Tucker Carlson showed up on Twitter at 8:00 PM ET (heh heh) with an unannounced monologue last night that already had more views than his show on Fox ever got (averaged 3.2 million viewers) an hour after he posted it.
His topic was the “unbelievably stupid debates” we see on television, which are irrelevant and forgettable. Yet, he says, almost none of them concern really big topics like war, emerging science, demographic changes, civil liberties and corporate power, among them. His accusation: both political parties and their donors collude to shut down any discussion about those big topics because they aren’t in their best interests.
His conclusion: the United States is a one-party system.
His hope: our current moment is too ridiculous to last.
When honest people say what’s true, calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful. At the same time the liars, who’ve been trying to silence them, shrink, and they become weaker. That’s the iron law of the universe: true things prevail.
This is a theme that he offered at the Heritage Foundation on Friday, the last night of his show (unbeknownst to him at the time).
The second you decide to tell the truth about something, you are filled with this — I don’t want to get supernatural on you — but you are filled with this power from somewhere else. Try it! Tell the truth about something. You feel it every day. The more you tell the truth, the stronger you become. That’s completely real. It’s measurable in the way that you feel.
I understand what he’s describing. I think it’s that sense of relief once you stop pretending that something is true that isn’t. If you hold a lie as the truth, it creates a tension within you. Once you admit the truth, that tension is released. That “power” you feel is the freedom the truth brings.
As Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). That’s admittedly a bit of misapplication, but the principle, “the truth will set you free,” remains.
Carlson’s speech is interesting for another reason — it may be why he was fired from Fox. Here’s Matt Walsh’s take.
You can find the Vanity Fair article Walsh refers to here.
Of course, Carlson’s 8:00 PM slot at Fox News has already grown cold and thousands of viewers have canceled their Fox Nation subscriptions.
Fox must’ve thought their audience was so loyal to their brand that they could survive firing the most powerful conservative voice in cable news — in all of journalism, really. As I said on Tuesday, I’m guessing it will be a Bud Light moment, and a real head-scratcher at that.
But Carlson will be back and I hope he’ll hammer home the truth even more powerfully.
When I was in junior high I was friends with Scott,* one of the school’s popular kids who was an all-around athlete and a funny guy who others naturally gravitated towards. He was also somewhat of an arrogant prig because he was popular and tough, no one really challenged his place in the social pecking order, and he got a lot of laughs as a practical joker.
One year Scott took to tormenting another kid named Jim Bursh. Jim was a foot taller than my friend but seemed rather slow and socially awkward. Scott would follow Jim down the hall and loudly say his name, but drag it out as “Jim Burrrrsh,” as though he was a mentally-challenged 14-year-old. All of Scott’s groupies — including me — would get a laugh at Jim’s expense.
This went on for some time until one day, Scott was following Jim up the stairs from the lunch room. We were all tagging along and he started in again on him. “Jim Burrrshh … Jim Burrrrsh! … Jim BURRRRSH.”
As we got to the landing at the top of the stairs, with Scott still haranguing him, Jim suddenly, and with surprising speed, spun around and grabbed Scott by the back of the neck and bent him over the rail that kept us from falling into the stairwell. It was an act of raw power that stunned us all by how quickly and decisively he dominated Scott.
Jim then bellowed, “Don’t do that any more! Got it?” It would’ve been nothing for him to toss Scott over the railing onto the stairs below. Meekly, Scott said, “Yeah, got it.” Jim let go and walked away.
Thoroughly chastened and red-faced, Scott followed at a distance, surrounded by his awestruck and now silent posse. Needless to say, he left Jim alone from then on. The bully had run into someone who had decided enough was enough.
I see something like that story developing in our society. Over the last week I’ve come across three posts where the authors have declared that enough is enough.
Enough of what?
Enough of the Left and its irrational and destructive nonsense. Enough of insisting that men can be women. Enough of rewriting America’s history. Enough of the lies from our political leaders. Enough of grooming our children. Enough of demonizing whites as racist. Enough of wrecking our unique culture through open borders. Enough of the cultural Marxism. Enough of being silent in the hopes that we might not offend our opponents in the culture wars.
Steve Deace, an evangelical Christian and conservative activist, hosts an eponymous show on Blaze Media. On Monday last week he appeared on Tim Pool’s show Timcast IRL, where the topic turned to the war in Ukraine. Deace delivered an epic rant against the idea of the U.S. putting boots on the ground in that war zone.
This issue with Ukraine is my last nerve. And this is hard for me to say, as a kid who’s a child of the ’80s, who grew up in the “We’re America, bitch” ’80s, who wore Alex P. Keaton monogrammed sweater vests, okay? And, and got up in the middle of the night to cheer Reagan bombing Qaddafi back to the Neolithic period. This is hard for me to say, okay?
You’re taking my high school-age son to fight and die in Ukraine? Literally over my dead body. I’m never allowing that. I’m never letting you take him to die for your Habsburg Dynasty, World War I, needless 20-million pile-of-deaths replay over your elites’ pissing contest. Not happening. I don’t care what the threat is. I don’t care what the penalty is.
And if you think you’re drafting my daughters, get the camps ready, because you’re gonna need them. Never happening.
Enough is enough.
Matt Walsh posted a video on Valentine’s Day in which he spoke the unvarnished truth about Dylan Mulvaney, a man who dresses and “presents” as a woman (or “a girl” as Mulvaney says). The video got a lot of backlash from the usual suspects, but also a lot of “friendly fire” from those who identify as right-of-center.
It’s the follow up video, posted on Wednesday last week, in which Matt addresses his critics from the right with a doubling down.
Listen to the whole thing but here’s a brief transcript of his core argument.
In the culture war, I don’t think it’s possible to ‘go too far’ by speaking truth. The truth is the truth. It is what it is. It’s the reality. Are we going to defend it or are we going to conceal it? Are we going to embrace it or are we going to hide from it? You can’t have it both ways. . . .
And make no mistake, Dylan Mulvaney is our enemy. He is an open, visible, active and passionate advocate for the abuse of children, the war on fundamental truth, and the destruction of human society as we know it.
I’m not looking to reach an understanding with these people. I’m not interested in compromise and dialogue. For those who castrate children and attack the very concept of truth and erode the very foundations of human civilization, my goal is to defeat and humiliate and demoralize them. OK, I want to destroy everything they stand for.
Enough is enough.
Finally, here’s Lincoln Brown, a columnist for PJ Media and The Hill who on Thursday also declared enough is enough when it comes to the Left.
Having been raised a liberal who became a conservative, I have long been an advocate of dialogue. Of finding the middle way. Of reaching a consensus. Knowing both sides of the aisle as I do, I had thought that there might be some point at which our two sides might find common ground or a way of living with one another.
I will now finally admit that is simply not a possibility. I take no joy in that, but there comes a time when one must admit that compromise is impossible, and that to search for it involves capitulation with alleged human beings who have blinded themselves to all but the basest of pursuits and desires. There comes a time at which hope ends, and one realizes that we can no longer live with one another. It is a sad realization, but one that is based on a harsh, unforgiving reality. Long had I hoped that cooler heads might prevail, that we could see eye to eye on something. But whether it is because of the internet, our feckless leaders, or the inherent sinfulness of mankind, we must admit that the breach between the insanity of the Left and the rest of the world is simply too large and wide to bridge. It would take an act of God to bring about reconciliation. And for better or worse, He has chosen to leave us to our own devices. The Old Testament prophets warned that those who sought their will above all else would reap the whirlwind. And the people in power have done just that. How long they evade the chaos that they have seeded will be up to the Almighty. . . .
Changing focus for a moment, I really did want to find common ground with you people on the Left. I agree with you on the need to solve poverty, and on many points about the environment. I agree with you about Big Pharma and insurance issues. There were so many places we could have worked together. But sadly, even that part of me that was raised a Democrat has come to realize that you care nothing for anyone but yourselves. You traffic in bodies. You traffic in lives. You traffic in souls. To my sorrow, there can be no common ground.
Enough. is. enough.
These three men are demonstrating what used to be common among Americans — a backbone and a commitment to the truth. They have convictions they aren’t willing to compromise. They’ve found a hill they’re willing to die on. They’ve reached the point where they have to say, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”
All of us will sooner or later be forced to make a similar decision. Christians, especially, will eventually have to declare their allegiance to one side or the other. It may be safe to stay silent and out of the battle, ignoring the walls closing in the hopes it will all just blow over and we can go back to our comfortable lives in which we go along to get along, but that’s not going to happen.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)
You will have to decide. Will you compromise your convictions or will you gather your courage and determine to give no quarter? How much “Jim BURRRRSH” will you take before you decide that enough is enough, you stiffen your spine, and you proactively stand for the truth against the lies of this age?
Daily Verse | 2 Kings 12:15 They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.
Monday’s Reading: 2 Kings 15-17
It’s Monday, the day after the holiest day of the Christian calendar: Easter Sunday. It’s the most important day to Christians because, as Paul says, if Christ has not been raised, we’re still in our sins and our faith is futile.
Futile. Worthless. Useless. Pointless. That candid admission is one reason I believe scripture. I am unaware of any other faith that allows that if their central claim is untrue, the entire belief system collapses.
I hope those of you who follow Christ marked the occasion with joy and celebration, and I hope those of you who are still undecided remain curious about the claim that Jesus defeated death. If that claim is true, it means everything to you now and for eternity. You can always write me at info@daveolsson.com and I’ll happily answer your questions or point you to resources that can.
While in seminary, studying for my MDiv., I took a course from one of the more popular professors on campus who was also very pastoral. By “pastoral” I mean that he cared about people, he seemed wise, and he had a good-natured, grandfatherly affect about him.
During one class, he said something about the nature of truth and to this day, try as I might, I cannot remember his exact words. I even asked him to repeat what he said so that I could write it down, but even he couldn’t remember exactly what he had just said. In the moment the words were profound, and I’ve often tried to recall them, but they just aren’t there—so what I’m about to write is (most likely) a poor approximation of what he actually said.
The gist of it was this: When someone lies, they alter the reality of the person to whom they lied. In other words, when someone receives a lie as the truth, they are living with a distorted understanding of what is, in fact, real, courtesy of the liar. They live as though the lie is the truth.
Lying is so abhorrent to me that it was one of two non-negotiable rules that we held for our kids: you may not defy us, and you may not deceive us. We wanted them to respect authority and the truth.
Now we know that our children did not always tell us the truth (and they did not always obey our direction)—but then, neither did I always tell the truth and neither did I always respect authority. It’s part of the nature of unredeemed mankind and even after repenting, it’s a process of learning to live the truth no matter what.
The reasons for lying are numerous, but often they have to do with gaining an advantage over someone or avoiding responsibility for something, both being motivated by pride. Lying can get us more power or more money or more attention; it can also help us avoid humiliation or the consequences of our actions.
One of our maxims was, “Little people, little problems. Big people, big problems.” When children lie, the consequences are (almost) always small.
Parent: Did you make mommy a pretty drawing on the wall with markers?
3-year-old: No.
Parent: Why is there marker on your hands?
3-year-old: I don’t know.
But the bigger they get, the bigger the consequences of a lie can be.
The Lie: “Cigarette smoking is no more ‘addictive’ than coffee, tea, or Twinkies.”
The Truth: “Nicotine is a highly addictive chemical compound present in a tobacco plant.”
The Consequences: “Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.”
The Lie: There is an epidemic of white police officers killing unarmed black suspects.
The Truth: “In 2019 police officers fatally shot 1,004 people, most of whom were armed or otherwise dangerous. African-Americans were about a quarter of those killed by cops last year (235), a ratio that has remained stable since 2015 … In 2018, the latest year for which such data have been published, African-Americans made up 53% of known homicide offenders in the U.S. and commit about 60% of robberies, though they are 13% of the population.“
That’s why there’s a disproportionate number of encounters with police. In addition, “white officers appear to be no more likely to use lethal force against minorities than non-white officers.”
The Consequences: “Mostly peaceful riots” over George Floyd’s death caused more than $2 billion dollars in damages, killed at least 15 people, and injured more than 700 officers.
The Lie: Gas prices are so high because of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The Truth: “[Biden] canceled pipelines, restricted drilling on government lands and waters, and tightened regulations on oil and gas producers.” Also, “Gasoline prices climbed 48.3% between Biden’s inauguration and Putin’s invasion.”
The Consequences: “As of April 14, average prices for regular gasoline range from a low of $3.64 in Missouri to a whopping high of $5.72 in California, according to the national motor club AAA. The national average was $4.07, a 42% increase from last year.” Brandon pretends that the high cost of gas is out of his hands. It’s a lie and we’re literally paying the price for his deception.
There’s so many more lies that I could cite: Hunter’s laptop; Hillary’s illegal server; that men can be women; that January 6 was an insurrection; that 1619 is the true founding of America; that white supremacy is the biggest threat we face … and on and on and on.
We’ve come to accept that lying is part and parcel of politics. Why? Why shouldn’t we demand that our leaders are honest? At least we could make informed decisions. As it is, those lies distort reality and the results are what we’re living with today.
Maybe someday we’ll get lucky, and all of our political leaders will be forced to tell the truth, like Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) in Liar Liar, who is under a truth curse and cannot lie.
While I doubt we’d get that, I’d settle for workers who “acted with complete honesty.”
