Ironic Twist: Establishment Republicans Embrace Donald Trump

January 11, 2016

Editor

Donald Trump, who has been portrayed as perhaps the most antiestablishment candidate of all time, seems to have suddenly gained the support of the GOP establishment.

Guests of Sunday's episode of Meet the Press with Chuck Todd discussed Trump's favorability ratings among Republicans as compared to Ted Cruz.

"Trump could end up being the establishment alternative to Cruz," said political consultant Alex Castellanos.

He went on to explain how establishment Republicans are turning to Trump because they're afraid of Cruz.

"They're beginning to get comfortable with the idea that Trump, 'Okay, he's a deal maker, he's a salesman, he'll adapt, he'll make the next deal, he could run left of Hillary, whatever.' But Cruz is kind of bound to who he is," Castenallos said.

Glenn reacted on radio Monday.

"Wait a minute. The establishment is starting to go with Donald Trump, who could, quote, 'run to the left of Hillary or whatever,'" Glenn said. "It's astounding. Just astounding what's happening."

Listen to the segment or read the transcript below.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

GLENN: From Chuck Todd from Meet the Press, where he is stunned at what is happening, how the establishment is embracing now Donald Trump. And let's play a little of the audio that you have, and then we'll come back with the Chuck Todd. But here's a little bit of audio from this weekend.

VOICE: Got 30 percent saying they will never caucus for Donald Trump, whereas only 17 percent say that about Cruz.

VOICE: Trump is running the smartest campaign of anyone right now because he's engaging Cruz in Iowa because he wants to be the alternative to Cruz, should Cruz win in Iowa, as they go to New Hampshire. Trump could end up being the establishment alternative to Cruz in the end.

(laughter)

GLENN: Could be the establishment alternative to Cruz.

PAT: Yeah. This from all his supporters who keep telling us he's the antiestablishment candidate, right? Donald Trump is supposedly the guy who the establishment hates.

GLENN: Now, listen to the analysis of what they say on Meet the Press of why the establishment is backing him.

STU: Establishment Republicans are jumping on Cruz for this because they fear him as a Republican nominee more than they fear Trump. They're beginning to get comfortable with the idea that Trump, okay, he's a dealmaker. He's a salesman. He'll adapt. He'll make the next deal. He can run left of Hillary or whatever. But Cruz is kind of bound to who he is, and they fear he might -- and then Chuck Todd interrupts.

And that's the sense I get all of a sudden now. If you're going to make us pick, the establishment, if you're going to make us pick, we'll pick Trump over Cruz.

I mean, that --

GLENN: If I'm -- if I am running the Cruz campaign, I'm making that into a commercial.

STU: Yeah. Yeah.

GLENN: I'm making -- there's the Washington establishment sitting on Meet the Press trying to figure out, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The establishment is starting to go with Donald Trump, who could, quote, run to the left of Hillary or whatever." And he's a dealmaker. And you know that's true. He's a dealmaker. Do you think a guy who said in the Republican debate, actually -- when he actually said in the debate, "Hey, universal health care works in Canada," do you really think he's the guy to repeal Obamacare or to fix it? He's the guy to fix it. He has said the problem with Washington is not government. The problem is we have stupid people running our government. I don't believe that. I believe government is stupid. It's too far away from the problems. Government in Washington is too far away from you. So it acts in irrational ways. It doesn't solve the problems. It makes it worse.

It's astounding. Just astounding what's happening.

STU: Again, this guy has been portrayed as the antiestablishment candidate of all time. Obviously he says things that are controversial. And there's reason to understand that. But think, is there a more establishment thing you can do in your life than give hefty sums of money to both parties to win favors from the government? It's what every establishment figure does in our system. It's the problem with our system. And that's how he built his career.

GLENN: I get along with everybody.

STU: Yeah. I get along with everybody.

GLENN: I give money to everybody. I don't care.

STU: It's not about ideology.

PAT: Which makes it worse.

STU: It's not about those things.

PAT: It makes it worse.

STU: It makes it much worse. It's all for his own personal benefit.

PAT: But his supporters think it's okay because he's been on the giving end, not the receiving end. They're not asking him for the favors, he's giving them money and asking them for the favors. That's better? In what way? How is that better?

STU: What he's talking about --

PAT: It's still him in the system.

GLENN: Let's call that what that is. A bribe.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: I'm expecting you to do something if I give you money.

PAT: Show up at my wedding, or whatever.

GLENN: So is it worse or is it exactly the same? The judge that receives a bribe and changes his decision based on that money, is that worse than the guy going to the judge and saying, "Hey, listen, I need a little help here. Here's 5,000 -- they both go to jail. Both of them.

STU: Yeah, what he's described, what Donald Trump has described is a federal crime. He's admitted to doing it.

Now, right now, no one seems to be interested in that. I'm interested to see if he becomes the Republican nominee for president if anyone should pursue such a thing. Would you think then they'll find interest in the fact that he's been going around the country admitting he's buying favors from different politicians? I mean, he's been saying it as his excuse for his own behavior for a long time.

Featured Image: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Bridge View Center on January 9, 2016 in Ottumwa, Iowa. Trump emphasized the importance of voter turnout in beating his nearest rival, Ted Cruz. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Antifa isn’t “leaderless” — It’s an organized machine of violence

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

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

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

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.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

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!

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

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