This episode is brought to you by my friend Rebecca Walzer, a financial expert who can help you protect your wealth.
Book your free call with her team by going to friendofdinesh.com.
That's friendofdinesh.com.
Coming up, the left is accusing us of weaponizing the American dream.
And you know what? We're doing it.
Debbie will join me. We're going to interview Mayra Flores, whose candidacy reflects a great red shift among Hispanics.
And this is very good news.
I'll review the Trump lawsuit that alleges the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago was completely unauthorized, and I'll talk about the closing scene of Homer's Iliad.
This is the Dinesh D'Souza Show.
The times are crazy, and a time of confusion, division, and lies.
We need a brave voice of reason, understanding, and truth.
This is the Dinesh D'Souza Podcast.
I want to talk in this opening segment about the American dream.
It seems like an appropriate topic.
A little later on the podcast, Debbie and I are going to have a conversation with Mayra Flores, who is the first, well, Mexico-born U.S. Congresswoman and a Republican.
So this is all great stuff.
And she's in a tight race.
She's going to be running in a, well, a fairly heavy Biden-plus district in South Texas.
And so excited to hear from Myra.
But she represents the American dream as a legal immigrant, Like me.
And so against this backdrop, I see this article just out in the New York Times.
It's about the American dream.
It's called How a Storied Phrase Became a Partisan Battleground.
The subtitle is that a touchstone of political and social discourse, the nearly 100-year-old phrase, the American dream, is being repurposed, critics say distorted, particularly by Republicans of color.
Now, this is significant. What's the Times saying?
They're saying that the American dream as a phrase and as an idea is being politically weaponized.
And I want to say, yes it is, and that's a very good thing.
Why? Because now there's only one of the two political parties that even aspires to the American dream, that defends the American dream and the ideas behind that dream.
And it's particularly poignant and appropriate that not just Republicans, but Republicans of color, as the Times calls us, become champions of this dream.
Why? Because we have seen this dream not just in theory.
In other words...
There's a kind of a knowledge of the American dream, but we have experienced the American dream play out in our life, and moreover, having been raised in other cultures.
This is true of Debbie in her younger years, and me until the age of 17, and Myra.
I think Myra came to America, I read, at the age of six.
So all of us have at least a childhood memory of growing up in a different culture and what the rest of the world is like.
And so for us, the Uniqueness of the American Dream stands out.
Now, this article is very upset.
It tries to make two points about the American Dream.
The first one is that the original American Dream was optimistic.
And today's American, the use of the American dream politically today, the writer, who's Jasmine Ulloa, says it's very pessimistic and dark.
Republicans are using the concept of a kind of disappearing or vanishing American dream.
And I think this is true, but actually accurate, a reflection of our situation.
So if you look at America in 1910 or 1920, even really in the aftermath of the Depression, because the Depression was a monumentally destructive event, but by and large, the promise of America was very strong.
And there was a recognition that America would come out of this Depression and come out strong.
So yeah, there was an optimistic time in America, the early part of the 20th century, all the way through the 50s and 60s.
But today, large swaths of our population are not experiencing that experience of opportunity and upward mobility.
And this is really what immigrants aspire to.
This is what they come here for.
Think of somebody like Myra or like Debbie looking at the way in which their own countries have been rife with corruption, or they've gone downhill, or they have never figured out how to create mass prosperity, or even if you do have a measure of prosperity, you don't have your rights, you don't have freedom.
Let's remember, we talk about the American dream.
This is not merely a dream of economic advancement.
You could be raised in China.
You could have economic advancement.
Your grandparents used to go down to the beach to wash their clothes.
You now have washing machines and nice cars.
Maybe you're even a millionaire.
But on the other hand, you have no rights of free speech, no rights of political participation.
So in other words, you remain in many respects a slave of the government.
The point is that the American dream is under attack in the United States on both fronts.
It's under attack in the realm of economic opportunity.
There's literally an unwinding of the American economy being done under Biden, one destructive policy after another.
Hispanics in particular have basically seen their upward mobility ground to a halt.
Their money, the value of their money dissolved by inflation, higher prices that have canceled out any gains that they've recently made.
So they have seen the standstill.
And to the degree that you see the American dream as an effort to move up in life, you see that the Democrats are pulling us down.
But then second and even worse, much more dangerous, the wholesale assault on our basic rights.
We live today in a country that does not have our proper and full free speech rights.
We don't have even our normal Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
Look at the Mar-a-Lago rate.
I'll talk about that later in the podcast.
The right to equal treatment under the law, that's become a complete joke.
The agencies of our government have become corrupted from the top, I would say, all the way down.
So no wonder we're weaponizing the American dream.
Why? Because the American dream is no longer the shared aspiration of both political parties.
Now it's the Republicans who are the defenders of that dream, and the Democrats are the ones who are pulling it down.
Hello, I'm Mike Lindell, and due to your incredible support, the original MySlippers are almost completely sold out.
As a special thank you, I am launching my brand new all-season slippers, slides, and sandals for as low as $29.98.
This is a limited time offer, so go to MyPillow.com or call the number on your screen.
Use your promo code and you'll get all my new footwear for as low as $29.98.
My all-season slippers are made with my exclusive four-layer design that you won't find in any other slipper.
They're finished with a breathable fabric so you can wear them all year round.
And my new slides and sandals are made with patented impact gel, making them ultra comfortable and extremely durable.
I guarantee they'll be the most comfortable footwear you'll ever own.
So go to MyPillar.com or call the number on your screen now to get your very own all-season slippers, slides, and sandals for as low as $29.98 with your promo code.
This is an introductory offer and it won't last long, so order now!
Guys, Debbie and I are very excited today.
We're here together, and we are with Mayra Flores.
She is the U.S. Congresswoman from District Texas 34.
She flipped a blue seat, red, after 100 years.
And her candidacy, in our view, in Debbie's view and mine, represents a much larger, what we call it a red shift, a shift away from the Democratic Party, which has really let down Latinos and Latinas.
And she's now in a tight race in a heavily kind of pro-Biden or Biden-plus district, as they call it, against a guy named Vicente Gonzalez.
Myra, we're thrilled to have you.
Thanks for joining us.
We are 100% behind you, Debbie and I, and we wish you the best for the campaign.
Honey, why don't you start by talking a little bit about the campaign?
So, Myra, your mantra is God...
Family and country, which is absolutely the, it should be the mantra of every American, right?
But as we know, the Democrats are fighting you on this, and they are demonizing you for it.
And you've had a lot of criticism about even your faith.
Can you talk a little bit about what's been going on?
My mom tells me this all the time.
She's like, Ay, Debbie, lo que le están haciendo a Mayra.
She always says that she hates what they're doing to you and why they're always attacking you on your faith.
This is the party that says that they're for women, and yet they're attacking one of our own.
And I want to hear from you.
What are you experiencing?
Well, first of all, I want to say thank you.
Thank you for believing in me, for believing in the people of South Texas.
Thank you for having me and allowing me to share my story.
But to be honest with you, I'm staying strong.
I stay in prayer every single day, and I just don't let it get to me.
To be honest with you, I'm focused on Texas 34, on the issues that really matter to the people.
I hold on very tight to my values and I really do believe that no political party is worth us forgetting about our values, God, family.
To be honest with you, that needs to be stopped.
You know, we need to put God in our families first and there's just so much division among these political parties, right?
And I think that we're allowing This division to take over our country and it weakens us because all these other countries are loving this division among us.
And at the end of the day, we're all Americans.
But to be honest with you, I'm doing great.
I have, you know, an amazing family, amazing family support.
I have an amazing team, the most hardworking team in the nation.
And I'm just so proud of the work that we're doing here.
And I'm so proud to be representing a district that believes in God and strong family values.
Yeah, well, it's wonderful.
In fact, I told Dinesh yesterday, I go, she's a Trumpita.
Trumpita meaning you don't let people get to you.
And on Twitter, we see your tweets and we love them.
Dinesh, you saw a tweet yesterday that you absolutely loved.
Well, what we notice is you're feisty and you're willing to speak your mind and you don't back down.
And I want to ask you a little bit about the...
I spoke a little earlier in this podcast about the American dream.
And there was an article in the New York Times actually talking about how Republicans of color are weaponizing the American dream against the Democrats.
So talk a little bit about, you know, as someone, you know, born in Mexico, you come to America as a young age when you're six or seven years old.
What does the American dream mean to you?
And what does it mean to your campaign?
El sueño americano, right?
The American Dream. And the American Dream doesn't belong to the Democrat Party.
And it doesn't belong to the Republican Party either.
It belongs to the American people.
And I will always share my story because I want to inspire other people just like me.
I want to inspire the American people.
I want to inspire our children.
The American Dream is alive, but it is at risk.
And that's the reason why I decided to run, because if someone like myself that was born in Burgo, Sanolipas, Mexico, blessed to come to this amazing country, worked in the cotton fields and the onion fields, and became a respiratory care practitioner, and now is a member of Congress, why would I not share that story?
And so many of us I've lived the American dream every single day because let me tell you, I didn't accomplish the American dream when I got elected into Congress.
I was already living the American dream and so many of us are living the American dream, but we don't know it.
We take so much for granted.
A lot of people around me, you're living the American dream, you're living the American dream, and it's so important that we share these inspiring stories because there's just so much negativity happening around us that it's important that we do talk about how amazing this country, because only in America And someone like myself that was born in Mexico can run for Congress.
I still remember looking into Google if I could run for Congress because I was born in Mexico.
Because somebody told me that I couldn't run.
Like, we were born in Mexico.
I don't think you could run.
And I was like, well, I'm going to look it up.
And I looked it up and I said, I can run.
Isn't that amazing? And you can't do that in Mexico.
So I thought that you couldn't run for Congress here in the United States.
But I looked it up and I said, yeah, I can't run for president, but I can't run for Congress.
And then I looked it up that no one had ever been elected, no woman had ever been elected that was born in Mexico into Congress.
I said, oh my goodness, this is going to be our time.
And we did it. We did it through hard work and dedication.
It's just who we are.
But I will never stop talking about the American dream, el sueño americano.
And I'm not going to let the New York Times or the Democrat Party take that away from me or anyone else.
Awesome.
Let's take a short pause when we come back more with Myra Flores.
It's very colorful at the grocery store in the produce section.
You've noticed all those vibrant colors of fruits and veggies, the greens, the reds, the yellows.
Now, our friend Dr. Howard at Balance of Nature explains that all those colors you see represent nutritional variety.
Now, I don't eat anywhere near the 10 daily servings of fruits and veggies I need.
So balance of nature is the way I give my body what it needs to stay healthy.
This is why Debbie and I take these six little fruits and veggie capsules each day.
Each daily dose is made up of a blend of 31 different fruits and veggies.
31. So variety equals vitality.
Give your body everything it needs with balance of nature.
Invest in your health. Join me and experience the Balance of Nature difference for years to come.
For a limited time, all new preferred customers get an additional 35% discount and free shipping on your first Balance of Nature order.
Use discount code America.
Call 800-246-8751.
That's 800-246-8751.
Or go to balanceofnature.com and use discount code America.
Debbie and I are back with Mayra Flores.
So we're talking about Hispanics.
We're talking about South Texas.
We're talking about her race for Congress against Vicente Gonzalez.
Mayra, you're in a district that has been, well, pretty heavily pro-Biden.
It was redistricted, I think, to make it a safe seat for the Democrats.
You're making it happily unsafe for them.
That's probably why they're so scared of you.
But obviously, it requires a special kind of campaign, right?
In other words, you're not running in a safe Republican district.
You're running in a district that tilts the other way.
Talk about your campaign strategy to beat Gonzalez in a kind of Biden-plus district.
Well, redistricting did me no favors.
And that's a fact.
But this district is very conservative.
You know, South Texas is not like Austin, California, or New York.
Our values are very conservative.
We're all about faith, family, and hard work.
That is who we are, and the lines don't change that.
And I really do believe that, you know, Vicente Gonzalez thought that jumping into District 34 was going to be a much easier race for him.
He's been a member of Congress for three terms in Texas 15 and completely abandoned his district because it was no longer a safety for him.
So he wanted the easy win, but he never thought he was going to have to run against an incumbent, Mayra Flores, that was born in Mexico and was going to make history.
And now this district is a toss-up.
But it's a toss-up because of all the amazing work that we have been doing for months.
We take no one for granted.
We're block walking, phone banking every single day.
And we stay focused on the issues that matter to Texas 34.
And the issues that matter are the economy, Yeah, I think.
Mayur, you're married to a Border Patrol guy.
The left tries to portray border security as somehow something that is anti-immigrant or anti-Hispanic.
I'm sure this is something that you get, if not from people on the street, at least from the media.
How do you address the issue of why border security is important for a country and is in no way inconsistent with America being an open society that is welcoming to people from other countries?
Well, South Texas supports border security.
This idea comes from the media, but it's not who we are here in South Texas.
We're very supportive of our Border Patrol agency.
The majority of our Border Patrol agents are Hispanic.
My husband's parents were born in Matamoros, Mexico.
You know, our Border Patrol agents are our family.
They're our husbands, wives, neighbors.
They're our familia. So every attack against them is really an attack against us here in South Texas, and that's why we take it very personal.
But border security is humane.
I don't understand how anyone would encourage illegal immigration knowing what they're going to have to go through.
Women are getting abused and raped through the journey.
Children are getting raped through the journey.
So tell me, how is that helping immigrants?
You know, you have raped trees all around the Rio Grande River.
Do you know what that is?
They rape these little girls and hang their undergarments in the tree.
And you could see that right across.
So tell me how that is for immigrants.
This administration is disgusting.
They encourage legal immigration knowing that these people are going through so much abuse, knowing that children are going to be put into child sex trafficking.
We have a huge problem in this country.
It is the greatest country in the world, but we do have a problem with child sex trafficking.
And I don't care where these children are from.
They're completely innocent.
And we want to protect them.
We should secure the borders and focus on legal immigration where these people don't have to go through such dangerous journey and literally go through hell to come here to United States.
If we care about immigrants, we would focus on legal immigration and allow our border patrol agents to focus on terrorists, cartel members, drug dealers, You name it.
There is very, very bad people also crossing into our borders, but our border patrol agents are not able to do their job because they're focused on the women and children and giving them care because so many, like I said, go through so much trauma.
I was just there a week ago and saw 11-year-olds, 13-year-olds pregnant.
Pregnant, they got abused through the journey.
It takes months for them to cross into the United States and through that journey they got pregnant.
How could I ever support that?
This is great.
We want to help you.
We've already sent your pack some money for you.
We want other people to help you because we know that George Soros is busy pouring money into the valley trying to get that seat.
So we want to make sure that that's not the case, that you have all the money that you need for a great campaign.
Thank you so much. God bless you.
Where can people go to donate money to your campaign?
Please join the fight and donate at www.mightuploaditsforcongress.com Every dollar counts And again, thank you so much. God bless you. So guys, this website is M a y r a f l o r e s So mayra flores for congress.com Uh debbie and I are all and we strongly urge you to check out the website check out myra She's awesome. The democrats are going to put everything they have into this race. They're terrified of mayra
Mayra is our heroine. She should be yours. Let's help her get across the finish line. And thank you mayra flores for joining us Thank you. Thank you so much.
God bless you. God bless you.
Debbie and I are kind of foodies, and I'd like to tell you about Moink.
Now, this is Moo plus Oink, which gives you Moink.
You choose the meat delivered in every box.
Moink delivers grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured pork and chicken, and sustainable wild-caught Alaskan salmon straight to your door.
Moink farmers farm like our grandparents did, and as a result, Moink meat tastes like it should because the family farm does it better.
The investors at Shark Tank were right.
They say this is a delicious way to get fresh meat without having to buy it at the grocery store.
We enjoy it so much. We love to grill it outdoors while we get Moink.
Now keep American farming going by signing up at moinkbox.com right now and my listeners will get free filet mignon in every order for a year.
Wow! That's one year of the best filet mignon you've ever tasted but for a limited time It's spelled M-O-I-N-K, moinkbox.com slash Dinesh.
Go to moinkbox.com slash Dinesh.
Former President Trump has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida, and this is a lawsuit about the Mar-a-Lago raid.
It's really good that Trump has the means to do this because my advantage of being a billionaire is you don't let this kind of thing just go.
You don't also just be on the defensive and see what does the federal government bring against me.
No, you take aggressive action.
You file your lawsuit against them.
This is called In the Matter of the Search of Mar-a-Lago.
And basically what Trump is demanding or asking for is that the court appoint a special reviewer or master to take charge of this search.
The idea here is that we can't trust the Biden DOJ to do this.
This is a politically motivated, illegal search.
It has no underlying justification.
It goes beyond the scope of what the judge even agreed to.
And it has resulted in all kinds of materials ending up in the hands of the government that the government has no right to.
And so, of course, the question now becomes, who gets to decide which materials are a valid part of this search and which materials are not?
And Trump's point is, we can't trust the Biden DOJ to do this.
These people are viciously prejudiced against me.
So I thought it'd be interesting to go through, because one of the interesting things about a lawsuit is it brings out a level of detail.
That we kind of didn't know about fully before.
And so the three demands of this lawsuit are one, appoint a special master to review these materials.
Two, the government needs to provide a detailed receipt for what was taken.
And three, the government must return any item that was seized that is not within the scope of the search warrant.
Now, Trump basically invokes his Fourth Amendment right here, the right against unreasonable search and seizure.
And he raises some very specific questions.
One, and this is in Trump's voice, very interesting.
It's almost like they're making a direct quote from Trump.
Why raid my home with a platoon of federal agents when I have voluntarily cooperated with your every request?
This, I think, is well demonstrated in the suit, and it is kind of chilling that these are guys who sort of were working with Trump.
They knew about these boxes and the storage.
They asked to put a new lock on it, and then they conduct a raid essentially to break the lock that they themselves asked to be put on there.
So there's something very fishy going on here, and the lawsuit is all over it.
Number two, why are you trying to hide from the public?
Given that you requested, I turn off all home security cameras and even refuse to allow my lawyers to observe what your agents were doing.
So this, to me, raises a couple of points.
Number one, if all of this is transparent, why not let Trump's own lawyers see what is being taken?
As we'll see a little bit later, there's no proper accounting or receipts for what is taken, just very vague descriptions like box number two, letters, but nothing specific that will allow you to know what exactly they took and from where.
Why have you refused to tell me what you took from my home?
I mean, these are just kind of commonsensical questions.
Trump goes on to make a point that although there's been a lot of talk about classified information that was perhaps inadvertently in these boxes, There is something on the other side of it, and that is privileged information that reflects contacts between Trump and other staffers, internal discussions in the White House.
Now, the Biden DOJ has no right to any of this.
Privileged communications are privileged between the president and the person that President Trump was talking to.
And so Trump's point is, you can't go on a kind of fishing expedition, take a bunch of stuff, you sort through it, you kind of check it out, you basically go, oh, this is interesting.
Oh, well, what can we do with this?
Maybe we can open up. So in other words, this idea that you can raid the home of a former president and unprecedented action, it requires a very strong justification.
Now, I want to describe the voluntary cooperation between Trump and these guys because I think this actually gets to the fundamental kind of fraudulence of what the Biden DOJ is up to.
Now, the movement here is Trump.
Voluntarily accepted service of a grand jury subpoena addressed to the custodian of records for the office of Donald J. Trump seeking documents bearing classification markings.
So Trump says, yeah, that's an excellent idea.
If you think that there are any classified materials here in Mar-a-Lago that need to be retrieved, let's do it.
So what happens is he says the next day, on June 2nd, President Trump invites the FBI to come over and look at these documents.
So they do. June 3rd, 2022, Jay Bratt says, Chief of Counterintelligence and Export Control Section in the DOJ's National Security Division comes to Mar-a-Lago accompanied by three FBI agents.
The documents are provided to them.
They ask to inspect the storage room.
The counsel for President Trump tells them that President Trump had authorized him to take the group to the room.
They proceed to the storage room.
There are these boxes in there.
There's some other stuff in the storage.
There's clothing, some personal items of Trump.
These guys inspect the room, and then they leave the area.
Upon leaving, they asked the Trump people to make sure that the storage room is secure.
Trump agrees. Quote, in response, President Trump directed his staff to place a second lock on the door to the storage room, and one was added.
Are you watching your retirement slip through your hands every day?
Are you worried about a black swan market event that could be coming?
This is an event that comes out of nowhere and basically decimates your accumulated savings.
That's not all. Interest rates are going up, inflation skyrocketing.
So how can we protect our money?
How can you get ahead of what's happening with the economy?
This is not a time to wing it or go with the hunch.
You need a qualified expert on your side.
Well, I'm not that expert, but my friend Rebecca Walzer is.
She's a tax attorney and wealth strategist with her MBA from the London School of Economics.
Rebecca and her team will help to prepare you and your money for the turbulent times ahead.
We all work hard for our money.
We can use some really good guidance to help us build on what we have.
Go to FriendofDinesh.com and book your complimentary introductory call today to see if you qualify.
That's FriendofDinesh.com.
Let Rebecca Walser's team of experts protect your wealth during these unprecedented times.
I'm continuing my discussion of former President Trump's lawsuit objecting to the raid at Mar-a-Lago.
And the point being made here is that Trump was cooperating with these guys.
There's nothing that they asked for that was refused to them.
And nevertheless, the government takes the unprecedented step of requesting the search warrant and then carrying it out.
And then Trump, in the lawsuit, gets to the execution of this warrant.
He goes that there's no right on the part of the government to do, quote, an exploratory rummaging in a person's belongings.
And he cites a Supreme Court case earlier that says that you're violating someone's Fourth Amendment rights if you don't limit the search for To what you're searching for.
In other words, the warrant states you're supposed to be looking for X, Y, or Z. You can look for X, Y, or Z, but you can't go from A to Z and just start carting away boxes that look interesting to you in the belief that we'll go through all that stuff and see what we're looking for, but we'll also see if there's anything else we can find.
This is actually not permitted.
Now, there have been varying reports in the press, mostly coming out of leaks from the deep state, about what this is all about.
Is it about A, January 6th?
B, classified information?
C, the Presidential Records Act?
And so there's a discussion of each one of these things in the lawsuit.
The Presidential Records Act, for example, is essentially one of keeping records complete and keeping records secure.
But I'm now quoting from the lawsuit, quote, there is no criminal enforcement mechanism or penalty in the PRA. The PRA is the Presidential Records Act.
So what Trump is basically saying is if the records are incomplete and I have some records that you need, A, I was willing to give them to you.
B, you asked me to lock them up and I did.
And C, there's no question of me committing any kind of a crime here.
And so, what is the point of this, quote, search, if not as an attempt to investigate a criminal, a criminal case?
If it's a civil matter, this kind of a forced search is actually very rarely, if ever, if ever permitted.
Now, Trump goes on to say that he's quoting the government that the release of the affidavit, notice that they have not released the affidavit at kind of latest count.
The judge, Reinhardt, has said, I'm going to release partially the affidavit.
It's going to be redacted.
And this is because the Biden administration said, quote, that releasing the affidavit would, quote, jeopardize The investigation, quote, an other high-profile investigation.
So Trump jumps on this and he goes, oh, wait, are you telling me that they are on a fishing expedition to look for other information related to January 6th or other information that they can now use in some other way against me because they seem to have fessed up that they were looking for stuff not just about this one investigation but also other investigations.
And I think as you...
As you read the lawsuit, which, by the way, has a fairly good recitation about the fact that, listen, you know, normally courts extend a certain amount of deference to the FBI, but Trump goes, let's look at this FBI. Aren't these the people who are full participants in the Russia collusion hoax?
He goes, quote, an assistant director at the FBI was referred to prosecution for lying repeatedly about the Trump probe.
He talks about text exchanges between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, reflecting their complete disdain and hatred and bias for Trump and Trump supporters.
So Trump's point is that under these circumstances, we're dealing with people who can very fairly be described as very hostile, very biased against me.
In fact, working actively for my political opposition, Trump goes on to make the point that he is, and this I think is just a simple fact, the leading contender, not just the former president, but the leading contender for the Republican nomination the next time around.
And so all of this is a mobilization of the power of the federal government against a political opponent.
Trump goes on to say, what are the safeguards that the Biden DOJ will go through all my stuff and protect stuff that is mine, that is not really legitimately part of the search that needs to be returned to me and that should not be used against me in some other way.
So the lawsuit, I think, spells out the case quite well.
And it concludes by saying, look, we need to have a neutral or independent referee here.
That's the issue of the special master.
Number two, I need to know exactly what was taken.
If you look at the receipt that is, by the way, attached, I'm just going to read you a couple of things.
This is for the official receipt from the Department of Justice.
Box labeled A71. So Trump is like, what did you take?
I need to have a list of it.
And by the way, the stuff that is not specifically asked for in the warrant, I need to get that stuff back.
Some of us wish we could rewind the clock when it comes to our health.
Exercising, climbing stairs, all the things young people take for granted.
Well, these aren't things that have to stop just because you age.
Neither do you have to endure or suffer the normal aging aches and pains.
Now there's a 100% drug-free solution.
It's called Relief Factor.
Relief Factor supports your body's fight against inflammation.
That's the source of aches and pains.
The vast majority of people who try Relief Factor love it.
They order more because it works for them.
Debbie's excited. She's a true believer.
She finally gets to do her bar exercise class now that she's alleviated her frozen shoulder thanks to Relief Factor.
Debbie's able to do planks and push-ups, so she's like, wow, I never want to be without Relief Factor again.
You too can benefit. Try it for yourself.
Order the three-week quick start for the discounted price of just $19.95.
Go to relieffactor.com or call 833-690-7246 to find out more about this offer.
That number again, 833-690-7246.
So go to relieffactor.com.
Feel the difference. We're now in the, well, the closing scene of the Iliad, Book 24, and King Priam and Achilles are across from each other, and they're sort of grieving together.
They're grieving a little bit for different things.
Achilles for Patroclus, in some way also for his aged father, who's alive but away from him.
Priam for his dead son, Hector.
And remarkably, Achilles is consoling Priam.
Not only is he consoling Priam, but he's also trying to encourage Priam to sort of get over it, at least to begin the process of returning to normal life, which is part of the human condition.
And we see Achilles saying to Priam, think about supper.
Think about a meal. Now think about this.
Achilles' own mother, Thetis, has tried to get him to eat.
No success. Agamemnon tried to get Achilles to eat and drink before battle.
Achilles refused.
So Achilles himself had not been doing the normal things of life.
He had, in a way, removed himself from the human condition.
But here he is urging Priam.
He's giving Priam advice, which is exactly the advice that was given to him that he didn't take.
So this is Achilles' belated recognition of what the human condition involves.
Now, when Achilles is saying to Priam, all right, I'm going to return your son to you, Priam gets impatient, and Priam says, deliver him now.
And this kind of angers Achilles.
Achilles says,"...don't provoke me, old man.
It is my own decision to release Hector to you." And basically he says,"...let me do it my way, because if you make my anger flare up..." He goes,
"...I might not let you out of here alive, old man, suppliant though you are, and sin against Zeus." So what you see here is that even though there is this bond of mutual sympathy between Achilles and Priam, Two warriors on opposite sides who can have an identification with each other.
There is rage below the surface.
Achilles hasn't gotten over his desire for full revenge.
Priam hasn't gotten over his fury at Achilles for having killed Hector.
There needs to be here a kind of de-escalation.
And Achilles recognizes this.
To his credit, Achilles says to Priam, basically, let me do it my way.
You're going to get your son back.
And, of course, Achilles promptly goes.
He instructs that Hector's body be washed one more time, placed on a pallet or on a kind of...
Flat surface, loaded up on a cart, and then returned to Priam.
Now, Achilles, as I said, invites Priam to a meal.
And so you have this remarkable scene where they sit down together.
Achilles says,"...even Niobe remembered to eat, although her twelve children were dead in her house.
Six daughters and six dirty sons.
Apollo killed them with his silver bow." Basically, Niobe was a woman who committed a sort of a heresy, and by this I mean she insulted the gods.
And as a punishment, the gods killed her children.
And Achilles is using this example to say, even though Niobe was wracked with grief...
She recognized that, you know what?
I have offended the gods.
They have punished me.
I need to still eat and sleep and live.
And so Achilles is basically saying, let's take a lesson from Niobe.
And Priam agrees.
So he sits down to a meal.
And Homer describes, he's described these meals many times in the Iliad.
Achilles took a silver sheep, he slayed it, his companions flayed it and prepared it for a meal, sliced it, spitted it, meaning put it on the spits, roasted the morsels and drew them off the spits, and Achilles himself serves Priam.
So Priam eats. And then Achilles basically says to Priam, I will show you to your bed for the night.
So Achilles is willing to put up Priam inside his own tent.
And Achilles of course realizes that Priam can't be seen by any of the other Greek warriors.
They'll recognize him. They'll recognize him as an enemy.
So Achilles has to sort of protect Priam.
And they have a brief conversation in which Achilles says to Priam, so you want to have a funeral for Hector, how long will that take?
And Hector basically says it's going to take 11 days.
On the 12th day, Priam says, on the 12th day we can fight, quote, if fight we must.
So Priam says, you know, we're still enemies.
And Achilles agrees.
But what they're doing is they're agreeing to do a temporary pause, an armistice, a kind of a truce, while Hector can be buried.
And Priam talks about the fact that this burial is a pretty elaborate process.
There's mourning for nine days.
He's buried on the 10th day.
There's a feast on the 11th day.
And so Priam's like, on the 12th day, we're basically ready to go back into battle.
Thank you. Imagine the lifelong impact of a journey to the Holy Land.
Surrounded by like-minded travelers, picture yourself stepping foot in iconic locations right out of Scripture.
Join Dr. Sebastian Gorka and Dinesh D'Souza on this life-enriching Israel Tour, November 30th through December 9th, 2022.
For more information, call 855-565-5519 or visit StandWithIsraelTour.com.
At the invitation of Achilles, King Priam is about to kind of climb into a bed and stay overnight in the Greek camp.
But the moment that he gets into the bed, the god Hermes...
Kind of in disguise appears to Priam.
And Hermes basically whispers to Priam, don't stay here.
It's really not safe.
They have given you your son back.
His body is loaded on a cart.
You need to go.
Go now. And so Prime hurriedly gets out of the bed and he harnesses the horse and mules.
Hermes actually helps him to do this.
And then Priam begins his journey back to Troy.
Hermes returns. It says, Hermes left for the long peaks of Olympus.
Hermes returns to the community of the gods.
And then we get some really heartbreaking laments when Hector is brought back to Troy.
A lament by Andromache.
A lament by his mother, Hector's mother, Hecuba.
And then very interestingly, the third lament is by Helen.
Now, Andromache is somewhat predictably the most heartbreaking.
Our son is still an infant, doomed when we bore him.
I do not think he will ever reach manhood.
Turns out to be prophetic and true.
You were its savior, meaning Troy, and now you are lost.
All the solemn wives and children you guarded will soon go off in hollow ships, and I will go with them.
She knows she's going to be a slave.
She says, quote, I will do menial labor for a cruel master.
And then she goes, as you lay dying in bed, nor did you whisper a final word I could remember as I weep.
All the days and nights of my life.
Just heartbreaking, horrific.
This is Andromache.
And then Hecuba.
But then finally, interestingly, Helen.
And Helen says,"'Oh, Hector, you were the dearest to me by far of all my husband's brothers.'" So her husband now is Paris.
So she thinks of Paris as her husband.
Yes, Paris is my husband, the godlike prince who led me to Troy.
I should have died first.
So she regrets the whole thing.
She's regretted it, by the way, throughout the Iliad.
But the full cost of the war becomes apparent to her here.
And she says, in all the years I've been in Troy, quote, I have never had an unkind word from you.
And if anyone in the house ever taunted me, you would draw them aside and calm them with your gentle heart and gentle words.
And she goes, now I have no one left in Troy to pity me.
Quote, everyone shudders at me.
So Helen, I mean, no surprise, the Trojans blame her for their sufferings.
She is, in fact, the direct cause of them.
But interestingly, she says to Hector, you never did.
You never even scolded me for my admitted participation in this adulterous relationship that has caused the Trojan War.
And then after the lament of Helen, it is appropriate to draw the Iliad to an end.
And Homer describes Hector in soft purple robes.
He's in a golden casket, heaped on a mantle of stones.
I'm reading the closing lines now.
They built the tomb quickly with lookouts posted all around in case the Greeks should attack early.
So we're reminded here that the war is not over.
The Iliad is going to be over very shortly in a few lines, but the Trojans have to be on alert.
True, there's supposedly an armistice conceded by Achilles, but whether even Achilles is in a position to enforce it, who knows?
When the tomb was built, they all returned to the city and assembled for a glorious feast in the house of Priam.
So, kind of remarkable, the order of events for the funeral.
And this is not just for Hector.
This is for funerals of any important figure like this.
Is that they begin with the lamentations, then they do the cremation and the tomb, the burial, and finally a feast.
It's almost as if you put it behind you and you celebrate life even as you have just finished mourning the loss of a cherished and important life.
And then the last line of the Iliad, that was the funeral of Hector, breaker of horses.
And with this, the Iliad comes to an end.
Now, interestingly, notice the Iliad is ending in Medea's race the way it began, in the middle of the action.
Homer picks it up with the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, and he ends it with the death of Hector.
Is the war over? No.
Have the Greeks built the Trojan horse?
No. Has Troy been sacked?
No. But notice the kind of beautiful unity of the Iliad.
Even though it begins at sort of a place picking up where Homer chooses and it ends in the middle of the action where Homer chooses, there's a kind of wonderful unity to the Iliad.
And tomorrow...
I will pull back and talk a little bit just about the contemporary significance of the Iliad, why we read books like the Iliad, and that'll be a kind of natural preface to open up our discussion of the companion epic, which we'll be talking about in the next few weeks, and that is Homer's great work, The Odyssey.