Secret Service Failures and Trump's Miraculous Survival

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We are literally going to have no future if we stay on the path that we're on.

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Literally, the survival of our country is at stake.

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Michael Snyder, it's an honor to be able to have you here on Charisma.

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I mean, you put together the most important news.

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And I'm not just saying that because that's literally the website,

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themostimportantnews.com.

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But your articles always do well with our audience.

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They resonate because you are speaking to, you're speaking from a place of

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bringing clarity to the confusion or rather the chaos.

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And so I just, I'm grateful that you're able to be here today to help us kind of

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understand the temperature of our political and cultural climate that we have today.

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Obviously, we're just, as we're recording this just a few days ago, there was an

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attempt to assassinate former president and potentially future president, Donald J.

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Trump, in a campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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And you've had some very interesting insight kind of breaking down the analysis of that.

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Can you help us understand some of the things that have recently come out?

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Yeah, well, thank you for having me on, John.

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And what a horrible, horrible tragedy when it first occurred.

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I can hardly believe that it had happened, but ultimately I think that this is the

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culmination of and ultimately I think the results of years and years of the

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demonization of Trump, where, you know, if you call someone Hitler enough times, I

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mean, you know, people are going to believe that people are going to internalize that.

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And people are going to say, well, if I had a chance to take out Hitler, would I do it?

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You know, some people are actually going to fully internalize that and say, and

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make that their own values and their own way of seeing the world.

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And so, you know, Thomas Matthew Crooks, as far as being the shooter, we don't

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know a ton about him, a young guy, 20 years old, he was, you know, he, he

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recent high school graduate worked apparently as a food preparer in a nursing

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home, you know, so he kind of had a dead end, low paying job.

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He may have been depressed.

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He was kind of an outsider, a loner, not a lot of connections with a broader

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community.

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So, you know, he's a, he's a guy who probably, you know, may have been

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depressed, desperate, angry at the world.

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We don't know.

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We don't know a lot about what he was thinking internally because he didn't

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have much out there on social media, apparently as far as we can determine.

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But it really, in my view, was a catastrophic security failure.

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And, you know, pretty much unlike anything we've really seen where, you

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know, this roof with a direct line of sight to the platform where Trump was

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speaking, you know, was left unguarded.

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And there was a lot of speculation about, about that.

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And then, and then the head of secret service was asked about this.

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Well, why was, why was no one on that roof where the shooter ultimately shot

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Trump from?

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And she said, oh, there was a slope and there was safety concerns.

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And, you know, that, that's so absurd, so ridiculous.

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And then you look at another one of the roofs where sniper team was located

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and it was even more of a slope.

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You know, so, you know, that, that's so, so crazy that you're not going to put

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someone on a roof with the direct line of sight to the president because

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there's a slight slope.

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I mean, that doesn't fly that is something else is going there.

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That's not a reasonable explanation.

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And, you know, the gateway pundit interviewed one woman who's, who goes to

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almost all the rallies because she's a vendor, she sells stuff.

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So she's at almost all the Trump rallies.

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And she said, normally what they do is they'll bring in machinery or trucks or

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some type of obstacles between Trump and kind of any, any areas, outline areas

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that have a line of sight to the president.

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So not only should there have been people stationed on, on all these

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rooftops, but you know, there, there should have been obstacles placed between

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the platform and that, you know, anywhere that had a direct line of sight, any

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raised positions, and in this case, that didn't happen.

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She said, I kept waiting for them to bring it in, but they didn't do it this time.

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And I, I had a really bad feeling about that.

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And, and, uh, that report hasn't gotten a ton of attention, but I think that's a

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very, very important point.

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It was a, a failure in that respect.

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And then Thomas Matthew Crooks, he was, you know, he came to, he came

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and, and he was looking around and apparently the, there was a team inside

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one of the buildings and they, they spotted him apparently three different times.

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That one, I believe was the second time they spotted him.

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He actually had pulled out a rangefinder, which is, you know, that's kind of

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suspicious, someone pulling out a rangefinder.

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You think that would get someone's attention, but they spotted him three

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different times before he ultimately went up on the roof and he goes up on the

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roof and he's up there for 26 minutes, almost a half an hour, but 26 minutes.

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Uh, uh, uh, he was on the roof, um, you know, with a rifle.

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And while he's up there, people in the crowd are pointing out,

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Hey, there's a guy up on the roof.

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There's a guy with a rifle.

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There's a, you know, a guy with a gun and the police didn't respond.

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The social, the secret service didn't respond.

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The, you know, if, if normally you would think if someone says, Hey, there's

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a guy with a gun up on a roof, you first of all, you're not going to let

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Trump go on stage first of all.

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Secondly, if he's on stage, you're going to get them out of there.

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So that was very, very odd to me, uh, that, that he was up there.

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And apparently the secret service finally got him in there and one of the

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sniper teams had him in their scopes for approximately 42 seconds, apparently

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before he shot and apparently what we're hearing is that, uh, in terms of the

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rules of engagement, the secret services is supposed to allow a shooter to

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shoot first before they shoot back, which to me is insane because if someone has a

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gun pointed at the president or a, a presidential candidate, you've got to

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take that shot, you got to take that shot.

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So they're already showing intent.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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If they have a gun and the gun is pointed at the guy you're trying to protect,

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that's it.

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You got to take the shot.

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You know, there's no excuse for them to pull out a gun and point it at the

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president or in this case, Trump who's running for president, you got to take

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that shot.

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So I don't know when the rules of engagement changed or, or what, but this

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is, this was coming, actually being reported by a real clear politics.

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Their white house correspondent, she said, these are now the rules of

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engagement.

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And so to me, that's absolutely insane, but very, very concerned about what's

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happened to the secret services, the agency that's supposed to be protecting

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our president, because you have the first shot ran out and I've watched

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this and see, John, people don't understand.

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Most ordinary people watch this and they watch it and that, you know, there

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there's a shot fired, then a couple more shots and, and then the secret

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service rushes to the stage and they say, oh, they got hit there pretty

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fast.

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They got there within a few seconds.

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But in one of my articles, I shared a video of a secret service that was

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shared a video of when Reagan was shot, when Reagan was shot, the first shot

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fires out.

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And within less than a second, the one of the agents has pushed him into the

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vehicle.

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Another one of the agents is pushing that agent, you know, and Reagan to make

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sure they're flat on the seat of the vehicle.

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Of course, they're right next to the presidential limousine and that helps.

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But I mean, the response was basically instantaneous.

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In this case, Trump was on the podium.

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The secret service agents were way too far away.

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You got to be in a position where if something happens, you can get your

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hands on Trump almost immediately.

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So first of all, they were how they were positioned was just wrong.

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They were way too far away.

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Secondly, once that first shot runs out, Trump is holding his ear.

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Boom, they should have been there.

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They should have been.

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They did.

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They hesitate.

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We don't know.

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But to me, it seemed like it was an eternity.

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In terms of the amount of time it took for them to get there.

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That's my perspective on it.

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You know, other people, ordinary people looking at it, especially those that

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don't have any type of security background or haven't studied this sort

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of thing, they say, well, they got there pretty quick.

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But in reality, in the amount of time it took between the first shot, even

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when Trump was hit between that period of time and when they finally got

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there, if it had been a competent shooter, able to get off multiple

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shots, well, Trump should have been killed if it had been someone with

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good aim, a competent shooter.

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Thankfully, it was a young kid who didn't have much shooting experience,

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apparently.

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But, you know, it's only really by the grace of God.

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It was really a miracle that Trump shifted his head at the last moment.

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If Trump wouldn't have shifted his head at the last moment, you know, he

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wouldn't have made it.

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So and then, OK, Trump is hit.

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Secret Service finally gets up there.

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And they kind of tackle him.

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And, you know, and apparently now there's a video that's come out of

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they removed his shoes and tossed them off the stage.

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That's why Trump said, oh, can I get my shoes?

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You know, after afterwards, he said, can I can I get my shoes?

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I want to get my shoes.

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He was talking about his shoes.

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Well, they had taken off his shoes and thrown them off the stage.

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I don't know why they did that.

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I haven't heard any explanation for why they would remove his shoes.

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Were they concerned about explosives?

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Were they?

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I don't know.

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I don't have an explanation for that, but they did.

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They took his shoes off and threw them off the stage, which was weird.

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But then, of course, Trump gets back up.

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There's the famous photo.

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And it was really, you know, even a lot of Democrats, some on the left,

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are saying, well, that was really kind of an inspiring moment.

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It did take courage for him to get up and say, hey, you know, and pump his fist

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and say, fight, fight, fight.

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And we've all heard about that.

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There's the famous photographs that have been taken.

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But then beyond that, you know, the Secret Service was still kind of around him.

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If there had been another shooter out there, he would have been in great danger.

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So that was probably not the smartest thing to do.

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But then the one female Secret Service agent in front of him was was way too short,

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kind of leaving his torso and head exposed.

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So when head exposed, you know, a lot of people have been talking about that.

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But then it kind of took them forever to get Trump finally off the stage,

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took him forever to get to his vehicle.

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And then, you know, the agents are kind of scrambling around and there's a lot of chaos.

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And a lot of people are just questioning a lot of, well, these agents really didn't seem

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to know what they were doing.

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And then they finally got Trump in his vehicle and then then then it was they then he finally left.

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But it was really a security failure and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino had said,

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hey, this was this was catastrophic.

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This was horrible, John.

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So I know I've rambled a bit.

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I tend to do that.

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But that's basically kind of some of the things that from my perspective that I've seen.

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And I think we need to be asking some big questions about how we're protecting our national leaders.

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Yeah. And that's on it's on both sides.

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I mean, Democrats, Republicans and even independents.

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I know because one of the things that Trump and one of the people that Trump called right

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afterwards was R.F.K.

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Jr., who did not have a protective detail up until recently.

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And, you know, and obviously Trump has been seen at the Republican National Convention

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and he walked in with a with an all male, all big so secret service team surrounding him.

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And he definitely looked much more much more secure at that point.

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But Trump has some we haven't heard him speak publicly yet, which we're looking forward

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to his speech coming up on Thursday night as kind of the culmination of the RNC.

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And he has already said that he is changing what he was planning on speaking about.

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And as you saw him walk into the arena on Monday night, his demeanor seems different

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than other times that he's walked in a big room where people were cheering for him.

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Moving forward now that there's, you know, a sense of.

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Severity or there's an extra weightiness on this.

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How do you think the campaigns on both sides on all sides will be moving forward?

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And how do you think this is affecting Trump as a person?

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Yeah, well, I hope that this incident will cause Trump to reflect, hey, life is short.

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I could have been killed and that he's thinking about, well, what comes after?

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What if I had died?

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Where you know what, you know, and cause him to think about God and you know,

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and cause him to think about God, cause him to think about the things that really matter.

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And hopefully this will cause all of us to think about this because life is so short.

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But I think Trump's speech and we're hearing that it's going to be more stressed on unity

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rather than kind of an attack on Joe Biden's policies.

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His speech on at the convention is supposedly going to be a lot about

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unity, bringing the country together.

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And we need that, unfortunately.

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I don't think that's going to happen.

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I think for the moment on both sides, there's a realization that things have gone too far

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that we need to take the temperature down, but it only lasted a couple of days until now,

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you know, there are people back comparing Trump to Hitler again, you know, saying all

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sorts of horrible things about him.

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And, you know, and there's been talk about, oh, we as Christians, we need to take the

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temperature down.

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And I agree.

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And we, you know, as believers, we need to realize we are supposed to love.

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Jesus told us love our enemies.

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That includes people we perceive to be our enemies.

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That includes political opponents.

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That includes Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, you know, everyone on the radical left.

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We're supposed to love them.

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We're supposed to pray for those that persecute us.

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You know, so those that, you know, say, oh, the Democrats are evil.

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OK.

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Well, we're supposed to love them.

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We're supposed to pray for them.

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And we're supposed to treat them well.

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And I know that's not always easy to do, but that's what we're called to do.

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But, you know, even if every evangelical Christian changed their tone and took the

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temperature down, well, we're only a small portion of the population.

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You know, the vast majority of the population, we're more divided today as a country than

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we've ever been before.

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And already the rhetoric is getting back to where it was before the shooting.

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And this, you know, in my latest book and in my articles, I've been warning this is

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going to be the most chaotic election season in our history.

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And we've seen so much, you know, with Joe Biden and the debate and all of that and calls

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for him to step down.

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Now, Trump has been shot.

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And, you know, and normally the presidential election season doesn't even get to the

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high gear until we get to Labor Day, which is still, you know, what, a month and a half

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away, you know, as we're or so as we're recording this.

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So it's going to be very heated.

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It's going to be chaotic.

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It's going to be wild.

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And the tensions on both sides are just going to escalate because it's, you know, for both

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sides, there's so much emotion and both sides, you know, for the Trump supporters, they're

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looking at it.

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A second loss in a row would just be devastating, catastrophic.

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And then you get Biden, of course, Kamala Harris is ready to step in at any moment.

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It'll be absolutely crushing, devastating.

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You know, I think even more than the last time around.

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But on the other hand, and I think this is probably the more likely scenario, I think

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it's likely that Trump could win.

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I'm not making any predictions in this video, but I'm saying that, you know, polls and

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this was the after the what just transpired, you know, even CNN just came out and said,

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hey, it looks like Trump has a real pathway to victory here.

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And so if that happens, John.

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And I want everyone out there to really reflect on this for a moment.

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Many on the left, they don't have a religion or they don't practice a faith like like we

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do for many on the left.

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Politics really is their religion.

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You know, it's the way it's the lens through which they see the world.

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It's how they interpret events.

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It's where they get their values and and it's how they express their values and their

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way to change the world.

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And it's really their worldview for so many of them is centered on politics.

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So they may not have a specific deity, but it kind of takes the place of religion for

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many of them, you know, on the left, especially those that are heavily engaged in politics.

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And for many of those people, the absolute worst thing in their world that could ever

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happen is for Donald Trump to get back in the White House.

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That's to me, that's really bizarre that they would see it that way.

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I know for many of you that are watching, it's really, really bizarre.

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But this is the way they really see the world as Trump is the personification of evil in

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their eyes.

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And the worst thing that could literally ever happen in their world is for Trump to get

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back into the White House.

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And now that's on the verge of happening.

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And if it actually happens, it is going to cause a national temper tantrum on the left

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beyond anything we've ever seen before.

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I believe that's why I've kept saying that the chaos we see after the election will be

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even worse than what we see before the election, because the result of the election, Trump

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He's back in the White House meltdown.

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But many on the left on social media long before this whole shooting thing happened,

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they've been openly discussing, hey, we need to be, you know, we need to be able to do

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this.

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Planing for a revolution.

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We need to be talking about, they're literally talking about overthrowing, you know, the

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government, literally talking about a societal revolution, a violent revolution, taking up

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arms.

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This has happened.

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They're saying if Trump gets in, this is what we've got to do.

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So this kind of discussion and rhetoric long before this shooting of Trump here recently,

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but I believe, you know, a lot of people on the right, a lot of Christians think if Trump

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gets in, great news, golden age of peace and prosperity, everything's going to be wonderful.

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No, no.

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I believe that when Trump wins, we're going to see complete and utter chaos.

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The left, we're going to see civil unrest that we've never seen in the United States

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before.

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That's what I believe.

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And so much of it is ultimately the result of all this calling Trump Hitler, calling

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him, you know, fascist, calling him all these things.

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There are millions and millions of people out there that believe this, John.

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Yeah.

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So what is it that we need to do?

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You know, because we can be, we can engage in culture or we can retreat.

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And the Bible doesn't tell us to retreat.

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You know, the Bible, Jesus tells us to occupy until he comes.

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So we need to be good stewards of what he's entrusted us with.

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And if you're seeing that there will be chaos coming, what can we as Christians do about this?

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Well, number one, we need to be in prayer.

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We can be praying for the safety of all of our national leaders and the Bible instructions

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to pray for those in positions of power.

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We need to be doing that.

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And more so at this time, we need to pray for that country as a whole.

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We, you know, we are divided.

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There is chaos.

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I believe more chaos is coming, but we can pray about that.

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We can pray for God to intervene.

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We can pray for God to, you know, help us because without God, we're in big trouble.

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So we need prayer for our nation, for our leaders, for us individually,

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for our towns, for our communities.

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And we just need to be getting closer to God than ever before during this time,

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especially considering everything that's coming.

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This political chaos is just one element of the perfect storm that we have now entered,

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which is going to encompass so many elements that I write about.

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In fact, my new book is entitled Chaos because it's just not political chaos, but global chaos,

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many different elements across the spectrum.

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And we need to be praying and getting closer to God than ever before.

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And you mentioned we want to be engaged in society because the stakes are far higher

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than people realize.

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It's not just, you know, the next administration.

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It's not just, oh, we want to have an influence on the direction of our country,

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on our culture, whatever.

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But ultimately, John, I mean, I believe the stakes are far higher than that.

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You know, ultimately, you know, since Roe versus Wade was decided in 1973,

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more than 60 million children were murdered in America's abortion mills have been.

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And so we got Roe versus Wade was overturned.

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Great.

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OK.

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But then in the 12 months following, the number of abortions in this country actually went up,

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you know.

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And in fact, in last year, 2023, the number of abortions surpassed the one million mark

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in terms of in the official health care industry.

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Abortions that are performed outside of that are not even counted in that number.

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But we're over the one million mark for the first time in more than a decade.

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So Roe versus Wade was overturned, but abortion went up.

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That's not repentance.

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That's the opposite of repentance.

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If we do not end abortion in America, if we do not stop killing children on an industrial scale,

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there is no future for our country.

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I'm not talking about no future.

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There will not be a United States of America if we don't stop that.

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So as believers, we need to be saying that, hey, we've got to end abortion.

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We've got to stop this slaughter because if we don't do it, there's not going to be a country.

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Secondly, you know, we need to be engaged on the issue of of gay marriage.

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So much of the evangelical community seems to have given up saying, oh, it's done.

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It's over with.

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There's nothing we can do.

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But the gay marriage, the trans agenda, all of that, you know, that is what happens at a society

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at the very late stages that are just before judgment.

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You know, you know, we talk about Sodom and Gomorrah talking about other societies throughout

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human history, Greece, Rome, other societies that fell into utter depravity.

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We're at that stage.

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And we need to be engaged on that on that issue.

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We need to be engaged on other issues.

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The dividing of the land of Israel, we cannot divide the land of Israel.

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There cannot be a Palestinian state or the consequences for us will be beyond what most

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people dare to imagine.

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And that's something I cover in my book.

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God has been specifically warning us very specifically about what will happen if we

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divide the land of Israel.

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And that's right.

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Right now, the Biden administration, that's what they're trying to do.

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We need to be engaged on that, because if the land of Israel is divided and we are involved,

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there will be judgment.

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You know, other exceedingly important issues, whether it's the covid vaccine, whether it's

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the war in Ukraine, all these issues we need to care deeply about, because the literally

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the survival of our nation, the literals and not many people say, oh, I'm concerned about

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the future.

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Are we going to have a bad future?

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Are we going to have a good future?

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We're going to we are literally going to have no future if, you know, we stay on the path

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that we're on.

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And so that's my perspective.

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And that's why I believe I am engaged.

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I'm through my writing, the things I do, I'm constantly trying to change minds, change

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hearts, influence where things are going, because literally the survival of our country

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is at stake, John, from my perspective.

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And then that's some powerful stuff there.

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And we do we do need to get engaged.

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And there's so many different areas that we can do that.

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And, Michael, I want to invite you to come back sometime so we can talk more.

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And there's so much more that we can cover.

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But thank you so much for giving us your insight on the events that have just happened and

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kind of the political and cultural temperature in the United States right now.

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Thank you so much for being here today.

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Well, thank you, John.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for having me on.