A new two-minute video from liberal professor and political commentator Robert Reich backfired in delivering its intended message: Ted Cruz is more dangerous than Donald Trump.
Instead, Reich inadvertently made the case that Cruz is a better presidential choice for conservatives due to his "strict, originalist view" of the Constitution. Reich, who believes Bernie Sanders' economic proposals would spur growth, may have delivered the best endorsement yet for electing Cruz.
"There is a video explaining why Ted Cruz is more dangerous than Donald Trump, and I'm watching this, and I'm thinking, 'You got to be kidding me, right? I mean, did Ted Cruz write this?' It is phenomenal," Glenn said Monday on The Glenn Beck Program. "I never saw anything like it. I saw Ted last night, and I said, 'You need to run this at all of your rallies.' Here is a guy on the left making the case to his followers why anyone, but Ted Cruz should win."
Here are Reich's four reasons why Ted Cruz is more dangerous that Donald Trump:
Number One
• Cruz is more fanatical, a fierce ideologue who takes a strict, originalist view of the meaning of the Constitution. He denies the existence of man-made climate change, rejects same-sex marriage, wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, believes the Second Amendment guarantees everyone a right to guns, doesn't believe in a constitutional divide between church and state, favors the death penalty, rejects immigration reform and demands the repeal of Obamacare.
• Trump is a bully, but he doesn't adhere to any sharp, ideological line.
Number Two
• Cruz is a true believer, embracing right wing economic and political views.
• Donald Trump has no firm principles, except making money, getting attention and gaining power.
Number Three
• Cruz is more disciplined and strategic, using a clear script and a carefully crafted strategy. He plays the long game, as he's shown in Iowa.
• Trump is all over the place, often winging it saying whatever pops into his mind.
Number Four
• Cruz is a loner who is willing to destroy institutions. His opposition to Obamacare led in a significant way to the shutdown of the federal government.
• Trump has spent his career using the federal government and making friends with big shots.
There's never been a more glowing endorsement for a conservative candidate. Thank you, Robert Reich.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
GLENN: From Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the weekend of South Carolina and Nevada. Trump and Hillary both claimed victory. In a matchup between Hillary and Trump, which one does America want? Actually let me revise that. In a matchup between Hillary and a Hillary donor, which one does America want? And what do the exit polls actually say from South Carolina? Plus, an amazing video from Robert Reich, you know, the guy from the left, the big Clinton supporter. It is the most powerful campaign ad I have ever seen. The problem is: He was trying to make an anti-campaign ad for somebody. We begin there, right now.
(music)
GLENN: From Las Vegas, Nevada. So glad that you've turned in. Hello, America. Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.
Yesterday, I saw an -- a saw a video on YouTube from Robert Reich. Robert Reich is -- I don't know. He's a bizarre economist with the Clinton campaign -- or, has been with the Clinton campaign for many, many years. Been with Bill Clinton and is a guy who is absolutely upside down and does not agree with the right at all. Conservatives are, you know, the Antichrist to him.
There is a video explaining why Ted Cruz is more dangerous than Donald Trump. And I'm watching this, and I'm thinking, "You got to be kidding me, right? I mean, did Ted Cruz write this?" It is phenomenal.
PAT: I thought the same.
GLENN: Right. I never saw anything like it. I saw Ted last night, and I said, "You need to run this at all of your rallies." Here is a guy on the left making the case to his followers why anyone, but Ted Cruz should win. Listen to this.
ROBERT: Four reasons Ted Cruz is even more dangerous than Donald Trump.
Number one, Cruz is more fanatical. Now, Trump is a bully, but he doesn't adhere to any sharp ideological line. Cruz is a fierce ideologue. He denies the existence of man-made climate change, rejects same-sex marriage, wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service.
PAT: Is that a bad thing for anyone?
GLENN: Yeah. I know. He wants to abolish the IRS. No.
PAT: Oh, no. No. No. I didn't realize that about him.
ROBERT: Believes the Second Amendment guarantees everyone a right to guns.
PAT: Yes, it's the Second Amendment.
(chuckling)
GLENN: And the Supreme Court.
PAT: Yeah. Yeah.
ROBERT: He doesn't believe in a constitutional divide between church and state.
PAT: Yeah, and neither does the Constitution, by the way.
ROBERT: Favors the death penalty. Rejects immigration reform. Demands the repeal of Obamacare. And Cruz takes a strict, originalist view of the meaning of the Constitution.
(gasping)
GLENN: Okay. Stop. Stop.
PAT: No!
GLENN: So far, I'm like, "He's my guy."
PAT: Yeah.
GLENN: I mean, I've never heard anything -- but it gets better. Wait. There's more.
ROBERT: Cruz is a true believer.
Donald Trump has no firm principles, except making money, getting attention, and gaining power. Cruz has much of his life embracing radical right economic and political views.
Number three --
PAT: Wow. Wow.
GLENN: Stop. Okay. So Cruz -- look, Donald Trump, he doesn't actually believe in anything, except himself and making money and everything else. But Cruz has actually spent his life really embracing these things. And they're all crazy.
PAT: Uh-huh. It's incredible. I mean, this seriously should be a campaign ad for Ted Cruz. For sure.
ROBERT: Discipline and strategic --
GLENN: Stop. Stop. Stop.
PAT: More disciplined. Strategic --
GLENN: Here's point number three: Cruz is disciplined and strategic, where Trump is just all over the place.
PAT: Yes. Uh-huh.
ROBERT: -- winging it, saying whatever pops into his mind. Cruz uses a clear script and a carefully crafted strategy. He plays the long game, as he has shown in Iowa. And fourth and finally, Cruz is a loner willing to destroy institutions. Trump has spent his career using the federal government and making friends with big HEP shots.
PAT: Can you -- he spent his career using the government.
GLENN: Okay. Here's an example of this. And this is the kind of stuff, guys, that you're going to see --
PAT: Wow.
GLENN: This is what you're going to see in the mainstream media come July if Donald Trump is the candidate.
PAT: Yep.
GLENN: Try this one on for size. Donald Trump said, you know, you remember when Donald Trump did this big deal. And this is exactly how it will be presented on NBC.
Remember when he said that -- oh, you know, how dare you say -- I had friends that died in the World Trade Center. So far -- and this is the way, again, the media will portray this. So far, NBC has reached out to the Trump campaign several times and cannot get one name of anybody that Donald Trump was friends with. We also looked at the records, and there is no record of Donald Trump attending any funerals for any individual after 9/11.
Okay. The press has already done that. But they haven't stood on it. But here comes the hammer. Donald Trump owns 40 Wall Street, a building worth $400 million. And on paper, is making $26.5 million every year. Donald Trump, after the government put together a package for small businesses to help those mom-and-pop stores in lower Manhattan that had been damaged or hurt by September 11th, Donald Trump and 40 Wall Street filed a claim to try to get money out of the small business fund.
He actually -- a business that makes $26.5 million a year. $20 million over the limit, somehow or another was able to receive a grant of $150,000, taking that $150,000 from the mom-and-pop small businesses that truly needed it. Brian, back to you.
That's exactly how it's going to happen. That's exactly what's going to happen.
Here's Donald Trump. And this is what Robert Reich was saying. He has spent his career taking money from the government. We know this because of the documentaries we have seen. And some of them are now posted. Documentaries that Donald Trump got shut down back in the '90s that are now starting to pop up on the news because he can't muscle NBC. He can't muscle ABC. The internet is there.
And now you're seeing in some of these documentaries how he built his business. He would go to the government and get subsidies for all his business. So what Robert Reich is saying here, "This isn't a guy who will shut down all the subsidies. This is a guy who uses the subsidies to get wealthy." This is exactly what America -- and I'm going to make a point today, and you're not going to like it. But I am going to make a point that there is a revolution coming in the next eight years. There is a revolution actually happening right now. But it is a velvet revolution. And if we choose wrong, it will not be a velvet revolution. If we stay the course and we continue down the road with corrupt crony capitalism and corrupt -- quite honestly, the kind of politics that the left is dealing in right now, where Hillary Clinton has all the superdelegates, so it doesn't really matter what the people say. The people are voting for -- for Bernie Sanders, and it is a virtual dead HEP heat between those two. But somehow or another, she wins six coin tosses, and here in Nevada, she wins the delegates by flipping over cards: He got a six. She got an ace. She gets the delegates. Your vote really doesn't matter with the left. It doesn't matter at all.
And those kinds of things where we're undermining democracy and we're undermining the confidence in true, decent, honest, and honorable capitalism is not going to last. And that's what's happening. And this is what Robert Reich is holding up and saying is a good thing. Why? Because de Tocqueville was right.
De Tocqueville, the guy who wrote Democracy in America back in the 1800s, a Frenchman who came over to America and said, "What is it that makes them special? Why is it that they are being able to cross all of these lines and hurdles and jump all these hurdles? Why is it this little teeny country is starting to explode?" And he said, "Because America is great because America is good." They had certain fundamental principles that they never violated. And the people were good and honorable and decent.
And we've lost that. And that's what -- that's where this anger is coming from. People are tired from saying, "Wait a minute. Hillary Clinton should be in jail. She shouldn't be on the campaign trail. She should be in jail." And I would like to say that those on the right would say the same thing if it was their candidate. But we wouldn't. Polls are now showing that we play the same game the left does. All of this bullcrap, quite frankly, that we all said to each other over the last eight years, "It's not about -- it's about principles. It's about the Constitution. It's about these principles they're taking and destroying." Now what are people saying? "My guy can play that game even better than they can. And I'm tired of playing by the rules."
You read my Facebook. I have never seen anything like what I'm reading on my Facebook page now: Story after story after story of people saying, "You know what, I'm tired of playing by the rules. I'm tired of being stepped on. I'm tired of having everybody win except for us. The ends justify the means. If they're not going to play by the rules, I'm not going to play by the rules."
And the problem with that is, America, you might win the game, but you're going to lose your soul. You're going to lose what made America great in the first place. You cannot play by that, unless you want to fundamentally transform the United States of America.
So let's finish this Robert Reich video.
PAT: Yeah.
ROBERT: Cruz. He's repeatedly led Republicans toward fiscal cliffs. In the fall of 2013, his opposition to Obamacare led in a significant way to the shutdown of the federal government.
PAT: No, it didn't.
ROBERT: Both men would be disastrous for America, but Ted Cruz would be the larger disaster.
(chuckling)
STU: Brought to you by the Ted Cruz campaign.
PAT: Yes.
GLENN: Can we play one more time without interrupting it. Because it's so powerful in a minute a half.
PAT: Yeah. Yeah.
ROBERT: Four reasons Ted Cruz is even more dangerous than Donald Trump: Number one, Cruz is more fanatical. Now, Trump is a bully, but he doesn't adhere to any sharp, ideological line. Cruz is a fierce ideologue. He denies the existence of man-made climate change, rejects same-sex marriage, wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, believes the Second Amendment guarantees everyone a right to guns. He doesn't believe in a constitutional divide between church and state. Favors the death penalty. Rejects immigration reform. Demands the repeal of Obamacare. And Cruz takes a strict, originalist view of the meaning of the Constitution.
Second, Cruz is a true believer. Donald Trump has no firm principles, except making money, getting attention, and gaining power. But Cruz has spent much of his life embracing radical right economic and political views.
Number three, Cruz is more disciplined and strategic. Trump is all over the place, often winging it saying whatever pops into his mind. Cruz uses a clear script and a carefully crafted strategy. He plays the long game, as he's shown in Iowa.
And fourth and finally, Cruz is a loner who is willing to destroy institutions. Trump has spent his career using the federal government and making friends with big shots. Not Cruz. He's repeatedly led Republicans toward fiscal cliffs.
In the fall of 2013, his opposition to Obamacare led in a significant way to the shutdown of the federal government. Both men would be disastrous for America, but Ted Cruz would be the larger disaster.
PAT: That is --
GLENN: I'm Ted Cruz. And I approve this message.
PAT: Yes.
GLENN: That's what super PACs should be playing right now.
PAT: Yes. Yes. Wow.
GLENN: I mean, that is the most powerful endorsement of Ted Cruz I've ever heard from Robert Reich.
Featured Image: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich (L) testifies before the Joint Economic Committee January 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. Reich joined a panel testifying on the topic of 'Income Inequality in the United States.Ó (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
