Transcript

Jenna Ellis: Rights that our founders recognize come from God our Creator

Jenna Ellis in the morning on American Family Radio. I love talking about the things of God. Because of truth and the biblical worldview, the U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect. The rights that our founders recognize come from God our Creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear, that God is the one that raised up each of you, and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the Morning.

Graham Platner, Democrat nominee for Senate, facing sexual assault allegations

Jenna Ellis: Good morning. It is Wednesday, July 8, and the Democrats don't just have a socialist, Marxist, communist problem that's infecting their party of wild, ridiculous, non biblical and terrible for America ideas, but they also have a Graham Platner problem. And if you haven't been following this story of the Senate candidate out of Maine, it is pretty wild. Not just the allegations against him, which now Democrats who have endorsed him are officially rescinding those endorsements, calling him to drop out, but also the hypocrisy of what this means. Because, I, mean, this is coming from the economist. Graham Platner, Maine's beleaguered Democrat nominee for the Senate is on the cusp of ending his campaign. His downfall is somehow both unsurprising and startling. I think that's accurate. they go on. For months. Mr. Platner weathered a steady stream of controversies, from a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol to years of inflammatory Reddit posts so prolific that a main newspaper created a searchable database of them in spite of it, although he managed to cling on. But Monday evening, Politico reported that a woman who was a former girlfriend of Mr. Platner and disagreed with his politics, by the way, was, was accusing him of raping her in 2021. So she alleges, that he entered her home without permission and sexually assaulted her. And this was after, ah, another, controversy as well, and some other allegations, apparently by a woman who agreed with his politics. And so there's also a big controversy over how NewSong York Times, the NewSong York Times has handled this because of course, they agree with, with Platner's, Democratic politics. And so they were, they were essentially trying to frame the story how they always do. This is why President Trump rightly calls them fake News. but Mr. Platner, for his part, released a video saying that, quote, any accusation of non consensual behavior is categorically false. Of course he's denying it. However, he said he was mindful of the political reality and his campaign is taking the time to reflect on the best path forward, meaning he's just waiting to figure out how to drop out. There are some reports as well that he is, basically holding the Democrat Party hostage and saying he's refusing to drop out until he personally gets to select his replacement. So all of this is just really not good for the Democrats.

Todd Starnes: Democrats picked possibly the worst candidate ever

So let's welcome in my good friend Todd Starnes, who is a radio host and author and also Newsmax host. You can find all of his [email protected] and, and Todd, you know, this is really not surprising at all that the Democrats picked possibly the worst candidate ever. But, I am also mindful of the hypocrisy here of how nobody on the Democrat side cared when it was a Republican. But then when it's a Democrat, or someone who agrees with his politics, you know, suggesting that, that, there are sexual assault allegations, now suddenly, you know, it's a MeToo moment. What do you make of this whole situation?

Todd Starnes: Well, I think it's fascinating to watch all of this unfold because there is hypocrisy here and there is a double standard. And the reality is the Democrats made the decision that they were okay, housing and providing, opportunities for individuals who are pro Nazi rapists and their. In their party. which is a shocking thing. you know, the thing that I'm curious about is why now? I mean, this is like the fourth or fifth round of scandals with this guy. You know, what is it now that changed people's minds about Graham Platner? Say what you will about the Republicans, but whenever there is some sort of a, scandalized individual in the Republican Party, they get the heave ho, they get the boot. And we certainly saw that with, for example, Matt Gaetz. and the Democrats, on the other hand, have a very long and ugly history about protecting this sort of behavior. Going back, I think if you want to go back in time to say, for example, what happened in Chappaquiddick or, you know, with JFK and all of the women that were, you know, escorted in and out of the White House. Bill Clinton in the Oval Office, for example. So this is not necessarily a new thing. I think the Nazi thing is a twist, to all of this. But again, it's, you know, for me, when you look at the polling data. And so, for, for the, the longest time, Platter, in some cases was actually leading Susan Collins in the polls. And you had to wonder what kind of people in Maine would actually support a candidate like this. Of course, now the Polling data is, taking a turn for the worse for Mr. Platter. But one of the things that, that really fascinated me, I watched a documentary about how this guy came, came to be, the guy who allegedly owned the family oyster business. And there's a lot of controversy around that. But it turns out that there were two very powerful far left activists and they were the ones that, that were behind, getting Platner, into the Senate race. And they were flat out asked about all the controversies and said they were aware of them, they considered them, but at the end of the day they figured that this guy could get elected in spite of his past.

Jenna Ellis: Wow. Which begs the question, why would the Democrats, and especially, you know, these couple, of operatives that are putting Graham Platner up and recommended him, because he has, as far as I know, no real other political, Prior political experience. As you mentioned, he was a prior oyster farmer, and a Marine The Core veteran, and, you know, but not politically known. Was this really the best guy that they could have found? I mean, is there, Is it just because they thought they could, control him, he would vote the most extreme. I mean, out of all the contemplations and the possible candidates, you know, why this guy?

Todd Starnes: It's a fair question. And I, think the Democrats have been really struggling of late, to find candidates that appeal to the base of the party and especially more moderate members of the party. I think ultimately that's what they were trying to do here. you know, they've got a, you know, they have a man problem in the Democrat Party. for example, you know, what's happening in Texas now is James Talarico, you know, who is dealing with, you know, is he really man enough to be a senator from the great state of Texas? I mean, the guys, you know, Rico, most recently, of course, there, were. There was the question of whether or not he was a vegan, whether or not, you know, he was a true Texan. And then he announced just a few days ago that for his 30th birthday that he proudly wore a pink scarf. Okay. I'm not sure that the average Texan, Texan man, would wear a pink scarf on his 30th birthday. So that's the problem here, that, you know, the Democrats have been trying to find a man's man to run for, you know, some sort of a public office. And they, they thought they found that in Graham Platner. You know, it was Elizabeth Warren who said, this is my Kind of a man. And you know, you, you hear a lot about toxic masculinity. That's it. That really is the poster child. Graham Platner. This is the poster child for toxic masculinity in America.

Jenna Ellis: Yeah, so well said. I mean everything of the allegations of his past. I mean there's also reports of sexting a woman who was not his wife. And you know, I mean all kinds of things beyond the rape allegations. I mean the, this is somebody who is basically the worst of the worst. And for the party that claims that they're you know, the champion of women and that they're, they've been trying for a long time to feminize their parties. You mentioned with people like James Talarico and also the rise of Kamala Harris and you know, Hillary Clinton in the past and so forth, this is everything Graham Platner represents, everything that the Democrats would have seized upon if these were not even remotely the allegations. But someone kind of similar was put up in the Republican Party. They would say, hey look, you know, this is why, we need to move forward with, with women. And yet, they chose him. And it was interesting. I read an opinion piece from Ms. Now, and the author is saying, and I think this is fair. he says the first lesson is don't fall in love with an unvetted political outsider or for that matter any politician. And I think that's actually a great lesson for both sides because, the Democrats clearly have candidate problems and yet the Republicans, as I've been talking about for a while on this program, also have kind of a reckoning coming. we need to get it together on the right to remove the anti Semitic wing of the vocal voices in the base of the Republicans and also get it together to have a cohesive and very straightforward message to young voters why socialism doesn't work. And the Mamdanis of the world, and there are multiple candidates that are rising up across the country in a similar vein. Why that doesn't work. And so, you know, moving forward at least, you know, the Democrats are not getting it together for the midterms and they're having many, many problems.

Todd Platner has until 5pm Monday to drop out of Maine governor race

so how do you see this playing out ultimately in Maine? Because according to Politico, ah, Platner has until 5pm Monday to drop out and Democrats would have to select a new candidate within three weeks and they might have another Kamala Harris problem that, you know, he won his primary and then they're going to end up Just trying to appoint someone to replace him that perhaps, you know, Maine voters aren't particularly happy with because they didn't get to vote for him in the primary.

Todd Starnes: Well, there, yes, that's true. Monday is the deadline. Platner is pushing back and saying that he's demanding, the right to choose his own replacement. That is not going to happen. if in fact he does drop out, which is unlikely, I think you're going to see somebody like Janet Mills, who is the current Democrat governor, step back into the race. You know, she had suspended her campaign, not ended it. and, so we could see something like that happen. I think, though, when you look broadly at politics and really both political parties, because there have been scandals both sides of the, of the aisle, you know, ultimately the political parties are about power. And that's it. You know, they want, they want power. And, you know, when you talk about hypocrisy, it happens all the time. For example, look at what's happening right now with Senator Mitch McConnell, who, you know, may or may not be at death's doorstep. you know, yesterday we learned, for example, that, he had a 17 minute phone convers with Scott Jennings, and they talked about everything from the war in Ukraine to vice presidential powers. If in fact that is true, then why couldn't Mitch McConnell call, for example, one of the cable news channels and do a live phone interview? so, you know, it's not that I'm casting doubt on any of these reports. It's just, it's just not, it's, it's just very curious. I'll leave it at that. I'll say it's curious all that to say Democrats have been doing the same thing. So, I think that we have to, as Christians, we have to really understand the point of these political parties. these are not Christian ministries or organizations. They are ruthless political parties that are after power. That's what they want, power. And they'll do and say whatever they can to get power. it just so happens to be that the Republicans, well, we agree with more of their platform than the Democrat Party's platform.

Jenna Ellis: Right? Yeah. But at the end of the day, we need to recognize, of course, as you said, you know, the Republican Party is not the church and it's not meant to be. And the operatives that especially the swamp in D.C. are not really that interested in, often our values unless they are trying to win the evangelical base. And they should be still interested in winning the evangelical base because they can't win and continue in power without us. but that's another lesson from the Trump era because, you know, we were in 2016, as a, as conservatives really tired of politics as usual, and Trump was the outsider, coming in hopefully to reform, reform the party. And here we are ten years later, and it seems like the establishment has simply changed from perhaps the old establishment to a new sort of MAGA establishment, which, you know, may be in, in some ways better, in some ways worse. You know, we can debate those things, but ultimately, when it only comes down to power, instead of recognizing the purpose of a legitimate government, which is ultimately to preserve and protect the rights that come from God our creator, that we just celebrated last Saturday with America's 250, it seems like however we go about this, we get candidates that are more interested in power than actually representing a legitimate form of government. And then that's been the controversy, I think, throughout human history and world history of government systems, that because man is flawed, we'll never get a perfect government. But our founders, Todd, wanted a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and thought that if we elected from our own, we would not get as much, of a mindset that is geared toward power, but actually against, that's geared toward genuinely respecting, what the people want. And so how does the Republican Party now move forward and not just combat the Marxist socialist ideas and the bad candidates like the Platners on the Democrat side, because we know that their worldview isn't even trying to be conservative and encourage the Republican Party through the midterms and into a post Trump world to maybe, just maybe actually go along with, what the evangelical conservative base has been trying to say all along.

Todd Starnes: I have a brand new book coming out in exactly 30 days. It's called the Golden Age, How Trump Saved America. And, the book gives credit to President Trump for, for stopping the hemorrhaging of freedom in this country. But it also takes a look at the path forward and what is this? What does this country look like? What does the movement look like? And, you know, after Trump leaves office, which he will, and in two years, there will be, you know, a changing of the guard. And I wrote a book, it's, it's my largest book, over 300 pages that explores, okay, what, what happens next and where do we take all of this from here? one of my observations is that the religious liberty movement and the family movement in Washington D.C. and within politics and the Republican Party has really taken a serious hit. I think They've lost whatever influence they might have had. many people exchanged, exchange their value systems to be closer or at least to have closer access to power. And as a result of that I think it really weakened their influence in the nation and especially in politics. So I think Christians are going to have to take a long hard look at exactly what our role biblically is supposed to be in the world of politics. And I think there are a lot of folks and I don't want to call them, well I have, I've called them gospel grifters that seemed more interested in gaining access to the White House so they could stage a worship service inside the Oval Office than actually sitting down and working on policy that is Bible based that could really influence the culture at large instead of somebody's social media accounts.

Jenna Ellis: So well said Todd Stearns. And that really is the lesson ultimately for conservatives and for Christians that we need to be more focused on actual policy and and using the power of government not to, not for its own ends and for how it might serve us, but rather how it ultimately serves the Lord and not just be focused on access and social media posts and all of that, but actually focused on doing good. So I'm looking forward to reading your new book. Thanks so much for, for joining and we will be right back with more.

Some red states are grappling with fallout from the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship decision

Welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.

Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. Well some red states are figuring out how to deal with the fallout from the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship decision which was just utterly terrible. And as you all know, I have been long calling for, for Article 5 and a convention of the states to deal with issues that the federal government will not. That is the founder solution that is embedded right there in the plain text in the US Constitution for state legislatures to be able to propose amendments. Congress doesn't even have to be involved. And then the states can vote on anything passed out of that convention, but it would have to be exclusively on the subject matter for which a convention was called for. more on that you can go to convention of states.com but let's focus on Texas. Representative Br Brian Harrison said that he's calling on the Texas Department of Health, State Health Services to immediately stop issuing birth certificates to non citizens using their existing authorities. He says Texans deserve action, not complacency to protect liberty and the value of American citizenship. And he joins me now. So this seems like a pretty good solution to me. What exactly can happen under the State Health Services Authority?

 Brian Harrison: Well I actually think there's a lot of tools at our disposal and always great to be with you, Jenna. And I love coming on your show to talk about the principles of freedom and liberty and constitutionally limited governments. And this is one of my favorites, state sovereignty. I mean, the states, as you know well, and I'm sure your listeners know, the states, according to our founders, were supposed to be the sovereigns. The states created the federal government, not the other way around. And I'm sick and tired of states, especially red states like Texas, sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, acting like we're powerless bystanders when actions come down from Washington, D.C. that quite literally have the potential to destroy the very fabric of our republic. And I don't know what is more foundational than the question of who gets to be a U.S. citizen. And it doesn't just affect the national question of who's a US Citizen, but who's a Texan. And so the Texas government. I'm calling for the governor to, bring us back immediately for a special session so that we can act, not just issue strongly worded tweets and press releases. Texas want action, not rhetoric. We should have a special session right now. I've called for several, but I'll mention just a few. And you mentioned one. Number one, we could criminalize birth tourism. there's no reason that we should allow businesses to operate for profit, to bring in people from adversarial nations to give them transportation and lodging and health care so that they can have a baby who's born here. Literally never step footage potentially on American soil, be flown out hours later, yet receive voting rights and, U.S. citizenship. We should make that a felony. Birth tourism could be a state crime in Texas. We need to do that. But even without going back into special session, for better or for worse, we've given our state executive agencies a ton of power. And one of the powers they have is to decide who is properly qualified to get a birth certificate. So I've yesterday officially demanded the executive, commissioners, like the secretary of HHS here in Texas, to use her existing authorities to deny, birth certificates to, non citizens and to illegal aliens. I think it's the absolute least that our voters could expect us to do. But, unfortunately, so far, I'm the only elected official down here in Texas calling for this. I keep hoping, checking the phones and email every day to see if the governor or the executive secretary will respond and actually do something more than tweet, because the Texans deserve a lot more out of their elected leadership, who as you noted with the previous guests, and I love hearing you and others remind people the number one job of government is to protect our God given and inalienable rights and liberties. And the Texas government, all states, quite frankly. But I think Texas should be leading. We need to step up and do more than just speak. We need to act and we need to act boldly.

Jenna Ellis: Yeah. Amen. Absolutely. And just because the Supreme Court issued this opinion, it doesn't mean that the state states need to just sit around and wait until a future Supreme Court decides to reverse itself, if that ever happens, or Congress by some miracle actually gets it together to pass legislation. I mean this is exactly what the founders envisioned, was that the states, need to, to actually take the reins and be responsible for the people within their borders. And Texas has been on the front lines in terms of protecting, the borders. And you know, we talked a lot about illegal immigration, but there is a lot that can be done, even with the Supreme Court opinion. And so when you talk about specifically stopping issuing birth certificates to children of non citizens, how would that actually help the, the issue of citizenship? I mean, does, does a person have to have a birth certificate in order to then go get a passport? Or what exactly are you visioning? that specifically solving?

 Brian Harrison: Yes. I view the Texas government, the all Republican, by the way, Texas government, at least nominally the all republican Texas government spending tax money. Because let's go back to the basics here, okay? The Supreme Court can absurdly and incorrectly say that if you're born here, you're a citizen. Okay? Even if you're a child of a Chinese spy or whatever, Whatever. I can't change the Supreme Court's, opinion, but there is nothing in the US Constitution that requires the Texas government to spend taxpayer money to create fancy certificates certifying birth. The federal government can't mandate Texas by the ink. They can't make us buy the paper. They can't make our state, officials hand documents to illegal aliens. So if it sets up another challenge, that's fine, but I think it makes it a lot harder for I think it would stop. One of the things, and I hate to say this, the Texas government is incentivizing illegal immigration by continuing this. So I think it would turn off one of the biggest magnets drawing illegals here, which is a birth certificate from a United States state. And I think it would do things like make it more difficult for illegals to be involved in our Medicaid, programs. There are lots of Welfare programs, I believe, in the state of Texas, that require a birth certificate, to register. And I think it is one more sort of hurdle that we could put up to combating both illegal immigration, also to increase and to protect the value of U.S. citizenship. That not only would not cost Texas a penny to do it, it would save our state money. Because right now, the state of Texas is spending the money to print and deliver these birth certificates. Oh, and by the way, if, you go to my Twitter feed, I can't remember if I sent this to you or not. Our Texas government, on the Texas government official website, paid for with tax, taxpayer dollars. They are advertising, literally advertising. You can go and see the picture of this advertising to the state of Texas will accept foreign unverified documents, foreign IDs to get a birth certificate in Texas. And I kid you not, on the massive font, bold letters, they advertise the quote, M most common foreign IDs. And here's their top four. This is for the Texas government to give you a birth certificate. Here's the top four most common foreign IDs advertise on the Texas government website. The El Salvadorian consular certification. The El Salvadorian unique identity card. A Honduran consular certification, and my personal favorite here, a Mexican voter registration card. You show up to the state of Texas, you got these unverified foreign documents. And it gets worse. If you read the fine print, they'll accept library cards. I'm not making this up. Library cards. This is what. This is how off the rails the supposedly Republican executive branch here is in the state of Texas. And this wouldn't even take a vote, doesn't take a special session. We just need the unelected officials in our executive branch to use the power the voters have given them to act boldly to protect liberty, protect the value of American citizenship, and fight back against illegal immigration and do more than just talk in response to this outrageous decision that has come down. Thank you, Justice Roberts and Amy Kilme Barrett.

Even within the executive administration, in Texas, you have absurd policies

Jenna Ellis: Yeah, and I mean, that is so wild that even within the executive administration, in a red state like Texas, you have all of these absurd policies that nobody is really talking about other than now. Thank you, Representative Harrison, for bringing this, to light. But how, how do these people even make these types of decisions and think, oh, that makes sense, for, you know, for a red state like Texas, that makes sense that we're, you know, protecting the freedom and liberty for actual American, citizens. And, you know, now that this has become such an issue and this isn't really just an issue now. I mean, this is something that Trump ran on in 2024. Immigration has been a huge issue, illegal immigration as well. So, I mean, how do these policies even get in place in a, an administration like Abbott's?

 Brian Harrison: No, nothing could have shocked me more than when I got elected five years ago, to lock arms with all these elected Republicans in Texas. Because I just assumed elected Republicans in Texas were fight for freedom and liberty and oh my goodness, nothing could have prepared me for the shock of learning about the total betrayal, the corruption of the uniparty establishment in a red state like Texas. I mean, Democrats literally elect the leadership team in the Texas House. I think you and I have talked about that. James Talarico elected the supposedly Republican speaker in Texas. An Obama parliamentarian is the parliamentarian in the Texas House. And in the Texas executive branch, we were doing things like, and still are, by the way, taxpayer funded dei, taxpayer funded transgender, indoctrination that's happening in the state of Texas right now. Billions of subsidies going for liberal Hollywood. And perhaps most surprising, I found the Texas government has been facilitating illegal immigration. They were registering the vehicles of illegal aliens until I went on shows like yours and exposed that we were able to force that to change. But Texas, just like D.C. has a swamp that is every bit as corrupt as DC and the deep state. The administrative state is out of control in Texas. Whatever small government pro liberty muscle the Texas government once had has atrophied to the point of being irrecognizable. And so here we have in Texas, the Texas legislature didn't pass a law to require our Texas, HHS to advertise foreign documents to illegal aliens to come here and get birth certificates. They didn't even issue a regulation. This is how bad it's gotten in the executive branch because we don't have bold leadership here in Texas. Something I've been very jealous. Governor DeSantis is a good model of bold leadership. We don't have that here in Texas. The bureaucrats that report up to our governor took it upon themselves. They didn't even issue a formal regulation on these documents. They just put up a blog post. They went rogue. I'll, put up a website. I can't find a single statute, a single constitutional requirement, or even a single regulation. It appears that the executive branch employees took it upon themselves to create a list of quote, acceptable documents, including not making this up, library cards, to get birth certificates in Texas, and then took it upon themselves to spend taxpayer money to advertise it. To illegal aliens. There is no reason whatsoever that the Texas government cannot and should not stop issuing birth certificates to illegals into noncitizens. It wouldn't take an act of Congress. It wouldn't take an act of the legislature. All it would take is for the current crop of supposedly Republican leadership and in Texas to start acting like Republicans. And I love listening to you with your previous guest. I am sick and tired of two things. One, Democrats fighting harder for the future of this country than supposedly Republicans. And then, number two, I'm sick and tired of Republicans who choose comfort, who choose power, who choose popularity in the swamp over standing up and protecting our God givens and freedoms and liberties for the next generation. But unfortunately in Texas, that's what we're dealing with down here. And that's why I'm exposing it. And we've got to stop this. And we can stop it if we get enough exposure and public pressure. I do believe we can, we can possibly force a change on this here in Texas. If we can't, if we can't count on Texas to stand up and protect the value of citizenship principles, individual liberty and freedom. That doesn't bode very well for the rest of the country, does Agenda.

Jenna Ellis: Yeah. So well said. And like you, I'm really tired of these Republicans in name only that are saying one thing on the campaign trail and in media hits and, you know, suggesting that they are all for the Trump agenda that, the vast majority of the population voted for in 2024 and, you know, going well back, at least in the Republican Party and expecting Republicans to actually stand for conservative values and for America for what citizenship means. And really then, behind the scenes they're off actually supporting the Democrats. I mean, what a wonderful world it would be if it was the opposite, where the Republicans were the ones that were pursuing all of these, conservative values and they were pushing as hard to make America great as the Democrats are to destroy it. And if the Democrats, we're saying one thing on the campaign trail, but then tacitly actually going along with conservative values, I mean, what an amazing country, right? But now we have to actually hold Republicans accountable and say, you know, what are you doing here? And so a special session in Texas would be amazing. and definitely ensuring that Governor Abbott's administration and those executives can utilize their power. And one of the other things that you've talked about, Brian Harrison, is, to expand the criminal offense of illegal entry, to include entering for the purposes of birth tourism. I've seen some others suggest that there should be pregnancy, ah, tests, you know, for women who are coming here, just on tourist visas. I would support that. do you support those kinds of, possible solutions?

 Brian Harrison: Yeah, absolutely. And in my, statement when I called on Governor Abbott, to convene a special session, you know, which unfortunately the governor has not responded to, has given no indication that, he's willing to do this. And I don't understand why. And I know we care more about policy than politics, but just as an aside, I think the conventional wisdom is totally wrong. If Republicans want to win at the ballot box, go deliver bold, conservative victories. Give voters, Give conservative, patriotic Texans a reason to get out and vote in the election. I think we would win in a landslide if we would have special sessions to do things like eliminate property taxes and combat birth tourism. But that's an aside. We're doing this because it's the right thing. But this is a rare instance where I actually think it's what the people would want. And we're in the election year, so I don't understand for the life of me why the elected leadership in Austin refuses to act. Yeah, I think, I totally support those things. And in fact, your home state, Jenna, Florida has done more on this than Texas has. It's a common refrain here. But Florida has already done things like banning, pre planned adoption agreements and ah, these gestational surrogacy contracts. If anybody, one of the parties is from a, country of concern, you guys, Florida has led on that. Texas should at least be willing to copy and paste your laws on that. We should do that in a special session. I've officially asked governor Abbott to do that too. No response. but yeah, I think we should expand because last session, on the heels of the Biden border invasion, Texas made it a state level crime of illegal entry. I think that's a type of framework we could expand upon to include people who are coming here for the purposes of birth tourism. Because it might surprise a lot of your listeners to know, in Texas, birth tourism is not illegal. We have done nothing as a state to make birth tourism illegal. And we know full well they're operating in broad daylight because best I can tell, there are zero state crimes or state offenses in Texas or prohibitions of any kind against birth tourism. So we need to do that. I've also called to, give our attorney general the authority to. And a mandate, I think, to investigate and prosecute, birth tourism. So those are other things that I've asked the governor to include on this Special session. But I also think, you know, rhetoric is important. I think the Texas government should officially condemn the, Supreme Court decision. I think we should pass a joint resolution from both chambers. We would have the votes to do would pass.

Brian Harrison: Call Governor Abbott's office, ask him to act

All we would have to have is a governor willing to have the courage to say, come back, guys, vote on these seven things. Let's not take this lying down. I'm sick of Texas, the Texas government taking it on the chin when tyrannical edicts, especially from people in black robes, come down from Washington, D.C. to harm not just our country, but the great state of Texas. So all the ideas you've mentioned and more, and I would welcome more if my colleagues have other ideas at the G. Governor has ideas, but so far, all we always had the governor do because he's felt some pressure. He issued a press release yesterday. Total joke.

 Brian Harrison: We forced him to do that. But all it did was order an investigation of a hospital billboard that the hospital had already taken down because of public pressure. We need more than theater. We need more than rhetoric.

Jenna Ellis: Absolutely. Brian Harrison, thanks so much for your work in Texas. Texas. Call Governor Abbott's office, ask him to act. We'll be right back.

The Trump accounts were officially launched on July 4th as part of America's celebrations

welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.

Jenna Ellis: While the Trump accounts are now live in the highly anticipated initiative, it was officially launched on July 4th as part of America's 250th celebrations. And we will see eligible newborns receive an account with a one time 1,000 government funded payment. So U.S. treasury, Secretary Scott Besant said the families of 6 million children have already signed up with 1.4 million of those qualifying for the seed money with American families. Ah, now curious about this. According to government legislation, Trump accounts are a new form of a traditional investment retirement account or an IRA that have been created for the benefit of children with special rules applying. This is coming from an article in time. Once opened, an eligible account will automatically receive that one time tax free $1,000 contribution from the federal government and the funds, plus any further contributions will be automatically invested in an index fund that tracks the S&P 500, which itself tracks the performance of the top 500 US companies trading on the stock market. So there's more, involved, of course, in that.

Kevin Freeman: I think opening Trump accounts is good economic policy

So let's welcome in Kevan Freeman, who is the host of the Economic War Room and also Pirate Money right here on American Family Radio Network. You can go to afr.net click on the icon for Pirate Money. And Kevan, I kind of want to go beyond, the politics of this, because obviously, you know, there's, there's rhetoric on, on whether or not it should be called Trump accounts and all of that. That's kind of, doesn't matter, in my opinion. I want to evaluate whether these accounts are actually good economic policy.

Kevin Freeman: Okay, good. morning, Jenna. you know, it is good economic policy if we're going to narrow the wealth gap. One of the problems we have in the United States is that the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. The cause of that, the root cause is money, that we've been printing too much money, and that allows for wealthy people to take advantage of it, and it hurts the average American. This is trying to get Americans back into the system, which is good. It's important that we do that. Especially when you see Zoram Dani, peddling, Marxism, literally, in NewSong York City and other communist socialist candidates popping up around the country. So, yes, getting the average American into the free market investment system, that is a good thing. It's good for America. It should be. Every American should applaud that. now the question is, should it be done with tax, dollars? and that's a fair question. I happen to think it's a good idea. I like the program. I like people starting to invest early. You know, $1,000 put in when you're very young can turn out to be millions of dollars later in life. So I think it's a very good program.

Jenna Ellis: Interesting. And so, you know, and I think that's a fair question of whether tax dollars should be used for this rather than, for those who are outside of, of the $1,000 seed money. other families can go and open Trump accounts. They'll just have to, you have the seed money come, you know, from some other place. So would it be better, in your opinion, to just have the Trump accounts available for everyone without the taxpayer funded seed money?

Kevin Freeman: Well, the taxpayer funded seed money, I think it's going to be a small amount, small drop in the bucket. You know, we could go into the birthright citizenship issue where, but, you know, all of a sudden you could drop a baby here in the United States, and instantly I just, I was listening to you with my friend Brian Harrison, instantly. Is that baby eligible for $1,000? I don't have the answer to that question, but I would assume so because they're a citizen, according to this horrible, court ruling. Tax, dollars, though, $1,000 apiece. I think that's something that the government can do. Can we afford it? You know, we have almost $40 trillion in debt. What I like better is Micah Dell and his wife put up, six and a quarter billion dollars, to give eligible, children $250 a piece from philanthropy. So maybe we should allow other people to contribute, support or whatever. But $1,000 is a small amount of money overall to our nation, our debt picture and everything else. If that's what it takes to prime the pump and get people invested in America, it might be a proper thing to do. I certainly like that better than having the money thrown away on vanity projects or a lot of other things that the Congress spends money on.

Jenna Ellis: Oh, 100%. I mean, I'm all for, at least, you know, trying to reduce the wealth inequality over, the long term and getting kids, ah, savings accounts rather than, you know, funding Arab Sesame street or something, other. That's ridiculous. but Kevan, what's the economic theory here behind giving, the, the eligible child an investment account instead of, for example, expanding existing tax credits or education savings programs or you know, some other initiative?

Kevin Freeman: Well, you would think of it as we want to get them invested. It's hard for people to sell $1,000 aside with a new baby. it's the same kind of idea that parents used to give gifts, in the form of savings bonds. It's the same basic idea that I'm not giving a baby, a new baby. You know, money that can be spent because the parents will spend it. They need the money, they'll spend it. But if you can set it and force the savings, it's a good thing. It's the reason that people make money with their homes is they pay the mortgage every month and that is forcing them to save money. So this is just a jumpstart program. I think it's innovative and creative. my main objection to the program is that it only allows you to invest in the standard index funds with the major index providers, which creates another economic problem. What about biblically responsible investors? They, they're being shut out of this. It has to go into one of these Approved S&P 500 index funds. And is BlackRock going to take those money and vote proxy votes of those shares to do bad things? So I like the, the program. I think it's not that expensive relative to what we're dealing with. I think it has a good, noble purpose. and I think it can be tweaked to be very beneficial.

Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And you know, and this is at least showing that the Trump administration is caring about building Ah, wealth for children, decades from now, but also helping families today. I mean, affordability is one of the number one issues that both Democrats and Republicans are talking about heading into the midterms, because of how many people have already signed up for this program. And it's just in, you know, the, the, the days of its infancy, pun intended. is this going to be something that the Trump administration is likely to tout going into the midterms?

Kevin Freeman: Well, they, they should, and will, the media will question it. I've never. We looked at a lot of media reports before we got on this morning, and, they're always mixed. Not one of them gives, President Trump credit for doing something for, you know, average Americans. All of them are said, well, we'll see. There are other options that are better. They're always mixed. But he deserves credit for this because this is clearly not designed to favor the wealthy. You know, they'll say the Trump tax cut serves to benefit the wealthy. This is not designed for that. Give credit where credit is due. The Bible tells us to do that. And he's done something good here for average American families. And I think it is a pattern. If we can get people invested. I wish we put our Social Security dollars into the stock market rather than into this, bottom. This bucket with a hole in the bottom where it's just really funding the treasury operations. This is a good thing. It's in the right direction. I applaud him for it, and I, think he should tout it going into the midterm.

Brian Harrison says Congress can close birthright citizenship loophole by defining qualifications

Yeah.

Jenna Ellis: And I want to follow up on one of the really good points that you made, Kevan Freeman, about, the potential of birthright citizenship kids or birth or tourism kids getting Trump accounts. What are the qualifications, and could Congress potentially close that loophole?

Kevin Freeman: Well, I'm not sure. I think it's to US Citizens. I think if they learned how to do it and game the system like the Chinese have game birthright tourism, they would game it, and they will game it. Can Congress close the loop? Absolutely, and they should. Congress can close the loophole right now, today by defining what subject to the jurisdiction thereof means in the 14th Amendment. And they should define it, to exclude people who are here illegal. They should make it because it's a crime to be here illegally. They should claim that that violates that term of the 14th Amendment and close that loophole. My grandfather was born in 1908 and wasn't considered a citizen until 1924 with the citizenship Act. So I'm offended that somebody can cross the border here for two weeks, have a baby and that baby's a citizen. Well, my grandfather, born in Oklahoma, is completely subject to the jury jurisdiction of the United States because the Indian tribe Cherokee was considered a ward of the nation. so I don't, I think Congress can fix this, problem simply by addressing that. I love what Brian Harrison is doing and I think that we should take every action we can to prevent the gaming of our citizenship.

Jenna Ellis: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And I think any reasonable person, who isn't playing a political game is looking at the text and history of the 14th Amendment and recognizes that the Supreme Court's interpretation was purely, ah, political and likely didn't want to deal with the fallout of you know, what's been the citizenship definition, for the past 100 plus years. And they're not recognizing that. This is getting more and more dangerous. I mean the people who are suggesting, well, you know, they're just keeping the status quo. Well, this isn't the status quo that was back in 1866 even, not by a long shot. And when you have the, the continued rise of things like birther tourism, more illegals coming here, we have to address that and states need to address this. And so it's fascinating to me how even something like the Trump account issue and, and how this is for the good of American economics. You know, the future and the long term effects on, benefits on children's wealth still has an immigration issue implicit within it. So we need to address those fundamental issues.

Kevin Freeman: Parents should talk to a financial advisor before investing in Trump accounts

but for parents on, you know, AFR who are listening to this, who haven't really understood Trump accounts, would you recommend that they look into this and how would they go about that process if they're looking for a good advice? I mean, obviously you and I aren't financial, advisors, but where would they go to obtain that information to determine if that's something that's actually good for their family?

Kevin Freeman: Well, they should talk to a financial advisor. And I actually, I'm not giving advice, but I am actually registered as a financial advisor and healthcare.

Jenna Ellis: There you go. But I'm not.

Kevin Freeman: I would start with trump accounts.gov and then find your personal financial advisor. If you don't have one, you should, most people should get one. But this isn't easy. If the government, if you have a baby and give you $1,000, take the thousand dollars and get it invested over the long term, it will benefit your child.

Jenna Ellis: Well said. Well, Kevan Freeman, thanks so much and again, listen to him on Pirate Money right here on American Family Radio Network. And as always, you can reach me in my team, JennaAFR.net.