Join us as we untangle the complex web of diplomacy that recently unfolded, avoiding what could have been a significant international conflict. The episode navigates the realm of strategic decision-making by world leaders and highlights the importance of dialogue over warfare. We also cover key updates from the ACLJ’s legal actions in Massachusetts, fighting for the rights of pregnancy resource centers, and emphasize the importance of steadfast support for causes that defend life and liberty.
SPEAKER 02 :
We had breaking news overnight as President Trump and the Trump administration stop a World War III situation.
SPEAKER 05 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you today at 1-800-684-3110. That’s 1-800-684-3110 to have your voice heard on the air. We’re covering the breaking news that came out last night, and that was that the Trump administration was working with Israel because Israel had planned an attack in Iran and they said, hold off, before we do that, before we move to a military option, let’s see if we can get to the table. And we know precisely that’s what’s happened. Now these reports come out, obviously a war between Israel and Iran would have to be supported. by the United States of America and our needs and whatever we have to utilize to help them. And I think that is where it got a little bit hairy for this administration saying, we don’t want, as we’ve learned, the Trump administration is not war hungry to jump in and do these kind of things.
SPEAKER 04 :
report out of the New York Times details that Israel had plans to attack nuclear sites in Iran in May. So just two weeks from now. And it gives a lot of detail that originally the plan was set for November, but Prime Minister Netanyahu wanted it to be earlier than waiting that long and wanted it in May. They were optimistic that the United States would sign off on this, but it took a lot more than just the United States signing off on this. The United States would have to be an integral, a part of this. They would have to not only help defend Israel from retaliation, but many of the plans included the U.S. itself conducting protests. bombing because of the 30,000 pound bunker busters that we have in our arsenal to get into some of these nuclear sites. Israel would need U.S. support for this to be successful. And as of right now, President Trump, after consulting with Susie Wiles, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense and the DNI, that he has decided to stick with this diplomacy plan of which we have round two of just this weekend.
SPEAKER 02 :
And that’s For now, remember that we’re not saying never because look with Iran, who knows how these are going to go, but you know what? I am happy with the administration that’s willing to have these conversations with a country like Israel that we obviously are very supportive of, but say, you know what? We appreciate your thoughts, your plans. But first, let’s see if we can avoid more bloodshed. And I think that is very important. I think that’s important as America moving forward, that we aren’t always just jumping into a war that we have to support or not. Whether we support the war with Iran or not, it may be something that we say as an American people, you know what? Enough is enough. But let’s not start there. That doesn’t have to be day one. Let’s get to the negotiation table. Same with like what happened with Russia and Ukraine. We decided we picked a side really quick and decided we were going to support them with equipment and money and funding. And look, I think we all know how that’s going and how the American people have soured on a lot of what we’ve done there. We know that’s what kind of what happened in Iraq, where eventually people kind of soured on what we were doing there. So the American people, though, they are happy to immediately respond because we have those kind of hearts. They want to jump out and help. I do think it’s good that you have a president who’s willing to take a breath, listen to those advisors around him, and realize he put together a team that people voted for, and that team is not a warmonger team. But you may have disagreements with that. Look, we had on Mike Pompeo yesterday. He had his thoughts and said, look, I’m happy the negotiations are happening, that there’s a diplomatic process that can go. But don’t trust him and certainly don’t let them continue to enrich uranium. We’ll keep that conversation going. Give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. We also have some ACLJ stuff to cover with CeCe Heil coming up, including a really interesting moment that happened while we were on the air yesterday. So you know that our team is continually at work. So when you hear us here, there are hundreds of lawyers. There’s hundreds of media team out there working on your behalf. And we can’t do that without you. And we also have a big update in our Massachusetts case. So right now, I’m going to encourage you. Go to ACLJ.org during our Life and Liberty Drive. Your donations are doubled right now through the end of the month. Do it right now. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. And I see a bunch of you are just jumping in right now on YouTube and Rumble. So I want to reset what’s going on. This news broke overnight. And that was that the Trump administration was having some high level meetings with Israel. and encouraging them to put a pause on their plan to go to war directly with Iran in the month of May. So just in a couple of weeks, because that plan needed not only American support, needed American equipment and Americans to do this, to potentially go in and defeat all that’s happening in Iran. And we’re not saying that’s off the table. But we are saying it’s temporarily off the table as America is currently meeting and having negotiations and sitting down and having diplomatic meetings. Again, I think we’ll talk about this with Rick Grinnell a little bit later. I think what’s always important is to remember to reframe how you think about this. Just because you’re sitting down across from someone doesn’t mean they’re your friend. In fact, it could mean the opposite of that. Think about it in a way of a court case. Sure, you got to sit down across from your opponent. or you have to actually face them person to person and actually handle it, doesn’t mean you’re sitting being buddy-buddy handing them a big red reset button or anything like that. That’s happened before, though.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’ve seen a red reset button. I can’t remember who did that. Who gave Russia that? Yeah, it was in wrong, the wrong phrase in Russian. Ah, Hillary, that’s who it was. I forgot, sorry. Sorry, you had deleted those. I bleach-bitted that part of my brain.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. But Will, as I just see, there actually is a spike of people watching right now. Why don’t we go over a little bit of what happened here, like we did in the first segment, and then what the current plan is. in our talks with Iran, because that’s going to continue over the weekend. Again, a very busy weekend for people, Holy Week for Christians, Passover for Jewish people, and hopefully for you Christians as well. Like I said, the stories kind of work together pretty well.
SPEAKER 04 :
But, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, so this comes out of the New York Times, and it reports that Israeli officials had developed plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites. Their goal was to at least set back Tehran’s development by a year or more. They originally had a plan for November, which would have been much more aggressive, would have had Israeli commandos going into the sites and actually – sabotaging and destroying the sites but that would have required mostly american air cover and bombing campaigns while they were doing this but then they at the behest of the prime minister who wanted this done much earlier in the month of may came up with other plans and these plans would have been mostly bombing campaigns but it would have required substantial American assistance, not just support in the sign-off phase or even if you’re attacked, we can help. This would have required active participation of the U.S. military. The Israelis were at first… thinking that they could get there, they could get the Americans to sign off on this. You remember that meeting in the White House that was about the tariffs when Prime Minister Netanyahu came to America right after the Liberation Day announcement to have this first meeting with President Trump? The optics of it was for the tariffs. The reality of it, we’re learning, was for discussions about this, high-level discussions between the Prime Minister and the President and the teams with them about this attack. And where this started to shift, and I think this is what’s really fascinating with the state of the current administration, the Republican Party, and even the people within the cabinet, is that once again, as much as the left wants you to think that President Trump is trigger happy, just wanting to press that button to send missiles at our enemies, he was listening to counsel from his advisors. And Specifically, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, brought to the table new intelligence with an assessment that the buildup of American weaponry could potentially spark a wider conflict with Iran, which the U.S. doesn’t want. And Ms. Gabbard, as reported, along with Susie Wiles, the chief of staff, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who has been very vocally saying we will not hesitate to use a military option against Iran, and J.D. Vance all voiced their doubts about the attack, which ultimately the president shows we are going to continue. We are going to do tough negotiations, and we’re going to see if we can get something out of that before resorting to what should be the last resort, a military strike.
SPEAKER 02 :
Because we head into this holiday weekend. I did want to give you a moment to let us know what you think. Are you sort of in a position right now where you think America should be going into these conflicts, into these wars? And a lot of times, look, the best interest of Israel is usually in the best interest of America as well. It’s not like Iran is a friend to any of us here in the States or in Israel. What do you think? we need to do. I’d love to hear from you. As I always say, you’re one of the most important voices in the room and I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. Again, that’s at 1-800-684-3110. As we celebrate this weekend, as we head into Good Friday tomorrow and obviously Easter Sunday coming up, what a perfect time. to really put your prayers and thoughts with our team as well, because we are hard at work. And Will, we’re going to break down in just a little bit how our ACLJ team cannot move fast enough, but cannot move faster. in terms of the work that we’re able to do you’re going to really enjoy some of these stories coming up and we also have a big update in the next segment on our fight back against the state of massachusetts you’ve heard about that and this is the life and liberty drive and today we’re going to spend a little bit of time talking about the life side of this because we know how important that topic is not only for me and for you but for everyone and for the aclj supporters as it has been for the last nearly 35 years We built that website also, remember choice begins here, to counter the campaign that was being run trying to target pro-life pregnancy resource centers. And we can tell you that thousands of people have been visiting that site looking for locations of pro-life pregnancy resource centers. So look, that was not a ad campaign that was going to go out and say, go give money to the ACLJ. That wasn’t the point. The point was to actually talk to the people who needed help, who were seeing those avoid anti-abortion center signs. Instead, we were able to provide. This ad campaign, because of you, the supporters, there’s some of them right now if you’re watching right now. Again, these are not an ad campaign to support the ACLJ. This is an ad campaign created by the ACLJ to help support pro-life pregnancy resource centers that don’t have the money to take out these ad spaces all over Massachusetts, and of course, in very prominent areas in Boston. Now, we’re in court. There’s a motion to dismiss that’s happening right now, and we are fighting back against it aggressively. And that has been scheduled for this May 8th. We need to make sure our team is ready. And as you’re thinking about where to put your support, I encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ right now. This is our life and liberty drive. We are well over halfway done with the month of April, and we really could use your support. Tax season is over. Hopefully you have a breath of fresh air right now. And this is a great time. Your donations are literally helping to save lives, whether that’s in the court or as we said, by just building that counter campaign, thousands of people in that area. But the fight continues and we need your support this Easter week. Give the gift of life. Go to ACLJ.org. Scan the QR code that you see on your screen. Have your gift doubled. Because we’ve been working on this for almost a year now. Since last summer, when I first saw those signs on the street that said avoid anti-abortion centers, I was walking around Boston. I thought we had to do something. And now we are in court. It is scheduled. It is happening. And of course, they delayed it. They delayed it. They delayed it. Our ad campaign starts running throughout the state of Massachusetts. And all of a sudden, the court puts it on the docket.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. And that’s what we will be discussing that in the next segment with C.C. Heil. And that I think it shows also the power of once you are there and they start seeing it. OK, now we’re going to schedule the hearing for this motion to dismiss in this first step, which is the opposition, the abortion industry and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts trying to get. This thrown out of court saying, no, we have the absolute right to use taxpayer dollars to discriminate against pregnancy resource centers because we don’t like them and they don’t offer abortions. That’s what they’re arguing. They’re saying those out of court don’t belong here.
SPEAKER 02 :
You can’t sue us and tell us to stop this. Pregnancy resource centers that provide prenatal. ultrasounds, a lot of the things that are needed. And then what always gets forgotten. And now I always try to bring that up is what they do post. And many of them have days where you go and you get close formula days, special events. Some of them plan birthday parties. They take care of these mothers as much as they can, at least through the first year for many of these pro-life pregnancy resource centers. They are there to help. When we get back also, we’re going to tell you about a moment that happened while we were on air yesterday. Our team was, if you ever see us sometimes pick up a phone or look down on a computer screen, it is not because we are distracted. It’s not because we’re looking at other things or even we’re getting notes sometimes from our producers. Sure, that happens occasionally. But no, this is because there was an active ACLJ moment with our legal team put into action immediately on the streets. We’re going to discuss that coming up. But before that, I want you to give us a call. I haven’t heard from you today. 1-800-684-3110. There’s some phone lines open as you go in to celebrating this weekend, hopefully with your family and your friends. Don’t forget to support the incredible work of the ACLJ. Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us a little bit later in the second half hour, as well as CeCe Heil in the next segment, Senior ACLJ Attorney. And we’ll be right back with more on Sekulow. But right now, I’m going to ask you to put up that QR code. I’m going to ask you because this is what tomorrow. I know a lot of you are going to be off work or a lot of your kids are going to be home. This is the time to donate. Do it today during our Life and Liberty Drive. Your donations are doubled. Once again, go to ACLJ.org and scan the QR code that you see on your screen. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo again. As we start to wrap up this week, I know a lot of you will be off work tomorrow or maybe your kids are off school as we head into the Easter holiday. So if you’re going to focus your time, this is a good time to do it. I want to tell you about the work of the ACLJ because yesterday we were on the show. Like I said, sometimes you’ll see us look down at screens. Sometimes we’re talking to our producers. Sometimes we’re trying to figure out what, you know, if someone’s calling in, we got a little screen here. It tells us who’s calling in. But sometimes it’s because the active work of the ACLJ is happening in real time. And this show is live 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern time. That doesn’t change. So if there’s big work having to get done during that 12 to 1 p.m., it’s not like we say, hey, hold off. let us know and that’s precisely what happened and it happened due to someone on our team having a personal connection and the aclj staff and attorneys went to action immediately cc hiles joining us senior counsel here at the aclj cc i want to give you a moment to share kind of what happens and why it’s so important that we have this team that’s available 24-7 on call. Look, we’re not stopping even this weekend. We’ll have people working heading into the holiday. Of course, we try to let everyone have as much of Easter and Christmas and all the holidays off, but sometimes the law doesn’t necessarily work that way. Right. Tell us about what happened yesterday while we were on air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so this is actually an incredible story because we were able to jump in and take action immediately in real time. This was not something where you got called in after, you know, a violation has happened and we’re looking at filing demand letters or sending demand letters and filing lawsuits. This was actually happening in real time in Illinois. We got word that there were pro-life people that were in front of an abortion clinic and that the police had been called on them and they were ready to cite them. The police were ready to cite them for violating a signage ordinance. And so we literally, and again, I think this is just really amazing and it shows how quickly our attorneys can respond. We literally got on the phone with with the police officers who were there ready to cite these pro-lifers. And we were able to talk them through the actual ordinance and the elements of the ordinance and show them that our clients had not violated the ordinance. And so they were not cited and everything was good. And we will continue to follow this case because it’s not over. But at the very moment when the police were there and ready to write citations, we were able to stop it in its tracks.
SPEAKER 04 :
Actually jump into action. And I think it’s also important to point out, CeCe, that why we don’t just, okay, they’re good. We stopped the police from citing them to move on. The police were actually telling our attorneys that this wasn’t them coming there on their own that they decided to go after these pro-life advocates that day is that they said they were just following orders and that there were members of the city that were actively wanting this citation to go through. And so we know that in order to protect the First Amendment right, in order to make sure that they can follow out their convictions and use their advocacy in this way that they aren’t hindered in the future by another round of police officers, maybe ones that are just also just following orders, doing what they’re told, but that weren’t spoken to by our attorneys and walked through that. We know that they almost have…
SPEAKER 03 :
the this out for them at this point and that they will be looking for another way to go after them absolutely and it’s just like if anybody remembers our Smithsonian case where you know the Smithsonian Institute kicked out pro-lifers kids that came in with a choose life hat or anything that was pro-life just because you get to the bottom of okay it was this one bad actor who did it or you stop that it comes usually the directive comes from somebody above them And so just like in that case, we found out who it came from and we made sure that it got stopped at that level. We will do the same in this case as well. We will get to the bottom of it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, absolutely. That’s why our team, we’re seeing a lot of people cheering everyone on, cheering the ACLJ team on in the comments. We really appreciate that. Of course, we can’t do that without your support because we were able to offer these legal services at absolutely no cost. And I know I pushed that, but again, there’s a lot of new people who watch this show each and every day who don’t know that. When you contact the ACLJ, and by the way, if you need to, all you have to do is go to aclj.org slash help. Fill out a very simple form. You’re immediately connected with an ACLJ attorney if your case is, your potential case is within the scope of the work that we do here. Obviously, we’re not doing family law, that kind of thing. You know, it’s religious freedom, things in that nature. So go to aclj.org slash help if you need it. But we can’t be there for these clients if we don’t have the resources because we want to make sure we can provide the best of the best. And now we are in court, finally, in Massachusetts, coming up in just a couple weeks. And this could be a make or break moment for this case against these pro-life pregnancy resource centers because they are trying to get it completely thrown out.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, you tell the story so well, Logan, because you were actually there in Massachusetts and you were the one that actually saw this campaign as it was being rolled out in Massachusetts, attacking pregnancy resource centers. And it’s literally these laws are viewpoint discrimination because they are promoting and highlighting a pro-abortion viewpoint. And if you have a pro-life viewpoint, not only are they discouraging that, they’re literally going after you even legally. So we have filed a case in Massachusetts and immediately they filed a motion to dismiss, which means they want the case thrown out that it never goes to trial. And so we actually now the court has scheduled an oral argument on that motion dismiss on May 8th. So we will be in Massachusetts and we will be arguing against that motion to dismiss, arguing that our case should proceed and we should be able to come after Massachusetts for this violation.
SPEAKER 02 :
What’s the time period of that? If they say, hey, we want to do this, this oral argument happens, how long until we know if they have thrown it out or they’ve sided with us?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I mean, hopefully you know within 30 days, 60 days. Sometimes courts actually have limits. This is a state court, so sometimes courts have limits that they’re going to say.
SPEAKER 02 :
So relatively quickly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, we should know pretty quickly whether the judge is going to grant the motion to dismiss or deny it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and hopefully we’re shooting for a denial. And look, even if they offer it, there’s more that we can do. That’s not the end of the road. Of course, you just keep pushing forward. So I encourage you right now, you got to support the work of the ACLJ. You got to hear what CeCe’s saying, what our team is doing right now. It is vitally important. We’re talking about the counter campaign. We are talking about having lawyers who are on the ground, ready to work whenever they are called upon. Of course, you have what’s happening in Massachusetts, including not only our counter campaign, but we are in court on May 8th. But our website alone that we built to counter that negative campaign has reached thousands. It’s reached millions of people likely on the streets of Boston. the streets of Massachusetts, but it has really reached thousands of people looking for locations for pro-life pregnancy resource centers. And you could do some simple math and say, that’s a really good thing. That means hopefully a lot more babies are being born because the other side, we were seeing it. We were seeing the direct results. We saw abortions rise by 30% in the state and the Commonwealth, if you will, of Massachusetts. And we saw a 30% decline, almost even on those going to pregnancy resource centers. So we fought back and we are doing it. And we are not only on the streets right now with our ad campaign, we are now back in court because of course it would happen a month after we launch our campaign. We launched the campaign beginning of March and we just heard that it was scheduled last week. It was even supposed to happen a little bit earlier than this, but they decided to bump it back a little bit because of some school holidays and things that are happening in the area. This is going to do it for the first half hour of the show. The second half hour is going to be packed. Rick Grinnell’s joining us. We’re going to take your calls as well at 1-800-684-3110. If you lose us here, we broadcast for a full hour. Some of your stations only pick up the first half hour, and how dare they? But if they don’t pick up the full hour, I encourage you to go to aclj.org. to our youtube channel go to our rumble channel you can find us broadcasting live right there you can download the brand new aclj app which thousands of you have and i encourage you if you have it it’s a great way to not only support the work of the aclj with donations or signing petitions you can also get all your updates and a real catered customized to your preferences on the topics you care about the most on our aclj app and of course you can’t do that without going to aclj.org you can scan the qr code right now on your screen Because all donations are doubled right now. We’ll be right back. Second half hour coming up in less than a minute.
SPEAKER 05 :
Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. Second half hour of our broadcast happening right now. Rick Grinnell is going to join us in the next segment. We’re going to continue our discussion that we had. You heard about the ACLJ work in the last segment with CeCe Heil. But we’re also going to talk about that closed door meetings that happened that led to at least a pause in a potential World War III style situation. That, of course, is when Israel was meeting with our administration and saying, hey, we want your help. to go to war with Iran. And at least our team, including our friends, Tulsi Gabbard, some of the others, pushed back and said, you know what? This is not the right time necessarily. Look, not saying it won’t be the right time. At some point, we know that that is not off the table. A war with Iran is not off the table. But first, let’s jump in and see if we can get this done without any more bloodshed.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and I think also the Israelis have, to some degree, a different calculus and different prerogative than we have here in the United States is that they are very close. They are seeing attacks by the Iranians and Iranian proxies nonstop. So for them getting they may feel as if military option is the only option at this time. I think it also shows that the this administration is trusted by the Israelis more than the previous administration. I don’t know that they necessarily would have waited around for the go ahead from the Biden administration, knowing how tepid the response and help had been through that administration. So there is much better goodwill between the American administration and the Israelis now. I know that clearly they would like to strike and put an end to that altogether. I also understand the caution and the cooler heads that prevailed within the administration, at least from a strike that would be taking place next month in May. We are less than two weeks from May, and that is very early in administration time. especially when the president believes maybe he can. We don’t know if he will be able to get to a deal, but negotiating, trying to figure something else out instead of just a few months into his administration, conducting and participating in a military campaign that could spark when you already have the campaign going on between Russia and Ukraine. a much broader conflict in the Middle East and knowing that the Chinese, the Russians, their relationship with Iran, it could literally have sparked World War III at a global scale very quickly. There’s always been talk that we’re on the doorstep of a World War III with what has been happening in the Middle East and with the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It would be something like that that could take it to the next level, to a true global conflict, a real hot war in that sense.
SPEAKER 02 :
You probably will not realize you’re in World War III until you’re in World War III. It won’t be something that’s like we wake up and we go, hey, today? We’re starting World War III. It is these moments that escalate and escalate and all of a sudden kind of explode. I also see a lot of comments coming in right now from our viewers who are saying, hey, I don’t want to go to Boston. I don’t want to support Massachusetts. We have great partners there. I just want to say that. The reason we are so adamant about this is, number one, we love our country. Great American history obviously comes out of Boston. The reason I was there, I love it there. But Remember that not always the elected officials and the people that are pulling the strings in your state represent even the mass majority of the people that are there. Remember, that’s what’s happening. Sure, they’re essentially a more liberal state, without a doubt. We have an incredible radio team there. We have an incredible team with our friends at Salem who put together with us. We worked with them to get that Choice Begins Here ad campaign. You had advertising sections that were willing to take those ads and broadcast them essentially throughout the state. So I’m not encouraging you to boycott a state. What I’m encouraging you to do is help us fight back. Because there are great people in those areas that really don’t want to see their state go down this path. So I encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ. Now, however, my beloved Orlando Magic are playing the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. So if you ever wanted to be mad at Boston, I’m okay with it this weekend. But for purely athletic reasons. Purely for the reason, well, our friend Jonathan Isaac. Jonathan Isaac is a great player in the Orlando Magic. We were going to play a video. We’ll maybe play that video a little bit later today. He was in our last documentary, our last special. For the love of God, save our country. A great guy. But, you know, have a little fun here. But Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us in the next segment. So stay tuned for that. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Do we have them? All right. Rick Grinnell is joining us via phone today. Rick, a lot of things are happening in this country right now. Will, why don’t you set up? There’s some stuff happening in California.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. We have to go to our national California correspondent whenever we see something happening out of that great state. So, Rick, Gavin Newsom, who’s been kind of trying to court MAGA to some degree through his podcast, but now… At least trying to be friendly. He’s announcing that he’s suing the Trump administration over the tariffs because it’s going to harm California’s economy so much, ignoring the fact of all the things that Gavin Newsom himself has done to harm the economy of that state. But what’s your take on this?
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, here in California, Gavin is being wildly mocked for this because he’s probably the poster child for all 50 governor’s to show people what not to do with the economy. He’s literally chased out our businesses. We’ve had people fleeing, businesses fleeing, jobs fleeing for the last seven or eight years. So most of us realize that when it comes to the economy, you should do the exact opposite of what Gavin Newsom says. The fact that he doesn’t see the strategy that Trump has on tariffs doesn’t surprise anyone. He doesn’t have a strategic bone in his body. So he thinks that, you know, this tackling of the tariffs is a bad idea. But remember… The fact is, is that his own party is on the record as talking about how unequal the tariffs were and how someone needs to take them on. Nancy Pelosi has been screaming about it for a long time. And so he’s missing the strategy, but it doesn’t surprise anyone that he can’t see it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I mean, the way he’s presenting himself is sort of like the president of California, the king of California. The way he’s even treated it, say, you know, we’re the biggest economy. Look, and I’m not downplaying that. And California is wonderful and we love it. And just like, look, we saw people in the last segment saying, hey, we’re going to start boycotting Massachusetts because of what they’re doing to the pro-life pregnancy resource centers. We don’t say that here. We actually think there’s always opportunity to help. There’s always great people like Rick and people in our Massachusetts offices. who do great work and they’re not represented well. And they’re not represented well. And you have someone like Gavin Newsom who seems to just kind of go where the wind takes him. If he can court people like a Charlie Kirk to come over and have a conversation with him, then that can bring in potential, you know, let’s say voters and quotes in the next elections or whatever he decides to do next. That seems to be his MO. He just goes where he feel like he can get the popularity.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, we should make one thing very clear is that there’s a group of us in California that are absolutely not giving up on California. We think there’s a lot of opportunities right now. We will continue to fight for California. We have millions of conservatives in California. We just have states that have a lot more registered Democrats. We’re working on that. I particularly have been working on the voter registration the last four years. And we just got our numbers back last year alone. We at Fix California, my organization, registered 198,000 new conservatives, almost 200,000 new conservatives. Now, if we keep doing this, we’re going to be able to throw… the one-party rule in Sacramento out and really challenge people like Gavin Newsom, who don’t know what they’re talking about on the economy, who keep chasing jobs away, and then try to critique President Trump for tackling these big issues.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I see all the comments coming in right now. There’s a lot of ACLJ supporters. Probably our first or second always kind of goes back and forth between Texas and California where the most ACLJ recurring ACLJ champions are right now. So I see a lot of the comments right now, like Tammy on YouTube saying she’s a ACLJ champion in California. So we know that there’s a big support group there. I have to say there are many places where I can go around the country and occasionally I’ll meet a listener or a viewer who watches our show and If I go to certain areas of California, it becomes overwhelming the amount of people that do watch this show each and every day. So I want to definitely thank our California supporters and those who are still sticking up for the cause. And when you support the work of the ACLJ, of course, that’s around the country and around the world. It’s not just picking and choosing areas that are more red or that, you know, a lot of times we’re stepping into places like a Massachusetts that are certainly more blue that we have to go and stick up for those millions of people. Like Rick said, in California, even, that are more conservative and are Christians, and that’s what we have to deal with. But I wanted to make sure that that was clear, Will.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. And Rick, just shifting topics here a little bit, this is what we kind of led the show with talking about this piece that came out in the New York Times last night that President Trump waved off an Israeli strike after divisions emerged in his administration, obviously trying to to pit it, drive a wedge between the cabinet here by the New York Times saying, you know, there’s the hawks and there’s those that are less hawkish and there’s division now. But you read this and what it seems is that even those that are much more hawkish, as they may say, looked at intelligence, read what was going on and decided that they wanted to take a more diplomatic approach before going to airstrikes that we would have to have aided the Israelis in as soon as a few weeks from now. Obviously, we know the media is going to spin this, but am I reading that right? It just actually seems like a very well-functioning administration that doesn’t want to go to war as the first option?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, look, I would add this is the New York Times. You know, they they just criticize no matter what. For a while, they were saying that there’s no debate in the Trump administration, that everybody thinks the same way. Now they’re saying, oh, my gosh, there’s such a debate that there’s a division. I view it as a real positive that Donald Trump wants differing views. He’s not afraid to have a debate. And matter of fact, I’ve been in the Oval Office enough. to know that if everyone does agree on something, Donald Trump is the first one to make sure that we actually have a debate. He’ll look for ways to make people debate because he wants to hear both sides. He wants to hear all sides. He wants people to debate in front of him as to what is important and what’s not important and what priorities does one person see as the top priority and then someone else argues for a different aspect. That is a healthy system. I think people should feel very good that when Donald Trump is in the Oval Office, he’s getting a diverse set of views and then he makes the decision.
SPEAKER 02 :
wanted to give you a moment as well i know you’ve been a member of our team now for a number of years and one of our most popular ones we were having a conversation a few days ago because you you totally understand our aclj supporters our aclj listeners what they care about and the causes that are important to them as we do head into a holiday weekend it’s obviously easter uh we are you know halfway through if not more than halfway through our life and liberty drive we’re talking a lot about life right now uh being that we’re in the easter weekend I want to give you the opportunity, though, to talk to our listeners directly about the work that we do here and how you’ve seen it in action and why it’s important to support the ACLJ.
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, Logan, I know you know this. I went to Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, National Assemblies of God College. And one thing I learned in college was evangelism. this kind of message that Evangel pushed on all of us, which was, all truth is God’s truth no matter where it’s found. And I love this concept because to me it says that we have a responsibility to find the truth, and to make sure that we support the truth, because the truth is God’s version of the fact. And what I love about ACLJ is that we’re constantly looking, researching, trying to find the facts, the facts that point to the truth, the greater truth, God’s truth. And I’m just so proud to be a part of an organization that takes the time to look at the facts and and then takes those facts and puts them into action. This is not an organization that is just about talking or press releases or pushing public affairs issues. This is an organization that employs lawyers and researchers. We get to the bottom and then we know how to use the facts to fight. Out of all the organizations that I could have been a part of when I left the first Trump administration, I was so proud to be a part of ACLJ because of this fact. We’re fighting for people on the front lines who look at the truth and want to fight for the truth, represent God’s facts, and in turn… They just need help. They need someone to help them through the legal process or through the government bureaucracy. But they know the truth. They just need a little bit of help. And when all of us join together and ask for help, financial help, prayer, all sorts of… all of the assistance that we can bring as the body of Christ. I think it’s amazing to come together and be a part of this, and I hope I never miss the opportunity to be in this fight.
SPEAKER 02 :
Rick, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the very kind words. It’s been amazing to have you part of our team, and I know that our audience, I see them commenting right now on YouTube and on Rumble, feel the same way. I do want to give you that opportunity now, folks, as we head into the next segment. We do have a couple lines open. If you want to call in, get your voice heard, good time to get in line, 1-800-684-3110. We’ve only got 25 seconds in this. I want you to go to aclj.org. You heard the incredible work that we’re doing. We need your support right now as we head into this holiday weekend. A great time to have your donations effectively doubled right now. Scan the QR code. It’s this Easter week. Let’s give the gift to life right now. Scan the QR code. Have your gifts doubled. aclj.org. Right back with your phone calls. All right, welcome back to Secular. We’re going to jump right in and take some of your phone calls. There’s still a couple lines open if you want to call in at 1-800-684-3110. Let’s start off with Debra, who’s calling in Florida, who is watching or listening on the radio right now. Debra, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, thank you for taking my call. And we as the listeners want to say thank you for all that you’re doing for us. that you all not grow weary in well-doing, and that you persevere so that we can all be champions for life, for liberty, and freedom. And we say, have a blessed weekend. He is risen. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you so much for your calls and your prayers and support. And also, you’re in Florida. I want to at least acknowledge right now, if you’re listening, there is some breaking news. There’s some more unfortunate news that’s happening as there is currently, and we’re praying for Florida as well, because there is an active shooter currently reported at Florida State University, where it appears to be many people have been already hospitalized or or something like that again the news is just coming out right now so if you’re listening to this live again that’s from the 12 to 1 p.m eastern time time slot it would be 12 51 p.m as we are just now getting those reports currently happening again we don’t know a lot of details so we’ll continue on with our calls but we’ll definitely keep you updated if anything changes bonnie is calling uh watching on youtube uh bonnie wants some more information about everything that’s happening bonnie go ahead
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, I would like to thank you also for the good work you guys do. I was raised in the church. The church never talked about abortions. Well, this was way back when. And in the 70s, even though I went to church, I did not understand the Roe versus Wade. So the first time I was able to vote, I actually voted for Roe. that bill, and I’ve been asking God’s forgiveness after that shortly. Once I got more involved with church, more faithfully reading my Bible, and you guys explain things so well that the average person can understand everything. And just thank you for the good work you do.
SPEAKER 02 :
Bonnie, I appreciate that. And look, if you look at the history of the pro-life movement, it had to happen when it happened. Like you said, the 70s, the early 80s. Because there was that propaganda campaign going through schools. Planned Parenthood was showing up in all of these areas and giving you incorrect facts to encourage the eugenics and destruction that they were doing across the country. But because of that, pro-life groups had to form. in the 80s and really talk back to the church even and say, this is what the truth is and this is what is happening. So, Bonnie, I’m glad that you saw that even in your time. And we’ve been able to keep that legacy going now for the last 40-ish years here supporting the pro-life cause and the pro-life community and with the ACLJ directly. Thank you so much, Bonnie. Let’s go to Scott who’s calling in Nevada on line four. Scott, welcome.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, thanks for taking my call. I wanted to touch on the Iranian situation just real quickly. Sure. I was thinking that if there was ever going to be a time, and I’m not a war hawk, but if there was ever going to be a time where we’re going to do something, this might be the time. The Chinese economy is very bad, and they have their own issues, and the Russians certainly can’t provide weaponry or money to the Iranians to help them out, and nobody else in the Middle East has a taste for wanting to do battle on the Iranian side. So if there was going to be a time where we wanted to impede their
SPEAKER 04 :
nuclear program this is probably it because even a regime change probably won’t change the fact they’re going to pursue a weapon scott yeah and i think that is a big argument from the israelis as well they they have decimated uh hezbollah and the uh the opportunity for attacks from gaza are not as uh as active right now obviously it’s still conflict but just the the multi-front war that Israel’s had since October 7th. And now even with the bombing campaign from the U.S. on the Houthis, it has really taken out a lot of the Iranian proxies. The Assad regime fell. So Iran is very isolated from its traditional proxy partners. Russia, as you mentioned, having their own war going on in China with the economy. But also remember, President Trump did give kind of a date for that Iran has to get this all done by. It’s not just this open-ended four years, keep going. I don’t think that necessarily the trade war and the economic issues China has are going to be wrapped up anytime soon, nor is the way it looks, the war with Ukraine necessarily ending before that window closes. So I don’t think that it is a forever putting this off. And the Trump administration needs also to have that threat of military strike and decimating of Iran in order to kind of hold their feet to the fire in these negotiations. So I agree with your point. I think that is very much the Israeli point of wanting to strike while the opportunity is there. But I don’t know that that window closes if we don’t strike in the month of May.
SPEAKER 02 :
I did want to take a moment now and give us maybe a little bit of a diversion, a little bit of something good to think about heading into the weekend. Of course, like I said, our Orlando Magic are heading into the NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics this week. It’s an uphill battle, but we are hoping and cheering on our Orlando Magic friends because of people like John Isaac, who is just, J.I. is doing some amazing things, playing for the Orlando Magic and kind of reshaping the world of apparel in the name of the Lord. Of course, it is Easter week and we did a special with him last year. I want you to see just a two-minute version of what he has done for this country and what he is continuing to do.
SPEAKER 01 :
I decided not to kneel or wear a Black Lives Matter t-shirt in the NBA bubble. And just a really difficult situation to deal with. And so everybody remembers the tragic death of George Floyd. And one, as a black man, but also as a Christian, I was trying my best to rationalize what that meant and how I was supposed to step into the moment and share even if I had to or if I didn’t. But I remember my pastor was preaching and, you know, talked about the story of Jesus healing the guy’s ear that Peter cut off. And one of the things that he said was, if you live by the sword, you’ll die by the sword. And he said that if we step into this moment in the same way that our nature calls us to, which is anger, get even, repay evil with evil, then there won’t be any change. After I decided to stand, the next day we have practice. Everything keeps going. And we’re leaving practice, headed back to the hotel. I get a text on my phone in the bus, hey, team only meeting when we get back to the hotel. And I’m getting off the bus and one of my teammates nudges me and says, hey, just a heads up, this is about you. And so we get into this meeting and it’s hostile. And one of the things that I understood was that a lot of guys were really serious about this. They were part of the marches. This was really big for them. And I understood the the seriousness and the sensitivity of the situation. And I wanted them to know that it wasn’t about protesting them. It wasn’t that I didn’t see the issue. I saw the issue. I just had a different solution. But it was tough. It was a really tough meeting to be a part of because my back was against the wall. And guys were upset with me and thought I was hijacking the movement and making it about me. And I was discouraged. In the meeting, they asked me, hey, are you going to do this again? Are you going to stand again? And I said, yeah, and kind of left it at that. And I remember going back to my hotel room. I think I was crying. I called my pastor and said, hey, you know, this just happened. And he said, hey, you respected their decision to kneel and they should respect your decision to stand.
SPEAKER 02 :
Great guy, a friend of our show here and a friend of what we do. I encourage you also to check out his clothing line, Unitas, if you’re looking for a great pair of sneakers or some shirts, some hoodies, whatever it is. Sports are a great cause and they all have Bible verses on them. My kids wear them proudly as well as I do. So again, I want you to check that out. Look, we’re heading into the end of this show. A lot of you are not going to be listening tomorrow because it’s a holiday for a lot of people. A lot of kids are off school. You’re going to be busy. So when you’re thinking about ways to support the ACLJ, this is a great time to do it. Don’t get distracted because tomorrow is a busy start to a weekend. We know of prayer and of thought and, of course, of celebrating a resurrected Savior. So we want you to be a part of the ACLJ team. We want you to be an ACLJ champion. Support the work today. You can scan that QR code right now. as it’s on your screen, and I encourage you to do so. Again, that’s at ACLJ.org. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
