The Eric Metaxas Show - Ben Zeisloft and Genevieve Collins

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

Ben Zeisloft, editor of The Republic Sentinel on the case of Michael Casiday, the Christian veteran who destroyed a Satanic display. More at republicsentinel.com.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Welcome to the Eric Metaxis show. Back again, eh? Glutton for punishment, eh? When will you ever learn? Now, here's the host that you hate to love, the man who was the reason your friend sponsored your last intervention, Eric Matt, Texas. Folks, welcome back.

Coming up, we're talking to Bennett Zeissloft about the heroic Michael Cassidy who beheaded the Satan statue in the Iowa State Capitol. Buckle your seatbelts for that. In the meantime, a few things. I want to mention, well, I want to mention a couple things. I want to mention about Socrates in the city. I want to go on about Socrates in the city. We had an event last Thursday. about it in a minute. Before that, real quick, I want to mention our new partners on this program,

the Herzog Foundation. They exist. This is their official language to catalyze and accelerate the development of quality, Christ-centered K-12, education, Herzog Foundation.com. We've had them on. We'll have them back on the program. But I get so excited about this. When I talk to people about what's going on in schools across America, I know that the solution is homeschooling or, you know, quality Christ-centered K-12 education, which can happen in Christian schools sometimes. But the Herzog Foundation, that's their vision. And they make it easy. They help you if you think, oh, I don't know how to do this.

Check out Herzog Foundation.com. I'm not kidding. What people say, hey, what can I do? One of the things you can do, this. Homeschool your kids or get involved in this kind of thing. Herdsog Foundation.com. Also want to mention before I talk about the Socrates stuff, this amazing event that we had recently, I want to mention CSI, Christian Solidarity International.

You know, if you listen to this program, at least I think you know, that we work with CSI literally to free slaves in Sudan. You've heard Todd Chapman on this program. we have to understand how big this globe is and that there are things happening on this planet, terrible things. There is slavery in Sudan. Black people have enslaved black people. It's not a color thing.

Slavery wasn't invented in 1619. It is an evil thing. And radical Muslims, they don't believe what radical Christians believe. They believe slavery is a good thing. So they were enslaving people. The UN put a stop to them continuing to enslave people, but they didn't put a stop in the 90s to them keeping their slaves. Think about this.

I'm not talking about 1850. I'm talking about today. So CSI on the ground in Sudan, northern Sudan, they have figured out a way to free these mostly Christian, women and children who are still enslaved while we are listening to this radio program or podcast. And the only problem is they need our help to do it. So as of today, now it's, we're two-thirds of the way through, let me see, our figure is 22,285. I'm doing the math here. Yes. So 110 people, That's 110 of you have given to CSI.

Now, I know that more than 110 people listen to the program. So if you have given, we've raised $22,285. And that means 89 human beings have been freed, or I'm sorry, will be freed as a result of your gift. in Sudan. But folks, if you haven't participated, and most of you have not, I want to say this is, you know, when people say, well, how do I give or where do I give? I cannot imagine a greater effectiveness with your U.S. dollar than this. I mean, this is astonishing, that every dollar you give goes to literally freeing a slave. This is not a metaphor.

This is real. These are real slaves, and you get to do something about it, right? So we always talk about, you know, Jesus comes to set the captives free. Yeah, yeah, on every level, spiritually and then makes us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, want to free people from slavery of every kind, in this case, literal slavery. It is Christians that abolished the slave trade. Some of you know my book about William Wilberforce, Amazing Grace. It's Christians in this country who abolished slavery.

the abolitionist movement was Christian. So this is about living out our faith, faith in action. So I want to tell you, if you're not one of the 110 people that have stepped up, now's your chance, folks. I don't want you to miss this. Please, please, please do not miss this opportunity. This is a big deal. We need your help.

We want to go way past our goal. We haven't reached our goal yet. But we need you to step up. So I don't know who you are. but if you have not given, go to metaxis talk.com. Please go to metaxis talk.com. We need your help. There are people literally enslaved today.

You wouldn't want to be them. We're supposed to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. If you were enslaved, you'd want someone to step up as they can. If you can step up to the tune of $250, that's not much. per month if you want to do it that way, but you go to metaxistalk.com. You can do it that way, metaxis talk.com. I'll give you the phone number. Some people prefer to call, but we need more people to step up. I think that means you today. Here's a phone number. 888-253-3522. 8-8-28-253-3522. If you can hear the sound of my voice, this applies to you. 8-88-253-3522.

or go to Metaxistalkisotoc.com, click on the banner. This is a beautiful thing. I also want to put this out there. If you can give $15,000, there's people I know listening who could do that. It's tax deductible. It would blow this thing out of the water. And I say if you're interested in having dinner with me or putting together a group, I would love to say thank you for anybody who gives at that amount, $15,000.

in your town, in my town, New York, whatever, to figure it out. By the grace of God, some people can give at that level. And I want to encourage you to do that. MetaxistalksTalk.com is the website. But whatever you can give, whatever little amount or big amount, today is the day, folks. Please start your week off right. Please do this. Please. This is a beautiful opportunity. So I want to say last week, we had a Socrates event in New York City. Some of you watched it by the live stream. If you're part of Socrates Plus, go to Socrates in the city.com to sign up. If you're part of Socrates Plus, we'll send you the video of this so you can watch this.

Everybody else is going to have to wait probably more than a month or two. But I did a Socrates event with Ron White. He is a man of Christian faith who has written magnificent biographies. we talked mostly about his new one about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, one of the great heroes of the Civil War, an amazing human being. And then we talked even more about the faith of Abraham Lincoln. Ron White wrote a book called A Lincoln, because Lincoln would always sign documents A period Lincoln, except for the Gettysburg Address. I'm sorry, except for the Emancipation Proclamation, which he signed. Abraham Lincoln. But what a conversation it was. It was so special. Ron White was just, you know, he's a new friend. I mean, honestly, when you meet somebody like this, it's just a joy. But that was the event we did on Thursday. If you're a member of Socrates Plus, you'll be able to

watch it. I recommend it. It was a great, great, great conversation. I was talking about editing these conversations for the Socrates book, which will come out this fall. I also should mention, before we go to our guest, we're doing a Socrates event in Oxford, England. We're doing a whole retreat, four days. We just signed up Baroness Cox. She is, oh, my gosh, talk about a Christian hero. She's going to be my first guest. That's July 9th in Oxford, England, 10th, 11th, and 12th.

We've got other guests. But if we've got almost 30 people who've paid, 50 is the max, because it's the Randolph Hotel, it's pretty limited space. If you're interested in going, this will be a very special time. I mean, just to be in Oxford is heavenly. But to meet the kinds of people that we've got, I want to encourage you to go to Socrates in the city.com. You'll find everything there.

And I want to encourage you as well to watch the videos, editing these conversations, some of this stuff, their treasures. Okay, we'll be right back. For 10 years, Patriot Mobile has been America's only Christian conservative wireless provider. And when I say only, trust me, they're the only one. Glenn and the team have been great supporters of this show, which is why I am proud to partner with them. Patriot Mobile offers dependable nationwide coverage, giving you the ability to access all three major networks, which means you get the same coverage you've been accustomed to without funding the left.

When you switch to Patriot Mobile, you're sending the message that you support free speech, religious freedom, the sanctity of life, Second Amendment, and our military, veterans, and first responder heroes. They're 100 percent U.S.-based customer service team makes switching easy. Keep your number, keep your phone, or upgrade. Their team will help you find the best plan for your needs. Just go to patriotmobile.com slash metaxis. Patriotmobile.com slash metaxis or call 972 Patriot. 972 Patriot. Get free activation when you use the offer code metaxis.

Join me, make the switch today. That's patriotmoble.com slash metaxus. Legacy precious metals has a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest in real gold and silver online. In a few easy steps, you can open an account online, select your medals of choice, and choose to have them stored in a vault or ship to your door. You have access to a dashboard where you can track your portfolio growth in real time anytime. You'll see transparent pricing on each coin and bar. This puts you in complete control of your money. The platform is free to sign up for.

Visit legacy pm.investments.com and open your account and see this new investing platform for yourself. Gold hedges against inflation and against the volatile stock market. A true diversified portfolio isn't just more stocks and bonds, but different asset classes. This new platform allows you to make investments in gold and silver, no matter how small or large, with a few clicks. Visit legacy pminvestments.com to get started. You're going to love this free new tool they've added. Legacy pm.investments.com. Legacy pm investments.com. Check it out.

Our love is a lie. Hey there, folks. Welcome. As I think I warned you, we would be talking about, on pleasant things, but not really unpleasant because we have hope in America. We have somewhat of a free press, technically. We have recourse. And that's where you come in. You, the listener to this program, we have to all get involved. We have to stay informed and do what we can. So today, we're talking, some of you remember Michael Cassidy, he was the one that, well, you know what, I will let my guest tell the story, just so you understand. My guest right now is Ben Zysloft. He's editor of the Sentinel, former staff reporter for The Daily Wire. He has been reporting on the case of Michael Cassidy. Ben,

welcome to the program. Great to be here. Thank you for having me. Tell my audience, so I don't do all the talking, what happened with Michael Cassidy? Give us the background on Michael Cassidy. Absolutely. So I'm sure most folks remember from last year around Christmas time, there's all these national headlines about the Satan statue established in the state capital of Iowa. And Michael Cassidy was the Christian veteran who drove up from Mississippi and destroyed that statue. He beheaded it. He pushed it down and he turned himself immediately into the police. And of course, that also made national headlines.

We were privileged to be the first ones to break that story to the public. And a few months, a few weeks later, he found out that his charges wouldn't just be a basic misdemeanor charge. It would be he would have hate crime enhancements as well. So that it completely increased the weight of his case. I want to interrupt because I want my audience to understand. Any time, any time you hear in America of a hate crime, you understand a hate crime, it's garbage. There is no such thing as a hate crime. If I murder someone, I'm guilty of murder.

It doesn't matter why I did the murder because I hated their hair. I hated their ethnic background. I hated what they said. It's called murder. So when you put on hate crime, we're already moving into Marxist lunatic territory. So let's be real clear. It can be used against our enemies. It can be used against our friends. It's always wrong. Hate crime is always garbage and we need to lay that out up front. But you're telling me, Ben, that Michael Cassidy, who is a hero, let's be clear, folks, he's a hero in doing what he did. He's being charged or he was being charged from the beginning with quote unquote, hate crime enhancements, which is, in case you missed it, garbage. So please continue. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're completely right. So it completely increased the scope of his case where, you know, he was facing a fine and it's a pretty nominal penalties. Now, again,

five years in prison. And our reporting more recently got into the nature of the prosecutor who's going after him. She, of course, is a source-funded prosecutor. folks have probably been seeing over the past couple years that George Strow's is pouring tens of millions of dollars into local and state prosecutor races and encouraging, you know, Marxist's activist essentially to take over the role of a prosecuting crimes in major cities and counties across the country. So not just in Philadelphia, not just in New York City, but also in the middle of Iowa, right? So the heartland of Christian evangelical power, essentially what you're seeing is a Marxist prosecutor making an example out of a conservative Christian.

Isn't it interesting that Soros is pro-same? Satan. Like it's just sort of, it's not a good look for George Soros. He wants people to think of him as, you know, he's a good guy. Well, we know he's evil. But it's interesting when he appoints somebody who is defending someone who put up a Satan statue. And this brings up, Ben, the real issue of how people on the Marxist left, the anti-American Marxist left, they're gaming the system. In other words, they're pretending to care about religious liberty. But we all know. know that putting up a Satan statue is a joke. Everybody knows that. In other words, nobody acts like, well, you know, these are, these are Muslims and they have a real faith. No, no, no, no, no. This is a fake invented faith, really invented just as a way to oppose people of real faith. Because, you know, Satan isn't a God you worship. Everybody knows, oh, it's Satan. So they're gaming the system. And then there are people appointed by Soros who also want to gain the system. They seem to have an animus against actual people of faith, an animus against America.

So what else have you found? But what's going on with Michael Cassidy right now? Yeah, certainly. So they just went through, they submitted a motion to dismiss those hate credit handspins and go back to a more nominal misdemeanor charge. And unfortunately, the judge in that case did decide to cast out that motion. And he's still going forward with jury selection. and ultimately it looks like a jury is going to decide on those hate crime enhancements. And again, he still faces five years in prison.

But your points about the nature of the satanic temple is completely correct. They're actually atheistic. They don't even believe in a literal Satan. They're not a true religious group. It's more satire. It's more trying to troll Christians into doing things like this, where, you know, springing a trap and inducing all this legal trouble. More recently, they're making headlines for trying to establish Satan clubs in schools across the country,

everywhere they find a Christian club like fellowship, Christian athletes, athletes. They're trying to set up a Satan club just to challenge the first man in principle by which Christians can freely exercise religion in the public square. Wow. I have to say, that's extraordinary. Now, where is your reporting on this if people want to read what you're writing? Yes, they can find all at republicsensinal.com. And on Twitter, our handle is at repubb sentinel. Republicsentinel.com, you said. Yes. So I met Michael Cassidy. I guess maybe it was at Amfest.

I always forget, where was that? Was that Phoenix in December? It was right after this had happened. And I met him. I was glad to see him there. But can you tell us more about the story? Because maybe people have forgotten or they missed it. But that this, who put up this statue and where?

Yes. So it was the satanic temple of Iowa who put up in the Iowa State Capitol. So around Christmas time, you know, just like with the public school things, where they try to essentially troll Christians, whenever the Christians try to exercise their speech in the public square. Every year in Iowa, apparently there's a nativity scene that somebody puts up in the Iowa State Capitol. So they put a statue of Bath in that this satanic idol, you know, just a few feet away, essentially. So you have this nativity scene. And then you have a statue of Satan essentially holding a pentagram surrounded by these candles and other artifacts. And I think

they also had the Ten Commandments of Satanism as well displayed there. So they're trying to intentionally, you know, get at the Christian, one of the most important holidays of Christian celebrate, which is the birth of Jesus. They're trying to troll that with this absurd play at Satanism. Right. And in a sane world, judges, law enforcement, they would know that's what's going on. In other words, what these people have done in erecting this statue is, in fact, to mock, it's more than mock. It's really to destroy by proximity the beauty of this nativity scene. So that's, everybody knows that's what's really going on. We have the beauty of the

nativity scene, even if you're not a Christian. You recognize that's what it is. Christians have this faith. And so what they're doing in erecting this statute is mocking it. Now, do you know how they could even pull this off? In other words, are the legislators in Iowa that stupid? They must be pretty stupid. But how stupid must you be to let a quote unquote satanic temple erect a statue of Bethomete? I mean, who in Iowa is responsible for this? Yeah, so it seems like they did get official approval to set up that statue. And maybe it slipped through the cracks, but in any case, you had the governor of Iowa and you had a handful of state legislators come out later and say that, you know, even though we don't like this, this goes against their values,

we're tolerated on First Amendment grounds. Whereas you're saying, I think everybody knows that Satan is a pure expression of evil. You know, we wouldn't allow a statue of Hitler to be put up in a state capital. So, actually, somebody should do that. Somebody should put up a statue of Hitler, a statue. I mean, again, you kind of, you want to, you want to troll the trollers because it is amazing. You're saying that in Iowa, I guess this gets up, this gets to something that I talk about a lot, is that you have people,

conservatives, Christians who don't understand the nature of evil. And they play patty cake with the devil, in this case, almost literally, but rather than seeing it for what it is,

you know, as a real man or as a real leader, as a real whatever, say like, sorry, kids, you're not going to get away with this. They say, oh, yes,

well, we believe in the First Amendment. That's what this is about. In other words, they're getting sucked into the trap very foolishly. Like a real leader would say,

No, we're not going to, we're not going to go for this. This is fake. Sorry, try again. Yeah, certainly. And it's worth noting that the First Amendment came from a Christian cultural heritage where, you know, the whole discussion about religious toleration emerged from the Reformation and, of course, the broad stream of Christian history, you know, because of course God does not compel faith. you know, we have to obey God according to our conscience and according to the light of scripture. And sometimes we vary in the way that we do that. But that led to the First Amendment in the United States where different states and different peoples could have different expressions. You know, if one state wouldn't be congregationalists or Anglican or Methodist or even Roman Catholic, they're free to do that in our original founding conception.

What groups like this are doing are they're trying to take that good intention and destroy it and subvert it for evil intentions. That's exactly what it is. And that's, we're seeing that on a larger scale. We're seeing that obviously with our open border, right, where we say, we want to welcome people. Like, who doesn't want to welcome people? If you're any kind of a Christian or a good person, you want to welcome people. But what does that mean?

You know, and the communist Chinese who don't believe in welcoming people, who believe in murdering you, if they can make some money off of your organs, they're happy to game the system, just like these fake Satanists are happy to game the system. We'll be right back. We're talking to Ben Zysloft. You can find him at Republic Central. Thank you.com. Hey, this is Eric Metaxis.

For years, I've told you about Nutrametics, a professional supplement brand trusted by doctors since 1993. Nutrametics offers a variety of health bundles. Whether you want to support your immune system, improve your sleep, promote joint comfort or detoxification support, Nutrametics has a health bundle right for you. The best part about Nutrimetics, every year they donate a minimum of 50% of their profits to Christian charities and missions. That's right, 50% of their profits. Nutrametics has a goal of surpassing 100 million in giving by 2030. Many of you take supplements already. Switch to Nutrametics.

It's the highest quality and they donate 50% of their profits. Get 15% off by using the code Eric during checkout. Go to Nutrametics.com and search health bundles. Support your health while helping others in need. Go to Nutrametics. That's N-U-T-R-M-E-D-I-X.com. Neutrametics.com. Use the code Eric for 15% off.

Again, Neutrametics, N-U-T-R-A, M-E-D-I-X.com. Nutrametics.com. Use the code Eric for 50% off. You might have heard Mike Lundell and My Pillo no longer have the support of their box stores or shopping channels the way they used to. Yes, it's because of cancel culture. But as a result, they get to pass the savings on to you directly by having a $25 extravaganza.

When Mike started My Pillar, it was just a one product company. With the help of his dedicated employees, they now have hundreds of products, some you may not even know about. To get the word out, I want to invite my listeners to check out their $25 extravaganza. Two-pack multi-use, MyPillows, just $25. MyPillow Sandals, $25. There's six-pack towels, just $25.

Brand-new four-pack dish towels. You guessed it, just $25. For the first time ever, the premium MyPillows with all new Giza Fabric, just $25. Orders over $75 will receive free shipping to. The amazing offer will not last long. Go to MyPillow.com. Use promo code Eric or call 800-9783057. That's promo code Eric.

80097783057.3057 promo code Eric or go to mypillow.com and use promo code Eric. Folks, welcome back. We're talking to Ben Zeissloft, who is a reporter for Republic Sentinel.com. And he's telling us about the case of Michael Cassidy, who is a veteran, a hero, an American hero, who beheaded the Satan statue in the Iowa State Capitol. Now, again, I want to be clear, folks. and I can only speak to my fellow men. If you're a man, you understand this is what men do. They step up.

He drove a long distance. There should be tons of men in Iowa who would have done this before Michael Cassidy could drive up there. But I mean, you know, this is just crazy. So he does the right thing. And then again, you got to say, what did he really do? Big deal. Like he did nothing.

You know, it's like throwing a brick through a window. Like, okay, you shouldn't have done that. but you know, you didn't throw a brick at somebody's head. So you have this idol, this satanic statue. He cuts the head off, whatever. So he's saying, I'm willing to be arrested. And they're like, oh, you've done something so terrible. So they're coming after him.

Can people listening to this program support him in any way? Absolutely. So the Sentinel started a fundraiser to support his legal defense. And we actually raised, we said initial goal of $20,000. Because like I said, at first he was expecting a pretty non-a-old. misdemeanor penalty of some sort. But now that that's increased, we've, first of all, we instantly met our goal. In hours, we raise $20,000 or more. But now he's facing these hate crime enhancements, and it's going to be a much lengthier and more expensive process. So folks, I think, have donated

over $130,000 to his legal defense. He's going to need it. And that's going to an organization that is also going to give that money to other Christian veterans in similar situations because of their faith. So folks can feel free to support that. And at every story we've been writing about Michael Cassidy, you'll see that link to donate to our GIFS and Go on the top of the editor's note, essentially. And what's that website? So it's on Gives and Go. The URL is something like Michael Cassidy Defense Fund. Can people find it through you through Republic Sentinel.com? Yep. If you go to any of our articles that report on Michael Cassidy, you'll see the link. Yeah. But the point is it's Republic Sentinel.com. Yes, that's correct.

All right. You want to repeat that over and over. Young man, let me give you a tip. Repeat that over and over. Ben's Eisloft. Here's the tip. Republicsentinel.com, because we want people to find it easily. Go to Republicsentinel.com. Any of the articles on Michael Cassidy, you can see it. It's just amazing to me, Ben, that this is happening in America. But it is encouraging to know that there are folks like Michael Cassidy willing to step up and saying, we're not. I'm not going to have any part in this. I'm not going to pray. You want to arrest me? Go ahead. arrest me. I'm going to cut off, you know, this fake idol's head. The question is really, why aren't there more wanting to do stuff like this?

Yeah, certainly. So what Michael Cassidy first told me back in December when we first broke this story is he did it because he sees these Christians in our country who are basically like frogs in a kettle of boiling water where things are getting worse and worse, you know, the net is closing around us and nobody does anything there too because it changes. gradual, but I think over the past couple years it's been more sudden, so you're seeing more movements on the Christian ends. But for the vast majority of Christians, professing Christians, you know, we see that things are getting worse and we're not doing anything about it. And unfortunately, the hour is late. So now actions like what my capacity did are more and more necessary, where you're going right for the heart of the problem, which is, you know, this myth and neutrality saying that Jesus doesn't matter in the public square, that, you know, Jesus has just much of

a claim as Satan in our state, you know, our legislatures and our laws. And our law. and that's what he was going for. So I think Christians need to rise up like he was saying and do exactly that. You know, take bold stands for Christ, be willing to push the envelope toward righteousness. And listen, folks, if you're not willing to do that, then you can write a check. Go to republicsentinel.com. Look for the articles by Ben Zysloft about Michael Cassidy and help him that way. But it's interesting because we talk about this a lot on the program.

I feel like there are people. it's funny because I wrote about it in my Bonhofer book, not realizing that there were people at the time of Hitler who were too gentlemanly to actually fight Hitler until it was too late. There were Christians who were too religious in their Christian faith actually to step up and say, this is evil. We need to fight against this. And we're seeing the exact same thing right now.

I wrote about this in my book, Letter of the American Church, and I wrote about it in my new book, Religinalist Christianity, where people are missing it. They're being more religious than actually Christian. And so I think we've criticized a speaker, Michael Johnson, on this program. He doesn't understand that if you have a Christian worldview, that includes actually fighting evil speaker. We've talked about Mike Pence on this program. This is kind of pious gentlemanliness that actually allows evil to win. And, you know, if we need to understand what is evil, evil is, you know, your wife and daughters are being raped.

Your children are being killed or kidnapped. That's evil. And so the idea that we could be so Christian that we don't fight against evil. So this is a kind of a simple cartoon example of it. You have somebody putting up a statue of Satan specifically to mock actual Christian faith. This is not like a real religion. We want to say this again. It's specifically to mock.

So instead of having the common sense to say, this is wrong. this needs to stop. You have people saying, oh, oh, we have, we have, yes, we have freedom of religion, so we have to let them do this. I mean, it's, it's just, it's almost funny, folks, but it's not funny. Ben Zysloft, I want to thank you for your reporting, and I want to tell people again, the website is republicsentinel.com. You can go there. You can read Ben's articles on Michael Cassidy. Michael Cassidy is a hero. We need more folks. like him. We want to support him. And we want to challenge the people in the Iowa State Capitol. They are, they're fools, folks. They're fools to allow this kind of stuff to happen. But if you want to

support Michael Cassidy, and I hope you do in his legal fight, go to Republic Sentinel.com and find Ben Zysloft's article on Michael Cassidy. Ben Zysloft, good to know you. Thank you so much for what you're doing. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. I'm convinced that the American Church has arrived at a significant moment of truth. We are only 75, 80 years removed from three separate regimes that killed 60 to 70 million people intentionally. The parallels with where the American Church is now to where the German church stood in the face of the Nazi regime are unavoidable. and grim. Churches need understand really what Marxism is, which is to destroy the church, to destroy the word of God. So if you capture the seminaries, you capture the pastors, you capture

the laity, you capture the soul of the world. The church is weakening, which is why Marxism is ascendant in America today. This is the hour of the American church. Folks, welcome back. As you know, we are new friends with the Americans for prosperity or Americans for Prosperity on this program. And I wanted to bring on their Texas director, Genevieve Collins, to talk about the border. Genevieve, welcome. Eric, thank you for having me. Now, listen, when I say you're from Texas, you're a seventh generation Texan. I am. My people, we got here in 1846. So you will never see another more spirited, more affirmed Texan. that's unbelievable. When did Texas become a state? I don't even remember. Well, we consider 1836 to be our true state when we became a republic, but we joined the union in 1845.

Now, I was just going to say, holy cow, amazing. Amazing. Okay, so you're an actual Texan. And I wanted to ask you, the Americans for Prosperity is involved in many things. One of those things is the border. So there are what? There were, there have been eight million. I can't even believe this. Eight million illegal crossings since Biden took office. This is insane. So how have these policies affected Texas? Oh my gosh. Eric, sit back, relax, because we have a lot to unpack here. I mean, eight million illegals have entered our country. Two million illegals have been getaways. So there's been over 10 million people that have entered our country illegally. This is true chaos. Here in Texas, we take the brunt of what everyone else in the country experiences. Our homeowners feel unsafe along the border.

Our communities are unsafe because of cartels and smugglers. We've seen massive increases in fentanyl pour into our streets. And we've seen the worst inaction from both the Biden administration and Congress historically ever to date. And I think that that's saying something. When Congress is this inactive, that's saying something. I have to ask you, I don't know if this is an uncomfortable question, but what about Governor Abbott? In other words, I just met him recently and we talked. I didn't bring this up because I don't like to say unpleasant things to people.

But it can't, I cannot help think that the governor, of the state would have been able to do more about this early on. I mean, I don't get it, frankly. Do you know how that works? Well, so, well, a little bit. I think we need to step back and realize March of 2020, COVID happened, but under President Trump, we had remained in Mexico. You had Title 42. And then once Biden became elected, he changed every policy. His rhetoric was very different. And he began this open sense, these open border type. rhetoric and type policies, you know, taking away Title 40 to taking away, remain in Mexico, and left Texas, Arizona, New Mexico hanging, right, that we were left to hold the back.

And so when we look at what Governor Abbott has done, when we had massive caravans begin in the year of 2021 and continue into 2020, to Texas had to do something. We were being invaded. Our communities weren't safe. Our citizens were not safe. So because the federal government abdicated its duty, Governor Abbott stepped in. And what initially I would have conceded was political theater, sending migrants to all these illegals to these illegal sanctuary cities, New York. By the way, that's brilliant. Political theater sometimes is the most powerful thing. And I, that's, That was absolutely, there should have been much more of it, in my opinion. Well, it's still going on, but the reality is that that initial step of political theater actually created what is now a nationwide belief that we have a massive border crisis, because now it's a shared burden. Now it's not just Texas that is taking on all of these illegals. It is that every state is now a border state, every town is a border town, and that that

message is being felt by voters, regardless of your ideology. They're seeing illegals in their own communities and saying, wait a second. So Governor Abbott has done a herculean job. This is a long way to say that. A herculean job of really spreading the message and sharing the burden across the country and highlighting this administration's abdication of their first duty, which is protecting American citizens. Well, it seems to me that it's worse than a mere abdication of duty. In other words, if I look at the situation, it seems to me that the Biden administration is working against the United States of America. Now, this is one thing to kind of blow it. It's one thing to let your guard

down. It's another thing to actively encourage what shall we call it? It's evil. We have strangers. We're not talking about poor people from Guadalaj. Marala. We're talking about Chinese nationals. We're talking about people, wicked people with wicked designs coming into our country. This is being encouraged by the Biden administration. I mean, it's an amazing thing to me. So we talk about in these kind of fancy terms like it was all the rule of law. Yes, I mean, that's basic. But it seems to me that they know that they're doing this. I absolutely concur. You know, not only are we having sleeper cells that we don't know where these people are coming into

and where they're dispersing into our country, but the rhetoric, the lack of any type of policy or just the belief that our border agents are worthy and are doing an incredible job, and he continuously puts down our border agents. There is nothing that you can say about this administration, that this Biden administration has done anything well. Not at all. They've made our entire country less safe. And they're making sure that our law enforcement feels diminished. And they're making sure that our communities are ravaged.

How is that acceptable? Well, no, it's not acceptable. It's kind of funny because I think there are a lot of people still stuck in the past. When they think of the Democratic Party, maybe they think of Tip O'Neill or Jimmy Carter or even Bill Clinton. we're in a new world. We're in a world where Biden, the Biden administration, because we don't know who's making the decisions, it's certainly not Joe Biden. But they're doing things that seem calculated to destroy our sovereignty, calculated to mock everything we hold dear. And people need to get involved. I want to keep you on for another segment. But in the meantime, folks, we're talking with Genevieve Collins, who's the Texas director of Americans for Prospects. You can go to secure border, secureamerica.com. I want to encourage you to do that. Secureborder, secureamerica.com.

You can find out more there. Secureborder, secureamerica.com. Be right back. Welcome back. We're talking to Genevieve Collins, the Texas director of Americans for prosperity. So Genevieve, tell us more. We're talking about the border crisis and what you all are doing. Well, Eric, first off, thank you for highlighting and continuing to highlight that immigration

reform and border security are highly necessary. And Americans for Prosperity, we've done a couple things recently. First, we've released a poll, nationwide poll, really highlighting how now the temperature across swing voters has really changed and shifted, really moving the voter voting electorate to believe that border security is the number one most important thing. So we have four pillars in our poll that I'm happy to unpack, secure the border and ports, number one, number two, increase American competitiveness. Number three, have clear and predictable rules.

And our fourth pillar is transparency, accountability, and due process. Happy to unpack those. But the reality is that voters across America, especially swing voters, see border security, as one of the top two issues in the country here in Texas. It is hands down the number one issue, regardless of your ideology. Border security is now that across the country. I was going to say, you know, what we call minority voters across America, who typically would have voted with the Democratic Party

are increasingly realizing that the policies of the Democratic Party are threatening their lives, threatening their jobs, and they're saying, you know, we're not going to have this anymore. It's an amazing thing that the Biden administration seems to be at war with itself. In other words, they're doing things that I guess they're very, very cynical reason for doing this is to flood the voter rolls with illegals who are voting and many other things along those lines. And at this, but at the same time, they're playing this game where they're losing voters because there are people in towns across this country.

You think, well, I would have voted for Biden, but what's happening, we've never seen anything like this. So it's really, it's working against them as much or more than it's working for them. Absolutely. Whether you're talking about McAllen, Texas, or inner city Chicago, you know, once historical confirmed Democrat voters are seeing how this administration is leaving them behind, not focusing on their safety, not focusing on their welfare, not focusing on their education, right? They're seeing how this administration is treating illegal immigrants exponentially better than American citizens.

And they're saying, wait a second, I voted for you last time. But you've forgotten who I am. You've forgotten about me. And I'm a minority voter, right? Those are the folks, inner city, Chicago. All of these migrants are going into inner. city Chicago, taking up homes from longstanding communities and longstanding constituents in the Democrat Party and are getting credit cards, are getting free health care, are getting education,

are getting better, are getting treated better than American citizens. And they're saying, I've had enough. Can anybody make any sense of this, Genevieve? I really, it strikes me as like, genuine wickedness. In other words, I can't believe. that anybody has a rational reason for what they're doing. It just seems, it's astonishing. I don't think there's anybody in America who looks at this and says, well, that makes sense. Why would the government be using your taxpayer money, my taxpayer money, the taxpayer money of every American to do this? What would the excuse be? It doesn't make any human sense. I genuinely don't know, because I cannot comprehend like you how you can,

treat illegal immigrants better than you treat American citizens who are taxpayers, who are rule followers, who are doing their best to get by when hyperinflation is happening and they're paying more to get less? I cannot comprehend how they're insane. We're glad to have you, Genevieve Collins. We've been talking to Genevieve Collins. We've been talking to Genevue Collins, Texas, Director of Americans for Prosperity. You can go to the website, SecureBorder, SecureAmerica.com. please go to SecureBorder, SecureAmerica.com. Genevieve, thank you. Thank you, my friend.