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Jenna Ellis: I love talking about the things of God. Because of truth and the biblical worldview, the U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect the rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up, each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the Morning.
Jenna Ellis: Morning.
Jenna Ellis: Good morning. It is Monday, October 19, and France is still burning. And according to a new town hall piece, socialism is holding the Match. if you haven't read this piece in town hall, by Brad Parscale, some of our listeners might recognize that name. He was the campaign manager for President Trump in 2020 and also does a lot of data and is just a really excellent commentator. But he wrote this piece, titled France's Burning and Socialism is holding the Match, talking about his time working in Paris, being there again, recently. And a lot of, what the protests spreading across France are being viewed through the familiar lenses of left versus right, immigration, political unrest. And a lot of these, these categories and and commentaries are kind of trying to frame this just with everyone's maybe pet issues. And those issues absolutely matter. But he says that he believes the real story is much bigger, that France is confronting the consequences of an economic model that is promised more than it can sustainably deliver. And so while France, remains a capitalist economy, it's one increasingly burdened by the cost of government. So he also goes on to say, that this is a very, concerning and early warning about the sustainability of the economic approach embraced by much of Europe. And that every government ultimately faces the same reality, that its commitments must, be supported by an economy productive enough to finance them. A country does not need to experience a financial collapse before its citizens begin losing confidence in the future. It only needs to reach a point where working harder no longer seems to produce a better life. Where government promises can, where government promises continue expanding while Economic opportunity feels increasingly limited. And what does that sound like? A lot of the affordability questions here in the United States and a lot of the young people who are turning to embrace socialism here are, while we remain, a capitalist economy, there are a lot of, young people, according to the polls and according to their own statements, that want to see more government handouts and are frustrated by a country that isn't delivering on its promises. So meanwhile, French President Macron, comments on protesters and he's actually blaming the price of fuel, and the war in Iran for, for France's problems, which is utterly absurd. But listen to what he said. this is of course him speaking in French, so this is through an interpreter, but listen to this clip.
Speaker E: Never mix up those people, those men and women who protested peacefully with looters and writers, because there are people out there who rightfully feel that the price of fuel is going to higher price, which has increased because of what has happened in the Persian Gulf, a war that France was not part of.
Jenna Ellis: All right, well, let's welcome in Orin McIntyre, who is a host at the Blaze. And Oren, you know, it seems like France is, in all kinds of unrest. I mean, you know, it's almost every other year, and they have been for a lot of their history. But this particular, unrest and the violence and the burning of historic buildings, and everything that's going on does feel a little bit different. what is your take first on Macron's comments and then overall?
Auron MacIntyre : Well, I think that France is the country that's always had a lot of civil unrest. protests. Major protests in France are kind of like the tides. They come in and they go out. however, this one is a little more intense than usual. There are economic elements, to be sure, but we have seen this before with say, the yellow jacket protests, that happen in Spain, or rather in France. I, think that, however, this one is more intense for a lot of reasons, one of which is when we say a youth protest in France, what we often also mean is an immigrant protest in France. We have to remember that, at this point, France, like many Western countries, is upside down demographically. and so when we're talking about the young people of France, we're also very much talking about the immigrant population. and so, you know, we have a scenario where a lot of people, from Algeria and other French colonies have filtered back into the country. and so we're seeing, often in many cases, a Muslim protest in France, not just One that is simply due to economics. I'm sure the economic concerns are part of what's going on there. But this is not just something that's you know, purely on materialist lines.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
Jenna Ellis: And and you know, there are a lot of commentators as well that in, in fairness to the immigration question, and you and I talked about this before, Europe is importing their own demise. And when you have a country that is is basically tanking itself from the inside, but then also importing it from the outside, we have to look at this as a cautionary tale. And I think that that some, some Americans are looking at this and saying this is why we have the conservative policies that we do on the closed borders on ensuring that we remain American in our Western values, in our culture and also in our economic policies. but it doesn't seem somehow to be translating. I mean, are we watching a generation of young Americans become just so frustrated with the failures of our current institutions, policies, and this is economics and immigration, a whole host of issues that they're willing to embrace an ideology from the left without understanding its long term consequences?
Auron MacIntyre : No, that's definitely the case. You know, one of the issues you have is that when people are ultimately looking at political issues, they don't always evaluate them rationally. you know, for better or for worse, democracy is ruled by, you know, by the polity. It's you know, rule of the majority. And you have this scenario where a lot of people are looking at the system, they recognize it's not working for them. Now many people might say, well, the problem is that the system is not capitalist enough. There's too many regulations, there's too many rules, there's too many barriers, and if we just got rid of them, then ultimately the system would work. And perhaps that's true, but ultimately what people look at is that the system is not working. That's what they care about. They don't have the ability to individually grasp every economic input and output. And so they simply say, well, if this is capitalism, then capitalism isn't working. And so you have to meet people where they are, even if their economic models are incorrect. You have to let them know that you're going to address the issues that they're ultimately facing. One of the problems, as you pointed out with kind of M, the entitlement system, is that a socialist project like this is ultimately based on a Ponzi scheme. We have the same issue in the United States at this point and we have many of the same arguments we hear all the time that we have to import new immigrant populations because we have these entitlement programs and we are not growing at a rate fast enough to fulfill the needs that they are based on. They were all based on this Ponzi scheme where we were going to grow infinitely in population. And when that stopped, we had to either eliminate the program or import enough population to kind of fill those roles. And most of Europe is facing the same problem. The demographic decline is telling them that either they import a large number of, immigrants to subsidize, the older population, or they will fade away. Now, the interesting thing is that we find that once you import these people, not only do they not actually make enough money to fill those roles, they ultimately don't. They withdraw more money early on than they make once they enter into the country and start working, but we also find that their own birth rates drop in the second or third generations. And so the immigrants that we import have the same issue of the native population, that they don't replace themselves fast enough to fill that demographic table. So either way, whether you look at it as an economic issue, you're looking at as an immigration issue. This is one that does not work in the long run.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
Jenna Ellis: And so when young people are saying that institutions have failed them, how. How should conservatives respond? Because we're seeing how the French government is responding, isn't making any difference, and is, is basically just, passing the buck and not actually taking responsibility or having good solutions. And largely, unfortunately, in, in. And we're not, thankfully, yet to the point that France is. But at least with, you know, some of the election issues coming up in, in the midterms, it seems like, the GOP doesn't really have sufficient explanations and responses. I mean, they're just saying, okay, socialism bad. But as I've been, you know, saying for the last, you know, several months here on this program, when we're talking about socialism, I don't think that young Americans actually understand what it is. And conservatives have really failed ultimately across the board. I mean, with some notable exceptions, of course, like hopefully here on this program, to make the moral case for capitalism rather than simply defending it as the economic system that we're accustomed to. And that's, you know, the rule here in this household. You know, almost like a parent would say to a child, I mean, there has to be a better explanation and defense. And I don't see, the French government doing that for what's. What it's worth in Europe. but certainly here in America, I don't see the GOP overall largely doing that effectively.
Auron MacIntyre : Well, so here we're going to have a much bigger problem. And, you know, this might be something we disagree on, but this is a huge issue with, with democracy in general. You know, when you have an electoral system, the side that is offering stuff is always going to be at the side that says we have to take it away. You look at the French elections, you look at what's happening right now, they're rioting because they believe that the French government is being too austere, it's taking too much away from them. It's not spending enough, in theory, on, you know, classrooms, and education, though I don't think that's actually the real issue with the riots. But at least, the justification ideologically is one of you are taking too much away, you're not spending enough, even though the French government is ridiculously, generous, to the point of destroying itself. And so even with the very socialist government of France, they are not providing enough for the current voters. And so you're going to face the same issue in the United States over time, especially as you import people who don't believe in our system or our values. When you look at people and you come in and you say, well, we need to make a moral case to them, well, what if they've never seen capitalism as anything worthwhile? What if they lived in countries their entire lives in which capitalism did not flourish? That, that is not a built in value. You can't appeal automatically to the base values of people who have never experienced capitalism, didn't grow up under it, don't, understand why it works better. And so ultimately we'll say, actually, I'm just going to go with the guy who's going to hand me the things like they did when I lived in another country. And that's really the issue. As you import the third World, you also import the systems of the third world, most of which are socialists or in some way corrupt. They are not capitalist. And so making a moral appeal to people who have never lived in the system and don't understand its value is going to fall short. I think that you're going to see as we continue to import people who don't share our values, that you're going to have an incredibly difficult time explaining to them why they should morally vote against their own economic interests in the short term, because long term, if they work real hard, they're going to have some kind of victory. I don't think that registers to many of our new arrivals.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, I actually completely agree with that. And you know, the problem when we have a representative republic is that we are presuming that our electorate, shares similar values as what we want the majority to be. I mean this is why our founders understood that our Constitution only works for moral and upright people. Right. I mean there was this understanding that, that the population had to be consistently Christian in nature, had to be consistently biblical in terms of the values and how they understood the legitimacy of government. And this is why, you know, Jon Jay, our first Supreme Court justice, said that we should select and prefer Christians as our leaders.
Jenna Ellis: Why?
Jenna Ellis: Because they would understand the legitimacy of government. They would understand the limited principles of our constitutional republic. And you're absolutely right that as we not only continue to import, people who aren't assimilating don't understand any of this and we're expecting them to simply just partake in our values and have that framework without, teaching it. We're also not passing it down to the next generations, largely. I mean I know that there are a lot of Christian families and a lot of whom listen to the American Family Radio Network and we're grateful for that. There's a lot of great homeschooling families, Christian families, Christian school families, that we are passing down our values. But in general, when we look at the government funded institutions and we even look at the godless populism that has largely taken over, big segments of, of the gop, we're not passing down the value so that people understand I'm not just voting for a party or I'm not just voting for a certain policy because I like it and it affects me. They understand the moral position, first and foremost of government and, and then they work up their their worldview and their policies from there. And we are failing as a society and frankly just as the church, we're failing to translate those biblical values into civil society. And so that's why I believe that we that we're seeing the, the crisis that we're in and some of the messaging, even if it's great, isn't resonating because you don't have these, the young people and then the people that we're importing that are viewing things through a, a reality and a truthful or a true truth framework to begin with. And so as, and that's going to take a lot of time to wind our way back. the first thing I think we can do is actually, have the mass deportations, close the border, stop the immigration part of it. we can do that, you know, fairly easily and right away. But when we're talking about, educating the people that are already here, I mean, our next generations, that becomes a little bit more difficult and a little bit more complicated. I think we start in the church. What do you say?
Auron MacIntyre : Well, I think that's important, but I think another issue is also we have to make sure that the system is actually working for people. Again, a lot of people would look at our system right now and say, well, that's not really capitalism. It's not really free markets. And fair enough. You know, there are so many regulations, there's so much government interference. But when young people think about what the American system is, they don't think about some abstract ideal. They think about what they're actually experiencing. And right now, they have an economy that's often rigged against them. You have Social Security, which is a massive burden on young people, which they don't expect to ultimately ever see a dollar of. So they're paying a significant tax into a program that is effectively socialism for boomers, for older people who are going to collect that dollar and know they're going to collect that dollar, but the young people are working, and they know they're not going to collect it. They also see a housing market that's rigged against them where the average home buyer is now 40 years old, 4 years old. Jenna, can you imagine being a young person trying to start a family, knowing that you will not be able to ever own your own piece of property until your kids are already looking at college? I mean, that's an insane proposition, but that's the fiscal that most young people are looking at. Many young people are trying to find jobs that make enough money that are stable enough, but they're facing a reality where they at any time could see their job handed over to an H1B worker, because ultimately it's a little cheaper and a little easier to drive that H1B worker, for the major company. And so they don't get an option. Or they're looking at a scenario where they need a degree that costs them $100,000 to do a job that their grandparents did without any of that, because ultimately degrees were not necessary previously. All of these things are headwinds that ultimately make young people look at the system and say, I don't know what this is. If this is capitalism, then, yeah, I want something else. I want socialism. And so if you don't address those issues, which are not themselves functions of capitalism, but are tied to that system. If you don't fix those issues, the people will identify with those and they will want something different, even. Even though that different thing is probably worse.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, really well said. And I think that's, another big part of the practical problem. We've got to take a break here, but Orin McIntyre, sticking with me through the break, to talk about another really important topic. But, but you're absolutely right. I mean, this can't just be ideologically driven. It also has to be practical. I mean, people need to understand the framework of what society should look like, should function like, have that biblical worldview lens. And, and also they should be able to be in a system that is actually thriving and is actually fulfilling its promises. because people vote in practical terms. Yes. you know, we always say vote your values. but at the end of the day, sometimes the practical even outweighs. Ah, that. And while some people may say, well, you know, socialism isn't for me, or I'm, I'm not actually voting for socialism, I'm rejecting the current GOP because they're not doing anything, which is a very practical position and understandable. So it's very complicated. We've got to continue talking about it, but we'll be right back.
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Jenna Ellis: Orin McIntyre from the Blaze remains with us. And the. This headline you may have seen last week, but a tragic, horrific act unfolded Thursday in Bend, Oregon, where a 16 year old gunman opened fire at Silver Silver Rail elementary school, killing three young children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25 year old teacher. According to reports, two others were seriously injured. Authorities say the teenager was a former student at the school, climbed a fence and shot his way through locked doors before entering a special education clinic classroom and opening fire. but amid this unimaginable tragedy, there was also extraordinary courage because a teacher physically confronted the shooter. And then a father whose children actually attended this school retrieved his handgun, rushed inside and fatally shot the attacker. Just followed him and, potentially saved countless other lives. And so the Entire attack unfolded according to reports in approximately three minutes. So Orin investigators, are still trying to determine the motivation of the 16 year old gunman. But you know, of course the the usual suspects and the regular voices are talking about you know, gun control in schools. While of course advocates for the second amendment are saying, you know, but for this dad who is this hero who actually had a handgun because you know, he's able to get his concealed carry and I think it's ridiculous we even need permits for all of these things, had this this amazing wherewithal to follow the shooter and take him out and saved countless lives. And so, you know, we're two weeks now before the midterms and this is raising a lot of questions. But interestingly, to contrast this with how much socialism, affordability, immigration, all of that continues to drive the midterms. We're not seeing some of these really mainstream, both Republican and Democrat issues like gun control, right, or or second Amendment, rights and privileges as much in the news and driving a lot of the voting as we have in previous elections. And I think that's really fascinating, especially when you see some headlines like this that show if you, if we change our policies and the left gets their way, this dad may not have been able to stop this killer. And so why aren't we using situations like this as examples of exactly why conservative policies actually do work?
Auron MacIntyre : Well, one of the issues is that a solve issue usually stops being a political issue. So very much in the same vein that now that Donald Trump has closed the border to the United States, even though that was a massive issue for, you know, my entire life, no one, every Republican candidate said it was impossible to end immigration to the United States, illegal immigration at least. and then Donald Trump simply did it without any real additional legislation or any you know, new laws, anything like that. Now people are pushing, you know, on other issues because they just see that one evaporate. I think much is true with the Second Amendment. The Republicans, the right, the gun, the you know, pro gun lobby has won so many of these battles that a lot of people forget how critical this stuff is. But it is still really important. I mean, I used to be a public school teacher. I concealed carry for many years, but I always had to leave my gun at home when I went to work because ultimately you can even technically have it on the property. I think this guy probably violated federal law simply by having the gun in his car at some point. I'm not sure you know, specifically how it works there, but you know, this is a scenario where even in the free state of Florida, I couldn't have the gun on me most of the time. They finally passed the ability for teachers to have a concealed weapon in the classroom, but I had moved on from the profession from there. But you know, these things are ultimately victories that conservatives have won over and over again when it comes to individual rights to carry. Especially here in Florida at this point you don't even need a concealed carry permit. but now you know, you, you recognize in retrospect how restrictive those laws could have been. And if things hadn't gone the right way, with the victory of the GOP and the pro second amendment lobby, then we might be in a very different scenario.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, 100%. And you know, this is why so many advocates for our second Amendment protections, are, are still advocating for this and championing it. And you know, it's interesting that this particular story, while of course it made headlines and should have on Thursday, we haven't seen a lot of the left talking about this. And I think the reason why is because of this, this father who went in and was able to stop the gunman and had this been you know, not really a overall a win for, for the second Amendment and, and being able to say, you know, look, this would have likely been a far worse tragedy. I mean it's already just a absolutely horrific, just act of violence. And it's going to be interesting to see what we learn about the gunman, what the motivation was, and how the left possibly uses all of that to their narrative. But but I think that the reason that the left isn't talking about this more is because this father was actually able to go in and stop the shooter. And if more people carried and more people knew that other people were carrying at places that are, you know, supposedly gun free zones and we didn't have those things anymore, we would, we would likely see far, far fewer instances of things like this. I mean we see that that often in, in news reports, people who want to, to go and commit these acts of violence, they go places that there either isn't a lot of security or are gun free zones. And so you know, to me it just seems very convenient that the left really isn't making this a story. But I don't think that the right is using this moment to say, look, this is exactly why we have been arguing that people need to have the right to, to to have guns and to carry, because this is how they can protect and serve their community, even if they're not members of law enforcement. I mean, it just seems like such an easy.
Auron MacIntyre : No, I agree. No, I totally agree. The right should absolutely be pushing the fact that this is a victory, that ultimately, you know, the big ubiquity of you know, concealed carry in so many red states is a positive force. but like I said, I think there is just this, kind of lackadaisical attitude once a victory has been won to say, oh, well, that's over, we don't have to protect it anymore. Which is wrong. I mean, obviously the left is looking to roll back all of these rights. They, you know, gun rights are absolutely in their sights. Just like everything else that has been achieved by conservatives, they would like to get rid of that as well. And obviously you're in a scenario where the good guy having the gun is critical to the survival of students in the classroom. Without that, who knows how bad things could have gotten. And we see this over and over again. You know, leftists always portray gun rights as if it's going to turn everything into a, shootout at the OK Corral. All of a sudden, law abiding citizens who otherwise are just going about their business are just going to pull out their guns in the middle of publix and throw down and murder a bunch of people because, you know, someone insulted their shoes or something like that. But of course that's not what happens in armed society, is a polite society. We don't see a lot of people in states like Florida where you no longer need a concealed carry permit having big shootouts because they had some kind of road rage incident. We don't see a bunch of people in open carry, states where they can even carry their gun on their hip, sitting around and saying, ultimately, well, I guess we're going to just shoot each other because we had some kind of disagreement in the grocery store. That's just not what happens. This is a cartoon. Americans are people who have the ability to handle themselves while armed, and that should be their right. And obviously when you have scenarios like the one that happened at the school, that person now becomes a critical, node in the defense system protecting their own children from the most horrific violence.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well said. And you know, this is one of of those things that that the GOP again needs to message better and needs to say, you know, here, here are some examples of what does work and here is what we Want for a moral and upright society. Here is, here are the rights and why our, our constitution, is obligated to protect the rights of citizens. And like you said, I mean it's, it's not gonna just revert to the Wild west or whatever that you know, we have all of these you know, crazy instances because we already see, unfortunately with all of the gun restrictions and the control that the left wants, we still see some of these instances of these horrific shootings and we still see gang violence, we still see some gun related violence. And you know, until people decide to live biblically and Christianly, we'll always see that type of sin or we'll see it, you know, with the, the cards that, that drive into parades. I mean there was even another headline, I think it was a soccer field over the weekend, you know, that a car drove into and a number of people were injured. I'm not exactly sure the circumstances, but I saw that headline over the weekend. I mean people are going to use other literal vehicles or other ways in order to perpetuate evil if guns are taken away. And so obviously this is a matter of ideology, but overall we need to make sure that, that the people who are fighting on the side of truth and are standing for truth and want to protect their families, their communities are given the opportunity, like this father was to actually fight back and to say, you know, we want to protect our society. We can't strip away the law abiding people of our right, to ensure that we can protect civil society. So Orin, we've got to take a break here once again. But I so appreciate your commentary on this and this is why you know, all of these things, and the, the ideology that we undergird our conservative positions with really matters because we can't just isolate some of these policy topics and say, okay, well I'm a capitalist because you know, I want more money. I'm a, I'm a second amendment advocate because it's my right and government should stay out and kind of, I mean all of those things are true, true, but they need to tie back to a foundation overall of a biblical worldview, a moral and upright society. And then we build up our policy positions from there that are ultimately consistent and they are good for a thriving, flourishing community and ultimately to safeguard our values. So we've got to continue to talk about this and we will when we return in just a moment.
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Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. Well, Democrat Senator Eliza, Slotkin has now come under fire, speaking of values and the left just being so open and clear about theirs. she's come under fire for an October 13th, clip which she says is being taken out of context, but I'm going to play it for you so that you can hear it for yourself. She explained targeting, not just the president, but those who enabled him, aiming to make recent grads think twice about the risks of joining the administration or representing Republicans. So Republicans like Senator Mike Lee called it disgraceful threats against young Americans serving their country while slot can deceive, dismissed the backlash as manufactured outrage and defended accountability for potential law breaking. She drew from her own past investigations under Trump and past comments advocating corruption cases, and naming figures such as Kristi Noem and Doug Burgum. But it appears to me that she went way, way further. And this type of lawfare that is being planned after Trump leaves office if Democrats, regain control of the White House and especially the, House and the Senate as well, that they're just going to have, a complete circus of lawfare. But this is ultimately what she said. This is cut three.
Jenna Ellis: Want to look at these signature cases and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him. I want young people coming out of school to say, should I Go work for the Trump administration. Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity. I want them to be like that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don't want. And so let me avoid participating in that. I want that deterrence message.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, deterrence, really. Well let's welcome in Mark Mitchell who is the founder of Honest Pollster. And Mark, you know we, we see a lot of the polls right now that are suggesting, you know, that Democrats are likely to take the House, maybe a tie in the Senate. there have been as we've talked about on this program, today, you know their socialism is the big issue. Affordability, immigration, some of this. But I think that that this targeting and, and this just open season on Republicans and saying, you know, young grads, we want it to be a deterrence for you to maybe think twice just because you might want to go and actually be part of a Republican administration. I mean that is absolutely unacceptable. And why isn't this a bigger deal in voters, minds?
Mark Mitchell: Well, there's a lot to unpack there. Let's start with the election first. I've come on and discussed it I think two weeks ago and believe it or not, really nothing's changed. The generic ballot is basically locked in, in the Realtor Politics aggregate at eight and a half points.
Mark Mitchell: I have it wider, low double digits which would be a 15 point swing to the left, almost mathematically certain certainty that the House is going to go to the Democrats. But then it's a question of how many seats. As for the Senate, there are some late breaking polls that show movement in the Republican direction. The problem is they're Republican pollsters and in almost all these states what you see is like a complete statistical toss up. So now it is possible that they break right, it's possible they break left. But I think what we're looking at is just differences at the state level, how the money gets spent, who the candidates are. And so there should be surprises. In the Senate it is possible that the Republicans maintain a majority there, although the betting markets are starting to interpret that the Democrats are much more likely. So we're getting up into the 70s percent of a Democrat majority. There's, will it be a big majority? Probably not. But I think we all have to be cognizant of the fact that this was a good Republican Senate map year and if people had started listening a year ago that the Trump administration was getting off track, this could have been a 56, 57 seat Republican, Senate majority. So now as for the other stuff, there's a couple things going on here, in my opinion, and I think what we have to look at is what voters voted for, which as we talk on your show is they're upset with the system that they think is failing. It goes more beyond affordability. It's institutional trust. It's a lack of faith of the future of the country, the death of the American dream, and a hatred and mistrust of a government that they think doesn't represent them. And so I hear Alyssa Slotkin say that, and what jumps out to me is, well, if she's former CIA, this is how most people in Washington D.C. probably think. We have a deep state still and it very much represents its own interests and not the voters. And Donald Trump is still the executive of the United States. Like what are we doing to clean out these agencies? Why hasn't this work been done? Why was everything so existential in 2024? And then Republicans haven't governed that way. So unfortunately, I think these are very deep seated beliefs Americans had. They spent the last year, year and a half making up their mind. And so I don't think any of this discussion sort of, ah, right at the end, right before the election is really going to change. You know, maybe there will be an increase in Republican turnout. But as we talked about, the main issue is all of these people who haven't traditionally been Republican voters, independents, crossover Democrats, low propensity voters, Hispanic voters, all of these people have defected back to where their beliefs were, you know, four, eight, even 12 years ago. We're looking at margins that are even worse than Romney in some of these demographics.
Jenna Ellis: Wow. And, you know, and this just goes back to you know, Slotkin's comments just go back to, I think, a frustration on the GOP voter side that Trump, Trump, genuinely just hasn't fulfilled the promise to drain the swamp. And when we're talking about, you know, what is the swamp, it's obviously, you know, all of these, these people that are in permanent hires within the bureaucracy and the underbelly of DC in these three letter agencies that are not political hires, they're lifers. And no matter who is the President, they're working, toward specific ends. And, and and, and I'm glad that you mentioned, you know, that Slotkins, FORMER CIA because it just gives you an even a better look into kind of her mindset in saying this. And I think there's a frustration among the voters to say, okay, we, we were so excited when Trump had his second term, that some of this was finally going to be taken care of because he didn't have another election left. He could, he could literally burn it all down and he could say, all right, let's go in, let's completely clean house. I don't care who comes after me. But now it, you know, we're, we're going into the last two years and he's not likely going to have the trifecta going in. And so, the question for me though is, is what is in? And if you know this from some of your polling, what is actually in the voter's mind to say, okay, I'm frustrated with the lack of, you know, promises kept, I'm frustrated with the current state of the gop. But, because I'm frustrated they didn't join the swamp, I'm going to go vote for these people who can enable the swamp to thrive. I mean, the logic there is just so inconsistent. It's kind of baffling.
Mark Mitchell: So, okay, first off, there are a lot of straight ticket Republican, tried and true Republican voters, and most of those are still on the plantation. They're going to vote. Maybe they're happy, they're not. But Trump's approval among Republicans, self identified Republicans, is still pretty high. Then you have the independents. And so there are a lot of independents in the country. Generally, they hate both parties and they don't see the purpose of voting along party lines. And they voted for Trump because of the reform and economic populism message. The idea that we were going to see massive systemic change. Now the way independents work is they'll say, well, I don't like the parties, I'm independent. And then you say, well, okay, which one do you lean closer to? And they'll pick Republican or Democrat. So one of the major problems is a lot of people who used to lean Republicans now say they're third party independent or they'll lean Democrats. And so again, these are people that have changed their mind and are upset. And it's for all those reasons, essentially clown world is what I call it. That's what people are voting against. And it's not the price of eggs, it's the fact that a car costs 1000 bucks, their health care is unaffordable, they can't get jobs anymore, you have to apply to a thousand jobs. And no matter what they do vote Republican or Democrat, the immigrants keep coming in, the wages keep getting suppressed. And so it's this idea that America is going on the wrong track, which is why we have incredibly low right direction polling right now, then you have a bunch of Republican leading independents who are just not enthusiastic and aren't going to show up this time. Trump's not on the ballot. That was always going to be a problem. And so it's this aspect of demoralization, and it's been coming for a very long time. And unfortunately, the Republican Party attacked me instead of listening to any of the things that I was saying. But the number, it's not like I was predicting the future. And I knew that the polling would be bad in September of 2026. I knew in July of 2025 that we were already starting to hemorrhage independence and that this was going to go from, this was a winnable race. Like, if Trump had listened back in October or November, we would actually be picking up houses, you know, in Congress or picking up seats in the House. And so it's just sad. But when the Republican Party is in power, they don't want any, and they don't want any dissent. They don't want any feedback. They, they want to make sure, they want to pretend everything's okay when it just absolutely wasn't, what Americans voted for. And so now you're just, I mean, there's like, it feels like a lot of desperation. And again, I don't want to tell people how to vote. That's the most important thing they have in a representative democracy. Like, know, the candidates vote for good candidates. Go out and vote if you feel compelled to. But if not, like, I just don't think Americans should be loyal to a system that puts the system's interests diametrically opposed to their own. And that's really what we're seeing.
Jenna Ellis: Well, and, but what's the alternative? Right? I mean, you know, I understand, you know, somebody who's a conservative and who always, you know, will vote my values. It's like, okay, even if I'm frustrated with the current leadership, the lack of promises fulfilled, you know, all, all of this, I mean, I go back to saying, I, I personally supported Governor DeSantis, for the Republican nomination. And I think we'd be in a very different position right now because he would also have another four years. Right. Like 20, 28 wouldn't be this brewing, absolute internal power struggle that it's going to be, that it already is, but it's going to just get all that much worse after November, third. And so, you know, the. I'm not going to look at this and just say, okay, well, as a voter, I'm so frustrated with the gop. Well, then I'm going to go out and vote for the socialists just to, you know, teach them a lesson. Like, I don't get that mindset, because that is voting in, the enemy ideology in order to try to, like, what? Teach. Teach my side a lesson. I mean, it doesn't really work like that.
Mark Mitchell: Well, I think a lot of people are thinking that way, and I think it would be a lesson.
Jenna Ellis: Well, but it would be a lesson. But, like, I mean, it's cutting. It's literally cutting off your nose despite your face. And it's like saying, okay, we can maybe regroup then for another four years. In, another four years, another two years. But the damage that that would cause, is that really worth it?
Mark Mitchell: So if the Democrats get control of Congress, which it looks like they will, essentially all it does is it shuts off Trump's legislative agenda. And so what it is actually a vote for is gridlock, which means that basically nothing gets done. Trump would still be in charge of the executive. Now, there's a bunch of people in the political class and within the party infrastructure who that would be very bad for. These are people who make a ton of money, and they're definitely going to go after what my understanding is very real fraud. And so, unfortunately, this was the predictable outcome when you didn't govern on what you ran on. And people in your administration are enriching themselves in ways that, again, people who track this and who talk to me, tell me, are absolutely egregious. And so the Democrats are basically going to have a field day for two years, just locking down the government, which, I mean, is probably best for the American people, but then just completely dismantling the Trump administration. Now it becomes a question of, do they go too far? of course. Does that create a pendulum swing back?
Jenna Ellis: You know, in all honesty, though, I mean, you know, this isn't just going to create gridlock. Of course the Democrats are going to go too far. I mean, Slotkin is talking already about, you know, these cases and about targeting Trump administration officials. I mean, you'll get a flurry of, if they retake the House, you'll get a flurry of indictments for literally everybody in the Cabinet, probably on day one. I mean, this isn't just, okay, we're gonna have gridlock in the legislature, but we'll let Trump go and run his executive and kind of run out the clock. Democrats don't work like that.
Mark Mitchell: yeah, I mean, I like, unfortunately, it almost looks like Destiny at this point. And again, it's sad because I think I did more than almost anybody I can think of to try and prevent us from being in this situation. And at the end of the day, a bad loss here also creates a headwind for whoever would run on the right in 2028. And unfortunately for J.D. vance, he's gone from a year ago being the heir apparent to now out there publicly saying he might not even run because the things that have turned so badly against Republicans. And so we are in a situation where there's going to be a lot of political upheaval, a lot of infighting, too, because there's going to be a lot of people pointing fingers and blame. And, you know, if I can make one pitch, I think that might help people. Maybe not Everybody, but Matthew McConaughey, the actor, like, don't laugh. He actually put out a very good tweet yesterday.
Jenna Ellis: I saw.
Mark Mitchell: It's just a short, like, two or three minute video. And he's talking about, like, being independent. And actually, independent is the way that an intelligent, human, Western person with agency, personal agency, intellectual sovereignty would think about their vote, which is, again, it's not owed to any affiliation. They really need to work in order to get your vote. And almost every argument I see about why you should vote Republican is basically like, no, you owe them loyalty, even though they don't represent you. And so, unfortunately, again, I do see the silver lining in this rain cloud. And I want to say, again, I tried to prevent it. I told Trump he was going to lose unless he refocused. I gave him a very good plan, and they bombed Iran instead and completely didn't do any domestic policy stuff. So, like, we're in a very predictable spot. Many people predicted it. It was independent who predicted it. It was people who were not beholden to the party gravy train. Everybody else was fine, stuff in their pockets with all the donor bucks and stuff like that, not getting American people what they wanted. And so the independents were out there trying to save the Trump administration. And so now the Republicans are like, independence, we really need you guys.
Jenna Ellis: Well, and it's the independence. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. It's the independence, meaning the people who aren't just going to say, oh, Trump, you're doing everything that's perfect and wonderful will actually say, okay, let's have a standard by which we objectively measure this and give you good, reasonable advice. And those are the people, absolutely. That, that Trump should have been listening to, including you. But we're already at a time, Mark Mitchell. And, so much more that we could talk about. And so we'll have you on again soon to finish this conversation. I know, this got cut off a little bit short, but, you know, we've got to just keep praying for the midterms and also do our duty to exercise our vote in the best way possible. Reach me and my team, Jenna fr.netpreborn
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Jenna Ellis: I love talking about the things of God. Because of truth and the biblical worldview, the U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect the rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up, each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the Morning.
Jenna Ellis: Morning.
Jenna Ellis: Good morning. It is Monday, October 19, and France is still burning. And according to a new town hall piece, socialism is holding the Match. if you haven't read this piece in town hall, by Brad Parscale, some of our listeners might recognize that name. He was the campaign manager for President Trump in 2020 and also does a lot of data and is just a really excellent commentator. But he wrote this piece, titled France's Burning and Socialism is holding the Match, talking about his time working in Paris, being there again, recently. And a lot of, what the protests spreading across France are being viewed through the familiar lenses of left versus right, immigration, political unrest. And a lot of these, these categories and and commentaries are kind of trying to frame this just with everyone's maybe pet issues. And those issues absolutely matter. But he says that he believes the real story is much bigger, that France is confronting the consequences of an economic model that is promised more than it can sustainably deliver. And so while France, remains a capitalist economy, it's one increasingly burdened by the cost of government. So he also goes on to say, that this is a very, concerning and early warning about the sustainability of the economic approach embraced by much of Europe. And that every government ultimately faces the same reality, that its commitments must, be supported by an economy productive enough to finance them. A country does not need to experience a financial collapse before its citizens begin losing confidence in the future. It only needs to reach a point where working harder no longer seems to produce a better life. Where government promises can, where government promises continue expanding while Economic opportunity feels increasingly limited. And what does that sound like? A lot of the affordability questions here in the United States and a lot of the young people who are turning to embrace socialism here are, while we remain, a capitalist economy, there are a lot of, young people, according to the polls and according to their own statements, that want to see more government handouts and are frustrated by a country that isn't delivering on its promises. So meanwhile, French President Macron, comments on protesters and he's actually blaming the price of fuel, and the war in Iran for, for France's problems, which is utterly absurd. But listen to what he said. this is of course him speaking in French, so this is through an interpreter, but listen to this clip.
Speaker E: Never mix up those people, those men and women who protested peacefully with looters and writers, because there are people out there who rightfully feel that the price of fuel is going to higher price, which has increased because of what has happened in the Persian Gulf, a war that France was not part of.
Jenna Ellis: All right, well, let's welcome in Orin McIntyre, who is a host at the Blaze. And Oren, you know, it seems like France is, in all kinds of unrest. I mean, you know, it's almost every other year, and they have been for a lot of their history. But this particular, unrest and the violence and the burning of historic buildings, and everything that's going on does feel a little bit different. what is your take first on Macron's comments and then overall?
Auron MacIntyre : Well, I think that France is the country that's always had a lot of civil unrest. protests. Major protests in France are kind of like the tides. They come in and they go out. however, this one is a little more intense than usual. There are economic elements, to be sure, but we have seen this before with say, the yellow jacket protests, that happen in Spain, or rather in France. I, think that, however, this one is more intense for a lot of reasons, one of which is when we say a youth protest in France, what we often also mean is an immigrant protest in France. We have to remember that, at this point, France, like many Western countries, is upside down demographically. and so when we're talking about the young people of France, we're also very much talking about the immigrant population. and so, you know, we have a scenario where a lot of people, from Algeria and other French colonies have filtered back into the country. and so we're seeing, often in many cases, a Muslim protest in France, not just One that is simply due to economics. I'm sure the economic concerns are part of what's going on there. But this is not just something that's you know, purely on materialist lines.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
Jenna Ellis: And and you know, there are a lot of commentators as well that in, in fairness to the immigration question, and you and I talked about this before, Europe is importing their own demise. And when you have a country that is is basically tanking itself from the inside, but then also importing it from the outside, we have to look at this as a cautionary tale. And I think that that some, some Americans are looking at this and saying this is why we have the conservative policies that we do on the closed borders on ensuring that we remain American in our Western values, in our culture and also in our economic policies. but it doesn't seem somehow to be translating. I mean, are we watching a generation of young Americans become just so frustrated with the failures of our current institutions, policies, and this is economics and immigration, a whole host of issues that they're willing to embrace an ideology from the left without understanding its long term consequences?
Auron MacIntyre : No, that's definitely the case. You know, one of the issues you have is that when people are ultimately looking at political issues, they don't always evaluate them rationally. you know, for better or for worse, democracy is ruled by, you know, by the polity. It's you know, rule of the majority. And you have this scenario where a lot of people are looking at the system, they recognize it's not working for them. Now many people might say, well, the problem is that the system is not capitalist enough. There's too many regulations, there's too many rules, there's too many barriers, and if we just got rid of them, then ultimately the system would work. And perhaps that's true, but ultimately what people look at is that the system is not working. That's what they care about. They don't have the ability to individually grasp every economic input and output. And so they simply say, well, if this is capitalism, then capitalism isn't working. And so you have to meet people where they are, even if their economic models are incorrect. You have to let them know that you're going to address the issues that they're ultimately facing. One of the problems, as you pointed out with kind of M, the entitlement system, is that a socialist project like this is ultimately based on a Ponzi scheme. We have the same issue in the United States at this point and we have many of the same arguments we hear all the time that we have to import new immigrant populations because we have these entitlement programs and we are not growing at a rate fast enough to fulfill the needs that they are based on. They were all based on this Ponzi scheme where we were going to grow infinitely in population. And when that stopped, we had to either eliminate the program or import enough population to kind of fill those roles. And most of Europe is facing the same problem. The demographic decline is telling them that either they import a large number of, immigrants to subsidize, the older population, or they will fade away. Now, the interesting thing is that we find that once you import these people, not only do they not actually make enough money to fill those roles, they ultimately don't. They withdraw more money early on than they make once they enter into the country and start working, but we also find that their own birth rates drop in the second or third generations. And so the immigrants that we import have the same issue of the native population, that they don't replace themselves fast enough to fill that demographic table. So either way, whether you look at it as an economic issue, you're looking at as an immigration issue. This is one that does not work in the long run.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah.
Jenna Ellis: And so when young people are saying that institutions have failed them, how. How should conservatives respond? Because we're seeing how the French government is responding, isn't making any difference, and is, is basically just, passing the buck and not actually taking responsibility or having good solutions. And largely, unfortunately, in, in. And we're not, thankfully, yet to the point that France is. But at least with, you know, some of the election issues coming up in, in the midterms, it seems like, the GOP doesn't really have sufficient explanations and responses. I mean, they're just saying, okay, socialism bad. But as I've been, you know, saying for the last, you know, several months here on this program, when we're talking about socialism, I don't think that young Americans actually understand what it is. And conservatives have really failed ultimately across the board. I mean, with some notable exceptions, of course, like hopefully here on this program, to make the moral case for capitalism rather than simply defending it as the economic system that we're accustomed to. And that's, you know, the rule here in this household. You know, almost like a parent would say to a child, I mean, there has to be a better explanation and defense. And I don't see, the French government doing that for what's. What it's worth in Europe. but certainly here in America, I don't see the GOP overall largely doing that effectively.
Auron MacIntyre : Well, so here we're going to have a much bigger problem. And, you know, this might be something we disagree on, but this is a huge issue with, with democracy in general. You know, when you have an electoral system, the side that is offering stuff is always going to be at the side that says we have to take it away. You look at the French elections, you look at what's happening right now, they're rioting because they believe that the French government is being too austere, it's taking too much away from them. It's not spending enough, in theory, on, you know, classrooms, and education, though I don't think that's actually the real issue with the riots. But at least, the justification ideologically is one of you are taking too much away, you're not spending enough, even though the French government is ridiculously, generous, to the point of destroying itself. And so even with the very socialist government of France, they are not providing enough for the current voters. And so you're going to face the same issue in the United States over time, especially as you import people who don't believe in our system or our values. When you look at people and you come in and you say, well, we need to make a moral case to them, well, what if they've never seen capitalism as anything worthwhile? What if they lived in countries their entire lives in which capitalism did not flourish? That, that is not a built in value. You can't appeal automatically to the base values of people who have never experienced capitalism, didn't grow up under it, don't, understand why it works better. And so ultimately we'll say, actually, I'm just going to go with the guy who's going to hand me the things like they did when I lived in another country. And that's really the issue. As you import the third World, you also import the systems of the third world, most of which are socialists or in some way corrupt. They are not capitalist. And so making a moral appeal to people who have never lived in the system and don't understand its value is going to fall short. I think that you're going to see as we continue to import people who don't share our values, that you're going to have an incredibly difficult time explaining to them why they should morally vote against their own economic interests in the short term, because long term, if they work real hard, they're going to have some kind of victory. I don't think that registers to many of our new arrivals.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, I actually completely agree with that. And you know, the problem when we have a representative republic is that we are presuming that our electorate, shares similar values as what we want the majority to be. I mean this is why our founders understood that our Constitution only works for moral and upright people. Right. I mean there was this understanding that, that the population had to be consistently Christian in nature, had to be consistently biblical in terms of the values and how they understood the legitimacy of government. And this is why, you know, Jon Jay, our first Supreme Court justice, said that we should select and prefer Christians as our leaders.
Jenna Ellis: Why?
Jenna Ellis: Because they would understand the legitimacy of government. They would understand the limited principles of our constitutional republic. And you're absolutely right that as we not only continue to import, people who aren't assimilating don't understand any of this and we're expecting them to simply just partake in our values and have that framework without, teaching it. We're also not passing it down to the next generations, largely. I mean I know that there are a lot of Christian families and a lot of whom listen to the American Family Radio Network and we're grateful for that. There's a lot of great homeschooling families, Christian families, Christian school families, that we are passing down our values. But in general, when we look at the government funded institutions and we even look at the godless populism that has largely taken over, big segments of, of the gop, we're not passing down the value so that people understand I'm not just voting for a party or I'm not just voting for a certain policy because I like it and it affects me. They understand the moral position, first and foremost of government and, and then they work up their their worldview and their policies from there. And we are failing as a society and frankly just as the church, we're failing to translate those biblical values into civil society. And so that's why I believe that we that we're seeing the, the crisis that we're in and some of the messaging, even if it's great, isn't resonating because you don't have these, the young people and then the people that we're importing that are viewing things through a, a reality and a truthful or a true truth framework to begin with. And so as, and that's going to take a lot of time to wind our way back. the first thing I think we can do is actually, have the mass deportations, close the border, stop the immigration part of it. we can do that, you know, fairly easily and right away. But when we're talking about, educating the people that are already here, I mean, our next generations, that becomes a little bit more difficult and a little bit more complicated. I think we start in the church. What do you say?
Auron MacIntyre : Well, I think that's important, but I think another issue is also we have to make sure that the system is actually working for people. Again, a lot of people would look at our system right now and say, well, that's not really capitalism. It's not really free markets. And fair enough. You know, there are so many regulations, there's so much government interference. But when young people think about what the American system is, they don't think about some abstract ideal. They think about what they're actually experiencing. And right now, they have an economy that's often rigged against them. You have Social Security, which is a massive burden on young people, which they don't expect to ultimately ever see a dollar of. So they're paying a significant tax into a program that is effectively socialism for boomers, for older people who are going to collect that dollar and know they're going to collect that dollar, but the young people are working, and they know they're not going to collect it. They also see a housing market that's rigged against them where the average home buyer is now 40 years old, 4 years old. Jenna, can you imagine being a young person trying to start a family, knowing that you will not be able to ever own your own piece of property until your kids are already looking at college? I mean, that's an insane proposition, but that's the fiscal that most young people are looking at. Many young people are trying to find jobs that make enough money that are stable enough, but they're facing a reality where they at any time could see their job handed over to an H1B worker, because ultimately it's a little cheaper and a little easier to drive that H1B worker, for the major company. And so they don't get an option. Or they're looking at a scenario where they need a degree that costs them $100,000 to do a job that their grandparents did without any of that, because ultimately degrees were not necessary previously. All of these things are headwinds that ultimately make young people look at the system and say, I don't know what this is. If this is capitalism, then, yeah, I want something else. I want socialism. And so if you don't address those issues, which are not themselves functions of capitalism, but are tied to that system. If you don't fix those issues, the people will identify with those and they will want something different, even. Even though that different thing is probably worse.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, really well said. And I think that's, another big part of the practical problem. We've got to take a break here, but Orin McIntyre, sticking with me through the break, to talk about another really important topic. But, but you're absolutely right. I mean, this can't just be ideologically driven. It also has to be practical. I mean, people need to understand the framework of what society should look like, should function like, have that biblical worldview lens. And, and also they should be able to be in a system that is actually thriving and is actually fulfilling its promises. because people vote in practical terms. Yes. you know, we always say vote your values. but at the end of the day, sometimes the practical even outweighs. Ah, that. And while some people may say, well, you know, socialism isn't for me, or I'm, I'm not actually voting for socialism, I'm rejecting the current GOP because they're not doing anything, which is a very practical position and understandable. So it's very complicated. We've got to continue talking about it, but we'll be right back.
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Jenna Ellis: Orin McIntyre from the Blaze remains with us. And the. This headline you may have seen last week, but a tragic, horrific act unfolded Thursday in Bend, Oregon, where a 16 year old gunman opened fire at Silver Silver Rail elementary school, killing three young children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a 25 year old teacher. According to reports, two others were seriously injured. Authorities say the teenager was a former student at the school, climbed a fence and shot his way through locked doors before entering a special education clinic classroom and opening fire. but amid this unimaginable tragedy, there was also extraordinary courage because a teacher physically confronted the shooter. And then a father whose children actually attended this school retrieved his handgun, rushed inside and fatally shot the attacker. Just followed him and, potentially saved countless other lives. And so the Entire attack unfolded according to reports in approximately three minutes. So Orin investigators, are still trying to determine the motivation of the 16 year old gunman. But you know, of course the the usual suspects and the regular voices are talking about you know, gun control in schools. While of course advocates for the second amendment are saying, you know, but for this dad who is this hero who actually had a handgun because you know, he's able to get his concealed carry and I think it's ridiculous we even need permits for all of these things, had this this amazing wherewithal to follow the shooter and take him out and saved countless lives. And so, you know, we're two weeks now before the midterms and this is raising a lot of questions. But interestingly, to contrast this with how much socialism, affordability, immigration, all of that continues to drive the midterms. We're not seeing some of these really mainstream, both Republican and Democrat issues like gun control, right, or or second Amendment, rights and privileges as much in the news and driving a lot of the voting as we have in previous elections. And I think that's really fascinating, especially when you see some headlines like this that show if you, if we change our policies and the left gets their way, this dad may not have been able to stop this killer. And so why aren't we using situations like this as examples of exactly why conservative policies actually do work?
Auron MacIntyre : Well, one of the issues is that a solve issue usually stops being a political issue. So very much in the same vein that now that Donald Trump has closed the border to the United States, even though that was a massive issue for, you know, my entire life, no one, every Republican candidate said it was impossible to end immigration to the United States, illegal immigration at least. and then Donald Trump simply did it without any real additional legislation or any you know, new laws, anything like that. Now people are pushing, you know, on other issues because they just see that one evaporate. I think much is true with the Second Amendment. The Republicans, the right, the gun, the you know, pro gun lobby has won so many of these battles that a lot of people forget how critical this stuff is. But it is still really important. I mean, I used to be a public school teacher. I concealed carry for many years, but I always had to leave my gun at home when I went to work because ultimately you can even technically have it on the property. I think this guy probably violated federal law simply by having the gun in his car at some point. I'm not sure you know, specifically how it works there, but you know, this is a scenario where even in the free state of Florida, I couldn't have the gun on me most of the time. They finally passed the ability for teachers to have a concealed weapon in the classroom, but I had moved on from the profession from there. But you know, these things are ultimately victories that conservatives have won over and over again when it comes to individual rights to carry. Especially here in Florida at this point you don't even need a concealed carry permit. but now you know, you, you recognize in retrospect how restrictive those laws could have been. And if things hadn't gone the right way, with the victory of the GOP and the pro second amendment lobby, then we might be in a very different scenario.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, 100%. And you know, this is why so many advocates for our second Amendment protections, are, are still advocating for this and championing it. And you know, it's interesting that this particular story, while of course it made headlines and should have on Thursday, we haven't seen a lot of the left talking about this. And I think the reason why is because of this, this father who went in and was able to stop the gunman and had this been you know, not really a overall a win for, for the second Amendment and, and being able to say, you know, look, this would have likely been a far worse tragedy. I mean it's already just a absolutely horrific, just act of violence. And it's going to be interesting to see what we learn about the gunman, what the motivation was, and how the left possibly uses all of that to their narrative. But but I think that the reason that the left isn't talking about this more is because this father was actually able to go in and stop the shooter. And if more people carried and more people knew that other people were carrying at places that are, you know, supposedly gun free zones and we didn't have those things anymore, we would, we would likely see far, far fewer instances of things like this. I mean we see that that often in, in news reports, people who want to, to go and commit these acts of violence, they go places that there either isn't a lot of security or are gun free zones. And so you know, to me it just seems very convenient that the left really isn't making this a story. But I don't think that the right is using this moment to say, look, this is exactly why we have been arguing that people need to have the right to, to to have guns and to carry, because this is how they can protect and serve their community, even if they're not members of law enforcement. I mean, it just seems like such an easy.
Auron MacIntyre : No, I agree. No, I totally agree. The right should absolutely be pushing the fact that this is a victory, that ultimately, you know, the big ubiquity of you know, concealed carry in so many red states is a positive force. but like I said, I think there is just this, kind of lackadaisical attitude once a victory has been won to say, oh, well, that's over, we don't have to protect it anymore. Which is wrong. I mean, obviously the left is looking to roll back all of these rights. They, you know, gun rights are absolutely in their sights. Just like everything else that has been achieved by conservatives, they would like to get rid of that as well. And obviously you're in a scenario where the good guy having the gun is critical to the survival of students in the classroom. Without that, who knows how bad things could have gotten. And we see this over and over again. You know, leftists always portray gun rights as if it's going to turn everything into a, shootout at the OK Corral. All of a sudden, law abiding citizens who otherwise are just going about their business are just going to pull out their guns in the middle of publix and throw down and murder a bunch of people because, you know, someone insulted their shoes or something like that. But of course that's not what happens in armed society, is a polite society. We don't see a lot of people in states like Florida where you no longer need a concealed carry permit having big shootouts because they had some kind of road rage incident. We don't see a bunch of people in open carry, states where they can even carry their gun on their hip, sitting around and saying, ultimately, well, I guess we're going to just shoot each other because we had some kind of disagreement in the grocery store. That's just not what happens. This is a cartoon. Americans are people who have the ability to handle themselves while armed, and that should be their right. And obviously when you have scenarios like the one that happened at the school, that person now becomes a critical, node in the defense system protecting their own children from the most horrific violence.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well said. And you know, this is one of of those things that that the GOP again needs to message better and needs to say, you know, here, here are some examples of what does work and here is what we Want for a moral and upright society. Here is, here are the rights and why our, our constitution, is obligated to protect the rights of citizens. And like you said, I mean it's, it's not gonna just revert to the Wild west or whatever that you know, we have all of these you know, crazy instances because we already see, unfortunately with all of the gun restrictions and the control that the left wants, we still see some of these instances of these horrific shootings and we still see gang violence, we still see some gun related violence. And you know, until people decide to live biblically and Christianly, we'll always see that type of sin or we'll see it, you know, with the, the cards that, that drive into parades. I mean there was even another headline, I think it was a soccer field over the weekend, you know, that a car drove into and a number of people were injured. I'm not exactly sure the circumstances, but I saw that headline over the weekend. I mean people are going to use other literal vehicles or other ways in order to perpetuate evil if guns are taken away. And so obviously this is a matter of ideology, but overall we need to make sure that, that the people who are fighting on the side of truth and are standing for truth and want to protect their families, their communities are given the opportunity, like this father was to actually fight back and to say, you know, we want to protect our society. We can't strip away the law abiding people of our right, to ensure that we can protect civil society. So Orin, we've got to take a break here once again. But I so appreciate your commentary on this and this is why you know, all of these things, and the, the ideology that we undergird our conservative positions with really matters because we can't just isolate some of these policy topics and say, okay, well I'm a capitalist because you know, I want more money. I'm a, I'm a second amendment advocate because it's my right and government should stay out and kind of, I mean all of those things are true, true, but they need to tie back to a foundation overall of a biblical worldview, a moral and upright society. And then we build up our policy positions from there that are ultimately consistent and they are good for a thriving, flourishing community and ultimately to safeguard our values. So we've got to continue to talk about this and we will when we return in just a moment.
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Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. Well, Democrat Senator Eliza, Slotkin has now come under fire, speaking of values and the left just being so open and clear about theirs. she's come under fire for an October 13th, clip which she says is being taken out of context, but I'm going to play it for you so that you can hear it for yourself. She explained targeting, not just the president, but those who enabled him, aiming to make recent grads think twice about the risks of joining the administration or representing Republicans. So Republicans like Senator Mike Lee called it disgraceful threats against young Americans serving their country while slot can deceive, dismissed the backlash as manufactured outrage and defended accountability for potential law breaking. She drew from her own past investigations under Trump and past comments advocating corruption cases, and naming figures such as Kristi Noem and Doug Burgum. But it appears to me that she went way, way further. And this type of lawfare that is being planned after Trump leaves office if Democrats, regain control of the White House and especially the, House and the Senate as well, that they're just going to have, a complete circus of lawfare. But this is ultimately what she said. This is cut three.
Jenna Ellis: Want to look at these signature cases and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him. I want young people coming out of school to say, should I Go work for the Trump administration. Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity. I want them to be like that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don't want. And so let me avoid participating in that. I want that deterrence message.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, deterrence, really. Well let's welcome in Mark Mitchell who is the founder of Honest Pollster. And Mark, you know we, we see a lot of the polls right now that are suggesting, you know, that Democrats are likely to take the House, maybe a tie in the Senate. there have been as we've talked about on this program, today, you know their socialism is the big issue. Affordability, immigration, some of this. But I think that that this targeting and, and this just open season on Republicans and saying, you know, young grads, we want it to be a deterrence for you to maybe think twice just because you might want to go and actually be part of a Republican administration. I mean that is absolutely unacceptable. And why isn't this a bigger deal in voters, minds?
Mark Mitchell: Well, there's a lot to unpack there. Let's start with the election first. I've come on and discussed it I think two weeks ago and believe it or not, really nothing's changed. The generic ballot is basically locked in, in the Realtor Politics aggregate at eight and a half points.
Mark Mitchell: I have it wider, low double digits which would be a 15 point swing to the left, almost mathematically certain certainty that the House is going to go to the Democrats. But then it's a question of how many seats. As for the Senate, there are some late breaking polls that show movement in the Republican direction. The problem is they're Republican pollsters and in almost all these states what you see is like a complete statistical toss up. So now it is possible that they break right, it's possible they break left. But I think what we're looking at is just differences at the state level, how the money gets spent, who the candidates are. And so there should be surprises. In the Senate it is possible that the Republicans maintain a majority there, although the betting markets are starting to interpret that the Democrats are much more likely. So we're getting up into the 70s percent of a Democrat majority. There's, will it be a big majority? Probably not. But I think we all have to be cognizant of the fact that this was a good Republican Senate map year and if people had started listening a year ago that the Trump administration was getting off track, this could have been a 56, 57 seat Republican, Senate majority. So now as for the other stuff, there's a couple things going on here, in my opinion, and I think what we have to look at is what voters voted for, which as we talk on your show is they're upset with the system that they think is failing. It goes more beyond affordability. It's institutional trust. It's a lack of faith of the future of the country, the death of the American dream, and a hatred and mistrust of a government that they think doesn't represent them. And so I hear Alyssa Slotkin say that, and what jumps out to me is, well, if she's former CIA, this is how most people in Washington D.C. probably think. We have a deep state still and it very much represents its own interests and not the voters. And Donald Trump is still the executive of the United States. Like what are we doing to clean out these agencies? Why hasn't this work been done? Why was everything so existential in 2024? And then Republicans haven't governed that way. So unfortunately, I think these are very deep seated beliefs Americans had. They spent the last year, year and a half making up their mind. And so I don't think any of this discussion sort of, ah, right at the end, right before the election is really going to change. You know, maybe there will be an increase in Republican turnout. But as we talked about, the main issue is all of these people who haven't traditionally been Republican voters, independents, crossover Democrats, low propensity voters, Hispanic voters, all of these people have defected back to where their beliefs were, you know, four, eight, even 12 years ago. We're looking at margins that are even worse than Romney in some of these demographics.
Jenna Ellis: Wow. And, you know, and this just goes back to you know, Slotkin's comments just go back to, I think, a frustration on the GOP voter side that Trump, Trump, genuinely just hasn't fulfilled the promise to drain the swamp. And when we're talking about, you know, what is the swamp, it's obviously, you know, all of these, these people that are in permanent hires within the bureaucracy and the underbelly of DC in these three letter agencies that are not political hires, they're lifers. And no matter who is the President, they're working, toward specific ends. And, and and, and I'm glad that you mentioned, you know, that Slotkins, FORMER CIA because it just gives you an even a better look into kind of her mindset in saying this. And I think there's a frustration among the voters to say, okay, we, we were so excited when Trump had his second term, that some of this was finally going to be taken care of because he didn't have another election left. He could, he could literally burn it all down and he could say, all right, let's go in, let's completely clean house. I don't care who comes after me. But now it, you know, we're, we're going into the last two years and he's not likely going to have the trifecta going in. And so, the question for me though is, is what is in? And if you know this from some of your polling, what is actually in the voter's mind to say, okay, I'm frustrated with the lack of, you know, promises kept, I'm frustrated with the current state of the gop. But, because I'm frustrated they didn't join the swamp, I'm going to go vote for these people who can enable the swamp to thrive. I mean, the logic there is just so inconsistent. It's kind of baffling.
Mark Mitchell: So, okay, first off, there are a lot of straight ticket Republican, tried and true Republican voters, and most of those are still on the plantation. They're going to vote. Maybe they're happy, they're not. But Trump's approval among Republicans, self identified Republicans, is still pretty high. Then you have the independents. And so there are a lot of independents in the country. Generally, they hate both parties and they don't see the purpose of voting along party lines. And they voted for Trump because of the reform and economic populism message. The idea that we were going to see massive systemic change. Now the way independents work is they'll say, well, I don't like the parties, I'm independent. And then you say, well, okay, which one do you lean closer to? And they'll pick Republican or Democrat. So one of the major problems is a lot of people who used to lean Republicans now say they're third party independent or they'll lean Democrats. And so again, these are people that have changed their mind and are upset. And it's for all those reasons, essentially clown world is what I call it. That's what people are voting against. And it's not the price of eggs, it's the fact that a car costs 1000 bucks, their health care is unaffordable, they can't get jobs anymore, you have to apply to a thousand jobs. And no matter what they do vote Republican or Democrat, the immigrants keep coming in, the wages keep getting suppressed. And so it's this idea that America is going on the wrong track, which is why we have incredibly low right direction polling right now, then you have a bunch of Republican leading independents who are just not enthusiastic and aren't going to show up this time. Trump's not on the ballot. That was always going to be a problem. And so it's this aspect of demoralization, and it's been coming for a very long time. And unfortunately, the Republican Party attacked me instead of listening to any of the things that I was saying. But the number, it's not like I was predicting the future. And I knew that the polling would be bad in September of 2026. I knew in July of 2025 that we were already starting to hemorrhage independence and that this was going to go from, this was a winnable race. Like, if Trump had listened back in October or November, we would actually be picking up houses, you know, in Congress or picking up seats in the House. And so it's just sad. But when the Republican Party is in power, they don't want any, and they don't want any dissent. They don't want any feedback. They, they want to make sure, they want to pretend everything's okay when it just absolutely wasn't, what Americans voted for. And so now you're just, I mean, there's like, it feels like a lot of desperation. And again, I don't want to tell people how to vote. That's the most important thing they have in a representative democracy. Like, know, the candidates vote for good candidates. Go out and vote if you feel compelled to. But if not, like, I just don't think Americans should be loyal to a system that puts the system's interests diametrically opposed to their own. And that's really what we're seeing.
Jenna Ellis: Well, and, but what's the alternative? Right? I mean, you know, I understand, you know, somebody who's a conservative and who always, you know, will vote my values. It's like, okay, even if I'm frustrated with the current leadership, the lack of promises fulfilled, you know, all, all of this, I mean, I go back to saying, I, I personally supported Governor DeSantis, for the Republican nomination. And I think we'd be in a very different position right now because he would also have another four years. Right. Like 20, 28 wouldn't be this brewing, absolute internal power struggle that it's going to be, that it already is, but it's going to just get all that much worse after November, third. And so, you know, the. I'm not going to look at this and just say, okay, well, as a voter, I'm so frustrated with the gop. Well, then I'm going to go out and vote for the socialists just to, you know, teach them a lesson. Like, I don't get that mindset, because that is voting in, the enemy ideology in order to try to, like, what? Teach. Teach my side a lesson. I mean, it doesn't really work like that.
Mark Mitchell: Well, I think a lot of people are thinking that way, and I think it would be a lesson.
Jenna Ellis: Well, but it would be a lesson. But, like, I mean, it's cutting. It's literally cutting off your nose despite your face. And it's like saying, okay, we can maybe regroup then for another four years. In, another four years, another two years. But the damage that that would cause, is that really worth it?
Mark Mitchell: So if the Democrats get control of Congress, which it looks like they will, essentially all it does is it shuts off Trump's legislative agenda. And so what it is actually a vote for is gridlock, which means that basically nothing gets done. Trump would still be in charge of the executive. Now, there's a bunch of people in the political class and within the party infrastructure who that would be very bad for. These are people who make a ton of money, and they're definitely going to go after what my understanding is very real fraud. And so, unfortunately, this was the predictable outcome when you didn't govern on what you ran on. And people in your administration are enriching themselves in ways that, again, people who track this and who talk to me, tell me, are absolutely egregious. And so the Democrats are basically going to have a field day for two years, just locking down the government, which, I mean, is probably best for the American people, but then just completely dismantling the Trump administration. Now it becomes a question of, do they go too far? of course. Does that create a pendulum swing back?
Jenna Ellis: You know, in all honesty, though, I mean, you know, this isn't just going to create gridlock. Of course the Democrats are going to go too far. I mean, Slotkin is talking already about, you know, these cases and about targeting Trump administration officials. I mean, you'll get a flurry of, if they retake the House, you'll get a flurry of indictments for literally everybody in the Cabinet, probably on day one. I mean, this isn't just, okay, we're gonna have gridlock in the legislature, but we'll let Trump go and run his executive and kind of run out the clock. Democrats don't work like that.
Mark Mitchell: yeah, I mean, I like, unfortunately, it almost looks like Destiny at this point. And again, it's sad because I think I did more than almost anybody I can think of to try and prevent us from being in this situation. And at the end of the day, a bad loss here also creates a headwind for whoever would run on the right in 2028. And unfortunately for J.D. vance, he's gone from a year ago being the heir apparent to now out there publicly saying he might not even run because the things that have turned so badly against Republicans. And so we are in a situation where there's going to be a lot of political upheaval, a lot of infighting, too, because there's going to be a lot of people pointing fingers and blame. And, you know, if I can make one pitch, I think that might help people. Maybe not Everybody, but Matthew McConaughey, the actor, like, don't laugh. He actually put out a very good tweet yesterday.
Jenna Ellis: I saw.
Mark Mitchell: It's just a short, like, two or three minute video. And he's talking about, like, being independent. And actually, independent is the way that an intelligent, human, Western person with agency, personal agency, intellectual sovereignty would think about their vote, which is, again, it's not owed to any affiliation. They really need to work in order to get your vote. And almost every argument I see about why you should vote Republican is basically like, no, you owe them loyalty, even though they don't represent you. And so, unfortunately, again, I do see the silver lining in this rain cloud. And I want to say, again, I tried to prevent it. I told Trump he was going to lose unless he refocused. I gave him a very good plan, and they bombed Iran instead and completely didn't do any domestic policy stuff. So, like, we're in a very predictable spot. Many people predicted it. It was independent who predicted it. It was people who were not beholden to the party gravy train. Everybody else was fine, stuff in their pockets with all the donor bucks and stuff like that, not getting American people what they wanted. And so the independents were out there trying to save the Trump administration. And so now the Republicans are like, independence, we really need you guys.
Jenna Ellis: Well, and it's the independence. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. It's the independence, meaning the people who aren't just going to say, oh, Trump, you're doing everything that's perfect and wonderful will actually say, okay, let's have a standard by which we objectively measure this and give you good, reasonable advice. And those are the people, absolutely. That, that Trump should have been listening to, including you. But we're already at a time, Mark Mitchell. And, so much more that we could talk about. And so we'll have you on again soon to finish this conversation. I know, this got cut off a little bit short, but, you know, we've got to just keep praying for the midterms and also do our duty to exercise our vote in the best way possible. Reach me and my team, Jenna fr.netpreborn
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Jenna Ellis discusses the ongoing unrest in France and its implications for the United States, featuring insights from Auron MacIntyre. They analyze the economic and social factors contributing to the protests and the rising appeal of socialism among young Americans. The conversation also touches on the moral case for capitalism, the impact of immigration, and the challenges conservatives face in addressing the concerns of a disillusioned electorate.
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