GLENNFebruary 07, 2017

Sen. Mike Lee: Neil Gorsuch Is an 'Extraordinary Judge'

President Trump's Supreme Court pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch, is the kind of person that gets lawyers waxing poetic. Just ask Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) who joined The Glenn Beck Program on Tuesday.

"He's a dream to argue in front of because he's the kind of judge who reads all the briefs and reads all the statutes and all the cases cited in the briefs. He's always prepared. He knows exactly where he's going," Sen. Lee said.

Senator Lee went so far as to say Gorsuch's briefs are interesting and fun to read.

"Let's just clarify. That is Mike Lee that just said these are fun to read. So, kids, don't rush out there. It's Mike saying that," Glenn joked.

Enjoy the complimentary clip above or read the transcript below for details.

GLENN: Senator Mike Lee, welcome to the program, sir. How are you?

MIKE: Doing well. Thank you so much, Glenn.

GLENN: Can we start with -- quickly on the Muslim ban and whether that is legal or not? What is your opinion?

MIKE: The short answer is, the president has authority to suspend the entry of certain aliens coming into this country. He has that authority, under section 212F of the immigration and nationality act.

Now, there's an amendment to that that came about several decades after that one was put in place that some have read to suggest the president can't do this. But when you read the language on that one, it deals with visa issuance, not suspension on entry. And it deals with visa issuance by those who issue visas, not by the president.

That's why, on its face, I can't look at this order and say it's illegal. That's why the order to the extent it causes legal problems, will present legal problems, only in the way it's enforced.

In other words, we'll have to wait and see how this thing is implied, how it's interpreted, how it's actually utilized on the ground, before we can say it violates the law.

GLENN: Poorly written, Mike? Is that the problem?

MIKE: Not ideally. The rollout was suboptimal. The draftsmanship could have been better. But, look, these are people who have got a lot on their plate. And I understand that. That's why I hope they get the implementation right. Because if they get the implementation right, I think it will be okay.

GLENN: What did this judge up in Washington -- is he right at all?

MIKE: You know, I read his temporary restraining order. And it's been a long time since I've seen an order like that, that dealt with an issue of this magnitude with so few words. And I don't mean that in a complimentary way. What I mean is it lacks analysis. It is full of what I call conclusory assertions, where the judge just sort of found that the basis in law existed for him to issue this temporary restraining order. And so he did. But it was very short on legal analysis.

GLENN: So they're making this into a big deal because, well, he was appointed by George Bush. And so, George Bush, of course, you know, how could you possibly go against a George Bush judge?

MIKE: You know, Glenn, if I had a nickel for every bad decision made by a Republican-appointed judge or Supreme Court justice, I'd be a very wealthy man.

GLENN: Yeah.

MIKE: The fact that someone is put on a court by a Republican means absolutely nothing, in terms of his indelibility (phonetic).

PAT: Mike, real quick, before we get into the crux of this. There's a new poll out about Democrats that are concerned about Christians and Mormons being just as violent --

GLENN: And Jews.

PAT: And Jews. Just as violent as Islam. What are you doing to curb the Mormon violence in this country? Are you drafting any kind of legislation?

MIKE: Yeah, it's a big problem.

PAT: It is. It is.

MIKE: I would -- look, Mormons are known for their violent tendencies.

GLENN: Right.

MIKE: The bicycles -- the bicycles and the short-sleeved shirts with ties strikes fear on the part of all who behold. It's a big problem.

GLENN: So, Mike, 63 percent of all Democrats --

PAT: Sixty-six.

GLENN: Sixty-six feel that's true. Two-thirds of all Democrats feel that Christians, Jews, and Mormons are just as dangerous as Islamic terrorists.

PAT: Unbelievable.

MIKE: Wow. That's interesting, especially given that it would be difficult to find doctrine to support that.

PAT: Yep.

MIKE: It would be difficult to find actual statistics to support that.

One of the reasons why I find this most disturbing is that it strikes this term of moral equivalency, which I think causes a whole lot of problems. It -- there's no such thing as bad or good -- bad or worse than bad. It's just stuff people do.

And I am very curious about that study and how they reached those conclusions.

GLENN: It scares the hell out of me. Because it seems to me that we are living in a time where facts don't matter at all, to anybody, on either side.

MIKE: You know, they do matter to the reader. I think there are a lot of readers out there and a lot of people who listen to your program, a lot of people who actually are willing to dig beneath the surface who care. It's not always the case, that reporting those facts case. So when the people care, those who report facts that are not ringing true, can be held accountable. I think that's what we have to do.

GLENN: All right. Talk to me a little bit about Gorsuch. You met with him last -- what was it? Thursday or Friday. What did you think of him?

MIKE: Love the guy. Just fantastic judge.

Look, I already had a high opinion of him because I've argued in front of him. I was a lawyer before I became a politician.

GLENN: I argue in front of my children, and I don't necessarily have a lot of respect for them.

MIKE: This guy is good though. This guy is good. But I just highlighted two of the reasons of why -- I chose two hated professions. First lawyer and then politician. You know, I'm not sure how it could get worse than that.

But in any event, he's a great judge. He's a dream to argue in front of because he's the kind of judge who reads all the briefs and reads all the statutes and all the cases cited in the briefs. He's always prepared. He knows exactly where he's going. And he believes that our laws matter and the words used matter. And he wants to find the meaning of those words.

But then in the last few days, I've been reading a whole lot of Gorsuch. I've spent hours upon hours, reading Gorsuch opinions.

And so far, I have yet to find a bad opinion among them. This is -- this is an extraordinary judge.

His opinions, if you can believe it, are actually interesting. They're fun to read, in addition to the fact that they seem to follow the right approach very consistently, with an eye toward finding out what the law says.

GLENN: Let's just clarify. That is Mike Lee that just said these are fun to read. So, kids, don't rush out there. It's Mike saying that.

What are the odds of him getting confirmed?

MIKE: We intend to get him confirmed. And I expect we will get him confirmed.

GLENN: Without the nuclear option?

MIKE: Well, there is no reason why we necessarily have to use the nuclear option. And I think most or all of us would prefer not to. It's not clear that we'll have to, to begin with. You know, I do think that at least one Democrat will make sure that we have to get cloture, if they can. And that requires 60 votes, to bring the debate to a close.

I think it's possible that we could get those 60 votes. If we don't, there are a couple of options at our disposal, only one of which involves the use of the nuclear option.

There's another one called Rule 19, the so-called two speech rule that allows to us bypass cloture when we stay in the legislative day until everyone who wants to speak has had a chance to do so and then we go directly to the final vote, which is set at 51.

Look, this is terribly boring, arcane stuff. This from a guy who loves to read Gorsuch opinions.

GLENN: No. He loves them. Says they're fun.

MIKE: Yes, yes, they are fun. The Gorsuch opinions are fun. Rule 19 is not fun. It's quite arcane. But it's useful here. And I think it might give us a path to confirming Judge Gorsuch without deploying the nuclear option.

PAT: Mike, if you had to compare him to a sitting or former judge, who -- who would he mostly closely compare to? Would it be Scalia? Would it be Alito? Kennedy?

MIKE: I'd say he's sort of a blend between Justice Alito, my former boss, and justices Scalia and Thomas, which is exactly what we want.

PAT: Yeah.

MIKE: I had hoped the president would nominate someone in that mold. And as far as I can tell, he appears to be in that mold. This is a guy who really believes deeply that we need to follow certain principles in the law.

He's deeply wedded to textualism, the idea that the laws consist of words. The words have meaning, and you have to find out what those words mean.

And originalism, which is the idea that in order to understand the Constitution, it's important to go back and understand how the words in the Constitution were used at the time they were put in there, at the time they were drafted and ratified.

STU: As someone, Mike, who is really interested in the Gorsuch opinions, can you help -- because speaking of the Scalia comparisons, one interesting place where they seem to split, and it seems that Gorsuch is better than Scalia on, is this idea -- this Chevron deference, where we're talking about basically giving deference to federal agencies -- can you explain that and make it a slightly less boring than it sounds?

MIKE: Yes. First of all, I'm thrilled, I'm ecstatic that I get do explain Chevron deference.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. People are pulling over.

PAT: Chevron deference. I can't go to work yet!

GLENN: I'm about to wet my pants, I'm so excited.

MIKE: Okay. So Chevron deference is this legal doctrine created out of whole cloth by the devil himself within the federal court system.

And it says that the courts, rather than doing their own thinking, are just going to defer to executive branch, bureaucratic agencies, when they interpret a regulation developed by that agency. In other words, hello, Mr. Fox, here are the keys to the henhouse. Please enjoy it.

That's what we do.

Now, for reasons that astound me, for reasons that sometimes allow me to argue with Justice Scalia, when I go to dinner with him, that is a doctrine that doesn't make sense. And yet, Justice Scalia wanted it in one way or another.

Judge Gorsuch appears to have real concerns, with Chevron deference. And he pointed out that this is a doctrine that runs against the doctrine of separation of powers embedded deeply in the Constitution. And I just -- I had a huge grin on my face when I was reading that opinion. It was fantastic.

STU: It essentially means if the EPA has regulation and there's disagreement about it, the legal system just says, "Eh, ask the EPA what they meant."

JEFFY: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And if other people disagree with the EPA's interpretation of what it meant, they say, ask the EPA. And whatever the EPA says stands, stands. And that's a problem, that's really a big problem.

GLENN: Yeah. So, Mike, help me out on this, I have -- I don't have a problem necessarily with some of the direction that this president is taking.

MIKE: Oh. I was afraid you were going to tell me you didn't have a problem with Chevron.

GLENN: No.

I know. The controversy. People would have been fighting across the country over this.

STU: Mike Lee was actually legitimately excited to answer the Chevron deference question.

GLENN: I know. I know. God bless him. God bless him.

MIKE: Who wouldn't be? Who wouldn't be?

GLENN: So, Mike, my problem has been with the lack of concern on the number of -- of executive orders that are being issued. Do you have a problem with the -- with the system that we're using here with this president? Is it any different, or is it just my perception?

MIKE: It's not now. And never has been and never will be, the number of executive orders that are a problem.

I said this repeatedly throughout the eight years of President Obama's presidency. It's not the number that matters. It's the nature of the executive order, how they're used. It's whether or not they're used in a manner authorized by law.

GLENN: Right. So are these executive orders falling in line with what is authorized?

MIKE: So far, the executive orders on their face don't fly in the face of the law. So far, these executive orders could be implemented in a manner fully consistent with the law.

Now, that doesn't mean that all executive orders this president issues will necessarily, going forward, fall into that category. But I haven't seen one yet that I look at and say, "He doesn't have authority to do that."

GLENN: Oh, that's really good.

STU: That's great news.

MIKE: Yeah.

There are some ambiguities in this order we were talking about earlier. There is some language in there, that depending on how it's implemented could cause a problem. That's why I'm watching that one carefully.

GLENN: Like what?

MIKE: Okay.

You're going to yell at me for getting into this level of detail, but there -- there are subsequently enacted provisions of the immigration code --

GLENN: Hold on just a second.

Jeffy, assuming you're awake by the end of this, wake me so I can yell at him for getting into the weeds. Go ahead, Mike. What now?

MIKE: They can be read to restrict any type of effort on the part of the president to deal with the visa issuance program -- process. Depending on how the courts interpret that, that could end up creating a problem.

Likewise, depending on how they interpret this, this could cause other problems. I don't want to get into all the details of that. I don't want to pick any fights that the administration doesn't need picked.

GLENN: Okay.

STU: People are like, "Oh. Go back to Chevron deference on that one."

GLENN: One last question: Mitt Romney said he won't rule anything out, but he won't rule anything in yet. He's not sure if Orrin Hatch is going to run for Senate. How do you feel about your partner being possibly Mitt Romney?

MIKE: You know, look, Mitt Romney is a great guy. Not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out describes the entire context of the Utah Senate race coming up in 2018. Nobody knows what the heck is going on. Nobody knows who is running and who isn't.

I have absolutely no idea how to predict this thing. So I don't know what to say. I think people, before they decide they're going to get in, kind of like having their name floated out there. And they enjoy the process a lot. Sometimes that causes the process to drag out too far.

But we still don't know whether Senator Hatch is going to seek reelection. And I suspect that would strongly influence whether or not Mitt Romney decides to get in.

GLENN: Hey, do you have a second to hang on for one more -- or do you have to run?

MIKE: Hey, for you, anything. You let me talk about Chevron deference.

GLENN: I know. I know. You owe us. You owe the whole nation for that.

VIDEOS

How to Expose WOLVES in the Second Trump Era | Glenn Beck at TPUSA’s AmFest 2024

Donald Trump has returned as the 47th President of the United States of America. But the fight to make America free again has just begun. Speaking at Turning Point USA’s 2024 AmericaFest, Glenn Beck highlights a million ways the country could tear itself apart and the ONE way it can stay together. Glenn heads to the chalkboard to explain how to figure out who’s really on Team Truth and who’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Plus, he breaks out plenty of historical artifacts that help tell the story: Darth Vader’s helmet, a cup from the Mayflower, a “Batman Begins” cowl, the Holy Grail from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” and more …

RADIO

Illegal Immigrants FLEE America as Trump Deportations Begin

President Trump’s mass deportation operation has begun and reports are already coming out that illegal immigrants are voluntarily deporting themselves! But the legacy media is in full panic mode, insisting that Americans should shed tears as Trump and the military rip children from their mothers. But is that actually what he’ll do? Glenn and Stu review what Trump’s real plan is. Plus, Glenn has a message for “sanctuary cities” like Chicago: “You’re only getting more people deported quicker.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Oh, boy. Stu, Al Sharpton is very upset. Very upset today.

STU: Oh, no.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He is very upset that companies are dropping the enforcement of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. He said, why did we have DEI? We have DEI because you have denied us diversity. You denied us equity. You denied us inclusion.

If you want to put us in the back of the bus, we're going to do the Dr. King/Rosa Parks on you. I don't know if that's a new dance move or what.

STU: It's a TikTok dance.

GLENN: It's a TikTok dance. But, you know what, I really don't fear Al Sharpton.

STU: No?

GLENN: You know, used to be a fear of Al Sharpton with some. And no.

I don't think -- you watch how insignificant that is going to be.

Americans have heard it all. They've done it all.

They're not afraid of it anymore. Oh, my gosh. They're marching in front of us. Calling us racist.

Oh, my gosh.

Well, let's give them a little something to make them go away. They don't go away. Okay?

They don't go away!

You hire, and you take activists, bringing them into your company. Or you play ball with those activists.

Revolutionaries. That's all you're going to have left in the end. So congratulations with that. Saw that. It doesn't work.

No interest. It's not going to make a difference.

STU: It's a mindset change. You know.

GLENN: It is. It is.

STU: I remember the first time we got protested by one of these organizations.

And it was like, gosh, what's happening.

Wait a minute.

I didn't understand it. We came from a -- we started a local radio show, that wound up going national.

When you get to that level. These things start happening. And then like, I don't know. A few times after it occurs.

GLENN: You roll your eyes.

STU: You roll your eyes. When I go on Twitter. And you see something negative about you or whatever.

You just don't -- generally speaking, you just don't care.

It comes and goes. You just get to that point, none of it makes any difference to you. It becomes a superpower.

Because you just don't care about any of it.

GLENN: And especially now, nobody cares about it. Nobody cares about it. You know, do you mind being called -- now people are wearing that as a badge of honor.

Oh, Al Sharpton. Yeah. He came after me because I believed in actual diversity. Because I believed in actual racism. Was bad. I believed in that idea, and the best way to fight it, is to forget about color. And to just look for merit.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I'm scared. It's not going to change anything.

Let me give you a couple of other things that Donald Trump -- in fact, I could go a full hour of the stuff just remaining in the last two hours, of the things he's done in the last 24.

President Donald Trump declared the global corporate minimum tax. Did you know we had one?

Yeah.

The Biden administration signed us up for this one.

A global minimal tax.

So, in other words, companies we promised. We promised the whole world, we're never going to have a tax rate lower than 15 percent.

The global minimum tax. Because that would be unfair. And Donald Trump said, yeah, screw you. We're not doing that. And let everyone know, that uh-uh. No. We're not going to do that.

Now, that doesn't mean we will have a tax lower than 15 percent.

STU: Let's do it! Let's embrace it.

GLENN: I would love it.

STU: I will say, when it comes to economic competition. I want to be unfair. I want to be the country, where everyone else is like, gosh, I've got to get there.

How do we get involved with them? That's exactly who I want to be. Not to mention, it really benefits the people here in the United States, more than all.

GLENN: Yeah. Now, not everybody agreed to it.

Because after Biden agreed to it, the pillar one talks. That should really scare you.

This is pillar one. The pillar one talks stalled. Because we just kind of lost interest, I guess.

Countries, Italy, France, UK. Turkey.

Weren't really excited about reinstating their digital taxes. And now with Donald Trump in, there's no way they will do it.

So congratulations to the rest of the world. We have helped set you free, again!

Now, Rand Paul has introduced some legislation to repeal Corporate Transparency Act.

This is so important. The CTA. Corporate Transparency Act.

We talked about this. This is -- this will protect small businesses, and it was signed into law as part of fiscal year 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act. What does this have to do with national defense?

It requires individuals with an ownership interest in a limited liability company. An LLC, to disclose all their personal information to the US Treasury Department's financial crimes enforcement network.

And they go after American small business owners. And any failure to comply could result in up to two years, in prison and up to $10,000 per violation.

So they are repealing that, or at least that has been introduced. Because, you know, farmers, restaurants, gyms.

Lawn service companies. All of these people -- what? I have to -- I have to register with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Unit. I don't think so. No.

STU: That's a big one. We talked a lot. That one when it happened.

GLENN: That's a big, big, big one.

STU: Pain. Giant pain at the very least going away, hopefully.

GLENN: Yes. Also, an update on the border. The Southern Border, apparently, witnessed an outflow of persons, that came into the United States over the last four years.

I don't -- I don't know if you heard that.

There was an outflow of persons. Even on inauguration day.

Illegal aliens were voluntarily deporting themselves.

And saying, I --

STU: Yeah. You know, that's -- good! First of all.

That's -- if you're illegally, you should leave. You should leave. And you should leave on your own.

It's interesting.

There's a poll Axios had today.

Which is, the share of Americans who agree with immigration policies, like deporting immigrants, who are in the country illegally.

The number overall, 66 percent. So a popular -- a popular policy.

GLENN: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

STU: But they -- the take from Axios is, they don't agree with the ways to do it.

Right? And so they say, here are their examples of this.

Using active duty military to find undocumented immigrants.

Only let's say 38 percent agree with that.

Deporting immigrants that came to the US illegally as children, 34 percent agree.

Quickly deporting detained immigrants, even if it involves separating families or sending people to countries, other than their country of origin, 34 percent.

Using money allocated to pay for the US military for deportation, 28 percent.

Deporting immigrants who are in the country legally, 11 percent.

Who the hell is talking about deporting people in the country legally?

GLENN: And who is 27 percent or 25 percent for that?

STU: Yeah, it was 11 percent.

Now --

GLENN: Very well. Eleven.

STU: Right. But are any of those -- any of those policies really the policies you're talking about on a day-to-day basis? There are waves of this, right?

It starts with, obviously, criminals. That have committed other crimes. Then you have people who come in contact, with law enforcement for other things that they may have done. If you are busted. Let's say in a -- a raid of a factory.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Those people would get deported now. As opposed to released and they would go to another factory.

Those types of things are the interactions that would lead to a deportation.

Like, they are trying to paint this picture. I heard all sorts of coverage on this, this morning. Like, we're going to have military members, going school to school, to find children, who are illegal immigrants and deport them.

GLENN: It's ridiculous.

STU: That's not what these policies are going to do.

And what more likely, the overwhelming majority of these, quote, unquote, deportations are going to be of the self-deportation variety.

When people start seeing that, hey. I got pulled over for, you know -- because I got in a car accident. Or whatever.

And, you know, the police came over. And they investigated. Found out, somehow, we're illegal immigrants.

You will get deported for something like that. People start seeing that.

They will be like, wait a minute. There's no longer this giant welcome mat. For us to come here illegally.

And that message --

GLENN: Right. It will be too much stress on the family. Too much.

And they will say, what will we do with the children? Take them back home with you. Yeah, what is wrong with you?

STU: You shouldn't just leave them here. What do you do, when you leave a park? You don't just leave them at the park. You take them with you.

GLENN: What do I do with children, when I take them to the park?

STU: You take them home with you.

And that is what a large portion of this, will be people saying. You know, and when we talk about this.

They say, oh, they're coming here to do jobs. And Americans won't do.

When we say those jobs aren't here.

They're not going to come. Right?

When we're not rewarding companies for giving jobs to illegal immigrants. Who are paying them less than the minimum wage.

GLENN: The majority of people are going to self-deport.

Also, the cities that are sanctuary cities are only making it worse. Because if they won't turn over the criminals. When they're released. Or they're in jail.

If they won't do that, then they release them. And our -- ICE needs to go find them.

And if they're hiding with the family and stuff like that or a different family, when we do find them, they'll bust everybody. They'll bust everybody.

So, you know, any sanctuary city that is saying, we're not going to help ICE. You're only helping more people get deported quicker.

And you're not really helping. Now, let me give you this from the Chicago Tribune.

When reports surfaced over the weekend, that mass deportations could potentially begin on the Chicago area on Tuesday.

Martin Ramos informed his boss he was taking time off from work. He stocked up on groceries and decided his kids would skip soccer practice this week.

Ramos, who immigrated from Guadalajara Mexico, without the necessary work permits, spent the first full day of Donald Trump's second presidency hunkered down with his family, trying to avoid being picked up by ICE agents.

An arrest, he knows, would destroy everything that he and his wife have worked for, and force their two boys into an uncertain future.

Force their two boys into an uncertain future. They're staying home from school because they play soccer. And they can't play soccer. We have to do everything possible to keep our children safe.

What will they do, if we get deported?
They will go home, with you!

ICE agents did not show up at the Juliet Factory where Ramos and his wife both work on Tuesday. But fear inflicted upon the employees there was evident.

A coworker told Ramos that only ten out of the typical 40 to 50 coworkers showed up.

In Little Village, one of Chicago's largest Mexican immigrant communities, streets were mostly deserted and quiet. Tamale vendors, a hardy group used to braving all kinds of weather, weren't lined up on the sidewalks.

The hardware store parking lots, where day laborers searched for work, were also largely empty.

So, in other words, they aren't hanging out with a sign that says, we'll work for food. We'll work for anything.

And picked up by construction workers that don't want to pay union workers in Chicago. Is that what I'm hearing from the Chicago Tribune?

The possibility of mass deportations have terrified some of the area's roughly 400,000 undocumented immigrants. Prompting many to skip work.

Keep their kids out of school. And stay hidden until the promised raids end.

They are not going to end. They are not going to end.

Now, Chicago is saying that they're not going to help at all.

That's okay.

That's okay.

Sunday mass at saint Agnes of Bohemia Catholic Church was unusually empty. And the church personally advised a group of street vendors, based on the southwest side to stay home during the week.

Until they will learn how ICE will operate. Out of the thirteen street vendors, only one was out there. Most vendors declined to speak to the Tribune out of fear, they might be identified and targeted.

People are hiding. They call me and ask me what to do. But my hands are tied. I don't think anyone knows what to do. Yeah. Here's what you do.

You tell them to go home!

You tell them that this government is serious about applying the laws, equally. And holding on to those laws.

And you then tell all minorities, in Chicago, you know, I've got to tell you, if your city continues to defy federal law, then your city is going to get funding, cut off from the federal government.

Let the minorities know that they are embraced bit federal government. But due to the city and the state's stance on protection of those who come here illegally and took your jobs and receive things the Democrats would have never given to you, or any other American.

The federal government only has one lever. And that is: To shut off the funding to Chicago.

So recognize who the bad guy here is. It's up to you, Chicago. It's up to you to stand up.

Now, the question is, are you going to stand up with illegals? Are you going to stand up for the absolute vast minority? Are you going to stand up against the minorities in your city, that are Americans?

Because they've been protesting this whole time, saying, wait.

Why are we getting the shaft, and these guys are getting hotel rooms, and free food, and everything else.

You never gave us any of that stuff.

Yeah. Well, it's time for Chicago to wake up. And these states will either be absolutely left behind, or they will wake up.

And that goes for California too. You are going to see that choice on Friday.

RADIO

How Trump’s Executive Orders are DISMANTLING Wokeness

Donald Trump has barely started his second presidency and he’s already hitting the ground running! Glenn and Stu review what he’s doing to quickly purge Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies from the federal bureaucracy and make sure they can’t be hidden somewhere else. Trump also put an end to affirmative action for federal contractors and universities, a massive shift towards prioritizing merit again: “They are going for the roots of these problems.” Glenn also highlights some other massive wins in the first few days of Trump’s return: The failed head of the Coast Guard was fired, Republicans are moving to revoke the FACE Act, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told US Embassies to stop flying Pride flags, and Trump has instructed departments to prioritize an “architectural renaissance” that focuses on “beauty”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I'm looking through.

I don't even know where to begin. Let's start at some little things. The Trump administration, has ordered all federal employees in DE offices to be placed on paid leave and shut DEI down. Gosh, darn it, the office of personal management. The government's top human resources agency, notified all federal department heads in a memo. DEI programs must be notified by 5:00 p.m. today. Their administrative leave is effective immediately. Also, all outward facing media. Such as web pages and social media accounts, focused on DEI programs, all gone by 5:00 p.m. today.

Cancel all employee diversity trainings. Terminate any DEI-related contracts by 5:00 p.m. today.

Also -- now, listen to this. They are asking all agency heads, to ask employees, if they know of any effort to disguise DEI programs with coded or imprecise language, and report their findings back.

By January 31st, and any employee caught trying to skirt this, they will have, quote, adverse consequences.

I would like them to -- I would like it just to be known. You're going to be fired. But I guess adverse consequences could be more than fired.

STU: I like this too. This is the Thomas Sowell book, Thinking Beyond Stage One.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: That's what you have going on here.

They know what they're going to try with DEI. They're going to try to change the language.

They will try to hide it with imprecise things. They are going to do that. They already are looking for what the response will be with all of this, which is really, really positive.

GLENN: If anyone doesn't think Donald Trump was prepared. Look at just this week.

STU: You've never seen anything like this from any president. Whether you like it or not, you have to admit, he's coming in here with a real plan and attempting to execute it quickly.

In an overwhelming way. I tend to like a lot of the stuff he's doing. Even if you -- even if you look at this, because we've looked at this from the other side with a sort of, like, admiration in a way. Right?

Right? An annoyed admiration of what the left has done. They've built things. They've prepared with moments.

GLENN: Oh, yeah. This is the first time in my life. They've done --

STU: That's what it feels like.

GLENN: I will tell you, that I was talking to somebody, who is in on the planning yesterday.

And they said, that president Trump made a list of every campaign promise, that he made. He asked for everybody, remember what I said. Put it on the list. He made the list too.

And he is really checking it twice. And marking them off. When they do them, he is determined to keep every campaign promise.

So you want to know, left, what he's going to do.

Take him at his word.

STU: And all these.

To be clear. They attempted to do this.

Steve Bannon attempted to do this in the first administration. Came in with a big list. It has been well-covered. They just didn't get a lot of it done. They didn't know what they're doing.

GLENN: Oh, this time, they do. This time, they do.

GLENN: According to TheBlaze today, the new chairman of the FCC, who I love.

Chairman Brendan Carr has announced the ends of all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the FCC.

He said, he was erasing DEI as a priority. The commission's strategic plan. He said, he would end DEI advisory group at the FCC. And any mention of the DEI in the Commission's budget.

Also, DEI will be excised from the performance reports at the FCC, as well as all economic plans.

Amen.

Now, let's go to Trump ending affirmative action for federal contractors, and universities.

He's just signed an executive order, rescinding Lyndon Johnson's executive order, of 11246, which established affirmative action and bans all federal contractors and publicly funded universities from practicing race-based discrimination, including DEI. This is a massive shift, that came under Lyndon Johnson.

These guys, thank God. They -- they are going for the roots of these problems.

This is not somebody that is just, you know, cutting the hedges. These guys are going down into the soil, and pulling it up by its roots.

The Coast Guard, as soon as he took oath of office, just within hours, the head of the Coast Guard was -- was relieved of command.

The commandant of the Coast Guard. Admiral Linda Fagan, apparently, Department of Homeland Security first reported her ouster, a minute after midnight on Tuesday.

She was fired and told she was going to be fired right after he was sworn in.

Leftist outlets and everybody else was like, oh, you can't do that.

She's the first female leader of the military service. Yeah. And she sucked. Okay?

She sucked. She didn't address any of the threats of border security. She didn't hit any of her recruitment or retention goals. She did not adequately equip the Coast Guard stations in the Arctic. Why do you think we're going for Greenland? Because China and Russia are coming into the pole, over the Arctic. And she didn't protect that. She also mishandled the Operation -- Operation Fouled Anchor, which was an investigation into the coverup of sexual misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy, and excessive focus on DEI.

She said, one of her famous quotes. Something like, our diversity is our strength. Our diversity only makes us stronger.

Does it? Does it? Or does our unity make us stronger?

We can be diverse, but not in everything.

Not in everything. I would like to be diverse in thought. But not on principles. What do you think?

And I don't care about your skin color. Nobody does. Stop it!

Now, let's see. What else?

Republicans. I love this.

Chip Roy.

Thank you. Is making a movie to repeal the Face Act. He said, and Mike Lee is about to introduce it in the Senate. It has to get past the House. And then he will pick it up in the Senate.

Their case is, you don't need the Face Act. There is no constitutional right to abortion. So what constitutional right are they enforcing?

None. You don't have that right. So -- and you certainly have the right of speaking your mind, gathering and protesting, as long as it's lawful, and you're not, you know -- you know, doing anything. Breaking the law. And harassing people.

But certainly can gather. And so they now want to take the Face Act and get rid of it.

Do you know what that would mean? Do you know how great that is? And it's happening through Congress. And the Senate.

So they're being. They're hitting on all fronts so far. The Trump administration told all of the State Department, through Marco Rubio, all of the State Department, every embassy, you are no longer allowed to fly the LGBT Pride or BLM flags at the embassies. You can fly the POW flag, but that's it.

It's the flag of the United States of America, and that's the only other flag you're allowed to fly. Is POW.

I think that's fantastic. I mean, we're in countries now, where they do not want to hear the preaching from the United States of America.

Especially in places like Africa. Uh-uh. They don't want to hear that.

STU: It's common sense. You know, it's not -- even if you completely support every one of those causes. Why on earth, would we be hanging the flag of them, in our foreign embassies? It makes no sense.

GLENN: Right.

STU: It's an American political issue. What does that have to do with this?

GLENN: So Marco Rubio issued the statement, starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at US facilities, both domestic and abroad. And featured in US government content. So, in other words, you can't put any of those markings now on any of our websites.

The flag of the United States of America united all Americans under the universal principle of justice, liberty, and democracy. These values are the bedrock of our great country, and are shared by all American citizens past and present.

The US flag is a powerful symbol of pride, and it is fitting and respectful that only the US flag be flown or displayed at US facilities both domestically and abroad.

Anyone who transgresses this new policy, will face disciplinary action, including termination of employment, contract, or reassignment to their home agency.

Now, this stands in -- Linken said, that for May and June, the rainbow flag had to be flown at all US embassies all over the world for Pride month.

STU: Wait. May and June.

GLENN: Yeah. He announced this on May 17th, which is the international day against homophobia and transphobia.

And so they --

STU: Of course, it is obviously, Glenn. We all know. December 25th and May 17th. The big holidays.

GLENN: Right. And so they have that, May 17th. And he's like, just put it up on May 17th.

And just don't take it down until the end of June.

So now you get a month and a half. A month and a half.

Right. So that will not happen anymore. Let me show you how deep this is going.

Donald Trump, remember, is a real estate guy. He's also a builder. And somebody in this administration understands Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson said, if you want your society and your civilization to live on, you must embed its value values in its architecture.

Okay? Well, ugly, brutalist, and Soviet-style architecture, is everywhere.

If you've gone to Washington DC, there's some beautiful architecture, and then there's all that ugly new architecture.

That just means nothing.

It's just brutalist.

Donald Trump has just -- issued another executive order, on his first day.

Asking the heads of departments to provide recommendations on how to advance the cause of an architectural renaissance in America.

That would see all the federal buildings prioritized butte, over anti traditional hang-ups or egos of radicals.

Toward the end of his first term, he issued an executive order, mandating the new federal building should not only be designed to serve the American people. But should be designed to uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, command respect from the general public. And as appropriate, respect the architectural heritage of the regions of the United States. Joe Biden immediately cancelled that. You know, we have architect fights now?

And so they have now taken the design. The Jay Edgar Hoover Building is a really good example of this.

Just ugly and meaningless, and so they rescinded Trump's order. And started to put into place, all of these, you know, new plans for new buildings. And Trump just stopped it. Said, sorry!

We are not going to build ugly buildings any more. They mean nothing. And they're Soviet in style. It's not happening. That's how deep this is going. That's how well-thought out this is.

STU: They have for a long time.

Because he does, like, a little bit of that ceremony. Right? He talks about big parades. This -- whatever it is, celebration of our -- in 2026, is a big one that he's talking about.

This has been important to him for a while.

And, again, like it's a great illustration of how well this stuff has been thought out.

GLENN: It should be important to all of us.

You know, I lived through the bicentennial. I remember it.

Okay? That bicentennial stuff, it was out by 1972. We knew the logo. You remember that red, white, and blue star logo? That rounded star logo.

I don't know if you were old enough to remember it.

STU: I was born -- I'm a bicentennial baby, Glenn. My mom used to tell me --

GLENN: Okay. So it was out -- congratulations, that's icky.

Let's talk about your mom creating you.

STU: That's when I was born, not conceived, weirdo.

GLENN: Well, anyway.

STU: She didn't tell me, hey, by the way, oh, it was a wonderful night, all about it. That wasn't part of the analysis.

GLENN: Oh, I've got to tell you, sometimes when the kids get really out of control, I start down that road. They shut up really quickly. They shut up really quickly and run.

STU: I bet they do.

GLENN: But we had -- by 1972, we were talking about the Bicentennial, and it was a big buildup. Here we are, 18 months away. Not even that. We're fifteen months away from the 250th birthday. There's no logo. There's nothing.

There's nothing. There's a lot of plans out there. But we haven't even started that.

He believes in not being embarrassed by the United States. We talked about this yesterday. With renaming Mount McKinley, Mount McKinley again.

Exactly -- he is the exact opposite of Michelle Obama.

Michelle Obama said, and Barack knows. We are going to have to change our traditions.

STU: Our history.

GLENN: Our history. Do you have it? Go ahead, and play that again.

VOICE: And Barack knows, we will have to make sacrifices. We will to have change our conversation.

We will to have change our traditions, our history. We are going to have to move into a different place.

GLENN: He knows that. And he is systematically dismantling it.

I'm telling you, this guy, if -- if they can keep this going, and withstand the -- just the stupid attacks from the left, and the media. That is coming.

He's going to be remembered as an Abraham Lincoln.

He's going to be a refounder of this country.

And I for one, am thrilled.

RADIO

Why Biden’s Pardons for Fauci, Family, & J6 Committee May BACKFIRE

Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz tells Glenn that he would be “very upset” if he was one of the people Biden pardoned in his last few days in office. Members of Biden’s family, Dr. Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and January 6th Committee members all received preemptive pardons, allegedly to stop Trump from taking revenge on them. But Dershowitz argues that now, they look guilty and have lost their right to plead the 5th. So, if they’re subpoenaed before Congress, they MUST admit the truth. Dershowitz also reveals why Trump’s promise to end DEI was his favorite announcement of Day One. Plus, he explains why he’s “much more optimistic” about America than before and why he will “never” call Trump a convicted felon.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I don't know about you, but I have a real problem with somebody giving people who work in government blanket pardons for anything that they might have done wrong.

It just doesn't seem like American justice. And it doesn't seem like a system where you can hold people accountable for what they've done. It just seemed like that is ripe for corruption, in every way possible. What does it all mean?

Well, Alan Dershowitz is here with us now, to talk to us about the future of pardons. Or the pardons that Joe Biden made. And said he wouldn't just a few years ago. Alan Dershowitz. Harvard law school. Professor emeritus. Host of the Dershow. And the author of get Trump. Welcome, Adam.

ALAN: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

GLENN: You bet. So can you -- I mean, everything that these guys have done, when they try to force their hand. It seems to backfire on them.

I'm hoping this is the case. But, I mean, it just screams trouble, for the future.

ALAN: Look, if I were one of the people that Biden pardoned, I would be very upset.

First of all, it makes it sound like, he did something wrong. Even if they didn't. And second, you know, it denies them their fifth amendment right. So they can go in front of Congress. Investigated completely, as to all of their actions.

So I don't think Biden did them any favors. And he also set a dangerous precedent.

Look, when Ford pardoned Nixon. That was the national interest. Because Nixon was under investigation.

This was a special prosecutor, still operating.

But these folks, the relatives. They weren't under any investigation. And really, weren't under any cloud.

And I just don't understand, why Biden did that, after violating his own promise to the American public. When he said, he wouldn't pardon his own -- all right. I understand your son has been convicted. He's about to be sent to jail. He's a young man, who has had all kinds of troubles with drugs and other things. I understand the father doing that. What I don't understand is on the way out, literally, literally as he's sitting on the platform in Washington, he issues these last-minute pardons to virtually everybody in his family, and the surrounding people. It just -- it establishes a precedent for President Trump. And probably establishes a precedent, because he now has flexibility in the pardons he can issue.

Look, the most important thing -- many of the important things that President Trump said at his inauguration. One of that is that he wants to put an end to lawfare.

And if we put an end to lawfare, which is one of the worst things that has ever happened to this country, you know, I coined that term back in the 1960s in a very negative way.

And it's used in a very negative way.

But if we can end lawfare, then we may see an end to these promiscuous use of pardons as well. Because I think the pardons are seen as an antidote to lawfare. And I'm hoping, we can get back to a situation, which the Framers intended, where people prosecuted not for what party they belonged to.

But for what they've actually done. If we can see a return to that. Maybe we can see a return to the more normal use of pardons as well.

GLENN: Well, I don't think that Fauci is in danger of being prosecuted for what party he belonged to.

I mean, you know, he got along with Donald Trump famously. But if we can't -- if we can't prosecute people, and this becomes a habit of every president. Just blanket pardoning people that were involved in anything.

Then we have a real issue here.

There's nobody that can ever be held accountable.

Who will be held accountable for what happened with COVID?

ALAN: No wonder our system of federalism. You can be held accountable by the space.

As you know, Trump was prosecuted by New York, and that invalid, unconstitutional conviction still stands.

Now, you and I disagree with Dr. Fauci. Now, we may agree that COVID wasn't handled properly.
But, you know, I'm pretty experienced as a criminal lawyer. I can't find any criminal conduct, in what Fauci did.

What he thought was --

GLENN: So I don't think, Alan. I don't think that we disagree.

I just want an investigation done. And if there was something that was criminal, we must -- I don't care who it is.

We must make sure that it doesn't happen again.

All I want is the truth. I'm not after anybody.

And -- go ahead.

ALAN: The investigation is made easier now with the pardons. Because now Fauci can claim the Fifth Amendment.

He has to go in front of congressional committees, and they are controlled by Republicans now. And he can be asked a disclosure of all of his records. He can't destroy records. They're not his records.

They're the records of, you know, government health agencies. And we can have a full and complete and total noncriminal investigation of Fauci and everybody else. And that's what our system is all about.

And I would like to see investigations.

For example, I think one of the best things that President Trump said in his inauguration yesterday.

Was he was putting a final end to DEI.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Which is the single worst thing that has happened to our system of equality and universities in the United States. As you know, DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

What it really means is lack of any diversity, except based on skin color. Lack of equality and the substitution of group equity, and exclusion of Asians, Jews, and other less popular minorities.

So, you know, I love to see -- and I would love to see Congress investigate universities that still have DEA programs that end up being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, anti-Catholicism. You name it. Anti-religion.

It's the worst thing that's happened to universities. It's turning their universities into second and third class institutions, that can't compete in the world today.

GLENN: I really don't like this idea, that we have presidents come in, and dictate through president -- presidential Fiats and executive orders.

We can't -- you just can't run a country that way. You know, flipping one direction, and then entirely the other direction.

Things have got to go through Congress. However, in this particular time period, how else are you going to do it?

How concerned are you, about the -- about the precedent that we're now sealing, from the last two presidents and executive orders?

ALAN: Well, it starts with Thomas Jefferson. Of course, he runs for president in the 1800s. Saying the presidents have too much power. I want to restore Congress.

And the power of Congress, one of the first things he does is buys Louisiana.

It doesn't give Congress any influence. Through executive order.

One of the best things that ever happen to America. You know, Alaska was purchased by presidential order.

So, you know, they're good, and they're bad.

And the one thing about presidential orders as we saw yesterday, is they can be rescinded the moment the new president comes in. The first thing the president -- the first act was to rescind 70 some odd presidential executive orders. So, you know, they're only temporary.

The Constitution doesn't mention executive orders.

It just gives power to the president. And allows him to have that power.

So I would love to see more going to Congress. Look, I think Congress is supposed to declare war.

And yet, we've had so many wars since the last time we declared war. That, you know, presidents have assumed far more power, than the Framers of our Constitution, ever intended.

GLENN: Correct.

ALAN: Remember, Article I is the Congress. Article II is the President. Congress is supposed to be the govern body of America, with the president administering the laws, not making the laws.

GLENN: Correct. Correct.

But people of the administrative state -- I mean, I know we're in an argument now of, you can't fire them.

All of these protections. But if they don't work for the executive. And the executive branch. Who do they work for?

ALAN: Oh, they're supposed to work for the people of the United States.

And it's so complicated. Take, for example, the Justice Department. We have a new attorney general. She's wonderful. I work with her. She's a great lawyer.

She's a great person. But she has an impossible job. She's supposed to be the president's loyal adviser of legal issues. Part of his cabinet, designed to make him look good.

That's part of her job. The other part of her job is to be the chief prosecutor.

For that, she can't be political at all. She has to be completely objective. In most western democracies, those two jobs are divided. We have the director of public prosecution, who decides who to prosecute.

And the attorney general, the minister of justice, who decides policy. But in this country, we have the two -- to merge. And it creates an impossible job. And I think Bondi is capable of doing it. Garland was not. He couldn't strike the appropriate balance, between politics and law. And so these are very, very hard questions. You remember the Bible instructs judges and prosecutors. He refers to (foreign language). Do not recognize faces. Do not do justice based on who the person is. Only do justice based on what they've done. And we have to return to that. It's Biblical. It's Constitutional. And it's the right thing.

GLENN: Correct.

What was your response yesterday when the way everything came off, how do you -- are you more optimistic about our country? Or less?

ALAN: I'm much more optimistic about our country. I spoke to President Trump twice, between the time of the election -- three times, actually.

Between the time of the election, and the time he assumed the presidency.

And we had good discussions about Israel, about the Middle East, about anti-Semitism.

But also about lawfare and the rule of law.
And I think he was a very different person, in these kinds of, one on one conversations. Or one on two conversations. Than he is, you know, when he was on television. And in front of large crowds.

I'm hopeful, that they'll really take advantage of the fact. You know, he's the luckiest guy in the world. That he didn't win the last election in 2000 -- if he had that election turned around.

And they had traditionally ruled that he was the president.

He would have had four miserable years. In which half the country wouldn't have accepted him.

And now we would -- as of now, he is the most -- the president with a mandate. With a popular vote.

The best thing that ever happened to him. And I told him that. Most recently, I said, basically, get over it!

You're so lucky. That you're now the president. You have a full second term ahead of you.

And he smiled. And I think he'll do a good job.

GLENN: Yeah. I have to tell you. I told him similar, but I said, you know, it wasn't necessarily about him. Look how grateful we should be.

Because look at -- if we would have had him in 2020. So much wouldn't have been exposed, that has been exposed over the last four years.

And he would have been doing the same thing. That he was doing in the first four years.

This gave him a chance to step away from it. Reassess. Watch what's going on. People wake up. And now he has a chance of really making an impact.

ALAN: Yeah. I'm calling him now President President Trump because, you know, he's been president twice.

He would like to call himself President President President Trump. But you can't be president three times. So just President President Trump.

And I will never call him a convicted felon, ever. He was not convicted of a constitutionally permissible crime. He is totally innocent. And people should understand that. The New York case is unconstitutional. Nobody can even describe what he was convicted of.

So I'm never going to call him a convicted felon, any more than I would call a civil rights worker who went down south with me, in 1960s and was convicted of a felony for spitting on the sidewalk a convicted felon.

We have to look at what the surrounding circumstances. So President Trump is our president. Whether you voted for him or against him.

Everybody should be praying and hoping for four freight years for America.

GLENN: Alan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ALAN: Always my pleasure. Great talking to you. You too.

GLENN: Thanks. You bet.

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