Aug. 3, 2025

The Theory 2 Action Weekend Show--August 3, 2025

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message Welcome to a transformative moment for the Theory to Action podcast! After four dedicated years of exploring conservative books and wisdom, we're expanding our horizons with a new weekly format that complements our traditional book-focused episodes. This inaugural Weekend Show establishes a historical foundation by ranking America's five most significant presidential scandals. From the infamous Watergate break-in that forced Nix...

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message


Welcome to a transformative moment for the Theory to Action podcast! After four dedicated years of exploring conservative books and wisdom, we're expanding our horizons with a new weekly format that complements our traditional book-focused episodes.

This inaugural Weekend Show establishes a historical foundation by ranking America's five most significant presidential scandals. From the infamous Watergate break-in that forced Nixon's resignation to the secret oil reserve leases of Teapot Dome, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, railroad corruption during Grant's administration, and the Whiskey Ring tax evasion scheme—each scandal reveals profound lessons about power, accountability, and the fragility of democratic institutions.

Having established this historical baseline, we turn our attention to troubling contemporary revelations. Recently declassified information points to what could potentially become the most consequential political scandal in American history—a nine-year presidential coup attempt with connections to the highest levels of government. Drawing from authors like Lee Smith and Greg Jarrett who documented these developments in real-time, we promise future episodes that will methodically examine the evidence and implications.

The show also highlights notable new conservative literature, including Mark Levin's latest exploration of power dynamics and Drago Dazarian's powerful journey from political prisoner to Navy SEAL. We close with wisdom from Joshua Metcalf's "Chop Wood, Carry Water," a book currently being studied by the Ohio State Buckeyes football team, on embracing the essential processes that lead to greatness.

Our mission remains unchanged: to distill timeless wisdom from great conservative books and translate it into immediate action for a flourishing life. Now, with our expanded format, we'll cover more ground while maintaining the depth you've come to expect. Whether you're interested in politics, Catholicism, liberty, or practical wisdom for everyday living, the Theory to Action podcast is your trusted companion on the journey toward a more meaningful existence.

Connect with us through the show notes to share your thoughts on our new format and join us next week as we continue exploring the ideas that shape our world and our lives.

IMPORTANT NOTE:   Check out the updated chapter markers as they correspond to our segments in the show to help navigating much much easier!  ENJOY!   We hope you like it!

Key Points from the Episode:


• New "Weekend Show" format will cover broader topics while maintaining midweek deep dives into specific books
• Ranked the five worst presidential scandals: Watergate (#1), Teapot Dome (#2), Clinton-Lewinsky (#3), Credit Mobilier (#4), and Whiskey Ring (#5)
• Examined recently declassified information suggesting a potential nine-year presidential coup that may become the biggest scandal in U.S. history
• Highlighted new and notable conservative books, including Mark Levin's book "On Power" and Drago Dazarian's "Pledge to America"
• Shared wisdom from "Chop Wood, Carry Water" by Joshua Medcalf on embracing the process of becoming great

Send your feedback on our new format through the contact information in our show notes. 

Join us next week as we continue exploring the books and ideas that help you take action and flourish in your life.

Other resources: 


Want to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly, thank you so much!


04:27 - New Format

07:25 - Book of the Week

30:26 - Books Books and More books

36:48 - Finishing with Flourishing

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser, flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David and welcome back to the Theory to Action podcast.

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I am your host, your guide, your right-hand man for all things books and, in particular, conservative books.

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I've been reading books for the better part of the last 15 years, so if you got questions I got answers.

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There are not many conservative podcasts out there who talk mainly about books, and there's not very many whole podcasts that even speak of books just occasionally.

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So where we have been doing that here on this podcast for the last four years, that's the books that help you choose to action, call to actions and, ultimately, to help you flourish in your life.

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Whether that's books to help you understand the revolution in politics that has been happening for the better part of the last two decades is finally being stopped by the current president, or if that is your Catholic faith that we talk about here on the Mojo Academy and on this podcast.

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If you have been a longtime listener, then you know that this podcast is especially.

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This opening of the podcast is not repeat, not how we usually open our show.

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So with that, I have some exciting news for you we are switching our format to a weekly show, not just a specific book.

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Now, before I get into that, let's go over the whole show and kind of the format so you know what is coming today.

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Today's show, we're going to talk about the new format.

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I'm going to give you some new details and set your expectations on what you can see throughout the month, and we will get into all of that.

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Our next segment will be all about the nine-year presidential coup that we have all been watching since Tulsi Gabbard came out and revealed what she has declassified.

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So we're going to talk about that nine-year presidential coup.

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We've certainly talked about the books that initially covered the scandal Lee Smith's books.

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We'll talk about that.

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And then we're going to take a step back and go through US presidential scandals down through the years.

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We're going to give our top five presidential scandals throughout the whole 250 years, because I think it's important that we created a baseline at the outset, a baseline to know where we're at.

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To know where we're at and especially with these latest accusations, where the early evidence is taking us and where we are most likely to end up.

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Now a little spoiler alert yes, I think this will go down as the worst scandal in US history and we will see if anyone goes to jail.

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But that's going to be our important topic of today.

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We're going to have an important topic, usually geared around a book.

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So don't think we are abandoning books at all.

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We're not going to become solely a news show.

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We're going to become a podcast around books, but also expand beyond the one book focus per each episode.

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Then our next segment is going to be all about books in general and conservative books in particular.

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We're going to do some fun stuff around that.

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We have a new book coming out that we want to share with you, and then we have some good conservative books on the horizon.

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So that'll be a fun and lighthearted segment.

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And then we're going to finish with flourishing.

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That's going to be another segment.

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We're going to continue week by week, finishing with flourishing.

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You know this podcast is all about flourishing, and so we're going to give you a nugget of wisdom which I think you will like.

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So that is the quick rundown of what our week, the weekly show, is going to look like for today, and with that let's go to our first segment.

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All right, our first segment is our new format for the show.

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Now, this change will happen immediately because it's happening with this show as you're listening.

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It's going to just allow us like I said, it's going to allow us to cover more topics, and the news is always changing so fast.

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With the wider format, we're going to be able to touch on many more subjects news, book news, politics, conservatism in general, catholicism in general that whole intersection where the podcast lives, general.

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You know that whole intersection where the podcast lives.

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You know we talk often about flourishing, about liberty, about the Catholic faith and all the books around, all of those areas, because that's where my passion is.

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So I believe that's where a huge percentage of you folks tune in each week to find out what I'm talking about, what I'm thinking about, and so that's why we're going to expand our format.

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Now, the weekend show is what we're going to call it, so you'll see that in the title It'll probably be like the weekend show, and then, whatever the date is, that way you can keep them separate.

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It's going to follow the same format.

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Like I said, this show is format, this talk show is going on, so same format will be followed for the weekend shows going forward.

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Now, if you like the old format, we are going to keep that around for the foreseeable future the midweek show, usually around Wednesday or Thursday.

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That's going to be the old format where we dive into a specific book, usually start out with a quote and so that if you are a fan of the old way and the old format, you can certainly tune in Wednesday or Thursday and grab those.

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But we hope you will enjoy the new format on the weekend show.

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So we also have another project we are working on and we're likely to roll out soon.

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So be on the lookout for that.

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Can't really dig into any other details, still trying to figure out how to fit it in and what that format's going to look like and then how much time it's going to take to research all of that stuff.

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It's going to be well, let me not tease it too much because then I'll give it away.

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Never good with secrets, especially on the podcast.

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Now the weekend show is going to be a little bit longer.

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I think that's what some of you have been asking for, especially.

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That's some of the feedback I get, and the bottom line is that we think you will like this show format better, along with that midweek deep dive in of the books that you've come to expect from us.

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So we believe we are giving you the best of both worlds.

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So with that, we are going to move on to our next segment, our important book of the week segment.

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All right, and this is our book of the week segment.

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We are going to be covering presidential drama by earl eugene tagli.

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Subtitle the ultimate summary of scandals from Washington to Trump.

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The way all of us present, the way all us See.

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This is what happens when you no longer use bullet points but you just try and riff off of your, your four years of experience, you stumble over your words and then you sound like I just sounded.

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Subtitle is the ultimate summary of scandals from Washington to Trump, the way all US presidents repeated patterns of power, regardless of party.

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I will say to the author, eugene, or Earl Eugene Togley, you might want to abbreviate US, because I read it as us.

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So the more I kept looking at it, the more I figured out I was not in the wrong.

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They were in the wrong because they did not.

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They were in the wrong because they did not abbreviate US for United States.

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So with that, let's go to our opening quote Presidential Drama the Ultimate Summary of Scandals from Washington to Trump.

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This book explores, through historical highlights, the complex and often contentious legacy of US presidents, each of whom, in their pursuit of power and influence, has at times violated, ignored or overextended the boundaries set by the US Constitution, from Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase to Donald Trump's controversial actionsing the 2020 Election.

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Not really, but we digress.

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This book features some of the more important controversies of presidential overreach, examining moments when individual presidents, driven by their personal ideologies, wartime necessities or political calculations, have tested, stretched or outright defied the limits of constitutional authority, including their biases on what our country should be, and look like questioning the principles that we cherish today.

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All right, so that's the opening quote to our book of the day.

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So that's the opening quote to our book of the day, and we're going to kick this off with the fifth worst scandal US presidential scandal in the history of our 250 years, and that would be the Whiskey Ring scandal under President US Grant, ulysses S Grant, 1875.

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The reason for the scandal, a conspiracy among distillers, government officials and tax collectors to defraud the US government by evading taxes on whiskey production during the Grant administration.

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It violated many IRS rules because they were underreporting the whiskey production to avoid excise taxes.

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To avoid excise taxes, many bribes were paid to officials and violated many tax laws and anti-corruption statutes.

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It was uncovered by then Treasury Secretary, george Henry Boutwell, and a journalist, myron Cloney Colony Cloney we're going to go with Cloney and there was over 110 convictions that were secured many distillers, some IRS agents and government officials.

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The scandal damaged Ulysses S Grant's administration even though he was not personally implicated.

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And the reason is when we get to our fourth scandal you'll understand why.

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And the reason is when we get to our fourth scandal you'll understand why.

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But again over 150 individuals were charged, either convicted, fined or imprisoned.

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Grant's private secretary, orville Babcock, was indicted but acquitted due to Grant's testimony on his behalf.

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There's a lot of short termterm prisons or short-term prison terms, but really the high profile figures often escaped very severe punishment in this scandal.

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So that's number five, the Whiskey Ring Scandal of 1875.

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And moving on to our number fourth worst presidential scandal, credit Mobilier scandal, which was from 1872 to 1873.

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Reason for the scandal was it was a scheme involving the Union Pacific Railroad and Credit Mobilier of America.

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That was a construction company.

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They were siphoning off profits during the Transcontinental Railroad's construction.

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You will remember that the Transcontinental Railroad was authorized by Congress during the Civil War but the Union Pacific executives they created this construction company to overcharge for construction.

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It's kind of like the way the mob does or did in New York City over garbage or concrete or whatever else the mob would overcharge for.

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And those profits were funneled to themselves from the Union Pacific executives.

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Shares were then given to some congressmen to secure favorable legislation and avoid scrutiny.

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That constituted bribery at the highest levels and it violated anti-corruption laws.

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It was exposed by 1872 by the New Sun and led to many congressional investigations.

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Public outrage happened and damaged the Republican Party during the Grant administration.

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This was the first real big scandal among Grant's administration.

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There was no criminal convictions but political careers were ruined.

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Convictions but political careers were ruined, no-transcript.

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You will know that President Grant was severely tarnished, certainly fantastic and great Civil War general, but got to the presidency and by 1876, very, very stained and scarred from these two big scandals.

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So with our third we're going to move on to our third worst presidential US presidential scandal, and that would be the Lewinsky Clinton scandal of 1998.

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With that we're going to go back to the book.

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Bill Clinton's presidency from 1993 to 2001, was marked by several major controversies.

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Was marked by several major controversies.

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The Monica Lewinsky scandal of 1998 to 1999 was perhaps the most high profile.

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Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, combined with his subsequent denial under oath, led to charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

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This resulted in his impeachment by the House of Representatives, though he was acquitted by the Senate.

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The scandal deeply divided the nation and overshadowed his later years in office Certainly did overshadow his later years in office.

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I was in Washington DC at the time.

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I was working on Capitol Hill, so I saw and heard the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal up close and watched it play out day after day.

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And so, really, clinton denied the affair under oath in the Paula Jones lawsuit, which led to his perjury charges.

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Allegations of obstruction of justice arose from attempts to influence Lewinsky's testimony and conceal evidence.

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And eventually, how it ended was what we just heard.

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Independent counsel Ken Starr led an investigation, recommended Clinton's impeachment to the House of Representatives in 1998 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

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The House did their work.

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They agreed with Ken Starr.

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The Senate acquitted Clinton in 1999, allowing him to complete his term.

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Clinton settled the Paula Jones lawsuit for 150.

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I'm sorry, not 150, $850,000.

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Lost his law license I'm sorry, did not lose his law license, was suspended for five years and he paid a $25,000 fine.

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No one went to jail.

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Clinton was not convicted in the Senate trial and his reputation suffered and the scandal impacted the Democratic Party's political standing.

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But nothing else happened and we are going to cover a little bit more about this scandal in later podcasts.

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We have completed reading a humdinger of a book.

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Don't hear that word anymore, do you, humdinger?

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I don't know why that even came to my mind, but it was and is a hum dinger of a book and we're going to cover that in later episodes.

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So with that we're going to move on to the second worst US presidential scandal, and that would be the Teapot Dome scandal of 1921 and 1923.

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Let's go back to the book and hear what they have to say about it.

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Warren G Harding's presidency from 1921 and 1923 was overshadowed by the Teapot Dome Scandal, one of the most significant political scandals in US history.

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The scandal involved the secret leasing of federal oil reserves at Teapot Dome, wyoming and Elk Hills, california, to private companies without competitive bidding.

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In exchange, government officials, notably Albert Fall, accepted bribes.

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Harding's reputation was severely tarnished by the scandal which came to light after his death.

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Though Harding was not personally implicated, the scandal revealed widespread corruption within his administration and it undermined the public trust in his leadership.

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So much of the reason that Calvin Coolidge is regarded as a very good president is he was vice president under Harding, as he passed major tax cuts, which we have talked about many times from this microphone, and essentially restored trust and confidence in the executive branch and in the presidency.

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The remaining six years roughly six years from 23 to 28,.

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Five years, I guess, 23 to 28, when Hoover is then elected president.

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So Teapot Dome we talked about Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall doing wrongdoing.

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Essentially, if I can talk, essentially for an exchange of bribes, cash and loans from oil executives that violated the same anti-corruption laws and fiduciary duty that the Secretary of the Interior was supposed to abide by.

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Those leases were awarded without competitive bidding.

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It was essentially exposed in 1921 after there was many investigations prompted by whistleblowers and journalists.

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But congressional probes and court cases followed and it took the Supreme Court all the way to 1927 to invalidate the leases.

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Now the scandal tarnished, like we said, president Harding's administration, though he died before its full impact.

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Who was punished?

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And did anybody go to the jail?

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Albert Fall was convicted of bribery in 1929.

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He was fined $100,000 in 1929, a pretty big sum.

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He was sentenced to one year in prison, becoming the first cabinet member jailed for crimes committed in office.

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Well, executives, henry Sinclair Harry Sinclair faced trials.

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He ended up serving six months for contempt of court but was acquitted on the bribery charge.

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And that brings us to our number one US presidential scandal.

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We all know it, you're waiting for it Watergate 1972 to 1974.

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Let's go back to the book.

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Richard Nixon's presidency 1969 to 1974, was marked by two controversies, major controversies.

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The Watergate scandal involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, followed by a cover-up orchestrated by Nixon and his aides.

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The scandal led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, making it one of the most significant political scandals in US history.

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Nixon became the first US president to resign on August 9th 1974.

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And then, previous to that, in 1972, june of 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee DNC headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington DC, dc.

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They were there to wiretap and gather intelligence on the political opposition during the 1972 presidential campaign.

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Between then, richard Nixon and George McGovern.

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It was soon discovered that the burglars had ties to the Nixon administration, specifically to members of the committee to re-elect the president with the acronym of CREEP Probably didn't help them out in public opinion with a acronym like CREEP.

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As investigations into the break-in progressed, it was revealed that senior members of the Nixon administration, including the president himself, had been involved in covering up the break-in and in obstructing justice.

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This included efforts to suppress the FBI investigation and mislead the public.

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The turning point came when it was revealed that Nixon had secretly recorded conversations in the Oval Office, including one in which he discussed how to impede the FBI's investigation into the Watergate break-in.

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The tapes became the central piece of evidence in the scandal and much of the reason that we're covering this book is I wanted to get that on the record.

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What is the official history of and the conventional history of what the Watergate break-in was?

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Because I have read another humdinger of a book, two humdingers in one podcast episode.

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Folks, that is a record.

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I have read a humdinger of a book and we are going to reevaluate the history about Watergate and we're going to do a deep dive into an upcoming podcast all about it.

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So again, just to wrap up, what the Watergate scandal was.

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The conventional wisdom is it violated the law because the break-in involved illegal wiretapping, burglary in violation of campaign finance laws.

00:23:38.678 --> 00:23:51.144
Nixon's administration obstructed justice by destroying evidence, pressuring witnesses and misusing federal agencies, namely the FBI and the CIA, to hinder investigations.

00:23:51.144 --> 00:23:56.217
We're going to shed a lot of light on those two bullet points right there.

00:23:56.217 --> 00:23:57.617
Now.

00:23:57.617 --> 00:23:58.198
How it ended?

00:23:58.198 --> 00:24:20.031
Conventional wisdom tells us that it was exposed by that intrepid reporter the Washington Post reporters of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, with the help of the informant called Deep Throat at the time, who ended up being a deputy director of the FBI, mark Felt.

00:24:28.255 --> 00:24:36.057
Congressional investigations and discovery of the Nixon Oval Office tapes led to his impeachment or to impeachment proceedings, and Nixon resigned in August of 1974 to avoid certain impeachment and conviction.

00:24:36.057 --> 00:24:38.559
To avoid certain impeachment and conviction.

00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:57.714
Ultimately, over 40 individuals were convicted, including Nixon aides, john Mitchell, attorney general, who served 19 months, hr Haldeman and John Ehrlichman I believe they served just about a year.

00:24:57.714 --> 00:24:58.856
My bullet points are incomplete.

00:24:58.856 --> 00:25:03.646
I did not research what Haldeman and Ehrlichman served, but the Watergate seven, including G Gordon Liddy.

00:25:03.646 --> 00:25:05.068
They were all convicted.

00:25:05.068 --> 00:25:06.981
Liddy served over four years.

00:25:06.981 --> 00:25:19.698
Nixon was ultimately pardoned by President Ford so he avoided persecution, but his reputation was destroyed by the liberal media at the time and still since by the liberal media at the time and still since.

00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:42.791
So those are the top five US presidential scandals, and thank you to our book of the week Presidential Drama by Earl Eugene Togley, the ultimate summary of scandals from Washington to Trump, the way all US presidents repeated patterns of power, regardless of party.

00:25:42.791 --> 00:25:44.333
I will say it's a pretty good book.

00:25:44.333 --> 00:25:53.001
It does a great job summarizing the worst of the worst scandals and it actually does it by administration, so every administration is covered.

00:25:53.001 --> 00:26:02.528
And what is kind of nice for the layperson is the author of Toggle does not give you or maybe he pronounces it Tagali.

00:26:02.528 --> 00:26:11.319
I'll probably get corrected on the pronunciation about that one too, but whether it's Tagali or Tagli, the author does a great job.

00:26:11.319 --> 00:26:23.715
Kudos to him for putting the party affiliation at the end so you can start out reading all about the president and even minor scandals.

00:26:23.715 --> 00:26:27.222
Anything that really was suspect, this guy covers.

00:26:27.222 --> 00:26:28.305
So it's nice.

00:26:28.305 --> 00:26:32.376
You go all the way through 45 presidents.

00:26:32.376 --> 00:26:45.218
They certainly didn't cover Joe Biden because he might need his own book when it's all said and done and maybe former President Obama might need the same, not sure.

00:26:45.637 --> 00:26:51.615
It's a lot of paragraphs and a lot of stuff that's coming down and we're going to cover it all.

00:26:51.615 --> 00:26:55.837
Not only cover it all, but we're going to once we get to the bottom of the truth.

00:26:55.837 --> 00:27:02.381
Once we get to the bottom of the truth, we are going to cover book by book by book.

00:27:02.381 --> 00:27:24.292
We will start with Lee Smith's book, plot Against the President, then we will go to Greg Jarrett's book, witch Hunt, and we will keep going, because there's plenty of books Dan Bargino's book, there is plenty of books where people were trying to get the word out, trying to get the truth exposed, and we are coming up on nine years.

00:27:24.292 --> 00:27:45.548
By some accounts this started, and when I mean this, all the information that Tulsi Gabbard rolled out and declassified some 10 days ago, all of that we have dates that are going back to January of 2016.

00:27:45.548 --> 00:27:53.405
Donald Trump wasn't even the GOP candidate in January of 2016.

00:27:53.405 --> 00:27:56.410
So it's just unbelievable.

00:27:56.410 --> 00:28:04.685
I mean, we have direct lines to Hillary Clinton, we have Joe Biden in this, direct lines to Barack Obama.

00:28:04.685 --> 00:28:22.171
This smells bad, very, very bad, and the reason I want to do this deep dive into the top five US presidential scandals as a baseline is because I want to set that baseline.

00:28:22.171 --> 00:28:25.635
And yes, watergate was that baseline we're going to.

00:28:25.635 --> 00:28:27.162
We're going to dig into that one too.

00:28:27.162 --> 00:28:32.968
It's a lot of a lot of stuff there, but we're going to dig into that on a separate podcast.

00:28:32.968 --> 00:28:35.741
But boy, oh boy, a Chevy.

00:28:35.741 --> 00:28:38.339
This one, this one.

00:28:38.339 --> 00:28:41.907
Nine years, a nine year presidential coup.

00:28:43.432 --> 00:28:46.840
I've had special prosecutors that did not get to the truth.

00:28:46.840 --> 00:28:53.643
Two I've had a congressional committee that was lied to repeatedly.

00:28:53.643 --> 00:29:04.650
So the Department of Justice has enough information now they should be impaneling a grand jury.

00:29:04.650 --> 00:29:07.095
They can continue.

00:29:07.095 --> 00:29:11.471
And no one even write me about statute of limitations.

00:29:11.471 --> 00:29:15.342
I've read numerous news accounts on that.

00:29:15.342 --> 00:29:16.064
That's rubbish.

00:29:16.906 --> 00:29:22.178
The statute of limitations and conspiracy I'm no lawyer, but I'm a layman and I can read.

00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:24.963
I can read what legal code is.

00:29:24.963 --> 00:29:29.711
I can read what legal code is.

00:29:29.711 --> 00:29:36.703
Statue of limitations on conspiracy begins when the last act, the last overt act that's the actual word, the last overt act happens.

00:29:36.703 --> 00:29:38.612
Well, guess what that was?

00:29:38.612 --> 00:29:42.680
Burn bags found at the FBI some 10 days ago.

00:29:42.680 --> 00:30:02.323
That's when the statute of limitations for five years or eight years or however you want to read that legal code that's when it starts and that's what most smart legal professors and lawyers and former judges are all saying Don't let the New York Times or the Washington Post run cover.

00:30:02.323 --> 00:30:09.262
Those media outlets have been discredited beyond measure.

00:30:09.262 --> 00:30:12.999
So that's going to conclude this segment.

00:30:12.999 --> 00:30:23.779
We're going to come back real fast with a fun and lighthearted segment about the latest in books in general and conservative books in particular.

00:30:23.779 --> 00:30:25.290
You'll enjoy this one.

00:30:25.290 --> 00:30:43.540
Okay, folks, we have a treat for you on the latest news on a general book coming out in the political field.

00:30:43.540 --> 00:30:45.561
You're going to love this one.

00:30:45.561 --> 00:30:46.982
I think we are queued up.

00:30:46.982 --> 00:30:49.564
Let's roll the tape for the folks.

00:30:50.505 --> 00:31:05.355
Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for President of the United States 107 days traveling the country fighting for our future the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.

00:31:05.355 --> 00:31:10.743
It was intense, high stakes and deeply personal for me and for so many of you.

00:31:10.743 --> 00:31:24.112
Since leaving office, I've spent a lot of time reflecting on those days, talking with my team, my family, my friends, and pulling my thoughts together, in essence, writing a journal.

00:31:24.112 --> 00:31:30.303
That is this book 107 Days With candor and reflection.

00:31:30.303 --> 00:31:33.634
I've written a behind-the-scenes account of that journey.

00:31:33.634 --> 00:31:42.140
I believe there's value in sharing what I saw, what I learned and what I know it will take to move forward.

00:31:42.140 --> 00:31:54.724
In writing this book, one truth kept coming back to me Sometimes the fight takes a while, but I remain full of hope and I remain clear-eyed.

00:31:54.724 --> 00:32:04.358
I will never stop fighting to make our country reflect the very best of its ideals, always on behalf of the people.

00:32:04.358 --> 00:32:07.417
So thank you for being in this fight with me.

00:32:07.417 --> 00:32:13.559
I am forever grateful and I cannot wait for you to read this and I'll see you out there.

00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:14.342
Take care.

00:32:21.942 --> 00:32:29.414
Oh, sorry folks, Sorry folks, I can't stop laughing.

00:32:29.414 --> 00:32:31.339
107 days.

00:32:31.339 --> 00:32:41.252
If you did not know who that voice was, sorry about my lack of professionalism.

00:32:41.252 --> 00:32:46.516
You are not supposed to laugh that hard on audio, folks.

00:32:46.516 --> 00:32:55.721
That was former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee for 2024.

00:32:55.721 --> 00:32:59.423
And yes, indeed, this is not a spoof, this is not satire.

00:32:59.423 --> 00:33:01.164
It is true.

00:33:01.164 --> 00:33:05.907
She has a book coming out titled 107 Days.

00:33:05.907 --> 00:33:12.811
I will read you a little bit from the Amazon link page.

00:33:12.811 --> 00:33:15.394
Your secret service code name is Pioneer.

00:33:15.394 --> 00:33:19.539
You are the first woman in history to be elected vice president of the United States.

00:33:19.539 --> 00:33:24.786
On July 22nd 2024, your running mate, joe Biden, announces that he will not seek re-election.

00:33:24.786 --> 00:33:44.875
The presidential election will occur on November 5th 2024.

00:33:44.875 --> 00:33:45.617
You have 107 days.

00:33:45.617 --> 00:33:46.880
The audio is 10 hours, repeat 10 hours.

00:33:46.880 --> 00:33:47.582
I can't see who is reading it.

00:33:47.582 --> 00:33:48.042
Oh dear God.

00:33:48.042 --> 00:33:50.307
Okay, folks, we are going to have to check back.

00:33:51.590 --> 00:33:57.344
Now a little bit of an update, since I was researching that on the fly as we were recording.

00:33:57.344 --> 00:34:04.824
I do not have an author, I do not have a narrator for Kamala Harris's book 107 Days.

00:34:04.824 --> 00:34:09.882
The release date, though I know you're all waiting September 23rd.

00:34:09.882 --> 00:34:12.773
So be sure to mark that on your calendars.

00:34:12.773 --> 00:34:16.201
I know you guys will be doing that.

00:34:16.201 --> 00:34:26.637
And while I was researching that, the previous former Speaker of the House, kevin McCarthy, said the very thing that I was thinking just on a new show that I had up while I was recording this.

00:34:26.637 --> 00:34:30.110
And he said the very thing that I was thinking just on a new show that I had up while I was recording this.

00:34:30.110 --> 00:34:38.844
And he said the very thing I was thinking Can you imagine Kamala Harris reading this for 10 hours?

00:34:38.844 --> 00:34:41.552
Oh precious.

00:34:42.695 --> 00:34:58.090
And moving on to serious book news, we have conservative book author, eight time new york times best-selling author, radio host, mark levin the great one has a new book out on power that is out now officially.

00:34:58.090 --> 00:35:03.657
I think it came out august, august, maybe july, late july.

00:35:03.657 --> 00:35:06.961
Anyhow, it's pretty short.

00:35:06.961 --> 00:35:09.786
It's only four hours and two minutes on Audible.

00:35:09.786 --> 00:35:11.474
But check out that one.

00:35:11.474 --> 00:35:12.960
And another great book.

00:35:15.434 --> 00:35:25.018
Another great book that is out and I missed it the Pledge to America by Drago Dazarian.

00:35:25.018 --> 00:35:28.985
Evidently he was on the Jocko podcast and I missed it.

00:35:28.985 --> 00:35:31.614
He was also on the Dan Bongino show.

00:35:31.614 --> 00:35:36.052
Bongino said it was one of the most powerful books he's ever read in a long time.

00:35:36.052 --> 00:35:44.233
And again, the Pledge to America One Man's Journey from Political Prisoner to US Navy Seal.

00:35:44.233 --> 00:35:48.079
I will read you a little snippet from Amazon.

00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:52.291
Oh folks, I'm sorry this came out in 2023.

00:35:52.291 --> 00:35:54.096
I am way behind the times.

00:35:54.096 --> 00:35:57.471
I need to do a better job of staying on top of this for you guys.

00:35:57.471 --> 00:36:09.260
But anyhow, this guy grew up in Poland and he tells wonderful backstories on seeing John Paul II in his native land.

00:36:09.260 --> 00:36:11.157
I'll read you just the first paragraph.

00:36:11.157 --> 00:36:29.840
Retired Navy SEAL Drago DeZarian takes listeners behind the scenes of his incredible life, from an impoverished childhood in communist-controlled Poland to his time as a political prisoner, to his 20 years as a member of the United States military most elite fighting force, the U S Navy seals.

00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:38.898
He says everything I have I owe to America, the greatest country in the world, that audible book, seven hours and 22 minutes.

00:36:38.898 --> 00:36:44.653
And that will end this segment for the latest and greatest kind in books.

00:36:44.653 --> 00:36:58.525
And now to our last segment, finishing with flourishing.

00:36:58.525 --> 00:36:59.990
Let's go to the book.

00:37:02.574 --> 00:37:08.476
But the next morning, akira gathered the newly arrived apprentices and informed them of their very first task.

00:37:08.476 --> 00:37:12.420
For the rest of the morning they would chop wood and carry water.

00:37:12.420 --> 00:37:15.016
John was surprised and confused.

00:37:15.016 --> 00:37:18.940
He addressed his teacher with the proper title of respect that they had been taught.

00:37:18.940 --> 00:37:21.657
Akira-sensei, what do you mean?

00:37:21.657 --> 00:37:26.391
The old man explained that their community was outfitted with every modern convenience.

00:37:26.391 --> 00:37:30.454
The old man explained that their community was outfitted with every modern convenience, except for heat and running water.

00:37:30.454 --> 00:37:42.940
Instead of using gas or electricity, they burned wood for heat when the weather grew cold, and in order to use water in the bathrooms and kitchen, it had to be brought by hand from a well outside.

00:37:42.940 --> 00:37:51.706
Thus, in order for the community to use water and stay warm during the winter, the community depended on everyone to chop wood and carry water.

00:37:51.706 --> 00:37:54.148
But when will we get to shoot?

00:37:54.148 --> 00:37:55.248
John, wondered aloud.

00:37:55.248 --> 00:37:57.711
Akiri just smiled.

00:37:57.711 --> 00:38:02.681
Shooting will come soon enough, but first you must chop wood and carry water.

00:38:02.681 --> 00:38:07.112
John was frustrated, but he obeyed.

00:38:07.112 --> 00:38:31.739
He trusted his sensei's wisdom and that he knew in time that they would move on to more exciting things and that my folks is a quote from the book Chop Wood, carry Water how to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great by Joshua Metcalf, and this book is fantastic.

00:38:32.371 --> 00:38:33.416
I would highly recommend it.

00:38:33.416 --> 00:38:36.699
It's a short read, less than three hours on Audible.

00:38:36.699 --> 00:38:45.485
And where I got this inspiration from is because I am a big fan of the Ohio State football Buckeyes.

00:38:45.485 --> 00:38:56.704
A big fan of the Ohio State football Buckeyes and on Bobby Carpenter's podcast they revealed that all of the Ohio State football Buckeyes are reading Chop Wood, carry Water.

00:38:56.704 --> 00:38:59.932
They read a chapter a day.

00:38:59.932 --> 00:39:02.557
Come in and talk about it as a team.

00:39:02.557 --> 00:39:08.820
Fantastic little nugget right there and I would encourage you to read this book.

00:39:08.820 --> 00:39:12.117
Chop wood, carry water fantastic book.

00:39:12.117 --> 00:39:18.081
That's a great nugget of wisdom the process to fall in love with, the process of becoming great.

00:39:21.231 --> 00:39:25.079
So in today's theory to action podcast, we hope you enjoy the new format.

00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:27.012
We would love for your feedback.

00:39:27.012 --> 00:39:28.898
You can send me a text from the show notes.

00:39:28.898 --> 00:39:35.722
We believe that we will be giving you more wisdom, more content, more ideas around flourishing in less time.

00:39:35.722 --> 00:39:40.139
We, which we believe is what you've been waiting on.

00:39:40.139 --> 00:39:45.230
We hope you enjoyed our first trip through this new format.

00:39:45.230 --> 00:39:52.420
We hope you enjoyed our relatively quick trip through the presidential scandals and how this latest one is so big.

00:39:52.420 --> 00:39:54.407
Will anyone go to jail?

00:39:54.407 --> 00:40:01.903
Be sure to check out Mark Levin's new book and the new Drago book, not the new Drago, the old Drago book.

00:40:01.903 --> 00:40:05.119
I'm sure we'll be covering that one in depth.

00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:06.164
Be sure to check out Chop Wood and Carry Water.

00:40:06.164 --> 00:40:07.349
I'm sure we'll be covering that one in depth.

00:40:07.349 --> 00:40:09.389
Be sure to check out Chop Wood and Carry Water.

00:40:09.389 --> 00:40:12.798
Thank you for listening and, as always, keep flourishing.

00:40:47.110 --> 00:40:48.297
And, most importantly, keep fighting the good fight.

00:40:48.297 --> 00:40:48.800
Thank you for joining us.

00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:50.110
We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

00:40:50.110 --> 00:40:59.583
Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

00:40:59.583 --> 00:41:03.411
Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.