By Mark Hansel
Bulldog Report managing editor
The inaugural Freedom Fest in Morning View, Kentucky, drew a crowd of thousands to the farm of Bulldog Media founder and retired attorney Eric Deters.
The event was celebrated on Patriots’ Day, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed thousands at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
United Airlines Flight 93 was taken over by terrorists that day and on a trajectory to crash into the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C. when passengers overpowered the hijackers, forcing the plane to crash in a field in Shanksville. Everyone aboard that plane, and the others, perished, but the Flight 93 passengers prevented a crash that would have taken many more lives.
Deters and Bulldog Media sponsored the Freedom Fest, which included live music, food, a fireworks display and a roster of high-profile speakers, for people come together in support of conservative, Libertarian values.
Featured speakers included Tomi Lahren and Kimberly Guilfoyle. Deters served as the event emcee.
Deters is passionate about many issues, including vaccine mandates, but he choked up when talking about the changes that have taken place in the country recently.
“I can’t stand, what’s going on in this country, and I know you all agree,” Deters said. “Who would have ever thought that in the United States of America, people would kneel at the National Anthem? Who would’ve ever thought, in the United States of America, one of our biggest enemies would be our own government?”
Lahren is a Fox News contributor and host on the digital streaming platform Fox Nation. She is also the author of the new book “Never Play Dead: How the Truth Makes You Unstoppable.”
Guilfoyle is a media personality who previously worked for Fox News in several roles and also served as former President Donald Trump’s campaign chair.
Lahren and Guilfoyle focused on some common themes, including disappointment in the policies of the Biden administration and a belief that things would be different if former President Donald trump was still in the Oval Office.
Lahren said the world looks at President Joe Biden and sees weakness.
“We are not, as a country, weak,” Lahren said. “He’s our president, but he does not stand for what we believe in as a nation. We believe in freedom, we believe in fighting, we believe in God, guts, guns and glory, and I know that you all do, too.”
Lahren talked about the botched withdrawal of the U.S. military in Afghanistan and the tragic consequences to American troops.
“We saw what happened in Afghanistan and it made your stomach churn” Lahren said. “I know when you watched as our weak coward of a president left Americans stranded and left 13 with their last breath. (It) didn’t need to happen, should not have happened and I know that many of you watched him pat himself on the back across the news media just a week later. I know, like many of you, I sat there in disgust and thought, ‘this would not have happened under Donald J. Trump,’”
Guilfoyle talked about how important it is for American citizens to take an active role in supporting and electing leaders who share their beliefs.
“You have seen, as I have witnessed, how fast things have gotten out of control,” Guilfoyle. “For those of you who think that elections don’t have consequences, take a look at what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have done to this great country. Shame on them – we will get America back.”
Guilfoyle also criticized the effort to implement forced mask and COVID vaccination mandates.
“Now we live in a country where Joe Biden wants to break the American will, force mandates against us, steal our liberty and our freedom, trying to tell us how to control our lives, how to raise our children, what to feel, what to think and what to believe<‘ Guilfoyle said. “But we are born free Americans, and he is not in charge of us.”
Click on the links below to see excerpted videos from the Lahren and Guilfoyle speeches.
Dan and Barbara Silver of Loveland, Ohio, said it was encouraging to see so many people who share their values.
“We’ve been so mad at what (the Democrats are) doing – they’re destroying the country,” Barbara Silver said.
Barbara Silver was previously employed at Children’s Hospital and said she is angry that her former coworkers are being forced to get the COVID vaccine, as is Dan.
“It should be a person’s choice, it shouldn’t be a mandate,” Dan Silver said. “We haven’t gotten it and we won’t get it.”
Patriotism comes in many forms.
Maihernon McEvilley came to the United States eight years ago from Sligo, in the Northwest of Ireland, and became a citizen in February.
She now lives in Dayton, Kentucky.
“I expected there would be a massive crowd because we are way bigger than some people let on and I think the majority of people are getting fed up now,” McEvilley said. “I swore to defend the Constitution of America from all enemies foreign AND domestic. Coming from Ireland, I know about propaganda, and I know what the outcome is, if we don’t stand up from these evil people who are trying to take away our freedoms.”
Deters said he plans to make the Freedom Fest an annual Patriots’ Day event and expects an even bigger crowd, with more attractions next year.
“We want to build upon this, and I see all of you as my teammates,” Deters said. “We have to fight back because we’ve got two choices. One don’t do anything and let them win or fight back and win.”
Click on the link below to see a video collage from the Freedom Fest.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.hansel.10/videos/535209927562562
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Click on the video excerpts below to see Tomi Lahren and Kimberly Guilfoyle speak on a wide range of topics, including their admiration for former President Donald Trump and their disdain for the Biden administration.
