The Eric Metaxas Show - #180 - John Strand

Episode Date: August 13, 2026

Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, John Strand joins Eric to discuss his imprisonment following January 6, the Christian faith that carried him through suffering, and why he is now running for Congress in Florida. Strand explains his campaign to “reclaim the Republic,” his new book Patriot Plea, and why he believes the 2026 elections represent a defining moment for America. Later, Eric introduces Grace Precious Metals CEO Bill Armor to discuss transparency in the precious metals industry, gold and silver investing, inflation, the labor market, and concerns about stagflation.⭐ ORDER NOW:Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World📕: https://a.co/d/0ir3NlapTODAY'S SPONSORS:🪙 Grace Precious Metals: https://www.metaxasmetals.com/🛏️ MyPillow — Save BIG with code ERIC: https://www.mypillow.com/☀️ 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.

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Wayfair, every style, every home. Hey there, folks. Welcome to the program. Very exciting right now to have, as my guest, my friend, John Strand. Some of you know his story. He's been on this program before. He was swept up in the J6 madness, imprisoned, suffered horribly, but came out of that because of his Christian faith,

win his Christian faith, and decided to do what I hope everybody who was persecuted for standing up in J6, what they ought to do is run for office because they've got the fire. They've seen the evil and they want to fight it. And so John Strand, welcome back to this program. Always amazing to be with you, Eric, and thanks for the fight you continue to fight. Well, it's such a privilege that we get to fight, right? At this, to be alive at a time like this. You also have a book out.

It's called Patriot Plee, which tells your whole story. We won't get to the whole story today. But if people want to read your story, it's an amazing story. And I have the privileged folks of having written the forward to this important, book. It's an important story. John, God has really given you the gift of having experienced these terrible things, but for his purposes. So you've come out the other side and now you're really fighting. So tell us, first of all, before we go into your story, where are you running for Congress? What is that race looking like right now? I'm so happy that you're running. I can't even

get over it. Thank you so much. And we need that excitement across the nation for Patriots to get involved in their government. And this election's happening in just a couple of days. Early voting starts. The primary in Florida is August 18. We are running at john strand.com on a mission statement to reclaim the republic because America is a constitutional republic and it belongs to us, but it's obviously been hijacked by Washington, D.C. We're all going to have to fight like warriors to get it back. So I am running to restore courage, common sense, and Judeo-Christian values back into the government so we can finally end fraud, waste, and abuse that's bankrupting the nation both morally and financially, and deliver what Americans and what Southwest Florida actually needs pillars of security, affordability, and accountability.

So you are now facing a primary. It's coming up pretty soon here in a couple of weeks. What is it looking like at present? I don't know, are there polls? What do you think, where do things stand today? The race is pretty wild and it's wide open. There are 10, Republicans on the ballot for this seat, which is Byron Donald's congressional seat as he runs to become the next governor of Florida. Ten Republicans, but only one of them, actually qualified with voter signatures. Every other candidate bought their way on the ballot. But John Strand Patriot for Congress earned it from the people with signature petitions. We also earned the endorsement of Charlie Kirk's turning point, Dennis Prager of Prager University, General Michael Flynn, Congressman Moran Bobobert at the Freedom Caucus. Congressman Bob McEwen, a legend and mentor, to myself and Charlie and many other amazing patriots, including yourself across the country as well as here in Florida. So we have incredible momentum and a lot of upward trajectory. I think this is the campaign this district wants and needs. And like you were saying, we need committed men of courage and faith to get into races for public office and really contend for the bedrock foundational values

of America because most people running for office have no clue and no interest in the foundation, of what makes America possible and beautiful. Well, look, when you say, you know, endorsed by Charlie Kirk's CPUSA, that says everything. When you say endorsed by Dennis Prager, that says everything. When you say endorsed by Lauren Bob McHugh

and that says everything. So praise God that you've got these patriots behind you, their names behind you. Obviously, my name is on that august list. and my name is on the cover of your book since I wrote the forward. I believe in you because I know you, John. And I am so happy that you have decided to run for this congressional seat. We need people like you in Congress.

You know, you're the hope of the future. There are not so many, right, that I get very excited about. My friend Brandon Gill, in... He's my favorite man in Congress. I mean, you know, there's just a handful of folks that you just want to cheer and cheer. year because they get it and they're saying what the people want to hear, what the people are themselves saying and wondering where are the representatives representing me and my values. So you're at the top of the list.

So it's August 18th is the primary. So anybody listening who lives in Florida, folks, you've got work to do. You've got work to do. Anyone across the country can go to john strand.com right now and ship in $25. It actually makes a difference right now because the race is wide open. Every dollar helps us push the message out as people are going to the polls to actually vote. And, you know, Eric, I'd never run for public office before. So all of those incredible patriots, including yourself who have endorsed and supported our campaign,

they obviously don't owe me any political favors, right? Why are they putting their name and reputation along the line with John Strand? It's because they've known me and they've worked alongside of me in the trenches, fighting for freedom for years since the COVID wars, since BLM Marxism celebrated and excused violence and destruction in our streets. And now we have the onset of Islam taking over our country. So we need people that actually understand the foundations, know their history, people that are going to read your book, Revolution, and remember what this country is about.

People that are going to read Patriot Plee, the firsthand witness account of a innocent American citizen who was entrapped by a corrupt federal government, imprisoned as a real political hostage in modern day America, badly abused in isolation, wildly violating the law. This is a shocking story. But Patriot plea is not just the story of what happened to me. It is our American story in real time at this moment. And this moment is not the midterms.

It is the final countdown to decide if we as Americans are going to engage in our government, 2026 is our generation's 1776. This is our revolutionary moment, but it is a spiritual revolution that must rise up because politics and culture is downstream from the spiritual condition of the human heart. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive.

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In theaters, August 28th. Get tickets now. Again, I cheer for you, John, and I hope people will get your book Patriot plea because it does tell the whole story. But just to give the basics of it. I mean, I remember I met you and Simone Gold in a parking lot. California. Some place in California.

And we had all been through hell already up to that point. And I remember meeting the two of you, and we embraced because we realized that we are, we're soldiers in arms, we're brothers and sisters in arms. We really, we're fighting. We're fighting for something. We don't know what lies ahead. But when you meet the people that are willing to fight, that are willing to suffer for what it's right and good and true, it's so galvanizing.

It's so encouraging. And so I remember meeting you both that day. And then I remember, you know, just before your sentencing, just before you went to prison, meeting you and Simone and Brandon Strock, we were together in Manhattan, in New York City. And, you know, it's been such an adventure. I mean, I remember before you went to prison for nothing, for less than nothing, for your, because of your integrity, that's actually why you went to prison. You were imprisoned for your intention.

integrity as a Christian man. You know, what you suffered, I remember, you know, meeting your mom and your sisters. I was with Lauren Bobert at an event in Colorado, and I met your mom and your sisters. And I just thought so many people have been through this hell. And you, and I say this in the forward to your book, Patriot Plee, that when you know somebody who has been through this, it's no longer abstract. Now, now people that you know and love have suffered. And I think that's part of why I hope people will read your book because when you really get the story, it changes your perspective. You're no longer just, you know, some of a bystander, but you're somebody that you're invested in it because you know this person.

So it's why I want people to read your book and get to know you on this program. Absolutely. Because you're one of many that has suffered horribly. But you've come out the other side with your faith intact. I mean, your faith brought you through this. That's right. let's be honest. It was your faith. In fact, you know, I say this, it was your faith that got you in prison because you refused to bow the knee. As a Christian, you said, I can't do that. Absolutely. You're talking about getting to know people the emotions and the textures of their character that brings the story to life.

But the incredible thing about Patriot Plee is it's not just an emotional storytelling account of what happened to me. It is built upon and woven throughout the immovable truths of script. and of God's reality, that he's gifted to us and that he is ultimate sovereign Lord. So this story is so powerful because it brings the immoval bedrock truth of God's word, of the American founding of the incredible scriptures, and founding fathers' quotes and statements as they wrestled themselves with these transcendent issues, recognized with clear-eyed, sober reality, the immovable reality of flawed human nature. And the two, you know, here's America in two easy steps.

Our rights come from God, not from government. They are unalienable. And humans have flawed human nature that is not changeable in this time. Therefore, we must construct guardrails to protect those unalienable rights from infringement. That's America. That's the idea. That's the project. And so this story tells a journey of a man in America.

growing up on these foundations and these principles, my dad served in the Navy. I was born in California where he was stationed. I've lived all over the country, including Florida, Pennsylvania and many other places, as we've really experienced the American dream in my own life growing up. But it really came crashing down around us

with COVID and BLM Marxism and these things. And I was given a choice at that time to really live out my faith and to embrace suffering. And this is the most important theme you'll discover in the book Patriot plea, I learned about it through my own actual experience. I also read about it in prison

when I encountered Dr. Victor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning. And he talks about the importance of how to handle suffering. It's actually part of what makes us human. But it's also what leads us to the full expression of freedom and just prosperity and the vibrant, abundant life that Jesus Christ said he gave to bring to us. Suffering is actually an inextricable point.

part of that. It's a paradox. It's a tough thing to wrestle through. It's really the ultimate human struggle is to understand why are bad things happening. Why am I suffering? But this lesson is the secret to success. It is the secret to fulfillment. It is the secret to purpose and to fulfilling our human destiny. I talk about destiny in the book a lot because it's really the idea of the ultimate culmination, the climax of this story where we discover and reach what God has always intended us to become. It's, you don't hear a lot of people running for Congress talking like that, which is why I'm such a fan of yours, John Strand, and such a, such a, why I'm so optimistic about the future

of America, because I know you're not the only one out there that you understand this stuff and you're willing to fight. Just so people understand the detail of, of how it was that you got swept up into the story. And this is, again, this is God's hand in your story, because, you know, we kind of think like, oh, what a terrible thing. Yes, but Romans 828, all things work together for good, for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes, including every bad thing. And what the government did to you is bad. But God used it and is using it now. But what was it exactly?

I mean, you were working with Simone, Dr. Simone Gold. And tell that story just a little bit because I want my audience to understand what happened. So I was pursuing my American dream. I became an actor, writer, musician, working in Hollywood and New York City and overseas until COVID. At that moment, I recognized a fraudulent scheme in real time. I fought back against it immediately. I suffered no nonsense or excuses refusing the masks, refusing the jabs, refusing the lockdowns. I led a freedom rally in Los Angeles of all places. That crew very vibrant, bringing tens of thousands to support freedom and President Trump, who tweeted our rally to celebrate it. That brought us a lot of energy and ability to platform other conservative leaders,

Dave Rubin, Dennis Prager, Dr. Simone Gold, and then I became the creative director for America's frontline doctors, where I continue to serve alongside of her and the frontline doctors, as well as Goldcare.com, as we fight for medical freedom across the nation. So that led us to be speaking across the country

during the lockdown period. That's what led me to D.C. in January of 2021. Now, people should visit john strand.com slash j6. That link takes you directly to a mind-blowing video. I narrate so you understand from my POV what is happening. It is security camera footage from inside the Capitol. Every step I took is in that video. So you watch that and then ask yourself,

should that man have been in a courtroom, much less in a prison? It's mind-blowing and it will give you a practical understanding of what actually happened that day. But the book is really the full story. Transcripts from the trial, evidence of lies and corruption and deceit and destruction by corrupt members of our government. In recent time, so this is a real life story still part of the fabric of what we are all experiencing today. Like I said, the 26 elections are not midterms, but a final countdown because we are in

an existential battle. We are in a war, spiritually, culturally, politically, and we're teetering on the edge of even getting to more physical violent situations that nobody in the right, mind would want. And yet we are fools if we expect to simply pretend or say it shouldn't and won't happen when that is in fact the very direction we are plummeting towards because of a total lack of spiritual understanding, the disappearance of virtue in our society and largely a lack of proper information because we have we have surrendered our children to the government. We must reject government schools. We must fight to expand school choice and prioritize parents. taking the responsibility of their children to raise them.

If you train up a child, then the way he should go when he is old, he will not depart from it, as the scripture says. So I was homeschooled, and it's a huge part of my foundation. But the way that you school your children can be different for everyone, because America is based on freedom. We simply need to reclaim that freedom and that responsibility of parents to really shape the minds and upbringing of their children, pass on their values to their children, and we need to raise up a new generation of Americans that actually understand freedom and love and pursue it because freedom is not a default.

It is a virtue that must be cultivated. Dennis Prager, President Ronald Reagan, many titans of our nation have taught us this and we must continue to preach this lesson because it is the saving grace of America. John, we have about five minutes left. I want to make sure we don't leave anything out. What should we communicate to my audience today?

First of all, I want to say, remind people again, August 18th is the primary in Florida. Folks, can you imagine what it would be like to have John Strand in Congress? What a wonderful thing that would be for the country. Honestly, that is just something that I dream about. And I hope that people listening to this program who live in Florida will get serious. I hope people will go to john strand.com and donate $25 or whatever it is that they can donate because we need voices like yours in Congress, not just.

for Florida, for the whole country. I hope people will get the book Patriot plea. But what else can we tell my audience, John? Because there is just, there's so much going on right now. What you just said about, you know, the nation moving toward violence. I mean, people need to understand. We don't want that. Nobody wants that.

But we have forces of darkness that they would be very happy to have a hot civil war. Absolutely. They don't believe what we believe. Absolutely. So we're in a very critical time. The time is now, like today, as you're listening to this, no matter where you live in this country, you can get in the fight in your own neighborhood. You can get in our fight right now.

We have a few days left to actually make a difference in win this race. And I think it's huge. So no matter where you live, do what you can. Every dollar will count. And every word of mouth is powerful. So, you know, beyond the donations that we do need, we need people to even. evangelize, right? We are evangelist for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in that, he says, go and make disciples of all nations. And he also says, do the hard work I've given you of building the kingdom

of God. So you actually need to take care of practical needs for your neighbors. And that starts with your family. And so be practical about it. I would say, get this book, because this book helps us power everything we're doing, but it's going to change your life. Patriot plea is an incredible story. And then do what you can on social media and with your phone and email lists and your circle of friends to get the message out that there aren't that many really committed patriots running for office right now. Like you said, this is a small list. We need to grow it, but find the ones that you believe are on the front lines and willing to raise up that remnant. I believe God has called me to do that in this moment. This campaign is a lot more than just me or this race.

It is about raising up the new generation of Gideons and Davids to take on Goliath and and reclaim America for the people. So we're doing it in real time, but you can definitely be a part of it. You need to. It's your calling. It's your responsibility. And it has to happen today as you're listening this

because the time is short. The time is now. That's what I would say. When I think of, you know, the fact that we, before President Trump, many of us, and I am, you know, at the top of the list in terms of guilty, I really thought, gosh, George W. Bush is,

you know, that's as good as it's going to get. Maybe Jeb Bush will be as good or better. That was where we were in this country. And President Trump came in and shook things up. He's like God's hand grenade. It just blew everything up. And I think many of us thought we never dreamt that a lot of these people that we thought of as good guys, whether it's Mike Pence or George W. Bush, that they're just kind of going along for the ride.

They're part of the problem. They don't have the courage and the vision. They talk a good talk. They claim to be Christians. I don't see any radical evidence of them living out their fate. So I hope I see them in heaven. But everything changed. And so now we're looking for firebrands.

We realize, oh, we can have people that are really fighting for the country. People like you, I mentioned Lauren Beaumbert, Byron Donald's. There are people that are just, it's a new breed. And we really didn't know that we could have folks like this in Congress. I mentioned Brandon Gill as well, that there are people that represent something that we have not had in American politics, really, until Donald Trump. I mean, he just sort of broke the mold and now it's a new day. So it really gives me hope for the nation. John, we just got a minute left.

Let me give you that minute. Thank you so much, Eric, for having me on and for the work that you do, for the wisdom that you've imparted to me. I consider you a mentor as well as a friend and a fellow soldier. And I just love the opportunity that God has given to me. And I know he's going to give to every listener of this program that is watching right now and listening right now. This is your moment. This is your country. God wants you to become a hero in your story because America belongs to you as a citizen.

And your birthright of freedom that God has given you is both an opportunity and a responsibility. So we must commit. We must be diligent. we must endure suffering, pick up our cross, and suffer as Christ called us to, but he said, Fear not, for I have overcome the world. And he has called us not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. So this is a battle of good and evil. We need to understand it.

We need to seek out wisdom and truth and knowledge. And then we must take action because the apostle James said, if you know what you should do and you do not do it, it is sin. Do not be a fool and look in the mirror and not recognize what you are. seeing, do what God has called you to do, trust in him to bring you across the finish line, and we will find success. Okay, folks, please go to John Strand.com, get patriot plea. John Strand, my friend, God bless you. Thanks for coming on this program. God is with you in this. Thank you. Amen. God bless. When we look at the headlines coming out of Iran and Israel right now, the fog of war is real.

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Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Hey, the folks, welcome. This is an important announcement. If you know me or have you watched this podcast or you were listening to my radio show, whatever, you understand that for me,

integrity is a big value. It's something I take seriously. I don't just talk about it. Honesty, transparency. These are actual values. that I hold, that I mean to hold, that I hold, and that I take seriously and I talk about, it's not performative. And so whenever we bring a new sponsor onto the show, this is very important to me because,

you know, it's nice to make money from sponsors, but I have this old-fashioned view that I should actually believe in what we're selling, believe in the people behind the companies that are that we would promote on this program. And I say all that in kind of a heavy-handed way because there are certain times when it becomes very important to say that. This is one of them because I guess the gold industry or the precious metals industry, it's come to my attention over the years and it doesn't have the greatest reputation. And so I thought, I don't really want to be working with a company on this program promoting to you my trusted viewers or my beloved viewers who trust me, who have graciously put your trust in me.

I don't want to take advantage of that. And so I say all this because the guest I'm about to bring on to talk about Grace Precious Metals, the company, is Bill Armour. He spent nearly a decade in the precious metals industry. He brings extensive experience to the metal. Mark in the broader financial landscape. And he is the co-founder and CEO of Grace, Precious Metals, a company completely reshaping an industry that, as I mentioned,

doesn't always have the best reputation. So let me say first and foremost, Grace, Precious Middles is a Christian organization led by Christian men who believe their faith should be reflected in the way they do business. So I know a lot of companies that make that claim, but Grace Precious Metals has taken some, I would say, pretty concrete steps to back it up, which is why it is my joy to bring on as my guest, Bill Armour, the co-founder and CEO of Grace, Precious Metals. Bill, welcome, forgive that, ponderous introduction, but I actually think it's very important because I want my audience to know how seriously I take this kind of thing. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having me on, and it's a pleasure to partner because, as you said, I know that integrity does matter to you. And it's so hard in an industry, you know, a lot of people don't know. Metals, oftentimes people are coming to metals for the first time. They don't have a tremendous amount of experience in purchasing precious metals. And so they're at sort of a disadvantage. And companies know that. And companies for a long time, precious metals companies have preyed on that and taken advantage of that knowledge gap. And so, what? One of the things that's really different about us is we try to eliminate all of these areas of disproportionate, you know, opakness here and make sure that people understand exactly what

they're paying, what they're getting, you know, how much do metals need to appreciate for their sort of in the green? What does a buyback look like? All of these different things that metals companies gloss over, and they do that intentionally, because again, they want to get people across the finish line here, whether it's in their best interest or not. And ideally, here without the client really ever knowing how much they've paid or how much they're going to get back for those metals. So we take that a step further here in the way that we have transformed this industry is we publish everything. So there's no questions. No client is ever, they don't even have to call us. A client doesn't have to call us to figure out what is it going to cost me to get this done.

What is it, what am I going to get for my buyback on my metals if I ever want to sell them down the road? All of these things are published and not just published, but put in writing. So this isn't just a claim that someone comes out and says, we have the best buyback. buyback in the industry, we'll show you exactly what our buyback is. We'll show you exactly what the cost of the metals is. And people are free to make informed consumer decisions, go out, compare that to any other vendor they want. And the thing that we're confident is that they will come back and say, wow, that really is the best available offer. And for a long time, it's been, you know, these commissioned salespeople whose jobs has been to drive people, you know,

build a fictitious relationship with people, and get them across. the finish line. This is the first time, I would say, in the industry ever, that we're letting the consumer, giving them all of the tools here and letting them make the best decision. So this is a big deal. And this is why I opened up with my heavy-handed comments, because I think, I mean, listen, we have to be honest. There are certain things that are standard practice. And so that's one way of saying, everybody does it. This is just, you know, in the precious metals world, this is how everybody does what they do. But some of us have a higher standard.

And we really believe that, well, it's nice that everybody does it, but we don't have to do it that way. Is it possible not to do it that way? You take that really seriously. And so specifically, Grace Precious Metals publishes your precious metal spreads directly on the website so that people can see what they're making instead of having to call a salesperson just to find out. You focus exclusively on bullion, gold and silver purchased for the actual metal content,

not high markup coins where you're paying a huge premium for the picture stamped on the outside. So I say that up front, and I didn't say that people can go to metaxis metals.com. That's the website, metaxis metals.com. But, Bill, you know, before we get into more of the details on the economy and markets, I wanted my audience to get to know you because, again, to me, that's at the heart of this whole thing. It's about the relationship with somebody, you know, whom I want my audience to know they can trust and that we kind of put our reputations on the line. We take this very seriously.

So, first of all, where are you? Where do you come from? How do you end up doing what you're doing? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm originally from Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. I have a twin brother, actually, who's one of the co-founders with me. I actually went into, I went to school for, well, I was in the Army for eight years, got out, went to school for vocational ministry. And eventually just didn't feel like my calling was vocational ministry and, you know, wanted to do ministry in somewhere or another.

So I went into finance and was serving people in that way and eventually made my way into the precious metals sphere. largely on a belief that I think biblical finance is centered on transparency, on just weights and measures. And I think that you see that a lot less in the broader, you know, shall we say, economic system that exists, the Wall Street system. You see a lot more in things like gold and silver, because, or at least you should, by virtue of, you know, metals is what it is. It can't be tampered with, can't be, can't make more of it. It's, I think it's this, this, there's almost an originality to it and a sacredness to it that I think allows metals to be a really trustworthy piece of investment of a portfolio. And so I really was drawn to that and saw the benefits here,

the debasement of the dollar. So moved into the precious metals arena. And over my time in the precious metals arena, I became really fed up with, again, these strategies here that companies push. One of them you alluded to a moment ago, which is they try to sell people what are called numismatics. And that's just a really fancy word for saying collectible coins. They may not even advertise them as collectible. They may call them private bullion or any sort of limited mintage and any number of different ways to basically say that what you're getting the value is not just the metal. It's something beyond that. The problem is, and I go back to this information sort of difference between the consumer and the metals company, is you have no

idea. The average person has no idea if that stamped coin is in fact worth twice the metal content in it. And oftentimes it is not nearly worth that. But again, you don't have the information. You can't make an informed decision on that. And so you have to trust the person on the other end of the line. And the difference here is when we talk about bullion is worth. You can go online right now. You can type in gold price. You could gold price.org. There's a number of places you could find this. And you can see exactly what the content of that metal is. And then you can compare that to exactly what you are being sold. So you'll never wonder, well, is this actually worth more?

Is it worth less? You'll know exactly what your metals cost, what you can get for them on the open market. There's no information disadvantage. And I think that that's really key. And to add on to that, no investor, at least no one I've ever talked to, actually wants to be a coin collector. They want metal for metals content. They don't want.

I was going to say, this is almost funny to me. me because it's like what you're saying is what you see is what you get it's like gold and silver that's it i mean look this reminds me a long time ago when i was a kid you know i was into collecting coins and stuff and it was always kind of like with stamp collecting you see like the blue book value or the it says that you know you're uh whatever it is you know 1930 mercury dime in very fine condition is worth this you know you're looking at it but if you try to sell it you find out uh No, you can't get that money for it. So there's this kind of hazy thing that's theoretically worth this.

But I mean, you see it's in a lot of industries. But when it comes to, you know, people, this is just, we're just talking about investment here, folks. We're not talking about if you want to collect coins, collect coins. But this is simple investment. And to cloud it really with, you know, the world of numismatics and that there are collectors out there who want this and want that. It just introduces this whole other layer. which I think you have figured out, and as I've talked to you, I've figured it out,

that it's a way that people involved in this can kind of fool the customer a little bit because customers don't understand this stuff. And so in a way, what you're doing is you're just taking that completely off the table and you're saying, you know, we're not going to get into that. We're just going to deal with gold and silver, with bullion. That's it.

It's simple. Nobody has to guess because that's the actual worth of it. There's no debate. That's the actual worth. Yeah. Yeah, you hit it exactly on the head there. It's just to simplify because, I mean, really, buying gold should not be as complicated as it is. It shouldn't take a PhD to buy gold. It should be, this is what gold is worth. This is what you pay. This is what the dealer makes. And this is, you know, where, you know, this is where gold is headed. So really, I think that the idea that gold buying has been so complicated is just a tool. Just like, I mean, think about what buying a car was 20 years ago. Now there's so much information. out there. People can kind of, you know, you can go on so many different sites and figure out what a car is really worth. But, you know, 20, 30 years ago, you had to just kind of rely that the guy at the dealership was not ripping you off. And that's where we really are today. You know,

the gold industry is behind that. We're, you know, 20, 30 years probably behind where we should be. And I think that it will catch up. I truly believe that what we were doing will make a difference that people will not pay these exorbitant markups. Markups oftentimes these major metals companies, metals companies you'd see on Fox News or any of the major networks where they're charging 30 or 40 percent spreads. So that's to say that if you put $100,000 in there, there are companies that are taking $30,000 or $40,000 of that and you're winding up with less than half. You need gold to effectively double or silver to effectively double just to get even. And people across the country have no idea this is happening. And that's why this is so near and dear to my heart is there's people

out there who will not be able to retire because of the actions of a few, what I would consider fraudulent actors. That's a big deal. And it's, it's heavy for me to talk about this because, you know, I see all those advertisements. And I, I guess I'm just glad that you exist, that you take this seriously and you're willing to create a business model that says, we're going to, we're going to make money the old-fashioned way. We're going to do it clearly, transparently.

And, you know, I, well, so the website I want to say if people want to, if people go to metaxis metals.com, what do they find there? They're going to get a guide that's going to go over really the entire metals buying process, more of the specifics of what I talk about. So if you're ever going to buy metals, that guide, I would say, is instrumental in understanding what tactics, you know, whether you buy from us or any company, what tactics might a metals company use. to disguise the price, to overcharge you. It's going to give you a list of questions you can ask any dealer, including us, that will allow you to fully understand exactly what you're being charged. And I think that it gives you the tools, I would say, to be an informed buyer. That's really what you're going to get in that guide. Obviously, you know, our stance, our spread, everything like that is in there. So again, you don't have to call us to figure out, you know, what our price is. That's all listed

on our website, in the guide, et cetera. But it'll give you the tools as well to find out what other people would charge also. I would like to think that what you're doing, which is brave and beautiful, is going to reshape the industry when people begin to figure out that the others are not doing this. Yeah. That's the hope. I mean, when I, you know, I had sort of a, as I began to see this happening, me and my brother, as we talked about this, we had this idea that I could leave this industry and wash my hands of it because I was so disgusted with it. And that's a perfectly viable thing. But doing that doesn't solve the issue that exists here. People are still going to, every person that isn't aware of this is still going to be. And these are people that,

you know, we genuinely think are good people, good, conservative, honest, Christian people that are being taken advantage of. And so the better option, you know, in my estimation, is to provide an alternative and to use the system, you know, capitalism as a whole to create something that is a better alternative to what already exists. And because I do believe people, you know, and we can talk about the finance of all of this, but I do believe that metals are a tremendous investment that they are instrumental in protecting your wealth, especially given where we are in this country and in the time period we find ourselves, you know, economically. So I think they're really important. I think people need them, I just think that, you know, the facet by which people have been going about getting

them has been so distorted and so ruined that we just need something a wholesale change. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive, extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury.

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When I say intrinsically, in other words, when we get to heaven and we say the streets are paved with gold, you're not going to get to heaven and say, oh, the streets are paved with gold. Let me get some of that and trade it in for money. It's like, no, no, no. The actual thing itself is beautiful. They're paved with gold because gold is beautiful and glorious.

And not because you can hack away a chunk of it in heaven and go cash it in and buy something with it. You don't need to buy anything. You have everything you want in heaven. It's just intrinsically beautiful created by God. It's kind of amazing. I didn't mean to get into that. But I was just thinking about the inherent beauty of it and how God created gold and silver. All right.

So the website is metaxis metals.com. But we have a few minutes maybe to get into the, I don't know if you want to talk about the jobs report from July or about inflation and the Fed or any of those kinds of things. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'll speak maybe broadly to all of the above, just so we don't take up too much time here. But a couple of things. The first piece I would mention is you just talked about the jobs report. I think that's incredibly important because it's one of the reasons you've seen markets go haywire here the last few days. And that is that the most recent jobs report was 80,000 jobs lost. The estimation, the assumption was that it was going to be a 20,000 job gain. So it's about 100,000 job differential, which may not sound like a tremendous amount. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. But it's one of the biggest misses we've had in years. And it comes on the exact same day that we get a revision back on the previous two months of another 100,000 jobs. So effectively, in one day, we find out that we have 200,000 jobs lost from expectation here, which is a big, a big change from where we thought we were. We were really, or at least I should say economists, we're looking at this saying,

okay, well, the job market is strong. Yeah, inflation's still a little bit high, but the jobs market is strong. Now all of a sudden you have to revise that thought process and say, wait a minute, people are losing jobs. And in fact, you know, another statistics that's interesting is the active people looking for a job has decreased dramatically too. So there's not just our people losing jobs, but a lot of people are saying it's so hard to find a job right now that I'm not even going to try. I'm going to take unemployment, long-term unemployment, I'm going to retire, you know, many different things. So we're starting to see the labor market shrink dramatically, which if you keep that, that's one thing to keep in the back area. Okay, so we're,

you know, jobs aren't hiring, not great jobs. But then you tie that into the fact that inflation is still about three and a half percent, so almost double what the Fed target is. So you've got sky high inflation, on one hand, you've got jobs shrinking. And it leaves the Fed in kind of a no man's land. What do they do with that? Well, do we raise rates? Do we lower rates? Both are bad options. The economy is in trouble, but inflation's out of control. The term people have probably have heard and will remember is stagflation. And that's where we are really kind of starting to cement ourselves right now. Stagflation basically means decade, could be decade or decades of not great growth in the market or bad growth or losses in the market, not great increases to wages.

So these are just things here that for the average consumer, that's really, really bad news. And it typically couples itself with, you know, potentially the bubble in the market popping. You've got sky high stock market valuations. I like to point to something called the Schiller ratio, which for those who don't know, it's just a fancy way of saying how valuable are stocks relative to what they actually produce. So not just what people think they could be or this or that, but what do you actually do? What do you actually make and money? And we're at the second highest valuation in history behind only the dot-com crash.

So you start to look at these things. You say, bad job growth. You say inflation's high. You say stocks are at all-time highs. This isn't necessarily painting a picture that if I'm a retiree, if I'm 65 and I've got my money in a 401k, I'm not looking at that saying, yeah, I'm going to do just fine. I would be looking at that saying, wow, if I don't take some really prudent steps, I am in a position here where this could dramatically, negatively impact my retirement. And I know, you know, I kind of threw a lot at the wall there, but I would just kind of hone in on the fact that people need to think critically about this kind of stuff. And I think you have to in a way we haven't had to in a lot. long, long time. So what then can Americans do? What's your suggestion? I assume it's buying precious metals, but say more. Yeah, yeah. I would say absolutely. I think that, you know, one of the things, I'll give an example here, is you look at what's going on around us with the war in Iran.

And historically speaking, we always see the same thing that this sort of trend here where oil goes up, the dollar gets a little weaker, and metals maybe pull back a little bit, and then once that war ends, you see metals scoop up dramatically. And that's been through the 70s, through just about every major Middle Eastern conflict for a variety of reasons. But what I would say to people is right now, gold and silver are quite depressed relative to what they probably should be valued at. Gold was over 5,000 here not too long ago. Silver was over 100, not too long ago. And so both of them have come down in response to this war, which, again, very traditional here. It happens almost every time. So you're provided here. The average investors provided with a really great opportunity to get into metals at a discount. And that's something that here long term, they can feel very confident about, but they can get it here at a little bit of a discount. So I'm not saying move every single dollar you have into precious metal, but I'm saying that if you're not diversifying right now, if you're all in on the market or all in on these different financial products, I think that you're incredibly exposed and that, again, I'm not telling anyone to do anything necessarily, although I would.

I'm saying that people should at least be having these conversations. And if you're not having these conversations, if you're bearing your head in the sand, then I think, you know, imagine if you're driving down the highway and you kept seeing signs that warning, you know, turn around, turn back now. It's like if you're not at least considering here, you know, what do those signs mean? What should I do with that information? Right. Then I think you're driving towards your ruin. Well, Bill Armour with Grace, precious metals, I feel really thrilled that we have you as a new sponsor for reasons that we've been talking about. And folks, you can go to metaxismeddles.com, metaxismmedals.com for more information. Bill, thank you.

Thanks so much.