Point of View November 6, 2024 – Hour 1 : Fighting Spirit

[00:00:04] Across America Live, this is Point of View Anderson.

[00:00:20] Thank you for joining me. I suspect last night you saw what many people are calling the most remarkable comeback,

[00:00:26] the most remarkable political comeback in American history. By the way, that is the title of the first article we're going to get to in just a few minutes.

[00:00:33] But in case you wondered what are the numbers, we'll certainly work our way through that.

[00:00:38] Not only in terms of the presidential campaign, the senatorial campaign and the rest,

[00:00:42] but also I think you can honestly say that the winners last night were Donald Trump and of course J.D. Vance

[00:00:49] and the coalition he's pulled together, but also the losers were everything from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris to the legacy media

[00:00:57] and as we'll talk about in just a minute, the pollsters, all of whom, well not all of them, most of whom were wrong.

[00:01:04] I will give very good credit to people like Nate Silver, left of center, Scott Rasmussen, right of center,

[00:01:10] but almost everybody else was not even close, which is part of the reason that you had so many discouraged looks in so many different venues last night.

[00:01:22] But let's if we can kind of give you an overview and that is if you take the numbers that come from the New York Times,

[00:01:30] their estimate is, as before it's all said and done, Donald Trump could have as many as 312 electoral votes.

[00:01:38] Anywhere from 286 to 312.

[00:01:41] Some of these are still being counted and we'll see where we stand on that.

[00:01:45] I'll explain that in just a minute.

[00:01:47] Again, 312 to 226 would be one idea for Trump versus Harris.

[00:01:52] And also will, indeed, it looks like win the popular vote, which again could be as high as plus 4 or probably more realistically some people think about 1.5 million.

[00:02:04] But right now that is pretty significant because as of when some of this was written and pulled together a while ago, 71 million people voted for Donald Trump.

[00:02:14] 65 million voted for Kamala Harris.

[00:02:17] But we're still counting, which is again a real big question, which we'll get to a little bit later.

[00:02:24] Only 57% of the vote was counted as of this particular document I have in my hands.

[00:02:29] Only 73% was counted in Oregon.

[00:02:32] Only 64% in Washington State.

[00:02:35] I recognize they're on the West Coast, but also recognize that perhaps they have created a situation, which we're going to talk about next hour with John Lott,

[00:02:45] with some of these mail-in ballots that makes it difficult to get a very quick answer.

[00:02:50] But in addition to that, you heard me of course last night and yesterday, whenever you happen to hear this program,

[00:02:58] suggest that Scott Rasmussen and an individual that is with his organization, Mark Mitchell,

[00:03:05] actually was predicting that you would probably have a landslide victory.

[00:03:09] And again, he was talking about one that maybe looks more like Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter,

[00:03:15] not necessarily the landslide of Ronald Reagan over four years later.

[00:03:19] An individual that was in that case, Ronald Reagan won 49 of the 50 states.

[00:03:25] But nevertheless, that defeat over Walter Mondale was a landslide.

[00:03:31] But certainly this would be a landslide by any measure and a mandate by any measure.

[00:03:38] It is the first time a Republican candidate for the presidency has won both the popular vote and the electoral vote in 20 years.

[00:03:46] You have to go back to 2004.

[00:03:49] That is the election that you had of George W. Bush over John Kerry.

[00:03:55] We've had nothing like that in the last 20 years.

[00:03:58] So again, just to put that in perspective, at least one of our staff probably was in grade school when that was taking place

[00:04:05] and just illustrates that this I think will be very significant.

[00:04:09] But in addition to that, you heard me not only suggest that it was quite possible, I thought,

[00:04:14] that Donald Trump could win all of the seven swing states.

[00:04:19] That's still up for a question because some of those are still being counted.

[00:04:23] But that's a possibility.

[00:04:24] The Senate committee also suggested that it would be possible that enough Republican senators, senatorial candidates would win.

[00:04:33] And at the moment, we can honestly say that you have 52 Republican senators.

[00:04:39] You also have Dave McCormick leading in Pennsylvania.

[00:04:43] I think they were going to call that, may have called it even just before I walked into the studio here.

[00:04:48] Mike Rogers ahead in Michigan did not have that one on my scorecard.

[00:04:54] Sam Brown leads in Nevada.

[00:04:56] That's a surprise.

[00:04:57] And Eric Hoved, I think he's just behind a little bit in Wisconsin, although I'm not sure that will happen.

[00:05:03] So, again, as we were predicting, even as recently as yesterday, could be possible that Donald Trump would win the Electoral College vote,

[00:05:13] might win the popular vote, which he has done, and that you would have at least 52 to 54 and maybe as many as 55 Republicans in the Senate.

[00:05:24] A 55-45 Senate, as we will talk about with Kelly Shackelford on Friday, is going to be much more significant indeed.

[00:05:32] My first article, though, is by Mark Antoneau Wright, and he says the 2024 election will be discussed from a million angles.

[00:05:40] In the days and weeks ahead, the knives will come out of the ranks of the losers.

[00:05:44] Postmortems will be written, and arguments will be fought out over what could have been different, or what strategy should have been tried.

[00:05:51] The data will be analyzed and overanalyzed.

[00:05:54] But he goes on to say that what is happening here is these two major party coalitions have been shaken, and the tectonic plates of American politics have shifted.

[00:06:05] And again, he makes the claim that Donald Trump has just completed the most remarkable political comeback in American history.

[00:06:14] He says his achievement is more impressive than Richard Nixon's comeback in 1968.

[00:06:19] It's more important than Grover Cleveland's in 1892.

[00:06:22] Remember, he is the only other person to have served as a president, then left office, was defeated, and then came back again.

[00:06:30] And he says there is certainly nothing else like that.

[00:06:33] And Donald Trump has decisively closed the Obama era in American politics, which began with many thought would be a permanent realignment in 2008.

[00:06:44] That is not the case.

[00:06:45] But nevertheless, he goes on to say that neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party will be the same going forward, even if, and no, there's nothing permanent about any of the so-called permanent realignments in our politics.

[00:06:57] He says, my hope is some good comes out of the most recent coalition realignment.

[00:07:03] Sometimes a good shakeup is necessary.

[00:07:06] He says, I've been open about my skepticism about the direction of the Republican Party under Trump.

[00:07:11] But I do think there's a chance that this reelection could open a path towards political dynamism and renewal, possibly or even probably in the ways that no one can predict right now.

[00:07:21] Again, I suggested that maybe in 2025 I'm going to write a booklet on political and cultural and economic realignment.

[00:07:30] I think that's a certainty now in light of what took place last night.

[00:07:35] So pretty accurate to say at this point, still with some of the votes still out, that Donald Trump has won the Electoral College.

[00:07:44] He has won the popular vote.

[00:07:46] Republicans have won the Senate.

[00:07:48] And it looks pretty good like Republicans will keep the House of Representatives, which when we come back from the break, have caused a little bit of consternation on the part of some of the liberal pundits out there wondering, well, where's the checks and balances?

[00:08:03] You mean the checks and balances that don't occur in certain states or even sometimes in this country when you have everybody with the same party?

[00:08:12] No concern if they were, quote, Democratic.

[00:08:14] But if they're Republican, well, maybe there's a concern, supposedly.

[00:08:18] But when we come back, I want to spend just a few minutes reminding you one more time that the only poll that really matters happens in November.

[00:08:26] And some of the predictions that were made were so far off, they should be laughable now.

[00:08:34] For those of you that also watch online, I'm going to hold up a few charts and things just to illustrate my point.

[00:08:39] We'll be back right after this.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:04] You know, many colleges and universities have speech codes and other policies that narrow the realm of permissible speech.

[00:09:10] And what started on a campus has made its way to the broader society.

[00:09:13] You know, this was a topic on my radio program when one day I was interviewing the president of a Christian college.

[00:09:19] And the next day I was interviewing Nadine Strassen, former president of the ACLU.

[00:09:23] Both were against the suppression of speech, even though they come from very different political perspectives.

[00:09:29] Now, Erwin Lutzer in his new book, No Reason to Hide, devotes part of a chapter to how words and policies suppress speech.

[00:09:36] He believes that word control will lead to thought control.

[00:09:40] It puts parameters around what people can say.

[00:09:42] So one university posted a list of offensive words.

[00:09:46] Students and faculty must stop using words and phrases like picnic, trigger warning, or even rule of thumb.

[00:09:53] And then there are other words that have been flagged in society.

[00:09:56] These include such things as freshman, victim, survivor, addict, disabled person, policeman, and many others.

[00:10:04] I believe we should be sensitive to words that could be harmful to another person.

[00:10:08] But I also agree with Erwin Lutzer that PETA, the people for the ethical treatment of animals, goes too far when it wants baseball to ban the word bullpen out of a consideration for the bovine species.

[00:10:18] Word suppression leads to verbal suppression and self-censorship.

[00:10:22] One survey discovered that nearly two-thirds of Americans said that the political climate today keeps them from expressing their beliefs,

[00:10:28] and an even higher percentage of conservatives felt compelled to keep their beliefs to themselves.

[00:10:32] We should support free speech and criticize attempts to suppress speech through speech codes or social intimidation.

[00:10:40] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:47] Go deeper on topics like you just heard by visiting pointofview.net.

[00:10:53] That's pointofview.net.

[00:10:57] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:03] In fact, once again, let's see if we can talk about what happened last night and what will happen going forward.

[00:11:08] But a couple things, and that is, first of all, there was always a question about the vice presidential nominees.

[00:11:14] So let me talk about that for just a minute, because after all, it wasn't just Donald Trump running against Kamala Harris.

[00:11:21] It was Donald Trump and J.D. Vance running against Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

[00:11:26] Well, first of all, J.D. Vance turned out to not be a liability.

[00:11:29] I think almost everybody said he did very well.

[00:11:33] He was actually able many times to defend something that Donald Trump had said or to counter some of the media narrative.

[00:11:41] And if you just want to look at how Donald Trump did in Ohio, he did beat Joe Biden in Ohio last time, 53 percent.

[00:11:50] But this time he beat Kamala Harris, 55 percent.

[00:11:54] So even if you just want to look at one state, he certainly added something to the ticket that I think is reasonable.

[00:12:02] And I think certainly was one more reason for the success.

[00:12:07] By contrast, there have been some that wondered what would have happened.

[00:12:12] And this question has certainly come through my mind if indeed Kamala Harris had decided not to pick Tim Walz,

[00:12:20] but instead picked the governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

[00:12:24] That is Josh Shapiro.

[00:12:26] Well, one of the people we like to quote from time to time is David French.

[00:12:31] And he said the other night about really almost at midnight, if present trends continue,

[00:12:36] this Trump victory will swamp all the micro explanations of Shapiro as vice president would have changed this.

[00:12:44] Keeping Arab Americans in Michigan wouldn't have changed this and went on to talk about many of the other issues.

[00:12:50] So there are sometimes questions about what do you really gain from a vice presidential nominee?

[00:13:00] Most of the time you want to have a vice presidential nominee do no harm.

[00:13:04] I think you could honestly say that J.D. Vance was a very significant asset to the Trump Vance team.

[00:13:13] And I'll leave that to you, too.

[00:13:15] If we open up the question, open up for questions, maybe make your comments as well.

[00:13:19] One of the columnists for The Washington Post said this.

[00:13:22] It's time for us just to be honest.

[00:13:24] This version of the Democratic Party is arrogant and patronizing, taking minority voters for granted and treating them like children.

[00:13:34] Well, maybe minority voters aren't into that.

[00:13:37] And so it's a good illustration of the fact that there have been some comments being made.

[00:13:43] And we talked about this with our good friend Gary Bauer on Monday in terms of the condescension and the various kinds of comments that have been made about everything from deplorables and irredeemables all the way more recently to garbage and a variety of other comments that certainly did not help.

[00:14:05] But I thought for just a minute, let me also remind you once again.

[00:14:09] I know I've said this dozens and dozens of times and probably won't have to say it again anytime soon.

[00:14:14] The only poll that matters is on November.

[00:14:17] Here is one that I'll just post.

[00:14:19] This comes from Drudge.

[00:14:21] Last Days of the Dawn.

[00:14:23] A shock poll showing that Kamala Harris is going to win the popular vote by plus four.

[00:14:31] The evidence is pretty clear that if anything, Donald Trump is going to win by plus four.

[00:14:36] I think it's probably going to be more plus one and a half.

[00:14:38] But we'll see where that goes.

[00:14:40] And again, I'll hold up.

[00:14:41] Here's the one from Rasmussen that I talked about yesterday.

[00:14:44] And this is again, I'll quote it to you and hear Rasmussen's head pollster.

[00:14:49] That's Mark Mitchell.

[00:14:50] And again, we've had Scott Rasmussen on the program before as well.

[00:14:53] But Mark Mitchell suggests that Trump is poised to secure a landslide victory that could resemble Ronald Reagan's historic landslide win over Jimmy Carter in 1980.

[00:15:02] And then the breakdown was this.

[00:15:04] They were predicting that Trump would get 297 electoral votes, which I think is quite possible.

[00:15:10] But again, the New York Times suggests that if all the trends continue in his favor, and there's some question about that, it could be 312.

[00:15:17] But we'll see where it is.

[00:15:18] But then they show Georgia, he's ahead.

[00:15:21] North Carolina, he's ahead.

[00:15:22] Wisconsin, he's ahead.

[00:15:23] Nevada, he's ahead.

[00:15:24] Pennsylvania, he's ahead.

[00:15:26] Arizona, he's ahead.

[00:15:27] Michigan, he's ahead.

[00:15:28] And that was what turned out to be the case.

[00:15:31] How many times have you had people say, this is going to be really close?

[00:15:36] Even on Monday, when Gary Bauer said it's going to be really close.

[00:15:39] I didn't want to disagree with him because, if anything, I didn't want people to think, oh, if it's not going to be close, I don't need to go out and vote.

[00:15:46] But I have had my doubts about that from before.

[00:15:49] And one other that you heard me mention was this poll that came from Ann Seltzer out of Iowa suggesting that actually Donald Trump will lose by four points.

[00:16:00] And one was it by, I think he ended up getting 17.

[00:16:03] So it was like 13 or something like that.

[00:16:05] But, I mean, these polls aren't even close.

[00:16:07] And you did hear me mention on Monday Nate Silver, who, again, is kind of a left-of-center pollster, who was accusing other pollsters of lying to keep the presidential race close by putting their finger on the scale.

[00:16:23] And it just illustrates, again, that you can't trust some of these pollsters who actually are not looking at the facts on the ground.

[00:16:32] I recognize sometimes it is difficult to really imagine who is going to be a likely voter because things change from year to year.

[00:16:42] But simply that is the case.

[00:16:44] When we come back a little bit later, we're going to get into some other things about what about these abortion ballot measures?

[00:16:50] We already have some reports of Antifa rioting and what does that maybe mean for the future.

[00:16:56] But I think I just kind of close down this section because then we're going to be talking with a film producer about a film that I think you're going to want to see on Veterans Day.

[00:17:08] It's certainly a way, once again, that we can support our veterans.

[00:17:12] Next hour we're going to be talking with John Lott about voter fraud and a number of other things.

[00:17:16] And we'll get back to some other statistics from this.

[00:17:19] But last night, CNN contributor Scott Jennings, who is the kind of lone conservative sometimes on that CNN panel,

[00:17:27] he actually took the time to focus on what this particular victory means.

[00:17:34] And Scott Jennings said this is a mandate.

[00:17:37] He's won the national popular vote for the first time since for Republican.

[00:17:41] It's the first time since 2004.

[00:17:43] He went on to say this is a big deal.

[00:17:45] He isn't backing into the office.

[00:17:47] This is a mandate to do what you said you were going to do.

[00:17:51] Get the economy working again for regular working class people.

[00:17:55] Fix immigration.

[00:17:56] Try to get crime under control.

[00:17:58] Try to reduce the chaos in the world.

[00:18:00] This is a mandate from the American people to do that.

[00:18:03] He says, I think I'm interpreting the results tonight as a revenge of just regular old working class Americans.

[00:18:11] The anonymous American who's been crushed and insulted and condescended to.

[00:18:17] They're not garbage.

[00:18:18] They're not Nazis.

[00:18:19] They're just regular people who get up and go to work every day and are trying to make a better life for their kids.

[00:18:25] And they feel like they've been told just to shut up when they've complained about things that are hurting them in their own lives.

[00:18:31] I also feel that this election as we sit here and pour over this tonight is something of an indictment of the political information complex.

[00:18:40] I mean, we've been sitting around here for the last couple of weeks and the story that was portrayed was not true.

[00:18:46] We were told that Puerto Rico was going to change the election.

[00:18:49] Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley voters were a woman lying to their husbands.

[00:18:54] Before that, it was Tim Walson, the camo hats.

[00:18:56] Night after night after night, we were told all these things and the gimmicks were going to somehow push Harris over the line.

[00:19:04] And we were just ignoring the fundamentals.

[00:19:07] Inflation, people feeling like they're barely able to tread water at best.

[00:19:12] That was the fundamentals of the election.

[00:19:15] And so I think that both parties should always look at the results of an election and figure out what went right and what went wrong.

[00:19:26] But I think for all of us who cover elections and talk about elections and to do this on a day-to-day basis,

[00:19:32] we have to figure out how to understand, talk to, and listen to half of the country that rose up tonight and said,

[00:19:39] We've had enough.

[00:19:42] It's a great line, a great series there, because in some respects you are illustrating some of the points that I made just a few minutes ago.

[00:19:51] And there are some voices out there saying, you know, maybe we just went too far.

[00:19:55] But this backlash, which we've talked about, this pushback that we've talked about,

[00:20:01] whether it was the pushback to woke kind of advertising, Bud Light is one illustration, Target is another,

[00:20:10] and a variety of other products that have been affected by that,

[00:20:13] or whether it's a pushback or a backlash to ESG, environmental, social, and governance,

[00:20:19] or DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or the idea of transgender rights.

[00:20:26] Many of these ideas, which maybe had a home for some of the individuals that are part of the left wing of the Democratic Party,

[00:20:36] just do not play well in America.

[00:20:39] And I think you have a good example here of Americans saying, we've had enough.

[00:20:44] One of the other commentators last night said,

[00:20:47] it's a good example that sometimes America just finally figures out to fix itself,

[00:20:51] finally figures out a way to right itself.

[00:20:53] But nevertheless, we'll come back and talk a little bit more about this election.

[00:20:56] But I wanted to take a break out next segment to talk about a film that you need to know about.

[00:21:02] It's a way in which, once again, we can honor veterans.

[00:21:05] And don't forget, next Monday is Veterans Day, and so we are encouraging you to maybe think about going to that film

[00:21:11] or telling other veterans about it, because I think it will really have an impact on their lives.

[00:21:16] More to talk about the election.

[00:21:18] Of course, we'll be talking about it all week, all the way up to our Friday weekend edition.

[00:21:21] Let's take a break, though.

[00:21:22] We'll come back with more right after this.

[00:21:30] The Bible tells us not to worry.

[00:21:33] And yet, there is a lot of worrying stuff in our world today.

[00:21:38] Thankfully, the Bible doesn't stop at telling us not to worry.

[00:21:43] God gives us a next step.

[00:21:45] He says we need to pray.

[00:21:47] But sometimes, even knowing what to pray can be difficult.

[00:21:52] And that is why Point of View has relaunched our Pray for America movement,

[00:21:57] a series of weekly emails to guide you in prayer for our nation.

[00:22:02] Each week, you'll receive a brief update about a current issue affecting Americans,

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[00:22:13] We'll also include a short free resource for you in each email,

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[00:22:24] Go to pointofview.net.

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[00:22:40] Let's pray together for God to make a difference in America.

[00:22:47] Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:56] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:01] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station.

[00:23:09] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:12] As I mentioned just a minute ago, we are going to really encourage you to think about going to the theaters

[00:23:18] and watching a film on Veterans Day.

[00:23:20] And, again, we always like to honor those of you that have served.

[00:23:24] But this is one that brings two different things together.

[00:23:27] We certainly like to support the military.

[00:23:30] We've also talked about the issue of military chaplains.

[00:23:34] You know that oftentimes we have Kelly Shackelford, who will be with us on Friday.

[00:23:38] Their particular group, First Liberty Institute, has a whole section on the military.

[00:23:42] And a lot of what they do there is to support military chaplains who are religious,

[00:23:48] that oftentimes are actually affected in one way or another by policies against them.

[00:23:54] Maybe sometimes discriminated against.

[00:23:56] And so this is a way in which we can not only honor those individuals that have served in the military through Veterans Day,

[00:24:03] but also to really focus on and spotlight some of the work done by the chaplains.

[00:24:09] And it's part of a film which you can find out more about.

[00:24:13] If you go to the website, pointofview.net, you'll see the picture of Richard Hull.

[00:24:17] Next to that it says, See More.

[00:24:19] So scroll down and you'll see that we have the trailer for Fighting Spirit, A Combat Chaplain's Journey.

[00:24:26] And you know that we so often like to highlight different films that will be encouraging to your faith,

[00:24:32] to your family, or your freedom.

[00:24:34] And this is one that I wanted you to know about.

[00:24:36] Then we'll get back to talking about the election last night.

[00:24:39] Of course, we'll be talking about that all through the rest of this week.

[00:24:41] But Richard Hull is with us, and he has produced more than two dozen films and TV shows with major studios.

[00:24:49] Of course, he is the individual behind Fighting Spirit, A Combat Chaplain's Journey.

[00:24:54] And this is an opportunity to hear from him.

[00:24:57] He's been involved in everything from young adult movies.

[00:25:01] And again, we have the bio there that talks about some of those, some of the successful teen movies.

[00:25:06] He's the founder of VIX Streaming Services.

[00:25:09] He's a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences.

[00:25:15] And Richard, thank you for joining us today here on Point of View.

[00:25:19] Thanks for having me, Kirby.

[00:25:21] Let's say we can tell the story.

[00:25:22] Actually, it's multiple stories, isn't it?

[00:25:24] Because we're not just talking about one chaplain.

[00:25:27] Some of these are really powerful stories of individuals that were involved in all sorts of different things,

[00:25:35] including some that lost their lives during World War II, others that have been involved in some of the more recent military campaigns.

[00:25:43] So if you can, give us kind of a background for just a minute because you're not necessarily a military person,

[00:25:49] but you thought that this has a real potential as a story, and it is an opportunity for us to really encourage and educate our listeners.

[00:25:58] Indeed.

[00:25:59] I love your description of it as being powerful, and it was a journey for me as well.

[00:26:04] I think it's kind of a journey for everybody in the movie, but also a journey for audiences and for me as a filmmaker.

[00:26:11] The journey for me started about four years ago.

[00:26:15] I learned a little bit about military chaplains.

[00:26:18] I didn't really know that they even existed as a profession, and it's probably unfair to call it a profession.

[00:26:24] It's not something one does for a paycheck.

[00:26:26] It's motivated by something far larger, and combat chaplains go to battle wearing a uniform, but they don't carry a weapon,

[00:26:33] and I kind of scratched my head and thought, who in the world would do that?

[00:26:36] And so the more I learned about it, the more I really fell in love with the subject matter.

[00:26:42] And then I had been aware of a combat chaplain named Jeff Struker who had been portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down,

[00:26:49] and I reached out to Jeff and said, I think we should make a movie about this.

[00:26:52] And he said, okay.

[00:26:53] And then I reached out to Chris Pratt and said, I think there's a bunch of stories that need to be told here.

[00:26:59] And he said yes, and I reached out to the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, and they said yes,

[00:27:04] and my friends at Paula's Productions said yes, and pretty soon there was sort of a groundswell of support for this thing.

[00:27:09] And here we are four years later with it coming to an end when the movie premieres in theaters this Friday

[00:27:15] as a movie for Veterans Day weekend.

[00:27:19] I might just mention again, we have the actual link there so that you can watch the trailer,

[00:27:24] but if they click on the other, that will then tell them more about the film FightingSpiritFilm.com.

[00:27:30] We have all of that available at the website.

[00:27:32] We also have a separate place there for you to watch the film.

[00:27:35] There's a button that you can click that says Get Tickets.

[00:27:39] So you can find out if in our area of the world, and I see that almost everywhere we broadcast

[00:27:44] are going to be opportunities for you to watch that film.

[00:27:48] And you did mention some people in passing because I thought, again, people probably know who Chris Pratt is,

[00:27:53] and he, as I understand, is the executive producer of this.

[00:27:57] And then, of course, you also mentioned Paulist Films, which is Paulist Productions,

[00:28:02] which is part of this as well.

[00:28:04] So you have all sorts of different individuals who have been involved as military chaplains.

[00:28:10] And so, in some respects, as people watch this film, they'll have a better appreciation for that.

[00:28:17] But also, I know that one of the other individuals I've been reading about,

[00:28:21] the other executive producer, Michael Sullivan, said,

[00:28:24] We hope to spark a movement of gratitude this Veterans Day by honoring these unsung heroes and amplifying their stories.

[00:28:33] We love seeing the wave of messages as the film approaches its debut in theaters.

[00:28:39] So, again, this is something that I think could have a real impact on anybody,

[00:28:44] but especially for the military families out there right now listening to this broadcast.

[00:28:49] I think you're right.

[00:28:51] You know, I've been on this tour over the last few months of advanced screening to the film

[00:28:55] as we lead up to this Friday's release in theaters.

[00:28:58] And the tour actually started at the Vatican.

[00:29:01] We were invited by the Pope to screen the film at his house,

[00:29:05] who knew that the Pope had a screening room at his house.

[00:29:08] It was built in 900 A.D.

[00:29:09] It's an old chapel.

[00:29:10] And we were just honored to get that invite.

[00:29:13] It's a very short list of household name filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and so forth who have been invited there.

[00:29:19] And so to be included in that list has been incredible.

[00:29:21] But since then, I've been seeing the movie around the country with different audiences.

[00:29:25] And I think you're right.

[00:29:27] I think military audiences really find something special in it.

[00:29:29] I think faith-based audiences really find something special.

[00:29:32] And general population audiences do as well.

[00:29:35] I think for the military people,

[00:29:37] I think it really starts with a bit of a recollection of their experience in the military

[00:29:40] and then kind of is a journey for them.

[00:29:44] And by the time the lights come up in the theater,

[00:29:46] you know, they're tears of joy.

[00:29:48] They feel like it's given voice to their experience in a way that maybe they couldn't quite do

[00:29:52] and helps them explain to their family and their friends and their community

[00:29:56] what their experience in the military was like.

[00:29:58] And I think for faith-based people,

[00:30:00] it's a real interesting and very unique opportunity as a combat chaplain to truly live your faith.

[00:30:08] Combat chaplains come from all different faiths.

[00:30:11] But when you're out there on the front lines,

[00:30:13] bullets are whizzing by your head and you're dealing with very life-and-death questions

[00:30:17] and you're dealing with people of all faiths and no faith as soldiers.

[00:30:20] And I think it's a really interesting opportunity for people to truly put their faith into practice.

[00:30:26] And I think they see that in here.

[00:30:28] And then for general populations,

[00:30:30] I think it's just this journey into this world that they knew nothing about,

[00:30:34] didn't even know existed.

[00:30:35] And I think that's really fascinating for folks as well.

[00:30:39] And so it's been a real powerful experience for me as a filmmaker to be able to see the different audiences

[00:30:44] and how they each individually react to this.

[00:30:47] Let's talk about some of those individuals that they will meet.

[00:30:50] You just, of course, mentioned the U.S. Army Ranger in Black Hawk Down.

[00:30:54] One of the others, which I thought was so poignant,

[00:30:57] and I would love for children to see this as well,

[00:31:00] is that you have a chaplain who finally is identified and has returned home after 70 years.

[00:31:07] And not just the funeral, but the parade and everything,

[00:31:13] is just a reminder of the fact that we owe so much to those individuals who gave their lives many years ago.

[00:31:20] Yeah, that's such an interesting one to pick out of the many stories we tell.

[00:31:26] I, you know, there's been 419 combat chaplains throughout our nation's history that have died in service.

[00:31:33] And one of those is Father Emil Capon, who you mentioned.

[00:31:38] And we were about halfway done with the film.

[00:31:41] And I would say we were struggling to find the voice for the movie.

[00:31:46] And we never intended to tell Father Capon's story.

[00:31:49] But then his remains were identified 70 years after his death in a prisoner of war camp in Korea.

[00:31:55] And they were, it was announced that they were bringing them back to the U.S.

[00:31:59] and they were going to bury them in a funeral in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas.

[00:32:03] And so we didn't quite know how that was going to impact our work, but we thought maybe it would.

[00:32:09] And so we decided to send my partner, Justin Roberts, who co-directed the film, with me.

[00:32:15] And Justin is a former Army combat chaplain and had just left the military

[00:32:19] and was at his home in Lake Charles, Louisiana,

[00:32:22] trying to figure out what the next chapter of his life was going to be like

[00:32:25] and I think kind of going through his own set of struggles.

[00:32:28] And so we put him on the road and sent him there with a camera crew and said,

[00:32:31] just go shoot this and let's see what happens.

[00:32:33] And that became such a cathartic journey for him.

[00:32:36] It really changed the direction of his life.

[00:32:39] Nobody was going to be there, but it was an entire,

[00:32:41] people came from far and wide to celebrate this chaplain and really all chaplains.

[00:32:46] And I think that really is where the movie found its heartbeat.

[00:32:49] That is so good.

[00:32:50] We're going to take a break.

[00:32:51] We want to come back.

[00:32:51] I want to talk a little bit about what people can do.

[00:32:54] You might during the break want to go to fightingspiritfilm.com.

[00:32:58] Or, of course, if you're traveling right now and you need it later,

[00:33:01] of course we have all the links necessary at our website, pointofview.net.

[00:33:05] But I thought it would be good for me to just encourage you for a few minutes

[00:33:09] to think about whether or not you would like to go to this film.

[00:33:13] As we mentioned, of course, we have Veterans Day on Monday,

[00:33:16] but you can go, of course, earlier to this.

[00:33:19] And so there is just a great opportunity, I think,

[00:33:22] for you to maybe go to the website right now, type in get tickets, put in your zip code,

[00:33:29] and I think you'll be surprised to see how many places where you can actually watch the film.

[00:33:34] So, again, we're going to take a break, spend a little bit more time talking with Richard Hull,

[00:33:38] and then we'll get back to some of the conversation about the election that unfolded last night.

[00:33:43] We'll be right back.

[00:33:54] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:34:00] Back for a few more minutes with Richard Hull as we talk about this film,

[00:34:03] Fighting Spirit, A Combat Chaplain's Journey.

[00:34:06] And you've heard us talk about how important we believe chaplains are.

[00:34:11] George Washington thought chaplains were important.

[00:34:14] When he put together the first regulars along with some of the militia that existed at the time,

[00:34:20] he established the chaplaincy, and we've had chaplaincies even since that time,

[00:34:26] and that is something that we wanted to honor as well.

[00:34:29] Chris Pratt, we mentioned his name just a minute ago.

[00:34:31] This movie reflects an underserved community of heroes

[00:34:35] and is a reminder for everyone, no matter how they live their lives in the world,

[00:34:40] to have a fighting spirit in service to others.

[00:34:43] So this is something that goes beyond just military.

[00:34:47] But if we could, for just a minute, Richard,

[00:34:49] I want individuals to go to your website or then go to our website, pointofview.net, watch the video.

[00:34:55] First thing they'll notice is that it is rated PG-13.

[00:34:58] Now, because we're talking about people in war, I wanted to maybe have you speak to that issue.

[00:35:05] There's nothing that I can tell is that scary,

[00:35:07] but obviously you're going to see some scenes from war,

[00:35:11] and you're going to see some things that would maybe suggest that you don't want to bring young children to this,

[00:35:16] but I would certainly think that if you have kids in middle school or high school,

[00:35:20] this would be something that they would want to watch,

[00:35:23] especially if they're thinking about going into the military,

[00:35:25] or even if they're not, maybe to help them begin to have a great appreciation for our military

[00:35:31] and especially for our military chaplains.

[00:35:35] Yeah, and PG-13, you know, is probably the right rating for it.

[00:35:38] I think for smaller kids it's probably a little much,

[00:35:43] as I would say about any movie that portrays what happens in war.

[00:35:47] It's a bit of a, you know, teenager and grown-up subject.

[00:35:51] Right?

[00:35:51] But we try to be, this is not a gory movie, and it's not a scary movie by any stretch,

[00:35:59] but we do tell some stories that are, you know, happening on the front lines.

[00:36:02] And I think one of the things that's really powerful for me as a non-veteran,

[00:36:07] my dad was a veteran, I have family members who are veterans,

[00:36:12] and my partner, Justin Roberts, who co-directed the movie with me as a veteran,

[00:36:17] and that was really important because we wanted a very authentic lens as a veteran

[00:36:22] to tell these stories through, and Justin really gave us that.

[00:36:26] But when I talk to veterans, every single one of them has a story about a chaplain.

[00:36:32] And it may just be a moment where the chaplain had a small influence on their life,

[00:36:37] or it may be the moment where the chaplains saved their life.

[00:36:39] But the impact that chaplains have on our soldiers who are out there serving us as Americans,

[00:36:48] it's profound.

[00:36:49] They're really revered in the military in a very unique and really incredible way.

[00:36:55] And so to celebrate them for Veterans Day was really important to us.

[00:36:59] I mean, we chose this weekend to, you know, with a lot of intention.

[00:37:03] Obviously, the Veterans Day weekend is a great time to celebrate veterans.

[00:37:08] And it's also, you know, a few days after a presidential election,

[00:37:12] and we thought, man, what a great way to send people of all different types into their movie theater

[00:37:17] and have the lights go down and, you know, find common ground.

[00:37:21] Who can't agree on this incredible role that combat chaplains play for our soldiers?

[00:37:26] And we just thought that that would really be particularly special as well.

[00:37:30] Well, again, there's a place where they can click on Get Tickets.

[00:37:33] I put in my zip code, and I'm overwhelmed by the number of movie theaters we can go to to actually watch that.

[00:37:40] And it looks like, in some respects, there's a good release in that regard.

[00:37:44] So what would you recommend?

[00:37:46] Sometimes we suggest that you bring your family.

[00:37:49] Maybe you could call up some people in your Sunday school class and go along, go as a group.

[00:37:53] Maybe decide that after you go to the film, you'll get together over a dinner maybe and talk about it.

[00:37:59] Or maybe you could encourage people that you know that have served in the military and bring them along

[00:38:05] or even pay their way to go to that.

[00:38:07] Any suggestions you might give to us?

[00:38:10] All of those are great ideas.

[00:38:12] I hope your audience decides to do just a few of them.

[00:38:15] I think that's really fantastic.

[00:38:17] I think there's probably another one for me, which is just a call to action to pick up the phone

[00:38:22] and call people you know who are veterans, whether they're your family, your friends.

[00:38:26] I think there's a theme in the movie that one person can really make a difference.

[00:38:30] And I think just that simple phone call to help people understand what they mean to you

[00:38:33] and that you appreciate their service I think is really important.

[00:38:37] And then to go, as you pointed out, to go to the theaters and see this,

[00:38:40] because I might argue that we've made a superhero movie,

[00:38:43] but we don't have a superhero movie marketing budget, so we're really reliant on people like you

[00:38:48] who have seen the movie and think it's great and want to tell people about it.

[00:38:51] And I hope that your audience tells their friends about it and takes their friends,

[00:38:55] because if you like to see these types of movies about military service and faith in movie theaters,

[00:39:02] then you've got to tell the theater owners that by going and buying tickets,

[00:39:06] and then you'll see more and more and more of them.

[00:39:08] And so I think it's really important that everybody gets out and tries to support the film

[00:39:13] just as a way of seeing more movies like this.

[00:39:18] Well, let me again encourage you to do that.

[00:39:19] You've heard us say this before, that if you want these kind of movies, you need to be sending a signal.

[00:39:24] And one way you send a signal is by buying a ticket and, of course, letting not only the theater owners,

[00:39:29] but even people back in Hollywood, Burbank, and Beverly Hills and other places

[00:39:33] and all sorts of other places where these films are produced, including here in the state of Texas and Georgia and other places.

[00:39:39] That is something that you can do.

[00:39:41] And so, again, we've given you all the information that you need.

[00:39:44] You can simply go to the website that we've just mentioned a minute ago, fightingspiritfilm.com.

[00:39:50] Everything you need to find out is right there.

[00:39:53] They have information about the film, about the possible audience, who the combat chaplains are,

[00:39:59] where you can watch the trailer, you can get some tickets and all of that.

[00:40:02] And so, Richard, I just want to say thank you for producing this film.

[00:40:05] We talk about chaplains many times when we talk about religious liberty.

[00:40:09] We talk about the military quite often.

[00:40:11] And I appreciate the fact that you pulled together a film that talks about two different issues

[00:40:16] we address on a pretty regular basis here on Point of View.

[00:40:20] Thank you so much, Kirby.

[00:40:22] Take a break.

[00:40:22] When we come back, we're going to spend some time talking about a couple of these other issues.

[00:40:26] So let me just real quickly mention that if you go to the website, pointofview.net,

[00:40:31] you're going to find a couple of very important issues.

[00:40:34] And we'll get to that in just a minute because we want to, after the break,

[00:40:40] spend some time talking with our good friend John Fund, excuse me, John Lott.

[00:40:45] And John Lott is going to be addressing some of these issues.

[00:40:48] First of all, we've talked with him in the past about everything from Second Amendment

[00:40:53] to a variety of other issues that are related to that.

[00:40:57] And one of those is, of course, the issue of crime.

[00:41:00] So we will be talking about that.

[00:41:02] But I did want to focus some time and attention on the election itself.

[00:41:06] He has produced some great material that I think you're going to find very helpful.

[00:41:11] One of those is the fact that they're now discovering that more and more people are actually convinced

[00:41:17] that if we do actually use mail-in ballots, that that is going to increase the likelihood

[00:41:24] of any kind of cheating.

[00:41:26] And even though we certainly can say that the election is almost over,

[00:41:31] I think this will be a perfect time to really address that issue of voter fraud.

[00:41:37] I've also posted an article about some of the criticism that Elon Musk has received

[00:41:45] because he was actually encouraging people, if they had evidence of voter fraud, to report that.

[00:41:52] And that has resulted in all sorts of criticism.

[00:41:56] And yet I think this is a perfect time to address that issue.

[00:42:00] Four years ago, trying to address the issue of voter fraud was very easy for someone to dismiss you

[00:42:06] as an individual that was just trying to change the election

[00:42:09] or try to talk about steal the vote or whatever it might be.

[00:42:13] Now that this election looks like it's going to be resolved fairly quickly,

[00:42:17] this is a time where you couldn't be then dismissed as somebody who's just trying to change the election,

[00:42:23] but actually someone who is still deeply concerned about the fact that sometimes there are individuals

[00:42:31] that are actually voting that should not be voting.

[00:42:34] And that is a sense in which they're actually canceling out your vote.

[00:42:38] So we're going to come back and talk about that with John Lott.

[00:42:41] And then we're going to spend some time getting into a couple of other issues

[00:42:44] that are related to the campaign and the election.

[00:42:47] But if you find yourself saying, well, I'd like to get some of the articles we're going to be talking about today,

[00:42:52] feel free to go to the website, which is pointofview.net,

[00:42:56] and then click on that button that says See More.

[00:42:59] Let's take a break, though.

[00:43:00] We'll come back and talk with our good friend John Lott right after this.

[00:43:10] Many years ago, they began saying that we live in the information age.

[00:43:15] Well, today there is so much information coming at us from every direction.

[00:43:20] The hardest thing is to discern which issues are really important and how can I make a positive impact

[00:43:27] without wasting my time trying to figure out accurate information.

[00:43:31] Let me give you a suggestion to help with that.

[00:43:34] Visit pointofview.net.

[00:43:37] Look at the tabs across the top.

[00:43:39] Find the one named Viewpoints.

[00:43:41] Kirby Anderson and others on our team are constantly watching for news to identify those issues

[00:43:47] that you really need to know about.

[00:43:50] They boil things down in a brief summary,

[00:43:52] and then you can decide if it's something on which you want to learn more and get involved.

[00:43:57] Again, when you go to pointofview.net, click on Viewpoints, you'll see exactly what I mean.

[00:44:03] You'll see the issues that we are covering right now.

[00:44:06] And when you like what you see, I honestly think you will,

[00:44:10] you can slide on over, enter your email, and get them automatically sent to your inbox each day.

[00:44:17] That's it.

[00:44:17] Take a minute now.

[00:44:19] Be informed.

[00:44:20] Pointofview.net.

[00:44:22] Click on Viewpoints.

[00:44:28] Point of View will continue after this.