Why The GOP Is Holding A Midterm Convention

0:00Welcome to the intersection of faith and culture. It's the Wal-Boulder show taking all the hot topics of the day from a biblical historical and constitutional perspective. And today one of the hot topics is a midterm Republican convention something that hasn't been done that I'm aware of. At least it sounds like it may have never been done. But it's happening in Dallas, Texas. And you know, I forgot to even ask you guys by the way Rick Green here with David Barton. And to Tim Barton, I forgot to ask if you guys are going to the convention or you're going to be in town and get to go to any of it. Yeah, I'm definitely in town forward. I'll be over there both days to the convention be speaking to several state delegations and doing some presentations for for things over there. So definitely involved in it. And it's it's really, really interesting Rick. There's three or four things are going to happen this convention that have never happened before. So it's going to be very interesting. I kind of like why are you doing a midterm convention?

1:00And by the way, responding to what you just said, oh, no Republicans and there what 175 year history, whatever have never done a midterm convention. This is the first for them. Democrats have done three back in the 70s early 80s. They won two out of the three when they did it. But they just felt like it was a waste of time and money. So they quit doing it and haven't done once it's 82. They thought about doing well this year with the Republicans doing it and said, no, we're not going to do that. So this is something very new. But there's some interesting, I think motivations behind why Republicans are doing what they're doing with this. And there's some miscalculations, I think, as well too, but we can get into that later. Yes. Okay. So it hasn't happened before that you said there's some good things that'll come out of it. Well, I guess we can start with the the miscalculations. What are your concerns about it? Well, the concerns about it are guess what? This is being broadcast. Well, I started to say it's being broadcast nationally and it's not. There's actually only one network that is covering this thing from start to finish in that C span.

2:03So there's seeing ends going to give it some coverage and one other network's given some coverage and pops will give it some. But it's just not going to get broadcast very, very far very well. And it's up against NFL games on Wednesday night and Thursday night. So the Republicans are having their convention, both those nice from four to 10 central time. And that's right in the heart of all that is the two opening season NFL games and word was from reporters who checked into it that the White House was not aware of those games and didn't think about looking at those games when they set up the time. So they chose Dallas chose the time and got it all set all announced all moving and boops got some competition that we hadn't hadn't planned on. So I think that's that's probably the downside to it. Although, you know, you certainly don't go around acknowledging we made a mistake. That's, you know, politics means never having to say you're sorry. Yeah. Let me let me just ask you about that. Is that is that a big deal because normally when you do the every four year convention.

3:04You do have everybody's attention for a few nights, maybe not the whole week, but for those main, you know, last couple of nights for the president, except the nomination pretty much everybody's watching. Is that what you what you mean that we may not get that kind of coverage because of the just competition for eyes on those nights. Well, this is where it gets really interesting because it looks to me like they have taken a completely different tact and purpose for the convention. It's not going to be a convention like we're always used to. It's a convention that I think is being orchestrated to meet some very, very specific needs. And it's really, I think very intriguing. In many ways, I think it's very smart. I mean, all right, let's back off and say what what do Republicans need most in this election? And the answer is they need to hold the midterm so they can keep the house to the Senate. So Trump is not aligned duck for the last two years, which means your focus is going to be on House and Senate. And yet,

4:06most of the House members that are have their seats that are we're going to say really contested seats. They're not part of the program. There's, there's a few, but most of those guys are not even going to be at the convention. They're going to be back working their races. And they're not being featured, particularly at the convention, per se. So this can't be about trying to, to necessarily build those, those names and get those names on national TV because national TV is not covered to speak up. So it's like they have rethought this thing. I think they're going to be successful what they're doing. But it is not your typical campaign. And if we approach it as saying, hey, here's another national convention of a national party. Here's what we expect. We're not going to get what we expect. I've got the schedule, I've got the list of all the speakers, all the things they're doing. This is quite intriguing to me. I think they're thinking outside the box in a way that that may help them get their goals, but not in the way that most people would assume that they were going to get there.

5:12Now, dad, I'm just curious when you say you have the list of speakers, you literally know who every one of those speakers is. That's fascinating because I definitely have some some curiosity of certain individuals. If they're going to be speaking or not, and I assume obviously this will be held close to the best from those in charge. But you know, thinking of guys like a brand and gil thinking of some influencers and commentators of young leaders. Do you see them elevating any young leaders to help reach the rising generation who seem to be the ones most confused and misguided, and especially when that's the biggest voting block. Do you see things going specifically like you see names that are targeting those individuals. Yes, and no, and it's interesting you say that to them because that is the logical thing. And when I look at this and lies what they're doing, I don't think that's what they're trying to do. And let me just let me throw it right out from the top. If you're going to try to maintain and we have looked and we think there's about 40 to 45 house races that we'll call battleground within two or three points.

6:22There's 17 of them that we have with we sure tied neck and neck and then there's another 20 something 25 or so that are within three points. And a lot of those guys that we want to get elected are not even going to be part of it. They're not going to give an opportunity to speak. But here's here's what I think is really intriguing. First off is Trump is going to be there for both nights. He will close it out on Thursday night. He'll open it up on Wednesday night. And you can sit at Trump's table if you want to. It only costs you $250,000 to sit at a table with him. And by the way, if you want to get your picture made with Trump at the convention, it's only $65,000. This is a fundraiser. They're doing this to raise funds. And so they're even the congressman themselves were told that if you want a bit of adventure, it's going to cost you $25,000 to be at the convention. Now wait a minute. We're trying to get you got. Yeah, we are trying to get you guys elected. You guys stay in your seats and work your districts. We'll go raise money for you in the meantime. Well, dad, one of the things it seems like has to be a priority. Obviously, they need funds. That's fine. But they have to care about the voter turnout. And it does seem like coming to Texas is strategic because if the idea is only money.

7:39I mean, certainly there's money in Texas. There's no doubt about that. But they could have gone to Florida. You know, a place where certainly there's also a lot of money. There's other states that have a lot of money that are very strong. It seems like coming to Texas might have been also strategic move, recognizing there's a very significant election in the Senate over here with Tala Rico and can pack stand. And even yesterday when I was speaking at a church, I talked to several people after service that came up and they were asking questions. Concerned that they have a lot of friends that are saying, hey, we like Tala Rico. In fact, my wife even talks about on her social media. There's people that frustrate her. She don't want to follow anymore or like be friends with because it's Christian to our proud about being Christians. They're proud about the church. They go to and some of the churches don't seem like what churches, but they are supporting someone that is rejecting basic biblical orthodoxy that is promoting literal heresy.

8:39I mean, things the Bible talked about that warned you against people like this when you're advocating the idea, James Tala Rico, saying that Mary actually had the option to abort Jesus. She chose not to, but that's why we should be pro-choice because Mary could have aborted Jesus. And you're like, what kind of nonsense are you espousing? But the reason it's been a challenging and fusing, unfortunately for a lot of Christians, as a lot of Christians have been learning that some of the most important aspects of being a quote Christian are, how nice you are to people. And so they're looking at candidates to the lens of who's a nice person. And that's who we want not thinking critically or strategically about really. It's the policies that they're advocating. That's the most important thing. It's not who's a nicer person. It's who is advocating the policies that will encourage and promote more freedom, more stability, more prosperity. What are going to be the things that are better for my kids, for the great kids in the future? Instead of, well, this guy just seems like a nicer person. And again, we've been taught a very broken scale that is not a biblical scale. There are a lot, the Bible tells us. There are going to be a lot of people that are very nice that end up in hell. Why?

9:53Because nicest is not what keeps you out of hell. It is the relationship with Jesus that keeps you out of hell. And by the way, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commands. So also there's a challenge as Christians that we should uphold a moral standard. We follow the teachings of Jesus, which is where the word Christian comes from, not that I dress me back up. The reason I think it's important that they're in Texas. And again, I think there's lots of reasons you identify. This is certainly a fundraiser among many things. But I think there are people who are not in Texas who look at this race between James Tallerico and a very clearly strong conservative candidate, even though a very morally flawed one as well, Ken Paxton. And they're like, oh, Texas is red. Right. We're not worried about Tallerico at all. And the reality is, we're not worried about the reality. The internal bullying in Texas shows this is way too close for several reasons, partly because you have some very strong John Corden supporters, John Corden is a current senator who lost in the primary bit to Ken Paxton. There are current Republicans who say they will not vote for Ken Paxton because they don't like them. And they support John Corden. And so they're just going to sit this one out. There's a lot of Christians in Texas who are supporting James Tallerico because they don't understand.

11:11Maybe how to measure biblical morality, but also because they're also promoting an idea of we want the nicer candidate, not the one that promotes the better policies for our nation, for our kids, etc. So it does seem like part of the reason they're coming to Texas is to boost the voter turnout in Texas. Because if Texas ends up becoming a purple and then at some point of blue state, it will change the fabric of the nation for generations, potentially. And so this idea of keeping Texas red is a real thing. So it does seem to me that that would be part of the reason why they might want to do this convention and Dallas as well. Well, that would seem logical, but it doesn't look like that on the list. When you look at the 109 speakers they've got there are maybe seven from Texas. I mean, just going down the list, you got Governor Greg Abbott, you got Senator Ted Cruz, you've got Brandon Gil, as you mentioned, you got the mayor of dollars Eric Johnson, you got Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, really good friend of trust. You have one nominee for the house down in South Texas in the valley.

12:18I mean, as you go through the numbers, there's just not that many. And there's a number of these guys that are not planning to be here. They planted state stay out working the race. And so as I look down the list of speakers, it's not Texas heavy. Now, this is a good place for them to be for a number of reasons cost expenses, police coverage here, Dallas as Eric Johnson be in the mayor of Dallas. I mean, that's a Republican mayor. And he may be the only Republican mayor in a city as large as Dallas in the entire nation, which may be one reason was easy to set up security here and police and everything else. And that may be part of the consideration, but the other thing is what I look at the now what they've got is they're going from four to 10 each night. And each each of those nights, I have the list here what they're doing each hour and each hour they're going to have three themes per hour. So that gives you what 12 hours that gives you 36 themes, 109 speakers for 36 themes, which means you're going to have about three people per section, maybe five to six minutes of section. It's like little cameos almost.

13:28But when I look down at what they are covering, there is almost no repetition of topics starting off you're looking at working family tax relief and then rooting out wasting fraud and the health care for the ability. Then the next hour you go to policy contract. And by the way, this whole list is on the R&C website that this is out there. If you're a delegate to the conventions, delegates have already been given this. We know what's happening. We know the speakers. We know the topics. And there is what I look at those number topics. There's so unrelated to each other that what it tells me is since the national media is not going to cover the convention, they plan to take all of these little speeches and make them into sound bites and spread them all over the web sphere everywhere. They're going to take anything you want to talk about and they will have sound bites on that. And they're just going to inundate that depending on what's in the races. So if there is a congressional race, there's all about election integrity. They'll have some great sound bites. If there's ones about health care, they'll have great sound bites.

14:33I think they are generating a massive amount of sound bites and essentially 109 different areas with 109 different speakers. And I think the other thing, that's the other thing they'll do because this is not like a normal convention where you have a theme and you stick to the theme. This thing is scattered all over the world, but I think that because they're not having national coverage to broadcast like you normally do that they plan to take this and spread it around themselves and let all the candidates choose it. So we may we may see a lot more after the convention than like we normally want during the convention from what you're saying. Let's say great guys, we'll be right back. Let's eat to the wallblower show. Hey friends, Rick Green from the wallblower show encouraging you to share the program with friends and family and listen to it on the podcast that are out there. There's so many options out there for you to listen to in the car, if I'm home or while you're working out, you've got Apple podcast Spotify Amazon Music, I heart radio, cast box. I mean, there's so many options.

15:35And we just want to make sure you know we worked hard to get it out there and make it available for you on all those different apps. Everybody's got their favorite apps. So choose your particular app. And if it's not on there yet, email us radio at wallbuilders.com and let us know about your favorite podcast app more. Make sure wallbenders radio is listed there, but you can listen and most importantly, share it with your friends and family. That's how the program grows. That's how we get more truth in the hands of as many people as possible. And then of course wallbuilders.show super easy place to find all of those podcast apps and to just download right there from that website as well as be able to share it with your friends and family. So check it out today wallbuilders.show or just go directly to your favorite podcast app. Listen to the wallbenders show and share it with as many people as you possibly can. Welcome back to wallbuilders show. Thanks for staying with us talking about the first ever Republican midterm convention. One thing I wanted to jump on Tim. You were saying earlier. You thought it might really be about turnout. I could I could agree more as far as you know, just trying to keep the base engaged and remind people what Republican stand for versus Democrats and David that think that's maybe what the point of having all those different topics is and then.

16:45You know, being able to zero in as you're saying on specific districts where certain topics are most popular to them. I will say you know Tim you were talking about the the talarico. So, talarico versus cruise race and just how many Christians how many Republicans are saying well, but he's nice. So I'm going to support him. I was just in Colorado and we were at a dinner and it was the biggest Republican County in the state and I was doing the billfetter and I were keto in the dinner. It was getting really late by the time it was getting to me. I was the last speaker and so right before I went up, I leaned over to care of my wife and said I got all this stuff bouncing around on my head. I want to say some pray for clarity. And she said all I'll say is keep it simple. And so as I walked up there and everybody was half asleep because the auctioneer was right before me and he was terrible and put everybody to sleep. And so I just got up there and said. So, I'm going to say that I'm not going to fall in this room or for the mutilation of children. Nobody raised their hand. I said how many of you think it's okay to kill a baby five minutes before the baby would have been born. Nobody raised her hand. How many of you think it's okay to stop ice from being able to arrest and deport rapists and murders and thugs and and and went down the list of what the Democrats are for and what and and then said, you know, to not get on board and support the Republican candidates.

18:09And so, you know, I'm not going to say those things. You're helping all of those things by helping the Democrat by not helping the Republicans. But to your point, Tim, it's not just in Texas. It's it's it's unbelievable to me that Republicans would sit out the race out of being heard feelings because their candidate didn't win or whatever the excuses is just insane when you think about these Democrats, Socialist of America and just how left the Democrats have gone. So I do think that's one of the main reasons for the convention as well is to highlight the difference between Republicans and Democrats and so many people we hear it all the time. There's no difference. It's a uniform. The blah, blah, blah. We know that's not the case. And we get frustrated with our Republican friends all that and for not doing as much as we think they should. But boy, is there ever a difference? And I hope the convention highlights that. Yeah. And one of the things too, I would point out is this is not really Republicans against Democrats in the conversation that we're having now when it comes to right who's advocating for protecting girls and their locker rooms and their bathrooms and sports, like all the things you said, right protecting their bodies from mutilation from this propaganda nonsense, doctors, etc.

19:20I'm not advocating for this as a Republican. I'm advocating for as a Christian as a Christian. Now again, like it's not about you support Republicans or Democrats. No, it's the policies as a Christian. This is not how can Republicans sit back? No, how can Christians sit back? If you are a Christian, you cannot sit back and watch people that are going to advocate and literally their side is furthering this evil. So this isn't about us promoting Republicans. No, this is this is Christians saying we have to promote godliness and biblical principles and policies. And right now, the party who is upholding that standard the most are Republicans. The reason as a Christian that I think you should support a Republican is because right now, their policies more closely align with biblical principles. And this is where someone in the Democrat side who professes Christianity might say, yeah, but look at the poor and needy and like that's really the only thing you can advocate for in your own mind and my perspective from the Democrat side and I would point out that if you read your Bible, the poor needy was never the government's job. It was a job with a family of the church.

20:37So literally the only thing that you're really able to advocate for from a biblical idea perspective is something that's not even the role of the government again, all of this to say that my my encouragement challenge is to Christians. You need to recognize you have a stewardship responsibility and that actually you and I were talking not long ago and you were saying also something that's really, really important as all of us on this program. We leave and voter integrity. We support voter ID like the very commonsense positions at the majority of American support. But as you pointed out, like even a Texas, it's crazy. How many people have wrong voter information like incorrect because they've moved or gotten married to whatever else. And so in the midst of us advocating, we want to have secure elections. We want to have integrity and elections voter ID. You were pointing out, man, we need to encourage people. Make sure like check your voter registration status. Make sure it's up to date because in Texas, easy example. If you go to vote and you have the wrong address on your ID, you can still vote. You'll vote provisionally. They'll check it. You'll probably find, but we want to, we want to encourage people. Dad, let me just toss to you.

21:51So you can give clarity to this and run with it. But but why does it matter that people check maybe their voter registration status, their address, etc. Why does that matter? Well, if you check it and make sure you're good, then your your ballot is not pulled as a provisional. It's not pulled for extra attention. Stop. The more you get handled, the more possibility there is of something happening to either intentional or accidental. And so I think the number we had looked at Tim was I think 2.3 million Texans have incorrect information on their voter registration right now. They've moved and didn't think about it. Didn't think about updating or checking it. So there's about 2.3 million in Texas. But this is the way it is all over the nation. We're just a global population now and we move so often to do so many things. The more opportunity you give for the panel or set aside is provisional or have to check it, double check it, the more opportunity you have for something happening to it.

22:52You just wanted to go straight into the machine, let the machine do it. And we have more election integrity now that we've added several elections. President Trump even has been able to get several things through the courts. There's been a couple struck down in the last week to the postal service. But still we're so far ahead of where we were two years ago, four years ago and six years ago. So it's it's time to your point. This is something check your voter registration. Check make sure your current and up to date. Make sure you haven't forgotten something or left something off because then you've got a much safer ballot as it goes when you cast an election night. So David, what do you hope happens from the convention? I mean, based on what you see as we go into it, what do you what do you kind of hoping that we get out of it? I mean, you're going to be talking to several groups. What's the goal? I think what's going to happen is you will come out with a lot of people motivated and activated there. I don't think that's a question. I think people will be impressed with the quantity of things that have been done by this administration.

23:56Typically, you know, where I said a messaging just five, two or three issues in your campaign to stick on those. I think they are breaking that to pieces this time. And I think it'll be for good use because I think they will customize the message for what the districts need, which will be very helpful. So I think we'll see a lot of energy come out of it. I think that extra money will help in a lot of races to cut through the Tallahuretco kind of nonsense. There are some ads being cut right now on how crazy. Tim, as you said, that the angel Gabriel came to Mary and asked her she wanted to do an abortion. Really? What Bible are you not reading to come? It's just it's crazy. So that's some stuff that people look at and put money into, started to get that out there. And that's why I think it can help. So I think this could be a very positive midterm despite the fact that it is so radically different from all the previous midterms. All the previous conventions, no midterms for Republicans, but all the previous conventions is so different. Tim, what do you think are the kind of some of the key messages we need to take from the convention, all these speeches that we can communicate to voters, especially those younger voters, like you were talking about earlier.

25:05Yeah, I think there will be several new thoughts that probably all here somebody can go, that's a great point. We need to talk about that more. But ultimately, I think it's helping the next generation understand that we're not looking for the most likable candidate. We're looking for what policies advance freedom and prosperity the most because most young people are living in what they were considering affordability crisis. The gases high, groceries right. They can't afford to buy a house. And part of the question is, okay, do you think that the government will make better decisions for you than you could? Right, like this, this old ad is the 2030 plan that was promoted, this idea that you will own nothing and you will like it. Do you want to be in a place in your life when you own nothing when somebody can come and take away what you have, they can choose where you go and how you do. And I know some people have grown up with parents that actually did this for them. And they're like, yes, I think there's a portion of the generation that feels that way. But I think in my mind, one of the things we have to help advocate and help people wrap their mind around is we're looking for what are the best policies for families, for our pocketbooks, for sons and daughters.

26:15And who is advocating the best policies? And we have to start thinking a little longer term stage two, not just stage one thing. Not how does this make me feel, but what is good, what is true, what is right. And I'm sure there'll be lots of fun sound bites that we will see later this week from the convention. Look at for it too. We made him play some of them right here on the program to help with understanding the message that is coming out and understanding what's at stake in the November elections. Thanks so much for listening everyone. You've been listening to The Walthover Show.