Glenn interviews Bishop E.W. Jackson

Fans of TheBlaze will remember the video of Bishop E.W. Jackson calling for African Americans to end their slavish devotion to the the Democratic Party. Glenn interviewed Bishop Jackson on this morning's radio show.

Read the transcript of their interview below:

GLENN: Pat and I found a video that most people have not seen of a guy, a pastor in Virginia that is one of the biggest truth‑tellers I've ever seen, one of the bravest guys I've ever seen. I mean, and we were trying to put it in the machine and it's like, I don't know, ten minutes or something

PAT: It's pretty long, yeah, four or five at least.

GLENN: We tried to put it in the machine and we were just trying to put sound bites in it and we couldn't stop it because we were like, no, you can't stop it there. I mean, I hate to start playing it because it's so impossible to stop because you're like, oh, my gosh, somebody's actually saying that.

PAT: That's another great point.

GLENN: That's another great point, I can't believe this guy's saying it. Here's just a little bit of it.

VOICE: My name is bishop E. W. Jackson, chairman of Ministers Taking a Stand with a message to Christians in the black community. It is time to end the slavish devotion to the Democrat Party. They have insulted us, used us, and manipulated us. They have saturated the black community with ridiculous lies. Unless we support the Democrat Party, we will be returned to slavery. We will be robbed of voting rights. The Martin Luther King holiday will be repealed. They think we are stupid and that these lies will hold us captive, while they violate everything we believe as Christians. The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so‑called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions. Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.

PAT: Wow.

VOICE: And the Democrat Party and their black civil rights ‑‑

[ OVERLAPPING SPEAKERS ].

GLENN: It's hard to stop because it just keeps going and going and going and he just takes them all apart. Bishop E. W. Jackson is with us now on the phone from Virginia. His website is standAmerica.us. Bishop, how are you, sir?

BISHOP JACKSON: I'm doing great, Glenn. And first of all, let me just say thank you for having me on and let me say that my wife and I and most of our friends are very big fans of yours and we want to express our gratitude for all that you have done to help wake this country up. God bless you for it. And also I want to bring you greetings from a mutual friend of yours, Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

BISHOP JACKSON: I told him I was going ton to be on. So he told me, well, don't mess up.

GLENN: He's a good man. Have we met before?

BISHOP JACKSON: No, we have not. I wanted to come to your ministers convention in D.C.

GLENN: Yes.

BISHOP JACKSON: And my schedule didn't permit it. So we have not had a chance to meet, no.

GLENN: Well, you are ‑‑ you must be despised by a great many some in the underworld.

BISHOP JACKSON: I've got a few detractors, yes.

GLENN: I bet you do.

PAT: You can't say the things you say and not just be vilified. I mean, because with, what is it right now? 94% of the African‑American populus being in favor of voting for this guy again, they've got to just tear you apart every time you say this kind of stuff.

GLENN: And it's not even about Barack Obama. It is about the progressive policies.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: That have destroyed ‑‑ I mean, I can't believe Planned Parenthood ‑‑ bishop, how is Planned Parenthood not known in the African‑American community for exactly what it is and what it was, a death sentence to the black community. That's what it was designed to be.

PAT: Yeah, founded for that.

BISHOP JACKSON: And Glenn, that's why I intentionally did not mention Barack Obama explicitly in that tape because I was trying to help people to see ideas and get away from the personality and just look at what the principles are that they are following and how much they are in discordance with what people in the church community at least claim to believe. And frankly I mean, yeah, I just got finished reading an e‑mail just before coming on the program, one of those nasty e‑mails that you get calling me an Uncle Tom, saying that I'm an antigay hero, you know, this and that. But, you know, I'm getting a tremendously positive response from many in the black community and I think this may be the beginning of a fissure and the end of that slavish devotion as I referred to it to the Democrat Party.

GLENN: I tell you, I just read Booker T. Washington's book, Up From Slavery just recently in the last year. And between him and Frederick Douglass, every American but especially every black American should read Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass. These guys were amazing and they talked about this, as you called it, slavish devotion to a party or to the government and said exactly what would happen and it has all happened. And that's why I think so many real black heroes have been erased from history.

BISHOP JACKSON: And, you know, Glenn, that's one of the reasons why I will not be silent because I believe in humanity. I believe in people. I believe in members of the black community that they are full of potential and beauty and God‑given gifts. And what I see is a party and a progressive movement that is robbing them of their vision and robbing them of their dreams and their vision and I want to awaken them to the sense that, there's more for you than that. God has something more for you than that. Don't accept this dependence and this sort of sycophancy that says we'll give you a few crumbs, all you've got to do is ignore your bidding and ignore those principles you believe in because after all, if you don't those boogie men are out there and they are going to get you.

GLENN: That's what I want to ask you about because African‑Americans, if it wasn't for the African‑American and the Hispanic in California, Prop 8 would ‑‑ I mean would have ‑‑ would have gay marriage. You'd have gay marriage in California. And because people actually came out and said, "No, I don't believe in that, and they were the minorities, it failed. Now, tell me how do you get people to ‑‑ who are religious, who are decent people just completely to divorce themselves of those principles in the voting booth? Because it's like Harry Reid: I'm a Mormon; he's a Mormon. I don't understand, and I'm sure he doesn't understand me, but I don't understand how he can be for the things that he is and do some of the things that he does and still say that he's, you know, in good standing with the scriptures because it doesn't work.

BISHOP JACKSON: Well, you know, Glenn, there's a saying that I've heard among ministers: Some are called and some were sent and some just got up and went. And I think some of the people who claim to be Mormon or claim to be this or claim to be that, that's all they're doing. They're just claiming. It's a hit thing. It's something they inherited but they don't believe it or feel it in their hearts. But with the black community particularly, there are two things I think that have led to this. One is fear. They've been manipulated by fear. You know, the fear that they are going to get you, they're out there, they're out there to get. I mean, Glenn, you know, I have watched your program. I've had people say to me, "Well, somebody ‑‑ they told me that Glenn Beck is a racist." And then I started watching his program. I said, I want to see this guy, I want to see is he ‑‑ and then they started, "Well, you know, I didn't hear him say anything racist." And then I watched a little bit more and they said, "Well, wait a minute, where is that coming from?" It's a lie intended to manipulate people. And then the second thing is bad leadership. When you've got the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, some of these civil rights leaders who are interested in promoting racial division and hostility and a sense of victimization in order to further their own careers, then you get people listening to the wrong kind of leadership, and to me bad leadership produces bad results.

GLENN: Do you feel ‑‑ first of all, I may ‑‑ I have firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. I don't believe that God is neutral in the affairs of man or the freedom of man, and if America falls, the whole world falls. I mean, there's nobody to stand for freedom.

BISHOP JACKSON: I agree.

GLENN: And it will be for gen ‑‑ it will be generational darkness. And I have had an overwhelming sense that His will will be done and that there are enough people that are standing up that are good, that are ‑‑ actually I shouldn't say standing up. Are humbling themselves to not have God on their side, which he doesn't do, but to be ‑‑ for us to move to be on his side. And I think there's ‑‑ I think we're on the threshold of miracles and profound change. Do you feel that way?

BISHOP JACKSON: Glenn, to me that is the genius of America. It is not just our Constitution or Declaration. It's the sense that we are not a mere historical happenstance but we are a providential nation, that the favor of God has been on us.

GLENN: If we're humble. If we're humble.

BISHOP JACKSON: That's right. That's right. And, of course, there are people who want to end that. They want to do ‑‑ you know, we saw it in the Democrat Party's convention, you know, get God out of the platform. Who needs God. And you're right, I do sense an awakening happening in America. It's slow, but I speak in black churches and white churches and in black churches particularly where people might not expect it, I get an overwhelmingly positive response. I've had people come up to me and say, you know, you woke me up. And here again, I think it's God moving. I don't think it's attributable to me as a person but rather to God moving on people's hearts and saying, okay, there are enough of you standing up; I'm going to move in your behalf and I agree with you, Glenn. I think God is going to do some marvelous things to help bring this nation back to Him.

GLENN: So how do we heal the division? Because I think we're at the beginning of real problems. The president just said it on Univision a couple of weeks ago. He said I realize you can't change Washington from the inside. You have to change it from the outside. And they are only good, really these guys are only really good at stirring up trouble and being the dissent. They are not good at governing. They are good at tearing things apart and causing division. How do we as people bring people together and when you've got the media and everybody else saying what they say about us and Mitt Romney and you and everybody else, how do we break that and bring people together?

BISHOP JACKSON: Well, obviously a lot of prayer. And I know you're a man who believes in prayer. And secondly I would say to people, when I speak to groups and they say, well, how do I bridge that gap? I know black people ‑‑ I'm white, I know black people but I'm afraid to approach them. And I said, you know, it needs to be on a very personal level and say, look, you know me. We've known ‑‑ do you think I'm against you? Do you think I want to hurt you? Do you think I'm out to get you? Can you at least concede that I have ideals and principles that matter to me, that have nothing to do with race? I love you. I care about you. I'm interested in you. And I think my view is that the people whose hearts are open to truth will respond.

Now, there are some people, as I'm sure you know, I don't care what you do. You're never going to reach them.

GLENN: Never going to reach them.

BISHOP JACKSON: They are hardened in their views. But I find a lot of Americans' hearts are very open.

GLENN: What is going to happen in Virginia?

BISHOP JACKSON: That's a good question. I believe that Mitt Romney is going to win and I'm working very hard to see to it that that happens and I believe that George Allen who is running against Tim Kaine, of course Tim Kaine is an Obama clone, an Obama, he was actually recruited by Obama to run. I believe that George Allen will prevail over him, although Mitt Romney is doing better right now than George Allen is, but I trust that we will end up having Mitt Romney win in Virginia and having George Allen win in Virginia. So that's my take.

GLENN: Do you think that people need a leader to be able to ‑‑ you know, for instance, the Tea Party doesn't have a leader and it just became this spontaneous movement. Do you think people need a leader in the black community to see? I mean, because they must know that things have gotten much worse for the African‑American in the last four years, and I just read a study that shows that African‑Americans feel as though it is harder for them to speak out now and be who they want to be than when it was ‑‑ than what it was before the president got into office. And I think when it comes to race, I think we all feel that way. He was supposed to heal us. He did the opposite. I am much less likely to feel comfortable speaking to an African‑American or an African‑American group because of all the things that have been said that people like me believe, et cetera, et cetera. And I think there are a lot of African‑Americans that will say I ‑‑ especially if they're conservative, "I don't feel comfortable speaking out and saying anything because my own community will attack me he or the system will attack me." At what point does that just break down? Because in the white community I think people are just like, "Oh, I'm a racist? Really? Move on. Heard it before. It's not who I am." At what point does that break?

BISHOP JACKSON: Yeah, I had the same hope, Glenn, but how can a good ‑‑ how can a bad tree bear good fruit? And I realize that was probably a quixotic hope. But with regard to leadership, no, I don't think that the black community needs a leader, but I do think there is always a need for leadership. I mean, you know, you provide leadership. Because for me leadership is influence. It is simply trying to open people up to the truth and trying to help them see. If not trying to control them or make decisions for them but trying to expose them to the truth and trying to be a positive influencer. And I think that those, that kind of leadership is always needed. It's there, but I think people have been cowed into not speaking up. And I'm hoping that one of the influences that my video and other things that we're doing has is to cause people to say, "You know what? I'm going to stand up. I'm going to speak up. I agree with Bishop Jackson. I'm not going to be silent about this and I'll let God take care of me."

GLENN: Well, bishop, I hope we get a chance to meet soon. I am ‑‑ from what I know of you, I'm very impressed. I know you have a new book coming out soon. Right? You have a new one coming?

BISHOP JACKSON: Yes, I do. Called America The Beautiful: Reflections of a Patriot Descended from Slaves, yes.

GLENN: Are you from slave family?

BISHOP JACKSON: As a matter of fact, yes, my great‑grandparents Gabriel and Eliza Jackson were slaves and then share croppers in Orange County, Virginia. I date my lineage back at least as far as year before George Washington was born. We believe it goes back before that.

GLENN: Wow.

BISHOP JACKSON: By the way, George Washington is my favorite president, just wanted you to know. I read the book you recommended. That was the second biography I read about him. I love George Washington. But at any rate, yes, yes, my ‑‑ I am a direct descendant. My grandfather was not born in slavery but his parents were and they moved out of Virginia. My grandfather did and ultimately migrated to Pennsylvania where I was born. But yes. And look, and I tell people, you know, I'm proud of that because only in America do we have a country built on the truth that God gave us all humanity the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. So the seed of the destruction of slavery unlike any place else on the Earth was built into our founding framework.

GLENN: You, sir, are a ‑‑ you, sir, are a bright spot, I can guarantee you, on the other side of the veil. Your slave ancestors are saying free at last, free at last. You are a remarkable story and a ‑‑ one of the freest men I know. God bless you. Thank you very much.

BISHOP JACKSON: God bless you, Glenn. Thank you.

GLENN: We'll talk to you. His website is standAmerica.us. StandAmerica.us. Bishop Jackson.

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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.