UPDATED: ‘It is a horrifying place to be’: Glenn reflects on his visit to the Rio Grande River with Louie Gohmert

Update: On Glenn's TV show Monday night, he played video from his visit with Rep. Gohmert:

Original Story:

Before the sun had even risen on Saturday, Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) took Glenn to the border in McAllen, Texas. Met by a pungent stench and piles of discarded clothing and personal items, Glenn toured the scorpions and rattlesnake-ridden bank of the Rio Grande River. It took just a few moments for Glenn to realize anyone – politician or otherwise – claiming the border is secure is telling “the biggest lie.” On radio this morning, Glenn recounted the life changing impact of this 4am trip.

Below is an edited transcript of the monologue and some pictures from the border:

It was a powerful weekend for those of us here at Mercury and those who volunteered their time and went down to the border. We went down with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). It was pretty shocking. And I want to take you through a few things.

I want to take you through, first, what we did when we first got there at 4 o’clock in the morning. We went to the border. Anything about anybody telling you that the border is secure is the biggest lie you've ever heard in your life. It is so far out of control. It's incomprehensible.

1407016_01_137Photo Credit: George Lange/Lange Studio 

Two hours before we got there, there were .50 caliber machine gun rounds were lobbed on to the American side by the drug cartels. .50 caliber machine gun. I don't know. Does that sound like a secure border? The reason why that was happening is they were laying down suppressing fire while they smuggled illegals in. And I want to ask you one question that I think will change your view of what's happening on the border.

Right now we all think about is what's happening with these illegals coming across and swimming across the Rio Grande. And we think about these people who have traveled 30 days on foot. And then they pay $7,000 for a family to go across the Rio Grande. Have we thought about that $7,000 and where that $7,000 is going? The things that our government is now encouraging through their lack of enforcement is reprehensible. So these families go across the river. How do they afford $7,000? They can't. So then how do they get across? They pay the drug lords $3,000 and the drug lords say, ‘Don't worry about it. You know what? You just get over and then we'll work it out.’ Now, what does that mean? I mean, it is Al Capone stuff. You owe us a favor, and so I'm going to call on you and you're going to do these things or I'll kill your whole family. Or they come in and they are doing the drug lords' business here in the United States. Those are two options. I'm sure there are more. But those are two options.

So how do we stop this? Well, we have to be clear on the border. We have to be clear that you don't stay here. But that's not happening anytime soon. Nobody in Washington has any interest. I shouldn't say nobody. The guys I was with, they have interest. But very few people have interest in actually stopping this, because there's a lot of money to be made. And there's a lot of political votes to be had before you just stop what's going on.

Here's the question that I asked. I haven't received an answer on this. We were driving underneath the International Bridge at 4 o’clock in the morning. We are in the woods. We're right at the river. We are looking over the river to Mexico. We're hearing the sounds of coyotes and chickens. I mean actual coyotes, not human coyotes, and chickens in the morning. We're hearing the wild dogs running through this area. It's hot. It's humid. It's 4am. We're seeing the rafts. We're seeing the little teeny children's life jackets that have been discarded all over, piles of them, all over the border. One of them had a scorpion on top of it. There are tarantulas and rattlesnakes. We were told, ‘Make sure you're wearing boots. Make sure you wear long sleeves and you button up your collars.’ It's horrible. It is a horrifying place to be.

1407016_01_089Photo Credit: George Lange/Lange Studio 

The border guards have to go and clean this area up all the time. They haven't had the time to go pick up the sacks of clothes that have been left by them after they cleaned it up. It is a mess. As we're in this area, there is this mile-long international bridge. And it goes from the Mexican side to the American side. And at the end of this bridge is the I.N.S., the border security. Now, we have been told the whole time, ‘All you have to do is come over and turn yourself in. They are seeking out our border patrol.’ Now, two hours before we got to the border, at 2:00am or midnight, somewhere in this area, there was suppressing fire fired into the American side with .50 caliber machine gun. Now, why is that happening? Hang on. Come back to the bridge for a second. They're smuggling people across the water, and those people are looking for the border patrol to turn themselves in and say, ‘I'm here because I'm escaping oppression.’ That's what we're told, right?

1407016_01_123Photo Credit: George Lange/Lange Studio 

Why are they going across the river when there's a bridge right there that is free? You don't have to pay anybody to smuggle you across the bridge, all you have to do is take your family and walk across the bridge and go to the same exact people and say, ‘I'm escaping oppression. I need help.’ And they let you in. Why are they coming across the river? They're coming across the river because the drug cartels benefit from it. The drug cartels will never hear any message except the message from the government of the United States of America. I said, ‘How can we tell the people to stop?’ And the border patrol laughed at me. You're not going to be able to. ‘Do you have the resources that the United States government or the drug cartels have?’ Well, of course not. You're not going to be able to beat the drug cartels with a message. The message the drug cartels want is, ‘Come to us. We will get you across.’ They're making money on this.

More importantly, why are they hitting us with .50 caliber machine gun rounds? Why are they doing it? Why are they on boats? They'll take the weakest swimmer, the one who cannot swim, and when they're coming across the boat with all of these people who paid them, they take the weakest swimmer and throw them out of the boat. They do it so the border agents have to swarm. They only throw that person down into the river so they'll die, so the border patrol – out of compassion – have to come. But then they have their people on the other side. It's called rocking. And what they do is they stand around with stones. And they start pelting our border agents with stones as they're trying to save that individual. They're trying to drive all the border patrol into that one area – misdirection – so people elsewhere can smuggle God only knows what across our border.

1407016_01_114Photo Credit: George Lange/Lange Studio 

So if you don't care about the border because of the people coming across, somebody on the left has got to care about the border because of what else is coming across. And if you don't care about securing our border, let me tell you two stories. Let me tell you about the 15-year-old boy that was found on the shores of the Rio Grande. The 15-year-old boy that was found dumped on the side of the river. Our side. Where was his parents? I don't know. Where was his family? I don't know. How did he get across? I don't know. He was strapped to a wheelchair, and he's a quadriplegic. He couldn't move anything but his head. Luckily, the border patrol found him, dumped off on the American side of the river. Everybody else had left. But the cartels or smugglers completed their contract. They dumped him and his wheelchair face down on the side of the river. The kid would have died had it not been for the border patrol that actually found him. It was 110 heat index when we were there. It's one of the hottest places I've ever been. You don't have water. You die.

Ask yourself: Why aren't people just coming over the bridge? Once you answer that question, you realize what's really going on. I'm going to give you another question: Why is it the president of the United States wants you to know there's a humanitarian crisis? He's the first one to declare it. ‘There's a humanitarian crisis on the border.’ Correct? We've all heard that. We've all heard the left making a very big deal out of it. Why is it no one in the press is allowed to see it? It has been something that has bothered me until I went down.

Are Gen Z's socialist sympathies a threat to America's future?

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In a republic forged on the anvil of liberty and self-reliance, where generations have fought to preserve free markets against the siren song of tyranny, Gen Z's alarming embrace of socialism amid housing crises and economic despair has sparked urgent alarm. But in a recent poll, Glenn asked the tough questions: Where do Gen Z's socialist sympathies come from—and what does it mean for America's future? Glenn asked, and you answered—hundreds weighed in on this volatile mix of youthful frustration and ideological peril.

The results paint a stark picture of distrust in the system. A whopping 79% of you affirm that Gen Z's socialist sympathies stem from real economic gripes, like sky-high housing costs and a rigged game tilted toward the elite and corporations—defying the argument that it's just youthful naivety. Even more telling, 97% believe this trend arises from a glaring educational void on socialism's bloody historical track record, where failed regimes have crushed freedoms under the boot of big government. And 97% see these poll findings as a harbinger of deepening generational rifts, potentially fueling political chaos and authoritarian overreach if left unchecked.

Your verdict underscores a moral imperative: America's soul hangs on reclaiming timeless values like self-reliance and liberty. This feedback amplifies your concerns, sending a clear message to the powers that be.

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

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

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Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

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Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE