GLENNMarch 09, 2017

4 Steps to Break Down Walls From a Former Westboro Baptist Church Member

Megan Phelps-Roper, who grew up indoctrinated with hatred in the Westboro Baptist Church, left the church in 2012 after what can only be described as an awakening.

"She left the church a while ago, and recently did a TED talk on why she left and how it happened. And it's fascinating because, I mean, there are parts of it that sounds like she's just lifting lines from Glenn Beck about how to deal with the world," Co-host Stu Burguiere said Thursday on The Glenn Beck Program.

Interestingly, Phelps-Roper's conversion began in the hateful universe of social media, where she encountered a pattern that repeated during her 144-character conversations on Twitter.

Initially, the people I encountered on the platform were just as hostile as I expected. They were the digital version of the screaming hordes I had been seeing at protests since I was a kid. But in the midst of that digital brawl, a strange pattern developed. Someone would arrive at my profile with the usual rage and scorn. I would respond with a custom mix of Bible versus, pop culture references, and smiley faces. They would be understandably confused and caught off guard. But then a conversation would ensue. And it was civil. Full of genuine curiosity on both sides.

Concerned with the current state of division in the country, Phelps-Roger has identified four steps on how to approach people with different ideas, especially on social media platforms:

1. Don't assume bad intent

2. Ask honest questions

3. Stay calm

4. Make the argument, explain

"If you want to make it happen, she's giving you the recipe. And it's Martin Luther King's recipe. Unfortunately, most of our society is siding with Malcolm X. Most of us want the anger and hate and rage. We all want it to stop, but we're all being led to believe that nothing will ever change with the other side," Glenn said. "That's a lie, and she's proof positive of that lie."

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: I want to get to the media bias and American kids. Can they spot fake news stories? Can they spot bias? We'll give that to you here in just a second.

STU: So Megan Phelps-Roper. She was in the Westboro Baptist Church. So Phelps is the name.

GLENN: Right.

STU: Fred Phelps was the head guy.

GLENN: Is she -- is she a child of?

STU: No, I think she's married.

GLENN: Okay. So she was a child of Fred?

STU: Yeah. She grew up in -- or, it might be grandchild of Fred. Fred is -- I could be --

GLENN: Have we lost him?

STU: He's very old. I don't know if we lost him. I don't keep up with every iteration of what goes on in the Westboro Baptist Church. But I do find it a fascinating topic, in that it's -- they're just so crazy. And to see -- if you don't know who they are, they're the people that go and protest military funerals. They say God hates Jews and gays.

GLENN: All kinds of stuff. Really bad.

STU: You know, they're the worst part of every news story, basically.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: They come out -- gosh, this is a tragedy. Now it's worse. They're able to do it every single time.

GLENN: Right. Right. Right.

STU: So she grew up -- and, you know, I know we had someone who left the Westboro Baptist Church a long time ago. And I can't remember if it was her or if it was someone else because a couple people have left. But almost everybody at the Westboro Baptist Church is from the Phelps family. It's like 80 percent Phelps family members.

GLENN: Boy.

STU: So she left the church a while ago. And recently did a TED talk on why she left and how it happened. And it's fascinating because, I mean, there are parts of it that sounds like she's just lifting lines from Glenn Beck about how to deal with the world. Now, you might not want to be associated with someone who is in the Westboro Baptist Church --

GLENN: But she's out of the Westboro Baptist Church.

STU: She's out --

GLENN: She's out and she's talking about why she left. And for everybody who says, "Well, you don't -- the left won't listen." Let's listen to how the woman -- do you think the left is less extreme than the Westboro Baptist Church?

STU: If you could communicate with someone like that and break down those walls, you could do it with anybody.

GLENN: And listen to what she said. How it was done. Listen to this.

MEGAN: In 2009, that zeal brought me to Twitter. Initially, the people I encountered on the platform were just as hostile as I expected. They were the digital version of the screaming hordes I had been seeing at protests since I was a kid. But in the midst of that digital brawl, a strange pattern developed. Someone would arrive at my profile with the usual rage and scorn. I would respond with a custom mix of Bible versus, pop culture references, and smiley faces. They would be understandably confused and caught off guard. But then a conversation would ensue. And it was civil. Full of genuine curiosity on both sides.

How had the other come to such outrageous conclusions about the world?

Sometimes the conversation even bled into real life. People I had sparred with on Twitter would come out to the picket line to see me when I protested in their city.

A man named David was one such person. He ran a blog called Jewlicious. And after several months of heated, but friendly arguments online, he came out to see me at a picket in New Orleans. He brought me a Middle Eastern dessert from Jerusalem, where he lives. And I brought him kosher chocolate and held a "God hates Jews" sign. There was no confusion about our positions, but the line between friend and foe was becoming blurred. And it changed the way we spoke to one another. It took time, but eventually these conversations planted seeds of doubt in me.

GLENN: Now, imagine how many Jewish friends this guy had who said, what, are you selling out? Don't you know she's using you? Don't you know, you're being pulled in? You're a sellout. You've got to stand against.

How many people she had in her life saying the same thing. But they both were being civil to each other. And -- and probably everyone in their life said, "It's not going to change anything." And look what happened. Do you have another cut from her?

PAT: Yeah.

STU: If you can win over the Westboro Baptist Church -- and she went on later. Something you said a million times. She said, the conversations always started, and neither of us changed our positions.

GLENN: Yep.

STU: Neither of us changed our principles. It wasn't -- it was just listening. You don't have to change your ideas. It was listening and communicating like your -- your friend.

GLENN: And then start talking about families and things you have in common.

STU: Yeah. And it helped, I mean, win over a Westboro Baptist Church member. And to the extent of how crazy that would be -- because you think of these people, I mean, they're obviously crazy.

GLENN: I mean, God hates Jews. God hates gays. I mean, you can't think of people who are more off their rocker than this --

PAT: She goes into that.

STU: Yeah. And to talk about how indoctrinated she was. She talks at the very beginning of this that the first protest she went to, she was five years old, protesting gays somewhere. Holding a sign she couldn't even read.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Wow.

STU: That's how deeply she was in this. And she goes through this entire process. And through Twitter -- we think of all these good people being turned bad through Twitter. Here's someone who went through Twitter and turned her life from pure evil to something else.

MEGAN: My friends on Twitter took the time to understand Westboro's doctrines. And in doing so, they were able to find inconsistencies I had missed my entire life. Why did we advocate the death penalty for gays when Jesus said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone? How could we claim to love our neighbor, while at the same time praying for God to destroy them?

The truth is that the care shown to me by these strangers on the internet was itself a contradiction. It was growing evidence that people on the other side were not the demons I had been led to believe.

These realizations were life-altering. Once I saw that we were not the ultimate arbiters of devine truth, but flawed human beings, I couldn't pretend otherwise. I couldn't justify our actions, especially our cruel practice of protesting funerals and celebrating human tragedy.

GLENN: Okay. Stop here for a second. Let's just put this together. Both sides have this problem. Both sides in one way or another is the Westboro Baptist Church. Both left and right. We have extremists on both sides.

But let's just think of -- for this audience, let's just think of the right -- or, the left thinks they're the arbiter of everything that is true. They're the -- we're not science deniers. We're not that way. You're the science denier.

Well, you aren't educated. We are educated. We have all the universities. They believe that everything intellectually is on their side. Right? So they're morally superior. They don't see the -- the disconnect between saying, let's march for women and yesterday, while this was going on, they were advocating -- the left was advocating and going against the CDC, saying, women are protesting the CDC because you men can't tell us not to drink during our pregnancy.

Well, I agree that we can't tell you what to do. That's your decision. But that doesn't seem like something you later in life will be proud of standing and marching for.

It doesn't seem logical, to me, that when all is said and done, you'll be proud that you marched for abortion for the killing of children. That at some point in your life, you, or most, I believe, will come to the determination that, you know, that is a child. Because there's no way. Because of science. It's going to force you. I'm not the science denier. You're the one that says, I don't want a scan. I don't want an ultrasound to happen. And give the women a chance to say, oh, my gosh, it is a child. If they have that scan and they say, I don't care. Well, that's a different subject.

But you have to admit that that is a child; otherwise, why would you say no to ultrasounds?

Which one of us is in this bubble? Now, I'm only using this side because both sides are in a bubble. But anybody who says that they cannot reach the left, you're -- listen to what she just said. It was by kindness on the internet, first. Kindness of not slamming back.

Because the left does see the right as a monster, just like many on the right see the left as a monster. They're not.

We're not. We disagree on things. And we ratchet it up because we're screaming at each other. But if we'll just start talking -- and better yet, listening. Listening first. To one another. You will find what I have found, wow, we have a ton in common.

Now, it's not going to change everything overnight. People say to me all the time, yeah, well, who have you changed? Well, nobody. But I will tell you, look how many people from the left have been on this show. Just two days ago, we had somebody on the left who said, you know what, I changed my mind. I'm actually not on the left. I'm on the right. And I was die-hard on the left. And now I've changed. So while I haven't personally done it, I think it is happening.

And if you want to make it happen, she's giving you the recipe. And it's Martin Luther King's recipe. And unfortunately most of our society is siding with Malcolm X. Most of us want the anger and hate and rage. We all want it to stop. But we're all being led to be convince that had nothing will ever change with the other side.

And so it's of no use. That's a lie. And she's proof positive of that lie. At least I think so.

STU: At the most extreme level. If this isn't a proof of concept, I don't know what is.

[break]

GLENN: Craziest elections, our series continues in just a few minutes. Also, we want to talk to you a little bit about Obamacare. And Stu wants to give us the four steps that this woman from the Westboro Baptist Church said got me out of the church.

STU: Yeah, she identified these. Which I thought were interesting. One, don't assume bad intent. And that's something I like to use on social networks. Because it makes your -- it just makes your life better. You know, if you're constantly getting in fights with people, it's just annoying. And I've -- because people will insult you. Like I insult Jeffy all the time, and he knows it comes from a good place.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: But that's how I look at everybody who calls me Hitler on the internet.

PAT: They mean it in a nice way?

STU: They mean it in a joking way. And I just treat it that way. And I don't care. It makes me feel better.

GLENN: You know what, a lot of times I'll see people online. They'll say something like, you know, you're so mean to Glenn. And blah, blah. You know, the one defender. Blah, blah, blah. And they'll be like, no, I'm a big fan of the show. I was joking.

STU: Right.

GLENN: And so if you don't assume bad intent, it saves you a lot of angst.

STU: Yeah. And it also means you never get pissed off at the internet.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: So many people get obsessed in these little battles. They never bother me. I never care what you say about me. If you go with that principle, just don't assume it's bad. All these interactions wind up being better. And many times, by the way, you turn people around. There's people who are fans of the show that didn't like some things we said. They came out, they call us all sorts of names. If you respond nicely, typically they'll just turn around --

PAT: Yeah. I'm having a hard time finding the rainbow in all of that, during the election. When they were saying things like eat crap and die, I didn't think that was necessarily good-natured.

GLENN: But I will tell you -- I gave up. It was overwhelming at the time. But I will tell you, a lot of people will say, you know what, you're right. I'm sorry. I flew off the handle. I don't agree with you. But I appreciate it.

PAT: Yeah.

STU: Step two. Ask questions. So that's a great thing to do.

PAT: Even the very existence of God. For if there be a God, he must surely rather --

GLENN: Shut up.

STU: But I mean, asking questions is important. And honest ones. Right? It's not just like trying to come up with a point and just saying what you believe and pushing other people. And then asking questions that aren't honest.

GLENN: Don't ask a question that you know the answer too.

PAT: Just trying to set people up.

GLENN: And you're just trying to trap people into it.

PAT: Yeah.

STU: This one is very difficult for a lot of people. But if you do the other two, you can do this one, which is stay calm.

You know, the person who you're going up against in an argument, especially from the other side are going to say terrible things about it, why let it bother you? That's you. That's not them. That's you letting it bother you. You're making the choice to allow it to bother you. If you stay calm and don't let it bother you, you're able to kind of reason your way through the argument.

PAT: How amazing is it that this is coming from a Phelps -- the granddaughter of Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church. This is astounding.

STU: Yeah, because it worked on her to get her out.

PAT: That is really amazing. She and her sister both got out.

STU: Yeah. It might have been her sister --

PAT: It might have been her sister Grace we talked to. I think so.

STU: We should see if she'll come on too. Because it's great.

And the last one is make the argument. Which that one didn't strike me as obvious when I was listening to that list. But if you're in a battle with someone on the left or you're in a battle with someone who is nuts and you're trying to actually persuade them, a lot of times I think because we believe, for example, low taxes are the right thing to do or abortion is wrong or whatever the belief is, it's so apparent to us, we treat it as if it's doctrine to everybody. And we don't bother to walk people through the step by step argument of how you actually get there. So many people have -- they start at their arrival point. I'm young. I'm in college. I'm a liberal. I'm a leftist, I love abortion.

PAT: Uh-huh.

STU: And the process very well may not have ever happened, where they made that decision organically. Where they walked through the steps in their head.

GLENN: You know, I got to get to the survey. The survey shows that most people -- and this includes teens -- and I will narrow it down to teens. But most people get their money from a friend, or I blog. A commentator of some sort. They haven't done the thinking. They get the opinion from someone else who may or may not have done all of the thinking themselves.

STU: Take the time to actually make the argument when you're talking to someone. Calmly. Don't assume their bad intent. You follow those few steps -- you're not going to win everybody over, nor should you care --

GLENN: Isn't it interesting, you're on the bandwagon.

PAT: I've been on the band freaking wagon. I brought these clips to the show.

GLENN: Listen to him now.

STU: Stay calm! That's all I'm saying. Stay calm!

GLENN: I'm assuming bad intent.

Unmasking Antifa: The Dark Truth Behind Its Well-Funded Network | Glenn TV | Ep 461

The cities of Portland and Chicago are turning into war zones. Federal agents have been ambushed, police have been ordered to stand down, and mayors are defying the Constitution. It’s insurrection in plain sight. Glenn Beck heads to the chalkboard to uncover the hidden support and funding networks propping up Antifa. Glenn debunks the myth that Antifa is decentralized and leaderless, tracing connections from Soros to Tides and other shadowy nonprofits. Plus, independent journalist Nick Sortor joins from outside an ICE facility in Portland, where he was wrongfully arrested by police following attacks by Antifa members.

RADIO

Katie Porter's interview meltdown: A campaign killer?

Katie Porter, a Democratic candidate for governor of California, was the most favored candidate to replace Gavin Newsom. But her recent meltdown during a basic interview may have cost her everything. Glenn and Stu give their commentary on this trainwreck...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Can we play the audio of Katie Porter?

Katie Porter, she's a Democrat representative from California, who ran for Senate and lost. And now she's running for governor. Yesterday, about this time, she was the frontrunner.

Today, she's not. I just want to play a clip of the interview she did yesterday.

VOICE: What do you say to the 40 percent of California voters who you'll need in order to win, to vote for Trump?

VOICE: How would I need them in order to win?

VOICE: Unless you're going to get 60 percent of the vote.

Everybody who did not vote for Trump, will vote for you.

VOICE: In the general election?

VOICE: Yes.

VOICE: If it's me versus a Republican, I think that I will win. The people who did not vote for Trump.

VOICE: What if it's you versus a Democrat?

VOICE: I don't intend that to be the case.

VOICE: So how have you intended that not to be the case? Are you going to ask them not to run?

VOICE: No, no, I said, I will build the support. I have the support already in terms of name recognition, and so I will do the very best I can, to make sure that we get through this primary in a very strong position. But let me be clear with you.

I represented Orange County. I represented a purple area. I even stood on my own two feet and won Republican votes before. That's not something every candidate in this race can say. If you're from a deep blue area. If you're from LA or you're from Oakland, you don't have --

VOICE: You just said you don't need those Trump voters.

VOICE: You asked me if I needed them to win. I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?

VOICE: The question is the same thing I ask everybody, that this is being called the empowering voters who stop Trump's power grab. Every other candidate has answered this question. This is not --

VOICE: I said, I support it.

VOICE: And the question is, what do you say to the 40 percent of voters who voted for Trump?

VOICE: Oh, I'm happy to say that. It's the do you need them to win part that I don't understand. I'm happy to answer the question as you have it written, and I'll answer it.

VOICE: And we've also asked the other candidates, do you think you need any of those 40 percent of California voters to win? And you're saying, no. I don't.

VOICE: No. I'm trying to say, I will try to win every vote I can. And what I'm saying to you is that -- I don't want to keep doing this. I'm going to call it. Thank you.

GLENN: She gets up and walks away.

VOICE: You're not going to do the interview with us?
VOICE: No. Not like this, I'm not. Not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask.

STU: Oh, God forbid.
VOICE: Every other candidate has --

VOICE: I don't care. I don't care.

I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation, which you ask me about every issue on this list.

And if every question that you're going to make up a follow-up question, then we're never going to get there.

I've never had to do this before, ever.

VOICE: You've never had to have a conversation with a reporter --

VOICE: To any interview.

VOICE: Okay. But every other candidate has done this.

VOICE: What part of, I'm me -- I'm running for governor because I'm a leader. So I am going to make --

VOICE: You're not going to answer questions from reporters?

Okay. Why don't we go through -- I will continue to ask follow-up questions because that's my job as a journalist. But I will go through and ask these, and if you don't want to answer, you don't want to answer.

So nearly every legislative --

VOICE: I -- I don't want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don't want this all on camera.

VOICE: I don't want to have an unhappy experience with you either. I would love to continue to ask these questions so that we can show our viewers what every candidate feels about every one of these issues that they care about.

And redistricting is a massive issue. We're going to do an entire story just on responses to that question, and I've asked everybody the same follow-up question.

GLENN: Didn't go well.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: Didn't go well.

STU: This is somebody who is -- she kind of even says it. She's never had to deal with follow-up questions before.

GLENN: No. No.

STU: What an amazing -- we sometimes don't appreciate what -- what a great life it must be on the left.

GLENN: Oh. I've thought about that a lot.

STU: You just go -- oh, my God. You never have to deal with anything. No one ever asks you a follow-up. No one ever pushes you on anything. You just say whatever you want, and everyone just walks away, as if it's the greatest thing of all time.

That must be so fun.

GLENN: You would be so intellectually weak. So intellectually.

STU: Oh. I mean, you see it there. She asked one minor follow-up question that isn't adversarial at all, and she pulls the plug on the interview. I'm not going to do this. I don't want all of this on camera.

GLENN: Well, there's a lot that I haven't wanted on camera. It didn't stop anybody else.

STU: Right. That's when they get most excited with you.

GLENN: Yeah, I know. I know. I know.

STU: That's so bizarre. The reporter wasn't even going at her hard. It was like, hey. What do you mean, you don't need -- it's such a -- what a layup of a question, Glenn. No offense. But it's like, do you need the 40 percent of people to -- Trump voters to win.

You say, well, I want to get as many of them as I can. And, of course, I want to get as many as I can.

But I want to stand on my principle.

Any politician. That's not even a follow-up question.

It's like, "Do you want more voters?"

That's the hard question she walked out of an interview for?

GLENN: But remember who she is. Remember who she is.

Okay.

STU: Must we?

GLENN: Well, I mean, I think we have just proven, everything they said wasn't true. According to people who had worked in her office, she has made several -- multiple staffers cry. People are so anxious to even -- to even staff her, because if anything goes wrong, she flips out on whatever staffer is present. She just talks to staffers however she wants. One criticism of Porter is that she allegedly is a terrible person, according to some accounts, abusive and racist. Separate text messages surfaced in which Porter scolded a staffer for giving the congresswoman COVID.

One message said, she was rage-prone and had a tendency to disparage staffers. Others suggested her expectations were wildly unrealistic. One message accused her of making racist comments.

Those are from her staffer. And remember, those are from 2022. I mean, we've seen this. And they just buried all of that. And now you're starting to see it. You know, when you force people into uncomfortable situations, you generally see who they really are.

And that wasn't really an uncomfortable. That was a normal situation for anybody who is -- you can't handle that, sweetheart, you can't handle anything.

But imagine, you're in California. She was the front runner yesterday!

That's who everybody was like, "Yeah, I'll probably vote for her."

It was yesterday!

STU: Yeah. Looking at Kalshi, running the prediction markets, and she was at a 40 percent chance to win, which was double anybody else in the race.

And today, she's now a slight underdog in the race from that interview. It was that bad.

Now, we don't know how the electorate actually responds to it --

GLENN: We don't know how much people will actually see it.

It can run and go away.

STU: Oh, conservatives will see that today. Because conservatives will play it like crazy. Will people who might actually vote for her see it, is a totally different question.

GLENN: How do we -- you know, we watch ABC, CNN. We have MSNBC on in front of us all the time. We listen to NPR. We listen to -- you know, the New York Times. We read the New York Times.

STU: Maybe it's time to appreciate us a little bit more. Just saying. We do that for you, every day.

GLENN: Yeah. We do it, so you don't have to. However, we bring those things up all the time. On the air.

We know where the other side stands.

There are stories that just don't hit that side.

STU: Yeah. They have no idea.

GLENN: And they don't listen to anything else. And so there are stories like that -- that stupid story of -- the judge's house burning down. There will be people forever, that believe that was a hate crime.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: There is no evidence of anything.

STU: Even of arson.

GLENN: There's nothing.

STU: Let alone some conservative that did it.

GLENN: It was a house that burned down.

That's all we know now.

They had to immediately jump to, it's a house of a judge. That judge stopped Donald Trump. Harmeet Dhillon wrote a really, absolutely innocuous, you know, hey, this judge just made this ruling.

We will fight that every way, we possibly can. That can't stand!

They took that and said, Harmeet Dhillon was targeting this judge. So somebody went on the right, and burned that judge's house down.

None of that -- there's no evidence of any of that. They don't even know what caused the fire yet. And I'll bet you, you're going to find out, that it wasn't arson, it was just a normal fire.

It was 11 o'clock in the morning.

It was just a normal fire. The house burned down. A tragedy. Glad that nobody was hurt. Well, her husband was hurt in it.

He had some broken bones and stuff, as he tried to get out of the house. And we wish them the best. But you're going to find, I think. And I'll correct it if we find differently. It wasn't any of those things.

But they have reported that now as fact. How many people are going to believe that forever?

I can guarantee you, I have members of my own family, who will bring that up to me. Well, you say violence. What about burning the judge's house down?

And I have to say, that's not true. Yes, it is.

And they won't believe me, because they heard it on MSNBC. They heard it on CNN. They heard it on the Washington Post. And so they just believe it. There are no facts to back them. None! Now, there may be in the future. Maybe in a couple of days. Let the process work. But there's none. These journalists on the left are so unbelievably irresponsible. And then because they have zombified their entire base, their base will not listen to the other side.

There are stories, I guarantee you. Think about how many people are going to believe from here on out, that Charlie Kirk was either killed by a Jew or somebody in his own camp or it was a left-winger. It was a Donald Trump MAGA killer.

Because that's what they said. And they're not listening to you.

They're not watching Fox. They're not getting their news.

They don't -- all news from major traditionally trusted sources. They watch all of that. And they think they're getting a variety.

Well, I read the Times and the Post. Oh, New York Post or Washington Post?

Well, not the -- the New York Post.

The Washington Post. There's no variety there.

STU: It's the same thing.

And this is how something like you can change your gender with a series of magical words comes into effect.

GLENN: It's how global warming is real.

STU: A liberal hears something like the gender stuff, for example. And they hear it for the first time.

And they just like you, react the same way. They -- what? What do you mean, you can just become a girl? What are you talking about?

They, in their minds, react the same way when they hear that. And then they hear it 500,000 times unchallenged.

GLENN: And saying, science is settled.

STU: And they're like, wow. I must have been wrong about that.

GLENN: If they have nothing to back it up, like in this burning down the house. They just say it over and over. And people go, well, they wouldn't say that, if it wasn't true.

STU: Right. And I don't hear anybody else. Oh, except for the crazy conservatives. That's what they're saying.

So, I mean, this is why -- I have hope, again. There's a lot of work to be done. She has a difficult job. But I hope for the Bari Weiss situation. It would be great if there was just an organization out of all of the ones that exist, that just comes out and gives you fair -- you know, balanced stuff. Now, I know Fox does that. But they're seen more as a conservative network obviously. But their slogan for years was fair and balanced. And it was seen by people who watched it and watched other networks. As the most balanced.

GLENN: Yeah. I think it was 40 -- 30 or 40 percent of the audience was Democrat.

STU: Democrat. So there's plenty of people who -- who will actually go and read and listen to other things.

But it's not particularly common. And I don't know -- what might happen is if the coverage by Bari Weiss over at CBS is, quote, unquote, too fair. They will be --

GLENN: They will be --

STU: They will be seen as a right-wing network and dismissed again.

GLENN: Yeah. That's how they will make them. And, by the way, congratulations, I was so glad to see GLAAD and everybody else, you know, LGBT celebrate Bari Weiss getting that position.

STU: Smashing another glass ceiling.

GLENN: Another glass ceiling. Yeah, it is amazing, what can be done.

STU: Too much fanfare. I was really overwhelmed by it.

GLENN: It really was. Yes. It's a first. But do we have to make that big of a deal out of it?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Or did you hear anything?

STU: I didn't hear one word about it. Not one word of celebration. No one -- no one -- again, this is a person who founded the free press. With her wife!

It was just bought by a major media organization for nine figures. And she's now the editor-in-chief. Or, yeah.

Is it editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Not a -- no flowery discussions about her sexual preference.

GLENN: No. No.

STU: Her sexual orientation.

GLENN: And she's not even conservative.

STU: No. She's not.

GLENN: She's just fair.

STU: She describes herself as center left. And this is how desperate we are in the race.

Wait. Someone who is center left, and actually kind of means something with her. She will actually say it, because sometimes conservatives are right on stuff.

We're like fine. We're not even asking for --

GLENN: Look at how desperate we are. But look at the other side. How authoritarian they are, on the other side.

You can't even say, occasionally they get it right!

No! Never.

STU: Never.

GLENN: And we're the authoritarians.

RADIO

The FBI secretly SPIED on Republican senators?!

According to newly released information, the FBI under President Biden secretly obtained the phone records of 8 Republican senators as part of an investigation called “Arctic Frost.” But while the FBI claimed it was about “election integrity,” Glenn has another take: This could be a WORSE scandal than Watergate…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I fell compelled to tell you today, that if your church, your synagogue, you know, is -- is not telling you these things and -- and helping you deal and navigate through the waters today, and showing you how the Bible actually is the answer to the things that you're dealing with in real life every day, you need to go find another church or synagogue. You must!

You must.

Anyone who is ignoring this, at this point, is either so under-equipped for the times. And so blind to the times, and clearly not getting any promptings from the spirit. Or they don't get it, or they are afraid because they're afraid of controversy. You know, in times where the truth is controversial, there's nothing you can do accept tell the truth. I mean, if you want to fix things. The truth right now is the most controversial thing you can say. A man is a man. Never will be a woman. Never.

The problem is: We keep conflating all of these problems with politics. And that's the problem!

I want you to just for a second play this monologue for your friends, who don't agree with me: You don't have to like Donald Trump to see the danger we're now in. You don't have to vote Republican or wear a red hat or cheer at rallies. You just really, all you have to do is love the idea of America. Not the flag-waving. The idea that man can rule himself, that we do not have a king or a dictator, or a cabal of people that run things.

There is no master. Government serves us! We are in charge of government, not the other way around. That's -- that's the American dream. That's what makes us different.

You also have to believe, that the scales of justice must stay balanced. I have told you from the first day, you know, after 9/11 when things got serious. I stand with the Constitution. Anyone who violates the Constitution, I will stand against. And I am a hawk on that! If the story that I'm about to tell you is true, and so far, all signs point that it is, then something has gone very, very wrong in our constitutional republic. The FBI under this administration, secretly obtained the phone records of nine Republican lawmakers. Sorry. Not this administration. The former administration.

They've released it, Trump has just released it. They have the phone records of nine Republican lawmakers, eight sitting US senators. They were not suspected terrorists. They're not foreign spies. They're elected officials. They're public servants. They work for you. People who work to represent millions of people, just like you.

And the FBI had a -- a vet investigation that we have now just found out, and all of the documents are there. It was called Arctic Frost.

The bureau said, this is about election integrity. But we now know, it swept up elective representatives, all from one party, without any -- anybody's knowledge.

Now, this is not 1972. We're not talking about a couple of thugs, that broke into a file cabinet, at Watergate.

This is much bigger than Watergate. And I want anybody who disagrees with Donald Trump to ask themselves: The documents are here.

If this was Donald Trump doing this, I would be with you and saying, this is authoritarianism, and it must stop now!

Why will you not join my voice with this? We're talking about digital surveillance. Invisible, vast, far more powerful than a hidden microphone in the Watergate building.

Chuck Grassley said, "It's arguably worse than Watergate."

And he's right! Because this time the government did not just spy on its political enemies from a smoky back room in DC in a hotel. It did it from inside the federal agencies that we're supposed to trust, that are supposed to protect people's rights. Now, if you have been told all your life that the real danger only comes from the right, that corruption, dishonesty, abuse of power is exclusive to conservatives, then I'm asking to you pause and to look again. Because the documents have just been released. When one side can weaponize the justice system and the other side cheers it on, justice dies for everyone. And it makes people who now want to say, "But look what they did."

They feel justified to get revenge. "Well, if they're doing it, we can do it."

And that leads all of us to hell. Then we're all in trouble.

People have been defending James Comey and have been saying, then this is just a political hit job by Donald Trump.

No, it is not. Again, look at the facts. He was accused to lying to Congress. It's not political persecution. When a grand jury recommends charges, that's not politics, that's the process! That's how our system is supposed to work. Now he goes to trial. That doesn't make him guilty. But it does mean, he has to face the same standard of justice, as you or I would! In America, no one is supposed to be above the law. Not Donald Trump. Not James Comey. Not Joe Biden or Hunter Biden. Not anyone sitting in the White House today or yesterday! Because in America, no one is above the law!

Now we have candidates. One running for attorney general in Virginia. Who openly flirt with violent rhetoric. And the media yawns! They call it, quote, colorful language. Quote, that's just politics!

No, it's not. When threats and intimidation become normal, when justice becomes selective, when the press decides who's innocent and who's guilty before the evidence is even in, the republic begins to rot from within.

So many people -- so many of our neighbors are just exhausted. And they've tuned everything out because it all sounds like noise. You know, they all lie. And nobody is going to pay.

That's what people say to themselves.

You stop caring, because the truth seems impossible to find. But when documents are -- are produced. And prove the truth! There is no argument. And the truth still does matter! If you want a civil society, justice still matters! And whether you voted for Trump or can't stand him. Whether you think Biden was a saint or a disappointment. None of that matters. What matters is: Do we still believe in equal justice under the law? Because if we lose that, we lose the promise of America itself, and you will get a dictator on the left or the right!

So I'm asking you, not as a conservative or a liberal, but as an American: Do not look away from this story. This is worse than Watergate. What happened in Watergate?

We had all kinds of hearings. Not to get the president. We had all kinds of hearings, to make sure that never happened again!

I can't tell you how many private conversations I have had with senators, who have said to me, whispered in my ear, they're monitoring everything I do and say!

No senator should ever feel that! No Republican, no Democrat, no independent, no communist. No one should ever feel that way in America!

But that will only stop when we demand fairness, when it makes you and your side uncomfortable, when you hold power accountable, even if it's your team holding it!

What will happen is: This story will go out. People will talk about it. The right will talk about it. They'll try to show the evidence. The left will not listen. The media will not report it. And then when it is all proven to be true, the media will say, "That's all old news."

And everyone will move on. And what does that do to the machine? It means the machine is never turned off. It means the machine gets more power. It means, next time, it could be you. If you don't punish whichever side is doing it, what happens? If you don't -- if Democrats don't tell the AG in Virginia, "This is unacceptable, and we do not tolerate that at all," what happens next? Stop dealing with what's happening now. Look over the horizon. What does that mean for tomorrow?

Justice can never be partisan. Never! Truth must never depend on who's in office. And America, this beautiful, fragile idea will only survive if both sides refuse to let blindness become loyalty.

Okay? Whether you like it or not, we are in this together. Gold just hit $4,005 an ounce. I have told you for 15 years, if gold hits $5,000 an ounce, you don't want to live in that world. That means the world is coming apart at the seams. Goldman Sachs just said their prediction is gold at $5,000 an ounce. That means, the trust of all of our institutions, the trust of our dollar. The trust of our government. The trust of our banking. The trust of our business.

All of that is up for grabs. You do not want to live in that world.

I told you yesterday, when I was talking about Civil War. That's not a TV show!

That means the end of all of the dreams that you have had for your children, coming to an end!

You no longer will be able to predict what their life will be like!

Now, you may not like it the way it is. But believe me, it is better than living in Somalia or Haiti!

Haiti is what revolution looks like.

Haiti is what Civil War leaves behind. Start looking at the news. What does this mean on what's coming next? And because of what that will lead to, what must I do today?

Today, you must look at the facts. Today -- today is an easy day. You must look at the facts of what was released yesterday on Operation Arctic Frost. And then you must demand Republican and Democrat, this must end!

Dr. Oz DEBUNKS government shutdown lies about health care

Democrats are playing "high-stakes poker" with the government shutdown, and they’re "running out of chips," says Dr. Oz, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator for President Trump. He joins Glenn on this week’s "Glenn TV" Friday Exclusive to debunk the Left’s lies — like is the shutdown REALLY about providing "lifesaving" care for illegal migrants? (Hint: No, no it’s not.) Plus, Dr. Oz explains why Americans are paying higher prices for medicine than Europeans and what the Trump administration is doing to remedy the situation, WITHOUT losing medical innovation here at home (there’s a reason why wealthy Europeans come to America for cancer treatment). He explains how TrumpRx — to be launched next year — will "bring transparency to the process" of finding affordable medicine, in an effort to ensure that no U.S. citizen has to "decide between groceries and medicine." Plus, Dr. Oz explains why the initiative will begin with Pfizer, despite the dark cloud COVID left over the pharmaceutical giant.

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The FBI secretly SPIED on Republican senators?!

Transcript

Dr. Oz DEBUNKS government shutdown lies about health care