Sekulow

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. We're going to be taking calls in the first half hour, so I do want you to call me right now at 1-800-684-3110 because we got a packed house with guests. We got Rick Grenell and Mike Pompeo, so we're only going to have time to take calls in this half hour. Go ahead and give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. That being said, we are talking about the GOP midterm convention. It kicked off last night and goes through tonight as well. Last night, President Trump spoke, and we also saw a surprise guest, a surprise guest from the other side of the aisle, but at this point, someone who is sort of maybe even hated by his own party on the other side of the aisle and someone that I believe a lot of you have now come to respect. That's right, Senator John Fetterman showed up via video, but a really impressive video to introduce one of his friends. I thought it was a powerful moment, essentially endorsing a Republican candidate in his home state of Pennsylvania. He also said nice things about President Trump. So now we are seeing his move, but we're also seeing some sort of common sense coming out of these states that have largely been purple. When they have been blue, they haven't always been blue for the reasons why a New York or California may be blue. They've been more blue in terms of union work and those kind of things, things that have become more, if you will, MAGA. You've seen a lot of that embrace. Look, we even saw President Trump making that sort of promise and pledge that if the Republicans win the midterms, then everyone's going to get a $5,000 check. That's not a very traditional conservative Republican kind of thing. That is very much out of this new playbook. So, we should hear from John Fetterman.
Senator John Fetterman: Yes, I'm Senator John Fetterman, Pennsylvania. Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because well, I'm a common-sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes in socialism and that anti-American way of life.
Logan Sekulow: That was just a small clip of what he then went on to say, which was again, to put his kind of support behind his fellow Pennsylvanian.
Will: What we have here is a very interesting move because one, that takes a lot of political capital to get him to do this. It's not going to win him a lot of friends. Now, there is a little bit of wiggle room for him. He is saying nice things about President Trump and Senator McCormick. Senator McCormick won't be up for re-election until years down the road. He was just elected, so therefore he's able to say nice things about a Republican that's his colleague and not have to say I'm endorsing him to vote for him this November.
Logan Sekulow: At the same time, the entire point of this midterm convention is to drive people to vote in the midterm for Republicans. You have a Democrat that is still with the party, has not left his party, that has rejected the far-left wing of his party, doing an introductory video for Senator McCormick, who was going to speak after this video. It shows a lot about one, John Fetterman does seem to want more bipartisanship, more ways for the Senate to actually work. But this is not just something he can write off as, oh, I just did a favor for my friend. It is at the event that is meant to win elections in November. Does it bring you some hope? What do you think as we head into these midterms? 1-800-684-3110. When you see people crossing the aisle and saying I am against socialism, I'm for some common sense rules and laws, and I think these people are the right people for that job, what do you think? Give me a call and let me know. Again, we're going to have a very packed second half of the show with guests, so if you want to call in, this is the time to do it. Of course, also September 10th, it's been one year since the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. We'll talk about that a little bit more as we also head into the 25th anniversary of September 11th tomorrow and how that really reshaped and changed our world. We're going to discuss that at length tomorrow and we're going to keep things rolling today.
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Logan Sekulow: Welcome to the all-new ACLJ app. Expert analysis and insight Big Tech can't censor. Customize your news and get real-time alerts on the issues you care about. Advocacy is now at your fingertips. Take action, make a difference, support the causes you care about with just one tap. Be the first to know. Breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox. Everything you need, all in one place. Stay informed, stay empowered. Download today. We are so excited to announce the ACLJ's brand-new app, completely redesigned to provide you with the best tools available to partner with us at the ACLJ. You can watch the daily Sekulow program, sign the petitions, customize your ACLJ membership experience, donate with the click of a button, and receive up-to-the-minute critical updates that the mainstream media can't censor. Just scan the QR code on your screen or go to your phone's App Store, search ACLJ and click install. It's that simple. Welcome back to Sekulow. Once again, we are going to take your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. One of the more interesting things last night, of course, was the GOP midterm convention. It's the first time this has been held. Again, it's kind of a get-out-the-vote moment here. It is counter-programming the NFL, which premiered last night. Well, I don't know, maybe some people that went out last night to have one last O'Charley's roll.
Will: O'Charley's closed up. One of our friends this morning said 9:00 last night was the last service and they served the last couple of rolls. The rolls were good and they had potato soup one last time.
Logan Sekulow: It's a different world we live in now. Will, I was thinking about the O'Charley's, but what you see is that they made it kind of look like a presidential nominating convention. They had the different states' banners on the floor of the convention hall. They had speakers that came out. But this, I think, it one shows the testament of where this was President Trump's idea. He wanted this made-for-TV event and they were able to pull off some surprises like this video from John Fetterman. They got attention to it. People went and watched this. In the first half, we showed where he was introducing himself, saying he's a Democrat, but he's a common-sense Democrat. Then here's what he went on to say about Senator McCormick as well as the President.
Senator John Fetterman: Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done and he's going to fight for Pennsylvania. I'm proud to count him as my friend. Right back over my shoulder, that's the iconic US Steel mill. And that's exactly the kind of thing that we'll work together and we'll work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life right here in the Steel Valley. I have this opportunity to introduce this great American, a great senator, and yes, he's in a different party, but I'm proud to count him as my great friend. So for everybody in Dallas, I'm here to introduce Dave McCormick.
Will: And then Dave McCormick, the senator from Pennsylvania who serves alongside John Fetterman, came out and spoke. But this entire video, once again, is a little bit over a minute, but it shows the endorsement of Dave McCormick as a US senator, saying that he gets the job done and he's fighting for Pennsylvania. That is so foreign to the entirety of the political rhetoric that we see these days. I think why it was such an incredible moment just as a political observer to see this happen is that people that are fed up with a lot of the fighting and the rhetoric, they were trying to get to see this. A lot of people that didn't tune in to watch the speeches, maybe they were watching the NFL, maybe they were at O'Charley's as you said, on a Wednesday night in September when people weren't accustomed to watching an event like this.
Logan Sekulow: I'll be completely honest and transparent. Until yesterday before we started prepping this show, I didn't know this event was happening. I'd been out of town for a week, I didn't really pay attention to what was going on in the news, and I didn't know there was a midterm convention. I certainly did not know that you would have the heavy hitters showing up and that you'd have President Trump making an appearance last night. What's making headlines is more of the Trumpish moments, not necessarily the substance that came out of this. So I think this was a brilliant move by whoever was able to accomplish pulling off a Senator Fetterman endorsement. We've seen it before, I feel like you've had Southern Democrats that would show up at Republican conventions in previous years, but that was even before the current stature and the current state of our country where crossing those lines can be very detrimental to your political future.
Will: Once again, this wasn't an event surrounding a passage of legislation that was bipartisan that Senator Fetterman was a part of. You could imagine that. But even this, just the fact that he's there and saying positive things about President Trump and a Republican senator, it's kind of mind-blowing that it seems so foreign to our discourse these days. But I think that's exactly why it was such a powerful moment and why many people that didn't watch the midterm convention are going to end up seeing that clip. And that's going to make them maybe think, hmm, maybe they aren't as evil as we thought. Maybe Republicans aren't all the rhetoric that we see. And that's what's important for a midterm voter. I feel like that is why that moment was so important. I'm very curious if there's another surprise tonight because they were able to do something that no one would have had on their bingo card.
Logan Sekulow: What is on the docket tonight? You already had President Trump in advance, right?
Will: More speeches and I believe either President Trump speaks again or the Vice President speaks or some other combo, but it is President Trump that made this event. This wasn't an event that has ever happened before. There's no real reason other than just to rally the base. The people that win their nominating process in their primaries, they don't have to have delegates then go as you do. The reason for presidential conventions is because delegates go and officially nominate the presidential candidate for their party. So, it's not a necessary event, but it is an intriguing one. Of names that you would know, I would say that are appearing tonight, there's a lot obviously appearing, but you have Senator Ted Cruz, Mike Johnson, a tribute to Charlie Kirk that will be happening, Mike Rogers, Governor Abbott. You have quite a few more and then it is headlined by RFK Jr., Caroline Leavitt, Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Vance, and once again President Trump. So, they will be wrapping that up tonight, the two of them, but you have this sort of other heavy hitters list coming in before. So, it should be pretty interesting to watch. Of course, all of that could change. We know that has happened over the time. There will also be free American hostages speaking. There'll be a lot of other people that will be surrounding this whole event.
Logan Sekulow: Well, and I think even that things can change. I think that the original lineup was J.D. Vance was speaking one night and President Trump was speaking the other and they even last minute kind of shifted around the lineup there to have the most impact. President Trump speaking both nights is actually very interesting. It shows how much he is paying attention to these midterms and how obviously his agenda really kind of hangs on which way the midterm goes. I think that shows coming up with novel things and new ideas is what actually got President Trump elected the first time and re-elected is that remember, Republicans were like let's not even use TikTok because of the security threats. We get that. But President Trump's campaign also realized you know where voters are? On TikTok. He has not been afraid to go and do things that are different than the traditional way of doing politics in the Republican Party. I think it in some ways could have even been seen as a risk of having someone like John Fetterman send that video. Obviously, people have warmed to him because he speaks common sense on the conservative side, but at the same time, that's still putting someone up that was a big bogeyman in the political sphere when he was running for election. So he's not up for re-election until 2028, but I think if he doesn't leave the party, I think that they will be primarying him almost without a doubt. If it wasn't already certain, it is certain now. And of course, tonight they'll also be doing a tribute to the 25th anniversary of September 11th. So I think there'll be a lot of that building up. The CEO of Tunnel to Towers is appearing, but you also have the founder of Silk Road, remember who was pardoned, will be making an appearance.
Will: That is wild. That is playing to the Libertarian younger side of the Republican Party or the MAGA movement. That may be the one that gets me to tune in to be like, what is he going to say? That's a very fascinating move and once again, I think some of the Libertarian support, especially because of the Iranian conflict, has eroded from the MAGA base. That was a big coalition that actually between the RFK Jr. side that was more the health side Libertarian as well as the no-new-war side, he courted them in the 2024 election and actually got a lot of support. That kind of eroded because of the Iran conflict. And a lot of Libertarians, I wouldn't say as a whole, but a lot of people that are Libertarian are anti-Israel and a lot of times that becomes anti-Semitism. This is an interesting play to try and get them re-engaged for the midterms.
Logan Sekulow: All right, let's take a look at that coming up. Hey, I want to hear from you. We do have some phone lines open. Really one of the last chances to be on the air today. So if you have a comment on any of these, whether that is the Republican convention that's happening in Texas currently, whether you want to talk about even the one year marking one year since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I'll take some calls coming up in the next segment. And then we're going to move on to our second half hour. We got Rick Grenell joining us and Mike Pompeo, so don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.
Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. You know, this is a very interesting time in society. We're dealing with a midterm election that is only a few weeks away and it's a midterm election that really does have big consequences. Not that they don't always, but I feel like the eyes aren't on the midterm as much as they have been this time because we know that you have two years left of a President Trump administration. And that's it. So what's going to happen in the final two years? Knowing President Trump is not up for re-election and there'll be a new president, like it or not, there'll be a new president in two years. So what can President Trump get done in those last two years? This is going to be a real moment here if it turns more blue in this country or you even have a one-sided situation where you could have a potential of two years of a lame-duck presidency, if you will, in terms of getting anything done. So the eyes are much more on this midterm than they have been before, including this GOP midterm convention, which has never happened before. You even had President Trump going out there and making big claims like, hey, if the Republicans win, that means we'll have more economic freedom and I'll be able to give you all $5,000 checks. An interesting play from President Trump, one that again, doesn't necessarily speak to traditional conservatism, doesn't necessarily speak to that, but does speak to working-class America as he has done for many, many times over the last decade.
Will: Right. And I think we also have to look at the makeup of the Senate as well, because right now as it stands, the Republicans still have a good chance of maintaining that. So that would also show that even it's divided within both houses of Congress, that you're looking at a deadlock there. Things may not even make it to the president's desk, especially when you look at the types of members of the House that we know what their day-one agenda's going to be if they take back over. It's going to be impeaching President Trump for a third time. We've already discussed this. They've already kind of telegraphed that and if Hakeem Jeffries wants to keep his job as the leader of the Democrats in the House, he's going to have to basically go along with what a lot of these insurgent candidates want. They will be able to kind of hold his feet to the fire in a sense and say, these are the agenda items we want, not what would be something that's even able to be passed out of the Senate to get to the president's desk. But I want to play this too, because this goes back to the surprise by John Fetterman. This is how MS Now decided to talk about it. You have Jen Psaki on her show talking about this moment where John Fetterman, by video, introduced Republican Senator Dave McCormick. And she's talking to Mitch Landrieu, who was the mayor of New Orleans and was a rising star in Democrat politics during the Obama years. He was seen as someone who was considering making that leap and run for president. He definitely put feelers out. He definitely wrote the book that you see potential candidates write, and that all kind of fell apart, so I guess now he's just a commentator on MS Now. But he was seen as kind of a more moderate type of Democrat. He was a mayor in New Orleans but did a lot of outreach with the state leadership as well. Here's how he framed the John Fetterman introduction by two.
Jen Psaki: I mean, his biggest risk right now is he's going to be primaried. At least Chris Deluzio, who knows what he'll do. Others may primary him. I don't understand why he's doing that, but to me it feels like Democrats need to be clear-eyed that he might flip parties. But what do you think?
Mitch Landrieu: First of all, I just saw that. I had not seen it, and I'm flabbergasted by it in this sense: that I'm a common-sense Democrat that doesn't like the extremes either, but I would never do something as stupid as that.
Logan Sekulow: He would never do something as stupid as that is the way he framed John Fetterman introducing his friend Dave McCormick, who he was showing the work they have done for the industry of Pennsylvania. I think that also is very revealing. Someone that would consider themselves a common-sense Democrat also goes on and calls what John Fetterman did stupid. Now, politically speaking, perhaps. But it's also telling that someone that would call themselves a common-sense Democrat wouldn't say, you know, it was also pretty courageous. He went out there and said, look, this is someone I can work with. Especially that it wasn't someone that's up for election this cycle. It's actually Dave McCormick's next election is after John Fetterman's. I think it also shows that John Fetterman has a bigger plan here. And I think for a lot of these, you start calling people stupid and you start saying that you're flabbergasted and, you know, all this, you're not thinking like a politician thinks, which is I am 100% sure that they had these decisions and these meetings and said, yes, we're going to do this and here's why and here's how it's going to impact my future and here's what I'm willing to risk and here's where I'm planning on going. And I think you're probably going to see, if Senator Fetterman wants to have a future in the Senate as a Democrat, you'll see some changes there. I also think you've seen him plant seeds to no longer at least maybe be a Democrat. Not necessarily become a Republican, so he's going to start planting those seeds to try to get people from both sides of the aisle who are a bit more common sense. But maybe they are more traditionally left of center in Pennsylvania, but are not as far left as what is being presented currently from modern Democrats, and going, oh, maybe I could carve out a piece here, maybe I carve out a piece here and I can become an independent representative, not unlike a Bernie Sanders but for instead of for Vermont, for a Pennsylvania. What does a Pennsylvania independent look like? And maybe that is more of a purple candidate. Don't think those conversations aren't happening. And if you don't think they're happening and you don't think this is a piece of that puzzle, then you are a fool yourself.
Will: Well, and once again, the majority of the policies and things that John Fetterman votes for are not priorities of Republicans. They're not even ideologically in line.
Logan Sekulow: Well over 90% he votes with the Democrats.
Will: Right. So when you start to look at that, it's like, oh, they're going to throw him out of the party over having a friend in the Senate that's a colleague. It used to be that was the criticism of the Senate, that they got along too well in the Senate, that their colleagues actually were friends outside of the political debate. But also, look how many people hated or were so upset with the outpouring of love for Lindsey Graham after he passed away. People were upset that their representative Corey Booker was praising him, was saying he was a good man that I enjoyed working with, even if I disagreed with him. They were calling for their heads over just being a human being. So I think Senator Fetterman is well aware that that's not how normal people and normal society work. And maybe he can make a play to those people.
Will: Well, as well as the big issue is that he also supports Israel. Of course, and that has become a non-starter when it comes to the apparatus of the DNC. And it's only going to get worse after this election. That any hint of that that when you see how many individuals that align with the DSA or even aren't aligned with the DSA but have basically there's a line in the sand within the Democrat Party and John Fetterman has said, you know, if that becomes a thing where we are officially the anti-Israel party, I'm out. And so that's kind of his line in the sand as well.
Logan Sekulow: It is. and you've seen a lot of interviews with him discussing that. I saw an interview with him with Jon Stewart where I thought it was actually a pretty respectful interview where they went back and forth. And then at the end, which I always hate when they do this, the guest is gone and then they decide, oh, well that was an insane conversation. I can't believe how crazy it is. You didn't have the guts to necessarily say that to the person's face. You said you disagreed with them and that kind of thing, but you had to wait until you got your little minions around you to say, oh, wasn't that crazy? And they used to do that all the time on CNN and other sort of sources. Not just that, like I enjoy a lot of these broadcasts, I watch all sides, but I don't like when they do that to guests. I always feels like that is obnoxious. With that being said, 25 seconds left in this first half hour. You can still call in, we'll see if we get to you at 1-800-684-3110. I do want you to support the work of the ACLJ today. Become an ACLJ Champion if you can. That's someone that gives on a monthly basis. You do that if you have the ability right now. It's a great way to get engaged right now. That's becoming an ACLJ Champion at ACLJ.org. We'll be right back. Second half hour coming up.