Trump DOJ: No Epstein list... Case Closed and IRS Allows Churches To Endorse Candidates

We're live. Welcome back to LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. The trio is back together. Of course, LOOPcast is brought to you by The Loop, every American Catholic's favorite morning newsletter. Of course, you got to check it out, but we're happy to have all three back in the studio. Josh has returned, hopefully tanned, hydrated, rested, ready to rant. I got some good topics for you today. I'm ready, but we do this live?

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 11 a.m. Eastern. We have this show. Josh will pop in at 10.59. Yeah, we have this show called The Luke Gap at 11 a.m. Eastern. Super predictable. We've done it for two years now. But a warm welcome to everyone in the chat.

Here's what I'm going to say, because... I had to take the bullet and look into Epstein. I, I guess, am the resident conspiracy guy on the podcast. I honestly, I've heard stuff about it. I, of course, heard the promises from the Trump administration about it, and I actually went, and I'm going to provide, hopefully, a primer on who Jeffrey Epstein is, what he's been charged with, what the administration promised, and how they've handled it at this point, and I'm very curious to get some political expertise from Josh on the handling of scandals of this nature.

And honestly, the truth is important, so I think that's why we need to discuss it today. Second one, the IRS has allowed churches to endorse political candidates, which opens up a very fun camo words that Josh is excited to answer. Josh is so pumped for this segment. Once again, and then I saved this one, but Josh, we have a third party option now, the American party.

I know you also have strong thoughts. What's up with Elon? This is about to be the Josh Mercer triumphant return episode, and I can't wait. So, before we get into all that, though. We got Charity Mobile. Shout out to Charity Mobile. They are the pro-life phone company. Now, more than ever, it's important to buy the way you believe and do business with companies who support what you stand for, and that's why you should switch your cell phone service to Charity Mobile, the pro-life phone company.

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To get started, visit charitymobile.com and use promo code LOOPcast. That's charitymobile.com, promo code LOOPcast. Thank you, Charity Mobile. All right, so let's get into it here. News is moving fast, no question about that. The Trump cabinet met for the sixth time in this administration. Feels like it is going by at lightning speed, and it's public, and they took two hours of questions. I think they said that's combined than all of Biden's public cabinet meetings. More than all of Biden's cabinet meetings combined.

Which is crazy, but you know. Including the one his unelected wife ran, right? Remember that? I do remember that, yes. I remember Jill. Dr. Jill, to you. All right, great. Hmm. Thank you for the clarification. I needed that. Back to Epstein, because that's what we all want to hear about. Yeah. So, things that were talked about in this two-hour cabinet meeting, we got news on the Texas response. We also heard there's going to be a tariff deadline rollback to August 1st at this point, which is...

I'll save my thoughts on that. And then we are resuming weapon shipments back to Ukraine, which is a big change up there. However, the most viral part of this meeting by far was when asked, I'd say, a pretty legitimate question about a major FBI memo that was dropped on Epstein the day before. This was the answer we got from the administration. So, I'm going to play the video for us, so we can all get on the same page.

Whether he ever worked for an American or foreign intelligence agency, the former labor secretary who was Miami U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta, he allegedly said that he did work for an intelligence agency. So, could you resolve whether or not he did? And also, could you say why there was a minute missing from the jailhouse tape on the night of his death? Yeah, sure.

Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. You're asking, we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.

Do you want to waste the time, and do you feel like answering? I don't mind answering. I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we're having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration, but you go ahead. Sure, sure. First, to back up on that, in February, I did an interview. So, um...

It was just not a good, can I just say, like, Trump coming in, big daddy, coming in, and he jumps on reporters. He'll be like, that is a stupid question. I can't believe you're asking that question. In legitimate cases, right, when you get like the NBC guy in there, or the, you know, asking questions in front of Zelensky or something, those are legitimate, you know, that's a stupid question. But it is such a bad look for him to be like. Look at all these other things that I'm all excited about.

I'm jazzed up about how we're responding in Texas, and I want to talk about this, and you're talking about Jeffrey Epstein. I can't believe, it's just... Yeah, it was. It was gaslighting to Jess in the chat. Well, Erika was worse than that because it was an accusation of desecration. I would also recommend, if you're going to come out so hard and say, what a stupid question, I'm not going to talk about it, to then steal the thunder of Pam Bondi, who's the one in charge of all this, saying, oh, yeah, I'll answer it.

It's like, okay, you're clearly not on the same page. One of you is like, okay, shut it down. I was like, well, I'll actually answer it. Now it's like, okay, you look all weird. That being said, this is all in regards just to... Let's complete the circle here. July 7th, FBI released a memo closing, quote-unquote, the Epstein case. So, what came in this memo is that Jeffrey Epstein officially now died by suicide and did not possess a, quote, client list. The Department of Justice and the FBI stated in this memo, after a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10th, 2019.

The memo stated the conclusion is consistent with previous findings. Also, direct quote, no systemic, systematic blackmail. And then also, no basis for investigating uncharged third parties, no further disclosures planned. Now, many people, I think, rightfully so, very frustrated, because you got, I'm going to get into the cute phase one binders that they handed out to influencers, all the promises that were made by prominent podcasters that are now a part of the Justice Department, saying that all this exists, and now I guess it doesn't.

So, quick primer on Jeffrey Epstein. Again, I was surprised even how much I didn't know, because I've just really avoided all of it, because it's disgusting. Basic summary, nothing about Jeffrey Epstein makes sense. He was born in New York City, no college degree, but taught at this Ivy League co-ed prep school, the Dalton School, and I guess we were like gold chains to class, made no sense. He then jumped immediately to Bear Stearns, which is a massive investment bank. He later starts his own firm managing assets for ultra-wealthy clients.

He has, let's just say, charitably very opaque finances and incredible connections to billionaires like Les Wexner. Leon Black and Bill Gates, as well as well-known politicians and heads of state, Bill Clinton, Trump himself, Yud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel, Prince Andrew, Tony Blair, Al Gore, Michael Bloomberg. I mean, the list goes on and on. He's just about connected to everyone in power in the West. Well, no, but a lot. A lot of very powerful. A lot of very powerful. Thank you.

I meant that a little bit hyperbolically. So, what is publicly available through various lawsuits is generally agreed upon that he is basically a high profile or was. A high-profile money launderer, sex trafficker, and blackmailer. The 2014 lawsuit alleged that Epstein lent girls to, quote, foreign presidents and a, quote, well-known prime minister. Specifics on that remain unconfirmed. So, what he was actually charged with, he was charged two times. One time in 2008 for sex trafficking and abuse, accused of sexually abusing and trafficking dozens of girls.

Someone as young as 14 from 1994 to 2007, primarily at his homes in New York, Florida, and Little St. James, Epstein Island. Federal officials identified at least 36 victims. So, he basically got a sweetheart deal in this 2008. He didn't serve any prison time, unbelievably. What was brought up in that question was that Acosta said that he was one of ours. It's not exactly verified. He said that. Just for people listening, Alex Acosta, U.S. Attorney for Miami, would eventually become Labor Secretary under Bush.

Yeah. Trump. Wasn't it under Trump's first term? I think it was Trump. Yes, I'm sorry. My bad. Yeah, it's all good, and again, I highly encourage, like, what makes this all so insulting is that there is just so much that's been publicly investigated, open source, it's out there, so I'm trying my best to give a very brief, you could spend an entire day on all of this. You're doing great. There's enough evidence to suggest that this guy was a wickedly, just truly wretched and evil.

Sex trafficker, no doubt. Correct, and that he was connected to some of the richest, wealthiest, most powerful men in politics and in business all over the world, specifically the West. So, he was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. He was accused of orchestrating a sexual abuse ring involving underage girls lent to prominent figures, and he officially now died before suicide before the trial. There's been plenty of independent forensics people that disagree. And disagreed at the time with this assessment, even though the guy asked, the FBI in this memo provided video footage from the cell that they had previously claimed didn't exist, all of a sudden exists, and now is missing a minute from it, and then when it was asked why the minute between midnight and 12.01 was missing, they said, oh, well, it's actually missing on all of our tapes from that period of time.

You can't get any information on who else was in the federal prison at the time. I mean, just about none of it makes sense. It's pretty embarrassing, honestly. I think everyone kind of understands what's going on. And then Jelaine Maxwell was his co-conspirator girlfriend.

How do you say her first name? Jelaine? Jelaine? I think it's Jelaine. I never get it right. I think it's Jelaine. And so, she's serving a 20-year sentence. People are kind of asking for what, because apparently there was no... There were no clients, and there was no blackmail.

So, I will just say that before we get into this, all this horrible, but I think the worst part of this, in my opinion, is I would expect something like this, or I've been conditioned to expect something from this, from the Biden administration, right? Like the Biden crime racket, the auto pen, nothing about that administration made sense. But from an administration that largely got elected on the backs of some of these promises, I mean, I have a video here from three months before today from Alina Haba.

She is. The U.S. attorney in New Jersey and counselor to the Trump administration currently, here is what she had to say a couple of months before. But she was a big spokeswoman for Trump. Right. It is incredibly disturbing. We have flight logs, we have information, names that will come out. Is it going to be shocking? I don't see how it's not shocking that there were so many individuals that were hidden.

And kept secret. And not been held accountable. Let's talk about the reverse. I believe in accountability, so you have to now go through your process. Now, I won't say they're guilty until they go through their time in court, but again, now it's time for accountability. We have seen for so many years, Pierce, in this country, many investigations, subpoenas, testimonies in Congress, etc., etc., but there's a general frustration with accountability. We take it halfway. We don't take it home. And I really believe that now, with Cash and Pam, there will be accountability.

Take it halfway, don't take it home. Interesting choice of words. Yeah, the story offered in the last 24 hours by Pam Bondi, too, just the insult to the intelligence of the American people is just astonishing that this is the direction they chose to go from. The client list is on my desk, which she said, responding to the Fox News report. Yeah, she did say that, didn't she? She did say that, and then she's like, well, I didn't, I meant the whole file.

And you're like, no, you didn't. You answered in the singular. He asked a very pointed question. It was very clear what you meant. And then you have interviews like the one we just watched saying, we have the list, we have the flight logs, we have the individual's names. It is going to be shocking. And then to pivot from that to this, honestly, I know that governments have to keep some secrets from the people. That is just the... Global government, global era that we're in, it's going to happen.

That doesn't bother me so much as this is the story you came up with. There's a minute missing from the tape, guys. Like, oh, they won't notice this. And then it's like, oh, there's a minute missing. You're right, because all of the videos.

What are we doing? Are we really that stupid? They were like, okay, transparency day one. We're going to hand out these binders to these Twitter influencers, quote-unquote, saying that this is phase one, and then what was in the binders? Already publicly available information? Yeah.

I am just going to wrap all this here, because Cash and Bongino, you know, I am sure have done a lot of great things. I am not super familiar with them, but they cut their teeth, basically, on promises directly related to Epstein. They grew their audiences this way. Like on Joe Rogan, on the broadcasts. I mean, no, Bongino was a major podcaster, and all he talked about for a long time. Well, not just podcasts. He was on radio. He was on radio talk shows, too.

Right. So, my question is, why would the administration... Is this just pure incompetence? I heard a line on this. It's like, the lie isn't even meant to convince the public. The lie is meant to signal to people that you're safe, the people that we're not going to sell you out. I don't know. I have a lot of theories on this, but Josh, I'd be curious. You're not really a conspiracy guy. This obviously makes no sense to non-conspiracy people. Why would they be handling it this way?

Okay, so with the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, it is trying to decipher what exactly she meant, because you make a claim like, oh, I have the file on my desk, and then later, oh, there is nothing there. We do not have an Epstein list of all the different people. So, how do you square that circle? I am with you. This is a tough nut to crack. I do feel like, you know, There was this part by Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, Pam Bond, all these people, we're going to get to the truth.

We're going to let people know what's really going on. And Elena, I forget how to say her name. I think what it amounted to is they start talking to different people inside the DOJ or the FBI or whatever, like, oh, yeah, we got this stuff. We've got the goods. It all becomes hearsay, and we got this, we got that. And then they start making those claims.

To the public, I'm not convinced yet that Pambati herself is patently evil. She saw the list and is just not going to give it out. I think they just were built up so much on this promises of transparency that, oh, yeah, we're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to let that list out. It's like, okay, what happens if you don't find a list?

What if there is no longer a list that exists? Then you look like an idiot. And that's kind of always been the thing I've been worried about for a lot of these promises. So, I don't necessarily think that all these people, I mean, I might be wrong. Maybe they are truly vicious, and they saw the list, and they just don't care. And they've been told if the releases will Kill you. That seems a little crazy. What I would like the conspiracy theorists to work with me on this one and help me understand.

The basic understanding that people are getting at is, okay, here is what happened. This is what happened, people think. Jeffrey Epstein had connections with very powerful billionaires, people in politics. He was groomed by Bill Barr's dad, who is an OSS member, Julian Maxwell. His father is a super spy. So, hyper-connected guy with rich – with billionaires and politicians, like Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, da-da-da-da. Okay. He basically says to these guys, I will fly you to this island where you can essentially rape girls that are underage.

And that the FBI or the Justice Department somehow has a list of all the names, because how would they not know about this, right? I mean, this is the kind of thing that just, they're going to eventually catch wind of this, our intelligence agencies, and they're going to be tracking this, and they're going to know, holy crap, a former president of the United States is flying to this island and is obviously with Jeffrey Epstein and having sex with underage girls, okay?

This is, okay, I guess my point would be with this. Then, we finally get him arrested, right? Again, Jeffrey Epstein. The conspiracy theorists say he didn't commit suicide. He was killed. Actually, guess what? I believe that. I believe he probably was actually just murdered in his jail cell. I think that's like 95% likelihood. I'm not like 100%. He could have killed himself. He's like, I don't want to spend the rest of my life. Wait, can I pause you two for a second?

After the first conviction, he had to be a registered sex offender, and he did community service, and all of these people, for the most part, still associated with him all the way up until 2019. So, not Trump, personally. And that's why I think you get around to, like, was Trump personally implicated in this? You don't think that the Biden administration would have let something loose? Absolutely. I agree with you that Trump was not involved in that. Trump kicked him out of his club, like, at the first time he was convicted, I believe it was.

So, here's what I guess. I don't think. Universally accepted by conspiracy theorists, and also people like me who aren't super big on the conspiracy theorists, that this guy was super well-connected with the rich and powerful. That he flew people down to an island where they would have sex with underage girls. I largely think that is true. I mean, that sounds like it is true. Tracks with human nature. That also that he was finally detained and that he died in custody. Probably not suicide.

Probably actually somebody murdered him. I am all with you on that. Here is the thing I want to understand. Conspiracy theorists believe there's some sort of Epstein list in some sort of government agency, and that we're going to finally be able to see this. That's the part I just haven't been able to get to believe. But that is also what Dan Bongino told us. I know that a lot of people promised that. The promise is what I think was so stupid.

You're telling me that this person had well-connected friends in finance and politics. Former President of the United States, as well as one of the largest tech giants ever, Bill Gates. I love people like, oh, he wasn't involved with this. Do you think Melinda Gates just divorced her for nothing? Okay, whatever. So, Epstein, super powerfully connected. There will be a lot of people that want him dead. That is what all the conspiracy theorists say. I agree with that. So, if they were able to get Jeffrey Epstein murdered in custody, You're telling me that they're going to just allow this list to exist in some file at the Department of Justice?

Like, there's just no way. There's no way that this list, if it existed in 1998, if it existed in 2014, there's no way it existed in 2019, let alone 2025. This is the point. Like, hyping this Epstein list is so stupid. There's no way on God's green earth that this list still exists right now today. I'm sorry. It's gone. If they can kill Jeffrey Epstein, they're going to nuke the list. Right, exactly. Especially if Jeffrey Epstein was an agent and connected to intelligence.

This is what intelligence does, is it obfuscates itself, it hides itself. The same thing, we had the same conversation when they released the JFK files last winter, right after the inauguration, right? We had the same thing. It's like, okay, all the JFK conspiracy theorists, and by conspiracy theory there, I mean like the wacko, like the crazy, like, oh my gosh, there was some kind of, and we're going to. Find it out. We're going to find the smoking gun with JFK now and finally understand it.

Right. That was never going to happen. We get all of this- And why, Erika? Why is it never going to happen? You tell me, Josh. Well, no, I mean, I was going to let you, honestly. Oh, you're going to let me tell? No, I mean- Because they had access to it. Why would they let this record stay around for 60 years waiting to be discovered by an administration that could weaponize it against the intelligence community or against- Wait, you mean the CIA that has an unknown budget that we know nothing about and know it can't be given to the public?

Right. If the CIA murdered President Kennedy, you think they're going to leave a file hanging around somewhere that tells all the evidence? Hells to the no. There's just no way that they're going to kill themselves like that. Can I make a final point here? Because I actually think the argument over the list is missing the point. People were promised transparency after... Three administrations, the Bush administration being the worst offender of all of this, because we literally went to war over a fake weapons of mass destruction situation when there was none.

He lied to the American people, Cheney got rich, and that was like a big turning point, and now we just get lie after lie after lie. No one can trust the government. Someone comes and promises it. That is why I am almost more mad at the Trump administration than they promised. I am with you. They are insultingly lying to us after all the promises. And it's not about the list itself. There's video footage of all these people. The victims themselves want justice on this.

The problem is that justice isn't being served, and the people feel like a giant middle finger was just thrown in their face, being, you can vote all you want. You're not going to get accountability, and you have no control over what goes on in this government. It doesn't matter what administration is there. It could be Biden. It could be who else. You have no input, and that's anti-American, in my opinion. I totally agree with you. I actually... This is where I agree.

I love how we call McCuskey tinfoil Tom. You're really the tinfoil Tom. You're really the conspiracy theorist, but actually, I agree with you wholeheartedly in this one. I think all of these promises were reckless and foolish. We're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to have transparency. We're going to deliver justice. I'm thinking to myself, these billionaires, these powerful politicians, whatever, that would fly to an island to have ...

These ungodly acts of sexuality against teens, minors, you think they're going to allow any evidence of this to exist? I'm sorry, no way. They murdered Jeffrey Epstein. You think they're going to allow evidence out there? No. So, that's why I always thought these big promises, you were writing checks you couldn't cash. This was so dumb, and that's why also, by the way, I agree with you, it was obnoxious. You know, for Donald Trump to be like, why are you talking about this?

Dude, everyone on your campaign was hyping this stuff up, including the person you appointed as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, who was your spokesperson. She's very close to your inner circle, in addition to the guy you put in charge of the FBI. So, Americans rightly would ask a question like that. Like, hey, so many people in your circle have been promising answers on this. What the heck? So, I think the promises were very foolish. I think his attitude right now is not helpful at all.

Yeah. And it just, it feels like another... Another part of the constituency, like the MAGA crowd, just burnt, and it feels like not the first part. And there might be small parts, like the really crazy conspiracy parts, but there's the anti-war part that he's burnt now at this point. Whether or not you like it or not, that might be the difference between winning Michigan or not. He's now burning the Epstein people, and he's acknowledging them. And then he's talking about the amnesty stuff now.

So, you know there's a hard right part of my coalition that might be mad, but they'll understand. They'll come around. How much more can you keep talking like this? To people that put you in office. If you want actually long-term sustainable success for America, if you want success, you need your party to be in for at least two terms, probably three. And it's like, you made all these big promises, you're going back on all of them. It feels like nothing changes, honestly.

I just think that Kash Patel and Pam Bonney would have done a great service if they would have just said, we thought there was this list, we thought there was this evidence, it appears that this evidence must have been destroyed because we can't find it, and that's actually scary. And we're going to run a review of records and try to find out, level the American people on it. That would have been much more refreshing. Just be level, right. Instead of saying, oh, there was nothing.

There's a minute missing. And for people asking why this matters, it's not actually, I mean, of course it is, right, because it's about justice, but like the most powerful heads of state in the world, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton was like, I think he flew around in his private jet like 60 times, something outrageous, between like two years. In 2001 to 2003, prime ministers of foreign countries, Tony Blair, Israel, like this, and he asked, was he a part of intelligence community? Was there any foreign spying?

Did they have information we know? This is the difference between like American security at this point or what we are making blackmailed, right? Totally. Like all of them, Trump himself could have. Right. So, yes, it does matter. That's why I'm like, I still, I don't want this just to be tossed out as this, and it almost makes me even madder. They keep throwing in these little digs like, oh, that disgusting guy, that disgusting pervert, that whatever. It's like, that is almost an insulting, such a small part of what makes people angry about this.

It's that you feel like it's a distraction. It is a distraction, and you're not accountable to the American people, in which you promise transparency to and difference than the very non-transparent campaign we have last time. I just can't believe, like, There feels like there's so much anger right now. There's anger over this. The left is super angry about stuff. Like, I just, I would have thought, with all the golden age promises, that there'd be a little bit more unity, but it really feels like there's a real rage going on.

All I got to say is, none of this surprises me at all. Yeah. I guess. Sorry. I mean, that is why I just did not put much faith and trust. Oh, we are going to finally get this information. We are going to blow the lid on it. Oh, okay. Sure.

Sure, but at least you can handle it. I mean, I'm cynical. It helps to be over 40, Pogo, I promise. Oh, so you guys are just used to politicians lying to you about everything? Not that I really believe in it. Well, again, there's different ways of reacting. I mean, like with Biden and the Bush administrations, I feel like there were just really wretched and evil people who were just like, didn't feel the American people deserved any truth. And I feel in this case, people like Kash Patel.

We are making all these big promises, and we are going to find all this stuff, and then they get there, and it is not there. And they are like, okay, what the hell do we do now? What do we do? And they made the right reaction. Why don't you just level with them and say, we can't find it. Someone that could have gotten into custody and killed Jeffrey Epstein probably could have found these files and nuked them. That would have been believable.

Why don't these people call me on the phone? Why don't they listen to the LOOPcast? I could have told you this. You're great. The voice of reason. Come on. Well, Josh, I want to hear some other thoughts you have. This is somewhat of a hobby horse at this point. We see that the IRS is saying that churches can endorse candidates from the pulpit. Erika, do you have any more color on this before Josh gets into the rest? All right, I'll do the color, and Josh will do the commentary.

So, we've got, this was a court filing the IRS released on Monday night, and it, yes, indeed, it says it overturns a... Tradition reinterprets the Johnson Amendment going back to the 1950s. So, what is the Johnson Amendment? Brief 101. Since 1954, happy birthday, Dad, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment said that churches and other nonprofit organizations, which we work for, could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.

And we had the National Religious Broadcasters and several churches at the time actually sued the IRS over this rule, arguing that it infringed on the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. So, the IRS statement from this week said, when a house of worship, quote, in good faith speaks to its congregation through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither participates nor intervenes in a political campaign.

Rather, the IRS compared this sort of endorsement to, quote, a family discussion. So, to end it off, thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted.

And the left's hair just got lit on fire. Well, because they've been doing it for a while. Yeah, like Al Sharpton, anyone? Yeah, actually, so the Johnson rule, I mean, this came about when... Lyndon Baines Johnson was Senate Majority Leader, and he snuck it into a bill at the last minute in 1954, so we have dealt with this for 70 years, and any time a white conservative Christian church would get a little too close to politics, they would run afoul of the ACLU, and there would be lawsuits and all that other kind of stuff, but of course, the ACLU never sued black liberal churches that would endorse political candidates all the time, so what this rule today announced on Monday, I mean, It allows, so that you can endorse candidates, even if you're not a liberal black church, because that always existed.

That's been happening for 70 years now. Al Sharpton, as you say, could get up in church and endorse whoever he wanted to. Never got popular at all. Pamela Harris could get up in church. She did. She led. Barack Obama getting endorsed right when he was attending. Yeah, I mean, it's just a joke.

What this amounts to is that, of course, as all of us know, churches are classified along with other non-profits as a 501c3 in the tax code, which means if you, like the United Way, which is a charity, you know, 501c3, cannot endorse a candidate for the United States Senate, for example, because you're using your funds that you've acquired for charitable reasons to advance a political candidate. So, that would be not allowed, but the problem with it is that, okay, well, wait a minute now.

It is one thing if you say, okay, you cannot use anything, but then what about a church? Churches existed before we had 501c3 in the code. Churches have been here from the beginning, before we had a U.S. Constitution, and for a long, long time, a preacher could get up and talk during a sermon about I don't know. Gee, politics and the news and everything is happening. Then saying, yeah, this guy, you know, John Adams, he's full of crap. Don't vote for him.

And you could do that. You had the free speech to say whatever you wanted to do until this amendment in 1954 gets passed into a bill, right? And so, what we're doing is restoring the freedom that had happened from the beginning of our republic until 1954. Now, of course, The point is, what this rule basically amounts to is, during your sermon, or if you write it in a sermon and you print it out in a bulletin, for example, those would be permitted.

That is the normal means of communication. If your service is recorded and put on TV or on YouTube, that would also be allowable. All of those things will be covered under the idea of free speech, free exercise of religion. You are talking about what it is you and your congregation believe, and what your principles matter, and how you should vote. However, if that church then decides to say, we are going to spend money, and we are going to give money to a candidate, or we are going to pay money to say, vote for Smith, for Senate.

Eh, that would be illegal. That would be, the IRS would come after you, or the FPC, and that would not be allowed. That's still not allowed, okay? It just means that during your sermon, a minister can say, hey, wait a minute now. You know what? I think that guy's pro-abortion. You should not vote for him, or in the case of a liberal church, that guy's pro-abortion. You should vote for him. Father James Martin is going to love this. So, now, does that mean they should?

So, the question is, now you can, and especially we're Catholics, and I feel like this has long been used as an excuse to avoid, you know, controversial, quote-unquote, topics. Do you think that Catholic priests should endorse political candidates from the pulpit?

All right, now, what do you think I'm going to say? I actually think no. You're right. I do not want Catholic priests to endorse candidates. In fact, I mean, it's an open bet, now that this rule is in place, who would be the first priest to endorse a candidate? Would it be a Democratic candidate? I'm putting in my best.

You know, like everyone just assumes it'd be like someone like a Father James Altman, who's no longer a priest anyway, he's not allowed to say mass. Like some crank conservative like that's going to endorse, you know, Trump. Then again, yeah, actually, it's just as likely as some guy. In Madison, Wisconsin, get up there and talk about how, you know, Trump is evil and Vance should be thrown into the wolves, you know, whatever. Yeah. So, I don't think it will take actually that long for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

You know, they meet twice a year, and I don't think that, I think, I would not be surprised if this November. They say, yeah, by the way, we're just going to make it very clear. Because now, priests cannot run for political office, right? But that wasn't always the case. Did you know that? I did know that. There was two priests that served in Congress in the late 70s, and they voted for abortion. I mean, it's just like insane. Not ideal.

Yeah, not ideal. And so, Pope John Paul II is like, yeah, that is not happening anymore. You can be a priest, or you can be a politician, you cannot be both. And the Jesuit guy, he actually said, okay, he took his oath of fidelity to the Pope seriously, and he quit.

But anyway, no, I think this is a very good rule. I'm very glad that this is in place. I think it removes the excuses for a lot of conservative, leaning Protestant churches to, you know, that, oh, we got to hold our lips. Now they, you know, put up or shut up. But in the Catholic Church, we're not going to do this. And I think it's probably wise, because the way Catholic voters are, They're like, I would rather my priest not say who they're voting for and to tell me who to vote.

Both liberals, conservatives, and moderates in the pews all agree. Yeah, no, dude, we do not want you saying it. We want you to talk about what the church teaches and help us understand what we should do, but let us finish the sentence. Let us figure out what that should mean. And that's why I always think, have the vote. We complete the sentence. We're like, yeah, by the way, everything you said is true, and that's why you should vote for Trump. You know, Harris is evil.

Right. Yeah, and I just, I would want to like emphasize that if we have any priests listening, that very much like we all have a responsibility to speak out against injustice and to promote the protection of human life. So, we're not, when we're saying like, should we endorse a political candidate? That's like a very specific step that a priest would take in a homily that, like you said, is probably not the most effective route. But what we do need from our priests is how What is Catholic social teaching?

And I don't mean what we learned in the 1960 Feldbanner Seminary, but what is Catholic social teaching? Let's quote Pope Leo XIII, how to think about it in our contemporary situation here in the United States of America, because what Pope Leo XIII was talking about, it can be hard for Catholics to then make the leap and say, okay, well, how does that actually apply to my town is facing this resolution on the school board? My state has this ballot initiative. Sometimes we need that kind of like, okay, let's push the thinking and apply it, and then that will inform the voters on what's actually going on right now.

And so, yeah, I would just say, I like this step. I think it writes an imbalance and a two-tier application of the Johnson Amendment that we've been seeing this whole time. And then, yeah, for Catholics, let's just... Let's form consciences, as the bishops are fond of saying. Let's get Catholics to know their faith first, before we get to the next level. We have massive catechetical crisis, and we need to address it. It feels like we have a surplus of fighting, which I think is actually, at its core, probably a good thing.

It means that people care, but if you have a surplus of fighting without the formation time, I was even just thinking about, I saw someone talk about just how overstimulated of a... Does society well live in a personal level? Like, you know, you're on the toilet, you're looking at Instagram or whatever, and I do think this applies in that case. Like, if you don't have the time to reflect and be nourished and go and receive information that kind of like talks to your soul, speaks to you, sit on it, think about it, then go out and fight.

I feel like that's how you get, like, I've been seeing. People talk about it in the chat. I saw John Henry Weston step down or got removed from LifeSite News, which is breaking as of this morning, and he's like, he was LifeSite News. I mean, that was 25 years, I think he founded it or whatever, and I'm already seeing people like, oh, the board could appoint me. I literally just popped in and popped out of this conversation.

What did you say? I didn't hear you. Mike Lewis made a dumb joke about like, if I get 500 likes, I'll take over LifeSite News, who's like, who's the lefty from where Peter is? We're just like, who cares? But I'm also like, okay, this is kind of a sad, like, regardless of whatever, it's like, okay, he lost his job, you want to dance on his grave immediately. It just feels like so much of the noise on social media when it comes to, like, Remember, this is a compliment, okay?

Mike Lewis hates You know, people who love the Catholic Church, who fight against the sins of our time, abortion, pornography, whatever. So, like, if I'm John Henry Newman, my friend, I get this name wrong, my apologies, brother. You know, like, dude, that is a badge of honor to have someone as loathsome as Mike Lewis, like, attacking you when you're down. Like, dude, that's awesome. Like, that is, like, that would lift my spirits, because, like, Oh, I would want him so happy.

When I die, I want people like Mike Lewis to be dancing, like, finally, that SOB is dead. He was such a thorn in our side to try to ruin the church. Yeah, you're right. You're right, I am. I am a thorn in your side. You better believe that.

You're the raspberry seed in his wisdom tooth. All right, I say we bring it up. We bring it up here. What do you got, Erika? Good news. Oh, what do we got for good news? Okay, let's do this one. So, Canterbury Cathedral, you might remember my twilight zone about a year ago was that the Anglicans in charge of Canterbury Cathedral hosted a rave inside the venerable space. Well, we are healing, and this summer, just a few days ago, nature is healing.

Supernature is healing. The Catholics were invited. That's right. Roman Catholics had mass. Inside Canterbury Cathedral to mark the translation of St. Thomas Beckett's relics, which were subsequently completely destroyed by, thank you, Henry VIII. But it was so beautiful to see the Eucharist celebrated in Canterbury Cathedral, which was totally stolen from the Catholic Church by an absolute totalitarian dictator, Henry VIII himself, so that he could. I saw a map recently of all the different monasteries that were stolen. It just breaks your heart.

But I can just imagine the Catholics coming up to Canterbury Cathedral and be like, okay, so you totally rented this out to a rager last year, and you're going to say no to us having a mass here? Yeah, exactly. Nice try.

I guess we stepped in that one, didn't we? Are you a Beckett head, Erika? I am. I'm kind of a Beckett head. Tell me something cool about Thomas Beckett. Thomas Beckett, this, I love the story of, so Thomas Beckett was really good friends with King Henry, another, an earlier Henry of England, and they were like bros together, and this, they were like, you know, partiers, they did all this stuff. Love the language you're using to describe this to me, by the way.

Yeah, I'm trying to speak to Gen Z here, like a cool mom on the podcast, that's me. So, so Henry's like, I, when he becomes king, he's like, I have a great idea. I'm going to get my buddy Tom. Thomas B. to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, because then we will have the crown and the mitre ruling England according to what I want to do, because Thomas B. is just going to do. So, he gets him ordained a priest. He gets him ordained a bishop, puts him in charge of Canterbury, and Thomas Beckett is like, he steps into the office, and Henry is livid.

He is like, I got you in here. I gave you everything you wanted. I gave you all this power to do what I want to do. Thomas Beckett's like, bro, I work for Jesus now, so sorry, I'm going to call you out.

And Henry, he's over in France, right? Henry's over in France. Thomas Beckett gets back to Canterbury, and Henry is so mad, and he just screams into the busy, full of knights' court and goes, well, no one rid me of this tiresome priest. And a few of the knights are like, oh, hey, we can get in with Henry. We're going to do that. And so, they gallop up to England, they slaughter him at the side altar. I've been there twice. It is incredible to be on the spot where he was killed.

They have a really sort of disturbing postmodern, like these swords coming down from the ceiling onto the very spot where he died. And subsequently, England just... A massive reconversion. Everyone is suddenly all pro-church. Everyone starts going to the shrine. They make a shrine to him. Henry is like, oh, oops, that was a mistake. He goes back. He has to walk barefoot through the streets of Canterbury to do penance for his sins, and he does. Interestingly enough, one more fun tidbit. I am just hogging this.

Go for it. Go for it. You asked me the question. I did. So, Henry... He rides to St. Dunstan's, which is a little church up a hill just outside the old city in Canterbury. He gets off his horse, he goes into St. Dunstan's, they strip him, they put on the sackcloth, he's barefoot, ashes on the head, and he walks from St. Dunstan's to Canterbury Cathedral and does penance for his sins. St. Dunstan's church happened to be the parish church of the Roper family.

You might remember the Roper family as being William Roper, who wrote the biography of his father-in-law, St. Thomas More. When Thomas More was beheaded, 500 years later, when Thomas More was beheaded, his daughter Margaret obtained his head, hid it, and brought it to Canterbury, where it was secretly interred in the basement, in the crypt of St. Dunstan's, and buried over, and not rediscovered until, I think it was the 1970s. Wow. And now, his head is there. So, this is Canterbury. You have to go.

Everyone has to go and visit Canterbury before England completely falls to the Muslim hordes, barring another Charles the Hammer Martell. I was just about to say something really stupid. I was going to be like, yeah, I got to go and get some of the eggs. That's Cadbury, correct? Not Canterbury? Oh, my gosh. No, Pogo. That was a stupid thing to say. You ruined the moment. You totally ruined the moment. The Canterbury eggs? What are you talking about? I stopped my... I just didn't share that thought.

I stopped myself before I really let that one rip, and I was going to. You didn't stop yourself. You said it. Erika, I don't think you have enough series to be working on right now, enough new series. So, new series drop, Erika sharing stories, cool stories in Gen Z language.

I translate it for the kids. I try. All right. Think over it. Think on it. Josh. Okay, so one of the... I think one of the funniest movies, National Lampoon's Family Vacation, there's some salty parts or whatever, but it was such a quintessential American movie. So many people resonated with it. Chevy Chase, his family, go on this vacation. They're going to go to the amusement park, right? And the amusement park is closed. We're going to have fun, doggone it, anyway. And he's just this dad who's just like, you know.

People love it. I mean, there's so many, because you're on vacations, you have all these plans built up, and it kind of falls flat sometimes, but you're still, you know what? We're together as a family. We're going to try to have fun. Here he is as Mr. Griswold there and his family with the station wagon. Guess what, guys? We have legalized. The station wagon again. Okay. So, here is the thing. Yes. Right. This is the thing that people just do not know about.

Like having the seats turned around? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You do not see it. You cannot see it. I do not. I do not understand. There are the nefarious things our government does, and you do not even realize it. Okay. So, you guys are too little and too young to realize this. Now, I remember seeing station wagons, and they just disappeared. What happened? What the heck happened to them? And so, I am a nerd, and I go back and research it.

So, in 1985, they start putting forward the CAFE standards on fuel efficiency, and the government started to fine car dealers as the selling of the cars if the emissions weren't so bad. Now, you can have a car with emissions that was a little bit over the limit, but it would average out for your whole fleet, right? And so, what ended up happening is that gas guzzlers, like a station wagon, which does... Require more gas. It's like too much, and so they stopped selling them because basically, the car dealerships would get flying through the nose, and they'd be out of business.

This is our government. And why did they do this? Because they wanted cars that were more fuel efficient, right? So, this sounds like, oh, government working really great, and it makes the fundamentals feel so good. Well, what happens?

Moms start buying Suburbans. They start buying minivans because they can't buy station wagons anymore. You made them illegal. Well, guess what? Why is it that a gas-guzzling SUV is allowed and a gas-guzzling station wagon isn't? Because the station wagon is a car, but a minivan and a Suburban and SUV is a truck. And it has a different set of fuel-efficiencies. I do drive a truck. So, this is our government, classic government, being stupid. It is so stupid. We want fuel-efficient cars.

We're going to put all these fines on it, and all you did is drive a lot of families from moving from station wagons to more expensive, bigger, heavier gas guzzlers. But what's the difference between a station wagon and an SUV?

Well, a station wagon is a car. On a frame of a car, it is just extended further. It is like a longer sedan. So, it is not the seats. The whole thing about this, that is not it. You could say that the third row has to be facing forward, and it would not be a problem. You could also say the third row, you have to have a little bit more bumper from the back of the glass so that it is not too close to the end of the car.

All that stuff can be mitigated, but the station wagon was illegal for the last 40 years. But I'm here to tell you that the big, beautiful bill finally legalized the station wagon. Guys, what they did is they didn't change the law. They simply just, well, they didn't change, they didn't remove these cafe standards, right? But they just set the fine to zero dollars.

Now, the car dealers can sell station wagons. They can sell cars that aren't hyper, you know, fuel efficient, and the standards are going to be ramped up even more so in the future. Like, oh, in 2025, X number of cars have to have miles per gallon of like 50 or something like that, and there is no way. That is why there is this push for electronic vehicles. The car dealers are looking at this like, we are going to have to up our fuel efficiency standards by the cars we sell, so that means we need to sell a ton of hybrids.

And a ton of EV cars. So, then they pleaded for Washington to give them subsidies to convince Americans to buy these electronic cars and convince liberals like, oh, you care about the environment by buying electric cars that run on coal rather than gasoline. It was all a bunch of crap.

So, now we're having a return to normalcy. This is so good. I've been ranting on this for years. We've got to legalize this station wagon. Someone give me that image of Josh with the Griswold family outside of Griswold. Oh, man. I can't wait to find a station wagon. I had one in Chicago. I talked to my friend. I'm like, dude, you've got an old Woody station wagon. He's like, I don't. They're still illegal, but I got mine. I'm like, hey, they're coming.

They're going to come back. We got them. Okay. And also, real quick, additional good news thing. Very classy. Our Holy Father, Pope Leo, sent a letter of congratulations honoring Cardinal Burke's 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood.

You know how else he was mad about this? Mike Lewis, dude. He was so mad on Twitter. Mike Lewis is a really good barometer, right? Yeah, yeah. That's a great negative indicator, right? He serves a function. Mad about a congratulatory letter from the Pope to Cardinal Burke. I mean, it's not even like, how dare you congratulate him? This is just a first step to, like, not persecuting Latin masters.

Right. Pope Francis would never have congratulated him. It's a slippery slope. Remember that? What happened to where Peter is? Oh, man, look at this cool picture he shared from his Twitter. It was so cool of him as a young man. Oh, my gosh.

That looks like Pope Paul. It probably was, right? It does look like Pope Paul, 50 years ago. That's right. 1975. I'm not that much older than you guys, and I have several more popes than you, because I was born in the rain. Well, there were a lot of popes in the 70s. Well, there was a lot in 1978, the year I was born at the end of Pope Paul's papacy, and by the time my sister was born two years later, there was already an additional two popes.

A third pope. Whoa! I don't know what you're talking about. It was quick. It's a tough show, though. Don't worry, it happened in the previous millennium. You wouldn't understand. Exactly. No, I remember it distinctly when I was one in 1999. Okay, so my good news. This is a great day.

You were one. I graduated from college. Great. I graduated high school, and you were one. 99. The Willennium. Does anyone remember the Willennium? No, that is one. All right. Go ahead. Sorry. Good news for the memers. Douglas Mackey is free. If anyone is familiar with this case, it was about a young Chad Douglas. He was sharing memes, and he was about to get seven months in federal prison. Sentenced in 2023 to federal prison for conspiracy to interfere with potential voters. The right to vote in the 2016 election for the office of the President of the United States.

Now, this happened in 2016, meaning some time had passed, and the Biden administration decided this was an affront to all we hold wholly here, a.k.a. democratically elected representatives, such as the rigged primary that got Kamala Harris to the case. But anyway, I put that aside. They were really going after this guy. It was just thrown out on appeal, so the Second Circuit throws it out. Now, for people curious, too, this just cracks me up to look at. the meme in question.

I mean, this was what he was going to spend time in federal prison over. He's going to spend, he was about to spend more time in federal prison than all of the associates of Jeffrey Epstein combined, even probably Jeffrey Epstein himself. Um, this was the meme. It was hashtag I'm with her. Hashtag go Hillary, avoid the line, vote from home, text Hillary tonight.

Objectively hilarious. Um, also it's Twitter. He wasn't even like, he wasn't sending like, it wasn't like he put this in pamphlets and send it to house or something. He put it out on Twitter as a joke. And he was like, Yes, the Biden administration was going to put him in jail, federal prison, seven months over this, and they dragged it out. It was expensive, I'm sure, to be defended, but he's free. He praises God.

What should have happened is the Department of Justice should have done an out-of-court settlement with him and given him a lot of money for all the damages. You know, it shouldn't require a court to throw it out. He was found guilty under the, quote, Conspiracy Against Rights Act, a federal statute that became known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. It was used to protect emancipated black Americans from Klansmen trying to prevent them from voting.

But the statute was not limited to Klansmen, and Mackey was convicted under the law for seeking to stop Clinton voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote. I mean, the whole thing was just such a banana republic joke.

I'd love to see someone who stepped forward and said, I fell for this. And didn't vote because I thought I could text from home. And then I'd be like, you know what, actually, I'm kind of glad you didn't vote because you actually should not vote if you're that freaking stupid. Totally. Yeah. Okay. So, Josh, I was excited to ask you this question. I'm going to have to chop a little bit of it into the next show. But one thing I really wanted to know, because it's a little bit old at this point, so I don't know if you're familiar, new party in town, the America Party.

I believe Elon Musk had a member of Tesla file with the FEC. His goal is to create... Yeah, a foreigner actually signed it, you know, as a foreign foreigner. It's like, again, once again, the jobs in America don't do it, right? Pinch me if you've heard this before. I believe you wanted to create a fiscally conservative, socially liberal party in the country. Oh, I love it.

So, Josh, the FEC filed. So, Musk hasn't confirmed the filing per se. Maybe he has at this point. Some reports are uncertain whether this is authentic or something. He's just trolling. I am going to, and this is Nate Silver, I got this question. If you were to create a third party, first off, do 30 parties work in America? Have they worked? Second off, if you were to create a third party, would you primarily challenge safe extreme incumbents, run spoiler candidates? Like, what would the mechanics even look like if you were actually serious about creating a third party, or do you think it is just all, you know, doesn't fail?

I am just not, I wonder, I mean, he may be earnest in his own mind about it, but I just. Don't think he's going to have the attention and discipline necessary to actualize on this, but we'll see. I could be wrong, but again, I think this is his parting shot to try to middle finger to Donald Trump. I'll do this, and I'll throw a bunch of money at it, and it'll hurt you, and that's my way of kicking you as I get out the way out the door.

I just don't know. Again, Elon Musk is kind of like, you know, an engineer type, you know, and he looks at the world like in very binary, you know, zeros and ones. And it's like, he looked at Doge like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. We're finding out all this bad money we should spend money on, therefore we should do it. And then he just expected everything to fall into place. Like, the problem with our politics, in his mind, was that people just didn't know the right answer.

And once he gets in there and says, okay, here's the right answer, therefore everyone should just fall over and go, oh my gosh, Elon, we never thought of that before. We'll do everything you said. It's like, that's just not the way politics works. And it's not just corruption. It's like there's different influences or whatever. And the idea, like, there's too many of the engineer types who just think, well, all I have to do is explain to everyone what's wrong, and then everyone will just understand that that's what we need to do, as if people aren't, you know, motivated by avarice or greed or attention or whatever the hell else.

Like, no, politics is a very messy business, and it's not like we just needed to pull in a doctor who could pull us out. Oh, that's what we need to do, and I need to take this. Okay, but that being said, a couple of things. Listen, I'm not a huge Elon guy, but he has created rocket ships better than NASA, and he has created a couple of very successful companies, Tesla, namely, that is truly innovative and productive. So, it's not like he's dumb, and it's not like he doesn't have a ton of money.

He's naive on politics. Right. He's the richest man in the world, one of them, either one or two. And so, I think the more fun... The question that I want you to get to, because I agree on those points, is if you were to create a third party, is it even possible in America, if you were to do it, what would you do, that kind of thing?

Of course, it's possible to create a party. The question is, is it going to do any damn thing, right? I mean, you know, in the 200 and almost 50 years of this republic, right? We've really only had a truly successful third party once. The Republican Party was the third party, because the Whigs were just not getting the job done. They were trying to thread the needle on slavery, and it just wasn't working. As the South and the Democrats were becoming more emboldened and saying, no, actually, not only slavery, you know, before it was sort of like a necessary evil in their mind, but then the cotton gin made their productivity skyrocket, and they're like, oh, well, maybe this is actually a great thing.

And they wanted to spread it to the West, and then it's like, oh my gosh, people in North are starting to freak out. Yeah, I know. We've got conspiracy theorists probably that hate me for this, but whatever you think about the Civil War, the Republican Party was a massively successful third party. It displaced one of the two major parties. We have a first-past-the-post system. So, what this means is in most elections in the United States, there are exceptions like the way Georgia does its Senate races and stuff like that, but for the most part, it's whoever gets the most votes wins.

That's called first. It's just like, you can have 10 horses running, but whoever clears the line first, that's who wins. Well, if that's the case, the incentive structure built into that, whether you wrote it in the Constitution or not. If that is how you determine the winner, what is going to happen is eventually you are going to have two parties. If you do not like a two-party system, then come up with a different way of electing your candidates. But if you do first pass the post, whoever gets the most votes wins, you are going to get two parties.

Would ranked choice voting change that, by the way? Yes, it does create different incentives. But again, even ranked choice voting, what that does is it allows you to express You're a disapproval of the party that you're normally associated with. So, let's say you have ranked party choice voting in New York City or whatever. Then, yeah, I mean, eventually, what can happen is I'll vote for the, or whether it's Senate or whatever, you still vote for, you know, in your state for United States Senate, you might vote for a right-to-life party.

Right? First, and then your second vote would go to the Republican. And if the right-to-life candidate suddenly gets 10%, then the Republican Party realizes, dude, you are pissing off a lot of people by going too far. So, you got to, you know, because what might happen is if that number keeps going higher and higher, eventually, they are going to just not vote for you as a second choice, right? So, there are these mechanisms, right? Okay, so, but third party, the problem with it.

It is like, look, go back to the early part of the 20th century. I love Teddy Roosevelt, actually. I thought he was a really good president. I did not used to like him when I was a libertarian, but I do like him now. I still think his decision to not run for re-election, and then to step aside and let Taft run was so catastrophic, because then Taft, I think, was very more libertarian, and Roosevelt did not like it. Roosevelt decides in 1912, well, heck, I am going to run for president again.

I am going to start a third party, Bull Moose Party. Bull moose. Dude, you just gave us Woodrow Wilson for eight years. Yeah. Until Biden, the worst president of the United States. Just wretchedly horrible. Evil, wicked, bad, bad, bad. So, that is the problem. People forget that lesson. Well, then 1992 comes along, and George H. Bush.

Just so stupid on many things. Read my lips, no new taxes, until he's like, yeah, actually, you know what, I'm going to go ahead and raise taxes. Talk about an over-promise, right? Your number one promise. And so then conservatives leave. And, you know, Pat Buchanan was like ringing the bell, like this guy's bad news.

Gutting our, beginning to gut our industrial base. Well, Pat Buchanan was a prophet, but Pat Buchanan didn't go third party at that time. Ross Perot does. What happens? Bill Clinton gets elected twice, never getting 50% of the vote, by the way, never getting 50% of the vote. So, the problem with the third party is, it might sound attractive at first, like, ooh, I kind of like what this guy's saying, but like, you're splitting your vote, as much as I hate to say it, you know.

So, Elon Musk. God bless you, brother. This is so hilarious to me. He wants to do this, right? He wants to create this third party. Well, if you think about it, we have four types of voters in this country.

We have people who are economically conservative and socially conservative. We call them conservative, naturally, right? And we have people who are socially liberal and economically liberal. We call them liberals. I know this is really hard work to figure out. Yeah, we're parsing through. All right. The people who are economically a little bit moderate.

But socially conservative, these are your J.D. Vance populists, okay? That's probably more me, yeah. Then you have people who are like Elon Musk. I'm socially liberal and economically conservative. By the way, yeah, those are, you know, libertarians generally understood.

Now, what do you think the breakdown of the population is on these? It's fascinating. Because, you know, and even like the people who own media companies like Time Magazine, they actually kind of like that. They are like, oh, you will keep my taxes low, and you will let me have abortion. So, they kind of like this quadrant. That is what Elon Musk is trying to do. But if you actually poll Americans, and you look on the chart where these four different people are, conservatives, populists, liberals, and libertarians, that libertarian quadrant is the smallest.

Massive amount. So, conservatives are 31%, liberals are 43%, populists are 22%, libertarians are 5%. Only 1 in 20 voters are going to be like this, what Elon Musk is actually hunting down. Like, dude, what are you doing? So, in other words, your only opportunity then to get more voters is to get Republicans who are frustrated that the Republican Party isn't going fast enough on reforms, and you're not going to get any liberals. I mean, so I think it's just doomed.

It's doomed, but do you think it could have a significant impact on Republicans in 2028? How does Donald Trump do so well? I mean, he won in 2016. He almost won in 2020 when no one thought he could have. And in 2024, he comes back from the dead, practically, right? I mean, like, after January 6th, like, who thought he could actually rise back to power? And why is it that Donald Trump resonated? Of course, he's got a very interesting personality and all that other kind of stuff.

When it comes to policy, and this does matter, where is Donald Trump? He is the overlap of conservatives and populists. That is where 53% of the population is. You can do it. That is how you can win. Liberals can win by being liberal and just a little populist. But any kind of appeal to this kind of libertarian faction of, we're going to be socially liberal and economically conservative. I'm going to cut Social Security while legalizing gay marriage. Like, I'm going to be pro-trans.

Like, what? No, there's no constituency for here. The liberals will just say, I'll just stick with the liberals because they'll actually get elected, and people who are economically conservative are like, well, I don't know if I really like drag shows on military bases and porno books and libraries either. I will just stick with the conservatives. I think it is not going to go anywhere. All right. There you have it. Josh, slide twice in our zone now. What have you got? After all that long sermon, I got to do this.

I can go first. You want me to go first? Okay, well, I'll do it. I'm fine. I'm ready to go. So, you might remember presidential candidate Kamala Harris going on the Call Her Daddy podcast, which I absolutely do not recommend anyone listen to. We're not watching this, are we? No, we're not going to listen to this. No, we're going to listen. We're going to watch it.

I did want the audio. First of all, we didn't set it up enough yet. Okay, so this podcaster, she's got this raunchy, nasty, nasty podcast called Call Her Daddy. The Chicago Cubs, why on earth did they invite her to Rupert Field to give the seventh inning stretch where he's saying, take me out to the ballgame, whatever, right? Because they do this for lots of celebrities, Bill Murray, whoever, you know, come on out there.

So, when they announced that this podcaster, this raunchy podcaster was going to do this, the audience already started loudly booing her. So, kudos to Cubs fans. I even had a guy who was like, I'm a Cardinals fan, but kudos for the Cubs fans for being this wretched person.

But, she started actually singing, and of course, I mean, dude, at least I know I cannot sing. If the Chicago Cubs, we want you to sing. I'm like, no, no, no, dude. My voice is horrible. Her voice is wretched. It makes your ears bleed. Dude, what are you doing?

So, even like, you know. This was a massive L for the Chicago Cubs organization, but the Cubs fans, kudos to you for saying no, no, no, boo, boo, boo to this raunchy podcaster who does not deserve any time in the spotlight.

Nope. I mean, if she was a raunchy podcaster that could sing, I would be, you know, the TikTok dance, too, really put it over the top for me. I'm like, what are we doing here? The only thing about that was a major L, so. Yeah. Oh, good word, Josh, major L. Major L. Very Gen Z. Erika, what do you got?

So, this is in the category of tread carefully, y'all. So, the story broke in the Washington Post yesterday that we have an AI impersonation of Marco Rubio that is so good that it was fooling security members of foreign nations. So, using both text messaging and encrypted messaging app Signal, here comes Signal again, which the Trump administration uses extensively, that's the Washington Post editorial.

The imposter, quote, contacted at least five non-department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a United States governor, and a U.S. member of Congress. This was an internal cable from the State Department from July 3rd. This impersonation campaign using an AI-generated voice mimicking Marco Rubio began in mid-June when he created, the imposter created a display name, Marco.Rubio at State. To contact unsuspecting foreign and domestic diplomats and politicians, the display name was obviously not Marco Rubio's real address. The actor, AI-generated, left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance sent a text message inviting them.

So, all this to say... AI is becoming very, very powerful. Another one, though, that I really wanted to bring to our audience's attention, because I had an older person ask me about this new Bishop Barron channel on YouTube. Can we play that?

Also, shame on them for targeting a man that's working four jobs to provide for his family. I know. Seriously, Marco, come on. So, this is the future. My dear friends, today I want to speak directly to your heart. I want to speak to your spirit, to the very core of who you are.

We live in a world filled with distractions, deception, and disloyalty. Yeah, what is this? And it goes on to explain how you can tell which people are fake in your life, and the comments on this video are crazy. You have people being like, thank you, Bishop Barron. You have exposed for me all the pretenders in my life. Guys, this is also fake. Fake Marco Rubio. Oh, no. Comments. Sometimes I think I'm the fake person, but I'm working on it. I want to work on it.

I told them I'm a fake person. This is creepy level stuff, and it's totally preying on the most vulnerable people out there. So, it's happening at the government level, happening here, and if you want to learn more, we are dropping a video on The Deep tomorrow, right here on LOOPcast, 4 p.m. Eastern.

Are there demons in your chat, DPT? And I go into... Even more stories just like this. It was a wild ride creating this video. So, everyone, if you're not subscribed, subscribe right now to the channel. Hit the notification bell. Share it, because we're going to talk more about this tomorrow on The Deep. I had to look into Epstein. Erika had to look into AI. I did. We all have our crosses to bear. We need to go to confession and adoration and lots of masses now.

All right. Join Twilight Zone. Bring us up at the end. It's happened. TSA is letting travelers keep their shoes on at airport security checkpoints. Josh, you experienced this firsthand. Is that correct? Yeah, yesterday. A few days ago, I was at the airport, and no one had to take their shoes off, and I could leave my computer in my bag. It was like, whoa, this is amazing. It made it go faster, I can tell you that. Faster. I was trying to look into this.

And more dignity, by the way. It came out four years after 9-11, and I guess there was a guy who had summoned a shoe on a flight from Miami to Paris. Yep. And as a result, everyone has to take all their shoes off all the time. Technology has evolved considerably since 2005, and so I feel like this is kind of in the camp of the station wagon thing, where it's just like, yeah.

We're ready. It's overdue. I think people are a little bit more scared about this, but really, I mean, there's no reason to be doing it at this point. So, if you don't want to let the dogs to breathe, you keep your shoes on and just walk right through.

I mean, it's good, though. It's just like the humiliation of it. Like, take off your belt, take off your shoes, and then, you know, get scanned by this man. You know, it's like, really? That scan thing that you scanned my whole body, like, ripped up your hands. You did like a Xerox copy of me, and you can't take my damn shoes off? So dumb.

This is great. This is a good thing. This should have been top of the good news segment, but it's a great way to end. It was either memes or this. This is legalized station wagons. Yeah, I'm also obsessed with the kid, the Coast Guard, or Coast Guard or National Guard. Oh, I love Coast Guard. Who saved all those. Great, what a hero. I love that. He's such a hero. We talked about him one day. I also had to, we didn't have a ton of time, so I didn't play it, but he did an interview on Good Morning America, and he is the Chad to end all Chads.

Oh, he is. Again, physiognometry. I can never pronounce his word right. Physiognomy. Physiognomy. Yeah. Blonde mustache, blonde hair. He's the next coming of... Who is that kid? Daniel Penny. There is a look to these characters, and some might say they are a little white, a little toxic, but that is America right there, baby. But I want to return real quick to what you said about the shoes, the airport, as well as what I said about the station wagons. These are like the little things in life that make everything so – we have a government that is so out of control, spends way too much money, does horrible things, causes massive catastrophes like the stock market collapse in 2008.

The Iraq war, all these bad things, you know, Obamacare ruining healthcare, making it so expensive, all these terrible things. And I do actually think, I mean, the little things actually kind of matter, okay? So, like, the stupid thing, like, government forcing us to use low-flush toilets, low-pressure shower heads, all these kind of things, you know, taking our shoes off at the airport, like, what does it really even do, dang it? And so, the Trump administration, Donald Trump. It's a smart guy.

He never gets enough credit. He realizes that these are the things that really piss people off, and is it really doing anything? And so, now, we don't have to take our shoes off at the airport. Now, we can have showerheads with more water coming through it, and yes, we can legalize the station wagon. Just more common sense. We need more of that, so when an Epstein kind of thing comes along, and we don't get the truth, and we can rightly be upset, But at least we're not being Again, I hate our government for the last 34 years that look down on us like we're peasants.

Yeah. And taking our shoes off. No, you're making good points. It's the best and worst parts of Trump, in my opinion. He is a dealmaker. He is diplomatic. People might be frustrated that he's engaging in diplomacy with countries that they prefer we not talk to, or they deem as whatever. Same deal applies here. He clearly was a part of this social class, no question. He talked to people that you wish he would not be talking to, and so with those parts, it's like you got to take that, unfortunately, with the good of he's wheeling deals on behalf of little things like this, getting rid of little tyranny, getting that off our back, whatever.

Micro-tyranny. But, you know, it comes with the bad, and you know what's funny? Someone in the chat was like, I don't have any interest at all in Epstein, and I actually felt like if we were not to talk about that today in any way, shape, or form. It would be a ding on our credibility, and first off, I think so much less of all these people that are saying, you're stupid. I think, why are we talking about this now? Move on.

It's so obvious. You're either getting paid or something by an organization, someone, to just move on as a sumptuous distraction. This is actually, the truth is foundational. I do think government, I think too many people were way too invested and put too much energy into the different conspiracy theories about it, but I do think it matters. Yeah. And I do think we should talk about it. I'm not saying you don't. I'm saying this is obviously newsworthy, and I've seen people shirk from this, and I'm like, this is a credibility stamp.

Like, this is happening. We need to speak on it. You need to look the evil right in the face and reconcile with what we just reconciled. Trump's a dealmaker. Some are going to be up, some are going to be bad. There's no one more than me that wants success for America and for Trump himself. Like, I feel like, do I have to get out and say that? Hence the frustration with the Epstein handling. Totally, exactly. Because you want it to succeed, yeah.

But anyway, at least it can take the... Keep the shoes on. Keep the shoes on. And I'm looking for a station wagon now. I'm very excited. Bingo. If you want to help with the show, go check out Charity Mobile. Join the Champions Club. It's the best way to support us. And subscribe to The Loop if you haven't. You can leave us reviews, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Yes, we're praying now. Today's prayer I'm excited about. I don't think there's a better prayer than the St.

Joseph prayer. Terror, demons here. I can't help but think a lot of the Epstein stuff is honestly truly demonic. So, I have St. Joseph, the worker prayer, one of my favorites here, if you want to pray. It's time for the show. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory to St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my many sins, to work with thankfulness and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop, by means of labor, the gifts received from God, to work with order, peace, prudence, and patience, never surrendering to weariness or difficulties, to work above all with purity of intention and with detachment from self, having always death before my eyes.

In the account which I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, good omitted, vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God, all for Jesus, all for Mary, all after that example, O Patriarch St. Joseph, such shall be my motto in life and death. Amen. St. Joseph, pray for us. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Great show, guys. We'll be ready to rock. Erika's got a great video for you guys on Thursday, so go ahead and subscribe to the channel. We'll be back on Friday with another great show. See you then. Peace.