BLOGAugust 14, 2017

GOP Senate Candidate: We Need to Send 'a Huge Message to the Establishment'

President Donald Trump and Republicans need to remember what they promised the American people during the election. The Senate must send a “huge message to the establishment” about keeping promises like repealing Obamacare, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said on radio Monday.

During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to undo the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, and Republicans up and down the ballot swore they would repeal the Affordable Care Act in order to win votes. These key promises and other campaign talking points have not yet been turned into action by Republicans, who now hold the White House as well as the House and Senate.

“I am baffled again,” Brooks said of Trump’s inability to follow through on the Iran deal promise.

Brooks, who is running for the Alabama Senate seat vacated by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, said he would bring limited-government principles to the table if elected.

“If we get a principled conservative in the United States Senate … that is a huge message to the establishment, and they will be shivering in their boots,” he said of his campaign.

GLENN: Hello, America. A lot to talk about. Of course, what happened with the white nationalists. The Justice Department has opened the civil rights investigation into this. I don't know how much there is to investigate: They're Nazis, and they killed somebody.

But did the president go far enough? Was his statement also true? What role do we play in this? What is the future of a small government constitutionally minded people? Does that even exist?

Mo Brooks is a congressman who is running now for the Senate. And the election is happening tomorrow. He's a congressman for Alabama. He's running for the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. And there is an interesting race going on and a battle inside this conservative movement. The election is tomorrow. Mo Brooks joins us right now.

(music)

GLENN: Welcome, Congressman Mo Brooks. How are you, sir?

MO: I'm doing great, Glenn. How about yourself today?

GLENN: Very good. As you probably know, you have our favorite clip of anyone ever on MSNBC, when you were trying to explain the economic crisis we were in. And this is what happened.

VOICE: We were looking at going -- reverting into a depression at that point. Everyone -- the fed chairman --

MO: Well, I disagree that we were going into a depression, but go ahead.

VOICE: Well, do you have a degree in economics?

MO: Yes, ma'am, I do. Highest honors.

VOICE: Okay. So --

PAT: I love that.

STU: "Okay. So --"

GLENN: You can tell us, Mo. That was satisfying, wasn't it? That moment was just like, "Oh, yeah, that felt good?"

MO: Every now and then, they pitch a softball.

(chuckling)

GLENN: So, Mo, tell us, first of all, your thoughts of what happened over the weekend in Virginia.

MO: Well, you know, it's very disheartening that there are still people out there who judge other people based on inherent qualities that those people have no control over: A skin pigmentation is not a basis for defining who we are. Ethnicity is not a basis for defining who we are. Sex is a basis for defining who we are. We should all be judged based on our conduct and how we interact with other people.

Unfortunately, there are still people in our society, on both sides of the fence, that look at skin pigmentation, sex, and ethnicity, when those should not be factors of concern.

GLENN: You reject outright nationalism and the national socialist Nazi movement?

MO: Well, I don't agree with socialism. I don't agree with Nazis. I don't agree with any group that says that your skin pigmentation alone makes you superior to another group. That's silly. I mean, skin pigmentation is skin pigmentation. You know, I've got freckles. Does that make me good or bad because I've got freckles? That's a form of skin pigmentation. It's so absurd.

And so, yes, I agree -- I disagree -- I disagree with anybody -- anybody who tries to define somebody else based on characteristics that they were born with. That is not what defines a human being.

GLENN: Now, you were -- you were a congressman who in 2016, endorsed Ted Cruz.

MO: I was his Alabama state chairman, and I was one of his national spokesmen for his campaign. So, yes.

GLENN: Okay. So now here comes this opening in -- you know, in the Senate. And you want to run for it. You're a great conservative small government guy.

And the president -- a couple of weeks ago, you were scheduled for an interview with us. Last week, President Trump endorsed your opponent Luther Strange. Any idea why that happened?

MO: It's baffling to me. Luther Strange is a decades' long Washington, DC, lobbyist. We all knew when President Trump declared that he was going to Washington, DC, to drain the swamp, the swamp was going to fight back. And Luther Strange is the swamp's candidate. So to me, there seems to be a conflict between draining the swamp and endorsing the swamp's candidate on the one hand.

And on the other hand, the president most recently was, rightfully so, complaining about Mitch McConnell and the do-nothing Senate. And the 60-vote rule that prevents us from passing our agenda. And I agree with the president, in that regard.

Yet, he endorses the person who supports the 60-vote rule that kills President Trump's agenda over the next three and a half years. So, yes, I'm puzzled by it. I don't know who gave President Trump this bad advice, probably Mitch McConnell. I do know the president is spread rather thin. He's got a lot of different issues he's got to focus on. But whoever it is that led him to endorse Luther Strange led him astray.

GLENN: If you go in, who do you caucus with?

MO: Well, I'm a Republican, so I'm going to caucus with the Republicans in the United States Senate. I do prefer a different leader. Mitch McConnell may be a nice guy. I really don't know him that well personally. But his job is to get through the United States Senate a repeal of Obamacare. His job is to get through the United States Senate funding for the border wall and stronger security measures. His job is to get through the United States Senate tax reform. His job is to do what must be done to get our deficit and debt under control. And, quite frankly, he has failed miserably on each of those different public policy issues. So it's time to try somebody knew, someone who perhaps can get the job done, someone more aggressive, more conservative, somebody who is able to persuade a majority of the United States Senate to do what our country needs doing.

Otherwise, it's going to be a wasted opportunity with us having the House, the Senate, and the White House.

GLENN: I've never seen anything like this in my lifetime, where they have more opportunity and a president who is providing total coverage for the Congress, just to -- just to snowplow through stuff.

MO: I don't get it either. It's baffling to me. It's puzzling to me. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse Obamacare, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try to get our deficit and debt under control before we suffer debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy that will do great damage to a country that our ancestors took centuries to build, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure our southern border. Just go down the list of things that you, in 2009 and 2010, are focused on, as you helped the Tea Party movement that gave us the House of Representatives in 2010, where we gained 63 seats, if my memory serves me correctly.

And this is our chance. And to date, over seven months of President Trump's presidency, we have had zero -- zero significant legislative achievements that pertain to the major issues that face our country, the issues that I just itemized. And that's because the 60-vote rule in the United States Senate has empowered Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to control our agenda. And that's just craziness. You've got a choice: You can either support an archaic rule that was born in the 1800s, while there was still slavery, or you can go with America. And I choose America.

GLENN: We're talking to Congressman Mo Brooks who is running tomorrow the election in Alabama. Running for Jeff Sessions' Senate seat.

Let's talk a little bit about North Korea. What do you think is -- what are we headed with this, Mo?

MO: I believe that you're going to see a relationship between the United States and North Korea, akin to what we saw with China under Mao Zedong and the Soviet Union, under Josef Stalin and all of his successors.

In my judgment, the mutually assured destruction doctrine will work to deter North Korea from ever launching a first strike at the United States of America. Because a first strike by North Korea against America results in a retaliatory nuclear strike by the United States, that would turn North Korea into a sea of glass. And every single North Korean leader would be dead. The North Korean leadership acts crazy. But I tend to think they act crazy in order to achieve a smart purpose. I don't believe that they won't commit suicide.

So mutually assured destruction doctrine ought to work with them to prevent a first strike from ever being launched by either party, just as it has worked with the United States and the Soviet Union -- now Russia and China over the decade. However, to be on the safe side, we need to bolster our radar systems and our interceptor systems so that we can shoot down any missiles that may come from North Korea. Having said all that, we must not be distracted from the bigger threat. The bigger threat is Iran.

Iran -- mutually assured destruction doctrine may not work because of their religious beliefs, where they believe that giving up their own life in the furtherance of Allah's will is worthwhile. And if Iran gets nuclear weapons, with missile delivery systems that can knock out what Iran calls the little Satan, Israel, and knock out the United States of America, even if it means the total and complete annihilation of Iran, some of these Iranian leaders may do it as a matter of religious belief. And so I would tend to focus a little bit more on Iran and the threat that they pose, given that Barack Obama has empowered Iran to get nuclear weapons and the delivery system sometime within the next ten to 15 years.

GLENN: So do you have any insight at all on why President Trump ran on I'm going to tear up that Iranian deal, and then has come out and said, "No, no, we can't do that." Do you have any insight, any feelings on that, Mo?

MO: Well, I am baffled again. Once you make a campaign promise, I'm one of those who believes you ought to keep it. And I do not understand why the president may have said one thing on this particular issue, dealing with the Iran nuclear agreement, while he was a candidate, and not fulfilling whatever his campaign promise may have been, during the campaign.

That's -- that's akin to repealing Obamacare. We promised the American people we would repeal Obamacare. But apparently, there are a lot of people in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives that didn't really intend to keep that promise.

And the American people need to hold their feet to the fire to ensure that we deliver on the promise to repeal Obamacare. You just can't go through the motions and say, "Well, I tried. I voted that way."

In the Senate, you have tremendous power to force things to happen. And unfortunately, we don't have enough people in the United States Senate right now, fighting hard to force that repeal of Obamacare.

GLENN: Talking --

MO: There's nice guy stuff going on, instead of real fighters to achieve our goals.

GLENN: Talking to US congressman from Alabama, Mo Brooks, who is running for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. That election happens tomorrow.

Mo, what happens to the -- the conservative movement or the Republican Party should voices like yours be brushed out and lost? And -- and voices -- and voices like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan or even worse, the Steve Bannons of the world are held up.

MO: I'm going to flip it a little bit and talk about what happens if we prevail. If we get a principled conservative in the United States Senate -- and as an aside, if anyone wants to help, please go to MoBrooksforSenate.com. MoBrooksforSenate.com.

But if we are able to prevail, that is a huge message to the establishment, and they'll be shivering in their boots. Okay?

This 60 percent rule that blocks us from repealing Obamacare, from funding the border wall, from dealing with deficits and debt, from getting rid of a lot of these giveaway programs that cause people to no longer respect the work ethic and that encourage the breakup of families, and having kids out of wedlock, because you get more money that way -- we can make huge strides, if we win -- if you elect Mo Brooks from the state of Alabama in this election, because it sends a message to Mitch McConnell, that he better get on the ball, that he better start working. And this recess, this vacation that the Senate is on right now, they should get back to work and continue to confirm every single one of President Trump's nominees to various positions. They need to get back to work on repeal of Obamacare. They also need to start thinking about new Senate leadership because it will be a debacle and an embarrassment for Mitch McConnell if after spending 5 to $10 million in attack ads against Mo Brooks and against Judge Roy Moore, if their handpicked establishment candidate, Luther Strange, does not win.

So we can send a huge positive message to the United States Senate and Washington, DC, that it's time for a change. We're not satisfied with a do-nothing Senate. We're not satisfied with allowing Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to be obstructionists because we let them. That's the message.

We have to win this race tomorrow. Then that message gets to Washington, DC. And they like keep their jobs, they might start working better.

GLENN: Mo Brooks for Senate. Mo -- M-O -- BrooksforSenate.com is where you can go and get more information and help out. And get to the polls if you're in Alabama. If you like what you heard, those -- that -- those polls open tomorrow. And if somebody doesn't get 50 percent, there will be a runoff. MoBrooksforSenate.com.

Mo, thank you so much. Best of luck to you. And, sir, thank you for the years of good service in Congress. And we hope that --

MO: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you for all your help.

GLENN: Thank you. We appreciate it.

RADIO

The HORRIFIC TRUTH about "national divorce"

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: People are throwing around things like national divorce.

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

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

Because the algorithms will reward talk like this!

National divorce.

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

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

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

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

It won't change. It ends!

That's what Civil War means!

The world your children expect to grow up in.

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

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

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

Has never been done before.

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

So it doesn't come back!

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

It's neighbors!

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

And the pharmacy.

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

If it comes out at all.

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

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

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

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

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

The pharmacy is closed. Why?

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

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

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

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

Rage will make you blind!

And we won't be fighting in uniform!

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

Whoever controls the intersection controls that day!

Hospitals are now fortresses. Then targets.

Then shells.

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

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

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

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

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

Good people, just like you, will do them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The kid who just made the team.

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

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

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

I say it to you today!

These are the times that try men's souls.

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

They will be owed a thanks for generations to come.

Turn town the algorithm and turn up the conversation.

Teach your children the difference between courage and recklessness!

Between justice and vengeance!

Make your county and your town resilient.

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

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

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

RADIO

Virginia Democrats' shocking text messages EXPOSED

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very easy. This is life lesson number one.

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

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

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

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

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

Because anything short of that is madness itself!

Because if they start doing -- this is Germany.

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

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

And we all say stupid things.

I've said stupid things.

Everybody has said stupid things.

And what do you do?

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

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

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

Well, that's wrong.

Well, should we drop out?

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

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

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

They cannot have any power in government. They cannot.

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

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

You must!

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

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

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

My guess is, never!

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

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

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

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

I don't want him killed.

I want him exposed!

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

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

I don't want to kill them.

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

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

Glenn, how do we work together?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People are throwing around things like national divorce.

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

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

TikTok Is the New Tobacco | Jonathan Haidt Warns of a Generation Lost

Social media was supposed to connect us, but it’s destroying an entire generation instead. Glenn Beck and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt expose how TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat engineered addiction, rewired our kids’ brains, and created what Haidt calls “The Anxious Generation.” From collapsing attention spans to skyrocketing anxiety and loneliness, this conversation breaks down the devastating social, emotional, and spiritual fallout of the smartphone era and what parents can still do to fight back. This is the truth Big Tech doesn’t want you to hear.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Jonathan Haidt HERE

RADIO

Did Dave Chappelle SELL OUT to Saudi Arabia?

Comedian Dave Chappelle recently made headlines for making controversial comments about Charlie Kirk and free speech while at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. Did he and other comedians sell out to Saudi Arabia by taking the gig, or is it just business? Comedian Bridget Phetasy joins Glenn to explain why she’s torn on this one…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: My good friend Bridget Phetasy, how are you?

BRIDGET: How are you?

First of all, just wanted to say, I'm so sorry, for your loss. You and Stu. And everybody at the Blaze. I know you're all --

GLENN: Well, thank you.

BRIDGET: It's not that far out. And I just wanted to say, I'm sorry.

GLENN: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

BRIDGET: But I'm good, you know. Life is crazy.

GLENN: I know. Every time I talk to you, something new has happened, where I'm like, that's not the Bridget I know. That's not the Bridget I know.

I'm anxious to hear, where you stand on this Riyadh Comedy Festival.

BRIDGET: Oh, it's so interesting, isn't it? It reminds me -- I just keep thinking of that Ricky Gervais monologue that he did years ago. Where he said, if ICE started a streaming service, you would call your agent.

(laughter)
I mean, he has more relevance every year, that monologue that he did.

GLENN: Yeah.

BRIDGET: And I don't know, I think the comedians got too much, too, rich. And maybe we all need to -- I mean, I'm not rich like that. But maybe comedians in general just need to go back to being viewed as kind of dumb losers again.
(laughter)
I think -- I think some of these guys are out over their skis a little bit. And they got really huge. And now, I don't know.

Maybe this is a challenge for them, to push the limits.

Because they can say whatever they want. In America. To going to Saudi. As a little dangerous. A little titillating.

GLENN: I don't know.

They all have to sign documents that they wouldn't make fun of religion. Wouldn't make of Saudi Arabia. Wouldn't make fun of the royal family, et cetera, et cetera. My thought on this is, if we went to these same comedians and said, hey, we'll pay you the same amount of money. We want to do a Washington, DC, Trump comedy, you know, weekend. Would these guys have signed the same exact thing?

BRIDGET: No.

GLENN: No. They wouldn't have. They wouldn't have. And everybody would have been out of their mind crazy on the left. Saying, look at, Donald Trump wants to shut people down. Wants to shut down -- you can't make fun of his family. What -- that's -- you've got -- none of these comedians would have done that. None of them.

BRIDGET: Yeah. It's -- I'm not. I wouldn't have done it. And I'm not wealthy. But there's really no amount of money that you could have paid me to do that. Only because, I think, if I'm -- first of all, if I'm somebody out there screaming women. And screaming about the rights of women. And what -- how we should be fighting for people, like the women in Saudi Arabia. Who have no real voice. Or as many rights as we do, then it would be very hypocritical for me to go stand on the stages. And say whatever I want.

I also think, they're not -- they're getting paid to legitimatize these people.

They're getting -- that's what they're getting paid. The quotes that are coming out of there. Every quote I see. I was like, wow. The Saudis got their money's worth.

Like, oh, the royals loved it. You know, it's just like, if you're trying to -- trying to justify your appearance in Saudi Arabia, the -- the quote, the royals were very happy is not great coming out of your mouth.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

And you -- I love the fact. Again, Chappelle said, you know, what? America hasn't killed people. Yeah, the Saudi prince has killed people.

What? We haven't.

You know, please, give it a rest. Because you don't just write it off like that here in America.

You don't just, oh, yeah. So our government has just killed a few people. You won't. You will do it here, because ear getting a big paycheck.

BRIDGET: Yeah. I hear this argument a lot. How is this any different than the government. You can't fix that kind of stupid. I can't even -- I won't even deal with it. Because it's like listening to a 19-year-old in their first year of college who just smoked a bong. Okay. Saudi Arabia and America are the same. Tell me again about your anti-American thoughts. Like, all right.

Go live in Saudi Arabia then. Like, let me know how that works out for you. And when -- try making fun of the royal family. Try making fun of the journalists. Or -- or anything that they said that you can't make fun of.

Go -- go let me know how that works out for you.

And something more than the three days that you spent there -- I mean, a lot of it was -- it was -- it's like, oh. We -- they have McDonald's and Starbucks. This was some of the quotes coming from Bell. That I was kind of like, yeah. So this is like Tucker eating McDonald's in Russia.

Okay. We -- that doesn't mean that these places are the same.

GLENN: Yeah. Coca-Cola was -- Coca-Cola was served to the Nazis in Germany. Up until like 1942.

I mean, you know, and they were just like you. No. No. You're not. No, you're not.

That Coke bottle does not make you us.

BRIDGET: I don't know. I'm not sure what is going on. Again, I'm of many minds about this.

Because I have been at venture capitalist events, and the Saudis have been there. And I don't know. Why should Jared Kushner be allowed to make money with the Saudis and not the comedians.

GLENN: Right. That's kind of --

BRIDGET: Like you said in the opening. I mean, I think it's funny how much less the comedians got than the golfers. Pretty significantly. The golfers are getting tens of millions. The comedians are getting like hundreds of thousands to a million, to sell their soul out. And I don't know.

That's just -- that's also funny to me. I'm like, they offer the golfers a lot more than you guys.

GLENN: You know, the thing with -- you said it earlier. The hypocrisy. They don't understand. It's like they have -- they've never listened to that one of these things doesn't belong song on Sesame street.

With Jimmy Kimmel.

Listen to what Shane Gillis said about Jimmy Kimmel's return, listen.

VOICE: It's good to see everybody stick up for him, for free speech.

And I'm just glad they were all there for me back in the --

VOICE: I know.

VOICE: You know, he's my brother, in being cancelled now. You know, he was cancelled for 48 hours? Mine was a couple of years, but no big deal. What's the deal?

VOICE: Hold tight. Probably a very nice, kind of modern house on the hill in LA. Just sit there.

VOICE: You didn't see him, he didn't have to lay on a mattress in Queens, with two snarky roommates? That were like, did you write that apology?

Yeah. I could tell. What the (bleep).

BRIDGET: Oh, Shane, I love him so much. I just love him.

GLENN: I do.

BRIDGET: Yeah. I mean, look, I also feel. And I said this -- when it feels like the world is ending.

And everything is coming undone, I understand people just grabbing as much cash as they can. It's -- and look, some of these comedians were not hugely famous. And have been struggling for a long time. And like Shane mentions, you're sleeping on a mattress on the floor, for many, many years, before you even make it in comedy, if you even make it.

And so I don't know.

Like, get that bag. But you will have to hear about this forever.

This is -- this is going to -- there are people who I -- I don't think for some of these guys, it did real damage to their brand or whatever.

Some more than others.

STU: Bridget, I'm of two minds on this.

Because I get the criticism.

What we've been talking about. The stuff that Chappelle said, I don't like it. And I think it's kind of silly.

I also saw a lot of the pushback from the high-minded, I'm better than all of you people comedians.

BRIDGET: Yeah. I know.

STU: I saw David Cross did some of this. There's a bunch of people who did this.

GLENN: You're a big fan of David Cross.

STU: Oh, yeah. I'm a Mr. Show Junky from back in the day.

It's just like, okay. I get it. But I don't understand why there is a double standard for entertainers, in this world.

Like, you know, all sorts of American companies sell products, in these countries.

You know, as you mentioned tons of investors do business in Saudi Arabia.

And Saudi Arabia is if we know, this is not the Nazi regime.

We're not at war with them.

They're supposedly in some ways allies of ours.

And do the people of Saudi Arabia not get to laugh. Do they not get to go to comedy shows?

They can't have a festival in their country. Where people come and enjoy comedians? We've seen before.

GLENN: No. No.

Unless they're on giant bowing planes. That seemingly every resident owns one.

STU: Right. But we've seen cultural outreach like this before have positive influences.

Glenn and I were talking about this before off the air. And I checked it, Glenn, after we talked about it.

Billy Joel went over and did a concert in the Soviet Union. This was before the collapse. It was four years before the Soviet Union collapse.

GLENN: Was it really?

STU: I'm not saying that it's probably for had more high-minded than getting your bag.

I get it Bridget. But isn't there a weird double standard when it comes to entertainers. That they're supposed to somehow, I don't know. Change the entire regime's mind-set before they take a weekend gig.

I don't understand it?

BRIDGET: I -- I -- like I said, I'm of many minds about this.

Because I think that some of this -- that's all absolutely true.

And I don't -- I don't blame really any of these people for taking the money and going. At the same time, you also have to understand that you are a useful idiot who is being used by a regime. That's -- but understand that!

It's fine.

I don't think it's the same -- here's why I don't think it's the same as doing business.

Because businesspeople are smart enough to be behind closed doors. And do all of this stuff.

In Park City. And secretive events. Where they all fly in on their private jets.

GLENN: Right. Right.

BRIDGET: And entertainers. Their face is their brand.

Their jokes are their brand. Same with the golfers. Ultimately, you're an athlete. But you're also an entertainer. And I think that's why they get held to this unfair double standard.

Because they're actually quite poor, compared to everyone else around them.

These are court jesters for the king.

Literally. Literally.

GLENN: Well, I will tell you, I will tell you, that the Jewish state, could have put on a comedy festival. And paid them the same amount of money. I'll bet you, almost all of those comedians would have turned it down.

Because it's Israel.

They would never -- they would never do it for -- for Donald Trump.

The government said, we will put on a comedy festival for the 250th anniversary. But you can't make fun of religion or the founding or the Donald Trump family.

They would never, ever. They would cry bloody murder on that. And the last thing is.

BRIDGET: I know.

GLENN: I'm really sick of everybody else taking our culture and then giving us theirs.

We seem to be taking all of the Saudi culture.

You know, we're -- go ahead.

Go to little Somalia.

I don't want that culture.

I don't want it.

You can keep that culture.

You want to borrow some of ours. That's great. That's it difference between Billy Joel.

He went over.

Because they were starving for our culture. They wanted to be more like this. They keep sending us all their crap. Saying, you take it. No. You keep your stuff.

I would like to keep ours. All right. More with Bridget in just a second.

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Ten seconds. Back to Bridget.
(music)
Bridget Phetasy, she is a Spectator contributing editor and columnist. Host of Walk-ins Welcome and The Dumpster Fire.

And just a dear, dear friend that I just absolutely love.

Bridget, what's happening in your life?

What is the thing that is -- that's grabbing your attention or, you know, you feel compelled to share?

VOICE: Man, the -- the rise -- there's so much.

I'm really concerned about this kind of rise of anti-Semitism, that's kind of what I'm -- I think most obsessed with these days, and it seems to be getting worse.

And I find it to be so crazy, that it's like, a supernatural force.

So that's grabbed my attention. The charlie Kirk thing was another -- I was laughing before I came on. Because I was thinking -- every time -- every time I talked to Glenn. I'm like a little bit more red pill.

And so I'm a little bit more to the right.

GLENN: I know.

BRIDGET: And I'm not sure the center is hold. This is another thing that I've been thinking a lot about. And want to write about.

GLENN: What does that mean?

BRIDGET: I just don't -- I haven't been able to articulate it, which is why I think I want to write about it.

But I don't get this -- relationships that I've had even in my family, that have managed to be okay through Trump, not Trump. Trump. You know, the past decade, really.

Are starting to fray. And people that I love, because I'm either pretty openly pro-Israel. Or because I'm also now more openly pro-Republican.

At least, yeah.

I think the center. I think the center right is the new right.

It's the new -- I think the center right is the new center.

I think it used to be the center left.

And I feel like it's shifted right.

But it does feel like two Americas -- the Charlie thing made that pretty evident to me.

That there seemed to be kind of the two Americas are really moving apart from one another. More and more.

And I'm seeing, kind of the way centrists are trying to frame these things. And they're just -- they're having a hard time, because it's not -- there's two versions of America, that people seem to be trying to grapple with.

And I find that building something with family, there's one that's more patriotic.

More family-oriented. More -- more religious-oriented.

And the left, I'm not exactly sure what they stand for, at the moment.

Ask it does seem like it's more destructive.

And I think more and more people are seeing that. And feeling that.

GLENN: Bridget, always good to talk to you. God bless you. Have a great weekend. Stay safe. Bridget Phetasy,

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