What Did Glenn's Listeners Think About Trump's Acceptance Speech?

Glenn mixed it up on his radio program Friday following Donald Trump's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

"We're going to try something different today because I want to know how the speech that Donald Trump did played to you, the average American in your home. I know how it played in my home . . . we want to hear from you," Glenn said.

As one might expect, many on the right heralded the speech, while those on the left lambasted it.

RELATED: Bill Maher on Trump’s Scary RNC Speech: ‘He Looked a Lot Like Mussolini’

"What went through your mind last night? Good or bad? What did you think America?" Glenn asked.

Here's what callers had to say:

Wallace in Kansas

Well, after 76 minutes, I actually had to go back and find a hard copy because I heard the word "Constitution" one time. I never heard the word "freedom," never heard the word "liberty." What I heard was a mashing of the last year of Donald Trump's stump speeches. I wasn't inspired, you know, very much.

I will vote for Donald Trump. A vote is not an endorsement of everything he stands for; it's just Hillary Clinton scares me so bad. If Hillary gets in, here's what I know: This country has a 100 percent chance of getting shot in the head with Hillary Clinton. With Donald Trump, it's a 99 percent. I just hope I'm in the 1 percent.

Darren in Wyoming

Well, we're screwed. We got a high school bully and a crook running as our two leaders that are going to direct our country. And the difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, about 40 pounds. So they're one and the same --- more empty promises.

Derek in Utah

Going into the speech, I thought it was going to be the same thing --- build a wall, do this, do that --- coming out, the thing that really stuck in my mind was law and order, how many times he brought that up, how he was going to restore law and order. And in some ways, I believe that is good with a lot of the things that have been going on with the police forces, but at the same time, it really scares me on how he plans on accomplishing that.

I have never been a Trump supporter. Some things I can relate to 100 percent because there's so much anger, so much hate going on in America right now, and he really tapped into that. Even with his aggressive tone, with his position that he was taking there on stage, he was embodying what a lot of Americans feel right now and bringing that out. So they were able to tap into that, but it really worries me on how he's going to accomplish that. And that's the biggest thing I took away, that I'm a little bit scared about our freedoms and our liberties.

Carol in New York

My frame of mind going into it was, with our options, I was feeling desperate. I'm going to vote, but what decision am I going to make? I wanted to like him. No, I absolutely wanted to like him. The problem is that I don't, and I don't trust him. But there was something last night that changed my heart about him. I guess I'm -- I'm -- I love God, and I love our country. I run a food pantry. I've been a giver my whole life, and not because I'm a good person, but because God is good. And I believe our country needs to become stronger by uniting. If everyone would just be kinder and stronger and meet the need they see in front of them, I believe there would be no needs.

I see that people are running out of options. And he's someone, last night, that made me see that it's possible to have options again, and that gave me hope. And for the first time, I'm like, 'Okay. Alright. Now I'm going to listen.'

It was my gut feeling. I felt he was a little bit humble. I'm concerned about him not being a good guy. But I saw his family, and I'm starting to put all the pieces together. Like, well, you know, with the media the way it is, what do we really hear about anybody? You know, we just hear what they want us to hear. I'm becoming paranoid.

Brian in Oklahoma

I'll be completely honest with you, I have not been a Donald Trump supporter. I was a Ted Cruz supporter. So what I heard last night was a very strong understanding and itemization of the problems our country is having. And a lot of these problems that you listed, Obama won't even utter the words. So when I listened to him last night, he's uttering like the problem with unemployment, the problem with trade deals, the problem with illegal immigration. It's really hard to go in and give you specifics on a trade deal. You know, we're going to Page 405, Paragraph C, you know, Section whatever, and we're going to strike that line. People are most of the time not going to understand that. It's going to go over their head. But he understands that the trade deal with NAFTA and the TPP are lousy deals. It hurts our GDP. He understands that American jobs are being lost to illegal immigrants.

The main thing that I come away from this is, what gives me hope is that the guy gets it. We have a lot of problems, and he knows what they are. He's identified them. He spent 20 minutes listing them. I can't even get Obama to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism."

Shauuna in Utah

I went into it absolutely hating him. I've hated him for years. But his children impressed me so much that I'm hopeful that his love for his children will cause him to live up to the things he's promising. I think that he's promising that he'll take over the financial and pretty much leave the rest to Pence. That's what I'm thinking. He'll negotiate the deals with other countries so that we have a better balance.

I watched the whole thing. I'm a glutton for punishment.

Josh in Florida

Really, at heart, I couldn't vote for Hillary Clinton. So I have to do my citizen duty and vote. But what really stuck out to me was when he started speaking about the evangelical votes and when he said he didn't even know if he deserved it. To me, that sounded like he was trying to humble himself, for the first time really, and that's what really stuck out to me.

And my opinion is, the borders: Hillary wants them open; he wants them closed. That alone should be the deciding factor of this election because these people are trying to come in here and change the culture of America. Not even just our constitutional rights and all of that, the culture of America. So, yes, I am voting for Donald Trump.

Robin in Florida

I went into the speech with a little bit of anxiety because you've been hearing the snippets and seeing the snippets of him on TV: "I'm wealthy." "I build." "I did." "I did."

What I saw last night -- and mind you, the first time I've watched an entire acceptance speech; I've never watched the entire thing -- last night, I heard you, the citizen. This is about the people of America. I'm going to come get your back. I'm going to come watch over you. I'm going to stand between you and whatever's coming at us. It was all about us the citizens and someone coming back for us.

The other thing I've said I've seen and was reiterated last night is his family. And his family really surrounds him. And that is a building block that we are really missing now in this day.

Steve in Georgia

So I've now been watching this stuff for 25 years. And I'll tell you what, it never ceases to amaze me. What I saw last night was what I saw when Obama was giving his speeches, when Obama was running. When Obama stood behind the Greek pillars and accepted the mantel of leadership from the country, he was going to solve all of their problems. He was going to walk across water. And the people believed it because he told them what they wanted to hear. And those of us on the right, we watched this. And we watched this, and we were enamored with the ignorance of the American people. We watched this, and we were like, "How can these people believe this? How could they fall for this?"

And now, all of the people who commented on Obama are doing the same thing for Trump. He's promising that he's going to solve their problems. Yeah, it's nice to have somebody to stand up and speak what a lot of us believe to be truths. That's always great to hear, especially when political correctness has been working at removing free speech from society for the last 20 years. It's nice to hear that. It's refreshing.

However, where he loses me, do I believe that he'll do it? No, I'm not going to be one of the people in the country who is chasing a shiny object. I believe that, as you and many of your listeners do, that this country is about done. The experiment is about over. And I also believe that we had one more shot to solve the problem, and I think that we've missed it.

When anyone stands up and tells us that we have all these problems and he is the only one who can solve these problems, that's a problem. That's a problem in and of itself. And people need to wake up to that.

And, unfortunately, I've almost lost faith that the American people will wake up to it. Those of us who listen to your show, those of us who have been following this, those of us who take and have taken an objective view of politics and of the nature of what our country has become, sheer disappointment. Sheer disappointment.

Mark in Ohio

I'm a teacher in Manso, Ohio, and I live in a very economically depressed area. We used to have the GM staffing plant here, and it's gone. But, anyway, I had to defend myself quite a bit against other teachers who are Democratic supporters. And being a Republican, I had to keep coming up, what is the basis of my argument? And I kept thinking about Trump being a businessman who understands corporate taxes. And I kept hearing him say that he's going to bring back manufacturing to America. And I think that's one of the biggest areas that has concern for me, is bringing jobs to America. And giving people jobs. When he talks about understanding corporate taxes and taxes in general, I believe that's because he's a businessman. So, yes, it does strengthen my position among colleagues and friends.

Nicole in Massachusetts

I'm so pleased to speak to you. And before I start, I just want to say one thing: You've had such a profound impact in my life that I actually met my husband and happily married because of Restoring Love. I met him at Highpoint Church. So I just wanted to let you know that you had that impact on my life. And thank you so much.

So as a millennial in Massachusetts, my BS-ometer was just blowing up last night, and I believe that this man has no integrity at all, and he has proven that to me over and over and over again, throughout his campaign.

I think what the speech and what all of the speeches preceding his speech attempted to do was to make him that good guy --- and he has no integrity. So I think people really want to believe that he's a good guy, and as my mom has pointed out to me repeatedly, his family is his biggest asset because they speak so highly. And people so desperately want to cling to the idea that Donald Trump might be a good man.

I don't think we can trust anything he said last night. It was a complete overreach, to the point where he was even hitting Democratic talking points. And I understand that, you know, unity was the theme. So in that regard, his speech made sense. But he really -- I mean, it was just -- it was lies. And to me, it was so apparent, he's not a good man, he's not going to honor his word. And if we're going to fall for the, "Oh, well, his children say he's wonderful," listen, criminals are really good to their own family. So why would we think that just because he's good to his family, he won't screw us in the long run?

Ashley in Georgia

I went in feeling lost, and I came out feeling lost. I feel like he's got some really good speechwriters around him, and he's going to turn into a really good politician.

I feel like my only hope is that he'll be smart enough to put really smart people around him so he doesn't totally screw up the country if he gets in. I don't believe anything he said because of his actions in the past. Because the history of this man doing what he's done his whole entire life, why would this be any different? I don't think he will be any different. I think he will be who he is, even though he says something different, even though he said something different last night. Our words mean nothing if there's no action to support what we say.

When your actions over the years have proven you to be one way and then all of a sudden you start saying something else, I don't believe you, until your actions start following suit. In life, you can say what you want to me. You can say all the right things to me, but when you've got a history, you condition me not to believe you. I've been conditioned not to believe him because of his actions. And I think that's a big thing.

Mary in Ohio

I went into the speech last night undecided because I am definitely not a Hillary supporter, but I came out frightened because he was whipping those people into a frenzy. He was spouting and screaming nationalism, and it's what I imagined the German people were hearing in the late '20s and early '30s. I think it was the position of his head, which may sound kind of strange, but when he was waiting for a reaction, his chin went up, he was looking down. I think he looked like any dictator that I have ever seen speak, and it frightened me.

Vince in Tennessee

Going in, I did not have any expectation of voting for Donald Trump. I was actually going to be proud to, for the first time in my life, sit home and not vote because I couldn't put my name on this and go before God.

Living in Tennessee, I know how Tennessee is going to go anyways. However, shy of speaking of the Constitution, return to constitutional values, I didn't hear that last night, so I didn't have any change in my heart for Trump. The thing that did make an impact on me was when Ted Cruz said, "Please, don't stay at home." And he said, "I tell you, I'm not voting for Hillary." He didn't come out and say he's voting for Donald, but the fact that he said, "Don't stay home," that spoke to me a little bit more. And now I'm having to reenter into prayer about, "What do I do now?"

Pat in Mississippi

Well, me and my husband live in rural Mississippi. My husband stayed up. He gets up at 4:30 in the morning. He stayed up to listen to this speech. We were both big Cruz supporters. We're voting for Trump. It's a no-brainer.

Number one, the wall. The safety of our country. Number two, I work in the schools. I see the kids have no motivation because the parents either live off the government or have two low-paying jobs. They have to live in a family where the people are working and have something to look forward to. The third thing is, I believe he's going to get the right people for the job to fix this government mess. It is so bad. There are so many good people out here in this country that are well educated and can fix stuff.

Featured Image: Screenshot from The Glenn Beck Program, July 22, 2016.

How did Trump's would-be assassin get past Secret Service?

PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor | Getty Images

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday was targeted in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. It occurred just after 6:10 p.m. while Trump was delivering his speech.

Here are the details of the “official” story. The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was 20 years old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He used an AR-15 rifle and managed to reach the rooftop of a nearby building unnoticed. The Secret Service's counter-response team responded swiftly, according to "the facts," killing Crooks and preventing further harm.

Did it though? That’s what the official story says, so far, but calling this a mere lapse in security by Secret Service doesn't add up. There are some glaring questions that need to be answered.

If Trump had been killed on Saturday, we would be in a civil war today. We would have seen for the first time the president's brains splattered on live television, and because of the details of this, I have a hard time thinking it wouldn't have been viewed as JFK 2.0.

How does someone sneak a rifle onto the rally grounds? How does someone even know that that building is there? How is it that Thomas Matthew Crooks was acting so weird and pacing in front of the metal detectors, and no one seemed to notice? People tried to follow him, but, oops, he got away.

How could the kid possibly even think that the highest ground at the venue wouldn't be watched? If I were Crooks, my first guess would be, "That’s the one place I shouldn't crawl up to with a rifle because there's most definitely going to be Secret Service there." Why wasn't anyone there? Why wasn't anyone watching it? Nobody except the shooter decided that the highest ground with the best view of the rally would be the greatest vulnerability to Trump’s safety.

Moreover, a handy ladder just happened to be there. Are we supposed to believe that nobody in the Secret Service, none of the drones, none of the things we pay millions of dollars for caught him? How did he get a ladder there? If the ladder was there, was it always there? Why was the ladder there? Secret Service welds manhole covers closed when a president drives down a road. How was there a ladder sitting around, ready to climb up to the highest ground at the venue, and the Secret Service failed to take it away?

There is plenty of video of eyewitnesses yelling that there was a guy with a rifle climbing up on a ladder to the roof for at least 120 seconds before the first shot was fired. Why were the police looking for him while Secret Service wasn't? Why did the sniper have him in his sights for over a minute before he took a shot? Why did a cop climb up the ladder to look around? When Thomas Matthew Cooks pointed a gun at him, he then ducked and came down off the ladder. Did he call anyone to warn that this young man had a rifle within range of the president?

How is it the Secret Service has a female bodyguard who doesn't even reach Trump's nipples? How was she going to guard the president's body with hers? How is it another female Secret Service agent pulled her gun out a good four minutes too late, then looked around, apparently not knowing what to do? She then couldn't even get the pistol back into the holster because she's a Melissa McCarthy body double. I don't think it's a good idea to have Melissa McCarthy guarding the president.

Here’s the critical question now: Who trusts the FBI with the shooter’s computer? Will his hard drive get filed with the Nashville manifesto? How is it that the Secret Service almost didn't have snipers at all but decided to supply them only one day before the rally because all the local resources were going to be put on Jill Biden? I want Jill Biden safe, of course. I want Jill Biden to have what the first lady should have for security, but you can’t hire a few extra guys to make sure our candidates are safe?

How is it that we have a Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, whose experience is literally guarding two liters of Squirt and spicy Doritos? Did you know that's her background? She's in charge of the United States Secret Service, and her last job was as the head of security for Pepsi.

This is a game, and that's what makes this sick. This is a joke. There are people in our country who thought it was OK to post themselves screaming about the shooter’s incompetence: “How do you miss that shot?” Do you realize how close we came to another JFK? If the president hadn't turned his head at the exact moment he did, it would have gone into the center of his head, and we would be a different country today.

Now, Joe Biden is also saying that we shouldn't make assumptions about the motive of the shooter. Well, I think we can assume one thing: He wanted to kill the Republican presidential candidate. Can we agree on that at least? Can we assume that much?

How can the media even think of blaming Trump for the rhetoric when the Democrats and the media constantly call him literally worse than Hitler who must be stopped at all costs?

These questions need to be answered if we want to know the truth behind what could have been one of the most consequential days in U.S. history. Yet, the FBI has its hands clasped on all the sources that could point to the truth. There must be an independent investigation to get to the bottom of these glaring “mistakes.”

POLL: Do you think Trump is going to win the election?

Kevin Dietsch / Staff, Chip Somodevilla / Staff, Kevin Dietsch / Staff | Getty Image

It feels like all of the tension that has been building over the last four years has finally burst to the surface over the past month. Many predicted 2024 was going to be one of the most important and tumultuous elections in our lifetimes, but the last two weeks will go down in the history books. And it's not over yet.

The Democratic National Convention is in August, and while Kamala seems to be the likely candidate to replace Biden, anything could happen in Chicago. And if Biden is too old to campaign, isn't he too old to be president? Glenn doesn't think he'll make it as President through January, but who knows?

There is a lot of uncertainty that surrounds the current political landscape. Trump came out of the attempted assassination, and the RNC is looking stronger than ever, but who knows what tricks the Democrats have up their sleeves? Let us know your predictions in the poll below:

Is Trump going to win the election?

Did the assassination attempt increase Trump's chances at winning in November?

Did Trump's pick of J.D. Vance help his odds?

Did the Trump-Biden debate in June help Trump's chances?

Did Biden's resignation from the election hand Trump a victory in November? 

Do the Democrats have any chance of winning this election?

What is the Secret Service trying to hide about Trump's assassination attempt?

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor, Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

This past weekend we were mere inches away from a radically different America than the one we have today. This was the first time a president had been wounded by a would-be assassin since 1981, and the horrific event has many people questioning the competency and motives of the supposedly elite agents trusted with the president's life.

The director of the Secret Service apparently knew about the assassin's rooftop before the shooting—and did nothing.

Kimberly Cheatle has come under intense scrutiny these last couple of weeks, as Secret Service director she is responsible for the president's well-being, along with all security operations onsite. In a recent interview with ABC, Cheatle admitted that she was aware of the building where the assassin made his mark on American history. She even said that she was mindful of the potential risk but decided against securing the site due to "safety concerns" with the slope of the roof. This statement has called her competence into question. Clearly, the rooftop wasn't that unsafe if the 20-year-old shooter managed to access it.

Glenn pointed out recently that Cheatle seems to be unqualified for the job. Her previous position was senior director in global security at America's second-favorite soda tycoon, PepsiCo. While guarding soda pop and potato chips sounds like an important job to some, it doesn't seem like a position that would qualify you to protect the life of America's most important and controversial people. Even considering her lack of appropriate experience, this seems like a major oversight that even a layperson would have seen. Can we really chalk this up to incompetence?

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor | Getty Images

The Secret Service and DHS said they'd be transparent with the investigation...

Shortly after the attempted assassination, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Secret Service, launched an investigation into the shooting and the security protocols in place at the rally. The DHS promised full transparency during the investigation, but House Republicans don't feel that they've been living up to that promise. Republican members of the House Oversight Committee are frustrated with Director Cheatle after she seemingly dodged a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. This has resulted in calls for Cheatle to step down from her position.

Two FBI agents investigate the assassin's rooftop Jeff Swensen / Stringer | Getty Images

Why is the Secret Service being so elusive? Are they just trying to cover their blunder? We seem to be left with two unsettling options: either the government is even more incompetent than we'd ever believed, or there is more going on here than they want us to know.

Cheatle steps down

Following a horrendous testimony to the House Oversight Committee Director Cheatle finally stepped down from her position ten days after the assassination attempt. Cheatle failed to give any meaningful answer to the barrage of questions she faced from the committee. These questions, coming from both Republicans and Democrats, were often regarding basic information that Cheatle should have had hours after the shooting, yet Cheatle struggled with each and every one. Glenn pointed out that Director Cheatle's resignation should not signal the end of the investigation, the American people deserve to know what happened.

What we DO and DON'T know about Thomas Matthew Crooks

Jim Vondruska / Stringer | Getty Images

It has been over a week since 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks narrowly failed to assassinate President Trump while the president gave a speech at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennslyvania. Despite the ongoing investigations, we still know very little about the would-be assassin, which has left many wondering if the agencies involved are limiting the information that Congress and the public are receiving.

As Glenn has pointed out, there are still major questions about the shooter that are unanswered, and the American people are left at the whim of unreliable federal agencies. Here is everything we know—and everything we don't know—about Thomas Matthew Crooks:

Who was he?

What we know:Thomas Crooks lived in Bethel Parks, Pennsylvania, approximately an hour south of Butler. Crooks went to high school in Bethel Parks, where he would graduate in 2022. Teachers and classmates described him as a loner and as nerdy, but generally nice, friendly, and intelligent. Crooks tried out for the school rifle team but was rejected due to his poor aim, and reports indicate that Crooks was often bullied for his nerdy demeanor and for wearing camo hunting gear to school.

After high school, Crooks began work at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center as a dietary aide. In fact, he was scheduled to work on the day of the rally but requested the day off. He passed a background check to work at the facility and was reportedly an unproblematic employee. Crooks was also a member of a local gun club where he practiced shooting the day before the rally.

It was recently revealed that sometime before his attempted assassination, Crooks posted the following message on Steam, a popular computer application used for playing video games: "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds." Aside from this, Crooks posted no warning or manifesto regarding his attack, and little other relevant information is known about him.

What we don't know:It is unclear what Crook's political affiliations or views were, or if he was aligned with any extremist organizations. Crooks was a registered Republican, and his classmates recall him defending conservative ideas and viewpoints in class. On the other hand, the Federal Election Commission has revealed he donated to a progressive PAC on the day Biden was inaugurated. He also reportedly wore a COVID mask to school much longer than was required.

Clearly, we are missing the full picture. Why would a Republican attempt to assassinate the Republican presidential nominee? What is to gain? And why would he donate to a progressive organization as a conservative? This doesn't add up, and so far the federal agencies investigating the attack have yet to reveal anything more.

What were his goals?

What we know: Obviously we know he was trying to assassinate President Trump—and came very close to succeeding, but beyond that, Crooks' goals are unknown. He left no manifesto or any sort of written motive behind, or if he did, the authorities haven't published it yet. We have frustratingly little to go off of.

What we don't know: As stated before, we don't know anything about the movies behind Crooks' heinous actions. We are left with disjointed pieces that make it difficult to paint a cohesive picture of this man. There is also the matter that he left explosives, ammo, and a bulletproof vest in his car. Why? Did he assume he was going to make it back to his car? Or were those supplies meant for an accomplice that never showed up?

The shocking lack of information on Crooks' motives makes it seem likely that we are not being let on to the whole truth.

Did he work alone?

What we know: Reportedly, Crooks was the only gunman on the site, and as of now, no other suspects have been identified. The rifle used during the assassination attempt was purchased and registered by Crooks' father. However, it is unlikely that the father was involved as he reported both his son and rifle missing the night of the assassination attempt. Crooks' former classmates described him as a "loner," which seems to corroborate the narrative that he worked alone.

What we don't know: We know how Crooks acquired his rifle, but what about the rest of his equipment? He reportedly had nearly a hundred extra rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, and several homemade bombs in his car. Could these have been meant for a co-conspirator who didn't show? Did Crooks acquire all of this equipment himself, or did he have help?

There's also the matter of the message Crooks left on the video game platform Steam that served as his only warning of the attack. Who was the message for? Are there people out there who were aware of the attack before it occurred? Why didn't they alert authorities?

We know authorities have access to Crooks' laptop and cellphone that probably contain the answers to these pertinent questions. Why haven't we heard any clarity from the authorities? It seems we are again at the mercy of the federal bureaucracy, which begs one more question: Will we ever know the whole truth?