What is the case . In a nutshell it is that as christians we are called not only to be citizens of the kingdom of god which is here now and yet to come but also citizens on earth whatever nation we happen to be a part of. There is a consistent and clear teaching to exercise that citizenship in a robust fashion. First of all to defend our right within the government which of course in the United States means our rights under the constitution and the bill of rights freedom of speech, assembly, freedom of religion, all those things that are our birthright and second come as a witness of our faith so in the context of the decision of the overwhelming majority, the evangelical christian and faithful roman catholics those in 2016 and today my argument in the book is look at where he stands on the issues that they were defined as moral issues central to their pay like right to life, right to religious Freedom Defense of the state of israel moving the courts in the direction of respect for the constitution and bill of rights, not legislating from the bench not treating the core as a legislature that they are not supposed to be so those are all in my view and a nephew of tens of millions of these voters are defining moral issue issues, central to their core as people of faith and down those issues donald trump pledged to share their values and fight for them a pledge by the way he has kept. Hillary clinton and i would argue now joe biden are on the opposite side of every one of those issues. Not that they didnt have reservations about trump, pete trump, peter, they did. I document that in the book it was a struggle for many voters. But they made the right call. Not just politically, but morally and they had been totally vindicated for making that call because he kept those promises. What are examples how he kept those promises . I have a 30 page appendix in the book that is titled promises made, promises kept that detail all the promises. Whatever you think of trumpet is an extraordinary record of achievement. But just to name a few on the life issue the first president to ever come in person to address the march for life, the first to ever send his Vice President to address the march for life, thats not just symbolism the bully pulpit of this office is very important and sets the tone for the culture the first president since roe v wade to begin the process of Defunding Planned Parenthood the largest Abortion Provider in the world today they receive half a billion dollars a year of taxpayer funding. He has taken steps to stem that. He moved the us embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel as believers in the idea that defending jews and supporting israel is important to us. Finally, in his Court Appointments is easy to forget this but he was the First Major Party candidate for president in American History to release a list of 21 names what the vacancy on the Supreme Court on election day if you elect me president i will not pick somebody like these 21 i will choose one of these. When he did that may 2016 his critics accused him of being a liar you said you cannot trust him we dont believe him there was that snarky commentary he wasnt true in his marriages so he wouldnt be true in his promise, they were all wrong. Not only did he keep the promise february 2017 with neil gore such but kept it again july 2018 when he picked brett cavanagh. Both on the Supreme Court today. He kept another 200 times 50 times of the Appellate Court judges and to those conservative christians those are important promises to keep because we think upholding our right to religious freedom will ultimately be determined by the court. Mentioning the prolife position a couple of times and in your book you write i heard prochoice candidates explain how they came to those prolife views that you have more genuine stories than trump what is the president story . I detail it in the book and the fact i got to know the president in 2011. He literally coal call on cold called me never met her before in my life honestly didnt have a high opinion of him and i told him that when he called me. He said the next time you are in new york come see me. I did. I told him if he was serious running for president he should come to one of the events of my organization of faith and freedom to get to know thes evangelical activist, he did that and he did it repeatedly one of the times i met with him and trump tower without me eliciting it he raised and said i used to be prochoice but let me tell you what happened. I had a good friend of mine who became pregnant. It was unplanned pregnancy and it was inconvenient. She didnt know what to do. Her husband wanted her to have an abortion. In this woman who was a good friend of his and he and milania were good friends of the couple and literally didnt know what to say to this person. Long story short, she made the decision to keep the child. The child does not know she was nearly aborted and certainly doesnt know that trump knows that. But he watched this woman grow up knowing that and his telling to me is she is an amazing woman and a star. So i started to think to myself she almost didnt make it and that is when i decided they were probably millions of people like that that are not with us. I cannot judge his heart i dont know that change of heart was genuine or politically calculated, but it sounded genuine to me. And what other the whatever those facts are, he is the most prolife president we have ever had. He kept his word and i think its real. You mention you did not have a high opinion of donald trump in 2011 and you write in your book that questions are not seeking a political savior in donald trump. So there is a political calculus here . There is certainly and i walk through in my book of the criticism and answering it in a previous question that you had that we are called upon citizen citizens, i believe to first of all defend our right. I talk in the book how when the apostle paul was arrested in jerusalem, and this is all detailed in the book of acts and was about to be put on trial, it would be a Kangaroo Court in would be executed he exercise the most precious right to appeal his case to caesar. It was an unbelievable sacred right of a roman citizen. And in the roman world very few people were citizens. Certainly most jews were not that he was. So to caesar he went. Now he did ultimately die i thought it was interesting that while he was willing to die for the gospel he was not willing to someone on surrender his rights. So first of all we are conned called upon to defend our rights trump has offered to defend our rights and by the way the caesar at that time the occupant of that office was tiberius who was a notorious sexual deviant, pedophile murdered his opponent and had the bodies float down the river to intimidate his critics. He was not a good man. But that is who paul appealed to. That is the first thing we are called to do. Second is to advance the common moral good. And i quote Ronald Reagan with his famous address at the National Association of evangelicals 1983 he said, you dont get to check out the citizenship and say both sides applied. You have to choose a side he was talking about communism versus capitalism but it applies today and also the third thing is to resist evil i believe abortion on demand is a moral evil and trump is offering to resist that. That is the argument and the question case. None of us are perfect not he is without sin. But on the these aspects of a true understanding of citizenship he is someone we can work with with his offer to defend these and advance the common good. A long time political strategist and activist and insider do you see this president suffering more slings and arrows than other occupants . It seems to come with the office. He studied and read American History and read the things about Thomas Jefferson and he was an infidel, it sounds a little reminiscent, doesnt it . The things said about Abraham Lincoln and fdr to be a dictator so it does come with the territory in the modern political era i have never seen anything like it part of it is he takes on the media and gives what he gets a try to pay him back i have never seen coverage this negative this unfair or withering and chapter 14 of the book is about that. And second, think about this he was under investigation or his campaign was while he was running for president by the fbi and justice department. An investigation that continued after he was sworn in. Based on the false predicate he might be an asset of russia. A hostile foreign power. We now know that was a complete lie. We know the predicate of that investigation was total father based on Opposition Research that was live from the Hillary Clinton campaign. I think that has ever happened before in American History. Back to your book impeachment was a fools erran errand. So in todays political environment given the fact we are in the world we are, is impeachment going to be forgotten about . You mean by voters in 2020 . Yes. And fortunately, and i was in the room so to speak during the clinton impeachment 1998 impeachment was always a political weapon by definition i think that was the case 1867 with andrew johnson. I think the bar has been lowered when republicans impeach clinton and i argue that at the time i was in the room part of the Newt Gingrich Speaker Advisory Group at the Christian Coalition i certainly didnt agree with what bill clinton did in having the affair with the intern and then lie about it under oath but i questioned if it was advisable given the fact it was dead on arrival in the senate to proceed and i think i was right. But there were many people who felt this undermined the rule of law and certainly didnt disagree with that i think it has been cheapened even more under policy and became a partisan tool and was a joke i think if you go out and conduct a poll today asking people what they thought of impeachment, it will be viewed through a partisan lens depending on who the voter is. That is unfortunate, it seems to be part of that partisan backandforth. What did you think of the president s walk to st. Johns episcopal . I strongly supported and i released a statement at the tim time. I supported it for two reasons. Number one i think the president was making a strong and powerful statement by walking across Lafayette Park that we will not allow our cities were streets to be taken over by criminals, looters and domestic terrorists who burned down businesses, shoe police officers, and in the case of st. Johns, tried to burn down one of the most sacred ecclesiastical spaces in our country. It is wrong and over the line and is honors the memory of george floyd and contrary to everything doctor Martin Luther king preached and lived and taught and is counterproductive to address the very real issue of racism , discrimination and Police Brutality. In the second message he is sending is that while we need to fight the evil of racism and we need Public Policy responses to racism and Police Brutality and i support all of that, my organization faith and Freedom Coalition lobbied for years for criminal Justice Reform so africanamericans who we believe were unfairly incarcerated under mass incarceration we get a Second Chance at life disproportionately those of color that ultimately it can be found in and that repentance and redemption found through the gospel and by going there trump said that and i strongly supported it. On another topic you cover in your book is Vice President pence, he gained what trump gained what all president s want and i advocate who has no other agenda other than to protect the president. Right. I am biased because mike pence is a friend of mine and i talk about that in the book. I got to know him when he came to congress. We became friends. We would have him speak at faith in Freedom Events around the country when he was a congressman. I think very highly of him. And i talk about him in the book some of the behindthescenes stories how he ended up on the ticket and stories he shared with me. I think hes one of the finest Vice President s we have ever had provide all the president is grateful to have him and i know the president loves him and thinks very highly of him and values his counsel tremendously. I cannot tell all the stories i know in the book about the role he has played in the administration but i do share some of them and i think even though might pence is obviously a person of great ambition on his own i personally think of godly ambition. His name and only consideration to serve the president and the country has done an incredible job including heading up the White House Coronavirus Task Force One of the finest Public Servants ive ever gotten to know in my career and glad hes there and so is the president. What is your involvement with the Trump Administration as an advisor . Im a friend of the president and Vice President and obviously a lot of the people who serve there now. I support them, do everything i can to work with them to make their job easier. Its a very tough job. In addition i serve on the White House Faith Initiative and finally in my capacity as head of faith and freedom we work very closely with the white house with a lot of Public Policy matters including the life issue Immigration Reform and many other with issues we work with them i have a great team at faith and freedom they are in the white house on a weekly basis to advance that Public Policy. When you look at the hard numbers what percentage of evangelical support donald trump over joe biden . And 2016 they supported donald trump at the highest level ever recorded in modern american political history a 81 percent of the vote. Hillary got 16. I dont know if i have seen anything yet with the evangelical sample to be reliable enough right now the president s job approval which is a fairly good education between 65 and 75 percen 75 percent, thats about where he was in the polling summer 2016 and once we get past of the pandemic and more reopening with a Real Campaign in biden pics the running mate with the convention i think it will be high seventies through mid eighties and i project evangelicals will vote for the president larger numbers than 2016 and for good reason. He deserves their support. Are there enough evangelicals to help bring him over the finish line . Not by themselves but they are a critical constituency 27 percent of the entire electorate. When you combine the mainline christians who dont identify as evangelical, that consider the bible to be the word of go god, they would not subscribe to that term born again, but they share the faith and frequently attending mass is 36 percent of the electorate is bigger than the africanamerican hispanic in unionville combined. They will turnout and big numbers and really matter and in particular the prolife catholics they will make or break the president ial race is critical states of michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania. They are really important and not the only constituency the most vibrant in the entire electorate. One of the things you do in for god and country you look at 2020 through the lens of 2016. Six. 5billion spent overall in the elections and you say it will be an increase that the democrats and the left are reggie worst on registering voters faster than republicans what does that landscape look like today with everything we are going through . Obviously wrote the book prior to the pandemic so that forced both campaigns to go all virtual and all online for some period of time. The president has announced he is about to begin his rallies again. I believe the first one will be within the next two weeks in oklahoma. We will see what happens. But prior to this the educated projections are the two sides would spend 10 billion between them. I love you will get that number now are not that we are continuing to register voters at faith and freedom the overwhelming churches are closed we do it door to door and online im sure the left is as well. We will have the biggest turnout in American History in a president ial race both enron numbers and the biggest share of registered voters since 1968. The big and close and hardfought. Because there is so much reliance on mailin ballots because of the pandemic candidly it takes longer to cast those votes than they can be postmarked as late as election day depending on the state we may not even know the winner and some of these states for days it will be Something Like we have never seen before. Some people dont know you have a phd in history from emory what was your field of study . The focus of south if it was American History since 1865 to focus primarily on the south i studied under the finest southern historians in the country at that time. They didnt necessarily show my politics the amazing scholars and i learned so much for one from them. My doctoral dissertation evangelical Higher Education between 1865 and world war i. I did not end up teaching , that i end up using all that i learned later for what i ended up doing at the Christian Coalition and now faith and freedom. It is interesting the way my life took a turn that i did not expect but still benefiting so much from that doctoral education. How did you come to your politics . The best way to describe that i was raised in a republican household. That was always my background but to get fired up and engaged was a guy from california named Ronald Reagan. I was a student at the university of georgia. He went from president on for president 1980. Was chairman of the College Republican of the largest State University in georgia and nothing against jimmy carter personally, have great admiration for him as a fellow christian, but i didnt feel his policies and leadership matched and so i went and worked for reagan and that was the beginning and then i never looked back. You look at Ronald Reagan as a happy warrior. Would you describe donald trump in that way . I would say yes with a heavy dollop of queens new york. He comes from a different cultural location than i am and i have Great Respect for that. I think were all unique based on upbringing and experience and family. He is a very unique individual. I had the privilege of sitting in his office for a lot of vacations and then people just walk in and talk to him or he would take a phone call. I could not believe he would just let me set there to have a birds eye view how the operated. But i got quite an education on what it was like to be in the Real Estate Industry in manhattan just listening to him talk and be who he was. I do think he is a happy warrior and the best is yet to come in the leaves he dreams big and thinks big and ask big. He is a counterpunch or. Everybody knows that. He looks for the best in believe the best. And i have to say, talk about this in the book come even though i didnt have a high opinion going in of him, i found him to be impossible not to lik like. I connected with him from that very first phone call and i really grew to like him and its an extraordinary family he is an american original. It is amazing what he has done. As a historian, do you see parallels . Yes and no. Obviously we were in the middle of the longest war america had ever been in at that time. Deeply divisive with our College Campuses with violence on our streets that far exceeds what we have now. But then to be completely turned upside down by mayor daley and billy club stand i dont think we have anything quite like tha that. Each time is unique and different. What about the president writing as law and order president . Yes and no. It remains to be seen whether or not to the george floyd and those that arose of that tragic assassination and then later of Bobby Kennedy april june of 1968. My own help, my own desire, i dont know if it will happen but im hopeful and i pray that it will that the democrats will pass in the first republican senator from South Carolina and then with the bipartisan legislation. This year it is competitive no question. It was sued races that are on the ballot then to be designed by the renaissance and then the others senate i cannot remember where that was resolved but in 2016 it was three or 45 percent how much can they invest although hillary came in with not a huge amount of money and donald trump one and i think he will when it again. Thats an issue at this from your book could they have this Trump Presidency whats the answer to that question . If you believe in the and the that two thirds supported somebody else in the primaries. He was not their first choice. He did when their vote so they denied it behind after he became the nominee. They didnt expect this to happen. Its fair to say most pundits are the same with bush or obama or clinton or a very else. Gods ways and he has plans but then they are in a position but even when we may disagree so ultimately and then make this clear in the book, we are not looking to doubt in the book but our hope is in jesus christ. For the then that the ultimate loyalty only belongs to god. Did you consider seminary . [laughter] yes but not seriously. I thought about it i dont think i missed my calling. I think im called to do what im doing now. Author of for god and countr country. Book number what . Thank you its always a pleasure to be with cspan. Its happening all over the country where citizens take all the choices and with that plurality that most people oppose and those that stood in the way not once but twice. These people did not make their superhero president ial candidat candidate, day became the protectors of democracy that we all imagined but launching our representatives. Some of these have been pushed back. But its important to remember two steps forward and a half step back through the extension and the retraction its never been a Straight Line and the current chapter with the nation itself we went to imagine the history is everexpanding with the 13th and 14th and 15th amendment with these victories on election day 2018 and it will get a lot more difficult to keep that democracy it turns out requires a lot of work but all of these stories show for that kind of democracy that they want to grab onto that Martin Luther king mark of justice and they pull it down hard they dont stand under that kind of pressure. Good evening will go to the virtual book festival. Im your host and we are so happy to have you with us today we wish you could be here in person but we are super excited to have you here virtually. Please do three things first like the video second let us know we are watching us from
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