Almost half of students return to school before August 16th according to website
Erick Stackelbeck Hey, if you're a parent, you may be celebrating that the kids are back to school or soon will be. it's continuing a trend of the past few years. We've seen that school seems to be starting earlier and earlier. And according to the We Are Teachers website, almost half of students returned to the classroom before August 16th. I remember as a kid we usually were left free until Labor Day. And my sign that school was starting was Jerry Lewis had his muscular dystrophy telethon. And that was the signal. And I began to panic at that point. It's not so for kids today. They're heading back in the heat of summer to classrooms. With 82% of children returning to school during the month of August. And you see 82% total, and that leaves just 18% that start in September. Summer vacations are over for most people, but the weather is still blazing hot across most of the country. I guess the schools will be facing big air conditioning bills. And speaking of bills, your parents are likely experiencing sticker shock when they go to Walmart, Staples or Office Depot for the latest school supplies. The average per person spending on school supplies according to National Retail federation will be $858 this year. That's a dramatic increase from $630 spent 10 years ago. But there's a slight bit of good news. It's down from $890 just two years ago at the peak of Biden inflation. We can expect President Trump to come out any moment to point out that school supply costs are lower under a Trump presidency. But it's true, inflation is everywhere and I for one am grateful to see a little bit, any bit of good news. And speaking of news, our guest on Pirate Money Radio is an expert on the news and. And we plan to talk about more than school supplies.
Kevin Freeman welcomes Eric Stackelbeck to Talk Christianity
Welcome Eric Stachovak, the current news director at Trinity Broadcast Network. A news veteran who's interviewed some of the most interesting people in the world. He's a sought after geopolitical commentator, author, podcaster, YouTuber, and the host of Stackelbeck Tonight, seen every weeknight in primetime on tbn, the world's largest Christian television network. From Jerusalem to London to Washington D.C. he's all over the place. He also hosts the the Watchman, a, breaking news and commentary program focused on Israel and the Middle east, every weekday on YouTube, where his channel has close to a million people. Eric, you're doing fantastic Work.
Erick Stackelbeck Kevan, great to be with you, my friend. And this news about school starting in August hits very close to home. I just had a daughter starting her freshman year in high school. I can tell you it was 98 degrees on day one of school. And what happened to like you said, the day after Labor Day, kind of ease your way back into it?
Kevin Freeman No more, no more. And in fact we, took a tour of a private school here locally about 25 years ago and I said, when do you start school? And they said, well, because of air conditioning, we start school in September because we want to have less cooling bills. But now that doesn't seem to be the issue.
Have you always worked for a Christian news outlet, you know
Alright, so I think I first met you when you were in D.C. as the news guys for CBN and the 700 Club. Have you always in your career worked for a Christian news outlet, you know.
Erick Stackelbeck On a full time basis? Yes, I've been with CBN News, I've been with Christians United for Israel now tbn, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. But I've done a lot of secular media as well, Kevan. The Blaze tv, which we both know very well. I've done a bunch for the Blaze tv, appear pretty regularly on Fox News, Real America's Voice, Newsmax tv, even cnn and some of those have had me on from time to time. So yeah, one foot in the Christian media world, one foot in the secular world throughout my career.
Kevin Freeman Mostly conservative though. On the secular world. Leave it.
Erick Stackelbeck Yes, you know, it was easier. Never easy, but a little bit easier to go on the likes of CNN, say 20, 25 years ago when I was starting out in media, they weren't completely off the rails, insane. But now when you go into a left wing media outlet or on a left wing media outlet, it's you're going into the lion's den, the belly of the beast. But I enjoy like you do, I enjoy jousting with them and bringing truth, biblical truth.
Kevin Freeman Well, even Glenn Beck was on CNN at one point. So yeah.
Kevin Freeman worked with Pat Robertson during CBN days
All right, so you're also very tall. we've had to adjust your microphone up. were you a basketball player?
Erick Stackelbeck I was. You know, I'm 6 foot 5 and Kevan, I have to say, people ask me all the time, wow, you're so tall. I was, I played in college, played two years of college basketball. Basketball was my first passion before I got into media. But I played against guys who were seven feet tall, if you can believe it.
Kevin Freeman That's amazing.
Erick Stackelbeck I guarded a guy named Rasheed Wallace, very famous NBA basketball player. He was in high school. Seven feet tall, Dunking on my head. So I was a, I was a Lilliputian compared to some of these guys.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, no, I understand that everything's relative at some point. Yeah. In your CBN days, I also want to ask, did you work with Pat Robertson?
Erick Stackelbeck I did. You know it's funny, Pat was in Virginia Beach, I was in Washington D.C. at the news bureau there. So I would appear remotely with Pat all the time. We had a great rapport. And the thing is Kevan, I'm a Christian now. But when I started cbn I had not given my life to, to Jesus yet. They still hired me. So it was amazing how it worked out. I became a Christian at cbn. An amazing, amazing story how that all worked out. But to be on with Pat Robertson, one of the voices of the church in America for decades and decades, was amazing. And then to come along and once I became a Christian then it just enhanced our interviews together I felt like. But Pat was always great to me. CBN was an incredible experience. Ten and a half years there, training ground in many ways. Traveled the world and yeah, amazing.
Kevin Freeman And it opens doors. I mean Pat Robertson is just a terrific guy. I mean he interviewed me once there, at when I went to Regent and they had me on and talking. I just enjoyed it so much. But I remember when I was in high school, I had a phone call out of the blue one day. Hello, is this Kevan Freeman? You know, and no cell phones, It's a wired phone, I walk. It's my parents phone. Right. I'm in high school. I answered, it is Kevan Freeman. Kids, can I help you? And he said this is, I didn't get a whole lot of phone calls. and I said this is Pat Robertson. I'm like the dude on television like Ben Kinshlow and Pat Robertson. He said, yeah, this is Pat Robertson. I wanted to call you and I wanted to thank you for your support in the 700 Club. Because I stepped up and bought. He had a book, Secret Kingdomnomics. And I stepped up and they were going to help poor people across the world and so forth. And so I, I wrote to me, which was a choke the horse type, check, $100, right.
Erick Stackelbeck As a high school kid. Wow.
Kevin Freeman And he bothered in 1976 or something and he bothered to call me. And so I have great respect for that guy.
Erick Stackelbeck Me too. That was my experience with him too, Kevan. Like I said, I was not even a Bible believing Christian so to speak when I started at cbn. And I was still green, a little wet behind the ears too in the business. But they kind of threw me out there. I'm on the 700 Club, a million viewers a night nationwide. Prime TV, with Pat Robertson and a split screen. Amazing, amazing opportunity they gave me. They were always gracious to me and I grew throughout the years, of course, but incredible training ground. And Pat was always great.
Kevin Freeman And you've become an icon in both the Christian and conservative movement and the Support Israel movement. I mean, you've written, three books, right?
Erick Stackelbeck Three. And working on a fourth.
Kevin Freeman And the three books were published by my original publisher, Regner.
Erick Stackelbeck Regner, that's right, yeah.
Kevin Freeman Which is great. And you moved to TBN and you came to Dallas, Fort Worth area. When did that happen?
Erick Stackelbeck Now, this is very difficult. I have to preface this by saying I'm from Philadelphia originally, and if you're an NFL fan, Eagles fans and Cowboys fans don't really mix. But I'm in Dallas now as a Philly native. We came here in October 2023. It's been great. This is, as you know, Kevan, it's a great place.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, Eagles and Cowboys do have their rivalries, but the past couple of decades been a little better for the Eagles than it has been for the Cowboys. Overall, you've done some amazing interview, looked at your list, and some of them are mutual friends, like Nick Vujicic, Lt. Gen. Flynn, Jakub Bullions, Eric Metaxa, Star Parker, Rick Renner, Lance Wallnau, Glenn Beck, all people we've had on our show. But you've also had some amazing ones that we would love to have, like, President Trump, Victor Davis Hanson, Eric Trump, Jonathan Cahn, Gary Sinise. I'm a big fan of Gary Sinise, Patricia Eaton, Craig T. Nelson, Max Okedo, Dennis Prager. These are the who's who of newsmakers.
Erick Stackelbeck It's amazing, Kevan. I pinch myself every day and I thank God to open these doors. And once we launched a TBN show and I moved down here in Dallas, it was a big move to make, moving across country, moving my family. But, man, that decision has been vindicated because a lot of these doors opened. And interviewing President Trump twice in the past year. Unreal, unreal. And two weeks before the election. And by the way, I have to say, he is such a personable guy. He, comes in the room and, he's the leader of the free world.
Eric Stachlebeck interviews President Obama
He's the most powerful man in the world and he carries himself like a regular guy. It's amazing. And you sit face to face with him. He's conversational, he's personable. And you would Think you'd be a little nervous with the leader of the free world, but he makes you feel totally at ease.
Kevin Freeman He treats you like a person. I've gotten the MC Dr. Carson's, Ben Carson's, birthday party several years, and he's been the keynote speaker. He treats everybody like human beings. It's amazing to watch the Persona on television compared to who he actually is. All right, I want to talk about some of the people you've interviewed. Any surprising answers you've gotten. We have to take a break. but when we come back from the break, we're going to dive in more deeply with Eric Stachlebeck. This is an amazing interview. Stay tuned.
Kevin Freeman: Eric Stackelbeck has interviewed some amazing people
Kevin Freeman Yeah, we're talking with the great Eric Stackelbeck, and we're talking about some of the interviews he's done. You know, when you drop casually. Well, I interviewed President Donald Trump twice, and, you know, he's the leader of the free world, but he is like the goat of the leader of the free world. I mean, he's just so, dominant in comparison to every other president we've had since President Reagan.
Erick Stackelbeck Really a force of nature.
Kevin Freeman He really, truly has. All right, so you've interviewed all these amazing people. Do you have any stories where you asked a question and you got back such a surprising answer? Anything that from memory?
Erick Stackelbeck Yeah, here's one for you. London. Some called it Londinistan these days, sadly. 2010, I'm working on a book about, terrorism in the west, homegrown type jihad. And I'm sitting with a guy named Saad Al Faqi, who was an associate of Osama bin Laden.
Kevin Freeman Oh, wow.
Erick Stackelbeck Now he lives in London. Surprise, surprise. And I'm sitting in his living room face to face with this former Al Qaeda leader who was very closely connected with bin Laden himself.
Kevin Freeman Wow.
Erick Stackelbeck And I asked him, do you fear? Because there's these inter Islamist rivalries, right? I said, do you fear for your life? has there been attempts on your life from other jihadis in this power struggle? And he said, yes, actually, just last week, where you are sitting right now, that very couch where you're sitting right now. But bullets were fired through my window. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking over my shoulder saying, maybe I should move the other couch. So that was a pretty shocking answer. But it's funny, Kevan, I used to be able to get in with the bad guys. I mean, Muslim Brotherhood leaders and guys linked to isis. but now I think they See me coming. my profile is a little greater than it was then. But back then, I was working for cbn. I would say, yeah, the Canadian Broadcasting Network, not the Christian broadcast. And they would let me in their living room and I would actually interview these guys. the first rule of war, Sun Tzu, know your enemy. So you hear from the horse's mouth. And I wasn't confrontational with them. I just let them. I patiently asked them questions. I let them lay out their worldview and their ideology, which, of course is genocidal and insane.
Kevin Freeman You know, it is funny that way. If it's purposed, they enemies, terrorists, will lie to you. But if given the opportunity, they want to do what every James Baughan villain is desperate to do and explain their plan and justify, you know, Thanos did it in the Marvel series. He had to explain, I'm going to kill half the population. Here's how and why. And every James Baughan villain feels compelled that they have to justify what they're doing.
Kevin Freeman: How do you view the Trump presidency from a news perspective
All right, you've got a watchman viewpoint. You have a unique vantage, point on the world, domestic politics, the economy, and finally the church in Israel. And I'd like to talk about all three of those, but I want to start with how do you view the Trump presidency from a news perspective? How do you see it, number one.
Erick Stackelbeck From a news perspective, hosting, a nightly show, that daily grind. Kevan, as you know, I mean, it is incredible, I have to say, because I talk to my producer every morning and I say, what are we going to talk about today? What aren't we going to talk about today? How are we going to kind of whittle this down to fit it inside the show? Because President Trump is doing so much at such a rapid clip. Kevan, we haven't seen anything like this. I would call it a counter revolution. I don't think we've seen the likes of this, an American president this impactful since fdr, for better or for worse. With fdr, of course, but with Trump, as I said, a force of nature. And I believe, I'm a Christian. He is God's man. In this position for such a time as this, he is uniquely equipped. His life was spared in Butler, Pennsylvania. He is uniquely equipped. I don't think he sleeps. He. He's 79 years old, and he's an Energizer Bunny. He's tireless. He's relentless in a good way. And it's almost like he's got a checklist. The wokeness, the madness, gender madness, dei, foreign policy, the border, the Universities. It goes on and on and on, and it's almost like he's got a checklist. Kevan, he's checking it off. I took care of dei, took care of the gender madness, and he's got a team around him this time. Unlike the first go round, where they were not maga, they were not on board with me.
Kevin Freeman No, I'm the boss, and they'll work for me and they'll do what I want. He realized Washington worked that way. I would change the word checklist to punch list. He is a construction guy. He's builder, and he's got a punch list, and I've got to build this. And he's overseeing the contracting, and he trusts people, but only so far. He's going to inspect everything. I think he really is a brilliant man that knows how to accomplish. And you watch him from a young guy until now.
Erick Stackelbeck He's the same guy, absolutely, brash, bold. He's got vision, he's got common sense. Imagine that. Peace through strength. Peace through strength works. We've seen it again, again. And Kevan, he's got all the leverage now. And the great thing about him is he's not afraid to use it. With every world leader he encounters, he's using the leverage. He's leaning on them, and they're caving left and right. Look at the deal he swung with the European Union recently, that trade deal, which I know you follow the EU essential, caved, of course, and gave away the farm. Because Trump has leverage and he used it, and he's just. It's statecraft through commerce, almost what he's doing using economic leverage.
Kevin Freeman We had a show here, where we brought in, Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan. And, Reggie Littlejohn came and, Suzanne Grishman of Mercury One came, and there's a tragedy going on. It's a terrible thing. And we were appealing to the American people. We got to do something about this. And they'd been in Washington stuff. Trump just steps in, and I'm gonna fix it.
Erick Stackelbeck Yeah. And he fixes it in one afternoon.
Kevin Freeman It's unbelievable.
Erick Stackelbeck One lazy August afternoon at the White House, Armenia and Azerbaijan come together after decades of bloodshed. And, Kevan, a great thing about that deal that Trump brokered, he was able to flip Armenia, in essence, away from Russia. And all of a sudden, Vladimir Putin got very alarmed. Trump enforces the secondary sanctions as well against Russian allies like India. All of a sudden, Vladimir Putin is requesting a meeting with Trump in Alaska.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, well, they've always counted on American, leadership, basically punting or giving up. Caving. That's the right word, caving.
Erick Stackelbeck Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Kevin Freeman Yeah.
Kevin Freeman: Because of Trump, China is in a tough spot
So I'm going to talk about, just for a second, the red, green, blue axis. Because we're looking around the world and we see threats of China. And Trump sees it, which is brilliant. I'm economic warfare in the Pentagon, and I can't get anybody to recognize China as threat in 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12. Trump sees it and immediately jumps on it. Islam and Sharia, which has kind of gone silent and then came back.
Erick Stackelbeck Ugly, I would agree.
Kevin Freeman We cut off one head and two heads emerged like Hydra.
Erick Stackelbeck I would agree.
Kevin Freeman And then the globalists. So the red is communism, the green is Islam, Sharia, and the blue is the globalist, the UN and so let's walk through who they are and how they work together and start with the red China and communism. What are you seeing?
Erick Stackelbeck China right now in kind of a tough spot, actually, again, because of Trump. I mean, Xi Jinping, our friend Gordon Chang. Our mutual friend Gordon Chang has shared that he thinks Xi Jinping is in very bad shape. The Chinese premier, he obviously, he was arguably the most powerful Chinese premier since Mao.
Kevin Freeman Right.
Erick Stackelbeck And maybe he garnered too much power and consolidated too much power. And there are forces apparently in the Chinese military, in the communist regime that aren't too fond of Xi and want to knock him down a peg. So that bears watching. Could you imagine regime change in China, Communist China, how earth shaking that would be. but look, they're ascendant still in many ways. But I think the Trump factor again has China on its heels as well. He got the better of that deal with tariffs, despite the. The sky was falling, the mainstream media told. But he's proven to get the better of that deal. So I think China, it's at a very interesting point right now, Kevan, where, look, they're aligned with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and I call them the Gathering Storm Coalition. It's a modern day Gathering Storm, but in many ways more dangerous than the great Winston Churchill warned about in that these are nuclear powers.
Kevin Freeman Right.
Erick Stackelbeck And they're pooling their resources. So I think China, what you're seeing, China's struggling a bit, Russia struggling a bit, Iran obviously struggling. They're kind of pooling their resources and leaning on each other more and more. And I look for them to cleave closer together in the days to come. China, of course, wants to be the top dog, but right now they need those alliances with Russia and Iran. And again, because of Trump.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, they probably will end up the top dog in an axis of evil.
Erick Stackelbeck Yes.
Kevin Freeman I mean, I look at South Korea, and I see, Gordon Chang just tweeted today, South Korea has essentially lost. The communist Communists, have taken over. Not North Korea. China has taken over South Korea.
Erick Stackelbeck That's a big deal.
Kevin Freeman That's a huge deal. I need to get back with Gordon.
Erick Stackelbeck yes, she's great.
Kevin Freeman And cover that. but the rare earth minerals, the mercantileism, the Belt and Road election interference, the farmland here, all. They're a threat to the United States. Trump recognizes it, and. And he's actually doing something about it, which is. Which is impressive.
Erick Stackelbeck Agreed, 100%, Kevan. He's finally doing something about. To me, it's astounding. You were working at the Pentagon, working with them, 2012, and they still didn't get it. Trump's got foresight, and he's been talking about these issues for years. 2014, 2015, he would talk about China's ripping us off, and he talked about Iran's nuclear program. So people shouldn't be surprised by what they see right now. He's a man of his word. He's a man of action, and he keeps his promises.
Kevin Freeman He does. All right, so we're.
Islam in the Middle East is now targeting America, Kevin says
The other fight that we're having, and we're seeing it here in North Texas, is the infiltration of the green. So Islam, and the Middle east is now targeting America. And not targeting to tear down and blow up buildings, but targeting by putting enclaves in the United States. you've been to Europe and you've seen, despite what they say, there really are no go zones, Right?
Erick Stackelbeck Absolutely. Go, to London today. I mean, even Brussels, a place like Brussels, France. Of course. I've walked through these neighborhoods, Kevan, and it is a very uncomfortable feeling here in America. You put it accurately. A few minutes ago, we had this wave of homegrown jihad in the ISIS days in particular. 2012, 13, 14, 15, Trump smashed the caliphate, the ISIS caliphate, and they kind of were dormant for a little while, and, man, after October 7th, they've reared their heads again, and it's now in the headlines once again. The Islamist infiltration in the West. And that's what it is. I mean, yeah, they'll resort to violent jihad as much as they can, but the strategy, as you said, Kevan, is establish those enclaves. The Muslim Brotherhood strategy, where, look, the Brotherhood wants the same things as ISIS and Al Qaeda. They're just more patient about it.
Kevin Freeman And they'll wear a suit when they pursue.
Erick Stackelbeck Suit and tie. I've interviewed Them, Kevan, face to face, Western educated, eloquent, you wouldn't know. They look moderate, they sound moderate, but they've got the same agenda as isis, just a different strategy. They're playing the long game. And that means, like you said, establishing enclaves, infiltrating the media, academia, political office, of course. And we're seeing that explode now, no pun intended, once again.
Kevin Freeman Well, and we're not here saying that people who are raised as Muslim are bad people. We're not saying that at all. But we are saying that the sharia supremacists that come through the Muslim Brotherhood, not the everyday person, but those, they are dangerous. And when I feel like what you just said, I feel like, a patient who's gone to the doctor and told him five years ago, hey, there's no sign of cancer here. And then you go back and the doctor says, well, we're beginning to see something. And that's what it's beginning to feel Here. We've covered the red, which is communism, and the green, which is radical Islam, the Islamists, and they're working together. And then there's the blue, the globalist, the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, Davos Central bank, digital currency, the UN And Trump is standing against these. We're going to have to carry this over, conversation over till after the break, but we have a real threat. Red, green, blue. And we're talking with Eric Stackleback about how we can address it here in the United States. We'll be right back.
Kevin Freeman: President Trump has cracked down on central bank digital currency
Welcome back with your host, Kevan Freeman.
Kevin Freeman And our great guest, Eric Stachovic. We've been talking about the threats in America. We're talking about, from a newsmaker's perspective, a guy that follows the news and, has done so for decades to interview the top people in the world. And one of the threats that we have, we talked about the red, which is communism, the green, which is, radical Islam, M and the blue, which are the globalists, the World Health Organization, the WF Davos. And this is one where President Trump has really kind of cracked down no central bank, digital currency, I'll put it by executive order. And I'm taking you out of the World Health Organization. What if he'd not done that? Where would we be?
Erick Stackelbeck We'd be down a very slippery slope of really de facto global governance, I would say, and not overnight, but that was certainly the way in which we were heading. And they detest Trump, do The globalists and Netanyahu, by extension, because they're too far, fiercely sovereign leaders. They're patriots, they're nationalists. They put their country's interest first. And the left and the globalist, which are kind of in the same basket. They detest that. They revile Trump because of it.
Kevin Freeman So hate Orban for the same reason they do.
Erick Stackelbeck Orban, Maloney, Meloni in Italy's kind of, you know, playing, both sides a little bit with the eu. But any fiercely nationalistic, patriotic leader, they can't stand him. So Trump is their worst nightmare, obviously. And look, I think the credo of the Great Reset, which, when we talk about the globalists, it all boils down to this great reset that they talk so much about. You will own nothing, yet you will be happy. That's the credo. That's the slogan of this great Reset. It's insanity, but that's what they want. No private ownership. do away with cars. It sounds crazy, but the ultimate end game. Everyone's packed like sardines on public transportation in these super cities that they want to design, a terrible dystopian vision that they have. It's really quite evil. And yet it was advancing. And they really took advantage of COVID as well, to advance that ball even more. And during COVID they kind of came out of the closet with it, so to speak. They were more public about it and more vocal about what they really wanted to do. And once the American people started to hear about it, people said, no, I don't like that very much. And President Trump, of course, stands completely against it. So we've gotten the very least, Kevan, a reprieve for now.
Kevin Freeman Hopefully more than short term, but at least short term. Yeah. I wrote the book According to Plan on that exact topic. It was the plan that the elites. It's literally an Animal Farm plan. It is George Orwell. and it comes down to ultimately, if they could have put it in, it would have been central bank digital currency. And. And I have a friend who knows the station chief of one of the major European cities. And you know what I mean by station chief. And he said, the number one fear of the World Economic Forum is gold currency. And he said, kevin, your name is all over these documents. I'm trying to get you copies of them. But Freeman, Freeman, Freeman, because you've been pushing gold currency. That's our pirate money currency, the name. you know, there's a financial component in everything. Sometimes it's. It all comes down to the money. And there are only three Things you can do with your money. You can give it, you can spend it, or you can invest it. Here at Pirate M Money Radio, we work to explain solutions that support all three areas in a way that promotes liberty, security and values. Patriot Mobile, it's a mobile phone company, supports the Pirate Money radio program. Patriot Mobile uses US carriers, including AT&T, Verizon and T Mobile, and operates on both Apple and Android phones. More information about the economic war room, our sister show. And Patriot Mobile is [email protected] that's PirateMoneyRadio.com afr and we're talking about money, and we're talking about what you can do with your money. Right now we have liberty with our money in that if I carry a $20 bill, it's got a serial number on it, but if I spend that, nobody knows where it came from. But the intention of the World Economic Forum was to make every dime that you spend, and it wouldn't be dimes, whatever, the global currency that they use would be numbered and followed and controlled and tracked. And yet I don't. Did you hear people talking about this, ten years ago?
Erick Stackelbeck No, really. It really came out of the woodwork. I'd say 20, 20, 20, 21. Because they came out of the woodwork, Kevan. They were much more forceful about what they wanted, what they planned, and they saw Covid as their golden opportunity. The World Economic Forum. Davos became an even bigger deal all of a sudden. That Davos gathering of elites every day. January was on the American people's radar screen because again, they were more open about it because they sensed an opportunity. Joe Biden in office, obviously, and they sense an opportunity. They sense that the pendulum was swinging far to the left, and that's good for them. The Chinese social credit system, Kevan, is a big factor here in China. Look, if you disavow the regime or you dare criticize the regime, I mean, they can make your life very miserable. for instance, small things, but big things. Say you take public transportation to work every day, you take the subway. They can, see to it that you're not able to get a card, a Metro card to ride the Metro. A little thing, but a big thing that affects your quality of life. And they will pressure you and kind of squeeze the vise on you until you conform. And the great resetters, the Klaus Schwab's of the world.
Kevin Freeman And what happened to Klaus Schwab?
Erick Stackelbeck Well, apparently he's in some trouble right now.
Kevin Freeman He's in trouble.
Erick Stackelbeck He's in Big trouble. And he's in his 80s. And this was his life's vision, Kevan. To transform, the world into a hellish vision, a one world government. And now he's in trouble.
Kevin Freeman They kicked him out.
Kevin says Klaus Schwab was a perfect James Bond villain
We don't know if it's a Jeffrey Epstein type thing. We don't know if he was skimming funds or maybe it was the next generation who said, okay, pops, you're out of here. You set it up and now I'm king.
Erick Stackelbeck Yeah, the Zuram Mamdani generation, right? And he mentioned James Baughan a few minutes ago. Kevan, he was like the quintessential Bond villain, Klaus Schwab, right down to his accent and his appearance.
Kevin Freeman He was. He was a perfect James Baughan villain.
Kevin Lewis: Mamdani could destabilize New York City if unchecked
All right, so you mentioned Mamdani. What, what kind of threat does he. You're from the east coast, so you're a Philly guy.
Erick Stackelbeck You probably hear this accent a little bit.
Kevin Freeman What kind of threat does he. He's 33 years old. He is Muslim. He is an avowed socialist. He said, I'm not a communist, but of course he is a communist. I want rent controls, I want state run grocery stores. What kind of threat does he pose?
Erick Stackelbeck I think it's a massive threat. Because, look, as much as some people may say, you know what, New York City's a hellhole. Let it go to pot, just let it collapse. Some people say that, but look, it's still our largest city. It's still an economic center for America and for global commerce. And look, it's a symbol of America in many ways. We can't just. That's why I love what President Trump is doing right now with these attempts to revitalize the American city and make them safer. Kevan, we can't just let New York City or Los Angeles just go by the wayside. We can't do it. These are symbols of American strength and American pride, historically, at least not in recent years. But Mamdani is a serious, serious threat. And if he's unchecked, he could take New York City into an insane direction. I think President Trump recently, what he's done in D.C. for instance, federalizing the police force there and trying to get that under control again, because DC Is a symbol of America. Look, not only tourists, foreign dignitaries come to Washington, D.C. and what do they see? They hear about shootings, muggings. They see homeless tent encampments yards from the Capitol. You can't have it. And he knows you can't have that in New York City. So I'm going to be interested to See what Trump does in the run up to that election in NYC in November. can he, what can he do?
Kevin Freeman Well, he has authority in D.C. obviously because it is federal territory.
Erick Stackelbeck That's the distinction. Chicago, Louisiana, nyc, my hometown of Philadelphia, all crime ridden wastelands. He doesn't have that same authority. But I can tell you, Kevan, from being from, the east coast, and working in New York City a bunch. I lived in New York City for a time. I worked up there a bunch. TBN had a studio up there. Our good friend Eric Metaxas films in New York City. Still. I saw, the decline, especially since COVID there were days I'd go to New York City, hey, take the train up to New York and get dinner, walk around midnight, 1am you could walk around New York. And it is not that now. It was palpable.
Kevin Freeman Rudy Giuliani gets the credit for that. I mean, I remember David Dinkins before him and I remember the mayor before that. And I would have to go to New York and I hated it. And then when Giuliani became mayor, it was a thrill. And you could go to Broadway and you could go to Times Square and you could walk anywhere. Subways are safe. You love it because he noticed the little things like the broken window. He's like, fix that and you'll lower crime. And that's true.
Eric Stackelback: The left and radical Islam share many similarities
All right. Mamdani, on the other hand, he is red, He's a communist, he is green, he's Islamist, he's a twelver. He's like Iranian, Shia Twelver. And he is a globalist. He's all three threats grown into one in a 33 year old kid. 33 years old. And he's about to be the mayor of the greatest city in the arguably.
Erick Stackelbeck in the world.
Kevin Freeman Yeah.
Erick Stackelbeck And look, he's 33 as you said, Kevan. He's only been in the United States for six years, if I'm not mistaken. He was born and raised in Uganda to very wealthy parents. And he's apparently very.
Kevin Freeman He went to colleges as an af, as an African, he tried to pass.
Erick Stackelbeck African American. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's interesting. The red green, the red green alliance, this unholy alliance. Kevan, I know you've talked a bunch about over the years. It seems just very unlikely on its face and not a natural fit to see transgenders marching for Palestine. But at the end of the day they have a shared hatred for America, for Judeo, Christian, Western civilization. So these strange bedfellows will work together, but a cautionary tale for the left as they get in bed with the Islamists. I point them to 1979, the Iranian Revolution, where the left, the Communists, the Marxists, were very much behind the Ayatollah Khomeini. When he came back a few months after he assumed power, their heads were literally on the chopping block. The first people he went after were the left, the Marxists, the Communists. A little bit of a cautionary tale for our friends on the college campuses right now who are burning American and Israeli flags alongside Islamists.
Kevin Freeman Same story with pink swastika with, Adolf Hitler. Same story, with Tahrir Square. I remember watching as the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt. And I'm watching the reporter interviewing the lesbian couple. Why are you working with the Muslim Brotherhood? Because they're good organizers and they hate this government just as much as we do. And I wonder what happened. I know this, my friend Laura Logan was there with 60 Minutes, and she was, carted off and horrible things done to her after they overwhelmed her security forces. That was a bad thing. And I've been to Egypt since the Brotherhood was gone, and, and I found myself comfortable and fine. That is a risk for New York. What are they going to do?
Erick Stackelbeck It is, Kevan.
Kevin Freeman I don't want to be thrown off the top of the Empire State Building, and I'm not, I'm not of that persuasion, but there are plenty in New York who are, no doubt, that wouldn't be a bad thing to be thrown at.
Erick Stackelbeck And it's an incremental strategy for them. I think another similarity between the radical left and radical, radical Islamist is that incremental strategy, kind of death by a thousand cuts, where it doesn't necessarily happen overnight. they assume political power, then gradually they take you down that road. So the left and radical Islam very much have that in common. the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, which is really the granddaddy of them all when it comes to Islamic terror groups. But they're more dangerous, I would say, Kevan, in many ways than the violent jihadists, because they burrow themselves and entrench themselves inside a society and they create parallel societies and then they assume political power. And it's always very moderate sounding and it's all about coexistence and all sounds great. And then when they get power, they lower the boom.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, no, and that actually is the history of Islam. That is actually in the Koran. That's how you're supposed to do things, you know, that you express, support for the government you're in until you become a certain percentage of the population. And then you demand that the government conform to you. And this is the risk. So President Trump. So they're slowly poisonous. President Trump is like grabbing it out of her hands. Stop drinking the poison. And I'm making radical changes to take America back. One seems radical and that is actually the good side. One seems, it's okay and collegial. It's actually the bad side. But we're talking with Eric Stackleback. We're talking about threats to America. We've got solutions for America and we'll discuss those when we come back right after this break.
Kevin Freeman: Young people are falling for promises of communism and globalism
Welcome back with your host, Kevan Freeman
Kevin Freeman Hey, Eric. And I'm talking, we're talking with Eric Stackleback and we're talking about threats to America and we're talking about in those threats to America, the red, the green and the blue, which is the communism, Islam. And the blue is globalism. And all of that has to do with promises. We promise you something better if you will just go along with this. Life will be better if you just adopt communism. And so, you know, I just, did a deep dive on this in economic war room. And he's Mamdani. I'm going to put up government owned grocery stores which they had in the Soviet Union and they had no food in them and long lines to get the tiny amount of food that they might get if you were really lucky. they never work. But people, young people in particular, they're falling for this idea, this concept that life would be better off if we just had a change because they're, they're, they're feeling despair. They don't feel like America's working for them.
Erick Stackelbeck It's interesting. Generation Z, Kevan, you see incredible polls and numbers too. They're turning more and more conservative, especially young men. They're becoming more Christian. There's a bit of a revival happening at Gen Z. So it's so exciting.
Kevin Freeman And that's not New York apparently though.
Erick Stackelbeck Well, it depends on where in the country you are. I think, I think the divide is really stark against all, across all generations. But with Generation Z in places like LA and New York City compared to say, Oklahoma or Texas.
Kevin Freeman Yeah.
Erick Stackelbeck So New York City's a massive problem because it's all young white people mainly voting for Mamdani. It's interesting, the Hispanic and African American population in New York City did not vote for Mamdani in large numbers. They voted for, say, Cuomo Or Eric Adams, in the primary. So, what you have are these young urban, well educated elites who are latching onto socialism and it's out of ignorance, I think, and a lot of times pure just having a very secular worldview that's not, that doesn't have moorings in the history of America in Judeo, Christian, Western civilization. But the bottom line is it's a vulnerable population right now and I think with generations in particular, they could go one or two ways depending on the latest TikTok video that they're watching.
Kevin Freeman Well, and the educational system, for the most part is indoctrinating with communism. Ah, next week we're going to have Ryan Helfenbein from Liberty University and we're going to be talking about how Liberty does it differently. The Liberty students, they have hope and they see a future. And so it's Christianity. If you strip that and you teach and doctorate in communism, you get that failure. And the reality of it is young people are facing economic challenges. You have to wait later to buy a home and you've got to have a two income family so you have kids later and all that. They're not seeing the same thing that we saw when we were growing up as opportunity. And it comes down a lot, part in economics. And that's why we did the whole pirate money legislation to bring transactional gold and silver. Now I want to point out, support for this program comes from Glint. It's a financial technology service offering with a debit card and mobile app that enables users to access their gold holdings for everyday purchases. With Glint, users maintain ownership of allocated physical gold, which is stored in a managed vault. At the time of transaction. Gold is sold in real time to cover the purchase the amount in local currency. Glint offers an alternative way to store and use the value. Combining gold and silver with modern payment infrastructure, Glint clients can monitor their gold balance, view transaction history and manage their account through the Glint app, available on major mobile platforms. More details about how vaulted physical gold can be used as money are available at glentpay.comgold247 that's glennpay.comgold247 Glint providing access to gold for modern spending.
Eric Steckelback: We have a unique window of opportunity under President Trump
And you know Eric, we talk about people using gold and silver as money again because it's in the Bible, it's in the Constitution, and people say, well, how does that work? But we went to dinner and I showed you how it worked, didn't I?
Erick Stackelbeck You did. It was amazing. And I think the time has come. Needless to say, because with the way the winds are blowing, look, President Trump's in office right now. It's amazing. Great things are happening, but who knows what 20, 28, it seems like it's not a long way off, but a lot can happen in the next three years, needless to say. So I think we've got a unique window of opportunity here, Kevan, that we cannot squander. And President Trump obviously is working overtime. He's not doing that. He's got that punch list as you described it. I think on that punch list should be a return to gold, as you and I have discussed, as you laid out to me. and you've been educating everyone on this. You educated me on it. So I'm very appreciative of it. But again, and this is the opportunity, the window, to push everything through that can be pushed through and to add to that punch list for President Trump. And I think that's certainly on the list.
Kevin Freeman Well, one thing he did that was great, he created, a, religious liberty commission, which is fantastic, because we need to see America go back to church, the greatness of America, De Tocqueville or wherever you look, if you honest and you look at America, the greatness of America from Whitefield on has been in the churches, and America, for the most part, has turned away from church. But you said young people are turning back.
Erick Stackelbeck You know, absolutely. Young people are turning back. Not all. I mean, witness, as we said, New York City. But look, there's a good amount of Gen Z in particular, Kevan, who. They kind of got the worst of it during COVID the woke madness. I mean, they were locked down, they couldn't go to school in person. And the wokeness, the transgenderism shoved down their throats, especially young men told they were horrible people and they're fed up with it, and they're turning back to common sense. They're seeing that the left and that agenda does not work. But as you said, Kevan, we have, I think, a great political restoration in this country right now under President Trump. At the end of the day, this is a spiritual battle, and I believe we need a sweeping revival in this nation, a turning back to God. I see stirrings right now, and I think it's very encouraging. President Trump has that faith Advisory Council as you described. He's also got a White House faith office just a few feet from the West Wing. And he. And I think this is very important. He's the head, and he is talking about God, Kevan. He is openly acknowledging God all the time from the Oval Office. He credits God for sparing his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, which God did. And then I thought was really striking those strikes against Iran's nuclear program. President Trump, when he announced, hey, we just struck Iran's nuclear weapons facilities, he thanked God and he said, we love you God. He actually I've never heard an American president, including self professed evangelical presidents talk like that.
Kevin Freeman No, it's amazing. And he didn't talk with mal intent toward the people, the Persian Iranian people. It was, we have to stop. He didn't want to harm people. And I think that that was evidence, of Christ, like behavior from a guy that most people think is, you know, a little bit blowhardish and so forth. I thought it was an amazing speech. But there's something else. He's also standing up for Israel. And yet there's a big push to separate the maga movement, pro Israel and anti Israel.
Erick Stackelbeck Very dangerous, Kevan. Very, disappointing is the word. It's not strong enough, that word. But some people that I really respected over the years and to see them go in this direction, not just anti Israel, but pretty openly anti Semitic and engaging in insane blood libels, and anti Semitic behavior and statements and we're seeing it over and over again and it seems to be increasing and gathering steam. It's really amazing to me that after October 7th, the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, you would think that there would be this massive groundswell of support for Israel and the Jewish people. The exact opposite has happened. I mean literally the day after October 7, we saw people in the streets protesting against Israel before Israel even had a chance to respond to October 7th.
Kevin Freeman Street and our best colleges, I mean.
Erick Stackelbeck Our best and brightest, we're talking Ivy League, Ivy League and beyond. But to see segments of the right and the MAGA movement go in this direction, it's such a head scratcher to me, Kevan. And they say, look, I'm not anti Semitic. That's a canard. Don't use that against me. How else can you explain it though? Because to me it's so black and white. Look, I think we've got, we've got a situation right now where God Almighty is separating the wheat from the tares. I think that applies to nations and it applies to individuals. I think Israel is one of the main dividing lines, Kevan. And if you're not on the right side of this issue, you're probably not going to be on the right side of most issues. Because to me it's so black and white. It's so clear cut, you have this tiny nation the size of the state of New Jersey acting as the first line of defense for all of Western civilization, holding back the jihad and the floodgates that want to come here and strike us here, they're a Western style democracy, they're a scientific, economic and high tech powerhouse, blessing the world in that way. And then at the end of, the end of the day, the covenant that God has with that land is eternal. God has not changed his mind about Israel. And if he breaks his promises to Israel, what's to say he wouldn't break his promises to all of us? So you add that all up, and to me it's pretty clear cut who you should be standing with. So the lack of a moral compass among some, on the right at this point is disheartening.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, no, no question. And you can disagree with the political decisions of the government of Israel, that's, that's fine. But to disagree with, with the notion that God has established Israel, or to claim, well, they're not really the Jewish people. I mean, seriously, you look at them, if you practice the religion, if, if you live under that and you're willing to put yourself subjected to that type of hatred and vitriol, I'm pretty sure they're Jewish. And yet you'll see commentators that I used to respect greatly say, well, I'm not sure that they're Jewish even. Where is this coming from?
Erick Stackelbeck It's that bad. And there's Holocaust. Denial is another cottage industry among these people. Now, to me, Kevan, if you look at 1948 and the miraculous rebirth of Israel, how do you not see God's hand all over that? I mean, the odds, this has never happened in human history. For people to be dispersed from their native land for 2,000 years, then to come back and revive the Hebrew language, it's in regular use once again. Only God and I know that because throughout the Bible, God promised he would do exactly that.
Kevin Freeman He said he would.
Erick Stackelbeck You'll be scattered, but in the latter days, I will bring you back. Guess what? We've got the modern nation state of Israel.
Kevin Freeman And yet you'll have.
Kevin Freeman: Israel has outlasted all of their enemies, according to prophets
In my lifetime, you had, every major army, 10 times the size surrounding this tiny little nation attacking them. And God gives them a miraculous victory. I'm like, this is just reading the prophets.
Erick Stackelbeck This is, yeah, they've outlasted everyone. I mean, they've outlasted Pharaoh, Haman, the Philistines, the Amalekites, the Nazis, the Ottomans. They've outlasted all of their enemies. They're still here against all odds because.
Kevin Freeman God keeps his promise. There's no question. All right, Eric, what's the best way for people to follow you?
Erick Stackelbeck They can catch me every weeknight on stacklebeck tonight on TBN 7:30pm Eastern Time. And we re air at 10:30pm Eastern Time. So that's TBN every weeknight. Then on YouTube it is watchman m.
Erick Stackelbeck A n watchman tv.com watchmen tv.com all right, that's fantastic. Thank you for being with us today.
Erick Stackelbeck It was great, Kevan. Thanks for having me all.
Kevin Freeman right, if you have questions or comments, you can email [email protected] We've covered a lot of topics here. We need to pray. We need to pray for America and for the world and for Israel and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. listen, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, etcetera, you can get Pirate Money Radio. Thank you, Eric Stackelbach, for joining us in studio. It's such a pleasure to have you. This is Kevan Freeman for Pirate Money, radio.
Almost half of students return to school before August 16th according to website
Erick Stackelbeck Hey, if you're a parent, you may be celebrating that the kids are back to school or soon will be. it's continuing a trend of the past few years. We've seen that school seems to be starting earlier and earlier. And according to the We Are Teachers website, almost half of students returned to the classroom before August 16th. I remember as a kid we usually were left free until Labor Day. And my sign that school was starting was Jerry Lewis had his muscular dystrophy telethon. And that was the signal. And I began to panic at that point. It's not so for kids today. They're heading back in the heat of summer to classrooms. With 82% of children returning to school during the month of August. And you see 82% total, and that leaves just 18% that start in September. Summer vacations are over for most people, but the weather is still blazing hot across most of the country. I guess the schools will be facing big air conditioning bills. And speaking of bills, your parents are likely experiencing sticker shock when they go to Walmart, Staples or Office Depot for the latest school supplies. The average per person spending on school supplies according to National Retail federation will be $858 this year. That's a dramatic increase from $630 spent 10 years ago. But there's a slight bit of good news. It's down from $890 just two years ago at the peak of Biden inflation. We can expect President Trump to come out any moment to point out that school supply costs are lower under a Trump presidency. But it's true, inflation is everywhere and I for one am grateful to see a little bit, any bit of good news. And speaking of news, our guest on Pirate Money Radio is an expert on the news and. And we plan to talk about more than school supplies.
Kevin Freeman welcomes Eric Stackelbeck to Talk Christianity
Welcome Eric Stachovak, the current news director at Trinity Broadcast Network. A news veteran who's interviewed some of the most interesting people in the world. He's a sought after geopolitical commentator, author, podcaster, YouTuber, and the host of Stackelbeck Tonight, seen every weeknight in primetime on tbn, the world's largest Christian television network. From Jerusalem to London to Washington D.C. he's all over the place. He also hosts the the Watchman, a, breaking news and commentary program focused on Israel and the Middle east, every weekday on YouTube, where his channel has close to a million people. Eric, you're doing fantastic Work.
Erick Stackelbeck Kevan, great to be with you, my friend. And this news about school starting in August hits very close to home. I just had a daughter starting her freshman year in high school. I can tell you it was 98 degrees on day one of school. And what happened to like you said, the day after Labor Day, kind of ease your way back into it?
Kevin Freeman No more, no more. And in fact we, took a tour of a private school here locally about 25 years ago and I said, when do you start school? And they said, well, because of air conditioning, we start school in September because we want to have less cooling bills. But now that doesn't seem to be the issue.
Have you always worked for a Christian news outlet, you know
Alright, so I think I first met you when you were in D.C. as the news guys for CBN and the 700 Club. Have you always in your career worked for a Christian news outlet, you know.
Erick Stackelbeck On a full time basis? Yes, I've been with CBN News, I've been with Christians United for Israel now tbn, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. But I've done a lot of secular media as well, Kevan. The Blaze tv, which we both know very well. I've done a bunch for the Blaze tv, appear pretty regularly on Fox News, Real America's Voice, Newsmax tv, even cnn and some of those have had me on from time to time. So yeah, one foot in the Christian media world, one foot in the secular world throughout my career.
Kevin Freeman Mostly conservative though. On the secular world. Leave it.
Erick Stackelbeck Yes, you know, it was easier. Never easy, but a little bit easier to go on the likes of CNN, say 20, 25 years ago when I was starting out in media, they weren't completely off the rails, insane. But now when you go into a left wing media outlet or on a left wing media outlet, it's you're going into the lion's den, the belly of the beast. But I enjoy like you do, I enjoy jousting with them and bringing truth, biblical truth.
Kevin Freeman Well, even Glenn Beck was on CNN at one point. So yeah.
Kevin Freeman worked with Pat Robertson during CBN days
All right, so you're also very tall. we've had to adjust your microphone up. were you a basketball player?
Erick Stackelbeck I was. You know, I'm 6 foot 5 and Kevan, I have to say, people ask me all the time, wow, you're so tall. I was, I played in college, played two years of college basketball. Basketball was my first passion before I got into media. But I played against guys who were seven feet tall, if you can believe it.
Kevin Freeman That's amazing.
Erick Stackelbeck I guarded a guy named Rasheed Wallace, very famous NBA basketball player. He was in high school. Seven feet tall, Dunking on my head. So I was a, I was a Lilliputian compared to some of these guys.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, no, I understand that everything's relative at some point. Yeah. In your CBN days, I also want to ask, did you work with Pat Robertson?
Erick Stackelbeck I did. You know it's funny, Pat was in Virginia Beach, I was in Washington D.C. at the news bureau there. So I would appear remotely with Pat all the time. We had a great rapport. And the thing is Kevan, I'm a Christian now. But when I started cbn I had not given my life to, to Jesus yet. They still hired me. So it was amazing how it worked out. I became a Christian at cbn. An amazing, amazing story how that all worked out. But to be on with Pat Robertson, one of the voices of the church in America for decades and decades, was amazing. And then to come along and once I became a Christian then it just enhanced our interviews together I felt like. But Pat was always great to me. CBN was an incredible experience. Ten and a half years there, training ground in many ways. Traveled the world and yeah, amazing.
Kevin Freeman And it opens doors. I mean Pat Robertson is just a terrific guy. I mean he interviewed me once there, at when I went to Regent and they had me on and talking. I just enjoyed it so much. But I remember when I was in high school, I had a phone call out of the blue one day. Hello, is this Kevan Freeman? You know, and no cell phones, It's a wired phone, I walk. It's my parents phone. Right. I'm in high school. I answered, it is Kevan Freeman. Kids, can I help you? And he said this is, I didn't get a whole lot of phone calls. and I said this is Pat Robertson. I'm like the dude on television like Ben Kinshlow and Pat Robertson. He said, yeah, this is Pat Robertson. I wanted to call you and I wanted to thank you for your support in the 700 Club. Because I stepped up and bought. He had a book, Secret Kingdomnomics. And I stepped up and they were going to help poor people across the world and so forth. And so I, I wrote to me, which was a choke the horse type, check, $100, right.
Erick Stackelbeck As a high school kid. Wow.
Kevin Freeman And he bothered in 1976 or something and he bothered to call me. And so I have great respect for that guy.
Erick Stackelbeck Me too. That was my experience with him too, Kevan. Like I said, I was not even a Bible believing Christian so to speak when I started at cbn. And I was still green, a little wet behind the ears too in the business. But they kind of threw me out there. I'm on the 700 Club, a million viewers a night nationwide. Prime TV, with Pat Robertson and a split screen. Amazing, amazing opportunity they gave me. They were always gracious to me and I grew throughout the years, of course, but incredible training ground. And Pat was always great.
Kevin Freeman And you've become an icon in both the Christian and conservative movement and the Support Israel movement. I mean, you've written, three books, right?
Erick Stackelbeck Three. And working on a fourth.
Kevin Freeman And the three books were published by my original publisher, Regner.
Erick Stackelbeck Regner, that's right, yeah.
Kevin Freeman Which is great. And you moved to TBN and you came to Dallas, Fort Worth area. When did that happen?
Erick Stackelbeck Now, this is very difficult. I have to preface this by saying I'm from Philadelphia originally, and if you're an NFL fan, Eagles fans and Cowboys fans don't really mix. But I'm in Dallas now as a Philly native. We came here in October 2023. It's been great. This is, as you know, Kevan, it's a great place.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, Eagles and Cowboys do have their rivalries, but the past couple of decades been a little better for the Eagles than it has been for the Cowboys. Overall, you've done some amazing interview, looked at your list, and some of them are mutual friends, like Nick Vujicic, Lt. Gen. Flynn, Jakub Bullions, Eric Metaxa, Star Parker, Rick Renner, Lance Wallnau, Glenn Beck, all people we've had on our show. But you've also had some amazing ones that we would love to have, like, President Trump, Victor Davis Hanson, Eric Trump, Jonathan Cahn, Gary Sinise. I'm a big fan of Gary Sinise, Patricia Eaton, Craig T. Nelson, Max Okedo, Dennis Prager. These are the who's who of newsmakers.
Erick Stackelbeck It's amazing, Kevan. I pinch myself every day and I thank God to open these doors. And once we launched a TBN show and I moved down here in Dallas, it was a big move to make, moving across country, moving my family. But, man, that decision has been vindicated because a lot of these doors opened. And interviewing President Trump twice in the past year. Unreal, unreal. And two weeks before the election. And by the way, I have to say, he is such a personable guy. He, comes in the room and, he's the leader of the free world.
Eric Stachlebeck interviews President Obama
He's the most powerful man in the world and he carries himself like a regular guy. It's amazing. And you sit face to face with him. He's conversational, he's personable. And you would Think you'd be a little nervous with the leader of the free world, but he makes you feel totally at ease.
Kevin Freeman He treats you like a person. I've gotten the MC Dr. Carson's, Ben Carson's, birthday party several years, and he's been the keynote speaker. He treats everybody like human beings. It's amazing to watch the Persona on television compared to who he actually is. All right, I want to talk about some of the people you've interviewed. Any surprising answers you've gotten. We have to take a break. but when we come back from the break, we're going to dive in more deeply with Eric Stachlebeck. This is an amazing interview. Stay tuned.
Kevin Freeman: Eric Stackelbeck has interviewed some amazing people
Kevin Freeman Yeah, we're talking with the great Eric Stackelbeck, and we're talking about some of the interviews he's done. You know, when you drop casually. Well, I interviewed President Donald Trump twice, and, you know, he's the leader of the free world, but he is like the goat of the leader of the free world. I mean, he's just so, dominant in comparison to every other president we've had since President Reagan.
Erick Stackelbeck Really a force of nature.
Kevin Freeman He really, truly has. All right, so you've interviewed all these amazing people. Do you have any stories where you asked a question and you got back such a surprising answer? Anything that from memory?
Erick Stackelbeck Yeah, here's one for you. London. Some called it Londinistan these days, sadly. 2010, I'm working on a book about, terrorism in the west, homegrown type jihad. And I'm sitting with a guy named Saad Al Faqi, who was an associate of Osama bin Laden.
Kevin Freeman Oh, wow.
Erick Stackelbeck Now he lives in London. Surprise, surprise. And I'm sitting in his living room face to face with this former Al Qaeda leader who was very closely connected with bin Laden himself.
Kevin Freeman Wow.
Erick Stackelbeck And I asked him, do you fear? Because there's these inter Islamist rivalries, right? I said, do you fear for your life? has there been attempts on your life from other jihadis in this power struggle? And he said, yes, actually, just last week, where you are sitting right now, that very couch where you're sitting right now. But bullets were fired through my window. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking over my shoulder saying, maybe I should move the other couch. So that was a pretty shocking answer. But it's funny, Kevan, I used to be able to get in with the bad guys. I mean, Muslim Brotherhood leaders and guys linked to isis. but now I think they See me coming. my profile is a little greater than it was then. But back then, I was working for cbn. I would say, yeah, the Canadian Broadcasting Network, not the Christian broadcast. And they would let me in their living room and I would actually interview these guys. the first rule of war, Sun Tzu, know your enemy. So you hear from the horse's mouth. And I wasn't confrontational with them. I just let them. I patiently asked them questions. I let them lay out their worldview and their ideology, which, of course is genocidal and insane.
Kevin Freeman You know, it is funny that way. If it's purposed, they enemies, terrorists, will lie to you. But if given the opportunity, they want to do what every James Baughan villain is desperate to do and explain their plan and justify, you know, Thanos did it in the Marvel series. He had to explain, I'm going to kill half the population. Here's how and why. And every James Baughan villain feels compelled that they have to justify what they're doing.
Kevin Freeman: How do you view the Trump presidency from a news perspective
All right, you've got a watchman viewpoint. You have a unique vantage, point on the world, domestic politics, the economy, and finally the church in Israel. And I'd like to talk about all three of those, but I want to start with how do you view the Trump presidency from a news perspective? How do you see it, number one.
Erick Stackelbeck From a news perspective, hosting, a nightly show, that daily grind. Kevan, as you know, I mean, it is incredible, I have to say, because I talk to my producer every morning and I say, what are we going to talk about today? What aren't we going to talk about today? How are we going to kind of whittle this down to fit it inside the show? Because President Trump is doing so much at such a rapid clip. Kevan, we haven't seen anything like this. I would call it a counter revolution. I don't think we've seen the likes of this, an American president this impactful since fdr, for better or for worse. With fdr, of course, but with Trump, as I said, a force of nature. And I believe, I'm a Christian. He is God's man. In this position for such a time as this, he is uniquely equipped. His life was spared in Butler, Pennsylvania. He is uniquely equipped. I don't think he sleeps. He. He's 79 years old, and he's an Energizer Bunny. He's tireless. He's relentless in a good way. And it's almost like he's got a checklist. The wokeness, the madness, gender madness, dei, foreign policy, the border, the Universities. It goes on and on and on, and it's almost like he's got a checklist. Kevan, he's checking it off. I took care of dei, took care of the gender madness, and he's got a team around him this time. Unlike the first go round, where they were not maga, they were not on board with me.
Kevin Freeman No, I'm the boss, and they'll work for me and they'll do what I want. He realized Washington worked that way. I would change the word checklist to punch list. He is a construction guy. He's builder, and he's got a punch list, and I've got to build this. And he's overseeing the contracting, and he trusts people, but only so far. He's going to inspect everything. I think he really is a brilliant man that knows how to accomplish. And you watch him from a young guy until now.
Erick Stackelbeck He's the same guy, absolutely, brash, bold. He's got vision, he's got common sense. Imagine that. Peace through strength. Peace through strength works. We've seen it again, again. And Kevan, he's got all the leverage now. And the great thing about him is he's not afraid to use it. With every world leader he encounters, he's using the leverage. He's leaning on them, and they're caving left and right. Look at the deal he swung with the European Union recently, that trade deal, which I know you follow the EU essential, caved, of course, and gave away the farm. Because Trump has leverage and he used it, and he's just. It's statecraft through commerce, almost what he's doing using economic leverage.
Kevin Freeman We had a show here, where we brought in, Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan. And, Reggie Littlejohn came and, Suzanne Grishman of Mercury One came, and there's a tragedy going on. It's a terrible thing. And we were appealing to the American people. We got to do something about this. And they'd been in Washington stuff. Trump just steps in, and I'm gonna fix it.
Erick Stackelbeck Yeah. And he fixes it in one afternoon.
Kevin Freeman It's unbelievable.
Erick Stackelbeck One lazy August afternoon at the White House, Armenia and Azerbaijan come together after decades of bloodshed. And, Kevan, a great thing about that deal that Trump brokered, he was able to flip Armenia, in essence, away from Russia. And all of a sudden, Vladimir Putin got very alarmed. Trump enforces the secondary sanctions as well against Russian allies like India. All of a sudden, Vladimir Putin is requesting a meeting with Trump in Alaska.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, well, they've always counted on American, leadership, basically punting or giving up. Caving. That's the right word, caving.
Erick Stackelbeck Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Kevin Freeman Yeah.
Kevin Freeman: Because of Trump, China is in a tough spot
So I'm going to talk about, just for a second, the red, green, blue axis. Because we're looking around the world and we see threats of China. And Trump sees it, which is brilliant. I'm economic warfare in the Pentagon, and I can't get anybody to recognize China as threat in 2008, 9, 10, 11, 12. Trump sees it and immediately jumps on it. Islam and Sharia, which has kind of gone silent and then came back.
Erick Stackelbeck Ugly, I would agree.
Kevin Freeman We cut off one head and two heads emerged like Hydra.
Erick Stackelbeck I would agree.
Kevin Freeman And then the globalists. So the red is communism, the green is Islam, Sharia, and the blue is the globalist, the UN and so let's walk through who they are and how they work together and start with the red China and communism. What are you seeing?
Erick Stackelbeck China right now in kind of a tough spot, actually, again, because of Trump. I mean, Xi Jinping, our friend Gordon Chang. Our mutual friend Gordon Chang has shared that he thinks Xi Jinping is in very bad shape. The Chinese premier, he obviously, he was arguably the most powerful Chinese premier since Mao.
Kevin Freeman Right.
Erick Stackelbeck And maybe he garnered too much power and consolidated too much power. And there are forces apparently in the Chinese military, in the communist regime that aren't too fond of Xi and want to knock him down a peg. So that bears watching. Could you imagine regime change in China, Communist China, how earth shaking that would be. but look, they're ascendant still in many ways. But I think the Trump factor again has China on its heels as well. He got the better of that deal with tariffs, despite the. The sky was falling, the mainstream media told. But he's proven to get the better of that deal. So I think China, it's at a very interesting point right now, Kevan, where, look, they're aligned with Russia, Iran, North Korea, and I call them the Gathering Storm Coalition. It's a modern day Gathering Storm, but in many ways more dangerous than the great Winston Churchill warned about in that these are nuclear powers.
Kevin Freeman Right.
Erick Stackelbeck And they're pooling their resources. So I think China, what you're seeing, China's struggling a bit, Russia struggling a bit, Iran obviously struggling. They're kind of pooling their resources and leaning on each other more and more. And I look for them to cleave closer together in the days to come. China, of course, wants to be the top dog, but right now they need those alliances with Russia and Iran. And again, because of Trump.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, they probably will end up the top dog in an axis of evil.
Erick Stackelbeck Yes.
Kevin Freeman I mean, I look at South Korea, and I see, Gordon Chang just tweeted today, South Korea has essentially lost. The communist Communists, have taken over. Not North Korea. China has taken over South Korea.
Erick Stackelbeck That's a big deal.
Kevin Freeman That's a huge deal. I need to get back with Gordon.
Erick Stackelbeck yes, she's great.
Kevin Freeman And cover that. but the rare earth minerals, the mercantileism, the Belt and Road election interference, the farmland here, all. They're a threat to the United States. Trump recognizes it, and. And he's actually doing something about it, which is. Which is impressive.
Erick Stackelbeck Agreed, 100%, Kevan. He's finally doing something about. To me, it's astounding. You were working at the Pentagon, working with them, 2012, and they still didn't get it. Trump's got foresight, and he's been talking about these issues for years. 2014, 2015, he would talk about China's ripping us off, and he talked about Iran's nuclear program. So people shouldn't be surprised by what they see right now. He's a man of his word. He's a man of action, and he keeps his promises.
Kevin Freeman He does. All right, so we're.
Islam in the Middle East is now targeting America, Kevin says
The other fight that we're having, and we're seeing it here in North Texas, is the infiltration of the green. So Islam, and the Middle east is now targeting America. And not targeting to tear down and blow up buildings, but targeting by putting enclaves in the United States. you've been to Europe and you've seen, despite what they say, there really are no go zones, Right?
Erick Stackelbeck Absolutely. Go, to London today. I mean, even Brussels, a place like Brussels, France. Of course. I've walked through these neighborhoods, Kevan, and it is a very uncomfortable feeling here in America. You put it accurately. A few minutes ago, we had this wave of homegrown jihad in the ISIS days in particular. 2012, 13, 14, 15, Trump smashed the caliphate, the ISIS caliphate, and they kind of were dormant for a little while, and, man, after October 7th, they've reared their heads again, and it's now in the headlines once again. The Islamist infiltration in the West. And that's what it is. I mean, yeah, they'll resort to violent jihad as much as they can, but the strategy, as you said, Kevan, is establish those enclaves. The Muslim Brotherhood strategy, where, look, the Brotherhood wants the same things as ISIS and Al Qaeda. They're just more patient about it.
Kevin Freeman And they'll wear a suit when they pursue.
Erick Stackelbeck Suit and tie. I've interviewed Them, Kevan, face to face, Western educated, eloquent, you wouldn't know. They look moderate, they sound moderate, but they've got the same agenda as isis, just a different strategy. They're playing the long game. And that means, like you said, establishing enclaves, infiltrating the media, academia, political office, of course. And we're seeing that explode now, no pun intended, once again.
Kevin Freeman Well, and we're not here saying that people who are raised as Muslim are bad people. We're not saying that at all. But we are saying that the sharia supremacists that come through the Muslim Brotherhood, not the everyday person, but those, they are dangerous. And when I feel like what you just said, I feel like, a patient who's gone to the doctor and told him five years ago, hey, there's no sign of cancer here. And then you go back and the doctor says, well, we're beginning to see something. And that's what it's beginning to feel Here. We've covered the red, which is communism, and the green, which is radical Islam, the Islamists, and they're working together. And then there's the blue, the globalist, the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, Davos Central bank, digital currency, the UN And Trump is standing against these. We're going to have to carry this over, conversation over till after the break, but we have a real threat. Red, green, blue. And we're talking with Eric Stackleback about how we can address it here in the United States. We'll be right back.
Kevin Freeman: President Trump has cracked down on central bank digital currency
Welcome back with your host, Kevan Freeman.
Kevin Freeman And our great guest, Eric Stachovic. We've been talking about the threats in America. We're talking about, from a newsmaker's perspective, a guy that follows the news and, has done so for decades to interview the top people in the world. And one of the threats that we have, we talked about the red, which is communism, the green, which is, radical Islam, M and the blue, which are the globalists, the World Health Organization, the WF Davos. And this is one where President Trump has really kind of cracked down no central bank, digital currency, I'll put it by executive order. And I'm taking you out of the World Health Organization. What if he'd not done that? Where would we be?
Erick Stackelbeck We'd be down a very slippery slope of really de facto global governance, I would say, and not overnight, but that was certainly the way in which we were heading. And they detest Trump, do The globalists and Netanyahu, by extension, because they're too far, fiercely sovereign leaders. They're patriots, they're nationalists. They put their country's interest first. And the left and the globalist, which are kind of in the same basket. They detest that. They revile Trump because of it.
Kevin Freeman So hate Orban for the same reason they do.
Erick Stackelbeck Orban, Maloney, Meloni in Italy's kind of, you know, playing, both sides a little bit with the eu. But any fiercely nationalistic, patriotic leader, they can't stand him. So Trump is their worst nightmare, obviously. And look, I think the credo of the Great Reset, which, when we talk about the globalists, it all boils down to this great reset that they talk so much about. You will own nothing, yet you will be happy. That's the credo. That's the slogan of this great Reset. It's insanity, but that's what they want. No private ownership. do away with cars. It sounds crazy, but the ultimate end game. Everyone's packed like sardines on public transportation in these super cities that they want to design, a terrible dystopian vision that they have. It's really quite evil. And yet it was advancing. And they really took advantage of COVID as well, to advance that ball even more. And during COVID they kind of came out of the closet with it, so to speak. They were more public about it and more vocal about what they really wanted to do. And once the American people started to hear about it, people said, no, I don't like that very much. And President Trump, of course, stands completely against it. So we've gotten the very least, Kevan, a reprieve for now.
Kevin Freeman Hopefully more than short term, but at least short term. Yeah. I wrote the book According to Plan on that exact topic. It was the plan that the elites. It's literally an Animal Farm plan. It is George Orwell. and it comes down to ultimately, if they could have put it in, it would have been central bank digital currency. And. And I have a friend who knows the station chief of one of the major European cities. And you know what I mean by station chief. And he said, the number one fear of the World Economic Forum is gold currency. And he said, kevin, your name is all over these documents. I'm trying to get you copies of them. But Freeman, Freeman, Freeman, because you've been pushing gold currency. That's our pirate money currency, the name. you know, there's a financial component in everything. Sometimes it's. It all comes down to the money. And there are only three Things you can do with your money. You can give it, you can spend it, or you can invest it. Here at Pirate M Money Radio, we work to explain solutions that support all three areas in a way that promotes liberty, security and values. Patriot Mobile, it's a mobile phone company, supports the Pirate Money radio program. Patriot Mobile uses US carriers, including AT&T, Verizon and T Mobile, and operates on both Apple and Android phones. More information about the economic war room, our sister show. And Patriot Mobile is [email protected] that's PirateMoneyRadio.com afr and we're talking about money, and we're talking about what you can do with your money. Right now we have liberty with our money in that if I carry a $20 bill, it's got a serial number on it, but if I spend that, nobody knows where it came from. But the intention of the World Economic Forum was to make every dime that you spend, and it wouldn't be dimes, whatever, the global currency that they use would be numbered and followed and controlled and tracked. And yet I don't. Did you hear people talking about this, ten years ago?
Erick Stackelbeck No, really. It really came out of the woodwork. I'd say 20, 20, 20, 21. Because they came out of the woodwork, Kevan. They were much more forceful about what they wanted, what they planned, and they saw Covid as their golden opportunity. The World Economic Forum. Davos became an even bigger deal all of a sudden. That Davos gathering of elites every day. January was on the American people's radar screen because again, they were more open about it because they sensed an opportunity. Joe Biden in office, obviously, and they sense an opportunity. They sense that the pendulum was swinging far to the left, and that's good for them. The Chinese social credit system, Kevan, is a big factor here in China. Look, if you disavow the regime or you dare criticize the regime, I mean, they can make your life very miserable. for instance, small things, but big things. Say you take public transportation to work every day, you take the subway. They can, see to it that you're not able to get a card, a Metro card to ride the Metro. A little thing, but a big thing that affects your quality of life. And they will pressure you and kind of squeeze the vise on you until you conform. And the great resetters, the Klaus Schwab's of the world.
Kevin Freeman And what happened to Klaus Schwab?
Erick Stackelbeck Well, apparently he's in some trouble right now.
Kevin Freeman He's in trouble.
Erick Stackelbeck He's in Big trouble. And he's in his 80s. And this was his life's vision, Kevan. To transform, the world into a hellish vision, a one world government. And now he's in trouble.
Kevin Freeman They kicked him out.
Kevin says Klaus Schwab was a perfect James Bond villain
We don't know if it's a Jeffrey Epstein type thing. We don't know if he was skimming funds or maybe it was the next generation who said, okay, pops, you're out of here. You set it up and now I'm king.
Erick Stackelbeck Yeah, the Zuram Mamdani generation, right? And he mentioned James Baughan a few minutes ago. Kevan, he was like the quintessential Bond villain, Klaus Schwab, right down to his accent and his appearance.
Kevin Freeman He was. He was a perfect James Baughan villain.
Kevin Lewis: Mamdani could destabilize New York City if unchecked
All right, so you mentioned Mamdani. What, what kind of threat does he. You're from the east coast, so you're a Philly guy.
Erick Stackelbeck You probably hear this accent a little bit.
Kevin Freeman What kind of threat does he. He's 33 years old. He is Muslim. He is an avowed socialist. He said, I'm not a communist, but of course he is a communist. I want rent controls, I want state run grocery stores. What kind of threat does he pose?
Erick Stackelbeck I think it's a massive threat. Because, look, as much as some people may say, you know what, New York City's a hellhole. Let it go to pot, just let it collapse. Some people say that, but look, it's still our largest city. It's still an economic center for America and for global commerce. And look, it's a symbol of America in many ways. We can't just. That's why I love what President Trump is doing right now with these attempts to revitalize the American city and make them safer. Kevan, we can't just let New York City or Los Angeles just go by the wayside. We can't do it. These are symbols of American strength and American pride, historically, at least not in recent years. But Mamdani is a serious, serious threat. And if he's unchecked, he could take New York City into an insane direction. I think President Trump recently, what he's done in D.C. for instance, federalizing the police force there and trying to get that under control again, because DC Is a symbol of America. Look, not only tourists, foreign dignitaries come to Washington, D.C. and what do they see? They hear about shootings, muggings. They see homeless tent encampments yards from the Capitol. You can't have it. And he knows you can't have that in New York City. So I'm going to be interested to See what Trump does in the run up to that election in NYC in November. can he, what can he do?
Kevin Freeman Well, he has authority in D.C. obviously because it is federal territory.
Erick Stackelbeck That's the distinction. Chicago, Louisiana, nyc, my hometown of Philadelphia, all crime ridden wastelands. He doesn't have that same authority. But I can tell you, Kevan, from being from, the east coast, and working in New York City a bunch. I lived in New York City for a time. I worked up there a bunch. TBN had a studio up there. Our good friend Eric Metaxas films in New York City. Still. I saw, the decline, especially since COVID there were days I'd go to New York City, hey, take the train up to New York and get dinner, walk around midnight, 1am you could walk around New York. And it is not that now. It was palpable.
Kevin Freeman Rudy Giuliani gets the credit for that. I mean, I remember David Dinkins before him and I remember the mayor before that. And I would have to go to New York and I hated it. And then when Giuliani became mayor, it was a thrill. And you could go to Broadway and you could go to Times Square and you could walk anywhere. Subways are safe. You love it because he noticed the little things like the broken window. He's like, fix that and you'll lower crime. And that's true.
Eric Stackelback: The left and radical Islam share many similarities
All right. Mamdani, on the other hand, he is red, He's a communist, he is green, he's Islamist, he's a twelver. He's like Iranian, Shia Twelver. And he is a globalist. He's all three threats grown into one in a 33 year old kid. 33 years old. And he's about to be the mayor of the greatest city in the arguably.
Erick Stackelbeck in the world.
Kevin Freeman Yeah.
Erick Stackelbeck And look, he's 33 as you said, Kevan. He's only been in the United States for six years, if I'm not mistaken. He was born and raised in Uganda to very wealthy parents. And he's apparently very.
Kevin Freeman He went to colleges as an af, as an African, he tried to pass.
Erick Stackelbeck African American. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's interesting. The red green, the red green alliance, this unholy alliance. Kevan, I know you've talked a bunch about over the years. It seems just very unlikely on its face and not a natural fit to see transgenders marching for Palestine. But at the end of the day they have a shared hatred for America, for Judeo, Christian, Western civilization. So these strange bedfellows will work together, but a cautionary tale for the left as they get in bed with the Islamists. I point them to 1979, the Iranian Revolution, where the left, the Communists, the Marxists, were very much behind the Ayatollah Khomeini. When he came back a few months after he assumed power, their heads were literally on the chopping block. The first people he went after were the left, the Marxists, the Communists. A little bit of a cautionary tale for our friends on the college campuses right now who are burning American and Israeli flags alongside Islamists.
Kevin Freeman Same story with pink swastika with, Adolf Hitler. Same story, with Tahrir Square. I remember watching as the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt. And I'm watching the reporter interviewing the lesbian couple. Why are you working with the Muslim Brotherhood? Because they're good organizers and they hate this government just as much as we do. And I wonder what happened. I know this, my friend Laura Logan was there with 60 Minutes, and she was, carted off and horrible things done to her after they overwhelmed her security forces. That was a bad thing. And I've been to Egypt since the Brotherhood was gone, and, and I found myself comfortable and fine. That is a risk for New York. What are they going to do?
Erick Stackelbeck It is, Kevan.
Kevin Freeman I don't want to be thrown off the top of the Empire State Building, and I'm not, I'm not of that persuasion, but there are plenty in New York who are, no doubt, that wouldn't be a bad thing to be thrown at.
Erick Stackelbeck And it's an incremental strategy for them. I think another similarity between the radical left and radical, radical Islamist is that incremental strategy, kind of death by a thousand cuts, where it doesn't necessarily happen overnight. they assume political power, then gradually they take you down that road. So the left and radical Islam very much have that in common. the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, which is really the granddaddy of them all when it comes to Islamic terror groups. But they're more dangerous, I would say, Kevan, in many ways than the violent jihadists, because they burrow themselves and entrench themselves inside a society and they create parallel societies and then they assume political power. And it's always very moderate sounding and it's all about coexistence and all sounds great. And then when they get power, they lower the boom.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, no, and that actually is the history of Islam. That is actually in the Koran. That's how you're supposed to do things, you know, that you express, support for the government you're in until you become a certain percentage of the population. And then you demand that the government conform to you. And this is the risk. So President Trump. So they're slowly poisonous. President Trump is like grabbing it out of her hands. Stop drinking the poison. And I'm making radical changes to take America back. One seems radical and that is actually the good side. One seems, it's okay and collegial. It's actually the bad side. But we're talking with Eric Stackleback. We're talking about threats to America. We've got solutions for America and we'll discuss those when we come back right after this break.
Kevin Freeman: Young people are falling for promises of communism and globalism
Welcome back with your host, Kevan Freeman
Kevin Freeman Hey, Eric. And I'm talking, we're talking with Eric Stackleback and we're talking about threats to America and we're talking about in those threats to America, the red, the green and the blue, which is the communism, Islam. And the blue is globalism. And all of that has to do with promises. We promise you something better if you will just go along with this. Life will be better if you just adopt communism. And so, you know, I just, did a deep dive on this in economic war room. And he's Mamdani. I'm going to put up government owned grocery stores which they had in the Soviet Union and they had no food in them and long lines to get the tiny amount of food that they might get if you were really lucky. they never work. But people, young people in particular, they're falling for this idea, this concept that life would be better off if we just had a change because they're, they're, they're feeling despair. They don't feel like America's working for them.
Erick Stackelbeck It's interesting. Generation Z, Kevan, you see incredible polls and numbers too. They're turning more and more conservative, especially young men. They're becoming more Christian. There's a bit of a revival happening at Gen Z. So it's so exciting.
Kevin Freeman And that's not New York apparently though.
Erick Stackelbeck Well, it depends on where in the country you are. I think, I think the divide is really stark against all, across all generations. But with Generation Z in places like LA and New York City compared to say, Oklahoma or Texas.
Kevin Freeman Yeah.
Erick Stackelbeck So New York City's a massive problem because it's all young white people mainly voting for Mamdani. It's interesting, the Hispanic and African American population in New York City did not vote for Mamdani in large numbers. They voted for, say, Cuomo Or Eric Adams, in the primary. So, what you have are these young urban, well educated elites who are latching onto socialism and it's out of ignorance, I think, and a lot of times pure just having a very secular worldview that's not, that doesn't have moorings in the history of America in Judeo, Christian, Western civilization. But the bottom line is it's a vulnerable population right now and I think with generations in particular, they could go one or two ways depending on the latest TikTok video that they're watching.
Kevin Freeman Well, and the educational system, for the most part is indoctrinating with communism. Ah, next week we're going to have Ryan Helfenbein from Liberty University and we're going to be talking about how Liberty does it differently. The Liberty students, they have hope and they see a future. And so it's Christianity. If you strip that and you teach and doctorate in communism, you get that failure. And the reality of it is young people are facing economic challenges. You have to wait later to buy a home and you've got to have a two income family so you have kids later and all that. They're not seeing the same thing that we saw when we were growing up as opportunity. And it comes down a lot, part in economics. And that's why we did the whole pirate money legislation to bring transactional gold and silver. Now I want to point out, support for this program comes from Glint. It's a financial technology service offering with a debit card and mobile app that enables users to access their gold holdings for everyday purchases. With Glint, users maintain ownership of allocated physical gold, which is stored in a managed vault. At the time of transaction. Gold is sold in real time to cover the purchase the amount in local currency. Glint offers an alternative way to store and use the value. Combining gold and silver with modern payment infrastructure, Glint clients can monitor their gold balance, view transaction history and manage their account through the Glint app, available on major mobile platforms. More details about how vaulted physical gold can be used as money are available at glentpay.comgold247 that's glennpay.comgold247 Glint providing access to gold for modern spending.
Eric Steckelback: We have a unique window of opportunity under President Trump
And you know Eric, we talk about people using gold and silver as money again because it's in the Bible, it's in the Constitution, and people say, well, how does that work? But we went to dinner and I showed you how it worked, didn't I?
Erick Stackelbeck You did. It was amazing. And I think the time has come. Needless to say, because with the way the winds are blowing, look, President Trump's in office right now. It's amazing. Great things are happening, but who knows what 20, 28, it seems like it's not a long way off, but a lot can happen in the next three years, needless to say. So I think we've got a unique window of opportunity here, Kevan, that we cannot squander. And President Trump obviously is working overtime. He's not doing that. He's got that punch list as you described it. I think on that punch list should be a return to gold, as you and I have discussed, as you laid out to me. and you've been educating everyone on this. You educated me on it. So I'm very appreciative of it. But again, and this is the opportunity, the window, to push everything through that can be pushed through and to add to that punch list for President Trump. And I think that's certainly on the list.
Kevin Freeman Well, one thing he did that was great, he created, a, religious liberty commission, which is fantastic, because we need to see America go back to church, the greatness of America, De Tocqueville or wherever you look, if you honest and you look at America, the greatness of America from Whitefield on has been in the churches, and America, for the most part, has turned away from church. But you said young people are turning back.
Erick Stackelbeck You know, absolutely. Young people are turning back. Not all. I mean, witness, as we said, New York City. But look, there's a good amount of Gen Z in particular, Kevan, who. They kind of got the worst of it during COVID the woke madness. I mean, they were locked down, they couldn't go to school in person. And the wokeness, the transgenderism shoved down their throats, especially young men told they were horrible people and they're fed up with it, and they're turning back to common sense. They're seeing that the left and that agenda does not work. But as you said, Kevan, we have, I think, a great political restoration in this country right now under President Trump. At the end of the day, this is a spiritual battle, and I believe we need a sweeping revival in this nation, a turning back to God. I see stirrings right now, and I think it's very encouraging. President Trump has that faith Advisory Council as you described. He's also got a White House faith office just a few feet from the West Wing. And he. And I think this is very important. He's the head, and he is talking about God, Kevan. He is openly acknowledging God all the time from the Oval Office. He credits God for sparing his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, which God did. And then I thought was really striking those strikes against Iran's nuclear program. President Trump, when he announced, hey, we just struck Iran's nuclear weapons facilities, he thanked God and he said, we love you God. He actually I've never heard an American president, including self professed evangelical presidents talk like that.
Kevin Freeman No, it's amazing. And he didn't talk with mal intent toward the people, the Persian Iranian people. It was, we have to stop. He didn't want to harm people. And I think that that was evidence, of Christ, like behavior from a guy that most people think is, you know, a little bit blowhardish and so forth. I thought it was an amazing speech. But there's something else. He's also standing up for Israel. And yet there's a big push to separate the maga movement, pro Israel and anti Israel.
Erick Stackelbeck Very dangerous, Kevan. Very, disappointing is the word. It's not strong enough, that word. But some people that I really respected over the years and to see them go in this direction, not just anti Israel, but pretty openly anti Semitic and engaging in insane blood libels, and anti Semitic behavior and statements and we're seeing it over and over again and it seems to be increasing and gathering steam. It's really amazing to me that after October 7th, the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, you would think that there would be this massive groundswell of support for Israel and the Jewish people. The exact opposite has happened. I mean literally the day after October 7, we saw people in the streets protesting against Israel before Israel even had a chance to respond to October 7th.
Kevin Freeman Street and our best colleges, I mean.
Erick Stackelbeck Our best and brightest, we're talking Ivy League, Ivy League and beyond. But to see segments of the right and the MAGA movement go in this direction, it's such a head scratcher to me, Kevan. And they say, look, I'm not anti Semitic. That's a canard. Don't use that against me. How else can you explain it though? Because to me it's so black and white. Look, I think we've got, we've got a situation right now where God Almighty is separating the wheat from the tares. I think that applies to nations and it applies to individuals. I think Israel is one of the main dividing lines, Kevan. And if you're not on the right side of this issue, you're probably not going to be on the right side of most issues. Because to me it's so black and white. It's so clear cut, you have this tiny nation the size of the state of New Jersey acting as the first line of defense for all of Western civilization, holding back the jihad and the floodgates that want to come here and strike us here, they're a Western style democracy, they're a scientific, economic and high tech powerhouse, blessing the world in that way. And then at the end of, the end of the day, the covenant that God has with that land is eternal. God has not changed his mind about Israel. And if he breaks his promises to Israel, what's to say he wouldn't break his promises to all of us? So you add that all up, and to me it's pretty clear cut who you should be standing with. So the lack of a moral compass among some, on the right at this point is disheartening.
Kevin Freeman Yeah, no, no question. And you can disagree with the political decisions of the government of Israel, that's, that's fine. But to disagree with, with the notion that God has established Israel, or to claim, well, they're not really the Jewish people. I mean, seriously, you look at them, if you practice the religion, if, if you live under that and you're willing to put yourself subjected to that type of hatred and vitriol, I'm pretty sure they're Jewish. And yet you'll see commentators that I used to respect greatly say, well, I'm not sure that they're Jewish even. Where is this coming from?
Erick Stackelbeck It's that bad. And there's Holocaust. Denial is another cottage industry among these people. Now, to me, Kevan, if you look at 1948 and the miraculous rebirth of Israel, how do you not see God's hand all over that? I mean, the odds, this has never happened in human history. For people to be dispersed from their native land for 2,000 years, then to come back and revive the Hebrew language, it's in regular use once again. Only God and I know that because throughout the Bible, God promised he would do exactly that.
Kevin Freeman He said he would.
Erick Stackelbeck You'll be scattered, but in the latter days, I will bring you back. Guess what? We've got the modern nation state of Israel.
Kevin Freeman And yet you'll have.
Kevin Freeman: Israel has outlasted all of their enemies, according to prophets
In my lifetime, you had, every major army, 10 times the size surrounding this tiny little nation attacking them. And God gives them a miraculous victory. I'm like, this is just reading the prophets.
Erick Stackelbeck This is, yeah, they've outlasted everyone. I mean, they've outlasted Pharaoh, Haman, the Philistines, the Amalekites, the Nazis, the Ottomans. They've outlasted all of their enemies. They're still here against all odds because.
Kevin Freeman God keeps his promise. There's no question. All right, Eric, what's the best way for people to follow you?
Erick Stackelbeck They can catch me every weeknight on stacklebeck tonight on TBN 7:30pm Eastern Time. And we re air at 10:30pm Eastern Time. So that's TBN every weeknight. Then on YouTube it is watchman m.
Erick Stackelbeck A n watchman tv.com watchmen tv.com all right, that's fantastic. Thank you for being with us today.
Erick Stackelbeck It was great, Kevan. Thanks for having me all.
Kevin Freeman right, if you have questions or comments, you can email [email protected] We've covered a lot of topics here. We need to pray. We need to pray for America and for the world and for Israel and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. listen, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, etcetera, you can get Pirate Money Radio. Thank you, Eric Stackelbach, for joining us in studio. It's such a pleasure to have you. This is Kevan Freeman for Pirate Money, radio.
Kevin Freeman hosts Erick Stakelbeck to unpack back-to-school inflation, U.S. media dynamics, and high-profile interviews—including perspectives on President Trump’s agenda, leverage, and faith emphasis. They assess the “red-green-blue” axis—communism (China/Russia), Islamism (Brotherhood/ISIS), and globalism (WEF/WHO)—and its impact on U.S. sovereignty, cities, and culture. Discussion highlights include enclave strategies in the West, Europe’s no‑go zones, Trump’s measures against CBDCs and for Israel, and rising Gen Z openness to Christianity. The show closes with practical money freedom via transactional gold, spiritual renewal, and steadfast support for Israel against escalating anti-Semitism.
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