We are the "SURGE" Protectors - Melting ICE with Unified Heat

Feb 13, 2026

Dan Flores, historian of the American West and author of Coyote America, and Stuart Delony, former pastor turned satirist of evangelical end-times culture, join the conversation. They explore coyotes’ resilience, government extermination campaigns, and how culture turned them from sacred trickster to scourge. They also unpack apocalyptic theology, its effects on everyday life, and why satire can expose harmful certainties.

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INSIGHT

Targeted Funding As Strategic Leverage

Democrats used a targeted DHS funding hold to force a debate about ICE practices rather than provoke a full government shutdown.
John Fugelsang argues this is strategic leverage that reframes the fight around accountability and body cameras.

ANECDOTE

Minnesota's Street-Level Resistance Worked

John recounts Minnesotans' sustained nonviolent resistance to ICE operations after Renee Good's death.
Their organized filming and protests forced ICE to end the Minnesota surge, he says.

INSIGHT

Grand Jury As A Check On Political Overreach

A unanimous grand jury refusal to indict six Democratic lawmakers showed citizen pushback can check executive overreach.
John presents this as another example of democratic resistance beating authoritarian moves.

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John talks about a Senate vote failing as the clock continues to tick down on DHS funding. A partial shutdown looms unless Republicans can meet the Dem demands. He also discusses Thom Homan who says the immigration crackdown on Minnesota is over, for now, and he and his goons believe they have left the place whiter than they found it. Then, he interviews Dan Flores who is the A. B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of Western History at the University of Montana and the author of eleven books on aspects of American history. They discuss his new book Coyote America which traces both the five-million-year-long biological story of coyotes, as well as their cultural evolution from preeminence in Native American religions to haplessness before the Road Runner. A deeply American tale, the story of the coyote in the American West and then across the entire country is a sort of Manifest Destiny in reverse, with a pioneering hero whose career holds up an uncanny mirror to the successes and failures of American expansionism. Then, John welcomes Stuart Delony. He is a writer and podcaster whose work examines faith, power, and the cultural consequences of certainty. A former pastor, he is the host of the Snarky Faith podcast and a columnist focused on American Christianity, politics, and end-times theology. John discusses his new book The Tribulation Survival Guide is for exvangelicals, spiritual misfits, and connoisseurs of dark humor. This isn’t your typical devotional—it’s a survivalist satire for anyone who’s ever questioned faith, feared the Beast, or accidentally attended a prophecy conference. Delivered with the solemnity of a Cold War safety pamphlet and the wit of a burned-out prophet, this deadpan, government-grade field manual offers step-by-step guidance for navigating the world’s most awkward apocalypse. Whether you’ve been left behind by the Rapture—or just by organized religion—you’ll find something disturbingly familiar in its pages. From decoding Antichrist branding strategies to surviving plagues, televangelists, and HOA-controlled hellscapes, this guide blends biting satire with faux-instructional sincerity. Inside you’ll find checklists, diagnostic quizzes, heavenly bureaucracy hacks, and DIY hell décor tips (lava optional)—all designed to help you stay alive, or at least mildly amused, through the end of all things.

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