Speaking before thousands of Christian leaders gathered at the Family Leadership Summit last Friday, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy argued that America is facing a defining moment that will shape its future for decades to come.

Ruddy told the conference that efforts to embrace woke culture, as well as growing concentrations of economic power, threaten democracy and put the nation at risk.

The media executive took strong aim at Vice President JD Vance for not more forcefully condemning antisemitism on the right while criticizing Israel.

Ruddy's address to the influential group comes as Iowa prepares for its role in the 2028 election, hosting the first caucus of the Republican primary season.

The Family Leadership Summit is hosted by The FAMiLY Leader organization and its CEO, Bob Vander Plaats, an Iowa power broker who has played an influential role in picking the state's presidential winners.

Opening his remarks by noting America's 250th anniversary celebration, Ruddy argued that the nation's success has rested not on ethnicity or a single religion but on shared moral principles rooted in the Bible.

"America is great because America is good," Ruddy said. "We are a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles and biblical truths."

Ruddy also described current international conflicts in Europe and the Middle East as moral struggles rather than merely geopolitical disputes.

"These are not mere geopolitical clashes; they are contests of good and evil," he said.

"President Trump has done a very good and strong job containing these threats, but at any moment, our nation could be tested in a much bigger way," he said.

Media Bias and Two Americas

A significant portion of the speech focused on the national media landscape.

Ruddy argued that polling consistently shows Americans hold more conservative views than are reflected in mainstream media coverage.

Citing polling from the Cato Institute and Morning Consult, he pointed to strong public support for voter identification laws, a balanced-budget amendment, English as the nation's official language, and protecting women's sports based on biological sex.

"We are a center-right nation," Ruddy said. "But if you only watch big media, you'd believe we're center left."

Perhaps the central theme of Ruddy's speech was his warning that America is becoming divided not simply politically but economically.

He argued that Washington has become dominated by "crony capitalism" and what he described as an emerging oligarchy where "a tiny number of billionaires and corporations are controlling vast swaths of our economy and culture."

The five largest Big Tech companies, Ruddy noted, have a combined market capitalization that rivals the GDP of China, making them collectively the "third richest nation on earth."

Wealth inequality has also hit the U.S. hard, he said, with the top 10% controlling more than 50% of the nation's wealth while 50% of the country has no wealth at all.

"I don't know if that's the definition of a third-world country, but it's getting close," Ruddy said.

"The left's answer to this is more taxes, more government control, more socialism," he said.

"My answer is going back to our roots: the free enterprise system, competition, less crony capitalism, and less insider games that make a handful of people and companies super rich."

Ruddy cited his own company's growth that began in 1998 with a $25,000 investment and is today a billion-dollar company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NMAX).

"No one gave us a government grant or regulations to help us or to hurt our competitors," he told the audience, suggesting business success should not come from government favors.

Opposition to FCC Media Plan

Ruddy devoted considerable attention to plans by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to eliminate the national television ownership cap.

According to Ruddy, removing those ownership limits would permit a small number of broadcast companies to acquire most of the nation's local television stations, reducing competition and local editorial diversity.

He argued that the ownership caps were originally established during the Reagan administration to prevent the major broadcast networks from controlling all local television news and noted that Congress later raised the national ownership cap to 39%.

Under the FCC's proposed plan, two to three media conglomerates would eventually own all the major TV licenses in every market in the country, giving them control over local news.

Ruddy noted that most Americans get their news from local TV stations.

Newsmax, he said, opposes eliminating those limits and noted that many conservative organizations, including CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), and the Zionist Organization of America, are all opposed to lifting the ownership restrictions.

He warned that local religious broadcasters could become among the first casualties of additional consolidation if ownership limits disappear.

Criticism of JD Vance

The speech also included one of Ruddy's sharpest political critiques, directed at Vice President JD Vance.

Addressing what he described as rising antisemitism, Ruddy argued that hostility toward Jews has grown within segments of both major political parties.

While saying antisemitism "dominates and controls" today's Democratic Party, he also warned that it represents "a cancer" within the Republican Party.

Ruddy specifically called on Vance to condemn conservative figures Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes over what Ruddy characterized as antisemitic rhetoric.

"The vice president needs to stop coddling them and placating them," Ruddy said.

He also argued that Vance should criticize "Islamic radicals" as strongly as he criticizes Israel.

Ruddy described Israel as "our lone democratic ally in the Middle East," adding, "I believe we must stand with Israel against real enemies like Iran and Islamic radicals."

Renewed Call for Pro-Life Position

Ruddy concluded by urging Republicans to return to a stronger national pro-life platform and said the GOP made a mistake by removing from the platform a call for a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution.

He argued that the party's historical leadership on protecting human life, from Abraham Lincoln through Ronald Reagan, had given way to a states' rights approach following the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision.

Ruddy criticized proposals permitting abortion during the first 12 to 16 weeks of pregnancy, arguing such policies allow over 90% of abortions to remain legal.

Quoting the Declaration of Independence's reference to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," he maintained that "life comes first" and urged Republicans to make protection of unborn life a defining national priority once again.

"If America remains good, rooted in faith, in family, and in freedom, we will always be a great nation," he said.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.