Rick Green [00:00:07] You find your way to the intersection of faith and culture. The WallBuilders Show is where we take on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Our website is wallbuilders.com wallbuilders.com for our main website WallBuilders.show. If you just want to catch up on some of the most recent programing you might have missed. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution co-chair with Tim Barton. He's a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. And David Barton, America's premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. And guys, it's been a few days since we just had a catch up on all the news out there. There's so many things happening and of course, more appointments from the president. I guess he's pretty well filled out his his main appointment list. But a lot of talk around that. A lot of a lot of meetings on on Capitol Hill, A lot going back and forth there. And and then just big, big stuff like the trial in New York for for that Daniel Pinegar the Marine that that that choked out the guy that was, you know, attacking people on the subway. So the lot's happened. Just thought we would almost do a rapid fire around the horn and just catch up on what's been going on. But the one thing that looms large, I don't know any particular individual that seems to be in the news more than anybody else, like maybe everywhere they show up, it just seems to garner all the attention. I can't think of anybody like that, but maybe you guys can. 

David Barton [00:01:20] If you can't think of anybody like that. You're a lot older than I thought you were, bro. And your knees some. You're needing some visceral vitamins or something to get your brain working again. I mean, Trump has dominated everything, and I've been collecting articles just the last few days over how Trump has already become the president. He's he appears to be running it past his last inauguration some eight years ago. But people are coming to see him and not Biden. And so the number of world leaders that have come to meet with him and that they've already got things ironed out and worked out, he's not officially president yet. When the bypass and Biden and going straight at him and we talked the last time we were looking at some of the appointments talking about the fact that that Trump told Mexico and told Canada that, hey, if you don't shut down this fetnol stuff, and if you don't shut down the immigration stuff, 25% tariff on both your houses. And so here came Trudeau. And Trudeau comes over and meets with them. And then the president, new president Mexico, called him and he said, interesting. I've got these articles here stacked up or that suddenly Mexico has the largest ever bust of fentanyl. Now, the previous president in Mexico said, we don't produce fentanyl here in Mexico. It just goes through. Well, she went to the houses where it's being produced. The cartels are produced and pulled out. I don't know how many billion dollars worth and got that busted and has already stopped two caravans coming through Mexico and turn them back. And so suddenly, I mean, it's like talking to the president because they met with them, they got on the phone together. He said, here's what I want. And they said, you got it. We don't want the tariffs. And then in the case of Trudeau, after talking Trudeau, Trudeau actually flew down to meet with them. And lo and behold, who's there to meet with them Except Zelinski from from Ukraine is also there. And so Trump had already been talking to both Zaleski and Putin over the Ukraine stuff. And he said, look, essentially I want that war ended by the time I'm sworn in. I want that Ukraine Russia stuff done with. And and it looks like they're headed that direction. And, you know, Putin's made some noise. And Trump just basically said, look, Putin, I know each other. We get along really well. He knows what I'm serious about and it's just not going to happen. And so just listening to them talk about how that they think that even that war will be now, I think the big problem is going to be Zaleski is saying that. All right. Well, that Russia keep all the land Ukraine that it took. But we get to be a NATO member with all the land we have remaining. And that, I think, is a non-negotiable. I don't think that goes anywhere because the rest of Europe does not want Ukraine in NATO because that almost ensures a fight with Russia at some point. So we'll see. But nonetheless, just a number of international leaders coming to see Trump is remarkable. 

Tim Barton [00:04:11] Well, it's it's I think what is being term the Trump effect in a lot of areas where people are recognizing, as you're mentioning, that, that Trump is really already the leader here. And it is an interesting contrast that even in the early years of the Biden presidency, there were not many world leaders coming to meet with Biden. They were coming to meet with other leaders in America, other political leaders, and even people that were part of the the Biden White House. Whereas it's very clear that even though Trump might have some surrogates, he might have some people that he gives power and has them make decisions in certain areas that he is still the boss that people go to. And guys in the midst of seeing the Trump effect that as you talked about with Mexico and the fentanyl or even reports now that some of these large migrant caravans are already being broken up and so much it's happening. I even wonder guys with. Is Daniel Perry case up in was it New York subway where the individual that died. I had been arrested over 40 times, I think, or had 40 charges, something against them. But in a prison, I mean, so many things in New York just kept releasing this person. There was already some some violence. What was it, assault? I don't know what it was in the record, but some some kind of violent attacks. Again, I think they were assaults. But I'd have to go back and I want to confirm that. However, the reason I bring it up is I really do wonder, had Kamala Harris won, if this jury is like, you know, what does this do in prison? And if it was a different spirit and tone and with President Trump winning, you know, now with even people reporting that President Trump saying he's going to pardon so many of these January 6th prisoners on day one, because we know some of these individuals that have been put in prison, some of these like praying grandma kind of people. We've had some on the radio program before that literally just walked through an open door that were cordial and polite talk to police officers, thanked them for being there, were never told to leave. And granted, we can say they shouldn't have followed the crowd, but they weren't the ones doing bad things. And they're in federal prison. They they have felonies on the record in some cases. And we've even talked about for some of these people that actually went to trial, that the charges that came against them were largely like misdemeanor charges, that the whole thing has been a sham. And so recognizing that President Trump might come in and on day one say are we're done with this weaponization of the government against his people, where that the DOD, the DOJ, whoever it is, is going to target people that were on the wrong political side of the aisle. We're not doing that anymore. I do wonder if that had an impact, because we've already seen in some cases whether it be a Jack Smith who resigned, stepped down so he can't be fired by Trump, You know, once charges dropped, we're already seeing some of the legal side change. And I do wonder if that could have at all had an impact on this decision with his young Marine, because I think it certainly could, even though we might not know what really happened in the jury room, although there might be some reports that come out and I'm sure at some point once. People feel like they're there a little savoring and catch their breath. Somebody might, off the record, go on record and tell what happened and what some of the arguments discussions were. But I'm just very curious to see if President Trump's presence, the knowledge that he's going to be sworn in and be the leader, if that had an impact for people in the room on how they were making a decision. 

Rick Green [00:07:47] Well, and, Tim, just to remind everybody just how egregious that thing was. Right. We've talked a lot about your concern even going into blue cities where there's a Soros DA because of, you know, if you did have to defend yourself with a firearm, with a knife, with a fist with, in his case, a chokehold, you know that, then you're the bad guy. No. No matter what kind of crime they were committing or how bad they were coming after you, these these blue city Soros DAs see you as the bad guy and not the criminal. And that's exactly what happened to Daniel Penny. I mean, here's a guy that was defending people, people that were on the subway that day of talk about what a hero he was, how scared they were of the other guy. And and I think I had read like 20 people had been pushed in front of trains in just the last year. And that was on his mind. He had been reading about that. I mean, there was just all this crazy crime going on and it's still going on down there in the subway in New York. And here's a good guy that steps up and and defends everybody, and yet he's the one that gets prosecuted. So it is really an egregious case for sure. And the fact that then the judge tried to manipulate it and and the prosecutor dropped the main charge, which normally that's it, man. You go all the way to the jury deliberating if you went for the whole enchilada and they're going to acquit on that, then, you know, you're you're you made the wrong call as the prosecutor. But they let him even change that and get rid of the manslaughter charge. So it's just been it's just been crazy. And I think you're right, there's a calming effect that's coming with the Trump effect. That may actually, which I think is your point, reach even into these blue cities. 

Tim Barton [00:09:17] Well, it's also interesting, some of the reports I read from this, the Daniel Penney case, when the doctor who was identifying the chokehold as what killed them, the doctor never looked at an autopsy, didn't do an autopsy, just saw a video where like, yeah, a chokehold killed him without recognizing. Wait a second. What kind of drugs was in this guy's system? Right. What what was what was his body in his heart like? That So many things, Rick, to your point that you see the rigging of this system against someone who ultimately was trying to be a good guy and stop a bad guy from doing bad things, and this is one of the things that, you know, Rick, in your constitutional offense class we talk about so often is one of the reasons that we generally feel much safer being in a red state. And we like traveling to red states more than blue states is because when when there is moral clarity and certainly there should be legal clarity in this as well, when there is a bad person trying to do bad things to innocent people and you step up and use the appropriate force necessary to stop the bad guy from doing bad things. At that point, you shouldn't be guilty of anything. You should be celebrated and applauded instead of having people be dishonest and rig the system against you, which is certainly what happened to Daniel Penney throughout so much of this. And you know, guys, too, I do wonder I've seen a lot of people now suggesting that he should go back and sue the state. He should sue some of these news outlets, the people that slandered him, etc.. I do wonder also what impact some of those might have, because, you know, we can look back on some other individuals. A young man with an AR 15 that was attacked and use it to defend himself. And then he had lawsuits and and had some victories in some lawsuits. I do wonder if maybe even seeing the balancing on the scales of justice, if that even will help rein in not just some of these out of control DA's or prosecutors or judges, but even some of the media that tends to be so dishonest and one sided against, in many cases, good people trying to do good things to save people that were in harm's way. I do wonder if this well will help bring an awareness to some of these outwards that maybe, maybe this American system of innocent until proven guilty. Maybe, maybe we shouldn't report that this person has done all these bad things or have people on our our programs to talk about how bad and evil this murderer is and blah, blah, blah, whatever, without examining all the evidence. So it's going to be interesting to continue to see this unfold. And I do think certainly with President Trump and his leadership, the appointments he has, I think we will see a lot more accountability in a lot of these situations, which I feel like can only help bring more stability to some of the craziness and these big woke left liberal cities. 

Rick Green [00:12:24] Well, we're going to talk appointments for sure. There are several those to catch up on and just kind of see how they responded, how the Senate responded, how the media responded, and then how the how they countered to that and what the American people had had to say about that. Been a lot of activity on social media regarding these these presidential appointments or nominations. Quick break, folks. We'll be right back. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:13:51] Welcome back to The WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us. It's it's Wednesday and it's kind of like a it's a weird Wednesday. We're doing almost a good news Friday because we're catching up on things. But almost everything we're catching up on is good news. We just mentioned the the Daniel Penney acquittal in in New York. And then we had kind of alluded to some of the just Trump effect everywhere he's going internationally. David, you were talking about the international leaders coming to see him. And then there's just the whole assembling of the team, the The Avengers, the Marvel event. I don't know what to call it, but it looks like an amazing team that has been thrown together. And of course, a lot of wine and crying in Washington, DC, because they see these people as a major threat to their bureaucracy. 

David Barton [00:14:32] Well, one of the things that I think is a really good, good piece of news is the whining and complaining and who it's coming from. It's coming from the right people and it's for the right reasons. And Tim, you mentioned even with Penny, you wondered if he is going to go back and sue and, you know, try to get some reputation back. And what can't Patel has done is he's been nominated by Trump for the National Security Advisor. But what Kash Patel has done is absolutely amazing and being aggressive in that way. And it goes back to last week on MSNBC, there was a former Bush official, an intelligence official, kind of, I guess, mid-level, lower level somewhere in there. And she worked with Vice President Pence and for President Bush. And she said, I worked personally with Cash Patel as she was going through and talking just about how bad it was. And here's our quote. She said, I worked with Cash Patel in the White House. I was vice President Mike Pence's counterterrorism advisor, so I had to coordinate with cash a lot. Cash Patel is a delusional liar. Let me just be very clear about that. He would lie about intelligence. He would lie about making up things on operations. I think Mark Esper talked about that as well, where he put the life of Navy SEALs at risk in an operation where it came in Nigeria. And this is a guy who openly has contempt for people in national security, for people at DOJ and the FBI and all she goes. And so what happens right after the program, shortly after the program, Kash Patel's attorney files a notice of lawsuit that she is now under a defamation suit unless she can come up with evidence proving that he put Navy SEALs at risk, that he made up lies about operations, that he would lie about intelligence, that he misinformed past. He said, you've been saying all this on MSNBC. Put up or shut up. We're coming after you for millions. And I love that. And I love the fact that we've talked about this over the last couple of years, how Clarence Thomas has been saying, look, the old New York Times Sullivan standard back in the 1960s has got to go. It said that if you're a public official of any kind, you can't you can't be sued for libel, slander, depend on where come from. They can't be sued for defamation because you're a public official. And he said, no, no, no. Everybody gets protection under the First Amendment. What a novel idea. And so he's been begging for a case that would come to the court so that you could treat individuals. And this is the thing we found. You know, Rick, you and I have been through defamation cases that we've won. And we found that truth doesn't matter in a defamation case. That's not that's not why you win the case. And truth is not an adequate defense. Everybody can say anything they want about you if you're a public official and it doesn't have to be true, and that's just flat wrong. And so I love the fact the capital is not putting up with this nonsense. And I love the way that that it was handled. This editorial, it's like she she has been served notice that there's a change of she she this is what the article says. She's playing the victim and bemoaning a potential state of things. We're talking heads might once again be answerable for their accusations. You know, how great would that be if you actually had to prove the things that you make claims about? So I love that. And the other one I think is really kind of the same way was another of his nominees. And this was to replace Fauci. So the guy that replaces Fauci and man, I'll probably butchered this name, I would try Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and that could be totally wrong. He's got more confidence in his name that I think are in the alphabet, but nonetheless, I can't pronounce it really well. But he is now head of the NIH National Institute of Health, and he's the guy who wrote the Great Barrington Declaration. And back four years ago, five years ago, we talked about that, how that you had 16,500 professors and and scientists and all these medical people came out and said, no, Covid, this is not this is not what it's made out to be. Natural immunity. This this will work really well for people. Not sure and you know really kind of target thing with with preexisting conditions, etc.. And so they they literally censored him social media came out the case he had went all the way to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court upheld the fact that you. Cancel and social media can, you know, kind of squeeze these guys down and not let them have a voice. Well, he is in there now and he is so ready to clean house because he is the victim of all the weaponization of government. I mean, they shut him down even though he proved to be right and the court upheld the fact that they could shut him down. And it is just so refreshing to see him take the same type of tack that we're not going to put up with this anymore. We're going to reestablish truth as the basis of what we do. It's not going to be your opinion. It's going to be truth is going to be sides at the base of it. And it's just such a refreshing return to and as this is not the way I would have thought you could be weaponized government was just going back to loving the truth. But it's really working. Just going back to upholding the truth. I don't have to retaliate against anyone. I don't have to punish anyone. I just have to make you accountable. And I have to put the truth out there and I'll defend the truth. And you can argue the truth, but we'll see what the truth is. And we'll Rita and I would not have thought that that would be the retaliation. But right now, that's the way they're getting even, is just upholding the truth and putting truth back on the pedestal. And that's such a healthy way to do it. 

Rick Green [00:20:00] Well, to help us realize just how great this is, we have to take ourselves back to 2020 and realize how, I guess, disorienting it was that that truth didn't matter at all. And guys like the I can't ever pronounce his name, as you just said, Jay Buddha Gyra I thought of Chara Yeah, I mean, this guy has more credentials and degrees and you know, I mean well respected all of that and was silenced and dismissed and mocked for taking rational positions, scientific positions and all of his colleagues, as you mentioned, those thousands of other scientists and doctors and others with a very good declaration. And so it was just like we were all just a little bit off balance because it was so weird that that truth was so ignored and felt so Orwellian. We probably said Orwellian a million times in 2020. We did that little tour in in Georgia together, and you started doing that presentation about how important truth is and how people are going to have to seek out truth. And now here we are, three, you know, well, four years later after that. And exactly what you just said, it's almost like we're we are doing what you said four years ago. We had to fall back in love with truth. We have to seek out that truth. And now the people that did that are finally being put in positions to restore truth for the rest of the country. So it is so rewarding, is super exciting to see this happen. It just feels like we're returning to sanity, you know, I mean, it's truth, but it's also just common sense and insanity once again. And we've talked about the other words Tulsi Gabbard, you know, she's the one put on the terror watch list and now she's the one in charge of them. And then Kash Patel, you know, the fact that he's going to clean house of the FBI and it just go down the list. I mean, it is it is wonderful to see these truth seekers get in these positions of power so super. And what you're talking about, the pushback is critical for them to actually get there. They have to fight for that truth. 

David Barton [00:21:50] But you know, something else that came out just in recent days is really cool. As and we talked earlier, you mentioned that the Trump has basically filled all the major level positions, nice villain that the agency heads and there's thousands of those and his fill in the deputy directors, etc.. And one of the ones that he had taken on was his nominee for U.S. Drug Enforcement, the DEA. And it was this sheriff out of Tampa Bay, Florida. Sheriff, you know, seemed to have credentials and Trump nominated him. And then suddenly Sheriff Chad Chronister put a note out this as well. You know, this a great honor to be nominated, but I'm not going to do it. Well, it came out afterwards that Trump himself is the one who said, no, no, no, you're not going to do I made a mistake when I nominated you. And I think this is big on the part of Trump that he made this nomination and did not stand by it. He went himself on media and said, this is the guy who arrested one of my pastors because he is the guy in Tampa Bay that arrested Rodney Howard Brown for having church services in Florida during Covid and back Covid. This is when, you know, the Tampa Bay the the county government said, hey, we'll tell you what's essential and what's not essential. And what's essential is that you don't meet at church. That's essential. And Rodney Howard Brown said, no, you're not going to tell me. And by the way, he went, I was at his church. What He went in, they went in with all sorts of contamination teams between services and cleaned up and did everything above and beyond what was medically required, probably better off than most hospitals were at the time. And he still got arrested. But chronister. And so apparently that was not in Trump's wheelhouse of knowledge when he made the appointment or when the point was made, or it may have been made and he didn't recognize it. But as soon as it came to his attention, he went on social media and said, No, no, I'm pulling this back at my at my action. He is not going to be that nominee anymore because I'm not going to have him going after my pastors. And that's another thing I just think was absolutely remarkable that Trump acknowledges. A mistake and promptly corrects the mistake. And it does so to defend faith leaders and their stand at court. But it's just as remarkable. 

Tim Barton [00:23:59] Well, you know, guys, as we're talking about all this, one of the things that pops my mind, we have a couple of months after the program that I think is worth reminding everybody is as we're looking and celebrating the fact that we are, our God willing, going to see victories in so many areas, so much of what we have hoped and prayed would happen with accountability. Some of these systems, maybe even the removal of some of these Department of Education things that have not been successful, that have not been helpful, that have been onerous and burdensome to the American people, could be gone. I mean, so many incredible things. But we talked about this after the election. Ultimately, the position we're in is one that could allow us to actually go on offense at better levels than we've been able to in any of our lifetime. And so this is not to say that now, man, let's kick back and let's watch the show. Right. Is going to be incredible. Get the popcorn, get the sodas, whatever it is. Let's watch what's going to happen. No, no. This is the time to look around where we are to roll up our sleeves. That the Bible verse where we get the name WallBuilders comes in the Bible book, The story of Nehemiah and Nehemiah 217, where he said, Come, let us rebuild, that we may no longer be a reproach. Well, you keep going on the story, it says. So they set their hands to this great work that was before them rebuilding the wall. And this is really the opportunity we've been praying for these moments that God would allow us to go and try to restore things in our community. And now we have an opportunity where we can go. And by taking over some of these school boards and city councils and and having a voice, a seat at the table with what's happening right now with courts and judges upholding constitutional things once again, instead of so much of this wokeism, we are finally seeing things be positioned that are favorable for us to actually take some ground and rebuild part of this wall. And I'm saying it because certainly everybody in the Trump appoints is not going to be successful in everything they do. And there's many people were disappointed with. And we'll have programs talking about bad decisions they've made at some point, but we've never seen victories like this. This is not the time to sit back and relax. It's a time to roll up our sleeves and work on rebuilding that wall. 

Rick Green [00:26:12] And it's wonderful to hear the chorus of voices out there instead of saying, Yeah, okay, let's take a break now. We won the election. I haven't heard a single person say that. Everyone this time is saying, let's stay in the fight, press the gas, let's gain some ground. So many good things to report on. Hey, tomorrow we've got Foundations of Freedom Thursday and then Friday, we're going to have a good news Friday program for you. You don't want to miss either of those. If for some reason you miss, be sure and check out WallBuilders Dot Show to catch up on the programing and visit wallbuilders.com for all the other great information. Thanks so much for listening to the WallBuilders Show.