This episode confronts the American cultural conflict playing out in cities like Dearborn, where faith, identity, and national values collide. Listeners hear how weakened churches, rising ideological pressure, and cultural division are reshaping communities. It is a stark look at a nation losing confidence and the urgent need to reclaim the principles that once held it together.
National Absurdity Day set the tone, but the hour quickly exposed something far more serious: a nation being divided on purpose. What begins as cultural tension turns into open conflict, from Dearborn’s prayer calls echoing through neighborhoods to protests split between Christians and Muslims, all defended under the banner of “rights” while an ideology unwilling to assimilate advances unchecked.
It is the slow grinding down of American confidence, carried out under the protection of the very freedoms meant to unite us.
Callers drove the point home. Some described Rochester’s once-Christian churches transformed into mosques while the Christian presence fades. Others warned that families who demand moral clarity from schools have not upheld it in their own homes. Youth for Christ’s Mike Hennessy laid bare how progressive Christianity hollowed out the church by trading righteousness for social fashion, leaving communities spiritually disarmed.
Each voice traced a different artery of the same crisis: a nation losing its fathers, its faith, and its cultural backbone.
By the end, the pattern was undeniable. Masculine virtues like duty, courage, and steadiness under pressure once defined American life. Today those values are mocked here while celebrated in cultures openly hostile to our own. This episode confronts the reality of a country under internal siege and makes clear that reclaiming faith, fatherhood, and cultural strength is not a luxury. It is the last safeguard against national collapse.
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The Next Steps Show – Transcript
Peter Vazquez:
This podcast is brought to you by Open Door Mission, restoring hope and changing lives. OpenDoorMission.com.
Mira a la izquierda, mira a la derecha, ¿qué ves? ¿Dónde estás? In a world that seems to change daily, what will you do next? Welcome to The Next Steps Show with Peter Vazquez, a starting point for discussion y un poco de dirección.
Buenas tardes, ladies and gentlemen. It is me, Peter Vazquez, here on WYSL, La Voz de Libertad. How is your lunch going, ladies and gentlemen? Call me, let me know. I want to hear from you: 585-346-3000 or 866-552-1009.
You know what today is? Thursday. You know what we are observing this Thursday? Take a guess what absurd observance is being observed today. I put the clue in the question. It is National Absurdity Day.
I think it is fitting, because it is a day to celebrate everything that is absurd. That sounds perfect for the left. As you go about your day and you see a leftist, just say, “Happy Absurdity Day.”
Here is a happy note on absurdity. Not so absurd: Cracker Barrel’s DEI representative on the board of directors has resigned. Actually, he was invited to resign, and the position will not be filled anymore. That shows how influential politics is. This is why I talk about things like the Vanboolzalness Crisis, why I bring guests on, have these conversations, and ask you to call.
For years they tried to convince us we needed DEI. Then Trump gets elected, and suddenly, we really do not need that stuff anymore. It shines a light on what it actually was: another trick to divide us and pit us against each other. You put red ants and black ants in a jar and leave them alone and everyone gets along. Shake the jar and they attack each other. Same deal.
This is going on at many levels. Let us look at Dearborn for a few minutes, ladies and gentlemen. I absolutely want your response on this.
I was looking through all the Epstein coverage, and Trump signs the order to release and says, basically, whoever gets caught, gets caught. But what we are not paying attention to, and I believe this is intentional in some cases, is what is going on in places like Dearborn.
Some may say, “Who cares?” But remember, Mamdani just became the mayor of one of the largest, most important cities in this country, the financial and cultural hub of this nation. You look at Dearborn, where just the other day the protests became Christians versus Muslims. That is shaking up the jar of red and black ants and sticking them together to fight it out.
What we have is a population that has been very accepting of other cultures, as long as they want to be part of the American experience and assimilate. On the other side, we have a belief system that teaches extermination of anyone who disagrees. The sentence is death strictly for disagreeing. How can we live with that kind of philosophy in our midst?
In Dearborn, they say it is the largest Arab American community. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not an attack on Muslims or Islam as individuals. But as Señor Bob just said, there is an American way of life. You come to a country to assimilate and become part of it. That does not mean I stop being Puerto Rican. I love it. I will never hide it. But when you have loudspeakers blasting prayer calls every morning and people complain and are then chastised for complaining, that is a problem.
The mayor, who is Muslim and who instituted these things, has aligned himself and his administration with a philosophy that is very much anti-American. This is important because this is where discernment, and what I call Vanboolzalness, comes into play.
Remember after 9/11, there were open statements from radical Islam that they would destroy us from within. That is what is happening, little by little. Just the other day Americans said, “We are not going to put up with this anymore.” There was an attempt at burning the Quran. Whether you agree or disagree, this is what is dividing our culture even more.
The mayor’s response was to call the pastor who opposed him a bigot and an Islamophobe, and he praised the protesters. This is always the trick. If you criticize anything they do, you are automatically an Islamophobe. If you disagree, it is because you fear and hate them.
The mayor said, “We have to uphold our constitutional rights to freedom of religion. Why are these complaints coming now? Elections are coming up.” He tries to make it a Republican versus Democrat thing. That is destruction using our own freedoms against us.
This is why I believe Donald Trump was elected president: to force us to look left and right and see what is happening. Look at Western Europe and Scandinavia. Scandinavia is now the rape capital of Europe since the migration waves. There are “no-go” zones in most major European cities, Islamic population centers where they have no intention of becoming part of another society. In fact, they are dedicated to bringing down that society. There is ample evidence of this.
Dearborn is home to a local chapter of CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In Texas, Governor Abbott has identified them as a terrorist organization. Dearborn has a local chapter of that same organization, and its chief of police is also a member. When we talk about destruction from within, that matters.
We should not ignore the Epstein crisis, but we must also pay close attention to this crisis. We are a nation that allows individuals who claim they want to become Americans. Many of these leaders claim to have gone through the process. There are investigations, like with Mamdani.
But here is the hard question that has been raised in mainstream media: Is it time to say, “If you are not an American citizen, you should not be in office”? Then again, would that exclude a good portion of Americans here who came from other nations and are not Muslim? Or are we saying Muslims cannot serve? I am throwing these out as hypotheticals.
You cannot be president unless you are born here. Not yet, anyway. But where is the real damage done in politics? It is at the local level.
Here is the real damage. Once again, this is the trick of the political left and allied forces such as Islamist movements. By the teaspoonful, we are fed communism and start to swallow it. Step by step, the imposition of Sharia law. Sharia law is oppressive, a throwback to the seventh century, and in violent conflict with everything we believe as Americans. Yet they are trying to impose it.
Fifty-five percent of Dearborn’s residents are Arab American. It is America’s first majority Arab American city. They put a big focus on teaching their students activism. You see high school students marching for pro-Gaza, anti-Israel, anti-American causes. It is happening under our noses.
[Break – commercials and station promos summarized:]
Sponsor messages from Flower City Collision, Tom Wahl’s, Youth for Christ Rochester, and others. WYSL is the Voice of Liberty.
Peter Vazquez:
Mira, a nation does not unravel from one failure, but from a thousand quiet betrayals. That is what we keep seeing coming out of Albany and from local offices like Rochester, New York, which keeps reinforcing sanctuary-style immigration policies, choosing votes over citizens.
Caller – Mike:
All these nations you mentioned were, up until the 1960s, overwhelmingly white Christian nations. Now the Christian churches are being eliminated, Christians are being pushed out, and churches are being converted to mosques. Here in Rochester, old Holy Rosary is now an Islamic center. Old churches become “conversion centers” while people stop going to church.
Citizenship and office holding should be restricted to American born. No immigrant who has only been here a few years should be running for office.
Peter:
Why have we lost so much ground as Christians?
Mike:
For the Catholic Church, the last popes have catered to Muslims. The current pope even put in a Muslim prayer room in the Vatican. Where is the prayer room in any mosque for Christians? In Texas you see prayer rooms, but there is a ban on the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Sharia law and the Muslim Brotherhood’s 1991 document lay out a strategy. They are following their game plan: death by a thousand cuts.
Peter:
Mike, thank you for the call. This is why I bring these things up. Do not get bamboozled and follow only trendy news stories. These are the questions we need to be asking. If you are Catholic, we should ask our bishops, “Why is there a Muslim prayer room in the Catholic Church?” In Dearborn, why was a pastor called a bigot for raising these issues at a city council meeting? That is where we need to put our attention and our big microphone. We must change the culture.
Caller – Jan:
I enjoy your show. I believe there is a real threat from the ideology of Islam. It is hard to see it as a religion and not a political ideology because of the “convert or kill” element. But before we get too blustery, we have to look at ourselves. People say, “Where are the Ten Commandments in school?” Do you have the Ten Commandments posted at home? Why did these churches close? When is the last time you took your family to church more than one Sunday in a row? It all starts at home. We need to get back to our Christian roots and honor our faith by participating. If we do not, we will become a persecuted minority here.
Peter:
It already feels that way, depending on the administration. Look at the pro-life movement. The abuse that group goes through every fourth Saturday at Planned Parenthood, simply praying and encouraging. The police cited Mike Warren for speakers, but left the stands that actually blocked the sidewalk. It is absurd.
Until we have a wider expression of the grace of God, we will keep losing ground. Christianity brings the love of God into reality and does not play these games. We have to have courage. That comes through Scripture and through church. Philippians 4:13, Psalms 27 – God protects us. How can those words be considered dangerous?
Jan:
We need people to step away from their screens, talk to neighbors, start Jesus clubs for kids. Without faith, children are vulnerable to any ideology.
Peter:
Thank you, Jan. This is the kind of dialogue we need daily. We also need more people like Bob Savage and Bob D’Angelo, putting truth on the air fearlessly. WYSL and related stations have been under a microscope because they dare to tell the truth.
When we start paying attention only to what is trendy, we miss the deeper cultural attack on our youth. Those high school students in Dearborn are being trained and bred into an anti-American mindset, and many of them are born here. That is part of the claim that we will be destroyed from within.
[Break – brief music and sponsor messages summarized.]
Peter:
Como dice Mark Twain, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” If you are going to lie, at least lie on top of some truth. Right now we see one big lie that is making our homes fatherless.
Caller – Keith:
I agree with everything said. I wish more Americans were paying attention. Today is also Biden’s birthday. He is 83. Look at the difference between Biden and Paul McCartney, who is the same age but in a very different condition. On this date in 1945, the Nuremberg trials began. I am still angry there was no comparable trial for Japanese war criminals who murdered our men on the Bataan Death March and used our POWs in horrific medical experiments. That cruelty was never fully confronted like the Nazi Holocaust was.
Peter:
We did win the war, and there were trials, but I take your point, Keith. Thank you for the call.
One of the things we see coming from the left is a war on men. Mark Keenan, writing in American Thinker, argues that telling the truth has become dangerous because modern society prioritizes feelings over facts, which is why they want to de-man-ize men.
Caller – Mike Hennessy (Youth for Christ Rochester / Good News Talk):
I caught the last ten minutes and heard that the church needs courage. That is something I have shouted from the rooftops on my show for years. There is a branch of Turning Point called TP Faith, Turning Point Faith. Their mission statement explains what needs to happen in the church. Their mission is to end progressive Christianity.
Peter:
Explain that quickly.
Mike Hennessy:
The church has moved from righteousness and justice to “social justice” without righteousness. Many churches hide behind a false premise of “separation of church and state” to avoid talking about politics, immoral laws, and cultural evil. They only want to talk about social justice. God is a God of righteousness and justice. As soon as you put “social,” “economic,” or any other modifier in front of justice, it is no longer God’s justice. It is man’s thing.
Bob:
Any modifier in front of justice means it is no longer justice. There is justice and there is lack of justice.
Mike Hennessy:
Exactly. That is why interfaith activity is tricky. Eventually someone has to dilute their faith. Turning Point Faith works with pastors to show them how to end progressive Christianity. That is what has to happen in the church to gain courage to speak the Word of God in truth and love without compromise. Islam is bold. It is false and demonic, but bold. Our churches have been all “turn the other cheek” with no boldness. Scripture says the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. We must become courageous again.
Peter:
Here in Rochester we have the highest percentage of fatherless households in the country. Youth for Christ and mentors are fighting that. You have been speaking even on liberal media. How are you received?
Mike Hennessy:
I was on Evan Dawson’s show. He treated me fairly. He even said they need more conservative voices and that we do not have to be at odds. We can have civil dialogue. He invited me back, and I invited him to your show.
Peter:
This is what we talk about. They attack masculinity while praising it in Islamic culture. Yet here they want to destroy it. That American Thinker article said speaking plainly is required. Masculine virtues are not about gender; they are about character.
Historically, we cultivated virtues like courage, resolve, duty, and steadiness under pressure through fatherhood, moral formation, discipline, and the expectation that men protect their families and communities. A woman who is steady under pressure is not “masculine”; she is a strong woman who has learned those virtues too.
The modern gender ideology tries to erase that. When Mamdani was elected, I paused to see if his unity talk would lead to real unity around God, country, family, and manhood. It did not. Instead, this leftist ideology teaches young men to avoid conflict at all costs.
Bob:
When I was bullied as a teenager, I was told to turn the other cheek. In the real world, that did not work.
Peter:
You turn the other cheek once, but if that cheek keeps getting hit, at some point you must respond.
Caller – Stan:
As a man, I feel under attack. Especially white men. It seems like white men are under a special kind of attack, called colonialists, oppressors, everything. It is orchestrated division: blacks against whites, Hispanics against blacks, and so on.
Peter:
Exactly. As much as people bash white men, I cannot tell you how many white men have helped me tremendously. A decent white man looks at you and says, “That is an American, a human being.” Malcolm X said the white liberal will lie to you. The white conservative says, “Your money is as green as mine, and together we can build something for all of us.”
Ladies and gentlemen, go to my website, NextStepShow.com. Leave a review. Some progressive troll gave me zero stars across the board. That is what truth does. You must be willing to handle it. As Mark Twain said, get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. Do not outright lie. Be a leader.
God bless the United States of America. Be a voice for liberty todos los días. Until tomorrow.
