So, Ned, what was the catalyst for this project? You have some incredible contributors here.

Yes.

Yeah.

No.

So last year I decided 250th anniversary is coming up.

Really wanted to do something to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the greatest republic the world has ever seen.

So put together the funding, obviously went out and got some of those great guests, Victor Davis Hanson, Dr. Larry Arnn of Hillsdale, Bill McClay of Hillsdale, Paul Ray, host of other people.

How do you see us navigating this morally in the future?

Yeah.

Right? It's, it's Baptists, it's Anglicans, it's the Puritans, it's the Methodists, Quakers, you name it.

Catholics in Maryland, but they're Trinitarian sects of Christianity.

So it doesn't, it's not that many steps to get to they talk about religion.

Religion is important for virtue.

What is the religion of which they speak? It's Christianity.

And I think one of the things that nobody, a lot of the, the current generation does not want to wrestle with, you know, the laws of nature and of nature's God.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right? It's, it's Baptists, it's Anglicans, it's the Puritans, it's the Methodists, Quakers, you name it.

Catholics in Maryland.

But they're Trinitarian sects of Christianity.

So it doesn't, it's not that many steps to get to they talk about religion.

Religion is important for virtue.

What is the religion of which they speak? It's Christianity.

Yeah.

[laughs]

Uh, two...

A- and you've been very clear about this, Jesse, and, and some of us have also been.

They're not Democrat socialists, they're commies.

They've gotten a foothold because they've been allowed a foothold.

It- it's very much the establishment embraced these people as they thought, "We're gonna make an own- unholy alliance, uh, with the hard left, the commies, to give ourselves political power." Because you and I both know, the whole purpose of the Democratic Party, their whole moral code, ethics, everything is built around, "We must have political power." That's...

Everything is oriented towards that.

Let's talk about something wonderful.

... uh, what's the, what's the point here? What are you trying to share with people?

So we use Alexis de Tocqueville, the young French nobleman, as a backdrop, uh, who, who came to the young American Republic early 1830s, actually studying our prison system and then became fascinated by the American Republic, how is this thing working, and actually spent nine months and traveled 7,000 miles to observe the American Republic, how it was formed, why it was working, uh, and, and just all of these observations that he made.

And we use it as a backdrop to show, first of all, the incredible, uh, aspects of the American Republic, but really we call it the thread of liberty, Vince, because there's so many times in our history these inflection points where a generation at that moment is still committed to a- and has an obligation to the experiment continuing.

So whether it was the beginning, you know, in the American Revolution, we're gonna, we're gonna form this American Republic, we're gonna fight for it; whether it's the Civil War; whether it's these moments we...

You know, you just showed the clip of, I think, the newest inflection point with us challenging the administrative state and talking about the great gift we've been given, but also do we still have that obligation to the experiment, not only to those that came before us-

Yeah.

And so I, I think one of the things we've got to do is obviously, uh, you know, the, the DOJ under Harmeet has been trying to get some of these blue states to clean their voter rolls.

They are resisting it.

What are your thoughts on some things that we can do to kind of re-motivate and reignite generations to come as we think about our founding principles, especially since it's our responsibility as citizens to make sure that we carry this torch of freedom, courage, and dedication to American principles forward?

So we use Tocqueville as a backdrop for the storytelling.

And a young French nobleman who came here in 1831 to actually study the prison system became fascinated by the American Republic, spent nine months, traveled 7,000 miles.

And he made some pretty astute observations.

that religion and faith are closely intertwined.

That religion was America's first political institution.

Looking ahead to some of the challenges the republic would face slavery and soft despotism.

What do you think about that?

What do you say to people that reject or resist the idea that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles? 'Cause I believe in all my heart, and it's very clear from the writings of our framers and founders, uh, that in fact, that is just a simple truth.

So Alexis de Tocqueville we use as a backdrop, and of course his great work, Democracy in America.

So this young French aristocrat comes to America to study our prison system and then becomes fascinated, why is the American Republic working? So he sticks around for nine months, travels 7,000 miles, and he made some startling observations.

He's coming from France, where revolution failed.

He had family members that died.

He thought, he thought religion and liberty would be at odds with each other, and he realized in the American Republic they were actually intertwined.

He also realized after all of his observations, America's first political institution was religion, and the religion of which he was speaking, of course, is Christianity.

Um, how do you, how do you juxtapose that to what you're, the message you're sending in this, in this documentary?

Which means it's kind of up to the rest of us, it's up to the president to do something about it, don't you think?

100%.

I, I, I think yesterday got me to a point of complete frustration over some of the, I would argue, propaganda, uh, that was being pushed out by, say, David Ignatius of The Washington Post.

You know, Democrats, uh, ignored border politics.

Somebody else wrote that they blundered on the border.

No, they didn't.

They didn't ignore border politics.

... does the left learn lessons from that? Or is that kind of zealotry that you just described so entrenched that, well, I don't wanna be a, a total pessimist, but that it's over, that there's no way out of this thing?

So, what's the best strategy for this? What- what- what can be done so that they aren't able to run out the clock on the efforts to reign in the administrative state?

So, y- you're absolutely correct.

I mean, this- this is a continuance of law fair, sadly by the Article III judicial branch, the lower level judges, to prevent Trump from actually implementing his agenda, and they are acting as a protector of the administrative state.

So, couple of things.

You know, I hope that Donald Trump, and you can see this coming out of his DOJ, that he is going to obviously fight back as quickly as possible.

I'd kind of like him to- to basically channel Andrew Jackson, obviously that apocryphal story, but it's kind of the- the- the feel and the spirit that I want Trump to have.

"Uh, you've made your decisions, now try enforcing them." Because the Article III, what's going, happening right now, Buck, is these lower level judges are overstepping their constitutional ba- bounds and trying to dictate to the head of the Article II branch what is his constitutional right and authority, whether it's on foreign policy or domestic policy or who he can hire, uh, what he can do with the various departments and agencies that are under him inside the Article II branch.

Where do you think they fall in this whole situation?

(laughs)

This, th- th- th- this to me is one of the things, Jesse, I know you've been doing this a lot on X, I fully agree with you, that it's really time for the red states to upgrade a lot of these senators i- in the primaries next year, whether it's Thom Tillis in North Carolina, uh, it's too bad that we don't have another shot at a primary until 2030 with James Lankford.

But we do have a shot at Cassidy in Louisiana.

We've obviously got a shot at Cornyn in Texas.

Uh, I would argue Lindsey Graham in South Carolina and Joni Ernst should also be considerations for primaries in '26, because this is the part that disgusts me the most.

Donald Trump won in November.

Because of Donald Trump, I truly believe this, Republicans have majorities in both the House and the Senate.

I realize this is not a snap your fingers and make it happen thing, 'cause all the protections these vile little communists have, but how are we doing so far with that?

...they're getting some of what they want, even if the Supreme Court takes it up and strikes them down, as has happened many times in the past. So what's the best strategy for this? What, what, what can be done so that they aren't able to run out the clock on the efforts to rein in the administrative state?

So you, you're absolutely correct. I mean, this, this is a continuance of lawfare, sadly by the Article III judicial branch, the lower level judges.... to prevent Trump from actually implementing his agenda, and they are acting as a protector of the administrative state. So couple of things. You know, I hope that Donald Trump, and you can see this coming out of his DOJ, that he is going to obviously fight back as quickly as possible. I kind of like him to, to basically channel Andrew Jackson. Obviously, that apocryphal story, but it's kind of the, the, the feeling, the spirit that I want Trump to have. Uh, you've made your decisions, now try enforcing them. Because the Article III, what's going, happening right now, Buck, is these lower level judges are overstepping their constitutional ba- bounds and trying to dictate to the head of the Article II branch what is his constitutional right and authority, whether it's on foreign policy or domestic policy or who he can hire, uh, what he can do with the various departments and agencies that are under him inside the Article II branch. And so he's got to t- he essentially has to tell them, "That's great. I'm gonna continue down this path." It would be nice if Congress actually stepped up to the plate. I think impeaching judges would be a little too far, uh, for most of those people in Congress 'cause they're not exactly profiles in courage. But I would argue if they could find some, some small sliver of political courage, why don't we think about defunding the lower courts? Because that's Congress's constitutional right to do that. But I think ultimately, in the short term, you know, John Roberts is actually gonna find, have to find it within himself to go, hey, for the sake of the legitimacy of the Article III judicial branch, the Supreme Court is gonna have to step in and put in some pretty strong guardrails and say, "You can't do this. You're overstepping your constitutional bounds." And to be honest, Buck, I think John Roberts doing that is probably 50/50. So I think we're gonna, we're in for a couple interesting weeks and months ahead. But I, I think Donald Trump is making it very clear in the last couple of days, he's not gonna let them prevent him implementing the will of the American people. I mean, he was elected to enact a very specific agenda that was painted out in bold, bright colors last fall, and these judges are attempting to defy the will of the people as being implemented through Donald Trump's agenda. So I think Trump's gonna be pretty aggressive on this, but it would be nice if John Roberts stepped up to the plate, but I have my doubts.

... we don't get it done, they'll just come, come right back and do the same stuff? I mean, h- how do you view it from, from the side of, of the, uh, the opposition here? I mean, are, are... Where do you think they fall in this whole f- situation?

Well, I think you can see from their behavior that they, they realize this is an existential threat. I mean, politics is their religion, Buck. I mean, the administrative state is, is their, their Holy of Holies, their, their vehicle for salvation. Politics is their religion. And when they look at Donald Trump and Elon Musk, they see them as existential threats to those things that they hold so valuable, and that really has been, is the undergirding for their entire movement. So I, I know that they view this as an existential threat to the continuance of their movement, to the continuance of the progressive administrative state. And so I don't think it, just to be clear, I don't think you're gonna see any dialing back of the violence or the rhetoric because we, we know that Trump derangement syndrome is an incurable disease, and I think Elon Musk derangement syndrome is an incurable disease. And the only way I think you see it stop is for there to be serious legal consequences, which you can start to see rumblings of that coming out of the Trump administration. But they, they are in disarray. And, and the thing that I am, I am trying to figure out, Buck, are there any rational Democrats left inside the party? Because the progressive movement has eaten it from within. They are the Democratic Party. The progressive movement is. Is there any ability for a rational Democrat to be able to stand up and go, "Hey, we are going in the absolute wrong path. We need to pivot out of this"? I suspect they won't be able to, not in the near term. I, I think this is something where the, the black hole of progressive ideology is completely sucking in whatever vestiges of, of rational thought might be left inside the Democratic Party and, and, you know, moving towards kind of an annihilation. But that, that to me is a very good thing, Buck, because I think the only way you get back to a sense, and a, a real sense of normalcy in this country, is for the left to be beaten into unconditional surrender and never be allowed near political power again as you start to destroy these various institutions, like the indoctrination centers, like the administrative state, going after the corporate propagandists. Because for the sake of the future of our country and prosperity and freedom and happiness, the progressive movement writ large has to be either shoved so far into the corner that it's a minimal voice in our society or it ceases to exist.

Yes. Wonderful. Good for Trump. And like I said in the beginning, it's wild. People complain that, uh, that nobody voted for this. Donald Trump campaigned on this.He didn't slip one by ya after he got elected president. Told you that's what he was gonna do. The American people heard him, voted for it, and now we're actually getting what we voted for, which is really weird. Joining me now, my friend Ned Ryun, author of the wonderful book, American Leviathan. Ned, my goodness, I can't even imagine how thrilled you must be at this exact moment.

I real- I really am, Jesse. Uh, this to me is one of the most important things that I think's happened for de- in decade, uh, in DC, in which Donald Trump, as you pointed out, made it very clear on the campaign what he was going to do. He painted in big, bold, bright colors, uh, uh, on what he intended to do, and the American people voted in him, voted him in resoundingly. And I think we're off to a good start with, with this DOGE, uh, initiative under Elon. But I have to tell you, Jesse, this is a great start. We're nowhere near where we need to be. The fact, though, that he has made it very clear that he wants to shut down the Department of Education, fantastic. Uh, I don't think the Trump Administration will be a success unless he shuts down at least one department, if not multiples, and makes them cease to exist. Uh, thi- this to me is the existential crisis for this country because, you know, Jesse, I, I know that China's a threat, there's all these other things that, that we're dealing with, uh, on the international stage. But I think the greatest threat to American prosperity, to American freedom, to our way of life, is actually the administrative state. This massive bureaucracy that I think is crushing our prosperity, crushing our freedoms. And what Donald Trump has is a singular moment in history. You, you have someone that is a, a true colossus of American politics who has the political and moral courage necessary to take on this government and crush it.

... we need the useless losers in Congress, and that's a problem.

(laughs) It is a problem, Jesse. And you know, I've got a documentary coming out next week on American Leviathan, and I think people are gonna walk away from it and realize, in many ways, Congress is the problem. They have created the administrative state in many ways by sub-delegating their legislative authority to them. They blindly fund this massive bureaucracy without demanding and getting real oversight, uh, and responsiveness from these unelected bureaucrats. And Congress has proved itself to be weak and feckless in the face of what I, I believe to be an authoritarian form of government with the administrative state, unelected bureaucrats doing the real governing. So, the, the one thing that has to happen is Congress is going to have to find the political courage, again, it's kind of in short supply, to actually take back their legislative authority and actually govern, which Jesse, the problem is, they're gonna have to make hard decisions. And they are very comfortable with this current dynamic in DC in which there's an appearance of governing, but the real hard decisions and the ones that are controversial are made by these unelected bureaucrats that allows the legislators to, to kind of duck the hard issues and then be able to go back and, and get reelected to then come back and be in DC again for another two to six years. It's a very convenient setup, but it is not ex- not in- anywhere near what our founders intended in regards to representative government in which our legislators were supposed to legislate. But I'll say one last thing on this. Linda McMahon says that they are gonna shut down the Department of Education. They need to shut it down. They need to actually blow the building up, raze it to the ground, and then Trump needs to build his Garden of Heroes over it. For a, a whole host of reasons, Jesse, it has to be symbolic. Trump has to destroy and shatter the administrative state. There has to be a symbol of it. He has to level it to the ground and then build something over it that actually represents the greatness of America and our founding and our constitutional republic. So, I think it'd be a great place to put the Garden of Heroes.