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The episode also shifts focus to critical international issues where the ACLJ is actively engaging. From horrific persecutions of Christians in Syria and the Congo to the strategic interventions being made by the ECLJ, listeners gain insight into global efforts for religious freedom and human rights. The episode encourages audience participation and support, highlighting the importance of international advocacy and the unique role of the ACLJ in global affairs.
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s already time to gear up for 2028 as big moves for the election are underway. 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.
SPEAKER 05 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. Yes, can you believe it? We’re actually having this discussion just a few months into President Trump’s presidency, second presidency. We’re already talking about what the next election looks like. Now, of course, it’s a little different this time because you know you will not have an incumbent candidate. That doesn’t happen all that often. You know, obviously, the eight-year term, that happens. But when it comes to this sort of very specific situation… It’s a bit different than probably most of us have ever lived through. Not most of us than any of us have ever lived through where you had a president become the president. Then you had another president. They came back to be the president. So now the Democrats are trying to figure out what to do as well as the Republicans. And you have the moves from the Democrats starting to plant because, look, I know it feels early and it is early to start this discussion. But I just look, President Trump, remember, he announced his candidacy. Very early, probably the earliest of any modern candidate of that scale. He announced it on November 15th of 2022. So that means you are only about 24, 28 months away from making that announcement if you’re going to be on the same timeline. And for any of you who follow politics, know how that works, you’ve got to raise an enormous amount of money. You have to have a lot of support going in. You have to have all your exploratory committees ready. All of these things have to happen. And of course, a few of the front runners have started to show up for the Democratic side. Now, I think the Republican side, you’re going to have to wait a little bit because they’re going to start, though they’re going to start. Certainly, J.D. Vance and certainly some of the other names will start popping up over the next little bit. You’ll start noticing little things happening in their world that maybe are bringing them more attention. The left is not as subtle. You have launch of brand new podcasts, which again, podcasting, not usually the space for the left. They have not had that kind of corner on the market like the conservatives have. But they have said, hey, we’re going to do it. And we got Gavin Newsom doing a very interesting podcast, a really interesting decision to, again, all of them, I feel like, are trying to moderate, are trying to go into the middle, or are trying to figure out if they can reach people and even just make it clicky enough to where you go, oh, I got to see that. So you have Gavin Newsom. You have Michelle Obama announcing her new podcast with her brother, and then you have, third, you have someone like Rahm Emanuel, who is starting to make waves as well. So those three names represent sort of a more old-school Democrat point of view. They are not, though they probably are in policy, they are not in their public persona, these ultra-left, woke characters. Now, obviously, we know this is Gavin Newsom we’re talking about here. But he has done a pretty good job, not as a governor. He’s done a bad job as a governor, maybe the worst. He’s done a good job of keeping his name out there and showing up to things like the debate he did with Ron DeSantis, with Hannity. You now have a podcast he had, and the guests are intentionally people he disagrees with, something you don’t usually see, specifically from the left. Usually they’re not having on a bunch of guests that they want to debate. And these are very friendly conversations, even if they are people he disagrees with. First episode with Charlie Kirk. Second episode. Michael Savage. Michael Savage. And then sort of the big swerve, number three, Steve Bannon, who will be joining the Gavin Newsom podcast. And I’ll be honest, all three of those are at least probably going to be worth the click for a lot of people. That is very interesting. That’s a big brand decision to try to reach out to the middle. I don’t think he’ll be able to do that, but you’re going to have a lot of ears. who are going to be listening and ears from the right because they want to hear, well, what does it look like when Gavin Newsom talks to Charlie Kirk? And you know what it was? It was fun. It was courteous. He talked about how his son is a huge fan of his. So again, you have this, his son’s like 13. You have this interesting dynamic. What do you think about these candidates? What do you think about heading into election season already? 1-800-684-3110. I’d love to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. We also got a packed show. We got Harry Hutchinson joining us. We got CeCe Heil. And we’re going to be going over to the ECLJ, the European Center for Law and Justice. Give us a call, though, or support the work of the ECLJ. I’m going to tell you why when we get to our next segment. But you know why. It’s our life and liberty drive. Your donations are doubled right now. So make your donation today. Scan the QR code on your screen or go to ACLJ.org. Again, phone lines are open for you. Give us a call. Welcome back to Secular. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110 as we are discussing the possible contenders for 2028. Of course, we’ve got to also look to the Republicans as well. Because it is a very different time. Do you have J.D. Vance come in and just… make a name for himself over the next two years and claim that ticket? Or do you have other people that are even within the Republican Party, within the Trump administration, who could also be making that move as well? On the Democrat side, you even have Pete Buttigieg. You have, as we said, Rahm Emanuel. You have Gavin Newsom, as we discussed, and you have Michelle Obama. That’s a pretty hefty list of names that everyone knows. I think that’s what’s also different, too, is usually you have sort of these out of left field names that were not really, you know, even Barack Obama, you know, his first go at it. It wasn’t necessarily he was a household name before that, maybe to hardcore political junkies, but not to specifically the general public. Now, Gavin Newsom has made his name very well known. Everyone knows Michelle Obama. And Michelle Obama, I think, is that one that they’re going to keep trying to get. Because not that it’s a guaranteed winner, but it’s going to be very tough because she is very beloved. She is very liked as a person, as a political figure. You went over a lot of people with her. But every time they sort of flirt with Michelle Obama, I feel like every time they start to bring that out, inevitably she’s like, they’re not interested.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, what’s interesting about these moves is that one of the biggest losing angles for the Democrat strategy in 2024, that election that just passed, was their abandonment and unwillingness to go into new media, into the podcasting world, where the views and the impressions are infinitely larger than going on CNN. And then you see what has happened to the Democrat Party post-election. You see the spectacle at the joint address to Congress where they embarrassed themselves as a party, the elected officials within the party. And so the entire conversation is… How do you recover from this as a party? We have no strategy. We have no leader. Tim Walz was asked in an interview, you know, who’s kind of the leader of the party? And he had this lame answer that it’s the voter that’s the leader of the party. Well, voters rejected the party pretty overwhelmingly in November. But you’re starting to see these very savvy, very smart moves by Michelle Obama, by Gavin Newsom, who are not Washington, D.C. politicians right now. Obviously, Michelle Obama was the first lady, but has been out of the arena, so to speak, at least publicly and elected-wise for a while. And then Gavin Newsom, who has, when you look at his record in California, has devastated the state. They tried to recall him and it got pretty close. Right. And instead he’s able to go and he is a political genius and his team are political geniuses because right now he’s getting negative headlines about him. Headlines like Gavin Newsom’s podcast shows he’s out of step with the state or Adam Kinzinger, who is former Republican anti-Trumper, saying that having Steve Bannon on his show is unforgivable and insane. So when you have California newspapers saying he’s out of step with the state and you have people like Adam Kinzinger, who I don’t know a single person who likes Adam Kinzinger, saying that he’s out of step and insane. What that does to the low information voter, the person who doesn’t follow it, not the people that are watching this show who understand what’s going on, but the people that start paying attention around the time of the election, now he has baked in headlines about his own newspapers in his state attacking him and people like adam kinzinger attacking him and what does that do that gives him moderate chops no matter what his policies are and that’s why it’s so effective and smart and savvy but really dangerous when you see a politician that knows how to command the public space like this and and get in the minds of people in a different way and how many people who would have never watched or listened to an episode of a Gavin Newsom podcast because it was Charlie Kirk, because it was Dr. Michael Savage, because it was Steve Bannon. You know who’s sharing these clips? These clips are being shared by a lot of conservative influencers.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, it’s even the joke that kind of landed where Charlie Kirk was speaking with him and he said, my son is such a giant fan of you, Charlie. I’d love to, we have that. But then it was able to, again, kind of defuse maybe some of the most controversial things that Gavin Newsom did. And of course, it also references shutting down the schools. And yes, it’s done as a joke. It’s done for fun. But when you really look at it, is it normalizing what has led to the destruction of one of our best states?
SPEAKER 04 :
night trying to put my son to bed he’s like no dad i just what time what time’s charlie gonna be here what time and i’m like dude you’re in school tomorrow he’s 13. he’s like no no this morning wakes up at six up then he’s like i’m coming i’m like he literally would not leave the house did you let him to take off school no he did of course not he’s not here for a good reason but the point is the cancel school for like two years once one day the point is the point which is you are making a dent
SPEAKER 05 :
So that is, again, a clip from the Newsome podcast. I don’t even know what it was there. But he makes the joke. The point is, he says, my kid loves you. Number one, that’s a start. Because now you’re already saying, hey, my kid has different political opinions than I do as an adult. And I still love my kid. You can be that moderate. Which is pretty interesting that you can actually have these relationships with your family, as you should be able to, by the way. But that that can happen. And there isn’t some hatred in the household. And then you have one step further, which is, you know, I won’t let him take off school. And then Charlie hits him with a you cancel school for two years. Very funny. Very funny. But trivializes. That pretty egregious sin that happened where kids have been held back so much because of it.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. And he even he’s able to diffuse the situation with like the French laundry. That was where he went out and had a very high end dinner while no one else was allowed to go out in public. And he was able to take something that was one of the biggest PR crises of his governorship. and just kind of get rid of it and even say like, I’m growing up, I’ve learned from it, but it’s very savvy. And that’s why I think, once again, not to the people who watch this show, who listen to this show, but this is what you need to be aware of. Because when you’re talking to people that are maybe then more open to the idea of someone who is very savvy, very slick, very polished and charming, even Charlie Kirk himself said, the Republicans better watch out Because he is very charming and disarming. He doesn’t get rattled by Charlie Kirk making a jab that you canceled school for two years. He’s able to continue the conversation, let it roll off his back, as you said, as if it were nothing. Yeah. That is a skill like we haven’t seen in a politician in a very long time. I would say Obama was good at being polished and poised, but the ability to take even Obama didn’t have the record that you could point to and say, here’s all the bad things you’ve done. And so we never got to see if you could do something like that.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you could say, okay, Michelle Obama’s legacy is Barack Obama’s legacy. Let’s tie those together. is that whether you like it or not, and of course I disagreed with much of the Obama administration, almost all of it, if you probably look at popularity ratings, it’s probably going to go down as one of the most popular presidents we had in our lifetime. Unlike what’s happening in California where somehow Gavin Newsom is able to get this countrywide platform in a state that has been so ravaged over the last few years to where he lives in these areas in Northern California where a store like Target is like we got to. board up the store and leave town whole foods is like sorry we can’t even open anymore because crime has gotten so out of hand where you have signs that legitimately say leave your doors open your windows unrolled so then your car doesn’t get broken into it’s showing that you don’t have anything of value in here when you do that that is the kind of situation that they are pushing in certain areas of california right now and he hasn’t been able to get that back on track But like I said, unlike Michelle Obama or even a Rahm Emanuel, Michelle Obama, where you could go, OK, I disagree with her. Again, we’re talking about from a Democrat point of view. She is a very popular figure with a presidency under her belt in some ways that is very popular. That’s not the same for Gavin Newsom, but he’s able to spin it and he comes off a little Batman villainy because he’s able to spin it that way. We got a lot of calls coming in, but we do have some lines open. I’d like to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. Some people have asked about some of the work that we’re doing internationally. It’s a great show for you to be listening to because we’re going to go to the ECLJ at the end of the show. You’re going to hear from members of our ECLJ team. We’re going to connect with them. as well as Harry Hutchinson, CeCe Heil. They’re going to be joining us later in the broadcast. You want to make sure you stay tuned for that. But this is the ACLJ Life and Liberty Drive. And as I mentioned, the attacks on Christians is really escalating on a worldwide global scale. We are working at a fever pitch right now to protect and save Christians around the globe, and we need your help to do that. Keep us in the fight. Have your gift doubled today at ACLJ.org. Just a few quick things. Our team just made our second address before the European Parliament on the recent mass slaughter of Christians in Syria. We’re definitely going to talk about that with our team. We also just submitted demand letters to the UN Human Rights Office on the mass murder of Christians in Congo. Next week, our legal team is going to be at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. We are all over the world right now, but we have to have the resource to be able to do that. Just the flights alone. Have your tax-deductible gift doubled right now. 50 becomes 100. 25 becomes 50. Just go to ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secular. A few lines are still open for you at 1-800-684-3110. If you’re on hold, we will get you a little bit later in the broadcast, but I want to thank all of you for joining us. If you’re watching right now on YouTube, I encourage you to hit that subscribe button, that thumbs up button. All that really helps. If you don’t know what to comment, just let me know where you’re watching from. I love to take a look and see, because we have a worldwide reach here, thanks to the internet, thanks to YouTube, thanks to Rumble. We’ll be able to be seen all around the world, which is really amazing, and over 468,000 of you alone on YouTube have joined us and so many more on all of our different platforms. So Harry Hutchinson is joining us now. We’re going to continue this discussion. But also, Will, there is some reports that President Trump is planning a big speech.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. So there is expected to be a speech at the Department of Justice tomorrow from President Trump. Many times a president will go to a specific department and give an address to the employees there. Sometimes it’s a morale booster. Sometimes you see it just from the head of that, the secretary of that agency or the attorney general, if it were the Department of Justice. But it’s being framed already as an unusual visit to the Department of Justice. I would say this is probably not a typical thing this early. in an administration to go over to a specific department. But the focus of that, Professor Hutchinson, is supposed to be on law and order. That is something, obviously, that the president ran heavily on. And we know that over the past four years, that the Department of Justice, their focus wasn’t as much on law and order as much as it was on politically targeted and motivated actions, whether it be against the president of the United States, the former president of the United States himself, or if it were against teachers at school board meetings. Christian churches that they thought were too conservative or may be interested in pro-life issues. And also those that were the strong arm of justice that they brought against a father in Pennsylvania that protected his son at an abortion protest. He was charged and acquitted. But the DOJ spent taxpayer money, resources and time on trying to prosecute people like that to the fullest extent of the law. Meanwhile, we’ve seen across the country, crime rates go up, migrant crime rates go up, murder rates go up, things of that nature. And so President Trump is going to go and give a speech to the employees of the DOJ that is trying to realign the core mission of the DOJ.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think that’s precisely correct. So President Trump is going to give a speech about restoring law and order. Keep in mind that for the last four years under the Biden administration, the Biden administration has essentially celebrated two things, lawlessness at the border and the weaponization of the Justice Department against Biden’s perceived political enemies. And so the Biden Justice Department under Merrick Garland has enlisted the support of district attorneys in New York and in Georgia to go after Biden’s political enemies. And so I think this is an important speech. It follows swiftly on the confirmation of Pam Bondi as Attorney General, Kash Patel to be the FBI Director, Todd Blanch, one of Trump’s personal attorneys, was named Deputy Attorney General, and it follows, if you will, a five to six year period wherein the FBI was led first by James Comey Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, and the Justice Department, as you correctly point out, went after pro-life Catholics, parents at school board meetings, you name it. And so what I think President Trump is doing is he is resetting the Department of Justice focus on, guess what, justice.
SPEAKER 05 :
And our team was brought up that this is not uncommon for a president to do this. But of course, Will, because it’s President Trump, they’re going to make it feel that way. It’s always going to be something that is, you know, it’s like saying a handpicked attorney general, a handpicked, you know, whatever. Well, of course, you know, that’s how it works.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. Whenever it’s a Democrat president, it is his government. Whenever it is a conservative president or President Trump more specifically, it is the government and the president are exclusive of each other. And the DOJ has to be independent, Harry. How many times are we going to hear that? You can write the headlines tomorrow after the speech. Because every outlet on the left is going to cover it and say, here’s what he said. It’s threatening the independence of the Department of Justice. They’ve made these rules where if you’re a conservative president or you’re a Republican president, you don’t agree with things that the deep state is doing, then you’re not allowed to speak to them or go to their office or do anything. You have to be completely hands off in governing the country. When in reality, everyone should agree with this message. But because it’s President Trump, it’s going to be nefarious.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. And so what has typically happened, particularly when there has been a Republican president, The liberals and the critics have erased Article 2 of the United States Constitution. Article 2 vests the entire executive branch in one single executive. That is the President of the United States. He is in charge and he can direct his cabinet officers And I think that is the way the system works. However, President Trump’s critics, they wish to, as I suggest, ignore the United States Constitution. And I think that’s misleading to the American people.
SPEAKER 05 :
I want to let also everyone know there is some movement going on live right now in Russia as Vladimir Putin is making some statements regarding the potential ceasefire agreement. We can discuss that a bit later on as it’s going on because it’s happening right now. Right now in Moscow, he’s hosting the president of Belarus and the questions are coming up and there may be some positive movement.
SPEAKER 10 :
And Steve Witkoff, who is the negotiator from President Trump, is over there. He’s been having meetings, is expected to. Based on the timeline, the reports are he is meeting tonight with Putin. Which is probably about now. Right. I mean, it is tonight, so I don’t know if this is before or after. However, Putin has said publicly, according to the news reports, it’s in Russian, so they’ve translated for us that we agree with the proposals for the ceasefire between But our position is based on the assumption that the ceasefire would lead to long-term peace, something that would remove the initial reasons for the crisis.
SPEAKER 05 :
So a bit doublespeak there, as you’d expect coming from the Kremlin.
SPEAKER 10 :
We agree to the proposals for the ceasefire means we are signing the ceasefire. That’s translation. So we’re going to keep watching this one, folks.
SPEAKER 05 :
We’ll keep an eye on it. Also, right now, the Trump Tower is… And it’s kind of been overtaken in New York right now as protests over the detained pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas agitator. Oh, I am looking at the lobby right now. It is filled with people protesting in Trump Tower. And of course, a bunch of people just trying to go along with their lives. Real fun. So we’re going to pay attention to that as well. But we are in the middle now of our life and liberty drive. And as we head to the second half hour of the broadcast, I know we lose some of you here at the break. You should join us live each and every day, noon to 1 p.m., whether that’s on YouTube, Rumble, Salem News Channel, or your local network if they carry us live. If not, you can always find us later on archived on ACLJ.org, the ACLJ app, or the podcast feed. Also, though, all donations right now are effectively doubled. Again, if you give $50, that becomes $100. Scale that down. You give $25, it becomes $50. The ACLJ is built on the backbone of individual donations like these, and it’s the most impactful time you can do it is during these kind of events. And this event, this Life and Liberty Drive, doesn’t come around all that often. Go to ACLJ.org and have your gifts doubled. Again, ACLJ.org. We need your help. Keep us in the fight around the globe. We’re going to talk about what’s going on even in our offices in Europe a bit later on in the broadcast. You’re not going to want to miss that. Again, go to ACLJ.org right now and make your donation or scan the QR code that’s on your screen. Second half hour coming back in just a minute. Really quick break. Be right back.
SPEAKER 09 :
keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. We are continuing our discussion about 2028. I believe we’re doing that already. Of course, talking about the potential runs because you are seeing the moves happen in real time of Gavin Newsom, of Michelle Obama, of Rahm Emanuel, Pete Buttigieg, who just announced he will not be seeking election. So you know, not for governor, you know that this could be happening right now. So if that is going on, of course, there is the looming Kamala Harris that no one’s talking about as well. She’s seemingly running for potentially the governor of California. That’s a discussion. But you never know. I’m sure there’s a lot of people in their ear right now trying to get them to start the conversation. And how Washington works is you don’t have much long. to get things going. You have to have a pretty big operation. So that’s happening right now. A lot of you have called in. We’re going to take some of those calls. Let’s go to Leonard who’s calling in Washington. Leonard, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, thank you very much. You know, this is one of the reasons why I am rapture ready because if the election were to be held in 2028, thank God I’m going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. after the pre-tribulation rapture. Because I can tell you why. Because I don’t want to be down here amongst all the chaos. But I think what’s going to happen is that if there was going to be a presidency in 2028, I would pick J.D. Vance to become president. I mean, because if you bring in Gavin Newsom or Kamala Giggles, as I call her, um, one of them could destroy the country and cause people to move out of it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Leonard, it’ll be interesting to see if J.D. Vance can take that claim. I’d say right now he probably is the frontrunner. But, you know, that’s still a little bit away. I feel like we actually have more time for Republican voices to make their case. The Democrats are in chaos. They’re trying to figure out what to do. And see, well, Leonard hopefully calls in. You know, I mentioned I like to talk in times. Yeah. Just not necessarily on this broadcast. Usually just, you know, maybe in the control room. Me and some of the boys will start. But you threw that out yesterday. Leonard called today. Thank you for calling, Leonard. Yeah. Thanks, Leonard. We’re going to continue on. Let’s take another call in this segment. Let’s go to Greta, who is calling in New York. Greta, you’re up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi. So really quickly, my sister and I are on opposite ends of the fence. I’m Republican. She’s Democrat. And I keep hearing her say because of the staffing cuts, she’s so afraid that they want to get rid of Social Security altogether and that she and their people are going to have a hard time just getting their benefits. I was wondering if you could address this.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s certainly a talking point that it’s going to keep coming up and it’s going to keep coming up because they want you to feel that way.
SPEAKER 10 :
There’s not been indication of that. That is fear-mongering by the left, by Democrats. First of all, Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare are programs that are statutory. They are put in place by law. Much of the cuts that are being cut are grants… or probationary staffing, things that aren’t codified. It’s discretionary spending areas. That’s a lot of places that can be easily undone. First of all, President Trump has said he’s not going to touch Social Security. Now, if they can find payments going to Social Security numbers that are not alive anymore or things they can make it more efficient, that will be better for those that receive those programs. Now, I think everyone would agree that the technology and the structure of it should be made better so that those that receive those benefits can receive them more efficiently. But there is no reason. There’s no logical or real reason to believe that they’re going to go in and just stop payments. That’s just one, not how it works. That would be a violation of congressionally funded programs, and that would quickly be shut down by a court.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know a lot of you wait until the last segment to call in because you know it’s when I take most of the calls. But actually, in the last segment, we’re going to be heading over to the ECLJ, to the European Center for Law and Justice. So we’re going to take calls in the next segment. So I want to hear from you. If you want to call in, this is the time to do it. And Marty, you stay on hold. I’m going to get to you right off the top coming up. 1-800-684-3110. Again, if you want to call in, this is kind of your chance to do it because in the last segment, we are going to be heading to our offices in Europe. I want you to hear directly from our team at the ECLJ. cc howell’s gonna be joining us in the next segment again go to aclj.org right now during our life and liberty drive make your donation today it’s really important that you do that your donations are effectively doubled again aclj.org slash life and liberty or just scan that qr code if it’s on your screen right now we’ll be right back Welcome back to Seculo. I told you we’re going to start with some calls, and I’d love to hear from you. This is kind of your last chance to call in. 1-800-684-3110. Let’s go to Marty, who’s calling in Florida. She’s listening on YouTube. You’re on the air. Marty, you there?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes. Thank you for taking my call. Yes. Thank you for taking my call. I would like an update on the situation in Syria. I understand it’s a very dire situation, and I’ve been praying for those people several times a day each time I think of them.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’ve been saving this call for you. That’s why you’re on hold, because this is what we’re shifting to right now to discuss that. CeCe Hiles joining us, and then we’re going to be going in the next segment to our European Center for Law and Justice from the ECLJ, so you’ll be able to hear from some of our team there. But CeCe, let’s give an update. I know Syria has certainly popped up in the news. People are discussing that as well as what’s going on in Congo. This is an interesting time the ACLJ can get involved and make sure the voice is being heard.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. And Syria is interesting because as we’ve discussed before, you know, you get a leader like Assad out and are especially in the United States. We just assume a lot of people think, oh, somebody better is going to replace him. And that’s not always the case. And so we have a situation here where you have a transition of authority. And there have been some attacks from a minority. Actually, it was the Alawite. which is a Muslim sect that the ruling Sunnis deemed to be apostates. And apparently there was an attack on the ruling group right now, and the ruling group responded immediately and massacred Sunnis. The Alawites, just 1,000, there was, I think, 1,500 people that were just massacred. So there were, I believe, four Christians that were also in that targeting, and the Christians weren’t targeted, but they actually-
SPEAKER 05 :
Sadly, like collateral damage.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, collateral damage. And the one thing that’s the most disconcerting is that when they were going house by house and firing at the people and storming the houses, apparently one of the militants said that once they have greater control, the Christians will be next. So that’s what you fear. It’s like the minority religions a lot of times are the ones that get attacked and feel threatened. the harm that comes from a transitioning government.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right. And when you think about what is happening in Syria, and obviously that played a large role in even Tulsi Gabbard in her confirmation of Director of National Intelligence, because there are people that when you say, maybe don’t get rid of Assad, Or maybe understand the situation a little bit broader. It doesn’t mean you’re pro-Assad. It doesn’t mean you think he’s a good guy. We westernize everything. Right. But the Alawite community is a minority community that he had protected from Sunni violence and aggression. Christians, while not… elevated in society in Syria, had greater protections like the Alawites because minority communities within Syria did have a degree of protection under Assad. Now that he is gone, who’s taking over? Al-Qaeda. They don’t call themselves Al-Qaeda anymore, but the al-Nusra Front was born out of Al-Qaeda, and they have changed their name so that the Western media doesn’t catch on to their bad actions of the past. But what you start to see is this wasn’t just a campaign of they got into a skirmish. There was bombs. They were indiscriminately shooting at buildings. This was a full-fledged attack on this minority Alawite community, of which many times live in close proximity with the Christian community. They aren’t as antagonistic to each other, the Alawites in the Christian community, as the Sunnis would be. So when you have a threat like that, that was told to local Christian pastors and ministers, that once we’re done here, or once we have more control, you’re next. That is the same kind of rhetoric that we saw out of the Islamic State. When the Islamic State, which ISIS, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, they were taking over portions of Syria and massacring Christians. They were taking over portions of Iraq and massacring Christians. This is not some novel thing. This is history repeating itself. And the world can’t turn a blind eye to this. There are so many conflicts in the world that you look at and you see what dominates the headlines, even now that Putin is saying there may be a ceasefire. But when you want to talk about real cleansing, genocidal cleansing, when they’re targeting Christians, minority communities because they’re different than them and it’s not just uh we’re gonna marginalize them it’s we will brutally massacre them that’s what’s going on in the world right now and it’s not on the headlines everywhere it’s not being talked about that’s why the eclj has to bring this to the attention of not just here at home but we have the ability to go to the un yeah to go to the european parliament and that’s exactly what we’re doing
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, so with Syria, we actually, the European Center for Law and Justice went to the European Parliament or European Union and talked about what happened in Syria. And, you know, with Shara being the leader, and he has said that he wants to call for peace and national unity, along with the establishment of an independent investigation to punish the perpetrators of these massacres, then it’s upon the European Union to hold him to that. And we literally asked them to consider lifting sanctions on Syria just for the people. Do more targeted sanctions and then ensuring a safe return of the refugees so that the refugees can return to Syria and they can start help the rebuilding process. And then, of course, the need for rule of law and religious freedom. And again, the current leader has said he wants more religious freedom. So it’s it’s a pawn. not just always the United States to hold people accountable, but the European Union should step in and hold him accountable as well. And so the ECLJ has done that. And then we went to the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, on the issue that happened in the Congo. And the Democratic Republic of Congo is a difficult scenario because you have a lot of strange factions going on there, a lot of fighting. There’s over 100 militant groups that are going, active now in the Congo. But what is terrible is that while this fighting is going on now, what you also have to understand is Congo is Christianity is the major religion there. So it’s not like this is a huge Islamic country, but you do have factions like the allied democratic forces, which came out of ISIS. And you do have Uganda and Rwanda that are right there on the Eastern border. And so you have these factions kind of coming over. And what happened in the Congo was absolutely absolutely horrific because you had the allied defense democratic forces again basically isis come over and literally behead 70 christians in a church and this is women men children old young babies 70 beheaded in a church yeah this is happening right now
SPEAKER 05 :
Again, this is what’s happening worldwide. It sounds like something out of history. It sounds like something that would have happened hundreds or thousands of years ago, but it’s still happening. in our modern world. And it’s happening in places, like you said, that you wouldn’t be thinking about. You wouldn’t be thinking about Congo. We’re going to make sure we’re going to bring that up with the ECLJ team in the next segment. And again, you may say, Logan, this feels very disconnected. You’re talking about what’s going on in Syria. You’re talking about what’s going on in Congo. Why do I care? You care because this is what the future could look like if we’re not very careful. America doesn’t have this right now. Sure, we have had issues where churches and Christians have been under the attack, but not like this. But there’s still places in the real world where this is happening. And the ACLJ can get involved. in these situations. The ECLJ, that’s why I exist, can get involved in these situations. ACLJ Jerusalem can be there. This is why we’re a worldwide entity. And look, I have been trying to sort of preach that, the importance of being, sure, the American Center for Law and Justice is focused on America. That’s number one for us. But for 25 plus years, we’ve been in Europe. Why? In Israel, we have been there for many years now. We have ACLJ Jerusalem. Why? Because it’s important. And it’s important to have your voice on a global stage. We live in a global world. We live in a world where we are right now reaching just with this broadcast. It’s no longer just terrestrial radio. You have people listening to this in Akron. And that’s great. There are people who watch this all over the world. And if you have a free internet, you have it. As long as it’s not being censored. Sure, in some countries, I’m sure this show is not there, but it is practically everywhere. I was all over Europe. I was all over most of the world. We’ve had people travel everywhere and they’ve watched our show, whether that’s on television, whether that’s on radio, whether that is, again, online streaming. I remember going into a small little restaurant in the islands on vacation one year and getting stopped by people, locals who listen to the show every day. They’re not watching for American politics. They are watching because we represent their values. And I’m going to ask you right now, as we’ve seen the attacks on Christians just continue to escalate around the world, that you support the global church here. You say a prayer for them. You support them. But understand we’re out there doing the work as well. Our team, like I said, you heard from CeCe. And by the way, you do that at ACLJ.org. Because our team just made our second address before the European Parliament on those mass slaughters in Syria. We’ve sent a demand letter to the UN Human Rights Office. Again, we’re able to do that. It’s a miracle alone. On the mass murder of Christians, as she said, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC. Next week, our legal team will also go before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to present oral interventions and host high-level meetings. But right now, I’m going to ask you to support the work of the ACLJ by going to aclj.org. And in the next segment, we will be going to Europe. You’re going to hear from our team at the ACLJ. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. I told you earlier we were going to go to our offices in Europe because I think it’s important for you to see what’s going around worldwide for our members of the ACLJ. For you ACLJ champions that support the work of the ACLJ, know you’re also affecting the world on a global stage. We are joined by Thibaut Vandebosch. He is the advocacy officer for the persecuted Christians. it the eclj and there’s a lot going on right now and it’s the reason we brought you on specifically because there’s a lot going on and will you can take it from here uh going on around the world we’re going to hit a couple different topics but this really deals with persecuted christians again we talk about christian persecution worldwide because even though there is always some issues that come up in america the persecution level and using that word means a lot more when you’re talking about worldwide. We are not talking about, though it’s important, a church that can’t meet on the beach, which is a great thing that we’re taking care of and we’re working on right now. You’re talking about at a much higher stakes level.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s right, and there are two action items that we wanna talk about today that the ECLJ is engaging in in Europe. And one of those, and I’ll ask you about this first, is this situation, this very tragic, horrific situation that happened in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Give our audience just a little bit of background about one, the horrific tragedy that happened and also what the ECLJ has done in response.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you. Thank you so much for the invitation. I’m talking now from Strasbourg in France, where the office is, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s a total chaos, especially in the east of the country, at the border of Rwanda. Actually, there is a kind of a civil war, you know, with the rebels from M23. They are rebels, Congolese rebels, against the government forces in this region. So it’s an ethnic clash in this region, especially for the support of, to gain, you know, natural resources like gold, in this region. And in this chaos, there is the civil population, you know, in between, and the Congolese population is mostly Christians. So sometimes they are just like collateral victims in the clash, but sometimes also, unfortunately, they are specifically targeted. And this happened. Some weeks ago, 70 Christians were founded, beheaded in a church and the responsibles are the allied democratic forces. So they are another rebel group. This one is from Uganda, so it’s another country at the north of Congo. And these allied democratic forces are now affiliated to the Islamic State. So the goal is to create an Islamic State in to take profit of the chaos.
SPEAKER 10 :
So what we’re seeing in Democratic Republic of Congo is the civil war, regional clash that is being exploited by the ISIS affiliate. So terrorists are exploiting this civil war, beheaded 70 Christians in a church, primarily women, children, and the elderly. And now the ECLJ has an opportunity and has raised this issue before European bodies. And what did the ECLJ do specifically to raise the plight of these that were massacred, but also to help try and get assistance to stop this from happening again?
SPEAKER 01 :
As it is happening in Africa, this is at the UN level and the European Union level. It’s everybody has to take action. So we talked about the situation with the special reporters at the UN level, freedom of religion and torture at the European Union level.
SPEAKER 05 :
A lot of people who listen and watch this show, they may not understand the level of persecution that’s happening to Christians. Because when you think of the Congo, you’re not necessarily immediately drawn, especially if you’re American, to think that that is going to be a problem there. And I’m glad you brought up that it is essentially an ISIS affiliate because you go, why are they targeting Christians? Why is that a big deal? Well, obviously we know what that means, but fortunately we’ve never felt that here. And even in Europe where you hear about ISIS and you hear about what they do and specifically they do to Christians, but you don’t think of it as them exporting that going to other nations and doing it. So I’m glad the ECLJ can be there and can bring it up. on this global stage, because it’s also happening in Syria. We know that there was news that came out of Syria as well that is strikingly similar.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, exactly. In Syria, it’s Ahmed al-Sharra, and he’s from Al-Qaeda, so the one responsible for the terrorist attacks in September 2001. So actually, the situation in Syria is a total chaos as well. the christian situation was not good under assad regime but we don’t have to be naive now with the ahmed and this al-qaeda forces in in power the situation is not good neither so we just witness a total massacre of more than 1300 allow it in the coastal region of Latakia. So just at the Mediterranean Sea, also victims. They were not primarily targeted. There were more collateral victims this time, because they are living you know, in Allah with villages and neighborhoods. But for sure, Ahmed al-Shahra, before being able to take power in Syria, he wanted to have an Islamic state in Syria. So now he is trying to gain confidence, especially from the Western world, from Europe. But let’s not be naive. And maybe Christians, they want to stay in Syria. They are part of Syria, but they are afraid from the future in Syria. They were afraid that they could be next after this massacre that took place in the Latakia region and who caused more than a hundred thousand of civilian deceased.
SPEAKER 10 :
I just want to thank you, one, for coming on today to share this with our audience here in the United States. One, the very important work that the ACLJ is doing by bringing this up to the UN, by bringing this up to the European Parliament and the EU to make sure that the actions that are taken there can be furthering the cause of limiting and stopping Christian persecution worldwide. But it also has an effect because this isn’t just random violence. These are both coming from jihadist terrorist groups that have an agenda to wipe out Christians. And so no matter where that is in the world, They will always be targeting Christians. And we have a duty and an ability with the ECLJ and with our Washington office to raise these issues and fight back against this. Because at the ACLJ, we don’t just talk about it. We have the action. We have great team members like Thibaut in Strasbourg, France, and Christophe and Gregor and the whole team that you have there. that understands the situation and the ways to raise awareness and fight back against this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much for joining us. Thibaut von de Bosch from the ACLJ is such an important part of the ACLJ story. It’s been around for 25 plus years at this point. And I’ve been there and visited and spent time there. And it’s really amazing work they’re doing. And I appreciate all of you for listening and understanding why we have to be there on a global stage. And of course, we are in the Life and Liberty Drive. And during the Life and Liberty Drive, all donations are doubled. And know that that support goes also to the ACLJ. We are a part of an entity. So you get to support what’s going around worldwide, whether that’s the ACLJ, the ECLJ, the ACLJ Jerusalem office. When you support ACLJ during the Life and Liberty Drive, your donations are not only doubled, but it goes and reaches the entire world. That’s going to do it for the show today. Talk to you tomorrow.
