The Eric Metaxas Show - Ned Ryun

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Ned Ryun CEO of American Majority shares his new book "American Leviathan: The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism".

Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Eric Mataxis show, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you can protect your wealth with noble gold investments. That's noble gold investments.com. Welcome to the Eric Mataxis show. It's a nutritious smoothie of creamy, fresh yogurt, vanilla protein powder, and a mushy banana. For your mind? Drink it all down. It's nummy.

I wop, vanilla. I wopanella. Here comes Eric Metaxus. Folks, welcome to the program. I'm excited to talk to Ned Ryan. Who the heck's Ned Ryan? You ask, some of you. Well, I have an answer for that.

First of all, Ned Ryan, welcome to the program. Before I introduce you properly. No, great to be with you, Eric. I'm looking forward to this. Listen, you are the author of an important book, a new book, called American Leviathan. Most people get the reference. Leviathan, wicked, bloated government, deep state, you name it.

American Leviathan is the title of the book. I know you, you know, in various capacities, American Leviathan is your new book. What was the book that you wrote about Bunker Hill that I talked to you about? The Adversaries, a story of Boston and Bunker Hill, which historical fiction, 90% of it, I would say, is true history and then I colored the edges a little bit. But I loved writing that book, Eric.

I think it's one of the most important times in American history, the nine to ten months before Bunker Hill, as things accelerated towards what are the colonists going to do in the face of this authoritarian behavior from the British Empire. So I loved that book and I really appreciated talking with you about it. Well, it was amazing to me that you wrote that book because it's kind of like when people say, like, to me, like, who were you to write a book on Bonhofer?

well, I'm not an idiot and I know what's true and what's not and what he said and what he didn't say and what, you know. And so, but you what made you decide to leap in to write a book about that period in our history, the American, you know, the time just preceding the American Revolution. I'm fascinated by the founding of this country. I'm fascinated by the men who were in what is one of the most, important periods, obviously in our history, but I would argue world history and just the different things they had to examine. I've done. What do you mean you would argue world history? Undeniably, world history. The creation of the greatest nation in the history of the world. No exaggeration. It is just there is nothing more extraordinary. And of course, because many have forgotten that, that's why I get excited talking about it and talking to you, because we need to remember

We need to remember why they actually fought. You know, there's been a lot of, and I addressed this in the new book, American Leviathan, in which there's been attempts to revise this revisionist history led by the progressive status, who were trying to make the argument that actually our founders fought the American Revolution for economic reasons, when in fact, Eric, they fought for natural rights. They believe that there was a transcendent creator who had endowed every man and woman, man and woman, with natural inherent rights, and that their job and responsibility was to be loyal to their creator.

In fact, they viewed all rights as coming from their creator to not defend those rights was to disrespect, demean the one who gave them. The British Empire didn't give them their rights. The British Empire, no earthly power gave, no earthly power can take away. And that really was what was taking place in our founding and the American Revolution and the founding of our Constitutional Republic. this idea of where rights come from and then their responsibility,

our founders truly believed in a rights-based government. I would remind people go back and look at the opening lines the preamble of the Declaration. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty,

the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights, governments exist among men. Governments are meant to secure rights, not give them, and more importantly, not take any of them away. and that's why I talk about a rights-based government in American Leviathan. Now, before we get into American Leviathan, you're the founder and CEO of something called American majority. What is that, Ed?

It's something I started, I'm in the 18th year, which sounds crazy to say, Eric, something I started January of 2008 with the idea of going out and equipping good men and women to run for state and local office. I'm a big believer that politics is policy. I think we in conservative circles sometimes, I think many times, get enraptured with the goodness of our ideas, and they are good ideas, they are successful ideas. And somehow think that somehow because of the goodness of our ideas, they will be enacted. I believe that politics is policy. You actually have to know how to win politically, achieve political power, and maintain political power to actually implement the right policy ideas. and really big believer in you begin national generational change at the state and local level. So we identify and train people to run for school boards for city councils, county commission, state, house, state senate,

and at the same time equip the grassroots, how they can be more effective politically, in hopes that we create a groundswell at the local level that impacts their communities, that then impacts their state, and eventually impacts the nation for this national generational change. It's what progressives did at the turn of the 20th century. The turn of the 20th century, progressivism started as a state and local reform movement, bubbled up to the surface and then had this massive generational change on our government and our nation as a whole. And I'm kind of wanting to reverse engineer that with the American majority. And that's why we like you, Ned Ryan.

Okay, so, by the way, I have to mention this. Originally, I know you as the son of Jim Ryan, That's right. Privileged to meet many times. Your father, he, okay, more recently he was a congressman, but he burst onto the world scene in 1964. Right. For being the only, well, the only, the first high schooler swirled to run a sub four-minute mile. Yeah.

No, he's considered, still considered one of the greatest American middle distance runners, quite frankly, one of the greatest middle distance runners the world has ever seen. As you mentioned, broke the four minute mile in high school. Not too long after Dr. Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile for the first time ever. And then went on to become a three-time Olympian world record holder in the mile, 1500, half mile, American record holder in the two mile. Just an amazing career, Eric. And the thing that I, I, I, I always like to remind people, the bulk of his career when he did all of these amazing things was essentially from the age of 17 to the age of 25. He was retired from his international Olympic career at the age of 25 because back then, people have to remember it was a strictly amateur sport. He was married, already had my older sister, my brother and I were on away. He had to figure out actually how to make a living to support his family. So at the ripe old age of 25 had retired from competitive running.

Obviously, as you mentioned in 1996, ran for Congress, was in office for 10 years. And I think one of the things that's pretty incredible too recently, Donald Trump gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And I remember when I told my dad had a lovely conversation with Trump. I think this is going to happen. Then Trump confirmed. In fact, Trump let me give my dad the letter confirming that he was going to get the Medal of Freedom. And a couple of days before the ceremony, which was summer of 2020, my dad called me and said, I think this is a big deal, right? This is the highest civilian award that you can get in this country.

He's like, I know it's a big deal, but like, how big a deal is it? My dad, there's only two Olympic runners that have ever received the Presidential Medal Freedom. One is named Jesse Owens, and the other is named Jim Ryan. So it's a pretty big deal. I'm going to be number three. I'll be real clear. I can run a six-minute mile if I really train. No, your dad, I mean, it's just, it's amazing.

I'm a runner. The only thing is when I think of middle distance running, unfortunately, I want to puk. I mean, literally, like the idea of running at that speed for more than, I don't know, 100 yards, I'm out. Ladies and gentlemen, for that reason, I'm out. Okay, so let's talk more about America. your book is called American Leviathan. Give us 40 seconds and then we'll go to a break and we can get into it.

But what is at the heart of the book American Leviathan? The subtitle's birth of the administrative state and progressive authoritarianism and really discussing the rise of this administrative state that is deeply un-American, deeply unconstitutional, and has nothing to do with representative democracy. And I would argue, Eric, is really a slow-moving revolution slash regime change against our Constitutional Republic that began at the beginning of the 20th century. And that's where we are today in the 21st century, when you see different parts of our government

trying to take out the duly elected president by the name of Donald J. Trump. It's been a long time in the building, and I want people to know where it came from. All right. We're going to be right back. Folks, I'm talking to Ned Ryan. It's R.Y. You. You. R.Y.U.N. Ned Ryan. We'll be right back. Numbers don't lie. The impact that Balance of Nature makes every single day is astounding. You can see the numbers for yourself on their website at Balance of Nature.com.

Listen to these stats concerning Balance of Nature's worldwide success. More than a thousand success stories reported each month, hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide, millions of orders delivered each year, and billions, yes, billions of fruits and veggie supplements consumed by people who've decided to start living better. There's only one number missing, and that's you. Do what I did and add yourself to these numbers.

Start taking Balance of Nature's Whole Food Supplements like so many others around the world. Here's another number that should get your attention. 35% use my discount code Eric to get 35% off plus free shipping and their money back guarantee. You must use my discount code Eric. Call them at 800 2468-751 and use discount code Eric or order online at balance to nature.com. Use discount code Eric to get 35% off plus free shipping balance of Nature.com. Hey there, folks.

My Pillow is excited to announce that their Christmas extravaganza is finally here. Get this season's flannel sheets for as low as 59.98. They won't last long, so get them while you can. They're famous My Slippers. Those haven't been on sale for a long time, regularly priced at 11998 for a limited time now, 5998. And their six-piece towel sets are back in stock with extremely limited quantities, only 2998. With hundreds of My Pillow products, there's something for everyone on your Christmas list. for bathrobes, duvets, quilts, downcomfurt or so much more.

Go to Mypillow.com or call 800-978-3057. 800-9757. Be sure to use promo code Eric to save on all MyPillow products. That's promo code Eric. Flannel sheets for as low as 5998 or the six-piece towel sets for just 2998. But that's not all. They're extending their 60-day money-back guarantee till March 1st, plus all orders. $75 or more.

Ship absolutely free. Mypillow.com. use code. Eric. Welcome back talking to Ned Ryan, R-Y-U-N. The book is American Leviathan. Okay, so, Ned, one of the reasons I love talking to you every time, like, I agree with you, you know, violently.

It's what we just said before we went to the break. We have many of us in only in recent years been waking up to what has been going on. And it does, you know, tie into what we talked about. the run up to the revolution, where people begin to wake up and say, excuse me, this is intolerable. You know, that's why the draconian tyrannist acts. Authoritarian acts were called the intolerable acts by the colonists. They said, this is intolerable. It's a usurpation of our freedoms, of our rights.

We will not tolerate it. And King George III utterly out of touch. I mean, it's almost astonishing sometimes how stupid. leaders can be. He really doubled down and doubled down and double down. And it's like, okay, you want to double down? You're going to get a war and you're going to lose the colonies. We're in the same place now because of what's been going on and because they doubled down,

people woke up, more people woke up, more people woke up, more people are now aware of this false narrative, these lies that have been pushed for decades. And many of us kind of went along with it. So you wake up, you wake up, you're like, okay, wait a minute. now we're going to war. So it's not, you know, a hot war. We're not picking up muskids. But we realize that unless we do something, it's game over for the American founder's vision of liberty, what we've had all these centuries. And that's exactly where we are now. And the re-election of Donald Trump, by the grace of God only, because we didn't deserve it. It's a miracle of God. That makes it

possible for us to win back our freedoms and we've got a big, big swamp to drain. So that's kind of the issue. So first question I want to ask you is an American Leviathan, do you kind of get into what we need to do? Because we've got a lot of work to do. We're just starting now. We are. This is just the beginning. This is just the end of the beginning, Donald Trump being elected for the second time. It gives us a shot at the great restoration. I'm a big believer having studied the American Revolution in many ways it was the American restoration in which the colonists fought for the restoration of their natural God-given rights. And I do see the echoes of that taking place today in which an authoritarian form of government was trying to dictate to the colonists, take away their rights as Englishmen. Let's not forget they were Englishmen on the other side of the ocean and say you don't have those rights aren't sacrosanct.

they're more series of suggestions. And in this time, we've decided this is what we are going to do. And this is King Georgia Third, his ministers of parliament. And the American colonists said, we don't think so. We believe we have a duty and obligation to actually fight for our God-given rights. Fast forward to today. I believe that we have been far more than the American people understands, been facing an increasingly authoritarian form of government that is dictating to the American people,

that this is what we will compel you, to do what we tell you, you dirty little peasants, or else there will be results. You'll have pre-dawn raids, pro-lifers, all the people showing of school board meetings, you'll be targeted. All of these things that are taking place will target the duly elected president of United States because he had that temerity, Eric, to show up in January of 2017 and essentially announced, I'm the duly elected president of United States. I'm the one who decides. And permanent DC administrative state, however you want to define it, said, we don't think so. We think we're the ones decide. And quite frankly, Eric, they would be correct for almost 100 years because that was always

the original vision of the progressives like Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Crowley, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert LaFaulette. All of these people wanted to separate out a massive bureaucracy, the American Leviathan, fill it with unelected bureaucrats who they thought should do the governing, should do the deciding. And it's been building, building, building. And the reason that it hasn't come to the surface earlier, that it took Donald J. Trump because he rejected the premise. He rejected the premise that this was legitimate. He rejected the premise that this was constitutional and said, I don't think so. And a government of by and for the people in which all power flows from the people to their duly elected representatives for them to decide with the money and power given to them

how to form and create a government that actually advances and protects the interests of the American people every day, I'm the one who should decide. And so what you're seeing with Donald Trump and the permanent DC administrative state is a massive clash of two very different governing philosophies, a constitutional republic versus a bureaucratic statist administrative state that tends to become very authoritarian because, again, Eric, they viewed the unelected bureaucrats through applied science would lead us to a higher plane, literally the apotheosis of mankind, the deification of mankind. They are your betters. They're only trying to make society and you better. Why would you ever question them?

Okay, let's just want to underscore or annotate. You know, what you just said, these two philosophies, folks, one of them is satanic. I don't use those words lightly. One of them, when we talk about the apotheosis of humanity, the deification on some level of humanity, this is a satanic project. It's utopianist. It is false. It is a lot. You feel being in statism.

And it's like Satan saying, you can be as gods. Blow off, you know, God is trying to keep you down. You can be as gods. And just follow me. And of course, you will be slaves. And so this is what we're dealing with right now. And if it hadn't been for Donald Trump, and let's be clear, it was God. It was not Donald Trump.

Donald Trump himself was not aware in 2016 of the forces of hell that would be unleashed against him. And he found out in his first term, and he found out way more in the last four years. So we have all been on this process of realizing we thought, you know, the Republicans were kind of on board with us. Many of them are playing patty cake with the devil, serving the devil. And again, forgive me, ladies and gentlemen, for the, you know, abbreviated terminology here. You can call it what you want. But they're not serving the founder's vision. Patriots have died for the founder's vision for what Thomas Payne and George Washington and Sam Adams for for what they brought. That's what patriots have died for over the centuries. And we are now

dealing with people in our own government, and that brings us to your book, American Leviathan, who are at odds, who are effectively representing George III, who are effectively representing British tyranny, except now it's not British tyranny, it's globalism, tyranny, it's Marxist tyranny. They are at war with we, the people. You know, you said a couple interesting things there. I want to unpack it really quick. The administrative state to me is a modern day tower of Babel, in which they tried to, in scripture, build a tower so they could be just like God. And they truly did believe the progressive status. I don't want to call them progressives, because it's a very regressive worldview on a whole host of fronts. They are progress.

status because they believe through the power of the state, Eric, we would achieve salvation. So a couple of things on this front. People think, why, people ask, why does D.C. continue to grow and grow and grow? Why does the American Leviathan continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger? Well, if you believe that the state is salvation and that the state should invade every aspect of your life to bring salvation, growth is in the DNA of the administrative state. And until the state invades, I would say invade, they would say come into and save, every aspect of your life, whether it's health or education, you name it, the state needs to continue to grow, therefore perpetual growth is in the DNA of the administrative state until salvation is achieved

in the here and now. They truly believed that because of this, everything should be subsumed by the state. They viewed the state as a living organism, that there was no such thing as natural inherent rights. It should assume corporations. And the state should only give back to the individuals or corporation writes that it deemed necessary for the advancement of the state. This is the worldview and philosophy. I mean, they were heavily influenced by Georg Hegel, the Prussian propagandists. I refuse to call him a philosopher in which he said the state is the march of God on earth. The state was to decide objective truth. The state was to decide what science was. All of these ideas were imbued into these progressives who founded the administrative state to then get us to the

point where in the 21st century, we look at this and go, this makes no sense. This has nothing to do with a constitutional republic representative democracy. That was the point from day one, Eric. This is what I wanted to write the book for people to understand. This is not a mistake. This is not some bug. This is the feature of the administrative state. Powerful, unelected bureaucrats, for which the American people have no recourse of grievances, by the way. They didn't elect them. They really don't have any interaction with them. They are dictated to by these unelected bureaucrats. That's what these progressives wanted from day one 100 and some years ago. And now we find ourselves standing here going, how did we get here? It was the point the entire time.

And so you asked earlier, I've got a whole series of solutions towards the end in which a very powerful executive as head of the Article 2 branch, the duly elected president of United States, can actually take some really aggressive stances and changes, even if Congress proves itself feckless. And I think Donald Trump is the man for the hour on that front. There is not, just as George Washington was and Abraham Lincoln was, there's no doubt that God created Donald Trump for this. And here we are.

Can I just say. Hang on, we're going to break. Ned Ryan is my guest. The book is American Leviathan. Much more on American Leviathan with Ned Ryan. Don't go away. Folks, welcome back talking to Ned Ryan. The new book is American Leviathan.

I cut you off at the break there. Ned, what were you just going to say? You and I are both men of deep faith and our faith in Christ and our faith in a transcendent creator and eternal rewards and punishments, all these things. God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. We have seen, I'm sure you've seen it, I have seen it in my life, where he took a Manhattan real estate billionaire, who if you were to have asked me 10 to 12 years ago, do you think Donald J. Trump will be the vehicle by which we could actually have a shot at

restoring the American Republic? I would have said, you are crazy. And yet God works in mysterious ways. And I truly believe, based off everything we saw with Donald Trump's life being saved, the political courage that he has shown. I've made this point, Eric, before I want to make it again, it reminds me very much of the David versus Goliath story. If you go back and look at Scripture, Malcolm Gladwell made this point, it's worth repeating here. David did not slowly approach Goliath.

He did not walk towards him. He did not stand there. He ran at Goliath. It froze Goliath. It threw him off in such a way that it gave David a stationary target. Donald Trump in many ways is like David. He knew what he was up against. He didn't slowly walk towards it.

He certainly didn't run away from it. He ran at it. He ran at these very powerful forces, which to me is part of the incredible story. The other part of the story, though, that I have to share about David versus Goliath, David kneels down and picks up five stones. And I tell this just as a random, you know, a little bit of sidebar.

He picked up five stones. Why did he pick up five stones? He knew he was going to kill Goliath with one stone. Well, there's scriptural evidence that Goliath had four brothers. Five giants, five stones. David was going to kill him all. And that kind of, to me, is the mentality of Donald Trump. He's running at Goliath.

He is running at these giants. And Donald Trump possesses the political and moral courage to actually run at these giants and say, figuratively speaking, I'm going to kill you all. I am going to destroy the administrative state. I'm going to restore the republic. And that to me is an incredible story that I think we need to actually think about a lot more, who's somebody who knew all of the dynamics that he was facing, and he still chose to do it and run at the giants.

And he deserves all kinds of credit. God works in mysterious ways at the same time. We have to be faithful to actually take that first step. and it is an incredible act of courage what Donald Trump has done, especially in the last four years. I couldn't agree more. I have to say just a few minutes ago, you were saying something about, you know, this utopianist, Marxist, globalist scheme, it's the Tower of Babel. The weird thing, my most recent book, Religinalist Christianity, I laid this out. It is the Tower of Babel.

It's a satanic project to ascend into the heavens without Christ, on our. own. Why? Why does Satan want to ascend into heaven? He wants to murder God. He wants to murder God and he wants to be God. Luciferian. What's that? Yes, it is. It's very luciferian. That's what these globalists are involved in, whether they know it or not. Most of them don't know it. And in some cases, you could even argue that Donald Trump doesn't quite know everything that he's doing. He wouldn't phrase it the way Ned just has or I often do, but he is clearly God's appointed, anointed man to do this and to restore the republic. And we've got tons of work to do. And there are other giants to be slaying. It's not just, oh, we won the election great.

We have to now drain the swamp. We have the whole culture to deal with. That's kind of God's calling on my life, the culture and media. We really, we've got a lot of work to do. But the parallels to our founding, I mean, it's so interesting to me, because, you know, Because when the American people woke up, you know, after the Stamp Act and on and on and on, they were increasingly, it's the same dynamic where the tyrannists British, they kept doubling down. Instead of intelligently saying, you know what, oh, you have a point. They double down, double down, and they caused the conflagration, which made them lose the colonies. It's the same thing with the left in America. If the left had not attacked Donald Trump the way they did, most Americans would not have woken up to the

battle we're facing, of election fraud and vaccine mandates, and every kind of lunacy, transgender lunacy, all this evil, in a sense, they doubled down on it more and more and more and more. So people who were on the fence and would have been happy to stay on the fence woke up. And so that's why we are where we are now, where we were able to reelect Donald Trump in a landslide and where there's a mandate to go after many of the giants that you're talking about. So a couple things in the book, American Leviathan, I described these progressives as utopian status. They truly believe that they were going to achieve utopia in the here and now, the social gospel heretics, that they would create the kingdom of God in the here and now through the power of the state, that the state was salvation,

versus the optimistic realists, i.e. our founders who were optimistic they could create a form of government that protected all of our God-given rights and took none of them away. and yet at the same time, we're realistic about human nature. We're imperfect human beings in an imperfect world. We should ever be trusted with consolidated power. Therefore, the diffusion of power, the separation of powers. That's the beauty of the machinery of the republic that, again, progressives went out and wanted to destroy. They believed separation of powers was a bug.

They didn't think it should be a feature. They wanted to consolidate it. They don't believe in the fallenness of man. Exactly. All of our founders understood that because mankind is fallen, we have to have separation of powers. They have to have checks and balances because power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely. They understood that, which is why they created the system. That is precisely the opposite of what these utopianist globalists believe.

They believe mankind is perfectable and we are not fallen. Exactly. And the thing is the founders did not trust imperfect human nature. They didn't even trust themselves. They did not create a form of government with consolidated power that have actually advanced their specific individual priorities. The utopian status, of course, trusted imperfect human nature. nature and belief to the power of the state could reach perfection. Folks, the book is American Leviathan. We'll be right back with Ned Ryan. Welcome back,

folks talking to Ned Ryan, author of American Leviathan. Okay, Ned, what else? I mean, I want to say, before we leap back in, to be clear, the founders understood that it was only possible to have ordered self-government and liberty if God is in the picture. They understood that. Right. The utopinist, globalists, progressives, Marxists, whatever you want to call them, the big statists, there is no God for them. They are God. They want to be as gods. They have a completely different view. They have no trouble with enslaving people. They think less of. They don't believe in all this corny stuff like we're all created in the image of God and we have equal rights. They don't believe into that stuff. And so that's what we've been dealing with. Yeah, no. I mean,

this again goes back to the founding of the progressive movement. Frank Goodnow, who was one of the founders of the progressive administrative state, he founded administrative law. He truly believed that you did not have God-given rights. You had rights as society gave them to you. And therefore, you know, that whole entire vision and view of humanity and where rights come from is how they built the administrative state. That is fundamental foundational to the administrative state. So over the course of the last hundred years, really 1912 was. a huge pivot point, Eric, in our history with the election of Woodrow Wilson, and by the time

he was done in office, they'd begun the administrative state. So I say it's been going on for over 100 years now. Over the last 100 years, it's built and built and built. And you have this nasty, ugly, bloated bureaucracy in D.C. And Donald Trump, the point to make at the end of the book is this. Donald Trump says he is going to drain the swamp. Fundamental to drain the swamp. Fundamental to drain the swamp is breaking the foundation of the swamp, which is the administrative state. You break the state to drain the swamp to restore the republic. And it is my hope that Donald Trump does not think he should trim regulations or trim spending, but go after the fundamental root issue of what we have been confronting as a country on a whole host of fronts, which is the

administrative state. You have to shatter the administrative state into a million pieces for a whole host of reasons, including the fact it has nothing to do with our Constitution Republic or representative democracy, but if you truly want to drain the swamp, you have to break the state. Well, so obviously you and I think this is somehow doable by God's grace. In American Levithen, do you talk about that, or what are your views on how we're going to do this? Because, you know, the forces of hell are arrayed against this happy project of restoring America. I think there's a fundamental question that has to be answered, Eric. One of them is the head of the executive branch, the Article 2 branch, dual elected president of United States, has to have the right to hire and fire whoever he wants inside the Article 2 branch, the executive branch, where most of the administrative state resides. So I want Donald Trump within weeks of him taking office again to fire hundreds of thousands of federal employees. They're not going to be immediately fired because the federal employee unions are going to sue and and seek a stay. It'll wind its way through the courts. It'll eventually get to the Supreme Court.

And the fundamental question that has to be answered is, does the duly elected president of United States, the head of the executive branch, get to hire and fire whoever he wants to? I believe this Supreme Court will say yes and back Donald Trump. Then he becomes the demolition man for the administrative state. He can fire hundreds of thousands of federal employees and say, you're at-will employees now. But more importantly, Eric, shut down various departments. I'd love for him to start with the Department of Education, shut it down. But even more so, Donald Trump should empty the building, implode the building, raise it to the ground and build a freedom park over it to say, we are done with the administrative state, we'll restore the public. There's also some other

things, obviously Schedule F and reclassifying some of these federal employees, reduction in force exercises. So I list out a whole host of reforms that a powerful executive, if Congress doesn't want to be supportive can do over the course of four years. But the last point I'll make on this is Eric, four years is just the beginning. This has been over 100 years in the making. You're not going to get out of it in 18 months. You're not going to get out in four years. We have to hold on to and maintain political power with the right people for no less than 12 years. It goes back to politics as policy. We must learn how to achieve and maintain political power with the right people and then have the courage to use political power. This is one of my great frustrations

with Republicans for the most part. When they are given political power, they do not use it. You are given political power to use it and to fundamentally transform this country back into a republic. Progressives have done this. We should do the same. We just got a couple of minutes left. Are you as discussed as I am by people we thought were our allies? I think of George, George W. Bush at the head of the list. People that I thought, yeah, they're on our side. I really feel like they were not, I mean, maybe they weren't openly wicked, but they were just kind of drifting along with the zeitgeist, unwilling to take on the giant.

They accepted the premise. They accepted the premise. I mean, the last Republican president is to reject the premise. That's what is going on in D.C. is illegitimate. I would argue Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan. in between you've had George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, who accepted the premise. And their only problem with the administrative state was that they weren't running it. I mean, compassionate conservatism is another name for big government.

And I say this, Eric, as someone who is a presidential writer for George W. Bush, who was in that White House. They accepted the premise. Their only problem was they weren't running it. Donald Trump shows up and goes, I reject the premise. And again, that's one of his great sins. of D.C., that he rejects the status quo, that he thinks he decides a lot of the foreign and domestic policy, and for that he was treated as a traitor to his country. But it comes down to policy differences and a fundamentally different belief on what our government should look like and how it should operate. That is Donald Trump's greatest and has nothing to do with anything

else. That's the whole basis for Russian collusion and all these other hoaxes thrown at Donald Trump that boils down to this. Who decides? And in a republic, duly elected representatives decide, not unelected bureaucrats. And but, but you don't, you don't believe that, uh, they're going to go down without a fight. I mean, even between, 100% is going to be fight. What, I mean, it's, it's, it's there, they will do literally anything, including try to pull, put a bullet in his head again. And by the way, good luck, because you can't and you won't be able to succeed by God's grace.

But they will do literally anything. I want to see if I can hold you on for another couple of, uh, minutes, folks. But I'm talking to Ned Ryan, the. book is American Leviathan. There is nothing more important than what we're talking about, folks. This is, God's hand has been on this nation. We have drifted dramatically away from his purposes, and it's absolutely vital, absolutely vital, that we go to war with the enemies of America, foreign and domestic. There are many, and again, I'm not talking about a hot war, but we've got a lot of work to do. It's going to take courage. We'll be right.

back, the book is American Leviathan, American Leviathan. So welcome back talking to Ned Ryan. The book is American Leviathan. So are you hopeful, Ned? And let me ask you before that, when did you wake up? In other words, you know, you were in the Bush administration. I was on board with George W. Bush. I voted for John McCain and Mitt Romney. And I didn't wake up really until 2016, 2017, 2018, 2018, 2019, and then really woke up 2020 and 2021. My brain exploded, and you realize half of what I believed I was wrong, and I have to repent and change.

I would say part of it began in the White House when I'm writing for Bush, and my dad who's in the House, is voting against every last one of his major initiatives. And you realize being fairly new to being in D.C., not all Republicans are created equal. They're very different approaches to government. the Republican Party. I would argue it kept on going and going and going 2011, 2012. I started writing about in pursuit of Americanism. Some of my pieces, just what does it actually, it's not republicanism, it's not democratism, it's not corporatism, what does it mean to pursue Americanism? And all of the sudden Donald Trump showed up, and I initially, full confession,

was not necessarily sure that Donald Trump was the man, and it really clicked February of 2016. all of a sudden I realized this is who I've been writing about. This is the guy that I've been writing about for years who actually has the temerity to stand up and go, you know what? I believe we should actually promote the American people in this form of government, and that is my whole pursuit. We will make America great again.

We will make the American people a priority of their government, not simply an ATM for the ruling class. So I would argue if you were to pinpoint it's probably beginning of 2016, where all sudden it was like the light bulb went on. I realized, this is the guy I've been thinking about, writing about it, hoping he would show up. Didn't expect it to be Donald Trump, but thank God he showed up.

Well, and it's a funny thing, too. I'm with you. I was not at all on board in the beginning. And, you know, for all I thought, having written a book about Bonhofer, I thought, you know, this could be Hitler 2.0. I don't really, you know, I don't know. Who is this guy at his core? What does he want to do? And it really shocked me when I realized, oh, no, oh, no.

This guy rough around the edges doesn't check all the boxes that I would like. He is the guy. Or, let me put it this way, I'm betting that he's the guy. We'll find out. And the hell that came at me for advocating for Donald Trump, that was another wake-up call. I thought, what is going on here? Like you got a choice between Hillary Clinton, one of the most wicked, corrupt, whatever, or this other guy who maybe you're not sure about him.

And they were like, well, we don't care if Hillary Clinton gets in there. And I thought, what does that say about the people that I thought were our allies? That's amazing to me, that they wouldn't seem to care if she gets in. Or you had recently David French, who we thought was a conservative Christian, advocate for, oh, we need to elect Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. And this is when the world changed in a way that I think most of us never dreamt it could change. But by the grace of God, it did change. 30 seconds, and then we got to go, Ned.

I think Donald Trump has come to a great awakening and understanding was truly going on that he didn't fully understand in his first term. I think he has come to an awareness of what he's confronting. You will see his administration staffed with loyal America first types. And I think this could be one of the most epic four years, a singular moment in American history, that at the end of it, we will be praising God, thanking God, that Donald Trump had the courage to step up and begin the restoration of the republics. So I think the next four years are going to be an amazing time in our history.

There's frankly nothing to compare to it unless you think of Lincoln and you think of George Washington. There's nothing to compare to it in our history. This is an extraordinary moment. It's an existential crisis, which I believe by God's grace, we will avert. We're in the process of averting, losing America. Ned Ryan, God bless you. The book is American Leviathan, folks. Grab a copy.

Ned, thank you. Thanks, Eric.