Liz talks with Pastor Benny Tate of Rock Springs Church in Milner, GA about his new book titled “Unlimited.” In Unlimited, Tate helps readers discover a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit and realize His importance in their daily lives. Focusing on our need for the Holy Spirit as well as His presence, power, and role in equipping us to fulfill our purpose, this book will help readers grow and better relate to the third person of the Trinity. Dr. Tate has also served as the chaplain for the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Learn about what evangelism means and looks like from the teachers you trust on KLTT. Learn how to share the gospel, exegesis that makes things make more sense, and news about evangelism around the globe here on the mighty KLTT!
Liz talks with Pastor Benny Tate of Rock Springs Church in Milner, GA about his new book titled “Unlimited.” In Unlimited, Tate helps readers discover a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit and realize His importance in their daily lives. Focusing on our need for the Holy Spirit as well as His presence, power, and role in equipping us to fulfill our purpose, this book will help readers grow and better relate to the third person of the Trinity. Dr. Tate has also served as the chaplain for the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
On today's program: Chris Gacek, FRC's Senior Fellow for Regulatory Affairs, comments on the Left's threats to battle President-elect Trump's executive orders on the border and predicts what he needs to do to restore law and order at the Department
SPEAKER 13 : 0:00
from the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 03 : 0:20
Well, good afternoon and welcome. Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. I'm the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. What a week. What a week. So coming up on today's program, let's begin with this one. Obviously, the post-election day reality is setting in for Americans, and many on the left are either still licking their wounds or they're beginning to make it clear that they intend to put up a fight for the next four years.
SPEAKER 01 : 0:56
We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result. And my office has been preparing for several months. because we've been here before we face this challenge before and we use the rule of law to fight back
SPEAKER 03 : 1:18
Well, that was New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is certainly one of those who is switching to defense after engaging in lawfare against now President-elect Donald Trump during the course of his campaign. And already some are saying that Trump is going to be involved in retribution against those who took him to court. But the real question is, is this retribution or is it justice? We'll stick around, we'll be discussing that as the program unfolds. And the results of this presidential election wasn't the only thing that was different about this one, this election, this time around. In many ways, Republicans, I think, learned from issues that plagued the 2020 election. They did a lot of work on the election integrity front, including a nationwide deployment of some 230,000 poll observers. And they dealt with literally hundreds of issues across the country on Election Day.
SPEAKER 17 : 2:19
We had, you know, just a myriad of things in Arizona and Nevada, you know, and other states. What you want to do is be there and demonstrate to these guys you're going to be there and then they'll back off and they won't cheat. And we saw just literally hundreds of examples all across.
SPEAKER 03 : 2:40
That was Michael Whatley. He, of course, is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. That was during a Breitbart News Daily podcast yesterday. Well, while the left often accuses conservatives of voter suppression, it's really the conservatives who are working on voter protection. And we'll be unpacking more of this when I'm joined later in the program by Mike Berry from America First Policy Institute. Also on today's program, we'll give you a sneak preview at the latest installment of our Profiles in Leadership series. This time, Tony is going to be sitting down with an interview with Oklahoma Congressman Josh Perkin.
SPEAKER 04 : 3:19
So I met Tom Coburn running for the United States Senate. And it wasn't long before I was working for Tom Coburn. I helped him get elected, along with many others that were part of his staff, and then became full-time staff with him, and really cut my teeth on a good man who was biblically accurate, constitutionally sound. And then a few years later, I found myself making law.
SPEAKER 03 : 3:43
Well, if you want to hear more from that interview, and I know you do, stick around for the preview. It'll be coming up a little later in the program. And then to close out the program, not only for today, but for this week, I'll be joined by FRC's David Claussen for our Biblical Worldview segment. We, of course, will be discussing this week's headlines, and you can imagine what that will include, and how we as Christians should be thinking about them. So we've got a lot coming your way, a packed program as always. And don't forget our website, TonyPerkins.com. Of course, tons of information there available for you. And we encourage you to check that out. And by the way, Before we jump into the program today, we've had tons of people talk about the special Tuesday night election coverage. It was FRC's PrayVote Stand Decision 2024. It was absolutely spectacular. If you missed it, you can still go watch some of it or all of it on the StandFirm app. And I encourage you to do that, certainly. Get the app if you haven't already. You can get it by simply texting the word app, A-P-P. to 677-42. All right, let's jump into our first item for the evening. Earlier today, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge to put the pause button on his case against now President-elect Donald Trump. He wants his office to assess how to move forward. Well, his request was granted earlier this afternoon, and now Smith has until December 2nd to report back to the court. Meanwhile, some on the left are running with the narrative that was pushed, quite frankly, by Vice President Kamala Harris, that she had a to-do list and Trump has an enemies list. Well, the left will view... any action that the president has gauged in lawfare against him as retribution. That's where all this is going. But is it retribution or is it justice? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Dr. Chris Gasek. He's a senior fellow for regulatory affairs here at the Family Research Council. Chris, thanks for joining me. Always great to have you. Good to be with you, Jody. Okay, so let's start off with a quick recap. I think that's the most appropriate place for us to begin. Tell us about the cases that have been leveled against Trump over the past four years.
SPEAKER 16 : 6:14
Right, so you have two federal cases and you have two state cases. Let's start with the federal cases. The first one is the documents case down in Florida. The judge down there, probably a month or two ago, said that Jack Smith was inappropriately appointed to be a special counsel. So that actually is an important issue because it would apply to his appointment up here in the January, up here meaning the District Court of the District of Columbia. and would apply to this case as well, but this court hasn't ruled on it or hasn't accepted it. But anyway, you have the dismissal down there for Smith's appointment being basically illegal, all right? So I guess the Justice Department is appealing that when Trump gets in, that case will be dead because they're not – they'll just pull the plug on that because they agree with the judge in the case. The January 6th case up here, they're trying – I'm not sure what's going on here. It looks like they're – like he's trying to ask for time and then figure out a way to dismiss the case or bail out of it. We'll see what happens. I don't trust any of these people until the ink is dry on the documents. Then you have the two state cases. Let's go to the Georgia case. The Georgia case is such a mess. You have this prosecutor, Fannie Willis. She's under all kinds of ethics investigations. It's just a real... just a disaster. I can't imagine that that's going to proceed very long. Also because the case, you know, everything that was brought against Trump was essentially protected First Amendment speech because he was essentially protesting the, you know, the outcome of the election in the sense that he thought the process was bad. And I don't understand how people aren't allowed to do these sorts of things. And there were all sorts of other federal officials brought into the process as well unjustly. So we'll see what happens there, but I don't think that's going to proceed. And also a lot of the issues in that case also fall within this immunity ruling that came about from the Supreme Court. So this is another kind of a problem they've got. And that immunity ruling also would apply to the federal cases as well. So that has to be sorted out. I mean, that applies to all of them. So then it leaves us with this crazy New York case. It was kind of like a Seinfeld case, a case about nothing. because they supposedly falsified documents, although I was never convinced that anyone in the Trump organization falsified any documents, but let's say they falsified documents, then they kind of were always a little bit weird about what the actual crime was, the felony that had to be tied into this crime so that it wasn't just a misdemeanor of falsifying documents. And then what ended up happening there was that they got this kangaroo court and you had this conviction on it. And the sentencing is apparently gonna take place on the 26th of this month. But there's also a hearing on the 12th where they're gonna respond or something, the judge is gonna have some kind of a response related to the immunity filings coming out of the Supreme Court decision. So we'll see what happens there. All of these cases seem to me to be just on infirm ground and are likely to be at some point tossed out. I think the one in New York, because you have this, you know, the whole justice system is so intensely corrupt up there. And there are multiple cases of lawfare being waged against Trump. And, you know, this attorney general who's just sort of out of her mind that they might try to pursue this thing and keep it going just to interfere with, you know, with the administration. And so go ahead, Jody.
SPEAKER 03 : 10:31
Yeah. So, I mean, you brought up the word lawfare. I mean, we hear that all the time, that this was lawfare, that it was all politically based and all that sort of stuff. Many think that's absolutely a fair assessment. So that comes down to the question I've posed a couple of times as I intro the program today. What are we talking about here, Chris? Is it retribution or is it justice? Has this been a politically based case of lawfare? What are we dealing with as Trump comes back in? And certainly there's going to be some discussion. Is this lawfare or recognition?
SPEAKER 16 : 11:07
One of the things I would do – I mean honestly, given the attitude of the Trump officials, I think they're very serious about this. And one of the things that's going to happen is if they don't bail out of these things. I still think it's going to happen anyway. But there is a federal statute. It's 18 U.S.C.
SPEAKER 1 : 11:22
241.
SPEAKER 16 : 11:22
It's called a conspiracy to deny civil rights. And – I could easily imagine the new Justice Department starting to look at this sort of coordinated effort to attack him legally on all these different sorts of issues and coordinating with it. I mean, we know that Fannie Willis' you know, boyfriend went up to the White House and charged, you know, he billed time to go and talk to the White House counsel. So, I mean, and we haven't, you know, we don't have the inside records. You know, they're going to be inside the Justice Department. They're going to have access to everything. And they're going to have access to all sorts of people, right? So... If we want to go down this route, and that's federal crime, that's justice, that's not retribution. This should not have been happening. In fact, the one that really has always rankled me the worst is the documents case down in Florida, because any president is going to have probably a million documents, and there's a lot to do to sort this out. You get these things, you bring them down to some location, and... You know, there may be classified documents there. I think that that whole thing was set up from the beginning and it was just a pretty detestable thing. And it also is one of these things that is a scorched earth policy. So now what are we going to every president's going to be afraid of, you know, taking documents? You know, for their presidential libraries, for fear of being subject to some whimsical prosecution by the next administration that doesn't like you. So so this is a very serious thing. And let me just say it's not about Trump. Right. It's about systemic injustice. And this is where this whole conspiracy, what I just mentioned, conspiracy to design civil rights comes in. Remember, there are odd things going on all the time over there, you know, like swatting, you know, a person protesting outside an abortion facility. Nobody had ever done that kind of stuff before. You just sort of send them, you tell them, show up at the courthouse and we're going to, you know, arraign you, right? Or, you know, come down to, I mean, there's all these sorts of things that happen that are just. Well, it ultimately all comes down to the rule of law.
SPEAKER 03 : 13:28
And that's what has to be protected. And it's not just what happened to Trump. I mean, we have issues on the border taking place, the DOJ, the FBI, all sorts of things that are going to have to be dealt with.
SPEAKER 16 : 13:40
Is the law being equally applied between parties? That's the main thing. And it wasn't.
SPEAKER 03 : 13:45
Chris Gasek, FRC Senior Fellow for Regulatory Affairs, thank you so much for joining us. All right, friends, coming up after the break, it was a major victory, but what about election integrity? We'll talk about that after the break. Stay tuned.
SPEAKER 12 : 14:02
Let's not be discouraged. Don't lose heart. Don't lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let's stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
SPEAKER 15 : 14:19
The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don't defend it, who will?
SPEAKER 02 : 14:35
Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don't say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You're naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
SPEAKER 11 : 14:57
Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we've relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we've relied too little on the power of God and God's ability to open doors that we can't open and do things that we couldn't even hope to begin to do.
SPEAKER 14 : 15:15
This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that His Spirit empowers us and protects us, and that He can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
SPEAKER 18 : 15:37
Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
SPEAKER 09 : 16:02
Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We've created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
SPEAKER 08 : 16:30
Are you a Christian parent looking to raise a spiritual champion in today's culture? Renowned author George Barna has written a new book, Raising Spiritual Champions. This book offers valuable insights based on extensive research conducted by George Barna, the Family Research Council, and Arizona Christian University. Learn how to help your children discern biblical truth and find compelling meaning and purpose. Don't miss out on this essential resource for parents. Order your copy today.
SPEAKER 03 : 17:03
welcome back to washington watch i am your friday host jody heiss and so glad to have you joining us today all right given what happened in the 2020 election the republican national committee this year was keenly and i believe rightly focused on efforts to maintain election integrity So on Tuesday, the RNC deployed around 230,000 poll watchers to sites all across the nation. And also, in addition to that, among the frontline election integrity defenders were the Trump campaign's team of lawyers. who quickly worked to tackle any problems as they arose. Well, as a result of these efforts, hundreds of election night issues were successfully resolved. And I'm saying that again, literally hundreds of issues. And here now to share more about all this is Mike Berry. He's the executive director for the Center for Litigation at America First Policy Institute. Mike, welcome back to the program. Always great to have you.
SPEAKER 05 : 18:10
It's great to be back with you. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 03 : 18:12
All right. So listen, it was amazing what was accomplished. Give us an overall evaluation from your perspective on how things went Tuesday, specifically as it relates to election integrity.
SPEAKER 05 : 18:26
Well, I'll sort of give people an inside view of what was happening at AFPI's Center for Litigation. In the weeks leading up to November 5th, one of the things that we did was looked at all the cases that we currently had and essentially wanted to put them into a holding pattern. because we wanted to clear the decks and ensure we had sufficient bandwidth and capacity to handle whatever the issues that might arise on November 5th and possibly even one week, two weeks, even three or four weeks after November 5th, because we just weren't sure whether this was going to end up in a contested election, whether there were going to be flare-ups in some of the usual hotspots around the country. And so as the results began to come in on the evening of November 5th, I mean, First of all, the victory in itself is nothing short of remarkable. But second, the fact that we knew relatively early on that this was going to be a win and that it wasn't going to be contested, that President Trump was going to essentially win both the popular vote and the Electoral College in a landslide is just nothing short of remarkable and amazing news. And to your point, Jody, hats off to his campaign, hats off to the RNC and the RNLA, the Republican National Lawyers Association. They were ready. We vowed that we cannot let what happened in 2020 happen again. And I would dare say that... We are by no means where we want to be or aspire to be, but we are light years ahead of where we were four years ago. And that was reflected in the results on Tuesday night and the fact that this was a relatively quiet and clean and it was a runaway landslide election.
SPEAKER 03 : 20:10
It was relatively quiet, I think, at least from the perspective of those of us who were just watching the results come in. But there were literally hundreds of stories that were taking place behind the scenes. What were some of the issues that you heard about that came up?
SPEAKER 05 : 20:25
Well, you know, you go through the usual suspects of states that have some issues that arise. And I'll point out, a lot of times this is really simply due to the way that each state has its election codes written. Pennsylvania is somewhat notorious for having an election code that... has some gaps that leave some room for interpretation. So both sides can sort of say, well, we interpret it this way and we interpret it this way. Georgia is another state that's susceptible to that. And that's why you kind of hear the usual suspects come up. But looking at Pennsylvania, for example, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, early voting was a really big deal this year. There was a massive effort to get the early vote out. to avoid long lines on Tuesday, but then also just to really take advantage of the early voting season. And one of the issues that happened in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was that it became viral on social media and even in the mainstream media. You had election workers begin closing the early voting stations at like, you know, one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock in the afternoon when they were supposed to stay open until five. And when asked, why are you closing the election places, they said, well, we're worried that we won't be able to handle all of the ballots that we'll have to process through early voting. And the way Pennsylvania does it, again, it's kind of weird. You stand in line and then you get essentially what's called an on-demand mail-in ballot. Then you fill it out and then you mail it in. And that's how they do early voting in Pennsylvania. It's different in other places. Here in Texas, we do early voting. It looks and feels a lot like your regular voting where you stand in line and you go and you go into the little polling place and you fill out your ballot and then you submit it and then you're done. You've early voted. In Pennsylvania, they do it via what's called an on-demand mail-in ballot. Well, when they closed this down, the RNC immediately sued Bucks County and said, you can't do that. You've got to let people have the opportunity to get to engage in the early voting process from start to finish. The court agreed, issued an order saying you if they are in line by 5 p.m., then they that they get to go through the whole early voting process. Well, lo and behold, on the last day of early voting, which would have been, I think, Friday before. So was that November 1st or 2nd? I think it was. You had these election officials again closing down the polling stations early. This time we were ready. Right. Unlike in years past, this time we were ready. We made sure that the right people there on the ground were. had a copy of that court order in hand. They showed it to the election officials and said, you have to let them vote. There's a court order that says if they're in line by 5 p.m., you have to let them get access and do the full early voting process. And that's exactly what happened. So that's just one example. quick example of how we were very quickly able to you know hear about an issue respond to the issue make sure that the right information to write a good court ruling was already in place and we were able to put out some of these you know little little brush fires before they turned into wildfires and y'all were prepared i mean and prepared to do it quickly and that happened time and again
SPEAKER 03 : 23:40
Mike, we've got less than a minute left, but just a scale of one to 10, have we made significant improvements from 2020 to 2024? And what are two or three highlight issues that still need to be resolved going forward?
SPEAKER 05 : 23:54
We are light years ahead of where we were in 2020. I would say on a scale of one to 10 compared to 2020, we're probably at a seven or an eight. We wanna be at a 10, so we've got work to do. And then in terms of the areas for improvement, just like I said, the state legislatures And the AGs and the secretaries of state in some of these usual hotspots, I think there's some work to be done there in filling in some of these gaps in the election codes that need to be filled in. So I think that's probably the first step.
SPEAKER 03 : 24:29
Mike Berry, thank you so much. Executive Director of the Center for Litigation at AFPI. Always great to talk with you. Thanks for a job well done. And thank you for joining us on Washington Watch today.
SPEAKER 05 : 24:40
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 03 : 24:42
All right, friends, after the break, I'll give you a sneak preview at Tony's interview with Oklahoma Congressman Josh Burkine. This is going to be part of our Profiles in Leadership series. You don't want to miss it coming your way right after this. Stay tuned.
SPEAKER 07 : 25:01
Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It's true that all ideas have consequences, but we're less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life's biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They're disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn't begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won't happen if people can't recognize a lie and don't believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release, and the forest from the trees.
SPEAKER 03 : 27:03
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you. I'm your Friday host, Jody Heiss. Welcome aboard. All right. Over the last few Fridays, those of you who have been joining us on Fridays here the last few weeks, you've noticed that we've been sharing some excerpts from a limited time series that is offered on FRC's Stand Firm app. We're calling it Defending the Faith, Profiles in Leadership. The series features exclusive sit-down interviews that Tony has had with some of our nation's leaders, and these interviews go far beyond mere policies and politics. By the way, if you'd like to see it, you can do so by downloading the StandFirm app. You can do that by going to the App Store or Google Play, wherever you get your apps, or you can simply text the word app. to 67742. Well, in the latest installment of our Profiles in Leadership series, it features Tony's interview with Oklahoma Congressman, Josh Perkin. He's a member of the Homeland Security Committee as well as the Budget Committee. But in this preview, Congressman Burkine talked about why Christians should have a role in the government. He also talked about how he went in his own journey from pathway to be a lawyer to becoming a lawmaker. And it all started with a chance conversation that he had while working on his family's ranch while waiting to get into law school. And here's what the congressman had to share with Tony.
SPEAKER 04 : 28:32
I WAS IN PRAYER IN COLLEGE, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, AND REALLY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THOSE NEXT STEPS, TYPICAL OF MOST, YOU KNOW, FRESHMAN, SOPHOMORE, WHO'VE GOT MOST OF THOSE BASICS KNOCKED OUT, BUT YOU'VE GOT TO START FIGURING OUT WHAT THE MAJOR'S GOING TO BE. AND, MAN, THE WORD LAW WOULD JUST ILLUMINATE OFF THE PAGES WHEN I READ MY BIBLE. And so much so that I just was really convinced that I was supposed to be a lawyer. And so I applied at the height of when 9-11 occurred. I had the LSAT score, the GPA, et cetera, to get me into OU. I had a scholarship that I was gonna transfer, but they put me on a waiting list because it was a historic year for OU. And so then, I was put on this waiting list. It never occurred. My family had started a faith-based ranching program. My father trained cutting horses professionally. My mother and father were very active in ministry, and they had started kind of converting the ranch into a ministry for young men who had alcohol, drug addictions. And so I prayerfully felt led to, in this limbo season, stay there until I got a reply, basically, from what was going to happen on law school. Long story short, I remained doing that for a couple of years. My flesh was screaming, but I knew I wasn't supposed to be doing anything else. And I was, in addition to the cutting horse program, started a heavy equipment business with my father. I was unloading a dozer. A guy jumps on the dozer. I had had a member of Congress reach out to me. And I was telling him about this. It just happened to be a Democrat member of Congress. And he said, man, there's a guy by the name of Tom Coburn that's going to come to this particular meeting in a few weeks. I want you to come with me. And so I met Tom Coburn running for the United States Senate. And it wasn't long before I was working for Tom Coburn. I helped him get elected along with many others that were part of his staff and then became full-time staff with him. And really cut my teeth on a good man who was biblically accurate, constitutionally sound. And then a few years later I found myself making law. So it's amazing what we know in part and in part.
SPEAKER 18 : 30:38
In a small world, because Tom Coburn, when I came to the Family Research Council 20 years, 21 years ago, he was on the board. And of course, we also share in common. I grew up in Oklahoma, of course, the other side of the stem up in the northern part of the state. You're in the southern part of the state. Let's go back a little bit to that encounter, your first encounter with the Lord that brought you into a relationship. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER 04 : 31:06
Look, I was young. I grew up in Baptist-Methodist combo churching, mother and father of one of each. depending on what year we were in, what type of church. But I grew up with good parents who taught me to get in the Bible, picture Bibles. If any parents watching and not doing a good job of getting your kids early in life in a picture Bible and then not leave Bible studies, man, our culture's losing out because that's a lost practice. But I remember just having an encounter at a young age And I had my share of sin, but I've walked with the Lord. There was a hunger for the word that developed early in my life.
SPEAKER 18 : 31:47
So Josh, a lot of people would say, as a Christian, you talk about politics, that's a dirty business. I mean, things are said about you. You have to get involved in issues that just are not consistent with what they would say would be our faith. How do you respond to that?
SPEAKER 04 : 32:08
Well, our founders, you know, there's a great quote that's used a lot. I think Charlie Kirk has probably made it famous, John Adams' quote that says that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people, totally inadequate to the government of any other. I encourage people to go look further. That writing was to the Massachusetts militia by the second president, and he actually starts it off by saying, we have no government armed with power capable of continuing with human passions unbridled by religion and morality. And being somebody who grew up in the cutting horse industry, I like any time the words our founders used, bridle. And then he goes on to say that avarice, which means extreme greed, ambition, and revenge, will break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Then he finishes with that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. So, you know, it clicks with me that if you want to maintain liberty, then you have to have self-governance. And self-governance is the only way our founders saw true liberty being maintained, a limited government. What we see now is that what was started by limited 18 enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8, the vacuum of government is starting to fill, and we're becoming a lawless society because we're not self-governing like we used to.
SPEAKER 03 : 33:19
Well, that was Oklahoma Congressman Josh Burkine during an exclusive sit-down interview with Tony in our Profiles in Leadership series on the StandFirm app, which you can have if you don't already have it. Simply go to the App Store or Google Play, download it, or text the word APP to 67742. You'll definitely want to hear the rest of that. Incredible man, Congressman Burkine, and great, great interview. All right, after the break, I'll wrap up the week with our Biblical Worldview segment with David Claussen. So stick around. Much more headed your way here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 10 : 34:02
Jesus said in John 15, these things I've spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. In 2024, in these divided and uncertain times, how can this be possible? By abiding in him through his word. At Family Research Council, we wanna help you do that, which is the reason for the Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. In just 10 to 15 minutes each day, you will have read the entire Bible in just two years. But more importantly, you will be abiding in Him daily. Find our Bible reading plan at frc.org slash Bible. And join Tony Perkins each weekday for a 10-minute devotional inspired by the daily reading and designed to encourage you on this journey through the Bible. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. And remember, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.
SPEAKER 07 : 35:01
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God's will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn't impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can't do that. It's not that you don't love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God's opinion more than your neighbor's opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you're the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that's not all. They're also engaged in our government. They're voters. They're more likely to be involved in their community, and they're making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can't do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That's what we're working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That's S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 03 : 37:02
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. Welcome back. Again, I want to remind you, if you missed Tuesday night's special election coverage, the PrayVote Stand Decision 2024, even today, I had people still talking about it, saying it was the best coverage available on all the networks. You may want to get a touch of it, see what it was all about, and follow up on it yourself. You need to have the Stand Firm app to do that. If you don't already have it, go to the Apple Store or Google Play or simply text the word APP to 67742. All right. It's now been a few days since Donald Trump's historic victory on Tuesday night. And since Election Day, as you can well imagine, we've had a little bit of time now to digest some exit polling information and learn more about the winning coalition that all came together that put now President-elect Donald Trump on his way to the White House. Well, how did evangelical Christians vote? What were the issues that motivated them? And what do we think about the results of all those abortion enshrining referendums that were on the ballot in 10 different states across the nation? Well, joining me now to discuss this is our weekly Biblical Worldview segment host, David Claussen. He's the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at FRC. David, thanks for joining me. Always great to have you.
SPEAKER 06 : 38:32
Hey, great to be with you again, Jody.
SPEAKER 03 : 38:34
What a week. Where do we start? Let's start with the big news. How about election day results? In terms of Christian voting behavior in particular, what do we know at this point in terms of how evangelical Christians voted?
SPEAKER 06 : 38:49
Yeah, we have a lot of exit polls, Jody, that have come out. Ones that I've seen that have seemed to be pretty extensive would be CNN, as well as the Washington Post. And I actually pooled the statistics. And again, I find all this really interesting, but it's understandable, given the way the campaigns kind of unfolded given the issues that were stressed. So let me just give you the numbers and then we can talk about it, Jody. But as far as the exit polling when it comes to white evangelicals or those who are born again, 82% cast their ballots for President-elect Trump compared to 17% for Kamala Harris. Those numbers are exactly the same numbers appear in the Washington Post exit polls, which again, tens of thousands of people were polled. What's interesting is those who had no religious affiliation, it's almost the complete mere opposite of that, 71% with no religious affiliation back the vice president. And then when it comes just to Protestants at large, Jody, in the CNN exit polls, 63% of Protestants backed the former president, 58% of Roman Catholics. And then when you look at what Harris polled, it was 36% of Protestants kind of writ large and 40% Catholic, which was a major decrease. Joe Biden actually four years ago won the Catholic vote. So just to summarize that, Jody, evangelicals in particular, but Protestants at large, as well as Catholics, really overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump in his quest to return to the White House.
SPEAKER 03 : 40:36
Wow. Anything in there that surprises you at all? You mentioned the Catholics. What stands out the most to you?
SPEAKER 06 : 40:43
I think that stood out to me, specifically looking at the religious demographics. What I think was really revealing, actually, was married women versus unmarried women. So this isn't religious demographics, but just looking at it for sex. With married women, Donald Trump received 51 percent of the vote. Harris received 48%. There was a lot of talk in the lead up to the election on the huge gaps with women supporting Harris and men supporting Trump. But when you actually break it down, Jody, with married women, they supported Donald Trump by a small margin, whereas with unmarried women, it was actually 59% of them supported Harris, only 38% Trump. And Jodi, I think that speaks to issues related to transgenderism. If you'll remember, a few weeks ago, the former president, now president-elect, did a town hall with Fox News where this issue of biological boys playing sports against biological women, this was brought up by Harris Faulkner. And she asked the crowd, you know, how many of you are concerned about this issue? And so every hand went up. So married women, many of whom have children, not overwhelmingly, but by... by a majority of them, did support Donald Trump. And I think, again, Jody, that speaks to the issues, specifically issues related to family and issues related to this whole transgender moral revolution.
SPEAKER 03 : 42:10
And these are really interesting numbers. You know, you can start digging into all this and just never come up for air. There's so much interesting information to glean from it all. But what do you think, I guess maybe a 30,000 foot view, what do you think contributed to some of these results, specifically the evangelicals who voted for Donald Trump? What was it that led them to go to him, or was it something that led them away from Vice President Harris?
SPEAKER 06 : 42:42
Yeah, Jody, you know, eight years ago in 2016, everyone talked about how 81% of white evangelicals supported Donald Trump, and really a lot of the elites kind of used that number to kind of talk about, you know, the concessions and, you know, the really use it to talk about how white evangelicals weren't standing up for Christian values and that they shouldn't have done this. Well, you know, eight years later it shows that those attacks on white evangelical Christians, they didn't resonate. They were ignored. The so-called elite were ignored. And I think it's easy to see why. Over the last four years with the Biden-Harris administration, we have never seen a presidential administration become so energetic in their support for abortion. And, Jody, here at FRC, we've talked lamentably about how the Republican Party over the summer walked back some of their historic mistakes. support for the life issue. Nonetheless, there was still a clear contrast on this issue. Kamala Harris just weeks ago was asked, is there any concessions that you would make when it comes to abortion, even with religious exemptions? And she said, I can't think of anything. I don't make concessions on a fundamental right. And then even on this issue of transgenderism, I think there was such a clear contrast, Jody, that evangelicals said, you know, we're going to vote our values. And of course, the issues of the economy, immigration, that's not just a concern of evangelicals. All Americans care about those issues. But on the social conservative issues, I don't think there's an election in my lifetime, Jody, where the contrast was so clear. And evangelicals said, we're going to go with Donald Trump because, in large part, I think, because of how extreme Kamala Harris was on issues that we as Christians believe are issues the Bible informs how we should think about them.
SPEAKER 03 : 44:36
Yeah, absolutely. And obviously for Christians, they were probably the most important issues were the ones that we're discussing right now. But there were other issues of grave concern from the border to the economy, to the military, to crime, all these things added to the abortion issue and the trans issue and all the parental rights and all these kinds of things. It just... they the it really was a storm that was not going to be overcome by by the democrats if i can shift gears with you david on this abortion issue all right let's come back to this this issue there was a really a mixed result on the various state referendums 10 different states i can kind of give us a quick rundown on how the states voted and what this means from your perspective
SPEAKER 06 : 45:26
Yeah, like you said, Jody, it was a mixed result of the 10 states that had these abortion referendums. Again, these referendums, Jody, were just extreme. They basically allow an abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. But life won in three states, in the state of Florida, the state of South Dakota, and in Nebraska. And in the other states, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, and New York, they lost. And unfortunately, Jodi, a lot of them lost by really wide margins. In Arizona, 61% of voters voted for allowing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. And what's interesting, Jodi, these are the same voters, many of whom who voted for Donald Trump, But then they voted to legalize abortion through all nine months. Even in the state of Florida, that, thank goodness, that really aggressive pro-abortion amendment failed. But the only reason it failed is because Florida, unlike these other states, has a 60 percent threshold, which, by the way, Jody, I think that's abundantly wise. You shouldn't be able to amend your constitution easily. But 57 percent of Floridians voted for this, what was known as Amendment 4. And so it failed, thank goodness. But again, I think this shows us long term, Jody, let's celebrate the victories in Nebraska and Florida and South Dakota. Folks in those states worked very, very hard. And this is a wonderful blessing from the Lord. But let's not be naive. The challenge facing those of us who are pro-life is immense, and it's going to continue to be so. even in the years to come.
SPEAKER 03 : 47:05
Yeah. All right. So give me your sense on why. Why did these amendments? I mean, the majority of Americans do not believe in abortion all the way through nine months. I mean, what is it that moved these people to support these radical things?
SPEAKER 06 : 47:24
Yeah, there's a lot of factors, I think, Jody. Messaging would be one of them, but money was the big one. I pulled this right before we came on air, but in just the presidential election, Jody, in the general election, Democrats spent $150 million on pro-abortion advertising. That was the second issue. Only taxes received more dollars in advertising. In comparison, Jody, so again, Democrats, $150 million. Republicans at the presidential level spent $20,000, so just heavily outspent. When it came to the Senate, Democrats spent $202 million on pro-abortion advertising compared to $24 million for Republican Senate candidates. And in the House, it's almost laughable how these numbers, Jody, it's horrifying, but Democrats spent $219 million running pro-abortion advertising, $219 million compared to Republicans who ran... $8.6 million worth of advertising. Realize, Jody, 47% of advertising for House races for the Democrats were on pro-abortion advertising. You add all those numbers up, it's a half a billion dollars from the presidential House and Senate races on pro-abortion advertising. And almost all of that advertising was deceptive. It was not honest. It was fear mongering. And so you can do a lot with half a billion dollars. And again, we were outgunned. We were outmanned. And yet we still got wins in those three states, which let's be grateful for. But realize, Jody, like I said a moment ago, this issue is not going away and we're going to have to get better with our messaging, being more strategic and helping our fellow Americans see the unborn child as someone who's made in God's image, who has value and dignity.
SPEAKER 03 : 49:21
Yeah, and it's amazing to me how still I'm trying to wrap my brain around. These are the very same people who voted so strongly for Trump. and then they voted for abortion. But as you just described, I guess it was just outspent with deceptive ads that people really, am I accurate here, really didn't fully understand what they were voting for?
SPEAKER 06 : 49:44
I think that probably explains some of it, Jody. But I think just, again, you and I and folks like us are committed pro-life Christians because God's Word informs our worldview. We also need to realize that there are more Americans that are pro-abortion than I think we would have ever imagined. But since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a lot of people are kind of showing their true colors. And I think this speaks to the fact that in the weeks, months and years to come, we have our work cut out for us. We need to do the hard work of convincing our friends and neighbors to see the humanity of the unborn. So I do think with that being vastly outspent, there's some who probably didn't know what they were voting on. But in the same breath, Jody, I do think there's more Americans that are lean in a pro-abortion direction than maybe we would have cared to admit just a couple years ago.
SPEAKER 03 : 50:38
Yeah, and not just leaning. I mean, leaning in the direction of abortion for any reason, all the way up to the moment of birth, it's stunning. All right, our time's slipping away here, David. Over the last few weeks, we've talked a good bit about just how radical Kamala Harris is on abortion. Well, you recently wrote a piece that is actually out today on the Washington stand, and you called it Undeserved Mercy. I love that. Undeserved mercy that she was not elected. And you said that in the context of our discussion right here in the context of abortion. Elaborate a little bit on what you meant there.
SPEAKER 06 : 51:18
Yeah, Jody, I think, you know, what I've noticed over the last couple of days since the election results, that there's, you know, a lot of pastors, a lot of Christians who are, you know, they voted for Trump. They were excited to see him win. But they're, you know, making all these qualifiers. I just want to say to those Christians, it's OK to be grateful. It's OK to acknowledge God's good gift. You know, again, Family Research Council doesn't endorse candidates. As an individual American citizen, though, I can say that I'm really excited, Jody, that Donald Trump won the election and Kamala Harris lost the election. And why is that? Kamala Harris ran on the most pro-abortion platform we've ever seen. Had she been in the White House, Planned Parenthood would have had their strongest ally in the Oval Office ever. And again, I think the Lord in his kindness and his providence has granted us a reprieve. You're not going to have HHS or the DOJ or the Department of Defense cramming down these radical pro-abortion policies on all Americans. And I think this is a time. for us to be grateful. Again, as Christians, we have a perspective, Jody. We realize none of our wins are permanent, and also none of our losses are ever permanent. Part of a biblical worldview is it gives us perspective. But I think it's okay for Christians to realize this is an undeserved mercy. We don't deserve godly leaders, and we're not going to endorse everything Donald Trump says and does, but we can recognize as pro-lifers, we will likely get a reprieve from what we've experienced over the last four years And we should be grateful for that, Jody.
SPEAKER 03 : 52:52
Absolutely. And this is, you know, I look at it as really even more than a reprieve. It's like a window of mercy and grace that God has given us and one that we must humbly respond to appropriately and steward it properly. This is the time for the church and believers to step up and get engaged and not just sit back and say, oh, it's going to be good for four years. Let's just go about our business. No, we're still in a very serious battle. David Claussen, director of FRC's Center for Biblical Worldview. Thank you so much, as always, for joining me for this Biblical Worldview segment on Friday afternoons. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER 06 : 53:31
Thank you, Jody. God bless.
SPEAKER 03 : 53:34
God bless you as well. All right, friends, hope you have a fantastic weekend. Thank you for joining us this week and today on Washington Watch. We'll see you next week. God bless.
SPEAKER 13 : 53:45
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
In this episode of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, we look at the current 2024 election results.
Bob reports on the large number of contractors this week working on building exteriors and brings attention to one particular job site. In the second half of the program the pastor of Denver Bible Church turns to the Scriptures to see what they say about the election.
Across our nation today, ballots will be cast to determine the 47th President of the United States. On today’s edition of Family Talk, Kirk Cameron asks the question, What if this current cultural setback is really a divine set up for a spiritual comeback led by the family of faith? He encourages Christians to stay in the fight for righteousness, but also reminds us that change begins in our homes, not the White House. 1 Thessalonians 5:7 says, Pray without ceasing. Join us in prayer as the election outcome will determine the trajectory of the next four years and beyond.
To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/707/29
On today's program: Mark Mitchell, Rasmussen Reports Chief Pollster, breaks down the final polling ahead of the presidential election and responds to concerns over post-election violence and delay in the announcement of a winner. Chris Smith, U.S.
SPEAKER 03 : 0:00
from the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 06 : 0:20
A whopping 74% of the country thinks that we are on the wrong track as a nation. That includes half of all Harris supporters and 98% of Trump voters. Those are the kind of numbers that are just brutal for an incumbent party.
SPEAKER 09 : 0:34
That was ABC political director Rick Klein yesterday on ABC's This Week. Not encouraging news for the Democratic Party. Welcome to Washington Watch. I'm your host, Tony Perkins. Close to 75 million voters have already cast their ballots. What are the issues motivating these voters in 2024? And why does 74 percent of Americans say the nation is on the wrong track? We'll talk with Mark Mitchell, chief pollster at Rasmussen Reports, as we dig into these questions. And also, House Speaker Mike Johnson shared some optimism about recent developments.
SPEAKER 08 : 1:10
We're very encouraged that the early voting numbers are, I think, will be historic when we count all this on the other side of the election. Republicans coming out in droves to get their votes counted early, to get the, you know, bank your vote initiative that we pushed for the last year or two. It's all coming to fruition. And I think because of that, the Democrats are nervous and very concerned.
SPEAKER 09 : 1:32
We'll hear more from the speaker a little later in the program. A Chinese national was caught illegally voting after he tried to retract his ballot. Legacy Media has once again gone into cleanup mode, trying to defend the Democrat's stance against election integrity measures.
SPEAKER 02 : 1:49
I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF THAT STATE HAS ACTUALLY BROUGHT CHARGES, HAS MADE THAT PUBLIC, THAT INDIVIDUAL MAY ACTUALLY BE DEPORTED BECAUSE THERE ARE LAWS IN THIS COUNTRY THAT PUNISH PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE ILLEGAL AND THEY TRY TO VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. THAT 19-YEAR-OLD IS GOING TO
SPEAKER 07 : 2:14
His vote will still be counted.
SPEAKER 09 : 2:16
Okay, Margaret, I'm waiting for you to respond. That was Senator Marco Rubio on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. We're going to dive into this topic with Texas Congressman Chip Roy in just a little while. And international news. Israel is following through on last week's Knesset vote to limit cooperation with the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency.
SPEAKER 01 : 2:39
Yesterday, the state of Israel officially notified the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations of the termination of cooperation with the agency. The state of Israel will continue to cooperate with humanitarian organizations, but not with organizations that promote terrorism against us.
SPEAKER 09 : 2:59
humanitarian relief for the people not for terrorist that was israeli government spokesman david mincer earlier today we're going to talk with new jersey congressman chris smith a little bit later are yet uh... one day left tomorrow's election day and if you've not voted yet if you're not among the seventy five million i hope you are planning to go and vote tomorrow and we have a resource available for you to help you would decide which way to go i hope You understand the issues at stake. We've got a comparison guide between the two parties. We've got a voter guide on the two presidential candidates. And depending on where you live, we've got a personalized voter guide just using your zip code. It'll go down to some of the state races. Text the word TOOLKIT to 67742. That's TOOLKIT to 67742. You'll get a link, and you'll have access to all those resources so that you can cast an informed ballot. TOOLKIT, 67742. Also, remember, tomorrow night, beginning at 8.30 p.m. Eastern Time, PrayVote Stand Decision 2024. Pastor Jack Hibbs and I will be joined by members of Congress, along with a number of subject matter experts, to analyze the election results from a biblical perspective. You can tune in on the Stand Firm app or the Real Life Network app. That's, again, tomorrow night at 8.30 p.m. Well, every day there's a different poll. So, frankly, I don't put a whole lot of confidence in the election outcome polls. But what I do find instructive is what is motivating people to vote? What are they thinking about when they go into the voting booth? And what's motivating them to go and vote and cast a ballot? Joining me now to discuss this is Mark Mitchell. He's chief pollster at Rasmussen Reports. Mark, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 19 : 4:46
Really happy to be here.
SPEAKER 09 : 4:47
So I know I just said I don't put a lot of confidence in these national polls because we're getting one like every hour. But I do want to ask you, I know you've been polling on this. What's the latest and I guess what would be the final numbers you have going into Election Day?
SPEAKER 19 : 5:03
Yeah, what might be a surprise to everybody watching is that I think this race has been locked in for months. We've been putting out daily numbers since Kamala Harris got anointed, and it's been week after week, just Trump plus two in the national popular vote. And it's kind of crazy because the media tried to present this false narrative that Kamala Harris picked up all this momentum. You had some of the left-wing pollsters going all the way out to Harris plus six, but almost every single one of them has round-tripped basically to where we are. If you look at the RealClearPolitics aggregate, almost every single major pollster has the national popular vote between tied or where we're at, Trump plus two, Trump plus three. And so really, if Trump is winning the national popular vote, that is not good for Kamala Harris's chances in the swing states, to be honest with you. And even the swing states are almost all leaning towards Trump in the aggregate. But time after time, the polling industry has shown that it underestimates Trump's support in the state as I think they're still doing today, even in my polls, and as the New York Times head pollster Nate Cohn agrees with in the most recent piece he put out. So I think a safe case is Trump wins the electoral college by 287, 297, depending on how The Rust Belt breaks and he might sweep them all. And quite frankly, I polled Virginia, I polled New Hampshire, I polled Minnesota. All of those states are within the margin of error. So if Trump outperforms state polling by really kind of any margin, those states might fall too and make it a really early election night.
SPEAKER 09 : 6:36
I think you're right. He historically under polls for whatever reason. And so if he's popping up at 2% ahead, it could be a much bigger margin.
SPEAKER 19 : 6:50
I could list many reasons why I think Donald Trump is going to outperform even my polling. And I think we're very accurate. We've been slandered as being a far-right pollster. But quite frankly, we did pretty good the last couple cycles too. It's really tough to poll in the Trump environment. There's a major political realignment happening. But when I polled, what I was very specifically looking for is people who changed their mind, who voted for Biden and then decided to vote Trump. And there are many of them. And I kind of forced the polls to be sensitive to that signal by waiting to the 2020 recall vote. It's something a lot of other pollsters weren't doing, and they were oversampling Biden supporters. But what I did not do is spend time figuring out how to find all of these low- propensity voters and first-time voters and people who are quite frankly crawling over broken glass after Biden's administration to go vote for Trump. I think that's what all of the early polling is showing. And I also really didn't adjust any of my weightings to say, well, this time out, maybe the minority voters, maybe the urban voters aren't going to show up in the same numbers. So quite frankly, what we're seeing is that trend, and it might really put Trump in safe to comfortable leads in some of these states. I mean, the early voting Numbers look very good for Republicans, but I polled, and Republicans still say they're going to go for Trump on Election Day. Trump leads by 8 to 12 points, depending on the swing state, in the Election Day voters. And we do not know how any of those independents are breaking. In my national numbers, independents swung massively towards Trump, and a lot of it depends on the state-to-state differences. But there is a lot of upside for Trump, and really not too much upside for Republicans. Kamala Harris at all, except for maybe, you know, hidden mail in ballots that show up at the last minute, to be honest with you.
SPEAKER 09 : 8:38
Well, as I made reference to earlier, the latest ABC News poll has Harris holding a three-point lead nationally. But they also found, of course, and that's, I think, skewed, but they found 74 percent of the country thinks we're on the wrong track as a nation. And that includes half of Harris supporters and 98 percent of Trump supporters. I mean, therein lies where I think the real issue is. Americans are not happy. with where America has been and where it's going. And so why would they choose to co-pilot?
SPEAKER 19 : 9:12
A hundred percent. And our numbers confirm that. And we've measured it so many times. And what I appreciate seeing on your show is that it's not just about election matchups. It's actually about the psyche of America and how it changes the opinion being driven by the political realities. And people are hurting right now. Some of the other measures is in the swing states. We only have some of the states were as low as 22% of people thinking that today's children will be better off than their parents. Numbers in the mid 30s for are you better off than you were four years ago? And this is the big issue one that I think is important. Some of the polls, the ones that lean left, will say abortion is the number one issue. It's not. Most of the real pollsters will say that the number one issue is the economy. The number two issue is the border. But that doesn't really capture the whole picture. If you talk about are you better off than you are four years ago, that's largely an economic signal. And like I said, 35 percent of people only that low say yes. But we asked another question. Are you safer than you were four years ago? And we get numbers in the mid 20s in the battlegrounds. So really, there's this aspect of illegal immigration, strong majority of voters in all the swing states. at least somewhat agree that the situation at the southern border is an invasion, and they all support militarizing the border. So the border, even though it comes up as a number two issue, has really been hanging over, in my opinion, this entire election because it affects people's safety, it affects the economy, and really, quite frankly... Kamala Harris has relatively good favorability numbers if you compare them to the favorability of the federal government. And so what I really think is that people see this election as Donald Trump versus the government. And right now they're voting for Donald Trump.
SPEAKER 09 : 10:56
What are some of the other issues driving folks, Mark? I mean, we talked about abortion, talked about the border, talked about the economy. The Republicans, you know, I've talked to the speaker and some of their polling, and they're running very strongly on the issue of the transgender ideology that's being pushed by the Democrats. That seems to be resonating with voters.
SPEAKER 19 : 11:19
It does. One of the trends that there's been a lot of lying, a lot of gaslighting. And one of the big stories that I've been following is the complete and utter difference between how people consume the news and what issues are important to them. So the transgender issue, and we just pulled it, we showed that by an overwhelming majority that Americans are against gender transitioning children. By an overwhelming majority, Americans are against women competing against men in the sports arena. But it's just one long list in a list of topics where the Democrats kind of side with Republicans, but time and time again, that's not what their party gives them. So we asked in the swing states, really fascinating question, whose gender and sexual identity values are closer to your own? Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were roughly about tied, believe it or not. But then even Democrats strongly agree that there are only two genders. even Democrats agree overwhelmingly that they don't want to trans the kids. So it's really crazy how what's driving them isn't these issues. And I think I've put my finger on the pulse. One of the questions we asked is, which cable news network are you most likely to trust? And then we had another question where instead of this huge buffet of issue questions, we asked, which of the following list is the most important for the next president to solve? And we limited it to only rising prices, illegal immigration, abortion, and protecting democracy. And the number one issue for MSNBC viewers was protecting democracy, almost half. And then another quarter said abortion. So three quarters of MSNBC viewers I think that those two issues are the number one things driving this election. But for Fox News and Newsmax viewers, it's like 80% who say the border and the economy. And Newsmax, it was like 65% the border. So there are just two totally different Americas. And I think the media has to do a lot of introspection about the effect that they're having on the psyche of voters. Because quite frankly, protecting democracy is a fake issue.
SPEAKER 09 : 13:25
Right. And they're spreading that fear. Mark, we're up against a break, but you're going to be with us tomorrow night as we do our election night coverage. We're going to be talking with you as well. So, Mark Mitchell, appreciate you checking in today and look forward to talking to you tomorrow night.
SPEAKER 19 : 13:40
Yeah, thanks so much. Really excited for it.
SPEAKER 09 : 13:42
All right, folks, and you can be a part of that election night coverage. That is PrayVote Stand Decision 2024. Myself and Pastor Jack Hibbs with the Stand Firm app or the Real Life Network app. Don't go away. More Washington Watch straight ahead.
SPEAKER 15 : 14:01
Election night is almost here. Join FRC and Real Life Network for exclusive live coverage from coast to coast. With host Tony Perkins and Jack Hibbs, you'll hear from an incredible slate of guests, including members of Congress and political heavyweights from around the globe. We'll dive into the issues that matter and give you the biblical perspective. Pray that America chooses wisely. Join us on November 5th as we watch history unfold.
SPEAKER 10 : 14:32
Let's not be discouraged. Don't lose heart. Don't lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let's stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
SPEAKER 13 : 14:49
The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don't defend it, who will?
SPEAKER 17 : 15:06
Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don't say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You're naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
SPEAKER 04 : 15:27
Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we've relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we've relied too little on the power of God and God's ability to open doors that we can't open and do things that we couldn't even hope to begin to do.
SPEAKER 16 : 15:45
This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also of great opportunity. And we know, always, that we are not alone. That his spirit empowers us and protects us. And that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
SPEAKER 09 : 16:07
Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
SPEAKER 15 : 16:30
Are you a Christian parent looking to raise a spiritual champion in today's culture? Renowned author George Barna has written a new book, Raising Spiritual Champions. This book offers valuable insights based on extensive research conducted by George Barna, the Family Research Council, and Arizona Christian University. Learn how to help your children discern biblical truth and find compelling meaning and purpose. Don't miss out on this essential resource for parents. Order your copy today.
SPEAKER 09 : 17:03
Welcome back to this Monday edition of Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Had a good weekend. I was up in Cincinnati, Ohio at Landmark Baptist Church. A great group of folks there. Pastor Matt Holman just had a great time there. Want to invite you to join us tomorrow night for Election Returns. We're going to be covering the election. It is Pray, Vote, Stand 2020, Decision 2024. Myself and Pastor Jack Hibbs, you can... Join us by downloading the Stand Firm app or the Real Life Network app. Israeli Foreign Ministry has informed the United Nations that the Jewish state is withdrawing from the 1967 agreement regulating the operations of UNRWA, that is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in Israel. Gaza and the West Bank. Now, in a letter dated yesterday, the Director General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israel will continue to work with international parties, including other UN agencies, to ensure the facilitation of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, but they will do so in a way that does not undermine Israel's security. Not surprisingly, the move has received criticism even from the U.S. government, the Biden administration. But should we support them in doing it? I would say yes. Joining me now to discuss this is Congressman Chris Smith, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the Israeli Allies Caucus. He represents the 4th Congressional District of New Jersey. Congressman Smith, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 05 : 18:40
Tony, thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate it. Thank you.
SPEAKER 09 : 18:43
Critics are saying that there is no alternative. In fact, the State Department released a statement this afternoon saying there's no other, nobody else can do this. Only UNRWA can do this. But that's not true, is it?
SPEAKER 05 : 18:55
That's... Unmitigated nonsense. There are non-governmental organizations that could be empowered and stood up very quickly to provide humanitarian aid to those who need it. The problem with UNRWA, the UN Works Relief Agency, which has been around for decades, two decades ago, I offered an amendment to defund them because they were even then a child soldier factory where Hamas and other hate-filled organizations were teaching kids from the earliest years to hate and to loathe all Jews, and that the best Jew is a dead Jew. And that's UNRWA, and that's supported by our tax dollars. So when October 7th, as you know, Tony, occurred, and all the mass killing, there were some UNRWA leaders who were absolutely in the forefront of doing that. But the general proselytizing of hate has gone on for so long that you have an entire generation of children who have been turned into Jewish haters. And they don't like the United States either. So let's put that on the ledger as well. So we need to find alternatives. I offered a piece of legislation several months ago. It passed in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. It is ready to come to the floor of the U.S. House. I've asked our leadership to bring it to the floor so we could vote on it. And that would say clearly and unambiguously, no money for UNRWA and any organization that does get our funding for humanitarian purposes has to be properly vetted. So thankfully, Israel itself and the Knesset has moved to say no more UNRWA. I've been saying it for decades. And I'm not the only one. You've been saying it as well, Tony. You know, there's a famous song in South Pacific, that great musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, where it says, you've got to be taught to hate. That's what they do every single day. They ate and abet the worst of the worst terrorists. They house weapons in their homes. facilities and they provide cover again for the worst atrocities the world has ever seen.
SPEAKER 09 : 21:09
And under the Biden administration, the Biden administration has provided over a billion dollars to UNRWA. That's not to the United Nations. That's just to UNRWA. And as you said, they run their schools, and that's one of the reasons they defend this. They run the schools, but they teach them to hate. I've seen the curriculum. You've seen the curriculum. I want to play a clip. I've had hearings on the curriculum. I want to play a clip.
SPEAKER 05 : 21:31
You raise the curriculum, and it's filled with hatred.
SPEAKER 09 : 21:33
I want to play a clip here. This is from State Department spokesman Matthew Miller earlier today. Clip five.
SPEAKER 12 : 21:39
Right now, there is no other way to distribute aid in sufficient form. And that's why the secretary made clear in the letter that we were opposed to the legislation because UNRWA plays a critical role.
SPEAKER 09 : 21:50
And so they're using this to say they're going to withhold military support munitions from Israel if they don't allow this humanitarian aid through UNRWA. So what options can Congress take to, I know we talk about the defunding, but there are other entities that can do this. What about USAID?
SPEAKER 05 : 22:13
USAID is one alternative. There are a number of other alternatives. Even Catholic Relief Services and certainly Samaritan's Purse and other very, very well-vetted humanitarian organizations could do the job, but where there has to be a will. And then there is a way to get this done, and they're not doing it. Unfortunately, this is part of a narrative that I've heard for several decades. Like I said, 20 years ago, I wanted to defund UNRWA. I had meetings and hearings on the textbooks, which are rife with anti-Semitic hatred as well as anti-American hatred. And we wonder why. And if you ever read the Hamas charter, I know you have, it is so filled with, if you see a Jew, kill him or her. And they want the state of Israel to be eviscerated and to be banned from the face of the earth.
SPEAKER 09 : 23:02
So October 7th should not be a surprise. What happened on October 7th should not be a surprise.
SPEAKER 05 : 23:06
Not even a little bit. Because that's what these... It was the brazenness that I think that... That's what they teach them every day. And, you know, we even had...
SPEAKER 09 : 23:15
So we only have about—we've got about a minute left, Congressman Smith. So why does the Biden administration, if they truly want to get humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza, why not take an alternative route, unless they clearly want to support the terrorists?
SPEAKER 05 : 23:34
In my view, the more they speak and the more importantly act, the clearer it is that they are in support of Hamas. Harris is supportive of Hamas. If she were to win tomorrow, we would have a situation where Hamas would have its greatest friend. Biden at least tried to appear to be ambivalent, to be pro-Israel, but not pro-Israel. Not so with her. And there have always been people in the U.S. Department of State who had a very, very anti-Israeli bias and anti-Semitic bias. And now it's showing in all of its ugly colors in this fight. We need, you know, to his credit, Trump cut off funding to UNRWA when he was the president. He cut it off. He said, find an alternative. Taxpayers are not going to subsidize that kind of hatred and that kind of violence.
SPEAKER 09 : 24:25
Biden reinstated it and paid back what the U.S. did not pay during that time. Chris Smith, out of time. Thank you for joining us. I look forward to talking to you later, maybe next week, on more of the funding that the Biden-Harris administration has put in for leftist social policies in their foreign spending uh we'll have that conversation as well uh chris smith thanks for being with us thank you tony appreciate it all right after the break illegal voting by non-citizens that's next everything we do begins as an idea before there can be acts of courage there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for
SPEAKER 18 : 25:10
Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It's true that all ideas have consequences, but we're less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life's biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They're disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn't begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won't happen if people can't recognize a lie and don't believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 09 : 27:03
Welcome back to this Monday edition of Washington Watch. Be sure and join us tomorrow night for PrayVote Stand Decision 2024 election night coverage. Pastor Jack Hibbs and I, you can join us either on the StandFirm app or on the Real Life Network app. A University of Michigan student from China who is not, not a United States citizen allegedly voted in this election. And he's been charged with two crimes just days before this pivotal presidential election. The left, not surprisingly, wants to just brush this aside in some say it's extremely rare event. To them, it's not a problem, even though this non-citizens vote is still going to count. So every vote counts and matters, but the counting of a non-citizens vote is okay to wave off as nothing, not a big deal. We're here now to discuss this news is Congressman Chip Roy, who has been leading the fight to protect U.S. elections. He serves on the House Judiciary Committee, the Rules Committee, and the Budget Committee. He represents the 21st Congressional District of Texas. Congressman Roy, welcome back to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 11 : 28:07
Tony, great to be on. As you can see, I've been out campaigning for Ted around the state of Texas, and it's great to be on the show.
SPEAKER 09 : 28:14
So this story is more common than the left would like to admit, is it not?
SPEAKER 11 : 28:21
Well, it is. And what we've got is we see actual evidence where you now saw Virginia, where they cleaned off 1,500 from their rolls, and the very same leftist progressive activists that were telling us that the Dave Act was unnecessary. back in July when we passed it out of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer is sitting on it in the Senate. To say back as a reminder, it is a requirement, a bill that I authored that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in a federal election. Democrats said, oh, you don't need that. It's already against the law. But then they turn around and they sue. And they sue Virginia to say, hey, you know, you guys can't do The work that you're doing to clean the voter rolls off. So which is it, right? I mean, the hypocrisy is palpable. It does happen, and it happens regularly. Particularly, we battle it here in Texas. The Secretary of State and I have had conversations. And here's the dirty little secret. We can't even go through as a state and use the right databases from the feds without having to sue to get it. The Secretary of State of Florida had to sue to get access to the database in order to try to fight to clean off the voter rolls. So this is all purposeful. It's why they're dumping five and a half million people into this country and endangering us in the process, Tony.
SPEAKER 09 : 29:42
Chip, I don't know if you've probably not had a chance to look at the details of this. In reading the stories, what we're seeing in the media is saying, well, he's been charged with two crimes now, so they're on top of this. It's being handled by the Democratic authorities there in Michigan. But if you read the story and the details coming out of Michigan, the only reason it appears that this student was caught is that he actually went back after he voted and asked if he could somehow get his ballot back. And it's only then that they began to make the inquiry about the fact that he voted illegally. So most likely would have never come to the surface had he not gone back and tried to retract his ballot.
SPEAKER 11 : 30:26
Well, this is one of the reasons why it's so important that we enact the legislative changes to give more power to states and to put more requirements in place federally. Interestingly, on Fox News last week, after the state of Virginia was successful in its litigation, my friend Chuck Cooper was the lead lawyer on that, and they were successful. They won. They got the Supreme Court to stay the full-headed order by the district judge. But interestingly, the Governor Youngkin, he said on Fox, hey, we really need to pass the SAVE Act. I mean, I'm happy that we won in Virginia, but we've got to pass the federal legislation that is necessary in order to guarantee that not only is there a federal requirement but that states have all the tools necessary and the power necessary to clean off the voter rolls. Because even when they try now, they're running into barriers like you just outlined, where it's difficult to track this, it's difficult to find it. And when you do, it's difficult to match it against the federal databases to ensure citizenship.
SPEAKER 09 : 31:23
So what you have in this case in Michigan, this ballot will be counted. Even though it was cast illegally, there's no way to get it back out. And so what you had proposed and what the House passed was to say you can't register to vote. You have to prove this up front even to be registered to vote, which— It makes perfect sense. Why would you allow someone to register to vote if they weren't a citizen and they couldn't vote? Why not just I mean, this is like let's just keep the alcoholics out of the bar. I mean, it makes more sense than try to take them and sober them up.
SPEAKER 11 : 32:00
Well, that's exactly right, Tony. I mean, and look, I just want to be pretty blunt. This is all purposeful by our radical progressive Democrat colleagues. This is why they're dumping five and a half, almost six million people in the United States, not including gotaways. That's why that they have been, you know, opposing every effort that we've made to try to pass legislation to fix it. To take, for example, they obviously opposed H.R. 2, but then they opposed the Save Act. Only five Democrats voted for it. Chuck Schumer won't move it in the Senate. They opposed our legislation to make sure that we are only having citizens counted in the census for purposes of apportionment, which you know well as a former member of Congress how important that is. And in fact, it might have a consequential impact on the election even this week in terms of having too many districts. that are weighed with the number of folks who are here illegally when we're talking about millions of folks. So it's all very real. It's all a big problem. Needs to be addressed. This is why the election tomorrow matters. And unfortunately, we're in that place where we need to win two big three tomorrow.
SPEAKER 09 : 33:03
Yeah. I mean, everybody's got to turn out and vote. Chip Roy, great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us. And tell Ted I said hello.
SPEAKER 11 : 33:11
I will. Governor Perry said, well, good.
SPEAKER 09 : 33:14
I said, hello. All right, folks, you heard it right there. We got to vote. And if you've not yet voted, if you're not among the 75 million who voted early, then you need to get your voter toolkit, text toolkit to six, seven, seven, four, two, and you'll be prepared to vote tomorrow. All right. After the break, I'm going to share, uh, my interview that I did this weekend with house speaker, Mike Johnson. He was on the road up in New York and, um, He's optimistic. He sees momentum as people are turning out, people are voting, and this record number of early votes is actually a pretty good sign of that enthusiasm. So get your toolkit. Text TOOLKIT to 67742. All right, don't go away. We're back after this.
SPEAKER 14 : 34:02
Jesus said in John 15, these things I've spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. In 2024, in these divided and uncertain times, how can this be possible? By abiding in him through his word. At Family Research Council, we wanna help you do that, which is the reason for the Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. In just 10 to 15 minutes each day, you will have read the entire Bible in just two years. But more importantly, you will be abiding in Him daily. Find our Bible reading plan at frc.org slash Bible. And join Tony Perkins each weekday for a 10-minute devotional inspired by the daily reading and designed to encourage you on this journey through the Bible. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. And remember, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.
SPEAKER 18 : 35:02
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God's will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn't impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can't do that. It's not that you don't love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God's opinion more than your neighbor's opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you are the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that's not all. They're also engaged in our government. They're voters. They're more likely to be involved in their community, and they're making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can't do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That's what we're working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That's S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 09 : 37:04
Don't forget, tomorrow is Election Day, and this is your last chance to get your personalized voter guide. So text GUIDE to 67742. That's GUIDE to 67742. Our word for today comes from 2 Kings chapter 14. Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoadim of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David. He did everything as his father Joash had done. However, the high places were not taken away and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. These high places were sacred cows. Most of the kings were afraid to touch them. Removing these high places was, in most cases, the distinguishing factor between an okay king and a really good king. Most did not remove them because of the fear of the people. and or a misguided notion that as long as they took care of the major things, the big things, the minor things, didn't really matter. Not so. Jesus said a little leaven leavens the whole lump. The little areas of compromise are the stones that pave the way to destruction. For more on our journey through the Bible, text Bible to 67742. Well, each weekend, I host a Week This Week on the Hill on the Salem Radio Network, and it's a one-hour program, and it always includes an in-depth interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Well, this past weekend, I caught up with the speaker as he was in upstate New York. Among the topics he and I discussed were the Democratic Fundraising Platform Act Blue, which may have been exploited by foreign actors to channel funds illegally to Democratic candidates. And also, we discussed the enthusiasm among Republican voters. and how that's making Democrats a bit nervous to the point where we've seen some desperate moves from the left. Here's how we started that conversation. Mr. Speaker, thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 08 : 38:55
Hey, Tony. Great to be with you again.
SPEAKER 09 : 38:58
So, Mr. Speaker, a lot to talk about this morning, but let's start right here because we're seeing fundraising reports that Democrats are outraising the Republicans, even though Republicans are setting fundraising records. Could it be connected to illegal funds coming from foreign sources?
SPEAKER 08 : 39:16
I think that the evidence shows that that is true. It's been a frustration of ours. As you know, I've been out on the road nonstop, and we set fundraising records. I mean, the last quarter, the third quarter that ended October, raised more money than any Speaker of the House ever in history, both for my individual efforts and for the Speaker-supported Super PAC. You know, we're probably close to $280 million raised now, and that would be good in a normal cycle, except that right now, This evidence is mounting that the Democrats actually are getting this ill-gotten gain. They use ActBlue, which is their online fundraising juggernaut, this website that they brag about. They've raised $16 billion on this site since it was created about a decade ago. In the last congressional cycle, two years ago, they raised $2.2 billion on this one website. So they claim that it's new online low-dollar donors. Well, everyone has accepted that as fact. We've had sneaking suspicions something's off there, and now I think we know that's true because what the evidence is showing now is that people's names and addresses have been used on this website as if they are small-dollar donors when they have no idea that their identity is being used for that purpose. How are they doing it? The evidence seems to show that they're taking large checks from foreign nationals, adversarial nations like Russia and Venezuela and China and Iran, and they're breaking them down into smaller-dollar donations and sending them through, and they're capturing the names of American citizens and using them. The early evidence indicates. So there are investigations underway. The House Administration Committee is on this. The federal investigators are looking at it. There are serious questions. Subpoenas have been issued now. And the frustration we have, Tony, is that, you know, this obviously looks to be a money laundering organization operation at some level. And we don't know how big it is yet. We don't have all the evidence gathered, and it will take some time for the criminal justice system to play out, to adjudicate the cases. I think ultimately people are going to go to jail because this is fraud. But in the meantime, we have to contend with their avalanche of cash. Now, I'll just say this. I'm still very bullish about the election in a handful of days here. I think we're going to win, because at the end of the day, it's not about the quantity of cash. It's about the quality of the candidates, and we have better candidates. But it certainly does make the challenge a little bit greater, and we're going to work right through that.
SPEAKER 09 : 41:42
Mr. Speaker, a couple of questions on this. Does it appear that ActBlue, this platform, is complicit, or are they being used by other actors here?
SPEAKER 08 : 41:54
That's the big question. I have my own suspicions, but these are all allegations at this point, and so we can dig into it. What we do know is that at the very minimum, they have lax verification procedures to prove who is what and who is doing what. That is a serious problem. It's gross negligence if it's not criminal intent. We'll find out. Look, I I've been in this game a while. I know that people cheat in politics. It's really disgusting because there's so much at stake, and it really is a stain on the system. But we have to stop it. We have to make sure justice is done here, and I think ultimately it will be. Right now, though, we've got to contend again with their cash. By the way, let me just give this website. If you go to checkmydonation.org, checkmydonation.org, you might be one of the many thousands of Americans whose own name and identification is being used in a way that you had no idea about. What you do is you go to that website. You can do an advanced search, type in your name and address or your zip code, more identifiers, whatever. How do you want to do that? And you can see if you indeed yourself are an ActBlue donor and didn't know it.
SPEAKER 09 : 43:01
What if you do find yourself on that list as an ActBlue donor? What can you do?
SPEAKER 08 : 43:06
Well, we have many, many, many people around the country who have been shocked and surprised that their names are on there. So there's an option on that website to click the list, and it will send your information to law enforcement. This has happened over and over and over and over. I've been doing this in small groups where I am. I've just, as an experiment, hey, everybody go to this website. And people in our Republican rallies and groups are finding their names on this website. I think this is a broad, serious problem. And so when the evidence comes in, I think it'll be shocking.
SPEAKER 09 : 43:41
We're up against a break here in about a minute, but what I've heard is that the U.S. Treasury have been getting these alerts of potential money laundering for some time now through these sources. I would assume that that triggered the Department of Justice to begin investigating, or are they slow to respond?
SPEAKER 08 : 44:04
Well, look, from my estimation, they've been very slow. We're trying to find out our own evidence on that as well through our House committees investigating this whole thing. But suspicious activity reports of SARS have been issued in high volumes for quite some time. And it looks as though, I'll just say it's an allegation, we're looking into it, but it looks as though it was slow walked. And this is a real concern to us. If we don't have integrity in the election system, That's the basis of our whole constitutional republic. We all know how much effort's gone into election security. This is part of it, and it's real serious.
SPEAKER 09 : 44:40
That all the more reason why turnout is so important, that people go and vote and not allow this outside, potential outside money, foreign money from foreign adversaries to influence the outcome of our elections. Mr. Speaker, you have to be encouraged, as you talk about the enthusiasm, you've been talking about this for weeks, early voting records have been set, even among Republicans, which are usually hesitant to vote early. What does that tell us?
SPEAKER 08 : 45:09
Well, there is a real energy out here, and everywhere we go around the country, we've seen it. Massive crowds, lots of enthusiasm, and new people coming to the parties. We've been talking about the demographic shift for weeks, and it is really coming to fruition. And we're very encouraged that the early voting numbers are, I think, will be historic when we count all this on the other side of the election. Republicans coming out in droves to get their votes counted early, to get the, you know, bank your vote initiative that we pushed for the last year or two. It's all coming to fruition. And I think because of that, the Democrats are nervous and very concerned. And they're flailing in many of these campaigns. Certainly, you see the Kamala Harris campaign with its back against the ropes. And that's why they're so desperate and making all these crazy statements this week. This is a good sign for Republicans. And we feel that energy. And we're going to run through the tape. We're going to run like we're 10 points behind. But the real clear politics average still has President Trump up in the battleground states. And if we keep that momentum through Election Day, I think we're going to have the outcome that we've all been working and praying for.
SPEAKER 09 : 46:12
Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to these congressional races where in this last month, Democrats have outspent Republicans about $35 million in the top 25 or so races. The House is going to be decided. I know a lot of people focused on the presidential. I mean, that's the big ticket. But... There are those that are living in—conservatives living in blue states who will make the difference in the outcome of control of Congress, because it's those blue states that will actually determine victory in some of these highly contested congressional races. Am I not correct?
SPEAKER 08 : 46:48
You're exactly right. And the outcome of those races, I mean, it comes down, Tony, as we've discussed, to probably about 19 races around the country, 19 House seats that will determine the fate of the republic. That is not a hyperbole, because even if President Trump wins the White House and we win the Senate for the Republican Party, if you don't have Republican control of the House of Representatives, it's all for naught, because there's no question that they will impeach Donald Trump probably on his first day of office. We've already seen that play many times. And they will impede all the progress. everything that he and the Senate Republicans would want to do, the House is where the power begins, the power of the purse and all these other things that we need on the agenda. So we have to have the House majority. I'm convinced we can if, Tony, if everybody listening to our voices will get out and vote, especially in the blue states, as you noted, but even in the red states. In a couple of dots around the country. We've got really tight races in these urban areas in red states. So in Nebraska and Iowa and other places where you wouldn't expect we'd have tight contests, we do. So we need everybody to get out. Californians, New Yorkers, you know, I'll be this week before Election Day. I'll be back home in Louisiana tonight and tomorrow. Then I'm back out on the road again before Tuesday. I'll be in North Carolina and Virginia and Pennsylvania, these, you know, Wisconsin, these states that are so critical to us. You have to vote. You have to get everybody in your sphere of influence to vote because this one really matters.
SPEAKER 09 : 48:14
I just want to communicate that to those living in the blue states, you think, well, my vote's not going to matter because it's going to go for Harris. Our states are going to go for—these down-ballot races are critical, folks, so you have to vote. Mr. Speaker, the media, it's so obvious that they're in the tank for the left. After—I'm not going to play the clip again. I played it at the top of the show where— President Joe Biden called Trump supporters garbage. And here is the second paragraph of the AP report on that. It says, In a call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino, Biden responded to a comic at a Trump rally who called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Biden's initial comments were garbled. They weren't garbled. He was very clear in calling garbage. Trump supporters, garbage. But at the same time that they're covering and trying to do cleanup for the left, they're taking comments from Republicans out of context, trying to create more angst among voters. One of those this week regarded—is regarding healthcare, a comment about Obamacare that has been taken out of context that you made. Can you speak to that?
SPEAKER 08 : 49:30
Yes, I was at an event in Pennsylvania. I mean, you know, I do these nonstop. I've done events in over 250 cities at the end of this week in 40 states. So we have large groups of people in big forums all around the country. I've been doing this for a year. And I've given similar comments before, but they're desperate right now. So somebody asks about the reform agenda going forward in the new Congress, and somebody asked about Obamacare. And my response was literally what I said was, quote, unquote, No, Obamacare. I said the ACA is deeply ingrained in our health care system now, for better or worse. So what we have to do is continually improve, bring improvements to reduce cost of health care, expand access and the quality of health care that's provided for all Americans. That's something that should be on the radar of every single member of Congress and both parties all the time. That's what I said. Well, they took the first two words, no Obamacare, and literally Kamala Harris herself press conference and said that the speaker has committed to repeal the ACA. I mean, they know that they're lying. They just made it up. And then this is the cycle of how it works is that whatever the Democrats put out as the talking point, then the media, the mainstream media seizes upon it and they amplify it. And then it becomes this sort of part of the vernacular. They've been doing it to Donald Trump ever since he came down the golden escalator and they're doing it to me as well. So I went out immediately. After that event, I was in New York, and we got a gaggle of reporters. And I went and looked right on the cameras. I said, Kamala Harris is lying. This was what desperate campaigns do. And the evidence is there. This week, they're playing clean up on all sorts of things. Not only did Joe Biden say that everyone who supports Donald Trump is garbage, and his garbage truck motif was fantastic after that. I mean, it was epic. But then also, Mark Cuban, just a day later, he said that basically all powerful Republican women, anybody who supports Trump, are weak and unintelligent. So they don't have anything to run on. Tony, this is the thing. From the very beginning, Kamala Harris cannot have a substantive conversation or a debate or a talking point on policy because every metric, every area of public policy is a disaster, and she's the architect of it. So they have to engage in this. I think people are seeing through it.
SPEAKER 09 : 51:45
We've just got about a minute left, Mr. Speaker. One of the things the media has not pressed them on, because it's indefensible, is their whole trans ideology agenda that is attacking children. It's indefensible, but the media is not talking about what they've been doing on that front.
SPEAKER 08 : 52:02
Yeah, they're not because it's about a 90 percent issue across the country. Maybe more than that. When people understand the informed voters on the polls and, of course, when they when they know about this issue, it's common sense that prevails. And we are the party that will provide common sense, restore order to this chaos. And Kamala Harris will double down on it. Don't ever forget she is a radical San Francisco liberal. She has been from the very beginning. Her record is very clear. And that's why they don't want to talk about it.
SPEAKER 09 : 52:31
All right, Coach, final 30 minutes. What do you tell the team as they head to the polls on Tuesday?
SPEAKER 08 : 52:38
Leave it all on the field. That's what President Trump is doing. He hasn't taken a day off in over 60-something days, and we haven't either because we have to do this. John Quincy Adams gave us the best summary quote. Duty is ours. Results are God's. So let's do our duty, and then we can sleep well at night knowing we left it all on the field.
SPEAKER 09 : 52:57
All right, Mr. Speaker, I should have said quarterback. I understand that Trump is the coach, you're the quarterback. He'll be the coach in that analogy. All right. All right, Mr. Speaker, safe travels, and we'll talk to you next week. You got it, my friend. Well, that was my conversation with House Speaker Mike Johnson during our weekend program this week on The Hill. Well, let me remind you once again, get your voter guide and other election resources by texting TOOLKIT, TOOLKIT, that's one word, to 67742. All right. So that is all the time we have today. Make your plans to vote tomorrow if you have not already voted. And until then, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul, where he says, you've done everything you could do and you've prayed, prepared and taken your stand. By all means, keep standing.
SPEAKER 03 : 53:44
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
Become inspired by the motivation and results of Daniel’s commitment to stand by his biblical beliefs.
* First Corinthians: Join Bob as you hear Paul demanding intolerance of sexual immorality within the church. Then ponder Paul's insistence that we judge all things, great and small. And for those who believe that Christians are no longer under the law, how do they explain Paul's command to flee immorality? Then hear the surprises that come with the New Testament's most thorough discussion of marriage and divorce, celibacy and intimacy. What caused Paul to give his converts hints on how to interact with Peter's converts? Also, considering that the Jerusalem Council explicitly reinforced the Mosaic Law's prohibition on the eating of meat sacrificed to idols, why would Paul give permission to Christians to eat a meal in a restaurant located inside an idol's temple? Finally in this material, Paul instructs his converts to win those under law, if need be, by willingly submitting to the law.
For over a quarter century Bob Enyart has studied God's Word praying for the wisdom to share the truth of Scripture with a lost and dying world. Now you can benefit from this very exciting Bible study. The two Revelation albums address matters of eternal consequence head on. Before listening to these tapes, Bob strongly urges that you read The Plot book or listen to The Plot album that will introduce you to the overview of the Bible. Available on MP3-CD or download.
BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and may equip you to more effectively reach those around you.
Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.
Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVD, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.
Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.
Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.
Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.
Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!
Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.
