What the Hell Kind of Young Men Are We Raising in This Country?

The outspoken and fantastically fierce Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke filled in for Glenn on The Glenn Beck Program today, Tuesday, December 20.

Read below or listen to the full segment from Hour 2 for answers to these questions:

• What diplomatic situation will President-elect Trump inherit?

• What the hell kind of young men are we raising in this country?

• Is there a rape culture on college campuses?

• How did the Univ. of Minnesota football coach make a bad play?

• Should President-elect Trump trust the CIA?

• Why must the TSA treat every American like a terror suspect?

• When will Sheriff Clarke's new book Cop Under Fire be available?

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

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

DAVID: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program. I am your host for today. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in for Glenn Beck. This is the Glenn Beck Program. The call-in number is 888-727-BECK. That's 888-727-2325, if you want to opine or get in on any of these conversations.

I'm going to do a little self-promoting starting this block. You can follow me on Twitter. And that's @SheriffClarke. C-L-A-R-K-E. I think you'll find that interesting. My tweets.

The liberal mainstream media likes to keep up with them and try to contort some of the things I say into something and try to destroy me with it. They have not been successful thus far. I don't think they will be. I think about what I'm doing before I put out a tweet. I never do it on impulse. And I always ask myself if I know it's going to be one of those cutting-edge tweets, I always say, "What can the liberal mainstream media do to turn this thing inside-out or upside-down or contort it into something I didn't say?" And that's why they haven't been successful, although they'll keep trying.

Also, you can follow me at my blog, and it's ThePeoplesSheriff@Patheos.com. And it's P-A-T-H-E-O-S.com. Also, I have a book coming out in March.

Cop Under Fire: Beyond the Hashtags of Race, Crime, and Politics For a Better America. You can preorder that book at Amazon.com. And also, my understanding, it's available at Barnes & Noble for preorder. But it's due to come out in March of 2017.

You know, I was looking again at this -- I talked about it a little bit before, earlier, I should say this terror attack in Turkey.

This is something that we should keep an eye on. Because this is not the first incident involving Turkey and Russia. It was a Russian ambassador that was shot and killed at some art exhibit or whatever in Turkey. And apparently, the early reports, the Russian ambassador was shot because of Russia's involvement in Syria.

This one here might -- this is one that President-elect Donald Trump is going to inherit, this situation. And here's why I say this is one that we really need to pay close attention to. If you recall, sometime last year -- it might have been earlier this year, a Russian fighter jet was shot down by the Turkish army. And Turkey had accused this fighter jet of violating their airspace. Killed a Russian fighter pilot. And all eyes were on Russia as to how they were going to handle this thing. And, you know, nothing drastic happened. But I'll tell you why this one here is important. Because Putin has to look at it this way, you know, how many more times is a Russian citizen or a Russian soldier going to be shot and killed and not have Putin or Russia do anything about it?

I mean, that would be -- after a while, it's going to be viewed as a sign of weakness. And that's what Putin has to think about. That's why I said it will be interesting to see what their response might be. Will Russia go to the UN and try to, you know, put together a coalition of support for some sort of action against Turkey, or will they act unilaterally?

They have the right to defend their sovereignty and defend their citizens. I know if that happened here in the United States, yeah, I guess the -- the preferable route is to, you know, go to the UN and do all that stuff.

But, you know, when it comes to the commander-in-chief of the United States, you know, we don't need -- he does not need permission from the world to defend American sovereignty, American interests, and American citizens. So that will be interesting to watch.

Here's what we're going to get into now: Again, the call-in number, 888-727-BECK. (888)727-2325.

Going to talk about rape on college campuses. This is an issue that exploded recently over the last couple of years. It was a dirty little secret that there was a problem with sexual assault on college campuses.

And what I want to specifically point to an incident that happened very recently. It involves the University of Minnesota and their football program. And the things I want to talk about is, what is the proper course of action for the university to take? I mean, some of this -- you know, some of the course of action is a no-brainer. But some of it is not. And I'll get into why that is.

But here's what happened: Five or -- ten of University of Minnesota football players were suspended from the team recently in the fallout of a student sexual assault.

This comes from the Star Tribune out of Minneapolis.

From the team in a fallout of a student's sexual assault allegation. And these ten students now face expulsion from schools -- from the school. They've been suspended from the football program.

It says four other players face a one-year suspension, and another could get probation, stemming from this September 2nd incident. So that's within the last couple of months.

The school discipline comes weeks after a criminal investigation resulted in no arrests or charges. Now, that's key. Okay. No arrests of these players were made. And it does not look like, according to the prosecutor who reviewed this thing -- it doesn't look like criminal charges will result.

But there's some twists here that you need to know about. This was a party, some football players had a party, and there was drinking. And there was a young lady there, and she claims that up to 12 of these players forced themselves -- sexually assaulted her in a bedroom, wherever this party was. I believe this party was off campus.

There was an underage recruit who was present. And he's one of the ones who is alleged to have had sex with this co-ed, this student.

So the university took this action and suspended these players. And some of them are going to be expelled from the school, or at least there's a process, and that has started, even though no criminal charges have been filed. Now, just because no criminal charges have been filed, it does not mean that the school shouldn't take action.

And oftentimes, you'll hear people say, "Well, you know, there was no crime committed, or nobody was arrested." It doesn't matter.

Here's the first thing I said to myself when I learned about this, "What the hell kind of young men are we raising in this country?"

Most men know what's right and what's not right as it relates to these sorts of things. This is not the first time this has happened. You know, let's be honest about this. You get a college campus environment, even if it's a dorm off campus, you get fraternities, you get these football players, you get alcohol, and they introduce women or a woman into this thing, and that is a recipe for disaster.

No good is going to come of that, ever. And these are just the ones that we hear about. How about the ones that we don't hear about? There was one that happened at Marquette University. It actually made the -- Marquette University in my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But it did make the media sometime after where the campus security kind of dissuaded the woman from making an accusation against some basketball players of sexual assault. Something happened, and they talked her out of it. And later on, she had remorse and brought this up. And it hit the fan.

So you had a university who tried to squelch it. Here the university takes action. No criminal charges have been filed. No arrests have been made.

When we come back on the other side of the break, I want to get into some of the moving parts on this thing. We got to unpack this. Going to talk about some cases that have happened in the past and figure out, you know, what's the right course of action for the school to take?

I'm Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in for Glenn Beck. This is the Glenn Beck Program. We'll see you on the other side of the break.

[break]

DAVID: Thanks for staying with us. I'm your host for today. This is the Glenn Beck Program. I'm Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. Before we went to the break, we were talking about this issue of rape or rape allegations on college campuses. And I'm talking about the ones where you have these frat parties or you have these parties in general, and you have either athletes or frat members. And you start mixing in alcohol and girls, and sometimes it's a recipe for disaster.

And one of the questions I ask was, you know, what kind of young men we're raising that don't know -- they know. I shouldn't say they don't know. You got 12 women -- 12 men, I should say, are accused of having sex with this one woman at this University of Minnesota situation, 12 football players.

You know, we're not talking about the stranger sexual assaults, where someone is abducted and brutally raped. We're talking about these things that involve a party, alcohol, there was consent, it was consensual, it wasn't consensual. And these are very difficult to prosecute. They're very difficult to investigate as well for law enforcement. You know, it's a "he said, she said". You collect evidence. There's evidence that some sort of sexual activity occurred. You can determine that. But the consent issue is one that is not clear. And then that's very tough for the prosecutor as well. And what does the school do?

In this case, the University of Minnesota acted very quickly and suspended these players. Some of them are facing expulsion.

The coach at the time -- not at the time -- the football coach issued a statement after it was learned that ten of the players were suspended. And then the rest of the football team got in on this and then also boycotted and said they weren't going to play in the upcoming bowl game, the Holiday Bowl, which I think is December 27th in San Diego, California. That's when this thing broke on the sports news networks because they were threatening to boycott the bowl game, as if that, you know, mattered in this situation. But, anyway, the coach said he was never more proud of his players because they stuck together.

You know, the players had said, "We're going to boycott the bowl unless this suspension is lifted." Wrong answer.

Very wrong answer. The coach's response should have been, "I'm disappointed that the young men who were part of this program that I lead didn't do the right thing in this situation, didn't exercise discipline." That's what he should have said. He said he was never more proud for his players because they stuck together in this boycott.

You know, it's this kind of attitude that doesn't help these situations. This is not the most famous case where this situation occurred. I think the iconic case is the Duke lacrosse case. You may remember that. It was about ten years ago.

This comes from ESPNNews.com: Exactly ten years and six days before Duke and Yale met -- this was in lacrosse -- a black woman reported to police that three white Duke lacrosse players had raped her during a house party at which she had stripped.

So they brought her in to strip. Again, you know, I ask -- I'm not a Puritan or anything like that. But these are college-aged kids. Okay. They're going to do dumb stuff. I'm not naive to think that college kids don't party and there isn't booze involved and that sort of thing. But they bring this woman in to strip.

It says here, latent and long-standing tension in the city on campus around race, class, and gender, boil quickly to the surface. The district attorney made inflammatory statements that fueled an intense media firestorm.

The DEA at the time, the prosecutor, he was a grad of North Carolina. So you know he had no love for Duke, if you know anything about the rivalry.

Duke University, North Carolina University, the Tar Heels. About 8 miles separate the two schools. Very intense rivalries in their sports programs.

So it says here, with Duke lacrosse: The coach of the team was forced to resign. Their season was cancelled.

Over a year later, when the attorney general of North Carolina dropped the charges against the three players, he said, "We have no credible evidence that an attack occurred."

The DEA was later disbarred after he was found to have committed ethics violations in the case.

Remember I said he was a UNC grad. So he had no love lost for Duke.

It says here, ESPN's recent 30 for 30 documentary, Fantastic Lies, dissects how the media coverage and the prosecutorial misconduct had a profound effect on the families of the men accused.

So these men -- Duke lacrosse, they had to cancel their season.

Remember, there were some players who were not a part of this party. So the season was cancelled. The coach was fired. And then they find out later, no sexual assault occurred.

So you get this situation. You say, "How fast is too fast?"

And then you get the case of Penn State. A little different because you had underage men. The Coach Sandusky had young boys in the locker room when he was taking sexual liberties. It was brought to the attention -- or at least reported, brought to the attention of the late Joe Paterno who kind of said, "I don't really want anything to do -- I don't want to hear about that." So I ask the question -- and there's no straight answer: How fast is too fast? How slow is too slow to act?

And then you have the Baylor University situation, where the coach apologized for his role in a scandal that led to his firing. The coach, Art Briles, was removed as Baylor's head coach on May 26th after a university commission investigation found he was slow to act when confronted over the course of several years with accusations that multiple Bears players -- Baylor Bears, that's their nickname -- had sexually assaulted fellow students. Two of his former players have been convicted of sexual assault, while a third, a former star defensive end was indicted on a similar charge.

So he was slow to act. Duke may have been too fast to act. You have to suspend the season. Fire the coach. Instead of letting the investigation play itself out.

But the PR disaster for the school is, if you wait for the investigation, which is the prudent thing to do -- but it's also prudent to suspend the players pending the investigation. I think that's the sweet spot here. We'll get to the bottom of it. We won't get to the bottom of it right away. We won't get to the bottom of this before the Holiday Bowl. But who cares about the Holiday Bowl?

Don't release the names. The names are probably going to get out in public anyway, but the university shouldn't release the names. Don't expel them just yet. Suspend them and wait for the investigation and see what happens. It doesn't look like any criminal charges are going to result, but that doesn't mean that the school shouldn't take some sort of disciplinary action. It doesn't have to mean that a crime occurred, that anybody was arrested and charged.

It's not innocent until proven guilty. Not for the school, it's not. They have the right -- they have the need to take some sort of action, if for no other reason, to tell their alumni and their donors, here's how we deal with this sort of unwanted behavior at this university. We have values here that we're going to uphold. And you also send a message to your current students and future recruitees -- remember, there was an underage recruit at this party who had sex with this woman.

But you got to send a message, this sort of behavior is not going to go on -- this abhorrent behavior is not going to go on at this university. So there is a sweet spot. And these schools need to work hard to find it. You don't always land on the sweet spot, but if you get close, you're going to be okay. But this stuff -- and it's going to happen again. We will be sitting here at some point in time with another situation like this. But I think the message needs to be sent, you know, about proper behavior for young men everywhere. Not just on college campuses. I'm Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. This is the Glenn Beck Program. We have to take a break. And we'll talk to you on the other side of the break.

[break]

DAVID: Welcome back to the Glenn Beck Program. Let's see. Let's take a twist here -- turn into something else. I want to talk about this deal with the CIA and the president, the president-elect, that's been reported that there's some differences of opinion between the President-elect Donald Trump and the intelligence agencies within the United States federal government.

I think Donald Trump is right not to trust these intelligence agencies. They -- he's going to have to make that determination as time goes by. But I wouldn't trust what they're giving him, if I were him.

You know, I've studied the intelligence process, these intelligence agencies in my graduate decree program. I'm familiar with how they work. And I'll tell you what the CIA does not have: a stellar record. They miss a lot. They've missed a lot of -- for instance, the fall of the Berlin wall, they missed it. The breakup of the Soviet Union, they missed it.

This is an agency that came into being after the 1947 National Security Act, after the bombing at Pearl Harbor. And they were designed to do just what the name says: to develop intelligence and give recommendations to the president, keep him appraised of what's going on in world events. Who are the threats? What are their capabilities, and are they planning an attack? That's what they're supposed to do.

It's not a perfect world. I understand, for the CIA. But there's some things that they should not miss. They missed 9/11. There were red flags, but they missed it.

And so, you know, we'll see how that relationship works out in the end, between Donald Trump and the CIA and the National Security Agency and some of those other entities.

But came I came across a story that I found disturbing. And there are some parallels with what went on in this recent election between the Democrat candidate, Mrs. Bill Clinton, and the local media. I shouldn't say local media, the national media, where she was given, in some instances, questions to some of the debates. They were clearing stories with the campaign: Hey, we're putting this out -- a particular writer -- we're putting this story out. Is this okay? Are there any changes you want to make?

That stuff should not go on. You know, we can't trust the media anymore. But also, some of our institutions of government are corrupt as well.

So this article, it's from the Intercept, and it says the CIA's mop-up man, LA Times reporter cleared stories with the agency before publication.

A prominent national security reporter for the Los Angeles Times routinely submitted drafts and detailed summaries of his stories to CIA press handlers, prior to publication, according to documents obtained by the Intercept.

Email exchanges between the CIA public affairs officers and Ken Dilanian, now an Associated Press intelligence reporter who previously covered the CIA for the Times, showed that Dilanian enjoyed a close collaborative relationship with the agency, explicitly promising positive news coverage and sometimes sending the press office entire story drafts to review prior to publication.

In at least one instance, the CIA reaction appears to have led to significant changes in the story, that was eventually published in the Times.

Quote, I'm working on a story about congressional oversight of drone strikes that could present a good opportunity for you guys, Dilanian wrote in one email exchange to a CIA press officer, explaining that he intended to report what would be reassuring to the public, about CIA drone strikes. In another after a series of back-and-forth emails about a pending story on CIA operations in Yemen, he sent a full draft of an unpublished report along with the subject line, does this look better?

It goes on to say that Dilanian's emails were included in hundreds of pages of documents that the CIA turned over in response to two FOIA -- and that's information -- when you want to obtain information on records within the federal government.

A request seeking records on the agency's interaction with reporters. The email exchanges with reporters for the AP, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other outlets were included. This guy left the Times to join the AP in May.

So it goes on to say, when he's clearing these stories with the CIA, does this look okay? So on and so forth.

Quote, it's one thing for you guys to say you killed three instead of 15, it's another for congressional aides from both parties to back you up.

Part of what the story could do, if you could help me bring it to fruition, is to quote congressional officials saying that great care is taken to avoid collateral damage and that the reports of widespread civilian casualties are simply wrong.

It goes on to say that on June 25th, the Times published this guy's story, which described thorough congressional review of the drone program and said legislative aides were allowed to watch high-quality video attacks and review intelligence used to justify each strike. Needless to say, the agency hadn't quibbled with Dilanian's description about one of these terrorist's deaths in a drone stroke.

It says here: Video provided by the CIA to congressional overseers show that he alone was killed. That claim was subsequently debunked. Some of those killed were very likely members of al-Qaeda. But six were local tribesmen, who Amnesty -- Amnesty International believed were only there as rescuers.

Another field report published around the same time -- this one by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism -- also reported follow-up drone strikes on civilians and rescue workers, attacks that constitute war crimes.

The emails also show that Dilanian shared his work with the CIA before it was published and invited the agency to request changes. It goes on to say, on another case, he sent the press office a draft story on May 4th, reporting that the US intelligence believed the Taliban was growing stronger in Afghanistan.

Guys, I'm about to file this, if anyone wants to weigh in.

So after they confront this guy on this, it says, reached by the Intercept for comment, Dilanian said the AP does not permit him to send stories to the CIA prior to publication. He acknowledged that it was a bad idea. I shouldn't have done it. And I wouldn't do it now, he says.

He was not sure if the Los Angeles Times -- that's who he was working for at the time -- rules allow reporters to send stories to sources prior to publication. But the Times' ethic guidelines state they clearly forbid the practice. We do not circulate printed or electronic copies of stories outside the newsroom before publication. In the event you would like to read back quotations or selected passages to a source to ensure accuracy, consult an editor before doing so.

So the Times' bureau chief, the national security editor said he had been unaware that Dilanian had sent drafts -- story drafts to the CIA and would not have allowed him to do it.

So this is why there's no trust in government. This is why Donald Trump shouldn't trust the CIA at this point. At the very least, I'd have what Reagan would say, trust, but verify.

The CIA press corps was colluding with this newspaper writer for positive coverage. So, in other words, we don't know what the CIA, which is steeped in secrecy, anyway, but we don't know what they're up to.

Now, I realize a lot of the things they're involved with involve secrets. But when they're fabricating stories, when they're getting it cleared -- when the writer is saying, "Hey, I'm trying to get you guys to look good," this is problematic. It is to me anyway.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. I'm your host for today. This is the Glenn Beck Program. We got to take a break.

(OUT AT 9:46AM)

DAVID: Welcome back. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, your host today on the Glenn Beck Program.

I want to share with you a letter I received. I was cc'd on it from an individual. You know, we were talking about terror for a lot of this program. It's rearing its ugly head again. But this is relative to how we treat American citizens at airports. The TSA. And I realize these people are just following policy, but the policies don't make sense.

And the way they do this is they don't allow people to use discretion. And when you don't allow people to use discretion, you get what happened with this guy here. And I'll just read the letter.

He sent it to Congressman Cuellar. But he cc'd me on it and Representative Mike T. McCaul. He's from Texas.

It says: Dear congressman, in August 2016, my son and I underwent complete body searches at the Tweed Airport in Connecticut. When I inquired why we were both required to undergo such thorough searches, we were informed it was because my son had prescription allergy medicine in his carry-on luggage.

When I appealed this procedure, in the enclosed August 2016th letter to the TSA, I received a letter dated September 22nd, in which I was told that additional screening of the passenger and his or her property after screening medically necessary items may be required and may include a patdown.

The nonsensical and ineffective security procedure that I question while in the Navy, that I describe in my enclosed letter, appeared to be duplicated by the TSA. If the United States is to be protected, particularly from terrorist attacks, it needs to implement intelligent and effective security measures.

Here, here. I would second that. Back to the letter.

While TSA officials were patting down a war veteran and his son at a small airport in Connecticut, which made my son ask, "Dad, why were we searched like terrorists," the Department of Homeland Security was shutting down Operation Failax (phonetic) that was effective in apprehending scores of illegal immigrants and some 13,000 pounds of narcotics.

It is my hope that whoever President-elect Trump chooses to head the DHS and TSA will have the experience and common sense to stop harassing veterans, the elderly, and children, instead of taking steps to effectively deter terrorist threats, illegal immigration, and drug smuggling.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in critiquing the rationale and effectiveness of our country's security procedures.

And then not too long after that, I came across a story -- this is from Pix11.com. This woman -- I'll just read a part of it here.

A breast cancer patient said she felt violated and humiliated in a public TSA search at LA International Airport after two security agents put her through what she called an aggressive patdown.

It says here, she recently underwent some cancer procedure. And she's pulled to the side as she's going through the screening. And she said she brought some cream on that was part of her -- her prescription there. And she said she was wearing a wig because she lost her hair because of the cancer treatment.

And it said she told the agents what she's going through. She could not remove her shoes since she was not wearing socks and had an infection on her feet, a side effect of her treatment and chemotherapy. So they let her sit down and remove her shoes.

After 20 minutes of sitting there, because they were debating on how to proceed, I told them my feet were freezing. Also, a side effect from chemo. They refused to help me, she said.

Now, this is her rendition. I realize there's two sides of every story. But here's her experience.

And I'm sharing this with you because you probably have, if you are engaged in a lot of air travel, you probably have some other nightmarish experiences that you could share as well.

So it says here, after the TSA agent forcibly and aggressively put her hands down the back of her jeans, the agent explained that they'd have to apply pressure from head to toe, which presented another set of problems for this woman. She wears a wig and did not want them to remove it and had a lumpectomy medical port in her chest, which she did not want the agents to trust. I started crying, she said. It was overwhelming and horrific. I could not believe this was happening, she said.

So after the agent conducted the search, the supervisor arrived, and her bags were emptied. She was made to feel humiliated again after another agent joked about fake eyelashes. Blah, blah, blah, blah.

This is how we treat American citizens. This does not thwart airplane hijacking. This does not thwart terror. I'm not going to sit here and necessarily pin this on the agents who are just -- and they'll tell you this all the time. I've had my own experience. We're just doing our job. We're just following the rules.

See, what they need at TSA is a risk-based model instead of a follow-the-rules model. Suspecting every American traveler of being a terrorist is not a risk-based model. It's to follow the rules so that they can check the box and say, "Well, we checked everybody." That's not how you identify terrorists, by checking everybody. It slows down the process. It's very expensive.

I think TSA has a budget of about $5.9 billion. This is how we treat people? I'd be willing to bet that if somebody came through of Arab descent and had their headdress on and everything else, they would not be treated like this out of political correctness.

We got to take a break. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in for Glenn Beck. This is the Glenn Beck Program.

Featured Image: Head coach Tracy Claeys of the Minnesota Golden Gophers yells at an official against Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the fourth quarter at TCF Bank Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota defeated Rutgers 34-32.(Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

Who is Ryan Wesley Routh, Trump's second would-be Assassin?

- / Contributor | Getty Images

For the second time in two months, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt.

Fortunately, this time the former president walked away from the incident unharmed, as did everyone else involved. Is anyone surprised that as the election cycle heats up and Democrats and the mainstream media have increased their false and hateful rhetoric against Trump, another assassination attempt should be made against him?

The second would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was allegedly deeply affected by the rhetoric and propaganda regurgitated by the media and evidently decided to take matters into his own hands. Delving into the turbulent past of Ryan Routh reveals a violent and unstable man with many radical beliefs and an impressionable mind. How Routh apparently managed to avoid any FBI/terrorist watchlists is just one of the mysteries surrounding the second attempted assassination of President Trump.

Here's what we know about Ryan Wesley Routh so far:

The assassination attempt

Photo of Routh's Sniper Nest

Joe Raedle / Staff | Getty Images

At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September, 15th, the Secret Service opened fire on a concealed gunman who was hidden in some bushes along the perimeter of Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The gunman was in a makeshift sniper's nest on the outside of the perimeter chain-link fence only a couple hundred yards from where Trump was golfing. He had been camping there for over 12 hours. After being fired on, the gunman ran back to his car and was quickly apprehended by the police, where he was identified as Ryan Wesley Routh.

After Routh's arrest, investigators discovered the sniper's nest built within the perimeter fence. Routh had hung two backpacks with bullet-proof ceramic plates inside on the fence with a narrow gap between them for his rifle to poke through. It is clear that Routh had come prepared for a shoot-out and had possibly taken notes from the last would-be Trump assassin, who was taken out by counter-snipers before he could finish his task.

His background

Routh at a pro-Ukraine rally Kyiv, Ukraine

Global Images Ukraine / Contributor | Getty Images

Routh is a long-time supporter of the Democrat party and a vehement Trump hater. He has written a multitude of deranged social media posts that express his loathing of the Republican nominee and parrot the rhetoric spewed by the mainstream media. Last year, Routh wrote a book urging Iran to assassinate President Trump for the "tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.

Routh is an outspoken advocate for the Ukrainian cause, and many of his social media posts are centered around this interest. He even made a trip to Ukraine with the bizarre mission of recruiting former Afghanistan troopers to fight for the Ukrainian cause. He returned home after six months without accomplishing his goal.

Shortly after the shoot-out, Ryan Routh's son, Oran Routh,, gave some personal information about his father. He claimed that he had no prior knowledge of the planned assassination attempt, and in fact, he had grown distant from his father after a falling-out. Oran did admit to sharing his father's "reasonable" hatred of Trump and claimed that his father was a peaceful, hard-working man. He also claimed that, as far as he knew, his father had only a few speeding tickets on his criminal record and had never even owned a firearm. This claim was quite contrary to reality.

Ryan Wesley Routh has quite the criminal record, which culminated in an arrest in 2002 when he fled the police during a traffic stop and barricaded himself in his roofing business with a machine gun. Routh was later convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, but managed to dodge the 20-plus years in prison typically associated with charges of that nature.

His goals

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

While Routh's exact motives are still unknown, we can infer some things from his background.

It is clear that Routh has an extreme hatred of President Trump that has been brewing for many years, as expressed by his social media posts and deranged book. Routh is also not immune to extreme ideologies, as demonstrated by his strange Ukrainian escapade, and he is clearly no stranger to violence, as evidenced by his criminal record.

There is also the matter of his weapon of mass destruction conviction, along with many other crimes. How did he manage to avoid the lengthy prison sentence typical of convictions of such magnitude?

One thing is clear: Routh is clearly a disturbed individual who has been exposed to the onslaught of anti-Trump propaganda that has portrayed him as an embodiment of evil and an existential threat to the country and the world.


Presidential debate recap: The good, the bad and the ugly

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

The second presidential debate was many things--some good, some bad, but one thing was made clear: this election is far from over.

If you were watching the debate with Glenn during the BlazeTV exclusive debate coverage, then you already know how the debate went: Kamala lied through her teeth and Trump faced a three-pronged attack from Harris and the two ABC moderators. This was not the debate performance we were hoping for, but it could have gone far worse. If you didn't get the chance to watch the debate or can't bring yourself to watch it again and are looking for a recap, we got you covered. Here are the good, the bad, and the ugly from the second presidential debate:

The Good

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Let's start with what went well.

While there was certainly room for improvement, Trump's performance wasn't terrible, especially compared to his performance in other debates. He showed restraint, kept himself from being too brash, and maintained the name-calling to a minimum. In comparison, Kamala Harris was struggling to maintain her composure. Harris was visibly emotional and continued to make obnoxious facial expressions, which included several infuriating eye-rolls and patronizing smirks.

The Bad

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

Despite all that, the debate could have gone much better...

While Trump was able to keep his cool during the debate, he was not able to stay on track. Kamala kept making inflammatory comments meant to derail Trump, and every time, he took the bait. Trump spent far too long defending his career and other extraneous issues instead of discussing issues relevant to the American people and revealing Kamala's failures as Vice President.

Trump's biggest blunder during the debate was his failure to prevent Kamala from leaving that debate looking like a credible option as president. Kamala was fairly unknown to the American people and had remained that way on purpose, giving only one interview after Biden stepped down from the campaign. This is because every time Kamala opens her mouth, she typically makes a fool of herself. Trump needed to give Kamala more time to stick her foot in her mouth and to press Kamala on the Biden administration's failures over the past four years. Instead, he took her bait and let her run down the clock, and by the end of the debate, she left looking far more competent than she actually is.

The Ugly

If anything, the debate reminded us that this election is far from over, and it's more important now than ever for Trump to win.

The most noteworthy occurrence of the debate was the blatantly obvious bias of the ABC debate moderators against Trump. Many people have described the debate as a "three vs. one dogpile," with the moderators actively participating in debating Trump. If you didn't believe that the media was in the back pocket of the Democrats before, it's hard to deny it now. Kamala stood on stage and lied repeatedly with impunity knowing that the moderators and the mainstream media at large would cover for her.

The stakes have never been higher. With so many forces arrayed against Trump, it's clear to see that the Left cannot afford to let Trump win this November. The shape of America as we know it is on the line. Kamala represents the final push by the globalist movement to take root and assimilate America into the growing global hivemind.

The election is far from over. This is our sign to stand up and fight for our nation and our values and save America.

Glenn: Illegal aliens could swing the 2024 election, and it spells trouble for Trump

ELIZABETH RUIZ / Stringer | Getty Images

Either Congress must pass the SAVE Act, or states must protect the integrity of their elections — especially the seven swing states that could shift the outcome of 2024 by a hair’s breadth.

Progressives rely on three main talking points about illegal aliens voting in our elections.

The first is one of cynical acceptance. They admit that illegal immigrants are already voting but argue that there is nothing we can do to stop it, suggesting that it’s just another factor we should expect in future elections. This position shows no respect for our electoral system or the rule of law and doesn’t warrant further attention.

This election will be very similar to 2020. It’s like football — a game of inches.

The second talking point targets the right. Progressives question why Republicans care, asking why they assume illegal immigrants voting would only benefit the other side. They suggest that some of these voters might also support the GOP.

On this point, the data says otherwise.

Across the board, immigrants vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, regardless of what state they’re in. The vast majority of migrants are coming up from South America, a region that is undergoing a current “left-wing” experiment by voting for far-left candidates practically across the board. Ninety-two percent of South America’s population favors the radical left, and they’re pouring over our border in record numbers — and, according to the data, they’re not changing their voting habits.

The third main talking point concedes that illegal immigrants are voting but not enough to make a significant dent in our elections — that their effect is minuscule.

That isn’t what the numbers show either.

Texas just audited its voter rolls and had to remove more than 1 million ineligible voters. The SAVE Act would mandate all states conduct such audits, but the left in Congress is currently trying to stop its passage. Dare I say that the left's pushback is because illegal immigration actually plays in Democrats' favor on Election Day?

Out of the 6,500 noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, nearly 2,000 had prior voting history, proving that illegal aliens are voting. But do the numbers matter, or are they “minuscule,” as the left claims? Let’s examine whether these illegal voting trends can make a dent in the states that matter the most on Election Day.

The corporate legacy media agree that Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin will swing the election in November. By Election Day, an estimated 8 million illegal aliens will be living in the United States. Can these 8 million illegal immigrants change the course of the 2024 election? Let’s look at the election data from each of these seven swing states:

These are the numbers being sold to us as “insignificant” and “not enough to make a difference.” Arizona and Georgia were won in 2020 by a razor-thin margin of approximately 10,000 votes, and they have the most illegal immigrants — besides North Carolina — of all the swing states.

This election will be very similar to 2020. It’s like football — a game of inches. The progressives are importing an electorate to extend their ground by feet, yards, and often miles.

This is why Democrats in Congress oppose the SAVE Act, why the Justice Department has ignored cases of illegal voting in the past, and why the corporate left-wing media is gaslighting the entire country on its significance. This is a power play, and the entire Western world is under the same assault.

If things stay the status quo, these numbers prove the very real possibility of an election swing by illegal immigrants, and it will not favor our side of the aisle. Congress must pass the SAVE Act. If it fails, states must step up to protect the integrity of their elections — especially the seven swing states that could shift the outcome of 2024 by a hair’s breadth.

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

Hunter pleads GUILTY, but did he get a pass on these 3 GLARING crimes?

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Last week, Hunter Biden made the shocking decision to suddenly plead guilty to all nine charges of tax-related crimes after claiming innocence since 2018.

Hunter first tried an "Alford plead" in which a defendant maintains their innocence while accepting the sentencing, typically due to the overwhelming evidence against them. Hunter's Alford plead was not accepted after the prosecutors objected to the suggestion, and Hunter quickly pleaded guilty.

Glenn could not believe just how disrespectful this situation was to the justice system and the American people. After years of lying about his innocence, which only served to deepen the divide in our country, Hunter decided to change his tune at the last minute and admit his guilt. Moreover, many expect Joe Biden will swoop in after the election and bail his son out with a presidential pardon.

This isn't the first time Hunter's crimes have turned out to be more than just a "right-wing conspiracy theory," and, odds are, it won't be the last. Here are three crimes Hunter may or may not be guilty of:

Gun charges: Found guilty

This June, Hunter Biden was found guilty of three federal gun charges, which could possibly land him up to 25 years in prison. Hunter purchased a revolver in 2018 while addicted to crack, and lied to the gun dealer about his addiction. While Hunter could face up to 25 years in prison, it's unlikely to be the case as first-time offenders rarely receive the maximum sentence. That's assuming Joe even lets it go that far.

Tax evasion: Plead guilty

Last week, Hunter changed his plea to "guilty" after years of pleading innocent to federal tax evasion charges. Since 2018, Delaware attorneys have been working on Hunter's case, and just before the trial was set to begin, Hunter changed his plea. According to the investigation, Hunter owed upwards of $1.4 million in federal taxes that he avoided by writing them off as fraudulent business deductions. Instead, Hunter spent this money on strippers, escorts, luxury cars, hotels, and, undoubtedly, crack.

Joe's involvement with Hunter's foreign dealings: Yet to be proven

Despite repeated claims against it, there is ample evidence supporting the theory Joe Biden was aware of Hunter's business dealings and even had a hand in them. This includes testimony from Devon Archer, one of Hunter's business partners, confirming Joe joined several business calls. Despite the mounting evidence Joe Biden was involved in Hunter's overseas business dealings and was using his influence to Hunter's benefit, the Bidens still maintain their innocence.