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The insane story of an American who ended up being a prisoner of war in Libya

March 27, 2015
Staff

WRITER

Matthew Van Dyke was just a typical American kid. Grew up in suburbia, graduated college, had little world experience. He decided to buy a motorcycle and ride across the middle east. When the Arab Spring broke out, he returned to the region to help friends he’d made there - he was captured and sent to prison. Now he’s helping Christians in Iraq fight ISIS. Incredible.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment

GLENN: I want to introduce you to somebody who a lot of people I think will say, that's crazy, man. You'll appreciate him. But you would never do it yourself.

It is a -- it's a guy who decided -- well, I'll have him tell the story. He decided he needed to grow up. And he wanted to go and motorcycle across the Middle East a few years ago.

[laughter]

That didn't work out well. Matthew VanDyke did that and then and then he had a few experiences that changed the course of his life. And now he is somebody who is rolling up his sleeves and saying, I'm going to do something. Matthew, welcome to the program.

MATTHEW: Hey, thanks for having me.

GLENN: Sure. Tell me about what happened to you on kind of your tour of the Middle East and you found yourself in a prison for Muammar Gaddafi.

MATTHEW: Well, it's a very long story, but the short version is. I graduated with a master's degree from Georgetown in security studies and wanted to go see the region myself. So I took a four-year motorcycle journey in North Africa and the Middle East and did some filming and made good friends in Libya. So a few years later when the Libyan Revolution started and my friends needed help, I went to help them. And I joined the revolution as an American in the rebel forces. Fought in the war. Was wounded and captured. Spent nearly six months as a prisoner of war. Later escaped with other prisoners and returned to combat on the front line until the end of the war. And later did some film about the Syrian Revolution and worked in Syria. And in recent times, I've turned my attention to ISIS after the murder of my friends James Foley and Steven Sotloff at the hands of ISIS. And so I formed a company that operates essentially as a nonprofit in many ways. Called Sons of Liberty International. And we recruit US military veterans to go to Iraq and consult and train Iraqi Christians to fight ISIS. And we also are going to start supplying non-lethal aid to some of these Christian groups as well.

GLENN: Okay. So I'm not sure if I agreed with you in Libya or if I agreed with you in Syria. I mean, they're all really bad horrible guys. But, you know, the destabilization of the Middle East kind of came from that and what we supported in Egypt. And, again, really bad guys so you kind of look at it and go, I don't want those guys. But I also don't want the other guys coming in. I'd really like freedom in the Middle East. But that's not what's happening.

But now you are focusing specifically on the Christians. And when we spoke last time, you were talking about what they're going through. And there's really a Holocaust of Christians that is going on right now. And they're completely defenseless. And nobody in the United States -- our government is not helping them at all.

MATTHEW: Right. It's a quiet genocide that's happening right under our noses. And the administration is doing nothing about it. The administration supports just Kurdish Peshmerga. And also supports actually some Arab tribes that they think will fight ISIS. But the Christians are left completely defenseless. They were defenseless when they were attacked. The Peshmerga did not defend them. They slipped out the back door in the middle of the night, and the Christians woke up to find ISIS in their backyards. It's a serious crisis. The whole future of Christianity is threatened in Iraq.

GLENN: Tell me what their attitude is like, these Christians who have been abandoned by the world.

MATTHEW: Well, that's exactly how they feel. They feel abandoned. They can't believe the world doesn't care about them at all. They feel like they've been left in the hands of ISIS. They're desperate for international help. They like America. They prefer American help. I've taken leaders of one of the Christian militias to meet with the State Department and make their case. We have a good relationship with the State Department. But help for them is still not forthcoming, and it's really tragic. And there needs to be a lot more outreach about it. And a lot more political pressure put on Washington to do something about this.

GLENN: Matthew, tell me about what the situation is with the Christians. I mean, what have you seen? What have you heard? I mean, there are stories of crucifixions. And I've seen the pictures of it. But nobody reports on any of this. Tell me what they're going through.

MATTHEW: Yeah. It's really strange how little is reported on the crisis facing Christians. I don't know if it's not politically fashionable to report on this, except Christians have been beheaded, crucified. Put in cages and paraded around streets. Their homes have been burned down or blown up. In some cases, explosives have been wired to the doors, so if they ever return home, they'll be killed. Christian churches have been destroyed. Ancient manuscripts have been burned. Women and young girls have been kidnapped and sold as sex slaves by ISIS or taken forcibly as jihadi brides. It's a really horrible, horrible genocide occurring.

STU: Matthew, is there some weird like PR thing they're trying to do here? Are they worried that our outreach and help will look like it's too pro-Christian in the region? What could possibly be the reason that we would ignore Christians?

MATTHEW: I'm quite sure that's the reason. The administration has this view that they think it would like sectarian. That it might increase sectarianism. That it does not look good for the United States, in their view, to be supporting Christians against Muslims. That's how the administration thinks. The administration has already had sort of an anti-US power. Anti-US involvement. Apparently anti-Christian involvement.

STU: Gee.

GLENN: I want to get your opinion on this. We just released something last night on Facebook on genocide. And we're setting up the next Root. And it's on the --

MATTHEW: I saw it. It's excellent.

GLENN: Thank you. And it's talking about the genocide that was happening in north Africa that nobody was paying attention to. And the reason why, Turkey, in particular does not want to recognize genocide. And it leads to the Christians. And we're doing a big thing all this summer on the Christians over in the Middle East. And I want to get your -- your thoughts on this. That, we're not -- we're not talking about -- that it's -- let me put it this way. It would not be an overstatement to say, a Christian Holocaust is happening right now.

MATTHEW: That's exactly what's happening. And it's happening across regions, even. I mean, I've gotten emails from Christians in the Philippines who want help. And in Nigeria. And, you know, you saw Egyptian Christians executed in Libya. And Christians being attacked in Egypt. Everywhere that the Islamic State or its followers, and even not just the Islamic State, but also there's, you know, conflicts between religious extremists and Christians all over the globe happening right now. And it's widespread. And the world knows very little about it. And I think a lot of the reason sadly is because it's viewed as not fashionable to report on it. It's not fashionable to think about it. When I started working with the Christian community, I was attacked by people I know accusing me of being a crusader or you know, stoking the flames of sectarianism. It's just, you know, you can help any group except for Christians is what it seems like.

GLENN: We're talking to Matthew VanDyke. He's the founder of sonsoflibertyinternational.com. And I want you to go there. I want you to do your own homework. I want you to check him out. And if you feel prompted to help fund what he's doing, then that would be something that maybe you should do. People want to know, how can I help the Christians? Matthew, tell me specifically what you're doing when you go over there to help the Christians.

MATTHEW: Well, starting in December, we began training a Christian army. They're called the Nineveh Plain Protection Units. We provide consulting and advising to them for the structure of their force. You know, which men they should recruit. How they should deploy -- pretty much everything helping them build up an army. Took over US military veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we started training. And in February, we trained an entire battalion. So there's nearly 350 Christian men serving in the force. They're very eager to defend their lands and fight against ISIS. And we continue to take trainers. In April, I'll return, shortly after Easter, with trainers for specialized training. And also, we have leads on supplying them with non-lethal aid and build them into a really legitimate good force. They're very US-friendly. They want to work with -- with the security forces of Iraq on a unified strategy to fight ISIS. They're very intelligent, very motivated. Very high morale and just excellent people to work with.

GLENN: Can I ask you a personal question? What is your relationship with Christianity? Why this passion for this? Is it just oppressed people or why? What role does God play in your life?

GLENN: Well, I became quite religious during my years on the road. You know, like many people, oftentimes when things went wrong, I'll admit. I call it a foul-weather Christian. You know, when things are bad, you pray a lot. I especially learned that lesson when I was a prisoner of war in Libya. For six months, pretty much all my conversations were with God only because I was in solitary confinement. So that really made me more religious in a quiet personal way that I don't talk about too much. I feel an affinity with fellow Christians in the region. They're also oppressed. They've been oppressed for a long time and persecuted for a long time, long before even ISIS came. The population of Christianity dropped from about 1.5 million in 2003 to less than 300 -- 300- to 400,000 now.

GLENN: That is phenomenal. And the idea -- and the -- the -- if ISIS has their way. There will be zero Christians in the area. Zero. I have had people from the Simon Wiesenthal come out and literally ask me to please stop concentrating so much on the Jewish persecution because -- and this is a quote. Because, Glenn, the real persecution that is happening right now is with Christians. And they are being wiped out systematically. So, again, if you would do your own homework and find out if you believe in Matthew's cause and what he's doing. All of the information is up on his website. And a chance for you to participate one way or another. Maybe you can donate. Sonsoflibertyinternational.com. This is somebody who is going over and helping the Christians. Again, with non-lethal aid, but teaching them how to defend themselves. Teaching them how to fight. Sonsoflibertyinternational.com.

STU: Now, Matthew, you're going back to the region this weekend. Right?

MATTHEW: Not this weekend. I've decided to stay for Easter. But after Easter, I'll be returning back.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: You ever concerned about not coming back? Have you considered of being beheaded and being one of those guys on the beach?

MATTHEW: Yes, and especially after my friends James Foley and Steven Sotloff were held by ISIS and executed, I thought, what if I were in their position, and also my experience in Libya. I do have a fear of being wounded and captured again. But, you know, if you believe in something, I think you should go out and do it. It's worth the risk for the cause and I believe in it strongly. So I'll take my chances. But we do take precautions. Myself and personnel. And we do the best job we can and we try to do it as safely as possible.

GLENN: I pray for your safety. God bless you. Thank you very much. Sonsoflibertyinternational.com.

Faith, family, and freedom—The forgotten core of conservatism

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

Conservatism is not about rage or nostalgia. It’s about moral clarity, national renewal, and guarding the principles that built America’s freedom.

Our movement is at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple: What does it mean to be a conservative in America today?

For years, we have been told what we are against — against the left, against wokeism, against decline. But opposition alone does not define a movement, and it certainly does not define a moral vision.

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

The media, as usual, are eager to supply their own answer. The New York Times recently suggested that Nick Fuentes represents the “future” of conservatism. That’s nonsense — a distortion of both truth and tradition. Fuentes and those like him do not represent American conservatism. They represent its counterfeit.

Real conservatism is not rage. It is reverence. It does not treat the past as a museum, but as a teacher. America’s founders asked us to preserve their principles and improve upon their practice. That means understanding what we are conserving — a living covenant, not a relic.

Conservatism as stewardship

In 2025, conservatism means stewardship — of a nation, a culture, and a moral inheritance too precious to abandon. To conserve is not to freeze history. It is to stand guard over what is essential. We are custodians of an experiment in liberty that rests on the belief that rights come not from kings or Congress, but from the Creator.

That belief built this country. It will be what saves it. The Constitution is a covenant between generations. Conservatism is the duty to keep that covenant alive — to preserve what works, correct what fails, and pass on both wisdom and freedom to those who come next.

Economics, culture, and morality are inseparable. Debt is not only fiscal; it is moral. Spending what belongs to the unborn is theft. Dependence is not compassion; it is weakness parading as virtue. A society that trades responsibility for comfort teaches citizens how to live as slaves.

Freedom without virtue is not freedom; it is chaos. A culture that mocks faith cannot defend liberty, and a nation that rejects truth cannot sustain justice. Conservatism must again become the moral compass of a disoriented people, reminding America that liberty survives only when anchored to virtue.

Rebuilding what is broken

We cannot define ourselves by what we oppose. We must build families, communities, and institutions that endure. Government is broken because education is broken, and education is broken because we abandoned the formation of the mind and the soul. The work ahead is competence, not cynicism.

Conservatives should embrace innovation and technology while rejecting the chaos of Silicon Valley. Progress must not come at the expense of principle. Technology must strengthen people, not replace them. Artificial intelligence should remain a servant, never a master. The true strength of a nation is not measured by data or bureaucracy, but by the quiet webs of family, faith, and service that hold communities together. When Washington falters — and it will — those neighborhoods must stand.

Eric Lee / Stringer | Getty Images

This is the real work of conservatism: to conserve what is good and true and to reform what has decayed. It is not about slogans; it is about stewardship — the patient labor of building a civilization that remembers what it stands for.

A creed for the rising generation

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

For the rising generation, conservatism cannot be nostalgia. It must be more than a memory of 9/11 or admiration for a Reagan era they never lived through. Many young Americans did not experience those moments — and they should not have to in order to grasp the lessons they taught and the truths they embodied. The next chapter is not about preserving relics but renewing purpose. It must speak to conviction, not cynicism; to moral clarity, not despair.

Young people are searching for meaning in a culture that mocks truth and empties life of purpose. Conservatism should be the moral compass that reminds them freedom is responsibility and that faith, family, and moral courage remain the surest rebellions against hopelessness.

To be a conservative in 2025 is to defend the enduring principles of American liberty while stewarding the culture, the economy, and the spirit of a free people. It is to stand for truth when truth is unfashionable and to guard moral order when the world celebrates chaos.

We are not merely holding the torch. We are relighting it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck: Here's what's WRONG with conservatism today

Getty Images / Handout | Getty Images

What does it mean to be a conservative in 2025? Glenn offers guidance on what conservatives need to do to ensure the conservative movement doesn't fade into oblivion. We have to get back to PRINCIPLES, not policies.

To be a conservative in 2025 means to STAND

  • for Stewardship, protecting the wisdom of our Founders;
  • for Truth, defending objective reality in an age of illusion;
  • for Accountability, living within our means as individuals and as a nation;
  • for Neighborhood, rebuilding family, faith, and local community;
  • and for Duty, carrying freedom forward to the next generation.

A conservative doesn’t cling to the past — he stands guard over the principles that make the future possible.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm so tired of being against everything. Saying what we're not.

It's time that we start saying what we are. And it's hard, because we're changing. It's different to be a conservative, today, than it was, you know, years ago.

And part of that is just coming from hard knocks. School of hard knocks. We've learned a lot of lessons on things we thought we were for. No, no, no.

But conservatives. To be a conservative, it shouldn't be about policies. It's really about principles. And that's why we've lost our way. Because we've lost our principles. And it's easy. Because the world got easy. And now the world is changing so rapidly. The boundaries between truth and illusion are blurred second by second. Machines now think. Currencies falter. Families fractured. And nations, all over the world, have forgotten who they are.

So what does it mean to be a conservative now, in 2025, '26. For a lot of people, it means opposing the left. That's -- that's a reaction. That's not renewal.

That's a reaction. It can't mean also worshiping the past, as if the past were perfect. The founders never asked for that.

They asked that we would preserve the principles and perfect their practice. They knew it was imperfect. To make a more perfect nation.

Is what we're supposed to be doing.

2025, '26 being a conservative has to mean stewardship.

The stewardship of a nation, of a civilization.

Of a moral inheritance. That is too precious to abandon.

What does it mean to conserve? To conserve something doesn't mean to stand still.

It means to stand guard. It means to defend what the Founders designed. The separation of powers. The rule of law.

The belief that our rights come not from kings or from Congress, but from the creator himself.
This is a system that was not built for ease. It was built for endurance, and it will endure if we only teach it again!

The problem is, we only teach it like it's a museum piece. You know, it's not a museum piece. It's not an old dusty document. It's a living covenant between the dead, the living and the unborn.

So this chapter of -- of conservatism. Must confront reality. Economic reality.

Global reality.

And moral reality.

It's not enough just to be against something. Or chant tax cuts or free markets.

We have to ask -- we have to start with simple questions like freedom, yes. But freedom for what?

Freedom for economic sovereignty. Your right to produce and to innovate. To build without asking Beijing's permission. That's a moral issue now.

Another moral issue: Debt! It's -- it's generational theft. We're spending money from generations we won't even meet.

And dependence. Another moral issue. It's a national weakness.

People cannot stand up for themselves. They can't make it themselves. And we're encouraging them to sit down, shut up, and don't think.

And the conservative who can't connect with fiscal prudence, and connect fiscal prudence to moral duty, you're not a conservative at all.

Being a conservative today, means you have to rebuild an economy that serves liberty, not one that serves -- survives by debt, and then there's the soul of the nation.

We are living through a time period. An age of dislocation. Where our families are fractured.

Our faith is almost gone.

Meaning is evaporating so fast. Nobody knows what meaning of life is. That's why everybody is killing themselves. They have no meaning in life. And why they don't have any meaning, is truth itself is mocked and blurred and replaced by nothing, but lies and noise.

If you want to be a conservative, then you have to be to become the moral compass that reminds a lost people, liberty cannot survive without virtue.

That freedom untethered from moral order is nothing, but chaos!

And that no app, no algorithm, no ideology is ever going to fill the void, where meaning used to live!

To be a conservative, moving forward, we cannot just be about policies.

We have to defend the sacred, the unseen, the moral architecture, that gives people an identity. So how do you do that? Well, we have to rebuild competence. We have to restore institutions that actually work. Just in the last hour, this monologue on what we're facing now, because we can't open the government.

Why can't we open the government?

Because government is broken. Why does nobody care? Because education is broken.

We have to reclaim education, not as propaganda, but as the formation of the mind and the soul. Conservatives have to champion innovation.

Not to imitate Silicon Valley's chaos, but to harness technology in defense of human dignity. Don't be afraid of AI.

Know what it is. Know it's a tool. It's a tool to strengthen people. As long as you always remember it's a tool. Otherwise, you will lose your humanity to it!

That's a conservative principle. To be a conservative, we have to restore local strength. Our families are the basic building blocks, our schools, our churches, and our charities. Not some big, distant NGO that was started by the Tides Foundation, but actual local charities, where you see people working. A web of voluntary institutions that held us together at one point. Because when Washington fails, and it will, it already has, the neighborhood has to stand.

Charlie Kirk was doing one thing that people on our side were not doing. Speaking to the young.

But not in nostalgia.

Not in -- you know, Reagan, Reagan, Reagan.

In purpose. They don't remember. They don't remember who Dick Cheney was.

I was listening to Fox news this morning, talking about Dick Cheney. And there was somebody there that I know was not even born when Dick Cheney. When the World Trade Center came down.

They weren't even born. They were telling me about Dick Cheney.

And I was like, come on. Come on. Come on.

If you don't remember who Dick Cheney was, how are you going to remember 9/11. How will you remember who Reagan was.

That just says, that's an old man's creed. No, it's not.

It's the ultimate timeless rebellion against tyranny in all of its forms. Yes, and even the tyranny of despair, which is eating people alive!

We need to redefine ourselves. Because we have changed, and that's a good thing. The creed for a generation, that will decide the fate of the republic, is what we need to find.

A conservative in 2025, '26.

Is somebody who protects the enduring principles of American liberty and self-government.

While actively stewarding the institutions. The culture. The economy of this nation!

For those who are alive and yet to be unborn.

We have to be a group of people that we're not anchored in the past. Or in rage! But in reason. And morality. Realism. And hope for the future.

We're the stewards! We're the ones that have to relight the torch, not just hold it. We didn't -- we didn't build this Torch. We didn't make this Torch. We're the keepers of the flame, but we are honor-bound to pass that forward, and conservatives are viewed as people who just live in the past. We're not here to merely conserve the past, but to renew it. To sort it. What worked, what didn't work. We're the ones to say to the world, there's still such a thing as truth. There's still such a thing as virtue. You can deny it all you want.

But the pain will only get worse. There's still such a thing as America!

And if now is not the time to renew America. When is that time?

If you're not the person. If we're not the generation to actively stand and redefine and defend, then who is that person?

We are -- we are supposed to preserve what works.

That -- you know, I was writing something this morning.

I was making notes on this. A constitutionalist is for restraint. A progressive, if you will, for lack of a better term, is for more power.

Progressives want the government to have more power.

Conservatives are for more restraint.

But the -- for the American eagle to fly, we must have both wings.

And one can't be stronger than the other.

We as a conservative, are supposed to look and say, no. Don't look at that. The past teaches us this, this, and this. So don't do that.

We can't do that. But there are these things that we were doing in the past, that we have to jettison. And maybe the other side has a good idea on what should replace that. But we're the ones who are supposed to say, no, but remember the framework.

They're -- they can dream all they want.
They can come up with all these utopias and everything else, and we can go, "That's a great idea."

But how do we make it work with this framework? Because that's our job. The point of this is, it takes both. It takes both.

We have to have the customs and the moral order. And the practices that have stood the test of time, in trial.

We -- we're in an amazing, amazing time. Amazing time.

We live at a time now, where anything -- literally anything is possible!

I don't want to be against stuff. I want to be for the future. I want to be for a rich, dynamic future. One where we are part of changing the world for the better!

Where more people are lifted out of poverty, more people are given the freedom to choose, whatever it is that they want to choose, as their own government and everything.

I don't want to force it down anybody's throat.

We -- I am so excited to be a shining city on the hill again.

We have that opportunity, right in front of us!

But not in we get bogged down in hatred, in division.

Not if we get bogged down into being against something.

We must be for something!

I know what I'm for.

Do you?

How America’s elites fell for the same lie that fueled Auschwitz

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

The drone footage out of Gaza isn’t just war propaganda — it’s a glimpse of the same darkness that once convinced men they were righteous for killing innocents.

Evil introduces itself subtly. It doesn’t announce, “Hi, I’m here to destroy you.” It whispers. It flatters. It borrows the language of justice, empathy, and freedom, twisting them until hatred sounds righteous and violence sounds brave.

We are watching that same deception unfold again — in the streets, on college campuses, and in the rhetoric of people who should know better. It’s the oldest story in the world, retold with new slogans.

Evil wins when good people mirror its rage.

A drone video surfaced this week showing Hamas terrorists staging the “discovery” of a hostage’s body. They pushed a corpse out of a window, dragged it into a hole, buried it, and then called in aid workers to “find” what they themselves had planted. It was theater — evil, disguised as victimhood. And it was caught entirely on camera.

That’s how evil operates. It never comes in through the front door. It sneaks in, often through manipulative pity. The same spirit animates the moral rot spreading through our institutions — from the halls of universities to the chambers of government.

Take Zohran Mamdani, a New York assemblyman who has praised jihadists and defended pro-Hamas agitators. His father, a Columbia University professor, wrote that America and al-Qaeda are morally equivalent — that suicide bombings shouldn’t be viewed as barbaric. Imagine thinking that way after watching 3,000 Americans die on 9/11. That’s not intellectualism. That’s indoctrination.

Often, that indoctrination comes from hostile foreign actors, peddled by complicit pawns on our own soil. The pro-Hamas protests that erupted across campuses last year, for example, were funded by Iran — a regime that murders its own citizens for speaking freely.

Ancient evil, new clothes

But the deeper danger isn’t foreign money. It’s the spiritual blindness that lets good people believe resentment is justice and envy is discernment. Scripture talks about the spirit of Amalek — the eternal enemy of God’s people, who attacks the weak from behind while the strong look away. Amalek never dies; it just changes its vocabulary and form with the times.

Today, Amalek tweets. He speaks through professors who defend terrorism as “anti-colonial resistance.” He preaches from pulpits that call violence “solidarity.” And he recruits through algorithms, whispering that the Jews control everything, that America had it coming, that chaos is freedom. Those are ancient lies wearing new clothes.

When nations embrace those lies, it’s not the Jews who perish first. It’s the nations themselves. The soul dies long before the body. The ovens of Auschwitz didn’t start with smoke; they started with silence and slogans.

Andrew Harnik / Staff | Getty Images

A time for choosing

So what do we do? We speak truth — calmly, firmly, without venom. Because hatred can’t kill hatred; it only feeds it. Truth, compassion, and courage starve it to death.

Evil wins when good people mirror its rage. That’s how Amalek survives — by making you fight him with his own weapons. The only victory that lasts is moral clarity without malice, courage without cruelty.

The war we’re fighting isn’t new. It’s the same battle between remembrance and amnesia, covenant and chaos, humility and pride. The same spirit that whispered to Pharaoh, to Hitler, and to every mob that thought hatred could heal the world is whispering again now — on your screens, in your classrooms, in your churches.

Will you join it, or will you stand against it?

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Bill Gates ends climate fear campaign, declares AI the future ruler

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The Big Tech billionaire once said humanity must change or perish. Now he claims we’ll survive — just as elites prepare total surveillance.

For decades, Americans have been told that climate change is an imminent apocalypse — the existential threat that justifies every intrusion into our lives, from banning gas stoves to rationing energy to tracking personal “carbon scores.”

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped lead that charge. He warned repeatedly that the “climate disaster” would be the greatest crisis humanity would ever face. He invested billions in green technology and demanded the world reach net-zero emissions by 2050 “to avoid catastrophe.”

The global contest is no longer over barrels and pipelines — it is over who gets to flip the digital switch.

Now, suddenly, he wants everyone to relax: Climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise” after all.

Gates was making less of a scientific statement and more of a strategic pivot. When elites retire a crisis, it’s never because the threat is gone — it’s because a better one has replaced it. And something else has indeed arrived — something the ruling class finds more useful than fear of the weather.The same day Gates downshifted the doomsday rhetoric, Amazon announced it would pay warehouse workers $30 an hour — while laying off 30,000 people because artificial intelligence will soon do their jobs.

Climate panic was the warm-up. AI control is the main event.

The new currency of power

The world once revolved around oil and gas. Today, it revolves around the electricity demanded by server farms, the chips that power machine learning, and the data that can be used to manipulate or silence entire populations. The global contest is no longer over barrels and pipelines — it is over who gets to flip the digital switch. Whoever controls energy now controls information. And whoever controls information controls civilization.

Climate alarmism gave elites a pretext to centralize power over energy. Artificial intelligence gives them a mechanism to centralize power over people. The future battles will not be about carbon — they will be about control.

Two futures — both ending in tyranny

Americans are already being pushed into what look like two opposing movements, but both leave the individual powerless.

The first is the technocratic empire being constructed in the name of innovation. In its vision, human work will be replaced by machines, and digital permissions will subsume personal autonomy.

Government and corporations merge into a single authority. Your identity, finances, medical decisions, and speech rights become access points monitored by biometric scanners and enforced by automated gatekeepers. Every step, purchase, and opinion is tracked under the noble banner of “efficiency.”

The second is the green de-growth utopia being marketed as “compassion.” In this vision, prosperity itself becomes immoral. You will own less because “the planet” requires it. Elites will redesign cities so life cannot extend beyond a 15-minute walking radius, restrict movement to save the Earth, and ration resources to curb “excess.” It promises community and simplicity, but ultimately delivers enforced scarcity. Freedom withers when surviving becomes a collective permission rather than an individual right.

Both futures demand that citizens become manageable — either automated out of society or tightly regulated within it. The ruling class will embrace whichever version gives them the most leverage in any given moment.

Climate panic was losing its grip. AI dependency — and the obedience it creates — is far more potent.

The forgotten way

A third path exists, but it is the one today’s elites fear most: the path laid out in our Constitution. The founders built a system that assumes human beings are not subjects to be monitored or managed, but moral agents equipped by God with rights no government — and no algorithm — can override.

Hesham Elsherif / Stringer | Getty Images

That idea remains the most “disruptive technology” in history. It shattered the belief that people need kings or experts or global committees telling them how to live. No wonder elites want it erased.

Soon, you will be told you must choose: Live in a world run by machines or in a world stripped down for planetary salvation. Digital tyranny or rationed equality. Innovation without liberty or simplicity without dignity.

Both are traps.

The only way

The only future worth choosing is the one grounded in ordered liberty — where prosperity and progress exist alongside moral responsibility and personal freedom and human beings are treated as image-bearers of God — not climate liabilities, not data profiles, not replaceable hardware components.

Bill Gates can change his tune. The media can change the script. But the agenda remains the same.

They no longer want to save the planet. They want to run it, and they expect you to obey.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.