The Daily Signal - Author Argues African Americans Gained Ground Under Trump’s Leadership

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

President Donald Trump’s policies are helping minority communities across America. Today, Horace Cooper, senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research and co-chairman of Project 21, joins the show to discuss his new book, "How Trump Is Making Black America Great Again: The Untold Story of Black Advancement in the Era of Trump." Cooper explains why he believes African Americans are advancing under Trump’s leadership.  We also cover these stories: The Supreme Court decides 7-2 that the Little Sisters of the Poor won’t be forced to provide abortion-inducing drugs or birth control to employees as part of the Catholic order's health care plan.  The Supreme Court rules in favor of Catholic schools in a case balancing religious freedom with employment law.  Alexander Vindman, a central witness in Democrats' effort to remove Trump, announces his retirement. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the daily signal podcast for Thursday, July 9th. I'm Rachel Deltudis. And I'm Virginia Allen. Many of President Trump's policies are helping minority communities across America. Today we talk with Horace Cooper, senior fellow at the National Center and Project 21 co-chair about his new book, how Trump is making black America great again, the untold story of black advancement in the air of Trump, and why he believes African Americans are better. under Trump's leadership. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news.

The Supreme Court ruled 72 on Wednesday that the Little Sisters of the Poor won't be forced to provide abortifacians or birth control to employees as part of their health care plan. In his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, for over 150 years, the little sisters have engaged in faithful service and sacrifice, motivated by religious calling to surrender all for the sake of their brother. But for the past seven years, they, like many other religious objectors who have participated in the litigation and rulemakings leading up to today's decision, have had to fight for the ability to continue in their noble work without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs. In 2012, President Barack Obama's administration finalized a rule that mandated that employers cover contraception and abortion-inducing drugs for their employees, whether or not it went against the conscience of employers. Places of worship were left out of the mandate, but religious-affiliated groups that objected still had to bring in a third-party administrator to handle the contraception coverage. President Donald Trump's administration came out with guidelines that offered conscience protections

for religious reasons and covers religious non-profits such as churches. The moral exemption included in the rule covers employers who cannot provide contraceptives or abortion-inducing drugs due to their conscience and convictions, as the Daily Signal previously reported, but were subsequently challenged in court. Of the ruling, Heritage Foundation President Casey James said, It is truly heartbreaking that in a nation where we hold religious liberty as one of our highest ideals, government attempted to force religious organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor to act against their most deeply held religious beliefs. Shame on those who created these mandates and thanks to those who fought so valiantly for so long to end them.

This ruling preserves fundamental religious liberties and is good news for all Americans, regardless of faith. The Supreme Court released another important ruling for religious freedom on Wednesday, this one regarding religious schools and employment law. A Catholic school in California was sued by two fifth-grade teachers who claimed they were fired only due to their age and health, and thus the school was in violation of fair employment laws. The school denied firing the employees over age and health, but said even if these had been the reasons,

they were exempt from the employment laws because all their instructors teach religious material for about 40 minutes every day. Due to the religious nature of the instructor's teaching, the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 that the case falls under the ministerial exemption, which, per the Hill, is a First Amendment doctrine that prohibits lawsuits by employees who are considered ministers due to the religious nature of their work. Justice Samuel Alito, one of the seven justices to rule in the majority, wrote, Judicial Review of the way in which religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate. Heritage Foundation President K. Cole James responded to the ruling in a statement, writing, this ruling is welcome news for Americans of all faiths.

by allowing religious institutions without interference from government to decide for themselves who will teach their faith and how that faith will be taught america preserves the fundamental right of religious freedom a central witness in the effort to impeach president trump announced he is retiring vindman's lawyer david pressman said in his statement that vindman is leaving his over twenty years of service in the army due to a campaign of bullying intimidation and retaliation following his impeachment testimony, and his future in the military will forever be limited, the Washington Examiner reported. On Wednesday, Vindman tweeted, Today I officially requested retirement from the U.S. Army, an organization I love. My family and I look forward to the next chapter of our lives. Pressman, Vindman's lawyer, also said that Trump attempted to force Lieutenant Colonel Vindman to choose between adhering to the law or pleasing a president, between honoring his oath or protecting his career, between protecting his promotion or

the promotion of his fellow soldiers. President Trump has threatened to cut funding to public schools if they refuse to open in the fall. In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump wrote, in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and many other countries, schools are open with no problems. The DEMs think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November election, but is important for the children and families. May cut off funding if not open. Prior to Trump's tweet, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control, joined a press briefing with Vice President Pence on Tuesday to explain that the CDC has released guidelines for how schools can return safely. Redfield said the purpose of the CDC guidance, remember its guidance, not requirements,

and its purpose is to facilitate the reopening and the keeping open of schools in this country. Despite Redfield emphasizing that the recommendations are just guidelines, Trump also tweeted on Wednesday, I disagree with at CDCgov on their very tough and expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them. The CDC's school recommendations include measures such as separating deaths by six feet and staggering arrivals in the morning and departures in the afternoon. The Jackson City Council in Jackson, Mississippi, voted five to one on Tuesday to take down a statue of Andrew Jackson, the city's namesake. The statue, which has resided outside city,

hall may be moved to a museum. Melvin Priester, War II councilman, said USA Today reported that this is the first step. It's not coming down tomorrow or anything like that. We will need to do the appropriate research and take those steps to do it appropriately since it is a historic landmark. Following the vote, the mayor said, while removing a statute does little to change our condition as oppressed people, we should not have to constantly encounter the likeness of those who profited off the blood, sweat, and despair of our ancestors or see them immortalized as honorable. When I took office, I found out the name of Jackson means God has shown favor. So we want to reclaim the name of our city for that meaning and divorce it from the legacy of a brutal owner of enslaved people,

who was instrumental in initiating the trail of tears against indigenous people. Black people have reclaimed and repurposed names given to our families by slave owners for centuries. This is no different. America has now hit 3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the most cases reported by any single nation in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil has the second highest number at 1.6 million, and China, the nation where the virus originated,

is numbered 22 for the most cases with just over 85,000 reported. Recent case spikes across the U.S. are raising concerns about the virus, which now appears to be hitting some states much harder than it did initially in March and April. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Horace Cooper about his new book, How Trump is Making Black America Great Again, the untold story of black advancement in the air of Trump. Do you have an interest in public policy? Do you want to hear some of the biggest names in American politics speak?

Every day, the Heritage Foundation host webinar. called Heritage Events Live. Webinar topics range from ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic to the CARES Act and the economy. These webinars are free and open to the public. To find the latest webinars and register, visit heritage.org slash events. I am joined by Horace Cooper, senior fellow at the National Center, Project 21 co-chair, and the author of How Trump is Making Black America Great Again, the untold story of black advancement in the air of Trump.

Mr. Cooper, welcome to the show. Hey, it's great to be on today. Well, congratulations on the book. It's just released, and we're so excited to talk about it today. Learn a little bit more about it. Can you begin by just telling us why you chose to write it? Sure. Well, one of the things that led me to write the book has been,

I travel across the country. I speak to a lot of groups. I do a lot of media, and I'm always asked this question about, how either the Republican Party or now President Trump in particular, how could anyone embrace a support or be enthusiastic about who the president is, Donald Trump, or at the time when Republicans control the House of Representatives, when I started this book. In all instances, I was asked this question, you know, isn't it true that black people, people have to fear from conservatives. Isn't it true that only liberals and progressives have anything

positive to offer for black America? And I wanted to write this book so I could show with data, with actual data, what's truly going on in America, and that in fact, there's a lot for people to really, really be excited about. The book is titled How Trump is Making Black America Great Again, the untold story of black advancement in the air of Trump. You mentioned data. Can we get into a little bit of just those ways that the black community has advanced under Trump's leadership?

Well, one of the first thing I want to let everyone know here is, and part of what's important, what we see today in 2020 is in many instances a representation for most people of the reality that they know and they pay little attention to 10 years ago they pay almost no attention to 30 years ago and it is inconceivable to understand or comprehend 100 years ago here's the truth and this is why I really think it's helpful to look at the data. A hundred years ago, 1920, Black America actually was doing an amazing level of achievement. Black America had a higher employment rate than the rest of the country. Black Americans were represented in federal

prison at the lowest level of any race group. In fact, black men and women were married at either the same or higher rates than the rest of the American population. And children were growing up in households where their parents, if they were black, were as likely or more likely to be married together, to be married. We don't think of that today because the numbers are so divergent. There were more black millionaires in the 1920s than there were in the 1970s, even though the population of America had exploded by the time of the 1970s. So one of the things that I wanted to point out with the data today is how improved black America is over where black America was in just 10 years ago and even 30 years ago.

Black America unemployment is skyrocketing in contrast. What happened that we went from Black America being so successful and having stable homes? and jobs to then this real, real downward slope that now we're seeing President Trump help to pull that community out of. Yes. So that's the great question. And that's the question that often goes unanswered. And the reason that goes unanswered is many people erroneously conclude that whatever's

happening today or whatever happened in the last 10 years is the way that it's always been. We had policies under Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge that said it was not the job of government to solve every problem. It was the responsibility of the individual. They supported free enterprise. They supported very, very limited regulation on the part of government. And in that environment, if you apply yourself, If you try, you will be amazed at the kinds of things that can be accomplished. What Donald Trump did was very, very similar to those policies that led to the period that we call the roaring 20s.

He pulled government back in terms of regulation. He pulled government back in terms of taxation. He made it possible, as I point out, we had a record. in 17, 18, and 19 of the number of new small businesses that black Americans created. What you have to have happened is an environment where you're making policies that are great for the country. And when they're great for the country, it turns out the least among us benefit even better. And that's the real story of my book is that black Americans actually have done better in almost every single category than other groups in America and certainly better than the average American. Now, you talk about something called magonomics in the book. Can you explain what that is?

Sure. So, Magonomics is the idea that it's not government's job to promote the interest of international corporations. It's not the job of government to see to it that every type of foreigner who's interested in coming to America gets the opportunity to do so. Now, it's not the same thing as saying you can't come, but it is saying that's not going to be the priority. Black Americans have been the biggest losers with the advance to push for international workforces, particularly from Latin and South America. We've seen unbelievable amounts of job undercutting, and one of the reasons that that can happen is if you're in the country unlawfully or you've overstayed your visa, you are able to negotiate with your employer to opt out of Social Security, to opt out of Medicare, to opt out of all of the kinds of things, even you can opt out of the minimum wage.

You're working illegally. Therefore, it's easy to have the conversation and get the ability to be such a low-priced worker. That means that if you're a moderate to low-skilled black American or white American, you're displaced by people who can completely and totally underbid you. And over the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a major push to encourage those kind of workers who are not here lawfully. Magonomics says that we're going to focus on Americans. We're going to focus on those who are citizens, and we're going to make it easier for citizens to be able to work.

Your taxes are going to be lower. The cost of you having your job is going to be lower for the employer because we're going to lessen the regulatory burden. And we're going to put barriers, up so that the only foreign workers who can come to America will do so in a lawful way, and they will do so with the support that the government has always intended that either sponsors or employers are supposed to provide. And that has had huge, huge benefits for Black America. Wow. So in other words, you know, kind of the narrative that we so often hear,

from the left is kind of like open borders will be better for everyone, but also there's so much talk of, you know, various programs that will, you know, lift up minority communities, but you can't have it all. Right. Let me give another example, by the way. And it's federal law that if you're in the country unlawfully, that federal taxpayer services are not supposed to be provided to you, except. in emergencies and a few other rare areas.

But most local and state jurisdictions, they pick and choose whether or not they're going to use their dollars. So you have 65 schools in a particular community or jurisdiction. If you bring in people who are not supposed to be in the country lawfully, they are overwhelmingly less likely to speak English. fluently and so they're going to need additional services. There is a huge differential in terms of the type of social services, whether it's alcohol or drug abuse, there's domestic violence given household. All kinds of services are having to be provided. And many of Latin America and other foreign or international visitors,

who've overstayed their visa or unlawfully, are using those local resources. What does that mean in practical terms? That means that in your classroom, instead of there being an advanced math class that you would be able to take, scarce resources are redirected for foreign language conversion efforts to help advance the ability of people

who don't speak the English language. If that means that if you presently don't have health care and you're going to a community provide a clinic for assistance, well, you look around and sizable numbers of the people that are sharing that clinic with you are people who are non-residents. So you're not seeing an explosion in resources for education locally. You're not seeing an explosion in resources for health. and other related social services, what you're seeing is

black Americans and other working class people of all races having to compete for those scarce resources. And let me give you the last part. The hammer is that most of these jurisdictions

charge a regressive tax. So unlike the progressive tax at the federal level, which can exempt largely its impact from those who are working class and lower income, the regressive tax hits the working class the hardest. So you actually, as a poor person, whether black or brown or white, you get to pay for the privilege of providing lower quality education for yourself, your child, and for the foreigners who are competing with you. Magonomics says we're going to

shift the priority so that the resources that are available actually do benefit Americans as the federal law intends. Now, you talk about how many people specifically white liberals are shocked when they learn that you're a conservative, you're from the South, you're African American. Can you just share a little bit of your own story of how you kind of develop the political views that you have and became a conservative? So I am a part of an intact family. My mother and father were part of a tradition in the state of Texas and in the South generally

where certain types of values mattered. And that meant that my mother and father were married before I was born. Now, because they came from a much more lower income circumstance in rural Texas, they didn't go off to college before we were born. They had to wait until after we were born. Why, though, did that happen? I say it's my grandmother, Virgie P. Johnson. Virginia Johnson had an idea, and that idea was that her nine children were going to be independent and self-sufficient. seven of the nine not only were college graduates, but like my mother and several of her sisters, they got master's degrees and PhDs.

They understood, based on the experience, many a summer I spent with my grandmother, where she explained that even though she grew up in the midst of Jim Crow segregation, it did not mean that she couldn't say. It did not mean that she couldn't provide for herself. And she bragged that she never relied on social services, never received food stamps, and encouraged us to be like that. Focus on your education. Focus on your skill development. Make sure that you can become independent.

Now, when we would stay with my grandmother, we lived in rural Texas and she would. She had indoor plumbing, but she didn't have a washer and a dryer. She didn't have a dishwasher. That meant that when I was five, six, seven, or eight, all those kinds of tasks that normally we have appliances that help us out with, that was our job. And she trained us. I'll give you a quick story. We had to hand wash clothes outside, and we would do it early in the morning, and it was cool. because summers are very hot in Texas.

But the washboard that she used was too big for us as little kids. So she made it deal with us. If we agreed to do some extra chores, we could earn the money so that we could buy our own washboards that were smaller in size. We did. We did extra chores and got the smaller washboards. which made it possible for us to wash even more. That is counter-executive to what you see in many communities

where people are shirking. People are trying to get away from work. People are trying to get away from responsibility. My grandmother got us up at 5 a.m. sometimes earlier. I'm a morning person because of that. We need, my grandmother saw to it that by the time I was three, that we started reading, my brother and I. We need the ability in many of our communities

to have this kind of attitude and this mindset. I grew up where it was taken for granted that you were going to hit your books. I grew up where it was taken for granted that you were going to stay on the right side of the law. I never had to have, quote, the talk. Instead, I had the, you're going to be home on time. You're going to be respectful in the classroom.

And you're actually going to be the kind of person that will amount to something, as my would say. Wow. Your grandmother sounds like an incredible lady. My goodness. What an honor to have that influence in your life. And those things that she obviously taught her children and her grandchildren so well, those are the exact principles that it's so evident our nation is.

in need of today. How do we further that narrative of empowerment that your grandmother obviously instilled in you and really pull back from this kind of victim mentality and mob rule and just this really, really negative narrative that we're seeing played out right now by the left? So my grandmother had this benefit. If she didn't do it right, no one was going to do it for her. We have a detriment now. If you don't do it right, don't worry, someone is going to do it for you.

Getting up early can be hard. Working long hours outside also can be hard. I got to see my grandmother save up and pay cash for a house that she lived in until she died when I was in junior high. No mortgage. She never ever had a mortgage. paid cash. We don't hear that mindset. Instead, we live in a society or all too often if you're having a difficulty, if you're having a challenge, well, we've got an idea. There's a government program for that. Well, my grandmother had a different idea. Apply yourself, strive, work at it, and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish. One of my biggest regrets, I had many, but one of my biggest regrets, about the Obama administration was his failure to accept the role as a model. There are many black kids who are traveling from schools.

Many of those schools don't work well. They're overrun by unions more interested in feather bedding themselves than assuring those children achieve. But what he could have said to young people, black, white or brown, apply yourself, Try, make the effort. America is such an amazing place. Even with whatever struggles I have had, I ultimately was able to become president of the United States.

If I can do that, you can too. Now, that would have been more aligned with the kind of opportunity to model that my grandmother was able to do, and that would have given true hope to people. Instead, he castigated America. He said America wasn't fair. He said that America wasn't interested

in giving black America a shot. And it was like a lottery win or something that we had a black American who happened to be president. Not that we are the exceptional, amazing country on the planet where that's possible. Name a European country.

Name a Latin America country. country or a South America country where they have one member of their minority, a black man or woman, as their prime minister or president. You keep looking because you are not going to find it. America is that kind of a place, and that would have been an amazing example for him to repeat over and over again, even with his bad economic policies by encouraging people to strive and achieve, he could have had a positive effect. Mr. Cooper, I want to give you just a moment to share a little bit about Project 21 and the work that you're doing there. So Project 21 is actually now 25 years old. I'm a founding member, and I only recently became a co-chair.

Project 21 is made up of Black Americans who recognized during the riots in the wake of the Rodney King trial. doing those riots, we were informed by the media in an airy way, the same way we are today, that the rioting, the looting, the violence, the mayhem are legitimate outworkings of the frustrations that black Americans feel. And we looked around, I talked to many professionals, I talked to many middle class educated black Americans and asked, Is that your idea of how people achieve change or express angst? And so Project 21 was founded so that we could provide the other perspective, the other view, that families matter, that the private sector is far more important than the government sector, that people need to have initiative and be motivated with the kinds of community organizations,

the Boy Scouts, all kinds of future farmers of America like I had when I was a kid, that help our communities develop and be better. We need more of that, and so Project 21 tries as much as it can and as often as it can to be able to do that. There are good policies that are great for our country, and they are great for minorities. That's the purpose of my book. That's the story of my life. If you help the least among us, the best way to do that is to help all of us. And how can our listeners follow your work and the work of Project 21?

Sure. You can check us out at www.nationalcenter.org at the National Center for Public Policy Research. Or you can follow us on Twitter at Project 21 News. and I try, I'm on track right now to do 420 radio and TV appearances this year. So I'm sure a quick search of Google, you can find me or many of the other members of Project 21. Wow, you have a busy year. That's impressive. Well, for all of our listeners, you can purchase the book, How Trump is Making Black America Great Again on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.

I even founded at Target. So be sure to look it up. Great read. Cooper, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for having me today. And that will do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. We appreciate your patience as we record remotely during these weeks.

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