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Glenn Gets in Heated Debate With Bill O'Reilly Over Trump Dissolving White House Jobs Council

August 17, 2017
Staff

WRITER

Two business groups advising the Trump administration have dissolved in the wake of President Donald Trump’s third round of comments on last weekend’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

Trump failed to unequivocally condemn the Nazis who marched in Charlottesville and several days later made startling comments that were perceived as making excuses for the white nationalists. A woman died on Saturday after a white supremacist allegedly drove deliberately into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.

In response, business leaders withdrew their companies from two major advisory groups, the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategy & Policy Forum. Trump has claimed that he wanted to close the two advisory councils himself.

“Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville,” Campbell Soup chief executive Denise Morrison, who was part of the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, said on Wednesday.

If Trump had refrained from making his follow-up comments earlier this week, the jobs advisory councils probably would have stayed intact.

“That’s the problem that Donald Trump has, that he can’t constrain himself,” Bill O’Reilly said on radio Thursday.

O’Reilly and Glenn had a heated debate over the reasoning behind the business leaders’ decisions to leave the jobs council.

“If you walk away because far-left groups say to you, ‘If you don’t, we’re going to organize a boycott against your company’ … our democracy is shot,” O’Reilly asserted, saying that companies who crumble under the pressure are in the wrong.

“I agree with that; however, that’s not the world we currently live in,” Glenn objected, explaining why business leaders have no incentive to stand with Trump when it damages their company.

GLENN: Bill O'Reilly has come out with an opinion piece on Charlottesville. And I want to just read one thing: America, there is indeed a civil war underway. And the president along with his supporters will lose that war, unless they fight it smarter. Any time Nazis are involved, you condemn them and walk away. That's all.

There will be time to expose the hard left fanatics down the road. It's about picking your spots. It's about an effective wartime strategy.

Bill O'Reilly, welcome to the program. Could not agree with you more, Bill. But I don't think the president -- you asked me this on your podcast two days ago, and I gave you a different answer.

When I saw what happened with Bannon yesterday, I think the president is unfortunately done. I don't know if he recovers from this.

BILL: I don't see it that way. When you are president of the United States, even if your opinion polling is low, you still have an enormous amount of power. And he has the ability -- Trump does -- to kind of isolate Bannon. And Bannon doesn't really have anything other than the court of public opinion to fight back with.

GLENN: Okay. So hang on just a second. But Bannon came out yesterday and pretty much announced, "Hey, I'm the leaker," talking to not only the New York Times, but the Prospect. What he said to the Prospect and the New York Times, stunning. He's --

BILL: Well, give me an example of what stunned you in what he said.

GLENN: Let me see here: First of all, in Kim, Trump has met his match. The risk of two arrogant -- no, no, no, sorry. That's not it.

STU: No. Yeah, he said, "They've got us." He said, "North Korea has got us."

GLENN: Yeah. "They've got us." He said -- he said, "There is no military solution to North Korea's nuclear threats. Forget it. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don't die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don't even know what you're talking about. There's no military solution. They've got us."

Not something the president would approve of. Then he goes in to say, "I'm changing out people in East Asian defense. I'm getting hawks in. I'm getting Susan Thornton out at state. That's a fight I have every day. And then I'm going to take on the Treasury with Cohn and the Goldman Sachs lobbying." So he is saying basically, "Here's my agenda, and I'm going to do these things," while he's saying, "The president was bluffing. We don't have -- there's no way to win a war with North Korea, which we all know." But you don't say that if you're in the White House.

BILL: All right. So you have a guy who is sending a signal because he believes he will be fired, that, you know, he's powerful. And if you fire me, bad things are going to happen. That's my assessment of the bluster that is --

GLENN: Yes.

BILL: And you agree with that, right?

GLENN: Yes, yes.

BILL: So okay. Trump's got to make a decision. And the decision most likely will be that Bannon will be fired. And that will I think come probably next week. Because Trump can't back down. He's not that kind of guy anyway.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: So Bannon leaves. And then Bannon basically tries to rally through Breitbart and other, you know, conservative places. Tries to rally that Trump has lost his mojo. And it's all over.

So what? I mean, the American people aren't going to listen to Steve Bannon, en masse. They're not. And all Trump has to do is basically do it quickly and not say anything, not comment to what Bannon does. And then in a month, it will all be gone.

GLENN: Okay. That assumes a couple of things: One, that Donald Trump can fire somebody and then not say anything about it.

BILL: All right. But Kelly will fire him. And I'm sure that Kelly and Trump will basically have a strategy going forward. But you might be right. Trump might make a bigger deal out of it than he should, which is what happened in Charlottesville.

GLENN: So here's the thing: As I've been watching the Charlottesville thing, as you said in your op-ed, you know, you got to -- for the love of Pete, you're -- the Nazis, good or bad? They're bad. White supremacists, they're bad.

(chuckling)

BILL: But there was never a time when Trump said they weren't bad. That's just propaganda crap.

GLENN: No, I know that -- but wait a minute, Bill. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Out of dead sleep, you're the president of the United States, you know you take a hard-line stance because that's what we all believe.

BILL: Right. Right.

GLENN: And then he says, "Well, I wanted a couple of days to figure it all out." He comes out with a statement that he's reading. And everybody knows, those aren't his words. I'm not saying he supports the Nazis or white supremacists. But then he comes out and says it. And then he won't leave it alone. And then the next day, he comes out and he undoes everything.

BILL: Well, that's -- that's the key: Leave it alone.

GLENN: Correct.

BILL: He doesn't have the discipline to walk away from provocations on the far left.

Look, that's -- and that's what I say in the column.

And, by the way, if folks want to read it, they can go to Bill O'Reilly and read it. It was also originally printed in the Hill.

But that's the problem that Donald Trump has, is that he can't constrain himself. All right?

GLENN: Correct.

BILL: His hatred or his annoyance, whatever word you want to put, is valid. I mean, the far left is trying to overthrow, not only his election, but the entire country as we discussed.

GLENN: Oh, I -- I agree with you.

BILL: But you don't bring it in when you're talking about Nazis.

GLENN: So here's the -- so help me out with this. Because there are many things. The -- the left is beyond reason with hatred of Donald Trump. And it's never going to stop. And the press is never going to stop. I got it. I got it.

BILL: Good.

GLENN: And I think everybody knew that going in, and that's fine. But if you're in a war like that --

BILL: Yes.

GLENN: -- you have to play your cards right.

So here's the jobs council: Merck, Under Armour, Johnson & Johnson, United Tech, Corning, GE, Intel, Campbell's Soup -- these guys -- all these guys didn't like Donald Trump. But they have fiduciary responsibility. They all walk out this week. So the president has now --

BILL: Do you know why they walked out?

GLENN: Yeah, pressure. Pressure.

BILL: From?

GLENN: The far left.

BILL: Yes, Glenn Beck. Good.

GLENN: They have a fiduciary responsibility. They cannot have their companies -- they would all be sued by their shareholders. And so I want you to know, I'm not --

BILL: Whoa, whoa, whoa. You nailed the reason, but the fiduciary responsibility comes in operating your corporation honestly. So to say that, "Oh, well, I disagreed with Trump's analysis of Charlottesville, so I'm quitting. That's not why they quit."

GLENN: No. No. No. Perception is reality, Bill.

BILL: No, no, no. But you have to look -- you have to understand your audience and then focus on how dangerous this is.

GLENN: Perception is reality. You're fighting -- your argument is, so you stood with the guy -- perception is reality. That's -- I'm not saying this is what happened. I'm saying this is what everyone will believe and the case that will be made. And it will be swept --

BILL: No, they won't. Look, there's a poll out today that say 67 percent of Republicans have no problem with Trump's analysis of Charlottesville. All right?

So you're a CEO. You're on the economic council.

It's an economic council. It's not a council on racism or Nazis or anything else. All right?

So you choose to walk away because your belief system is opposed to Donald Trump. I don't have any problem with that. Okay? I don't have any problem with that.

But if you walk away because far left groups say to you, "If you don't, we're going to organize a boycott against your company," if you walk away because of that reason, our democracy is shot. That's what it means to me. That's what it means to you.

GLENN: You're living in a dream world. You know corporations settle litigation all the time even though they're in the right, and it is destroying our system.

BILL: But this is far beyond that.

GLENN: I know that.

BILL: This is extortion. And if American corporations are going to allow themselves to be extorted --

GLENN: Of course, they are. Tell me what --

BILL: Well, this has to be exposed.

GLENN: To what end?

BILL: Look, then every single commentator on every single television, radio, or internet program, all right? Will go out of business because nobody will sponsor them when threatened with boycotts by the far left.

GLENN: And that's what's happening. That's what's happening.

BILL: I know!

GLENN: So, Bill --

STU: Loud agreement right now.

GLENN: Okay. So wait a minute. So, Bill, hear me out here.

BILL: Yeah.

GLENN: You're talking about right and wrong.

BILL: No, I'm talking about --

GLENN: Doing the right thing.

BILL: -- doing the best for the country. Doing the best for the country.

GLENN: Correct. Correct. I agree with that. However, that is not the world we currently live in. And just hear this one thing out: You have the jobs council walking away. You have Steve Bannon threatening. You have the media just ripping him to shreds. And you have the G.O.P. quietly canceling all of their appearances everywhere because nobody in the G.O.P. wants to stand next to Donald Trump. He has isolated himself. And he doesn't have the ability or the strength to be able to hold the line and to make this moral case.

I would love a president -- and Ronald Reagan could have made this case. I don't see Donald Trump having the discipline, the -- the acumen to be able to make this case and withstand this storm -- this ongoing storm, much of it of his own creation because of sloppiness and no discipline. How does he survive?

BILL: Well, I'm not going to disagree. But it's speculation. All right? You're speculating that he doesn't have the resources or the discipline to overcome what's befallen him. You might be right. But that's not my job -- you know, your job is different than mine.

GLENN: I don't understand this.

BILL: But my job is to basically say to the American people, "This is what's actually happening." Okay? This is what's happening.

So Trump goes out and he basically makes a big mistake by not just condemning Nazis and walking away, he brings in other matters.

GLENN: Yep.

BILL: And then the press takes that and says, "He's a Nazi sympathizer." And they run wild.

GLENN: Yep. Yep. And he is not --

BILL: No sane person believes Donald Trump is a Nazi sympathizer.

GLENN: And I don't believe that even Steve Bannon, who I despise, is a Nazi sympathizer.

BILL: I don't even care about Bannon. You care far more about him than I do.

GLENN: Because he's a powerful player. Not only in the White House, but in conservative media --

BILL: I think if Trump fires him, which is likely, then in a month, that most people will even forget him.

But, look --

GLENN: That's what they said about Van Jones. He's now at CNN.

BILL: All right. That's probably -- Bannon will probably wind up somewhere.

(chuckling)

Anyway, you're speculating that Trump cannot overcome it. You might be right. You might be right.

But in the meantime, the American people should get the truth, that this walkout of this economic council was not driven by moral outrage. It was driven by fear.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: Fear of economic damage caused by far left boycotts.

GLENN: Exactly right. You and I have no disagreement on that. None.

BILL: Good. Good.

GLENN: But what you're saying is, you deal in reality. No, no, no, Bill, I deal with reality. That's the reality. There isn't a CEO -- you show me the people who actually have a spine to stand up. So I would like people to have a spine. I try to have a spine. You try to have a spine. But none of those people have a spine.

BILL: Well, the only solution to that is transparency. Is to get out what the forces of darkness are doing. Make it easier for these CEOs not to fold. But right now, people don't understand what the boycott situation is. Why sponsors were pulled from the O'Reilly Factor because Media Matters threatened the sponsors. They don't understand it.

So once it's exposed -- and, of course, the New York Times is not going to expose it. They're in on it!

GLENN: No. Yeah.

BILL: All right. But the threat to our freedom --

GLENN: I know.

BILL: -- by this kind of behavior is off the charts.

GLENN: I know. I know. I agree with you.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

Jonathan Newton / Contributor | Getty Images

The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.