The Eric Metaxas Show - #122 - John Zmirak

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric talks with John Zmirak about the media meltdown over his White House ballroom joke and why that reaction reveals a deeper contempt for Christians and Trump supporters. They also discuss President Trump’s endorsement of Ken Paxton over John Cornyn, remember the lives and legacies of James Robison and Joni Lamb, reflect on grief, heaven, and Christian hope, and end with a very serious discussion of George Washington’s alleged tusks. Subscribe for clips from The Eric Metaxas Show to hear politics and culture from a Christian perspective.⭐ PRE-ORDER TODAY:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:⭐ FREE SLAVES with CSI: https://csi-usa.org/metaxas/📢 Don’t Let the Financial Storm Destroy Your Wealth and Future!https://www.metaxasgoldira.com/⚖️ Legal Help Center - Get Free Legal Help Today: https://www.legalhelpcenter.com/🛏️ MyPillow — Save BIG with code ERIC: https://www.mypillow.com/☀️ Honest, fast, and free Medicare plan guidance: https://askchapter.com/metaxas/💧 Sentry H2O: https://sentryh2o.com/

Hey, the folks, welcome to the program. My goodness, my goodness. Where do I begin? I keep asking that question. It's going to become a cliche, bad habit. I have as my guest, John's Mirik, let me begin there. John, welcome. Thank you, Eric.

I know you're coming back on a big whirlwind tour, and you were just in our nation's capital. And I got back yesterday, and there's a lot I want to touch on. First of all, ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk about two friends that have passed away, Joni Lamb and James Robeson in a minute. John and I will talk about that. I want to talk about the last few days, the lunacy of the – well, we can start there, John. Yesterday, I went in depth yesterday.

obviously today is Wednesday, but I haven't talked to you about the madness of me speaking on the National Mall and cracking a joke about the White House. And the whole thing started, this was not my idea,

that I was going to talk about, you know, the revolution and the miracle of the crossing, a retreat across the East River, and then the miracle, or at least wonderful, story of the crossing of the Delaware, which has miraculous elements. But they wanted me to- Let's give the context.

This was a huge celebration on the National Mall where you joined a lot of other American leaders rededicating America to God, right? Yes. No, it was amazing. I mean, I discussed that yesterday with the audience, but I only want to say that for context in case you didn't know or there's anybody who still didn't know. They wanted me to introduce Laura Osniz, whom I know from New York. She's a Tony Award winning actress, Broadway actress.

They wanted me to introduce her because she's going to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. So in order to do that, I have to pivot from the Revolution to the War of 1812. And I mention that, you know, the British burned parts of Washington, including the White House. and then I have to crack a dumb joke. So my dumb joke is, and if you can believe it, ladies and gentlemen, back then the White House did not have a ballroom. Can you believe it? Got huge laugh because people are hot, everything's serious.

They want a moment of, you know, whatever. So everybody laughs and I said, and God has raised up only 200 years later. God has raised up a man to build the ballroom. Like this is some big eschatological puzzle piece that needs to be put in place, the ballroom at the White House, right? And so I crack a joke and I move on. And then people start telling me,

David French just put out a post on X, really angry that you would blasphemously say that God has raised up Donald Trump to build a ballroom. And then Alex Jones decides to do a segment on his show. That noted the old magazine did articles, CNN coming. Everybody commented on it like it was really, And I think the takeaway for me is how sloppy the media are, how sloppy journalists are, that they repeat stuff that is completely wrong. And they say, MAGA pastor.

I'm not a pastor. Anyway, I hadn't shared that with you. I want to analyze that a little bit, okay? Yeah. It's not that they're lazy or dumbed. It's that they're malicious. It's how much internalized contempt they have for us. They really believe that we would think things like,

they really believe that Christians who support this administration, often with caveats and with criticism, I'm always complaining about the things Trump does wrong, but they think we are such adult fanatical zealots that if Donald Trump told us to drink poison, lull aid, we would hear it as the voice of Jesus and we would do it. They really think we are zombofied zealots with IQs of 85 who want to put minorities in internment camps, who think that Trump is somehow infused by the Holy Spirit. They really believe that. That is the level of

contempt and hatred that they have for us. That's what you have to internalize. That's how much they hate us. And that's disturbing. You rather think it's just sloppiness. We rather think, oh, they're just humorless ninnies. We'd rather think, oh, that's David French on his lavender fainting couch, having another hissy fit.

But, no, this is hatred. This is like, the kind of, if you want to look. for another equivalent. Someone who sees that a Jewish person commits a crime and they go, yeah, typical, typical, just like Jeffrey Epstein. Yeah, that's what they do. Well, look, it's, I would say that generally speaking, because this has happened to me a number of times in the last few years where people will find something, it's not true,

but they'll put it out there, whether because of Slop, or rage or whatever it is. But what's interesting is how everyone else sloppily peaks up on it. They don't even think to check, is this right? Is there any context here? That's what kind of stuns me.

But because of this, my revolution book broke into the top 100 on Amazon two weeks before it even comes out. I guess, you know, It just generated a lot of interest. God writes straight with crooked people. Something like that.

Yeah. Something like that. Well, look, there is a lot to talk about. You mentioned that yesterday, Tuesday, because we didn't talk about this yesterday, or I didn't talk about this yesterday, President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton. In the Texas Senate Republican runoff, which is against the rhino. Republican senator of 10,000 years, John Cornyn. Right.

And early voting is already going on. So if you live in Texas as I do, get out there. The thing about you need to know about Ken Paxson is he has been a fantastic attorney general. He defended the state of Texas against a dozen lawfare suits brought by Mark Elias and other George Soros-affiliated lawfare experts, trying to get corrupt male. invaliding, ballot harvesting, voter mules, getting all those things into Texas. Texas would have flipped blue if they had been able to steal votes that way in the 2020 election. Ken Paxton led the effort and succeeded one on every single case. Whereas in Georgia, we know Brian Kemp basically caved into the voter fraud lobby and you see what's happened

to Georgia as a result. Ken Paxton was the man who stood in the breach. He wrote the brief to the Supreme Court challenging the 2020 election on behalf of Republican attorneys general. This while John Cornyn was getting ready to say the January 6 protesters were terrorists who ought to be locked in prison for decades. John Cornyn wanted to take away Texans guns. John Corny has been pushing for immigration amnesty. John Cornyn thought Donald Trump was unfit for office. the real story is why was it ever even a possibility that Donald Trump would endorse John Corny? That's, I'm still scandalized that we had to even wonder about that.

Donald Trump has this terrible habit of endorsing rhinos in Congress all across the country to the point where a Trump endorsement is a very dubious thing. Trump endorses his enemies and kicks, pushes his friends under the bus. It happens. It's happened all over the place. And thank God it didn't happen this time. Because if John Corning got the Republican nomination, gets the Republican nomination for Texas, Senator, I'm going to write in Jasmine Crockett because at least she's funny.

I am never Cornyn. I am never Rhino. If there's a race where it's a rhino versus a Democrat, seriously consider whether it's worth voting for that rhino, because rhinos you will have always with you. Once they get into often... Even unto the end of the age, John. Even unto the end of the age. They're like intestinal parasites.

They worm their way into your guts and they hijack your nutrition. Would you really be worth going out to vote for John Thune? I don't think so. Trump has got to stop. You know, I haven't said it in about two weeks. John Thune is a eunic. I just want to be very clear, ladies and gentlemen. Please write that down in case you forget.

because it's it explains a lot. I want to. I want to explain. Politics is complicated. And I want to, I just want to be on the record as saying when in doubt, I'm, I'm going to trust Donald Trump.

Donald Trump, even if he endorses someone I don't like, like Lindsey Graham or whatever, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. Doesn't mean I wouldn't give him pushback. But there is sometimes a method to his madness. And I, and if I don't have an opportunity to,

find out, I would trust him. I want to disagree completely. I think Donald Trump is like those women who treat nice guys badly and have a hankering for the bad boy. And the worst men treat them, the more they like them. Donald Trump wants to win over his enemies. He wants to coax them over. He wants to think he can make them. There's truth to this. Okay, we've got to go to a break. folks, we're going to talk about Joni Lamb. We're going to talk about our dear friend James Robinson and lots more. Don't go away. Hey there, folks. I've been saying that 2026 must be the year of accountability, whether talking about government spending or the way we steward our own families, we have a moral duty to seek the truth. But let's be honest, in the world of Medicare,

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You're sending in your letters. I can't. I can't keep up. That's his real name, Z-M-I-R-A-K. John, we've got some real fun stuff to talk about in a couple of minutes. Very fun, crazy stuff. But we have to start with something that's pretty somber. Two ministry leaders, two Christian leaders, whom we knew, whom I knew, and you knew James Robeson,

have passed away. And it seems that every time I turn around, some friend is going to glory. I was stunned, really stunned, a week ago to hear that Joni Lamb had passed away. It was a great shock. I expected to see her at an event that I was at Mar-Alogo a few weeks ago.

And her name and her husband, Doug, they were supposed to be there. I thought, oh, I haven't seen her in over a year, and she's had a horrible year. It's been a difficult year. And she passed away, unbelievable. And then just two days ago, I read that our friend and you were much closer to him than I was, James Robinson had passed away. I'm very sorry to hear that, and I'm very sorry for you because I know you were close to James. Yeah, I mean, I worked for him for the last 10 years at the stream.

James was one of the, he's the last of the great generation of the Christian right, you know, Jerry Falwell, the moral majority, a much maligned group of people who actually helped bring America back from the break. Back in 1979, we had a Baptist Sunday school teacher named Jimmy Carter, President of the United States, who was pro-choice, pushing affirmative action, promoting left-wing government, movements and governments around the world, who actually allowed the collapse of Iran from a relatively benevolent monarchy into a fanatical death cult regime whose slogans are death to Israel and death to America. But a lot of good-hearted Christians thought, oh, we should vote for him.

He's a believer. He says he's born again. And he took James Robinson and some of these other Christian right leaders to win those voters over to a divorced actor from California. Ronald Reagan. It sounds familiar. It sounds bizarrely familiar. I have to say that's amazing because, you know, I remember this. We're around the same age. And I remember that the idea that Reagan was divorced was a big deal.

And I think, wow, this is like anti-Diluvian era. But yes, it was a big deal. And Jimmy Carter, he teaches Sunday school and all that. But as you just said, and I didn't really understand this until recently, that he was hugely to blame for what happened in Iran. That was not really clear to me until recently. Oh, yeah. And for the chaos that engulf countries like Rhodesia and South Africa, he turned our State Department into a branch of amnesty international and helped undermine our allies and help our enemies. in many parts of the world.

And James Robinson was the guy who convinced the national religious broadcasters to invite Ronald Reagan to speak there. And Ronald Reagan gave a speech where he said, you can't endorse me, but I endorse you. And that's when a lot of these Southern Democrat Christians realized, oh, we have permission to vote for a Republican divorcee from California over this blunderer. fool who is steering a country into the iceberg. James wasn't overtly political. He was actually always a preacher first. He grew up in a really difficult circumstance. He was an unwanted child.

His mother said he was a child of rape and she tried to get an abortion and the doctor wouldn't do it. And so he was born. And his father was a violent alcoholic. He felt unwanted. He had a really tough, tough upbringing. He found Christ in high school and became a teen evangelist. And soon he was filling stadiums.

He was like the teenage Billy Graham. And he became friends with Billy Graham and actually did his crusades with Billy Graham. Eventually, he transitioned into TV ministry. And he started a TV show Life Today with his wonderful life, Betty, where they would interview guests, talk about, books, do Bible studies, and raise money to do amazing things around the world. Life Outreach International, his ministry, which still exists, and I still work there. They dig wells in Africa for those who have no water.

They get shoes for kids without shoes. They distribute Bibles. They get surgery for children with cleft pallets. They do amazing work around the world. Forgive me. When we come back, I want to talk more about James Robison and Joni Lamb. We've got a lot more coming up, folks. Stick around.

Folks, welcome back. Lots more coming up, some crazy stuff. But right now we're talking about the death of a giant of the faith, James Robeson. And I knew James pretty well some years ago when my Bonhofer book came out. I got to know him. I stayed, Suzanne and our daughter and I stayed at his. his house in Colorado a couple of nights back, gosh, it's got to be 2011, I think it was. And he was just the incredibly dear soul, an incredibly dear soul.

But you're talking about his legacy. He was a big deal, you know, circa 1980, 81, 82. He was a very big deal. But he continued to be. He was one of the first pastors to get in a real. room with Donald Trump. And this is back when we were all pretty skeptical of Trump because Trump was just this playboy from New York who said he was pro-choice.

You know, he had shaved the head of Vince McMahon in a wrestling ring on television. I thought that was disqualifying. Excuse me. That, like every now and again, somebody mentioned something. I have to just hit pause. What you just said, a lot of people listening, they have no clue. That is true. That is true.

I was two nights ago with Vince McMahon's ex-wife, Linda McMahon, who's now the Secretary of Education. And when I think about the fact that her husband, I was not a fan of her husband. Let me just be clear. I didn't like Vince McMahon, not a big fan of, you know, the WWE or whatever the heck they call it. But Donald Trump, at one point, please say it again. Donald Trump. So that there is nobody who doesn't know what you're about to say. So everybody gets it.

Here we go. Back when Donald Trump was mainly. is a reality TV celebrity, he started appearing on worldwide wrestling, and at one point as part of a staged feud, he shaved the head of Vince McMahon inside the wrestling ring. And I, in my prissy snobbishness,

thought this did not comport with the dignity of the presidency. But I've grown since then. And now... Would Henry Clay have done such a thing? Would Lincoln have done such a thing? I ask you. Would Andy Jackson, when John Quincy Adams have shaved the head of a huckster in a wrestling ring.

Well, you know what? Yes, they may have. Andrew Jackson absolutely would have, and he might have shot him, too. He might have buried a hatchet in the man's head as well. So beginning that, James Robinson got in a room with Trump and actually expressed to him all the concerns that evangelical Christians had with his candidacy. He gave him he laid out the biblical view of head shaving before the public. And a lot of passengers would shrink from that.

They would be intimidated by the power. But James Robinson was willing to lay out biblically why Donald Trump should probably not have shaved Vince McMahon's head. This is shaping them to be a really strange obituary for a man. Oh, I really, really love. No, listen, to me, this is the joy is that we're joking. We love James. James was a lovable, wonderful man. And as he mentioned, he was a very big deal a long time ago.

I mean, he continued to be a big deal. but it's hard to believe that he was so young and he was just this towering evangelist, an extraordinary figure in American public life. But into the 2018, into Trump's first term in the presidency, he was on the phone with Trump all the time. In fact, once I asked James, I've never,

he was a real father figure to me and a lovely man to work for. I worked for him at the stream, which was a news and opinion website for 10 years, it's now a streaming TV portal for Christian TV. In fact, it carries this program. So I hope people go look at the stream web app on their streaming store

because it is now the hub. It's sort of the Hulu for Christian television. But once I asked James for a favor, could he call Trump and ask him to protect the Christians in northeast, northeastern Syria who were being shelved by the Turks? And James did it and Trump did it.

And that's the only favor I ever asked James for. James did it. And he actually prevailed on President Trump and got a respite from persecution for the Christians of northeastern Syria who ended up being the people who defeated ISIS. The Christians joined the Kurds and defeated ISIS. I think it was 2018.

Anyway, I'm getting emotional because I'm really... Yeah, no, it's amazing. Listen, he was a great man. And he was a character in the best sense. I mean, he reminded me of if Lyndon Johnson was filled with the Holy Spirit and loved Jesus. He just had this kind of larger than life personality, big rangy character. And he just would, you know, I remember when I was going to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast in, you know, early 2012, he'd get on the phone and he's telling me what I need to say. He says, you got to talk about it's a Bonhofer moment.

and you got away. But it's so funny because that was his personality. And we loved him. We loved him and we honor him. And we'll be right back. We'll be right back. Folks, do not forget. If you have questions about gold or silver, we recommend, highly recommend, Genesis Gold. They'll answer your questions. We trust them. We believe in them. And you can find them at metaxis gold IRA.com. Metaxusgoldira.com. Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to John Zmirak. Before we continue our conversation, we've got a lot of things to cover here. You know we're doing a campaign with CSI, Christian Solidarity International. They are literally, you know how I hate overusing the word literally or misusing the word literally. And I do not use, I do not misuse the word literally when I say CSI is literally freeing, slays. slaves in Sudan. This is a big deal. Muslim, radical Muslims in Africa not only believe slavery is a good thing, good for them, bad for the slaves. They practice it. And by God's grace, CSI has made inroads where we can free slaves. You can join us and I exhort you, please, ladies and gentlemen,

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and thank you. John, you and I, you and I have been talking about our friend James Robinson. He was a larger-than-life character. He was in some ways almost like a character out of Mark Twain. He seemed like a throwback with his Texas accent. And I just, he was very lovable. He had that great awakening quality.

You know, we were talking about George Whitfield, who could, you know, get 30,000 people weeping. Well, James had that quality. And he could fill stadiums. And he stepped back and did a TV ministry of a really popular show life today. And now we're carrying on his vision with the stream as the hub, the portal, the Netflix for Christian television. So your show is featured on there. I've gotten some other great shows that are featured on there. We're doing documentaries.

I'm working on a documentary for them right now. So I hope people will go on their web app, their Android or Apple, look for the stream. It is the hub for Christian programming. And I think it's going to be the future site where people go for Christian programming. So we're carrying on James's legacy, even as he's now in the kingdom

that he always preached about so eloquently. It is almost unbelievable to think that friends of ours are in glory with Jesus. I have to mention my friend, Joni Lamb. I was on Daystar with her many times, many times. And this was a sweet, smart, savvy woman who loved Jesus, who worshipped Jesus publicly, who sang worship songs on the program.

And I cannot believe, honestly. I just can't believe that she's gone. They didn't put it out that she was sick. I had the joy of bumping into her daughter, Rachel Brown, and her husband, Josh, at an airport just a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting Dallas three weeks ago or something like that. And we just had a wonderful conversation. And, you know, I had no idea that Rachel's mom was sick. So it's tough.

But the joy is we know where they are. And I have to say also my very, my dear brother, it's just Greg Locke is a pastor in the Nashville area. He lost his 20-year-old son to a drug overdose recently. It just rips your heart out. And I was with Greg just the other day. And here I am about a week after he's lost his 20-year-old son. And he is full of the joy of Jesus. And I say that because if you're listening this program and you're kind of wondering,

is that possible? Is that real? Maybe you don't have the kind of faith that I do or that Greg Walk does or that Joni Lamb did or a lot of the folks that I'm privileged to know. And I want to say, folks, God wants us to have that kind of faith. He wants us to have the kind of faith that even when we grieve, we know, not we kind of hope, sort of. We know that our loved one is with Jesus.

genuinely in a better place. We don't just say that to make ourselves feel good. That's really at the heart of why we're on this planet. In case you're wondering, what's the meaning of life? The meaning of life is to have relationship with the God who has defeated death. And when someone dies, yes, you're sad because you miss them and you're still here in this veil of tears. But you know where they are and you know that that is real.

That's not just a story we tell ourselves. So, but thinking of sweet Joni and, And sweet brother James and I think of my brother Greg Locke. I mean, it's sobering. But you know, John, I think that it prepares us for heaven because we realize, of course, that's where we're going. We're never going to die. We're going to leave this world.

And that's where we go. And I think that it's only natural to have trepidation, but God wants us to have less and less and less trepidation and to understand that we should have trepidation about staying. That's what we should have trepidation about. Well, you know, it brings me back to my favorite book, The Lord of the Rings, which was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's experiences in the trenches of World War I. Like C.S. Lewis, he was on the Psalm. He saw his friends mowed down around him, and he became obsessed with mortality, the question of mortality. And the Lord of the Rings as a novel

really is about reconciling ourselves to the fact of our mortality. And in the books, the elves who live forever, if they're not killed, and even if they're killed, they're reincarnated, they are bound to this world. They're never going to see the creator. They start to call mortality the gift of men, not the curse of men, the gift of men, because when our time on this planet is over, we will be with the creator. And that is a theme of the Lord of the Rings that I don't think people pay enough attention to. But if you see how the elves who have this endless earthly life, they're actually really sad. They're actually worn down and exhausted by it. I don't know that I would want to live 500 years in this veil of tears.

You know, I just, I'm 61. I'm starting to feel like, yeah, well, you know, maybe there are those grassy fields and the sunlit shores that Gandalf talks about. I've got a book sitting on my shelf. Everything you always wanted to know about heaven by our friend Peter Kraft. And that's my next thing I'm going to read. Because, you know, you and I have talked about this. It's important to have a positive vision of heaven.

I mean, for me, it's always been the place that isn't hell. And that's it. I was like, I want to go to the not hell place. Because I don't want to go to the hell place. It's important to have more than that, I think. And losing James has inspired me to want to delve more into that. I think that's what happens. I think losing my dad a couple of years ago, you just think, well, if he's there, I want to go there.

I look forward to going there in God's time. But there is something beautiful about that. And I think that when we lose our loved ones, it's part of God's way of preparing us. but I tell you, John, it's, it is hard for us to process these kinds of things. But God calls us to know that he is real, that we're here for a season. What we're here for is for his purposes. And then we leave. And I think people need to take that seriously.

I know there are people probably who watch this program or listen to this program that They're not so sure about that. And I want to push them and say, hey, listen, this is for you. It's not for those other people. Whatever niggling doubts you have or some stumbling block, you can't because of this or this of this. You're missing it. You're missing it.

This is the reason you were conceived in your mother's womb. It's the reason you were born to have relationship with the God who is the source of all goodness, truth, and beauty, who defeated death on the cross. and who loves you infinitely, tough for us mortals to comprehend. He loves you infinitely. You cannot bear his love. You can't even, apart from him, it would melt you.

But it is so beautiful and powerful. John, when you come back, we come back from next segment, we got to get a little silly because we've gotten very serious. But folks, some things are serious. Some things are serious. And there's joy at the heart of this deadly serious. seriousness thing we're talking about. There's joy. We're talking about joy. You mentioned, by the way, Peter Craft. I interviewed him in Boston about a week and a half ago. I forgot all about that

because I've been traveling so much. But his books are great. And it's just important we understand this is what it's all about. When we come back, I continue my conversation with John's Merrick. And I promise you we'll get a little silly. Don't go away. John, we got to get a little bit silly for a second here. You, every time I write a book, You sent me a list of questions, which are fake questions. It's like every question, it's like one. And then there's like nine questions. And then two, three questions.

So it's like a thousand questions. And some of them are really crazy. It's just an opportunity for you to say silly things. And it's an opportunity for me to respond seriously or sillily. And sillily, yes, it is a word, folks. But John, you just did that. We just did that together. And it's published at The Blaze.

What's the exact website for The Blaze? Theblaze.com and the title is, uh, title is long. New book from Eric McAxas shares the American Revolution's forgotten Christian roots. Okay. And that's not what the book is about, but that's a big part of the book. And your questions are so silly that you got me really silly. So people, people need to read that. I want them just to know that the part about George Washington

creating a set of tusks for himself might not be accurate. All right. This was one of your best answers. I think we should, we should, I'm just going to read it aloud because it was super fun. I asked, were there issues on which your research for this book made you change your mind? What do you learn most that surprised you? And you said, the most surprising thing I learned was that George Washington made many of his own dentures. And at one point, on a lathe operated with a foot pedal and the base.

at Mount Vernon, he fashioned for himself a grand pair of tusks that he thought properly fitting to the August office of the nation's chief executive, which of such size as inspired the deepest reverence in those in his company, and which he more than once used to intimidate Jefferson and Hamilton into silence. Most biographies leave such tidbits out of the story, but I simply refuse to. Now, I think it's dangerous for you to make suggestions like that with Donald Trump in office. You got to understand something. You might do it. Coming on the heels of me joking that God has raised up Donald Trump after two centuries

to build the White House ballroom and people taking that seriously, you know that somebody is going to say that Eric McAxes, he's nuts. He says that Donald, he says that George Washington had a pair of tusks. He fashioned a set of tusk dentures for himself that he's. would use to intimidate Jefferson and Hamilton. And I did say that. We need someone on your team to use AI to make a picture of Washington with the walrus tusks, frightening Thomas Jefferson.

No, no, not walrus tusks. Oh, like woolly mammoth tusks, gigantic tusks. Okay, great. Even better. So we need Washington with enormous tusks frightening Thomas Jefferson. We need to put it out as a meme with your quote and get it. to right wing watch so they can start a controversy about it and sell more books. I mean, if they're going to accuse me of being serious when I'm joking, I should joke around

a lot more often and just put this stuff out there. I mean, I wrote a whole book, and you know about this. I wrote an entire book. My first book is a parody of Ripley's Believe It or Not. The title of it is, don't you believe it? And it is wall-to-wall lunacy, facts that are not true. they're not facts, but it's an entire book of it. And so when people, you know, accuse me of being serious when I'm joking, I find that itself so, I don't know what to say. Like in some ways it's sad that they're so bitter they can't laugh, but in other ways, it's kind of funny, isn't it?

Eric, I have the opposite problem. I say really insane things and people assume I'm joking, but I am serious. Yeah. Like when I suggested that instead of masks, and forcibly vaccinating people during the COVID panic. Here we go, folks. Get ready. Everyone should have to wear a six-foot ornamental cod piece

sort of strapped around their waist for social distancing. Now, you know, like a pool noodle, but you could make them, you know, make them decorative. Like Henry VIII had a decorative codpiece. I think we would be living in a different world today if my suggestion had been acting on. I think it's a very important. fine suggestion, John, and I just want to commend you.

And you're going to be quoted by right wing watch tomorrow. So I love that. We're selling. But so you and I, we had a lot of fun in, in the, in the Q&A. I posted it on my X account. If you follow me on X, which I hope you do, folks. I always say to people that, you know, if you're on X, you get to choose whom you wish to follow. And you can just follow five people that you think are worth listening to. And then when you're on X, don't go, don't go, Don't go to the for you column. Go to the following column. Because they're always trying to push junk in your direction.

John, I'm afraid we're out of time. But can I, I want to have you back later in the week. Maybe I'll contact you after this so we can talk more. But we've got something coming up, folks, in just a minute, some important things before we leave the show. And we'll be right back. It's finally here, our second annual mega sale. This sale only comes around once a year, so take advantage of the best offers ever while you can. For example, save 50% on our Giza Dream Bed Sheets as low as 2998.

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Hey there, folks. Welcome back. We interrupt our usual programming to talk to you about an opportunity that I find, frankly, almost unbelievable. There is slavery in the world right now, real slavery, not metaphorical, not sort of. It is radical Muslims who seem to think this is fine and Christians who seem to think it's not fine, who want to do something about it. And so every year, once or twice, we on this show partner with Christian Solidarity International to do something about it. And every year we do something about it. You step up. God bless you. And so I wanted to bring on CSI's spokesman, one of the spokesman, Todd Chapman, to talk more about what it is that's actually happening. Todd, welcome back. Hey, thanks, Eric. Great to be here with you. Always thrilled to be able to come on your program and tell your listeners about something that most people don't even know it was a thing. And that is the fact that we have a beautiful opportunity to free slaves, slaves that have been held captive for decades in North Sudan and bring them

back to their home villages, reunite them with their family after decades of slavery and abuse. And it's just a beautiful opportunity. And I just got to give you and your audience just amazing, I want to say props, but that kind of cheapens it. I just want to sincerely thank you. because over the many years we've partnered with you and your various programs, your listeners have literally freed tens of thousands of these precious human beings. They had no other hope of getting free, but you've allowed us to come on your programs. You've used your platform to do so much good through the generosity of your listeners, and we're so grateful.

Well, there are people listening right now who can do $250. that sets one of these captive slaves free, sets them up in a life of freedom. It does just free them, but it sets them up in a life of freedom. There are details on that. If you go to ericotaxis.com and click on the banner, you'll see more about that. But I want to say that there are people that can do many multiples of this. And folks, again, I can't imagine anything more simple and user-friendly. every $250 you gives sets a human being who is enslaved free from slavery.

That's, again, almost unbelievable, but you know, you can look into it. You can look into CSI. And there are people that can do multiples of that. And I just want to encourage you, folks. By the way, did I mention it's tax deductible? And it is real. And I have always said if there's anybody, sometimes there's somebody out there that wants to spend an evening with me to have dinner or get a group together to have have a dinner with me and I will offer my time.

My time has gotten preposterously valuable. I have very little time, very few evenings, but anybody who can gather together $15,000, you can do it with a group of friends or do it yourself. It'll be my honor to spend the evening with you, to have dinner. You set that up. It can be 20 people in a private room in a restaurant or it can be just a couple, two people and me or me and my wife and we can do it in your city or in my city. But I feel like this is a great, great, great opportunity.

And I want to exhort everybody listening to understand how wonderful it is that we get to do this, that we don't just complain and say, well, please pray. No, we can actually do something right now. And that's why we partner with CSI. And Todd, you have been there. You've met some of these people. Again, it seems inconceivable. to me, all of it. Yeah, it's mind-boggling when you meet these, these, these, it's primarily

women. There are some men that have been helped captive. Many of them were taken captive, again, when these villages were raided back last century. But, you know, imagine that, being taken captive as a child, removed from your parents, maybe watching your father killed right before your eyes, and then enslaved and not just, you know, doing physical labor, but we're talking about physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, medilation of Christians being forced to convert to Islam, just a horrific life. I've had so many of these women tell me when they come into freedom back in their home country, I never thought I would be free. And you can't hear words like that and come away untouched. And it's just incredible that that can happen for $250.

And so we would just invite you if you're able and can liberate a slave all on your own, $250. If you can't give that much, look, give as much as you can. And then, you know, your gift along with others, it all turns into slaves being freed. And this month, during the month of May, we're just bringing this back front and center here on your program. And we want to invite your listeners to help us free another few hundred slaves. We've got another liberation March coming up here in the next couple of months. and it would be great to have as many people rescued by your listeners as we can. Look, again, I know there are people, I know that everybody listening can do something, folks.

So you're without excuse. Just go to Ericmetaxis.com, click on the banner, do what you think you can. But there are people that can do huge amounts of money that we could tomorrow free practically all of those who are still enslaved. So the fact that we can do that, here's the phone number 888-253, 352,000. 888-253-3522 or go to Eric Metaxus.com. God bless you as you give.