Leo Terrell on frustration with left's failure to call out rioters, says Black Lives Matter is disingenuous
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell joins Mark Levin on 'Life, Liberty & Levin' to discuss state of race relations, police reform in America.
This is a rush transcript from "Life, Liberty & Levin," June 28, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARK LEVIN, HOST: Hello America, I'm Mark Levin. This is "Life, Liberty & Levin." We have two great guests tonight.
My first guest I've admired from afar for many decades. Leo Terrell, Civil Rights attorney for three decades, before that a public school teacher in the L.A. City School District and so far, Leo, first of all, I want to thank you because I've been watching you over the past few months, and you've been very consistent.
You've been very consistent. You believe in the rule of law, you believe in due process. You believe in the Constitution and whether it is what's going on now or what you felt was going on before. You've been very steady in your viewpoint, but you been speaking out a lot about Black Lives Matter, about Antifa, about the rhetoric, about their conduct. What is driving you right now?
LEO TERRELL, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Thank you very much for having me, Mark.
You know, I have 30 years invested as a Civil Rights attorney, public school teacher as you mentioned, and I'm frustrated and disappointed in the Democratic Party and the left.
I mean, it really started a couple of weeks ago when Joe Biden made that comment, that awful comment, that insulting comment that if you vote Republican, you ain't black.
I'm a Civil Rights attorney. That statement was condescending and insulted every African-American, and every American, and then you follow up with a series of protesting, which is perfectly okay, but the failure of a Democratic Party to call out the rioting, the looting, the murder is just something that I, as a Civil Rights attorney could no longer sit and just basically stay quiet.
And then you have the ultimate insult of talking about defunding the police. I want everyone to know I have a sister in law enforcement and I may criticize bad police officers because, Mark, 97 to 98 percent of the officers are great. They protect you and I at two or three in the morning.
And two or three percent like the George Floyd situation -- horrible.
But my goodness, to defund the police? To take away law and order? And then you have this unbelievable situation where the Democrats will not criticize Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter is disingenuous. Why? Because there's only certain black lives that they care about. What about that retired black officer, David Dorn? A black man, murdered defending a business. I didn't see Black Lives there. I didn't see Al Sharpton there. It is certain blacks that they care about to profiteer the black community.
Where is the Democratic leadership calling out the protesters? They are fine, but never criticizing the looters, never criticizing those who are burning property. That drives me nuts and then what I cannot understand is when there is an opportunity to do legitimate police reform, when you have a great South Carolinian Senator, Tim Scott working his butt off 24/7 to get Justice Reform and the Democrats will not work with him because they do not want the perception that the Republicans are working on Police Reform.
And finally Mark, you know what? People may criticize the President, but what American doesn't want law and order? I do. President Trump does.
And here's a man, with that Executive Order accomplished more with a stroke of a pen regarding Police Reform, creating a database than what the Obama and Biden administration have done in eight years. That is why I am being consistent, that is why I am speaking out.
I have credibility to speak out and I will continue to speak out on these issues that I have just raised.
LEVIN: Now, Leo Terrell, you talk about Black Lives Matter, you also have this Antifa movement. I have looked into the backgrounds of these organizations, they really are Marxist anarchist organizations, much like the Weather Underground of the 1960s.
The two cofounders of the Black Lives Matters movement have said they are trained Marxists. There also were supporters of the Bernie Sanders campaign. We don't hear Bernie Sanders speaking out. We don't hear Biden speaking out -- Pelosi; we don't hear Schumer speaking out.
More to your point, do you think now that this very radical element which does not represent the vast majority of Americans, it does not represent the vast majority of African-Americans, they're not up for vote, they just claim to. Do you think this is a growing element within the Democratic Party? You think that's why the leadership of the Democratic Party is giving silent approval really to what they're doing?
TERRELL: You know, Mark, I think Black Lives Matter has dominated social media and the perception is that they control the Democratic Party.
I'm hoping, I'm begging, I'm praying that they don't control the Democratic Party, but the current status right now, it is. It has control of the Democratic Party.
It has muted Democratic leadership. The Democratic leadership is afraid of Black Lives Matter for a variety of reasons. One is the most insulting.
They assume they speak for African-Americans.
Let me be clear. Black Lives Matter does not speak for Leo Terrell and there is no representative, there is no monolithic group like Black Lives Matter that speak for African-Americans.
We are individuals and we have our own individual opinion. I can assure you those African-Americans in these Democratic cities, they want law and order. That's the goalpost -- police -- the goalpost between the criminal and a safe neighborhood.
But what Black Lives have done is they have hijacked the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party has remained silent fearing that they will alienate Main Street blacks. Trust me, Democratic leadership, you won't alienate mainstream black voters.
But the Black Lives leadership has controlled the platform for the Democratic Party as we speak.
LEVIN: You know, you talked about the fact that Black Lives Matter doesn't seem to care much about Mr. Dorn who was murdered in cold blood, a wonderful man by all accounts, and others by the way -- white, black, interracial.
The very -- in other words, they push a narrative. You've got going on in our cities today particularly when you look at cities like Chicago, absolute slaughter taking place.
The number of people who are shot -- you had one weekend, not long ago was over 100 people were shot, 15 people killed. Five of which were little kids. One of which was a three-year-old. I don't hear a thing.
By the way, I don't hear a thing other than a passing reference by the mainstream media, oh look, isn't this horrible. Now back at Trump.
Or Black Lives Matter -- I don't hear people marching about this. I don't even see Sharpton marching about this.
This is -- I mean, when you look at that little three-year-old kid who was sitting in the car, or that 13-year-old girl who was sitting, watching TV, a bullet went through her neck, and 16 and 17-year-old kids, boys who were out behaving, having a good time, somebody walks up and murders them?
And it's like nobody knows their name. It just moves on and that's the end of it and let's get back to the cops.
I don't -- honestly, I don't understand the mindset of these organizations.
Shouldn't you be in these neighborhoods marching for protection for -- and there are by the way. There are pastors. There are anti-crime individuals, but their voices aren't heard. It's the mob. The mob's voice is heard. What you think of that?
TERRELL: I'll tell you, you hit it right on the head. Here's the problem.
This is why Black Lives Matter is basically, in my opinion, the Al Sharpton of the 21st Century. They are profiteers.
They are profiting on trying to give a narrative, a false narrative that is white racist cops that's destroying the black community. You point out Chicago. No Black Lives presence walking through the neighborhood, protesting to stop black on black crime.
Al Sharpton goes to the George Floyd funeral, used a funeral to launch a campaign speech attacking Donald Trump. I don't see Al Sharpton in Chicago, that three-year-old kid who was killed, you know why? Because it's not profitable. There's no money to be made.
And this narrative which is -- and again, I have the credibility. Attack me. As a Civil Rights attorney, I know there may be one or two percent of bad cops, but 98 percent, they are great and when you talk about Chicago, you talk about Atlanta, you talk about Washington, D.C. and L.A., this big lie, Mark, of systemic discrimination.
How can you have systemic discrimination in Chicago when the leadership is minority? I know what systemic discrimination is. It does not exist, but yet this is the narrative that the Black Lives leadership portrays, the Democratic leadership -- systemic discrimination. It doesn't exist.
They don't know what they are talking about. This is not 1960. We don't have Bull Connor and the German Shepherds.
This is 2020. I, an African-American on your show. It's not like it was 50 years ago, but Black Lives Matter and the Democratic leadership wants you to think it's 1960.
Well, I'm sick of that narrative.
LEVIN: And Leo, the Democratic Party doesn't have any answers. The Democratic Party runs these cities with an iron fist. It's one party rule, all the money from the Fed and the states and the local tax base flows through their hands. They choose people for these highest position, even Police Chiefs. The prosecutors are locally elected.
They do not support school choice. They're in bed with these public sector unions. They don't introduce free market principles where people can be encouraged to make profits, to invest. All of these things that the rest of the country does -- is not happening in our inner cities and it's not because people are minorities. It's because you've got ironfisted one-party rule that will not introduce true reform. It doesn't have a liberty agenda.
It has a Democratic Party agenda. Does that make sense to you?
TERRELL: Oh yes and the most important question that I learned in law school is why? Why do they do that? And I have been trying to figure it out and I know why. It's pandering.
It is their power base, Mark. They want their constituents -- their constituents to believe that the Democratic Party and the government has to do everything. It's the only way they can stay in power.
They don't want charter schools. They don't want choice. They don't want people of color to think for themselves, to work and make their own career choice. They want the government to hand out things. They want their constituents to believe that the government is everything for them.
Well, I won't drink that Kool-Aid anymore because choice, opportunities, making personal decisions has to take place for people of color, for anyone in this country to move up.
I made personal decisions to go to law school, to become a schoolteacher, to work, and I will no longer buy the rhetoric by the Democrats to make the assumption that only government, Mark, only government can help you out, no one else.
I refute and reject that premise.
LEVIN: And you know, the irony, Leo, is if you want to burn the system down, they are the system. They are the system in the inner cities in these blue areas, and they want to make the system bigger and more powerful and more centralized where people's independence, their liberty, their ability, their free will is crushed.
So on the one hand, they talk about the system, well, they own the system and then on the other hand they talk about burning it down.
When we come back, I want to ask you, Leo Terrell, what kind of reaction are you getting among friends, colleagues that you've worked with in the past since you're such an outspoken defender of justice and equality and order?
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEVIN: Welcome back. Leo Terrell, Civil Rights lawyer. What kind of reaction are you getting from friends and family and colleagues when they see you taking such a courageous stand, when they see you really saying to the Democratic Party, you're not my party anymore when you tolerate this and even celebrate this, I'm a Civil Rights lawyer, you say. I've represented many of these people. I have a love for these communities and you're not helping. What do people say to you?
TERRELL: Mark, the amazing thing is I have given my entire career to Civil Rights, helping people, people who have been disadvantaged, people who look like me and represent anyone because I do believe in the principle that we live in a colorblind society.
But ever since the last three or four weeks, people who I know, who I work with, the silent treatment, the no comment, the absence of phone ringing and asking, you want to talk? You want to meet? You want to go out?
And you know what, Mark, it hurts but it doesn't deter me because on the other side I'm hearing people who are saying thank you. I appreciate what you're doing. I'm glad you're speaking out. You're expressing my views.
I get emotional about this because of my mom and dad and how they told me to use what I've learned through school to help people and the people I've helped for 25 plus years have basically turned their back, but you know what? I could probably help them by speaking out because you know what? I can sleep well at night. I can sleep with a good conscience.
The name-calling, so be it. It is the obligation as a Civil Rights attorney, as an American to make sure we uplift everyone and if speaking out and telling the truth about how I feel as an individual, not speaking for every African-American, Mark, but as an individual African-American and American that I'm going to continue to speak out and continue to articulate my viewpoint.
LEVIN: Well, you've been doing a superb job and you've always done a superb job, frankly.
I want to ask you this. The way that Nancy Pelosi talks about the President, the way that she talks about Republicans, the way that she talks about the police now.
Schumer does the same thing. Other Democrats do it. They are all over TV.
They bring in these professors who are absolutely radical people go on and on, who are very racialized, if you know what I mean.
Everything is about race. It is not about you humanity, not about unity, not about Americans and I see these people all over TV. They're constantly on. Their contributors to these newsrooms and so forth.
I really believe the leadership of the Democratic Party today and the media have contributed mightily to what we are seeing in the streets.
There narrative, their social activism agenda and I'm not talking about liberal, I'm talking radical and I think it's contributed mightily to what we are seeing now. What are your thoughts?
TERRELL: Thank you very much for your question because you are 100 percent correct. First, let me go after these Democratic leadership, to Pelosi, to Schumer, Dick Durbin using the reference of token legislation, which was a direct racial insult to Tim Scott regarding Police Reform.
They are basically encouraging this type of chaos of what we see on the streets right now. Why? They are obsessed, Mark -- the Democratic leadership -- anybody, but Trump.
They prop up a guy named Joe Biden who has done nothing for people of color and what Donald Trump has done with the First Step, with the funding for Historical Black Colleges, they don't want to give him credit, so they attack. They attack. They attack. They have no platform.
Democratic leadership has no platform as we speak. All they are riding on, all they are hoping for is that there is this anger towards Donald Trump.
That's not going to be enough to win the election.
But you mentioned the other half of the equation, these contributors on those other two cable networks which I will not dignify by mentioning their names.
And I challenge every one of those contributors. They constantly talk about racism, that the country is totally divided on race, selling race books and just basically encouraging the destruction of the fabric of our country.
Monuments, flags, institutions -- destroy everything.
You have people with fancy titles talking about the destruction of our current system. I debated one of those individuals. I don't want to mention his name, Cornel West who has never been out there to understand the logic of what's going on.
And I'll tell you right now, I'm telling your viewers, don't listen to those people. Make a decision ON informed information because you're getting rhetoric, you're getting Kool-Aid. You're getting propaganda and they have got only one agenda, defeat Donald Trump and that's not good enough for me.
LEVIN: You know, Leo Terrell, I've had Shelby Steele on this program a few times and he suffered through segregation, his parents did and so forth and he was a Civil Rights activist.
And he said, I want my fellow African-Americans to know you are free. You are free. Do whatever you want. Become whatever you want. Just go out and live your life. You are free.
But he says, and I see you have other people who are saying the opposite that you can't achieve. That you can become something because of your race, because of historic segregation, because of historic slavery.
And he says, that is what kills the black community.
You are free. Now go out and be a free human being. What do you think about that?
TERRELL: Oh, Shelby Steele is absolutely correct. I mean, I don't recall any obstacles to prevent me from going to law school. I wasn't denied the opportunity to take the California State Bar.
I wasn't denied the opportunity to start a law practice. I wasn't denied the opportunity to become a teacher, but it goes back to that basic principle.
There are profiteers. The current profiteer is Black Lives. How can corporations give millions of dollars to Black Lives? What is the organizational structure? What are they doing with the money?
Are they building up the community? Corporations, stop giving money. Al Sharpton wants the African-American community to believe that the governments and the bogeyman and the white guy are all against him?
Why, Mark? So that he can be a profiteer and that is the mindset. African- Americans need to wake up.
LEVIN: Well, Leo Terrell, you have a wonderful background as a Civil Rights attorney. You have been consistent your entire life. A man who embraces the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, civil liberties and Civil Rights. You've been extremely courageous and I want to thank you for coming on the program. God bless you.
TERRELL: Thank you, Mark. I love this country. Thank you.
LEVIN: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHLEY STROHMIER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I'm Ashley Strohmier.
The global death toll from the coronavirus now over 500,000. Most of the cases coming from countries like India, Russia, Brazil, and of course, the U.S. The epicenter of U.S. cases shifting away from the northeast with the southern and western states seeing an alarming spike.
This includes Texas where Vice President Pence visited today holding a briefing with Governor Greg Abbott who says the virus is taking quote, "a very dangerous turn."
Fourteen hundred miles to the north, Los Angeles also seeing an alarming spike in cases. Just a few hours ago, Governor Gavin Newsom ordering that all bars in several counties shut down. The state is still planning to reopen as of now, but the rising cases is casting doubt on that plan.
I am Ashley Strohmier, now back to "Life, Liberty & Levin."
LEVIN: Welcome back. I have with me a dear friend. Many of you know who he is, Colonel Allen West.
Colonel Allen West was a Congressman, of course. CEO and President of The Hope Center, author of "We Can Overcome," a tremendous patriot.
Allen West, welcome, and the first thing I want to ask you because the whole country wants to know you had a horrific motorcycle accident five or six weeks ago. Can you fill us in on your condition and so forth?
ALLEN WEST, CEO AND PRESIDENT, THE HOPE CENTER: Yes, Mark, it is great to be with you and I want to personally thank you for the phone call that you gave to me to it extend your prayers and I want to think so many people for all the prayers out there and the well wishes.
It was about a month ago that I was involved in a catastrophic motorcycle accident and people don't survive motorcycle crashes at 75 miles per hour on an interstate highway.
So, I had severe road rash on my arms and my shoulders and my face. I also dislocated my shoulder, completely destroyed the shoulder socket bone in my right shoulder. I have had surgery to reconstruct that socket bone and so I am going through physical therapy right now.
But my recovery is going very well and I'm back to running. I'm up to about
4.5 miles, you know, going out there, first shot. So I am in the fight.
That's most important thing. I am in the fight, Mark.
LEVIN: And Allen, I don't need to tell you, most people don't survive accidents like that, so God must have been looking after you for good reason.
WEST: God's grace saved me.
LEVIN: I want to get into what you see going on around you. First of all, just a general question. You've been around a while. You've seen combat.
You've seen some of our cities burning. You've seen riots. You've seen the media how they have been reporting on this. You see how Democratic mayors are conducting themselves.
You see how the Democrat leadership is conducting itself. Just give us generally what is your feeling about what you are seeing?
WEST: Well, what we are seeing in the United States of America is an ideological Civil War and we are seeing people that have gone beyond that constitutional right of freedom of speech and freedom of expression and the right to petition their government for redress and grievances and this now has almost become sedition.
This is about undermining the very foundation of fundamental principles of values of this great United States of America as a Constitutional Republic.
When you have people that are going on air and they are saying that if our demands are not met, we are going to burn the system down. When you have individuals going into a major urban population center and they are declaring an autonomous zone.
When you have people that are destroying monuments and memorials and going after our history and our traditions, there is no difference between what we see happening in America right now than what the Taliban did in Bamyan Province in Afghanistan or what ISIS did in Northern Iraq and also in Syria and establishing a Caliphate. It's the exact same thing with establishing these autonomous zones.
This comes down to one simple choice that we all have to make, do we stand for the rule of law or are we going to allow mob rule in the United States of America?
LEVIN: And it's interesting, Allen West, I have pointed out on my radio show while they are pulling down statues of Jefferson and Washington and the founders and framers, do they realize where their Bill of Rights come from? Do they realize that their free speech and their freedom to peacefully assemble and their due process rights and the right to a fair trial with a jury of their peers, a speedy trial, do they realize that probable cause, warrants, it's all in the Bill of Rights and those Bill of Rights were adopted by men who didn't own slaves and men who did out own slaves.
In other words, you can take a photograph of these men and say they owned slaves, which was bad, which was horrific, everybody can agree on it. But then to tear down everything they did so that the rest of us could live free at some point in the future, I notice they're not tearing up the Bill of Rights when it applies to them, so there is a great deal of hypocrisy here, isn't there?
WEST: There's an incredible deal of hypocrisy that is here and there's also the situation on ethics, and also the sense of entitlement when they see their ideological agenda is giving them the right to do whatever they wish.
When you look at someone like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and they are not coming out and condemning these actions, that tells you that they are supported. That tells you that this is an extension of the Democratic Party, but the real issue that we have here, Mark is that we are not teaching Civics, we are not teaching History.
We all of a sudden start teaching this thing called Social Studies. That's very subjective.
The other thing that is happening is that people don't understand the three branches of government. What the left believes in is the three branches of rule and their three branches of rule means the control of our courts, the control of our media and the control of academia.
Let me give you a great example of how insidious it is that you have people that are going out there, tearing down monuments and memorials. They tore down and defaced the memorial to the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in Boston.
That was the very first organized black unit that serve the United States of America, so that totally shows you that you have people going out there, they don't have any idea of the history of the United States of America and that's why I took it as a personal affront, a personal offense that they would destroy a monument to the men who are part of my legacy having served in the United States Army for 22 years.
LEVIN: Well, that's an excellent point, Allen West, and let me add to that.
And that is this, this is a mob and depending on which mob members you speak today of a different cause, and yet, the common thread among them all is like the leader of Black Lives Matter in New York City said, burn the system down. You either meet our demand or we'll burn the system down.
And my answer to him is, who the hell do you think you are to be burning systems down? You don't represent anybody in this country -- black, white, brown, red, yellow, whatever. You represent nobody.
This is a mob. It is a Marxist mob. The two cofounders of Black Lives Matter admit that they are trained in Marxism.
I think this is a throwback. They are more effective. They are better funded and they are better organized and a bigger network than the Weather Underground in the 1960s. That was absolutely violent and was linked to Marxism. What do you think about that?
WEST: Well, when you thing about that name Black Lives Matter, that's very oxymoronic because they are not focused on the issues that are confronting the American black community.
You know, one of the big problems is the black community today is fatherlessness. When you look at the fact when I was born in 1961, about 77 percent of black kids had both mother and father in the home. Today, that's down to 24 percent. You don't hear Black Lives Matter talking about that.
As a matter of fact, when you go to their website, they says the traditional nuclear family is a representation of white supremacy. You don't hear them talking about the genocide of 20 million black babies murdered in the womb since 1973.
The biggest Civil Rights issue in the black community right now is the equality of opportunity through an equality of education and educational freedom. They don't stand for school choice and school vouchers. It's a Marxist organization. They said that.
But what they have been able to do is go out and coopt this name, this title of Black Lives Matter that has put people on their heels and made people up afraid to challenge them for being called a racist to the point that they raised over $460 million in the last couple months from corporations and businesses because they are a mob. They are a Marxist mob that are extorting businesses and people. They have raised $50 million here in the State of Texas, the Lone Star State of Texas.
LEVIN: When we come back, Allen West, I want to ask you about -- you the mentioned the corporations. How about these professional athletes and professional sports leagues that are bending over backwards for Black Lives Matter and going on and on about systemic racism and systemic oppression as they charge their fans $5.00 for a hotdog and $8.00 for a beer and walk away with multimillion dollars and live in none of these communities.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEVIN: Welcome back. So what you make of these athletes, Allen West, and these coaches and these commissioners all now taking a knee to Black Lives Matter?
WEST: Well, again, it's very appalling that you would have these corporations and businesses and you have these sports franchises like the National Football League that our cowering and acquiescing and surrendering to a Marxist mob which is what Black Lives Matter is.
You know, this past week, I did a video in response to what Brett Favre said in his comparative analysis that Colin Kaepernick will go down as a hero just the same as Pat Tillman.
Pat Tillman was a man who quit the NFL and decided to join the Army, enlisted in the Army, become an Infantry Man, an Airborne Ranger and was sadly killed in friendly fire incident in combat in Afghanistan.
Now, how do you make that comparison to someone like Colin Kaepernick? The only reason why Brett Favre does that, the only reason why someone like Drew Brees apologizes or Roger Goodell gets on his knees, the only reason why you have the head of Chick-Fil-A talking about white people need to shine the shoes of black people is because they don't have their courage to stand up and say what needs to be said.
They continue to believe you can appease a mob. The mob will never be happy and the leader of Black Lives Matter said they will burn the system down.
You cannot negotiate and you cannot meet someone like that on an ideological field and believe you can have reasonable discourse.
LEVIN: Isn't it time that those of us who embrace this country, revere this country, who believe in this country, that we get behind our police officers, that we get behind the National Guard, that we get behind politicians like President Trump, who are trying to figure out how to deal with this and let them know while there may be those people, but there's
250 million to 300 million of us who take a different point of view and we love this country.
We have people in our families who have fought for this country. We work every day to make this country work in our own little role, in our own little lives and we are sick and tired of this.
So we stand behind the cops and we stand behind the military. We stand behind the Commander-in-Chief. Don't you think we should speak out more?
WEST: No, we have to speak out more. When I think about my own family, my father went out and fought for this country in World War II. He was a Corporal in the Army. My older brother fought for this country as a Marine Corps infantry man in Vietnam. I did 22 years and my nephew has continued to serve right now.
My father-in-law served two tours in Vietnam, 24 years. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. That has nothing to do with being black, white, Hispanic, Asian, or whatever. It's about being an American.
It is about standing up and taking that oath to support and defend the Constitution.
But this all brings me back to that great quote by Thomas Paine when he said, these are the times which try men's souls. When the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from their duties, but to those who will make a stand, they will deserve the admiration of all men and women.
So this is a gut check moment for Americans. We know who the opposition truly are, what they stand for, what they believe in and what their goals and objectives are.
And so, either we are going to be a summer soldier and sunshine patriot or we are going to be those people that stand as Thomas Jefferson said in Madison style, swim with the current. In Madison principle, stand like a rock.
LEVIN: Beautifully put. And you've been in foxholes before. When you look around at that foxhole, are you looking to see how many white guys or black guys or Hispanic guys are there? Are you looking to see how many fellow Americans are there where you're standing shoulder to shoulder in fighting the enemy? I suspect you look at each other as Americans.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEVIN: Allen West, let's not kid ourselves. The people on the street are Democrats, not a single one of them is going to vote Republican. Not a single one of them is going to vote for Donald Trump.
Many of these people were Bernie Sanders supporters, now they are Biden supporters. This is why think the Democratic Party is kind of just either standing back or celebrating. This is why the Democrat mayors and governors aren't coming down on the rioters and the looters and other people who are pulling monuments down.
And one of the cofounders of Black Lives Matter admitted it. She said, we've got to get rid of Trump. That's the goal. Get rid of Trump. He should resign right now, she says on CNN.
We've got to get rid of Trump and that's the goal in the election. In other words, we have to elect Biden. So, what you do when one political party, the biggest political party in the country is really embracing this kind of radicalism?
WEST: Well, I think the most important thing is you have to draw that clear delineation. You know, I live here in Texas and there was a 26-year-old by the name of William Barret Travis who, at the Alamo was surrounded by 2,000 or 3,000 of the Mexican Army on the Santa Ana. He took out his sword, he drew a line in the sand and he said, which side of the line are you going to stand on?
And I think that's the moment that we are at in the United States of America where we need to have someone who stands up and says, there's a line in the sand and either you are going to stand with the mob, you're going to stand with the radicals, you're going to stand with the progressive socialists, the Marxists, the statists, the people that do not believe in individual sovereignty. They believe in collective subjugation.
Or are you going to stand for what America truly is or you want to see the fundamental transformation of the greatest gift that God has given the world and that's this nation.
This nation has been a beacon of liberty, freedom and all the things that enable a person such as me born in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia to achieve whatever success that I wanted because I could pursue my own happiness.
I don't need anyone to start telling me they can guarantee my happiness. I don't need anyone to start believing that there is not quality of outcome that they've determined.
That's the choice that we have to make here in the United States of America. There's two different philosophies of governance. You have been talking about it for so long and now it is here. It's either a constitutional conservatism or its progressive socialism and that is what we have to decide in this year, 2020, the year of clear vision.
LEVIN: This election really is about, and I'll cite one of my books, liberty and tyranny, isn't it? You either support liberty and the founding and our founding documents and the Bill of Rights, and all that this country has been through for well over 200 years and all of the men and women who have died securing our liberty or you want to burn it down if your demands are not met.
That's really the choice in this election, isn't it?
WEST: That is absolutely the choice and again, it goes back to what I said earlier. If you stand for the rule of law or you stand for mob rule and that's the simple choice. And I think that it does not come down to Republican and Democrat, it comes down to what your principles and values are, what you believe in.
And I don't think there are true Americans out there that want to stand with the people that are ripping down our monuments, the people that are trying to revise our history and reimagine our history, the people that want to burn our system down.
That's not America. We're not radicals. We don't want to look like Venezuela. We don't want to have colectivos, armed gangs running around and threatening us and intimidating us and trying to coerce us into accepting their vision for the United States of America.
LEVIN: And they are humiliating themselves in professional sports. They are humiliating themselves in Hollywood with self-censorship with movies and television shows.
The monuments coming down. This is not America. This is something else.
But I want to thank you Allan West. It is so good to know you're on the recovery. We need you back in the frontlines.
God bless you and your beautiful family.
WEST: Thank you so much, Mark. God be with you.
LEVIN: You, too. And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEVIN: Welcome back. You know, we've had really two seminal elections in the history of this country -- 1860, Abraham Lincoln and 1864, the reelection of Abraham Lincoln and the Confederacy was hoping on the defeat of Lincoln.
And Lincoln almost was defeated until the battle of Atlanta and Sherman, burning down Atlanta and marching through Georgia right to the ocean.
Now, we have the third most seminal election in American history coming up in 2020. Donald Trump stands between us and the mob. And the mob is led by the Democratic Party.
For the vast majority of its history, the Democratic Party has been a very evil force in this country, with some exceptions, but it is a party that has never accepted Americanism. It's a party of the Confederacy.
After the Civil War and the defeat of the Confederacy, it was the party of decades of segregation. It was the party of literacy tests and poll taxes and Jim Crow right up into the 1960s.
And so, it was the party of the Confederacy and so many bad things and today, it is the party of so-called Democratic Socialism, and yet what you see in Black Lives Matter and Antifa, which has now become a militarized wing of the Democratic Party and Democratic Party does not denounce it, not in any sustained significant way, because these people are going to vote for Joe Biden.
What you see now it's an effort by the Democratic Party, which is really a continuation of what it's been doing the last few years. The Obama administration with Biden as Vice President used spies to go into the Trump campaign.
They violated FISA Court requirements. They criminalize politics with the appointment of a Special Counsel. They impeached an innocent man. They attack his supporters. They denounce his supporters and what they are doing now is taking to the streets.
This election is pivotal. Either you believe in this country or you don't.
Either you believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights or you don't.
Either you believe in free-market capitalism or you don't.
And let me tell you something, if you don't, you're going to lose your freedom and so are your children and your grandchildren.
This is a seminal election. It's about the life you have today and the life these other people want you to have, whether they're in the media, whether they are in corporations or whether they are in the streets. That's how important this is and don't let anybody tell you any differently.
Thank you for joining us and I will see you next time on "Life, Liberty & Levin."
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