Faith, Culture, And Why We’re Here

Rick Green 0:07

It's the intersection of faith and culture. It's the WallBuilder show. Thanks for joining us today. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. We're taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. You

WallBuilders Programs And Conferences

Rick Green 0:17

can learn more about us at our two websites, wallbuilders.Show for all of our radio programs from the last few weeks and months, and then wallbuilders.com for everything else, uh, including you can learn about our legislators conference, which it's too late to encourage your legislator to go for this year, most likely, but for next year. So go ahead and send them some of those links. Great opportunity for them to come and hear from some great speakers and also just to just have some good iron sharpening. So be praying for the WallBuilders team as that conference is happening throughout the rest of this week in the Dallas Fort Worth area. And then you can also learn about our pastors' briefings and our youth programs and all the other opportunities to get involved, all available at wallbuilders.com. David Tim, lots of work to do, man. We're not uh you know, certainly sitting around uh moping around here. We're already looking at all the great opportunities the Lord has given us to make a difference in the culture, uh, to train up good candidates, to recruit good candidates, to educate people on the same things we've been educating them on. But I I'm sensing it tenfold, guys. We're gonna train ten times as many as we trained last year. We're gonna be doing that over the next couple of years. I just think there's gonna be lots of great opportunities. So we're um encouraged by the fact that God's still in charge, as as David likes to say, He wasn't taken surprise uh by surprise and uh saw this coming, and he prepared us for this moment. Uh I'm thinking of the Jeremy Camp song, We Were Made for This, uh These Days. We were made for these days, and uh we're in the right place at the right time.

Veterans Day Gratitude And Service

Rick Green 1:39

So today let's talk a little bit about uh, well, first of all, how we got here in the first place. We wouldn't have this radio program if it wasn't for our veterans and those that uh sacrificed some of the best years of their life, so you might say, you know, some of the young years of their life uh putting themselves on the line. And, of course, you know, we're uh very thankful for that here at Wall Bullers. We recognize the price of freedom. We always, you know, teach our our people in our circles to shake hands with people in uniform and tell them thank you for your service, but better than that, do the Lincoln thing and have an increased devotion to the cause. That's the best way to say thank you. So happy Veterans Day, guys.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah,

Federal Holidays And Sunday Mail History

SPEAKER_00 2:15

this is one of only two times in the entire year that we have two national holidays in the same month. And and by the way, you guys you keep up with how many national holidays we have now? Thousands? Probably. Yeah. Well, actually, it's down to eleven. So we have or it's up to eleven, I guess. There's eleven national holidays.

Tim Barton 2:40

And so how are you defining national holiday?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Like that's when it's a federal day off and employees receive time for not showing up.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

They receive so the ultimate rule is is the post office open, right? Isn't that like the ultimate rule on whether or not it's an actual holiday?

Tim Barton 2:56

Yeah, but now they're open on Sunday sometime. So I don't even know how to read that anymore.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah, you know, it was interesting that uh this is totally unrelated, but Tim, you triggered it. So uh that you have the Sundays accepted clause in the Constitution. It is really interesting that back in the 1830s and 1820s, there was a huge controversy over the post office working on Sundays. And the post office, the federal branch, worked on Sundays even back then, and it became a big deal that led to the Sunday legislation and kind of shutting it down for the federal government. So interesting that you would bring that up because the post office is the one entity in the federal government uh that has kind of over time been engaged in working on Sundays. Most of the time now they haven't since the 1830s, but that is an interesting throwback that that was a controversy way back then. And and for much of the nation, having Sunday off back then was a Sabbath consideration. Uh it was the day, the day of the week that you took off across most of America. But interesting, that was nothing to do with anything except what you just mentioned, Tim. Just had me a throwback, the history from the 1830s.

Tim Barton 4:05

Well, not to take away from the reality, it's Veterans Day. Uh I I think it was just yesterday. It was the Marine Corps birthday. So all of my friends who were Marine Corps individuals were sending me all kinds of messages, making sure I knew and could celebrate with them the Marine Corps birthday. Uh, good job, boys. I will have some extra crayons and coloring books coming your way. Uh, and that's for my friends listening from the Marine Corps uh and all the other branches can appreciate that. Now, with that being said, uh, absolutely, guys, as we actually, Tim, I heard I heard a Marine just the other day make fun of it.

Rick Green 4:39

It's so funny. He said, I'm I'm such a Marine, I can taste the different colors in the colors.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

That's you know, that's quality. You know, some of the most enjoyable times I have had are listening to Army generals and Marine Corps enlisted go at it back and forth with all the jokes they have against each other. I think General Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin may be the the the most fun I've ever heard with he and a Marine, uh a Marine What do we want to say? What would we call the I guess it's an enlisted officer. So a three-star Army General and an enlisted officer, Chad Roboshaw going back and forth with the cracks of each other's branch. It's hilarious.

Tim Barton 5:20

And to be fair, that's a force recon Marine Chad Robishaw, who also was a UFC champion. Uh, and so he's not backing down from anybody.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

Who tackled Tim uh at the White House? Uh, what was that last summer? And they made a video of it, and John Lovell said, My constitutional scholar can beat up your constitutional scholar. It was so great, man.

Tim Barton 5:42

It was it was one of the best greetings I've had in my entire life when Chad Robershaw came in and just fireman uh tackled me to the ground. It was it was epic. I loved it. Um, and it's guys like that that make me even more grateful for Veterans Day. Uh, the guys who have given so much and are not done, um, who are still finding a way to help service members and veterans. But uh ultimately today, we are so grateful for all of the people that have served. Obviously, for the people that are still serving, for those that paid the ultimate price. Um, we're we're so grateful for everyone that has put on the uniform because as we've been talking about all year with the Founding Fathers, when they pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, we recognize that everyone that put on the uniform and they swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that was the equivalent of them pledging their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for the cause of our nation. And we are so grateful that as as we are remembering the seeds the founding fathers planted, those seeds of liberty, that every man and woman who's put on the uniform to protect and defend our nation and uphold our Constitution has worked to further the foundation upon which the founding fathers built. And we are so grateful for everyone that's done that.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Yeah, and let's make the distinction as we do sometimes that this is real different from Memorial Day. Those are two really important armed services days. Memorial Day is honoring those who gave their life, the last full measure of devotion, as Lincoln said. Uh, and Veterans Day is all those who have served, all those who have worn the uniform and and stood for America in times of peace and times of war didn't matter.

Armistice Day Origins And Memorial Day

SPEAKER_00 7:23

And so what we have now for Veterans Day goes back to the end of World War I. At the end of World War I, you know, it's an interesting thing. World War I ended with an armistice, it didn't end with a victory. Um the the European forces just we all agreed to lay down arms and stop fighting. And so we call it a victory in World War I. The Germans and the Prussians stopped fighting, but there was never a surrender agreement signed and said, okay, we capitulate. It was just an armistice. We said, we've all had enough. Let's just stop. Let's go home, take our forces home. So the end of World War I, where everybody went home back to America, is called Armistice Day. And that was that was what they named it. So it's it's not it's different from World War II. It's not a victory, it's just we stopped fighting and everybody went back home after actually at that time. I think it was five years of World War I, two years for Americans, 1917, 1918 for us, but for Europe it was longer. And and so it was known as that until we we got further down the road after World War II, we wanted to honor the veterans who served in World War II and all those who wore the uniform. So in 1954, they changed it from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. And so it's been a federal holiday known as Veterans Day since 1954, and it is the day we we honor and commemorate and celebrate all those who have been willing to to put on the uniform in what some way, shape, fashion, or form. And so we we've had somewhere between six and seven percent of Americans serve in the military. Now, about one-fourth of a percent of those have have passed away as a result of military service while in service, and that's Memorial Day. But about six to seven percent of Americans have served in the military, and we appreciate those Americans who have done that. That is an elite few, although it's it's now several million. Uh it's still an elite few over time that have done that. And so that's that's kind of the background to the day and the difference between what we do here and also Memorial Day. But this is a time to commemorate and look at all the guys who have been willing to keep us the most unique nation in the history of the world, quite frankly, except maybe for Israel.

Rick Green 9:36

Yeah, and

Patriot Academy Mission For Veterans

Rick Green 9:37

you know, one of the things that I just want to offer to people out there to be able to tell their veteran friends about, if they've never been through a Patriot Academy leadership congress for military veterans, it's a great way for them to all of them always say afterwards, man, now I know what I was fighting for, and now I know what my next mission is. Because a lot of these guys, you know, they they they are looking for that next thing that they can do that where they feel like they're still serving the country and still making a difference and having an impact. And so we want them to, you know, run for office or you know, get involved and and and be a still be a part of protecting the nation. You're just doing it on the on the domestic front here in the country. So if you if you got some friends that that are like that, or maybe you're listening and you're a veteran, you'd like to be a part of that, man, come down to one of our military veterans leadership congresses. You can uh learn more about that at patriotademy.com. But very much so, thank you to every single one of you for your service. Um,

Election Results And Turnout Reality

Rick Green 10:25

guys, before we go to the break, of course, uh still a lot going on in terms of figuring out elections. I did see we talked yesterday about the Alaska thing with uh Lauren Basker uh Baxter who was who was with us, and then uh it looked like more votes dropped since then. It looks like uh Sullivan, Dan, the real Dan Sullivan, is ahead now by a few hundred votes. Not not a lot, but a few hundred uh votes. So that one I guess is still technically out there. Any other surprises that have happened in the last few days that uh that we haven't talked about on the program yet that y'all noticed?

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Well, there's they're still calling races. Uh that's that's going on for sure. Looks like there's still a couple recounts uh that that are also going on that look really close. So it's still gonna be a while before before we know exact numbers in the in the House. I mean, we we have enough decided that we know the balance of power has clearly shifted and gone in a different direction. Um the the number of seats that switched hands have been significant. Although I'm gonna go back to what we talked about the day after election, the margin is really pretty narrow. It just happened that all these close races overwhelmingly broke for Democrats. Um but when you look that I mean, out of the hundred and twenty-something million votes that were cast, the the lower level, seven million fewer um evangelical votes in the election is really what what turned it. That that seven point one million scattered over to the fifty states would have won most of those close races that they've been calling over time. So while it looks like a smear and a landslide and and a complete repudiation, and in some ways it it feels like that certainly because the margin difference between the two sides, like in the House and elsewhere, but at the same time, when you look at the numbers, it's not all that it would appear to be.

Tim Barton 12:09

Well, and Dad, to this point, because I know where you're going, it looks like a repudiation if you look at some of the governor races, if you look at some of the Senate races, you're like, man, this is a blowout. But if you look at the congressional seats, that's where it gets a little more interesting. Because in some of the places, like in Texas, where James Talarico won significantly against Ken Paxton, in a lot of those same districts that voted for James Talarico, they also voted for Republican congressmen. And so it almost seems like some of the voters were bipolar, which you know, part of their frustration that there could be a multitude of factors. But to your point, this is when there is a little more nuance in some of the data that maybe doesn't indicate it was a complete landslide, the way that it's it's semi-portrayed, even though Democrats picked up significant gains uh in in Congress. This is not a downplay that, but it is to signify that some of the data, it's it's a little bit like sending mixed signals for anybody that's been in a dating relationship or married or has kids. At times you can get mixed signals from people that you love and care about, and you're like, I don't know what's happening right now. Yeah, the voters were sending some mixed signals when, for example, in Texas they're voting for Brandon Gill and he won by eight eight points in his district, and in the same district, they supported James Talarico, and James Talarico won by 13 points. So, how in the world do you have the same voters going, man, we love Brandon Gill, how conservative he is, but we're gonna support James Talarico? That doesn't make sense at all. It's a it's a little mixed signaling that we're seeing, but Dad, I think to your point, it maybe is not as a complete landslide as some of the media might portray it.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

And in some ways, it's uh in in a lot of the rural areas uh where they don't have large populations, there's seven and eight-man football teams. And it's kind of like in some areas, the seven and eight-man football team showed up to play an eleven-man football team, and and a lot of that was the rural areas literally across the nation, the rural areas which tend to vote Republican just did not Show up well at all. But the the urban areas absolutely performed and they showed up. And so it's it's kind of like we left part of our team at home. Uh and the other thing was evangelicals. Evangelicals they fell by 7.1 million total votes, and so many of those votes were in the very, very close congressional districts, and that's why some some of those congressional districts took days to determine which side won. Now, they ended up mostly all breaking for Democrats, not all of them, but but many did, and that's why they have such a big margin. But when you look at the margin numbers of total votes in the the House and Senate or total representatives, it looks like a landslide. But when you look more at the votes that went on in particular districts, it was really pretty close. And again, a lot of our team didn't Show up in the rural areas and and the church areas. They just didn't didn't Show up to play much.

Voter ID Wins And Moving Forward

SPEAKER_00 15:15

So that's another reason not to really take this as a repudiation, getting depressed, um, because the other thing we saw was in those states that had ballot initiatives that wanted to do things to secure the vote, that wanted voter integrity and wanted voter ID, which is a very red idea. In blue states, voter ID won in the states on those ballots. Even though they overwhelmingly elected Democrat governors, they said, hey, we want voter integrity, we want voter ID, and they did the same thing with no men and women's sports, which is a very Republican thing. And so even the Democrat voters that were out largely voted for those two measures. And so it is kind of that bipolar thing. And I think a lot of that means that a lot of the Democrat voters don't really even know what their own party stands for on things like voter ID and things like men and women's sports. So all that to say, don't be depressed. Uh it's a setback, it's a loss. But we pick up and go on. We just every day we we just keep doing what's right. And so just don't dwell on it and don't worry about it. Just start working for the next election. We're already working for two years off, already working on recruiting candidates and getting good people to run. So we're into the next cycle, and that's the thing you do. Forgetting those things that are behind the Bible says you look forward. And that's what we want to do. Don't look back. We've learned from the lessons, and we can learn more, but we're moving forward and just keep that right attitude.

Republican Leadership Change Teaser

Rick Green 16:41

Well, speaking of that, and as we go to break, uh we'll we'll just throw this out there and then we'll talk about it when we come back. We got a uh new leader of the Republicans in the House. Mike Johnson was very uh gracious and graceful in his uh exit as the uh as the speaker or you know in that process right now, but basically made it clear he's not going to seek to be uh the minority leader in the next Congress. And looks like that will be Jim Jordan. So we'll talk when we come back. Uh who is Jim Jordan? What does this potentially mean for the Republicans in this next chapter? Stay with us, you're listening to the WallBuilder show.

Tim Barton 17:14

Hey guys,

America 250 Landing Page And Resources

Tim Barton 17:15

this is Tim Barton from WallBuilders. I want to let you know about a special landing page we have on the WallBuilders website. If you go to wallbuilders.com, there is a little box that says WallBuilders is celebrating 250 years of American freedom and independence. Click on that little box and it will take you to the landing page for 250 years of America. And on the landing page, there are several different little boxes you can click on. One of them is for events, it will let you know of some major events that are that are coming up that are going on that you can actually come and participate in. You can come here. My Dad or I give speeches, tell them the stories about the birth of the nation, about the founding fathers, the faith connection in America. There's also a tab for resources that you can click on, and it will take you to lots of different speeches and sermons and documents and proclamations from the founding era. And then there's also a little tab that will take you to the WallBuilder store with lots of resources, all the things that maybe a hat you want to wear, a shirt to wear, or other Wallbuilders products to read. This is the place to go to celebrate 250 years.

Rick Green 18:17

Welcome back

Who Jim Jordan Is And Why It Matters

Rick Green 18:18

to the Wallboil show. Thanks for staying with us. We were talking about uh Jim Jordan uh uh being chosen yesterday as the um House Minority Leader going into the uh I don't know how to describe it, guys, other than next chapter. I mean, we've obviously been the Congress has gone back and forth several times over the last 15, 20 years. This is a pretty significant margin, and and you guys know Jim pretty well. You have you've had him at a lot of your uh pastors' conferences and other conferences in in DC. I don't know him well, but I've I've loved what I've seen, observing from the outside. Um, seems like he's the kind of fighter you'd want to in in this kind of position that that he's gonna have to have to lead from. What do y'all think?

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Yeah, he he's a fighter all the way back to his college days. He's a wrestler. Uh he was a championship wrestler, he was a wrestling coach. He he literally taught fighting and strategy, etc. So he's quite an athlete himself. His wife, Polly, is a remarkable lady, just a real class act. Um, out of Ohio, those two guys are really solid. Uh Jim is very conservative. He is part of the Freedom Caucus, but he is as um uh oftentimes a lot of people paint the Freedom Caucus as flamethrowers. Jim is just very conservative, but he's also very strategic. He's a very articulate speaker. Um he's very soft spoken, but with a big backbone, and he is a great competitor. That just is part of who he is and who he's been from back in his wrestling days in college and wrestling coach, et cetera. So he's he's gonna be a real good strategic thinker. And being over the Judiciary Committee as he was for the last several years, that is one of the toughest committees in the House to handle. And that's the one that often has to dig the deepest into some of the ugliest problems and has to deal with those legally. Uh, and so he's got good training and he's he's just done a superb job of chairing that really difficult committee. That committee and appropriations may be two of the biggest, hardest committees in the house. And Jim has very successfully handled that committee over recent years. So he's gonna be a very it's gonna he's gonna walk into this like he's got a lot of experience, which he does. He hadn't been speaker before, but he does have the the capacity, the grace, the backbone, and the knowledge to be able to handle a lot of things, including working with now the majority party Democrats, um, without without giving away the farm, because he's just got a backbone that's not going to do that. But he's a very, very articulate leader, very good guy.

Tim Barton 20:40

Yeah, he also has a an incredible memory. That is you're saying he's articulate. It's true. He is such a good communicator, but what makes him so incredible is his memory and recollection, where so many times we've been with him, and he would say, you know what, I was on this committee on this specific day four years ago and had this witness come in and say this. And then actually three weeks later, another witness came back, and he's just like verbatim, this amazing recall recounting what's there. And the reason that has been awesome to watch is because so often as we have seen him having these uh viral highlights all over social media at times, where he's calling out witnesses that have come to testify, and he'd say, Oh, actually, you were here before us last year, and here's what you testified. His recall is phenomenal. And when you have somebody that is trying to uh to first of all defend conservative policies and principles and communicate what those are, but also then point out what oftentimes is the hypocrisy, the inconsistency, the gaslighting of the other side. This isn't somebody that just intuitively knows it's there, he actually can recall the specific day, time, and moment. So, guys, I I am super excited about him being there. He's also one of the guys who is. Like our friend uh Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, somebody that is just such a genuine person. Uh Jim Jordan is one of the least pretentious individuals we've ever been around in Congress. And I say this because whenever he would come speak at our pastor's briefings, it was incredibly common that we'd be texting with the staffers and they let us know, hey, he's on his way over. But he would leave the staff, he would walk over to wherever our pastor's event was somewhere in Washington, DC. Um, he would just have his uh normal suit on, but his jacket was missing, his tie was uh undone a little bit, his top button was unbuttoned, his sleeves are rolled up, and he would just come in by himself, no entourage around him. And maybe, you know, Dad, to your point, when you know some of his history, the fact that he was a NCAA Division I champion uh as a wrestler, and then he was a a Division I at the Ohio State University, one of the places where he coached, uh, you realize this guy probably can handle himself, you know, whenever he might have to be in that situation, but he would just come in um unassuming, didn't have an entourage, and and just came to connect and talk and encourage these pastors. That is exactly the kind of guy that we have prayed for and wanted and needed to be able to help lead some of this movement. So just like Mike Johnson was such an answer to prayer, I look at Jim Jordan as similarly an answer to prayer, but now in a different way. Mike Johnson had the ability to lead uh a crazy cat circus. Um, wrangling all these cats, Jim Jordan has the ability to be an incredible defender at a time when Democrats now are looking to take the lead and probably do and say some crazy stuff. He is gonna be an incredible voice on the other side to point out again where the there is the hypocrisy, where there is the gaslighting, where there are the inconsistencies and the the basic contradiction of common sense and why it's not gonna work. When you look at some of the things that happened this last election where so many people voted for Democrats because the thought was we need our gas and groceries to go down, Jim Jordan's gonna be the guy that says, Hey guys, I just want to point out if you look at any state where Democrats are in charge, that's the place where the gas and the groceries are the most expensive. So this is not like they're not the leaders you need to help solve this problem. He's that kind of guy that's gonna point out the obvious contradictions of what the other side says. So I am absolutely gonna be standing by with popcorn in my soda uh to watch the Show as Jim Jordan takes on so many of these crazy Democrats that are now in Congress.

Rick Green 24:36

Yeah, man, I think it's gonna be fantastic. Um the bad news is Dana White is not gonna be the press secretary. It was all a joke to make me get excited about how fun the press conferences would be. Um so that's the bad news of the week. They did have some fun with it, though. I mean, he flew out there, you know, actually walked out, you know, with the president, did a little, you know, bit at the podium, and uh and then of course the president had his he was his own press secretary for the for the rest of the time.

Encouraging Lawmakers To Stay In Fight

Rick Green 25:01

So um back to what we were talking about earlier, uh, the fact that we got the legislators' conference coming up this week. What do you guys kind of I I don't want to I don't want to steal your thunder for your messages uh this week with um with the legislators, but what would you say to our listeners that you're also gonna say to the legislators about staying encouraged and staying in the fight and where to go from here?

Tim Barton 25:21

Well, Rick, there's a lot of things obviously we're gonna talk about all three of us are gonna be there uh to encourage these legislators. Uh Dad, one of the fun things uh as we were even prepping today for our opening night talk, uh going to the Founding Fathers, Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honors, uh, highlighting some of those stories of those guys, uh, I'm excited to help connect some dots for some of them because we have legislators coming from nearly 40 states right now. And there are people coming from all different areas, um, some different factions, uh, different stages of life, and being able to walk through the founding fathers and Show, hey, here's some guys that pledged uh their lives, their fortune, sacred honor. Here's the guys that gave part of their fortune, here's the guys that gave part of their sacred honor, here's the guys that gave their lives, and by the way, different ages, uh different issues going on. Uh it's I'm excited already for the opening kickoff, which happens tomorrow. And then we will definitely get into a lot of important issues. We have uh entire half a day set aside to talk about the Islam issue. We're gonna get into AI and data center, so many important topics, but ultimately encouraging these guys to stay in the fight, roll up their sleeves, be like Nehemiah, don't come down off the wall, continue to work to rebuild.

Prayer, Next Steps, And Sign Off

Rick Green 26:34

Well, it's gonna be a great weekend this weekend. Pray for those legislators and be thinking about who you can send next year that you know as legislators. Thank you so much for listening today. You've been listening to the Wallpover show.