White House: We are Cleaning Up Trump’s Mess

Today on Sekulow, the White House Press Secretary says they're cleaning up Trump's mess. By building more sections of the Trump border wall, we'll talk about that and more today on Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

And welcome to Sekulow. We are taking your phone calls on all of the issues today. 1-800-684-3110 PAC Show.

Rick Grenell joining us for the first half hour. Mike Pompeo, second half hour. We've got this information from the White House. So the White House has approved construction on the US-Mexico border, specifically on the wall near Yuma, Arizona.

This was initially under a Homeland Security 2021 budget that was planned to be initially funded by the Defense Department. Four major gaps in the wall will be fixed. But flashback to Joe Biden during his campaign because he said, no, no, we're not building any more wall ever. Trump campaigned on build that wall. Are you willing to tear that wall down? No, there will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration.

So, Logan, they're going to have to play word games, which they're already starting to play more from that. We come back from the first break with the White House press secretary and watch how she's trying to act like the wall is still bad. So we'll get into that. But the idea here that you make these bold claims, never going to do another foot.

And now here you go. You're filling gaps in one spot of the wall that's had some significant problems since January. One hundred sixty thousand people have illegally crossed. We've seen this on repeat. If it had a Trump name on it, just if he was a Trump project, it was immediately deemed poor or bad or a bad decision.

And what is that? What has happened with that? They've had to reverse that over and over again. They've had to go back and go, oh, we were wrong. Yeah, we left things unfinished.

And maybe that wasn't the best bet. Maybe we should have at least wrapped up these projects because you have situations like this. We're certainly going to play more. And you're not going to want to miss some of these clips that came out from, again, that press briefing. Because, again, it's all word games. It's almost comedy when you listen to it, because it sounds so ridiculous when you know what they're doing right now is going to fix this big problem that's happening. But of course, they're saying we're not finishing it.

We're not fixing it. We're not we're just again, just trying to use their spin as the press secretary. Look, probably has to do at this point to try to make it seem like they're still betting on their campaign promises.

Yeah, that's right. And they're spokespeople. It's like they're not even up to speed on the decisions being made on this wall. So when they get asked about it, they downplay the effectiveness of the wall.

Well, if it's not effective, why fill in the gaps? Maybe because in Yuma, Arizona, specifically, that is the most active area of illegal immigration. When there's an area of active illegal immigration, there's also an area of active, more criminal activity. Not just the illegal crossing, drugs, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sex trafficking, all the illicit activities that come along with porous borders. The whole idea, the Trump administration in their first four years was trying to get a grasp on for our country so that we could effectively have a border on the south that we could contain and that we could control.

But no, that's not, again, acceptable, except what it is for Democrats. So we're getting into that. We're getting into some of that Manchin news today. A lot of politics. Of course, the Pelosi trip to Taiwan. We'll get into that as well. With Secretary Pompeo, the politicization of the FBI and law enforcement. We're going to go to Rick Rinnell on that.

So give us your call. Do you believe this is, again, Joe Biden trying to hide the fact that he is actually re-implementing a Trump policy? Ooh, they don't like doing that.

1-800-684-3110. They especially don't like admitting that. Remember their first day in office, they got rid of everything. Remain in Mexico, Operation Talon, it was all gone. Because Donald Trump did it.

His administration did it. Give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. And a big thank you to all of our supporters. We hit our goals in our July matching challenge. And that is because so many of you answered that call from us to support the work financially of the ACLJ. So a huge thank you.

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Be right back on Secular. So we played for you, Joe Biden, during his campaign, saying not another foot of wall. We know now the Biden administration is in fact putting in more wall. They're calling it major gaps in the wall. Of course those gaps exist because they stopped construction of the wall. You've all seen the images before of the metal that was left back by the Biden administration on site. But we don't believe that this works except for we've got to fill in the gaps where it does work because this is the highest area of illegal immigration in Arizona on that part of the southern border.

So again, they've already said that they will be doing this. But then when they're asked about it specifically, did this break the Biden pledge of no more wall? Take a listen to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. And on another subject, why is the Biden administration building a border wall in Arizona? So we are not finishing the wall. We are cleaning up the mess the prior administration left behind in their failed attempt to build a wall. OK.

I just want you to listen to that for a second. So are you building a border wall in Arizona? We're not finishing the wall is how she starts.

We're cleaning up a mess. The wall was being built. You stopped construction.

Thus, you created the mess. You left it there half built. Some areas were more built than others. This was a big project. It wasn't going to be completed in three and a half years by the Trump administration.

It's just absurd. And again, the administration and as she calls, it's a failed attempt to build a wall. So they tried to to fix that and actually build a wall that particular the longer this continuation of this back and forth word, word garbage. Peter Doocy and kind of grilling the White House press secretary by finishing the wall. Is this we are not finishing by filling in, finishing.

We are not finishing by filling in. Is this a is this racist? Because in 2019, when the former guy was proposing a wall, you said that it was his racist wall. So how is this any different? I'm just having a hard time understanding how this is. I'm not even sure how you get to your first question to this question that you just asked me. I will say this. A border wall.

I'm I'm I'm answering your question. A border wall is ineffective use of taxpayer dollars. So why not instead of filling in the gaps, Logan, and I'll ask you this, folks, one eight hundred sixty four thirty one. If they really believe it's ineffective, if there's gaps in this wall there, why not take the wall down? Yeah. Why fill in the gaps? Yeah.

Feeling it's ineffective and racist. I feel like having a crew come out with a bulldozer, probably a little simpler than the construction of a because you saw it was a kind of complex way. They were building the wall. It was not done just like we could be able to visually see through it to protect yourself. And not be able to scale it for people watching.

You can't scale it. But also that our border patrol and I say just could see through it still so that you could have people like throwing over things and also shooting. There's all sorts of law enforcement reasons built that way. They are they are finishing parts of the wall. That's the truth. They are. I don't think that they are going in and going to add another hundred miles.

I'm not trying to say that. But what they are doing is and what fights back against their narrative, Logan, is she tries to say over and over it's ineffective use of taxpayer dollars. And yet obviously that wall in Yuma was working enough to where they said, you know what, let's fix the gaps that were that were not yet done because this is working. And there's too much illegal immigration here.

Hundred and sixty thousand encounters since January. Yeah, it's absurd. I think when you hear these comments, it really does bring to light not only the double speak that's coming out of this White House. It's it's disturbing. It's like they're treating you like you're stupid. You can't listen.

You can't understand words. And this always what happens with Democrats. You see it even with the way that Kamala Harris speaks or the way that President Biden speaks. They speak in a way that's almost trying to oversimplify things or make it make it seem like the American people can't fully understand it. They came out and said, look, the border wall, we don't want to proceed with the project.

However, there's some we decided to finish up these areas due to X, Y and Z. Instead, it's it's double speak. Instead, it's saying we're not finishing the wall. We're not doing this. We're not going to come out here and do this. It's still a racist, ineffective use of taxpayer dollars, but we are going to fix some problems that we made.

And again, no taking no blame themselves, not saying that they they had anything to do with the problems. They don't answer any questions. It is. It's absurd. It's disturbing. And it's comical, as I said, to hear it, because we can all decipher what she's trying to say.

We can all decipher what the White House really means. And they pretend like we can't. And that's maybe the most frustrating part as an American listening to this is they treat you like you're a baby.

They can't understand why things have to happen or that when mistakes are made. And how do you feel? I would like to hear from you. 1-800-684-31. Do you feel talked down upon by this press secretary and by this administration? I do. I feel like they're trying to trick everyone. Give us a call.

1-800-684-3110. Yeah. And then it gets worse. Peter just has one more question. And like we were saying, these oversimplified answers that aren't even about the question.

Take a listen by 23. President Biden, when he was a candidate, said there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration. So what changed? We are not finishing the wall. Was not his question. His question is not another foot. Her answer is we're not finishing the entire wall. None of us think that Joe Biden is going to go in there with the secretary of America and finish the entire wall.

That would be way too much. Right. Like that'd be like going back to remain in Mexico or going back with Operation Talon.

It has to be Joe Biden's way. So her response is not, again, fixing, because fixing means working. You fix things that were working and that you want to work again. If something is broken that you think was ineffective, you don't fix it. You throw it into the trash.

You take it down. Like I said, if they thought that there were problems with the wall, the gaps, but that the wall was ineffective totally, why not just knock down that wall? Let's see that image on TV. Make it easier for people to cross right into Yuma, Arizona. I'm sure the residents there would be excited about that. At least it would play to their rhetoric.

At least play a speech. Would I be shocked if you had told me they're going to tear down all the wall they built? No, I would be disappointed, but I would not be shocked. Again, at least that would be a visual that they could use in campaigns. Like, look, we did. But instead it's the exact opposite because what happens is when people get into power and they get into the White House, they see the actual problems that are there and realize that most people are trying to do the right thing. And whether you disagree with the policy or not, at the end of the day, a lot of people are trying to do what's best for the American people, whether you're a Republican or whether you're a Democrat. But in this instance, they can't admit defeat. They can't admit when there's a problem. And they have to come up with some spin specifically if it is something that has a Trump tie to it. And that has been maybe the biggest problem with this administration is you couldn't take anything that came from that administration that was good.

You couldn't even take a program on. I understand that this one is controversial because the wall was such a – I mean, you associate Donald Trump when you associate with the border wall. But everything, it's been little things here and there that, again, if the Trump administration had anything to do with it, it was immediately pulled. We saw that even day one when he took office. Yeah, I mean, this is, to me, it just shows you why this administration, I think, has been so ineffective in so many different areas.

Because they bash and bash and bash a policy program like the wall that might be working because, remember, the wall was strategically built, and it was for certain segments of the border where it would actually be effective. The Trump administration was clear about that from the beginning. It was a new way of the wall. And there were also areas that used to have more fencing that had been – that needed to be repaired. So that was part of the Trump administration, too.

Kind of go to your areas of top concern, get those filled in, then start filling in the gaps. Realize what the Biden administration is now doing, filling in the gaps. If they believed the wall was racist and ineffective, you would not fill in the gaps, you would knock the wall down. But could you imagine the images in November in an election, let's say, lead up to, you know, big primary Tuesday, primaries this week.

So you get past that, you get to the general election these last two months, right? And every Democrat has got to deal with an ad of Joe Biden's bulldozers to the southern border while Fentanyl is killing so many Americans, while we see those images of 50 dead in the back of a semi-truck because they were trying to cross with coyotes. When we know we are bailing out drug cartels with a new $13 billion a year business in human smuggling, they're going to have images, you know, bulldozing that wall.

Oh, see, we're taking down that Trump wall. No, they try to always fool people. They try to fool people who are not as informed.

They don't really worry about the press conference. What they're worried about is saying, well, we can tell mainstream voters we're actually repairing that wall. And, Logan, I think that's their talking point to their non out-of-control liberal base. It's a weird spot because at one point saying, look at the crisis that's happening. We're all seeing that. We're seeing, like you said, these truckloads of people that are dying.

Well, if the border was open, how would this be the case? Well, the border is open, so then there's this big mix of conversation that I think is mainly just used to get you in sort of a repetitive nature where you can't really find your way out of a sentence. And that's what it feels like comes out of this press secretary. And look, the one before it as well in the whole administration.

It seems like they can't get themselves out of one sentence without it being this weird, confusing doublespeak that means nothing and everything all at the same time. Yep. All right, folks, we come back. Rick Rinnell is joining us, our senior advisor for foreign policy and national security on the politics at the FBI. We'll get into some Taiwan as well with Rick and some foreign policy. So you don't want to miss this and get your calls in, too.

You know, Rick likes to take your questions, too. 1-800-684-3110, even on the border wall, too. I mean, 1-800-684-3110. A huge thank you to our donors. We hit our goals for July's Matching Challenge because of you. Thank you. All right, welcome back to Sekulow with the double talk on the wall.

We'll get back into some of that. 1-800-684-3110. Rick Rinnell, senior advisor for foreign policy and national security, is joining us now.

And I want to follow up on a story. It was last week, started with Congressman Jim Jordan, when he sent a letter into the FBI director, Christopher Wray, and he said, we've got whistleblowers. They are saying that they are feeling pressure to reclassify criminal acts as, quote, domestic violent extremism, to meet the Biden claim that domestic violent extremism is the most dangerous threat to our country, not Fentanyl, not our poor southern border, not the Chinese Communist Party, not Russian aggression. But no, it's, again, domestic violent extremism. I'm not trying to say there's none of it. It exists. But they're being told, hey, you better pad those numbers.

Try to find some connection. Did somebody send a tweet out that said they're a Republican also? Okay, we can reclassify that as domestic violent extremism. On top of that, the whistleblowers have said there is a purge, Rick, going on inside the FBI of anyone who happens to be conservative. Now Senator Grassley has followed up with Christopher Wray who's got to testify before him in a few days with the same information. All these whistleblowers, Rick, good people inside the FBI, law enforcement saying bad things are happening because when you politicize law enforcement, you are in a danger zone.

Oh, where to begin, Jordan? This is, like, so full of hypocrisy all the way around. You know, the media in D.C. constantly said that the Trump administration was politicizing DOJ and the FBI. But what is absolutely clear is that the Biden team and Democrats weaponize government when they have it, whether it's the IRS, the FBI, the DOJ. We see political prosecutions. We see what the third world does is when they don't want, when the ruling party doesn't want someone to run against them, they put together a sham investigation like January 6th where there's not a single dissenting voice on that committee.

This is not an investigation. Now what we're seeing is Senator Grassley really getting aggressive about getting rid of politics at the FBI. I know Senator Grassley personally, and he has been very, very concerned about the politics inside the FBI. He and I have talked about the politics inside the FBI, and the reality is, and I should make very clear, that the rank and file FBI agents are good people working for truth, justice in the American way. And they know that their bosses are politicizing every issue, whether it's Russian collusion or now what we see is the Democrats' talking point of domestic terrorism becoming overplayed using the FBI and phony numbers to pretend like it's a bigger problem than what it is.

And let me just finish by saying this, when you pretend something is a bigger problem, that means the actual large problems are not being confronted, and that's what's scary. I want to play what Senator Grassley had to say about these whistleblowers, because I think what Rick said is so important, we always say this to the FBI, the rank and file are the ones coming forward bravely as whistleblowers to members of Congress to say this is going on. And they know, they're all pointing to the same FBI special agent.

Take a listen by 11. Whistleblowers coming to me, and I listen to a lot of whistleblowers because they know where the bodies are buried, and with evidence that a special agent in charge by the name of Tebow was making decisions of what investigation should go ahead and which one should be stopped. And we know by his social media comments that he is very, very liberal, very, very partisan.

We know also that he was, Rick, involved with the Russia hoax, so he was part of that team that was pushing that. He was also part of the Hunter Biden laptop, this is disinformation media, can't touch this, and now he is leading a purge of good folks at the FBI because you need a balance in the country. There should be people there of all political stripes and backgrounds so that there's a total balance and no bias, and you have to always fight against political bias, and I get that by human nature, but especially in law enforcement when they have the ability to ruin your life. Well, what is really frustrating in this is that this individual has been at the center for every single partisan fight, and we know he's a progressive Democrat. He is a vocal partisan and proud partisan, and that alone should tell the senators, you know, look, if that's the President, if somehow you get to be a partisan political investigation arm when you take power, that's a terrible precedent.

And don't teach Republicans when they take over to do that. I'm 100% against politics in any of these arms like DOJ, IRS, FBI, but this is permeated and exploded under the Democrats, and yet the Democrats look the other way. Where are the senators and congressmen who are supposed to be monitoring these committees and these investigative bodies and these cabinet officials?

They need to start speaking up, and Senator Grassley needs a little help. Yeah, and Rick, it does a lot of damage because you over-solve the intel agencies as acting DNI. When the American people start seeing these stories about law enforcement agencies, whether it's the FBI or DOJ, or if it felt like it was the intel community with some of the laptops and how they work together, if we lose faith in those institutions, they don't work.

It doesn't work. I think the American people have already lost faith with these institutions. When I was at DNI, I kept saying to all of the intel agencies, you've got a big problem. You've got to convince the American people that you're fair.

They don't think you're fair. Let me just finish by saying, where's Adam Schiff? He was so jumpy about politics permeating the intelligence agencies. He was constantly saying that I was being political when I was just trying to get rid of the politics, but what they don't like is when you get rid of the liberal progressive politics, they then think that you're playing politics when you're actually just trying to play fair and get rid of those individuals who are putting their thumb on the scale.

Rick, final thoughts on that. Nancy Pelosi, as of now, has decided to go to move forward with the trip to Taiwan. The CCP has put out a statement that was threatening enough that Twitter actually did take it. It was flagged by Twitter because they threatened to shoot her plane down, or I guess have her, I think the exact words were have her removed.

Yeah, dispel her plane. What are your thoughts on her moving forward? Look, I'm concerned that this has played out publicly. She should have just gone to Taiwan and not worried about what she's saying publicly, but playing this out with the Chinese in such a vocal and big way, I think is a mistake. Just go show that we have allies and that we're not going to be beholden to what the Chinese tell us to do. They can't veto our foreign policy. Rick, as always, we appreciate all of your insight there.

We cannot have these institutions, we have to somehow, they have huge problems. We've talked about this significantly for years at the DOJ, at the FBI, and President Trump was just in the process of draining that swamp. And to drain it, he had to also deal with what came with that, which was special counsels and impeachments because of firing the FBI director. It all starts at the top. Who's setting the tone for these special agents to put their politics into their law enforcement job? Wrong is not strong enough of a word.

It's really un-American to have these institutions take partisan positions at all. Second half hour coming up. You can learn about all these issues at ACLJ.org. We'll get a little bit more into China with Secretary Pompeo as well in the second half hour. You don't want to miss it.

We'll be right back. 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. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

Welcome back to Sekulow, the second power of the broadcast. We're going to get into a lot more here with the China trip because of the threat made by China to Nancy Pelosi. We just talked to Rick a little bit about it. We're going to talk a lot more about it with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Because I think Rick is right. It would be better if she went. It hadn't been this whole public scene and see kind of what would the Chinese response be. But now trying to say if she goes in and she's got fighter jets with her, we're going to take that as an active military situation. And the quote from their tweet that they put out, and it was actually flagged by Twitter, which was surprising to all of us, was that they would forcibly dispel Pelosi's plane.

That's the language used. If she was at all escorted by fighter jets to protect her from exactly that threat. So again, this trip is supposed to be moving forward, and I'm sure that until it exactly happens, they're going to continue the threat. So we'll talk about that with Secretary Pompeo when we come back. But I want to go to the phones at 1-800-684-3110 because we've got some questions on the border as well as what we were just talking about with the FBI. Let's start on the border with Lee in New Mexico on Line 1. Hey, Lee.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I've noticed that they're doing, the Dems are doing a lot of things, little things to try to sway the vote. And so I think the border things that they're doing, the little fixes down there, it's nothing of any consequence, but it's going to sway some people to say, oh, they finally got it.

Well, I think that what it has to do with the border, it's a twofold situation. On the one hand, they would like the uninformed voter. So people who might show up for the midterms, but again, that's usually a little bit more of an informed voter. But they're doing it because there's a lot of pressure and a lot of campaign activity. And if they just hear in a headline on CNN or these other news outlets, oh, he's fixing up the border wall.

That's what Joe Biden would like those voters to know. Now to his own base, he's got to stick with like his press secretary says, which is we're not building any more wall. The wall's ineffective. If it was ineffective and you had gaps, you would take down the wall. You wouldn't fix something that you thought was totally ineffective. You fix things that are broken that you want to work again because you want them to work.

You don't fix things that are ineffective and then claim that you're not building any wall. Let me go back to the phones one more time. Let's go to Sean in Tennessee on line two. Hi, Sean.

Hi, thanks for taking my call. Appreciate you guys and the work that you're doing, the efforts. Just a perspective on all of this. I think this is obvious to all of us that there is a playbook that the Democrats are using. And we, as you listen to them talk, they're not even hiding it in their language anymore. The previous caller talking about the FBI, when you weaponize one of the federal law enforcement branches of government that is supposed to be completely bipartisan, completely neutral. And there's, it seems to me that it comes right out of their playbook with the border, with the immigration issues, all of the issues that they are going down the list and checking all their boxes, including doing away the filibuster, packing the Supreme Court. They are anti-American and their playbook is driving us in that direction. They're not even hiding that anymore.

I just want to hear what your comments are on that. Yeah, I think that it's, they are trying to shift what the American people see as acceptable in a different country. They want to shift this idea that it's acceptable to politically target those bad actors because all those people are worth it, Donald Trump. So it's okay to have FBI raids at their house. It's okay to have FBI agents pressuring other agents, frontline employees, law enforcement agents to reclassify real crimes for political purposes, to reclassify what kind of crime they were or to try and purge out the conservatives inside the FBI. So that what? It's a Democrat liberal law enforcement. I mean, that is totally anti-American as you said, but we have to fight back against it.

We know that bureaucracy, that's exactly what they want. Again, let me just thank everybody. You're just joining us for the second hour of the broadcast who donated during our July matching challenge. We reached our goal, passed our goal because of you. So a huge thank you from all of us at the ACLJ. We'll be right back on Sekulow.

All right, welcome back to Sekulow. This is the statement from the Chinese communist party. If U.S. fighter jets escort Pelosi's plane into Taiwan, it is invasion. The PLA has the right to forcibly dispel Pelosi's plane and the U.S. fighter jets, including firing warning shots and making tactical movements of obstruction.

If ineffective, then shoot them down. That is the official message of the Chinese government. I want to go right to a former Secretary of State, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, our Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. Secretary Pompeo, it does look like the trip is moving forward as we speak. That threat was put forward by China on Twitter.

They actually did flag it on their social media because it was calling for the killing potentially of the third ranking U.S. elected official in our country. But are you surprised that after all the pressure, not just from China, but from the White House Secretary Pompeo, that she's going forward with this as of now? Well, I'm not surprised terribly, but I am pleased.

I think it's the right answer. Looks like we got a little... It would be... Yeah, we'll reconnect. We'll reconnect with you, Secretary Pompeo.

Just a minute might have been just a self-connection issue. And folks, this is what I want you to understand. They are threatening... It's a very specific threat. If you are escorted by military fighter jets, that will allow us to take down both the fighter jets and if we can't obstruct them, we're going to actually try to... We would dispel of Pelosi's plane.

I mean, take out all the politics of this. So, Secretary Pompeo, let me go back to you. You said you're not surprised, but the White House, I have a feeling up until this may happen on Wednesday, I feel like their pressure campaign is going to continue and so is the Chinese Communist Party's. I think that's likely true, but I don't think the Speaker had any choice but to continue with the program. She had made a promise that she was going to get there and to walk away from that now would be the kind of feckless, weak leadership that America can't afford. It would have created enormous risk. Chinese would have felt there was a victory, that they had convinced a third-ranking American that she couldn't go to an independent, sovereign state. Make no mistake about it, Jordan, it would be a big mistake if she were to cancel that trip as she sits there in Asia today.

What do you think about the rhetoric? We're going to dispel of your plane if you're taken in by protection by the U.S. jets. It looks like they're kind of coming up with, how could they possibly get into something with the United States? They're going pretty far and pretty specific on what they would do if you do this, but do you think either way they're going to try... The Chinese may try and pull some kind of show of force, not necessarily shooting down planes, but some kind of show of force.

Jordan, I do think that they will. In some sense, they already have. They conducted a live fire exercise not far off of Taiwan these past 48 hours. I'm certain they'll continue that kind of bluster, those kinds of threats. I'd be very surprised if they did anything remotely close to what was in that tweet, what was in that statement.

It almost looks a little bit desperate to me that they put that out in advance, trying to basically test the Biden administration, see if they'd push forward with this. And it's important too, it's important for everybody who's listening to know that China asserts something in that. They certainly have the right to do that. That's false. That's fundamentally false. Taiwan is not part of China.

It has never been part of China. And for them to say that they can expel an American leader from Taiwan when she chose to go there is just not true. And so we should not permit them to get away with that kind of propaganda, those kinds of falsehoods.

And we shouldn't reward this kind of bellicose, belligerent behavior. Is there any way that the White House could try to respin this now, if she does move forward? Or at this point, are they the ones who look foolish at the end of the day if this moves forward and she's able to make the trip safely?

You know, they'll try, I'm sure, Jordan, as they have tried so often. In the end, the President's public statement saying that the military didn't think this was wise is a statement that everyone will know was true. And that they were discouraging Speaker Pelosi for making this trip.

So my guess is that they will continue to look frankly weaker than the Speaker herself does. I hope that we're taking all the right precautions. I hope that we're proceeding just as we would have proceeded had that statement not been made.

So we have all kinds of security protocols. We should follow them. We shouldn't do anything that exceeds that. We shouldn't do anything less than that.

We should treat this as we do with all senior leader trips from American senior leaders. You know, you tweeted this morning, this is something we've been looking at too, especially at ACLJ and ACLJ Action, is that CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, controlled entities buying up American farmland near U.S. military bases. You got two issues there, control of our food sources and spying on our military bases. And you talked about how, you know, as Secretary of State, our diplomats in China can't even go to the grocery store without someone following them. Do you think that there are so many ways, systems in our government, that are supposed to check on this kind of foreign investment? We have foreign investment, we have CFIUS, we have all these different ways to really look into who is investing in what and why, and it just seems like they have been totally asleep at the wheel when it comes to China.

It's like, well, just look the other way. This is what I think we've spoken about before, Jordan, is that their language, their rhetoric, their tough-on-China rhetoric is not being delivered upon in their actual execution to allow a project just to move forward is really bad for every American citizen, not just those in North Dakota, not just our service members, but for all of us. And this isn't disconnected from this issue with Taiwan. It's about America's posture in the world, our ability to deter the Chinese Communist Party from its continued aggression. And the point I made this morning was the simple fact that it's not reciprocal, that the Chinese can move about the cabin here in the United States and buy up agricultural land near our military bases. And an American company that tried to do the same thing, or an American diplomat who even tried to travel to a place like that, would be denied the ability to do that. That's foolish, it is naive. It's frankly been American policy for 40 years, and we've got to fix it, we've got to turn it around.

We began to do that when we were on watch, I pray that every administration after ours will do the same, and just demonstrate American resolve to protect the American people. It seems like China's looking for a reason to start the fight, trying to pick the fight. I mean, at this point, is that an accurate read?

Does the Chinese really want to get into it, or test, I guess, what the U.S. would do if they did something with Taiwan? Jordan, I think they're probing. I think you've got it exactly right. I think they're testing. I think they're seeing if we will bend to mere words, or if we will bend to ships sailing in a place that's not supposed to. Whatever it is, I think they will continue to press their gaze until they meet steel, until they meet resolve. We saw this with the Iranians, we saw this with the North Koreans. They would bust or they would say things, but the moment America showed resolve and demonstrated that we were going to protect America. We weren't going to send the 82nd Airborne or the 101st, but we were going to do things that would impose costs on them. Once they saw that, they began to respect America, and they stood down on some of their most belligerent behavior.

The Biden administration needs to do the same thing with respect to China, and if we do, they'll begin to behave in a way that's more consistent with what we want them to. One item, and unrelated, but tomorrow, the final for you. In Kansas, your home state, where you represent as a member of Congress, the individuals, not their legislature, but individuals can go vote, and they can vote yes on the value of them both amendment. They're kind of the first state in the country where it's not just legislators or courts or elected officials having a say on this post-Roe world. But in Kansas, they're going to kind of lead the way on who's more engaged, and I think it's going to be a very close vote, we know, tomorrow, and I know you're encouraging people to get out to vote there. Well, Jordan, I hope every Kansan will. Whether you're in Kansas here, you've got a mail-in ballot from someplace, please vote.

Value them both. This is a simple piece of language that allows the people of Kansas to make decisions about what restrictions will be put in place with respect to abortion. We don't hand it off to our elites. Instead, we let people make these choices. It's what overturning Roe permitted, and I hope everyone will get out tomorrow and support this amendment, which gives the people of Kansas the right to make decisions about how they're going to protect the unborn.

That's really important. We appreciate you joining us, Secretary Pompeo, and for that. So, folks, if you're in Kansas, you've got family and friends in Kansas, encourage them to get out and vote yes tomorrow on the value of them both amendment. What it really allows, as Secretary Pompeo said, is it allows the lawmakers at the state level to finally legislate restrictions on abortion.

So it takes it out of the court system, and it kind of clears the way, and then, again, your direct representatives in Kansas will go through that restriction process. This is point A, and I will tell you, folks, we've been pouring in ads as much as we can do through ACLJ action, but Planned Parenthood with their mis and disinformation, it is out there and extreme. So contact, even if you think you've got friends and family who would be voting yes, I would call them and make sure they haven't fallen victim to the mis and disinformation out there by the abortion industry. Because all this does is allow the legislature to begin enacting restrictions on abortion. Just like Secretary Pompeo said, that's the whole point of fighting and getting Roe vs. Wade overturned is to return this back to the states. This is that first vote so that the state legislators in Kansas can take that vote. But remember, misinformation and disinformation is out there. So even if you're outside Kansas, we have friends and family who are voters in Kansas, might want to give a call today.

This is a big one. It's a big test of the grassroots. I think it can go either way at this point. So make sure, again, you've got your family voting the right way, and they know that there's not what is the wrong info. Again, so you can always go to point them to ACLJaction.org because we've got the fact sheet on that there as well.

So I encourage you, again, to get your family. If they're in Kansas, this is that first test, and the media will make a huge deal of it. Especially if the pro-abortion industry wins out that vote.

We don't want to see that happen. It's a never-ending saga, right, that Democrats deal with, Republicans deal with, which is this Joe Manchin power focus that he has at least through a few more months. Because I'm hoping he doesn't have this kind of power after the midterm elections, let's just say this. So after the Senate moves forward with the CHIPS Act, which we've talked about in the air, there were people that had issues with it. But there were people like Secretary Pompeo who supported this, and it's now passed the House. But it really took something that was getting bipartisan support, and there were some Republicans who didn't like it, that was fine, into just a purely very political issue, unfortunately. Not because of the CHIPS Act itself, there were issues in that, but because immediately upon passage in the Senate of the CHIPS Act, Joe Manchin came out with a mini-billback better. A mini-billback better that includes tax increases by more than $326 billion.

This is during what, under most definitions, people have said would count as a recession because of two-quarters of negative GDP growth. Only the Biden administration won't accept that, but it has tax increases. There's tax breaks, of course, to the richest Americans. Price controls on pharmaceuticals that they think will actually go so far as to hurt the research and development.

I know that that's, again, there's a balance there. Pharmaceutical companies need to make money so that they can research and develop better pharmaceuticals and better cures for diseases that can hit any of us and all of us. So, again, you understand when you start saying we're going to put price controls on them, you might like the way that sounds, but how does that impact 10 and 15 years down the road with our research and development capabilities? And, of course, it's got almost $400 billion for the Green New Deal. Now, this is not yet 100 percent given, not because of any Republicans, but because a Christian cinema would be necessary to get this to the 50 votes.

Now, right now, V.P. Harris would not have to be the tiebreaker this week because Senator Corden, unfortunately, is out with—a Republican—is out with COVID. So they could do it with 50 votes. I want to go to Harry Hutchinson on the economics of this because, Harry, to me, it is Joe Manchin showing his true colors once again, big spending, tax increases, and, of course, even taxes on coal, which impacts his community, West Virginia, the state he represents.

But it is typical. I mean, it's got the Green New Deal in it. This is—it might not be quite as expansive as Build Back Better, but it's pretty darn close. I think you're precisely correct. So I think, as you've outlined, this so-called Inflation Reduction Act, made possible by Joe Manchin's craven capitulation to the left wing of his party, provides tax cuts that benefit the rich. And in short, this bill is nothing less than a disaster. Second, a University of Pennsylvania study points out that the Manchin bill, which highlights his commitment to inconsistency, will raise inflation through 2024. So we are already in a hyperinflation situation, and Joe Manchin wants to add jet fuel to the fire. Third, the bill raises taxes on corporations, but guess what? Corporations will, of course, raise prices.

This means that the corporate tax will be paid by consumers. And so a corporate tax hike will raise the inflation rate still further. Fourth, the bottom line is that Joe Manchin's inflation reduction bill is simply a twisty road to where?

Nowhere. Raising spending during a period of hyperinflation only makes sense in a world, an Alice in Wonderland world of make-believe. Jordan, this make-believe world of raising spending during hyperinflation suggests that politicians inhabit a strange world that is very, very similar to the world inhabited by opioid addicts. Yeah, I mean, let me go to President Obama, because this is what he had to say about what you do in a recession, what you don't do in a recession. You would think maybe the Biden team had listened and learned.

Take a listen by three. The last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession, because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further. I mean, but we've seen a shift from the days of Barack Obama in the Democrat Party, where they were very liberal, pretty progressive for the time, but reasonable to the point of, I don't want to, I don't, under my watch, I don't need the economy getting worse.

I need it getting better. You don't have to run for reelection. I'm President of the United States. But that's all gone out the window, because it feels to me that the people advising President Biden, they lack a lot of real-world experience. I think that is correct. It's Democrat, Republican, you've got to have real-world experience to understand what it's like to pay a mortgage, pay your bills, get your kids to school, all the costs, so that when inflation goes up, what it's like to make a budget. I'm not sure that any of them have ever experienced that.

I think that is correct. So I think Democrats, by and large, have been captured by ideology, and they have fled the world of reality. And so here we have a situation where the Democrats are not content merely to raise prices, not merely content to raise the corporate tax, not content to spend more money on IRS tax audits, and they're not content with subsidizing China through so-called renewables, such as solar and wind. Instead, they now want to tax coal production, and they plan on raising taxes essentially on anyone who makes more than $30,000 a year. So when they tell you that they are trying to quote-unquote tax the rich, don't believe them.

They are telling another relatively large fig. Yeah, I just want to tell people, when they hear that it's going to be $400,000 in on-up earners, a lot of people out there may say, oh, that's people that make a lot of money. I don't make that much money, so it'd be fine. But if you're a small business owner or you work for a small business, that's who it's targeted at. That's not targeted at some major executive, a huge company.

They can deal with it. But a small business owner who might be right in that range, that's when they start deciding whether or not they can't take on a new employee or have to drop employees. I think that is precisely correct. And it's important to note that the unemployment rate in the United States is fairly low. But the actual number of people employed in the United States who are in the workforce is still not at the level we were in February of 2020. So keep in mind, yes, the unemployment rate has come down, but the overall employment of Americans has actually shrunk under this particular President.

As Joe Biden's dear mother used to say, out of every lousy thing, something good will happen if you look hard enough. At the end of the day, the Democrats have decided to essentially, in my opinion, attempt to destroy the U.S. economy in order to satisfy their ideologues and their base. So the question is, folks, on this one, in the Senate, is where will Senator Sinema be? They still have to get the 50th vote. Looks like they've got 49. As of right now, as of the show, she has not, she's been silent.

She's probably being lobbied very hard by her friend Senator Manchin. We'll keep you updated on this. We'll keep you updated on the vote in Kansas tomorrow. Make sure if you live in Kansas to plan to vote yes for life there. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Secular.