CPAC: Who Is the Future of Conservatism?

Today on Secular, we give our analysis of CPAC. What is the future of the conservative movement?

Who will lead it and what policies will dominate it? We want to hear from you as well. We'll talk about it today on Secular.

Well, welcome to Secular. We are taking your phone calls today. I'd love to hear from a lot of you at 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110 because you heard from Republican leaders, former President Donald Trump, his first major speech since leaving office. You heard from future leaders, current leaders also in the Republican Party and conservative movement who are American friends. Our first proponents are our very own Mike Pompeo and Rick Renell giving major addresses at CPAC. We'll play sound bites from them and from President Trump. We also got the CPAC poll results.

It was interesting to see. Now listen, this was a CPAC held in Florida. So they said if the primary were held today, who would you vote for? If Donald Trump was in it, he got 55% of those who participated in the poll. Rod DeSantis in his home state got 21%. I think Rod DeSantis is a great governor and a potential candidate if Donald Trump doesn't run for office in 2024. But what it shows that even in your home state, when CPAC is held in your home state, Donald Trump is dominating you by 30 plus points. And that's not to say that they're actually running against each other. And I think that this was held back in Northern Virginia.

Rod DeSantis doesn't get the 21 points. What was more interesting to me was the support for President Trump's policies. So we say, where is the party going? And the President made clear, let's play that soundbite. He is not going to be splitting up the Republican Party. He's got no intention of doing that.

And let's take a listen so you've heard it loud and clear. We're not starting new parties. You know, they kept saying, he's going to start a brand new party. We have the Republican Party.

It's going to unite and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party. That was fake news. Fake news, no.

But wouldn't that be brilliant? Let's start a new party. Yeah, let's start a new party and divide that rub. So what we see is 97% of the people approve and 87% strongly of the job that Donald Trump did as President. This is, again, after he's left office, after a controversial election defeat when people were kind of down on everything.

And so what you see there is that whoever becomes the nominee in 2024, it's America first as of now. That is the movement that is taking the Republican Party over. The populist movement, the movement that's brought in the working class, thankfully.

Finally, the message has resonated. More minority groups bringing it to the party. And that's very key to 2022. I think most of President Trump, what he was doing was resetting the stage kind of for what the policies that were so popular under his administration were and why 2022 candidates need to be running on those. Yes, of course, he's not happy with some of those House and Senate Republicans that voted to impeach him.

He named them. He said he wants to run and support primary challenges against them. I think that's fine for him to say.

I think they were out of line to do that because it was an unconstitutional impeachment to begin with. But second, he is really looking towards helping the party build in 2022. He's not just going to wait back and see how things go.

I think that's going to be the big test for how he decides what to do in 2024. But it's clear he is still the leader of the party right now. It is clear that the American First agenda. I mean, take a listen. This was now Rick Rinnell, our senior adviser. Oh, so we don't have enough time to play it. When we come back, I'll play how Rick Rinnell and Mike Pompeo both talked about the American First agenda as being so key, so key.

So what are your thoughts? 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. Today is March 1st. This is the first matching challenge month of the year.

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For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases. How we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists. The ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later. Play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry. And what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secular.

We are taking your phone calls 1-800-684-3110. So the first question we ask is what are the policies that are going to be driving the conservative movement forward? I think President Trump laid them out and I think he was right because 97% of the people attending CPAC approved of the job that he did. So for conservatives who drive the primary wins, who kind of determine who the nominees will be because they vote in primaries, they want to see the similar America First agenda policies keep going.

And this is what Rick Rinnell, senior advisor to the ACLJ, he gave a major speech to CPAC. This is how he opened his speech by one. The doctrine of America First is here to stay. But he also went on to say how you can't undo America First so easily in four years as President for Biden.

Take a listen to Byte 2. As we've seen even in the first month of a new administration, America First's electoral popularity and strategic accomplishments ensure that it no longer belongs to a single party or politician. By successfully realigning U.S. foreign policy with the interests of the American people, America First is now positioned to guide our country through the trials and tribulations of the next generation. So there you go, right there. And he talked about, again, this idea that you're not just going to be able to put America First to the side. Now, Mike Pompeo, also a senior advisor to the American Center for Law and Justice, a very similar message when he talked about, when he opened up his statements to CPAC. Let me see if I've got those right here.

Yeah, Byte 26. So again, you're not just hearing it from President Trump, you're hearing it from some of his closest advisors, his former secretary of state, his former acting director of national intelligence. You know these are two people very close to President Trump.

They continue that close relationship as do we as attorneys for the President. So take a listen to Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state and senior advisor to the ACLJ. America First is right for America.

It's right for each of us. America First secures our freedom and the entire world benefits when America is fearless and bold and strong. And then all the speakers, now we're going to Harry Hutchinson from our policy team first. Harry, each of them then laid out, they went through what America First meant. And for Rick Riddell, what does America First mean? It meant punching through the bureaucracy, and he talked about that.

We have that soundbite, but he talked about that. And then Mike Pompeo talked about America First is all those foreign policy achievements that we were told by the bureaucracy you can't do, by Republicans and Democrats. They both had that message that this isn't about Republicans in DC or Democrats in DC. It's insiders versus outsiders. The insiders may have bested us in the last election for President because of laws that were changed not through state legislatures but by courts and by local governments which is against the state laws in those states and usually their state constitutions. We're bested at that level, but the movement continues and the movement is that insider versus outsider. That's why I don't say it's Republican. It's the conservative movement which is still an outsider movement, but it's gained significant strength where it now runs the Republican party.

I think that's precisely correct, and I think your analysis is spot on. So insiders who are committed to globalism, they're committed to the capitulation of American interests to foreign interests, their influence within the Republican party, within the conservative movement has shrunk, and I think that is a permanent and a welcome move. I also think it's clear beyond question that President Trump's initiative with respect to supporting Israel will continue within the conservative movement despite the elites and their craven capitulation which is ongoing as we speak to Iran and the Iranian interest. Also, I think you are absolutely correct to say that the conservative movement is now centered around advancing the interests of working class Americans as opposed to the interests of the elites in Washington and in California and in New York City, and that was one of the primary drivers of the opposition toward President Trump.

He energized working class Americans to fight for their interests rather than allowing their interests to be permanently subordinated to the interests of the elites. Robert's calling from Maryland on Line 1. Hey Robert, welcome to Sekulow, you're on the air.

Yes, hi, how you doing Jordan? I wanted to ask you the question, in addition to President Trump, who do you believe are some of the other major prominent leaders within the conservative movement and what specific policies does the conservative movement have to promote and advance in order to help promote the nation? So, you know, it's interesting if you look at the CPAC poll, and obviously Ron DeSantis did very well, but he also is a governor of one of the biggest states in the country, so he is a rising star, and I think that he will, you'll see him more and more, especially once COVID is over, I think to see how economically diverse Florida is, how it's bringing in new people constantly. It's one of those states that's always growing, the cost of, there's different kinds of cost of living, different kinds of areas you can move to where more expensive, less expensive, but constantly, you know, it's kind of like prices are rising. That's usually a good thing for communities when the price is going up, people are still moving there to escape liberal states, and it's becoming more of a red state than it was even, you know, eight years ago. It's kind of like Ohio is becoming more red as well, so I think Ron DeSantis, obviously, Kristi Noem from South Dakota is making a much bigger, you know, impact.

I think post-COVID, and because of COVID, how the state handled it, that's a smaller state, but she got a lot of attention since she went from Congress to governor, and so certainly as for being governor, a lot more attention. But then you look at a couple of our senior advisors, Rick Grenell and Mike Pompeo getting some of the biggest applause, and Mike Pompeo right up there, actually tied with people like Ted Cruz, who's run for President before, and Rand Paul, who's run for President before in that CPAC poll. Mike Pompeo's right up there, and Rick Grenell, I think those kind of leaders, those kind of leaders specifically, are the ones who are saying, Nikki Haley also, she's had some skirmishes with the President, but she still, I think, believes in that America first agenda. The policies of the President, and what we saw in all of the polling that came out this weekend, Robert, and I'll go around the room, Dan, to you, is it President Trump's policies, the way he ran the U.S. government, conservatives want more of? Yeah, the policy issue, I think it was clear that the President had a, was it 92, 93% of those polled were very pleased with the policy direction of the country during the Trump administration. The split, if you will, comes when you start looking at what is the, who do you want to be the torchbearer, and on that one it was a little bit more diverse, and not surprisingly, but I think the names you mentioned are likely people that, if they were to run, would be very capable of running successfully for President of the United States. The question is, if President Trump is in the mix, and he decides, I think they've all concluded, everybody's concluded, if you're at 55% now, and you're just, that was your first speech back, and you start again kind of taking the reins back over as the leader of this movement, which is the most popular policy initiatives, it's pretty tough for any of those people to mount a campaign seriously to take him on, since most of them, actually all of them, would be running on the same message. So why would you not go with the guy who created it, if he decides to run? Now we're not going to know that for a couple years, and I think what was good from President Trump's speech is that he went right to the heart of 2022 as well, and it was a, while yes, he wanted to air some of his grievances because he hasn't had an opportunity, he's been shut off all of these social media outlets, and I understand why he wanted to air some of those grievances and call for more ballot security and election security.

You think the RNC just launched a new, you think that's outside the mainstream, the mainstream media hits him on that, but the RNC just launched a new election security initiative, and so let's hear from the President on this at CPAC. We're in a struggle for the survival of America as we know it. This is a struggle.

This is a terrible, terrible, painful struggle. The path ahead will not be easy, but we will win. We are going to win. Ultimately, we always win.

So I mean, there you go. It's looking first towards the midterm elections, and I thought, Than, that's what we saw, that's where President Trump can be most helpful for the House and the Senate. I mean, Kevin McCarthy was saying he would bet his own personal house that they'll take back the House of Representatives. Conservatives would be certainly really excited to see this. That's also a big test for the party. It's a huge test for the party and for the American First agenda to continue moving forward into 2024.

If they take back the House and they take back the Senate on running, not necessarily with President Trump, but running on the policies of President Trump, if they take back the House and the Senate, then you can't, that is clear where the Republican Party moves, Than, is to the party of make America great again, America first. Yeah, and I think they'd have a great chance to do that, Jordan, especially if they run on the policies that the base has been very clear about. They want individual liberty. They want D.C. to be diminished in their lives. And I think that's especially true after COVID, and Jordan, I think the straw poll, the leaders of President Trump, Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem, I think it drives that point home. The other point I'd make politically, Jordan, this discussion about primaries always happens at this stage of the cycle, and quite frankly, that can be good for a party.

Afterwards, of course, you've got to come together and win elections, but it's very clear that the policies we saw over the last four years, those are the winning policies in 2022 and in 2024. You know, two of the main three speakers at CPAC are now special advisors to the ACLJ. One of the biggest speakers at the conference is one of our clients at our private law firm. So again, just to know our impact folks at CPAC even, it speaks for itself.

It's our matching challenge month that's just begun. Donate and double the impact your donation. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Alright folks, welcome back to Secular. Now this week we're going to be joined again, I think it's tomorrow, by Rick Grenell, by Secretary Pompeo on Wednesday.

Live will be joining us and on Friday. So again, they were just coming out of CPAC and kind of seeing those grassroots movement. It's a different CPAC obviously.

It's a lot less people because of COVID. They were able to find a location in Florida to host it, which was good for Matt Schlapp. I'm glad they were able to do that and have the President give him that opportunity to make another really address to the nation. It's unusual, most former Presidents aren't so active, but he has pledged to take an active role to help the Republican Party in the midterm elections. I think the big question now is not that people want him involved.

They understand that. Do they really want him to start thinking about building an apparatus again to run for President? Or are they looking for someone new to carry on that mantle? I think that is an open question. I think the results of the CPAC poll, which is small, I like to hear what our people think. I mean, who do you think should be the torchbearer for the next run? I know it's very, very early, 800-684-3110.

You could give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. But I think the key to anybody's success here is what's going to happen, Harry, in the midterm elections. If the conservatives, if Republicans can get back the House and the Senate, well, then the message is a resounding message and it probably would increase, depending on health and everything else of the President, his ability and desire to run. If the House and the Senate stay in Democratic control, I think it's a very different case.

I think that is correct. And so the key issue there is whether or not the Republicans can unify behind a coherent and consistent message. I also think the key there is can the Republicans, when they run for the House and the Senate, attract the support of working class voters? Now, to be clear, the Biden administration is doing its best to encourage working class voters to support Republicans because essentially the Biden administration, particularly in the arena of energy policy, is throwing American workers out of work. And so the Biden administration continues to push an agenda which diminishes the importance of fossil fuels when fossil fuels, to use a pun, have fueled some of America's recovery. And so I think it's very, very important for Republicans in the House and Senate in the next two years to garner populist support.

I wanted to ask you this, Jordan, because you have done, and fan too, because you both have done campaigns. So it's, I mean, we just feel like we just finished one up. Yeah. But the truth is the House campaigns will start up again. Already have. Already really have? Yeah.

Okay. Because they never really stop because they're running every other year. So they're having to constantly raise money, constantly prepare for the next race because the House, they only get, you know, these two-year terms. The Senate races, you know, it's about 30, it's always about 30ish that are up. And then you have a number of which you can kind of just already kind of cross off the list, this is going Democrat, this is going Republican.

You look at open seats in swing states and then you're looking at, you know, seats that are in play, if you will. Those are already starting to. So they're only a couple of years away. So it's not like they're just going to start thinking about it. They're starting to make, they're already declaring candidate seats. Do you think George is back in play? It's interesting. We're not getting a clear, I haven't gotten a clear message, you know, we saw David Perdue say he's not going to run again.

I thought that was interesting. Kelly Loeffler has not said she won't run again. And Than, has anyone else kind of, Doug Collins has not said like he's going to run.

It doesn't sound like that because he would be starting now. So we don't know in Georgia yet who is going to take on necessarily Raphael Warnock. He's only got two years of a special election.

That's what everybody will be looking at, obviously. Yeah, we don't know yet, Jordan. And look, I mean, those are the questions that are going to have to be answered very early in this cycle. You know, having spent some time in the House of Representatives, you're absolutely right that those campaigns literally never shut down. You're always running for reelection. But in the case of Senator Warnock, I mean, he was elected to a two-year term.

So he's essentially on the House cycle as well. And honestly, Jordan, I mean, this whole discussion, you know, we talked about primaries being healthy and about them being natural. When you're talking about 2022, though, these kind of early decisions and then rallying behind whoever that candidate will be, those are very important.

And look, it is going to take, to some extent, it's going to take a big tent. You know, a candidate who can win in one part of the country can't win in another part of the country. And so this is the part of that cycle where you start fleshing out who the candidates will be. And there's probably no greater impact on who wins the election than who the nominee is. Yes, ultimately, these endorsements, I mean, I think a Trump endorsement, they matter in primaries. But when you get to the general, you've got to have a great candidate, especially in states where you know are going to be very tight. It comes down to their personality, their likability, their ability to get their message out, what their message is, their background. All of that comes together into making a good candidate for the right state when you're talking about the Senate, for the right community when you're talking about the House.

And the House, I think, is always an easier task. It's only a five-vote House seat you've got to flip. Senate's tough, always. The Senate is way different because, remember, Warnock, we're talking about how he has two years, but you've only got two years to raise for a statewide election. While as other people that have been thinking about running for Senate races over the past few years have got PACs set up, they actually are running. They're just running it a different way. They're putting money together. They just haven't declared their candidacy because you've got to run statewide. So I think, you know, we've got some interesting calls coming. Let's take one of those now, 1-800-684-3110. Luke in Montana online, too. Hey, Luke.

Hello, thank you. I would like to see Ron DeSantis run for President in the next Presidential election and see President Donald Trump back him all the way. Well, I think Ron DeSantis has a very bright and long future in the Republican Party. He was, I don't know if he still is today, but when he was elected, he was the youngest governor in history. And he's not just the youngest governor in history, the youngest governor of a top four state when it comes to population that was hit with COVID hard, that dealt with it in a different way than left-leaning states like the other big states like California and New York.

And it was done much better, the COVID distribution and also the distribution of the vaccine. I also know from personal experience, one of my friends who's a Democrat elected official there was chosen to be their emergency management director. And he was a Democrat. So he reached across the aisle to put the best people in place to get things done, but still maintained in America first and kind of Florida first policy.

And so I think he's a rising star. The question is, the big question is this, if Donald Trump doesn't run, I think he will have to make that decision. Does he want to choose one of these individuals or does he kind of like all, you know, he has very close with a couple of our advisors, Pompeo, Grinnell, and I'm very close with DeSantis. So is he going to choose or is he going to just stand back and say, listen, they're all great. So let the vote be, that's if he decides not to run, because if he does decide to run, I think Mitt Romney's right. The others probably have no chance. I think in a primary, I think that's right.

Not if 95% of the voters want the America first agenda, but that again, we're not going to know that for a couple of years. But when we come back from the break, I want to ask Harry Hutchison this question. We come back for the second half hour.

If you don't get the full hour of the broadcast, you can get it on Facebook, on YouTube, on ACLJ.org, Periscope, Sirius XM, and a lot of stations as well. But Harry, I think the question that I want to focus on when we come back is, all of this is great, but it's also going to depend on how the Biden administration is doing. Because how you are politically successful or not, and we don't wish ill for the country, we want the country to succeed, is going to be which direction they're taking it in. And it's pretty clear what direction they want to go in. Now the question is, can they get it there? Yeah, exactly right. I mean, you know, we'll come back, we'll talk about the COVID relief.

Because we still have it. It's still a mess, and you got Ron Clay, the chief of staff to the President telling everybody, this is the most progressive piece of legislation ever. Well, there goes any bipartisan support, right?

I mean, they're trying to even keep on to reconciliation. First half hour, already done. Second half hour coming up. This is the first day of our matching challenge. Double your impact in support of the ACLJ. Donate today at ACLJ.org.

At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Live from Washington, D.C., Jay Sekulow Live.

And now, your host, Jordan Sekulow. Our first caller brought up Ron DeSantis, and certainly in the poll, obviously CPAC was held in Florida. He got a lot of support for a potential Presidential run.

He was the second highest behind President Trump. But he had this to say, and I think this drives why we're hearing from people not in Florida. The first caller is living in Montana, who like Ron DeSantis because he gets a lot of attention because Florida is a big state. And they've handled COVID differently. They've handled it differently than New York and California. And they've handled it well.

Listen to Bite45. For those of you who aren't from Florida, welcome to our Oasis of Freedom. We are an oasis of freedom in a nation that's suffering in many parts of the country under the yoke of oppressive lockdowns. We look around at other parts of our country, and in far too many places, we see schools closed, businesses shuttered, and lives destroyed. And while so many governors over the last year had kept locking people down, Florida lifted people up. So here, I think, is a critical and a very important statement. And I will tell you that the distribution of the vaccine, for instance, in Florida, I think it's been the best in any place in the country, not even close.

It's been very, very impressive. But Harry, here's what it comes down to. What Ron DeSantis, he was using COVID as an example, but this is really a policy issue. It's the policies that Ron DeSantis adopted in Florida that are different than these other states. So this will be an election or a midterms on policy.

Not personality, because there's so many different people running. I think that's true. Ron DeSantis, unlike Gavin Newsom in California, for instance, or Andrew Cuomo in New York, trusts the American people.

And he has argued, quite succinctly, that if you trust the American people, if you give them the requisite level of information, you can maintain liberty. And that is one of the things that has been missing throughout this entire pandemic, as left-wing governors have used the pandemic to grab more and more power. In addition, we now have a situation involving President Biden and his ability, or inability, as we shall see, to pass a so-called COVID relief bill. I think if you actually look at the details, for instance, of that bill, it does not advance, quote-unquote, COVID relief.

It advances special interest relief. And so there's an emerging split within the Democratic Party between the left-wing progressives and the so-called mainstreamers, which might include Joe Manchin, for instance, surrounding the minimum wage, surrounding whether or not to pack within a COVID relief bill a pro-abortion, pro-eugenics agenda. And I think it will be interesting to see what actually happens as this goes forward. But clearly in the House of Representatives, the left-wingers are in charge, and we shall see what will happen in the United States Senate. I think the test, Jordan, like you said, is in the midterms. If the House comes back to the Democrats, to the Republicans, and the Senate flips back to the Republicans, well, then I think for President Trump and for others, it's a different pathway. If it does not, then you've got to re-evaluate what's going on here.

But you should always be re-evaluating. But I think that's where the policies are going to make a big difference. And foreign policy, I think, is going to become a big part of this, and that's why we beefed up our policy team here at the ACLJ. As you know, we have just brought on the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, as our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. We previously brought on, back in the latter part of last year, Ambassador Rick Grenell, former Acting Director of National Intelligence, to be our Senior Advisor on International Matters as well as National Intelligence. We are expanding the work of the ACLJ and continuing to do that. We will be announcing some new hires in the next coming days. We are in a matching challenge campaign. We do these about four or five times a year.

This is one of them. Go to ACLJ.org and any amount you donate, we get a matching gift for. ACLJ.org.

Have your gift doubled. Back with more in a moment. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases. How we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Sekulow. You know, talking about COVID relief, I want to get to some of your calls, but this soundbite from President Biden's chief of staff, I think it tells you all you need to know about this current package and why it's not getting bipartisan support, why even the moderate Republicans are saying this is not something I can really support. They let us know. It was Ron Klain is the Biden chief of staff at the White House. He was talking to Jory Reid on MSNBC. Listen to how he describes in the question what the COVID bill really is.

Bite 39. How satisfied is the White House with the pace of now, you know, legislation and nominations and everything getting through? Look, we are hopefully just weeks away from final passage of the most progressive domestic legislation in a generation. So most progressive domestic legislation in a generation. Than, not a lot of moderate Republicans are going to get on board with the most progressive piece of domestic legislation in a generation.

It's not a way to sell it to the American people. It's not unifying to say we're doing this as progressives. We're going to keep in the $50 minimum wage. Maybe we'll fire the Senate parliamentarian or we'll have Kamala Harris overrule her or we'll get rid of the filibuster. Now they're calling her a career bureaucrat. Unelected, right. During the campaign promise, it was for targeted and speedy relief to the American people who needed it. If that would have been what they tried to accomplish, it would have been done a month ago. Let me just kind of paint the opposite picture.

Last year, Jordan, there were five... It looks like we lost Than. Let me, again, we'll reconnect with Than.

Can I follow up on what Than was saying? I think it's important. You're looking at the situation when they use the term most progressive domestic legislation in a generation.

Now I want you to think about what we're talking about. We're talking about a COVID relief package that was supposed to aid people in the United States that are in need, Harry, and businesses. Instead, they have done exactly what they said they would do. They turned a bill that should have been bipartisan, COVID relief, into a partisan, progressive, their words, domestic legislation, the most progressive domestic legislation in a generation, a COVID relief plan.

Yes. So I think the real question is where is the targeted relief for American people? Where is the targeted relief for workers who are hurting? The Biden administration maintains that this so-called COVID bill is the most progressive legislation in U.S. history.

Reality is quite different. This bill is chock full of special interest benefits, including a New York state bridge favored by Senate Majority Leader Schumer. It also funds abortion, the National Education Association, which consistently fights efforts to open schools throughout the United States. The bill contains environmental subsidies, food stamps, and it funds the National Endowment for the Arts. Now, some of those things may indeed have a legitimate basis, but not within a COVID relief bill. And so if you look at the COVID bill rigorously, it becomes clear beyond question that it advances left-wing priorities that advance human subordination, including the left-wing dream to advance eugenics programs favored by Margaret Singer. So I think the American people should ask this question. Where is the targeted relief as opposed to where are special interest relief programs?

So, Tam, where is it? It's not in here, Jay. I mean, it's a small version that could have passed weeks ago. And just as we got disconnected there, I started to lay out, there were five of these bills that passed in the last Congress, Jay. All five of them had sweeping bipartisan support. Get this, not a single one of them, Jay, had less than 90 votes in the United States Senate. So if Democrats want to come out and say that we can't get Republicans to support targeted COVID relief, they're denying history because there were five bills that passed with wide-bride partisan support. The truth is, this is about 30% COVID relief and about 70% of veritable wish list. That's why they're going through budget reconciliation.

That's why it's going to be completely partisan. And quite frankly, it's why not a single Republican, Jay, even the ones that know that we need targeted support or targeted relief, not a single Republican should support this bill. Let me go to the phones. 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110.

People have been holding on the line. Let's go to Dion, from Washington State, someone who did not speak at CPAC but is still considered a contender and our former ambassador to the UN. Dion, welcome to Secular Year on the Air. Hello, Jordan. Best wishes to everyone. I hope everyone is well.

Thanks for all you do. Yes, I haven't heard of Nikki Haley or what she might be doing, so my question is just basically, down the road, my personal thinking, be an excellent VP candidate, but I just wanted to get your guys' take on... Yeah, she's definitely setting up a run, no doubt about it. She's setting up the PAC, she's setting up the organization. She's doing events. She's kind of different. She's trying to say, listen, I'm one of those people that agree with the 95% of the CPAC people that agree with the Trump policies, but I don't think it should be President Trump. I think it should be someone new. So she's going to try, I think she's going to try to make a run even if Donald Trump runs. Again, we're talking about four years out, but that's kind of what I see her setting up, and she's doing events, and she's starting to reach out to people, so I know in around May, there's an event we may attend where she's starting to do these in smaller groups now because of COVID to talk to people. That's how people who are trying to say, you know what, I'm not going to just follow what Trump does.

I've got to do where I am in life right now. And that may be, Dion, ending up as a VP pick, but ultimately the VP picks are usually people who run strong campaigns for President that just don't quite get there. Not always, but it will be interesting to see how those kind of people, they were very much Trump supported, and some of the January 6th stuff upset them, but we'll see. They are running, I think, regardless if he runs. But here's the interesting aspect of who's not running. Right now, at least, there was a lot of talk initially there was going to be four or five senators running, and that appears to not be the case. I think that's because Mitt Romney, who is the most recent nominee other than President Trump, said you can't beat him, and you really can't beat the ideology.

So if you are his small part of the party, which I guess is the 1% he used to joke about. What about the Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley? Hawley said no. I think Hawley is a no right now. I think Ted Cruz... Tom Cotton. Tom Cotton, yes, but all of them, including our own Mike Pompeo. I mean, if Rick Renell thought about it, I mean, I don't know if he's thinking about it for this next term, but it would be very tough for them if Donald Trump's in it.

Yes. And I don't think they could really, they could start building apparatuses, but they can't launch until they get a clearance from Donald Trump, but they're going to with plenty of time. The difference will be is we have some out there like Nikki Haley, who are popular, we're already getting calls about it from our audience, who are setting up, and they're saying like, I'm running, I'm basically not saying I'm running yet, but they're not going to be so beholden to what President Trump does. So think if you're his former Secretary of State, you have to be to an extent. Sure, but I think what you're going to see in the days, weeks, months ahead is going to be the kind of what the party starts looking like, what the players in this start looking like.

So we want to know from you at 800-684-3110 what you're looking for. Policy-wise, I think everybody, conservatives like the policies of the President. The question's going to be who is the best torchbearer going forward, and Harry, I go back to this. The midterms will have a lot to say about that. I think that is true, and I also think some of the potential Presidential candidates, they may decide to participate, that is campaign and support certain Republican candidates in the midterms. And the question will be how efficacious they are in terms of advancing the Republican agenda. Right now, other than President Trump, I don't think there is yet a clear alternative, and a lot will depend on whether or not he decides to run again. But certainly in terms of individuals that are well positioned to make a run should he decide not to, I would certainly include Mike Pompeo among the frontrunners. I'm just looking at the questions that we're going to get to in the next segment of the broadcast.

It's very, very telling and very interesting on how people are perceiving this. These are people I'm sure supported President Trump wholeheartedly and would have liked to see a second term for President Trump, but maybe four years from now, maybe there should be. We're getting a lot of that. We haven't gotten a lot of phone calls. It should definitely be Trump, 100%.

I'm not seeing a lot of those. Maybe one up there, but it's still not like saying it has to be or I'm not behind the party. Now, our audience is, I think, a more traditional conservative vote, so they're more tied to the policies than they are a person, even though he was very much the torchbearer of these policies and kind of renewed them and brought them forward.

So it's interesting to see that at 1-800-684-3110. And don't be afraid just because we represent the President in our legal capacity to talk about other names politically for President. This is really kind of talking about who you think should be the torchbearer out there consistently for Republicans, putting forward that America First message, which is so popular.

Who should it be or who should that group include? 1-800-684-3110. And don't forget, this is the first day, March 1st, of our matching challenge. This is a month where you can double the impact of your donation to the ACLJ.

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It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

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Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. I think this is a key line. We've heard it a number of times, I think both these bites from Secretary Pompeo and Rick Reynolds talked about it, but that there continue to be delivered to the American people to understand the difference in our foreign policy approaches between the left and the right. Listen to Secretary Pompeo talking about Jerusalem Bite 29 at CPEC.

We were told you can't move the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. There will be a war. Well, we did and there was not a war. They talked about the Palestinian issue, Bite 31. We were told, and this was believed for a long time, that you can't secure peace in the region, in the Middle East, between Arab nations and Israel without buying off Palestinian kleptocrats. You'll create World War III.

But we did. The Abraham Accords forged a real peace in the Middle East. And I know Secretary Pompeo will be joining us later in the week. He's very troubled by how the administration is publicly going after Saudi Arabia. Yes. When it was Saudi Arabia that was next on the list to make the deal.

Yes. And even they could have done it under the Biden administration. It would have been great for the country.

Still would have been great. But the public shaming of them, which is not like they may not deserve some private, but public shaming of them is going to cause potential trouble in the Middle East. Which is not smart. Which is not smart. Let's take your calls, though.

People that hold on. We'll just go into order. So we'll start with Bill in Texas on Line 1. Hey, Bill.

Thanks for taking my call, Jay. President Trump would be my first choice for President, of course, but whoever may be the candidate, if it is not him, is going to be subjected to the same treatment that he endured for all that time. Because the Democrat Socialists have figured out an angle there where they can make life so difficult for anybody that's in office that it's almost unbearable. Well, here's the thing. Let's not forget that we beat back, and Jordan and I were on that legal team that did the beat back. We beat back Bob Mueller. We beat back Ukraine impeachment. We had good success two out of three cases of the U.S. Supreme Court, the legislative subpoenas we defeated.

And then there was a second impeachment, and we wrote a brief on that, but it was defeated as well. But you've got to get to the White House before that attack even starts. I think where Bill is talking about is that they're going to try to just tar and feather anybody who potentially takes the mantle, yes, of the same. If they hear that same messaging, they're going to say that's racist. That's xenophobic. That's sexist. That's homophobic. This is that.

It's everything. So I do think you're right in the sense that whoever carries the mantle has got to be stronger, as tough as Donald Trump. And that's what we haven't found out yet. These people have to be tested like he was. He is very tough. Most politicians are fairly tough, but never have been put through what he has been put through, and continues to be put through as a former President.

They're still coming after him. Tom in Colorado, line 3. Hey, Tom. Hello.

Hey, you're on the air. Thank you, Michael. My wife and I strongly oppose abortion. We greatly appreciate that President Trump appointed many conservative judges, but my wife and I think that Trump is just too bombastic. And what he did there at the Capitol, I mean, a lot of moderate Republicans blame Trump somewhat, at least. The next Republican candidate needs more votes, and from the strong right.

At this point in my life, I don't know who we want to be the next torchbearer, but it isn't Trump. Okay, that's a very interesting comment. I appreciate you doing the call, Tom. You like the policies, Tom. You like the policies.

You want the policies to continue. Yes. Yeah, I mean, obviously most of them. I don't know. But here's the interesting dynamic in my view.

I'll then turn it over to you. I get that the personality could have been, you know, tough for some folks. I can't think of another Republican, for instance, that would have moved the embassy to Jerusalem. I can't think of another Republican that would have appointed three pro-life justices to the Supreme Court in the United States and got Amy Barrett confirmed.

In two and a half weeks. So I get the personality issues, I get the way it ended, but boy, the policies are hard to beat. You know, I think you have to do a gut check and realize that being a bully, which I think he would admit he has to be sometimes, he's even said he couldn't stand the FDA and they hated him until they got Project Warp Speed going and everybody was shaking each other's hands. But he had to be nasty to the FDA, because he said he couldn't stand the way they talked, couldn't stand the way they acted like, oh, they were so down on getting a vaccine within a year. So sometimes it does take a bully on your side to push forward.

Does it take it another time? I mean, that's why, you know, we're still talking about the traditional folks as the second bearers to Donald Trump. And again, I think there are people like, we're very close to Mike Pompeo and Ron DeSantis, these other individuals, who are tough enough. The difference is no one is going to come at it with the same, I don't care at all about Washington, D.C. I don't care one bit, come after me with all you've got and I will come after you with all I've got and we'll just let it stand.

In fact, that most people facing what he's facing right now, which is a lot legally as a foreign President, wouldn't take the stage of a thing like CPAC. No, but that shows you how the temperament, which… And committed. Yeah, I mean, he did it.

So, I mean, you've got to give him that. All right, let's take another call. Yeah, let's go to Kevin in Texas on Line 5. Hey, Texas. Hey, Kevin. Good morning.

Thanks for taking my call. I think there are a couple of philosophies or principles that have to be called. Tip O'Neill, as we all know, said all politics is local. And Margaret Thatcher talked about first you've got to win the argument, then you win the election.

So, I mean, the issues are going to develop, the personalities are going to bubble up, you know, when the time is appropriate. But unless you have party building in the swing states, in the swing counties, you know, you're not going to have the people who are going to be willing to knock on doors and make the phone call. During the 2022 election. I'm outside of Austin, Texas, and the left is already pumping in money at organizations, training people to go to congressional meetings and that type of thing.

Unless you have that in place, you know, I really highly suggest that. I mean, you guys are at a 30,000-foot level of what's going on, but you've got to get the ground troops in the areas that need it. I agree, and I've bid those ground troops before.

I've led them before. I think what happened is the Republican Party caught up to the get out the vote, and that got weird during COVID. But remember, they actually did more of it than Democrats, of actual knocking on doors. Republicans did more, and that's why I think they did well in down ballot races like the House and the Senate and at state level.

They actually did really well there, Kevin. The problem was at the national level, and I think that was because we've gotten good at the get out the vote. What we haven't done right is figured out the state election laws. And if we're not going to change those laws in the next two years, then we need to do exactly what the Democrats do, which is use those laws to our advantage in every way possible. So if the state allows ballot harvesting, we may not like the idea of it, but we should be doing it. If it's legal there. If it's mail-in ballots, do it. Yeah, get them to everybody. And if you can assist people, so if they allow that kind of assistance in places like New York City, if it's legal, do it. Go up to the line of legality. Don't cross it.

Don't be afraid to go up to that line, though, because the Democrats showed if we go up to the line, we can take you to a place like Georgia where you think you got it in the bag. This is the very first day of our March matching challenge campaign. Jordan's going to let you know how to do this, but let me just say, just in the last couple of months, you've seen what we've done here at the ACLJ. We've expanded our outreach. We've added, as a senior counsel, the former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo is now a senior counsel for global affairs. We added, we beefed up our national security and intelligence team also. By the way, Mike Pompeo was also the director of the CIA.

Then we hired the director of national intelligence and former ambassador to Germany, Rick Grenell, as a senior advisor for national security and international affairs. So this is what's happening at the ACLJ. We filed, initial suits have been filed already.

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