Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - January 24, 2024


Ep 939 ｜ Russell Brand’s Jesus Journey & the State of the Race ｜ Guest： Ron Simmons


Episode Stats

Length

47 minutes

Words per Minute

170.12402

Word Count

8,130

Sentence Count

642

Misogynist Sentences

20

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.840 Russell Brand is reading Mere Christianity.
00:00:04.800 We are going to talk about the faith journey that he has been on, according to his social
00:00:10.700 media posts and how exciting I think that is.
00:00:13.800 We are also going to talk to my dad about the New Hampshire primary that happened yesterday,
00:00:18.740 what the results mean and what we can expect going forward.
00:00:21.500 And we've got the latest in dino news at the end of this episode that you do not want to
00:00:27.740 miss.
00:00:28.540 This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
00:00:30.860 Go to GoodRanchers.com.
00:00:31.960 Use code Allie at checkout.
00:00:32.940 That's GoodRanchers.com.
00:00:34.060 Code Allie.
00:00:44.080 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.
00:00:45.760 Happy Wednesday.
00:00:46.920 Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.
00:00:49.500 All right.
00:00:50.140 Like I said, we've got my dad here.
00:00:52.360 He's going to give us his analysis, not just on the New Hampshire primary, the state of
00:00:57.020 the race, but also going to give us some encouragement because I've just been feeling, I don't know,
00:01:02.860 kind of sad this week about the state of our country and politics, which you might think,
00:01:08.440 well, I mean, shouldn't we always kind of be bummed about that?
00:01:12.140 I mean, it's not like things have been going that great for the past few years, but I don't
00:01:18.480 know, I guess realizing that we are about to be thrown into what is probably going to be
00:01:25.660 a chaotic storm of an election year.
00:01:28.560 I guess I just have some trepidation about that.
00:01:30.620 But my dad is really, really good about giving us perspective and giving us encouragement.
00:01:34.980 So you're going to love that interview as you always love the interviews with my dad.
00:01:39.980 But before we get into some of that, I do want to remind you, especially related bros out there,
00:01:45.520 that your related gal in your life, she wants relatable merch.
00:01:48.920 Okay.
00:01:49.240 She just does.
00:01:50.680 She wants our self-love won't save you merch.
00:01:53.860 We'll put that up if you're watching on YouTube.
00:01:56.140 We've got our four new shirts.
00:01:57.680 We've got a chambray color.
00:01:59.360 And guys, if you don't know what that is, that's like a light blue.
00:02:01.900 We've got a purple.
00:02:02.720 We've got a red.
00:02:03.320 We've got an ivory and then we've got the crew neck sweatshirts.
00:02:05.940 I don't even have my product in yet.
00:02:07.880 I'm super excited about those crew necks.
00:02:10.200 We've got our totes and we've also got the same design on a sticker.
00:02:13.520 Check that out.
00:02:14.700 Alliemerge.com.
00:02:16.840 The related gal in your life will love it.
00:02:18.520 Or related gals, get that Valentine's Day gift for yourself.
00:02:23.060 Not in the name of self-love, but just because I'm telling you to.
00:02:27.700 Okay.
00:02:28.280 Let's talk about this New Hampshire primary.
00:02:30.720 So before we get started with my dad, I'll just give you a little bit of information.
00:02:35.460 Yesterday was the primary in New Hampshire.
00:02:37.780 And going into this, Trump was leading with a 53.9 percent and Nikki Haley was at 36.3 percent.
00:02:45.280 So Nikki Haley, honestly, pretty competitive.
00:02:48.560 And with DeSantis dropping out, obviously both candidates are vying for the votes of his supporters.
00:02:55.460 And so here's what Nikki Haley said to the DeSantis supporters who are looking forward to voting for him in the primary, who obviously are not going to now.
00:03:03.740 She said, what we say to DeSantis voters is it's time for a new generation.
00:03:07.300 Which is just, I think, like a funny line, considering that she has been a politician for so long and she's older than him, but whatever.
00:03:14.880 What we say to DeSantis voters is it's time for a new generation.
00:03:17.780 It's time to stop the chaos.
00:03:19.060 It's time to stop the noise and get America back on track.
00:03:22.120 We know that DeSantis supporters love America.
00:03:23.900 And we know that they want a new generational conservative leader.
00:03:27.200 And so what we're saying is we're going to fight for you.
00:03:30.100 We're going to earn your support.
00:03:32.420 Okay, independent voters make up roughly 40% of the electorate and can vote in either major party's contest in New Hampshire.
00:03:44.460 My dad will explain a little bit more of that and how that may be played into the results.
00:03:51.820 So Nikki Haley, as we'll talk about, she came in second.
00:03:56.980 And here she is saying, you know what, I'm not dropping out.
00:04:01.200 Not now.
00:04:02.420 New Hampshire is first in the nation.
00:04:05.800 It is not the last in the nation.
00:04:14.240 This race is far from over.
00:04:16.940 There are dozens of states left to go.
00:04:21.060 All right.
00:04:22.100 So she's going to continue going.
00:04:23.880 Her next primary or the next primary is in South Carolina on February 24th.
00:04:31.040 Now, obviously, people are calling for Nikki Haley to drop out Trump supporters like J.D. Vance.
00:04:37.120 He said, congrats to Donald Trump and the entire team on a decisive victory in New Hampshire.
00:04:41.480 At this point, Haley can either drop out or help the Democrats.
00:04:45.740 So that's where that's where that's where things are right now.
00:04:50.280 She's going to hold on and we'll see what happens.
00:04:54.680 I'll leave the rest of the commentary on that to my dad that he'll be giving in just a second.
00:05:00.640 Meanwhile, while that was happening, President Biden spoke at a pro-abortion rally in Virginia yesterday.
00:05:07.840 And here's what the president had to say.
00:05:15.380 Hello, Virginia.
00:05:20.000 And the real governor, Terry McAuliffe.
00:05:22.360 Okay, so as Megyn Kelly said, election denialism is only bad if your name is Trump.
00:05:30.160 If Trump had done something like this, if he had gone to a Democrat-run state and he said, oh, the real governor is ex-Republican, I mean, Joy Reid would have had a conniption.
00:05:42.360 We would have had a thousand op-eds about how this is dangerous rhetoric that undermines democracy, but because the dementia patient and the White House said it, oh, it's just cute and it's just sweet Uncle Joe.
00:05:56.320 So it's actually kind of funny, but also sad.
00:06:00.000 I'm not saying that Trump's mental state is the same place as Biden's is.
00:06:04.680 But both the Twitter pages, like the War Room Twitter pages for the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign, are both posting videos of the other candidate talking incoherently, saying things that just do not make sense.
00:06:21.260 And again, I think that Trump is much more coherent and eloquent than Joe Biden is, but both of them are getting up there.
00:06:28.740 They're very far up there.
00:06:30.520 And so they say things that just leave you scratching your head and you're like, what was actually said?
00:06:34.900 So that's going to be also the next several months of our life.
00:06:40.000 All right.
00:06:40.680 That's enough of my commentary on that.
00:06:42.760 My dad has a lot of good things to say.
00:06:56.560 Dad, thank you so much for joining us again.
00:06:59.180 We are going to talk about a lot of things.
00:07:01.740 Going to talk about New Hampshire first.
00:07:04.420 Yesterday, Trump got 54.55 percent of the vote.
00:07:08.700 Haley, 43.2 percent.
00:07:11.340 So just tell us, what is your take on the state of the race?
00:07:14.380 DeSantis dropping out these last two people.
00:07:17.500 What's going on?
00:07:18.980 Well, you know, there was a lot of talk about maybe some Democrats because New Hampshire has an open primary,
00:07:24.040 much like Texas, actually, is that you don't have to declare whether you're Republican or Democrat.
00:07:29.420 You can vote in either you can vote for a Democrat or vote for a Republican in the primaries.
00:07:35.640 And so a lot of people thought that there was going to be a lot of Democrats voting for Haley to try to make Trump look bad.
00:07:43.860 And there probably was some of that.
00:07:45.420 But when I looked at the numbers from the prior elections, for example, in 2020, when there was a contested Democrat primary,
00:07:54.800 there were about 286,000 New Hampshireites, I guess, that voted in the Democrat primary and about only 155,000 in the Republican primary.
00:08:05.880 In 2016, where both of them were contested, because remember, Obama had gone to his term limits,
00:08:13.420 there were 251,000 Democrats voted and 285,000 Republicans voted.
00:08:19.340 And this year, in 2024, there were 300,000 Republicans vote and a little over 100,000 Democrats vote.
00:08:27.940 So it tells me that it really was mostly Republicans that voted in the Republican primary.
00:08:33.060 A lot of Democrats stayed home because Biden, obviously, he didn't even participate.
00:08:38.020 He just did a write-in thing.
00:08:40.240 So I don't think it was quite that.
00:08:42.360 So that tells me that moderate Republicans, which are a lot of the people in New Hampshire,
00:08:47.840 we would consider them moderate, certainly socially moderate, if not fiscally moderate.
00:08:53.320 There is some concern about former President Trump with that particular part of the electorate.
00:08:59.040 And therefore, they voted for Ambassador Haley.
00:09:03.520 OK, we do have a video of a Democrat saying, yeah, I voted for Nikki Haley.
00:09:10.560 Here's SOT1.
00:09:12.900 Nikki Haley.
00:09:13.780 And why did you vote for Nikki Haley?
00:09:15.540 It's a vote against Trump.
00:09:17.200 I think it would be better to have her against Biden in the elections than it would be Trump and her.
00:09:26.280 Do you consider yourself generally independent, Republican or Democrat?
00:09:29.920 Democrat.
00:09:30.800 So when you undeclared, you voted for Nikki Haley.
00:09:33.840 If it was Nikki Haley against Joe Biden in the general election, who are you voting for?
00:09:38.340 Joe Biden.
00:09:39.980 Yeah, that's interesting.
00:09:41.280 That's just one person.
00:09:42.920 But I do think that's a strategy.
00:09:45.260 I guess he is trying to say either he's trying to say that he thinks it thinks Nikki Haley is more likely to lose against Joe Biden.
00:09:53.340 Or he's trying to say, well, if Nikki Haley won, I'd be happier with that than I would with Trump.
00:09:59.020 I mean, some people just they'll do whatever it takes not to have Trump in office.
00:10:03.540 Yeah, I think he's I think he's really trying to say I'm ignorant.
00:10:06.240 Yeah.
00:10:06.520 And what I mean by that is if he looked at the polls, Nikki Haley actually beats Biden worse than Donald Trump.
00:10:13.780 I do.
00:10:14.460 So that's just I don't know what the guy is thinking.
00:10:17.420 He just did something somebody told him to.
00:10:19.680 Right.
00:10:19.920 Most people are sheep, unfortunately.
00:10:23.100 And he just was led to slaughter on that one.
00:10:26.720 OK, so Nikki Haley.
00:10:28.760 There are a lot of people in the Republican Party that don't like Nikki Haley.
00:10:33.620 They call her a warmonger.
00:10:35.540 They think that she's far too moderate.
00:10:37.300 She flip flops, they say, on things like abortion and gender issues.
00:10:44.040 Obviously, these culture war issues that conservatives care a lot about.
00:10:48.320 I mean, you don't have to give your personal opinion on Nikki Haley.
00:10:51.080 But what is your what is your thought about what support Nikki Haley actually has on the right?
00:10:56.980 Yeah, and I think that it's difficult in the primary because generally what happens in most primaries in any state is that the further right you are, the more likely you are to win the primary.
00:11:10.840 Because the further you are on extremes, whether it's right or left, Ali, those people are more charged up about voting, right?
00:11:20.900 The people in the middle, especially in a primary, are not necessarily as excited about even going to the polls.
00:11:26.980 And that's disappointing.
00:11:27.900 It's not the right thing to do.
00:11:29.700 And that's why we need to make sure that your audience gets out there and vote, whether they're right, left or middle.
00:11:35.300 They need to get out there and vote, because if we let the extremes of each party control who's going to be elected, then we're always going to get some type of what might be considered by some an extremist government.
00:11:49.900 And Nikki Haley doesn't fall on the extreme either side.
00:11:53.500 She's more of what we would consider a traditional conservative Republican.
00:11:58.500 And, yeah, there are some personal things that I might disagree with her on, but I will tell you that she will be a better president if elected than anybody that's being considered, especially Joe Biden, on the Democrat side, in my opinion.
00:12:14.580 Yeah, but it's probably not going to be her.
00:12:18.780 It's probably going to be Donald Trump.
00:12:21.200 I would say that Trump was not the most conservative person in the field.
00:12:25.380 I think DeSantis was probably just looking issue by issue, probably the most conservative candidate.
00:12:31.420 Obviously, DeSantis couldn't get the support that he needed.
00:12:35.400 I don't think DeSantis being as conservative as he was.
00:12:38.740 Certainly, I don't think that he would have been any kind of like extremist leader.
00:12:42.560 I just worry about someone like Nikki Haley and a little bit about Donald Trump, too, that they're going to be too compromising on the things that I care about.
00:12:50.440 But obviously, I agree with you that they're better than Biden.
00:12:53.980 Yeah, you know, it's interesting you brought up Governor DeSantis.
00:12:58.240 And it's just I did a social media thing on this the other day, and it's just confusing to me.
00:13:05.060 I can't tell you how many people, and probably you experience this as well in messages that you get, how many people told me, look, I love the policies of the Trump administration.
00:13:14.900 If he would just but not be so bombastic or so condescending or just get off of Twitter X more, I would be 100 percent behind him.
00:13:24.720 Well, you had that in Ron DeSantis.
00:13:28.020 His policies were every bit as conservative as anything the Trump administration did.
00:13:33.160 He's proven that as a governorship, and yet he wasn't bombastic.
00:13:38.180 He wasn't someone out there that sought personal attention, and yet he didn't get the traction related to that.
00:13:45.840 So it's disappointing to me that people vote for someone that they like or someone that they feel like has the pizzazz and that type of thing.
00:13:57.200 Because really, you're not voting for the person.
00:13:59.580 Well, you understand this, folks.
00:14:01.060 You are voting for the policies that his or her administration puts into place.
00:14:07.300 All right?
00:14:07.660 I don't care if they've got a green head.
00:14:10.200 If they've got the right policies, that's how we should vote.
00:14:25.080 And, you know, people who vote for Trump in the primaries, they, of course, would say that they do like his policies,
00:14:31.100 and they would point to plenty of his accomplishments.
00:14:33.740 And they just don't feel that it is DeSantis' time yet.
00:14:37.360 I disagree with that.
00:14:38.920 I think it would be better to have someone a little bit younger.
00:14:41.940 I think that DeSantis is more conservative than Trump.
00:14:44.740 But, you know, people like Donald Trump.
00:14:46.240 I get it.
00:14:46.680 They really like Donald Trump.
00:14:47.920 They think that he didn't get the opportunity to have the eight years that they really wanted him to have.
00:14:52.500 And so they want him to have a second chance.
00:14:55.180 But what is your thought about the legal obstacles that he faces?
00:14:58.600 It looks like he's the presumptive nominee at this point.
00:15:01.240 Haley said she's not dropping out.
00:15:02.660 I think that Trump is going to take the nomination.
00:15:04.980 But do you think he's going to be able to overcome all of these indictments that Democrats, I think, shamefully have thrown toward him?
00:15:13.200 You know, I think that he will be indicted.
00:15:16.660 Well, he's been indicted.
00:15:17.920 I think he'll be convicted.
00:15:18.900 One of these cases, because they're held in large Democrat areas where the jury pool, when there is a jury, will be almost exclusively Democrat.
00:15:29.780 But I do think that he will be exonerated, in a sense, by either an appeals court or the Supreme Court.
00:15:40.260 And here's one of the reasons why.
00:15:42.120 OK.
00:15:42.260 And I know that courts don't necessarily like to get involved in the political side of it.
00:15:47.360 But if you go down this road where it's obvious that every single case against him has been brought by a Democrat, every single thing has a political motivation behind it.
00:16:01.660 The worst one probably being the one in New York, relating to the banks and what have you, then the Supreme Court allows that to stand.
00:16:09.660 It's going to unleash the future of our electorate or electoral process like we've never seen before in doing the same thing.
00:16:18.620 Because you know what?
00:16:19.800 As they say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
00:16:24.000 And Republicans will do the same thing if this door is open.
00:16:28.980 So I think the Supreme Court will shut the door and say, let the people decide.
00:16:33.240 And again, I think it's going to be close.
00:16:35.480 I do think Donald Trump can win, but I think it's going to be very, very close.
00:16:39.600 He's probably the only he's probably the he probably can win.
00:16:42.680 But he's also probably the only guy that could lose to Joe Biden.
00:16:45.340 That's on the Republican side.
00:16:46.960 Only candidate.
00:16:47.500 I think that, too.
00:16:49.440 And, Dad, let me just tell you, I have gotten a lot, a lot of hate and a lot of anger over the past couple of days for saying,
00:16:58.980 that, I mean, people know I voted for Trump in 16 in 2020.
00:17:02.340 My personal opinion, and I hope that I'm wrong about this, my personal opinion is that Donald Trump may not be able to beat Joe Biden.
00:17:11.820 And it's not that I agree with the people that will vote against Donald Trump.
00:17:15.600 It is because he has these legal obstacles.
00:17:19.020 We already saw in 2020 that these progressive institutions nationally, internationally all said that we're doing everything possible to keep him from getting in the White House.
00:17:30.380 Now you have not only those people, but you've also got the January 6th problem that people are going to point to.
00:17:38.720 I feel like he's only gotten less popular, at least with people who support Joe Biden.
00:17:43.560 And so I'm just afraid that he's not able, that he's not able to do it.
00:17:48.760 That's my biggest concern.
00:17:50.260 And people get really angry at me when I say that.
00:17:53.280 Yeah.
00:17:53.580 I hope I'm, I hope I'm wrong.
00:17:55.460 I hope I'm wrong.
00:17:56.380 But then you've got the RFK issue.
00:17:58.040 He's going to be taking a lot of votes.
00:17:59.600 Yeah, I think the RFK issue will split on both sides, honestly.
00:18:04.660 But I do think, first of all, anybody that's angry with you, just tell them to come through me first.
00:18:09.960 OK, because we've got issues with that one.
00:18:12.000 And then secondly, I get that.
00:18:14.640 And I'm going to vote.
00:18:15.300 I vote for Trump in 16 and 20.
00:18:16.760 I'm going to vote for him again in 24 if he's a nominee.
00:18:20.500 And we're going to know whether or not he's a nominee in, oh, just about five, six weeks, because Super Tuesday comes on March the 5th.
00:18:28.980 And no matter what Nikki Haley has done between now and then, this race in the Republican primary will be over by March the 5th.
00:18:38.380 No question about it.
00:18:39.620 Now, I want to say something real quick, though.
00:18:41.920 I want to encourage your people, because I know you have listeners all over the country.
00:18:45.800 Do not stay home if you're a Republican, even a Democrat.
00:18:49.620 OK, I want everybody to vote.
00:18:51.700 But don't stay home because you think it's a fait accompli for the president.
00:18:55.260 Those down ballot people need to either get your vote or vote against them by voting for somebody else.
00:19:02.000 But please don't stay home because you think it's going to be Trump or you think it's going to be Biden.
00:19:06.440 You think you're talking about November?
00:19:07.480 You need to vote down ballot.
00:19:08.700 November.
00:19:09.260 I'm talking about in the primary as well.
00:19:11.440 They need to vote in the primary.
00:19:13.320 Well, a lot of people are very discouraged because and we understand this is how it works.
00:19:18.340 You've got the Iowa caucus.
00:19:19.560 You've got the New Hampshire primary.
00:19:21.660 But I think a lot of people living in the other states feel like, wow, I didn't even get to I didn't even get to voice my support for DeSantis or whoever they were going to vote for.
00:19:32.500 They feel like Iowa just decided it for all of them.
00:19:34.740 And they're very disappointed about that.
00:19:36.080 I do see that a lot of people are going to be too demoralized to go out and vote in the primary.
00:19:41.800 And I can sympathize with that.
00:19:43.900 Well, I well, I can sympathize with it, but it is a dereliction of our duty as a citizen.
00:19:50.740 It's kind of I talk about in my book.
00:19:52.380 You want to be a participant or a crusader.
00:19:55.100 A participant does just exactly what you're talking about.
00:19:57.960 When things don't go their way, they usually take their ball and kind of go home.
00:20:01.760 And maybe they'll have opinions, you know, from the peanut gallery.
00:20:05.620 But that's not what we want.
00:20:07.140 We need people that are listening to your show and watching your show to be crusaders, to be out there.
00:20:13.720 And I get it.
00:20:14.480 It feels like your vote doesn't count.
00:20:16.180 But believe me, if 100,000 people go out there and vote that were individually thinking their vote didn't count, it makes a huge difference.
00:20:25.760 Or 10,000.
00:20:26.560 In some local races, maybe it's 500.
00:20:28.760 So I want you to be a crusader, not just a participant that usually just chirps.
00:20:34.620 Right.
00:20:34.880 Let's be action people, not be people of just words.
00:20:39.000 Is there any possibility that if things go south for Trump legally, that Nikki Haley being in second place could take the nomination?
00:20:46.600 Is that how it would work?
00:20:48.880 That's how it would work.
00:20:50.060 Do you think that's what she's betting on?
00:20:52.620 I think she's holding her cards just in case because she doesn't know either.
00:20:56.940 And I think that's smart for her.
00:20:58.820 Now, what will determine whether or not she stays active in the race is money.
00:21:05.660 That's what it always determines.
00:21:06.880 Right.
00:21:07.140 So it's not that she can't stay on the ballot, but she may not be able to be as active after maybe even South Carolina.
00:21:14.540 Certainly after March 2nd, just because the donors will probably have quit giving to her.
00:21:19.080 Now, what can also happen, and we can talk about this later, but the convention is something that I need to explain to people in the future as to how that could work if something happened to either Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
00:21:31.320 Hmm.
00:21:31.980 Who do you think is going to be Trump's VP pick?
00:21:34.960 What's your prediction?
00:21:35.620 I think it will be a lady, okay?
00:21:42.480 And I think a good pick, assuming that they want to do it, would be like a governor, like Kristi Noem, might be a pick for that.
00:21:52.820 Someone in that Sarah Huckabee Sanders could be a pick for that.
00:21:55.940 The only negative about either of those is their states are solidly Republican already, so you don't really pick up votes.
00:22:03.320 But I'm not sure that's important for Trump.
00:22:05.700 You know what I mean?
00:22:06.820 I mean, Trump is such a populist candidate that he's going to be so domineering.
00:22:12.200 I would have a lady, if I was him, as my vice president.
00:22:16.040 First of all, because I think we have a lot of qualified women in the Republican Party that are just at that level ready to explode.
00:22:23.840 And the two ladies that I've mentioned are two of them, and I'm sure there's more.
00:22:29.220 But, you know, we'll just have to see as to who that is.
00:22:32.260 I don't think it'll be DeSantis.
00:22:34.500 Although whoever it is, we'll have the frontrunner's choice in 2028.
00:22:40.580 There's no question about it.
00:22:42.040 They will be the assumptive Republican nominee in 2028.
00:22:46.920 Yeah, I said the other day that I would like Sarah Sanders.
00:22:51.000 Now, I know Arkansas would be very sad to lose her because she's a great governor.
00:22:55.640 But I also agree with you.
00:22:57.220 It's not like he needs help winning Arkansas.
00:23:00.180 But I just really like her.
00:23:01.580 I really like her.
00:23:02.340 And I think a lot of other suburban moms really like her.
00:23:05.940 She's relatable, but also strong.
00:23:08.280 And so we'll see.
00:23:09.500 We'll see.
00:23:09.880 That'll be interesting.
00:23:10.700 She's a no-nonsense.
00:23:11.620 And I like, you know, no-nonsense is what we need.
00:23:14.660 And she's not going to be intimidated by the press.
00:23:17.360 In other words, the show will not, the stage will not be too big for her.
00:23:22.140 No.
00:23:22.460 And she's handled it.
00:23:23.420 She obviously handled that as the press secretary.
00:23:26.280 Well, this is going to be a crazy year.
00:23:28.240 And if I'm honest, I don't know if other people feel this way.
00:23:30.740 But I've just kind of, I don't know.
00:23:32.120 This week, I've just been anxious about it.
00:23:34.040 It's been a weird week.
00:23:35.700 And I am just kind of worried about what 2024 holds.
00:23:40.940 I don't have any specific predictions.
00:23:43.920 But there just seems to be a lot going on at once that puts us in a very precarious spot.
00:23:51.940 So tell me what you think.
00:23:53.760 You don't think?
00:23:54.400 Well, it's not much different.
00:23:55.400 It's really not much different than in the past.
00:23:57.540 I mean, if you look at history, there have been elections that have been a lot tighter
00:24:02.460 than the ones that we've seen.
00:24:05.340 And what generally happens is, yes, these are unusual candidates.
00:24:11.260 No question about it.
00:24:13.240 Ronald Reagan was an unusual candidate.
00:24:15.580 Remember, people would say he was just an ex-actor and whatever.
00:24:19.140 Yeah, he had been a governor, but people didn't look at him that way.
00:24:21.360 I mean, Jimmy Carter was a governor of a small state peanut farmer.
00:24:25.260 And people thought, oh, the world's going to come to an end.
00:24:27.900 You know, people on my side of the fence or what have you.
00:24:30.180 And it just doesn't happen that way.
00:24:31.920 The great thing about democracies is that things tend to change slowly.
00:24:37.520 Now, we have had a rapid acceleration of that due to COVID and some, you know, where we allowed
00:24:43.720 as a people, in a sense, the government to gain more control, a little bit like we did
00:24:48.020 after 9-11, which I would say that we all need to be careful about in the future.
00:24:52.440 But the day-to-day things that people live their lives about, okay, those things change
00:24:58.980 very slowly.
00:24:59.700 And I have more faith in the American people than I do in any individual.
00:25:05.720 And what usually happens is things adjust to the mean.
00:25:08.920 And the mean of our country is that we are a law-abiding country, that we care about others,
00:25:14.980 not only in our country, but in others, okay?
00:25:17.100 And that we believe that we want to have leaders that fit within a parameter that uphold those
00:25:23.820 values.
00:25:24.720 And I get it.
00:25:25.940 We're being attacked by different value systems and all that type of stuff.
00:25:29.320 But I believe the silent majority, which represents the 65% to 70% that falls inside the extremes,
00:25:36.940 are the ones that ultimately make the decisions for this country.
00:25:39.980 I hope so.
00:25:42.160 I do hope that you're right.
00:25:44.040 I just look at the Biden administration coming after its political opponents in a variety
00:25:49.520 of ways.
00:25:50.320 I mean, people literally going to jail for peaceful protesting, pro-life protesters.
00:25:56.180 And then you've got everything happening at the border.
00:25:59.420 Oh, my goodness.
00:26:00.500 There's just a lot.
00:26:01.380 There's a lot.
00:26:02.100 It's a very politically tense moment.
00:26:04.480 And everything Donald Trump is going through, people fearing that this election isn't going
00:26:08.260 to be fair.
00:26:10.340 Thankfully, we know that God is on his throne.
00:26:12.580 And that's the only place that I really find peace.
00:26:15.540 And that's the way we should find peace.
00:26:17.760 But there's no question that there will be concern.
00:26:20.700 There will be tense and all that type of stuff.
00:26:23.000 But I will tell you that ultimately, American people always end up winning within, when I
00:26:31.960 say winning, I mean within their own system.
00:26:34.320 And listen, in hearing you tell some of the stories you tell us and some of the other podcasts
00:26:42.020 I listen to and the people that are listening, I'm very encouraged, especially by people of
00:26:47.080 the age of your audience.
00:26:49.280 I think America's future is going to be great.
00:26:52.340 Will we go through some turmoil to get there again?
00:26:54.600 Yep.
00:26:55.140 But I absolutely believe in the millennial generation and Gen X and not quite as sure
00:27:01.480 about Gen Z, but I'm praying for them.
00:27:03.500 And I believe that we can, you know, that the better days are going to be coming.
00:27:08.900 I think we're going to have a huge revival in this country.
00:27:11.100 And I don't know when that's going to be, but I absolutely believe that's going to happen.
00:27:14.440 Well, I hope so.
00:27:15.600 That's true.
00:27:16.340 You and mom do get all of the positive, sweet messages that I get.
00:27:20.580 And God is always really faithful to send me those messages when I'm most discouraged.
00:27:25.040 And so I appreciate that.
00:27:26.920 And I do agree.
00:27:27.640 People's minds can change and are changing in a lot of very positive ways.
00:27:31.680 So thank you for that encouragement.
00:27:34.200 All right.
00:27:34.500 Just give, remind people about your book quickly and then where they can get that book.
00:27:39.420 And we'll put it, we'll put the cover up on the screen if you're watching on YouTube.
00:27:42.780 Okay.
00:27:44.320 Yeah, sure.
00:27:44.940 My book is Life Lessons from the Little Red Wagon.
00:27:48.480 And you can find that on Amazon or anywhere that you buy books.
00:27:52.380 You can get the Audible version.
00:27:54.140 If you're a Ronald Reagan fan, Ronald Reagan, I'm not going to tell you how I did this, but
00:27:59.040 Ronald Reagan helped me read a portion of this book.
00:28:01.600 So if you're a Ronald Reagan fan, go to Audible and download that.
00:28:04.720 I think you'll enjoy it.
00:28:05.960 Yes, you will.
00:28:06.740 The audio book is really, really good.
00:28:08.120 So I encourage people to go check it out.
00:28:10.440 Very, very encouraging book.
00:28:13.020 Easy to read, too, with a lot of good lessons.
00:28:14.880 So thank you so much, Dad.
00:28:16.280 And my dad will be back soon.
00:28:18.020 He'll be giving us election updates and analysis periodically throughout the year.
00:28:21.840 So y'all can look forward to that.
00:28:23.180 I know you like these segments.
00:28:24.720 Thanks, Dad.
00:28:25.580 And enjoy your vacation.
00:28:28.480 All right.
00:28:28.880 I will.
00:28:29.320 See you.
00:28:29.760 Bye.
00:28:29.940 Bye, sweetie.
00:28:38.120 Okay, switching gears now.
00:28:44.260 I want to talk about Russell Brand.
00:28:47.840 So I think Russell Brand is one of the most fascinating people.
00:28:51.080 I really like following him, seeing his takes, listening to him.
00:28:54.920 He's just extremely refreshing.
00:28:56.640 Obviously, a critical, independent thinker.
00:28:59.220 I'm sure there are plenty of things that we don't agree on.
00:29:01.900 I don't think he's the same kind of traditional conservative that I am.
00:29:05.860 But he does encourage people to question and to think through things and not to just listen
00:29:13.400 to all of the talking points that are parroted to them, but to really be inquisitive and
00:29:19.640 to ask the right questions and to not be controlled by propaganda.
00:29:23.400 And I really appreciate that about him.
00:29:25.880 I think he's really courageous in calling out a lot of the lies that we are told by the
00:29:30.480 establishment, by the most powerful entities.
00:29:33.040 And we need voices like that.
00:29:34.460 We need independent voices.
00:29:36.220 Voices that aren't necessarily partisan, who maybe are stepping outside of the traditional
00:29:41.120 political binary and saying, hmm, I got questions about both sides of this.
00:29:45.940 So I think that he has had a very positive impact on people and getting people to just critically
00:29:52.760 think through things.
00:29:54.400 And he has been posting recently about his faith and how he is learning more about Christianity,
00:30:02.340 which is awesome.
00:30:03.180 I think some people would have maybe considered him.
00:30:05.740 I don't even know if there's one label that you could give, but some people may have considered
00:30:10.880 him kind of woo woo.
00:30:12.740 He's very into yoga.
00:30:14.380 Like he's very spiritual in that sense.
00:30:18.740 And so maybe some people even would have said that he's kind of new age.
00:30:23.800 I don't know that he has ever expressed traditionally his affinity toward Christianity, but recently
00:30:30.560 he's been talking about it more.
00:30:32.220 I find it very exciting.
00:30:33.640 So here's a clip of him talking about why he wears a cross.
00:30:38.240 I need a personal relationship with God.
00:30:42.080 It occurred to me that if instead of always talking to myself inwardly, I could replace
00:30:47.520 one of those voices with an indwelling God.
00:30:51.500 It says in Galatians, it is our job to die so that as Christ died on the cross, he might
00:30:58.500 be reborn in us.
00:31:00.400 I'm very interested to hear what you think, because for me, my heart is open.
00:31:04.360 Yeah, you know what?
00:31:06.680 That is so interesting.
00:31:07.780 And before that, we couldn't play the entire video, but he says, the reason I wear a cross
00:31:11.600 is because Christianity, and in particular, the figure of Christ are, it seems to me inevitably
00:31:16.460 becoming more important as I become more familiar with suffering, purpose, self, and not self.
00:31:21.580 Now, does he believe that Jesus was a real man, really God made flesh, who came to earth
00:31:30.700 in a virgin birth and lived a sinless life and then died on the cross for our sins and
00:31:37.380 was raised again three days later and now stands at the right hand of God?
00:31:41.360 I don't know if he believes literally in all of those things or if he sees Christ more as
00:31:46.880 a figure, more as a metaphor, more as someone to emulate rather than a God to worship.
00:31:53.780 I'm not sure exactly where he is, but I'm excited to see this, and I love that he's talking
00:31:59.520 about it, and you know, God is so faithful, and the word of God does not return void, so
00:32:04.680 even hearing him quote Galatians, it's exciting to me because I so trust the Lord, and I so
00:32:11.520 trust the power of his word that no matter where Russell Brand is right now on his spiritual
00:32:17.940 journey, I can be so enthused about the fact that he is reading the Bible and that he is
00:32:23.000 considering, that he's considering Christ, and he posted also just the other day, maybe
00:32:31.260 it was yesterday actually, that the post went up on Instagram, that he's reading two books
00:32:35.200 right now, and one of them is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and the other one is, yep, there
00:32:41.580 it is, and the other one is Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.
00:32:45.420 Now these are two very different books, I'm not the biggest fan of Rick Warren, he is considerably
00:32:53.820 more to the left than I am, I'm not calling him a communist or anything like that, but
00:33:00.000 he's certainly egalitarian when it comes to gender roles and the roles of women in the
00:33:05.500 church, he's been very outspoken about that, and I might have made an error, and I do want
00:33:10.420 to apologize for that, I think I said on Instagram that he was pro same-sex unions, and I should
00:33:17.000 have been more careful before saying that, so I apologize because I'm not sure if that's
00:33:21.660 entirely true, he said something recently that made me think that he was wavering on that,
00:33:27.480 but you know what, before I said that, I should have, I should have checked, I should have thought
00:33:32.240 more carefully about that, so I do apologize, but regardless of that issue, Rick Warren is more
00:33:39.680 of a prosperity preacher than I would say is biblical, than I would say is good, so I'm
00:33:48.360 not in alignment with everything that Rick Warren says theologically, I personally have
00:33:53.180 not read Purpose Driven Life, a lot of you have shared your concerns with me, and so I'm
00:33:58.620 sure that I am in line with my Reformed brothers and sisters when it comes to the problems with
00:34:04.900 Purpose Driven Life. However, I am still very excited to see this post. First of all,
00:34:10.640 Mere Christianity is one of the greatest contributions to the church that exists.
00:34:15.700 I don't even agree with C.S. Lewis on everything theologically, but gosh, that is such a transformative
00:34:23.740 book. It's such a foundational book to encourage people to think about the existence of absolute
00:34:29.600 truth, the necessary existence of God, the existence and the reality of Christ, God made
00:34:36.260 flesh. It was life-changing for me. I mean, God used that book when I was in high school
00:34:40.800 to really just create in me an appetite for theology and for apologetics and thinking through my faith
00:34:48.500 and taking my faith seriously. C.S. Lewis was the author to introduce me really to the world of
00:34:56.820 theology and the world of apologetics, and I realized in high school that Christianity has such a rich
00:35:03.280 intellectual history to be explored, and so I love that Russell Brand. I love that Russell Brand is
00:35:10.620 reading Merit Christianity, and I would just encourage you, if you see him post things that
00:35:17.940 you're like, eh, I'm not so sure. Gosh, why is he listening to Rick Warren, or why is he reading that
00:35:22.460 book, or why is he, you know, saying these other things that don't seem to be in line with Christianity?
00:35:28.660 Like, let's just allow the Holy Spirit to do his work. I know that when I was in high school, when I
00:35:35.180 first started taking my faith seriously, that I was reading a lot of different things. A lot of
00:35:42.740 different things. I mean, a very wide range of authors, and I would not recommend all of these
00:35:48.940 authors today. Like, I was reading Rob Bell, I was reading Donald Miller, I was reading Stephen
00:35:55.480 Furtick, and then I was also reading David Platt, and Tim Keller, and Matt Chandler, and C.S. Lewis,
00:36:02.080 and John Piper. I mean, I was reading all kinds of people when I was in high school because I was
00:36:07.600 just devouring whatever Christian book and whatever sermon people were giving to me, and the Lord is so
00:36:14.540 faithful to give us discernment and to give us wisdom and to surround us with the people that
00:36:19.480 he needs to surround us with. It was really the gifting of the ESV Study Bible from a friend of
00:36:25.620 mine when I was going into my sophomore year of college that kind of refined my theological beliefs
00:36:31.900 and kind of put me on the path towards Reformed theology, and I'm very thankful for that. But let us
00:36:37.640 just be so encouraging of Russell Brand and anyone, not just a celebrity, but anyone that we see
00:36:43.960 wrestling with their faith, working out their salvation, perhaps. We don't know where people
00:36:49.520 are on their journey, and it's really easy to discount someone because they seem to be embracing
00:36:55.180 something or someone that is not representing, you know, biblical truth. But God is really faithful.
00:37:02.560 He's really faithful, and he's really powerful. And there's a lot of power in prayer, too. Like,
00:37:08.140 we should be praying for these people. Again, not just Russell Brand, but anyone that we see on this
00:37:14.940 path. And it's so easy when someone has a public platform like that for us to point fingers and for
00:37:19.400 us to expect them to be perfect in their faith and perfect in their message. But you know what?
00:37:24.940 Public people are still fallible people. They're still finite people. And so let us be gracious.
00:37:31.220 Let us be patient, just as we would want and do want for ourselves, because no matter where you
00:37:37.580 are on your spiritual journey, there are going to be things that you get wrong. And I hope I'm making
00:37:43.340 that clear about myself that I certainly don't think that I was on some journey of sanctification,
00:37:48.260 and now I have all of my theology figured out. Of course, that's not true. I learn new things every
00:37:53.520 year. It's even interesting to look back just like five years ago, and I'm like, oh, I didn't understand
00:37:58.420 that then, or I thought that then, and that wasn't true. That wasn't in line with Scripture.
00:38:02.080 Again, God is just so faithful and so persistent. And so I'm really thankful for that. I'm thankful
00:38:07.900 for his testimony. Pastor Greg Laurie responded to Russell Brand when he has been posting things
00:38:15.660 like this. He posted a long letter addressed to him in which he explained that he was once put off,
00:38:21.160 Greg Laurie was once put off by Christians until he heard the gospel. And so explain the gospel to him.
00:38:25.720 Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon wrote, if he, if Russell Brand is not a Christian already,
00:38:31.960 he may get there soon. The important question he needs to answer for himself is not whether
00:38:37.660 Christianity is useful, but whether it is true. And that is absolutely, absolutely true.
00:38:44.860 Independent presidential candidate RFK Jr. replied to Brand's video simply,
00:38:49.240 really brilliant. So that's really, it's really interesting. It's really interesting to see all
00:38:54.260 of this. Russell Brand, I would love for you to come on Relatable like Kat Von D did and talk about
00:39:00.340 your faith and talk about theology. I think that that would be, I think that would be fun and very
00:39:07.640 encouraging for me. All right. Just a couple other things that I want to talk about, but I wanted to
00:39:13.020 give you that good news that God is working. God is working in people and changing minds. Absolutely.
00:39:19.880 My dad was right to bring that up. And that is just, it's, it's so true. And we can be,
00:39:25.340 we can be so uplifted by that.
00:39:26.720 Okay. We don't have time to talk about all the things that I want to talk about. We had like a
00:39:43.720 whole segment plans, um, that has to do with surrogacy and sperm donation might need to just,
00:39:49.960 um, dedicate a, we might just need to save these. Actually, we might just need to save
00:39:56.600 these for another day because they all go together. You know what? I think I'm about to
00:40:02.300 make a game time decision. Uh-oh, I'm going to make a game time decision here. And you know what?
00:40:07.560 We're going to talk about Brie, instead of talking about those subjects, we're going to talk about
00:40:13.000 dinosaurs. I thought you might go there. I went there. Okay. And, uh, okay. So here's what,
00:40:20.980 here's what is sparking today's discussion of dinosaurs, which per usual is going to make
00:40:27.780 people angry. So this is from the Washington Post and this was posted on January 21st.
00:40:33.720 A megalodon study reignites debate over extinct sharks. Okay. So this is, this is what the WAPO says.
00:40:42.840 A new study published in the journal Paleontologia Electronica, bunch of nerds, is fueling the
00:40:50.600 ongoing debate about what the megalodon really looked like and what its role was in ancient
00:40:56.720 ocean ecosystems. The extinct shark megalodon is often imagined as a beefy, supersized great white
00:41:02.360 with a gaping maw of pointy teeth capping off a powerful body that spanned 50 feet from nose to tail.
00:41:08.940 Now, a team of more than two dozen scientists argues that the megalodon may have been slimmer
00:41:13.540 and longer than previous estimates. According to the Washington Post, the Otodus megalodon has been
00:41:22.340 extinct for 3.6 million years. According to the Washington Post. 3.6 million years. Okay. If you're
00:41:31.700 just listening to this, I have my eyebrows raised to that. Okay. So now they're saying that it's
00:41:38.680 different. And here's what I think is pertinent to our conversation about dinosaurs. Much of what
00:41:44.720 is known about the megalodon's body stems from a collection of 141 pieces of its backbone
00:41:50.920 discovered in the 1860s in Belgium. Okay. Can we just talk about for a second that a lot of weird
00:41:58.020 stuff was happening in the late 1800s? Okay. So a lot of weird religious stuff happening,
00:42:03.300 a lot of strange discoveries happening in the late 1900s. I just think it's interesting that so
00:42:09.540 much of paleontology and so much of what we know about Darwinism and so much of what we know
00:42:15.640 apparently about the world and philosophy and all that stuff happened in the late 19th century. I just
00:42:20.480 think it's interesting. And okay. So this was happening in Belgium. Okay. In 1860s,
00:42:27.680 we found 141 pieces of its backbone. And then from there, from there, we decided that it is a
00:42:35.240 megalodon. Okay. This huge fat shark with tons of teeth. And now they're saying, well, maybe not.
00:42:45.040 In modern day great whites, there's a mathematical relationship between the width of their vertebrae
00:42:49.480 and their total length. Okay. So it's not like they just completely guessed. In the 1990s,
00:42:53.740 scientists applied that to the megalodon vertebrae and calculated the Belgian specimen must have been
00:42:59.060 30 feet long. I don't know, Brie. I don't know. It must have been. It must have been. Okay.
00:43:07.420 Here's what Michael Gottfried, a vertebrae paleontologist at Michigan State University
00:43:11.880 who is not involved in the new study, has to say, we're trying to speculate on something based on the
00:43:16.260 very incomplete pool of evidence. Huh? Huh? That's interesting, Michael. So interesting. That's kind of
00:43:25.600 what I've been saying about dinosaurs. Okay. At the end of the day, I don't think it brings us that
00:43:34.220 much closer to knowing what megalodon really looks like, says Robert Bosenecker, a coastal
00:43:41.380 paleontologist at the non-profit Charleston Center for Paleontology who is not involved in the new
00:43:46.500 study. Outside experts said the studies on different parts of the megalodon still use
00:43:51.900 speculation to arrive at their different interpretations. Yeah. Dinosaurs are speculation.
00:43:59.140 You know what's funny is they did this whole study and then some guy came in and said, yeah,
00:44:04.320 this doesn't actually get us closer to knowing anything. Yeah. Nothing.
00:44:08.820 How much money did you spend doing this? Yeah. To learn nothing. I know. I'm picturing like what
00:44:14.360 happened in the Washington Post newsroom. Like you got megalodon. I got megalodon. I'm gonna do
00:44:20.240 it. I've been covering megalodon since 1899. I knew this day was coming. We were gonna find out he
00:44:25.940 was slim and slender. I don't know. All I'm saying is that this triceratops, you know what? He might have
00:44:36.240 just been a hippo is all I'm saying. Like maybe a large hippo. Now, this would be sad because if you
00:44:44.300 remember, I'm pretty sure that Baby Bop on Barney was a triceratops. Yeah, I think so. And so you're
00:44:52.120 telling me that Baby Bop, was it real? What is Barney supposed to be? Was it a hippo? Barney is a...
00:44:59.480 Barney looks like a hippo. Oh, that's a good question.
00:45:01.400 What kind of dinosaur was Barney? Does anyone know in this room?
00:45:07.440 A T-Rex? No, he was definitely not. A T-Rex? Oh my gosh. A T-Rex? Picture T-Rex
00:45:14.700 Barney and how terrifying that would be. Oh, he's a... He's a T-Rex. No way. Yeah, he's a...
00:45:21.640 Oh my gosh. Purple T-Rex. He was a T-Rex. He didn't have sharp teeth.
00:45:25.980 True, but he doesn't have little arms. And he didn't have short arms. Yeah, he has little arms.
00:45:31.000 Not as little as they say. Okay, well, on YouTube, we're gonna have to pull up a picture
00:45:35.660 because Joe was right and I was wrong. I was thinking there's no way. But you know,
00:45:40.700 the existence of Barney just goes to show how little we actually know about T-Rexes because
00:45:46.320 I thought T-Rexes looked one way and then they put out this like plush purple and green.
00:45:52.480 who I... Barney has flat teeth, okay? Barney is an herbivore. That's why I am confused about this.
00:46:02.160 I'm... Bree's looking. I'm looking at pictures of Barney. There's no... I cannot believe that Barney
00:46:09.920 is a T-Rex. Look at his little arms. Barney, T-Rex. I'm looking it up right now. Okay,
00:46:17.420 very strange pictures. Oh, I said that's because I said... I said Barbie T-Rex and I was like, why
00:46:26.860 is there a picture of Barbie in a dinosaur outfit that comes up? Okay, yes, we'll have to pull this
00:46:34.360 up. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Barney really was a T-Rex. I had no idea. Do we think the T-Rexes were
00:46:43.540 really purple and green? I mean, if they were that cute, then... Maybe. Yeah. I just can't get over
00:46:50.240 the flat teeth thing. This is just... Wow, this is rocking my world, changing my childhood.
00:46:57.860 Okay, anyway, all that to say, I'm just... All I'm saying is that we don't know what dinosaurs
00:47:04.660 looked like. We don't know what they sounded like. We don't know what their skin was. Remember that hair
00:47:12.060 doesn't fossilize. They could have had long... They could have had mohawks. They could have had
00:47:16.820 long hair. We have no idea. We don't know. And of course, I don't agree. I'm sorry I don't agree
00:47:21.580 with the age of the earth being tens of millions of years. I just don't. I just don't. You can go
00:47:27.440 listen to my interviews with Ken Ham if you want more on that. Okay, so that's the latest. That's
00:47:33.380 the latest in the history of dinosaurs is sketchy news. Y'all can get mad at me all you want to.
00:47:41.360 I'm just saying Baby Bop was probably a hippo. Okay, that's all we got time for today. We'll be back
00:47:46.980 here tomorrow.