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Join Logan Sekulow as he tackles the intricacies of trade tariffs, a dominant topic impacting international relations today. With countries rushing to the negotiation table, the episode delves into President Trump’s strategic tariff implementations and their implications for the global economy. Insightful discussions with Will Haynes and Secretary Pompeo offer listeners a window into the political and economic facets of these changes. As the team also highlights the ACLJ’s ongoing domestic and international efforts in legal advocacy, this episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of sovereignty, trade, and economic resilience.
SPEAKER 04 :
we’ve got breaking news over 50 countries rush to make tariff deals keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo we want to hear from you share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110 And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes is joining me in studio. We’ve got a packed show. And of course, there is a breaking news item. A lot of debate, obviously, this weekend over the tariffs. Because as the tariffs went in place, we saw a pretty volatile economy. We saw a pretty volatile stock market. Now we’re going to break down what it means. The goods and the bads. Look, we’re not going to be here and just sugarcoat everything here and say, you know, because President Trump said that means it has to be good. But we are going to give you more of the reality than the media would like you to see, because there’s a lot more nuance to what it could mean for you, the individual who may not be a stock market investor. maybe you are and what does that look like as we have seen even an upturn today we also have bb netanyahu visiting washington dc today so we’ll discuss a little bit of that as well as israel said hey we’re thinking no tariffs and that’s maybe the conversation that is going to be happening with a lot of countries because look you have someone like elon musk coming out saying hey Our goal here is actually to get to free trade, to get to zero and zero, no tariffs overall between any countries, and we’re going to have a society built on that. So knowing that that’s the goal, I think that does change the way you need to look at the tariff situation. Phone lines are open for you, like I said, at 1-800-684-3110. But Will, the breaking news item that’s coming out is about these 50 countries, more than 50 countries, who have said, hey, we’ve already at least given a call to the White House.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And this isn’t a simple issue. This isn’t something you can just look at and be like, I’m for it, I’m against it. There’s so many nuances and areas of explanation that can go on that, I mean, I’m sure there will be books written about this and courses taught in econ classes across the country about this. But one thing that we know is that… That’s if you think that college will still exist in a few years. That’s a good point, Logan. It’s a very good point. They may put tariffs on colleges at this point, but when you look at this and you see that more than 50 countries have approached the administration about lowering their non-tariff trade barriers. So that’s even just being able to do business in the country, lowering their tariffs or stopping currency manipulation. This is coming from the treasury secretary. And we also know that the European Union Late last night, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that they are seeking to avoid a back and forth trade war, that they are offering zero for zero tariffs on industrial goods. This is the EU. This is the European Union, which is actually…
SPEAKER 05 :
As you said earlier to me in the meeting, I said, hey, so who is this saying this? Does this person have the influence, the control to actually say this? And the answer to that is yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. It is the president of the European Commission. So when you look at this and you also know the history of President Trump trying to make a deal, get people to the negotiating table. That is working, regardless of what anyone is telling you about how it’s going to send America into a death spiral of economic doldrums. Look, it wasn’t a good weekend. It was not. But I would at least say the bringing people to the table to negotiate is working. And there’s some other factors that we need to talk about as well. And just to keep people informed about what is happening as we go forward.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right. And phone lines, like I said, are open for you. If you have a question or comment related to this, we’re going to keep this conversation going as well as move into some other topics throughout the show, including some great work the ACLJ team is doing. And you’re going to hear from some of our top team leaders later on. Again, phone lines for you are open, but I want to encourage you right now. If you have been considering supporting the ACLJ, as we said, we extended our life and liberty drive for this month. I want you to go to ACLJ.org because your religious liberties are really being under attack here in the United States, but really around the world. And we are working on some of these huge moments around the world. We’re going to be talking about that and what happened in the Congo and how we’re getting involved. But also, as simple as, it sounds simple, but it’s not. It takes hours and hours and hours of our team. Things like a lawsuit against a homeowners association who said, hey, you can’t have home Bible studies. So we’re there for you, and we’re there for the world. And that’s only because people like you support it. Have your donations doubled. Keep us in this critical fight right now. Go to ACLJ.org. Scan the QR code that’s on your screen. We’ll be right back with more on Seculo. Once again, phone lines are open for you. Give us a call. Get your comments in. Also, if you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble, hit that thumbs up. We’ll be right back. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Continue to talk about, well, that deal that is coming up as 50 countries have reached out and say, hey, we want to renegotiate our tariff situation as President Trump put in place reciprocal mutual tariffs. which a lot of people have issues with. It did hurt the stock market. There was a lot of panic over what this could mean. And look, we’re not going to sugarcoat when things happen like this. We know people are worried. I see you in the comments. You’re worried about this. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be, but we’re only a couple of days in. Let’s see what happens when you have people like the European Union coming out and saying, hey, on industrial goods, we’re thinking 0%. And if you’re thinking zero and you’re thinking zero, all of a sudden you have a free trade agreement with really one of the top areas you need to. Now we got to get to China. We got to get to Asia in general, Vietnam, a lot of these countries. But it’s still a massive move forward. So remember, as we’ve always said, And look, I don’t I’m not here just as an apologist for President Trump and his plans, because a lot of times, look, as everyone, everyone has differences of opinion. And I think this one’s OK to have a difference of opinion. But what I’ve said is that this was going to be a negotiation tactic. This wasn’t just a blanket here. The tariffs, nothing’s ever going to change. It was going to be something that brought people to the table. And 50 countries have already shown up.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And one thing that I think with this whole situation, I was asked by a family member, what do you think of the tariffs over the weekend? You know, with the whole situation, the world is on fire, freaking out about this. And I, as a traditional conservative, don’t typically think towards tariff policy like the conservatives traditionally are more free trade. But when you have a situation of what’s been going on, one, we didn’t have free trade because we just weren’t putting tariffs on. Everyone else was. And when you get to a situation where they start talking about, oh… You know, it could cost $60,000 to buy an iPhone if it was exclusively manufactured here. These absurd things where you’re like, well, that’s part of the problem. That is part of the America last foreign policy and economic policy that we have seen for decades from both parties. Where our manufacturing base isn’t here, we are completely reliant on foreign nations to get our most basic things and to have our most basic needs filled. That’s not okay. That is actually a national security problem. So as someone who is tariff averse in my political or economic philosophy, I understand the goal here. And I think to some degree, that goal of getting people to the table to try to fix this problem is the positive best outcome. Now, when you have an entrenched economic policy like we’ve had, There is no way that you can change course without it being disruptive. A little scary. Right. You said the world’s on fire, which is the way I like it because I never get bored. That’s right. But what you also have to remember is that there are thousands of people right now. that are making tons and tons of money off the stock market panic, that are actually fueling the drop in prices because of the way options market work. Very little risk to them to sell put options, to make large profits off of this. So don’t think that it’s just, oh, all these people are losing money. Most people that would be losing equity value are people that are not the big Wall Street types on a panic like this. I think that the panic will be short run in the market.
SPEAKER 05 :
because i think it will start to play out and it will level off but i also think there are other positive economic factors and we’ll play the treasury secretary in a moment that can be seen that the media is not telling you about that’s the thing is the media controls the narrative social media controls the narrative all your favorite liberal you know influences are going to share what they think right now because this is a moment of what you’d say quote unquote weakness as the economy did take a hit let’s not pretend it didn’t But as Will said, you’re also giving us two days. You haven’t had a play out. You have people who are in control of that narrative that don’t necessarily want it to be successful in general. So what do you have to do? You have to stay tuned to places like us here at the ACLJ, us here on the Sekulow Show. Maybe you’re watching Salem News Channel. Maybe you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble. Finding those alternative media options because we are not going to force feed you any sort of fake. This is the truth. We’re telling you the truth. That’s what we always do here at the ACLJ. That’s what we always do here on Seculo, even if you don’t like to hear it. And like I said, it is okay to look at this and say, man, I’ve got some concerns. I’m worried about the economy. That is okay. But that is why we’ll come in and we’re not just going to gloss over that and say everything is fine. We’re going to tell you what we think and what some of the leading experts also believe. And as Will said, there’s a lot of people still making money. There’s a lot of other ways people are going to be making money. As I said, we’ve seen gas prices drop. What affects the average American more, the stock market dropping or gas prices dropping? I mean, I think that’s a pretty simple answer. Let’s go take a call. Can we take a call? Let’s go to Nadine, who’s calling from the state of Maryland. Nadine, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, gas prices actually went up. 314 now. What now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Gas prices went up. It was $2.89 last week. It’s $3.14 now.
SPEAKER 05 :
We’re talking about on a global scale here. We’ve seen some decline here. But what was your comment overall?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I think Trump is a failure. I think it’s an economic failure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. I’m giving you an opportunity to speak here. Give me a little bit more info here.
SPEAKER 09 :
The man has had six bankruptcies.
SPEAKER 05 :
OK. All right. I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere with Nadine. It’s OK, Nadine. You have your bullet point facts. But I was hoping to get into some more in-depth conversation because you put to our phone screener that you are a little worried about the economy. And, you know, this is supposed to bring countries negotiation table. But you are feeling a little less optimistic. And that was maybe a more well-rounded version of what she was getting at.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. And once again, I don’t think that Nadine is alone in her thoughts about this. Obviously, whenever you see the market going down quickly, as we saw for two days last week, that is kind of the most readily available economic indicator people look to, even if they’re not directly connected to it. And maybe they have retirement that’s in 401ks. But that’s what you kind of think of as the number. um one i think it was a very quick sell-off there was more sell-off today it went back up it’s bouncing around we’ll see how that plays out but i do also think that and i want to play the treasury secretary’s comment about um the oil prices and things of that nature now also i can’t speak to every location in the country every gas station in the country where the prices are also that’s not what we’re talking about when you’re seeing the cost of oil drop right that then does translate not necessarily that moment but to lower gas prices on the whole so when we look at this and i think we should play this from the treasury secretary but also not discount people like nadine who have very real concerns And especially if you are if you are nearing a retirement age and you’re looking, OK, we’ve got this drop right now. How does it look a week, six weeks, a month from now or even a year from now? I think that those aren’t necessarily unfounded fears. That is a situation where you have to look at and figure out where the economy is going. When you see people coming to the table, that is where you start to think this could potentially be a short-lived panic, as people on Wall Street love to do, and that it’s not necessarily a long-term concern, but it’s also very early. We’re a couple days into this, but let’s play what the Treasury Secretary had to say. This is bite one. both talking about tariffs from the first Trump administration, as well as some other data points on pricing. Let’s go ahead and run that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Chris, what I like is data. And if we look at data from President Trump’s first term, and there’s a big study that just came out from a group of economists, mostly at MIT, that showed that a 20% tariff on China led to a 0.7% tax increase. our price level increase over four years i think that’s pretty good if we can take in 20 in tariffs and it’s a 0.7 increase and kristen the little publicized story this week everyone wants to look at the the stock market going down you know what else went down oil prices went down almost 15 in two days which impacts working americans much more than the stock market does Interest rates hit their low for the year, so I’m expecting the mortgage applications to pick up.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, and that is the Secretary of Treasury. I want to make sure people know that.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. Yeah, Scott Besant. And what he’s pointing out there is that other numbers, such as the price for a barrel of oil, has gone down almost 15%, which will translate into lower gas prices, which not only affect you at the pump, but also the cost of your goods as they’re being transported across the country, because that fuel cost is baked into the price. Also, the interest rates. Everyone… In many areas across the country have been priced out of housing, not just because of the prices going up, but because of during the early 2020s, you were at two percent, two and a quarter, three percent interest rate up to seven and a half under the Biden administration. That’s that prices you out of housing really fast.
SPEAKER 05 :
My house has doubled in value over the last decade, but we cannot move. Right. We cannot afford to move because the interest rates are so high that our payment would be like, you know, 10 times. I mean, I’m not even joking. Like 10 times what we’re paying right now. But you know what? Good for Secretary Bessette coming out and making that statement. We’re going to take more calls. Like all he’s saying is it’ll work out just fine. All we need is just a little patience. 1-800-684-3110. Have your voice heard on the air. The ACLJ, we’re at work right now. You may just hear us talking about tariffs. You may just hear talking about the economy. But of course, the ACLJ team is really on the move right now to protect your religious liberties. And we need your support. We have extended our Life and Liberty Drive through this month. That means all donations are doubled because amazing ACLJ supporters and champions are ready to unlock their donations right now. So have your donation doubled. We have sent a demand on behalf of our client, a New York public defender. We’ve got so much, I’m just going to get to you next segment. Welcome back to Secular. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I do want to talk to you a bit about some of the work the ACLJ is doing, but before that, I want to get to one of these calls, just so we can go ahead and take one. Let’s go to Lisa, who is calling, watching on Facebook. Lisa in North Carolina, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, I just wanted to say, and another comment to the other caller, We have gas in North Carolina at $2.54. And Dave Ramsey’s crew says, don’t look at your portfolio right now. Just kind of look. Don’t look and take advantage of buying low. Don’t panic.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, we don’t give out financial advice, so I don’t want to say that your words speak for us. But I think a lot of people feel that way because right now, much like any dip in the economy, in the dip of the stock market, is not really the time to freak out. It’s the time, like he said, I think Dave is probably right. Just take a break from looking at it for a couple days and then see where we’re at. You know what? In the comments, everyone’s putting in what their gas prices is, and I kind of love that. Put that in. If you know your gas prices and where you live, that’s a fun comment. And if it went up or down.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think that’s good. Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER 02 :
Go ahead. Add to it. Lisa, thank you, though. I think a lot of people are feeling that way. Yeah, and once again, whenever there is a dramatic change, what the bureaucratic state and what the more big government-minded, more liberal-minded folks want is no change from what happens in America. They have, okay, presidents can come and go, but we will maintain what we are doing regardless. They don’t like when a president or an administration comes in as a disruptor, or has a different philosophy, they want the same. That’s why I think they get excited when conservatives and Democrats fight over social issues, because at the end of the day, they can keep their agenda moving forward. Now, we do think that social issues are very important and worth fighting for, But at the other end of that is that when things like this happen, it is going to cause disruption. It is going to cause some people to try and make it fail. That’s why you will hear stories of people that made a vast fortune off of this dip in the market because they know how to play that game.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Carell will make a movie about it in a few years.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’ll be great. Box office hit if there are still box offices. That’s true. You know, the movie industry as a whole.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, I don’t know. Minecraft opened 350 mils. You know what? That’s pretty big. Big deal, that Minecraft movie. I’m sure a bunch of your kids went and saw that. But yeah, change is hard. Change hurts for a lot of people. You get nervous.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re doing a lot of song lyrics today. That was a song lyric? I don’t know. It felt like it. I heard a couple earlier, and then that felt like you looked at me very intently. Well, you laughed. I mean, time may change me, but I can’t trace time.
SPEAKER 05 :
So let’s move on a little bit and talk about the work of the ACLJ, important work that we’re doing. And look. You have heard on the big picture what we’re doing. You’ve heard some of the big scale stuff we’re doing. We are currently working on a really important moment for Congo. You’ve heard about the hundreds of Christians that are being brutally attacked, many murdered in barbaric ways. And that’s happening for real. But there’s also still things happening in this country that feels like the ACLJ from the 1980s and the 1990s. It feels like the origins of the organization. And these instances still have to be called out. Whether you saw the win for the church on the beach or you saw the win or the temporary win, we’ll see what happens, for the teacher who could not pray in public, could not pray where her students or faculty may see her, including in her car. Of course, we at least got to the next step of that. But this one is happening right now. And this is a government attorney, a government lawyer. Like, I know that’s not a great way to start. A lot of you are going to go, ugh. Logan, don’t even continue. But you know what they got rights to? The government lawyer, among a smattering of things on his desk, including a Grogu, a Baby Yoda, and a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, he happened to have a Bible open on his desk that he could reflect to during his break times. And of course, that was enough for not only complaints, but to get reprimanded.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And this is a public defender in New York for a county. And we’ve had to send a legal demand on his behalf because here’s what happened. He had this Bible on his desk. There’s no issue with that legally, constitutionally. However… A supervisor actually orchestrated an entire situation where had another individual go and cause a scene about complaining about this. So the supervisor had a fellow employee barge into our client’s office and loudly demand the Bible be removed. Our client respectfully requested that any directive come in writing. And that request did not lead to a civil discussion about the law. Instead, the supervisor then escalated it, stormed into the office, picked up the Bible, demanded it need to go, cited vague concerns about clients seeing it. even though it wasn’t in view of the clients. And in an effort to comply and deescalate, our client actually moved it to a less visible place, but didn’t remove the Bible. And then when he reiterated to the supervisor, the willingness to accommodate reasonable concerns, but formally requested a religious accommodation to keep his Bible there under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Now, remember, this is a lawyer they’re dealing with and he’s citing law. Well, that didn’t solve it. They actually did a formal reprimand that goes into our client’s file permanently, citing vague performance deficiencies and claiming that his conduct had been unduly disruptive. And they warned in the directive to refrain from having any Bible or religious text open and visible when meeting with clients or even fellow staff members. So, reaches out to the ACLJ. We have sent this formal demand saying that we want them to remove this from his file, this issue, this reprimand.
SPEAKER 05 :
You can tell this is not going to be fun. These are people who are hostile to his beliefs, to his faith. By just having a Bible on his desk, that was somehow too much for people to handle. You couldn’t, yeah, I’m sure if you walked past it, what, you felt something? I’m sure you did. Sure you did, because that is what happens when you have the power of the word of God when you walk past it. You may look at it and go, okay, I can’t take this anymore. We’ve seen that with a lot of these atheist groups. I can feel the presence of a cross in here, and therefore, because I’m an atheist, it shouldn’t be here. Well, I have a feeling you know why you’re feeling the presence of that cross, and I feel like it’s probably the same for this guy’s Bible. You ever walked into any hotel room, any hospital, whatever, you feeling that same way? I’m sure you are. Look, the ACLJ is taking action right now. Will said, we filed a demand right now, said you take care of this right now. And if you don’t, by the way, we’re suing you, we’re going to court. And guess who’s probably going to win? Probably us, unless you have some sort of crazy court system. Because most people understand, normal, decent human people understand that your religious rights are not given up. Your religious freedom is not given up because of where you work or who you work for. There are rules and regulations, sure. There are things you can and can’t do at work, of course. Is one of those on your break time, read the Bible? i don’t think so i don’t think the government can say that and we’re going to make sure that that is true phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110 this is the end of the first half hour we got a second half hour coming up and we want you to join us and if you don’t get us on your local station number one they should so demand them just like we’re demanding this you demand that they carry our full hour at no additional cost and Support the work of the ACLJ while you’re at it because you can get this show for absolutely free by going to ACLJ.org, by going to YouTube, Rumble, the Salem News Channel, which is available on Pluto. It’s available on a lot of other free TV options, streaming options. You should take a look at it. Of course, you can find it later on on all your favorite podcast players. Later on, you can listen to it. You can go back. You can send it to your friends. We encourage you to do because we are almost to 470,000 YouTube subscribers. I’d love to get that. That’s just one of the small outlets we are on. We have radio around the country. We have other outlets, digital outlets around the world. And that is because of people like you who can support this broadcast and keep this broadcast absolutely free and keep all that legal help absolutely free because we do it with you as you support the work of the ACLJ. All your gifts are doubled for the rest of this month. So do it today. Don’t wait until the last day. We’ll be right back with the second half hour coming up.
SPEAKER 04 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to the second half hour of Sekulow. If you missed any of this, by the way, when we’re all done and the live show is over, go back and listen to the first half hour. It was a great first half hour. You hear about all the work of the ACLJ. You can hear more about the tariff situation as we’re going to reset a little bit because many of you are just tuning in now and you’re hearing about the breaking news that over 50 countries have come to the table. Like we said, that this was going to be a negotiation in terms of the tariffs that were going in place. Some of these may be long term. Some may not. We even have the EU saying, hey, we’d like a 0% tariff. You have Israel saying, most important things, we’re going to 0%. We’ve got 50 other countries saying, let’s get to the table. So, Will, this is happening. The idea of it becoming a negotiation tactic is working. Sometimes we need to just take a breath, take a pause, and see how this all will play out. Of course, this is the Trump administration. Of course, it caused a little chaos, and it changes the way people are thinking about these situations. Because, again, they’re thinking creatively, even if you disagree with them. They’re thinking creatively and going a different way. But President Trump said there would be tariffs. Maybe people didn’t expect it to be this broad, but here we are.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And once again, this is a different way of thinking. This is not something that President Trump hid, though. He had always run on the fact of trying to bring things like manufacturing back, trying to figure out the situation with the trade imbalances across the world with the United States, trying to really champion the rights of working class Americans and not just the Wall Street corporate interests. that profit greatly when things are made very cheaply in China and then able to be sold here for profit. So I think that when you see any sort of disruptor, there is going to be disruptions. I think that is one of the things that needs to be taken into account. We don’t know how this plays out, though. We don’t know because it is now President Trump’s issues uh and things that he is fighting for are not just clashing with other nations but also with big corporations that may not be on board with this type of deal here’s what i’ll tell you if this is not working this goes south we’re going to tell you here at the acl we’re going to tell you here through the secular broadcast i’m not afraid of telling you the truth i’m not only going to give you what you want to hear that would makes our show a little bit different than a lot of people
SPEAKER 05 :
a lot of different news sources, a lot of different media broadcasts and podcasts. It’s because I’m not just going to tell you what you want to hear. Now, I will tell you, if you’re going to do something this extreme, you’re going to give it a little patience. You’re going to see where this ends up. I’m not going to give you my decision this week on how the tariffs went into place. I saw some of these things that get a little verbose, get a little ridiculous when you saw a statement a friend shared that was like, did you know if an iphone was made in the united states it would cost between sixty thousand and a hundred thousand dollars number one that’s probably not true number two if it is true if that’s true then that is precisely the problem because for some reason for some reason democrats and the left is all about human rights except when it comes to the price of their goods You know, at that point you’re like, I can’t live without my iPhone. So of course we have to have essentially you know, child labor happening or very underpaid for, you know, China. I’m not saying this directly to Apple. I’m just saying in general, we know, okay, it’s the quiet secret. We all know how things are done. We all know how it exists in these nations where you have a very underpaid, very highly worked society.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And when you look at that and you think it’s been going on for so long in that way, No wonder there is such a discrepancy if you try to immediately bring it back. One, I don’t believe that figure that it would be that much.
SPEAKER 05 :
It may be $3,000 instead of $1,200.
SPEAKER 02 :
But when you start to look at it and be like, are you really okay with that? Because that’s what they’ve set up. I don’t think anyone, if you really knew the conditions, would be okay with that just to get something cheaper.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. All right. Phone lines are open for you. Three are taken right now, so those three, stay on hold. We’ve got a guest coming in the next segment, so it’s going to be a minute, but stay on hold if you’re already on hold. Candy, Ryan, Dan. And then we got three lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Once again, I want to tell you to support the work of the ACLJ during this life in Liberty Drive. I know you hear me say it. You’ve heard now me saying it for months and months. It feels like, but you know what? It’s an important time. We have some incredible members, ACLJ champions, who said, you know what? We want to keep it going. Keep it rolling. Keep the double donations. So right now, those donations are matching. We need your help. Okay, we’re a little down. As everyone is right now, when everything’s going crazy, this is the time to step up. ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secula. We are going to take your phone calls in the next segment at 1-800-684-3110. There’s one line open right now. It may go to two. But we are joined now by Mike Pompeo, Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. Secretary Pompeo, I wanted to start off, obviously, the conversation at hand that a lot of people are talking about are the tariffs right now, Trump’s tariffs, that has kind of rattled the world, if you will, in terms of whether people feel that it’s good or bad. However… You’ve worked on the global scale stage, maybe more than anyone. How do you think China’s feeling this morning dealing with these tariffs?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I saw a statement just from the last 20 or 30 minutes. The president said he’s may well even increase the tariffs from 34 to 50, or maybe he said an additional 50 on top of the 34. I actually think that makes really good sense. The Chinese Communist Party has been hard at stealing American jobs, American intellectual property. threatening our friends and allies around the world, conducting espionage against the United States. I think going after that particular target makes enormous amount of sense. I hope I must say my disagreement with this broad tariff policy is if it’s about collecting revenue, I think that’s a mistake. I’m a limited government, small government, free trade guy at my core. If there are other objectives, if the idea is to get everybody’s tariffs down, let’s go compete in the world on an equal basis. It makes perfect sense. I hope we’re not doing this so that we can grow government.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I think that is one of the concerns or kind of conflicts that we’re seeing break out even amongst the Republican Party is that sometimes it’s hard to wrap your head around a tariff policy as a small government conservative minded philosophy. That’s not historically really the position of conservatives of broad tariff policy. But when you are looking at nations like china that have been using economic warfare against the united states for decades and using it to their advantage to enrich and empower the party there i think that it makes a lot of sense to fight that and not just let it be and then tell the american people look you get cheap goods you should be happy is that kind of the way the american people should be looking at this
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. You’re precisely right. It is not enough to say, hey, we’re just going to let this continue to roll as it has been and let the Chinese Communist Party steal our stuff. But I think you can hold those two thoughts together at the same time. China is, in that sense, a very unique case. There are others that fit into the same bucket as well. But I think I think if you I think if you’re justifying this saying, hey, we’re going to we’re going to go do this without reducing the total government burden. That’s a drag on the American economy. It’ll hurt people in my home state of Kansas. It’ll hurt people all across the Midwest who are dependent on the capacity to to, you know, use global supply chains from our friends and allies in ways that really make sense for them. We should encourage that. We should want more of that trade as amongst in between. But it should absolutely be done on a way where whether it’s whether it’s tariffs or sanctions or other non-trade barriers to entry of American product regulatory stuff, we should level the playing field and we should be very clear it is unacceptable to treat America unfairly.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think a lot of people are in favor of that sort of free trade concept if we can get there. And we’re seeing some countries react that way. I did want to pivot a little bit to talk about a new article you just posted on ACLJ.org. And it is about the border, of course, and the Trump administration’s plan to secure the border and make America safer. But you made a very interesting point. You say it’s not just about security. It’s about being sovereign and serenity. Can you expound upon that? Because I think a lot of people see this and look, you even have a Bernie Sanders coming out and saying, hey, I don’t agree with anything President Trump has done except for that border stuff and what he’s doing because none of us really like what’s happening there. So when you have even people like Bernie coming to your defense, clearly something’s working.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, goodness. You put me on dangerous ground agreeing with Bernie Sanders, so I’m going to be really careful here. Look, my point here was this. You can’t have a nation with porous borders that allow just anyone who decides to come into your country, enter the country. It’s certainly unsafe. But more than that, we should, the American people, American U.S. citizens should get to decide who gets the privilege of being an American. And that means having a secure border. And You know, all the focus this last week or so has been on tariffs, but this is part of a larger idea, right? That President Trump is trying to deliver against this central idea of America as a sovereign, independent nation who is treated fairly on the global stage and who treats its own citizens fairly. We need to get back there. The fact that they’ve now demonstrated that what Joe Biden did was a fraud, right? Joe Biden said, without some more laws, we can’t fix this. We have demonstrated again, just as we did in the first four years, that a serious border policy can secure America and keep it sovereign.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and to your point that the fraud that was said by, you know, we we can’t do it. I’ve done everything I can do as president. Congress needs to pass more laws. There was one hundred and sixty thousand illegal crossings a month under President Biden at some time. And then it’s dropped to just seven thousand in March of last year of this year, rather last month. That is such a. crazy dramatic contrast of with no new law being passed even though there is a republican house and senate that may be one of the biggest presidential lies that we’ve seen in our lifetime
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, that and the fact that he was qualified to run another four years. Those may be twin frauds. Look, what it does demonstrate, you’ve got it right. What it demonstrates is this. With real leadership and making clear that the benefit of coming here is only going to accrue to people who come here legally, it just changes everything. It changes behavior. They call their friends back home, whether that’s in China or Africa or in El Salvador or Guatemala, and say, this is not the right time to come. And that is really good for the United States. And it’s good for those who want to come, just as my ancestors did. They want to come here. They want to come here legally. It’s really good for them, too. This is this is a decent, humane policy. The president has demonstrated it is possible to do. I’m confident that while that number is really low, whether they can keep that number, that’ll be hard to do. But they have demonstrated you can fundamentally shift the nation in a direction that provides for the sovereignty and safety and security of the American people.
SPEAKER 02 :
We got one final question here and it kind of ties in with you mentioned how the media was focusing on the tariffs and they’ve been focusing on any number of things except for successes like drawing down this border security issue. But there was an analysis done that the media gave 10 times more coverage to the arrest of an alleged Hamas supporter at Tufts University rather than the coverage they gave of the arrest of an actual MS-13 gang leader in Virginia that was just minutes outside of the nation’s capital. Why? I mean, I know this is almost rhetorical at this point, but why is the media so focused on still parroting the left’s narrative about what the president’s doing instead of showcasing actual victories that keep people safe?
SPEAKER 03 :
yeah it’s indecent uh but it is what we’ve come to expect from the uh the left media which is most of the historic media outlets it reminds me of the narrative that was spun back in the summer of 2020 when the writing was taking place somehow this was just protesting and then of course they flipped the script completely sometime later i i wish only that they would report factually It’s important to know that this administration is taking down MS-13. That really matters to the safety and security of families in places like Kansas. We have to tell that story because it discourages bad behavior. It makes terrorists think twice. It makes gang members think twice. And importantly, it is delivering precisely on what President Trump said he would deliver on when he was running for president. It’s a promise that he had made and it’s a promise that he is in work keeping.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much for joining us, Secretary Pompeo. I did want to encourage our audience, obviously, to go check out that new article on ACLJ.org and all the great content, by the way. It’s available not behind a paywall. It’s available absolutely for free for you. And only because you support the work of the ACLJ are we able to provide this incredible content for absolutely no cost. And you get to hear from experts like Secretary Pompeo, as well as our great staff of lawyers, our team, Rick Grinnell, so many people who join our broadcasts. Before she took her position, we had Tulsa Gabbard on this show for many years, of course. So we got a lot of great people, and that’s only because of you. And look, I’d love to know, who would you like to see join the Sekulow team? Who would you like to see join the broadcast team? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you. Obviously, if they’re currently in the administration, that’s something we can’t probably do. But think about some other voices that you like. Maybe a Sean Spicer or someone who is friendly. We’ve had on this show multiple times. I’d love to hear your thoughts. 684-3110. Also, if you want to be on the air, we have three lines open because we lost a call during there. So 1-800-684-3110. Someone just commented they want Tim Walls to join the show. Well, you know, I think that would stir up the comments. Like Tim Walls as a commentator?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Oh, interesting. I don’t know if you’d agree with his hot takes. No, but they’ll give us a jumping off point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. All right. Phone lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Put in the comments who you think. This is still our life in Liberty Drive. I’m not just going to keep beating you over the head with it and just keep talking about it, but I am going to talk about it for the next 58 seconds. Because when you’ve heard this broadcast, understand there’s two kind of big arms of the ACLJ. There is a media side, and that’s what we do here. That’s what I’m looking at right now, this incredible media team. And then right upstairs, there’s the legal team. And some of them are deployed around the world. And we have offices in Strasbourg, France, which is part of the European Union. That’s the European Center for Law and Justice. We have the ACLJ Jerusalem, for those of you who support the work that we do in Israel, making sure American values are spread everywhere. And there’s places we can’t even talk about that the ACLJ does work in. You can take a look at all that. Of course, we’re here in America helping you if you need it. So I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org, check out all the great content. Scan that QR code, though, and have your donation doubled. We’ll be right back. One line’s open, 1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Sekulow. Now it’s time to hear from the most important voice in the room, and that’s you, of course. Let’s take these. Actually, we’re not going to take it in order because Dan’s calling, and Dan is an ACLJ champion. And if you’re an ACLJ champion, you get bumped to the front of the line. Dan, in Maryland, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, I’ve been listening to… Mr. Pompeo, a big supporter. What I believe we as a nation, for the most part, are stuck in is we’re in the weeds. We’re looking at all this stuff happening at a very low level. But imagine yourself, you decide you want to take over a country. I mean, the overall divide and conquer. I’m also a big follower for General Michael Flynn. And And I actually bought many of his books and actually passed them around to different members. But if you wanted to take over a nation, you cause division. You do basically what the United States has been doing in foreign governments for the past hundred years. Get operatives in there, cause division, mess with the elections. Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dan, I’m only cutting off because we have a lot of calls and I want to get to as many, but I think a lot of people feel that way, which is this is how things have changed so rapidly in the last decade.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And even if you look at the issues surrounding the Department of Government Efficiency and things of that nature, that the big government agenda, the bureaucratic deep state agenda, is to keep their work going in perpetuity and let the American public fight about petty political issues nonstop. And what is different now is that that’s why you’re also seeing people like the members of the Doge team seem like they come across the ideological spectrum. But what they all believe in is that the government shouldn’t be continuing to become this behemoth that doesn’t need to be reined in, be used efficiently and not waste money. And that’s what Dan talks about is that when you start to try to do change, it actually can bring people together. But the problem is those that are so entrenched, whether it be the way that our tariff scheme and our foreign trade works or whether it be internal government issues, when you start to rattle that. They’ve been using the long strategy, letting the frog boil, slowly turn up the heat, and then you don’t even realize what’s happened. When you try to quickly reverse that or do something, it causes these entrenched bureaucrats or quasi-government officials to freak out and to try to disrupt that and cause panic.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, we’re going to continue on. Let’s go to Candy in Georgia, watching on YouTube. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, I think President Trump is doing a great job, and I’m pro-tariff. He said things like the stock market, metals, et cetera, would go down, but it would be temporary. But it will go back up. It’s not an overnight thing, but we will see a positive outcome overall. We just have to be patient.
SPEAKER 05 :
Candy, I think a lot of people feel that way. You just got to be patient, see how this all plays out. Like I told you and I told our audience, we’re going to be honest with you and honest brokers here. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll let you know. We’ll tell you how we feel. We are not just going to play by one party’s rule here. So look, I think a lot of people feel that way. It’s not going to be an overnight fix. This isn’t something that gets changed in two or three days. But what is, is the media cycle. The media cycle gets turned over every couple of days with some brand new story. Okay? You remember the signal text messages? No? Maybe you’ve forgotten about that. Why? Because it was the end of the world, the end of democracy, like a week and a half ago, and nobody’s talking about it anymore. People have moved on because the news cycle is very short. So right now it’s tariffs. And right now that’s what people are going to share. And that’s what your liberal friends are going to post. And that’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be the protests that happened over the weekend. Those are the things that are going to spur conversation. And then the ratings are going to dip. shares are going to go lower and they’re going to come up with something else and if the economy bounces back guess what is not going to be reported very much on the mainstream media the success of this campaign now again we will see it’s pending success but we know 50 countries are at the table we know some of them are some major players and we know negotiations are pretty hot right now Let’s go ahead and continue on and take a couple more calls. We’ve got four minutes here. We’ve got enough for two calls left. Elizabeth in Texas, go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I’m in ground zero of the border crossings of McAllen, Texas. So the things that I’ve seen and experienced with my own eyes would just shock you. To give you a perfect example, as a teacher, we had a lockdown lockout about two years ago when they found a stash house of over 80 human beings in a house. That were being trafficked. The things that are happening at that border, people just don’t even talk about, yet they champion themselves as these human rights activists. I’ve got friends who were going and stopping these traffickers at these Catholic charities that were overrun. They were showing up in vans with this little vest on that says staff. they walked in and they would get people like children and women and put them in this van and these citizens were stopping them by themselves asking them where’s your credentials where are you taking them and they would get these women and children out of the van and save their lives because the trafficking is just outrageous i wish i was surprised elizabeth i wish i was surprised by your comments because this is the truth of what’s happening
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, whether that’s trafficking, whether it’s drug trafficking, human trafficking, a lot of it is happening. And of course you’re going to be painted. And look, I feel, I have a lot of compassion for people who are wanting to seek a better life, especially in our country, in the United States of America. But you can’t let that go past the fact that there is a horrible crime happening because of the border situation. but we’re supposed to pretend to ignore that because you can’t both be compassionate for people who are looking for a better life and also want to end illegal immigration. And not because it’s people who are trying to get here because there’s stories like this that happened over and over again. If you go to any major sporting event, if you go to any of these places that are happening, there is trafficking happening around the corner. There’s trafficking happening around the corner from you probably right now. If you live in any sort of market, any sort of major market, mid-level market, and I’m sure in rural areas as well. It’s happening. We’re supposed to turn a blind eye to it, pretend it’s not happening. But the real compassionate are the people who care and know that you’re probably one of those people. And you’re going to be painted as some sort of a person who doesn’t want immigrants to come into our country. And that’s absolutely absurd. We’re a nation built on it. But without it, without any sort of protection, Trouble runs wild and it runs wild like Elizabeth said, where there are places that are just horrifying and you can hear those stories over and over again. Let’s go to Mildred who’s calling in Texas. Mildred, you’ll probably be our last call for the day. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, I’m very happy to see these tariffs, to see a president who will bring the other countries to the table and deal with them as they need to be dealt with as our America has been great in the past and it can be great again. I own a small business. And before Obama took office, before the recession, we could buy parts that lasted. We put a front end under a truck because we rent portable toilets and clean them out, and so we’re hauling water weights, so it tears the front ends out from under them. So we could buy these parts that go in the front ends, and they would last, in which they don’t last forever because of what it is, but they would last more than two months. Now whenever we buy parts, because it’s so hard to find American-made parts, because the other companies can get them shipped in out of China and wherever. They just practically mush. You can take a ball-peen hammer and hit one of them, a ball joint, and it will go sideways.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mildred, I wanted to let you talk because I think that you’re the exact person who should be speaking to this because you are dealing with it on a day-to-day basis with your business. Whether it’s a small business, a big business… It is a business that is being hurt by the way we have devalued manufacturing in the country. So what we’re hoping is that this turns around some of that. Now, again, that’s long-term, but you’re willing to take that hit. That’s pretty interesting to understand that long-term, this could be better for your business. We’re going to keep an eye on it. Speaking of which, though, I really want you to take the next 20 seconds here. Think about supporting our work, whether that is for incredible people, Like that lawyer who just wanted to have a Bible on his desk. Government lawyer, they’re telling him, no, the church is being shut down at the beach. We’re able to support and get that quickly fixed. I want you to scan the QR code right now. It’s not that I don’t want you to see my pretty face. Of course I do. You got to scan that code.
