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Glenn's Show Prep

The Entire List of Who to Blame for the Attempted Slaughter of GOP House Members

June 15, 2017
Staff

WRITER

For those scrambling to point fingers at who and what is responsible for the shooting in Alexandria that left five people shot and one person dead, Glenn provided a complete and thorough list on radio Thursday.

"I want to take this, and I want to put it in a lockbox, you know, where all the Al Gore Social Security money is," Glenn said. "I'm going to put that in a lockbox, and we're going to lock it away. And forever, those people responsible will be in that box."

He then opened up the metaphorical lockbox.

"Here's the truth. The shooter is responsible, by himself --- not the gun, not the bullets, not the gun industry . . . not the NRA, not the left, not the right, not the president, not the former president, not Hillary Clinton, not Antifa --- no one," Glenn said. "The shooter is responsible, period."

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: Okay. I want to show you some pictures. Stu, Pat, you can describe them. Before I get to the real culprit of the shooting yesterday.

And --

PAT: It's the Kathy Griffin holding the head of Donald Trump.

GLENN: It's that one.

STU: You've got -- oh, that the Shakespeare In the Park murder of the Trump-like character.

PAT: Assassination.

GLENN: What does it look like?

STU: What does it look like? It looks like they're killing Donald Trump in a park.

GLENN: Yeah. And got blood all over him. Right?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. Okay. Notice, does it look similar to the Kathy Griffin --

STU: Yes.

GLENN: All right. What's this one?

STU: From one of the riots in Berkeley, right? It says, "Kill Trump."

GLENN: Yes. Spring painted up on a pillar or a wall, right? What is this one?

STU: More riots.

GLENN: More riots.

Okay. And what were the riots doing? What were they doing?

PAT: Protesting Trump. Anti-Trump people.

GLENN: Who are those people? Yeah.

STU: Is that an effigy being hung there? I can't even tell what that is.

GLENN: No, that's a guy up on -- a turned over garbage can where they have lit the street on fire, and he's got a mask and he's preaching to the people there, more violence.

STU: Got it.

GLENN: Okay. So these things have happened on the left. All of them, except for the Antifa -- that has happened several times, but the others have happened this week or late last week. Okay?

Nobody is mentioning these in the media today. You're not seeing the pictures of Kathy on CNN. Oh, no, no, no. You're not -- you're not hearing anybody talk about Shakespeare In the Park today. Oh, no, no, no, no. No. No. You're not going to hear that.

So what am I going to say? Well, let me tell you what brought this all about. Let me tell you who is responsible for the shooting. When all is said and done, let me tell you exactly who is responsible for the shooting.

And I want to take this, and I want to put it in a lockbox, you know, where all the Al Gore Social Security money is. I'm going to put that in a lockbox, and we're going to lock it away. And forever -- those people responsible will be in that box because there's two things I want to tell you. So let's open up the lockbox. (sound effect)

Who do we put in there? The shooter, period. End of story. The shooter.

He was living in his van for the last couple of weeks. He is a violent guy who has a history of family violence. His stepdaughter wanted to get out of his -- out of his control so badly, she poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire. He has a history of gunplay. He is a crazy, dangerous man. Am I going to put him in there, along with Kathy? No. Just him.

How about Shakespeare In the Park? No. Just him. Well, how about the Antifa movement? No, no, just him. He's the guy who got up in the morning and apparently got up several times over the last -- over the last few -- few days and weeks, while -- I mean, it was a big apartment in the back of his van -- loser. But he got up and he paced back and forth in the back of his van. What am I going to do? He went. He got the gun. He got the bullets. He went to the park. He asked, "Are these Republicans, or are these Democrats?" He went to the baseball diamond, and he's the one who pulled the trigger. Period. End of story. Close the lid. Put a lock on it. That is the truth.

Today I saw Michelle Malkin retweet a story -- I don't even remember, from MSNBC. I think. Look at my Twitter feed. See who is it from. Because I retweeted it. And she said -- it was a story -- somebody was blaming Donald Trump for -- for the shooting yesterday. That Donald Trump is responsible.

Now, remember, I have the lockbox over here. Who is responsible? Who is in the lockbox, Pat?

PAT: The shooter.

GLENN: The shooter.

PAT: The shooter.

GLENN: I know it was hard to follow because I had so many people in there.

PAT: It was.

GLENN: It was just the shooter.

PAT: The shooter.

GLENN: Now, I put that in a lockbox because we're going to open it and add some more people to it?

PAT: No. Because -- no, you already shoved it away. It's locked.

GLENN: Shoved it away. It's locked. There's no one else responsible for the shooting yesterday. Is that clear? Is that clear?

PAT: Yes. I think so.

GLENN: Is that clear? It's in a lockbox. It's away. It's in a safe. No one else is responsible.

What did Michelle Malkin tweet? The retweet story?

STU: I don't see a Michelle Malkin tweet, but there's a tweet from the Washington Times, about heated rhetoric that led to the Alexandria shooting.

GLENN: Okay. And the heated rhetoric, they're blaming Donald Trump.

STU: Yeah, Donald Trump partially to blame.

GLENN: Partially to blame.

STU: And that comes from Mark Sanford, by the way.

GLENN: Right. And Michelle Malkin said: Look at this discredited G.O.P. guy who is now blaming Donald Trump. Okay.

STU: The quote does not seem to be as clear as he was actually blaming Donald Trump, by the way. But still.

GLENN: All right. Okay. So what did I tweet? What did I say?

STU: You said Trump is responsible, as much as I am. Rachel Maddow, the New York Times, we all are. What choice will we make today? Deeds, not words.

GLENN: Okay. That's crazy. That's crazy.

STU: Well, especially since you have a lockbox.

GLENN: Right. I've got a lockbox. So how could I possibly --

STU: You made a clear point that the shooter is the only one responsible.

GLENN: Is the only one responsible.

STU: How can you say that?

GLENN: Correct.

STU: It's almost as if you're about to make some nuanced point that actually involves some listening.

GLENN: Nuanced point. That kindergarteners will not understand.

STU: Oh, but our audience, are they filled with kindergarteners? I don't think so.

GLENN: No, they're not. No, they're not. They're intelligent people. And so that's why I'm going to make this point.

Now let's go to point number two. Is there -- have you ever heard of the broken windows theory?

What's the broken windows theory?

STU: Rudy Giuliani.

GLENN: Rudy Giuliani. Okay. Giuliani used it to clean up New York. What is that theory?

STU: The theory being that if people kind of see dumb things -- you know, graffiti, broken windows, stupid things like that, they're going to be more likely to commit crimes because they think no one cares. So fix those things, and you'll start cleaning up the streets.

GLENN: Right. If you are walking down the street and you see a neighborhood where all the windows are broken out and it's all in disrepair, the average person will pick up a rock or is likely to pick up a rock and throw and break another window in a house full of broken windows.

However, the average person will never pick up a rock and -- and throw it through a window in a neighborhood where there are no broken windows. It's the broken window theory. What does it mean, Stu?

STU: Well, as it was applied there, it meant, you know, you need to have these -- you need to clean these things up. And if you have a neighborhood without broken windows, people won't be tempted to --

GLENN: Why? They don't even think about it.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: They don't even think about it. Because they're not bad people. Okay? However, we -- some of us have an instinct to do -- to do things -- and more importantly, criminals will prey on those areas because they think no one cares.

And so that opens up to the most nefarious among us, to take control and to do whatever they want because they think no one cares.

Okay. Broken windows theory: If I said to you I want a president who is walking around stage mocking Tea Partiers by calling them Teabaggers, do you want that?

STU: Uh-uh.

GLENN: Do you want a president who says, "Rough them up. You know, throw them outside in the cold and take his coat from him because he'll figure out what's right." That we want a president doing that?

STU: No.

GLENN: We don't want either of those presidents. We don't want either of those presidents. We'll accept those presidents because America has been walking down a street with more and more broken windows. And what are those broken windows? More and more politicians and more and more people, quite frankly, like me. Just leave everybody else out of it. Just make it me. Because Glenn Beck was on television at Fox saying crazy things. And he has -- he is opening up -- well, you know what, there's some truth to that. I'm not responsible for any of this. But yet, I am responsible in my own way for my own things, just like you are, when you get on and respond in kind. You're picking up a rock, and you're breaking a window.

What is Facebook? What is Twitter? That is the worst neighborhood in America. When you read that, people are vile. They are crude. They are mean.

They devalue other people. There's no kindness on Facebook. Or very little. There's no kindness on Twitter.

That is a neighborhood of nothing, but broken windows. And we are more inclined to pick up a rock and throw it at that other avatar that isn't really a person.

And what does that do? That makes somebody else want to pick up a rock and break another window.

Who is in the lockbox again? All the American people and all the people on the left or the right?

PAT: No, the shooter. Just the shooter.

GLENN: Oh, that's right. Just the shooter.

STU: He's also in there with Facebook and Twitter, right?

GLENN: No. No.

STU: Oh, it's just him by himself?

GLENN: It's just him by himself. In a lockbox. In a safe. Can't be changed.

PAT: Jeffy is not in there with him?

GLENN: Well, Jeffy is in there too, but nobody else is in that. He's the only one responsible.

The question is, will we take responsibility at all for throwing any stones that leads to a society that is not kind, is not gracious, that looks at the opposing point of view as the enemy?

There are bad people in America. I believe -- and I never believed this before, and I have nothing to back it up. And I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'm hoping these numbers are way too big. They may be too big, they may be too small. I don't know. But I hope it's no more than 10 percent of both sides that do want a revolution, that do want to duke it out, that do believe we're in a civil war. "Grab your guns. Let's just get this over."

But that leaves 80 percent of us who do not want anything to do with that. You get a hit of dopamine every time you pick up a rock and throw it. It feels good.

I've said to you before, it's going to be this audience that saves the republic. But only if you choose. I said there's going to come a time when you're going to want to go, and everybody is going one way, and you're going to have to stop and say, "Don't. Don't go that way." That time is right now.

And you may not get anyone else to go with you, but you go the other way. Do not pick up the rock. That doesn't mean surrender. That doesn't mean don't tell the truth.

Here's the truth: The shooter is responsible, by himself. Not the gun. Not the bullets. Not the gun industry. Not the NRA. Not the left. Not the right. Not the president. Not the former president. Not Hillary Clinton. Not Antifa. No one. The shooter is responsible, period.

But here's the truth, as well. We are all accountable for our own actions. And we are all creating an atmosphere where people just think, "You know what, there's no rules, and nobody cares." I care. I care. I care because I want a country left for my children and my grandchildren to grow up in. I want an end to chaos. And the best way to end the chaos is to end it in your own life first. And when you see rock throwing, do not pick up a rock. Help repair the neighborhood.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Why do Americans feel so empty?

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.