President Trump speaks at Faith & Freedom policy conference — FOX 10 Phoenix

[0:00] I expected them to say yes, and I was going to follow up saying, what disciplinary action have you taken? [0:06] To my shock, one after the other after the other, MIT, Penn, and Harvard said, quote, it depends on the context. [0:16] And the world heard. Within 48 hours, the Penn president was forced to resign. [0:21] Within two months, the Harvard president was forced to resign. [0:24] We then hauled in the Columbia president, who was forced to resign, and we are just getting started. [0:30] You talked about my personal history, Ralph, at these institutions. [0:40] I, myself, was the first member of my immediate family to have the opportunity to graduate from college. [0:45] I graduated from Harvard, but I always like to say that's not the achievement. [0:50] The achievement is graduating from Harvard and maintaining my conservative values. [0:54] That's the achievement. [0:56] Yes, indeed. [0:58] And by the way, I've never talked to you about that, but talk about that a little bit. [1:03] What was that like? [1:04] Because I had my own experience at Emory University, you know, where I was not hiding at all who I was or what I believed, [1:12] either my Christian faith or my conservative public policy views. [1:17] But the professors were so left-wing. [1:20] How did you navigate that? [1:21] Did you ever experience then, as a student, you felt you were discriminated against in any way or treated differently? [1:29] Well, it's interesting. [1:30] I think the last 20 years, we've seen such a slide to the radical left and such a moral rot. [1:36] It was not that way when I was a student there, which is why I think I was a very effective questioner in Congress, [1:42] because I had that experience as an undergrad. [1:45] Of course, Ralph, it was left-leaning. [1:47] But you still had a handful of very conservative professors, Harvey Mansfield, Samuel Huntington. [1:54] And, you know, now there are zero in many of these departments when it comes to conservative professors. [1:59] So I had a positive experience as an undergraduate, which is why fast forward 20 years to see what was happening on these universities [2:09] with the systematic targeting, not only of American Jewish students, but of conservative voices on campus. [2:17] Enough is enough. [2:18] I think, for me, you referenced the time that Harvard publicly removed me from the, quote, [2:24] bipartisan board of the Institute of Politics. [2:27] It was just because I was a Trump supporter. [2:29] I was the only individual on that board that voted for Trump, not just once, but three times in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and yet they removed me. [2:40] So that, to me, shows a lot has shifted in the past 20 years, and it's up to us as Americans to remind the American people [2:51] the initial founding missions of these institutions. [2:54] And what was interesting about writing this book is I went back to the history. [2:58] If you look at Harvard, the initial motto of Harvard was Veritas Ecclesiae, Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae, [3:06] truth in Christ and the Church, a moral truth. [3:09] They have fundamentally lost their way from that founding mission. [3:13] So we need to make sure that not only are we building other institutions in higher education that represent our values, [3:20] but that we take back these institutions that have been captured by the radical left. [3:25] Now, you know, you've obviously alluded to it. [3:31] This is not a new phenomenon in a sense. [3:35] I mean, William F. Buckley wrote God and Man at Yale in the 50s. [3:40] Alan Bloom wrote Closing of the American Mind in the 80s. [3:43] The loss of these institutions is a long and tragic and sad narrative in our history. [3:50] But as you wrote this book and as you investigated it as a member of Congress, [3:58] where did this hate come from, hatred of Jews, hatred of Christians, [4:05] that anti-Semitism and the tolerance of it, and you know this better than most, [4:13] Jews can no longer feel safe on the campuses of a lot of our most elite institutions. [4:19] Where did that come from? Why is that happening? [4:24] I talk about in this book that anti-Semitism is the canary in the coal mine for anti-Americanism. [4:32] Fundamentally, the attacks that we're seeing within these institutions is attacking who we are as fellow Americans. [4:40] And I talk about in the book, I do a deep dive at Harvard, at Penn, at Columbia, some of the worst actors. [4:46] I also have a chapter, How We Got Here, and there are a few different, I think, driving factors. [4:52] I think, number one, allowing foreign dollars to flow into these institutions, [4:57] particularly the Middle Eastern Studies departments, [5:00] that are, frankly, attacking our Christian values and our Judeo-Christian ethic. [5:05] That is something that we've worked very hard in Congress to bring greater transparency and to push back on. [5:10] I also think the role of teachers' unions has been a part of this as well. [5:17] And I go after faculty tenure. [5:21] Faculty tenure was initially envisioned to protect academic freedom, [5:27] but what it has turned into is a self-selection process of increasingly radicalized, [5:33] further and further to the left, professors that are monoculture and monogroupthink. [5:39] And that is not what the purpose of these universities are. [5:42] If you look at the delta, for example, of 50 years ago, [5:46] you would have some sense of balance between conservatives and liberal professors. [5:52] Today, in some of these departments, it's 88 to 1, if there is even one. [5:57] So it's something that parents, and I am a parent, my son is starting kindergarten, [6:01] so we have quite a bit to go before he graduates from high school. [6:05] But parents are waking up to say, why are we sending our children, [6:10] our next generation of leaders, to these institutions that fundamentally don't represent our values? [6:15] So I think this has led to an earthquake that has been long overdue in higher education. [6:20] Now, when the president came in, they sat down with some of these major institutions, [6:27] and they said, we're going to withhold federal funding if you don't agree to X, Y, Z. [6:31] And some of it did involve some of these issues that you've raised. [6:36] But I'm curious, is that going to be sufficient? [6:41] You know, Lyndon McMahon was doing a really good job of negotiating out some of those deals. [6:47] But the problem with that is, it's only there as long as Trump is president. [6:51] Well, it's a really important question, Ralph. [6:53] So, number one, I talk about in the book, [6:56] one of the most sort of timely viewers of this testimony was President Trump. [7:00] He would be the first text or call that I would receive after the hearing when news broke on these various university presidents. [7:09] And we worked very closely with the campaign and the administration to prepare a number of executive orders [7:16] that were signed day one of the Trump presidency to hold these schools accountable. [7:21] I believe that the only way these institutions are going to wake up is the withholding of federal dollars. [7:28] Remember, this hearing happened, and that's true, withholding these federal dollars. [7:33] Taxpayers don't want to fund this moral rock. [7:37] This hearing happened in December of 2023. [7:41] So we had one year left of the Joe Biden presidency. [7:45] What did we see? [7:46] No investigations, no accountability, no action taken, [7:50] and the university presidents stuck their heads in the sand. [7:53] With a sea change with President Trump where you finally have a reckoning. [7:58] So I've been fully supportive of the withholding of federal funds. [8:01] You're right, though, Ralph. [8:02] The executive orders are incredibly important. [8:05] Congress must codify these executive orders. [8:08] We just passed a number of bills this week out of the Education Committee, [8:12] but there's so much work to do. [8:14] But it has been such a seismic change from one of the worst presidencies, [8:19] probably the worst in modern history of Joe Biden, [8:21] to hitting the ground running on day one [8:24] and addressing the moral rot that's happening in these higher ed institutions. [8:29] Do you think, I mean, I know that, [8:32] I don't know what our margin is right now in the House [8:35] because it changes every week. [8:37] It's close every week, Ralph. [8:38] But it's somewhere between one and four, I think. [8:41] Yes. [8:42] And one of those, who I won't name, but his initials are Thomas Massey, [8:48] isn't exactly what I would call a reliable vote at this point. [8:55] But we're looking at a possibility of reconciliation, as you know. [9:00] We hope, either before the election or in a lame duck session, [9:07] we at Faith and Freedom are pretty focused on that [9:10] because, as you know, Elise, we want to see the defunding of Planned Parenthood [9:15] that was included in the Trump tax cut. [9:18] We want that in another reconciliation bill. [9:22] I recognize that we can't exactly turn that into a chock-a-block. [9:27] We can't just turn it into a Christmas tree [9:29] and have everything that we want hung on it [9:32] because we've got to get to 218. [9:34] But could this agenda, because it does involve funding, [9:39] is there a chance we could get that in there and get it passed [9:42] and get it to President Trump's desk? [9:43] I've always believed that we need to ensure that these two years [9:48] we accomplish and deliver as much as possible for the American people [9:52] to keep our promises. [9:54] And I know this very much. [9:57] As you all remember, and Ralph knows, [9:59] I was nominated by the President to serve in his Cabinet [10:02] as Ambassador to the United Nations. [10:04] When it became clear that the House margin was so slim, [10:09] I stayed in the House and was the deciding vote [10:13] to deliver reconciliation, [10:15] to help deliver our major accomplishments. [10:20] And we have the rest of this year, [10:23] while we have the Senate in the House, [10:25] and we're going to work very hard to make sure [10:26] that we're growing our majority and holding the Senate next year. [10:30] We need to deliver for the American people. [10:33] So on reconciliation, [10:34] know that we are working with all of the members constantly [10:37] to make sure that we can get that done. [10:40] I am optimistic that we will deliver on reconciliation. [10:42] I know that the President has worked very closely with the leadership in the House, [10:46] and we are committed to getting that done. [10:48] So for all of you, [10:50] just making sure that your members of Congress hear from you [10:53] of the importance of this once-in-a-generation opportunity [10:57] to deliver key conservative victories for the American people. [11:01] Yes, amen. [11:03] That's very well said, and we will do that. [11:05] We will make that part of our legislative agenda. [11:08] And as I said, Planned Parenthood defunding is probably number one, [11:12] but this will be way up there. [11:14] Now, as I don't need to tell you, [11:18] this week there were primaries in New York, [11:22] and Mondami backed a bunch of socialist and anti-Semitic candidates, [11:30] one of whom, I can't remember her name, [11:32] but she declined to even condemn Hamas. [11:35] And these are now the Democratic nominees in a city [11:40] that is basically 90 to 10 Democrat. [11:46] So these folks are coming. [11:48] They're going to be in Congress. [11:50] Now, you've explained to me that there's a direct line [11:54] between the anti-Semitic protests at Columbia [11:59] and Mondami's election, [12:02] and now what he's doing to transform the Democratic Party. [12:05] Talk a little bit about that. [12:06] Yeah, so you all saw the outcome of the shocking wins in New York City [12:11] where you had not only socialists, [12:13] but full-blown communists defeat sitting Democrat incumbents. [12:18] By landslide. [12:18] By landslide, all backed by Zoran Mondami, [12:23] who is a socialist who is already starting to destroy New York City, [12:28] which I know ideologically people think of New York City [12:31] as a Democrat-leaning city, [12:32] but it is an iconic city as a New Yorker. [12:36] We cannot turn our backs and cede these cities to these communists. [12:42] We need to win back these iconic metropolises. [12:45] So the direct line, Ralph, is interesting. [12:48] In the Columbia chapter in this book, [12:50] I talk about the pro-Hamas encampment. [12:52] And it was not just an encampment on Columbia's campus. [12:54] It was riots, vandalism, destruction of iconic buildings. [12:59] Hamilton Hall, named after Alexander Hamilton, [13:03] one of the first students of King's College, [13:05] which became Columbia College. [13:07] He was one of the founders of that institution. [13:09] The same people who organized that pro-Hamas encampment [13:12] literally were the boots on the ground for Zoran Mondami's campaign, [13:16] and then became the candidates [13:18] who just defeated these Democrat-sitting members of Congress. [13:21] So we are about to have full-blown communists [13:25] serving in the United States House of Representatives. [13:28] That is un-American, [13:30] and we should not tolerate that as fellow Americans. [13:33] We need to make the case to stand up for our American values. [13:37] Well, and I'd love to know your take. [13:41] I mean, obviously, we're focused on 2026, clearly. [13:45] I mean, as we gather here this weekend, [13:48] and I think you know the president is going to be here in just a little bit, [13:51] and I think it might have something to do with the fact [13:54] that we're 130 days away from a midterm election [13:57] that is going to decide whether or not he faces another impeachment, [14:04] whether or not oversight is turned into a search-and-destroy mission. [14:08] As somebody who's been in House leadership, [14:10] you chaired the House Republican Conference. [14:13] If we were to fail to do our job and hold this majority, [14:18] what do you predict will happen in the House under Hakeem Jeffries? [14:22] It's not just a prediction. [14:23] I know this, Ralph, because as you remember, [14:26] after 2018, when the Democrats took control of the House [14:29] during President Trump's first term, [14:31] I served as one of the leaders on President Trump's impeachment defense team [14:35] standing up against the weaponization of the House Democrats [14:39] against President Trump. [14:41] What we will see makes that look like a cakewalk. [14:45] They are preparing the subpoenas on day one [14:47] for all members, not just of President Trump and his family, [14:51] but all members of the administration. [14:53] They are going to block any type of our policy priorities. [14:58] It will be investigation, investigation. [15:01] It will be weaponized, politicized, leading into 2028. [15:06] So we have to hold the House. [15:09] We have to hold the Senate this November. [15:12] It is critical. [15:14] Having lived through that, Ralph, it was unprecedented. [15:16] It was an unconstitutional, it was an impeachment sham [15:19] led by Adam Schiff. [15:21] And we have since exposed how unconstitutional it was. [15:26] And I'm so grateful for the great work of so many folks [15:29] in the Trump administration working with leaders in the House [15:32] and the Senate to expose just how rotten that effort was [15:35] but that's what's at stake this election cycle. [15:38] We know not only are Democrats going to raise taxes [15:42] by the largest tax hike in American history, [15:44] they are going to attack fundamentally our Christian values, [15:48] but they are going to target President Trump every single day. [15:53] So we have to do everything we can to organize and energize [15:56] and win this November. [15:58] And I would, yes, amen to that. [16:00] And, you know, it's pretty wild to think about this [16:06] because I guess I'm dating myself a little bit, [16:10] but when I was at the Christian Coalition in the 90s, [16:14] Elise, there were 60 House Democrats that were pro-life, [16:18] 60, that we counted on for their support. [16:23] Today, I don't think there's one. [16:25] There are zero. [16:26] Zero. [16:27] Not one pro-life Democrat left in the House of Representatives. [16:31] And the things you highlighted, that's the beginning. [16:35] Then you go to statehood for Puerto Rico, D.C., and who knows what else, [16:42] expanding the Supreme Court to somewhere between 15 and 21 members. [16:47] We'll lose the court for two or three generations. [16:49] You know, you talked about, you know, very eloquently, [16:56] the importance of not conceding this ground to the left. [17:00] And I'm not trying to put you on the spot. [17:03] But you're about to. [17:04] But I'm about to. [17:06] You looked very seriously at running for governor of New York. [17:10] I think you would have been an outstanding governor of New York. [17:15] Oh, thank you. [17:16] I want to, in my personal capacity, sign up now in case you decide that [17:24] or anything else in the future. [17:26] But talk a little bit about that process, your thinking. [17:32] You know, Lee Zeldin came, I think, within five points. [17:36] And I think Kathy Hochul is more vulnerable now. [17:39] Is New York gone? [17:42] Or we haven't had a Republican in that office since. [17:46] George Pataki. [17:47] Since Pataki. [17:49] Is it gone or is it salvageable? [17:51] Sometimes as conservatives, we look at New York or Illinois or California, [17:57] and these are big, important states that we used to carry. [18:02] What's your thinking on this? [18:03] So first, I mean, this was after a lot of thought, prayer, [18:08] deep, meaningful discussions with my family. [18:11] And as I mentioned, you know I'm currently in Congress. [18:14] We have a one- to two-vote majority given every week, [18:17] so I'm working every day to make sure that we get what we need done there. [18:22] But also I'm a mom of a four-year-old, and that's my most important title, is mom. [18:29] And these years you never get back. [18:34] So my family made the decision that this was just not the right time for us, [18:39] and we hope to continue to lead. [18:42] And down the road, Ralph, I mean, it's interesting. [18:45] I've been in Congress 12 years now, [18:48] so I have the experience of the average age of a 60-year-old, but I'm 41. [18:52] So there's lots of opportunities potentially down the line. [18:55] It was just not the right time. [18:56] But to answer your question on whether New York is salvageable, [19:00] we have to put up a fight in New York, and here is why. [19:03] The House majority runs through the state of New York. [19:06] It was in 2022 when we flipped a number of districts that fired Nancy Pelosi once and for all. [19:12] We cannot see the suburbs in this country. [19:16] And people look to New York, not just across this country, but around the world. [19:20] I think what you will see over the next five to ten years in New York [19:24] is a backlash to the radicalization and the takeover by the communists, [19:28] by Mom Domi and others, this socialist slate. [19:31] And you'll see a backlash of common sense to try to right the ship in New York. [19:37] So I'm not giving up on New York, just like I would never give up on the United States of America, [19:42] the greatest country that history has ever known. [19:48] Good. [19:50] And we're right there with you. [19:54] Now, you're apparently going to be doing a book signing a little bit later, I believe. [19:58] Yes, I'm doing a book signing. [20:00] It's interesting. [20:01] This was the best-selling nonfiction hardcover book when it released, [20:04] but the New York Times refused to list it as number one, even though I sold more books. [20:09] So please join me in this book signing. [20:11] I'd love to say thank you to each and every one of you. [20:14] And thank you, Ralph, as always. [20:15] Yes. [20:16] Everybody, let's thank Elise Stefanik for all she's done for our country. [20:22] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back Pastor Samuel Rodriguez. [20:36] Well, there is a fine line between the prophetic and the pathetic. [20:49] So permit me to state the obvious. [20:52] We're living in interesting times. [20:54] After the recent primaries that Ralph just referenced in New York City, [20:57] we can hereby confirm officially that we are living in the cuckoo for Cocoa Puff season. [21:04] It really is. [21:05] Can you believe it? [21:06] Socialists, huh? [21:08] So listen carefully. [21:09] There is a battle in America, and the number one battle in America is not what many people believe. [21:14] It's not between Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. [21:18] It's not between Fox News and MSNOW. [21:20] It's not even between the donkey and the elephant. [21:23] The number one battle in America is between the serpent and the lamb. [21:30] Let me ask you, how many here don't think, don't hope, and don't feel? [21:33] How many know that the lamb has already defeated the serpent? [21:42] Colossians 2.15, in this way he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. [21:47] He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. [21:52] The battle is spiritual. [21:54] Sure, it has political ramifications, but the battle is spiritual. [21:58] Ephesians 6.12, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, [22:02] but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world. [22:06] What does it mean? [22:07] There's a spiritual battle out there. [22:09] There really is. [22:10] It's not hype. [22:12] The spirit of Pharaoh is alive in America, holding people captive into Egypt of bondage and fear. [22:18] The spirit of Goliath lives, mocking and intimidating the children of God. [22:22] The spirit of Jezebel, [22:24] que el Señor reprende en el nombre de Jesús, [22:27] still makes men and women hide in caves with sexual perversions and manipulation. [22:33] The spirit of Absalom is dividing homes, churches, and relationships, [22:36] while the spirit of Herod is killing the young through abortion, [22:41] through violence, poverty, and sex trafficking, [22:43] murdering infant dreams and visions. [22:46] But I came to remind you that in America in 2026, [22:50] there is a spirit more powerful than all these spirits combined. [22:55] Faith and freedom. [22:56] We are here to be reminded of the following. [22:59] The most powerful spirit on the planet today, [23:01] regardless of what we see on CNN and Fox and MSNBC, [23:05] ABC, NBC, CBS, Univision, y Telemundo, [23:11] the most powerful spirit in America is still the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. [23:17] And where that spirit is present, there is freedom. [23:27] There is freedom. [23:29] There is freedom. [23:31] Freedom to do what? [23:32] To advance. [23:32] A spiritual prescription, a biblically substantiated, Christ-centered antidote [23:38] to address the virus of moral relativism and cultural decadence. [23:42] And that prescription is simple. [23:44] It's repentance, revival, and reformation. [23:48] Repentance, revival, and reformation. [23:53] If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray [23:56] and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, [23:59] I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore the land. [24:03] Acts 3.19, repent of your sins and turn to God. [24:08] Your sins will be wiped away. [24:10] Then times of refreshment will come. [24:13] Where there is repentance, there is revival. [24:16] Where there is revival, there is cultural reformation. [24:20] So let me speak to the Hispanic American community. [24:23] Who are we? [24:24] I stated this previously. [24:26] And I stated this many years ago. [24:28] We are Hispanic. [24:30] Are there any questions? [24:34] We are Hispanic. [24:36] Capital H, His. [24:38] Then panic. [24:42] We are God's panic to the kingdom of darkness in the name of Jesus. [24:48] And my clarion call today is this. [24:51] The Hispanic American community standing shoulder to shoulder [24:54] with Bible-believing, Christ-centered followers of Jesus [24:57] from every ethnicity. [24:59] Together, together, we need a multi-ethnic kingdom culture firewall. [25:04] Together, we affirm our Judeo-Christian value system. [25:07] Together, we stand as a firewall against wokeism, cancel culture, marxism, and socialism, which [25:14] means what? [25:15] Let me just say it. [25:16] What took place in Venezuela? [25:18] What took place in Cuba? [25:20] What took place in Nicaragua? [25:22] Will never take place here in America. [25:25] So together, we stand as a father-glorifying, Christ-centered, spirit-empowered, biblically-substantiated [25:36] firewall. [25:37] Every ideology that seeks to remove God from the public square. [25:41] Every agenda targeting our children. [25:43] And this is where we, the idea of a complacent church is antithetical to scripture. [25:48] We can't be just complacent. [25:51] I've stated this. [25:52] Today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. [25:55] We are what we tolerate. [25:57] Christians must be involved in every single election, including midterms. [26:02] And the reason why close to 50% of Latinos voted for President Trump, there's a number [26:09] of reasons, but 48%, according to Pew, voted for President Trump. [26:13] 54% of all Hispanic males, the largest Hispanic support of a Republican candidate in American [26:20] history. [26:21] Isn't that amazing? [26:23] And one of the primary reasons is this. [26:26] We are sick and tired of the left coming after our children. [26:32] So we are here to say the following. [26:35] Get your hands off our children. [26:38] Parents matter. [26:46] Families matter. [26:47] Truth matters. [26:48] As we stand for righteousness and justice, for truth and love, Psalm 89, 14, what do we [26:54] stand for? [26:55] Together, as this multi-ethnic kingdom culture firewall arises, we will stand for the unborn, [27:02] the sanctity of every human life. [27:04] We stand for religious liberty. [27:06] We stand for biblical justice, for school choice, for parental rights, for border security, [27:11] for legal immigration, for free enterprise, for entrepreneurship, for strong families, for [27:17] biblical marriage, for human dignity. [27:19] We stand against every vestige of anti-Semitism. [27:24] And we are fully committed to defending our Judeo-Christian value system with conviction [27:30] and with compassion. [27:31] So let me conclude with a story about this multi-ethnic kingdom culture firewall standing. [27:40] Ephesians 6, 13, put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the [27:46] enemy in the times of evil. [27:48] Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. [27:52] So after you've prayed, after you've fasted, after you believed, after you obeyed, after you've [27:57] done everything God has called you to do, stand. [28:01] 1 Corinthians 16, 13, be on guard, stand firm. [28:05] This is not the hour to bend, to bow, to compromise. [28:08] It is the hour to stand. [28:10] I'm from California, so please forgive me. [28:16] Our church, New Season, it's a multi-ethnic church. [28:19] It looks like heaven. [28:20] It's 40% Caucasian, which is code word for white. [28:25] It's 40% African American, which means black. [28:28] And the rest are Latino and Asians and Native Americans. [28:32] It looks like heaven. [28:33] We're primarily a millennial generation Z church. [28:36] Multiple campuses. [28:37] During COVID, when Governor Newsom said that we couldn't even worship in our homes. [28:43] And we couldn't even worship in our homes. [28:45] We couldn't, what is it? [28:47] Praise, worship, sing, and chant. [28:50] I love chanting. [28:53] So that was really discouraging. [28:55] So I decided, and I did it not for the sake of being confrontational. [28:59] I decided we're going to keep the church open, which we did. [29:04] The church grew, and God really blessed us of a harvest. [29:09] Watch just a story. [29:10] We grew, we outgrew our property and our building. [29:13] So then we heard about a church. [29:14] Our church reached out to us in California, in the same city. [29:17] Beautiful people. [29:18] They reached out and said, Pastor Sam, we lost people since COVID. [29:21] You've gained people. [29:22] Would you be interested in taking over our property? [29:25] So we met with them. [29:27] And after we did our initial due diligence, an incredible property, 3,000-seater auditorium, [29:32] an additional 1,000-seater, an additional 300-seater school, we met with them. [29:36] We had a board meeting. [29:37] And finally, before the board meeting, I met with my board. [29:40] They said, all we have to do is your board and our board meet. [29:43] Then we'll sign an MOU. [29:44] We don't see anything going wrong with this. [29:46] And then that'll, you know, we'll go forward with the transaction. [29:49] What questions will your board ask? [29:51] We don't know. [29:51] We want it to be organic. [29:52] So I met with my church board in a certain coffee establishment whose name I will not mention. [29:58] It's the one with Jezebel on the cup. [30:01] And so we met there. [30:03] I had my almond milk latte. [30:04] We met. [30:05] And as we met, we finally progressed. [30:07] What questions will they ask? [30:09] Fiduciary governance, attrition, whatever it may be. [30:14] We stepped into the board meeting. [30:15] And right there, just the first question, dirt board, our board, one of the board members [30:20] stood up and said, Pastor Sam Rodriguez, we at our church, we lean left. [30:25] We want to know where do you lean. [30:30] And so help me. [30:32] It's been verified of everyone who was there. [30:34] This was my response, my facial expression. [30:36] What you talking about, Willis? [30:47] I mean, my face. [30:48] I didn't know if it was a prank. [30:52] So help me God, I had no idea if I was being tested. [30:55] Like, that's your first question? [30:57] We lean left. [30:58] Where do you lean? [30:58] And I didn't want to answer. [31:00] My board members are here, Jeff Carter, Kim Hicks. [31:02] And they're going, say something, say something. [31:05] And I refused to answer because if I knew that if I would answer the way the Holy Spirit [31:08] was telling me to answer, we would not end up with that property. [31:13] And I'm having a fight with the Lord. [31:14] I'm going, I don't want to answer. [31:16] And all of a sudden, God speaks to me. [31:17] And when God speaks to you in Spanish, everything changes. [31:20] So I'm fighting. [31:23] Pero señor, yo no quiero en este momento compartir. [31:25] No quiero ser. [31:25] No, you will share. [31:27] So I opened up my mouth just like this. [31:29] This has been nicely verified and covered. [31:31] I opened up my mouth, looked up, and said, after a minute of silence, I went like, thank [31:35] you for your question. [31:37] You all ask, you all lean left. [31:39] You ask me, where do we lean? [31:41] Well, here's my response. [31:42] At our church, we don't lean. [31:46] We stand. [31:47] We stand. [31:51] Whatever the Bible calls sin, we call sin. [31:54] Whatever the Bible calls holy, we call holy. [31:57] We don't lean, we stand. [31:59] Hey, faith and freedom. [32:01] We don't need to lean. [32:02] All we need to do is stand. [32:05] And when we stand, America will be transformed. [32:09] Let's do one thing together. [32:11] Let's go change the world. [32:12] God bless you. [32:31] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Faith Director, White House Faith Office, Jenny Korn, [32:38] and Pastor and President of Paula White Ministries, Paula White Kane. [32:44] Good morning. [32:52] It's so good to be here. [32:53] And Ralph, we just thank you for your tireless work and all the leaders, the state directors, [32:57] the intercessors, everyone. [33:00] We honor you. [33:01] And it's so good to be with so many people today that are friends that I consider family. [33:06] And Jenny, I thought we'd just share for the next few minutes. [33:08] First off, let us give you a disclosure. [33:10] We are here in our personal capacity. [33:13] But many of you know that I have been appointed as Senior Advisor to President Trump over the White House Faith Office, historic, never done before. [33:25] That's a huge thing for people of faith. [33:28] We'll talk more about. [33:29] And Jenny is the White House Faith Director. [33:32] And so it's so good to have her and to be here to serve all of you. [33:37] You know, freedom is never self-sustaining. [33:41] Every generation must decide whether it will preserve liberty or lose it. [33:48] And boy, are we ever seeing that if you just watched over the weekend what happened in New York. [33:53] Today, we have much to celebrate. [33:56] During President Trump's second term, America has witnessed historic victories for people of faith. [34:03] The first ever White House Faith Office with 10 initiatives, our number one being religious liberty. [34:10] And today, the Religious Liberty Commission will meet with President Trump as they've advised him on what to do. [34:17] And we will see great pillars coming out to protect our freedoms because everyone has the right to worship God. [34:25] Those are our inalienable rights enshrined in our Constitution. [34:29] And to do it without discrimination, to do it with freedom. [34:34] But sadly, that is not so. [34:37] And President Trump recognized that. [34:39] So he created the White House Faith Office and he put faith directors in every department, every single agency. [34:46] Think about that. [34:47] From the State Department to Human Health Services to small business. [34:51] Every single agency and every single department has a faith director. [34:57] And most of them have a full staff to serve people of faith and to work on your behalf. [35:03] That's big. [35:08] As I said, the Religious Commission was created to defend our religious liberties. [35:13] The weaponization of government against Christians and pro-life Americans has been confronted strong with two task forces. [35:20] To eradicate any anti-Christian and bias and all other forms of religious bias and one on anti-Semitism. [35:29] The sanctity of life has been defended, defunding Planned Parenthood through the BBB, the big, beautiful bill. [35:39] Parents' rights have been strengthened. [35:41] School choice has been expanded. [35:43] Women and girls have been protected in sports. [35:46] You know things have changed when the President, on the day of inauguration, has to say there are only two genders. [35:55] But thank goodness he does. [35:57] Conscious rights for health care workers have been restored. [36:00] Religious liberty has become a national priority for our administration. [36:04] And those are not small victories. [36:07] They are significant. [36:09] And they deserve gratitude and recognition. [36:12] But these victories were never intended to make the church comfortable. [36:16] They were intended to make the church effective. [36:19] Because I want to remind us of something. [36:22] Government can protect freedom. [36:25] Government cannot preserve it. [36:28] Freedom is preserved by engaging, informed, and courageous people. [36:34] People, laws matter, policy matters, and leadership matters. [36:40] And as Jenny and I share with you, I know that you are engaged. [36:44] We want to help you have that path of this critical year. [36:48] As I said, we're in our personal capacity. [36:50] And we want to talk to you about the impact of your voice, your vote, what it matters, the people of influence that you have. [36:58] So, Jenny, why don't you share a little bit about your background, how grassroots matter, and how coalitions matter. [37:05] Right. Thank you, Pastor Paula. [37:06] It is so amazing to have Pastor Paula White at the head and senior advisor to President Trump. [37:13] They have a relationship going back 26 years. [37:16] So there are many reasons why we are here today. [37:19] But one of those reasons is because of Pastor Paula White. [37:22] Can we give her a hand? [37:23] It is very exciting for me to be on this stage. [37:29] I've been doing this for 25 years. [37:32] But the key of how I came to be, so a little girl from East L.A. who worked for the White House not only once, but twice. [37:40] But now this is my third time. [37:42] Only in America and the American dream. [37:46] Go ahead. [37:46] All right. [37:47] I was like, sure, go ahead. [37:49] My mother was born in Mexico, and she was a Roman Catholic. [37:54] My father was born in New York, and he was Polish-Jewish. [37:58] They met in East L.A., and thus I was born. [38:02] And this is why I can speak to many people of many faiths, so I believe God has prepared me for this job. [38:07] But what I learned is that I started out like probably many of you and what you're doing, and thank you, Ralph Reed, for making sure that grassroots and coalition building is number one as part of faith and freedom. [38:24] But what I learned, and I've probably knocked on over 100,000 doors in my career, is that when I went and spoke to someone face-to-face, I could convince that person nine times out of ten to either support my candidate or to support the cause that I was supporting. [38:39] Because I believed in it, and I had the information to back. [38:43] It is so important. [38:44] We are here because of President Trump. [38:46] We are here because he fought hard. [38:47] But we are here because of you. [38:49] We are here because of the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who said, I'm going to get out of my comfort zone. [38:55] I'm going to go door to door, and I'm going to do phone banks, and I don't care if someone slams the door in my face, a dog chases me down the street, or I get hung up on the phone. [39:05] I can't reiterate it enough how important what you are doing and how it matters. [39:11] And I know Ralph and the rest of the team are going to ask you to do even more these last six months. [39:17] Please say yes. [39:19] Please say yes when you're tired. [39:21] Please say yes when you're sick. [39:23] Please say yes when you've got ten other things to do because democracy, I want to use their line, is on the line. [39:30] Real democracy. [39:31] We believe in freedom, and the only reason, as all the things that Paula has said, that we are even here today is because of you, because of grassroots. [39:42] So think about what will happen if we lose the House, or think about what would happen if we lose the Senate. [39:49] We are on a trajectory. [39:50] The president is doing win after win after win, so many wins that we can't even keep up with it, and you probably don't know half of it. [39:56] We have to go back and look and say, oh, my gosh, we didn't tell people about this. [40:00] So we want to make sure that everything you're doing, you keep it up, you say yes. [40:05] We've got six months until November. [40:07] It's so important because the White House Faith Office is not guaranteed in the future. [40:12] President Trump and his policies are not guaranteed in the future. [40:16] We are the ones that make sure those guarantees happen because we are saying this is what we demand from our government. [40:23] So important, Jenny. [40:25] Look, with our last few minutes, here's what I just beckon you with, and I say it with every ounce of my being. [40:33] You know, the president will be with you this afternoon. [40:35] We'll be back to share that with you, and that's a special moment. [40:38] But the reality is this. [40:40] This is not the time for the church to retreat. [40:43] It's a time for us to engage with conviction, with courage, with humility, [40:47] and with a fortitude that says we're going to stand having done all to stand. [40:52] You know, the evangelical Christians are 20% of the voting bloc, but yet only 39% are registered to vote. [41:01] Do you know what would happen if we got every person or 50% registered to vote? [41:06] We would have our religious liberty. [41:09] We would be able to protect life and marriage and strengthen families. [41:12] We would be able to control the committees because when we're talking about midterms, [41:17] most people don't even go out, Jenny, because the president's not on the line. [41:21] But every policy that a president has established is on the line. [41:26] There are 36 committees, and we will lose every single committee if we lose midterm. [41:32] You go, well, what does that have to do with me? [41:35] Appropriations, budget, your taxes, administration, energy, education, ways and means. [41:41] Think about ways and means and stuff. [41:43] People go, what is that? [41:44] That is when they harassed, and much more than harassed. [41:48] Jenny, we were on the forefront of this, with students who were Jewish. [41:52] And it wasn't just harassment. [41:54] It was absolute abuse. [41:57] There was no one there for them. [41:59] We sat with them, and we cried in the early meetings because we'd sit with these students [42:03] and go, who advocated for you? [42:05] And simply because they were Jewish, no one stopped the protesters against them, the hurt, the abuse, the neglect that happened to them. [42:16] But you know what the Ways and Means Committee could do and the committees could do? [42:19] Come in and say enough is enough and take away the funding of those schools from the federal government. [42:26] I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture in the next 26 seconds. [42:35] I tell you, I started National Faith Advisory Board, and I met the president over that. [42:39] Jenny worked with me when we were kicked out after 2020. [42:44] When we were kicked out, she said, Coalition Queen said, you can't let go of this. [42:48] You'll never get it back. [42:49] We are the largest faith coalition now. [42:51] And so as an SGE, a special government employee of what I do in the White House, on the outside, I am legally allowed to engage in National Faith Advisory Board, which is a 501c3, much like you have, much like what you do. [43:06] We want to make sure that churches are educated and equipped and that they are registered to vote. [43:12] You can go to the nationalfaithadvisoryboard.org website. [43:17] You can get a registration to get your friends to vote, to get people to, and to educate people on what issues are at stake. [43:24] We love you. [43:25] We're here to serve you. [43:26] And we are praying for you as you pray for us and our president. [43:29] Thank you so much. [43:30] I know you have many speakers, so I'll just leave you with this. [43:36] When a man who wants to pray on a football field before a football game gets fired and has to go through litigation for eight years, all the way to the Supreme Court, we have a problem with religious freedom in America. [43:54] Now, we won that case. [43:55] That's Coach Kennedy, and we're so grateful. [43:57] But he never should have had to go into litigation. [43:59] When hundreds of Navy SEALs, Marines, Airmen get fired from their jobs, they sacrifice, like my husband, 22 years in the Marine Corps. [44:12] When they get fired by the Biden administration because they won't give them a religious exemption for the COVID vaccine. [44:18] These are people who put their lives on the line for America. [44:22] We have a problem with religious freedom. [44:23] When 23 pro-lifers who silently pray outside an abortion clinic are arrested and put in jail and have to be pardoned by the president, we have a problem with religious freedom. [44:36] So this is what I say to you when people come to you and say, no, no, no, separation of church and state. [44:41] You stop them. [44:43] Separation of church and state means that the government can't dictate to you what religion you can be. [44:48] It does not mean you don't have a voice in your government. [44:51] And that's what the White House Faith Office does. [44:55] It gives a voice to people of faith so they can dictate their policies. [45:01] You could say all day long, sure, the church, get out of government. [45:04] Well, how about the government get out of church? [45:07] Yes. [45:11] Again, we're in our personal capacities, but this is public information. [45:14] If you want to get involved with the White House Faith Office, you can go to White House Faith Office at who.eop.gov. [45:23] We want to make sure you're involved, you understand all the issues that we're working on. [45:27] And you're going to hear from the president today who's going to enumerate all the wonderful things that he has done for the people of faith. [45:33] Thank you so much. [45:34] God bless you. [45:35] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back Mac Parnell. [45:48] Good afternoon or good morning. [45:59] I think we're right on the bubble here one way or another. [46:02] But it's going to be my honor in just a moment to bring out the next senator from Georgia. [46:08] But before I do that, I just want to tell you a little bit about our current senator. [46:16] He has voted to put men in women's sports. [46:23] He has voted to ban gas-powered cars. [46:27] He has voted to prevent Israel from defending herself. [46:33] And he has voted against border security and the largest tax cuts in American history. [46:42] And I'm going to introduce someone who's a trucker, a businessman, and one of the most effective legislators that we have in the state of Georgia. [46:54] When Lakin Riley, I don't know if you remember Lakin Riley, when Lakin Riley was brutally murdered in Athens, Georgia, by a criminal, illegal alien, Mike Collins didn't just put out a press release. [47:10] Mike Collins went to work. [47:11] And he was the lead sponsor and the workhorse behind the Lakin Riley Act, which, if memory serves, was the very first piece of legislation that President Trump signed in his second term. [47:25] Not only did he sponsor and get the Lakin Riley Act into law, he's very effective. [47:37] He was even able to get President Joe Biden to sign something, which, I can't tell you, that is a difficult feat. [47:46] Please join me in welcoming Georgia's next U.S. Senator, Congressman Mike Collins. [47:52] My goodness. [48:11] Hello, faith and freedom. [48:15] Where's Ralph at? [48:16] Ralph Reed, thank you. [48:17] It's an honor to be here, and I appreciate y'all having me here today. [48:22] It is an honor to be with you as well, to have just so many faith leaders, elected officials, just everyday Americans who have a vision for our country [48:32] and took the time out of your day to be here to help execute that. [48:38] For those of you that don't know who I am, I'm Mike Collins. [48:41] I represent Georgia's 10th Congressional District, and as of last Tuesday, I am Georgia's Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. [48:56] Now, y'all, I grew up in Jackson, Georgia. [48:59] It's the only place I know we got some Jackson folks here. [49:03] It's the only place I've ever known as home. [49:06] As a matter of fact, it's where I built my business. [49:09] It's where I raised my family. [49:10] And it's where I learned the hard lessons that have shaped how I deliver the results every day up here in Washington. [49:18] You know, folks often ask me about church, and I tell them, you know, I grew up going to the Methodist church on Sunday morning, [49:27] and then I went to the Baptist church on Wednesday night with my granddaddy. [49:33] I got married at 21, and I married a Baptist, so y'all know where I wound up. [49:37] But, no, we actually, now we attend Rock Springs Church over in Milner, Georgia. [49:44] And I say that, and I want to say one other thing, too. [49:48] This ain't got nothing to do with the speech, so this is free. [49:50] But I grew up, and I learned at an early, early age, y'all, that you can have God without government, [50:00] but you can't have government without God. [50:02] And I have found that in my short time of service up here just how true that is and how that grows with me every day. [50:14] As a matter of fact, y'all, that's where all my values came from. [50:17] I mean, they're not poll tested. [50:19] They're not consultant-ridden for me. [50:22] They come from my faith, from the heart. [50:25] And I think that we need more leaders up here in Washington who are led by God, [50:33] not by what's going to get them reelected or get them on the news or going to help them to fundraise. [50:40] Because, see, here's the fact. [50:42] Godly people are being called every day, but they're just not answering the call. [50:49] And there's a reason for that. [50:50] It's because in this political environment, I mean, sometimes the risk, y'all, they're just too high. [50:57] I mean, if you campaign on your beliefs, they're going to make up lies. [51:01] They're going to try to destroy your business. [51:04] They're even going to threaten you and your family's life out there. [51:08] At the end of the day, they want you to break. [51:11] They want you to bow down. [51:14] They know they can attack the man. [51:16] But let me tell you something. [51:18] They can't attack his faith in the Lord. [51:24] And the fact is, y'all, we need more godly men and women to serve. [51:30] Just take an example. [51:31] I know Mack mentioned a little bit of it. [51:34] But just take an example of what Georgia is up against. [51:37] I mean, y'all, we've got a fight on our hands. [51:39] We have a U.S. Senator, John Ossoff, who wants you to look to the government for every answer instead of your faith and in the Lord, which is the way I was taught. [51:49] We have a senator who will take to the pulpit on Sunday to spew hatred and lies and push segregated gerrymandering. [51:57] And, yeah, he didn't vote just once. [51:59] He voted twice. [52:00] Then he voted a third time to allow men to compete in girls' sports. [52:05] He co-sponsored legislation to allow men to use women's restrooms. [52:11] And then he pushed to allow men to be admitted into women's domestic violence shelters. [52:17] And when John Ossoff had the opportunity to help our shared constituent, Lakin Riley, he voted no. [52:27] Now, yeah, he finally came around the second time. [52:30] But let me tell y'all something. [52:31] When I was in his office talking to him about how this little old common sense three-, four-page piece of legislation could help ensure that no other Georgia family would lose a son or daughter the way Lakin's family did, [52:44] he just sat there and did nothing. [52:49] I tell you what, it showed his true colors that day. [52:54] Georgia needs a U.S. senator whose life has been rooted in service and Georgia values. [53:02] Not one that's going to bow down to the woke mob or refuse to stand up for what's right. [53:07] But someone that just knows what it's like, someone that knows what it's like to sign the front and the back of a paycheck, [53:17] that helps families put food on their table and provide for their families, [53:23] that they can take Georgia values of hard work, honesty, integrity, and a solutions-based approach to Washington, D.C. [53:31] to just get things done. [53:34] That's exactly what I've done. [53:35] And getting two pieces of legislation passed, signed into law by two different presidents, two different parties, in just two years, and in a bipartisan fashion. [53:47] You see, I've shown that you can go to Washington, D.C. and put your constituents first, not your California and New York donors. [54:02] And I'm going to leave you with this. [54:04] In every vote that I've taken, every vote, I don't look to the D.C. lobbyists. [54:10] I don't look to the D.C. insiders. [54:12] I don't look to the media. [54:16] I look to my faith, and I look to the Lord. [54:25] Y'all, it's an honor to speak with you this morning. [54:27] I appreciate what you do for our country. [54:30] It's an honor to serve. [54:31] It really is. [54:33] It's a privilege of a lifetime. [54:35] And I look forward to continuing doing that. [54:37] Thank you for having me. [54:39] Y'all have a great day. [54:40] Thank you. [54:46] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the pastor of Dreams United Church in Plant City, Florida, Bishop Kelvin Kobaris. [54:55] Good morning, everyone. [55:10] It is an honor to be with you at the Road to Majority Conference, celebrating this America 250 gathering, as we celebrate not just where our nation has been, but where, by the grace of God, through faithful citizens, it is going. [55:28] 250 years ago, ordinary men and women did extraordinary things because they believed freedom was worth fighting for, truth was worth defending, and future generations were worth sacrificing for. [55:43] They faced impossible odds. [55:45] They endured hardships. [55:47] They suffered setbacks. [55:49] They refused to surrender. [55:51] And history remembers them not because life was easy, but because they pressed forward and they persevered. [55:59] The same spirit is needed today. [56:02] Our challenges may look different, but the calling is the same. [56:07] Every generation must decide whether it will preserve liberty or permit it to disappear. [56:14] Freedom is never inherited automatically. [56:16] It must be cultivated, protected, and courageously defended. [56:23] Today, I'd like to leave you with three simple reminders. [56:29] Number one, patriots possess purpose. [56:33] Patriotism is far more than waving a flag or singing the national anthem. [56:39] It is an understanding that God has entrusted each generation with a purpose. [56:44] Purpose gives ordinary people extraordinary endurance. [56:49] And the founders were not perfect, but they possess conviction. [56:53] They believe that rights come from our creator, not from government, and that governments exist to secure those rights, not to grant them. [57:02] When you know your purpose, obstacles become opportunities. [57:07] When you know why you're standing, you're less likely to fall. [57:10] America does not need, simply need more opinions. [57:16] America needs more people with purpose. [57:19] People willing to serve. [57:21] People willing to lead. [57:23] People willing to sacrifice because purpose always outlasts popularity. [57:32] Secondly, patriots press through pressure. [57:36] Every generation encounters pressure. [57:40] Pressure to compromise. [57:41] Pressure to stay silent. [57:43] Pressure to conform. [57:45] Pressure to believe that one voice cannot make a difference. [57:50] But history tells us a different story. [57:53] The greatest advances in liberty came because courageous people kept pressing despite opposition. [58:01] George Washington endured brutal winters. [58:04] The signers of the Declaration risked everything, their fortunes, their families, and even their lives. [58:09] They understood something we must remember. [58:13] Confort has never changed history, but rather conviction has. [58:19] The road to freedom has always required resilience. [58:23] When criticism comes, press on. [58:26] When discouragement comes, press on. [58:29] When the culture says give up, faithful patriots answer, we will not quit. [58:35] Because all perseverance produces victories that quitting never will. [58:41] I can recall back in the first administration of President Trump, when I was in my community handling social activism and speaking to the issues of the community of Central Florida. [58:54] I found myself in a room with Pastor Paula White, who you just heard from, who is a dear friend of mine. [59:00] And when I came to that room with her to address some of our community issues, she said to me, Bishop, America needs your voice because you are a voice to the nation. [59:11] And she said to me, will you join me at the White House? [59:14] I said, well, why in the world would I go to the White House to pontificate and placate with all of the evangelicals there? [59:21] I want to go and make a difference. [59:23] I was assuming that they were just there and just having some talks and some meetings, not realizing that they were the movers and shakers in the back room. [59:30] When I got that invitation, I paused for a moment simply because I was afraid of the kickback that I was going to get from my African-American community for standing for what I felt convicted by. [59:44] So I paused for a moment and said, no, I'm not going to the White House with you because if I go to the White House, I'll lose my black card. [59:52] I'll lose my barbecue card and I won't be able to go to the fish fry on Friday. [59:59] So as I began to stand in a moment of fear, the Lord spoke to me and said, this is a window I'm giving you. [1:00:07] This is a moment that I've established for the voice that I've anointed you to have. [1:00:12] He said, go in. [1:00:13] And so I took the invitation and went to the White House. [1:00:16] Sat around the room with all of the evangelicals and President Trump called over and said, who's in the room? [1:00:23] Bring them all to the Oval Office. [1:00:25] Who goes to the White House for the first day and meet the president when you are not on the schedule to do that? [1:00:30] However, that's how God said it. [1:00:32] All of the evangelicals in the room were excited to go see President Trump. [1:00:36] And it's not that I didn't want to go see President Trump. [1:00:39] I didn't want to deal with the kickback coming from my community for standing in the room. [1:00:44] So I froze in timidity and I talked about maybe I should not go in there. [1:00:49] And I heard that still small voice come from heaven again. [1:00:53] And God said, this is the window of opportunity that I have given you to use your voice for the glory of God. [1:01:06] And I found myself talking back to God in that moment. [1:01:09] And I said, well, Lord, if I go in that room, I'm going to lose my black card. [1:01:14] I'm going to lose my barbecue card. [1:01:15] And I won't be able to go to the fish fry anymore. [1:01:19] God spoke to me and said to me, do you want to be their friend or my friend? [1:01:24] I said, I want to be a friend of God. [1:01:28] And since I wanted to be a friend of God, he said, go in the Oval Office and do what I say. [1:01:34] When I went into the Oval Office, I spoke with President Trump, had the opportunity in that moment to pray over President Trump. [1:01:42] And before I could get home, they were already canceling me, calling me Uncle Tom, calling me everything but what my mother named me. [1:01:50] But in the midst of all of that, the courage that God gave me to stand, gave me the tenacity against the odds to go against no matter what anyone said about me, [1:02:01] to stand on the truth that I believe would transcend time. [1:02:05] I went to my congregation on Sunday morning and many of them row by row walked out of my church. [1:02:12] Empted my church, saying that we would not stand with a man that would stand with the likes of President Trump. [1:02:19] And I want you to know in the midst of tears, God said, now I'm going to show you the blessing behind closed doors. [1:02:25] And while this door may have been closed, I am elevating you to the nations so that I give you platforms to stand on and speak the truth of what you believe. [1:02:35] Speak the truth about my word, speak the truth about morals, speak the truth about values, speak the truth about family. [1:02:43] And I'm here to tell you they did everything to counsel me. [1:02:47] But here I am standing here today, standing as a man of courage, standing in victory, standing in my faith, standing on the promises of God. [1:02:57] Because to be a true American patriot, it requires courage. [1:03:12] And my question to you is, what are you afraid of? [1:03:15] Are you afraid of criticism? [1:03:17] Are you afraid of defamation? [1:03:19] Are you afraid of losing some family members? [1:03:21] Are you afraid of losing some so-called friends? [1:03:24] That is not important. [1:03:25] What is important is at the end of the day, when you stand before our creator, when you stand before our final judge, when he judges you for your works in the earth, I want to hear God say, servant, well done. [1:03:48] So today I stand with courage. [1:03:51] And the third point I want to lift is that patriots pass on principles. [1:03:57] America 250 is not merely about celebrating the past. [1:04:01] It's about preparing the future. [1:04:03] What we celebrate today must become what we pass on tomorrow. [1:04:09] Our children and grandchildren are watching. [1:04:12] They are learning what we value. [1:04:14] They will inherit either our courage or our complacency. [1:04:18] So let us intentionally pass on a timeless principle of faith, freedom, personal responsibility, character, and service. [1:04:28] If somebody asks me my why, why are you doing what you're doing? [1:04:32] Why are you going in rooms that you're going in? [1:04:35] Why are you praying over presidents and parliaments? [1:04:37] Why are you putting your life on the line? [1:04:39] Your character, your reputation on the line. [1:04:42] I have a 15-year-old at home and 11-year-old at home. [1:04:46] And Kelsey and Kyla is my why. [1:04:48] I want to hand them an America that don't have to fight with boys trying to be in girls' bathroom. [1:04:56] I want to hand them an America that don't have to fight with men trying to play in girls' sports. [1:05:03] I want to give them America that don't have men in love with women and women in love with men. [1:05:09] I want to give them an America that stands for moral values, that stands for traditional marriage, that stands for righteousness, that stands for what we've been founded upon. [1:05:19] I want to give them an America that stands for freedom, stands for righteousness, and stand against the boos. [1:05:31] You can boo, but you won't stop me. [1:05:34] I'm here to tell you, you can fight against it, but you won't stop us. [1:05:37] We stand for what is right. [1:05:47] And if you don't like American freedom, if you don't like the way our country is going, find the nearest airport and fly out and go somewhere else. [1:05:56] But in God, we trust the land of the free, the home of the brave. [1:06:08] So today, as I come to my conclusion, I come to this conclusion to remind you today that God has not given us the spirit of timidity. [1:06:20] But he has given us power, love, and self-control. [1:06:26] And I'm here to tell you, this is not the hour to cave in. [1:06:30] This is not the hour to become afraid. [1:06:33] This is not the hour to be worried about the boos and those who try to counsel you on social media. [1:06:39] This is not the hour to be concerned about your enemy. [1:06:42] But this is the hour to stand in courage, to stand in power, to stand in influence, to stand in authority, and uphold not only the declaration of independence, but uphold the word of God. [1:06:57] Because on Christ, the solid rock, we stand all on the ground. [1:07:09] He's sinking sand. [1:07:10] And we have a midterm in front of us. [1:07:14] We celebrate the victories of the past. [1:07:17] But we've got work to do. [1:07:19] We've got people at home that's being distorted, confused, and all caught up in all types of deception and lies based upon the things that they hear on the media [1:07:29] and the propaganda of the different activists and groups that are trying to turn us against our foundation. [1:07:36] However, because we know what truth is, because we know who God is, God will hold every one of us in here responsible if we come to Washington just to have a good time, [1:07:48] just to have a few glass of teas and get a few numbers and network. [1:07:52] We are not here just to have a good time. [1:07:55] We are here to be stirred up in our convictions, stirred up in our character, stirred up in everything that we believe in, [1:08:03] so that when we go back home, we're not just waiting on the party. [1:08:07] We're not just waiting on the strategists. [1:08:09] But in our own communities, we'll knock on doors. [1:08:12] In the marketplace, we'll influence everybody we know. [1:08:15] Everywhere in our church and everywhere around us, we will do everything that we possibly can to uphold the American dream, [1:08:23] to remind people of the foundations of America. [1:08:27] America was founded on Christian Judeo principles. [1:08:31] And I'm here to tell you, I don't care where people come from, what country they come from, [1:08:36] but as for me and my house, as for me and my country, we will serve the Lord. [1:08:56] When I traveled to Dubai, I had to do it Islam's way. [1:09:01] When I traveled to other countries, I had to do it their religious way. [1:09:05] So why, when people come to America, we're allowing them to dictate our way. [1:09:10] If we are a Christian nation, we should vote and stand on Christian values. [1:09:16] If we are a Christian nation, we should uphold the truth of the word of God. [1:09:21] If we are a Christian nation, stop bowing to the plan of the enemy. [1:09:32] Thank you. [1:09:33] God bless you. [1:09:35] And God bless the United States of America. [1:09:49] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, Ralph Reed. [1:09:54] Can you hear me? [1:10:02] I just wish that Kelvin would come out of his shell a little bit so that we knew where he stood. [1:10:11] I am so honored to have this next speaker. [1:10:14] You're going to love this man. [1:10:17] He served our country in the U.S. military. [1:10:22] He's the first special forces officer ever elected to the U.S. House. [1:10:27] He was raised by a single mother, born in Boynton Beach, Florida, raised in Jacksonville, [1:10:34] ran for Congress in 2018, was tapped by Donald Trump to be his first national security advisor [1:10:41] in this term, and is now representing us in a very tough neighborhood, the United Nations. [1:10:48] Standing for us every day, would you please welcome a dear friend of mine, of the president's, [1:10:54] and of this organization, Mike Waltz, our ambassador to the United Nations. [1:11:10] You know, Mike, you served, were you a ranger? [1:11:16] Ranger and Green Beret. [1:11:17] Ranger and Green Beret. [1:11:19] That's right. [1:11:19] Very impressive. [1:11:22] You served multiple tours of duty. [1:11:26] That's right. [1:11:27] In Africa, in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, you saw evil face to face. [1:11:34] And you understand in a way that many do not, that we are facing evil in every corner of this globe. [1:11:42] Could you talk about what you learned in your military service and how you have taken that [1:11:48] into your public and diplomatic service? [1:11:51] Well, thank you, Ralph, and good to be with you. [1:11:54] And thank you all for being such a fighter and truly standing strong for our faith and for our freedom [1:12:03] as we celebrate our 250th anniversary as a nation and that our founding fathers did this revolutionary thing [1:12:14] of our freedoms and our rights don't come from emperors or sars or kings or queens. [1:12:23] They come from God. [1:12:25] And we will, whether it's on the world stage or out in the Middle East or wherever, we have to fight for that. [1:12:31] And I guess to your point that I just want everybody to hear loud and clear that we can't ever forget evil exists in this world. [1:12:39] And it has to be fought and it has to be called out for what it is and it has to be defeated. [1:12:48] And whether that's in the polite circles of the U.N. or out on the battlefield, that is what we face. [1:12:56] And, you know, Ralph, what's unique about having me as a soldier now representing the United States on the world stage at the United Nations, [1:13:05] I've seen that evil, I've seen folks not to be too kind of doom and gloom here, but we need to be reminded. [1:13:13] I have seen a seven-year-old boy, a boy, hung by the Taliban because his family refused to serve him up to go fight the Americans. [1:13:27] I've seen young girls in Nigeria kidnapped out of their schools and sold into sex slavery as ISIS brides. [1:13:36] Forced to forswear Jesus Christ as their God and forced to convert and then forced into sex slavery. [1:13:46] We were able to go rescue some of those girls, but not all of them, right? [1:13:51] We just saw the Iranian regime massacre 40,000 people in a weekend, in a weekend. [1:13:58] These are the types of regimes that we're facing and it's even bigger than that. [1:14:03] We're seeing the Chinese Communist Party literally reinterpret and retranslate the Bible and talk about the primacy of the state and the Pharisees over Jesus and propagate that all over the world. [1:14:17] So I just wanted to come here today and let you know that you have a fighter in me, you have a fighter in Secretary of State Rubio, you have a fighter in Vice President Vance, and you definitely have a fighter in President Donald J. Trump. [1:14:34] Yes, we do. [1:14:41] And by the way, I would commend to all of you, I got an opportunity, I guess it was during the transition, it was an event at the Museum of the Bible for your book, and I got an opportunity to read your book. [1:14:57] And I commend it to all of you, where Mike talks about his experiences in the military and how it shaped and formed him. [1:15:08] And, you know, as you were talking, Mike, I'm reminded of Ronald Reagan's very famous address to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983, where he said, [1:15:20] we are called, as men and women of faith, to combat evil, we cannot sit on the sidelines and just enjoy saying, well, both sides have a good argument. [1:15:34] Now, that was when... [1:15:35] Evil thrives when good men and women do nothing. [1:15:39] And at that time, he was talking about Soviet communism, nobody knew the Berlin Wall would fall, nobody knew the Soviet Union would disintegrate. [1:15:48] And my question to you is, it's a very different time in many ways, and yet not. [1:15:53] I mean, you've got Russia, you've got China, you've got Iran, you've got North Korea. [1:15:58] What does that call... [1:15:59] I have a revival of communism right here in the United States. [1:16:02] I'm living in it, in Manhattan. [1:16:04] Yes. [1:16:05] Right? [1:16:05] What does it mean for us, as men and women of faith, to combat evil today, where clearly you mentioned some of the examples, [1:16:15] but Reagan had a vision that, as he famously said, they lose, we win. [1:16:23] What does it look like for us? [1:16:25] Well, what Reagan, you know, historically did was stop saying we're going to contain or what they called then detente, [1:16:35] kind of live alongside and manage, and said, no, we're going to win. [1:16:38] We are good, our values are right and righteous, and we are going to win in this entity using every element of national power, [1:16:49] economic, diplomatic, informational, military, and he did, because he was right. [1:16:56] Our values. [1:16:57] And so allies, like-mindeds, and others that share our values, I think, are who we need to embrace. [1:17:06] And again, we need to stand strong, whether that is in your community, in our country, or around the world. [1:17:15] We need to support people who stand for our values. [1:17:20] And I just want to tell you, in the place where I am, case in point, there is an organization called the Human Rights Council [1:17:32] that, thankfully, President Trump has said, we're done, we're walking away from, [1:17:38] and not a single dollar of your taxpayer dollars are going to support this kind of nonsense anymore. [1:17:43] This council has passed 171 resolutions against Israel compared to 51 against all of the other countries around the world combined. [1:17:55] They have things like a George Floyd commission that literally had U.N. bureaucrats under the last administration [1:18:03] coming into our prisons and deciding, with the likes of Venezuela and Cuba and North Korea and others, [1:18:09] opining on our criminal justice system. [1:18:13] I mean, it's laughable if it wasn't so serious. [1:18:16] So what we've done and what we're doing is, number one, we forced this organization to take its first budget cut in its entire history. [1:18:24] We're putting the U.N. on a diet. [1:18:27] We made them cut half a billion dollars out, and we're going to keep going. [1:18:31] They cut 3,000 bureaucrats out of that building up in New York, [1:18:36] and we're walking away from these organizations like the World Health Organization [1:18:40] or the so-called Human Rights Organization or others that are going to infringe on our sovereignty, [1:18:47] our rights, and our freedoms. [1:18:50] And so I just, you know, again, I want you all to hear that loud and clear. [1:18:55] There are some nuggets of decent elements in there. [1:18:59] Burden sharing, you know, for example, there's gangs that have taken over Haiti. [1:19:05] I don't want to see U.N. troops down there. [1:19:07] You now, I mean, American troops down there. [1:19:09] You now have U.N. troops down there. [1:19:11] Gaza and the president's 20-point peace plan. [1:19:14] That is now being enacted with other partners. [1:19:17] So there are some things that we need, but, Lord, pray for us. [1:19:22] We are determined to clean that place up and make it work for you all, not us for them. [1:19:28] Well, it's about time. [1:19:30] Now, you know, another area of reform, and I'm not an expert on it, [1:19:36] but I've heard that the U.N. peacekeeping contingents that are sent around the world often— [1:19:43] Cut by 25 percent. [1:19:44] Yeah, often— [1:19:45] And we'll keep going. [1:19:46] Are very ineffective. [1:19:47] They don't really do a very good job at all of keeping the peace. [1:19:51] So how are we going to do that? [1:19:54] Are we going to do that like we're attempting to do in Gaza, [1:19:56] where we bring together allies that can actually put together a force? [1:20:00] That's right. [1:20:00] No, that's absolutely right. [1:20:02] We're going to keep them focused. [1:20:04] They're going to tie it to a political process. [1:20:06] You are there to keep the peace, which means you have to have a political process to put peace in place, [1:20:12] and then you work yourself out of the job and you shut the thing down. [1:20:15] And that's exactly what we're doing. [1:20:17] The first one we're going to shut down this year is the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, [1:20:21] that's been there for 20 years at the cost of half a billion dollars a year and has done everything but keep the peace. [1:20:28] So we're shutting them down where they aren't effective, and then where they are working for the United States, [1:20:34] then we'll work with them. [1:20:37] Now, speaking of keeping the peace, you are a former counterterrorism advisor to two different secretaries of defense. [1:20:46] You know a little bit about counterterrorism and about the threat of terrorism. [1:20:52] We have just completed and are currently in negotiations with the leading state sponsor of terror in the world, Iran. [1:21:01] Brilliant military operation. [1:21:03] We now have a memorandum of understanding, [1:21:04] and the president's diplomatic team is doing everything they can to arrive at a deal. [1:21:12] What do you think is achievable? [1:21:14] What are the main goals? [1:21:16] What are the objectives? [1:21:17] And what are the possibilities of ensuring that the most dangerous regime in the world does not obtain the most dangerous weapons known to man? [1:21:26] Well, and I want everyone to hear this loud and clear. [1:21:29] The president campaigned on endless wars. [1:21:34] I, as a veteran, my wife is a veteran of Iraq. [1:21:39] I'm a veteran of Afghanistan. [1:21:40] We saw that policy drift. [1:21:42] It's one of the reasons I ran for office, so that we never have that again. [1:21:47] He has achieved many, if not all, of his goals. [1:21:53] The Iranian nuclear program was devastated last June. [1:21:57] They decided to start to rebuild, and the president hit him again. [1:22:01] Their leadership's devastated. [1:22:02] Their military's devastated. [1:22:03] Their economy is devastated. [1:22:05] Now this process, I mean, we could probably spend a whole hour on this, but now the process is how to lock that in. [1:22:12] But I assure you, we know who we're dealing with, and that's how I started this talk, [1:22:18] in understanding and clear eyes what we're dealing with. [1:22:23] There is no trust, and all verify, and now this is a process to lock those gains in. [1:22:30] Gas prices are already back to where they were pre-war. [1:22:34] The president has to balance our economy and the global economy. [1:22:37] At the same time, he is ensuring that a genocidal, Islamic, revolutionary regime, dictatorship, [1:22:45] can never, ever, ever threaten you, threaten the United States, or threaten Israel or the region with a nuclear weapon. [1:22:52] And that is, he is doing what presidents before him have refused to do and have kicked the can on year after year after year. [1:23:02] President Donald J. Trump is here to solve these problems, whether it's Venezuela, the southern border, [1:23:08] the threats against, the terrorist threats against our great ally Israel or Iran chasing a nuke. [1:23:15] If I could keep going down the list, he is here to solve these problems using all means necessary. [1:23:21] And it's the honor of my life to pull up a chair behind a placard that says United States of America [1:23:28] and implement his America First foreign policy. [1:23:32] Outstanding. [1:23:33] Well, Mike, I concur with everything you just said. [1:23:38] I trust the president's instincts. [1:23:40] You should. [1:23:40] I trust his judgment. [1:23:43] You know, I know him. [1:23:44] You know him. [1:23:44] He's not going to make a bad deal. [1:23:46] He's always going to put America first. [1:23:48] And we are so glad that you were there by his side. [1:23:52] Thank you for enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that comes from sitting at the United Nations. [1:24:00] Well, I have something for you before we take off. [1:24:03] This is the same Red Hat Makers, but we had it. [1:24:05] We changed a little bit. [1:24:06] It's called the UN General Assembly. [1:24:08] They call it UNGA. [1:24:10] Well, now we've changed it to Munga, make the UN great again. [1:24:13] So add this to your shelf. [1:24:16] Okay. [1:24:16] Thank you. [1:24:17] Mike Waltz, everybody. [1:24:18] Thank you. [1:24:19] Thanks. [1:24:19] Thank you, Mike. [1:24:20] Well, and now it is my great privilege to welcome to our stage one of the president's top economic advisors. [1:24:36] He had a brilliant career on Wall Street. [1:24:39] He's done extremely well in investing and in generating wealth. [1:24:45] And I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things to do is to watch Scott Besson go toe-to-toe with the liberal media, especially on one of these Sunday shows. [1:24:56] He is doing an amazing job as Secretary of Treasury. [1:25:00] He is his advice, his counsel, his judgment is highly regarded by the president and by ours. [1:25:08] Please welcome to the stage the Secretary of Treasury, Scott Besson. [1:25:13] Thanks, Scott. [1:25:17] Thank you so much. [1:25:25] Well, Mr. Secretary, we had our good mutual friend Dave McCormick here a little earlier, who was once head of one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. [1:25:35] And also an undersecretary of Treasury. [1:25:37] That's right. [1:25:38] Good point. [1:25:40] And you, as I said, had a very distinguished career on Wall Street. [1:25:44] You arguably know more about what's going on with our economy than anybody else. [1:25:49] You're watching all the data. [1:25:52] What's your view of the economy right now? [1:25:54] We obviously had some energy inflation coming out of the Iran conflict. [1:26:00] What's your overarching view of where the economy is today? [1:26:04] Well, I think middle of February, the president asked me, Scott, how do you think the economy is doing? [1:26:12] And I said, sir, I think we're growing up 4%. [1:26:15] I think inflation is going to be back to target in July. [1:26:19] And President Trump is constantly calibrating. [1:26:25] And I think he thought because we had a strong economy, because he had made us energy independent, because we were resilient, then the and also it was we had to go in Iran because they were two weeks away if they wanted from a nuclear weapon that we're very strong. [1:26:47] We had this night, six weeks of fighting 90 days total. [1:26:53] And now I think we're coming out on the other side. [1:26:56] And the U.S. economy has been the most resilient in the world. [1:27:00] And the employment numbers for the past three months have been gangbusters against all the surveys. [1:27:09] And gasoline is going to come back down. [1:27:12] This is a energy induced inflation. [1:27:18] And we are actually lower now than we were on February 27th in crude oil markets. [1:27:26] And I think gasoline takes a little longer to come back down. [1:27:29] But I think we'll be right back down. [1:27:32] And I think we actually may be lower because the world is awash in crude. [1:27:38] And we've done our job in that respect, too, right? [1:27:43] We have. [1:27:44] I tell you, I was at the Petroleum Club of Houston three weeks ago. [1:27:50] And I can't tell you just the difference of being in Texas, being in New York. [1:27:56] I was in New York. [1:27:59] And Petroleum Club of Houston, they say the Pledge of Allegiance. [1:28:04] There's a prayer before the meeting. [1:28:06] And then you get to speak. [1:28:08] They don't do that in New York. [1:28:10] And people are voting with their feet. [1:28:13] People are voting with their feet. [1:28:16] Every two people leave California and one comes to Texas, I think, every minute. [1:28:23] And I think I saw, Mr. Secretary, that for the first time in the post-World War II era, [1:28:30] there are now more Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Texas than in the state of California. [1:28:36] I think I saw that. [1:28:37] Yeah, California, New York. [1:28:40] And look, I lived in New York for a long time. [1:28:45] I was from South Carolina. [1:28:47] I went to school in the Northeast. [1:28:50] Thank you, in South Carolina. [1:28:52] I went to school in the Northeast and then lived in New York for many years. [1:28:57] And people say, do you miss New York? [1:28:58] And I said, well, I miss the New York I lived in. [1:29:00] Like the New York I lived in, I got there. [1:29:05] David Dinkins was a very nice man, but not a very good mayor. [1:29:09] It was the mayor. [1:29:10] It was kind of Calcutta without the cows. [1:29:12] And then Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg came in. [1:29:16] And the place was just humming. [1:29:18] And you see how leadership matters. [1:29:20] You know, Bill de Blasio came in. [1:29:23] And I didn't think there could be anyone worse than Comrade de Blasio. [1:29:28] And now we've got it. [1:29:30] And we've now done it. [1:29:31] And now we've got it. [1:29:33] And I've got to hand it to President Trump. [1:29:37] I went to the meeting with Mayor Mondame. [1:29:41] And President Trump looked at him. [1:29:43] And this was after he'd won, so December. [1:29:47] And he looked at him and said, you're the leader of the Democratic Party. [1:29:50] So Donald Trump predicted what's going on back in December. [1:29:54] Right then. [1:29:54] And what's happened now is everyone says, well, these are extreme ideas. [1:30:01] They're mainstream now. [1:30:02] They are the mainstream of the Democratic Party. [1:30:06] Yeah, there's no question about it. [1:30:07] I was on the phone with Senator Collins of Maine yesterday. [1:30:12] Yeah. [1:30:12] And I'm not allowed to comment on other candidates. [1:30:19] But just her temperament and the policies, it's a stark contrast. [1:30:28] Yes. [1:30:29] And speaking of stark contrast, you gave a great speech this week to the New York Economic Club, [1:30:36] which I believe you were a member of for many years. [1:30:41] And I would commend, by the way, that speech to anybody who wants to pull it up [1:30:46] and either read the transcript or watch the video. [1:30:49] But you talked, Mr. Secretary, about the fact that we are no longer going to allow [1:30:55] our economic and national security to diverge. [1:30:59] And you went through a number of key things, including our ability to produce what we need [1:31:06] so we're not dependent upon adversaries, either in a pandemic or at a time of a military conflict. [1:31:13] You talked about supply chains. [1:31:15] Would you kind of give a synopsis of that speech and talk about how it drives Trump's economic policy? [1:31:24] Sure. [1:31:25] And whenever it may happen to some people in this group, whenever you're kind of called spontaneously [1:31:31] and asked to give the prayer, I always have a fallback. [1:31:36] And I always talk about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. [1:31:39] Like we're grateful for yesterday. [1:31:42] Here we are today. [1:31:43] And what do we want for tomorrow? [1:31:45] So yesterday, at the end of World War II, it was good for U.S. national policy to rebuild [1:31:53] our allies in Europe, to make sure that communism did not flourish. [1:31:58] And it gave us the greatest economy in the world. [1:32:02] And we tolerated a lot from that. [1:32:06] We were willing to, because we were growing so much faster than the rest of the world. [1:32:10] We were concerned about the Soviet Union. [1:32:14] And we let that way of doing business go for too long. [1:32:21] We had the China shock in early 2000s that gutted our manufacturing sector. [1:32:26] And we created, you know, we brought down the Iron Curtain. [1:32:30] And it was almost like we needed another worthy adversary. [1:32:34] But, you know, we let China come right up behind us. [1:32:38] We've had a $30 trillion economy. [1:32:40] They've now got a $20 trillion economy. [1:32:44] And, you know, that's from, you know, that's up 20 or 40x. [1:32:48] And, but the other thing that's happened, and I've said it many times, the only good thing [1:32:55] about COVID was it was a dry run for if we were to get into a conflict with a major power [1:33:02] that we can't defend ourselves anymore. [1:33:06] It was a wake-up call. [1:33:08] And I don't understand why the Biden administration didn't do anything, because there were a couple [1:33:15] of very smart people in there. [1:33:18] There were? [1:33:21] Well, a couple of... [1:33:22] Do you have any names? [1:33:23] A couple of two. [1:33:26] And they, look, we've had more cabinet meetings in a year than they did all four years. [1:33:34] So there was, it was kind of vanilla chocolate was the decision President Biden made. [1:33:43] But we... [1:33:44] But we let our national interest get away from us. [1:33:52] And, like, in this era of free trade, we decided, you know, Mike Pence and I, and I think Vice [1:34:00] President Pence is a patriot, but, you know, he was describing, like, the old world of unfettered [1:34:07] free trade where our manufacturing base left, the middle part of the country got hollowed [1:34:12] out. [1:34:13] And I just said, Mr. Vice President, we can't tell people, like, let them eat flat screens. [1:34:18] I think people would rather have their communities back, rather have the dignity of work than cheap gadgets. [1:34:28] And... [1:34:29] And the Wall Street Journal took a shot at me. [1:34:38] And I said, you know, they were an Ivy League populist. [1:34:39] And, you know, I tapped back at them. [1:34:40] And I said, well, that's why you're called the Wall Street Journal and not the Main Street [1:34:45] Journal. [1:34:46] It is. [1:34:47] And, you know, Main Street suffered. [1:34:53] At the Economic Club, someone asked me, what would you like for your legacy to be? [1:34:58] What do you think the President's legacy will be for his second administration? [1:35:02] And I said, parallel prosperity, Wall Street always does great, but it's Main Street's turn [1:35:10] to catch up. [1:35:11] Yeah. [1:35:12] And Main Street came back. [1:35:13] It was... [1:35:14] We have spent a lot of time at Treasury with our small and community banks. [1:35:19] Elizabeth Warren is always, oh, well, you know, I'm afraid of a bank going under. [1:35:25] Well, Senator, you put 45% of the small banks in America under. [1:35:30] The financial regulations from 2008, 2009, it was too big to fail, but they became too [1:35:38] small to succeed. [1:35:39] Yeah. [1:35:40] And, you know, our Main Street and small banks, you know, they finance small business. [1:35:45] They finance agriculture. [1:35:47] They finance the real estate, you know, community real estate loans. [1:35:52] And we're trying to bring those back. [1:35:54] So, you know, it's, again, the stock market can do great, but it is time for Main Street [1:36:02] to do better. [1:36:08] Now, as you know, we're celebrating this week the one-year anniversary of the signing of [1:36:14] the working families tax cut. [1:36:17] We brought the corporate rates down. [1:36:20] We accelerated depreciation for investment. [1:36:23] We have the Trump accounts, expansion of the child tax credit, standard deduction, no tax [1:36:29] tax on tips, no reduced taxes on Social Security benefits and for seniors. [1:36:38] What? [1:36:39] It's now been in place for a year. [1:36:42] What impact is that having on working families, on small businesses, on job creation, and on [1:36:47] the larger economy? [1:36:48] Look, I think, you know, there's something here for everyone, too. [1:36:53] And, you know, there are also some, the private education funding, too. [1:36:58] Yes. [1:36:59] School choice. [1:37:00] School choice. [1:37:01] School choice. [1:37:02] And blue states aren't taking it because the teachers' unions have the dagger up to [1:37:07] their throat. [1:37:08] And this is crazy because, you know, you alluded to, I have a little fun when I go for my congressional [1:37:17] hearings. [1:37:18] And, you know, there's one very impassioned Congresswoman who said, well, you know, this [1:37:23] could be used for a racist private school or this. [1:37:27] And I said, your state's not taking it. [1:37:29] And it doesn't have to be used for a school. [1:37:31] It could be, if you're in a blue state and your child's in public school, you can use [1:37:36] it for tutoring. [1:37:37] You can use it for special needs children. [1:37:39] You can use it for school trips. [1:37:41] But they don't want it. [1:37:43] I mean, it's unbelievable. [1:37:46] But I think... [1:37:48] Has any blue state, other than Kathy Hochul in New York, agreed to take these funds? [1:37:53] New York and Colorado have said they're going to do it. [1:37:56] Oh. [1:37:57] But they haven't done it. [1:37:58] They haven't done it. [1:37:59] So, remember, I think the governor of Colorado is one of the 20 potential Democratic presidential [1:38:06] candidates. [1:38:07] So he's... [1:38:08] But, you know, I think that the one big beautiful bill, the working families tax cut, that was [1:38:16] this incredible barbell. [1:38:17] Because, well, as you said on one side, it had the very efficient things for business, [1:38:25] automatic expense, 100% expensing, permanent. [1:38:30] So it's permanent. [1:38:31] We're never going to have to... [1:38:32] What I love about the working families tax cut, everything's permanent. [1:38:36] Explain that. [1:38:37] Because a lot of people don't understand that there was a 10-year sunset on the first Trump [1:38:41] tax cut. [1:38:42] Well, on a lot of provisions, and a lot of things, like the full expensing, whether you're a big [1:38:49] business or a small business, that you were able to, for the first few years, you could [1:38:54] do a big expense. [1:38:55] If you bought a MacBook for your business, if you bought filing cabinets, you could... [1:39:01] If you were a big company and built a new assembly line, it was 100% immediate deductibility. [1:39:09] And when I go out, I was at the Winnebago plant in Minnesota, and they said, you know, because [1:39:19] we could do the immediate expensing, we decided to build a battery factory in Florida. [1:39:24] It made it worth it. [1:39:25] So we're seeing a CapEx boom with 17% pickup in CapEx. [1:39:30] And I think that's a combination of the tariff policy and the tax policy. [1:39:35] So you've got this very pro-business policy over here. [1:39:39] I was in my hometown, Charleston, South Carolina, and Boeing has their second location there. [1:39:46] And they're doing a 50% expansion for the Dreamliners. [1:39:50] So that is 3,000 construction jobs that we're going to turn into 1,000 great high paying factory jobs. [1:40:00] Then on the other side, you have the president's signature policies. [1:40:04] And not everybody on our side of the aisle was in favor of all of these. [1:40:10] Well, we don't know if it's good economic policy, but the president knew that it was great for the American workers. [1:40:16] And I'm also the acting head of the IRS, so I could see the forms. [1:40:22] 44% of the tax returns we got had one of the president's signature policies on it. [1:40:28] So no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. [1:40:31] The 85% of our seniors did not pay taxes on Social Security. [1:40:36] And deductibility on the interest of auto loans for American made cars. [1:40:44] And I went with the president to Las Vegas on tax day on April 15th. [1:40:51] And he likes to do spontaneous surveys of the audience. [1:40:56] And he went through with all four of the provisions. [1:40:59] And I would have thought that Las Vegas would have been the tip capital of the world. [1:41:04] And he went through, okay, no tax on tips. [1:41:07] No tax on overtime was by far the biggest. [1:41:12] That was bigger than tips. [1:41:15] Bigger than tips. [1:41:16] And I was out in the Reagan Library about five weeks ago in Simi Valley, California. [1:41:22] I did a round table with small business. [1:41:25] And I'm sure we got a lot of small business owners here. [1:41:28] And they said our employees love no tax on overtime because, and it's the American way. [1:41:37] You want to work harder. [1:41:38] You keep more of it. [1:41:39] Right. [1:41:40] But the employers love it because then they have great employees who want to work more. [1:41:46] Yeah. [1:41:47] Well, as you know, and I'm going to be at an event at the Treasury Department this week celebrating, you know, the past. [1:41:54] Yeah. [1:41:55] With Art Laffer. [1:41:56] With Art Laffer. [1:41:57] Steve Moore. [1:41:58] And Art Laffer. [1:41:59] Art's great. [1:42:00] Art's the original Reagan era souvenir. [1:42:04] Yes. [1:42:05] And he says that if you want to see a growing economy, you don't tax people who work and you don't pay people not to work. [1:42:13] And I think you and President Trump have got both of those right. [1:42:18] And the future is very bright because of it. [1:42:20] I can tell you that President Trump, we've never had this many Americans working as we have under President Trump. [1:42:29] Yeah. [1:42:30] And the best is yet to come. [1:42:31] The best is yet to come. [1:42:32] And you know this. [1:42:34] We strongly supported you for Secretary. [1:42:36] Oh, I know. [1:42:37] You are doing a phenomenal job. [1:42:39] The President is lucky to have you. [1:42:41] He values your counsel. [1:42:43] And Scott, on behalf of all of our members, I want to thank you for what you're doing for the working men and women of this country. [1:42:50] Let's thank Scott Besson for coming one more time. [1:42:53] Thank you so much. [1:43:10] What a treat it is to welcome back to our podium. [1:43:18] He was here a year ago. [1:43:20] It's been one of the greatest privileges of my career to get to know this man on a personal level. [1:43:26] You don't often get somebody who's third in line to the presidency, who came out of our movement. [1:43:34] But he began his work fighting for our values as a constitutional attorney defending religious liberty, working with Alliance Defending Freedom and other pro-religious liberty legal organizations to fight for the rights of Christians and other people of faith to express their faith in the public square free from discrimination and persecution. [1:44:00] He then served in the Louisiana legislature. [1:44:03] He was elected to Congress. [1:44:05] And some of you will remember that rather crazy and bizarre speakers race where there were multiple candidates. [1:44:14] And then this man emerged. [1:44:16] But I am here to tell you there was an angel in the whirlwind because he has the intelligence. [1:44:25] He has the character. [1:44:27] He has the principles and the understanding of our values. [1:44:31] And he has the temperament to be a leader. [1:44:34] I believe this is a divine appointment. [1:44:37] He has God has given him favor with his colleagues, favor with the president and favor with the American people. [1:44:45] We are 130 days away from a midterm election. [1:44:48] And among all the things that we must do at the very top of the list is making sure that Mike Johnson remains Speaker of the House of Representatives. [1:44:59] Would you please welcome the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. [1:45:04] Thanks so much. [1:45:14] Thank you so much. [1:45:19] It is. [1:45:20] Boy, I have to turn the mic lower than Ralph. [1:45:22] This is. [1:45:24] I want you all to know I was four inches taller when I became Speaker of the House. [1:45:27] They have beat me down mercilessly, but I am still fighting because we're in this together. [1:45:32] Thank you. [1:45:33] Thank you for being here today. [1:45:36] I am so grateful to the Faith and Freedom Coalition. [1:45:38] I cannot tell you what an inspiration and example Ralph Reed has been for me, to me, for so many years, and I know to all of you as well. [1:45:47] And this coalition, this group, as you know, you are the backbone of the conservative movement. [1:45:53] I mean, we would not be in the majority right now if we're not for you. [1:45:56] That is a true statement. [1:45:58] That's just, I know. [1:45:59] We all know. [1:46:00] I don't know the exact number, but it's somewhere north of 10 million doors that were knocked on for the 2024 election. [1:46:08] We do this together. [1:46:10] It is a grassroots effort and operation, and it could not happen without everybody in this room and your faith and your persistence and your faithfulness. [1:46:19] Psalm 11 3 says that the foundations be destroyed. [1:46:22] What will the righteous do? [1:46:23] That is not a rhetorical question for you and me. [1:46:25] It's one we have to answer right now. [1:46:27] And I've been more animated than usual this week because of the illustrations that we have seen of that. [1:46:35] Right now, the foundations of America are under violent and unprecedented attack, and you know that that is true. [1:46:43] And so while we assemble every year, I think this is the 17th Road to the Majority event. [1:46:48] It's amazing. [1:46:49] Thank you for being a part of it because it's never been more important than it is right this moment, okay? [1:46:57] Look, we know what's happened just in the last few days. [1:47:00] Earlier this week, you saw the election results in New York City and a couple of other places around the country. [1:47:05] The speaker's job is a unique one because when I'm not here and we're not, you know, in session voting, you know, leading the legislative agenda, the legislative branch, the speaker is supposed to be on the road because the speaker is in charge of the whole map. [1:47:19] To keep the majority, you know, you're the leader of the party and the major fundraiser for the legislative branch, and you've got to get out and travel. [1:47:25] So I go all around the country, and I go to the blue states and the swing districts and just endlessly traveling. [1:47:30] And I have been seeing this for a long time, and I've been saying for a long time, this midterm is going to be unlike any in history. [1:47:36] There is a dangerous trend going on in the country right now. [1:47:40] And the best way to describe what I've seen is I've said there's just little mini Mamdani's popping up all around the country running for Congress. [1:47:49] Now, I started saying this many months ago, and they were like, no, that's not. [1:47:53] Yes, well, you just saw it. [1:47:54] And we cannot look the other way. [1:47:56] You cannot take this for granted. [1:47:58] It's a serious threat, my friends. [1:48:04] Some of the most radical people who have ever run for office are on the ballot in the fall, and they're running for Congress so many of these. [1:48:11] And I brought you a little greatest hits list here, just a sample of some of the people who will very likely be joining the 120th Congress in January because they're winning these blue state primaries. [1:48:22] Let me tell you something. [1:48:23] The danger that we have right now is that the energy, the excitement, the grassroots operation, the money is on the side of the insurgent left, [1:48:31] and they are openly running as Marxist, communist for Congress. [1:48:35] When Ronald Reagan was in this very building, you know, decades ago, he talked about the threat of communism. [1:48:42] He was referencing something happening as a threat overseas. [1:48:45] It's now on our own shores, in our own homeland. [1:48:49] Listen to some of these examples. [1:48:51] This is candidate Wang in California, refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. [1:48:56] Hamaway in New Jersey has ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. [1:49:01] Chevalier in New York, she's becoming famous. [1:49:03] That was one of Mamdani's endorsees. [1:49:06] She wants to abolish the border and all police. [1:49:10] Mendoza of Arizona wants to decriminalize trans-prostitution. [1:49:14] You didn't know that was a thing? [1:49:16] James in Iowa wants to apologize for being white. [1:49:21] Ms. Garriott in Iowa performed a Satanist wedding. [1:49:25] Yeah, these are congressional candidates. [1:49:28] Bennett in New Jersey stopped going to church, quote, because Trump voters were there. [1:49:33] Okay? [1:49:34] The insurgent left is taking over. [1:49:36] Now, listen, I don't know if you've seen this, and if anybody shared it from the podium, and if they have, forgive me for repeating it. [1:49:42] But the DSA, the Democrat Socialists of America, this sounds so innocuous, doesn't it? [1:49:49] No, it doesn't. [1:49:50] Don't say that. [1:49:52] This is their platform. [1:49:53] Listen, this is actually quotes from their platform that they published, I think, about a day or two ago. [1:49:57] You can find this on the Internet. [1:49:59] Okay, here's just a sample of what they're about. [1:50:01] They put this on paper. [1:50:02] They're saying the quiet things out loud. [1:50:04] Abolish the electoral college. [1:50:05] Replace the two-party system with a multi-party democracy. [1:50:09] Expand the House of Representatives. [1:50:11] Implement proportional representation and rank choice voting in all elections. [1:50:16] Establish, well, establish public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries to ensure democratic control and accountability to the people. [1:50:29] Abolish ICE and grant amnesty for all. [1:50:34] End sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. [1:50:37] Free Palestine, quote, for a free Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital. [1:50:43] End all military and economic aid to Israel. [1:50:46] Prosecute U.S. and Israeli leaders responsible for the genocide in Gaza. [1:50:51] Abolish the carceral state. [1:50:54] Quote, redirect police and prison funding to public services as steps towards abolishing the carceral forces of the capitalist state. [1:51:03] Well, it goes on and on and on. [1:51:05] Defund the Department of War. [1:51:06] Replace the President and the Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen and subordinate to Congress, which they're hoping to take over. [1:51:17] And the last one is abolish the Senate. [1:51:18] Now, some of you may agree with that, but just leave that one there. [1:51:20] Okay. [1:51:21] It's fine. [1:51:23] I'm kidding. [1:51:24] I love my colleagues over there. [1:51:27] There's a new Gallup and NBC poll. [1:51:30] It came out, I think, four days ago. [1:51:33] Listen to this. [1:51:34] Only 29% of Democrat voters now say they are proud to be American. [1:51:39] Over half now say they want to live in another country. [1:51:44] Go, go, go. [1:51:51] We can't deport that many. [1:51:54] So let me tell you, this is a very sobering... [1:51:59] Let's see how much time I have. [1:52:00] Oh, dear. [1:52:01] Three minutes. [1:52:02] Okay, look. [1:52:03] I am very bullish about the midterms. [1:52:04] Let me just tell you right now, as a leader of this little army in the House, we are ready for this fight. [1:52:11] We're ready for this fight. [1:52:12] We're called for it. [1:52:13] My friends, I have a very boring 90-minute slideshow that I could go through with you right now. [1:52:22] All the reasons we're going to win. [1:52:23] We are going to defy history. [1:52:25] It is true, we have to defy history only twice in 90 years as the sitting president picked up seats for his party in that first two-year cycle. [1:52:31] But this is a midterm unlike any other, not only because of the threats that we face that are very real and must be confronted, [1:52:37] but it's because of a lot of reasons on paper why we should win. [1:52:41] We have a great record to run on. [1:52:42] You just heard our extraordinary Treasury Secretary recount some of the big wins that we've done. [1:52:46] I could do this with you all day, talking about the 700 bills we passed through the House, [1:52:49] the 100 executive orders we've codified, and all the great things we've done for hard-working American families, [1:52:54] and pro-family policies, and pro-life policies, and we're fulfilling our promises. [1:53:00] We have better candidates than the Democrats do. [1:53:02] They are on the verge of an open civil war because the establishment Democrats are being pushed out by the Marxists. [1:53:08] They're having a lot of disarray on their side, and that will play to our advantage in the midterms. [1:53:13] We have, for the first time in 10 years, my friends, we have a slight fundraising advantage over the Democrats. [1:53:18] That never happens. [1:53:19] People are so motivated, and we have the President of the United States running like it's 2024, okay? [1:53:29] He's going to tell you that himself here in a few minutes. He's going to tell you. [1:53:34] He's out doing campaigns and rallies, and he's going to look right into the eyes of the camera and say, [1:53:38] I am on the ballot, because in a real sense, he is. [1:53:41] If we were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, y'all, impeachment's not even the big concern. [1:53:46] They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they'll go after the President's family, [1:53:50] the Cabinet, his donors, and friends. Half of you in this room will be targeted. [1:53:54] I run the protection program. I'll take care of you, okay? We're going to win. We're going to win the midterm, okay? [1:53:59] All right? I'll leave you with this thought. Oh, dear, a minute. Okay. I'll leave you with this thought. [1:54:06] We have been portraying this. Newt Gingrich gave us the idea. He has a way of crystallizing things so well. [1:54:11] He said, Mike, this midterm, think of it like this. This midterm is not a contract with America year. [1:54:17] You guys did that in 2024, and you have fulfilled those promises. You delivered for the people. [1:54:21] This is not a contract with America year. This is a contrast for America year. [1:54:28] Yeah. And the contrast is between common sense and crazy, okay? [1:54:35] And they give us new illustrations every day now of crazy. We don't have to make it up. [1:54:38] I'm going to tell you that we're called to be faithful. [1:54:40] I did a little tour a couple weeks ago. I'll end with this. [1:54:44] And we had faith influencers. A big group of them came to the Capitol. [1:54:49] And among them was Frank Turek, a dear friend, and many others that you would know. [1:54:53] Is Frank here? It could be here. [1:54:55] But he took a clip of what I was sharing with them on Statuary Hall floor, and it's gotten a lot of attention. [1:55:00] And I want to share this with you because it's so encouraging to me. [1:55:02] People say to me all the time, I know you're a man of faith. I know you pray. [1:55:06] You don't ever seem to be riled up. I mean, you don't get nervous. [1:55:10] People run around with their hair on fire all the time, and you seem to be always calm. How do you do that? [1:55:14] I said, well, this is a matter of faith. It really is. [1:55:17] And I said, I draw great inspiration from what the founders said and did and wrote [1:55:21] and how they believed and walked out their faith in public [1:55:24] and how they hoped and expected and prayed that future leaders would do the same. [1:55:27] And I'm apt to quote John Quincy Adams. [1:55:29] So I was doing a tour, and I'd love to bring you all on a tour sometime if we ever had time. [1:55:32] But I take you through the original house chamber, which is now Statuary Hall. [1:55:35] There's a gold plate on the floor where John Quincy Adams once sat as he served in the house. [1:55:39] You probably know the story of John Quincy Adams. [1:55:41] He was our sixth president, John Adams' son. [1:55:43] After he was president, he ran for the House of Representatives. [1:55:47] No one's ever done it since, because why would you? [1:55:49] But he had a mission. He had a mission. [1:55:51] He ran for Congress because he was determined, he had a deep conviction from God [1:55:55] that slavery was wrong and he wanted to end it in the United States. [1:55:58] This is the mid-1800s. Sadly, the nation was not yet ready to do that. [1:56:02] But he brought the resolution over and over and over to end it. [1:56:04] And on about the 13th or 14th failed attempt, famously, someone came up to him and they said, [1:56:09] Mr. President, why are you doing it? It's going to fail again. [1:56:12] Very simply, he said, duty is ours, results are God's. [1:56:18] Very liberating way to live. [1:56:24] But I'm out of time. Let me just share with you what I think is even more inspirational than that. [1:56:30] The continuance of the story that I shared on the floor and that they're sharing around, I want to share with you. [1:56:34] John Quincy Adams was sitting on the floor and he failed in that attempt. [1:56:38] And after the Mexican-American War, we were expanding the country westward and there was a move to install slavery out west. [1:56:44] So John Quincy Adams, they called him the old man eloquent. [1:56:47] He was 80 years old and he was standing on the house floor arguing with passion and conviction and clarity from scripture, [1:56:53] why we should not do that. And he fell, had a stroke, and he fell on the floor, where the gold plate is now, the black plate. [1:57:01] They picked him up and they took him into what is now the women's reading room. [1:57:05] It used to be the speaker's room, and they laid him on a couch. [1:57:07] He fell into a coma and he died there two days later. [1:57:09] That couch is still there, by the way. If you come late at night, I'll show you. [1:57:12] It's reupholstered, but it's still there. [1:57:15] So he passes out and he passes away two days later. [1:57:18] Now here's the coolest thing, and I'll end with this. [1:57:20] Six pallbearers carried his casket a few days later. [1:57:23] Among them was a young congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. [1:57:28] Now listen, okay, the sixth president was not able to eradicate slavery. [1:57:36] But his deep moral conviction and his inspiration inspired young Abraham Lincoln, [1:57:41] who went on to become the 16th president and finish the job. [1:57:54] The moral of this story is what I want to share with this audience in particular, [1:57:57] because you're faithful and you're out there and you're engaged and you're doing the job. [1:58:00] All we're called to do is be faithful. [1:58:02] We do not know when the results of that will bear fruit. [1:58:05] We know for sure, we can't know for certain, but we do know if we are faithful, God will use it. [1:58:10] And so we are called to do our duty and the results are up to him. [1:58:14] He's not done with America yet, my friends. Thank you so much. God bless you. [1:58:17] Thanks for what you're doing. Thank you. [1:58:25] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage speaker, author, former secret service agent, [1:58:33] and 9-11 World Trade Center survivor, Darren Kinder. [1:58:38] All right. Good morning. Good afternoon. Faith and freedom. [1:58:46] I love this crowd. I love this crowd. [1:58:51] Faith and freedom, two of my favorite things, something I have put myself on the line for both. [1:58:56] And we'll do so again if, if called upon. [1:59:00] My name is Darren Kinder. And like that message just said, I'm a former secret service agent for 25 years. [1:59:06] I have witnessed history, seen history. I have traveled to 43 different countries, protected five U.S. presidents while in office. [1:59:16] I have hunted and chased Al Qaeda cells across Western Europe. [1:59:19] But more important than all of that, more important than all of that, I'm a faithful husband, devoted father, and a fierce follower of Jesus Christ. [1:59:33] I'm also a survivor. I'm a survivor of the terrorist attack in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. [1:59:44] And what I want to do today is share just a couple of moments, a couple of scenes from that day and illustrate some much bigger points. [1:59:53] But I'm also, I'll be honest, I mean, faith and freedom. I'm a child of the 80s. [1:59:58] I mean, come on. I mean, unfortunately, when I grew up, the center of my house was not Jesus at the time. [2:00:05] It was Reagan. We were raised on Reagan, right? [2:00:09] My Holy Trinity was Top Gun, Rocky IV, and Red Dawn. [2:00:13] I used to go to bed at night dreaming about killing Russians in the mountains. [2:00:20] I'm not kidding. I'm not saying that's holy. I'm just saying that's true. [2:00:25] But we had this sense of American exceptionalism, this optimism that was unstoppable. [2:00:30] It's the air that I breathe, the water that I drink in my family. [2:00:34] I had a front row seat to service. My mother was a nurse. [2:00:37] My father worked for an agency that helped the blind. [2:00:40] My brother, the real cop in the family, was a law enforcement officer for 27 years. [2:00:46] But what I want to do, I'm also a patriot, but what I want to do is unpack what does it mean this morning? [2:00:53] What does it mean to serve your nation, but also serve your Lord? [2:01:00] Because that's the contention that we have to wrestle here with this morning. [2:01:05] What does it mean to be a good citizen knowing that this is not our home, [2:01:10] knowing that I'm ultimately a citizen of heaven? [2:01:16] Well, let's get our terms straight first, shall we? [2:01:22] When I say citizens, I am not talking about civilians. [2:01:26] There's a difference. [2:01:28] I have a feeling, we'll find out, I have a feeling that people in this room are citizens of this great republic. [2:01:38] You see, a civilian, a civilian is obsessed with self, inward focused, focused on their own safety, focused on their own comfort. [2:01:52] A civilian consumes, takes, rarely gives. [2:01:58] Civilians see people and circumstances as a means to an end, but not citizens. [2:02:08] Citizens are different. [2:02:09] They build. [2:02:10] They build. [2:02:12] Citizens invest. [2:02:13] They cultivate. [2:02:14] They grow societies from the ground up. [2:02:17] They spend their time, resources, and talents on things that matter. [2:02:22] They cultivate and build a society. [2:02:26] They draw benefits along the way because they put their own deposits in rightly as they went. [2:02:36] They have two focuses, inward focus on the family and outward on their community. [2:02:40] That's a citizen. [2:02:41] Teddy Roosevelt once famously said, a citizen has the will to work and a willingness to fight the righteous fight. [2:02:51] Yes. [2:02:53] Well, let me tell you, on September 11, 2001, I witnessed both civilians and citizens. [2:03:01] When we first evacuated, our office was in Seven World Trade Center. [2:03:07] When we first evacuated, a group that I belonged to, about 30 special agents, in the blink of an eye, we went to first responders. [2:03:14] We started entering in, and civilians are running around, and there's chaos, and you would expect that. [2:03:19] But later, a few minutes later, I find myself in the North Tower because I'm not very smart. [2:03:28] I find myself in the North Tower. [2:03:29] I'm in a stairwell, and there's people evacuating down. [2:03:32] About on the 10th floor, there was this woman. [2:03:34] She was slumped over in the corner. [2:03:36] She could not evacuate herself anymore. [2:03:39] And unfortunately for her, that stairwell was full of civilians, not citizens. [2:03:45] And so I just said, hey, to the two guys I was with, the two agents, I said, you keep going. [2:03:50] I'll meet you later. [2:03:51] I'm going to help her down. [2:03:52] And I started to carry her down, and I couldn't do it myself. [2:03:54] And so I grabbed a random dude by the collar, literally, and said, you're helping me. [2:04:00] Once the blinders were off, that man in an instant went from a civilian to a citizen, and we carried her down. [2:04:09] Later, after the first tower had collapsed, before the second tower had collapsed, it was madness. [2:04:18] It was chaos. [2:04:19] On September 11, 2001, I had a front row seat to evil, but I also saw the best of America. [2:04:28] I saw people, citizens of a republic, pouring out of bodegas and convenience stores and pharmacies with medical supplies, [2:04:37] with food, with water, not to hoard it for themselves, but to give to their fellow citizens. [2:04:42] In all that madness, it was a thing of beauty. [2:04:47] Citizens responding. [2:04:49] Later, when Tower 2 collapsed, it almost killed me because I was dumb enough to go back. [2:04:56] Citizenship is a choice. [2:04:59] Courage is a choice. [2:05:01] Tower 2, the second tower collapsed, almost taking my life, and I managed to escape and tie the lobby of a bank. [2:05:09] I met up with three other Secret Service agents there, randomly. [2:05:13] And we decided we were going to go back. [2:05:15] We were going to go back to the World Trade Center site again. [2:05:17] And at that moment, we said we're going to form two search parties, and we asked for volunteers. [2:05:24] And the civilians in that bank lobby looked at the top of their shoes, but a handful of citizens stepped forward. [2:05:31] And we deployed as two groups, two groups out into the gloom, looking for survivors. [2:05:37] And all we found were bodies. [2:05:39] At that point, me and three other Secret Service agents commandeered this fire truck. [2:05:48] There's this fire truck in the middle of the intersection. [2:05:52] It wasn't being used. [2:05:53] And it was undamaged. [2:05:54] I have no idea how. [2:05:55] You see, because the real, the professional firefighters were gone. [2:06:01] 343 of them erased. [2:06:04] And we just, we figured out how to turn on the hose. [2:06:08] And we got water pouring out of this, out of this fire truck. [2:06:10] We just started putting out all the fires that were around us. [2:06:12] And citizens, several citizens came and said, what can I do to help? [2:06:15] You see what I mean? [2:06:18] There's a difference. [2:06:19] Citizens and civilians. [2:06:20] That day, later that day, at the very end, I hopped on a boat. [2:06:26] I left Manhattan. [2:06:27] I rode across the Hudson River to Hoboken, New Jersey, where I lived, to reunite with my [2:06:32] young wife. [2:06:33] I was part of the great 9-11 boat lift, right? [2:06:38] On that day, 500,000 people were evacuated off of Manhattan Island in nine hours. [2:06:45] Do the math. [2:06:46] How? [2:06:48] How is that possible? [2:06:49] How is that possible? [2:06:50] The citizens heard the call, and they answered the bell. [2:06:53] Coast Guard call went out and said, any boat willing to help the evacuation of lower Manhattan, [2:07:04] please report to Governor's Island forthwith. [2:07:06] And 150 vessels of all kinds responded. [2:07:10] 600 pilots, captains, sailors, citizens responded. [2:07:16] Now we got, there's a higher calling above citizen, I think, in my opinion, sorry. [2:07:21] Guardians. [2:07:24] Guardians want to administer justice, establish order, and keep us safe. [2:07:29] They're our first responder community. [2:07:31] I want to honor them. [2:07:33] It's a higher calling that not all are called to. [2:07:35] But I know this, 422 of them died on September 11, 2001. [2:07:39] And I saw the best of the best respond to the danger, run to the guns. [2:07:45] And they were valiant to their final breath. [2:07:50] There's another higher calling as well, the warriors. [2:07:54] Yeah. [2:07:56] After 9-11, our warriors went to work. [2:07:58] They went downrange in places like Afghanistan and Syria, Libya, Iraq. [2:08:05] To fight the fight there so the enemy could never bring the fight back here. [2:08:10] And I am forever indebted to them. [2:08:11] George Orwell once said that we sleep peacefully at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf. [2:08:18] And that's true. [2:08:23] Because contrary to what your mommy may have told you, sometimes violence is the answer. [2:08:28] Why? [2:08:30] Because evil doesn't stop when you ask nicely. [2:08:33] Now above that, we've got citizens. [2:08:36] We have guardians. [2:08:37] We have warriors. [2:08:38] But we are citizens of heaven. [2:08:41] That's a higher calling. [2:08:43] We are citizens of heaven. [2:08:47] We are not. [2:08:48] Let me be clear. [2:08:49] We are not civilians waiting for heaven. [2:08:51] We are citizens of heaven here right now doing God's work. [2:08:58] Some Christians see Jesus as just their savior and they spend their days just waiting for salvation. [2:09:03] Not us. [2:09:04] Not you. [2:09:05] Not me. [2:09:06] Not today. [2:09:07] We are citizens of heaven right now. [2:09:10] How can we be good citizens of our nation and also citizens of heaven at the same time? [2:09:14] It's very easy. [2:09:17] We fight for our nation by serving our Lord. [2:09:20] Let me give you three quick ways on how we can best do that as citizens of a republic and as citizens of heaven. [2:09:32] Number one, it is God's will. [2:09:36] Evangelism is the will of God for each and every believer. [2:09:42] When the first tower collapsed on September 11th, it almost got me. [2:09:45] I was really close. [2:09:46] I'm running and large chunks of debris are falling all around me. [2:09:49] And then my life, the lights just went out. [2:09:52] I couldn't see but I'm still running large chunks of debris falling everywhere. [2:09:56] And then a few strides later, I'm out of the kill zone. [2:09:59] I'm out of the kill box. [2:10:00] And I see this strange thing out of my left eye. [2:10:03] I see sunlight. [2:10:07] Sunlight. [2:10:08] And so I run across the street and I'm looking north of a very narrow alley. [2:10:12] At the other end of that alley is sun. [2:10:15] And so I just turned around. [2:10:16] Because all I could hear were screams and cries in the darkness. [2:10:19] I turned around and I started yelling at the top of my lungs. [2:10:23] Follow the sound of my voice. [2:10:24] Come this way. [2:10:25] There is light this way. [2:10:26] Come towards me. [2:10:27] I will show you the light. [2:10:29] And I say that not to elevate myself. [2:10:34] I say that that is our calling metaphorically. [2:10:37] As Christians in this world. [2:10:39] As citizens of heaven. [2:10:40] To be the man. [2:10:41] To be the woman. [2:10:42] Standing in the alley. [2:10:43] Pointing people to the light of life. [2:10:46] Jesus said. [2:10:49] I am the light of the world. [2:10:51] Those who follow me will not walk in darkness. [2:10:53] But will have the light of life. [2:10:55] We are a city on a hill. [2:11:00] A light that should not be hidden. [2:11:01] Let your light. [2:11:02] Jesus says. [2:11:03] Let your light shine before others. [2:11:05] So that they may see your good works. [2:11:07] And give glory to God who is in heaven. [2:11:09] You want to know. [2:11:11] How do I serve and fight for my nation? [2:11:14] While serving my God. [2:11:15] What does it look like? [2:11:16] Go. [2:11:18] And make disciples of all nations. [2:11:19] Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [2:11:23] Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. [2:11:26] That is called being the man. [2:11:28] Being the woman. [2:11:29] Standing in the alley. [2:11:30] Pointing people to the only light that matters. [2:11:33] Secondly. [2:11:35] A citizen of heaven. [2:11:38] Fights the battle at home. [2:11:39] This is a house to house conflict. [2:11:42] It is brutal. [2:11:43] They are taking over our homes. [2:11:44] They want to take over our homes. [2:11:46] And our families. [2:11:47] And our marriages. [2:11:48] We have to fight back. [2:11:49] We build families. [2:11:53] And those families are built on marriage. [2:11:56] We deep. [2:11:59] We breathe deeply. [2:12:01] We drink deeply from the headwaters of Genesis 1, 2, and 3. [2:12:06] We root our families. [2:12:10] We cultivate our families in the Word of God. [2:12:12] God and God alone defines marriage. [2:12:17] God and God alone defines what a family is. [2:12:21] The Creator defines what He creates. [2:12:23] I don't care what nine people across town say. [2:12:26] That's what we do. [2:12:30] We enter in. [2:12:31] We protect. [2:12:32] We provide. [2:12:33] We cultivate. [2:12:34] We nurture all founded on the Word of God. [2:12:38] We craft our children like arrows. [2:12:45] Like arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior are the children of one's youth. [2:12:50] Psalm 127. [2:12:51] Because one day I've got four sons. [2:12:53] One day we're going to release them. [2:12:54] And they're going to fly straight. [2:12:55] And they're going to fly true. [2:12:57] And have an impact for Jesus. [2:12:59] That is our calling. [2:13:00] How do you? [2:13:02] How do you want to fight for your nation by serving your Lord? [2:13:06] Point people to the only light that matters. [2:13:08] And build marriages. [2:13:10] And build families centered on God who take Jesus seriously. [2:13:13] Why? [2:13:18] Because godly marriages create godly families. [2:13:22] And those families create godly churches. [2:13:24] And those churches impact the community. [2:13:26] And those communities have godly cities. [2:13:28] And those cities create godly states. [2:13:31] And those states create a godly nation. [2:13:33] And that is what I'm going to spend the rest of my days doing. [2:13:36] Doing my little part to make America faithful again. [2:13:40] Now, one more illustration from my experience on September 11th. [2:13:56] At the end of the day, myself and the three other agents I were with, [2:14:01] we finally figured out where everyone else was relocated. [2:14:04] We drove about 30 blocks north. [2:14:07] And we walk into this place called Chelsea Piers. [2:14:09] Many of you are familiar with it. [2:14:10] And we walk in and we are beaten and bloodied and haggard. [2:14:15] At the end of the day, my shoes, the soles of my shoes were melted. [2:14:19] My pants were about three or four inches shorter because they kept catching fire. [2:14:23] And I saw a large group of people that I worked with. [2:14:27] And they looked just like we did, man. [2:14:29] They had answered the call. [2:14:32] They were citizens of a republic. [2:14:34] But I saw another group of people at that establishment. [2:14:39] And they were different. [2:14:41] They were clean. [2:14:44] Their suits were clean. [2:14:48] Their hair was shiny or nice and neat like mine. [2:14:54] Their shoes were perfect. [2:14:55] Courage is a choice, is it not? [2:14:59] Being a citizen is a choice, is it not? [2:15:02] And so the next day, I share that illustration only for this. [2:15:06] The next day, I'm on my couch in Hoboken, New Jersey. [2:15:09] I'm praying with my young wife. [2:15:11] And we're praying and we're trying to figure out what is the Lord going to do with us and with this event. [2:15:17] And I couldn't get that image out of my mind, man. [2:15:19] There were dirty suits and there were clean suits. [2:15:21] And I made a promise to God in that prayer. [2:15:26] I said, Lord, I'm going to spend the rest of my days. [2:15:29] I should be dead. [2:15:30] I'm going to spend the rest of my days getting my suit dirty to bring your name glory. [2:15:44] And at the end of the prayer, these words just rolled off of my tongue. [2:15:49] I said, Lord, when you call me home, when I punch out of this world and into the next, bury me in a dirty suit. [2:15:55] I didn't know. [2:16:00] I didn't know 25 years later that would be the title of my book. [2:16:03] Bury me in a dirty suit. [2:16:06] So my question to you is, is your suit dirty? [2:16:11] Are you ready to get your suit dirty? [2:16:15] Because I don't want to, wouldn't it be a shame to punch out of this world in a clean suit if that was your legacy? [2:16:21] No, you have an arena for which you have been called each and every one of us. [2:16:28] How do we, how do we serve and fight for our nation while serving our Lord? [2:16:32] We choose to enter into the arena. [2:16:34] What is your arena? [2:16:36] We are created uniquely and perfectly with different skills, talents and abilities for a purpose. [2:16:42] I would encourage you to pursue it with everything you've got. [2:16:46] What is that arena for you? [2:16:49] I don't know. [2:16:50] Maybe it's running for city council, getting on the school board, fundraising, knocking on doors, whatever may be. [2:16:56] What else could your arena be? [2:16:59] I don't know. [2:17:01] Child abuse, domestic violence, abortion, homelessness. [2:17:07] Because as I travel over the country, this is what I see. [2:17:09] It's sad to say. [2:17:10] I see arenas that are just waiting for their gladiator to show up, but not you and I, not today. [2:17:22] You see, Roosevelt said, we never want to be those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. [2:17:32] Those cold and timid souls, those are clean suits. [2:17:36] But not you and I, not today, not moving forward. [2:17:41] Folks, we live in the space between. [2:17:44] We live in the space between. [2:17:46] The space between the resurrection of Jesus and his coming back. [2:17:49] I've read the end. [2:17:50] I know how it ends. [2:17:51] But, but in that space between, in that space between, there is ground to be won. [2:17:58] There are foot soldiers needed for that second coming. [2:18:02] Come, Jesus, come. [2:18:04] Find that arena and spend the rest of your days getting after it, rolling up your sleeves and getting your suit dirty in the name of Jesus. [2:18:15] So what does it look like to fight for our nation and serve our country? [2:18:19] That's what it looks like. [2:18:21] Let me just close with this. [2:18:24] The national anthem. [2:18:25] I love it. [2:18:26] You know, for the average national anthem is about one minute and 43 seconds. [2:18:29] And in that one minute and 43 seconds, here's what I do. [2:18:32] It's just a practice. [2:18:33] Maybe you could adopt it. [2:18:34] I fix my eyes on the flag and I don't let it waver. [2:18:38] And then I pray. [2:18:39] I thank God that he put me in this nation, in this time, in this place, on the greatest nation on earth. [2:18:45] And then I say, Lord, what can I do to serve this nation? [2:18:48] Show me. [2:18:49] Equip me. [2:18:50] And then I say, Lord, what can I do to serve you and make your name glorified above and beyond as a citizen of heaven? [2:18:56] For the good of my nation and for the glory of my God. [2:18:59] And by the time I get to the land of the free and the home of the brave, I've got a tear in my eye and a full heart in my chest. [2:19:06] I'm a citizen of this great republic. [2:19:11] I'm also a citizen of heaven. [2:19:13] My name is Darren Kinder. [2:19:14] I live in a dirty suit. [2:19:16] I'm fighting for my country by serving my Lord. [2:19:20] Join me. [2:19:21] Thank you. [2:19:59] All men are created equal, but they are endowed by their creator. [2:20:05] Four and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. [2:20:24] Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation of sovereignty. [2:20:32] Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. [2:20:39] The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well-taught lessons of how they and their life are. [2:21:02] What your country can do for you and what you can do for your country. [2:21:12] Share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny. [2:21:42] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, Ralph Reed. [2:21:47] It's going to get even better. [2:22:07] He comes out. [2:22:26] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, performance painter, Matt Hagan. [2:22:32] Thank you, Matt. [2:28:11] Wasn't that great? [2:28:15] All right. [2:28:18] So the president is en route in his motorcade. [2:28:21] He will be here in a matter of minutes. [2:28:27] And I don't think I need to remind anyone of this, but we want to make sure that this is the most enthusiastic reception that he has ever gotten. [2:28:41] Okay? [2:28:44] So get ready. [2:28:46] The program will resume shortly. [2:28:48] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the stage, Ralph Reed. [2:44:02] Are you guys ready? [2:44:03] I know he's ready, but I'm going to give him a proper introduction because this man, our next speaker, is no stranger to this conference or this stage. [2:44:20] In fact, today marks his 10th appearance at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority Conference. [2:44:27] He has been here as a private citizen, as a candidate, and we are pleased to welcome him back today as president of the United States. [2:44:40] With the seal back on the podium where it belongs. [2:44:46] Amen. [2:44:47] This is a man who alone, among all the leaders that we have had, gave us the most conservative Supreme Court in over a century. [2:45:00] This is a man who, after decades of incompetence and criminal negligence, gave us the most secure border the United States has ever had. [2:45:14] He signed the largest tax cut in history. [2:45:21] It is fueling the greatest economy the world has ever seen. [2:45:26] He moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and he gave us the closest relationship and collaboration with our ally Israel that the nation has ever known. [2:45:38] And he alone had the courage and the moral clarity to order and direct military action against Iran to make sure it will never have a nuclear weapon. [2:45:53] They impeached him, they indicted him, they tried to imprison him, they tried to knock him off the ballot, and then they tried to kill him. [2:46:07] And it all failed because God has a purpose for this man. [2:46:13] And it is to save our nation. [2:46:17] Please welcome back to this stage the 45th and the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. [2:47:58] Thank you very much. [2:49:09] And I want to thank Ralph for the introduction. [2:49:11] He's a great guy and friend of mine for a long time. [2:49:14] And thank you to all of the true American patriots of Faith and Freedom Coalition. [2:49:19] You've been with me from the beginning. [2:49:22] And pretty much like nobody, nobody else I don't think can top you. [2:49:27] You were just great right from the beginning. [2:49:29] You got it. [2:49:30] You understood what we had to do. [2:49:32] And we got it done. [2:49:33] And we're continuing to get it done at levels that nobody's seen before. [2:49:37] With the help of many people in this room, 18 months ago we won the most consequential election victory in American history. [2:49:44] Winning all seven swing states. [2:49:49] The Electoral College by 312 to 226. [2:49:53] The popular vote in 86% of all counties in America. [2:49:57] 2,700 to 525. [2:50:00] That's called a big victory. [2:50:03] The Faith and Freedom Coalition was with us every step of the way. [2:50:09] You knocked on 97 million doors. [2:50:12] It's true. [2:50:13] Ralph actually told me 10 million, so I had checked whose name. [2:50:16] 9.7 million. [2:50:18] You reached 18 million voters. [2:50:21] Think of that. [2:50:22] Voters of Faith. [2:50:23] You sent 28 million text messages and made 10 million phone calls to help us win a mandate like no other administration. [2:50:31] In modern history, it was a mandate like we have not seen before. [2:50:36] And together we saved our country and we saved religious freedom in America. [2:50:40] We really, we saved religion as it was going down. [2:50:43] And you've always stood with me and I will always stand with you. [2:50:48] I'll always remember it. [2:50:49] I'll always remember how hard you worked and your spirit. [2:50:52] I especially want to thank Pastor Paula White, who's with us. [2:50:55] Paula, wherever you may be. [2:50:57] Thank you, Paula. [2:50:59] Great person. [2:51:00] Director of the White House Faith Office, Jenny Korn. [2:51:03] Terrific. [2:51:04] Jenny, thank you very much. [2:51:07] Bishop Kevin Koberis. [2:51:11] Where is Kevin? [2:51:14] Thank you, Kevin. [2:51:15] Good job. [2:51:16] Nice looking man. [2:51:17] President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. [2:51:21] Pastor Sam Rodriguez, who's been with me from the beginning. [2:51:25] This place is crowded. [2:51:30] I remember this place not so long ago. [2:51:39] I remember. [2:51:41] Hopefully we'll have a little more pleasant. [2:51:44] We're going to have a little more pleasant experience. [2:51:46] I remember this room very well. [2:51:48] A friend of mine who has been just incredible. [2:51:52] Dr. Alveda King. [2:51:53] Doctor. [2:51:54] Thank you. [2:51:56] Thank you, darling. [2:51:57] She's been with me also from the beginning. [2:52:00] So many from the beginning. [2:52:01] You can tell so much. [2:52:02] The ones from the beginning, I don't know. [2:52:04] They tend to be the ones. [2:52:06] They're the ones they stay. [2:52:07] And they stay like nobody. [2:52:09] And we appreciate all of those people. [2:52:11] An ambassador to the United Nations, who's doing a really great job. [2:52:15] Mike Waltz. [2:52:16] He's around here someplace. [2:52:19] Mike. [2:52:20] Doing a really good job. [2:52:21] And just over one week from now, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration [2:52:27] of Independence, marking two and a half centuries of glorious American freedom. [2:52:33] And thanks to the extraordinary work and incredible devotion of patriots like those people in this [2:52:40] very, very crowded ballroom, today I can proudly report that on the edge of our 250th year, [2:52:47] America is back. [2:52:49] It's back. [2:52:51] It's back. [2:52:52] I believe better than ever before. [2:52:55] And I'm especially pleased to say that, likewise, religion is back in our country. [2:53:01] Bigger and stronger than it has been in many, many years. [2:53:05] Been reading all of those reports. [2:53:07] Religion is really, it's going up. [2:53:11] If that were stuck, we'd be very, very rich, all of us. [2:53:15] It's been great to watch. [2:53:16] And as I've said before, to be a great nation, you have to have religion and you have to have [2:53:21] God in your nation. [2:53:22] If you don't have that, it just doesn't seem to work out, does it? [2:53:26] And we have it. [2:53:27] We have religion and we have God now. [2:53:29] Remember when I first started, 2016? [2:53:31] They wanted to take the Christmas out of Christmas. [2:53:34] Remember that? [2:53:35] We ended that little drive. [2:53:37] But we ended a lot of other drives, too. [2:53:39] From the very beginning of our country, American greatness has been forged by people of faith. [2:53:44] And the very first settlers who set foot upon this new world at Jamestown, got off their ship, [2:53:50] raised up a cross, and bowed down to the Lord in prayer. [2:53:56] It was faith that strengthened the Minutemen who stood up at Lexington Green and Concord Bridge [2:54:02] in Philadelphia 250 years ago. [2:54:05] Next week, our founders invoked the Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence. [2:54:10] Four times. [2:54:11] I wasn't mentioned once. [2:54:13] I'm very upset. [2:54:14] Not once. [2:54:16] Faith pushed the pioneers to journey west. [2:54:21] Faith led Americans to abolish slavery. [2:54:24] And faith built this country into the most exceptional nation in the history of the world. [2:54:29] It was going very badly a couple of years ago, very badly. [2:54:33] But it's back really strong. [2:54:36] But we have to be very careful because bad things are happening. [2:54:39] Could I watch what's happening? [2:54:40] And we're going to be discussing that in just a minute. [2:54:43] Americans have always deeply believed in the promise of Christ's words and the Gospel of Matthew. [2:54:49] With God, all things are possible. [2:54:52] With God, all things are possible. [2:54:54] Right? [2:54:55] All things. [2:54:59] That's why, as we prepared to enter the 250th year last month, tens of thousands of patriots [2:55:07] came together on our National Mall. [2:55:09] And we officially rededicated America as one nation under God. [2:55:14] And we're not changing. [2:55:15] We're not changing. [2:55:17] And we always have been and we always will be. [2:55:21] We're not going to let them take it away. [2:55:22] But as we celebrate this anniversary, we must also remember that our country could have been marking this occasion under very different circumstances. [2:55:33] The last administration carried out a reign of persecution and repression against Christians and people of faith like America has never seen before. [2:55:42] It's terrible. [2:55:43] They turned a nation founded on freedom for believers into a place where Catholics were targeted by the FBI, where pro-life grandmothers were put in jail for praying, [2:55:54] and where members of our military were thrown out of the armed forces for their religious beliefs. [2:56:00] The radicals responsible for these offenses would have loved nothing more than to mark America's 250th anniversary by driving God from our public square once and for all. [2:56:12] They wanted to do that. [2:56:13] I don't know how anybody could vote for these people. [2:56:17] They were so bad. [2:56:18] They were so evil. [2:56:19] And yet in many ways incompetent, certainly incompetent on policy, open borders, transgender for everybody, men and women's sports, just grossly incompetent ideologies and so many more. [2:56:34] But they did not get that chance because they lost an election in a landslide and we won an election in a landslide. [2:56:43] And while I am in the White House, I will defend Christians and all Americans of faith. [2:56:51] One hundred percent. [2:56:52] You have it. [2:56:53] A hundred percent. [2:56:54] And you've seen it already. [2:56:55] So upon taking office, I created the first ever presidential commission on religious liberty led by Texas Lieutenant Governor. [2:57:05] A great guy. [2:57:06] I don't know if he's here. [2:57:07] I know he's coming over to my office in a little while. [2:57:09] A thing called the Oval Office. [2:57:10] Beautiful office. [2:57:11] Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and my friend, Dr. Ben Carson. [2:57:18] I don't know. [2:57:24] So many people in this room. [2:57:25] I don't know if they're here. [2:57:26] They may be here. [2:57:27] But they're two great people. [2:57:28] And later today at the White House, they will present me with their official report and recommendations to ensure that America continues to uphold the first right in our Constitution. [2:57:40] And that's religious liberty. [2:57:42] We have to uphold religious liberty. [2:57:45] Most important thing. [2:57:52] On day one of my administration, I ended the weaponization of law enforcement against religious believers. [2:57:58] You know that. [2:57:59] I pardoned the Christians. [2:58:01] Joe Biden threw in jail for saying prayers. [2:58:03] He threw them in jail. [2:58:04] And he didn't know what the hell he was doing. [2:58:06] The guy's grossly incompetent. [2:58:07] But he was surrounded by very smart, in some cases brilliant lunatics. [2:58:12] I got rid of the sinister Johnson Amendment so that pastors can speak the truth that they are pulpits. [2:58:23] We created the very, very popular White House Faith Office. [2:58:27] First time that's ever happened. [2:58:28] And I set up an official Department of Justice Task Force to eradicate anti-Christian biases. [2:58:35] Anti-Christian bias. [2:58:36] Who would think? [2:58:37] At a high level, too. [2:58:39] Although it's fading. [2:58:40] Gonna fade fast. [2:58:43] That task force just produced a new documentary revealing the abuses of religious freedom that they uncovered. [2:58:50] It's called By Dawn's Early Light. [2:58:53] And it's out right now. [2:58:55] And it's really supposed to be. [2:58:57] I have not seen. [2:58:58] I cannot tell a lie. [2:58:59] I have not seen it. [2:59:00] But I've heard about it. [2:59:01] And I hear it's great. [2:59:02] And I will see it. [2:59:03] I hope soon. [2:59:04] I also signed. [2:59:05] We're protecting our churches and synagogues by prosecuting mobs of radical left lunatics [2:59:38] and agitators who tried to harass and intimidate people in their places of worship. [2:59:44] Not so long ago. [2:59:45] And to help parents send their children to schools that share their values, I signed the [2:59:53] largest expansion of school choice in the history of our country, including in Texas. [2:59:59] And in my direction, the Department of Education issued new guidance protecting the right to [3:00:05] prayer in public schools. [3:00:06] That was a big thing. [3:00:07] And these are all things that we were, you know, they fought us very strongly. [3:00:13] Very, very strongly. [3:00:14] Hard to believe they'd fight us on that. [3:00:16] But we had to fight the good battle. [3:00:19] But we won every time. [3:00:20] We slashed federal funding for any school that pushes transgender insanity on our youth. [3:00:25] We expanded the Mexico City policy to stop taxpayer dollars from being used to promote radical [3:00:33] gender ideology around the world. [3:00:35] Radical gender ideology, it is. [3:00:38] I made it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, [3:00:45] male and female. [3:00:47] That wasn't too tough. [3:00:51] That was sort of an easy one. [3:00:54] But, you know, we have a man running in Texas who thinks there are six genders. [3:00:58] I don't know what. [3:00:59] He's going to have to discuss that with us. [3:01:01] Can you believe it? [3:01:03] Six genders. [3:01:04] And we officially banned the chemical and surgical mutilization of our children. [3:01:09] And now we have to pass the Save America Act to protect our sacred American elections. [3:01:19] Have to pass. [3:01:20] Hard to believe, right? [3:01:27] Hard to believe. [3:01:28] That we even have to fight for this. [3:01:31] We have to fight for everything. [3:01:32] Nothing comes easy. [3:01:33] Nothing. [3:01:34] All voters must show photo ID. [3:01:37] Not so bad, right? [3:01:39] All voters must provide proof of citizenship. [3:01:44] Is that so hard? [3:01:45] And you're fighting the Democrats and a few Republicans who are doing a tremendous disservice [3:01:52] to this country. [3:01:55] We have a few Republicans that are fighting it. [3:01:59] Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. [3:02:01] You should call her and tell her to get on the ball. [3:02:04] She'll never win another election, I can tell you. [3:02:08] She's got to vote. [3:02:09] She's got to vote. [3:02:10] It's called the Save America Act. [3:02:13] It's voter ID. [3:02:15] Ideally, photo ID, right? [3:02:17] So you can look and you can say, oh, that person's okay. [3:02:20] Or, for lots of reasons, that person is not the same person. [3:02:25] We want proof of citizenship. [3:02:27] And we want no mail-in ballots except for illness, disability and military deployment or travel. [3:02:34] We'll be very judicious. [3:02:36] Look what's happening in California where the ballots still aren't in. [3:02:42] They're still not. [3:02:43] Can you believe it? [3:02:44] Weeks afterwards. [3:02:46] You know what's happening? [3:02:47] They're cheating. [3:02:48] The kid won. [3:02:50] Or he was certainly in the top two. [3:02:52] I don't know him. [3:02:53] I never met him. [3:02:54] Spencer Pratt. [3:02:56] And he went away quietly. [3:02:57] We didn't go away quietly, but he shouldn't go away quietly. [3:03:00] He should protest because it was, in my very strong opinion, that was a rigged election. [3:03:06] That kid should be in the runoffs. [3:03:08] The woman who edged him out after like a long time. [3:03:13] Days, days and days. [3:03:15] And then you'd hear reports, Spencer Pratt is not doing so well. [3:03:18] Even though he was strongly in the lead. [3:03:22] And then you hear, Spencer Pratt has a 20% chance of being in the runoff. [3:03:27] I said, they just rigged the election. [3:03:30] And then you hear that a woman who nobody ever heard of is in the runoff, not him. [3:03:34] And then they tried to hurt Steve Hilton, too. [3:03:38] And I called the U.S. Attorney and I said, you have to look into this because Steve Hilton did great. [3:03:42] He's running for governor. [3:03:45] And you could see it. [3:03:46] The election was there. [3:03:47] He was doing great. [3:03:48] Then day after day, you'd hear reports about vote counting. [3:03:53] They go on for weeks. [3:03:56] You know, Colombia just had an election. [3:03:58] The country of Colombia, 30 million voters. [3:04:01] And I endorsed. [3:04:04] I know I'm endorsed. [3:04:05] We do so well with endorsements. [3:04:07] Like almost 100% success. [3:04:09] But I endorsed somebody running. [3:04:11] El Tigre. [3:04:12] El Tigre. [3:04:13] I liked him. [3:04:15] You know why? [3:04:16] Because he likes me. [3:04:17] I don't know. [3:04:18] I like President Trump. [3:04:19] I don't know. [3:04:20] How can you not let? [3:04:21] So I endorsed him. [3:04:22] I didn't know. [3:04:23] He was in way down the list. [3:04:26] He was not going to win. [3:04:27] No chance of winning. [3:04:28] I endorsed him. [3:04:29] And he won. [3:04:30] And he just announced he won. [3:04:32] But think of it. [3:04:33] They had 30 million votes. [3:04:36] By 9.30 in the evening, every single vote was counted. [3:04:40] And there were no complaints. [3:04:42] He won. [3:04:43] Every vote was counted. [3:04:44] Here we are in California. [3:04:46] They're going to go for weeks and weeks and weeks. [3:04:48] And you know what they do. [3:04:49] They cheat. [3:04:50] How many votes do we need? [3:04:51] How many votes? [3:04:52] That's why they take their time. [3:04:54] How many votes do we need? [3:04:55] Okay, here they are. [3:04:56] It's, honestly, it's terrible. [3:04:59] We're a third world country with elections. [3:05:02] And we will also enshrine a permanent law that says very easily and succinctly no men in women's sports and no transgender surgery for our children. [3:05:15] Never forget, if the radical left ever gets the chance, they will bring all of this insanity right back at levels that you've never seen before. [3:05:26] You will never have seen anything like it if they ever get their chance. [3:05:29] And they're trying like hell. [3:05:31] I call them the Democrats. [3:05:32] I exchange an E for you. [3:05:34] The dumb-ocrats. [3:05:37] And that's, it's trending number one, the word dumb. [3:05:41] I just can't believe I didn't think of it nine years ago. [3:05:45] The Democrats, they are horrible. [3:05:49] They want to resume the transgender mutilization of our children. [3:05:54] They want to restart the war on Christians and churches. [3:05:57] And as you saw with the communists elected in New York City recently, they're communists, they're not social Democrats. [3:06:04] They want to completely destroy the traditional American way of life. [3:06:08] Communism is very easy to sell. [3:06:11] It destroys everything, but it's very easy. [3:06:16] I'd be, I'll be honest, I think I'd be the greatest communist in history. [3:06:20] I'd give free rent. [3:06:21] Ladies and gentlemen, from now on you don't have to pay any rent. [3:06:25] From now on, anybody wants a house, don't worry about it. [3:06:28] Just pick the house you want. [3:06:29] Everybody gets free food. [3:06:33] Everything is free from this point forward. [3:06:35] Everyone's going to vote for me. [3:06:36] The problem is, after two or three years, the country is a disaster area. [3:06:43] The country fails. [3:06:44] They always do. [3:06:45] It always does. [3:06:47] So easy to sell. [3:06:48] That first year, boy, you're the most popular. [3:06:50] It's happening right now in New York and California. [3:06:54] But you'll start living in squalor. [3:06:56] You'll live in squalor. [3:06:59] There will be no food. [3:07:00] There will be no housing. [3:07:01] There will be no military. [3:07:02] There will be no law and order. [3:07:03] There will be no nothing. [3:07:04] There will be no nothing. [3:07:06] You'll be a third world inhabitant in every way, and everyone will suffer or die. [3:07:13] You'll suffer or die. [3:07:14] That's what happens. [3:07:16] For thousands of years, it's been happening by different names. [3:07:19] Thousands of years. [3:07:20] I would be, I'm telling you, I'd be the greatest communist in history. [3:07:23] It would be so easy. [3:07:25] You wouldn't have to work. [3:07:26] You could stay home. [3:07:27] The problem is, a couple of years go by, the whole place collapses. [3:07:30] Always does. [3:07:31] Always has. [3:07:32] But I'm sorry to say, but assassinations of those who oppose them is a very important [3:07:38] element of their ideology. [3:07:40] Assassination is a big deal for them. [3:07:42] They're animals. [3:07:44] They're animals. [3:07:45] In many cases, they're not smart, but in some cases, they are. [3:07:50] It's easy for them to get followers because they make promises that they know they can't [3:07:55] keep, and the Democrats aren't fighting back. [3:07:59] That's why they're dumb. [3:08:00] They're not fighting back. [3:08:01] They're afraid. [3:08:02] I watch Schumer. [3:08:03] He's afraid to fight. [3:08:04] I watch guys that are pretty normal, and guys that we oppose, they're afraid to fight. [3:08:10] The Democrats have taken a tremendous turn left, and many of these people. [3:08:16] I looked at some of the people that got elected the other night in New York. [3:08:20] These are, in many ways, stupid people, in some ways intellectually probably pretty smart, [3:08:30] but they're people that want to destroy our country. [3:08:32] They hate our country. [3:08:33] They hate our people. [3:08:34] They hate the Democrat Party. [3:08:36] The Democrat Party is in big trouble because this isn't stopping with New York. [3:08:42] This is going on. [3:08:43] Too easy to get elected, giving everything away. [3:08:46] Too easy to get elected. [3:08:47] Very dangerous, but you'll soon have nothing left. [3:08:50] That's the problem. [3:08:51] In many ways, they're allowing them to just go their own way, do your own. [3:08:57] We don't want to take a chance on saying anything bad because we're afraid we're going to lose our jobs if we do. [3:09:02] They're afraid they're going to lose their election if they even think about saying anything bad about this new breed of sick people. [3:09:11] They're not smart enough or tough enough to fight the plague that's happening. [3:09:15] It's happening right before your very eyes. [3:09:17] If they fought them the way they fight Republicans or the way they fight me, they'd be victorious. [3:09:23] They didn't beat us, but they'd be victorious against the communists, but they don't have the courage to do so. [3:09:31] So they're turning communists themselves, becoming a communist party. [3:09:35] These are not social Democrats. [3:09:38] These are hardcore, godless communists. [3:09:41] They're godless communists. [3:09:42] All communists are godless. [3:09:44] They don't believe in God. [3:09:46] This is the most serious threat to our country since its existence, in my opinion, 250 years ago. [3:09:54] This is a major threat to our country. [3:09:56] It isn't something that's easily solved, but with a little love and help, some hard work. [3:10:07] Because it's ironic, we're celebrating a very important birthday, our most important birthday so far, 250 years. [3:10:16] And instead of speaking about Christ, and instead of speaking about freedom and victories of all different kinds, we're speaking about yet another threat to the foundations of America. [3:10:28] These ruthless communists will attack all religions, but in particular Christianity. [3:10:34] They always do. [3:10:35] They're after Christianity more than any other religion. [3:10:39] It seems to be more and more throughout the world, maybe because we're doing so well. [3:10:43] I don't know. [3:10:44] Maybe if we weren't doing well. [3:10:45] But you see the numbers, how they're growing, how the churches are filling up. [3:10:50] It's a beautiful thing to see. [3:10:51] I mean, look, it happens to be during my presidency, so I don't mind taking credit for it. [3:10:58] I'm very proud. [3:10:59] But a lot of great things are happening. [3:11:02] All communist countries attack religions violently. [3:11:06] It's part of their deal. [3:11:11] As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations. [3:11:18] They have a great Christian population. [3:11:24] They were being butchered, butchered. [3:11:26] Thousands and thousands of people were being killed. [3:11:29] Children, women, old people, just being slaughtered, hatched to death. [3:11:35] They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater and that they don't want to really get involved anymore so much. [3:11:44] You know, we hit them very hard. [3:11:45] We knocked out their leader. [3:11:46] We knocked out their second leader and their third leader. [3:11:49] Sounds a little bit like Iran, actually. [3:11:51] That's all about a different cause that we have to do because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. [3:11:57] Can't let it happen. [3:11:58] So I'm saving Christians throughout the world, even though we are not in those various countries where you read about this. [3:12:09] But they'd like to make our country just like those countries. [3:12:12] That's where they started. [3:12:13] They started right where we are right now. [3:12:15] But I'm saving them by hitting these terrorists very violently and very hard. [3:12:21] We're hitting them very hard by the greatest weapons on Earth, taking them out. [3:12:27] We know where they are. [3:12:28] We hunt them down and we take them out. [3:12:30] Think of it. [3:12:31] They go into a village and they just kill everybody. [3:12:33] It's like crazy. [3:12:35] They will close your churches in this country. [3:12:38] They go communist and they're trying to. [3:12:43] They will kill your people. [3:12:44] And that's what they're about. [3:12:46] They want to end religion. [3:12:48] They have to end religion because their ideology doesn't work. [3:12:52] If you have strong religion, people like you that are so incredible and love our country so much and love God. [3:13:00] This is the greatest threat to our country since its founding, in my opinion, 250 years ago, what's happening right now. [3:13:06] It's the greatest threat. [3:13:08] People don't look at that. [3:13:09] Oh, three people were elected. [3:13:11] No, no. [3:13:12] It's many more than three people. [3:13:13] And the other people are being swayed because they don't have the sense to see what's happening. [3:13:19] They don't have the sense. [3:13:21] Their followers are not leaders, even though they're politicians, in some cases, successful ones. [3:13:27] For the first time in history, the powerful Rent Stabilization Board, as an example, that sets rents in New York City, just happened today. [3:13:35] They've done it for years and years and they've been very far left. [3:13:40] They're run by Democrats and they give landlords a hard time for years and years. [3:13:46] It's called rent control. [3:13:47] They give landlords a hard time, but they always give some increases so they can survive. [3:13:52] But they just came out, first time ever with a ruling, zero rent increases for landlords. [3:13:58] Zero for the next two years, despite the fact that energy, supplies, real estate taxes, and just about everything else has gone up. [3:14:08] They're supposed to allow you to have that. [3:14:10] Zero. [3:14:11] They're giving them that they're basically confiscating their property. [3:14:16] And the one representative for the landlords who's on the board, I think they have eight or nine people on the board. [3:14:22] And you had one who was representing one, one out of like eight. [3:14:26] But at least you had somebody. [3:14:29] But that person walked off in disgust, walked off and got booed. [3:14:33] Mayor Mamdani, who came to the White House and seems like a nice guy. [3:14:39] But he said he was going to do this in his campaign. [3:14:43] Nobody thought he was serious. [3:14:44] He said he was going to make sure that people don't have a rent increase, even though energy went up. [3:14:51] It's going to come down. It's coming down fast right now. [3:14:54] I hope you're watching what's happening with a low number just now. [3:14:57] Sixty nine dollars a barrel. [3:14:58] That was some people said it was going to be three hundred and fifty by now. [3:15:02] Sixty nine. [3:15:04] It's going to be three hundred, three hundred and fifty. [3:15:06] Never hit those numbers at all, even in the height of it all. [3:15:11] But what the mayor doesn't say is that these buildings will soon turn into ghettos and slums and that everybody will continue leaving New York. [3:15:19] And as this spreads throughout the country, very much like an uncontrollable form of cancer, the country itself will be taken down. [3:15:28] It will be third world, strictly third world. [3:15:31] And it's happened many times before to very big and very powerful countries. [3:15:36] But it's not going to happen to the United States of America. [3:15:41] No way. [3:15:48] Because communism really is the past and freedom is the future. [3:15:53] That's what we are. [3:15:54] All we want is freedom. [3:15:55] Freedom is going to be, freedom gets you everything. [3:15:57] Everyone needs to get out and vote in the midterms. [3:16:01] We have to win this election. [3:16:02] This election is very vital. [3:16:04] If we don't, everything that we've gotten, we've gotten so much. [3:16:07] I mean, religious liberty, but we've gotten so much. [3:16:10] Our military is the strongest in the world. [3:16:12] I built it during my first term. [3:16:14] Strongest in the world. [3:16:15] And people respect us again. [3:16:18] They respect us maybe like never before. [3:16:21] We were laughed at a year and a half ago. [3:16:23] We were laughed at. [3:16:25] And now we're the most respected nation anywhere in the world. [3:16:28] And in our 250th year, we will make our nation stronger and safer, better, more prosperous, [3:16:37] and more faithful. [3:16:39] Very important. [3:16:40] More faithful than ever before. [3:16:42] Today, we have the largest economy on Earth. [3:16:44] We're expanding at a degree and to a degree that nobody thought possible. [3:16:49] They never thought what we're doing for the last year and a half. [3:16:53] It's only a year and a half. [3:16:54] What we're doing for the last year and a half, nobody thought was possible. [3:16:58] We have the strongest military on Earth. [3:17:01] We have the most powerful technology on Earth. [3:17:04] We're winning on AI. [3:17:06] We're winning with automobile manufacturing. [3:17:09] Do you see how many plants are coming back into the United States? [3:17:11] Tariffs. [3:17:12] Tariffs. [3:17:13] If they don't come in, they have to pay massive tariffs. [3:17:16] Make your car outside, but you have to pay massive tariffs to come in. [3:17:20] If you build your car in the United States using U.S. workers, our great American workers, [3:17:25] you don't have any tariffs to pay. [3:17:27] So they're all pouring in. [3:17:30] It should have been done years ago by other presidents. [3:17:32] We have the greatest culture on Earth. [3:17:35] And above all, we have the greatest people on Earth. [3:17:38] We do. [3:17:39] We have the greatest people. [3:17:42] But think of it. [3:17:43] I was with the king of Saudi Arabia and he said, [3:17:46] Mr. President, two years ago your country was dead. [3:17:51] It was a dead country. [3:17:52] And today you're the hottest country anywhere in the world. [3:17:55] It's amazing what's happened. [3:17:56] We were laughed at. [3:17:58] We were laughed at. [3:18:00] We were laughed at. [3:18:01] We had a man who couldn't speak. [3:18:02] Couldn't think. [3:18:03] He didn't know what the hell was happening. [3:18:05] Kept falling down all over the place. [3:18:07] If he was standing here now, he would have been off the stage before he started. [3:18:10] But if he was standing here now, he wouldn't know how to get off the stage. [3:18:14] He had to lead him off the stage. [3:18:16] It was a disaster. [3:18:18] And it was a rigged election. [3:18:20] But we did it again. [3:18:21] And we did it. [3:18:22] We got it right. [3:18:23] Too big to rig. [3:18:24] We made it too big to rig. [3:18:25] It was a rigged election. [3:18:26] And look what happened because it was a rigged election. [3:18:31] 25 million people came in. [3:18:34] Many criminals. [3:18:35] Murderers. [3:18:36] 11,808 murderers. [3:18:38] More than 50% of who created more than one murder. [3:18:42] Murdered more than one person. [3:18:44] These are not going to be the citizens of our country. [3:18:48] There's not a thing you can do to change that. [3:18:50] But drug dealers at the highest level. [3:18:53] The worst. [3:18:54] Some of the worst people on Earth came in through open borders. [3:18:57] Joe Biden's. [3:18:58] But really it was the ideologies. [3:19:00] Open border policy where everybody could come in. [3:19:02] They came from all over the world. [3:19:04] They emptied their prison populations into the United States. [3:19:07] of America. [3:19:08] Think of that. [3:19:09] But we're getting them out. [3:19:11] We're getting them out faster than anybody can imagine. [3:19:14] And we're going after the bad ones first. [3:19:18] We're getting them out. [3:19:19] Last week we signed a historic agreement to accomplish what no president has ever been able to accomplish before. [3:19:26] That Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. [3:19:30] We're not going to let that happen. [3:19:32] And thanks to the power and skill of the United States Armed Forces, Iran today has no Navy, no Air Force, no anti-aircraft capability, no radar, virtually no manufacturing. [3:19:48] Their drone capacity has been cut by 82 percent. [3:19:51] Their missile capacity has been cut by 80 percent. [3:19:55] Their rocket launchers have been cut by 90 percent. [3:19:59] Their leadership has been killed the first time. [3:20:05] And their leadership has been killed the second time. [3:20:08] Nobody wants to be the leader of Iran anymore. [3:20:10] They said, who would like to be the president? [3:20:12] And everyone said, no, thank you. [3:20:14] It's amazing. [3:20:18] And then the fake news, like the New York Times, which is a failing publication. [3:20:22] But the fake news, ABC so bad, ABC television network, fake ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN. [3:20:31] They actually said for a little while, it didn't play well, that Iran was much stronger today than it was four months ago. [3:20:42] Think of it. [3:20:43] They have no Navy. [3:20:44] They have no. [3:20:45] They said they're stronger. [3:20:46] They're dying to make a deal. [3:20:47] They're giving us a lot. [3:20:51] They should have been done over the 47 year period that they've reigned with terror. [3:20:55] And that's what they did. [3:20:57] They reigned with terror. [3:20:58] When you see a young man or woman walking around without legs or without arms or a face that was obliterated, [3:21:03] it happened from the roadside bomb. [3:21:05] That was created the creation of General Soleimani, who I killed in my first term. [3:21:12] And that was a big killing. [3:21:14] He was a mad genius, but he was he was going to he was going to knock out five of our military installations. [3:21:21] I found out about it. [3:21:22] And in all fairness, Israel was supposed to do it with us. [3:21:26] And the night before that took place, we heard from Israel that they will not be doing it. [3:21:31] They don't want to do it. [3:21:32] And I said to a couple of generals that we had who were very good. [3:21:36] I said, what do you think, generals? [3:21:38] Can we do it? [3:21:39] Because we worked on for 30 days, worked on it with Israel. [3:21:42] They said, we'll do it, sir. [3:21:44] Can we do it as well? [3:21:45] We'll do it better. [3:21:46] And he was dead the next day. [3:21:48] He was dead in the valley of death. [3:21:50] He died in the valley of death. [3:21:52] We got them all. [3:21:54] We knew when he was coming, where he was coming, how he was getting there. [3:21:57] We knew everything. [3:21:58] But we lost our partner. [3:21:59] I don't blame them that much, to be honest with you, because it's tough stuff. [3:22:02] But they told us the night before they won't be doing it. [3:22:05] We did it ourselves. [3:22:07] And we did it so incredibly well. [3:22:09] We also took out the head of Iraq's ISIS division. [3:22:14] And we took out both of them by luck, by luck with Iraq. [3:22:22] But had he lived, because he was a brilliant general, very sick man mentally. [3:22:30] But he was a brilliant general. [3:22:31] It may have been a different story. [3:22:33] I don't think so. [3:22:34] I think we would have knocked the hell out of him whether he was there or anybody else was there. [3:22:37] But he was a brilliant general. [3:22:38] It was one of the biggest things ever to happen in the Middle East, the killing of Soleimani. [3:22:42] People have said it's the biggest thing to happen in a hundred years, because he was a dominant force. [3:22:47] I actually think that Khomeini and all of the people in Iran were happy about it, because they were afraid of him, too. [3:22:56] Over the past few weeks, the stock market and your 401Ks skyrocketed upward like pretty much nobody's seen before. [3:23:05] Oil prices are plummeting downward. [3:23:08] And the world is a much safer place. [3:23:10] We had to take that detour to knock out Iran if we didn't do that. [3:23:14] And we're still, you know, we still have a fight. [3:23:16] They have some capability, not much. [3:23:18] They're not winning or anything, but they have some capability. [3:23:22] They can still shoot. [3:23:23] You know, they shot a drone yesterday at a big ship going into the Haramon Strait. [3:23:27] They shot four of them. [3:23:28] We knocked down three of them. [3:23:30] One of them. [3:23:31] Again, we didn't miss it. [3:23:33] Nobody saw it coming. [3:23:35] And it hit a ship and did some damage. [3:23:38] You can't do that stuff. [3:23:40] But very soon they will be, we're going to be at $2.50 guessing. [3:23:45] You know, I was in Iowa making a speech the day before we did the attack. [3:23:50] And again, we had to turn it around. [3:23:51] Everything was going so well. [3:23:52] It's like, you're doing so well. [3:23:54] We have the best economy. [3:23:55] Everything's great. [3:23:56] And I say, I brought my people into the room, my financial people and other people. [3:24:00] I said, listen, we just set a record in the stock market. [3:24:04] We just set a record in every single thing, including 401Ks. [3:24:07] Your 401Ks, most of you have 401Ks, are at the highest they've ever been. [3:24:11] Everything. [3:24:12] But this was true three and a half months ago, before the attack. [3:24:15] Everything was good. [3:24:17] We had records on everything. [3:24:18] We were doing great. [3:24:19] And I said, I hate to tell you, but we're going to have to take a detour. [3:24:22] We're going to have to go to war. [3:24:24] Or go to a military operation, which my people would prefer that I use as a term, [3:24:29] because war means things that they don't like. [3:24:32] But whether you call it war or not, it is what it is. [3:24:35] And we're going to go down to the Islamic Republic of Iran. [3:24:40] And we're going to have to hit them very hard. [3:24:43] And don't forget, when Barack Hussein Obama did the JCPO. [3:24:48] See, if you look at that, Barack Hussein Obama, have you heard of him? [3:24:53] He was a disaster. [3:24:54] He was a disaster. [3:24:57] He gave them 1.7 billion in cash. [3:25:00] 1.7 billion in cash and tens of billions of dollars. [3:25:05] He gave it to Iran. [3:25:06] He thought he could buy their friendship. [3:25:08] And it was just the opposite. [3:25:09] They used the money and they built missiles and everything else. [3:25:12] And I terminated the JCPOA. [3:25:16] It was his agreement. [3:25:17] It was the Iran nuclear deal. [3:25:19] It was a disaster. [3:25:20] By the way, it expired a long time ago. [3:25:22] But I terminated it long before it expired. [3:25:25] If I didn't do that, Iran would have had a nuclear weapon. [3:25:28] If I didn't send the B-2 bombers in 10 months ago, they would have had a nuclear weapon. [3:25:32] We obliterated that nuclear dust. [3:25:35] Very important. [3:25:37] And then you wouldn't have Israel. [3:25:40] Israel would be gone. [3:25:41] I know you have a lot of good fans of Israel in this room. [3:25:43] And Israel would have been gone. [3:25:44] And probably the Middle East would have been gone. [3:25:46] And they could have taken a shot. [3:25:48] We would have wiped them out pretty quick. [3:25:50] But they could have taken a chunk of us, too. [3:25:52] But in my first term, I created the greatest economy in the history of the world. [3:25:57] The first term was a great success and rebuilt the military. [3:26:00] Did everything. [3:26:01] But now we're blowing it away. [3:26:02] We're doing much better this time. [3:26:04] And again, we did have to make that excursion. [3:26:07] How would you like to be given the best numbers we've ever had as a country and tell people, [3:26:12] Guess what? [3:26:13] We're going to war. [3:26:14] And nobody in the room knew what I was talking about because they weren't. [3:26:17] It wasn't their thing. [3:26:20] And I said, we've got to stop them from having a nuclear weapon. [3:26:23] Because you want to see problems? [3:26:25] Let a crazy country have a nuclear weapon. [3:26:27] You'll see problems like you've never seen before. [3:26:29] The stock market has set 73 all-time record highs since the election. [3:26:33] And more Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. [3:26:38] That's pretty good. [3:26:40] In January 2025, we inherited the worst, most dangerous, most wide open and insecure border in history. [3:26:48] I actually think in the history of the world, I don't think it's just here. [3:26:51] You could just walk into the country. [3:26:53] And again, they were letting prison populations, they were taking buses and dropping them off at our border. [3:27:00] And people coming out, murderers coming out of prison, drug dealers. [3:27:04] The worst, the worst people. [3:27:07] They made our criminals look like nice people. [3:27:09] That's the only thing nice. [3:27:10] Our criminals, for the first time, looked very nice by comparison to these people. [3:27:15] But they dropped 25 million people over four years into our country. [3:27:22] And it's the single hardest job I have, getting them out. [3:27:24] We're getting them out pretty rapidly, but it's a very hard thing. [3:27:27] But it's, think of it, prison populations from the Congo, from all parts of South America, [3:27:34] from all parts of the world, were taken in, driven through Mexico, and dropped off on our border. [3:27:41] And they would walk right into our country. [3:27:43] And we've quickly turned it into the strongest and most secure border in the history. [3:27:49] We have the strongest border we've ever had now. [3:27:52] And for the past 13 months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted into the United States. [3:28:00] We have zero. [3:28:06] And those are the numbers. [3:28:07] They report them. [3:28:08] And they're taken by sort of a left kind of a group, the stats. [3:28:11] You know, if anybody did, they'd like to report them. [3:28:14] But we have zero. [3:28:15] And they don't even try, because they know they're probably not going to get in, [3:28:18] so they're not going to make this very dangerous march. [3:28:20] We're saving a lot of lives. [3:28:21] Because in those caravans, remember I named them caravans. [3:28:25] They'd have 25,000 people, sometimes more. [3:28:28] But they'd come up from South America and all through Mexico. [3:28:32] They'd go all through. [3:28:33] And they'd go through jungles in Colombia. [3:28:37] Really tough jungles, too. [3:28:40] Dangerous jungles. [3:28:41] And women would die. [3:28:43] And women would be raped. [3:28:45] Remember when I mentioned, when I said they get raped? [3:28:48] Crime, murder. [3:28:50] And everyone, my first speech, my first speech was controversial. [3:28:53] When I announced I was running, everyone said, what do you mean, raped? [3:28:56] What I said was peanuts compared to what happened. [3:28:59] And the women would come up. [3:29:02] And they'd die. [3:29:03] They'd be raped. [3:29:04] A lot of people would die on those caravans. [3:29:06] The journeys up were, they call them journeys through hell. [3:29:09] Because they had to go through jungles. [3:29:12] They had to go through very dangerous areas. [3:29:14] And the people that got here would just walk right into our country. [3:29:18] We had no idea who they were. [3:29:19] Nobody would even stand there and check. [3:29:20] They just came in. [3:29:21] Come on in. [3:29:22] Come on in. [3:29:23] Come on in. [3:29:24] Come on in. [3:29:25] Come on in. [3:29:27] Come on in. [3:29:28] Come on in. [3:29:29] Come on in. [3:29:30] Come on in. [3:29:31] Come on in. [3:29:32] Come on in. [3:29:34] Come on in. [3:29:35] Come on in. [3:29:36] Come on. [3:29:37] Come on in. [3:29:38] The worst. [3:29:39] Now, in 2015, in 2015, we achieved the largest drop in the murder rate ever recorded in our [3:29:41] country's history. [3:29:42] 125 years ago. [3:29:50] Think of that. [3:29:52] Think of that. [3:29:53] The year 1900. [3:29:54] That was, before my father... [3:29:55] My father would hate me saying that, because it's a long time ago, but that was before my [3:29:56] father was born. [3:29:57] My father was born, had a wonderful father and mother and family, but the lowest murder [3:30:05] rate in 125 years, Washington, D.C. is now one of the safest, most beautiful cities in [3:30:11] the country. [3:30:12] And just a little while ago, it was a killing machine. [3:30:17] Think of that, a year and a half ago, Washington was a very unsafe city, now it's one of the [3:30:23] safest cities in the country, it's one of the most beautiful cities. [3:30:26] Doug Bergman, myself, and a whole group of people did a great job on the monuments and [3:30:31] fountains and the reflecting pool was so beautiful, they tried to destroy it, they cut it up with [3:30:38] a box knife and tried to destroy it, and it's in great shape now, they're terrible, they're [3:30:43] vandals, they've caught six of them, I guess, maybe more, they've got others in line to be [3:30:49] caught, but we just inspected it, we'll fix it right after the 4th of July, gotta let the [3:30:54] water out, just fix it. [3:30:55] But we caught them, they would cut it, and they would grab this very expensive and very [3:31:00] good material, totally waterproof, and they'd rip it. [3:31:04] These people are sick. [3:31:05] They ripped a scar 350 feet long through the side of the reflecting pool. [3:31:12] These are the people we're dealing with. [3:31:14] These are the people that want to destroy our country. [3:31:17] But we've invested a record $1 trillion in the United States Armed Forces, and we're going [3:31:22] this year for $1.5 trillion, all made in the USA. [3:31:29] And something that's so exciting, the recruitment, you know, if you go back a year and a half, [3:31:33] two years ago, you could not get anybody to join the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the [3:31:39] Marines, the Coast Guard, Space Force. [3:31:41] You couldn't get anybody to join. [3:31:43] They had tremendous recruitment problems. [3:31:47] But now recruitment in every branch of our military is setting records. [3:31:51] 18 months ago, we had tremendous shortages and we couldn't fill them up. [3:31:56] We were never going to fill them up. [3:31:57] That included police and firemen. [3:31:59] We couldn't get policemen and women. [3:32:02] We couldn't get firemen and women. [3:32:03] We couldn't do anything with a uniform because they were ashamed of our country because we [3:32:08] had people that were not respected. [3:32:10] You have to respect the president. [3:32:12] If you don't respect the president, you're going to have a problem. [3:32:14] You're going to have a problem. [3:32:16] They have no respect. [3:32:19] And now we have waiting lists. [3:32:20] Now you can't get into the military. [3:32:22] Literally, we went from the worst recruitment numbers ever in one year to the best recruitment [3:32:29] numbers ever. [3:32:30] And it all started on that beautiful day, November 5th, right, a thing called Election [3:32:35] Day. [3:32:37] And as soon as we won, before I even got to do anything, those numbers started going through [3:32:41] the room. [3:32:42] People love our country again and they have spirit. [3:32:44] You always loved it. [3:32:45] But you were down. [3:32:46] You were depressed. [3:32:47] You were not feeling too good about our country, especially you as people with [3:32:52] a great religion and a fervor for Christianity and religion. [3:32:57] You should be depressed. [3:32:59] You should have been. [3:33:00] But now you're riding high. [3:33:01] But we have to be careful. [3:33:02] We don't want to lose it. [3:33:03] We've got to win the midterms. [3:33:04] We've got to win the election coming up. [3:33:07] And we're going to be in good shape. [3:33:11] But you have to expose them. [3:33:12] If you don't expose them, I mean, I stand here and I expose them. [3:33:15] Some people don't do it right. [3:33:16] They say they're going to get free rent. [3:33:19] Well, that's okay to say. [3:33:21] But everyone's going to vote for them, except for a few other people in this room. [3:33:25] But you have to say they're going to get free rent. [3:33:27] But in two years, everything is going to collapse and you're going to live in squalor. [3:33:32] When you say that, you can beat the free rent. [3:33:35] You can beat the fact that they're going to take your house away and give it to somebody [3:33:39] else, which is essentially what they'd like to do. [3:33:42] But it's happened so many times over the years with really powerful countries. [3:33:46] And we're not going to let it happen. [3:33:47] So we have the strongest and most powerful military anywhere in the world. [3:33:52] I built it in my first term, using it a little bit in my second term. [3:33:56] And we're once again using it to defend America's interests and American values. [3:34:02] Look at what happened in Venezuela. [3:34:04] We have a great — and by the way, we're helping Venezuela. [3:34:07] They had a tremendous earthquake. [3:34:08] A lot of people killed and unbelievable — right in Caracas. [3:34:12] And we have a lot of people over there helping. [3:34:14] But Venezuela has been fantastic. [3:34:17] We've had a great relationship. [3:34:18] It was a one-day war. [3:34:19] We hit them so hard. [3:34:21] One-day war. [3:34:22] Now, we've taken out millions of barrels of oil. [3:34:26] We've paid for the war many times over. [3:34:28] But just as importantly, they are doing better than they've ever done. [3:34:31] They're making more money than they've ever done. [3:34:34] They've never made the money that they're making now. [3:34:37] And it's really — I mean, outside of what happened last night with the terrible — that [3:34:41] was terrible, what happened. [3:34:42] It was a big earthquake, knocked down buildings. [3:34:46] But outside, it was really — it's a happy country again. [3:34:49] The people are happy. [3:34:50] They're dancing in the streets. [3:34:52] The people running it are doing a very good job. [3:34:54] The United States has never been stronger. [3:34:57] We have never been wealthier or we've never been prouder to be an American. [3:35:03] Since 1776, America's story has been a tale of freedom, overcoming oppression, good defeating [3:35:10] evil, and faith overcoming every challenge and every foe. [3:35:14] We had everybody was winning, and we're going to continue stronger, maybe stronger. [3:35:20] One generation — think of it, just one generation after our war of independence, the [3:35:26] British tried. [3:35:27] They really tried hard to conquer America in the War of 1812. [3:35:32] That didn't work out too well. [3:35:34] But they failed, and the cause of freedom won, and it continues to win. [3:35:38] The War of Survival ultimately gave America our national anthem and our star-spangled banner. [3:35:44] Many Americans know the story of Francis Scott Key writing the words of the anthem. [3:35:49] He watched the flag under attack, and he wrote those beautiful words. [3:35:55] But what few realize is that the very same poem also inspired our national motto. [3:36:01] The fourth verse of the song ends in these words, and this be our motto, in God we trust. [3:36:10] In God we trust. [3:36:18] And as you know, the Democrats want to end that. [3:36:20] They don't want the words, in God we trust. [3:36:22] They want to have that stricken — they go to court, they take us to court. [3:36:27] We're never changing that. [3:36:28] We'll fight for that. [3:36:29] We're not changing that. [3:36:31] In God we trust. [3:36:32] Better believe it. [3:36:35] So today, on the threshold of our 250th year, this room is proof that America is still [3:36:40] a nation that lives by those magnificent words, in God we trust. [3:36:46] With the help of everyone here today and Americans of faith all across this land, we will continue [3:36:51] to protect the promise of the Declaration of Independence. [3:36:57] One of which actually is in my office, in the Oval Office, so we cherish it. [3:37:03] We will continue to defend our values, our traditions, our faith, and our freedom. [3:37:08] And as we enter the golden age of America, that's what we have. [3:37:11] This is the golden age. [3:37:12] We've never had anything like it. [3:37:14] We have factories all over the country. [3:37:17] We have car plants, AI plants, all sorts of plants. [3:37:21] Our businesses are expanding. [3:37:23] Our numbers are unbelievable. [3:37:26] Remember that we've never had a year with so many number one stock markets. [3:37:30] It's good to have number one, because that affects everybody. [3:37:33] That means jobs. [3:37:34] That means success. [3:37:35] That's good, as we said, for your 401Ks. [3:37:37] It's good for your stock investments. [3:37:40] Everyone's doing well. [3:37:42] We have a country that's just the hottest, just so hot, and I'm working really hard to [3:37:49] make it even better. [3:37:50] We're going to get rid of some of the flaws. [3:37:52] We're going to make it even better. [3:37:53] But the biggest thing we have to do is we have to stop this horrible thread of cancer [3:38:01] that's permeating our country called communism. [3:38:03] We have to stop it, because that's what it's about. [3:38:06] That's what they want to do quietly. [3:38:09] And we ask that God will continue to bless the United States of America, and God will [3:38:15] bless the United States of America, because of people like you. [3:38:18] Thank you very much, and Happy Independence Day, everybody. [3:38:22] Thank you. [3:38:23] Thank you very much. [3:41:05] Thank you. [3:41:06] Thank you. [3:41:11] This is a man, who alone, from all the years of the past, [3:41:15] gave us thousands of Supreme Court in the center. [3:41:16] This is a man, who after decades of justice, [3:41:18] and criminal justice, gave us the most secure order [3:41:19] he had to take to the right. [3:41:20] He said all the past cut in the tree, [3:41:21] and his feeling based on the world of the scene. [3:41:22] He would be essential to the person to give us, [3:41:24] because of police and abortion, [3:41:25] the allies of the nation there know. [3:41:26] And he alone, had heard of the more plurdy, [3:41:27] order and the rebel strapped in the wrong picture [3:41:28] of another high in the world. [3:41:29] They impeach him, they shot him for them, [3:41:32] they shot him off the bat, and then tried to, [3:41:33] and all failed, because God has birthed his hand. [3:41:35] And it is to say our nation, [3:41:36] please welcome back to the stage, [3:41:37] but we haven't really some particular state, [3:41:38] all the same, bro. [3:43:11] Thank you. [3:43:43] I'll see you next time. [3:44:13] Thank you. [3:44:43] Thank you. [3:45:15] Thank you.