The Eric Metaxas Show - #155 - Rod Martin

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, Eric talks with Rod Martin about the Charlie Kirk trial, conspiracy theories, Candace Owens, critical theory, the crisis of authority, the woke right, Tucker Carlson, and the spiritual revival happening among young men. Then Eric and Chris Himes discuss family, faith, patriotism, Eric’s father, America’s Christian culture, the Super Centennial, Is Atheism Dead?, the upcoming TV series, classic films, Woody Allen, Broadway Danny Rose, and why culture matters.⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:☀️ Honest, fast, and free Medicare plan guidance: https://askchapter.com/metaxas/- -LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE:    / @ericmetaxas  #EricMetaxas #TheEricMetaxasShow #News #PoliticsChapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s contract renewal. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans. As a result, we do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 50 organizations which offer 18,160 products nationwide. We search and recommend all plans, even those we don’t directly offer. You can contact a licensed Chapter agent to find out the number of products available in your specific area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-Medicare, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.

My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man. This July, we're faced with a threat. That can be anyone. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker. I'm just a neighbor, friendly neighbor. But he hasn't forgotten them. Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing. That's my responsibility.

Talk to Banner? I didn't know you could get that big. Spider-Man, brand-new day in theaters, July 31st. Hey, folks, welcome on the program. I believe it's Thursday. I believe later today I'm going to be in Las Vegas having lunch with Rich Little. I believe we've covered that. Chris and I had a conversation about culture, which we're going to be airing for you.

But before that, I want to talk News of the Day with the great Rod Martin. Rod Martin, welcome back. Great to be here. Okay, News of the Day. What is the News of the Day? Maybe we should start, we could start with the Charlie Kirk trial if you have anything, any observations there. I do not, actually. It's really remarkable. You know, the prosecution's case is just open and shut. I'm not sure I've ever seen a case that was so ridiculously open and shut. And I don't mean one-sided. I don't mean they've concocted a bunch of stuff. I mean, for instance, Candice Owens will tell you that the guy in the video they have who is going into the parking deck, who is going.

going up onto the roof, who's carrying the gun, who then, you know, lies on the roof. And after the shot, he runs off the roof to get away. I mean, they've got video of all of this. Candice will tell you that that's clearly not Tyler Robinson. But Tyler Robinson's mother identified him in the video. I mean, it's just absurd. And by the way, she's obviously working for the Mossad, his mother. You know, that's the...

Well, clearly, as he's... and his trans lover. I mean, and let's not forget about you. Everybody else on earth, except for the same. And let's not forget about you and me also working for the most odd. Let's be clear. Yeah.

Wow. It's such a mess. It's such a mess. It's a sign of the times, isn't it, that people can be sucked in to these conspiracies? It's a difficult season. It's a difficult season, I have to say.

Well, in two strands. You know, The first one being that it wasn't just Democrat kids who went to the public schools and public universities. We have all, not you and I so much, but those younger than us have been marinated in critical theory for decades. They have absolutely been shielded from critical thinking. So their postmodernist emotion and narrative over rationality is coming out here in the context of the second thread, which is what Yuri Besmanoff was talking about in 1984 when he defected from the Soviet Union. And he says, look, the centerpiece of the Soviet strategy to get the West to commit suicide and go communist on its own is demoralization. We want to convince you that every authority is illicit and lying to you to such a degree that you'll listen to anybody who reaffirms what you want to believe.

That's exactly what's happened here, especially after COVID. Our government did it to itself. There's no question about that. But that field had been planted for decades leading into it. Well, it's interesting because you could really go back to after World War I. I mean, this happened mostly in Europe before it happened here, but the loss of faith in the institutions because of World War I. And that really, that worldview was among the elites, but it filtered down. It took some time to filter down into America.

Here we see it happening with Vietnam and Watergate. But it really does. It's fascinating because you see this over time. We've seen it. You and I've seen it in our lifetimes, basically. That this cynical view that we can't trust authority. I mean, we've all seen the bumper stickers question authority. Or I should say there used to be bumper stickers that said question authority.

But those bumper stickers didn't mean question authority to see whether it's legitimate. They were talking about questions. authority itself, is there any authority that's legitimate, which is a very cynical view? And that has filtered down into the culture so that subjectivity rules, basically. And it's a scary thing where we have no objective truth. Now, of course, there is such a thing as objective truth. And I think it reasserts itself at some point. But we're dealing with that.

That's part of what you're talking about. Well, and our government did this to itself. I can't stress that enough. They built it into the public schools. They lied to us over and over again about countless things we could sit here and name. But the problem here is that people have lost their ability to discern the difference between one authority that is a truth teller and another authority that is clearly false. They can't tell the difference between Anthony Fowler. and RFK.

They can't tell the difference between Donald Trump and Barack Obama anymore. And that's just absurd. People on our side, for heaven's sake, ought to know. We voted. We actually changed our government. We actually made a difference. Let's actually trust these guys to at least be trying to do the right thing. But even the ability to do that has been lost in some subset primarily.

of our younger friends who have been through the educational process in the 21st century. It's really horrifying. I don't know how we come back from it, but I know what we're going to try to do, and I think it will work, which is simply keep repeating the truth and keep showing the falsehoods of the lies. Well, I mean, I do think that, you know, as a Christian, we're not to despair. we're to do our job, we're to stay at our post and to speak the truth, as you say, and pray. I do think that there's revival happening in the country, that people are waking up,

generally speaking, even apart from the spiritual side of things, that there are people who just five or six years ago were in a completely different place. I think that the madness on the left has driven many people toward the right and that there's something happening in the country. The question is whether it's happening quickly enough to save us from perdition. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. And we are seeing revival among Gen Z youth. It's really encouraging. Predominantly the males, which is good. I mean, we want the men to lead. That's a positive thing. It's certainly different from prior generations, which tended to be female led on spiritual matters. So that's unique and different and kind of cool, I think. and we'll see how that goes.

There's a lot of opportunity there, and I think the reaction against this postmodernist irrationality, which is so driven by a visceral hatred that comes from not having the tools to process rationally, I think the reaction against that is going to be very much like the reaction we've seen against wokeness. once people woke up and realized just how wicked it was. That's about it. That's about it. I think that there are people waking up.

None of us expected the rise of what we now call the woke right. I mean, I do have to say that it's a horror to think that we've defeated the woke left, generally speaking, or mostly only to have the lunatics on what's. It's called the Wolk Wright Rising Up. I don't know how deep that is. I don't know how far that goes. I don't know whether Candice Owens or Tucker Carlson really have any kind of a future. I mean, for him to declare that he's against Trump and going to start a third party,

that's a level of hubris that I just, I kind of shrug at it. I hardly know what to make of that. It's silly, actually. It's just goofball stuff. but all the more so because Tucker has made very, very clear. He's no longer for America. He wants a round win. He wants an Alexander Duganesque sphere of influence system

where Russia dominates Eurasia and China dominates East Asia and we dominate the Western Hemisphere. Wait, that sounds exactly like the setup in 1980. I mean, that's exactly what Orwell describes as the global order then. And Tucker's all for it and advocating for it and just loves Dugan. Dugan is satanic. Dugan is a pagan. He is a terrible, terrible soul.

And, you know, I'm not going to say all the things that some of our friends on the left might say about Vladimir Putin, but I can tell you this. he ain't our friend. So if you've got somebody who is Vladimir Putin's favorite philosopher and just, you know, tells you up front, my number one goal is the destruction of America. I don't understand why an American would be attracted to that, especially when he spent his life making money off of the conservative movement. Well, I guess some people simply have no values.

And for those of us who have values, it's very difficult to fathom that somebody could have no values or that their principal, principle could be having no principles. I don't really understand it either. We are today out of time, my friend, Rod, I just, I enjoy talking to you about practically anything. So thanks for coming on today. And folks, in just a moment, we're going to play a conversation I've been having with Chris Himes about culture, generally speaking, at least that's how I see it. So thanks for tuning in. And again, Rod, thank you. Thank you. When we look at the headlines coming out of Iran and Israel right now, the fog of war is real. It's hard to know whom to trust. That same feeling of confusion often hits

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Call chapter and get the peace of mind you need. Hey there, folks. Welcome on the program. This is the Eric Metaxus. I'm playing the role of Eric Metaxus. My producer, Chris Heimes, is also here. He's playing the role of producer named Chris Heimes. Chris, how are you?

I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm in my house in Weehawken. I have my two. I'm not as interesting as John Zimirak with his beagles, but I do. have some doodles. We have two doodles here that may interrupt at any moment with their overgrown nails and their clicking noises. Oh, by the way, uh, John's Merak is in Africa. He's on a safari in Africa. I'm not making this up. He called me the other day. I mean,

I knew he was going, but I couldn't really believe it. And then he actually called me from Africa. And it was, he was riding a bucking will the beast on the phone call. that part might not be true, but he was in Africa. Yeah, yeah. And the idea of John Zmirach in Africa, it seems like, I don't know, it's, it's like. It seems like a fever dream almost. It's kind of like Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. Like it's, I don't know.

I don't know. But anyway, John is going to come back and he's going to tell us about what he saw and learned in Africa. I'm really, yeah, it's amazing. And in my mind, he is surrounded by, you know, native translators. He's maybe surrounded by some overgrowth, some jungle. And he's going to learn that clicking language. Yes, yes, that clicking language. I forget what that's called.

I remember the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy. That's where they sort of highlighted the Bush language. That needs to be in that. And if the gods must be crazy too, would, I think they're probably was a gods must be crazy too but if it was the gods must be crazy three john smiric would feature prominently in that anyway he's in africa but you said that you wanted to talk to you wanted to question me yeah yes and and because i'm obviously always having conversations with people but you said i don't really know what you're going to throw at me chris you haven't prepped yeah well i know we've

you've been traveling a lot we're sort of on the other side of the fourth of july and your book released the revolution and i know you're frequently you know running to back to be with your mom who is, uh, you know, on in years and, you know, your dad has passed away a few years ago, but I couldn't help but wonder what he would be thinking about, you know, you and this book and the success of it. Um, and obviously he's, he's a big reason as to why you are the way you are, you know, half of, half of the metaxus, uh, yeah, experiment, shall we say. And, uh, yeah, I just wondered if you had thoughts on kind of like his perspective on, on, on, on the book and being an American, you know, an immigrant American here as well.

Well, my father was not some big reader, so I don't think he would have read the book, or maybe some years ago he would have read it. But, you know, it's a funny thing when people really, if somebody would ask me, like, you know, why do I believe what I believe or what do I? At the end of the day, it comes down to my love for my parents. It's an interesting thing, because I thought about this. I just love my mom and dad so much. And I don't know if that's normal,

but because they come from humble backgrounds and because they struggled so much. And I saw, to me, that's love. I mean, my father working so hard for us, how do you not love somebody like that? How do you not respect somebody like that? My father just, you know, he was a deeply good man. But to see that sacrifice.

So even for when I was little, I just loved my dad so much. And I miss him a lot. I got to tell you, I've never experienced, you know, death of a close family member. It's just, it's a wild thing to be up here in the house in Connecticut. And just to miss him so much. It's a very interesting thing. I think it's better probably to miss somebody than not to miss him, right? So I miss him very, very much.

It's tough because I just, a lot of. I mean, it's kind of funny because I think a lot of, you know, serious Christians, we use pious language too much and we talk about the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, and sometimes the Lord speaks through people. And I experienced the love of God in large part through my dad. It's an interesting thing that, you know, and that's, by the way, that's God's design, right? That's God, that is the Lord's design. And I just think that is a big part of who I am. It just comes from my father, who, by the way, taught me to love this country and to hate

communism. I remember for when I was little, one of the reasons he loved Buckley, William F. Buckley, and one of the reasons he loved Richard Nixon was because they were so staunch in their opposition to communism, because he knew the evil. of communism and he raised us to know that and my mother you know growing up in east germany she lived the evil of communism so it's a it's a fascinating thing um that that that is a big part it's just a big part of who i am and uh i know nothing could make me happier than thought that my dad was was proud of me that he saw uh some of the stuff i was able to do and you know i i don't

think anything can make me happier than than making my dad proud so that was just uh that's It is. It's a big part of who I am, and I think of them constantly. When you were researching revolution and obviously, you know, reading the stories about these young patriots who pay the ultimate price, did you think about the things that your parents as young people had to go through to come over and did it resonate that way? And did you see any parallel sort of like with, you know, the Americans fighting this, you know, hegemonic power in England that was so authoritarian? Not really. I didn't think of it that way. Although, I mean, the way you phrased in that last part there, that, you know, it is, there is something about America, which at its core stands against that kind of elitist power. And that's, that's the British. I mean, the British were elite and powerful and they were not, they were not on board ideologically.

with the men of the revolution who were profoundly Christian. I mean, what I often say, or at least I think it often, maybe I don't say it often enough, is that a lot proceeds from Christian faith. And a lot of times there are people who are saying Christian things without being explicit about it or even without being aware that it's Christian. I mean, you know, if you believe in the truth on any level, If you stand with the little guy against, you know, arrogant power, that's, that is to do God's will, even if you're not quite aware that you're doing God's will.

And I think that it's just something that is always informed me. Also growing up, you know, in a working class home, seeing the goodness of the little guy, that's just been a, that's just, you know, it's part of what made me pro Trump early on was that. that I saw how he stood with the little guy or how the little guy tended to like Trump. And I kind of thought, these are good people. These are the people I grew up with. These are the people I love. And no, they don't have university degrees

and they don't know some of the stuff that the elites know, but they're better than the elites. And I choose to side with them. And my parents, you know, are a big part of that in the sense that my love for my parents and who they were made me see that I don't want to stay. with the cultural elites that tell me I have to hate Trump. They are wrong and I need to lose whatever stature I add of being in their good graces.

I don't want that. Yeah, there seems to be a disconnect. And I noticed it just even, you know, I have tons of friends on Instagram that sort of, you know, across the political spectrum or whatever. But there seems to be a disconnect between loving your country and sort of permission to be patriotic and, you know, the intellectual. I would say over-educated class that somehow feels like it's not cool or not deserved. And what's this, you know, there should be a statute of limitations in some way on, on sort of the political, you know, political sins or, you know, everyone always likes to bring up slavery.

Slavery was just a thing that existed everywhere. It's so, I mean, so, you know, it's so good that it's embarrassing. It is in. First of all, you know, you want to say, hey, you idiot. a hundred and sixty years ago we defeated slavery in this country 160 years ago I mean

and we're still bringing this up like we haven't resolved it that's insane 700,000 white boys died in a war to end slavery so it's just amazing it's kind of like people act like well we haven't really settled it we haven't settled it

that's number one number two this inability to celebrate America it's spiritually sick I mean it would be like I mean I'll give an example and you see this a lot in the Christian world I just talked about my love for my dad

right there are people who seem to say well you can't love America too much or you can't love George Washington too much the only person you could love is Jesus that's garbage that is pious garbage ultimately demonic garbage because that's not biblical.

Biblically, the more I love Jesus, the more I'm going to love my mother and father and wife and family. And so this idea that I have to pick is just silly. And the idea that I can't celebrate George Washington as though that takes away from my love of God because George Washington is a sinner. That would be no different than saying you can't say how much you love your dad and how wonderful he was because we're all, you know, we're all far from God. We're all sinners, and so we shouldn't be praising sinners. I want to say to those people, shut up.

You're an idiot. You don't know anything about anything. You don't know anything. So the idea that I can't love my family, of course they're sinners. Of course I'm a sinner, but you can't get past that. It's like you're so simple that that's as far as you can go and you can't say, I love my father. I revere him.

There are people that they seem to believe that. They seem better. No, no, no, that's not, that's not right. You know, you can only love God. And I think all love is of God. And loving any good thing is a version of loving God. And so, but there are people that are really, they're so theologically fussy that they've got themselves in this straitjacket. And so what it ends up being is that they cannot celebrate America. That's sick. It is, it's wrong. And if there's ever a country that you should celebrate. But as a Greek, I want to celebrate Greece. I want to celebrate Greek culture. But America, it stands above everything. It's a nation of nations. It's a beautiful idea in the history of the world. It's an idea that I think is God's idea for the whole world. And so that really twisted view, it has really infiltrated the church. And I think that it's horrifying to see how many Christians have bought that lie and are very theologically confused about that. It's a bit of

It's a pity, actually. And, you know, you were talking about the elites, how they will. I mean, I got the memo when I went to Yale, you know, I'm a young man. And I get that memo like, yeah, we're not patriotic. We frown on that. And I thought, you know, I didn't know what to think of it. I was dumb enough at the time to kind of go along with it. But you look at it now and you think, wow, that's just stupid anti-Americanism.

You don't even know what you're talking about. Who are you siding with? The communists who torture and murder their enemies? Like, what do you, you know, so, yeah. Yeah, I saw a little, you know, super clip on Twitter of, you know, someone had gone in and taped some progressive socialists who were on different, various podcasts talking about how they want to bring the government down, you know, bring the country down from the inside.

So I don't know. They can rebuild it in their, you know, sort of blue-haired pronoun affirming image of misery or whatever. I don't know what their grand scheme is. but it's very, that does seem to be kind of the endgame where these, you know, what is it that these people want? Well, they actually just want to.

Well, their end game, honestly, it's like a guy, like some married guy, lusting after the secretary and thinking, how can I get her in bed? They have not thought this through. Like, it is the dumbest,

most evil thing, but they're going to go with it. And then they'll deal with the tragedy later. The feeling of wanting to burn down America or wanting to rip down the system. It's just like that. And in those, you, you haven't thought this through. This is the height of foolishness.

This is destructive. This is the devil's will for your life. And you're going to go with it. And they're going to go. They'll find out. It's like, you know, F-A-F-O. You'll find out in the other side of the, in the carnage, you're going to be, yeah,

maybe we didn't think this true. Now, by God's grace, we hope things don't go there. and I don't believe things will go there but those folks, they're being as thoughtful as the adulterous guy who he hasn't thought it through. No. Now I know just sort of like talking about

this idea of culture, one of the things that we're working on is, and we need to get him back on, we're making a TV share based out of your book, is atheism dead? And we're going to do learning curriculum out of that and some other probably short form, you know, talks that people will be able to share. You know, you're meeting a lot of people now on these,

you know, the church tour with the books and things like that. Do you have any sort of updated thoughts on the need for things like the series that we're working on? And, you know, in light of, I would say it was kind of a, It became a political idea to celebrate the 250th. I feel like because Trump was in office, there were people that didn't want to acknowledge the milestones. So it wasn't as big as I think it should have been because the country's divided in a way that's, you know what I mean?

So I think it's all sort of connected, as I guess what I'm trying to say. Well, listen, the pro-King George, the third guys, didn't want to celebrate America, didn't want to, there are always going to be people on the wrong side of issues, but they're on the wrong side. And it's sad for them. But the supercentennial, as I call it, this year, we've only just begun. It starts on July 4th, and we're going to be celebrating it for the rest of the year.

This is a glorious, glorious, glorious moment in American history. I have to say, you know, when I was, Suzanne and I, our flight got canceled the other day, so we had to take a train from D.C. up to New York. So we went to Union Station in Washington, D.C. The outside of Union Station, the fountain outside and the facade is so beautiful, decorated for the 250th. I said, this is magnificent. It is so beautiful. And I think that the blue-haired lefty-left, they're anti-beauty. They prefer the grime and the graffiti and the street people.

They somehow think that there's something there. and just to see what has happened to our nation's capital, the beauty of it, everywhere you look, examples of Donald Trump's pride in America, wanting America to put its best face forward for tourists from around the country and tourists from around the world. It is so beautiful. And this is not going to end. This is a high point, but it's not like, you know, we go back to our caves. This is, I think that something has happened in the, the celebration of the super centennial that it doesn't go away. I think that this is, we've only

just begun, so to speak. And I think that, you know, you and I like to talk about the cultural a lot. And I think that, you know, it's important to elect the right people. It's important to go to the right church, you know, but part of that is we have to get the culture right. And so we have to be putting things into the culture, ideas into the culture that are the right ideas. And so, I wrote my book, Is Atheism Dead? Because I said, the evidence from science is overwhelming that God exists. It's overwhelming and beautiful. And in fact, science was invented by Christians.

We forget that it was Christians who thought that we can explore the natural world to the glory of God. And I write about that in the book, Is Atheism Dead. If you haven't read it, I write about it in there. It's beautiful, but it needs to be communicated, not just in the book, because I know not everybody reads books. I mean, I hope people will read his atheism, that it'll encourage you like crazy. But so, yeah, we're making this TV series,

and I think it's very exciting. We have to put these ideas out into the wider culture. You know, we'll do kids' versions. These ideas need to get into the culture. Everybody needs to know. It's obvious. God exists. You know, does that mean I should go to that church or that church?

That's another story. But to say that there's no God, the heavens declare the glory of God, all of science points, to the glory of God. And we need to know this. And you and I in our lifetime, we lived in a world where people,

all the elites say, well, that's not true. Well, it is true. And the evidence has become absolutely overwhelming. And it's only getting more overwhelming. It's getting to a point where everywhere you turn, you see evidence of God. So I'm very excited.

And I think we're in the beginnings of revival that you've got all kinds of cultural figures talking about your faith in Jesus, you know, from Kelsey Grammer, down the line, this is, things are happening. It's exciting. Yeah, I know that maybe 10 years ago, you know, Richard Dawkins and sort of these new atheists, they were very trendy and popular. The God Delusion was a book that Dawkins wrote. And part of the upcoming Saccharities in the city retreat in England that you'll be at, I believe one of Richard Dawkins' professors will be one of

the speakers who is actually. His bestors, in other words, Dawkins is in his 80s. This guy is like 91, I think, or something. Yeah. And he's more aligned with our side, obviously, as we're having him as a speaker. But that's kind of amazing that, you know,

this guy, I feel like, is having a bit of some newfound popularity in that he has sort of changed his tune in his later years, I believe, and sort of, you know, is talking about it now. So that should be really important. I think of this name right now. But yes, we have, I mean, we should tell people we're doing, yeah, if you're not signed up for my newsletters or for the Socrates and Cities, there's so much going on. There's Socrates and City book clubs all over the country right now where you get a free book and this is great stuff. But we're doing a retreat at the end of July in Oxford, England.

And I think there's a couple of seats left. I'm sure there's a couple of seats left. not many, but there's a couple. So if you decide you want to spend four days at the end of July, then maybe the first day of August in Oxford, England, I am interviewing such wonderful people. So we do these kinds of things periodically. Next year we're doing a cruise on the Seat Cloud too in the summer.

That's summer 2027. So we have all the stuff that we're doing. But I'm really looking forward to the time in Oxford, you know. And of course, we'll get these videos up for folks who can't be there. Yeah, and part of, you know, what we'll be doing with the series is we'll be filming some of these guys as well for the Atheism Dead series. Is it Dennis Noble?

Is that his name or is it some? That's it. Okay. Yeah. So that was Dawkins Professor at where was it Oxford, I guess. Yeah. And it's funny too because you get people like Richard Dawkins, you get the same thing with John Cleese, they are not Christians.

And Richard Dawkins has been viciously anti-Christian, you know, arguing against the Christian faith, whatever, but they're cultural Christians. They know Islam is bad, very, very, very bad. And they know that Christians have created beautiful architecture and beautiful music. And they're willing to acknowledge, Richard Dawkins is willing to acknowledge this. Now, ultimately it makes no sense. I mean, if you say there's no God, but, but what? Why do we care about beauty and music and architecture? Why do you even care about that? They don't even know. But it doesn't matter. It's just interesting how, you know, eventually the truth wins. So, Yeah. What else is coming up later this summer? I know you're, you know, we're doing the Oxford thing. Is there anything that's coming up in the fall? And maybe you're not thinking that far ahead, but I know.

I'm traveling like a lunatic. I mean, I'm going to be, first of all, I'm speaking in a church. I think every summer, I'm sorry, every Sunday, like well into October. I think in October, I'm going to be going to Israel. for a week. So yeah, I don't know. We've got a lot of, I've got a lot of stuff coming up, a lot of stuff coming up. But mainly right now I'm focused on, well, a couple things.

First of all, I'm focused on promoting the Revolution book because I believe in our supercentennial year, I want to get as many Americans to celebrate the country and to know our history as possible. And I keep saying that it's because we haven't known our history

that we've gotten into this mess. If more people knew this stuff, it changes everything. So it's actually important, and I recommend the book, not just because I wrote it, but because I actually, I wrote it because I think the stuff is very, very important. So I'm going to be doing that a lot. But in the fall, I know that the Is Atheism Dead TV series will be launching, which is exciting, and we'll be doing some events around that.

I mentioned I will be probably be in Israel in October, but we are relaunching the Bonhofer movie on October 7th in theaters across America. and I hope people will, their churches will buy out theaters and drag people to see it. We're living at a crazy time. Anti-Semitism obviously is on the rise. When I wrote my book on Bonhofer,

I never dreamt that anti-Semitism could be on the rise like this. I just couldn't believe it. So if you want the ultimate example of how Christians should face anti-Semitism, I think the story of Dietrich Bonhofer is that ultimate example. His life is that ultimate example.

Yeah, that movie I forget what movies it came out against But I know it would have It would have done better in the box office If it had been released on a different weekend So I think there's a whole subset of people that Missed it because they were going to see I think it was maybe the Barbie movie

Was that what it was or I can't remember That and another one October 7th It's being re-released And I say again, folks, please write it down Please see it that weekend. Please, please, please. It's very, very important for many reasons. So please write that down October 7th.

It'll be in theaters. We'll get that information to you, but please write it down, plan on it if you can. So you had mentioned John Cleese, which, you know, we had the privilege of meeting him at Freedom Fest. I think it was, I don't remember how many years ago it was. It was five years ago. That is, believe it.

It's crazy. Five years ago, yeah. So we'll be going out there. this week and we'll be letting people know, we'll probably record some other guests out there that we're there right now. Like as people think to this, we may already be in, I

think we'll be in Las Vegas by the time this airs, I think. And one of the people we may be having dinner with while we're there is Rich Little, who is a, how did you, what are your first memories of him? Like what, I mean, what's interesting? When I think about it, when I was like, you know,

a kid, I'd watch TV with my mom and grandmother. My grandmother, my little German grandmother was hilarious. If you read my book, fish out of water, you see her in that book. She was hilarious. She was like a comedian. So this little German woman who just had a crazy sense of humor. And it's just so counterintuitive. You know, when you think German grandmother, but she was absolutely hilarious. And I would watch TV with her and my mom. and you know and I early on fell in love with Hollywood with you know the Carol Burnett show all the family but all that all that stuff I mean all kinds of stuff and I remember the greatest thing ever was when the Dean Martin Roasts would come on that's what I was going to say the Dean Martin

roast my mind watching I think I got a little like tape recorder and I recorded the the Dean Martin Roast like I recorded it. You know, this is like in the mid-70s. And I, I just loved it so much. And there were a few figures on there who, you know,

who were just without fail, brilliantly funny. At the top of the list, Foster Brooks, insane, Charlie Callas, insane. And Rich Little.

Absolutely. When he came on, you know, he's an impressionist. And he was famous for his impression of Nixon, for his impression of Jimmy Stewart, for his impression of Johnny Carson,

and a number of others, but he was so great, and he was everywhere in the 70s. And so I just, you know, revered Rich Little. And I had the privilege about a year ago. I was with you. We were at the last taping the Huckabee show, and he was there,

and I got to meet him. And I still can't really believe that I got to meet Rich Little. I mean, he was, I think he's 87 now. But. Yeah, he was great. I mean, he seemed healthy. I got to meet him in the other day when I was preaching in Leesburg, Virginia,

between services, I was talking to the pastor. And he said something about meeting Rich Little or praying with Rich Little or, so I, and I said, what? And I, and he said, yeah, you know, and we got to know each other a little bit. I said, where does he live today? Where does he live these days? And he goes, oh, he's in Las Vegas. I said, Las Vegas.

I'm going to be in Las Vegas this week. And it seems that we've been connected. And I hope that you and I will get to meet and perhaps have dinner with the Great Rich Little. Honestly, I don't, I'm just, I get so excited about this kind of stuff. It's like my friendship with Dick Cabot, but I love these people so much. I just can't even say it. There's just a tremendous talent and joy associated with them.

So I hope that that might happen. Yeah. Rich Little, he had a very memorable Ronald Reagan impression. So that's what I remember as well. Oh, a little later on. That was later on because that's into the 80s. I mean, I remember mostly in 70s, but I do remember his Reagan impression, of course. Yeah, it's, that's, yeah, it's, it's is incredible.

and John Wayne, you know, all those clapped. Yeah, yeah. And it's funny because he has said that there's something about those classic voices that they are larger than life and extra special. Would anybody care if he imitated, you know, Brad Pitt or any of these folks to, I mean, I just don't, it's not really the same. There's something about these 20th century figures Hollywood figures that for me, there's nothing like them.

And I'd rather hear somebody do them than I would. But you've got to be familiar with those figures, which is why I tell people watch classic movies. I always talk about the classic movies that I have watched and how wonderful they are. And I actually think they're important, culturally important. At Volvo, safety is not a feature. It's our purpose. Rigorous crash testing.

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Visitactivia.ca for more details. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think it's interesting. People are saying that the younger generations are now returning to movies. And one of the things I've noticed with my 15-year-old is he has, you know, developed a love of cinema. And so he wants to go and watch some of these older films that are getting re-released at the AMCs. They're, you know, they're doing some, you know, special re-showings of certain classic films.

Really? Yeah, throughout the summer, you know, they'll show, like, they showed Jaws. Actually, I went and saw Jaws with him and my wife, and they had a, it up on the new, it was some, they remastered it. So the colors were like unbelievable and obviously the sound was great. But in particular, the visuals of Jaws seen it remastered was really something else. It was really, really beautifully done. But yeah, the younger generation, I think they're interested in film and sort of the language

of film and the classics in a way that I think. I hope so. I hope so. I was just, I think I mentioned it the other day that Hitchcock's Rebecca, from the other 40 or 41. Oh my gosh. Some of these films are just so great. And Turner Classic Movies usually has great stuff on. Sometimes, you know, I was disappointed that they're doing the LGBTQ Pride Month and they've got some stupid stuff. But they typically are not very woke and they typically have great stuff. So Turner Classic Movies is worth tuning into. But the great film, are the great films. There's nothing like them. There's nothing like them. Freedom Fest. I know you're speaking there. What can what can people know about about that event? Well, it's in Las Vegas. I hate Las Vegas. But maybe I like Las Vegas better if we get to have dinner

with Rich Little. I don't know. I think Freedom Fest is created by a guy named Mark Skousin, who is tremendous. I love Mark. He is a descendant, a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, not making it up. Wow. He has no belly button. So are we. No, no. No, he's a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin.

Wow. You can see my interview with him. I interviewed him for Socrates in the city recently, talking about Benjamin Franklin. And we did that in Philadelphia in a room where Franklin had been in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. I interviewed Mark Scousson about Benjamin Franklin. He's written a book by Benjamin Franklin. But we did a 13-part series for Socrates in the city on the Revolution. So you should check it out.

But Mark Scousen is just a wonderful guy. He invited me to – he wants to give me an award for my book Revolution. So I'm going to get the Leonard E. Reed Award for my book on the Revolution. Five years ago, he gave me an award for my Is Atheism Dead book? And he said, this is the first time. anyone has ever won this award twice. So I feel particularly honored, but he's going to give me an award for my book

on The Revolution. And I'm going to talk about Revolution, but there's all kinds of guests there. I can't remember right now, but just tons of folks whom you'd know will be there. And I wish I could take on them right now, but there's going to be a lot of people there.

Yeah, I think Glenn Beck will be there. Steve Deese, I think, is going to be there. Yeah, and obviously you have to go to Las Vegas for it. Looks like Kelsey Grammer is going to be there. Grammar will be there. I don't know if I'll finally get to meet Kelsey Grammer. That would be like a thrill to get to meet him. Yeah, Rob Schneider, Marissa Street, Adam Corolla, some folks.

Actually, we've had a lot of these guys on the show before, Rand Paul, Nick Shirley, who's been doing amazing journalist's work. Yeah. Undercover, Dean Kane for one of the original Superman. Yep. For TV, Steve Forbes. Yes. Yeah.

So George Gilder. George Gilt. Yes, that's right. He's another amazing human being. I've interviewed him for Socrates in the studio. And we've interviewed him on this show a few times. We interviewed a lot of these folks. But yeah.

And Marissa Street is with, or Strite or Street. She's with Prager University. another just just a great a great human being so she'll be there too that's right yeah and obviously you're going to have to go to Las Vegas as you mentioned to receive the award so um it's the only hitch yeah that's the only hitch

we might get to have dinner with Rich Little oh my gosh I was just wondering like how you know like kind of you hear these rock star stories of people that you know trash or broom you know they go full full rock star like how bad could you leave a room before it would get back to the Freedom Fest folks that like, oh, man, we gave him this award. Then he went back and he knocked over.

Like how there's like a, there's like a tipping point is my question. I wonder what that tip. I think you really would have to be blackout drunk to do whatever those rock stars do to those rooms. I would think. Oh, okay. Any responsible person could do that. It would be hard to just stuff.

Yeah. Well, that's only half for today. but stay tuned. We'll be doing a update from Las Vegas after I think all this stuff goes down. So thanks for it. Did I talk, but before we go, did I talk about Broadway Danny Rose? I can't remember. No, you didn't.

I didn't talk about that. Well, okay, I think I said on this program that a few weeks ago, I had a conversation with Woody Allen. I was at this private New York club and I saw him there and I could not not go up to him. And I talked about reading his book and stuff, which his book. is called Apropos of Nothing. And you know, you have to be into Woody Allen to want to read it. But I got to tell you, I'm into Woody Allen. And what a, my breath is just taken away by his ability to write and to be funny.

It's really unique, absolutely unique, superlative. But I, on my birthday, I flew from London to Houston. I think I did talk about this on the program. And the next day I preached at Second Baptist in Houston. But the night before, I wanted to stay up because, you know, when you're traveling from Europe, you know, I don't want to wake up at 2 a.m. in the morning and be like, I'm ready for the day and it's 2 a.m. So I forced myself to stay up. And with our friends, Blake Moors, we watched Broadway Danny Rose. That's one of my favorite films of all time.

It's one of my favorite Woody Allen films, and it's not as well known, but it's called Broadway Danny Rose. And it shows the heart of Woody Allen. People don't often talk about the heart of Woody Allen. You also see that in his film, Crimes and Misdemeanors. I remember Chuck Colson wrote an essay in Christianity Today before that magazine went over to the dark side. And I think it must have been like 1989. But the film, Crimes and Misdemeanors, it's just one of the most beautiful ruminations on the meaning of life and is there a god it's just so powerful um it's with angelica houston and martin balsam and allda at the privilege of martin landau no i'm sorry martin landa thank you uh and alda and anyway but it is and jerry orbach is in it's so powerful it's one of my

favorite films as well it is a very powerful film and you see the the heart of woody allen but you really see that in Broadway Danny Rose. He plays a character, I mean, I got to tell you, he plays a character who is an agent for pretty much losers, for acts that are going nowhere and they can't get an agent

like a good agent. So Broadway, Danny Rose, he believes in them. And it is so sweet and touching. It's heartbreakingly beautiful because you see Woody Allen, he's playing, this is part of who he is. This is not just some character. He's

playing. And this agent loves these acts so much. And so he has like a one-legged tap dancer and a blind xylophonist and a woman who has birds that, you know, she dresses up as George Washington. And like just the whole thing is, is funny, but it really has heart. It's really beautiful. And, and, and of course, what's heartbreaking is one of his acts is, it's the singer Nicopalaforte who plays a character in the film. He's a singer. He's a washed up 50s singer from the 50s. So now it's the 70s.

And he's trying to stage a comeback in his career. And he's written a song called Adjita. And Woody Allen's character, Bro, again, he Rose represents, I can't even think of his name. Is it Fortune? I can't even think of his name. But anyway, the character that he plays is this washed up singer. But Woody Allen obviously loves and believes in these acts and does everything for them,

just kills himself to help them and to promote them. And it just shows the side of Woody Allen that most people don't know. It's really beautiful. And in the film, it shows that he puts on a Thanksgiving thing for them at his office. And it's all these frozen turkey. dinners and stuff. And it's sad, but beautiful because it's like all these losers gathering, but he believes in them and he cares of them. I mean, I could get choked up thinking about it. It's so moving to me. Suzanne and I really got choked up when we watched it the other day in Houston. But it really, it shows a side of him. But then there's a moment in the film where the guy that he has promoted. This is Broadway Danny Rose, this agent that Woody Allen plays.

He's promoted this singer. And the singer finally gets. his big break thanks to Woody Allen, right? I mean, sorry, thanks to Broadway, Danny Rose, the character, Woody Allen plays that he fought to get this singer, this lounge singer, in front of Milton Burrell and, you know, these different people. So he's going to get a big break. So Woody Allen makes that happen for him. And just as that happens, the singer decides to go with another agent.

Like you basically, now that he's achieved a big time, he kicks Broadway, Danny Rose to the side. And the look on Woody Allen's face, the character, you just want to cry because he's like, well, you know, this is a relationship and I've helped you and whatever. It's so real and so beautiful and so true that it just makes it one of the most beautiful films that I don't know. And the whole thing is shot in black and white. It's old New York. It's the New York of, you know, 1975. or whatever it was. I can't remember.

Maybe it's the late 70s, but it has an older look to it. But it is such a great film, and most people aren't aware of it. I think Stardust Memories is another great Woody Allen film that people aren't that aware of, which is also brilliant.

The film that he made, radio days, which I saw not that long ago, another spectacularly funny, beautiful. But I think what people miss with Woody Allen is how moving his stuff can be. It's just very moving and very real. So I feel like he's got a really bad rap from people.

And there's still people that believe he's a pedophile. He married his daughter. All of that. None of that stuff is true. Now, he's certainly not a Christian. But I get very angry when people say things about other people. And you just go, look, that's not true. You don't have to like him.

You don't have to like his comedy. You know, if you're more of a kid rock, kind of guy. Woody Allen is not for you. But I love, I just, I love some of his films I just think are so great. And I don't know if you knew this, Chris, that Sylvester Stallone is in Woody Allen's Bananas film. There's like a mugging in a subway. This is like 1970, I think, or 71 when bananas comes out. Sly Stallone plays a young thug on the subway mugging someone. So, funny. Anyway, But yeah, there's a lot of other great, great Woody Allen films.

And I know on this program I've mentioned The Elephant Man is a profoundly Christian film. If you've never seen... Unbelievable movie, yeah. If you've never seen The Searchers, unbelievable film. So there's great classic cinema out there. And I just say this because I think these things are important.

I think it's good to, you know, for us to be aware of what's out there, not just see, you know, I saw The Great Awakening and I'm good. I think that we need to be aware of that stuff. We're just about out of time. Any final thoughts? We've got about 30 seconds here.

No, just too. Thanks again for, thanks again for everyone who opted out with CSI. That was really amazing. I thought about that a few times over the holiday. Just like what a great group of listeners that we have. So thank you for listening and supporting the show. Yeah, I got to say, folks, you know, maybe it needs to be said more often. Without you, we couldn't do this.

So we are grateful. for you. God bless you. God bless America. Please do subscribe to, I'm on Instagram, I'm on X, I'm on, I'm on Truth Social now, and of course, if you're not signed up for Erictaxas.com for the newsletters or the Socrates newsletters, please sign up for that stuff because we can't communicate everything here, although we try. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder

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