President Barack Obama is a Marxist and probably a Muslim, former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay charged during a Dec. 12 speech at Asheville’s Crowne Plaza Expo Center.

“I thank God for President Obama,” DeLay said to a cheering audience. “He’s done more for the Republican Party... than any one person could ever do....

“He doesn’t lie about being a Marxist. He’s proud of it. In fact, I think he’s a Muslim, but he definitely is a Marxist,” DeLay contended, triggering applause from the crowd.

He added that the president “doesn’t hide” from his alleged Marxism, unlike other politicians who “lie about who they are.”

DeLay also said that the United States needs to return religion to government and that it must respect the Constitution’s guarantees of individual rights.

He said the Constitution represents “God creating this wonderful country” — and that conservative victories in 2016 would ignite a spiritual revival already in progress.

DeLay was the keynote speaker at the 22nd annual Charles H. Taylor Holiday Dinner, which is one of the largest gatherings of Republicans in the state. Other major speakers included Gov. Pat McCrory and North Carolina’s U.S. Sen-Elect Thom Tillis. (See other story on this page for their comments.)

About 700 people were in attendance, event organizer Trish Smothers told the Daily Planet. (Conversely, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported a turnout of 525 people.)

DeLay was introduced as an “instrumental leader in the GOP revolution” who “speaks his convictions.”

DeLay represented a Texas district in the U.S House from 1985 to 2006. He was a leader who could get votes for GOP legislation, an exponent of conservative views and involved in a number of ethical controversies.

In 2005, DeLay was indicted on money-laundering charges and, in 2010, was convicted in relation to funneling corporate donations to state candidates in Texas. However, appellate courts later ruled that DeLay’s conduct did not violate state law.

DeLay’s congressional career overlapped Taylor’s. As a result of their friendship, DeLay occasionally spends time camping in Taylor’s RV at nearby Lake Toxaway.

DeLay, who was given a standing ovation when he took the stage, began by noting, “When Charles Taylor invited me to speak to a ‘little gathering’ here, little did I know this is one of the largest dinners in North Carolina politics.

“You need to know what criminalization of politics looks like... If you stand up for what you believe in, the liberals will” do everything they can to destroy opponents.

“But, as my (2007) book, ‘No Retreat, No Surrender: One American’s Fight,’ noted, “When the Republicans took over the majority, really, for the first time in 60 years, in 1985... Nancy Pelosi announced that they would ‘take out’ Tom DeLay.”

As a result of Pelosi’s threat, “Every election year, I’ve gotten ethics charges. In the suit, they said I was conspiring to defeat Democrats.” The crowd laughed.

“I was convicted (on ethics charges) because I wasn’t tried by my peers in my home county,” DeLay said. “I was tried in Austin, Texas — ‘the leftest of the left.’ It’s like, in North Carolina, being tried in Chapel Hill. 

“Of course, I was convicted, sentenced to three years in prison. ... All of that cost me $12 million in legal fees. I tell you that story because I praise the Lord for every bit of it... It was an amazing process. Most people under that kind of pressure would have balked.... I have a pest control company — it’s (his business) pretty good experience for a politician. I had to raise every dime of it....”

DeLay credited God with helping him through his legal troubles — and a Christian testimonial constituted about a third of his address, along with a few criticisms at Democrats. 

“I learned not to wory about tomorrow, just to talk with Him today,” he said. “Not even Nancy Pelosi can separate me from the love of Jesus Christ.”

He added, “God needs to come back into the public square and we need a third spiritual revival in this country... when we stand unashamedly for Jesus Christ... It is time for a revolution for the Constitution... I could go on and on... This spiritual revival has to happen in this country.” 

Regarding today’s American political “left,” DeLay said, “All of that stuff started in the 1880s. That’s when Americans were traveling to Europe and were being taught by Karl Marx and (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich) Hegel — and they came back and taught in our universities.

“Guess what? They never left. Our universities are packed with people teaching the progressive agenda” and today’s progressives are the intellectual heirs of the Marxist-socialist agenda, he noted.

(Hegel, a German philosopher, influenced Marx with his work. Hegel died in 1831. Marx, best-known as a revolutionary communist and philosopher, died in 1883.)

“We have allowed them (the progressives) to take over this country and shred the Constitution,” DeLay said.

As a result of ignoring the Constitution, the U.S. has polluted its culture and allowed over-regulation to slowdown the economy, he asserted.

“And I can’t get into the social issues. Look what happened in Ferguson (Mo.). It had nothing to do with a cop shooting a teenager. It had everything to do with the culture of Ferguson that would raise a teenage that would attack a cop and try to kill him,” DeLay said.

“If the City Council of Asheville allowed someone to pray (to Mother Earth) to open a meeting, what should you do?” he asked. “Religious freedom doesn’t mean ... you have to allow an atheist to pray to open up the council meeting....

“We are graduating kids who cannot read, who cannot add, who have no sense of the history of this country and certainly no sense of personal responsibility,” DeLay noted. “The University of Texas needs to be cleaned out from what’s going on” with leftists there.

Further, he said, “The state legislature needs to invoke the 10th Amendment because the federal government has so shredded the Constitution. I mean... being bold. I’m not talking about just running the federal government better than they (the Democrats) did. I’m talking about eliminating the Department of Education. It’s not in the Constitution. Get rid of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). It ain’t in the Constitution. Don’t just elect them (representatives) and go home. This is not a democracy. I hate democracies. It’s a republic — a representative republic.

“Because the prosperity of this country depends on personal freedom and personal responsibility, if we’ll do that (eliminate unconstitutional agencies), the election of 2016” will be the start of a much-needed turnaround for the U.S., DeLay said.

“I’ve seen the spiritual revival going on. I hope that God will save this country for His purpose, not your comfort...” he said. “Right now, 50 percent of Americans are depending on the government (for help) one way or another. The next election is the most important election in the history of the country.” If conservatives make the effort, “then your children will enjoy a much better America.” He then added added that “God needs to come back to the public square....

“God bless you and merry Christmas,” DeLay concluded, prompting another standing ovation.