TRANSCRIPT
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The Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast
Episode: Not a Criminal But He Went to Prison Anyway
Date: 05/16/25 Length: 01:12:38
Daniel Lapin 0:00
Greetings, Happy Warriors, and welcome to the Rabbi Daniel Lapin show, where I your rabbi reveals how the world really works. Thanks for being part of the show, and thank you for all that you do to help promote the show. Your kind efforts in letting people know about the show and sharing it with people who might be like minded is bearing fruit. And I see it and I appreciate it. Also want to ask you, if you haven't already subscribed, please go ahead and do that as I think almost everybody knows that in the internet world today, subscribers are very valuable, and numbers really matter. So thank you for doing that as well. And what we're going to do today is talk to somebody who was arrested and incarcerated, somebody who went to prison because of the Biden Justice Department's prosecution of January The sixth, 2024 people who excuse me back in 2020, and yeah, that it's pretty serious stuff. One hears, we will hear from an individual who actually had the FBI smashing his door at 6am one morning because he had been identified as being part of the crowd at the Capitol on January the sixth. So he's going to tell us a whole lot about that, and you'll probably find it as fascinating as I did. He's remarkably good natured for what he went through. And in a certain sense, it was also rather a funny interview, I thought, just because of the way he took the whole thing. So appreciate that very much indeed. And also to let you know that the our happy warriors community has access not only to a special website where happy warriors connect and communicate with each other and with myself and with my wife, but you also have access to a Special private podcast that I tape exclusively for you material that I'm less enthusiastic about having available out in public. So if you're not yet a member of the Happy Warrior community right now, wouldn't be a bad idea to look into it, because there is a sale on for membership, and it can be obtained at extremely reasonable terms. So give that a shot. We'd love to have you involved. And there are real benefits to being part of a community of Happy Warriors, a community of people who are trying to achieve exactly what you're trying to achieve in your life, and having people to connect with and collaborate with is very, very helpful. I also want to tell you that I'm going to be making an appearance at a gun store in Florida near Fort Lauderdale Airport on the afternoon and evening of May 29 so it's a couple of weeks from the time I'm recording this show right now, middle of May, but towards the end of May, Thursday evening, may the 29th at a store that is just about a mile south of Fort Lauderdale Airport. It's in Davie, Florida, and it's called the smoking gun. You know why? Because they have a cigar lounge smoking and it's a one of the premier gun shops in the state of Florida, and they also serve coffee and pastries and things like that. So it's kind of a private it's almost as if it's your own club. Does it appeal more to men than to women? Probably, but they do sell, and the proprietor tells me they sell many, many guns to women in the Florida area. So if you are interested, it's called the Smoking Gun, and it's Thursday evening. I will be there. I'll be signing books, and we'll be having a conversation about why the latest book is called The Holistic You, why I wrote it. We'll also be talking about how. You can also benefit from writing your own book. It's easier than ever to be able to write your book, and their reasons, very, very good reasons having to do with business and family, for you to be writing and putting down something in book form at the present time, we'll be talking all about that on Thursday night, May 29 at the Smoking Gun on Sterling Road in Davie, Florida. Hope to see you there. If you're anywhere near the neighborhood, do drop in. Be great to see you. And that then I spoke about joining the community. And I think there are benefits in that. And as I spoke about my appearance in Florida, and finally, I also want to mention that a number of people have tried out the program the resource on the website at Rabbi Daniel Lapin.com and that would be the Scrolling through Scripture. And if you've ever wondered why it is that, you know, we just observed the holiday of Passover a few weeks ago, and I calculated how many million families went through the ritual of the Seder experience? Why? Because a little over 3300 years ago, the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt and began their existence as a nation picking up the Torah, picking up scripture at the foot of Mount Sinai, en route, en route to the Promised Land, even though it was a 40 year journey. But if you've ever wondered why it is that this book continues to exert so much influence, not only on Jews, who, over 3000 years later, still follow its rules to this day, to this very day, if you walk into a restaurant, if you're visiting Israel, you walk into a restaurant, the odds are that it is a restaurant that adheres to the dietary regulations of the Old Testament that it serves exclusively kosher food. My goodness, do you know if you visit Dubai, if you visit Dubai, and you might well do it, because one of the one of the best ways to visit Israel is on one of the Gulf states airlines approaching Israel from the east, and it's always fascinating, because there's a lot of business travel between India and Dubai or Abu Dhabi. But you go to Dubai and there's, there's a bunch of Kosher Restaurants today. Would you believe this? I mean, it's quite extraordinary. Obviously, the Abraham Accords of the first Trump administration had a lot to do with it, but also the fact that there's now, today, an enormous amount of business interaction between Israel and Dubai. So you've got kosher restaurants in Dubai, Israel, your odds are that wherever you eat, you're going to be eating kosher food. And again, you know why? Because the 3300 year old book said, Don't mix dairy foods with meat foods. And so if you want cream in your coffee at the end of a meal of having a terrific steak in Israel, you will be given non dairy creamer. That's just how it's going to be. And you'll ask them for regular, real cream. They'll explain to you, this restaurant adheres to the kosher regulations. This happens to be a meat restaurant. There are other restaurants that are dairy restaurants, but never shall the two meet up. So if you've ever wondered why that is, why it is that if you spend a Shabbat if you are in an Israeli hotel over Friday night and Saturday, you're going to notice that at the elevator bank, at least half the elevators are going to be operating on what's called Shabbat mode, because Jews are not allowed to press The elevator buttons on Saturday, activating electrical circuits. And so the way it works is that the
Daniel Lapin 9:27
elevator is switched on to an auto mode. So just stops at every floor on the way up, and then when it hits the top, it goes all the way down to the basement, and then starts at step by step all the way up and so again, the point is that this 3300 year old book is far from irrelevant. It regulates and influences the lives of millions of Jews and hundreds of millions of Christians. And so if you ever wondered a little bit more about because. As you read it, it seems to be a collection of stories and legends about long forgotten people. Why? Why is this so influential? And the answer is that embedded in the Hebrew text, and Hebrew is what one of the people, one of the pilgrims, who arrived on the Mayflower, Sir William Bradford in his history of the Plymouth Plantation, called the language the Lord's language in which the Lord spoke to the patriarchs of old, embedded within the Hebrew. And I know you don't read Hebrew, but it doesn't matter, because we've got a program available on our website at Rabbi daniellapin.com called scrolling through scripture, I think it's possibly the work of mine, of which I am most proud, because it gives access to everybody, regardless of Background, to the amazing, mind boggling secrets that compel the conclusion that, wait a sec, you know what? This was not compiled by a literary team of Bedouins. This actually is not only profound, but it contains information that simply wasn't available at the time. It makes its appearance in the world just over 3000 years ago. So if you're interested in investing a little time and a little money in trying to get the hang of what is it that makes this book so special? Why is this the most influential book in all of Western civilization, then you should take a look at a free half hour video program available on Rabbi daniellapin.com and you're just looking for something called scrolling through Scripture. And you can go ahead and begin to get a flavor for why it is that this is such a compelling volume and such an influential book in all of Western civilization. So with all of that, let's go ahead and start talking to my guest, who went through extraordinarily harrowing ordeals, but which he really took enormously philosophically. And I found it very, very interesting conversation. So please go ahead and do that, and at the end, I'll be back to say goodbye to you. So with us now being ready to move on. Here is my guest for today's show. Welcome everybody. And this is Elliot Resnick, a friend. And we met Elliot, I think when we met, you were editing the famous American Jewish weekly, the Jewish press. Am I right?
Elliot Resnick 13:04
I'm not sure. To be honest, I also know I met you at the CPAC weekend in Washington, DC, but Otis note, you are right. I was, I was at the Jewish press, and I interviewed you around 15 years ago. Now, I think, if I'm not mistaken, that's
Daniel Lapin 13:19
right now. So I mean, and thank you. It was more than once. The Jewish press was very kind to me and I came out, well there, but then you also interviewed me for a book you wrote,
Elliot Resnick 13:39
well, yes, so that book was the same. It's really a collection of my interviews. And I interviewed you about, I believe, your economic books, and also about, I asked you about homeschooling, also because I was very interested in that particular topic, and you were kind enough to give me a blurb for one of my later interview books. But I really appreciated some of what you what you had told me in that interview about the value of creating products for other people that you know, the left always thinks that, oh, to create goods, you're being selfish. You want just money, and you wisely pointed out that to make money, you need to create products that other people actually need and want. And we should be encouraging people to create products that people need, need and want, and so therefore capitalism is a great thing for humanity, not a bad thing.
Daniel Lapin 14:27
And not only that, but also moral and part of God's original plan. But the only exceptions to that rule that the only way to get money is by making other children of God happy giving them the things they want. The only two exceptions are people who go into seven elevens with 357 Magnum revolvers, and they discover there's another way of getting money. And then, of course, there's the government that then also uses. Force through the IRS to extract your money and and it's also part of a con as well, a con game, because they managed to persuade you that you being somehow virtuous by allowing your money to be extracted. You know, it's like the 711 convenience store clerk thanking the guy who emptied his cash register at the point of a gun. But Elliot, I don't know if you mind revisiting this or not. I hope you don't. But speaking of the government, if I use the word government, and Elliot Resnick is in the interview with me. I'm afraid that anybody who knows you and I do our minds immediately spring to January the sixth.
Elliot Resnick 15:56
Yes, well, no, I am a conservative, so normally I do believe in following law and order and doing what's right and standing properly and not online, not cutting the line, not playing loose and fancy with the rules, but there always comes a time where right and wrong always should matter more than legal and illegal. I was just reading Henry David Thoreau's famous on civil disobedience essay last night for the second or third time, and he says, Look, we're human beings. We're not monkeys or horses. We have brains. And if we think the government is doing something which is immoral, then we are obligated, as people who have who have brains, to do what's right, regardless of whether the government thinks it's correct or not. And so on January the sixth, I went to Washington because I thought the election was either being stolen or at the very least, there were tremendous questions about the election that were not being addressed, and I thought it was imperative that the political class addressed these questions. And when they refused to address these questions, and I was part of a crowd, we saw an opportunity to enter the building to impress upon the politicians how important it was to address these questions. I took that opportunity and I went inside that building, the Capitol, namely,
Daniel Lapin 17:12
at the time, did to you, did it feel as if you were participating in a revolution, or, as they like to call it, an insurrection. Is that what it felt like to you?
Elliot Resnick 17:23
No, no, that's a joke. Anyone, everyone knew it was a joke. That's why so many January 6 protesters actually went home that night and posted pictures of themselves on their social media accounts, because they didn't really think they had done anything wrong. It was a protest. We went inside a built the building, the Capitol building, to tell the politicians how upset we were. That's all it was. And you know, if you compare it to the leftist protest during the summer of 2020 they were upset that someone in Minnesota had either been killed or died, and therefore, what? Therefore they stole sneakers from stores in Manhattan. What's the connection? Why are you burning, looting and murdering all around the country because you're upset about one police incident in Minnesota, what we did was a one to one correspondence. We were upset at particular politicians, and we went into the building in which these politicians were situated to scream and protest at these politicians. We didn't do anything more than that. Not one painting was touched or damaged. Not one statue was broken. Had the left been in that building, the building would have been on fire. But we did not go inside the building to destroy it. We went inside it to save it. So
Daniel Lapin 18:28
as a matter of fact, in Seattle and Portland, Oregon are two places around where there were other places as well, where the crowds that summer of 2020, to which you allude, burst their way into government buildings and indeed put them to the torch, set them on fire and did extensive damage. As far as I know, nothing was done. There was no legal retribution against those people who did that in Seattle and Portland, when you went in, were you at any point aware? Did you force your way into a door, or did you force your way past God's trying to keep you out? I What? What does it seem like to you? Right?
Elliot Resnick 19:16
So there were, I think, at least two or three break ins, and people don't really know this, because often people will say, oh, all the protesters went through open doors. And there were, I think, several 100 who did go through open doors. I was not one of them. I went inside the building on the eastern side, and we had to, I guess you could say, break our way inside the building. I mean, eventually, actually, the door was open from the inside, but there was an attempt made for around 10 or 15 minutes to actually break inside the building. There were only around maybe 10 or 15 guards facing a crowd of several 100. So it wasn't like we really needed to do very much. When you have that many people. All you need to do is keep on inching forward and the force of the crowd simply overruns the policeman. You don't have to physically use. Your hands to push anybody just keep having to move forward. So the people on my side of the building on the eastern side, we did indeed, you could say, storm the Capitol and broke into the Capitol. Yes. So on my side, that is true.
Daniel Lapin 20:14
And the feeling that you had, and the feeling among those people around you was one of elation or trepidation. No,
Elliot Resnick 20:25
I mean, I was watching the videos of what happened recently, because even though I was there, sometimes you need a little reminder. People were screaming USA or let us in, or stop the steal, or whose house our house. This wasn't a revolutionary crowd. This was a crowd of people carrying American flags, people who would die and do die for the country. These are the people who entered the army, the police force, the fire force. These are the most patriotic Americans, and we simply wanted our voices to be heard, not more than that.
Daniel Lapin 20:56
So how long were you in the Capitol building, and when and why did you leave?
Elliot Resnick 21:01
I was inside for roughly 45 minutes. I wanted to, like, I said, Really, I wanted to get to the chambers. I thought it would be glorious if we could have hundreds or even 1000s of people protesting in the chamber of Congress, and that itself might have that just like the left used the chaos in 2020 to their advantage. They said, Look, you know, maybe we don't agree with the violence, but there's so much racism in this country that we understand why the people exploded, and we'll tell them to calm down, but first you really need to address the racism problem in this country. I thought the Republicans should have done the same with the chaos that we created. We could have created, and we did create enough chaos, and they could have said to the Democrats, look, we might not agree with what happened today, but we've been begging you for answers for two months, and we'll tell them to calm down, but first you need to give us an audit, because until you give us an audit, we understand why they exploded and we understand why they came inside, and we can't tell them to calm down until you give us something. So that's what I was hoping would have happened. And eventually I saw that that did not happen. When I went inside the building, I was hoping more and more people would come inside, but there was a significant number of law enforcement officials inside the building. I was not aware of that. I thought as soon as we would be inside the building, we would immediately be able to get to the chambers. That was not true. And increasingly, instead of us advancing further and further to the chambers, the law enforcement officials were actually making progress and pushing us back and further and further back towards the entrance again. So once I realized definitively that there was no way that we were going to get to the chambers, that's when I left the building. And
Daniel Lapin 22:34
at that point, you just went home,
Elliot Resnick 22:38
I stayed around for a little bit longer, because first of all, I thought Trump might come because people said Trump had said he might join us there. But then, I mean, I had no reason to rush home. I had a bus that night around eight or nine o'clock, so I just sort of took in the scene. I guess you could, you could say I observed the western side. That's where people were struggling in the tunnel. I sort of stood there. That's where Biden was later took the oath of office. So I was thinking of actually standing in that same exact spot, but it would have taken too much pushing for me to get there, but I left eventually, because it was just very, very cold. So I stood, I stood around for maybe a further an hour or so, and then I actually went to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. I thought he would be a very good person to visit after a day like that, I got there, I think, 45 minutes later to learn that I was closed for renovations, and I was thinking of actually jumping over the fence to visit him, anyways, but I thought to myself, I've done enough law breaking for one day. And so even though there was no one around and no cameras, and I would not have gotten into trouble, I said to myself, you know, what better not. And so I did not visit him, and I went up till
Daniel Lapin 23:42
this point that afternoon, up to this point, you're feeling this was no great things achieved, no big harm done. And there it is, and you're done. You're heading home
Elliot Resnick 23:57
right. Indeed, it didn't occur to me that I would get into trouble, especially after that whole summer of riots. And by the way, that was going on in the back of my mind, and I'm convinced till today, if the summer of riots of 2020 did not happen, January 6 did not happen. But because those 2020 riots happened, and because the government barely reacted to them, the people got the impression that, you know what, if you're really upset about something, there are new rules in town, you could break, you could get a little bit rowdy, it's okay. And so I thought in the back of my head, I remember a little voice saying, now it's our turn, because they had set the rules, new rules. You could do what you if you're upset, you could, you know, cut some corners. And so I thought, okay, no big deal.
Daniel Lapin 24:36
The fact that you were not breaking into stores and losing is a point in your favor.
Elliot Resnick 24:41
Yes, exactly, exactly. We were not burning, we were not looting, we were not murdering. You know, we were just breaking into a building, which, in the grand scheme of things, is not a big deal. So
Daniel Lapin 24:50
now take me to the very first moment when you became aware that something big was. Happening and you were in peril.
Elliot Resnick 25:03
Um, well, I think it took a day or so first. I think the Republican and conservative reaction to that day only set the stage, because Had there been some pushback from Republicans or conservatives, I don't know if the Democrats would have gone after us with as much strength as they did, but because the conservatives and Republicans immediately threw us under the bus, including, I hate to say including President Trump, after his initial reaction was fine, but by the next night, he already said that what we had done was a heinous crime. That's literally what he said. And so I realized we were in trouble when I started seeing reports on Twitter of people who were being stopped in the airports when I was going to Brooklyn that Friday for the Sabbath, I saw a sign on the West Side Highway, you know, a huge ad, a bulletin board asking the public for help in identifying anyone who was in the Capitol on January 6, and to please call the FBI if you know anyone who was in the capitol that day. Now mind you again, that whole summer of riots, I did not see a single FBI bulletin or billboard, but for January 6, the FBI was was advertising on the West Side Highway. And you can imagine there weren't exactly that many people from Manhattan who went to the Capitol on January 6, but they were advertising in Manhattan anyways. So I knew when I saw that, when I saw Trump not taking our side, but taking the other side. And I started seeing some reports of people being arrested, I knew that perhaps I might be in trouble.
Daniel Lapin 26:24
And when did that concern become confirmed?
Elliot Resnick 26:29
Well, Politico wrote an article about me in April of 2021, so that was three months later.
Daniel Lapin 26:36
So for three months your life was not impacted, no, not at all. And so politico does an article featuring you correct
Elliot Resnick 26:46
and yet, well, so I lost my job over that. A month later, the Jewish press let me go in May because they were scared of losing some government advertising. So they let me go, and I was not arrested until March of 2023 so 26 months after January 6 is when I was arrested.
Daniel Lapin 27:07
And was this anticipated? Were you phoned, or was there a knock at the door? There
Elliot Resnick 27:12
was a knock at the door at six o'clock in the morning, the loudest pounding I've ever heard in my life. Bang, bang. FBI, open up. Open up? Well, I opened up.
Daniel Lapin 27:22
Did you already know what it was, or were you for a moment disoriented?
Elliot Resnick 27:27
I was not disoriented. I had seen a story on Breitbart around a month or two earlier about a judge who had told two January 6 attorneys that he would be retiring soon because the Justice Department had told him that they would be arresting 1000 more January 6 protesters, and the judge told the lawyers he had no interest in spending the rest of his career dealing with January 6 cases. So when I read that story, I was hoping it was not true, but I said to myself, if it is true, I probably will be among those 1000 new people who are arrested
Daniel Lapin 28:02
any idea of how they found you.
Elliot Resnick 28:05
Well, first of all, I am on video. There happens to be a person who hates me because he's a homosexual activist, and even though I was once friendly with him, once upon a time, he takes Glee in trying to harm me every moment that he can. He tried to get me fired from the Jewish press numerous times. When I was sentenced in Washington, DC, he actually came to my sentencing, which I find absolutely remarkable. I mean, I can I don't know anyone in this world that I detest so much that I would go to his hearing to see him being sentenced and thrown to jail. But he did come to my sentencing. So I believe he also turned me in, because the FBI report says somebody identified me who knows me from from years ago, and I can't imagine who else it would be besides him, but I also happen to be on video. And there were vicious leftists who were spending all their time, all day, all week, just going through videos of January 6 and using facial recognition software to identify every single person. And so they would have found me, I think either way.
Daniel Lapin 29:01
So back to the morning, 6am banging on the door. You open the door, and what happens? Well,
Elliot Resnick 29:07
I immediately raised my hands, because, you know, I don't want to mess with these people, and the door slammed in their face, because, you know, the door opens and doors automatically shut, and no one opens them, so it shut in their face. And then I well, to make a long story short, they brought me down to, you know, downtown Manhattan. They brought me in front of the judge. They had a statement of facts in front of the judge. They asked the judge if they could fix a typo. They said, We don't presume to know the defendant's pronouns, but we believe he goes by he and him. And one of the paragraphs here, it says she, so we asked the judge's permission to please change it to he and I thought everyone would break out into laughter, but no one broke out into laughter. Everyone was very serious about that. Anyways, I went home that night, and I was sent in to all day. They kept me all day. They were very nice to me, actually. But after after that initial banging and the rest, they were nice to me, which. Was bizarre, but they were
Daniel Lapin 30:03
and did they they gave you time to get dressed and get get ready to leave with them. Yes, like
Elliot Resnick 30:08
I said, it was very strange. They were very respectful of my religious needs. Also, you know, my yarmulke, the kippah that I wear on top of my head. It fell off at a certain point. I asked them to please put it back on my head. They said, Mr. Resch, do we have your permission to touch the yarmulke? So they were very respectful of my religious needs. You handcuffed. I was handcuffed.
Daniel Lapin 30:29
Yes, amazing. And so you're down at the court all day, and then finally they release you in the evening, correct?
Elliot Resnick 30:37
And I Yes, and then I was sentenced to 18 months later, which, you know, I learned something about court cases, which is, whenever you hear somebody being sentenced to a half a year or a year or five years, you always have to add another year or two years to that sentence, because as soon as you're arrested, your life is in limbo. You can't really do anything. Often you lose your job. In my case, I couldn't look for a new job, and so I my life was in limbo for around a year and a half until I was finally sent to jail in September of 2024
Daniel Lapin 31:09
and so what happened? Then they sent you a note saying you've got to show up at court on such a date.
Elliot Resnick 31:15
Yes, I was in touch to my lawyer, you know, usually, and because the Republicans and conservatives had no interest in defending people like defending people like me. I decided right away there was no point in me trying to make a hero of myself and defend myself in court and say, Yes, I did this for ideological reasons, and I think what we did is correct. There was no point in me doing that, because no one would have even reported what I said in the courtroom. So I really basically behaved myself. The all these cases were in Washington, DC. Many lawyers asked for the cases to be moved to a more neutral setting, but every single judge denied that motion. So there was zero chance of me getting, you know, a fair trial or trial where some jury member might say, You know what this might be the law, but I'm going to vote not guilty anyways, because I think he did the right thing, which you're allowed to do, by the way, people don't know that, but you are, as a juror, always allowed to say not guilty no matter what the law says, because a jury is supposed to be a jury of your peers. You're judging your neighbor, and if you think your neighbor does not deserve to go to jail, it really does not matter what the law says. You are allowed to vote not guilty. There's a famous case in 1736 where a New York a New York jury said about a newspaper publisher not guilty for libel in the British government. And he clearly had libel the British government, but they didn't quite care, because they hated the British government anyways. And so you are allowed to do that, but there was no chance of me getting a juror like that in Washington, DC. Washington DC voted, I believe, 92% for Biden and 4% for Trump. So there was no chance in the world. I was going to get a Republican who would have voted not guilty. So I just pled guilty. I played by the rules. I pled guilty to civil disorder, and eventually I was given a sentence of four months in prison, four months home detention, 12 months probation and $10,000 in fines.
Daniel Lapin 33:01
Yes, and so straight. So from there straight to jail, or you were given a date to turn yourself in.
Elliot Resnick 33:09
Well, I was sentenced shortly before the Jewish holidays and the High Holidays, so I asked if we could delay my sentencing till after, at the very least Yom Kippur, but possibly even after Sukkot. And thank God, the judge said, No, it's fine. We can wait till after all the holidays. And so I went into jail, I believe. Well, on election days, I went to jail. Election Day or prison. Rather, I voted five, yes. November 5, I voted in the morning and reported to prison in the afternoon.
Daniel Lapin 33:37
My goodness. And so by this point, your life's been in limbo for a year and a half, correct? No, no career prospects, no looking for a job, and I'm presuming, no dating.
Elliot Resnick 33:54
Well, here and there, you'd be surprised, not ever. I mean, I went out with a girl from Israel and she said, Oh, I grew up on a settlement, in my settlement, people get arrested all the time,
Daniel Lapin 34:02
so a match made in heaven. I almost,
Elliot Resnick 34:06
almost, but there were other problems. Unfortunately, it did not work out. But no, it does harm, I guess it possibly does harm your dating career to a certain extent. And I had my podcast during that time. But on my podcast, I have to be careful what I said, what I did not say. There's somebody I wanted to interview. He's called the spider man for life. He climbs buildings without rope to draw attention to all the abortions taking place in this country. He's a very religious Christian Mason, Deschamps. I believe his name is but I could not interview him during that time period because he's technically breaking the law when he climbs those buildings without rope. So I had to be careful who I interviewed. Also, I couldn't be as vocal on social media, so even the podcast, I cannot really do as much as I wanted to do because of my arrest. Does he still do that? By the way, yes, I believe he's on probation in Arizona, but I think his probation is ending. So I imagine he will be climbing another building soon.
Daniel Lapin 35:02
Please put me in touch with him when you have a chance. Sure I would be my pleasure to do that. Wouldn't, wouldn't it be interesting for me to interview? I
Elliot Resnick 35:11
believe so. I mean, I, I was very comfortable with this. I don't know how I believe. Well, for my audience, I think is a little bit more of a mixed audience than yours. I have some very religious Jews in my in my podcast audience, and this person, okay, well, he's a very religious Christian, and he will talk about Jesus very often, which I think is wonderful, but I will
Daniel Lapin 35:29
only hear more about climbing.
Elliot Resnick 35:33
Okay, but sure he is interesting. He's very idealistic. I think he's a great person.
Daniel Lapin 35:38
Well, we'll, we'll, we'll definitely get to him. So, so Elliot, so that afternoon, November the fifth, you vote in the morning, and you turn yourself in in the afternoon. What? What is that experience like? What happens?
Elliot Resnick 35:54
Well, it's not as bad me, I went to a low security prison, and I think low security prisons is a very different experience than a high security prison. Now mind you, any prison, when you get there, you go through the standard you could call it dehumanizing, but I guess it's necessary. You know they have to make sure there's no contraband on you. So you are removing all of your clothes, and they are at least quickly looking to make sure you're not hiding anything in any part, in any part of your body. So that's obviously not pleasant. But overall, I was in a low security prison, which means there are no gang wars there. There are no stabbings there. I spoke to another person in prison who was in MDC metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, and he told me he would rather spend one year in Danbury, Connecticut, which is where I was, than one week in MDC in Brooklyn. That's how different the different type of prisons are. Someone told me he was in a prison for, I think, eight months, and there were six stabbings in that prison when he was there. So I was thank God did not experience any of that. No gang
Daniel Lapin 36:52
wars. Major risk for you as being bored to death by an accountant,
Elliot Resnick 36:57
correct? So I, and I, yes, I basically played sports and read books all day long. I was in prison for 77 days. I read 52 books. So I, to a certain extent, got what interaction
Daniel Lapin 37:10
did you have with other people in the same facility? You
Elliot Resnick 37:15
know, in many ways, it's like the type of interactions you have with your friends or fellow camp mates in school or in camp, because you're eating meals together three times a day in a lunch room. You're playing sports together. You're sleeping in the same rooms together. So you make friends the same way you made friends when you're a kid in camp, in school,
Daniel Lapin 37:38
then no probably the next day, your your first full day there. You probably heard that President Trump was now elected.
Elliot Resnick 37:47
Yes, well, I actually watched the election returns on the prison TV that night, although, unfortunately, you have to buy headphones or a radio to actually hear the audio. So I didn't hear the audio, but I could see the screen, and I could see, you know, all the graphics on the screen. So I stayed up till he won, until he actually started delivering his speech. So I knew he won right away. Yes,
Daniel Lapin 38:07
did you already at that point feel fairly confident that he was going to change your life,
Elliot Resnick 38:14
meaning he was going to, pardon me, you're asking, you asking No, not necessarily because he was giving mixed signals, I would say about whether he was going to pardon some people, everybody. I wasn't sure if what I qualified, what I did qualify as a violent offense or not, meaning you or I would never call what I did violent. But I did hold a policeman's wrist for two and a half seconds he was pepper spraying somebody in front of me, so I held his wrist, and that, at least legally, might qualify as a violent act. So I wasn't sure if you would pardon me or not. So I just wasn't sure. Yeah, Elliot,
Daniel Lapin 38:47
did the mood of your jailers change at all after the election?
Elliot Resnick 38:55
Well, I wasn't there before the election. I was only there after the election, I mean, but also, I was very careful not to discuss politics with the jailers, because you don't know what their politics are, and they might not even know why you're there. I mean, when I was first processed, the day I got in November 5, one of the people said to the jailers, one of them said to the other, oh, it's very interesting that he's being jailed on November 5, and the other one said it's probably being done on purpose. So clearly he was obviously on my side, but I tried not to discuss politics with the jailers,
Daniel Lapin 39:25
and for the most part, your fellow incarcerated people were in for. What kind of were the other January 6 people? Or were there white collar crimes? Well, what were these people in for? There
Elliot Resnick 39:40
were white collar crimes. There were four other January 6 defendants. There were people who maybe might have committed a violent act years ago, but they've been behaving for 10 or 15 years, so they've worked themselves down from a high or medium security to a low security. Half the prisoners, and this is probably one of the main things I learned in prison completely unaware of half the prisoners were. What are called SOS, which stands for sex offenders. But before I got to prison, I thought a sex offender was somebody who lured a six year old to a basement and then raped that six year old. It turns out that the majority of sex offenders today are not that kind of sex offenders at all. These are people who actually just went on the internet and looked at pictures or videos that they should not have looked at. And some of these people did not even look at six pictures of six year olds. They looked at pictures of 16 year olds. And for looking at pictures or videos of 16 year olds, they're sent to prison for two years, three years, five years. I think it's ridiculous, because we are not living in a Puritan society. You could commit adultery 100 times, break up, 100 marriages, 100 families cause mass misery to hundreds of children in the process, and you will not spend a single day in jail, even though adultery, by the way, is still illegal in 15 states. But if you look at some videos of a 16 year old girl or 16 year old boy, the federal government will invoke the Commerce Clause and come after you, meaning, if the state also has laws against this, but there's their laws are much more lenient. The federal government uses the commerce clause, the interstate commerce they claim. Well, the computer, when you look at an image in New York, that image bounced off a server in Virginia, and therefore you have now committed interstate commerce. And therefore we, we the federal government, therefore have jurisdiction over you, which is, of course, absurd, and they lock you up. And I don't understand that. I mean, a first time criminal, people who never done anything wrong in their entire lives, productive members of society, you're locking them up. When they get out of prison, they won't be able to get a normal job again. It just doesn't make any sense to me at all. I mean, all pornography is bad. I'm not. I'm not justifying it from a moral standpoint, but it just seems to me, from a legal standpoint, why we're throwing the book at these people over everyone else doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Anyways,
Daniel Lapin 41:52
I didn't know that. So let's jump to your deliverance. At what point did you when did you realize that there was good news coming your way?
Elliot Resnick 42:06
Well, the rumor was that part Trump was going to pardon 1000 people. So again, I wasn't sure. Now, there were roughly 1500 of us who were arrested. So was I going to be part of the 1000 or part of the 500 who were not pardoned? And I always try to not celebrate before, you know, before your eggs are hatched. So I was, you know, look, thank God I got a very short sentence. Anyways, I was very lucky. There were people who got sentences of three years, four years. I only got four months. So worse comes to worse, I would have been in prison for another few weeks now. Of course, I did not want to be under home arrest. I did not want to pay $10,000 in fines, but the alternative, had I not been pardoned? Was not horrific for other people, it was horrific. So I I knew that worse comes to worse. Either way, I was not one of the people who are going to be suffering a lot, but that day, people were saying, Oh, you're going to be pardoned. I said, Look, we'll see. We'll wait and see. And then someone told me who was
Daniel Lapin 43:00
saying to that fellow in incarcerated people or defendants or jailers?
Elliot Resnick 43:06
No, no. I had very few conversations with with jailers, fellow incarcerated people. There were TV rooms. People were watching TV. And then finally, someone said, you know, you've been pardoned. I said, No, I'm not sure it's like, What do you mean? You're not You're not sure it says on the TV, every single person has been pardoned, except 14 whose sentences have been communion. Been commuted. So when I saw that Chiron on the TV screen, I knew that I indeed had been pardoned. And by the way, some people were very excited for me, more excited than even I was. It was one black guy who was jumping up and down. Trump's the man. Trump's the man. You've been pardoned. You've been pardoned. So it's kind of
Daniel Lapin 43:38
and how quickly will you lay out the door
Elliot Resnick 43:42
that night, actually, one, one o'clock in the morning, I was let out in short sleeves, in one in three degree weather, because the prison authorities don't let you take any prison clothing with you, that includes your winter coat, and so I was let out in a T shirt. Look. I mean, I'm very happy to be out. I'm not going to complain, but it is a little strange that they would let you out in a T shirt. So another January, 6 person went out in shorts and slippers, 130 in the morning in three degree weather.
Daniel Lapin 44:08
Yeah. I'm sure nobody said, Keep me till the morning. Yeah, that's true, yeah. So not to be frivolous about this in any way at all, because I, although you you're very philosophical about it, and, and, and you depict your experiences not as bad as many others. But the bottom line is, it's, it's a pretty horrendous ordeal. So could you compile quickly three pieces of advice for somebody who discovers that he's about to be sent into incarceration. What are three things that somebody should know?
Elliot Resnick 44:52
That's a very good question.
Daniel Lapin 44:55
There must have been things that shocked you and astounded you. You know the. Body search. You sounded very philosophical about it, but that could be profoundly shocking for many people.
Elliot Resnick 45:08
Yes, indeed, I would just try to say, to take it easy, go with the flow. Don't expect very much. I mean, when I was in prison, I would see people complaining about the food, complaining about this, complaining about that, I'm thinking to myself, why you're making life difficult for yourself for no good reason. Just don't expect a tremendous amount. There's going to be some very silliness there. For instance, on a foggy day, there's they think there's a more of a risk of escape, so they will shut you down in your units all day long, you can, except for meal time. And so you're stuck in your in your unit, in your room, all day long. Okay, it's not pleasant, but you can just expect very much, and don't be very disappointed. Elliot, the elite are very friendly for the most part, because you're all kind of the same boat. They try to share. They and did we lose connection, by the way, sorry, no, I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if we lost connection.
Daniel Lapin 46:04
I'm sorry. No, that's all right. And I was going to ask you something else, was there any, was there anything that truly shocked you? Was there anything that made you think that if you were going to get politically involved in any area, this is something you would change about the prison system.
Elliot Resnick 46:30
Most of the horrific stories I heard were her. I heard about places that were not, you know, not my prison, other prisons. I mean, in general, I do think the print, the justice system in general, I think does need reform in several areas. One is partially from my experience, but partially from other people's experiences. Also, it seems to me that if you're a child in school who's about to miss 20 minutes of recess for doing something wrong, you will have more of a hearing in front of your principal than someone does in front of a judge who's about to lose 10 years of his life because the rules of civil procedure are so exact. There are so many things you're not allowed to say when you're put on trial that many people often feel like they haven't gotten a hearing. They weren't allowed to properly defend themselves, because the judge will say, this piece of evidence is inadmissible, that piece of evidence is inadmissible and or they also scare you. They'll say you could go to trial and risk getting 20 years in jail, or you could, or will do a plea deal with you, and you'll have to agree to go to jail for three years, and a person feels like he really didn't do anything wrong. He was really innocent, but he doesn't want to risk going to jail for 20 years, so he'll accept the plea deal for three years. A lot of people feel railroaded, and looks it's possible, some people feel well railroaded, because we live in the Me, Me Generation, and everyone's self centered, and everyone feels entitled. But I if everyone you know, usually, if you do something bad, you know you did something bad, and you admit, look, I was caught. I admit it. If so many people think they're railroaded, I think that's a problem with the system. And I really think people should get more of a hearing. I think people should be allowed to speak their mind more in court, more pieces of evidence should be, I think, admissible. I think juries should be allowed to ask questions of defendants, because they're the ones actually judging you at the end. It shouldn't just be contests between defense lawyer, attorney and prosecutor, neither of whom care about the truth. Both of them just want to win the case. The jury is really the only people who actually care about the truth, so they should have the opportunity to ask questions, I think. So there are things of that nature I think should be changed. When you looked
Daniel Lapin 48:27
at your jury, when you were standing in court, did you feel that 12 of them or eight of them, or three of them, or one of them, or none of them could be seen as your peers, no,
Elliot Resnick 48:41
so but, but at the end, I didn't even go for a jury trial, because it was going to be in DC. So I accepted a plea deal, and I so I actually, didn't actually even even come to that point at the end.
Daniel Lapin 48:50
Got it. My guess is from, from what I know of you and your your family and your life, you've probably never eaten non kosher food in your life? That's correct. What happened there? At what point, at what point did you make it known that you wouldn't be able to eat the prison food? The
Elliot Resnick 49:11
day I entered prison, I made it known, and there was a chaplain on premises, an orthodox chaplain, full time chaplain, and so immediately I was put on a kosher food diet, and they cater to that. We had meals from meal Mart, and we had a separate line comes double wrapped in plastic so it could be reheated some people. Lest anyone feel jealous, I have it on the word of a fellow Jew who was not Orthodox, who was on the kosher diet, and later on on the non kosher diet. He said the non kosher diet is better, but so don't you feel jealous or anything, but I was on a separate kosher diet, and they do cater to to kosher needs.
Daniel Lapin 49:51
Gosh, what a nightmare. What a nightmare. Gosh, it's i. And and listen, God bless Trump for doing the right thing with with all those defendants and with you.
Elliot Resnick 50:05
Indeed. At the end, I think his initial reaction to January six, the first few hours, was good, or even was fine, or good, and his last reaction was good. In between, I took some objection, but yes, at the end, he did the right thing. So yes, thank God for it. And he's Yeah, we he deserves tremendous credit, because there are many people who did not. People who did not want him to
Daniel Lapin 50:24
do that. I've spoken to many people who've had the terrible experience of being locked up and the this is my last question for you. The the the question is, in a biblical vision of a godly society, there is no prison, there is no lock up, there's no incarceration. All punishments will be delivered in one of three ways, capital punishment, you're executed. Secondly, you pay, and you will pay, even if you have no money. Then you will pay by working for a certain period of time, and lastly, by lashes, whipping. And during the colonial period, one of the complaints that American patriots had against the British was that they used to administer lashings. However, they violated the biblically mandated maximum. Interesting, the maximum number in the Bible is 4040, lashes. It's reduced to 39 in ancient Jewish wisdom. And Hackett Fisher, who's a historian and written, I believe, on Paul Revere and George Washington. I believe it was him who made the point that patriots were very upset that the British they didn't they lashes or lashes they were administered. They felt they earned it fine, but they objected to the biblically mandated maximum being exceeded. At any rate, in my view, and again, I'm not I'm not in a position to talk. I have no authority, as you do, but in in my view, taking away a year or two years or five years or six months of a man's life is worse than lashes. Now the lashes are painful. They leave scars that might be there forever. You might faint, and there would be a doctor on hand to make sure that you know, you didn't suffer any permanent health hazard, but it's you know, certainly going to be the most painful thing one has ever experienced. So my question to you, Elliot, is, if you were going to be in that Correctional Facility, not for four months, but for a year, everything you experienced but going on for a year, would you have accepted lashes in lieu of that? And if so, what is the maximum? At what point would you say, No, I'll take my year, or, you know, five lashes, three, 210, what would you do? That's
Elliot Resnick 53:27
a very interesting question. I don't know if I would take lashes over a year in jail, but I certainly would take it over five years or 10 years in jail. And there's a book called in defense of flogging that I read in prison. Yes,
Daniel Lapin 53:37
that is by, remind me who is by Peter moskos, I I'm so sorry I haven't read it. I remember when it came out, and I thought to myself, this is right up my alley. I believe this is right. It must be an interesting book. It is interesting.
Elliot Resnick 53:56
He does not go into the history of flogging as much as I would have liked, but it is interesting, and much of what you just said now is echoed in the book. And he says, You know what, if you think flogging or caning is what he really wants, which is what they do in Singapore, if you think it's so inhumane and barbaric, why don't you give defendants a choice after let's say he's been sentenced to 10 years in prison, why don't you then say to the defendant, okay, you could go to prison now for 10 years, or you could, you could accept now either 10 lashes or 20 lashes, whatever the case may be, give people an option because he is, because you are 100% correct, if you don't mind me saying so, which is that I always
Daniel Lapin 54:34
like being told I'm correct. The other way that bald me.
Elliot Resnick 54:38
Yes, okay, well, you're stealing years away from a person's life. That is the main punishment that I saw in prison, because, again, my prison was a very, very lenient type prison. You did not suffer a lot in prison, but nonetheless, years are being wasted away from your life. Years are being stolen from your life, and there's no reason for it if you've maybe raped a person or killed somebody or serial killer. And we have no choice. Well, then you really should kill the person, but let's say you're even opposed to capital punishment. Okay, so we have no choice but to lock you up so to make sure you don't kill someone else again. But if you're not a violent criminal, if you committed a white collar offense, and you're no threat to anybody, why are you stealing years away from this person's life? Another book I read in prison is called from jailer to jailed, Written by Bernie Kerik, who was the former New York City Police Commissioner. Yes, I remember. And he also says, he says, I don't understand. These people are productive members of society, put them under house arrest, force them to teach in a community college. But why are you making them suffer? Why are you making their kids suffer? By the way, another reason why prison was not so bad for me and why it's so bad perhaps for many other people, is that I am really, unfortunately, not married. But if you are married,
Daniel Lapin 55:43
can we put the word yet? You mind that? Elliot? No, not
Elliot Resnick 55:46
at all. I would prefer that. Thank you very much. So I'm not yet married, so therefore I'm not abandoning a wife at home. I don't feel supremely guilty that my kids are are being left at home without a father. So this really weighs on people when they're in prison and Bernie Kirk said, what? Why? You're not doing the families any favors. You're not doing the person, any favor. You're not doing society, any favor. These people are smart people, they're talented people, they're productive people. He doesn't, you know, so either flog them, he doesn't say that, but either flog them, put them under house arrest, do something don't steal years away from their life. Yes,
Daniel Lapin 56:20
and so I'm shocked to hear you say that you would have accepted a year rather than a few lashes, um,
Elliot Resnick 56:29
because when I, you know, I don't know what, when I was sent to jail, I was not doing anything supremely productive at that moment. I didn't have I still been at the Jewish press. You
Daniel Lapin 56:39
basically what you're telling me, sadly, I'm very, very distressed to hear this, but what you're telling me is that Elliot's life didn't change that much. Well, because
Elliot Resnick 56:49
my life was already in limbo for a year and a half, I was actually prison. Was an improvement over what I experienced before that. The first few months after I was arrested, it was fine, but towards the end, it was actually really very frustrating. I just wanted to be over with ready. By the way, someone else told me Same exact thing. He said when he was sentenced, he wasn't sentenced to a jail term. What he was given was an end date to his suffering. Because until you're sentenced, your life is completely on hold. It's just completely in limbo. It was very frustrating. So here I was told, okay, four months in prison. In those four months, I played sports for the first time in high school every day an hour or two of sports. I read 52 books. I read many books that I would not have read had I not been in prison. I got a very good education in prison, and I would not have minded being there maybe another four months. I would read another 52 books. That would have been 104 books. I mean, eventually I would have said, Okay, I've done enough. I'm ready to go home now. But Did your mom visit you every week? Yes, and my sister every week. I saw my sister more often when I was in prison than I see her when I'm not in prison. So
Daniel Lapin 57:49
I'm beginning to see your position here. I get it and and since, since then, you're out of prison now, and thank God your life is is resuming, and you've got a one of your books is over your right shoulders, and then movers and shakers was one you did.
Elliot Resnick 58:09
Yes, all, all four books behind me are books that I either wrote or edited. So it's three volumes of movers and shakers. One of the other books behind me is called nuggets of gold. I collected over 600 witty and wise quotes from Donald Trump on marriage, war, plastic straws and 300 other topics. I also wrote a book called America first, in which I examined the, I guess, world view of America's most powerful Jewish Congressman during World War Two. You know, because people this topic actually comes up nowadays all the time. His name was Saul bloom. He was a Congress he was the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee during World War Two. Very proud Jew, but he realized, look, we're in a world war right now, and America has millions of people under uniform, and they come first. And as much as I want to help the Jews in Europe, I will try to help them, but I will do nothing to undercut the American war effort. And nowadays, we have so many people who don't really care about America. They care about themselves first. So it'll be blacks for Trump, and women for Trump, and Jews for Trump, and Muslims for Trump. And there's no group called Americans for Trump. And if we're Americans, we're supposed to be putting America first. And nowadays, you know, people criticize American Jews. They didn't do enough to save European Jewry. Who cares more about European Jewry? We or they? These people were their brothers and sisters, their parents, their cousins. Of course, they cared about them a tremendous amount, but they also realize it's wartime. America's government's first priority is winning the war, and we understand that, and that's how every patriot should think. And unfortunately, nowadays, too many Americans of every single group do not think that way. They only think about the concerns of their narrow community first, and what what's good or bad for America comes a distant second. And to me, that's a terrible attitude to have. Sorry for going so long on that that's another one called America first. So
Daniel Lapin 59:55
for most of your professional career, you've been putting words down for pay. You've been talking, you've been you're you're a writer, and you've been doing it very effectively. What about all the people out there, and I know people like this, who who have a story to tell. In some cases, it might be a life story. In some cases, it might be a lesson or a few lessons, but there are people who are frustrated writers, people who'd like to write don't have the faintest idea of how to go about doing that. What? What? What can they do? And I, and I know you have something of an answer to that and that you have designed and built something that makes it possible for people, but explain to me what you could do for me, right? So if I wasn't a radio writer, understood,
Elliot Resnick 1:00:52
so I created a I think what you're referring to is I created an online course called 10 Tips to drastically improve your writing, and it's a course designed specifically for conservatives. And it's 10 lessons in which I share 10 tips, which I use religiously in my writing. And incorporating those 10 tips are several other minor tips that I bring in tangentially, but to answer your question directly, because that the 10 tips don't necessarily cover precisely what you're saying. I think of it in this fashion, start writing the way you would speak to your friend. Let's say you just went on an amazing trip this past weekend, and you're calling your friend and say, I had an amazing trip this weekend, and you start telling your friend about the trip. Approach writing the same exact way. Just start writing the same way you speak to your friend on the phone or your parents on the phone. Start writing even that as a first sentence is a wonderful first sentence. I had the most amazing time in Disney World last week. That's a great opening sentence, and you immediately start saying what you did in Disney World, where you went, the best highlights. Don't be scared of the blank page. Just dive right into it. Pretend you're speaking to your best friend. Is that one of the tips, it's not one of the tips that I'm sharing it right now. I do raise it actually in the course, but that's not specifically one of the tips, but it is
Daniel Lapin 1:02:07
a good tip. How do people find the course?
Elliot Resnick 1:02:12
They could just Google 10 tips, and my name, Elliot Resnick. They also could find it on my website. And Elliot
Daniel Lapin 1:02:19
is a very confusing name, but this one is Double L, 1t
Elliot Resnick 1:02:23
Correct. Thank you. And I also have a website called Bren books.com, Bren has two ends. Bren means passion in the German or Yiddish or fire. So I believe that we should always have fire and passion for what we do. I even have on top of my website little quote from someone, a Hasidic Rebbe, was once asked if, if your house was on fire, what is the one thing you would save? And he answered, I would save the fire, because without fire, life is not worth living. So I called it Brent books. It's the name of my publishing company. It's the name of my website, and the course is available also on brand books.com.
Daniel Lapin 1:02:59
Very nice, and give me an example, another example or two of of a tip that would help me overcome writer's block. Would would be, you know, I've written business emails, I write to my family every now and then on an email, but give me a tip or two that would actually make me realize that I could actually write something significant.
Elliot Resnick 1:03:28
I think people are scared of writing and needlessly so it's not a scary endeavor. You could do it if you're look not everyone. Perhaps could be a great writer if, when you have conversations with your friends, you see all your friends are walking away from you because they're bored to death, then you will be a bad writer. But if you have friends who listen to you, who find you engaging, then you could be a good writer, because all you need to do is translate your words onto the paper. And especially nowadays, the main style of writing is a very colloquial style. You do not have to write in a very fancy 17th century or 18th century style with very flowery language. It's actually people actually prefer for you not to write that way. They prefer for you to write in a very down to earth style. So if you just write the way you speak, and if you've any of your friends find you interesting, you will be a good writer. Do not be scared of the page, and you do not to be very fancy. Don't, don't try to be fancy. Try to be very simple. Sometimes the best writing is the simplest sentences, short sentences, not fancy, convoluted sentences. And people, you know, one of my tips actually, is to write active sentences rather than passive sentences.
Daniel Lapin 1:04:39
Give me an example of what you mean. So a passive
Elliot Resnick 1:04:41
sentence, an active sentence is where the actor comes before the action. So he wrote the book. The actor is he and the action is wrote. He wrote the book is an active sentence, a passive sentence would be the book was written by him, because the actor is him, but now he comes after the action. Question, and therefore it's a passive sentence. And politicians actually love passive sentences, because in a passive sentence, you can actually leave out the actor entirely. So you could say mistakes were made. Now, mistakes were made by whom. There's no actor there. An active sentence would have to you'd have to say, I made exactly I made a mistake. And that's a much better sentence. But somehow passive sentences actually sound fancier to people, maybe because they don't write that way, or they don't think that way, so it sounds fancier to people. So they'll say, you know, mistakes were made. Or, you know, another example of why passive sentences are bad, and this is one of the examples I bring in my in my writing. Course, you could say, here's a passive sentence. Under socialism, private farms must be relinquished to the state. So it sounds like a very fancy sentence, but number one, it's passive because the action is relinquished and the actor is not named. And if it was named, would have to be at the end of the sentence. And to make it an active sentence, you would have to say under socialism, citizens must relinquish their private farms to the state. So it's a much clearer sentence, and now it's actually a much more down to earth, concrete sentence. Concrete sentence. It's not an amorphous sentence, and it sounds so beautiful. It's like in the air, in the in the other that's private farms must be relinquished to the state. No private citizens must relinquish the farm to the state. Flesh and blood people must actually give away their private property to the state. So that's an active sentence. And even though the passive sentence sounds fancier, it is actually not fancier. It is a worse sentence. It is less clear, less down to earth and so therefore, again, don't worry about being fancy. One of my tips, actually, is not to be overly fancy. Just write the way you talk and watch.
Daniel Lapin 1:06:49
I wanted to embark on this I can't imagine, like for exercise, to practice, to see if I can write. What should I try and write?
Elliot Resnick 1:06:58
You know, I find that some of my best writing are my emails. And especially it's not nice to say, but especially if I'm upset at somebody, or I feel very passionate about it, about something, I will write this email in which I have listed in two or three paragraphs exactly why I'm upset about X, Y and Z. And then I read the email like, wow, my argument flows so nicely. I'm super clear on what, on why I'm upset about X, Y or Z, and I'm like, That's and I'm not trying to praise myself, but I'll say to myself, Wow, I really actually like what I just wrote. If you are very passionate about something, and if you believe in something very strongly, it will actually come out pretty clear most of the time. So just find a topic that you know a lot about, that you're very passionate about, and write about it. And if you know if it's political writing, or if it's if it's fiction, if it's you know you want to write a memorial to your sibling who unfortunately passed away, sit down and think yourself, why do I love my brother? What about him did I love? And just start writing from the heart, and it will flow. And just just do it. Don't be scared. I mean, I have just don't be scared of the blank page. Don't think you have to be anything terribly fancy. You have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner. Just start doing it. You'll be fine. What is the course called 10 Tips to drastically improve your writing. 10
Daniel Lapin 1:08:15
tips to drastically improve your writing. And how long should the course take me to go through?
Elliot Resnick 1:08:21
It's two hours and 20 minutes worth of video, 10 videos.
Daniel Lapin 1:08:25
Oh, it's broken up into digestible slices, yes,
Elliot Resnick 1:08:29
with many examples, terrific and exercises, etc,
Daniel Lapin 1:08:34
and Elliot, reluctantly, I have to bring us in for a landing because, just because of the clock. But you are a very engaging guest. Now, admittedly, you have a dramatic story to tell, even though you downplay it in a very engaging kind of a way, but the truth is that the horror of it, I think, reaches me and I'm sure the listeners as well. So I'm very happy you're out of that. I'm very happy you can throw your energies into helping the rest of us learn to write as well as you do and and I hope that the the the course, helps a lot of people writing is is a really valuable tool for business. In other words, if you are looking to change jobs, or you're looking to find a job, you're starting a career, you're changing careers, spending a little time polishing up your writing abilities. Really, really valuable. It really makes the difference between moving ahead and staying where you are, one of many things that do, but it is one of the things that makes a difference. It's incredibly frustrating for an employer to receive written communications from somebody you're paying and for them to be rubbish.
Elliot Resnick 1:09:55
Yes, I can imagine so. And by the way, I forgot to mention that for your. Listeners exclusively, I've created a coupon. Happy warrior. If you write Happy Warrior, happy
Daniel Lapin 1:10:05
warrior, one word in the singular, Happy Warrior, and you get a discount. I love discounts. 25% yes, great. I love 25% wonderful. My pleasure. Elliot, so thank you very much indeed. Great talking with you. Thank you kindly. Don't be surprised if you are contacted by about 60 to 100 young women who couldn't care less about improving their writing, but they'd like to go out with you. And I would call that a big win. Thank
Elliot Resnick 1:10:09
you very much. I very much appreciate it. Yes, and by the way, I have personal coaching, also one on one. If people don't want to take the course and just want to have one on one coaching, I have that available. I say
Daniel Lapin 1:10:52
website be able to do that. Yeah, that makes sense. Great. I really
Elliot Resnick 1:10:55
so much appreciate the opportunity you've been given, given me here, and
Daniel Lapin 1:11:01
always been a pleasure talking to you, and it's been at least 15 years that we've been talking
Elliot Resnick 1:11:06
indeed. Yes, thank you. I really appreciate, God
Daniel Lapin 1:11:09
bless lots of success in all what I would call your five F's, Elliot, family, finance, friendships, faith and physical fitness,
Elliot Resnick 1:11:19
beautiful. Thank you so very much. I really appreciate it. All right, you as well. Soon, thank you kindly. Yes,
Daniel Lapin 1:11:24
bye. Bye. I do hope you enjoyed that and found it as interesting as I did. If you are a member of the happy warrior community, you'll find it very easy on your special, private website to let me know what you thought, and if you have any questions that you'd like me to forward to Elliot. Please go ahead and let me know again on the website, I will see your email, and I will go ahead and forward the question to Elliot. He's proven to be very good with responses as well. So don't hesitate for that. And I think that as reluctant as I am to bid you farewell, I have to indeed do that the clock ticks on and we've arrived at the end of this episode of The Rabbi Daniel Lapin show. So thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for visiting the website. Thank you for subscribing to the show, and until next week, I want to wish you a fantastic week of progress and growth in your five Fs, in your family, in your faith, your finances, your friendships and your fitness. I'm Rabbi. Daniel Lapin, God bless you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
