BLOG

World's Best Trump Impersonator Talks With Glenn. It's YUGE.

Glenn welcomed a very special visitor in studio today. John Di Domenico, a professional comedian and voice artist, does a spot-on, killer impersonation of Donald Trump. He's been doing it for years and realized it was going to be YUGE when Trump won the nomination during the primary and later the presidency. Domenico gave the inside scoop on how he noticed what the media missed --- the enthusiasm Americans had for Trump.

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

GLENN: Hello, America. And welcome to the Glenn Beck Program. You're going to appreciate this much more, if you're watching us. But give us 30 seconds if you're on radio, and you will appreciate it just as much. We have a guest in the former Oval. Go ahead. Pan over to him. We begin there, right now.

(music)

JOHN: Good morning, everybody.

GLENN: Honestly, I don't even know how to introduce. I don't even know how to introduce. Other than this is the guy you see on Conan all the time. And I think he's the real -- I think he's the real deal. I think this is -- how are you?

JOHN: I'm fantastic. So excited to be here. Tremendous. You guys are amazing. I don't any of you, but I think you're great. And Glenn has been so supportive of me for so long. He's said such wonderful things about me. And on his latest book -- I'm on the cover, and that's why it's a million seller. I'm on the cover. Did you notice that? None of his other books have done well. Why would you write a book on broke? Bad move. Bad move.

I have to tell you, stupid, stupid title. But I like you, though, you're good. I've written a lot of books too. A lot of books. Best-selling books.

GLENN: Right. But I haven't really been helpful for you.

JOHN: Really? You haven't?

GLENN: No.

JOHN: In that case, you're a lightweight loser. You're doing a terrible job. I've always said you're terrible. I've always said that from the beginning. Now that I know this about you.

GLENN: Right. Right.

JOHN: Really amazing. You were on CNN, you blew that gig. Then you were on Fox, you blew that gig. Now we're in this place. Folks, we're in a double wide trailer, I don't think you know -- realize that. He's not doing well, believe me.

GLENN: John Di Domenico is the voice you're hearing right now, doing Donald Trump. And the hair -- how much -- I mean, how did you do -- I mean, how much did that hair cost?

JOHN: That's four grand.

GLENN: Seriously? Four grand? That hair?

JOHN: Yeah. I have three of these.

PAT: Four thousand dollars? Wow.

GLENN: And they're not 4,000 each.

JOHN: Yeah, they're 4,000 each.

GLENN: Shut the hell up.

JOHN: Yeah. They take 90 hours to make. They're -- every single hair is hand-pulled.

GLENN: I don't know if he's -- I don't know if you're doing --

JOHN: Well, I'm kind of in between.

I can tell you about the hair. It's Trump hair. Tremendous hair. Best hair --

GLENN: Right. Okay. So drop the -- drop the effect here for a second. Talk to me about the hair.

JOHN: Okay. The hair is -- the hair is -- the very first wig I ever had was made by Bob Kelly. He used to do all the wigs for all the Broadway shows and Saturday Night Live. And this goes back at least 12 years ago.

And those wigs are human hair wigs that are hand-pulled. They measure my head, and then they build a frame. And then they just pull the hairs through. And it's called ventilating. That's why the hair -- your hair goes in different directions. Grows in different directions. So they ventilate the wig so it's closest to the actual style. I get three or four wears out of this. Then it has to be washed.

GLENN: How many wears out of this?

JOHN: Three or four.

PAT: That's it?

JOHN: No, no, no. Then they go to my wig person. They wash and style it. Because once there's too much product in it, it just -- it is human hair. So it's got to be restyled and redone.

JEFFY: I need a wig person.

JOHN: Yeah.

GLENN: You need three or four of these wigs?

JOHN: Well, because I'm always traveling. So I'll go home for a couple of hours. Switch out wigs. My wig person will come by, pick them up and then wash one or two.

GLENN: This has been tremendous for you as a human being, hasn't it? I mean, you're hoping for eight years.

JOHN: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: Country could be on fire. And you're, still like, whatever.

JOHN: Yeah, I don't care. Rome is burning.

(laughter)

GLENN: So is it amazing to you that nobody could do -- nobody had the balls to put an impression of Barack Obama on television. They all said, oh, he wasn't funny.

JOHN: I don't think he had -- comedically, there's just not -- there's something there -- there's such a well with Trump. And it goes back so far. You look at his lexicon. You look at statements that he's made. You look at where he's been. How he's done it. There's just this reservoir of material. And, you know, Barack Obama was so guarded, that the most you could do was, here's a deal. You know, there just wasn't a lot to pull out. Comedically, he's so guarded. But you have somebody like Bill Clinton, he was much easier to like -- there was just more comedy to mine from somebody --

GLENN: Did you think -- because you've been doing Donald Trump for how many years?

JOHN: Since 2004.

GLENN: And you really studied him.

JOHN: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: You're looking at me like he does, and sitting in this room, which is the Oval.

JOHN: Which is the Oval Office. Which I now own. I bought the White House. Great view, by the way.

GLENN: Right.

JOHN: No one makes deals like me, I have to tell you.

GLENN: Right. So --

(laughter)

You really have to -- go to GlennBeck.com and watch this. You have to watch it. It's so funny.

PAT: That's great.

GLENN: The -- when you studied in the beginning of 2004, just because he was a great character?

JOHN: No, what happened was -- I worked in the New York market, and I always got calls for tougher voices, for voiceovers. I do about 30 characters, full makeup. And I gotten the call, and somebody said, "Hey, are you doing Donald Trump yet?"

And this was the first season. The Apprentice had just ended. And I said, no, not really. Said, we have an audition on Monday for you, if you can learn the voice.

So I was like, jeez.

And I said, give me an hour. And I did some real quick research. And the only person at the time who was doing it at all was Phil Hartman on SNL, and he had done it on Church Lady a number of times.

So I didn't really have a lot of resource material to really draw from. So I ran out and bought that first season of The Apprentice that just happened to come out.

And I sat there, locked myself in my house, and I broke his voice down by elements, which is throat placement, nasal placement, vocal production, cadence, and that's how I kind of usually break voices down. And then I worked on figuring out -- he doesn't sound like anyone from New York. So I had to figure out --

JEFFY: Right.

JOHN: So I wanted to find a voice similar to his. And the only person that I knew other than him from Queens was another guy who spoke in a very, very staccato way, like Christopher Walken.

GLENN: Walken. Yeah.

JOHN: And Walken, you wouldn't necessarily think is a New Yorker if you hear him speak.

JEFFY: No, you wouldn't.

JOHN: And Trump when he speaks, you don't necessarily think of him as a New Yorker, unless he uses certain words.

(laughter)

GLENN: Does it help -- did you pick up the mannerisms? Does that help you --

JOHN: It helps me. It helps me. Yeah. Especially when I'm doing voiceovers and things like that. Even when I'm doing the Conan calls, I'm buying furniture in my house. Because I have a small studio in my house, and I'm whacking the mic and everything else.

But it's just such a big part of who he is because it really -- I have to tell you, tremendous. Tremendous. You know. Even when he was on the -- when he was at the CIA. You know, watching one of the news -- one I don't like. I don't like it.

And they say, Donald Trump doesn't draw. He's so physical. And it's a very dynamic impersonation. He's very dynamic, in that two years ago, he wasn't this physical. And he constricts his voice and he loosens his voice. And he's going up and going down. And things he had never done early on. Because he used to be, Glenn, your team did a terrible job, you're fired. That was it.

Guys, you're selling lemonade. That was the most you saw of him.

GLENN: Right.

JOHN: And it seemed the more he was on the campaign trail, especially with these stump speeches, he just became looser and looser.

GLENN: At what point did you think to yourself, I've got a freaking gold mine?

JOHN: I just knew -- people were calling me as soon as he announced. Friends. Because I had been doing him so long. And said, dude, you're set. You're set, man. It's going to be incredible.

And I said, hold on. Let's see if he doesn't implode first. Because four years before, he had run. He was toying with running. And I remember at the very end of -- literally the day before he dropped out, he was speaking in front of the -- I live in Las Vegas. He was speaking at a Las Vegas Republican women's group, and he dropped the F bomb three times.

And I remember thinking, he's dropping out. He dropped out the next day. Because he kind of lays the groundwork before he does something. And he dropped the three F bombs, and everyone was shocked. And he was out the next day. When he announced this last time in June of 2015, I thought, okay. Well, let's -- let's see what happens, if the work starts coming in.

And we were about a month in, and he made the John McCain comments. And I thought, well, that was a good run. That was -- yeah. I guess I'll go back to Austin Powers. It was really -- and then his number went up. And his numbers kept going up. And I thought, "You know what, if he can make it to the first debate, I'm set for the fall. I'm set for the fall." And then he did that first debate, and he crushed it. And the phone started ringing off the hook.

And by that time, I was on Red Eye on Fox, and I had already been on Conan. And other calls were happening. And the corporate work was coming in. And voiceovers were -- it already started. And then by August of this past year, 2016, I was being interviewed by the -- not the BBC, by Channel 4. They had flown me to DC to do some interviews. And most of the interviews I did last year -- I did a ton of them. They always said, who are you voting for? Which I always thought was a dumb question. Who cares who I'm voting for?

They said, "Who do you think will win?" And I said, "Trump will win in a landslide." I had been on the road for well over a year now. I've done hundreds of events. It doesn't matter what corporate group I do or where I do it. It's always overwhelmingly for Trump. And --

GLENN: What is it that the media missed?

JOHN: They missed the fact --

GLENN: Say it like Trump.

JOHN: They missed the fact that people are upset. They want a leader. They want someone with bravado. They want someone who has real accomplishments and someone who is going to say whatever he wants to say. And that was the thing that he missed, that he --

GLENN: Do you believe he is that caricature? Because people always say, when they meet with him, he's a totally different guy? So which is he? What is he?

JOHN: Well, you know, that's a great question. I say to people, you'll see he's different in different situations. Even when he's doing interviews. If he's being interviewed by Sean Hannity, he's one way. If it's Bill O'Reilly, it's another way. If it's Scott Pelley, it's another way. He assumes different styles each time.

GLENN: Right. But they're still all him.

JOHN: They're still all him, yeah. But I think when he's -- when he's out and about, you know -- if you've seen -- he's a certain way. This is tremendous. Look at this place. This is amazing. This is an amazing event. I have to tell you, it's incredible. Best of the best.

So I think what was missed was the fact that he's -- he -- he -- the enthusiasm part was so important. They didn't get the fact that people were really enthusiastic about him. And they were incredibly unenthusiastic about Hillary. And I remember this clearly. I was in New York, which was pretty much Hillary country. I was doing an event, about 500 people. And I do this bit in the act, where I come out, and basically I say, I've been told there's over 5,000 people here today. It's usually a much smaller crowd. The press -- the press -- terrible people, the press. They're going to say there's 400 and we're in a banquet hall. Terrible.

And I say, just -- listen, listen, listen, we're all friends here. Right? We're all friends, right? I just want to do a quick poll, quick poll. Who here wants to ruin the country and vote for crooked Hillary? And the Clinton -- these were the people voting for her. It was so unenthusiastic. And this was a less than a quarter of the group. He said, all right, who is going to vote for me and make the country great again? Overwhelmingly, it was him.

GLENN: These were Clinton people. In Clinton country.

JOHN: You would think in New York, yeah. And I remember, early on, I was at a hotel in San Diego of all places -- I'm constantly on the road. Constantly in hotels, airports. I mean, in character, I'm in hotels.

And I would walk down to my room one time, and the cleaning lady said, Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, can I get a photo of you, Mr. Trump?

And I said, sure, of course. What's your name?

My name is Esmeralda, Mr. Trump.

And I said, are you going to vote for me?

Goes, yes, I'm going to vote for you, Mr. Trump. I love you.

You love me?

Yes, I love you, Mr. Trump. I want you to build the wall.

That happened like five times.

JEFFY: Yeah, I bet.

GLENN: Wow.

JOHN: I had a Muslim driver in New York. I was out of character. They picked me up at the airport. And the guy said --

GLENN: But you're dressed like this?

JOHN: No, I was in street clothes. I was in street clothes. And he said, what do you do? And I said, oh, I'm a comedian.

He said, what kind of comedy?

And I said, oh, I'm a personator.

He's like, who do you do?

And I said, oh, Dr. Phil. Dr. Evil. Donald Trump.

Donald! You do Mr. Trump! You do Mr. Trump!

And I said, yeah. I do Donald Trump. And I mentioned the different stuff.

He goes, I love Donald Trump. I love Donald Trump.

I said, really? I said, why? He goes, he's going to draw a line between me and the terrorists. I love America. I love America. And he's going to draw a line.

PAT: That's great. Wow.

JOHN: I was thinking, wow, I never -- and I took all these things. And I was like, all these things are happening. I'm thinking, this guy is going to win. It doesn't seem -- every corner.

GLENN: What is the one thing -- you know what, I have to take a quick break. We'll come right back.

JOHN: Sure.

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!

TV

Dr. Oz reveals truth About shutdown and healthcare

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.

RADIO

Why national divorce or civil war must NEVER be considered

Over the past few months, Glenn has heard a lot of talk about national divorce, a great reset, or even civil war coming from both the Right and the Left. Glenn lays out in blunt terms why that “must NEVER be considered.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: People are throwing around things like national divorce.

People are saying, let it all burn! We need a great reset. As if we're talking about a new season of television. But we are not. Let me be very, very clear of what we are talking about. That must never be considered.

In 60 seconds. First, Real Estate Agents I Trust. It's more than just a -- you know, a sign, or a website.

It's, you know, a real estate agent that has their name and your sign. On your front yard when you're selling. It better be more than just the name. A good agent can read the listing and tell you what the location will be like for you and your family, five years from now.

RealEstateAgentsITrust.com is a service that handpicks local professionals who do more than just list your house. They spot the hidden problems before they become surprises.

They negotiate with a very steady hand. Navigate the contracts, so you're never left guessing with what happens next.

They vet track records, reputations, agents who care about the long game. Then they match you with somebody who fits your goal: Buying, selling, downsizing, or investigating.

Our agents move fast when they need to.
But think in terms of years, not days. So the decisions you make today, don't become the problems of tomorrow.

How do you find these people?

RealEstateAgentsITrust.com.

A free service to you.

Just tell us where you're moving to and from. And we will help you find the right agent.

RealEstateAgentsITrust.com.

Ten seconds.
(music)
I want to hit this early, before this becomes a trend.

Because the algorithms will reward talk like this!

National divorce.

You know, Civil War. Et cetera, et cetera.

We're not talking about a season of television, that you watch from your home, when you're talking about things like that.

We're talking about your life. Your -- your ordinary, miraculous, taken for granted life ending.

Everything you grew up knowing, believing, in, having -- having the opportunity to have, be, do, over!

It won't change. It ends!

That's what Civil War means!

The world your children expect to grow up in.

The one with school plays and Little League. And the birthday parties in the backyard. Gone!

And it doesn't come back with an election or a speech or a victory parade.

It doesn't come back at all. This is very fragile. This has never been done. A government with of, for, and by the people.

Has never been done before.

And I don't know if you've noticed this, but the entire world system systems to be against people, that want to rule themselves!

So it doesn't come back!

Civil War is not, you know, Gettysburg reenactors with quotes on social media.

It's neighbors!

It's culled sacks. It's the grocery store. And the gas station.

And the pharmacy.

It's the lights you never think about. Until they don't turn on. The water you never worry about. Until it comes out brown.

If it comes out at all.

I need you before things get crazier than they are, I want you to be firm on what you believe.

I want you to picture, not for shock. But for absolute clarity. Your day begins. And your bank app says, service unavailable.

Your ATM says, out of cash. The trucks have stopped coming to the grocery stores, because the highways have checkpoints and ambushes and rumors of both.

The gas station is a rumor too. One station has a line that is three blocks long. The other has a hand-lettered sign that says, cash only. Limit five gallons. You think, well, I've got some cash, until you realize, everybody else had that same idea, yesterday!

You must have a prescription for somebody in your family. Insulin, heart meds, chemo, whatever it is.

The pharmacy is closed. Why?

Because the pharmacist couldn't make it through the roadblocks. And the chain's distribution centers can't risk sending a truck without a police escort. And the police don't escort trucks anymore!

Because the police that do show up for work now, are triaging their own neighborhoods!

You call 911 about a domestic disturbance down the street. And the dispatcher says, if anybody even answers, we'll put you on the list. These aren't front lines in a modern Civil War. They are the intersections. They are our neighborhoods. They are the algorithms. The algorithm that sells rage by the pound! And it's being fed to both sides until both sides are blind with rage!

When the governor -- person running, Spanberger, running for Virginia, for the governor says, let your rage fuel you. No!

Rage will make you blind!

And we won't be fighting in uniform!

You'll be avoiding a rumor. The rules of the road become rules of the rifle.

Whoever controls the intersection controls that day!

Hospitals are now fortresses. Then targets.

Then shells.

Food becomes scarce. Then it's currency. Your children's school becomes a shelter. Do they even have school anymore?

No, your children now have memories of school and a new job of staying quiet when they hear a drone or a truck backfire. Childhood shrinks down to the safest room in your house.

Now, you think you're going to pick a side. You think you know what side you'll be on.

You think your side will protect you. But here's the truth: Sides protect themselves.

And both sides will ask you to prove your loyalty with things you promised yourself you would never, ever do.

Good people, just like you, will do them.

Because fear is a sculpture, and it carves away at conscience first. You think you know how the market works, until the market dies.

Markets die when trust dies. Pensions evaporate, not because of a bad quarter, but because the bond market can't price what's coming tomorrow!

The currency on your counter is now canned food. Bottled water, diesel, antibiotics. Your home value.

What's a house worth if there's nobody to ensure it? Nobody to mortgage it. Nobody to drive to it, without risking their life. And then there are the guests who are arrive when a great house is on fire. The cartels, the opportunists, the foreign intelligence services, the war tourists with passports and GoPros. They don't choose sides. They just choose opportunities and openings, and they open the opportunities you didn't know you had. Your grid, your water plants, your data center, your port, and they don't fly flags, they fly yours.

And then let you blame one another, to fuel the fire. Let your rage know, don't! Listen to me. There's no clean ending to this.

No, there's, there's -- there's no clean Gettysburg. Especially in a world of encrypted chats and weaponized rumors, there is just grinding. Bone-grinding pain.

There's the settling of old scores under new slogans. There's the permanent loss of innocence.

The moment you stop seeing your neighbor as a neighbor, that can never quite -- that you can never quite unsee the enemy that you have imagined.

I can't ever think of that person, any way other than that. Then you are headed for that outcome.

And if you imagine glory, war doesn't wound bodies. It wounds time. Ten years from now, the men and women who survive will still hear the sound of a truck at night and think checkpoint. Your children will flinch at fireworks. Weddings will be smaller. Funerals will be more frequent.

And hope -- real hope will be spoken in a whisper because it's learned to hide.

It is reasonable to ask what do we have in common anymore? But the next reasonable question is: How can we find common ground? How can we understand each other?

Before you retweet bravado, count the cost of where we could be headed.

And not in abstract numbers, but in faces. The old man on your street who needs oxygen, the single mom who works at night.

The kid who just made the team.

The clerk at the corner store, always remembers your brand, your face, your needs.

These are the casualties that -- that never make the headlines, because they disappear, one inconvenience at a time.

These are the times that try men's souls. That used to be a phrase, I didn't understand it. And it belonged in the past.

I say it to you today!

These are the times that try men's souls.

Those who stand today and shoulder the burden, who those stand today, and do the hard work, God's work of love and peace making. And uniting. And speaking the truth!

They will be owed a thanks for generations to come.

Turn town the algorithm and turn up the conversation.

Teach your children the difference between courage and recklessness!

Between justice and vengeance!

Make your county and your town resilient.

So relationally thick, that an outside arsonist. Foreign or domestic, will only find damp tinder there.

You must get serious about peace. Not the sentimental kind.

The muscular kind. Form covenants with churches and synagogues and community groups and clubs and counsels. And say it out loud. No violence in our name. It's not acceptable.
Not here. Not here.

RADIO

Texts reveal DISTURBING fantasies of Virginia Democratic candidate

Glenn reviews disturbing leaked text messages from Democratic Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones about political violence and a concerning statement made by Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger. Glenn advises Virginians and all Americans: these Democrats warned you what they supported. So, don’t be surprised about what might happen if they gain power.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: It is shocking and shameful, especially in this day and age. With what we have seen with violence. And yet, there are those on the left that believe that violence is an okay answer.

Jay Jones, the guy running for attorney general, the guy would be enforcing the laws in Virginia.

Thinks that it's okay -- he says, to joke about killing people. But the way he did it, does not seem like a joke to me. He was asked by the person he was texting, to stop!

Stop. This really bothers me when you say things like this. Don't -- don't say those things.

Well, you know what, only when people feel the pain personally do they change their political opinions. You were just talking about killing this guy's children! So you get here, and you think, okay. What is headed our way?

Let me start with this: Back in 1999, I was on WABC, and I warned of Osama Bin Laden, and nobody listened to me. Nobody would listen to me.

They thought I was crazy. They thought I was actually, you know, sticking up somehow or another, for Bill Clinton. Because Bill Clinton was the one who said, you know, Osama Bin Laden, he's got to be eliminated, blah, blah, blah. And I went on the air at WABC in New York City. Nobody believed me.

And I said, in frustration, I said, at the end of the hour: There will be bodies and buildings and blood in the streets of this city in ten years! And the name on that will be Osama Bin Laden. Will you care and listen then?

So after September 11th, people started going, how did you -- how did you know that?

Very easy. This is life lesson number one.

If someone tells you, they are going to kill you, or they joke about it, but not retract.

Like, get -- hey. Don't joke about that. I know.

I'm sorry. I'm out of line.

Just stand by it. When they say things like, their children should be killed. Or in their case. Jay Jones not only said that. He said, his wife should have to hold his dying children. And maybe that will change his mind.

Okay? You must take those people seriously. You must believe them!

Because anything short of that is madness itself!

Because if they start doing -- this is Germany.

If he says, you know what, I've got a solution for those Jews. And you're like, eh. He doesn't really mean it. It's your fault!

He told you. When you're dealing with life and death, you always take it seriously. Always!

And we all say stupid things.

I've said stupid things.

Everybody has said stupid things.

And what do you do?

You immediately mea culpa. You immediately apologize. Oh, my gosh. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. But the guy running as the AG, the chief lawmaker for Virginia, he hasn't apologized.

In fact, he kind of doubled down in the -- in the throes of it! And he hasn't said anything about it.

And the woman running on the same democratic ticket for governor, in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, she hasn't distanced herself.

Well, that's wrong.

Well, should we drop out?

I don't -- what do you mean? Yes! The answer is yes. We don't threaten people.

We don't say, their family and their children should be killed.

That's an easy call. If your governor, your AG cannot make a simple call like that about life and death, about people who disagree with them.

They cannot have any power in government. They cannot.

It's easy. If Virginia makes that mistake, when there's bodies in your streets, I guess you will come to me, and say, how did you know?

And I'll say, you disregarded rule number one. Somebody says those things. You take them seriously, every single time!

You must!

The governor actually has said, let your rage fuel you!

Now, good people in Virginia, when was the last time you went to church?

When was the last time you went to church, and you heard your preacher say, let -- Jesus says, let your rage fuel you!

My guess is, never!

Because Jesus said the exact opposite. What would Jesus do?

Not that! You have a politician that says, let your rage fuel you! In conjunction with, the other politician that they're linking arms and campaigning together. Saying, I would be happy -- happy if we killed him, his children, and his wife.
If they died, I would piss on their graves.

That's a quote. And let your rage fuel you. Virginia, you will get what you deserve!

They are telling you who they are. I don't want George Soros, nor any member of his family killed. Ever! And I think he's the biggest destructive force in the world for freedom.

I don't want him killed.

I want him exposed!

If he's broken laws, I want them to go to jail!

But I at least want the truth to be known about them.

I don't want to kill them.

If you've gotten to that place, to where your political enemy is somebody you want killed, you have a psychiatric or deep spiritual problem going on with you.

So now, we have people on our side. And I can say, I know what you mean.

Glenn, how do we work together?

How can -- we're running out of principles. To agree on.

I don't want to -- we can disagree all you want about policies. But principles must be universal.

That's our a plurbis unum. All men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They're all codified in our unum.

That's the one thing we all used to agree on. We don't anymore.

And we are running out of things to agree on, that are principled-based. I don't care if you like Game of Thrones or hate Game of Thrones. There's no relationship that is worth anything. That will withstand any storm, if that's what we have in common.

You know, I love trees. And you love trees.

When the storms come, we're all blown off.

People are throwing around things like national divorce.

People are saying, let it all burn! We need a great reset. As if we're talking about a new season of television. But we are not. Let me be very, very clear of what we are talking about. That must never be considered.