MUTE BUTTON AND TOPIC CHANGES: Will The Presidential Debate Be Fair?

Today on Jay Sekulow Live, the Presidential Debate Commission changes the rules yet again in the middle of the game.

How will it impact what's to be the final Presidential debate before Election Day? We'll talk about that and more today on Jay Sekulow Live. Live from Washington, D.C., Jay Sekulow Live. Phone lines are open for your questions right now. Call 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Jordan Sekulow. Alright, welcome to Jay Sekulow Live.

We are taking your phone calls, 1-800-684-3110. As early voting continues across the country, preparation for the next and what would be the final Presidential debate, especially because there's only been one so far, usually there are three. This would be the final debate this Thursday in Nashville at Belmont University. And the Commission on Presidential Debates is changing the rules that the campaigns agreed to much earlier before the debates began, obviously. They're changing the rules in the middle of the debates for the final debate, too. Remember how I said, you know, not good during Presidential elections to test new voting, to test new rules, to test new mail-in ballot work in states that have never done it before. That's just not the elections you do it. Same thing goes for the Commission on Presidential Debates. Try to change the rules in the middle of the Presidential election for the final debate so you don't have a chance to correct if the rules didn't really work, if it actually made things worse. And so what they wanted to do now is they're going to be able to mute the President of the United States and the other major party's candidate for President of the United States.

Think about that. A moderator, a member of the media, can mute the President of the United States and the other person who is likely to become the next President of the United States, one of the two. And they're going to be muted by media and by debate commissioners? Muting the President of the United States. Yeah.

Muting the former Vice President for that matter. Yeah. Why not let people see their person? If you don't like the personalities, it's part of it. Let them go. And so this is, again, then you add to it, the topics they want to cover is a rehash. They want to go back through COVID again. Okay. I get why that's always going to be discussed in different ways, but then they want to go back to the same ideas, COVID, climate change, race and violence in our cities, which I think, I mean, obviously there's been anything new since the last debate. No, actually. Specific things have been calmer, so I'm not sure why they need to readdress that.

I do. Well, you know, why they want... Because they don't want him to address, and they do not want to address the situation with Hunter Biden in China and Hunter Biden with Ukraine. Yeah. So they're going to be, I think they're going to make those off limits subject to mute. Because of the, because like how Twitter censored the article?

Correct. So that you could be muted, he could, even during the time where he shouldn't be muted. They say that's off topic, if you continue to go, that'll be the next, look, there's going to be multiple rule changes here, we're just seeing the beginning of it right now. The question is this, folks, do you think Donald Trump should even go? I mean, I'm so sick of the mainstream media, they're disgusting. The first two of these moderators, Chris Wallace was just horrendous, doesn't ever live up to his own hype, and he was made to look like a fool. The second debate moderator was lying about his Twitter account being hacked, and he never got a chance. And thank goodness, and by the way, the C-SPAN guy, probably not going to be able to handle personalities of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And then the third, Kristen Walker is a weekend reporter at NBC, and a very liberal reporter, very liberal news outlet, spends most of her time on MSNBC during the week.

They call her an NBC reporter, that's her weekend job. I just don't understand what the process was where they went through this, I mean, it doesn't make sense to me. I think it was similar to the past debates where, remember, the media kind of liked President Trump because he brought in giant ratings, and also people didn't love Hillary Clinton. It wasn't really about policies, it was more like, we're going to get huge ratings, the entertainment factor.

Now they want to see him defeated, like they want to see all Republicans defeated, because he lived up to the conservative that he promised to be, and because of that, it's now about partisan politics. And the question is, do you even go, do you even go at this point where they start changing the rules? And I think when people start changing the rules, the answer is, nope, sorry. And I don't think they're done, and also Jordan, I don't think they're done changing the rules. I think this rule changing issue is just now, we're just starting to see them.

I think there's going to be more coming. And this is why polls are tightening. So all those liberal polls showing Donald Trump at 10, 15 points, even the national polls now, he's only down two points. So Joe Biden's campaign, they want to have the debate, they want to have the muting. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side.

If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org. Anyone in society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected.

Is there any hope for that culture to survive? And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. 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. 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, a play on 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. Welcome back to Jay Sekio Live. This is Jordan Sekio.

We are taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. And we're talking about the one, the change the Commission on Presidential Debates has tried to put forward. This is the first change we know about is the muting. Now the muting is supposed to be limited to only the time period where they have their two minutes to respond to the initial question. It's not supposed to be any muting going on during the discussion period of like 15 minutes for each topic.

That they're supposed to be able to let them kind of go at it. But the question is, and we brought up, is what if you go off topic? What if, as President Trump has said, I don't care if they're not going to talk about Hunter Biden. I'm going to make Joe Biden address Hunter Biden, and I'm going to do it directly.

Is that going to be something they can then mute? Because it's not one of the five topics covered. Now again, as you look at these topics, national security is on there. I would imagine you could talk about Hunter Biden under that because of how that could have impacted national security, the annexation of Crimea. But again, this was supposed to be a foreign policy focused debate.

It's clearly not. And it's going to be, again, more domestic issues, more racial politics, more blaming on COVID fear politics, I like to call it. And if I were President Trump right now, I'd say goodbye, and what I would do is block out as much TV time as I could buy and air everything about Joe Biden, how he takes 10% of all of the sketchy money that is problematic Hunter Biden makes contracts with horrible people from Ukraine to Moscow to Beijing, and how the big guy, Joe, gets 10 to 50% of the cut. And I'd spin that on every network, so it's on repeat, as much money as it costs for hours so that people learn the truth about the Bidens instead of showing up in a debate to be muted. As President of the United States, you should never be muted. Yeah, but the muting thing is problematic for two reasons. Number one, it's during the two minutes.

Well, that sounds like it's easy, right? You don't engage, but the problem is your entire debating technique and style will change knowing that that's the rule. For instance, if you remember, Jordan, we sat in this very room and argued a Supreme Court case, three of them were argued, we had two minutes to make a statement. If you went over the two minutes, the Chief Justice cut, you didn't mute you, the Chief Justice just cut you off. What I did was timed out my statement to be one minute and 50 seconds because I saw what was happening to the others. Here's the problem, the potential to stifle real conversation, that's the problem with all this, is the potential to stifle real conversation, but I'm more concerned or as concerned about the hushing the microphones as I am about the topics being discussed. Because it's gonna be another focus, it's supposed to be foreign policy, yet if you look at it, as you said, three of the topics were exactly covered by Chris Wallace one month ago.

And to me, what this is, is rinse, wash, and repeat, wash, rinse, and repeat. And it seems to me that this is the first rule change, I don't even know if I would do it. I mean, it's obviously not up to me, I'm not the lawyer in charge of that.

But what are they gonna put forward next? What's been the reaction, Than, on Capitol Hill on this, if any, or they've been muted too? Well, look, I think the reaction from congressional campaigns would be that when you're dealing with debates, whether they're Presidential or congressional level, it's the campaigns themselves that are supposed to negotiate these rules. Because like Jordan said, the voters need to hear from the campaigns, not just their policy positions, but also their personalities. So yielding any of this authority to a narrator, I think is problematic in the first place.

But then, to go back to another of Jordan's words, it's all subjective, Jay. I mean, look, in the foreign policy or the national security section, what one candidate deems as national security, the other candidate may not. And then finally, I think one of the reactions will be the dispensing with a debate that is typically allocated to foreign policy, I do think that's very dangerous.

And Jay, for someone who spent so many decades as either chairman or ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, for him to run away from foreign affairs issues, in and of itself, I think that's pretty telling. You know, it's interesting, I'm looking at the calls that are coming in. We're taking your calls at 800-684-3110. Let's take Ted's on line four, because I want to get your view on this, Jordan. I've got a comment, too.

Sure. Ted calling from Tennessee. Ted, welcome to Jay Sekio Live. You're on the air. Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my call.

I was just going to throw one out there. I think is it probable that first rule changes lead to second rule changes lead to third rule changes, thereby, in a sense, trying to force POTUS out and say, I'm not going to accept any of these changes, and I just won't come to keep a lid, because on the Biden side story, if he has open air, and that may not be a good word choice, but if he has the opportunity to bring it up in some open discussion, he probably will. And they know it. And the way that the media has worked so feverishly to this control, you know, there is no story if you listen to the three major channels, plot story, Russian collusion, a hoax, you know, false information, whatever, but, you know, that's kind of my take on it. It's very probable that their intention is to hope he does pull out. Well, I think that, listen, there can be a—you could see how after the last debate and then the second debate that doesn't happen and then the third debate, can you get the President to pull out so that he doesn't bring up any of these topics and then Joe Biden doesn't have to confront them. I think after—even with all these changes, unless the rules go further, probably President Trump will show up and President Trump is going to rip Joe Biden's head off about this topic singular. I think that's probably all he'll focus on so that the American people have at least heard it because they're not going to get it from the mainstream media.

And I think he'll pivot everything to that, and if they want to keep muting and muting and muting, he's pretty loud, he's pretty intense, he'll take his time, he's a pro, and Joe Biden is going to have to respond. Is Joe Biden the big guy? Did he take 10 percent of the cut from Burisma? Did he take 10 percent of the cut from the Chinese businessman who disappeared in 2018? Did he take 10 percent of the cut from the Moscow mayor's wife who was leaked to sex trafficking?

That is what we need to know. And now that we've seen these computers and they're signed by Hunter Biden and the signatures are there and all they want to say—and we've got the director of national intelligence who said that there's no, absolutely no intel at all, that's with all 17 intelligence agencies that indicates this is linked to any kind of Russian disinformation. It was just Hunter Biden's business that he was doing, his dad—you know, Joe Biden didn't deny that the deal with the wife— There's been no denials. No denials, except for when they said they didn't meet with the Ukrainian-Burisma guy and then they had to come back and say, well, not officially, probably.

It wasn't officially on his calendar, it's possible that he met with him. But again, I think you will see a debate unless, like you say, Dad, if they keep coming up with more and more changes, I think at some point you say, this is not going to do anything good for me. This doesn't hurt me.

So why go? Well, this is what's so interesting. And that is the polls—and we're going to get to that in the second half of the broadcast, I know—but the polls are really tightening up. So if you look at the battleground states, every state's in the margin of error. I mean, and I'm talking about like within a couple of points, which means if the polling is off like it was last time, this is a Donald Trump electoral landslide from the Electoral College. Now, you know, we'll know election day or shortly thereafter. Having said that, though, what you just said is, do they come up with more changes?

Are there more restrictions put in place? Because I think the President wants to do this debate. He wants to bring the issues up, including the fact that, you know, you talked about China, that Joe Biden was the dissenting voice and taking out Osama bin Laden.

I think people need to know that. I think they need to know why he said that. I think they want to know why on why generals have said Joe Biden's foreign policy choices have always been wrong.

Every position he's having—and this is coming from, you know, career military people. But I'd like to know why he's thought that taking bin Laden up was a mistake. Yeah, I know.

I know. I mean, these questions are what would have come up in the foreign policy discussions. This is probably your weakest area for Vice President Biden. You know, the foreign policy, where even you oppose decisions by President Obama. You also and you and your adviser said that, you know, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital would lead to isolation and war in the Middle East. Instead, we have these two peace deals. So how do you respond to that?

Issues like that. Why was the Obama administration so weak in its response to Russia when it moved in on the Ukraine and annexed Crimea? Why didn't you provide lethal aid to the Ukrainians so they could fight back against that Russian aggression? Why did they cross Syria? The red line was crossed and your administration did nothing. Right, chemical weapons were used on children.

After you said that's when you were going to do it. Chemical weapons used on children by Assad. Red line crossed. You did nothing. You don't want to answer any of that.

So that's all. Does it... None of... See, one thing with President Obama we all know, the foreign policy was disastrous. The wars continued and then new wars opened up in Libya and, of course, in Syria with the rise of the Islamic State. And so you had Iraq, Afghanistan, the Islamic State. You had Libya and you also had a nuclear deal to allow Iran to continue on its path to a nuclear weapon. It's not a peaceful time in the world. It was a very dangerous time, actually, throughout the world, including the Western world, the terrorist attacks happening here in our own country inspired by ISIS, directed by ISIS in Europe. Remember all of that? That was all under the Obama years, Obama-Biden years. But they don't want him to have to address that or remind you about living through that.

We'll take your calls when we come back 1-800-684-3110 on JCECO Live. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. 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, land 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. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Jay Sekio Live.

This is Jordan Sekio. We are taking your phone calls now, 1-800-684-3110, that's 1-800-684-3110. Now we talked a lot about the debate rules. I want to get to some of those calls first, but there aren't some new polling out. Several polling showing this race within two points. This is from, again, the independent, it's the IBD poll and this poll, yeah, yeah.

So this poll's got it within two. Now I like to, because they say that the issues with all these other polls have been they're not even including like the other two parties, which typically get like 1%, which is like the Green Party, the Constitutional Party, things like that. And of course, if you get 1% or 2% in one state or one area, then someone could ease away, come away with like a landslide victory in that state because of that.

So then you start breaking it down state by state. So you can look at the polls, you know, you can go through them narrowly. I like looking at state polls particularly. Now voter registration is very interesting too. In Florida, for instance, the Florida Secretary of State's office, Republicans have narrowed the registration gap with Democrats to just 130,000 registrations out of 14.4 million voters.

That's fewer than 1%. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost the state to President Trump. Democrats had a 330,000 voter advantage.

So that is a big change. In North Carolina, Republicans have narrowed the gap in registrations. The Democrats have lost 136,000 voters since 2016 and Republicans have gained 100,000. So then, you know, poll by poll, this is by the way, this is going on to states like Pennsylvania where Republicans have gained an additional 170,000 voters. Democrats have lost 30,000 voters. But to go into the actual polls, I think that's where it's key. Obviously, you want to look at states and you want to look at the state polls.

I believe that when you actually start looking at these, you're starting to see a very tight race. This is what happens every single time. And it all comes down to enthusiasm and turnout. Now there's a lot of—there's probably more early voting going on right now and there's certainly this mail-in voting factor that we're not quite sure about, how that turns out on election day. But we also know that for the most part, mail-in ballots, even when they're outstanding, usually have not been enough outstanding based on percentages to make it where you can't make a determination.

Maybe this year is different, it's potential that it's different or they weren't able to count them quickly enough if it was a state that was doing all mail-in. But traditionally, I think on election night, there's a few states you'll probably see early on. Florida, where polls close at 7 o'clock Eastern time and 7 o'clock Central time. So you're done by 8 o'clock, those polls are all Eastern, polls are done, numbers coming in.

So you get to see that one very early. That's a key for President Trump. And obviously, if Joe Biden wins it, it really, really hurts to President Trump. I think Florida is one of those states where if the President doesn't take Florida, that the path to victory almost stops.

It's just narrow. You'd have to find other places. But for Joe Biden, it's more of a momentum thing. If you took Florida, that would be a big move by the Biden campaign. Now, if Donald Trump takes Florida, kind of keeps things on track for President Trump, then where do you look next?

Places like North Carolina. Yep. Where they're saying it's basically neck and neck. Yep. Pennsylvania, which again, that's the East Coast. You consider Pennsylvania, I was going to ask you in fan this, do you consider Pennsylvania a must-win state for the President? No.

No. I mean, George W. Bush didn't win at either time. Either time.

I mean, it's very different. In fact, I think it's been since George H.W. Bush that Republicans have carried Pennsylvania. Always had been close within two or three points, but it was close with President Trump. Remember, you went up to Pennsylvania.

Yes. It's a state you have to campaign in because it's a huge electoral potential and it's right on the line. Democrats, in the past, a few cycles have been able to take it over the edge, but- There's an interesting statistic though, and that is in Pennsylvania, it shows that Republicans added 174,000 voters since 2016 and the Democrats, you said this earlier, lost 31,000. So I would take it that the early voting may be impacting that too. There's a greater number of Republican voters.

Yeah. I mean, I think all the... What we know is it's going to be very close. Very close election and it's going to be turnout based and it's going to be about enthusiasm going into these final, right now, because people are voting now, people are doing mail in ballots now, people are doing early voting now, and of course, up through election day.

And all of those, these surprises that come late in the cycle, this is about it. If they're not out now, they're not probably going to move the needle that much because so many people have already put, I already have, I mean, I've already put, my vote has already been cast. I cast my vote yesterday in person, early voting.

The line was longer than it's ever been, but it was still, most of that was because of the way they had to move people in and out, was not a hard process and it was no longer that certainly than if you waited to ever vote on election day in person, it was still shorter than that. And so again, what is actually going to move the needle has to be coming out right now as people are either voting or about to vote. So Thanh, from your perspective, just looking at it, and you've been involved in the campaigns too, what is the needle moving, Jordan raises the point of what moves the needle.

What does move actually the needle at this point? You got the last debate, that may have a factor, I don't know how much it will, depends on what's discussed and how it's discussed. Yeah, I think it's the top of the ticket and their ability to connect with the American people and quite frankly, I think that's what's made President Trump fairly unique to Presidential candidates.

Not fairly unique, I would say very unique. He doesn't need the debate to connect with candidates. You know, I personally think since Joe Biden won't get asked these questions anywhere else, it's probably the best opportunity for him to show up and force the former vice President to ask those questions. But Jay, he doesn't need the debate to connect with regular voters like most candidates do. And I would just say this, I think one mistake that a lot of people make is looking at the recent polls for their baseline.

That's not really the proper baseline as you head into an election. The proper baseline is what did those states do the last time around, especially if one of these candidates was on the ballot last time, as is the case here. Jay, every state that you've mentioned, that's a state that Donald Trump carried the last time around. So the burden is actually on the former vice President to take enough states away that he would win 38 electoral votes.

I agree with Jordan. Is Pennsylvania a must win? No. 20 electoral votes. The former vice President needs 38 electoral votes to flip the election. You know, it's interesting. We just got a text from our friend, an email from Ted Groves, the former DOJ lawyer. He said he's pretty sure that the Obama-Biden administration bombed more countries than any administration since World War II. So you know, I'd like to know the answer to that question, you know, on these kind of skirmishes that they started all around and then why they got to the red line in Syria and said, well, we'll move the red line and why they did not go after ISIS and why did Vice President Biden say, you know, go in after Osama bin Laden, I don't think it's a really good idea. I'd like to know the answer to that.

I think the American people would like to know. Absolutely. Now, is Kirsten Walker going to get that out there? I hope so.

But who knows? No. The President is going to have to rely on himself to get the issues put forward. Period. And they're trying to make it more difficult for him to do that. Of course.

They're trying to make it impossible for him to do that by saying we can mute you and then is it going to be, we can also mute you if you go off topic. That's the big question I have. How long is the entire debate? Hour and a half. Hour and a half. Okay. So let's do the math here.

So each of them get two minutes in an interrupt, uninterrupted. Yeah. Okay.

So that's, and there's six topics, right? Yeah. That's 12 minutes each, 24 minutes.

So there's 30 minutes of your basically gone. Yeah. So leave 60 minutes to actually have a debate. Right. The rest are speeches. Just talking points. Yep. It's pretty boring also to the American people.

They don't really, I mean, they've seen enough of that from both candidates. Let's see what the next changes are in these rules. That's the other thing.

All right. We'll continue. Take your phone call.

Second half hour coming up. 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110.

We'll be right back on Jay Sekio Live. Support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. That's ACLJ.org. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today. Go to ACLJ.org. We're talking about freedom We will fight for the right to live in freedom Live from Washington, D.C. Jay Sekio Live And now your host, Jordan Sekio All right, welcome back to Jay Sekio Live.

This is Jordan Sekio. So, again, as we've talked about, the Commission on Presidential Debates has put out this new rules about the debate, and they're going to say that for the first, for those two minutes they get to each have on each topic, and there's six topics, you cannot interrupt, they will actually be muted. Their microphone, it won't even be a mute button, they will literally be muted. Now the first debate, it was actually Joe Biden who interrupted first during that two-minute time period, which led to kind of this back and forth exchange of constant interruptions. I get why the debate commission doesn't want to see that again. I understand that they want people to be able to talk, be able to answer questions, and not be interrupted with the same kind of mic at the same time. So now you're going to have two minutes, so basically a third of the debate is just going to be speeches. If you want people to actually be able to pay attention, just speeches, direct to camera. And then you're going to have about an hour left where it's supposed to be uninterrupted debate, a question's asked, and then they've got 15 minutes to go back and forth. The question is, in that 15 minutes, my question would be, can the debate commission or the debate moderator, Kirsten Walker, do they have the ability to still mute?

Yeah, so it's interesting because I don't know the answer to that, I don't know what question's coming. Or you get to say what you want, which is what it should be. You should be able to make whatever allegation you want in a debate, you should be able to say whatever you want about your opponent in the debate, let the American people decide if they want to put you in office again, or if they want to put, well, it's for both of its again. Yeah. So the President was asked this morning on Fox News about his strategy because last time it felt like he was aggressive and he kind of let Joe Biden off the hook in a sense because what he did was he would cut the vice President off just about the time the vice President was about to say something that would have been very negative.

Harry? Absolutely. So one of the things that I would encourage the President to do is to allow Joe Biden to trap himself. So Joe Biden has a distinguished inability to maintain significant coherence over a lengthy period of time. And so my own view is Joe Biden can trap Joe Biden. Here is what the President was asked about his strategy. Here was his answer. Will you change your strategy in this last debate from your first debate?

Well, I may do that. Actually the interesting thing they said, if you let him talk, he'll lose his chain of thought because he's gonzo. But there is a chain of thought that, you know, there were, there were a lot of people that say, let him talk because he loses his mind, frankly. Yeah, there's that.

And then there, so I think you will still change your strategy. And then an interesting point our producer will brought up that vice President, secretary of state Clinton in the polls in Pennsylvania at this very week, the polls we're showing are plus four, plus six Biden in the same polls in Pennsylvania right now is plus four and plus five also are both trending in the same direction. And of course, ultimately the President, President Trump won that state by about point about 44,000 votes. Now you've worked that state.

What do you think? I think that Donald Trump is, is the most likely Republican to be able to carry again. So back to back.

Why? Because he relates well and much better than a Bush or other Republican candidates in the past, like like Romney or McCain to the blue collar workers, to labor union members who their union may endorse Joe Biden, but they, it doesn't, that doesn't mean they're going to vote for Joe Biden. And, and so he does very well there. And if he increases that, it continues that kind of turnout in, in Pennsylvania, then the rest of the state is very conservative.

You can, you can take out the effects of kind of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. If you've got a strong blue collar vote and then a, and then the rest of the state turns out for you, which is, which is very conservative state. So again, this is not trending well for Joe Biden because it is like, I've always said, if it's not eight plus points for Joe Biden, that state is in play. He is not, that is not, that is not a state he, he can count on. And I think that those numbers are going to keep shrinking.

They're going to keep shrinking. So Joe Biden could be in a worse spot than Hillary Clinton was in this campaign, which we still, you know, we're still a couple of weeks out here, 1-800-684-3110 will take, start taking more of your calls when we come back on JCQO Live. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success, but here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side.

If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash GIFT. Welcome back to JCECO Live, this is Jordan Secchia, we're taking your phone call. So we talked about Pennsylvania. In Florida, all recent polling has either tied or Trump plus two or Biden plus two. So again, very tight there. North Carolina, the latest polls have it tied or Biden with like a one or two point margin within the margin of error lead.

So very, very tight there. This is some of these states, by the way, are much better than where President Trump was when he was up against Hillary Clinton. The liberals don't like talking about that, though I never understood and I still to this day don't why MSNBC and liberals love putting out articles and having their talking points about how big Joe Biden will win. They make this mistake every year. Now, does that mean Joe Biden definitely won't win? No. But you don't want to ever tell, when you're talking to the choir, if you will, and on MSNBC they're talking to the liberal choir, you don't want to keep preaching to them that you don't need to do anything, this is in the bag. They always do this.

It's part of their kind of, I think their elitism. Yeah. Oh, of course the American people are going to reject Donald Trump. So we've got this one in the bag. We're good to go. And so I think, again, they are, the warning, the danger signs, they're starting to see it. They're saying it.

Yeah. I mean, the Democratic talking point right now is don't take this election for granted. Be concerned that there may be exactly what happened in the Hillary Clinton playbook here. And it could happen all over again with an electoral college landslide. And I think, Than, I'm going to get Harry's comment on this too, but Than, I think, you know, as you look at it nationally from Washington right now, I think that people are very concerned that this could, I think the Democrats are trying to tamper expectations, but also encourage the vote.

There's a duality here. I mean, they should be concerned, especially when it's obviously very close in the electoral college. Look, this kind of mindset, Jay, is what would motivate a candidate to campaign in California and New York down the stretch like, oh, by the way, Hillary Clinton did. Look, the game was always in a handful of states in 2016, and yet the hubris caused her to abandon a strategy for winning and try to go after a strategy to run up the tally. I mean, if you look at the states, Jay, that are going to determine the outcome of this election, they look an awful lot like 2016. Now, does that mean they're all going to go the same exact way?

No, but I will tell you that I think I could name you six to eight states that all will be within that two to four percentage range. And so both candidates should be focused on them. Definitely not taking it for granted on either side. So Harry, the rationale, Jordan said this, and I think he's right. The rationale is kind of counterintuitive to be saying how big your leads are and how great things are. And they're starting to modulate that now because that can tend to tamper down the vote. Absolutely. But I also think the elites who run the networks cannot avoid cheerleading and telling the people in so-called flyover country that their superior analysis, their superior candidate, and the policies that they support are so wonderful that the American people are going to fall in love with them.

And I think that's the problem for the elites who run the large mainstream news media outlets. All right, let's go to the phones. Let's go to Frank in Florida online three. Frank, welcome to Jay Sekio Live. You're on the air. Thank you for taking my call.

Listen, we have early voting here until November the 1st in Florida. My question is this, and this might also be directed towards Dan, after 2016, isn't the title of Vice President diminished, but yet everybody's still calling Joe Biden former Vice President? I'll let Dan talk to that too, but once you're a President or a vice President or a secretary of state or a member of the cabinet, like when we have Rick Rinnell on, we refer to him sometimes as Ambassador Grinnell, when we've had on the Attorney General, we say Attorney General so-and-so, I mean, the Senator, even if they're retired.

Dan? Yeah, I personally think when the American people have gone to the polls and elected you to an office like that, we should go ahead and continue to use the title. I would tell you that the tendency to drop the title typically is a tactic of the left, Jay.

My own personal view is that we shouldn't get into the gutter with him. I think President Trump has earned his title for the rest of his life. I think the former Vice President has earned his title, and I think Senator Harris and Congressman Pence, now Vice President Pence, certainly have as well. I don't like the fact, Jordan, that they tend to call the President Trump. They don't call him President Trump, they'll say, Trump said... Yeah, I mean, some of that is he's kind of a bigger than life person, so before becoming President, he was already a name.

So if you are a singular name, these other individuals, they were not that. I think Obama kind of became that, but he was not that before. Trump was. If you said Trump, everyone in the world knew who you were talking about.

You didn't have to say anything else. So I think some of it is that, there's that familiarity. But yes, the respect level is, from the media especially, has never been there for him. They don't treat him the same way. And I'm not complaining about it anymore because I don't really care. I think that the media has just done it every day. The media is looking, let's just put it this way, more and more absurd. The mainstream media world is a disaster. The fact that the C-SPAN moderator is now suspended from C-SPAN for his tweeting, this just tells you that, let them just destroy themselves, and you know what will help destroy themselves? Give them another four years of Donald Trump and watch their heads explode. And seriously, because they thought initially, this would be good for our ratings.

And it was. It was good for MSNBC's ratings. And it was good for CNN to kind of try to stay in the mix. I don't know if they survive another four years dealing with this because they realize at that point, the cultural shit change that has occurred that Donald Trump has ushered in, this new Republican populist movement, is very difficult for the left to figure out how to combat because you have taken away the labor vote and you have taken away this like blue collar vote that has now joined the Republican party of the, you know, there used to be big, oh, it's only the big business and wealthy party. Yeah, I was going to ask Harry that from a policy standpoint, because you have seen what I think Reagan did this to some extent, but Trump much greater, and that is this kind of shift on the profile of who the typical Republican voter was or typical Republican voter is. It seems to me that the increase in labor vote, the increase in the Hispanic community vote, the increase in the African American vote, and people say, well, it's only, he's only getting 6% more than the other candidates did or 8%, well, that's an election. I mean, and the demographic seems to be very different now of who the voter is.

I think that's precisely correct. And I think if you look at average American voters and workers by and large, they will support the Presidential candidate offered by the Republicans. Why? Because the Democrats have abandoned them. The Democrats have abandoned them for globalism. They've abandoned them to look good on the international stage. They like to claim their support for the Paris climate agreement or the Iran nuclear deal. None of those deals, none of those agreements are in the interest of the American worker or the American people.

They are in the interest of global elites who primarily populate both coast, east and west coast. Yeah. I mean, I think, again, this is where the big issues come into play and this election will really, and I think that the left understands this more so even than the right, the left understands if they, if they don't win this one, it's really the shift that's occurred. So they've, they failed with Hillary Clinton.

Okay. Maybe she wasn't, she was just not likable. And then you get Joe Biden who is basically about as blah as it gets for a Democrat. And if you're trying to put that up against, see, you don't want any more of this kind of the tweeting and the personality thing and they lose that again, then they've got a cultural shift that's occurred and they've got a long path to try and catch up on. And that means probably a shift in their party too.

Now, if Donald Trump does not win, I think we get back to unfortunately, because I don't think it's great for voters, just politics as usual and both parties kind of being pretty blah. Yeah. Let's take caller six. I think this Mary's got an interesting call. Hey Mary, she's calling from Texas.

Mary, welcome to J-Sec You Live. Hi. Thank you guys for all you do. I've supported you since the early nineties. Wow. Thanks.

Been hanging in here with you and I've kind of got a long statement, so I appreciate if you don't cut me off. First of all, if they keep changing the rules, obviously they pick the hot button topics for Democrats for this debate now because they don't want him to be able to be able to get out all read good policy stuff. So I think if they continue to do that, that he shouldn't do it and maybe just have a town hall on Fox or something. But if he does do it, I think he really needs to take a day and get prepared that you can't wing it. He's got to like memorize like the stats on what he has done for the climate, memorize the stats because Biden and in the vice Presidential race, they were throwing out all stats on COVID.

He needs to be able to counter. I'm sure Joe Biden is sitting in his bunker memorizing all of these. Well, I mean, well, you're right, but I do have, I'm not trying to cut you short, but we only got 59 seconds left in the statement segment, but let me say this. I think you're going to see a different debate style, but it's going to be Donald Trump. I mean, the different debate style is still going to be the President of the United States. He's not going to change who he is. He may change tactics.

He's already said that we played that fight earlier in the day. Yeah, exactly. I think again, the President understood, I think for the first debate, let Joe Biden just keep talking and Joe Biden will either make gaffes, he'll get lost, he'll show his age, he'll look confused. But if you cut him off too early, you don't get any of that. You don't get, you don't get to his gaffes. You don't get to his wandering, you don't get to his misstatements, and even potentially worse. And yes, you want to punch him, but it's going to be at the right time and Joe Biden hurts himself the most. And when Joe Biden talks, it's twice, not out much on the campaign trail. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected.

Is there any hope for that culture to survive? And that's exactly what you were saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. 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, playing 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. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

Become a member today, ACLJ.org. And welcome back to Jay Sekio Live. Final segment, we're going to go right to your phone calls, 1-800-684-3110. Bonnie in New Hampshire, online too.

Bonnie, welcome to Jay Sekio Live. Hi, how you doing? Good. I'm very pleased with the work that you do.

Thank you. It's great to represent our President and support our wonderful country. I read an article from the National Review called, How Trump Changed US Foreign Policy. Well, how are people going to know anything about what he's accomplished if we don't have a third debate that has an opportunity for President Trump? And I mean President Trump. I'm tired of hearing people just call him Trump.

I know he's bigger than life, but still. Anyway, he brokered agreements between Israel and Gulf states, they've been at war each other for years. Well, here's the deal is that, and I totally agree with you, Bonnie, and the fact is that foreign policy is now domestic policy.

We are an interconnected world, whether you like that or not. And so if you don't discuss your foreign policy, I mean, it's not just about wars anymore. That's not like the only foreign policy is not whether or not we're going to go to war or not. It affects the domestic economy. It affects, of course, national security. It affects whether or not you have to live with the threat of terrorism at home, not abroad, at home. So Harry, to me, I mean, yes, it's foreign policy, but the idea is that these are all issues that directly affect everyday Americans right here in the United States because of the world we live in in 2020.

Absolutely. So President Trump has brokered a peace agreement between Israel and the Gulf states. That is helpful in terms of reducing the level of tensions in the Middle East, and it also takes American troops out of harm's way. President Trump has left the Iran nuclear deal, which basically gave away the store to the Iranians. He got rid of ISIS. He is preparing to withdraw troops from Middle Eastern wars that have gone on for almost 20 years or more and cost lots of blood and treasure.

All of these things redound to the benefit of the American people, the American economy, and it saves American lives. And I agree with the caller, the American people need to hear about this in comparison with Joe Biden's record of failure. All right, folks, here we go back to the phone calls, 1-800-684-3110, that's 1-800-684-3110. Shelley in California, Live 5. Shelley, welcome to JCECCO Live. Yay, I'm so excited.

Yes, I've been following you guys since the 80s, and thank you for your work. My point is there's a lot of undecided voters, and these people never get to see any of Trump's accomplishments on TV, on the mainstream media. So I'm just urging him to please just stick to all his accomplishments in this debate, because that's what he needs to do and be Presidential and not worry about arguing with Biden, but he can show all the bad things about Biden on his commercials.

Well, I think this, his personality is not going to change from the last four years. He could have a different style of debate, and he's acknowledged that thing. He said he's going to let Joe Biden trample on his own words more. And I do think you're right that he should talk about his accomplishments, absolutely, but also looking forward on how you build on those accomplishments. And the only debate they've had so far, I mean, it was just words on top of words.

So that was hard to kind of get out. But then at the end of the day, yes, you want to let Joe Biden talk his words, but Donald Trump is going to punch. There's no way. He's not going to be the... Because that's, again, he got elected being the puncher. He's going to go into this saying the polls look about the same.

I'm going to go into this final debate, throw in the haymakers, seeing what lands. Yeah, I mean, he's never been nor will he ever be the rehearsed candidate. It's just not who he is, Jordan. You know, at the same time where I would agree with both Bonnie and Shelley, I mean, imagine this, Jordan, just yesterday, officials from the United States, Israel and Bahrain met to discuss implementation of the Abraham Accords. I don't know how many people out there, how many voters out there who care about foreign policy issues realize that the implementation of those accords is already taking place. So I would say this, even though I don't think the President's style is going to change, I really do think it would benefit him to bring that up on Thursday.

And I think that he will. But there are so many of those issues, Jordan, where there are tangible accomplishments, tangible things to talk about. I think the other questions are more stylistic, but I do hope that those points come through. See, look, look, I know we've got to go to other callers, but representatives from Bahrain and Israel, Jordan, met with officials from the United States yesterday. That in and of itself is a bigger accomplishment than I think the former vice President would be able to list on Thursday. Absolutely.

I mean, this is the issue is how do you get that out in a succinct way that the American people can take in in this kind of setting? Let's go to Roger in Oregon. I think he's right on point about this. Hey, Roger, welcome to JCECO Live.

Thank you, gentlemen, for taking my call. I believe President Trump should do the debate. He can use the restrictions and the topics they present to his benefit.

He knows how to play the game and he can play their game. However, he cannot go on a rant to vent his frustrations. It will not end well. He'll just waste his last opportunity to provide information that has been either ignored or twisted by the media. And here's what I think is really key. If he does, if he can stay focused and detailed and succinct in his answers, if he does this, he will come across as strong, decisive, knowledgeable and definitely Presidential.

It's the last image to leave with the American people before the election. Yeah, no, I get your point, Roger. I think it's whether or not this debate format allows either of them to ever end up looking like that, because if the first one was an indication, even with the mute button, I'm not sure how.

I just don't know. I mean, I think you could do all of that and President Trump could do all of that that you just said, but you're being talked over for 10 minutes and even during the time, so it's not muted and you've got to punch back. And so I get it.

That's why I look at it and say, can you come out of this, even if you're the most prepared, like if you said like Than was talking about, the kind of candidate who goes in there totally rehearsed, can you come out of it looking Presidential or not because of just the world we live in on either side of the aisle. And it's a question, final question of the day, Dennis from Alabama on Line 1. Hey, Dennis, you're on the air. Hello, gentlemen.

I'll be quick. President Trump needs to be ready. He needs to be ready to pounce when the opportunity presents. He needs to slam Biden on all of his idiocy and his foreign policy debacles and his risks that he presents. He needs to be ready to slam them if they go after them about him not condemning the neo-Nazis and the KKK and all. No, if it becomes that again, yeah, let me just jump in, Dennis, because if that becomes this again, literally you can walk up the stage.

I would almost do like a walk off because it dropped, throw the microphone down, push the podium over and say, enough of this, like enough, because that's just like, when did you stop hitting your wife question? You know, it's ridiculous. It is absurd to say the President is the one who got criminal justice reform. You want to ask someone about racism? Ask Joe Biden about his friends in the Ku Klux Klan, okay? And how his love for all of those old timey senators from his party and who he loved butting up with.

And again, look at his history there. But I think honestly, the truth is, Hunter Biden will be part of it, obviously, but the big thing you want to talk about to the American people is this, your life is better under me because you're going to make more money and your kids will make more money and your grandkids will make more money and that's good for everybody and our economy will be stronger and our country will be stronger because of that. It's why we don't have to start new wars and why we haven't had to start any new wars under my presidency. The first four years, we won't likely have to and the next four, if we continue to show this kind of strength, even during a time of pandemic, we stay on top.

That's what my message would be. And again, there's a couple more days until the debate, there'll be a lot to talk about. As always, we encourage you to go to ACLJ.org, support the work of the American Center for Law and Justice at ACLJ.org.

We'll talk to you tomorrow. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org.