SEKULOW

Logan Sekulow: On today's show, we're discussing President Trump facing the biggest State of the Union boycott in American history. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow on the day of the State of the Union address. We are live. Give us a call at 1-800-684-3110. I’d love to hear from you. Will Haynes is in the studio. Rick Grenell will be joining us a little bit later. We’d love to hear from you again as President Trump plans to address the nation tonight amidst the biggest boycott.

Occasionally, you'll see someone sit out, but at this point, it is a big number. Dozens of people will be boycotting and holding either their own events or not attending at all. This includes some big names like AOC, Adam Schiff, among many others. Of course, those are probably the top dogs if you want to say the names, the people, the casuals.

Will Haynes: Those are your favorite. Those are the ones you support in their decision, right?

Logan Sekulow: The civilians now. The ones people who don’t listen to this show, they all know those two names. They’ve heard AOC, they’ve heard Adam Schiff. There’s a bunch of others. We’ll get into it. Of course, their reason is they just can’t sit there and bear to hear President Trump because how dare he. So it will be a fun night to watch.

Of course, President Trump coming off of not a great weekend after the Supreme Court had the ruling with the tariffs, and he seemed to have a pretty big response. We’ll discuss that as well as what’s going on even in Mexico. We’re going to discuss that a little bit more with Rick Grenell. But Will, let’s get into it.

Will Haynes: That’s right. So what we’re hearing is dozens of members of Congress will be boycotting and holding separate events tonight. The largest prior to this was in 2018 when 14 Democrats did not attend the State of the Union. So almost double if all the numbers we’re seeing pan out are not going to be there.

We’re talking about people, not just members of the House of Representatives who are a little bit more wild, maybe sometimes more on the fringe. We’re talking about US Senators as well, including Ed Markey from Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley from Oregon, Chris Murphy from Connecticut, Tina Smith from Minnesota, Adam Schiff from California, and Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland. Then you have a list of other representatives, including AOC, Pramila Jayapal, and many others. We can talk about that as we go.

Logan Sekulow: I want to know how many people actually care and how many of them are just like, I just want to stay home tonight and it’ll win me some brownie points with my Democratic base.

Will Haynes: But you think that, but they’re also holding side events. There’s a "State of the Swamp" event that’s going to be happening, which is interesting.

Logan Sekulow: Who's the swamp?

Will Haynes: They’re calling themselves the swamp. I think they’re trying to flip it on him. They’re taking the swamp term and trying to now say that it’s Donald Trump that’s the swamp even though he coined the term. Then you’ve also got the "People’s State of the Union," which is a separate competing event. That’ll happen on the National Mall an hour before the State of the Union.

Logan Sekulow: And is there an official response tonight? Democrats usually have one. Who’s doing that tonight?

Will Haynes: There’s always the official response. Sometimes even in this day and age, when you have a fractured Democrat Party, you have multiple responses like the progressive response, the regular response. We’ll get into all of that in the next segment as well. But I also want to know what people are thinking. Are they going to watch this?

Logan Sekulow: It’ll be Abigail Spanberger is who will be having the official response. And that is the newly elected Governor of Virginia. So that is someone that obviously the Republicans fought hard against in a recent election in that off-year election in Virginia, and the Democrats are probably hoping can be a rising star.

A lot of times the response giver is kind of a blessing and a curse. You get a lot of time, but you don’t normally see those individuals rise to the level of next President. No, and a lot of times it’s people who you expected to be, and sometimes there’s backlash. We saw even Marco Rubio famously with the water. We had Katie Britt one from the kitchen, which I loved, but a lot of people did not.

Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. One Democrat hopes that things will not be how they were before, hopes they don’t put up those paddles or have any of the shenanigans. Can you guess who that top Democrat is? Come on, man, you're so close. Just come on over to the good side. Who would that be? Who would that be? Put it in the comments if you think you know who that top Democrat is. We’ll discuss it coming up. Hint: we have similar fashion styles. Phone lines are open. 1-800-684-3110. We’ll be right back.

Jay Sekulow: The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, and our constitutional rights are under attack, it’s more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedom, defending your rights in court, in Congress, and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here’s the bottom line: we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you’re already a member, thank you. And if you’re not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.

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Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. The comments lit up. Of course, you knew who it was. If there was going to be one Democrat who brought some logic to this whole conversation, it would be the one and only Senator from Pennsylvania, John Fetterman. So let’s take a listen to him on Fox News talking about the State of the Union tonight.

John Fetterman: I do plan to attend. I hope that this year they don’t put up those silly paddles and all those kinds of weird protests. You don’t have to agree or disagree with whatever you’re going to hear, but like last year, it just made us look like children. Just show up or not, but to do those kinds of things, have some dignity and just we can agree or disagree and not call people names.

Logan Sekulow: Coming with logic, with actual emotional clarity, and that is John Fetterman again, who look, a lot of conservatives fought very hard against, but as time has progressed, he has shown to be one of the great leaders of the Democratic Party who actually has some sound thoughts even just based on common civility.

So much so that I teased it up for you. Hundreds of you put John Fetterman in the comments. Hundreds. It was a flood of Fetterman in the comments because you know there’s only a handful that would ever make statements like this and he is one of them. Of course, we’re talking about the State of the Union tonight, and if you’re just joining us right now, we’re talking about it because there is a historic boycott that is about to go down. And that means you’re going to have dozens, including top leading Democrats like AOC and Adam Schiff, either not participating or participating in alternate events. They won’t be there in the chambers. They will be somewhere else doing their own Super Bowl halftime show, if you will.

Will Haynes: That’s right. Something obviously that they mocked Turning Point for doing their alternative halftime show, yet they have been coming up with this alternative programming for years when it comes to the State of the Union. But I also want to hear from the audience. Are you going to be watching tonight? What do you hope you hear? What do you expect to hear from the President? 1-800-684-3110. And also, what do you think about this boycott from Democrats that are just trying to get a name for themselves at the end of the day? They’re trying to be important. Does it really harm them so much to attend a speech that’s an American tradition? It’s in the Constitution.

Logan Sekulow: Exactly. The opposite of the handshake.

Will Haynes: Right. But I think we’re going to play a clip here from Adam Schiff in a moment. But once again, there was a clip in the break on MSNBC or MS Now that the person was once again, they try to blame the other side for the start of this. They said ever since Joe Wilson yelled "you lie" in the State of the Union. And yeah, that probably was the moment that decorum of the State of the Union went away. But it’s also when you start to be like one individual member of Congress decided to say something and was widely criticized for yelling out in the middle of State of the Union. Now they’re like, let’s see how far we can go.

Last year, Congressman Al Green from Texas had to be escorted out of the State of the Union because he interrupted it. The Sergeant at Arms had to come and get him and take him out. And that was a crisis of democracy from the left last year. So I don’t think that they can point the finger back and be like, if Joe Wilson hadn’t yelled "you lie" about Obamacare, we wouldn’t have to walk out. No, they’d be doing this anyways.

But the fact also that the childishness, and that’s what I think from Senator Fetterman’s comment where it was very rational of the silly paddles that they held up, the fact that you are an elected member of Congress, you are a member of a co-equal branch of government as the President. You look inferior as though you are not a co-equal branch if your protest is, I’m not showing up, I have to hold up a sign or a paddle.

No, you do have a lot of power in Congress. I understand there are many other members, but these days, Congress is unable to do so much because they have decided that they are not going to do things. They're just playing politics. And therefore, yes, you have kind of taken a lot of the power out of being a member of the House of Representatives. But to me, it’s such a bad look, not because of how silly it is—it is silly—but also it’s like not taking yourself seriously when you are elected in one of the greatest governments in the world in history as one of the co-equal branches of that government and the best you can do is a sign? Come on.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, I want to hear from you. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. Let’s hop over to Bill in Wyoming. Bill, you’re on the air.

Bill: Hi, thanks for taking my call. First of all, I want to put my kudos to Senator Fetterman for making his comment, and I’m not arguing with him. But I’m going to have to link this with what happens in England concerning the deposing of Prince Andrew and him being arrested. After all that’s been going on, I guess I’m going to have to start thinking of them and calling these people congressional royalty because they act like they’re above people and they shouldn’t have basically—I think they tend to look down their noses at us as far as people that they’re supposed to be representing.

Will Haynes: Well, and Bill, that’s one of the reasons why so many people want things like term limits in Congress is because someone gets elected and then they’re the incumbent and then a lot of times, especially in a lot of these districts, it’s really hard to get that person out of that office once they’ve won it. Because a lot of times they don’t do a ton. So there is no bad record to really point to of like, man, you really let us down. In reality, they’re letting you down because they’re not representing the people of their district.

And when you also think of the concept of the State of the Union, this is the President giving a report to Congress. If you frame it the way they’re looking at it, it is almost as if the king is coming to deliver his speech to the subjects. No, the State of the Union is giving a report on the state of the union to Congress. It’s almost a presentation, like in school, like we’ve done this work and here is the fruit of this work over the last year. Yes, it’s a highly political speech, but by protesting, you are giving the President the elevated spot.

And you could flip it completely like, I’m going to be there and hear him have to tell me to my face because I am a co-equal branch of government and he’s got a report to Congress on what’s happened. And instead, they feel like the best thing is I’m not giving him an audience.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, I actually want to play a bite from Stephen A. Smith who has, look, let’s just be honest, has been flirting with a presidential run. It has been something that he has discussed a lot. People are asking him quite a bit about him potentially running as a Democrat in 2028. Now if he does run as a Democrat, we know he has been pretty aggressive when it comes to the issues that the Democrat Party have. He’s not unlike a Senator Fetterman in that sense. So I think it’s kind of important to hear what Stephen A. Smith has to say as we start to listen to people like Gavin Newsom. Maybe there are some more rational alternatives. Let’s listen. This is Stephen A. Smith.

Stephen A. Smith: The President of the United States is going to give his State of the Union address, and the Democrats have other plans. So some are talking about walking out in the middle of his speech, others are talking about boycotting it altogether and essentially finding something else to do. I’m here to tell you that neither is acceptable. Neither should be acceptable. At some point in time, ladies and gentlemen, there’s got to be an adult in the room.

If you’re going to act as juvenile, as petulant, as petty as you accuse the President of the United States to be, how are you ever going to hold a high moral ground at least high enough to judge him accordingly?

Logan Sekulow: So there you go, another statement very similar actually to John Fetterman’s, maybe put in different words, but saying you can’t be boycotting, you can’t be doing these kind of things because if you do, you’re essentially playing a game, a political game. And I think a lot of people have fought back against this political game. If they have sound people like Stephen A. Smith, like John Fetterman, who can make waves within their party, you may see a peeling back of people who voted for President Trump and are not just going to vote a Republican Party line.

We know a lot of people flipped and voted for President Trump over the Democrat or didn’t vote at all, but we know people did not vote because there was an R next to President Trump’s name. So there’s actually interesting opportunity for people like Stephen A. Smith to have a moment, especially if people like Gavin Newsom keep stepping in it.

Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. When we get back, I want to take your calls and comments. We lost a couple of calls there. We do have one still on hold, but we do have a few lines open. 1-800-684-3110. Have your voice heard on the air today. And of course, as we give you all of the update, all the coverage, I do always want to take a minute and tell you about the work of the ACLJ in the next segment. There’s going to be a special airing tonight. We’re going to discuss that heading into the State of the Union on the Trinity Broadcasting Network on TBN that my brother Jordan will be on, leading into the State of the Union, giving you guys a big update on the ACLJ.

Some of that may not be new to all of you who are watching in terms of the information he’s providing, but we’re reaching a big audience there, so we appreciate our friends at TBN over the years. I look forward to watching him myself. I haven’t seen it, you know, they keep things closed doors there.

Will Haynes: That’s right. But we do have a clip from it. Obviously, it’s not happening currently or live tonight. It was pre-taped to air ahead of the State of the Union. It’s a special, but we do have a clip we can share of Jordan tonight that you can watch at 8:00 PM Eastern or 11:00 PM Eastern. So let’s go ahead and cue that up for everyone so they can see a little bit of what Jordan will be sharing tonight.

Jordan Sekulow: We still in the United States have to stand up for our rights of free speech. I always remind people that when we win, it’s not just a win for him, it’s a win for everybody’s free speech rights. It doesn’t matter what viewpoint you’re coming from. Ultimately, we’re always confident if we’re going to the US Supreme Court that speech, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of religion ultimately win out in our country. We hope that kind remains. That’s what keeps America, America: free speech and freedom of religion.

Logan Sekulow: All right, so again, that is tonight on TBN, Jordan on Praise. Again, that’ll be at 8:00 PM Eastern and re-airing at 11:00 PM Eastern as sort of a bookend to the State of the Union address and coverage. So again, thanks to our friends at TBN.

I want to jump, take some of these phone calls. A lot of you have been calling in, and we do have one line open. Give me a call. We got a bunch of champions on hold also, by the way, which are those the people that support the work of the ACLJ as monthly members. We call them ACLJ Champions. One of my favorite things when people walk up to me and say, "Logan, I’m a champion," I know exactly what they mean. I always want to greet them with a sturdy handshake.

Will Haynes: I appreciate that you do that. Let’s go to Warren, who’s calling first, line four. He’s ACLJ Champ. Go ahead.

Warren: Thank you, gentlemen, so much, and can’t tell you how much we appreciate ACLJ. You know, listening to Fetterman, but seeing all of this rhetoric that’s going on and the walking out, we just have to remember and realize that it is not a battle of flesh and blood, but we’re against demonic powers and the evil that wants to separate and divide our country. And the only way that we’re going to win this is through prayer, through Jesus, and like you said, standing for our rights, standing for righteousness and justice, and standing with people like the ACLJ.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, I appreciate that, Warren. You know, we try to be as straight shooters as we can. We’ll give you a really non-partisan look. We tell you what we believe and what we know to be true. And sometimes, look, I heard from one of our listeners in person the other day. They go sometimes they wish we would go harder on certain things. But he understands we have legal analysis. We understand that we provide you content that a lot of people don’t care. We don’t just tell you what you want to hear. Oh, no ear tickling here, Will.

Will Haynes: That’s right. We don’t do that here. We tell you what the truth is. And sometimes you don’t want to hear it, but people like Warren understand that’s the importance of this show existing.

Logan Sekulow: I know I could double our numbers if I just told you everything you wanted to hear. I know if I went on conspiracy theory-laden reports, if I decided to make all these crazy series and do all these different things—we see them in the news right now—that my views would skyrocket. But we don’t do that here. And I’m very proud of that at the ACLJ, of our team. And even if things ever get out of whack, by the way, we’re very quick to tell our team no.

I would rather things stay consistent so when you see that brand, when you see the ACLJ brand, you see the Sekulow name, you know you’re getting a consistent product, a consistent content that is going to be honest and representative of the truth. And of course, it comes from a Christian perspective. But there are often times many people, many organizations that are just going to share whatever they think is going to get the most clicks, share what they think is going to get the most shares, even if they know it’s not to be true. And we’re not going to do that here. We don’t play by that game.

And I appreciate him calling in. Let’s go hit up one more champion. Let’s go to Martin in North Carolina. Martin, go ahead.

Martin: Hi guys. I liked your response to Warren. I loved his response. It is the spiritual warfare that the Bible warned us about. But my comment is, when I look at this and I did see, I don’t know if it was Senator or Congressman talking about the second or the other program they were going to have, I look at it potentially as a deflection from the reality of what’s going on and their failures. Because what he said was about healthcare—who caused the crisis? They did. Housing—who caused the crisis? They did. The economy—who caused the crisis? For the most part, they did. So they’re trying to deflect and maybe they can win some people over on aspects of lies and deflection.

Will Haynes: I do want to play this clip from Senator Schiff, and it’s not exactly the one you’re speaking about, Martin, but he’s also talking about the alternative programming that they’re going to be giving. And I want to follow up with a comment, but I think it’s important for you to hear from the people that aren’t going to be going and what their reasons are. This is bite one.

Adam Schiff: Donald Trump is violating the law and Constitution. He is ignoring court orders. He has weaponized the Justice Department to go after his enemies. He is letting loose ICE troops in our streets that are getting people killed. I will not be attending the State of the Union. I’ve never missed one. I have always gone both to inaugurations and to States of the Union, but we cannot treat this as normal. This is not business as usual. I will not give him the audience he craves for the lies that he tells. I will be outside the Capitol with Midas Touch and MoveOn for the people’s State of the Union at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday.

Will Haynes: Now, I won’t be watching because I’ll be watching Jordan on Praise at 8:00 PM Eastern time, so I will miss that. Sorry everyone, I can’t give you a detailed play-by-play. Maybe I’ll catch a replay of it. But here’s the part of the problem as well: one, all the spin, all the lies that he’s saying there, obviously it’s the same political talking points.

But one of the things he says is that Donald Trump is violating the law and the Constitution. Now, I know things are a little different these days with the way we can communicate a lot quicker and you can broadcast a State of the Union than when the Constitution was written. But the State of the Union is listed as something that the President shall do in the Constitution. It says he shall from time to time give the Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

This is telling the President to report to Congress on things and then to ask basically for their cooperation on things as the executive. Here are things I see we need to get done, so let’s work on a bill. And that’s why you always hear Presidents say, let’s get it done, I’ll sign the bill if you get it to my desk. That’s a part of this.

So I know that it’s not like Adam Schiff is not going to understand or hear what’s in it, but the very fact that he’s saying that President doesn’t follow the law or the Constitution when the Constitution is giving Adam Schiff a place of authority in this situation where the President has to go and make a report to them. It’s all political spin and it’s really just gross. Like, you don’t even have to like the State of the Union or anything, but if you’re a Senator, a US Senator, just go, be there.

Logan Sekulow: I love that Adam Schiff was like, "I’m going to be on an hour before because I’m not brave enough to actually counter-program this." So watch me an hour before, I’m your lead-in. Of course, as we said, we’ll have a special running on TBN tonight, so we will not be watching that. But you know, that shows you their true face.

Phone lines are open, actually only one line. 1-800-684-3110. Second half hour coming up. If you don’t get us on your local station, you’re listening on terrestrial radio, you can find us on ACLJ.org, YouTube, Rumble, Facebook, Salem News Channel. However you get your podcasts, we’re there live 12:00 to 1:00 PM Eastern Time, archived on all those platforms wherever you get your pods as I said. Again, that’s at ACLJ.org where you can get involved, get engaged. And of course, if you can support the work financially, know we’d really appreciate it. That is at ACLJ.org. When we get back, we’re going to continue this coverage and Rick Grenell is going to be joining us in the back half. This is our shortest break of the day. Less than a minute. Don’t go anywhere.