Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 24 ｜ The Reality Show Continues

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to the podcast Relatable. It is me, Ali Stuckey, always bringing you an honest

00:00:05.740 take on culture, Bible matters, and political news. I try to do one news day and one topical

00:00:11.980 day per week, and that's what we're going to do this week. So today we're going to talk about

00:00:17.480 this drama we keep hearing about between Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Trump's other

00:00:21.860 lawyer and media spokesperson, Rudy Giuliani. We are going to discuss the media's doomsday

00:00:27.560 coverage of this stuff and what else is going on in Trump's presidency. We don't really talk about

00:00:32.820 Trump all that much on the show, but today we're going to. And as is typical on this show, this news

00:00:39.080 is like kind of a week old, or it's been in the news for a week, but that's what we do. We kind

00:00:45.360 of take our time and then we analyze things looking back. That's just how this podcast goes. Then

00:00:51.020 Thursday we're going to talk about democratic socialism, what it is exactly, why young people

00:00:55.140 are so attracted to it. And we will also dispel this stupid myth once again, that Jesus was a 0.99

00:01:01.160 socialist. But for today, Trump, playboy models, an affair, hush money, secret meetings with Russians, 1.00

00:01:09.500 attorney Michael Cohen, tapes, the presidency, and to top it all off, former mayor of New York,

00:01:15.840 Rudy Giuliani, the makings of a wholesome story of American greatness, right? I mean, really,

00:01:22.360 the past two or three years of our lives have been really nothing short of a reality show because of

00:01:29.180 who Trump is, of course, as a former reality show star. So it's really no surprise that there's been

00:01:35.100 this much drama surrounding him. And you kind of wonder if all of this is part of Trump's scheme to

00:01:41.120 keep the focus on him. His approval ratings might not be that high, but the ratings that account for

00:01:46.440 how many eyes are on the presidency to praise or to criticize is probably at an all time high,

00:01:51.860 even with the whole Russian collusion story, which Trump adamantly denies being a part of,

00:01:56.920 even that keeps the attention on Trump. And it also offers him an opportunity to be a victim of

00:02:01.740 the so-called deep state, further solidifying his base's support for him. But anyway, that's kind of

00:02:07.900 down a rabbit hole. We only have time for one part of the drama today, and that is the number one,

00:02:14.280 the recent news about President Trump, his attorney Michael Cohen and a tape from 2016,

00:02:19.080 months before the election, where President Trump is recorded discussing hush money to Karen

00:02:24.200 McDougal, a former Playboy model and his alleged lover back in 2006, while Trump was married to

00:02:30.020 Melania and just months after she had given birth to their son, Barron. Great stuff. And number two,

00:02:35.820 the possibility of Trump knowing about the infamous Trump Tower meeting pre-election between Donald Trump

00:02:42.020 Jr. and a Russian lawyer who may or may not have promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.

00:02:46.900 And if you don't know what any of that means, that is OK. I am here to guide you. And don't worry,

00:02:55.080 we will break it down as simply as possible. So first, why does any of this matter? Well,

00:03:02.320 actually, I don't think it matters all that much as far as Trump's presidency and the 2018 and 2020

00:03:08.400 elections go. But I do think that it's worth talking about. I only talk about things that I

00:03:12.960 think are worth talking about. And I do think it's worth talking about the breadth of this

00:03:16.640 investigation, the media is reporting. And also, we should talk about what's going on beneath the

00:03:21.540 surface of all of this stuff. But first, just so we can understand the headlines that have been

00:03:26.020 bombarding us about this for the past week, let's break down the current episode of the Trump soap

00:03:32.480 opera. So I want to back up because most of you guys, I think and I think I know my audience pretty

00:03:38.880 well, you don't spend all day and night watching the news and following every second of the Trump

00:03:43.760 presidency, which is normal. You guys have lives. You should not feel badly about that. You should

00:03:49.320 feel really good about that. This is why when I talk about stories like this, though, I'd like to back

00:03:54.080 all the way up and pretend that we're starting from zero. So first, there is an investigation into

00:03:59.540 Donald Trump and his presidential campaign led by special counsel Robert Mueller, Mueller,

00:04:05.800 who even knows, to find out whether or not Trump's campaign colluded with the Russians,

00:04:11.200 whom the FBI tells us definitely meddled in our elections somehow in order to win the presidency.

00:04:19.080 But the investigation has gone much wider than its initial purpose. That is why some people say the

00:04:25.900 investigation is a witch hunt led by the deep state, because we're hearing about porn stars and

00:04:30.400 payments and we're not hearing anything about evidence of Russian collusion. But supporters of the

00:04:35.220 investigation and Mueller say, well, the FBI has the responsibility to pursue crimes where they

00:04:40.540 see them. So if in their routine investigative process, they find crimes that don't have to do

00:04:46.280 with Russian collusion, but are still crimes, they have the obligation to uncover them. I tend to agree

00:04:52.400 with the latter. Now, do I think this investigation has gone on too long without evidence? Yes. But remember,

00:04:58.300 the Kinstar investigation that led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton was not about Monica Lewinsky to begin

00:05:03.840 with. It expanded to that point. And ultimately, Clinton was charged for perjury and obstruction

00:05:08.500 of justice. And of course, later he was acquitted. But that's besides the point. The point is that

00:05:13.560 investigations often expand. That is, you know, sometimes a necessary part of delivering justice.

00:05:20.240 Now, on to Michael Cohen. He is the longtime attorney and close friend of President Trump. He has been

00:05:26.400 known as the keeper of Trump's secrets. Trump has no doubt made Cohen a very rich man,

00:05:32.360 has likely trusted him with the darkest and most illicit parts of his life and has entrusted Cohen

00:05:37.620 with the responsibility of keeping him out of hot water. Now, that is not unique to Trump. You could

00:05:42.600 say, well, that makes Trump a sketchy guy. Maybe there are other things that make Trump sketchy,

00:05:47.020 but that's not really unique. This is what a lot of rich people in Hollywood do. Instead of staying

00:05:51.540 out of trouble, they get into trouble and then they pay someone to keep them from having to pay the

00:05:55.460 consequences for the trouble that they've gotten themselves into. Cohen has been a fierce

00:05:59.980 defender of Donald Trump. He's been called Trump's pit bull. Apparently, people have referred to him

00:06:05.060 as Tom, which is in reference to Tom Hagen of the Godfather movies who served as the mob family's

00:06:10.780 lawyer. Cohen told ABC News in 2011, it means that if so the nickname Tom, I guess it means that if

00:06:18.720 somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr.

00:06:24.620 Trump's benefit. If you do something wrong, I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck, 0.50

00:06:29.600 and I'm not going to let go until I'm finished. That is Michael Cohen. His closeness to Trump and 0.93

00:06:35.940 his outspoken willingness to do whatever it takes to protect Trump, of course, made him a person of

00:06:41.540 interest to special counsel Robert Mueller. Robert Mueller and his FBI team raided Cohen's office in

00:06:47.320 April. According to the Washington Post in April, Cohen is, quote, now under federal investigation

00:06:53.860 for possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations. Investigators took Cohen's

00:06:59.660 computer, his phone, personal financial records, including tax returns. Communication between Trump

00:07:05.940 and Cohen were also seized. People were really upset about this when it happened back in April because

00:07:11.300 this raid seemed to show, like we just addressed a few seconds ago, how wide the scope of Mueller's

00:07:16.740 investigation had gone. It started out with investigating Russian collusion, and now he was

00:07:23.220 raiding the office of Trump's personal lawyer and looking into hush money to porn stars. People were

00:07:31.880 calling it a witch hunt. They also said that this violates attorney-client privilege between Cohen and

00:07:38.340 Donald Trump, but attorney-client privilege does not apply if you're breaking the law with your attorney.

00:07:44.720 Attorney-client privilege doesn't put someone above the law. Critics also pointed out that the FBI

00:07:51.000 never treated Clinton, Hillary Clinton, the way or that way and that harsh of a manner, even though

00:07:58.040 she deleted 33,000 emails from a private server. The FBI treated her and her lawyer, Cheryl Mills,

00:08:04.200 much more softly, and that much is true. But we don't really have that much time to worry about that

00:08:11.580 right now because we still want to know what's going on in the investigation of the president

00:08:15.120 of the United States. So that was the raid that occurred in April by Robert Mueller, and we still

00:08:20.200 don't know the contents and the nature of all of the materials that were seized in that raid.

00:08:25.400 What we know they seized was a taped, sorry, a taped conversation between Chris Cuomo of CNN

00:08:32.900 and Michael Cohen discussing the $130,000 paid as hush money in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels,

00:08:40.680 you guys know who she is, who also claims to have had sex with Trump a decade ago that Cohen claimed

00:08:46.620 was a private transaction having nothing to do with Trump. Trump didn't know about it. He claims Trump had

00:08:52.520 zero involvement whatsoever, zero knowledge. Prosecutors are still looking into whether or not Trump

00:08:57.840 actually did know about it because Rudy Giuliani has said that Trump did know about it and reimbursed

00:09:03.360 him. And so prosecutors are looking into whether or not this constitutes his campaign finance

00:09:08.500 violation. Here's what the Wall Street Journal says. If Mr. Cohen did pay Ms. Clifford, aka Stormy

00:09:15.200 Daniels, to help the candidate's chances of being elected, he and the campaign may have violated

00:09:20.900 campaign finance law by making an in-kind contribution, exceeding the legal limit, and by not disclosing the

00:09:27.260 contribution. And if Trump knew about this, then that could be a big problem for him. But Stormy

00:09:33.220 Daniels wasn't the only woman who claimed to have sex with Trump who Cohen wanted to keep hushed.

00:09:38.420 Another tape that was seized in the FBI raid and then aired on CNN last week was a recording of a

00:09:43.920 conversation between Cohen and Trump that Cohen apparently secretly recorded in which Cohen suggested

00:09:49.800 that they buy the rights to the story of Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says that she had a

00:09:56.180 10-month affair with Trump in 2006. She sold her story to the National Enquirer for $150,000.

00:10:04.320 And now Trump and Cohen wanted to, and then Trump and Cohen wanted to buy the story from them.

00:10:10.600 Cohen created a shelf company in Delaware in order to do this, but the deal ended up falling through and

00:10:16.140 they never actually bought the rights to the story. So people on the left and those who don't like Trump

00:10:20.800 are saying that this could have also been a campaign finance violation if Trump knew why this transaction

00:10:26.760 was happening. Well, the thing about that is that one, it didn't actually end up happening. And number

00:10:32.400 two, it's not clear from the tape that Trump did know about the details of all this. The real drama

00:10:38.440 in all of that isn't the tape itself. We already knew about Karen McDougal. She had a long CNN interview

00:10:45.480 in March in which she was crying. She apologized to Melania for sleeping with her husband. So that wasn't

00:10:51.140 really news. And the whole buying the rights to the story isn't really news either because it didn't

00:10:56.200 end up happening. And not a single person, not a single person on earth is surprised to learn that

00:11:03.580 Donald Trump had affairs with porn stars and playmates. OK, the big drama is that Michael Cohen,

00:11:08.860 Trump's longtime lawyer and Trump himself are not getting along. After the tape was aired on CNN,

00:11:14.920 Trump tweeted this. This is last week. What kind of lawyer would tape a client? So sad.

00:11:21.120 Is this a first? Never heard of it before? Question mark. Why was the tape so abruptly terminated?

00:11:27.560 Parentheses cut. While I was presumably saying positive things. I hear there are other clients

00:11:33.500 and many reporters that are taped. Can this be so too bad? So I think Trump is right to be upset about

00:11:41.420 this. It's pretty sketchy, but it's not illegal. It's not against the law. New York, like Texas,

00:11:46.160 where I am from, is a one party consent state when it comes to recordings. And Cohen actually made a

00:11:51.720 habit of recording conversations, apparently. On Sunday, Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's current

00:11:58.180 attorneys, said on CBS's Face the Nation that there are 183 unique conversations recorded by Cohen that he

00:12:04.400 has been able to listen to that he hopes the nation gets to hear. He is pushing for the nation to get

00:12:09.600 to hear these as he believes these recordings will vindicate Donald Trump. Giuliani, the famous mayor who

00:12:15.740 helped rebuild New York City, particularly during and after 9-11, whom I have also met myself and

00:12:21.120 worked with once in my life in a PR capacity. His he is making the media rounds, as he usually does

00:12:27.980 when there are accusations out about the president. And he is going after Michael Cohen as a liar.

00:12:33.500 And that's not just because Cohen somewhat surreptitiously recorded conversations between

00:12:38.340 him and Trump, but because according to CNN, Cohen said that Trump knew beforehand about the infamous

00:12:45.960 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer who

00:12:51.780 apparently promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. And reports say that Cohen is going to tell this to

00:12:56.420 in an effort to relieve some of the pressure on him. Giuliani says that is a lie. That's not true.

00:13:03.400 Trump and Trump Jr. have denied that Trump knew anything about this. But Cohen says he was there

00:13:09.700 when Trump Jr. told Trump Sr. about the meeting. Giuliani says no way. Here is Giuliani on Fox News

00:13:15.980 Sunday calling Cohen a liar. Cohen's latest so-called revelation is that he reportedly is prepared to tell the

00:13:25.840 special counsel, Robert Mueller, that he was witness to a conversation which President Trump knew in

00:13:32.740 advance about the Trump Tower meeting, that Don Jr. and Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort were going to meet

00:13:38.680 with a Russian lawyer. And that contradicts what President Trump told the New York Times last

00:13:44.180 summer. Take a look. Did you know at the time that they had the meeting? No, I didn't know anything

00:13:49.360 about them. But you know, you gave this must have been a very important, must have been a very

00:13:53.500 unimportant meeting because I never even heard about it. Now, the president repeated this week he did not

00:13:58.900 know in advance of the Trump Tower meeting. But let's explore this for a moment. If, I repeat, if he did

00:14:05.660 know, if in fact he did lie to the New York Times last summer when he said he didn't know, is there

00:14:12.200 anything wrong with that? Well, yeah, I guess there's something wrong with it on an ethical,

00:14:16.880 moral basis. Nothing. If you got prosecuted for lying to the newspapers or the press,

00:14:22.220 my God, I mean, Cohen should go to jail for a thousand years. His tapes are filled with lies,

00:14:27.020 including the most basic of all. He wasn't recording it. But no, he didn't lie to them.

00:14:31.860 Cohen is reported. This is a leak now, so I don't. He may change it. Cohen, you have to pick the day to

00:14:38.120 figure out the story. So Cohen said that he was president at two different meetings. He's president

00:14:43.360 in a meeting with Donald Jr., Jared, a group of other people in which they talked about the meeting

00:14:48.340 two days later with the Russians. Then he says he was president in a meeting the day of the meeting

00:14:52.300 in the president's office in which either Donald Jr., Jared, or a few people came in and told the

00:14:57.320 president. Every other participant in both those meetings say it is not true. There was no such meeting

00:15:03.220 in advance. There was no such interruption. If he taped everything else, why the heck didn't he tape

00:15:08.740 this? It's not on tape. Okay. And Giuliani raises a good question. Cohen apparently recorded lots of

00:15:15.960 conversations between him and Trump, him and reporters. I wonder why he didn't record that

00:15:21.000 meeting if it really happened. So what does all of this mean? Well, not much yet. It matters not

00:15:28.120 because of what we know, but because of what we don't know. We don't know what other recorded

00:15:35.360 conversations Cohen has that now the FBI has. We don't know what information Cohen has on Trump

00:15:40.420 since he and Trump are now at odds. But unless Trump is actually found guilty of a crime, none of this is

00:15:46.980 going to have an effect on the midterm elections coming up and probably not on 2020 either. Now, a lot

00:15:52.600 could happen in a few months and definitely before 2020. But the media's exaggeration of all of this

00:15:58.960 is is right now just misguided. They are, per usual, acting as if this is the end of the Trump presidency

00:16:07.180 as they have been since the FBI raided Michael Cohen's office and probably before that. But there's

00:16:13.460 no evidence going. There's no evidence that is actually going in that direction yet. But this is

00:16:19.900 all this is really all that the media wants to talk about, because if they don't, they might have

00:16:26.800 to actually report on the good things Donald Trump is doing for the country, because the truth is

00:16:31.180 Trump's approval rating, despite all of his negative coverage, is going up instead of down. MSNBC actually

00:16:38.560 reported that his approval rating is at 45 percent, which is not good in general, but it's good for him.

00:16:44.680 And among Republicans, it's at 88 percent, which is the highest that it's ever been among Republicans.

00:16:49.000 Um, he's had a lot to brag about this week. Last week, GDP growth is the highest that it's been in

00:16:55.480 four years, 4.1 percent. It looks like Trump's tariffs might actually be successful in scripting

00:17:00.700 a trade war and accomplishing the fair trade that he's been harping on. Uh, even the New York Times

00:17:05.980 is reporting that the economy has hit a high note. Also, the remains of 55, uh, 55 Americans who died

00:17:13.160 in the Korean War were returned to the U.S. from North Korea. So policy wise, actual tangible things

00:17:20.800 wise, it's going pretty well for Trump. And I think that's what his supporters really care about. I

00:17:26.320 think most of America has stopped listening when it comes to the Russian investigation and Robert

00:17:30.400 Mueller, because one, they don't trust the media. And for good reason, because many of the media have

00:17:35.620 proven themselves to be anti-Trump activists rather than truth tellers. And number two, they believe that

00:17:41.120 the investigation is a witch hunt and so immediately disbelieve anything they hear from Mueller's

00:17:45.540 investigation, and especially from the media via Mueller's investigation. Plus, everyone who

00:17:51.320 supports Trump and everyone who doesn't knows that Trump isn't a saint. So none of this is any surprise

00:17:56.900 to us. Uh, people didn't vote for him because they thought he was a good person. They voted for him

00:18:02.440 because they felt that Trump was going to protect their values much more than Hillary Clinton would.

00:18:07.440 That's why, for example, evangelical Christians in general still support Trump. Now, I know that

00:18:13.820 there are some prominent evangelicals who seem to have completely sold out to the Trump train,

00:18:18.720 but I think in general, Christians who support Trump do so, uh, not because they're in love with

00:18:23.360 him, but because he represents or kind of represents our values. Not really. It's because he protects our

00:18:30.900 values way more than because he represents them. Um, or he protects our freedom to hold these

00:18:37.260 values rather than actively demonize them and target them the way that Christians felt the Obama

00:18:42.440 administration did, like through the IRS Lois Lerner scandal, for example. Now, I personally,

00:18:47.760 as I have spoken about on this podcast, believe that morality does matter when it comes to leadership

00:18:52.340 and that decency does matter, that you can't just say over and over again forever that all that matters

00:18:58.100 is policy. Would you really elect a serial killer just because this person believes in securing the

00:19:03.360 border? Of course not. Hopefully not. But with Trump, I think it's very difficult to look at what

00:19:08.560 Trump has done for the economy and boosting the judiciary with solid judges and not be willing to

00:19:15.020 overlook his personal flaws in order to vote for him again. Now, if he were ever found guilty of

00:19:21.420 Russian collusion, which I don't think that he will be, but if he ever were, then of course that would

00:19:26.500 be traitorous and unforgivable and it wouldn't matter what he did to lower taxes, at least to me. 0.64

00:19:31.220 But as far as the sexual stuff goes, as far as his tactless tweets, his personal life, 0.91

00:19:36.300 I think it's pretty easy for most of his supporters to say,

00:19:39.320 meh, we're not really that surprised to learn about these affairs anyway. And he's doing good

00:19:46.620 things for us. So who really cares? I do think, though, that like I've said as a Christian,

00:19:52.880 that even though I like a lot of what Trump has done, my position should always be one of skepticism

00:19:57.900 and never one of complacency regarding Trump's morality. I don't have to pretend that sleeping

00:20:03.740 around is suddenly good or excusable. I don't want to make excuses for Trump. I'm not going to

00:20:09.160 pretend like some Trump supporters do, like Trump is some amazing messiah-like figure with only good

00:20:14.980 intentions. I just don't think that's true. And I guess that's OK. I don't even know if the guy is

00:20:22.160 truly a born-again Christian. Maybe he is. I surely hope that he is. I really do. But it's not 0.90

00:20:28.400 necessarily readily apparent. So the people who are claiming so boldly on the right that he is

00:20:34.740 a born-again Christian, awesome, probably need to slow their roll just a little bit.

00:20:42.700 But with all of this in mind, as Christians, it is our responsibility to, one, pray for Trump,

00:20:47.600 no matter what we think of him, pray that if he's not a Christian, that he becomes one,

00:20:51.860 that God would give him wisdom and success, and two, to acknowledge immorality when it's there,

00:20:57.120 but to be able to be clear-headed when it comes to the effectiveness of his policies,

00:21:01.360 weigh the good with the bad. I haven't taken a poll, but I would wager that's how a lot of

00:21:07.420 Christian Trump supporters feel, and maybe non-Christian Trump supporters too. His administration

00:21:13.140 has overseen the defeat of ISIS, engaged in peace talks with North Korea, kind of. You can go and

00:21:19.140 listen to my previous podcast on that subject to hear my critical thoughts on that. Hopefully,

00:21:25.260 he is in the midst of lowering tariffs with China and Europe, accomplished tax reform. Like I said

00:21:29.980 earlier, appointed several solid judges to the judiciary, achieved 4.1% growth, the highest in

00:21:35.680 four years. He's at least rhetorically pushed to secure the border. The list goes on.

00:21:40.580 All of that, and he's waged a culture war that many conservatives feel needed to be waged.

00:21:46.840 He has glorified patriotism again after it had been villainized under Obama. He's challenged

00:21:52.000 political correctness, which many people felt was ruining our country. And really, just overall,

00:21:57.240 he has pushed back on the progressive revolution that was absolutely dominating society while Obama

00:22:02.620 was president. Conservatives and conservative Christians felt like they had to be quiet and

00:22:07.700 apologetic under Obama. And Trump in office makes them feel like they have a voice again,

00:22:12.340 that they matter. Jeff Sessions just announced on Monday a religious liberty task force. The

00:22:17.760 Washington Times says this in October, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a directive outlining

00:22:25.100 a broad interpretation of religious freedom protections. It provided support for employers making

00:22:30.580 hiring decisions based on their faith or objecting to providing health insurance for birth control.

00:22:34.820 The task force will follow up on that directive, Mr. Sessions said on Monday. It will facilitate

00:22:41.400 Justice Department compliance with the memo, facilitate coordination with it across government

00:22:46.520 agencies, and reach out to religious organizations for feedback and develop new policies and strategies

00:22:52.300 to protect religious freedoms. I think that this is a big deal for Christians who might still have

00:22:58.520 qualms with Trump personally. They feel that he is fighting for them.

00:23:02.100 Now, I believe that all Trump needs to do, really, in order to make it almost impossible, impossible for

00:23:14.080 a conservative, especially a conservative Christian, not to vote for him in 2020 is number one, to secure 0.98

00:23:19.280 the border. People really care about that. And number two, to defund Planned Parenthood. I think most

00:23:23.920 conservatives will probably vote for Trump regardless because he's turned out to be a lot better than any

00:23:28.220 of us thought. And most Republicans are concerned with the economy. But immigration is a top issue.

00:23:33.940 And defunding Planned Parenthood would really, I think, just be the nail in the coffin of any

00:23:38.540 possibility of voting for anyone other than Trump. Because with the defunding of Planned Parenthood,

00:23:43.740 it becomes a very moral dilemma for conservatives who would otherwise not vote for Trump based on

00:23:49.160 conscience. Then even if you don't like Trump's indecency, it would be like, are you really going to

00:23:55.480 prioritize Trump's decade old sexual promiscuity over the potential saving of unborn babies' lives? 0.91

00:24:01.080 Like, do you really care more about Trump's sex life than you do about defunding the number one

00:24:06.280 abortion provider in the country? I think this would be an issue that would secure the votes of some

00:24:12.000 Trump skeptical Christians. These are the things that are going to matter. We can talk about tapes and

00:24:17.540 porn stars, and these things could end up having significance if they implicate the president,

00:24:22.420 if they show that somewhere along the way Trump has broken the law. But until something substantial

00:24:27.960 is actually brought forward against Trump by Mueller's team, I guarantee you most of the country

00:24:32.680 does not care. I bet 80, I bet, I bet this, I was saying this to my husband last night,

00:24:38.940 I bet 85% of the country has no idea who Robert Mueller is. So you guys are way ahead of the curb and

00:24:45.260 will sound very informed when your CNN loving boss brings up the Russia probe at your next employee

00:24:49.960 outing. Okay, moving on to our ending segment that has nothing to do with Donald Trump.

00:24:56.060 I've heard from a lot of you guys that your favorite segment is things I just don't get.

00:25:02.420 So I am happy to oblige. Although I think I kind of ruined this segment for my podcast because I

00:25:08.160 typically think of something I don't get and then rant about it on my Instagram story. So you might just

00:25:12.520 get it twice. But maybe you don't even follow me on Instagram. I don't know. Regardless, today's thing I

00:25:18.680 don't get is the feminists, people who claim to be feminists, who pose naked or almost naked for 1.00

00:25:27.920 pictures in the name of female empowerment slash feminism. This is not going to be a popular opinion.

00:25:35.360 I understand that. I'm probably going to get hate from all sides, whatever. I don't really care. You

00:25:41.060 guys know that. This trend is just hilarious to me. Like in the wake of the Me Too movement,

00:25:46.020 which I've discussed the pros of and cons of in the past, I feel like there's been a push for this

00:25:50.740 kind of unreserved immodesty among women, even in Christian circles. It's like I'm so confident and 1.00

00:25:57.800 I love myself so much that I am willing to put my naked self out there. Look at me, except don't look

00:26:05.220 at me, except do look at me because I think that sexuality is a beautiful thing, but I don't want to

00:26:12.500 be sexualized. But I want you to see my soul in my heart. But here's a picture of me and a thong on

00:26:19.260 the beach. But don't look at my body. Look at look at my soul. Of course, in Christian circles, it's like 0.99

00:26:25.020 I'm confident in the body that God gave me and Jesus loves my body. Blah. Gross. Now, people have

00:26:31.660 been sexualizing themselves for money and attention forever, but I'm not sure it's ever been presented

00:26:36.940 as virtuously as it is now. It's like moral or something to just love yourself so much that

00:26:44.380 you're willing to show off your body. And these people also argue these same people argue that

00:26:49.760 guys should not be looking at them and objectifying them, that they don't want to be seen as sexual

00:26:54.640 objects, that they want to be known for who they are as a person, for their mind and their spirit.

00:26:59.420 OK, great. Then maybe don't post pictures of your boobs on Instagram, because if you do, 0.97

00:27:04.500 you're going to be objectified by men. You are. Now, I'm not saying that it's right of 0.99

00:27:08.800 men to objectify women. It's not. It's gross. But a man's sin of objectifying a woman doesn't

00:27:14.660 negate the woman's responsibility to present herself in a way that is respectable. Now, these 0.98

00:27:20.220 women say, well, guys shouldn't be looking. LOL. OK, that's what I have to say to that. It's 1.00

00:27:26.900 super cute to think that we're going to change millennia of biology by saying guys shouldn't

00:27:31.460 look. If the new thing is to post pictures of yourself naked or close to naked in the

00:27:36.500 name of empowerment, then feminism is the greatest gift anyone could have ever given to the so-called 1.00

00:27:41.940 patriarchy. Great. Now guys don't have to go looking for porn because they can just scroll 0.84

00:27:46.860 on Instagram and they know that girls are going to post naked pictures of themselves and claim

00:27:50.780 that they're doing so virtuously. And look, I think that most of the time women can't help 1.00

00:27:59.040 it and we can't always concern ourselves with guys looking because guys are gross and it really 0.66

00:28:06.200 doesn't matter what a girl is wearing. A guy might still objectify you. That's not a girl's 1.00

00:28:11.520 fault, obviously. But if you are posting naked or close to naked pictures of yourself, you are 0.78

00:28:18.260 going to be drooled over. And here's my theory. Here's here's the even hotter take. I really don't

00:28:24.840 think that these women who say guys shouldn't be looking and objectifying me actually want guys to 1.00

00:28:30.800 not look. I think the women who are posting naked pictures of themselves in the name of empowerment 0.98

00:28:35.360 are still probably seeking affirmation for men. If feminism is about posting naked pictures of 1.00

00:28:40.980 yourself and saying, I'm confident in my sexuality. God made this body, so I'm just going to show it off. 0.93

00:28:47.320 Then congratulations, feminist. You have truly played yourself. In the name of empowerment, 1.00

00:28:52.780 you have made it easier for every gross guy in America to objectify you. Awesome, awesome job.

00:28:59.020 You guys know that I'm not some legalistic prude. I'm not talking about wearing a potato sack.

00:29:05.020 Loose fitting dresses, for example, don't work for TV, which is why all of my dresses are fitted.

00:29:09.940 Heck, I have had old women message me on Facebook and tell me my shirts are too low. And I also believe 1.00

00:29:16.280 that leggings are pants despite what my mom says. But I am talking about having some common sense.

00:29:22.340 When it comes to how we present ourselves based on what we want people to think of us. And you can

00:29:27.140 say all you want to, well, if people judge me, that's their fault. Sure. But why not have how you

00:29:34.020 present yourself be reflective of how you want people to see you? And specifically for the Christian

00:29:40.400 woman, we always have to remind ourselves that our body is for God and or our husband. Really radical

00:29:47.340 view nowadays. No one else. When God says that our body is a temple, he means it's holy. We should

00:29:53.300 be treating it as such, presenting it as such. You guys already know my peeve of girls who post 1.00

00:29:58.440 scandalous pictures of themselves with the Bible verses, the caption. But as Christians, the great

00:30:03.020 and liberating truth is that our confidence comes from Christ, that we are beautiful because he says

00:30:08.120 that we are and we don't need Instagram affirmation or attention to make us feel valuable.

00:30:12.760 Now, you may be thinking, Allie, I can do what I want to. Yes, you can. You absolutely can. And I

00:30:21.360 will love you no matter what, because I am your friend. But just a reminder that how we present

00:30:26.620 ourselves to the world does actually matter. OK, that's it for today. I hope you guys enjoyed this.

00:30:33.340 I love you guys. Follow me on social media if you so desire. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Please leave

00:30:40.060 me a positive five star review on this podcast if you want to. Don't forget to subscribe to CRTV so that

00:30:46.300 you can watch my face as I'm giving you this podcast if you would like. And I hope everyone

00:30:51.860 has a great day. See you on Thursday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - July 31, 2018

Ep 24 ｜ The Reality Show Continues

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