GLENN

Wiretapping Trump: We're Arguing About the Wrong Thing

President Trump tweeted over the weekend, claiming the Obama administration wiretapped his phone during the election.

Is that wrong? Yes, it's wrong now and it was wrong when President Obama did it to journalists and Congress. It will also be wrong when it happens under the Trump administration. How do we know it will happen under Trump? Because it can.

RELATED: Remember When Obama Used the NSA to Spy on Congress?

"Because of the Patriot Act. Because of the FISA courts. Because of the fact that you only need an inkling, you know, I've got this feeling, Your Honor. You don't need to have real hard evidence, otherwise you wouldn't go to a FISA court. All you need is an inkling." Glenn said Monday on radio.

He also made the point that we're arguing about the wrong thing --- again --- making it about people instead of ideas.

"Let's be consistent. Let's not make this about Donald Trump. Let's not make this about Barack Obama," Glenn said. "Let's not make it about the person. Let's make it about the idea: Wiretapping of American citizens without evidence is wrong."

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

GLENN: Unbelievable. Welcome to the program. So let's go to -- let's go to Donald Trump and his tweet. First of all -- first of all, let me preface it with this: Let's see what shakes out in this. There have been a lot of accusations of a lot of things. For instance, photo fraud. And there would be an investigation. But there is no investigation that is going on. And that we've -- we've pretty much moved on from.

I fear that the president could be engaging in things that are -- that will position him as the little boy that cried wolf. And when he needs to be believed, will he be believed?

That's one section. Second section: We shouldn't be surprised that they are wiretapping his phone. Now, I don't know if they are or not. But I believe we are arguing the wrong thing.

We all know that this power was happening -- this very exact same thing was happening to journalists under Barack Obama. And it will happen under Donald Trump. Not because Donald Trump is evil, but because Donald Trump can. It happened under Barack Obama because he can.

Why can he? Because of the Patriot Act. Because of the FISA courts. Because of the fact that you only need an inkling. You know, I've got this feeling, Your Honor. You don't need to have real hard evidence, otherwise you wouldn't go to a FISA court. All you need is an inkling.

Now, should it come as a surprise to us that they were listening to the Russians? No. That they're tapping the Russian embassy? No.

Weren't we doing that in the '80s? Weren't we doing that in the '50s? We were trying to. Now we can. We were listening to Angela Merkel's phone. You don't think we're listening to Vladimir Putin's phone and the allies around him? Of course, we are. And because of FISA, as long as we can tap theirs and they're making contact, the Patriot Act now tells me I can tap their phones too. Let's be consistent. Let's not make this about Donald Trump. Let's not make this about Barack Obama. Because that's what we did last time, and we didn't win because then it only becomes about the person. Let's not make it about the person. Let's make it about the idea.

Wiretapping of American citizens without evidence is wrong. If they have evidence and they can go to a regular judge, then they should. We know that they went to two FISA courts. Well, so why are we surprised? Why are we surprised by any of this? From the Guardian: John McCain passes dossier, alleging secret Trump Russia contacts to the FBI.

From McClatchy, FBI, five other agencies probe possible covert Kremlin aide to Trump. This is during the election. Intercepted Russian communications, part of inquiry into Trump associates, New York Times.

NSA gets more latitude to share intercepted communications, New York Times.

Flynn is said to have talked to Russians about sanctions before Trump took office, New York Times.

Obama administration rushed to preserve evidence of Russian election hacking, New York Times.

Inquiry on Trump aides includes intercepted Russian data, from the Boston Globe.

Of course, they were listening. This is not a new story.

STU: I mean, the question -- obviously, the way Trump put it was they hacked my phones. Right? Likely, what happened is they were monitoring Russians that wound up coming in contact with people in his campaign. If it went further than that, we'll see evidence of it. We already know that part of it, right? There's 25,000 stories out there about that.

GLENN: We know that. We know that.

STU: You know, I think Rubio had the best take on this. Which is, you know, look, we have to see the evidence. If Trump has evidence, he'll present it. And if it's really bad, we'll go after it. If it's not, then we won't.

GLENN: There's no reason for us to be arguing about this. None. None whatsoever.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: The guy who made the accusation is the president of the United States. And if the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, cannot get access to his own agencies, which his own people head up now, and say, "I want to see the evidence of what you guys are doing," if he can't get that, then we're lost anyway. You might as well just shut the whole damn government down.

STU: I think what you can expect is the best possible case with the most unbelievable information you could ever have to -- to prove if this is true or not.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Because he has access to everything. He's the president of the United States. Sole make a great case, I'm sure, if he has the information. Or if he doesn't -- and people are saying, "Well, he's just trying to distract from his issues," well then we'll get nothing out of it. Must we sit here and obsess about every twist and turn over these things? You know, because the president tweeted something, must we sit here and devote every minute of the show to trying to parse every single claim from either side?

If this is real, we're going to get a huge investigation. It's going to be a massive story. And we'll get all the information eventually. But must we sit here and obsess about every twist and turn over it? I'm much more interested in the pee in the pool.

GLENN: Well, I am more interested in making the case that the Patriot Act and these FISA courts should never be part of law.

STU: It's a great point. Again, it's a principle, instead of every twist and turn.

GLENN: Yeah. Let's not talk about Trump. Let's accept Trump at his word.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Because we know that it was happening with Barack Obama's administration and journalists.

STU: And journalists. And Fox News journalists, by the way.

GLENN: Right. And they don't care this time. Only Fox cares this time. They didn't seem to care. Everybody just kind of moved on when it was just the journalists. Now the only reason why they care is because the right media is protecting the media, and the left media is trying to bring down the president. So they've made a huge issue into an issue about people, instead of the idea that we should not be wiretapping in secret courts, period.

STU: And regardless of whether it happened with Barack Obama -- just say -- first of all, we don't know if it did yet. We don't have all the information. But let's say it did happen with Barack Obama -- or it didn't. The bottom line is, it could happen with whatever president. If you're a Democrat right now and you're saying, absolutely not. This is a crazy accusation. You should instead attack the principle so Donald Trump doesn't do it with you in two years.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: Side with the idea that you should have privacy as an individual, and these powers shouldn't be solely in the hands of the president to do whatever he wants with.

GLENN: Or secret courts.

STU: Someone is going to want to attack you with it eventually. Get rid of it now while you're pissed off.

GLENN: Yeah. If it wasn't the last president and it's not this president, it may be the next president. But somebody nefarious is going to say, well, I have this tool. Let's just use this.

RADIO

The Glenn Beck Program Honors Charlie Kirk

Join Glenn as he goes live to honor the memory of Charlie Kirk. A time of prayer, grieving, and remembrance for a husband, father, and patriot.

RADIO

Glenn joins Megyn Kelly live to discuss Charlie Kirk shooting

Covering the breaking news of Charlie Kirk at shot at Turning Point USA event.

RADIO

Please pray for my friend Charlie.

Please pray for Charlie Kirk.

Please pray for our Republic.

RADIO

Gen Z's surprising support for Trump and socialist policies revealed in new poll

A shocking number of young Americans support BOTH President Trump and democratic socialism, a new poll has found, and they're willing to make major changes to the American system to get what they feel they deserve. Justin Haskins, who conducted the poll with Rasmussen, joins Glenn Beck to break down the unexpected findings…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Justin Haskins. He's the president of our republic. StoppingSocialism.com. He's editor-in-chief. And also the coauthor of several books, with me. Welcome to the program, Justin.

How are you?

JUSTIN: I'm doing well, Glenn. How are you?

STU: Well, I was well, until you contacted me on vacation, and sent me this disturbing poll.

I am in bed at night.

And I'm reading this. I'm like, oh, dear.

What? My wife is like, I told you to not check this email. I'm like, I didn't know Justin was going to write to me.

Justin, tell me, first of all, before we get into it, how secure is the sample size on this poll?

JUSTIN: It's a very good sample size. 1200 people nationally.

Only 18 to 39-year-olds. And we did that deliberately, so that we could get a sample size large enough so we could pull out valid responses, just from younger people.

So the whole purpose of this poll was to find out what younger people, 18 to 39 think, voters only. And people who say that they're likely to vote. So we're not talking about just people out in the public. We're not talking about registered voters.

We're talking about people who are registered to vote. And say they're likely to vote.

GLENN: So let's go over some of the things that you have already released to the press.

And that is, in the survey, 18 to 39-year-olds, likely voters.

The Trump approval rating is a lot higher than you thought it would be. Right?

JUSTIN: Yeah. Yeah. Forty-eight percent positive approval rating of Donald Trump, which for young people, is very high.

So that's -- that's the good news.

That's the only good news we're going to talk about.

GLENN: We might have to come back to that first question several times.

Do you believe the United States is a fundamentally good, evil, or morally mixed country?

JUSTIN: Yep. This one is not too bad.

It's not great. But fundamentally good was 28 percent.

Which is low. But mixed was 50 percent.

And fundamentally evil was 17 percent.

And I think mixed at 50 percent is not an unreasonable, crazy response.

I -- I can see why all sorts of people might choose that.

So I don't think there's anything terrible here. It depends on what you mean by mixed. Fundamentally good at 28 percent. It's a little low. Fundamentally evil at 17 percent, it's a little disturbing. But it's not -- it's not insane. The insane stuff comes a little bit later.

GLENN: Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Major industries talk about the crazy stuff coming later, here it is.

Major industries like health care, energy, and big tech should be nationalized and give more control and equity to the people.

JUSTIN: Yeah. This was -- this was -- this one floored me. If I look at strongly agree. Somewhat agree for that statement you just read. It's over 70 percent of young people, including -- including the vast majority of Republicans. Young Republicans. And people who identify as conservatives.

It was pretty similar, in fact, how young people responded compared to liberals and independents.

And Democrats.

They all pretty much agreed that, yes. The government. The federal government should be nationalizing whole industries to make things more equitable for people.

GLENN: As the guy who is the chief -- editor-in-chief of stopping socialism. What's the problem with nationalizing energy, and health care?

JUSTIN: Well --

GLENN: What happens, typically.

JUSTIN: Well, usually, there's blood in the streets, when you do too much of that.

You know, socialism, communism have been spectacularly horrible, throughout the course of human history. Across every society, culture, religion.

It doesn't matter when or what kind of technological advancements you have. The more you collect vies a society. The more authoritarian that society gets. The less you have individual freedom. And the worst the economy usually is for regular people. So it's been a catastrophe across-the-board. Everyone listening to this audience, probably knows that.

And so the idea that you would have three-quarters of young voters. So remember, these people will be the primary voters in ten to 20 years.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JUSTIN: Saying, yeah. We should be nationalizing whole industries. Whole industries, is so disturbing.

And I don't think that conservatives are -- understand how deeply rooted some of these ideas are with younger people.

GLENN: No. No.

And I will tell you, I think some conservatives are walking a very dangerous line. And, you know, coming up with a little mix of everything.

And -- and I think we have to be very careful on -- on what is being said. And who are WHO our friends and allies are.

By the way, that number again is 39 percent strongly agree.

37 percent somewhat agree.

Somewhat disagree, 12 percent. Strongly disagree, 5 percent.

That is disastrous. Now, try this one on. These are the ones that have been -- we have new ones.

These are just a few of the ones that were released late last week. The next presidential election is in 2028. Would you like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election?

JUSTIN: Yep, 53 percent said yes.

Fifty-three percent of all voters said yes. And the most shocking thing, was that 35 percent of those who we poll, who said they voted for Donald Trump, in 2024, said that that they want to see a socialist win in 2028. And so about a third of Republicans, 35 percent of Trump voters, 43 percent of people who call themselves conservatives, so even on the right, among younger people. There is a large group that want a socialist president, in 2028.

GLENN: And the reason -- the reason is, it -- it tied into the next few questions. Okay.

So here's question five. Among the following options, which best describes your biggest reason, you would like to see a democratic socialist candidate. Thirty-one percent said housing costs are too high. Twelve percent, taxes are too low for corporations. Eleven percent, taxes are too low for wealthy have I seen.

Eight percent want single payer health care systems. Seventeen say the economy unfairly benefits older, wealthier Americans.

Fifteen percent say the economy unfairly benefits larger corporations. 5 percent, some other reason.

And 2 percent, unsure. Now, let's get into the new polls that were breaking today.

Question six.

How would you describe your current financial situation?

JUSTIN: Yeah. Only 24 percent said that they're doing well. Thirty-four -- 38 percent said getting by. Struggling 29 percent. Seven percent said in crisis. So if you add up just getting by, struggling, and in crisis, that's 74 percent said that they're just barely getting by, at best.

And I think that explains a lot of the other negative responses we've seen so far.

GLENN: That's not good.

JUSTIN: In this poll. And the ones that are going to come pretty soon here.

GLENN: Seven. Which best describes your personal life situation?

You are thriving, you're doing well with a few ups and downs. You feel stuck and uncertain. You feel lonely, disconnected, or emotionally drained. You're in a crisis and feel most negative about your personal life.

JUSTIN: Yeah. Yeah. About a third said that they feel stuck or uncertain. Lonely. Or that they're in a crisis.

That's a third of young people. Say that.

I mean, that's -- that's not great. Only 19 percent said thriving.

46 percent said, they have ups and downs. Which I think is not. Too shocking.

But the idea that there's a third of American voters out there, who feel like, they can't buy a home. And they feel like they are lonely. And that they're in crisis. And that life is not just going well at all for them.

Again, I think that's -- that's driving a lot of the support for socialism. When you have 53 percent of these people saying, yeah. I want a socialist president in 2028.

GLENN: So socialism is not the answer. It is the symptom. It is the symptom of what people are feeling right now.

And they -- they don't know any other -- they don't -- nobody is presenting them with anything other than, you know, Republican/Democrat bullcrap. And socialists are coming at it from a completely nigh angle. Or so the youth think it's the oldest and most failed system of all time.

But they're seeing this as a solution that is different than what the party -- the Republican/Democrats are offering. Even though the Democrats are offering the socialism thing.

Number eight, do you think the American economy is unfair to young people?

Sixty-two percent say yes.

JUSTIN: Yeah, and 27 percent said no.
And I think that this really gets at the heart of what the issue is here.

When you look at the reasons. When you look at the detailed things of the poll.

What -- to try to find out if there's an association between some kind of demographic or response question about people's lives and their support for socialism, to see if there's a correlation there between something that is happening. And whether someone is a socialist or not.

One of the top correlations, connections, is, if people think the economy is unfair.

And if they're having trouble buying a home. Or they don't think they can buy a home. Or that's one of their reasons for supporting socialism.

So, in other words, there's this fairness issue. And it's not even about inequality.

It's not about, well, they have too much -- well, if they feel like the -- to use a Trump term. Rigged.

And throughout the data. That's what we see over and over and over again. Is lots of people say, the economy is rigged. For older people. For wealthier people, for corporations. It's rigged. And if they say, yeah. I think it's rigged, you know, then they're more likely to say, yeah. I want a socialist.

And I also think the same group has a relatively high approval rating of Donald Trump.

It's because the reason that a lot of young people like Trump in the poll, is that he's not part of the establishment.

And I think -- I don't think they -- I think a lot of young people who voted for Trump and who liked Trump, they didn't do it, because they liked free market, pro-liberty policies. And that's not a good thing.

But I don't think that's why they did it. I think a lot of them voted for Trump and supported him, because he's not the establishment. And that's what they don't like. They want to blow the establishment up.

JUSTIN: So my -- Justin, my sample size is my two young adults. My two children.

And they're like, talking to me, and saying, Dad. I will never be able to own a home, looking at the prices, looking at interest rates. They're like, I can't even afford to pay rent at an apartment. And they don't know what to do.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JASON: And so they're looking at -- on, like, TikTok. And they're like, who is this Mamdani guy? This sounds interesting. They bring this to me. They grew up listening to me indoctrinating them their entire lives. They're looking at other voices like on TikTok. Are we just not being loud enough?

GLENN: No. We're not -- we're not connecting with them. We're not -- I feel like they don't feel they're being heard.

And we are speaking to them in red, white and be blue.

And that means nothing. The Statue of Liberty means nothing to them. Ellis Island means nothing to them. The flag means nothing to them.

It's all partisan politics.

They're all symbols of really, the two parties.

You know, and an America, they don't relate to at all.

I think that's -- that's our biggest problem, and not being able to break through. To your point, question nine. How confident are you that you will own a home at some point, in the next ten years?

29 percent say, they already own a home. Which I found interesting. That's -- I think a pretty high number for somebody who is 18 to 34 years old.

JUSTIN: Thirty-nine.

GLENN: Thirty-nine.

JUSTIN: Yeah.

GLENN: There's a lot of 18 to 30. That I didn't own home when I was, you know, 30. Just got a home when I was 30. But go ahead. Go ahead with the rest of that poll.

JUSTIN: Yeah. So then 21 percent said discouraged, but somewhat hopeful. 12 percent said, not confident. 10 percent said, you are convinced you will never own a home. 3 percent not sure.

So if you add up the negative responses, it's around 43 percent that gave that response.

GLENN: Right. But, again, 29 percent, you already own a home. And 25 percent you are confident you will own a home, is still good. It just -- these -- these other numbers, have, you know, discouraged, but hopefully you will own a home. Who is discouraging that? And how is that being discouraged?

You know, only 12 -- let's see 12. Twenty-two. 25 percent are not sure they will ever own a home. That's too high of a number.

But I -- I don't think that's completely dismal. Now, a completely dismal answer, to the question, would you support a law that would confiscate America's excess wealth?

Including things like second homes. Luxury cars, and private boats, in order to help young people buy a home for the first time?

Are you for or against that? We'll give you that number here in just a second.

GLENN: There are some disturbing results, that get very disturbing, going from here on.

We've got two of these today, and then more tomorrow.

We'll spend more time with you tomorrow, Justin.

But would you support a law that would confiscate American's excess wealth, including things like second home, luxury cars, and private boats in order to help young people buy a home for the first time? Get the results.

JUSTIN: Yeah, 25 percent strongly support that, 30 percent somewhat support it, 55 percent in total for support. Only 38 percent strongly or somewhat oppose, with just 20 percent saying strongly oppose. So the vast majority now is -- is supporting this Communistic policy to confiscate people's wealth in order to help people. Younger people buy homes, which is in line with that question, we talked about earlier. Where it said, you know, three-quarters of these respondents wanted to nationalize whole industries to make things fairer. So it's all about -- it's all about this sense of unfairness that exists.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JUSTIN: And they feel like. Young people feel like the system is rigged. They feel like neither party is on their side, and they want to blow the whole thing up, by just taking wealth away from people, nationalizing whole industries, and redistributing it all.

And guess what, that's basically the democratic socialist platform. So it's not a surprise that that's -- that's becoming increasingly more popular with these young people.

And I don't think that free market, pro-liberty people are dealing with -- with this.

GLENN: No.

JUSTIN: In a real way.

In fact, I think a lot of us have believed recently that the wind is at our backs, and we're actually winning more and more young people over.
And that isn't what's happening according to the poll results.

GLENN: It explains why the Democrats have not moved their position off of the socialism stuff.

Doesn't it?

We keep saying, why? It's not working with anybody.

It is working. It is working with people under 39.

18 to 39-year-olds are hearing this message, and are embracing this message.