fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came? >> speaker pelosi replying when americanump tells four congresswomen to go back to the countries he reaffirms his vision has always been about making america white again. our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power. with jeff huntd here to talk to us about the state of conservatism and the upcoming western conservative summit. good morning. >> good morning c-span nation great to be with you. host:host: tell us what the centennial institute is and what the western conservative summit is. guest: sure. i think tank housed at colorado christian university and the western conservative summit is a big event we host each year, the

largest gathering of conservatives each summer held in denver, colorado. everyone from secretary of housing and urban development ben carson to donald trump who spoke last night. tonight we will have andesentative dan crenshaw robert george from princeton university. a big gathering of conservatives across the country that come here to rally for faith, family and freedom each summer. host: you just said the western conservative summit is the largest gathering of conservatives outside washington . wire the summits so important to conservatives? absolutely. for 363 days a year, from most of the media and from other politicians, we hear things like our beliefs are backwards, we need to abandon our biblical principles. they are outdated, old. we need to leave them behind and

for two glorious days, conservatives get to rally with each other in support of founding principles of this country of things we care so deeply about like faith, family and freedom and in places like colorado where conservatives really got routed during the last election, it's an opportunity for us to gear up and fight back to take our state in a direction we feel is more in line with what makes colorado and the west great. limited government and free market and personal responsibility. for many of us conservatives especially out here in colorado, a tough legislative session. we felt like the state lurched in a liberal direction. this is opportunity for us to gear up, fight for the ideas and principles we care so deeply about. we are a nonpartisan convention, so it's not about republican or democrat. really about conservative ideas and principles versus more liberal b ideas.

ist: your theme this year defending religious freedom and america's first amendment. why pick that theme this year? why is that a priority for this conference? question.t's a great religious freedom faces challenges on two fronts. domestically. jack phillips, baker and colorado whose issue went to the supreme court. he is still in litigation. many of those religious freedom battles during the obama administration around obamacare and some of those challenges. religious freedom domestically is a serious issue but also internationally. we will have leaders from the persecuted church in china that are speaking. a great moment yesterday where we had religious leaders from a variety of fates, from the muslim faith, jewish faith, seek faith, altogether

affirming religious freedom for all people. when you look at the founding principles of what makes america -- you could make the argument that america did not make religious freedom religious freedom made america. it's important we defend the freedom of all fates and no fates whether you are a popular faith or non-popular faith. in light of threats we are facing in issues domestically and internationally, we felt it was important to gather intellectual leaders, grassroots leaders, on the importance of religious freedom and affirm that as conservatives we will stand for religious read him for all people. host: you are emphasizing this is the western conservative summit. is there a difference between western conservatives and eastern conservatives? guest: that is a great question. i think so. in fact i think it's a conversation to have. when you look at different voting blocs in our country you often talk about the rust belt

or southern voters or northeastern voters or west coast voters but there's not a lot of discuss and -- discussion about the western voter or western conservative. especially in this upcoming election there's going to be a lot of senate races at stake and i think it's important for us to look at this dynamic. colorado and many ray -- in many ways was a purple state. during this last election it shifted very much to the left and it's not just colorado. montana has a competitive senate race as well as arizona coming up. it's important for us to look at and have a conversation about what's important to voters. we tend to be libertarian on things. we don't like government involvement. createdcrat party has an interesting coalition with libertarians where you have the governor kind of proudly talking about how he's the first pot

governor. colorado was one of the first state to legalize recreational marijuana. and libertarian coalition how the different parties interact with them is an important conversation especially in light of the 2020 election. host: we will let viewers take part in the conversation. opening up the phone lines. democrats you can call in at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. we are always reading on social media on twitter at c-span wj and facebook at facebook.com/c-span. i want to go back to a point you were talking about. president trump lost colorado in 2016 by five points. since then, you got the democratic governor as you just said and a state legislature controlled by democrats. is colorado out of reach for president trump and 2020? so.t: i don't think

i think the left is doing a lot of things that will make coloradans very angry. last night there was a big rally at a nice detention center in aurora, colorado. they took down the american flag and raised up the mexican flag. i think a lot of coloradans will look at this in light of contentious issues around immigration and go that is a bridge too far. if that is what the left is pushing right now, and when you look at a lot of the debates candidates,emocrat if the argument comes down to those types of issues where we are disrespecting the american flag or we want to provide open borders for everybody, colorado is going to be in play if those become the primary issues between republicans and democrats. i think it is very much up for grabs for the candidate that's willing to come to the state

willing to engage. au are right, colorado has strong liberal leaning right now with regards to leadership and voting demographics. host: you said earlier secretary ben carson and donald trump junior where two people who participated in the western conservative summit. then candidate don trump himself came out earlier this year but has not since he has been elected. you tweeted out a note from the white house about this that i will read to our audience. thank you for inviting president donald trump to be a keynote speaker at the upcoming western conservative summit. while the president will not be able to attend, we are pleased sec. ben carson ann dowd trump jr. will be participating along with many other outstanding conservative leaders. thanks for everything you are doing to protect religious freedom. these are issues of great concern to the president and his administration. we look forward to ongoing collaboration on these and other

values issues. are you disappointed the president did not come? guest: we would love to have the president. we are a nonpartisan event so we invite republicans and democrats. we primarily focus on the issues. for the first time in western conservative summit history, we've been doing this for 10 years, we had an elected democrat address the summit. governor jared polis. we were so grateful that he came . he came upon our invitation. we were eager to have him. to watch was fun how the crowd reacted. he received standing ovation from many in the audience. we need places where conservatives, liberals, dialogue about issues that are in atant and do so respectful way. i was proud of the crowd and how they treated our governor. proud of the governor for speaking at the summit.

i hope we can have more of those and in the future i hope we can have the president and year whoever the democrat nominee is, i hope they will visit the western conservative summit as well. host: let's open it up to the viewers. jonah is calling from bella, new mexico on the republican line. good morning. caller: i just turned this on and what a lovely young man. i'm so thrilled there are actually conservatives who are excited about religious freedom and willing to stand up for it and are inclusive with both parties. i'm so tired of the fighting with each other and backbiting and negative stuff. this is wonderful and this is what our country was founded on. religious freedom. i wanted to ask, you are saying that the crowd was very respectful when you had the

different groups stand up. so there were no fighting? no picking on one religion over another? have --e were glad to we had two muslim speakers, we had jewish speakers, sikh as well as mormon and evangelical, catholic. these are important issues. there are challenges within these communities when it comes to religious freedom. we will not shy away from that. when you look at what happened to andrew brunson in turkey, he was the pastor in prison for two spoke as well. we will not shy away from the challenges that certain faith communities may have. we are happy to have those conversations about those challenges. for the most part, it was great to be able to recognize a varietyleaders from

of different faiths especially , here in colorado, recognizing the importance of religious freedom. colorado, recognizing the importance of religious freedom. we've been in some type of situation where we've been persecuted against. that's a common threat. look what happened to the catholics during the 50's and 60's. at some point we've gone through some type of intimidation. it's important to stand together. whether you are the most popular or least popular, we recognize your right to exist and approach god is your conscience sees fit. that was very exciting. host: there's been a lot of talk about the future direction of the republican party. do you see a difference between republicanism, conservatism, and trumpism? the conservative movement

has been a big tent for a long time. there have been different factions. conservative summit is very much a broad coalition. that areonservatives at the highest levels of academia. we have conservatives that care about social issues, national defense issues. we highlight their issues. you may not agree with what some of the speakers are saying. they have different points of view. they will share their positions. that's part of the conservative movement. partisant particularly in any way.

if you happen to be a conservative democrat, we want you at the summit. those factions always have been. is conservative movement supportive of the work the president is doing. this is where the conservative movement is. to north's talk carolina. good morning. caller: i just want to make a joan that came on before i did. i'm tired of the bickering and fighting. illegal is illegal. ,hen you talk about immigration they should not be given any rights. i'm not prejudiced or anything like that. politicians need to stop making

promises they know they're not going to keep. everybody wants to talk about what their neighbor is doing. do ismerica needs to repent and turn back to god. we ought to heed to biblical principles. i would say as the host support of are in returning our country to the biblical principles. place where we can have a great revival again. as you've seen in past history, crime goes down, fathers returned to caring for their children.

those are the issues we care deeply about. if we can get people to understand the importance of a relationship with jesus christ. that is something we care deeply about. with regards to your comments on illegal immigration, the democrat party will face a challenge if that becomes a major platform. i think the american people are a rule of law people. we are pro-immigration people. we just want you to come in the right way. becomes a major policy the democratsink will face real challenges with the voting public. debby from talk to washington. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to let you know that

i'm so tired of being called the democrat party. we are the democratic party. it's an insult to not call us the democratic party. about -- weyou talk were not founded on christian values. we were founded on values of humanity and that any religion was welcome. religious, we were welcome. our laws are not made to follow the bible. they are made to protect people from murder and bad things and bad people. sometimes christians to that things. pushing your values on me doesn't make you right. i didn't mean to offend.

we will further to our democratic friends. to our faith and values, it's important to understand that all of the principles you just talked about , loving the individual, embracing humanity, definitely not murdering, those are values that we think are rooted in the teachings of the bible. i think what important is to recognize that america is not set up to be a theocracy. is peoplent to have of a variety of different fates don't abandon their faith at the door of the house. they bring it into the public square. we hope that our jewish friends our muslimy jewish

friends will be able to practice their faith in the public square in the christians will be able to practice their faith in the [ the brilliance of what we experience in america is we can do that. a lot of countries in the world are theocracies. >> important is we are not trying to implement that in america. we want to create a place where we can openly practice our faith without retribution from the government. host: we've talked a lot about national politics. rates coryal report gardner's reelection as a tossup in 2020. what does he need to do to win next year? guest: that's a great question. to corey to win, he needs

connect with the conservative base. that's going to be critical, to make sure they are engaged. to supremeelivering court justices that are interpreting the constitution according to its original intent. leadership providing funding on border security and the crisis we face down there. connecting with the conservative base is important. and moderates are the largest voting block. a lot of it is going to come down to what the national issues are. tohe's able to appeal moderates, if the democrats tend to head in that direction of , amnesty,open borders

i think that's not going to play well. they recognize the importance of the rule of law. if the democratic party goes that direction, it's going to be easier for cory gardner to be victorious. once critical for him is to appeal to moderates and independent voters. since you are nonpartisan, i will ask you a question. you've got to coloradans running for president. what is your thought about their candidacies? guest: it was interesting to watch the debate. polling is not who will they support, which side of

the democrat field are they likely to support. debate, watch that there is a spectrum. hickenlooper and michael bennet represent the free market democrats we see here in colorado. john bennett is a business owner. he's very liberal on social issues. you saw that during the debate. they represented the uniqueness of the colorado liberal that tends to have libertarian tendencies. they will generally support the free market. when you compare them with other people like bernie sanders or elizabeth warren who want to embrace a socialist agenda, we saw john hickenlooper booed for rejecting socialism.

about theeness democrats, they stand out on the stage. the national is democratic party has embraced socialism to appoint where john hickenlooper and michael bennet don't have a chance. i think the polls reflect that reality. host: let's see if we can get a couple of more callers in. good morning. i wanted to ask this religious conservative if he liees with president trump about pain of cornstarch. does he agree about he's immigrants and how

he's separating families from their kids. does is religion tolerate that? -- is religion tolerate that? guest: it's all about coalition building. they need to put together coalitions. for many years, people of faith felt attacked. when you look at what the obama obamacaretion dead on and religious people had to sue just to have the right to be able to practice their faith privately. withears, combined that planned parenthood abortion. we feel like our values of been sidelined. trump and and donald the republican party have embraced those values. we are nonpartisan.

if i'm speaking anything partisan, it's only from a personal perspective and not the organization. any people of faith felt sidelined for years. donald trump came along and said we are not going to disappoint you. i was at the national prayer breakfast. we are going to fight for religious freedom. we are going to fight for the sanctity of life, things that we care deeply about. faithk many people of recognize that all people have inherent dignity and need to be treated with dignity. the question is do we have the right resources to be able to deal with the crisis at the border? i think donald trump was right when he said there was a crisis at the border. many leaders said there is no crisis at the border. now with these reports coming out, we do have a crisis there. the question is do we have the funding to deal with those who

want to seek asylum and make sure they are taken care of and to prevent those who are not following the rules properly from coming to our country illegally. we need to be able to address it. the gospel of jesus christ calls us to care for all people across the globe and to bring the good news to them. i have gone down and built houses in mexico to care for them. many faith communities lead that effort to care for people in many countries. it's a both ends situation. host: let's get one more caller in from washington. good morning. caller: good morning. on the democratic voter. i am 85 years old.

when i was a teenager, my dad was a union man and a democrat. you support the things on the platform. if you can't do that, you can't call yourself a democrat. we have had caucuses and people like howard dean and bernie .anders i am a 30 year retiree from the navy. i used to work on the line with a lot of good people. i am a catholic choice. a roman catholic, i would prefer to still be saying the mass in latin. i was a scoutmaster for five years and had a troupe in corpus

christi texas totally integrated. quick question before the show ends. caller: i am very irate. why is it that you and so many others seem it is your prerogative to define what i am? i am not a socialist. but i believe in supporting social programs that care for people. there is a difference. host: go ahead and respond. guest: the only way i will define you is as a red-blooded american. if you served with country and help with the boy scouts and serve your committee, that seems like you are a red-blooded american. that's the only way i will defined you -- to find you. host: we would like to thank jeff hunt. thanks so much. announcer: c-span's washington

journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up, reuters white house correspondent jeff mason and fox congressional reporter ellen mills and will join us to talk about the week ahead in washington. the economic policy institute heidi shere holt and michael farren of the mercator center will discuss the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern this morning. join the discussion. c-span's live picture here from gilford, new hampshire as senator kamala harris greets supporters. she is expected to at a private residence. she and other presidential hopefuls have been making stops throughout the state this weekend. several presidential polls show the senator between 6% and 7% in support. you can see the crowd