Speaker 1: Going to seize this moment, which I happen to think
Speaker 1: is providential.
Speaker 2: Then we have to have a plan. So if you
Speaker 2: will permit it, I will walk you through the plan chronologically.
Speaker 1: It's so great to be back in the Rocky Mountain West.
Speaker 1: My family and I lived out here years ago. And
Speaker 1: it isn't just the air and the scenery that are beautiful.
Speaker 1: The best part of the West in spite of the
Speaker 1: physical scenery, the physical beauty is its people. Because you
Speaker 1: want to take your states back, and you want to
Speaker 1: take America back, and I'm here to give you the
Speaker 1: plan today.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 1: You got that right, I happen to think, in spite
Speaker 1: of everything the media tells us that we should believe,
Speaker 1: which is, of course that we're supposed to according to them,
Speaker 1: hate America be discouraged, that it is the best time
Speaker 1: in the history of our country to be alive. And
Speaker 1: the reason for that is that we get the opportunity
Speaker 1: not just in this year of America two fifty, but
Speaker 1: in this upcoming week of America two fifty, to honor
Speaker 1: our history, to be sure, but most importantly, to think
Speaker 1: about the steps we need to take in order to
Speaker 1: secure the blessings of liberty for the next two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty years. And I thought, given that I know
Speaker 1: something about what each of you does to help secure
Speaker 1: great policy and liberty in your respective states and counties,
Speaker 1: that I would come here and tell you the truth.
Speaker 1: And the truth is that our history is beautiful. There
Speaker 1: are many things for us to be celebrating, all of
Speaker 1: the different highlights, from the Revolution to the two World Wars.
Speaker 1: Who the great leaders we've been blessed with, including Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: But there's this problem that we have, and it is
Speaker 1: that there are three sources of obstacles to us achieving
Speaker 1: this renewed American dream, this revitalized American spirit.
Speaker 2: The first one is obvious to you. It's the American left.
Speaker 1: In fact, the best way that I can summarize this
Speaker 1: for you, even more effective, I think, than talking about
Speaker 1: the policy agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America. If
Speaker 1: you live in Colorado, you have a taste of that already.
Speaker 1: The best way that I can summarize this for you
Speaker 1: is to cite a recent public opinion survey which asked
Speaker 1: Americans across the political spectrum.
Speaker 2: Are you, in fact very proud of your country?
Speaker 1: What percentage of Democrats said that they were very or
Speaker 1: extremely proud of their country, a mere twenty nine percent
Speaker 1: to only twenty nine percent of the American left have
Speaker 1: said that they're very or extremely proud of living in
Speaker 1: this country. Contrasts that to those of us on the right,
Speaker 1: who said ninety ninety percent of us are very proud
Speaker 1: or extremely proud of the United States.
Speaker 2: Doesn't that explain their entire project?
Speaker 1: Doesn't it explain everything they've done in our politics in Washington,
Speaker 1: in Denver state capitals around this country. Doesn't it explain
Speaker 1: what they've done with election integrity? Doesn't it explain what
Speaker 1: they've done with immigration? They don't know, or at least
Speaker 1: they don't want to accept that. As we convene here
Speaker 1: just days away from literally our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary,
Speaker 1: America is, because of Donald Trump and conservatives, the freest, strongest, fairest,
Speaker 1: best country.
Speaker 2: Still in the history of the world.
Speaker 1: And it's part of this is But it's sort of
Speaker 1: sad that Europeans, of all people traveling to the United
Speaker 1: States to cheer on their respective World Cup teams, have
Speaker 1: come to love America more than the American left. Europeans
Speaker 1: have gone to places like Target and Costco.
Speaker 2: And they've said, you know, America is an amazing place.
Speaker 1: There's this great variety of things, and these things are
Speaker 1: really cheap, and there's even air conditioning in American buildings,
Speaker 1: and ranch dressing so much ranch dressing. TSA had to
Speaker 1: issue a warning about putting that in their suitcases as
Speaker 1: they travel back home. And let me just observe it
Speaker 1: is official Heritage Foundation policy that ranch dressing is awesome.
Speaker 2: But the best of.
Speaker 1: These places they've visited, if you asked me, was Walmart,
Speaker 1: because it's at Walmart that you can find pajamas, hamburgers,
Speaker 1: and shotguns. These Europeans who think that we like our
Speaker 1: guns too much sort of get an understanding that we
Speaker 1: like our guns because they are a reminder of the right,
Speaker 1: the natural right that citizens have against government tyranny. I'm
Speaker 1: sometimes asked by the Washington media, Kevin, you're the leader
Speaker 1: of the largest conservative public policy organization in the world.
Speaker 1: Surely you can tell us how many guns you have.
Speaker 1: And I said, yes, too many for you to count,
Speaker 1: and definitely enough to scare you.
Speaker 2: But I do have to tell you.
Speaker 1: There's a second source of challenge of obstacles that we
Speaker 1: have to confront and my great friend Mike Davis, how about.
Speaker 2: Another round of applause for that patriot.
Speaker 1: Said it well, and it's the established Republican uniparty in Washington.
Speaker 1: While we have made progress, we have sent an increasing
Speaker 1: number of Conservatives into the US House, into the US Senate,
Speaker 1: there remain a handful of problems. So much so, none
Speaker 1: other than Senate leadership John Thune and John Cornyn said
Speaker 1: yesterday that we at Heritage and our allies who are
Speaker 1: advocating for the Save America Act were demoralizing the conservative base.
Speaker 1: This is what they said yesterday publicly, We were demoralizing
Speaker 1: the conservative base for the midterms because we were advocating
Speaker 1: for the Save America Act. And when we ask through
Speaker 1: various channels for them to explain that to us, because
Speaker 1: that isn't exactly logical. This is their argument, the Save
Speaker 1: America Act doesn't have the votes to get passed, and
Speaker 1: therefore you were leading the conservative base astray by telling
Speaker 1: them that they should go fight for it. My response was, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, I just went to Louisiana public schools, so
Speaker 1: maybe my logic is a little limited.
Speaker 2: But an eighty twenty issue supported.
Speaker 1: By a majority of Black Democrats is something we shouldn't
Speaker 1: insist that Republican senators advocate for. You know, you start
Speaker 1: to wonder what is it that prevents the uniparty, the
Speaker 1: Republican establishment from getting with the program, And it doesn't
Speaker 1: take long to realize that it probably has something to
Speaker 1: do with more than the fact that they don't like
Speaker 1: to work.
Speaker 2: They will be.
Speaker 1: Out of session for the next eighteen days. Their average
Speaker 1: work week is two and a half days. They left
Speaker 1: town yesterday not just failing to take action on the
Speaker 1: Save America Act, but failing to take action on a
Speaker 1: state of nominations, including important judicial nominations by the president.
Speaker 1: It actually makes you wonder if, in fact they're prom
Speaker 1: is to prevent not only the success of President Trump himself,
Speaker 1: but of the MAGA movement more generally. And so as
Speaker 1: we garner our energy for the plan which I will
Speaker 1: lay out here for you, momentarily, we have to keep
Speaker 1: in mind that while we're making progress against the establishment,
Speaker 1: it is still too influential, especially the United States Senate,
Speaker 1: which leads me to the third source of obstacles, and
Speaker 1: that's ourselves. Not that we're wrongheaded, not that you aren't
Speaker 1: working hard, enough.
Speaker 2: But when I tell stories and unfortunately.
Speaker 1: They're true about the Republican Senate leadership for example, and
Speaker 1: other examples of the uniparty in Washington, it comes with
Speaker 1: a risk, right, It comes with a risk of maybe
Speaker 1: discouraging you from digging a little bit deeper, knocking on
Speaker 1: more doors, recruiting more people.
Speaker 2: To run for office, as so many of you in
Speaker 2: this audience have done.
Speaker 1: And so I just want to I want to encourage us,
Speaker 1: myself included all our staff at Heritage, from being discouraged
Speaker 1: and certainly from being complacent. I know that you probably
Speaker 1: don't need me to remind you of what's at stake,
Speaker 1: but maybe what you might enjoy is just a quick
Speaker 1: enumeration of everything we've achieved in the first couple of
Speaker 1: years of Trump's presidency. For four years under Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: more than two hundred thousand illegal immigrants entered the country
Speaker 1: every month. Within weeks after his inauguration, as you know,
Speaker 1: President Trump.
Speaker 2: Lowered that number to zero, literally zero.
Speaker 1: A member of the elite Washington press corps pressed me
Speaker 1: on that fact and said, surely, Roberts, it's not zero,
Speaker 1: it's literally zero.
Speaker 2: I don't know that you can count that high, but
Speaker 2: it's zero.
Speaker 1: Secondly, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have been deported,
Speaker 1: and of course, whether the right the accurate number is
Speaker 1: eleven million illegals, are twenty two million illegal aliens that
Speaker 1: came here under Biden. We happen to think it's the latter.
Speaker 1: Whatever the number is, every single one of them broke
Speaker 1: the law and needs to be deported back to their countries,
Speaker 1: every single one.
Speaker 2: And for the.
Speaker 1: Washington media and the Republican Uniparty, which hate it when
Speaker 1: we say that at Heritage, every single one. Why Because
Speaker 1: if you're going to protect the rule of law, if
Speaker 1: you're going to protect the very thing that motivates people
Speaker 1: to migrate here, then you have to import, you have
Speaker 1: to impose justice, and we have to make it possible
Speaker 1: for legal immigrants to be here.
Speaker 2: But the achievements continue.
Speaker 1: The media likes to make fun of Doze and Elon Musk,
Speaker 1: but keep in mind that as we sit here, that
Speaker 1: effort cut two hundred billion dollars in wasteful spending in
Speaker 1: a single year.
Speaker 2: That's one thousand dollars per taxpayer.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's not a lot of money to people on
Speaker 1: the left, but I certainly will take it. He cut
Speaker 1: the deep state by more than three hundred thousand employees
Speaker 1: in a mere fifteen months.
Speaker 2: He's eliminated entire.
Speaker 1: Agencies, starting with the US Department of Education. He's canceled
Speaker 1: corrupt programs like USAID. He's defunded public broadcasting, one of
Speaker 1: my favorites. And he has defunded Planned Parenthood, but only
Speaker 1: until July fourth, which is why we need record conciliation
Speaker 1: three point zero. He do dei and woke insanity from
Speaker 1: the federal government and federally funded universities and school districts.
Speaker 1: He created the first national school choice program and seed
Speaker 1: funded Trump accounts. He unlocked domestic energy production, and he
Speaker 1: removed a tyrant from power in Venezuela in a matter
Speaker 1: of hours, resetting geopolitics so that Americans in the future
Speaker 1: will reap the benefits of what he's done. He's deployed
Speaker 1: the National Guard to blue cities to get the Biden
Speaker 1: crime wave under.
Speaker 2: Control for the first time.
Speaker 1: For the first time in my life, first visiting Washington
Speaker 1: and now working in Washington every day. It's a city
Speaker 1: that is actually clean and where you won't automatically get stabbed.
Speaker 2: Or shot when you walk on the sidewalk, He stood
Speaker 2: up to China.
Speaker 1: He's rebalancing global trade to benefit whom US workers forgot
Speaker 1: people that the elites have run roughshot over and all
Speaker 1: the while the economy has hummed along, withstanding even the
Speaker 1: economic costs of doing what needed to be done in Iran.
Speaker 1: And praise God that President Trump and Vice President Vance
Speaker 1: and Secretary of Rubio are bringing that justified, successful.
Speaker 2: Conflict to a very quick conclusion.
Speaker 1: You see, friends, in this two hundred and fiftieth year
Speaker 1: of the United States, there's much to be grateful for.
Speaker 1: Do not let the left tell us that we need
Speaker 1: to be discouraged, that we need to give up. And
Speaker 1: if you need any reminder, think about what the left
Speaker 1: has done and wants to do. Think about, if you
Speaker 1: really want to be convinced of the lunacy of the left, what.
Speaker 2: Some of their programs are.
Speaker 1: Open borders, defunding the police, men and women's sports and
Speaker 1: women's prisons, sanctuary cities which you know all two more
Speaker 1: much about here, and Colorado censorship, racial and religious discrimination.
Speaker 2: And they excuse and even celebrate political violence.
Speaker 1: Every public opinion poll since our great friend Charlie Kirk's
Speaker 1: assassination shows that Americans on the left are eight or
Speaker 1: nine times more likely to say that political violence is
Speaker 1: okay to achieve their ends. That is the rotten fruit
Speaker 1: of the miseducation, of the indoctrination that the left is
Speaker 1: imposed on the American people. Thank goodness, the Trump administration
Speaker 1: is beginning.
Speaker 2: To fix it.
Speaker 1: The Democrat mayor of New York City wants to get
Speaker 1: rid of all prisons and ban all guns.
Speaker 2: If he succeeds in doing so.
Speaker 1: All of New York will be much more like the
Speaker 1: Third World than one of the greatest cities in the
Speaker 1: history of the world. Their senate candidate in Texas is
Speaker 1: a walking meme. He said just recently that he's a
Speaker 1: faithful Christian who hates Christianity.
Speaker 2: See these are the kinds of things that are perplexing
Speaker 2: to some of us.
Speaker 1: But I've known about this fellow for a while, having
Speaker 1: done some work in Texas over the years, and probably
Speaker 1: the worst thing.
Speaker 2: He says is that God is non binary.
Speaker 1: Their last vice presidential candidate put tampons in boys' bathrooms
Speaker 1: in his state's elementary schools. Their presidential front runner for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight signed a law allowing public schools to
Speaker 1: hide students gender transitioning from their parents.
Speaker 2: The list goes on and on. You know it very well.
Speaker 1: I won't discourage you too much by continuing with that,
Speaker 1: because the main thing that I wanted to drive home
Speaker 1: for you today is that we shouldn't be discouraged. We
Speaker 1: have many reasons to be grateful for the current administration
Speaker 1: and other conservative leaders in the country, but ultimately, if
Speaker 1: we're going to seize this moment, which I happened to
Speaker 1: is providential, then we have to have a plan. So
Speaker 1: if you will permit me, I will walk you through
Speaker 1: the plan chronologically.
Speaker 2: The first thing that needs to happen is.
Speaker 1: That the Senate should go back to Washington and pass
Speaker 1: the Save America Act, and they should stay in town
Speaker 1: because this fancy little term called reconciliation three point zero,
Speaker 1: which is just a way of saying passing an additional budget,
Speaker 1: should be passed by the Senate in the House signed
Speaker 1: by the President, so we can be focused on domestic policy,
Speaker 1: like revitalizing the American economy. And then when that happens,
Speaker 1: we ought to be optimistic about the midterms because if
Speaker 1: you're like the friends, you know, the people sitting at
Speaker 1: your table, like our grassroots activists.
Speaker 2: At Heritage Acson we call sentinels. Some of you are
Speaker 2: in this room.
Speaker 1: You know that that's a very powerful message to deliver
Speaker 1: when you're knocking on doors, when you're calling friends, when
Speaker 1: you're having you know, those debates we're probably not supposed
Speaker 1: to have on social media, but it's very important to have.
Speaker 1: We have a story to tell which isn't just about
Speaker 1: the absurdity of the left's agenda.
Speaker 2: It's about what we are for a very precise agenda.
Speaker 1: And so I happen to think that if those things happen,
Speaker 1: the midterms go well, conservatives hold not just the Senate,
Speaker 1: but hold the House, maybe expanding the majority by a
Speaker 1: handful of seats, that not only do we avoid what
Speaker 1: the left would do if they win the House, which
Speaker 1: is to shut down the entire Trump agenda with impeachment,
Speaker 1: but we actually get to continue doing the work of
Speaker 1: the American people.
Speaker 2: Imagine that.
Speaker 1: And if we do that in twenty twenty seven, then
Speaker 1: I have no doubt that whoever our nominee is in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight will be elected. And the other thing
Speaker 1: I know about whoever the nominee will be in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty eight it won't be someone who represents the absurd,
Speaker 1: never Trump class. And so just take a moment to
Speaker 1: think about that. If those things happen, and conservatives continue
Speaker 1: to control all three branches of government and we get
Speaker 1: to the twenty thirty census and we're actually able to
Speaker 1: count only citizens, imagine the possibility. This is why at
Speaker 1: Heritage we have been talking about America's golden Age for years.
Speaker 1: We have been saying for years that the twenty twenties
Speaker 1: is the decade for the United States to experience a
Speaker 1: renewed patriotism, but a renewed patriotism for a purpose, not
Speaker 1: just honoring our history and our heroes, which we need
Speaker 1: to be doing, don't get me wrong, but using their
Speaker 1: examples as motivations.
Speaker 2: For what we need to do next.
Speaker 1: And so, if in fact those events happen, then it
Speaker 1: isn't just the twenty twenties.
Speaker 2: It probably isn't just the twenty thirties. It might be
Speaker 2: the twenty forties and the rest of this century where
Speaker 2: we get to dream about policy agendas that under leftist
Speaker 2: rule just.
Speaker 1: Seem like fantasy. And so I want to leave you
Speaker 1: with some encouragement. But before I do that, I want
Speaker 1: to commend you. I say at every staff meeting at
Speaker 1: Heritage every month that gratitude is the heart of the
Speaker 1: Conservative Why the reason we labor the way we labor
Speaker 1: for not just good policy, but for eternal values, for
Speaker 1: God's truth is because we happen to be privileged to
Speaker 1: wake up in the greatest country and the history of
Speaker 1: the world. We've inherited that from our families, sure, but
Speaker 1: also from the generations of men and women who form
Speaker 1: this country. And if you think about it, what was
Speaker 1: going on two hundred and fifty years ago this day,
Speaker 1: June twenty sixth, seventeen seventy six.
Speaker 2: You know the.
Speaker 1: Dates that came later July fourth, to be sure, July second,
Speaker 1: which was the actual date that the declaration was signed.
Speaker 1: But what about a week prior, what were the representatives
Speaker 1: at the Congress talking about and doing. They knew on
Speaker 1: June twenty sixth, seventeen seventy six that they were going
Speaker 1: to sign the Declaration of Independence, and so they were preparing,
Speaker 1: not unlike the way all of you and we at
Speaker 1: Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action are preparing for the mid
Speaker 1: terms for twenty twenty eight, maybe for governing for a
Speaker 1: long time and there are two famous letters dated that day,
Speaker 1: one from jan John Hancock, who as you know, was
Speaker 1: the first to sign the declaration in really large font
Speaker 1: and the other from George Washington. And if you read
Speaker 1: those letters, I reread them this morning because it's June
Speaker 1: twenty sixth, it's telling the connection between the two. John Hancock,
Speaker 1: on the one hand, was talking about the need for
Speaker 1: more American military resources in the northern colonies, the Northern
Speaker 1: States to offset the advancing British army in Canada.
Speaker 2: George Washington, on the other hand.
Speaker 1: Was talking about the need for more military resources to
Speaker 1: offset the advancing British army and the mid Atlantic, particularly
Speaker 1: Philadelphia and New York. What were they doing on June
Speaker 1: twenty sixth, seventeen seventy six. They weren't talking about the
Speaker 1: great ideas, the great principles that went into the Declaration
Speaker 1: of Independence.
Speaker 2: Those have been settled. Those weren't worth questioning at this point.
Speaker 2: They were planned.
Speaker 1: They were accepting reality for what it was, which is
Speaker 1: that declaring independence is one thing. Defeating the greatest army
Speaker 1: and navy in the world at the time is another.
Speaker 1: But they're doing what we must do as a conservative movement.
Speaker 1: And I happen to think that while George Washington is
Speaker 1: in a category of his own of great presidents and
Speaker 1: great Americans, that we are blessed with a great president,
Speaker 1: truly historically, who is so willing to disrupt the status
Speaker 1: quo that it's incumbent upon us in this year, in
Speaker 1: next year, in twenty twenty eight, in twenty thirty, and
Speaker 1: twenty thirty two, to plan to implement that plan in
Speaker 1: the way that John Hancock and George Washington were doing
Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty years ago at this moment. And
Speaker 1: as we do that, we'll win some and we'll lose some.
Speaker 1: That's the nature of politics. They through a policy. But
Speaker 1: as we go about that, do not let the left
Speaker 1: discourage you. Do not let the media and their leftist
Speaker 1: allies tell you that there.
Speaker 2: Is no hope. That isn't just inaccurate, It isn't just propaganda.
Speaker 2: Those are the words of Satan. Get behind me, Satan,
Speaker 2: because we are here to take our country back.
Speaker 1: There is no doubt in my mind, There is no
Speaker 1: doubt in the minds of all of us inherited.
Speaker 2: It's very clear to us that God is not done
Speaker 2: with the greatest country in the history of the world.
Speaker 1: It's incumbent upon us this generation, as it is every
Speaker 1: generation of Americans, to go secure the.
Speaker 2: Blessings of liberty.
Speaker 1: May God bless you as you do that, and we
Speaker 1: look forward to when it