MAJOR UPDATE: Elon’s Threat to Congress

We've got a major update. Elon Musk issues a threat to Congress over the big, beautiful bill. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. It's a big, beautiful July, Will, and we're kicking off a big celebration here this month. It is the 35th anniversary of the ACLJ, ACLJ 35.

And of course, that means. We're starting By kicking this off with all your gifts being doubled throughout the month as we launch This drive right now, aclj.org/slash 35. But I also said it is a big, beautiful July because the news this morning. Is Elon Musk, who has been historically actually quiet over the last few weeks. He had his big falling out with President Trump.

They seemed to make amends. Things calmed down. But now Elon has made some pretty stark political statements. You could even say political threats. Again, I'm someone who I like Elon Musk.

I think he's done some amazing things for this world. And we should not discount his genius in that sense and some of the brilliant work he's done. But he certainly is not someone who minces words. And he just issued a statement about the Big Beautiful Bill saying every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and they immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their heads in shame. And they will lose their primary next year if it's the last thing I do on earth.

So, again, pretty hardcore rhetoric coming from Elon Musk. That's right. He also had another tweet where he said: if this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day. Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican Uni Party so that the people can actually have a voice. That is absolutely.

As we are live watching the Senate having their full vote after an overnight session of the Votorama, we can get into all that, is now passing the full vote on the Big Beautiful Bill. Where are we? Because I think I've seen how many times J.D. Vance is coming in, he's gonna break the tie. Like all these things are happening.

But it feels like we haven't really made a forward thing, but it looks like it's going to pass. That's right. So the House passed their version, which is where spending bills start. Then it goes over to the Senate. And the Senate has more strict rules, but also has more lenient rules because they don't have to get to the 60-vote threshold for budget reconciliation.

But they put their version, which makes changes to the House version. And then they have the Votarama, which started yesterday and they voted for about 24 hours, where they are making amendments to the bill. And then after that, which they've closed this off, they are now voting on the final bill, the final passage of this. Then it would have to get kicked back to the House if there were any changes for the House to accept, which there are some changes, probably minor in the grand scheme of things. But then if the House.

Passes the Senate version, it goes to the President for his signature. And there are very specific limits on what can be done through the budget reconciliation process. And I think we should talk about that in the next segment, because I think that's where some people that are in many ways rightfully upset about spending in this country. And fiscal conservatism sometimes seems really dead. But why.

This was the only option that President Trump had to get some of his priorities he campaigned on forward to the American people. I think we got to break all of that down. Look, a lot of us, including Will and myself, you're right. You look at a big spending bill and you cringe a little and you go, okay, is this really what we should be doing? Is that really what you voted for?

I want to hear from you. Do you just trust in President Trump that what he's doing is what needs to get done? Or do you maybe lean on Elon Musk and go, well, actually, I more agree with that. I voted for. Elon Musk, I voted for that group of independent interesting thinkers.

I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-30110. And as I mentioned, We are kicking off this month of July, celebrating 35 years of the ACLJ. And I've been at this since I was four years old with my family doing this. And of course, even long before that, we were working in this category, but the ACLJ. itself 35 years of justice.

And we have some big ACLJ news coming up during the breaks. If you're watching on social media, sometimes you're going to see some promos for 35. You're also going to see some look backs as we look at the history and the incredible work that the ACLJ has done over the years. And if you've had some of that work, I'd love to hear from you. If you've been a part of the ACLJ family for a long time, give me a call at 1-800-684-3110.

But all donations are doubled right now. You can scan that QR code or go to aclj.org/slash 35. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open.

There's a couple that are open still. Two lines that are open, 1-800-684-3110. Obviously, celebrating a big week here as we head into the 4th of July and the 4th of July holiday. We hope you all have a great weekend with your friends and with your family. But that doesn't stop the ACLJ from continuing moving.

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Help us kick it off strong today by going to aclj.org or scan that QR code. We know this week historically can be a little tough because people are on vacation, you're doing other things. Right now, though, if you're watching me, I would encourage you to do that. You could do that at any level, and we'd appreciate it. All donations are effectively doubled.

Double your donation today. Let's restate what we're talking about, Will, here. Elon Musk starts making statements this morning, or really over the last day or two, saying, Hey, The big, beautiful bill passes, which it does look like it may pass. Break, you know, never mind. Just did.

They just got to 51. Budget reconciliation in the Senate only takes a simple majority as opposed to getting to 60 votes to get over the filibuster rules.

So as we are here now talking to you, we are at 51.50 with Vice President Vance casting that tie-breaking vote.

So 101 votes for those of you doing simple math, that's because the Vice President stepped in to cast the tie-breaking vote. Shows you how close that we are in this country, how divided we are in this country. It was a 50-50 vote, and Vice President Vance had to go in to break that tie. Phone lines are jammed. I see a lot of comments coming in about Elon Musk even saying, what is it that Elon can even do?

I saw a comment on it on YouTube. I can tell you what to do. He's got a lot of money. A ton of money. the most money.

So He can primary pretty much anybody he wants to.

Now, that doesn't mean it's successful. He also is vowing to launch, I guess it would be tomorrow, the America Party, which would be a third party.

Now, Historically I'm going to give a little bit of grace to Elon Musk because I think he's done things that have. But the system. It changed the world. Tesla. SpaceX, a lot of things like that.

PayPal, eBay, all the, all the. the concepts that he really was a part of or even created.

Okay. Historically, creating a third party is a disaster in terms of never really taking off. You don't understand the machine behind it. The machine behind the Republican Democrat Party is so huge, it goes well beyond one person's individual wealth.

Now, again. Never say never. And I never say never to someone like Elon Musk. Here's the problem: he is certainly going to siphon people who are more conservatives because. I believe him.

Tulsi Gabbard, RFK They like that group of what we said were kind of the Avengers group that came in. Maybe you call them the UFC group that came in. I believe they are largely responsible for President Trump winning his second term as handily as he did.

Well, and in a congressional race, it would be a lot easier for you to start to make some waves and get candidates elected. We have third-party candidates that are members of Congress, of the Senate, that are independents as they don't have a natural caucus within the Republican and Democrat system, but they can get elected.

So, couldn't that also be different? It's someone with a lot of money. When you start pouring millions of dollars into individual congressional races, that actually can start to make a difference in those races. Then, can you start to build momentum and change the power structure of the United States Congress? And then you start to see an opening for the executive branch as well.

If someone were to be able to do it, It would be that method as opposed to a third-party candidate wanting to lead a new party by running for President, which is historically how we've seen it happen. But if you have money to flood these local races, sometimes you could get somewhere different. A lot of people are asking, what happened to Elon? Why did he switch? There's the version probably that Donald Trump will tell you, probably a version he will tell you.

He's saying it's because this is specifically what he was brought in to stop would be something like this, a major spending bill. President Trump says it is because he is ending the EV mandate. I think there's probably somewhere in between there. And I actually think, and this is just my theory, my thought, this is, I have no proof or evidence of this, is. When you get inside that Washington machine, you realize how broken it is and you realize that a single person cannot go do what they've been called to do because the system is bigger than them and they will be squashed, unfortunately, if not held accountable.

Well, and I think also when you talk about not understanding the machine, this process is a bad process, right? Budget reconciliation is not really how the American public should work. This isn't how we should pass these type of things. But that is the tool that is necessary to get a lot of these things through. Let's take a call about that.

Robert in California online four. Robert. You're on the air. Hi guys. Yeah, and my comment is uh You know, I I love Most everything that Donald Trump is doing, most everything that Elon Musk has done.

I just don't understand why after all of this Budget. Cutting broad broad findings. elimination of waste, they still can't pass a balanced budget.

So I might not agree with Elon Musk. creating such division. But I see his point. And that's what we are saying. Robert, exactly.

And that's what Will was just about to break down, which is why this process has to happen, even as distasteful as it can be at times. That's right. And the short answer, Robert, why can't we get a balanced budget? Because Congress is addicted to spending. The left is addicted to spending on social programs.

And the conservatives, the right is typically more addicted to spending on defense programs.

Now, there can be civil debate about that, but that doesn't exist anymore in our country. And so when you start to see this, the only way to actually get priorities through at this point. Is by getting around the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Because if you had 60, Senators of your party, you could pass a true balanced budget with your priorities, cutting things that you really want to get rid of and lay that on the table. But we don't have that.

So, what is budget reconciliation? This is a process where the House and Senate can work together, and this is very limited in what it can do, but it can have big impact. It can only affect mandatory spending.

So, mandatory spending aren't a lot of things that could be cut, that are funded through appropriations bills. It's typically the big entitlement programs like Medicaid, like Medicare, unemployment benefits. That's why those also are the things that are brought up because the things you can make changes to are the ones that also are kind of the most taboo for senators and congressmen to affect.

Now, they can also, they can only affect three things: revenue, which is taxes. Mandatory spending. Which is a lot of those entitlement programs. And thirdly, they can also work on. Just had it in front of me.

They cannot make broad policy changes. They can also affect the debt limit.

So you can't just put in an amendment that's like, I want to name something that it has to be related to spending, debt limit, or taxes. President Trump ran on making his tax cuts permanent. He ran on funding the border.

So those are things that cost money on the balance sheet. The things that he really can't affect are the things that Doge was really going after. A lot of that is discretionary spending, government contracts, things that aren't established by law. They are, and that's about 30 to 35 percent of the entire U.S. spending that can't even be touched by this process.

So, a lot of the things that are mandatory spending have to work within the cards they're dealt. That's why they are doing things like entitlement reform, welfare reform, a lot of the things that have to do with Medicaid. Are things that Bill Clinton did and was praised for in the early 90s? Work requirements for young, single, able-bodied people that could get work, not people on disability, not people that have dependents that they can't leave. This is the same type of welfare reform that President Clinton did and was praised for.

And now you're seeing Democrats because it's President Trump saying he is going to literally kill people with this bill.

So you have to work with what you're given. And that's also why it doesn't meet the priorities of Elon Musk to just slash spendings, because the things you can cut. Aren't things that are politically acceptable, or maybe even acceptable to a broad base of people, to just start slashing? And that's why we're left with budget reconciliation, which gets you to the 50-vote threshold and can pass. There you go.

There you have it. Thank you, Will. You're welcome. It was a nice election. It's not a good thing, though.

This isn't how we should work as a country. We only got about a minute left in this segment. When we get back, We're going to take some more of your phone calls, and we're also going to give you some shocking new evidence. Like, again, like I said, we're celebrating the ACLJ's 35th. And with that, there's always some breaking news on the ACLJ front.

This one has to do with that Massachusetts case. You know, we've been talking about it for upwards of a year now. And we have uncovered some new information you're not going to believe. It shows you how the pro-choice, pro-abortion movement. Is so active in shutting down these pro-life pregnancy resource centers.

Often for zero reason. We've uncovered some major truth. You're going to hear about it. Coming up in the next segment. In the meantime, got a couple lines open at 1-800-684-30-110.

But again, as we have that major update, one of our biggest pro-life cases. You need to join with us at the ACLJ as we celebrate 35 years. Help us kick off this first day of our 35 years of justice campaign. Do it today. Have your donation doubled.

Let's kick this off strong. Heading in. to the 4th of July weekend. Welcome back to Sekulowo again, celebrating the ACLJ 35th. And I want to join, you want you to join with us at aclj.org/slash 35.

You just saw one of our original cases, the Merrigans case. If you were watching on YouTube, a rumble or aclj.org, you got to see a look back, a 35-year look back at one of the landmark cases that still, though it's very settled law, Still, we are defending that decision to this day. How often have you heard us bring up a Bible club, bring up something like that? It happens all the time. You have to keep people informed.

You have to educate the educators into what the law truly states. And that law states that because of the ACLJ. We have some phone lines open for you. I'd love to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. We are going to continue the discussion in just a little bit about Elon Musk and what's going on with the Republican Party and his threats that he's making, and whether you agree with it or disagree with it.

We also are going to tell you that it just passed the big beautiful bill. Breaking news over the last few minutes.

Well, it is done. It is passed. JD Vance. Cast a 51, 51st vote. And now we go to the next step.

Now it's up to Mike Johnson to pass it as is in the House, or you have to do this all over again. Yeah. And I mean, will Mike Johnson likely do that? He will have some defectors. And once again, razor-thin margins in the House as well.

I have a feeling he probably gets it across the finish line. President Trump set this deadline of July 4th.

So, as long as he gets it, and a lot of the, you know, what is nice about a July 4th deadline for Congress? They just want to go on vacation.

So, when you put them up against these recess deadlines where they are planning to be gone for a month, then they start to be like, okay, I just, I don't want to have to be here longer. Because if they don't vote for it, they have to stay. And what do members of Congress really care about at the end of the day? They love a good recess. Love it.

We're going to keep going with that. But I did want to tell you this update. I teased you with it in the last segment, but man, is it a big one? This is from Massachusetts. You may remember we have been running our Choice Begins Here campaign, a counter campaign against a street-wide, social media-wide campaign from the state of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where they were trying to shut.

down. Pro-life pregnancy resource centers, calling them anti-abortion centers. You may have seen those ads. We've shown you those billboards over and over and over again. I saw them firsthand.

That's how we became aware of them. As I was in Massachusetts walking around, I noticed these signs, and I thought, man, I can't even believe the people of Massachusetts would be happy about this. And we find out a lot of them are not happy about this. And they've been very excited about our counter campaign, but also we took it to court. Said, I don't think the state can do this.

And that is still ongoing. But more information has come to light about how this campaign even started. Because if you went to the website, you would very much feel that. The state of Massachusetts was being overrun by people going and being injured. Or killed, or had some sort of medical problems going from pro-life pregnancy resource centers, which again provides ultrasounds, often Provides formula and food, clothing.

These are a lot of times church run or independently run, but Volunteer run. These are the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Of course, they don't provide abortions. And that is the worst travesty that could come to this industry. But now we find out Well Because we have demanded transparency, Because we have Done some discovery.

We find out that even the origins, the origins of this campaign really have nothing to do with any medical issues that ever came down. In fact, it is bigger than that. And that is, this was the whole point the whole time to just take down these organizations. That's right. And as you even said, when you saw these, you thought it was just run by like Planned Parenthood or something.

Then you noticed the.gov. And that's actually what triggered the ACLJ to get involved. And we represent Your Options Medical, which is a pregnancy resource center. We're suing the state for constitutional violations. And our first lawsuit didn't have a lot of this new information in it because we simultaneously.

While we were suing in court, we also filed state freedom of information requests to try and see what the coordination was between. The state, the Commonwealth, and an abortion activist group. And what we found out was extremely shocking. And during our motion to dismiss hearing, when the state was trying to get it thrown out, we were like, we just got this a day or so ago. And the judge was like, I want an amended complaint with that information so I can see it.

So we survived the first. And we were allowed to reveal what all was in there. Right.

So now our amended complaint is filed. And here's what we found out. This was a coordinated effort. To smear these pregnancy resource centers. They began well before the campaign and before there were even complaints against these resource centers.

But the state of Massachusetts, working with REN, which is Reproductive Equity Now, a Planned Parenthood-type activist group. And what they did was they started working on messaging, working on this campaign. Then here we go. They had Wren file complaints against. Pregnancy resource centers to trigger it.

You've got to get your head wrapped around and understand why this is so important that we're fighting this. Here's what we know, and I have a bunch of information in front of me.

So I'm just going to read you this part. In response to our demand for transparency, Massachusetts disclosed that between 2022 and 2024, and remember, 2024 is when I was there. when I saw this campaign on the streets. They received only two. Complaints.

Two complaints against all pregnancy resource centers. But both, as Will just said, Are they filed by patience? No. They were filed by Reproductive Equity Now. Not concerned citizens, not patients, but by the activists who helped launch the campaign and coordinated and helped fund the campaign with the state.

This stinks of corruption. This stinks of people going out specifically against pro-lifers. And even their own citizens clearly don't agree with this. This is a government problem. This is not a people of Massachusetts problem.

The people of Massachusetts are rising up and are saying, enough is enough. And so are we at the ACLJ. Because when this kind of information gets exposed, and I know it's not the most savory to understand that your state may be doing this kind of mistreatment to pro-lifers and not even pro-lifers. Let's back it to pro-life pregnancy resource centers where a woman can walk in without pressure to get an abortion, which is what happens when they go to a Planned Parenthood or any other place like that. They just want to know if their baby is okay.

They just want to get an ultrasound. They just want to know their options and they want to get help. Maybe they need help with adoption. Maybe they need help for the father who needs some parental advice. No, they want that shut down because what it doesn't do is fund big abortion.

And of course, the ACLJ has been on the front lines of this for 35 years. That is why the ACLJ is there. And now that we have this information, I mean, I can't say one way or the other how a court is ever going to rule, specifically in Massachusetts. But you know the truth now and you know the facts. Logan, we've got a lot more on this.

I think we can spend more days uncovering what we've found. But here's one thing that's fascinating to me because it's almost like they took a play out of the playbook of Crossfire Hurricane. Because one of those two complaints that Wren filed. It wasn't based off even someone that came to them. It was based off news articles.

And when we went and looked at the news article that they used and cited in their complaint, who was a source, who was a quoted person in that news article? Wren.

So they talked to the press, the press wrote a story, then they used that as a basis to file the complaint to trigger Massachusetts to put forward this campaign that they'd been working on all along. It's like Crossfire Hurricane, but now the abortion lobby is trying to use it to silence the voices of pro-life Americans and those that want to help pregnant mothers. We only got 15 seconds left. We're going to continue this discussion. Also stay on hold.

We're going to talk about Elon Musk and everything that's going on right now. But we have a second half hour coming up. And in the one minute break that we have, I'm going to encourage you, have your donation doubled today so we celebrate 35 years of justice at the ACLJ. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow.

And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow this second half hour. We're going to, if you have a question about the case we just were discussing in Massachusetts, I'd love to hear from you on that too. 1-800-684-3110, we are going to pivot a little bit back, and Rick Rinnell is going to be joining us in the next segment because we are talking a lot about the threats coming in from Elon Musk. And again, I don't say threats in some sort of derogatory or fake way.

These are some of the comments that he said: Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history shall hang their heads in shame and they will lose their primary next year if it's the last thing I do on earth. And again, President Trump then hit back on Musk and Doge, so kind of reigniting that fire, if you will. Let's take some phone calls because I want to make sure we have time to get to some more later on. 1-800-684-3110 as we kick off the ACLJ 35 anniversary, aclj.org/slash 35. It's 35 years of justice drive.

Be a part of it. I want you to kick off today huge. Huge. Let's break some records today. It's tough.

It is 4th of July week. We understand a lot of you are on vacation. A lot of you are listening in your car right now. Maybe you're driving to the beach. Maybe you don't want to hear this right now.

You're wanting to relax, chill out. I get it. But we need your support.

So right now Look, I won't ask you again today. If you make your donation.

Okay, today.

Okay, I'm after the next half hour. I'm asking a couple times this half hour. Then, you know what? I'll leave you alone for 24 hours, 23 hours. Give us a donation.

Know how much it means to us. Let us show our team at the ACLJ and let us show our group here that you are behind us. We really could use your support.

So, with that, I want to go to the phones. Let's talk about Musk. Let's talk about Trump. Let's go to Michael in Florida. Online three.

Welcome. Gentlemen. Let me be one of the first people to say about the passing of the big, beautiful bill. Yeah. And then secondly.

Yeah. Hmm. When it comes to Elon Musk His his contributions to um America is nothing less Than historic. Sure. But When it comes to this particular bill and when it comes to this particular Trump administration, He's doing Oh, we lost him.

If you call back, Michael, we'll get you back up. Because actually, we like, I don't know what happened right there. But what he was saying was he didn't like what he was doing. We did not cut you off, Michael. I promise you.

That was some sort of, I don't know what's happened there, but he just hung. His line dropped. Yeah. His line drop. Last time, it was the last time you heard dial tone.

Uh about 15 seconds ago.

Okay, before then. Yeah. Couldn't tell you. Yeah, I mean, years. Years.

Maybe like in a hotel. That would be it. You still using the landline in the hotel level?

Sometimes you got to get some room service. Oh, but does it automatically go to dial tone? I don't know. You're asking too many questions.

Well, you asked me when, so I had to push. Homelines now are open: 1-800-68-430-110. But what he was saying was: look, we can't undermine all the incredible work that Elon Musk has done, but he doesn't agree with him. Look, this was sort of the risk when you put non-Republicans. in the Republican Party.

And look, you could say that's a risk for when you're dealing with people like our former colleague, even Tulsi Gabbard, or you're dealing with. RFK Jr. These are not Republicans in the traditional sense. And yes, MAGA has moved beyond that, but that doesn't mean there's not a backbone of traditional. Traditional Republicans that are still wanting the process to continue.

And if you lose Elon and you lose some of these other names, then that changes aggressively back. To the old days, if you will. And again, I'm not telling you whether that's good or bad. I'm just giving you the honest assessment.

Well, and part of the problem, once again, is that there are more than half of Congress that don't want fiscal responsibility. Being a fiscal conservative, especially these days, is a rarity. And that is what attracted Elon to many of the conservative ideals. But he's also seeing the reality that when you have to get votes, the way our system works, it's right now, it is nearly impossible. To achieve balanced budget and real deficit reduction, there has to be a change of hearts and a change of people in Congress for that to really happen.

The President can want it, but cannot do it on his own because who has the power of the purse? It's the Congress, not the President. All right, when we get back, Rick Grinnell is going to be joining us. You know him, obviously, as a member of the ACLJ team for many years, now special envoy for President Trump, and also former ambassador, former director of national intelligence. We can't have the top at the top, people like Rick Grinnell.

Without your support.

So, again, as I encourage you as we go to break, go to aclj.org/slash 35. Have your donation matched right now. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Rick Rinnell's joining us live now as we kick off again ACLJ's 35th anniversary.

And again, we couldn't have incredible people like Rick Rinnell as part of our team and on this broadcast without your support.

So obviously, we encourage you to make your donation today and your gift will be doubled. Obviously, Rick, you're clearly not in the beautiful state of California right now, but we're talking a little bit about that as California has introduced what will be a new tax hike, a new gas hike. Of course, if you've ever been to Southern California, you know, sometimes the gas prices there, Will, don't necessarily reflect the rest of the world. I thought they were really affordable. Really affordable.

I mean, I feel like I've seen $10 gas gallons there my whole life. Right.

So what is it going to be now? $40.

So, Rick, I want to get your feedback on this. Will, maybe you could set this up because this is another moment where politics is being played. That's right, Rick. I mean, at the same time that we're seeing the Senate just pass the Big Beautiful Bill, which Extends tax cuts and tax credits to all of America. We're seeing that the governor on this very same day of California, something they have passed is going into effect, which will raise prices on not just every Californian, but probably the Californians that don't need a tax hike the most.

Those that have to drive to work to afford to live in a very expensive state. What's going on?

Well, first of all, let's just make one thing clear. California has the highest gas prices already. We had those yesterday, and today they're even higher.

Now, there's a big debate on exactly how high, but the studies that conservatives are pointing to show that with the increase in gas tax, the increase in regulatory frameworks surrounding cars, and all of the other things that the governor wants to do when it comes to roads and additional funding, all of that is going to increase our gas. Uh, currently the highest in the country by around 65 cents, an additional 65 cents.

Now, the governor came back and he said, No, it's only going to be an additional 10 cents. And what he's not telling you is that, well, Donald Trump and the feds are cutting. He's taking advantage of those cuts and then still raising it and pretending like he didn't raise it enough because he's taking advantage of some of the Fed cuts. But make no mistake about it, the radical environmental policies that Gavin Newsom keeps pushing are the strongest in America. They make the.

auto industry create completely different engines for sale in California because of our crazy environmental laws. You combine that with the tax increase on the The gasoline, the state tax. And Californians are paying in terms of insurance for our cars, our gasoline to put in the cars, the highest in the country. And Gavin Newsom is left to just simply say, well, it's not as high as you're saying it is. There's no plan.

There's no reverse. There's just simply more radical environmental regulatory frameworks that are costing Californians, a typical Californian, up to 65 cents per gallon starting today. I saw a lot of people in California, a lot of my friends posting, hey, go fill up tonight. Remember, get out there, go fill up. It's going to change because, like you said, it's a few cents here and there, but that may sound like nothing.

When you start adding it up, and specifically for the state, it becomes a real revenue center. What is the benefit? What are they saying even? And maybe Will or Rick, you can answer this. What's the point of this?

Why do it? Is it just to cause more unrest, it feels like in California? The real answer to why they're doing it is because they're totally weak and a one party rule in Sacramento that they can't make budget cuts to the bigger budget. What they can do is keep coming up with schemes to say, oh, we need better roads right don't you agree that we need better roads so now we got to raise the gasoline tax and and the uh car registration tax and all of those things to which most people who who don't understand the budget process would say oh well roads are pretty bad we need to pay more but the reality is is that somebody's just got to look gavin in the eye and say your budget is totally bloated it's filled with dei programs waste of money waste of regulatory uh insanity in in terms of the regulations that keep going up and new taxes you've got to make a better Priority funding list. Gavin Newsom is so weak, he can't say no to the left.

And so, what he's saying yes to is more revenue through tax increases without cutting the spending. What he needs to be able to do, and the people who control Sacramento, which are all Democrats, they just need to start saying no to these DEI programs, no to the wasteful spending, and prioritize the roads. We absolutely want our roads to be fixed, but you can do it in the current budget. You don't have to raise taxes, and that means tough choices. Every single family realizes that when you have limited amounts of revenue coming in, your paycheck is limited.

You can't do everything. You can't live in deficit spending. You've got to say, okay, grocery bills go up, so something else has to fall. There's a trade-off that every single American family understands, except the Democrats in Sacramento, they don't understand those trade-offs. They just keep going back to the taxpayer to say, I need more money, I need more money.

Meanwhile, their weak policies are the ones that are causing our budgets to grow. And, Rick, right now, there is a very big debate in the country over government spending in general and versus deficits and budgets and everything. And that's been highlighted by the Big Beautiful Bill. You see Elon not necessarily understanding the budget reconciliation process, which is unfortunately the tool that we have to get priorities through because of how divided the Congress is when it comes to priorities of the left and of the right. But when you start to see the trickle down of what's happening in both California, you see the leading candidate, the nominee for the Democrat mayor of New York wanting things like government-run grocery stores and free bus service everywhere.

And these are real things that cost. Real money, and historically, the government's done such a great job of running things like grocery stores and programs. I think we can look back to the Soviet Union and see how well that works when the government gets involved with those things. But it seems like they are still looking towards that big government spending path when you're hearing from all over the country people wanting lower taxes, lower spending. And I think that's bipartisan at this point, but yet they still feel like that's the path that is going to lead them to victory.

I don't quite understand it. I think it's weak politicians. We talk a lot about waste, fraud, and abuse, and this is wasteful spending. When you spend money on programs that you don't need to, it's wasteful spending.

So since I'm here at the Kennedy Center, I'm going to give you an analogy of what the Sacramento politicians are like. If you've ever seen the show Oklahoma, they are the 80 Annies. of Sacramento. They're just a bunch of people who can't say no. Rick, thank you so much.

Will, were you in Oklahoma? I was not in Oklahoma. I was in Crazy for You. Our town. And The Fantastics.

Everyone was in our town, Logan. That's a rite of passage. Oh, hey, Rick's got something. Hey Will, I gotta tell you. I in high school Played Will in Oklahoma.

There you go. It all comes right back around. And now I'm going to be on stage of the Kennedys here. Yeah, we're going to figure that out. Yeah, you'll be an understudy, but it'll be okay.

We'll get you there. We'll get you in the chorus of something. Right.

Rick, thank you so much for joining us again as we are celebrating 35 years of the ACLJ. You've been a member of this team now for a number of years. And we can't thank you enough for coming in with your analysis each week because it is invaluable that you're coming from a point of view that very few could, whether that is on the world stage or whether that's from being a former director of national intelligence, but of course being a member of our team here. And I just want to thank you as we celebrate this month. Thank you so much.

I'm so proud to be a part of ACLJ. I hope that our ACLJ family understands that we're a group that is filled with action, not just talk, and we need your help. Thank you so much, Rick, for joining us. In the next segment, we are going to hear from you. I want to hear from you as much as I can.

So give us a call. We've got three people on hold right now. We've got three more open: 1-800-684-30110. You've heard about the monumental wins and victories over our 35 years. including, by the way, the overturning of Roe versus Wade just a couple of years ago.

But we still faced significant challenges when it was in cause of life. Go back, listen to what we're talking about in Massachusetts. It's wild how the abortion industry is still dead set A taking down Volunteer run. Sweet people. who just want to provide another option.

And of course they have to be the big enemy. But that is why we are launching again today. Our 35 years of justice drive. And I encourage you to help us kick this off strong. It's a holiday week.

Historically. It is a tough time because a lot of you are traveling. A lot of you are listening later on. Even if you're listening to this in a week, even if you're listening to this in two weeks, I encourage you right now to have your donation doubled because throughout July, It is 35 years of justice here at the ACLJ. You heard our big updates.

You've heard from some of the leading experts in the country. And now it's time for you to join with us. Help. us continue fighting. We have over 202 pro-life cases we've taken on the last year.

That's just for life. And I want to have your gift doubled, because right now there's an amazing group of ACLJ supporters and ACLJ champions ready to unlock their matching donation. All you have to do is Is go to aclj.org slash 35. If you're a champion, consider making a bigger one-time donation during these months. These are the big months where it matters.

the most, where your impact can be doubled. 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back with your calls and comments. Welcome back to Sekulow. Last segment of the day as we head into a holiday weekend, I want you to support the work of the ACLJ by just simply making a donation of any kind at aclj.org slash 35.

All donations are doubled. Let's go ahead and hit some phone call.

Some of you have been on a hold for a very long time. No, I appreciate it. Matthew in Missouri, line five. You're on the air. Hey, how are you?

Sir, thank you so much. Nah uh I just want to say I'm with Musk. You know, we need a third party, we need something. That's different. On b both the Republicans and the Democrats.

The outside. You know, uh um I like to consider myself like a John McCain Republican, somebody who's willing to. Say no when three Hey, Matthew, unfortunately, I know you better hold 40 minutes, but your connection is just going out, and I'm really sorry about that. Look, I think a lot. The idea of a third party Fantastic.

The implementation of a third party I don't want to say it's impossible, because again, Elon Musk Is the man who has done the impossible over and over again. But until, let's say today, it's just, especially on the Presidential level, maybe, like you said, on a Congress level, on a Senate level, on a House level, that's possible. Local judges, whatever it may be, not judges, but you know, local representatives. But on a Presidential level, on a big picture level, it has been very difficult for anyone to get this off the ground. And it doesn't have to do with how much money you have.

It really has to do with the power structure that's already set in place. Right.

And Matthew, I think a lot of people agree with you in theory, but in the pragmatic nature of politics, what Logan's talking about is the difficulty. I think the closest we've seen to third party movements in this country are the Tea Party. And obviously, this is recent history, not the entire history. There have been different political parties in the history, but modern history, third party. Closest thing we've seen to it is like the Tea Party movement, which kind of revolutionized and actually was a very.

Fiscally conservative-minded movement during the first term of President Obama. We also know that President Obama used the heavy hand of the IRS to try and shut that down, politically targeting his political enemies. The ACLJ fought that. That's in our 35 years of history. Fighting for justice on that and making sure the IRS could never do that again.

But you also have the the MAGA movement. Which was born out of that Tea Party vein, but different, and also bringing in an outsider. That is very much the closest two examples we've had to like a real third-party chance at governing. And I think the issue, though, is that the Republican Party is a big tent party in practicality because it has elements of what would naturally be different political parties. You have old school Republicans that are big government in mind.

You have old school Republicans that are fiscally conservative. And then you have anti-war. And then you also have the more blue-collar element that has come in under MAGA that is union workers, stuff that's things that have aligned more traditionally with historic Democrats in some ways, blue-collar Rust Belt Democrats.

So the Republican Party, that's another reason why it's also hard to get a lot of things done. Within the Congress is because it is so diverse within the political ideology that falls under Republicanship. But if you fracture that, then you are handing. Democrats, especially on the national ticket, victories because people that still vote party will be fractured. And you see that not working out so well.

I want to continue on to try to take the rest of the calls we can. Bobby's calling in New York. Bobby, line one, welcome. Logan, hi Will. Is there anything any of us can do to prevent a third party from being formed?

Anything that Trump could do or you guys could do? Because if a third party is formed, the Democrats are going to be back in office and we'll have to start all over again.

So there's got to be something that can be done. Thanks very much. Bobby, there's tons of political parties. We've got to make sure people know this. I mean, there are.

We've even represented third parties because of people wanting to keep them off the ballot. We believe that Americans should be able to vote for the ballots. There's probably hundreds of parties. Look at when you go to vote, the polls. There's always your Republican, your Democrat, and then a dozen others.

And those dozen others, a lot of them are funded through an apparatus, through a third party.

Now, do they have Elon Musk money? No. But then once again, as I said, The money isn't everything in this.

So, could it fracture off? Remember, I think Donald Trump at one point ran third party like decades ago, or considered it. Pat Buchanan, there, you know, a lot of these people have run third party, Ross Perot, or they've run independent. It's not impossible. It does happen.

Now, you look at what happened with Ross Perot. We're dating ourselves here a little bit now, but likely caused George H.W. Bush to lose re-election. Bobby's point there, exactly. Yeah, lose re-election.

Exactly, your point. Fractured enough people, didn't fracture enough people. to change the uh you know, to get an actual President. But fractured enough people to cause a switch in party. Bernie Sanders almost did that as well, and then inevitably, I believe, backed the Democrat.

That's what's happening, Bobby. And I don't think you're wrong to think that, but you're, but there's no way of stopping a third party, nor do I think there should be a way of stopping a third party. But the likelihood of it being successful is in meaning you have a President. I think highly unlikely, but you never know. Again, Elon Musk was told a lot of things that were highly unlikely, and he has broken through.

And he's someone I have massive respect for, even in these kinds of moments, because he has changed the world in many different ways for the better. Let's try to hit this last call. Let's go to Melissa in South Carolina on the big, beautiful bill. Go ahead, Melissa. Hey, good day, you guys.

I just wanted to comment that with the big beautiful bill, nobody's talking about the income that we're getting from the tariffs.

So it doesn't matter. I mean, it does matter that the budget's going up, but we're going to get money from tariffs to offset that. And then also just On the electricity and the EV part from Elon Musk. Daniel Turner's done a great expose on all that. People can look for that.

And happy anniversary, ACLJ. Thank you so much, Melissa. And she's Ryan. Thank you for calling. We only have about a two, wait, you got something, Willie?

I heard you lips smacking.

Well, I was going to say, yes, the tariff angle, that's not accounted for by the budget, the CBO, Congressional Budget Office, nor the parliamentarian when they score these things.

So that is one part of it. It won't offset all of the new spending, but those are also spending priorities that President Trump was elected to accomplish.

So it is him trying to fulfill campaign promises as well. All right. Help kick us off today. Make this a big, beautiful July, if you will. And in the day the big, beautiful bill passes, how about support the work of the ACLJ?

Because look, we're not getting behind one way or the other in that. What we're saying is there are so many important issues that the ACLJ has been fighting for for 35 years, some of which we have had incredible. A success in? And some of them time has turned against. And we need to still be there to fight for those causes.

Look what's going on in Israel. Look what's going on in the Middle East. Look what's going on with the anti-Semitism. Look what's going on with the anti-Christian. Movements that are happening inside this country and around the world.

The ACLJ is there. And within that 35 years, we've launched offices all around the country and all around the world. And we can't do that without you. This show is a great. Vocal piece?

For the ACLJ. But it is not the entirety of our work by any means. I think it's incredibly important to have a media operation like we have. I think it's probably most important because people like you get to hear us each and every day. You get to see us each and every day.

You get to interact, put comments in. We take your phone calls live. Who does that anymore? Really, only us. Be a part of it.

Have your donation doubled. We're fighting in court and we're fighting in the media. We are part of it. We have over 500,000 people on YouTube alone, and that's just subscribers, millions that watch each week, more than a lot of cable news outlets because of you. Can't do it without you.

Again. Give us a big kickoff today. Have your donation doubled at aclj.org slash 35.