The Davos Circus: Trump, NATO, And Greenland, MN Church Stunt Fallout, And Vance #4

We're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. LOOPcast brought to you by The Loop, every American Catholic's favorite morning newsletter. It's a circus. It's a circus in Davos. The circus is actually going on as this show is currently recording.

I had Erika give me some highlights from the circus. I'd say Davos Day 1. We are now in Davos Day 2. Donald Trump gave a speech this morning in which he talked about mothballs for 15 minutes in front of world leaders. No one knows what he's going to say or do. Um, we have statements from the bishops on said thing. It's reaching fever pitch levels I never thought possible. We're going to cover it all. The second one I have for you guys is I have a bit of an update on the church invasion in Minnesota, Don Lamont situation.

We had some action right after the show we did from the Attorney General. From Harmeet Dhillon. So, I have the updates there. We now know who the organizer of that was, and I would like to see some handcuffs at some point. We'll see if we get them, but we have some other situations unfolding in Minnesota. Bishop Barron made a statement. We had another kind of controversial ICE arrest. We're going to talk about it all, and then good news. Good news, Twilight Zone, all the good stuff you expect from the LOOPcast, but...

And Josh, you got invited to Davos, and you turned it down, right? Look, I wanted to make sure that I was stateside for all the important football games this weekend. Oh, so sweet. Well, I guess Trump went from the national championship game, then gave a surprise press conference, then was supposed to hit the road to Davos, but the plane, there was something wrong with the plane, and so he left like 45 minutes later. And, you know, the circus, as we call it.

And they, of course, as is the protocol, they take a different plane. This is what people don't understand, is there's actually not just one Air Force One. Air Force One. There's several. There's Air Force One, One-Two, One-A, One-B. Yeah. And there's like, you know, at least eight or nine Marine One helicopters. And my friend was like, you know, saw the base in Quantico where they have all those.

Marine One helicopters, and it's like the sign on outside the fence is like lacks any, you know, real subtlety. It just masterfully uses the English language, like lethal force has been authorized to protect. Yeah. Whoa, okay. Okay, then. Yeah. Not hopping this fence. No, we're going to set the stage there, as you should. But before we get into that, of course, we got to talk about Charity Mobile, because if you're still spending your hard-earned money with a phone company who doesn't value you and your beliefs, I mean.

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That's charitymobile.com, promo code LOOPcast. Thank you to Charity Mobile. It's going to be a great show, and then I'd also like to just thank everyone joining us live here. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 11 a.m. Eastern Time. I see a lot of familiar faces in the chat. Welcome. You can interact with us. It's a good time. Highly recommend. Someone said they have us on one of their five monitors. That's an impressive setup. We get more live people a week than Paramount Plus got for the Star Trek episode, so just think about that.

You should just make that a daily contribution. That can be your benchmark. If you make a show bad enough, you can be lower in live viewership. Okay, so Davos Circus. Erika, before you give me the actual information, here is what I took away from it.

Emmanuel Macron wore sunglasses inside. I actually kind of look baller, though. Stop. Wait, wait, wait. I completely take the other side of that. Mark Carney made a Soviet comparison to America. Yep, check. He is the Prime Minister of Canada.

Gavin Newsom was there for some reason. I do not know exactly why. He was there with Soros' kid. Yeah, well, Scott Bessler found out why, and we will get into that as well. Okay, that is all I got, and then Trump showed up, because they were all like, okay, Trump is going to show up, and then we will get the real information. Yeah, oh, and AI is going to replace religion. That is the other thing. So, we got a lot going on.

A lot going on at Davos, guys. Let us talk about it. So, this block, though, we're going to focus mostly on Trump and the Greenland thing. If we have time, I'm going to throw in some AI into my Twilight Zone, because it was insane. But to set the stage a little, let's back up to January 6th, and not because of the anniversary, but on January 6th, the White House really kicked off the outrage by leaking some reports that acquisition options for Greenland were being discussed, and that military force was not ruled out, quote, always an option.

Is what I believe Trump said on a plane. This is when the Oracle bought minerals. And now the Oracle's buying lithium. The speculation escalates, right, for over the last few weeks. The Sunday shows, we've got the Trump cabinet coming out, emphasizing all tools, including force, are on the table.

The headlines say, not asking if it was true, but how it might happen, where the troops would be stationed, etc. As the weeks went by, the coverage shifts a little bit from outright invasion. As low probability now, but high impact, analysts start stressing, and by analysts, I mean ABC News and Rachel Maddow. They start stressing that taking territory tied to a NATO ally will blow up NATO.

NATO will be totally damaged by this. Historic alliance crisis will ensue. They talk about coercion. What's NATO again? International law. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Okay. And it's mostly Western European countries. It's a defense organization. I almost forgot that was a thing. It's post-World War II liberal order kind of like thing going on. Sweet. Mostly financed by, but we'll get into that, because Trump actually told NATO what it was. It was an immediate alliance that, you know, that countered NATO.

I don't remember the name. What's the name of it? The Warsaw Pact, yeah. There we go, the Warsaw Pact. Okay. All right, so it was versus Warsaw Pact. Warsaw Pact isn't doing so well these days, but neither is NATO. Obviously.

The Trump administration kept emphasizing, and then this week we got threats of 10% tariffs on all NATO allies who were not cooperating with the handover of Greenland, increasing to 25% in July. We get helpful tweets from Trump, like this crazy one. Oh, no, no, no. This wasn't a tweet. This is actually what I love about it. Well, this is the letter. He sent a letter. He just sent a letter to, was it Norway?

And it's like, here, send this to your guy. Read it. It's awesome. And it comes out in a tweet later on. He goes, Dear Jonas, considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight wars plus, all caps, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but now can think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia and China, and why do they have right of ownership anyway?

There are no written documents. It's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now NATO should do something for the United States. The world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland. Thank you, Donald J. Trump.

This is just three days ago. This is as they're flying to Davos, they get this message. Yeah, but so the reason for this, I mean, I kind of feel, I mean, we find it a little entertaining. I do find it kind of silly, too. I love that tweet there, Tom. Made a visual. Which one? Go ahead, Marcia, sorry. It just, this is a reaction because the woman from Venezuela gave her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump. And, you know, they could have just, the Oslo, you know, committee could have just let that lay, but they couldn't.

No, they couldn't. They can't resist it. They had to say, well, she can give it to you, but you didn't win it. She won it. You know, they had to get the dig in. So, Donald Trump, he can't let any insult go unanswered. He's got to respond. Is this like an example where, you know, people that watch political TV shows, they think that the U.S. government operates more like the West Wing, and in reality, it's more like Veep? Yeah, I've said this a hundred times.

Close to Veep. Not really, by the way. Somebody was like, oh, is it like... House of Cards. Like, no. No, way too smart. Yeah, some of that for sure. I've been watching old clips of House of Cards, and man, that is a real list. It's entertaining, but it's gross. But Veep is so, so much closer. They should teach that to civics class in high school. Veep, this is what it's really about. This is how it works. Wait a minute. I go to this ice cream place.

What should I order? What flavor? And who's going to be there? I can't know. I got to wear this shirt. Then Hyden literally acted that scene out in real life. Yeah, true. Art imitates life. It's true. Life imitates art far more. So, this is all leading up to Davos, and what is Davos? Davos is world business leaders. People think of it as like, oh my gosh, woke, whatever, but it's not. It's globalists. It's global elite business leaders and many representatives from NATO and governments from all over the world.

They come there, and they talk about being more globalist and how we can have more global order. So, leading up to this, we get in there, and people make lots of speeches. And, in fact, Mark Carney, our prime minister just north of the border in Canada, he made a speech and is being compared to Churchill's Iron Curtain speech.

Wait, the chief villain of World War II? Yes, this is being compared. No, no, no. And in this speech... Look, if Trump can have fun, I can have fun, too, okay? All right. Mark Carney gets up there, and he starts off with a story from Vaclav Havel, and it's the story of the grocer who...

Put a sign up supporting the Soviets in his grocery store, and how this turned the whole society into a vassal of the Soviet empire. And Mark Carney writes, he said, the system's power comes not from its truth, but from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true, and its fragility comes from the same source. And he called upon all the middle powers there, because Trump hasn't shown up yet. He calls upon all the other middle powers there. To band together and form a new world order, telling them that the post-Cold War world order, and this is lauded as prophetic.

This is, oh my gosh, you're right. Maybe NATO is almost over. And then we get from France that America has now touted its imperial ambition. Can we just play the clip? Because the French accent... The sunglasses and the French, really, yeah. We're just going to... Here's Macron. This is quite the hype edit, too, from the Democrats' account. Pause. Josh, you think this is cool?

I mean, it kind of looks cool. Disagree. We are reaching a time of instability, of unbalances. It's as well a shift world without rules. Where international law is trampled underfoot, and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest, and imperial ambitions are resurfacing. We need more stability in this world, but we do prefer respect to bullies. We do prefer science to plotism. And we do prefer rule of law to brutality. Competition from the United States of America through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions, and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe, combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable.

Even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty. All right, that's good. Okay, so I'm just, okay, before we get into what he said, I mean, he's got the nice suit, he's got the sunglasses, you know. I'm just saying, normally, you'd be like, give me a word, you'd be coming after your girlfriend, okay?

Obviously, he likes teachers, you know, his middle school teachers better. Yeah, come on, bro. The people were, let us just say, Erika told me before the show that people were making jokes. Yeah, they were. On why they were sunglasses. Well, so he, the story was, he came to wear sunglasses because he has some kind of like stigmatism, and it is an eye condition that he had surgery for. He needs to keep his eyes shaded at all times, and the joke was, well, actually, what happened was, on the way, on the plane to come to Davos, Brigitte biffed him one.

And actually, Trump started off his speech by, you know, greeting his friends and enemies in the audience, and then he looks at Macron and goes, what the hell happened to you? It was classic Trump. This is just a circus. And then did you see the, you saw the leaked, or not leaked. Like, McCrone texted him before and was like, I'm with you on Syria. I'm with you on this. I do not understand what you're doing in Greenland, and he just screenshotted it and posted it on his true social.

And that is what Trump does. I love it. All right. Well, I did think what Trump said about Greenland at Davos was good. He basically ruled out imperialistic, you know, territorial, just going to roll the military in there and take it over, which I never really took seriously, but I am glad that he put that off the table because there is a lot of conservative parties that are trying to gain traction in European countries, and if Trump did not rule that out, You know, rhetorically rule that off the table, which I never thought he was going to ever do anyway.

I do think there would have been a concern that these conservative parties in Europe, which are trying to reform and try to stop the suicide of these European countries with Muslim invaders, they would have been hampered by this, and that would have been bad news. It would have had the same effect that we did in Canada. When, I think, you know, Trump's bluster with Canada cost the Conservative Party their, the opportunity to win the election, so. I don't think it helped, but I don't think it cost it.

Well, it certainly was a contributing factor. It certainly did the job. Sure. And then, yeah, just to go back to France imperial ambitions and the whole. So, we have, I guess we've got to bring this up. Yeah. It.

I think that they might just have to say this, because if anyone's been paying attention to Trump, first term, now in the second term. He clearly is messing with people. Clearly messing with people. This is clearly a strategy play. As he came up, of course, he got on the stage and said, we're not going to use the military. But, of course, it forces everyone to react in a certain way, and then also, what happened? Europe sent soldiers to Greenland.

Basically, like, okay, so in my head... Four. Sure, four, but still. There were 18 Germans, I believe, who left within 10 hours. Right, but then what are the... It's like Martha's Vineyard. What are the... Either they pony up and have more defense on Greenland, therefore securing it better against, say, people like Russia or other enemies, or they do that, realize they can't finance it, and then they make a deal with us and sell it. You know what I mean? So, it's like, I just don't understand the hysteria, and then I also will say, like, and I- Just call them bluff, because, like, what would have happened if China or Russia had rolled in?

They'd be dead. Right, they couldn't do it. That came up. And isn't this, and before it comes up, because isn't this the point, too, like, by, sorry, rattling the cage against Europe? What are the two options? Europe puts up more money for their own defense and takes it more seriously, or they engage in a larger partnership with us in which we are already providing the defense as is, so we get a better deal for providing said defense. So, to me, this is just all wins around.

I don't understand how people can't look through and just calmly see this. Maybe they have to as politicians for their own electoral reasons, like they need to present a strong force, I guess, but this is just so obvious to me, but then I see people like, and I genuinely like... Archbishop Burbage with the U.S. military, but this is one thing that I'm like, I would caution pretty strongly against. The Archbishop of the U.S. military services has said he does not believe military action to take control of Greenland could be justified, and that U.S.

troops in good conscience could refuse orders to do so. I don't have a problem with him saying this. You don't have a problem with this. To me, this seems a little bit like... Who is it, Senator Mark? Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly, saying like, okay, if you get an illegal order, you can refuse it. And Josh, I know you were obviously mad about that. To me, it's like, don't we all see this as kind of political gamesmanship? Why would you use your influence capital as the Archbishop of the military to say something that hasn't even happened yet, probably won't happen, and now you kind of look like, oh, you know, you're telling people to disobey orders is probably not a good idea to begin with.

I guess, why do you see this as not a huge issue? Well, I mean, I would have preferred, you know, the Archbishop, who I know, and he's a very good man, I would have preferred him to have said, Hedge it just a little bit. Say, if Donald Trump really is serious about this, you know, it is worrisome because that's not, you know, there's not really that kind of justification, and, you know, Catholic troops could raise more objections to doing it. You know, like, just a little bit more of a hedge on that, because the likelihood of us actually militarily invading Greenland seems so, so, so remote.

I don't know why you feel you need to counter that, but at the end of the day, like, look, bishops are also under a lot of stress and pressure, and so, like, sometimes they have to, you know, like how Trump is having to, he goes out there and he makes some of these statements that are just a little bit on the edge. Sometimes bishops, you know, they want to prove that they're not like, oh, anything, it's kind of hilarious to me that bishops feel like they need to push back against Republicans because of the work.

Yeah, is there any mistake that he's somehow a pro-Trump? I mean, it's a joke, but whatever. I mean, it doesn't really bother me. It's like, again, it's like the chances that we would actually do this. ...are so monumentally rare and minute. Which, to me, is why it was really disappointing to see him come out and say that. Now, that being said, we should pray for him, because... Yeah, I think he's good largely. I thought that was just a poor strategic move, in my mind.

It was kind of sandwiched apart of a larger, more couching conversation, but I just think of that as so dangerous to suggest. I don't think it's dangerous. I mean, like, he's taking Trump at his word, and we're all saying that Trump isn't being serious. But there is nothing wrong with the bishop saying, if Trump is serious, and he is just going to go in and gobble up Greenland and mine it like crazy and not care about our relationship with Denmark, if he is taking Trump to be completely serious on that, which he is not, it is a bluster, it is a position, I do not have a problem with him issuing the statement.

I guess I do not have as much problem with him. I like Ed Fazer. He is a really good philosopher, but he is like going, Oh, my gosh, he gets up in arms about Greenland and Venezuela, and I'm like, come on, Ed, do you not see what's going on here? Like, come on. Like, what we did in Venezuela is like a thousand times better than what we did in Afghanistan and Iraq. We actually didn't take out the entire government. We took out the one top guy.

Categorically different. And said, you know. We need change here in Venezuela, but again, I think Greenland was such a bluster. It is setting up a stage that everyone can get their feathers all up like a bunch of peacocks, and at the end, Denmark and the European allies say, okay, we will let the United States have middle rights. We will let the United States have defense things, anti-nuclear devices. We will let them have naval bases.

And, but it remains part of Denmark, and the people of Greenland get self-rule, and they get, you know, a lot of money in defense, and I think we end up with an arrangement. It is not going to be the 51st state, or whatever. It is not, and I think this is a very reasonable situation. I think we will end on very reasonable terms, and Trump will say, NATO is stronger, and NATO... We'll be more secure in the Arctic, and no one will remember.

And maybe you're making my point. Josh, let me stop you real quick, because I don't want to spend the whole episode on this, but maybe you're making my point. No one's going to remember this in two years. What people will remember is that the Archbishop, in response for the military, is potentially conditioning soldiers to disobey orders on something that will not happen. Will not happen. And if it does happen, you could just, then you can speak up. It's still a conditional statement.

Sure, conditional statement, but a dangerous, like, okay, you got just as mad about the Senator doing the same thing. You can disobey legal orders. Why is he doing it? I don't think he's doing it with the same malice. I'm saying, if you're the Archbishop, you have a certain amount of political capital.

You should not let your gunpowder right now on something that's obviously a bluster. I'm not comfortable with people being like, disobey, disobey, disobey, because we get in the same situation with all government agencies at that point. What if you said that about ICE agents? What if you said that about, you know what I mean? No, I know. I much prefer it, you know, again.

There's nothing, to me, you know, it's not like ordering troops to, like, Shoot innocent people, which is like an objectively immoral act. If the United States were to roll into Greenland and take it over, but, you know, it's not like it's genocide. It would just be like, wow, that's kind of, you know, an act of aggression against Denmark. That's kind of stupid. I'm with you. I wish, you know, the Archbishop had not gone this far. I wish he would have pulled back a little bit, but I'm just, you know, again.

Mark Kelly is a political senator. He knows this is a bluster. He just doesn't care, and that's not just involving what's going on with Greenland. It also involves what's going on with ICE, and so it's overall just trying to foment insurrection and a lack of lawlessness.

I treat them differently. We might disagree there. Okay, Erika, you have a section on what the Trump admin and the cabinet came to finally back up. Like, what are we doing here, basically? Yeah, we're finally coming into the moment when Trump walks on the stage here at Davos. But before that, the day before, we had a lot of the Trump administration were there, kind of softening up the crowd, as it were. In fact, it's funny. They sounded a lot like Carney and Macron, because Carney and Macron are shouting.

NATO is over, this order is over, we need to build a new order, and Letnick comes up, so Howard Letnick, he comes and he does a speech, and he says, yeah, globalism's failed. We've been telling you this for years and decades. I don't know if you want to play a little bit of that. We can roll it. Okay. We are in Davos at the World Economic Forum.

And the Trump administration and myself, we are here to make a very clear point. Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It's a failed policy. It is what the WEF has stood for, which is Export, offshore, far shore. Find the cheapest labor in the world, and the world is a better place for it. The fact is, it has left America behind. It has left the American workers behind. And what we are here to say is that America first is a different model, one that we encourage other countries to consider, which is that our workers come first.

We can have policies that impact our workers. Sovereignty is your borders. You're entitled to have borders. You shouldn't offshore your medicine. You shouldn't offshore your semiconductors. You shouldn't offshore your entire industrial base and have it be hollowed out beneath you. You should not be dependent for that which is fundamental to your sovereignty. On any other nation, and if you're going to be dependent on someone, it darn well better be your best allies, okay? And so that is a different way of thinking.

It is completely different than the WEF. I viewed the WEF as not a flagpole in the middle. But in fact, they are the flag. Whichever way the wind blew, so it blew. You should have solar. You should have wind. Why are you going to do solar and wind? Why would Europe?

agreed to be net zero in 2030 when they don't make a battery? They don't make a battery. So, if they go 2030, they are deciding to be subservient to China who makes the batteries. Yeah, and Finland actually got up and walked out on this. Oh, really? Yeah, there was massive.

Let's walk out on Lutnick. But I mean, he goes on to make the point that, look, America is going to go America first. You all should do the same thing for your countries, because your flourishing country benefits every country who's here. But you all banding together in this globalist vision of utopia, where everyone's poor, but we have big screen TVs, that's what's going to sink this whole project. It's not Donald Trump who's going to tear apart NATO or whatever. That was outstanding.

I just have to say, if Davos, this World Economic Forum, is the epicenter, right, for advancing globalism, this is why Trump is seen as just, like, disgusting. And so, oh my gosh, I can't believe it, because he's coming to the epicenter of the religion of globalism and saying no. I want nationalist policies. I want policies that favor my own workers. It's worth saying, where is the counter to the globalism, right? You would think it would be amongst our nation's labor unions, but it's not.

In fact, a majority of the membership of the United Auto Workers don't even work in the automobile industry. Not even a majority of UAW workers. They are healthcare, university staff, graduate students. Like, the labor unions in this country are supporting everything about the left-wing agenda. They're for open borders, which totally go against working-class voters. They're for every Crazy. They want social liberalism. They want boys and girls locker rooms. So, labor unions in the United States have completely abandoned this Pope Leo XIII, the last one, like Rerum Novarum, like this solidarity with workers.

So, in fact, what has happened in the last 10 years, we have had a flip. As white voters get more money, they vote more Democrat, and the poor white folks are voting Republican. The Republican Party has become the association for workers, not labor unions. Yeah. And that is why the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, goes to Davos and says, thumbs down on your globalist agenda. Yeah. So, Trump took the stage this morning, and it was just classic Trump. I mean, he just went on and on.

We did get a 15-minute story about mothballs on ships or something in the ocean. It was great. He went after Mark Carney. He said, Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they're not. I watched your speech yesterday, Prime Minister. He said, you should be grateful. Remember, you live because of the United States, Mark Carney. It was just classic. Trump, but as Josh mentioned up top, he ruled out military force. He's like, I'm not going to go in.

I'm not taking Greenland by force. There's no boots on the ground, but we are going to have Greenland. We are going to have Greenland, and he said there will be political economic consequences if the allies refuse. America remembers, he said, who cooperates and who does not, and then he spilled into a much larger critique of NATO, and remember, this wasn't a NATO conference, but many Most of the members. Functionally, yeah. Right, and Trump argued that the United States shoulders an unfair share of the alliance's defense burden, which just, yes, it does, and he questioned whether NATO members would even come to America's aid if we were in crisis, and he said, you wouldn't.

You just, you couldn't. You're not able to help the United States. Reversing, yeah, so putting the European leaders on the defensive. If they weren't already. And reaction has been tense. Let's just say Gavin Newsom was standing next to the stage watching Trump with his arms folded. He was there judging, as Gavin is wont to do, and denouncing Trump, and really no softening in his approach at all. But certainly...

Making it clear that all of the rattling the cage and the sabers when it comes to military invasion of Greenland, that was an anchor. That was not the end goal, and now we're going to just sit down and have a very rational financial transaction, right? That's where we're going to go from here, is my prediction. It seemed pretty obvious from the beginning.

Yes. Anyone who's been watching Trump for... Any amount of time, he's been doing this since he sold the Crowne Plaza Hotel to the Chinese. I mean, yeah, it's refreshing to hear. I don't know if people just don't expect it. I think it's refreshing to hear the leader of America speak so honestly and plainly. You almost have to go to these. It feels like you have to go to these and pretend like everyone's an equal partner and pretend like we're all in this big club.

We're going to defend each other, and Trump's just like, no, I'm going to be honest. None of you would defend me. We defend all of you. We have a much bigger economy. We have a much bigger military. We shoulder the brunt for this. Either pony up or accept the terms. The terms are that we are already doing the defense, and so if we feel that we need Greenland, and we're not going to invade it, but if we feel that for strategic regions, that Greenland needs to be better defended.

Now, whether that's going to come from us, which most likely will be, fine. Whether it's going to come from Europe somehow, fine. But clearly, why do we have to pretend that everyone is... Like, you know, this block of ice for the minerals it needs? I mean, come on. Right, so then let us, like, give us... Let us do it. If you're serious about a NATO partnership that is strong, you would do these things, and we're not just going to get here and rub each other's back, and even the funny thing about that, Eric, you look this up, like, basically, Denmark just pays...

Greenland, like $600 million? Yeah, so the Greenland government actually achieved self-governance in, I think it was 2010. So, Denmark's had, basically, they formally had control over Greenland since about World War II, like 1953, and Greenland eventually got a couple of seats on the Danish parliament, and they got home rule. So now, but in order to be fully independent, that would mean they would cut off their welfare spigot from... And Greenland cannot afford to do that. It's like 800 million square miles and 57,000 people living on what's mostly ice.

So, they need the money. So, basically, the Greenlandic government right now depends on a yearly block grant from Denmark of $600 million, as well as some services for Defense Coast Guard, etc. Basically, like, Denmark rents out, like, pays rent to Greenland for the pleasure of being able to say, we run Greenland. The whole thing, they don't benefit from it very much. They don't do anything with it because they treat it like a nature preserve. Yeah, it's a oscillator form, for sure.

It is, yeah. Well, just to clarify, though, they've had it for 200 years. It's just that since the 1953 thing was, they lost Greenland during... Right, the Germans took over Denmark. Wait a second. Yes. Wait a second. Yes. This might be a little prophetic. Hey, we can just keep this. Can we just give you $100 million in gold? Denmark's like, no, we would like it back. We want it back.

Yeah, this is all in your result. We have to dry our fish somewhere. It's just so hard to take this seriously. Yeah. It is very difficult. People get so up in arms about it. And actually, there was one panel at Davos right before Trump got on stage this morning, and it was the chief of NATO, Mark Rutt. Yeah, Mark Rutt. And then the Polish president, Narocki, was also on this panel. And other panel members were like, we as Europe, we can defend ourselves.

We can figure out a way. We don't need the United States. We can be strong in ourselves. And Mark Rutt basically goes, are you stupid? We couldn't do anything without the United States as NATO. If you pulled the United States right now, and then he went on to make the argument that actually Donald Trump has been the best thing for NATO that could have happened in the last 10 years. He's like, because we weren't, none of our nation member states were actually paying their 2% of GDP that they're supposed to pay into NATO defense.

No one was actually doing it, except the United States. Until, yeah. Until Trump came along and- to do it. Not only that, he just ratcheted it up, and now they're paying 5%, some of the larger countries are. And he's like, that's good for you. That's good for France. That's good for Germany. It's good for Belgium, because it forces you to make yourselves stronger. So, he's like, guys, stop complaining about Donald Trump. He's been good for you, but they can't. They can't help themselves.

Nothing like a good old, like, hardened Polish dude. I feel like they get it. Yeah, and Iraqi is awesome. Strong border security. They manufacture a lot of bullets in that country. Yeah, I bet Iraqi goes to the Latin Mass. He just, he gets the trad vibes. They have not forgotten. They have not forgotten. Gosh, yeah, Pope John Paul II.

Yeah. Oh, one other line from Trump this morning that I just loved. He got up, he's like, just so you know, Nato, most of you gathered here would be speaking German, maybe a little Japanese, if it wasn't for the United States of America. Everyone in the audience is just like... Oh, man, it's the best. It's the best. You were all just calling me daddy not long ago. You call me daddy. It was very sweet.

But, Tom, it's not statesman-like. Yeah, exactly. No, I mean, apparently, for the last, you know, five, six decades, the United States has been forced to say, oh, I know we're paying for everything, but we're supposed to feel guilty about it. And it's like, no, what the hell is this? This is dumb. Like, you're welcome, you know, by the way.

I mean, for all of his flaws, like, that is what, people are confused. That's what people like about Trump. He's not statesman-like. People are tired of statesman-like people screwing them over while smiling and saying the right things. And at least now, it's like, well, at least Trump's being honest. Even if you do screw me over on some things, it's like, he's saying exactly what he thinks. There's no question on that. Don't pee on my leg and say it's raining. Exactly. All right, let's go Minnesota section.

So, we have official... Oh, is my pin upside down? Thank you, chat. Paul Rubio. Paul Rubio, my sartorial consultant in the chat. Thank you. I actually got so mad. I saw someone with an upside-down flag. It was a distress signal, Paul. I'm just kidding. Upside-down flag, sticker on the back of their car, and that really riles me up.

Anyway, Department of Justice put Don Lamont on notice over church protests and livestream in Minnesota. And I almost like, not to give our team a hard time, but I feel like the on-notice thing is great. Can we get some handcuffs, please? That would be awesome. Yeah, I'm so done. But they're only saying what the Department of Justice said. So, they've launched a civil rights investigation into the disruptive anti-ICE protests at City's Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is after Lamont live-streamed himself joining a group of activists who stormed a Sunday worship service there January 18th.

ICE protesters entered the church chanting and halting prayer over accusations that one of the pastors held ties to ICE. Now, the big question is, you know, was Don Lamont in on it? And I have a longer clip, but we went kind of long on the Davos fun, of him before the protest in the parking lot, you know, pretending to cover them, and then going right up to the leader and being like, oh, I know you. Like, what are you doing here?

So, that is the big. Question, I think, to go after Lamont. I don't think there's any question that we can go after Nakima Levy Armstrong. She's the founder and leader of the Racial Justice Network. She was also briefly a past president of the Minneapolis NAACP. She was very active during the George Floyd riots. So, the funny thing is, too, talk about we have our targets here. She just posted on Facebook a clip from the demonstration. And then tagged all the activists who showed up right here.

Don Lamond tagged, funny enough, did say activists and independent journalists, and then all the different networks. So, I think at this point, it's kind of like, well, we know who's there. It was live streamed. We all saw it done. If we can't get Lamont, we need to absolutely get some people for violation of First Amendment rights. Those do not, indeed, extend to private property and disrupting worship services. So, the interesting thing I saw was they might use the Ku Klux Klan Act.

Which would be beat justice. Yeah, to go after Don Lamont, the Enforcement Act of 1871, or the Third Enforcement Act. For those unfamiliar, it was a Reconstruction-era federal law passed by Congress to combat violence and intimidation by groups like the Ku Klux Klan against newly freed black Americans and their supporters in the post-Civil War South that aimed to enforce the 14th Amendment by providing protections against conspiracies that deprive individuals of their constitutional rights.

So, the Minnesota Attorney General does not think that this is a problem, which is going to be an interesting legal battle coming up. Here he is with Don Lamont on his show afterwards. The protest is fundamental to American society. This country started in a protest, and, you know, it's freedom of expression. People have a right to lift up their voices and make their peace. And none of us are immune from the voice of the public. So, quite honestly, I think that you got the First Amendment, freedom of religion, and the First Amendment, freedom of expression.

And I think that, you know, it's just, I think it's just something you got to live with in a society. Something you got to live with in a society, yeah. Talk about the definition of Orwellian. And he went on to say that the FACE Act only applies to abortion clinics. Right. Did you read it? Which is factually not true. Isn't he an attorney general? He's the attorney general. He has a law degree? Well, it would make sense why there's so much fraud, I guess.

So, that's where we're at. That's kind of fascinating because... Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison submitted a brief in a 2020 federal lawsuit that accused a Minneapolis woman of violating the First Amendment rights of parishioners at Dar al-Faruq, a mosque outside Minneapolis, by filming them without their permission.

And then, as a member of the House, Ellison urged, in 2015, Obama civil rights chief, Vanita Gupta, to investigate whether a group of protesters in Phoenix violated the FACE Act by holding firearms during protests outside of Phoenix Mosque.

So, I just find it hilarious. He doesn't believe the FACE Act involves churches. He knows it! He does. Because he is lying. So, before I ask you the broader question, Josh, it looks like subpoenas have now been delivered to Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, and other state leaders.

It's specifically over whether state officials conspired to impede law enforcement during the immigration raids. And, so now, I think I see what, Keith Allison also has delivered one of these, St. Paul Mayor Coley and her two counties. So, we have subpoenas. I know the church thing just happened.

Like, I guess, do we just have to be patient here? I guess I'm having a hard time understanding. They posted on Facebook what they did. They posted with their names. Don Lamond literally live-streamed it, and clearly had some indication in the video that he was familiar with what was going on. Like, he's now claiming ignorance, but I think it's worth an investigation.

So, just be patient. Like, what's going on here? I think a lot of people are tired of seeing, like, they're on notice, they're warned, tweet from Pam Bondi. I mean, I'm so sick of the people being on notice, but the fact that they've delivered subpoenas now to the governor of Minnesota.

To the Attorney General, to the Mayor of Minneapolis, and the Mayor of St. Paul, and the Hennepin County Attorney, and the Ramsey County Attorney, yeah, we're actually in the, okay, they are actually serious stage. And it's like, now, here's the interesting thing about this. It's now become a legal discussion. Okay? Now, each of these people, of course, have their own attorneys. And it's like, wait a minute, what role? The feds are after us, and the feds are going to start asking very clarifying questions, like, it's this statement over here, it sounds like you're inciting violence.

And the fact that as soon as Trump started talking about this, the rhetoric from all these political officials was toned down like 85% in terms of the kind of garbage that they were saying. And so, I do think it's actually getting immediate results anyway. And then eventually, yes, people do need to be arrested, whether it's the Attorney General himself or this leader of the riot.

Yeah, to me, that's a good thing for her. That person needs to be in handcuffs. Time for some bracelets. And then it becomes a question of when you actually bring it to a courtroom, you can't rely on billion-dollar media companies to lie through their teeth. The judge actually says, okay, what is going on? But again, even with Biden, we had a whole crew of judges who are completely lawless. And so, we need, there is so much reform in this country that is needed.

I mean, it is hard to deny how much How much damage eight years of Obama and four years of Biden have done to this country, and George Soros promoting these radical district attorneys all throughout the country. But yes, we need some movement here. We do. And again, everyone who thinks Trump is like, oh my gosh, is like, no, dude, if anything, he's the moderate. And it's been a year.

Donald Trump has been in office now for one year. That was yesterday. And I don't think anyone would deny, if you look at the cabinet, Marco Rubio, absolute star, the best guy in the cabinet. There's also no denying who is the worst person in the cabinet, and that is Attorney General Pam Bondi. She is on a short leash. I'd love to see her kicked to the curb.

Oh, did Pam Bonney get Josh? Pam Bonney got Josh. They got him. The feds are here. The feds got him. The feds were listening. They were not thrilled about that statement. They weren't thrilled on his pick for the least. Let's see. That's so awesome.

He's taking a breath. There we go. Wow. The feds got Josh at the check. Josh, did you get a call from Langley? I do not know what happens, yes. Do you have something to say now, Josh? A statement to read, perhaps? I will say this. Never give up, never surrender. No, I mean this, though. I would love for Donald Trump to call in Mike Davis of the Article III group, and just to say, Mike, who should be my Attorney General? That is what I want.

Okay. We still don't have all the Epstein stuff, by the way. It still hasn't been delivered. I know how you feel about that. I still think it's ridiculous. It's not that I don't care. It's just like, what I would rather have is, you know, an attorney general that... It takes care of business. We are going to get more violence against churches if this stuff does not happen. We need action on this. It is very actionable, so the issuing of five subpoenas has been very helpful.

Let us see what comes of it. Yeah, and to challenge us a little bit, this is something that I have seen go around. Kind of the latest spark plug. I saw Bishop Barron made a statement about what's going on in Minnesota. So, these ice raids have obviously been escalated. Here was one that was making the rounds, and we have a tweet. Yesterday, Reuters captured ice breaking down a door and dragging a man out half-naked in the freezing cold in St. Paul.

According to his sister-in-law, they returned him after realizing he's a naturalized U.S. citizen with no criminal record. This was the clip that made the rounds here. I mean, obviously, he's a naturalized U.S. citizen. Not properly done. In no way do I think you should be taking someone out, really anyone out, in that cold after being in the shower, no shirt, whatever.

So, the report from Tricia McLaughlin, she's an assistant with the DHS. Let me read what she had to say. So, yesterday in St. Paul, ICE conducted a targeted operation of two convicted sex offenders. One of the criminal targets had convictions for sex with a minor and sexual assault. The other target had convictions for sex assault with penetration in the first degree, domestic violence, and violating protective order. Both also have convictions for failure to register as sex offenders. They both have final orders of removal from an immigration judge.

The U.S. citizen lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation. The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID'd. He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement. Both of these sexual predators remain at large in St. Paul. We will be providing the public with photos and descriptions to help us locate and apprehend these public safety threats.

So, that is the statement from DHS. We have a statement from the victim on this. The family of... Chong Li Scott Tao categorically disputes the Department of Homeland Security's public statement regarding the ICE operation conducted on January 18, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Tao is a United States citizen with no criminal record. He does not live with, nor has ever lived with, the individual's DHS claims or targets of the operation. The only people residing at the home are Mr. Tao, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his young grandson.

They do not know the individuals that DHS references. ICE agents did not present a warrant, did not ask for identification. Nevertheless, forcibly entered the home with weapons drawn. Mr. Tao went willingly with ice, despite knowing he had done nothing wrong. During the operation, Mr. Tao was removed from his home, wearing only underwear in approximately 12-degree weather, in full view of his family and neighbors. He suffers from severe psoriasis, a serious medical condition that is exacerbated by extreme cold and stress. This treatment was unnecessary, degrading, and deeply traumatizing.

The family strongly objects to DHS's attempt. To publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims, these statements have caused additional harm to the family, already struggling to recover from a terrifying and unjustified encounter. The family is actively pursuing legal representation and has filed complaints with the ACLU of Minnesota and the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Due to the ongoing legal process, no further comment will be made at this time.

I tried to look into this. I think what the sister-in-law said, Luancy Moua, is that... ICE basically came, they brought him to the car, they drove him around for about an hour, questioned him, fingerprinted, found out nothing was wrong, and returned him. They think that they're looking for two sex offenders. The two sex offenders lived at that address previously. He's been at this house for two years, and so maybe they were the last registered at that address or something like that.

I saw what Tricia put out on acts of pictures of these guys. Here is what they look like. I assume they are also from Laos. Ethnicity-wise, I think they are both from Laos. Right, they look similar. So, I assume that was what was going on. Obviously, wrong, I think, going to be handled in the legal system, and horrible for the family. And again, it's worth pointing out, for every misstep like this, there are literally hundreds of things that weren't perfectly right.

Right. And can we count on the media? In Minneapolis, to do things properly and analyze it correctly, you know what I mean? No, of course not. The media, and our national media, too, again, it's just a lack. The front page, by the way, of the Minnesota newspaper, it said that, you know, it was this morning, arguing that the semantics of what the worst of the worst means, because that's the whole idea. Trump and Miller are like, we're going to get rid of the worst of the worst.

The Trump administration, the headline says, calls them the worst of the worst. Here's what we found. So, you're thinking, oh, well, gosh, maybe they're not really the worst of the worst. Gosh, I feel really bad about this. Huh. Hmm.

Oh, about 80% of the 240 men on The Worst of the Worst have felony convictions for crimes like murder, rape, theft, drugs, or fraud. That's bad. So, they do sound like the worst of the worst. I mean, what are you talking about? Like, the media lies through their teeth. It's just unreal. So, in a circumstance where, like, looks like we got the wrong guy, and we treated this guy. Maybe we should, you know, he deserved a lot better than he got.

Okay, well, we'll compensate you or something like this for this. Yeah, it'll be handled in the courts. But there are literally hundreds of other cases where it's not a problem, and there's the case where they're riding behind this car and trying to impede an immigration officer. Remember, I showed on the last one, we're like, we're going after a sex offender. What are you doing? Like, good golly, people.

Yeah. You know what? I see this, too, and Erika, I kind of want to get your take on this. So, Bishop Barron put out this statement. And some people are mad about it. Some people see it the same way. I mean, I guess I'll just read off the statement. As a resident of Minnesota and as a bishop of the Diocese of Winona, Rochester, my heart is breaking over the situation in my home state. Violence, retribution, threats, protests, deep suspicion of one another, political unrest, fear, all of it swirling around all the time.

May I make a modest proposal for exiting this unbearable state of affairs. The Trump administration and ICE should limit themselves, at least for the time being, to rounding up undocumented people. Who have committed serious crimes, political leaders should stop stirring up resentment against officers who are endeavoring to enforce the laws of the country, and protesters should cease interfering with the work of ICE, and everyone on all sides must stop shouting at one another and demonizing their opponents. Where we are now is untenable.

There is a way out. He also had a strong statement about the church stuff, like that's completely unacceptable. Yeah. You know, in this case, like this just seems like, you know, there's like so many steps that led to something like this unfortunately happening. I think it's. Easy to just say, like, yes, this was wrong. It shouldn't have happened. He's an American citizen. He was treated poorly, wrongly. But the things that happened that led up to that enabled that, in particular, the sanctuary city policies, the open border going forward, and the tough job we have now presented to ICE.

But by saying that this wasn't handled properly, and I'm okay saying that this was bad. It sets a good standard for us to hold ice to high standards, because the reality is, is they got a camera on them at all times, and I'm almost okay in some ways with them being watched. Like, the transparency, like we talk about the body cams all the time. And you make this mistake, that's fine. We now need to correct, but continue, because even in this tweet of what he's saying, they were going after the worst of the worst.

We have these people's criminal records. They're transparent about what they were attempting to do, and I hope that this guy does get properly compensated, because it was wrongly done. Sure. But at the same time, like, we need to support the effort of going after sexual predators that have been allowed to thrive within our own communities in a way that is You know what I mean? I don't know. I've kind of, I don't have complicated feelings. I think where the lack of symmetry, what really bothers me from, you know, outlets like the Star Tribune, although I try not to be bothered by them, but I am sometimes, because the implication is, look, ICE really screwed up with this guy, and everyone can agree to that, but the implication is that, therefore, we should not be doing mass deportations at all.

Therefore, we should not have immigration enforcement at all. And this happened on the podcast with Ross Douthat. We mentioned this on Monday. It was awesome. Yeah, he was interviewing the guy who, it's not Ice Watch, but it's a similar organization in the Minneapolis area, where they train people to go around and document and constitutionally observe ice operations. And by that, they mean impede them and alert the people that they're coming to arrest.

But he asked him, and he said, All right, so you clearly don't like ICE and what they're doing right now, but what is the limit? And the guy couldn't give one. There's no limit. They just don't want... They have no limiting principle. There is no limiting principle at all, whereas on the side of the administration, the Trump administration and ICE, there is absolutely a limiting principle. It's just that they don't always hit the mark, right? It's that out of the, what is it, 670,000 deport...

660,000 deportations that they've seen. They've messed up 150, 175 times. I mean, that's the limiting principle, and then they'll redress that. That's what return to rule of law means. It means that we start applying the law, which is what ICE is charged with doing, and which Congress has given the president the authority to do this. Someone on The View was like, No one ever passed a law letting Trump do this. I'm like, they just did, lady. Called the Lake and Riley Act and other acts.

But they have a limiting principle. It's just that it's human in its application. So, of course, when we get nervous is when they start doing things like this and there's no redress, or when it's 30, 40, 50% of the arrests are like the one that we just saw. Yeah. So, I... Really, truly treasure Bishop Barron, and I agree with him like 99% of the time. And there's a lot of conservatives or tribes like, ah, he's not good enough. And I usually come to his defense.

But I don't get the, it almost reeks of a little both-side-isms here. Like, what is the problem here? You know, we have a federal agency, you know, as Mark mentioned in the chat and Erika just echoed, 660,000 people are deported and 165 citizens. That means they're at like a 99% success rate. Like, sounds like they're doing pretty darn good. Does any other federal agency have that kind of success rate? Like, none. Not the IRS.

And it's like, the problem here is that the left in states like Minnesota, sanctuary cities, sanctuary state, they don't cooperate with federal law enforcement officials. They believe that they should be able to do their own thing. They believe that they're not really part of this union, that they can get away with housing millions.

And then you have Archbishop Hebda, who I know as a friend, a good man, and he's like, oh, what we really need now is to take this opportunity to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform. My goodness gracious, no! No way. Not a chance. Unless what you mean by this, which you don't, would be, you know, continue to build the wall, put a, how about this for immigration reform? Make sure that every... A person in the United States has to use an ID to vote, and that everyone who's here illegally, came in the last four years, anyone who came in here illegally, has to leave before they even get a chance of citizenship.

That sounds good. That's what the law is right now. Why would I change the law? So, this idea, like, no, like, the biggest problem in our immigration system right now is that we had a president of the United States in the name of Joe Biden.

Who left the door wide open for four years and allowed millions of people to come into this country illegally, and a lot of them were thugs and criminals, not all of them, but the idea like, oh, wait a minute, but this guy over here isn't a criminal. He's not a thug. He hasn't hurt anybody. It's like, wait, okay, what's your point?

Like, why is it that we don't get to deport people who come here illegally? That itself is a crime, and we had this Don Lamont going on. He's like, well, it's only a misdemeanor. It's still a crime. Oh, yeah, that was crazy. Do I get to go to Japan? Immediately got destroyed on that.

I get to go to Japan. I just get to live there forever. It's like, oh, well, I don't jaywalk. I don't speed. I haven't beat anyone up. I haven't stolen money from a bank. Therefore, you can't deport me. The problem isn't the law. It's the selective application. And in many cases, you're abdicating your duty to enforce the law at the detriment of American citizens and actually migrants themselves. I mean, it was like... You keep bringing this up, and it almost is like you can't bring it up enough, like how inhumane and dangerous the system was for four years, and how many people got sexually trafficked, how many children came here without parents, how many people died along the path, and then the people that get here that get taken advantage of.

So, it was an evil system, but he doesn't get enough blame because it wasn't like I put into law something evil, or like you abdicated your duty and therefore byproduct. You, as opposed to the Sanctuary City people that are like, still, I guess, like, get to enjoy the guise of being somehow moral or just, in which it just, you're basically saying you're not going to enforce laws. I just wish we had some bishops to go, you know what, I get it.

I get why Americans don't want, like, an amnesty path, because we allowed 10 million people to come in here illegal in the last four years, and we want them all to be voters? Are you out of your mind? No way. Like, what? No. And when we deport them, like, only deport the thugs and the murderers. Like, no? Like, I can just go live in France, and they can never kick me out? Like, oh, no, no, sorry, I didn't break the law.

You can't. No. I mean, I'm sorry. Like, this is why I again call on Catholics to go to CatholicVote.org, read our report. We did a big, thorough report on what Catholic teaching is, and the fact of the matter is, you all should read it. It's clear as a bell. Like, the bishops, you know, maybe they're leading with their heart. I'm not assigning greed to them, but they're dead wrong in this. Like, the American people are not greedy and selfish for wanting the priority of our laws and our generous social welfare programs to go to people who are Americans.

Like, we're breaking down the social order if you say, oh, no, no, we have to let tens of millions of people in, and we got to give them all, 80% of them on welfare. Like, are you out of your mind? Like, no wonder our economy's in. lagging so slow. Give me a break. Go read Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscious, our report at CatholicVote.org. Read it. Know it. Share it. It's in the chat. Good news. Let's get it going. The best news.

I'm so excited for this moment. We had an announcement from the Vice President's Residence. That was kind of cool. Rhyme. Lady Ushavance is expecting their fourth child this coming July. So, it is a little baby boy. Everything is going well, and there is Marco Rubio on the right dressed as Mary Poppins, I believe.

But this is so exciting, so congratulations to the Vance family. This is great, and what a wonderful week to announce it. March for Life coming up. This is the most pro-life announcement you could have gotten from the Second Lady of the United States. So, this is for you, Josh. I did a little digging.

There has only ever been one other second lady of the United States who was pregnant and gave birth during her husband's term, and this was Ellen Colfax. Do you know who Ellen Colfax's husband, Shiler Colfax, was VP to?

Well, he was from Indiana. How do you know this stuff? Colfax was from Indiana? Yeah, he's from South Bend. William, no, Benjamin Harrison? So close, Ulysses S. Grant. So, it's 1870, Ellen Colfax gave... A few years off. A few years off. So, this is a big moment. Very excited.

Yes, and wouldn't it be cool if he was born on the 4th of July? That would be awesome, Thomas. Okay, people are going to accuse him of being too politically precise. If he announces the baby right on March for Life week, and then has him on the 4th of July, it would be like, something's going on here. They're engineering this.

Well, we know we've had a couple of, you know, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th. Did you know that we've also had a president? That was born on the 4th of July. Like the song? Born on the 4th of July.

I think it's, if I remember correctly, I think it's Coolidge. Oh. Yep, Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. Silent Cal. Yeah, he was at a baseball game, and someone says, I bet somebody $10 I could get you to say more than two words.

And President Calvin Coolidge responded, you lose. Yep, classic. All right, Josh, what do you got? Okay, so about 10 years ago, President Obama decided to give a medal to somebody in his administration. This person had spent 31 years in law enforcement as a police officer in New York, and then became head of an important law enforcement agency.

This agency was in charge of, you know, investigating, apprehending, and removing criminal aliens from the United States. Huh. Interesting. This man was responsible for deporting 900,000 people in Barack Obama's administration, and he was given a medal by President Barack Obama. That man is...

Tom Holman! My brain is so fried that anytime I see Obama giving a medal, I think of the meme of Obama giving the medal to himself. I refuse to believe he actually gave medals to other people. He only gave them to himself.

Look at that. It will be 10 years ago in April that that photo happened. I just love it. How the turns do table. I know. The man on the left is like, they want to murder him. Yeah. He's so evil because he's doing simply the same thing that other presidents like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, you know, George W. Bush, they all did deportations.

Okay. Suddenly it's wrong. If I did trivia, when is, so. My good news is IU, Indiana University, is literally a Disney movie. Trivia, who was the last team to go undefeated and win a national championship? There's only two of them, the other team.

Didn't Michigan go undefeated? Wrong. I don't remember. The Yale Bulldogs. Oh, my gosh. In the 1800s. The last time IU... Uh, was it, went to the championship, or made it, I think it was World War II? They were the losingest program in sports history, in college football history, and they just won a national championship after going undefeated. The center of it was Fernando Mendoza. He's getting a lot of play on Catholic social media because he is Catholic. He's adorable. But I have to say, the one thing that got me in the good news, this is just like sports being bigger than life moment.

Here's Fernando embracing his mother on the field. And she has MS, right? She's been fighting MS. And he was hugging his dad. You know, it seems like they have a really beautiful relationship, beautiful family. I point out his mother because so many elements of this is just like, this is why sports are the best, but she was at all the games, and of course, they get the camera over on him, and you notice whenever he would do something awesome, and like the Heisman moment of Heisman moments happened, it was like fourth and five, fourth and six, I think, kind of near the end zone, and they went for it, and he ran the ball.

Yeah. And put his body on the line, which is a great team blocking, and he threw his body on the line, took a huge hit, scored a touchdown that ended up putting them over the top of the win. Yeah, not just the first down, but the touchdown. Touchdown. It was unbelievable. It was incredible. A Heisman moment if you've ever seen it. I watched it four times. It was so good. And you see everyone jumping up and down and celebrating, except his father and his mother.

And his father does not jump to celebrate when he watches these games because his mom's in the wheelchair, and so he stays with his mom to celebrate. Another awesome moment, of course, the boys. Father Patrick Hyde was at the game.

Just hilarious seeing these. This IU red Dominican white combo. It's awesome. Cream and crimson. Here are the boys. Getting some pictures on the field. He has his jacket on. Love to see that. And, yeah, the final one was Fernando's mom wrote him a letter, and there's, like, music, and it's just text. Video treatment, right.

But this really beautiful letter before the Heisman Ceremony, in which he won, and... It kind of got this cool, like, the cinematic. I'll just send it to the chat, or we'll put it in the description. You just got to watch it. And it's one of those rare things that, you know, as people are kind of finding out, I'm like a little bit soft.

But, you know, I kind of teared up a little bit after watching this, and my wife was having a tough time with our toddler, and so I sent it to her as kind of appropriate timing, because I sometimes need a little pick-me-up, but... Yeah, it's just a beautiful story about him being really selfless and him loving his family, being a team player while winning the Heisman. Of course, like immediately gave glory to God, but was able to bring visibility to her and her struggles and make her a part of the experience.

You know, it's just everything you love about Swiss. It's the best. Adorable pictures. So, congratulations. I mean, I really don't think I've ever... It's like a Disney movie. I've never seen... Couldn't stop watching the team. Full of positivity. That coach came into the losing-est program, and then back-to-back years, won over 10 games, just went undefeated, won the national championship.

Crazy. You know, and I think rightly understood you're talking a lot about the Mendoza family and just how beautiful it is and how central the Catholic faith is to it. I also just want to get a little dig in here on the SEC while we're at it, because let's talk about Midwest going on a run. The last three championships for college, you know, we're talking from the states of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Hey-oh!

And then, of course, now we've got a Midwestern Pope. The old pope? I love this. And someone made a point that, you know, the image, I think, with Erika, you showed it, the image that, you know, he's going to have at St. Paul outside the walls, and he's just got that kind of Midwestern look, and someone made the point where it's like, it's like a Midwest dad who goes into a hardware store embarrassed that he needs help on repairing something.

It's just, like, so perfectly Midwestern, you know. But I love it. Midwest is on a run. Yeah, Midwest is kind of on a heater right now, no question. Okay, Erika, your twilight zone. All right, so... We're getting some flack for the administration on the pro-life front, of course, and moving into the March for Life week, we get columns from people that say, oh, for example, National Review is saying, I might skip J.D. Vance's speech at the March for Life this year.

It might not have to patch. Maybe we should have a petition for the March for Life to get rid of J.D. Vance. Did you see the Bill Kristol tweet, too? Men. I try not to. That was almost part of it. I try not to look at Bill Kristol tweets, but yeah, you know, we'll let them have their piece. They're very principled and all that. Meanwhile, over the river in the Potomac, we have Abigail Spanberger being sworn in as the governor.

And the Democrats now control the legislature in Virginia, and I'll just read to you a few of the bills that we are looking at over there. A lot of these have to do with the economy, so they're going to have a new 4.3% sales tax on Uber Eats, Amazon. We have a new 10% tax bracket for anyone making over a million dollars. These are all that. They're also about to pass abortion legislation that would make abortion legal.

Through birth, and even perhaps in a few hours after birth. So, this was a clip from the former governor, Ralph Northam, back in 2024, when they were first trying to legalize abortion through birth in Virginia, and he said, quote, Oh, the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. Then a discussion would ensue between the physician and the mother about whether to end the baby's life.

That's what's happening in Virginia. They've passed abortion through birth, and you will soon be able to deliver a baby in Virginia and then chat about whether or not you'll keep him or her breathing. This is evil. That is where the enemy is. JD Vance at the March for Life is not our enemy. What's happening in Virginia is the enemy. So, I would just ask all the principled patriot pro-lifers who are having a tizzy about this to remember what's happening over the river in Virginia right now.

I would just add a little bit to that. I mean, first of all, the March for Life has invited people from both parties. I mean, they invited President Bill Clinton to the march. Like, we want everyone to be able to march for life and to talk about how abortion is a scourge. Obviously, there's a lot of people who don't agree with it. But on the Virginia front, yeah, not only on the abortion front, but within 48 hours. I mean, again, So, Democrats pretend that they're sensible, moderate in tone, we're just going to do things better, and then as soon as they get to power, like in Virginia, they turn into absolute communist revolutionaries.

Like, they want to screen public school kids for conservative views, they want to reduce penalties on theft and robbery, they want to launch a massive home daycare grant program. These are all bills that they put forward in the last 48 hours. You know, again, they want to allow for...

They actually, again, there's a bill in Virginia now. They just got into power. They want to reduce minimum sentences for child pornography. Right. I mean, like, it goes on and on and on. And so, like, you know, Abigail Spanberger, Joe Biden, or whatever, all these Democrats pretend like they're moderates, and then they get elected, and they're absolute cultural Marxists.

Keep the border wide open. Again, we have fights inside House. We are the first to criticize Republicans when they are acting like a bunch of idiots, but the fact of the matter is the barbarians are at the gate, and they look the other way, and they try to impede law enforcement from getting rid of rapists and thugs. Let us be clear about what is going on right now.

Thank you for bringing that to our attention. I did, I was going to have that as my Twilight Zone, but you took it, so I just, you know, up in arms about it. But I do want to talk about, I'm not even a, I don't listen to pop music much anymore or whatever, but Meghan Trainor.

Oh my gosh, no way. Okay, go on. Sorry. She's got a new baby girl named Mikey Moon, but she didn't give birth to her. She got this baby through surrogacy. Ugh. And I just want to take this as a reminder, you know, and Thanksgiving to...

Our leadership in the Catholic Church, Pope Leo, said, by transforming gestation into negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a product, and the mother, exploiting her body and generative process and distorting the original relational calling of the family.

And so, I thank Pope Leo for his courage in condemning this. Not enough conservatives do. And when a couple of conservative dudes, like Dave Rubin, he's not really conservative, obviously, announced he was, you know, baby one and baby two, and all these other, you know, so-called conservatives, like, oh, congrats on the family. I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm not going to maybe go out of my way to say that's disgusting, and you're gross, and you're evil. But I'm certainly not going to champion and cherish, you know, this.

Surrogacy is bad. It's bad, bad news. It's exploitative of women, especially in foreign countries, but even in this own country of ours. It's absolutely despicable. It's horrible. We need to get rid of it and ban it immediately. Yeah, seems like it's overdue. Okay, I'm going to have to be very specific with mine.

Stepping into it. Do it, Tom. So, we have a tweet. The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem have issued a letter condemning, quote, damaging ideologies such as Christian Zionism. I'm doing it. I'm getting into it. I will read what they had to say on it. Let's see if I can zoom in. Probably not. The patriarchs and heads of churches in the Holy Land affirm before the faithful.

And before the world, that the flock of Christ in this land is entrusted to the apostolic churches which have borne their sacred ministry across centuries with steadfast devotion. Recent activities undertaken by local individuals who advance damaging ideologies such as Christian Zionism mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock. These undertakings have found favor among certain political actors in Israel and beyond who seek to push a political agenda which may harm the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

and the wider Middle East. Holy Scripture teaches us that we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. To claim authority outside the communion of the church is to wound the unity of the faithful and burden the pastoral mission entrusted to the historic churches in the very land where our Lord lived, taught, suffered, and rose from the dead.

The patriarchs and heads of churches further note with concern that these individuals have been welcomed at official levels both locally and internationally. Such actions constitute interference in the internal life of the churches and disregard the pastoral responsibility vested in the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem. The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem reiterate that they alone represent the churches and their flock in matters pertaining to Christian religions, communal and pastoral life in the Holy Land. May the Lord, who is the shepherd and guardian of souls, grant wisdom for the protection of his people and safeguarding of his witness in this sacred land.

That is the patriarchs and heads of the churches in Jerusalem. I thought a pretty reasoned statement. For those who don't know who the patriarchs of Jerusalem are. Basically, they act as the authoritative indigenous Christian leadership in Christianity's birthplace, emphasizing continuity from apostolic times while navigating the problems going on. They are responsible for the Christians in that region, and it is a combination.

It is primarily Jerusalem. It also extends to Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other sites. Basically, they are custodians of the holy sites, but then also the spiritual leadership of the people on the ground there, the Christians on the ground there, everyone on the ground there.

And it is an extensive list, including Latin Patriarch Pete Zabala. He is the Catholic Patriarch of the area. He is included in this, but it is a long list of Greek Orthodox, etc. And so, I read this, and I thought, you know, a pretty reasonable statement, and Michael Knowles picked up on this on his show, and it went pretty viral, and I thought he gave a very... Well thought out, reasonable take as a Catholic, what his thoughts are on why he's not a Christian Zionist, why he agreed with this letter, how it's in line with church teaching.

I'll give a basic summary because it's like a four-minute clip, but basically, he hinged upon... Something issued in 1985 is the Holy Seas Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. It's now part of the Dicastery of Promoting Christian Unity. And the part he read is, the Jewish people remain for Christians the beloved elder brother. Christians are invited to understand this religious attachment which finds its roots in biblical tradition. Without, however, making their own any particular religious interpretation of this relationship, the existence of the state of Israel and its political options should be envisaged, not in a perspective which in itself is religious, but in their reference to the common principles of international law.

So, basically what Zionism is, Christian Zionism, it makes religious claims that the Jews are entitled to the Holy Land. Specifically coming from Genesis, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, it views the modern state of Israel established in 1948 as the direct fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham and the Jewish people. And again, I want to be very specific in how I say this. According to Catholic theology, you can read documents like Nostra Aetate and Lumen Gentium. The church is the new Israel, or the fulfillment of God's covenant with the Jewish people.

The promises made to Abraham, including the land, are seen as spiritually fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the universal church that transcends ethnic or national boundaries. Okay, that is the Catholic theological answer to this. This kind of caught up in something called dispensationalism, which was popularized by the Schofield Bible, which is why you see a lot of evangelical Christians.

Believing their interpretation of what was promised to Abraham as that the literal secular state of Israel, 1948 Israel, has a claim, a religious claim, to that entire land. Catholics disagree with this. Michael Knowles, I thought, put this very well, and I think that it's really the only sensible approach.

Like, to de-escalating the argument going on in America over this, by treating Israel based on its own merits as a secular state, because I think it's entirely reasonable that you don't like the alternatives. Say, you don't like Iran or Muslims running it. It's totally fine. I think you can make reasonable arguments as to what is going on in the current state of Israel. I believe the official church position is that they would like to see a two-state solution. Donald Trump actually just invited Pope Leo to the new board of...

The peace board. The peace board, which is hilarious to think about that happening. What I will say is not helpful, and maybe the Twilight Zone element of this. Mark Levin, immediately. Immediately. Like, you're not helping people for your cause.

No offense, but no one gives a shit. Just saying. Pardon my French, but that's what Mark Levin said. You're not, you're really not helping your cause. Wow, way to engage in the civic discourse, Mark. Right, and Michael Knowles, very classy, ignoring the insult, I can't help but notice that you cared enough to respond and repost the clip. Well played. And then we get a long, and Josh, I saw that you sent this to me, you get a long, winding response from Mike Huckabee.

He's currently the American ambassador to Israel. And, you know, it is not all bad, but I will read some of it. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ from traditional liturgical churches and respect their views, but I do not feel any sect of the Christian faith should claim exclusivity in speaking for Christians worldwide or assume there is only one viewpoint regarding faith in the Holy Land. Personally, I am part of a global and growing evangelical tradition that believes the authority of Scripture and the faithfulness of God in keeping His covenants.

This includes this covenant with Abraham and the Jewish people. My Christian faith is built on the foundation of Judaism, and without it, Christianity would not exist. Without the Judeo-Christian worldview, there would be no Western civilization, and without Western civilization, there would be no America. The thought that God is even capable of breaking a covenant is anathema to those of us who embrace Holy Scripture as the authority of the church. He gets going there, and then...

We need to unite in those truths that should be agreed upon, such as the sanctity of life, the sacred act of marriage, the autonomy of the individual, and the desire to lift up every human, alleviate human suffering, and the belief that grace is God's gift to us all. So, he kind of ends it good, but he basically says, I don't agree with the Latin patriarchs on Twitter. And then, of course, Ted Cruz gets in with a retweet there.

Now, maybe my twilight zone in this, because it is not all bad. But the American Solidarity Party said, and I think this is, well, imagine me agreeing with them, never appoint an ambassador who will go native. Arguing theology on social media against local Christian church leaders to advance divine right claims of another country to the land is not whatsoever within the scope of the role as ambassador. I completely agree. I don't understand why you would be doing this, like trying to re-literate for some type of advancement against the literal patriarchs on the ground, and the funniest meme that I saw on this is basically something about a silence patriarch Theophilus III, patriarch Fuad XII, patriarch Torquem II, father Pierre-Baptiste Pizzabala, and then it goes on to name all of the different people who said Pastor Mike is speaking.

Basically true. I also think Mike Huckabee should have been removed, if there's any veracity, to him meeting with double-agent Israeli spy Jerome Powell, in which I think that's been widely reported on at this point. Jerome Powell? Sorry, not Jerome Powell.

He met with the Fed chairman. Yeah, the Fed chairman. Hey, it's been a long show. You know who I'm talking about. I know, yeah. But I do want to say this, real quick. There's this account on X, Max. Nardo, I don't know what his real name is, if that's his real name or not. He's very pro-Jewish. He's Jewish. He's also very pro-Israel, and he was going after people, not necessarily Mike Huckabee by name, but other people. That we're attacking Michael Knowles.

And Max made the point, this video features Michael Knowles explaining that he likes Jews and is very supportive of Israel, but is not theologically obligated by his Catholic faith to support the existence of a Jewish state in the Levant. So, when Jews are attacking him for not being like ultra, like whatever pro the state of Israel, you're not being helpful. This guy is mostly with you. He's supportive. Don't attack people who are supportive. I would say about Mike Huckabee, like I said, I agree with you.

If he really did meet with a double agent, someone who is against the United States, who spied against the United States, a U.S. citizen, Huckabee should be out as ambassador. I agree with that. But I will at least give him credit. Did you see what else Mike Huckabee did? No, I did not. He dunked on...

Pro-abortion Catholic lefty, Chris Jollyhill. Chris Jollyhill is this guy who attacks every Catholic Republican who, you know, how dare you ever support everything? And by the way, Chris Jollyhill is pro-abortion. He ran for Congress. He supports abortion. And so, Chris Jollyhill wrote this recap of those three very liberal bishops who rebuked Trump on Greenland, and Chris Jollyhill was so apoplectic, like, oh, wow. In a historic rebuke, America's three most senior cardinals are denouncing Donald Trump's bid to annex Greenland, to which Huckabee decides to retweet and goes, gosh, I missed the rebuke of Joe Biden for his support of unlimited abortion and his push for child genital mutilation in the name of transgender rights.

And defying Jesus is saying a male and female, and he created them, which is outstanding. Now, of course, the USCCB condemned Biden for abortion and that kind of stuff, but these three particular bishops, McElroy, Tobin, and Cupich, never miss an opportunity to attack a Republican. And when it comes to pro-abortion Democrats, not only are they not silent, in the case of Supers, they try to honor them.

So, you know, it was, you know, so I don't like Huckabee. I don't agree with him, but he did dunk on. Yeah. So, I like that. Yeah, I mean, you can't like, I guess you brought up a good point. Like, you can agree with people on a lot. I just think the sensible way forward is to remove the, say, religious requirement. Like, to go after Michael Knowles for his religion, because, by the way, that's my religion, too. It's just called the Catholic faith.

So, when you do that, you go after all Catholics. And then also to attack the authority of someone like Pete Zabala, who's been on the ground serving all the people in the Holy Land and doing a fantastic job. You're now attacking the authority of the church as well. And so, I would just really caution, like, if you want to have good faith debates about it, do it without this quasi-religious, the Zionism stuff, if you start looking into it, it gets very sketchy.

So, that's just some advice. Separate your diplomacy from your, yeah. Separate it. I do like it. So, it sounds like, Mike, it could be that you're a Protestant. Shocker. I dare you to speak on behalf of all Christians. That's what we do, because this church was started by Jesus, you know, so sorry. You know, I will say it is somewhat unsurprising. I mean. They don't have the same authority structure. You know, if you read the Bible and you can interpret it basically how you want, you know, this happens.

But then this obviously has real-world consequences, and we just went through some red-hot debate over that. But there's still real consequences because there's still settler violence on the West Bank against Christians. Israeli settlers are going in, and they're kicking people out of their homes, and they're burning down their homes, and it's wrong. And Pope Leo has talked about it himself. I think he's been great on it. And it's like we need to have a sensible, good-faith discussion about is this what's best?

For the two peoples, including the Palestinian people, and I think that's the only way forward, you know? And, of course, respecting the Jewish people and Israel, too. I don't have an issue with that. Of course, they deserve human dignity as well. It's just got to be applied on all sides, and you can't have a religious crusade to do violence on behalf of that. So, anyway, that's what I got. What a show. I was like, I'm not sure if I'm going to get into that, because you have to be so specific, because everyone gets on you, but...

You did it, Tom. I'm proud of you. Thank you. I think there's a way forward. We can do it. Never give up, never give in. Don't say anything about Pam Bondi, or you'll be kicked out of the show. Never surrender. That's right. Josh, you're on notice, Josh. On watch. You and Don Lamont. I don't care. I'm fearless.

Sounds good. Good show, gang. If you want to help us out, join the Champions Club, catholicclub.org slash champions is where you can do that. Thank you to all of our champions listening in here live and listening to the show. We appreciate you guys. We are going to end with our prayer today. We have a prayer to St. Agnes. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. O glorious St. Agnes, you served God with humble confidence on earth, and now enjoy his beatific vision in heaven.

You preserved in faith until death and gained the crown of eternal life. Remember the dangers that surround me and intercede for me in my needs and troubles. Obtain for me the grace of complete purity of soul and body, selfless service, and comfort in loneliness.

May your spouse, Jesus Christ, grant me eternal happiness in heaven. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Raleigh, Guadalupe. Amen. Great job, gang. We did it. On to the deep tomorrow, and then we got another show for you Friday. See you then. Peace.