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Yes, Free Speech Protects Steve Bannon's Right to Criticize Trump

What’s going on?

It’s Bannon vs. the Trumps, Part II. President Donald Trump’s lawyers have sent former White House adviser Steve Bannon a cease and desist letter claiming that Bannon is violating a “confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement” by communicating with an author for a new book about the early days of the Trump administration.

I’m still catching up …

On Wednesday, New York Magazine published an excerpt of a book that promises to be a bombshell portrayal of Trump campaign officials and the transition team: Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

Trump responded by unloading on Bannon, who is quoted in the book with less-than-flattering comments about the Trump family.

“When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said in a statement. “Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look.”

Does Trump have a case?

Not really. No one can be told to “cease and desist” saying bad things about the government, so free speech should protect anyone’s right to criticize the U.S president.

Pat and Jeffy talked about the latest update to the Bannon saga on today’s show, pointing out that the First Amendment leaves Trump and his lawyers without a case.

“There’s no way you can stop Steve Bannon from saying things that Donald Trump and his family don’t like,” Pat said.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

PAT: It's been a fascinating 24 hours or so since the Steve Bannon discussion began.

And the Steve Bannon versus Donald Trump battle began. Lawyers on behalf of President Trump sent a letter yesterday -- or, last night to former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon to demanding he refrain from making disparaging comments against the president and his family.

Can a president demand that people don't make disparaging comments against him? Is that even a thing in the United States?

JEFFY: It is now.

PAT: I hope it's not. Wait a minute. You can't tell me not to say bad things about the president. I have to do it within certain, I can't threaten obviously.

JEFFY: Right.

PAT: But you can say virtually anything you want, other than that. How do you -- how do you send a cease and desist against saying mean things about the president? You can't do that.

JEFFY: We'll see, won't we?

PAT: I guess we will.

JEFFY: We will see. Because you're right. No question about it. However, we'll see what happens.

PAT: We'll see.

JEFFY: Obviously the --

PAT: My guess, it's still America in that way.

JEFFY: Yeah, there's no way that can stand. There's no way that can stand.

PAT: There's no way you can stop Steve Bannon from saying things Donald Trump and his family don't like.

JEFFY: Yeah, and, look, he's already backed up a little bit last night, where he seems like he wants the kids more than he wants Donald.

PAT: Yeah, he actually -- I guess it's his show -- is it his show?

JEFFY: It's Breitbart News on Sirius XM.

PAT: Okay. So on Sirius XM, he was actually saying good things about the president.

JEFFY: Yeah. So, you know, okay.

PAT: He seems to -- yes, you're right. His target here is Donald Jr. For whatever reason.

JEFFY: Hey, and good luck. That's a fine line to walk with President Trump, with dad.

PAT: You can't walk that line. You can't. You go after -- I think going after his children is just like going after him. And I don't blame him for that. I would be the same way. So Donald Trump has obviously not taken kindly to this Steve Bannon news. To him speaking --

JEFFY: I know.

PAT: -- Michael Wolff in this new book. It will be interesting when this thing actually comes out. Is it Tuesday? Next Tuesday? That's usually when they come out.

JEFFY: You bring someone into your house. And then not long after that they turn around and start throwing knives at you. He's got a little -- got a little point to be pissed.

PAT: Yeah, it would be upsetting. It would be upsetting.

But Trump has always kind of dismissed Bannon ever since he left. Ever since he was out of the picture, out of the administration, away from the campaign, Trump has always kind of said, yeah, he came in afterwards. He had nothing to do with my winning. I had already won. And he had very little to say about anything. It's a different story when you listen to Steve Bannon.

JEFFY: Yes, it is.

PAT: And so there's been an interesting -- yesterday, on my show, Pat Gray Unleashed, which immediately follows this on TheBlaze TV and Radio Network, I said I expected a lot of tweets from the president about Steve Bannon last night. We gave the over under at five, and I said it would be over. It would be over five tweets. He hasn't tweeted at all, I don't think. Don Jr. has. And I think his count is five or six.

JEFFY: No.

Yeah. Don is like, look, he's squandered the privilege of working with the White House and serving the country. Turned it into a backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying, undermining the president. He's not a strategist. He's an opportunist.

PAT: Yeah. That seems to be their thing, that he's not a strategist, he's an opportunist. And he didn't help them at all. He was just looking for an opportunity for power.

JEFFY: And that would bode well with President Trump saying he came in after I already won.

PAT: Yes. It fits -- it fits that narrative.

JEFFY: Yes, it does.

PAT: And fits it well.

Now, there's an interview from one of Donald Trump's advisers, Sam Nunberg, who is a former Trump adviser. And he was on with S.E. Cupp. And he had some interesting things to say about this upcoming book about Wolff, in that he mainly admits it's true.

VOICE: So you're quoted a number of times. And at one point, Wolff says, Trump told you that he can be, quote, the most famous man in the world.

The quote reads: As the campaign came to an end, Trump himself was saying, when his ultimate goal after all had never been to win, I can now be the most famous man in the world. He apparently told you.

Is that true? Did he tell you that he didn't plan to win?

SAM: No, it's not. What I was telling Michael was a story that in 2014, I was flying down with then Mr. Trump to New Orleans for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, and we were discussing his run. And he had already told me he was planning on running. And what I said to him was, 100 years from now, nobody is going to remember if you don't win the primary or the presidency, who ran.

Frankly, nobody was going to remember who was the president. But I'll tell you what, 100 years from now, when they're covering you, they're not going to be able to write that you didn't run. They're not going to be able to say you were a perennial tease. And the one thing I can guarantee you is that you will come out well out of this. I can't guarantee you, you'll win the nomination. That's very hard to do.

VOICE: So did he say, I'm going to be famous and I don't need to win any -- was any of that true?

SAM: What he did say -- what the president did say was, I won't come out badly out of this. I won't come out badly. He kept repeating that to me. And no matter, we'll have fun.

PAT: Isn't it?

SAM: And what I find with Michael -- and with the quotes -- and I sat with Michael at least three times from my recollection. Is Michael takes the quotes, and he puts them as direct quotes.

But they're really paraphrasing what I said, and how I explained it.

With that said, I'm not criticizing Michael at all.

VOICE: Oh, okay. Well, another excerpt --

PAT: Kind of wants to have it both ways, doesn't he?

JEFFY: Yes.

VOICE: -- when you were trying to explain the Constitution to then candidate Trump, Wolff writes, quote, early in the campaign, Sam Nunberg was sent to explain the Constitution to the candidate. Quote, I got as far as the Fourth Amendment, Nunberg recalled, before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his head. Did that happen?

SAM: Well, not exactly. What happened was it was a week and a half before the first debate. And what I was worried about was that somebody would attack then Mr. Trump and ask him some gotcha question. What is your favorite case about the Supreme Court? Who is your favorite justice? Something like that. Just to try to make him look as if he doesn't know policy. One thing Trump always told me and I was wrong about, was that the campaign would be about big issues, be about big communication, be about explaining simple common sense solutions.

So when I brought this page -- and I made it like a crib sheet. Maybe a page and a half, we got to around the Fourth or Fifth Amendment, to which he then just started saying, "Look, I have to do work." And at the time he was running for president and still running his organization. So once again, Michael kind of takes it out of context, but, yes, something similar to that happened.

JEFFY: I got work to do.

PAT: But, yes, something similar to that happened.

Okay. So something similar. Sort of what he's saying here, it seems to me, is that the spirit of what is in the book is true, not necessarily the word-for-word quotes he seems to say.

But she continues to push him a little but further.

VOICE: You read the excerpts. You were there. On the whole, how accurate a picture do you think they paint of the Trump campaign?

SAM: Well, I think it was pretty accurate from what I understand towards the end. Remember, I wasn't involved with the campaign at all after September of 2015. I don't think they expected to win, so when they start with Kellyanne, you know, just going around and blaming Reince earlier in the day -- that certainly happened. She did that on Twitter.

And I think that the president himself, one thing that I had heard from numerous people, not only Steve, but others in the campaign, for instance, that story about Mnuchin coming on the plane and having to get the wire transfer immediately when then candidate Trump promised to give the 10 million. That is 100 percent accurate. I don't think he thought he was going to win, until the end, when he told a confidant of his, Roger Stone, he said, look, it's trending my way. And it was. So his last four days, five days, I think he saw something there. And if you remember, he outcampaigned her. And he concentrated on certain states, and he pulled those states out. States that --

VOICE: Oh, yeah. I was there. I know how it happened. I'm just wondering if you're willing to say that this book is like rated. True? Half true? Mostly true? Some true?

SAM: I would rate it half true on the specific examples.

VOICE: Okay.

SAM: Mostly true overall that I don't think --

VOICE: Like on the gist?

SAM: On the gist of it, I would say mostly true. I do not think the president the he was going to win the campaign.

PAT: Interesting.

JEFFY: Wow.

PAT: And that seems to be kind of a common theme from people in and around the campaign was that he never thought he was going to win. And some have claimed that he didn't want to.

JEFFY: Yeah, he was just there for the ride.

PAT: Pretty interesting. As far as specific quotes that are in this book, they're not entirely accurate. But the gist of what he's saying, the spirit of the message, he says, is -- is mostly true.

JEFFY: Okay.

PAT: That's going to be interesting to see. When the book comes out and you get the full context of what they're saying about it, we'll see. We'll see what happens.

RADIO

The Glenn Beck Program Honors Charlie Kirk

Join Glenn as he goes live to honor the memory of Charlie Kirk. A time of prayer, grieving, and remembrance for a husband, father, and patriot.

RADIO

Glenn joins Megyn Kelly live to discuss Charlie Kirk shooting

Covering the breaking news of Charlie Kirk at shot at Turning Point USA event.

RADIO

Please pray for my friend Charlie.

Please pray for Charlie Kirk.

Please pray for our Republic.

RADIO

Exclusive new poll reveals why Gen Z wants to BURN the system down

A shocking number of young Americans support BOTH President Trump and democratic socialism, a new poll has found, and they're willing to make major changes to the American system to get what they feel they deserve. Justin Haskins, who conducted the poll with Rasmussen, joins Glenn Beck to break down the unexpected findings…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Justin Haskins. He's the president of our republic. StoppingSocialism.com. He's editor-in-chief. And also the coauthor of several books, with me. Welcome to the program, Justin.

How are you?

JUSTIN: I'm doing well, Glenn. How are you?

STU: Well, I was well, until you contacted me on vacation, and sent me this disturbing poll.

I am in bed at night.

And I'm reading this. I'm like, oh, dear.

What? My wife is like, I told you to not check this email. I'm like, I didn't know Justin was going to write to me.

Justin, tell me, first of all, before we get into it, how secure is the sample size on this poll?

JUSTIN: It's a very good sample size. 1200 people nationally.

Only 18 to 39-year-olds. And we did that deliberately, so that we could get a sample size large enough so we could pull out valid responses, just from younger people.

So the whole purpose of this poll was to find out what younger people, 18 to 39 think, voters only. And people who say that they're likely to vote. So we're not talking about just people out in the public. We're not talking about registered voters.

We're talking about people who are registered to vote. And say they're likely to vote.

GLENN: So let's go over some of the things that you have already released to the press.

And that is, in the survey, 18 to 39-year-olds, likely voters.

The Trump approval rating is a lot higher than you thought it would be. Right?

JUSTIN: Yeah. Yeah. Forty-eight percent positive approval rating of Donald Trump, which for young people, is very high.

So that's -- that's the good news.

That's the only good news we're going to talk about.

GLENN: We might have to come back to that first question several times.

Do you believe the United States is a fundamentally good, evil, or morally mixed country?

JUSTIN: Yep. This one is not too bad.

It's not great. But fundamentally good was 28 percent.

Which is low. But mixed was 50 percent.

And fundamentally evil was 17 percent.

And I think mixed at 50 percent is not an unreasonable, crazy response.

I -- I can see why all sorts of people might choose that.

So I don't think there's anything terrible here. It depends on what you mean by mixed. Fundamentally good at 28 percent. It's a little low. Fundamentally evil at 17 percent, it's a little disturbing. But it's not -- it's not insane. The insane stuff comes a little bit later.

GLENN: Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Major industries talk about the crazy stuff coming later, here it is.

Major industries like health care, energy, and big tech should be nationalized and give more control and equity to the people.

JUSTIN: Yeah. This was -- this was -- this one floored me. If I look at strongly agree. Somewhat agree for that statement you just read. It's over 70 percent of young people, including -- including the vast majority of Republicans. Young Republicans. And people who identify as conservatives.

It was pretty similar, in fact, how young people responded compared to liberals and independents.

And Democrats.

They all pretty much agreed that, yes. The government. The federal government should be nationalizing whole industries to make things more equitable for people.

GLENN: As the guy who is the chief -- editor-in-chief of stopping socialism. What's the problem with nationalizing energy, and health care?

JUSTIN: Well --

GLENN: What happens, typically.

JUSTIN: Well, usually, there's blood in the streets, when you do too much of that.

You know, socialism, communism have been spectacularly horrible, throughout the course of human history. Across every society, culture, religion.

It doesn't matter when or what kind of technological advancements you have. The more you collect vies a society. The more authoritarian that society gets. The less you have individual freedom. And the worst the economy usually is for regular people. So it's been a catastrophe across-the-board. Everyone listening to this audience, probably knows that.

And so the idea that you would have three-quarters of young voters. So remember, these people will be the primary voters in ten to 20 years.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JUSTIN: Saying, yeah. We should be nationalizing whole industries. Whole industries, is so disturbing.

And I don't think that conservatives are -- understand how deeply rooted some of these ideas are with younger people.

GLENN: No. No.

And I will tell you, I think some conservatives are walking a very dangerous line. And, you know, coming up with a little mix of everything.

And -- and I think we have to be very careful on -- on what is being said. And who are WHO our friends and allies are.

By the way, that number again is 39 percent strongly agree.

37 percent somewhat agree.

Somewhat disagree, 12 percent. Strongly disagree, 5 percent.

That is disastrous. Now, try this one on. These are the ones that have been -- we have new ones.

These are just a few of the ones that were released late last week. The next presidential election is in 2028. Would you like to see a democratic socialist candidate win the 2028 presidential election?

JUSTIN: Yep, 53 percent said yes.

Fifty-three percent of all voters said yes. And the most shocking thing, was that 35 percent of those who we poll, who said they voted for Donald Trump, in 2024, said that that they want to see a socialist win in 2028. And so about a third of Republicans, 35 percent of Trump voters, 43 percent of people who call themselves conservatives, so even on the right, among younger people. There is a large group that want a socialist president, in 2028.

GLENN: And the reason -- the reason is, it -- it tied into the next few questions. Okay.

So here's question five. Among the following options, which best describes your biggest reason, you would like to see a democratic socialist candidate. Thirty-one percent said housing costs are too high. Twelve percent, taxes are too low for corporations. Eleven percent, taxes are too low for wealthy have I seen.

Eight percent want single payer health care systems. Seventeen say the economy unfairly benefits older, wealthier Americans.

Fifteen percent say the economy unfairly benefits larger corporations. 5 percent, some other reason.

And 2 percent, unsure. Now, let's get into the new polls that were breaking today.

Question six.

How would you describe your current financial situation?

JUSTIN: Yeah. Only 24 percent said that they're doing well. Thirty-four -- 38 percent said getting by. Struggling 29 percent. Seven percent said in crisis. So if you add up just getting by, struggling, and in crisis, that's 74 percent said that they're just barely getting by, at best.

And I think that explains a lot of the other negative responses we've seen so far.

GLENN: That's not good.

JUSTIN: In this poll. And the ones that are going to come pretty soon here.

GLENN: Seven. Which best describes your personal life situation?

You are thriving, you're doing well with a few ups and downs. You feel stuck and uncertain. You feel lonely, disconnected, or emotionally drained. You're in a crisis and feel most negative about your personal life.

JUSTIN: Yeah. Yeah. About a third said that they feel stuck or uncertain. Lonely. Or that they're in a crisis.

That's a third of young people. Say that.

I mean, that's -- that's not great. Only 19 percent said thriving.

46 percent said, they have ups and downs. Which I think is not. Too shocking.

But the idea that there's a third of American voters out there, who feel like, they can't buy a home. And they feel like they are lonely. And that they're in crisis. And that life is not just going well at all for them.

Again, I think that's -- that's driving a lot of the support for socialism. When you have 53 percent of these people saying, yeah. I want a socialist president in 2028.

GLENN: So socialism is not the answer. It is the symptom. It is the symptom of what people are feeling right now.

And they -- they don't know any other -- they don't -- nobody is presenting them with anything other than, you know, Republican/Democrat bullcrap. And socialists are coming at it from a completely nigh angle. Or so the youth think it's the oldest and most failed system of all time.

But they're seeing this as a solution that is different than what the party -- the Republican/Democrats are offering. Even though the Democrats are offering the socialism thing.

Number eight, do you think the American economy is unfair to young people?

Sixty-two percent say yes.

JUSTIN: Yeah, and 27 percent said no.
And I think that this really gets at the heart of what the issue is here.

When you look at the reasons. When you look at the detailed things of the poll.

What -- to try to find out if there's an association between some kind of demographic or response question about people's lives and their support for socialism, to see if there's a correlation there between something that is happening. And whether someone is a socialist or not.

One of the top correlations, connections, is, if people think the economy is unfair.

And if they're having trouble buying a home. Or they don't think they can buy a home. Or that's one of their reasons for supporting socialism.

So, in other words, there's this fairness issue. And it's not even about inequality.

It's not about, well, they have too much -- well, if they feel like the -- to use a Trump term. Rigged.

And throughout the data. That's what we see over and over and over again. Is lots of people say, the economy is rigged. For older people. For wealthier people, for corporations. It's rigged. And if they say, yeah. I think it's rigged, you know, then they're more likely to say, yeah. I want a socialist.

And I also think the same group has a relatively high approval rating of Donald Trump.

It's because the reason that a lot of young people like Trump in the poll, is that he's not part of the establishment.

And I think -- I don't think they -- I think a lot of young people who voted for Trump and who liked Trump, they didn't do it, because they liked free market, pro-liberty policies. And that's not a good thing.

But I don't think that's why they did it. I think a lot of them voted for Trump and supported him, because he's not the establishment. And that's what they don't like. They want to blow the establishment up.

JUSTIN: So my -- Justin, my sample size is my two young adults. My two children.

And they're like, talking to me, and saying, Dad. I will never be able to own a home, looking at the prices, looking at interest rates. They're like, I can't even afford to pay rent at an apartment. And they don't know what to do.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JASON: And so they're looking at -- on, like, TikTok. And they're like, who is this Mamdani guy? This sounds interesting. They bring this to me. They grew up listening to me indoctrinating them their entire lives. They're looking at other voices like on TikTok. Are we just not being loud enough?

GLENN: No. We're not -- we're not connecting with them. We're not -- I feel like they don't feel they're being heard.

And we are speaking to them in red, white and be blue.

And that means nothing. The Statue of Liberty means nothing to them. Ellis Island means nothing to them. The flag means nothing to them.

It's all partisan politics.

They're all symbols of really, the two parties.

You know, and an America, they don't relate to at all.

I think that's -- that's our biggest problem, and not being able to break through. To your point, question nine. How confident are you that you will own a home at some point, in the next ten years?

29 percent say, they already own a home. Which I found interesting. That's -- I think a pretty high number for somebody who is 18 to 34 years old.

JUSTIN: Thirty-nine.

GLENN: Thirty-nine.

JUSTIN: Yeah.

GLENN: There's a lot of 18 to 30. That I didn't own home when I was, you know, 30. Just got a home when I was 30. But go ahead. Go ahead with the rest of that poll.

JUSTIN: Yeah. So then 21 percent said discouraged, but somewhat hopeful. 12 percent said, not confident. 10 percent said, you are convinced you will never own a home. 3 percent not sure.

So if you add up the negative responses, it's around 43 percent that gave that response.

GLENN: Right. But, again, 29 percent, you already own a home. And 25 percent you are confident you will own a home, is still good. It just -- these -- these other numbers, have, you know, discouraged, but hopefully you will own a home. Who is discouraging that? And how is that being discouraged?

You know, only 12 -- let's see 12. Twenty-two. 25 percent are not sure they will ever own a home. That's too high of a number.

But I -- I don't think that's completely dismal. Now, a completely dismal answer, to the question, would you support a law that would confiscate America's excess wealth?

Including things like second homes. Luxury cars, and private boats, in order to help young people buy a home for the first time?

Are you for or against that? We'll give you that number here in just a second.

GLENN: There are some disturbing results, that get very disturbing, going from here on.

We've got two of these today, and then more tomorrow.

We'll spend more time with you tomorrow, Justin.

But would you support a law that would confiscate American's excess wealth, including things like second home, luxury cars, and private boats in order to help young people buy a home for the first time? Get the results.

JUSTIN: Yeah, 25 percent strongly support that, 30 percent somewhat support it, 55 percent in total for support. Only 38 percent strongly or somewhat oppose, with just 20 percent saying strongly oppose. So the vast majority now is -- is supporting this Communistic policy to confiscate people's wealth in order to help people. Younger people buy homes, which is in line with that question, we talked about earlier. Where it said, you know, three-quarters of these respondents wanted to nationalize whole industries to make things fairer. So it's all about -- it's all about this sense of unfairness that exists.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JUSTIN: And they feel like. Young people feel like the system is rigged. They feel like neither party is on their side, and they want to blow the whole thing up, by just taking wealth away from people, nationalizing whole industries, and redistributing it all.

And guess what, that's basically the democratic socialist platform. So it's not a surprise that that's -- that's becoming increasingly more popular with these young people.

And I don't think that free market, pro-liberty people are dealing with -- with this.

GLENN: No.

JUSTIN: In a real way.

In fact, I think a lot of us have believed recently that the wind is at our backs, and we're actually winning more and more young people over.
And that isn't what's happening according to the poll results.

GLENN: It explains why the Democrats have not moved their position off of the socialism stuff.

Doesn't it?

We keep saying, why? It's not working with anybody.

It is working. It is working with people under 39.

18 to 39-year-olds are hearing this message, and are embracing this message.