Signs of Hope: Silicon Valley Liberal Floors Glenn With Support for States' Rights

July 10, 2017

WRITER

There is a civil war playing out in the Democratic Party between the radical left and old school, left-leaning Democrats. While trouble is brewing, so are opportunities. Glenn continues to encounter people who recognize the difficulties we now face as a nation. Two weeks ago, he met with leaders from Silicon Valley, mostly liberal, and the conversation bordered on shocking.

"Guy sitting next to me said, 'You know, we have to admit our own mistakes... None of us here sitting at the table had a single problem with the way Barack Obama was signing executive orders. None of us said anything. It didn't bother us. We didn't have a single problem the way they got health care done. They just jammed it through. None of us said anything, but hurrah. Now that Donald Trump is doing the same thing, we're all freaking out. You know, maybe we should have had a problem with Barack Obama doing it,'" Glenn recalled.

Glenn did his best to stay silent and listen.

"I'm like, don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything. Don't wreck this. He's on the right train. Keep going," Glenn said.

Then came the kicker.

"He said . . . 'Every time the Tenth Amendment is brought up, every single one of us in this room always say racist, state's rights is just about racism. But, gee, aren't we the same people right now saying we have to strengthen the Tenth Amendment and maybe we should secede from the Union? Maybe it's not about racism. Maybe there's something to these state's rights,'" Glenn recounted.

The revelation left Glenn floored --- and more convinced than ever that we have a chance to turn things around.

Speaking about two of the four books he's been reading, Glenn explained how understanding the five tribal stages and the language of moral foundations are the secret keys to bridging the divide.

"I think we're between stage one and stage two, and there are those in our audience that are stage three, four and five," Glenn stated. "It will take those of us who are three, four and five to be able to learn the language of these first two stages, speak to them, couple that with The Righteous Mind, and we can change the world. We really can heal the scars."

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: Okay. So I want you to listen to this. This is from Los Angeles. Long-standing tensions between the Democrat Party's moderate and liberal wings have ignited in California, where progressive activists are redirecting their anger over Donald Trump and congressional Republicans towards Democratic leaders at home. Stoked by a contested race for state Democratic chair and the failure of a single-payer health care bill, activists are staging protests at the capitol. Assembly Speaker Rendon reportedly receiving death threats after shelving the health care legislation last month. And security was tightened at the statehouse, after activists disrupted a floor session last week. The rancor spillover from the contentious Democratic presidential primary last year is aggravating divisions in a state regarded nationally as a lodestar for the liberal cause. Establishment Democrats fear the rhetoric and appetite for new spending could go too far, jeopardizing the party's across-the-board dominance of state politics. All of this has taken new significance on, as California embraces its role as the focal point of the anti-Trump resistance.

They're now having to say, "Guys, guys, guys, we're on the same team." But they're not. Go back to The Coming Insurrection, the little blue book that when I first started at Fox, people couldn't imagine -- what? Why is Glenn Beck, he's saying read this socialist revolution book from France. Yes. Because I said it would come here. What was the point of that book? Do you remember why they were revolting in France, I mean, other than Frenchmen were revolting?

PAT: They were sick and tired of the promises not being fulfilled. Right?

GLENN: In what way?

PAT: They wanted Communism.

GLENN: Correct.

PAT: And they decided to go for it now, rather than progressively.

GLENN: Correct. And they kept saying, we have the opportunity right now. We keep electing you guys, and you keep saying -- see if you've heard this phrase before: The French version of, okay. We just need the House and the Senate. Oh, okay. Well, we need the White House too. But once we get the House and the Senate and the White House too, then we'll be able to do something. They're like, we've elected you guys over and over again, and you've had the power. And you won't do it. You're never going to do it. You're never going to do it. Because it's about you. It's not about Marxism. You're just using us. Well, that's what's beginning to happen now. The Democrats have invited these people in, and they're Marxist. And they're revolutionaries. And they want their system.

So they wanted a single-payer system. The real Democrats said, "Okay. No, I think that will bankrupt the state." And the Marxists and the deep, deep progressives said, "Now is the time. If not now, when? Are you kidding me, we're more popular than ever because of Donald Trump. We can stand against it and lead the way. You people aren't going to do it." That's why they've had to ratchet up security because the sentiments that I pointed out eight years ago in The Coming Insurrection and said, "It's coming here," is now beginning in California.

Okay. Sounds like bad news. But here's the opportunity: And I have witnessed it myself. In fact, this weekend, I met two different people who said, "Glenn, I'm reading this book called The Righteous Mind." And I just smile, "Uh-huh."

This woman told me on Saturday, "I'm reading this. I had to get to you because I believe there's a way out." And I said, "Really? Well, I'm trying to work on that. I'm interested on hearing anything you've got."

And she said, "Well, you have to read The Righteous Mind." I said, "Jonathan Haidt?" She said, "Yes. You know it?" And I said, "Yeah, we're working on something based on that as well."

She said, "I've seen it work in my own life." She said, "I had family members who I could not even talk to, and I started using what he's pointing out, and I changed what I was saying, how I was saying it. And they're hearing me now."

"Yes, I know. I've seen it work myself."

And here's the opportunity: Last week, two weeks ago, when I was in California, there is a huge change in people. Huge change. And it's not -- the last time I was there was right after -- yeah, right after the election. And people were stunned and they were afraid of Donald Trump. And everything else.

So I go out and I meet with -- I'm going to have dinner with the one guy who is a really nice guy, but very, very liberal. Was very Hillary Clinton, I believe.

And I let him know that I'm coming out.

He said, "Glenn, I want to introduce you to some friends. They need to hear you speak." And I said, "Okay."

He said, "Anybody you want to meet with?" I said, "No, I just don't want to meet with anybody who has a jersey." So if you're, the Democrats have to win, or that Donald Trump, we have to do everything we can to stop, or whatever, no team jerseys. Open minds.

He said, okay. So about 20 people show up. Twenty, 25. And they're -- they're amazing job titles and names. I was shocked.

And all of them came in with -- with a very open mind. And in some ways, afraid. Some of them told me that they were more afraid of their side than even Donald Trump now.

They said the Republicans are spooking the crap out of us. But what's happening on the college campuses with the uber left is frightening.

Point number one: Their eyes are beginning to open. Point number two: Guy sitting next to me, he said -- I opened up with: Look, we all have to admit our mistakes. And we have to just say, "I'm not trying to win. I'm trying to find a way back towards any kind of normal conversations with people who disagree with me, where I don't hate you and you don't hate me and we have to stop each other. Because what does that lead?"

Please, play this out for me. You guys win every election for the next 20 years. You have every seat and everything is Democratic. What are you going to do with the 40 percent of the population that just will not give up the idea of a free market? What do you do with them? Kill them? Silence them?

Because, I mean, at first, you just have to silence them and get them to play along. But when they don't after 20 years, what do you do?

And the same thing with the people who say you're the enemy. We have to just -- what are we going to do with you, after 20 years of winning every single election? Because they're not going to give up. Do we round you up? Do we put you in indoctrination camps, or do we kill you? Help figure this out.

We all came to the conclusion that there is no winning, just stop playing to win. Let's start finding ways to live together.

So I say this: Guy sitting next to me said, you know, we have to admit our own mistakes. None of us here at this table -- now, this is a super liberal guy. None of us here sitting at the table had a single problem with the way Barack Obama was signing executive orders. None of us said anything. It didn't bother us. We didn't have a single problem the way they got health care done. They just jammed it through. None of us said anything, but hurrah. Now that Donald Trump is doing the same thing, we're all freaking out.

You know, maybe we should have had a problem with Barack Obama doing it. And I'm like, "Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't wreck this. He's on the right train. Keep going." He said, "And another thing: Every time the Tenth Amendment is brought up, every single one of us in this room always say, racist. State's rights is just about racism. But, gee, aren't we the same people right now saying we have to strengthen the Tenth Amendment and maybe we should secede from the Union?

Maybe it's not about racism. Maybe it's something to these state's rights. I am floored -- floored with the nodding heads of, yeah. Yeah.

Now, they don't agree with me on policies, but the principles are starting to shine through. So here's the opportunity in California. There's a Democratic civil war. The Coming Insurrection. Where people are shutting things down. You're going to have violence. Because that's what the left -- the uber, uber radicalized left, that's what they do.

So you've got that.

Then you have a whole bunch of people who are like, I'm not with them. But I also -- I'm not really with the G.O.P. either because they're doing the same kind of tactics as I just realized my party was doing. And I don't like that either.

That's where you come in. And if you can speak their language, you can get enough to open up to where you say, "See. Yes. You're right. The Tenth Amendment." For different reasons, we both believe in the Tenth Amendment. For different reasons, we both believe in the Fourth and the Fifth Amendment. But see how important the Constitution is?

We have that opportunity. And if you can only -- if you could get, my gosh, 50 percent of the Democrats of California to turn, not going to happen, Glenn.

Good. I'll take 5 percent. I'll take 10 percent. You can get 5 percent of the Democrats in California, I believe, right now, if we start listening to each other. We start talking to one another, and we know how to talk to one another. And we stop trying to win. Because, they're on the wrong side!

Play that out in your mind. How does that end? Play that out in your mind. How is it working out so far?

New tactic. And we'll be talking to you about it and teaching it in the coming weeks. But I would highly recommend you start reading two books: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Spelled H-A-I-G-H-T.

PAT: No, it's H-A-I-D-T.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: What?

PAT: H-A-I-D-T.

GLENN: Oh, you guys are reading the wrong book.

STU: That would suck.

GLENN: Yeah, so Jonathan Haidt. So that one. And the other one is Tribal Leadership. Now, Tribal Leadership is -- does anybody know who that one is by?

PAT: Two guys, I think, right?

GLENN: So you read that one. And that one is different -- that one is more about business. It's an older book. A couple years old. But it's more about business. But --

STU: Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright are the authors.

GLENN: If you read those two books -- the Tribal Leadership -- think of the company as our country and see where the tribes are headed.

I contend that we are -- and when you read this, you will understand, and you will put your hand to your mouth and go, "Oh, no." I between our country is between stage one and stage two. And the Democrats and some on the alt-right are more stage one. That's a dangerous place to go.

Stage two is almost a complete loss of hope. And a just submission into whatever. And I want a strongman to fix it because we've tried everything else.

I think we're between stage one and stage two. And there are those in our audience that are stage three, four, and five, which are our good. But it will take those of us who are three, four, and five, to be able to learn the language of these first two stages, speak to them, couple that with the Righteous Mind, and we can change the world. We really can heal the scars. We'll give that you as the days and weeks continue.

Trump exposes Left’s habeas corpus hijack in border crisis

Chicago Tribune / Contributor | Getty Images

Democrats accused the president of declaring war on civil rights. In reality, he’s defending habeas corpus while they drown it in delays and legal loopholes.

Tuesday’s congressional testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem turned heads for all the wrong reasons. Pressed to define “habeas corpus,” she stumbled. And while I respect Noem, this moment revealed just how dangerously misunderstood one of our most vital legal protections has become — especially as it’s weaponized in the immigration debate.

Habeas corpus is not a loophole. It’s a shield. It’s the constitutional protection that prevents a government from detaining a person — any person — without first justifying the detention before a neutral judge. It doesn’t guarantee freedom. It demands due process. Prove it or release them.

Bureaucratic inertia, activist judges, and political cowardice have turned due process into a slow-motion invasion. And the left knows it.

And yet, this doctrine — so essential to our liberty — is now being twisted by the political left into something it was never meant to be: a free pass for illegal immigration.

The left wants to frame this as a matter of compassion and rights. Leftists ask: “What about habeas corpus for migrants?” The implication is clear: They see any attempt to enforce immigration law as an attack on civil liberties.

But that’s a lie. Habeas corpus is not an excuse for indefinite presence. It doesn’t guarantee that every person who crosses the border gets to stay. It simply requires that we follow a process — a just process.

And that’s exactly what President Donald Trump has proposed.

Habeas corpus, rightly understood

Habeas corpus is the front door to the courtroom. It simply requires the government to justify why someone is being held or detained. It’s not about citizenship. It’s about human dignity.

America’s founders knew this — and that’s why they extended the right to persons, not just citizens. Habeas corpus isn’t a pass to stay in America forever — it’s a demand for legal clarity: “Why are you holding me?” That’s it.

If the government has a lawful reason — such as illegal entry — then deportation is a legitimate outcome. And yet, the left treats any enforcement of immigration law as a betrayal of American ideals.

The danger today isn’t that habeas corpus is being ignored; it’s that it’s being hijacked. The system is being overwhelmed with bad-faith cases, endless appeals, and delays that stretch for years. Right now, the immigration courts are buried under 3.3 million pending cases. The average wait time to have your case heard is four years. In some places, people are being scheduled for court dates as far out in 2032. Where is the justice in that?

This is not compassion. This is national sabotage.

Weaponizing due process

The left uses this legal bottleneck as a weapon, not a shield. Democrats invoke due process as if it requires the government to play a never-ending shell game with public safety. But that’s not what due process means. Due process means the state must play by the rules. It means a judge hears a case. It means the law is applied justly and equally. It does not mean an open border by procedural default.

So no, Trump is not proposing the end of habeas corpus. He’s calling out a broken system and saying, out loud, what millions of Americans already know: If we don’t fix this, we don’t have a country.

This crisis wasn’t an accident — it was engineered. It’s a Cloward-Piven playbook, designed to overwhelm the system. Bureaucratic inertia, activist judges, and political cowardice have turned due process into a slow-motion invasion. And the left knows it.

Abandon the Constitution?

Remember, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. But how do we balance the Constitution and our national survival without descending into authoritarianism? Abandon the Constitution? No. Burn the house down to get rid of the rats? Absolutely not. The Constitution itself gives us the tools to take on this crisis head on.

The federal government has clear authority over immigration. Illegal presence in the United States is not a protected right. Congress has the power to deny entry, enforce expedited removals, and reject bogus asylum claims. Much of this is already authorized by law — it’s simply not being used.

President Trump’s idea is simple: Use the tools we already have. Declare the southern border a national security emergency. Establish temporary military tribunals for triage. Process asylum claims swiftly outside the clogged court system. Restore “Remain in Mexico” so that the border is no longer a remote court room. Appoint more immigration judges, assign them to high-volume areas, and hold streamlined hearings that still respect due process.

That’s not authoritarian. That’s leadership.

The path forward

Trump is not trying to destroy habeas corpus. He’s trying to save it from being twisted into a self-destructive parody of itself. Leftists have turned due process into delay, justice into gridlock, and they’re dragging the entire country into their chaos.

It’s time to draw the line. Protect habeas corpus. Use it lawfully. Use it wisely. And yes — use it to restore order at the border. Because if we lose that firewall, we lose the republic.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Betrayal of trust: Medicare insurers face lawsuit over kickback scheme

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Editor's note: This article is sponsored by Chapter.

The U.S. government has filed a major lawsuit under the False Claims Act, targeting some of the biggest names in health insurance—Aetna, Elevance Health (formerly Anthem), and Humana—along with top insurance brokers eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote. The allegation? From 2016 to at least 2021, these companies funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to brokers to steer seniors into their Medicare Advantage plans.

If the allegations are true, it means many Americans may have been steered into Medicare Advantage plans that weren’t necessarily the best fit for their needs—not because the plans were better, but because brokers were incentivized by illegal kickbacks.

The Kickback Conspiracy

Navigating Medicare Advantage’s maze of plan options is daunting, so beneficiaries rely on brokers like eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote, who claim to be unbiased guides. But from 2016 to 2021, insurers Aetna, Humana, and Elevance Health allegedly paid brokers millions in kickbacks to favor their plans, regardless of quality. Disguised as “co-op” or “marketing” deals, these payments were tied to enrollment targets. Internal emails revealed executives knew this violated the Anti-Kickback Statute, with one eHealth leader joking that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would miss a $15 million Humana deal for minimal enrollments. Brokers used call routing to prioritize high-paying insurers, betraying beneficiaries’ trust.

Discrimination Against the Vulnerable

The scheme wasn’t just about profits—it targeted vulnerable beneficiaries. Medicare Advantage must accept all eligible enrollees, including disabled people under 65. Yet Aetna and Humana allegedly pressured brokers to limit their enrollment, as these beneficiaries were deemed to be less profitable. Brokers complied, rejecting referrals and filtering calls to favor healthier enrollees, incentivized by bonuses. This violated federal anti-discrimination laws and CMS contracts, undermining the founding principles of Medicare by discriminating against the very people it was created to aid.

False Claims and the Pursuit of Justice

The schemes led to false claims to CMS, with insurers certifying enrollments as “valid” despite kickbacks and discrimination. The government paid billions, unaware of the fraud. Examples include Humana’s $12,477 for a 2016 enrollment and Aetna’s $79,047 for a 2020 case. On May 1, 2025, the U.S. filed suit, seeking treble damages and penalties under the False Claims Act. Aetna and others deny the allegations, per May 2025 reports, promising a fierce defense. The case, demanding a jury trial, seeks justice for beneficiaries and taxpayers.

POLL: Does Brooklyn crash expose a cyber sabotage plot?

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A Mexican Navy ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge has left the nation stunned, and Glenn is demanding answers.

Are recent devastating ship collisions—first Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, now Brooklyn in 2025—really just accidents, or is something far more sinister at play? Glenn recently warned that these incidents, both involving foreign vessels losing power near critical U.S. infrastructure, could be “shark bumps” by foreign adversaries testing our defenses through cyber sabotage. With the government and media quick to dismiss concerns, Glenn is calling for urgent investigations into possible hacking, independent audits of our ports and bridges, and a serious look at whether our enemies are exploiting vulnerabilities in our digitized systems.

Glenn wants to know what you think: Are these crashes coincidental, or are we under attack? Let us know in the poll below:

Could the recent ship crashes into American bridges be the result of cyber attacks by foreign adversaries?

Should the US government investigate these incidents for possible foreign interference?

Is our critical infrastructure adequately protected from cyber threats?

Are you concerned that foreign adversaries might be targeting US infrastructure through cyber means?

Do you think the media and government are properly addressing the security concerns raised by these incidents?

Glenn: Biden’s autopen scandal rocks White House

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Top Democrats knew Biden’s health was deteriorating but covered it up to keep power. Jake Tapper’s book finally lifts the lid on their deception.

Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s new book confirms what we suspected all along: Joe Biden’s health was rapidly declining, and the Democratic Party establishment knew it. Rather than be honest with the American people, they chose to cover it up, to prop up Biden just long enough to survive the election cycle. And the media helped them do it.

For years, any mention of Biden’s cognitive decline was framed as a “right-wing smear,” a baseless conspiracy theory. But now, Tapper and Thompson reveal that Biden’s top aides privately discussed the need for a wheelchair after the election — because the man can hardly walk.

We had no functioning president for much of the past administration.

And while Biden’s closest aides were planning that, they and their allies in the press were publicly spinning the fantasy that Joe Biden’s halting gait was due to a heroic foot fracture from a dog-related incident four years ago. They said his frailty was due to his “vigor.” That’s not a joke. That’s a quote.

And while they said this, they were having special shoes made for him with custom-made soles to help him stand. They weren’t planning for a second term. They were planning how to prop him up — literally — just long enough to survive the election. That is a cover-up.

It doesn’t bother me that Biden might need a wheelchair. What bothers me — what should bother every American — is that his aides talked about hiding it until after the election.

Biden wasn’t leading

Needing a wheelchair in your 80s is not a moral failing. It’s human. I own President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wheelchair — it sits in my museum. That chair represents the strength and resilience of a man who, despite paralysis, led this nation through World War II against a dictator who was gassing the disabled and infirm. He hid his disability out of fear the public wouldn’t accept a leader who couldn’t walk. But he led.

Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images

But Joe Biden wasn’t leading. He was a puppet played by faceless swamp creatures whose only concern was maintaining their iron grip on power.

Whatever you think of Tapper, the book reveals the chilling reality that we had no functioning president for much of Biden’s administration. Our commander-in-chief wasn’t just aging — he was declining. And the people around him — government employees, funded by your tax dollars — weren’t honest with you. They lied to you repeatedly and willfully because the truth would have guaranteed a second Trump term. That’s what this was all about.

Who signed the pardons?

Consider the implications of this revelation. We had a president signing documents he didn’t read — or even know about. We had an autopen affixing his name to executive actions. Who operated that autopen? Who decided what got signed or who got pardoned? Who was in charge while the president didn’t even know what he was doing?

Those are not minor questions. That is the stuff of a constitutional crisis.

The problem isn’t Biden’s age. The problem is that the people you elected didn’t run the country. You were governed by unelected aides covering up your elected president’s rapid cognitive decline. You were fed a lie — over and over again. And if anyone tried to blow the whistle, they got buried.

Don’t get distracted by the wheelchair. The chair itself is not the scandal. The scandal is that people inside your government didn’t want you to know about it.

They made a bet: Lie until November, and deal with the fallout later. That is an insult to the American people — and a threat to the republic itself. Because if your government can lie about who’s running the country, what else are they lying about?

We need further investigation and to hold these crooks accountable. If we don’t, it will happen over and over again.