VP of Public Policy for the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Vice President of Public Policy for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, which represents the Southern Baptist Convention on moral and social problems
GOP Candidates Face Off in Presidential Debate Last night at the Reagan Library in California , ten candidates got a total of 90 minutes to make their cases for the Republican presidential nomination. The name of Ronald Reagan was invoked 19 times. President Bush was hardly mentioned. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Senator John McCain , who lead in the polls, faced off with Mitt Romney and seven lesser-known hopefuls trying to get into the top tier. The former Massachusetts Governor is included in the top tier because he has so much money. Where would they take the country on Iraq, Iran, illegal immigration and Roe versus Wade ? We hear from the Christian, moderate and fiscal-conservative wings of the party. Who said what they wanted to hear? Who would appeal to Democrats and Independents?
The Republican Presidential Field Republican presidential politics are in a state of confusion. The party base is conservative on economics, national security and social issues, but the most socially liberal of three leading contenders is leading in party polls: pro-choice, three-times-married, Rudi Giuliani has the edge at the moment over John McCain and Mitt Romney . Conservative Republicans have booed McCain and evangelicals are openly skeptical of Romney's Mormon religion. Will the party base give up its "litmus test" on social issues to get a hawk on national security? Are both moderates and conservatives looking for new faces? We hear from journalists, politicians and evangelicals.
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.