Running the Same Plays

Opening Remarks and the Week’s News Roundup

Welcome once again to The Conversation Is That Matter Podcast, I'm your host John Harris for hopefully a short podcast, we'll see how long we go. But I can't take any more of the Tim Keller stuff, I'm sorry.

For those who have been following lately, I've been doing a book Engaging with Keller and I just gotta take a break, maybe we'll get to it by the end of the week, we'll return. But I want to do a little bit of a news roundup, we're going to talk about some issues in the news, anti-Semitism, we're going to talk about, man what else do I have, I have so many things lined up.

I don't know if we'll even get to all of them. We'll talk about, oh yeah, tensions rise on the day two of the AP Hill statue removal, we'll talk a little bit about statues. And we'll talk about maybe Phil Vischer, some of this stuff kind of relates.

Man I got stuff on doxing, I got stuff on Al Mohler, I got so much stuff pulled up here, it's TGC, but we will see how far we get. We're going to start with a video that I saw the other day called Eight Ways to Spot Anti-Semitism by Shine A Light.

It was I think an advertisement on one of my videos and I was having some deja vu when I saw this video. Here I'll show you the beginning of the video, this is, or at least the picture of it here. Here's what it looks like.

And maybe some of you have seen this, I mean if you haven't maybe you will soon. So we'll talk about that first, we'll go through it, it's only like three and a half minutes. But I want to let y 'all know a little bit what I've been doing and for those who support me especially, you deserve to know a little bit of what I've been putting my time into.

Harry Jaffa, Mel Bradford, and the Conservative Tradition

And so one of the things that I've been researching is the debate between Harry Jaffa and Mel Bradford. Probably three of you know what I'm talking about and that's okay. It's interesting though because we all stand in the stream of different traditions, whether they're religious or political, and I think a lot of people today on our side, the anti-woke side supposedly, at least they think of themselves that way, they stand in a political tradition which is kind of, it's the result of modernity to some extent.

They stand in a neoconservative tradition very much shaped by I think the thinking of Harry Jaffa. And maybe there's a few fans of Harry Jaffa in the audience and I'd be more than willing to receive any kind of comments that you have on this.

But I've been reading him and I've been saying, whoa, I'm getting deja vu. It's a little bit like when I was reading people like Richard Mao, Ron Sider, and Jim Wallace from the 60s and I'm thinking, wow, this sounds a lot like David Platt, Tim Keller, and I don't know, Russell Moore.

And I'm reading Harry Jaffa and I'm thinking, this sounds a lot like Mitt Romney and a lot of these Republicans who voted for the Disrespect for Marriage Act. Man, he sounds a lot like even the anti-woke supposedly evangelicals, some of them even claiming to be theonomists, in our circles.

Because they have a commitment to the liberal order that Harry Jaffa was trying to support, I think, in some ways. And maybe my terms are a little too aggressive. I don't know here. But the sense I get from reading him is that he was a great advocate for this proposition nation concept and really saw in Lincoln, Lincoln's his guy, the founder of the United States.

Lincoln becomes the chief founding father, I think, in Harry Jaffa's conception. And the Declaration of Independence gets read through the Gettysburg Address and then that fans out into the future of the United States.

And this is how you have conservatives today thinking Abraham Lincoln and MLK are like the two big figures on their side or something. And they're Republicans, or at least, I don't know if MLK was, but Abraham Lincoln, of course, was.

And we have this whole narrative I've talked about before. Dinesh D'Souza puts it out there. Republicans, good. Democrats, bad. Because Democrats are the real racists. And it's so terrible. It's so full of Swiss cheese.

It's Swiss cheese. It's so full of holes, the way that you could poke holes in this. Because the early Republican Party, I pointed out, very much pro-white people, wanting white people in the Western territories, not wanting black people in the Western territories, their policies and what they did towards Native Americans early on.

It really wasn't Democrats who controlled those policies and those things. You could look at even General Grant and contrast what he did against Jewish people and those in the South who were predominantly Democrat and what they thought of Jewish people.

And even just those things are going to get you a different narrative. And do you really want to attack the stream too aggressively that Thomas Jefferson sits in? They call it at the time, I think, Democratic-Republicans.

But it was the forerunner to the Democrat Party. They used to have their Jefferson, their Thomas Jefferson Jackson dinners, which they just stopped recently. But the Democrat Party used to do that. So anyway, I just think that it's kind of a dumb narrative from a historical point of view.

But hey, it sells. And this is a political wedge that we can use. And we can convince people that based on these historical things, Democrats are the real bad guys because they didn't live up to that proposition of equality.

And I think that's what Harry Jaffa kind of gives us is this it's America's equality. It's not a people in place so much as it is this idea of equality. And I think this is the kind of logic that's been used to justify things like I'm a Republican, but I'm going to vote for the Respect for Marriage Act because guess what?

I believe in equality. And this is what the kind of thing I think possesses people like David French to say, well, you know, Drag Queen Story Hours is one of the blessings of liberty because there's higher noble good, which is making sure things freedom and liberty and equality.

And these things that change definition like Jefferson's conception is so different than the conception push today. You just adopt these things and they become the barometers or the things that steer you towards the policies you're going to support.

And you see it on our side to some extent that, you know, well, I'm not woke, but I think some statues should come down. It's like, well, you are a little woke that I think there is a little wokeness here.

If in a context of of a revolution happening to our country, you know, you think, you know, the Jefferson statue should come down, but not the others or more often than not, it's all those Confederate statues should come down.

But I want to support the Lincoln Founding Fathers and Columbus statues. And it's like, you know, this is the way the left works. The two steps forward, one step back. You know, we're going to push for Obamacare and Republicans fight it.

And then who fights it now? No one. We're going to push for gay marriage. Who fights it now than the Republicans? No one. They're they're pathetic now. They're groveling for like, oh, we don't want women in in competing with men in sports.

I mean, this is we're down to this. That's what we're groveling for. Like we think we get a big victory if we made sure that a man doesn't get to compete with a woman like it's like, whoa, that's, you know, or we could get some good betting in here to make sure that people who are citizens are voting.

I mean, it's down to that. It's that pathetic, not not dissing the people who are fighting for those things. I'm just saying we're down to some pretty basic stuff here and a pretty big sign that we're in we're in the fall of our empire of the United States.

We are experiencing it, which is why we got to put our hope into other things. Love your country. But I would say, you know, localism is a big a big thing for me. Love your people. Love your place. But think of your place in smaller increments and units and things that you can actually affect on in the scale at which you operate and and obviously evangelize, be involved in your church, make disciples.

I mean, these are all important things that must happen. Absolutely. But I'm working on giving a very specific agenda, you know, a here's what we know has happened to us. And here's how we respond in a new book.

And one of the things that I want to include in that is this discussion of Harry Jaffa versus Mel Bradford, because Mel Bradford was he was seen as kind of the paleo conservative figure who opposed Jaffa and his interpretation of the Constitution and really more the Declaration of Independence and saw the United States as more of a tangible thing, people place.

And it was when he was appointed as the head of the Department of Education, I believe it was in the Reagan administration. And he was dis. Well, that was withdrawn that invitation, that nomination that some people say paleo conservatism died.

It still exists in places like Chronicles Magazine. You'll still find some of it, but it's in these little little arenas. Jaffa, though, controls, I think, so much more. I mean, Claremont and Heritage and most of the talk show radio hosts, you know, they all seem to be kind of in that Jaffa way of thinking more so.

And and so I want to figure out how to define this, really give it to you straight. And I don't see any other evangelical Christians who are even aware that they might stand in that tradition that and that's the way it is.

That's how we are with a lot of things. We just kind of accept what's given to us and uncritically. And I think that when I when I'm able to fine tune this more, I think it'll be very helpful for many of you.

So that's for my supporters. So, you know, one of the things that I am working on right now and writing on and it's exciting. I enjoy it. It's it's a historiography. It's history to some extent and and philosophies, I guess, involved in that to some extent as well.

And so anyway, appreciate your support and hopeful to give you some more helpful information on this as time goes on. My thoughts are a little incomplete right now, but I think some of them will come out today a little bit since I've been stewing on this.

The Anti-Jewish Panic and the Shine a Light Video

Because we have first a video on anti-Semitism. And like I said, I had deja vu. I thought, man, this is like 2020 when I was hearing about all the ways white people are so terrible. They have white privilege and they are racist and they don't know it.

And now I'm finding out, man, there's a whole big group of people who are anti-Jewish. I'm going to use that word more than anti-Semitic because it doesn't make sense to me really. And Semitic would mean, I think, descendants of Shem, right?

So Jewish people would just be one one group in that. Anyway, anti-Jewish. So there's a whole bunch of people who are anti-Jewish that they may not even know it. This is a problem. And they might be supporting Nazis.

This is the way the left works, by the way, is they can get you into some kind of an oppressor identity in two steps or less. I mean, they can just it's so easy for them. And I want to show you the strategy being employed now, because obviously there are people in any society who are going to hate other people.

There's always going to be that. You can't get rid of that. No matter who's in control, you can't get rid of that. That's a problem of the heart. And there's going to be people who make idols out of their ethnicities.

You can make an idol out of just about anything, right? So sure. But is this a level 10 threat? Red alert. Ship is going down unless we do something about these Nazis. Drop your concerns about FTX and about the Biden laptop and about the price of gas and about the Respect for Marriage Act and about abortion and about all these other issues that you think are important because the Nazis are here again.

That's the drumbeat I'm hearing. And here's the video. Here's what they have to say. And I want you to watch it.

And then I'll give you some comments on. I might stop a few times. We'll see. In 2021, one in four American Jews reported that they faced anti-Semitism in the past year.

Whether it's online, offline, or in person, from offhanded remarks to physical threats, anti-Semitism is a real, persistent, and growing danger.

Some anti-Semitism is up front and in your face. I got to show you this.

Look at this. So this is a it just flashes before you. You have these flags, and the guy looks like he's sitting at the set for Home Improvement, you know, Tim Allen show back in the 90s. And they have these lawn chairs that look brand new with bottled water.

Apparently, these are Nazis, right? You have an American flag with a Nazi swastika superimposed on it. You have a Confederate flag over here. You have Nazi symbols. And then you look at the flags here.

Look at all the creases in the flags. These are brand new. So this is obviously this is stock footage, or it's staged in some way. These neo-Nazis, supposedly. And so in this video, which came up as an advertisement, I think on one of my videos, from this organization Shine a Light On, is trying to get you to associate like, hey, Jewish people are saying themselves.

A quarter of them are saying they've experienced anti-Semitism. And look at these Nazis just hanging out.

Semitism is up front and in your face. Yeah, it's in your face. That's the thing.

It's so in your face. We had to go to a studio and buy new flags to show you how in your face it is. But it says Channel 4 News. Channel 4 News. So yeah, the news, I mean, maybe these are some actual Nazi-esque type people.

I don't know. But if they are, man, they really don't display those flags too much if they're all folded like that. So anyway, you're going to see some examples of anti-Semitism. It's going to be memes.

It's going to be people saying that George Soros is in control or benefiting from the COVID virus. It's all kinds of things that get qualified as this. And you're supposed to draw from that like, oh, my goodness, it's all associated with the swastika.

We got to do something about it. So much so that if it weren't so scary, it might be comical. Yet anti-Semitism can also be sneaky, which means that the biggest danger is the anti-Semitism that has become so deeply embedded in the culture that we don't even notice it.

But we have to call it out because we've seen what happens when anti-Semitism is allowed to fester.

So here they are. Eight sneaky and a few not-so-sneaky forms of anti-Semitism. It's time to shine a bright light on all of them and expose them for what they really are.

OK, part one, 43 seconds. Here's the danger. That's what they're trying to show you. You should care because this is dangerous. Get through your mind how dangerous it really is. And I haven't looked into some of the news stories they flashed up there about synagogue attack.

I mean, there's a lot of church attacks. I know that media doesn't tend to focus on those, but that happens far more. There's a lot more churches in the United States, too, than synagogues. But, you know, is there a war on Christianity?

I think I could probably substantiate that there definitely is. I just we just talked about the Disrespect for Marriage Act and what that will do to religious freedom among people who specifically have the traditional view.

And we're a country that used to be Christian in general, at least that set the template that set the tone. And now we're coming into a country that's very secular. And it's this it's a process. And so that's the process we're in.

And and so Christianity is less and less normal. And sexual perversion is more and more normal, right? That's the pendulum we're on. I think people see that as obvious. So is there anti-Semitism or anti-Jewish behavior views that are, you know, I'm sure there probably is some of that somewhere.

But is it pervasive? Is it I mean, this has never been a Jewish country. So, you know, this is where I want. OK, what's the evidence? And I would say that the first 43 seconds is pretty lacking. Like if you've got to go to a staged, you know, flags, swastika flags and show tweets from a sheriff, a sheriff who's saying that George Soros is somehow has his hands in the COVID stuff.

I mean, you're getting pretty desperate here. So that's the warning sign. I don't think it's sufficient. But here we go with all the ways that you might be anti-Semitic and supporting Nazis, I guess.

Number one, the complimentary stereotype. Ever had someone tell you that all Jews are wealthy and successful, that they've got higher IQs and better socioeconomic outcomes? It sounds so nice, right? Surely those are compliments.

Think again. Spotlight. That model minority myth is anti-Semitism. Number two. But they're so powerful. Ever heard that Jews are so powerful that they control everything from the media to the banks to global politics?

Spotlight. Would there really be anti-Semitism if they were really that powerful?

Number three. There is intersectionality of Jewish and white privilege. Ever heard that Jews enjoy Jewish privilege and white privilege that helps them uphold white supremacy?

Spotlight. That's anti-Semitism. Jews come in all colors and nationalities. Number four. Money, money, money.

The image of Okay, I just got to stop. So if you ever say, if you just quote some stats, if you just say Jewish people tend to make more money, they tend to be in control of influential industries more so per capita at a higher rate, whatever.

You're anti-Semitic, I guess, if you just notice those things. And you could say, well, Nazis say those things. Well, maybe they do, but that's not the thing that makes them anti-Jewish. So if you just repeat a fact, that can put you in danger of being anti-Semitic.

That's concerning in my mind. And I'd like to know how far we go with this because I know in the past there's been controversies over, was it Ed Young had a controversy over this, I think, a few years ago, where he just was quoting some scripture about what Paul said about Jews and Paul being a Jew, of course, but about Jewish theology.

And then he's called out on the carpet for it and has to make the statement. I think it was, I think it was Ed Young, if I'm not mistaken, but there is a view and we'll see if we get there. I don't know if it's in this video that if you're a Christian and you try to even evangelize a Jewish person, so you insinuate that their religion isn't the true one, then you are somehow anti-Semitic.

So, I mean, that's, I would say that's a lot more aggressive than just stating a fact. And this is where we're at. This is like so, this would spread the net so wide that a lot of people would be anti-Semitic who don't have the least bit of hatred for Jewish people.

They might, they're probably Jewish themselves or married to Jewish people, have Jewish kids. You know, my wife is part Jewish. It's a small percentage. I mean, we did her DNA test and I don't even remember, it's like 8 or something, but it's, you know, and there's other people in my family who have higher percentages, but like, you know, I don't go making a thing about it.

Like, I don't wear it on my sleeve, nor do I, neither does she really. I mean, she's majority of, she's probably wouldn't appreciate me talking about her DNA, but I've joked that we're in an interracial marriage because she's got like a third or whatever, a quarter Russian in her.

And I know that's, you're not supposed to say that either. And, and I'm just like Scottish and English. And she's, she's got a bunch of Scottish and English in her too. I mean, from the outside, everyone would think we're just white, but, but Hey, once, once you get that DNA test, you find out some things.

So anyway, you know, people who say these kinds of things, I'm just saying like, who point some of these things out. I was even having a conversation with someone not long ago about this. And just the, this whole thing, because I think it was because of the Kanye comments that Jewish people control Hollywood and stuff.

I happen to have relatives who work in Hollywood and, and that was always kind of just an obvious thing that Jewish people tended to be way more influential in that industry than in other industries. Just like there's certain industries, other ethnicities or cultural groups tend to be influential in.

And I was just like curious of like what, like stating that doesn't mean that you're against them. You could even be paying a compliment and saying they're really good at this particular thing. But anyway, that makes you an anti-Semite now.

80 Jew is really old and really ugly. If you hear someone making a generalized statement about Jews being cheap or obsessed with money or unethical in business.

Spotlight. That's anti-Semitism. Number five, but it's for social justice.

There are lots of legitimate ways to. You know, man, I can't stop every single one of these, but I, I did work for a while in a Jewish community, often on a New York. And I will say, because I was doing contracting work that and I got when you work in this field and you're going and you're knocking on 10 doors a day over the course of years in various regions, you'd see a lot of regional differences and you see a lot of cultural differences.

And boy, did I have a crash course in culture and, you know, it was way more beneficial to me in understanding culture than going to seminary or grad school and trying to study the stuff in the classroom.

And I will say that there, there is a tendency among different groups towards like the way they handle money and the way they, they try to even barter with you or get a deal. It's much different. And I, you know, and even white people, quote unquote, are different in different regions.

But, you know, in New York, there was a tendency like towards it's just general, there's exceptions, obviously, but there's a tendency that white people in general would just kind of accept whatever the price was, whatever the service was, they would just accept what you give them and not ask questions.

And if they happen to be in certain socioeconomic brackets, like a little more well off, and especially if they were more Italian, like in Westchester County, I noticed there was a tendency to try to get you to do more than, than you were there to do, let's say, and to get more out of the company to maybe even threaten legal action if it didn't go their way.

And so not saying every, and I'm not against Italians at all. If my best friends are Italians, I'm just saying there was a different cultural difference. I noticed people from the Middle East and from India tended to be more, they would haggle a little more with on the prices of things.

And, and Jewish people, I noticed, especially in like the Hasidic communities, I would work, they definitely did tend to be, I would say more conscious, conscious of the weight of what things costed and the quality of things.

And, and, you know, if you weren't Jewish and you were working for a Jewish, in a Jewish context, they definitely, in general, I'm not saying all the time, but in general, they would treat you a little different and they have an in-group preference.

And so anyway, I'm just pointing these things out, not to make any assessment about any of them, but just, these are observations I had. Like, am I, are you a racist for having observations? Like, no, like you, you, that shouldn't be, that shouldn't get you labeled anything.

You're just someone who observes things. And, you know, does it adjust as a repairman? Would it adjust the way that you acted, behaved, or what you were ready for, or the conversations you'd have? It might a little bit.

I don't, I'm not self-conscious of anything it did for me. I just know that like some of the other guys, and we worked with guys who were black and Latino and, you know, first language was Spanish. Cause we, we did, we were even servicing people in like downtown Danbury who spoke Spanish.

And I mean, we all had this, we would all talk about this stuff and we would all have the same kind of like conclusions that we would draw. I worked with a guy from Tunisia too, for a while. And we, we had to all adjust to all these different cultural things and they can be pretty significant.

So anyway, I'm just saying like, this is what you're finding out so far in this video is like, you could think that even noticing certain qualities, if they happen to be negative, or even if they don't happen to be negative, whether good or bad, whether it's, it's, well, there's a tendency towards greediness or whether it's, well, they have a tendency to be really good at certain things.

So positive or negative, if you just notice certain characteristics, you're anti-Semitic. Like, is it the same with white people? Is it the same with, I mean, this, to be fair, God hates unequal weights and measures.

This would have to be the same across the board, right? So noticing what good or bad qualities that tend to be part of any culture, I guess, would make you a bad person, right? That, that would, you'd have to draw that conclusion if you're trying to be fair, which I don't know if they're trying to be fair, but so anyway, not very helpful, is it?

But this might be the road we're going down.

That's the policies of the Israeli government, but attacking Jews on the street, vandalizing Jewish institutions, or using words like apartheid, genocide, and baby killers when talking about Jews.

Spotlight anti-Semitism.

Number six. Okay, so demonizing Jews by claiming social justice. Yeah, I mean, I would probably have some degree of agreement with them on some of this, that, yeah, just demonizing them because they happen to be good at some things.

They happen to benefit in some ways because of their discipline and the way that they're, whatever it might be, the cultural factors, whether it's an in-group preference, no matter what, I'm not saying what it is, but whatever it is that helps them be successful, if you just notice that and you have a lot of resentment build up about it, sure, like this is going to get you into territory where you're coveting, where you want revenge, and like these things would be wrong, right?

Got a point, though. Have you ever seen people protest against Orthodox Jews moving into their neighborhood or heard folks link Jewish people to gentrification or other urban issues? Spotlight. That's anti-Semitism.

Number seven. Middle of the sandwich. A phenomenon of our time, the anti-Semitism wheel goes full circle. White supremacists and progressive anti-Zionists have one thing in common.

Spotlight. They both use the same language and promote the same hatred. Number eight. The Great Replacement Theory. Have you ever heard someone say that the Jews are polluting Western culture? That they're slowly but surely replacing white people?

That they're encouraging immigration from non-white countries in order to destroy white culture?

Spotlight. That kind of rhetoric is not only anti-Semitic, but it's also racist, promotes violence and murder, and threatens everyone in our society.

Bottom line. Anti-Semitism is lurking behind well-meaning compliments, tired old stereotypes, social justice crusades, and concerns about Western culture.

Anti-Semitism also fuels racism, bias, and promotes hate and violence. Now that you know how to spot anti-Semitism, what are you going to do? Okay.

So here's the activism part. You're going to have to go, I mean, maybe we should go door to door, knock, ask for people's papers, and then find out if they've done any of those things. So wait, hold on.

So we could not be anti-Semitic. Wait, hold on, John. I mean, they want people to be activists. That's the point of this. And there's a mixture of things. Some of these things, there's a few things that I would say, like, yeah, if there's resentment, if there's bitterness, if there's let's plan something violent, if there's let's hurt these people because of something, that's one thing.

But if it's something like, they just gave the example of gentrification, right? You know, there's a town that's not too far from where I live. I work there a bunch. And the people in the town really did not appreciate a huge group of Hasidic Jewish people who moved up.

And they're very insular. They kind of have their own community. And they took over the school board. They took over the town politics. And they changed everything. And people who lived there for generations were just mad about it because it happened so quickly.

And this kind of video would make them out to be anti-Semitic. They just they don't like Jewish people. No, it's not. It's not even about being Jewish. It's just they don't like everything changing that fast and them kind of losing their the area, the local area that they grew up in.

And if it happened maybe more gradually, they probably wouldn't have had a problem. But the fact that it happened so sudden and their taxes are going up and the schools are changing and they can't if it's affecting them directly, they just have a problem with that.

They wanted to preserve a way of life that was a bit better for them. And so does that mean caring for your own? Does that mean, oh, now you just hate Jews? Like, no, it doesn't. It doesn't have to mean that at all.

But, you know, if you said, like, we're going to go take care of business and we're going to go commit some violence and we're not going to work through the process, the actual processes that exist to address concerns, then sure.

But, you know, they're not making these distinctions. They're going to the least common denominator. And this is a common denominator that I think this is going to take Christians out. I'm not saying this video in particular has a lot of has a lot of I mean, what, 80K people have viewed this.

It was put out a day ago. OK, so it's gaining some steam, but it's probably more because it's being advertised and there's a lot of money behind this. So, you know, I'm not saying this video in particular, but this way of thinking, it sounds almost CRT.

It's like, you know, if you ever were even thought something that might be misconstrued as being anti-Semitism, you you're an anti-Semite. And not only that, you have to you have the duty now to do something about it.

And a light on it. Call it out.

Dispel the darkness. Join the movement to shine a light on anti-Semitism.

So, yeah, shine a light. Expose it. I guess docks these people, you know, try to just someone said that Jewish people were more powerful than other groups or influential, I should say, then you got to go expose that person as an anti-Semite.

This is this is how witch hunts start. Like they're not seeing that what they're promoting could very well lead to the very thing that they're they're supposedly against. So that's I thought was kind of funny and an interesting video.

But yeah, that stuff takes off in the mainstream. Then we're going to see it's going to it's going to be the BLM stuff all over. Well, I wanted to in the in the tradition of hot button issues here, talk about this a little bit.

The Removal of AP Hill’s Grave Marker in Richmond

This is an article that someone sent me. And, you know, it makes me a little sad. I'd lived in Virginia for a while. And I remember I went to see some of these monuments in Richmond. They have some beautiful monuments there before they were taken down.

Even if if you don't care for the people on the monuments or whatever, they're just beautiful monuments. And they've taken down the last statue that of a I guess someone associated with the Confederacy in Richmond.

And these are local legends like these are these are people that would would be significant to not just the history of the Confederacy, supposedly, but also the history of Virginia. And they've just taken down.

And here's the wild thing about this. It's like, John, another statue article. Come on. Yeah, I know. Hundreds of these things have been removed. And I did a whole documentary, American Monument. You can go look at it where I talk about this.

But here's the thing that makes this one interesting to me. I was a little surprised when I talked about a few weeks ago, this Arlington National Cemetery, which was Robert E. Leesland at one time. Now they're taking down the monument that Moses Ezekiel, a Jewish person, ironically, sculpted and put there.

He was in Virginia Military Institute. He was a Confederate soldier, but he was also a renowned painter that many presidents respected and went to. And he was in Europe for a while. He was just a really good sculptor.

Did I say painter? Sculptor. And, you know, in that story, I pointed out that Moses Ezekiel, his tomb is underneath the statue. That's where he wanted to be buried. And so taking out the statue is not just taking out a monument.

It's taking out what amounts to a headstone for the grave of Moses Ezekiel. And I think there was a plan to exhume him, to take his body, to take it out of the ground and put it somewhere else. And I thought this is the most disrespectful thing.

And where are all the people who scream anti-Semitism right now? One of the most prominent Jewish Americans, probably the most prominent Jewish American sculptor in history, is being exhumed. His grave dug up.

His headstone destroyed. At least that's the plan. And not a word from all these supposedly pro-Jewish groups. And that's one of the things I think that sticks a hole in the narrative that it's all Jews just supporting each other.

Because there are certain Jewish people that the rest of the community doesn't seem to want to have much to do with right now. Moses Ezekiel is one of them. Well, I thought it was egregious, particularly because of the fact that when I found out he was buried there, I thought, wow, this is a desecration.

And so we got here. And this happened one other time that I know of, too. It's probably happened more than I realized. But I think this happened with Nathan Bedford Forrest, too. They dug up his headstone, basically.

The monument was basically functioning as a headstone. Well, here we have Richmond, Virginia. Tuesday, December 13th, bystanders gathered around the site where a statue of Confederate General E .P. Hill had previously stood for 130 years prior to its removal.

On Monday, December 12th, on the second day of the removal process, onlookers watched as crews, along with an indirect descendant of Hill, unearthed Hill's remains. So they're taking his body out of the ground.