1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 2: I'm Stephen Monticelli, a journalist in Dallas who covers political 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 2: extremism in Texas. 4 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 3: I'm Michael Phillips, an historian who wrote a history of 5 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 3: racism in Dallas called White Metropolis. Both of us grew 6 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 3: up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, and for both 7 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 3: of us, our home state has been a matter of 8 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 3: both wonder and horrified fascination. In this episode of It 9 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 3: Could Happen Here, we're going to try to explain Texas 10 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 3: culture and politics and why the country and the world 11 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 3: should care. Spoiler alert, What happens in Texas doesn't stay 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 3: in Texas. The state has always had a disproportionate impact 13 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 3: on national politics. The annexation of Texas in eighteen forty 14 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 3: five provoked the Mexican American War. From eighteen forty six 15 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 3: to eighteen forty eight. The United States grabbed two thirds 16 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 3: of Mexico's territory, and there was an ugly and bitter 17 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 3: fight over the status of slavery and all that new 18 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,039 Speaker 3: land the United States acquired. That's going to turn out 19 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 3: to be one of the major causes of the Civil War, 20 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 3: a conflict that resulted in the liberation of four million 21 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,839 Speaker 3: African Americans from slavery, but also the death of three 22 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 3: quarters of a million Americans. Texas also was the epicenter 23 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 3: of the Populist Movement, a leftist movement largely based in 24 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 3: Texas that actually challenged the power of the Democratic Party 25 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 3: in the South. And if the Populist Party had succeeded, 26 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 3: everything else that happened in America in the twentieth century 27 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 3: in terms of Jim Crow, lynching, the Clan, etc. May 28 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 3: have had a very different outcome. 29 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,559 Speaker 2: Slavery didn't end in Texas until June nineteenth, eighteen sixty five, 30 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 2: months after it had ended in the rest of the country. 31 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 2: It's a state that today is the second most populous 32 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 2: state in the nation and it's the eighth largest economy 33 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 2: in the world. Two of the most consequential presidents over 34 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 2: the last sixty years hailed from the lone Star state. 35 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 2: There was Democrat Lyndon Johnson, who brought the country not 36 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 2: only Medicare and Medicaid, but the nineteen sixty four Civil 37 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 2: Rights Act and the nineteen sixty five Voting Rights Act, 38 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 2: two issues that the right wing continue to fight against 39 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 2: to this day. Those laws made African Americans perhaps the 40 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 2: most important constituency in the Democratic Party. Racist backlash to 41 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,079 Speaker 2: johnson civil rights legislation, urban uprisings and places like the 42 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 2: Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles, and white flight generally led 43 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 2: segregationists and their children in the South, who had been 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 2: loyal Democratic voters to switch allegiance to the Republican Party. 45 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 2: Over the next three decades, another Texas president, Republican George W. Bush. 46 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 2: He aggressively embraced homophobia, tightened the ties between the Republican 47 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 2: Party and the most right wing Christians in the country, 48 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 2: and made denial of climate change strict GOP orthodoxy. Of course, 49 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 2: the Bush family's oil wealth was central to their rise 50 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,959 Speaker 2: to pa and broadly speaking, the wealth of right wing 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 2: oil barons in Texas has helped push the Republican Party 52 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 2: further and further to the right, in no small part 53 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 2: due to a particular belief in a particular strain of Christianity, 54 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 2: which we'll get to later in this episode. 55 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 3: Bush's response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade 56 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 3: Center in the Pentagon on September eleventh led to the 57 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 3: rise of the modern surveillance state and the two longest 58 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 3: wars in American history. Both of them disastrous failures. The 59 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 3: combination of white backlash to the LBJ era civil rights initiatives, 60 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 3: the intense religiosity of the Bush era and the Republican 61 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 3: Party in that time period, and the sense of the 62 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 3: United States was a declining power unable to impose its 63 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 3: will on Afghanistan and Iraq opened the door of the 64 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 3: Donald Trump's ascendancy. In short two Texas presidents played a 65 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 3: major role in making the Democratic Party vastly more diverse, 66 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 3: more urban based, and more mainstream liberal, and the Republican 67 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 3: Party more white, more right wing, more isolationists, and far 68 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 3: more fundamentalists and skeptical science. 69 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 2: Texas has been in the national news frequently in recent years, 70 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 2: and often for the worst reasons. It's become famous and 71 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 2: infamous for its wide open gun laws and several of 72 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 2: the worst mass shootings in American history, including at an 73 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 2: army base in Killeen, a Walmart and al Paso, and 74 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 2: an outlet mall in Allen. Draconian abortion laws allow complete 75 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 2: strangers to sue women who go out of state and 76 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 2: their pregnancy, and new laws are being considered to prevent 77 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 2: women from traveling through particular counties on highways who if 78 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 2: they are seeking abortion, you know, they could be arrested 79 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 2: for basically trying to leave the state to seek an abortion. 80 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 3: In the last three years in this state, a group 81 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 3: of teachers in the Southflex School District in the Dallas 82 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 3: Fort Worth area were in struct did to tell quote 83 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 3: both sides of the Holocaust in order to not run 84 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 3: a foul of the legislature's ban on critical race theory. 85 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 3: A beloved teacher, Nerving, was fire for displaying a rainbow 86 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 3: sticker in our classroom as a sign of support for 87 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 3: LGBTQ students. The first ever African American high school principal 88 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 3: at Heritage High and yet another Dallas suburb, Colleville, was 89 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 3: forced from his job when he sent an email to 90 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 3: his high school community after the murder of George Floyd 91 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 3: that acknowledged existence of systemic racism in the United States. 92 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 2: So, you know, I think you could maybe pick up 93 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,719 Speaker 2: on a trend here in Texas that our fundamental rights 94 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 2: like free speech are under threat, particularly if you run 95 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 2: a foul of the orthodoxy that comes out of the 96 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 2: Republican Party. And one target of that orthodoxy has been books. 97 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 2: All across this nation, we've seen dust ups over books 98 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 2: in schools and libraries, and Texas has been one of 99 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 2: the main flashpoints of this fight. So the literary organization 100 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 2: pen America reports that Texas and Florida lead the nation 101 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 2: in book bands at public schools, with more than fifteen 102 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 2: hundred books banned in the state of Texas. Most of 103 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 2: those books deal with issues like racism or LGBTQ experience, 104 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 2: and one deputy constable in Granbury, a suburb near Dallas 105 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 2: Fort Worth, even spent two years investigating three librarians on 106 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 2: alleged felony charges of providing so called harmful materials to 107 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 2: miners simply because they allowed miners to access acclaimed books 108 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 2: like The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison. According to an 109 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 2: investigation by NBC News, the law enforcement officer Scott London, 110 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 2: was a member of the extremist Oathkeepers organization. He subpoened 111 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 2: names of young readers who checked out supposedly objectable material, 112 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 2: and he even secretly recorded his conversations with the librarians 113 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 2: who drew his unwonted attention. The investigative report that came 114 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 2: out of this investigation into so called harmful materials was 115 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 2: eight hundred and twenty four pages long, and no charges 116 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 2: were ever filed, but nonetheless a lot of people's lives 117 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 2: were made difficult and a bunch of books have been 118 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 2: taken off the shelves. 119 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 3: So as we mentioned, Texas has been on the cutting 120 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 3: edge of right wing politics in America on issues like abortion, 121 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 3: the treatment of trans children, and on immigration particular. Texas 122 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 3: has modeled the Republican attitude on newcomers and migrants and 123 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 3: policies towards them. The state's governor, Greg Gabbott essentially tried 124 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 3: to establish his own independent border policy, even though the 125 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 3: constitution makes that the responsibility of the federal government. Texas 126 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 3: so far has built thirty four miles of a wall 127 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 3: Abbot valves will eventually extend along the entirety of texas 128 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 3: twelve hundred and fifty four mile international border with Mexico. 129 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 3: One estimate says that project, if it were completed, would 130 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 3: take thirty years and cost twenty billion dollars. The state 131 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 3: of Texas has placed Buoy's entangled with razor wire in 132 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 3: the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass, a border town 133 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 3: that's a major crossing point for migrants fleeing the violence 134 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 3: and economic hardship in Central America, Venezuela, and the rest 135 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,239 Speaker 3: of Latin America. 136 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,839 Speaker 2: One of Governor Abbot's border initiatives, Operation Loan Star, has 137 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 2: flooded the border with hundreds of law enforcement agents and 138 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 2: has touted thousands of arrests, but it also costs eleven 139 00:08:55,320 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 2: billion dollars and it's unclear what it's really done in 140 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 2: terms of making the state safer. Texas insists, through statements 141 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 2: from people like Greg Abbott, that immigrants are dangerous and 142 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 2: that they are flooding our streets with crime, never mind 143 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 2: the fact that studies indicate that immigrants are far less 144 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 2: likely to commit crimes on average. These initiatives have been deadly. 145 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 2: In August twenty twenty three, a buoy trapped a twenty 146 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 2: year old Duran and a small child, causing them both 147 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 2: to drown. The Texas border patrols El Paso sector has 148 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 2: become one of the deadliest areas of the border here, 149 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 2: with one hundred and forty nine immigrants dying over a 150 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 2: twelve month period between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. Recently, 151 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 2: on a podcast, Abbot expressed regret that Texas has been 152 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 2: unable to shoot immigrants who are attempting to enter Texas 153 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 2: by crossing the Rio Grant and has complained that the 154 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:54,959 Speaker 2: Biden administration might file murder charges against border agents if 155 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 2: such lethal force was used. 156 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 4: And the only thing that we're not doing is we're 157 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 4: not shooting people who come across the border. 158 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 2: Because of course the Bid administration would charges with murder. 159 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:11,079 Speaker 3: One of the issues about immigration is a panic amongst 160 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 3: the Anglos living in the state that white people will 161 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 3: become a shrinking and less politically powerful minority, and this 162 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 3: connects to the issue of abortion. Throughout the history of 163 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 3: abortion laws in Texas, there's been a discussion of whether 164 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 3: or not white Texans were committing what they said in 165 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 3: the early twentieth century was so called Reese's suicide, a 166 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 3: real panic that black and brown people would eventually out 167 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 3: number whites and would seize political control of the state. 168 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 3: And this is tied to the abortion issue because throughout 169 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,479 Speaker 3: the history of abortion laws in America and in Texas, 170 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,840 Speaker 3: there's been a concern that white women are having abortions, 171 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 3: and that really fuels some of the extremism in how 172 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 3: Texas has approached this issue. Twenty twenty two, this state 173 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 3: legislature passed the law that would allow a third party 174 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,960 Speaker 3: to sue anyone who helped a woman getting an abortion, 175 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 3: although the courts have so far blocked enforcement of that law, 176 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 3: called Senate Bill eight. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton meanwhile 177 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 3: has addressed another issue dealing with trans children, and again, 178 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 3: trans children, if they're white, would be out of the 179 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 3: reproductive demographic race that panics white racist in the state. 180 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 3: He has tried to force doctors and other states to 181 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 3: provide medical information on young people receiving gender affirming care 182 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 3: outside of Texas, and the parents are trans children in 183 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 3: Texas have been investigated for child abuse. In each case, 184 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 3: these extreme laws have been discussed in some cases imitated 185 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 3: in other red states. 186 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:58,239 Speaker 2: So, on the one hand, we've got anxieties about immigrants 187 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 2: allegedly replacing the white race rhetoric that has been repeated 188 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 2: by people as high up as Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, 189 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 2: who has said that immigrants are trying to take over 190 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 2: our country without firing a shot. This is something that 191 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 2: people like the Hitler admirer Nick Fuentes, who has met 192 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 2: with a high ranking and influential Republican consultant who works 193 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 2: for one of the largest political donors in the country. 194 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 2: He believes that sort of rhetoric and pushes it. On 195 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 2: the other hand, we've got the issue with LGBTQ issues 196 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 2: in general. We've seen books being taken off the shelves 197 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 2: as we've previously mentioned. We've seen rights taken away from 198 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 2: students with regard to their access to bathrooms. We have seen, 199 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 2: as doctor Phillips mentioned, the targeting of parents, and a 200 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 2: lot of this comes from this anxiety that students are 201 00:12:55,120 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 2: being groomed into becoming LGBTQ in public schools, in public libraries, 202 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:04,839 Speaker 2: and other settings, the idea being that, yes, they're trying 203 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 2: to turn your kids gay, that's what they're saying. And 204 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 2: so of course they're going to be extremely upset about 205 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 2: any shrinking demographic numbers among the white population, or a 206 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 2: growing acceptance of queerness or people being transgender, and so 207 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 2: much of that is rooted in religious belief. But all 208 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 2: of this it matters in a bigger perspective, and I 209 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 2: think we can understand why some of this is so 210 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 2: prevalent in Texas through the lens of Texas's importance to 211 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 2: national politics. 212 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 3: Texas counts for forty of two hundred and seventy votes 213 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 3: needed to win the electoral College. Only California has more 214 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 3: electoral College votes, and the Republican Party has been able 215 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 3: to rely on winning every single presidential election in the 216 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 3: state since nineteen eighty. If Texas should ever flip politically, 217 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 3: it'd be hard to see how the Republicans could ever 218 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 3: win the White House again. And it always seems like 219 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 3: Texas is just on the verge of flipping blue. 220 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 2: Right, there's been a lot of talk for a long 221 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 2: time about this pending demographic revolution, the idea that eventually, 222 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 2: you know, the numbers are just baked in and that 223 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 2: Republicans will no longer control the state. So let's look 224 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 2: at some of those numbers. So, Tejano's or people of 225 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 2: Latino Hispanic descent, make up more than forty percent of 226 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 2: the state's population, so they're the largest single population group. 227 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 2: Non Whites account for sixty percent of all Texans, and 228 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 2: as a group, they vote mostly for Democrats, and they 229 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 2: control most of the state's largest cities in terms of 230 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 2: political dominance. But because of low voter turnout among people 231 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 2: of color, laws that intentionally make registering to vote harder, 232 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 2: making voting itself even more difficult, gerrymandering the general feebleness 233 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 2: of the Democratic Party in the state. The state has 234 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 2: remained in control of a very conservative, very white, Republican 235 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 2: minority for three decades. In Texas, every major city is 236 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 2: blue except for one, and that's Fort Worth, which is 237 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 2: in a place called Tarrant County. And I think it 238 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 2: is not a coincidence that the largest, flashiest conflicts have 239 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 2: often been in Tarrant County when it comes to things 240 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 2: like schools, when it comes to things like books. Colleyville, 241 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 2: as we previously mentioned, is in Tarrn County. If you've 242 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 2: ever heard of the name South Lake, that's a town 243 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 2: in Arrant County. There are numerous national articles about issues 244 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 2: that have emerged from this one single stronghold of Republican 245 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 2: power in the state, which if it were to fall, 246 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 2: would pretend great changes not just for the politics in 247 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 2: the state of Texas, but perhaps even the nation. 248 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 3: It's been remarkable because school board meetings used to be 249 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 3: really dull and talking. You used to talk about boundaries 250 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 3: for particular campuses, you know which students are going to 251 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 3: tend which class. But now, over the last few years, 252 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 3: very often they've been scenes of screaming, matches, threats, and 253 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 3: so on. Texas in many ways has become a laboratory 254 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 3: of autocracy, and again it's a model for other states 255 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 3: that have a right wing political leadership. For instance, the 256 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 3: Texas Republican Party platform adopted this year called for changes 257 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 3: in the way statewide officials like governor would be elected, 258 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 3: and essentially, the Republican Party called for creating a local 259 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 3: version of the electoral college. Under these proposed changes, a 260 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 3: candidate for governor, lieutenant governor, all the down ballot statewide 261 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 3: offices could win the popular vote and still lose the 262 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 3: election unless they carry a majority of the two hundred 263 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 3: and fifty four counties in the state, most of which 264 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 3: are very white, very conservative, very fundamentalist. If this became law, 265 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:23,679 Speaker 3: the proposal would guarantee permanent Republican rule in the state, 266 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 3: and as I said, other Republican states are looking at 267 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 3: this proposal. It hasn't been proposed as legislation, but that 268 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 3: would really end any pretense of democracy because most people 269 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 3: in Texas live in cities like the rest of the 270 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 3: United States. Another way that Republicans have maintained their grip 271 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 3: on the state is by waging a never ending culture 272 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:50,440 Speaker 3: war centered on matters of faith. So If you really 273 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 3: want to understand Texas, its culture and its politics, you 274 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 3: can't avoid a discussion of religion. You have to dive 275 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,959 Speaker 3: into one particular type of Christian Christianity we've already referred to. 276 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 3: This interpretation of the Bible motivates right wing voters and 277 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 3: the vast rural sections of the state and the outer 278 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:15,440 Speaker 3: suburbs and the major cities. It's disproportionately molded the state's 279 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 3: laws and attitudes where it's African Americans, immigrants, and the 280 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 3: people we've talked about, women, gay and trans people, and 281 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 3: also non Christians like Jews and Muslims. 282 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 2: If you trap the sort of issues that are being 283 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:33,240 Speaker 2: discussed by the Republican Party of Texas and you look back, 284 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 2: say to the time of George H. W. Bush, and 285 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 2: you look to now, it will be very clear to 286 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 2: you that the topics have changed. The sort of things 287 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 2: that they talk about. It's less about low taxes, it's 288 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 2: less about being business friendly, it's less about letting you 289 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 2: do what you want in your personal life, and it 290 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 2: is much more about imposing a particular religious viewpoint on 291 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 2: others through policy and the most vocal, perhaps one of 292 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 2: the most highly organized and certainly flush with funds. Sect 293 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,679 Speaker 2: of Christianity that is, you know, driving this is this 294 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 2: group of Christian fundamentalists that religious scholars broadly describe as dispensationalists. 295 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 2: So what's a dispensationalist. It's a fancy word for someone 296 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 2: who believes that we are living in the end times. 297 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 2: The end times being this idea that at any moment 298 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 2: now all true Christians will be whisked up into the 299 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 2: clouds in an event called the Rapture, that an embodiment 300 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 2: of Satan called the Antichrist will take over the world 301 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,399 Speaker 2: and try to destroy Israel. And you know, all of 302 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 2: this is, you know, presaging the final judgment, you know, 303 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:52,360 Speaker 2: the day when the Lord Jesus comes down and he 304 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 2: basically decides who's done well and who's done bad, and 305 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 2: that settles it for all eternity. 306 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 3: This particular strain of fundamentalism in Texas culture and politics 307 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 3: has a profound impact on global politics. The dispensationalists are 308 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 3: certain World War three is going to consume the planet. 309 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 3: They believe there's going to be a final battle between 310 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 3: good and evil called the Battle of Armageddon. And they 311 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 3: believe this, and this is significant. They believe that Jesus 312 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 3: Christ will come back specifically to stop World War three 313 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:36,400 Speaker 3: for a particular purpose. He's going to come to prevent 314 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 3: the destruction of all remaining Jewish people on the planet. 315 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 3: And they believe that millions of Jewish people are going 316 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 3: to die, those who survive are going to convert to Christianity, 317 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:53,199 Speaker 3: and when Jesus returns, he will establish what's essentially a 318 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 3: divine dictatorship that will be a time of perfect peace 319 00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 3: and harmony, called the Millennium. 320 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 2: Texans have played a major role in popularizing dispensationalism and 321 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,639 Speaker 2: its doom day theology, both in modern times but also historically. 322 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 2: One Texas writer named Michael Ennis once called the city 323 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 2: of Dallas the Athens of the apocalypse, and in the 324 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 2: late twentieth century, predicting the end of the world was 325 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 2: a lucrative business. So there was a theological center here 326 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 2: in Dallas that was one of the most influential groups 327 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 2: when it came to originating and promoting this idea of 328 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 2: the end times. And it also has to do with 329 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 2: one gentleman named Cyrus Scofield. But before we talk about 330 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 2: Cyrus Schofield, a quick ad break. 331 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,719 Speaker 3: What happened was there's this member a convert to the 332 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:10,480 Speaker 3: Congregationalist Church who came from Kansas. He had been a 333 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:13,439 Speaker 3: politician in Kansas who had to leave office because he 334 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 3: was accused of accepting bribes. He later said he was 335 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 3: struggling with alcoholism at the time. His name is Cyrus Schofield, 336 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 3: and he converts to Christianity and he's invited to head 337 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 3: this Congregationalist church that has a tiny congregation in Dallas, Texas. 338 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 3: And when he gets here, he brings this dispensationalism he's 339 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:45,160 Speaker 3: learned from other evangelists, and he's a modernizer. He has 340 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 3: adult education classes, correspondence courses on the Bible, and eventually 341 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 3: he produces something published in nineteen oh nine called the 342 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 3: Schofield Reference Bible that basically is the King James Bible 343 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 3: with footnotes that he and his co editors have put 344 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 3: together where they say, these strange verses in the Book 345 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,879 Speaker 3: of Daniel and the Book of Revelation that referred to 346 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 3: beast with seven heads and ten horns, and you know, 347 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 3: these other strange creatures, and this highly symbolic language has 348 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 3: a very literal obvious meaning, and that is the return 349 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,960 Speaker 3: of Jewish people to the state of Israel and how 350 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 3: that marks the beginning of the end. 351 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:45,640 Speaker 2: So the Schofield Reference Bible extremely popular when it comes out. 352 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 2: It was so popular it didn't save effectively the Oxford 353 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 2: University Press from going. 354 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 3: Yeah under during the Great Depression. That was very much 355 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 3: a possibility that Oxford University Press would go under. And 356 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 3: Schofield was lucky in some ways that you could put 357 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 3: it that way, because the Reference Bible comes out in 358 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 3: nineteen oh nine, and four years later what was at 359 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,880 Speaker 3: that point the most catastrophic war in human history. World 360 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 3: War One breaks out with a level of death and 361 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:29,120 Speaker 3: technology that was unprecedented in its destructiveness. Then the Depression happens. 362 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 3: You have the rise of these fascist dictators, and there's 363 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,960 Speaker 3: a sense that the world as we knew it was collapsing. 364 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 3: Capitalism might collapse, you know, you might have communists takeover, 365 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 3: you might have fascist takeover. And then of course World 366 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 3: War Two, and then finally the thing that really makes 367 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 3: Schofield seem like he was onto something in terms of 368 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 3: his Biblical interpretation. And this particular interpretation had been around 369 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:04,119 Speaker 3: certain variants for centuries and centuries, but it had always 370 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 3: been a minority view. But what really made it seem 371 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 3: like Schofield was onto something was nineteen forty eight when 372 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 3: the State of Israel is established, the modern state of Israel, 373 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:20,880 Speaker 3: because he had been saying this would happen, this would 374 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 3: be the sign of the end. It becomes the point 375 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 3: where a lot of churches ministers are measured by the 376 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 3: degree to which they promote Scofieldism, and Protestant churches ministers 377 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 3: get fired if they don't begin to talk about the 378 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 3: end times. 379 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 2: Schofield kind of won the lottery with timing, and you 380 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 2: can imagine a world maybe where the Schofield Bible didn't 381 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,880 Speaker 2: take off because it hadn't come out at that time 382 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 2: that it did. 383 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 3: Now one of Schofield's acolytes separated by several decades. Scofield 384 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:00,240 Speaker 3: had been dead for a long time. When you have 385 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 3: a student at the Dallas Theological Seminary, name how Lindsay, 386 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 3: who had been a tugboat captain, is attending this particular school. 387 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,520 Speaker 3: Dallas Theological Seminary had actually been established in the nineteen 388 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 3: twenties by allies associates of Cyrus Schofield. It had been 389 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 3: a center of the study of biblical prophecy, and basically 390 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 3: Lindsay's a student, and a lot of his peers said, 391 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 3: basically he took his class notes and turned into a book. 392 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 3: And his real effort. He had been a leader in 393 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,440 Speaker 3: the campus Crusade for Christ, which was an evangelical group 394 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 3: that was trying to fight the counterculture hippies, LSD and 395 00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 3: so on, and so he had that experience and he 396 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,359 Speaker 3: brought it into the writing of a best selling book 397 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 3: called The Late Great Planet Earth. And The Late Great 398 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,479 Speaker 3: Planet Earth is written in the language of the time. 399 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 3: He tries to use hippie type of lingo in to 400 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 3: catch on with the youth culture, and it's his timing, 401 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:09,880 Speaker 3: just like Schofields is great. This is a time where 402 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 3: there's an obsession with hidden knowledge. You have really popular 403 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:20,879 Speaker 3: books selling about the lost continent of Atlantis UFOs, the 404 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 3: phenomena supposedly a spontaneous human combustion. Did ancient aliens build 405 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 3: the Pyramids? And if you went to a convenience store 406 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 3: or a store department store, you might find racks of 407 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 3: paper books with all this hidden knowledge. And people believed 408 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,160 Speaker 3: that there was something hidden because of Watergate and because 409 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:46,479 Speaker 3: of Vietnam, and so this became a phenomenal seller. It 410 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 3: was the best selling quote unquote nonfiction book of the 411 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:54,200 Speaker 3: nineteen seventies. It later got made into a pseudo documentary 412 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 3: that was narrated by the movie star Orson Wells. 413 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,199 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was so successful that it was 414 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 2: like twenty eight million copies by nineteen ninety had been sold. 415 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 2: And if you've got Orson Well's buttery voice narrating it 416 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 2: as if it has some real import, certainly, many, many, 417 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:17,360 Speaker 2: many people were exposed to the ideas of how Lindsay Man. 418 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 5: Is faced by unprecedented perils that threatened to send his 419 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 5: crashing and the extention now from how Lindsay's incredible best 420 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 5: selling book comes the film which explores the terrifying prophesies 421 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 5: of the revelations Here's Our Planet Truly and Mortal Peril 422 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 5: the Late Great Planet Earth, featuring Orson Wells. 423 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 2: But it didn't stop there. Lindsay's book inspired some other 424 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 2: guys who you may have heard of, these two right 425 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 2: wing political activists and Christian evangelicals named Tim Lahay and 426 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 2: Jerry B. Jenkins, And they are the creators of the 427 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 2: Left Behind series. Now, if you don't know that Left 428 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 2: Behind series, you may have been living under a rock, 429 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 2: or maybe you weren't born yet, and that's not your fault, 430 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 2: but it is this publishing empire. At this point, retail 431 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 2: giants like Walmart stocked the books. They sold eighty million copies, 432 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 2: warehouses full of merch sequels, prequels, graphic novels, audiobooks, calendars, 433 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 2: greeting cards, a shoot them up computer game based on 434 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 2: the books. All of this stuff was centrally talking about 435 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 2: the rapture, the end times. That's what the Left Behind 436 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 2: series was about. And those who are left Behind are 437 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 2: those who were not raptured, and these films center on 438 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 2: the chaos that breaks out right after the rapture. Really 439 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 2: really popular stuff will play a quick clip so you 440 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 2: can get a sense of what that's like. He took 441 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 2: them to protect them, what from the darkest time in 442 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 2: the history of this world, persecution. 443 00:29:58,200 --> 00:29:59,640 Speaker 3: And seven years of darkness? 444 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 2: He took than that. The Left Behind books, they basically 445 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 2: depict Jesus not as a source of love and forgiveness, 446 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 2: but as this source of vengeance and bloodshed. One person 447 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 2: who spoke to in the preparation of this episode described 448 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 2: him as a sort of rambo Jesus, to be compared 449 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 2: to mister Rogers. Jesus, you could say. 450 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 3: And what's particularly dangerous is sometimes believers in this interpretation 451 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,479 Speaker 3: of the Bible try to make the end times happen 452 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 3: sooner rather than later. Yeah, I can mention two cases, 453 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 3: one better known than the other. You had a father's 454 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 3: son evangelical team called Gardner Ted Armstrong. His father was 455 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 3: named Herbert W. Armstrong, that had a radio broadcasting empire. 456 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 3: The problem was called the World Tomorrow. 457 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 2: And they had. 458 00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 3: College campuses in California and in Big Sandy, Texas, unaccredited college, 459 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 3: unaccredited college absolutely And one person who had listened to 460 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 3: the Armstrongs on the radio. And there's an Australian named 461 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 3: Michael Dennis Rohan on August twenty first, nineteen sixty nine, 462 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 3: actually travels to the Aloxa Mosque in Jerusalem because he 463 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 3: believes that's a key focal point of where armageddon is 464 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 3: going to take place, and he actually starts a fire 465 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 3: in that mosque, and that's a revered one of those 466 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 3: holy sites in Islam. And there was a time where 467 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 3: there was a diplomatic crisis caused by this believer in dispensationalism. Then, 468 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 3: of course we have what had happened to Waco, where 469 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:53,719 Speaker 3: you had a sect very much obsessed within Times and 470 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 3: with dispensationalism, led by a man named David Koresh nineteen 471 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 3: ninety three. He led his followers on this fifty one 472 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 3: day standoff with federal and state officials over the illegal 473 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 3: weapons that this group, the Branch Davidians held. Eventually you 474 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 3: have an exchange of gunfire between the agents and the 475 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 3: Branch Davidians, and then on April nineteenth, the Feds decide 476 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 3: to charge in and there's a fire and seventy six 477 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,640 Speaker 3: people die, including twenty five children. 478 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:37,719 Speaker 2: In the modern day, we've got two hugely influential people 479 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 2: who promote End Times theology. Now, one of them is 480 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 2: the biggest political donor in the entire state of Texas, 481 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 2: more money donated than anyone else. And his name is 482 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,080 Speaker 2: Tim Dunn, and we'll talk about him in a second, 483 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,160 Speaker 2: But first I want to talk about someone who is 484 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 2: also pretty influential, maybe not as wealthy as Tim Dunn, 485 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 2: who I should mention got his money through Wale. But 486 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,320 Speaker 2: this is a man named John Hagy. He is the 487 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 2: pastor of a twenty two thousand member church in Texas 488 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 2: called Cornerstone Church. And I think he has a global 489 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 2: audience as large as one hundred million people. So back 490 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 2: in the day, as a twenty eight year old young man, 491 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 2: he took part in the Wallace Youth, which is an 492 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:34,400 Speaker 2: organization devoted to supporting the presidential candidacy of white supremacist 493 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,200 Speaker 2: Alabama Governor George Wallace in nineteen sixty eight. Yeah, let's 494 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 2: just hear from Wallace real quick, in the. 495 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,360 Speaker 4: Name of the greatest people that I've ever taught differ. 496 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 4: I've brought a line in the dust and passed the 497 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 4: garment before the seat of Turner, and I faced segregation, 498 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 4: now segregation, the MA and segregation. 499 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 2: However, since then, in his fifty eight years as a 500 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 2: non denominational pastor, Hagey has proven to be as much 501 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 2: of a lightning rod as Wallace. When Hurricane Katrina killed 502 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,320 Speaker 2: nearly fourteen hundred people in New Orleans in two thousand 503 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 2: and five, Hagey insisted the superstorm represented God's wrath at 504 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,800 Speaker 2: a planned gay PRII pride. I can't even believe that 505 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 2: that's real. Yeah, so he really said, Oh, you celebrated 506 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 2: the gays, and so God killed a bunch of you 507 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,280 Speaker 2: with a hurricane. He really said that He's also called 508 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 2: the Catholic Church a false cult and has falsely claimed 509 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,920 Speaker 2: that Muslims are commanded by the Qur'an to kill Christians 510 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 2: in Jews. So he's a really moderate guy when he 511 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 2: comes to his word choice in his rhetoric. 512 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 3: Hagey, for instance, believes said Jewish people are still God's 513 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 3: chosen and he often quotes a line from Genesis twelve three, 514 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,160 Speaker 3: twelfth chapter, third verse in which God says that Abraham, 515 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,720 Speaker 3: I will bless those who bless you, and curse those 516 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:08,439 Speaker 3: who curse you, and he interprets that the mean that 517 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 3: if the United States ever fails to support the State 518 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 3: of Israel in any of its policies, or if it 519 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 3: attempts to encourage Israel to trade land for peace, to 520 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 3: set aside land for the Palestinians to establish their own nation, 521 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 3: that that leader is violating a divine commandment to quote 522 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 3: not divide my land, and there will be terrible consequences. 523 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:41,640 Speaker 3: So I one dispensationalists pastor basically said that the United 524 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 3: States has economic problems whenever it fails to support Israel. 525 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 3: Hage in twenty fourteen, said that a small outbreak of 526 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 3: the Ebola virus in the United States was God's vengeance 527 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 3: against President Barack Obama for supporting the establishment of Palestinian State. 528 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 3: And of course, when that is a big attitude amongst 529 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 3: a really significant block of voters, that makes the United 530 00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:11,719 Speaker 3: States really have problems when it tries to mediate in 531 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 3: that conflict. 532 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 2: We'll talk a little bit more about John Hagey. Right 533 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:30,680 Speaker 2: after this ad break, you might be asking, who cares 534 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 2: about this guy John hagy Like why does his interpretation 535 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 2: of the Bible matter at all? Why does what he 536 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:41,000 Speaker 2: say have anything to do with my life? And there's 537 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,920 Speaker 2: a number of reasons why it matters. So, I mean, 538 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 2: he could be considered the most important leader of the 539 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:51,799 Speaker 2: Christian Zionist movement for starters. He formed an organization in 540 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,239 Speaker 2: two thousand and six called Christians United for Israel, which 541 00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 2: has like a reported ten million members in the United States. 542 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 2: Not sure how accurate or real that is, but you know, 543 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 2: he has donated through his organizations more than fifty eight 544 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 2: million dollars to right wing extremists in Israel's specifically ones 545 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,279 Speaker 2: that have you know, sponsored settlers to move to the 546 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:18,000 Speaker 2: occupied West Bank in you know, violation of international law. 547 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 2: And he's you know He's pushed Congress to take a 548 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,920 Speaker 2: hard line on the Palestinian issue of Palestinian statehood. He 549 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:28,359 Speaker 2: has the ear of elected officials in Texas, so state 550 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,319 Speaker 2: level politicians like Greg Gabbett and Dan Patrick have been 551 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,319 Speaker 2: seen with him at campaign events, have featured him at 552 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:39,759 Speaker 2: campaign events. Hagey has tried to, you know, influence a 553 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,280 Speaker 2: number of issues and has had success. He was sought 554 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 2: as someone whose endorsement mattered in the presidential elections of 555 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,360 Speaker 2: George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. He was 556 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,719 Speaker 2: an early supporter of Donald Trump, and he influences other 557 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 2: major pastors as well. And so it's it's hard to 558 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 2: say that people like this don't matter, particularly whenever you know, 559 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 2: they have been invited to speak during big events like 560 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,759 Speaker 2: the March for Israel in twenty twenty three, which drew 561 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,759 Speaker 2: tens of thousands of people to Washington, DC. And who 562 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,839 Speaker 2: was there, John hage And here's. 563 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 3: One of the paradoxes of this movement. When hage was 564 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,880 Speaker 3: invited to speak at this pro Israel event after the 565 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 3: October seventh Hamas attacks in Neurope, Israeli Kibbutz hage was 566 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:40,080 Speaker 3: invited and a lot of Jewish people were horrified because 567 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,879 Speaker 3: he really does capture one the central paradoxes of dispensationalism, 568 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:52,239 Speaker 3: and that is someone can be inflexibly pro Israel in 569 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:56,440 Speaker 3: anti Semitic at the same time. And so John Hagey 570 00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:02,439 Speaker 3: is promoted a very old anti Semitic myth that rich 571 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:06,320 Speaker 3: Jewish people control the world's finances. He talks about the 572 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:11,920 Speaker 3: Rothschild family, which has always been an obsession of anti Semites, 573 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,680 Speaker 3: you know, the secret puppet masters of the world, you know, 574 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:21,200 Speaker 3: who rob the typical, the average person of money to 575 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 3: gain wealth. They cause wars to enrich themselves. He actually 576 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:31,280 Speaker 3: described Hitler based on nothing as a half breed Jew, 577 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:36,080 Speaker 3: and he said that Hitler was sent by God himself. 578 00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 3: So he's Hitler was an emissary of God as a 579 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:45,080 Speaker 3: hunter to persecute Jews in Europe in the nineteen thirties 580 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:49,279 Speaker 3: and nineteen forties, specifically for the purpose of forcing them 581 00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:54,040 Speaker 3: to leave Europe and settle in Palestine. And you know, 582 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 3: he said that this was all part of the Divine plan. 583 00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 3: Nazism was part of the Divine plan. 584 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,239 Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't just take our word for it. 585 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,760 Speaker 2: You can listen to him say something along these lines 586 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:05,520 Speaker 2: right now. 587 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 5: How did it happen because God allowed it to happen. 588 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 5: Why did it happen because God said, my top priority 589 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:15,279 Speaker 5: for the Jewish people is to get them to come 590 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,680 Speaker 5: back to the land of Israel. Today Israel is back 591 00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:20,560 Speaker 5: in the land, and they are at His equal thirty 592 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:24,520 Speaker 5: seven and eight. They're physically alive, but they're not spiritually alive. Now, 593 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,520 Speaker 5: how is God going to cause the Jewish people to 594 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:31,240 Speaker 5: come spiritually alive and say the God of Abraham, Isaac 595 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:32,319 Speaker 5: and Jacob, he is God. 596 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:36,720 Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, Hagy has predicted that the Antichrist 597 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:42,040 Speaker 2: will be a half breed gay Jew and will rule 598 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,000 Speaker 2: the planet on behalf of Satan. Those are the kinds 599 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 2: of things that he believes and he spreads. And in 600 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:51,520 Speaker 2: spite of statements like these, several Israeli governments have welcome 601 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 2: to the support of right wing and times pastors like Hay. 602 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,799 Speaker 2: I mean, they don't have any issue with, you know, 603 00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,239 Speaker 2: working with someone like Haig. You know, obviously that relationship 604 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:05,720 Speaker 2: is cynical because you know, people like Hagy are able 605 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 2: to help bring material resources to Israel and further solidify 606 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 2: the relationship that Israel has with the state of Texas. 607 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:20,080 Speaker 3: And there's a real interesting synthusis between the far right 608 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 3: in Texas and the very right wing government that rules Israel. 609 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:32,279 Speaker 3: Now Israel depends on Texas oil. Many of the weapons 610 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:37,480 Speaker 3: Israel is using in its warren Gonza are manufactured in Texas, 611 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:40,319 Speaker 3: including in the Dallas Fort Worth area where Steve and 612 00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:45,080 Speaker 3: I are having this conversation. You have some of the 613 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:51,400 Speaker 3: wealthiest American supporters of Israel, like hyper conservatives, such as 614 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:55,560 Speaker 3: the widow of the casino magnate Sheldon Addison, who have 615 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:01,360 Speaker 3: spent quite a bit of money flying Texas politicians like 616 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:06,120 Speaker 3: Governor Greg Abbott, the Agricultural Commissioner, said Miller, members of 617 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:11,040 Speaker 3: the state legislature to Israel to promote close business ties 618 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:15,520 Speaker 3: and to ensure that weapons manufactured in Texas and that 619 00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,440 Speaker 3: Texas oil flows to that state. 620 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,480 Speaker 2: In the background of all of this is the money, 621 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:27,759 Speaker 2: the money backing these politicians, and the largest and most 622 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,960 Speaker 2: powerful political donor in Texas is someone who we have 623 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:36,920 Speaker 2: mentioned already, billionaire oil man Tim Dunn. So Tim Dunn, 624 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:40,479 Speaker 2: who is he? What's his deal? He's a pastor. He's 625 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:44,919 Speaker 2: based in Midland, which is in West Texas, and over 626 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:48,360 Speaker 2: the last decade, Dunn has dumped tens of millions of 627 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,600 Speaker 2: dollars into the campaign coffers of far right politicians and 628 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:57,600 Speaker 2: political action committees that promote incendiary messages, including the one 629 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,600 Speaker 2: group that I previously mentioned was caught meeting with a 630 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:05,719 Speaker 2: self admitted Hitler fan Nick went Is. Nevertheless, Dunn is 631 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,120 Speaker 2: named alongside Hagey on the annual list of Israel's Top 632 00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 2: fifty Christian Allies published by the Israel Allies Foundation, of 633 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 2: which Done incidentally is the chairman of the It's like 634 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:26,320 Speaker 2: the Christian Advisory Board. So yeah, this really really powerful 635 00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,360 Speaker 2: donor who has his thumb on the scales all across 636 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:35,600 Speaker 2: the state. He too, is an End Times prophecy believer, 637 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,799 Speaker 2: and he's not just a believer. He preaches it at 638 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 2: his own church in Midland where he's a pastor. 639 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:46,759 Speaker 6: God is a consuming fire taking vengeance on those who 640 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:48,960 Speaker 6: do not know God and on those who do not 641 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,879 Speaker 6: obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word 642 00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:57,359 Speaker 6: obey means listen to. So we're talking here about unbelievers. 643 00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:01,440 Speaker 6: These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 644 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:03,440 Speaker 6: of the Lord and from the glory of His power. 645 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,320 Speaker 2: And you know it's completely changed the nature of the 646 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 2: Republican Party his influence. They were already conservative and already 647 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,600 Speaker 2: religious to begin with, but the sort of wave of 648 00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:17,600 Speaker 2: politicians that have been supported by Dunn has taken that 649 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 2: to a new level. 650 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:25,920 Speaker 3: And you know, I mean it's resulted in, I think, 651 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:31,440 Speaker 3: a real assault on free speech in the state of Texas. 652 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:36,759 Speaker 3: We have religious groups like Christians United for Israel in 653 00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:42,040 Speaker 3: the Texas Eagle Forum lobbing the state legislature and persuading 654 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:45,759 Speaker 3: politicians like Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick were sympathetic to 655 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:51,480 Speaker 3: their agenda to pass laws that limit the way people 656 00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:56,880 Speaker 3: who oppose Israeli policies can protest. So, for instance, twenty seventeen, 657 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,720 Speaker 3: Texas passed has Spilled eighty nine a law that banned 658 00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:03,680 Speaker 3: to stay from doing any business with any company or 659 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,719 Speaker 3: individual contractors who participate in the boycott of Israel that 660 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,840 Speaker 3: many activists have participated in. And on March twenty seventh 661 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:15,840 Speaker 3: of this year, when you began to have a wave 662 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,839 Speaker 3: of protests across the nation and in Texas, and there 663 00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:25,160 Speaker 3: were major protests at the UT Austin campus at the 664 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:28,640 Speaker 3: University of Texas at Dallas, which is in a suburb 665 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,759 Speaker 3: called Richardson another one at the University of North Texas 666 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:38,359 Speaker 3: UT Arlington University of Texas at San Antonio. Abbott responded 667 00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:43,719 Speaker 3: to these protests by issuing an executive order that defined 668 00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:49,680 Speaker 3: a common slogan chanted by supporters of Palestinian statehood from 669 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:54,400 Speaker 3: the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free, as antisemitic, 670 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:59,239 Speaker 3: and it required public colleges and universities to review their 671 00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:04,920 Speaker 3: free speech policies and to punish what the state regards 672 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:09,040 Speaker 3: as anti Semitic speech by faculty and students. And it 673 00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:14,359 Speaker 3: targeted two specific groups, two student groups, the Palestine Solidarity 674 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:18,879 Speaker 3: Committee and Students for Justice and Palestine, to be disciplined 675 00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:24,040 Speaker 3: for violating these policies the State of Texas saying these 676 00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:25,360 Speaker 3: words are forbidden. 677 00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:30,440 Speaker 2: Indeed, and despite the fact that the University of Texas 678 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:34,680 Speaker 2: at Austin had issued a video celebrating their so called 679 00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:37,399 Speaker 2: free speech Week, I think it was just a matter 680 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 2: of months before they arrested one hundred and thirty six 681 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,920 Speaker 2: pro Palestinian demonstrators at the University of Texas at Austin. 682 00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:49,160 Speaker 2: All across the state, we've seen pro Palestinian protests or 683 00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:51,600 Speaker 2: what you could call anti genocide protests or calls for 684 00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:56,879 Speaker 2: divestment at these various universities, and arrests have happened at 685 00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:58,680 Speaker 2: least three different universities. 686 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:04,919 Speaker 3: I mentioned earlier a paradox in dispensationalism, and that is 687 00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:09,719 Speaker 3: that some of the people who have absolute devotion to 688 00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:12,839 Speaker 3: promoting the state of Israel are at the same time 689 00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:19,560 Speaker 3: anti Semitic. And another paradox is that Schofield himself, Cyrus 690 00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:24,960 Speaker 3: Schofield himself said that Jesus wasn't into politics. He said 691 00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:31,439 Speaker 3: that when Jesus was alive, slavery, inequality of wealth, all 692 00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:34,680 Speaker 3: of these political pressure were all at their worse, and 693 00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,319 Speaker 3: Jesus and his apostles didn't address any of that. They 694 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:43,040 Speaker 3: focus on salvation. That Christianity is not about changing this world, 695 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:45,840 Speaker 3: because this world is doomed and the only person who's 696 00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:52,600 Speaker 3: going to fix anything is Jesus himself. But nevertheless, these 697 00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:55,799 Speaker 3: dispensationalists at the same time are very happy to be 698 00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:59,280 Speaker 3: involved in politics that's not involved in social or form. 699 00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:02,600 Speaker 3: I want you to you know, Schofield was living at 700 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:05,200 Speaker 3: a time of progressive movement when they were trying to 701 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:09,600 Speaker 3: end child labor, trying to make workplaces safer, and so on. 702 00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 3: Today we're dealing with issues of wealth, inequality and so on. 703 00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 3: The dispensationalists will say believing that humans can fix those 704 00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:22,319 Speaker 3: problems as satanic, But nevertheless, you should be involved in 705 00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:26,240 Speaker 3: politics if it involves denying women sovereignty over their bodies, 706 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:33,799 Speaker 3: if it evolves banning people from gender affirming care and 707 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:37,440 Speaker 3: so on, but that politics is okay and so and 708 00:48:37,520 --> 00:48:40,880 Speaker 3: we see this with this activism and trying to suppress 709 00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:46,680 Speaker 3: a particular side of the Israel Palestine debate. 710 00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:49,800 Speaker 2: Right, And I think that if that strain of dispensationalism 711 00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:54,320 Speaker 2: that's Schofield represented, that sort of a political dispensationalism, if 712 00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:58,400 Speaker 2: it still exists, it is certainly no longer dominant because today, 713 00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:02,640 Speaker 2: you know, we're seeing this end times theology, this belief 714 00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:06,879 Speaker 2: in this theory around the end times. It's increasingly overlapping 715 00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:13,319 Speaker 2: with other sort of distinct trends in Christianity. So on 716 00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:16,560 Speaker 2: the one hand, there's things like the prosperity Gospel, which is, 717 00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,920 Speaker 2: you know, best represented by Kenneth Copeland. He's the richest 718 00:49:19,960 --> 00:49:23,959 Speaker 2: pastor in all of the United States, and his whole 719 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:26,440 Speaker 2: thing is, yeah, if you know, you give, you get, 720 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:28,520 Speaker 2: and so you give me your money, and you prove 721 00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:32,440 Speaker 2: that you're you know, holy person, you will be rewarded. 722 00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:34,399 Speaker 2: In turn, you will be healed, all of your things 723 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,560 Speaker 2: will be solved. And then the other thing that it's 724 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:40,960 Speaker 2: overlapping with this End Times theology belief is what you know, 725 00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:46,359 Speaker 2: we might just call the Seven Mountains dominionist trend or 726 00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:51,239 Speaker 2: dominionism broadly speaking, which you may or may not be 727 00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,399 Speaker 2: familiar with, but it really just breaks down to this 728 00:49:53,600 --> 00:50:00,439 Speaker 2: idea that Christians should be at the top of all 729 00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:04,480 Speaker 2: of the mountains of society and these are just you know, 730 00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:09,520 Speaker 2: basically stand ins for the segments of society they think 731 00:50:09,560 --> 00:50:15,000 Speaker 2: are important, so education, media, politics, what have you. This 732 00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:18,000 Speaker 2: is a really growing idea as a sort of meme 733 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:24,760 Speaker 2: in right wing Christianity in these sort of non denominational churches, 734 00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:28,240 Speaker 2: which are the fastest growing and largest segment of churches 735 00:50:28,239 --> 00:50:29,200 Speaker 2: I think we're talking about. 736 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:31,879 Speaker 3: And those dominionists are the ones who are taking over 737 00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:37,279 Speaker 3: these school boards that are adopting the anti trans policies 738 00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:39,280 Speaker 3: and also banning the books. 739 00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:44,200 Speaker 2: That's right, and it is a very active form of Christianity, 740 00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:47,279 Speaker 2: very politically active, and so through people like Hagey and 741 00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:51,359 Speaker 2: you know, people like Tim Dunn. We see that embodied 742 00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:54,879 Speaker 2: in what they do, the sort of advocacy that John 743 00:50:54,920 --> 00:50:58,319 Speaker 2: Hagey takes part in. In the millions and millions of 744 00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:02,600 Speaker 2: dollars that Tim Dunn umps into the state of Texas. 745 00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:07,479 Speaker 3: You could almost characterize the Republican Party in Texas, which 746 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,560 Speaker 3: is one of the most important state wings of the 747 00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:14,040 Speaker 3: Republican Party in the United States, as a wholly owned 748 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:16,080 Speaker 3: done subsidiary. 749 00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:16,400 Speaker 4: You know. 750 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:21,600 Speaker 3: He really many of the most infamous Texas politicians in 751 00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:25,920 Speaker 3: this era, such as Ken Paxton, are generously supported by Dunn. 752 00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:29,320 Speaker 3: And so I think that if we kind of wrap 753 00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:33,960 Speaker 3: this up, I think that we could say that the 754 00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:40,120 Speaker 3: disdain from activism that dispensationalists claim is a ruse that 755 00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:45,800 Speaker 3: activism is bad if it advances any attempt to create 756 00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:54,160 Speaker 3: equal opportunity, reduce income inequality, and dispensationalists vote and they, 757 00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:57,560 Speaker 3: you know, with Texas as one of the major bases 758 00:51:57,560 --> 00:52:03,760 Speaker 3: for dispensationalism, they are a hugely influential budding block. Thirty 759 00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:09,640 Speaker 3: nine percent of Americans have told polsters that they believe 760 00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:12,880 Speaker 3: we're living in the end times. And the simple fact is, 761 00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:15,120 Speaker 3: if you think the world's going to end, you're not 762 00:52:15,160 --> 00:52:17,880 Speaker 3: going to invest much time in making the world better, 763 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:20,120 Speaker 3: making it a more just place. You're not going to 764 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:24,400 Speaker 3: try to clean the water, clean the air. Half of 765 00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:29,960 Speaker 3: Evangelical Protestants in the United States believe that supporting Israel 766 00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:35,600 Speaker 3: is absolutely essential to fulfilling Bible prophecy, and that group 767 00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:40,960 Speaker 3: constitutes a third of all adult Texans, and they want 768 00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:44,919 Speaker 3: to love Israel to death because they believe that if 769 00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:48,879 Speaker 3: they push Israel to annex the West Bank, to take 770 00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:54,360 Speaker 3: the most aggressive standards Palestinians, that will provoke the wrath 771 00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:57,520 Speaker 3: of the Antichrist, which will lead to armageddon. And they're 772 00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:00,880 Speaker 3: willing to make that sacrifice. They're willing to fight for 773 00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:03,560 Speaker 3: the Second Coming to happen down to the last Jewish person. 774 00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:10,080 Speaker 3: And this is creating instability for the world and putting 775 00:53:10,160 --> 00:53:12,480 Speaker 3: the United States in a very difficult place in the 776 00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:17,160 Speaker 3: world stage, and the chain of events leading to our 777 00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:22,719 Speaker 3: position currently visa the Middle East can be drawn back 778 00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:23,440 Speaker 3: to this state. 779 00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:26,200 Speaker 2: That's right. And I think one thing that I really 780 00:53:26,239 --> 00:53:31,719 Speaker 2: want to emphasize that we haven't dived into as much 781 00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:34,000 Speaker 2: as we could have, is that this sort of belief 782 00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:39,879 Speaker 2: system tends towards dehumanization. So if you believe that your 783 00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:43,480 Speaker 2: opponents are in league with the devil, or are satanic, 784 00:53:44,239 --> 00:53:47,880 Speaker 2: or are doing the bidding of evil, and that you 785 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:51,560 Speaker 2: are on the side of good unequivocally and you are 786 00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:57,759 Speaker 2: doing the Lord's work. It is easy to treat your 787 00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:02,480 Speaker 2: opponents as in human, less than human, to see them 788 00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:06,680 Speaker 2: as other than someone who has equal rights and equal standing. 789 00:54:06,920 --> 00:54:09,560 Speaker 3: And if you're wondering if it could happen here, it 790 00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:14,400 Speaker 3: meaning fascism in many ways. It's happened in Texas already, 791 00:54:15,080 --> 00:54:18,000 Speaker 3: and we have a large population here. As they wait 792 00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:20,920 Speaker 3: for the end, they're building walls around the lives of 793 00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:23,400 Speaker 3: more than thirty million people who live in the state. 794 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:26,120 Speaker 2: I'm Stephen Manicelli. 795 00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:27,560 Speaker 3: I'm Michael Phillips. 796 00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:28,720 Speaker 2: Thank you for listening. 797 00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:36,960 Speaker 1: It could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media. 798 00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:39,720 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 799 00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:41,960 Speaker 1: cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the 800 00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:45,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 801 00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:47,920 Speaker 1: You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated 802 00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:52,080 Speaker 1: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.