MikeSlater
Politics • Spirituality/Belief • Culture
Tucker Fired from FoxNews!
April 24, 2023

Today's episode of Politics by Faith is about FoxNews firing Tucker Carlson. There is a relevant story for us here about betrayal, courage and contentment.

We're now including the transcript below, (hopefully, you find that of value) in addition to the podcast here on Locals before it's available on iTunes etc.


Welcome to Politics by Faith, I'm Mike Slater. Thanks for being here. Tucker Carlson no longer at Fox News. Dan Bongino was also fired or let go or left Fox News. Also as I'm recording this podcast here, Don Lemon was fired from CNN. What is going on? We're gonna focus mostly on Tucker today. One of the difficult parts of this podcast is what story to pick. I was going to do it on Joe Biden announcing that he's gonna run for president again, which is just bonkers to me, and a new NBC poll said 70% of Americans do not want Biden to run for a second term.

0:00:43
70% of Americans are like, don't do it, but he's gonna do it anyway. But we'll save that for another day. I'd rather talk about Tucker Carlson. Again, Don Lemon wrote this. He says, I was informed this morning by my agent that I've been terminated by CNN. I'm stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.

0:01:08
At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I've loved at the network. And he was given like a week off for some misogynistic things he said. They're like, everyone knew you were on the fritz, Don. It's clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's Don Lemon. I don't care about Don Lemon. And Bongino, it seems like they left on fine enough terms. I don't know.

0:01:35
But the Tucker is what I'm most fascinated by. He is the number one cable news show. Number one show. Fired. That is something. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm in the industry. I'm a guppy compared to Tucker. So maybe I'm extra fascinated by this or it's because I'm a big fan of Tucker. I was not a fan a couple years ago and then maybe I was just jealous, I don't know.

0:02:02
And then I became a bigger and bigger fan over time. And now I think his opening monologues are wonderful, terrific. And I'm fascinated by him as a person, which we'll get to in a little bit as well. But I still think this is relevant for all of us because we all watch cable news, or we all watch the news. But also, any of us can be fired at any moment. There's a story there, too, and that causes anxiety.

0:02:30
The idea that you get laid off tomorrow, and be like, oh, last day was on Friday. That causes anxiety, and that's what we are here to try and alleviate, that anxiety. So let's get to it. Let's talk about Tucker Carlson. What's going on? So a couple things are interesting about Tucker Carlson's childhood. First, his dad was an orphan, grew up in the home for little wanderers, that's a real name, and then went on to become a successful business man.

0:02:59
His mom and dad divorced when he was nine years old and his mom moved to France. No, excuse me, when he was six, Tucker was six, and his mom moved to France and that was it, they never talked to each other. Never talked to each other ever since then and she died relatively recently and he got a phone call about how she died and part of him was worried that maybe he'd like have a breakdown because of his like non-existent relationship with his mom but he didn't at all and he said over decades I came to terms, came to peace with the fact that I don't know this woman and she's not my mother. His dad remarried and that woman it became her mother And he never talked to his mom ever again, but he learned a really important lesson from from that abandonment I think Turned it into something as good as one could turn it into here He is talking to Megyn Kelly and so I didn't want that I wanted a totally happy family where everyone's close and everyone's named after someone else and like everyone gets together all the time.

0:04:02
And I've had that. And it's the greatest thing in my life. And I really do not take that for granted. And the second thing is criticism from people who hate me doesn't really mean anything to me, I think. It really doesn't. I care what the people I love think. I care deeply. If my wife is upset with me, I can't even function because I care so much about what she thinks.

0:04:21
And my children, same thing. My close friends, I have a bunch of lifelong friends, people I work with, I feel that way about them, too But like some random, you know, the ADL doesn't like me or something. Mm-hmm Partisan who runs it like I don't care. Why would I care? I'm not giving those people emotional control over me Well, I've been through that I live through that as a child. I'm not doing that again One thing that I admire of Tucker's he grew up upper-class He'll tell you that and that's my point, he'll be the first to tell you that and he doesn't pretend otherwise. You get a lot of people in politics who grew up wealthy and they pretend to be the coal miner.

0:04:58
Joe Biden literally talks about how he or his parents were like coal miners. They weren't, they literally were not coal miners. But they do this game, right? And Tucker's like, no, I grew up really wealthy and I therefore know these people. I've interacted with these people, I've lived next to these people, I've spent time with these people, I know these people and they're not good people and they're not people who we should be in charge, let in charge of our country.

0:05:26
I admire that perspective and that honesty from him. He's been all over cable news, CNN, had a show on MSNBC, the whole thing. I heard an interview with him a while back and the person said, oh, here we've got Tucker Carlson, number one show on cable news, and Tucker interrupted and said, yeah, well listen, I've also hosted the lowest rated show on cable news. Right now I have the highest rated show. I've also hosted the lowest rated show.

0:05:52
And he talked about, just, you know, sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down and it's just the timing of it all and who knows. Isn't that wild? I mean, Tucker Carlson used to host the Fox and Friends weekend. Like, I don't know, like, and then he gets the 8 o'clock show, and he's the number one by far. Very interesting.

0:06:13
But he talked about how you can't be prideful when you're up, or depressed when you're down. You just keep going. Now, even when he's up, I mean, his show, about three million people would watch his show every night, about three million. Number one on cable news by far. A lot of cable news shows are two or one million. That's nothing compared to broadcast news. You know the number one broadcast news?

0:06:40
I don't even know what time it is, six o'clock? Is it six o'clock news, seven o'clock news? ABC News, David Muir, 7.5 million people. So more than twice as many people who watch Tucker Carlson watch ABC World News tonight I haven't seen a broadcast news In like 20 years. I don't know what time they're on I've never even seen a clip of one like clips from the broadcast news don't even make it Out of the broadcast news. I don't even on Twitter or Facebook. I don't even see like oh, did you see a segment the other day I say nothing I didn't even know they existed. And over two times as many people watch ABC World News Tonight as Tucker Carlson.

0:07:23
So, again, that speaks to Tucker's like, yeah, I'm number one, but I could get fired any day now. And he did. There's plenty of verses in the Bible about contentment. But I really like this one from Philippians 4.11. I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. I like that from Paul. Paul, he didn't just speak about being down, he spoke of abundance.

0:07:47
He knows contentment in times of abundance. Paul knew how to properly abound. When Tucker was number one, it seems like it didn't get to his head because he knew what it was like to be at the bottom and in the middle and then back at the bottom and then unemployed and then start your own thing, the Daily Caller, and then leave that and then, oh, look, you're number one. And it's like, oh, I could get fired.

0:08:11
And he did, and he seemed always okay with that. Another thing I valued about Tucker is his connection to nature. He lived in Maine. He did the show from Maine. And I think that changes a person. I think, I've always said I think Fox should be headquartered in Tennessee or Oklahoma. It's got to get out of New York City. It changes you.

0:08:34
New York City changes you. It changes you when you live there, the producers who live there. It can't not affect the content that comes out of the camera to the TV. And Tucker was in Maine. I think that gave him a disconnect from it all. He also didn't have any social media or anything. So he could just do his own thing. And I valued that. And he seemed content. And it took time to go hunting and spend time outside with his dogs and all that.

0:09:05
I think that affected, I know that affected his show. It had to have. So that's a little about, anyway, he got fired. So I don't know what he's going to do now. But what's really going on here? Before we get to the broader lesson for all of us, I think there's a bit of a cautionary tale. So why was he fired? We don't know. If I had to guess, it's probably because his boss had to pay $787 million in a settlement with Dominion Voting Machines.

0:09:30
The billion-dollar settlement probably had something to do with it. So the claim from Dominion Voting Machines is that Fox News defamed the company by saying the election was stolen when the Fox News hosts knew that it wasn't really stolen. And through court order, they were able to get text messages that they say proved that the Fox hosts knew that the election wasn't stolen, but they would keep going on the air and saying it was. And we have all these text messages from Tucker. In one text to a producer, he said, there wasn't enough fraud to change the outcome. And he said, Sidney Powell was lying. This is a private text.

0:10:07
He said he was done with Trump and his unfounded claims of a rigged election. This is just a little bit before, it was two days before January 6th. We're very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait. At another point he said, I hate him passionately. I can't handle much more of this. He says we're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, the Trump presidency, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on, there really isn't, there isn't really an upside to Trump. So Tucker then said in a radio interview about this, he says, I think this is in the text, and those were all grabbed completely illegitimately, in my opinion, in this court case, which I guess I'm not allowed to talk about, but I'm enraged that my private texts were pulled. So there's context to all of these. He said one of the context when I was speaking badly about Trump was that some idiot called him an idiot on the Trump team sent Tucker names of dead people who voted in Georgia to prove the voter fraud and turned out not to be true. Tucker says we went and I repeated them on air and it turns out some of them were alive so I felt humiliated. So we felt burned by Trump's team from that.

0:11:15
He says, there was no doubt that, this is in the text, there's no doubt that there was fraud in the election, but at this point Trump and Lin and Powell have so discredited their own case, discredited their own case, and the rest of us to some extent, that it's infuriating, absolutely enrages me. On November 9th, Carlson was talking about Dominion and said, the software, crap, swear word, is absurd. But then on TV that night, he said, we don't know anything about the software that many say was rigged. We don't know. We ought to find out.

0:11:46
So you see the claim from Dominion. Like behind the scenes Tucker was saying, it was nonsense, but on air, he's like, oh. There's other text. Laura Ingram wrote to Tucker and Hannity, we are officially working for an organization that hates us. That's my favorite one, I like that too. Anyway, he was probably fired because Rupert Murdoch couldn't have the guy on air who was a part of costing him a billion dollars.

0:12:14
Even if he was the number one show. I've actually, I've been surprised that Tucker was ever allowed to stay on the air. The fact that he was on at all, and the fact that he was on, I guess made me think that they would never fire him. Like if they haven't fired him already, just because of the provocative things that he says that I've never heard anyone else say on TV. I just thought he was bulletproof, but alas.

0:12:40
Also in the text messages, Tucker swears a lot, and he says the C word a lot. Having a foul mouth is in the Bible as well. Ephesians 5.4, let there be no filthiness or foolish talk, nor crude joking. Ephesians 4.29, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Colossians 3.8, but now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Last one, 2 Timothy 2.16, I like this line, avoid worldly empty chatter.

0:13:18
Another version has, avoid irreverent babble. For it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. The context here is to avoid false preachers. But I like the idea that the words you say, other people hear. And the words you say can lead people away from what is good, beautiful, and true. Other people overhear you, and you are responsible for that, for what you say. Not necessarily how people interpret it, that's up to them, but the things you say.

0:13:44
And that's why David, Psalm 141, three says, "'Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. "'Keep watch over the door of my lips.'" Especially when people are gunning for you. When people are looking for ways to take you out, and obviously talk at the number one show, he had a huge, like all of media matters, every day was constantly trying to destroy him, right? So when people are looking to do that, you can't give them more reasons.

0:14:16
You gotta be above reproach. So anyway, that's probably why he was fired was the Dominion stuff and I bet some of the foul language was like a little cherry on top of they could say, oh he was creating a toxic work environment, something like that they could probably get away with. Alright, let's lament here for a little bit. to tell the truth in, actually, let's take a break here. Let me tell you about Public Square. This is perfect timing.

0:14:50
Public Square is an app. You can download it for free. And it connects you with people who run businesses that share your values. Did you see the other day the VP at Bud Light who was responsible for the whole Dylan Mulvaney thing is on a leave of absence, should probably get fired, which is great. It's like the first conservative boycott I've actually seen make any real inroads and last for longer than a day.

0:15:26
So that's awesome. Go well, go broke, man, that doesn't happen as much as I'd like it to. So we need an alternate parallel marketplace where we do business with people who share our values. And that's what Public Square does, it connects you with those people, locally and then also nationwide. And I know Michael, the founder of Public Square, and it's a company of people who tell the truth. That's what I just thought of them right here.

0:15:53
I lamented how difficult it is to tell the truth, and Michael is a man who tells the truth. And he's created this great app and this great company that's thriving, they're going public, it's awesome. So jump in early on it. PublicSQ.com. You can read the five values that every business owner has to agree with. And you can download the app for free. Public Square.

0:16:10
And they're the first sponsor of this podcast. I'll never forget that. And I've been a user of theirs. I was at their launch party a couple years ago. They're great. Public Square, free download. So I lament how difficult it can be to tell the truth. In the media world, there is a strong pressure for a host to say what they think the audience wants to hear.

0:16:31
There's a huge financial incentive. It makes sense, right? If I don't say what my audience wants to hear in an entertaining way, then no one will listen. And then we won't sell advertisements and then I lose my job and I can't pay my mortgage. Like, right now, you're like, well Slater, you just did an advertisement. Yeah, I'm not, I think I don't even know how much, I've never even been paid, I haven't even been paid a penny for this podcast.

0:16:56
I don't even know what that, what I'm getting paid for that podcast, for that advertisement, I literally don't even know. Maybe, maybe, maybe like a thousand bucks over the year. I really don't even know. But if, the bigger you get, the greater that incentive is to make sure you don't lose your audience. Make sure you don't say something that will destroy the business.

0:17:20
And then if you are running a big company with employees, now you got those families. Like what you say, you can lose everything. And then all these other families are going to be hurt. Oh, the pressure. I wish people wanted to hear the truth. That's it, right? There's always going to be that pressure to say what your audience, you think they want to say. Here, I want an audience that just wants to hear the truth.

0:17:54
I wish that's what people wanted to hear, even if they disagreed with it. We don't have that, we just want to hear, people agree with us. That's what I agree. That's just what we gravitate to. So that's that, I also lament being fired. I was talking to someone in this industry that I'm in, and he said the company that he works for has a history of just randomly firing people, for just no rhyme or reason.

0:18:26
It could be the number one host. It could be the number one host on the number one station in the market and they're gone. And for this company, it's just money, dollars, bottom line and no sense behind it, no justice behind any of it. And that stings. But I was talking to him about it and he said, no, it's good in a way because it's made me learn that every day is gravy, every day is a gift.

0:18:52
Every day I wake up expecting to be fired and I expect every show to be my last. And I actually think that's a really healthy way to go through life because you don't know if today is literally your last day on earth. This weekend, I happened to listen to a speech that Tucker Carlson gave at the Heritage Foundation's 50th anniversary dinner. And I guess, this must have been like a Friday night or Saturday night I guess the dinner and I don't know if he knew he was getting fired on Monday when he gave this talk or not that'd be interesting if he kind of knew in the back of his head but didn't say anything I don't know but he would this is the last question he was asked when everyone wakes up tomorrow whether they're staying here or they're able to go home what should be top of mind for them to do in their local community.

0:19:38
Oh well the very first thing you should do every single day is tell all the people you love that you love them for two reasons. Because you do in affirming things out loud makes them real. Words are the most important and most powerful thing that we have. And of course I have an interest in saying that I sold Chrysler's I'd be like cars are the most important thing. But words are. In the beginning was the word. And so articulate it. And that is also simultaneously an acknowledgement of a truth that we don't face, which is we don't know what's going to happen today.

0:20:17
And we could die. That's the one thing that unites every person, is the certainty of death. And reminding yourself of that every single day will bring you, paradoxically, joy. I love you. That's the most important thing. I think that's a really healthy posture. This could be my last. And then when it is taken away, you're like, well, sounds about right.

0:20:38
Can't believe it lasted as long as it did. Now let's get to some historical and biblical perspective here. Let's start with historical. So I'm on a Jonathan Edwards kick. Jonathan Edwards led the Great Awakening in America. This was in the 1730s and the 1740s. So it was led by, or sparked and led by Jonathan Edwards. So I've been, I think we need another Great Awakening in America. So I'm reading about Jonathan Edwards because I'd like to see the parallels and maybe how we can replicate similarities and differences. So Jonathan Edwards was fired from his job. A vote by the entire congregation, his congregation. This was in 1950. Only 10% of his congregation voted to keep him on the job. He kicked him out. You're gone.

0:21:25
One of the most brilliant men in American history. Leader of the Great Awakening. His own congregation fired him. Why? Here's what he wrote. He said, a very great difficulty has arisen between my people relating to qualifications for communion at the Lord's table. My honored grandfather, Stoddard, that's who ran the church before him, my predecessor in the ministry over this church, strenuously maintained the Lord's Supper to be a converting ordinance and urged all to come who were not of scandalous life, though they knew themselves to be unconverted." So he said, anyone who is not a Christian, you can take communion. I formerly conformed to this practice, but I've had difficulties with respect to it, which have been long increasing, till I dared no longer proceed in the former way, which has occasioned great uneasiness among my people and has filled all the country with noise. Everyone's talking about it. Everyone on Twitter is talking about it.

0:22:26
So again, the guy before him said anyone could take communion. And then Jonathan Edwards finally came to the conviction that no, no, only Christians are allowed to take communion here. I'm going to protect the table. So he took a stand. He took a stand on something. He had a conviction. People don't like that. People rarely like it when someone has a conviction. It's odd. Maybe it's because we're growing up, we're living in this soup of, oh, I don't know, everyone each to each his own, beauty's in the eye of the beholder.

0:22:59
So it's like if anyone makes a stand, oh, you think you're better than us? It's like, oh, no, I just think this is really important and I think this is true. Jonathan Edwards strived for truth and holiness and purity. He was trying to preserve something of great importance. People didn't like that. Even the people of his own church. I want to read this quote from J. H. Thornwell.

0:23:27
This was in 1846. He was noticing that churches were becoming more liberal. In 1846. I cannot imagine what these guys would have thought of many churches today. I want to read this quote here, but check out the parallels to cable news. He's talking about the church, but similar theme. He said, our whole system of operations gives an undue influence to money. Where money is the great want, numbers must be sought. And where an ambition for numbers prevails, doctrinal purity must be sacrificed. The root of the evil is in the secular spirit of all of our ecclesiastical institutions.

0:24:04
What we want is a spiritual body, a church whose power lies in the truth and the presence of the Holy Ghost. To un-secularize the church should be the unceasing aim of all who are anxious that the ways of Zion should flourish. That's true about our political system today. Our whole political system, I'm just going to re-read the quote here, but apologies, our whole political system gives an undue influence to money. Where money is the great want, numbers must be sought. And where ambition for numbers prevails, truth must be sacrificed. Having a conviction about anything.

0:24:54
I want to be a people, I want to, me personally, I want to have convictions. And I want to be a part of a group of people that have convictions about things. Who feel strongly about important things. Don't you think that's good? But that's all a bit of an aside. The reason I bring up this is because Jonathan Edwards got fired, and I'm sure he felt betrayed. I'm sure Jonathan Edwards, it's like I gave my life to this church, to you, to you, this congregation, you fired me? I gave so much time and energy to this company.

0:25:25
I feel like this is a common thing when you get fired to this company, and you fire me just like that? I'm the top salesperson here, I'm the top executive here, I've made this company way more money than you've ever paid me, and that's how you repay me now you fire me like that's got that feeling of betrayal must be common if you are laid off. Biblically of course I think of Judas betraying Jesus. One of Jesus's twelve disciples he was in Jesus's inner circle and he went to the Pharisees he said what will you give me if I deliver him over to you?

0:26:04
And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. That was it, 30 pieces. So how much was that? Don't really know, I've heard as high as 120 days wages. So a third of your salary. So what, 20, 30 grand, that's it? We're gonna betray Jesus for 30K? Matthew 26, 48, now the betrayer had given him a sign saying the one I will kiss is the man, seize him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings rabbi.

0:26:29
And he kissed him. And Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do. Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him, betrayed with a kiss. Back then a kiss was a sign of deep respect and honor and brotherly love. There's an intimacy there. Obviously, you need to get close to the person to do it. And this was one of his disciples. This was a student showing his love to his teacher on the outside but on the inside he was betraying him, leading him to the cross.

0:27:00
Luke 22 3, then Satan entered into Judas who was one of the number of the twelve. Satan entered into and Satan thought he won. Satan thought he won. Let me show this verse. David obviously was betrayed many times. He said, if an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it. This goes back a little bit to what Tucker was talking about about I only care what my friends and family think of me. I don't care what media matters thinks about me. If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it. If a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God as we walked about among the worshippers." Ah, to be betrayed by a friend or family.

0:27:46
Job said similar, Job 19, 19, those I love have turned against me. It didn't work out for Judas. Later the Bible says, then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and the elders saying I've sinned by betraying innocent blood. So what is that to us? See to it yourself.

0:28:09
And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple he departed and he went and hanged himself. Not a biblical thing but Dante's Inferno, the ninth circle of hell, the deepest circle of hell is for betrayers and this circle of hell is called Judaica, named after Judas, who betrayed Jesus. So Judas is, so betrayal is like the worst sin and the worst betrayer of all. The innermost, lowest, deepest, hottest circle of hell is Judas. Actually, no, I got that wrong. It's not hot down there. Anyway, that's just art. But if you've ever been fired, you have this feeling of betrayal from your employer. Maybe you're even feeling it as a Fox News viewer for them firing a host that you like. All I can say is get ready for a lot more of it.

0:29:16
In our culture, in our media, from brands like Bud Light, in politics and in life. Maybe you experienced some of that during COVID. You're like, oh, wow, like friends and family, what, really? But as you experience it, because part of societal breakdown and civilizational breakdown is going to be more of these sinful things occur. And one of them is, the worst of them is betrayal. So as it happens to you, know that Jesus was betrayed.

0:29:46
He knew it was going to happen. God knew it was going to happen. And it was to bring about the greater plan. Satan thought he won. So as you're being betrayed, or if you were, or when you are, God knows everything that is happening to you. And he knows what's gonna happen next. And maybe it's to bring about a greater plan, which you could never understand right now in the moment. None of us can.

0:30:11
That was Monday's morning motivation, was all about the tapestry, about how we can never understand the moment. We can't turn around the tapestry and see what's being built, see what's being created, see what's really going on. Jesus knew he was gonna be betrayed. He knows everything about what's going on with your life right now, but he also knows what it's like to be betrayed, so go to him.

0:30:30
Tell him about it. He knows. So, Sleater, what's in my control? First, practically don't text or say anything to anyone ever that you would not want posted everywhere always. So just don't do it. You cannot put anything in writing that you would not share, you would not share it everywhere, that you would not want put on the news.

0:30:53
And the truth is, anything you text, God sees it anyway. That's actually more important than it going in public. So first thing, don't put anything in writing. Second thing that's in your control, tell the truth always. Just tell the truth. We have to try to resist those urges of, but what about my audience? Or what about this? What about that?

0:31:19
What about the client? What about this? What about, just tell the truth. Third thing, have courage. Here's another moment from that Heritage Foundation speech that Tucker gave just this last weekend. The truth is contagious. Lying is, but the truth is as well. And the second you decide to tell the truth about something, you are filled with this – I don't want to get supernatural on you – but you are filled with this power from somewhere else.

0:31:46
Try it. Tell the truth about something. You feel it every day. The more you tell the truth, the stronger you become. That's completely real. It's measurable in the way that you feel. And of course, the opposite is also true. The more you lie the weaker and more terrified you become. We all know that feeling. You lie about something and all of a sudden you're a prisoner of that lie. You are diminished by it. You are weak and afraid. Drug and alcohol use is the same way. It makes you weak and afraid. heavy price for telling the truth. And they are cast out of their groups, whatever those groups are, but they do it anyway.

0:32:27
And I look on at those people with the deepest possible admiration. I am paid to do that. I face no penalty. Someone comes up to me, you're so brave, really? I'm a talk show host. It's like I can have any opinion I want. That's my job, that's why they pay me. It's not brave to tell the truth on a cable news show, and if you're not doing that, you're really an idiot.

0:32:52
You're really craving. You're lying on television. Why would you do that? You're literally making a living to say what you think, and you can't even do that? Please. But how about if you're a senior vice president at Citibank? I'm serious. Citibank. And you're making, you know, four million a year. And you've got three kids in Bedford and two are in boarding school and one starting at Wesleyan next year. And like, you need this job, honestly. And your whole sector is kind of collapsing and you know that. There is no incentive whatsoever for you to tell the truth about anything. You just go into little re-education meetings and you're like, yeah, diversity is our strength, that's exactly right.

0:33:39
So if you're the one guy who refuses to say that, you are a hero, in my opinion. And I know some of them. In fact, my job is to interview them. And I sit back and I look at these people and I give them more credit than I do people who display physical courage, which is often impulsive, by the way. And I'm not denigrating physical courage, which I deeply admire. But you interview people who do amazing things, you know, who rush into the proverbial burning building And like every man is kind of trained from birth to fantasize about what he would do when the building catches fire and you hear a baby crying and so you run inside No one is trained to stand up in the middle of a DEI meeting at Citibank and say this is nonsense and the people who do that, oh Oh, they have my deepest admiration.

0:34:26
And so their example really gives me hope. It thrills me. I talk to them all day long, people like that. That's the first thing. We should, in this sad moment of profound and widespread destruction of the institutions that people who share our views built, by the way, earlier generations that would agree substantially with every person in this room, they built those and now they're being destroyed.

0:34:50
And oh, that's so depressing. But we can also see rising in the distance new things, new institutions led by new people who are every bit as brave as the people who came before us. Amen. And finally, the things that are in your control. So again, be careful what you put on paper or text. Tell the truth always. Have courage and go to God. Make Him your strength, not your job or anything else. May God your strength. Habakkuk 3.17, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no fruit. Sorry, real quick, I'm just thinking of Tucker in Maine today.

0:35:32
I have no idea what Tucker's, I have no insight to Tucker, or whatever, I've never talked to him before. But I just imagine him in Maine just hunting right now. He's just going for a long walk in the woods with his dogs. At least this vision of Tucker I've created, or what I hope I would be, is wouldn't even care at all. Wouldn't, now it's easy to say when you get paid $35 million a year or whatever, hopefully he's stored some of that away, financially he'll be fine, that's different.

0:35:59
But still you hope he'd be like, you'd hope you'd trust in God enough. And as the Bible says, though the fig tree should not blossom and all these bad things, right? The flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, even all these terrible bad things, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

0:36:24
God the Lord is my strength. Not my bank account. He makes my feet like the deers. He makes me tread on my high places. Amazing. All right, so final thought here. Final thought to think about. Final thing to meditate on. First let me tell you about Patriot Gold Group, one of the sponsors of this podcast. One of the themes of this podcast, as we just talked about, is you can't rely on earthly things. 100% true. You also have to be a good steward. You also have to make good, wise decisions for your family. And for me, financially, I bought gold.

0:37:05
And I bought it from Patriot Gold Group. Lots of places to buy gold, I assume. I bought it from Patriot Gold Group. They are the consumer affairs top-rated gold IRA dealer six years in a row. group. They are the consumer affairs top rated gold IRA dealer six years in a row. I've only heard Tucker talk about this. Maybe other people on cable news have, I haven't heard anyone other than Tucker talk about the petrodollar, about how Saudi Arabia and China and other countries are talking about trading oil with something other than U.S. currency.

0:37:38
And that would be the downfall of the reserve currency of the U.S. dollar of the world. And that's a major problem for everyone, literally everyone. I haven't heard anyone talk about that except for Tucker. So listen, what's the dollar going to be worth over time? Zero, right? What's gold going to be worth? It's always been worth something. It's been around for thousands of years. 888-617-6122. Consider it.

0:37:59
See if it makes sense for you and your family. And as you consider it, definitely call Patriot Gold Group. 888-617-6122 for a free investor guide. 888-617-6122 or their website, patriotgoldgroup.com. Final thing to meditate on, I mentioned earlier this idea that you may lose your job at any moment so be grateful for it when you have it. I'm sure there's many people listening right now who have lost a job and thought it was devastating at the time, but then have a great story that ends with, thank goodness I was fired, otherwise I never would have filled the blank.

0:38:41
And that's a wonderful thing. Let me end with this sermon from Jonathan Edwards, who we spoke of earlier. This was his, I don't want to say his first big sermon, but this was a remarkable sermon. It was at a church in Boston, and it was the same weekend as the Harvard commencement. So there are a lot of big wigs in the audience. Jonathan Edwards was not from Boston, so he was an outsider, wasn't a Harvard graduate, he was a Yale grad, an outsider.

0:39:07
He was only 28, he was young, and he gave this wonderful sermon called God Glorified by the greatness of man's dependence upon him. You can get the theme based on the title. God is glorified in the greatness of man's dependence upon him. And this is the final line. Let us endeavor, let us endeavor to obtain and increase in our great dependence on God. To have our eye to him alone, to mortify, to put to death, a self-dependent and self-righteous disposition.

0:39:44
Man is naturally exceedingly prone to exalt himself and depend on his own power or goodness, as though from himself he must expect happiness. He is prone to have respect to enjoyments alien from God and His Spirit, as those in which happiness is to be found. But this doctrine should teach us to exalt God alone as by trust and reliance so by praise. Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. Let us not find our identity or glory in our job and may we always no matter what difficulty or suffering we're going through, or uncertainty. May we always look to God for our full and complete dependence.

community logo
Join the MikeSlater Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
1
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
Fox & Friends

We were on Fox & Friends talking about all of the train robberies in CA. It's so bad the train company says they may have to ride right THROUGH Los Angeles entirely and never slow down lol. What a joke this state it.

https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20220122_110000_FOX_and_Friends_Saturday/start/5640/end/5700

That link is a bit odd, I've attached a short video to get the gist.

In short, The rich get richer, the poor get the handouts and the middle class gets out of town.

This causes these progressive politicians to get even more entrenched.

We haven't hit rock bottom yet.

00:00:32
Boys to men, girls to women

How do you do it? Advice please!

Dean Abbott,
"Why contemporary relations between the sexes are so messed up. The problem starts with men because men lead, the masculine pursues and initiates, and problems always start at the level of leadership.

Most men aren't taught that a relationship with a woman means accepting responsibility. No one tells us that a woman represents not only pleasure, but obligation.
The fact that having a relationship with a woman means responsibility and obligation never enters many men's minds.

When these men enter into a relationship with a woman, they are overwhelmed by her needs, her feminine communication style, and her emotions.
Moreover, he unconsciously resents her for having needs at all since he has been conditioned to see her solely as a source of pleasure.
When her anger and disappointment over his irresponsibility gets intense enough, he splits in search of another woman.
He mistakenly believes the problem wasn't his attitude nor that it is a ...

00:07:55
Surly this will be kicked off twitter eventually
00:06:34
Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023

I found a way to easily transcribe the podcasts, so I will post them here first before they go out to iTunes and the rest.

Good morning. Welcome to The Morning Motivation, brought to you by Public Square and Patriot Gold Group. I'm grateful you're here. I was reading a sermon by the great Puritan preacher John Owen in the mid-1600s. I'm so fascinated by this time period, 1600s, early 1700s. We focus a lot on our founding fathers. I think that the Tea Party movement and just conservatism in general has focused a lot on the founding fathers, and that's amazing, but I'm very fascinated by our founding grandfathers or great-grandfathers, the people who created the culture that our founding fathers were raised in.

0:00:44
Isn't that a fascinating era? We got like 1776, like that's great, I love it, I want to know more, I don't know nearly enough. But what about the 1720s? What was going on there? Or the late 1600s? What was going on in America at that time? And you know, we've all heard of the Puritans, but you ...

Morning Motivation, April 21, 2023
Inflation and ANGER

I am angry and frustrated. With our Rulers. For getting us in this terrible economy. It doesn't have to be this way.

How could they never learn from past mistakes! This is ANCIENT history, stop printing money...yet, after COVID, we never printed more. Amazing.

Please leave a 5-star review on Itunes. We have a ton of momentum, this is about to break through! Thank you!

Also, I haven't done any lives anywhere becauase we're hosting a daily TV show "Road to Misterms" on thefirsttv.com, and it's taken all of my extra time. And my wife is giving birth any day now, so...it's been a lot around here. But after the midterms, time will free up.

Inflation and ANGER
Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty

I've gone back and forth on the death penalty many times over the years. I've recently come down on the other side.

Should the Parkland murderer have gotten the death penalty or life in prison?

Please leave a review on iTunes! We need to get to 1k :-)
www.thefirsttv.com/mikeslater

Btw, we're getting the momentum we need, more downloads every day, THANK YOU!

Politics by Faith: Parkland and the Death Penalty
November 26, 2025

Baptized Brethren contest with each other AND against The Church, calling “Lord, Lord” (Mt 7:21-22, 25:11; Lk 6:46), in the Devil’s disunity, whilst the enemy has breached the Gates and is welcomed at and obliged at the most august Court. “Lord, Lord.”

Faith of our Fathers. Jer 6:16; Mal 3:6; Heb 13:7-9; Jam 1:17; Gal 1:6-12; Jude 3; 1 Pet 5:5

THE CODE OF CATHOLIC CHIVALRY

The knight receives as his law the knightly Code of Honor, which is the expression of his absolute fidelity to God:

I. The Knight battles for Christ and His Reign.
II. The Knight serves his Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary.
III. The Knight defends The Holy Church unto blood.
IV. The Knight maintains the Tradition of his Fathers.
V. The Knight fights for Justice, Christian Order and Peace.
VI. The Knight wages war without truce or mercy against the World and its Prince.
VII. The Knight honors and protects the poor, the weak and the needy.
VIII. The Knight despises money and the powers of this world.
IX. The Knight is humble, magnanimous ...

November 19, 2025

You were terse and dismissive in this morning's 7:25 Eastern time call with the Man with four step children applying for Naturalization from his Naturalized U.S. Wife of Philippine descent. You should be more considerate of history about America's relationship such as with the Philippine People, which is quite notable with intrinsic factors which should have favorable weight in consideration the Filipino propensity to immigrate and become American Citizens.

"The Resident Commissioner of the Philippines was a non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1907 until the Philippines gained independence in 1946. This role was established under the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, allowing the Philippines to have representation in Congress, similar to current non-voting members from U.S. territories."

Don't be so apparently xenophobic and stop misrepresenting American (and Christian while you're at it) History in omission through culpable ignorance.

The Philippines, 1898–1946
...

post photo preview
November 11, 2025

Happy Veterans' Day.
Support our Troops. Before. During. After.

St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, Confessor, Soldier of the State, Soldier of Christ
November 11
https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-xi-november/st-martin-bishop-of-tours-confessor

post photo preview
The Fauci Diaries: Pride Before The Fall
Politics By Faith, July 28, 2026

Somehow, Rand Paul published Tony Fauci's diary. The contents of the diary prove, of course, that he lied, but it also reveals a fact about human nature: people like to be exalted by men. But we all know what happens after Pride...

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible so that we can all walk away with peace and perspectives. New headlines every day. Ben Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. So thanks for being here to get the true story, the story of the day today. My Fauci, the hero. 

Fauci's diary has been released. That's a very funny sentence. I don't know. I really don't know what that means. Like did Rand Paul find it under Fauci's bed? I don't know how this, I don't know how they found it. 

I don't know how it got released. But we'll try to talk to Rand tomorrow or the next day and we'll get to the bottom of like, what did he hand it over? Is that Gabe Hughes diary? Or was it like, wasn't there someone, what was the diary that had something to do with Hunter Biden? Or was it like, was it maybe like Joe's daughter or something that had a diary that she was in a halfway house and then she left. And then the person who came to the halfway house after found it underneath and tried to sell. 

There's some weird story like that. So did Fauci sell a house and the new owner found the diary and handed it over to the Rand? What happened there? All right, a couple of things that we learned from this diary. He lied a lot, all thinking he knew better. January 26th, 2020, Fauci wrote in his diary, dear diary, now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier. 

Again, this was January 2020, where the wet market was already taken off the table, even though we were told that's how it all started. Related to the lockdown, in many interviews, he said, I didn't recommend locking anything down. I have a diary entry here that says I spoke with Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, and convinced him based on what I was hearing. publicly in my conversation tonight, to close the New York City schools. I went on to tell him that we should close the bars and restaurants of New York City. He said that he would base this on my recommendation. 

I had a similar call with Anne O 'Leary of Gavin Newsom's office. Anne said that based on my TV appearances today and yesterday, the governor has decided to close the schools in California as well as the bars and restaurants. We'll throw this in here. When I left the White House and crossed Pennsylvania and 17th Street, several cars honked their horns and shouted, thank you out the window. We'll get back to that one later. So he's out here saying I had nothing to do with me. I didn't know. 

I didn't recommend shutting anything down. Meanwhile, he's saying, dear diary, today I shut down New York City and all of California. He was a hero. People thanking him for it. And so this clips out there of him saying, I mean, I didn't know. I didn't recommend we shut down the schools. 

And here he is writing in his diary. I recommended to everyone that we shut down the schools. This is a noteworthy one too. This is the day that Trump knew he was hoodwinked on the whole thing. This is April 23rd, 2020. Fauci wrote in his diary, after the presser, Deb Burks texted and then called me saying it was good that I was not there since after the press, the president called her into the Oval and started yelling at her saying, you and Fauci have destroyed the country and the economy. 

I should have never listened to you. You have completely destroyed us. He kept saying this over and over again and was yelling at her. I encouraged her that we are okay and at the end of the day, she and I will be loved by the people we care about. She was relieved and after wrote me a text sincerely thanking me. stolen from him in 2020. 

His presidency was stolen from him, but really it was stolen from him eight months earlier with COVID. Fauci told Larry Kudlow that the economy wouldn't crash, but he also wrote in his diary, the stock market dropped by 3000 points, the biggest percentage drop in history. XOXO, love me. He didn't write that last part. Bigger theme though of this diary release, again, weird sentence, is from 2019, end of 2019 to early 2020, how excited he was to be the center of attention. I got a hunch that this was true, but now we see it in his diary entries. 

May 21st, 2020, he wrote in his diary, big front page article about me appeared in the Washington Post, very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable person in the world. Felt so good writing that. He wrote about in his diary, he wrote about a correspondence with Barbara Streisand and how Barbara Streisand wrote her a letter, wrote him a letter thanking him for his constant guidance, patience, and reassurance. He wrote in his diary that they kept in contact and they would speak over the phone and that Barbara Streisand reached out to Fauci directly for medical advice, including on whether or not she and her husband should get COVID -19 boosters. 

Now here's what's important about this part of the story. One aspect of human nature is how desperately people want to feel special. Now there's good versions of this, right? It's, it's, someone may say, I want to be admired by people. Jack was just playing the piano a second ago. I want to be admired by people as a great piano player. 

Okay. Now a better goal is to just be a great piano player or to play this Beethoven piece well, to have a goal that's not dependent on other people's perceptions of you. because you can't control other people's perceptions. So that's a silly goal. The goal should be what you are in charge of, and that is playing this piece well or not. So there's something weird about wanting to be special for something great that you do, like ambition. 

But I think what I'm trying to get at here is something more than wanting to feel special, more than wanting to be admired. It's this desire to feel like you're just the VIP. You are very, very important. I got a taste of this early on in my career. A dear friend of mine was running Glenn Beck's book tour. This would have been, I don't know what year, 2010, maybe? 

And I got to go on a few stops on Glenn Beck's book tour. And they gave me the t -shirt, like the official t -shirt, and they gave me a lanyard with a plastic pass on it. And I distinctly remember the feeling of all these people lined up like chumps waiting in line to talk to Glenn Beck, but I could go under the rope. I could go anywhere I wanted. I could go in the front of the line, more than the front of the line, but why? I didn't need a line. 

I could go behind the line, like I go behind the ropes. I could go where regular people weren't even allowed to go. Regular people had to stay behind the rope, wait in line all day. I, with my lanyard, I could go under the rope and behind the scene. I could walk around like I owned the place. And I'm sure I did. 

I was 23 years old. I felt very important. So imagine you're Tony Fauci. This time it would have been 79 years old from Brooklyn, okay? You're a nobody. No one knows you. 

You've never been interviewed. No big deal, you're just some scientist who, yeah, you achieved the top of your game at the what? The National Institute of whatever that no one cares about. You're still generally a nobody. But then all of a sudden, Barbara Streisand calls you? Fellow Brooklyn native, same age as you? 

Barbara Streisand calls you, asking for your advice? Just imagine that scene for Tony, for Tony Fauci. He's sitting on his couch and his wife says, Tony, Tony, you're not gonna believe who's on the phone. Barbara Streisand. Abs is on the phone for me, are you kidding me? Okay, okay, okay, okay. 

Hello, Ms. Streisand. Yes, how are you? Yes, wonderful. Just wonderful. Oh, thank you, Ms. Streisand. It's an honor. 

No, no problem at all. You can call me anytime you'd like, Ms. Streisand. Yes, a booster. Yes, a booster's a very good idea. Absolutely. You're welcome. 

No, no, no, it's, it's, It's a scary time for everybody. These are scary times, but we'll make it through together. Miss Streisand, together. If everyone does their part, of course. Now, it's no problem at all. Miss Streisand, you call me anytime you need me, Miss Streisand. 

Thank you. You too. Thank you. Barbra Streisand, he and his wife like jumping up. Barbra Streisand called me. Me, she called me. 

Oh, I hate COVID so much. That'll mess with someone's head. Mess with their heart too. I got a list here of all these movie stars. This is, he wrote in his diary, I did a zoom call with a whole host of movie stars and athletes organized by Kim Kardashian. Here's the list. 

And he went down Michael Buble, Ariana Grande, Kendall Jenner, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Gwyneth Paltrow, James Corden, Dwayne Wade. Oh my goodness. Let's see, who else do I know here? Orlando Bloom, Chris Rock, Katy Perry, Eric Stonestreet, the gay guy from Modern Family. Oh my goodness. are listening to me. 

It's amazing. You're gonna start to think a lot about yourself. So let's go to the Bible. Let's talk about pride. Proverbs 16, 18. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. 

Many examples of this. One that I think about is Daniel 4, starting verse 29. Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his royal palace of Babylon and the king answered and said, is not this great Babylon? which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty. While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. 

Kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men. and gives it to whom he will. " Verse 33 says, immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles feathers and his nails were like birds claws. Pride. God humbled him. Turned him into a beast. Verse 34, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven. At the end of the seven year period, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me. And what did he do? I blessed the Most High. and praised and honored him who lives forever." Love that story. One of my favorite verses on this point, and I love this so much because the Bible is the opposite of the world. And there's a couple of these that are so beautiful. 

It makes that point very clear. 1 Peter 5, humble yourself, God will exalt you. James 4 .10, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Luke 14 .11, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Just sit on that one for a second. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 

The way to not be prideful is to acknowledge that all good things come from God, that we are capable of nothing on our own. All gifts come from Him. If we think that we are capable of things on our own, we will be humbled. You're humble, and only then will God exalt you. I want to leave you with a final point from our preacher this weekend. He made the point that your purpose is almost never about you. 

It shouldn't be about you. Your purpose is to make disciples and glorify God. And if you're not doing that, whatever you are doing, it's not your purpose. You may be doing it, and it may be fun or whatever, but it's not your purpose. It's not the purpose God gave you. Your purpose is to make disciples and glorify God. 

Your purpose is not to exalt yourself, for sure. Joseph is a wonderful example of this. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. It was his older brother Judah's idea to sell him into slavery instead of kill him. So they got sold into slavery years ago by, you know, the whole story. If you don't, you should get reading Genesis 37. 

It's an incredible story. 22 years after he was sold into slavery, he becomes the number two guy in Egypt and his brothers come back and there's this beautiful reunion. But check out this insight. Why did God do all this? What's the point of that story? Genesis 45, 7, Joseph's talking to his brothers, telling them that he's not mad at them. 

And Joseph said, God sent me before you to preserve life. He goes on, God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. And if you read the whole story and you realize everything that Joseph went through, realize what an incredible sentence it is. But check out this insight. Not there yet. 

Here's the real part. Genesis 49, Jacob, the dad, doesn't bless Joseph. Jacob blesses Judah. Joseph wasn't point of the story. Joseph wasn't the reason. Joseph wasn't the promise. 

Joseph protected the promise. Matthew 1 starts off with the genealogy of Jesus, son of David, son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac, the father of Jacob. Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. Jesus came from the line of Judah. 

That's why Jesus is called the Lion of Judah. Because in Genesis 49, Jacob blesses Judah, again, who Joseph protected, blesses him and talks about him as like a lion. I still have this idea that Joseph wasn't promised. He wasn't the main character. I don't understand. He was the main character of the story in the sense that he was the most talked about, but he wasn't the purpose of the story. 

Judah was, who ultimately, it was Jesus. So my point of this all is, if you exalt yourself as Fauci did, bad things will happen. The Bible says so. If you humble yourself, then God will use you to spread the good word and spread the gospel and to glorify him. And that is the best purpose in the world. youtube . 

com slash at politics by faith. If you listen to the show, I'm super grateful if you just follow us on the YouTube that helps our algorithm and we can spread over on the YouTube as well and reach more people youtube . com slash at politics by faith.

Read full Article
Another Black Man Shot And Killed By Police
Politics By Faith, July 27, 2026

Will the media make this story another George Floyd? It depends on how much it helps Democrats. It will have an effect on the Wisconsin governor's primary coming up in 3 weeks. But more importantly, how should we react to this police shooting? This...JUSTIFIED police shooting.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. It's where we take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible, so we can walk away with peace and perspective. We do this because there's new headlines every day, and that can get exhausting. It can cause anxiety, but Ecclesiastes says it's not the new under the sun. So thanks for being here for the true story, the story of the day today. Another black man murdered by police. 

Here's what happened. When I first heard about this story, an old friend of mine, I haven't talked to him in 25 years, but I'm still friends with him on Facebook. I saw a post they put, and It was a picture of a memorial and the caption said, one tased him, two others pinned him down. A fourth police officer fatally shot a black man in Madison, Wisconsin. So one tased, two pinned him down, and then another shot him dead. And you have this visual because there was a picture of the vigil, not of the shooting or the interaction itself. 

So you get this image of just like execution on the street. That was the first I heard of this. I said, Oh, I wonder what happened. So I looked it up. Someone called 9 -1 -1 because there was a suspicious looking person checking parked cars, peering through windows, trying to get into cars. So we had an anti -social, some anti -social, not even anti -social, anti -civilization behavior. 

So normal productive people in Madison, Wisconsin called 9 -1 -1. Police arrived as they're supposed to. They tried to detain him. He resisted. They tased him. Looks like it didn't work. 

Somehow, he then pulled out a knife and injured an officer. at which point another officer shot him three times. He attacked police officers in the middle of this tussle. He, I don't exactly know the injuries, so either cut or stabbed a police officer. Case closed. What are we even talking about? 

This will keep happening for one very simple reason. People don't want to go to jail. I've said this a billion times, I guess we'll say it a billion more. Until jail is Disney World, no one will want to go. Now he's been in jail already. He didn't want to go back. 

Did he not want to go back enough to not break into cars anymore? But what he really wanted to do is keep breaking in cars and not go to jail. So we have to decide if we want to allow that behavior. He had a criminal record of drug possession, theft, resisting, or obstructing an officer, the whole thing. So he didn't want to go back. That's what happened. 

So we have two stories here, two side stories. First, body cameras. Madison, Wisconsin police don't have body cameras. Now, body cameras are really interesting. Black Lives Matter activists, they don't want them anymore. They did want them. 

One of their demands during George Floyd and that whole riot, that whole whatever, one of their demands was we want body cameras on all police officers. Now they don't because all these videos were coming out where Black Lives Matter activists would say, oh, police shot an unarmed black man. And then the video comes out and the unarmed black man is running at the police officers full speed with a knife in their hand. There was one story in particular, I forget where it was, but a black man was murdered by police officers and they demanded answers, right? And how could police do such a thing? My baby would never, he's a great, my baby's amazing and he would never do something bad. 

And then the body camera, no, you know what this was? This was, ah, this was a, like a road rage incident. And these two guys got out of the car And the white guy who was an off -duty police officer murdered the black man. That's what happened. Then a dash camera footage came out and the black man pulled out a gun. That's when the police officer, the off -duty police officer shot back. 

So when the camera came out, the footage came out to the family's credit, their lawyer backed down, the family apologized and said they were shocked that their son would do such a thing. They never would have believed it and we're sorry. And he, and he, he was in the wrong and the whole thing was over again to the family's credit for doing that. But there are few who are as humble as that, even in the face of video evidence, which this shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, there is. Apparently there's three different videos from different angles. So anyway, but let me be clear. 

Black Lives Matter wanted body camera footage. Now they don't. Normal black people do want body camera footage. Black Lives Matter activists don't. Also progressive white women don't. They don't want it. 

They don't want body camera footage for the same reason that they don't want voter ID. And that's because they think black people don't know where the DMV is, or they're too stupid to understand what an ID is, or they can't afford to go get an ID. So progressive white women, they don't want body camera footage either, because that's their way of being nice to vulnerable oppressed black, their little black babies that they need to take care of. So you got normal black people, they want body camera footage, but Black Lives Matter activists and white women in Madison do not. So the body camera footage is a side story. Politically, there's another story here. 

I don't know how much of an influence this story is going to have nationwide. This may be the first you're hearing about this story. I don't know how much the media is going to run with it. They got to kind of test it for a little bit and see if this is a political win for the Democratic Party or not. Remember, the lamestream media, they're just an arm of the Democratic Party. So if they think this will help them in midterms, then this is going to be another George Floyd. 

If they don't think it will, then they'll abandon the story immediately. Locally, though, in Wisconsin, this will have some implications. So Democrats, their primaries in three weeks. Democrats are down to their current lieutenant governor, No, so sorry, it was their current lieutenant governor and their former lieutenant governor. The current lieutenant governor dropped out. So we got the former lieutenant governor, who's a black guy. 

Then you have the Milwaukee County executive, who's another black guy. He actually dropped or he suspended his race, but then the current governor endorsed him. So he got back in. Never heard of that happening before. So we got these Democrats in Wisconsin. It's a purple state. 

They can't seem to get their act together because the front runner is a communist. She's a state representative, Francesca Hong. She's a Mamdani -endorsed DSA communist. If you listen to this podcast, you know all about him. Abolish ICE, public grocery stores, public banks, defund the police, right? Like the whole thing. 

So full -on DSA, Democrats, Socialists of America, communists. But Manhattan is different than Wisconsin. Maybe. We'll see. I hope it is. Denver's not different than Manhattan. 

Denver nominated a communist. We'll see if the entire state of Wisconsin will. So is this story going to energize her base to get her across the finish line in their primary? I don't know. If she does win, you would think that'd be better for the Republican candidate, Tom Tiffany. But in my policies, it's a bad idea to play with fire. 

I don't want communists getting anywhere near the possibility of winning elected office. So three weeks. So you got body camera footage and the politics of this. We'll put those aside. Let's get to some biblical points here. First, thou shalt not steal. 

Second, you should obey police officers when they tell you to stop. We can go on with all these obvious points that you would think are obvious, but maybe they're not. There's a lot of people out there who think that police shouldn't exist at all. So third point, people want to talk about the overreaction of police officers. They killed a man and yeah, it's terrible. Remember these officers, I'm sure they're distraught about this all. 

They didn't want to go to work that day hoping to be a part of all this. But the police are there to secure law and order. And we can't live in a society where we just let people roam the streets stealing stuff from people's cars. We've got to stop that behavior. It's anti -civilization. But don't be tricked into thinking that they killed a man because he was stealing stuff from cars. 

It's not it. Because the activists are going to say that. They'll be like, oh, you shouldn't get the death penalty for stealing stuff. No, they shot him because he had a knife. And he already injured a police officer. And would have killed him. 

Maybe. There's nothing just. There's nothing righteous about living in chaos. So like, let's think of their progressive vision of government, like no police, right? So he just gets out a knife and stabs a social worker or what? And what are you talking about? 

Forget even the socialist utopia. Let's just, let's pretend that these police officers acted as these communists maybe would prefer them, or the activists would prefer them to act, be nice and kind or whatever. The guy pulls out a knife. So first you just want to let him go. Okay. So what's that? 

And then let's say you're like, no, you got to come with us, man. And he pulls out a knife. Just let him stab you in the face. Let him stab you in the heart. Austin Metcalf died with a knife, like two and a half inches long. Or again, maybe it's just a minor flesh wound. 

And then he runs away, ready to steal again tomorrow. And it's just chaos. What are we talking about? And then people don't go downtown. People don't go to businesses. The town suffers. 

And you end up in the ghetto like Chicago the other day where seven grocery stores are now closing down. Seven save -a -lots. Who are we going to let run the show here? My fourth point is there's a total disregard for human life. His family's distraught, you know, mom crying on TV. Police are criticized for having a disregard of human life, but what about the people around him? 

And not only his family, but because I understand people can be very mentally ill and family has to let the person go, right? But what about our institutions around us that let homeless and mentally ill people just roam the streets? I don't know much about Corey. Corey Ruiz is his name or Ruiz. Ruiz is the guy's name. I don't know what his deal is. I don't know if he's just straight up criminal or mentally ill, or he's a drug addict out of his mind. 

But either of these three require different interventions that we don't take, because we don't really value human life. If we did, we would help people like this, even if it's against their will. That has been the big concern for like 50 years now. Oh, we can't do anything against their will. Their will is out of their mind. They don't have a will to take the person against their will. 

All right. Well, their will is to steal money, to get things, to get money, to get high. That's their will. So yeah, we got to do stuff against their will. Getting help, getting them better is against their will at the moment, but we can't do it. Got to be nice. 

So the real disregard for human life. Again, you're going to hear that the police officers have a disregard for human life. That is wrong. The real disregard of human life. Let me flip it around. The real regard for human life should have been to focus on this person a long time ago. 

Let's go to the Bible. Admit something here that I don't like. I'm becoming callous. My parents, they grew up in Long Island and they worked in New York city. When I was growing up, they would tell me a story about this woman who had elephantitis. I want that for a name. 

I don't know what the new politically correct term for this disease is, but I'm sure it's not elephantitis. It's a severe swelling of their body parts. Like, I don't know. I don't know what swells like their tissues. I don't know. But like their legs are huge, enormous, and just disgusting covered with sores and all this stuff. 

It'd be like, it's like kind of like our modern day leprosy, like a biblical leprosy. And this woman, she would lay there on the subway platform. and everyone would step over them all day long. My parents told this story to me growing up a lot. I heard about this person often and I look back on it like, man, how terrible. How sad for that person, of course. 

but then for the rest of us who get calloused. We get calloused to this human suffering. We become hard -hearted. Now, hard -hearted in the Bible is more like stubborn, but I mean it more like the opposite of having a soft heart. And I don't like it. When a homeless person or addict like this gets shot by police officers, they're so far down a very bad road, and there are so many places along the way where things could have gone differently. 

but we don't really care for the oppressed when they cry out. We instead, progressives have come up with this policy to let them stay oppressed in the name of compassion. And then they spiral deeper and deeper. I think the first thing we can do, and they keep doing, is to pray for the people who have a tender heart for the homeless and the addicted. There's a lot of people in California I know who, well, let me do the negative first. I know for sure that there's people in California in particular who are in this for the money, believe it or not. 

There's a lot of money in the homeless industrial complex. But there's also a lot of great people I know who are doing it for the right reasons, and they're doing good work. They're saving lives and they're saving souls. The saving soul part's an essential part of it. We need to pray for those people because they're doing God's work. Jesus said the poor will always be with us, which is a really interesting sentence. 

Why? Now it's not to say, nah, you know, whatever. Don't think about them. Don't care about them because no matter what you do, they're going to be with us forever. They're going to be poor people. So whatever. 

That's not what Jesus means by that. Charles Spurgeon gave a wonderful sermon on this. It's called the duty of remembering the poor. And I really like the sermon a lot because it speaks to my callousness, which I don't like. So I make a couple of points here. First, why does God allow there to be poor people? 

He could make everyone rich. I was talking to the kids today about creativity and beauty, and God could have made, we were driving through this beautiful back country road with hills, and I said, God could have made the whole earth flat. Sorry, I was going to do a flat earth story here. That's not what I mean. He could have made the whole earth just bland, gray, desert, just blah, the whole planet. But he didn't. 

Look, kids he made this beautiful rolling hills with green and lush and it's just stunning and all these different variety did everything right god could have made everyone rich one reason that there are poor people is so that people can be grateful for the blessings they do have charles spurge said oh ye discontented ones so people who are whining you who are always murmuring at your households because all kinds of delicacies are not provided for you oh i just wish my life were better people whining it would do you good if you could sit down for a while to work house fair And sometimes eat a little less than that and fast a day or two to find your appetites. So quit your whining. You can eat like a lot of other people who don't have nearly what you have. So one reason why there's poor people is so that you can be grateful for what you have. Second reason is to get us to see that the real comforts of life aren't in the physical comforts of this world, but in the gospel, the good news and his promises for eternity. Spurgeon said, when we find some that have not where to lay their heads and yet can say, still will I trust in the Lord. 

When we see someone with nothing but bread and water who's still glorying Jesus? When we see them wondering where the scene shall end, seeing that every day new straits attend. Every day is horrible. Every day is difficult. And yet having faith in Christ, what an honor it reflects on the gospel. Check out this from Spurgeon. 

Grace is tested in the poverty of believers. This is no doubt one reason why God puts his people in poor circumstances. There, says the architect, this building is strong. Aye, sir, but it must be tested. Let the wind blow against it. There's a lighthouse out at sea. 

It's a calm night. I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm. The tempest must howl about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. And so with religion, if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that the ship was strong. If the winds did not blow upon it, as they do on our poor, tired brethren, we should not know how firm and secure it is. " It's beautiful. 

Spurgeon's wonderful. So we've got to be grateful for what we have. Second, to get us to see that the real comforts of life are not in the physical comforts of the world, but of heaven and eternity. We all need to know that. 3 to be an inspiration to all of us. For those who are going through difficult times and can still trust the Lord, it's a beautiful thing. 

But I'll leave you with this one. It's what I really wanted to share. The Lord, Spurgeon says, has poor people in the midst of us for this reason, that he determines to give us opportunities of showing our love to him. Now, we show our Christ in love when we sing of him and when we pray to him, but if there were no poor people in the world, we should often say within ourselves, oh, how I wish I could one of Christ. I wish there were one of Christ's brethren that I could help. 

I should like to give Christ something. I should like to show my master that I loved him, not by words only, but by deeds too. And if all the poor saints were clean taken away and we were all well to do and had abundance, there would not, there'd be none to acquire any assistance. And I think we might begin to weep because there were no poor saints to help. So let us look upon it, not as a mere duty, but as a delight and a privilege. For if we were not able to give something of our substance to Christ, We should have to go down on our knees to ask him to give us some opportunity of showing our love to him. 

I say all this to remind us that there are good people doing good work to help those who are in need and want it. If you have the heart for that work, God bless you. You're a wonderful person. If you don't personally have that calling, pray about it and maybe give out of our abundance and out of our gratitude to local charities that help people who need it. And if people need help, but don't want it, that's a political thing. It's a political solution. 

We need to force them to take it. They need to go to prison. They need to go an addiction center. They need to be in a mental health hospital. If we had this attitude towards the poor, who will always be with us, we could then hopefully prevent situations like this person in Wisconsin from getting to this point. And more importantly, save souls in the process. 

Let's pray we don't grow even more calloused towards human life.

 

Read full Article
Stop Congratulating Sin
Politics By Faith, July 22, 2026

"Conservative" commentator Guy Benson got another motherless child from surrogacy. Many "conservatives" have congratulated him. Why? If we want to conserve anything worth conserving, we need to have the courage to speak the truth.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. This is where we take the news of the day, we bring it to the Bible, so we can walk away at the end of time together here with some peace and perspective. New headlines every day that Ecclesiastes says about the new born son. So thanks for being here today. Story of the day. Another baby with no mom. 

Really, it's a story about courage, though. Hopefully it all makes sense here at the end. Bit of a kid's warning for today's episode. We're going to be talking about a, well, uh imagine you know the the rainbow what the rainbow is really about well how is the world perverted it we're gonna be talking about that type of topic so if you don't want kids listening to it then a kid's warning here here's a story guy benson guy benson is a conservative political commentator i don't know him i've seen clips of him before seems like a nice guy new york post headline says fox news star guy benson welcomes baby girl fox news political anna's guy benson is a dad again And the conservative commentator's growing family is drawing congratulations from some of the biggest names in Republican media circles. This is the second baby from surrogacy. We just did a segment on surrogacy. 

It was Monday's episode. We've never done a segment on surrogacy. And here we've done two in the same week. But again, this one's not really about surrogacy. That's not going to be the theme we talk about. The theme we're going to talk about is courage, because the New York Post made a point to highlight the other conservatives. 

who are congratulating him. Same thing happened with Dave Rubin who had a kid through surrogacy. Only a few were brave enough to say wait a second, that's not good. Our friend Steve Dace, he wrote to this post from the New York Post, he wrote, adorable, where's mom? There's no mom. 

Katie Faust, she's again the leader on this issue. She said, Guy Benton made another motherless child. There's a high likelihood a lot of little lives were lost in his pursuit. Again, we see top conservatives celebrating. We all love babies. But the unqualified congratulations from people who would otherwise be the first to say that moms and dads matter? 

That has to stop. It contributes to a culture of family breakdown. It affirms the baby -making industry that commodifies children, and it diminishes the rights of the very child they're welcoming. Conservatives have to make a choice. Do we believe what we say? Do children have a right to life? 

Is marriage the building block of society? Are men and women different? Do children need both? Or would we rather secure the praise of our friends and progressive elites? by pretending what Guy Benson has done won't haunt his children for life. You know, people call maybe Guy and the people who have congratulated him, they may call him a conservative, but I'm curious what they're trying to conserve exactly. 

Listen, we all need to go through a process, the process of sanctification. It's worth a one minute rehash on this. So justification is when you are saved. That is, that is the moment. That is the moment when you are declared righteous before God. Justification, the deliverance of the penalty of your sins, all the sins that you've committed in the past. 

Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sin. Romans 5 18 Paul said therefore as one trespass that's Adam led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness Jesus on the cross leads to justification and life for all men." " So there's justification. Then there's sanctification. Sanctification is the continual process of you becoming more like Jesus, of becoming more righteous. 

It's everyday. It's an everyday battle of becoming more like Christ and beating the flesh, the world, and the devil all the time. Paul describes this in Romans 8 .29, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son. So it's a conforming process. Justification is a one -time act. Sanctification is a continual process until the end of the race. 

And I say that because every Christian is in the process of being sanctified and becoming more sensitive. to your sins. Maybe when you first become a Christian, you're like, oh, here's some big ones that I got to resolve here. And then the longer you become a Christian, those maybe are no longer a thorn in your side, but there's other things now, things you never imagined, things you never saw before. And that's a process that happens for the rest of your life. All the time, I'm noticing little things. 

And over periods of time, hopefully it becomes obvious that you're changing as a person, you're becoming more righteous. Now, newer Christians are going to do things that are still way off, and we need to help. We need to help newer Christians make better decisions, and we need to do it in love, of course, but we need to help. We can't just be like, well, they'll figure it out. Like, no, no, we need to help. Just like I'm grateful for all the people who have helped me who have said, Slater, you're off on that. 

You need to do better here. And I say that because, again, we're all going through processes of sanctification, but having a kid with your gay partner that that's that one's way off that's that one's not gonna cut it. Daniel Hayworth, he said, the reason people have a hard time defining conservatism is because they're afraid to say the obvious truth that's at its root, and that is we are conserving Christianity and the world it built. People don't want to say that, don't want to offend anyone, don't want to bring the Bible into it, don't want to bring Christianity into it. He said this fear leads to ceding ground over and over, but we need to embrace the fact and regain our courage. 

And that's what I want to talk about today. Our lack of courage to tell the truth. Conservatives congratulating, right? I guess you have three different options. You can congratulate, you can stay silent, but not enough people saying, oh, that's wrong. Why not? 

Well, we want to be nice, right? That's what we've always been. That's been like the biggest, the biggest form of righteousness is just being nice. And if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all. And that's not nice. So people don't say anything. 

And then it all continues, of course. So I was thinking of one story. There's, there's a story. countless, but one story of someone in the Bible telling the truth boldly. So I went to Mark six, Jesus is telling his disciples, the 12 to go out. Uh, and Jesus gave them authority over impure spirits. 

So they went out and they, and they preached that people should repent. They didn't, they didn't go out. That's the Bible, by the way, I just quoted the Bible verse 12. I didn't, they didn't go out and preach that, uh, be nice, do whatever you want. Congratulations on your sin. Like they didn't, they preached that people should repent. 

They drove out many demons. and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Now the king, Herod, they heard about this, but the people around the king were confused about who Jesus was. Some said this man is Elijah. Some said he was John the Baptist, which would be a shocking claim because something happened to John already. in the story. 

Herod ordered John the Baptist, before this happened, to be thrown into prison. Why? Because John kept telling Herod, you're doing great, don't change a thing. John kept telling Herod, congratulations on your new marriage. I love marriage, therefore congratulations on your marriage. Nope, that's not what happened. 

John, Herod, threw John in prison because John kept telling Herod that it is not lawful to marry your brother's wife. So Herodias, that is the woman, nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. That's what the Bible says. But then her moment came. So the daughter of Herodias danced before Herod and the guests. 

Doesn't specifically say what type of dance, but it seems odd. And then he said, great dance. I'll give you anything you want up to half of my kingdom. So she went out to her mother and said, what should I wish for? And she said, ask for the head of John the Baptist. So she did. 

And because Herod, well, first of all, I made a bad decision to make that promise before you knew what you're going to say. Uh, also didn't have to say that I didn't have to agree to that one, but he did. He was in front of all the dinner guests. I felt pressured to. So the executioner went to the prison that John was in again, because John said, you're not allowed to marry this woman. cut off his head, put it on a platter, and gave it to the girl who gave it to her mother. 

This story to me, it's a confirming story that the Bible is true because it's not glamorous. It's not a glamorous end for John the Baptist. It's not a triumphant ending. If you were wanting to make this story up to gain followers or make yourself look good or your movement look good, you would have had a more triumphant ending than you get your head cut off, put on a platter because some girl asked for it. So there's that point on the story. But the more you think about it, it's a wonderful model because John never backed down from telling the truth. 

What was his penalty? Well, heaven. Spurgeon said, John did not mince matters. or leave the question alone. What was a king to him if that king trampled on the law of God? And what did he get? 

He only got heaven. So his head was cut off, but I'd rather go to heaven. I'd rather tell the truth. I'd rather get my head cut off if it means you receive your crown in heaven. Speak the truth. Conservatives need to speak the truth. 

If we're trying to conserve anything, if we want to save our country, we need to speak the truth. But more important than anything, we need to speak the truth about the Bible and God's word and help people. Help people in the process. First to be justified, but then sanctification as well. And to do that, you need to be able to say, that's wrong. Ephesians 4 .14 starts off with, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. 

And it later says so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. No. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him. who is the head into Christ. We need to speak truth. YouTube . 

com slash at politics by faith. And if it gets your head cut off, at least, you know, if you're speaking the truth, you'll get that crown for eternity. So make your choice. youtube . com slash at politics by faith. If you could please subscribe to be awesome. 

We're over 7 ,000 followers right now, which is great. We got to get to that 10 ,000. That's a nice big number that the YouTube likes, but whatever you're listening from, thank you for being a youtube . com slash at politics by faith spread the word.

 

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals