Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary for President Trump, was a featured speaker at the American Freedom Tour event that took place in Jacksonville on Oct. 8-9.
Over the course of her speech, Kayleigh shared the struggles and successes she endured as she found herself serving as press secretary under President Trump.
“So one day we’re driving over a bridge in Longboat Key, Florida,” she began, “and I get a call. And it’s an odd series of numbers that pops up on my phone, and whenever that would pop up, I knew it to be the White House switchboard. Usually President Trump.
“You know, I didn’t know him well at this point. I was his campaign press secretary. So we would see each other before he would go out for a rally, or occasionally he would call me and say, ‘Good job,’ on an article I wrote or a TV hit I did. But I did not know him well.
“So I get this call. I answer it. It’s President Trump, and he says, ‘I have a question for you.’ And I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘Do you want to be my White House press secretary?’ And I said, ‘Mr. President, that’d be the honor of my lifetime,’ as I’m holding a pacifier to my daughter’s mouth trying to make sure she doesn’t scream.”
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A few minutes further into her talk, Kayleigh found herself receiving confirmation, from two very different sources, that she was right where she was supposed to be.
“So my dad texted me and he said, ‘Kayleigh, maybe you were made — quote — for such a time as this.’ Obvious reference to the book of Esther.
“And, believe it or not, in a separate exchange with a Democrat commentator, Van Jones, three weeks later after taking the job, he texted me: ‘Maybe you were made — quote — for such a time as this.’ Separately. So I knew that verse was something I was meant to hear.”
And then the time approached when she would be taking the podium, fielding questions from White House reporters. Some of whom were not so friendly.
“But that first briefing, I was so nervous about. We had put in endless hours of preparation. Getting there early in the morning. Working late into the evening the day before. But none of that preparation could subside my emotions and my nerves the way that leaning on Christ did.”
She continued, “Sarah Sanders, my predecessor, texted me several pieces of advice before I first took to the podium, the most important of which was this. She said, ‘Most importantly, pray. Let God carry you through the tough times, give you strength when you don’t have any wisdom.’ And she told me that she read her Jesus Calling devotional before every briefing — a tradition that I carried on during my tenure.
“And she sent me a picture of her Jesus Calling devotional from exactly two years prior to the day — May 1, 2018. It said this: ‘You are on the path of my choosing. There’s no randomness about your life. As you give yourself more and more to a life of constant communion with me, you will find you simply have no time to worry.’
“And I’ll tell you, when I got to that podium, I was totally shocked at the peace I had. It was surreal. It was a peace that didn’t come from me as a human. It came from above. And it was a peace that I needed as I went through some of those briefings with Jim Acosta and others.”
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Wrapping up her talk, Kayleigh encouraged her listeners to be engaged, to speak up, to take heart:
“All of you, do not be silent. Let your voices be heard. They will try to suppress your voice, but do not let it happen. Because the same way that I was put in this time, this place in Washington, D.C., standing at that White House podium for such a time as this, it’s not just relevant to me. It’s relevant to all of you. You’re here in Jacksonville, Florida, at the American Freedom Tour, for a purpose, for a reason, in a time and a place for such a time as this.
“So do not forget it. Be bold. Be courageous. Be encouraged. Because we have a pretty exciting November of 2022 on the horizon. And, after that, a pretty exciting 2024.”
Enjoy excerpts from her speech below.
