R. Travis Brenda

The President of the United States learned that Robert Mueller had died. And he picked up his phone and typed: “Good. I’m glad he’s dead.” I need you to stop. Put down whatever you’re doing and feel the full weight of those words. Good. I’m glad he’s dead. Said by the man who holds the most powerful office in the history of human civilization. The office of Washington. Of Lincoln. Of Roosevelt standing in the rubble of Pearl Harbor promising a nation trembling in the dark that we would rise. That office. Those words. Now let me tell you who Robert Mueller was. He did not have to go to Vietnam. He had every reason not to. A Princeton degree. A blown-out knee. A future waiting for him in the comfort of civilian life. He waited a full year for that knee to heal, just so he could serve. Let that sink in. He walked into hell when other men were running from it. He came home with a Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart soaked in the blood of his sacrifice. He spent the next four decades standing in the breach, as a prosecutor, as FBI Director, as the man who held this nation together in the smoldering ash of September 12th, 2001, when we were all afraid and we needed someone steady, someone serious, someone who loved this country more than he loved himself. He was all of those things. He was a Republican. He was, by every honest measure, an American hero. And the President danced on his grave.

Today’s 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court is a Victory for the American People and a Win for the Separation of Powers enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. In Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, our Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the Constitution grants Congress - not the President - the power to tax. American families and American businesses pay American tariffs - not foreign countries. With this decision, American families and businesses can breathe a sigh of relief. I’m proud of the work our organization @AmericanFreedom has done on this case through our robust amicus brief program to advance economic freedom and defend the Constitution. With this historic decision, America can now return to the pursuit of Free Trade with Free Nations under the Constitution of the United States!🇺🇸

We should be seeing messages from electeds about the “activist judges” soon.

For several years, the Legislature has contributed their portion towards KEHP in the 1st year of the biennial budget, but not contributed in the 2nd year. The Legislature is not fulfilling their portion of the 2010 Shared Responsibility.

The average KY teacher makes $59,855/year. They're getting ~$633/yr in income tax cuts (& paying ~$104/yr more in sales taxes). But under the House budget, their healthcare costs would soar ~$5,832/yr. KY's richest 1%? They're getting $27,482/yr from the state income tax cuts.

The average KY school bus driver makes $15,364/yr. At that income they've received *nothing* from reducing the state's income tax. But under the House budget, their healthcare costs would soar $6,422/yr. KY's richest 1%? They're getting $27,482/yr from the state income tax cuts.

Franklin Graham’s post is a masterclass in moral evasion. Instead of condemning Donald Trump’s grotesque, racist post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes—a trope straight out of white supremacist propaganda, he changes the subject and showers Trump with praise. That silence is not neutrality; it is complicity. When racism shows its face and so-called Christian leaders refuse to rebuke it, they reveal what they truly worship. And to make matters worse, Graham is spreading a lie. Trump did not create the “first ever” White House Faith Office. That office was established in 2001 by George W. Bush, nearly 25 years ago. Pretending otherwise is either ignorance or deliberate deception, neither of which reflects Christian integrity. The truth is this: many white evangelicals cannot bring themselves to condemn white supremacy because it has become their real religion. They will excuse racism, distort history, and abandon the teachings of Jesus, all to protect political power. They rebuke prophets, silence truth-tellers, and then quote Scripture while standing shoulder to shoulder with injustice. Jesus did not need lies to advance the Kingdom. He did not excuse oppression to maintain influence. And He certainly did not bless racism wrapped in patriotic language. If you can’t condemn blatant racism, but you can eagerly defend and promote lies to protect Donald Trump, then the problem isn’t the media, the critics, or the culture, the problem is your theology. And history will remember that when the moment demanded courage, too many white evangelicals chose cowardice instead.

I share this post in earnest and (what may prove a naive) hope that a few people caught in the situation I’m about to describe will hear instead of rushing to the usual tropes, criticisms and caricatures. For what it’s worth, I offer this in good faith. Between 2016 and 2022, I faced a test of the genuineness of my faith so large and consequential, I’m almost at a loss to think of the right adjectives to describe it. It might not have been so big to someone else but it involved so much of my Christian identity, it was all but existential. Well more than that. It was a dying. It is this test that helps me understand why people who seem deeply devoted to the Lord Jesus and hold the scriptures in highest esteem also hold to a system, institution or leader no matter what they do and defend a side or individual to a degree that is baffling. I can tell you why because I had to face every bit of it. Identity, community, camaraderie, what we’ve known and loved, what part of it we still love, the people we loved, the people we still love, reputation, what people will think, how you will be judged and condemned and thrown over to the other side who doesn’t want you either. And to whom you also do not align and would not belong. Friendships. How you will be misunderstood and misrepresented. How adrift and alone you will feel. How disliked. And then there’s this and it would be a mistake to minimize it: your JOB. Your source of income. Your vocation. This is the part of the crisis I most write these words to convey because I think they are most in play for many right now, whether in media, ministry or politics. Let me try to put this in the words that were constantly resonant in my spirit in those years. And to this day. Though you have no other place to go, Beth, and no place to fit and it not only MAY have financial repercussions but WILL have financial repercussions to the ministry and to your family and will also make them targets and none of it will ever look the same or be the same, will you choose what you believe to be right and put everything else in your vocational life at risk? This is what is at risk for many people whose professional reputations and positions are tied up with leaders, institutions and political parties. Mine was, too. The cost is enormous and the options are often untenable. And so there we are. Having to cast ourselves on the mercy of God. Not for a third way. But as THE ONLY WAY. The only truth. The only life. I’ve made multiple errors in judgment. Jumped too quickly to condemn. Spoken wrongly. Remained silent wrongly and confusingly. I never get it completely together. But what I will tell you is that I believe we are meant first and foremost to call out our own house, our own side, and our own identity group for its mind-boggling hypocrisy. These were my people. Evangelicals. Conservatives. Claim what you will but I know who I am: I am pro life from conception to casket. I am pro small government. I am pro godliness and the pursuit of a holy life. I am pro marriage and family and pro-those God calls to remain single and sanctified and I’m deeply thankful for them. I am pro traditional sexual ethics. I am pro love of God and love of neighbor and the dignity of every person as an image bearer of Christ. I am pro love all. I am pro church. I believe in the community of the saints. I am pro Bible study to the death and believe the aim of all discipleship is to know and love and follow and emulate Jesus Christ. I am pro gospel. Dear God in heaven, I am pro gospel. I believe there is one name by whom we must be saved. Jesus. What I am not is pro Trump. Wasn’t pro Clinton. Wasn’t pro Biden. But those were not the candidates many in the world that I loved so much were cheering on. I accept that Donald Trump is my president. I pray for him on a regular basis. I’m a law abiding citizen and pay my taxes. But I believe Trump fosters something in people that makes them lose their way.

Donald Trump’s actions on social media need to be universally condemned. Silence on this matter is simply not an option

Your suspicion was right. Trump shut down the Kennedy Center out of pure embarrassment after the cancellations. He’s betting we forget in two years. In 2023 the Kennedy Center was in the black, pulling in $286M in revenue. And it reopened from a $250M renovation in 2019.

“I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form… It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.” – Billy Graham

When I talk about how religion in this country has been hijacked by people for political power, this is what I mean. This should have upset every single person in that room. And it should upset every single one of us that claim to be Jesus followers.

This whole “Christianity is making a comeback” narrative that Trump and his administration are pushing is a total facade as Trump is not a Christian nor does he push Christian values. He can’t even put his stupid petty fights away for one day at a “National Prayer Breakfast”.

I've attended the National Prayer Breakfast for much of the past two decades. I staffed the President and worked on his speech there for four years. I wrote extensively about the breakfast in my first book. One purpose of the Breakfast in history has been to position presidents and political leaders in such a way that they are humbled--their remarks typically focused on ways they fell short, the nation's reliance on grace that politics and politicians can't provide, etc. Not until this president has someone gone to the breakfast to make so much of himself, and so little of God. And he does it every year. These aren't policy disagreements. These aren't differences resulting from Church-State separation. This is Donald Trump going to a convening that has a central focus on the power of relationship with Jesus as the transformative force in the world, and he uses that opportunity to make light of prayer and suggest he'll go to heaven because he's earned his way in. He goes to a convening built on the premise that Jesus transcends all divides in society, including partisan ones, and says an entire group of people *who are specifically recruited and asked to be in the room and on the program* actually do not belong there. Like he did at a memorial service for one of his most prominent supporters, in previous years he's gone to the breakfast to directly contradict Jesus' teachings on loving your enemies. During the Clinton years, the Clintons sat on the dais while Mother Teresa lovingly confronted him on the issue of abortion. Now, people sit at their own breakfast while this president mocks their deepest beliefs to their face. And he tells them they love it. He tells them they're lucky to have him.

This just isn’t true. According to Heritage Action, @RepThomasMassie has a lifetime conservative voting score of 83%, compared to 64% of the average House Republican. Massie overwhelmingly votes with Trump, yet because he is principled, he offends Trump’s demand for blind loyalty. Massie is exactly the type of Republican we WANT in Congress. And not for nothing, the National Prayer Breakfast really isn’t the moment to fixate on political squabbles.

A couple people missed my sarcasm in the first sentence, my sadness about it all in the second, or both. Here’s the takeaway: We all need Jesus, and we aren’t going to find Him in the words of this president.

The President of the United States called me a moron at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning because I’m still fighting for what he promised the American people: Reduce big spending, DOGE, no new wars, end foreign aid, defend 1A 2A 4A, prolife, and expose sex traffickers.

What a Biblically sound, Holy Spirit filled set of remarks from the President of the United States at the National Prayer Breakfast. A generation will look at all that's going on and be driven away from Jesus. Believers should be ashamed of it and not take part.

Freedom Index scores (0-100) for the people Trump wants you to hate: Thomas Massie - 99 MTG - 97 Rand Paul - 96 Who Trump wants you to support: Lindsey Graham - 57 Any questions?

I voted against the rule to bring this omnibus forward for a vote. Here is a breakdown of some of the most ridiculous items included in the omnibus, and some America First items that were not. I offered amendments to correct these errors—all of which were blocked or refused🧵: