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Monica Crowley: Tea Party not a response to progressives, but to failures by the GOP

June 22, 2012
Wilson

Writer

On radio this morning, Glenn interviewed Fox News contributor, radio host, columnist, and author Monica Crowley. They talked about her latest book, What the Bleep Just Happened: The Happy Warrior's Guide to a Great American Comeback, which breaks down the state of America three and a half years into the Obama administration, the role of the Tea Party in this election, and the culture that got us into this mess to begin with.

A rough transcript of the interview is below:

GLENN: Monica Crowley has an amazing radio show, she's done television as well. And she's also a writer. She's written a new book. And it really is, I mean if you're going out to get Cowards, grab this one as well, What the Bleep Just Happened: The Happy Warrior's Guide to a Great American Comeback. Hi, Monica, how are you?

CROWLEY: Great. Great to be here. Congratulations on your book too.

GLENN: Great. Tell me about the point of your book. It reads like a real easy conversation. Tell me about the main message of the book.

CROWLEY: Well, there are two main messages, Glenn. The first one is, I was thinking about how this administration has subjected this country to a new and astonishing piece of leftist madness just about every day of the last 3 1/2 years. And we spend a lot of time talking about how he is he distributing the wealth. And while that's true, I thought there's something bigger going on here than just the redistribution of wealth. And as I thought about it, and I thought about his entire domestic policy record, as well as his entire foreign policy record, and I put it all together in one place. And when you see it in one place in this book, the evidence is absolutely devastating to him.

But when you take a step back and you look at the forest through the trees, Glenn, what you see is that he is not simply redistributing America's wealth here at home. If he were just limited to doing that, we could replace and repudiate his leftist agenda in November and begin to heal the country. But what he has done over the last 3 1/2 years has been so much bigger than that. And by that, Glenn, I mean that he is redistributing everything that has made America great. So yes, our wealth, our economic energy, our political strengths, our military power, our cultural appeal, our borders, check out just what he did last week on the illegal immigration move. And our very exceptionalism.

GLENN: And our churches.

CROWLEY: So by redistributing everything that has made America great, he is actually diluting our very exceptionalism. And that is the bigger scheme that he has taken.

GLENN: Do you think that people are waking up to this, Monica?

CROWLEY: I do, Glenn, I do. And that's why I'm very optimistic in the book. And that's what I do. And it's the happy warrior's guide. You absolutely embody the happy warrior, Glenn, and I had you in mind when I came up with the concept here. Look, every time the American people have gone to the polls since this man has been elected, since 2008, the great silent majority, has stood up to repudiate in the radical agenda. So in 2009, in Virginia. 2010, Massachusetts Senate seat goes to a republican. Ted Kennedy's Senate seat for crying out loud. Republicans have a near sweep. 2012, Wisconsin, republican Governor Scott Walker holds on to his office by 7 points. I think the American people, Glenn, have had enough. I think they're on to what Obama has done. And I think now the time is right for every American, I mean this book is not just for conservatives or republicans or independents, it's for every American to embody that happy warrior spirit and say, you know what? Not only can America be saved, but she is worth saving.

GLENN: You know, here's the thing. I don't think, the conservatives, unless your friends are stupid, your conservatives have gotten it for a long time. But we haven't been able to make the case for one reason or another. And that's what we've tried to do with cowards. And you're doing here in a different way. I mean just, you just take page 91. 91 in Monica's book talks about the stimulus and all of the crazy things that are happening in the stimulus. Let me just give you a little bit of it. $1.2 million to study the mating habits of the woodchuck. $3.1 million to convert a ferry boat into a restaurant. $1 million to preserve a sewer in New Jersey as a historic monument. When your friends read the facts of what happened, and you lay them all out, in the last 3 1/2 years, that's when your friends, doesn't matter if they're left or right or conservative or liberal, that's when your friends look at that and say, you know what? I don't like George Bush and George bush did a lot of bad things, but this is insane.

CROWLEY: It's absolutely insane, Glenn. In fact, you left off my favorite one which tops the list in the book. $200,000 for gang tattoo removal in Los Angeles. So Glenn, I think you need to work a little harder because you're paying for the Crips and the Bloods to have their tattoos removed from their biceps. Look, our government has been out of control for a long time. And I hit the republicans in this book too. Because for decades, the republicans have gone down that road of big government, big spending. And when we talk about the Tea Party, and I know I'm going to be on GBTV next week when we're talking about the Tea Party and the importance of it. The rise of the Tea Party, a lot of people assume now or just believe that the Tea Party arose just as a reaction to all this leftist insanity coming from Barack Obama. This spending, this stimulus, socialized medicine. Actually, the Tea Party arose as a reaction to the fact that the Republican Party lost its way, lost its moorings on limited government and fiscal responsibility. If the republicans had stuck to their guns all along and stuck to their beliefs about what America was really all about from the very beginning, there would be no need for the Tea Party.

GLENN: They have no idea. And that's the thing I'm still out on, because a lot of Americans were asleep under George W. Bush. And Obama woke them up. That's why when I gave that speech at C Pac a couple of years ago, the republicans hate my guts. The power establishment hates my guts on the progressive side because the progressive party is a disease in both parties. Progressivism is a disease in both parties. I woke up not under Barack Obama, I woke up under George W. bush. I'm watching the spending and everything else, and I'm like, what are we doing? These aren't my values. What are we doing here?

CROWLEY: That's exactly right. And you know what, Glenn, when you look at every major problem we have in America, from the debt to public education, and the crisis in the inner cities, every single major problem we've got here can be traced back to progressivism, liberalism, socialism, Marxism, whatever you want to call it. And actually, the label doesn't even matter. What matters is the content of the policies and the consequences. And when you look at western Europe and you see the collapse going on there after decades of socialism, and you see what's happening in this country under the guidance of what I call the kooks, and Obama is the big kookuna, as I call him in the book, this is not your grandfather's democrat party. This party was taken over by the kooks in 1968. They run it into the ground. They've taken a lot of republicans with them. And that's where we've gotten to the point, Glenn, where we've got $16 trillion in debt. What the bleep.

GLENN: What the Bleep Just Happened is the name of the book by Monica Crowley. Thanks for being on with us. Best of luck. We'll talk to you next week.

CROWLEY: My pleasure, Glenn.

GLENN: She's really a smart woman and deeply concerned and committed to the cause, no matter the expense. If you're going out and you're looking for a book to share with a friend, may I recommend Cowards. But a great companion piece. We've got to support these authors and we have to support this message and get it out as many ways as we possibly can. There are so many different writers out there that are telling kind of the same story, just different pieces of it. And we've got to give them to our friends. It's not just for us, we've got to get them to our friends and our family who you think you might be able to convince. What the Bleep, available in book stores everywhere.

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

POLL: Is America’s next generation trading freedom for equity?

NurPhoto / Contributor | Getty Images

A recent poll conducted by Justin Haskins, a long-time friend of the show, has uncovered alarming trends among young Americans aged 18-39, revealing a generation grappling with deep frustrations over economic hardships, housing affordability, and a perceived rigged system that favors the wealthy, corporations, and older generations. While nearly half of these likely voters approve of President Trump, seeing him as an anti-establishment figure, over 70% support nationalizing major industries, such as healthcare, energy, and big tech, to promote "equity." Shockingly, 53% want a democratic socialist to win the 2028 presidential election, including a third of Trump voters and conservatives in this age group. Many cite skyrocketing housing costs, unfair taxation on the middle class, and a sense of being "stuck" or in crisis as driving forces, with 62% believing the economy is tilted against them and 55% backing laws to confiscate "excess wealth" like second homes or luxury items to help first-time buyers.

This blend of Trump support and socialist leanings suggests a volatile mix: admiration for disruptors who challenge the status quo, coupled with a desire for radical redistribution to address personal struggles. Yet, it raises profound questions about the roots of this discontent—Is it a failure of education on history's lessons about socialism's failures? Media indoctrination? Or genuine systemic barriers? And what does it portend for the nation’s trajectory—greater division, a shift toward authoritarian policies, or an opportunity for renewal through timeless values like hard work and individual responsibility?

Glenn wants to know what YOU think: Where do Gen Z's socialist sympathies come from? What does it mean for the future of America? Make your voice heard in the poll below:

Do you believe the Gen Z support for socialism comes from perceived economic frustrations like unaffordable housing and a rigged system favoring the wealthy and corporations?

Do you believe the Gen Z support for socialism, including many Trump supporters, is due to a lack of education about the historical failures of socialist systems?

Do you think that these poll results indicate a growing generational divide that could lead to more political instability and authoritarian tendencies in America's future?

Do you think that this poll implies that America's long-term stability relies on older generations teaching Gen Z and younger to prioritize self-reliance, free-market ideals, and personal accountability?

Do you think the Gen Z support for Trump is an opportunity for conservatives to win them over with anti-establishment reforms that preserve liberty?

Americans expose Supreme Court’s flag ruling as a failed relic

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

In a nation where the Stars and Stripes symbolize the blood-soaked sacrifices of our heroes, President Trump's executive order to crack down on flag desecration amid violent protests has ignited fierce debate. But in a recent poll, Glenn asked the tough question: Can Trump protect the Flag without TRAMPLING free speech? Glenn asked, and you answered—thousands weighed in on this pressing clash between free speech and sacred symbols.

The results paint a picture of resounding distrust toward institutional leniency. A staggering 85% of respondents support banning the burning of American flags when it incites violence or disturbs the peace, a bold rejection of the chaos we've seen from George Floyd riots to pro-Palestinian torchings. Meanwhile, 90% insist that protections for burning other flags—like Pride or foreign banners—should not be treated the same as Old Glory under the First Amendment, exposing the hypocrisy in equating our nation's emblem with fleeting symbols. And 82% believe the Supreme Court's Texas v. Johnson ruling, shielding flag burning as "symbolic speech," should not stand without revision—can the official story survive such resounding doubt from everyday Americans weary of government inaction?

Your verdict sends a thunderous message: In this divided era, the flag demands defense against those who exploit freedoms to sow disorder, without trampling the liberties it represents. It's a catastrophic failure of the establishment to ignore this groundswell.

Want to make your voice heard? Check out more polls HERE.

Labor Day EXPOSED: The Marxist roots you weren’t told about

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

During your time off this holiday, remember the man who started it: Peter J. McGuire, a racist Marxist who co-founded America’s first socialist party.

Labor Day didn’t begin as a noble tribute to American workers. It began as a negotiation with ideological terrorists.

In the late 1800s, factory and mine conditions were brutal. Workers endured 12-to-15-hour days, often seven days a week, in filthy, dangerous environments. Wages were low, injuries went uncompensated, and benefits didn’t exist. Out of desperation, Americans turned to labor unions. Basic protections had to be fought for because none were guaranteed.

Labor Day wasn’t born out of gratitude. It was a political payoff to Marxist radicals who set trains ablaze and threatened national stability.

That era marked a seismic shift — much like today. The Industrial Revolution, like our current digital and political upheaval, left millions behind. And wherever people get left behind, Marxists see an opening.

A revolutionary wedge

This was Marxism’s moment.

Economic suffering created fertile ground for revolutionary agitation. Marxists, socialists, and anarchists stepped in to stoke class resentment. Their goal was to turn the downtrodden into a revolutionary class, tear down the existing system, and redistribute wealth by force.

Among the most influential agitators was Peter J. McGuire, a devout Irish Marxist from New York. In 1874, he co-founded the Social Democratic Workingmens Party of North America, the first Marxist political party in the United States. He was also a vice president of the American Federation of Labor, which would become the most powerful union in America.

McGuire’s mission wasn’t hidden. He wanted to transform the U.S. into a socialist nation through labor unions.

That mission soon found a useful symbol.

In the 1880s, labor leaders in Toronto invited McGuire to attend their annual labor festival. Inspired, he returned to New York and launched a similar parade on Sept. 5 — chosen because it fell halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

The first parade drew over 30,000 marchers who skipped work to hear speeches about eight-hour workdays and the alleged promise of Marxism. The parade caught on across the country.

Negotiating with radicals

By 1894, Labor Day had been adopted by 30 states. But the federal government had yet to make it a national holiday. A major strike changed everything.

In Pullman, Illinois, home of the Pullman railroad car company, tensions exploded. The economy tanked. George Pullman laid off hundreds of workers and slashed wages for those who remained — yet refused to lower the rent on company-owned homes.

That injustice opened the door for Marxist agitators to mobilize.

Sympathetic railroad workers joined the strike. Riots broke out. Hundreds of railcars were torched. Mail service was disrupted. The nation’s rail system ground to a halt.

President Grover Cleveland — under pressure in a midterm election year — panicked. He sent 12,000 federal troops to Chicago. Two strikers were killed in the resulting clashes.

With the crisis spiraling and Democrats desperate to avoid political fallout, Cleveland struck a deal. Within six days of breaking the strike, Congress rushed through legislation making Labor Day a federal holiday.

It was the first of many concessions Democrats would make to organized labor in exchange for political power.

What we really celebrated

Labor Day wasn’t born out of gratitude. It was a political payoff to Marxist radicals who set trains ablaze and threatened national stability.

Kean Collection / Staff | Getty Images

What we celebrated was a Canadian idea, brought to America by the founder of the American Socialist Party, endorsed by racially exclusionary unions, and made law by a president and Congress eager to save face.

It was the first of many bones thrown by the Democratic Party to union power brokers. And it marked the beginning of a long, costly compromise with ideologues who wanted to dismantle the American way of life — from the inside out.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.