>> booktv spoke with republican senator joni ernst about her life and career. is a portion of the interview. >> i grew up in southwest iowa, a rural part of the state and the dedication. carried me through so many challenges in my lifetime, opportunities, wanted to tell a story to be uplifting. face challenges throughout their lifetime, we understand those challenges don't necessarily have to define us. >> her new book is daughter of the heartland, watch the rest of her interview by visiting our website, booktv.org and searching her name in the box at the top of the page. >> up next, booktv's monthly

"in depth" program with father and faith and freedom coalition founder ralph reed. the books include "politically incorrect," "active faith" and "for god and country: the christian case for trump" published earlier this year. >> host: when we ask you what your favorite books are the first you list is the bible. is the bible a political book? >> guest: i don't think of it that way. politics and how we order our society is, the bible is primarily the revelation of principles for humanity. the best way to know the keys to living a godly life with intimacy, with him and if you believe in the new testament as i do his son jesus christ.

i think of a trained historian it is one of the most important history books you will ever read. if you want to understand the ancient world there is no better single source than the bible. it is there, the rise and fall of empires, babylon to persians to the greeks to the roman empire and then finally even if you don't share my faith or the jewish or christian faith i think it is one of the most important books of philosophy ever written. if you read the psalms, proverbs, even if you don't have a monotheistic view of the world, the philosophical belief that are found in scripture are some of the most timeless and

eternal and important ever written. >> host: how do you come to your christian faith? >> guest: i was raised in the church, my parents grew up in the methodist church. i grew up in the methodist church, my best friend growing up was the son of my pastor, my father was chairman of the board, deacons or elders, my mother was head of methodist youth fellowship. i grew up going to methodist youth camp and grew up going to sunday school. i didn't know another life other than that. it was the way i was raised but i never really had a personal relationship with jesus christ. when i got excited about politics as a teenager i kind of went off on the track and worked on campaigns and went to washington dc, working at the

republican national committee at long story short i did not find that to be satisfying. did not find it to fill the void that was inside me. i came in contact with some young christians who were involved, republicans who share their faith with me but more importantly just shared their lives with me. they loved me, we became good friends and i saw a happiness and joy in them i had never known. i was curious where it came from and that ultimately led me to drive to a small evangelical church outside washington dc on september 18th, 1983, and at that church service i gave my life to jesus christ. >> host: why are you a conservative? >> guest: i believe in free markets. i believe in capitalism, not unfettered unhinged capitalism

but capitalism that is governed by the principles i referred to earlier about caring for the poor, caring for the downtrodden, the left behind, the marginalized, i believe free markets and free minds are the -- together, freedom in a civic sense, freedom in the markets has been the greatest generator of wealth of happiness and peace and stability in all recorded history and i believe conservatism, which has found its form in the republican party in the modern context, the post world war ii period is the best way to preserve, guard

and protect those free minds and free markets and unfortunately liberalism which has found its home in the modern democratic party in the post depression post new deal context spent most of its time trying to restrict and even crush those freedoms and those markets and believes in the redistribution of wealth, trying to create equality of outcomes rather than maximizing the wealth and progress that comes from free markets and free minds so over time because of the way i was raised, my father served in the u.s. navy during the vietnam conflict and was a career naval reserve officer, i grew up in a

household of faith, that was the way i grew up but over time i made my own independent decision based on my own study and my own involvement. >> host: your 1996 book act of faith what does it mean to be a person of faith in the political world, no different from being a christian or any other vocation, politics is a contact sport, i have a job to do, it involves having to advance my agenda. i play hard and try to win but i never hit below the belt. >> guest: right. a lot of times i get asked the question what is the proper relationship between christianity and our faith, seems to be such a dirty business, so cutthroat and first of all there are two

answers, the first, we are called for men and women of faith to be involved in polity wherever god has placed us. in the time of the ancient jews that sometimes men's being under subjugation of an occupying power, babylonians or persians. in the current context it means for me being a citizen of the united states and i think we have civic responsibilities and heavenly responsibility as we carry two passports. we are citizens in two realms in two kingdoms, one is of the united states, we are american citizens and the other is of the kingdom of god which is both here today and still to

come and each carries responsibilities. as a citizen of the heavenly kingdom i am called to obedience to god's commandments, to share the gospel with others, to pray, to read the bible and to worship, not collect the coming together of believers, certain responsibilities and in the earthly context there are certain responsibilities which i believe are registered to vote, informed, to vote, to make your views known to elected officials, to petition our government to redress grievances, and injustices and if we understand our faith we are to be muscular citizens of both and the reason we are called to be muscular and

robust citizens in the earthly realm, by electing the right person or passing the right law. god's kingdom will only come when christ returns but until then we are to occupy until he comes and if we understand our citizenship, it is effective in two ways. it can protect the innocent. and and in the antebellum period, and not just pray for

jesus to come back, in their time. it allows the gospel to spread and rise to the highest and most influential level of our society. because a civic engagement. in other words other people become aware of our faith and principles that are exposed to them and in the civic process and the new testament, the apostle paul was a citizen of rome, to the emperor which was a right of a roman citizen. members of caesar's household came to know jesus christ, in

semi pistol paul wrote later he sends greetings from members of caesar's household, governors and roman officials exposed to the gospel only because paul chose to be an effective citizen. that is the way i approach it. >> host: from your book awakening, how america can turn from moral and economic destruction back to greatness you talk about a topic we are talking about today, because we have never fully repented for the injustices and wrongs during slavery and segregation we've never experienced the healing that comes through the redemptive process of forgiveness. until we do we will not fully experience the spiritual awakening our nation desperately needs.

>> that is not a profit original to me. in that chapter i quote a beautiful speech my good friend mike huckabee gave as governor of arkansas to honor the children who were the first to integrate the high school in little rock, arkansas that led to dwight eisenhower federalizing the national guard to protect those young people and mike huckabee said, and backwardness experienced in the twentieth century is attributable for the sin of segregation to the failure to

fully repented of that sin and i still believe that is true and individually and collectively as a nation we need to acknowledge this sin occurred, that it was a collective, elected jim crow and subjected african-american citizens to be second-class citizens and deny them their rights as americans and by omission, those who allowed it to go on and failed to oppose it, no question, there is a lot of controversy about the 1619 project, there has been a distortion of truths about american history and that

project it is undeniable as the historian edmund morgan wrote in american slavery american freedom, was inextricably intertwined with slavery, it has been difficult for us as a society to disentangle the two, almost 400 years after the first europeans landed on the continent. >> host: does that include preparation? >> guest: i have not felt that is the way to go because it is hard, 150 years after slavery to figure out who gets compensated and how, it was done for the victims of the japanese internment during

world war ii, made a monetary payment to those who were denied their freedom, in an internment camp, of franklin roosevelt, it is difficult to do it 150 years later after the civil war. you can express a repentant spirit. some of it is personal, some of it is spiritual and some of it does take place in public policy without getting into a full-blown public policy discussion today i think areas like healthcare, criminal justice reform, economic empowerment, education reform

and opportunity we can build a society that is just and we can build a society that is based on equal opportunity for everyone and we can make sure no one is left behind particularly those minority americans and african-americans who have been denied that opportunity and still are in many cases today. they live in neighborhoods that are not safe, their children go to school where they are not safe and cannot learn and do not have the same opportunity, we should do what we can to address that. i'm a supporter of donald trump but when you look at his education reform and school choice agenda, look at his economic empowerment agenda, lowering african-american unemployment to the lowest level in recorded economic history, look at his opportunity's own agenda where

they have unleashed $5 billion in capital that is flowing into hundreds of opportunity zones mostly in disenfranchised minority areas of urban and rural centers, and, justice reform, historic to address what i think was the two tiered justice system for too many minority americans. donald trump wants to do it and once we get past this election on this partisan, to be able. >> host: your most recent book is "for god and country: the christian case for trump". did you just lay out your christian case for trump? >> guest: somewhat. that certainly is part of what i talk about. i have a proposed in both

awakening, the 2014 book and "for god and country: the christian case for trump" i lay out what i say is not a republican or democrat, not necessarily liberal or conservative but a biblical agenda for the country and in some cases like criminal justice reform and immigration reform we end up in a different place than the republican party has traditionally been. it is not generally understood because people tend to look at conservatives of faith and think they're reflexively republican but they have changed the republican party far more than the republican party has changed them. they made the republican party a pro-life party and i believe black lives matter, i believe all black lives matter including unborn lives and

abortion is one of those cases where disproportionately minority lives are being lost and being taken systematically by what i consider to be a great social injustice. we have also changed the republican party on the issue of criminal justice reform. historically the republican party has been a tough on crime pretty, lock them up and throw away the key party and through our efforts, largely our efforts this has come through the faith community. we called for more biblical criminal justice system based on redemption and not simple punishment, giving people a second chance at life and focusing particularly on nonviolent first offenders, compassionate, humane, tough love alternative to long-term

incarceration like job training, mentorship programs, spiritual programs including those led by prison fellowship and others administer to inmates and leave them to a better life spiritually and the last one is immigration reform, most people focus on donald trump's desire for border security and building a wall to secure the border but beyond that we have also called for welcoming the stranger and welcoming the immigrant and making sure they apply by our law we also treat them with compassion and give them a chance if they obey our laws and pay taxes and if they get a job or go to school, they get a path to citizenship, we call

for permanent residency and don't oppose a path to citizenship for the entire dreamer population because we don't think young people should be punished for crimes their parents committed. we think the bible teaches you don't punish the child for the sin of the father and so if they are violating laws, if they are trying to do that that is a different deal. they have a job, getting an education, we think they can be part of the greatness of america and we called for part of a comprehensive solution to the immigration system allowing them to have residence. i think there is such an agenda, that is what we work on. most of the time we find ourselves in agreement with the republican party but not always.

>> host: is there a comfort in evangelical circles with the president because of the personal issues that have been reported on? >> sure. as i point out in "for god and country: the christian case for trump" there has been some revisionist history by the media about how evangelicals came to support donald trump. i wrote "for god and country: the christian case for trump" not so much to defend trump although i do plenty of that in the book and happily so but i also wrote the book primarily as defense of the faith community because they have been called every name in the book, hypocrites, spiritual frauds, phonies, selling out the gospel for 30 pieces of silver, compromising their deeply held spiritual beliefs in order to have access to power and get a few items on their policy agenda, they have

been smeared, lied about, i knew better because i was there. i was in the room with these faith leaders and what the exit polls show is two thirds of self identified evangelicals voted for someone other than donald trump in the 2016 primary come mostly to cruise, marco rubio, santorum or someone like that, for many of them donald trump is not only their first choice, their second or third or fourth choice. as they get to the general election, there is a binary choice between donald trump and hillary clinton and he was pro-life and pro-religious freedom and pro-israel, he released a list during the

campaign, we should point out there was a vacancy on the supreme court. if you elect the president i will choose from this list. sometimes we are not always aware of the history being made in front of our eyes but donald trump was the first major party presidential candidate in us history to ever tell us who is court pics would be. no one had ever done that before. they voted on faith based on this binary choice because of these issues of life, support for the state of israel, judicial and court pics that would decide those and other

issues, deeply held moral beliefs that derived from their faith and they voted for trump on faith in spite of these reservations they had about his character, and looked at hillary clinton and had reservations about her character. she was under fbi investigation for much of the campaign and that investigation reopened 10 days before the election. as in 2020 they look at the candidates, neither one is perfect but one of them is making commitments based on deeply held beliefs and we are going to vote for those beliefs not because he is perfect, not because everything he says or does even now or in his life we necessarily agree with but because we have two choices and in the case of joe biden in

2020, when you have a candidate in biden who is advocating abortion on demand up to the moment of birth paid for with tax dollars and as an entitlement under a government run healthcare system modeled on medicare for all, evangelicals and faithful catholics believe that is a grave moral evil and cannot and will not vote for a candidate who is embracing that agenda. at the democratic convention they spent a lot of time talking about what a good guy joe was and how much empathy he has for people. we have empathy too, we have empathy for unborn innocent human beings who are losing their lives under an unjust regime of abortion on demand and he not only favors that, he

wants to subsidize it with tax dollars, endorsed by planned parenthood, the number one lobby organization of that agenda and even wants to make it an entitlement under government run healthcare and wants to sue ministries like little sisters of the poor or privately held christian businesses who declined to participate in the evil so that is why they voted for trump before and in bigger numbers in two month. >> host: thanks for joining us. and one author talks about his or her body of work and this month author ralph reed, author of eight books beginning in 1995.

the christian coalition impacting america. 1996 politically incorrect. the emerging faith factor in american politics and in 1996 as well, act of faith how christians are selling the soul of american politics and in 2014 awakening came out how america can turn from moral and economic destruction back to greatness and his most recent book came out this year, the "for god and country: the christian case for trump". the other 3 novels, dark horse, the confirmation, and we will ask about those novels during this conversation but we want to get you involved as well, 202 is the area code, 748-8200. in the east and central time zone, those in the mountain and pacific time zone dial-in at 202-748-8201. if you would like to send a text, please include your first

name and city and send it to this number 202-748-8903. we have some social media sites, ask a question and we will cycle through those, see the text number again and remember for our social media site,@booktv is our handle. people probably know you through your involvement with the christian coalition, faith and freedom coalition, republican politics, perhaps they didn't know, phd in history. >> my plan was to be a college professor and a historian but didn't quite work out that way.

i was privileged to be in the phd program in the emory university in the 1980s, got a great education. dan carter, the prize-winning historian in scottsboro, the seminal work on that tragic case, biographer of george c wallace, did a lot of other things, my dissertation director, i love history to this day, unbelievably great ride. i would have liked, my life and my career took a different direction. >> host: what was the topic of your thesis?

>> guest: my dissertation was fortresses of faith, a history, evangelical, 1820-world war i. prestige and power, vanderbilt, stetson in florida and later baylor, many evangelical colleges, 2 thirds of the institutions of higher learning, they were founded by churches and men and women of faith. it was a fascinating window into both a world and later cultural and political influence. >> host: would you consider duke or vanderbilt a good

college? >> guest: not familiar with that but the thing that sparked my desire to write about it, i was getting a doctorate. i remember having a conversation with a fellow phd candidate, mentioning and mori was founded by methodists and was a methodist university and they went really? they were going there and didn't know. the official history of emory university, i went to the first chapter and read about how a group of methodist creatures, knelt in the woods in rural georgia in the 1830s and

founded the site of emory college and dedicated that institution to the glory of god and the building of his church and i ask myself what happened between then and now, how could you go from a founding based on that purpose to today many students don't even know it is a religious institution, to answer that question. i wasn't trying to render a moral judgment on it, i was just fascinated by the great historian richard hofstadter called the trend from sectarianism to secularism in higher education.

>> guest: michael in gadsden, alabama, you are up with ralph reed. >> on both sides, everything he said was false. this is another case of jerry falwell junior asking liked christianity this and that. of anybody damaged christianity it is people like him and jerry falwell junior. that is all i have got to say about this. >> host: mister reid? >> guest: everything i said about joe biden is true. i know the caller didn't like what i had to say and certainly joe biden doesn't want people like me telling the truth about his record but i know joe biden, the chairman of the judiciary committee, i testified before his committee on behalf of the law with the

christian coalition to make the vandalism or burning of the church a federal crime and that required it to go through his committee and i know the joe biden i knew then back in the 1990s supported the hyde amendment which banned the taxpayer funding of abortion under the medicaid program. as a matter to protect people of faith from being required to subsidize what they believe is the taking of an innocent human life. for 36 years, supported it for eight years as vice president, supported it twice, from 87-88. in this race last year in 24

hours, not just repealing the hyde amendment, pro-life, to pay for abortion with tax dollars, he supports expanding it to include it has guaranteed rights under healthcare based on the medicare for all plan of bernie sanders. some people don't like to hear those facts, if you want to know, if you want to know why 81% of self identified evangelical born-again christians, frequently mass attending catholics who go to mass once a week or more, and

38% of the entire electorate, larger than the black vote, hispanic vote and gave a combined. if you want to know why they are giving 70 percent-80% of their vote to donald trump, that is why. we can shoot the messenger, attack me or anybody else you want it isn't going to change the fact that advocating abortion on demand up to the moment of birth paid for with their tax dollars don't blame us because you are losing 85% of the votes, look in the mirror and maybe ask your self should we as a party allow common sense exceptions to abortion whether it is

late-term abortion or when the child can feel pain or third trimester or not support taxpayer funding but there has been no such introspection, they get more and more extreme with every election and this is the most extremist agenda that has ever been offered on a ballot to the american people since roe v wade became law in 1973. >> host: from "for god and country: the christian case for trump" ralph reed rights courage and moral clarity of men and women of faith and making this choice to support trump undertaken with much prayer and soul-searching has been dismissed and condemned by the chattering class and joined in by more than a few evangelicals. >> guest: i talked about that earlier and the way they have been pilloried and lied about they have been accused and

essentially compromising their deeply held moral beliefs and demonstrating that their faith is a fraud because they voted for donald trump. that is the allegation being made against them and the exact opposite is the case, they wrestled with this decision, it was not an easy decision. they were prayerful about it and many of them, it was the most difficult decisions they made but in the end i looked at donald trump who for all of his imperfections, flaws, and foibles, appointed for life judges to the supreme court, he would be the best friend is real ever had, that he would move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, that he would

recognize jerusalem as the eternal and legitimate capital -- of the nation of israel, a fact that has been true for 3000 years of recorded history. no other president would move the embassy. i'm not being critical of those other presidents, they had their reasons for delaying this decision but in each of these instances, religious freedom, freeing andrew grandson from a prison in turkey whose only crime was to share the gospel, he has been a friend of the church, a friend of the faith committee, friend of israel and a friend of the unborn, kept his promises not just to these voters but kept his promises to the american people. that is why i added a 30 page

appendix the details all the achievements, accomplishments and promises made and kept by donald trump. you can like him or dislike him, you can enjoy or be turned off by his twitter feed but those are facts, those are deeds, actions and policies that he undertook that we believe are advancing moral good and that is the reason. >> host: phillips in los angeles, go ahead. >> guest: 15 >> caller: two questions for you. one is what do you see as the ramifications if there is a democratic sweep in 2020 including taking the house, senate and presidency, what impact will that have on the christian coalition and members of the faith community and second question if you don't mind, being jewish-american and strong supporter of trump and

the state of israel, what could be done in terms of the vast majority of jewish americans particularly young people who are adamantly democratic, i will hang up and listen to your answer, thank you, god bless. >> host: democratic sweep and jewish american. >> guest: i think a democratic sweep is unlikely. i'm not in the prediction business, all three outcomes, senate, house, presidency, are all within the margin of error and on life's edge as we talk this afternoon. i would be surprised if there was a democratic sweep but we've been surprised before. i will address it as a hypothetical. i think what you would get is the green new deal, $4 trillion in higher taxes, you would get an advancement of the extremist

abortion agenda i talked about, you would get some kind of expanded obamacare or government run healthcare whether it is medicare for all or whatever that looks like, bernie sanders and the squad want to make it available to every american and essentially abolish private health insurance and so 180 million americans who right now get their own health insurance through their employer or on the individual market all those policies would be abolished and they would be herded into government run healthcare and for the faith community that government healthcare would include a mandate for abortion coverage. i think that is wrong. i hope we can stop it but that would be there agenda. biden by the way is saying he would only do that down to the age of 55.

a democratic senate, i am confident that chuck schumer is majority leader, on the first day in the senate, they would abolish the filibuster and allow them, without any rights for the minority. for judgeships in the last judgment that comes to mind as part of the green new deal, the banning of fracking, doesn't support the banning of fracking but he doesn't favor allowing additional permits which essentially will kill the stock and value of those engaged in it. any additional thrilling beyond

what they have done, they kill the industry. that would cost 3 million jobs, destroy the energy industry, 9 million total jobs in america, connected to the fossil fuel industry and the number one energy producer in the world for the first time since the oil embargo of 73-74, exporting oil and natural gas, energy independence, access to middle east or venezuela, to provide for their own needs, that will destroy all of that. biden called for ending all fossil fuel by 2035, that would raise the average cost of energy for a typical family of four in america by 75,$000.

it would devastate our economy, would be a tax on the middle class unlike anything we have ever seen. that is what i think is around term number 2 if the democrats have the white house, the house and the senate and can do whatever they want. particularly if there is no filibuster in the senate. in terms of the jewish community historically republicans win 25 percent-30% of the jewish vote. ronald reagan and george w. bush got to 35% in their respective reelections in 1984-2004. i think it is possible, certainly plausible that donald trump can get to that level in 2020. the jewish vote is less important nationally where it

is only 2% of the vote than it is in individual states, in places like michigan, michigan, pennsylvania, florida, georgia where there is a sizable jewish population in metro atlanta. above 30%, 35% it could make a big difference in places like david, broward and palm beach counties, places like the counties around philadelphia and pennsylvania and if you are talking about narrow margins in some of these states because of the president's pro-israel stance and his stand against terrorism and because he dismantled and defeated isis, because he was true from the iran nuclear deal, number one state sponsor of terror in the world, number one actress very -- adversary of israel, that is a real-life possibility, certainly plausible.

>> host: text from josh in ann arbor, michigan, ralph reed spoke about living of the poor, downtrodden and marginalized, also said wealth redistribution, welfare and modern liberalism is not the method to achieve this. how is it possible to lift these people out of situations they can't get out of due to insufficient means to engage effectively with the free market, i.e. bad credit, health issues, lack of generational wealth? >> great question and we could do two hours on that. we could do two days on that but i think let me confine my answer to in order to be somewhat brief to some things at the christian coalition and faith and freedom. number one, we know from a brookings institute study and

other studies that if you are born out of wedlock and you live in a home in which a father is not present in that home, you are twice as likely not to graduate from high school, your three times as likely to become chemically dependent on drugs and alcohol and your three times more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system. that doesn't mean you are condemned to that life, just that 80% roughly of the people born out of wedlock and live in a home without both parents present in the home have an 80% chance of living in poverty. if they are born in a home in wedlock and both of their parents are present in the home they have less then a 20% chance of living in poverty.

the first answer is behavioral and familial. we need to strengthen the family, we need to encourage fathers and mothers to get married and stay married and some of that can be done by government. a lot of it can't be done by government. the second thing that i support is a tax system that rewards work and family formation and bearing children. i have always supported the creation and growth of the child tax credit, the child tax credit came into law in the 1990s because of lobbying by the christian coalition. it was included in the contract with america, created, doubled under george w. bush to $1,000 and doubled again under donald trump to $2,000. that $2,000 has provided 88

million americans with a $2,200 roughly give or take tax credit against their tax burden and because of our lobbying and the work of champions like ivanka trump and marco rubio that is refundable, not entirely refundable, 70% return. -- refundable meaning you don't just get it if you pay 2000 in taxes but if you are at the bottom of the income level and paid no income taxes, 70%, the tax credit, the most successful anti-poverty program in 50 years, it has lifted 9 million americans out of poverty, two thirds our children and under donald trump that number has grown by 700,000 just in the last two years. that is the second thing. a tax system of tax credits for

work and for bearing children that encourages family formation and work and in the last thing i would say is education, making sure that every child in america regardless of ethnic background, racial backgrounds or how rich or poor they are goes to a school where they are safe and where they can learn, here again there is a stark contrast. joe biden not only opposes school choice and scholarships that will allow children to attend school that are higher-quality outside their own neighborhood including a religious or christian school if that is where they want to go but he has been endorsed by the national education association and american

federation of teachers that want to get rid of those programs in states where they currently exist. those are the three. family formation, economic opportunity and tax code that rewards family formation at work and bearing children and thirdly educational opportunity. if you do those three, you would see many rise, we saw that pre-covid-19, the lowest unemployment rate for blacks and hispanics and asian americans in recorded economic history, we saw wages growing at a rate of 3% a year, higher than they had grown in a decade. if donald trump is reelected, and believe and hope he will, we will see this opportunity expanded even more. >> host: janice following in from west bluefield, maine. >> caller: i have been trying

to listen very carefully. i wonder if it has occurred to ralph reed or if he has considered the possibility that donald trump as a political figure is simply courting evangelicals and their beliefs and their system for his own political aims and if so, if he has considered that, how would that influence his confidence in -- genuine commitment to evangelical belief and this relates to the recent discussion just now regarding abortion, his description of strong family life, the issue of out of wedlock birth of children, having a child that a woman cannot afford or without

support or stability could be far more disastrous to living people in the long run and society in general. i wonder if he could respond to that. >> guest: great questions. let me start with the second one. the problem is when you try to make value judgments as a society as to which live are sacred and which lives are worthy of protection and which are not, you cross a line where it becomes very dangerous in terms of making those decisions. i just know too many people who were born into very adverse

economic and family situations. i know women who have borne children and kept children who would be a disaster to them, and they ended up being amazing and not just productive members of society, incredibly gifted and enriched the lives of millions through their gifts so every life is precious, every life made in the image of god and they all deserve our protection. terms of first question, one that people of faith wrestle with all the time, all

constituencies, this person really believe in their heart the policies and values they are advocating for playing us to get our and the answer i make in "for god and country: the christian case for trump" is as a person of faith i don't care what your reason is. in other words i can't, i am not god, i can't judge your card. the bible says some men's sins will go before them and others will come after them. there are people we think are the most pristine and righteous people on earth and when we get to heaven we will be surprised and there are other people who appeared to be less then perfect in their lives appear to be a mess but that is just because we see their imperfections now rather than later. you can't ever know what the motive of someone's heart is.

the other thing i argue in the book is if a politician supports my issues and my agenda because he wants to win an election i don't have a problem with that and i don't know many people who do whether it is the labor unions or the nra. did harry reid when he was senate majority leader as a democrat had 100% rating of the national rifle association, he had always been pro-gun. was he pro-gun because he needed to be to win elections in nevada or was he pro-second amendment because that was a true core belief of his heart? in the end either one was true and didn't make a difference in terms of what he did as majority leader but i have the added made the accidental may be providential privilege of having to gotten to know donald

trump on a personal level for years before he ran for president and became president, i got to know his daughter ivanka and son-in-law jared in 2010 and around that same time got to know then private citizen donald trump. .. thinking about running for president at the time, and 2012 as we all know he ultimately chose not to. but during this period when he was thinking about running, heat reached out to me one day out of the blue. literally cold called me and said the next time you are in new york, i went to visit combined see me. i took him up on that offer. my book, for god and country, actually opened -- the first chapter opens with that story and book opens with that story. how he and i became friends. how at the time i was not a particular fan of his. i did not have a high opinion of him. i shared that with him.

but we became friends. and i was pleasantly surprised , i liked him really from hello. he was a very likable, approachable, guy. he was the kind of guy that even though t he doesn't drink, that you would say in the political, that you would want to have a beer with. he was a wicked smart. very intelligent. seemed to know everybody. and you know, without necessarily walking in with a kind of list of questions, that is not really my style, over the course of that friendship, we would have conversations in which i was able or he volunteered organically, where he stood on these issues that i am talking about. and that is one of the reasons why when he decided to write in 2015,5, even though i was

neutral in the contest and i did not endorse anybody in the primaries, why i had zero reservations about him. i felt that his heart was with us on thesese issues. i felt it was an act of genuine conviction. i still believe that. i could be wrong. but i don't think so. and he talked to me about how he became pro-life. and how he became persuaded on these issues. and we got a chance to talk about them. i think his a commitments is genuine. and whatever your view is, it is ear refutable that he has kept his promises, kept his commitments, and has been the most pro-life, pro- religious freedom, and pro-israel president in our lifetime. >> host: and from for god and country, ralph reed writes i had heard a lot of formally pro- choice prize engine that

had come to their pro-life views but you had more genuine stories than trump. what was his story? tsubaki told me and shared with me publicly, and i i put this in my book i'm not speaking out of school, he shared himself. he hadd- a good friend of him, it was a married couple they were both friends, she had a pregnancy that was not planned. and her husband was of the view that they should have an abortion and was attempting to persuade her that she should have an abortion. she did not necessarily want to have an abortion. andd she called donald trump and said what you think i should do? and he did not know what to tell her. it was a very difficult dilemma that she faced. and they were both good friends, the husband and the

wife. she ultimately chose to have the child. in donaldre trump because he remain friends with this family, watch this child grow up. the child, obviously did not know that her mother had nearly abortedd her. she certainly did not know that donald trump knew that she had almost aborted her. his description a beautiful, intelligent, incredibly talented young woman. a star in his telling. it struck him at how close she came to never being there. and he said that really had an impact on me. i asked myself, how many future concert pianists, painters, authors, leaders, athletes, are not here because

we did not let them be here. and he said itha changed his mind. not story it sense to me. two mary is in colfax, california. mary thanks for holding your own book tv with author ralph reed. >> thankhe you. [inaudible] hey mary, i apologize to you. we're going to put you on hold. it is really breaking up your phone and you're hard to understand. we don't want to hang up on you pretty want to give you another chance. but we are going to put you on hold. and we are going to come back to you. somebody's going toom come on the line and talk to you. let's see if we get that phone line straightened out. make sure i'm putting her on hold correctly so i don't hang up on her. and let's talk in stanford kentucky. you are on book tv hi. 's two mr. reed i appreciate

yournk activist i think the country is better off for british air a lot of what you believe. i'm conflicted. i'm considered in evangel as well. in public service i serve on the local city council. but i am conflicted. as i read the gospel i see christ clearly steering away from government involvement. seeing the pulse is just not his thing. it's very key in his response -- i want high resolve that conflict for it i believe is evangelical's we get caught up in the social issues we forget the hard issues are the most important.[i upon life in society at the heart ofhi the policy. what you think about that? stomach as he is in stanford kentucky. >> well, i obviously address that pretty directly in "for god and country".

and i've addressed it for most of my career. i think that if jesus did not intend for us to be effective citizens and to be involved in a robust away in the civic life of our nation, then he would not have encouraged peter, when they were asked to pay the poll tax, to go down and catchoi a fish and pull out two coins and pay their taxes. he also, when he was confronted by the pharisees with the question, this was one of the last questions they asked before his crucifixion, they were trying to set him up to argue that he was calling for revolution against caesar. and was calling for the overthrow of caesar. remember one of his disciples was simon the zealot. and simon the zealot had been

a member of a terrorists political party that was dedicated to the violent overthrow of the roman government. so they were spreading rumors that jesus was saying he was the king. not caesar. sod they came to him and said is it lawful to pay taxes. should we pay taxes to a foreign occupying power. and he said, bring me the coin. whose inscription is on it? and they said, caesar's. and he said jesus replied then rendered to caesar what is caesar's. and render to god what is god's. the question is, what do we owe caesar? now the apostle paul goes on in the book ofo romans to answer that question. he says, honor our participatio participation.

we are to pay taxes. he walks through what our responsibilities to government are. which is unusable for follower of christ they were actually jews being occupied and subjugated in a brutal way there very few christians after the crucifixion of christ and resurrection were romans. and he, as i discussed earlier was a citizen. and he exercise the most cherished rights that a roman citizen had, which was the right to appeal their case to caesar. this was at ae time when his opponents wanted to put him on trial in jerusalem, in a trumped up kangaroo court where he was going to be

convicted and s tran executed. now if paul's only focus was on heavenly things, why didn't he just go to his death? why didn't he just allow them to deny him justice and kill him?er because after all, he was ultimately executed.ha he was more than willing to suffer and die for the gospel. the reason why is he took his citizenship seriously. and he also understood that a if he exercise that citizenship, that the gospel would go to the highest levels of the roman government, which ultimately di did. and within 300 years, it had spread throughout the world and rome became somewhat, artificially, somewhat superficially, a christian government.

so that is the reason. you don't really need to choose you can both be a christian who gives her ultimate loyalty and obedience to god. and you are called as a christian to make a difference as a citizen. i lay all this out in a couple of chapters and "for god and country". you want to study it more it is in that book. sue mccluskey back to marion colfax, california. mary please go ahead. >> thank you sir. it is an honor to speak with you mr. reed. i am a christian have several questions to read one is, do believe that the women who have had abortions should be punished? and my second question is where is the christian church on helping take care of the single mothers? and i will take my question off of the air, thank you very much. she went hey mary, can you

very quickly give us your views on this to questions? >> caller: i was married and a single mother. i had both situations. i could not feed the children i had. and i got pregnant very easy, even on birth control. so i don't know, that is why i am asking the pastor. and then i just ask the church several times for help, and they denied me every time because they said i smoked cigarettes. sue had a right that is marion colfax, california. mr. reed. >> guest: we do not over the woman being punished. we do certainly favor especially if you look at it the case in philadelphia, who was essentially operating a

very unsafe unsanitary clinic where women weretc being butchered because the un- sanitary conditions of that clinic. it's why we are trying to spread t legislation we oppose abortion but unless and until it is limited, we want to make sure those clinics are not unsanitary and not unsafe to me cases they are not safe. there certainly never say for the unborn child were they put the mother in grave danger. and even of death. and that is documented in court d cases.

so it would not be the mother it would be those putting them in danger. certainly favor sue went up that looks like we lost mr. reed for a minute. i'm sure we will get his connection back very quickly will take a couple of calls and get some questions down we can ask him when he comes back. jim and kelly in california, hi jim please go ahead praise vic hi there thanks for taking my culprit my question is the key f is just getting interested hein politics, i was in high school. and we had kennedy versus nixon kennedy was a catholic. there many people in some prominent who question whether

he should be president because he was a roman catholic. whatever they said, i would like to think that is pretty much gone. people opposed by ignition on the basis of his policies not on the basis of his faith. another thing i remember from that time and i know later on there wasn't very much support i don't remember much support for the state of israel coming from the republican party or even the evangelical movement at that time. and so what has changed? or was it always there may be hidden or not publicly known very well question veteran? for the support of israel are there any people around there haywood of posa biden on his catholicism? >> host: is soon as mr. reed comes back with us via zoom

will ask themue those questions. jim tells just a little bit about yourself. >> caller: while i am 75 and as i said i was 15 when the election took place. i was fascinated by it. i was learning that in highi school course. and before my father was very interested in politics. it's the first time i think i watch most conventions cover to cover. i think i do everything there was to know at that time. and it was a very -- nixon and kennedy were really as exciting as i think theyy have come to be seen, many years later. it was an exciting time in american politics. >> sdid you watch this year's convention? >> caller: a little. a little. theyrs have become so -- vote now e of course with covid, everything was staged. remember back in 1960, the democratic convention ran until something like two in the morning. i lived in chicago because

that all of these people getting nominated with no chance of getting elected. member the lasso was barney the governor of mississippi and all they talked about was preserving segregation. it wasfe a different time. >> what kind of work to do? or did you do? >> caller: i was an attorney i am retired now. >> will thanks for spending a few minutes with us. let's hear from robert in chattanooga, tennessee. robert what is going to be your question for ralph reed? civic some of the african-american the birthright republicans,. [inaudible] here in chattanooga. i don't understand, why -- i see why these evangelicals have taken over the republican t party. and they are very, very extremists. and they are a danger. and i member a a speech that senator goldwater made. he said he never went the

religious right telling them how to t live. and some of this is true one 100%. and one thing oregano once said, we want democrats to support us allll of the time. but we never want to elect democrats or supportct democrats. but somehow, party of mine has made a three under 60 degrees turnaround. and i hope i live to see it, but the moderate republicans take this party back over again and get itt out of the hands of these evangelicals. because they believe in punishing people for whatever abortion and any other sins they commit. and they went to go use the bible. but when they get caught doing then they want to still use jesus as their safety net. so to me, theype are very scary people. when i was in the republican

party we never had to identify as i am a christian conservative republican when you hear those codewords and people say that, you better be very leery of the them. because they are very dangerous people. >> note robert you identified yourself, you say a birth right republican? >> caller: yes. see what i'm sorry you broke up there. >> caller: yes a birth right republican. sue and what is that mean? to act that means i was born that way is poured into the republican party pretty came into the republican party as a true republican. >> what is a moderate republican believe? >> a moderate republican believes helping people with their principles and free enterprise. in all of the wonderful thingsrf thend party. people like tom garrity, doctor prescott at the university of kansas city, chattanooga. but now, we have been hijacked

by some extremists. everybody wants to carry a bible and tell people how to live their lives. okay what kind of work to do robert? >> caller: i'm retired i'm 72 yearsed old. >> retired from? >> than odd. sue and thank you for calling in. ralph reed is back in with us from the atlanta area paid mr. reed i don't know how much of that you heard from roberts, who is self identified as a birth right republican, african-american and chattanooga tennessee. and he considers himself to be a moderate republican. and feels that the evangelicals have taken over the gop. and that is notot good in his view. >> yes i certainly heard that for most of my career. i would say, a couple of things. number one, we are not in favor of judging anybody. we are in favor of is redressing what we believe our

injustices. and we are trying to advance it we believe our moral good. and i think whether you look at civil rights or you look at the right to life, or you look at criminal justice reform, or immigration reform, or education reform, even if you don't share our faith, you can't deny that the public policy prescriptions that we advocate, have better outcomes for the poor, for minorities, for the marginalized, for the alien, for the stranger. for the immigrant. there is no question that the public policies that we advocate lead to greater good for more people. and so i am not asking somebody, you don't have to subscribe to my state to agree with my policy prescriptions. i mean on criminal justice reform, and education reform and on immigration, frankly we

work with a lot of minority organizations and liberal organizations. self identified evangelical, and 2016 and 2018, comprised roughly half to 60% of all of the votes you got, i don't know how driving them out of the party is a prescription for being a majority. i mean if they are driven out in the issues that they care about, including the right to life, and support for israel and religious freedom, are driven out of the republican party, the big potential shall become a pup tent. and this party would be the

permanent minority status, given the huge number of these voters that have come into the party in recent years. so i think, even if you don't agree with my face, a few are just being a smart, political strategist, it is not a good idea to insult or demean these people. and try and drive them out of the party. it just does not make any sense at all. sue and jim and kelly in california had asked, their time at 60 years ago the kennedy person nixon race. and the fact that president kennedy's catholicism was an issue there. and he wanted to see if that's an issue today with joe biden. he also talked about israel. when did the gop start supporting vocally with policy, israel. >> on the answer to the first

question about joe biden's catholicism it's not really an issue for me because i am -- i meant evangelical protestant but i think for a large number of faithful frequently mass attending roman catholics, it is going to be an issue. because he is at odds with one of the central social teachings of the church, namely the sanctity of innocent humanan life. and that is an issue that will be litigated within that faith community it will be talked nabout. i just want to be clear that in terms of my organization, faith and freedom coalition, we are a public policy organization. we don't really make it our business to say whether

somebody is a good or bad christian. or they are a good or bad roman catholic or they are a good or vat and shabbat evangelical. that's not our job. we are not the church. that is a decision for the church to make. we are a public policy organization. and we oppose theheon policies that joe biden is advocating. on abortion, on the green your deal, and on many other issues. so, we do not anticipate to be a part of that discussion. but i think it is a discussion that will come up among catholics. with respect to the republican party and its pro- israel stance, you know, the good news is that for most of the history of the modern state of israel, there is been a bipartisan consensus across both parties. that we should support israel, not only as an active humane justice andpa compassion, after world war ii, for juice had been persecuted and of course millions of them lostt their lives in the concentration camps of notting, germany.

but even after world war ii, many were persecuted and the former soviet union. and so harry, s, truman, a democrat became the first world leader in the first head i of state to recognize the creation of the modern state of israel into exchange ambassadors with that state. and both parties have been pro-israel. now sadly, that bipartisan consensus, is today, being tested. and is under strain. primarily because some elements of the democratic coalition, and you saw this with the resolution passed by nancy pelosi and the democrats in 2019. too initially condemn anti-semitism. but h in order to win her caucus she had to expand it to

include other isms including racism and other things. because had she only condemned anti-semitism, it would not have gotten the support of her caucus. so there are elements in the democratic partyay today, the so-called squad that do not have the traditional supportad of israel that harry truman had, that jack kennedy had, even bill clinton had. and that is concerning to me. as a republican, i am not happy about that because i want to see and support israel and both parties. asasap an american i am not hapy about that because i think we are a better friend of israel when both parties are fully on board. c and as a christian who believes it is my moral and aespiritual obligation to defend the jews and to defend israel, i want to see america be the best friend i that she can possibly be to israel. because i think the bible

teaches that those who bless israel will themselves be blessed. and i want to see america blast. i think one of the ways you a do that is to be a friend of the jewish people and israel. sue and lorraine tweets in that she is watching you on c-span. i did not know of you but i have to say you are addressing controversial issues with calmness in respect toee all. we need more of that cadence in this turbulent time. mr. reed, what is the role of the faith and freedom coalition in this election? if any. >> guest: first viper should that tweet from the viewer. we need a greater level of civility and civic discourse. think of violators on all sides but i am not really in the business of attacking or criticizing other people as much as i tried to, with my own speech to show respect for others. and to speak with love even when we don't agree.

anded i have always tried to be like that. faithe it is what my teaches faith and freedom coalition is a faith-based public policy organization whose mission and purpose is to equip christians to be effective citizens. and for us at election time, that means making sure they are informed. that they are educated, that they aret registered to vote, and that they vote. educated and fully informed on who the candidates are, and where they stand on the key issues. not just the issues that we necessarily care about. but the key issues that will decide the election. so right now we are in the process of knocking on millions of doors in 21 states. we will end upnd knocking on somewhere between 3 million doors. reaching somewhere between six and 8 million voters directly at their home.

we hand them a peace of literature that let's them know where trump and biden stand on the issues. the senate and house speaker candidates in some cases the state legislative candidates stand. we are disturbing 30 million non- partisan voter guides and about 117,000 churches in all 50 states. we are sending out about 50 million informational e-mails. we will be pushing out about 38 million ads on facebook. 'td google and will we get down to the ends, which now is not that far away, we start doing this at about 27 days. when early voting begins, in states where there is early voting like florida and my home state of georgia, these christian voters will get a text message from us that has a voter guide attached. and then a link that takes them directly to the early voting location. or a link that allows them to

vote absentee in order and absentee ballots. our goal is to have the largest turnout of evangelicals, faithful roman catholics and other boaters of faith in any presidential election in the modern era. and i think we are going to be successful in doing that. >> howison jerry falwell junior situation affected you personally and professionally? >> will he has affected me personally because jerry and becky are dear friends. i love them and i care about them. i have been in touch with them to know i am praying for them. i'm also a good friend of liberty university and have been for probably 35 or more years. i was w good friends with jerry's father, jerry senior. the founder and the first chancellor and president. and i'm actually going to be going to liberty university this week to speak at the center. i am not going to talk publicly about my private

interaction orr conversations with jerry junior andn other to say i am praying for him. he is a dear friend, i love him. i thought he did an extraordinary job as president of liberty. he took it from a college that was straddled with debt, and had struggled financially for decades c, to the leading christian university in america, if not the world. with, don't hold me to the number, i think it is something along the lines of 80 to 100,000 students. a lot of those are virtual or online. but tens of thousands are on campus. with an endowment of over $1 billion. in almost $2 billion inbi assets. i hope and pray we have not heard the last of jerry and becky.

i think they are tremendous people. i still consider myself to be a dear friend.ys >> let's hear from alan in tampa. hi alan, please go ahead. >> yes thank you. i just have something to say. i follow you and donald trump both for 30 years. over time you have both gotten really, really good at speaking. i haveeang also and joined the program today and listen to how you respond to people you're very thorough. i have a question. all we ever seem to do is pick the lesser of two evils for president. what would be your solution for that? the second question is, as far as the antichrist do you think the antichrist is going to come from, what country and do you it could happen in our lifetime based on things with worldwide pandemic, worldwide chaos in the streets with protest at thets economic global collapse of everything because of that, thank you.

two let me answer the first question first. i argue, pretty strongly and hopefully persuasively in "for god and country" that by deciding to support donald trump, that people of faith were not supporting the lesser of two evils. i believe that if you are protecting unborn life, that is not a lesser evil, that is a greater good. if you are defending the state of israel in defending the jewish people, that is not a lesser evil, that is a greater good. iff you are defending the right of people of faith of all faiths to practice their faith and to worship god as they understand god to be, here in the united states and indeed around the world, that is not a lesser evil. that is a greater good. and when these voters of faith, the citizens of faith, back donald trump, four years

ago continue to do so in record numbers and support his policy agenda, it is not because it is a lesser evil than what hillary clinton or joe biden was offering. it is because it is advancing moral good. and it is because they believe the other agenda is advancing great moral evil. now we live in a fallen world. there has only been one perfect person who ever walked this planet. andre we believe that is jesus christ. everybody else, the bible teaches in our faithve teaches, is falling to hatton has to deal with sin and their lives. and is not perfect. and so obviously as a citizen when you are making prudential impractical judgments and calls, about both candidates at election time, and about whether or not to vote for a bill or support a peace of legislation or policy that may

not be one 100% of what you want, i am a big believer to live by ronald reagan's rule. which is an 80% friend is not a 20% enemy. getting 80% of what you want is not a defeat. it is a victory. it may not be a full victory but is certainly a partial if not an 80 or 90% victory. i think in the case of donald trump, we have gotten well north of 90% in terms of the policies that he has advocated. one of the other things i will refer you to, that i point other christians to when they ask the question of how are we supposed to make these kinds of decisions is a point them to one of the most important speeches about faith and civic engagement that has ever been

given by a president in american history and that is ronald reagan's address to the national association ofga evangelicals. and he is speaking about the cold war. and the choice between two less-than-perfect countries. the soviet union, then the soviet union, and the united states. in the conflict was a cold war in the arms race. and he counseled these evangelicals. don't -- you know i am paraphrasing. but he basically said, don't consider your self to be so above it all and so above the fray that you refuse to choose the greater good among two less-than-perfect choices. he said, we are called upon to resist evil.

and to advance the good. and if we consider ourselves to be sogh holy and so righteous that we can't get down with the, sometimes less-than-perfect decisions that we have to make, whether it is between the soviet union and the united states, or between two candidates, then we are of little earthly good. in terms of your question about the antichrist, my reading of the book of revelation, of paul's writings, and also jesus' teachings which are recorded in the gospel, are that we do not know either the time of those events, nor do i think we know who it is. whether it is the different characters that we find in the book of revelation. whether it is the antichrist

or other evil characters. i just don't think there's anyny way to know. the most important thing is to be prepared for the end times, wheneverer and however they occur. what we do know is that jesus said, that no one knew when he would return. including him. he said only the father knows when that is going to happen. and the most important thing is to know that it is unlikely to be when we expected. it is likely to be sooner than we think, and we need to be concerned about b being ready, not when it happens. >> we are going to scroll for the numbers pretty got about 20 minutes left with our guest author, ralph reed. we're going to scroll to the numbers but if you want to get through on the phone to want to make it, you can do so via text or social media. we will put those addresses up if you do send a text include your first name and your city.

alexander is in las vegas, hii alexander pray two hi. just wanted to let youan know it is an honor to talk to ralph reed. we have followed him for years for it looks like are getting younger, ralph. cement i don't think so, but thank you for the compliment, i will take it. >> caller: so i was going to ask you a question. do you believe there is systemic racism in the church today? the church that preaches the bible and the whole counsel of god's word, that is number one. number two, if a pastor is to marry a couple of the same, would that be considered systemic racism? andon number three, grace community church in california, you believe pastor john macarthur and his congregants are coming under persecution

by the state for him opening up his church? and if so, is this something the church can look forward in 2021, next year's who went outside on xander i think we've got your point that is a lot of questions go ahead ralph reed. >> guest: obviously in the aftermath of the death of george floyd, i think we would say the killing or murder of george floyd in police custody in minneapolis we are confronting a new as a nation this issue of race and the sin of racism and later of segregation that we talked about earlier in the sho show. i am committed to racial justicei justice, my organization faith and freedom

coalition works every day economic empowerment, education, many other issues were committed to racial equality and reconciliation in terms of whether or not. there certainly individual in addition to that i do believe there are institutions and systems that the way they have developed in the way they operate will discriminate against and do not provide adequate and full opportunity to minorities particular african-americans. i worked with my friend jeff cole some was still with w us he would've been the head when been the head of prison fellowship, to eliminate the sentencing disparity between

power cocaine and crack cocaine where power and powder cocaine was the drug of the well-to-do. and crack cocaine tended to be those of more socioeconomically downscale. and the penalties of the same amount of essentially the same underlying drug, were three times greater that you could say it wasou systemic if you want to use that term. but there is question that in its operation, if discriminated against minorities. i think think it's true with far too many k-12 educational systems, particularly in the inner cities of our nation. i think if you look at these schools, that are predominantly minority. we are talking at schools that are 80 to 90% minority

schoolchildren, where more than half if not more are not graduating from high school were 70% or more could not perform basic math and reading skills on eighth and 12th gradegr levels. we are consigning those children by forcing them to go to thoseci failing schools to a lifetime of economic opportunity being close to them and have them not being able to compete in the high-tech economy of the 24th century. my friend, bill bennett was ecsecretary of education under ronald reagan was fond of saying many of these schools look like they could've been designed by the clue clicksul clan. are they discriminatory in their effect as institutions and yes they are and as i said earlier in the program, i think we are called as people

of faith and citizens to redress those injustices into redress those systematic forms of discrimination. so, that is what we work on it faith and freedom. it is part of our faith. and we are very serious about it. it doesn't really have anything to do with politics for us. we don't necessarily get rewarded politically for doing those things. we don't necessarily get the votes. of those that we t are seeking to assist. but that is not really what it is about for i us. sue and ralph reed have tried it before. is there an elective office attempts in your future? >> guest: not that i know of. [laughter] i certainly don't have any plans to. you probably never say never. but i think that i am having a greater impact on doing what i am doing by helping others get

elected and by the work that i am doing at faith and freedom. and i have to say, that i have got a tremendous team at faith in freedom coalition, tim head, our executive director, we have got in unbelievable public policy team. a great field team. got tremendous leadership at the church level and at the state and county level all over the country. i am really counted a great blessing to be part of this tremendous team. i have been a part of some really great political teams, the christianan coalition in the on80s and 90s. i was part of george w. bush political team from the beginning in 1999 and 2000. all the way through the end of his second term. i worked on both the 2000 and the 2004 campaigns. and, i have been -- i have just had a tremendous opportunities.

what we're doing it faith and freedom, i think we are making history. and i am proud to be a part of it. two you are eight books in, what is your process? >> guest: that is such a great question. i talked to people a lot to have asked me how you go about writing a book? and i always tell them, one page at a time. and i am not being facetious. i learned this when i was in graduate school. aand i was writing my doctoral dissertation. in academic writing pretty thin when writing popular fiction or nonfiction paid sometime the footnote is longer than the sentence or paragraph that it is providing the documentationme for. so it is a pretty intense i kind of stumble into it, had a certain amount of time to

rights before my graduate fellowship ran out and i was basically broke. and so i sat down with a calendar and ick worked backwards from the goal of when i needed to finish it. and i discovered, that if i wrote one page every day, taking sunday's offered i don't write on sunday. so six days a week, if i wrote just one page every day, than i could write a book in a year. i could finish my dissertation in a year. ando you know, you set a goal of one page a day. and you end up sometimes getting inspired and i would write three pages that day. but i never wrote less than one. and that is how -- when i do as i sit down with a calendar pretty know we calendars anymor anymore. our calendars are owner phones and laptops now but that is what i do. i sit down and i write, page

one, page two, page three, and i estimate each chapter at 15 pages. sometimes it might be more sometimes it might be a little less. and then i move onto the next chapter. then i sit down and a block out my chapters and determine what the subject matter of each is. and the ones i've done my research, and at this point i use research assistance to assist me in gathering all of the research. obviously when is doing my doctoral dissertation it was just me. and i sit down and start writing. i write at least one page every day. >> and three novels, what inspired that? >> yes three novels. i think what happened was, my agents, rick christian, my literary agent has worked with some of the mostho famous authors in the world.

he worked with pay and his co-author on the left behind series but he's been involved in millions of books. i think he was the one who suggested, sometime in 2006 or seven, you know have you ever thought about fiction? and i told him i had had. i had actually outlined a book when i was 15 years old about the election of the first independent presidential candidate to ever be elected. this is, think of ross perot in 1992 or 1996. and imagine perrault winning. or imagine donald trump having chosen rather than to run as a republican, what if he had run as an independent? what if he had just broken up the two-party system as we know it and one? and the reason why i thought of it, probably no one remembers this today, or very few do, that in 1976, gene

mccarthy, the former minnesota senator who ran against lyndon johnson as a democrat in 1968, and actually drove lyndon johnson out of the race. he forced johnson to the sideline. he decided to run as an independent. and, i was just a young political activist interested in politics. he started to research the battle to get on, what kind of impact he would have, and then i thought well gosh, what if this guy really took off? what if you one? and so i outlined the novel about that. and i titled it, dark horse. and i actually outlined the chapters. and i sat down and wrote the first chapter. and after he wrote the first chapter, i thought to myself, wait a minute. i am 15 years old. i haveut no idea what i am talking about. i have never worked on a presidentialal campaign.

i mean, there's no way to write about this and have it be realistic because i don't know what really goes on. so i set it aside. and when rick came to me i said i've got this novel, i never wrote it. and that became dark horse. and really i have to say, to my pleasant surprise, it was pretty well reviewed. it did pretty well. and it is a little dated now. because things move on in politics very kind of gotten even more advanced in a data science and our data analytics and all of that. but before it's time it was a very realistic portrayal of what aim presidential campaign about. and even though it was highly fictionalized, what i found by writing fiction is that in many ways, fiction is true or and more honest than nonfiction. because what i did was i took everything that i experienced

at the christian coalition, on the bush campaign,n, and other campaigns i had worked on throughout my career, and i highly fictionalized them. but it was all true. the dialogue the meetings strategy, if you want to know what a presidential campaign is really like, dark horse had a lot of truth in it. >> and his other two novels include the confirmation which came out in 2010. imbalance in blood in 2011. >> you have been very patient. you are on now with author ralph ray. >> >> caller: thank you so much. mr. reed, i was a republican. i came from romania from regime.

he think about the families right now, and the white house with donald trump and his family empower. and you, mr. reed, you pronounc pronounce, you name ivanka several times. that concerns me. she is not an elected official. she is. [inaudible] [inaudible] she is family. you are talking about the antichrist. you know about separation of church and state? you should know better. you are a historian. if you watch the history channel about speeches, they are so filled with this guy.

[inaudible] he is so obsessed with crowds. i remember one of your rallies when he says oh what to do with them. [inaudible] said kill them. she went alright with got the point, mr. reed, not a fan. >> >> guest: i am not sure what call he's referring to. it certainly not one i am familiar with. i was at the launch of the evangelicals for trump coalitio coalition. i guess it was january or february of this year. it over a which is in miami, it is the largest evangelical church in the united states. it is in a hispanic church. and i can assure you, i was

there for the launch of this coalition. wearing my hat is a private citizen. i was there in my personal capacity. and, did i not only not hear or see anything of the kind of nature the caller isre referring to, but i saw the exact opposite. i saw an awful lot of hispanic, americans, latinos, who love this president. love this country. because they came from places like cuba or venezuela, and other communist or socialist regimes, include they love this country and appreciate a lot more than many anglos do. in terms of the attack on ivanka that the caller made, all i can tell you is i have known her for over a decade. i have found her to be beautiful inside and out. intelligentha, incredibly sharp. she loves her father prayed

she loves this country. she and other members of the president's family, by agreeing to serve this country, have made an incredible personal sacrifice, walking away from companies. being t unable to do any deals overseas while their dad's president. which is a pretty big deal if you are a real estate company. and you are used to doing deals overseas. and in the case of the covid-19 emergency response, including the paycheck protection program, there is one company that was singled out, that was not going to be allowed to receive any funding at all under the paycheck protection program. that was the trump organization and its related company. so even though they have resorts and hotels and golf courses and developments all over the united states where they have had to either

furlough employees or suffer great economic loss during thec pandemic, they never received a dime to continue to pay their employees. you have your view of the trump's, i understand that. but i will tell you this, on like you and many other americans, i actually know them. i have had the privilege, the honor and the opportunity to not only know and work with the president, but with his amazing children. and i can assure you, they love this country, they are men and women of integrity. they are sharp. they have incredible character. they love their dad. and they work harder than most anybody i have known. and the public perception of this family is a 180 degrees removed from the people i have had the privilege ofg. knowing. sue and as we do with all of our authors on in-depth, we ask them for their favorite books. we asked at the beginning that

ralph reed's favorite book is the bible. here are some of the other books he sent us, the ideological origins of the american revolution by bernard balin the strange careers of jim crow by c vann woodward, witnessed by whittaker chambers, born again by chuck colson. the secret kingdom by pat roberson. mr. reed is currently reading paul mccartney, many years from now by barry miles. and the splendid ending bile about winston churchill and the london blitz by eric larson. ralph reed, most recent book is "for god and country". the christian case for trump. it just came out this year. ralph reed, thank you for spending two hours with our viewers on book tvs in-depth. >> happy to do it.

i've been a fan and a friend of c-span or about as long as you guys have been around. it is some of the best television out there. thanks for all you do and for having me. >> but tv continues now on cspan2, television for serious readers : activists about investing in education, jobs, homes and other fundamental to keep us safe