Michelle Malkin shares incredible stories of American ingenuity

Firebrand conservative and #1 New York Times bestselling author, Michelle Malkin tells the riveting stories of the relentless thinkers and inventors who made America what it is today in her new book, Who Built That. She joined Glenn on TV Tuesday night to share just a few stories of American ingenuity that should inspire anyone looking to blaze their own trail.

Glenn: I want you to go out and buy Michelle Malkin’s new book, Who Built That. It is cut from your cloth. If you’re a fan of this show, this is cut from the same cloth, really great stories that you didn’t know. I’m bummed that she beat me to the Nikola Tesla story. That’s one story I haven’t told, but now she’s told it in expert fashion. Would you please tell, because I love this, and most people don’t know what Tesla did when he went to Colorado Springs. It’s my understanding, Michelle, he freaked everybody out.

Michelle: He freaked everyone out, and he pretty much shorted the entire electrical generation system in Colorado Springs.

Glenn: For like a week.

Michelle: Yes, for the whole week. In fact, he was able to re-create lightning that was seen 30 miles outside of Colorado Springs, all the way up to Woodland Park. I mean, we’re talking up at 7,000, 8,000 feet altitude. So, I definitely felt like I had a hometown kinship with him as well because I’ve made Colorado Springs the home of our family for the last eight years now and actually went out to the little spot in Memorial Park where he had his little laboratory.

You know, it’s quite a shame, Glenn, that there is nothing more than a small historical marker. There’s no Tesla museum in the United States. There’s one in his hometown in Eastern Europe, but you know, among your audience and among many of my geeky scientific engineering type fans, he’s very well-known. You told his story in one of your books, and people know it that way, but the actual scientific breakthroughs and the incredible entrepreneurial partnership and friendship that he forged with George Westinghouse is almost entirely absent in the public schools today. It is a disgrace really, and that’s why I wrote the book, to fill in that vacuum.

Glenn: I will tell you this, I’m going to send your book to a professor who teaches history at Yale, because when I wrote my chapter on Tesla, he said it was the best chapter on Tesla that he had ever read and now makes it part of the course because no one has told the truth on him. So, I’m going to send your book so he also has that, because Tesla was—not only are we still present in his day, I think he saw this technology, you know, in some form or another that is now coming out, so we’re still present in his day, but also, the relationship that he had with Westinghouse that you highlight gave me hope because here’s a guy who was so far ahead. The government shuts them down because of collusion and corruption with Edison, and he loses everything. It’s a good guy, a good capitalist, one who believes in doing the right thing, that saves him.

Michelle: Yes, that’s right. I think restoring the reputation of ethical capitalism in this country is so important. It’s been so corrupted. You see so many of these big government cronies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce types who are so willing to jump into bed with the AFL-CIO and Barack Obama and the White House and all of these crony government contracts and venture socialism that’s overtaken Washington DC.

Well, there was a time, and of course, our kids don’t learn this nearly enough, when there were people of character, men of great character like George Westinghouse, who understood the value of protecting individual and intellectual property rights. That’s how that relationship was forged, because George Westinghouse knew that Nikola Tesla had something of value and that together they could team up and they were stronger as an entrepreneurial partnership.

That’s how the hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls was built, and I talk about that story. There was a prototype that was done in Colorado, of all places, Telluride, Colorado, and believe it or not, Oberlin College, which is my alma mater and is known as one of the craziest places on earth, the berserk-ley of the Midwest, actually produced the entrepreneur Lucien Hall, who created the prototype of the hydroelectric plant that went on to become Niagara Falls—amazing confluence of all of these individuals. I think it’s these friendships and alliances that really were magical to me.

Glenn: I think they’re happening again. I have to tell you, Michelle, we are two of the biggest geeks. I don’t know if anybody in the audience is loving this as much as I am, but we are just geeking out on these guys. Let me see, show me the Maglite. I was going to say the bottle cap, but show me the Maglite because I don’t want to run out of time. This is important that you talk about this, but you talk about this story in the book, which is fantastic, but it’s important to put it into context that the future has been harmed again by the federal government. Explain.

Michelle: Yeah, so the first chapter is about Anthony Maglica, the 84-year-old, spry entrepreneur who came here from a tiny little island off of Croatia called Zlarin, came here with nothing during the Depression but the hunger to make something of himself. He drove across the country in his beat-up Studebaker. He pushed his car up the Rocky Mountains and out West, settled in Ontario, California, and came up with a design for this beautiful, just aesthetically streamlined Maglite flashlight which is an iconic symbol. He is the torchbearer of the American dream, and in fact, there was an Apple Computer official who once said that they strove to become the Maglite of computers.

Well, he hasn’t just come up with one patent, but 200 patents. He hasn’t taken a vacation in ten years. When I went to his headquarters, he showed me a lab where he was developing revolutionary incandescent light bulb technology. He had planned to hire hundreds of more workers to work on these innovations and bring them to market, but it was thanks to the federal lightbulb ban that he had to shut that completely down. It cost jobs. Who knows what else he could’ve come up with? And yet, he perseveres. He told me he will never give up, not until the day that he’s no longer on this earth, to try and improve his products and bring people things that they want and need.

That’s what the American dream is about. It’s not something that is decreed in Washington DC, and it’s these kind of people that make America a great place. He hasn’t given up hope, so neither will I.

Glenn: The amazing thing, Michelle, is most people don’t even know where food comes from anymore. They don’t even know how to grow food. We live in a society and say oh, it’s always been this way. It’s never been this way. In the history of man, it’s never been this way—the things that we have, the abilities that we have, the things that we can do. And what I love about your book is it goes to little things like toilet paper, which we talked about on the radio. You don’t think of toilet paper. To think that this is something that really came from here in America. Take America out of the world, we’re still wiping ourselves with wool or something else gross. But also, you go into bottle caps. Tell me about bottle caps and seals.

Michelle: So, the design of the bottle cap hasn’t changed since the turn of the century, and yet, the amount of intellectual capital that it took to come up with something so simple is absolutely amazing. William Painter was the creator of the modern-day bottle cap as well as many other pieces of technology that revolutionized the food and beverage packaging industry. His company is still in existence today, Crown Cork and Seal—there he is—a $9 billion business. I have included in the chapter on the bottle cap all of his patent drawings, his patent schematics, and the descriptions that it took. He never stopped perfecting this little piece of mundane technology that we absolutely take for granted.

Glenn: Think of this, $9 billion, $9 billion, in bottle caps. People just don’t have any clue. To me, this is the American dream, that you can have an idea. Before America, you had an idea, and the Lord of the Manor could take your idea and just make it. So, you could never get out of poverty. You were always a Serf. Now, because of the patent, again, an American idea, but even that is changing.

Michelle: It is, and it is just another extension of Obama’s radical transformation of America. You know, the idea of intellectual property rights was so revolutionary, and it’s something that’s embedded in our Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, but very few people in the mainstream American public outside of the sphere of law where they actually pay attention to these things realize that in 2011, Obama radically transformed and upended the idea that the inventor should be the one who’s rewarded, the one who was first to invent, rather than the one who’s first to file.

So, they passed something. Obama and the Congress rammed it through with very little debate in the mainstream public because it really is one of those kind of arcane things and globalized and harmonized American patent law with the rest of the world, in other words, abandoning those first constitutional principles that our Founding Fathers knew guaranteed success.

Glenn: Can I tell you something Michelle? And I hope I didn’t misstate what you believe in the last break when I said that you and I both, I mean, we’ll slug it out until the very end, but we both feel really impressed. There is something equally as important as uncovering the filth of restoring the truth and telling the stories of who we are and where we came from, because if we lose that, it doesn’t matter if we’ve uncovered the filth. If we don’t know who we are, we will chart a course that will take us back into slavery. Correct?

Michelle: Yes, absolutely. We definitely have an urgency and kinship there. The reason I wrote the book is not just to preach to the choir, but for children.

Glenn: Yes, so here’s the one thing, and I’ve only got a minute. There are a lot of libertarian kids who are saying we don’t need the patent. Everything should be free. That’s insane. That’s insane. Don’t you think?

Michelle: Yeah, I don’t agree with that, and I feel that conclusion comes from a lack of understanding of the need to have the fuel of interest for the fire of progress. Those were the words that Abraham Lincoln used, and it’s been a bedrock of American constitutional principles as well as entrepreneurialism that you should be able to profit from the fruits of your labor and the fruits of your mind.

Glenn: Michelle, if I called in sick, would you come in and host at least one show, maybe two, and just tell some of these stories and really take us through the book? Would you be willing to do that?

Michelle: I would love to. I’m there.

Glenn: Okay, I’m just a huge fan of Michelle Malkin. I know the audience is as well. Go out and buy this book today. You can find it now at GlennBeck.com/Malkin, or you can find it wherever books are sold, Who Built That by Michelle Malkin.

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

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A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

  Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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.

   Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

 

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

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

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

Blending the worst ideologies

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

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

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

Call out radicalism

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.