We're Out of Time - The Secret to Making Every Moment Count With Kelly Wright

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

🎙️ In this episode of We're Out of Time, host Richard Taite welcomes Kelly Wright, Senior White House Correspondent at CBN News, for a powerful and heartfelt conversation. Together, they explore the search for deeper meaning in life, the strength it takes to face adversity, and how faith, purpose, and hope can guide us through even the darkest times. Kelly shares personal stories from his remarkable career and life journey—reminding us that no one is here by accident and that perseverance is always possible. 👉 Subscribe for more real conversations every week. 🔗 All things Richard Taite, We're Out of Time, and Carrara Treatment Wellness & Spa: https://linktr.ee/richardtaite For more on Kelly Wright: https://www.instagram.com/kellywrightnews 📌 Key moments and highlights from this conversation Intro 00:00 Kelly Wright's Hero, His Mother June 01:27 Life Is In The Dash 05:38 "God Can Work With Anything" 10:09 "People Are Hungry For What Isn't Pase" 23:54 Resilience, A Gift To Helping Others 30:04 The Intersection Of Education & Faith 39:34 Being A Senior White House Correspondent 43:22 "What Good Is A Song If It Can't Inspire" 57:41

CBN News Senior White House correspondent Kelly Wright joins the We're Out of Time podcast. I think a lot of people are hungry and thirsty for something more than just what's past say. In many ways, it does not matter how we get here as long as we're here and we do something with the time that we have. And you see their resilience and you see their perseverance and you see their heartbreak. And in the midst of the pain, they are still efforting to reach out and touch other people. And the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful happens in that dash. The question is, what do we do? all of those elements of living. We're all born for a purpose and a reason, but we are, I believe,

a beacon of hope. When I travel around the world, there are some people saying, what's going on in America? We're concerned about America. Well, why are you concerned about America? Because you're the beacon of hope. You're the light that shines. Keep shining it. We need. Thank you for listening to the We're Out of Time podcast with Richard Tate. If you haven't already, please follow the podcast, rate and review. And if you're getting value out of We're out of time, share it with someone else you know. Kelly Wright. Richard Tate. Thank you for coming. man. I really appreciate it. We've been friends for a while and I've been waiting for you to come to town so you could do this. And I'm very, very grateful to you. Thank you. The feeling is mutual

and thanks for having me. It's really an honor. Yeah. Anyway, I promise taking it in. I still do. It's, the work I still got to do. That's what friends are for. Thank God. I want to start with your story. Can you share a little bit about your upbringing and what got you here? Wow. That's, we got to do some character development. How much time do we have? We have as long as you want, buddy. Well, I think the best way to tell us stories to go to the beginning. And the beginning is this 16-year-old girl who dreams of one day becoming a psychiatrist, kind of working eventually in your field. And she has these aspirations of accomplishing that. She's precocious. She's intelligent. She's vivacious. And she befriends the

wife of a pastor, not hers, but a neighboring pastor. She's invited to go on a downtown excursion to go shopping on a Saturday, she arrives at the pastor's home, the wife has already left. He invites her. What happens after that should never happen. He took advantage, sexual assault, rape, and this young 16-year-old girl was traumatized, not knowing who to turn to, realizing that this is a man who represents the faith community, a pillar of the community, who does she tell? Right. She doesn't even tell her own mother because she knows her mother can go ballistic and get tyrannical

and there's no telling what's going to happen then. So wisdom prevails and she doesn't do that. A lot of young girls go through that even now. And they don't know who to turn to. She didn't go to the police because it would be her word against his. is. Ultimately, what happens, she finds out that she's pregnant. Now she's on the horns of a dilemma. What does she do now? Well, she continues to pray for some direction. She gets some advice from her grandmother. And ultimately, she gets advice from a download from God who says,

this is the only child you're ever going to have biologically. And one day she comes home from high school, she's going to high school, she comes home from high school and she sees her suitcase packed. And she asked her mother, what's the suitcase for? We're flying you to Nebraska to have an abortion.

Because this was a time that abortion wasn't legalized. And, She says, I'm not going anywhere. God has already told me this is the only child I'm going to have biologically. So five days after her 17th birthday, 17. And the parents don't know yet who got her pregnant? No, the single parent-grandmother doesn't know. Her father doesn't know.

They're strange, but... So that's why they want... That's why they want answers. and she's not giving the answer for whatever reason. And so five days after her 17th birthday, she produces this child, delivers a child, and you're looking at the child. Yeah, I knew that.

Yeah, you did. Wow. So that's where the beginning is. Wow. How long did you have with your mother? When did she pass? Too short-lived. She died at the age of 67.

And how old were you? I was 17 years younger, so I was 40 when my mother passed away. I'm sorry, 50 when my mother passed away. That was just my way of finding out how old you were. Since I asked you earlier and you didn't tell me. Well, you gave me a compliment. You said I looked much younger than what I really am. Yeah, but that's because I was scared to get it wrong.

So I just went down. Truthfully, I went down five years. Okay, that was it. So we're still doing good. So June Lorraine Overton Wright is where my story begins. And I'd have to go deeper than that and say, God actually did it through June and brought me into this world, even through the circumstances. You know, we're all born for a purpose and a reason. And in many ways, it does not matter how we get here as long as we're here and we do something with the time that we have in that life from the dead.

that I'm born to the day that I'm dying. What am I doing in the dash? Do you know what? Because life's in the dash. Life's the dash. And that's not just a saying. I love that you said that. No, that's real. That's real. I love that you said that. I'm the only person who's ever said that that I'm aware of. Life's in the dash. It is. That's how you do it. You look at your tombstone. This is the date you were born. And this is the date you were gone. And then there's a dash. And that's the life. And the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful happens in that dash. The question is, what do we do with all of those elements of living? And June is my hero. Who is? June. Oh, yeah, absolutely. My mom is my hero. But do you know what came up for me? You could have

adopted the position that because your mother was raped by a pastor, that would not be something that you would ever be interested in. Spoiler alert, you're also a pastor. I'm an ordained minister, a license, and I, and the same thing as a pastor, except I've never pastor to church, for the exception to being an associate pastor at Open Door Chapel in Virginia Beach back in the 90s. I always like to let people know I'm a sinner saved by grace. You're sinner saved by grace.

And people get, sometimes people get upset with that. What do you mean? You're a sinner saved by grace. Oh, they've never been to church. Those are the people that upset about it. Which means we have our downfalls. But I want to get back to, so real quick, my mother. Please.

She knew that God was right because mom wanted to get married. They try to produce a child. It never happened. After that, they were divorced. and I have a sister who's 13 years younger than me. How did that happen? It wasn't an immaculate conception. It was an adoption.

My mother saw a child, baby girl, knew that the young girl was in need, and that became my sister. Are you close with her today? Oh, yeah, yeah. Not enough, not enough. So good. I'm never close enough with my family. If I could, I would be with my family every single day.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And you're the same way. Actually not. Actually not. No? No.

Because my childhood was so tough and so bad. I was always like this. I hear right around my family because now I've got a decent family. Nobody screams at each other. Nobody yells at each other. Nobody cusses each other out. Nobody hits anybody, obviously. It's like it's a completely different vibe.

And so I had to get. used to it, but over the, what changed it was COVID. I got comfortable at COVID. And I hate saying that because so many people died and it was horrific. But I understand what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. And COVID did that to a lot of people. Yeah. And in many ways, because of that, COVID brought a lot of people together that had been far apart. It also caused a lot of divorces. Well, let's be balanced. It did. Because some people realize, wait a minute, I'm living with this person that I've been married to, but I've been estranged from. And now we have to live under the same household.

Right. Yeah. So it did cause a lot of divorces. But I'm going to take the pause and say it caused a lot of people to come back together and realize, oh, I do love you. That's because you're one of the most decent men I've ever met. And you see a glass half full. And most people see it half empty. And I just see half a glass.

And that's okay. You know what, and the reason why I say that is because God can work with anything. For sure. And I haven't seen him overlook anyone yet. Can I tell you something? Sure. So this is how I picture it. And I don't know if I've ever told anybody, but you've got God and Jesus and Moses, and they're all up there in heaven.

And these guys are at the side of God, at the hand of God. And God says, see that guy, see that idiot, Richard Tate, I'm going to make him somebody. And immediately, Jesus and Moses reaching in their pocket and say, I'll take that action. So funny. He's never surprised me. I swear to God, that's how I think of it. And then I'm just like walking around all day. I'm like, hey, is this okay?

Yeah, just do it. You sure? How many times you can ask me? I'm God. You know, one of my dearest friends, he passed away. In fact, he was the man who ordained me in his church, Fritzsteggemann, tall, six-foot-eight German guy from New York City. And he used to say, God loves us warts and all. And I used to love that.

And he wants to tell me, Kelly, how does an orange become an orange? I said, I don't know. I don't know. It just hangs in there. That's so funny. And so what that taught me is that when you base that according to God's scripture, it's really about perseverance and endurance and hanging in there when the storms of life come, just like June did when the storms of life came and ransacked her entire dream.

By the way, she never did become that psychiatrist, but she went on to become a high school counselor and saved a lot of kids. kids who had been broken. Dude, she raised an elegant man. I'm grateful. I can't take credit for what June did or what God did or what my wife, Loretta, has done. I'm, and what my children have, have burnished within me, looking at them, looking at my grandchildren, and then saying to myself, when I look in the mirror, only God can do this

because warts and all, sins and all things, I mean, I'm not a perfect man. No one is. never like to say that I'm perfect. Did I ever tell you? I got baptized. I'm Jewish. I got baptized. Did I ever tell you that? No, but welcome to the kingdom. I'm the king, though. Do you know why I got baptized? Why did you get baptized? Because at the time, in my first marriage, I married probably one of the best-looking women I had ever seen in my life. And she was a born-again Christian. And I'm like, yeah, whatever. Okay. And so we started going to the Shepherd of the Hills Church. And a guy by the of Pastor Dudley runs it.

But I became close with Pastor Sean Walden. And so one day I asked him, I'm like, listen, I just want to, she meets this and whatever. And I was hoping if you could meet me at my house, we'll go down to the beach, you'll dunk me, and I'm done. And he goes, absolutely. And then just the goodness of him and seeing him do this. The spirituality of it made sense to me because I don't like religion. I just never do.

And I think God is a lot of it and a lot of the religions. Oh, look, God doesn't like religion. Thank God you said that, man. Thank God you said that. He didn't care about that. God likes kingdom, his kingdom. And he wants to share it with each and every one of us. Whether you're Jewish, Christian, Islam, whatever you are, God wants to share his kingdom.

with his people, which is why, in my frame of thinking, and you getting baptized, it's because there's this reality that God looking at mankind, realize that mankind needed something more than just his wrath. They needed to see an outward expression and manifestation of his love. And that's why when you read the book of John, it says, in the beginning, was the word and the word was made flesh. That word becoming flesh was Jesus born incarnate through Mary. He needed a vessel so he could take on this human form. God coming in the form of a babe is Jesus and then showing us how to live life and be reconciled to God, which is why the cross at Calvary was so important because it was really him taking on the sins and the ownership.

the things that we did to fail him every single day of our lives. And because of his death, burial, and resurrection, we are forgiven. And the manifestation of that is that we were able to be reconciled to God in a right relationship. And then we're forgiven. But the most critical thing that Jesus did and continues to do is to show us how to love God with all our heart and mind is strength and to love each other as we should love ourselves. And yes, there's this thing that we call enemy, and he even teaches us how to love and pray for our enemies. Now, does that mean we put up with people bombing us and attacking us because of our faith?

No, there is warfare, and Jesus already predicted there would be wars and rumors of wars. That's where we are now. But the beauty of this relationship that we have with God is that he's all about his kingdom. And it's time for mankind, his creation, to understand, well, we don't need to look to the left. We don't need to look to the right. We need to look towards God. As he told Joshua, when Joshua took over from Moses, remember what he said before Joshua was actually taking the people into the promised land? He said, don't look to the left.

Don't look to the right. But meditate and pray on my word day and night and follow me. What Jesus did the same thing with all his disciples and all. all of us who follow him now. He says, don't look there, don't look there, don't look at all the distractions. I'm the way, the truth and the life. And I'm that light that shines in darkness. I'm that salt on the earth. And then he talked about in the sermon in the mouth, being poor and spirit, being humble. You know, I see that. See, you know what I love about you. I'm sorry to interrupt. It's okay. But people use God all the time in business and to look good in public.

and all that. It's like when you talk about God, you glow. When I talk about God, I cry. And that's good too. That's glowing. You're crying because you know that we're loved unconditionally. And then in coming to know him as that, that means we're surrendering something. I cry because I'm certain.

Yes. And you're crying because you're certain and you're grateful and you're thankful. Give me a moment. Let's get something straight. I'm a legit moron. So, yeah, okay? I'm thrilled. It's like, thank you.

It's like, I told you. Like, they're all taking that action and they're all going to lose. You know why? For the same reason, there's no devil. Do you know why that is? Because God doesn't create games or a system where he loses. That makes no sense to me. So let me go to this doctrinally then.

My friends are saying, well, Richard said there's no devil. So mankind's problems with God didn't start just here on Earth. Started with Eve. No? You have to go all the way back. Before. Before, Eve? So there are wonderful books called the Bible, 66 chapters, 66 books from Genesis to Revelation.

If you go to Genesis, before. mankind sin, Adam and Eve in the garden, there was also a war going on in heaven. Really? And when you read Genesis, you'll see that when God said, let us make man in our image, who's the us? Scott, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, God in three. That's the mystery of the triune God, the Trinity. but God also had angels, Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer.

Lucifer was this beautiful angel who was over all of the music. He was the praise king in heaven. And the one sin that captured him was pride. Lucifer saw himself and saw himself as being greater than God and more beautiful than God. That's where sin started because that's where sin started, because that's the war started. There was a heavenly warfare going on, and it broke out and it visited us here on earth. I did not know that. And that's why when you see in the garden, when Satan goes after Eve, to beguile her and seduce her, entice her, when he uses the same word of God that God, as you can

remember God said, there is a tree in the garden that you must never eat of, the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. And Lucifer tricked her by saying, did God really say that? It's the same thing that happens to us now. Did God really say you shouldn't do this or do that? Does he really mean that,

and they twist the words, she bit the apple, Adam bit the apple. They both fell under this sin. And this first thing that they did was they had knowledge of good and evil. And what did they do? Put on clothes.

Put on clothes. To hide. What do we do when we sin and we know that we're sin? We're convicted and we try to hide. Rather than coming to God, say, Father, forgive me for I've sinned. And what will he do? Forgive you. Yeah.

Every time. Every time. I go through that every day. My point is when you look back and say, oh, so there is a malevolent force. a sinister force that wants to wipe out all mankind. Why do you think we have wars? You think God's causing it? We like to blame God for the wars.

I never blame God for the wars. But let's face it, there are people who blame him for warfare. There are people that, yeah, but that's why education is so important. And that's why we just had a nice little lesson about the existence of a devil. It's a reality. And I, as a follower of Jesus Christ, as a Christian, who loves God and loves mankind and would never lift a finger to hurt anyone. And if I do, and if I have, to all those that I've offended and hurt,

please forgive me. I'm sorry. I love you. Let's make amends. And we don't do that so well in society, do we? Now, it's considered emasculine, especially in today's world. I don't look at it that way. If I'm wrong about something, I immediately make the correction.

When I talk, I talk with authority. And sometimes people just go ahead and do what I just said. But that wasn't what I meant. What I meant is I can't help to read a talk. Okay. But I'm inviting a conversation. Yeah. I want you to beat up that idea.

I want you to tell me your best thinking. And it just, you know. You know, and sometimes Richard, when we talk, talk. And I think that's why I'm always sensitive to where people are, because I don't know what they've been through. Right. I don't know what they're going through. Well, you're a better man than I. No, no, no, no. My point is, we both have that same affinity and love for people. We have different ways of talking it, but that's the different makeup that we have. God didn't make us all, you know, cookie cutters. Richards this way, Kelly's this, no, we're all different. I love that unique

aspect of life. You know, if you look at the 12 disciples who walk with Jesus, all of them were a rag-tag crew. All of them. Every last one of them had something, had some flaw. And Jesus took 12 men and changed the whole world. Well, women were there, too. Let's not forget that. But most of the apostles were those 12 men.

And one of them betrayed them. We can talk. Who's the... The guy who was a Peter, Paul? Which one? Which, well, Peter was the disciple. Who is the one that, that, that, that wasn't loyal? Judas.

Judas. Judas is scarier. You know, that sounds too much like Jew. I don't like that. I don't like that. That doesn't feel good to me. No, that's, you're a trip. Listen, we can talk about this all day long, but I want to move on.

Yeah, don't give me started because I'll talk about God all day long, all day long. And you know what's funny? A lot of people have turned this off already. And that's cool. I think a lot of people will turn into it because I think a lot of people are hungry and thirsty for something more than just what's passe. And there's always a freshness and newness to how we express ourselves. We should really talk every day. I'm so negative and you're so positive. I mean, the only thing. I try to talk to you. No, but the only thing that's a problem with that is, I feel like one bad apple spoils a whole barrel. Not true. And I don't want to, I mean, I'm going to get better, but by very definition, you're going to get worse. Nope. Not going to happen.

All right. Well, good luck with that. Not going to happen. You've interviewed so many fascinating people. Who is your favorite and why? Oh, wow. That's a great question. Thank you.

It's hard to just say one person. There's Denzel Washington. Wow. Denzel was just amazing. I remember the first time I interviewed Denzel. It was at the Boys and Girls Club member of the year. And they pick one person out of all these great young people. And I was rushed because he was rushed.

We did this at the National Press Club in Washington. and it's a big affair. They're feeded before members of Congress, and then the Boys and Girls Club goes to the National Press Club. Denzel is there, Shanti's there, and some other celebrities. And Denzel is the chairperson for the Boys and Girls Club. And make a long story short, he was tight on time. He spoke briefly.

We were waiting to interview him. Gwen Eiffel, God bless her. Gwen Eiffel, who's no longer with us, interviewed him first. And she won a little long. Of course, she was Gwen Eiffel. She could take as long as she wanted to. And then I was being told Denzel has to leave. He's going to be going to the White House to sit down with President Obama.

And this was Obama's first year in office. And I said, I just need five minutes. and Denzo heard me talking to the person was throwing some interference and shade on it. No, you can't do it. We've got to get them, you know, tight schedule, tight schedule. And Denzel said, did Kelly say he can do this in five minutes?

And I said, yes. He said, come on, my man. We sat down in five minutes. He unpacked the story about how the boys and girls club revolutionized his life because he didn't really have, I mean, his father was around, but not really as close to him as his coach was in the Boys and Girls Club.

And it put him on a pathway to where he is today. And I thanked him for five minutes. I said, I'm true to my worry. He said, my man. And he wanted to see the president. I want him with this great story called Beyond the Dream because it was about Denzel accomplishing his American dream. But then what do you do with it?

And what he does, he shares it with the world. He's helped so many young boys and girls. And then we've had two different reviews following that. And each time it's always been a breath of fresh air to sit down and talk to a man who's sincere about his faith, sincere about his ability to use what he's accomplished and share it with others to help them. He's done a number of things that it would take a book to write at all. So I would say he was one of my favorites.

It feels to me like he has a huge. humility about him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But he knows who he is. He knows exactly who he is. And, you know, but he's elegant about it. And I was at a Laker game and I was sitting with my girlfriend and I was, I walked right past him. And I'm looking at him and I'm starstruck. Yeah. And normally, because I've treated everyone who's anyone, right, I'm not embarrassed to talk to anybody. That man, I was afraid. I was literally afraid to bother. First of all, I think he was with his son, if I'm not mistaken. Okay? I don't remember. And he was just having his personal time, and I don't do that, right? But if I'm honest about it, I was afraid. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, look, I can't say that based on those interviews that I've had with him, it gives me any right to say that I know him personally, but I can tell you that what I gleaned from those interviews and hit the story that he shares about his life, it should be a value to any person around the world. That's the kind of impact that he's had and the kind of influence that he's had. I think another great interview that I had was, with mothers who lost loved ones.

With mothers who lost loved ones. I talked to a group of... How do you do that without falling apart? I can't do it. Well, you do? When we do those things and we've done it like three times, four times, it takes three hours. Yeah.

And we cut it down to 25, 30 minutes because it's... I'm wrecked. Yeah. Well, you do lose it. when you talk to the mothers of of young men who have been killed because of gang violence

or crime and they're saying that we've got to be the mothers that lift up our communities and we've got to be strong enough to take care of the future

and those moms stand in solidarity against violence of any kind. I'm speaking mostly about black mothers who were in inner city neighborhoods and saw their children gun down or heard about it and then had to respond to it.

And you see their resilience and you see their perseverance and you see their heartbreak. And in the midst of the pain, they are still efforting to reach out and touch other people to say, let's not do this. Let's find a better way

so that other women like us will not grieve over a child being lost before they've even reached the age of 21. The strength of these women who have lost their babies. Yeah. I don't even have the words because if that happened to me, I think I would die that day, just of a broken heart. I believe it. It's my greatest fear. It's why I came back because of that end all issue. I felt like if I didn't come back and deal with this

because I have small children, I'd be punished. Yeah. And that's not how he works. But I couldn't risk it. I understand. I understand. It's like, that's not faith. It is.

I'm just, I love you. In the midst of their pain, it's too much. In the midst of their heart, break. Yeah, it's why I love that beatitude. Blesser those who mourn for they shall be comforted. And they've shown that. I'll tell you one other story that really comes to mind. In December of 1999, I was invited to Benin, West Africa, to be present for a reconciliation development conference. And the president of Benin, Matthew Caracou, and the president of Ghana, Gerald Rollins, they assembled everybody

related to the transatlantic slave trade. Now, I bring that up because it's history, it's historical. And I went there not knowing what to expect. And I was there for two weeks, and they took us along the slave route to see how this slave trade was developed. And the stock The astonishing aspect was that they were saying through this education that we received by going through the very diabolical trade, they said, we didn't initiate the slave trade, but we perpetuated by selling our own into captivity. And we didn't sell our feeble. We didn't sell our sick. We sold our best. How the hell did that happen?

Well, if you look at the history of the transatlantic slave trade, a lot of this happened because of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and England and other countries going into Africa looking for the raw materials that were there. And they looked at the people and said, well, there's good raw material. and they traded their trinkets on the boats with kings who said, yeah, take them and sold them into captivity, being complicit with it, not perpetuating, being complicit with it. Then it was also part of tribal factions that went on in Africa, how they started breaking down the warfare and capturing people and saying, okay, instead of holding them as prisoners, we'll release them to slave traders and slave merchants. without belaboring and going through all the history of that transatlantic slave trade, which was a diabolical and fiendish deed that not only impacted America,

but also impacted South America and the UK and other countries. The bottom line is that when Caracu, Matthew Caracou, the president of Benin and Gerald Rollins, when they stood before the people to apologize, it was Caracu who said, and this is going to get biblical again, he said, I want to say this fiendish deed that our ancestors entered into was demonic and it destroyed our diaspora. And I want to apologize to you in the name of Jesus Christ. I covered that story.

And it was an apology that literally shook a nation. Because what they did, which was brilliant, they invited descendants of all the stakeholders, the slave merchants, the slave traders, the victims themselves. And they did this in a way of saying, we need to reconcile our differences. To understand that we are one together, we need to become one new man by being transformed, not by the culture, but by the renewing of our people. mind and it was a powerful moment that I will never forget. You said transatlantic trade.

Is that slave trade? Slave trade. Is that what people refer to? Because I've never heard it like that. I just thought they were taking black people and putting them on boats, putting them in chains and bringing them here, the ones that didn't die or get sick. Now, is that the same? Same thing.

As a mother's time, 58 years old. first time I ever heard. That's why these stories matter. And for me to be right there in the room where it happened, it was moving. And there are still people working towards letting that story be told and to heal from that. Look, America is a great nation. Let's make no bones about it. But we do have a birth defect. And our birth defect is how we treat each other based on what we've done you know, with Native Americans and African American City of Slater. But birth defect doesn't mean you throw out the baby with the bathwater. It means you work to reconcile those differences, past, president, future.

So we come together as truly one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, which means we learn how to be our brother's keeper and not our brother's killer. I'm so bummed. You just brought this up for me. I'm so bummed that we don't say the pledge of life. allegiance in every school. We used to. I can't imagine.

And that's why you have these kids, death to America. Okay? No, the best is death to America and it's the whole trans community with the rainbows. And so, dude, they would lob your head off in two seconds before, like as you're leaving the plane, right? And I think that comes in part from, look, I learned to love my country because I stand up every day as a kid and said the Pledge of Allegiance. You know, my kid doesn't do that. So we're at the Laker game. Okay.

And the Pledge of Allegiance comes on. And I turn to look at the flag, okay, put my left hand behind my back, my right hand here. and I'm quiet and I look around and he's sitting. I go, get up. Left hand behind your back, right hand here. I'll explain in a minute. Just look up there. And I explained it to him, right?

That matters. Why would that matter any less than a Palestinian giving birth? And the first thing they teach their children is kill the Jews, heat the Jews, the river into the sea. If that works, than the other works, no? So this is part of the problems that we have in our world today. A miseducation, a misinformation, and a deception, and we are living in an age of deception.

You were saying the Pledge of Allegiance, when we said that in school, a pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice brawl but before we said the pledge of allegiance as i remember we bowed our heads to pray i didn't do that we prayed in school you're older than me i'm older than you yeah and we prayed in school and then we said the pledge of allegiance well you know we've

taken prayer out of schools we've taken the pledge of allegiance out of schools and we wonder why we have educated fools from uneducated schools well we we we have a lot to be concerned about when it comes our education in America. My mother, again, getting back to June, this lady was amazing. I wish you could have met her, Richard. She was a remarkable lady. I would have loved to meet your mother, man. Your mother sounds like the most impressive woman in the world. When you were telling me that story, like I was, I was contracting. I don't know how to explain it. I've lived it so long now. And you never get used to it because you keep thinking, Mom, went through all that for me.

I need to get my act together. But mom was always concerned about my education. And what she did, she, I was in Washington, D.C. at the time, I was going to public school. And she said, don't like the element that's there. She took me out of that and put me in Catholic school. And then I finished high school going to Catholic school. and I was looking at a college to attend.

And I went to Orel Roberts University. I prepared. I don't always do it, but I did it this time. And true to their motto, you know, they taught me something. It taught me something about me. I didn't grasp it initially. It took me a while to mature into this process. I was a grown man.

had gone through so many different things, but I remembered what they taught me, and it was different because we went to college to study our academics, but also to study our faith. And we made no bones about it. It's just who we are. And to this day, the university students from there, look, they're not perfect. None of us are. But they still go to where the light is dim to show the light. to a fallen world. And they do it academically, spiritually, physically, because it's a whole person concept where you're educated, mind, body, and soul. There are a lot of great universities in the country. I just happen to believe that Christian universities do well. In fact, if you look at Harvard, Harvard began as a Christian institution. Yeah, well, now they're garbage. Hey, let me ask you a question.

I wouldn't let my kid go to Harvard if her life depended on it. My kid, gotten to Harvard, she's going to Vanderbilt, okay, or SMU, okay, somewhere where they got their head on right, somewhere in the south. Many people are doing that now. He's so great. I love him. Do you know, okay, rant starts now. Okay.

The reason I love him so much is because... Wait, love who? Trump. Okay. Sorry, President Trump. The reason I love what he's doing here is because he don't even have an ear for this. He's like, uh-uh, no way. Oh, you're supporting terrorism.

You're giving aid and comfort to terrorism. Okay. Which one of you here is not a citizen? Great. Out. Okay. The rest of you guys? Yeah.

No problem. Administration. Chancellor, do me a favor. Fix this thing, right? Well, you know, I can't. with free, free ideas and all this nonsense. He's like, hey, no problem. You get no money.

Wait a minute. I got to sue you now. What you sue me for? You don't get the money. There is no money for you. Zero, nothing. And they're like, huh, good for you, man. That guy, you know what's funny?

This guy must want to light himself on fire being with all the people. in his way and blocking him here and giving him grief there. You know, what about the vaccine? Do you remember when he did the vaccine? It's one of the most heroic things he's ever done, by the way. It takes 15, 20 years to do a vaccine. He did nine months. And I promise you it went down something like this.

Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. President, okay? It takes 15 to 20 years. We have to go through all these trials. We have to make certain we don't hurt anybody. He's like, hey, I'm the president. Go do it. If you can't do it, go to HR and get your walking papers. He wouldn't say that.

He'd say, you're fired because that's what he does. But I love that. Okay? I can't help it. I'm not perfect. I mean, it's a work in progress. I just love it. And I know that's the way it happened.

It happened like, yeah, I do. That's great. I'm the president and you're not. Go do what I asked or hit the road. Right? And then it was, oh, right? And then it happened. I just, well, so I've had the, I've had the honor and the pleasure of reporting on a lot of different presidents.

I want to hear it. I want to hear how it won't with Trump. I'm obsessed with it. But I'm not going to interrupt you and I'm going to let you do your thing because I can't stop running my mouth. I've had the pleasure of interviewing President Trump in the past when that was during COVID. It was about an eight-minute interview. and we were talking about all of the problems that had been going on stemming from COVID. And I realized I was interviewing the commander-in-chief, the president of the United States.

And for me, it wasn't a got-cha moment. It was a conversation. Right. I wanted to have a conversation with the president of the United States. I was then working, I was hosting a show called The Kelly Wright Show and also, anchoring the world news tonight with my former colleague, Naira Huck. But this was specifically, this was with the Black News channel.

I had just left Fox News. So there I was, and I'm looking at the president, I'm remembering how I used to report on him as a young reporter in New York City 30 years prior to that interview. And I just said, you know, a lot of people are so ready to pounce and attack. I just wanted to hear from the president himself what his goals were, what his strategy was,

and hear from him, and I did. And that, I think, was a really good moment wherein there was an exchange of a conversation rather than me trying to attack or get some brownie points for myself and say, oh, Kelly took the president to Tath. No, I wanted to take the president to the American people and voice what he's trying to do. I asked him questions about COVID. I asked him questions about the, what do we do to help America?

And how do we help? At the time, because of where I was working, the Black News Channel, I said, Mr. President, how do you reach out to Americans of Color, Latino, Hispanic, African American? And he explained himself. And of course, he did a lot of great work for HBCUs, historically black colleges and universities. And he was making wholesale changes in terms of how the black community saw itself and treated itself. And then beyond that, he was also talking about all of America and trying to stand up against other nations coming against America. So I left the interview feeling like, okay, we talked. We had a conversation and no one was hurt.

If anything, people gleaned some information and comfort. Or if they disliked it, they could ridicule me saying, oh, you didn't do a good job. You didn't sling arrows at them. And sometimes being a reporter, that's not always your job. It feels like it is, man. Sometimes your job as a reporter is to get information and let the American people decide. You're older. No, you're talking about, no, no, no. We're talking about night line when we were kids. Let the American people decide. You could ask tough questions. For example, I remember when he wanted to send National Guard troops into Portland.

Right. So Mr. President, and he's actually considering Portland and Chicago. I said, Mr. President, you know, I know that you want to. quell some of these the unrest that's going on in places like Portland and Chicago. I've talked to violence interruptors. They're on the ground in Chicago trying to talk to people

to mediate the violence. Have you talked to them? Why not consider talking to them first before sending troops in? And he said, well, I have talked to them. And I've considered talking to them again. But when it comes to Portland, and he went on with what is playing.

work. Right. I'm not the president of the United States. He is. Right. I'm not going to put words in his mouth. Let him say what's going on. But you're a unicorn. I'm not throwing rocks in anyone or shade on anyone. If anything, I myself, I think I'm sometimes guilty. Of course, when I'm working in my own capacity with the Kelly Wright Show or America's Hope, I'm given to not only, to not always being a journalist, but sometimes sharing my my feelings and my empathies and my sympathies and my opinions about things. America's Hope was a show that I designed and created to look at the divide that we have in America politically on faith and on religion and on those just sorts of things, socioeconomic.

And you've been a guest of that show several times. And thank you for that because we talked about something that divides us to this day, fentanyl. Yep. Thank you. Thank you for that. Well, thank you for doing what you do because people were not getting it. People were assuming that fentanyl was just a drug that affected drug addicts. Yes. And not innocent Americans who took a substance that was laced that they didn't fall in for, that they've got straight A's in school, and they're out at a club on the weekend that they didn't even want to go. go to, but, you know, socially they want to fit in. So they go and somebody gives them a pill and they take it or they say, well, this is too much. I'll take half. Right. And then they're slumped over their steering wheel dead. And I kept looking at these stories and, you know, I had talked to you years before while working at Fox and in fact, we met out here and talked about opioids it's then. And then after I started during the whole Purdue Farm

Fame member. That's right. That's right. Then after that, years later, I see the scourge of fentanyl taking place. I need to give Richard a call again. Yeah. And so we talked about it. But the way we talked about it, we pulled off the layers and the covers to say, no, this is happening to everyday America. Black, white. It didn't matter. No. killing everybody. I recently had HGTV star Izzy Batris on the podcast. He opened up for the first time about his long battle with addiction and how something came over him when he walked into a church and broke down at the altar. That moment sparked his redemption and recovery. Have you seen faith lead to that kind of transformation? I have. Give it to me.

Well, I've seen it in my own life. I wasn't hooked on drugs, or I've seen it myself hooked on just a frivolous lifestyle and had a personal encounter with Christ after praying. And you could feel the rush of tears streaming down your face, and you realized you had an encounter with something stronger than you, and it was God. I've seen it in the stories that I've told with people who, like him, had been hooked on drugs and had no other way of getting through it.

I interviewed, I went to a church in, I want to get this right, Norfolk, Virginia. And I was doing a story on how the drug trade was causing a lot of violence and causing a lot of young men and women to die. on the streets of Norfolk, Virginia. And I went into this church, they were doing what we call praise and worship. Those are beautiful songs that lift up the spirit. And a young man stood up and said, I'm not supposed to be here today.

And he stood before the congregation and said, because I was dealing in drugs and not leaving that trade, I was shot nine times. And here I am standing before you only by the grace of God, who spared my life, and I'm grateful to Jesus, then I can have this story with you today. And when you hear stories like that, and you start interviewing people like that, yes, this is what faith does.

Faith compels you to surrender your awe to Christ, because there's no place else to go. You can go to, and you've seen this, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not schooling you or fooling you. You've seen this yourself. No, I see it every day. Where people go to rehab or they go to prison or they, you know, like one man who was ultimately pardoned by President Trump when he was serving in his first term, guy named John Ponder, arrested armed robbery, serial criminal.

The FBI agent who arrested him said there's something different about you, John. to work with you. What turns out the FBI agent, like me, placed all of his faith in Christ. Now, he didn't stop him from doing his job as being, you know, a hard-nosed FBI agent, but he said, I'm going to work with you. I'm going to mentor you. John Ponder, in prison, gave his life to Jesus Christ, started rethinking and reevaluating his life based on his newfound faith in Jesus Christ. John Ponder created a program called Hope for Prisoners. Today, Hope for Prisoners is a model program for the entire state of Nevada. And the men and women who go through this program, because it reeducates them and it partners corrections officers or the arresting officers with inmates who are now serving their time.

And they mentor each other through Bible study, through studying God. and they come out transformed because what John also did, he's out of prison now, by the way. What he also did, he started saying, well, in addition to showing them faith in Christ, we also have to apply, again, getting back to the whole man concept. We have to apply some academics and they need a trade. They just can't come out and say, hey, I'm born again, I'm free hire me. No, they have to come out skilled. So they apply the skills there.

The governor. Vocational skills, the governor of Nevada provided John, with an entire empty warehouse to create schools so that these young men and women incarcerated, now having their faith being tested and tried and proven to be true, are also getting their education. So when they come on, John Ponder,

you should have them as a guess. No, no, no, I will definitely, I'll do anything you tell me to do. Tell me about the music. Tell me about how you got into music. Okay, that's June. Because while June wanted to be a psychiatrist, my grandmother wanted her to be a professional singer. Because mom was a singer, she also played piano.

I don't really play piano. I play at it. I learned a lot of things from her. I wish I had learned piano from her. But we have her piano in my home. So I've written a couple of songs on her piano. And professionals have come in and say, okay, let's, take this and make it this way. And I've been very happy with that. But yeah, that's where the music

came from from my mother. And then I always wanted to do some albums. So I went out and did some things and I've been blessed to do that. And I really haven't devoted the time to music like I should because of my career in news. But what I love about singing is that it brings out this hope from my heart to believe in the power of the good news operating in a bad news world. And that's why I still love to sing. And life's not over yet. Maybe I'll just lay down the news and just pick up music and sing it. So a man that you know, Mike Huckabee, who's now the ambassador to Israel for the United States.

Thank God. That was a great move. Great choice. So, Mike, I'm sorry, Ambassador Huckabee has always said, I love to see you in Las Vegas. That's so funny. Why would I go there? He said, because I used to sing when he's show at, when we were at Fox together. We started a great friendship there.

And even with his show at TBN, had the pleasure of performing with him and hope to do something again with him in Israel. But he's always encouraged me. I love to see you in Vegas. I don't know if Vegas is for me, but I do know that music is still in me. So I want to share that music because it's music breaks down all the barriers. Yeah. Just like you played Kirk William right there, man, it just broke it and brought it home. Didn't that feel good? You're all that I need. I don't need fortune or fame. God, you're all that I need. That just melted me. I see why you like going to that song. That's what music does. And that's why I love singing the music that I do. And Quincy Jones, the late great Quincy Jones once made a song called What Good is a song if it can't inspire?

If a song cannot lift you higher, then it's not good enough to sing. Right. And, you know, I know you talk to a lot of artists yourself and even the hip-hop artists and rap artists, when they get the heart right and the lyrics right, they're the best. They're the best. They're the best. These kids are the best that I've had here.

Yeah. Right? Some of you won't collaborate, but I don't know why you're withholding. That's part of the kids. You know, they don't want to have things on their page. I don't understand. You just don't understand.

Look, the generation Z and the generation to come after that, look at my grandson, my youngest grandson, and my newborn granddaughter. And I'm thinking they've got quite a world to inherit and how do we prepare them for it. We've got to sit down and talk to them. Can't let them go their own way and drift away like vegetables. We've got to be right there eye to eye, nose to nose and saying,

I love you right where you are and you can't change that. I tell my kids all the time, I said, all you got to do is fog a mirror and I'll be fine. I mean, that's not true. Sorry. But that's what I tell them. All right. What do you do next? Well, I'm, you know, I'm the senior White House correspondent for CBN News.

Are you really? That keeps me pretty busy. You are? I am. You're the senior? I didn't. Since November 5th, the day of the election, that's, I jump right in and put my show America's Hope on hiatus in January,

but still planned to have that show as well. You're allowed to use your cell phone in the... I can't use my cell phone in the briefing. You can't? I can't text. Oh, you can? But I can't pick up the phone. No, no, no.

You can't make a deal. I don't think Caroline Levitt. would love seeing me on the phone. Right. No, no, no, no. But can you take a quick selfie in there? I just turn around and go, I've done that. I'll text to me.

I'll do that for you. Rich, Rich, I'm in the White House. I'll do that for you. That's so cool. I want to go to the White House. No, no, I'm not asking you. I'm just saying eventually one day I want to go to the way. When the Oval Office briefings take place,

is the president with the head of state or just with other people there, he might be signing executive orders, and he starts talking to or asking the reporters to ask him questions. And you've seen him when he doesn't like a particular question, he'll bristle with it and he'll, you know, say, oh, your fake news or, you know, and he'll actually talk about the particular reporter. And I think that's, you know, that's give and take. If you look at politics in the past, that happened before, except because of social media and the digital. platforms and news being so immediate, people see it live. Reagan did that, didn't he? Well, he did. But other presidents in the past have talked to reporters in that kind of way. And the White House Correspondents Association has been around for 100 years. And it started that way because

of what was going on in terms of the White House not giving a lot of opportunity for reporters to ask questions of then President Woodrow Wilson. So it's really, it's a give and take between the media and the White House. But I think it can also be a relationship we're in, we provide information that's important for the American people to know. And I think the White House can then answer those questions and have a coming to the table to find, what I always like to find common ground for the common good and the greater good of our nation. And that comes from information and information that's based on truth. And yes, there will be challenges because the president is human. The executive branch is operated by humans. The judicial branch,

legislative branch, all of us are in this trying to make this country called the United States of America work. And that requires give and take. That requires hearing from all sides and then making decisions based on wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. And yes, sometimes there's a pointing your fingers. Politics is not an easy thing to deal with. And I grew up not liking. And I grew up not liking politics and I still don't like politics. I love, but I do love where we are as a people. And what I mean by that is that I love the fact that we're able to talk to each other, question each other, and then hopefully find a meeting of the minds to find that common ground for the greater good of the American people. And then I also want to remind America, don't forget what you've been blessed

with. You are literally, America is literally the greatest nation on the planet. Do we have our issues? Yes. Will we get through these issues? Yes. Do we have adversaries who would like to destroy us from within? You better believe it. And we We have to learn how, as getting back to what I said before, we have to learn how to be one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And it's a tough thing to do sometimes, but we are, I believe, a beacon of hope. When I travel around the world, there are some people saying, what's going on in America? We're concerned about America.

Well, why are you concerned about America? Because you're the beacon of hope. You're the light that shines on a hill. Don't try to hide it. Keep shining it. We need you. Hey, do you know a better way to end this podcast? I'm going to end the podcast and prayer. Do it.

My Jewish brother. Do it, baby. Who got baptized? Okay, first of all, my friends beat me up for that. But when I checked in, okay, I'm like, are we okay with this? Yeah, we're okay with you. I'm a Jew, right? And this is what I heard.

Well, what I brought her? you if it wasn't okay. Go. And Jesus being a Jewish carpenter. A rabbi. And an architect. It's an architect, too. Who designed everything for us to do.

Oh, that's funny. I didn't see that coming. All right. Pray us out. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to have spoken with my good friend, Richard Tate. I asked that you bless this podcast. I asked that you bless this free-flowing. informative in-depth interview. And Lord, I pray that through everything that's been said,

that you get the glory. And I thank you for salvation. I thank you for what you're doing for this nation or for the world. And for those who are lost and don't know you, I pray that they find you the way we know you to be a brother who sticks closer than a brother, our friend, and we love you with all our heart and mind is strength. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you, God. I love you. Amen. See next Tuesday. That was really good. Take a little around. What do you see?

I see a world filled with race and big a tree. Take a look around. If you were a loved one is struggling, we have a number that you can call, and we'll help you find the best treatment that is right for you. Our company, One Call Placement, is dedicated. to helping you, and we'll find the best treatment that is right for you. So call now at 888-808-6159. Again, that's 888-808-6159. We're out of time. Please subscribe on YouTube, click the thumbs up, and leave a comment.

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