On today's show, we're covering the GOP Midterm Convention as a surprise guest, John Fetterman, makes an appearance. 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. Hey, we're going to be taking calls in the first half hour.
So, I do want you to call me right now: 1-800-684-3110, 1-800-684-3110, because we got a packed back half with guests. We got Rick Grinnell and Mike Bompeo.
So, we're going to only only have time to take calls in this half hour.
So, go ahead and give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. That being said, we are talking about the GOP midterm. Convention. Kicked off last night, goes through tonight as well. Last night President Trump spoke.
And we also saw a surprise guest. That surprised guests from the other side of the aisle, but at this point, someone who is sort of maybe even hated by his own party on the other side of the aisle, and someone that I believe a lot of you have now come to respect. That's right, Senator John Fetterman showed up. Uh via video. But a really impressive video to introduce one of his friends.
I thought it was a powerful moment, essentially endorsing a Republican candidate in his home state of Pennsylvania. He also said nice things about President Trump.
So now we are seeing his move, but we're also seeing some sort of common sense coming out of these states that have largely been purple. And when they have been blue, they haven't always been blue for the reasons why a New York or California may be blue. They've been more blue in terms of union work and those kind of things. Things that have become more, if you will, MAGA. You've seen a lot of that embrace.
And look, we even saw President Trump make that sort of promise and pledge to if the Republicans win the midterms that everyone's going to get a $5,000 check. That's not a very traditional conservative Republican kind of thing. That is very much out of this new playbook.
So we should hear from John Fetterman. And then I'm going to open the lines up: 1-800-684-31-10.
So here is Senator Fetterman. Last night at the remember. The GOP, the Republican midterm convention. Yes, I'm Senator John Fetterman, Pennsylvania. Yes, I'm a Democrat.
Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life. Just a small clip of what he then went on to say, which was again to put his kind of support behind his fellow Pennsylvanian.
Well, and what we have here is a very interesting move because it won. I mean, that takes a lot of political capital to one, get him to do this. And it's not going to win him a lot of friends.
Now, there is a little bit of wiggle room for him.
Now, he is saying nice things about President Trump and Senator McCormick. Senator McCormick won't be up for reelection until years down the road. He was just elected.
So therefore, he's able to say nice things about a Republican that's his colleague and not have to say, I'm endorsing him to vote for him this November.
Now, at the same time. The entire point of this midterm convention is to drive people to vote in the midterms. For Republicans, and you have a Democrat that is still with the party, has not left his party, that has rejected the far-left wing of his party. But doing an introductory video for Senator McCormick, who is going to speak after this video. It shows a lot about one, John Fetterman does seem to want more bipartisanship, more ways for the Senate to actually work.
But this is not just something he can write off as, I just did a favor for my friend. It is at the event that is meant. To win elections in November. Does it bring you some hope? What do you think as we head into these midterms?
1-800-684-3110. Again, 1-800-684-3110. When you see people crossing the aisle and saying, I'm against socialism, I'm for some common sense. rules and laws and I think these people are the right people for that job. What do you think?
Give me a call and let me know again at 1-800-684-3110. Again, we're a very packed. Second half of the show. With guests, so if you want to call in, this is the time to do it. Of course, also September 10th, been one year since the tragic assassination.
Charlie Kirk will talk about that a little bit more as well. As we also head into the 25th anniversary of September 11th tomorrow. Welcome back to Secula. Once again, we are going to take your phone calls at 1-800-684-4. 3110.
We did want to take a second, as we did at the end of the last segment, to say, of course, this is the one year, marking one year since the assassination of. Charlie Kirk.
So we know that a lot of people are keeping their eyes. on a lot of the coverage going from there as well as tomorrow. september eleventh, twenty twenty six, marking twenty five years. Since the September 11th attacks, New York City and the Pentagon, of course, in Pennsylvania, and how that really reshaped and changed our world. We're going to discuss that, I'm sure, at length tomorrow, and we're going to keep things rolling today.
But one of the more interesting things last night, of course, was the GOP midterms.
Some of you midterm. Convention. First time this has been held. Again, it's kind of a get-out-the-vote moment here, and it is countering counter-programming. The NFL, which premiered last night, and Will, I don't know, maybe some people that went out last night to have one last.
Oh Charlie's roll? Yeah. Oh, Charlie's closed up. One of our friends this morning said 9 o'clock last night. They went.
Last service. Wow. Serve the last cup of. The rolls were good. Rolls were good.
Cup of potato soup last time. It's a different world we live in now, it's a different world, especially because, one, we've never seen a midterm convention. Oh, well, I was thinking, I was still the Charlie's. But what you see is that they made it kind of look like a Presidential nominating convention. They had the different states' banners on the floor of the convention hall, they had speakers that came out.
But this, I think, at one shows the testament of where this was President Trump's idea. He wanted this made-for-TV event, and they were able to pull off some surprises, like this video from John Fetterman. They got attention to it. People went and watched this. And I think we should play the second half.
In the first half, we showed where he was introducing himself, saying he's a Democrat, but he's a common sense Democrat. Then here's what he went on to say about Senator McCormick as well as the President. Let's go ahead and roll this for people and then talk about it afterwards. Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done, and he's going to fight for Pennsylvania. I'm proud to count him as my friend.
Right back over my shoulder, that's the iconic U.S. Steel Mill. And that's exactly the kind of thing that will work together and will work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life right here in the Steel Valley. I have this opportunity to introduce this great American, a great senator, and yes, he's in a different party, but I'm proud to count him as my great friend.
So for everybody in Dallas, I'm here to introduce Dave McCormick. And then Dave McCormick, the senator from Pennsylvania, who serves alongside John Fetterman. came out and spoke. But this entire video, and once again, it's a total a little bit over a minute. But it shows the as we said the endorsement of Dave McCormick as a U.S.
senator. saying that he gets the job done and he's fighting for Pennsylvania. That is So foreign to the entirety of the political rhetoric that we see these days. And I think. Why it was such an incredible moment, just as a political observer, to see this happen, is that people that are fed up with a lot of the fighting, a lot of the back and forth, the rhetoric, that they were trying to get to see this.
This is the moment these people are going to see. A lot of people that didn't tune in to watch the speeches. Maybe they were watching the NFL. Maybe they were at O'Charlie's, as you said. It's a Wednesday night.
In September, when people weren't accustomed to watching an event like this, I will be completely honest and transparent. Until yesterday, before we started prepping this show. I didn't know this event was happening. Yeah. I had been out of town for a week.
I didn't really pay attention to what's going on in the news. I didn't know there was a midterm convention. I didn't certainly not know that you would have the heavy hitters showing up and that you'd have President Trump making an appearance last night. And of course, what's making headlines remember is more of the kind of Trumpish moments, not necessarily the substance that came out of this.
So I think this was a brilliant move. Whoever was able to accomplish pulling off a Senator Fetterman. I mean, look, we've seen it before. I feel like you've had, especially Southern Democrats that would show up in Republican conventions in previous years, but that was even before the current. stature and the current state of our country where Crossing those lines.
Can be very detrimental to your political future.
Well, and once again, this wasn't, say, an event surrounding like a passage of legislation that was bipartisan that Senator Fetterman was a part of, right? Like you could imagine that. But even this, just the fact that he's there and saying positive things about President Trump. and a Republican senator. Like I said, it's kind of mind-blowing that it seems so foreign to our discourse these days.
But I think that's exactly why it was such a powerful moment and why many people, as we said, that didn't watch the midterm convention are going to end up seeing that clip. And that's gonna make them maybe think, hmm. Maybe Maybe they aren't as evil as we thought. Maybe Republicans aren't all the rhetoric that we see. And that's what's important for a midterm voter.
I feel like that is why that moment, I'm very curious if there's another surprise tonight, because they were able to do something that no one would have had on their bingo card. What is on the docket tonight? I'll pull up the litigation. We've already had President Trump and more speeches. And I believe either President Trump speaks again or the vice President speaks or some other combo.
But it is President Trump made this event. Like this wasn't an event that has ever happened before. There's no real reason other than just to rally the base. The people that win their nominating process in their primaries, they don't have to have delegates then go as you do. The reason for Presidential conventions is because delegates go and officially nominate.
The party, the Presidential candidate for their party.
So it's not a necessary event, but it is an intriguing one. Of names that you would know, I would say that are appearing tonight. There's a lot obviously appearing, but you have Senator Ted Cruz, you have Mike Johnson, you have a tribute to Charlie Kirk that will be happening: Mike Rogers, Governor Abbott, you have quite a few more. And then it is headlined: you have RFK Jr. Caroline Labbitt.
Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Vance, and once again, President Trump as well.
So they will be wrapping that up tonight, the two of them. But you have this sort of other heavy hitters list coming in before.
So it should be pretty interesting to watch. Of course, all of that could change. We know that has happened over the time. There'll also be freed American hostages speaking. There'll be a lot of other people that'll be surrounding this whole event.
Well, and I think even that, that, you know, things can change. I think that the original lineup was J.D. Vance was speaking one night and President Trump was speaking the other. And they even last minute kind of shifted around the lineup there to, I think, have the most impact. President Trump speaking both nights is actually very interesting.
It shows how much he is paying attention to these midterms and how, obviously, his agenda really kind of hangs on which way the midterm goes. And I think that that shows of coming up with novel things, new ideas, is what actually got President Trump elected the first time and re-elected. Is that, remember, Republicans were like, let's not even use TikTok because of the security threats. We get that. But President Trump's campaign also realized, you know where voters are?
On to he has not been afraid to go and do things that are different than the traditional way of doing politics in the Republican Party. I think it's, in some ways, could have even been seen as a risk of having someone like John Fetterman send that video. Obviously, people have warmed to him because he speaks common sense on the conservative side, but at the same time, that's still. Putting someone up that was a big boogeyman in the political sphere when he was running for election. Uh, so he's not up for reelection until 2028, but I think if he doesn't leave the party, I think that they will be primarying him almost without a doubt.
If it wasn't already certain, it is certain now. And of course, tonight they'll also be doing a tribute to the 25th anniversary of September 11th.
So I think there'll be a lot of that building up. The CEO of Tunnel to Towers is appearing. But you also have, you know, the founder of Silk Road, who remember was pardoned, will be making an appearance. That's kind of a wild one. That is wild.
That is not. And I think that is. That is playing to the libertarian angle of the Republican Party or the MAGA movement. That may be the one that gets me to tune in, to be like, why is that? Right.
That's a very fascinating. Move. And once again, I think some of the libertarian support, especially because of the Iranian conflict, has eroded from the MAGA base. That was a big coalition that actually between the RFK Jr. side, that was more the health side libertarian, as well as the no-new war side.
He courted them in the 2024 election and actually got a lot of support. That kind of eroded because of the Iran conflict. And a lot of libertarians, I wouldn't say, Uh as a whole, but a lot of people that Anti-libertarians are anti-Israel, and a lot of times that becomes anti-Semitism. This is an interesting play to try and get them re-engaged for the midterm. Let's take a look at that coming up.
Hey, I want to hear from you. We do have some phone lines open, really, when the last chances will be on the air today.
So, if you have a comment on any of these, whether that is that Republican convention that's happening in Texas currently. Whether you wanna talk about even the one year, like you said, the one marking one year since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I'll take some calls coming up in the next segment, and then we're gonna move on to our second half hour. We got Rick Rinnell joining us and Mike Pompeo, so don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Sekulow. You know, it's a very interesting time in society. We're dealing with a Midterm election that is only a few weeks away, and it's a midterm election that really does have big consequences. Not that they don't always, but I feel like the eyes aren't on them as much as they have been this time because we know, I think knowing that you have two years left of a President Trump administration. And that's it.
So what's going to happen in the final two years knowing President Trump is not up for reelection? And there'll be a new President. Like it or not, there'll be a new President in two years.
So, what can President Trump get done in those last two years? And this is going to be. a real moment here. If it turns more blue in this country, or you even have a one-sided situation where you could have. a potential of two years of a lame duck presidency, if you will, in terms of getting anything done.
So the eyes are much more on this midterm than they have before, including this GOP midterm conviction, which has never happened before. And you even had President Trump going out there and making big claims like, hey, if the Republicans win, that means we'll have more economic freedom and I'll be able to give you all $5,000 checks. An interesting play from President Trump. One that, again, doesn't necessarily speak to traditional conservatism, doesn't necessarily speak to that, but does speak to working class America, as he has done for many, many times over the last decade. Right.
And I think we also have to look at the makeup of the Senate as well, because right now, as it stands, the Republicans still have a good chance of maintaining that.
So that would also show that even it's divided within both houses of Congress, that you're looking at a deadlock there. Things may not even make it to the President's desk, especially when you look at the types of members of the House that we know what their day one agenda is going to be if they take back over. It's going to be impeaching President Trump for a third time. We've already discussed this. They've already kind of telegraphed that.
And if Hakeem Jeffries wants to keep his job as the leader of the Democrats in the House, he's going to have to. Basically, go along with what a lot of these insurgent candidates want. They will be able to kind of hold his feet to the fire in a sense and say, these are the agenda items we want, not what would be something that's even able to be passed out of the Senate to get to the President's desk. I want to play this too, because this goes back to the surprise by John Fetterman. This is how MS Now decided to talk about it.
You have Jin Saki on her show talking about this moment where John Fetterman, by video, introduced Republican Senator Dave McCormick. And she's talking to Mitch Landrew. Who was the mayor of New Orleans? He was a rising star in Democrat politics during the Obama years. He was seen as someone who was considering making that leap and run for President.
He definitely put feelers out. He definitely wrote the book that you see potential candidates write. And that all kind of fell apart.
So I guess now he's just a commentator on MS Now. But he was seen as kind of a more moderate. Type of Democrat. He was a mayor in New Orleans, but did a lot of outreach with the state leadership as well. Here's how he framed.
The John Fetterman Introduction byte 2. I mean, his biggest risk right now is he's going to be primaried. Like Chris DeLuzio, who knows what he'll do, others may primary him. I don't understand why he's doing that. But to me, it feels like Democrats need to be clear-eyed that he might flip.
Parties, but I just saw that. You haven't seen it. I have not seen it. And I'm flabbergasted by it in this sense, that I'm a common sense Democrat that doesn't like the extremes either, but I would never do something as stupid as that. Yeah.
Would never do something as stupid as that is the way he framed. John Fetterman introducing his Friend. Dave McCormick Who he was showing the work they have done for the industry of Pennsylvania.
So I think that also is very revealing.
Someone that would consider themselves a a common sense Democrat also that goes on and calls what John Fetterman did stupid.
Now, politically speaking, perhaps. But it's also telling that someone that would call themselves a common sense Democrat wouldn't say, you know, is also pretty courageous. He went out there and said, look, this is someone I can work with. Especially that it wasn't someone that's up for election this cycle. It's actually Dave McCormick's next election is after John Fetterman's.
I think it also shows that John Fetterman has a bigger plan here. And I think for a lot of these, you start calling people stupid and you start saying that you're flabbergasted and all this, you're not thinking like a politician thinks, which is, I am 100% sure. They had these decisions and these meetings and said, Yes, we're going to do this, and here's why, and here's how it's going to impact my future, and here's what I'm willing to risk, and here's where I'm planning on going. And I think you're probably going to see if Senator Fetterman wants to have a future in the Senate. As a Democrat.
You'll see some changes there. I also think you've seen him plant seeds to no longer at least maybe be a Democrat, not necessarily become a Republican.
So he's going to start planting those seeds to try to get people from both sides of the aisle who are a bit more common sense, but maybe they are more traditionally left of center. In Pennsylvania. But are not as far left as what is being presented currently. From modern Democrats and going, oh, maybe I could carve out a piece here. Maybe I carve out a piece here and I can become an independent representative, not unlike a Bernie Sanders, but for, instead of for a Vermont, for a Pennsylvania.
What does a Pennsylvania independent look like? And maybe that is more of a purple candidate. Don't think those conversations aren't happening. And if you don't think they're happening, and you don't think this is a piece of that puzzle, then you're a fool yourself.
Well, and once again, the majority of the policies and things that John Fetterman votes for. Are not priorities of Republicans. They're not even ideologically.
Well, over 90% of you votes for the Democrats. Right. So when you start to look at that, it's like, oh, they're going to throw him out of the party over having a friend in the Senate that's a colleague. It used to be, that was the criticism of the Senate. that they got along too well.
In the Senate, that their colleagues actually were friends outside of the political debate, but also look how many people hated or were so upset with the outpouring of love for Lindsey Graham after he passed away. Right. People were upset that their representatives was saying he was a good man that I enjoyed working with, even if I disagreed with him. They were, you know, they were calling for their heads. over just being a human being.
So I think Senator Fetterman is well aware that that's not how normal people and normal society works. And maybe he can make a play to those people.
Well, as well as the big issue is that he also supports Israel. Of course. And that has become a non-starter when it comes to the apparatus of the DNC. And it's only going to get worse after this election. Any hint of that, that when you see how many individuals that align with the DSA or even aren't aligned with the DSA, but have basically there's a line in the sand within the Democrat Party.
And John Fetterman has said, you know, if that becomes a thing where we are officially. The anti-Israel Party, I'm out. Yeah. And so that's kind of his line in the sand as well. It is.
And you've seen a lot of interviews with him discussing that. I saw an interview with him with Jon Stewart where, you know, I thought it was actually a pretty respectful interview where they went back and forth. And then at the end, which I always hate when they do this, you know, the guest is gone. And then they decide: oh, well, that was an insane conversation. I can't believe how crazy it is.
You didn't have the guts to necessarily say that to the person's face. You said you disagreed with them and that kind of thing, but you couldn't. You had to wait until you got your little minions around you to say, oh, wasn't that crazy? And they used to do that all the time. On CNN and other sources, and not just that.
Look, I enjoy a lot of these broadcasts, I watch all sides. But I don't like when they do that to guests. It always feels like that is uh obnoxious. With that being said, 25 seconds left from this first half hour. You can still call in.
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Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow, second half hour of the show. It's going to be a packed show.
Look, we are covering a lot of different things. The GOP midterm convention, of course, marking one year since that horrible assassination of Charlie Kirk, and of course tomorrow being the 25th. Anniversary of the September 11th attacks. We're going to talk about that as well. And we got more coming up from Mike Pompeo that we're going to talk a little bit.
We're going to shift topics completely on that one. And with Rick Rinnell.
So don't go anywhere. Very packed first half hour.
Now we're going to have a very packed second half hour. We do have a call coming in. We can take that call. Let's go to Royce calling about Senator Fetterman's appearance. Go ahead.
Uh How are you doing? I actually think that Fetterman is a plant from the Democrats, and I have a. A theory as to why it's happening like that. Back in the early two thousands, There was a senator that made a backhanded comment. about abortion.
And the Democrats disowned him, completely, kicked him off of all the committees He ran to the Republicans and said, I want to be a Republican. The Republicans shunned him. Then he ran to be a libertarian, and he went into obscurity. But if the Democrats were not going to shun this guy, and they were going to sit there and say he's okay for Fetterman to do. talk good stuff about Republicans.
He's got to be a plant.
Well, I think you are seeing a lot of leadership and things that are displeased with Senator Fetterman. I think we will see a lot of people publicly say they didn't like what happened. I do think the fact that he is in the Senate is, as we've said, many times there are a little bit better friendships in the Senate than there are in the other chamber. But I do think it is almost definite that they are going to support someone else in a primary against him. And there's going to be a lot of money to try to get him out of that seat in just two years.
They aren't going to kick him out of the Senate. I think if they were to disown him as a party over the Israel thing, I think that that would be something that within the Senate they could actually lose a lot of support for. They're not ready to cross that line yet. But I think we are going to see a lot more of that after the midterm. As I said.
And it'll be interesting to see how it it plays out. your your analogy to others in the past and how he hasn't necessarily just been completely thrown out of the party. I think they understand that that's a very dangerous game right now because Pennsylvania is a swing state. It is a state that is the old, kind of the way Ohio used to be, the way Pennsylvania goes, so goes the nation in Presidential politics. I think they're afraid of upsetting the apple cart too much for 2028.
They've already got their eyes on that. They're almost looking beyond the midterm at this point when it comes to things like that.
So I think it would be, he is challenging them. To kick me out. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's what I'm saying. This is all planned.
This is all planned. And look, we're going to get into that a little bit more in our next segments. We got Rick Grinnell joining us. You always know his political point of view and where he's coming at from the campaign world and everything is always spot on.
So you're not going to want to miss that. And then following him, we got Mike Pompeos. It's going to be a packed back half of the show. But you're not going to want to go anywhere. And I haven't spent really much time talking about this.
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Again, we are marking a few different things here right now. Of course, we are one year since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. We are 25 years since the September 11th attacks. And of course, also we are covering the GOP midterm. Um Campaigns or midterm conventions that is happening.
I'm not used to saying that because it's such a new thing to say. We're going to chat about that when we get back. on Secula. Welcome back to Sekulow. We are joined by Rick Rinnell now.
And look, there's been a lot going on. A lot of people tuned in, hopefully last night, or at least they saw the clips of the GOP midterm conventions. Hard for me to say it, Will. I said that earlier because it's just such something new. Yeah, he'll say a lot of new things, I feel like, in the world of politics.
I feel like I've been saying the same thing over and over again every two years on repeat, but now I get to say something new. It's kind of fun. Right. And once again, it was a new thing. Yeah.
Something that had never been done before, but also something that hadn't been done often was you saw Senator Fetterman introduce a sitting Republican senator, his colleague in the delegation from Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick, who won election just in the 2024 cycle. Rick, he's getting a lot of flack in the press. We saw Mitch Landrew. We played this earlier on with Jinsaki, which I mean, that is a snooze fest. But he was saying that I would never do something as stupid as that.
What was your take on the big surprise of the night, which was Senator Fetterman saying nice things about his colleague and the President of the United States? Look, we've seen conventions in the past where. Former Democrats or former Republicans come back and talk about common sense and they cross the aisle. And it's usually like a big moment for the person. It's kind of an ego boost.
I'm thinking of Adam Kinzinger, you know, who leaves the Republican Party and then bashes the Republican Party. But look, I think this was different last night. Fedderman, who is a sitting senator, decided to come out and say, look, the colleague that I have representing Pennsylvania, my Republican colleague, he's a great guy. And I want to, you know, just. Give him credit for being full of common sense.
I thought it was an amazing moment. It's a brave moment for Federman. He's smart enough to know he's going to get hit by a lot of the Democratic media establishment, and that's exactly what they've been doing. He doesn't really care, to be honest. He's really pushing common sense.
And we've seen him in his votes vote for common sense over the last couple of weeks. It's been great to see. I mean, people pretend. I mean, like I said, the clip that we showed, they said, well, he's stupid for doing this. Clearly, it's an intentional move.
And we brought this up earlier, Rick. It's sort of the sad state because if this had happened 25 years ago or so, it would have been news, it would have been fun. You know, maybe it was like when some blue dog Democrat would show up at the GOP convention and that would happen, and there'd be those conversations, and they would move on, and it would be sort of a moment, but it wasn't that shocking.
Now it's more shocking because of the way we are so divided here. And I even turned back to just a few weeks ago when Lindsey Graham passed away and how there was an outpouring on both sides of the aisle. And it felt like the Democrats that came out and just said, Hey, you know what? It was a pleasure working with him. They took heat for just saying something like that.
Yeah. Look, we've got to get past this. We've got to be able to compliment individuals' votes. I'm certainly not saying that we need a uniparty or that everybody has to act alike. But there should be moments where you compliment your friend.
And also, more than that, we should have senators and congressmen who cross the aisle, get to know each other, have dinner, get to know each other's family. John Danforth, the senator from Missouri, once told me that if you know the family of a colleague, you're less likely to attack them personally and that you're more likely to stick to the policy discussions, which is, I think, exactly what we need.
Well, and I think what's interesting about this moment also is you're already seeing the media, and I am certain we will see elected Democrats fall into the trap. That was set. Because it's not the same. He didn't endorse a candidate.
Now, yes, the entire convention is about the midterm elections, but Senator McCormick isn't up for reelection. And he said nice things about him. He said something about the industry that is within Pennsylvania, which all of his constituents care about. And yet we're going to see. In an election where who really matters?
It's not the fringes of the party, it's the. People who are undecided, more moderate, maybe in if that means anything anymore, suburban voters. That are actually tired of the identity politics and a lot of the vitriol that we see. And they're gonna say, wait a second, they're bashing him? For just saying that, hey, we're getting stuff done for our constituents.
I think that could backfire majorly because they're falling into this trap.
Well, I think you're right because the other thing that's happened is that Fetterman has really stuck to policy discussions. He's talked about biological men in women's sports. He's talked about capitalism. And he's been talking just a common sense about the border and immigration. And so he's stuck to the policy issues.
He's not coming out and saying Republicans are better than Democrats. He's calling out the specific policy issues that he agrees with. I think it's dangerous to go up against someone who's talking about the policy issues because how do you disagree? He's literally embracing common sense. I want to go ahead and actually quickly, Rick, while you're here, take a call.
Let me go to Kathy, who's calling in Kentucky. Kathy, go ahead. Yes, can you hear me okay? All right.
Well, my thoughts are let the Democrats go ahead and primarily him out And I hope he gets a lot of press over it because my family, who has many common sense Democrats. Hopefully, we'll be pulled out with them. That all he's going to do is, you know, they're staying Democrats because they've always been Democrats. But when they see, as we've been telling them, the Democrat Party has left you, if Fetterman gets primaried out, I hope he brings lots of common sense Democrats out too. Yeah, and we know, Kathy, you're in Kentucky that there are a lot of Democrat voters in Kentucky, more so than you would expect.
And again, they probably don't line up. And I think that's true in Pennsylvania, Rick, with this Far left movement that seems to be trying to take over.
Well, look, I think Kathy's point is even a better, larger point. It's not just about his future primary, but how many conservative Democrats across the country are feeling emboldened for this election because Fetterman is giving them a little bit of cover to complement the policy issues that are common sense coming from Republicans. Yeah, and I think once again, as Kathy mentions, Kentucky, you see those places around the country that. It's still sticking to that label of Democrat. But what we've learned over the past decade now is that as the Republican Party has become a bigger tent party, is that.
The the traditional working party. Those that stand up for those that earn their living the hard way throughout this country and really are the backbone of this country. We talked about with J.B. McCuskey, the Attorney General of West Virginia earlier this week, as they took on New York with their climate super fund. That really the Democrat Party has left behind blue-collar workers in this country, people that actually built the infrastructure and continue to maintain this country and all of the growth that we've seen over our history.
The party has left them.
So they may still have these labels that they've clung to for their history, that we are Democrats, but that doesn't really define the politics of what a Democrat is anymore. And I think, as you mentioned, Rick, that's what this is showcasing more than anything. Look, Senator McCormick did a great job of that last night when he was talking. He had all of these individuals come out who are working class union guys, common sense Democrats, some of them, some of them common sense Republicans. They came out to highlight all of the buildings and the trades and the infrastructure processes that they are supporting.
I think that that was a great moment because individuals who are union members or common sense Democrats see someone like that coming out and saying, you know what? I'm just like him. I'm a worker in America who wants common sense policies. I want to close the border. I want to support capitalism.
I don't want biological men in sports. The Democrats are on the wrong side. Lastly, I'll just say the Democrats have given us a big gift because their candidates are losers. Their candidates are far left radicals. We need to put their candidates on TV more and more, let them speak freely.
They will sink themselves. Thank you, Rick, for joining us. We always appreciate your insight, especially right now as we head into a really contested political moment here, an election heading up in just a few weeks. It's always great to hear from Rick Rinnell, who is so involved in so many of the important elections of our time. With that being said, next segment, we're going to be joined by someone completely different.
Mike Pompeo is joining us. What do you think about that? Hit me up in the comments. We got phone lines open still for you. I don't know if we're going to take calls or comments in the next segment because we'll, we're going to be shifting topics a little bit here.
So if you're kind of sick of hearing about the midterm convention, we're going to hit some other things. That's right. Yeah, we've got some updates on one, the conflict in Iran that has seemed to ratchet back up a little bit this last week or so, as well as some news out of Russia and Ukraine that we are going to ask the Secretary about as he has a new article up at aclj.org that's fascinating. We'll ask him about it, but it is titled. Russia is testing the West.
Will we pass? And we are going to ask him about that just coming up. That being said, also, go to aclj.org because all of this content at aclj.org is available for you without a paywall. We're one of the few Websites, I feel like, where you don't have to go in and start paying to watch, to listen, to read. We don't do that here, but that's only because you support the work.
And because you support it, we're able to offer it free to everyone.
So, go to aclj.org, spend some time on there, read this article, Secretary Pompeo. If you like it, share it. If you feel other ways, share it with your friends. Have these discussions. We want to open up real conversations.
With Americans across the country, obviously. And of course, our content exists all over the world because of you. Be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Is Secretary Pompeo with us?
Just making sure we got him. Yes, we have Secretary Mike Pompeo joining us. Got a new article up on ACLJ.org that's worth reading. You should go check it out. Again, in all our great content, ACLJ.org.
We'll let you take it from here. That's right, Mr. Secretary. A lot of this has been overshadowed because of how much the Iran conflict is in the news. But what we are still dealing with and seeing are the aggression of Russia as it deals with the war in Ukraine.
And there was one yesterday just reports that Zelensky had to delay a flight because of a drone incursion near his airport where he was flying from Moldova to Norway, as well as. We're seeing that the Wall Street Journal reported that there was a failed drone attack by Russia on a German airport less than a week ago. And at a time we know that the CIA director A position you've held before, went to Moscow to warn the Russians not to attack NATO members. We are seeing more aggression towards the West. by Russia.
Uh what do you think Russia's end game is with this? Great to be with you. My sense is that Putin is testing. He's testing. Europeans to see if He can by flying some drones.
The drone attack you talked about was in Leipzig at the airport in Germany. There have been several dozen incursions All of them intentional. That is, they're testing to see what the air defenses look like, what the radar systems look like. But most importantly, they're testing to see European resolve if If they're successful at making some modest attack on Europe, will the Europeans stop supporting the Ukrainians? That's what he certainly hopes for.
And so I don't see any reason to think that he will slow down that effort. I hope Director Ratcliffe was unambiguous about what it would mean if he came after NATO in a serious way. But I think Vladimir Putin's goal is to test the European governments, the European political leadership, to see If they are prepared to do the necessary to defend their own sovereignty.
Well, and this article that you have up, and I encourage everyone to go read it because at a time when there is multifaceted conflicts around the world and our United States is front and center in a lot of them, being able to read the analysis that you provide is so strong and such a benefit to the ACLJ members and listeners. But this article is: Russia is testing the West. Will we pass? And you mentioned that these incursions, these are tests, they see how we respond. How can the West pay?
Pass these tests? And do you think that even these countries will be unified in their response?
Well, look, Europe historically has had trouble becoming unified around these things because there are frontline states, states like the Baltic nations and Poland, and then there's nations that don't face the crisis as immediately. We certainly saw that in World War II, right, where the frontline nations fought and the others just hoped like heck that the bad guys would leave them alone. But what I think Europe has learned in the intervening period is that they've got to do this together. And so we can absolutely pass this test. You pass this test by when there is an incursion like this, you impose Real costs.
You make clear you, A, you saw it, B, you know it was them, and then C, and here's the cost that we're going to impose in response to that. Look, you fly a drone inside the border, nobody's injured.
Okay, fine, response doesn't need to be over the top, but it needs to be crisp and clear and the threat of continued escalation and response needs to be so certain that Vladimir Putin can be deterred because we talked about this before. The goal isn't to win a war against the Russians. The goal is to deter them from continued aggression and continued threats against Europe. Secretary Pompeo, we also have seen quite an uptick happening in Iran. And again, it feels like this always happens when we have you on, that these conversations kind of circle around themselves, Ukraine, Russia, and Iran.
You had President Trump last night at the midterm convention making a statement saying that the conflict would come to an end after the midterm election. We know that that has been something we've heard now numerous times as we've head to an ending and that it doesn't happen and so on and so on. And I think you've been pretty clear on your stance. But do you think. That the IRGC now is looking towards what happens after a midterm election.
Congressional control could be more flexible with them maintaining power. I absolutely think that the Iranians, the IRGC leadership, is thinking about what does it mean to have a President of the United States who no longer has to be contemplating a midterm election. I suspect they're going to test him between now and then. They're going to test the United States of America because it puts the President in a very difficult spot. But if there's one thing that the IRGC has consistently underestimated, it's President Trump's willingness to respond, not just tit for tat, but when they come after us, even if no one's injured, no one's killed, that he responds in a way that imposes real costs on them.
And what we have now with the blockade in place, with no Iranian product being able to make its way through the strait and out so that Iran can receive revenue. and Secretary Bess and the Treasury's economic efforts, the RGC is now trying to figure out how do you get out of the box. I suspect they'll continue to act out, and I suspect President Trump will continue to respond. And that is how we ultimately get to what President Trump is talking about, an end to this conflict where the Iranian regime realizes that they cannot get enough leverage on the United States to make us back down, back off and give them what they ultimately want, which is to be left alone to continue their terror across the world. Mr.
Secretary, thank you so much for joining us today. I know you're traveling, but it's always great for our audience to hear from you, as well as to be able to read these pieces that you publish at aclj.org. And I encourage everyone to go check that one out. It's titled Russia is Testing the West. Will We Pass?
So once again, thank you, Mr. Secretary, for joining us today. And these are real reads, by the way. This is not thrown together content that's up on our website. We have incredible writers here.
And of course, we have an incredible team, including someone like Secretary Pompeo providing great content. And like I said before, and I know that you may think I say this in nausea, but it's just true. When yesterday I'm having to text Will, can you give me an article from this one? Because you're a member over here and I'm not a member over here. And I'm a New York Times, you're a New York Times person.
I'm not a New York Times. I'm over here doing, it gets so confusing and annoying when you're trying to actually stay informed. And what's happening? We decided very long time ago that we would not put a paywall in front of our content.
Now again, that only happens. Because those of you who support us financially allow that to happen. Because if not Then there is no way to pay the writers. There is no way to pay someone like a Secretary Pompeo or to have this broadcast on the air each and every day. Because it's important to you that this content reaches as many people as it can, because it's important to you that the legal side of the ACLJ can operate without ever sending a bill to a client.
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So I encourage you to do that today if you can. And with that, we know tomorrow is going to be a heavy day for a lot of people. Again, 25 years since September 11th attacks. We'll be talking about that and a lot more coming up tomorrow. A secular.
