Speaking at a dinner event hosted by a group seeking to install a Christian government, State Superintendent Ryan Walters warned the road ahead may be rocky for Republicans.
Walters told a gathering hosted by the City Elders in Glenpool that the country is in the midst of a spiritual war and that Satan is working through “the enemy.”
“You’re gonna see these federal judges come in and slap President Trump down. You’re gonna see bureaucrats fight back. You’re gonna see states that aren’t gonna back up what President Trump does. Unfortunately you’re gonna see that with red states. I hate to say it but you know it’s coming. We’re already seeing it, aren’t we? Red states are not backing up Trump,” said Walters.
Walters didn’t go so far as to cite Oklahoma — where all 77 counties voted for Trump — as a state turning against Trump, but last month he accused Gov. Kevin Stitt of joining the “swampy political establishment that President Trump is fighting against” after Stitt replaced some education board members sympathetic to Walters’ goals.
As an anecdote to the coming oppression, Walters invoked the biblical story of David and Goliath, telling the crowd that they have many “stones” to fight back.
“With God on our side, there is no enemy that can’t be defeated.”
Throughout the rest of his speech, Walters invoked familiar talking points about the need for patriotism and Bibles in schools. Notably absent was any mention of tracking undocumented immigrant children, the issue that ostensibly began his feud with Stitt.
More than notable was a group of furious protestors whose presence was a constant topic of conversation within the City Elders gathering. About 80 demonstrators confronted the approximately 200 event attendees as “Nazis” as they entered the Glenpool Conference Center around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Once the evening’s events began, the protestors circled around to the back of the gathering room, where the wall was made of glass. They pressed signs noting Oklahoma’s low ranking in education to the windows as they continued to shout. Staff eventually slid panels in front of the wall to obstruct the view.
At least some of the event attendees didn’t understand why the protestors were so angry, and wondered if it was because Walters was pro-life. Walters is an extremely polarizing political figure in the state of Oklahoma, frequently speaking out about “culture war” issues as he faces repeated lawsuits costing the state hundreds of thousands.
City Elders is a group that believes religion should exist in every facet of government. Jesse Rodgers, president, kicked off the evening by touching briefly on current affairs. He skewered U.S. Rep. Al Green as being “healed by Trump” during a recent speech where Green, who carries a cane, refused to sit down while shouting that Trump doesn’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid.
Rodgers also criticized President Barack Obama as stealing millions before praising Elon Musk, a billionaire businessman cutting oversight of his own companies.
City Elders didn’t respond to a request for an interview, but according to its YouTube page, it has featured Ryan Walters at recent events, as well as Stitt and U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern.
