(upbeat music)
- Welcome to Faith Nation.
I'm Amber Strong.
- And I'm John Jessup.
With just five days untilthe mid-term elections,
President Trump is makinghis way across the country
to campaign for republican candidates.
- Beginning yesterday, thePresident started to push
to go to 11 rallies before next Tuesday.
He's visiting Missouri, West Virginia,
Indiana, Montana, Georgia,Tennessee, and Ohio.
Then he'll visit a couplestates twice, including Florida,
which is where thePresident was last night.
- That's right, Amber.
It also happens to be where our
Chief Political Analyst, David Brody,
and Jenna Browder were last night.
He joins us now to tell us about that.
David?
- Well, yesterday was kind of interesting.
- Indeed.
- [David] Yeah, there's aplane called Air Force One
and we were on it and Ijust wanted the free food
and I got it.
I don't know how free it was but anyhow,
John, Amber, obviously Jenna Browder,
our colleague and I wereinvited on Air Force One
by the president.
We thought the trip would happen sometime
before the mid-term elections next week
but actually, we got thecall at the last moment
on Wednesday and then, a few hours later,
were actually on our way toFlorida with the President
on Air Force One andhis pretty cool plane.
- We are finally putting America first.
(cheering)
- [David] He is the energizer President,
going from rally to rally
with just days left beforethe mid-term elections.
The mainstream media havebeen saying for months
that a big blue democraticwave is coming to
wash over Trump and his party.
But aboard Air Force Onein his private office,
the President told CBN'sJenna Browder and me
that he's not buying it.
- We're just a few daysaway from the mid terms.
How are you feeling andwhat do you think about this
so-called blue wave?
- Well I think the bluewave is dead, frankly,
and I think we're doing very well.
It looks like we'regoing to win the Senate
which is very important.
- Mr. President, what aboutNancy Pelosi's comments?
She's already kind of spiking the football
with, "We will win, we will win."
What do you make of some of that?
- Well, I haven't seen her comments.
I know that look, she'sbeen losing for a long time.
So ya know, she would like to win.
She hasn't been doing too well.
We'll see what happens.
I think we're gonna do verywell in the House also.
- [David] Our trip aboard Air Force One
was a virtual whirlwind.
At our stop in Florida, we went backstage
for a glimpse of the calmbefore the Trump campaign storm.
- [Announcer] The Presidentof the United States,
Donald J Trump.
(audience cheering)
♪ Proud to be an American ♪
♪ Where at least I know I'm free ♪
- [David] And as usual, thePresident was in rare form.
- Who voted?
Who voted?
(cheering)
Oh, wow!
Everybody voted already?
(cheering)
- Here on the ground in Florida,
the energy for President Trumpand his republican candidates
is palpable and so is thatdrain the swamp anger.
- Yeah and I would alsosay that he is dishing out
the red meat, as we know,
he does it all the timewith these rallies.
So, the question is civilityor as his critics say,
lack thereof.
It's something we discussedwith him on Air Force One.
We've heard so much abouthostility and incivility
and the media has beenon you as this just in,
the media's been on you.
What kind of role do youbelieve that you play?
Do you feel like youhave any responsibility
in this whatsoever?
- Well, I know themedia's extremely unfair.
It has been from the time I announced.
And a lot of that has todo with the fact that I'm
a republic and I'm conservative.
Many other reasons and probably me too.
- [David] He specificallybelieves that they
breed dissension by unfairlycovering events like his
trip to the scene ofthe synagogue shooting.
- We had a great day.
It was so respectful ofthe office of President
and if you got home and ifyou read the New York Times
or the Washington Post or ifyou saw any of the networks,
you would say it wasviolence, it was riots.
I mean, it was the mostincredible thing I've ever seen.
And everybody that was onthat trip agreed with us.
It was so wrong, what they did,
it was so phony.
- There are people kindafollowing up on that
who like to call you anti-semitic,
like to call you a racist, Mr. President.
What would you say to these people?
- You know, the world racistis used about every Republican
that's winning, any timea republican is leading,
they take out the R word, the racist word.
I'm not anti-immigrant at all.
I'm all for people cominginto the country legally
and people based on merit.
But when you see a caravanthat's pouring up to our country
with thousands of people,maybe 10,000 people now,
look, we're not gonna letthem come into our country.
We have 10 and we might evengo up to 15,000 soldiers
on our border.
We are building a wall in its own way.
We're putting up walls of barbed wire.
When you look at what we're doing,
they're just not coming into our country.
They might as well go back now.
But take a look at theviolence that they've
created down there, that level of,
I mean, these are notangels, as you would say.
These are not angels.
- You say you're not gonnalet em into the country.
What is this about tent cities
and that could be a tricky situation.
- Well, we're gonna build housing.
Obviously it has to be built very fast.
And we're gonna give them better housing
than many of them have.
We're going to hold them, we'renot going to release them.
We're gonna hold them untiltheir deportation hearing goes
and their asylum hearings.
- No catch and release, right?
- No, we're not gonnado catch and release.
Catch and release is no good.
Obama proved that.
- [David] As issues likeimmigration get touchy at times
for some, evangelicals continue to
stick with this President.
The question for Trump is will they do so
even though he's not onthe ballot next Tuesday?
- Well, they're going to show up for me
because nobody's done more for Christians
or evangelicals or franklyreligion than I have.
You see all the things that we passed,
including the Johnsonamendment and so many things
that we've nullified.
Nobody's done more than we have.
Mexico City, take a look at that.
Things that frankly, until Ronald Reagan,
I mean, nobody did anything.
So, I know they're very happy with me.
We've seen they're very happy.
The question is whetheror not they're gonna
go out and vote when I'm not running.
I have no doubt they'regonna be there in 20.
I hope they're gonna be there now
because it'll be a lot easierif they are, a lot better.
- There are a lot of folkspraying for you out there.
We hear this all the time.
You and Mike Pence hear this all the time.
How has that moved youbecause a lot of people think
ya know, the empathy factorwith you as President,
is on the low end, if you will.
- I don't think they do think that.
I think it's on the high end.- The critics think that.
- Maybe the critics sayit because they're doing
anything to get us all out of office.
No, I think we've had tremendous support
in the form of prayer andI get it all the time.
"I'm praying for you, Mr. President.
"I'm praying for you."
I hear it so much, it's nice,
and it's great to seeit and great to hear it.
But all the time, peopleare coming up to me
and they're saying, "Mr.President, I'm praying for you."
It's very nice.
- [David] While PresidentTrump appreciates the prayers,
he will be looking for votesto carry him and his party
over the finish line next week.
- David, the Presidentdeclared in that piece
that the blue wave is dead.
Where's he gettin' that from?
What's that based on?
- Where's he gettin' that intel?
Well, some polls aremoving in the direction
of the Senate races for sure.
Let's remember about a blue wave here,
very, very important.
Everybody talks about,well if they win the House,
democrats if they win theHouse, it's a blue wave.
No, it's not.
A blue wave needs to be, first of all,
technically needs to be 40seats or more in the House.
That's a blue wave.
Also, if the Senate remainsin republican control,
you can't call it a blue wave.
So I think on some of thetechnicalities, if you will,
that's where he's going, Amber.
- The definition of blue wave.
- Something along those lines, yes.
- David, a new PBS NPR, PBS Newshour
mayor's poll shows that 40% of American
blame President Trumpfor the lack of civility.
You kind of addressed that.
I'm very curious what yousensed with his response.
Not just his answer, but how he responded.
- Well defiance, but it waskind of a cool defiance.
As in, please, like I'm really gonna admit
that I'm part of the problem.
He's not gonna do that
and he'll never do that.
Ya know what, if he wassitting right next to us
on the Faith Nation set, he'd say,
"Yeah, you're right, I'mnever gonna admit that."
And he's proud of it.
I'm not saying that's good at all.
I'm not saying necessarily it's bad.
I'm just simply saying that--
- [John] It's not in his character.
- It's not in his character to do it.
He'll never do it and if people think
he's going to change orthere's going to be this
kumbaya Donald Trump in the next years,
not gonna happen.
Let's just all understandthat that will not happen.
So then, the question is,how do you deal with this
in the next two years because clearly,
his rhetoric has beenover the top at times.
I don't think it takes a rocket scientist
to figure that out.
But at the same time, he'sgonna blame it on a few
other entities in the room, which,
they also have responsibilityand he likes to muddy
the waters and that'swhat he's doing here.
- He has a busy scheduleover the next few days
and my question is,
does that equal confidence or concession?
We haven't seen thePresident out there like this
visiting states this much justbefore mid-term elections.
- That's a really good question.
I'm gonna go withconfidence and here's why
'cause what we saw onAir Force One yesterday
was confidence by him and ya know,
I've been around him alot and he's a New Yorker,
I'm a New Yorker, and soI can kinda understand
when he's kind of ya know,maybe not necessarily
on the up and up with theway he is but his demeanor
was very confident.
He believes that theimmigration stuff is working.
He's not gonna say it like that,
but the truth of the matter is,
they feel like they're in a good place
because they're riling upthe base just like it was
in 2016 to a degree.
- I wanna know a littlebit more about your sense
of his reaction to thewhole genning up the base
with the immigration talkthat he's been doing lately.
This, of course, is somethingthat he campaigned on
vigorously in 2016.
He's bringing it up inthe final stretch of
the mid term elections race as well.
How authentic is that?
Is that really part of what he believes
will make America greatagain or is it something
that he just knows will deliver the votes?
- It's both and it's 100% both.
In other words, he knowsthere's a political result
and a positive one for him and his base,
but ya know what, he wouldn'tbe the first politician
to gen up the base.
So we need to understand that.
But beyond that, he really believes it.
He's been saying it for decades.
I did ask him that.
As we see, those rally shots, ya know,
we showed a lot of folks in that crowd
because there's a lot ofpalpable anger in that crowd.
I know the media talksabout how they can be
concerned and scared and I understand that
but at the same time, there is some anger
and the immigration issuedefinitely plays into that.
So, yeah, but in answerto the gen up the base,
I literally said thewords gen up the base.
Are you just doing thisto gen up the base?
I knew he wasn't gonna say yes
but he didn't say no.
He just said, "Look, if that's the case,
"I've been doing this for years."
So, he is the greatest showman
and he would call thata compliment, I think.
- David Brody, thank youso much for your insight.
- It is a pleasure.
Good to see you, Amber.
- I'm glad you could take the time
after you know, makingit on Air Force One.
- I'm going to sleep now.
I'll be sleeping right here.
Goodnight, folks.(laughing)
- Well, President Trumphas been speaking out
on immigration and citizenshipsince before taking office.
In his speech today at the White House,
he continued to do just that.
- Catch and release.
It's a disgrace thatwe have to put up with,
that these policies lead to the release
of illegal aliens into our communities
after they've been apprehended.
But we're not releasing any more.
Big change as of a couple of days ago.
We're going to no longer release.
We're gonna catch,we're not gonna release.
They're going to stay with us until
the deportation hearing or theasylum hearing takes place.
So we're not releasingthem into the community.
We have millions ofpeople that over the years
have been released into the community.
They never show up for the trials.
They never come back.
They're never seen again.
- The Michigan Senaterace is getting closer
although the incumbent democrat candidate
still holds a lead less thana week from the mid-terms,
the republican challengerisn't backing down.
Caitlin Burke traveled to Michigan
to bring us the story.
- [Caitlin] The Senate racein Michigan has gotten closer,
with underdog republicancandidate, John James,
making a late October surge in the polls.
Now, he's giving incumbentSenator, Debbie Stabenow,
the political fight of her life.
- This whole race started on my knees.
This whole thing startedwith praying for wisdom
and asking the Lord to not necessarily
make my path easy but to make it clear
and he's absolutely done that.
So, I have the faith andbelieve that I may be
in this position for a time such as this
and it's not because I'm anything special,
but because God ispreparing to do great work
in the state of Michigan.
- [Caitlin] Michiganis a key battleground.
President Trump barelywon the state in 2016.
- It was the closest margin of victory
of any state in the country.
So, although he did win,
his victory shows a veryclosely divided state.
- [Caitlin] Now, asrepublicans fight to maintain
control of the House and Senate,
political analyst andreporter, Robert Yoon,
sees Michigan as a state to watch
because voters here tendto cross party lines
for candidates who appeal to them.
- They've shown that inelections in the past
where they elect republican governors
and a democratic Senatoror in the case of 2016,
vote for a republican for president.
- [Caitlin] Democrat incumbentStabenow has represented
Michigan in the Senate for 18 years,
serving as a commissioner,state representative,
and US representative along the way.
We reached out to the Stabenow campaign
with interview requestsand received no response.
Throughout her campaign,Stabenow has focused on
standing up for families,farmers, and job creation.
She also points to her abilityto work across the aisle
even in a divisive political climate.
- I've worked withdemocrats and republicans
my whole life to get things done.
- [Caitlin] John James,meanwhile, has no previous
political experience.
He's a veteran and asuccessful Detroit businessman.
- You have so many people in Washington
who are, as far as business is concerned,
they're legislating andregulating industries
and they've never run a business before.
I would say that what aretheir qualifications to impose
on the people?
I believe that there's no replacement
or substitute for experience.
- He says his time on the frontlines
taught him about strong national security.
Business experience formed his stance
on economic opportunity andby bringing together soldiers
from different backgroundsunder his command,
he knows a thing or two about unity.
During the primaries,President Trump endorsed James
when he was trailing,helping him secure the
republican nomination.
Now with only days leftuntil the election,
the White House continues to support
the political novice from Michigan.
- I'm here for one reasonand one reason only.
Michigan and America need John James
in the United States Senate.
- [Caitlin] Democratsare beginning to take the
Michigan challenge seriously,
leading former PresidentBarack Obama to campaign here.
- I'm hopeful that despite all the noise,
despite all the lies,
we're gonna cut through all that.
We're gonna remember who we are,
who we're called to be.
(audience cheering)
I'm hopeful because out ofthis political darkness,
I'm seeing a great awakening
all across the country.
- [Caitlin] Yoon says thatwhile Stabenow initially
ignored her republican rival,
she's now running ads abouther work with veterans
and the military andwarning about the close tie
between James and President Trump.
Not much time remains to seewhat will make the difference
for these candidates on Tuesday.
- Caitlin Burke was on theground there in Michigan
and she joins us now.
Caitlin, what is thesense that you're getting?
Can John James pull off this upset?
So, you've gotta keep this in mind.
The polls are going backand forth a little bit.
Last week, he had closedthe gap to six points.
This week, some pollsare showing it's at about
nine points of a difference.
But in September, he was 23points behind Debbie Stabenow
who's the incumbent andshe has been in office
as the Senator for Michigan for 18 years.
So, the fact that he made such a huge jump
shows that anything is really possible.
- My question is, why is that?
What are some of the big issuesgoing on there in Michigan
that are kinda swaying the vote?
- Yeah, so one factor besides the issue
is that he got a big endorsementfrom President Trump.
That really helps him closethe deal in the primaries.
The White House has really been behind him
from the beginning, even thoughhe is a political novice.
He's totally unknown
and that's what's goingagainst him is just
getting name recognition out there.
But the White House has justloved him from the start.
Honestly, the Trump factor is a huge issue
in this election in Michigan.
People either love Trump or they hate him
and that's really interestingbecause Michigan voters
don't normally make theirdecisions based on the party.
They really go by theappeal of the candidate.
- James is young.
He's 37 years old.
He's an African Americanand he's a conservative.
There's been a lot of talk about this idea
of trying to bring young African Americans
to the conservative movement,
but he had some prettyraw comments about that.
What did he tell youabout black conservatives?
- Yeah, so he acknowledgedmost African American
voters in Michigan are not republican.
And he says that it's really about
repairing the relationship there.
He said his parents are two democrats
and he was raised by them.
His conservative valuesare the same values
that they raised him onand he wants to bring
the republican party back to that.
One of the things hesaid to me that I love,
I'm just gonna read the quote.
He said, "The Neo-progressivemovement has absolutely
"abandoned African Americans.
"The traditional democratic establishment
"has neglected African Americans
"and republicans, in many respects,
"haven't even tried.
"The republican partytraditionally is a party
"of emancipation.
"It's the party of suffrage.
"It's the part of thecivil rights movement.
"But we've forgottenour roots and we need to
"get back there."
I just thought that thatwas such a good perspective.
That's what he is trying to get out there
to African American voters
and ya know, kinda justtalk about the things
that matter to them.
- Fascinating.
We'll see if that approachworks there in Michigan.
Of course, we'll be following this race.
Thank you so much Caitlinfor your reporting.
We'll check back in, I amsure, over the next week.
- Thanks Amber.
- When we come back,
a look at the battle over who will win
Georgia's next governor.
The Georgia governor's race is bringing
big names to campaign in the peach state.
Today, Oprah Winfrey's stumpedfor democrat Stacey Abrams,
while Vice President, MikePence, rallied support
for republican, Brian Kemp.
- The truth is the dish out motive.
The policies PresidentTrump in advancement
and the policies ofBrian Kemp will advance
and keep going here in Georgia.
Confidence is back.
(cheering)
Jobs are coming back.
In a word, America is back andwe're just gettin' started.
- We are not powerless.
Every single one of us,every single one of us
has the same power at the polls.
(cheering)
And every single one ofus has something that,
if done in numbers,too big to tamper with,
(cheering)
cannot be suppressed and cannot be denied.
- Both sides bringing out the big guns.
The latest opinion savvypoll has Abrams ahead
by just one percent.
- Former democratic delegatefor the state of Georgia
and campaign president,Justin Giboney, joins us now
to talk about the race.
How you doin' today, Justin?
- I'm doin' alrightAmber, how about yourself?
- I'm good.
I wanna dive into this racebecause you've been there.
You know that Georgia's a big state.
Right now, they're inalmost a statistical tie
according to Real Clear Politics.
What is the sense you'regetting from Georgia voters?
- The sense I'm getting,Amber, is really what I'm
getting from bothcampaigns that people are
very divided and polarized.
As you know, this has beena very polarizing campaign.
You have two candidates who pretty much
disagree on just abouteverything from immigration
to religious freedom and the expansion of
Medicare and things of that nature.
So, the people are divided.
People are really up in arms.
They seem very motivated.
If you look at thenumbers from early voting,
they are very high, sopeople are serious about
this election and arereally rearing to go.
It's not always pretty.
I think the rhetoric hasprobably gotten outta hand
in some case, but people are fired up.
- Wow, this is always fascinating to me
and that's the faith of both candidates.
That's something that youguys do and talk about a lot
at the AND campaign.
What is the faith story ofboth of these candidates
and how is that affecting voters?
- Well, I know that, for instance,
Stacey Abrams comesfrom a Christian family.
I believe she was raisedin a Methodist church.
So that is part of her story.
She recently came outwith an article in the
Atlanta Journal Constitutionabout her faith.
I believe Kemp is Christian.
I don't know as much about his faith,
but they are, it's somethingthat neither of them
have run away from.
I may disagree about howthey apply some of the
doctrine of the faithprobably on both sides.
But they are both Christians.
I think they both made attemptsto connect with Christians
based on their faithand they say that it has
a major part in how they will govern.
- Last question, bothcandidates are pulling out
the heavy hitters.
Mike Pence there for Kemp
and then Stacey Abram with Oprah Winfrey
and Will Ferrell knocking on doors.
Does that kinda thingreally resonate with voters?
You've been there, like I said, before.
Does bringing in theheavy hitters sway voters
one way or another?
- It can.
In this particular case, Ithink most minds are made up.
I mean, this is really late in the game.
Most people have made up their minds.
So when you bring in someone like this,
my experience in campaignsthat I've handled,
you're bringing them in to fire people up
and get them out to vote.
So, if somebody wants tocome see, for instance,
President Obama was hereearlier in the week.
That gets people thinkingabout the election
and they go listen tohim, fired up to vote
in a situation where theymight not have voted.
People who are regularvoters or super voters
are gonna vote anyways,
but it's some of those peoplewho are less likely to vote
that you bring in some of those big names
and it might motivatethem to get out there
when they wouldn't before.
This is a race that is dependent on
who's gonna get their voters out.
As you've seen, thepolls are all within the
error and so, it's about who's gonna get
their voters out andthat's why you bring these
heavy hitters to motivatepeople to get out
when they might nothave gotten out before.
- Alright, last question.
I know I said last question, but one more.
Tuesday, we don't liketo make predictions,
but Tuesday is just around the corner.
Where do you see this going?
- It is hard to tell.
I mean, like I said before,
you have very tightpolls and it's all about
who comes out.
We look at early voting.
Early voting is even close.
So ya know, I don't knowthat I have prediction.
I try to stay away from it a little bit
because I don't want it toseem like the AND campaign,
my organization isactually endorsing someone,
but this can go eitherway and I might even say
that this might even go to a runoff.
It's so close that you havea libertarian in the race
and so it may go to a runoff.
So if I have to give, if I haveto say one way or the other,
I say it may go to a runoffand we may be back at this
until December.
- Wow, well that means thatwe will have to call you back
and you'll have to come backand talk about it again.
Is that the deal?
- That's a deal.
- Alright, Justin Giboneywith the AND campaign.
Thank you so much.
- Thanks for having me, Amber.
- [Announcer] Watch live election coverage
on the CBN News Channel,
Tuesday, November 6thfrom eight PM to midnight.
(political music)
- Well Amber, have you heardthe theme for next year's
national day of prayer has been announced.
- It will be love one another,
one of my favorite verses.
300 Christian leadersgathered in Northwest Arkansas
this week to map out plans for the event.
Dr. Rodney Floyd announced that it will
call Americans to love one another.
I think that's a pretty timely message.
The theme comes fromJohn, Chapter 13, verse 34
when Jesus says, "Love one another
"just as I have loved you."
The day or prayer will beheld Thursday, May 2nd, 2019.
- [John] As you just said,just a timely, timely word.
- Absolutely poignant.
- Well, that's gonna do itfor tonight's Faith Nation.
- We'll see you tomorrow.
