Carol and I are in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the private funeral of Billy Graham. Needless to say, we have met many heroes of American Christianity.

Franklin Graham said that President Trump had suggested holding the funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. But Franklin noted that his father preferred it be held under a large tent, a “canvass cathedral,” just like the ones he used when he began his ministry.

In reading many tributes to Billy Graham, I have been struck by a common theme. When Graham burst onto the scene, the Protestant churches were firmly in the grip of progressives, who were presenting a watered-down version of the faith.

Graham preached the fundamentals — a simple message of faith through Christ. The country was hungry for the truth, and millions responded. As Albert Mohler noted:

“Graham became one of the singularly most important figures in forging what became known as American evangelicalism… Billy Graham was himself indispensable in that movement. He became the founder of many important evangelical institutions such as Christianity Today and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, as well as serving as President of Youth for Christ.”

Trump Can’t Swim

Before we left our hotel Friday morning to head to Billy Graham’s funeral, I was channel surfing cable news and was amazed at the non-stop Trump bashing on every network.


At MSNBC, Joe Scarborough said that he never imagined Trump would be “this rotten” as president. Get a grip, Joe!


Trump just passed a big tax cut. Jobless claims are at a record low. American manufacturing is booming. We are rebuilding our national defense and securing our border. The Heritage Foundation reports that Trump is making huge progress implementing his conservative agenda.

Joe Scarborough may think Donald Trump is a “rotten” president, but his approval ratings are going up.

On the financial network CNBC, there was mass hysteria about tariffs. All the commentators were blaming Thursday’s big stock market drop on the president’s decision to impose tariffs on foreign steel. But the market has been “correcting” for weeks now.

All the pundits are fretting about how other countries will respond, but they don’t tell audiences that other countries impose tariffs on us and erect barriers against our goods.


For decades we have based economic policy on consumerism. In the process, we gutted our manufacturing base, which created good-paying jobs that supported consumer purchasing. I believe we can find a better balance.


By the way, this issue is another example of President Trump understanding the American people better than the out-of-touch elites.


I moved from CNBC to CNN just in time to catch this headline: “NRA Says Trump Does Not Believe In Gun Control.”

Here’s the real story. NRA leaders met with the president and vice president at the White House Thursday night. President Trump told them that he wants to keep guns out of the hands of bad people. He wants better background checks. But he also assured them that he fully supports the Second Amendment.

Reasonable journalism would suggest that CNN’s headline should have been: “Trump Tells NRA He Supports Second Amendment." But typical of the left-wing media, the headline was itself an editorial in support of gun control.

In just a few minutes of channel surfing Friday morning, the media’s bias was exposed. It’s 24/7 Trump-bashing. And it reminded me of the old Washington joke: If Donald Trump walked across the Potomac River one day, CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post would all report: "Trump Can’t Swim.”


Other Headlines

• The Justice Department is investigating Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. That’s good to hear, but I’ll believe this is real progress when I see an indictment.

• The Justice Department inspector general is expected to accuse former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe of making unauthorized leaks to the media and misleading investigators.

• Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice with his public statements about Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Like all political appointees, Sessions serves at the pleasure of the president. Trump can pick up the phone and say “You’re fired” any time for any reason. Venting frustration with this absurd investigation is not obstruction of justice.

• Meanwhile, famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein says that Mueller has Jared Kushner in his “crosshairs” and is focused on him “like a laser” for his business dealings. What does that have to do with Russian meddling in the election?

By the way, according to the latest USA Today poll, the top issues on the minds of voters are immigration and the Second Amendment. Russian meddling was at the bottom of the list.