Paul Ryan and the GOP Make Lindsey Graham Look Like Benjamin Franklin

May 04, 2017

WRITER

Well, it looks like Republicans are going to pull a Nancy Pelosi with the Obamacare replacement bill. We'll have to pass it to see exactly what's in it. If only we'd elected someone who promised to drain the swamp, destroy the GOP, tear the system down and get the weasels out. Oh wait, we did.

Unfortunately, Trump has failed to deliver on many of his promises --- and it won't be Paul Ryan and the GOP holding his feet to the fire.

"I mean, at first, we liked Paul Ryan. Then we're like, 'Oh, he's a dirtbag, but at least he's not Lindsey Graham.' Lindsey Graham looks like Ben Franklin compared to the GOP now . . . Lindsey Graham hasn't gotten better. The GOP has gotten worse," Glenn said Thursday on radio.

Listen to this segment beginning at mark 4:10 from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: Hello, America. Glad you're here. So the Republicans are looking to pass the new health care bill, and I like the fact that we all know all about it, we've had a chance to debate the bill and talk about it, and they're not just jamming it down and jamming it through.

PAT: No and yes.

GLENN: Look at how twisted he is. No and yes. Which one is it?

STU: Make up your mind, moron.

GLENN: Right. Moron. Moron. Moron. Why do you hate people so much, moron?

Anyway, so we're going to pass it, and we don't really know what's in it, except they're going to cut back on some of it, which will make it even better.

PAT: Well, I think what the Republicans are kind of saying is they're going to get this done, even if they have to pole vault over it, if they have to parachute into it, if they have to bulldoze through it, they're gonna get it done. And then when they get it passed, then we're going to find out what's in it. I mean, shut up.

GLENN: Well, we do know this.

PAT: Right? I'm with you guys now.

GLENN: Make America great. So here's the thing. We're going to -- apparently, this is -- because I've heard this in the media. This is the biggest transfer of wealth in American history.

STU: Oh, my gosh.

PAT: Oh, wow. That's great.

STU: That's great.

GLENN: They didn't say that when they were taking money from people who were working and then giving it directly to the poor for their health care. That was not -- that was social justice. This now taking the money from the people who have jobs and not giving it to the poor but allowing those people who have jobs to maybe keep a couple of extra dollars that they already earned, that's a transfer of wealth. You're transferring the wealth not from the rich to the poor but you're not transferring it --

PAT: No, you're taking it from the poor, and you're giving it to the wealthiest among us who don't need it.

STU: A huge tax cut for the rich. This is illegitimate their argument. You're not making this up. They're saying as of a few years ago, money was earned by people, and then they passed a bill where the money they earned had to be given to someone else.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

PAT: And, by the way. One of the architects of the program said it must be that way.

STU: It must be that way.

PAT: That a health care plan that was fair and just and right must, must redistribute wealth.

GLENN: By the way, it's not just somebody who was part of it, it was the head guy.

PAT: Donald Berwick.

GLENN: Yeah. It was the head guy of ObamaCare. So it was about redistribution of wealth. But, no, everybody called us racists by pointing that out, using their own words. But now the press is saying this is the biggest transfer of wealth of all time. This is a horrible, horrible thing. They're right. Not about the, you know, transfer of wealth. They're right about this is a horrible, horrible thing because all this is going to do is weaken things. First of all, it started out as a 5 billion-dollar pool for those with existing conditions. Well, no. $5 billion? That's going to cover everybody with existing conditions? Probably not. Okay. So we're going to really bulk down, says the Republicans. What we're going to do is we're going to ask for $8 billion. Exactly like Dr. Evil would do. Okay, then it is $8 billion?

CBO estimates, and they don't have anything out on this officially yet. But it will take five times that amount. Could be $50 billion to be able to cover preexisting conditions. Now, if that's what the CBO says, you can guarantee it is at least five to ten times what the CBO says because they always have it wrong. So they're going to take more money and put it into the existing conditions. And the Republicans will say, yes, but at least we're not going to collapse the insurance companies. Yes, you will. You'll be able to find a way to collapse. Believe me. We have no doubt that you can collapse the free-market system.

Make no mistake, the reason why the Heritage Foundation was targeted, remember, if it wasn't for Jim DeMint, you wouldn't have Neil Gorsuch as your Supreme Court justice. You would not have them. It was Jim DeMint that put that list together, that pushed that list, that made sure Donald Trump stayed on that list, and that's why we have Neil Gorsuch. They took him out because the Heritage Foundation at the time was saying "No, this health care bill is just as bad. Maybe it's a little bit better, but this isn't what the American people wanted.

So just like Obama, we have to watch what this administration see what the other hand is doing. They told us we're coming after the Freedom Caucus. But instead, what they did is we were rallying around the Freedom Caucus, they took out and took out the Heritage Foundation. Now the Heritage Foundation is in the clutches of the Steve Bannons of the world and the Lindsey Grahams who strangely makes more sense now than people like Paul Ryan. When -- I mean, at first, we liked Paul Ryan. Then we're, like, oh, he's a dirtbag, but at least he's not Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham looks like Ben Franklin compared to the GOP now. That's how far out -- Lindsey Graham hasn't gotten better. The GOP has gotten worse.

So now what they're going to do is they're going to pass this thing and strong arm everybody to vote for it, as Pat said, Nancy Pelosi said during the ObamaCare debacle, we're going to pole vault over the wall, we're gonna drop in, parachute in, we're going to do whatever we have to do, and that's exactly what they're going to do.

STU: Is there room for the argument? And some Republicans are making it, that we all know whatever the house passes. Let's say they pass the perfect health care plan, it's going to go to the senate, and the senate is going to do something completely different, and they're going to have to come together at the end anyway. So is it worth getting something through? You're going to have to go through this process later on anyway with the senate. Get it through, and figure out if you can come up with something good with the senate, and then you'll be able to vote on that. Is it not worth advancing this so at least there's --

GLENN: No, it's not to at least do anything because it's going to collapse, and anything you do ... then the whole damn thing is blamed on you just in time for the Democrats to ride in on their Marxist horse and say "See? They screwed it up. Made it worse. We have to go single pair health care."

STU: What do you do, though? Nothing?

GLENN: No, what you do is you fix the damn thing. You actually fix and allow it to be free market.

STU: But the reality is --

GLENN: That's not going to happen.

STU: The reality is that it's not going to --

GLENN: Yeah, I know that.

STU: So why not advance something? And you're going to have to have this negotiation at the end anyway.

GLENN: You know what? There's -- because there's nobody with a spine, I guess, you know, I could look at that and say, well, I'm paying taxes. I would rather have less taxes take from me for something that I know is a disaster and destroying health care. But at least I'm paying less for it.

STU: So what you're advocating for, seemingly, is a massive transfer of wealth from your paycheck back to you.

GLENN: Yes. I am.

STU: Can you believe this guy? He's saying it out loud. He wants his own money.

PAT: Selfishness. Selfish. Selfish.

STU: Selfish, what a jerk. In reality, I don't know what you do here. I would not want to vote for this. It's a disaster, and it's getting worse by the day. However, with this process the way it is, with the people in office that are in office, I don't know if you just take a 5 percent gain, and it's -- hey, it's 5 percent better than ObamaCare, so take it and go. And maybe you'll have a few years of 5 percent better until the whole thing blows up anyway because keeping ObamaCare, if it's going to blow up with this plan, it's going to blow up with ObamaCare too. It's just a matter of who you're blaming it on. So do you sit here and not do anything?

GLENN: No, because they'll blame that on you. "You knew that ObamaCare wasn't working, and you refused to do anything."

STU: You're going to get blamed either way. We all know this.

GLENN: You know what would have been nice? Man, we should have thought of this. If we would have had somebody that -- what is it? Oh, had principles. If we just had somebody that had principles, you know, because don't get me wrong. This guy, this president, he's going to be able to go in there and is going to be able to destroy the GOP, tear the system down, he's going to get the weasels out, he's going to get those things done, and he can beat the media, and that's why he's going to be able to do it because he doesn't care about the media, and he doesn't care about losses.

So he's going to be able to get that done.

STU: He can certainly have talked his way through the Civil War but not this. Not a GOP congress and repealing.

GLENN: Yes. Right. Right.

STU: That's too high of a hill.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: But certainly would have solved the slavery thing by a little talking if he was around.

PAT: Just exactly like Andrew Jackson did.

GLENN: No, but he didn't.

PAT: No, he did. He fixed all Civil War.

GLENN: And he had a gigantic plantation down in the south. I don't know if anybody noises that. But he had a giant plantation. Of course, he didn't have it when he got into office. He was poor when he got into office, and then he just started taking the land from the Indians, the Native Americans, and he would tell his friends. He set up a little kind of offshore real estate company, and he would look at the map after inviting his friends to the White House and say "And, by the way, I'm about to release all of this land. You might go have it appraised. And then when I release it, the first in the title office, and I had nothing to do with this." That's how he bought his mansion. He left -- he came in poor, and he left one of the wealthiest presidents of all time.

PAT: You have to admire, though, how he broke every promise to the Indians. You have to admire that.

GLENN: You do. You really do.

PAT: You have to say --

GLENN: Well, he had a big heart.

PAT: Huge heart.

GLENN: Huge.

PAT: Huge heart.

GLENN: And he was so upset about slavery, he could have solved it. He was a soldier in the south. I mean, what soldiers in the south back then weren't against slavery?

STU: Well, I didn't say he was going to solve it that way. Maybe he was going to solve it by keeping it. We just said that he was going to solve the problem. We didn't say slavery was going to go away.

GLENN: Yeah, solve the problems of the Civil War.

STU: Civil War.

GLENN: You're right.

STU: Because people ask. Why does Civil War happen? We don't know. Who knows. There hasn't been any thought put into that. No historian has written a book about it. It's just basically someone flipped a coin and said we're going to war. Why do that?

GLENN: They didn't be need to.

PAT: They need to.

STU: That was one of the big issues at the time.

GLENN: Abraham Lincoln, he was more of a war monger. It was Andrew Jackson who was such a decent human being and sometimes the slaves would come in and wipe the tears from his eyes. He was such a good guy. And the Native Americans --

PAT: They loved him.

GLENN: And he loved them. He loved the kerosene lamps that he, the lamp shades made out of Native American skin. It was beautiful. And he had such a heart. And those lamps lit the way for American divine destiny and manifest destiny.

STU: A lot of people blame the Trail of Tears on him and in reality, that was someone who littered and the Indian was looking over the hill and saw the litter and started crying. One tear.

GLENN: Yeah. And they were mixed with Andrew Jackson's tears. He was, like, you're bloodying up this property that I'm about to sell to my friends so that I can be the richest man in America by the end of my term. But who doesn't admire him?

Breaking point: Will America stand up to the mob?

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

Get your tickets NOW at www.MegynKelly.com before they’re gone!

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

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