In this episode of Sekulow, hosts delve deep into the unfolding chaos surrounding the government shutdown, offering insights into the Senate’s key procedural vote and the impact of new Democrat allies in pressing toward an end. As we explore the intricate legislative processes, we also spotlight the real-world implications hitting American lives, from cascading flight delays to critical SNAP benefit interruptions. Concurrently, the episode marks the significant launch of ACLJ’s Grandparents Week, underscoring the importance of legacy creation in securing freedoms for future generations.
SPEAKER 04 :
Is the finish line in sight? The shutdown confusion deepens, but we’re going to break it all down for you.
SPEAKER 06 :
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 04 :
Welcome to Sekulow. A lot of you tuning in right now. I appreciate it. Those who are watching on YouTube, watching on ACLJ.org, on Rumble, Salem News Channel, listening on Terrestrial Radio, Sirius XM, however you get us, or later on podcast. I appreciate everyone joining us here for… another monday and of course last night i get a text from a buddy will haynes who’s sitting here next to me and he said hey here’s an article saying the shutdown could be nearing an end and i go i don’t believe it will i don’t think so and then i started reading and i go hey there’s actually some democrat names on here uh things may actually be moving towards the end of the shutdown and give us an update of where we’re at for those who maybe did not see the news coming out of last night
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So there was a key procedural vote that took place last night in the Senate to move forward on the continuing resolution, the Clean CR. Now, that is not what’s going to be final passage. As you know, or you may know from civics class, that spending bills and revenue bills have to originate in the House. So that will be the vessel because the Clean CR started in the House and then was sent over to the Senate. The Senate will then take a series of votes to amend that vehicle, that vessel for what the following legislation will be, taking out all the clean CR language and replacing it with the updated agreement that they came to with eight Senate Democrats to be able to move this forward. And that was what we’ll get into the next segment because it’s going to be some moving parts here that we’re going to have to keep an eye on really closely, including a really important vote today. But here are the list of Democrats that decided enough with this foolishness. We need to end this shutdown. It’s Senator Angus King from Maine, who has the entire time voted to end the government shutdown on the clean CR, along with Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. All three of those have been on the same page this whole time. The new names are Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia. Senator Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire, Senator Gene Shaheen from New Hampshire as well. And then we have Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, who’s retiring, but he is in leadership in the Senate Democrats. He’s currently the minority whip there, as well as Jackie Rosen from Nevada. Those two names, I’ll remind people, are the ones I said we should keep an eye on back when that happened. first statement from the government employees union came out because dick durbin said to the press like i haven’t moved but that’s a group we need to listen to clearly he has now decided the foolishness is over and then as well as jackie rosen because her colleague from nevada katherine cortez masto the entire time has been voting to end this so the both senators both democrats from nevada have decided to move on clearly pressure in their home state and and not wanting this to continue is something that was a big deal to their constituents so those are the senators that have decided to cross the aisle so to speak and move on but we will get into what the the reality of this is and what this new bill this deal that they’re moving forward with is going to look like and how quickly we’re going to get the government back open in the next segment
SPEAKER 04 :
Look, right now, of course, we are talking about the chaos that is also unfolding at airports across the country. I mean, this has been a big deal. Look, I was having dinner with some of my friends. These are not super liberal friends. These are conservative friends. They travel for a living. A lot of people are in the music industry that I work with. And they were going, this is becoming a massive disaster for all of them. Losing money, losing gigs, losing things that are happening. Of course, we’re heading towards travel. You’re talking about thousands of flights that have been canceled already. 3,500 delayed today. 1,600 canceled today. I mean, that is what we’re dealing with right now. I’m supposed to be traveling later this week, already getting alerts from the airlines saying, hey, you know, kind of don’t hold your breath about getting out of here. So this is a wild time. And look, I think if there’s going to be an end of a shutdown, they got to get it done now. I think between the flights and Snap. These are two things the American people need to look, give themselves, you know, kind of a good hard look in the mirror and go, how important are people’s lives? Same with President Trump. I want him also to look at this and go, you know, if they don’t do it, maybe now is that time to be that hero, if you will, and step up and actually do these things. He did have a response to the FAA workers, telling them to get back to work and offering them, hopefully, a significant bonus to start working immediately. We’ll talk about that also when we get back. Again, phone lines are open for you as well. 1-800-684-3110. An ACLJ announcement coming up right after this. Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Got a couple lines still open if you want to get on the air. Great time to do it. I did want to take a second. We are going to break down what the Democrats are getting, what the Republicans are getting. Of course, this would be the end of the shutdown, which would be great. We need this to happen, everyone. Okay, this has gone too far. People are hurting. There’s a time to look through a political lens. There’s time to also look through a human lens. It is time to stop the hurt. It is time to get travel back going when you have some of the biggest times of the year. Remember how bad that will start hurting economies if travel gets more and more and more delayed. People are missing things already. I’m all for this. Let’s get this wrapped up. Republicans don’t need it. Democrats don’t need it at this point. Democrats probably realize the pain points are starting, even within their own people. It is time to start bringing it into this. However, you had some of them freak out. That being said, I’m excited to announce that this week in the ACLJ Freedom Drive is a very special week. And it is the ACLJ Grandparents Week. And if you’re watching right now, or you’re listening, however you are, and you’re a grandparent or a special friend of a kid, maybe you’re an uncle or an aunt, a granduncle, grandaunt, you have… family and you know the future ahead of them. You need the ACLJ to be there. You look and you wonder what the future of our nation is going to look like. We want to make sure we are there for you and there for them as well. It is important. God created you and them for this moment. and the ACLJ for this moment. So I encourage you to support this week, specifically your grandparent. And if you’re not, of course, you can support as well. But your donations are doubled right now. During Grandparents Week, we’re going to talk about some of the cases that are involving students, why we think it’s important to always be engaged in that, whether we’re talking about, obviously, parental rights, grandparents’ rights as well. But we’re also going to talk about just some of the issues that have happened at schools and why it’s great the ACLJ is there. But we want to celebrate you as well. is raising up incredible, incredible next generations of our nation. So if you’re a grandparent, I encourage you right now to support the work of the ACLJ during this very special week as we not only celebrate you, but of course, start to build out what the next generation, even of the ACLJ, looks like as we bring in new staff, young staff, young attorneys, and of course, still focus on the issues that matter to you the most. Again, your donations are doubled. You’re gonna help build amazing legacy for the ACLJ and for this country and of course and what I like to say is if you become an ACLJ champion this week someone that gives on a monthly basis I’m calling you an ACLJ grand champion that’s right ACLJ grand champions if you become a champion during grandparents week you’re a grandparent or again you have nieces and nephews maybe you’re just a parent I’m gonna make you a grand champion will i’m excited about that i’ve been saying that since we came up with this idea a few weeks ago i said i want to call them grand champions so i think we got any grand champions in the chat let me know phone lines again are open for you at 1-800-684-3110 support the work as you can well will let’s talk about the government shutdown because again you’ve given me hope and i hope will you haven’t given me false hope
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, here are the two things that are on everyone’s mind. One, what does this deal look like since it’s not going to be the clean CR that they have voted on 15 times in the Senate and the Democrats had objected to every time? And how quickly will the government be reopened? First, let’s get to that deal. What does it look like? As our director of government affairs reached out and told me this morning, he goes, it seems like the left held the American people hostage for 41 days and got nothing out of it. And in reality, it isn’t the full year clean CR as they were trying to get. But all that they got, all that they came to is that one, it’s a reopening of the entire government with a continuing resolution through January 31st. So there is a potential that another shutdown fight could approach us in just a few months. However, one, I don’t know that the Democrats would try that again in a midterm election year. We’ll be in 2026 by then.
SPEAKER 04 :
They got the political win, if you will. They got the political thing that they wanted, which was obviously what happened in the elections last week. And just pinning it on the Trump administration, whether you agree with that or not, obviously we do not, they seem to have won that PR war. So do they want to try to do this again? Because clearly they see it’s starting to hurt even themselves.
SPEAKER 08 :
And then the other thing that, as far as the funding, is that three bills… They’re calling them minibus instead of omnibus because it’s just three departments will get funding, a full appropriation through the end of the next fiscal year, which will be next November. And those are military construction and veterans affairs. So take care of our veterans. I think that’s very important, especially with Veterans Day this week. Everyone agrees with that. The agriculture bill, which that includes farm programs, but also agriculture. the FDA and snap. Great. So that won’t be a political pawn. The people that need the snap benefits.
SPEAKER 04 :
So even after the January, even if they were to shut down again, Oh, even during a government shutdown that could occur in 2026, this is covered at least through November.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes. So the snappy issue will not be an issue for those that need it. It will not be used by the Democrats again in January if they decide to shut down the government again. And then the legislative branch, because, of course, they have to pay themselves. But that also is the staffers and the Capitol Police and things of that nature will also be funded the rest of the year. So the fiscal year. So through next November. So that’s what is coming out of that. They also got the promise of a vote on those Obamacare subsidies that they had made this entire thing about in December. So they’ll have debate on it and they will see if it passes the Senate. That is something that they’ve been fighting for. They actually wanted it that most of the senators wanted it in this spending package to go ahead and be voted on there. But they are being given a vote on that. But one thing I think that the majority of even on the right and things of that nature, they were making it not actually what it is. The way the left made it seem was as if this was a subsidies, all of the Obamacare subsidies. So basically gutting the program. No, all of the ones that are under the core Obamacare passed. are still there and will remain there. These specific subsidies that they are wanting a vote on were emergency measures under the Biden administration during COVID to help lower health care costs even more because of the pandemic and crisis that was going on. Those were meant to expire. They were set up by the Biden administration to expire as an emergency measure. The Democrats are now making it seem as though this is the entire bill. They’re trying to make everyone’s health care go up and completely gut the Obamacare system. And that just isn’t true. If you’re a fan of Obamacare or not, you need to know what the reality of it is. Now, I also think that the Republicans… didn’t do a great job of messaging that either because they did make it all about benefits for illegal aliens. And while there are parts of those subsidies that could benefit people and go to people that are here illegally, it also wasn’t the full picture. And I think that it is important. And when you realize it was a temporary COVID measure, I think, honestly, it would have been a better selling point. to most people of being like, it’s not about the immigration issue. It’s about something that is a relic from the COVID era that needs to expire. We know about that because we’re fighting Gavin Newsom, who’s still trying to find churches and take the tithes from people under COVID era restrictions. So I think that a full picture of that is also important when it goes forward. But the Democrats will get a vote on that next month. Now, I know you’re begging to know, Logan, when’s this thing going to pass? When is the government going to be open? Today. It all depends on… I was being wishful thinking. I mean, it can’t be today no matter what. But they are going to hold a vote today for unanimous consent to limit debate and bypass a lot of the rules that go with legislation.
SPEAKER 04 :
It can go faster than we anticipated.
SPEAKER 08 :
The Senate could theoretically pass their portion and then it does have to go back to the House because they’ve changed the language. They could pass their portion tonight if they get unanimous consent. But all it takes is Bernie Sanders or Chris Murphy or Chuck Schumer, who’s already under a lot of pressure to deny that unanimous consent and make it force this into a longer protracted period. So either the Senate can get it out of their chamber tonight. Or not until, like, Sunday, because they have to have debate on each of these measures. There’s going to be multiple 60-vote thresholds. So, you know, the rest of the senators are going to try to pressure those that went to the middle in this case. I mean, it’s not like this is a Republican bill, so you can’t really say they went to the right. But they went to the middle with common sense to try and end this madness. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on them. So it will be interesting. If they think it is smart to extend this, and then they 100% are the obstructionist. The Bernie Sanders, if they don’t give unanimous consent to condense this timeline down, then they are the ones that are causing this pain on the American people 100%. If they pass it tonight, the House should be back by Wednesday. And now we can only lose two Republicans if no Democrats join the vote. Wednesday being the day before tomorrow, or day after tomorrow. Day after tomorrow, they could be voting on final passage in the House if they shorten the timeline with unanimous consent today.
SPEAKER 04 :
If not, it’s going into next week. And, you know, Hakeem Jeffries was just on right now saying, you know, we’re not going to really be supporting Republican bills. Of course, we know that they can’t be trusted. All the kind of normal… I asked our team, should we play any of this? They said it’s just the normal partisan politics that’s been happening. And look, I think we all need to get over that side when it comes to people that are hurting. I was planning on coming on here today if there was nothing movement. There was no movement as I’ve seen it personally being affected so many people in our lives, whether that’s through SNAP, whether that’s the FAA, all the things that the big ones, you know, if you will, that are starting to really affect people because it’s beyond just a single measure, a single person or a group. We’re seeing it really hurt. And, you know, I was starting to want to call President Trump out and say, you know what? Be that hero, that king that they say you are. Get it done. If there’s a way to get it done, forget about this stopping at the Supreme Court or going, I understand the legal sides of it and you want to do that. You know what? At this point, stop the bleeding. Stop the hurting. I still believe that, but I am hoping that this is the solution and that it gets done immediately. We’ll be right back with more. Welcome back to Seculo. As we said earlier, we’re very excited here at the ACLJ. We always try to present you something new and exciting to get involved in. And this week is part of our Freedom Drive, which all donations are doubled. Either way, they’re matched and doubled by amazing ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. But this week, we wanted to take a special week to celebrate the supporters of the ACLJ that are grandparents. It’s our grandparents week here at the ACLJ. You can scan that QR code or go to ACLJ.org and make your donation today in celebrating our supporters again, who are grandparents who care about what the future looks like for their children. and for their grandchildren and beyond. We see a couple of great grand champions that are currently in the chat as well. People that obviously are great grandparents. And I mean that, by the way, if you consider yourself even a grandparent, maybe you are someone who has a niece and nephew or just a really close friend who has grandchildren. That’s what I mean. You’re wanting to celebrate and set up what the future of this country looks like for the next generation. and you may be a grandparent you may be looking at your grandkids and wondering again what the future of our nation looks like we have so much heartache so much strife that comes up throughout this last year but of course we still have big hope and we have big hope not only uh in the future but obviously in our savior and we have a big hope that you someone who sports work in the aclj will continue to do so and we’ll pass that down to the next generation and pass down your beliefs and your core what’s core to this country kindness, love, respect, and of course, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our constitutional rights, all of those things come into play. As we look to the future, you never know where things are gonna go. The pendulum always shifts, it always moves. We saw that happen last week even with the elections. We know that this is, if you’re a grandparent, likely you’ve lived in this country long enough, you’ve lived in this world long enough to see that it’s not always going to be one way or the other. We want to make sure the ACLJ is always there for you, whether it’s a legal case involving a Bible club for a kid or whether that is representing the president of the United States. We want to make sure we are always available and available to our clients, by the way, people like those Bible study kids and families and no money. Understand that the ACLJ doesn’t take a dollar from our clients. are fully supported by people like you that donate and most of you who donate donate on a smaller level they donate on a 25 50 75 level these are we’re not you know we obviously we appreciate big donations if you want to do it today i mean we are matching uh a very high number so you know a number that if we hit i’ll tell you i mean we’re talking about million dollar plus match so if you can do that if you can support the aclj in any way we can but we know the majority of people give $25, $50 and know that that moves so far during these special months where donations are doubled or unlocked or pledges are unlocked. And as we celebrate grandparents this week, one of the things we want to do, and again, if you’re a grandparent or you’re a grand champion, put it in the chat. I want to see from you that you are, if you’re watching on YouTube or rumble and think people have that maybe a different sense or call me and let me know how you feel about the future of the country at 1-800-684-3110. But will we also want to provide donations? information and also things that our grandparents and our grand champions this week can get involved in, including a brand new ACLJ prayer guide.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. And many people who have supported the ACLJ for such a long time as well know that some of the core cases that we take are individuals, many times students, who are having their First Amendment rights suppressed or they are being discriminated against because of their faith in Christ. And One of the most powerful things that our grand champions, as you mentioned, or those that are with us can do is also to pray for the organization. We have a tremendous team of lawyers. They are experts in the field. They are some of the best in the country, if not in the world. And then you also think that we can’t do the work without your donations, but also without your prayer, because many of these you see, How aggressive these schools push back about people’s faith. You know that it isn’t just this legal dispute. There is something deeper when people are going after kids that just want to have a Jesus club. They just want to be open and bold with their fellow classmates about their faith. And yet the administration will go so hard against these students sometimes, obstructing, making them feel bad for even wanting to do this. And it happens all around the country, not just red states and blue states. So we also have a special prayer guide that focuses on a lot of these issues we know you care about. And it is a way that is a free way to do it, one, but it’s a way that you can join this fight every single day as we go throughout Grandparents Week and the rest of the year. As you look at this and you go to ACLJ.org slash pray, put in your information and you’ll get emailed this prayer guide. And if you’ve gotten one of our prayer guides in the past, you know that they’re visually appealing. They look great. But it’s also real substance of specific ways you can be praying for the ACLJ, specific ways you can be lifting up the organization and these clients. It takes a lot of courage. And that’s what gives me hope, too, seeing how many young people, unfortunately, we have to represent. But we get to see the courage of a young person that is in their convictions and wants to live out their faith. and are being shamed, bullied, or shut down because of that. And that’s where we get to come in and help them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. I want you to actually see one of these clients. This is really powerful when we’re able to do this because sometimes we’re protecting kids, protecting families. A lot of times we don’t get to actually show the clients and who they are. And again, a lot of that is for security and safety, as you can imagine, during times like these. So I want to make sure, do we have the video ready to go? We can play it. I just want to make sure that we’re good when we can. Everybody good? Nope, we don’t have it, okay. So we’ll have it in just a moment here. We do have, okay. So I just want to set this up. This is a client that just came in over the last few weeks. It is an active situation right now with the ACLJ. And I want you to think about it. I know some people have said, hey, I’m not a grandparent, but I’m a supporter. You know what? We all had grandparents. And a lot of them had a lot to do with us. So also, give this week, if you want to do that, even an honor. of your grandparents, whether they’re still with us or not. Because you know what? We know that a lot of them spent a lot of time with us and made a huge impact on our lives. So with that, I want you to see a case the ACLJ is working on right now.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hello, my name is Kennedy Canales and I’m going to be talking about a situation that happened at Plattsburgh Senior High School on September 30th. I’d been trying to start a Jesus Club. I did all the things you needed to do to start a club. We have officers, we have a student administrator, and times set in place like we follow the rules basically. I went to try and see how it’s going and I was told all I needed to do was make a new PowerPoint to present to the school board because the administrator who was there before ended up moving. So I found a new administrator and a new officer because one of the officers had moved as well and I just had to make a new PowerPoint, send it to my principal and then he would present it to the school board. I’m told that we are not able to operate a club under the name Jesus Club because it isn’t inclusive. It has to be inclusive of all religions. So they suggested maybe Faith Club or something along the lines of that. If you’re a Christian, that goes out the window. That equality that is claimed to be there goes out the window, which is not supposed to be.
SPEAKER 08 :
Logan, this is unfortunately one of those situations we’ve been seeing around the country where the administration, one, you heard that they tried to throw up procedural hurdles. It’s almost like trying to get a reopening the government bill through. That they set up these situations to make it more difficult. But then they tell her it’s not inclusive enough. You can’t do this. You have to include all religions.
SPEAKER 04 :
World religions.
SPEAKER 08 :
And at the same time, other groups were getting approval that applied on the same day. That school has until Thursday of this week. That’s right. And if they don’t respond with, granted, here’s your club, here’s your time to meet, we’re going to federal court. Because it’s unconstitutional what they’re doing, and we’re going to stand up for this student and make sure that her rights are protected.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. We can only do that with your support. As we head into the second half hour of the show, we lose some of you on your local radio stations. Find us broadcasting live or later on on ACLJ.org, YouTube, Rumble, however you get your podcasts, we’re there. But right now, I want you to think about and pray about supporting the ACLJ as your donations are matched and doubled. during this very special Freedom Drive and our even more special Grandparent Week. We’ll be right back with more on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to the back half of Sekulow. We got a packed second half of this show. We got Rick Grinnell joining us in the next segment. We got a bunch of calls right now. A couple lines open at 1-800-684-3110 as we celebrate ACLJ Grandparents Week during our very special Freedom Drive. We want you to support the work of the ACLJ if you can right now and have your donations doubled. Of course, we’ll be celebrating not only grandparents. If you are a grandparent or if a grandparent made an impact on your life, this is a great way to show that, you know, kind of the tribute to them, as well as set up a legacy for the future, what the ACLJ will need to be fighting for the next multiple generations. As we have been celebrating 35 years here at the ACLJ, we know what this looks like for the next 35. We know a lot of the people that were originally with us now have moved on to being grandparents, some of them great grandparents, and we appreciate all of them who still support us. And of course, we are trying to foster what will be the next generation of ACLJ supporters and ACLJ champions, as I call them, grand champions for this week. That being said, I know a lot of you are tuning in right now to find out updates on the shutdown. Is the shutdown still starting to really take effect and really start to hurt people? Whether that is financially due to the FAA situation where thousands of flights are being canceled around the country, or maybe it is that you’re reliant on food assistance or your friends or family are. You’re seeing what that looks like. Again, I think… This is time to wrap this up and get it over with. And Will gave me a little hope last night saying the Democrats are moving forward with some concept to bring this towards a close and it cannot happen any sooner.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. So what we’re looking at is after this procedural vote that started the movement on the CR vessel that they had, they are going to replace it with a continuing resolution, the text of that bill, that keeps the government or reopens the government through January 31st, but then with three minibus bills, which are full appropriations of military construction and veterans affairs, the agriculture bill, which is farm programs, the FDA, and SNAP, as well as the legislative branch. And so those will be funded for a full year’s appropriation through the end of the fiscal year in next November. Now, the senators that have joined from the Democrat Party are now in a position where they’re going to be taking a lot of heat from their side. And we hope that today the Senate will have an easier path for them And pass by unanimous consent a rule to shorten the time that they can debate the bill, that the procedural votes they’ll have to vote on to add these amendments in, to condense this down to a timeline where it can be passed today, sent over to the House, and they have to call all those House members back. And hopefully, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, can make sure that this pass is there. If it gets there and it doesn’t pass, it sets off an entirely different chaotic situation that I pray we don’t get to. But as of right now, if they do this through unanimous consent tonight and get this done quickly, we could have this government shutdown over by Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning early, signed by the President at the latest. If not… If there’s people that won’t agree, like Bernie Sanders or even Chuck Schumer, who’s taking some heat from the left wing of his party, decides not to go through the unanimous consent route, then they could protract this out. And the Senate could still be dealing with this next Sunday. getting it to a vote. And if that happens, you’re not seeing the government reopen until over a week from now, adding to the delays in travel, adding to the pain that people with SNAP benefits are feeling. So hopefully it gets done quickly. Hopefully these senators stand strong. But all it takes is one senator tonight to make this fight go on even further. Hopefully they’re exhausted by now.
SPEAKER 04 :
They’ve been doing a lot of talking. I hope they’re not only exhausted, but they are reading the room, if you will, of the American people and saying that most of you who are watching right now want this to be over with and are willing to see, oh, yeah, maybe they need to be able to work together a little bit here to get this done. Of course, we don’t want to compromise, you know, your really strong beliefs and actions, but we got to get this done, everyone. People need to eat. We need to fly. You need to have travel. You need to be safe in the air. I don’t want to be flying this week and hear those announcements I’ve heard from a lot of them saying, don’t worry, we won’t take off unless we are 100% sure that we feel safe. It’s like, you want to hear that on your flight this weekend or next weekend as you head into the Thanksgiving holiday? No, you want to know that we are safe and secure and we have been and always will be in the air. That being said, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. If you’re on hold, I know a lot of you have been on hold for close to half an hour. Stay on hold. Rick Grinnell is joining us next, and then I’m going to take as many calls as I can in the order of which they came in. So again, we’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Got a couple lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I’ll take those in the next segment. Right now we’re joined by Rick Grinnell. Rick, I had to get your opinion on this because this was obviously big news if you’re following sort of the global media and global press, which was the BBC had sort of a mass exodus, if you will, after being caught editing deceptively their coverage of President Trump. And we saw this. I mean, it’s really egregious when you watch it because, I mean, so much so that that you have had most of the leadership resign or leave. And then on the other side of the British media who exactly are not the best friends of president Trump have actually said, you know what? This is ridiculous. They should have consequences here. That’s not the way we do it here. And honestly, in the UK, it’s a much different world in the way that they have laws in terms of the way libel can be treated. And those things can be treated much differently than America, where, you know, the news can kind of get away with anything. And I’m like, I’m not saying they should that we should have what they have. But this is kind of shocking coming from the UK to say not only did wrong, but we got a clean house.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think they’re scrambling because they’re about to be sued. This was so egregious, I really encourage people to watch it. This is an easy, easy acknowledgement that the BBC was out to get President Trump. The reason why I love this moment and the fact that the BBC is caught is because they’ve been doing it for years. We finally have the perfect example to show their bias, but make no mistake, their bias has been legendary, egregious, outrageous for years, and yet now we have the perfect example. I think CNN International should take note of this as well because when you travel internationally and you are forced in a hotel to watch cnn international as one of the only english language news sources you immediately see just how outrageous it is for cnn international to cover president trump or republicans or even america it is such an america hating entity and so i’m so excited that we have now this perfect example to go after the BBC and to highlight to Brits and to Europeans and to the rest of the world just how biased the coverage has been at the BBC for decades.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, Rick, many times we would read the coverage of an event in America as we’re going through our prep and read just even the lead paragraph of a BBC article. And the way things were just framed, it felt like a tabloid, not this boring, dusty old news organization that the BBC has become in many ways. But it would read like a tabloid. It’s like, how did you get that take on supposed to be just normal news news coverage, but that was your lead. So once again, I just echo that. Yeah, it’s kind of a long time coming on this, but you do mention CNN International and what BBC did here was isn’t all that much different than we’ve seen from a lot of american news organizations and in some ways a lot worse i thinking about russiagate coverage and how it was the gospel truth and they would put on people that were uh members of the deep state if you will that would tell us this is the truth this and adam schiff i have irrefutable proof of collusion And never using journalistic standards, having someone on to debate that or to give the counterpoint or to say, where is the proof? Or the journalists themselves never asked, well, can you show it to me? I think that hopefully there will be lessons learned. Now, obviously, the way that you can sue in the UK is a lot different than even here. But I think Should the American media maybe be learning a lesson, I hate to say it, from the British media in a time like this?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I think President Trump would agree with you because he’s, remember, he’s sued some of these media organizations for their egregious errors, for their bias, for their inability to tell the truth. I’m thinking of CBS. The president, because of 60 Minutes and what they did on the Kamala tape, protecting her, making her seem like she was articulate when she wasn’t, they got caught and the president went after them. He’s done that with a couple of outlets and Kash Patel has done that. I like it. I think that there should be consequences for these news organizations because they’re no longer news organizations. They’re now business entities, which is OK, but they need to own it. They need to own the fact that they’re not telling both sides of the story or trying to be legitimately news organizations, that they have a point of view and they’re going to view all news stories with that point of view. I look at what happened this past weekend with ABC’s weekend program, George Stephanopoulos trying to frame issues that were just so outrageous, and our Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, called him out on it. And this is a moment where I think we all have to push back against these guys. George Stephanopoulos was an activist Democrat in a Democrat White House. ABC Disney, remember, Disney owns ABC. They decide to hire this partisan and pretend that he is going to deliver regular, straight news. We all know that George Stephanopoulos is cheering for the Democrats. In every single story that he frames and every interview that he does, he’s clearly a partisan looking to score points for the Democrats against Republicans. And the fact that Disney has hired him, keeps him on and ignores the criticism is beginning to be a problem for Disney. I think that this was a problem years ago. But now when you have the Treasury secretary and other cabinet officials raising this in interviews, I think the pressure is going to mount on Disney that you can’t pretend that George Stephanopoulos is just a
SPEAKER 08 :
unbiased news reporter you have to recognize that he is a democrat absolutely trying to score points for the democrats well and there is hope as well as you see what’s happening at cbs and you see uh what barry weiss is the the editor of the news division is doing now people that have been in news for a long time at cbs because they’ve gotten used to this post-truth media world they’re upset because why they’re going to have journalistic standards again They’re going to make them report and be antagonistic to both sides. You know what? That is the role of the media. I’m completely fine with an aggressive antagonistic press if they’re doing their job and not trying to tip the scales in one way or the other. But when you see what’s happening at CBS, and honestly, a lot of jobs are opening up for young people that want to do this job the right way. Even in the BBC.
SPEAKER 04 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 08 :
So I think there is, while it may not be… the head of the BBC or the head of that equivalent here resigning in the same way, I think there is a movement where pushing past this post-truth media era where you’d have people like George Stephanopoulos get on there and try to act like he is the most serious newsman in the world when we know what he’s done. We’ve seen what he’s done even on coverage of ACLJ issues and things where, you know, getting caught saying… Get get him off air.
SPEAKER 04 :
Get him off air. During the impeachment, they they accidentally cut from my dad to George Stephanopoulos a little too early because he was making too good of a point. He was making essentially the kill sign on air and it aired and it became a big moment. It’s a moment we replay a lot here because it’s just a. Again, funny moment, a showing of the bias here. But look, as Will said, CBS is responding. Disney, unlike this, has started. A lot of them have started to respond. The media is not there. They understand what they’re dealing with right now. And you’re right. I think there will be some accountability that’s going to come into play over the next year. I think heading into midterms, you’re going to have to see some of that as well, because it is now beyond just playing to their base. It now has to be, again, playing to the whole country, of which we thought is what’s happened with late night programming. It’s what’s happened with a lot of these things. now ABC obviously they got their own flack for everything that happened during the Jimmy Kimmel situation and they’ve had to kind of backpedal go back and forth on that but they know where their audience actually is they know who’s really watching
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, as you’re talking about these issues, it’s just, I can’t help but think, and maybe this is selfish, but it’s probably because I’m in the fight now. I can’t help but think about what we’re doing in culture and here at the Kennedy Center, because what President Trump gave us was the ability to fix things, unapologetically go in and try to understand the problems, find solutions, regardless of the criticism. And while we’re getting a lot of criticism, I can’t tell you how excited we are to take on the culture and to bring back a arts institution that is free of politics. I love it. But what that means is when you’re removing the politics on the left, the left thinks somehow that you’re manipulating the process. All we’re trying to do is clean it up by saying you can’t be political anymore.
SPEAKER 04 :
Rick, I thought your influence was shown pretty strong. This weekend was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I watched the ceremony, and there was almost no reference to politics the entire night, coming from a lot of people who have been not so friendly to you and to the Trump administration. So to see that, I go, oh, they’re even waking up a little bit going. They knew who their audience is. And hey, if you also need to see, Rick was a conductor this week. I saw that online, too. Special conductor of the National Anthem at the Kennedy Center. So Rick, it was good to hear from you, but I’m sure that was good. Did you have a good time doing that?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, it was amazing. The reason I did it is to show people that we’re raising money now. You too can be a guest conductor for a small little fortune. But if you give a nice gift to the Kennedy Center National Symphony Orchestra, you can conduct the national anthem for the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. It’s a pretty cool process.
SPEAKER 04 :
Very cool. We’ll be right back. All right, let’s do it. Last segment of the day. We got a lot of calls coming in and David in Florida, who’s watching on the Salem news channel, David, I was just informed you were the person who called in the other day and we didn’t get you after 50 minutes. I felt bad about that now. And they just told me this is the same guy. So I want to make sure you get, cause you’ve been on hold again for 46 minutes. I told Will, I’m glad we don’t have hours and minutes and all those things anymore, you know, nights and weekends. So David, go ahead. You’re on the air. I appreciate you taking my call.
SPEAKER 11 :
I was just, it, Prop 50 in California is about gerrymandering. And I’m just wondering why nobody is taking it to the courts like they did here in Florida when the gerrymandering was so outrageous and the courts made them go back two or three times.
SPEAKER 08 :
and redo it so why aren’t they taking it to the courts in florida and to the supreme court so they already have the republican party of california has already sued in u.s district court for the central district of california uh so once again it takes time as you saw with florida it took time had to go through layers of court and then there will be appeals and eventually it is something that probably will make its way up to the supreme court whether they decide to take the case or not We will find out. They may just say we agree with the lower court. Nothing to see here. But yes, the GOP in California has already sued. So it is in federal court and they actually sued the morning after it passed the vote. So. As quickly as they could get that in court, they did. So we’ll see what the court battle looks like because that one’s not quite over. But it’s also fighting in California court system. The federal courts out there tend to be a little bit more liberal than some other areas of the country. We will find out. All right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, David. Hopefully we answered your question. Let’s continue on. Ronald’s calling now. South Carolina, you’re on the air. Ronald, South Carolina, watching on Rumble.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thanks for taking my call. Yeah, to Logan’s point about did the Democrats get anything out of this shutdown, and I believe that Schumer and his efforts in putting this shutdown and making it last, that it actually brought about that shift that took place in the elections that were held last week, that with the rhetoric that went out, it literally kind of put a stain on on the Republicans and putting the blame on them and to the point that people were just running and shifting their loyalties and such.
SPEAKER 04 :
It certainly didn’t help.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and I think, Ronald, to your point, though, if they were willing to do that over the mayor of New York, who was going to win, the liberal in New York was going to win New Jersey. Yeah, the polls look closer, but if they really had to secure that, they already have a super majority in the legislature in New Jersey. It’s not like a Republican governor was going to get anything done necessarily that was against their principles. And then Virginia, which the entire time, it’s a purple state in reality. Some of the stuff around COVID and going after parents at school board meetings in Virginia is actually what helped Glenn Youngkin get elected there when he was the underdog in the race. four years ago so if they put all their chips in for those races to to stay blue um that’s an even bigger question of of the uh the strategy in the democrat party and to some degree i hope that’s what they would do because that just shows not success in the future yeah another question following up from that ronald thanks is tricia in texas who i really like her comment as well tricia in texas listening on the radio go ahead
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you so much. I need clarification. Todd Starnes went on a post and he said that this was not necessarily the best thing because I don’t know if he meant eventually I didn’t get, he really didn’t tell what I read great details that it would weaken the power of the Republican party to do it this way.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I mean, it’s not getting 100 percent what they wanted. So I guess you could maybe look at it that way and saying there is some compromise here. This isn’t just the clean CR that they’ve been pushing for the last few months. Trisha, I look at it a very different way. I’ll let you will fill in, too. You know, I look at it as people hurting right now. And this isn’t really going to do anything that’s going to really the stuff that the Democrats are getting out of this. I don’t feel. our audience would even really care about.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, Trisha, I would have preferred a clean CR that got all the way to the next year because, you know what? I don’t want to have to deal with this again. And it’s ridiculous that the United States of America is operating like this. But I haven’t seen Todd Starnes post, but so I can’t directly speak to that. But what I would say is I don’t think there’s any negative in this compromise of getting these eight senators to join in moving this forward that really hurts the party. If anything, there is more downside for the Democrats if they try to obstruct getting it back open again. I don’t see how that plays well for them. So if anything to me, I think get it back open and these programs and things and even the FAA and being able to travel. I think we got to get it done.
SPEAKER 04 :
make america um normal country again is probably the smart thing at this point like i said if this wasn’t something they were going to start moving i’d be calling on president trump directly saying you know what if they say you can do it do it push it ahead it’s time be the hero in the situation let’s go ahead though charlie’s calling north carolina charlie you’re on the air thanks a lot appreciate it i think the most interesting point that i heard today on the
SPEAKER 10 :
on the broadcast was talking about those mini CRs. You talked about they’re going to fund a couple up all the way up until November of next year, one being the farm. I think the other was SNAP. The most interesting one you mentioned, though, was the legislatures. they’re going to make sure they cover their own butts and get paid. And I thought that was the most, you know.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Charlie, I’ve got to cut you off. Quickly here, Charlie. Remember, the House and Senate were getting paid regardless because in the Constitution it says they shall be compensated for their services. So they didn’t lose their pay. But what it does is all their staff will be paid for the full year because, you know, their staff wasn’t happy about having to do all this work and everything that goes into that.
SPEAKER 04 :
paid for it yeah of course uh you know some of them opted out but that was their own decision to do that that wasn’t anything by the law hey doug unfortunately i don’t think we’ll be able to get to you today i wanted to actually play this on our way out this is a video we ran during the breaks if you’re thinking about supporting the work of the aclj specifically right now during our grandparents week i want you to see this and hopefully be motivated think about and pray about supporting the work of the aclj there cannot be a better time to do it all donations are doubled let’s go to our video presentation here for grandparents week
SPEAKER 07 :
When you look at your grandchildren, their laughter, their curiosity, their innocence, you shouldn’t have to worry about the kind of America they’ll inherit.
SPEAKER 05 :
The ACLJ was founded now 35 years ago, fighting for religious liberty in the United States, First Amendment rights like speech, the right to petition your government. These go through all levels of the legal process, sometimes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and they set precedent for generations to come.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’re in courtrooms across the country defending the values you hold dear. We’re not just fighting for today. We’re fighting so that your grandchildren won’t have their Bibles snatched away at school or be threatened with punishment for praying. We’ve fought and won multiple cases against those very offenses, but they’re still happening.
SPEAKER 05 :
The best thing you can do is take a stand. That’s why the ACLJ exists. There’s nothing too small. What makes the ACLJ great is that when you go to ACLJ.org slash help and you put in your information, you will be contacted by a real ACLJ attorney. So all you’ve got to do is contact us if you believe you’ve been wronged and you could write the law and the interpretation of the law for the entire country. We’re able to do that because of our donors so that we never have to charge our clients. So there is no client’s case that’s too small or too large.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right now, every tax-deductible gift will be matched, dollar for dollar, doubling your impact to defend the values you cherish and equipping us to fight to ensure they’re still here for generations to come. Help us protect what matters most, because a legacy isn’t just something we leave behind. It’s something we build today. Visit aclj.org slash legacy and have your impact doubled today. That’s aclj.org slash legacy. We’re not just fighting for today. We’re fighting for generations to come.
SPEAKER 04 :
With that, I want you to think about supporting the work of the ACLJ right now. All your donations are doubled today during Grandparents Week. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
