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

This Russian nuke warning is HORRIFIC… for an UNEXPECTED reason

Glenn Beck reviews a video of Aleksandr Dugin, known as “Putin’s brain,” warning that nuclear war is inevitable. But this warning from Russia is absolutely terrifying for another reason: it’s NOT REAL …

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Operation Fast and Furious: The TRUE Story of How the Feds were Running Guns into Mexico

The Border Crisis has been ongoing for years, and one of the biggest scandals was the ATF “gunwalking” scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious which occurred during when Barack Obama was President. Glenn Beck talks with John Dodson, the whistleblower who revealed the scandal to get the facts about what happened and why it was a flawed operation from its inception.
Watch the FULL Interview HERE

VIDEOS

Glenn Beck & Piers Morgan REACT to Trump's Iran Strike & What Comes Next

Glenn Beck joins Piers Morgan to react to President Trump's decision to strike Iran's Nuclear Facilities and what could come next with the conflict. Is this just the start of a larger conflict involving Iran, Israel and the United States, or will this move by Trump put at least a temporary end to the brewing tensions?

RADIO

Meet the pro-Intifada candidate NYC Democrats just elected

New York City Democrats just elected 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, a "socialist Muslim", as the Party's candidate for mayor. But Glenn Beck argues that his radical beliefs are actually communist and Islamist.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

VOICE: Z10852. Something weird is going on. The World Trade Center is on fire.

VOICE: Seriously the top of the building. We're trying to get information.

VOICE: Top level of one of the --

VOICE: To unfold from New York City.

VOICE: A plane crashed just --

VOICE: My sister is in that believe. I hope she's okay. I have to come to New York.

VOICE: It's pandemonium.

VOICE: It's raining papers.

VOICE: Wait a minute! Stop just a second. Why are we -- why are we -- I've got breaking news. Breaking news, yesterday. New York City just elected as their mayoral candidate for the left. And the Democrats, a -- a Muslim radical, who is also a communist!

So, you know, it only took you 25 years. It only took you 25 years, New York, to go completely insane.

Somebody who is -- well, I mean, if I might quote Michael malice today. I am old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.

But you've got a -- you've got a communist jihadist apologist now.

Who was -- you know, well, CAIR put $100,000 behind his bid for New York City mayor.

So you have somebody who is endorsed by CAIR. That's really good.

He also was somebody who said, you know, he was -- he was for the shooting of the United Health Care CEO.

Said he was looking forward to driving down magnum Joan avenue. I don't know. Sounds like supporting people in the streets. Maybe it's just me.

Then he also said that he was going to globalize the intifada, which I think that's -- maybe -- maybe that's just me.

I mean, what do I know?

Tim Miller who is a podcaster. Asked him a few weeks ago. Asked him about his pro Palestinian slogan. Globalized the intifada. And he said, for me, ultimately, what I hear in so many, is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights, in standing up for Palistinian human rights. Oh, is that what you hear, Mr. CAIR?

Really? Huh, that's interesting.

Right. So globalize the intifada.

I mean, I mean, sure, that's -- I mean well, let me go on.

Because I don't want to take him out of context.

He then delved into the semantics of the intifada, citing the United States Holocaust memorial museum's use of a word for a translation for uprising, in an Arabic version of an article, a museum published about the Warsaw ghetto.

Oh!

So this is just a comparison, about the -- the armed rebellion against the Nazis!

I don't know if that makes me feel better!

I mean, if we're globalizing that.

We're the Nazis in this scenario.

Because I don't think it's the Palestinians.

I certainly don't think it's anybody who is like, hey.

Global jihad. I don't think it's those guys.

Or the Nazis. Who are the Nazis in that?

And it seems, if that's what you mean, then it's not just a harmless kind of slogan about human rights. It is a call for violence on the streets.

Because I don't know if you know, that's what happened when the Jews had their uprising against the Nazis.

I'm just saying!

But, hey, hey, free Palestine.

Oh, that's not what that means, gang. That is not what that means, but don't worry about it. He's just going to be possibly the new mayor.

And that's great. By the way, the Columbia faculty members signed a letter defending Hamas.

They were also among the donors to his mayoral campaign.

So, you know, you don't have anything to worry about.

And his father, who used to work at Columbia. Do you know, Stu?

Is his Dad -- is he still a professor at Columbia University?

He said that -- this violent terror thing of Islam, is not a part of Islam. Now, I've read the Koran, and much of the hadith.

And I'm pretty sure the violence is a part of that. But no.

No. This is something entirely new.

And his father while at Columbia university, wanted everybody to know, that this is actually -- this is something that came out of America!

America is really responsible for this.

And, you know, it really started with the Reagan administration, you know, when he started -- when he started with his very religious terms, to finish the war against the evil empire.

So, you know, that's where -- that's where 9/11 came from.

Is what -- don't worry about it! Don't worry about it!

Because who am I? I'm clearly just -- am I an anti-Semite today, or am I an Islamophobic? I can't remember which one.

Oh, it's probably both. Anyway, Islamophobia. Let me just explain Islamophobia. I haven't even gotten to the Communist part of it. Which is really, really -- New York, you're in one for hell of a ride. Buckle up.

It will be a fun rollercoaster for you. My gosh, I've never been happier that I've been away are if New York.

Anyway, I just want I to know, there is Islam. And then there is Islamists. Now, an Islamist is somebody who really wants Sharia law.

That's political Islam!

That's not a faith. That's political Islam.

Now, let me make really -- something really clear. Criticizing Islamism, is not Islamophobia. Pointing out the dangers of, oh. I don't know.

Political Islam. The ideology that seeks to use the tools of democracy, ultimately to destroy democracy, is not an attack on Muslims.

No. Uh-uh.

You know why?

Because Muslims are often the first people in line.

The first victims of the ideology.

So let's draw a bright, bright line between Islam as a faith, millions of people can practice that faithfully and peacefully.

It's mostly peaceful, okay?

Then there's the Islamism.

Islamism is something entirely -- that's a political project.

A theocratic political -- oh. Left loves theocracies. They love it.

Of course, you never see a problem with it.

See it when an Islamist is touting it. Anyway, it's not about prayer. It's not about fasting. It's not about spiritual life.

It's all about power. It's about merging of mosque and state. It's about implementing Sharia, not as a personal code of conduct. But as a governing legal system.

And it's -- it's supremacy.

Absolutely. Faith.

Religion.

It's -- there's one thing that's supreme.

It's misogynistic.

Deeply intolerant of all kinds of things.

Descent. Secularism. Other faiths. Even competing interpretations from inside the faith itself.

It will behead them too.

So let's -- let's be honest here for a second.

You know, CAIR should be labeled an international terror organization.

In my opinion. In my opinion.

Oh, does that make me -- that makes me an Islamophobe. I'm sure. I'm sure they will start a campaign against me on being an Islamophobe.

Stand in line, guys. You've been doing it since 2001, okay?

I don't really care. And I don't think the American people. I think that record, all the grooves are worn-out on that one, okay?

This is not a religion we're talking about. When we're talking about Sharia law. And we're talking about globalize the intifada. What does that mean, actually, to globalize it?

Does that mean we now want to do what is happening to Israel? All over the world?

Has the Palestinian plight become our plight you now, as Americans?

That there has to be an intifada here!

Because it's the kind of the same. You know. It's kind of the same over, you know, with what the Palestinians are going through.

Well, it's very much like what the Jews went through with the Nazis.

That's a weird one. That one makes my head hurt. It's very much the same as that. And very much the same as the fight against Donald Trump.

Oh, this is going to be fun. It's fun!

Really fun. You know, the irony here is, the ones that will scream Islamophobia the most, are the ones in the progressive left, the champions of feminism, LGBTQ rights. And secularism.

They're going to -- no. You want -- they're going to stand with the people, who want to kill them first.

See, this is how smart they are!

This is why it's going to work out well, in New York City.

Let me just say. If you have an ounce of common sense, you run a business, you have an ounce of wealth. And I don't mean wealth like, you know, hey, Lovey.

Let's get on the boat for a three-hour tour with a suitcase full of cash. I mean you saved anything, anything, get the hell out of New York City.

I mean, this is about survival. This is about free speech. This is about women's rights.
Religious pluralism. Secular legal systems. Liberal democracy.

But it's also about failed principles of Communism. Okay?

First, you have to call out political Islam for what it is. Okay?

And we have to do it with the clarity that we call out white nationalism.

Got to do it with that. Got to -- you know, the Klan. Really bad people.

Really bad people.

Anybody who is shouting for globalized intifada?

Pretty bad. Pretty bad people.

Okay?

Now, let's get to communism.

Because that's another cool, cool angle of the new Democratic candidate for -- for mayor of New York City.

That I just -- I think is cuddly and cute. Sure, it led to 100 million deaths. But this time, New York is going to be radically different. Oh, did I use the word radical?

I didn't mean to use that. What's radical about this guy?

Nothing. He's just like you!

Well, not exactly.

But let's talk about communism, next!

Now, the new mayoral candidate that's running there in New York City. That so many young people rushed to defend and vote for. He's promising free buses.

That's going to work out.

Where are you going to get the money for free buses.

It's free!

City-run grocery stores.

Oh, rent freezes. And finally somebody has done it. A 30-dollar minimum wage.

So under the banner of equity. And, you know, we will tax the wealthy. And the corporations. You know, we're going to squeeze another $10 billion out of them.

Really?

Because they're going to call a U-Haul.

You know, they will call something like U-Haul. There will be a lot of -- there will be a lot of movers that are like, how do I get the truck back from Texas or Florida back up to New York? Nobody is moving up there.

But he's going to do it.

Now, his vision isn't really new. You know, just -- just tax people, so we could have city-run grocery stores. You know, I remember -- I'm old enough to remember those city-run grocery stores in Moscow.

They were great.

The shelves were empty.

But that's just Moscow.

It worked out completely different in Venezuela.

Where, oh, no.

It didn't. That's right. The grocery store.

They were eating the zoo animals.

But it will be different in New York.

Because they have rent controls too.

And that will just choke the housing supply, but don't worry. As a young family.

You know, you voted for it.

You know better.

It will work this time.

So, you know, I like building ideas, I just don't like usually building on the graves of 100 million people.

But, you know, why not? Why not?

You know, use this dogma.

And this time, it will be different. It's not like it was in China. Where the great leap forward, was a gross -- a gross parody of progress. Venezuela, which was oil rich. One of the richest nations in the hemisphere now sees 90 percent of its population in poverty!

Yeah. Darn it. You know what they did?

They decided to take state control of things.

You know, like grocery stores. And it worked out well. How is that free busing working out in Venezuela?

I just want to -- I just want to know.

Anyway, then you've got the globalize the intifada. Which is going to drop a little violence in, and anti-Semitism in with your communism.

Which is weird!

Because violence and anti-Semitism, always happen. When it -- when it comes to -- when it comes to communism.

This is weird!

I've got to play something for you. Because this has talked about on me earlier this morning.

Oh, wow.

Wait a minute. This is -- this is the whole coalition coming together here.

So this is going to be good. New York, this is going to be great.

It's going to be great for you.

No. He's going to uplift you. Then the social fabric of New York City is just going to be -- just one.

It's going to be fantastic. Don't worry about your 120 billion dollars in debt. Or your 10 billion-dollar deficit that you have right now.

You are going to charge the rich more taxes, and they will stay right there.

They will be like, you know what, that 46 percent in taxes that I'm paying, this is just not enough. It's just not enough.

I need to pay 60 or 70 percent to be able to pay my fair share. So that's good. That's good. That's good.

You know, they're not risking 100 million people. It's just 8 million people.

This time, it's just 8 million people.

But, hey. For those of you in upstate New York. That aren't going to be part of this experiment.

Don't worry, you get to pay for it. Because they'll kick it up to the state. The state will have to subsidize everything. And don't you love it?

Really, don't you want to subsidize the really crazy ideas of New York City?

I mean, why don't you have a -- why don't you have a democratic socialist. A/k/a communist mayor.

Why haven't you done that? Are you not progressive enough? Are you not looking into the future?

Are you stuck in the past?

I don't know. I don't know. The graveyard is pretty big. I have a hard time getting past that one. You know, yeah, so I'm stuck in the past. Because I can't seem to pass that graveyard, and get to be down the path with you. But it's going to be a paradise.

Forget arithmetic. You know, or human nature. This time, it's going to work. It's going to work. So all right!

Wish I lived in this morning.

No wait. Nope. I don't. Nope, I don't.

And Ted Cruz, stop it. Stop writing, hey, come to Texas. No. No. Don't come to Texas. Don't come to Florida. Go to California. It's beautiful this time of year. Go there. Go there.