by Mark Schwendau
And, as they say, portions of it were HILARIOUS!
Last weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, the 2023 FAMiLY Leadership Summit was held. It describes itself as “the Midwest’s largest gathering of Christians seeking cultural transformation in the family, church, government, and more.” About 2,000 evangelical Christians attended. It did not get the press coverage it deserved.
While former President Trump was not in attendance, others in the Republican 2024 presidential campaign field were as; Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Asa Hutchinson. They were in attendance and ready to be interviewed by Tucker Carlson as host master of ceremony (MC).
The organizer’s website listed Former President Donald Trump, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and President Joe Biden as “invited guests.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence was the first to shock the audience in his Tucker Carlson interview as follows:
“You are distressed that the Ukrainians don’t have enough American tanks. Every city in the United States has become much worse over the past three years. Drive around. There’s not one city that’s gotten better in the United States. And it’s visible.
Our economy has degraded, the suicide rate has jumped, public filth and disorder and crime have exponentially increased, and yet your concern s that the Ukrainians, a country most people can’t find on a map, who’ve received 10s of billions of U.S. tax dollars, don’t have enough tanks. I think it’s a fair question to ask like, where’s the concern for the United States in that?”
“Well, it’s not my concern. Tucker, I’ve heard that routine from you before, but that’s not my concern. I’m running for president of the United States because I think this country is in a lot of trouble. I think Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad.”
America is not your concern, Mike? Yeah, I think we all figured that out on January 6, 2021!
You can watch that exchange here for yourself:
Another interesting exchange occurred between former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, now also running for president when Tucker Carlson pressed her on the issue of climate change as follows:
The climate has always changed dramatically since the formation of the earth. So, do you think humans are causing this change, and do you think we can stop or slow it down? Like is there actual evidence?
I mean… I don’t… Honestly, I don’t know how much is being changed or not as much as I know that putting electric vehicles on the road is not the answer to what you’re doing. (Crowd applause)
While Haley never really did answer Carlson’s question, she did advocate for America’s energy independence, and she did call out the Biden administration for curtailing our energy production while turning around and buying dirty fossil fuel energy from other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
A third interesting clash occurred when Asa Hutchison (former Governor of Arkansas) was interviewed by Tucker Carlson interview as follows:
No, but you said the children should be able to choose their gender, and their parents should be able to affirm that, and the state has no role in getting involved. So how is that different? You’re saying a child shouldn’t be able to choose a bathroom, but he can choose his sex? I don’t understand.
Let me finish what I said if you don’t mind. The finish is I told Obama they were wrong. I said it publically that the school districts can ignore that guidance…and so, that’s where I think the government should not be pushing an agenda in our schools….and that’s what I oppose…and so I want the government to stay out…
I want the parents and communities and our faith to guide us through these difficult decisions. And so I make… I’m a parent, and whenever I think it’s very important that if a child goes to a teacher and says, ‘I think I’m a boy, but I think I might ought to be a girl, and they want to do something about it, the parents ought to know about that.”
What Carlson was after in his line of questioning was why the Republican governor surprised many conservatives when he vetoed a bill to restrict medical care for transgender minors, which the Arkansas Legislature later override with mostly Republican votes.
Carlson’s questioning of these three individuals did not seemingly go well for their 2024 presidential campaigns. They showed an inability to answer a question correctly (Pence) not to answer a question at all (Haley/Hutchison).
You can watch the entire summit here: “Blaze Media Presents: The Summit, hosted by Tucker Carlson.”
Copyright © 2023 by Mark S. Schwendau
Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.” He is a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist. His website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.