The Daily Signal - Heritage Experts Break Down Top Issues Ahead of Candidate Forum

Episode Date: November 18, 2023

We teamed up with The FAMiLY Leader to livestream the 2023 Presidential Thanksgiving FAMiLY Forum on Friday, Nov. 17. Catch an audio-only version of the pre-show where hosts Rob Bluey and Janae Stracke talk with Heritage experts on parental rights, education, border and security, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to the Daily Signal's live broadcast of the Family Leaders' 23 presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum. My name is Rob Bluey. I'm Executive Editor of the Daily Signal. And I'm Junae Straki, Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy at Heritage and Heritage Action. We are so grateful to the family leader for hosting today's forum. There are so many important issues facing Americans today, which is why it's so important to hear from the candidates themselves and where they stand on these issues. I expect to hear from a number of issues today, Rob, what are you expecting? Well, we'll have to see what Bob Vanderplas, who's in charge of the family leader, decides to bring up. But my expectation is that they will talk about some of the issues that matter

most to evangelical Americans. That's what the family leader has billed this as. Governor Ron DeSantis, Ambassador Nikki Haley, and businessman Vivek Roboswamy are all of the candidates who will be around the table with Bob for this conversation. It's a unique setup. It's It's not a debate. It's a family conversation, as they've described it. And Cheney, as somebody who's a native of Iowa, you have witnessed this firsthand and have seen the process play out in Iowa. Tell us a little bit about why the state takes it so seriously when it comes to presidential

elections. Yeah, you're exactly right. And I'm so glad that you called it a family conversation because that's what's so important in Iowa and what makes it really unique, that we have a caucus, that candidates have to come and sell themselves, if you will. We are not starstruck in Iowa. We're not impressed by pretenses. So we want candidates to come in and just tell us what they're about.

And I think there's an authenticity to that person-to-person interaction that Iowans look for. And they really take that seriously as being first in the nation and wanting to know where do you fall in the issues that I care about? Because ultimately, we want to know how is this going to impact me and my family. Those of us who aren't from early primary or caucus states don't, I think, really have an appreciation for how personal it can get. So, I mean, when we're talking about events like this today, it is a rather intimate crowd that is experiencing this opportunity. And then after the events, some of the candidates will actually go and meet with them in a private room. So, I mean, it just seems like a remarkable chance to have FaceTime with these candidates. Yeah, that's exactly right.

And I'm so glad that all of you online are able to join this as well. We know you have busy lives and busy schedules. I'm so grateful for the Daily Signal, partnering with the family leader and Bob Vanderplatz, to make this broadcast possible because all of you are going to want to know what the candidates are saying and where they stand on these issues.

This is what's going to help you determine your vote. Well, the Daily Signal's Fred Lucas, is in Des Moines. He is there covering the event, and we're excited to see what Fred brings back and some of the people that he speaks with. And also our colleagues at the Heritage Foundation have a strong presence there, including Project 2025, which is helping with the transition for the next conservative president.

Yeah, that's exactly right. We'll be back to you after this short break. They say there's nothing in the world as powerful as an idea whose time has come. When the Heritage Foundation was founded, the idea was simple. Empower principled conservatives and build a battleship for a new conservative movement. But 50 years later, those conservatives have inspired a new generation. And that battleship, now powered by half a million of our closest friends, has scored public policy victories never thought possible before.

The Heritage Foundation has become the space for conservatives to meet, strategize, organize, and come out fighting again. All on behalf of the only special interest in Washington that matters to us, the American people. It's been 50 years and Allah has changed.

Our challenges are greater. Our nation's enemies are ruthless. But some things, the things that make us who we are have stayed the same. Our heritage is believing parents have us say in their kids' education. Our heritage is understanding that when we give up the right to life, we give up everything. Our heritage is protecting free and fair elections and knowing a broken southern border when we see it. Our heritage is refusing to drown our grandchildren in senseless

government debt. Our heritage is telling corrupt foreign governments, work corporations, and leftist bureaucrats, that they belong in the backseat. Because heritage is what we're given. But it's also what we'll pass on to future generations. and that's an idea whose time has come. Welcome back. There are so many important issues facing Americans today and almost all of them carry a real weight to them. We're not just talking about tax cuts and fewer government programs now. We're talking about everything from the manufactured humanitarian crisis at our open southern borders to the weaponized justice system to the state thinking that they are the

parents to your children. I'm joined here by Policy Heritage Foundation policy experts, Sarah Partial Perry and Delano Squires. Thanks both for jumping on today. Sarah, I want to start with you. And that last thing I mentioned there, the state thinks that they're the parents. Why is that? And what rights do parents have? How can they be fighting back against this narrative? Well, they've heard it from the White House. So the executive leadership right now believes that children belong to, quote, all of us. It's just a reiteration of what we heard from Hillary Clinton and that it takes a village. But it is very much a God-ordained position to parent the child the way a parent wants to, the way that they see fit. This is a divine

appointment. We need to take it very seriously. And we have not only a legal right. We have a longstanding constitutional right and a divine right to make sure that our interests are protected in the way we raise our children. Yeah. Delano, I was. want to go to you and broaden the question a little bit. What is the most important issue facing the American family in this election cycle? I'll see the question. I think the most important issue facing the American family generally is that it's falling apart. 40% of American children are born to unmarried parents, a higher percentage than basically ever before. So I don't think that's going to get fixed by one election. But to Sarah's point, the degree to which the government has

decided that it is one of their top policy priorities to instruct our children that boys can become girls and girls can become boys is extremely troubling and something that every parent should be paying attention to because if you can make both adults and children believe things that are impossible and say things that they know are not true, then you can make them do and say anything. Yeah, that's exactly right and completely disintegrates any order that we see in our society. Sarah, another aspect of this is targeted specifically at children, whether it's the family unit, indoctrination in the schools, or the over-sexualization of children that is rampant in our schools and on social media. How can Americans and parents specifically be protecting their kids against this?

Well, I think the use of social media has to be very circumspect. We have to be very careful to know what our children are looking at online. If you control your child's phone, make sure that you don't allow social media apps without oversight their apps to be able to utilize, but also in terms of what these children are seeing, what they're receiving in schools. We've got everything from drag shows in schools to we've got essentially graphic pornography in school libraries. So children are, even at younger and younger ages, not only being instructed in the classroom, but also being exposed to sexualized material. go to your school, ask questions, ask to review what books are in the library, what is in your child's curricular education, what is in their student notation? Make sure you're in active, not a passive parent. It's what to follow up on that. I've heard from parents themselves who say, yeah, I go to the school and ask and they say that they can't, or maybe they just ignore the email. What rights do

parents have to see that information? And if the school's not responding, how should parents engage from there? Well, they are protected not only by constitutional law. And again, the Supreme Court's recognized for a hundred years and precisely within the education context, the right to direct to the upbringing of one's children. It began first in an education case called Meyer v. Nebraska, but even beyond a constitutional right to parent one's children as one sees fit, their federal statutory laws that govern what are in student children, student records that, parents have a right to access. And it's why we have a right to be able to ask questions about what our children are essentially reading, what they're being taught, what is in their file. Make sure that if

you don't get answers, you immediately go to other parents, you find out what they have learned, what they haven't learned. These are school board elected officials who are in the positions they're in because individuals like us vote them into these positions. And I've often said school board races are among the most important races now and the country. Yeah, that is a perfect segue. Delano, because I wanted to ask you what parents should be assessing as I think about their upcoming votes. And that is everything from school boards to local elected officials, your mayor, your governor,

and all the way up to the presidency, which we all know the presidential race is largely driving the narrative on these issues. So as parents and Americans are assessing what the candidates are saying, what should they be looking for? That's a great question. I think it should be a couple of things, right? You should want to hear from candidates that they believe that parents are the people primarily responsible for educating their children.

And what flows through that is typically support for education choice. So whether that's education savings accounts or universal school choice, whatever it looks like in a particular jurisdiction. And, you know, policy or politicians who, again, will affirm. that children created by God in his image given to their parents to love and to steward and to shepherd and the government is not in a thruple or a you know sort of non-monogamous relationship but families that's the word now so so it's like we we need to make those lines clear and a big part of what parents need to do is take back that that God given authority that

Sarah mentioned. But if I could, you asked the question to Sarah, and I actually went through this exact same scenario when my wife and I, we had our oldest who's seven now, she was a public charter school in D.C. And the school was good. The teachers were great. They, you know, they did what you typically do with pre-K kids, numbers and shapes and colors, and that was fine. But then come February, January, late January 2020, they started to put up materials about Black Lives Matter, the organization. And I emailed the principal and I asked him, what is the school's position on Black Lives Matter? And he didn't respond. And I emailed in February and he didn't respond.

And our daughter never went back to that school. And we looked at other school options and ultimately we settled on homeschooling our children. And we've been doing that for about three years now. So I only share this to say that parents can do more than they think they can. And just because you've never had a particular experience, doesn't mean that you can't make one for your children and your future generations. Yeah, I really appreciate you sharing that. I think that is so important.

As we speak about education and, you know, working with grassroots, we hear all sorts of stories like that. But I think you're exactly right that many parents across the country are set up with what's happening in their school system, but they're terrified of what to do about it. What are those options out there? And Sarah, we talk about education policy, education savings accounts that are so important from parents, but using those. It's one thing to get the laws on the books and then empowering parents to make those choices. And it's been incredible to see parents rise up and really get creative with that.

Sarah, what has been your experience in the policy realm and interacting with Americans across the country in utilizing some of these laws? Well, it's interesting because we are seeing a surge in litigation specifically within the education context. And that's because not only is that constitutional parenting right implicated I talked about. But many times there are First Amendment free speech and First Amendment free exercise, religious liberty claims that are associated with that. For a religious child and religious parents, if they're being taught a certain thing about human sexuality or gender identity that conflicts with someone's religious beliefs, it's unconstitutional. We see many claims now being brought on FERPA, which gives a federal statutory right to a parent to

examine what their child's record actually says, whether it hides information from them or not, or PPRA, which is a federal statutory law, that allows all surveys that are being federally funded by the government to give parents a right of opt out, especially so on Christians like religious liberty, sexual identity, culture, politics. I don't want my child's data helping to prove some data set for the federal government, I have a right to opt to my child out. My experience as a constitutional scholar has been seeing a surge in litigation.

My experience as a mom with three kids who had been through the public school system, two of whom have now been removed, one of whom has graduated, is Ben that this is really truly a time to paraphrase, phrase I heard recently in a great speech, be the skunk at the garden party. These are your taxes that are paying for this education.

And if you're not in a situation where you have the opportunity to use, for example, an education savings fund or a school choice opportunity, both of which the Supreme Court has said are constitutional. But if your state legislature or your county does not offer that as an option, be the parent that asks the hard questions. Yes. Become a nuisance because the right is yours, not the school. That's exactly right. And I think an excellent note to close on in a charge for all of you listening. I know many of you are Iowans. You learned earlier in the program that I grew up in Iowa. And I also am a product of school choice. My parents, we were in rural Iowa. There was not a lot of choice for us. And some tough decisions had to be made. But I would encourage all of you to engage in your schools, engage with our local lawmakers. Ask the hard question. I think that is an excellent piece of advice. We thank you all. And we'll be back right after this brief. break. I do not respect men who do not honor their word. Those words from the Senate floor weren't an attack across the aisle. It was Senate Republicans, Joni Ernst and Dan Sullivan, attacking fellow Republican Tommy Tuberville. Why? Abortion. And specifically, Senator Tuberville's heroic fight

against a Biden administration order in the days following the Dobbs decision to ignore the law and turn the Department of Defense into one giant abortion machine. Tuberville told Biden if he did that, he would force the Senate to follow its own rules and vote to confirm military promotions. Chuck Schumer called his bluff, but Tuberville kept his word. Now, his own colleagues are turning on him, even those who profess to be pro-life. After failing to undercut Tuberville on the floor, they're talking about joining Democrats to change the rules of the Senate to get around him. I do not respect men who do not honor their word.

I feel that way too. And like so many other pro-life Americans, I'm tired of Republican politicians. who tell me they're going to fight for my values on the campaign trail and then go to Washington and do just the opposite. Welcome back. The Daily Signal is broadcasting today ahead of the Family Leaders' 2023 Presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum. Stay tuned for the live event, which begins in just about 15 minutes. Well, one of the biggest issues that our country is facing today is the border crisis and some of the downstream consequences in communities across our country. And we're joined now by two people who have followed this situation.

in real life and not only seen it on the border itself, but play out in communities all across America. Laura Reese is director of the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center and worked at the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration. And my colleague, Virginia Allen, is a senior news producer at The Daily Signal and co-host of the Daily Signal podcast. She also reports on the border and immigration among many other issues. Thank you both for joining us today. Thank you, Laura, let's start with you. We see the numbers month after month. How bad is the border crisis today? Well, unfortunately, it's historically bad under the Biden administration. The current tally of illegal alien encounters just since Biden has been in the White House is about

8 million illegal alien encounters by Customs and Border Protection. And then add on to that at least 1.6 million known godaways. These are aliens who purposely evaded the Border Patrol to sneak into the border because they are likely transporting drugs or smuggling aliens, trafficking children, or are known and suspected terrorists. So unfortunately, Joe Biden has made a lot of records when it comes to the border and they're all bad. And this is something that we have never seen, as you said, breaking all sorts of records. I mean, we've had situations in the past where border incursons have been bad. This is on another level. Yes, every single month. It is historically high, whether it is the number of illegal alien encounters, whether it is the drugs that are getting

through, the drugs that are caught by border patrol, the number of unaccompanied alien children, unfortunately migrant deaths, drownings, I could go on. And it's a bleak picture. Virginia, you've seen some of this firsthand on your travels to the U.S.-Mexico border. Can you share with us what those experiences have been like? Yeah, I've been down on the border a couple times reporting for the daily signal. In March, I was in Yuma County, Arizona, and I went to the border actually at 3 a.m. Because that's the time when the cartels actually push the most amount of illegal aliens across the border under the cover of darkness. And it's a regular operation that happens literally every night where hundreds of illegal aliens arrive in the middle of the night at our southern border.

And in a matter of about 30 minutes, I spoke to a group of maybe 50 illegal aliens. Among that group, there were 50 different nations represented, excuse me, among the group of 50, there were nine different nations represented, including from the country of China and the nation of Jordan. So, I mean, people are coming from literally all over the world to cross the southern border. And we see the implications and the strain that it causes on border patrol agents who just want to do their job. They've been pulled off the line. They've been pulled off protecting the southern border in order to process these masses. Well, thank you for doing that reporting. And again,

you can find it on the Daily Signal and encourage our audience to check it out, including some of the dramatic videos that Virginia's been able to shoot while there. Laura, we've heard the phrase that every town is now a border town, given the massive numbers of illegal aliens who have crossed, and there are consequences to that. Rising crime in our cities, a flood of fentanyl. You have human trafficking, sadly, that is now seem to be proliferating. And yet the Biden administration doesn't seem to be taking it seriously or doing anything. And so we have, appointed at the Heritage Foundation to actions that states can take. What are some of the things that our audience can talk to their governor or people who are closer to them at home to help

address this problem? Sure. Yes. Immigration is a federal law, but as you say, the Biden administration is not enforcing the law. And so it's incumbent upon the states to do what they can, where they have quite a bit of authority in terms of employment, business licenses, driver's licenses, license plates, commercial licenses, collecting data on criminals who are arrested and reporting that because from that data, then states can calculate the costs. And what's so important is that states need to protect their own citizens. And so states can pass laws that do that and discourage the continued residents by illegal aliens within their states. So what we've done at Heritage is we've put together a booklet. It's called 20 ways states can prevent illegal immigration.

You can find this online at heritage.org slash immigration. And it lists 20 different ways that states can pass laws to help enforce state authorities in terms of education, employment, licensing, etc. to terminate or make it less easy for illegal immigration within the states. So of course we'd like to see governors and state lawmakers take some of those actions. But let's rewind to the end of the Trump administration. Obviously, you were there and witnessed at the Department of Homeland Security, some of the effective measures that were put in place at a time to reduce the crisis. Can you just walk through some of the changes that Biden immediately made upon taking office that exacerbated this problem? Sure. Yeah, on day one, President Biden halted construction of the wall,

which border agents say they need, and in particular parts of the border, to slow the illegal flow of both people in drugs. President Biden also halted what was a very effective program called Remain in Mexico to stop asylum fraud. And he also basically gutted enforcement. So he tried to stop detention for, or excuse me, deportation for the first 100 days. Fortunately, a court overruled that. But really, he has ordered his border and interior enforcement agents to not enforce the laws. And communities everywhere feel the effects from that. So despite the problem that we're facing, we have some people in the United States now calling on our country to resettle some of the pro-Hamas, Palestinian individuals who are facing a situation in their own country.

What is your response to this? I know that you've taken a very strong position. We've published it at the Daily Signal, but articulate why this is a bad move on the part of the United States to even consider an idea like this. Well, one is the numbers. And as I talked about before, when we're facing over 9 million illegal aliens in the country, we can't be importing more large populations from anywhere in the world. You know, we hear it from New York City. We hear it from residents of Chicago. They just can't take on more of these numbers of people.

But secondly, it's the national security threats, particularly when we're talking about Hamas and Gaza and that area, given the attack on October 7th and the threats that have flown from that attack. And FBI director Christopher Ray, for example, has testified multiple times just since October 7th that we are facing real national security threats due to our open border and the numerous illegal aliens, known and suspected terrorists who are taking advantage of that open border to come here. As Virginia had referenced, we're seeing nationals from over 160 countries that have crossed that border while Joe Biden has been in office. And so the national security

concern is very real. You referenced the horrific and barbaric attack on October 7th. Virginia, this week you had, what I expect, was a sobering moment where you were invited by the Israeli embassy to view some of the footage from that day. What was that experience like for you? It was really sobering, Rob. I've never watched anything as graphic as what I watched. It was a 45-minute. I wouldn't even call it a documentary. It was just raw footage because of modern technology and the brutality of Hamas. Hamas terrorists actually live streamed a lot of the attack. And so Israel has gathered a lot of that footage, both from Hamas, what they have posted on social media, from these Israel Defense Force, from individuals within Israel, and they made this

45-minute film. And it's incredibly disturbing. I'll briefly share one of the short video clips that they show in that film. A father grabs his two little boys. This is playing out on a home surveillance camera. A father grabs his two little boys. They rush into the backyard into what appears to be a bomb shelter. About five seconds later, you watch on the camera as a Hamas terrorist pops up from behind the fence and he throws an explosive device into that shelter. It goes off. The father falls forward back into the frame of the camera dead. And the two little boys, they're bloody. They are shrapnel in their bodies. One of the little boys lost sight in one of his eyes. I did get confirmation from the embassy that, praise God, little boys survived, and they were rescued.

But, I mean, it was 45 minutes of just constantly that of just bodies mutilated. And these are innocent civilians, just incredibly horrific. And it shines a light so clearly on the evil that Hamas is. And you have not only covered that story, but you've talked to people on the ground who are in Israel. What can you share about the Daily Signals coverage? and what our audience should know about other things that we do to help bring stories that might not be getting coverage in either the corporate media or left-wing media outlets. That's right. Yeah, we really want to make sure that we are telling the truth. We're telling those true stories. So when you consider the Israel situation, we've been so privileged to have people like Yale, Axtein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews on the podcast to share from on the ground what they're doing to help the Jewish people, speaking with the CEO of passages.

about what his folks who are on the ground there have experienced. And really also getting the perspective of lawmakers, individuals like Senator Marshall about his efforts to pass a standalone Israel aid package. So we're trying to cover every single perspective and make sure that those who support our partner, Israel, that they are getting their voices heard. Well, thank you for the work that you do, Laura.

Thank you for being a champion on this issue and keeping the pressure on here in Washington, but also providing our audience with some solutions that they can hopefully take their heart and take action on in their states. Thank you. We will be back in just a few moments. And again, coming up soon is the Family Leaders' 2030 presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum. Stay tuned.

In just a moment, we'll be back. So we're in the heart of Washington, D.C., where there's been a huge rally in support of the people of Israel. And it's a demonstration of tremendous solidarity by the American people. And we as heritage employees were there to show support for Israel. Israel. It's our greatest non-NATO ally. It's our greatest ally in the Middle East. We need them. I think we have a duty to support Israel to combat anti-Semitism. What we saw on October 7th was just horrific and it's important to come out here to support the people of Israel. And also it's important to me because of my faith as a Christian. There are people from all racist, creeds,

faiths, religions, every different perspective, but we are all unified because we understand that democracy is so fragile. The Heritage Foundation is. So I always stood on the side of Israel and the belief in a Jewish state. It's more important than ever for us to stand behind our longest and greatest ally in that area. We took a delegation of employees from the Heritage Foundation to show that America from all stripes, including those on a conservative side, in particular, stand with Israel and against the intolerance of Hamas. It's a contrast with much of the American left that has been cheerleading Hamas in college campuses in particular. we are standing for Western civilization, and this is an important show of solidarity.

People are telling us that they're really just revitalized by the crowds here, and they want to stand up for the hostages, they want to show strength and numbers. Israel is doing everything it possibly can to fight against evil at the time, and the people of Israel need our 100% support. Welcome back to the Daily Signal's live coverage of the Family Leaders' 23 presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum. We're here for our final segment before we hear from Bob Vanderplans and the candidates themselves. And, Jene, I wanted to ask you, it's so important for Americans to get involved and take an active role.

You have done so much to build the Sentinel team at Heritage Action. Share with our audience how they can take part in that great program. Yeah, listen, if you are tuned into this broadcast, you are Sentinel material. Sentinel is what we call our grassroots army of conservative activists. who are fighting for the issues that they care and believe in so much. There are 2 million of these grassroots activists all across the country. If you want to be one of them, you can go to heritage action.com and click on the Sentinel page to sign up.

But we really want this to be a resource to you. You care about these issues. You're fighting for them. How can we come alongside you with tools, information, weekly strategy calls, a state director who are boots on the ground and a resource to you. they're the key, Rob, to so many resources here at Heritage and everything that we're working on. So we would love to have you join some of those calls and get connected with other Sentinel's and our staff on the ground. So again, you can go to heritage action.com to join Sentinel.

And of course, a great resource for Sentinel's and just Americans in general is the Daily Signal. Virginia, how can people stay up to date on your work and be your colleagues? Well, there's so many great ways to follow the work of the Daily Signal. Whether you like to read your news, listen to it via podcast, watch it on YouTube, we do it all here at the Daily Signal. So you can check out DailySignal.com to find all of our stories, and you can also subscribe to what we call our morning bell email newsletter. That's a newsletter of some of the top stories of the day that we deliver right to your inbox six mornings every single week so that you don't have to spend hours sorting through the news. It comes right to you. It's what's most important.

And it's the issues that you actually care about. You can just visit the Daily Funnel website and click on the subscribe button at the top of the page in order to sign up for the Morning Bell. You can also follow our podcast, both the Daily Signal podcast and problematic women. We're across all podcast platforms. The Daily Signal podcast, we actually produce two shows every day. A morning show is our interview form where we have lawmakers on, conservative activists to talk about issues that are really pressing for this moment. history. And then our afternoon show, top news, we renew just when it sounds like the top news of the day, so that you stay up to date on what's going on. And of course, we are across

all social media platforms, X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, so make sure that you follow all of our work there as well. Great opportunities to get involved and stay engaged. We're going to go now live to Des Moines, where Bob Vanderplantz and the family leader are hosting Governor Ron DeSantis, Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramoswamy for this year's Presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum.