GLENNMarch 24, 2017

Glenn Talks With Megan Phelps-Roper, Former Westboro Baptist Church Member

Megan Phelps-Roper joined Glenn on radio this week for an enlightening discussion about her conversion from Westboro Baptist Church member to someone focused on understanding and inclusion. Like Glenn, Phelps-Roper is a hopeful advocate for bringing people together through honest, civil conversations --- and she's laid out a four-step plan to do just that.

Enjoy the complimentary clip or read the transcript for details.

Welcome to the program, Megan, how are you?

MEGAN: I'm wonderful. How are you?

GLENN: I'm good. It's really an honor to talk to you. We're big fans of what you said in your TED talk, especially from where you started, you know, in a church that is more than a little tough.

MEGAN: Yes. Absolutely.

I grew up at the Westboro Baptist Church. And my family -- the church is almost entirely my family. So around 80 percent -- there's only 80 or so people in the church. And about 80 percent are people -- my grandfather is the one who founded the church. And my mother was the de facto spokesperson for a long time. So, yeah, I grew up on the picket line.

PAT: Yeah, you actually held those hate-filled signs at funerals and other places, right?

GLENN: When you were a kid.

MEGAN: Yes. Absolutely.

PAT: Yeah.

MEGAN: It started out as a protest at a local park, and it sort of really expanded from there. As soon as, you know -- my grandfather was very aggressive, kind of hostile personality. So when people started to come out to counterprotest, everybody who was against us became a target. And eventually -- what started out as it being a protest against gay people, became, you know, we were protesting against other Christians and Jews. It expanded rapidly, until literally everyone outside of our church became a target. And so it was basically a -- you know, I was marinating in this idealogy of everybody is against us. We are against everybody because they're all against the Scriptures. You know, memorizing chapter and verse why they're wrong and why they're headed for hell. And it's our duty to go out and warn them.

STU: I'm fascinated, Megan, because I think to my childhood, and I remember fun picnics and fun trips to amusement parks and things like that. Do you have those types of memories, or is it just -- is there a competition between that and you carrying some awful sign around during a protest?

MEGAN: No. I absolutely have those memories. My -- a lot of people have a hard time understanding that they -- other than these protests and that worldview, they're -- we were a very normal -- obviously there's a lot of kids in our family. There's 11 kids in my family. And -- but we played video games and read books. And we went to public school. And, yeah, we went to amusement parks. We did all of those things, but we also -- that was all sort of organized around this nationwide picketing campaign.

So I have -- I absolutely have both, but that -- that loving family -- the nature of that is part of what makes it so, so, so hard to leave or to even consider leaving. The idea of giving it all up.

GLENN: So I just had a guy in who we're going to interview on a program that I'm working on. He was a member of the Hitler Youth. Now, he's in his 80s now. But he came of age in the Hitler Youth, until I think World War II ended, when he was 20. And he still had -- he sees the world very differently. He thinks that Churchill is a war -- should be held for war crimes. A war criminal.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: And he doesn't agree with Hitler. But he said, I never saw -- we never saw any of that. At least he said, I didn't. I was in the front row of the 36 Olympics. You know, I -- I saw all the good stuff. And the bad stuff that was thrown up, you just dismissed it because you thought it was somebody that was trying to tear us down. Is that kind of the way your childhood was in a way?

MEGAN: Well, I mean, I know -- I knew at the time -- so, for instance, the funeral picketing, I knew at the time that it was hurtful. But the way that it was framed in our church was, you know, these people don't understand that they're headed for hell, for eternal destruction. And it's a loving thing to go and warn them.

And so I saw it as a necessary evil, like we had to go do this because this was the truth and the only thing that mattered, more than anything else was the truth. And it didn't matter how we said it, where we said, or in what context, it was always a good thing. And -- and it was a point of pride for us not to consider people's feelings.

GLENN: And the people -- and the people that were coming against you, because they were screaming back in your face, it only reinforced that these are bad people.

MEGAN: Absolutely. Especially because -- I mean, there's all these passages. So, for instance, Jesus talks about blessed are ye when men shall hate you and revile you and persecute you, for my name sake. So for us, like we wanted that. It was -- we expected it. It was confirmation that we were doing the Lord's work.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: Now, take us to how someone finally broke through.

MEGAN: So Twitter -- Twitter was -- and I didn't realize it at first. I didn't realize that it was happening exactly. But Twitter was an empathy machine for me.

I really hate how it's gotten such a bad rap because that platform has done more to teach me good communication and how to engage with people than almost anything else in my life.

So on Twitter, people would -- would come at me with the same kind of, you know, hateful rhetoric and loud, you know, accusations and just very bitter. And, again, I expected it.

And I would respond, you know, in kind. And -- but then some people -- and I don't know exactly why or what motivated them. I think they -- they saw -- they say that they saw something in me that maybe I would listen or something. But in any case, they stopped yelling and stopped, you know, insulting me and started to ask questions. And they were like -- they seemed like they were actually listening to me.

GLENN: They were honest questions. They were honest questions.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: They weren't questions of setup.

MEGAN: Right. Exactly.

And it made me feel -- and because, again, I thought I was doing a good thing. I thought that those words that we were preaching, I thought that was the absolute, unquestionable truth. So I wanted to share it with them. That's why I was on social media.

And so I would, you know, answer their questions and sort of -- we had these back-and-forths. But then because of Twitter, I'm also seeing the photos they post of their children and their friends. And it just became this -- this way for me to see people as human beings. And it was because of the way -- because of the fact that they stopped -- the way they engaged me.

STU: That's incredible, that that came from Twitter too. Someone tweeted the other day, Instagram, my life is a party. Snapchat, my life is a quirky TV show. Facebook, my life turned out great. Twitter, we're all going to die. When I go on Twitter, man, I just get so depressed. But it's amazing you were able to take that out of this.

MEGAN: Yeah. I know. But there's a couple of things about Twitter that were really helpful to me. So like, for instance, the character limit, it first made me give up insults. Because at Westboro, we would include these elaborate insults when we responded to questions that people sent us by email. But on Twitter, there just wasn't space for it.

And also, Twitter was just this immediate feedback loop. If I did insult somebody, I could watch the conversation just derail in realtime. I could see that I wasn't getting my point across because I was too busy indulging that vengeful little voice in my head that wanted to call people names. I mean, we all have this feedback loop.

GLENN: Megan, I will tell you, I've been doing these kinds of experiments myself over the last couple of years, where I've gotten in -- because I just stopped engaging for a while. About years ago, I decided, you know what, I'm just going to answer everybody and assume the best. And just answer the -- the worst with something kind and try to be humble and kind and nice to everybody. Really hard to do.

And it's amazing the results. It's truly remarkable. It doesn't cure everybody by any stretch. But it's remarkable.

And I've talked about it on the air. And so many people say, it's not going to make a difference. You can't engage with them. They're all crazy. They're all whatever. What would you say to that?

MEGAN: Man, I just disagree so -- so much with the idea of hopelessness when it comes to talking to people.

I had -- I had grown up, you know, being -- basically cultivating this mindset of us versus them, being wary -- like specifically being wary of people's kindness. And even though I consciously was aware and trying not to be persuaded by kindness, it was still a powerful thing.

It's really interesting because over the past few years, I've been thinking about this a lot obviously. Because it's only been four years since I left. So it's kind of been just this huge -- you know, huge event in my life. And what you're describing there, about, you know, assuming the best and, you know, changing the way you respond. So if somebody comes at you angry and you respond in kindness and angry, that's called like, non-complimentary behavior. And we as human beings are wired to respond in kind.

But like you said, it's incredibly difficult to do. But we can cultivate a more useful mindset. Like one thing you said -- well, my mom used to tell me, to make sure my behavior was appropriate, I should add the word "judge" on to the end of my sentence, as in, "Here's why I did it, Judge." And I still use that trick, except now I add the word "friend." If someone attacks me and I start to get riled up, I try to pause for a beat and add friend, as if I'm disagreeing with someone I love. And I don't do it to be a goody two-shoes. I do it because it works. It's just so much more effective than anger or insults or hostility.

GLENN: All right. I want to get to -- you say there are four steps. And I want to get to those here in a second. Let me just ask you one more question, and then I have to take a quick break.

Do you -- are you well aware of how appropriately timed your discovery and your story is for the rest of the world?

MEGAN: I -- I just -- I hope that -- I hope that I can be a voice or that the story can be something that will help other people see the value in engaging. Because honestly, my experience has -- has given me so much hope. I never thought I would leave. And at first, when I first left, I thought that my family, there was no hope for most of my family. I don't believe that anymore. And I'm still reaching out to them. I'm still trying to convince them to see things other ways. And if there's hope for me, if I changed, I think that there's a lot of hope.

You know, I know that the political climate is so polarized right now, but I can't help but feel so hopeful.

GLENN: Megan Phelps-Roper. She'll continue with us here in just a second. You need to hear what her solution is. It's really a four-step process. And it's really pretty easy. Left the Westboro Baptist Church because of kindness. You want to hear her whole story. Watch the TED video because it's quite amazing.

[break]

Megan Phelps-Roper is a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church, where people were kind to her and started to talk to her. And she says, this really works. And, you know, you could be in the cult of a political part. And I think this works. I think we need this across all lines in the world right now.

Megan, you did a TED talk. You said there are four tips on how to talk to people who you disagree with.

MEGAN: Yes. Exactly.

You want me to tell them to you?

GLENN: Yeah. Sure.

MEGAN: So the first one is -- I think it's really important -- don't assume bad intent. It's so easy to look at -- I mean, Westboro is such an easy example. They've got these neon signs. It was so clearly obvious to everyone that we were hateful and evil and awful people.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

MEGAN: But underneath it was well-intentioned people trying to do what they believed was right. So it's really easy to look at the surface and assume the worst of people, assume you understand where they're coming from. But that almost immediately cuts you off from really understanding what they're about.

GLENN: It's one of the reasons why -- I've tried to cut the word evil out of my lexicon because we use that to -- too often. And we use it about people. And I really think most people have great intent. You know, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, you can disagree with either one of them, but neither one of them think they're doing evil. They think they're doing the right thing. You just don't see it that way.

MEGAN: Exactly. I think very few -- maybe sociopaths or psychopaths. And even then --

GLENN: Right.

MEGAN: People who are deliberately doing wrong, I think they're very, very, very few and far between.

GLENN: Yes. Right. And that doesn't mean you have to go along with it, but if you say to them or their followers, you know, your guy is evil, they stop listening to you.

MEGAN: Right. Exactly. And you stop asking questions to get to the bottom of it, which is the second point. Asking questions helps you bridge the gap between your point of view and theirs. It helps you understand where they're coming from actually. And it also signals to the people that you're talking to, that you're actually listening to them.

And that is a huge benefit to the dialogue because they -- they no longer -- they don't want to yell at you. They see that you want to understand. So they're much more willing to engage. So the second point is ask questions.

GLENN: And it matters that they're honest questions, not setup questions. Not a question where I know you're going to say one thing so I can give you the Scripture quote or whatever to beat you.

MEGAN: Exactly.

GLENN: It has to be a question that's not designed for me to win. We're going to take a quick break. Come back with the last two with Megan Phelps-Roper, when we come back.

(OUT AT 10:32AM)

GLENN: Megan Phelps-Roper, somebody that we saw on TED talk, giving a great TED talk on how to bring people together. She was in the -- she's a Phelps. So she's part of the founding family of the Westboro Baptist Church. And she got online and started making friends with people who were friendly to her, not just yelling at her all the time. And she said there are four things that if you really want to change people's minds, four ways of engaging people so that real conversations can take place. The first one is don't assume bad intent. Instead, assume good or neutral intent. The second, ask questions, as opposed to accusing. Ask honest questions. It will help people let them know they've been heard. And quite often, this is all that people want.

The third is stay calm. Welcome back to the program, Megan. Explain stay calm.

MEGAN: So this one is really difficult because the natural inclination is always to respond the way that somebody is -- is speaking to you. So when somebody comes at you with hostility, the instinct is to be defensive and to respond with hostility. But that just brings the conversation to an end quickly. But if you can learn to step back, calm down and -- and try to diffuse the anger -- and you can do it in a few ways.

So, for instance, I actually ended up marrying -- my husband was one of these Twitter friends who started out as this angry, sort of insulting --

GLENN: Wow.

MEGAN: We just got married seven months ago.

GLENN: Congratulations.

MEGAN: Thank you. So what he would do, for instance, he would tell a joke or recommend a book or start talking about music. He would sort of turn away from the hostility for a minute and then come back to it -- come back to it later.

You don't necessarily -- I mean, that's -- that can be a last resort. A lot of times just staying calm and speaking as if you were addressing a friend and not somebody that you hate and that you despise that you can't -- you can't stand to hear their words. It helps so much to keep the conversation going.

GLENN: Step four.

MEGAN: Step four is make the argument.

And this one -- this one seems obvious. But there's this argument that seems to have taken hold on both the left and the right. And I think it stems from the hopelessness you mentioned earlier. Oh, they're just too far gone. They can't be reasoned with. But where does that lead us?

It leaves us at loggerheads. Deadlocked. And no one wants to be there. So you make the argument because they don't understand -- your opponent doesn't necessarily understand your thinking and the way that you're approaching the problem. And by making the argument -- if you fail to do that, you're definitely not going to change someone's mind. You actually have to articulate the reasoning and the thought process behind your position.

And there's actually a fifth point that I would have included if I had enough time -- should I tell you now?

GLENN: Yeah, go ahead.

STU: We're breaking news here. The fifth point in Megan Phelps' TED talk.

GLENN: Go ahead.

(chuckling)

MEGAN: It's take heart. Changing hearts and minds is incremental work, and it takes patience and persistence. And you're not going to see results necessarily immediately, not right away, but we can't give up. You know, and you might not be the person to persuade somebody else to turn away from a bad position, but every interaction is an opportunity to help turn the tide. So stay the course, trust the process, and take heart.

GLENN: How many people -- how many people were like this to you?

MEGAN: Well, the ones who had the biggest impact -- I mean, a handful who were engaging me continually over the course of a couple of years, considering I had been in the church. I had been raised in this. And I was 24 when I got on Twitter. So I was, again, marinating in this ideology and this way of thinking. So the fact that it only took a couple of years to really affect me and how I saw things, I think that's pretty remarkable.

GLENN: So did your husband -- was there a time when your husband -- is now your husband --

MEGAN: Yeah.

GLENN: Was he falling in love with you at the time? Did that happen later? Did he say, I can't believe I'm saying this to you -- I mean, how did that happen?

MEGAN: Well, it's a -- it's a really strange -- it was a really strange dynamic because obviously I was at the church. And at Westboro, you could only marry somebody who was in the church. So we were having these discussions, and there was nothing -- it was like a Jane Austen novel, like nothing overt. Like we couldn't say how we were feeling to each other because it just wasn't acceptable. And he sensed that.

And -- but he also, again, saw that I was a human being. And he came to believe that I had a good heart.

GLENN: So would this have worked -- would this have worked without love?

MEGAN: Well, I think -- well, so here's the thing. I -- yes, I believe so. And the reason is that the very first interaction was with a friend. I mentioned him in the talk too. Jewlicious. His name is David Abitbol.

And so it was -- I think I was talking with him for a little over a year. And, again, he's asking these questions. And in the course of asking these questions, he was the one who found the first -- the first bit of internal inconsistency in Westboro's doctrines. And when I look back at how I responded to that -- so my husband -- I didn't actually start speaking to him until months after that. But when I think about how I responded to that first bit of internal inconsistency, that was when I first started to challenge, in my own mind, Westboro's doctrines.

GLENN: And you didn't let him know that.

MEGAN: No. For sure. As soon as he had made that point, I was actually terrified to speak to him again. I didn't even let on that I recognized that he was right. I just stopped speaking to him.

GLENN: Wow. What was the point, if you don't mind me asking?

MEGAN: Oh, yeah, no, not at all.

It was a sign that said "death penalty for fags."

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

MEGAN: Yeah. So, of course -- we used, you know, the verses in Leviticus and also in Romans 1 that talk about how, you know, gays are worthy of death. And he brought up -- so he's Jewish. I was really surprised that he brought up Jesus, saying, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

And I didn't -- I just had never connected that that was talking about the death penalty. And we thought, we're not -- we're not casting stones. We're just preaching words.

And David said, "Yeah, but you're advocating that the government cast stones."

And so that -- when I brought that point to other members of the church, the response was just to double down. They never addressed the passage that -- you know, that contradicted us. They just reiterated the passages that supported us. And so that was the first time that -- and the way that I reconciled it in my own mind was I just stopped holding the sign because I didn't know how to defend it anymore. And I didn't believe in it.

GLENN: Did they tell you to stop talking to these people?

MEGAN: I don't think -- I don't think people quite realized how much -- I mean, they knew I was very active on Twitter, but I don't think they realized how much it was affecting the way that I was thinking. I honestly didn't -- didn't understand it either.

Because in my mind -- I think I was in denial about it because -- you are not supposed to be impacted by other people. You are not supposed to be anything, but preaching to them. You're not supposed to really, you know, care -- I was going to say care about them. It was a very strange dynamic. But I was in denial about it. And I think that definitely helped it seem to others as if it wasn't really having an impact on me also.

PAT: Is anybody in your family speaking with you? Do you have a relationship with anybody anymore in the family?

MEGAN: Not anybody in the church, no. But there has been over the last decade or so, about 20 or so people who have either left or have been kicked out of Westboro. And my brother actually, the morning of my high school graduation -- he's a year and a half older than me. We woke up and went downstairs, and all of his stuff was gone. And so I have -- I didn't get to speak with him for the eight and half years between when he left and when I left. But now we're really good friends. And he's wonderful.

PAT: What was he thrown out for?

MEGAN: No, he left actually.

PAT: Oh, he left on his own.

MEGAN: He left at 19. Yeah, he also had Scriptural objections to some things. And also the extreme -- he objected to the extreme level of control because everybody in the church -- we all lived within two blocks or so of one another and did everything together and were obviously not developing relationships with people outside. But the level of control is -- is really -- really, really extreme.

GLENN: Do they -- do you think this will just die out as the family dies out, or?

MEGAN: Actually, I thought about this. My sister and I would talk about this about how could the church end in a way that just wouldn't destroy everybody on the inside?

There's still about the same level of membership as there has been. Because a few people -- a few new converts have joined. And then, of course, my generation has now -- they're having kids. But there's not many.

GLENN: What kind of people would join -- what kind of people join this? They really believe -- the newcomers that come in --

STU: It's one thing to be raised in it, but to be converted as an adult.

GLENN: Decent people. Yeah.

MEGAN: So honestly, I've speculated about this too. So, for instance, my dad -- my dad joined the church long before the picketing started. He was only 16 at the time. And, you know, his family wasn't -- I mean, his mom had been divorced. I don't think he -- he was attracted to the love and unity and connection I think in my family. In the Phelps family, I think. And I think that's a draw for some people. And it really lends credence to the idea that they're doing what they're doing out of love, out of good intentions.

And, again, some people just, I think are drawn to that defense of the idea of having all the answers and knowing for sure what you believe and how you're supposed to live. Like, it's -- that was such a powerful thing. When I left and realized like, I don't -- I don't have that anymore. I don't have that sense of -- it's a very comforting sense of certainty. And, you know, nuance and questions and uncertainty are a lot more difficult to deal with. I think some people are attracted to that part of the church.

GLENN: Next time they're out protesting, what should people do?

MEGAN: I think engaging at protests is actually not a very effective thing because they're -- on picket lines, they're already in these attack/defend mindsets. I think the internet is a much -- you know, Twitter. There's a lot of them on Twitter now. I think that's a more effective way of engaging. But if you -- if you do see them and if you are moved to go and speak to them, just remember that -- that responding with, you know, yelling and name-calling, all those things, it just reinforces what they already believe. It's adding to, you know, their certainty that they're doing the right thing.

GLENN: It is really -- it's really great to talk to you. Megan Phelps-Roper. You can find her @MeganPhelps. That's her Twitter handle. @MeganPhelps.

Really great to talk to you. And thank you for sharing this. And I think you have an important voice that needs to be heard.

STU: And I will say, Megan, will you confirm this, because we got the fifth point out of you, we are 25 percent better than your TED talk.

MEGAN: Yeah, for sure.

GLENN: Megan, can we pay you an off-handed compliment. Stu wanted to say this, we said it during the break. And it's weird because it's exactly what we're talking about. We don't know each other. We don't talk to each other.

We look at people in the Westboro Baptist Church and think that their kids just must be dumb as a box of rocks. And just, oatmeal! Every answer is, oatmeal! (chuckling) And you're so articulate. I mean, it's amazing just to have that view shattered.

MEGAN: Thank you.

I will say -- I mean, another thing that's not so well-known about the church, education was really important in my family. Most of the people there -- many lawyers, people who work in health care, and IT. And they're very well educated.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Wow.

MEGAN: Which is partly I think what makes it so much more difficult for them to see outside of it. This is like a psychological thing where, by -- by having these very strong mostly internally consistent arguments, they -- they think they're so certain that they don't even question the -- they don't even question it.

GLENN: Amazing.

MEGAN: But, yeah, anyway...

GLENN: Thank you so much. @MeganPhelps. Thank you so much, Megan. Appreciate it.

MEGAN: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

GLENN: You bet.

RADIO

Eric Trump UNLEASHES on Democrats crying about "weaponization of justice"

Democrats are crying about “weaponization of justice” when it comes to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. But they cheered on the lawfare attacks against the Trump family. President Trump’s son Eric Trump joins Glenn Beck to call out the hypocrisy. Plus, he details the true extent of the persecution his family faced, which he wrote down in his new book, “Under Siege: My Family’s Fight to Save Our Nation.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Hello, Eric, how are you?

ERIC: Glenn, it's great to be on.

GLENN: It great to have you. Great to have you.

Your book. What your family has gone through is just the radically souped up version of what I think a lot of people feel they have gone through in their life.

But, man, they have -- they have tried to kill you guys. They have tried to put you in jail. They tried to destroy you every single step of the way.

Tell me about the motivation for putting that all down on paper.

ERIC: Yeah. Glenn, I think that's right. It went on number one, almost instantly, Under Siege. And it's been incredible. But I came up with -- you're right.

I was a guy who didn't have any constitutional protections. I was in the government. So guess who they came after?

They came after me. I was the most subpoenaed person in American history, all because I ran the Trump organization, which was effectively what my father spent his entire life doing. And they wanted to see us taken town. They wanted to see us destroyed.

I mean, look what they did. Right? Between two impeachments. They raided our home. They silenced us. They gag ordered us. There's more gag orders than I possibly could count. They took us off of Twitter. They took us off of Facebook. They took us off of Instagram.

You know, they made up the phony dossier that was paid for by Hillary Clinton. They made up Russia gate. Glenn, I was the guy getting the calls from the FBI saying, you know, Eric, I hear you have secret servers communicating with the Kremlin in the basement of Trump Tower. I mean, give me. Give me a break. They tried to take out our Supreme Court justices. I mean, they did everything.

They weaponized the media. They weaponized the DOJ. They weaponized the FBI. They charged my father 91 times. Ninety-one criminal counts. They fined the Trump organization almost $600 million can for not doing a damn thing wrong.

And all of this stuff has been overturned. They wanted to see us nonexistent.

They wanted to see our family broken. They wanted to see my father in jail. They probably wanted to see me in jail. Then I said on Sean Hannity one night. You know, they've done all of this to us. They put us under siege. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to kill my father.

And then you saw what happened in Butler. And then you saw what happened eight weeks later, you know, in West Palm. You saw what just happened to Charlie. I mean, I published his book. Literally, three days before Charlie Kirk's assassination.

I mean, you want to talk about another time they tried to put our movement under siege. They've done it to you. They've done it to every one of your listeners. They've debanked us and deplatformed us.

And the story had to be told from a first-person perspective, who effectively dealt with all of it. And the greatest part of the whole story is we won. We won, and we're saving the country right now.

GLENN: So, Eric, how do you deal -- I just had a conversation with somebody I think is really, really smart.

Doesn't agree with me politically, but very well-educated, very smart, and a reasonable person.

And he immediately brought up the weaponization of our government with the DOJ and James Comey. And I said, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Blood is shooting out of my eyes right now. Hang on, the weaponization of our government with the DOJ and James Comey?

And I had to explain to him, that your Dad didn't say, you're fired if you don't go get him. Your father said, make a decision. Make a decision.

You don't let the statute of limitations go out. And it went through a grand jury process, two out of the three charges were valid. And so you prosecute.

That's different than what you guys. Can you compare James Comey and what's happening there, to what was done with you guys?

ERIC: Well, I'll give you a little inside baseball. So I was the guy that got called when they were raiding Mar-a-Lago. Right? Obviously, I run all of our commercial properties, and our entire portfolio. Everything in the Trump organization. So I get a call from one of my team members. The FBI is here with the search warrant. And I go, excuse me?

We have the greatest relationship with all law enforcement, where we love law enforcement. No, they're coming in. They have a search warrant to raid Mar-a-Lago right now. And I said, you must be kidding me. Why?

Well, they're saying the national archives asked the FBI to raid Mar-a-Lago. You mean -- buy a public library. You know, you have 30 FBI agents there with machine guys because of Norah, you know, asked for a raid?

I went on Fox News that night. I think it was Jesse Waters, I went on Fox News that night. And, give me a break. Like, I wasn't born yesterday. You don't raid Mar-a-Lago, the former president's home and very likely the future president.

Again, because my father was so great. You don't raid that home, based on the national archives. Like you better believe Biden was behind it. And sure enough, 18 months later, it comes out, that Biden was behind it.

And Merrick Garland was 100 percent behind it. And they were the ones that authorized it. The weaponization is unlike anything I had ever seen. Glenn, we were a family that never got as much as a speeding ticket ever in our lives, and we lived a pretty fast life in terms of business and life.

Until my father decided that he was looking to run again in 2024. In which case, they indicted him 34 times for $130,000 that he didn't even make.
I mean, people -- people who are sitting in the courtrooms, couldn't even possibly believe it.

Again, we had every single one of them overturned. When I hear them talking about James Comey. Clearly. It very much looked like it -- to Ted Cruz. And that congressional hearing. That testimony that day.

I mean, give me a break. These guys. I probably spent $400 million, defending ourselves from hoaxes. I mean, the Russia hoax, we had disproved to the FBI.

We didn't have secret servers. There are no servers in the basement of Trump Tower. Because the basement was flooded. You don't put -- like, Computer's 101, you don't put servers in basements. Right?

You know, we didn't know anybody in Russia. They knew this. And they let this sham get perpetrated for three years so that one greedy woman could possibly get, you know, two more bills.

And then when she lost to him in embarrassing fashion, to people who didn't know where the damn delegate was. I.e. our family. Because we had never been in politics before. You know, they needed some way to justify her embarrassing performance.

GLENN: They took your father off the ballot in Maine. They tried to take him off in Colorado. That to me is the weaponization of the political system. By going after you guys for the servers, by changing documents, literally, the FBI changing documents to go after people in your organization, on the -- the Russiagate stuff. Changing the documents for a FISA court.

That's true weaponization. Is there a chance that the Comey thing is going to go to bleed in a larger prosecution, because I've been watching this. Eric, I've been watching this from the beginning.

I was watching this when I was not for your father being president in 2016. Saying, wait a minute.

This isn't right.

What is this?

This isn't right.

It is so clear that this now was -- I mean, the evidence is all there!

That this was a plan from the beginning, that is, quite honestly, I believe, still going on.

Is there is there a chance.

I mean, do you know if the grand conspiracy thing is going to happen?

ERIC: Listen, I hope it does, right?

I'm not in government. But it's the entire thesis of the book. I've dealt with this more than anyone in the country for a ten-year period of time.
They wanted us gone. I mean, Glenn, they were planting documents in Mar-a-Lago in my father's office. They were planting top secret folders, on -- on the carpet of my father's office.

They admitted that to Judge Cannon that they literally brought in top secret folders and they staged photo shoots on my father's office floor. Right?

The whole thing was contrived.

The whole thing was a setup. The Russia thing was a scam.

The dirty dossier that said my father was doing horrible things, the most unthinkable things. You know, it was -- it was a sham, the impeachment number one was a sham. The impeachment number two was a sham. To have seven judges in Colorado just delete my father's name from a ballot was a sham. The fact that, again, a guy who works very hard, and never crossed any line in his life became the most subpoenaed person in American history. It was a sham. I mean, you know, I must have a laptop from hell. I wasn't Hunter Biden. I wasn't doing illicit drugs. I wasn't partaking in prostitution. I didn't have racy photos all over my -- and I sure as hell wasn't doing illegal business deals all over the world of every shady country, as he very much seemed to be doing. And yet, they came after us relentlessly. So do I think that that criminality has to be paid for in some way? I do. And I find it so ironic, when you see Chuck Schumer up there. And Jake Tapper. I'm not sure if you saw him the other day. "This is the weaponization of the government at its finest."

Give me a break. I've taken more arrows than anybody could possibly take and still be standing. And my father, he has taken unlimited arrows, all in the sense of this nation that we love. And it's -- it's true irony. And it's true projection.

GLENN: So let me take ten seconds for a station ID. And then I want to talk to you about, has there ever been a time when you guys said, enough!

Back in ten seconds. (music)

GLENN: So I don't know. I mean, I am amazed at your family. I'm amazed at your father. The things that you guys have put up with. The things that you have come through.

And at some point, did anyone in the family say, dad, please, I mean, we want grandpa to be around? Stop! Please. Did that ever happen?

ERIC: You know what, it's kind of funny. I think that's exactly what they thought was going to happen. I thought that they could take this kind of New York billionaire and make his life so uncomfortable, that he would want to go back to Palm Beach, Florida, play golf, hang out with his grandkids. Fly around on Trump Force One. You know, live in Mar-a-Lago. Live a great life. Right?

And there's no question that was their calculus. You know, how do we make fun of him? How do we silence him? How do we bankrupt him? How do we go after his family? How do we raid his home? How do we indict him, right? How do we break up his business. How do we break up his business. How do we strip the Trump name off of every building in New York City. Those are all the things that I dealt with. I think they only misunderstood him.

And maybe it's like a masochist-type quality, but the harder they hit him, and the harder they hit us, the more resilient we were.

I was in the courtrooms, Glenn, with my father every single day. When they turned around in New York and ran off 34 felony -- bogus felony counts with the corrupt judge. And you know a lot about that trial.

My father turned around. Shook my hand.

We left the courthouse. We did a press conference. I was on the front stairs of that courthouse every single day to the press. You remember, my father was gagged. And then we went down, we did a big fundraiser. I mean, we literally left the courthouse after having 34 felony indictments and went to a political fundraiser.

I mean, the man never stopped. He was the Energizer Bunny in a red tie wearing a suit on steroids.

And the harder they hit him, the harder he worked, the harder he fought back.

But beyond that, I think more the American people realized, the whole thing was a sham.

I mean, there's only so many times you can cry wolf, before everybody realizes it's nonsense.

And they cried wolf in Russia, and everybody saw that.

And they cried wolf with the impeachments and everybody saw that. And people fundamentally started to distrust the mainstream media in the country. And independent voices like yours, all of a sudden, became the most powerful we've ever seen in the nation's history. And, you know, and all of a sudden, this whole thing turned around. Where people started realizing, hey. The harder they hit this guy, the more I like him. Because this is the system. This is the corruption at work. And listen, it obviously worked. Because my father won the popular vote. He won every single swing state.

You know, he won 11 counties in California that had never been wronged by a Republican. In 37 years, no Republicans won Miami Dade County. We won it by 11 points.

And every single state in the country, all 50 states cast way right. You know, and so clearly, their games didn't work.

But that's what they wanted. They wanted to make his life so damn uncomfortable. That he would bow out of the race. And say, you know what, let's just go live my glory years at Mar-a-Lago, living out the American Dream as the next president. And they wholly underestimated the man.

GLENN: But you -- the whole family was like?

I mean, everybody in the family?

I mean, I don't say this. You guys are amazing. Even if you would have said, Dad, stop it.

Please, not for us.

For you, stop it.

It's not a sign of weakness.

I mean, I'm amazed that number in the family ever just sat down and said that.

ERIC: Glenn, at that point, I think we were up to our eyeballs, admitting, you know, they had us in every -- you know, I had a hundred depositions. I had a hundred subpoenas in my desk.
They were raiding our homes. They were trying everything they possibly could to take us out, to bankrupt us. You had Leticia James in New York.

The corruption that overturned five to zero, you know, by the appellate courts. And New York was an absolute sham with a sham judge. You had the Alvin Bragg nonsense. You had the Fani Willis nonsense with her boyfriend in Georgia. You had the Jack Smith, and he plants documents in Mar-a-Lago and ransacked Melania's closet and Barron's room, you know, in our home.

You know, at this point, we were -- we were neck deep in it. I mean, we had no other choice. I mean, if we would have given up then, we would have been dead. They would have taken us out.

And there was one point, I talked about it in the book. Where my father looks at me, coming out of that courtroom. And he says, honey, I don't know how, but we're going to win.

And I said, listen, we either win, or we're all going to be in jail. Because that's exactly what these corrupt people will do to us.

And, again, it's a great irony that I find in the way the Democrats are treating the Comey indictment this week. It's -- they would have put us all in jail and had us rot there for eternity, you know, had we not pulled it off.

That was their exact intent.

And they weaponized the -- the entire system, in order to let that happen.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

So my wife and I just -- gentlemen just moved to Florida. And we lived near the Trump National Golf Course. We were driving by.
And I thought, everything this family has done. Everything this brand has gone through, I think it's a more powerful brand now, that happen -- than ever before.

And part of it is the way you guys have dealt with the -- just weathered every storm.

But also, I think your dad. I've had a lot of respect for your dad as a builder. And, you know, I watched him build buildings in New York. And honestly, Eric, I really thought.

Because he could build things twice as fast as anybody else in New York.

And I'm like, how does this guy not have mob connections? How do you do business without the mob?

And nothing. Clean. Clean. Clean.

So I don't know how he does what he does.

He's just a machine.

But I feel like, everything he has done, in a strange -- in a strange change of topic here, I think he found the golf course and the golf resorts, are like -- that's -- I think he's -- I think he's the best at that in the world now.

ERIC: Yeah. Well, thank you, by the way. And that's a great compliment to me, because I've done every single one of them with him. And I bought, you know, most of those properties and does we're really good at it. And it's really funny. When I -- when he's talking about Gaza the other day, and he goes, you know, the potential for this place. What I could make this place into, would be so incredible. And the Democrats come out. Oh, ha, ha. What do you know about building?

Like when AOC came after Elon Musk. Oh, ha, ha, ha. Elon Musk. Like, the least qualified person to run the FAA. I'm sitting there thinking, this guy is catching rockets with chopsticks. Like, you might not want to belittle him. He's got about 4,000 times the IQ of you, AOC. And they're trying to do the same with my father. I mean, there's no one that's a better builder, and I had his genetics. I mean, he'll tell you, the two of us are like two peas in a pod with that. That's what I do.

By the way, Glenn, I got the library approved yesterday. It's going to be in Miami, Florida, and it's spectacular.

So we just got the greatest site in Florida, and I will be building that. And I promise you, it's not going to look like the Barack Hussein Obama Presidential Library in Chicago, that looks like a jailhouse.

They're literally going around neighborhoods in Chicago. They're like, what does that building look like? Everybody is like, man, it looks like a jail. It will be a spectacular building. But no. I think my father will -- now, ten years ago, I would have said, what he would have wanted on his tombstone was the greatest developer, the greatest builder. You know, I think today, it's a man who literally not only inspired a nation, but opened the eyes of the entire nation to how we were getting ripped off. The flaws of government.

And how much better we could be running this country, which he's doing right now.

GLENN: Well, I've never seen anything like it. You know, when he said, I will be the greatest president. I thought, wow. That's. I'm a historian. I know history. That's a pretty high standard. I told him myself, I think you're -- I think you're in the Abraham Lincoln.

You keep going. You're in the Abraham Lincoln, George Washington kind of territory.

And it might take a hundred years for people to realize that, but I've never seen anything like it.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

USA vs UK: The Parallels in Cultural Takeover | Katie Hopkins & Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck speaks with British commentator Katie Hopkins about the dramatic Islamic demographic and political takeover in the United Kingdom, and the alarming parallels emerging in the United States. Hopkins explains how Muslim birth rates, political power in cities, and cultural changes are reshaping the UK, and what Americans can learn from Britain’s current trajectory. From arrests over flag-waving to the erosion of free speech, she details how Western freedoms are under threat if we fail to recognize the patterns.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Katie Hopkins HERE

RADIO

Will Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance be DEMONIC?!

The NFL has chosen Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny to perform at this year’s Super Bowl. But BlazeTV host ‪@realjasonwhitlock‬ joins Glenn Beck to explain why he believes this isn’t just about expanding the NFL to the Latin American market. “This is the poster boy for demonic activity,” Whitlock argues, and it’s yet another slap in the face of conservative Americans and Christians. Plus, Glenn and Jason discuss why Jay Z may be the true mastermind behind the past few years of “inclusive” halftime shows.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: This is Bad Bunny. And I have to tell you, I don't understand Bad Bunny. I don't claim to understand Bad Bunny. I've never heard of Bad Bunny before. And, you know, I'm cool. I'm cool. I'm all Bad Bunnied out. Now, Jason. Who is a little cooler. Jason Whitlock from the Blaze. He's joining us now. Because he is -- you're apoplectic on Bad Bunny.

JASON: Yes, I am, Glenn. Look, obviously they're trolling Donald Trump. Obviously, they're trolling ICE raids and the whole illegal immigration policy, enacted by Trump. Obviously, they're going out to Northern California, where the Super Bowl is in Santa Clara this year. And they -- Gavin Newsom. Kamala Harris. This is their headquarters. And they want to make a statement about illegal immigration. They want to make a statement about diversity and Spanish-speaking people. They want to make a statement about transgenderism and sexual fluidity.

And bad bunny checks all those boxes.

And so that's what they're doing. This has nothing to do with football fans.

This is about the left's control of popular culture. And control of the National Football League, which is the strongest thing in popular culture. And they're using it to make a big, bold at the same time about how they feel about Donald Trump. But more importantly, how they feel about Jesus Christ.

GLENN: So now, as an expert on Bad Bunny for the last, hmm. Thirty-five seconds. Let me push back on this. I think I agree with you.

JASON: Yeah.

GLENN: Jason. But let me push back on you.

I see the NFL. You know, I see the NBA, placating China. Because that's their new place. The NFL, all over the world. NFL really trying to get football to be American football, in -- in other markets. Why is this not just a continuation of that play to get the Super Bowl to be watched in Latin America?

JASON: Because there's plenty of other Latin-American artists they could have chosen if that was the play. They didn't have to pick someone who is so closely associated with demonic activity, so closely associated with promoting gender fluidity and the cross-dressing deal. They didn't to have pick someone who is so outspoken against Donald Trump and his illegal immigration policy. This is the poster boy for Trump hate. And this is the poster boy for sexual fluidity and redefining masculinity.

These are things straight out of his own mouth. And look, all money isn't good money.

And that's what globalism is teaching us. That we can throw away all of our Christian values. All of our American values, in pursuit of global money.

GLENN: Correct.

JASON: And then what are we left with? A drag show, at halftime of the biggest platform we have to offer in American culture. And so parents will be having discussions with their kids on Super Bowl Sunday. Mommy, daddy, wives, this man out here, dressed as a woman, during some part of this act.

Why are his fingernails painted? Why is he taking subtle shots at Trump? This is -- to me, part of it is a reaction to the Charlie Kirk memorial service. It was such a powerful pro-Jesus Christ deal. They have their answer now.

And it will be Super Bowl Sunday.

GLENN: So let me ask you, because he has -- he won't tour in the United States because of ICE. Right?

JASON: Yeah. Yeah.

GLENN: So he's already sworn off the United States of America as a tour top. Because he's so strongly anti-ICE.

You just said, that he was also none I can. Or he pushes demonic things.

I want to play a piece of audio that we have from somebody who went to his tour. And then I would like you to explain for somebody who is now a full 90 seconds into, you know, what's his name? The Bunny guy. What this means. Here's the audio. Listen.

VOICE: Fans are reporting that they felt a demonic presence when attending Bad Bunny's recent concert. Fans even started making it into a meme by taking videos saying that the concert just feels demonic.

But it became extremely dark when this song by Tommy (inaudible) came on, where there were masked demons dancing all over him and the concert turned all red.

Even the music video to this song is extremely dark. It's this monster looking thing that creeps up into this woman's room, and it actually ends up becoming Bad Bunny himself. Those who attended this concert are even advising people, if you're going to go see Bad Bunny's concert, then --

GLENN: Okay. Stop. I can't take any more of this. You know, obviously AI. The image that they put is Nosferatu, you know, the -- the vampire Nosferatu. Tell me what -- I mean, I've seen a lot of stuff, that I feel is pushing demonic forces. Especially in the music industry. Tell me what your thoughts are on this.

Why it's clear to you.

JASON: The music industry clearly has a close association with the occult movement. This goes all the way back to the Beatles. You're probably familiar with that. But in rap music, these rappers, American and this guy Bad Bunny and everybody else, they so are out of the closet with the occult symbolism in their music, in their videos, what they rap and talk about.

It's undeniable that there's an occult association. And, Glenn, this is funny. Yesterday, as I'm processing this and on Sunday, I start thinking about, well, what kind of song could we use as a protest song for what they're doing here at the Super Bowl. And I was like, we're not going to take it. We're not going to take it anymore. And I go look it up. Because I just remember it from my childhood. And it's Twisted Sister. They had the song We're Not Going To Take It.

And then I went and watched the video. And the video is a kid, in his bedroom, his dad comes in, yelling at him. And the kid spins around and like turns into an adult longhaired cross-dressing man, and starts singing the song, We're Not Going To Take It. And I was just like, holy cow, they've been putting this message into this forever.

GLENN: And you didn't know.

JASON: This came out in 1984.

GLENN: Yeah. I know. I -- I -- i unfortunately was on the radio playing the hits when that was out.

Is it true that Jay-Z is responsible for selecting the last six years of the inclusive halftime shows?

JASON: Absolutely. All of it. And it actually -- Jay-Z's first Super Bowl that he ran I believe was in 2020. He picked Shakira. But the special guest was Bad Bunny. His special guest was -- so this started in 2020. This is always where it was going. You can find plenty of videos of Jay-Z doing spirit dancing and occult-like activity.

This is what Jay-Z is all about. And much of it is justify and/or defended -- diversity. We have to have diversity. And Jay-Z is black. And they're just upset because Jay-Z is black.

And no -- no one has to deal -- no. We're upset. Because he promotes the occult, that he promotes a form of music that is grooming our kids for violence.

Grooming our kids for sexual fluidity and promiscuity and degeneracy and disrespect for authority. And that's what we don't like about Jay-Z.

They use this racial deal, and accusations of you're a racist, if you criticize Jay-Z or criticize anything defined as black culture. And if you're someone like me, you say you're an Uncle Tom and a sellout. And -- and this is why.

Four years, I've been running around saying, men, particularly white men, you're going to have to buckle up. Get over the fact that they're going to call you racist. And defend your values and beliefs. If your values align with Jesus Christ, you defend them, and you deal with the consequences. That's what I do. That's what you do. That's what Charlie Kirk did. That's what we all have to do, if we're going to stand up to this madness and insanity.

GLENN: So how do you stand up against this? Because nobody is going to abandon the NFL. You know, Jesse Kelly said, what? Yesterday. "Oh, they're very upset. They're very upset about that. They'll have another six-day boycott of the NFL." And that's true.

JASON: Glenn, I do think there's an opportunity here, as it relates to the Super Bowl, as it relates to some sort of counterprogramming. Super Bowl halftime at least, or just on the Super Bowl. I've listened to Jack and others, that say, "Hey. We should have a counterdeal through TP USA, through TheBlaze, through whatever."

GLENN: Whatever it is.

JASON: So we can get Creed to perform. Can we get -- in my view, I love Forest Frank, and I would love for churches to host events on Super Bowl Sunday in the evening, so that we have -- because, Glenn, there's no chance of me watching the Super Bowl this year. I've talked about it last year. I was upset with Kendrick Lamar. This is the bridge way too far for me. I will not watch the Super Bowl this year.

I get skipping out -- I don't think it's the appropriate thing to skip out on the NFL and sports altogether. Because the Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA, in the late 1800s, early 1900s, they organized sports. Sports have been stolen from Christians. And I don't believe in surrendering and just handing it over to them, and to the atheists, to the secular crowd.

It's a tool God intended for us to use to disciple and mentor masculine men in Christianity. It's been stolen from us, by television.

And we need to fight to have it back. Because it's a great tool, to disciple young men. So I don't believe in abandoning, but as it relates to the Super Bowl, no dice, for me.

There's just -- you couldn't pay me to watch this year's Super Bowl, because I feel like I would be spitting in the face of God.

GLENN: Well, I will tell you, that, you know, I don't care about sports. But my family cares deeply about the NFL, and depending on who is playing.

And, you know, but I could see even the diehards. You know, my son. I could absolutely see him saying, turning it off.

And those ratings matter. The ratings matter. Turning not not just the game off, but even if you turned off the halftime show, those ratings matter a great deal. If everybody just said, I'm not watching it had it. And turned to something else, before the halftime show. That is a half step. But an important half step.

Would you agree or disagree with that.

JASON: I totally disagree. And again, I'm using Charlie's memorial service, as our blueprint. That produced incredible numbers, all over the internet. Anywhere that was broadcast.

And I think we could do the same thing with musical performance.

If Brandon Lake, Forest frank, Creed.
Whomever. If offered the alternative and said, hey, just turn your TV off. And whatever.

And open up your i Phone and your i Pad. Whatever. Flip over on your Smart TV, to a counterprogram, Super Bowl halftime rather than invite the devil, Satan into your home, I think a lot of people would take that option.

GLENN: I know I would.

I know I would. Jason, thank you so much.

How are you doing?

JASON: I'm doing great, Glenn. I'm doing great. I appreciate you.

Hey. I know this has been a tough weekend for you. Given the church deal and so I appreciate you making the time for me today.

GLENN: Oh, I love you, Jason. Thank you so much.

JASON: Thank you.

GLENN: Jason Whitlock. You can follow him at TheBlaze.com/Fearless.

If you've ever watched Jason, he is fantastic.

RADIO

Why Pete Hegseth’s military speech was GAME CHANGING

War Secretary Pete Hegseth called a surprise meeting with top generals and President Trump at Quantico. Glenn Beck’s head researcher, former Marine Jason Buttrill, watched the entire event and was blown away. He joins to explain why “this wasn’t just a speech. This was a complete realignment of the way the military has been run for over a decade.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Jason Buttrill joins us.

I asked Jason earlier today, to watch the Pete Hegseth -- I don't know. Meeting or speech. Front of all of the military leaders.

I think he brought them in, to show them how deadly serious the changes at the Pentagon are -- are going to be.

They -- you know, changed them from the Department of Defense, to the Department of War. To show that we are a war machine. That is our job. To break things and kill people. We don't want to. But when we have to, that's when we have to be the best in the world at. And when I was watching this, it was so full of common sense and things that I -- I would think that if I were a soldier, I would have wanted to hear a long time ago. In fact, he said, you know, this is not the Pentagon that you dreamt about serving in. When you were young.

You didn't join the army to do this.

He said, we're getting back to what it really is.

And I thought it was really powerful. It seemed really important. But I only saw bits and pieces. Jason just watched the entire thing.

Jason Buttrill joins me now. What are your thoughts, Jason?

JASON: Wow. Glenn, I did not understand the reason for just doing this on a Zoom call. I didn't see the point of really bringing them all in, until I saw this.

Holy crap. The message is clear.

I mean, it is very clear, that American military power is back. It's lethal.

It's deadly.

It's every single reason why men and women put on the uniform. And go to defend their country.

I haven't seen a military speech like that, outside of a movie. Or --

GLENN: You know, it's so funny. I saw -- because he was standing in front of a giant flag. And the last time I saw this, it was done with somebody in the uniform. He wasn't in the uniform. Was from the movie Patton. And it kind of felt like that. Kind of felt like one of those that you're like, yes!

You know, but the audience was very quiet. I don't know how they related to him, but that's how you felt too?

JASON: Yeah. There was one time when I heard a few people cheering in the crowd.

I guarantee you, these are not guys that are supposed to cheer in situations like that. But all of them.

Okay. I don't want to say all of them.

Probably 99 percent of them were going insane. They wanted a mosh pit.

And they wanted to crowd surf.

That's how excited they are.

I guarantee you, that's how they felt.

GLENN: What was it, that he said, that would cause the military leaders to do that?

JASON: Oh, man. Let's start off with.

This wasn't just a speech. This was a complete realignment of the way the military has been ran over, I would say, over a decade. A complete realignment. Yeah. Longer than that.

We talked about it yesterday, on some of the things we thought they would talk about. They actually combined with his speech. And the president's speech. They actually covered every single thing that we talked about yesterday.

But Hegseth's portion was just the most exciting to me.

Because now they're talking about doing away with all the DEI crap, all the stuff they were focused on. They're switching completely to without lethality and being a deadly, fighting military force. And we just haven't heard that. It's been dressed up in politically correct garbage.

All the politically correct garbage is getting tossed out the window. But not only that, they're focusing on change. And how to, as Bruce Lee said, to be like water. With the direction of how defense tactics. And, you know, how the -- the way a modern defensive capability is going.

That's the direction we're going. He said, he will be making additional speeches that are going to cover infrastructure, supply chain, changes.

I mean, this is music to our ears.

Everything we need to do to harden down in case an actual huge conflict breaks out.

We will be ready for.

And I guarantee you, with this Department of War.

With this secretary of war. And with this president, we will be ready.

It might take a couple of years to fix the damage.

But now, not only we. But all the military leaders that have been frustrated for over a decade, now they can feel confident in where we're going.

And this is just amazing, Glenn.

It's absolutely amazing.

GLENN: To me, this makes total sense. And is in line with everything Donald Trump says he's doing.

Remember, the world has we know it, was set up at Bretton Woods.

It was our financial.

Everything, after World War II, everything was decided on how we were going to behave economically, and militarily.

In 1962, I think it was, a Carl -- Carl Quimby.

I can't remember his last name. But he was a Harvard professor.

And he wrote tragedy and hope.

And he was an insider. And he had been advising presidents. You know, from -- from Truman, all the way up to Nixon.

But in 1962, he was banned and everybody looked the other way.

Because he wrote this book. And he said, look, I've been part of this.

And I'm so excited. We're going to get rid of war.

Because we have now tied our economic system so tightly together. That we will only have police actions. There will never be an all-out war.

We'll use economic sanctions. And both sides will pay a price, and there won't be any of these big, big changes any more.

And he was right!

That is exactly what happened.

And so the changes that Donald Trump is making, he's going back, to the Bretton Woods stuff.

And he's saying, look, that was for that era.

That doesn't work anymore.

And it hasn't worked for years. You know, when you look at Carl Quimby.

I can't remember his last name, sorry.

But when you look at what he wrote, that was basically putting the State Department, as the boss of the Department of Defense.

They would do work. The Department of Defense and the soldiers would start doing work to democratize the world. And bring peace and everything else.

It was a total flip. And in the little that I heard Hegseth do today.

It sounds to me, that this is the next massive step, in what Donald Trump is going to be remembered for. People don't understand it yet.

He is resetting the entire structure of the world.

Completely redoing it. And he's doing it, not just, you know, with our foreign policy. He's now doing it, inside our own government. And he's making those changes in the Department of War, to say, look, this is what we do. This is the tool that you are.

You kill people, and break things.

If I wanted to have peace. I'm going to go someplace else.

If somebody wants to have war with us, we will kill them quickly. And we'll say, it wasn't going on for 20 years. It will last 18 months. And it's over. And it will be decisive.

That's a whole change to the entire global system.

It's why they hate him so much at the United Nations. I'm convinced of it.

JASON: Yeah. What you're talking about was echoed by geopolitical analysts all over the world.

I think his name was Francis Fukushima. Who wrote, what was it?

The End of History. Talked about that as we're done. All war is over, and now it's just economic.

Just like you said, kind of putting the State Department and other organizations that are in charge of the Department of Defense.

One of the crazy things, one of his students, Samuel Huntington, wrote a -- kind of like a rebuke of that. And said, he wrote a clash of civilizations, which basically said, no, no, no, no.

We need to be very careful. Because future wars will be civilizational.

GLENN: Which is what we're headed for.

GLENN: Exactly what he predicted is what we're headed for. Clash of civilizations. Look for Europe. Look for the United States right now.

Look at how war is being waged on us. And we're not even concentrated on it, and the president pretty much addressed that, as you pointed out.

Where he was like, for far too long, we've been focused on providing trillions of dollars, focusing on places like Somalia, or places like that. He actually called a couple of countries out. Said, we shouldn't be out and doing some of these things.

He said, we need to look at you are on own hemisphere.

He said, this is something that we pointed out yesterday. That we should mention.

He did. The president did.

This is a complete different realignment of what the threats are against the United States and addressing them and being prepared to combat them. And I tell you, I still got goose bumps from the entire thing.

I now see why they decided to call the men and do that.

Not only is the military on notice.

I think the military is relieved. But now our enemies are on notice.

It was kind of funny, the secretary of war. Pete Hegseth.

He actually turned to the camera and addressed our enemies. And he said to our enemies. And he said the acronym. FAFO, and then that's when everyone -- that was the point where a few people started cheering. And he goes, "If you need help with translating that, just ask a few of your enlisted guys." But I was like, "Yeah. It's on. It's on."

GLENN: The President also said yesterday, that they're going to be looking at new technology.

Did they talk at all about new technology?

JASON: So vaguely, they talked about new directions, that they need to be going in.

They did -- he was very vague with it. He also mentioned another follow-on speech. On some of the things they will be focused on.

That's definitely part of it. That was part of it. I think we will be getting more details on it. Not only new technology. But how we'll manufacture them. And how we're going to supply manufacturing entities within the United States. And it's all going to be. It sounds like, homegrown.

So that we're not reliant on other countries. They included everything in this speech, Glenn. It was amazing.

GLENN: I mean, I'm not a military guy. But I have to tell you, when I heard stuff like that, I'm like, finally. Finally somebody is -- because we all know the answers.

We really do. We know the answers to most of these problems.

You want to fix the economy, stop spending so much money!

Get your budget under control. How do we do that?

It's not that hard. You can get ten citizens, pulled randomly. And you can pull them out, as long as they're not college professors.

Just pull them out of their jobs. And say, hey. This or that. This or that.

And you could slash so much.

Nobody is going to say, they want sex changes for frogs studied in Africa.

Nobody is going to say that. And it's all such common sense. And it's so nice to see common sense play a role.

Because it hasn't in a very, very long time. Thanks, Jason. I appreciate it. By the way, tomorrow, I will talk a little bit about digital ID.

And I want to take you to India, on digital ID, and show you what happened there.

I mean, this is a real threat to America.
And to freedom! All over the world. China already has it. And we know what that is.

Now, it's coming to the west. And it already came to -- what are the other countries. China. Not Japan. Australia.

JASON: Switzerland, just voted on it.

Australia, South Korea.

GLENN: Yeah. It's -- it's really bad.

It's really bad.

And, again, it's not about anything other than complete control. And we'll show you all about that, on tomorrow's broadcast.

Jason, thank you so much.

JASON: You bet.

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