GLENN: Brad Thor, who is one of my favorite authors has a new book out called Use of Force. If you haven't read it yet, you really need to. But I have a question about it all the way through. And if I'm right, he has just saluted one of the greatest men that the world does not know even exists. And I want to talk to him a little bit about that.

Also, if you are anywhere in -- well, probably in the United States. I mean, it's happening in New York. But it's really bad here in Texas now. We're trying to get gas today. You might see the gas prices have gone up 30, 50 cents a gallon. This in Texas is taking root as gas stations are just closing down. They have no gas. Four gas stations on the way in. My son-in-law just wrote to me, and he said, "Dad, every gas station I go to, the pumps are all closed." That's because 90 percent of all gas comes out of the Houston area for this part of the country.

We talked to Ken Paxton, our attorney general, he said those lines of -- lines of supply lines are being rerouted. But it could make for a rough weekend.

More importantly, Brad is here. And I want to talk to him about, what does this mean for Russia and the instability of the world?

We go there with Brad Thor, right now.

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GLENN: Before we get to Brad Thor, let me just give you an update: Yesterday, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for donating to this, from all over the country and indeed the world. We had some guy in Jerusalem say, I can't make an international donation. I don't know why we can't do that. But somebody was trying to help the victims in Houston from Israel yesterday.

And we so appreciate everybody who is trying to help. And if you're using our portal through Mercury One, every dollar that is raised for these causes goes to the cause. Every single dollar.

We're working with six disaster-related partners right now. These are the main ones we're working for. I want to give you an update: Operation Barbecue, Houston. They serve 12,000 meals to those affected. And first responders, just yesterday. Sixty volunteers showed up to help them do it.

By tomorrow, they're going to be serving 25,000 hot barbecue complete meals. They're supporting the US Coast Guard. We have team Rubicon out. A couple more updates.

The boats are coming in. And they're present today in Beaumont or will be tonight, I think. They plan to be part of the search-and-rescue efforts until they're no longer needed. Until the water goes down. Team Rubicon is continuing the operations with the cleanup. Also, City Impact -- these are church partners that we have from Corpus Christi, you know, all the way up to Baytown.

We have deployed now, I don't even know, ten tractor-trailers with water and everything else. They are also delivering a huge donation of survival food to victims who have lost their house from My Patriot Supply.

They are also -- My Patriot Supply is so amazing. They're also delivering 2500 water filtration systems. This -- and I'm not kidding you. We've done it. I haven't done it. But we did it when we were in New York. When they first did this water filtration system, they said it's the best in the world. They said, look. Come out with us. We were in New York. Come to this muddy pothole in New York Street. In the streets. Would you ever -- I don't even want to touch that water. It will kill you.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Drank water from that pothole. And they're still walking today.

PAT: After it had been filtered through their system, of course.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: They didn't just do it for fun.

PAT: It was pure.

GLENN: Yeah, it's amazing.

STU: That's the Alexapure Pro. Right?

GLENN: Yes. And 2500 of those are being delivered. Somebody Cares: Also, these are people that are helping in cleanup the mud out, putting tarps on the roof, et cetera, et cetera.

There's Gleaning For the World: They're doing the baby products and the water. Also, Provisions Project. This one is really important. These guys are funding -- we're providing the funding so they can provide the fuel for the search-and-rescue vehicles, the equipment and the meals. And they are in not only Houston, but they're also up in Louisiana, one of the parishes up there that was hard hit by Katrina. Thank you for donating. Mercuryone.org.

We go to Brad Thor now, who has written use of force. And, Brad, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the hurricane and the unforeseen consequences at least by the people in the media that will never look into these things. With the price of gas going up because 20 percent of our fuel is not being refined now -- the 20 percent of that, means that we're not buying oil, which could make the price of oil globally crash. Which, if that happens, that makes Vladimir Putin a caged animal.

Are you seeing any ramifications from Harvey that I might be missing?

BRAD: Well, that's probably one of the biggest ones you've got to be careful with there. Because that is where Putin does make a good amount of his money, is with -- with that.

You know, I have to tell you, I'm concerned, and it is something I'm watching. But part of a larger play which involves basically no sanctions for him taking the peninsula in Crimea. I'm very concerned for some of those Baltic states, particularly as we go into the winter. And will he cut off fuel supplies, natural gas, as he does to Ukraine? But will he make a move on Lithuania or Estonia or something like that, with Trump so wobbly on the Article V of the NATO treaty?

If Putin is going to try to expand, this fall, this winter is when he's got to do it. And that's what I'm really concerned about.

GLENN: So am I alone in feeling that this -- we're approaching the most dangerous fall that I think we've approached since possibly 2001. Just something doesn't feel right. This is a dangerous fall. Feels like the season has changed. Do you feel that at all?

BRAD: It's almost like -- we joke around about Star Wars a lot on the show. But it's almost like you sense that disturbance in the force.

GLENN: Exactly right.

BRAD: Particularly with the North Koreans kicking things up, with launching that missile.

And, by the way, one of the things the media got wrong about the recent launch that they did over Japan was that the North Koreans were very tactical about this.

They sent the missile up so high, over that Japanese Island, that technically, they didn't violate their airspace or their sovereignty. And where it came down was nowhere near Guam. So they're being very tactical. But make no mistake, it was a big middle finger, held up towards Donald Trump.

GLENN: You know what, they can -- they can hold up middle fingers to Donald Trump and to us all they want. Let's do the right thing and not get our egos involved. This is a dangerous situation.

BRAD: Well, and they're going to keep going and doing it. Because winter is coming.

It's like Game of Thrones: They're going to need heating oil, and they're going to need food. Those are two of the biggest things they are going to be lobbying for. So you're going to see things get more dangerous.

But it only takes one mistake in these provocations to lead us to war. And the big thing that I'm looking for -- and it will be a big kind of trigger point for me is if the United States government gives an order to evacuate military families and nonessential diplomatic personnel from South Korea and Japan. If that happens, we know it's game on. And that's what I'm watching for in that part of the world.

STU: Brad, just to let you know, for the rest of the interview. You've already done Star Wars and Game of Thrones. I will need a pop culture reference for each point that you make.

GLENN: Now, back to the interview.

(laughter)

So -- so try to find one here: Afghanistan, two weeks ago seems like 100 years ago.

PAT: Rambo. It's like Rambo.

(laughter)

GLENN: Seems like 100 years ago that the president said, "Hey, by the way, we're ramping up troops," something he was dead set against, which really put a chill down my spine. Because it reminded me of what George Bush said to me in the Oval, which was, don't worry about it. Whoever gets into the Oval Office, when they sit behind this desk, they're going to do exactly what I've done because they'll see that the president really has no more options left.

BRAD: Yeah. That is totally correct. And I know a lot of people have been upset with Erik Prince putting forward this idea that maybe we ought to have a greater private military corporation presence in Afghanistan.

I will tell you this: I'm good friends with a gay named Sean Parnell. And Sean Parnell wrote a fabulous book about his experience in Afghanistan called Outlaw Platoon. I highly recommend it.

And Parnell had -- his team, they had one of the longest combat deployments on the war on terror: 485 days in Afghanistan. They actually said that as painful as it was being away from home, that that length of time was excellent because the villagers got to know them, they knew the terrain better than the bad guys. They knew where the bad guys were.

So this idea that putting people in for longer stretches, who can get to know the villagers, can work on some of that counterinsurgency stuff, may not be a bad thing. I'm a big believer. And I love the Defense Department, but they still buy 600-dollar hammers.

I'm also in favor of considering options that allow the private sector, when held accountable, to try to do things better, cheaper, faster, stronger than the United States government. So I think it's worth looking at.

GLENN: Have you read the news -- this is not covered by anyone going to Iran.

The head of the Supreme Council came out about four weeks ago and said to the people, "I just want you to know that the Twelfth Imam is here. He is among us. And he is walking among us now. And he will come forth soon."

Is that disturbing to you at all?

BRAD: It is disturbing when you know as much about this as you do and your audience does. I mean, Ahmadinejad had all of the avenues in Tehran widened so that they could celebrate and do a big parade for the Mahdi when he came. So this is a disturbing thing. If they are ramping up that apocalyptic rhetoric.

Why else would they be doing it? Why would they be ginning their people up, unless they needed a faith-based reason to prepare them to go through some real, serious bad stuff, and that's what this sounds like.

GLENN: Last on the world events -- we're seeing people ginning things up in North Korea. They're building the giant bridge. I don't know if you saw the bridge that Russia is building now in Crimea. It's like 12 miles long. First land bridge to that area from Russia.

People are starting to really lay claim to things. And here in the United States, we have Antifa and the Nazis. And, you know, the -- the -- the right is being told, you've got to stand against the communists. And kind of just, you know, look the other way about the Nazis. And the left is saying, you've got to fight against the Nazis. And many on the left are saying, "And you've got to join the communists." What do you make of this?

BRAD: Well, so it's funny I was actually reading back on some of your old articles on GlennBeck.com.

GLENN: You have no life. You really have no life.

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BRAD: You know, it's like Groundhog Day. I read the same thing over and over and over.

GLENN: Okay. Good.

BRAD: You actually, Glenn, were saying in the spring of 2016, that you thought that summer was going to be like '68. And I think you were a year too early. I think we are seeing it now. I think the stuff that you thought was coming in '16 actually hit this summer with Charlottesville. And I think it's only going to get worse.

GLENN: Yeah.

BRAD: But -- but I am heartened by the fact that even the Washington Post, even though they kind of softened at the end of the op-ed is willing to go after Antifa.

If you've got to put a mask on to show up and practice your free speech rights, you're doing it wrong, if you've got to wear the mask. So these are bad guys. The Nazis are bad people. I hate the Nazis. I hate the alt-right.

But we're in a very dangerous time in our country, where we're not supporting free speech. We're telling people, you've got to pick sides. And, you know what, I stand on the side of liberty. And I want the truth. And I want people to be able to discuss differences of opinions and ideas, without worrying about getting their heads caved in.

GLENN: Yeah, this is really -- this is where your -- here's where the rubber meets the road: Charlie Hebdo, I don't know if you've seen this, the latest cover of Charlie Hebdo, which, you know, we rallied for and stood with them.

I am Charlie. When they were being told to sit down and shut up in the strongest of terms by the Islamic extremist community, we stood up for them. The world did. We have to do it today. But here's where it's really hard: The cover of Charlie Hebdo is now a cartoon of Americans giving a Nazi salute with just their arms coming out of the water. And the headline says, what, Pat?

PAT: God exists. He drowned all the neo-Nazis in Texas. Something to that effect.

GLENN: Right. So the original reaction -- the immediate reaction to people is, "Oh, my gosh. How dare them. That's just wrong."

Yeah, it is wrong. I hate that. But they have a right to say it. We just have a right not to buy it and not to spread it.

BRAD: Well, and this is what I've always said, when I had the Islamic extremists that didn't like my thrillers: I've got a First Amendment right to write whatever I want, and it's equaled by a right just as powerful, the right not to read it.

So, listen, this is bad when America is viewed this way, internationally. And I think, had Trump handled Charlottesville better, that this wouldn't have happened.

But this is where we are now. What you hear from Donald Trump on Twitter and at the rallies is the real Trump.

When he's off-prompter, that's the real Trump. He is not very adept. He's not good at handling this stuff. And his instincts are not good. He's a pugnacious reality TV star, that that does not lend itself towards effective leadership.

And so you end up seeing this craziness. Listen, it's the French, right? We'll go back to having freedom fries instead of french fries, if they want to pull this BS when it comes down to Texas.

But anybody who is trying to score political points or to do fundraising like that insane woman Linda Sarsour, on the backs of the tragedy happening in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, you're a bad person. You're a bad person if you cannot put your politics aside and see that there are black, brown, white, yellow, red, blue, polka dot people that are suffering. Politics don't matter right now. This is about human beings, and we need to do all we can to be helping those folks down in Texas, instead of trying to score cheap political points.

GLENN: There it is. You let the man talk, and he always hangs himself. Did you hear that? Now he's claiming there are polka dot people. You heard it here. You heard it here from Brad Thor.

STU: Similar to Episode 7, Season 2, of Caroline In the City, which I think we're all thinking about.

GLENN: Back in a second with Brad Thor. One more question for him. And it regards a hero in your book that I've been reading your book. And I'm like, I got to ask Brad Thor this.

And I think I'm right. And if I am, you need to tell -- you need to -- you need to tell the story, when we come back.

GLENN: Brad Thor, the odds are probably slim, but I have to know. I'm reading your book. One of the heroes named Haney. Is that the way you're pronouncing it in the book?

BRAD: Correct, yep.

GLENN: Did you name it after a guy who I don't think anybody in the country really knows who he is and I believe one of the greatest heroes of our generation, Phil Haney?

BRAD: So -- no.

GLENN: It's not?

BRAD: It's not -- it's not. There's actually a real-life Mike Haney, and that's who it's named after.

The real-life hero in the book is the (inaudible) boss, Reid Carlton. I dedicated Use of Force to Dewey Clarridge, who was a huge CIA spymaster, fantastic American. And the Reid Carlton character, nobody knew it until this book came out, was always based upon Dewey Clarridge, who set up the counterterrorism center at the CIA. But I know who Phil Haney is. Good guy.

GLENN: Unbelievable man. Unbelievable man. Maybe we'll get into it next week and just on this program explain who Phil Haney is. But he's a guy that I think every American should know. He's remarkable. And that's what I love about your books, and that's why I thought it might be Phil. But I love -- I love your books because I learn so much from them. You don't right fiction, you write faction. And I love that.

Brad, thank you so much. We'll talk to you again, my friend.

BRAD: Thank you, my friend.