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.
