The Battle for American Energy Freedom: Exposing the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis

There are moments in American life when everything seems to tighten, when you can feel the air shift as if truth itself is holding its breath. We live in such a moment now. The question, as always, is what we will do next. The War for America’s Soul.

I opened the show with a verse that has carried me through countless storms: “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.” That is Psalm 27:3, and confidence, these days, takes courage. Because in a country that once celebrated faith, family, and hard work, standing for those very things can now make you the enemy.

The attacks on conservatives, Christians, and truth have grown absurd. But the absurdity is not random; it is calculated. It is part of what I call the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis, a deliberate campaign to confuse, divide, and demoralize ordinary Americans until we forget who we are. It is a crisis that twists justice into vengeance, compassion into control, and work into shame. It feeds on emotion while starving discernment. And it is winning because too many people have chosen comfort over conviction.

That is why conversations like the one I had with Matt Coday, President and Founder of the Oil & Gas Workers Association, matter. Coday is a man who has lived through both physical and political fire. When bullets flew during the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, he was there, fifteen feet from the stage, close enough to see the trajectory flash over his head. Instead of running, he moved toward the chaos to help others. “Political violence has no place in a civilized society,” he said. “But unfortunately, the left has made it their hallmark.”

That experience did not silence him. It strengthened his conviction and exposed, in real time, the sickness spreading across this country, a sickness rooted in fear, moral confusion, and ideological fanaticism.

Coday’s story is the American story. He grew up in the oilfields, following generations of his family who worked the rigs and drove the trucks that kept the lights on and the heat running. He knows what it means to earn a living with his hands. “I’m an oilfield truck driver,” he said humbly. “My dad, both my grandfathers, and my great-grandfather all worked in this industry. I love USA oil and gas jobs.”

That love of work, of creating something real, of producing rather than pandering, stands at the center of the battle for this nation’s soul. Because when the American worker is strong, the country is strong. And when the American worker is demonized or replaced by ideology, the entire structure starts to rot.

As Coday put it plainly, “Energy security is national security.” It is not a slogan; it is reality. The ability to produce our own energy is what keeps our homes warm, our economy alive, and our enemies at bay. Without American Energy Freedom, we are one power outage away from dependence on nations that hate us and on leaders who would rather control citizens than empower them.

But here is the cruel irony. The same elites who claim to care about the planet are burning down the very foundation that keeps America stable. They tell working families that oil and gas are evil while jetting off to climate conferences on private planes. They shut down pipelines, then lecture blue-collar communities about justice. They talk about wind and solar as if they are silver bullets, but ignore the obvious: those technologies are built with materials mined by child labor and manufactured by our adversaries.

Matt Coday is not fooled. “These unreliable intermittents don’t lower utility bills,” he said. “They just make us pay more to feel good.” He is right. Ask the people of New York who are being forced into all-electric housing policies. Their bills are climbing not because they are using more power, but because of the taxes and fees tacked on to support green delusion.

And yet, the political class keeps telling us it is progress. That is the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis at work, convincing good people to cheer for their own decline. It tells the single mother that government dependency is empowerment. It tells the homeless man that he needs a handout instead of a job. It tells the young worker that a $90,000 oilfield career is somehow immoral because it offends the climate gods of Davos. It is all a lie.

Matt explained that in places like Zapata County, Texas, where oil and gas put food on the table, people are waking up. “They realized these jobs change lives,” he said. “If you strip away the party labels, we all want the same things, good-paying jobs, safe neighborhoods, good schools, and affordable energy.”

That is the truth that terrifies the establishment. When working people start voting based on issues instead of tribal loyalty, the illusion cracks. The Vanbōōlzalness Crisis depends on division, on pitting neighbor against neighbor, race against race, and class against class. It cannot survive in a society that values reason over rhetoric.

When we talked about faith and politics, Matt did not mince words. He mentioned the spectacle of New York’s Attorney General Letitia James, a woman who weaponized her office to attack President Trump and his family, only to cry victim when the spotlight turned back on her. “Whole bunch of whiny victim-playing propaganda,” he said. And he is right.

It is the same script we have seen over and over again. Use faith when it is convenient, twist justice to serve politics, then demand sympathy when the corruption is exposed. It is not leadership; it is narcissism in a robe.

Still, many Americans swallow it because they have been taught that emotion is evidence and identity is truth. That is the rot of Vanbōōlzalness, a moral virus that infects logic and feeds on outrage.

When I mentioned that faith and fear cannot share the same space, Matt nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “But they are selling fear every day.” Fear of energy, fear of speech, fear of disagreement, fear of freedom itself. The goal is not progress; it is paralysis.

What makes Matt Coday such a compelling guest is not just his conviction but his clarity. He does not overcomplicate things. He sees energy as the backbone of liberty, not as a bargaining chip for politicians. “American Energy Freedom means lower costs, stronger families, and fewer foreign dependencies,” he said. “It is common sense, which is why Washington hates it.” That one sentence says more than any policy paper. Washington hates common sense because it cannot control it.

We also talked about what comes next. With President Trump poised to return to office, the question is not whether America can be restored, but whether Americans will stand with him in doing it. Matt’s answer was firm. We must pass as much of the President’s agenda as possible before 2027, protect borders, rebuild industry, and restore the rule of law. “We have got to give people like Tom Homan, Tulsi Gabbard, and J.D. Vance the tools to finish what was started,” he said.

But he was quick to add that the fight is not partisan. “There are bad people wearing R’s next to their names too,” he reminded me. The real struggle is not Republican versus Democrat. It is truth versus deception.

That, in essence, is the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis. It is not a political problem; it is a moral one. It is the slow erosion of reality under the acid of propaganda. It is the cultural decay that replaces virtue with victimhood and conviction with compliance. It is why political violence has become normalized, why truth has become relative, and why government has become the new god.

And it is also why conversations like this are so important. Because when truth is spoken clearly, even once, it cuts through the fog.

Matt Coday’s courage on that stage in Butler was not just physical; it was spiritual. It was the kind of strength that refuses to let fear dictate action. That same courage is what built this country, and it is what will save it. “Evil has no power where we stand together for America,” he said. He is right. When citizens lock arms around truth, no weapon, political or otherwise, can prosper.

As the conversation closed, I reminded listeners of that same verse from Psalm 27: “Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.” Because war has arisen, not with tanks and missiles, but with lies and manipulation. The front lines are not overseas; they are in our schools, our workplaces, our media, and our hearts.

We are fighting a war for clarity in a culture of confusion, for discipline in a generation of indulgence, for faith in a world that worships self. And the only way to win it is to stand.

Coday stood in the fire and lived to tell the truth. Every American now faces the same choice, whether to hide or to stand, to comply or to confront. The Vanbōōlzalness Crisis will not end with another election. It will end when courage becomes contagious again.

This is not about oil or politics or even policy. It is about reclaiming the moral backbone that made this country possible. It is about the belief that work is sacred, freedom is non-negotiable, and truth is not for sale. It is about understanding that when fear knocks, faith answers, and faith always stands tall.

The world may call it rebellion. I call it redemption. Because when the fire comes, those who love truth do not bow; they burn brighter. And that is how we defeat the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis and restore the promise of American Energy Freedom.