The State of the Union is Chaos

Today on Sekulow, let's be honest folks, the state of the union is chaos. 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, Jordan Sekulow. Hey, welcome to Sekulow, everybody. We're taking your phone calls too.

1-800-684-3110. A major night for President Biden tonight. His poll numbers are in the tank. I mean, anywhere between only 40% approval to 35% approval in some of the lowest polls than the latest polls. Those are coming out of the ABC News, Washington Post polls, not conservative pollsters. So he knows his polls are in the tank. He knows the people have a lot of issues domestically, still coming out of COVID.

Not really declaring victory over that yet. And, of course, inflation hitting our country, which is just all of these issues are being magnified by a war in Europe. So a lot to address tonight, and he's not just going to be speaking to the American people.

He's going to have to address the world. That includes Vladimir Putin, that includes the Ukrainian people, the Russian people, our European allies. There's so much on the table in a time when it has felt chaotic at home, and it certainly feels chaotic abroad. And, again, they used to call Donald Trump the chaos President, except for there was not war in Europe then. And who's the real chaos President? I think it's President Biden, and that's the situation.

He's gotten us into these terrible situations. Even, you know, a lot of commentators have said he's putting Putin up against the wall so that he's got limited options, and his only option is to further escalate the conflict in Ukraine. I mean, so there's a lot to address tonight in the State of the Union from a President whose speeches have not been underwhelming, to say the least. Well, and as you said, there's a lot of issues. Now, the one thing that we're going to get into here, or as a number of issues, we're going to get into what is happening in Washington right now. As Jordan said, there are three Democratic members of Congress that are going to respond to the Democratic President of the United States' speech, and it's not going to be to say what a great job he did. Okay, these are people in conflict with the leader of their own party, the President of the United States.

That never happened under the previous administration. And then you have a group of centrists that are also going to respond, and then, of course, you'll have a Republican response. So all of that's going on. We're going to talk about the major issues that we see. Election integrity is a big issue right now.

I mean, we're seeing polls out of CPAC and others. This is a big issue. We're going to talk about that in this broadcast because both Republicans and Democrats use the word election integrity, but they mean two very, very different things, and we're going to get into that on this broadcast. You don't want to share this feed with your friends if you're watching on any of our social media platforms.

We encourage you to do it. We're also going to get into this – look, there is dueling propaganda coming out of both sides in Ukraine now. What Putin did, he's instigated a war. He's violated the laws of war, the laws of armed conflict.

He is violating the charters of the International Criminal Court. It's acts of aggression. Ukraine is valiantly trying to defend themselves, and I think they are a lot of credit.

But we have to, as the third party – and that's what we are here – look at this very objectively. So when we get into this, there's a lot of discussions, Republicans and Democrats, about a no-fly zone. Folks, when we look at it with our expertise, as lawyers that deal with international law and law of war, this could be an act of provocation if they did this. Yeah, I mean, just to clear it real quick for everybody, a no-fly zone means either NATO, probably U.S. pilots, or U.S. F-35s and other fighter jets engaging directly with Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles.

And likely that means, one, we'd be shooting down Russian aircraft and they'd be shooting down ours. So that's war. That's boots on the ground. Now, it's not technically the ground, but that is war. And so when people throw that word around, it sounds nice. Let's create the no-fly zone. But to do that, you are engaging the conflict.

So whether you want to say it's boots on the ground or not, it is U.S. pilots going fighter jet – People support that? I'd like to know. I mean, yeah, give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. You want U.S. pilots in dogfights with Russians.

I mean, right out of the movies of the 80s and 90s, we're living it again today. If that's something that – I mean, again, he's got a lot – he could be announcing these kind of things tonight at the State of the Union. Give us a call.

1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back. 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, a 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 Seculars. The State of the Union tonight, obviously a lot for President Biden to address. Speculations, this is the biggest stage the President gets to address the nation, but also at this time he's addressing the world. That's not always the case, but it is when you have war in Europe that is escalating by the hour as the destruction in Ukraine and the strategy by the Russians to a scorched earth kind of plan, which is what they have done in the past. If you look at Georgia when they invade, if you look at Crimea, if you look at Grozny and Chechnya, they went in and flattened it, and then they rebuilt it from there. So that is part of their strategy.

You're starting to see much more explosions in major cities in Ukraine. We want to go to the phones at 1-800-684-3110. A lot of people calling in. We'll start with Robert in Maryland on Line 1. Hey, Robert.

Yeah, hi, Jordan, and hi, Jay. I wanted to ask the both of you, do you believe that President Biden and the U.S. Congress are going to approve a lethal defensive military hardware to the Ukrainian armed forces to help them to repel the Russian invasion? So under the Trump administration that started. Under the Obama administration they would not do it. Obama would not, even with the annexation of Crimea by Putin. But under the Trump administration, which had some conflict with Ukraine, they still provided the lethal weapons, so it started there. And we've seen an increase. So the U.S. has pledged another $350 million. We've seen it also European partners. And there is a way in right now to Ukraine. It's through Western Ukraine on the Polish kind of border that it's pretty safe to get that in. Right now.

Right now. Yeah, and the problem there is, and this is. These are weapons, really.

These are shoulder-fired weapons. Sweden's sending them a lot of the Europeans. Look, the Europeans are in a situation right now where they've got a war that they haven't seen since World War II in Europe. This is a European war. And it was interesting, yesterday President Zelensky tried to really force the European parliament to approve the ascension of Ukraine to the EU immediately, which they did not do.

And they did not do because there's issues of corruption, there's issues of governance, there's issues of democratic principles that are still an issue in Ukraine. Having said that, as Jordan said, you could get munitions in right now basically through Poland. That's where the risk, in my view, of a conflict with the NATO country is. If the Russians view that, I'm not saying don't do it, but if the Russians view that as a threat coming in. Yeah, certainly they could start with their air targeting those areas. It's not like it's a safe zone right now because the Russian military is out there on the ground. But certainly they have the air power to where if they think that there's too many, they could start targeting those weapons increasing. But what we've seen is the second largest city in Ukraine is being pummeled. That's the word being used.

Kharkiv. So the scorched earth policy has begun. The second level is whatever this huge convoy, if it does arrive. And let me tell you, I think that that is also a strategic move by Putin because the world is looking at it saying, well, we could all bomb that. All of us could take that convoy out.

There's multiple countries that could. It's a sitting duck target. So he's kind of tempting you, saying, are you going to? Or are you going to let me roll right into Kiev and pummel? And you're starting to see buildings be totally wiped out. It's changing.

It is a different war than it was even 24 hours ago. Let's go ahead and take another call. Yeah, Pamela in Texas online too. Hey Pamela. Hi, how are you? Good morning.

Good morning. Hey, I was just wondering, I'm just wondering where is the groundswell from the American people for our energy independence? I'm very concerned. I hear a few Congress folks talking about it. But I don't have the groundswell that I need for energy independence. I can't believe we're still buying fuel from our enemies.

I just can't believe it. We were still buying fuel from Russia. You know, this is an election that has consequences issued. Obviously the Republicans and the previous administration got us energy independent. And the Green New Deal Democrats and the left of the Democrat party is opposed to all these ideas. So while there would have to be a grassroots, as you were talking about, have a groundswell for the American people and some mind changing. I don't know how bad it has to get, but I think they actually like this.

See, the more gas is expensive, the more in their ideas you're going to support these alternative energies, all their fringe projects, and you'll end up supporting that because you see that this is not sustainable, even though we do have the resources. I think it's the number one issue that President Biden has to address tonight because it's a solvable issue if he was willing to take the political battle on, not amongst Republicans, but his own party. And Pamela, you're watching the broadcast right now on Rumble? Yep, she is watching on Rumble. That's great. Okay. Yeah, back to the phones we go. Let's go to Michelle in Texas on Line 3. Hey, Michelle. Hey. You're on the air.

Hi. I just wanted to say that I think that we should be going to war with Russia in Ukraine because one, the people deserve it. And number two, if we let Russia get by with doing this, he's not going to stop. Well, can I – I appreciate you calling in because that's not the – I think putting U.S. troops or NATO troops in direct conflict with Russia will create a scenario where we could be looking at literally World War III, okay, because you can end up China joining this conflict, backing up Russia.

So I appreciate the call, but I want everybody to think this through. Right now I think this is a European fight, and then the Europeans need to be stepping up. They're kind of stepping up. And I think this is where the propaganda on all sides – you've got to be very careful what we're hearing here. You put U.S. troops here – we're talking about this no-fly zone later in the broadcast. It is very dangerous because the risk of provocation is one thing, but then the escalation point is something else. These things can quickly – listen, it can escalate out of control just with what's going on right now. You get one missile going offline into Poland, and it's a NATO member, and they exercise Article 5.

You could have a whole scenario there. So we have to be cautious. The problem here was we did not put on the crippling sanctions until after the wars. Who starts sanctions after they attack you? No, because – well, President Biden wasn't able to convince the world. Right. And the U.S. can't do this alone.

We can do a lot. But when it comes to a leader like Putin, who is still not really cut off from the world because, guess what? His oil and gas industry? Not sanctioned. Right. So we think that, oh, while their banks aren't functioning and all this, that hurts the people in Russia.

Guess who it doesn't hurt? Putin and his allies because they're still able to sell the gas legally. So while they're doing this to Ukrainians and flattening the country, they are able to sell their gas and oil to the world without restriction. And I think that that, again, cuts back to the collar before, is this idea that we need to get the world energy independent. That is a major shift, not just in the U.S., but in the world thinking because the left has been so strong in this push of global warming.

But, you know, when you're in emergency situations, you need to be energy independent. There was a document that came out last night. I sent it to everybody. Folks, the way it works with us is at about 7 o'clock at night, our round two of the day starts because we start looking at what's going to be the news for tomorrow so we could be current with you on the broadcast. In other words, a document put out, and I don't have it handy here, but it was basically, you know, because of the heightened nuclear concerns, if something were to happen, you had to go to a shelter, they were talking about while you go there, make sure you have your mask for COVID and stay six feet apart. Now, if you had incoming nuclear weapons, I don't think that'd be the top thing on your mind.

But this is how out of touch they are with this. I don't know if our nuclear system should be alert, should be raised. We're on DEFCOM 4 right now. We've rarely gone to three. We've only gone to two, I think twice. DEFCOM 1 means something's imminent.

So four is where we are right now. Whether they should raise that or not, I don't know. I don't have the intelligence on that. But it just does tell – but we are in a heightened nuclear situation right now. Let's not kid ourselves in the United States either. Russia's got 500 nuclear weapons always aimed at the United States. Yeah, and we have the same or more. And our leaders are starting to announce that.

So there's this back and forth talk now between the Russians and the U.S. government leaders saying, well, you know, Putin can talk about all he wants. Ours are always on alert. And we've got hundreds of them ready to go. Giant ICBM, the Titan's missiles. And we've also got our nuclear submarines. They are always on heightened alert.

So they're ready to go. A lot of the talk you could say, is this bluster or not? But there is a concern that Putin would be so backed into a corner that he could utilize a more tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine to show the world he's willing to press the button.

And that would then change. All of this is Putin is trying to – which is an interesting move – he's seeing how much you can get away with, how far can he go, without stepping into a conflict with the U.S. and NATO. Yeah, and I think he's going to push that boundary as far as he can. We will see if tonight, if this convoy of that is now 40 miles long, according to our intelligence, U.S. intelligence, if it is in fact loaded with weapons and they unleash on Kiev this evening or tomorrow or as we get towards the weekend, that is going to tell you a lot about what is actually happening here. We are going to continue to take your phone calls. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. We'll continue to get into the State of the Union. Could you take your phone calls? Again, there's this talk about the no-fly zone. We're trying to cut through and at least explain to you what that means. Whether you support it or not, it's war with Russia.

We'll get into that more and take your calls. Would you actually support that kind of action? Which is boots on the ground. They're just in the air. Their job would be to shoot down Russian aircraft.

Understand that. So guess what the Russian aircraft are doing? Their job. Shoot down U.S. aircraft.

What is that? That's war. Be right back on Secular. 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. This is 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. Welcome back to Sekulow, and we are taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. The second half hour will be joined live by Rick Rinnell, who's going to be joining us from Albania.

He'll be joining us from another former Soviet Bloc country, and a NATO member who is right there with his perspective on how this is escalating. You don't want to miss that coming up. March is the beginning of our Matching Challenge, where you support the ACLJ.

You can double the impact of your donation at ACLJ.org. That's the first day of the Matching Challenge. If you're on our email list, you'll get notice of that. But for those of you who may be new to us, who are watching Rumble, this is part of what we do, is the broadcast.

But it's really actually a small part, because all the things we talk about, we actually are doing. We have attorneys working on, government affairs experts working on, so you can support our work this month. If you donate like $25, this is a regular kind of normal match, not one of those crazy ones you see in some of these messages, where it's double the impact. For $25, if you donate, we have a group of donors that will match that. So it's like a $50 donation to ACLJ, because you've got to take that initial step, that initial action of donating for the match to trigger. So we encourage you, if you want to support the work of the ACLJ, it's a great month to do it at ACLJ.org.

First, let me go to Pham Bennett very quickly here. Pham, we had a win yesterday on the Roe vs. Wade codification issue, so let's announce that. That was some good news. What the Senate took when it came back from recess was to make Roe vs. Wade permanent law of the land, regardless of what the Supreme Court does. Last night, they took a vote on that. A bipartisan majority, Joe Manchin crossed over, a bipartisan majority rejected that bill. Every single Republican, including Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, rejected that bill. Joe Manchin joined them, and it was defeated by a majority. So Jay, no matter how you cut this, this is a big win, obviously with margins as small as they are and ramifications higher. You take the win, Jay.

No, you're not kidding, Pham, and a great job with your team. I mean, the idea that, look, they know that what they think is coming is an overturn of Roe vs. Wade or something very close to it, so what they're trying to do is position themselves to codify it, and that failed with bipartisan support. Now, there's going to be a lot of talk tonight on the State of the Union, I suspect, on election integrity, and both sides talk about election integrity. Republicans, Democrats, everybody talks about election integrity, but Andy, election integrity means different things to different people.

Right, it does. Election integrity to me and to us at ACLJ means preserving an election consistent with what the law and the Constitution requires. The Voting Rights Act does not wholly displace the broad discretion of states to regulate through non-discriminatory time, place, and manner rules how elections are conducted. So the states provide that it is the state legislatures, not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not state officials, not the Secretary of State, but it is the legislature that bears the primary responsibility for setting election rules. So, Pham, there is an attempt in Washington, though, to federalize that as well. Absolutely, Jay, it's been an ongoing one, and this actually is a perfect tie from the abortion vote because they're following the same strategy. When they're losing on the state level, they just try to federalize everything, Jay, and there have been multiple bites at this apple from a federal level to federalize everything that Andy just talked about. Everything from registrations to polling times to whether or not you can harvest ballots.

All of it, Jay, they want to bring to Washington, D.C. They have so far not succeeded in that, but when a state, Jay, has made an effort to shore up their elections, and a number of states have done them. Maybe the one that got the most attention was the state of Georgia when they passed a very mainstream state law to try to fix some of the problems that they saw in 2020. Jay, that was immediately challenged, and so at the ACLJ, what we did is we went to the federal officials, 57 members of Congress, including members of leadership, Steve Scalise, Elise Stefanik among them, and filed in defense of that state law. Jay, honestly, I actually think that the law is a very good one that Georgia passed, but even if you disagreed, you certainly don't want Washington, D.C. telling Georgia or Texas or California or New York how to write their own laws. That would be a surefire way to make sure you undermine election integrity.

Yeah, so again, I just want to let people know, we've been working on that case in Georgia since August of 2021. We represent those members of Congress, but also, you know, again, making sure that it's clear, and I go back to one of our blogs, they added more days to vote early, more early voting in Georgia. I mean, they're trying to accommodate voters, but still have election integrity. No one wants a repeat of the last election cycle where people lost faith. Whether it was right or wrong, a good portion of the American people, a lot of people I'm talking to right now, a lot of us, lost faith in whether we could trust these state election systems.

It seemed like they were just out of control. They utilized COVID to do all those mail out ballots and all these drop off boxes and kind of unregulated rules. And I think Republican state secretaries of state and legislatures learn their lesson there, which is they will, if you enact those kind of new procedures, it will be utilized by the left and the conservatives won't. But I just want you all to know, we've been in this fight since it started and the goal of this is to get back to a place where whoever wins, the American people accept it. That's how you have a functioning Democratic Republic. If half the country does it, it doesn't matter if the left says, oh, they're crazy, they're crazy. You get a divided nation. We have a divided nation right now because half of the country doesn't believe the current President won the election. Again, whether you believe that or not, we don't want to be there next cycle. So that's why election integrity is critical.

Now I'm putting up on the screen right now for our audience that's viewing us on either television or social media platforms. This is the brief that we filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. That's because in the United States of America, Department of Justice filed a suit against the state of Georgia and we filed an amicus brief representing 57 members of Congress, all the Republican members of the Georgia delegation included in that. And it's very rare, Andy, for the ACLJ to engage at a district court level, but we thought this case was that important.

Yes, Jay. What we are doing is actually looking at the law and saying that this law is drafted and passed by the Georgia legislature, meets the constitutional requirements of the elections clause of the Constitution. In other words, it's constitutional.

And that's why we entered at the trial court level, which as you said, is rare for us, but not unheard of. But we did it because it's important. We believe in voter integrity.

We oppose discrimination and racism in any form. And this law allows absentee ballots. It gives two additional days of early voting, Saturday and Sunday. It expands the hours of voting and it requires IDs. Well, let me tell you something on IDs. In order to get into the Attorney General's office in Washington, you have to have an ID. To get to the Supreme Court, you have to have an ID. To get on an airplane, you have to have an ID.

To get into a facility that is run by the government, whatever that might be, like a federal courthouse, you have to have an ID. So to turn that into a racial argument is ridiculous. The reality is, is the law constitutional or not? We have looked at it. In our view, the law is constitutional and that's why we are defending it at the trial court stage. Which means it's probably going to go to the Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court of the United States. Folks, this is why the American Center for Law and Justice exists.

We give you the information on all this, but we actually have lawyers involved in this or government affairs people like fans. Support the work of the ACLJ. As Jordan said, we're in a matching challenge campaign. Great time for you to engage. That's right. Support our work at ACLJ.org.

This is why it's a really cool time. Because if you donate $10, you're new to the organization, but you like our work, you like this broadcast, and you want to get more involved, a donor, a group of donors will match that. So it's like a $20 donation, but you just charge $10 on your card.

It's a tax deductible donation. You can do it online at ACLJ.org throughout the entire month of March. We'll talk about it more as we get later into the month.

It's very critical for us at the ACLJ, especially because of the first match of 2022. We'll be right back, second half hour, coming up with Rick Renaud. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow.

We are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. It's a big night for the nation. Listen, I mean, I know that all of us are not really excited to hear Joe Biden speak and be applauded by one side and, you know, the Republicans.

Also, it just has not been very compelling or clear. But this is a huge night for our country. I mean, take aside Joe Biden, our President is addressing not just us. I mean, that's first and foremost, yes, the American people with a lot of concerns in our own country, but there's also war in Europe. So you look at the divided nation, you look at our economy, you look at inflation, you look at the debates going on in our country where his priorities are versus where half the other country's priorities are, plus war in Europe. So he's not just going to be addressing us, he's going to be addressing the world, he's going to be addressing Vladimir Putin, the Russian people, the Ukrainian people, our European allies, and the Chinese. It's quite a task for a President who has not been very exciting or uniting when he speaks.

No, you're 100% correct. We got great calls coming in at 1-800-684-3110, and we decided on this program where we're going to take them throughout the broadcast. Let's go ahead and take Scott's call from South Carolina. Scott, welcome to the broadcast. You're on the air. I understand you served in the military for 22 years in the Army and you're listening on Sirius XM.

That's great. Yes, sir, and the biggest mistake that could be made right now is putting American soldiers under NATO control because we've never done any good when they've given NATO control over our people. Yeah, and the NATO commanders are not always Americans, oftentimes not Americans actually, so I'm concerned about the whole NATO situation. I just think, Jordan, when you're in war, things happen, and interesting breaking news development right now.

Shocking. Which gets you to the edge of war. This is going to get you to the edge of war. The EU, which is not NATO, but it's an economic union, not a military union, has just, like an emergency vote, accepted Ukraine as a member. Now, that doesn't trigger war necessarily, but certainly if you allow them into your economic partnership and part of the European Union, you're getting closer and closer to saying you've got to defend an economic... Well, now they're a European... I mean, they vote yes.

And they weren't going to yesterday. Listen, here's what Europe, I think, will get some of our experts ready. Europe works it into it.

Yeah, well, because I think what they're hoping is that they can put enough pressure on. The European countries may be compelled to have military armaments available. I mean, I think the Germans are realizing that now and they were a partner of Russia. The concern has been is Putin on the brink of something. The problem is it doesn't necessarily take Putin. It takes one of his generals.

And now you've got... They're going to view the ascension of Ukraine into the European Union as an act of provocation. Absolutely. And in a sense it is, because let me tell you, if this wasn't going on, the European Union was not ready to accept Ukraine. It was too corrupt.

This is bottom line. There are a lot of people in Ukraine who are bravely active. The President of Ukraine is bravely active. But let's put aside, he puts his political opponents in jail too. He shuts down media outlets that are critical of his government also. He's not as strong as Putin.

I think he's trying to stand up for the basic rights of his country. And everybody supports that. They support the Ukrainian people. But by taking this move, I think Europe also pushes us closer to conflict because we're the hammer. We talked about it with Patrick yesterday. They have no militaries, these countries.

No, we've got to get Patrick back on the broadcast tomorrow. Anything that is sizable enough to take on a Russian military. Guess who the only country in the world is? There's the Russians, there's the Americans, there's the Chinese.

Those are the numbers. He tweeted that he had a conversation with the President of the United States. The American leadership on anti-Russian sanctions and defense assistance to Ukraine was discussed. We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible. Thank you for your support, folks. This is quickly escalating and I think you're going to see what it's going to quickly escalate. We've got Rick Grenell joining us next because he's part of the team here at the ACLJ, Senior Global Affairs Advisor.

So again, we're not just talking about it, we're engaged in these issues. Your support of the ACLJ is critical right now. I want to encourage you, if you haven't donated yet, a lot of new people watching on Rumble and some of the other platforms, go to ACLJ.org and donate to the ACLJ. Any amount you donate, we're getting a matching gift for. It's tax-deductible ACLJ.org.

Back with more in just 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.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org. So a lot of news just happening right now. So you've got breaking news out of the European Union. They have accepted Ukraine as a member state of the EU. They voted to accept them after the speech by the Ukrainian President yesterday. This was not, the EU was not ready to do this.

But now they're feeling compelled to do it. This would not have occurred, I confidently would say, this would not have occurred if, but for the increased Russian aggression. And that the Ukrainian people fought back. So now that it's not NATO, this is an economic partnership, but it certainly gets you closer and closer into other parties joining the conflict.

I want to go right to Rick Renell, our senior advisor for foreign policy and national security, former acting director of national intelligence. Rick, you're in Albania right now with this breaking news about the EU. Some of our concern is that, again, this is kind of pulling the world towards world war. Well, I think what the news is, is that the European Parliament is saying, hey, let's consider adding Ukraine. Now, one thing of note is that the European Parliament also had said to Germany, don't build Nord Stream 2.

It wasn't a very good idea. One thing that Americans need to understand, and I think the American media does a really terrible job of this, is that Europe is not just what Berlin and Paris says or thinks. It's really much broader. And we in America and the American media are trapped into this idea that we just think that the EU and Europe in general is controlled by what Germany and France think.

And there's a healthy debate. There is a much larger debate going on within the EU. Remember, the EU now has shrunk because of Brexit, and now they're looking at the borders being rewritten in Europe. And that scares a lot of European members, especially the Eastern European members. And that's what you're seeing right now. They're speaking up saying, wait a minute, we're the ones who live close to Russia.

Let's be united. The European Parliament, the EU, Europe in general, there are some countries that are members of what we would say Europe, but they're not in a membership of the EU or the European Parliament. And so this is real life, what's happening, and many countries are nervous as to the offensive nature of the Russians. So Rick, there's talk here, the administration has still said, you know, they are not going to support a no-fly zone, but there is more talk by members on both sides of the aisle about the idea of a no-fly zone. And what we've been trying to just educate our audience on is what that would mean, which is, that is a war, that when you have to implement that, because that's either NATO or U.S. aircraft or a mixture of both, whose job it would be is to shoot down Russian aircraft. Russian air defenses would be pointed at U.S. and NATO forces, so it might not technically be boots on the ground, but it is, for instance, it is boots on the ground. It would be, if these members of Congress get their way, it would be the U.S. entering the conflict. Well, Jordan, you just hit it on the head, it's not boots on the ground, but it's certainly going to be led by Americans if that's what you want. I would say that we should be very cautious.

I would not support a no-fly zone. That's America entering the conflict, as you said, that's exactly correct. Look, the reality is that this is a complicated issue, but we should be able to stand with Ukraine over Russia.

But what does that mean? That means for Americans is that we should have spent the last year really supporting the Ukrainians by allowing the Ukrainian government to buy weapons from the United States. This is something that we're seeing play out, that the Ukrainian people are fighting hard for their own freedom. That's exactly what we want as Americans to happen in a conflict, is that you don't want America to come in and just fight when the citizens of a country don't. We want to see on the front lines people who are fighting for their own freedom. This is their cause, and we can support them and we can sell them arms, but I don't see a path where the Americans should be doing a no-fly zone and really risking American men and women right now. That's not where we want to go.

I view it as an act of provocation. We've got a good call on this. Let's go to Lynn, who's calling from Texas. Hi, Lynn.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I wanted to say that I agree with you completely on your analysis of the no-fly zone and was wondering, could we maybe sell Ukraine drones and let them employ drones against that land convoy or any of these? Rick, they have used some drone aircraft. They do have some aircraft remaining. I think drones would probably be easier to deliver than actual aircraft, but people are concerned that the area to get all these weapons in that all these countries are starting to authorize right now, Rick, is western Ukraine, which is the border with Poland, which is fairly open right now. But at any point with more Russians in Ukraine, they could start targeting those convoys too, of the convoys of the European and American supplies, because they didn't get in before the conflict began.

Look, this is, I've said this before, and this is where I can move into the angry phase, because we shouldn't be in this position as America. Let's be clear, this would not be happening if Donald Trump were President. Let's also be clear is that the American government under Joe Biden has spent the last year literally not helping the Ukrainians. They spent all last summer not allowing the Ukrainians to even come to the United States for a meeting. They delayed the meeting. They delayed diplomacy. They delayed sanctions.

They delayed help to the Ukrainian government through military aid. Now we're scrambling. And this is my criticism of the Biden administration is everything seems to be last minute shoot from the hip and then it's a mess. We saw that in Afghanistan and we see that with other conflicts.

We are in this terrible position of watching the Russians move into Ukraine because Joe Biden is weak, Joe Biden is ill-prepared, and Joe Biden is too slow to react. Let's go to Josh in Missouri online too. Rick, I like your response to this one. Hey, Josh, welcome to Secular. Josh is watching on YouTube. Go ahead, Josh.

Yeah, thanks for taking my call. My question is, you know, you see everything that's happening with Ukraine and your heart goes out to them. What happens if one of these neighboring countries such as Poland decides to go in and fight alongside with the Ukrainians?

Does that automatically get us involved with that? So, Rick, I think that would be different than an Article 5 NATO situation if a country voluntarily decided they weren't attacked but they wanted to go sit in their troops. That's not necessarily triggering Article 5. Because Article 5 is an attack against one, it's an attack against all.

But go ahead, Rick. Yeah, that's exactly the case that if, you know, the Polish troops want to move in and help the Ukrainians somehow, that would be much different. But I want to point one thing out is that there's a big difference in my criteria for America and whether or not American men and women are to participate in a conflict. My criteria is, is there an immediate threat to the American national security? My heart breaks, as this caller just said, you know, my heart goes out or my heart breaks, I think was the description.

I join him. My heart breaks for what's happening in the Congo, for what's happening in Guatemala. My heart breaks constantly when I look around the world. But that is not the criteria to get American men and women involved. Wow, if it was, we would be everywhere. And that's kind of why we've created the United Nations back 50 plus years ago.

You worked there for over a decade. Because there's supposed to be the idea that, you know, nations come together to solve conflicts and it's not the American government's responsibility every single time. Rick, we only got about a minute and a half here. If in fact a NATO member was attacked by Russia in this conflict, you look at Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, do you think Article 5 then comes into play if there is, quote, consensus, which is unanimity? And that we would then be compelled with American forces with NATO?

Well, the answer is yes. We would have to defend the NATO alliance. If the NATO alliance breaks down, I pray what would be next. If there's no NATO alliance or it's not enforced, then I think the entire world is sent a terrible message.

I think the Americans are going to have to lead a response if a NATO country is attacked. That's a different story. Alright, thanks, Rick. We appreciate it. Rick Connell, Senior Advisor, Global Affairs, calling from Albania.

So, there you go. Yesterday, one of our affiliates, Slovakia. This shows you the depth of the American Center for Law and Justice and the reach of the ACLJ and our European affiliates and our lawyers, literally, and government affairs people deployed around the globe. And you're getting to see this and watch this on our media center.

But your support of the ACLJ makes all of this happen. And we want to thank you for participating in our matching challenge campaign. It starts today, March. Big month for us.

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So, it's like $50 for us at the ACLJ. So, you're doubling the impact of your donation. It's a great time to support our work if you've been thinking about it or if you do it regularly because you can double the impact of your donation. Do it today, 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. 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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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.

Welcome back to Secular. We are taking your calls to 1-800-68-431. Tim, we've had people that have been holding on the line, and I want to get right to those calls. Let's go to Patricia in Washington State on Line 1. Hey, Patricia. Hello. Thank you for taking my call, and thank you so much for all that you and your team do every day at home and around the world.

You really do bring hope to us during this time of KF. As a veteran, I'd like to know if our military equipment that was left in Afghanistan, is it now being used by Russia against Ukraine? I don't know if it's being used yet by the Russians, but literally within the day that we left, the reports were that the Chinese were already, and they were already in Afghanistan, reviewing all of the equipment.

That's my understanding, Harry. I think that is correct, and what's really important there with respect to the Chinese, and they may have shared this data with Russia, is that they have looked at our equipment to ascertain the weak spots with respect to that equipment, and to the extent that the Ukrainians have American equipment, that makes them more vulnerable. Jordan, let's talk about this EU move here. The European Union, this is just breaking news, folks, as we're on. The EU has approved their status as a candidate. Ukraine is a member of the European Union.

The rest of the process is just like forms, and once you make that step, you're basically in. Things could change if the Ukrainians did something that they really disapproved of, but here's why that's a very unique one, and I'll base this off of people I work with who are very pro-Ukraine, by the way. I will tell you, it's one of the most corrupt countries in the world. I'm not saying that to poo-poo everyday Americans, I mean Ukrainians, who are fighting back against this aggression right now, but you have to know who you're getting involved with here. So that is why the US, NATO, and the EU previously were concerned about sending them too much money, sending too many weapons, allowing them into these clubs, because their corruption level is on the same level as Russia. So what's happened is, and I think Zelensky's done a very good job of this, he's heightened the awareness of what this attack is looking like. He's made it a European problem, but Russia's going to view this, in my view, Andy, Russia will view this as an act of provocation. Well, of course it is. I'm going to see it in that fashion, because it's really what it is.

Giving a candidate your status is virtually tantamount to admission, is it not? And it raises serious questions. The oil question comes to the fore. The question of, is there going to be a European war here? Is there a military component to this that can be invoked by Ukraine to require EU countries to come to military aid? Those are all the issues that come up when you talk about something like this, Jay and Jordan.

And it's the kinds of things that are now going to really be having to be seriously discussed, but it focuses again on my absolute fear, and that is that we're going to have a European war break out, because now this even really more provokes Putin. So Bill in Wyoming on Line 6. Hey Bill, thanks for holding on. You're on the air. Thanks for taking my call.

First of all, I just want to say this program is the reason why I send as many pennies as I can to help you guys out. This is kind of like a question, but still, is it okay for us to send weapons over there to help the Europeans fight the Ukrainians as opposed to boots on the ground, as well as MREs and blankets? You mean you're talking about weapons to Ukraine to fight the Russians? It's happening. Yeah, I mean that has happened under President Trump.

There was an increase under President Obama. They did not do that. The joke was blankets. But look, the questions of what we can do here are relative. A lot of the European countries yesterday increased their munitions of what they were sending to Ukraine to fight this off. If this convoy is as big as they say it is, well they're going to need everything they have. And now with the ascension to candidate status within the European Union, if Putin views this as a provocation, the next thing that's going to happen is, is there a no-fly zone? In the European Union, though it's more of an economic partnership, they have a treaty called the Treaty of Lisbon, which is about EU countries when they face an external threat and a mutual defense clause.

So there you go. So it walks the European Union countries and it bypasses NATO into potential war. That's a serious issue, Jordan. Because if this Treaty of Lisbon invokes nuclear – I mean, excuse me – mutual defense obligations on the part of the parties, then you have a conflagration breaking out, folks.

Yeah, we're going to get more information and we'll get a team on that this afternoon. Harry, as it relates to – we talked about the no-fly zone during our – right now the White House is saying, no, no, no, we're not going to do that. That would be another provocation.

Absolutely. And the White House is not notable for its consistency in terms of foreign policy. Remember, it's the same White House that said, we will not leave any Americans behind in Afghanistan.

So it's very likely, or at least possible, that the Biden administration could change its policy. But we cannot forget that this would be an act of provocation. Accepting the Ukraine and the EU, that's a provocation to Putin. None of this is illegal under international law, of course. The European Union had the right to recognize Ukraine as a candidate.

Absolutely. And no one is defending on this panel Putin's aggression. At the same time, the imposition of a no-fly zone, a proposal which tracks with what globalist billionaires like Bill Ackman and George Soros have said, as well as House Republican member Adam Kinzinger, he is now saying, we need a no-fly zone.

Guess what? That essentially is an act of war which could lead to a nuclear winter in the United States. So we better think long and hard about the implications of imposing a no-fly zone on Ukraine. Yeah, I think also, Jordan, we will get into this Lisbon Treaty and what it means, but you understand why the Ukrainians and why the President Zelensky is seeking this, because you've got, if this information is correct, that this 40-mile convoy of munitions from Russia is really on its way into Kiev, you could be looking at an annihilation of a whole city. Yeah, and the whole resistance would be done, whatever that convoy hits.

And what I think Zelensky is looking for is someone who will take the convoy out. That would be the country that would say, maybe voluntarily, it wouldn't invoke NATO because they haven't been fired upon, but they would say, you know what, we're not going to allow this atrocity to occur in our backyard, so maybe a European country. I mean, they've all got fighter jets.

It's a sitting duck. Now, there's air defenses by Russia. It doesn't mean your planes aren't going to be shot at, and you're going to have to risk the life of your soldiers and pilots. But I think that is what Zelensky is hoping for, is that he's convinced the world to bomb that convoy. Did you just want to say something, Andy? No, I'm really apprehensive, and I agree with Jordan's analysis.

I mean, the convoy is what he's looking at, and he's seeing it bearing down upon his capital city, and he says, come and help me take it out. I want to talk to our listeners that are listening on radio or whether on Facebook or YouTube or Rumble, wherever you might be hearing us, ACLJ.org. All of this analysis comes to you because we're able to put this broadcast together.

That's because you support the work of the ACLJ. When we say we're going to get a group of lawyers on the Lisbon Treaty issue today, that's because of your support. We have the lawyers and international staff that can do that. We brought you Rick Grenell from Albania because he's a member of the ACLJ team. We had Patrick on yesterday, some from Slovakia.

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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.