A Celebration of America

On a special edition of the "Dan O'Donnell Show," Dan dives into the history of the drafting and ratification of the Declaration of Independence and looks back 200 years to July 4th, 1826—the day two Founding Fathers died—to share the lessons that their friendship can teach us about American unity today.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we are trying our best to uphold the greatness
of America each end, every afternoon here on the Dan
o'donald Show. Welcome to a special edition two hundred and
fifty years to the day today that America did, in
fact formally declare its independence from Great Britain. How you ask,

(00:24):
why is it that we celebrate July fourth? We will
get into that and much much more on a special
edition of the program. Yes, July second, seventeen seventy six
was actually the day that many founders, including John Adams,
believed would be celebrated, because the Continental Congress passed the

(00:44):
Lee Resolution, formally declaring that the colonies were independent from
Great Britain. In fact, the day after the vote, Adams
wrote a celebratory letter back home to his wife Abigail
from Philadelphia. He wrote, the second day of July seventeen
seventy six will be the most memorable in the history

(01:06):
of America. I am apt to believe that it will
be celebrated by succeeding generations as the Great Anniversary Festival.
It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance
by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty it ought
to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, with games,
with sports guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end

(01:30):
of this continent to the other, from this time forward,
forever more. Well. He was off by two days, but
close enough. Today, though, July second, an incredibly important day
in American history, and it is going to be a
special edition of this program as we reflect on this

(01:51):
country at two fifty. Yes, we will still bring you
the news of the day. We've got significant developments in
the story of the crazy transactivist who declared that she
hez zerr whatever, wanted to kill your local Republican and
urged her supporters to do just that and urging supporters

(02:14):
to enact a quote trans g hodd Well. That staffer
has since been fired by the Trans Democrat congressional candidate
Katrina Deville. Deville said in an email to The New
York Post today that that person was fired. It was
a volunteer campaign worker. They were fired after it became

(02:37):
clear that they were mentally unstable. You don't say so.
We will get into some of the news of the day,
but a lot of the day is going to be
devoted to this country. Its history, stories, reflections on America's
two hundred and fiftieth and not just from me, from
you as well. All throughout the show, we are welcoming you.

(02:59):
We want you to call in with your thoughts on
where we are as a nation, where we are as
a people on this the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of our declaration of independence from Great Britain. Four one,
four seven nine to nine eleven thirty is our Carpetland
USA Flooring Center talk and text line. And if you

(03:21):
can't get through on the phones, we are expecting we're
going to have a lot of people who want to
get in and just general thoughts about America at two
fifty What this country is all about, your thoughts, your
plans on how to celebrate America too fifty, just where
we are, your thoughts about this country. Any and all

(03:41):
reflections will be accepted. But if you can't get through
on the phones, always you can text us, or you
can shoot me an email dood at iHeartMedia dot com.
You can follow me on social media and write your
comments while watching the live video stream at Dan O'Donnell's
show on x We're also streaming Facebook dot com slash
Dan o'donald Show. You can also find us on our

(04:03):
YouTube channel, Like and subscribe, as the kids say, and
please do follow the Dan O'Donnell Show podcast on iHeartRadio
or wherever you listen to podcasts. And it's not just
July fourth, seventeen seventy six. That is a date that
needs to be celebrated forever. It is also two hundred

(04:24):
years ago July fourth, eighteen twenty six, the only day
in American history that two presidents of this country died.
They died on the exact same day, and that day
just happened to be the fiftieth anniversary of the ratification
of the Declaration of Independence. One of those was, in

(04:46):
fact Sean Adams. And we will tell the story of
July fourth, eighteen twenty six coming up later on here
on the Dan o'donald Show. Now. In his letter back
to Abigail July third, seventeen seventy six, Adams said he
knew that there were going to be a whole lot
of challenges, that just declaring independence was not going to

(05:07):
be enough. Obviously, the British Crown wasn't going to let
the colonies go without something of a fight. But he
was optimistic. He knew that America back then was something
worth fighting for, and if the colonists hung together, as
Benjamin Franklin famously said, they would avoid hanging separately. He

(05:28):
wrote in this letter, you will think me transported with enthusiasm,
but I am not. I am well aware of the
toll and blood and treasure that it will cost us
to maintain this declaration and support and defend these states.
Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays
of ravishing light and glory. I could see that the

(05:50):
end is worth more than all the means, and that
posterity will triumph in that day's transaction. So July was
very significant date that most people completely gloss over because
obviously the fourth of July just sort of has a
better ring to it than the second of July for

(06:11):
the day that we celebrate our independence. But Congress, the
Continental Congress, voted to adapt Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring
the colonies to be free and independent states. This actually,
not the declaration of independence, was the legal and political
break from the Crown, and Adams saw this as the

(06:33):
core achievement that he was able to get the votes
together from all of the colonies to declare themselves to
be independent. It wasn't until two days later that Congress
approved the final text of the Declaration of Independence, which
explained the reasons for the vote that was taken two
days earlier. To the rest of the world, now Adams

(06:57):
realized just how important the Declaration of Independence was, but
he considered the vote for independence to be the foundational act,
to be the thing that was most important. Now, of course,
today we recognize that it is in fact the Declaration
of Independence that is the primary document that we celebrate

(07:22):
and that we mark our nation's beginning from the ratification
thereof ladies and gentlemen. This is the story of how
that declaration came to be on July second. On June eleventh,

(07:51):
excuse me, seventeen seventy six, the Second Continental Congress appointed
what was known as the Committee of Five John Adams,
a delegate from Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin, the elder Statesman of
the Revolution from Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson from Virginia, Robert R.

(08:11):
Livingston from New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut to
draft a formal statement justifying the move for independence. Now,
this followed Richard Henry Lee's resolution calling for the separation
from Great Britain, which was passed very narrowly on July second.
The committee left no minutes, leading to some uncertainty and

(08:36):
later conflicting recollections from Jefferson and Adams decades afterward. But
what we know about the crafting of the Declaration of
Independence was that it was largely Thomas Jefferson's own words,
with just minor editorial guidelines by the rest of the committee.
The committee discussed the document's general outline and structure, and

(08:59):
Jefferson later recalled that the others unanimously pressed him to
write the first draft because he was the best writer,
though Adams later on claimed he persuaded Jefferson because the
Virginia was a stronger writer than he was, but primarily
because he had far fewer political enemies in the Continental Congress.

(09:22):
Adams reportedly declined the task himself, saying he would be
hooted for it. Jefferson was just thirty three years old,
and he largely wrote the draft himself, isolating himself between
June eleventh and June twenty eighth in the second floor
parlor of a rented three story brick House at the

(09:46):
corner of Seventh and Market Streets in Philadelphia, what is
now known as the Declaration House. Congress was in session
and busy, so he didn't have a whole lot of
uninterrupted time and composed the Declaration very, very quickly. Jefferson
was a genius, a wonder kiin who wasn't just a

(10:09):
man with a way with words. He was also an inventor,
and in fact, in a little known detail about the
crafting of the Declaration of Independence, he actually wrote it
on the laptop of its day, a laptop that he designed.
It was a portable writing desk. He called it a
writing box that he had cabinet maker Benjamin Randall of

(10:31):
Philadelphia make up for him. It was a compact mahogany
box with a hinged, adjustable sloped writing board and a
locking drawer for paper pens and an inkwell. Was very
practical for someone who was constantly on the move, like
Thomas Jefferson. He had it made after losing an earlier

(10:53):
design at c The original desk on which he wrote
the Declaration of Independence does survive at the Smithsonian's National
Museum of American History. Jefferson drew on existing ideas, including
his own prior writings, as well as the Virginia Declaration
of Rights written by George Mason, and broader influences from

(11:16):
the period of the Enlightenment. Aiming to express the American mind,
as he called it, rather than invent entirely new principles,
he produced a rough draft and showed it privately to
Adams and Franklin for corrections before preparing a copy for
the broader full Committee. The committee loved it. They made

(11:39):
only minor changes, and Congress started debating the draft on
July second, making a few further edits, including a number
that Jefferson disliked, but keeping the core principles intact. One
major deletion that Jefferson despised condemned King George the Third

(12:00):
himself for the slave trade and blaming him for imposing
it on the colonies. That was removed to avoid controversy,
especially with Southern delegates. As with much during the Revolutionary period,
in the Formation of America, there was compromise, compromise that
in hindsight looks to be unforgivable, but back then was

(12:22):
necessary because of how dependent the Southern colonies later the
Southern States were on slave Labor Congress adopted the final
text of the Declaration on July fourth, seventeen seventy six.
It was printed overnight by John Dunlap as broadsides for distribution.

(12:44):
These became known as the famous Dunlap broadsides. Now, after
the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration, it needed to be disseminating.
As you could imagine, there was no Kinkos back in
relutionary America. So the committee rushed to Dunlap's print shop

(13:06):
near the Delaware River in Philadelphia and took the document,
likely in Jefferson's own handwriting, to a twenty nine year
old Irish immigrant and the official printer to Congress. He
worked through the night with his apprentices and produced an
estimated one hundred to two hundred broadsides, large single sheet

(13:29):
prints about eighteen by fourteen inches on one side of
cotton fiber paper, some with watermarks, including ironic ones that
were put in for a laugh from King George the
Third's own paper. Now, these were not fancy copies. They
were simple type setting that were produced for speed. The

(13:54):
text is very close on those Dunlap broadsides to the
original version, but it does lack the full list of
signatures on the Declaration of Independence. In fact, only John Hancock,
the President of the Continental Congress, and Charles Thompson, the Secretary,
are in fact named on a good majority of those

(14:15):
Dunlap broadsides. Congress immediately ordered copies distributed to the States,
the Committees of Safety, the Continental Armies commanders, and for
public readings and postings throughout the colonies. Now the broadsides
spread the news very, very rapidly. The very first public
readings of the Declaration of Independence occurred on July eighth

(14:38):
in Philadelphia by Colonel John Nixon, as well as in Trenton,
New Jersey. Local printers across the colonies used the broadsides
as copies for their own editions, helping the Declaration of
Independence reach across the new nation, sometimes taking several weeks.
A copy even made its way all the way to England.

(15:03):
Of the estimated original print run of the Dunlap Broadsides,
only twenty six are known to survive today, scattered among
various institutions. About twenty to twenty three are in the
care of the United States Government, the National Archives, the
Library of Congress, several University University of Virginia, for example,

(15:26):
several historical societies. There are a couple in the United Kingdom,
including one that was just discovered at the National Archives
in Q just discovered in two thousand and nine. A
small number are in private hands, and what's remarkable is
discoveries continue. In nineteen forty nine there were only fourteen

(15:49):
known what are known as original copies of the Declaration
of Independence, the Dunlap broadsides, but the count grew with finds,
like the one at a four flea market in nineteen
eighty nine. There was a doun Lap broadside, Believe it
or not, an original copy of the Declaration of Independence

(16:10):
bought behind a painting. Someone bought a painting for four
dollars at a flea market back in eighty nine, and
behind it an original copy of the Declaration of Independence.
July fourth, seventeen seventy six was the day that the
Declaration of Independence was ratified. The United States would not

(16:34):
really become a nation until the war was won, and
in fact, the quest for freedom, even the declaration itself,
was a long process. In fact, it was not signed
by July fourth. It was signed primarily on August second,
with signatures added over the following months. As delegates arrived

(16:56):
in Philadelphia. When we come back here on the Dan
o'donald's Show, the story of the most famous signature, John Hancock,
Why was it so big? And also the furious ride
of Caesar Rodney, a little known footnote in history, but
the man who just might have ensured that July fourth,

(17:19):
seventeen seventy six is a day we celebrate at all.
That is all coming up right here on the Dan
O'Donnell's show masts one of my favorite pieces of American music.

(17:46):
This is hodown from Rodeo or the Hodown by Aaron Copland,
probably best known as the beef It's What's for Dinner
commercial from the nineteen nineties and early two thousands. This
was used very prominently at the opening ceremony of the
Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. It is just for

(18:06):
my money, one of the best pieces of American music
ever composed. Put that up, producer, Eric. Let's hear it.
Absolutely love it. Welcome back to the Dan O'Donnell Show,
as we are celebrating two hundred and fifty years since
America first declared its independence from Great Britain. You want

(18:30):
to wow people with your historical knowledge. At your Fourth
of July parties say yeah, we're sort of celebrating the
wrong day. America actually formally declared its independence from Great
Britain on July second, with what was known as the
Lee Resolution. That was when the Continental Congress actually said,

(18:52):
we are free and independent colonies. We are a separate nation.
But it in fact was not until July fourth that
the Continental Congress ratified the declaration of independence. Now, the
declaration of Independence was actually just the explanation that Thomas Jefferson,

(19:13):
a thirty three year old delegate to the Continental Congress, had,
in conjunction with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and two
other delegates to explain to the rest of the world
why they were doing what they were doing. This was
something that just wasn't done. The British Empire was at
the absolute height of its power, War was inevitable, and

(19:37):
nobody actually thought that a the United States of America
would exist as an independent nation for very long or ever,
that the revolution would very quickly be put down, and
b that this was just something that wasn't done. So
Jefferson and it is believed that these are entirely the

(19:58):
words of Thomas Jefferson himself explained in the first two lines,
two of the most famous lines ever written in world history,
and certainly two of the most impactful. He declared, with
one unified voice, on behalf of the Continental Congress, and

(20:18):
behalf of the colonies, that they were and always had been,
free and independent states. When in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political
bands which have connected them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the earth the separate and equal

(20:39):
station to which the laws of nature and of Nature's
God entitled them. A decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation. We hold these truths to be
self evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that

(21:03):
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the government.
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or

(21:25):
to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its
foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such
form as to them shall seem most likely to affect
their safety and happiness. That, in about four sentences, is
America in a nutshell. All men are created equal, and

(21:48):
that they are endowed by their creator, not by government,
not by other human beings. This is a revolutionary concept,
even though it draws very, very deeply from Biblical tradition.
That God creates all human beings in his likeness, and
that those human beings are made in the image of

(22:10):
the Divine and also have rights that themselves come from
the Divine. Because we are chosen by God amongst all creatures,
we have rights that no other creature has, and those
come not from a king, not from a government, but
from God himself. Among these not the only rights, but
among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

(22:34):
Not the acquisition of happiness, but the pursuit of happiness.
And that in order to secure these rights, governments are
instituted by the consent of the people who would be governed.
They are not instituted by virtue of a divine proclamation.
God doesn't institute kings in the world. God gives individual autonomy.

(23:01):
Individuals then have because they have this autonomy, the ability
to form government. Government is illegitimate if it does not
have the consent of the government. This, again, was such
a revolutionary concept. It is now the basis of what
we understand to be democratic government, but it really was

(23:24):
foreign in that world, and that's why the Declaration of
Independence was so important. It's sort of like the thesis
Statement of America in those first four sentences. So why
was John Hancock the biggest signature on that document by far?
Hancock was a very wealthy merchant in Boston. In fact,

(23:48):
he along with Samuel Adams, were considered to be among
the most important figures in the revolution, the early Revolution,
because they were the ones who were financing it. And
he didn't just sign the declaration like that. In fact,
there are a number of signatures from Hancock that still survive.
He signed pretty much every document like that. As one

(24:12):
of the richest men in all of the colonies. He
was a pretty ostentatious guy. He was not above throwing
his wealth around, and his penmanships sort of matched that flare.
It was consistently large, consistently elaborate and consistently flowing. But

(24:34):
why did he sign it so big? Now the story
has emerged, and I'm sure you've probably been told this,
that he signed it so large so that King George
could read my name without his spectacles. This story didn't
emerge until many, many years later, probably sometime in the

(24:56):
eighteen twenties eighteen thirties. There was there is no contemporary
evidence that this was true. And in fact, as we
learned in the last segment of this show, the declaration
largely stayed in America, was not actually sent to the
King himself. The King was well aware of what was
going on, and he eventually, I believe, did see a copy,

(25:19):
but it was not until years later. So why did
he sign it that big? Well, he was the president
of the Continental Congress, and he was the very first
to sign it. Do you know the day of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence? It was not July fourth,
It was not July second, It was actually August second,
seventeen seventy six. The vast majority of the delegates to

(25:43):
the Continental Congress were able to get to the document,
They were able to put their names on it, some
refused to sign. In fact, there were a number who
famously refused to sign because they didn't agree with some
language or another. There were remembered domestic political disputes as
well as the big dispute with England. Hancock very likely

(26:07):
believed that a he was only going to be the one,
he was going to be the only one who signed it,
and in fact that is the working theory here. Because
his signature is right front and center, directly below the text.
His signature is actually four to five inches wide and

(26:29):
over an inch tall. That is a big signature. It
indicates that he thought he was only going to sign it,
then everybody else signed it. Now, because he was the
first signer, he of course had a lot of room,
and he very likely underestimated just how many other signatories

(26:50):
there would be. If you take a look at the
original that the document that was actually signed, some are
very very small. So this was likely the real reason. A.
He just had a flare for the dramatic. He did
everything big, he lived big, he signed his name big.

(27:12):
But the real reason very likely because he thought he
was going to be the only one whose signature was
really need it And in fact, it wasn't originally planned
that everybody was going to sign on. They all just figured, Hey,
you know what, whoever signs this document, if we lose
this war, we're all going to be killed. In fact,

(27:35):
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, this is another story
that might be apocryphal, but it just sounds like Benjamin Franklin,
who said, gentlemen, we must now hang together, or most assuredly,
we shall all hang separately. How did it happen that
all of the colonies were able to sign on? How

(27:57):
is it that all of the colonies were able to
vote for independence? It almost didn't happen. There was a
patriot by the name of Caesar Rodney who is very sick,
but rode through the night to make it for the
vote on July two, seventeen seventy six. So we will
tell his story when the Dan o'donnald Show returns in

(28:19):
just a minute. It is a tour de force of

(28:46):
truth today, universal truths about America's declaration of independence, the
founding of this nation, what we celebrate all weekend long,
and what we should be celebrating all year long, which
what we should be celebrating every single day. We are
so blessed to be a part of this great country

(29:07):
and this great heritage. We are taking a whole lot
of time on today's show to sort of step back.
Tomorrow is, as I think it is for most of
the country, the day that the fourth of July Independence
Day is observed, because of course, the holiday itself falls
on a Saturday, so we are not going to have
regular programming tomorrow. I had thought for a little bit

(29:29):
about doing a special recorded program at least one hour
on America's Independently. You know what, let's in the immortal
American words of Bill O'Reilly bleep it, let's do it live.
So pretty much all show we are going to do
reflections on this country. I want to hear from you,
ladies and gentlemen. I think for much of next hour,

(29:51):
I want to hear from you. What do you think
about where we are as a country. We're dealing with
the rise of socialism. This is a very, very real thing.
Pretty much every poll that is out shows that a
substantial amount of Democrats want socialist governance. This is the
thing that for a good portion of America's history we

(30:11):
have been fighting. We have been fighting the communists, and
now there is a movement within this country that feels
comfortable enough, finally rearing its ugly head. It was always
a part of this country, really since Carl Marx first
put pen to paper, But now it is finally emerging
as a real threat. So I want to hear from

(30:33):
you four one four seven nine nine eleven thirty on
our carpetland us a flooring center, talk and text line
again four one four seven nine nine eleven thirty. Dood
at iHeartMedia dot com in order to reach me via
your email. What if I told you that one of

(30:56):
the bravest patriots that you've never heard of cast the
deciding vote for America's independence. He was sick, He was
weakened with cancer and asthma, but he got on his
horse at midnight to drive all the way to Philadelphia
and cast the deciding vote. His name is Caesar Rodney.

(31:29):
Rodney was a lawyer and politician from Delaware. He was
a leading officer in the state's militia. He served as
a justice, a sheriff. He was a delegate to the
Continental Congress. He was a brigadier general in Delaware's militia.
He was later president of Delaware what we would call
today governor and by seventeen seventy six, he was already

(31:54):
very advanced in his health issues. He had facial skin cancer,
which he offered and covered with a scarf or handkerchief,
and bad asthma. Despite this, he was as active as
anyone in the cause of patriotism. On July first, seventeen
seventy six, the delegation in Philadelphia to the Continental Congress

(32:17):
from Delaware was deadlocked on the Lee Resolution for Independence.
Thomas McKeon favored it, while George Reid opposed. With the
crucial vote looming the following day, July second, McKeon sent
an urgent express messenger to Summon Rodney, who is in Dover, Delaware,

(32:39):
about seventy to eighty miles away. Dealing with local threats
from the loyalist forces opposing Delaware's militia, Rodney finally received
the message around midnight on July first. Despite his health problems,
he set out without hesitation for Philadelphia. He used a

(33:00):
combination of carriage and horseback and ru rode through a
very violent thunderstorm with heavy rain, thunder lightning, and flooded streams.
He crossed at least fifteen rivers or creeks, many of
them had jumped their banks, and the journey took roughly
eighteen hours. He arrived at the Pennsylvania State House now

(33:23):
known as Independence Hall, on the morning of July tewod,
as it was described at the time, in his boots
and spurs. He was muddied, he was exhausted, he was sick,
but he had arrived just in time. He voted in
favor of America's independence, breaking Delaware's tie and allowing the

(33:45):
colony to support the resolution. Twelve of the thirteen voted yes.
New York abstained, at least initially, and paved the way
for the formal Declaration of Independence text to be finalized
and adopted on July fourth. Rodney himself signed it on
August second. That single vote from a small colony changed

(34:12):
the course of history. Had Delaware not voted for independence,
the movement would have been exposed as not unified at
all and would have very likely failed. Rodney's timely arrival
helped ensure a strong stand against Britain at that pivotal
moment in American history. While historians, of course have romanticized

(34:36):
Paul Revere's ride Caesar, Rodney's might actually have been far
more important. After the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
Rodney's health was failing, but he still served the cause
of patriotism, leading Delaware's troops governing the state during the

(34:56):
war before dying in seventeen eighty four at age fifty five,
very likely from the cancer that he had been fighting
for years. A famous statue of him on horseback stands
in Wilmington, Delaware's Rodney Square, which commemorates the ride, and
every year during the anniversary of the Midnight Ride of

(35:20):
Caesar Rodney, celebrations and reenactments occur, especially this year on
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the midnight ride
that very likely preserved the colony's movement towards independence and
allowed the declaration to happen. You're listening to the Dan

(35:41):
O'Donnell show. Will be right back. I always love that story.
The Midnight Ride of Caesar Rodney just an incredible bit
of forgotten history in this country. Folks. You have no
idea how much this is making me want to bring
back I'm sure you've noticed. We have not been doing

(36:01):
forgotten history for quite some time. Folks. It is a
whole lot of work to put those together. We do
think I do want to bring this back as a
video podcast series to do forgotten history. I am loath
to do what is very very popular for history videos

(36:21):
now on YouTube AI for lack of a better word,
slop where they'll have like George Washington walking around and
stuff like that. It just it. First of all, our
company is guaranteed human, so we're not going to use AI.
So I may have to do the ken Burns style
of you know, still images and things like that. But

(36:42):
I just I am so loving telling the stories of America.
We also want to hear your stories, your reflections on
America's two hundred and fiftieth four one, four, seven, nine, nine, eleven,
thirty on our Carpetland USA Flooring Center Talk and text line.
We go out first to Bernie in Low Die Bernie,
Happy Independence Day, Happy two fifty and welcome to the

(37:02):
Dan O'Donnell Show.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Thank you, Dan, saying to you. You know, there's always
been debate about whether America is a quote unquote Christian nation,
whether it was founded as a Christian nation or not.
But despite the debate, it is clear that even our
founding fathers, whether they were true believing Christians, or not,
they recognize a higher power, and they recognize the value

(37:28):
of Judeo Christian values that would sustain a new country.
And sadly, it is my belief that any society that
turns its back on God or you know, religion for
that matter, just kind of creates a vacuum for bad ideas.

(37:51):
And I think that's where we are today. I am
reminded of I think it was a former Soviet Union premiere,
Nikita Khrushchev, who was asked about world dominance of communism
and what his goal did he have Hitler like goals

(38:12):
of conquering the world and specifically America turning to communism,
and he said he wasn't worried. He said that America
would turn to communism on its own. And you know,
it's just strangely prophetic when you see things like the
political primaries in New York and things like that, and so.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Absolutely, Bernie, Bernie, I do apologize. We are running up
against the top of the hour. I'll tell you what
happy forth of July to you. I want to reflect
on this as a fantastic call, Bernie. We're going to
go in depth on what Bernie said after the top
of the hour news I do apologize.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
But.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
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NX Wealth Management Know the difference.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
Stay in for all day, every day on News Talk
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Speaker 5 (39:12):
Good Afternoon. I'm Bob Haig, a former Olympian now indicted
for alleged vandalism of President Donald Trump's reflecting pool paint job,
David Hearn, saying he reached into the water after noticing
a piece of the Blue Liner had become partially detached.
Zachary Fink now charged in connection to a police standoff

(39:33):
last month in Whitefish Bay. He's due back in Milwaukee
County court. August fifth. Business News, the dow rallied five
hundred ninety four points, closing out a fresh record high.
The S and P five hundred finished the day largely
flat checking the holiday automotive of fond LAC's sports scoreboard
Packers fans could win a trip to a game if

(39:53):
their caption wins the team's new Give Us a Sign
contest from the Orthopedic Associates of Wisconsin. Newssetter and Bob
Haig on Wisconsin's most listened to radio station News Time.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
We are trying each and every afternoon to make America great.
And this afternoon on the Dan O'donnald Show, we are
reflecting on this great nation. At two hundred and fifty
coming up in the five o'clock hour. We aren't just
celebrating two hundred and fifty years since the ratification of
the Declaration of Independence, since it passed the Continental Congress

(40:29):
on July fourth, seventeen seventy six. We are also marking
two hundred years from one of the most significant dates
in American history, July fourth, eighteen twenty six, that nobody
quite gives its proper due. It is the only day
that not one, but two American presidents passed away. Both

(40:50):
were founding fathers. Both were on the Committee of five
that drafted the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
They were estranged for many, many years because of political disagreements.
The election of eighteen hundred was incredibly bitter and vitriolic,
and it cast the two on opposing sides. Of course,

(41:14):
Adams was the most prominent Federalist. He was the incumbent
President and Jefferson was the leader of the Democrats or
the Jeffersonian Democrats, and the two of them waged a
bitter campaign. Eventually Adams was forced to drop out, Aaron
Burr emerged as the Federalist standard bearer, and the animosity

(41:35):
lived on. But the incredible story about how those two
men rekindled their friendship and the things that are much
more important than politics in America, we will dive into.
Coming up. In the five o'clock hour last hour, we
told the story of the Declaration of independence. Why it
is that July fourth, seventeen seventy six was such a

(41:58):
seminal day in not just a history but world history,
and why many founding fathers, including Adams, believed that July second,
seventeen seventy six was actually going to be the day.
That was the day that Congress formally declared its independence,
that it voted and said on a resolution introduced by

(42:19):
I keep wanting to say Charles Lee, but that's not correct.
He was a general in the Continental Army. He was
a general in the American Army. The Lee Declaration or
the Lee Resolution, i should say, was the thing that
actually declared the independence. It was Richard Henry Lee. He

(42:43):
was the delegate who actually introduced, all right, what do
you say, boyos, should we declare our independence? Let's get nuts.
I think he said it a little more eloquently than that,
but he was the one. And on July second, thanks
to the last second heroics of a signatory of the
Declaration of Independence by the name of Caesar Rodney. You

(43:05):
heard of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. Well, one
that actually might be much more important was very likely
the midnight ride of Caesar Rodney. He cast the tie
breaking vote for Delaware to ratify the Declaration of Independence,
to sign on to Lee's amendment to his resolution declaring independence.

(43:25):
If that didn't happen, it is entirely likely, and historians
are actually in largely they're in agreement. Had Caesar Rodney
not broken that tie and had Delaware said, now we're good,
we're going to vote against independence, the independence movement might
have been further splintered. It's one of the most incredible

(43:46):
facts of the American Revolution that there were more loyalists,
those who wanted to remain subjects of the British Crown
in the American colonies than patriots. Those who wanted independence.
If you had Delaware not vote for independence. Is Caesar Rodney,
who was sick with cancer. He ended up dying eight
years later at fifty five, very likely of the cancer

(44:08):
that he was He had asthma. He rode through an
incredible thunderstorm. In fact, there is a letter that survives
that he wrote to his brother in which he describes
just how bad the thunderstorm was that he went through.
Let's see his direct quote was, though detained by thunder

(44:29):
and rain, he arrived in time to cast his vote,
though detained by thunder and write. People don't write like
that anymore, and you know what, quite frankly, I think
they should. This hour, we are going to get you
caught up on some of the stories that are going
on in America in twenty twenty six, of course, but
also reflections from you, our listeners on America where we

(44:52):
are in this moment. I think it's very poignant and
it's very telling that we're dealing with the cancer that
is anti Americanism and the rise of socialism and unchecked,
unfettered immigration, the rey conquista, if you will, of America

(45:14):
from the third world, that is declaring that they are
going to take it over, and they are going to
impose a form of government that they believe much better,
much better reflects their values, and that is socialism. By
the way, did you see zoron mom Donnie the most
famous Third worldist socialist in America? Right now, the mayor

(45:38):
of New York City saying New York is is dealing
with a heat wave just like we are here in Wisconsin.
So he wants everybody to cool their thermostats, to set
it at a comfortable seventy eight degrees. That's right if
you own a business. And by the way, the urban

(45:59):
heat island defect makes New York City on sweltering days
like this way hotter than it would otherwise be because
of all the buildings, all the people, all of the concrete. This,
by the way, is why global warming is a complete
and total sham. The urban heat island effect has been
skewing global temperatures for quite some time. I could do

(46:21):
another hour and a half just on that, but suffice
it to say, New Year, there's a reason it's called
Hell's kitchen. Actually, I have no idea if that's the
reason it's called Hell's kitchen, but it just seems like
it was. It was named on a very hot July afternoon.
It's because it gets really hot. Zoron Mondani is saying,

(46:43):
all right, because we're gonna have way too much strain
on the electrical grid, don't cool your houses or your
businesses to a comfortable seventy two. I think that's generally speaking,
maybe seventy one seventy. If you're my wife, you have
cooled down to about sixty five degree. She is like
the anti Zoron Mamdani. I am married to the ultimate capitalist,

(47:06):
because I swear our house is like an ice box
half the time. I'm not exactly sure what's going on,
but I'm grateful for it. We had a caller, and
by the way, we are taking your calls on the
rise of socialism, on the last stand of Americanism, because

(47:28):
we really are not in a grab your musket sense,
facing our own version of a civil war, where we
have a lot of people in this country who just
don't share the values of this country, the values that
we celebrate, the values that we honor, especially at the

(47:48):
fourth of July and especially in America's two hundred and
fiftieth year. This is why you get poll after poll
after poll that shows Democrats just are not proud of
this country. I don't think think you can discount the
fact that over the last twenty five years, and we
just had the annual Patriotism survey coming from Gallup. They've
been doing this every year for twenty five years. They

(48:11):
asked the same question, how proud are you to be
an American? Well, Republicans, the number is always ninety percent
say they are very proud or extremely proud. It's been
that way for twenty five years. Democrats have gone from
eighty five percent to about twenty seven percent. I don't
think that exists in a vacuum. It coincides with the

(48:32):
rise of racial socialism, the rise of the Black Lives
Matter movement, the rise of pretty much every radical ideology
that took hold in the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies
but sort of bubbled under the surface. It was relegated
to the fringes and maybe academia, but is now very mainstream.

(48:54):
It is this race based idea of colonizers and the colonized,
the conquista doors and the conquered, the haves and the
have nots. It's all Marxist theory, but it's racially and
ethnically tinged. You also have the period of American history

(49:14):
where the doors were just thrown open and without regard
for any sort of how shall I put this, I
keep wanting to say, acclimatization. I've been reading the last
several months the book about the nineteen ninety six month
Everest disaster into thin Air. Not acclimatization, but the culturalization,

(49:36):
the assimilation, That's the word I'm looking for. Without regard
for the assimilation of people who are coming from places
on this planet that just have a fundamentally different idea
than we do, that's a dangerous thing. So we do
welcome your calls. I want folks you to call in.

(49:57):
This hour is largely going to be your your reflections
on this great nation, this country where we are at
two fifty Carpetland, USA Flooring Center Talk and text line
four one four seven nine to nine eleven thirty. You
can also reach us toll free one eight one hundred
and eighty three eight nine four seven six DoD at
iHeartMedia dot com is my email address. We had a

(50:18):
great call right before the top of the hour from
Bernie from Lodi, and I feel terrible that we had
to cut him off because we were running up against
the top of the hour. He made a fantastic point
about the Christian basis of this, the Judeo Christian tradition
on which America is found. In fact, you cannot understand America.

(50:42):
You cannot understand Western civilization without that Judeo Christian tradition,
because all of our laws, all of our notions and
standards of morality flow from that, not necessarily the overt
religious aspect of the Judeo Christian tradition, but are notions

(51:04):
of what are and are not moral things that you
can do. Pretty much every bit of Western understanding of
right and wrong comes directly from the Ten Commandments. It
just does, folks. It forms the basis of all government,
It forms the basis of pretty much all of Western thought.

(51:24):
And in fact, if you read the Founding Fathers, if
you read the Federalist Papers, if you read pretty much
anything any influential Western leader or academic has written from
the Revolutionary period up until now, you can see the
influence everywhere. I mean, look no further than George Washington's

(51:47):
farewell address. George Washington's farewell is considered one of the
most influential pieces of text. Ever, not just because of
what he said. It was actually largely written by Alexander Hamilton.
In fact, if you get a chance, I know, I know,
and I'm starting to feel the same way about Hamilton

(52:11):
and the way that it basically started the whole race
swapping of characters. George Washington can be black in Hamilton,
then of course you can race swap any character in
any bit of fiction or even nonfiction. But if you
get a chance to watch Hamilton, it's on Disney. Plus,

(52:33):
the music is just absolutely spectacular. It is, it is done.
The story itself is such a loving ode to America
and to what it is that we represent. In that piece,
in that play you get the actual writing of It's

(52:55):
in a song called One Last Time, and it's about
Ali Sander Hamilton trying to talk Washington out of saying
goodbye and leaving and saying, you know, hey, you could
just continue to be president. Nobody would mind, and Washington
says no. The tradition that he started being being given

(53:18):
every lever of power imaginable. I mean, there was a
move to make him king. They wanted to call him
your excellency. You know what he came up with for
the the honorific for the presidency. He said, how about
mister president. I mean, it seems again, I talked about
this a little bit yesterday. It seems so mundane, so simple,

(53:41):
like why do we call the president mister presidents? Because
George Washington didn't think that the presidency should be a
title of nobility, that he was the first citizen.

Speaker 4 (53:56):
In his.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
Farewell a draft in his farewell letter, he refers to
Scripture repeatedly, and he says, as the scripture says, everyone
shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and
no one shall make them afraid. So as he concludes,

(54:20):
though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am
unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of
my defects not to think it possible that I may
have committed many errors. I shall also carry with me
the hope that my country will view them with indulgence,
and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated
to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of

(54:44):
incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as I myself
must soon be to the mansions of rest. I expect
I anticipate with pleasing expectations that retreat in which I
promise myself to reach, the sweet enjoyment of partaking in
the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of

(55:06):
good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object
of my heart, and the happy reward as I trust
of our mutual cares, labors and dangers. What he is
saying is, once I step aside, once I say goodbye,
the nation can move on, and the nation is more

(55:29):
important than one man. The idea that one man would
be the government, or that one man would be the nation,
that sort of flies in the face of Judeo Christian teaching.
It is so a lot of people misunderstand. Do you
know why we have a wall of separation between church

(55:54):
and state. Do you have any idea what that comes from.
Is that in the Constitution? No, that in a federalist paper. No,
it comes from a letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote
in eighteen oh two to the dan Berry Baptists, famous
passage believing with you that religion is a matter which

(56:16):
lies solely between man and his God, that he owes
account to none other for his faith or his worship,
that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only in
not opinions. I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of
the whole American people which declared that their legislature should
make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting

(56:39):
the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation
between church and state. That's it. That's it. That's the
only reference to separation of church and state. That's it.
And what Jefferson was actually talking about was that government
can actually interfere with the free exercise of religion. That

(57:02):
religion is between man and his God. He wasn't concerned
that the Congress was going to suddenly create a theocracy.
He was concerned that government was going to put up
a barrier to the free exercise of religion. The idea, though,
and I believe our caller said, well, I don't know

(57:23):
how faithful our founding fathers actually were. They all were.
They all were now, some were, some were deists, some
were a little more secularists in their beliefs, Jefferson among them,
but all of them were Christians. I mean, it was
just it was a different period of time, and all
of them used the Bible and use the Judeo Christian

(57:45):
tradition as the foundation for the nation that they were building.
And our caller Bernie was absolutely correct in that when
you take that away, when you have people who no
longer believe in the morality that is served most human
beings on earth for several thousand years, when you strip
that away, you allow to seize power the idea that

(58:10):
we are much smarter than all of humanity's collective experience,
and that we can impose a new order based on
our own understanding of morality, and that morality is what
we say it is. Well, that flies in the face
of what this country is actually all about. We will

(58:30):
expound on that and take more of your phone calls.
Four one, four, seven, nine, nine, eleven thirty, when The
Dan o'donald Show returned, Welcome back to the Dan o'donald Show.
Conservative thought, not just talking today, a whole lot of patriotism.
If you couldn't tell if you're not watching the DANOCAM
live stream. Yes, I am in red, white and blue garb,

(58:50):
as is tradition here on the program. We are taking
your calls pretty much for the rest of this hour.
Your reflections on America. At two fifty coming up at
five o'clock an essay I have been doing for quite
some time. It's called July fourth, eighteen twenty six, as
we mark the two hundredth anniversary of a very significant,

(59:11):
yet long overlooked date in this nation's history. We also
have a chance for you to win twenty five hundred
dollars in our USA two point fifty k giveaway that
is coming up in the five o'clock hour. Right now,
we go to Wahwatosa where we find ed ed. Happy
Independence Day and welcome to the Dan O'donnald Show.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
Happy holidaytu two, Dan, what's going on my friend this?
I'll tell you what's going on. I've traveled this country, Dan,
and I've been to every major city in America multiple times.
This is the greatest country on earth, It really is.
I used to watch these things on History Channel and

(59:54):
there always be some gray hair, six year old guy
standing on top of a mountain talking about how great
America is, how to it is. Yeah, it's absolutely true. Oh,
you live in a beautiful country. We've got all the
water that we'd ever need. We have all the greeneras,
the forests, the oil, the natural resources. This is a
great country. People want to come here. We're not looking

(01:00:15):
to move to Mexico. We're not looking to move to Africa.
They're coming here. Yep, okay, Dan, And there's something to
be said about that. You did say something though about
Judeo Christian values, and I kind of want to put
my take on it. I don't know when the fathers,
when the forefathers wrote of the Constitution, that there was
a term Judaeo Christian. I don't think that the two

(01:00:37):
cultures were mingling as much as well they certainly are today.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
They were when when we say Judaeo Christian, we mean
the values of the Old Testament, like it's it's basically
the same basic value system. So yes, they would have
they would have understood it to be Christian values. Yes, yes,
But what I'm saying is a lot of Do you
know that the single most quoted biblical book in the

(01:01:04):
Bible is actually not from the New Testament. It's no
real surprise. It's Deuterotomy because that was I was going
to say that, Yeah, it was that was that, those
were the laws. I mean, this was this was what
they based the entire country on. So yeah, when I
say Judeo Christian the founders would have would have taken
that to be oh you mean Old Testament as well
as New So yeah, but it was a fundamentally Christian

(01:01:25):
value system.

Speaker 6 (01:01:25):
Yeah right, And.

Speaker 3 (01:01:27):
I just wanted to throw this out there for the audience.
We didn't have a continuous we didn't have a common
morality throughout America. You could be living in Appalachia where
thirteen year old girls were brides to men who were
their early thirties. Okay, then you go down the road
an hour and that was unacceptable in let's say Raleigh, Durham,

(01:01:51):
or in maybe Baltimore, Washington, those parts of the South
right outside of Appalasia. So Jewish Hollywood.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
Kind of us. Everybody used to go to the movies.
They used to go to the matinees.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
Our grandparents, you know, and they would talk about going
to the Saturday and Sunday matinees. Hollywood, Jewish Hollywood wrote
in a continuous kind of a common morality for America.
And so we get a lot of our morality, believe
it or not. Believe it or not from Hollywood years ago,
because like I said, you know, depending on where you

(01:02:24):
were at, things were morally except.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
This nine time though, we did evolve to have common say,
criminal codes. So what you're talking about is true. That okay, well,
it would be acceptable for you know, children to get married.
Remember and this, this, this is probably going to be
one of the more controversial things I say, and I

(01:02:47):
guarantee it's going to be taken out of context. Throughout
human history, people were getting married, and people were being
very you know, sexually active. They were having babies at
thirteen fourteen because the life expectancy was so short you
needed to the reason that the female body reaches not

(01:03:08):
sexual maturity, but is able to sexually reproduce at such
a young age is because biologically we needed to. Because
it's a very recent phenomenon that life expectancy is in
the seventies. It's in the eighties that if you take
care of yourself and you don't get cancer obviously that's
a big one, and you avoid you know, a car accident,

(01:03:31):
a homicide, drugs, suicide, the things that are artificially reducing
America's life expectancy, you know, because we factory the kids
who are you know, dying of overdoses at twenty two.
If you get past that, people are living to ninety
one hundred that didn't happen for much of human history.
So when you say we have and yes, I did

(01:03:53):
catch the Jewish Hollywood thing in there, I'm a little
a little well. I caught the very subtle anti semitism
in there. Jewish Hollywood also made some of the most
incredible Christian movies in world history. You know what, I'm
not going to get into that. What happened, though, is

(01:04:18):
that just like with as we were telling the story
of America's Declaration of Independence, that it sort of happened
over a long process. The idea of having a common
American morality sort of evolved. Remember, we had half of
this country, the Democrat half, believed that it was perfectly

(01:04:40):
fine to enslave other human beings, when you actually had
Thomas Jefferson, the supposed great racist according to the modern
woke left, wanting to actually put in the declaration of independence. Yo,
the slave trade is totally King George's fault. We didn't
want to be a part of this. It is a
great ev and we're declaring our independence from that. The

(01:05:02):
only reason that got taken out, and Jefferson was super
ticked about that, by the way, was because they didn't
think the southern colonies would join the independence movement would
vote for uh, the secession would vote for the independence
from Great Britain. If it was Let's go to Mitch
in Bayview up next on the Dan O'donnald show. It's

(01:05:25):
going on, Mitch.

Speaker 7 (01:05:26):
Great.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
How you doing, Dana?

Speaker 7 (01:05:28):
And I've seen you since we honored you with that
conservative conservative activist thuf.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
Oh my goodness, Mitch, do you realize I still have
that trophy that is listen, Oh my gosh, what a
great night that was. Thank you so much. That was
such a sweet, sweet thing.

Speaker 7 (01:05:47):
That was a great night.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Man.

Speaker 7 (01:05:48):
But listen, you were talking about socialism, man, and we
definitely hid it in that direction. And it's going at
a rapid speed, I mean, no slowing down even with
our streets here with this vision zero. That's a part
of a socialist movement to get us going in such
a way that everybody's tunneled out tunnel visions swing us

(01:06:11):
down this vision zero. And they got us with that
socialist movement by planning fear, especially inner city, about reckless
drives with Dan listen, and I know, I know I
got to hurry up.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
No, no, no, no, hey, dude, we're right in the
middle of the hour. Man, I mean, my producer is
like looking at me, like, how long is this segment
gonna be? Mitch, You've got as long as you want, my.

Speaker 7 (01:06:31):
Friend, Well, that's only gonna be a few more seconds.
I'm trying to pour a whole court into a pint.
But listen, anytime they come in and they sell us
this idea right about less driving, so everybody gets on
board with it, Dan, But guess what it claims actually
claims more lives than the reckless drivers, because guess what,
every time of paramedics has got to slow down, every

(01:06:54):
time an ambulance has got to slow down.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Or go around around about it. Get in a bottle, one.

Speaker 7 (01:06:58):
Of those bottlenecks, and you can't go to the right
of the left. Man, you stuck right there in the middle.
And the paramedic. And guess what if we could have
got him here six minutes earlier, we could have saved
her life, Grandma. We could have saved her from a stroke.
We could have saved the guy that was bleeding out
to you, you know, he bleeding out. If he would
have been here three minutes earlier, we could have stopped
him and saved his life. It's actually not waiting on

(01:07:19):
some statistics to which they're burying, because I want to
see the statistics on how many lives we're actually losing
on amalam arrival. That that that's a socialist movement. And
one thing that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
I'm sorry you sort of lost me there. The movement
against reckless driving is a socialist movement in the city
of Milwaukee. Is that is that?

Speaker 7 (01:07:43):
No division zero?

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
Okay, okay, I see, yes, yes, yes, that is okay, Mitch.
I'm sorry you kind of lost me a little bit there. Yes, absolutely,
it is an idea, dude, Mitch, I'm telling you the idea.
The idea is to get people to not drive cars.
That that is the ultimate goal. Like, this is the
goal of the socialistructs.

Speaker 7 (01:08:04):
These little scooters, Dan, we thought that these little scooters
were here for recreation.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Is to get us to cut.

Speaker 7 (01:08:09):
Back on you know. And they're pushing these electric cars. Man,
look here at.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
An electric car.

Speaker 7 (01:08:15):
If if they want to tell you the shelter in place,
all they got to do.

Speaker 6 (01:08:17):
Is cut down the grids.

Speaker 7 (01:08:18):
You can't recharge cars all over the city, all over
the place. It's a it's a socialist movement. I don't know.
Somebody want to can for older lives of men? One
more thankful you talk to In the Book of Judges,
it says every man did what was writing his own
site because there was no king in the land. And
guess what, there's no that. We've kicked King Jesus out
and that's why everything is going crazy. Every man is

(01:08:41):
doing what's right in his own site. I appreciate you.
Maybe I meet up with you somewhere at one of
these meetings of one of these rallies. Man, we shake hands.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
I would I would love to. Hey, please if if
you see her, tell Virginia Pratt, I say, hi. Uh,
you guys are incredible. I love love, love the organization.
Thank you so much. Mitch.

Speaker 7 (01:09:01):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
That is that is a blast for the past. I
love it. I love it. We want to take more
of your phone calls for one four seven nine to
nine eleven thirty Carpet Land, USA, Flooring Center, Talk and
text Line. Dan o'donald's show, coming right back with more
conservative thought and not just talk. Probably welcome back to
the Dan o'donald Show. On this what might have been

(01:09:23):
in another world America's Independence Day. This was actually the
day in seventeen seventy six, two hundred and fifty years
ago today, that America's Continental Congress adopted the Lee Resolution,
formally declaring independence from the United States. The Declaration of
Independence was not the formal document. The Declaration of Independence

(01:09:47):
was the document that explained the reasons for the separation,
because it was widely disseminated and because it was just
so beautifully written by Thomas Jefferson, with some input from
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and a number of other
Founding fathers in a group of five that was commissioned
with writing the declaration. That is what we celebrate. And

(01:10:10):
when the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Continental Congress,
it was immediately taken to an Irish immigrant named Dunlap
and the Dunlap Broadsides where it was printed. Remember this
was the Internet of the day. Dunlap, William Dunlap worked
all night long to print the declaration. It went to

(01:10:32):
pretty much the entire country at the time, all of
the colonies, and that is a big reason it spread
like wildfire, because it was printed so quickly and because
so many people were just you know, they were overjoyed.
In fact, during one of the readings in Philadelphia, there

(01:10:55):
was something of a riot. People were going crazy because
they were so happy, they were overjoyed. They were in
a patriotic fervor. Benjamin Franklin predicted that the America's independence
would be celebrated with fireworks forever, and in fact, in
a letter back home to his wife Abigail, John Adams

(01:11:16):
said that America would be celebrating July second with fireworks.
And what's kind of amazing is he was off by
two days and we are still celebrating America's independence with fireworks.
In fact, we are going to have the biggest fireworks
display apparently in world history on the fourth of July,

(01:11:39):
as only Donald Trump can do it. Ladies and gentlemen,
we are going to have the biggest fireworks celebration. I
believe the number is now eight hundred to eight hundred
and fifty thousand individual fireworks that are going on. Just
absolutely incredible. And did I say William Dunlap. John Dunlap

(01:12:03):
was the printer, the official printer of the Continental Congress.
So yeah, all right, we are taking your reflections on
America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. Roger in Germantown. Happy
Independence Day to you and welcome to the program, sir.

Speaker 6 (01:12:19):
Saying to you and thank you. Generally, socialists in America
look at Europe as a guiding light, and while they
may not be completely socialists, they are far more socialist
than we are, countries like Germany, France, Italy and so
in the United Kingdom. So I'd like to point out

(01:12:40):
some numbers that I get from the World Bank, so
it's a very credible source of information. The World Bank
says that the GDP, the gross domestic product per capita
for the United States is eighty four five hundred.

Speaker 1 (01:12:58):
It's actually now nine four hundred and thirty right.

Speaker 6 (01:13:01):
Now, Okay, then my numbers are.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
Yeah, close, close enough, close enough though close enough, Yeah, Roger.

Speaker 6 (01:13:07):
Go ahead, but using the same reference point, just rounding
the numbers out to thousands, the USA at eighty four thousand,
France forty six, Yeah, Germany fifty six, yep Italy forty,
United Kingdom fifty three, Sweden sixty three. Why on earth

(01:13:30):
would we want to go on a socialist right route
if it's going to make us poorer?

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
Well, and how about this, how about this, Roger? I'm sorry, interrupters,
really quickly. The nations that and this is why I
thought you were going to go this route. And I'm like,
because I always get the comparisons with Norway, Denmark, and Sweden,
the Swedish socialists and the Norwegians. I use the ninety

(01:13:55):
four thousand number the numbers I have for GDP per
capita Sweden, which is always held of Oh my gosh,
the standard of living is is so much higher seventy thousand, Okay,
Denmark eighty three thousand. Norway does have a higher GDP
per capita, meaning the gross domestic product of a nation
broken down by all of its residents. Okay, that's about

(01:14:17):
one hundred and ten thousand. Do you know why? Because
everyone in Norway gets oil payments and there are only
about five point six million people in Norway. There are
three hundred and forty million, give or take in the
United States. The fact that there are ninety four four
hundred and thirty dollars in gross domestic product for each

(01:14:38):
of those people is insane. Our GDP according to twenty
twenty six projections, Roger thirty two point three eight trillion.
The next largest China twenty point eighty five. All right,
there's no People are like, oh, China's going to catch
the United States, Like, hell it is. Do you know

(01:14:58):
what the AI boo is going to do to our GDP.
We're going to get up to forty and fifty trillion
very very quickly, while the manufacturing world is sort of languishing.
And I'm sorry, Roger, I interrupted you. What's going on now?

Speaker 6 (01:15:12):
May I continue with more numbers?

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
Yeah? Please please? It's fantastic.

Speaker 6 (01:15:16):
The GDP the United States, this goes back two years,
and the website that I use goes back a couple
more so, the USA GDP at thirty trillion consumer spending
seventy percent. So therefore the consumer market in the United
States is twenty trillion or.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
What trillion, basically the same size as the Chinese economy.
That's incredible, Roger.

Speaker 6 (01:15:43):
The EUS using the same dates, the eused GDP with
twenty trillion fifty two percent consumer spending because the government's
taking the rest. Yeah, so their consumer market is only
ten trillion. The European Union has as many people as
we do, but their consumer market is only half of
what ours is, which is why every country in the

(01:16:06):
world wants to sell in America.

Speaker 1 (01:16:07):
Yep, Roger. That is one of the best calls. I think. Yeah, uh,
you know, I want to get to Roger. I can
you do me a favor? Can you email me these
numbers d O d AT iHeartMedia dot Com. I would
I would love to use these in some way if
that's okay with you. I do want to get to
one more caller. Oh, thank you so much, my friend,

(01:16:30):
have a great independence. What a fantastic call, Roger. I
love that you do your homework on this. That was
just fantastic. Please send me that email. Let's go to
Paul in Racine. Just about a minute before we've got
to go to break Paul, you're on the Dan O'Donnell show.

Speaker 6 (01:16:46):
Happy for it's uh Dan.

Speaker 8 (01:16:48):
You know. Roger's call was interesting and I dare say
that the numbers he shared and what we experienced in
this country is not by accident, no, but by the
grace of God. But I want to say this, I
think nothing new under the sun America at two fifty.
We've had to fight battles since our nation founding to

(01:17:09):
keep our freedoms, and that's not.

Speaker 6 (01:17:11):
Going to change.

Speaker 8 (01:17:12):
The only thing that's going to change is how we
fight them. And I applaud you for your efforts. I
think I've shared with you that you know the midterms
are are going to be very important, and I think
you've gone above and beyond with your website and you know,
making sure that all the candidates who are fighting this

(01:17:33):
fight have visibility. And I would encourage everybody to continue
to support the RNC volunteer they're calling they called me
today and and just go forward in the spirit of
Charlie Kirk. I looked at my freedom shirt today and
you know, we got to remember that and we got

(01:17:55):
to understand that we're going to face that same level
of a fight.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
So well, Paul, thank you so much. God and God
bless you, my friend. Thank you so much for the
kind words. Really do appreciate it. Keep fighting that good fight. Yeah,
we are going to face increasing threats from within from
people who are getting increasingly violent, increasingly unhinged, and increasingly

(01:18:22):
believe things that are fundamentally opposed to America's founding ideals.
I'll tell you what We're going to do an essay
after the top of the hour on what American unity
is actually about. And we're going to look back two
hundred years did July fourth eighteen twenty six. Stay tuned

(01:18:42):
every time I hear this rip hul Cogan. This, by
the way, for those wondering, I actually had someone text in, Hey, Dan,
you know I'm loving the open that you've been using
this week, but the song is just depressing. It sounds
like a funeral Dirge. I'm like, my brother, you missed
an entire era of professional wrestling. This is Rick Darringer's

(01:19:05):
Real American, which served as the late legendary Hulk Hogan's
entrance song for many, many years. Interesting bit of trivia.
Last year, Rick Derringer and Hulk Hogan actually died within
a couple of months of each other. Just one of
my all time favorite songs. Maybe we should end Should
we end the week just by playing Real American? Yeah?

(01:19:27):
I know you're down. No, we're not going to play
rock and roll, Huchiku, What are you a communist? That's
a good song. I was a Deringer fan. That Real
American is just it's just such an incredible, incredible song.
We are not just celebrating two hundred and fifty years
since America's founding. And really, what I think, I hope

(01:19:51):
I have been able to convey today is that America
isn't like you can't mark one beginning of America. We
marked the the passing of the Declaration of Independence, when
the Continental Congress formally ratified the declaration, but America actually
declared its independence. The vote was today. It was July second,

(01:20:13):
seventeen seventy six. America is a constant evolution, and it
is constantly at the forefront of liberty, of goodness, of virtue,
and of togetherness. We lead the world in everything. Earlier

(01:20:36):
this week I did my annual look at how objectively
I can prove by any objective measure, America is the
greatest country on Earth. It always has been, but it's
really something deeper. And fifty years after the signing of
the Declaration of Independence, with the signing, the signing didn't

(01:20:56):
even happen until August second and even later. If you
can believe that the ratification of the Declaration of Independence
one of the most significant days in American history. We
are going to tell the story of July fourth, eighteen
twenty six and the lessons that it can teach us today.

(01:21:17):
Coming up in just a second right now, though the
two point fifty k USA giveaway the nationwide keyword to
win twenty five hundred dollars is trip t r ip trip.
You have got until five fifty five to go to
our website and enter the keyword trip. If your entry
is picked at random, you will have twenty five hundred

(01:21:40):
dollars in your pocket to go on a trip, great
American road trip, whatever you want to do. Two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars we are giving away in one
hundred increments right up until twenty four hours from right
now Freedom Eve as it were July third, until we
give away two hundred fifty thousand dollars to our listeners.

(01:22:05):
All right, We would also like to take a few
more of your reflections on America at two fifty four
one four seven nine nine eleven thirty. That is the
Carpetland USA Flooring Center talk and text line. You can
email me Dood at iHeartMedia dot com again follow us
on social media at Dan o'donald's show on x, Facebook, Instagram.

(01:22:28):
We are streaming live on YouTube across social media, and
please do subscribe to the Dan o'donald Show podcast on
iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to podcasts, and listen to
every second that you miss live on the radio because
you might miss things like this. An ode to enduring
friendship and what America is really about has made clear

(01:22:52):
two hundred years ago. On July fourth, eighteen twenty six.

(01:23:22):
July fourth, eighteen twenty six, as his beloved nation celebrates
fifty years of independence, a ninety year old man lies
on his deathbed. Fifty years ago he was instrumental in
winning that nation its independence. But today, as he draws
his final breaths, his final thoughts aren't of his nation

(01:23:42):
its independence or of his own illustrious place in both.
They're of his friend. Fifty years ago, they stood together
against the world's most powerful empire, declaring with one voice
that they were endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

(01:24:06):
July fourth, seventeen seventy six, a forty year old man
stands in the Pennsylvania State House and nods approvingly. He
has just been instrumental and convincing as fellow members of
the Second Continental Congress to declare independence from Great Britain,
and now John Adams is watching his dream the United
States of America come true. When in the course of

(01:24:30):
human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them with another. The
words could not be more eloquent, The arguments could not
be more persuasive. The declaration of independence could not be
more perfect. Adams smiles proudly at his friend, a thirty
three year old firebrand named Thomas Jefferson. The words were Jefferson's,

(01:24:53):
but the arguments were theirs together and in one voice.
They had just started a revolution together. They just one
approval for one of the most significant documents in human history.
Though history would remember Jefferson as the author, it was
Adams who persuaded their colleagues to allow him to write
the original draft. Any misgivings over one of the youngest

(01:25:17):
delegates assuming such a monumental task were assuaged by Adam's
faith in him. After America won its independence, the two
grew even closer while serving as diplomats for the young
nation in France. Yet theirs was a friendship as unusual
as it was deer, since their political philosophies were as

(01:25:38):
different as could be imagined. Adams advocated for a strong
federal government, while Jefferson supported more authority vested in the States.
While Jefferson noted that they were often, in his words,
separated by different conclusions we had drawn from our political reading,
they remained the closest of friends. As Adams wrote to Jefferson,

(01:26:02):
correspondence with you is one of the most agreeable events
in my life. July fourth, seventeen ninety one, As his
beloved nation celebrates fifteen years of independence, a fifty five
year old man stands in his office. John Adams is
that nation's first vice president, and his good friend Thomas

(01:26:22):
Jefferson is its first Secretary of State. They are as
close as ever, and even their growing political differences in
President George Washington's cabinet can't shake their friendship. Five years later,
even running for president against each other can't shake their friendship.
In America's first contested presidential election, Adams defeated Jefferson in

(01:26:46):
what was to be America's last presidential election that featured
no mud slinging. As was the custom at the time,
neither Adams nor Jefferson actively campaigned for the office, and
as was the customer at the time, because Jefferson finished
second in the race, he became Adams's vice president, but

(01:27:07):
for the first time in their long friendship, their political
differences would come between them. When Adams signed the controversial
Alien and Sedition Acts into law in seventeen ninety eight,
Jefferson was appalled. He believed that the president, a federalist,
was abusing the office and trying to criminalize his Democratic

(01:27:27):
Republican party, and he all but abandoned the Adams administration
for his estate at Monticello, where he plotted to take
his nation back from this new threat to liberty. July fourth,
eighteen hundred, a sixty four year old man paces nervously
in his office. President Adams has just read the latest

(01:27:50):
smear from his former friend. Adams is a hideous hermaphroditical
character which has neither the force and firmness of a man,
nor the je meentleness and sensibility of a woman. Jefferson's
allies were merciless. For the first time in American history,
a presidential election was turning bitter, nasty, and personal. Adams's

(01:28:14):
allies called Jefferson a mean spirited, low lived fellow, the
son of a half breed Indian squaw sired by a
Virginia mulatto father. What were once different conclusions drawn from
political reading were now outright slanders. Adams was a tyrant.

(01:28:34):
Jefferson was a coward. Adams was a criminal. Jefferson was
a weakling. Adams was a fool. Jefferson was an atheist.
When Jefferson finally won the election of eighteen hundred in
a landslide, Adams retaliated by making last minute appointments of
men who Jefferson wrote were from among my most ardent

(01:28:55):
political enemies. Politics had finally ended their friendship. July fourth,
eighteen eleven, as his beloved nation celebrates thirty five years
of independence, a seventy five year old man sits in
his living room thinking about a guest he has just
had in his home, a neighbor of his old friend

(01:29:16):
turned sworn enemy, Thomas Jefferson. It's been two years since
Jefferson followed Washington's example and retired from the presidency after
his second term, but Adams still can't forget about the
ugliness of the eighteen hundred election. Still something is gnawing
at him. Even after all the ugliness, even after all

(01:29:37):
of the political differences that somehow mutated into bitter personal insults,
he still misses his friend and he had told Jefferson's neighbor,
I always loved Jefferson and still love him. When Jefferson
heard his neighbor say this, he wrote to one of
his and Adam's old friends, doctor Benjamin Rush, a fellow

(01:29:59):
signer of Declaration of Independence, to say, this is enough
for me. I only needed this knowledge to revive towards
Adams all of the affections of the most cordial moments
of our lives. When doctor Rush relayed this to Adams
with the message that Jefferson wanted to write him again,

(01:30:19):
Adams was overjoyed and set Jefferson a letter immediately. Jefferson
sent one back, and the two resumed their friendship through
hundreds of letters, discussing everything from their revolutionary days to
their time in France, to politics, to their families, to
their thoughts on aging and mortality. Though politics had made

(01:30:41):
them bitter enemies, their love and respect for each other
made them friends again. July fourth, eighteen twenty six, as
his beloved nation celebrates fifty years of independence, a ninety
year old man lies on his deathbed. Fifty years ago,
he pushed that nation toward independence and persuaded Congress to

(01:31:03):
let his friend write the declaration. Thirty five years ago,
he was that nation's leader, and his friend was his
vice president. Fifteen years ago that friend was his sworn enemy.
But today, as he draws his final breaths, his final
words are about his friend. Thomas Jefferson survives. Adams could

(01:31:27):
not have known that Thomas Jefferson had died five hours earlier.
July fourth, twenty twenty six. Our beloved nation is once
again divided over bitter personal politics that have ended friendships
by the hundreds of thousands. Loyal opposition has become hostile resistance.

(01:31:48):
Well reasoned discourse has devolved into hate tweets. Our beloved
nation has unfriended itself. Our president is a tyrant. His
opponent it's our cowards. He's a criminal, His opponents are weaklings,
His supporters are stupid, His detractors are crazy. All of us,
though each and everyone, bears responsibility for not giving into

(01:32:12):
the temptation to see disagreement as disliked opponents as enemies,
even those opponents we once considered friends. We can pretend
that this moment is unprecedented, that our president has never
before abused his authorities so dangerously, or that his opponents
have never before smeared him so viciously. But we can't

(01:32:34):
escape the fact that hostility has been a hallmark of
American politics almost since the dawn of American politics. They
have always been bitter, they have always been nasty, and yes,
they have always been personal. There have always been those
who seek to capitalize on this, to demonize instead of criticized,
and to stoke the flames of hatred for political gain.

(01:32:59):
And there have always been friends who have fallen forth.
There have always been friendships that have ended over it,
and even our beloved nations, most beloved leaders, have not
been immune. Yet the friendship of John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson survives through the most bitter, nastiest, most personal of politics.
It stands on July fourth, twenty twenty six, as it

(01:33:21):
did two hundred years ago on July fourth, eighteen twenty six,
as a poignant reminder that no friendship is immune, but
all friendships are repairable. On July fourth, twenty twenty six,
we no longer send letters to mend our broken ties,
but we can send a text. We can, like Adams

(01:33:42):
and Jefferson, declare our independence from our own bruised egos
and recognize that politics doesn't have to be personal. That
when we lie on our deathbeds, as we breathe our
last our final thoughts won't be of our politics, They'll
be of our friends, because ultimately, our relationship with one

(01:34:02):
another is all that really matters. On July fourth, eighteen
twenty six, as our beloved nation celebrated fifty years of independence,
its last two surviving founding fathers, its last two surviving
links to July fourth, seventeen seventy six, breathed their last
not as bitter rivals, but as friends. Friendship, not politics,

(01:34:28):
was all that mattered to them. Friendship, not politics, was
all that they remembered and all that we should remember,
because on both July fourth, eighteen twenty six and July fourth,
twenty twenty six, friendship American unity, like Thomas Jefferson survives

(01:34:53):
July fourth, eighteen twenty six, is available in written for
the the script I was working off of it is
up at the Heartland Post, Heartlandpost dot com. We of
course have it off on my social media at Dan
O'Donnell's show on x Facebook. Wherever you can find social media,

(01:35:13):
you can find me. Two hundred years ago, almost to
the day, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died, and
in fact, it is documented that Adam's last words were
It's disputed whether it was Thomas Jefferson's survives or Jefferson's survives,
but the clear context was at least Jefferson still survives,

(01:35:38):
meaning at least the nation still has Jefferson right, because
they knew they were the last two. Everybody else, every
other signatory of the Declaration of Independence, every other signer
had died. They were the last two. The fact that
they were the closest of friends, they were incredibly close
as they were working as French dipts during the Revolutionary

(01:36:01):
War and working to secure French support. If they didn't
get support from the French, the revolution would have not succeeded.
The colonists just did not have the financial support, They
did not have the naval support. They basically were they
were running a guerrilla campaign in essence, until French forces

(01:36:22):
basically met them. I believe it was Yorktown. It was
shortly before Yorktown. I mean, French money was coming in
to support the revolutionary effort, but it was at Yorktown
when basically the French navy arrived and the British were
ultimately forced to surrender. It was Marquis de Lafayette was
a key leader in that battle, but it was Jefferson,

(01:36:47):
and it was Adams in France convincing the king there,
King Louis the sixteenth, I believe, who would ultimately be
killed in seventeen eighty nine seventeen ninety in the French Revolution.
The French Revolution, coming just thirteen years after the American Revolution,

(01:37:09):
very quickly devolved into the terror. It showed just how
badly things could have gone in this new nation. As
you know, you had Robespierre, and you had people who
were attempting to essentially hijack the revolutionary movement for themselves,
and they were assassinating their political rivals and things like that.

(01:37:32):
The fact that America, yes, did have to fight a
war against Britain to be expected, and then we essentially
fought the sequel shortly thereafter, in the War of eighteen twelve.
But the fact that we did so largely bloodlessly, and
what I mean by that is that there was no
sort of factional violence like a rose after the French

(01:37:55):
Revolution is a testament to just how solid the principles
that these men came up with were and the fact
that they really truly believed them with all their hearts
about what government should be, what government must be, that
government has to be of by and for the people, That,

(01:38:16):
as Jefferson wrote, government has to derive its just powers
from the consent of the governed. That ultimately the power
is all with the people, not the people like in
the French Revolution, a mob right that can be taken
advantage of, but the wisdom of democracy and not pure democracy.

(01:38:36):
That's another thing. The founders were very concerned about how
a majority could rule just as tyrannically as a king could,
So they explicitly put in provisions that made America a
specific form of democracy where you would have majority rule, yes,
but only in very very small elections for state houses

(01:38:59):
and also for the House of Representatives. Remember, we did
not have statewide elections for federal office until much later,
until the Seventeenth Amendment provided for the direct election of
United States senators. At the time of the founding in
order to give the states more power for direct representation
in the United States, Congress, senators were actually picked by

(01:39:23):
state legislatures. They weren't elected by the state. They were
just picked we dramatically moved away from that, and the
founders were very concerned about an entire state, especially a
big state like New York or a Massachusetts back in
the day, where you would have this faction tyranny sort

(01:39:46):
of rise up. They were very worried about the direct election.
The electoral college was a direct result of this fear
that majority rule was not something that could work for
this country because you would have the big states New York, Massachusetts,
and what they were really worried about. Actually, this is
why I always laugh when left you say, well, the

(01:40:07):
electoral college, it's the vestige of the racist past. No,
it actually wasn't. It was a way to limit the
power of the slave holding states, as was the so
called three fifths compromise in the US Constitution, where slaves
were counted as three fifths of a person if they
were counted as a full human being for the process
of apportioning electoral College votes and House members. The South

(01:40:32):
would have dominated. There would have never been any concessions
towards the abolitionist movement. There would have never been the
abolition probably of the North Atlantic slave trade. In what
was it, eighteen oh two, eighteen oh three, because you
would have just had the Southern states being able to dominate,
and the Southern states would have had inordinate power in

(01:40:54):
electing present very likely, you don't have an electoral college,
you don't have a three fifths compromise. Abraham Lincoln is
never elected president because the Southern States, which again seceded
South Carolina seceded as soon as Lincoln was elected. It
was like he was elected in November. I think it
was November sixth of eighteen sixty, and by December twentieth,

(01:41:16):
South Carolina is like, peace, we're out. This guy's going
to take our slaves. We're done with this country. All
of the concessions that were made, and all of the
forms of how this nation would be set up and
how the government would be worked were designed to limit
an and perfectly designed to limit power. Why we have

(01:41:37):
three separate but equally powerful branches of government now in
actual practice in twenty twenty six, the executive branch is
far and away the most powerful branch of government. It's
not even close. But it too is still subservient to Congress.
If Congress says, all right, Trump, you have got to

(01:41:57):
get out of Iran, now ultimately subject to war powers,
resolution and all of this. The president has to go
if the president does something that the Supreme Court says, okay, unconstitutional.
Like just for example, we had a major, major ruling
on birthright citizenship. Major ruling it was that the president

(01:42:22):
cannot issue an order effectively ending something that is enshrined
in the fourteenth Amendment that if you were born in
this country, you are a citizen of this country. What
did Trump say? What did Trump say? He was directly
asked about this a couple of days, and I said, well,
you know, if it's the Supreme Court, if they rule
that we can't do this, you got to abide by it.

(01:42:44):
This a long way from was it Andrew Jackson who
said of the Chief Justice as a Supreme Court after
he ruled against him on some action that Jackson was
undertaken in the eighteen twenties, he said, well, he's god
his ruling. Now let's see him enforce it. Jackson, of course,
was powerless to stop the Supreme Court. Then, just as

(01:43:05):
the Supreme Court is powerless to stop, say the executive brand.
All the Supreme Court can do is declare whether something
is constitutional or not, and something has to go through
the federal court process in order for that to work,
like all of these branches in government working in tandem
to limit the power of any one person, to limit

(01:43:27):
the power of anyone faction, is just absolutely incredible in
how well, how finally tuned the American system actually is.
All Right, we're going to step aside for a break.
You are listening to a special edition of the Dan
O'Donnell Show, Reflections on America's two hundred and fiftieth. We've

(01:43:51):
got a great email here from Ron. You have totally
ruined your historical reports with incessant, obnoxious, sappy piano quote
unquote music. Had to turn it off. Happy fourth of
July to you to Ron, turn up the hearing aid
if you must. The music is what really I think

(01:44:13):
gives it a little oomph. Yeah, put it up there.
Put it up just for Ron. Oh my gosh, too funny.
These are my listeners, ladies and gentlemen, and I am
thankful for each and every one of them, and the

(01:44:33):
occasionally very pointed critique coming from them literally popped in
my inbox as I was coming back from break. Happy fourth.
Ron Teha Della Ruel is the radical transactivist who apparently

(01:44:56):
has been fired now. She was working as a campaign
volunteer for Katrina Deville. She is the trans Democrat candidate
for Congress running against Tony Wead in the Green Bay area,
and The New York Post was able to get a
hold of Deville after Teha Della Ruel went viral yesterday

(01:45:19):
for saying truly unhinged things on social media like kill
your local Republican and we need to start a trans
g hod where we target members of MAGA. Deville got
back to The New York Post and said, hey, yeah,
we actually fired this volunteer campaign worker when it became

(01:45:41):
clear that they were insanely mentally imbalanced. Shocker Della Ruel. Meanwhile,
I just love the fact that it's del Ruel and
Katrina Deville. Do we not have any transgender people with
like an the name Nancy, Like is there not just

(01:46:02):
like a normal like here's Jen. I'm gonna pick as
my trans name Jen. It's always got like they o
you know what, I'm not gonna say anything. Dela Rouelle
went to social media last night to vent about being
outed for being a violent psychopath and said, yeah, I'm

(01:46:27):
only saying things that everybody else says.

Speaker 9 (01:46:30):
Privately think what I hate them all this is that
how many people personally agree with me? And then like
like especially private, and then off the shelf. I just
have love to get cooked. I just love to get
cooked and fried.

Speaker 1 (01:46:43):
Yeah, this is actually English, by the way. I I
it took. I had my staff and I listened to
this like three times to be able to figure out
what they then were saying. And it is, Uh, I
am just left out to get cooked, even though everybody
agrees with me privately, So listen, very very careful. Should

(01:47:05):
I put some piano music behind this to make it
even harder to listen to.

Speaker 6 (01:47:09):
Think?

Speaker 9 (01:47:10):
What I hate the most is that how many people
personally agree with me and then like like especially in private,
and then couch of your shove. I just have love
to get cooked. I just love to get cooked and
fried like like, that's what's crazy. All I ever ever
have done and say is what people have said. Like

(01:47:31):
I'll like you know all have said. All I did
was give it a camera what people are sick and Uh,
that's that's enough. That's that's enough to you condemn me.

Speaker 1 (01:47:42):
I guess no, uh saying I want to kill your
local Republican and we're gonna have a trans g hod
and apparently there was even more deranged stuff on this
person's substack. That's enough to get you out of politics.
The problem is there are people like this and this

(01:48:03):
is obviously somebody who is very deeply disturbed. Okay, this
is somebody who exists outside of the normal sphere of
American politics. However, their worldview is increasingly mainstream in the
Democrat Party. It is a worldview communism that is fundamentally

(01:48:26):
at odds with Americanism, fundamentally at odds with everything this
country has long stood for. That's a big, big problem
when you have got just thirty percent of one political
party saying that they're proud to be an American and
a nearly identical thirty percent saying yes, we want our

(01:48:50):
candidates to be open socialists. And by the way, these
are not socialists like oh yes, happy Norwegian and swedishist.
Those aren't socialist countries. Okay. Venezuela was a socialist country,
it collapsed. The Soviet Union was a socialist collection of countries.

(01:49:12):
It collapsed. These are people who want to do the
exact same thing, who want to govern in the exact
same way, who want to seize the means of production
from private evil capitalists and claim it for themselves and
run it into the ground. The fact that this is

(01:49:35):
the fact that the Teha della Ruelles are finding a
place in the Democratic Party, albeit briefly. Apparently there is
something as two nuts for the Democratic Party today. You
are seeing already what happens when people like this come
to power. Megaviral tweet yesterday from Zoron Quame Mamdani, New York.

(01:50:04):
It's hot out there and the power grid is working
overtime to keep us cool. Set your AC to seventy
eight degrees, turn off lights and electronics. You're not using
an unplug what you can. Our city is doing its
part two, maintaining the seventy eight degrees rule in our buildings,
dimming and turning off our lights during peak electricity demand,
asking private partners to do the same, and powering down

(01:50:26):
non essential equipment. A stable grid means the AC stays
on and lives are saved. Let's ease demand and get
through the heat together. Now, what happens when not enough
people voluntarily turn up the thermostat to seventy eight degrees.
This sounds like it's something that isn't a huge deal
and people are making way too much. What happens if

(01:50:49):
Mamdani believes that he has the power to enforce the
seventy eight degree thermostat rule. When it's ninety five degrees
outside with a fields like temperature of one hundred and
six seventy eight degrees, ladies and gentlemen, still feels like
a sauna when it's that hot outside. Now he's saying, okay, well,

(01:51:12):
we hope that you will do this out of the
goodness of your hearts and to I don't know, save
the planet. As every socialist, it seems, of any renown
in this country flies private. You have to turn up
your air conditioning in your two hundred square foot New

(01:51:33):
York City flat, in your studio apartment where it's like
a bed, a microwave, and the toilet is downstairs like
a flophouse. It's like a dorm, like New York City.
How many people are living in basically dorm rooms and
crappy dorm rooms. But yes, we're going to save the
planet together. What happens though, if and when someone like

(01:51:55):
Mamdani believes that they have the power to enforce those
right now at the tip of a bayonet when it
comes to socialists. Oftentimes that's literal. That's what happens. As
my producer Eric says, it sounds like Britain. Yeah, it
kind of does. Unfortunately, the reality is is that those

(01:52:21):
sorts of suggestions, those sorts of ideas, become mandatory. As
more and more communists gain power, more and more oppressive
regulation follows, and more and more government. Tyranny is ultimately

(01:52:43):
the end result. The only way that socialism can be enforced,
because it is such an anti human concept, it runs
contra to human nature, it has to exist, it has
to be enforced under the threat of or use of violence.
State violence. That's the only way it works. You've got
the commis now, oh, state violence that we can't get

(01:53:05):
a health insurance policy. So state violence that our health
insurance claim was denied. No, that's not state violence. State
violence is you being rounded up and taken to the
gulag for re education because you don't think that the
thermostat needs to be turned to seventy eight degrees. Folks,
make no mistake of all of the threats that we

(01:53:29):
face as a country, this is the greatest one. The
mainstreaming of an ideology and the importation of people who
subscribe to that ideology, or at least are cool with
that ideology that is fundamentally at odds with everything America
stands for and has always stood for. This is America's

(01:53:52):
next battle, and whether we realize it or not, as
we embark on our next two hundred and fifty years,
we are all ready fighting it. We will be back
to wrap up a special edition America at two point
fifty of The Dan O'Donnell Show coming up next. Now

(01:54:32):
this this is not from the Animal House soundtrack, I
mean it is my producer. It's the Washington Post March
by SUSA. Yes, it is very famously used in Animal House.
Could you be any more of a generation exer, Eric,
He's handing me ninety three QFM and Hot one oh

(01:54:56):
two stickers. Those are the Internet stations that he runs.
Q By the way, if you are an old school
radio geek like Eric, and I is streaming on your
iHeartRadio app, Eric Paulson actually runs it. Is an incredibly,
incredibly talented broadcaster. We are so fortunate to have him
as a producer many days here on The Dan O'Donnell Show.

(01:55:18):
Happy Independence Day, my friend. We're all off tomorrow, as
I suspect most people are, so that's why we're doing
the Salute to America stuff today. There's going to be
special programming all day tomorrow. It is a company holiday, folks.
I would totally do a show if they'd let me.
I probably shouldn't speak too loudly or they'll be like, Dan,

(01:55:38):
we'll see you at three ZHO six pm tomorrow. We
are tracking some severe weather. There are severe thunderstorm warnings
in Dane County and what was the other one, Eric, Yeah,
Columbia and Jefferson. Probably very very soon. It is going
to move into the Milwaukee area. For people down at Summerfest.

(01:55:59):
I'm going to be doing my local communities Fourth of
July festival tonight. There's a big drone show this evening
that I'm going to try to Hopefully they're going to
be able to get it in, but it does look
like some severe weather is moving into our area and
it's going to, unfortunately, I think, going to be a
rainy Fourth of July weekend, which stinks because it's been

(01:56:21):
hot as all get out and sunny for the last
what five six days, and of course the holiday we
go well. You know what, though we're Americans, we make do.
We are going to have a great two hundred and
fiftieth regardless of what the weather looks like. I hope
each and every one of you has a fun and
safe Fourth of July weekend. Celebrate this country, because there

(01:56:45):
has never been a country on Earth more worthy of
celebration than the one we call home. Happy Independence Day everyone,
We're back Monday here on The Dan o'donald Show.