Now is the time to vote on principle.

The Context

Coming off a strong surge of support and a surprising third place finish in the Iowa caucuses last week, Marco Rubio was poised for another strong outing in New Hampshire. Not only did Rubio fall out of the top three, he tumbled all the way behind Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush to finish in fifth place, leaving Glenn scratching his head wondering what just happened.

“Rubio stumbled badly,” Glenn said Wednesday on the Glenn Beck Program. “I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, I don't understand the Rubio fall here. I don't think he's a strong candidate for some reason. I don't understand it.”

Glenn may have been confused but Stu was, well, stupefied.

“Well, the guy finished --- he almost beat Donald Trump in Iowa. And he was polling at, what, 14 percent? 13 percent? He got 22 percent. He outperformed his polls dramatically. He had all of the media momentum. Everyone was saying he was the guy,” Stu said.

‘Regretful’ in New Hampshire

Rubio’s inability to seize the momentum from Iowa was confusing to some, but for Melissa who called in from New Hampshire, she left the polling booth kicking herself for not sticking to her guns.

“My husband and I, you know, we've been supporters of Ted Cruz. We were going back and forth between Ted Cruz and Rubio just because I guess we just bought into listening to everybody say that Cruz is going to come in fifth or sixth. We wanted our votes to count, so we ended up literally walking in and voting for Rubio. And we were literally kicking ourselves last night because we could have put our votes to Ted Cruz,” Melissa said.

“And I just never thought that somebody like Ted Cruz would come in how he did, just based on the majority of people up here. I really didn't think that there was any point in voting for him. And we just really, really regret that now.”

Rubio’s stumble just might be the silver lining in this year’s election for Ted Cruz supporters. With Rubio being the "electable" one and finishing behind Cruz in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the voters just might turn the corner on Cruz’ electability issues and start voting their convictions.

Voting Your Conscience

Stu jumped in on the conversation to point something out Glenn has been calling on the audience to do for some time now, vote your conscience and convictions. The three then exchanged thoughts on how things may have gone differently in New Hampshire had more people followed that advice.

“This is a good lesson, I think, Melissa, if I may,” Stu said. “In that, you can't try to strategically vote and try to figure out how to manipulate the process with your one vote.”

“Exactly. You have to vote for your conviction. You really do,” Melissa agreed.

“How many people do you think felt that way?” Glenn asked.

“I think he would have come very close to Kasich, if not better, if people truly voted the way --- you know, to their convictions,” Melissa said.

It wouldn’t be a serious conversation on the Glenn Beck Program without a prediction, and Glenn did not disappoint.

“Now is the time now is the time to do that. And what we have at stake is --- please listen to me. The revolution that is coming. Bernie Sanders is a revolution of socialism. Donald Trump is a revolution of cronyism, I think personally fascism. But cronyism.”

Principled in the Desert

Matt calling from Nevada was one step ahead of Glenn in 2012 and voted third party rather than compromise his principles.

“But in 2012, we were so dedicated on principle that we just could not pull the lever for Romney,” Matt said. “We actually voted third party for Gary Johnson. And I did not want to see another four years of Obama, but I had to vote for principles.”

“Good for you,” Glenn said. "I will say this, I'm trying to be that man.”

The conversation turned toward Donald Trump when Scott in Utah called in to discuss how the “conservative” media has treated Cruz and embraced Trump.

“Rush loves Ted Cruz. For some reason, they've allowed this Donald Trump train to run off the rails. There is absolutely --- I would like all of these guys to say, if Ted Cruz is not your number one guy, Rush, Sean, conservatives on Fox News, give me the one reason you don't like Ted Cruz? Or they do like him. What's the one reason why you would rather have Donald than Ted?  Because I don't get it. And it's driving me crazy,” Scott said.

Scott’s honest questioning prompted a strong response from Glenn.

“I'm going to make a pretty bold statement. And I'll back it up from something I have in from the media here in a minute. If Donald Trump wins the nomination of the party, it will be in large thanks to Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Because you're exactly right,” Glenn said.

Common Sense Bottom Line

Whether it was just a bad performance in the last debate or something deeper, Marco Rubio appears to be on the downslope of his wave. Now is the time for voters to stick to their principles and pull the lever for the candidate that best fits their values so they can lay down and night and not kick themselves for voting the lesser of two evils.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

GLENN:  Rubio stumbled badly.  I don't know what's going to happen.  I mean, I don't understand the Rubio fall here.  I don't think he's a strong candidate for some reason.  I don't understand it.

STU:  That's so weird though.  It was the exact opposite literally Friday.

PAT:  It is.

STU:  Friday was this -- here he is --

GLENN:  But how much of that was media hype?

STU:  Well, the guy finished -- he almost beat Donald Trump in Iowa.  And he was polling at, what, 14 percent?  13 percent?  He got 22 percent.  He outperformed his polls dramatically.  He had all of the media momentum.  Everyone was saying he was the guy.

PAT:  He was polling second or third in New Hampshire.

STU:  Yeah, he was.

PAT:  And I didn't think he was that bad at the -- at the debate.

GLENN:  Yeah, I didn't think so either.

PAT:  But everybody is making it out like Chris Christie crushed him.  I don't know that that's the case.  I mean, everybody has the memorized speech they use.  I mean, good golly.  

GLENN:  Yeah, we defended it yesterday.  

PAT:  Chris Christie himself with the federal prosecutor thing, that drives me out of my mind.  And as we've talked about, every single time he goes to, "See, that's what I'm talking.  These two senators over here.  They're senators.  They don't get anything done.  I'm a governor.  You don't want senators.  You want a governor."  Shut up.  It's the same thing every time.

STU:  Yeah.

PAT:  So why is that so bad with Rubio and not Christie and certainly not Trump?  I mean, Trump's repeat thing -- I think we played that yesterday.  It's outrageous how many times he talks about the big, beautiful wall.  In the same stupid way he talks about it every time.  And it's embarrassing to listen to, and yet he does it every step.

GLENN:  No.  I don't know what happened to Rubio.

PAT:  I don't either.

GLENN:  But I think there's a chance that Rubio -- that Rubio folds now.  That Rubio is over.

PAT:  Well, he'll wait until after South Carolina.

GLENN:  No, I'm not saying drop out.

PAT:  Yeah.

GLENN:  I'm saying this wave of Rubio.  That Rubio had his moment and it for some reason passed.

PAT:  Well, it does happen quickly in these things.

GLENN:  It does.

STU:  It's so frustrating in this election process that seemingly this happened to a lot of candidates.  And a lot of good candidates.  You know, Scott Walker this happened to.

GLENN:  But you can explain it.  Here me out for a second.  This doesn't explain New Hampshire.  But who is voting for Rubio?  Who I think is voting for Rubio are these people who say, "You know what, he was a Tea Party guy, and he's Hispanic.  And he can win.  And he's a good speaker.  And he's young."  But there's not a lot of depth there.  Okay.  I don't see anybody that is like, "He's the guy that can change the world."  He's the guy that can win; that's what they all say.  Rubio can win.  Not the guy that changes the world.

STU:  I think the argument for him and the caller earlier who voted for Rubio in New Hampshire and kind of regretted it because she really likes Cruz more, but thought Rubio could win kind of outlined the path for Rubio, which is a guy who is conservative enough, but can win.  Where people would say Ted Cruz, he's too conservative.  He can't win.

GLENN:  That's what they said about Ronald Reagan.

STU:  Right.  Of course.  Obviously I disagree with that analysis.  But, I mean, I can understand -- like I don't understand the electability argument with Donald Trump.  I do understand it with Marco Rubio.  He polls very well against the other side.  And he was doing everything that would go down this path until that debate.  And it seemed to completely turn around there, for some reason.

GLENN:  You know, when we come back, I want to talk a little bit -- we have a guy from Nevada that I want to talk to.  And then I want to share a little -- people are comparing Ted Cruz to the Ronald Reagan years.  I think that's a wrong comparison.  I think people should compare him to Calvin Coolidge.  And it's a more accurate description and even a more powerful win than what Reagan -- what Reagan did in the 1980s.  I'll explain, coming up.

(OUT AT 9:32AM)

GLENN:  This is a never a good thing when somebody on the staff says, I have an announcement to make.  But Jeffy has an announcement to make today.  And you're going to make that a little later on in the program?

JEFFY:  I do have an announcement to make.  And I'm excited for it.

STU:  A major announcement, would you say?

JEFFY:  Yes, it's a major announcement.  For this program, it's a major announcement.

GLENN:  So he'll be doing that coming up in a little while.

JEFFY:  I don't even want to tell you what it is yet.  You'll be excited.

GLENN:  Let me go to Matt in Nevada.  Hello, Matt, you're on the Glenn Beck Program.

CALLER:  Good morning, gentlemen.  Glenn, it's an honor.  Thank you for taking my call.  

GLENN:  Thank you. 

CALLER:  There was a time where you saved my life, man.  But I know time is limited.  I'll get right to it.

GLENN:  Well, now, you can't say that.  You saved my life.  I don't remember pulling you out of a burning truck.  What happened?

CALLER:  Pretty much, man.  In a spiritual sense, man.  You just could never know what you've done to change my life, man.  And I could never repay that.  And thank you enough.  And thank you.

GLENN:  You can start with a 100-dollar check.

(laughter)

CALLER:  So the reason why I'm calling this morning is because my wife and I, we're pretty Libertarian.  We've been involved on the ground game here in Nevada.  The last two elections, we were big Ron Paul people.  This time around, Rand cast his hat in the game, so we got involved to try and help Rand.  Now, from the beginning, there were really two candidates that I saw as constitutional, that I really believed I could get behind and support.  And obviously that's Rand, but also Ted Cruz.  Ted Cruz -- you've shown his record -- is just so solid on the Constitution.  

So when Rand announced that he was suspending his campaign, my wife and I -- and we were torn the whole way.  We weren't sure, you know, if we were going to go all-in on Rand.  But we knew when he suspended his campaign, that we were going to go for Cruz.  

So last night, we both got this random text message from an individual, claiming to be a part of the Rand Paul campaign, saying that Rand's name is still on the ballot for the caucus that we're going to have here in Nevada on the 23rd.  And this person was saying that, you know, Rand could still win.  And that they have us down as supporting Dr. Paul and we need to come and show up for him.

GLENN:  Don't do it.

CALLER:  So I responded to this person and said, "Hey, that's great.  But Rand is out of the game.  He doesn't have a chance at doing it anymore.  And with cults of personality like Donald Trump, I can't see voting for anybody at this point besides Ted Cruz."  And I won't tell you what this person texted me next.  But needless to say, my wife and I got pretty nasty text messages from this person.

GLENN:  I would like you to read it.  

STU:  Well...

GLENN:  Just delete the foul words.

CALLER:  Well, let me see -- she got it worse than I did.  But basically this person tried to disparage Ted.  Says, "If you and everyone else that supported him before was supposed to show up, then he can win Nevada.  If you need a paid campaign to sabotage him, then don't vote for him.  And don't vote on principle."  

I had to edit that up a little bit.  Basically, this person is saying I'm not principled.  Now, I beg to differ on that.  For example -- Pat is probably going to be mad at me on this one.  Sorry, brother.  

But in 2012, we were so dedicated on principle that we just could not pull the lever for Romney.  We actually voted third party for Gary Johnson.

GLENN:  Good for you.

CALLER:  And I did not want to see another four years of Obama, but I had to vote for principles.

GLENN:  Good for you.  I will say this, I'm trying to be that man.  Pat has already bailed on that man.

PAT:  No, I haven't.

GLENN:  Yes, you have.  You've already said you would vote for anybody.  You'd vote for anybody.

PAT:  I did not say I would vote for anybody.  When did I say that?

GLENN:  Well, okay -- oh, my God.

PAT:  Oh, you pull the tape, my friend.  You pull the sound.  I did not say, "I'll vote for anybody!"

GLENN:  Last week --

PAT:  What?

GLENN:  You didn't say anybody.  But you were like --

PAT:  What did I say?

GLENN:  You'd vote for Jeb.  You'd vote for any of the guys on our side.

PAT:  Over Hillary or Bernie?

GLENN:  Over Hillary and Bernie.  You will not pull third party.  I think you said you'd vote for Trump over Hillary --

PAT:  I think I felt that way, that one day.

GLENN:  Oh.  Okay.  All right.  

(laughter)

PAT:  I would not vote for Trump under any circumstances.

GLENN:  Okay.  I want that on tape.  Shh.

PAT:  I will not vote for Donald Trump under any circumstances.  

GLENN:  Okay.  All right.  

So, anyway, Matt, good for you.  We're trying to be that man of principle now.  

PAT:  Yeah.  

GLENN:  Anyway, go ahead.

CALLER:  Well, I'm going to pull the lever for Ted.  I don't see what pulling the lever for Rand would do at this point.  He's got a really tough --

PAT:  He left the race.  It would be a waste.  Is that even from his official people?  I doubt what you got was even from Rand's people because Rand is not running anymore.  Is he?

GLENN:  No.

CALLER:  Well, the response we gave to them was, if you're trying to convince me -- I mean, this person was very rude.  And I was like, "If you're trying to convince me, you're not doing a good job."  Like, I asked some questions.  What would be the point?  I mean, Rand does have a very strong ground game in Nevada.  A lot of it was built by his father.  So he had a lot of the same supporters come out.  I mean, we've been involved here on the ground.  We have a lot of great friends.  But, you know, I -- I think, Glenn, you've touched on this a few times.  This election is too important to throw away your vote.  I mean, we have a guy who is constitutional.  We have a guy that is rock solid on the Constitution.

GLENN:  So here's the reason that Rand would say this to you.  The reason why the Rand people would say this to you is because there is something about having delegates, that you can come to the convention and broker those delegates and get something that you want from one of the candidates.  You come up and you say, "Okay.  I've got X-number of delegates from Nevada.  Who is the highest bidder here?  Which of the candidates --

CALLER:  I'm not sure if you know or not, but they actually changed that rule at the convention in 2012.  And it was because Ron Paul, his strategy was to try and scoop up as many delegates as he could.  And there's actually a really scandalous video clip -- you can find it on YouTube -- where John Boehner comes out, and they passed it.  The yays and the nays, and it sounded pretty sketchy, man.  It sounded like the nays had it, but he still passed it anyway.  

GLENN:  I remember that.

CALLER:  And you can see cell phone footage of him reading from the prompter.

GLENN:  Remember that?

PAT:  Yeah.

GLENN:  I remember that now.  So there's no reason that I can come up with.

PAT:  There is none.

GLENN:  The only thing I can say -- I talk to both Rand -- I consider both of them friends.  I talked to both Rand and Ted, before, during, and after this race.  And as God is my witness, and the three of you guys know this too, that all the -- at the very beginning, I sat down with both of them, and I said, "Please, guys.  You're both constitutionalist.  Please don't kill each other."

CALLER:  Right.

GLENN:  Aim your guns at other people, but we need one of you guys to win.  And I don't know why -- I really don't know why -- and I can give you my guess, I think that Rand kind of feels like it was his turn and he was going to be the constitutionalist and he's kind of pissed at -- at Cruz because he feels like Ted kind of came out of nowhere and elbowed his way in when he had the real chance of winning.

CALLER:  Yep.

GLENN:  And that's just my feeling.

CALLER:  Oh, I think you're absolutely right.  And I have to give Ted credit because, you know, I watched the debates, and I can't tell you how bad my skin was crawling when I saw Rand going after him.  And the thing that impressed me most was Ted didn't fire back.  He -- he never once --

PAT:  He usually doesn't.

CALLER:  I haven't heard Ted say one thing negative about Rand Paul.  And I wish that Rand hadn't have done that.  I really hope that people who are in the Rand Paul camp like I have been -- I mean, we are ardent Libertarians.  Ron Paul supporters.  Rand Paul supporters.  But if you can't see the value of Ted Cruz at this point, I don't know what -- what you want because, I mean, Ted is it, man.  He's the guy.  And, you know, and we need Rand to keep his Senate seat.

GLENN:  If the roles were reversed, I would be saying the same thing that I'm saying about Ted Cruz that I'm saying about Rand Paul.

CALLER:  I know you would, Glenn.

GLENN:  I would be taking the same exact stance.  We have to restore the Constitution.  I mean this sincerely.  This is our last chance.  If we play party politics, if we play, gee, who can win?  Who can't win?  We play those games and we lose, we get either, I don't know, Kasich or a Jeb Bush or, God forbid, a Donald Trump.

CALLER:  Oh, good grief.

GLENN:  We're toast.  We're toast.

CALLER:  Yeah.

GLENN:  And if we can't band together on -- both those guys were great on the Constitution.  Both of them.  One of them is leading the pack.  It's time for everybody -- and this means not just Ron Paul people, but I think this means Carson people.  It is time to wake up and realize the sorry state of the situation and realize there is one guy that will stand for religious freedom, one guy who will stand for freedom of speech, one guy that will reduce the size of government in a dramatic way, one guy who will stop Common Core in its tracks, one guy who will stop the IRS in its tracks, one guy who will restore the Constitution.  The other guys don't have a chance of winning now.  This guy does.  And if we don't pull together, you're going have somebody slip right between and win and take it, and then we'll lose the republic.  This is the moment the republic decides whether they're going to -- whether they're going to live or die.  

This is the moment that Franklin talked about.  When he was walking down the street, "Mr. Franklin, what did you give us?"  

"A republic, if you can keep it."

This is the moment we decide if we can keep it.  And playing those games are infantile and futile.  

So thank you very much, Matt.  I appreciate it.  

By the way, I'm going to be in Nevada.  I'm going to be in South Carolina Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.  And hope to see you there.  Just check my Facebook page or GlennBeck.com.  You can find out where.  

Let me go to Scott in Utah quickly.  Hello, Scott, you're on the Glenn Beck Program.

CALLER:  Well, unfortunately what I have to say is not quick.  But I do agree 100 percent with what you're saying.  If Rand Paul can't get behind Ted Cruz and allow Donald Trump to continue this march, (?) because Rand Paul's people could help, I lose a lot of respect for him, Glenn.  I don't care if he's your friend or not.  It's time to coalesce behind Ted Cruz.

GLENN:  I agree.

CALLER:  The reason why Donald Trump is where he is, it's very simple.  People don't think anymore for themselves.  People don't have time to watch all the debates.  So they watch the Fox News coverage after the debates.  I'm talking Republicans.  I'm talking smart people.  I'm talking passionate people.  And they parrot everything they hear on Fox News the next day.  It used to be (?) because he was at 5 percent in August.  Now since Thanksgiving in December or Christmas, it's Ted Cruz can't win because he's not likable.  I don't think he can pull the party together.  It's what they're hearing on Fox News negatively about Ted Cruz.  And now Fox News doesn't even criticize Donald Trump anymore.  You've got six hours of talk radio, between you and Mark Levin every day, that is a pom-pom waving (?) of Donald Trump.  And what is this Marco Rubio electability thing that Hannity says over and over -- when did we start doing that?  I think Marco -- what about electability?  I never thought Hannity would ever say that.  Rush's old line was conservatism wins every time it's tried.

GLENN:  Where are they?

CALLER:  Rush loves Ted Cruz.  (?) for some reason, they've allowed this Donald Trump train to run off the rails.  There is absolutely -- I would like all of these guys to say, if Ted Cruz is not your number one guy, Rush, Sean, conservatives on Fox News, why not is this give me the one reason you don't like Ted Cruz?  (?) or they do like him.  What's the one reason why you would rather have Donald than Ted?  Because I don't get it.  And it's driving me crazy.

PAT:  They'll all tell you they're not for Donald Trump.  They will all tell you --

GLENN:  They'll all tell you.  They are friends.  They go golfing with him.  (?) they're not for him.  They're just telling it like it is.  But I'm telling you --

CALLER:  Yeah, but you understand, the people that listen to them are the majority of Republican voters unfortunately.  They're my friends.  They're my friends from all over the country.  And they don't pay a whole lot of attention.  But when they hear Rush defending Donald Trump day in -- I mean, this is eight months, guys.  This is not a -- all day, every day for eight months.

GLENN:  I'm going to make a pretty bold statement.  And I'll back it up from something I have in from the media here in a minute.  (?) if Donald Trump wins the nomination of the party, it will be in large thanks to Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity.  Because you're exactly right.  And I'm going to back this up (?) with something I found in a media website today coming up in just a minute.

Featured Image: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) talks with reporters on his charter flight from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport February 10, 2016 en route to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Rubio placed fifth in the New Hampshire primary, behind fellow GOP candidates Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Donald Trump, who swept away the competition with 35-percent of the vote. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)