BREAKING: All Eyes On VA Governor’s Race & Why It Matters

This is Jay Sekulow breaking news. All eyes on the Virginia Governor's race and why it matters. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever.

This is Sekulow. Parents had to write to veto bills. Veto books, Glenn. Not to be knowledge about it. Also take them off the shelves. And I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments. Or call 1-800-684-3110.

I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. And now your host, Jay Sekulow. Hi everybody, welcome to the broadcast. Well this is a big day politically because the Governor's race in some states is what they call off year races. And this is an off year race. It was just last year that we had the election for the President of the United States. This year it's the election in Virginia for Governor.

Now the reason that that's gotten national attention, which it clearly is, is because it's sometimes used as a bellwether of what's going to happen in the midterms. What's interesting here is you have a Republican candidate that is polling dead even. I mean it is maybe even a little bit ahead of Terry McAuliffe who is, I think fan it's fair to say, is part of the Virginia political machine and national Democratic political machine for decades.

Yeah, absolutely Jay. I mean this is a race that if all things were even you would think that Terry McAuliffe would win it running away. I mean it's a state that Joe Biden carried by 10 points.

It's a state that Governor Northam won by 9 points. You're right though Jay, as we come down the stretch it actually looks like Glenn Youngkin is polling ahead. And I would just tell you, just in brief, I think a lot of it has to do with issues that we're seeing replicated all across the country. Parents who want to know what's being taught inside their schools. And look, Terry McAuliffe saying that he doesn't maybe want them as present as can be.

Jay, I would just very succinctly say this. Watch those counties right around Washington D.C. You've got Fairfax County, which is the biggest county in the state. You've got Prince William and Loudoun County where a lot of this controversy have centered. Terry McAuliffe is going to win those counties. He's going to win them handily Jay.

But if Youngkin can even cut into the margin just a little bit in those counties, I think he could carry the election. Let's play the sound bite that we have on the school board issue. It became a hot issue. Because Terry McAuliffe basically said parents have no say so or should not have any say so in their child's education.

Take a listen. Parents had the right to veto bills. Veto books Glenn.

Not to be knowledge about it. Also take them off the shelves. And I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. You vetoed it. So, yeah, I stopped the bill that I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. Now, these are, Harry, these are public schools.

Precisely. And that has been the attitude of the expert class in the United States for decades. And that attitude has not served the citizens or the students very, very well. So I would say one thing about Terry McAuliffe. He has proven to be an awful candidate. And he does not necessarily understand what's going on in Loudoun County, in Fairfax, perhaps even in Arlington County.

He believes that he can simply walk in and stand in the awesome footsteps of Ralph Northam, a man who has posed for questionable pictures. Let me just put it that way. No, questionable is like the understatement. Yeah, beyond a lot of stuff. But I think it is that common thread that's coming into play, which happened with our whole school choice initiative last year, which is also somehow valuing the teacher over the student, valuing the schools over the students that they're teaching. And I think that's a fundamentally backwards thing that most people don't agree with.

And you're having to actually break down that. And what happens is elections, like you say, have consequences because I think you could see a major shift there because of issues like this. You know, Virginia has been blue for a little while, but it's like a soft blue.

It's like a baby blue. I mean, Bob McDonald ran in 2009. I think he won by 17 percent. Right. So it's not like all those people went away. But so you do have that opportunity.

We'll see you tonight in Virginia. But again, you can't have that situation. You have someone say, we're not going to allow parents to influence what our kids learn.

Well, I'm sorry. That's not how most people feel. It's not actually how our government works. The school boards report to the parents. I mean, they have a system internally, but they're elected by the parents. Of course, the parents and there's a reason we have open sessions during school board meetings. Now, that doesn't mean let it get out of control.

And some around the country did. I will say a little. Yeah, a little. But it's OK. Hey, we want to know from you. I want to hear from you. How much control do you think the school should have?

Or you should have what your kid learns. Give us a call. 1-800-684-3110 in Virginia and around the world.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Election Day in Virginia, why does it matter to you? And here's the reason why. This is the first election post the last Presidential election. Almost exactly a year. Almost exactly a year ago when we had that excitement. I'll say that.

Is that a good way to say it, Andy? Excitement is a good way to say it. Our YouTube views were pretty high that month. I was excited. You were excited.

You said what? Our YouTube views in November of 2020 for some reason, very high. Very high. I don't know why.

The historic highs. Do we have that bite? Yeah, we do. So let me tell you what it's come down to. You had a neck-and-neck race in Virginia between the Democrat and the Republican in a state that was purple for a long time, that was tilting very blue. But now it's literally the polls are showing. And if you look at the polling data, it's basically all within the margin of error and it's even. But a lot of it became over an issue that we've been involved in a lot, which is the whole parental control over school, school choice.

We had that as the pandemic was developing. But this is important to listen to. This is Terry McAuliffe, who has been the governor of Virginia, who is well-connected in the Democratic establishment. This is what he said about parents' involvement, your involvement, in your kids' school.

I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. Okay, that was a short bite, but there is a longer version. It's not like we just edited that out of context. You played the long clip before. You want to play the long clip? Yeah, let's play the full clip. I think people need to know that we're not trying to pull a fast one on you here, other than the stumbles and bubbles through it.

Let's hear it. Parents had the right to veto bills, veto books, Glenn. Not to be knowledge about it, also take them off the shelves. And I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision. You vetoed it.

So, yeah, I stopped the bill that I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. That was from a televised debate with Chuck Todd as the moderator. So, I mean, this is essentially a very national kind of... Oh, it's a very national race.

It is. It's a national story. I think a lot of people are taken aback maybe by today's news being so heavily... Virginia.

Virginia. And then there's other governors' races happening, but it seems like this has taken on a different life. Sure. Is it that the national news needs another election to cover? Absolutely.

Don't get drunk. They need ratings, and with no elections, no ratings. So, of course, today is going to be a big deal. But it is going to show a shift in what's happening in the world of politics. But when you hear something like that, a statement like that, that's the kind of worry that people have across the country, which is someone will say, you as a parent shouldn't have any responsibility of what your kid learns in our school system. That's where our teachers decide and our school board, even though they're elected by you. It doesn't matter. What do you think, though? You have kids, you have grandkids.

How much control should you have over what they learn? Give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. I'd love to hear from you. You're from Virginia?

Great. We'll try to prioritize you. So, if you're in from Virginia, we'll try to get you up.

But even if you're not, call in and we'll get to you as well. So, this whole issue of local control and what parents have a right to do is a really big deal. And Professor Hutchinson just dealt with that. But, Andy, we've dealt with a lot of local school boards, and we're representing parents when we're before the local school board. The kids don't have representation. I mean, you're representing the child through the parent because the parent is the guardian. The kid at 13 years old doesn't have a legal, cognizable ability to go to court. But, of course, parents have a role in this, and saying they don't is absurd.

It is, Jay. I represented a school board in the metropolitan Atlanta area, the Fayette County School Board, for several years. And if I was to get up and say, as the lawyer for the school board, let me just say right now that all you parents in this room, in this open session, don't have anything to say about what these school boards or what these teachers are teaching their students.

I would have been tarred and feathered because that is just not the way that it happens. McAuliffe has made a foolish statement, a statement that we played, so that there's no question. No, all the media has played, including the CNN and MSNBC.

I mean, it's gotten around. But to say that the parents don't have any right to be heard with respect to what their children are being taught is ridiculous. It's an approach that makes absolutely no sense in the public education system of the U.S. Wes, you lived in Virginia, I've lived in Virginia, Logan's lived in Virginia, Harry's lived in Virginia. Virginia is a, I mean, it is a local, it's a state race, but it has always had national implications, as Stan said, in part because you have it surrounding Washington, D.C. Yeah, absolutely. This race has national significance. And Virginia and New Jersey are the two states that have, they elect their governors in off-year elections. And in Virginia's case, over the last 50 years, this is why part of the reason it has national significance, in the last 50 years when the incumbent party has lost the U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia, their governor's election, has predicted that that would happen by who they elect, which party in Virginia. And as far as the school board issue goes, it started in Loudoun County, but the concerns over curriculum and school boards and the rights of parents have literally spread across the nation.

Yeah, and let me say something about that. I think the way that you handle that is not screaming and yelling at school boards. I think it's you make presentations that are logical and meaningful, and people are emotive, I get that. But we've had good success in front of school boards when we are articulating a reasonable case. And this idea that parents have no control over their children's education in public schools, first of all, where do you think the public schools are getting their money from?

They're getting it from the parents. So I want to hear from you. How big of an issue do you think local school board control and parents' involvement in the public schools should be? We want to hear from you in Virginia, as Logan said, but also outside the state as well. Yeah, because I think it's a national story, a national issue that's going on. Let's also hear from Glenn Youngkin, who's running for, obviously, as well. The Republican.

As a Republican, and he's sort of his response to that statement by 31. Parents will have choice in our public school system. We will not have a political philosophy in the classroom, and on day one, I will ban critical race theory from being in our schools. Those are big statements.

The contrast, of course, is parent involvement, critical race theory, Harry, which is a huge—you're running a treatise on it, really. How big of an issue is that right now? Well, I think it's a huge motivation, and it's a huge motivation which has electrified the voters in both Loudoun County, Fairfax County, and Northern Virginia. Now, voters have been electrified in part because the school boards have mishandled this particular issue. They have failed to admit what parents are able to see right in front of their own eyes, and they claim that they are not even teaching this, but they are nonetheless requiring parents who wish to view certain materials to do what? To sign a nondisclosure agreement.

In other words, they will not reveal the information to others. What does that tell you? It tells you that critical race theory is indeed being taught, and in addition to that, in Loudoun County, the superintendent mishandled a rape of a girl in a restroom. All right, let's move on to calls. I know a lot of you are calling, and we'll do our best to get to as many of you as possible.

We keep calling. Tim in California, online too. Tim, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Tim. Thank you for taking my call.

Sure. What gives the Democrats a right to control the education that our kids get in school? I thought it was the parents' job. Well, you're right.

I mean, the way it's set up is that, you know, local school boards are elected by parents in the community, and that school board is responsible for the curriculum, and Andy has represented school boards before, and they are accountable to the citizenry. That's right. And to say the parents have no involvement, or I'm not going to let a parent come in and talk about books, of course you are. I mean, they're not going to go into a library and take one down without proper authority. That's right. But they have to—the parents are the ones who elect the school board, so of course they're the ones that are going to have the influence.

Right, Jay. The ultimate arbiters of what is being taught in the schools through the school board is the parents of the children. I cannot imagine when I was growing up in Dade County schools in Miami that my parents would not have the right to attend a school board meeting and to voice their opinion on what the teachers in that school system should be teaching us as students. I can't imagine that they would have been excluded from that, and they said, no, we're going to teach what we want to teach, and the parents don't have the authority to be heard.

All right, then. What should we be at the lookout for tonight in this—now, it's interesting. President Trump was not a major player and a major factor in it early on, although there was a rally yesterday—I guess it was a virtual rally—that the former President did for the Republican candidate. Yeah, he did a tele-town hall yesterday, Jay. He has endorsed Glenn Youngkin. Look, I think that is probably going to play pretty significantly in southwestern Virginia. Look, Glenn Youngkin is going to win pretty handily in southern Virginia, in the southwest region of the state. The counties we talked about earlier in the show that surround, that ring Washington, D.C. You're talking about Fairfax County, Prince William County, Loudoun County, maybe even throw in Arlington County like Harry did. It's a little smaller, a little tighter into Washington, D.C. Glenn Youngkin probably won't dip in as much to Arlington County.

But here's what I would say about those, Jay. The combined total in the last governor's race, the margin there in those states was Democrat plus 242,000. That was more than the margin that he won the entire state by.

So if you could just cut into those counties, you could see a Republican win tonight. Of course, our old neck of the woods in Virginia was the Virginia Beach, Norfolk area, Hampton, what's called Hampton Roads, which is towards the coast. Wes, you were more in the southwest Virginia. Right, right. Harry, you were northern Virginia. Correct.

So— Three different planets. Is that not true, Harry? It is. I mean, it really is.

It really is. Those are three, it's like three different states. Right. Yeah. The claim in southern Virginia was that Virginia as a state did not actually begin until you were south of the Rappahannock. And the rest was seen as a northern county or part of Maryland.

There you go. It feels that way. I mean, it is. It doesn't feel like a consistent, cohesive area. I mean, much like Georgia or any of these states, there's just certain areas, Tennessee or however, it's just like that.

But Virginia feels specifically like that. That's why you can have such close elections like what's happening right now. Phone lines are lighting up. A lot of you guys are on hold or are listening or it's ringing. Give us a second to get through it. We do have more coming up in the next segment. If you're on Facebook, share this with your friends.

I think a lot of people need to know what's going on in Virginia and why it's important. We'll be right back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's go to John in New Jersey. You're on the air, John. Hello? Yeah, John, you're on the air. Hi.

I'm going to keep it quick before my blood starts to boil, so at the beginning of the broadcast, you played the full sound bite. My question is, who are the people that are applauding for that statement? They must not be parents. Who are these people? John, that is, I mean, I think that is the question.

I mean, who wants this? I mean, that's really what you're talking about. You're talking about a weird philosophy that has shifted in America that, again, values the teacher and the school over the student, and I think it's fundamentally wrong. But, Andy, also, it's, but our approach in the United States on education has always been local control and local school boards accountable to the parents. That's who elects the local school boards. In most states, there are some that have appointments, but most states are elections. That's the way our constitutional system is kind of operated, even at the local level. I mean, this is just fundamental from the early founding days of the republic, that local schools are handled by locally elected public officials, the school boards, who determine what the curriculum should be.

Either the school superintendent is appointed, sometimes the school superintendent is elected, but I remember having open sessions in which we talked about curriculum, and we had parents giving their views on the curriculum. We actually had the book lists out there so that the members of the school board and the parents could see what was being taught in English courses, in literature courses, and so forth. This is the way our republic was founded. This was the whole idea, Jay. Yeah, I, you know, Wes, you lived in both Alexandria, right? Arlington. Arlington. And Roanoke. And Roanoke. Two different worlds.

Yeah, so let's find that. Yeah, I mean, the suburbs of D.C. are solidly Democrat. They tend to be much more left-leaning, much more international as far as the population goes. Whereas in Roanoke, southwest Virginia, it is much more conservative. Virginia is unique in that you have this dichotomy between urban areas where people are wealthier and educated and multicultural, and then your rural and southern parts of Virginia, which are solidly conservative most of the time.

Yeah, so it's a fascinating state. Let's go ahead and take a call. You want to take a call? There also was a comment, and a lot of people are asking this one, so I think we should just clear it up and answer. A lot of people, obviously, had last year to look at with the election and said, will we know tonight? And there is some answers that we played in some of our video packages, which is the answer to will we know tonight is likely, but if it is too close, then they will go into the mail-in ballots, then they will go into the absentee ballots. Well, do they pre-count the mail-in ballots? Do we know? Are they counting those? It's unclear.

We're going to look at that. It's unclear, but I think the general consistency is likely we'll know tonight, but there's still no guarantee, and there is a recall. You know, if it's very close, they can recount. That's our recount, so they can't ask for that if it gets too close.

Obviously, we know this likely will be very close, so we'll see. All right, let's go to the phone. Let's go to line four. It's a caller coming from Virginia.

This is Dania on line four. You're on the air. Hi, you're on the air.

Hello, Jay. I just want to thank you for all you guys doing. Yes, I'm from Virginia. I'm not born here in the United States. I was born in Honduras, and I became a citizen last year. Congratulations. That's great.

Thank you. I have four kids, so I'm just so excited to be part of this country, you know, both. And now I'm just so concerned because I just came from a country where the government is so corrupted that they don't care about these four kids, and now I'm here, you know, start in a new country, and I'm just seeing that it's going to happen again if we don't do anything.

So my question is, what can I do, what parents can do in order to stop this? I mean, to what point is enough? To not be – no, it's a great – it is really a great question. Congratulations on your citizenship. You know, I'm only the second generation of my family born in the United States, so I really appreciate your call and your story, and it's great.

But we don't lose hope. We have to understand that parents have a real – I mean, the ultimate role, Harry, of course, is the election of the school board. I think that is correct, but I also think the caller makes a very, very significant point. She came from a corrupt country. In the United States, our views on education, our views on parental involvement have largely been corrupted by elites who basically adhere to what might be called a globalist view. The globalist view essentially says that the traditional family and honoring the traditional family and honoring their desires is the font of all oppression. And so when the individuals applauded Terry McAuliffe in the video, they were applauding the notion that he was denigrating traditional families. And so I think it's incumbent on traditional families, on nuclear families, to get out and vote and also to run for school board offices in order to beat back this globalist view, which is simply a form of corruption.

So the government can control everything, and the government knows what's best, and the government will take care. So, Thanh, in the issue – what is the major thrust of the – obviously, the school issue and parent involvement became a gigantic issue. I mean, my goodness, I mean, a gigantic issue. What about generally the other issues kind of motivating this race? Well, I think, as always, pocketbook issues, the economy, we're front and center before this issue happened, Jay.

But honestly, this one has taken over, and here's why it's so powerful. We've alluded to this, but, Jay, in order for a Republican to win in Virginia, they're going to have to get crossover votes. They're going to have to get Democrats to vote for them. And, Jay, this is an issue that suburban Democrat parents of students, they don't like it, Jay.

I mean, you played that clip, and the people at the rally were applauding. That was probably campaign operatives and people that were already voting for Terry McAuliffe. But Democrat voters in suburban areas, parents of children, Jay, they want to be involved in their students' education.

They may not agree with all of the decisions that are being made, but one way or another, they want to have input, and that's what makes it so powerful. So I would say between those two issues, the economy, pocketbook issues, and then this parents' involvement in education, I think those are the things that are going to drive voters. And, Jay, just quickly to your question, 1.1 million votes already cast. In 2017, in the governor's race, there were only 2.6 million votes cast. So we've already had a significant number in in this race. That probably does not bode for the Republican, I would think, right? Yep, probably three to one Democrat. Probably a half million vote lead there. Yeah, so that's why I think, now, the question is, do we know when they're counting it?

Will? So they don't start until after the polls close. Yeah, I remember those delays in Virginia last time, so we're going to see.

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...that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jay Sekulow. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the broadcast. We've got a big race in the state of Virginia, the Commonwealth, if you want to be particular. And there's a lot of us here that live in Virginia, and I enjoyed living in Virginia for a number of years. But their race for governor is an off-year race. That means you had the Presidential election last year, now you have the governor's race that's also happening in New Jersey as well. What's so interesting about this, I find it fascinating, is the issue of parents involvement in schools became front and center because of a statement that Terry McAuliffe made in a debate.

Now, I want to play the short clip first, and then I'll play the longer clip. But here's what the focus is of what he said. I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

Now, here's the full context, so you know it's not out of context, it's actually worse when you hear the whole thing. Parents had to write to veto bills, veto books, Glenn, not to be knowledge about it, also take them off the shelves. And I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions. You vetoed it. So, yeah, I stopped the bill that I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

Now, think about that for a moment. I don't think that parents should be telling schools what they should teach, which is precisely and exactly how our system is set up, Andy, exactly how our system is set up. What he said is exactly the opposite of the American educational system, exactly the opposite of the American system. We don't let the government dictate what is being taught in the schools without the intervention and influence and input of the parents. We don't do that. We never have done that.

Local schools, local control, local school boards, local control, they're usually elected, very fundamental in our system. And to say that you as a parent don't have the right to determine and have input in what your son or your grandchild is being taught is contrary to the American system that has started, that was in place since the republic. And I can't imagine McAuliffe would make such a statement. Well, but he did.

He did. I heard it twice, several times. Basically, I'm sure he regrets making that statement, but Michael Kinsey came up with a phrase, he said that's called a Kinsey gap when a politician accidentally tells you what he really believes. And it has alarmed people. No, it has alarmed people. Now, it's interesting, though, that you've already had, what was it then? What was the number of early votes?

1.1 million. So the question is going to be, looking at the electorate, Harry, is can the republican overcome that early voting? That is true. So certainly if all of the votes were made tonight or today, I think it's clear that the republican would win. But I think if we look at the data that Than provides, he does have an uphill battle in terms of overcoming what is likely to be a democrat lead going into election day. Yeah, and I think that's the reality. But again, this is a bellwether to see what happens here, and it's interesting because the way the race was kind of presented, the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, did not play an active role early on in this, but late in the, I mean, late yesterday, did a virtual town hall to encourage voting.

You know, Than, you're up there. Like I said, a lot of us have lived in Virginia, and I'm just kind of getting your sense of where you think it goes. Yeah, this feels different than the last couple of elections, Jay. It really does.

I mean, look, I would start with this. This is a state the democrats should win. The last two races, they won by nine and ten points respectively.

It's probably about a D plus seven registration state. So it's a state that they really have to probably make a mistake to lose. Jay, this was a big mistake, though. And Terry McAuliffe doubled and tripled down on it afterwards. You know, I think Harry said maybe he accidentally said what he meant.

Well, no, he tried to give softer language in the days to come, but then he essentially said this is what he believes. Jay, the energy on the ground here is absolutely with Glenn Youngkin. Now, does it make up all ten of those points? We'll find out hopefully tonight. But if you're asking me what it feels like, it feels like to me that Glenn Youngkin is surging into the lead here. Well, we're going to see, you know, we may know tonight.

We don't know for sure. We're taking your calls to your view on your ability, parents, grandparents, to influence school boards that you elect. We want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. That's 800-684-3110. And also, don't forget, we're in a matching challenge campaign. We're going to talk about an international issue in the next segment with Rick Rinnell, troubling developments out of Afghanistan. We'll do that when we get back. And if you have a question or comment related to this or other topics, give us a call.

1-800-684-3110. It's worth working with the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Hey, welcome back everybody. We're going to take a switch of direction here and talk about, and we'll get back to this public, the race in Virginia. We'll get Rick's view on that too.

But Rick Rinnell is joining us, of course, senior advisor for global affairs and national security. Rick, there's a very troubling piece that CNN just put out. It's not shocking, but it is horrific. And I cannot even imagine what these parents are going through. But in Afghanistan, members, citizens of Afghanistan have let it be known that the Taliban are mandating, under threat of death of course, that young girls be sold to them.

And this, of course, was a practice before and now is a practice again. And this is part of this failed way in which we disengaged. Your thought, that means horrific.

There's nothing, I mean, it's just horrible. Well, it's horrific and it's a return to what they used to do, their tactics of old. And now that the Taliban is in charge, we need to be very clear eyed that this is not an international group that needs to be recognized. We see, Jay, already that the Europeans are making moves to tell the Biden administration to recognize the Taliban, to treat them like a legitimate government. Now, they've taken over the government, but they are not a legitimate government and we should never recognize them no matter what the pressure is like from the Europeans or the Russians or the Chinese. This is the thing that the Biden administration always tries to do, which is build consensus. They want to have all of the international partners agree and so what they tend to do is give in to the rest of the group and it becomes the lowest common denominator of what the entire global group believes. We should stand strong. We should put America first and we should reject this idea that recognizing the Taliban is somehow going to help us look what they're doing to little girls.

There are families who are selling their children in order to eat. Where is the United Nations? Billions and billions of dollars have been spent to help this country. And yet under the Biden regime, we are dialing it back and going back to slavery for little girls and sales of human lives in order to eat.

This is atrocious. So the President's on the world stage today and Rick, you've been on the world stage. You not only were the director of national intelligence and at the UN for a decade, but you also were the US ambassador to Germany. I want your sense of how this is going. I mean, their whole idea was the United States is back. We're on the world. We're the leader.

Well, they don't ever say leader because that's a negative word for them. But the United States is back. We're going to get into the Paris Climate Accords.

They're bragging about all of this. Meanwhile, India just said, I think that they cannot get to their carbon numbers until like 2075 or something. But what's your sense of where it is right now? So I hate to do this, but I have to get a little philosophical for a second because the one thing I learned at the UN, Jay, is that countries believe that they're equal on the international stage. And so what the G20 and all of the members of the UN climate change group believe is that America is just one of many and that we should be treated just like everybody else, except for the fact that they want us to write a big check. I actually believe people are equal, not countries. And so it's really important that we stand on the on the world stage and say, no, that is not a good policy for the American people.

We should not apologize for standing up for America. Joe Biden is not the President of the world. He's not in charge of the global system.

He is the President of the United States. And there is a case to be made that what is best for America is best for the world because we are the country unapologetically that values human rights, democracy, the rule of law. When we are in charge, other countries benefit because the rules are always about the humanity and finding ways to have capitalism strengthen everyone. I think that's a very important point.

And this leaning from behind, which was kind of like Obama's way of doing it, did not serve our interests well. I mean, you look at it across the globe. I'm worried about the Middle East.

We've talked about that before. I want to go back to the situation, though, with China, because, you know, Rick, if you were going to name the big three right now, and I know we do this about every three months, we kind of reevaluate where we are in the world. What are the big three dangers for the United States, country-wise? Well, China's number one, and their secret ways are, I'm afraid to say this, are duping all of Washington. I think Iran and its pursuit of nuclear weapons is the second issue. And then I would put into the camp on third of global terrorism, terrorist groups, Hezbollah, certainly what's happening in Afghanistan with the Taliban.

Yeah. So, you know, the reason I brought it up, everyone, is that we are constantly reevaluating, because this is the positions we advocate then at the United Nations, what we think are the major, and it moves, as Rick just said. I mean, part of responding is responding to what's happening actually on the ground that you're having to deal with. And we do that through our advocacy at the United Nations.

We do that in our advocacy in international tribunals. So, I mean, we've been there, we've done it, we continue to do it. The concern, of course, that you have right now, and Rick, I want to get your view on this. We've got, you know, you just went through a governor's recall election in California. Now, of course, tonight is the race in Virginia.

It is, surprisingly, I think to many of us, it's very close. There was a lot of early voting, so we don't know how that's going to play in. But the fact of the matter is, the Virginia race ends up becoming a factor much closer, I think, because of an issue of parents' involvement in the school boards. And I want to play that bite again, the longer version of what Terry McAuliffe, former governor of Virginia, said about parents' involvement in their kids' own education, which to me, this is shocking to me. Parents had to write to veto bills, veto books, Glenn, not to be knowledge about it, also take them off the shelves, and I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions.

You vetoed it. So, yeah, I stopped the bill that I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach. I don't think parents should be telling the schools what they should be teaching their kids. I mean, Rick, I'm trying to figure out, we had a good caller on this, who would agree with that position, right, left, or center?

And people applauded. Look, I think our teachers are begging for more involvement from parents so that they don't have to be the ones who try to teach and educate and discipline for only the period of time you're in school, and then they go home and there's chaos because there's no leadership. Teachers have been very clear about wanting parents to be involved all the way through so that all of the responsibility doesn't fall on them.

Everybody knows teachers that are good teachers who are not getting the support from the principal, from the unions, and from parents. Let's be very clear about that. I do want to say one thing. It's very important to get out and vote, and I'm just struck with how ACLJ here is giving us the latest in Virginia, giving you news to use, but we just talked about some really important issues where ACLJ around the world is one of the very few voices to stand up. So I just have to take this time for a second and encourage people to sign on and give and support us because one of the reasons I joined ACLJ is because they are one of the very few sane conservative voices on the world stage. Right now with Joe Biden over in Glasgow at the G20 in Rome when we see him on the world stage, nothing reminds me more of having a strong ACLJ around the world and we need your support. Obviously you're going to get the news in Virginia and some other topics, but these are issues that are unique to ACLJ and I hope that they'll support us. Rick, I appreciate you saying this.

This, of course, is the month of November, which for us is the beginning of our last two months of what we call our matching challenge, which is literally, following up on Rick's head, is literally when you make a donation to our friends that are watching this broadcast now, it's matched by other donors of ours, which is a really big deal. And let me say something, you see us on this set and you see Rick coming remote and Mike Pompeo and others that we have, a fan in our DC office, I mean, and we've had, you know, offices around from our offices in Europe. All of that, including everybody you don't see behind the scenes here is because of your support of the ACLJ.

So you see us and you get information from us, but I will tell you, there are teams here, Washington, Strasbourg, France, all over the globe, Jerusalem, working to defend freedom and liberty globally, to protect human rights and human dignity in Africa. I mean, around the globe, we are here and I appreciate Rick, you saying that and reminding our people that are watching this broadcast how important that is. Thank you as always, Rick. We really appreciate it.

All right. Well, that does it for this segment. We're going to take more comments and calls on the next segment and we appreciate everyone's support, ACLJ.org for that.

That's right. We've got more segments coming up and some phone lines open right now, 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110 and support the work of the ACLJ, as Rick said, at ACLJ.org. Let me also say coming up, we're going to take more of your comments. We've got comments coming in by Facebook and Rumble and YouTube, so we'll get to those.

We'll get your comments as well. If you want to talk to us, 800-684-3110. Jones on from Virginia.

Make sure she stays on. We want to talk to her, especially folks in Virginia. Support the work of the ACLJ, folks, for our matching challenge campaign, ACLJ.org. It's that simple. Go online, ACLJ.org.

Back with more. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn. It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad, whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith. I'm covering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress. The ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

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Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Alright, we're going to take your calls, we're going to take your comments, we're going to take your views, and we're going to go right to the phones right now. Let's go ahead and take a call out of Virginia. Yeah, Joan's been on hold for a long time.

Thanks for holding. We've had a lot to get to. Joan in Virginia, you're on the air. Hi, Joan. Thank you.

One quick comment. I voted early and I voted for Yonkin, and everybody I know is voting for Yonkin. But I was born and raised in Virginia, so I grew up through the school system here. I've raised two generations of children in Virginia schools and now have a grandson who's teaching in Virginia schools and coaching baseball in a middle school. My grandson's ready to quit his job. He is so appalled at how CRT is being implemented and the way the schools are not disciplining kids for violence.

They can't suspend them. Let me ask you, Joan, where do you live and what part of Virginia do you live in? Well, I'm central Virginia. I'm a little south of Richmond in a suburb called Midlochian, and my grandson teaches in Powhatan County, which is right west of where I am.

Okay. We find it interesting because, as we said earlier, Harry, if you look at it, you can't say statewide this is what the state is because there are, literally, the Rappahannock joke of the river, but if you look at northern Virginia, central Virginia, southwest Virginia, and then Hampton Roads, that's kind of the way it sets up. I think that's true if you look at the electorate.

However, I would say there's uniformity when it comes to teachers' unions and individuals who are controlling school boards throughout the state. They are trending very much in favor of the McAuliffe view, and so many parents, even in central and southern Virginia, they have to fight against, for lack of a better term, hostile school boards who want to insist that certain things are taught, contrary to the interest of parents. We had a very interesting comment from Donald on Facebook. We have some more coming on Facebook if you want to comment.

We'll get some of those as well on Facebook and on YouTube. Donald said, I'm concerned the teachers' unions embrace a Marxist ideology. We'll push the government that way.

So a discussion of that. You know, some states have teachers' unions, some do not, but the teachers' unions are very powerful. Well, they are very powerful. They have a great effect on what's going to be taught in the schools. They lean on politicians, and they get what they want sometimes. But I'll go back to the theory that I have mentioned before. Our country was founded on local control of education, on parents having a voice in what is being taught in the schools, on teachers not rebelling against what school boards say ought to be taught, and school boards being accountable to whom?

To parents, to the public, to those people who elect them and who represent what they want their children and their values to be. Critical race theory is not one of them, in my opinion. Professor Hutchinson has written a tremendous article in the St. Mary's Law Journal that has appeared on critical race theory, and I urge everybody who can possibly get a hold of that to read it, because it really lays this thing out so well and shows what a very dangerous thing critical race theory is.

They came up with the caller. So, Harry, will you explain to everybody what we're talking about here when we see critical race theory? Well, critical race theory is a very complex doctrine, but at bottom, it's all about Marxism, it's all about government control, it's all about severing the connection, really, between parent and child, and substituting government for parents. Essentially, critical race theory, following in the footsteps of Karl Marx, believes that everything that now lives ought to perish, so that means democratic governance, that means the Constitution, that means the rule of law. So, at the end of the day, who controls society? It's elites, often globalist elites, and that is why certain issues that may indeed be important independently have been used by critical race theorists in order to push for greater and greater government control of our lives. You can see that in terms of the discussions about climate change, you can see that in terms of the Green New Deal pushed by the Democrats, you can see that in a wide variety of activities by government, and many of those ideologues, they do not care about the consequences.

And so, if the consequences favor them in terms of increasing the amount of power that they have long term, they really don't care about the parents, and they certainly don't care about the kids unless those kids can be used as pawns to grab even more power. Now, you've had two tours of duty in Virginia, in a sense, military and private, as a priest. Your sense of where this is? I love the state, I really do.

It's a great place, it is unique, it is not monolithic to be sure. I think that Youngkin, he doesn't have to carry counties like Loudon and Arlington, Fairfax counties, he just simply has to do well there. The other thing about early voting, and early voting tends to go towards the Democrat Party, but in the early voting time period when ballots were being cast, is also the time when President Biden's popularity was beginning to sink because of those policies, and it could be, and I think this is the reason that McAuliffe has not relied on the President quite so much in his re-election bid, and it could be that Biden has been a drag on McAuliffe's campaign, and that could also influence the early voting.

I, maybe it's thoughtful wishing on my part, but I personally think that Youngkin has a good chance of pulling this off tonight and being the next governor. Yeah, we've got some interesting comments coming in. Laughlin on Facebook says, we Virginians resent politicians telling parents that we have no voice in school curriculum or school matters. You know, that kind of came as a, almost in a sense, out of nowhere, and became a huge issue. Yeah, there was a groundswell here starting, Jay, but I think the politician, the candidate, Terry McAuliffe, made a mistake in animating the voters who are already afraid about this. I would say this, Jay, I mean there are almost no issues these days that create crossover voters. Usually candidates are trying to get their base out, they're talking about issues that they know their base cares about, and it's a turnout issue.

Jay, this is not that. This is creating crossover voters in the various counties that Wes was talking about, and he's also correct. The Republican candidate here, Glenn Youngkin, he's not going to win those counties. I mean, in the last governor's race, Democrats won it by about a quarter of a million votes.

But Jay, that means if there's even 20% crossover, that probably switches the entire state. So this is one of those issues where Democrats will vote Republican if they're really fired up about this. Look, we're never going to tell you who to vote for. That's not what we do here. We just lay out the issues for you.

This issue became a gigantic issue. I mean, the local control of the school board, which is traditionally vested in the parents, there are some states where the school boards are appointed by the governors, but not most. Most are elected.

Local control is what conservatives believe in, and this has kind of taken on a bit of a life of its own. Having said that, look, at the end of the day, the people of Virginia are going to vote. We may know, as Logan said, we may know tonight. We may not.

You never know. So we're going to see how that plays out. If it's close, we won't, likely.

Yeah, I think that's probably fair. And I need to say also, this is the, what's tonight's fifth game of the World Series? Fifth game of the World Series. Houston Astros versus Atlanta. Atlanta's well represented on this table right here, I have to say. Yeah, absolutely.

But we love Houston. So what are you watching? Are you watching election results? I'll look on my phone. I'll check out my phone for the election results.

Is the New York Times going to do their meter? But I need to say, because we have a lot of friends in Houston, like we tell you who not to vote for. In 2021, probably more friends in Houston than you do in Atlanta. Let's just be honest. So what we're going to do is we're not telling you who to support on baseball either. I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say it, Will.

Sorry, you're trying. All right, folks, support the work of the ACLJ. Logan's going to let you know how to match your challenge. That's right. It is part of the Matching Challenge right now in the month of November. All donations made are effectively doubled by great members of the ACLJ who also will match your donations.

So $10 becomes $20, so on and so on. Do that at ACLJ.org. Not only donate, check out all the great content there as well.

At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20. A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.