Beheadings, slavery, and the hellish reality of radical Islam

Erick Stakelbeck joined Glenn on radio and assailed the administration’s view that ISIS can be dealt with like a petty criminal. There is an evil ideology behind this barbarism, ignoring it will have devastating consequences. With another American caught trying to join ISIS this week, it’s time to deal with reality.

Check out Erick's new book: ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam

Below is a rush transcript of this segment:

Erick Stakelbeck is here. He's the author of a new book called Exposed. ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam. This is something that I really wanted to -- I want to talk to you about us getting involved as people. And this is something that I'm working towards on something this summer that I hope to be announcing soon. I want to go to the Middle East and I want to bring this story home to you. I want to meet with the people who have lost their families. I want to show you what is happening. A lot of people say on Facebook, I'll be conversing with people on Facebook, they'll say, Glenn, what is a Coptic Christian? Coptic originated from the Greek word for Egyptian. So all Egyptians were Coptic until -- at the time, Egypt was a Christian nation. It was like 65, 70 percent Christian. Then after a couple of Muslim conquests, Coptic became a derogatory term. Now you're a Coptic Christian, which really basically only means an Egyptian Christian. But this is the oldest church on earth. And there are slaughtering people. And, luckily, the new president of Egypt, which we don't hear anything about, is a really good guy when it comes to Christians.

For the first time, an Egyptian president went and celebrated Christmas and Easter mass at Coptic Christian churches. Can you imagine that? When the Muslim Brotherhood was in, they were burning the churches, and they were slaughtering people. He is standing with the Christians. But he's one of the only people in the Middle East. And, of course, the United States is not standing. And they are now taking children as young as five and sending them off into the sex slavery racket. It is horrific what is happening. And last couple of days, I've been posting some stuff on Facebook. And I've said, you know, when are the Christians going to stand up? And I've made a suggestion, and I was shocked at the heat that I got back from many of the readers saying this was a stupid idea. And we just got to grab our guns and go over there with guns ablazing. I would suggest that we don't -- we are so uneducated on this that we don't know what we're doing yet. And certainly no one in our -- in Washington, DC, has a clue as to what's going on and can't verbalize it. They can't even say that Islam is the problem over there. And it is. There might be moderate Muslims everywhere else in the world, but in the Middle East, they are a rare find.

And the last thing we need to do is just go over and start another war. ISIS, what we need to do first is comfort those who mourn. If you have a Coptic Christian church in your area, find it. Comfort them. Help them. Many of them are terrified of even going to church because they know they're a target even over here. Many of them have fled and come here now or they have relatives who have been slain and slaughtered and beheaded over there. They need our support. They need to know that they're not alone. The next thing I suggested is go to your pastor, priest or rabbi and talk to them about it. And ask them, why are we not as a church standing? Why are we not personally involved in this? At least in real education and real prayer power. There are many things that we can do.

And, yesterday -- we're going to have an interview with the guy at the bottom of this hour. Chris Tony. He is a US Navy veteran who had enough. And he's not the first guy to do it. And said, you know what, who wants to go with me to the Middle East? I'll go over and volunteer and train these people because the Christians have been abandoned. There are many things that you can do. But education is the first. And we wanted to get Erick Stakelbeck in because he's done a lot of research the last couple of years on ISIS and he knows who they are. And this is information that you're just not going to find on mainstream media because they're unwilling to say the things that sound crazy. But these guys are crazy. And they are psychotic. And they are religious zealots. Any doubt in your mind, Erick, that this is a holy war for them?

ERICK: No, Glenn. First of all, thanks for having me. And absolutely. They have declared war, the jihadists against us. Against Christians, Jews. And, by the way, against Muslims who do not agree with them. We are in a war right now. Number one, our government, our mainstream media cannot acknowledge that. Will not acknowledge it. To the Obama administration, this is a big part of the problem, Glenn, they consider this just a criminal action. A minor nuisance that can be handled in federal courts. To the contrary, it is a global jihadist movement. I'll give you an example, Glenn. We had people from 90 countries around the world who have flocked to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. At least 180 US citizens. 3500 Europeans. At least have all been drawn to this new caliphate. And one day, they may return home. So this is a global movement. And it is a war without a doubt.

GLENN: So here's the thing, Erick, we are now seeing people who are tired of waiting for our country. We used to be leaders. And they are tired of it. And these are military veterans who are going over and saying, you know what, I can help fight. And they are volunteering and they are going over and helping these people fight, not as US military. But just as a private citizen going over and saying, I'm going to help train these Christians to protect themselves.

ERICK: Yeah. I think it's great, Glenn. Look, number one, you'll see more of it, I think. Number two, we've left the fact that we're supposed to be the leader of the free world. We've left a complete vacuum in the Middle East. Simple as that. That vacuum has been filled by Iran and ISIS.

GLENN: I don't think it's just a vacuum. I think we're actually on the wrong side, Erick.

ERICK: Yeah.

GLENN: Do you? Would you agree with that?

ERICK: We're on the wrong side, without a doubt.

GLENN: So tell me, as you were doing the research for this book, tell me the thing that shocked or horrified you the most that you just -- that you sat back in your chair and thought, good God, we're dealing literally with the powers of hell.

ERICK: Yeah. This is a demonic movement. And, Glenn, I got firsthand accounts from on the ground in Syria in Iraq from Christian leaders there. Who told me, look, there are cases of Christian children being beheaded. Not only that, when ISIS goes into a town, a village, a city, it basically enslaves the vanquished population. And ISIS now has brothels in Syria, in particular, Glenn, where Christian women, Yazidi women, are used as sex slaves. An ISIS fighter will come off the battlefield, and then he will have a brothel full of Christian sex slaves awaiting them. And it's a constant thing.

The videos ISIS releases. You just see men being beheaded, which is bad enough. But people on the ground have told me, look, this is happening to women, children, of all ages. When it comes to slaughtering and butchering, ISIS doesn't discriminate, Glenn. They're making it very clear, like Hitler did during World War II with the Jewish people, ISIS is very up front with what they want to do. They want to liquidate every last Christian from the Middle East from the cradle of the faith, the birthplace of the faith. They're doing it right now in realtime as we speak.

GLENN: They're actually sorting the girls out. They -- they have a cut-off at five. You can go to the brothel if you're five years old. But they categorize them by age. If you're too old, they send you to another Muslim country that is getting I guess the remnants. The best go to the fighters, and if you are -- if you are pretty and you are young, you are put into one of these brothels. And this is all done according to the Koran.

ERICK: That's right. It's done under Islamic Sharia law. You ask about shocking aspects of the book that I found. Here's one for you. One of these ISIS brothels, at least one of them, in Syria, in Raqaa, which is ISIS's capital, is being run by British women. British women, recruits to ISIS are actually running this brothel. We have western women playing prominent roles now for ISIS.

GLENN: Do we have any idea who they are, where they came from, or why?

ERICK: Well, at least one is a medical student from London. So much for poverty causes terrorism. President Obama says, look, lack of economic opportunity is driving this. We've had medical students. We've had business majors. We've had people from affluent communities in Britain and the United States. When it comes to the women, and, by the way, Glenn, just last week, we had three women, US citizens in New York City and Philadelphia all arrested for supporting ISIS. With the women, there's a few things. When you are building this caliphate, this ideal society, you need women. You need to reproduce. You need to keep your fighters happy. That's one aspect of it. But why are the women drawn to it? Online, ISIS does so much on Facebook, on social media, and a lot of times they lure naive, troubled young women. In my research, Glenn, I found, who are desperate and who are drawn to the darkness of ISIS in many cases, then they're the jihadi brides. On the other hand, though, you have women that actually want to go there, pick up arms and kill people. So ISIS is drawing people -- all kinds. Women from all races, ethnicities, genders, they're drawing all kinds of sick, twisted, evil people to this caliphate.

GLENN: We're talking to Erick Stakelbeck. His book is ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam.

Erick, I'm working on a book right now that is -- its working title is Islam is the Problem: The Theology Behind the Army of Armageddon. And I know you well enough to know that you know what they mean about the armies of Rome, and that this is a holy war for them. How -- how deep is the -- the idea that they're going to bring about Armageddon? And how committed are they to that?

ERICK: Glenn, this is a central pillar of ISIS's ideology. They believe that they literally are the army of the apocalypse, as you said. And they believe that they will be the tip of the spear for the end times armies of Islam and the armies of the Mahdi. Which you discussed many times during the show. They believe that there will actually be an apocalyptic showdown in Syria in a city called Dabiq in Syria. ISIS believes that they and the armies of Islam will fight the West in a climactic battle. So in one sense, they're not -- they actually welcome western involvement in the Middle East because this fits into their end times scenario. The whole scenario they will have an end times battle with the West in Syria. If you look at their publications, Glenn, their official magazines, their websites, their propaganda videos, they talk about the end times and the apocalypse frequently. Much like the Iranian regime, by the way, different in some ways. But both the Iranian regime and ISIS, central pillars of their ideology is that we're in the end times. And in the West, my gosh, our leadership cannot wrap its head around that, won't even acknowledge the ideological driving force behind all the terrorism. Terrorism is only a tactic. It is driven by an apocalyptic ideology.

GLENN: Okay. I have to take a break. I want to talk to you about the chapter in your book called the Islamic State of Minnesota. They are here in the United States. And in particular, there is a huge Somali population in Minnesota, which is being -- which is a target for recruitment. And the southern border. Things that nobody wants to talk about, it is here. And it's very dangerous. Back with Erick Stakelbeck in just a minute.

[break]

GLENN: We're with Erick Stakelbeck. He's the author of ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam. I want to talk to you a little bit about the Islamic State of Minnesota, which is a chapter in your book. Tell people what's going on with the Somali population going on there.

ERICK: You know, this will shock people. The Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, very nice place to live, very high standard of living up there in the great tundra of the upper Midwest. Well, some 100,000 Somali Muslims, more than any other place in North America, live in the Twin Cities. And it has become a magnet, Glenn, for terrorist recruitment. Dozens of young Somali Muslims, American citizens have left their comfortable homes in the Twin Cities, traveled overseas to join terrorist groups like ISIS.

By the way, recently we saw the group Al-Shabaab, the Somali terror group linked to al-Qaeda carry out a horrific massacre at a Kenyan University. Well, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, there's been literally a pipeline going from Minnesota to Somalia with young people joining Al-Shabaab.

GLENN: Are we looking -- are we looking for the recruiters?

ERICK: That's a great question. Glenn, I spoke to a law enforcement source -- actually a few law enforcement sources and Somali community leaders on the ground in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and they said, look, this is how it works with the recruiters. Number one, they'll show up. They'll come on the scene. And then they kind of disappear. But when they do show up, Glenn, what they do is they'll go to a local mosque or they'll go to a local rec center, wherever there are kids hanging out. And they'll target 18, 19, 20-year-old Somali kids. At first, they will befriend them. And then the radicalization process starts. And they tell them, look, come to the caliphate. You'll be a glorious holy warrior. The entire world will know your name. You'll be at the vanguard of this new Islamic empire.

And a lot of the times, Glenn, it's interesting, these guys are in the mid- to late 20s, so they're still young enough to relate to young people. The one guy who showed up last summer in Minneapolis was Egyptian American, drove a fancy car, was showing a lot of cash, dressed in hip clothes. And he was able to ingratiate himself with the young people there. And, reportedly, a few Somalis who he had befriended headed over to Iraq to join ISIS.

GLENN: Did we get him?

ERICK: No.

GLENN: Did we arrest him?

ERICK: No. His name is Amir Meshal. No one knows where he is right now. He was in Minneapolis and St. Paul. And now no one quite knows who he is. Or at least they're not saying that they know where he is or what he's doing right now. In this Somali community, another problem they've had -- now, he was kind of an outsider, Glenn, but another problem they've had in that Somali community in Minneapolis and St. Paul is just people from the community who are recruiting. And it reminds me, you know, I've been there several times over the past few years. On the ground, been investigating, and it reminds me a lot in a bad way of what we see in western Europe right now in the Muslim communities there. In that these young Somalis are not assimilating, they're not integrating into American society. I think the unemployment rate in the Twin Cities among the Somalis is something like 30 or 40 percent. It's not going well.

GLENN: Erick, I appreciate it.

ERICK: If this continues, we'll head down the road they've headed down in Britain, France, Germany, where you have these large restless unassimilated Muslim populations that are breeding grounds for radicals.

Trump’s secret war in the Caribbean EXPOSED — It’s not about drugs

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The president’s moves in Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia aren’t about drugs. They’re about re-establishing America’s sovereignty across the Western Hemisphere.

For decades, we’ve been told America’s wars are about drugs, democracy, or “defending freedom.” But look closer at what’s unfolding off the coast of Venezuela, and you’ll see something far more strategic taking shape. Donald Trump’s so-called drug war isn’t about fentanyl or cocaine. It’s about control — and a rebirth of American sovereignty.

The aim of Trump’s ‘drug war’ is to keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

The president understands something the foreign policy class forgot long ago: The world doesn’t respect apologies. It respects strength.

While the global elites in Davos tout the Great Reset, Trump is building something entirely different — a new architecture of power based on regional independence, not global dependence. His quiet campaign in the Western Hemisphere may one day be remembered as the second Monroe Doctrine.

Venezuela sits at the center of it all. It holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves — oil perfectly suited for America’s Gulf refineries. For years, China and Russia have treated Venezuela like a pawn on their chessboard, offering predatory loans in exchange for control of those resources. The result has been a corrupt, communist state sitting in our own back yard. For too long, Washington shrugged. Not any more.The naval exercises in the Caribbean, the sanctions, the patrols — they’re not about drug smugglers. They’re about evicting China from our hemisphere.

Trump is using the old “drug war” playbook to wage a new kind of war — an economic and strategic one — without firing a shot at our actual enemies. The goal is simple: Keep the hemisphere’s oil, minerals, and manufacturing within the Western family and out of Beijing’s hands.

Beyond Venezuela

Just east of Venezuela lies Guyana, a country most Americans couldn’t find on a map a year ago. Then ExxonMobil struck oil, and suddenly Guyana became the newest front in a quiet geopolitical contest. Washington is helping defend those offshore platforms, build radar systems, and secure undersea cables — not for charity, but for strategy. Control energy, data, and shipping lanes, and you control the future.

Moreover, Colombia — a country once defined by cartels — is now positioned as the hinge between two oceans and two continents. It guards the Panama Canal and sits atop rare-earth minerals every modern economy needs. Decades of American presence there weren’t just about cocaine interdiction; they were about maintaining leverage over the arteries of global trade. Trump sees that clearly.

PEDRO MATTEY / Contributor | Getty Images

All of these recent news items — from the military drills in the Caribbean to the trade negotiations — reflect a new vision of American power. Not global policing. Not endless nation-building. It’s about strategic sovereignty.

It’s the same philosophy driving Trump’s approach to NATO, the Middle East, and Asia. We’ll stand with you — but you’ll stand on your own two feet. The days of American taxpayers funding global security while our own borders collapse are over.

Trump’s Monroe Doctrine

Critics will call it “isolationism.” It isn’t. It’s realism. It’s recognizing that America’s strength comes not from fighting other people’s wars but from securing our own energy, our own supply lines, our own hemisphere. The first Monroe Doctrine warned foreign powers to stay out of the Americas. The second one — Trump’s — says we’ll defend them, but we’ll no longer be their bank or their babysitter.

Historians may one day mark this moment as the start of a new era — when America stopped apologizing for its own interests and started rebuilding its sovereignty, one barrel, one chip, and one border at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Breaking point: Will America stand up to the mob?

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The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

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The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

Get your tickets NOW at www.MegynKelly.com before they’re gone!