In this episode of Sekulow, we delve into President Trump’s recent announcement calling for a five-day ceasefire in Iran. Join host Logan Sekulow as he discusses the motives and implications of this decision with in-studio guest Will Haynes. Despite growing concerns over security and regime change, Trump has announced productive conversations are on the table, allowing a halt to military strikes on Iranian infrastructure.
SPEAKER 02 :
We got breaking news. President Trump calls for ceasefire in Iran.
SPEAKER 11 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Sekulow. It’s a Monday. I’m going to take your calls right now. 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. Once again, 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes joins me in studio. We’re going to have a good show today. We’ve got a lot of topics to cover. Big breaking news, though. This morning, President Trump put out on a statement on X. This was about 6 o’clock this morning. It was Truth Social, Logan. I’m sorry. It was on Truth Social. You always get on to me. I got on you for calling X still Twitter like an old man. I am pleased to report that the United States of America, this isn’t me talking, this is President Trump. You can tell because it’s in all caps. I am pleased to report that the United States of America and the country of Iran have had over the last two days very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our host… hostilities i’m sorry when it is in all caps it’s kind of difficult to read hostilities in the middle east based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth detailed and constructive conversations which will continue throughout the week i’ve instructed the department of war to postpone any and all military strikes against iranian power plants and energy infrastructures for a five day period subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions thank you for your attention to this matter president donald trump so essentially calling for a ceasefire in iran for the next five days as they work out what could be a potential plan now i don’t know why this has been the deciding factor why do we decide that a ceasefire is even something that was on the table here could be that the american people seem to be weighing a little bit on it could be that he said that this was going to be a shorter term engagement of course we have not seen uh the regime change uh that was really necessary i feel like and there there is some discussion there of course we did see uh taking out a It does make you kind of question the entire purpose of this as well.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and to be clear, this ceasefire is not a total ceasefire. This is specifically related to the threats that President Trump issued before the weekend that they were about to start striking the actual power plants within Iran. So taking out their even civilian infrastructure to put more pressure on the regime. Because of these talks that the president is referencing, they have put those plans on pause. So they are not going to attack the power grid and the infrastructure at this time while they go through this.
SPEAKER 02 :
We know who’s talking to who.
SPEAKER 07 :
So we aren’t certain. That’s a little weird. And we actually have some sound from the president. We’ll play in the next segment because he was leaving Palm Beach, headed to Memphis, Tennessee today and gave an extended amount of time to reporters, like 20 something minutes that he was there on the tarmac speaking to reporters. But he says that they have reason to believe that the individuals they are talking to, it’s not the so-called Ayatollah Supreme Leader, but that the individuals they are having these discussions with are in the position to make these type of claims and agreements with the United States. But as he gets into, there’s a 15-point bulletin that they’re working over. uh that the u.s is saying these are our demands effectively and you’ve seen what we’ve done to your country and that there’s many of the points that they’re getting they’re making headway on they’re getting some movement with these iranians they’re talking with i also think remember we have still been conducting this air campaign and are continuing to do that even during this ceasefire portion this very narrow uh specific to specific targets ceasefire but uh There hasn’t been an opportunity at this point for letting the people do what they need to do or letting the incoming the Peshmerga from the Kurds or any of those forces do something because the aerial assault continues. And at that point, that isn’t coordinated with another group to allow them to have free reign and take over.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I mean, my concern is that we’re going to get close to what would be a full new regime and a new situation for the Iranian people. And somehow we’ve gone this far and we don’t take it where it needs to go, which is to bring in a new regime and a new power. And what I’m concerned about is striking any kind of deals until we really know where it goes. But you know what? I’m not the president of the United States. I’m also not privy to the information they have. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I’d love to hear from you. I can see in the comments, look, there’s a lot of people, you know, weighing on this war. There’s a lot of people who are not fans. A lot of them are our regular viewers who watch this show each and every day. So I’d love to hear from you too. What do you think currently, how we’re standing as America? We also have the updates of what’s going on with the TSA and all that when we get back. Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. A lot of you watching, not a lot of you calling. Give me a call. It’s Monday. Wake up! That’s what I say, Will. Give me a call, 1-800-684-3110. I saw them all in there. Do the system of a down response. Everyone did, I know. But you can’t hear them. Right. I almost did it, but I was like, eh. I could see it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sometimes these are traps by Logan.
SPEAKER 02 :
It wasn’t supposed to be. Yeah. But I could see them all mouthing, why don’t you put on a little makeup? Right. Because you wanted to. You wanted to. Both lines are open, 1-800-684-3110. We’re also kicking off this week, and this is what an appropriate way to start off this segment. with our Stop the Madness Week here at the ACLJ. That’s right, of course, a lot of you have been celebrating the madness that has been going on for the last few weeks, and now your donations are doubled as we focus on some of the more ridiculous things that have been going on in the world of whether politics, the world, the ACLJ, everything that’s been happening right now. Stop the madness again. Your donations are doubled today. We are, well, they said this, we’re tipping off A week-long push to stop the madness. You get it? I understand. I know. So go to ACLJ.org. They say go to ACLJ.org slash madness and make your donation today. A lot of these things we’re going to be taking all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. We’re going to discuss that a bit more coming up in the next segment. You’re going to see some more. Of course, the breaking news out of Washington, D.C. this morning. throughout the country, I guess. President Trump made his statement saying we are going to have a five-day essentially ceasefire over specific things in Iran. Of course, there’s also been this whole conversation around the Strait of Hormuz, what that’s going to look like, how this could affect. We know prices for gas prices. People are feeling it right now. I’m feeling it. Everyone’s feeling it when you’re going to the pump. So I know the public perception of this war or this encouragement or this whatever you want to call it is… Conflict. Conflict. Operation. has people a bit on the fence. There are people, mainly because of the, obviously the loss of American soldiers. I think that that is a very valid reason to be concerned. The price of gas has gone up significantly. So you’re talking about things that President Trump kind of pitched he wouldn’t do. Of course, I’m maybe a bit more on the other side of this going, you know, I think we’ve gone this far. At this point, I would like to see a free Iran. Right. And I’m a little afraid we won’t get there. But President Trump put out a statement saying that this is going to happen. At the same time, we know what a lot of you paying attention to as well. is the chaos that has been happening at the major airports in the United States of America. And that doesn’t even include, of course, the tragedy that happened this morning and overnight at LaGuardia, where you had an airplane crash into a fire truck, killing both the pilot and co-pilot. Horrible tragedy. Shut down that airport for many hours. Still shut down, I believe. Above and beyond that, you have had these record-breaking TSA lines due to the government shutdown that is currently happening where the Department of Homeland Security is not funded. These all kind of tie together. Because again, what does it all kind of come down to? The security of what? Our homeland, the Department of Homeland Security, which all can kind of tie back, by the way, to one historic event that happened 25 years ago. What happened 25 years ago? Of course, September 11th happened 25 years ago. And here we are now, 25 years later, still feeling the fallout from that, whether that is honestly what’s going on in Iran and what’s happening at the airports. And at the airports, President Trump has deployed the ICE agents to now be at these U.S. airports to help out TSA. Allegedly, that’s what they’re saying. I mean, it’s happened, started this morning. You haven’t heard a whole lot about it other than you see the pictures of the agents showing up.
SPEAKER 07 :
uh and again you also had over the weekend elon musk say i’m willing to pay all of the tsa uh salaries now the legalities of that get a little hairy but you’re having people feel the frustration and then have to respond well and here’s the reality of the ice agents being deployed to the airports uh they’re not going to be the ones doing the screening running the the x-ray machines doing things like that where uh that takes special training and understanding it’s to support and supplement in other areas of the tsa roles that they can be helpful in when you’re seeing like 33 a third of workers call out at places like uh the atlanta airport some of the busiest airports in the country i think it was close to 50 call out at houston hobby airport so you’re seeing a lot of employees who now have gone through this second uh brutal shutdown for them where they’re not receiving pay they have high stress jobs being a TSA agent or an air traffic controller or someone in these type of jobs when when all of a sudden you’re having to think more about how am I going to make my my rent or mortgage payment instead of keeping people safe and having American travel be secure, that’s not a good place for the United States to be in. Then you add to that, that we’re in this conflict. We know that we’ve seen four attempted terror attacks, the one in Austin, the one at Old Dominion. We saw the one at the synagogue. We saw the one outside of the mayor of New York’s house.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s a situation- And then take it to just the Western world. I mean, London last night, London last night- There is a Jewish group, a charity that runs a nonprofit, essentially a Jewish charity that runs ambulances and emergency services. Very popular around the world. In a very good area of London, but a primarily Jewish area of London, overnight, the ambulances were all set ablaze by masked men. Of course, there’s a lot of people saying that there are people taking claim for it, the RGC, other places that have started to already do that. But this is the truth of what’s happening. in the western world right now and i think we’re a little short-sighted to only think about america in that sense because as we have seen the influence of europe the influence of the united kingdom where they have been short-sighted in some of their decision making has affected the way it’s treated in america well and once again you’re talking about london having that kind of arson attack we’re talking about what we’ve seen here now our department of homeland security
SPEAKER 07 :
The executive branch agency that is supposed to keep us safe here at home. is defunded we’re talking about the coast guard we’re talking about tsa we’re talking about all of these levels of the department of homeland security they call it a partial government shutdown it’s really just uh your safety and security shutdown that the democrats don’t even want to talk about they don’t even want to give any sort of room to negotiate this out and and to what end i mean we’ve already seen the replacement of The director of Homeland Security, they’re not going to give a little bit of like, oh, a victory lap, like we won, we got rid of Kristi Noem, let’s now move on. No, they’re still keeping this shut down with no real end in sight. We’re at 40 days. And I think this is interesting because this was from a radio show yesterday, Cats Roundtable, John Katsimatidis. This is on WABC. He had on the former director of Homeland Security, Jay Johnson, who was President Obama’s director of Homeland Security. And here’s what he said. And it’s perfect timing because of the initiative we just launched this week. But let’s go ahead and play bite three. It’s just an audio bite because it was on a radio program, but let’s play it. And we’ve got to get it. We’ve got to stop with these funding pipes.
SPEAKER 08 :
It used to be annual. Now it’s occurring several times a year, and I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse unless Somebody through strong leadership intervenes and says, stop the madness.
SPEAKER 07 :
Exactly. Stop the madness. That’s the week we’ve got going on here. I fully agree with the former director of Homeland Security under President Obama. I never thought I would say that. But he, throughout these recent years, has shown that he really is a rational person. about the way that Homeland Security should be run, and even calling out that these funding fights are ridiculous, that if you’re going to constantly be in a situation where you don’t know if your Department of Homeland Security is going to be funded or not, and you’re going to keep kicking the can down the road, forcing these government employees to come to work, they’re going to start quitting en masse. You’re already seeing that, seeing them call out sick. But here’s the other problem with it, too. Now… the Democrats are starting to say, well, what if we just fund the TSA agents? So now they’re going from, it used to be, whole government shutdown, then to agency-specific shutdown. Now we’re getting on to line items of payroll. They’re going to start saying, TSA, you’re good. Everything else, not funded still. You’re going to completely take away… Yet Congress is then going to become this ridiculous thing, which many may say it already is, but where they’re just voting on every single line item of the government budget. Is that really what we’re going to turn our Congress into? Basically having to sign every single check. down the entire trillions of dollar budget. That’s absurd. That is madness. That can’t happen. But that’s what we’re headed to if we don’t stop this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, when I look at the reports that are coming in, again, from these airports, I see some of your comments going, well, this is just a little bit of discomfort just due to the war. It’s like, no, no, no, no, no. There is that. That’s like the gas prices issues. But what’s happening in our homeland in terms of getting in and out of airports, these three-hour waits that you’re seeing in places like Atlanta, that is controllable that is something that is being held up by washington dc bureaucracy all it is is politics to get you frustrated enough to vote whatever way they want you to vote come the midterms in a few months We saw it a year ago. They delayed it for a little bit or six months ago. They delayed it for a little bit to know when they’re going to put the pressure points on people. And like you said, maybe they’re going to just fix the TSA. Why? Because it’s probably annoying them too. They’re having to fly in and out of these airports themselves and having to sit in these lines. Maybe that’s the only way you can talk to politicians is to actually make, you know, when their lives start getting a little bit more uncomfortable, then changes can happen. With that being said, phone lines are open for you. completely open i’ll be honest 1-800-684-3110 1-800-684-3110 we’re going to continue this discussion we’re also in the next segment i’m going to show you a cool video our team put together about one of our big cases currently against cnn you’re going to like that that is going to the united states supreme court you’re going to not want to miss this of course this is the kickoff to stop the madness week where your donations are doubled right now So do it today. Have your donation doubled dollar for dollar. Help restore the truth and sanity to the media. Stop the madness with us at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secula. We are going to take your phone calls. Some are coming in at 1-800-684-3110. Kicking off this week, of course, we were talking about a few topics. First one that hit the news cycle this morning is President Trump is calling for a ceasefire in Iran. Now, this is a specific ceasefire. This is specifically towards all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructures for a five-day period. due to the fact that they are having what they’re saying are good and ongoing discussions and conversations. And for people who have been wanting that, maybe you could see this as a big positive that this is coming again from President Trump after another chaotic weekend, which involves strikes on Israel, strikes throughout the Middle East, and of course, even threats to the United States and the Western world. We saw what happened last night overnight in London. That being said, there’s obviously the conversation happening at the airports as the Department of Homeland Security still shut down. We actually have a call related to that. I want to take this call and then I want you to hear about some of the new work the ACLJ is doing during our Stop the Madness week that we just kicked off. But I think Denise in Florida is a good place to go. Denise, go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, good talking to you today. I love your show. Yeah, my son was deployed over by the Rio Grande. He’s in the Coast Guard. And he’s patrolling the waters over there with the cartel and Mexican border. And he’s not getting paid, which, you know, thank God he’s okay because, you know, he doesn’t have a family or anything. But, I mean, it’s just deplorable what they’re doing. You know, he’s working, you know, like…
SPEAKER 07 :
he’s working his butt off and and they’re just what are they doing why are they they they taxing these people who are trying to protect our country you know i 100 agree with you denise the the fact that you think about the coast guard being under the department of homeland security it’s a uh a branch up the military and um But it has been moved under that Homeland Security umbrella. But the funding there, I think most people don’t think of it as being a part of Department of Homeland Security. But you think about how important the U.S. Coast Guard is to this country and to our safety. whether it be, as Denise said, being over near the Rio Grande that monitors things that can be gone through the ocean to our homeland. You also think about how important it is in shipping routes and protecting the ports of this country. And all of the layers that the Coast Guard provides, search and rescue, also just being there with all the technology that they have to ensure that threats do not get too close to the United States homeland through the ocean. The U.S. is very blessed with having two large oceans on either side of us. We are very secure that we have from the Atlantic all the way to the Pacific. That is our homeland. Not many countries have that much protection of a wall of ocean on both sides. But we do. And having a Coast Guard that is robust and able to protect our ocean borders, not just our land borders, is extremely, extremely important. And the fact that they are having to work.
SPEAKER 02 :
And you think about… Yeah, when you line item something, the Coast Guard being not funded currently, when we are in the middle of global… Warfare is terrifying, to be honest, of all of the things. The TSA and the Coast Guard feel like we got to get this going right now. Quit playing politics, not just for the paycheck of Denise’s son here, but for the safety of our country and our borders.
SPEAKER 07 :
And once again, they are doing a job that is a sacrifice to this country of being able to go out there and protect the homeland. That’s a dangerous line of work. And they’re saying, you know what, we’ll eventually pay you. what are we doing here why also their fight that they they held up this funding over was over the ice issues of which our media loves to move on from who’s talking about that now yeah they made their point another time the secretary is is gone But the fact that that was the entire reason for them going so hard against the Department of Homeland Security was the ICE activity in this country. It goes to show you, too, no one’s even talking about that anymore. that if you were to go and ask a senator why are you holding this up i don’t even know they give you a coherent answer across your entire caucus because that isn’t even what they’re rallying around now they’re talking about illegal wars you’d think they would want the department of homeland security more now and say we need to beat this up because president trump has made us so unsafe it’s all ridiculous it’s all theater but you know who’s who really It’s not just the people that aren’t getting paid that are still having to work, but it’s every American as well. They’re putting your safety at risk by not funding this. It’s ridiculous.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and absolutely. And look, when the ACLJ gets into action, you know we will. And one of the things that is currently driving a lot of people crazy is what’s going on in the news media as well. And we are part of a very interesting lawsuit right now that you are not going to want to miss this presentation on. This is the kickoff, our Stop the Maddest Week. Each day we’re going to cover something the ACLJ is doing. This one is directly tied to CNN. And CNN, and really something we’ve had an issue with for a very long time, which was can you really hold the media accountable for continually lying? and provable lies. I’m going to show you this video presentation. We’ll be back in just a couple minutes, but you’re not going to want to miss this. Of course, this is the kickoff to ACLJ. Stop the madness. Make your donation today at ACLJ.org and have your donation doubled.
SPEAKER 06 :
The ACLJ is at the center of one of the most historic defamation cases in modern American history, Dershowitz versus CNN, now before the United States Supreme Court. And the stakes couldn’t be higher, not just for Professor Dershowitz, but for every American who deserves an honest press. Here’s what happened. On January 29, 2020, Professor Dershowitz, a distinguished Harvard Law School professor emeritus and practicing attorney, appeared on the Senate floor to defend the Constitution and establish why the Constitution would not authorize a conviction of President Trump. Professor Dershowitz served as part of a distinguished legal team alongside White House counsel Pat Cipollone, now Attorney General Pam Bondi, my dad, Jay Sekulow, and myself, among others. He made a careful, nuanced legal argument about what constitutes an impeachable offense.
SPEAKER 09 :
Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest. And mostly you’re right. Your election is in the public interest. And if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo. that results in impeachment.
SPEAKER 06 :
He could not have been clearer. Yet within minutes, CNN went on air and told millions of viewers the exact opposite. Their commentators claimed that under the so-called Dershowitz doctrine, a president could commit bribery, extortion, and virtually any crime imaginable without consequence. The problem? Dershowitz never said that.
SPEAKER 10 :
I never said, never suggested, and it was a total distortion, not misunderstanding, distortion of my point that I want, I think a president can do anything if he thinks his election is national.
SPEAKER 06 :
I never said it.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s nonsense, and your network should never have said that I said it repeatedly.
SPEAKER 06 :
cnn had the full video cnn had the full transcript and cnn broadcasted a lie anyway that’s exactly why the aclj brought this case to the supreme court we’re asking the court to hold cnn accountable for deliberately distorting a verifiable recorded public statement join the aclj in stopping this madness go to aclj.org madness
SPEAKER 07 :
And folks, we thought that was the perfect case to start this Stop the Madness Week because it holds the media accountable for the lies and madness that they have been able to just completely avoid any sort of accountability for so long since New York Times v. Sullivan was decided. But that is directly what we are challenging. And you can join us at aclj.org slash madness. Double your impact when you join us this week. We’re going to stop the madness, folks. aclj.org slash madness. We’ll be right back with more.
SPEAKER 11 :
Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to Sekulow’s second half hour of the broadcast, and we are talking about a lot of things today. We’re talking about our Stop the Madness week, which is going to be showcasing a lot of the things that we are directly involved in that just feels like it comes out of the land of absurd. But here we are in the United States of America having to stop these very things. And that’s exactly what we’re doing. And you can join us in that at aclj.org slash madness. But we’re also talking about this big announcement by President Trump that there is this ceasefire on basically going after targets that he threatened. If Iran didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz, then we were going to start attacking their power plants and essentially their civilian grid. That would be a real pressure point on the regime that whatever it looks like now in Iran, that we would be attacking. He announced this morning there’s a five-day ceasefire on that as they continue what he has said are productive talks. And we’ll see what those productive talks mean. I think it’s also important that while Logan and I talk also about the dream of a free Iran, a regime change, we also have to be cognizant of what the president has said really his entire term since before when he was running for president. I don’t know that that is the goal of this president, nor has it ever been. He hasn’t stated that. What he has always said, though, his stated goal is Iran not being able to have a nuclear weapon. He has said that for more than a decade. And so I do think… that he would be okay with some remnant of a regime that is so crippled. Now, hopefully also, even if we’re out of the picture, the Iranian people still take over their country. But I don’t think he is trying to get there as well.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hopefully, there’s self-determination of the Iranian people. My concern is that the remnants are too strong. We’ve seen that with long-range missiles. It does come to the conversation of a few months ago, or maybe a year ago, close to a year ago now, we had our first attacks on Iran, took out what we thought was missiles, or we thought was their missiles. facilities to have these and then all of a sudden a few months ago or not even a month ago it was we were crossing the line to almost having them again so we had to do this and I’m okay with that and I’m okay with going into business with Israel if you will to to change over and you saw uprising in the streets which resulted in tens of thousands of Iranian people bravely dying being murdered for their beliefs, going out there and calling for a new regime, calling for a new world for the people of Iran. And though our conversations are specifically really targeted and tailored to the world threat of Iran, I do have heart and concern for the people of Iran and that we’re going to leave them in a situation where they are still going to be under extreme, extreme rule, uh, and not have that opportunity. But I’m hopeful that also this can be resolved very quickly. I mean, remember they took out the Ayatollah within the first day. Uh, this is a wild, uh, undertaking that president Trump and the entire team has gone under. And I think I’ve heard a lot of it has been very successful. Um, I do think the internet sphere of having these conversations is starting to bleed a little bit into the global perspective of this war. And I see it even in our own comments where people are not as maybe enthused. Maybe they thought they would have more of the original days of the war in Iraq where it felt like we were responding to 9-11. We were responding to something bigger. And then eventually that weighed on the American people. It’s weighed very quickly. You know, a few weeks. We’re only into this. And now we’re talking about wrapping it up. We’ll see. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. We’ve got a couple people online already, and we’ll get to you, as well as about three lines open right now. If you’re watching online, watching on YouTube, you’re brand new, hit that subscribe button. If you’ve been part of the team before, you can do that. Hit the thumbs up or put in a comment. But really, right now, a great time to support the work of the ACLJ worldwide. This is the Stop the Madness Week. Of course, every day we’re going to focus on a different ACLJ case, a different ACLJ situation. And currently, of course, we are talking about our battle with CNN, of all people. You know you want to get involved in that. Go to ACLJ.org, make your donation today, and have it doubled. We’ll be right back. welcome back to seculo give me a call 1-800-684-3110 we are in the very beginning the kickoff day of our stop the madness week of course a lot of you are talking about the madness happening around the country maybe you’ve enjoyed it this weekend we’re talking about a different kind of madness well that’s right more upsets more people upset there’s a lot of people upset people upset teams upset yeah you’re not gonna hear gonzaga from us I don’t even know what to say to that. I just shook my head. I know you did. I don’t even know if they were in the tournament this year. They were. I’m sure they were. They were upset. Were they? Yeah. That was just a, I assumed. Because you know what? Someone didn’t invite me to our company March Madness Pool this year.
SPEAKER 07 :
Have you ever been in it before?
SPEAKER 02 :
Every year for the last 18 years. You just re-go in. But no one said we’re doing it. Well, it’s kind of assumed. I don’t even know where to go. Usually they remind me. Wow. Not this year. Sorry. You know what? It’s okay. I wouldn’t have won because I would have picked Gonzaga to go all the way. Because I like the name, really. Phone lines are open 1-800-684-3110. Got an ACLJ champion calling in. I want to make sure we jump to her or him first. Sorry, to Marion in Texas. Marion, you’ve been a longtime champion. I always appreciate you calling in. Look, when you’re an ACLJ champion, you give on a monthly basis. You give like a recurring membership fee. And you pick the price at any time, but one of the little perks I offer here when you do that, because it creates a great baseline for the organization to know what we can budget out for future months, is I like to give callers, if they tell our phone screener that they’re a verified champion, they get bumped to the front of the line. So, Marion, go ahead.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, first of all, my wife and I are both champions. She’s in the hospital right now. Oh, prayers for her. Well, thank you. I wanted to tell y’all that this is one of the best things that I do with my money is to give money to ACLJ. So I’m really happy to be a part of your organization. I’m very honored, and I love the things that y’all are doing to help people around the world. Now, having said that, I’m curious about something that’s going on in Iran, and maybe y’all can help answer it for me. But First of all, I’m glad that Trump is going to give them a chance and he’s negotiating with people so that I don’t want him to blow up all that very valuable stuff that costs tons and tons of money because once the regime has changed, not the poor people but the vulnerable people there are going to need electricity, they’re going to need all that stuff. I don’t know how they’re making it right now because I doubt if they can even go out in the streets and a lot of places are damaged. So I hope they don’t destroy that so maybe that can compensate for these people some of the things that have been lost in the interim. And that’s my statement.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and Marianne, I think that it’s a very good point that you raise. One, because if you do wipe out all the civilian infrastructure. then you are left with a failed state, effectively. You are trying to get people to rebuild something that, especially in the case of Iran, the people who we would like to see take the country over have not been in a leadership position in the country in 47 years, but they have been actually oppressed. So what you need is some stability if you don’t want it to devolve into a failed state with militia fighting in perpetuity. And I think those of us, like Marion and Logan and I, that we do want to see meaningful change in Iran. We want to see a free Iran. We want to see the people, the Persian people, be able to rise up and take back their country.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, they were celebrating in the streets for a reason. Right. And that reason wasn’t because we were taking out nuclear facilities, or was it because we were going to open up certain different, they were in the streets celebrating because they were going to potentially get their country back. And that is still to me, hopefully one of the goals here.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and I think when you see that he’s paused this phase, not all of it, they are still running air campaigns. They are still hitting targets. Just that one aspect of it. That was a big threat to Iran saying, you better open the Strait of Hormuz because that is an economic pressure point the entire world was feeling. So now, have they reopened it at this point? No. But he’s saying that the negotiations and the talks with the people he is talking to, the U.S., those that are in charge of that, believe that they are fruitful enough. And once again, you are, yes, talking to Iranians. You have to be careful. But you also are talking to the third and fourth string Iranians at this point who have seen everyone before them eliminated. So they probably, while their ideology hasn’t changed, their goal of self-preservation may have changed. And I think that that is what even the president said to begin with, that he was trying to go diplomatic. I don’t want you to have a nuclear weapon. But what is one of the first things they told our negotiators? You know, we have enough enriched uranium. We know that we do for about 16 warheads. They were bragging to the U.S. negotiators. I think that that bombastic rhetoric from the Iranians is probably gone. And I think that is why he believed I can pause this threat and see if we can at least get the Strait of Hormuz open.
SPEAKER 02 :
We got a couple lines still open. President Trump also is taking a seat right now along with pete heggs with pam bondi and others in memphis tennessee right now at a make america safe again roundtable event uh that is happening in memphis if there is anything worth cutting to we can cut to that live so i’ll hike our team uh you know watch see what president trump is saying as you know we know that some of these major cities that have had issues with crime over the years and look memphis is just a few hours down the road spent many a time in memphis There are times, I mean, I love that city. I think it’s a great city. One of the coolest histories in America has a lot of deep, deep rooted history, of course, in music. And of course, in civil rights moves, of course, horribly. But where you should be able to go visit to the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. All these things happened in Memphis, Tennessee. And sadly, it has become one of the places that we all know of is a very unsafe place. And specifically in a state that is pretty historically safe in Tennessee. So President Trump talking about what they’re doing in Memphis. Again, another city that I would love to see have kind of a rebirth here because it is one of those really interesting parts of Americana.
SPEAKER 07 :
But also, we know we’ve talked to Senator Hagerty about this. We’ve talked to Senator Blackburn about this. We know that the governor of Tennessee was one of the governors that allowed the president and worked in tandem with him with the National Guard being sent to Memphis. And Memphis saw a dramatic change. decrease in violent crime as a result of that and memphis was it is a a city with such a rich history and so much potential but was a very dangerous city we know not just even for seedy parts where there’s a lot of drug activity and that type of crime but uh All around the actual urban area of the city, in the tourist areas, there was high crime, violent crime against people that were tourists there, that lived there and had no connection to sort of the criminal underworld of Memphis. But we saw 25-year lows after Memphis. that National Guard deployment in violent crime and that is something that should be celebrated by everyone that should be celebrated because Memphis has so much potential and should be able to thrive but it was just stuck in this cycle of of corruption in politics and bad leadership that just allowed this over decades crime to fester there. And what we’ve seen is a change in that. So as a place to highlight, this is the right spot for the president to go to have this roundtable about the making America safe again.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, we got a lot of calls coming in on this and many other topics. Let’s go ahead. I want to take one. Let’s get one out of the way. Let’s go to Jim in Texas on line one. Jim, go ahead.
SPEAKER 13 :
Hey guys, I really like some of the comments that have been coming through today. There’s so many things going on right now in the United States, but I just want to know, we hear about it, but when will we stop paying these congressmen that are putting the DHS on hold? They don’t care about them. They still want to waddle through the lines like they’re self-important Pharisees.
SPEAKER 07 :
and they should just not if the people don’t get paid that they represent they shouldn’t get paid and jim actually senator uh kennedy john kennedy from louisiana has been kind of at the forefront of this he had actually legislation that during the last shutdown he tried to put forward that was don’t pay us if we won’t pay the rest of the country basically uh as you can imagine not that popular i Imagine that his colleagues, but he was trying to get a resolution in the Senate that senators would not get paid until they reopened the Department of Homeland Security. It wouldn’t have affected the House because he was trying to do it by resolution in the Senate. That would have been an easier path. democrats blocked his resolution and they weren’t even on the floor they used a procedural mechanism and he tried to be like well i want to wait for him to get back uh senator schatz the to come in and talk about why he’s blocking my resolution but they were using the the gamesmanship in the senate the democrats to even block a resolution saying we don’t get paid he’s like i’m not taking your money away you’ll get it Just like the federal workers do when we do our job and get it back open. But once again, it seems to be that what is good for the rest of the country is not good for them.
SPEAKER 02 :
1-800-684-3011. That’s what they say. I know, the goose and the gander. You didn’t take it. Stop the madness. You got to do that. They put up the graphic. I like when I said that. It feels like that’s an AI thing where I can say something and it just appears. Yeah. Stop the madness. There it is. Oh, man. Tim Walz is on fire in that image. There you go. Not literally, if you’re not watching. Mostly peaceful. Mostly, yeah. All right. Scan the QR code right now. You’ve heard about how the ACLJ is getting involved in so many of these Supreme Court cases right now. Each day this week, we’re going to be holding the media accountable for lies, smears, and even, of course, the attacks on people of faith. and the constitution go to aclj.org we get back we’re gonna take your calls and comments coming right up welcome back to secular we do have a couple lines still open if you want to get on the air today 1-800-684-3110 let’s go ahead and take some calls let’s go to ronald south carolina watching on rumble ronald go ahead
SPEAKER 12 :
Thank you very much for taking my call. It seems as though, like you were saying and alluding to, stopping the madness. It’s wondering why the liberal Democrats seem to be literally, all for literally leaving our nation vulnerable to our enemies in this way. And honestly, they should be… They should be taken to an island or country and says, okay, this is your country. Now you take your policies and run it the way you want to and see how far you get.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Ronald, instead of that, what they’re saying is let’s create chaos and then try to force people’s hand when they vote. Because you’re going to show chaos over the next few months leading into what? The midterm elections, which really determines the rest of President Trump’s term. because so much can get done or so much can’t get done based on who is in control of the House and Senate. So when you create chaos and you push chaos and you push things that even aren’t popular with the American people, most Americans are not as attuned to what’s happening around the world and around the country as our listeners, as our comments in the chat. It’s just true. So they see chaos. Who are they to blame? President of the United States, Senate in the House. And what they hope to do is cause more dissidence and then the votes happen and guess what? The pendulum swings and you have a president who sadly becomes sort of a lame duck president in his last few years.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and Ronald also, the senators, the Democrat senators are already trying to spin it because they put that one off of, hey, we’ll just pay TSA. we will just pay them instead of the entire department of homeland security and now they’re using that because republicans like no we need to open the department of homeland security for all of these reasons and so senators like patty murray is saying republicans just blocked uh the the funding partial funding of dhs which is causing you to have these long lines at the airport They are using specific things, playing games to be able to score political points and blame the other side. And to your point, Ronald, it used to feel like even if you disagreed with the ideology at the heart of the party. that you still believed that, you know, eventually there’d be some sort of compromise because we’re both working towards the same thing. It doesn’t feel like that anymore. It feels like those on the left are trying to dismantle American institutions left and right. And that is partially why this stop the madness week is so, you know, timely is because all these things we’re going to go through this week, just show how ridiculous it’s gotten.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep, all week we’re going to be doing it. That’s, of course, at ACLJ.org as well, where you can read and see all the different cases, things we’re getting involved in. During this Stop the Madness week, where your donations are doubled, let’s go to Eric, who’s calling, who is an ACLJ champion. And hey, if you donate during this special week, Even if you become a champion, which, of course, we encourage you to do. That’s someone that gives on a monthly basis. Your first donation will be doubled. So say you want to become a $20 a month champion. Well, your first donation effectively becomes $40 because someone’s ready to unlock their pledge. Still, of course, you only get charged $20, but it helps us out a lot. So go ahead and do that. Opt in. Become a champion today at any level. Eric, Pennsylvania, go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, my question is, is Israel agreed to this? Because… assuming that the Iranians honor their contract and don’t fire any missiles off in the next five weeks.
SPEAKER 07 :
israel we can’t make israel agree to it so i don’t i don’t know i haven’t heard anything today i agree to this um thing thanks for uh letting me yeah i need to clarify also five days not five weeks so it’s five days and also it almost seems like a self-imposed ceasefire uh one it’s just on those facilities that the power plants we are not going to be attacking yeah it’s less of an agreement more president trump just saying we’re gonna hold off Right. And so ceasefire is the term he used, but it’s not in the traditional of like both sides have agreed to end hostilities. I think that we will continue to see airstrikes from both us and Israel, especially at their military sites, taking out more of their capabilities to respond.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s not in the statement.
SPEAKER 07 :
That was in some of his verbal statements. He used the word ceasefire. All right, cool.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, let’s continue on. Martha, who’s watching on ACLJ.org. Great place to watch. Go ahead in Virginia.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks for taking my call. What I think the Democrats, well, they don’t think, they don’t have brains, but they only are interested in their politics. But they are not thinking about the people who had appointments for surgery in another state, appointments for cancer treatments at a different state, attending burials for their loved ones. That’s one point. And the second point is their focus is not to get the SAVE Act approved. They are going to that. That’s what they are aiming. And Republicans should be smarter and speak up in the press a lot, as Democrats are doing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I think, Martha, you may be giving a bit more credit than I would, saying I do think they understand that. I think a lot of this is to cause pain. Because if they cause pain, they think they can get their way. And if they can’t get their way, it’s going to cause people to vote the other way.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s right. At the end of the day, they may act like they care about the American people. And I think this goes for a lot of politicians. This is maybe a bipartisan thing.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it’s not… They may say through their rhetoric that it is about the people. But at the end of the day, you see a lot of jockeying on both sides for what? Power. For more power and more control. But you bring up the SAVE Act. Once again, this is something that the debate is ongoing still. That is on the floor of the Senate. That senators… from both the left as well as some moderate Republicans that aren’t necessarily fully on board with it or won’t go far enough to make it happen. They are voting outside of 71% of the country. They are supposed to be representatives of their states, of their constituents. And yet at the end of the day, what you’re seeing is a lot of talk about how bad this would be for the country when 71% of their base across the country wants something.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, absolutely. And look, we only got two minutes left on the show today. The ACLJ is hard at work. I want you to be a part of the team today. Every day this week, we are going to discuss what’s going on. Now, President Trump has, this is sort of some breaking news happening as we go off the air, specifically said that he may be sending the National Guard now also to airports after the success of the National Guard in some of these cities. So that is something we can look forward to. We have ICE agents in there now, the National Guard next. Of course, this is all because it’s still defunded. In the TSA, you have a lot of call-outs, as you’d expect. When people stop getting paid to do a job that is, one, not the most fun. We always give a lot of grief to the TSA. I’m sure it’s on the other side. It is also not fun to be a TSA agent many days due to, obviously, the extreme pressure that should be on them based on what they’re physically doing, which is stopping terrorist attacks on airplanes. Plus… Just the ongoing chaos of working at the airport during stressful holiday seasons. You know, hopefully we can get things back on track. The madness has always been there at the airport, Will. That’s right. We want to stop. We want to stop that madness. We want to stop that madness at the airport. Stop that madness going on over at CNN. You can be a part of that team stopping that madness as well. I want you to go to aclj.org slash madness. My favorite of our slashes that we’ve done. It’s a good one. It’s a good one. Sometimes it’s like life, freedom. I like this one is madness. So go to ACLJ.org slash madness or scan the QR code you see on the screen right now. All donations are doubled throughout this week. And I want you to be part of the team. We’re headed into the very end of the month of March. And what a great way to celebrate this month of March and our Stop the Madness drive. Right now, your donations are doubled because it is still double your impact. Help hold the mainstream media accountable. Go to aclj.org today. Again, slash madness. And we will talk to you tomorrow on Seculo. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
