On today's show, prominent Democrats create a constitutional crisis to the U.S. military. to defy orders. 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. Look, we made it to another Friday.
Here we are. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. I want to hear from you. Of course, we are talking about some of the news here.
This one's been very interesting. It's been bubbling up over the last few days. It feels like lawmakers, many former military themselves, are instructing members of the military. These are Democrat, by the way, lawmakers, saying, refuse the orders, refuse what they're considering to be illegal orders, that they have the right to do this. And of course, there's a whole debate, specifically in the departments they work in, on what an even illegal order looks like.
Of course, President Trump responded, maybe responded with a bit harsh, saying what technically the punishment could be. But here we are once again with another controversial moment. As again, there was a 90-second video that was posted earlier this week on Senator Slotkin's X account. And in it, six lawmakers. That's right.
There was Mark Kelly from Arizona. There was Jason Crowe, Chris DeLuzi. Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Holan, who said directly to service members whom Slotkin acknowledged are under enormous stress and pressure right now. To defy these orders.
Well, that's right. This is an ad that they put out on X as well as Boston Social Buys. Right. What orders do they specif they didn't specify, right? That is part of the problem there.
Is it the orders on the fentanyl? Trafficking boats because, I mean, fentanyl's killing millions of Americans. They really want to just have more fentanyl in America? Or is it.
Something to do with the National Guard Guard? And I think that's probably a lot of things are happening within our own country. Is that what we're seeing? Let's go. This is part of the problem: these senators and members of Congress.
Have put out so vaguely and generically that something that is enshrined in our Constitution: that the President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but now they are spreading a seed of doubt in every member of the military that you should be aware and be ready to defy the orders of your commander-in-chief. And we'll get into some of the background and play that as we come up. Should we play it? Yeah, I think we should. Can I do this with a little bit of an asterisk before we play it?
I do not suggest doing this if you are a member of the Armed Forces. Please remember. When the commander-in-chief makes an order, that then goes through a process of down to your level.
So, it's not like you're just you hear the President speak and you immediately take action. No, no, no, no, no. That's not how the military works, it goes through order.
So, you'd be defying not just the President. But all of your commanding officers. We'll play it when we get back. We'll be in serious trouble. We'll play it when we get back because we're just running a little low on time.
But you'll see. Oh, for sure. We're not. People in serious trouble. And we are running essentially an ad, but you need to see it to believe it.
We're going to play it when we get back. What do you think about this? Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-30110. You can call in about this or any of the topics that we discussed. Of course, one of the big ones meeting right now with President Trump in Washington, D.C.
is new mayor-elect. Mondami from New York City. Of course, another big moment. Look, I was in New York over the weekend and I heard a lot of conversation about this. People who voted for him, not thrilled he is meeting with President Trump after, of course, he said he was going to Trump-proof the city and all of those things.
And now he's sitting down and having a meeting with him. I think it's good for America that it's happening. Yes, absolutely normal. But in a sort of post-Biden world and a squad world, not normal.
So I think this could be an interesting moment. Of course, that's also at the same time where New York City, where he decided, hey, the head of the NYPD. Doing a pretty good job going to leave her in place. Again, creating some controversy among their voters, and of course, maybe bringing a little bit of calm to those who did not vote for him. At the same time.
Not backing down on his anti-Semitic rhetoric, had some interesting comments about a protest going on in a synagogue, and of course, still threatening to arrest. Whether he can or not, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he steps foot in the city of New York, New York. With that, we are... Headed towards the very end now. It's crazy to think about it.
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Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday! It is Logan's 40th birthday today. I wanted to jump in before him.
Sorry, I took that. But we had to say happy birthday. Put that in the chat, everyone. Happy birthday to Logan. As you might sometimes think.
Yeah, well, I mean, think with the beard, I think now people think I'm maybe older. They're like, you know, I know. I know. For a while, everybody thought I was dad's brother.
Now they think I'm your younger brother. Yeah, maybe, yeah, you're my son. With that, thank you so much for everyone who's wished me a happy birthday earlier today, damn. It is too big of one, really, if we're being honest. It's both frightening, but here we are.
You know what? But I'm encouraged by the people who watch our show because, you know, they may tend to be a little bit older. And they seem to think, you know, bright, spry young man with just one bad knee.
So, you know what? I feel good about that. I feel good about that. With that, I do want to get us back on topic, but thank you so much. Phone lines are open.
You know what? Call me. You don't have to tell me happy birthday, but I appreciate calling. This is what happens at this head. You can get taken out by one kid with strep thrown at your house for a while.
Yeah, if you wondered why I was in here monologuing for the last week, that is because when you got little kids, that's what happens. Phone lines are open. I want to hear from you. I don't think I'm contagious. It's like, ah.
Yeah, just stay over there. 1-800-684-3110 to be on the air. Of course, we are talking about the Democrats now saying, hey. This again, this is not just Democrats. These are, you know, all former intelligence, military, astronauts, Air Force video.
Like they were like in the U2's One campaign and decided we're going to do a video that says it is okay to defy the orders of the President of the United States, your commander-in-chief. Which ones we're not going to tell you. We're going to say he's illegal ones. And of course, again, that gets to a very gray area of what they consider illegal, but I think you need to hear. You need to see this yourselves.
So you have an understanding of what's going on. Take a look. I'm Senator Alyssa Slotkin. Senator Mark Kelly. Representative Chris DeLuzio.
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander. Representative Chrissy Houlihan. Congressman Jason Crowe. I was a captain in the United States Navy. Former CIA officer.
Former Navy. Former paratrooper and Army Ranger. Former intelligence officer. Former Air Force. We want to speak directly to members of the military and the intelligence community who take risks each day to keep Americans safe.
We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military. But that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution.
Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders.
No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution. We know this is hard. And that it's a difficult time to be a public servant. But whether you're serving in the CIA, in the Army, or Navy, the Air Force, your vigilance is critical. And know that we have your back.
Because now, more than ever. The American people need you. We need you to stand up for our laws, our Constitution, and who we are as Americans. Don't give up. Don't give up.
Don't give up. Don't give up the ship. Don't give up the ship. Of course, looking at this video, what I think is interesting also is they say, We have your backs. What does that mean?
Nothing. Exactly, nothing.
So, as Jordan said, very concerning. They can't go out of a military prison when you've defied your commander. And when they specifically don't mention anything. Right. And that's not a hint at what their legal orders are.
And I think that's part of the biggest problem. They even say right now the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. And I think maybe they should be a little bit more introspective because the Commander-in-Chief Clause, Article 2, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, says the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is the President of the United States. When Congress, which has the power to declare war, is saying that now they are the judge and jury of what they would consider legal or illegal orders, is a big problem sowing seeds of doubt in these service members, which could create a constitutional crisis. And don't forget that under Congress's own rules, a President can act for 30 and then an additional 30 days, so up to 60 days, with military force without Congress intervening.
He doesn't have to brief Congress or get the support of Congress.
So you've got 60 days as President to act as commander-in-chief without any check because you have. To be ready as President of the United States to deal with threats to the country that are immediate. You don't have time to go to Congress and have a debate over it. That's why you have this 60-day, 30-day plus 30-day provision.
So Congress is even. uh delegated more authority to the Commander-in-Chief to carry out military action. And before we get to a call, I do want to point out one thing here as well: that they start off at the beginning saying that they are addressing not just the military. But the intelligence community as well. And the irony of that, which I think it's no secret to anyone, that the intelligence community operates in a gray area.
And if they're now telling even the intelligence community to defy what they would consider an illegal order, where were these individuals, these senators? when the intelligence community was fabricating Russia gate. Where were these senators and congressmen when that was going on, when they were using and weaponizing intelligence against a sitting President of the United States, saying, Hey, you can refuse an illegal order of the CIA director? They were nowhere to be found. It's because they don't like President Trump that they're using this vague illegal order language to try and sow doubt and create a true crisis.
If the military you can't trust to follow orders, then you cannot trust that you are going to be safe as a nation. How many of them were working in intelligence when they were certain there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? And then how many of them were troops that followed those orders into Iraq when we never found those weapons of mass destruction? And yet, are they going to then say that those Presidents that kept that going, which, by the way, wasn't just President Bush, but President Obama as well, were they violating military code of law by continuing those conflicts in Iraq?
Well, this is why it gets ridiculous when they make these different statements. Because prison time is involved. But when it talk uh when we talk about uh even just your boss at any job. If you have an order given from your boss, you do it. And if you don't, there are consequences for that.
Of course, consequences are a bit more extreme. We're talking about wartime. And actually, we have a good call about that. Let's go to Bill in Wyoming. I was watching on ACLJ.org.
Go ahead, Bill. Hi, thanks for taking my call. First of all, I want to wish you a happy birthday. Thank you. But anyway, I'm speaking as a vet.
And uh there's been times I've been given given orders and I've talked to other vets who have uh also been given orders that we don't like to uh do, but we have to carry them out.
Now, if um we go along with what these uh represent. You know, representatives say, They're opening up a whole can of worms because as a military person, I can call off and say, No, that's illegal, I'm not going to do it. And another point to this is that I got to fork off and say that why is it aren't the Republicans saying something about this as well?
Well, I do think they are and I think also it's so absurd. And it's so... Um Well, President Trump certainly is. Yeah, it's so yeah, I mean, President Trump threatened that you do this and you've committed treason and you know what comes with that. I mean, and the truth is, you're risking things like that, depending on what level you're at.
If you start denying, if you start refusing to carry out orders and you have to be taken out by military police, put into a brig, and then prosecuted by the Uniform Court of Military Justice, which, by the way, They try to make it look like, hey, we have our own legal system. That legal system, because when you join the U.S. military, you give up many of your rights under the Constitution, that is a much tougher system. to be found not guilty than in the regular civilian system. For a reason.
You are there to carry out acts of deadly force, and that's why the chain of command is so important. And you also have to have faith in that chain of command. I mean, you know what they're really doing is by this ad is they are they are trying to kind of pull the wind out of what has been a resurgence. In people joining the U.S. military because they believe that the Department of War now actually has their back in being soldiers.
Well, and that's the entire shift in the mindset of being warfighters, of doing what the military was designed to do to protect this nation. They are trying to undermine the confidence in that. Jordan, you pointed out recruitment in the military is at an all-time high because Pete Hegseth and the President have refocused the military on their core mission instead of all the ancillary stuff that was getting caught up in the progressive agenda for using our military. But, Bill, to your point, also, many Republicans have been speaking out on this. I mean, even the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said that it was wildly inappropriate.
And think of the threat that it is to our national security and what it means for our institution, meaning both the damage they're doing to Congress as well as the threat to national security by undermining that. Very trust that Americans have in their military. That the commander-in-chief has in the military to follow orders, the whole thing sets up a precedent that is unfathomable. I never thought I would see. Members of Congress and members of the Senate that are veterans themselves sit there and say something so wildly reckless, trying to undermine the trust of those that have enlisted to serve our country in their chain of command.
It's shocking. Look, we only have a minute left, so we're going to keep this conversation going. There's a lot of calls that are on right now. Stay on hold. In the next segment, Mike Pompeo is going to be joining us.
But stay on hold because following that, I'll get to your calls. I know you got to sit through one more segment.
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So make sure you stay on hold because we will get to you. We are joined now by Secretary Mike Pompeo, of course, member of the ACLJ team for a number of years now. Secretary Pompeo, I wanted to get your point of view. Obviously, as a military person and someone who's served and obviously has served our country many, many times, a group of Democrat lawmakers, some top names, put out this, like, if you want to say this promo ad, essentially telling our members of our military that it is okay and not only okay, they are asking them to. Disobey what they consider to be unlawful orders.
Now, what those orders are, of course, they don't say what those are, but that feels like a very dangerous push to our military. They say in there, hey, we'll have your back, but what does that even possibly mean when you're talking about defying the orders of the Commander-in-Chief? Look, that video was disingenuous at best and dangerous at worst. Every I was a young soldier, spent 40 years now, I'll concede that. But as a young soldier, well, the first thing you're taught is the basic rule, is that you have an obligation to follow every lawful order and an equal duty not to follow an unlawful or unconstitutional order.
Both twins. And every soldier, whether they're the youngest enlisted soldier in the Marines or Navy or a senior officer in the Army or Space Force, everybody gets that.
So they were doing this for a political purpose. And they got the attention they wanted. They got the storyline out there they wanted. It's a bit of a tempest in the teapot in that way, but it is unexplainable other than say they are playing political games. With a very important American institution, the United States Armed Forces.
And for that, they should be ashamed of themselves. And I'm glad that so many have come around the cost saying this is reckless and dangerous for them to have chosen to do that. It's unexplainable other than as a political stunt or an effort to undermine the current administration. And Mr. Secretary, the fact that, one, the left is always trying to say President Trump's putting us in a constitutional crisis, when you look at something like this, where they're vague, they're not pointing to a specific order.
So it seems as though they're just trying to either, one, just do a political stunt or to sow discord, to bring down the trust almost in American institutions. At the same time, when they're saying they have the backs of these people as if they are the stopgap in some way against someone being taken through the military system of justice. But you think about the framework of the military is enshrined in the Constitution with the commander-in-chief, the chain of command, it being something that our founders put thought into. When they're saying that President Trump by doing this or doing that, even though the checks and balances as far as I've seen have worked out thus far, isn't it a real constitutional crisis when you start trying to sow doubt in the very system which is enshrined in the Constitution? You know, I I think that's uh The case that all of us need to make sure that these institutions that matter so much, whether it's our United States military or our court system.
Or these young folks who are serving in our FBI who don't want to do politics, who just want to go take bad guys, take criminals off the streets, put police forces. I think the left has tried to undermine these things in the very way you described for an awfully long time. And sadly, you see the election in New York City, you see what happened with the defund the police movement, you see this connectivity that you're describing, right? Which is to undermine sow discord and to undermine these central institutions that our founders created and have served America for. 250 years.
And so I don't think there's any doubt that this was part and parcel of a broad radical left campaign to do just what you described. And they certainly accelerate that when President Trump is making decisions, decisions that you've seen, right?
Sometimes the courts have rejected and said, nope, you can't do that. And sometimes they said, nope, that's completely within the lines of the Constitution or the law. Those checks and balances have served us incredibly well. And when you try to go around them, when you try to undermine the commander-in-chief, that when the founders laid the Constitution out, they didn't give Congress the power to be the commander-in-chief. They gave it to a singular individual.
When you try to undermine that, you do impose a real risk that the next generation won't understand that very important concept.
Well, and I think that this entire conversation is very timely because you have a new piece up at aclj.org that's titled American Conservatives Must Embrace First Principles. And I think it's a lesson, one, for conservatives, but also for maybe people on the left. I know they probably. Won't be perusing aclj.org on a Friday afternoon, but they should, because you bring up the point that real conservatives need to remember what we stand for. And actually, know what we believe and not just be in the tribal politics that we see so easily, but to really get back to that.
And when you contrast what you're calling for with what we're seeing so often from the left, I just want to give you an opportunity to speak about that and why this piece you think is important for people to read, especially at a time like this.
So it would be especially important for some who probably aren't in the normal ACLG audience, but perhaps some of this we can all take to America broadly, because I don't view this as political. But for those of us who believe in the conservative idea of America, the very founding ideas, every now and again we get caught up in the moment in a particular thing that's happening or catches the news or is on X. We should all remind ourselves that the reason this nation is so exceptional. It's because of these very core ideas about property rights, about individual liberty, not group polls. Right.
The idea of freedom and freedom of speech don't cancel, just let a thousand voices be heard. When we go back to those core ideas of liberty and freedom, then it serves The conservative movement, well, but more importantly, it serves America in ways that give us a good shot at the next 250 years. And that's why I took this this week, just as we're all moving into Thanksgiving, to remind ourselves how blessed we are to be Americans and how important it is to remember these core ideas that have made this country so great. Secretary Pompeo, we always appreciate your guidance and your advice here. It's always appreciated, especially when we have such an interesting topic here in terms of the military.
It's always good to have your point of view. But thank you and happy Thanksgiving. I hope you have a great week with you and your family. With that, I just want to, again, say thank you, but also thank you to all the people who support the work of the ACLJ. We have one line open at 1-800-684-3110.
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So in that minute, I encourage you to Think about supporting the work of the ACLJ if you don't get us on your local radio station or wherever you get it. Get the second half hour at aclj.org or all social media platforms. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow.
Welcome back to Sekulow. Like I said, we are going to take some calls here in this heck and half hour, talking about the news where the members if you're just joining us right now, there are members of the government saying, Hey, military. You got a duty right now, and that duty is to defy the orders of the President of the United States. And if we deem them illegal, of course, what they are saying is illegal. They're not.
They're leaving that up to you to figure out, members of the military. You decide what you think are illegal orders. And of course, you have the duty to defy those orders.
Now, that can mean some extreme consequences for these members of the military. And of course, the Democrat will say, hey, we'll have your back. That's right. And what does that even mean? Absolutely not.
Pauli Poppeo just went through the processes. There's a whole process that if you, it's not like this is some new thing. If you really feel this way, there's a process. It's part of duty to say that you aren't going to do that. But of course, when they're saying it, it's politicized.
Well, and I think the irony here, when Jordan brought up the weapons of mass destruction, the Iraq war, you think about the drone campaign that Barack Obama had that were questioned by many on the left, even if it were outside the authorization and use of military force that was in place. I mean, there was an American citizen that wasn't even a targeted terrorist that was killed by a drone strike. That would have been, on the face of it, an illegal order. Where were these members of the military then? You think of all of the things and the irony, too, that one of them, Maggie Goodlander, who's the representative from New Hampshire, her husband is Jake Sullivan.
I mean, the fact that she has the audacity to stand there and be like, I am the moral authority to tell the entire United States military, hey, you can defy an order. When Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor for Joe Biden, as well as worked high up in the government within the Obama administration. See his response to that if a bunch of Republicans ran that ad while he was National Security Advisor. Say, you know, Jake Sullivan, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
So whatever he's advising Biden, if Biden doesn't know what's going on, don't do it. I mean, imagine the chaos that would have caused in the U.S. military. And you know why that didn't happen? Because Republicans have more respect for our U.S.
military than Democrats, even the ones who serve in it, because they feel like they know better than their leaders. And you know what? If that had happened during the Biden administration, we would have spoken out against it because it undermines the very core principle of the Commander-in-Chief's Clause of Article 2, Section 2. You start doing that, the Constitution starts meaning less and less and less. All right, let's quickly take a phone call before we go to Break.
Hopefully, it'll spur you on to do it as well. Let's go to Martin, of course, asking the big question. And North Carolina is ACLJ champion. Give us on a monthly basis. Thank you, Martin.
Go ahead. Thank you, guys. More of a rhetorical statement question, and I hope that it pricked a lot of people's ears when that video was played and things. The fact of the matter is, is they made a mention, if I heard it correctly, that there's a law that says you don't have to follow these orders. And my rhetorical statement question, I hope other people would openly ask this question, what's that law?
Well, it's a part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
So there are extra laws, Jordan, for the military that aren't applicable to ordinary citizens. But there are laws. That's why there are JAG officers, there are military courts, there's court martials. Like there are an entire judicial system outside of the Article III courts within the military. These kind of, I think this actually probably happens.
more than people think in the sense of in the fog of war. When you are, and right now we're not in that, but like when we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, orders coming down all the time. And you're also within those orders, you're having to make decisions about how to then carry out that order. And then, did you carry it out the best way? And then sometimes those would end up in legal discussions or court, or did you go too far?
The drone instance is another one of those examples. That's only gotten bigger now with the ability of drones to basically carry out. Missions that used to take pilots. And Martin, hang on, because we will actually read the portion of the Unit Forum Code of Military Justice in the next segment. Yeah, so stay on.
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I know Will wanted to read that to you. We had a call who's still believe on hold asking about the specific laws they're referring to in terms of being able to disobey unlawful orders in the military. That's right. This is from the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This is Article 92, and this is the definition of lawfulness.
It says: a general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States, or lawful superior orders, or for some other reason that is beyond the authority of the official issuing it.
So the official issuing it would be the commander-in-chief, as they are describing here. But then, in that same Article 92, sub-paragraph 16C of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it says this. an order requiring the performance of a military duty or act may be inferred to be lawful. And if and it is disobeyed at the peril of the subordinate. This inference does not apply to the patently legal, illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime.
The lawfulness of an order is a question of law to be determined by the military judge.
So, Jordan, what you can take from Article 92, sub-paragraph 16C, is that these members of Congress are trying to flip the words of the Uniform Code of Military Justice on its head. They are starting with the Uniform Code of Military Justice says the presupposition is that the order is lawful. You can infer the order is lawful. I mean, they are just talking to kind of the people who are actually carrying out the order.
So it's gone through all these different levels of command from the President on down. At that point, the inference. Is this a legal order because no one in that chain of command decided at any point to take that to a military judge? Right. Now, do you still have the ability to do that?
Possibly, if you really believe there's an emergency action and you really believe in your heart this is totally illegal, I mean, yes, there is a way to do it, but to just say you can ignore. And that is what I think the difference here is they are almost leading with the presupposition it may be illegal. They are trying to get in trouble by carrying out the order. And that is not the case. If you are enlisted and you're carrying out a lawful order, you are not the person who is going to face the ultimate most serious actions if that order proved to be way outside the bounds of what is legal.
I've got some good calls coming in about that. I'm going to go to Steve. Which is a broad scope. Steve's a veteran, so I want to say thank you, Steve, for serving. But I know you got some comments related to this in Virginia watching on YouTube.
Good morning. I first heard of you guys years ago when Jay was on the 700 club. You've been at this for a long time. Thank you. Yes, yes, absolutely.
Thank you, Adam. Yeah, so I was looking up the oath of enlistment, and the Wikipedia version doesn't even say lawful order, it just says orders. Which I don't know exactly why, because I remember lawful orders in my oath of enlistment. And this is not only a problem for those of us that have to obey orders, but also for those who give orders. Is now are they going to have to Run all their orders through some kind of a legal No, they do not.
No, they do not. That's what this tries to infer: you better, because there's a lot of illegal orders coming out and you might be committing crimes. The truth is, there is a mechanism. Will just went through the entire mechanism for them. And the higher up you are in the command, the better you know that mechanism because you have legal advisors with you.
You have Office of Legal Advisors for every military branch.
So, for every Secretary of the Army, the Navy, all of this, they've got military and non-military advisors on these issues. If they see that come up, they raise it early in the process, which is why when you're talking to enlisted folks who are actually carrying out the orders, the law is clear. By the time it gets to you, infer it's inferred that it's legal because it went through. A bunch of different processes. Even if it went quickly, it went through a bunch of different processes, all with people that have legal advisors with them making sure they are not violating the laws of the United States.
Well, and Logan, one other and our laws of armed conflict, which go along with that. The Uniform Court of Military Justice, which they refer to, is kind of the third. Prong of this system. And that is, again, a system you don't usually want to find yourself in. If you are a member of the military, because the rights that do not apply in that court system that do in the civilian court system.
Well, and for that reason as well, there's some rights that don't apply because other people's lives are at stake when you're in the military. But, Logan, you also brought up, you know, who are they to decide what they aren't in the Uniform Code of Military Justice? It says the lawfulness of an order is a question of law to be determined by the military judge.
So they can say, We have your back all you want, but you know who's going to be standing alone with maybe an appointed counsel, a JAG officer, when you find yourself in front of a military judge? It's not going to be Alyssa Slotkin. It's not going to be Mark Kelly. They're not going to have your back in that situation because in reality, they have no jurisdiction there. Yeah, absolutely.
Look, the phone lines are open because we just opened up three lines. That's at 1-800-684-30110. One of the other big stories, of course, right now is that President Trump is just a few hours away from meeting with the new mayor of New York. New York, which of course has been controversial to say the least. This is something that I think his probably supporters are not thrilled about.
The fact that he's willing to sit down, President Trump, I think it shows that President Trump's willing to meet with anybody.
So he's going to sit down again and bring him in. And then, look, I think he said, you know, President Trump said something to the effect of, you know, I want New York to thrive.
So if there's anything I can do to help, of course, I want to help, including meeting with a guy who is saying he wanted to Trump-proof the city, of course, with a lot more controversial statements and things that he's made throughout the campaign. And then still. I still think, though, he also has to deal with the reality of becoming mayor of New York. Yeah. And so he's starting to feel that pressure.
I mean, they've made some jokes on Started Live about it too. Like, when all this stuff starts coming at you about running the biggest city in the United States, I mean, and I stepped out of my balcony when I was there last weekend, and I was like, this is all going to be run by a 34-year-old. This is going to be pretty wild. He's going to need a lot of help from a lot of different communities, including. The business community, which is Democrat Socialist America, can't stand because they provide a lot of services to the community, like the ice skating, all these things that New Yorkers take for granted, the city takes for granted.
It's still Christianity. At times when you don't demonize them, but when you start demonizing them, they start saying, you know what? Maybe we're not going to do this to them. Two things I want to point out before this meeting. One, one person's rhetoric started to change and one person's didn't.
You had Carolyn Levitt say, we're having a literal communist come meet with us tomorrow.
So the Trump administration's rhetoric didn't change. Mandami, though, which Logan, you've even pointed out is very savvy. He was saying, you know, I was elected by people and President Trump was elected by people who both of those groups of people cared about affordability for Americans. They just had a different way of voting to try and achieve that.
So even that is a measured thing of not necessarily attacking Trump voters and people written away. While I was there, he was on the news saying, I'm the mayor to everyone, including a lot of the Republicans that did vote. Obviously, we have one of the. The largest voting blocks in the country. A lot of those people, though obviously the mass majority are Democrat voters, still a lot of Republicans in the city of New York.
There's a lot of business people in New York.
So when he starts talking about the tax rate hikes and things like that, there's a reason why real estate is on the move in states across the Southeast. That are red states, basically. People saying, you know what? I've given this city my entire life and all my hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. And now this guy wants to raise my taxes after I've given so much back to the city.
There were people behind us. We were at the UFC event and they were talking about how they could at least technically be legal residents of Florida now. How could they move? And they were like, We'll just spend six months in one day.
So how can we do that? Because they're like, because they don't want to give up being a New Yorker. They love all the benefits of living in New York City. But they said the taxing and all of that is just not only getting out of hand, it's getting to the point where they're very nervous. They'll have realtors that will walk them through exactly.
Yeah, exactly. There is another concerning issue, though, with the mayor of New York. And this is something that ACLJ is going to have to be on top of because there was this protest in front of this synagogue, which got out of hand. The violent rhetoric, the anti-Semitic rhetoric was very strong against the Jewish people that were going into this house of worship. And Mandami put out a statement.
And at first, it starts off really good. It's like, okay, now he's the mayor. But then he blames both sides and gives something that makes us very nervous. He says: the mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night's protest and will continue to do so. He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation.
Sounds great. Great. Love it. Then he adds, and. These sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.
So he's having both sides. He's saying those inside the synagogue. Are having activities that promote violation of international law.
Now, he's connected and has places of worship. They're places you can go in and protest and not have a peaceful worship. And he was saying that on the news, he was being interviewed, and they asked him, and he said something about the fact that he believes New York City is under international law, should be considered because we are an international city, that the ICC and all of that should be recognized in New York City. Hopefully, he's a mayor. Remember that, he is a mayor.
He is not a President, but he can do a lot to intimidate churches, to intimidate synagogues. He can do a lot of that by saying, I'm going to go after the constant. Inside your place of worship. Which, again, that is the most violative of our First Amendment when it says Congress should make no law respecting the establishment of religion. You want Mandami.
He probably does not want us in his mosque. Stay out of the synagogues, stay out of the churches, and keep them safe for those who attend. That's your job as mayor. Keep the places of worship safe for those who want to attend.
Well, we all be watching his meeting with President Trump, the stuff that will be televised. Baited breath. We'll be looking to see what happens. Does it go Zelensky? Does it go for Zelinsky too?
That's what we were saying yesterday. It can go either way. I think it's going to go off very nice. I think you're going to be very cordial to each other. It could be very brief, too.
And yeah, we'll see what happens. Again, phone lines are open for you as we head into the final segment of the day, and I want to hear from you. That's at 1-800-684-30110. Greg, Joe, and Craig, who've been on hold for a while, you'll be up first, and then we'll get to the rest. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow.
Welcome, Mike Sekulow. Final segment of the day, and I want to hear from you. We got three lines open right now at 1-800-684-30110. You're watching on YouTube or Rumble, you can call in as well, of course, or on aclj.org. Don't have to just be a radio listener.
We want to hear from all of you.
So you can put your comments in. That's great. But calling in, I love hearing your voice on air. If you are just going to comment, let me know. There's always great ways to comment.
You can either just say that you're supportive, you appreciate it, maybe you dislike what we're doing. I don't care. Put in a comment, though. Engage. Even if you just put right now, and I like to always ask where you're watching from.
If you're on YouTube or Rumble, put it in the chat. Not only does it help us just gauge a good idea of where everyone is coming from, and also helps get more people to see this.
So, right now, Throw that in the chat. Let me know where you're watching from. I'd love to see occasionally that it is not just within the States, it's around the world because what happens in America obviously affects the entire planet. I think also in honor of your birthday, we should send in the clowns. Today is a good day.
Just send in the clowns. If you're on Rumble or YouTube, if you've been watching for a long time, you know exactly what's going on. If you're new, you'll find out soon in the chat.
Well, it's Clarence and Dobby's birthday. The mayor of New York visiting. There you go. That's the truth. Because it came originally from the governor of New York, Hokle, who's already said, Mom Dobby can't do anything.
But let's go to Greg, who's calling, who's an ACLJ champion. Greg, I'm sorry you've been on hold so long, even as a champion. We had a lot of vets calling in, though, as well, and I just want to make sure we got to them. Greg, go ahead. Yeah, thanks very much.
I think you guys are just doing an excellent job. I'm happy to support you guys monthly, and I also support Turning Point USA as the great work they're doing. I just have one statement. My statement is that the left in America, they opened the border for four years to bring in twenty million or so people to vote Democratic.
Now they're telling the military not to listen to their leaders. And the liberals, they have no consequences. They are the threat to America's democracy.
Well, I mean, Greg, we talked about earlier in the week, even the consequences of the lawlessness at the border that we're still seeing. How the CDL crisis, the commercial driver's license, where you're seeing California having to cancel 17,000, where you're finding a wanted terrorist was arrested in Kansas with a CDL from Pennsylvania. That just because President Trump has shut down the border and done a fantastic job doesn't mean the lingering effects of these lawless policies will not linger and that we have to fight back against.
So, once again, now they're starting with this with the military. And when they start with these things, there is a long rollout of bad consequences that follow. And so you have to stop it early. You got what they're doing. This is what you have to let it linger.
But this is what they're doing. They're saying to I think what they've learned is instead of demonizing military, like they demonize police. They're going to exalt them and say, you're great to serve our country. You just don't have to follow the orders that you think are illegal. And there's a lot of illegal orders coming.
Now, we're not going to tell you which ones those are. I would like Mark Kelly and them to come out every day and say, what are the orders that came out this week that our military doesn't have to follow? Yeah, tell us so that those younger men and women who are trying to follow your direction, which I would not suggest anyone do, actually tell them what you think is illegal. Tell them what you think they should do because it's illegal. Do they even know the code that Will read out?
Probably not. Yeah, let's go to Joe in New Jersey. He's got a question related to that. Go ahead. Yeah.
I'm good. Go ahead. Yeah. How you doing? I'm a veteran.
I'm an Air Force section from nineteen eighty two to eighty six. For context, in nineteen eighty four, during the Olympics, we sent EOD troops to help at the Olympic coverage. This is nothing's unprecedented with getting military involved with civilian. And when you serve, you're under the UCMJ and the Constitution and every law of every state and the federal government. I don't think you have any room to disobey an order.
Those things are way above your head, and the decisions are made way before they get to the rank and file. That's basically the statement I want to make. That is what I feel like wasn't clear at all in their ad was that they act like they are talking to those who are enlisted on the ground to carry out orders. And in fact, the people who really they should be talking to are the levels of generals and commanders and all those different people through all those different SINTCOMs and this comm and that comm and that come. Those are the people who have the opportunity to put their hand up and say, I want a judges, military judges ruling on this right now.
Not the guy on the field who just got the final order that went through that entire process.
Well, and you take it a step further, if we are in a conflict and they've sowed these seeds of doubt and you're on the battlefield and all of a sudden in the middle of a firefight, a soldier's like, you know what? Maybe this entire. War is in the illegal order. I'm going to stop fighting. Like, people's lives can be at stake by not following.
That's why they say nothing in the ad. They say a lot in the ad. It also says nothing in the ad, except for it can get a lot of young people who are confused by the ad in a lot of serious trouble and even cause death. Yep, let's go ahead and try to get a couple more calls. And Craig in Ohio, also, vet, thank you so much for your service.
Craig, go ahead. Thank you very much. You guys are doing a great job. I spent 15 years in the Navy, twelve with the Marine Corps as a corpsman, and two in the Army. And you are absolutely right.
These senators and congressmen who served in the military are breaking the law. They know better. Especially Kelly, he's trying to be the next John Glenn. I have nieces and nephews in military and commanding positions. I've already told them you need to pull your troops to the side, especially in the field.
Have your legal brief them on the chain of command and remind them if they break their chain of command, what can happen to them. I would tell you right now, there's not a single congressperson that will come to your bat if you break a general order. I guarantee it. No. No, they're going to say, oh, that's not what we meant.
Yeah, Craig, that to me was the most ridiculous part when they said, we'll have your back. No, I want them to come out on a weekly basis with a list of orders they believe should be legally challenged and who do they think should legally challenge them and then who should stop any activity. You put that up to them. Tell them to do it. Yeah.
I mean, for real. It would be, you know, let your. It's a lot easier than recording a thing into your phone that you got scripted from your communications director. Who probably didn't serve in the military. Imagine not.
Right. All right. Last call of the day, Tom in California. Go ahead, Tom. Hey, happy birthday, buddy.
I was a day ahead of you, and I'm a lot older. Thank you. Happy birthday to you as well. Yeah, thank you, man. I'm not as wise as you, but let me just say, real quick: the Democrats telling our military to disobey orders borders on treason, in my opinion.
I'm a former civics teacher in high school, and I also have a law life. Pretty wise. But that's the first thing I would say. And second of all, the people that they elect to do that are going to be the ones left out to hang. And the other thing is that what they're doing, what these Democrats are doing all across the board, everything they're doing is trying to, I won't say overthrow our government, but certainly to undermine it.
And do destruction to it. And I find it so ironic that they say, well, I was a military guy. I was a military lady, whatever. And yeah, well, so was Brennan, Miley, and all the other anti-American Democratic people that have been screwing our government so long. Thank you.
Hey, Tom, we got one minute left.
So I didn't want to cut you off, but we're running out of time.
Well, he's like, well, I just think he's right. I mean, you look at all of the things they've tried to do to use the generals, to use the deep state in the intelligence community to try and undermine the elected. Executive of this country for a decade now. They don't like the Department of War. They don't like the warfighters.
They don't like the sense that we have gone back to the rules of engagement that make it. Where our men and women don't have to put themselves in extra danger and loss of life to defend the United States of America. Hey, it is the last 30 seconds of our week on air. I want you to support the work of the ACLJ. It's my birthday.
Do it for me, okay? Look, I'll put on some pressure on you. It's my 40th birthday. How about we have an influx of people giving $40? That'll become $80.
Let's make it 40-day. Can I say we're gonna be kids? Let's make it 6'7. That cause of action too in the U.S. Senate to uncover the deep state, it's still the law of the land.
Next week, we'll get more into before Thanksgiving how we could utilize it. $40. $40.
