Latest / Restoration Spotlight / Episode 64: Emerald Robinson, a fearless conservative journalist in America
Transcript
- 00;00;12;22 --> 00;00;39;08 Doug Truax: Welcome to the First Right podcast. A weekly conservative news show brought to you by Restoration PAC. I'm Doug Truax, founder, and president of Restoration PAC. Today, we were blessed to have with us a first-time guest who was beloved in conservative circles for her truth, telling she is Emerald Robinson, a former white house correspondent for one America news network and Newsmax. She now has her own show on Frank Speech TV and has a large sub stack blog following. Welcome to the show. Emerald. Great to have you on. 00;00;40;00 --> 00;00;41;13 Emerald Robinson: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. 00;00;41;20 --> 00;00;56;28 Doug Truax: Very good. So you've got this really interesting background, born a coal mining town. Your dad was a pastor. He ended up in journalism. So I always have for all the guests, we want to hear, you know, all of our viewers want to know, how did you get to where you are? Tell us a little bit more about that story, all that stuff. 00;00;57;02 --> 00;01;47;18 Emerald Robinson: Wow. Well, it definitely wasn't the conventional path. I didn't have the plan to end up in the white house press pool though. I always did. I went to school for journalism. I, my, my family tells me that. I said since kindergarten I was going to be a journalist, but I did sort of go the long way about it. I did theater and I, I went to Hollywood and things like that, diid some soaps. So that's often used against me, you know, by the critical corporate media. But yeah, I grew up in a tiny, tiny coal mining town in the mountains of Virginia on the West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee border. That felt a little bit more like I'm from Tennessee, probably even than Virginia. Cause it was just down the road. My daddy was a pastor of a tiny church that was just across the field to the left of my house, where I grew up and had a really lovely country upbringing. 00;01;47;18 --> 00;02;51;20 And then I, I left that small town, pretty young and headed for the, the big, like the, the different cities. And I was in LA for a while and I just realized that wasn't a fit for me. And I decided to get back to my education, which was journalism. And at first I moved into science and tech, every science and technology or a popular website at the time, I think it's now defunct, but it was called a red orbit.com. It was one of the top science sites at the time. And that actually brought me to Washington DC. So I didn't come to Washington DC to cover politics. I was one of the unusual people covering science and tech there, but then it sort of progressed because I mean, when in Rome, right, you're going to end up covering Rome and that's sort of how it happened. I didn't really want to stay in DC, but I met my husband fell in love and ended up taking a job with one American news and officially moving into a covering Congress. And then the white house. Then sure realized it was actually a pretty good fit for me. I really ended up loving politics and getting a little bit, you know, obsessed with it. 00;02;51;25 --> 00;03;11;23 Doug Truax: Yeah. Well, you're a truth teller in a world where there's not a lot of that going on. And it's interesting, you know, times that we live in, if you want it to be a journalist your whole life, and then you end up in this spot and you find, Hey, there's not a lot of people like me, they're telling the truth and it all kind of comes together. So that's, that's a, that's a really a great fit for you. So, oh, go ahead. You can say something. 00;03;12;02 --> 00;04;01;18 Emerald Robinson: Well, I just going to say it, I think because I did have the goal, like everyone else in that press pool with me, that was their ultimate goal. And then the next goal was to get a show on the network with ABC, CBS or Fox. And that just was never my goal. I didn't necessarily lay a path for this career. And so I've been, I find myself in a place that I didn't necessarily intend to be, but that, you know, suited me. And I think it's, you know, because God had a purpose. So I never though, I guess I wasn't different by, by design. It's just that I didn't have the same goals. And so then I, I didn't feel like I needed to compromise because you know, ultimately my, my goal was not the Fox or CBS. It was just being, you know, an honest person. 00;04;01;21 --> 00;04;28;13 Doug Truax: Yeah. It's, it's freeing when you get to the place where you're free, you're free because you're where you want it to be. And you're like, well, I don't, I don't have some additional thing I'm trying to get done here. So I'm just going to say it like it is. And you know, the truth telling kind of juxtaposed against the timid press Corps. Now, you know, we've watched the media kind of disintegrate and the press Corps and all this and Trump really pushed that whole thing over the edge. So just give us your take on why you think they're also timid nowadays. 00;04;28;29 --> 00;05;06;07 Emerald Robinson: I don't think they were, I don't think they're so timid as different from before. Really. It's just that Trump was like a flashlight. He exposed the rod that was already there and the fake narratives, it just came to light. More people were paying attention. He, that was probably his greatest legacy, honestly, out of all the things he did, it was the mosaic of not only the media, but our institutions like the DOJ, academia, Congress, he just, he just was a flashlight. And I would say that the media had long had problems. Is it getting a bit worse? Yeah. Just because there may be more overt about it. Cause there's no reason to really hide it anymore. I would say 00;05;06;16 --> 00;05;52;00 Doug Truax: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a, it's a new day and it's not the world we grew up in. That's for sure. And now it's, now it's a matter of, okay. Who's actually going to tell you the truth. When so many people realize that the people in the media they've got their own agenda and you know, I was thinking too about the time after the election and we'll see how much you want to share about this. But so we had right after 2020 Fox news was there, you know, kind of on the ropes, cause people are like, okay, what just happened here? And so then we get to this place of like, all right, are we going to, are we going to, are we going to have a new version of Fox out there? And so Newsmax kind of comes around and they were doing great, but they kind of lost their edge. So do you care to comment on how you see how you saw that playing out? 00;05;52;24 --> 00;06;50;06 Emerald Robinson: Yeah, so it was interesting because clearly we had soared after the election and just really took off as the audience grew exponentially because people were really starving for the truth. And there wasn't an outlet after Fox called Arizona to early in what was clearly some kind of play on the network and, you know, Arnold, Michigan, who was on the desk that night calling the election for them, he, he w he was questionable when they hired him anyway. So again, it was, you know, people guys were open and they realized, wait, bought boxes and what we thought they were. And it was a big opportunity for Newsmax. I think that it's very tough when you get that far, you get that much spotlight on you. They had not been used to having the kind of attacks that you get from the corporate media and from intelligence, the intelligence community, when you are being watched by so many people and your voice is influential. 00;06;50;22 --> 00;07;36;23 And it's tough to be that outlier, even if you are telling the truth and you have to make a decision when you get to that point, I had to make a decision when I got to that point, I get, you know, I got attacked all the time. I got called all kinds of crazy things, but you had to make a decision. What what's more important? Is it important to be accepted and to be afe? Or is it important to tell the truth and, and, and honor the truth and, and keep your integrity. Now, I will just say, cause I do have to be a little bit careful. I think that it was, they, they wanted to feel safe and look, you can get your license it's full and you can not get your, how they do. It really is that they just don't like you saw with the OAN recently one American news, they don't renew your distribution contract. 00;07;36;23 --> 00;08;28;19 And so essentially you, you're not being shown and that's, that's a big part of your business model. So I get it. But I often feel like if you're willing to and, and have courage, that there's always a way made. It's just having to trust that if you do that and the right thing, that it it'll in the end work out in the way that's supposed to, or for your good that God has for you, but that's tough for some people. And also you got to look, a Biden administration had already pulled people in already told outlets during the 2020 campaign cycle. That if you report on the hunter Biden laptop, if you report on the clear mental deterioration of the president, then handed a Biden, you're going to be frozen out of a white house. And a lot of these news networks want access. Ultimately it's about access 00;08;29;25 --> 00;09;25;01 Doug Truax: That's right. And then to go back to what you said a second ago, you have to ask yourself, are you looking for approval? Are you looking for the truth and to your credit, you've been sticking to the truth and it's been going well. I mean, every, every career right, has it's a here and there and ups and downs and stuff. But I think that, you know, that's, you know, that's why we're having you on because you tell the truth. And, and that's really important nowadays, especially as the next question I was to ask you in this whole woke world we're living in, and, you know, you've been taking the, taking the Republicans to task for a while on it. Even when, you know, there was a window of time where, well, we all kind of knew stuff was happening, but we weren't really awake to the woke stuff. And, and, and you were, so what do you think is going to happen though? Let's assume that, you know, don't, we don't want to get over confident like we do, but we assume we take back Congress. What do you see happening with regard to taking on the woke left from the Republicans? 00;09;25;24 --> 00;10;22;16 Emerald Robinson: Oh man, you know, I wish I could be more optimistic, but there is nothing that I've seen so far in covering Congress and DC. That makes me hopeful that even if Republicans takeover over both houses, that they will truly push for accountability and different issues, whether it be a Hunter Biden's laptop, corruption, Fauci I mean, maybe Fauci, because he is now such a safe figure to hit. Cause most Americans are tired of him. They do realize that there's clear corruption there and you would have Senator Rand, Paul, likely as this, that it helped chairing the Senate health committee. So there's possibility maybe on FAuci, but I, I, I tell you even some of these insurgent candidates and they were really great during their campaigns and they're really grassroots. They get to DC and they see just how hard it is to operate because they still had to play nice with Kevin McCarthy. 00;10;22;16 --> 00;11;26;20 They, they kind of, and then they ended up, you know, they want to get reelected and that ends up being the death of a true grassroots movement, right? When you care about getting reelected, instead of just doing what you got to do while you're there and given the time there. So I've seen too much of that. I'm not super, super hopeful. I tend to think there would be more strongly worded letters, you know, really, really good soundbites from Lindsay Graham on Hannity. So I'm not super hopeful. I just wish we had more Ron DeSantis' and you could just clone him and put him in different districts in different states. But unfortunately most of the GOP just doesn't have that spine. And honestly, a lot of them, it's not even that they don't have the spine. It's that they're just ideologically. They're not really far from the establishment. There really is just one party there. And they sort of play at being opposed to one another and maybe on certain issues, they're really opposed. It really comes down to taxation. Right. I mean, for Republicans, that's the hill they're always willing to die on its taxes. 00;11;26;27 --> 00;12;00;29 Doug Truax: Sure, sure. Yeah. That's a great point. The unit party thing, and I, you know, I'd be interested to get your take on how it was to, with the group that was legitimately conservative and they wanted to do great things. And then they saw Trump and Trump, you know, helped them stiffen their spine for awhile. But then we got into the whole, well, maybe he's a Russian agent and all that. And they, you know, then they started to cave on that. But I mean, there was a window of time. Once you agree though, that Trump was like, given all those folks like, Hey, this may be our time to stand up and actually do the right thing here. And then it, then it faded 00;12;01;28 --> 00;13;03;09 Emerald Robinson: Some of them. Yes. Some of them, but then a lot of them were still pretty obstructive to his agenda. And look, Mitch McConnell didn't do any favor to the Trump agenda or the Trump white house. He was one of the biggest obstacles in pushing for a lot of what Trump wanted to do. And I it's, you know, it's funny because honestly, one of the members of Congress who was most behind what Trump wanted to do and really generally liked what he was doing. And I think there's a pretty honest actor, and then, you know, I say out of all of them, he's, he's more solid than any Congressman I know there. And that's Thomas Massie for Kentucky. And remember that was the one Trump blasted so hard on the day that they were voting for the cares act and they were all, you know, COVID locked down at their homes and they didn't want to come back to DC and Massey like forced a quorum on it because he's like, this is a massive amount of money. This is going to affect our children for decades. You have to come vote on this. And Trump called him that he was grand standing show voting. 00;13;03;26 --> 00;14;01;09 Doug Truax: Right, right. Yeah. It kind of flipped on it, then it, yeah, no, that's a great point. I forgot about that. Yeah. Well that gets to, you know, back to what you're saying, you know, the unit party and the money and never let a crisis go to waste. And so it's just print a lot of money and shove it out the door and, and the, you know, the guys, somewhere down the road, after I'm done running for office, we'll take care of it. And speaking from somebody who's been living in Illinois for 20 years, it's, you know, we're on the, we're on the down slope of that now. So yeah. Yeah. It's tough, tough environment. So, so back to, to something you mentioned at the beginning, you know, your, your upbringing, your dad being a pastor and stuff. And so, so you clearly have a biblical worldview and, you know, that's that, you know, impacts everything as it should. So, but talk to that a little bit, how that makes you feel sometimes relative to some of the other journalists and you know, you're saying one thing that's super truthful and they're just looking at you, like, what are you talking about? You know? Right. So, 00;14;02;21 --> 00;14;44;18 Emerald Robinson: You know, it's funny. I mean, they they'll send out to gather the media and pretend like I'm crazy. But then when we were all in the room, I mean, they, it was funny because I would get a sense for them that there were sort of like, it was just a shock to them to have someone not care and just, you know, tell it like it is or be that truthful. And it was just sort of look at me sometimes like, wow, you know, cause they're, they were really trying to tell the line on what they said or what they reported and that they wouldn't get in trouble with the DNC. And so that they could get promoted, they could go to CBS or, you know, some of them were just pure activist. And I knew that sometimes they weren't reporting the truth, but they had an ultimate agenda that lined up with the DNC and the far left of the DNC. 00;14;44;18 --> 00;15;59;17 And so they did it, but I always felt like it was important to be very clear about the world view that I came from. And I, I wish more journalists would be whether even if they're not Christian, because at least, you know where they're coming from, right. What lens they're giving you the news through. And then I think Americans are smart enough to gauge for themselves, you know, to say, okay, well this is, you know, their, their, their point of view, but then gauge the information. And I think, you know, it's interesting because becoming a journalist in DC moving to cover politics actually really strengthened my faith. It made me feel bolder in my faith and more assured in it, even it grew me so much grew me so much in, in, in strength and, and, and boldness and having, and having to really have faith. But sometimes it was a little scary going up that when you knew you weren't like everyone else and knowing that you were going to get so criticized and it potentially, and you know, which ultimately happened to me, your contract would not be renewed, but I would initially feel that I would pray. There's a lot of times I would I'll call back home and I'd have my mom and my aunt gather and in prayer for me. And it always came through. 00;15;59;24 --> 00;16;45;17 Doug Truax: Yeah, absolutely. Well, wouldn't you say though, too, that that added strength that you got, I mean, it's directly from God because at some point, right, everybody around you, you know, even a lot of people out in fly over country or praying for people to tell the truth and you know, you're right in the middle of a, of a, of a city that, you know, shifting morality, if there was such a thing back and back to your point about, well, just say what your worldview is, if it's not biblical. Okay. But then you're back to, you know, do you believe there is truth with a capital T you know, or are you just making this up every day? And then you're just looking for the approval of the people around you, so you can advance your career, which is what I see them. Like what you said, everybody's just acting, you know, sometimes a lot of these, a lot of these quote unquote journalists, they're just acting. So the unit party can keep doing what they're doing. 00;16;46;00 --> 00;17;48;01 Emerald Robinson: Yeah. There was actually one really good example of this. I thought one day in the briefing room and it was not too long after Biden taken office. And there was a reporter from, I believe it's called, has served a new service DNS. They were relatively new in the briefing room. And then there was one from the Washington blade. It was a blade or blaze. Yeah. It's one of those and it's, it's an LGBT outlet. And so two totally dimed, diametrically opposed, worldviews. Right. And these two outlets, they were trying to nail Joe Biden down on his stance on abortion. And so the conservative outlet had asked first, you know, when does he think life begins and try to really get, you know, nailed them down. It was the press secretary jen psaki she wouldn't answer. And then, so she went to the blade or blaze, whichever one it was, but that reporter, and he said, you don't know. Yeah. What is it? Because we're not sure either. So she got grilled from both. And there's a moment where everyone knows which side they're coming from, but they both want to get to the same truth. Like what, what does he believe? And we still didn't get the answer. 00;17;48;24 --> 00;18;13;13 Doug Truax: Exactly. Just move on. Right? Yeah. No, that's usually what happens. But, but that, yeah, to your point on that, I mean, everybody does want to know the truth, whether you admit it or not, you just, there there's truth out there and people want to want to find it. Yeah, for sure. So, well, Hey, you're telling the truth. We appreciate it a lot. I love all your stuff and just hang in there, you know, it's, it's the ups and downs of the career, but you know, people like you, it's going to go, okay. Right. 00;18;13;23 --> 00;18;47;12 Emerald Robinson: It's turned out to be a huge blessing working for Lindell TV. And it has been a joy. And I have, I feel like you have an even bigger platform. I have, I have even more freedom to cover what I want to cover. And you know, I do my sub stack it, it it's been really well received. And I feel like, actually I feel like actually my microphone was grown And it's must me. It's in a different arena. But I think this is where the landscape is heading. So I feel like God is just, could be a little bit ahead of the curve and I get to see my kids more. 00;18;47;19 --> 00;18;55;01 Doug Truax: There you go. It's a win all the way around. Right. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. Well, Hey, thanks for coming on. I'd love to have you back on some other time. 00;18;55;15 --> 00;18;56;07 Emerald Robinson: Absolutely. 00;18;56;11 --> 00;19;10;17 Doug Truax: All right. Thanks, Emerald. All right. That's our show for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and for supporting conservative media. Don't forget that by working together and staying diligent, we can serve as can bring our country back to true greatness until next week. Let's all keep praying that God will continue to bless America 00;19;13;12 --> 00;19;33;19 First.Right, A new kind of new summary without the liberal slant Every morning in your inbox. Always free subscribed by texting first right to 3 0 1 6 1 that's FIRSTRIGHT All caps. One word to, 3 0 1 6 1.