BLOGJanuary 25, 2018

Ben Shapiro: You Can Like Trump’s Policies While Admitting He’s ‘Character-Deficient’

Good Trump vs. Bad Trump?

On today’s show, Glenn asked Ben Shapiro how conservatives can navigate the minefield of supporting President Donald Trump in the good things he does while still acknowledging when he does wrong.

Ben Shapiro: ‘Nikki Haley at the UN Is Basically My Spirit Animal’

We shouldn’t feel compelled to make excuses for bad behavior, and Trump doesn’t need conservative leaders to compromise their principles to cover for him.

“If we’re not willing to call out bad when we see it even from people [when] we like what we’re getting from them, then we can’t have an honest conversation,” Shapiro said. “It turns into simply fan-boying or fan-girling.”

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: Last hour, we were talking to a professor from George Mason and he was talking about how bad education is. And I was talking a little about the brainwashing that is going on and the activization of at least 10 percent of our college students that just want to be liberal activists. And who is doing that on the other side?

Who is activating today's youth to be able to get them to defend the Constitution and conservative principles? The answer is sitting in my studio right now. Ben Shapiro. How are you doing, Ben?

BEN: Hey. Doing well. How are you?

GLENN: Good. I know you had a great time in Connecticut yesterday. One hundred security officers to protect your speech and zero protesters.

BEN: Yeah. That's how it always goes. And you always think, why do we need these security officers, and half the time there's a riot.

But it was nice. I mean, it was 500 students who showed up. They closed it to the general public, which was too bad. They should have allowed another 5, 600 people in, because they had another 700 reservations, is what I heard. But in any case, it was a really nice event. Everybody enjoyed it.

GLENN: Did you anybody on the left that has -- because I have -- people who are hard on the left, who say, I'm really concerned about what's happening on college campuses?

BEN: I think that's a growing concern for a lot of people on the left. And I think anybody who is an honest person on the left, has to look at the way that they're cracking down on free speech and think to themselves, this is a problem. And it could reverse itself and bite us. This is not a single-edged blade.

GLENN: Right.

BEN: It's a serious problem, that they're allowing the hecklers veto to prevail here. That somebody from the community will threaten something, and suddenly 100 officers are necessary. And we ban everyone from the general public. They've now done this at northwestern. They did this at UC Berkeley. They just ban people from coming in entirely from the outside community. Whereas, last week, Anita Hill spoke at UConn, and it was completely open to the public. They barely needed security. It was totally fine.

GLENN: All right. So you're going to join us today for a few minutes on the television show. We'll do some stuff for subscribers only on TheBlaze. We'll talk about the future of the conservative movement. And what our principles are and how we navigate from here.

But I want to talk to you about kind of the news of the day. Get your point of view on, do we have the audio of the secret society? Or do you have the latest memo or piece?

Two days ago -- was it two days ago or yesterday, Ron Johnson comes out, and he said, and we have -- we have a source that says there was a secret society. Meetings that were going on. And we know we have this text message. And something didn't feel right.

I want everything released because if that is happening, but I also said, I think it was yesterday, that kind of sounds a little like McCarthy saying, I've got the names of 250 people right in my pocket. If you don't have it, you're going to destroy everything.

And here's what we found out yesterday, about what that -- that memo -- or that text message actually said. Here's the clip. Go ahead.

But we're going to have to decide --

GLENN: Sorry. Sarah, not that one. Go ahead.

STU: The single message -- again, the single text message sent the day after Trump was elected was from senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, the top counterintelligence officer at the FBI and a key figure in the bureau's past investigation into Trump and Clinton.

Here's the quote: Are you even going to give out your calendars, Page asked Strzok. Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society.

GLENN: Ben, that's not a secret society.

BEN: No. No. The way all Republicans are talking it up yesterday was like, this is going to be the view from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where he looks down and there's just a bunch of people chanting. Tearing the guy's heart out and setting it on fire.

GLENN: Big fire. Cutting him up.

BEN: And what it actually ends up being is just a bunch of nerds who sit around and have beer and talk about work. But I really -- this is my big problem, is no one is waiting for all the evidence to come out, before and their narrative conclusion is Donald Trump definitely concluded with Russia, and the FBI is in the midst of one of the greatest investigations of our time that is going to uncover the real source of Donald Trump's victory. And any questions that are asked about that are completely out of line.

And then on the right, you have this counter-narrative, that the FBI is thoroughly corrupt. It has been completely run through with people on the left who don't care about the truth and are simply out to get President Trump.

And my tendency is to think that there's a lot of in between there, and it's probably somewhere in the in between. Meaning, that there probably are people like Strzok and Page, who don't like Trump. We don't really know the impact that they've had on this particular investigation. One of the texts that people seem to be ignoring on the right is the text from Strzok to Page, saying, it's going nowhere.

STU: Right. There's no there there, right?

GLENN: No, they're actually -- yeah, the right is now starting to use that and say, look, even this guy said, there's no there there. Well, you can't have it both ways. You can't say he's an evil guy trying to take him down, oh, and he didn't want to join.

BEN: None of it makes any sense. And all of these propositions can be true. It can be true that the FBI was politicized by the Obama administration. Most clearly in the Hillary Clinton investigation. There's no question that the FBI was political in that investigation.

GLENN: Yes, correct.

BEN: It's also true there are bad apples in the FBI. It can also be true that the investigation right now is doing what it's supposed to do. It can also be true that that investigation has gone beyond its original bounds and is now moving into obstruction, which seems to me a lot more of a stretch.

Right. All these things can be true at once. But people are not waiting for all the evidence to come out, before they jump to whatever facts support the conclusion that they want. Either the FBI is thoroughly corrupt, or the FBI is thoroughly pristine.

STU: And to find the real conclusion here. Doesn't the theater hurt? This idea that everyone comes out and screams about how we know we have a security society. And we know Russia has colluded with Trump.

Doesn't that really hurt the search for the actual truth?

BEN: It does. And one of the biggest problems that I have here is that there is information that could easily be declassified and is not being declassified.

President Trump is the president of the United States. He is the chief executive. That means that he actually gets to declassify, for example, the FISA application on Carter Page. One of the big complaints from people on the right, I think quite -- quite -- quite possible this is true -- is that the FISA application on Carter Page was based on the Steele dossier, the Fusion GPS dossier that was funded by the Democrats and was essentially based on Russia disinformation.

Okay. If that's the case, then why not just release the application? Right? The FISA application, Trump can do that. He can do that right now.

And I've been told by people, well, he doesn't want to look like he's politicizing the investigation.

How does he not look like he's politicizing the investigation? I mean, the guy tweets about Jeff Sessions and Andrew McCabe and James Comey every five minutes.

All I want, you know, just as an American, all I want is more information and less conjecture. Because all I'm getting is conjecture and posturing. And now you've got -- the Democrats are putting out their memos. So now we have a memo fight. We have these secondhand memos that are not even based on the classified intel fighting with each other. It's all stupidity to me. I don't understand --

GLENN: Yeah. The classified memos -- even the people who are writing memos about them haven't seen the classified memos.

BEN: This is what the DOJ says. And if that's not true, then wouldn't you expect Devin Nunes to say, no, I have seen the classified material, and my memo was based on that classified material? But the DOJ emailed Devin Nunes, sent them a letter yesterday, and they said, listen, don't release that classified memo.

Because number one, a compromise to national security. But number two, you actually haven't seen the underlying classified materials you're talking about. So why are we reading a memo, not based on the classified materials that are actually at issue, especially when a lot of those classified materials could become declassified by the president?

All this says to me -- here's where I think this is going, based on the evidence that's on the table. Where I think this is going is I think Robert Mueller is going to try to establish a pattern of obstruction against President Trump. He's going to suggest that President Trump was trying to fire James Comey and go after his own DOJ and go after Andrew McCabe in order to stop an investigation into him. Because whether or not Trump is innocent, he thinks he's innocent. And, therefore, he was trying to, quote, unquote, obstruct the investigation. This is the problem with obstruction as a charge, there doesn't actually have to be an underlying crime in order for you to obstruct. Right? If you're obstructing an investigation, it doesn't matter whether there's actually underlying anything that went bad.

The problem is, I think we're going to get the worst-case scenario. Because I've become a pessimist, that we always get the worst-case scenario.

GLENN: Yes.

BEN: The worst-case scenario here is that, there is no actual legal obstruction. Right? Because the actual statutes and obstruction do not cover President Trump firing James Comey, or even saying to Andrew McCabe, who did you vote for? That doesn't -- obstruction is a legal charge.

As a lawyer, these charges in the US code do not apply to what President Trump has done. It doesn't matter.

The left seizes on Mueller's suggestion that there has been some sort of informal obstruction. And then they launch an impeachment push against President Trump. And then Republicans are forced into the position of having to defend some of the stupid and I think dismal things that Trump has done, from firing Comey, which I think was dumb, to demanding a loyalty oath. All these sorts of things that are not illegal, but are not smart.

And so we're sitting around, defending those. And then the Democrats are browbeating us and saying they need impeachment. It just -- it ends up being a battle over bad behavior, as opposed to a battle over criminality. And the left will charge that the right is fine with criminality. And the right will say that the right is trying to use the law in the wrong ways.

And, you know -- both will be half right, and both will be half wrong. And it will just be awful. It will be awful all the way around.

GLENN: That's good. Good. Good.

STU: That's optimism.

BEN: The good news is I honestly don't think the impeachment tribe will go anywhere. And I think people will survive.

Honestly, I don't think people care that much about this, other than the diehard political fanatics on the right who think Trump is absolutely innocent of everything and has never done anything wrong. And people on the left who think that Trump is absolutely guilty of everything and is going to be impeached. They're waiting for the deus ex machina to come in and just remove Trump from office, which is not happening.

GLENN: So I think we're in the same area. I talked about it a few weeks ago and said, I don't think anything is going to happen with the Trump information. But sadly, what I think is going to happen is we're going to miss the mark on Russia. This whole investigation --

BEN: Russia, we haven't mentioned that in 15 minutes.

GLENN: Russia. I know. This is not about -- look, I think Hillary Clinton was absolutely corrupt. And the FBI has mountains of evidence of lots of people in -- in our government in Washington, that were corrupt with Uranium One. Why haven't we seen any of that evidence? Now, whether she was personally corrupt, sure looks like it. But I don't know.

When it comes to Donald Trump, I don't like the meeting in Trump Tower, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But I don't know if there's any crime there that's been committed.

I do know this, the FBI has known things about Russia. And they have not -- they have not followed through. Why? Is there someone that is saying, you know, kind of like, what's his name that went in and took the documents out of the library of Congress, or the --

STU: Sandy Berger.

GLENN: Yeah. The national archives. Both sides were kind of like, no, that's pretty okay. I'm pretty okay with that. Because both sides are dirty with Russia. We need to know, can we trust our Justice Department? Yes or no?

Can we trust them to do independent investigations? And the second thing is, how bad are things with Russia? How could is the influence and the bribery and the scandal with his Russia? And let the chips fall where they may. I don't think it's going to happen.

BEN: I agree with a lot of this. And I also don't think it's going to happen. I think everyone -- if you're on the side of what the FBI is doing right now, then you're going to stand up for the FBI no matter what.

If you don't like what the FBI is doing right now, then you're going to suggest they're a nefarious institution in the pay of the opposite side.

GLENN: How do either of these not accomplish the goals of Vladimir Putin, of destroying our republic?

BEN: Well, I mean, I think that Putin was very smart. He realized that all he had to do was drop a hint of conspiratorialism into American politics, and everybody would jump on it with both feet.

And he was right. It's worked. We're at each other's throat over essentially -- I'm not sure there's much there there. And I think that's particularly true. If you look in another area, where Russia was supposedly nefarious, I really don't think that Russian bots were manipulating people's information hold during the last election cycle. I think people are jumping on that because they find it politically useful. So Russia interfered in the election. But I think what they've done even more -- to more success even, is they've allowed that impression that they interfered in the last election cycle to now create the basis on which everything else moves.

So, for example, the release of the memo hashtag that was trending last week, suddenly Dianne Feinstein and Adam Schiff are suggesting the reason it's trending is because of Russian bots. And they're calling on Facebook and Twitter to actually crack down on these nonexistent Russian bots that were supposedly sending this trending. Daily Beast did a report yesterday, and they said it wasn't Russian bots. That was just a bunch of Republicans who were hashtagging -- the point that Dianne Feinstein and Schiff are doing is -- what they are doing is they want Facebook and Twitter to crack down on right-wing media outlets, claiming that's a way of cracking down on fake news. So they're using the Russia bot stuff and they're using the Russia stuff as a proxy of getting to a political goal they want to get to. I swear, every day, I wake up and I think -- I'm cynical enough about politics today. And then by that night, I'm thinking, my God, I need to be twice as cynical as I was this morning. Because it just doesn't work.

GLENN: Back with more Ben Shapiro here in a second. Markets are beginning to price for potential interest rate hike in March. If you missed the show last night. I did a chalkboard. And it was really interesting.

Because I know I did this chalkboard a couple of times when I was at Fox. One that was similar. And I said, look, this is what I'm looking for. This is where we're going to start to have trouble. If these things happen.

Well, now, these things have happened. If you missed the chalkboard last night, make sure you watch it on TheBlaze.com/TV. Become a subscriber. And please, watch the first ten minutes of last night's show, because you will be prepared for what I believe is coming. And it's all due to math and history.

GLENN: Talking to Ben Shapiro, who I think is the leader of the future movement of the conservative -- of conservative thought in America.

He is everywhere on college campuses and everywhere online, where it counts with the youth.

We were -- we're in a weird situation right now, to where we have a president who is, in many ways, giving us as conservatives, things that we haven't seen since maybe Reagan. Okay? We have a great Supreme Court justice. Israel, for the love of Pete. Reagan didn't even do that.

BEN: Yep.

GLENN: So we have some great things. And then we're also in this position of having a guy who we -- is real -- lives a despicable life, if those porn star things are true. Okay? And I tend to believe they're true.

So you look at this, and for some reason, we can't say, I -- bad Trump, good Trump. Don't like that Trump. Like that one.

BEN: Yes.

GLENN: You have to buy into all of it. And I think that's killing us.

BEN: I totally agree. I mean, during the last election cycle actually coined the good Trump, bad Trump framework. I actually had sticks with faces of Trump on them. And when he would do something good, I would hold up the happy Trump. When he would do something bad, I would hold up the sad Trump.

We had -- we actually had the jingle on my podcast. Good Trump, bad Trump. Which one will it be today?

And that is -- I think the biggest problem I have right now with the way American politics are going, it really is not about Trump. It's about us. Because if we're not willing to call out bad when we see it, even from people that we like what we're getting from them, then we can't have an honest conversation.

It turns into simply, fanboying or fangirling for a particular political figure. You see this on the left too. They can't call out -- they couldn't call out Obama when Obama was engaged in obvious corruption with the IRS, for example. While saying, we like Obamacare. But we don't like what he's doing with the IRS. You see this on the right now, with regard to Trump's character.

Look, Trump is character deficient. There's just no question that the man is -- you would not have him babysit your children. Right? You have a list of people. He's near the bottom of the list in terms of people he would be responsible for like my one and a half-year-old son.

GLENN: Yes. My 13-year-old son.

BEN: May be more dangerous for the 13-year-old actually. You don't know what will pop up on the pay-per-view.

GLENN: Let's not even talk about him. People I really respect and like. Tony Perkins. What the hell was this?

STU: Interesting phrasing of that question.

GLENN: Yeah.

BEN: Yeah, so do I.

I think, again, we have to learn to live with cognitive dissonance. You can like a lot of the things he's doing. And as an evangelical Christian, or as an Orthodox Jew, as I am, I think you can stand and say, listen, this guy is standing up for religious liberty, with the judges that he's appointing. He's standing up for Israel. He's standing up for -- he spoke at the March For Life. He's standing up for a lot of religious priorities that I really like. And all of that is wonderful, and all of that is good. Also, you shouldn't have sex with porn stars while you're married and your wife just gave birth.

GLENN: If you're a religious leader, I think you should leave it at, you shouldn't have sex with porn stars, unless it's your wife.

(laughter)

Then you should talk to her about not being a porn star.

BEN: But the fact that we feel compelled to make excuses for bad behavior is something that I think leads people who are in the middle, not even on the left, people in the middle to say, well, you're not being intellectually honest about your own side. And you lose your own moral credibility in that line.

I'm not worried about Trump losing his credibility. Trump is a big boy. He can protect himself. He's shown that he's fully capable of kicking back of kicking back against people who criticize him. He does it all the time. He doesn't need people playing defense for his personal failings. And, by the way, his personal failings don't damage him politically.

I mean, I have an entire theory of what damages Trump politically. And the answer basically is what we call the -- the -- the strong efficient markets theory. Right? That when it comes to the stock market, there's a theory. That you cannot beat the stock market because everything is already priced in. Right? You have analysts who are all day sitting there and looking at companies and determining what their value is.

So unless there's a new piece of information, it's not going to change the stock price of any given stock. So you can't beat the market. I think that that holds true, particularly for Trump, even to the extent that new information doesn't change what you feel about Trump.

If you think Trump is despicable, you're still going to think Trump is despicable. If you think he's wonderful, you're still going to think he's wonderful.

Which suggests to me, that when he does something bad, we don't to have stand around and defend him. Like this is going to destroy his political career. The man won an election after being caught on tape, talking about -- bragging about grabbing women by the genitals. I don't think he requires your defense at this point. I think he'll be just fine. But I'm not sure that you will be just fine. Right? It's really about you. It's about what you are willing to say is good or bad. And what your friends think about you, and what people think of as a person, based on what you are willing to condemn and what you are willing to accept.

GLENN: But you can accept the policies and despise the actions in personal life.

BEN: 100 percent.

GLENN: And it's perfectly okay. But people aren't willing to embrace that. Tonight, 5 o'clock, Ben Shapiro will be joining us on TheBlaze.com/TV.

RADIO

How Somalis in Minnesota are FUNNELING Tax Dollars to Terror Groups

Minnesota is facing what may be the largest welfare fraud scheme in American history. Christopher Rufo joins Glenn Beck to expose how Somali-run networks siphoned hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds through fake child-care and food programs, money that federal officials say was funneled through Somalia’s Hawala system, where Al-Shabaab takes its cut. Rufo reveals how state leaders protected these networks, how political incentives and “suicidal empathy” blinded Minnesota’s institutions, and why the corruption spreading through the welfare system is far more widespread than anyone wants to admit. This is not just a crime story... It’s a warning about immigration policy, cultural incompatibility, and the collapse of accountability in modern liberal states.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So I first ran into Chris Rufo, oh, I don't even know how many lifetimes ago. He was working for the city journal. And he was starting to uncover things. And he started to do investigations on things he cared about. And all of a sudden, he's one of the best investigative reporters out there.

Extraordinarily credible.

Right almost every single time.

And he is joining us, at the Blaze. He is the host now of his own TV show. Rufo and Lomez.

And he is the guy who broke the story a couple weeks ago. About the Minnesota taxpayers who are funding a terrorist group. Al-Shabaab. I don't know. Is that a problem?

Can I ask you, am I more outraged?

And I haven't paid any Minnesota tax. Am I more outraged than the people of Minnesota?

I mean, I know there's origins up there. So Norwegians are like, yeah, sure. I mean, you know, they don't seem to get very excited about. And they're very, you know, socialized and everything else. They're very big heart. Blah, blah, blah. And they don't seem to -- you know, Swedish, Norwegian, you know. But is there any point where they're outraged? Is there any point where they're like, you know what, this socialization thing is good, but not like this? This socialized, hey, let's help everybody, but not like this. I mean, you have a billion dollars taken from the taxpayers. A billion.

Is -- and I don't hear anything from the people of -- I mean, if you're -- if you were taken for a billion dollars and your money -- you knew was being taken away from children who need food, they were faking all kinds of health issues for other children, and so taking money away from real autistic programs and then putting it in and sending it to a terror group. Wouldn't you be kind of pissed?

Because I know I would be.

Are the people in Minnesota pissed about it?

I don't know.

I mean, I don't think. If it was my state. I don't think the governor would be in the governor's office. But maybe that's just had he. Christopher Rufo joins me now.

Chris, we were just talking about -- thank you for not only this story, but all the stories and things you have exposed over the years. Thank you for doing all of the hard work, and being credible the whole time.

It doesn't -- am I more outraged by this story than the people of Minneapolis? Because they don't seem to have a problem with it. Is it just me?

JASON: It's even more bizarre, actually. You're outraged about the proper thing to be outraged about. Which is that a group that is a recent arrival was permitted, or asylum, refugee status into the United States. Has now systematically looted the Treasury of the state of Minnesota. But Minnesota politicians are also outraged, but they're outraged that we notice this.

And that we've called this out. And that we're saying, this is not okay. So you have the mayor of Minneapolis, speaking in Somali, saying that he will do whatever he can.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

CHRIS: Do whatever he can to shelter the Somali community from any criticism at all.

And, I mean, find this borderline suicidal. And the Scandinavian. Kind of the Scandinavian founding culture of Minnesota, is just being statistically exploited. And they seem to have no ability to even defend themselves against it.

GLENN: Yeah. I mean, what's happened to Sweden is happening in -- you know, in -- in Minnesota.

It's just -- they take the kindness and the socialized everything. And they just absolutely abuse it, until there is nothing left.

And, you know, I don't -- let me ask the question.

And I want to be really careful here. Because I -- and I know you're not.

Nobody is reasonably saying this. That all Somalis just want to rip us off. Not true. I think there's probably a lot of people that wanted to get away from Somalia, because it is an absolutely corrupt system.

And now, our politicians are just recreating, you know, what they had in Somalia. And I can't believe that everybody from Somalia and Minnesota is for that.

But when you -- when you look at where they came from, that is the way their government works.

It is so rife with corruption. Is this something that is being imported, or is this just a handful of bad guys?

CHRIS: Well, it's a little bit of both. And as you said, we have to be careful and precise as we think about it. What's happening, obviously, not every Somali is participating in these fraud schemes.

GLENN: Correct.

CHRIS: But it's true that many, many, many, many -- an extraordinarily high percentage of people in the Somali community were participating in these schemes, prosecutors have told me that there are dozens of these schemes that have been perpetrated. And some of them are involving dozens and in some cases hundreds of families. And so we're talking about a very high percentage of the population. But the -- the point is this: Related to immigration. We always have had an immigration system that makes group level analysis.

And so small ease, for example, for many decades, now, have been given special privileges, in America's immigration system.

You have special status for asylum, for refugee programs. And so we have rewarded Somalis on the basis of -- of a group identity.

And I think that it's totally fair to say, hey. Wait a minute.

We can't take everyone from around the world. We have to prioritize by group.

We can't judge every single human being around the world as an individual.

And the reality is that the Somali community is not coming as individuals. They're coming as a community. And so you can say, you know, there are absolutely great people. Wonderful Somalis.

The incredible Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali.
Incredible woman.

GLENN: Incredible.

CHRIS: But the fact is that they're bringing the cultural systems from Somalia to the United States, and they are just fundamentally incompatible. That's the brass tacks. The bottom line. The end of the story.

And -- and what I was looking for and hoping for, was that Somali leaders would stand up and say, what's happening in our community is wrong.
We're going to work with. We're going to work with law enforcement to stamp out this corruption within our own house. But instead, they have gone just the opposite. They are promising that members of their communities. No criticism. And should operate with impunity.

GLENN: Tim Walz and even the mayor. How do they survive this?

CHRIS: Here's -- here's the actual, sad truth. I know conservatives are waiting for the backlash to sweep away these corrupt leaders and these feckless and incompetent politicians. But there's something about liberal culture, where no amount of chaos, corruption, crime, murder, you know, theft, can dissuade them from their core beliefs that our society is bad. And as a form of penance or -- or -- or kind of self-flagellation. We have to accept any amount of crime, provided that it's committed by people who can check the identity boxes. And so I'm actually pessimistic, and skeptical of the idea that Minnesota voters are going to rise up. And command that this corruption stop.

GLENN: You know, I remember Michele Bachmann came to my apartment when I was living in New York City, probably about 2008, maybe '9. And she sat me down and she said, Glenn, you have to pay attention to what's happening to my State Department, in Minnesota.

And I said, what do you mean?

She said, they're moving whole communities into Minnesota. And she's like -- and I said, communities. What do you mean?

She said, Somalis.

And I'm like, why would they be moving to Minnesota? What?

You miss being surrounded by feet of snow for six months out of the year? And she said, no. She said, it is the State Department.

It's like they selected, you know, Minnesota, and moved people in as a communist community.

Was this -- was this done. I mean, I'm having a hard time separating.

Like USAID.

I know what that is. We all know what that is. This is corruption. And they knew exactly what they were doing.

Is this incompetence, just corruption?

Is there planning involved in this.

Is this, you know, I hate America so much.

Cloward and Piven.

What is this?

GLENN: So there are two arguments that have been floated to answer, this an attempt to answer this question.

The first argument is that the left knows how to gain power. And by importing dependent foreign groups into the -- into the populace, they have a client that can provide them with votes. In exchange for patronaging. Or in this case, corruption.

And that is a strategy to amplify their own domestic political power. The other hypothesis. And I think for me, the more persuasive hypothesis. Is that this is just simple, liberal, naivete. And a kind of suicidal empathy, where they are blind to the consequences of their own actions.

They judge on inputs rather than outputs. And for them, the measure is how compassionate they can be.

And any imposition of limits or consequences is seen as a violation of core liberal principles. You know, it might be a combination of the two. But I don't -- you know, again, barring evidence that emerges, I would assume that it's more the latter than the former.

GLENN: How do we know for sure that money went to Al-Shabaab?

CHRIS: Great question. First of all, there have been schemes over the last decade, where counterterrorism officials tell me that every time they're looking at ISIS recruiting, al-Shabaab recruiting, radical Islamist recruiting, Minneapolis always shows up. And, in fact, it's really the epicenter of foreign terror recruitment in the United States of America. But on a particular question of Al-Shabaab, there is the testimony of multiple counterterrorism officials who told us, hey. Some of this money is getting siphoned off. And essentially taxed by the Al-Shabaab terror network. Once it leaves the United States. And goes into the Somali informal banking system. But this is really not in dispute. Even a left-evening group like the foundation for domestic democracy has long noted that Al-Shabaab skins almost all remittance that travel through the country of Somalia.

And, therefore, it stands to reason, if -- if people are stealing from the Minnesota government, sending that money back to Somali, through the remittence system, and Al-Shabaab is taking their cut. We're talking about a significant amount of money, whether it's intentional or unintentional, that the end result is the same. Al-Shabaab is receiving American taxpayer dollars that were stolen and routed through their network.

STU: So how is this stopped?

Because I don't think anything in Minnesota will happen. How's this stop?

It feels honestly. Know better than I do. It feels like the tip of the iceberg. I mean, today, the story from the GAO on Obamacare. That's completely out of control. USAID. This is happening.

I mean, tip of the iceberg. How do we stop this, if our politicians won't do anything in the states?

CHRIS: Well, there's two things that we can do. I think first off, in this particular case. Federal prosecutors have done a great job, uncovering these Somali fraud rings. And implementing prosecutions. And so they really deserved enormous credit.

But the federal government should do much more.

And I would recommend that Health and Human Services. And other departments at the federal level. Start all payments to Minnesota. Until they have a third party audit. Until they get their fraud under control.

And, you know, ultimately, you have to stop giving these people money, if you want them to change their behavior. And so I think a stop payment order on all federal funding to Minnesota programs where there are suspicions of fraud. Will help clean things up fairly quickly.

The reality is, we have a system in the United States. Where it's always a third party payer.

Health insurance, welfare programs. Food stamps, autism services.

Whatever it might be. These are massive third person payer programs. The incentives are, you know, not aligned with people actually enforcing the rules. And they become easy targets for fraudsters.

And so Minnesota used to be famous for honesty, fair dealing, good government.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.
CHRIS: And in just a short number of decades, their reputation has now been completely inverted.

And it is, by all accounts. From all of the research that I've done, I think this is likely the largest statistic welfare fraud scheme, in American history.

youtu.be

RADIO

The Disturbing RISE of Islam in America | Glenn Beck & Allie Beth Stuckey SOUND the Alarm

America is witnessing cultural changes at a pace few expected, and even fewer are willing to talk about. Glenn Beck and Allie Beth Stuckey expose the growing concern among everyday Americans, especially mothers, as mosques replace churches, schools switch to halal-only menus, neighborhoods lose Christmas traditions, and crime spikes in communities transformed by rapid Islamic immigration. While politicians look away for the sake of power, ordinary families feel silenced, shamed, and increasingly unsafe. Glenn and Allie reveal how secularism failed to hold the line, how progressive politics weaponized empathy, and why many believe the West is approaching a cultural and spiritual breaking point.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: It's amazing to me how this -- the awareness of this Islamic takeover of the west, how quickly it is spreading, and how quickly people are waking up.

I don't know about the politicians. But the average person is really starting to wake up to this. Don't you think?

ALLIE: Absolutely. And, of course, you have been warning about this for years. But I think a lot of people are just seeing it infiltrate their neighborhoods.

There's mosques, where there used to be churches. And office buildings. There are people wearing hijabs. At their elementary schools. Middle school.

People celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah around this. And you're told that you're not allowed to notice this.

And you're certainly not allowed to care about this.

There's no such thing as American culture.

You can't care about sharing the celebrations with your neighbors.

But people do care.

It's very unsettling. And a lot of people are just finding the words and the courage to say something about it.

GLENN: You know, I don't have a problem with, you know, Halal, or kosher, or anything.

I don't have a problem.

But I do have a problem that my kid's school now has to only serve Halal food.

So wait a minute.

What. What's up with that?

And that's happening all over Texas. Where Halal is your choice now.

And I just --

ALLIE: Right. Can we have a conversation about this, please?

I think what most people just want. Can we at least have a conversation about what's happening in our country?

ALLIE: Right. You know, I asked my Instagram followers. Vast majority are women. Probably 85 percent stay-at-home moms. And when I asked this question -- my followers were about 850,000 on Instagram. And I just said. Totally open-ended. Wasn't looking for a particular answer.

Hey, what is your biggest concern with America right now?

I was just trying to come up with topics for my show. The number one answer over and over and over again was the spread of Islamic dominance, where they are living, in America, in the West. This is very destabilizing for a lot of people. And they're seeing it, not just affect people far off like we used to. But affect their own neighborhoods and their own schools. And so, you know, usually politicians kind of take a while to wake up to what the populace is really scared of.

We have seen some good action in Texas for sure. But this is a real problem. And it's not just an illegal immigration problem. That's the uncomfortable part of it. This is a cultural issue. This is an immigration issue in general.

So we need the people in Washington and in Austin, to come up with the solutions for the people who are concerned about this.

GLENN: So you said that your audience is concerned because it affects them.

How does it affect them?

ALLIE: Well, I think that they're scared of the violent crime that they've seen in places maybe in their own cities. Certainly in places where Islam has to me natured. When we look at places like Dearborn, Michigan.

When we look at our friends across the pond. That sexual crimes. Violent crimes. All increase, disproportionately when there is a large-scale importation of people from these Muslim majority countries. It doesn't mean they're all like that.

It doesn't mean that they can't be good neighbors.

But this is not only a cultural change. This is not only a shift in how their neighborhoods look and feel and the celebration and things like that.

But this also is potentially a threat to their own safety. Especially the safety of their daughters.

And people care about that.

GLENN: I was talking to somebody who was doing a posts with somebody over in London.

Yesterday. And he was talking about this. And I said, you know, I -- I -- I'm not -- you know, I don't follow the news all the time.

You know, closely like I do in America.

About, you know, the United Kingdom. But what I'm seeing coming out of Ireland. And when you think about Ireland. You think of a very Catholic country.

You know, or a Protestant. A very Christian country.

ALLIE: Right.

GLENN: And they fought wars over their own Christianity.

It is almost completely gone now.

You have to go to the way, way outskirts. You know, the northern part of the island, to find that kind of community. The Irish have almost been completely wiped out.

There's very few churches left. They're all being converted into mosques. And, you know, okay. Well, it passes. Et cetera, et cetera.

But to not notice, and not say, wait a minute.

That is the erasing of an entire people and their culture. And that culture is very important to the West.

ALLIE: Right.

GLENN: Should we not care about that?

ALLIE: Right. Well, certainly progressives care about it, when it comes to, you know, non-British. Non-British countries. Or countries that are not America.

They call that colonialism. They call that imperialism.

But apparently, when Muslims do this, it's fine. But the problem was not for Islam. The problem was secularization. The lesson there is that secularism doesn't whole. Atheism -- agnosticism don't hold.

People are looking for meaning. And eventually, ideology in one religion will win.

And right now, Islam and a lot of countries is winning.

GLENN: Yeah. You know, you wrote a book on toxic empathy.

And I think it's a mistake on this one to say, it is empathy that we have gone down the road.

I think this is -- especially if you look in Minnesota.

They turned a blind eye to what's going on in -- in Minnesota.

And I -- I'll bet you in Michigan as well.

Because if you don't have the Muslim population on your side. You're not going to be elected governor.

You're not going to be mayor. So it's not empathy. It's all politics. Which makes it even more grotesque.

But when I see us turning a blind eye to it. We're now entering the time of suicide. And those who are in power, are the -- the doctors engaging in medical assisted suicide for their country.

They know what they're doing at this point. They're just choosing their power, and hold on to their power for as long as they can.

Do you think toxic empathy at this point is still playing a role in this Islamic, you know, hostile, political takeover?

ALLIE: Yeah, I absolutely do. Now, do I think that's the case for Tim Walz or any of these? You know, probably not.

It's probably power. It's fear, as you said.

But for the average person, especially for the woman. Especially for the person who has been told that loving your neighbor means just accepting all forms of people, no matter what their behavior is.

Then, yeah. I do think people are more scared of Islamophobia. Or being called an Islamophobe. When they see the Islamification of their neighborhood. In fact, I think that they think their virtue is tied to how much they like Halal.

And how much they accept the -- the building of mosques around their neighborhood.

And so I do think people feel so strongly, that being exclusive or intolerant, in any way, is a sign of being a bad person.

That they won't speak up.

Because the media social incentives for speaking up against Islam, or against policies. Or anything.

It just, it doesn't exist.

The social incentives in the immediate is to be as progressive as possible.

People respond to incentives. So I think that's a big part of what's going on.

GLENN: Love to hear your comments on Trump over the holiday.

Tweeted out, the official United States foreign population stands at 53 million people.

Most of which are on welfare. From failed nations or from prisons. Mental institutions. Gangs or drug cartels. They and their children are supported through massive payments from patriotic American citizens who because of beautiful hearts do not want to openly complain or cause any trouble in any way, shape, or form. They have put up with what's been happening to our country. But it's eating them alive to do so.

Wow. That's not very empathetic, is it?

ALLIE: Right. That's exactly what he's talking about is toxic empathy. He's talking about our compassion as Americans being weaponized against us. The problem, I wouldn't have said it's a problem. But now it's becoming a problem. For conservatives, we're thinking individually.

We're thinking about our family. And we're thinking, okay. Whatever. Just take my taxes. Do what you have to do. I will keep my head down.

I will work hard. I will move further outside the city. I am going to homeschool.

All of this, and kind of be a recluse, as long as my family is safe. As long as I can make money. As long as things are okay here, then I'll be fine.

Well, progressives for the most part, don't think that way.

They think collectively. They are looking to build a coalition. We are just thinking about our family. And about our immediate future. In our local community.

And that's not really a fair fight, when you have someone who is thinking in the big sense of what we're thinking.

And so he's absolutely right. And that is one weakness that we Christians and conservatives have, even if we're right in thinking that way.

It's hurting us now, especially in ideology, in Islam, that means submission. They're looking to conquer. And conservatives in general, we just haven't been thinking that way.

GLENN: I was talking to Jack (inaudible) from the United Kingdom, and I said, how close are you guys to Civil War?

I mean, I see what's going on. And, you know, collapse. And it's bad.

And he said, I think it's beyond saving, except for God.

What came to mind was, yeah. I agree with that. Except, you've become a godless country. I mean, the Church of England just raised the Islamic flag over the Church of England last week.

What God is there?

He said that there was a resurgence of faith, which would be great.

But how do we fix this, Allie?

ALLIE: Gosh, I pray to the Lord, that that is true. That there is some kind of revival that we don't see. It's important to know that God works -- it's not always a headline. It doesn't always go viral.

It seems he's doing one thing. He's actually doing a million things in unseen and unsung words, such as faithful believers, that may not have radio shows, their podcasts, but they are doing God's word.

And so I pray to the Lord, that that is true. I can't imagine like a better signifier that you've been conquered than another ideology raising its flag over your territory. That is literally a sign that you have been conquered. But God. But God can do anything.

We can pray. He works through the prayer of believers.

He works through the obedience of believers. The boldness of evangelism of believers. We can't all change the world.

But we can be faithful with whatever spot of eternity God has providentially placed us in to make it for the glory of God.

To share the gospel. And to speak beauty and truth and goodness into whatever sphere we occupy. That is the responsibility of a Christian.

That is how God has moved mountains for over 2,000 years, and I think he will continue to.

GLENN: Allie Beth, thank you. God bless you.

ALLIE: Thank you very much.

GLENN: You bet.

RADIO

How a Recent Conversation at Mar-a-Lago moved Glenn Beck to His Core

A deeply emotional conversation at Mar-a-Lago left Glenn Beck shaken, echoing the same chilling feeling he first experienced years ago during a private discussion with Charlie Kirk — long before Charlie’s recent assassination. As Glenn recounts his talk with Dave Rubin about danger, spiritual warfare, and the future of America, he warns that we are entering a moment where good and evil are unmistakably visible. From the overwhelming sense of divine presence at Charlie’s funeral to the rising chaos Glenn believes is driven by darker forces, this time feels less like politics and more like history unfolding in real time. The question now is simple but urgent: in a world losing its mind, which side will you choose — truth and light, or confusion and darkness?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So yesterday, I -- I -- I posted this when I got home. A picture my wife took of Dave and I.

We were kind of backstage at Mar-a-Lago. And we sat there for probably half an hour. And had a really honest conversation about what's happening in the world.

What's coming our way. And, you know, some things that are just concerning to both of us.

And I'm not going to get into all the details. Because I don't have permission to tell you everything that Dave said. I did ask him last night, if I could share some of this with you.

You know, he is -- he is Jewish. He's gay. He's married.

And he has two adopted children.

I mean, what else could -- leper? What else box could you check that would make you less popular in what the world that we're seeing come our way?

And he's a reasonable guy. He's a really reasonable guy. And, you know, when we talked years ago, when he was adopted. He was on the show. And he was like, Glenn. I've got to tell you. I've changed so much.

I don't -- I don't know how to justify -- because I know that it's best to have kids with a mom and a dad. And I believe in that. And I -- you know, I just don't know what to say. He was a guy in conflict when it happened. He's not in conflict now. He loves his children. Loves his children. And they're in a very stable home.

He would tell you not the ideal home. Because that would be a mom and a dad. But a great home.

And he said, I am finding myself in a situation to where, I mean, I just don't know what's coming.

And we talked about it. And I shared with him some things that I thought were coming.

Exactly what I did and I didn't realize it, at the time, until I walked away.

Exactly the way I did with Charlie Kirk.

When Charlie came to me in 2018, 2019, and he said, you've always been ahead of the curve. What's coming next.

And I said, well, I mean, if you just study history, Charlie. There's really two things that are left. One, is assassinations. And the second is war. And he talked about Donald Trump and that -- that they would try to assassinate. And I said, yeah. Honestly, Charlie. I think you and me are on that list too.

I said, one of us could go down in this as well.

We'll be targets as well. And we stood there. And I've told this story a million times. We stood there on the balcony of this hotel.

And we just looked over the ocean for a while. And we were both quiet.

And I think he said, one of us said, I can't believe we're having this conversation, and the other one said, I know. It's like we're in a movie, right? It's not real.

And lo and behold, just a couple years after, a few years later, Charlie is assassinated. David and I were having a conversation, and I said, Dave, I hope I'm wrong. But this is the way things could shape up.

And we talked about it for a while. And just as I was getting ready to walk away, he said, I can't believe we're having this conversation.

It's like we're in a movie. And I said, yeah. I -- I know that feeling. And then I walked away.

And when I got to my wife's side, I said, I'm sorry, I'm just really freaked out because of what Dave said to me.

Because of the last time somebody said that to me was Charlie.

We are living in extraordinary times. Extraordinary times. And we are seeing for the first time, we're seeing good and evil.

We are! We're -- we're seeing -- and in ways we've never seen before. You know, when the assassin tried to kill Charlie, he thought, there would be an equal and opposite reaction to that act.

And it would be that people would either side with him. Or they would rise up and they would start killing, you know, the left. And we would -- we would go into that Civil War thing.

But that's not what happened. An opposite action happened, as a reaction.

But it was not equal.

It was so far beyond equal.

That it was -- that it was clearly divine.

1.5 million people around the world watched. I'm sorry. 1.5 billion people watched that Charlie Kirk funeral. And that Charlie Kirk funeral happened, and if you were there, I don't know if you could feel it while watching it. I -- I imagine you could. But I'm telling you in the room, I've never felt anything like it.

You could feel the spirit there. I mean, it was like God was there. And every time somebody got up and started speaking about politics, you could feel the spirit withdraw. And then they would start talking about, you know, universal principles.

And the spirit would come back to the room.
It was amazing. And I wasn't just the only one feeling it. I had people around me. Elon Musk was two rose behind me.

Everyone around me were talking about, are you all feeling that?

This is amazing.

That was God! Showing up.

So the unequal, but opposite reaction was God working a miracle.

The only way I can understand what's happening, in our world today, where we have gone insane.

We've gone insane.

People that I know have lost their minds. We can't -- suddenly, we can't have conversations about things that have been settled for a very long time.

And suddenly, you're -- you have to be an enemy. That's why, when I talk about these things, I don't want to single out anybody. Because I'm not going to make this personal. I'm not going to make this personal.

I want to make this about the facts. Because the minute we make this personal, then we're immediately enemies of one another. And I don't -- there's one enemy, and it's the author of chaos. And that's who I fight.

God shows up. Now, what's the equal and opposite reaction? Because every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I really believe Satan showed up.

God shows up. We have this resurgence of faith, this explosion. And then Satan shows up.

And all of a sudden, we're talking about insane things. Like, all of a sudden, you know, Jews rule the world. And -- and I hate Israel. And, you know, it's insanity. Insane stuff that we've always known was insane.

We're watching for the first time. We're watching the big boys play.

And we are pawns.

You just have to -- you just have to make sure you're on the right side of the board.

You know, who -- who are you a tool?

Whose hand are you in?

You on the good side, or the dark side?

Because you have to make that decision right now. And the way to make that decision is just to remember what you've always known to be true.

What is true?

When you know those things and you stay anchored in those things, it's going to be okay.

But if it feels like we're living in a movie, in some ways, we are. It just hasn't been made yet. But believe me, there will be movies made about this time.

And about people that you may know. There will be movies made.

How that is portrayed in the end, I'm not sure. But I do know that every time in human history, every time this road has been traveled. There is a winning side.

And the other side destroys itself and its civilization.

So to me, it's pretty clear. But it's for each of us to find.

Just do it peacefully. Make no enemies. Make no enemies.

I remember one time, we were in the throes of just real attacks. On every front.

And I thought, my whole world was coming apart. And it didn't matter what I did. What I said. Where I was. It didn't matter. Just attack, attack, attack, attack.

And I asked the Lord in prayer, you know, help me.

Help me. How do I defeat these enemies?

And once in a while, once if had a great while, I'll feel like he -- that I almost hear him.

And I don't know how to describe it. It's -- it's like I hear the words. But not hear the words. You know, I just know what he's saying.

And sometimes, it's so clear. It's jaw-dropping. And I remember in prayer, and I'm talking about, how do I defeat these enemies, et cetera, et cetera?

And it was so clear. And what I heard was, firmly, stop. These are not enemies of yours. They are enemies of mine.

These are my rights.

And I will solve the problem with my enemies.

You do the right thing.

Okay.

So I don't want to make any more enemies.

Because they're not enemies of mine.

They're his -- his enemies.

Anybody who is standing against the rights of all men, anyone who is standing against the Bill of Rights, the idea that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator. They're not my enemy.

I mean, I view them that way. But they're ultimately his enemy.

I need to remain on his side. That's all I need to do. Remain on his side. And when he tells me to act and tells me what to do, I will do it. And so far, all I know, is make no more enemies.

Just speak the truth plainly. Clearly.

Just keep saying the truth. The things that you have always known that are universally true.

I'll take care of the rest.

WAKE UP: The Islamist Takeover of America Is HALFWAY Complete | Glenn TV | Ep 472

Islamism is advancing inside the U.S. through Minnesota’s massive welfare fraud tied to Al-Shabaab, Sharia-style tribunals in Texas, Muslim Brotherhood campus networks, and failed immigration vetting that led to a CIA-trained Afghan migrant killing a National Guardsman. Glenn Beck ties these stories to the Muslim Brotherhood's 100-year plan to conquer the West, which is reportedly halfway complete. Europe has already lived through this collapse. British writer and podcaster Peter McIlvenna joins to reveal the parallels between Britain and what he saw while visiting Texas, and he reacts to Gov. Greg Abbott and President Trump cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Glenn's Show Prep

Ben Shapiro: You Can Like Trump’s Policies While Admitting He’s ‘Character-Deficient’

Ben Shapiro: ‘Nikki Haley at the UN Is Basically My Spirit Animal’

How Somalis in Minnesota are FUNNELING Tax Dollars to Terror Groups

Transcript

The Disturbing RISE of Islam in America | Glenn Beck & Allie Beth Stuckey SOUND the Alarm

Transcript

How a Recent Conversation at Mar-a-Lago moved Glenn Beck to His Core

Transcript

WAKE UP: The Islamist Takeover of America Is HALFWAY Complete | Glenn TV | Ep 472