Voters In Four Key Swing States Support Confirming Kavanaugh: We call it Good News Friday because it’s a chance for David and Tim to share some good news from across the nation and around the world. In this episode, we talk about how the midterm turnout surges for both parties. How the majority of voters in four key Swing states support confirming Kavanaugh. How Trump”€™s EPA outpaces Obama in cleaning up hazardous waste sites! And more!

Air Date: 08/10/2018

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, all of it 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, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. And my name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas state legislator, national speaker, and author.

Good News Friday

It”€™s Friday so it’s Good News Friday around here. Where we take this opportunity every week to catch up on the good news stories that you probably have not heard in the major media. In fact, I enjoy today’s program very much because most of the things that David and Tim Barton share on Good News Friday I haven’t heard about either. So I really look forward to these Friday programs.

Kind of encouraging to know the system does work if we work the system. And that these principles work every time that they’re tried.

So we are here with David Barton. He’s America’s premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. Tim Barton with us.  National speaker, pastor, and president of WallBuilders. My name’s Rick Green I’m a former Texas legislator.

Check it out at WallBuildersLive.com and also WallBuilders.com which are two websites. The live website is where you can get all the radio programs and archives of the last few months. You can get a list of our stations. And then at the WallBuilders.com website you can get the tools you need to equip, inspire, and educate yourself and your family.

So Good News Friday let’s dive right in. David Barton”€™s got our first piece of good news. David.

Politics And Elections

David:

Well, we’re going to start by looking at what’s happening in politics and elections. Rick, I’m looking at a headline here that to me is good news. I’m going to start with it. It says midterm turnout surges for both parties.

From my standpoint any time you get greater involvement of the American citizenry and the electoral process that’s good news up and down the ballot. It’s just good news when more Americans get involved. The thing that makes us a healthier nation.

Rick:

Sure

Democrat Turnout Way Up

David:

We’ve talked before that we’re looking at an election like this. An off year election. Usually it’s only one out of every eight Americans that picks the winners in these elections and that’s just pathetic.  So the fact that there is a surge in turnout is really good.

Now here’s where it gets hypothetical. We’re going to go past the good news for a minute. Democrat turnout has surged.

Do we know how much higher Democrat turnout is so far? And all these special elections? All these pre midterm elections that have gone this cycle?

Tim:

How much higher turnout is as compared to Republicans? Or how much to Democrats?

David:

Again if you take Democrat turnout four years ago at this point in an off year election, nonpresidential. And you look at Democrat turnout point four years later. So we’re comparing apples to apples pretty much. You’re talking percentages, you”€™re talking numbers. What percentage increase have Democrats had in their voter turnout?

Tim:

Let’s say 10 percent higher.

David:

Rick. Any thoughts?

Rick:

Gotta tell you if it”€™s a surge higher, I mean yeah. I would think it”€™d be a pretty big chunk. So if maybe they had  30 percent turnout before and they’ve got 50 percent turnout now.

David:

Well, they are up 55 percent over what they were four years ago.

Tim:

Wow.

David:

Four years ago at this point they had voted 8.7 million Democrats. This year they have so far voted 13.8 million. That’s a 5 million increase. That”€™s a 55 percent jump. That is massive.

Now on the Republican side the headline says a midterm sergeant for both parties. So what do you think it is on the Republican side?

Rick:

Well, every headline I’ve seen makes it sound like the Dems are excited and turning out and the Republicans aren’t. So if I base it off that I’m going to guess it wouldn’t be anywhere near as big as the Democrats.

But if base it on what I’m feeling when I’m out there talking to people I think it’s the opposite.  Do I go with my feelings? Or do I go with my”€¦.

David:

You”€™re a millennial. Close enough. Go with your feelings.

Tim:

He’s not even close to millennial.

David:

Well, I can insult him that way.

Rick:

Thanks, yeah. Well, I think that was a double insult because it sounded like David was insulting me for going with my feelings. And Tim was saying I’m old. So I don’t know which one”€¦

Tim:

I’ll take both.

Rick:

Ok, let’s go. I’m going to guess  if they’re 55 percent increase. Let’s say 40 percent on the Republican side. Increase.

Tim:

That sounds about right. I would have guessed maybe more like 30 percent. Just based on the increase from the Democrats. Yeah. Let’s say 30 percent.

Democrats Are Outperforming Republicans

David:

It’s 25 percent. So here’s here’s the dilemma. If you look at it from that standpoint as a conservative. Four years ago you had 8.7 million Democrats who had voted and you’d had 10.3 million Republicans who”€™d voted.

So Republican turnout was higher than Democrat turnout. Which is why Republicans tend to gain in off year elections. But this year it is now 13.8 million Democrats versus 12.3 million Republicans. Both parties are up.  But Democrats are outperforming Republicans at this point.

So there’s a couple of ways of analyzing that. I mean as a conservative that would kind of make you nervous. Why would they be having such a massive turnout? Why? 55 percent increase.  What’s driving that?

Tim:

Hatred. Could be.

Could It Be Hatred?

David:

It’s very possible. It could be hatred. It is definitely possible that they want to see Trump impeached. Which is what the promise has been of the House leaders. That if you give us the House back, we”€™ll impeach Trump.

So it could be that dislike. I mean that’s one option. Any other thoughts?

Rick:

It just seems like everything’s about an anti -Trump thing. So I mean that would seem to be the main motivator.

Tim:

My second guess would be pro-socialism. I would think a lot of people that are turning out now are people that are following the Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren. This new girl who’s now running for Congress.

I think you’re seeing a surge of socialists or people proposing I guess supporting socialism that are coming out. My second thought is either that’s because they hate Trump or because they want socialism. Maybe both.

David:

And either one of those is bad news from a conservative standpoint. So while this is good news that people are participating in a higher level in the system. It may be bad news being driven by bad philosophy.

So kind of a heads up for conservatives. You better get your act together on this thing. Because you may be looking at a backlash that you did not anticipate. That none of us anticipated.

Because usually again, in an off year election is when conservatives make good grounds. But this year we have to really make sure that we show up at a higher level than we’ve been used to. Otherwise we may face a backlash.

Opposition Party Does Seem To Pick Up Seats

Tim:

And I think also even the thought of backlash. It seems like generally whatever party is in power oftentimes the off year election is when the other side wins a lot of House or Senate seats. It”€™s generally just kind of the flux of politics.

The other side is getting frustrated with the one. Whichever party”€™s in power and the party is in power maybe feels a little casual and relaxed. Doesn’t feel the necessity. Kind of same threat they felt which maybe led them to get in power in the first place.

So it does seem like a lot of times in off year elections the opposition party to whoever is president. Does seem to pick up seats. It seems like at least in my lifetime. That’s a trend. I’ve seen fairly consistent.

Rick:

Tim, you read my mind on that. It seems like we can’t do anything about the frustration of the other side. But we can do something about trying to keep our side from being lackadaisical.

And not think oh well we won the White House. Hillary didn’t get elected. We don’t have to worry about it. Our people need to realize this midterm election is just as important.

We need to keep the good ones we’ve got in Congress to get rid of some bad ones we’ve got in Congress. We need to turn out in droves in this off year election.

David:

Well, let me throw one other series of pieces of data out there. That really kind of complicates all that we’re talking about. And I don’t know how to interpret this. I don’t know how it all fits. May just got the polling all wacky.

Who knows what’s happened. But if you were to tell me two of the strongest constituencies for Democrats. What would those constituencies be? Two very strong constituencies voting wise.

Rick:

LGBT community.

David:

LGBT is but that’s not what I’m pointing to.

Minorities Are Democrat Supportive

Tim:

So I would say minorities. I mean you generally think blacks are generally going to vote Democratic. I guess you could point Hispanics in a lot of respects.

David:

About 93 to 97 percent of blacks vote Democrat. And about two thirds of Hispanics vote Democrat. So that’s strong.  Blacks much stronger than Hispanics and support for Democrats.

Tim:

Right. So minorities you certainly see that support. I would say minorities are definitely one group that traditionally is going to be Democrat supportive.

And statistically, I would also point to generally a lot of your professors. I love your Ph.D. Your high level academics tend to be very much pro socialist, liberal, progressive, ideology. So to me those are the two groups I can look at and say academics and minorities tend to be very Democrat.

David:

That would be good except in the polling sense they don’t keep track of academics as a category. So there’s really not statistics on how strong they support.

Millennials Make Up 41 Percent Of Democratic Party

Rick:

What about teachers in general or teacher unions or I guess that could lead back. Might be lumped in with labor unions. But but teachers in general?

David:

Well, teachers. Let me take you to the other direction. Probably is going to be harder for you to get on.

41 percent of all voters right now are what are considered youth voters. They’re the kind of millennial age and even some … But about 41 percent of voters considered that. And they have been heavy Democrat because they are heavy socialist. Two out of three in that category support socialism.

So that would be the other one. So if you look at particularly the black community and the youth community or the millennial, that group. Those are two heavy Democrat supporters.

Right now the polling shows that among youth voters they are exceptionally ambivalent toward Democrats. That they are not impressed with Democrats, are not motivated. They anticipate they will show up in smaller numbers. That’s what they’re saying. Which is kind of a weird thing when you look at it

Tim:

I think too maybe this is why you see Democrats tending to lean more towards socialism now. Because although you don’t see young kids that are supportive just blatantly of the Democrat Party. They do seem to be supportive of socialism.

Millennials Are Being Taught To Be Socialists

Which is why you saw Bernie be so successful. Especially among college kids and young people. And this is where Rick, obviously what you do with Patriot Academy. We do with our leadership training program.

We do so much to show the reality of what socialism is. Because you don’t even have to just be critical of socialism. You can just show what it’s produced and the results themselves are critical of socialism. But young people don’t know that.

And so that’s why I would argue it’s not just that they’re not impressed with the Democratic Party. It’s because they actually are being taught an ideology that sometimes goes further than sometimes the Democratic Party does. With full socialism thinking no we need everything free and the government should provide and make the rich man pay for it.

And kind of these talking points they get. But you’re right. There could be some level of benefit saying we’re not just going to blindly vote for Democrats. I wouldn’t argue it’s because they’ve been enlightened enough to see truth. It’s more of an embracing of socialism.

David:

Yeah, but it is a strange thing that the Democrats have this really high explosion in turnout. But it’s not coming from youth voters which is one of the groups and the other group that is is kind of interesting is what’s happening within the black community. And Rick we can cover that after the break.

Rick:

All right quick break guys. We’ll be right back. Stay with us folks. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live!

 

Front Sight Handgun Training

Rick:

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Visit RickGreen.com today for the dates and the details. We”€™re giving away this $1,000 course for free to the first 100 supporters of WallBuilders Live that register for the course at RickGreen.com. Come learn the real purpose of the Second Amendment and why the Founding Fathers believed it was so important for we citizens to be armed.

If you’re a marksman, or you’ve never held a gun in your life, I can promise you that you will leave this training with improved skills and the confidence to protect your family. It’s going to be a great time of fun, fellowship, learning, and sending a lot of lead downrange.

And the $1,000 course registration is completely waived for the first 100 WallBuilders Live supporters to register. You pay for your travel and ammo, but we’re giving you the course for free as a gift to our supporters. I look forward to seeing you on the range this fall. For all the details visit RickGreen.com today.

Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton with another moment from American history. As the American War for Independence began, the president of Yale was the Reverend Naphtali Daggett. When New Haven, the home of Yale, came under attack about a hundred citizens rushed out to meet the British.

The Reverend Daggett galloped by them on horseback, his clearable robes flowing behind him in the wind. He took up a solitary position atop a hill. The 2,500 British soon put the townsfolk to flight but the Reverend Daggett continued to stand alone firing down on the advancing troops.

A British officer confronted him, “€œWhat are you doing there you old fool? If I let you go, will you ever fire again on the troops of his majesty?”€ Nothing more likely was the preacher’s reply. America’s early pastors personally confronted danger and courageously led their communities.

For more information on Pastor Daggett and other colonial Patriots, go to WallBuilders.com.

Increased Voter Turnout Across The Country

Rick:

Welcome back thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Good News Friday today. In our first segment we’ve been talking about the increased voter turnout all across the country.

David you pointed out at the beginning of the program it”€™s good in general that voters are showing up. In last segment you pointed out that the Democrat increase in turnout is significantly higher than the Republican increase in turnout. And that conservatives need to pay attention to that. It’s easy to lose ground in an off year election.

The opposition party as Tim pointed out, is generally going to turn out better. We can help counter that by making sure that conservatives and Christians are still fired up. And they realize how important it is to turnout in the fall.

But David, as we went to the break you were talking about there are some things happening in the two major Democratic constituencies. And the second one the minority community and the black community. You were about to tell us something interesting.

David:

Let me just ask you right now what do you think the approval rating is for President Trump among blacks at this point?

Trump Has Done Positive Things For The Black Community

Tim:

Well, I know it’s going up from statistically very much the counter of what you would expect. For a group that 90 to 97 percent that we identified are generally going to vote Democratic. Just statistically.

And so you wouldn’t expect them to be supportive of Republicans. If they did not vote for a Republican why would they support him? However, Trump has far exceeded that 3 to 10 percent support from blacks that might have been Republican.

We already know from the election that he garnered much more of a vote from the black community than just that 3 to 10 percent. But I would estimate it’s got to be double or even triple what that small number is.

So I would think he’s got to be up in the 20s or 30s at this point. Just based on what he’s done for the economy. What he’s done for black unemployment. Right. The upward mobility that is kind of revisited  America in manufacturing and so many other industries.

Trump”€™s Tweets

I would think that although they certainly wouldn’t agree with all his policies. And by the way right I mean there’s Tweets he gives on a weekly basis we don’t agree with. We don’t agree with everything he does.

But when you look at what he has done, especially for the black community. There have been a lot of positive things. So Rick, I would guess somewhere in the 20 to 30 percent range. What would you think?

Rick:

Man favorables in the black community for Donald Trump. Yeah. Even that would be high.

Tim:

That would be incredibly high. No doubt.

Rick:

Yeah, but I think you’re right. I think it’s definitely higher than any president in our lifetime. But with so much of the anti-Trump from black celebrities and athletes. Man, I wonder. I’m going to shoot for 10.

David:

It’s actually 29 percent right now. And by the way, George W. Bush had higher numbers with black support than Trump did. But that’s been a long time ago.

Tim:

Yeah, but I would ask what years of Bush. If it’s in the middle of, early on in war it would make sense that people would be supporting this effort.  Right? Because he’s defending America. And we’ve been attacked.

Now if it was at the end of his presidency. I’d be really shocked. Yeah.

David:

And Tim, I don’t know when in Bush’s presidency that occurred whether it was earlier or late.

Rick:

That could be an important distinction.

29 Percent Approval Rating From Blacks

David:

Yeah, it is an important distinction. But I know that right now with all the polarization that’s gone on in the press. With all the stuff that happened particularly under President Obama. That really kind of brought race, racism back to the front and really made it a focus.

Whether the Black Lives Matters or anything else. Having 29 percent at this point for Donald Trump is an absolutely amazing number. It was 15 percent this time last year.

And so when you look at the voting I think it was 9 percent of black females voted for Trump. 14 percent of black males voted for Trump. So to have 29 percent approval rating and that is a massive growth.

Tim:

It really is huge. And this is where there’s even been criticism of celebrities that have come out. Whether it be Kanye. When Kim Kardashian goes and visit them. Actually, I think she was on Jimmy Kimmel and she had nothing bad to say.

Which I mean could be very much strategic on her part. Right. Maybe not because she likes the president. She’s just smart enough to know that if we want any help from him in the future we cannot criticize him and throw him under the bus. I don’t know.

But you do see people coming out who are not just drinking the kool aid so to speak. And thinking they have to say hateful and negative things against the president. Because they’re recognizing there are some things he’s doing very well. And this is where you’re seeing that approval change in much of the black community.

And guys here”€™s the two major piece of good news from this that as you highlighted were that we do have people turning out in higher numbers. Which we have promoted for so long at WallBuilders on this show. Saying guys we have to get involved in the process. It’s great news that people are getting involved in the process.

Now obviously, the challenge is you have people getting involved who don’t really understand some of the ideas they are supporting. They don’t really know what socialism is and how it works. So there obviously are some problems we have to overcome.

But dad I think one of the really cool pieces of good news that you shared is that you have groups that have traditionally been very supportive of a party. And speaking specifically of blacks supporting Democrats.

Now they’re walking away from a party in favor of an ideology. They’re seeing things practically that are working for them. And saying wait a second.  No, I support what Donald Trump is doing because I see how those policies are enacted. So I do think there’s a lot of good news here in the midst of it.

Obviously, we need to make sure we stay engaged in the process. Make sure that we vote in these midterms. And make sure that we help educate our friends on what is truth on the fact that socialism doesn’t work right. Connect with millennials and “€¦ we need to do that.

But I think there’s some really good news that we are seeing some positive traction in the nation. With people recognizing some of the good policies that are being enacted.

Rick:

Quick break. We’ll be right back with some more good news. Stay with us you’re listening to WallBuilders Live!

Moment From American History

This is Tim Barton with another moment from American history. As the American War for Independence began, the president of Yale was the Reverend Naphtali Daggett. When New Haven, the home of Yale, came under attack about a hundred citizens rushed out to meet the British.

The Reverend Daggett galloped by them on horseback, his clearable robes flowing behind him in the wind. He took up a solitary position atop a hill. The 2,500 British soon put the townsfolk to flight but the Reverend Daggett continued to stand alone firing down on the advancing troops.

A British officer confronted him, “€œWhat are you doing there you old fool? If I let you go, will you ever fire again on the troops of his majesty?”€ Nothing more likely was the preacher’s reply. America’s early pastors personally confronted danger and courageously led their communities.

For more information on Pastor Daggett and other colonial Patriots, go to WallBuilders.com.

Rick:

Welcome back thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. It’s Good News Friday today. David, you had another piece of political good news for us.

Voters In Four Key Swing States Support Confirming Kavanaugh!

David:

Yeah, it relates to the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh. Or what I’m saying I hope will be Justice Kavanaugh. Right now is Judge Kavanaugh. He’s the nominee for the Supreme Court that Trump offered recently.

And we’ve been told on the Senate side the majority leader McConnell says that they can get this confirmation done. They were hoping to get it done by the time the next session of the court starts. The first week of October so we’ll see.

But what’s interesting is where the American support is for him being confirmed it’s really high. And what’s really interesting is the very high in what we consider battleground states. If you look at the landscape of the 2018 election in the U.S. Senate there are 33 Senate seats up. 25 of those Senate seats have to be defended by Democrats.

So I mean Democrats have a lot of vulnerability as far as Senate seats go. And five in the battleground states. Include the states of Florida, Indiana, Missouri,North Dakota, and West Virginia.

And so those are states that are currently held by Democrat Senators. Who normally would vote no against a Republican nominee for the Supreme Court. Especially when it is closely divided court as this is.

So we’re looking at a situation where we could be only having 50 or 51 votes to confirm Justice Kavanaugh. And we need every single vote we can get for a bit and time.

It looks like Rand Paul was not going to vote for Kavanaugh. Then you wondered about Collins and you wondered about Murkowski and etc. So you need every vote.

What happens is in five states where Democrats are running very tight races and have a real potential of being unseated as Democrat senators. 56 percent of Florida voters want Senator Nelson, the Democrat senator to confirm Kavanaugh. 56 percent of Indiana voters want Senator Donnelly to confirm Kavanaugh. 57 percent of Missouri voters want Claire McCaskill to confirm Kavanaugh. 68 percent in North Dakota and 59 percent in West Virginia.

So you look at numbers like that. I mean that’s going to be a massive deal if those Democrat senators do not vote to confirm Kavanaugh. They’re giving away a lot of votes in their states. That’s a good piece of good news related to the election that may lead actually to the easy confirmation of Kavanaugh. We sure hope so.

Tim:

Certainly, it would be exciting to see it be an easy confirmation. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of political posturing. And so even if their states are in favor of it. It’s just hard for me right now with how greatly divided we are on some of these political levels to imagine they’re going to come around and go, “€œOh well people might say they wanted to. I guess I’ll go ahead and support it.”€ I don’t think necessarily they’re that smart.

David:

I think they’ll do it for different reasons. Think when they hear that 51 Republicans are going to vote for Kavanaugh you’ll have about 15 Democrats vote for him too. Knowing that at that point their vote doesn’t matter. And they will, therefore, take it off the table in their home state as being a campaign issue against them.

Rick:

So I think it might even get more than Gorsuch cut.

David:

Well, I think yes. Because this is an election year and these are very close states. I would predict that we probably get out of this thing with 60 or 65 votes for Kavanaugh if the Republicans can come up with 50 or 51 votes.

If they can’t don’t look for a Democrat to give him the 50-51 vote. If they come up with 50 or 51 I think all of these senators will vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Which will make it look like an easy process.

Rick:

All right guys, just a little bit of time left. Tim more good news.

Environment Getting Cleaned Up

Tim:

Good piece of good news you guys. This is actually coming out of the Trump Administration from the EPA office. Actually, I’m not even sure who is running this.

Now I know Scott Pruitt was the guy there and so you guys probably helped me out. This article doesn’t highlight that. At least not the part that I’ve seen of this article. But one of the things that was so interesting that the title of the article is Trump”€™s EPA outpaces Obama in cleaning up hazardous waste sites.

Which is interesting, because of course the narrative if you’re a Republican is, “€œYou”€™re anti-environment and you don’t want clean air and clean water. You want things that are destructive for the environment and for people.”€

Yet, in 2017 the EPA actually cleaned up, at least part of, or actually finished the clean up of 13 listed sites. Actually, these sites include not only polluted but toxic sites. Which, I don’t even know where those sites are in the U.S.. That would be definitely a major news flash for me.

In 2015 and 2016 the Obama administration only cleaned up nine sites. So in one year President Trump has outpaced and in actually helping bring down some of the detrimental things that toxic waste, the pollution.  The EPA is doing very good things and this article just highlights and pointed out.

So it really is kind of an interesting piece of good news. Especially considering the narrative against Republicans. Against wanting to have a clean environment. And yet here they are doing even better in one year then Obama did in two years.

Rick:

Very good news. To answer your question, Andrew Wheeler he actually used to work for our good friend Senator Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma. So definitely and apparently doing a great job first few weeks on the job.

Spread The Good News On WallBuilders

Well, folks if you want some more good news we’re out of time for today. But you can get more at our website WallBuildersLive.com. That’s our main site. Our radio site can go and catch some more good news.

And you can help spread this good news by taking the program and using your social media tools to share it with your friends and family.   All of that available at WallBuildersLive.com.

And then of course you can be a partner of ours and go to WallBuilders.com. Make a contribution to WallBuilders and you can also be a monthly donor and that really helps us to do our leadership training programs.

That helps us to add stations across the country. In general it helps us to spread the good news and continue as Nehemiah said to arise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be a reproach.

In other words to rebuild the foundations of America. To bring back those foundations that made our nation great. Come alongside us right here at WallBuilders.com. Thanks for listening to WallBuildersLive!