An Army of Normal Folks - Why America Is in Better Shape Than You've Been Told | Unify USA

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

In this episode, Bill sits down with Teagan and Koston McCoy of Unify USA: how Teagan, 21 and fed up with the division on his phone, pulled an American flag off his truck, ran 22 miles on a whim, and turned eight million views into flag runs across seven states. He gets spit on, has cigarette butts thrown at him, and tells them he loves them anyway. That opens a bigger conversation about what actually divides Americans: the wedge inside their own family, a jar of ants blaming each other instead of the man who shook it, and 600 flags through Central Park without a single protester. Plus a leprechaun calls in to sing Bill happy birthday. ARMY ACTIONS Sign up for the newsletter and join the Army: https://normalfolks.org/#newsletter-cta Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/ Take The 10 Level Challenge, "the hero's journey for service" at https://normalfolks.org/10-level-challenge/ Follow Unify USA at https://unifyusaofficial.com Have an idea for a Shop Talk or a guest for the show? Write Bill anytime at [e-mail]   Follow us on all socials: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armyofnormalfolks/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@armyofnormalfolks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmyofNormalFolks X: https://x.com/armynormalfolks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/an-army-of-normal-folks/ Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All the hate that we got, 80% of it was just people call me a Trumpie. You're like, hey, you're a Trumpie. And I always said, I'm not running for Trump. They go, what? I've had people spit on me. I've had people throw cigarette butts at me. Every single time I look them in the eyes, and I tell them I love them. You go to your truck.

You take an American flag off the back of it. That's right. And you say, I'm going for a run. I just said I'm running for the country, for the people, for America. For the firefighters, the first responders, the troops, to respect this country. country and show that patriotism is still alive within the younger generation. 600 people showed up to run with American flags through Central Park. We put something on 10 days notice and have the biggest turnout we've had for Unify USA.

The biggest flag run in American history. And that's what we fight for for Unify USA is human connection and foundation. There are patriots everywhere in America. They're just disconnected. This is Army of Normal Folks, where our men, mission is to make service easier for all of us and together change the country. The music you love. Your favorite radio stations.

Everywhere you go. The podcasts everyone's talking about. All in one place. And it's free. I heart radio. Whatever you want to hear. Listen anytime. Anywhere.

Music, radio. Podcasts. Unlimited audio. It's on the free IHurt Radio app. When I was 14 years old, no subscription. Always free. Grab the free app. My heart radio.

When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice.

But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good france. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job.

Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Dear honies, this is goodbye. February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Patra Mather's and her husband Michael nailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died by suicide. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland.

Patra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known. I keep coming back to, I truly hope that Petra was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her? Yes, I do.

I hold Michael responsible from my mother's staff. I'm Leon Nafok. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who got one of Patriot and Michael's letters, as one married couple trying to understand another. Listen to death of an artist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. On big lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor.

And we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary.

We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage, I like to dress as slutty as possible because it makes me dance better for some reason. I'm Immanuel Jocci. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Many people think the American Dream is out of reach, and the country's too messed up to fix. and you guys don't.

And before we even get into the story, what do you hope people get after listening to this episode from it? I believe, and I hope that Americans can feel as if there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. There is always hope for this country, and as an American, we will always be able to continually move forward to make this country a better place. The most beautiful part about America is it's built by the, it's built by the people, by the people, and we can continue to thrust forward as a nation, but collectively together. And I never think that America's too far. I never think that it'll ever get too bad.

And no matter how bad it may seem at the time, there will always be hope. 100%. Cost your brother just rolled that out. I mean, I feel like Lee Greenwood ought to be playing in the platform. You know, proud to be an American and all that stuff. That's right. But, you know, I am really proud of my country. Yes, sir.

Just, but for perspective, before we go on, I'm also really proud of my kids. My kids are 31, 30, 29, and 28, or maybe 29, 30, 31, and 32. Anyway, that's all my kids are. Yes, sir. And they have done some really, really stupid stuff in their life. They have caused Lisa and I an enormous amount of, consternation and frustration. They have messed up. They have done stupid things. They have engaged in behavior that I found abhorrent, but it does not mean that I'm not eternally proud and

love them because good people make bad mistakes all the time, and that's part of growing up. That's part of aging. That's part of maturity. Our country's the same way. 100%. You can absolutely be very proud of a country who has made mistakes and continues to, but they continue to try their fine way they're for, find their form. way forward. Yes, sir. So in what you're saying, you're not saying we're faultless. I ain't saying America's perfect.

I'm saying America's always worth fighting for. I love that. So, Teague. Yes, sir. On September 3rd, I guess, of last year since you're 22, of 2025, I guess you're just hanging around looking at some apps on your phone, bored of tears at your house. That ought to be it, yeah? Yeah.

Doesn't hang out. Maybe you playing video games. Do you do that? Honestly, at that point, it's not like I was sitting around like a couch potato. I'll still take care of myself. But within our country specifically, I'd seen so much division on the internet. I was in this. Oh, you mean social media? Yes, sir.

I was on social media and I was in this endless scroll. I call it scrolling into the abyss, especially with political matters. And I just got so freaking frustrated. I got so pissed off. Do you think it's possible that there are people with an enormous amount of power and wealth sitting in places like New York, Chicago, D.C. and Silicon Valley that purposely craft narratives to drive you nuts? I couldn't actually have said that any better. You said that perfectly. I actually think it rolls deeper than that, honestly. But I do that. Yeah, I think there's narratives that are

pushed to make people emotional and to emasculate men. Absolutely. And that's one thing, too, when you were talking about in the beginning, what do you want people to hear and kind of take from the show, is that the media is feeding you something that's not true. Because every city that we go to, We went to Central Park in New York City with 700 people and 30 Marines and ran through the belly of the beast, which online and social media is showing right now, like, you can't even step foot in there with an American flag or you'd die. And we ran there with cheers and support and people supporting us. So it made us start to think in all these different cities that maybe America is not as bad as we think it is and we're just being fed something on our phones. Sure. Yeah, we're definitely going to get to that.

Yes, sir. But first, you're sitting there frustrated. and as I understand it, you go to your truck and you take an American flag off the back of it. It's right. And you say, I'm going for a run. I just started running. Like, Morris' Go, baby. And Greenbow, Alabama.

This is in Newport, Ritchie, Florida. What did you think? I'm going to run around the block with my flags. Negative. I said, I'm going to run so I can't no more. I'm just going to run to my legs fall off. And then I ran 22 miles somehow made it home. I don't know.

Are you a runner? I kind of. I mean, I went... What did you do, Miles are having a marathon? We used to live in Searcy, Arkansas, and this guy would say, I'm going to go with no headphones in the rain and run a marathon. No training. This guy is a little psychopath. Like, I'm not kidding.

And he just has the will and the want to. It's not that he really can or should. He would lay in bed for, like, hours and hours, even days after because he'd be hurting so bad. But something inside of him just wanted to push himself, and he wouldn't stop. And then he'd be like, cost, I got in this flow state. Like, I just didn't stop running. And I was like, all right, dude. He's like, you should come with me.

No. So you really did. You just literally on a whim. You got frustrated. You grabbed your flag. You put it over his shoulder. And you're living in Tampa Bay. And you just take off running.

That's right. Well, there's a bit more layers. There's a couple of layers to it, actually. So if you want to peel the onion back. We do. I was laying in the bed of my truck. And it was more like of a somber feeling, like an ambient and a very spiritual. moment for me. And it almost felt supernatural. I was laying in the bed of my truck and I don't want to

say I felt purposeless. I just didn't feel intentional like within my life. I think a lot of not only high school students, college graduates, but kids within our generation feel as if they have this lack of purpose. Like, oh, I should be doing so much more, especially when you see other people on the internet over in Croatia and on yachts here and there. Everybody else's success triumphs mine. It's like, well, all of them are lying, first off, but second off, you're exactly. where the Lord needs you to be. You just need to take the next step forward. So instead of getting paralyzed by all this analysis of what you could be doing, it's better to just put that first foot forward, like literally and figuratively. Like I just decided, I prayed to the Lord for purpose

for a reason. Like, I want to serve people and I don't know what that is. I don't know how that looks. I open my eyes. I seen old glory waving in the wind and I picked her up the next day. It genuinely is just, I would love to sit here and say, oh, I was this ambitious young man at 21, and I ran with the flag to unify the American people. That didn't even come until the eighth day. I just said, I'm running for the country, for the people, for America, for the firefighters, the first responders, the troops, to respect this country and show that patriotism is still alive within the younger generation. So you picked up a flag and took off? That's it. It's that simple. And people, it drives people crazy. It is that simple.

So I understand that you got about 12 miles out and said maybe I had to turn around, maybe, maybe a stupid is, stupid dog. Maybe it's far enough. I got to run this much back. That's right. And your dad pulls up next to you on like mile 17. Yes, sir. What was tracking you on your phone? Yes, sir.

He has our location. And he's like, well, maybe you need to go check on my dog. He's out there running around. I was hurted. I tried to shoot him a call earlier, but you know when you're running, you got your phone, and your pocket gets all sweaty and you can't type on it. You have to just tap a thing. No, sir.

I tried to sit here and call him, but the phone's too sweaty, so it's all janky. I'm trying to call him, and I can't. It's all my shit. I'm just going to run home. He pulls up on me. I don't know if you saw in the video, there's a tear in my flag. On mile 10 of the run, it got caught on a power line, the nail of a power line. And it ripped a hole in it, and I think that's why it went viral because everybody's like,

why does this kid have a hole in his flag? Like, he disrespecting. American flag. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, I just didn't want to call, I don't want to be a wissy and, like, call it Uber or nothing. I had to run at home, you know. Like, I had to run at home. And then that's where my father came up to me is about mile 17, and I was broken. I was beat. And he was driving next to you. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And I was beat. And spiritually, I tapped into this separate sense that I'd never felt in my life. The only Bible verse I knew at the time was Philippians 413, and I recited out, I would have said it hundreds of times.

give me strength. I can do all things through Christ who strength. And I just I recited it in numerous different ways. Just God give me strength. Christ gave me strength. I didn't even believe in Jesus at the time, but I knew that I had to take that step onto the water to see if I could walk. And so you're running and he's filming. That's right. And he posted or you posted who posted? He said it to me. I was like, hey, pops, can he send that to me? I want to post it on the internet. I expected nothing of it. Eight million views, 800,000 likes. So many Americans saying, I wish, my son was like this.

Or I said, I love you to my father in the end of the video. And a lot of people break down in tears and send me voice messages. And I got some people's phone number and they'd FaceTime me crying to me saying, I wish I had that connection with my father. My father passed or my father's disconnected within my life. I didn't have that figure growing up. So I think there was a lot of different moving parts to that. But one of the real base interest in all of it was just a love that I share with my father

and the relationship we have. Tell everybody, as you're running, about to die with a flag in your dad's filming. Yeah. What was that right? What's he worried about you? Oh, terribly. I mean, he's always worried about me, though, and cost.

We'll go off and do something random. He'll shoot us a call and just make sure we're good. Hey, just checking in, son, you alive? Yes, sir. All right, take care. Yes. But he showed up and he recorded me, and it was very spontaneous. I didn't know that it was happening.

And he goes, hey, son, how far have you ran? And I go, I don't, 17 miles? He goes, what the hell are you running? for. I said, I'm running for the American people. I just said it. I don't know. I'm just running for the American people. It's like, I'm just so tired, baby, woo. And I was like on this separate high, I had this second blow of wind. And I was like, dopamine and all that. And I saw my dad and it gave, that really is what sent me home. Those last five miles were some of the hardest miles that I've ever experienced. But my dad showing up and giving me that, that boosts of encouragement,

it made it everything. Everything. After that, you said, I'm going to do it tomorrow too. It's right. And after that, you said, I won't keep doing it. It's right. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors. But first, thanks for tuning into an army of normal folks, where our mission is to make service easier for all of us and together can change the country. Today, I want to share with you an email received from an army member named Hunter Cowan.

Hunter wrote, Good morning, Bill. I've listened to all of your episodes since the very beginning. They are our light and all of the bad news that comes our way every day. By listening to your shows, y'all have inspired me to try to take part to make a difference in my community. I have started a Sleep and Heavenly Peace chapter. Y'all have inspired me, and I know y'all have inspired many others, at some point that inspiration becomes exponential.

And when we're emailing with Hunter, he told us his sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter already has 60 beds built for kids without them in the Richmond area of Virginia. I am inspired myself that episodes that we share can inspire someone like Hunter to engage and do good work. I'm inspired that there are 60 kids today that are sleeping in bed.

rather than piles on clothes because Hunter listened to an episode of an Army of Normal Folks and decided to act. We always say, together, we can change this country. And Hunter is metaphorically what one member of a massive Army of normal folks can do to make better lives for other people. We'll be right back. The music you love. Your favorite radio stations.

Everywhere you go. The podcasts everyone's talking about. All in one place, and it's free. I heart radio. Whatever you want to hear. Listen anytime, anywhere. Music, radio, podcasts, unlimited audio. It's on the free IHurt Radio app.

Just go! One app, no subscription. Always free. Grab the free app. IHart Radio. Everywhere you go. Always free. Download the free IHard Radio app today.

When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Wright. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard a count after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this.

The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good France. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon.

People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart the story behind. the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educated. I can talk all week on millions

of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage,

I like to dress as slutty as possible. because it makes me dance a bit for some reason. I'm Immanuel Jocci. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Dear honies, this is goodbye.

In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Patramathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died. By suicide. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead.

Next stop, Wonderland. Patra and Michael were by all accounts, healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known. I keep coming back to, I truly hope, that Petra was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her? Yes, I do.

I hold Michael responsible from my mother. stuff. I'm Leon Nafok. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who got one of Patriot and Michael's letters, as one married couple trying to understand another. Listen to Death of an Artist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Before we get to day seven, where you kind of said something that set a lot of this emotion,

and I don't want to go to that. I wanted to go to day two in three, four, five. Yes, sir. I'm really curious. Why? Why do it again? What, what, I mean, what was, why, why did you think, all right, well, I almost killed myself yesterday. That's cool.

Let's do it again. Was it the response on the social media? What was it that inspired you just say, I'm going to do this next few days? It was the honks that I got in person. It was the honks. The honks, brother. And you should see this smile. on these people's faces.

When I have an American flag in my hand, a young man looking to, I didn't even know what I was doing at the time. I was very naive, it was very spontaneous, but the people seeing our flag and our colors and lighting up with joy and honking, let's go, baby. It is like, I get chills thinking about it.

It's like no experience that you'll ever, like I cannot compare it to anything else. And the first day it ever happened now, of course I've ran every single day consecutively for Lord knows how long, but that first day, it's like there really is people in America that care. And to back back on your first question that you asked at the start of the interview, that's all I needed to see was hope. And that's all these other people need to see. It's just one kid carrying a flag. That's all it takes to reignite the American spirit in an entire

country with 350 million people. So you said, I got honked at. I'm going to run again. I'm going to keep running, baby. And it's almost a challenge. I mean, I'm a ginger like you. Yes, sir. Not many people kind of honk at us. Sure. About that stroke your ego. A little bit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would be lying if I said not. You're a great looking kid. Thank you, sir. But the point is, you got response. Yes, sir. And it really wasn't the social media stuff. It was just the interaction of people encouraging you.

And that was the gap. Everything was social media before I told you I was scrolling my phone. And now that was the connection. Exactly right. And that's what we fight for for Unify USA is human connection and foundation. There are patriots everywhere in America. They're just disconnected. They're isolated.

And we just try and be the middleman. We try to connect people. I'm going to go back to that. Yes, sir. So around day seven of running with the flag, you said something that you haven't changed since. What was that? Day seven specifically, do you have it written down? I'd love for you to recite it if you can.

It's, it's, that's when you said the mission was, according to Alex, I'm running with the American flag to unify the American people. I just wanted to hear you say it, brother. Sounds pretty nice. It sounds pretty good. I just got prepped out. You got a nice, deep narrative voice. I want to hear you say, I'm going to clip that and use it on social media. So, I mean, that was it.

Yes, sir. You realize how almost corny that sounds. Very, and very cliche, too. Yeah, I mean, it does sound a little, you know, hokey. I completely agree. Especially for cool strapping 21 and 24-year-old dudes. I mean... I guess we've grown a lot ever since that happened, right, a year ago,

but I'm still the same corny old kid I used to be, right? And I think that's what a lot of people love to see. It's just someone that's not afraid to be themselves. What does it cost you to run? Would you like me to break that down in three terms? Like a physical, a spiritual, and a mental sense? Yeah. Physically, everything.

I fasted during all of my runs, and a lot of people don't know this, especially now I still fast during most of my runs, for the connection that I have with the Lord, but also to physically push myself. Because when you're depleted of nutrients, you have to look for something else. So I run fasted and I run peak heat, so around 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Florida heat,

it's pretty gnarly, but it's a great way to push yourself mentally. It does everything. It proves to yourself that you can endure nearly everything. It just breaks this mental barrier and this ceiling that I had on myself previously to where I was like, man, I feel like I'm restricted or I feel like I can't do this. I'm incompetent as a man. And then you have that breakthrough and you're like, I can do anything. It's so inspiring. And then spiritually, the connection I have with Christ just completely opened up that third gate to where now I feel as a man I can. complete anything that I desire on this earth. Do you pre-planned where you run or do you just take off?

I just wing it. I just wing it. Yes, sir. Do you have to get GPS to get back home or do you figure it out? I try and figure it out. Sometimes I banked back on the, what is he called, Palm Pilot? Sometimes if need be, I do, but usually I know my way around the area. Please do that again.

No, I won't. After this meeting, you've got my word. You've got my word. You've got my word. Yes, sir. All right, that's good. Okay, so two months of running around by yourself and now. with a flag.

And it built a lot of hype. It's hired by honks. Yes, sir. And hoots and hollers and waves and smiles. And all that. Yes, sir. Right. You say, okay, if y'all really want to run with me with a flag, you posted,

here's, I'm going to be starting here. Y'all come. Yes, sir. And, man, what a success. Well, two people showed up the first step. Two people showed up the first time. That's stolen in Charlotte. Very sweet.

And it was a lady named Miss Sandy, too. She did a little bit of running, but she had to go early. I was expecting so much out of it. I wore my get-up, like my American flag, shorts like Paula Creed wears. Eat up, ready to go. Two people showed up. And Solan actually showed up. So I ran with Miss Sandy for probably a half a mile.

And then I see a kid running into- She didn't show up with a flag, right? No, sir. She did it. She just showed up to support. My name's Sandy. Miss Sandy. So sweet.

We were just chatting it out back and forth. And I see he's Moroccan. I see a Moroccan man running with an American flag draped around his shoulders. Like fighters do when they're walking. out to the cage and I'm like, holy crap, Sandy, look. I said, let's ask him if he can run with us. He goes, Tegan, my brother, can I run with you? And I was like, no way.

He's been rocking. He's Moroccan. He's one of the most patriotic dudes I've ever met, though. So inspiring. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And then we keep running. And then I met with a lady. I actually got a call from Instagram.

And it was Charlotte. She goes, hey, I'm at the pirate ship. Can I come join you? She didn't have an American flag either. But we ran all around Tampa. We ought to ran like eight miles together. And I'm like, holy crap. So people started jumping on it.

Yeah. So quite literally the story of Forrest Gump. That's like Rocky, too. It's Rocky, too. That's exactly right. So it's like, those were my two favorite movies growing up. The Rocky series and then Forrest Gump. I'm not joking.

So to have that happen in real time, see, now at this point, I didn't know that it was fixing to blow up. Like, I wasn't like, oh, we're going to throw a hundred plus. What's a rockin guy's name? I'm sorry. The name's Sultan. S-U-L-T-A-N. Sultan? Sultan.

You can't even make this up. You can't. Sultan the Moroccan American flag patriot in Tampa Florida. I think he's on an O1B visa to go to UT too. That? Okay. He's pretty gangster. Does Sandy and Sultan still hang out?

Do you still know him? I don't have Ms. Sandy's contact. If you're seeing this, please reach out. But I do have Salton's and I do have Charlottes. I talk to them very often. Insane. All right. So that kind of sets up the first couple of lines, which is this.

We're only year into. this thing but that crazy kids doing crazy things that's right and then cost you decided um you wanted to join your brother and kind of help turn this momentum of whatever this was yeah into i guess a movement yeah um what did you see looking from the outside looking in at your nutty brother run around that maybe your brother in the throes of actually running, maybe didn't see from how altitude you. I think Teague's always been this crazy guy

since he was a kid, right? We always knew he was destined for something weird. And I thought it was cool when he said, I know that sounds funny, but it's true. You ask my parents, it's the same thing. We go, I don't know, is he going to be an actor or something? Like, I just don't see Teague working in the cubicle. You know what I'm saying?

And he started doing this, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is it. this makes complete sense for him. But then I started thinking as I... What were you doing at the time? I owned a peptide company and ran a gym. Okay. So I wasn't completely happy with that. It was just what I was doing in my entrepreneur journey. It was making me good money. You forgot to say you were a college dropout. I am a college dropout too. But that sense of purpose wasn't in me. Like I wasn't helping people. So I saw Teague running with the flag from the outside and these people joining him and the

honks and the conversations he was having with people and how it was changing their hearts and they're being better servants of their community or better members of their family. And I was like, there's something happening here. But what I didn't want to happen was just for Teague to be an influencer. And we had some conversations and I talked to Teague and I was like, how are we going to help more people? What can we do in order to make this be something huge and not just you're an influencer on social media? Because I feel like that's a problem that we've gotten these days is we just look up to these influential figures on social media. So I said, why don't we start something, which I didn't even know what it was. And I remember laying in bed at night and thinking of his saying,

you know, this is day blank of running with the American flag to unify the American people. And I was like, well, that kind of sounds good. And I was like, then I came up with Unify USA. So I come to him the next day. And I'm like, we should start a movement behind this. And I don't know what that looks like. But I think we could make these events that you've been doing even bigger. I think we could get people wearing that stuff around the country because oddly enough, when people see us wearing these shirts in Publix or Walmart, they go, what is that? And that's when I knew I was like, dang, we did something good because just our company name is getting people to ask questions. And we say all the time that conversations and dialogue in this country is what will fix the

country and then being able to agree to disagree. And if we can open up people to having dialogue with just our company name, I was like, we did something crazy here. So then I started posting, he started posting, we started Unify USA, and these events started happening. They started blown up. And it's just weird because we can't put a finger on why it happened. We just worked hard. Yeah, it's just wild. You guys are separated in age by two years.

Yes, sir. Coming up. Do you ever put knuckle bumps on each other's foreheads? All the many times. To say the least. Well, I mean, my four kids are all separated by year. I'm not kidding. I boxed a little.

And so when they got to be like 9, 10, 11, and 12, I just got sick of it. I'd come home. Lisa was losing her mind. And so I did get headgear so that nobody got concussed, too bad. And I thought, well, I'm going to have a dual. It's a dual effort, dude. Yes, sir. One is I'm going to teach my kids out of defend themselves.

Never to be on defensive, always be able to defend themselves without a cell phone or a palm pilot. And two, we'll settle differences in the backyard. Yes, sir. It worked great until Molly beat up both my sons. Nice. And they kept running the kids with bloody nose and black eyes. At least it's like, it's enough. You're not teaching the boys anything because their sister keeps whipping their app.

Yeah. But they fall in all the time. That's right. They love each other. They are the best of friends. They have each other's back today. It's awesome. But I can't imagine them being a business with one another.

They might go back to the boxing gloves. How has that been for y'all? It's been challenging at times. That's for sure. It's been. And actually, our father is our, we call them our senior advisor. Should be. And I'm not kidding.

And referee, I bet. Yeah, mediator. We have a meeting every week outside on the chairs, and me and Tegan probably bickamone at each other for an hour straight. My dad sits there and mediates it. And I tell them everything that, Teagan's done this past week that pisses me off. And he'll tell everything to my dad that's pissed him off about what I do this week. And my dad sits there and lays the law and said, I've raised you since your kids.

This is what's going to happen. And we do exactly as he says. And then me and Teigen hug it out. We roll into the next week. And then we smoke us a good old cigar as the sunset. I want you know something. I don't know your family, but I love your family. That's us. That's how we do. Hash it out. hash it out. So for clarity, nothing comes without its pumps. Of course. Exactly right.

Yeah. It's said in a Hallmark movie, right? Yeah. But for the good of what you're trying to do and the love of each other, you get past it. Yep. All right. Joe, for Bill, hold on. Who are you calling?

Oh, hey, Joe. Joe. Hey. All right. So, all right. Hang on, hang on, Joe. We're actually in the middle of recording.

That's why we're doing this. With two guys named Teague and Koss McCoy, who are all about unifying the country, regardless of what side of the aisle you're on and what your political beliefs, just by running with the American flag, it's turned into a movement. Now, Teague and Koss, Joe is a leprechaun.

I'm not kidding. kidding. You call me ginger, but he's the next step. Joe is straight up a leprechaun. He is about 5'4. He has red hair and he wears green, brown, and he makes people happy. Here, just sure. Yeah, if we can get a picture of Joe. Well, it's nice to meet you, brother. There you are. Oh, there we go. Oh, he's a straight up leprecha. There we go. All right. Now, first, I think you need to combine forces somewhere one time. Okay. wherever he is. Because his whole deal is he does this just because he wants to make people smile.

Yep. And he calls about a thousand people a year on their birthday. Oh, wow. That's what he does. Is it like a FaceTime or a Zoom meeting? No, well, you're about to find out because today's my birthday. Today's your birthday? Yes.

I didn't even know you. I didn't even know you. What? Happy birthday. Here's Joe. Joe for the. For the guest listening and for Teigen Koss here, do your damn thing, bro. I'm ready.

Have you, birthday. Thanks, Joe. Have a good leprechaun day, you little lucky charm. Goodbye. Let's go. That was pretty bad. You know his birthday? I was trying to keep that whole thing quiet.

Happy birthday. Thanks. So here's the thing. Can you imagine? a happy leprecon jogging around with a flag what that might do that be pretty sweet you guys got a hook up where's joe live i can't know that's in wisconsin we'll be in wisconsin all right have you been to wisconsin no sir but there it is there it is i mean i don't know how far is a little ask and drag but even for a mile with a lepricon jogging around pretty sweet to be let's go why not i was so confused

where that was headed originally that went nowhere where i thought it was getting up at all Welcome to the show, baby. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Welcome to an army of normal folks. Yeah. Remember, an army of normal folks. That's right.

Dufuses. All right. So, so you, cost, it's going to be a movement now. Yes, sir. And you alluded to this earlier, but now we're going to talk about it. So now you've decided to start going to cities to do this and motivate people to run with you. 600 people. showed up to run with American flags through Central Park the day after America turned 250 years old.

Tell me about that. And tell me about how the Marines showed up and how they, I mean, that's weird too. I mean, it's not a leprechaun singing happy birthday, but it's pretty impressive. Very cool. Tell us that story. So, I mean, funny enough. Because this is proof positive that your brother laying around on the bed of a pickup truck like Bill Clinton, who picks up a flag one day and takes a run, has actually now become a real-wide movement.

Yes, sir. And it's crazy because New York City wasn't actually a planned event. We actually were going to go up to see the U.S. Arlington, and we had a couple of plans to, you know, do some separate things in New York City. Those plans ended up not going through the way we thought they were going to. And we already had flights bought, hotels booked, everything like that. So on 10 days notice we decided to say we're going to do a central park new york city run where i was like t start throwing it up on social media i'll start posting about it unify starts posting about it we had a couple videos go viral about the event and we saw r svp start ringing through now we had no plan for this so we literally made flags in new york city with patriot

producer john yeah um which is a guy that runs with a flag in new york city that's his whole gig on social media he's the only other one that runs every single day like i do so he invited us to a home. We built, how many, 300 flags in his garage the night before. And then we put a table in the middle of Central Park. And we actually did end up going to the U.S. Arlington and talking to, you know, Marines and everything like that on the U.S. Arlington. And we talked about doing this run. And they're like, I think we can get guys out there to take part in this. And we didn't know to what level that would be. And they show up full on with flag bearers in formation ready to go. And we were like, oh my gosh, just as crazy. Now, we have people showing up two hours early to the event when we're setting up

the table. And all of a sudden, Tegan and I are standing on top of this rock, and we look down, and there's 600 people. And we didn't even know that this was going to happen. Like, it was just crazy. I can't, it's so, I still can't wrap my head around how many people showed up. And I remember we were actually jogging and the Marines look at me and they go, let us know when we can start, you know, our march. And I was like, okay, go ahead and start. Well, we usually do all. mile walk in the beginning, they started running. Yeah, these are Marines. They're going.

Haydance. Next, motivated. Would you come on up? They were ready to go. No, no, sir. And I was like, dude, you need to go run with the Marines because all the people were expecting to walk. So I remember running backwards in this crowd in Central Park with our videographer Kyle and he was filming with me. I just kept running and there was more flags and more flags and more flags. I couldn't get to the end of it.

And I was like, what the heck is gone all the way until I made it back to the place? And there were still people funneling onto the sidewalk. Now, it was 600 people that we originally saw in the crowd. And there kept being people that jumped in. And I don't know where all these flags came from or anything like that. We have Marines running ahead. And it was just so surreal because I was like on 10 days notice and arguably the most controversial city in the internet right now. Especially right now.

100%. After America's 250th birthday. We put something on 10 days notice and have the biggest turnout we've had for Unify USA. The biggest flag run in American history. Yeah. Where did y'all run? Through Central Park. We did a perfect circle, three miles.

All through it. Unbelievable. And we had one person even say anything. And then the cop escort kind of just told him to piss off. Yeah. There aren't there anymore. But you would think that there would be anti-protests. There would be people trying to jump in and like freaking truck us out of the formation or whatever.

Nothing. Chearing, people recording, news headlines. Like, it was supportive. We'll be right back. The music you love. I heart radio. Your favorite radio stations. Everywhere you go.

The podcasts, everyone's talking about. All in one place. And it's free. I heart radio. Whatever you want to hear. Listen anytime. Anywhere. Music, radio.

Podcasts. Unlimited audio. It's on the free IHurt Radio app. One app, no subscription. Always free. Grab the free app. I heart radio. Everywhere you.

Download the free IHard Radio app today. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear. saying shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up.

Without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out of Live, listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard account after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice.

But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more. There's more. red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good france. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job.

Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On big lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects.

And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, it's changing the system from the ground. found up as revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage, I like to dress the sluggies as possible because it makes me dance better for some reason. I'm Emmanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright.

And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Dear honies, this is goodbye. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Patra Mather's and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died by suicide. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead.

Next stop, Wonderland. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known. I keep coming back to, I truly hope that Petra was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her?

Yes, I do. I hold Michael responsible from my mother's staff. I'm Leon Nafok. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who got one of Patriot and Michael's letters, as one married couple trying to understand another. Listen to death of an artist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. how in God's name in our country, the stars and stripes could be controversial.

That in and of itself makes me crazy. But unfortunately, in some corners, I can. I want to give you guys an opportunity now to speak to, this is not some Christian conservative movement. In fact, it's decidedly anti-political, anti-anything. only pro our country, regardless of who you vote for, who you love, who you worship, or what skin color is. I think that's a real important part to understand that patriots and people who love our country

come in all kinds of different shapes, forms, and sizes, and you guys welcome all comers. Yes, sir. Talk about that. I think that's beautifully put, brother. and I completely agree. And the tough part is, is everybody that does have this opportunity always makes it about themselves. So I am a Christian myself.

I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, but that doesn't mean that I shut down other religions. I may have my own political beliefs or whatever it is, but we believe that it's not only great to talk about it, but it's great to have like good middle ground, you know, because not everybody's going to see things eye to high. Now everybody's going to see things on the same level. Our events specifically, we try to keep politics out of it. of it in whole. But when it comes to it, we're all Americans. And sometimes people just have a hard time seeing that because they see all the division and the polarity on the internet. We welcome

everybody. As long as they show the person to the left and the person to the right, the same exact respect that they're given, we welcome absolutely everybody to Unify USA. And we think that's what it means to be a patriot within this country. It's to understand that America is the greatest and it is diverse. But we welcome everybody, and we all carry the same flag, the stars and stripes. Now, if you hate the stars and stripes,

it's a completely different story, but we're just trying to show people that they're patriots in this country that care. I think one thing our father always told us was to look at where somebody comes from. And Americans come from all different walks of life, right? From poor to rich, from happy to sad, from nice homes to bad homes.

And a lot of times people will judge somebody at face value because of the, the things that they say, but never backtrack the reason they feel that. And that's actually something great that I saw from the documentary is these kids from a walk of life where they didn't have an opportunity to do things that they, maybe some other people had. But due to those circumstances, they still found a way to fight through it with a good role model. And that's what I kind of try to be to these people in America. And Teague tries to be to these people in America is a role model that no matter where you come from, you still have the opportunity to do something great.

And that doesn't matter what you look like, what you believe, you know, what circumstances you've been dealt. There's always an opportunity in the American dream in order to go and achieve the things you want to. And I hope we can be the voice and the leaders so they can feel that too. I know you got honks. I know you got cheers. Also, I'm told you've had your share of jeers and all of that. Tell us about what those are like and how you deal with it. I've had people spit on me.

I've had people throw cigarette butts at me. I've had people intentionally go on the side of the road and splash water on me on rainy days. I've had people do some of the most heinous, asinine, and disgusting things that you could imagine. Every single time I look them in the eyes, and I tell them I love them. Does it piss you off? It pisses me off. It frustrates me. And I'm not going to sit here and act morally superior in any way.

It really grinds my gears. And if anybody gets spit on and it doesn't piss you off, you got something wrong with you. You got something wrong with you, right? But it's taken that, and I even get chills thinking about it, it's taking that opportunity that God's given. And it's putting yourself out of the equation, putting your emotion completely out and just saying, Lord, how can I change this person's life? How can I plant a mustard seat? What can I do? Love you, brother.

God bless you. Take care. Just keep on running. instances, they're far outweighed by the good ones, yeah. No, actually, I'd say 90% of the reactions we get are positive and fruition. That's what I'm saying. Oh, yes, sir. Positive outweighs the negative.

Yes, sir. Yeah. And it's tough because the negative ones always go viral, of course, because they're controversial, dramatic, all this stuff, but... They make good fodder for social obedience. And that's exactly right. And it's something we've tried to stray away from. But when an instance like that happens, it's not the fact that we're using it to

promote controversy on the internet, as Koston said, we're trying to be role models and we're trying to exemplify what Americans should do when given these scenarios. Because a lot of Americans deal with these scenarios. But I think a lot of Americans deal with them in what I perceive to be the incorrect way, because it just leads to more division and polarity. I think you guys care about this country so much. We come from four previous generations of military. We were raised patriots and we were raised to understand the sacrifices. You're great, great. You're great. You're great. your grandfather and your father also.

Yes, sir. And we were raised and taught disciplined leadership and all of these things stem from the military. Our dad made us do push-ups before bed. He made us do boxing classes in the garage and we weren't allowed to ask questions. Oh, weren't allowed to ask questions.

Yes, sir. We, you know, the way we ate was very structured. I'd never... Our dad used to pull into McDonald's as a joke. how flavor McFlurie you want I'm dead I want the Oreo Hey can I get a I'm not talking

I swear to you After a football game In the B&P I swear to you So we grew up with this discipline And this leadership man I thought I was I am nothing I prepared to your dad

And it all stem from the military Even leadership principles, all the different things were taught. They're from the military. So we just, we kind of got boot camped since we were kids. Right. And then we started, my dad was a history major in college as well. So he always educated us an open dialogue for historical contexts and things that happen in this country. So we learned about America's history from his lens.

And we always looked up to our father. So we just believed in him, you know, and that's kind of like where people come from. that's what we came from. And so that's just the pride we carry every single day because that's what we're taught. That's right. And now that we're older, we formed our own opinions, but our, you know, those opinions after doing research and trying to go, you know, sometimes you look for the opposite thing, just to think, you know, what if that is true? I always fall back to what we were raised on because I just feel like that's what's true. And not only did he tell us about it, he was a phenomenal leader did the exemplification of his actions. He's actually our stepfather, our biologian.

father is no longer in our life, and he took care of us since we were children. We actually changed. Is that right? We changed our last names. Yeah. Our maiden name is York. Yeah. And just about a year ago, I want to say, we changed our last names to McCoy because we

wanted to fill the legacy. And we said it's why. Because since we changed her last name to McCoy, our life's changed. I don't know if it's a chance. I don't know what it is. I changed my name to McCoy. Two or three weeks later, I started running with the flag. That had to have been an amazing day for your dad.

I had to just lit him up. Oh my gosh. I remember something. I mean, I can not imagine a greater way to honor a man than to say, I want to take your name because you are who my dad is. That's phenomenal, guys. Yeah. I think I can speak for both of us. Our dad is like, I couldn't imagine a more positive role model.

He's a hard ass. A dude is a hard ass through and through. And it was rough growing up with them. There was times where Teagan would slam the door. And I would slam the door and we'd scream at him through the door, but we wouldn't be screaming. We'd go in like this. Because we knew he'd come in.

I think like you're screaming. He'd come to the pillow. Yeah. Go into the pillow. You're like, the other interesting thing is you told me, and this is kind of off script, but you change your name, you go running. And you said when you went running,

you weren't even a Christian. And clearly you're faithful because of the way you've talked. Yes, sir. How did that happen? It was truly just, I told you, this like supernatural encounter I had with God. And it wasn't through this one scenario. It wasn't through like a five to ten second spurt. It was the entire 22-mile run because I was beat from mile three to mile 22.

And the only thing that I could look towards was Jesus Christ. Because in that run, I was fasted for, I was actually probably fasted for 30 hours at that point. I was running at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and peak first. Florida heat, it ought to have been 95 degrees in humid, swamp at. And I was still running. And the only source of power that I could find myself reaching towards was God. And even saying that now, it just, it didn't make sense at the time, but every single time that I looked at a religion, the first word was faith, belief. I mean, within the definition of religion, it's talking about the belief of the faith you need to have. So I was like, who am I to sit here and damn God off or

condemn or rebuke God when I haven't even put my faith in him yet. So I tried, and I was blessed abundantly immediately. And usually it takes some sort of delayed gratification for people to walk in their faith. I was blessed on that day. And then from that day forward, I decided that I was going to be a servant of Jesus. You are a weird kid. But such an inspirational one. Thank you, sir. All right, so you've been in New York. Yes, sir. What other states? Have you done these runs in We've done. So it started off in Tampa on Bayshore Bulletball. Yeah, sir. But that was one of our biggest ones. We started off, we did that one. I want to say seven or eight times, and it got bigger gradually every single time. And then following that,

we're like, shoot, dude, we need to go somewhere. So I ended up going to L.A. I went to the Pacific Palisades on January 3rd. It was the annual remembrance of the wildfires that happened. And I don't know if you know the notion behind all that, but it was all the people, people took the streets and they had signs that said, they let us burn. It's when everybody was saying Gavin Newsom shut off the water. And that whole fire happened and whatnot. And I'm not trying to speak politically. This is just what was happening at the time.

What people were saying. That's exactly right. So we go there and we're like, hey, there's a big outrage in the Pacific Palisades and it's the annual remembrance. Let's go out. I'm sure there's news stations everywhere. It's just host a run. There's like 60 people that showed up.

And it was awesome. And the same story replays in our head. And it's just come down to the spring. Point to where L.A., but it's like, oh, it's the most demonic place. It's satanic. You'll get spit on. People are trying to attack you and hurt you. We had like two bagged scenarios. And we traveled all throughout the Pacific Palisades into L.A. We had two little discussions or bickermints. And then they just got smoothed out and we kept going. That's it. Seventy people carrying American flags. And then Hawaii. So I'd say Hawaii was probably the worst backlash I ever got, believe it or not. Did you get any positives? A little bit. There's a lot of, there's a big military base on Oahu, so there's a lot of soldiers that were, I think it's an army base. So a lot of soldiers were saluting us and whatnot. That's one of my favorite parts, too, is when you see, you have veterans or people that are in active military, they'll salute you or they'll shake your hand. It's a really good time. So then?

So then we come back to Florida, and we do some pop-up runs on the beach. We call them like sunset runs. We do St. Pete Beach. We went up to Panama City Beach. We did a couple just around the coast of Florida. Did Miami Beach. That one was pretty awesome. We had like 150, 200 Patriots there. And then we decided to go up to Nashville, Tennessee. And I thought it was a great decision. We had Barstool in Nashville. We had that venue.

It was at 10 in the morning, bro. It was so cool. We had 150 people show up. And that one, we promoted it for only a week too, which is so crazy. We procrastinated the early events, but somehow they had great turnouts, right? And then after that, we got back to Florida and we're like, where next? Him and I kind of hit the drawing board, and we went up to the nation's capital. That's great.

We did New York. Oh, we did New York. I'm sorry. Yeah, we went up to New York, came back. There's so much hype behind it. We're like, well, no better place to go than the nation's capital. Then we just did Washington. So seven states so far, is that right?

Yes, sir. And the district Columbia. Yes, sir. 43 more to go. That's right. What has all of this leaving Florida and moving around doing? and this kind of taught you about the country. What have you learned, let me say it this way,

what has surprised you and what has been confirmation for you? I think one of my favorite quotes ever is if you want to hate America, watch the news, and if you want to love America, drive across it. That is a great, Seth heard that before. First time it's been said on the show. Say it again, because that really needs to dig into our listeners and viewers. If you want to hate America, watch the news. If you want to love America, drive across it.

And that's exactly what we've done. And our love for the country has grown even fonder. The diversity inside of this country, the state pride inside of this country, right? So you can have country pride, but the state pride is so, like, we've been to Missouri, the show me state. New York City has its own pride for the way that they go about things culturally. Like, there's all these different. You go to Arkansas. All they got is boo-pigsui, brother.

But they wear that shit that they die And they start to love America For all of these different things And realize it's just a melting pot Of beautiful people And you're just like This place is bad ass

And it's opened our perspective I mean we call it hell yeah America You know We walk out everywhere And we're like hell yeah Yeah it's right Are you ever surprised

I mean One of the first guys to show up Is a Moroccan I mean Are you ever surprised? Do you ever like go, wow, I wouldn't have thought that person to be this patriotic? And has that changed your mind about what a patriotic American looks like from when you started? Yes, sir. So we had this guy named Tree in New York City that came up. Tree? Yeah. Treat. Treat. Treat. Oh, maybe I guess like a candy treat. And he comes up to me. He dapsed me up and gives me the fattest hug of my life.

One of the biggest brightest. And I was like, let's go. And he goes, can you play courtesy of the red, white, and blue right now on the speaker? I was like, why not, brother? And he goes, give me a flag. And we're waving the flag on the rock, hands around each other singing courtesy of the red, white, and blue. His mom has taken a video right there. And she's like, he loves y'all so much.

He thinks you're the best, blah, blah. And he dafts me up after and he hugs me. And he's like, brother, I really love what, you know, this has changed my life. There's so many people here that I really have made great relationships with that I'm going to get to hang out in New York City with because I didn't really have many connections here before because the things that I believed. And then this guy shows up to Washington, D.C. drives all the way from New York City

to come to our Washington, D.C. I think that's like a seven-hour drive or something. He just out of nowhere, I look over him, like, oh my gosh, bro, fattest hug ever. And he was like, my mom couldn't come to this one. She wanted to really bad, but she had work, and she was the most loving lady ever. And I was like, holy crap.

It changes my, it gives me goosebumps. Like, it's what every day in the morning I wake up and think about before I were. I hear that story and I think about what you just said. If you want to hate America, listen to this. If you want to love America, drive across it. Another way of saying that is, if you want to hate America, hang out on social media. If you want to love America, interact with it.

That's right. And it does change all kinds of perceptions. Oh, it's life changing. Like, I can't even describe it to people. Just go out and talk to people. Start a conversation. Ask somebody how their days been. COVID ruined this weird social.

How it's just going to say COVID. You have to like be distant from people now. Yeah. It's the same reason. People think Tegan and I are mad, corny, and we are. But we'll ask people how they are. We'll say hello. We'll say yes sir, yes, ma'am.

We'll, you know, ask them weird things. I'll run out, I'll sprint a hundred yards to hold that door for that old lady walking into the cafe every single time. I said, ma'am, wait, what? Let don't open the divorce. I'm coming. Every single time. I don't care. You want to know why?

Oh, sweetheart. I've never had that happen to me with a young man like you. You made my day. Thank you. Yes, man. God bless. Who calls themselves pure Joy McCoy?

Why do you call yourself pure Joy McCoy? So to bank back off what you were saying earlier, you were a boxer and you taught your kids boxing. We were in Arkansas. First of all, let me just say this. I was not good. Okay. I beat up far more times than what I mean, but I boxed.

Yes, sir. Yeah, don't call me a boxer. I'm just a guy that boxing gloves. I'm not. Getting in the ring makes you a boxer whether you win or lose. For real. So we're in Arkansas, and I almost had this same thing. I was looking for a revelation.

I was 18, 19 years old. I was like, okay, I need some purpose. I was serving or bartending at Chili's or something. But I was like, there's something else that's calling me to be more of a man. So Rudy McLaughlin comes at table 10 in Circee, Chili's Arkansas And he owns a gym He's a black belt and jujitsu

And he goes, you ought to just come swing by And train one of these days And I'm like, yeah, sure, maybe one day I was scared out of my wits If you want me to be honest, I was terrified So I was like, yeah, I'll come check it out. I lied to him. I want to say two months later,

Have you ever heard of Bryce Mitchell? No. He's a super controversial figure on the internet but he's a grassroots corn-fed country boy to the core, and I love Rice Mitchell. He has been such a good man to me. He says some crazy stuff on the Internet now. I'm surprised you ain't heard of him. But we were in a gym called Rhino and Circe, and we started, I was hitting the bag, and I had no technique.

He comes up next to me. He's in the UFC. He was ranked at the time. He goes, hey, brother, can I join you? I said, sure. I looked down, I saw a UFC bag, and he's wearing a lot of camo, and I'm like, who is this guy? I look on my phone in between sets. I'm like, this is thug nasty, Bryce Mitchell.

This is crazy. He goes, hey, take my number down, brother. Come over and train some time. So for the next, I want to say three or four months, I would help Bryce Mitchell build his house because he was living in a camper with a pavilion he built on like 30 acres, and I helped him build his house from 9 in the morning to 6 o'clock at night. And then from 6 to 9 at night, we'd train.

He would whip my ass for three hours straight. He would tie me up like a hog. I'm serious. He wouldn't teach me nothing. He's just like, all right, brother, back on the wall. And I'm like, man, I can't do this no more. He had a cedar stove. He had a stove that he'd burned cedar wood in. That cedar woods is the hottest wood I ever felt. And it was so fun. It was such a great experience, but I was like, brother, I need to learn how to fight. Like, I need fundamentals. I'm just getting beat up. He goes, all right, go train at Rudy McLaugh. And I go, I know that name, Rudy McLaughlin. And I was like, okay, it's gyms called Rujitsu. If y'all are in the area,

you ought to check it out. Rudy McLaughin's amazing. I go to the gym. First day I kind of get beat up. Second day, I kind of get beat up. And then I ask him, I'm like, I'm tired of just getting choked out. Like, what do I do here, coach? He said, just practice defense. I go, okay, so I just practiced defense for six months straight.

And it got to this point to where I gradually got more and more into the science and, like, you know, the intricacies of the martial art? Yes, sir. And I was like, I said, coach, I want to be a fighter. He said, okay. I said, and you know what fighters get? Fighters get nicknames. I said, what's my nickname? And he says, he says, I'll tell you what, tell me what you think your nickname should be.

I looked him dead in the eye, said, pretty boy McCoy. I said, you're a big said to call me, pretty boy McCoy. Everybody in the gym is, I'm going to walk him to the cage, all pretty and stuff. He goes, he said, no. Not a chance. He said, just give me a week or two. I'll come back with a better one. I said, okay, I'll trust you, coach.

But, hey, I'll give you two weeks, if not, pretty boy from here on now. He says, okay, laugh it off. So we were at a private. And these privates we used to show up at in the morning, Koston and I would learn our technique, just one-on-one with coach. And I'll let Koston describe this part of the story because my ears were plugged for it. Essentially comes to me and, you know, Teg's about, I just got done with my private. Teeg's about to do his.

And Teg's warming up, kind of shadow boxing and we're huddled up, kind of sitting down. He goes, I have his name. And he's like, you want to hear it? And I was like, I hope it's not pretty, boy. And he goes. And then he kind of said. does it in a quiet voice, he's like, it's Teague, Pure Joy, McCoy. And I was like, as his older brother growing up with him, he was the guy at graduation that was like jumping around on stage.

She was just crazy positive his whole life. So when I heard Pure Joy McCoy, I was like, that's it. That's it. So then he kind of huddles out and goes back and kind of does like the Bruce Buffer announcement to Teague of his name. Introducing first fighting out of the red corner. Diga, P.R. Joe? And I'm like, I'm sitting, you're like, pull me in the cage now, coach. I was fired up, and from that day forward,

it just stuck as a househeld name. And I wasn't doing social media. Your father would never call you proof. No, sir. No, sir. I would never. No, so you're a bum. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what I would call back. Yeah. We'll be right back. You love. I heart radio. Your favorite radio stations. Everywhere you go.

The podcasts, everyone's talking about. All in one place. And it's free. I heart radio. Whatever you want to hear. Listen anytime. Anywhere. Music, radio.

Podcasts. Unlimited audio. It's on the free IHurt Radio app. Let's go! One app. No subscription. Always free. Grab the free app.

I heart. I agree. Download the free IHard Radio app today. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything.

Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going. to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Rice.

I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. And over my career, I've heard a count after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading this stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize them to strengthen them. that memory. So he went into a good France. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart. the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive. We're talking iconic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer.

I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage, I like to just... as slutty as possible, because it makes me dance better for some reason.

I'm Immanuel Jocci. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Dear honies, this is goodbye. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Patramathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died by suicide. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I,

will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Patra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known. I keep coming back to, I truly hope that Petra was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her? Yes, I do. I hold Michael responsible for my mother's staff.

I'm Leon Nafeck. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who got one of Patriot and Michael's letters, as one married couple trying to understand another. Listen to Death of an Artist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of people see you guys run around with flags, and they automatically assume what side of the political spectrum you are, they automatically assume, unfortunately, we size people up. And there's actually a science behind it that within six seconds, we typically make our decisions

about somebody with what they're wearing, how they're acting. How do you get past that with a stranger who is a patriot, loves the flag, but may not necessarily subscribe to the notions they perceive you to have? of being a white Christian dude run around with a flag? How do you get past that? It's a great question. Originally,

everybody screams out. All the hate that we got, I want to say, 80% of it was just people call me a Trumpie. You're like, hey, you're a Trumpie. And I always said, MAGA, yes, sir. And I always said, I'm not running for Trump.

And you go, what? I can swear you were you're carrying an American flag. I said, this flag doesn't represent the current presidency. And it blew my mind. because I was like, that's the problem. It's the connotation and the association people make towards the flag. It's not the flag itself. It's the fact that it's been politicized.

So I took a step back, and our father always told us to look at it from a bird's eye view. Like, look at your situation from above. And I tried to break down why these people feel that way, and it always circled back to social media every single time. And there are these narratives that are painted on social media, and people make it their personality. And we always say polarization, meaning left and right. People need to identify within one of the two to feel wanted and needed or else they feel like an outcast. So they'll say, I'm Teigen and I'm right or I'm Teigen and I'm left instead of I'm Teagan and I'm an American. That's the step we're trying to take. So to answer your question, I try and just ask questions. Koss and I used to do sales a lot. We used to go knock on doors and sell window services. No, we did medical device too. So ticket and within sales specifically everybody always wants to sit here and over explain the reason that their product is the best or the reason that they're right and the reason that they're missing out ask a question dude pain point selling ask a

freaking question so I'm like hey maga trumpy I'll always stop and I'll look around I'm like what makes you think that and I'm like I'm for real and I say in like a jazzy and playful way to like try and break down that barrier of like like why do you feel that way about me but I say in like a playful way like like Like, what makes you feel that way about me? Oh, well, you're a white kid carrying American flag? I said, did you ask if I'm running for America, for Trump, for let, like, what did you ask what I'm running for?

No. I said, well, do you want to ask? And they're like, well, and I go, well, let me just ask you. So I give them the invitation to ask me a question. I'm like, matter of fact, let me just ask you a question. If you saw a black man running with American flag, would you think that he's Maga? And then I sit there and I listen. That's it.

Ask the right questions. You'll receive the answers. and you'll dive into how they actually feel, which is change, because then you can understand and unveil the pain that they're feeling. Like Austin said, walk them out in someone's shoes. There's so many actions and so many different memories

and scenarios that lead up to someone's upbringing. They could have had bad parents. They could have had no parents. They could have grew up in an extreme, they could have grown up with no food. They could have grown up dumpster diving. You have no clue their backstory. So I want to uncover that, brother.

What's making you feel this way? And what is it that you saw online that associates me with Trump or with MAGA or with this or that? And then you start to realize that people genuinely just want to be heard. They just want to be heard. And some people talk and wait for their time. You know, they'll listen to you and they'll wait for their time to talk. That's not what we do. We talk and we set the mic over.

I'll say, hey, Coach Bill, how do you feel about this country? Can I have my water back? I'm thirsty. Do you get a sense that when you have these conversations, most people are open-minded enough to reconsider their initial position? Yes, sir. And I wouldn't even say reconsider their initial position. Just find common ground.

A lot of people aren't willing to initially change their beliefs, but a lot of people are receptive to hearing what you may have to. to offer, like what perspective or what knowledge or intellect that you've received or acquired that could be of interest to them. And I don't think it's someone changing what they currently believe in. I just think it's being able to coexist. That's so important. Yeah, see, I think that that's hopeful. For instance, I have lots of friends, not acquaintances. I have lots of friends that differ with me politically. Some of the most enriching, rewarding conversations

I've ever had have been with them. Because if you trust one another enough and you respect one another enough to hear out one another's positions, you still might not change the way you think, but you at least appreciate the perspective that someone else is coming from, and then you have common ground.

Yes, sir. And then you aren't, your friendships aren't divided by who you pull a lever for in a booth once every four years. Yes, sir. And so that's all you're trying to do is the great perspective. Exactly right. And you're saying, I'm proud to be in America. I'm running for the whole country. That's right.

I want to unify all of us. I respect the diversity. It's kind of beautiful. You also said that there was division in this country that also had, you also had. happened kind of inside your own family. What did that look like? It actually is starting to pan through and is starting to iron out. Thank the Lord, it's been amazing.

We had some family come over recently, and it was probably the most beautiful experience that at least I've had your own family. Yeah, when we say family, we're talking about aunts, uncles, cousins, all that stuff. And previously, it was a really big issue, and it really weighed heavy on my heart because there was this giant wedge between us and the same. them. Now, we live in Florida and they live in Tennessee, but the problem wasn't the distance physically. It was the distance with love. There's a big gap because they believed in this and we believed in that. Now, instead of us just being like, hey, they're coming on vacation, we're family.

We can put this to the side for now and enjoy our time with one another, right? It came to the point where it's like, man, I don't even want them to come over anymore. And it breaks my heart to even say that. And I'm just being real. I'm being raw. And it's so sad because I know so many Americans are dealing with that exact scenario. My family member's this or my family member believes in this. I can't believe them. They're sick in the head. They're your family, brother.

That's your family. Whether you like it or not, that's your blood. Now, I'm not saying that people, some people are just heinous and go extremely off the wall and all this stuff. Both sides. Yes, sir. So, Koston, I came to each other and we're just like, what, this is how Unified USA was birthed. It's like, what's the direction we want to take? Well, we want people to, especially family, to start loving each other again

because we believe in family. So with all this being said, we continued to run with the flag, and we were still trying to figure it out, and then our family just came over recently, our aunts, uncles, cousins. It was the most beautiful experience of all time. They actually asked us questions about our movement. And they asked us, hey, how do you feel about this? They bought us books on say, hey, I have a perspective on this.

I'd love for you to read, start with why, by Simon Seneca, or Kostin, read the, excuse me, I forget the book. It's the historical context of Jesus without the miracles. Yeah, so they provide their perspective, as we were just saying, through books and through their adherent learnings and all this stuff. And then we were receptive back, which it's just created this fruitful loop of family. You're not supposed to believe the same thing, but you are supposed to love one another. So this most recent trip has been so beautiful, and that originally was why I started the

movement was there's a lot of division in my family, but then, this most recent trip that they had definitely is, it was like a form of enlightenment, if you will. It's so beautiful. In an odd metaphorical microcosm, that story is what you hope to happen across the country with the whole movement, right? Yep.

Is that a legitimate possibility? I do think so. Now, I don't think that every single last person could be unified, right? I think we have to have a realistic, point of view when it comes to things. Now, do I think where we could get, do I think we could get back into the country that the atmosphere feels like it maybe once did, right? Where overall you feel like you can have open dialogue and conversation and agree to disagree. Yes, I do think we can get back to that. But I think, like you say, an army of normal folks is what we need, and that's why we're

building Unify. Because we always say that culturally America needs to get fixed before politics could ever be fixed. How do you expect to fix something political, especially in the current state that we're at now, and I hate to get into this, but there are levers being pulled at levels we could never imagine, in my opinion, something that we can't even touch unless we are unified together. We have no chance at fighting anything if we're divided. And we need to bring people together an army of normal working class citizens. That's right. And stand up for our country, because I do think it's getting to a point where we're going to have to fight for it eventually. One of the things that you brought up social media, and I've wanted to ask your thoughts

on this since the beginning, but now is a good time. I wonder how many people in the country understand that such a large percentage of the divisive stuff that's on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn and TikTok and all of it is actually planted here from foreign adversaries that are crafting narratives and having handles to look as if they're in America and Americans. And they will, they will, the same exact groups will send some alt-right thing to stir up the left, and then they'll send some alt-left thing to stir up the right. And all they're doing is ceding discontent and division.

And they're not American. Nope. But they're breeding a sickness. They're using our freedom of speech and our freedom of assembly to breed a sickness within us that artificially exists. You won't talk about that some? I do. I think that's beautifully put, first off. That is very beautifully put.

And I think it's actually... Well, I have a radio show, and I'm supposed to be... We're not on the radio, bro. What is this? This is a podcast. Okay. Well, I have a show. And I'm supposed to be able to put things beautifully on occasion.

We do a good job at it. They must pay you the big bucks, brother. But talk about that. For real. Oh, the big bucks. The big bucks, baby. Yeah, I'm going to pull up a McDonald's and leave, not because you can't eat it, because I can't buy it.

Go ahead. I think America has the strongest military in the world, and you'll get where I'm going with this. I don't think countries can really stand up with us when it comes to fighting wars. So what's the next best worst? way that you could take over a country psychologically. And you can start to infiltrate their media. You can start to cause divisiveness. You could start to cause inflation so people can't live in

places that they maybe could have lived before and they have to stretch their dollar and the dollar loses its power. And I think there's an active campaign going on in America from other countries that is psychological warfare. And I hate to get into the, I don't even think it's political. It ain't political. See, that's one thing I want to talk about too. on the show, and Teague and I have been discussing this a lot lately. Colin Scherner is isn't political. Wars against, or crimes against humanity isn't political. Things that happen to this country on either side of the aisle aren't political.

We need to stand up for some things. And I think the divisiveness in the media and them doing this on purpose is like, it should be stood up too. And I can tell you as the position we've been put in at this point with the larger social following and people that we've met, I won't name names, but we've looked people in the face that their jobs are this, is to put out controversial media. It is quite literally their singular existence. That is their purpose is to be able to create such a compelling and strong narrative

that it creates apparent allies and apparent enemies. It's not meant for unity. And that's why what we're trying to do is we're trying to build an app that's like a positive news network that's pushed towards unity. and obviously there's a lot of other moving parts, but it really just boils down to polarity. That's what division is. If you can make, I heard a great analogy the other day,

if there was a jar and it had black ants and red ants, and they lived peacefully and they were civil, and a man came by and shook the jar and placed it on the table, and the red ants got mad at the black ants, the black ants got mad at the red ants, why the hell did you mess everything up? We were all so civil. if you can get the ants to be mad at each other

instead of the man that shook the jar, you've got a society that's completely scrambled and is coming to the end and not seeing much a light at the end of the tunnel, and then you've got the people in power standing on the side laughing at us. And people need to understand

that Russia and China are shaking the jar, as well as some other arms. I was about to say, I think there's a lot of people shaking the jar. I think that jar has been picked up and shugging by everybody. that's the problem. So I have an office in China.

I have an office in Vietnam, and I do business in 42 countries, so I travel all over the world and have for 20 years. I say this without prejudice. There are some really cool countries in this world that do things well. There are some great spots.

There's all kinds of things. But if you take it as a whole, I genuinely do believe America still has the best system, is the best country, has the best of ever. I really do believe that, again, we have our issues, but it's the best. One of the freedoms that I think we take, we talk about freedom of speech and freedom of press and all of those freedoms with, one of the things we look past is a freedom to assemble. the freedom to assemble is a massive freedom that people in a lot of countries that you would not expect don't have, certainly in China and Russia. But here's why.

The government knows if you get four or five people together talking, that's one thing. You get 50 together. You can start a movement. The right to get together with 600 people and jog through the park with a flag doesn't even exist in many countries because you don't have the right to assemble. That's how you break down faith. That's how you break down religion. That's how you break down discord. That's how you break down.

And so the freedom to assemble is a massive freedom that people don't have across this country. The reason I'm saying this is our freedom of the press, our freedom of speech, and our freedom to assemble, while some of the most incredible freedoms that people have ever been granted in the history of humanity, in our country, they are also now the way that the guy is shaking the jar. And I just wonder how many Americans truly understand how very manipulated we are, are, are, are, have become through social media.

Yeah. And, and the news and all this other stuff because of those freedoms. Yes, sir. So how can Unify USA work to counteract that? because you're talking about governments here. You're talking about deep state stuff. And look, man, I'm not, I don't believe in Bigfoot or UFOs. Well, maybe UFOs.

I do not believe in Bigfoot. But the point is, I'm not. About flat earth, this is not some. Yeah, but I'm not, I'm not, this is not some deep, seated, dark, weird place I'm coming from. This shit is actually happening every day right now. Politics is downstream from culture, right? And I think we were, this was built in the past year on very positive flag runs, everything like that. Now that we have people standing with us, Tegan and I had a conversation these past couple weeks.

And we said, bro, we really need to stand up to the things that are happening in our country because we have a platform in order to do so. And it doesn't have to be political. And if people think the things that we say are political, then that's what's wrong. And we are calling out the corruption. We are calling out things that are happening inside of this country. and hopefully people agree with us and I think we're seeing from the comments of even the recent videos that we've done that people are standing behind us and I'm listening to other podcasts, other influencers, other movements and they're getting the same feedback. So I feel like we're just treading along to this like divide or not divisive unified country. And once we get to that point and everybody has this kind of like subconscious understanding that we all believe the same thing, I do feel like it'll have to be. this massive sort of outcry or massive like gathering of sorts to physically show that there's all these people that are fed up because I think America needs to get back to being America

First Nation. And I just don't feel like that's what we are right now. And I feel like a lot of people feel that way too. So how can an army and normal folks get involved with Unify USA? If you follow us on social media, you'll probably get to see some very positive things pop up on your phone once a day, which will probably change your attitude every day. If you like it enough to follow it every single day and we come to your state, show up to an event, it'll be life-changing, and you'll probably start. Go running with your doofy brother. Go running with some pure joy boy. That's right. Yeah. And if you can't be with us, I always say go to our website, UnifyUSA official.com, order a shirt and wear it around and see how many conversations you have.

You basically pay for this gig with T-shirt sales. Essentially. Now, a couple of of sponsors. Shout out to Proud American Beverage and Yappy. And Yappy. Yappy bracelet. We don't have Proud American because we couldn't carry it on the plane, but this gives you a daily Bible verse, brother. You tap it. Yes, sir. You take your phone and you tap it. Let's see what we got today. Let's get the daily verse. John 1028. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. That just came up from that thing on your own? From that thing. It didn't load because I don't got no Wi-Fi in here. But yeah, you tap it, this little thing, you tap it on, and it gives you a daily Bible verse, and it keeps me connected with Christ.

Yes, sir. And I wish we had one, proud American beverage. They do water, sparkling and still in. They do energy, too. Where are they? They're based out of California. San Diego. Yes, sir. Which is pretty crazy, ain't it?

That is pretty crazy. We'll be right back. The music you love. Your favorite radio stations. Everywhere you go. The podcasts, everyone's talking about. All in one place. And it's free

Whatever you want to hear Listen anytime, anywhere Music, radio, podcasts Unlimited audio It's on the free IHurt Radio app One app, no subscription Always free Grab the free app

Everywhere you go Always free Download the free IHard radio app today When I was 14 years old I was kidnapped and held captive For nine months I survived

and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end. end of my bed and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes

to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Josie Duffy Rice. I'm a journalist who covers the criminal legal system. Over my career, I've heard a count after account of prosecutorial misconduct, story after story of injustice. But I've never heard a story quite like this. The more I kept reading that stuff, I thought, man, there's more red flags that just kept coming up over and over. We'll hypnotize him to strengthen that memory. So he went into a good trance.

I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Richard Pryor. And we pull apart the story behind the image. And we do this by digging through the BBC's vast archive.

We're talking icon. Monic moments in broadcast history. I'm not just a boxer. I'm educating. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. And forgotten interviews that change how we see these giants of our culture. Well, if changing the system from the ground up is revolutionary, then I'm revolutionary. We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I mean, when I go on stage, I like to dress the sluts as possible because it makes me dance better for some reason.

I'm Emmanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. Dear honies, this is goodbye. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Patra Mather's and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know that they had died by suicide.

By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Patra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? I would have given a million reasons to not leave this world had I known. I keep coming back to I truly hope that Petro was a thousand percent on board with the plan. Do you think of him as having killed her?

Yes, I do. I hold Michael responsible for my mother's staff. I'm Leon Nafok. And I'm Alice Gregory. Together we set out to interview everyone who, got one of Patriot and Michael's letters, as one married couple trying to understand another. Listen to Death of an Artist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For those listening to us, what do you think people, both of you, you first and then cost, you first take you in the cost? What do you think people that are listening to us that are inspired by your story, they're inspired by all of our stories, really? what do you think they need to hear about the importance of service? The importance of service to who, our country? Service to your community, your country, your fellow man, whatever level of service you're engaged in. Yes, sir. That's a great question. I think that I do think personal excellence is the ultimate form of service.

There's an analogy and it says to pour into others' cup, to pour into someone else's cup, you need to make sure yours is full first. So if you aren't taking the time to prioritize your mental well-being, your physical fitness, your spiritual journey, whatever that may look like, and have a fulfilling life and be fruitful, how do you expect to multiply? How do you expect to put what you've created into other people's lives? I think of it like stoking a fire. I wake up every single day and I try to stoke my own fire, not so that I have a big campfire,

but so I have more warmth for more people to gather around. because as a man, I try and provide, I try and provide an ecosystem for people. So it's like a lot of people look at it as selfish. But the more of a competent man that I become, the more people that I can help and the more people I can serve. So it's like I see competency through my physical fitness. The farther I can run, the more high-fives I can give. The more God blessies I can give. The more mentally sharp I am, the more I can come on a podcast like this and try and use my intellect

to be able to give my perspective to other people. The more spiritually connected I am, the more I can help other people by sharing my testimony and helping them stay connected through Christ. So it's like sharpening my own sword sharpens other peoples. Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another. But if you have a dull blade, how do you expect to sharpen someone else's? So I believe ultimately that personal excellence looking inwards and as a man being self-accountable and saying, hey, listen, I've got some things.

I've got to cross my T's and check my, or whatever the saying is. You know. Got your eyes. Yeah, that one. You do that as a man, and then you can start pouring into other people. That's very cool. So take care of yourself so you can serve others. Yes, sir.

What about you, guys? I 100% agree with that. That's the first thing I want to say. But secondly, I think people think you have to join the military to serve your country. And I think people on social media are trying to fix the biggest issues in the country, You've changed the president, change this policy. You know, if you started serving your own community, you'd actually see a change in the things around you. And I believe that service to our country as well.

So that's why in our app that we're launching, we're going to do one random daily task that you can do to serve your community that day. So talk to a stranger, you know, give somebody a high five, something as simple as that. Start changing the climate around you before you start trying to change all of the big, crazy policies and the presidents. because you have to fix things internally, even when that comes to yourself, think of internally as community. And then once your community feels good, you could probably make a bigger impact.

And imagine if every community in the country started doing things every day to benefit the country. Yeah, imagine if we had an army of normal folks serving where they can, how they can't. An army of unified people and normal folks. Well, that's on the money. And as we say always,

politics is downstream of culture. If you can wake up and go put five, miles on someone's face today in Memphis, Tennessee, you'll probably change the atmosphere very slowly, but the ecosystem will start to become positive. And then you have more of a unified Memphis. Do you have another state you're going to next yet scheduled? We do not have another state scheduled. I will say when it comes to our events, we've done kind of like pop-up runs, shorter notice. We're really trying to get to bigger events, concerts, slime dancing. We'll start with the run in the morning. And then it'll be a lot of.

It'll be a bigger event so people can travel all over the country to come do it. We will say there's a lot of people that don't want to necessarily walk or run, but they still want to support the movement. So we're going to try to make this a bigger event where people can come enjoy themselves from all different walks. Are you going to hit every state for it's over with? Yes, sir. That's the goal. And we're fixing to try and look to do in chapters, too, because anybody can just pop up somebody somewhere and then dip. And essentially, we are trying to leave places better than we found them, of course.

But how can we leave a chapter behind that's ran by somebody that knows the community? that can facilitate those relationships. I almost sounds like FX a little bit. FX? Or what's the workout thing? Oh, F3? Yeah. F3.

That's exactly right. Yeah. Or a lot of people refer to Turning Point USA. Same type idea. Yes, sir. Or fixing me going to college campuses, too. You woke up here this morning in the Peabody, right? Yes, sir.

Have you run yet? I am. Yeah, no, sir. I'm fixing to wait until I get home. What's your plan? Oh, you fly home tonight. Yes, sir. And then you're going to run.

If not, Alden went to the theory. I was hoping you were going to run through Memphis with your flag. I had before. Just one time. Yeah, I didn't get, I probably got one negative response, but everything else was like, yeah, brother. Cool. Like, we get, dude, I'm telling you, when I say hoots and hollards, it's not like, yeah, good job.

It's like, yeah, bro, dude, let's go it. What I'll do is, is I make it a point to try and run across the street. It didn't matter where they're at. I said I'll run 100 yards to hold the door for an old lady. I'll run 100 yards to dab one of my brothers in Christop. I'm like, my brother, and I'll daff him up. And I'll say, I love you, bro. And I love you, too.

God bless America. And I'll keep running. Sometimes people join me. Do you run with them? I do. Occasionally. Sometimes. Not every day.

Have you ever, like, just followed him running and film some of this stuff? Oh, yes. Yes. So ever since I got involved with Unify, we started doing a lot of flag runs together and doing even the events and everything. He is as crazy as you think he is. And I don't. I try to do the same thing, but I'm telling you, his stamina is different.

This guy's crazy. Barefoot, no shirt, blue jeans. I'll hit the gym all day. I'm not a runner. So, like, I tell people all the time at events, they're like, oh, you know, what runs are you looking for to? None of them. You know what I'm saying? See, bro.

I wish we did gym events or something. Yeah. Ever thought about entering, like, the Boston Marathon and running it with a flag? Absolutely. We're actually going to do an Ironman together with the flag. lag, which would be way easier for him than it is for me. It's tough. Probably going to kill you.

Yeah. I went through all this fight training. As I said before, I was doing MMA and kickboxing. I actually have three official fights. And that was the most vigorous and intensive training that I've ever done in my entire life. And we have something called healthy, two weeks leading up to the fight. It's a week straight of cardio.

And I don't say that lightly. When I say cardio, I mean, you're doing cardio for five hours a day. Running, you're on the assault bike, sprinting, you know, rolling, doing jiu-jit zit. Sioux sparring a little bit. It is so intense. So running is almost just like a walk in the park because of all that previously, you know?

You are a bit of a freak. Yeah, somewhat. I guess we're all freaks in our own way. That's true. Alex, you got anything else for the boys here? I'm good, but is there anything else you guys want to cover? I don't think so. No, I just want to say thank y'all so much for having us out.

Not only for flying us in and having us at the Peabody, but this truly has been an amazing experience. It's been cool for me. Alex. Cash. Cash's. How do you spill that, brother? Cassius' fight to see it.

So cool, man. And then obviously, Coach Bill, it's been a pleasure, guys. Bill, you know what they did last night? What's that? Tell them where you ate last night. We went to Texas Day Brazil. We ate like four pounds of red beet. You just turn the little green button over and they just bring it.

Seraline filet. They'll bring whatever you want. I know. It's awesome. They brought cuts. I didn't even know what cut. Yeah. And you don't have to get in a car.

is you stumble across the with the belly it feels like that's right it's right it's good good eats great eat

guys thanks so much for coming and sharing your story everybody Teague and Koss McCoy co-founders a Unify USA from Tampa Bay

coming to a state near you soon and go to what handle to find everything out about it Unify USA official.com or UnifyUSA official on Instagram, UnifyUSA on TikTok.

I'm sure if you look up UnifyUSA, you'll see our faces. And maybe you'll see a crazy, goofy guy with a flag across his shoulder running through your neighborhood one day. I hope so. Godspeed, guys. Keep up the good work. Yes, sir. Thank you.

And thank you for joining us this week. If the McCoy brothers have inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by joining the Unify USA movement at UnifyUSAofficial.com, bringing unity and patriotism to your own community, or something else entirely, let me know. You can write me anytime at billatnormalfolks.org. If you enjoyed this episode, please, please share it with friends and on social. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you're watching or listening to it. Rate it. Review it. join the army at normalfolks.org. Join or start one of our local service clubs.

Take the 10-level challenge and buy our merch. Any and all of these things that will help us grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do it you can. Doorbell prankster that tormented German resident apartments turns out to be a slug. Ding-da! Hi, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I'm Scotty Landis.

They say no news is good news. Weird news, that's bananas. Every Tuesday on our podcast bananas, we find the strangest true stories from around the world and try to understand what the hell is going on. Man rescued by firefighters after getting stuck in a phone booth trying to order a kebab. Man, you did it. You wowed me.

We cover important discoveries, questionable decisions, and animals behaving exactly as badly as you know you want them to. China's first corgi police dogs in trouble again. Uh-oh, what do you do this time? He stole a sausage from a child. Classic dog stuff, that's it. With more than 400 episodes, there's always more weird news waiting for you on bananas.

Listen to bananas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author, Patra Mathers, and her husband Michael, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Dear honies, this is goodbye. By the time you get to Shletter, both Petra and I will be dead.

Next stop, Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to Death of an Artist on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Big Lives, we take a single cultural icon. People like Jane Fonda, George Michael, Little Richard. And we pull apart the story behind the image. discovering forgotten interviews that changed exactly how we see these giants of our culture.

We're here for the messy, the brilliant, the human version of our heroes. I'm Emmanuel Jochi. I'm Kai Wright. And this is Big Lives. Listen to Big Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1986, a man named Scott Macklem was killed in broad daylight. Police quickly found their suspect. Prosecutors convicted him.

But now, almost 40 years later, I'm re-examining this case. I really didn't believe any of it was real. And I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Has the wrong man been in prison this whole time? Listen to Examine the Backfire Effect on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I talked to actor Stephen Root.

I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the dream, go, yeah, I can use that. And Open Igloo co-founder, Alia Mohamed. I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is on renter's minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run.

Listen to Here's the Thing on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.