We got breaking news, the U.S. strikes Iranian targets overnight. 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. Kicking off our live, we're here on a Tuesday, May 26th. Welcome to the broadcast.
Will Haynes' studio, Rick Rinnell, is going to be joining us a little bit later. Of course, we're talking everything that happened yesterday as most of us were honoring Memorial Day. We were seeing what was happening in terms of the war in Iran, as it seemed. That there were moments there where we were on the brink of a deal. That was really floated out there pretty aggressively.
throughout the weekend that the deal with Iran. could happen at any moment. And then last night. There was what Iran has considered a breach in the ceasefire.
Now That is not what the United States is saying. They're saying it was retaliatory, but we got to give you at least some updates of what's happening right now as all eyes are on Iran to see what the future holds. And look. The deal that's been presented, that President Trump has laid out, that other people have. It has gotten very controversial takes.
Some people very much in support of it.
Some people very much not in support of it. And those on the more traditional Republican side seem to be in the latter, not supportive of what this deal could look like. We're going to break it all down, discuss it, and give you our honest feedback into what it could be.
Now, we don't know the details specifically. They have not been laid out, but we do know at least some of the framework of the conversation that's happening.
So, Will, let's give an update, though, first on that attack that happened overnight. I was at dinner last night, phone buzzed. Push notification, US strikes. What does that look like? U.S.
strikes in Iran, but this was retaliatory, according to the states. That's right.
So, what the U.S. military is calling these are self-defense strikes. And it all started when Iranian boats We're attempting to place more mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The US caught them. Struck them.
sank them. And then Iran Tried to retaliate against that, against the sinking of boats, trying to make the Strait of Hormuz more dangerous by shooting surface-to-air missiles at American aircraft. All reports are that they didn't hit anything when they did this, but it did show launch points of more missile centers for the Iranians. And the United States, because of that, Attempted strike on U.S. aircraft decided to go ahead and take out those missile launch centers as well.
So Two successful strikes to the United States, taking out these boats, attempting to place mines as well as the missile launch sites. But Iran is saying it's a violation of the ceasefire. The United States is saying it is self-defense strikes because Iran was trying to further the war by placing more mines in the Strait of Hormuz. But all of this is in the context of this debate over whether or not a deal with Iran is imminent. That's what the President said.
They were going to resume massive-scale strikes over Memorial Day weekend. But the President decided to hold off because of progress that they are making. Comments coming in about that, we're going to take your calls and comments on it. 1-800-684-30110. What do you think about this potential deal?
Let's hear, though, from Marco Rubio, who spoke about it this morning.
Well, look, I think our position is well stated. The President had a very important, I think, historic call just a couple days ago with a number of leaders from the region. I think there's strong alignment and agreement on what a preliminary draft should look like. I think, like anything with something like this, it's going to take a couple days to settle on even down to the disagreements over a word. sentence.
So we'll have to work through that. If there's going to be a deal, we're going to have to work through that. But this is a, you know, it's either going to be a good deal or there isn't going to be one.
So, of course, Marco Rubio stating if there isn't, if this will, if this isn't a good deal, there won't be one now. There's a lot of thoughts. About a potential deal that doesn't involve, by the way. A new free Iran. It goes back still to an IRGC-controlled Iran.
How do you feel about that? Do you think we've done what we needed to get done there if, let's say, The strait of Hormuz is reopened, and we removed their uranium arrangement. Is that enough? Is that enough for you, the American people? I see a lot of mixed reactions here in the comments.
I want to hear from you. Give your time. Be respectful to the phone screeners. And give us a call: 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110.
We are live right now again, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Each and every day, so be a part of the show if you're watching live. And it's at 1-800-684-3110 or find us at aclj.org. We'll be right back.
All right, welcome back to Secula. We're going to restate some of what we were talking about in the first segment because a lot of you are just joining us right now online.
So we appreciate everyone who joins us live.
Now, that being said, phone lights are open for you. 1-800-684-30110. Look, there's a lot of conversation about this potential deal in Iran. Are you for it? Are you against it?
Are you ready for this war to wrap up? Are this encouraged. Tim I guess finalize. without maybe what you initially thought. And look, you can say President Trump never said there would be a full regime change, that there would never be a free Iran.
Now, I think you can kind of go back and you can read between the lines and say, you know, when we said we'd have their backs, the people's back, but you know what? They haven't taken the steps necessarily to overthrow their own government.
So that's not necessarily totally on America at this point, but it was something that we hoped. What happened?
Now we are talking about success being ending their enrichment of uranium completely, of uranium, and removing it. And how it's going to be removed is pretty interesting too. There's a lot of discussion about that. And that we just have had success right now in general, that this is a successful mission. What do you think?
1-800-684-3110. At the same time, we've been in a ceasefire for almost two months. Month and a half? Over a month and a half. But that ceasefire.
has come with you know some dust ups here and there And when we were on what felt like the edge of a deal just over the weekend. I mean, legitimately, we were texting. I thought we were about to have an announcement. It felt like that. We know that a lot of the situation room and the President called back a lot of the administration, the staff, J.D.
Vance, to talk about this. There have been calls to Netanyahu, there have been calls to all the Iranian or not the Iranian, all of the Middle Eastern leaders about the situation in Iran. to hopefully wrap this all up. And then, late last night, Got me that late, but late last night our you know Iranian timeshire in middle overnight. There was uh some What do you say?
A tax. Both on both sides. There were mines that were, you know, put in the sea, and then there was response from the Americans with some drone attacks. There was a lot that happened. You know, kind of again, is this a minor dust-up?
Does this end the ceasefire? Iran kind of says it did. Iran said this is a direct violation of the ceasefire. You know, we can pull up the exact quotes. I know that they were not happy about this, and they said this was the U.S.
doing it.
Now, again, this is when you're playing with someone like Iran, that it can never be as clean-cut as you'd want it to be because you are not negotiating with the most truthful. Uh administration. That's right.
So the Foreign Ministry of Iran said that the American forces had committed a violation of the ceasefire in the Hormuz region over the past 48 hours. And that is including both the strike on the vessels that were trying to place mines, as well as striking the missile, the surface air missile launching centers. I think it's about the mines, because I think that's a little bit hard to picture what we're talking about here. We're talking about mines that are distributed. Into the ocean.
Into the ocean. Yeah, right. By a boat. Not a ship, not a huge naval vessel. These are more like speedboat kind of cruiser type looking things that you would see even someone that owns it recreationally the size of.
It's not something that is abnormally large in a naval vessel.
So they see that this is happening. It's kind of similar to the GoFast boats, but these are able to take mines, multiple mines out into the Strait of Hormuz and place them into the waters to be able to, one, as a deterrent for people trying to cross or navies trying to go because it could cause damage to vessels. Or also to actually strike a vessel that is traversing the Strait of Hormuz. But all of this comes at the time where. As you mentioned, this announcement that we are Withholding, because it sounds like we were close to just going.
Full attack mode again against Iran. over the weekend, over Memorial Day weekend. And then, because of the advancements in some of these talks. The President put that on hold. You mentioned people rushing back.
There's supposed to be a cabinet meeting at Camp David tomorrow. related to all of this. But what's interesting is that we saw the same Issue that we saw earlier when there was, it seemed like we were close to a deal with Iran. And you saw Americans both in the media on the left and some within the President's own party push back at what was being reported was in the deal.
Now The only thing we know for certain is what the President has put on Truth Social, and then what is being reported in the media. That doesn't mean we know what is being negotiated. By the team and the Iranians. The President doesn't necessarily tell you everything that's being negotiated, as well as the media, when they're getting it from anonymous sources, do not always know what they're talking about. And so, what we've seen is originally, It sounded like the same thing that people fell for.
over a month and a half ago. When that first reported deal was coming together, and the first thing that came out of the reports was: oh, there's nothing related to the nuclear program.
Well, that ended up not being true, and that's why we didn't get a deal then. Because Iran said that's not on the negotiating table.
Now, what happens this time? Reports come out. They mention nothing of the nuclear program. You even see Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, very close allies of the President, say, if this is the deal. This is worse than the JCPOA.
This is worse than Obama's deal. Because it was sanctions relief. And not really a ton of stuff other than opening the Strait of Hormuz. Which wasn't Per se, close until the switch. We at least can take some credit for closing the straight of her.
Exactly. But then what you see is that that wasn't the full story. Because one, you're not going to release every single thing that's being negotiated. Two, the President now has even put out that the enriched uranium, in nuclear dust, he puts parenthetically, will either be immediately turned over to the United States or to be brought home and destroyed, or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission or its equivalent being witness to this process and event. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
When they're talking about a deal being negotiated, And it's not finalized yet. Anything you hear in the media is speculation.
Now, if it turned out that it was a deal like that, I think we would very robustly criticize that deal because. What was the point of all of this? But. No deal is finalized. You hear Marco Rubio, you also see the President is using this as an opportunity to say, hey, look, Gulf nations.
Who have you been working with? These past few months. Israel. Maybe as a part of all of this, as we wrap it up, you join the Abraham Accords. Yeah, we know the Abraham Accords have been on the tip of the tongue of the President of the United States over the last few days saying it's time you need to do this, get involved, be a part of it.
And look, I think Israel, you got to look out for Israel, what Israel is going to get as a win out of this as well. And if, again, if it's not a full regime change and Iran doesn't become good buddies with Israel. In the current situation, what are they going to get out of this? And maybe that is a win. As we know, there was a lot of talk.
Leaked information, people discussing whether Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government were excited about this deal, whether they're upset about it. And it seems like there was mixed messaging that came out of there. And I'm sure that's probably true. There's probably some people within Israel that are ready for this to be done. And I'm sure there's some people within the Israeli government who are upset that it has not gone far enough.
Just like there is here in the States. There are some calls coming in. I want to take one real quick: William in Texas, who's an ACLJ champion. Thanks for being a champion. William, go ahead.
I have never thought that we could make an agreement with. Uh Iran because Yeah, they're religious fanatics who Go ahead, William. I don't think that they're going to. I don't think you can make an agreement with them because they'll never. Stop.
Doing what they do. Yeah. It's look, you're dealing with a very different kind of government. You're dealing with a very different kind of people who are negotiating these things. We got to always be honest with ourselves.
And we know this. And President Trump knows this. The administration knows this. They're going to play it politically. They're going to make it seem like, look, we're dealing with people who are of sound mind and will have this.
But we see what happens. You're dropping mines in the water. Then we're having to respond. And then they're blaming us. You know, this is going to be this ongoing conversation.
Do I think if you have the. Current administration in place, the RGC in Iran, that much difference is going to happen? No. Even if there is a deal, maybe that deal will lead to better cash prices. At this point, Lord knows we all need it.
Maybe it'll lead to some economic Relief. for the American people. Again. Straight up for Moose, as Will said, wasn't closed to begin with. And I think we all have to look back on this well to look back on this entire war and go, what was the cost-benefit analysis of this war?
if this is the deal that comes to play.
Now again, there are people in rooms right now negotiating out these points, as Marco Rubio said, using words and making sure the individual words are negotiated. You know, and it could take days and days to make sure it's exact, so we don't know. For sure, what's going to be in this deal, but you certainly know that we will be monitoring it very closely. Also, we didn't talk about this weekend. We also saw Tulsi Gabbard, our friend.
Uh your former colleague here, former broadcast partner here on Sekulow. that she had uh stepped down from her position. As the director of national intelligence.
So we're going to discuss that a little bit as well. Our prayers are to her and her family and to Abe, her husband, who we've worked with numerous times over the years. Really great people, a fortunate situation. We'll be praying for them, but that does leave a hole there. We'll see what happens coming up with that.
We got Rick Rinnell joining us in the back half of the broadcast.
So stay tuned, and phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. If you want to support the work of the ACLJ, do it right now at aclj.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you. A lot of you have just started calling in about the situation unfolding in Iran.
where we are today, where we are this Tuesday as we are broadcasting right now. as over the weekend it was presumed there may be a deal at hand. And now that deal seems like it's at least a few days away. And at the same time, there have been attacks. Uh It is nothing.
New or unexpected, I'd say. But the ups and downs, the roller coaster ride of this, Will, has been pretty interesting. That's right.
I did want to say one thing before we move forward with this, and that was about Tulsi Gabbard, who is resigning effective June 30th.
So she will be wrapping up duties as Director of National Intelligence. And she revealed that her husband has a bone cancer diagnosis that seems pretty aggressive. And You did see the disgusting nature of some of the political attacks. It was Adam Schiff came out and said the only thing that she's done is resign. The only good thing she's done is director of national intelligence, even though we pray for her family.
One, she is a a veteran. She is an American hero. But I saw this online, and I just wanted to bring this up to people that shows the character of people like Tulsi Gabbard compared to people like Adam Schiff. There was a post on X. From a gold star.
Widow, someone whose husband was killed in action. in February of 2007. And she posted, This is probably a long shot, but if anybody happens to be in DC this weekend and plans on visiting Arlington, I would love to see a fresh photo of my husband's grave in Section 60. and gives the information of Staff Sergeant Alan W. Shaw, Section 60, Grave 8451, talks and more information of how to find the grave.
Tulsi Gabbard. went to saw that post somehow. Whether it was served to her or someone showed it to her. And she went and visited the grave. Placed, there were flowers there already because there are groups that go and put flowers on the graves of veterans and those that were killed gave the ultimate sacrifice.
A lot of them, all these holidays. And she responded: It was an honor to visit your husband's grave today on your behalf and to pay my respects. It was wonderful to see the beautiful flowers representing many others who did the same. Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to the loved ones left behind. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Yeah, do we have that image? We should pull it up. And I just, when you brought that up, this popped to mind.
So it wasn't even something I planned on bringing up to get to the people in our community. I think we can probably get it so people can see it. But she placed a challenge coin at the grave as well of the director of national intelligence. Just goes to show you the difference between those that just want to play disgusting political games with cancer diagnoses like Adam Shift did, and what someone with true character like Tulsi Gabbard would go doing. Yeah, and I saw a lot of comments going, hey, look, I got to give it to even people, some people on the left, who said, you know, this was too far, Shift.
Why would you do this? But then plenty of people celebrating it. Uh, because sadly, the world we live in right now, but again, our uh full support and our prayers are with Tulsi. We've reached out and let her know. We posted, and a lot of you commented as well.
I'm sure her and her team and her family have seen those. Uh, again, people we've known for a very, very long time, and you know, she was on the show for years.
So, we appreciate all that she has done. And there's that picture, um, all that she has done for our nation, as well as her husband, by the way, who uh, anytime you saw. Her on camera, you know, I'd say nine out of ten times, as long as she wasn't by herself. He was there directing it, made sure it looked great. Director of photography, cinematographer, a brilliant guy, and our prayers are to him.
Again, phone lines are open for you as we are going to continue this conversation about Iran. And there's some other things we're going to hit. We only got a few minutes left in this first half hour. I do want you to think about supporting the work of the ACLJ right now. And there's other ways you can do it.
You can sign a petition, even if you can't financially give, go sign our petition right now at aclj.org slash sign. I believe today's is on Israel.
So we'd love for you to be a part of that as well. And speaking of Israel, there are some calls and comments coming in kind of related to that. And I think I want to take one. Let's go to Alex online too. Alex, go ahead.
Hi guys, afternoon. Thanks for being there. Super fast question for you. In Trump's effort of organizing the Abraham Accords and organizing the Middle Eastern countries to come together, regardless of whether Iran would ever be a part of it, I just don't think it's ever going to happen. With you, you're not going to ever be able to trust Iran.
But let's say that these other foreign countries that are agreeing on the Abraham Accords and believing that it's a good idea, wouldn't that be Trump trying to say, okay, you have your own military Middle Eastern alliance now. And when you start to have trouble in the Middle East with a country that's not abiding by the Abraham Accords, well, militarily, you should act.
So, like right now, I don't understand, and maybe I just don't understand the makeup of Saudi Arabia's military and the other countries' militaries over there. But why is it that we don't see them saying this behavior is totally uncalled for? It's gone on long enough. Let's go in there and clean it up. Give refuge to all the citizens to come into our country, and we're just going to go in there and clean all the bad guys out.
We're going to straighten this up.
Well, Alex, I want to give it a little bit brief. Look, to ask them to do something like that, it's like we can take all the refugees in. Think about that. Is your country? Are you going to do the same thing?
And it's 90 million. It's a lot of people. It's not like we're talking about nobody here. But understand that. If we go back to the origins of the Abraham Accords, this is when a time when ISIS was being wiped out, President Trump had brought relative peace.
To the Middle East, and now is saying economically, a lot of the Abraham Accords were to say, let's have these countries now do business with each other, do business with Israel, have flights that can go in and out. Make it to where if you are an Israeli citizen and you want to go vacation for Hanukkah in Dubai, you can do so and they're going to celebrate it. We're going to welcome each other. That was sort of the origins of the Abraham Accords. It really wasn't during a hot wartime.
Now it's changed a little bit. That's right.
And the Abraham Accords, as Logan said, was a big economic achievement. You think of a lot of the new Gulf states, the kind of new Middle East, is very economically driven. There's a lot of money being made there. Right, exactly. And so a lot of that had to do with the economic side.
And that's what President Trump is very good at negotiating, getting people to come together over the common goal of economic prosperity. But what you also saw is that. A lot of these countries. Um found out the hard way that Iran For no reason when they did no attacking. Will start firing missiles at them.
I think that as well as the economic relations, the normalization of diplomatic ties, the fact that these countries then will speak directly to each other, many times they had to go through liaisons if they wanted to even speak to the government because they had no formal diplomatic channels. That is also a big deal, especially when you talk about the potential of conflict. When you didn't have normalized diplomatic relations, now going forward, if you have a common enemy being able to coordinate better. Those are things that can all help each other, even if they aren't directly defending each other in some sort of NATO-type way. Alliance, if they are talking with each other and saying, hey, Let's coordinate this because our enemy here is trying to take us all out.
It only leads to better things.
Now, The President, I think, is trying to be frank with them and be like, hey. You may have your reasons. Over thousands of years that you don't want to get along. But how about we just deal with the reality at hand, the economic prosperity, the terrible things that Iran is doing to all of you? Whether it be through terror, whether it be through actual ballistic missile strikes.
I don't know that all of the countries can get there, but I think quite a few of them may be close. Yep. All right, we're going to keep this conversation going, and we want to hear from you at 1-800-68-430-1-10. If you don't get us for the full hour, find us broadcasting live each and every day. Of course, archive later on, aclj.org.
We broadcast live 12 to 1 Eastern Time. Be a part of the show. You can find us on your favorite podcast player, social media platforms, YouTube, Rumble, wherever you get your shows. We are there. We got a half hour coming up, though.
Stay tuned. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Seculum. Welcome back to Sekulow's second half hour of the show.
Hopefully, you're joining us live. If not, You hear me later on, and that's okay too.
Well, that's okay if it's archived. Listening to the podcast fee. Maybe you're listening to a rerun. It's okay. We'll allow it.
Yeah, but we'd love for you to join us live if you are. Phone lines are open at 1-800-68-430-110. Rick Rinnell's going to be joining us in the next segment. We are covering a lot of what happened over the weekend, which, of course, was the ups and downs in Iran. Whether we had a ceasefire, of course, it's been going since April, and it looked like we're about to have a deal only to have some attacks happen overnight on both sides where there were some mines that were dropped into the ocean.
And then further that the United States responded. Iran says this violates the ceasefire. Discussions, though, we know are still at hand for a potential peace deal. But what does that peace deal look like? What was the goal?
Do we feel like we met those goals? I want to hear from you at 1-800-68-430-110. We haven't. Had all the details revealed, but we know at least some of the general side of it. We do have some calls coming in.
I would like to take one of those. Let's go to Charles, who's calling on line one. Charles in Missouri. Go ahead, Charles. Hey, can you hear me?
We got you. We got you. Okay, listen guys, I've been listening to your show for several years. Thank you. Thank you for what you do.
Here's my take on it, and I believe the take of the majority. of the American people. I voted for Trump and both of his elections because of the alternative. And I'm glad he's President now. I think he's doing a great job.
However, The Iranians, they will never ever uh agree uh and hold true to it that is to not be trying to make nuclear weapons. That's their goal. The Texas caller earlier said it clearly. It's their mission, death to America, for 50 years now. And beyond that, actually.
Yes, Ross. This these uh these these primaries are coming Oh, Charles, call back if you can. I don't know what happened there. You lost. You just went to.
You don't hear a lot of dial tones anymore these days, well. No. But, Charles, we appreciate it. Like, I think we got a good understanding of what you were saying here, which is true. The goals of the IRGC have never been unclear, I feel like, the way that we have talked to them.
That is why there was a big hope. Including from me. And look, if I walk away with egg on my face from this and having to, you know, apologize to maybe some of my more liberal friends who said, you know, you're not going to get a new regime. You're not going to get this. And I kind of was maybe a little hopeful.
Uh they all do what I'll have to do. And say that we didn't get the main thing I was hoping for, which was a free, thriving Iran.
Now again I understand right now. I'm filling up a gas tank. I understand that we want this to wrap up. I'm not blind to that. But Would it be for not?
Would it be for the fact that we have done Not enough.
Now Israel is saying we think we've gotten there. The United States of America, President Trump is saying he thinks we've gotten there. There have been a lot of debate, even internally in the Republican Party. If you looked on social media, whether that was from Ted Cruz or other people who maybe have some issues with The stated goals and where we ended up. Right.
And here's the other fact. I have two hopes out of this as well. One, like you said, I want a free Iran. I want the IRGC, I want the Islamic Republic to be gone. I want the people of Iran to be able to command their own destiny and to have a thriving Persian society again.
But I also understand that in this situation as well, If there is a guarantee. That they will not have a nuclear weapon to be able to hold the world hostage. If they can get to those stated goals, I will be pleased with that outcome because it is an existential thing. And just like. It happened with other administrations as well.
I want to know what the checks and procedures are. to make sure they're not doing this. What does that look like? How often Do we have the American military or people in our administration going through and checking? What's actually happening in Iran?
How can we be sure that they're not hiding or doing this in secret? That's another big conversation to have. Again, when it's a. government you can't necessarily put a lot of trust in. Phone lines are open for you.
Rick Rinnell's coming up, and then after that, we're going to hear from as many of you as possible.
So I want to know your thoughts. 1-800-684-3110. And again, check out the work of the ACLJ and sign that petition right now if you can at aclj.org/slash sign. We'll be right back with more. Get that QR code up on the screen, scan it, sign it.
We'll be right back. Yeah. Welcome back to Sekulow. We're joined now by Rick Rennell to talk about a lot of news that came out over the weekend. Normally, Memorial Day weekend, you don't have a lot to come back from to talk about on this Tuesday.
Not always the case with the Trump administration. Rick, what we've seen is an announcement that there could be close to a deal. We have seen people that are very close allies of the President kind of freak out of what was in the media without necessarily having anything in front of them. And then now we see, as the more full picture plays out, that. What is being reported, once again, you take with a grain of salt.
Is in line with the stated goals of the President: that there will be, one, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the hostilities ending, but also. The real A verifiable goal of a dismantling of their nuclear program. I want to get your thoughts on not just what's being reported as the potential deal, but really on the reaction of people falling for the same media report once again that isn't reality of what's being negotiated. Look, I know this is a real frustrating point because you have advocates within the media jumping out to define the negotiations when the President of the United States himself is saying, look, we're not even done with the negotiations.
So we're in the process here. This is typical Washington games where someone tries to trash or critique before they even know what's going on. And so I think it's really important that everybody slow down and realize that President Trump has been very clear on these negotiations. He's the only President to actually be using diplomacy and military strikes strategy to really bring the full U.S. government leverage forward.
That strategy is working clearly because, unlike before, We actually have progress. And so President Trump is focused on the Straits of Hormuz because of commerce and oil. He's focused on the nuclear weapons and the programs surrounding those because that's a threat to the United States. And I am 100% positive that any deal that he agrees to is going to be a deal that actually cripples the nuclear power strategy of Iran and moves us closer to a Straits of Hormuz that is open and available for commerce. And I know President Trump won't take anything less than that.
And if people in the media or outside are pretending to know something, I think you should just dismiss them because they really have been called out by the President and the White House to say, you don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, Rick. I mean, there was a lot going on. Obviously, people were following the sort of, I'd say, not chaos, but what was going on, bringing in the administration, and there was a lot of talk, and it felt like it was going to happen.
Now, at the same time, I'm like looking at our calls and comments right now. And look, stay on hold if you're still on hold. I'm not calling you out because I think this is the nature of these negotiations when they start happening is the conversation always gets to, well, you can't trust Iran. And I'm looking at that through most of our comments. I'm looking at through most of our calls right now.
They're going, well, I don't know how you can do this. I mean, they have to assume, though, President Trump has had a full term, plus now, a year and a half in this. He knows. You can't really trust Iran. There are people who are thinking that as well.
This is not some new idea that is being presented that Iran is going to be incredibly trustworthy. I mean, we have seen the fruits of that.
Now, it doesn't mean they're not scared of what the United States can do. It's not like they haven't seen what the United States can do.
So sure, there's maybe a little bit more, a little bit more nervous energy coming from Iran right now, but I would assume there's some pretty smart people in that room who understand a level of trust you can secure with an IRGC. Look, let's be really clear. Of course we don't trust Iran. Of course President Trump doesn't trust Iran, which is why he took out level one, level two, level three of the leadership in Iran. They have been decimated.
Their programs have been decimated. That's not because we trusted them to down or we trusted them to get rid of their programs. It's because President Trump did not trust them and he took them out. And so, the reality is that now we're in the testing phase. Are we able to move forward with a new set of principles?
And I think that we have to test that and we have to be open to that because of the fact that we have really decimated them and they don't have any leverage, they don't have any military capability. And so, we are going to test that. And I think it's exactly what a President should do after using military might. Rick, I want to draw kind of a comparison or really a contrast here because today. There is a runoff in the state of Texas for the primaries.
We have a candidate that is in Texas 35th district that has openly called for American Zionists to be put in. Detention camps. And that goes well beyond just American Jews because she doubled down and said, no, it's all Zionists, so even Christian Zionists could be included in that. And this individual. Got the most votes in the first round, now is in a runoff.
We'll see how Democrat voters in Texas Take this candidate. At the same time, you have a President in the White House. in this same time period that is saying, hey, a part of this deal We should see more Gulf nations normalize relations with Israel. Not be Zionist in the term. You're never going to hear Saudi Arabia call themselves that.
but have a diplomatic relationship with the Jewish state of Israel. The contrast to me could not be more clear of what the President is trying to get done here and what the DNC's policies are going forward as they have candidates that are leading the pack that are calling for the most anti-Israel policies, including internment camps. Compared with what the President is trying to get done to make Israel on the world stage. More accepted. Look, we have a Democratic Party that is a complete mess and in complete disarray.
The head of the Democratic Party is being attacked and criticized by Democrats right now, saying, step down because you've ushered in the crazy radical left. And we all know that. And there's very few people in the media that are saying that. But this current Democratic leader, the head of the Democratic Party, is under attack from his own people because he's radicalized the party. These candidates that you're seeing in Texas and other places.
are a product of this radicalization. They've got literally people like Tom Steyer here in California. Who are openly saying, of course, we should have young high school trans. uh people in in Women's sports. We should have biological men, trans men, trans women.
In the competition of girls' sports. That's radical, that's crazy, that's not common sense. And then you have Texas candidates, like the one that you're referring to, who wants to put people in prison if they don't agree with her.
So the Democratic Party is really outing themselves. As having too many radicals, and the leader who put all of those radicals in is under attack.
So I think that you're gonna see a real shift. But they have candidates they're going to have to live with, like this one in Texas, like the one in Maine, who has a Nazi tattoo. They have to live with these candidates through the cycle because the radical leadership put them in, and it's too late to take them out. We only got a couple minutes here, Rick, but let's talk about California for a minute. I mean, I feel like the mayoral race has become the number one story in America.
And I guess the big question everyone has is: how much is this? World, you know, nationwide hype, and how is it actually playing out in California? I've been trying to tell my friends to at least still manage their expectations of what could happen. I'm glad you say that because, you know, as someone who is a California expert and I've looked at the math a lot, you have to remember that conservatives and Republicans. Have a real hard time in California.
The math is just not there. I've been working on this problem, and we are making progress. We're registering more people. But the math is just not there. I mean, somebody like Spencer Pratt is going to have to really appeal to the independents and Democrats in order to win.
We just don't have enough Republicans to actually win seats. Yeah, I mean, look, our hope is that we could see some real change in California, and it's exciting to see the energy coming out of it. But I have told my friends who we were talking about last night, seeing the viral videos and they're amazing and the cleaning of the streets, all the things that are getting done. I'm like, still, it's Los Angeles. Remember who's voting.
It's different. Yeah, and what's frustrating to me is that I don't want people to get disappointed because we are making incredible product. Progress. Progress. And we need to keep on that road.
We need to keep funding the progress. We are making progress. Don't get frustrated. But this year may not be the year. All right.
Thank you, Rick, for joining us. Look, Rick can't even say progress. That's how unprogressive. That's how conservative he is. I love that.
I love that. It's like the word can't come out of his mouth. Rick, thanks for joining us. I appreciate it. We get back.
Phone lines are still open for you. I do want to hear from you. Talk about Iran. We talk about California, whatever it may be. You know, you've had a four-day weekend.
Maybe you've had some time to think about some other topics you want to get to. Be kind to our phone screeners and I'll let you talk. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110 to have your voice heard on the air today. And again, if you can't sign the petition, be a part of it right now at aclj.org/slash sign.
We get back. We want to hear from you. Give me a call. Be right back. Lots of calls coming in.
Two lines are open though. Last chance, 1-800-684-31-10. If we go down the road, the bloodbeare's been a hold for a while. Old standards have always call in. I appreciate them.
Some ACLJ champions and some newbies. Let's go first, though, to an ACLJ champion, Derek, who's calling on line for. Derek, Go ahead. All right. You guys got me?
We gotcha. All right. Thanks for taking my call, guys. First, I want to say I think President Trump has been handling Iran quite well. He's given them plenty of opportunities to save face and get out of this.
I don't believe that the United States has the Right to try to do regime change, although I would love to see that regime go out of power. I do believe the Iranian people deserve to be free. stepping in and stopping the nukes. I think that was smart. Stopping the genocide, I totally agree with that.
We don't make treaties with our friends. We make treaties with Our enemies. With the proper oversight, this can be. In our favor. uh deal has to be for the America for America, for the American people.
Either way, I think if we can get to that deal, it will make the world a safer place. Things will get better. regardless, I think in the future. The Iranian people aren't going to care what this deal is.
Sooner or later, they're going to step up. They got to take their own fate in their hands and seek their own freedom. Derek, I think a lot of what you're saying, I agree with, and probably most of our audience agree with as well. And I think it also fits in line with the Trump-style foreign policy. Of it being America first.
While those of us that have studied Iran for a long time, we have hoped and prayed for a free Iran are tied to that. Idea and long for that idea to come to fruition, that's not necessarily the America first position.
Now, I could argue it is because as long as you have a regime there that you cannot trust fully, you're going to have to be on your guard with them because they do have a stated goal of death to America. That being said. I do believe that the, and the President believes there is an angle here where he thinks you can keep them in check. You can eliminate that threat of a nuclear Iran, and he can get those stated goals. And then he has delivered for America what he has promised to deliver.
So I think, Derek, you are probably what you're saying is in line with what the President is angling for in these negotiations. Yeah. Thank you so much for calling, Derek. We really appreciate it. Look, I think a lot of us do agree with you.
A couple lines are still open. If you want to call in, last chance: 1-800-6-843-110. Let's go to Bill in Wyoming. Bill, go ahead. Hi, thanks for taking my call.
After all this time, I just believe the IRT is playing a shell game. They claim that they don't believe the U. S. is going to be safe in the Harmuz anymore, and they start laying mines while they're agreeing with the ceasefire. Then when they're these boats are taken out, They launch from uh missile sites that how long have they had those.
And then they claim they're the injured party. I just have a hard time believing that uh they'll be honest with uh the nuclear material that they've got, too.
Well, Bill, I I think once again that that goes back to that we We don't trust Iran. We don't trust the leadership there. But back to what we even talked with Rick about. I don't think that the administration officials that are negotiating with Iran trust Iran.
So, the negotiation is getting to a place where they are comfortable with the safeguards they have in place and the access they have, or the access other groups have, that they can trust that the goal is being accomplished, not that they will ever trust the Iranians. And I think what you look at is that the JCPOA. That was the Obama deal with Iran. didn't have genuine safeguards in place. They had to give a big heads up.
When the Iranian inspectors would go in to inspect. The nuclear, the IAEA, the Atomic Energy UN Group, would go in and inspect the nuclear sites. Such a big heads up that they could cover their tracks, or they weren't going to all their nuclear facilities. And yeah, they were playing shell games then. They had reactors set up for things that weren't even doing anything.
for their program just so that they could be inspected. This is part of the problem with the Obama deal, and why so many Republicans were concerned by the initial reports that it seemed like a bad deal, but we don't even know what they are negotiating right now. And look, I know a lot of you got different points of view, and I think let's take one. Ray's calling Pennsylvania line two. Go ahead, Ray.
Yes, good afternoon. I just wanted to say that there is no trust with Iran. There's never going to be any Real deal. with them. They're playing a waiting game.
Obviously, they still have weapons. We have not gone in and destroyed them all.
Now it's time to go in and destroy everything that needs to be destroyed from bridges to their capital, et cetera, et cetera. People may not like to hear that, but the people in America are suffering now with higher oil prices, and it's just going to continue. And Iran is playing a waiting game until November to see what happens with the elections. And if this continues, it's just going to continue to hurt the American people. And there's never going to be a deal, never, ever.
Ray, I think you're absolutely right that, yes, the President's window is right now. Either get this deal done, or you have to go in and finish the job. And that job probably does mean full regime change. Because if you get to November, they already are projecting that they're going to start trying to impeach President Trump on day one. That if they take back the house.
that is going to bog down the administration for anything else they want to do. Forget a legislative agenda, but it's going to bog down everything else because he's going to be dealing with these impeachments the rest of his time in office. The Iranians are trying to run out the clock. They always are.
So I think this is the window. If you don't get a deal, The President's going to either say, eh, I tried and walk away, and it's a legacy, a tarnish on his legacy, or he has to go finish the deal.
Well, you got a question about that. Let's take it real quick. Russ, New York, go ahead. Hi, I'm a little bit more. Yeah.
to know, you know, I voted for Trump twice. The Middle East has been changed forever. Iran said there'll be no more U. S. bases around there, just like we don't want Cuba being armed.
Do you think this was a foreign policy blunder on Trump's part, just like putting a the Zionist regime into Palestine was a foreign policy blunder in nineteen forty eight? Thanks. All right. Well, we kind of figured where that was going. Do I think it could be a policy blunder?
Looked into take away that second part. Look, I think only time will tell. Like I said, I'm willing to be the person who may walk away with egg on his face and say, I was hoping for more. Even if President Trump never bluntly said that that was the goal, there are things that I wish would have happened.
Well,. One. I'm fine with that caller because at least he didn't get on and completely lie and say something nasty. Like he had it to it, but we knew from the premise he probably wasn't for this entire action. But at least he was respectful, if not anti-Semitic.
Still lying. Still lying to the phone screen. Right. But here's the deal. I am still glad that the Ayatollah.
is no more. I think that no matter what, war is political now. You even saw that over the weekend, Memorial Day, where the DNC put on X a post saying. We remember those that were killed in Trump's Iran war. There it is.
the ultimate sacrifice in Trump's war with a rod. They're playing politics. With those that did give the ultimate sacrifice. With Gold Star families, recent Gold Star families.
So you don't want to do it.
So, do I think the DNC, even though they deleted their tweet, are always going to say this was a foreign policy blunder, no matter what the outcome? All right. Hey, that's going to do it for today's show. We want you to be a part of the show all week long.
So join us for the rest of the week live, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time at aclj.org. YouTube, Rumble, ever get your podcast. We're there. Sign that petition if you can.
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