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In this episode of Sekulow, we discuss the breaking news of Mitch McConnell’s announcement to retire, shaping the future of the Senate and igniting the long-standing debate on term limits for Senators. As McConnell’s retirement opens the floor to discussions about who will fill his shoes, we explore the political nuances of Kentucky and how its dynamic electoral landscape could influence future elections. This pivotal moment leads us to ask vital questions about career politicians and the balance of power within the U.S. governing bodies. Additionally, our conversation edges into another significant national issue – the function and future
SPEAKER 08 :
We’ve got breaking news. Mitch McConnell to announce his retirement. 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 16 :
Welcome to Sekulow. We do have breaking news, and that is that Mitch McConnell is announcing right now as we speak, if you’re watching live, his plans to not seek re-election and effectively retire. I think we should go to that live for just a moment here, and we’ll come back with some commentary. If you have your thoughts, 1-800-684-3110.
SPEAKER 06 :
…to me to send back here. It would have been someone else from somewhere else taking that seat at the table where I’ve had a chance to work, strategize, fight, and win. I grew up reading about the greatness of Henry Clay, but there were times when the prospect of etching my name into his desk in this chamber
SPEAKER 16 :
We’ll keep listening to that and pull some bites out, specific clips that we think are worth sharing. Obviously, he’s giving a very emotional statement. This is happening, Will, also on the heels of Kash Patel being pushed forward out of, what’s the word? Cloacher vote.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, he got his cloacher vote, which means tonight he could be confirmed. Normally there’s a 30-hour run time after that, so probably early tomorrow morning is when we’ll see the final confirmation vote. Nope, it’s final vote today at 1245.
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, there we go.
SPEAKER 12 :
Some of us read the news, Will! They started the clock earlier before they ended the debate vote, so they will be able to more quickly confirm him. Thanks to our producers for putting that there for us. 12-145 Eastern Time, Kash Patel. We expect a no vote from Senator McConnell on that one, as he’s done with the previous two that we’ve been following. But it is a big… Big day.
SPEAKER 16 :
I think so. And look, Mitch McConnell has become more of a controversial figure in sort of the MAGA movement over the last decade or so. This is someone who has been in his position since before Will and I were born. which has obviously always opened up the conversation, specifically some of his medical issues that have happened over the last couple years of whether these should be term limited positions, whether we need to figure something out. But he is stepping down. Today is also his 83rd birthday. So 83 years old. Again, 83 can mean a lot to a lot of different people.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s not like 83.
SPEAKER 16 :
We don’t think there should be age disqualifications, anything like that. I don’t know if there should be necessarily term limits. And of course, as you said, Will, to allow term limits, they would have to decide themselves to self-term limit. Right. And that opens up a can of worms because who wants to lose their job?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, and you look at it this way, if he were to run for re-election next year and win, which we would assume that he would, he’s held on that seat for seven terms already.
SPEAKER 16 :
1985, which was the year I was born. So about 10 months before I was born, he took…
SPEAKER 12 :
uh his seat that’s right but he would then be 90 at the end of the next term if he were to seek re-election now senator grassley who is currently he is 91 he still chairs the judiciary committee in the senate but we also want to know what your thoughts are on this announcement today you can give us a call 1-800-684-3110 and even uh that question of term limits do you think there should be term limits uh in these positions whether you’re in the senate uh because
SPEAKER 16 :
There is some, well, thought process too, kind of like having lifetime appointments on the Supreme Court, that it doesn’t necessarily benefit anyone because you kind of want to have some checks and balances. But then again, when you have a situation where people are into their 80s and 90s, it’ll be very interesting to see who will take his position because you have a Democratic governor in Kentucky. It doesn’t always go red. So we should see what happens. Give us a call. I’d love to hear your thoughts. 1-800-684-3110. We’re also going to be talking about a lot more. Harry Hutcherson and CeCe Heil are going to be joining us from our ACLJ team. And, of course, this is a great time to support the work of the ACLJ by going to ACLJ.org. I encourage you to become an ACLJ champion. We’ve got a pretty big new case going on right now, and you’re going to hear about that a little bit later. We’ll get into the real nitty-gritty of it coming up. But right now, you know what to do. I encourage you to become an ACLJ champion. If you’re brand new to the broadcast, you’re one of the new people joining us on any of our social media platforms, hit that subscribe button. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. A lot of calls are coming in at 1-800-684-3110. We’re going to keep talking about Mitch McConnell for a little bit, and we also have some other news to break down. I’d love to go ahead and take a call. Let’s go to Lori, who’s calling in California. Lori, go ahead.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes, I just say praise the Lord that he’s finally retiring health-wise. And as far as I’m concerned, if we get a Republican, that’s great. But even if we get a Democrat… He’s been, in my book, he’s been an enemy of the state. Anything and everything that we wanted him to vote on, he’s voted against. And so even if we get a Democrat in office, a Democrat would be better than him because he votes everything against us.
SPEAKER 16 :
Laurie, you know, I don’t mean to cut you off, and I appreciate you calling in. That’s not necessarily true. Mitch McConnell, though he has certainly taken maybe a more moderate stance on a lot of topics, He has voted on our side for sort of Christian conservative type style things many times. I would say probably, I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but probably overwhelmingly the majority of his votes. Yes, he has done these kind of situations where like we have Kash Patel or Tulsi or anyone in this group. Did he vote for Tulsi or did he vote against Tulsi? So clearly there are things that we are disagreeing with him on. But historically, if you probably went back and looked at his nearly 40 years, it will be 40 years, it’ll be more than 40 years in office. By the time it’s over. 42 total. 42 total years. He wasn’t necessarily always this… He’s become more of an ominous figure recently.
SPEAKER 12 :
He wasn’t always that. That’s right. And one big thing that I think everyone should be thankful for is that we don’t have a Supreme Court Justice Merrick Garland. That was the leadership of Senator Mitch McConnell to block… Moving forward on the nomination from President Obama at the end of his term to rush Merrick Garland into that lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. We also have seen Merrick Garland’s record as the attorney general of the United States and how that would have gone if he were on the Supreme Court. But and I would say as as. The Republican Party has shifted to more of an America first and not in the old guard Republican. Yes, his probably voting record has shifted significantly and is not in line with where the party is today. So the most current session, Heritage Action scores their voting record. that he’s only at a 61% with Heritage Action for this current session, this current Congress. However, I’m going to dig as we go through, because we will be talking about this, and see what maybe his lifetime score is. But yes, he became very much the John McCain… kind of republican party that more moderate uh it’s not so mavericky as it used to be for the older generation of republicans in the congress but uh but there are definitely some things that i am actually thankful for like not having merrick garland on the supreme court and allowing president trump to be able to go forward right uh
SPEAKER 16 :
Let’s go ahead and take another call because this is the question I had, which is really about term limits. And we got to think about the good and the bad that would come. And this is, of course, happening right now as the vote to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director. Kind of, is this the last big one, really? I mean, you have Linda McMahon, you have some of the other ones, but this is like the ones that really…
SPEAKER 12 :
Yes. This is really one of the more consequential ones, I think, for really kind of getting the corruption out of a lot of government. The ones that we are looking at as well, like Elise Stefanik for the UN ambassador, that’s a confirmed position. Some of those things that we are very interested in and is going to be very good for the country, but probably won’t command as much attention as these previous picks, the cabinet level positions have taken.
SPEAKER 16 :
The ones that will take over the news. Let’s go to MJ, who’s calling in California on line one. If you have a question or comment, I’d love to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. Again, asking that question about term limits, about Mitch McConnell. And we’re going to hit some other stuff as we move on to the show. But MJ, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 11 :
Hello. Thank you. Yes, I have deep convictional type thoughts on this one. If I will point out that when a person such as Mitch McConnell, and God bless him if I may say so, I think it’s a really good idea not to have… vindictive uh type hatred uh vindictive behavior follows with hatred if you will but i believe term limits are so important because of the the human nature human behavior the time system is more complicated the flaws the failures and the faults that can that can so turn upon a person turn against themselves in a sense and then overflows into upon us who are who have to deal with the person that he’s not even voting along with his side, if you will, which is the right side in this case.
SPEAKER 16 :
MJ, I think that’s the difference is now it’s career politicians, people that are taking these jobs to set themselves up. Now, we also have the fact that people don’t get that involved in the political process in their local areas. So to unseat an incumbent is increasingly more difficult now. Do the ad spend, do the dollar spend. I mean, how many times, Will, has even some of our friends come to say, I’m going to run and I’m going to take down the incumbent person. And it’s like a landslide because there’s no way. Sadly, we’re at that point too, which is people aren’t that engaged. The people that are, are there to prop up their Senate establishment.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right, and Senator McConnell has for a long time, because he has been the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, has a lot of control over which races get that money, which of his colleagues in the Senate that he’s going to open the floodgates to kind of ward off some of those challengers. But you have to look at Kentucky and what comes next. One, I think it is a smart move by Senator McConnell to not just abruptly retire to say, I’m not seeking reelection. Why? Well, there is a Democrat governor of the state of Kentucky.
SPEAKER 16 :
You drive to the board of Kentucky. At least there was fairly recently. There were billboards. that are like not during political seasons that are against mitch mcconnell right uh you know they have a lot of feelings on him whether they feel like he is corrupt or they feel like they don’t like him and this is not coming from this was sort of the a lot of those started pre uh the republicans turning on him so kentucky has always been weird in the sense of it feels like it should be a deeply red state but it often does not go that way it’s almost like georgia at some points
SPEAKER 12 :
So in Kentucky, though, they would have to have a special election. They don’t have the governor appointment. So it wouldn’t necessarily be Governor Beshear directly appointing it. That’s because they passed in 2024 a law that changed the process for filling vacancies in response to concerns that maybe his health wouldn’t allow him to continue to fill the term. But there will be now a primary process going forward. It’s enough time that people can get in. And you have to remember who the other senator is in Kentucky. And that’s Rand Paul, one of the more conservative, libertarian kind of style conservative members of the Senate. For the people of Kentucky, they could be looking, hopefully, to getting someone that is much more conservative and on the side of where I think a lot of the voting base in Kentucky probably is. It voted very overwhelmingly for President Trump in the presidential election. As you said, funny things can happen there, where in Kentucky, this is the second term of Governor Beshear. Before that was a Republican governor, and before that Republican governor was Andy Beshear’s father, who was a Democrat governor of Kentucky. They also, when Andy Beshear was the attorney general, the current governor was a Democrat attorney general, at the same time there was a Republican governor. So within their state politics, They go a lot of different ways. It can be kind of wonky as far as how they are doing local elections in the state elections that a traditional red state you wouldn’t necessarily see. Even when you look at how much President Trump won by in the state, you would think you wouldn’t see that. But it’s a little bit of a wonky state as far as politics go.
SPEAKER 16 :
Just for those of us who are joining, I want to make sure we restate this because a lot of people are right now on social. I can see it on YouTube and Rumble. Yes, the big announcement was that Mitch McConnell has announced he will be retiring at the end of his term. This is obviously a big deal. This is something a lot of people have called for or asked for for quite a while, whether that was… The right thing or the wrong thing, that’s up to you to decide. But I think we should hear from Mitch McConnell, and then we’re going to take some more calls at 1-800-684-3110. And I have to say, with Will, when you mention Mitch McConnell, you get a lot of comments. You mention Rand Paul, you get a lot of comments too, but a lot of people love Rand Paul. That seems to be the big difference here. Let’s hear from Mitch McConnell, Byte 13.
SPEAKER 06 :
During my time in the Senate, I’ve only really answered to two constituencies. the Republican Conference, and the people of Kentucky. Over the years, the first group trusted me to coordinate campaigns, to count votes, to steer committees, to take the majority, and on nine occasions, to lead
SPEAKER 16 :
our conference serving as a republican leader was a rare and yes rather specific childhood dream here you go that’s uh senator mcconnell making his statements today just moments ago i believe he had just wrapped up speaking just a few moments ago announcing his plans to not seek re-election look but the aclj we’re involved in a lot of things right now we’re going to break those down coming up Here’s just a few that they put on this note in front of me. We’re headed to court this week to defend the rights of a preacher arrested for telling people about Jesus. We’ll hear more about that. Our client in Ohio right now faces trial next week for exercising his right to protest at an abortion clinic. And this one is very interesting. We’re going to have CeCe joining us later. We just filed three briefs arguing that teachers union school officials do not have a right to keep explicit content in schools. And there is more that’s going on in the schools right now. Wild stuff, as expected. And we’ll talk about that coming up a little bit later. That’s why you’ve got to become an ACLJ champion. You’ve got to help support our legal team. You’ve got to help support our media team. If you enjoy this broadcast, that’s why you need to do it. Go to ACLJ.org or scan the QR code. Welcome back to Seculo. Harry Hutchinson’s joining us in studio right now. We also have a few phone lines open at 1-800-684-3110. What I didn’t mention earlier is if you become an ACLJ champion, that’s someone that gives on a monthly recurring basis, and you call in, you tell our phone screener, hey, I’m an ACLJ champion, and it checks out, you get bumped to the front of the line. Okay, that’s a little perk that I give you here. Again, that’s my perk I created. I don’t think it says that on the website or anything, but I just like to see it. If they put that you are a champion in our phone screening software, I make sure that I take you as quickly as possible. Let’s go ahead and take one phone call real quick about this, because currently there’s obviously the conversation that Mitch McConnell has announced that he will be retiring and not seeking re-election. Let’s go ahead and go to David, who’s watching on the Salem News Channel. David, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, hi there. I… I heard you talking about the term limits and all, but one of the things that I don’t think anybody keeps in mind is that the staff and the people behind them that stay there and continue the work, both keeping things in line and keeping things going that shouldn’t be going. And I think we need to think about those aspects as well.
SPEAKER 16 :
You put in your own team. And so a lot of them probably have had a lot of people serving for them for many, many years. And you’re right. Maybe that’s something we should discuss. But let’s take a look at what’s going on beyond this. Obviously, Harry, we can get your thoughts on Mitch McConnell, term limits and all that. But there’s also more. And I’ll kick it to Will first. I’ll kick it over.
SPEAKER 12 :
There’s also a lot more going on. That’s right. So one thing, and to our caller’s point as well about the staff, you do bring in your own team. And yes, Senator McConnell has had people that have been with him for a long time. But the government is kind of run by staffers, at least the elected portion. A lot of times that’s the people who are actually writing the legislation or are pushing forward with the bills. But when you have to take this legislation. and look at it with change happening in the Congress, with someone who has been the leader of the Republican Senate for a long time, until this term, actually, when he decided to pass the reins on leadership. But we’re also seeing change happen with things like Doge, with the Department of Government Efficiency. And this is something we did want to bring up with you, Professor Hutchison, today, because there’s another round of layoffs coming in D.C. And this happens to be at the IRS. This is an organization, an agency that we fought hard against with the Tea Party when they were targeting unfairly conservatives and holding up tax exempt status to try to silence conservatives. conservative voices and uh they’re getting hit starting today with 6 000 upwards of 6 000 layoffs and those are with probationary period employees people that are hired but haven’t fully accepted the long-term position as of yet and so that starts there today and the commerce secretary has also said that president trump’s plan is to see the irs abolished this is something that At the ACLJ, we did a film years ago called Tax Invasion. which you can see at acljfilms.com. And we had people like Rand Paul, who we’ve talked about today. Ted Cruz, who you saw in the break video, who all pushed for this very thing.
SPEAKER 16 :
And Carson. Michelle Buck. Exactly. Herman Cain. I mean, this movie was made a number of years ago now. You’re talking about probably close to 10, if not more, years ago. But it’s available. You can watch it for free on acljfilms.com.
SPEAKER 12 :
But they were all pushing for this very idea that the IRS is unfixable in its current state and needs to be abolished. What are your take on what these new moves from the Trump administration seem to be pointing out?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, number one, I would say the Trump administration is moving swiftly in the right direction. Most Americans would love to see the termination of the Internal Revenue Service, in part because the Internal Revenue Service has basically employed a large number of individuals who have engaged in arbitrary decision-making. That’s number one. Number two, it’s important to keep in mind that under the Biden administration, the IRS was poised to grow by an additional 80,000 employees. Number three, the IRS is a year round operation. And I know some of the news reports are talking about the layoffs of IRS employees during the tax season season. But most of the employees that will be terminated work for the small business division of the IRS. And small business people, they pay their taxes generally on a quarterly basis, so they’re paying taxes year-round. So any quarter is a tax season for small businesses. So I think at the end of the day, the movement away from the IRS is a welcome development. Lastly, let me make this point, that when the IRS was created, there was a proposal to limit the tax rate to 10%. And members of Congress, they opposed it. Why? Because they saw 10% as being too high. And I think the American people would agree with that sentiment.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, and Professor Hutchison, the Congress of old is not the Congress of today, because as we’ve seen, what’s been uncovered is how much Congress and the bureaucracy oppose. love to spend that money that comes in from the IRS. So I think you’re seeing a lot of changes in Washington, whether it be the announcement of retirement from someone who’s been in the Senate for 42 years, all the way to the changes that we’re seeing at a rapid pace within the bureaucracy in these agencies, Logan.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, absolutely. I think that we’ve uncovered that for years. As you said, with ACLJ, we’ve been a part of sort of the pushback against the IRS for a number of years. And we have been really involved in great ways in the fact of helping reshape how things are taken care of. And there’s always, look, there’s always conversations it feels like every election cycle that they’re going to abolish the IRS, they’re going to redo the IRS, and the IRS is going to, and it never seems to happen. We’re going to simplify it. But maybe now that you have Elon Musk and Donald Trump, who are willing to take some pretty big swings up front, maybe you will actually have that moment. Because how often have we been told, oh, we’re going to move, like you said, to a flat tax, whether you like that or not. I’ve heard that my whole life. Oh, we’re going to move to simplifying. It’s going to be able to do your taxes on one piece of paper. You’re not going to have to hire a whole team of people to make sure that you’re in compliance. Look, I’ll tell you this. I had a tax return three years ago. And when the check came in the mail, I got a letter within the next day or two saying, hey, that amount is wrong. Do not cash that check. Two years later, I got another letter saying, hey, it’s still coming. Just now, this was 2021, I believe, maybe 2022. I just got the readjusted letter. They haven’t sent the check yet saying it was half of what they originally had sent us. So again, this is where it’s archaic and it’s old and hairy. Hopefully there can be some changes here and we can get involved in it.
SPEAKER 07 :
I totally agree, and it’s really time for the IRS to at least move into the 19th century as opposed to being stuck in the 17th century.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely. Let’s go ahead, though, as we head to the end of the first half hour of the show. I want to encourage you to become an ACLJ champion. We’re going to talk about in the next half hour a lot of the ways the ACLJ is getting involved, even on the local level. Because we want to make sure that you know that we are involved in some of these big picture issues, whether that’s working on Doge, working on all these other departments. You’ll hear about us getting involved in that world, making sure your Christian and conservative values are protected. We also are still there as the ACLJ to support everyone who needs our help. It’s within our scope. And that’s precisely what we’ve done. Whether that is a pastor, whether that is a student who is being harassed, whether that is someone that would like to have a demonstration or protest outside of an abortion clinic, a pro-life protester. We’re always still there for them. But we can’t do that without you. We’re not funded by major sponsors. We’re not funded by just giant donors who give ridiculous sums of money. The bread and butter of the ACLJ, what keeps everything rolling, is you, the individual donor that gives, either on a monthly recurring basis as an ACLJ champion or a one-time gift. And I encourage you to do that right now. We’ve got a second half hour coming up, so stay tuned.
SPEAKER 08 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Seculo. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 16 :
Welcome back to Sekulow. Great second half hour coming up. CeCe Hiles joining us in just a moment. Will Hades is in studio with me as well. This is Logan Sekulow. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, off the top, talking about the breaking news, and that is that Senator Mitch McConnell, after nearly 40 years, in his same position and will be over 40 years, has announced that he will be retiring at the end of his term and will not be seeking re-election. This is obviously a bit controversial. This has been a topic that people have discussed for many years. And I’ve asked you that question of your thoughts on term limits and whether that should be the case or should we be protecting some of these senators to have lifelong careers? I think you can make a compelling case for both. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. And we’re also talking about not only the corruption going on in the IRS and what’s going on with Doge. We’re also going to be joined by CeCe Heil to talk about some work the ACLJ is doing, including protecting the rights of students, Christians, conservatives, pro-Israel students in their high schools. when they know that they have teachers who are against them. And we have some pretty shocking stories to go over and how we are getting involved with the ACLJ. I do want to go ahead. Let’s just kick it off with a phone call. Let’s go to Daniel who’s calling, watching on Facebook. Daniel, you’re on the air. Is that me? That’s you. Hello? Hello, Daniel. Last chance. You there?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I think we do need to have term limits, and I think it would lessen the corruption in Congress. I mean, Mitch McConnell’s been there for decades, and he’s worth $35 million on a government salary.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, Mitch, or not Mitch, Daniel, I think a lot of people have said that. There’s been ways where a lot of these senators have been able to parlay, if you will, their careers, which pay, you know, a modest amount, a sort of higher-end normal wage.
SPEAKER 12 :
but somehow are able to come out of these careers with you know multi-millionaires that is right also senator mcconnell’s wife is very wealthy comes from a very wealthy family a shipping magnet that has done very well for itself so that is partially where some of his net worth comes from that i would also say daniel though there is a lot of shocking net worths in people that have spent their entire careers in public service. They have those apps that you can download that, and this is not financial advice or endorsement, but essentially track the public filings of people like Nancy Pelosi. Yeah, their investments. They track their portfolios, and people try to track along with that, and they have… unbelievably good track records at doing well at overperforming the market by dozens of percentage points. And you don’t normally perform that well unless you are trading based off of information that you may have in your position. Now, that is why some members of Congress are calling for either putting all of the financial interest of members of Congress in a blind trust where they have no control over what 100% banning members of Congress from investing in the stock market while they are members of Congress. So I agree with that, that there are concerns there. A lot of people have those concerns. But also the term limit issue, the counter argument would be is, well, they technically are always term limited if they don’t get reelected, that it is up to the voters. So that’s what many members of Congress that would push back on that. And I get that. And they would have to be the decision-making factor of trying to pass the law.
SPEAKER 16 :
I get that. That’s what I was saying. You have to get more involved in your local elections. You’ve got to get more involved in what’s actually happening, not just presidential time. Because these kind of situations, not like Mitch McConnell, to maybe not quote someone more recently, he’s not a dictator. But it’s hard when you are such a mainstay in your state to ever get voted out. And that’s just the situation at hand, whether that’s spin, whatever it may be. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. CeCe Heil is going to be joining us to discuss a lot of the work of the ACLJ because I think it’s really important that you hear that. If you’re brand new to this broadcast, we’re going to keep talking about Mitch McConnell. We’re going to talk about Doge. We’re going to talk about the IRS. Give us a call. If you have a question or comment related to any of these topics or just any of our topics within scope, we’ve got a couple lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 6 8 4 3 1 1 0 but if you’re brand new it’s first time you’ve ever seen me we always say that about half the people who watch on youtube never have seen us before we do this show each and every day monday through friday from noon to 1 p.m eastern time you can work your way back and i encourage you if you’re not ready to become a aclj member subscribe to the channel click that bell that really helps us out a lot if you don’t know what to comment tell me where you’re watching from in the comments Welcome back to Secular. Phone lines are jammed right now, so we’re going to take some of those coming up in just a moment. CeCe Heil, Senior Attorney here at the ACLJ, is joining us, CeCe, because, look, we’re talking about Mitch McConnell. We’re talking about what’s going on in the big picture politics. But we also need to make sure that our audience knows about the work of the ACLJ and how we’re supporting their rights, their freedoms, their freedom of speech. And this has happened out of the state of Georgia, which, again, as we kind of discussed, kind of like Kentucky, even though it’s my home state, it’s where I was born and raised. I left, but it’s where I was born and raised originally. And a public school teacher… Took a bit of aggressive stance, as we’ve seen a lot of people. Look, I’m sure a lot of you follow your friends on social media, and maybe they’ve all changed since January. Maybe all of a sudden it went from everything is great or no politics to politics being their obsession. But this has happened in a public school classroom. Why don’t you go over sort of the facts here and how our audience can get involved?
SPEAKER 14 :
Sure so this is a school in Georgia like you said it’s between Atlanta and Macon and you have a school teacher here who teaches a history class and she’s decided that after Trump got elected in fact the day after his inauguration the first day back to school she has used about 25 minutes of her class every single day. Per day. Yes, per day, 25 minutes. She’s not teaching the curriculum. She’s talking about her political views and attacking Trump. And this goes beyond just her political views. She shuts down. If you have any kind of opinion that goes against her opinion, she will shut you down. And we’re talking about she has political discussions. I have to read this because they’re so ridiculous. But she has political discussions about her political beliefs about President Trump, that he has set up concentration camps for African-Americans, that he will send women back to the Stone Age and put them in cages. Of course, all of her pro-abortion views. and her anti-Israel views. And we represent a young girl who has simply tried to, obviously she’s offended by this because her views do not align with this teacher’s views. And she has simply tried to just give an altering opinion on Israel and other things. And every single time she has, she’s been shut down. She feels intimidated and threatened by this teacher. And of course, we have gotten involved because we have said, look, Over and over, the Supreme Court has said that a student does not shed their constitutional rights that are protected by the First Amendment just because they walk through a schoolhouse door. And here we have a teacher that is not only violating federal law, but she’s also violating the county, the school board’s policies as well, because their policies specifically state that employees must not misuse their employment to subvert the educational process or impugn the integrity of the school system in the interests of their political ambitions. And it goes on to further state that the employees are prohibited from engaging in political activities during working hours. And they say that violating this policy is good and sufficient reason for disciplinary action, including possible termination of employment by the Board of Education. And we have sent a demand letter to the school district, letting them know of these violations of federal law and the school board’s own policies. And yet we have not received a response. And our students, our client’s father has also tried to reach out to the principal and the school board and has not given a response. So we are set to file in federal court against this.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, one thing that’s very clear with the ACLJ is that Maybe ignoring it, hoping it goes away. Not the best game plan for these schools.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right, exactly. We are set and ready, and I think it’ll be Monday that we will file because we have heard nothing. The father has heard nothing. And this goes, again, it’s beyond this teacher just simply sharing some of her viewpoints. She has literally made an environment where this student feels intimidated and not safe. And she’s been shut down every time she’s had a differing opinion.
SPEAKER 12 :
And I think that goes to a lot of also the talk at the federal level of what the purpose of the Department of Education, all the money that we send to schools, the way that it is appropriated. But it also goes to show you that Just because the federal government, the executive branch is now led by conservatives that believe in the Constitution, that not everyone falls in line. Right. And this isn’t really an issue that, I mean, the Department of Justice could get involved with a civil rights violation, something of that nature, but they’ve got a lot going on. Right. It’s not always going to be on the radar of the government to protect the individual right of the student. That’s where we come in.
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s right. Absolutely. Here we have a student in Georgia, who we have kind of I would say, I’m going to guess this is kind of a rogue teacher, I’m going to hope that the the, you know, principal and the superintendent and the school board doesn’t know that this is going on, that when they really do understand that this is happening, that they will take corrective action. Because this goes beyond just having a discussion on politics where each side gets to share their opinion. This is literally a teacher trying to indoctrinate her students, which again, is not allowed under the Constitution. The Supreme Court has been very clear about that. And again, this county school board’s own policies are very clear that this cannot happen. And the punishment is up to termination of this teacher.
SPEAKER 12 :
And I think also that it brings the question that the intimidation factor of a student, It’s very bold for the student to try to discuss back with the teacher that is clearly displeased with the current political situation that then you have to be concerned. Okay. Am I going to be graded fairly on an unrelated material just because I have a disagreement with the teacher that is using a large portion?
SPEAKER 16 :
That happened to me in college where I had a professor who was giving me poor grades each semester. uh paper i would turn in because i was taking maybe a counter point of view than they were and this was there you this was on uh censorship and film and i i was a young film school student who was very anti-censorship still am uh and i think it was on the movie natural born killers or something like that and they were like this and her point of view was very much it should be banned you shouldn’t be able to do these things and i fought against it as you’d expect I was getting C’s every time. Then the final had to go to a board. They didn’t make the decision because of the issues they had had. And I got an A plus. And that was in college. So imagine that happening to you in high school where you don’t even feel like you have that authority to push back because you’re a kid. And this person is just deciding to lecture you because you hold a different point of view. High school, the perfect time, by the way, to hold a different point of view. It’s what a lot of us do.
SPEAKER 14 :
Absolutely. What happened to you, what’s happening here is viewpoint discrimination. And when I say that, I think hopefully even all of our audience will know that is something that cannot happen in a schoolhouse. You cannot…
SPEAKER 16 :
discriminate because of someone’s viewpoint all right so the aclj is getting involved in this you’ve already told us how we’re going to keep pushing forward but what’s the next step and then i want to encourage people to support because look we talk about these big picture issues but this is what’s happening on the small scale likely that this student would not have the legal or the resources to have a legal team like the aclj’s team ready to go but because you are there because you’ve decided to become an aclj supporter aclj champion they don’t get charged a dollar We take their case for absolutely nothing. We make sure they’re protected. So what’s the next step here?
SPEAKER 14 :
So the next step is we’ll be filing court on Monday because we have given this school board plenty of time to respond to us. Again, like you said, they’ve totally ignored us. We’ve told them, you know, please try and resolve this. And so we will be letting a judge decide this case and we will be protecting our clients’ rights.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely. So you can get involved with us right now, and I encourage you, become an ACLJ supporter. You never know when you’re going to need us as well. And if you do need us right now, if you’re listening, you go, hey, I feel like I’m having this happen to me, or my kid’s having this happen to them in their school. Well, there’s an easy way you can get involved. Just go to aclj.org slash help. It’s a simple form you fill out that doesn’t go to a big call center, that doesn’t go to some algorithmic machine. It goes straight to our legal team and they review it. And if it’s within our scope, you’re assigned an attorney at absolutely no cost. We can’t do that without you. So I encourage you right now, as you heard about this, we are also involved in many, especially for students and for teachers. We just filed three briefs. I’m looking at here. Are you that the teachers union school officials do not have the right to keep explicit content in schools? We’ve heard a lot about the book bannings on both sides and what that looks like and what it means. But we are talking about just egregiously material that is just unlawful. undoubtedly you can’t really fight against it that is being held in a lot of these schools so we’re getting involved in that way and of course we are also involved in ohio as the trial starts next week for a someone who wanted to protest in front of abortion clinic and we’re on their side uh we’re heading to court this week also to defend the rights of a preacher arrested for telling people just about jesus that’s what happens we need you to join us in this fight Help defend people that are pro-life. Help people that are pro-Israel. We saw some really heartbreaking news coming out of Israel today. We decided not even to bring it up today. We know that it’s a topic that you’ve all seen. We’ve seen now the footage, and it is heartbreaking. It’s hard to even discuss it right now. But we’re there. Remember, the ACLJ team is there. ACLJ Jerusalem. And we were there. We’ve been there for supporting of the hostage families since October 7th, almost a year and a half ago now. can get involved by becoming an aclj champion so i encourage you scan the qr code right now become an aclj champion of life liberty and freedom when you support the aclj you’re also supporting the european center for law and justice which gets us involved in the un uh where you need your voice heard it also supports our work at the aclj jerusalem keeps the lights on here at this show so if you just enjoy the show and you’re not necessarily involved in the legal side of it this is how this uh how we have one of the best shows the best crews in all of media We can’t do it without you. Become an ACLJ champion right now. Phone lines are completely jammed, but they will open up. And if you’re on hold, stay on hold. I will get to you because we’ll just go through as many calls as we can in that next segment. wrap up today look it’s been a very intense time for a lot of us your head can kind of feel like it’s spinning but it’s okay take a breath let’s hear from you because always the most important voice in the room is you and that’s why i always like to wrap up when i can with as many calls as we can to make sure we are representing you correctly we’ll be right back with more on secular again become an aclj champion while you can do it during this break aclj.org Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are jammed right now. We’re going to take them right off the top because we’re trying to get to as many calls as we possibly can to wrap up today’s show. This one’s fun because you’re going to want to stay tuned and see what we have pulled from our friends over at Fox News. Let’s go to Anne, who’s calling in D.C. on line four. Anne, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, thank you for taking my call. Jay, I just want to ask a question. I know that there’s been fraud and abuse in the government. I’m a retired employer from State Department, and I understand, you know, what has to be done. And I agree, we do have to seal our borders. We cannot let everybody in here and everything. But what about, my question is, what are people going to do if they lose their jobs? How can they get resources? That’s my question. I’m just concerned.
SPEAKER 16 :
We’re going to answer that question, but I also want you to understand that this is nothing new. And our friends at Fox News, they put together a little piece here that, Will, we want to show.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s right. So a lot of people are concerned that, oh, the power of spending is Congress’s role. And if you could go to me on the camera as well. Logan just sitting there. I’m listening to you. Yeah, I know. But this is the… The role of Congress is the power of the purse and everything. And so people are questioning, can the president make these cuts? Can they go through it? And obviously the left is freaking out saying, no, they can’t. He can’t. He’s not a unitary executive. Protect the bureaucracy. But here’s some clips from some prominent Democrats of the day that were in the executive branch. And here’s what they had to say about eliminating wasteful spending, fraudulent spending and trimming the workforce. Let’s go ahead and play bite three.
SPEAKER 05 :
This report tells us how to cut waste, cut red tape, streamline the bureaucracy, change procurement rules, change the personnel rules, and create a government that works better and costs less.
SPEAKER 04 :
By paying for these plans first with cuts in government waste and efficiency, second with cuts, not gimmicks, in government spending.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ll prove that we can spend the money we have in an appropriate way and stop wasting so much of it.
SPEAKER 05 :
But over the next several months, we will be looking at every other agency and program, asking the direct question, do we really need this agency? Do we really need this program?
SPEAKER 04 :
Twenty years into a period in our history where most American wage earners are working longer work weeks for stagnant wages. It is outrageous for the government. to have rules and regulations which take those people’s money from them and spend it on things that cannot be justified.
SPEAKER 13 :
One of the commitments that I made to the American people was that we would do a better job here in Washington in rooting out wasteful spending.
SPEAKER 16 :
Of course, those were the voices of Al Gore, former President Bill Clinton, and former President Obama. And, Ann, when you called and you asked the question, look, I think there should always be concern. You don’t want people to be hurting or suffering, but know that this is nothing new. And look, I think that you probably would have not had a… A Democrat of today would not be Bill Clinton, Al Gore, or maybe even Barack Obama, which is crazy to think about, that we’re not that far removed in how the parties have moved so dramatically.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. And of course… Of course, because it’s President Trump and Elon Musk wanting to cut wasteful spending, ensure that the American people have accountability of their government with where their dollars are going, and that they are going to lay off people that are not necessarily necessary and agencies that aren’t necessary. That was fine under those presidents, but not under this one.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, I’m going to try to hit as many of these calls as we can real quick because a lot of you have been on hold. Let’s go first to Mark watching on Rumble in California. Mark, go ahead.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, I wanted to comment on Mitch McConnell. He’s going to go down in history as one of the most unprincipled and reckless… people in congress ever um he had the chance after j6 to drive a stake through the heart of orange jesus and he failed miserably he didn’t even attempt to do it mark all right mark okay guys come on we can do better uh let’s go ahead and move on virginia let’s call him from south carolina who’s watching on the salem news channel virginia go ahead
SPEAKER 17 :
I was just saying, like Mitch McConnell, I don’t think we need age limits, but I think we need term limits. And I don’t think they’re going to vote for themselves to have term limits. So I think we need to educate the people to… Have better awareness as to whom to vote into office instead of, he’s been there a long time. He knows what he’s doing. I’ll just vote for him.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, Virginia, look, it’s hard to do that. It’s really hard to unseat an incumbent. We’ve talked about that, especially an incumbent that’s been around for so many years successfully, and they feel like their state is untouchable. That is part of the problem. And you’re right. They have to decide to put in term limits themselves. And I just don’t know if that’s going to happen because who’s going to be voting against their own job security? Thank you for calling. Let’s continue on. Let’s go to Yvette, who’s calling in New York on line five. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for taking my call. Hello. I was just going to say, say what you will about Mitch McConnell. Was he not instrumental in keeping Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court?
SPEAKER 16 :
Look, Yvette, that’s what I tried to say. I know he’s become a bit of a boogeyman over the last decade or so, but there’s been a lot of good that Mitch McConnell has led. So make sure you do your own research. And yes, he was one of the big parts of that. He also was very highly involved in the impeachment trials of President Trump. So make sure you do your… You’re looking at the facts. Sure. Do I agree with a lot of the things he’s done recently? No. Obviously, he voted against our friend Tulsi Gabbard. I don’t like that. To me, that’s a pretty big red flag. But I get that there are positives that come out. Will, we got like three minutes. I’m going to try to get to other calls. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I will just say that, and to follow up on that, that we agreed, we said that earlier about keeping Merrick Garland out of the Supreme Court, but I do think he is making the right decision to leave the Senate. And Daniel Cameron, who is the current Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, has already announced that he will be running for that Senate seat. He would be an incredible conservative voice in the U.S. Senate, and so I think that what you are seeing is a new generation of leadership can rise up out of this, and I think that’s a good thing.
SPEAKER 16 :
Let’s go to Rich quickly, watching on YouTube, Line 6. Go ahead, Rich.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes, concerning the Doge refund or possibly some kind of stimulus, we need to understand that about 44% of the people who file taxes pay no income tax, and about 22% of the people that child taxes actually get negative tax. So they pay nothing of any kind of tax and earned income credit and child tax credit, the refundable portion, pay for their sales tax, their gas tax, their any other kind of tax. So they have no skin in the game. I don’t want those people to be getting a tax refund. They should give us all $5,000 tax credit.
SPEAKER 16 :
I want to make sure people, Rich, because we’ve got to run out of time, know what you’re talking about. That’s that Elon Musk has floated out there that there would almost be like a $5,000 stimulus money that would be given to taxpayers in replace of what they’re cutting. So saying, hey, we’re going to, instead of having this going to these things that make no difference, let’s give it to the people. That’s just been a floated out concept.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, and I think to Rich’s point is that, yeah, you’re exposing the unfortunate complexity of the U.S. tax code and why the moves by the president too, that to simplify hopefully the tax code and to decrease the power of the IRS and maybe even abolish it probably wouldn’t be great for your industry, Rich, as someone who works in tax industry, but I think would be a great thing for and the American people. All right, quickly, last call of the day.
SPEAKER 16 :
Gary in Florida, watching on Salem News Channel. Gary, you only got about 25 seconds. I apologize. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, when it comes to the term limits, you’ve got to figure out some way to separate the bad from the good. There’s a lot of good politicians that have been there for a long time, you know.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, it is part of the big issue, Gary. That is one of the things, is there are people who have been mainstays. You may have a problem with people like Mitch McConnell, but then for every Mitch McConnell, of course, there have been some great people involved. You can look at the House and the Senate. You can look at someone like Marsha Blackburn or anyone like that who have been good friends to us. And so there is that problem. Part of it. I get it. All right. Well, hey, we only got 25 seconds left on this show today. I’m going to encourage you in those last 25 seconds. You’ve heard so much of how we are getting involved on a national level and on a local level. So I encourage you right now. Take the next 15 seconds. Scan the QR code. Throw it up there. There it is. Become an ACLJ champion today. And if you become an ACLJ champion today, call me tomorrow and tell me. Love to hear it.
