Senator Ted Cruz thumps Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel has had a rough time trying to get confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense and leading the charge yesterday was Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz hammered away at Hagel and his flawed vision of the world in which America is the ‘biggest bully’ on the planet. Glenn interviewed Sen. Cruz on radio today.

Watch the interview at the top of the page.

TheBlaze reported on Hagel's questioning:

In some of the most talked-about fireworks to come from defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel’s Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked Hagel whether he thinks the state of Israel has “committed war crimes” — after confronting him with an old clip in which he seemed to agree with the characterization.“The caller suggested the nation of Israel has committed war crimes. And your response to that was not to dispute that characterization but indeed to describe what he said as, quote, “Well I think that’s exactly right,” Cruz said to Hagel after the 2009 clip from Al Jazeera English played. “Do you think the nation of Israel has committed war crimes?”

“No I do not, senator. I�’d want to look at the full context of the interview, but to answer your question, no,” Hagel said.

Cruz objected that the clip contained all the necessary context, then went on to say that “a suggestion that Israel has committed war crimes is particularly offensive, given that the Jewish people suffered under the most horrific war crimes in the Holocaust.”

 

The rough transcript of Glenn's interview with Senator Cruz is below:

GLENN: Yesterday I actually saw somebody in Washington D.C. earn their money. Yesterday I saw a guy who we have to keep honest. Somebody who is actually going in there and fighting the good fight. I'll tell you there's a handful of them that are pitbulls now, and they are small government, independents and liberty minded and they know the constitution, and they also know what's going on. They know what the score is. It's not like these old timers that have been in Washington for a long time, and think they're playing the same game. I talked to a congressman Glenn, it's a different world here. He's a freshman. It's Chris Stewart. I've never seen anything like that. They actually think that things are generally okay. And they actually think that it's not as bad as you think it is. You've got to strengthen these guys, and in particular one guy yesterday who made a huge, huge difference in the Chuck Hagel confirmation, and just took him apart. And even if you were for Hagel, afterwards you're like, I don't think I'm for this guy at all. Senator Ted Cruz from the great state of Texas. Hello Ted.

CALLER: Glenn, it's great to be with you.

GLENN: You are on fire.

CALLER: Thank you. And there are a lot of challenges and they're happening all at once. And stop some bad things that seem to be coming down the pike.

GLENN: There's an op-ed about Chuck Hagel. Why don't you give us the highlights why Chuck Hagel should not be the secretary of defense.

CALLER: Hagel certainly has a distinguished military career, and he's a Vietnam veteran. Volunteer anyone questions his personal courage or record. But his foreign policy views have been really extraordinary dangerous. And they have been contrary to the security of the United States.

GLENN: He would not last night or yesterday with the John McCain admit he was wrong with the surge.

CALLER: That was really quite remarkable. It was an easy opportunity for Chuck Hagel what he could have. He prominantly posed the Iraq war, and the surge was the greatest foreign blunder.

GLENN: Since Vietnam.

CALLER: McCain got him to prove that the surge proved successful. Even with the antiwar views that the Hagel had expressed on the Iraq. I was against the surge and I'm grateful that it produced success. He refused to say it. He wouldn't say anything good about prevailing, and that was -- it was certainly a remarkable exchange between him, and John McCain.

GLENN: He refused to sign a letter to Clinton and Bush. Today he says that the mosque. Hezbollah in 2006. He declined to join a group of 96 senators urging President Clinton to express solidarity with Israel with the crucial moment, and done Democrat the Palestinian campaign of violence. He has gone on al-Jazeera we are the biggest bully on the planet. He has called the military response by Israel a sickening slaughter. He is --

CALLER: That's correct. If you contrast Chuck Hagel with John Kerry. I was one of three votes against him. Kerry's views are very, very lethal. And yet Hagel's views are tremendously more radical than that.

GLENN: May I say this is not your characterization. It is mine. But I'd love to hear your response on it. They are almost anti-American.

CALLER: Well, what they reflect is the typical contempt for Americans -- I think contempt. Embarrassment for American strength that you see among the extreme. Among the radicals. You mentioned the al-Jazeera exchange. I played two excerpts from an interview he did on al-Jazeera. And Hagel heard that, and didn't dispute that characterization at all. The second which was jaw dropping which was on the al-Jazeera, and the reality that the United States was the world's bully, and he explicitly agreed, he said yes I agree that point is relevant. It's a good one. I agree.

PAT: Then he lied to you Senator about not hearing that part. It was so obvious.

GLENN: It was so clear when you listen to the audio, and you see the interview. It's up on "The Blaze" by the way. Senator Cruz's questioning is up on "The Blaze", and also we've added the video from al-Jazeera. It was so clear he knows exactly what's going on, then he strangely had the courage to look you in the eye I didn't know that. I didn't hear that. What were you agreeing with then?

CALLER: It was really remarkable, and it's worth under scoring. This is a man who is being put forward to be the secretary of defense for the chief civilian officer of the United States military, to go on al-Jazeera a foreign network that is broadcasting propaganda to countries that have extraordinary hostility to us.

GLENN: No, Al Gore says they're for us.

CALLER: To explicitly agree with the statement that American is the world's bully. That statement undermines the legitimacy of the young men and women that are protecting our rights. For our secretary of defense to say that I think it is the sort of leadership specs from a secretary of defense.

GLENN: Is he going to be confirmed?

CALLER: I don't -- that depends on the 100 Senator. It depends on two thing. I hope Republicans stand together. I think his views on Israel make him the most antagonistic Senator to Israel in the time he served. And I think his views on national security, on terrorism put him as a "The Washington Post" at the fringe. Republicans need to stand together. And number two, I hope that some Democrats I was disappointed at the hearing yesterday that none of the Democrats seemed to be willing to give him any scrutiny. I understand it is hard to oppose a nominee from your own party when your President has put him up. There are a lot of Democrats who sincerely and genuinely care about insuring that Iran doesn't get nuclear weapons capacity, and I hope that the Democrats will look closely at his record. I think Chuck Hagel's record is.

GLENN: A message for firearms, and manufacturers from the Chicago Rahm Emanuel. Texas welcomes you. And gun control invited executives to consider the warmer friendlier climate of the Lonestar state of the Bank of America, and TD /PWAFRPBLG. And Smith & Wesson. In Texas we have a more modest view of government. You are inviting the arms manufacturers to move down to Texas.

CALLER: That's exactly right. This was in response to the widely reported letter that the Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel sent to two major banks urging them to cut off the lines of credit to two venerable gun manufacturers. Smith & Wesson. And Ruger, and pressure them into supporting President Obama's aggressive gun control agenda. When Rahm Emanuel wrote that letter. I think that letter was abusive. I don't think that's the proper role of an elected official to be trying to bully private companies to enlist in a political lobbying campaign. So my response was to write a letter to those gun manufacturing companies, and to the Rahm Emanuel in Texas we have the view and that elected officials work for the people. The people don't work for the elected officials. And I encourage the banks if they want to bring more business to Texas, and bring more jobs to Texas there's a reason a 1,000 people a day are moving to day. I'm proud that one of you was you Glenn.

GLENN: Move to Texas for the freedom. Not the jobs. I mean if you're coming here just for a job I don't want you here. If you're coming here because you understand that the jobs are being created because we are free in this state, come to Texas. Because this is the last -- this is the last bastion of real freedom.

PAT: Don't come here just for a job, and turn it into a New York.

GLENN: There's a reason that Texas is creating 50% of all of jobs in America. There's a reason for it. It's freedom.

CALLER: I think you're exactly right, Glenn. I have joked as you know know I'm very worried about border security, and at times I'm concerned about our western border. And all of the Californians if they're coming here to embrace freedom. There should be an entrance exam when someone is fleeing another state, and do you understand what has happened from the place you're fleeing, and not to bring those misguided policies, and ruin the freedom.

PAT: For me that's not tongue and cheek at all.

GLENN: I'm dead serious on that. But I'm glad to say hear it was slightly tongue and cheek.

CALLER: I have to tell you that the Hagel hearing yesterday, some liberal activist on Twitter sent was my favorite tweet of the entire day. Which is that this individual said now Cruz is going all Glenn Beck in the hearing. Which I took that as a high, high compliment. I guess it was that I tried to intrude on the hearing with facts, and put Chuck Hagel's own record and words on the stand.

GLENN: That is a real compliment. I'm sorry they used me to try to smear you.

CALLER: I was honored by the comparison.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Senator. Keep up the good work. You just shout out. If somebody is trying to corner, if somebody -- if you start to feel like I'm --

PAT: Darkness is closing in.

GLENN: It will it will absolutely close in around you. Know that there are millions of Americans that are praying for you, and praying for other senators and Congress none must not just like you. Just don't lose your soul, and cry out for help.

CALLER: Well Glenn, in three weeks the "New York Times" to attacking me. Rachel mad oh, and morning Joe seems to devote to attacking me. And I'll tell you that I view that as a sign we're doing something right.

GLENN: We're trying to fast and furious without getting in bed with the drug lords like our administration has. We're working as fast as we can to build an alternative network that is beholden to parties and not beholden to any kind of liberal nonsense.

CALLER: I appreciate that. And you're being lifted up by the prayers of men and women across America, and all of us and what you're doing, and what I'm doing. We're fighting to save our country. I feel incredibly to have an opportunity to make a small difference.

GLENN: I respect what you're doing. I will leave it at that.

CALLER: I appreciate you, and thank you and let's get it done together.

GLENN: Thank you. Senator Ted Cruz from Texas. If you haven't seen what he did yesterday, go to the website

A new Monroe Doctrine? Trump quietly redraws the Western map

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The president’s moves in Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia aren’t about drugs. They’re about re-establishing America’s sovereignty across the Western Hemisphere.

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

PEDRO MATTEY / Contributor | Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Antifa isn’t “leaderless” — It’s an organized machine of violence

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Colorado counselor fights back after faith declared “illegal”

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

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