Join us on ‘Rush to Reason’ as we navigate through the complex economic currents of America today. Andy Pate delivers a sharp analysis of Donald Trump’s economic decisions, revealing the underlying mechanics of tariffs and their effect on inflation. As election years loom, the dialogue probes into the contrasting realities faced by red and blue states, and the startling disparities in energy and housing inflation. Beyond economics, the episode broadens its lens to consider America’s religious roots, questioning whether it can still be deemed a Christian nation.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 05 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 06 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 08 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did! Get a job, Turk!
SPEAKER 01 :
You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 07 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 11 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 13 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 04 :
Actually, it’s Andy Pate. Party of choice. And welcome to our number two here on Rush to Reason. I’m Andy Pate filling in for John Rush along with Luke Cashman. That’s right, Luke Cashman. Talking a little about Donald Trump, I want to talk about good times a-coming. And this is only fair because last week, of course, I took my shots and said, hey, the way he took on Reiner. And I made it very clear. To me, this was not a small mistake. To me, this was an absolutely breathtaking bad mistake, in my opinion. And once again, that’s why it was good to have two swing voters in here. And what did you guys say?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, we, we were in agreement. It was not a, not a good look right now.
SPEAKER 04 :
Here’s the upside of Donald Trump, what he is doing with the economy. is brilliant beyond anything I’ve ever seen. And that doesn’t mean I’m worshiping him all of a sudden. I mean, he’s got a lot of people on his team. They’re terrific. But he, let’s face it, he knows business. He knows international business. What he has done with trade has been incredible. Now, is there some pain along the way? Absolutely. In certain sectors, tariffs can bring inflation. Right. in the short term, okay, until you get the other side to lower their tariffs and you use it as leverage. But in the meantime, you know, you’re looking at aluminum, you’re looking at some of these things and prices go up as a result, correct? Right. Right. But overall, what has happened to inflation? And by the way, I predicted this early in the year and so did John. We predicted inflation’s not going to go up nearly, anywhere near what people were predicting. And they were predicting. There were people I was listening to saying, we’re going to have inflation of 8%, 10%, 12%. I mean, it is going to be through the roof because of these tariffs. And John and I said, in no uncertain terms, no, it will not. And here’s why. Because with the previous tariff levels down, that we had, that other countries were putting on us, they were making, a lot of companies were making elevated profits. So their profit margin was much higher, it was inflated. And because they’d want to maintain the U.S. market and still sell here, they were going to eat, not all, but a good portion of those tariffs, okay, so that they could still sell in the U.S. market. And so let’s say you run up the tariffs. I’ve got a friend who sells, geez, I’m suddenly forgetting, Jaguars. And I asked him, well, how did the tariffs affect you? Because he’s kind of a muckety-muck with them. He actually sells. He does very well. I’ll just say that, okay? And at a Jaguar dealership here in Colorado, and I said, how did it affect you? Because that’s a foreign car. He said, the tariff is 25%. And I said, okay, and did you have to raise your prices 25%? He says, no, nowhere near. It was under 10%. And I said, why is that? I said, did they eat the cost out of profit margins that they previously had? And he said, that’s exactly what they did. And that has been happening across the board. So. When Trump entered in, he had 3.1% inflation. That’s what he inherited. It is now 2.7% at the last reading. That’s going to bounce around, of course. You’re going to have 2.9%, 2.6%, 2. whatever. You get some movement. But basically, bottom line is, the tariffs have not raised inflation overall. OK, the big reasons are very simple. Number one, and it’s a total economic plan because going forward, it’s going to be great. Once this whole the tariff wars have to settle out. Right. OK, I think I’ve I said at the very beginning, I predicted the toughest one will be Canada. OK, I said that will be everybody said China. No, Canada. Trust me on this. That’s going to be a war. And I don’t like how that that one’s going to go. That’s going to be a tough one. Well, here’s what happened. First of all, they aid a lot of the costs. When I say eat the costs, understand that doesn’t mean they’re paying your tariff. That means they’re lowering their prices. You’re still paying the tariff. It’s still like a tax. But you’re paying that tax on a product that is now lower in price because they want to still be able to sell here. Number two, though, energy. Trump has dramatically lowered the cost of energy by expanding not just oil and gas drilling, but he is expanding all kinds of ways to produce electricity that actually work. Okay, windmills, these things are terribly ineffective. If you don’t prop them up, by major subsidies, they collapse. Why? Because for the investment in the BTUs, The British thermal units, the amount of energy you get out is way too little. I mean, it’s a pittance. Okay. And so what he’s looking at is he’s saying we need more nuclear. We need more coal. We need more natural gas. This is where we need to get our electricity. Okay. Are you following me here? I’ve got you. Okay. With that in mind, I want you to look at some numbers and there’s only five of them. But the big difference is between blue and red states. Here it is for all items. Inflation, because we hear, well, it’s 2.7% nationwide this last reading. Yeah, but in red states, it was 2.5%. In blue states, 3%. Their inflation was more. Why? Because… They are not embracing Trump’s free market use. They’re not cutting down. A big thing that he’s doing has nothing to do with tariffs or any of that. He’s cutting regulations. He’s making it easier. You can now get new oil wells approved at a much faster rate than you could before. way faster. Okay. Natural gas wells, which is even bigger in some ways, right? Because you’re looking at electricity, get projects going for nuclear, get projects, get drilling going in Alaska. You can get all these things going way faster, not years and years, months. OK, under Trump and they’re getting launched. OK, listen to this. Energy has only got the inflation rate has only been three and a half percent overall. And that’s including not just oil and gas, but electricity.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s in red states. Blue states, 5.2. Wow.
SPEAKER 12 :
Quite a dramatic difference there.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. In other words, blue states are not coming on board. But unfortunately, those idiots, and they are idiots, okay? They are. They’re idiots. Polis, Gavin Newsom, these are idiots, okay? They are affecting the nationwide average. If we were all having our rates go like Alabama, we’d be very happy right now.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, affordability is a big thing for young guys like you. It’s very true. Yeah. Well, I’m just telling you, if you had Alabama rates, I’m just saying.
SPEAKER 12 :
I’d probably be doing a bit better.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’d be doing a lot better. Okay, transportation. Inflation has only been 0.7% for the year. In other words, virtually no inflation. Blue states, two and a half.
SPEAKER 12 :
Whoa, that’s the biggest difference yet.
SPEAKER 04 :
Red states, 0.7. Blue states, 2.5. Energy, red states, 3.5%. Blue states, 5.2. Now, this one’s going to surprise you. Housing. Red states, 3.4%. Blue states, 3.6%. That’s just 2.2% more. Why do you think that is? I don’t know. That’s pretty close. I can totally explain why. I was just wondering, do you have an idea? No. Okay, here’s why. Folks, building houses and housing costs have actually gone down dramatically in red states versus blue states. However, everybody is fleeing blue states and moving to red states. So you’ve got everybody running from the blue states. That’s fewer people to buy the houses that are already built. The market’s moving. OK, so what should be happening is that the red states should be having huge inflation in the prices of their homes and the blue states should be crumbling in prices. But the blue states are so horribly run. with such high tax rates, with making it so impossible. Hey, look at LA. They haven’t rebuilt LA. They’ve hardly rebuilt any homes. I mean, it’s insane. I guarantee you right now, if that were a red state, if that were Dallas, it’d be mostly rebuilt already. It would. Or really any not LA place. Really, it would just turn around. It’s amazing that it’s about the same, 3.4 to 3.6. What that means is, despite the fact that everybody’s leaving the blue states, running to the red states, the red states are having a housing crisis. You should talk to some of the leaders there in Florida. They’re dealing with this. They’re getting crushed by demand. You have huge demand in the red states, no demand in the blue states. You can’t get a moving van going away from a blue state. It’s almost impossible to rent one. Very true. Now, if you’re going to the blue state, they’ll almost pay you to do it. I mean, it’s crazy. I’m exaggerating. Okay. But despite that, inflation is flat between the two. That tells you everything you need to know. What I’m getting to is this. Blue states are run like crap. And they’re holding back the national average. But affordability is going to be a lot better. Oh, by the way, we just had, I believe, the second quarter in a row of wages rising faster than inflation.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s nice. We’d love to see that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that didn’t happen during all of Biden. No. Okay.
SPEAKER 12 :
Famously not.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, famously not. See, do you kind of see where this is going? Yeah. Here’s what’s coming, folks. And it’s going to be beautiful. I believe in 2026, we could see across the board, 5% growth, economic growth. Now that’s Reagan territory. When that happens, everybody makes more money and your wages are going to leap ahead faster than the inflation rate. Now, I’m gonna say that Trump blew one thing and that’s the messaging and here’s why. When he came in, he was talking about lowering inflation, lowering inflation. That’s impossible. OK, why? Because people’s wages are higher now to to live in the inflated prices that we have now. OK, so if you look at what somebody at Taco Bell was making back in 2020 before the inflation really hit because of Biden, especially 2021. Right. OK. You look at what that kid at Taco Bell was making then and what they’re making now. It’s not the same, is it? No. Different worlds. OK, well, that’s true everywhere you go. OK, that’s true at the hospital. It’s true at this clothing store. That’s true at the car place. That’s true everywhere. Everywhere you go, everybody’s making more money because otherwise they’d be dead. Why? Because Joe Biden drove up the price of everything because he printed too much money. That money is still out there. People are still making much higher wages. The only way Donald Trump could literally bring down inflation, have negative inflation, would be to cut everybody’s wages, which he can’t do. That’s why I think he overpromised. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. Donald Trump never should have promised, I’m going to literally, because people misunderstood. I believe a lot of people really believed he was going to reverse inflation and put prices back where they were four years ago.
SPEAKER 12 :
I don’t think you’ll see that ever.
SPEAKER 04 :
You can’t. The only way you can do that is if that poor kid working the counter at Taco Bell makes less. Why would I want that? Folks, we don’t need that. All we need is to have inflation under control like it is and wages going up. That’s what we need. That’s how you turn it around. I don’t think people feel that right away. They want to just look at inflation going down. And I think that’s why people are not happy with Donald Trump right now economically. Because that’s what they were expecting. Am I right?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think that makes sense.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. They were expecting that. They don’t see the slow… increase in their wages. Well, yeah, I got a raise, but I’ll bet Joe didn’t actually did. Okay. They don’t see that wages are creeping up faster than inflation. Here’s what’s going to happen in 2026, especially second half. Wages are going to boom. And they are going to go way ahead of inflation. People are going to have a lot of money, man. And they’re going to be buying things, and it’s going to be a lot of fun. And my only hope is this, because we live in one of those ridiculous blue states. I hope that we at least get a little of it. Fair enough?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I hope so, too.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sorry to go on about the numbers. No, I like it. Does that give you some hope going into 26?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I I’m a numbers guy. So I like I like what those numbers promise. And I look forward to being able to feel it.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, you’re also a very I mean, you’re kind of a workaholic. You’re a very hard worker.
SPEAKER 12 :
Today is a very long day, yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, well, you are, and you should be rewarded, and you’re going to be rewarded, but I’m not just talking to Luke. I’m talking to all the Lukes out there. I just think it’s going to be a great year. Folks, get excited. We are going to have an economic boom. The boom is coming, and it is going to be glorious. Okay, let’s take a break. Up next is Paul Leuenberger. Paul, he represents nine great companies, nine great insurance companies, so he can match your insurance needs with the best coverage. Call Paul at 303-662-0789.
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SPEAKER 06 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive, this is John Rush.
SPEAKER 04 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush along with Luke Cash. Man! And Luke, now that we’re all excited about the economy going forward. Yes. You’ve got to admit, it’s looking awfully good. Well, first of all, you’ve got all these crime stats going down and you’ve got the economy going up. It’s pretty cool.
SPEAKER 12 :
Good numbers.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Okay, let’s look at something totally different because… There are a lot of people right now who are angry. How do I put this? They’re angry at the religious divide in America. Everybody seems to hate the Jews for whatever reason now. And then you get the people who are angry at the Muslims and the people who are angry at the Christians. And I think it gets back to, okay, well, who are we as America? Right. America without question was founded as a Christian nation that, I mean, the overwhelming belief system of the founding fathers was Christian. Okay. But the question is this, is America still a Christian nation today? I mean, it’s obviously not a very Christian place. Okay. There aren’t many people. When you look at what a Christian really believes in practices in their life, not many people do. Not many people live like a biblical Christian today. Would you agree?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think that’s sadly very true.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, sadly very true. But is America a Christian nation? As 2026 approaches, who are we? In your opinion, and I’ll give you mine in a moment, but in your opinion, where are we?
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s a heavy topic. Yeah, it is. It is.
SPEAKER 04 :
Because I wanted you here because you’re not a Christian.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. I am not a Christian.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’ve always looked at you as an agnostic.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I’m very much in the position of if evidence supports otherwise, I’m down to change my view, right? I’m a very reasonable person, I think.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I was just thinking of bribing you. Right.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean, that works, too.
SPEAKER 04 :
What’s your fee? I mean, to be a Christian, $1,000 a week?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think so. I think $1,000 a week would cover it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, I’ll work. Go fund me, folks. Help me out here. All right, go ahead.
SPEAKER 12 :
Go fund me at PayPal. Cash has L. I’m joking. No. Is America a Christian nation? I think… When it comes to this specifically, and I do want to preface that, while I myself am not a Christian, I do have a great deal of respect for people who practice true Christianity. Yeah, you do. Following the teachings of Jesus Christ. I am not a Christian. I respect Jesus as a teacher, as a leader, as someone who has a set of ideals that I deeply resonate with.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 12 :
I think, I don’t think America is a Christian nation. Like you said, we are fundamentally and unequivocally founded on Christian ideals. You know, the founders came in, were predominantly very Christian.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s not a place where most people practice Christianity anymore.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. No. No, it is not.
SPEAKER 04 :
I agree.
SPEAKER 12 :
And I also think, you know, the founders as predominantly Christian came in with this separation of church and state that, you know, the government should not, you know, what’s the specific words? I recognize one specific institution of religion as its state religion.
SPEAKER 04 :
And just as importantly, the government should not intrude on the functionings of the church. Right. You know, separation. And by the way, tell you what, I don’t want to say any more because let me give you my answer now. Sure. Because you’ve kind of led into it. Yes, America is a Christian nation, but what is that? Okay. I want us to define what a Christian nation is on the basis of what Christianity is first. Okay. Okay. And I think because right now there are a lot of people in the country who are Christians like me. Remember, I was raised as an atheist. I did see a lot of evidence and it was compelling to me. And I am a born again Christian. And there are a lot of people in the church today who look at this country leaving its Christian foundations and they feel, oh, my gosh. We, we need to get it back. We need our laws to reflect Christianity. We need people to be more Christian. Okay. That’s a mistake. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t be sharing our views and sharing our faith and hopefully winning more people to Christ. That’s what we want to do. It’s called the great commission. Okay. Here’s what it means. Does it mean for, for this to be a Christian nation doesn’t mean that everyone has to be a Christian.
SPEAKER 12 :
No, no, I’d hope not.
SPEAKER 04 :
It never meant that, okay? But it never meant that, okay? But that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Let me give you a little Bible lesson here, super quick. Genesis 2, okay? There are two trees in the garden. I’ve talked about this before. Charlie knows this, okay? One was the tree of knowledge of good and evil, okay? And one was called the tree of life, all right? Adam and Eve are told, hey, if you eat from this one, you’re going to live forever. It’s a great reward. If you eat from this one, you will surely die, okay? and what death meant was separation from God. You’re going to be choosing to be your own master and thereby separating yourself from his mastership. See how that works? Okay. And be like you leaving and getting another job. That’s what it really would be like. I’m serious. And so there were two trees, one of great reward, one of great consequence. Choice, reward, consequence. Choice, reward, consequence. That is the biblical system. Are you with me so far? Yep. Okay. So when you create a country where people make choices and can fully enjoy the rewards or the consequences of those choices, that is following a biblical system, even if you’re an atheist, if you live by that. Are you with me so far?
SPEAKER 03 :
I got you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. Well, it’s like that everywhere. No, it isn’t, actually. Socialist countries, by and large, reject that. They lower the rewards of good choices dramatically. Okay. Because they lower your freedoms to enjoy them. OK. And by the way, if you make more money, what do they do? They take more of it. OK. A much higher percentage of it and redistribute it. Look at Mamdani in New York, what he wants to do. Right. He wants to lower the rewards of good choices that you’ve made to have more money to succeed more. And he wants to lower the consequences of bad choices people have made to put themselves into an economic mess. Now, I understand it’s not all your choices. Bad things can happen to you in life or lucky things, right? Yeah. But in general, you’ve seen lazy people lazy themselves into poverty. I very much have. Yeah. And you’ve seen hardworking people hard work themselves into prosperity. Okay. Liberals. Their entire goal, the Democrat Party, I’m just going to say it, the foundations of the Democrat Party lower rewards for good choices and consequences for bad choices. This is why I say the Democrat Party, its entire belief system is the opposite of the biblical belief system right from the start. They lower rewards for good choices. They lower consequences for bad choices. That’s where you get a million social programs to carry you. Or they eliminate choices altogether. Your kids will go to our schools. We’re not going to let you choose your own. It’s just thing after thing. No, you can’t have a gun and defend yourself. The state will, and so forth. Okay, here’s the thing. Choice or reward consequence is the foundation of our country now. Second, and this is the last thing, Jesus and the apostles. I’m going to ask you a very simple question. When did Jesus and the apostles try to force non-believers to live like believers?
SPEAKER 12 :
As far as I’m aware, never.
SPEAKER 04 :
Never. Very good. You see, you’re a biblical… There we go.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re a genius.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re a biblical scholar. Jesus and the apostles never tried to force unbelievers to live like believers. Okay. And so when we look at a lot of, if I were to come in, as you know, I’m a born again, right wing evangelical Christian, you know this. Okay. If I were to try to take my beliefs and make you live by them, would that be a Christian thing to do? Or would I be going against what Jesus and the apostles did?
SPEAKER 12 :
I’m immediately against. I remember because I was raised Catholic. And when you’re talking that… I didn’t know that. Yes, I was raised Catholic. And I remember in one of the Bible camp study things that I was, there was a song and one of the lyrics, because you were just talking about this right here. One of the lyrics that stood out to me is the lyric, they will know we are Christian by our love. It is the expression of a belief and sort of proving the power of that belief through real action and not through force. Force is what other people do. It should not be—using force to enact a peaceful religion isn’t very peaceful, is it? No, no.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, look, there is no Christian jihad. Right. You see what I’m saying here? It is unchristian to force non-Christians to live as Christians. Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t have any laws, okay? Why am I pro-life? Why? It’s very simple. Because I support every choice that doesn’t take away someone else’s choice. I believe abortion takes away the choice of the unborn. I believe they are human lives. Scientifically, I won’t take time to go into that. But it’s not because I’m against choice. It’s because I’m against one person’s choice taking away somebody else’s. And I believe scientifically that that is happening because I believe human life begins at an earlier place. If somebody disagrees with me and says, no, it doesn’t begin until you’re born. Okay, then we have a disagreement there, but we both agree on choice. Right. Just when it starts is when we disagree. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I think that’s one of the best arguments I’ve heard in that sphere.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that’s the big disagreement. The big disagreement isn’t on choice in life, okay? Pro-lifers are not anti-choice. Pro-choice are not anti-life. They simply disagree on when life begins, when human life begins, okay? Yes. So my reason for being pro-life is not because I’m a Christian and I spout off scriptures about how he knitted us together in the womb. He knew before you were born, I knew you. Okay. Those are true, by the way. But I’m actually an on-fire pro-lifer because I believe scientifically, absolutely, human life begins at an earlier stage, and I can say why. Okay. Not today. Take too much time. Right. Here’s what I’m saying. America is an incredibly Christian nation because it is based on Christian principles, because you are not forced to be a Christian, but you can be a Christian. See, in America, you are completely free to be a Christian for now. Now, I’m serious. That’s going away. Let’s face it. The Democrat Party, in every way they possibly can, is trying to make Christian beliefs illegal. I disagree with homosexuality. They literally would want you thrown out of all kinds of jobs. Do I hate gay people? Not at all. My best friend at work in the casinos was gay. I don’t care. Live your life. I just hold my beliefs. Here’s why. And for me, it’s always because of science. But what they try to do is they want to make Christianity illegal. They haven’t done that yet. And here’s what I mean. To be a Christian nation means that you have the freedom to be Christian and never oppressed for it. We’re becoming less Christian, not because there are fewer Christians, but because Christians can be oppressed for being Christian. So do I believe we are still a Christian nation? Yes, we are. But do I believe that we’re moving away from it? Yes, I do. Not because our foundations were never Christian. They were. But because more people actually literally want to oppress you for being one. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s where the danger is. See, the reason that some people think, well, we’re not a Christian nation anymore is because people aren’t being made to be Christian. But that’s the whole point. They never were supposed to be. The reason we are a Christian nation and not an Islamic nation is because you’re not forced to have a belief system. That makes it a Christian nation. But people aren’t choosing to be Christian. I know. Jesus didn’t force them either. Am I making sense?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I think so. Like we said kind of at the beginning, you know, the foundation is the freedom of choice.
SPEAKER 04 :
Choice will reward consequence. Yes.
SPEAKER 12 :
I think to sort of play off that kind of like you were saying, if Christians want more people to choose to be Christian, then they should express, you know, in their actions why it’s a good idea to make that choice. Right. You know, and you don’t get that by force either way, in the same way that if you try and force people to not be Christian, they will be Christian even harder. Exactly. You know?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, and let me really quick here. I know a lot of the church can get very angry and belligerent and forceful at times. Let me explain why. And I say this as an atheist who went in. Okay. It’s because… So many of our beliefs, year by year by year by year, are being mocked more and more and more and more in our society. And when that happens, you get angry. You get frustrated. You get hurt. And you look at it and you say, well, wait a minute. Christian beliefs built the most successful nation the world has ever seen. Really. We were a juggernaut. And we still are. Yeah. Okay. And yet you guys want to look at our beliefs as the problem. This is ridiculous. I mean, you can hold those beliefs or not. That’s up to you. But our beliefs built the very freedom to carry a gun, the very freedom to do what you do, to buy freely, to make choices and enjoy your own freedoms, you know, rewards and consequences off of them. We built that. Now, by the way, atheists believe in that system, too. Muslims don’t. Well, they don’t. Sorry, it doesn’t go with their… But do you see where I’m going? Yeah. I think a lot of Christians are just very hurt at the society looking at us and saying, you’re the problem here. And we’re looking back and saying, no, we’re not. And we resent that. And then we get to a point where we’re saying, we want to force our laws on you. We want to force our beliefs to be your laws because we see it all being stripped away. And we’re afraid. Mm-hmm. Is that fair? Yeah, I can see it. Yeah. Okay, well, anyway, is America a Christian nation? Yes, it is, folks, because you’re free to be one or not. And that’s my answer.
SPEAKER 12 :
Good answer. I like it.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Call in to the KLZ studio line, 303-477-5600. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 04 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason. Denver’s Afternoon Rush. KLZ 560. Andy Pate filling in for John Rush along with Luke Cashman. Man. Okay, Luke, let’s pivot here a little bit. I want to talk about transgenders. Do a little pivot. Yeah, a little bit of a pivot. Hot topic. Well, first of all, I’ll just talk about it being maybe put in a place where it doesn’t belong. And that’s on Netflix. They have chosen to put it in. This is just weird. Uh, Netflix is back with another case study and how to waste time and money on content. No one asked for this is by the way, being published in bleeding fool, whatever that is. I don’t know. Um, they’re late. They’re giants. Their latest project is queen of coal. Okay. And it’s a Spanish Argentine film about a transgender coal miner who takes on the patriarchy. Interesting. The film opens with this line in its description. A trans woman dreams of working the coal mines, but in a town steeped in superstition and patriarchy, Carlita must fight to earn her place underground. Okay. So basically they’re coming out with yet another project that insults everybody. That who has any kind of, you know, anywhere where men have any power at all. OK, I personally believe it should be balanced. A lot of Hollywood believes it should be very imbalanced. OK, you’re in films that have the only film that’s done well insulting the patriarchy was Barbie. because it didn’t just insult the patriarchy and insulted all men. And so women flooded to it, and they had a lot of fun with it. I’m okay with that. Fine. You could watch Married with Children, but both sides get bashed with that. It’s kind of fun. Here’s my question. Is this going to bomb as bad as I think it will? Queen of Coal. I mean, do you honestly think big numbers of people want to watch this?
SPEAKER 12 :
Doubt it. Not my cup of tea, that’s for sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s ultimately go woke. I mean, it’s the ultimate go woke. Yeah. You’re taking coal mining in this town and bashing it. Men bashing any kind of traditional values and shoving transgenderism on the viewer.
SPEAKER 12 :
No, I don’t think it’s going to see a lot of traffic. I don’t think that’s a particularly hot take either.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I don’t think it’s going to work very well. Okay, well, moving on. The reason I read that is because Tony Evers, who is the awful, awful, awful, awful governor of my home state, Wisconsin— Wisconsin’s barely a state anymore. I think it’s just a communist regime.
SPEAKER 12 :
Was it ever a state?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, it was, actually. We actually had happiness and children played by rivers of chocolate. I see. It had good moments. Wonderful. Not now. Well, this is kind of funny. This is from Town Hall. Let me just read this. Wisconsin Governor Evers laments health care costs while suing to protect gender-affirming care for minors. Okay. Such a law they claim will… Let me read from the start. He says, there are many layers of hypocrisy and irony in this story. Democrats have spent months screaming about the impending rise in health care costs associated with the sunset of the COVID era Obamacare subsidies. Hey, folks, those subsidies were for COVID. We can’t continue them.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. And by the way, Joe mentioned this the other day. I’m going to mention it again. Obamacare, when it came out, was the Affordable Care Act, which was really put together just to rob young people like you to pay for old people like me. Hey, give it back. That’s what it was. I should. I should just give you money. That’s all it does.
SPEAKER 12 :
PayPal, Zelle, Cash App.
SPEAKER 04 :
The only way Obamacare, and that’s why as a result of Obamacare, you have no idea your, what are the co-payments? Not co-payments, the other thing.
SPEAKER 12 :
Premiums?
SPEAKER 04 :
Not just premiums. Charlie, help me out here. What is the word that you’ve got to pay a bunch of money before you can even start using your deductibles? There you go. Okay. I don’t know why it’s facing the world, folks. But deductibles, Luke, you’re too young to know. Deductibles before Obamacare were near nothing. They were very small. Now they’re huge. Now you can barely use your health care. Right. Okay. And the reason for that is this. Young people under Obamacare now – have to pay, and Obamacare has infected the entire market. You guys are having to pay tons and tons and tons of money before you even use your health care, basically to pay for my health care and make it cheaper. You’re subsidizing me. Yeah, give it back. Because I’m sick. Although, actually, I haven’t been to the doctor in about 10, 15 years. But I’m getting old. I will have to.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right.
SPEAKER 12 :
Ancient.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Well, anyway, here’s what’s going on. The Democrats right now are complaining about these COVID-era subsidies. Oh, yeah, here’s what I was saying. If the Affordable Care Act actually made care affordable, why would you need more subsidies? Right. I can understand during an emergency like COVID, but now it’s gone. Why would you need them again? It doesn’t make sense, right? Okay. Well, anyway, they claim that if we let those subsidies expire, they will deny kids access to the medical care they need. And one Democrat, Vermont’s Becca Ballant, said it was creepy that Republican lawmakers would want to protect kids from being sterilized and mutilated before they’re even old enough to vote. Okay. Guys, do you know how much it costs to change somebody’s gender?
SPEAKER 12 :
I imagine a decent amount.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Yeah, man. You’re not getting your nails clipped here. Okay. This is major. You are having major things done to a body. It is thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. Okay. And they’re willing. Well, go ahead, Charlie. I can’t hear you. Yeah, for the rest of your… Thank you, Charlie. For the rest of your life. I knew Charlie was talking to me. There’s something wrong with the mic. Guys, it’s an unbelievable amount of money for somebody to change their gender. Now, if you want to, go ahead. It’s your life, right? Live it. Do whatever you want. You can throw yourself off a cliff. I mean, it’s legal, okay? But it’s unbelievably expensive. So the same people, and this is what this article is saying, the same people who are complaining that we’re going to stop these subsidies want us to continue… gender-affirming care for minors, which is unbelievably expensive for the rest of their Do you see the problem here, Luke? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean, even just outside of the economic side, we’ve mentioned it a couple times, mostly for branding. As a lefty-leany, as someone who hangs on that side of the fence, I’m very much of the opinion, if you’re a full-grown legal adult, you do whatever you want with a real big bold on that full-grown legal adult part. Yeah, yeah. I think that goes to any major medical procedure, not just, you know, transgender surgery or hormone replacement.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, right. Anything.
SPEAKER 12 :
Anything that substantial to a body. Regardless, it’s like, you know, a minor also shouldn’t be getting lip filler or Botox, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Or a minor in sports shouldn’t be getting steroids.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. Anything like that. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
children are children yes bold word children there they are minors a 16 year old should not be making decisions even if they feel a certain way and by the way i’ll be honest okay this is different from being gay gay means just that you like your own gender okay that that’s what you want to be with transgender means you literally believe you are trapped in the wrong body Sorry, for me, that’s a mental illness. Okay, well, that’s intolerant. No, that’s honest. For me, that’s a mental illness. If I think I’m trapped in the body of a Wimbledon champion, you would think I’m nuts. If I think I’m trapped in the body of Robert De Niro as an actor, you would think I’m crazy. OK, if when you think you’re trapped in the wrong body, that’s pretty wacko to me personally. And I don’t care how mean that sounds. OK, but the bottom line is when you’re talking about these physical changes, you’re talking about making changes that you can’t reverse. They’re going to affect the rest of your life. I don’t believe any kid should be able to make choices that are going to change their body for the rest of their lives. What do you think?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I agree. Like like we said, I think you’re going to be how about 18? I think 18 is a legal adult. That is a legal consenting adult. If you can sign a contract at 18, you know, you can vote at 18. That’s, you know, that’s the cutoff.
SPEAKER 04 :
I agree. Hey, John and Cheyenne, tell you what, can you wait over the break because I don’t want to cut your time here. I want you to have time to talk. So when we come back, it’ll be John and Cheyenne. Up next is Geno’s Auto. Don’t take your car to a place your friend likes. That’s not good enough. Take your car to a place everyone likes with great reviews at Geno’s Auto. Call Geno’s at 303-794-6700.
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SPEAKER 14 :
TJ here with KLZ Radio, and I’ve got Al Smith from Golden Eagle Financial with us once again. Al, we are coming into a new year here now, and we’ve talked recently about getting a fresh look at our retirement accounts. So tell me what that means a little bit. What kind of stuff do you want folks to look at?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, a fresh look is not only looking at the past and seeing how you’re doing, but putting together what you would like it to look like in the future, not just growth, but are things on track? Some other maybe non-financial things? Are there some other things that you have concerns about as you get closer to retirement?
SPEAKER 14 :
Very cool. And what do you do for folks when they come in? And let’s say it’s a potential client that you’ve never seen before. Where do you start looking with a new account like that?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I have a pretty lengthy conversation where we dive into a timeline when they might like to retire and a little… a few income things so we could get a handle on the amount of money they’re going to need to retire. What does that look like for you? Are you going to be traveling a lot? Are you going to be skiing? Are you going to be spending a lot of time at home? Because some people’s idea of retirement means they’re going to need $10,000, $12,000 a month. Other people, $4,000 or $5,000 is going to be very adequate depending on what kind of things they do in retirement.
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s pretty great. Al Smith goes through a lot more than just numbers, folks. He’s about people and really wants to find out exactly what you want to do with your retirement. Al, how do people get in touch with you if they want to start that process?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you can reach me at the office, 303-744-1128. My cell is 303-875-4572. I reply to texts And if you’d like to hear about taxes as you get closer to retirement, there’s an event coming up January 10th at Arapahoe Community College. You got it, Al.
SPEAKER 14 :
And as always, you can reach Al from the klzradio.com website. Just go to klzradio.com slash money. Al, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you’re welcome. Thanks for having me, TJ.
SPEAKER 06 :
Listen online, klzradio.com. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 04 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. John and Cheyenne is on the line. John, thank you for waiting.
SPEAKER 15 :
Oh, no problem, Andy. Before I forget, Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year.
SPEAKER 04 :
Are you going to be like Luke, getting incredibly drunk and shooting blindly out of your car?
SPEAKER 12 :
You should.
SPEAKER 04 :
I recommend it. Actually, up there you won’t hit anybody, so that’s good.
SPEAKER 15 :
True. But no, I will not get incredibly drunk. I will be watching the Longhorns play Michigan. Ooh, that’ll be good. I don’t know. Yeah, well, I don’t know if I ever told you I’m a Longhorn fan by marriage. I did not know that. So she forced you to be a Longhorn fan. Okay. Well, I married a graduate of the University of Texas, which it was either become a Longhorn fan or not stay married, probably.
SPEAKER 04 :
She wears the pants, I guess. No problem, man. I respect that. No, just when it comes to college.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I grew up in the Northeast where there’s not a lot of good college football, if you think about it. All right, sir. Go ahead. I’ll be watching that game. That’ll be my New Year’s. Maybe I’ll have an adult beverage or two, but no craziness. What I was going to say is, Andy, you’re beating around the bush with the previous— thing where you were talking about religion and this one with transgender. It’s the difference between good and evil. Okay. And transgenderism is just another way of evil trying to manipulate the children. They use young children, adolescents that, come on, you remember when we were adolescents back, you know, in the Stone Age. Yeah. We were confused as heck about everything, and we had to figure out what we were going to do in our life.
SPEAKER 04 :
John, when you are telling a whole generation, lots of young kids in a generation, that you could be born in the wrong body, I think that’s evil. I think you’re messing with their heads. I think you’re knocking them off their game. Whatever they were going to become, I don’t know what they were going to become, but you’ve messed with it, and I don’t think you should.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, they shouldn’t be. And part of that is, you know, when they say my pronouns are they, them, we, it brings me to Mark where they said the demons said we are legion. Oh, I hadn’t thought of that one for we are a man. Yeah, think about that, though, for a minute. It’s good and evil. Like you in the first hour, you were talking about You said, well, I know some good Muslims. I can’t agree with that because I’ve never seen a Muslim speak out against Islamic fanaticism and violence.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, they generally there are there are some who do. But you’re right. Far too few do. Far too few. And that’s because they are they are way too accepting of. Let’s put it this way, John, really quick here. And Luke, I want you to jump in. OK, Luke. What if those kind of percentages of the Christian church were killing that many people around the world in those ways, cutting off heads and doing all that? I mean, there are beheadings still going on in Saudi Arabia today. What if they were happening with the Pope? Okay, I mean, what if that was happening at the Vatican? Do you think Christians everywhere would be looking the other way and talking it down like it wasn’t a big deal?
SPEAKER 12 :
I don’t know. I’d hope that they would, you know, say something against it.
SPEAKER 04 :
I would hope so.
SPEAKER 12 :
I’d hope so.
SPEAKER 15 :
John? Oh, I believe most practicing Christians would say something against it. But the other thing I wanted to point out when it comes to Islam versus Christianity, one of the old Bibles out there is the Ethiopian Bible. It goes back to, they say, about 3 or 4 AD. Okay. You know,
SPEAKER 04 :
I’m sorry. It would be a little later than that, by the way, because it wouldn’t have been… I meant 300 or 400 A.D.
SPEAKER 15 :
There you go, because the scriptures weren’t all written yet, but go ahead. Yeah, 300 or 400 A.D. Yeah. And it’s one of the oldest Bibles out there. Yet, Islam went to Africa by the sword. Those people were forced… to become Muslims or they would be killed, where Christianity has never forced somebody by the sword to become a Christian.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I won’t say never, but almost never. There have been some weird Christians, but you’re right, incredibly few. The Crusades, famously. Yeah, but the Crusades were a response to Islamic aggression. But you’re right, they still were overboard. I’m not in favor of the Crusades.
SPEAKER 15 :
But, I mean, when you look at it, they don’t… And I don’t think, and this might be changing the subject… I don’t think that we should be allowing people that are coming into this country that want to practice and change our beliefs like Dearborn, Michigan. Okay, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER 04 :
We’ve only got 30 seconds, but you nailed it there. I’m sorry. No, but you nailed it. You were right. We don’t mind if they practice their beliefs, but don’t change ours. And what they do when they turn a town into Sharia, right? And they have their own little areas where they can practice it and basically wall out our lawfulness. That’s the problem. When they impose their beliefs on us. Which, by the way, as I said before, Jesus and the apostles never did. That’s the difference. No, they did not. Andy, have a great day. John, thank you so much. And Luke! Hello. Thank you for joining me today. Did you have a lot of fun?
SPEAKER 12 :
Of course. It’s always a great time. Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER 04 :
You bet. I sure appreciate it. Okay, folks, in the next hour, Jersey Joe is going to return. We’re going to talk about all kinds of fun things. I’m looking forward to that. Until then, just keep it right here on Rush to Reason, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
I’m a rich guy
