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Performer John Di Domenico Shares Stories From Las Vegas After the Shooting

October 02, 2017
Staff

WRITER

John Di Domenico, a performer known for his spot-on impersonations of President Donald Trump, was part of the entertainment community in Las Vegas when he lived there for six years. He shared his thoughts and emotions after the tragic shooting late Sunday night.

Several of his friends were attending the Jason Aldean concert where a gunman fired across the crowd to kill dozens of people and wound more than 500. At least 58 people have died in the biggest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Despite the fear and shock, his friends shared stories of self-sacrifice that they witnessed in front of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

“People really dig down and figure out how to focus and help others,” Di Domenico said.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

DOC: It's Doc Thompson in for Glenn Beck. I'm regularly heard on TheBlaze Radio Network. TheBlazeRadio.com. You want to find out more, follow me on Twitter. It's @DocThompsonShow. My buddy and cohort from The Morning Blaze, Kris Cruz, as well as Kal is spinning the dials radio-style for us as well.

Last night, just hours ago, on the strip in Las Vegas, a gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel fired countless rounds into the crowd below, including a concert across the street. As it stands, 50 people confirmed dead. That number is likely to grow. Over 400 injured.

Just to give you the quick update. One suspect killed himself as police broke into his room. 64-year-old Stephen Paddock is his name. (cuts out)

DOC: When a man blew up the school there. Just to put it all into perspective. Prior to today, the deadliest mass shooting in America was the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Prior to that, it was Sandy Hook.

Our friend John Di Domenico is a Trump supporter and entertainer who lives in Las Vegas. We've had him on this program and our program on the past, and has a little perspective living just, ten, 15 minutes from the Mandalay Bay.

Hey, John, how are you?

JOHN: Hey, Doc, how are you doing, man?

DOC: This is so bad, John. This is so horrible.

JOHN: This is a very small town. I moved here six years ago and was very lucky to be part of the entertainment community here. I had multiple friends at the festival. And two women, particularly. One is a singer. One is a country singer. She -- I saw that she was there. I was checking Instagram, Facebook. They were having a great time. Posting photos.

And then right before I went to bed, I checked again, and they said they were being shot at.

DOC: Wow.

JOHN: And the one woman -- I don't want to give any names for privacy. But the one -- (cuts out) was great. They're just shattered. They're horrified. This is their hometown. They went there to have a great time. And they were almost killed. So it -- it's just a horrible, horrible situation.

DOC: Well, John, let's look at a different perspective there. You're right. This is horrible. And obviously, we never want this to happen. We certainly don't want it to happen again. But let's look at some of the, albeit, small by comparison, but positive stories. The stories of self-sacrifice like that, people pushing others out of the way.

JOHN: Yeah.

DOC: Sacrificing themselves. Covering people. And ended up taking a bullet and dying themselves.

JOHN: Right.

And I just want to read you the line, what she wrote. A man that we did not know laid on top of us and covered Amy's head. He was shot from behind. The lady right next to us was grazed in the neck. So, yeah, there was a lot of heroism. We have amazing first responders here, incredible police. I also had -- you know, like I said, I had multiple friends there. And beyond the fact that it's hard to believe, yeah, a lot of people rose to the occasion. Were able to kind of be clear, move people out, get people behind the stage, get people to safety. So, yeah, there's -- in these -- in these moments, in these tragedies, people really speak out and figure out a way to focus and help others.

DOC: John, tell me about this venue. When I lived in Vegas, it was in the early '90s. The Mandalay Bay wasn't even there. It was the Hacienda back in the day. And then the strip ended up developing quite a bit after I left.

Tell me about this outdoor venue. It's diagonally across the street?

JOHN: Yeah. So Mandalay Bay is at the southern end of the Las Vegas (cuts out).

DOC: That space, it's many acres.

KRIS: Yeah, it's huge.

JOHN: It's huge.

KRIS: Like John said, you can fit the iHeartRadio concert. A lot of people do different concerts. And I actually didn't know that, that the American ninja warrior was filmed. There. That makes sense.

DOC: That makes sense.

JOHN: They fill tons of stages. And you can move around. And they have a lot of festivals. And card games. And this -- this man obviously knew this was coming to town. And he obviously asked for a room on the high floor. And then did what -- he did the unthinkable. And has shattered many, many people's lives. Killed many people.

DOC: We figured this morning, we speculated, and it made a lot of sense that he likely did this to time it when the concert was there, because he's going to have thousands and thousands of people that are a target. And that's how it seems this morning.

JOHN: Yeah.

DOC: It's interesting, John. We're looking at the pictures coming out of the Mandalay Bay this morning. And there are two windows, on the hotel, that are broken out. But it's interesting because those windows are dozens of those little squares. I don't know if that represents --

CALLER: They're full-sized windows. They're full-sized windows.

DOC: So would one of those be a room?

JOHN: Three of them would probably be a room.

DOC: So we're seeing them at kind of a point.

KRIS: It's like an X.

DOC: Yeah, it's like -- yeah, it's like that. Is on kind of like one of the points. And then eight to ten windows, kind of down the side, is another broken out window. We don't know why yet. Interesting.

JOHN: Uh-huh. Yeah, I have -- I have no idea about -- about that. I -- and this is, you know -- it would seem to me that there were -- there was another shooter. I don't want to --

DOC: Yeah, the police have not confirmed that. It could have been him. It could have been somebody else breaking out the window. It could have been anything.

JOHN: Also there's echo there. Terrible. But he was very calculating on how he did this and timed it and his angle and all those things.

DOC: So, John, I was thinking about it this morning and talking about priorities and about how some reason we don't prioritize what's important. And a lot of us don't in our own lives. It's easy to get pissed off at somebody in front of you in traffic or whatever. And you go, you know what, at least I wasn't shot up in Vegas, right? That's how it was. (cuts out)

DOC: -- melting down. I mean, this is ridiculous.

JOHN: It is. And, you know, we're -- you know, we love this -- we've all loved this country. And we're smart people. And a lot of us are from -- a lot of people who are at each other are from a lot of the same places. That have the same -- actually the same core values. When stuff like this -- you make a great point. When stuff like this happens, those other things are so trivial and actually would be so easy to come to an agreement on or get around in some way. You know what I mean? Let's work this out.

We love this country. It's an amazing place. We're living in -- you know, all -- this wonderful time as far as technology, all these things that are happening.

But to see something like this and then we're -- like you just said, a few days ago --

DOC: So stupid. You know.

JOHN: Yeah. Our lives are so short and so precious, and we're wasting time.

DOC: Screwing around with that stuff.

JOHN: Yeah.

DOC: See, John, there's no bringing back the 50 people that were killed. But still, we could come to some reasonable conversation -- or, reasonable understanding about statues, right? There's nobody dead there, right? Columbus Day being offensive to some people. Okay. We can have that discussion because nobody is dead.

JOHN: Right. Yeah. We're getting -- we're getting tied up in wasting our lives, actually.

DOC: All right.

JOHN: It's time to refocus and get back to things that are important, like human life.

DOC: Exactly. Right. That may matter, okay.

JOHN: Yeah.

DOC: John Di Domenico, buddy. Thanks so much for joining us. Okay?

JOHN: Thank you, guys. And thanks for all your prayers for Las Vegas. This is a great town. And we're going to come back. This is a great place to come and have a great time. And the police are amazing. And the first responders, like I said.

DOC: All right, John. Thanks, buddy. What I'll do is I'll tweet out a link to John's account as well so you can find him. He's a good guy.

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

PHILL MAGAKOE / Contributor | Getty Images

Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck resurrects the 9-12 Project to support Charlie Kirk's family

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.