BLOGAugust 09, 2017

The Nuance of Trump's Hyperbole Probably Won't Translate Well Into Evil Korean Dictator Speak

President Donald Trump promised “fire and fury” against North Korea Tuesday in response to Kim Jong Un’s continued threats of nuclear warfare.

A U.S. intelligence report leaked by the Washington Post said that North Korea has successfully built a miniaturized nuclear warhead. The regime is estimated to have as many as 60 nuclear weapons, and U.S. officials believe that North Korea has an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

If North Korea continues to threaten the U.S., “they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said Tuesday at an event in New Jersey.

On radio Wednesday, Glenn pointed out that Trump tends to speak with similar hyperbole for virtually every topic; however, the problem is that a dangerous foreign leader like Kim does not understand that.

Moments before he made the comment about North Korea, Trump spoke about the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S. Fueled by prescription medications, drug overdose deaths have reached a record high. Trump called opioids a health crisis “the likes of which we have not seen.”

“As an American who has listened to Donald Trump for years, he’s not talking about nuclear war,” Glenn said, going on to recommend Trump follow the classic “speak softly and carry a big stick” advice.

GLENN: Okay. So here's what you need to know this about North Korea. Yesterday, after receiving almost daily threats from North Korea's leaders and hearing that they may have developed miniaturized nuclear weapons, President Donald Trump yesterday made what for an American president was unprecedented. A statement that he made. He threatened North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un that if these threats against the United States don't stop...

DONALD: They will be met with fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.

GLENN: He repeated it twice yesterday. Now, as an American who has listened to Donald Trump for years, he's not talking about nuclear war. As a guy who knows that just a few years before he said this, he was talking about the opioid crisis. And this is what he said about that...

DONALD: An opioid overdosed us have nearly quadrupled since 1999. It is a problem the likes of which we have not seen.

(chuckling)

GLENN: Just a few minutes before, he was talking about another crisis, the likes of which the world had never seen before. This is something that President Trump always says. He won with an unprecedented, you know, margin of victory that the world had never seen before. He had put together a grassroots effort the likes of which the world had never seen before. So we as Americans understand this.

I'm not sure that Kim Jong-un understands this. This is why -- when you're the president of the United States, you must speak softly and carry a big stick. That's always been the way of the American president. Know that you have power, but don't boast about that power.

North Korea did exactly what North Korea would be expected to do: They responded. Now, for the average person, when you hear that he says, quote, the KPA strategic force is now carefully examining the operational plan for making enveloping fire at areas around Guam, with medium to long-range strategic ballistic rockets in order to contain the US military bases on Guam, including Anderson Air Force Base.

What is he saying there? Because what the press reported yesterday was, he was going to attack Guam. Which to the average American is like, what? Why -- I mean, why are you throwing Guam into this? Poor people of Guam.

The reason why is because that is a strategic base for the United States. And if we were ever going to launch a strike against North Korea, Guam would be the place where all of our bombers would be hanging out. And so what is he saying?

He is responding to hyperbole with an actual threat and a plan. I know how you're going to do it. If you're going to -- if you're going to actually bomb us, you are going to use Anderson Air Force Base.

And so I just want you to know, right now, look at the rockets. Understand, they're all now pointed to Anderson Air Force Base.

So you're not going to have a base to base your operations from in Guam. He also said that they have plans by the -- that any plans by the US to execute a preemptive strike or to decapitate him would be met with an all-out war, quoting, wiping out all the strongholds and enemies, including the US mainland.

Now, here's the part that I am torn on: One, I am really happy to have a president that is willing to say, it's an evil empire, period. It's an evil empire, and it's not going to stand. That's the way we won the Cold War, by being very clear on what evil looks like.

Kim Jong-un and all of the Kims that have reigned before him are evil. There are not crazy. They are not crazy. They are evil. They are communists that will starve their own people to death. And anyone who stands in their way, it's not you that is thrown in prison: You're executed. And your family is thrown into prison for not one, but three generations.

It's an evil empire. And so I'm really happy to have a president say, "This is evil, and we're not going to stand for it." And then because of Syria, we know that he means it.

However, not all situations are the same. Here's what you really need to know: There is not a consensus within the intelligence community over North Korea's nuclear capability. We're not sure.

We're not sure that they could make good on their threats. But what is crystal clear is the devastating effects of any war. This is why I have been saying for 15 years, North Korea and Iran must never have the capability of nuclear war.

And the world must have harsh sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Because the moment they have missiles, the moment they have a nuclear weapon, you have to take them seriously, and there are no good options left.

How many years have we been saying that? North Korea now, we have run out of time. And instead of talking about what does this actually mean, the media is talking about Donald Trump.

I'm torn. I like a president who is clear on evil. I don't like a president who shoots from the hip and can make things worse because another country doesn't understand exactly what he meant.

When he said this last night, I have to tell you, it chilled me to the bone every time I heard it. Because that's not the words of an American president. Those are the words of people like the people that run Iran. That's the kind of language that they use and they understand. The United States is different. The United States should have believe out last night and said, "Rex Tillerson is on a plane going to China right now, and he will be in Beijing by the morning."

This is a problem that the entire world agrees on. And in an unprecedented move, the United Nations Security Council, including China and Russia, have all said the harshest sanctions are going to be imposed against North Korea. And it's already underway.

The United States is not going to be bullied, and we're not going to be frightened by a tinpan alley HEP dictator.

He's not crazy. He's evil. And evil, the world will not side with. Now, let's get back to work.

That's what the president should have said.

What you must take away from this that no one is giving you is that Seoul, South Korea, is 35 miles away from the 38th parallel. That's the DMZ, the demilitarized zone. It's 35 miles away.

Any attack by the US against North Korea will almost certainly set into motion a series of events that would bring devastation to that nation, along with massive civilian and military casualties, perhaps for sure in the -- the six-figure range. Perhaps in the seven-figure range.

Seoul has 20 million people living in it. It's 35 miles away. Since the 1950s, South Korea, has built armaments and built weapons to do one thing: Destroy South Korea and Seoul, in particular, within 24 hours. We have to be 100 percent accurate for them not to strike Seoul. Or, God forbid, Tokyo.

North Korea now has over 1,000 missiles pointed directly at Seoul. There are 37,000 American troops stationed in South Korea. Not to mention that South Korea's economy is the 11th largest in the world. An all-out attack against North Korea would be a devastating blow to their economy and our economy.

Forget about the deaths of people you've never met on the other side of the planet. This will impact you and your family for a very long time. And we'll all deal with the deaths that we failed to prevent or the deaths that we were part of causing on a march to war later.

The global situation now is tenuous, at best. The domino effect of this is global war. Now, these are the cold, hard facts. There is no good way out of this anymore.

The best option we have is to apply sanctions, hold the rest of the world together, cross our fingers, say a few prayers, and hope this ends like the Cuban missile crisis did. And it passes in the night.

Anything that beats the drum of war in this situation is dangerous. One more thing: Last night, I watched -- I watched the media. And, boy, it was like watching two different worlds. One rah-rah, one totally against. And not totally against because of the facts that I just gave you. Totally against because the president just said these crazy things.

There was a point where I believe that I just -- I just -- I mentally snapped on the media. I'm just totally done with the media. They are not helping us in any way, shape, or form.

By coming out and spending literally two hours last night just talking about the president's language, I had a real hard time taking it from CNN, seeing that I was standing in the news pit. I used to call it the pit of disrepair with all of the angry, disgruntled, and hopeless reporters at CNN, listening to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And hearing him say things like, "They will die in the fiery fury of the Islamic State."

Saying things -- starting a speech before and after, oh, Allah. Give me the strength to hasten the return of the Promised One. Both of those things are end times Scripture for them. It is like -- it's like any crazy person standing up who is a Christian, and saying, "You know what, we've got to start a nuclear war because Jesus is going to come back soon." That's exactly what they're saying.

And after standing in that room and hearing all of them dismiss Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the leaders of Iran and the Kim family for years -- well, they're just saying this. They're just a dictator. They just -- this the way -- they're not really going to do those things.

For them to analyze every movement of our president, who made I think a bad statement, but all of us here in America know that's not what he meant. And for them to -- to scrutinize every word, as if that's exactly what he meant, after two decades of sitting around saying, "No, that's not what the Kim family means. That's not what the leaders of Iran mean," when they are building nuclear weapons -- it is your excuses, Mainstream Media, it is your excuses. Your unwillingness to take dictators and people who will kill people and are currently killing people, just because they're women. Just because they are gay. Just because they're Christian.

Your unwillingness to listen to people who are actual killers is what got us in this situation. And any media source that isn't telling you these things today, you need to abandon and go find one that is telling you the truth.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Whitney Webb: How You Can BREAK FREE of the Chains of the Elites

Are you truly free, or is your life quietly controlled by systems most Americans never question? In this eye-opening conversation, Glenn Beck speaks with investigative journalist Whitney Webb about how the Elites, banks, and global systems have created modern forms of enslavement, all while the public remains largely unaware. They discuss the urgent need for local self-reliance, alternative financial systems, and taking personal responsibility to protect yourself and your family. This is a wake-up call for anyone who believes freedom is guaranteed, and it’s time to see the truth and act before it’s too late.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Whitney Webb HERE

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RADIO

The most INSANE Deep State story you've never heard

Was an NGO with deep government ties trying to RESTART the opium trade in Taliban-run Afghanistan while former Taliban members were on its payroll...only to be caught DESTROYING the evidence?! The State Department's Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Darren Beattie joins Glenn Beck to expose what he found when he was made Acting President of the United States Institute of Peace. Plus, he debunks ProPublica’s claim that DOGE “targeted” an “Afghan scholar who fled the Taliban.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Darren, welcome to the program. How are you? Darren, are you there? Is he there?

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Okay. Check if he's there. Is he? Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney.

STU: Trying to shut him down. They don't want peace. They don't want peace.

GLENN: They don't. They don't.

He is -- he is a big-time anti-globalist. I've got to tell you, what we're doing with the State Department. I absolutely love. The State Department has been a big problem for this country for a very long time. It's what's gotten us into these global wars. These endless wars, and everything he is.

And, I mean, I don't know what happened to Marco rube, but he is tremendous.

And the way president Trump is appointing different people like Darren, it's fantastic. Darren, are you there? Darren.

STU: Something must be wrong with the lines. Because we are talking to him offline on the phone here. And it does seem to be working, but not coming through our broadcast board here for whatever reason.

GLENN: Well, let's see if we can get that fixed, and maybe let me just talk here for five, six minutes on something else. Then we'll take a break and come back and see if we can get him.

There's something else that I really want to talk about. And that is this flag-burning thing. Now, it's not an amendment.

This is something that the president is putting up in an executive order and has very little teeth to it.

But I -- I -- look, I understand. As a guy putting an enormous flagpole up at my house today.

I mean, an enormous flagpole.

I love the flag. I love it!

And there are a few things that make me more angry than see somebody you set our flag on fire.

For a lot of people, that's a punch in the gut, especially our military people. And it has been planted on distant battlefields. It's raced after victory. Saluted in the morning, or should be in our schools and folded and given to the hands of grieving families. It feels like spitting on every sacrifice, that ever made this nation possible. And the argument against flag burning is really simple: It dishonors the idea of all of that. Okay?

And it defends millions of people, including me. It disrespects, I think the veterans that bled. The families who mourned. The dream that binds us together.

However, here's the hard truth: Symbols only mean something, in a land where freedom is alive.

If you outlaw the burning of a flag, the you have placed the cloth above the Constitution that it represents. You have made the flag an idol.

We don't worship idols. If you can only praise the flag and never protest it, it just stops being a symbol of freedom. And starts being an idol of obedience.

Now, that's the argument for allowing it. At least to me.

Because the real strength of a free nation is -- is to -- it's -- it's how we protect, not the speech we love, but how we endure the speech we hate!

And the Supreme Court has already ruled on this. And, you know, they -- the line they drew wasn't an easy one. Freedom of speech, stops where it directly -- directly insights violence. And that's it same thing, kind of, in this executive order.

You can burn the flag. But if I'm not mistaken, but if it incites violence, then you're in trouble.

And that's true. But the bar of inciting violence is so incredibly high. And it's -- it doesn't have anything to do with speech that offends. It's not speech that stirs anger. Not speech that wants you to punch the speaker in the mouth. It's speech only, that provokes imminent and specific violence.

And unless it's that be with the government doesn't have any right to -- to get into the business of silencing speech. Ever. Ever. Ever.

It is a hard line. And that standard is really hard. It's painfully hard.

Because what our citizenship requires, this is civics. What our citizenships require, is that we defend -- oh, I hate this.

We defend the right of your opponent to mock everything that we hold sacred.

Now, I want you to think of this. You can burn a Bible. You can burn the Word of God. But some want to make it illegal to burn a flag. Where are our priorities? You can burn the Constitution. The words that actually are the ones that stir us into action. But you can't burn a flag.

You can't burn a Koran. Can't burn them. Can't. Can't.

You will -- you will quickly come to a quick end, not legally. But you will come to a quick end. I don't ever want to be like that. Ever!

You burn a Bible. I think you're a monster. What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?

But you have a right to do it. Why are we drawing a line around the flag? It -- the reason is -- is because we feel things so passionately. And that is really a good thing, to feel love of country so passionately. But then we have to temper that. My father used to tell me, that I think this country needs to hear over and over again, every day. My father -- we would talk to somebody. And we would walk away. And he would go, I so disagree with everything that man just said. But, Glenn, son, he would say. I will fight to the death for his right to say it. He used to say that to me all the time. Which now lees me to believe, I know where I've got my strong opinions from. Because dad apparently would disagree with a lot of people all the time.

But that was the essence of freedom. That is the essence of what sets us apart. Standing for universal, eternal rights like free speech. It's not easy. It means you have to take the size of those people that offend you. It means -- it doesn't mean you have to disagree with it. You can fight against it. You can argue back and forth.

But you -- can you tolerate the insults to the things that you love most. That is so hard, and that is why most of the world does not have freedom of speech. It's too hard! But our Founders believed people are better than that. Our citizens can rule themselves!

And the only way you can rule yourself is if you don't have limits on freedom of speech. So the question is, do we want to remain free? Or do we want to just feel good? It really is that simple. It's why no one else has freedom of speech. It's too hard! I think we're up to the task. Okay. Give me 60 seconds. And then we will try again.

The -- there's certain moments in history, that test not just entire nations, but the hearts of those who live in the nations. And right now, the people of Israel are living in one of those moments. Sirens in the night. Families huddled together.

Elderly men and women. Who remember a time when help never came. All of them wonder. Is anybody going to stand with us, this time?

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(music)
All right. Let me -- let me bring Darren in. Darren, are you there now?

DARREN: Yes!
GLENN: Oh, God. Thank goodness.
Thank you for putting up with us. I don't know what happened with the phone system. But, first of all, tell me what the US Institute of Peace is. I've never even heard of it.

DARREN: That is a fantastic question. And I'll try to give the abbreviated answer, because I know we don't have several hours.

GLENN: Good. I know.

DARREN: But US Institute of Peace is one of lesser known, but quite important member of the NGO archipelago, that was created in the '80s. It belongs to the same cohorts as national endowments for democracy.

GLENN: Oh.

DARREN: And some other -- some other better known NGOs that really in the broad context of things. In kind of the sweep of things, was created as a kind of reorganization of the government structure in the aftermath of the church type committee hearings that expose a lot of the dirty dealings of government agencies such as the CIA, and so sort of a broader response to that government lie was to create this NGO layer of governance, with an armed distant plausible deniability, a kind of chameleon character of not exactly being government, not exactly being private, in order to fulfill some of those more sensitive functions that had been exposed in the course of the church hearings.

And so US Institute of Peace is one of those NGOs that had particular focus on conflict regions. But, of course, as I think you -- you suggested earlier, peace requires at the very least, an asterisk. Because there involves a lot of things, that conventional, most American citizens would not think should belong as part of the portfolio of something calling itself an institute of peace.

GLENN: So what was the thing with the -- with this Taliban member that was getting money from us?

DARREN: Right. So this is an interesting case. So there's a whole saga of a takeover of the US institute of peace under -- under DOGE.

And that's really a fascinating story unto itself. Just to give you a sense of what these characters were like. They barricaded themselves in the offices.

They sabotaged the physical infrastructure of the building. There were reports of there being loaded guns within the offices.

GLENN: Wow!

DARREN: There was one, like, hostage situation where they held a security guard under basically kind of a false imprisonment type situation. It was extremely intense.

Far more so than the better known story of USAID. And in the course of all of that, they tried to delete a terabyte of data, of accounting information that would indicate what kind of stuff they were up to.

What kind of people they were paying. And in the course of that, DOGE found that one of the people on their payroll. Was this curious figure, who had a prominent role in the Taliban government. And then seemed to kind of play a bunch of angles across each other.

Sort of one of these sixer types in the middle of Afghanistan.

The question is, what the heck is an organization like this, having an individual, who is a former Taliban member on their payroll.

It underscores how incredibly bizarre the whole arrangement is. And to just reinforce that. I think even more bizarre than having this former Taliban guy on the payroll is the kind of schizophrenic posture exhibited by the chief -- one truly bizarre thing is that one of the US Institute of Peace's main kind of policy agendas was basically lamenting the fact that the opium trade had dissipated under Taliban leadership. They had multiple reports coming out, basically saying, this is horrible, that the opium trade is diminished under the Taliban. Meaning, finding some way to restore it. How bizarre is that!

GLENN: What was their thinking?

DARREN: Well, it's -- it's very strange, and it depends on what kind of rabbit holes you want to go down. But the whole story of opium and Afghanistan and its connection to, you know, government entities, is a -- is a very intricate and delicate and fascinating one. But it seems very clear that the US Institute of Peace was involved in that story to some degree because their public reports. They had a full-the time guy of basically lamenting the fact that the opium trade dissipated under the Taliban. And, meanwhile, they're funding this former Taliban guy.

GLENN: Unbelievable. Now, ProPublica got this. And you have released the statement on it. And ProPublica just completely white-washed this -- said this guy was a victim, and his family was taken hostage. Was his family ever taken hostage because he was exposed?

And correct the ProPublica story, would you?

DARREN: Yeah, I mean, the ProPublica thing, as usual and as expected was a total joke.

GLENN: Yes.

DARREN: I mean, this guy, I'm not an expert on this particular person's history. But what's very clear is he was a former Taliban guy, and he was probably one of these people, who was playing all sides, made a lot of enemies. I know that there were several kind of attempts on his life by the Taliban, in the course of various -- various decades.

This has nothing to do with -- with DOGE.

I mean, he's a known quantity in the region.

And somebody who has made a lot of enemies.

And he was not -- he was on the payroll of the US institute of peace.

And nobody is expecting something like that. So then, and, again, there's this sort of hostile takeover situation.

Where the people are barricading he themselves in. Trying to delete all this data.

And sure enough, what's in the data, is stuff like this.

These random former Taliban guy, making his contract with $130,000.

GLENN: You know, this is the -- this is the real Deep State stuff, that I think bothers people so much.

Look, we expect our CIA to do stuff, we don't necessarily want to do it. We expect it.

When it's in the State Department.

When every department is pushing out money to NGOs to overthrow governments and everything else.

It's out of control!

It's just completely out of control.

And who is overseeing all of that.

DARREN: That's a great question.

I think part of the NGO -- UCEF was almost a cutout of a cutout.

A fourth of its money came from USAID.

In many ways, it was a cutout of USAID. Which itself was a cutout.

So there are many layers of distance. Plausible deniability.

And UCEF, I think institutionally really perfected this chameleon structure of being able to plausibly present itself as government. When that was convenient for what they were doing.

And also to present itself as a private organization, when that was convenient.

It's a very intricate setup that they had, that was truly optimized for this chameleon character of plausible denial operations. In conflict zones. Doing God knows what, with American taxpayer money.

And it's just an absolute hornet's nest.

We have recovered that terabyte that they tried to delete. And once we get things settled in the building itself, I intend to do a kind of transparency effort, whereby we release all of this material to the public.

GLENN: Good. Good.

DARREN: Just like I'm doing at the State Department. I'm currently acting as secretary at the State Department. And doing a transparency effort here. After I eliminated the global engagement center, which was sort of the internal censorship office within the State Department, decided, we've got to -- we've got to air this out to the public.

So within the next couple of weeks.

We'll have our next tranche of helps you of thousands of emails, documenting what this were doing.

GLENN: I would love you to go back on, through those emails.

I think you guys in the State Department are doing an amazing job. Thanks for being on.

Glenn's Show Prep

The Nuance of Trump's Hyperbole Probably Won't Translate Well Into Evil Korean Dictator Speak

Whitney Webb: How You Can BREAK FREE of the Chains of the Elites

SHOCKING: Glenn Beck Interviews 'Detransitioner' Deceived by Doctors

The most INSANE Deep State story you've never heard

Transcript

Brother of Hamas hostage reveals United Nations' "CRUCIAL MISTAKE"