's really wild because obviously it shouldn't be normalized, but to watch that progression from the Bush years and how Republicans used to handle things then to now is just fascinating. And it makes you think like, what direction are we going to keep heading with how bad it's been now? At least there's been some, I don't know if you could call it accountability, but there's been some sort of accountability with more light being shined on some of this stuff with the story we're talking about today. And then if we think about the Russia hoax and some things that have been uncovered there, even from Biden's DOJ, but it's just crazy. [01:10:35:03 - 01:11:20:12] Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, just from the record, Hayden, I am not for Republicans doing what Obama did to Trump because that's incredibly disruptive to the country when one party holds office and then another party is transitioning into the presidency. If you try to target that person based on some conversations they're having with people to get ready to go into office, you could criminalize pretty much anything they're doing if you really want to. And that's never been done before in this country until Obama did it to Trump, his DOJ did it to Trump. And that's what I was going to bring up. Yeah. [01:11:22:01 - 01:12:02:06] Speaker 3 Well, this is my question to all you guys, right? We're not for that kind of corruption. We don't want a justice system that's just as corrupt as the Obama DOJ just in our favor. But do you sense that a lot of young people now who are so sick and tired of the system not working for our side, the conservative side always pulling their punches, letting the left win, take the dirty shots, we do nothing. I strongly sense that Gen Z men and especially, but all right-wingers on the Gen Z side, yeah, we want the corruption. We just want it on our side. That effect that Obama unleashed, what do you guys think about that? [01:12:02:06 - 01:12:37:14] Speaker 4 I think that you're probably more accurate than maybe I would think that we've just got to hold the level line of advocating for justice and truth in the most fair way possible. And we've just got to be the side that's continuing to do that. But obviously, we've seen that this whole new MAGA crowd, you could say, take more of the spirit of fighting fire with fire or not MAGA, but the Gen Z conservatives rising up maybe have had more appetite for that. But we should just advocate for justice would be my take. [01:12:38:19 - 01:12:47:03] Speaker 5 Well, I can save the younger generations a lot of time, effort and frustration, anxiety here. [01:12:48:08 - 01:12:57:21] Speaker 5 Stop thinking that government is going to be able to be better or solve your problems or anything along those lines. Do it yourself. Be your own [01:12:58:28 - 01:13:13:05] Speaker 5 creator of opportunity here. Government's going to get in your way. They're going to frustrate you. This isn't going to get better. This is never going to be a system that works for you. It's always going to be something you have to work against. But the underlying [01:13:14:12 - 01:13:28:27] Speaker 5 principles of the country from our founding are still good ones. It's still the longest serving form of government and the best one out there. So stop whining, get to work and make your own opportunities here. Nobody's [01:13:29:29 - 01:13:37:13] Speaker 5 ever going to be able to deliver for you the things that you want. And it's always going to suck for you. So I'm sorry, but there's [01:13:39:11 - 01:13:40:02] Speaker 5 no way I've [01:13:40:02 - 01:13:42:12] Speaker 3 ever heard. It's always going to suck for you. [01:13:42:12 - 01:13:48:18] Speaker 4 No, that was perfection, John. Perfect perfection. Well, you know, but you're right. [01:13:50:09 - 01:14:47:26] Speaker 1 You know, getting back to Grace's point, I mean, the if you do polls and the polls have been like this forever, people on across the country are in favor of politicians being indicted and put in prison. They like that. There's an appetite for that. So that's been going on forever. But the thing that's frustrating the people on our side is that what Obama did, which was the big departure, it wasn't anything that Trump did. It Obama set the, you know, broke the president in a dramatic way by going after Trump. As we just described, that has to be those people have to be held accountable or it'll just start happening again. Why not? If you can get away with it, you know, then it's going to happen again and again. That's why people are frustrated on our side that nobody's been held accountable. [01:14:48:26 - 01:14:53:24] Speaker 5 Yes. Well, the funny thing here, just one last full circle and last point on the, you know, [01:14:55:21 - 01:15:37:22] Speaker 5 Blagojevich, I think testified for six days straight or something like that in his trial to no avail, obviously. But essentially what he was testifying to was that why are you holding me accountable for this? Everybody does this, including, you know, Obama and everybody else here. Why are you singling me out? Which is a terrible defense, obviously. It didn't work. He went to jail, right? But, you know, I think to Dan's point on this, you know, the reality is there was so much sleaze going on all across the board on this whole thing. It wasn't just golden to Rod Blagojevich. It was golden to all of them. And they were trying to put all their political levers to make it happen [01:15:38:25 - 01:15:53:18] Speaker 5 and then, you know, became aware of the fact that somebody was recording Blagojevich and all of a sudden they tried to sanitize all of this in all likelihood. And so anytime Blagojevich is talking, look away. That's my advice. [01:15:53:18 - 01:16:08:20] Speaker 3 Yeah, just one other quick one other quick. I do want to move to high. One point for you, John and Dan as native sons of Chicago. Is it fair to say this is just the exporting of Chicago machine politics to the whole country? [01:16:12:08 - 01:16:57:26] Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, Obama and his crew were there was a lot of corruption surrounding them the whole time. Of course, the media acted like none of it ever happened. And this is a good example is that this whole episode that we were just talking about barely got much coverage at the time. And it was just, you know, swept under the rug afterwards and nobody went back and looked at it. For one other quick point on this, John and I, when we were doing this blog, because the media was ignoring all this, the Chicago Tribune, we believe based on a bunch of the testimony and so forth has audio tapes of some of these wiretaps with Obama officials. And they have never printed [01:16:58:26 - 01:17:11:05] Speaker 1 all the transcripts. And it's my belief that they have some incriminating stuff against Obama or Obama's people, and they just didn't want to print it because it would have been very damning. So yeah, [01:17:13:01 - 01:17:14:25] Speaker 1 not surprising probably to anybody. [01:17:20:12 - 01:17:26:00] Speaker 3 John, your thoughts is this basically just Chicago corruption being exported to the whole country? [01:17:26:00 - 01:17:45:22] Speaker 5 I don't know that anybody has the market cornered on corruption. I think Illinois has you know, definitely got a bad history there. New Jersey's another state that you know, you can look to as a corruption capital. And then there are other places where corruption is prevalent, where it isn't prosecuted, where it might even be worse. So, you know, I [01:17:48:11 - 01:17:57:25] Speaker 5 don't think that Obama was at the center of Democrat machine politics. It was always Michael Madigan, now sitting in a jail cell as we record this. [01:17:58:29 - 01:18:46:26] Speaker 5 And you know, and Obama was sort of a bit player on all this stuff. He at a certain point for them could look and act the part that they wanted to be able to run a candidate who could, you know, have appeal, and he executed it perfectly, right? So he was not a politico. He wasn't sitting in the, you know, smoky back rooms in Chicago. That's, you know, did, you know, Rahm Emanuel was more that guy, you know, sort of the street fighter, you know, guy. But, you know, Emanuel held the same congressional seat that Blagojevich vacated to become governor. You know, so, which was a very politically connected seat as well. So, you know, I don't know that it's, you know, they unleashed something here. I think it was always present. They just had their own version of it. [01:18:48:24 - 01:18:50:15] Speaker 3 Interesting. Got it. All right. [01:18:50:15 - 01:19:12:23] Speaker 5 Moving on to another story. I mean, just always remember that. Like he's, he might be an intellectual, he might be a smart guy, he might have capabilities, but, you know, yeah, he's a guy who stands on the mark and says the thing. He, you know, he doesn't, he's not, he's not a thinker. And he's not a hard worker. You know, he just was a very talented communicator and a two term president. [01:19:14:24 - 01:19:16:00] Speaker 3 Yep. Yep. [01:19:17:04 - 01:19:33:27] Speaker 3 Well, another story out of Illinois that made the headlines today, September 30th, John Pierman is 50. Dan wishes he could still be 50. Grace and I, without Maha, will die before we're 50. But the Hyde Amendment just turned 50 years old today. Grace, what is the Hyde Amendment? [01:19:33:27 - 01:19:43:14] Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah. Great lead in their Hayden. The Hyde Amendment was enacted 15 years ago. Hey, it was flawless. [01:19:44:20 - 01:20:55:15] Speaker 4 But yeah, the Hyde Amendment was enacted 50 years ago today. And what this did was essentially make sure that taxpayers were not being forced to fund abortions against their content, their consciences with federal tax dollars. So 50 years of this, it was enacted around the time of Roe v. Wade and very fortunately, and coincidentally, it's lived longer than Roe v. Wade with Roe v. Wade being gone now. But it's literally saved millions of lives. The estimate is about 2.6 million from researchers over the years with it being enacted. So that's just a story that we've got to point to and highlight today. And of course, we know though that though this is great news, there is so much more work to do. There are still abortion pills being sent in the mail across the country that are endangering women, but also taking so many lives, which is just horrible. And the Restoration of America Foundation has done a lot of really great research highlighting this. But yeah, so all of you remember when this happened. So you've got to break that down with your own perspectives. [01:20:56:25 - 01:22:13:28] Speaker 3 Yeah, I don't. I just got to comment on this thing. The Hyde Amendment has become the thing that the left, the whole pro-abortion lobby actively says they want to dismantle and they will if they went in 2028 and have control of the government. But you know what, too, I think what this misses unfortunately is the government still effectively subsidizes abortion. We funded overseas through USAID, or we did before Trump, right? We'd give it to some of the biggest abortion groups in Europe and Africa and Asia, killing millions of babies over there. That's and at the same time, we subsidize a lot of these pro-abortion organizations in our own country, right? With tax breaks. This is my favorite argument with this. It's the left who came up with the idea that if you're a tax exempt organization, like a 501c3 charity or a foundation, you are effectively subsidized because they assume that money belongs to the federal government. It's like the most leftist assumption there is. Okay, well, fine. If that logic is true, then all of these multi-billion dollar foundations are all subsidized by the federal government, by us, to subsidize the entire Planned Parenthood pro-abortion lobby. So we are paying for it, despite the letter of the law being really clear on this for 50 years. [01:22:15:01 - 01:22:20:11] Speaker 5 Totally true, Hayden. And it's actually even worse probably than the statistics indicate because [01:22:21:12 - 01:22:27:08] Speaker 5 there's a strong belief that providers for a long period of time have been improperly coding [01:22:28:21 - 01:22:36:21] Speaker 5 procedures to be able to get around the Hyde Amendment as well. And I think with the advent and growth of AI and [01:22:37:24 - 01:22:45:11] Speaker 5 analytical capabilities, we're going to see more and more fraud that's been committed in those areas [01:22:47:10 - 01:23:15:16] Speaker 5 going forward. But Dan and I actually knew Henry Hyde. Dan covered him as a reporter. Wow. My time coming up in politics. We were around Henry often. My favorite quote from Henry Hyde was not about abortion, but it was about a politician that Dan and I worked for, Jim Ryan, who's deceased. Not George Ryan, not Jack Ryan, but Jim Ryan. You always have to make that one clear. He said he was the straightest arrow he'd ever known in politics was the endorsement that Henry Hyde gave. [01:23:17:08 - 01:23:17:08] Speaker 5 But [01:23:18:29 - 01:23:26:26] Speaker 5 Henry was one of those guys too. He was a very principled individual and had a great career and [01:23:27:28 - 01:23:34:15] Speaker 5 would be very disappointed that people don't see the value of this Hyde Amendment [01:23:35:21 - 01:23:43:10] Speaker 5 both historically and then for the future because it was something that was arrived at in a bipartisan way. [01:23:44:19 - 01:23:55:01] Speaker 5 I'm old enough to remember pro-life Democrats. In fact, a large percentage of the party, including Dick Durbin, pro-life Democrats, Bill Clinton. [01:23:57:16 - 01:24:07:27] Speaker 5 I know it seems absurd today, but a good portion of the Democrat Party, especially if they were elected from a rural part of the state, they were pro-life. [01:24:09:22 - 01:24:21:11] Speaker 5 The Hyde Amendment wasn't a Republican measure. It was a bipartisan measure. And I don't know for sure on this, but my guess is it might have even come out of a Democrat controlled legislature at the time. [01:24:22:16 - 01:24:22:26] Speaker 5 Because [01:24:24:03 - 01:24:33:08] Speaker 5 it was common sense, it was the right thing to do. As Grace pointed out, something that has already saved at least two and a half million lives, if not more than that. [01:24:34:08 - 01:25:00:21] Speaker 5 As pessimistic as I am about the ability to have government function properly, we do need to get back to a point politically where it's not just all scorched earth and we aren't standing on polar opposite ends of the spectrum here. Because the only way the government can be effective is that Democrats and Republicans need to find ways to work together on things. And [01:25:01:26 - 01:25:14:17] Speaker 5 until that happens again, we're not going to see policy that works for the whole country. We're going to see policy that works for a segment of the country that then is going to potentially whimsically change two years later because people aren't happy that they didn't get the immediate results. [01:25:15:19 - 01:25:15:19] Speaker 5 But [01:25:16:27 - 01:25:18:03] Speaker 5 another point for another day. [01:25:19:05 - 01:25:19:20] Speaker 1 Yeah, [01:25:20:22 - 01:25:20:22] Speaker 1 John [01:25:23:02 - 01:25:38:03] Speaker 1 knew Henry better than I did, but I will say I did interview him once for a profile and talk about an impressive guy in terms of obviously the Hyde Amendment is going to be a big part of his legacy. But [01:25:39:07 - 01:25:44:05] Speaker 1 just as a classical congressman, the guy had a tremendous intellect, [01:25:45:11 - 01:26:02:26] Speaker 1 always looked at the big picture. And like all great conservatives, he was a Democrat as a younger man. And- That's interesting. That's correct, isn't it, John? I mean, I may remember you maybe [01:26:04:08 - 01:26:05:10] Speaker 1 for young me, but yeah. [01:26:06:27 - 01:26:09:11] Speaker 1 He was quite impressive. [01:26:12:00 - 01:26:13:19] Speaker 3 Yeah, that's fascinating. [01:26:14:27 - 01:26:56:02] Speaker 3 You're absolutely right. I've often thought that one of the things that should be our objective long-term as a country isn't just Republican dominance. It's having a Democrat party that you can stand to win elections from time to time because they're not going to transfer kids or forcibly abort anybody, right? We're nowhere near that. I'd love for my kids to live in a country that's true. We're not fearing for our family safety just because some Democrat wins high office. I can't even imagine what that feels like. I mean, honestly, I really can't. I have vague memories from my childhood. I was born a week after Bill Clinton was inaugurated. So pretty much that's my entire life. To me, the Republicans, either been feckless or they've been Trump, [01:26:57:05 - 01:27:09:27] Speaker 3 full of flaws, but at least he fights, right? He knows who his friends are, or they've been woke leftists who've gotten worse and worse and worse. It's almost inconceivable. I don't know, Grace, maybe you feel the same way or not. [01:27:11:06 - 01:28:58:22] Speaker 4 Well, I mean, over even just the past 10 years, how much worse the division has gotten is pretty insane. The left has just gotten even more radical. And obviously on this story, they're out for the Hyde Amendment. They have issues with it. And to me, that's pretty crazy because it seems very reasonable in middle of the line that at least we should all agree because this is such a serious sensitive issue that taxpayer money shouldn't be funding abortion. But they'll never, you can't give the left an inch because they'll take a mile. They're not okay with that. They want their worldview to transform and dismantle the whole country as we've known it and loved it. And it's just very sad. And I say this a lot, and I think that it's true. We're going to keep seeing people wake up and repeat Reagan's famous words that they didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democrat Party left them. And there are still people waking up to that now with their embrace of socialism. I know some people who are, have been more classical Democrats who have decided, "Okay, this might be too far for me finally if the past few years hadn't been enough." So I think that we're going to continue to see that. And I sure hope so because hopefully if enough people can wake up to that realization, there's some hope at them holding the line. But obviously, and I know John will probably have this point. It doesn't look that likely with the polling and the numbers and the ways that the radicals have taken over in that way. But all we can do is continue to fight the good fight, continue to spread and share truth, and try to encourage those across the aisle who disagree with us to be more on that reasonable path than their radical partners are. [01:29:00:28 - 01:29:04:25] Speaker 5 Yeah, I think that's all really well said. I am [01:29:06:01 - 01:29:52:11] Speaker 5 friends with many people who are Democrats. I don't know any of them that are okay with cutting body parts off of minor children or taking them away from their parents because the parents won't get them a sex change at the age of 13. I don't know any of my Democrat friends that are okay with boys playing in girls sports or abortion up to the moment of birth or beyond. The people in the Democrat Party, by and large, don't agree with the positions that are being taken by their folks. And none of them are fans of AOC or Mamdani or any of this stuff. That's not actually who the Democrats are. That's who a sect of the Democrat Party is. The problem that we have on our [01:29:53:14 - 01:30:39:14] Speaker 5 side is that they're looking at it going, "Well, I can't be for them either because Trump." That's the red line. They won't cross it. So they stay over there with all the crazy because the crazy on our side, they can't tolerate either, and they were already on the other side. I'm not trying to justify it. I'm just saying, "I think that's what's going on here." Even though they've completely lost it on all the issues, and we should have an advantage on all of them, the guy in the White House is so unpopular with such a large percentage of the country that we can't play that to our advantage effectively. I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying, "Look, there's not a whole lot we can do from a communication standpoint [01:30:41:03 - 01:30:48:22] Speaker 5 to win races when these variables are dictating the voting patterns." [01:30:51:07 - 01:30:53:09] Speaker 1 Well, the scary part to me is [01:30:54:13 - 01:31:25:15] Speaker 1 in the past, the Democrats have turned to the left, and then they always course-corrected because they just came to their senses because the younger people and so forth did have an edge. Even they might have leaned a certain direction, they still had some basic common sense in their background and their education. Now, they're being educated that socialism is good. They don't even know what the downsides of socialism are. [01:31:26:29 - 01:31:31:10] Speaker 1 They're fine with political violence, all these things that used to be [01:31:32:20 - 01:31:49:23] Speaker 1 clearly wrong and seen as wrong, and people come to their senses after they get to a certain age. Now, I'm not sure that we have that same safeguard or guardrail that we did back then. [01:31:51:00 - 01:32:18:16] Speaker 3 Yeah, I got to say, maybe I'm more cynical than you guys, but I think the Democrat voters are just as corrupt as the Democrat leadership. Not to a man, there's some individuals or a trans man in this case. I do think there's individual exceptions, but I can even look at my own street. The people who are the worst neighbors on my street are the loud Democrats, the ones who vote consistently. But here's more what I mean. It's not just the woke activists, they're the ones who drag everything to the left. [01:32:19:20 - 01:33:46:13] Speaker 3 Those Democrats in power never, ever, ever, ever pay a price with their own voters, which tells you what. Their voters are fine with what they do. They're fine with the crazy thing. Even if they remind me of Joe Biden, "Oh, I'm a good Catholic, and I would abort my child, but I won't stop you from doing that." Well, that means you're just as corrupt because you're endorsing evil. You're endorsing the kind of things going on there. That's a fig leaf. They can't hide behind that. You look at poll after poll and dance right. You don't find this disconnect between the hard woke left who's pushing, they have the power, and they're pushing these ideas, the sociology departments that come up with these crazy, nutty ideas. Then the people who are voting Democrat, the people who vote Democrat, unless they came over to Trump in the last 10 years, they're fine with it. They have no problem. That's the most disconcerting thing with me. I'm actually an optimist in the long run. I think America's golden years are still ahead of it. I actually think for my kids and grandkids who live in the 21st century, they will discover the 21st century is actually the real American century. And the 20th century looks like a joke in comparison. We have great years ahead of us after we get over this real deep division. But the division isn't just between party leadership or the media. It's a tribal division between our people. I don't know what to do about that, but that's the thing that disconcerts me the most. [01:33:47:17 - 01:35:47:01] Speaker 4 Yeah. Well, and I think you make a great point. Obviously, we're all still here because we believe that there's still a fight to be won. That's why we wake up and do it. Absolutely. And I will say, I choose to be hopeful and optimistic, but it doesn't mean that I don't naturally feel this default urge to be more cynical about everything because I would second what Dan said. And he brought up a really great point about not only the embrace of socialism, but also these new stats that we're seeing about political violence and how many people are okay with that. That was extremely shocking to see over the past week, just more numbers to confirm that sentiment that people that are on the radical fringes of the left are now openly admitting that they're okay with stuff like that. So I think that there's a lot of serious problems. I think that the glimmer of hope in some way when I think about my generation is that I don't think that everyone who's aligning in this radical left pocket is there because they sincerely understand and believe what they're fighting for. I think there are a lot of young people in particular, but Americans in general, who don't understand what socialism is, who could define it if they were asked. And that means that we have an opportunity. And that means that, okay, you know, we've got to figure out our messaging. We've got to figure out how to really get the truth out there in a way that it'll resonate. But at least it's not that everyone is adamantly this communist Marxist that wants the end of the world and America to go. I think that there is a good chunk of people who are more in the area of ignorance, which is its own problem and a serious one. But I would say that that ignorance to socialism and the radical left is better than having a bunch of militant Marxists that really believe they're wise and everything else. So I think that that is an opportunity for us to step in and share the truth and have these conversations. And that means that there is still hope. [01:35:48:15 - 01:36:11:03] Speaker 1 Yeah, I think that the conservative media is so important in this fight because there used to be guardrails with the media as well. And what happened with the Obama targeting of Trump, that would not have happened, you know, years and years ago when I was in journalism, because the excesses of the media and the obvious [01:36:12:22 - 01:36:43:15] Speaker 1 unfair narratives and stories that were being generated by the media would not have stood because there were people that would be getting both sides and getting some of the nefarious stuff going on behind the scenes would have been exposed. But what happened is all the people in media just said, "Okay, we're on this side. And whatever they do on this side, we're just going to go along with it." That's why it's so disappointing as somebody who used to be in media to see [01:36:44:25 - 01:36:48:19] Speaker 1 how these reporters have just sold their soul. [01:36:49:24 - 01:36:59:09] Speaker 1 Because some of us who got into journalism, we got into journalism to expose truth and not to play as a partisan activist from one side or the other. [01:36:59:09 - 01:36:59:24] Speaker 3 That's right. [01:36:59:24 - 01:37:21:01] Speaker 1 So it's a very important restoration news, all these other conservative outlets out there, podcasts like our podcast here, Grace's podcast. Those are so important that we continue to develop those and spread those because people are being shut out from the truth, and we need to get it to them. [01:37:23:21 - 01:37:47:26] Speaker 3 Well, I'll tell you what will fix it all. It's the Christian church dropping this ridiculous idea that your faith is a private compartmentalized aspect of our lives. If the Christian church went out into the culture and confronted it and said, "Look, you're all guilty of different kinds of sins, but you're all guilty of sin nonetheless, just like me, just like everybody's ever been redeemed, [01:37:48:27 - 01:39:00:11] Speaker 3 and you need to repent of that. Start going to church, start raising your kids as Christians, get married first." All of this stuff. You see the consequences downstream in elections. Because elections are just battles that are fought between relatively small groups of highly focused, clued in individuals, but everybody can be touched by the church. How many churches are there in this country? Thousands, tens of thousands. This country has 400 years of Christian influence in it, and there is something to do with the last, I don't know, 100 years where liberalism pushed all of Christianity out of the public square and into these private, "Jesus lives in my heart, but nowhere else" kind of mentality developed. I think we need to go out into the world and say, "No, Jesus is king of the entire earth. He's king of you, he's king of me, even if you don't accept it." What do you do with that information? You make everybody think about that, grapple with that, because that is what the gospel comes down to. You can't be neutral with a question like that. You have to decide what the answer is, and you're going to find a lot of people who, just as they were shot into [01:39:02:07 - 01:39:16:12] Speaker 3 focus by the Charlie Kirk assassination a year ago, they've never heard anybody tell them that, tell them what they need, tell them the truth about themselves. That would make all the difference in the world, but you have to have Christians who are courageous enough to do it, and [01:39:17:13 - 01:39:21:15] Speaker 3 you have some, we need more. Agree with everything you're saying, Hayden. [01:39:21:15 - 01:39:32:15] Speaker 5 As the only Catholic on this call, I would say the only phrase that I don't like is the "touched by the church" part of this, but that's an aside. But the [01:39:33:29 - 01:39:50:22] Speaker 5 reality is we think there are a lot of... Let's end it right there, John. Yeah. There are a lot of million conservative Christians that aren't voting in our country right now, and we're very focused on that here at Restoration of America, on how do we activate those people and do exactly what you're saying here. [01:39:52:02 - 01:40:01:01] Speaker 5 You do have an obligation to vote your faith and to make sure that we don't let these [01:40:02:14 - 01:40:08:17] Speaker 5 horrible ideas become horrible policy and become horribly oppressive for all of us. [01:40:10:01 - 01:40:50:08] Speaker 1 Right. It's good versus evil, and there's nothing else but good versus evil. And Josh Hawley spoke at our church this last Sunday in Virginia, and he made the very same point that the people of faith need to be active and not hide their faith. And I encourage everyone to find that sermon that he delivered. Josh Hawley is probably the most articulate public servant in America right at the moment and a legitimate believer and not a poser, and he gave a great message. [01:40:52:09 - 01:40:53:20] Speaker 4 Yeah, I think that that's great. [01:40:53:20 - 01:40:54:13] Speaker 3 Yeah, that's wonderful. Any more of that? [01:40:54:13 - 01:42:33:17] Speaker 4 Yeah, I would echo everything that John just said, Hayden, Dan. And I think, too, something that came to my mind is, as you were talking, Hayden, it's just the reason... One of the big reasons that we have so much division is because we don't agree on fundamental truths anymore. We used to acknowledge as a nation fundamental truths, and that's what our laws are actually based off of. We were able to define good and evil very clearly. We were able to define right and wrong very clearly, but because we've blurred those lines and the secular woke culture has changed the definition of objective truth and tried to convince everyone that it's all the sudden subjective, that right and wrong, good versus evil, it's all subjective. Your feelings are the compass for that. That whole message that's completely taken over our country is a huge part of why we're in such a dire place today and that stems from a rejection of God and a rejection of truth that comes from God, that comes from Christianity. So that's why that's so at the core of all this. And of course, ultimately, the gospel is the answer to everything, to politics, to all of the wrong in the world. The gospels are always going to be the answer. And what John said is so important too, that even beyond just sharing the gospel and pointing towards truth, there are millions of Christians who do affirm those things, who would call themselves Christians, who would affirm that truth that don't actually vote. And if they did, if all of the Christians right now in our country decided, "I'm going to go and vote [01:42:34:25 - 01:43:08:24] Speaker 4 down the line what most closely aligns with my values," then we would have a different country. Things would look very, very different if all of the Christians just decided to embrace that responsibility and the privilege that we have as citizens to engage with politics and to elect leaders that most closely align with our values, everything would change. On all fronts, that's the answer. We just have to all wake up to it and be bold enough and courageous enough to carry that forward. [01:43:10:05 - 01:43:10:24] Speaker 1 Amen. [01:43:12:22 - 01:43:18:27] Speaker 1 And I know John is going to be praying today for his team to not be knocked out of the playoffs tonight. [01:43:20:25 - 01:43:22:18] Speaker 3 The most important battles in our time. [01:43:22:18 - 01:43:25:21] Speaker 5 That's a Chicago Cubs reference. Yeah. [01:43:27:18 - 01:43:42:27] Speaker 3 Well, you know, but Grace, finish this thought. Everybody talks about the culture war. Does anybody talk about the etymology of culture? It means what we worship. So we're literally in the middle of a religious war when you rephrase it that way. I like to put it in context that way. All right, well, we're closing out here. [01:43:43:28 - 01:43:48:06] Speaker 3 Grace, where can people find Restoring America, wonderful podcast? [01:43:49:14 - 01:44:08:00] Speaker 4 Yeah, everyone go find Restoring America with Grace Riley. You can catch us on this very beautiful set. We release episodes two to three times a week. So go find us on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Rumble, X, wherever you like watching or listening to podcasts. And I'm looking forward to seeing you there. [01:44:09:17 - 01:44:16:07] Speaker 3 And Dan, first right for the people who don't know, tell us about the newsletter. I know they can get it restorationofamerica.com. [01:44:17:26 - 01:44:32:24] Speaker 1 Yeah, Monday through Friday, news summary comes out early in the morning. Very simplified format where you can find the stories that the regular media, corrupt liberal media will not cover. So join us there every morning. It's free. [01:44:33:29 - 01:44:36:12] Speaker 5 And you can find me, no, John, and that's not going to change. [01:44:37:18 - 01:44:40:29] Speaker 5 I have no socials. I don't possess them. Yeah. [01:44:43:17 - 01:44:54:24] Speaker 3 Well, there you go. And check out restoration dash news.com. Well, hey, thank you all for joining. It's been a wonderful episode. I'm Hayden Ludwig, executive editor of Restoration News, and this is Restoration Spotlight. We'll catch you next time.