Three unbelievable news stories + three "crazy" Glenn predictions = One MUST WATCH monologue

I want to start with three stories tonight happening right now that we were mocked by the media only two years ago if we said these things. You were totally off your trolley, as they would say across the pond. The first story, of course, the caliphate and the Muslim extremism, the warnings that we gave of the caliphate well chronicled during the Arab Spring. Here are the hits.

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Glenn: When I say that there is a caliphate, it is a desire of the Islamic extremists in the Middle East, that’s not a conspiracy theory.

Okay, got it. No, it’s not a conspiracy theory. It was total rubbish. It was tomfoolery. It was off the trolley. Early this morning, seven terrorists assaulted a Pakistani school, armed to the teeth, wearing suicide vests. They left 132 children dead, 141 in nearly eight hours of brutal fighting. The terrorists poured gasoline on a teacher, set them all on fire, and made the kids watch them burn alive.

They didn’t make any demands. They just executed people, executed children one by one. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the slaughter. I’m sorry, is that the trolley? In 2007, I described right after Beslan exactly this scenario. I said Al Qaeda would start doing things like this in a conversation I had with Brad Thor. Watch.

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Thor: Glenn, since 1995, Al Qaeda has been organizing everything that’s been going on through Chechnya and in Russia. These are Al Qaeda operatives. They were Al Qaeda groups. They were men from Chechnya and then men from outside Russia who were part of this siege at Beslan, and the big thing we need to remember here, Glenn, is that Osama bin Laden has told us what I have visited upon Russia, I will visit upon America a hundredfold. This is a dress rehearsal. We’ve just heard from the expert on it, and if we don’t protect ourselves here, it’s coming to America.

Yeah, and it still is coming to America, but they’re just going to visit the easy places around the world first. You know, we would have never beaten Germany had we not named the enemy and defined them in the clearest possible terms. So let’s define our enemy. They are animals. They are not misguided youths or freedom fighters. They aren’t rebels or moderate rebels. They are radicals. They are evil. They are sick. They are twisted. They are depraved. They are rabid.

They gain pleasure out of torturing, raping, enslaving, and killing. They are the enemy of God and all mankind, and they need to be completely eradicated from the earth, period. That is what our president should say. This slaughter, by the way, in Pakistan, came one day after Sydney. By the way, I have a friend who lives in Australia on the other side of the planet write to me this morning. She said TheBlaze had the best coverage on that crisis out of all the major news outlets in Australia. Why is that? Because no one will actually clearly define who the enemy is.

This was on the heels of months of terror in Iraq and Syria. It was recently reported that when ISIS entered into a small town and demanded everyone convert to Islam, like caliphates do, four children all under 15 years of age refused. “Say the words,” ISIS demanded. “No, we love Yeshua.” That’s Jesus. “Say it.” “We won’t. We love Jesus.” All four were beheaded.

Did you know that there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq a decade ago, and now there are less than half a million, many of which continue to flee? Why? Because there is no coexisting with evil, and by this, of course, we are talking about those who want to reestablish the caliphate by force and behead anyone. This is something we can all agree on, the same kind of tomfoolery I was mocked for warning about in 2011.

All right, now here’s the second story…man, sometimes you just have to stop making predictions, because I’m bad on the timing, but they all come true. God, help us, because I see the future, and you’d better buckle up. Back in, I think, when was this, Tiffany, 2007? 2007, I said oil would be a problem that would cause Russia to collapse and in turn destabilize the region and the world. Watch.

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Glenn: If gas prices were going down because all of a sudden this country had an energy policy, and the rest of the world, they went oh my gosh, America is getting serious, this would be a celebratory thing, this is a great thing, but because gas is going down with no other factors, that is people saying the economy around the entire world is going to come to a grinding halt. So while it’s a good sign to your pocketbook in the short term, it is a very bad sign in the long term, and you destabilize the Middle East and Russia and all the dangerous players because they’ve got to have high oil prices.

Destabilizing Russia, oh, that could never happen, right? The statists all said, they practically bragged about economic turnaround in Russia with Vladimir Putin. Last night, I was in the car with my daughter, and she said, “Dad, look at gas prices.” We passed a gas station, and she says this is so great, look how low they are. She looked at me with those eager eyes, awaiting some positive reinforcement, and I wondered what kind of monster would, you know, burst her sweet little bubble.

And I just kind of sat there for a second, and I think my face betrayed me. And she went, “Oh geez, what?” I said, “Actually, it’s not so great, Honey,” because fracking no longer makes sense. It no longer makes money, and all signs point to the Saudis keeping the fuel prices artificially low in order to punish their enemies, Iran and Russia, and we are also on that list as well.

We might be helping them because Russia is our number one geopolitical foe. I know, daddy downer is probably what she was thinking, but yesterday oil settled at 55.91 per barrel. That’s the lowest since May 2009. Here’s why this is a problem. Iran’s budget is built on oil at $135 a barrel. Russia has their oil budgeted at $100 to $107 a barrel, so this is hurting them badly. It’s good for us, except on the fracking front, but it’s bad for them.

OPEC has said that they will not decrease their oil production even if it hits $40 a barrel. The question remains why? The Fed also has indicated that they will not budge either. Russia’s economy is in a tailspin. Yesterday its currency crashed, and in in a desperate attempt to stabilize things, Russia had their central bank jack its interest rates. Try this, imagine going into a bank and trying to buy a house, and your interest rate is 10.5, and the very next day it’s 17%. That’s what happened yesterday, and yet there were lines around the block today.

This is in front of banks and also any kind of money changer. They’re all taking their money out of banks, trying to get the ruble out, and they’re changing it for any other currency, just not Russian. This is bad. It doesn’t take an economic genius to see it’s not sustainable. Russia, the bear, now been backed into a corner. They have to get oil to rise, so what is the easiest way to do that? Oh, I know. Of course, that’ll never happen because nobody ever goes to war for oil, do they?

When I come back from vacation, I will share with you one of the scariest scenarios to date. We have shown you the caliphate before it came. We showed you Al Qaeda. I’ve warned you of Osama bin Laden in ‘99 before anybody else was. We have shown you some really scary things that have happened. This one is really frightening because it ties into Russia. It ties into Iran, and remember, we told you about the 12th Imam, which was scary.

When you see what’s happening in Russia, it all ties together, and the people are real, they’re behind it, and they are active, and the only way it comes to fruition is if Russia feels it’s on the road to economic collapse. But don’t worry, Putin kills sharks with his bare hands. There’s nothing to worry about. The interest rates going up or the lines at the banks trying to get, you know, out of trouble, it doesn’t matter. It’s all under control, right?

And finally, the third story tonight, the craziest tomfoolery of them all, the fear-mongering, nonsensical, just-trying-to-sell-you-a-gold-coin poppycock. I said, I don’t even know, 2008–2009, the old hatreds of the past would reemerge.

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Glenn: The hatred of the past is going to come back, and you are going to be looking at the Communists and the Nazis coming into their own, and there will be a third leg to this table, and it will be the Muslims, the Islamic extremists. And those, the hatreds of the past, which included the Muslim extremists back in World War I, that’s why we were over in Egypt and everything else in World War I, those three are coming together again, and you’re going to see them rise in power.

Geez, the Muslims, the Nazis and the Communists…rubbish. What a nut, huh? Last night, 15,000 protesters referred to as pinstriped Nazis took to the streets in Germany…Nazis, making a comeback in Germany. Nazi Germany, sounds familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Anyway, maybe while we’re here, maybe we could destabilize Italy as well, and then we could get Germany together with Italy, because when you put those two things together, man, it always works out, because you get like spaghetti and German chocolate cake for everybody.

I mean, who doesn’t like that, except for the millions that usually are dead along the sides of highways because those two got together, but why worry about that? It’s tomfoolery. Just keep listening to the so-called experts. I beg you not to listen to the experts in this country anymore, the fools disguised in tweed jackets or Ascots of the Ivy League campuses, the scholars and the experts and those who have been around in the State Department forever, blahdy, blahdy, blahdy. They couldn’t find their way through an unlocked door at a locksmith shop.

They come on TV, and they lecture you about how everything is fine, and everything is in a box. I have news for you, I believe it was the great philosopher Depeche Mode that said nothing is impossible. Life is outside of the box now, and if you’re inside the box, you’ll suffocate. In the meantime, what do we do? I go back to the car ride last night with my daughter, Hannah.

After daddy downer burst the sweetest bubble on the planet with my actually, honey, low gas prices really kind of suck lecture, she asked me, “Okay, Dad, so okay, let’s get serious now about the next level of how we prepare.” And I went over the usual, you know, off-the-trolley kind of stuff—do you have food storage? Do you have gold? Do you have silver?

And then I said look, here’s the most important thing that I want you to work on, who are you? Where did we come from? Where is our family from? What does our family believe in? What do you truly believe in? Who is your God? Not some distant God, not some God that’s like yeah, I go to church or, you know, I pray to Him once in a while. No, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is he? What is our history with him? What promises have we made him, and what promises has he made us?

And our history extends to the history of the Jewish people. When the Statue of Liberty was created, the sculptor used two icons from Moses to bring her to life, the rays of light around her head—that’s not a crown; those are rays of light—and that tablets in her hand. What is that? They both come from the moment Moses descends Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. See the rays of light and see the tablet? It’s the Statue of Liberty. Put a torch in his hand, and that’s it. We are connected.

Now, let me show you the Great Seal of the U.S. We know the Great Seal, right? But Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin actually wanted this to be our seal. That is the pillar of fire, the Pharaoh in the water, Moses up on the edge with the Red Sea parted. Our pilgrims thought that they were completing the journey of the Israelites. Our founders, it was commonplace during the time of our founders to believe this. This is an old book from 1820. It’s called A View of the Hebrews.

This is actually a study of a pastor. I think he was up in Maine or someplace up in New England, and he was studying the language of the Native Americans. In this book, he says…and not really trying to prove anything to anybody, just verifying what everybody thought they knew at the time, he said the Native Americans are the lost tribe of Israel. Whether they are or not, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.

Our heritage is one with the Jewish people, and I don’t think we really even understand it. Tonight begins the Miracle of Lights, the Hanukkah menorah. Do you even know how to light this? Do you even know why to light this? It celebrates a dedicated group of really brave people who led an uprising against an oppressive force, and who, against all odds, win in the end, paving the way for Jewish independence. Does it sound familiar?

It sounds kind of close to actually what our Founding Fathers and our pilgrims did. They left a lasting lesson about faith, a lesson about standing for freedom, a lesson about principles, and I think it’s worth spending a few minutes going over this, because it’s our heritage too. This is an important principle that maybe tonight we can teach our kids.

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor | Getty Images

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It occurred just after 6:10 p.m. while Trump was delivering his speech.

Here are the details of the “official” story. The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was 20 years old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He used an AR-15 rifle and managed to reach the rooftop of a nearby building unnoticed. The Secret Service's counter-response team responded swiftly, according to "the facts," killing Crooks and preventing further harm.

Did it though? That’s what the official story says, so far, but calling this a mere lapse in security by Secret Service doesn't add up. There are some glaring questions that need to be answered.

If Trump had been killed on Saturday, we would be in a civil war today. We would have seen for the first time the president's brains splattered on live television, and because of the details of this, I have a hard time thinking it wouldn't have been viewed as JFK 2.0.

How does someone sneak a rifle onto the rally grounds? How does someone even know that that building is there? How is it that Thomas Matthew Crooks was acting so weird and pacing in front of the metal detectors, and no one seemed to notice? People tried to follow him, but, oops, he got away.

How could the kid possibly even think that the highest ground at the venue wouldn't be watched? If I were Crooks, my first guess would be, "That’s the one place I shouldn't crawl up to with a rifle because there's most definitely going to be Secret Service there." Why wasn't anyone there? Why wasn't anyone watching it? Nobody except the shooter decided that the highest ground with the best view of the rally would be the greatest vulnerability to Trump’s safety.

Moreover, a handy ladder just happened to be there. Are we supposed to believe that nobody in the Secret Service, none of the drones, none of the things we pay millions of dollars for caught him? How did he get a ladder there? If the ladder was there, was it always there? Why was the ladder there? Secret Service welds manhole covers closed when a president drives down a road. How was there a ladder sitting around, ready to climb up to the highest ground at the venue, and the Secret Service failed to take it away?

There is plenty of video of eyewitnesses yelling that there was a guy with a rifle climbing up on a ladder to the roof for at least 120 seconds before the first shot was fired. Why were the police looking for him while Secret Service wasn't? Why did the sniper have him in his sights for over a minute before he took a shot? Why did a cop climb up the ladder to look around? When Thomas Matthew Cooks pointed a gun at him, he then ducked and came down off the ladder. Did he call anyone to warn that this young man had a rifle within range of the president?

How is it the Secret Service has a female bodyguard who doesn't even reach Trump's nipples? How was she going to guard the president's body with hers? How is it another female Secret Service agent pulled her gun out a good four minutes too late, then looked around, apparently not knowing what to do? She then couldn't even get the pistol back into the holster because she's a Melissa McCarthy body double. I don't think it's a good idea to have Melissa McCarthy guarding the president.

Here’s the critical question now: Who trusts the FBI with the shooter’s computer? Will his hard drive get filed with the Nashville manifesto? How is it that the Secret Service almost didn't have snipers at all but decided to supply them only one day before the rally because all the local resources were going to be put on Jill Biden? I want Jill Biden safe, of course. I want Jill Biden to have what the first lady should have for security, but you can’t hire a few extra guys to make sure our candidates are safe?

How is it that we have a Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, whose experience is literally guarding two liters of Squirt and spicy Doritos? Did you know that's her background? She's in charge of the United States Secret Service, and her last job was as the head of security for Pepsi.

This is a game, and that's what makes this sick. This is a joke. There are people in our country who thought it was OK to post themselves screaming about the shooter’s incompetence: “How do you miss that shot?” Do you realize how close we came to another JFK? If the president hadn't turned his head at the exact moment he did, it would have gone into the center of his head, and we would be a different country today.

Now, Joe Biden is also saying that we shouldn't make assumptions about the motive of the shooter. Well, I think we can assume one thing: He wanted to kill the Republican presidential candidate. Can we agree on that at least? Can we assume that much?

How can the media even think of blaming Trump for the rhetoric when the Democrats and the media constantly call him literally worse than Hitler who must be stopped at all costs?

These questions need to be answered if we want to know the truth behind what could have been one of the most consequential days in U.S. history. Yet, the FBI has its hands clasped on all the sources that could point to the truth. There must be an independent investigation to get to the bottom of these glaring “mistakes.”

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Kevin Dietsch / Staff, Chip Somodevilla / Staff, Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Image

It feels like all of the tension that has been building over the last four years has finally burst to the surface over the past month. Many predicted 2024 was going to be one of the most important and tumultuous elections in our lifetimes, but the last two weeks will go down in the history books. And it's not over yet.

The Democratic National Convention is in August, and while Kamala seems to be the likely candidate to replace Biden, anything could happen in Chicago. And if Biden is too old to campaign, isn't he too old to be president? Glenn doesn't think he'll make it as President through January, but who knows?

There is a lot of uncertainty that surrounds the current political landscape. Trump came out of the attempted assassination, and the RNC is looking stronger than ever, but who knows what tricks the Democrats have up their sleeves? Let us know your predictions in the poll below:

Is Trump going to win the election?

Did the assassination attempt increase Trump's chances at winning in November?

Did Trump's pick of J.D. Vance help his odds?

Did the Trump-Biden debate in June help Trump's chances?

Did Biden's resignation from the election hand Trump a victory in November? 

Do the Democrats have any chance of winning this election?

What is the Secret Service trying to hide about Trump's assassination attempt?

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor, Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

This past weekend we were mere inches away from a radically different America than the one we have today. This was the first time a president had been wounded by a would-be assassin since 1981, and the horrific event has many people questioning the competency and motives of the supposedly elite agents trusted with the president's life.

The director of the Secret Service apparently knew about the assassin's rooftop before the shooting—and did nothing.

Kimberly Cheatle has come under intense scrutiny these last couple of weeks, as Secret Service director she is responsible for the president's well-being, along with all security operations onsite. In a recent interview with ABC, Cheatle admitted that she was aware of the building where the assassin made his mark on American history. She even said that she was mindful of the potential risk but decided against securing the site due to "safety concerns" with the slope of the roof. This statement has called her competence into question. Clearly, the rooftop wasn't that unsafe if the 20-year-old shooter managed to access it.

Glenn pointed out recently that Cheatle seems to be unqualified for the job. Her previous position was senior director in global security at America's second-favorite soda tycoon, PepsiCo. While guarding soda pop and potato chips sounds like an important job to some, it doesn't seem like a position that would qualify you to protect the life of America's most important and controversial people. Even considering her lack of appropriate experience, this seems like a major oversight that even a layperson would have seen. Can we really chalk this up to incompetence?

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

The Secret Service and DHS said they'd be transparent with the investigation...

Shortly after the attempted assassination, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Secret Service, launched an investigation into the shooting and the security protocols in place at the rally. The DHS promised full transparency during the investigation, but House Republicans don't feel that they've been living up to that promise. Republican members of the House Oversight Committee are frustrated with Director Cheatle after she seemingly dodged a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. This has resulted in calls for Cheatle to step down from her position.

Two FBI agents investigate the assassin's rooftop Jeff Swensen / Stringer | Getty Images

Why is the Secret Service being so elusive? Are they just trying to cover their blunder? We seem to be left with two unsettling options: either the government is even more incompetent than we'd ever believed, or there is more going on here than they want us to know.

Cheatle steps down

Following a horrendous testimony to the House Oversight Committee Director Cheatle finally stepped down from her position ten days after the assassination attempt. Cheatle failed to give any meaningful answer to the barrage of questions she faced from the committee. These questions, coming from both Republicans and Democrats, were often regarding basic information that Cheatle should have had hours after the shooting, yet Cheatle struggled with each and every one. Glenn pointed out that Director Cheatle's resignation should not signal the end of the investigation, the American people deserve to know what happened.

What we DO and DON'T know about Thomas Matthew Crooks

Jim Vondruska / Stringer | Getty Images

It has been over a week since 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks narrowly failed to assassinate President Trump while the president gave a speech at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennslyvania. Despite the ongoing investigations, we still know very little about the would-be assassin, which has left many wondering if the agencies involved are limiting the information that Congress and the public are receiving.

As Glenn has pointed out, there are still major questions about the shooter that are unanswered, and the American people are left at the whim of unreliable federal agencies. Here is everything we know—and everything we don't know—about Thomas Matthew Crooks:

Who was he?

What we know:Thomas Crooks lived in Bethel Parks, Pennsylvania, approximately an hour south of Butler. Crooks went to high school in Bethel Parks, where he would graduate in 2022. Teachers and classmates described him as a loner and as nerdy, but generally nice, friendly, and intelligent. Crooks tried out for the school rifle team but was rejected due to his poor aim, and reports indicate that Crooks was often bullied for his nerdy demeanor and for wearing camo hunting gear to school.

After high school, Crooks began work at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center as a dietary aide. In fact, he was scheduled to work on the day of the rally but requested the day off. He passed a background check to work at the facility and was reportedly an unproblematic employee. Crooks was also a member of a local gun club where he practiced shooting the day before the rally.

It was recently revealed that sometime before his attempted assassination, Crooks posted the following message on Steam, a popular computer application used for playing video games: "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds." Aside from this, Crooks posted no warning or manifesto regarding his attack, and little other relevant information is known about him.

What we don't know:It is unclear what Crook's political affiliations or views were, or if he was aligned with any extremist organizations. Crooks was a registered Republican, and his classmates recall him defending conservative ideas and viewpoints in class. On the other hand, the Federal Election Commission has revealed he donated to a progressive PAC on the day Biden was inaugurated. He also reportedly wore a COVID mask to school much longer than was required.

Clearly, we are missing the full picture. Why would a Republican attempt to assassinate the Republican presidential nominee? What is to gain? And why would he donate to a progressive organization as a conservative? This doesn't add up, and so far the federal agencies investigating the attack have yet to reveal anything more.

What were his goals?

What we know: Obviously we know he was trying to assassinate President Trump—and came very close to succeeding, but beyond that, Crooks' goals are unknown. He left no manifesto or any sort of written motive behind, or if he did, the authorities haven't published it yet. We have frustratingly little to go off of.

What we don't know: As stated before, we don't know anything about the movies behind Crooks' heinous actions. We are left with disjointed pieces that make it difficult to paint a cohesive picture of this man. There is also the matter that he left explosives, ammo, and a bulletproof vest in his car. Why? Did he assume he was going to make it back to his car? Or were those supplies meant for an accomplice that never showed up?

The shocking lack of information on Crooks' motives makes it seem likely that we are not being let on to the whole truth.

Did he work alone?

What we know: Reportedly, Crooks was the only gunman on the site, and as of now, no other suspects have been identified. The rifle used during the assassination attempt was purchased and registered by Crooks' father. However, it is unlikely that the father was involved as he reported both his son and rifle missing the night of the assassination attempt. Crooks' former classmates described him as a "loner," which seems to corroborate the narrative that he worked alone.

What we don't know: We know how Crooks acquired his rifle, but what about the rest of his equipment? He reportedly had nearly a hundred extra rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, and several homemade bombs in his car. Could these have been meant for a co-conspirator who didn't show? Did Crooks acquire all of this equipment himself, or did he have help?

There's also the matter of the message Crooks left on the video game platform Steam that served as his only warning of the attack. Who was the message for? Are there people out there who were aware of the attack before it occurred? Why didn't they alert authorities?

We know authorities have access to Crooks' laptop and cellphone that probably contain the answers to these pertinent questions. Why haven't we heard any clarity from the authorities? It seems we are again at the mercy of the federal bureaucracy, which begs one more question: Will we ever know the whole truth?