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 to 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 and 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. 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 and a time when it has felt chaotic at home. And it certainly feels chaotic abroad. And again, you know, 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. He's 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. So there's a lot to address tonight in the State of the Union from a President whose speeches have not have 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 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 US pilots, or US, you know, 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 wanna say it's boots on the ground or not, it is US pilots going fighter jet... People support that?

I'd like to know. I mean, yeah. Give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. Do you want US 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 could be announcing these kinds 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, the 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. Welcome back to Seculars of 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've 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 and 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 one. Hey Robert.

Yeah, hi Jordan and hi Jay. I wanted to ask the both of you, do you believe that the 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 they have an issue. So under the Trump administration that started and 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 conflicts 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 is 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, I mean they 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 can 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 we could all bomb that.

All of us could take that convoy out. There's multiple countries. 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 not changing.

It is a different war than it was even 24 hours ago. Yeah. Let's go ahead and take another call. Yeah. Pamela in Texas online too. Hey Pamela.

Hi, how are you? 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 Pamela, 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 friends 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. She's watching on rumble. That's great. Okay.

Yeah. Back to the phones. We go, let's go to Michelle in Texas on line three. 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 and Ukraine because if one of 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 cause that's a, that's not the, I think putting us troops or NATO troops in direct conflict with Russia will create a scenario where we can be looking at literally world war three. 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. You put us troops here. So 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. And 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 and into Poland and it's a NATO member and they exercise article five.

You can 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. And the US 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. 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 caller before, is this idea that we need to get the world energy independent. And that is a major shift, not just in the US, but in the world thinking because the left has been so strong in this push of global warming.

But when you're in emergency situations, you need to be an 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 seven 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. And there was a document put out, I don't have it handy here, but it was basically 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 say 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 raised. We're on DEFCON 4 right now. We've rarely gone to three. We've only gone to two, I think twice. DEFCON 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 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. 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 US government leaders saying, well, 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're 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 US 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 that is now 40 miles long, according to our intelligence, US intelligence, if it is in fact loaded with weapons and they unleash on Kyiv 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 it. At least explain to you what that means, whether you support it or not, it's war with Russia.

And 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 US 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. 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 again a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow and we are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. Second half hour will be joined live by Rick Rinnell who's going to be joining us from Albania.

So 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. So 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, you know 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 and if you donate like $25, this is a regular kind of normal match, not one of those crazy ones you see these some of these messages where it's double the impact. So $25 if you donate we have a group of donors that'll match that.

And 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. So there's a lot of, first let me go to Fan Bennett very quickly here. Fan we had a win yesterday on the Roe versus Wade codification issue so let's announce that that was some good news. Yeah while all this was happening Jay the first vote that the Senate took when it came back from research was on recess was to make Roe v Wade permanent law of the land regardless of what the Supreme Court does. Last night they took the vote on that Jay 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 that 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 hard you take the win Jay.

No you're not kidding Fan 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 versus Wade or something very close to it. So what they're trying to do is position themselves to codify it and that failed excuse me that failed with bipartisan support. Now there's gonna 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 not 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 Fan 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 DC. 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, Alisa Stefanik among them and filed in defense of that state law and Jay you know honestly I mean 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 DC telling Georgia or Texas or California or New York how to write their own laws that 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 and 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 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 mail out ballots and all these drop-off boxes and kind of unregulated rules and I think Republican state secretaries of state and legislatures learned their lesson there which is they will if you enact those kind of new procedures it'll be utilized by the left and and the conservatives won't but I just want you all to know we've been in this fight since it started and we understood what the goal of this is to get back to a place where whoever wins 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 and 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 right 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 to get on an airplane you have to have an ID to get into a facility that is got 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 excuse me 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 ten dollars you're new to the organization but you like our work you like this broadcast and you want to get more involved uh a donor a group of donors will match that so it's really like a twenty dollar donation but you just charge ten dollars 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 Renell 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 ten dollar gift becomes twenty dollars a fifty dollar gift becomes one hundred 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 keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is Sekulow and now your host Jordan Sekulow all right 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 real 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 the 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 or uniting when he speaks no you're 100 correct we got great calls coming in at 1-800-684-3110 and we decide on this program 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 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 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 you're you're I'm concerned about the whole NATO situation I just think Jordan that is the that's the when you're in war things happen and uh interesting breaking news development right now shocking 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 that's the European Union 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 saying you've got to you know you've got to defend an economic well now they're European I mean they vote yes they did and they weren't going to yesterday listen here's what Europe I think is we'll get some of our experts ready into it yeah they are 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 it 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 which is bottom line I'm not trying to be there are a lot of people in Ukraine who are bravely active the President Ukraine is bravely active but let's put it 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 but by taking this move I think Europe also pushes us closer to conflict because we're the hammer if you we talked about with Patrick yesterday they have no militaries these countries no we got to get back on the broadcast 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 super those are the numbers that have the numbers Zelensky just 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 uh quickly escalating and I think you're going to see what it's going to quickly escalate we've got Rick Grinnell joining us next because he's part of the team here at the ACLJ senior global affairs advisor so well again we're not just talking about it we're engaged in these issues your support of the ACLJ critical right now I want to encourage you if you haven't donated a lot of new people watching on our 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 I'm covering 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 ten dollar gift becomes twenty dollars a fifty dollar gift becomes one hundred 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 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 of the EU they voted to accept them after the the speech by the Ukrainian President yesterday this was not a the EU was not ready to do this but now they're feeling compelled to do it this this would not have occurred I could confidently say this would not have occurred if but for the increased Russian aggression and that the Ukrainian people fought back yes so now now that it's not NATO this is a economic partnership but it certainly gets you closer and closer into other parties joining the conflict I want to go right to Rick Renell there's 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 I think uh what the news is is that the European parliament is saying uh hey let's let's consider um 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 and one thing that Americans need to understand and I think the American media does a really terrible job of this and I think it's terrible job of this is that Europe is not just what Berlin and Paris says or thinks uh 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 uh 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 this uh right now is they're speaking up saying wait a minute we're the ones who live close to Russia let's be united uh the European parliament the EU Europe in general there are men there are some countries and 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 uh what's happening and many countries are nervous as to the offensive nature of the Russians so Rick there's talk here the administration 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 this is what that would mean which is a that is a war uh that when you have to implement that because that's either NATO or US aircraft or a mixture of both uh whose job it would be is to shoot down Russian aircraft Russian uh air defenses would be pointed at US and NATO forces so it might not technically be boots on the ground but it is for instance boots on the ground it would be uh if if these members of congress get their way uh it would be the US 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 uh say that we should be very cautious I would not support a no-fly zone that's America entering the conflict as you say that's exactly correct um look the reality is is that uh this is 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 uh really supporting the Ukrainians by allowing the Ukrainian government to buy weapons from the United States this is something that we're seeing uh 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 uh you don't want America to come in and and just fight when the uh 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 uh a path where the Americans should be uh doing a no-fly zone and really risking uh 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 um 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 what could what could we maybe sell Ukraine drones and let them employ drones against that land convoy yeah Rick they have you use some drone aircraft they do have some aircraft remaining I mean I think drones would probably be easier to deliver than actual aircraft but uh people are concerned that the wind the 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 uh open right now but at any point with with more Russians in Ukraine they can start targeting those convoys too of the of the convoys of the the European and American uh supplies because they didn't get in before the conflict began look this is uh 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 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 they spent all last summer not allowing the Ukrainians to even come to the United States for a meeting uh 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 of Missouri online too Rick I like your spots this one hey Josh welcome to secular 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 uh triggering article 5 article 5 is an attack against one is an attack against all but go ahead Rick yeah that that's exactly the case that if you know the Polish troops want to move in and and help the Ukrainian somehow uh 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 uh 50 plus years ago you worked there for over a decade 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 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 five then comes into play if there is quote consensus which is unanimity and that we would and that we would then be compelled with our with American forces with NATO well the answer is yes we would have to defend uh 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 uh is 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 all right thanks Rick we appreciate it Rick Grinnell senior advisor global affairs calling from Albania so there you go we yesterday's 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 at 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 Jordan's getting into the details go ahead and do it folks you go to ACLJ.org you can double the impact your donation during the entire month of March so what that means is if you donate $25 online at ACLJ.org a group of donors say we're going to match all the donations that come through 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 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 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 I'm covering 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 ten dollar gift becomes twenty dollars a fifty dollar gift becomes one hundred 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 all right welcome back to secular we are taking your calls to one hundred six eight four thirty one two 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 one 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 a hope to us during this time of great chaos 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 the Ukraine and I don't know if it's being used yet by the Russians but with 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 news is just breaking news folks as we're on so the EU has approved their status as a candidate Ukraine is a member of the European Union yeah the rest of the process is kind of just like DeForbes and and once you make that step you're you're basically in yeah you're things could change if the Ukrainians did something that they really disapproved of but here's why that's very unique one and I'll base this off of people I work with who are very pro-Ukraine by the way they will tell you it's one of the most corrupt countries in the world I'm not saying that to poo-poo everyday Americans who are 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 and NATO and the EU previously were concerned about sending them too much money so much too many weapons sitting allowing them into these clubs because their corruption level is on the same level as Russia yeah 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 some are 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 mean going to see it in that fashion because maybe necessary it's it's the way it's what it really what it is giving a candidate your status is virtually tantamount to admission is it not and the 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 its require you countries to come to military aid those are all the issues that come up when you talk about something like this Jane 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 breakout because now this even really more provokes Putin so bill in Wyoming on line six hey bill thanks for holding on you're on the air all right thanks for taking my call uh first of all I just want to say this program is a reason why I sent as many pennies as I can to help you guys out um this is kind of like a question but uh still is it okay for us to send uh weapons to over there to help the Europeans uh help fight Ukrainians as opposed to boots on the ground as well as MREs and uh blankets you mean you're talking about weapons to Ukraine to fight the Russians happening yeah I mean that has happened under President Trump there was an increase under President Biden uh President Obama they did not do that they sent the joke was blankets but there's look there's the questions of what we can do here are are relative I mean 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 of to candidate status within the European Union if Putin views this as a 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 because the Treaty of Lisbon uh which is about EU countries when they face the external threat at a mutual defense clause so there you go so I mean it walks the European Union countries and it bypasses NATO into potential war that that's a serious issue Jordan yeah if this Treaty of Lisbon invokes nuclear I mean excuse me mutual defense uh obligations on the part of the parties then you have a conflagration breaking out folks yeah we we're going to get more information and we'll get a team on that this afternoon Harry as it relates to that 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 in the EU that's a provocation to Putin and so if we know this is illegal under international law of course they have the right the European Union had the right to recognize Ukraine as a candidate absolutely and no one is defending on this panel uh 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 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 European country I mean they've all got fighter jet they could take it's a sitting duck now there's air defenses by Russia it doesn't mean you're not 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 the that is what Zelensky is hoping for is that he's convinced the world to bomb that convoy and this is did you just want to say something no I'm saying 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 to 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 been because of your support we have the lawyers and international staff that can do that we brought you Rick Grinnell from Albania because he's a member of the ACLJ team we had Patrick on yesterday some from Slovenia Slovakia we'll get 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