Wednesday, June 24, 2020
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary Bauer
Trump vs. The Mob
Last night, President Trump addressed the Turning Point USA convention. Perhaps they should have called it the "Tipping Point USA" convention because our country is at a tipping point.
President Trump issued a clarion call to conservatives, to men and women of faith, to believers in free markets and even to genuine liberals who believe in true tolerance. Here's a brief excerpt of his remarks:
"The left-wing mob is trying to demolish our heritage so they can replace it with a new oppressive regime. . . They are tearing down statues, desecrating monuments, and purging the centers. It's not the behavior of a peaceful political movement; it is the behavior of totalitarians and tyrants and people that don't love our country. . .
"The left is not trying to promote justice or equality or lift up the downtrodden. They have one goal, the pursuit of their own political power. . . and if you give power to people that demolish monuments and attack churches and seize city streets and set fire to buildings, then nothing is sacred, and no one is safe."
Vice President Mike Pence echoed the president's comments during an event in Wisconsin last night. Pence said: "Burning churches is not protest. Desecrating synagogues is not free speech. There will be no tolerance for vandalism and violence in the United States."
Is there still a "Silent majority" of Americans who will stand up and defend our country?
Will you?
Their Silence Speaks Volumes
While President Trump is defending America, I have not been able to find a word from prominent liberals condemning the attacks against our founding fathers. Their silence speaks volumes. They dare not cross the progressive mob.
This morning, a Fox News host said they checked and could find only one example of an elected Democrat official clearly denouncing the attacks on historic monuments. I found another: To his credit, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh also condemned attacks on that city's historic monuments.
Incredibly, Barack Obama suggested yesterday that what is happening in our streets is another "Great Awakening." Clearly, Mr. Obama does not know America's history. The Great Awakening was a Christian revival in the 1730s that led to the American Revolution.
But Obama sees attacks on the American founding and on the memorials to the Revolutionary War as another great awakening. It is an awakening of Marxist, anti-American hatred, and it is anything but great.
I am also pleased to report that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has requested that National Guard troops be deployed to protect our historic monuments. "We will protect these monuments, and we will do it with dispatch and severity," Bernhardt declared.
The American people need to know that someone is standing against the mob and fighting for their values. And this should not be a hard call for any politician, left, right or center. The American people overwhelmingly oppose the left's wanton destruction of our history. (Here, here and here.)
Left-wing Insanity
If you need another example of the left's unhinged insanity, consider this: The Marxist mob in Washington, D.C., is targeting Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Memorial.
If you haven't been to Washington to see the statue, you may not get a chance. It depends on whether D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton or the mob gets to it first. Incredibly, Norton claims that the memorial "didn't take into account the views of African Americans." She's utterly clueless!
The memorial was built entirely with donations from freed slaves. The impetus behind it was Frederick Douglass, who addressed a crowd of 25,000 people at its dedication in 1876 on the 11th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. At the dedication, Douglass declared:
"We have done a good work for our race today. In doing honor to the memory of our friend and liberator, we have been doing highest honors to ourselves and those who come after us."
Sorry, Mr. Douglass, but it seems that many of those who came after you just don't share your commitment to the Great Emancipator who gave his life for this country, which he called, "the last best hope of Earth."
More Left-wing Insanity
I had to be in downtown Washington yesterday. It was not a pleasant experience. Not surprisingly, there was tension again on the streets last night.
The president tweeted that any autonomous zone attempting to secede from America would be met with "serious force." Unbelievably, Twitter flagged the president's tweet claiming Trump was threatening violence against an identifiable group of people.
Using this logic, if America is attacked by a foreign enemy and the president tweets that we will fight back against that enemy, Twitter would side with our enemy and flag his tweet for threatening violence against an identifiable group of people.
Good News
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals has ordered Judge Emmett Sullivan to dismiss the case against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
On a separate note, I hope you will check out my latest opinion piece in The Hill.
It was co-authored with Nury Turkel, who was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Turkel is a Muslim who cares deeply about the persecution that is taking place in China. As a Christian, appointed by President Trump, I also care deeply about the persecution that is taking place in China.
Working together, we published a column last week at Fox News condemning China's persecution of Christians. Now, we have just published another column condemning China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims.
I hope this provides some encouragement that there are still people of goodwill in Washington capable of working together to defend religious liberty!
