Values Voter Summit Interview With Jenna Ellis Rives: We call it, “Good News Friday” because it’s a chance for us to share some good news from across the nation and around the world. Today, we are also getting some good news updates from Jenna Ellis Rives, a Trump 2020 campaign advisory board member. Tune in now to learn more!

Air Date: 11/01/2019

Guest: Jenna Ellis Rivas

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith And The Culture 

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! Where we”€™re talking about today”€™s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture, always doing that from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton, national speaker and President of WallBuilders, and my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author.  FYou can find out more about us at our website WallBuildersLive.com, where you can find a list of all the stations we’re on across the country. You can also get archives the program over the last few weeks and a lot of other great information. It”€™s also the place to click on the contribute button and become a donor of WallBuilders. What that means is we’re able to reach more people, and equip them, and inspire them to make a difference and to get involved and give them the tools they need to help restore America’s constitutional republic. 

You become a part of that, and we so appreciate it. It can be a five dollar a month donation or it can be a one time donation, $50, $100, whatever God puts on your heart, to be able to help us with this program. Believe me, you are investing in the future of the country. 

9th Circuit Court Backs Trump”€™s Defunding of Planned Parenthood

We see the results of all the different programs that we do, from our youth leadership programs like Patriot Academy, to our pastors trainings we do in Washington D.C., to our legislators programs that we do, all of those things produce good fruit. You get to hear about it here on Good News Fridays, but all of it is a way that you can be a part of helping to save the nation. 

We encourage you to check that out at WallBuildersLive.com. 

It’s time to dive into some of that good news. Later in the program Jim Ellis Rees will be with us from Values Voter Summit. But let’s get into some good news. David Barton’s got our first batch of good news, David?

David:

Do you remember the last time we had good news from the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals?

Rick:

I do! We actually had some a few weeks back, the first time in ten years, but it was some piece of good news. I can’t remember what the case was.

David:

It was guns. The first one is guns, so what do you think the second one is going to be?

Rick:

I don’t know how it gets any better. Religious Liberty? A Judge? 

David:
No, it’s even bigger than that for California. 

Rick:

A new appointee or an issue?

David:

It’s an issue. 

Rick:

A good news issue from the Ninth Circuit. So you’re saying this is a decision it’s actually been made. 

David:

From the Ninth Circuit, and they’re going to let Trump—what Trump did was he stepped in to defund Planned Parenthood—and of course the lawsuit is, “€œYou can’t stop that!”€ And the Ninth Circuit said, “€œYes you can.”€Â 

A “€œPich Me”€ Moment

So they’re letting the Trump Administration”€™s policy go forward on stopping and defunding Planned Parenthood. I might have believed that out of the Fifth Circuit, maybe, or some of the other circuits that are all Republican or something. I might have believed it. But out of the Ninth Circuit? To get a decision that let’s the Trump policy move forward to defund Planned Parenthood, I would say that’s a big Ninth Circuit decision, and that’s huge news, not just that Trump’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood moves forward, but there is the Ninth Circuit that upheld that.

Rick:

Wait a minute. We got guns good news out of the Ninth Circuit and life good news out of the Ninth Circuit. 

David:

Yes this is definitely a pinch me moment. That’s radical. 

This is gonna sound like the Trump good news program here for a little bit, but it is because we got so much going. In addition to that, Trump didn’t just stop with defunding Planned Parenthood in America. He also expanded saying—

Rick:

Defunding Planned, not funding, defunding. I just want to emphasize that there. De. Tim::

Defunding to the extent that he can for the funding they get. So that doesn’t mean they’re not funded on some level, but he only has so much authority of the funding that some of what they get from the federal government. And so, to his end, in what capacity he has, he has defunded them with what he’s able to do.

David:

But he didn’t stop there. 

He said, “€œWhile we’re at it, let’s just go ahead and defund the International Planned Parenthood side, where we’re using federal dollars to help Planned Parenthood internationally.”€Â 

Good News Unheard from Major Media Outlets

So the second piece of good news is that not only is he defunding domestically, but defunding internationally what he can with Planned Parenthood.

But then let’s go to another one as well.

The State Department—the Trump Administration got a request from overseas embassies to fly the gay pride flag from the embassies overseas, and President Trump said, “€œNo, I don’t think we’ll do that. Let’s fly the American flag.”€Â 

So that is again such a change from previous administrations and such is such an unexpected stand. You do that just for political correctness.

It is a, “€œWe fly the American flag all the other days, so it’s OK to do that.”€Â 

No, no, no, this is this is about Americans, not about groups. So you got a really big one there. 

I’ve got this new one where he just kicked the Chinese out of the Port of Long Beach in California, which I didn’t even know we had the Chinese in the Port of Long Beach in California. They were running the big container service over the container port. We had made a deal with them back in 2012, and let the Chinese come in at that point. 

As he pointed out, that deal should never have been made. Nonetheless, he’s now kicked the Chinese the communist out of that major sea port in Los Angeles. 

Why they had control of that, who knows? But they don’t know. Just that by itself, there’s four pieces, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, of good news. 

And I learned all of this from listening to CNN. 

I meant to say MSNBC. That’s why I saw it.

No, wait. 

I’m sorry. I watched this on FOX. No, wait, it wasn’t him on Fox. 

Where Good News Friday Began

Gracious, you know, isn’t it strange how the good news like this, which really is big stuff for so many Americans if you get traditional values, and faith, and whatever, this is big stuff and yet we’re not hearing this from any national news source? So this really is big stuff that Trump is doing, and we’re just not hearing much about it. But he’s doing a lot of other good stuff as well.

Rick:

You guys do this to me every week. You always bring out these stories that I haven’t heard. All these Good News Fridays we’ve had, what’s the secret? Where do you guys go find this stuff?

David:

Part of where this comes from is, years ago, our state legislators wanted to know where they could find good news. Back then our Executive Director, Christie Stedman, would go through hundreds of articles a day from all sorts of news servers. She tapped into all sorts of search services and would look for keywords, where they’d be pro-life or whatever, and she would come up with maybe three, four, five articles a week that she would send out to the legislators that would encourage them. It was stuff they hadn’t heard of, that would deal with issues they’re dealing with in the States. 

Jenna Ellis Rives will be with us After the Break

So we’ve continued that for several years now. We now have a new Executive Director. Christie retired, she did a phenomenal job, and now we have a new one and she’s doing the same thing, and so a lot of this comes from what we’re feeding the state legislators. It’s because we go through so many hundreds of articles a day. This stuff is out there, it’s just not picked up by the major news media, but it is good news for Americans on so many levels, and that’s why we love sharing it.

Rick:

I hear people all over the country to thank us for Good News Friday and the encouragement that it is. I appreciate you guys seeking those articles out. There is more good news at our website WallBuildersLive.com. 

For the rest of our good news program today, we’ve got a special interview Tim Barton had a chance to do with Jenna Ellis Rives while we were out at Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C., and it’s a lot of good news as well. She works on the 2020 advisory campaign, so she’s involved in a lot of what’s going on and she’s got some of that good news to share as well. When we come back we’ll be at the Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C.! Stay with us, you”€™re listening to WallBuilders Live.

Share a veteran’s story

We Want To Hear Your Vet Story

Rick:

Hey friends! If you have been listening to WallBuilders Live for very long at all, you know how much we respect our veterans and how appreciative we are of the sacrifice they make to make our freedoms possible. One of the ways that we love to honor those veterans is to tell their stories here on WallBuilders Live.  Once in awhile, we get an opportunity to interview veterans that have served on those front lines that have made incredible sacrifices have amazing stories that we want to share with the American people. 

One of the very special things we get to do is interview World War II veterans. You’ve heard those interviews here on WallBuilders Live, from folks that were in the Band of Brothers, to folks like Edgar Harrell that survived the Indianapolis to so many other great stories you heard on WallBuilders Live. 

You have friends and family that also served.  If you have World War II veterans in your family that you would like to have their story shared here on WallBuilders Live, please e-mail us at [email protected]  Give us a brief summary of the story and we’ll set up an interview. Thanks so much for sharing here on WallBuilders Live!

Welcome Jenna Ellis Rives at the Values Voter Summit

Tim:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! This is Tim Barton. We are joined by Jenna Ellis Rives, who is a Trump 2020 advisory campaign member, so working to help give President Trump re elected, and also a constitutional attorney. I cannot count the number of times I’ve seen you on Fox News. Jenna, thanks so much for being with us.

Jenna:

Thank you so much for having me. It’s great to be here at the Values Voter Summit and just see you know all of the people here who are standing up for faith, family, and freedom, and that includes President Trump, which is so exciting!

Tim:

So, as you’re mentioning President Trump, one of the things that we’ve said on our show is how we’ve been pleasantly surprised by not only what we’ve seen from President Trump in the sense of the direction of putting America first on so many levels of the economy, as people can point to, but specifically how constitutional he’s been on so many issues, which was a major concern for so many people coming in because he didn’t have political background. This is a business guy.

Jenna:

Right. A lot of people were concerned, saying, “€œHe’s going to come in and think that he runs the country as some kind of dictator CEO in the boardroom! Is he going to stay within the margins of the U.S. Constitution and respect the rule of law?”€Â 

As a constitutional law attorney, that is the number one exciting thing that I love talking about, that he has not only stood up for our values, but he’s done so brilliantly within the Constitution and our rule of law. 

How Trump has been a Constitutional President

He is—the only reason that he hasn’t gotten more done on behalf of family faith and freedom is because the Democrats have been the party of obstruction. They refuse to work with him on commonsense immigration, they refuse to work with him on the budget, they refuse to work with him on so many issues. 

Let’s be honest, the president of the United States, under Article 2, can’t just be a dictator. So he understands he has to work with Congress, but within the power of the executive branch that he does have, he has defunded Planned Parenthood to the best of his ability, and to the extent of his authority he has appointed a federal just justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, and federal appellate judges and also on the lower court bench—over 150 of them now—that are constitutional originalist. He has done so much to help the economy, to lower unemployment, to protect and promote family values, and he’s done so—like I said, just within understanding that America is a constitutional republic. That is why I’m such a proud supporter of him, because he understands how our constitutional republic actually works.

Tim:

We’ve talked about on this program, how not only of those 150 appointments how much we’ve cheered them on, but we’ve said, “€œWe don’t know, if somebody asked us to pick, that we could’ve found better options than President Trump did.”€Â 

Surround Yourself with Wise Council

And President Trump didn’t know all those people, so he clearly has some amazing advisers around him. One of the things as people of faith—which we are people of faith, the majority of our listeners are people of faith—the Bible even gives guidance that you should surround yourself with wise counsel. We certainly don’t know everybody President Trump is surround himself with, but we do have several friends who have been in the inner workings of some of this that we do know, and so some of our friends like Kelly Shackleford, who has been an adviser helping fix these judges, and Jay Sekulow, who”€™s also been an adviser on some of these judges. He is not only made some great decisions in policy or appointments, but also some of the people that he surrounded himself with has been very impressive to us.

Jenna:

Absolutely. And I can tell you from working very closely with the administration, and now on the campaign side, I have been so impressed with the people that I have met and that he has surrounded himself with. They”€™re people who’ve been with him since the moment that he walked down to the elevator and came down out of Trump Tower, and even before he signed up on the campaign for 2016 originally. They are some very, very solid Christians, some very solid patriots, who understand our constitutional framework. 

Doing What”€™s Best for the Country

I think that those people who are behind the scenes on both the campaign and the administration side have really advised him well. So all of the accomplishments of President Trump has been because he has very good people that he surrounded himself with, and we see some of those names that you just mentioned, but then even some of the people that are behind the scenes that I’ve personally worked with are just really amazing people. 

So the left, of course, attacks that and say, “€œLook at the revolving door!”€Â 

Well, that’s just simply not true. This administration isn’t a revolving door any more than past administrations. There is a turnover—a natural turnover—during midterms, as we’re looking for the next four years the next the second half of his administration, hopefully. So we have to kind of cut through a lot of that false and fake news and see genuinely that the policy is being accomplished because, as you said, he surrounded himself with very very good advisers that he genuinely listens, but at the end of the day he is a CEO in the boardroom, and will make those tough calls and do what’s best for this country. 

I think that blending of strong leadership while obtaining wise counsel has been the thing that has really propelled this administration forward. 

Tim:

Looking forward, as certainly I am someone who is very excited about the potential of another four years of the direction this nation has already started on. The question is what do you think? What do you think it’s gonna take for President Trump to win a re-election? 

Democratic Candidates are “€œSo Far Left They”€™re Falling Off the Stage”€

Obviously if we’re looking right now, nobody’s crystal ball, but you’re looking at Joe Biden, who’s not doing as well,  and Elizabeth Warren is rising, which doesn’t totally terrify me because I think she’s just far enough left it terrifies a lot of the moderates.

Jenna:

Absolutely. You look at every one of those Democrats that is on the 2020 stage pursuing the Democratic nomination. They are so far left, they’re almost falling off the stage. Every single one of them is so socialist, is so progressive—you talk about their fear that President Trump is this dictator? Well look at the promises that Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg and Beto O”€™Rourke are making to to just literally go in with executive order on day one and forget about Congress. That is the definition of a dictatorship. They are promising that they will break their oath of office the moment they might have an opportunity to swear it. 

That should scare and terrify everyone, because our Constitution was not only written for one party. That’s why there is a difference between conservatism and liberalism. Everyone should be a conservative regardless of what you think policy should be. We should all be conserving and protecting freedom in this country for everyone, equality for everyone, religious freedom for everyone, and conserving truth—conserving the rule of law—is what are our entire country is based off of. That’s what President Trump is doing. Not one of those Democrats is willing to stand up for our Constitution.

The Lunacy of the Left

Tim:

Even along those lines, President Trump has been such a champion of religious liberty. So as a person of faith, that’s something that we were very concerned about the direction our nation was going. And now, as you’re mentioning, some of these Democratic candidates, where not long ago you had better or worse, come out and say, “€œNope, churches that don’t support unbiblical positions,”€ —so if you hold a biblical position they should lose their tax exempt status. 

You are seeing the radicalness revealed, which—as your part of the Trump advisory team—I think would give some encouragement to you guys going if these guys are going that far left. This is just going to make our job even easier. In spite of having to fight that ridiculous news, The fake news media, do you guys feel pretty optimistic going forward?

Jenna:

Absolutely. I think that a lot of people are seeing that with the Democratic Party. I even have friends that I go on the air with all the time who are Democrats, but they are scared of where their party is going. There are even ones who will just on the side under their breath admit, “€œYou know, at this point I’m voting for Trump because I will not vote for any of those other people. They don’t represent my party.”€Â 

The Left Pushing People Away with their Extreme Positions

So even though there are some that used to be that Democrats, and Republicans were just a little to the right of center, a little to the left of center, now there is such a huge gap, and I think reasonable people see that the progressive left is the party of Socialism, Communism, taking away freedom, not protecting religious liberty for anyone, and being the party of dictators taking away our constitutional protected freedoms. That scares people who, even if they disagree with people of faith, they don’t want to see their liberty taken away either. 

I think that what we have to do as Christians is not just talk about what we are personally excited about—we can amongst ourselves, like this conversation talk about religious freedom and that’s so great—but when we’re in the wider secular world we can talk about how President Trump is the only candidate in 2020 that wants, genuinely, religious freedom for all, wants the constitutionally protected freedoms, self-governing to make decisions that are in your family’s best interests, to make sure that you have the freedom and capitalism to earn a better income to pursue the American dream. That should resonate with everyone, and I think that it does to him because there is not one moderate on that stage.

Tim:

Jenna, as you were speaking with so much clarity, I can imagine right now that there are listeners going, “€œOK, I want to know more about where is the best way for people to follow you to find out more about some of what you’re communicating right now?”€

How You can be a Part of the Solution

Jenna:

You can find me on Twitter @Jenna Ellis Rives. You’ll find me on Twitter, on Facebook, Jenna Ellis Rives, and there’s a lot of videos on Fox News, Fox Business, on issues that I’ve spoken to. You can also go to our campaign website DonaldJTrump.com if you want to be part of the 2020 movement.

Tim:

OK, so part of the solution going forward, how can they engage? What’s the best way? Obviously follow you on Twitter may be right in this situation, DonaldJTrump.com is what you’re advocating. So what can people do? Most Americans, I think, are being concerned with what we are seeing happening culturally. What do you think some of the best examples of what people can do right now to get involved and be part of the solution?

Jenna:

I get that question all the time, and I think it’s a great one. We can’t minimize how important it is just within our sphere of influence. 

A lot of people say, “€œI don’t have the platform of going on national television all the time and so I really can’t make an impact.”€Â 

That is not true. 

If you are talking to your network, to people that you work with, to people that you go to church with, or to your neighbors, or whoever you interact with, the best advocate is someone that you know personally. You will be the best advocate for people that you interact with and already have a relationship with. If every single person who’s a Trump supporter influences their own personal network, that is actually more effective than anything I could possibly do, or you could possibly do, on a national stage. 

Remember to Vote

I think that we have to make sure that we are taking every opportunity to advance the cause of Christ to preserve and protect our democracy. Additionally, the second most important thing is to vote. Get out and encourage your friends and family to vote, because we have to be responsible civic citizens, and use our vote effectively, and make sure that we are preserving and protecting our constitutional republic through voting in 2020.

Tim:

So cool. If people wanted more, they could find your Twitter, @JennaEllisRives, on Facebook, Jenna Ellis Rise, you’re all over YouTube and on so many platforms, so they can definitely find more. Thank you so much for being with us today.

Jenna:

It was great being here.

America’s Hidden History

DAVID:

Hi, this is David Barton.

TIM:

And, this is Tim Barton, and we want to let you know about a series that’s happening right now on TBN on Thursday night. TBN is the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Every Thursday night, there’s a series that we’ve filmed called America’s Hidden History.

And, this season is called “€œAmerica’s Hidden Heroes.”€ The reason is, we highlight heroes from American history. For years we’ve been focusing on the forgotten history and heros of the nation.

And now, we have a TV show just highlighting some of those heroes.

DAVID:

These are inspiring stories about some of the greatest people maybe you’ve never heard about. We go on location to the sites and show you where the events happened. It’s the stories of folks like Bronco Charlie, Stagecoach Mary, Jedediah Smith, Robert Smalls, and so many inspiring folks.

TIM:

Now, this happens every Thursday night, and the time is gonna be different based on where you live. Either way, we think this is something that will so encourage and inspire you in learning some of these great stories from America’s Hidden History.

More from the Values Voter Summit in the Future

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live! Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday. If you weren”€™t with us before the break, that was Tim Barton and Jenna Ellis Rives out in Washington D.C. at the Values Voter Summit.

One of those greater views we had the chance to grab with folks while we were there for just a couple of days. It”€™s a great gathering of conservative activists and folks across the country that are engaged on the frontlines, and we’re gonna have more of those for you next week such as Matt Staver, Eric Metaxas, Richard Harris, Todd Starnes, lots of great folks, so don’t miss those Values Voter Summit interviews. 

Tim, great interview as always. Good to know she’s one of those young leaders—I say young, she’s maybe somewhere between your age and my age. A lot of cool stuff in her background, and really cool to see that she’s as optimistic about the future for the next generation as well.

Tim:

Yeah, and she is so well-spoken. That the whole time we talked, even the parts that were off interview just having a conversation, she is such a clear thinker, a good communicator, and it really is fun being able to have a conversation with somebody who has a constitutional law background and who definitely has a Christian value perspective. Then at the same time is part of the Trump campaign going forward. There are a lot of things that make me optimistic, even from this conversation. But as she points out, there’s a lot of really good things that have happened under President Trump over the last several years.

Trump Selected a Good Cabinet

David:

Tim, when you and Jenna were talking, you talked about all the good appointments he’s making, all the good people he’s surrounded himself with, and how he”€™s done such a great job of that, and how even that within that context of the good people, they’ve been doing things within the Constitution. He hasn’t been the activist that a lot of us thought he might be three years ago. He’s turned out to be very constitutional. 

I would say even another step, that he’s been very good at removing people from his administration that were not good constitutionalists. A lot of the cabinet members he early own shows he got rid of because even though they had the right rhetoric, they weren’t doing the right thing. 

So I’ve been really pleased with not just who he’s put there, but how he’s taken out people even at high levels in Cabinet because they really weren’t good on constitutional issues. So I thought that was really significant. 

The other thing is I want to re-emphasize what Jenna said, and that is, “€œDon’t underestimate and don’t minimize your own sphere of influence.”€Â 

You can talk to people, and the people you can talk make a substantial difference. If it’s one, or five, or fifty, whatever it is. 

Maybe you’re not on own Fox like she is, doesn’t matter. If you talk to the people you have influence with, that would be a huge huge thing going forward, particularly as we come into this next election. 

The Most Important Election of our Lifetime

We’ve said this for the last 15 to 20 years, and I wish it wasn’t this way, but every time we say this is the most important election in our lifetime, and it is it was four years ago, and it is again now because there is so much more at stake now than there was four years ago. So you’ve got to get everyone in your sphere of influence registered, and voting, and knowing what these issues are. 

We’ve covered a lot of good things today that the president’s done, and we just need that kind of stuff going for the next four years.

Rick:

And everybody’s got a part to play in sharing that good news to make sure your friends, family, and neighbors, and folks at your church, they know that those good things happen as well so that they will get out and vote in this next election.

Well folks, we are out of time for today. Thank you folks for listening. Be sure and visit our websites today at WallBuildersLivecom and WallBuilders.com. It’s an opportunity for you to get equipment and inspired with a lot of great tools available to you, whether you take our Constitution Class, maybe even become a constitution coach in your community and host of class at your church or your school or your community center. It’s a chance to to get people educated and to see people learning the things they didn’t learn in school. 

Jenna Ellis Rives and More Interviews with WallBuilders Live

So check all of that out at ConstitutionCoach.com, or just go to WallBuildersLive.com and get the Constitution Class yourself and get Construction Alive right there at the WallBuilders website. Then also check out that donate button and consider contributing to WallBuilders Live. It’s a way for you to become a partner of ours, as I mentioned at the beginning of the program, and it helps to expand the program and allows us to get more people engaged and trained in making a difference.

We sure appreciate you listening today! You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.