Anita Calls to 'Set the Record Straight' on Trump

Anita called The Glenn Beck Program Monday for a fiery discussion on Donald Trump, hoping to show her support for the real estate mogul was based on issues rather than his authoritarian personality.

What was the main reason for Trump getting Anita's vote of confidence? His stance on protecting the border and everything that entails---from crime to job loss in America. Anita also expressed her belief that Glenn hadn't covered the border issue enough, but Glenn quickly countered with the facts.

"I was calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush based on what he was doing on the border," Glenn explained. "So I have a very long, long history on what I believe is happening on the border."

The discussion took a turn south when Anita got personal. She complained about co-host Stu personally attacking Trump and followed it up with several personal attacks on Stu. Huh? Complaints about personal attacks followed with personal attacks?

In addition to the border issue, the topics of Donald Trump's clothing, Stu's high school graduation, abortion, the Holy Spirit and gang rape came up.

"These are the kind of circular arguments that you get," Glenn said about discussions with many Donald Trump supporters.

Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

GLENN: Laurie is in Delaware, and she's quite upset. And we want to lead with this. Hello, Laurie. Welcome to the program.

CALLER: Yes, hi, Glenn. It's Anita. Thank you for taking my call.

GLENN: Oh, I'm sorry.

CALLER: That's okay. And I really want to start out -- the reason why I called was when you were talking about the people that like Trump because he's an authoritarian figure. And I just want to set the record straight on that, Glenn. Because I think you're fair. I think Stu is the ringleader of hating Trump, and everyone else has fallen into -- right in behind him like little soldiers.

PAT: That's us. Yes.

CALLER: However, what Trump is doing right now to Cruz saying that he isn't liked because he can't get along, that's total deception. Cruz actually honors the oath that he took when he was elected into office. He actually obeys our laws, and he does want to serve we, the people.

And the reason why I haven't crossed Trump off the list has nothing to do with him being an authoritarian figure. It had everything to do with the fact that 94-plus million legal citizens are jobless. We are living below poverty level. I don't think that it's fair for people to be here illegally, ignore our laws, which they can't do in other countries, commit a crime, gang rape people -- and Hannity went into great depth on a lot of those people -- and then they're able to flee to sanctuary cities. I don't agree with that.

GLENN: Hold on just a second.

CALLER: And I don't think you would agree with that.

PAT: Of course not.

GLENN: Hold on, Anita. Of course we don't agree with that. We never have agreed with that.

PAT: And we've been talking about this --

GLENN: Since George Bush was in office. Early on.

PAT: Longer than Donald Trump. That's for sure.

GLENN: Yeah, we've been on this --

CALLER: Honestly you haven't, Glenn. That's why I get so upset.

GLENN: Excuse me. Hold on just a second. I gave you a chance to talk. Give me a second, please. Let me finish what I was saying.

I was calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush based on what he was doing on the border. So I have a very long, long history on what I believe is happening on the border. None of us are against any of that.

The question is, how do you get it done? Are you going to follow the Constitution, or are you just going to use the pen and the phone, as Barack Obama says?

CALLER: But, Glenn, honestly, I always feel that you listen to the Holy Spirit. And I feel because Stu is such a ringleader of hating Trump and making it personal. That's how he started. He started with putting down Trump's clothing line, his hair, his businesses, his TV show. When Glenn, you're a business owner. You have a TV show. You're going to be making movies. You have a clothing line. You can't -- Trump over those things.

GLENN: Okay. I have no problem -- okay. Laurie -- or, Anita --

PAT: I don't remember Stu ever saying anything about a clothing line. I own one of his ties. I don't have a problem with the clothing line.

CALLER: I'm talking about Stu.

STU: What did I say about his clothing line?

CALLER: Stu, that's one of the first things you said! That's when I thought, "Stu, you're making this personal. Why!"

STU: Wait. Can you explain to me what you're talking about?

GLENN: No, no.

STU: What have I said --

GLENN: Can you remember what he said specifically so we can track it down?

CALLER: Yes. And honestly, please, if there's any way that you can digitally type that in and bring that up.

GLENN: Yeah, if you can quote it, we can.

CALLER: Glenn, that's when I started posting on your Facebook.

STU: Stop.

GLENN: Anita, hold on a second. Please. We're trying to be reasonable. And there's no reason for you to get so upset here. Let's have a reasonable conversation.

If you can give us a quote, we can type it in, and we can find the quote. So do you remember kind of what he said about it?

CALLER: Yes. It was back when all this first started and Trump got in the race. Stu went on about his clothing -- who wants to wear his clothes? And he brought about his businesses. And he also brought up about his TV show. And that's when I actually posted on Facebook and I said, "Stu, you're making this personal. Please pray and ask God to direct you on this." I tried to be reasonable.

STU: Can this be like a debate where I get mentioned and I get 30 seconds to respond? Is that --

GLENN: Let him respond, and I'll talk to you too.

PAT: I need 30 seconds to speak too.

STU: You weren't specifically mentioned, Pat.

GLENN: Come on.

STU: No. The only thing I can ever remember talking about his clothing line, ever mentioning, was when the story came out that it was made in Mexico. That was the only thing I could ever remember --

CALLER: That wasn't the thing you said, Stu. Because that's when I started posting about you being a high school dropout because I got so mad at you over that.

STU: Stop. Hold on.

JEFFY: Am I going to get some time too?

STU: First of all, I made it through high school, clearly.

CALLER: Okay. Then it's wrong about you on Facebook, so you'll want to fix that then. Because that's what they have about you. So just have them fix that for you.

STU: What?

GLENN: Okay. I don't where you would see that. But I don't --

STU: Anyway --

GLENN: As we all learned this weekend, you can't always trust things on Facebook.

CALLER: Okay. But, Glenn, please stop saying that people are for Trump just because we didn't hate him because he's authoritarian. That's not true --

STU: That's not what the story said, Anita. That's not what it said.

GLENN: Anita, that's not what I said.

STU: The study said it was a statistically significant difference. It didn't say everyone who supports Trump believes in authoritarianism.

GLENN: It is a study. I am not saying it. It is a study, and it is significant difference between -- in fact, let me -- let me just quote the study.

Right here. Had been buoyed by Americans with authoritarian -- has been buoyed. Not driven by. Not all of them. Has been buoyed above all by Americans with authoritarian inclinations.

CALLER: Okay. And I go back to, again, Ted Cruz is respected because he honors his oath he took when he entered office.

GLENN: Yes.

CALLER: He obeys the laws, and he's also for we, the people. Now, that's why I like Ted Cruz. The reason why I like Trump is because he actually had the courage originally to stand up against those that were coming here illegally, which it is against the law -- that's illegal.

GLENN: So have a lot of people.

CALLER: And I don't feel that it's right to commit a crime, gang rape. Set people on fire. Then move to a sanctuary city.

GLENN: Hold on just a second. Neither does Ted Cruz.

STU: Bernie Sanders for that matter.

GLENN: Bernie Sanders doesn't think gang rapes are good. I was just understand your -- your passion that is so deep, I can hear it in your voice. You're very, very angry, and you're very angry at us. And I understand, okay.

CALLER: I'm disappointed in you, Glenn. That's the thing. Because I always feel that you listen to the Holy Spirit -- I feel like you're not!

GLENN: Listen to yourself. Listen to yourself. Listen to yourself. You might want to ask, if you believe that I do listen to the Spirit and you're being driven --

CALLER: Holy Spirit.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: Yes. It's the same thing. If you believe that I listen to the Holy Spirit and you are being driven here with such anger, that you might want to question if you're hearing the Spirit. Because --

CALLER: Well, again, I don't like when you infer that anyone that was not --

GLENN: I never did. That's what you heard.

CALLER: -- because we like an authoritarian figure.

GLENN: No, that's what --

CALLER: That's so far off base, Glenn. That really is.

PAT: That's not what he said.

GLENN: That's what you heard. And you can have an opinion against this study, but it is a study that shows that -- a number of people, just like Barack Obama, there are a number of people that are the hard-core base -- that wouldn't include you because you say you're not part of his hard-core base. But I would kind of question that listening to your voice.

CALLER: Listen -- read all the comments on your Facebook page. I mean, you got to look at that.

GLENN: Yes.

CALLER: That's why I prayed over and over again, Glenn, please read. Please read. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you.

PAT: I don't think the Holy Spirit is directing us to Facebook.

GLENN: And I don't think the Holy Spirit is directing me -- I don't believe the Holy Spirit would direct me to a man who behaves the way Donald Trump behaves. I'm sorry.

PAT: I don't think so.

CALLER: Okay. Glenn, did it scare you last night listening to the one minute of the opening statements from Hillary and O'Malley and --

GLENN: I don't believe the Holy Spirit plays the game of, "Well, you should be afraid of this person, and that way you should choose this person." The Holy Spirit will always direct you to do the right thing, even if it means your own persecution.

CALLER: Well, again, I believe that the things that Trump is saying about illegals, I'm 100 percent for that. I am. I don't feel that's fair.

PAT: That's great.

GLENN: That is good. So, Anita, are you --

CALLER: And go to sanctuary cities. That's wrong.

GLENN: Are you a one-issue voter? And that's fine if you are.

CALLER: Well, number one, for me, not killing our babies and cutting them into pieces when they have a beating heart at 18 days. I'm pro-life.

GLENN: Okay. So hang on just a second, Anita. Anita.

Could you play the audio, please, from Meet the Press on Donald Trump and partial-birth abortion? Listen to this.

PAT: Yeah, listen to this, Anita.

VOICE: Partial-birth abortion, the eliminating of abortion in the third trimester. Big issue in Washington. Would President Trump ban partial-birth abortion?

DONALD: Well, look, I'm -- I'm very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion. I hate it. I hate everything it stands for. I cringe when I listen to people debating the subject, but you still -- I just believe in choice.

PAT: Oh.

DONALD: And, again, it may be a little bit of a New York background, because there's some different attitude and some different parts of the country. And, you know, I was raised in New York. And I grew up and worked and everything else in New York City. But I am strongly for choice, and yet, I hate the concept of abortion.

GLENN: Okay.

CALLER: What year was that interview? 1997?

PAT: 1999.

GLENN: 1999. And can tell you me --

CALLER: Okay. Do you know why -- I'm going to be very honest? I was married, and I was 26. And I got an abortion. And do you know why? Until I was in college and I actually saw the film, The Silent Scream, and I actually was educated on the truth about partial-birth abortion, I also was pro-choice until God changed my heart.

GLENN: Anita, I think that's --

PAT: You have a pivot point, what's his?

GLENN: Anita, that is a brilliant statement. And I'm glad God changed your heart. And like Pat just said, "You can tell me what your pivot point is." You can describe it. What was the movie theater like? Or where did you see the Silent Scream? Where did you see it?

CALLER: It wasn't. It was actually when I was a student at the University of Delaware, and I wanted to do --

GLENN: Hold on. Please answer my question. Anita, please listen to me. Please just answer the question. Where did you see it? Can you tell me what the room looked like?

CALLER: It was actually at the University of Delaware. They had it there. The Silent Scream.

GLENN: Where was it? I understand. Please.

CALLER: It was called The Silent Scream.

GLENN: No. I know that. Anita, please listen to me. What did the room look like where you saw it?

CALLER: It was in the basement of the library at the University of Delaware.

GLENN: Okay. Were there a lot of lights or not very many lights?

CALLER: No. It was actually me watching it by myself.

GLENN: You were by yourself.

CALLER: Yes.

GLENN: And what was the chair like that you sat in?

CALLER: It was a regular chair that you have at a university setting. I don't remember every detail about that chair. All I remember was --

GLENN: Okay. Hold on. Please listen to me. Please listen to me. You remember pretty much everything about that moment. You may not know the details of that chair, but you remember what that room looked like. You can tell me everything about your pivot point. Can you tell me now, Anita, what the pivot point was with Donald Trump, where Donald Trump, just in the 2000s, and I believe right before the election of '08 was still very pro-choice and still after '08 talked about appointing somebody to the Supreme Court that is wildly pro-choice. Can you tell me what his pivot point was that we should now believe? Because I do believe in redemption. I do believe people change their mind. I do believe in pivot points. But you have to tell me what it was. What changed his mind?

CALLER: Okay. What about Ted Cruz's father?

GLENN: No, no. Can you tell me -- I can tell you his pivot point.

CALLER: -- Jesus his Savior, went and got his son and his wife, and they made it work, Glenn.

GLENN: Right. Exactly right. And what was his pivot point? Can you tell me what Rafael's pivot point was? He met a preacher, right?

CALLER: Who actually told him about Jesus. So why don't you give Trump the same opportunity to say --

GLENN: He's had it. He's had it. He's had it.

PAT: We gave him the choice.

GLENN: He's had it.

STU: In 2015, he wanted to appoint a Supreme Court justice that supports partial-birth abortion.

GLENN: 2015.

STU: 2015. Now, I know that's last year. So maybe we're supposed to excuse that too.

GLENN: There was something big that happened, Anita, between now and 2015 last year that was big enough to say, "I'm not for -- not just abortion, partial-birth abortion is what he was for." Now he's not for that. So tell me what it was?

CALLER: I know God changed my heart on the issue of life.

STU: On 2015, even 2015 we have to make these excuses?

GLENN: So let me say this. And Anita, if this doesn't ring to you, nothing will. And we're wasting our time. And we can bid each other a fond farewell. Donald Trump just said last summer that he hasn't done anything where he had to ask forgiveness for God. Nothing.

CALLER: I remember him saying that.

GLENN: You remember that?

CALLER: Yeah, I remember him saying that.

GLENN: He's never had to ask for forgiveness. If you are for and advocating partial-birth abortion and then you have something happen in your life, which we don't know about -- something happen in your life that is so jarring that in a six-month period, you can say, "I am not -- not only am I not for partial-birth abortion, I'm not for any abortion," something happened in your life. And it would drive you enough to your knees to say, "Lord, please forgive me for advocating for partial-birth abortion and all abortion. Please forgive me." If he can't tell you --

CALLER: Well, would you be willing to have Donald Trump on and say that? What you just said -- would you have him on and say that to him?

GLENN: Oh, dear God, Anita.

STU: We've invited him. He's refused.

PAT: He won't come on the show.

GLENN: He's refused. He won't come on. Because he doesn't have the balls to face actual questions.

STU: Obviously.

CALLER: Well, I don't think that's very Christ-like, you just saying that. And, again --

GLENN: Okay. Anita, I appreciate it.

STU: This is the level.

GLENN: Thank you so much, Anita. I appreciate it. These are the kinds of circular arguments that you get. And she claims not to be a Trump fan.

STU: Good heavens.

PAT: Jeez, man.

GLENN: Listen to what she's willing to accept.

PAT: And why?

GLENN: And talk to me about the Spirit.

JEFFY: The Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit.

GLENN: The Holy Spirit. Where he won't even ask for forgiveness from God. I am being lectured about the Spirit, and she has the full armor for him. It's amazing.

Don't tell me it's not about authoritarianism. She wants someone to pay for what's happening on the border. That's it.

(Later in the program)

GLENN: You found the clothing comment that you made?

STU: Yeah, she was right. I actually did talk about the clothing line, and I had not remembered this.

GLENN: This is a listener that just called in a few minutes ago, said she was very upset at Stu because he made it personal because he was talking about Donald Trump's clothing line, which wouldn't make it personal, would make it about his clothing line. But go ahead.

STU: Yeah. And here's what I -- Pat actually started it off talking about how Macy's dropped his clothing line.

JEFFY: Right.

STU: And then Pat said, "I mean, none of this legitimate. None of that should be happening." And then I did chime in there saying, "Right. It shouldn't happen. The second he becomes a Republican candidate, they all boycott him. He was saying this stuff before. Just now because he's a Republican candidate, they were all fired up about it."

PAT: So it's actually us standing up for his clothing line.

JEFFY: Listen to that hate.

PAT: Okay.

STU: We were actually defending him against the boycotts.

PAT: I will say this though, if your main issue is gang rape on the border -- and Anita seemed to be all fired up about gang rape -- maybe your guy is Ted Cruz who actually fought to get a guy who had committed gang rape and murder executed in Texas for it, while Bush, George W. Bush fought against him in the international courts.

GLENN: It was the country -- it was the beginning of my breaking point with George W. Bush was what was happening on the border. But that's a different story.

Featured Image: Screenshot from The Glenn Beck Program

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking: Chart-topping ‘singer’ has no soul at all

VCG / Contributor | Getty Images

A machine can imitate heartbreak well enough to top the charts, but it cannot carry grief, choose courage, or hear the whisper that calls human beings to something higher.

The No. 1 country song in America right now was not written in Nashville or Texas or even L.A. It came from code. “Walk My Walk,” the AI-generated single by the AI artist Breaking Rust, hit the top spot on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart, and if you listen to it without knowing that fact, you would swear a real singer lived the pain he is describing.

Except there is no “he.” There is no lived experience. There is no soul behind the voice dominating the country music charts.

If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

I will admit it: I enjoy some AI music. Some of it is very good. And that leaves us with a question that is no longer science fiction. If a machine can fake being human this well, what does it mean to be human?

A new world of artificial experience

This is not just about one song. We are walking straight into a technological moment that will reshape everyday life.

Elon Musk said recently that we may not even have phones in five years. Instead, we will carry a small device that listens, anticipates, and creates — a personal AI agent that knows what we want to hear before we ask. It will make the music, the news, the podcasts, the stories. We already live in digital bubbles. Soon, those bubbles might become our own private worlds.

If an algorithm can write a hit country song about hardship and perseverance without a shred of actual experience, then the deeper question becomes unavoidable: If a machine can imitate the soul, then what is the soul?

What machines can never do

A machine can produce, and soon it may produce better than we can. It can calculate faster than any human mind. It can rearrange the notes and words of a thousand human songs into something that sounds real enough to fool millions.

But it cannot care. It cannot love. It cannot choose right and wrong. It cannot forgive because it cannot be hurt. It cannot stand between a child and danger. It cannot walk through sorrow.

A machine can imitate the sound of suffering. It cannot suffer.

The difference is the soul. The divine spark. The thing God breathed into man that no code will ever have. Only humans can take pain and let it grow into compassion. Only humans can take fear and turn it into courage. Only humans can rebuild their lives after losing everything. Only humans hear the whisper inside, the divine voice that says, “Live for something greater.”

We are building artificial minds. We are not building artificial life.

Questions that define us

And as these artificial minds grow sharper, as their tools become more convincing, the right response is not panic. It is to ask the oldest and most important questions.

Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of freedom? What is worth defending? What is worth sacrificing for?

That answer is not found in a lab or a server rack. It is found in that mysterious place inside each of us where reason meets faith, where suffering becomes wisdom, where God reminds us we are more than flesh and more than thought. We are not accidents. We are not circuits. We are not replaceable.

Europa Press News / Contributor | Getty Images

The miracle machines can never copy

Being human is not about what we can produce. Machines will outproduce us. That is not the question. Being human is about what we can choose. We can choose to love even when it costs us something. We can choose to sacrifice when it is not easy. We can choose to tell the truth when the world rewards lies. We can choose to stand when everyone else bows. We can create because something inside us will not rest until we do.

An AI content generator can borrow our melodies, echo our stories, and dress itself up like a human soul, but it cannot carry grief across a lifetime. It cannot forgive an enemy. It cannot experience wonder. It cannot look at a broken world and say, “I am going to build again.”

The age of machines is rising. And if we do not know who we are, we will shrink. But if we use this moment to remember what makes us human, it will help us to become better, because the one thing no algorithm will ever recreate is the miracle that we exist at all — the miracle of the human soul.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Shocking shift: America’s youth lured by the “Socialism trap”

Jeremy Weine / Stringer | Getty Images

A generation that’s lost faith in capitalism is turning to the oldest lie on earth: equality through control.

Something is breaking in America’s young people. You can feel it in every headline, every grocery bill, every young voice quietly asking if the American dream still means anything at all.

For many, the promise of America — work hard, build something that lasts, and give the next generation a better start — feels like it no longer exists. Home ownership and stability have become luxuries for a fortunate few.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them.

In that vacuum of hope, a new promise has begun to rise — one that sounds compassionate, equal, and fair. The promise of socialism.

The appeal of a broken dream

When the American dream becomes a checklist of things few can afford — a home, a car, two children, even a little peace — disappointment quickly turns to resentment. The average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. Debt lasts longer than marriages. The cost of living rises faster than opportunity.

For a generation that has never seen the system truly work, capitalism feels like a rigged game built to protect those already at the top.

That is where socialism finds its audience. It presents itself as fairness for the forgotten and justice for the disillusioned. It speaks softly at first, offering equality, compassion, and control disguised as care.

We are seeing that illusion play out now in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani — an open socialist — has won a major political victory. The same ideology that once hid behind euphemisms now campaigns openly throughout America’s once-great cities. And for many who feel left behind, it sounds like salvation.

But what socialism calls fairness is submission dressed as virtue. What it calls order is obedience. Once the system begins to replace personal responsibility with collective dependence, the erosion of liberty is only a matter of time.

The bridge that never ends

Socialism is not a destination; it is a bridge. Karl Marx described it as the necessary transition to communism — the scaffolding that builds the total state. Under socialism, people are taught to obey. Under communism, they forget that any other options exist.

History tells the story clearly. Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba — each promised equality and delivered misery. One hundred million lives were lost, not because socialism failed, but because it succeeded at what it was designed to do: make the state supreme and the individual expendable.

Today’s advocates insist their version will be different — democratic, modern, and kind. They often cite Sweden as an example, but Sweden’s prosperity was never born of socialism. It grew out of capitalism, self-reliance, and a shared moral culture. Now that system is cracking under the weight of bureaucracy and division.

ANGELA WEISS / Contributor | Getty Images

The real issue is not economic but moral. Socialism begins with a lie about human nature — that people exist for the collective and that the collective knows better than the individual.

This lie is contrary to the truths on which America was founded — that rights come not from government’s authority, but from God’s. Once government replaces that authority, compassion becomes control, and freedom becomes permission.

What young America deserves

Young Americans have many reasons to be frustrated. They were told to study, work hard, and follow the rules — and many did, only to find the goalposts moved again and again. But tearing down the entire house does not make it fairer; it only leaves everyone standing in the rubble.

Capitalism is not a perfect system. It is flawed because people are flawed, but it remains the only system that rewards creativity and effort rather than punishing them. The answer is not revolution but renewal — moral, cultural, and spiritual.

It means restoring honesty to markets, integrity to government, and faith to the heart of our nation. A people who forsake God will always turn to government for salvation, and that road always ends in dependency and decay.

Freedom demands something of us. It requires faith, discipline, and courage. It expects citizens to govern themselves before others govern them. That is the truth this generation deserves to hear again — that liberty is not a gift from the state but a calling from God.

Socialism always begins with promises and ends with permission. It tells you what to drive, what to say, what to believe, all in the name of fairness. But real fairness is not everyone sharing the same chains — it is everyone having the same chance.

The American dream was never about guarantees. It was about the right to try, to fail, and try again. That freedom built the most prosperous nation in history, and it can do so again if we remember that liberty is not a handout but a duty.

Socialism does not offer salvation. It requires subservience.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Rage isn’t conservatism — THIS is what true patriots stand for

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

Conservatism is not about rage or nostalgia. It’s about moral clarity, national renewal, and guarding the principles that built America’s freedom.

Our movement is at a crossroads, and the question before us is simple: What does it mean to be a conservative in America today?

For years, we have been told what we are against — against the left, against wokeism, against decline. But opposition alone does not define a movement, and it certainly does not define a moral vision.

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

The media, as usual, are eager to supply their own answer. The New York Times recently suggested that Nick Fuentes represents the “future” of conservatism. That’s nonsense — a distortion of both truth and tradition. Fuentes and those like him do not represent American conservatism. They represent its counterfeit.

Real conservatism is not rage. It is reverence. It does not treat the past as a museum, but as a teacher. America’s founders asked us to preserve their principles and improve upon their practice. That means understanding what we are conserving — a living covenant, not a relic.

Conservatism as stewardship

In 2025, conservatism means stewardship — of a nation, a culture, and a moral inheritance too precious to abandon. To conserve is not to freeze history. It is to stand guard over what is essential. We are custodians of an experiment in liberty that rests on the belief that rights come not from kings or Congress, but from the Creator.

That belief built this country. It will be what saves it. The Constitution is a covenant between generations. Conservatism is the duty to keep that covenant alive — to preserve what works, correct what fails, and pass on both wisdom and freedom to those who come next.

Economics, culture, and morality are inseparable. Debt is not only fiscal; it is moral. Spending what belongs to the unborn is theft. Dependence is not compassion; it is weakness parading as virtue. A society that trades responsibility for comfort teaches citizens how to live as slaves.

Freedom without virtue is not freedom; it is chaos. A culture that mocks faith cannot defend liberty, and a nation that rejects truth cannot sustain justice. Conservatism must again become the moral compass of a disoriented people, reminding America that liberty survives only when anchored to virtue.

Rebuilding what is broken

We cannot define ourselves by what we oppose. We must build families, communities, and institutions that endure. Government is broken because education is broken, and education is broken because we abandoned the formation of the mind and the soul. The work ahead is competence, not cynicism.

Conservatives should embrace innovation and technology while rejecting the chaos of Silicon Valley. Progress must not come at the expense of principle. Technology must strengthen people, not replace them. Artificial intelligence should remain a servant, never a master. The true strength of a nation is not measured by data or bureaucracy, but by the quiet webs of family, faith, and service that hold communities together. When Washington falters — and it will — those neighborhoods must stand.

Eric Lee / Stringer | Getty Images

This is the real work of conservatism: to conserve what is good and true and to reform what has decayed. It is not about slogans; it is about stewardship — the patient labor of building a civilization that remembers what it stands for.

A creed for the rising generation

We are not here to cling to the past or wallow in grievance. We are not the movement of rage. We are the movement of reason and hope.

For the rising generation, conservatism cannot be nostalgia. It must be more than a memory of 9/11 or admiration for a Reagan era they never lived through. Many young Americans did not experience those moments — and they should not have to in order to grasp the lessons they taught and the truths they embodied. The next chapter is not about preserving relics but renewing purpose. It must speak to conviction, not cynicism; to moral clarity, not despair.

Young people are searching for meaning in a culture that mocks truth and empties life of purpose. Conservatism should be the moral compass that reminds them freedom is responsibility and that faith, family, and moral courage remain the surest rebellions against hopelessness.

To be a conservative in 2025 is to defend the enduring principles of American liberty while stewarding the culture, the economy, and the spirit of a free people. It is to stand for truth when truth is unfashionable and to guard moral order when the world celebrates chaos.

We are not merely holding the torch. We are relighting it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.