BLOGMarch 01, 2018

A Little Girl Was in Danger, so They Stepped In. Watch the Shocking Rescue Video.

Operation Underground Railroad and the Nazarene Fund are continuing their work of saving lives and rescuing people from slavery around the world.

After Haiti Mission, OUR Founder Shares a Chilling Story About a Human Trafficker

Tim Ballard and Dave Lopez stopped by the studio today to sit down with Glenn and share an incredible update about a rescue. One of O.U.R.’s latest missions has been to rescue people before they can be lured into makeshift “hospitals” where their organs will be harvested in a brutal death.

Ballard shared a video of an explosion that instantly killed a mother, leaving her 6- or 7-year-old daughter alone. An O.U.R. operative ran in to rescue the little girl and bring her to safety.

“Any child in this area is exposed and vulnerable to being taken for organ-harvesting,” Ballard explained.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: We come to you with good news. Partial good news. I know -- I thought we were going to announce something else. We have a couple of good things. But I thought we were going to announce something else today, an accomplishment. But it's led us down a deeper rabbit hole, that we need to hold our cards close to our vest here for a little while.

But I want to welcome Tim Ballard. He's the CEO of the Nazarene fund. Founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad. And Dave Lopez, who is the director of operations for the Nazarene Fund.

Hello, gentlemen, welcome back.

VOICE: Thanks, Glenn.

VOICE: Hi, Glenn, thanks for having us.

GLENN: So let's start with the good news.

TIM: Well, last week, we talked about the movement of 360 Yazidi victims of ISIS who we were moving out.

GLENN: And I think, Dave, didn't that include 20 slaves?

DAVE: Yeah, 25 former slaves of ISIS is in that number.

GLENN: Okay. And how are we?

TIM: We are great. We are over 80 percent done, getting them out. And these stories are amazing, because we're -- we get to interview them. And we have an interview that we're going to show that you'll be actually able to actually air in a couple days.

GLENN: Okay.

TIM: But the people that are out and the ones that are ready to start talking -- I mean, unbelievable stories. There's this case of one girl who was passed around, sold 16 times. Different ISIS fighters, different ISIS commanders, just horrifying things. She actually tried to kill herself at one point. Jumped out of a window. A slave trader who had mercy during one of these exchanges, told her to go to this Christian group, which ended -- they ended upbringing her to the Nazarene Fund. And these --

GLENN: You've got to be kidding me. A slave -- a slave trader?

You wouldn't think that he would have mercy.

VOICE: Something happened. Who knows what happened? But he said, you know what, run that way.

GLENN: Wow.

TIM: And so now we have her. And with these other hundreds that we're bringing over, we're preparing the way for them to go to Australia, as you know. We're so excited to take you out there and see them as they get into their new homes and hear these stories --

GLENN: I've heard -- is it true that I've heard a television show is -- and don't say the name of it. Because I don't know if it can be.

But that there's a television show, a major television show that's going to be going to Australia to welcome them. Unrelated to us and everything else.

Have you heard that?

TIM: No.

GLENN: Okay. Yeah, there's a major TV show that's heard about the Nazarene Fund and said, "I want to know about this. And I want our audience to know about it." It's really cool.

TIM: It going to be great.

GLENN: Yeah.

TIM: These are amazing stories. You remember the story. You told this one about the Christian fighter who was killed and left behind four daughters, his wife. And they put his body -- displayed it behind the church, ISIS did. And the Nazarene Fund went and extracted this family, in the dead of night. Got them into safety. They're safe now. And they're about to make their trip into Australia.

And so they're just all -- it's just amazing. It's just so much light and hope.

GLENN: So we have -- and I know this radio, but you have footage for from we are -- last time you were here. And I don't want to get into all the dark stuff. But we were talking about what ISIS is doing with organ harvesting, which is terrifying. And they're just snatching these kids. It's my understanding that this video -- and you'll describe it on radio. But this video was taken because we were actually -- we were doing reconnaissance on one of these makeshift hospitals, is that right, Dave?

DAVE: That's right. We were in the area looking for -- we were having interviews with witnesses. People -- eyewitness accounts of organ harvesting. We're also looking into a few different areas where it was being done. That's the whole point of what's going on up around Raqaa. And the devastation that you're going to see in this video is immense. Just from the war. And then you can also see what happens after this explosion goes off and how brave our people are.

GLENN: Okay. So these are Nazarene Fund operators.

TIM: Operators.

DAVE: Yes, correct.

GLENN: Describe it here, what we're seeing.

TIM: These are our guys. They're just scanning the area. Having no idea what's about to happen.

GLENN: Holy cow.

TIM: Any child in this area is exposed and vulnerable to being taken for organ harvesting, and they know that. And they see a child. Right there. You see the mom and the child holding -- they're holding hands.

GLENN: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

VOICE: And they're watching this scene like, eh, I hope they get out of here. This is not a safe place for them to be.

Now, what you're going to see, is they walk behind a building, and there's an explosion. An improvised explosive device that was just sitting there.

DAVE: It could have been a leftover unexploded ordnance, probably from the Syrian government. When the show is going on. Yeah. There's the explosion.

TIM: There it goes right there. And the mom is instantly killed. The child who is probably six or seven years old. Is not. Is hurt. And now is extremely vulnerable. This is the exact situation that the organ harvesters are looking for.

GLENN: Don't be afraid. There's nothing serious. Is there anybody inside? Where? That's the child?

DAVE: That's just the child. Yeah, they're just talking to child right there.

GLENN: Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.

TIM: Now, these are our operators who see this. And far from running away, they run right into the danger. Snatch up that child.

GLENN: That's our guy?

TIM: That's our guy right there holding the baby and taking that child out, because this child is now completely alone and vulnerable to the organ harvesters. And we now -- that's our guy getting him out. Getting her to a safe place. And she's safe and she's healing.

DAVE: She just lost her mom.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

TIM: They had obviously no idea that that was going to happen.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

DAVE: It's hard for people to understand just how difficult the situation is and what our people are doing. They're on the ground, and how brave they are. And not just to be able to do what they're doing there, but the logistics, to be able to have the relationships with the Australian government -- to keep -- the vetting process for getting people out.

GLENN: Australians have been remarkable -- they're really remarkable. I mean, people just don't know this. These countries have taken a lot of heat because they're taking in -- the EU especially over in Europe, the EU is just pushing everybody and saying, you have to take refugees. There's no vetting or anything. These are all vetted, the Christians and Yazidis that have been coming under attack.

VOICE: And the reason that it's working is because the Australians trust the Nazarene Fund.

Because the Nazarene Fund, we are in there vetting every single person to make sure they have background checks done. We know who they are, what their background is, what their history is. The last thing we want to do is send a threat into another country.

GLENN: Yeah.

And these guys are not there to change Australia or anything else. Some are going to stay. But the majority that I know of -- and tell me if you find this true, want to go back home. They are literally the Christians of the Bible. They're the first ones that you saw the apostles go and convert.

These were the ancient Jews that became Christian. And they know, we're -- we're that legacy. We can't leave that part of the world.

TIM: And we are encouraging them to go back. Now that ISIS has been pushed out, so many want to go back. We're are facilitating not only moves to Australia, but we're facilitating the transportation of these people back into their Christian communities to rebuild. So we are doing that as well.

DAVE: That may sound confusing to some people that don't understand. This is a geographical situation. So there are certain areas where people still need to be getting out. There are other areas where they're able to start going back. It might be confusing to the listener, to someone that doesn't understand some of these things. But it is a very intricate situation. But these are very -- these people are very prideful in a good way of where they're from. Even though it's been devastation. It's been torture. It's been war. It's their homeland. So I don't think the majority of these people -- you know, in Australia, wherever they've gone, they see this as temporary, and that they want to go back.

GLENN: Where is that little girl now?

TIM: She's in one of our --

GLENN: Shelters or healing centers, so she's getting therapy?

TIM: Everything. We're getting her everything she needs to be able to heal fully from that experience. Yeah.

GLENN: I can't -- to watch them. There's a mom and daughter. In a morning.

TIM: Yeah.

STU: To get a sense of that area too, before anything happens, it's like a flattened city of cement. It's just --

GLENN: There's nothing there.

STU: There's almost nothing standing there before this happened.

GLENN: How much of Iraq and Syria are like that now?

DAVE: Many parts. Many parts -- I mean, Iraq and Syria near the border. There are tons of cities that are just devastated.

GLENN: And we know in Haiti, the biggest problem -- you know, they're picking, I think it's avocados. Right?

You know, you get the avocados and the bananas from the Dominican Republic, a lot of those are picked by Haitian slaves, kids who are labor slaves now. And it's because mom and dad were killed in the earthquake.

STU: Yet another reason to not eat avocados.

GLENN: Yeah. Like I needed another reason.

STU: They're terrible, squishy things.

GLENN: But the same thing is happening here in -- in Syria and Iraq. These kids are so vulnerable.

STU: True.

GLENN: I mean, I don't even know -- as a kid, what would you do? There's nothing there.

TIM: Yeah, and it's -- whenever there is a natural disaster of any kind, earthquake or whatever, war, the kids are the ones who are forgotten. And like you said, they are so vulnerable. Hundreds of thousands of children in Haiti, like you just pointed out, who came from the earthquake. The traffickers rushed in. Harvest day for them. They pick them all up. They're grieving over their parents' dead bodies, as the traffickers are swooping them up. We just arrested one of them. We talked about a couple weeks ago, who was doing that. And we found her victims. But this is the part --

GLENN: Her victims?

TIM: Her victims. This is the kingpin trafficker. They call her Cho.

DAVE: Francion (phonetic).

GLENN: Oh, yeah, in Haiti.

TIM: Back in Haiti, right, right. Yeah.

But this is the thing we always -- all of us. The world needs to be aware of, when these catastrophes happen, whether it's man made wars or earthquakes and a storm, this is when the traffickers come in. And we have to be there to defend those kids right away.

GLENN: Can you give me any -- any -- any good news on the harvesting thing? Is there any?

When will you be able to tell us something?

DAVE: Next time we come on, I believe it will be about two weeks out, and we'll be able to present some more footage. Some more -- there will be footage. There's been another -- there's been another rescue that we're still waiting on releasing. But our teams are busy. There's some -- there's some very high stakes things going on right now. Because the more you prod and poke this bear, the more dangerous it gets.

GLENN: Yeah. Do they know us yet? Do the bad guys there know us yet?

DAVE: We don't -- this is one of --

GLENN: I know we're not wearing T-shirts there.

DAVE: As far as our teams and our people, no, no, not at all. And that's the way we're going to --

GLENN: They know that somebody is coming for them though? It's becoming more and more?

DAVE: We're guessing that they're probably starting to get an idea of it. But that's part of the risk that we --

GLENN: Yeah. Guys, thank you very much.

Now, listen, here's how you can help: If you want to get involved, you can pray. And, you know, thoughts and prayers don't mean anything. Yeah, they do. Yeah, they really do.

We would like both your thoughts and your prayers. And you can pray for the safety. And, in fact, I ask if you would pray every night as a family for not only the people that are involved that we're trying to go and rescue, but also the rescuers themselves. Because these are really brave people.

But also, we would like you to be an abolitionist. Everybody can say, oh, you know, the founders, they -- whatever. Whatever. What are we doing right now? What are we doing right now? Please, get involved. And be a part of this heroic and historic movement. And you can find out all the information at theNazareneFund.org. TheNazareneFund.org. Also, our -- give me your web address real quick.

VOICE: Ourrescue.org.

GLENN: Yeah, ourrescue.org. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

RADIO

Is THIS Trump’s REAL reason for allowing 600k Chinese students into America?

Why would President Trump allow China to send 600,000 students to the United States with China’s history of using students as spies? There has to be more to this story! Investigative journalist and author Peter Schweizer joins Glenn Beck to explain what he believes is really going on. Plus, he gives an update on the “massive problem” of China buying up land next to US military bases.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: One of my good friends, a guy who I just so admire. Is Peter Schweizer. Or admire. I still admire him. He's the president of the Government Accountability Institute. He's the host of the Drill Down, which is a podcast. He's written numerous books. He's an investigative reporter, been on this program a million times. And he is always way ahead of the game.

He's brought to my attention some -- some land exchanges that are going on with China. Here in our own country. The exchanges for dollars. And they are still buying up more land. And nobody is doing anything about it.

And there is the story today about the 600,000 Chinese students, that Donald Trump is letting come in.

Now, there's got to be more of this story on why he's allowing that.

But, I mean, these are people that if I'm not mistaken, and this is my first question, Peter.

Aren't these students.

You have to be close to the CCP to be able to travel to the United States. Don't you?

You have to be well connected to the Communist Party.

PETER: Yeah. That's right, Glenn. Look, the reason I think Trump is allowing this to happen is because this is a top priority for Xi.

And they're trying to negotiate a whole bunch of things, but I still think it is a mistake. And here's why: There are 600,000 Chinese students that come to the United States. American students going to China is a trickle. So this is not about in exchange of ideas. You know, it's not like junior year abroad in Italy, where you learn more about Italian culture, you remember it for the rest of your life. It's not that at all. The students that come to the United States, are screened for their political views. Their families are screened for their political views. Their costs are born by the Chinese government. So when they are here, they are function eight years of the Chinese government. As they fail the fallen line, or do what they're asked.
Damage can come to their family. Damage can come to them. And the entire premise behind the student exchange is going back to the 1980s is that this would make the Chinese elite more like us.

Right? They get to know us. They become more friendly. They become more Americanized. The vast majority of the hardline aides around President Xi were educated in the United States, primarily in places like Harvard. So it's not working.

The Chinese leadership is actually more hard-lined now than it was under Hu Jintao or under Gung Shah Ping (phonetic). And they are more Western educated, so it's not doing what they claimed it was going to do.

GLENN: So why is he doing this?

PETER: I think Trump is doing it because he's trying to secure, you know, a series of trade deals with the Chinese. He's trying to deal with them, on the Ukraine-Russia war to pressure Russia. He's got a whole bunch of things on his agenda. This is a priority for Xi.

GLENN: I understand that, but why would it be a priority for Xi? I mean, he gets 600,000 spies here in the United States.

PETER: Great question. Yes, that's correct. And so here's what we know. We know the Chinese students come to the United States have engaged in espionage.

And, by the way, they're not coming here to study comparative literature or sociology. They're the vast majority, over 90 percent are in the hard sciences.

GLENN: Right.

PETER: So it is -- it is stealing our secrets. We also know, by the way, that the fentanyl trade in the United States, as we've talked about before. The Chinese are intimately involved in that.

A key component of the money laundering is Chinese students in the United States, who are taking suitcases full of cash to Chinese state-owned banks.
This is well documented. So there is a -- a component who is there. There is also a political component to it. Chinese students in the United States have done everything from shout down speakers on college campuses, that are critical of China.

There have been reports in California of Chinese students being bussed to places like San Francisco, to engage in counterprotests. When people are, you know, concerned about human rights in Tibet.

When President Xi, remember, visited San Francisco. There were thousands of Chinese students bussed in there to organize pro-Xi rallies. So there's also a political force component to this.

GLENN: Wasn't it two students, or was it just scientists? Just recently, they were trying to bring in really dangerous stuff, and we caught them. But twice, we caught them.

That just happened a couple of months ago. Do you remember that story, Peter?

PETER: Yeah. That's exactly right. These were scientists. But these are scientists that are oftentimes educated in the West, they take on research lab positions at American universities like the University of Michigan, as in this particular case. And so they sometimes bring in a dangerous thing. There was a report in Canada of Chinese students that were bringing in pathogens, related to COVID back in 2019. Widely reported in Canada. So it's an enormous problem. And it's not really something that we are focused on.

Again, we are treating them as if they're German exchange students or Americans studying in Italy. That's not how China views this. They view this as a component and an extension of the state.

And the students need to fall in line. And if they don't, they will suffer serious consequences.

GLENN: Donald Trump is so strategic, and nothing he does is without several things down the line. He's usually playing 3D chess. He's way ahead of everybody else. I cannot imagine what we're getting out of this, that would balance this in our favor. But we'll have to -- we'll have to see. Is anything being done on the Chinese buying up land? I know you're on a big story now about how much land is being purchased up in the northeast. That is extraordinarily dangerous.

PETER: Yeah. So we're working on a report right now, of one of our top researchers. Twenty military bases that ran them in the United States. And he wanted to look at land records. And say, of those 20 military installations, how many have Chinese-owned land. That are just add adjacent to those military bases. The answer, Glenn, is all 20. So this -- this is a massive problem. It's -- you know, land purchases are not regulated at the national level of the United States. They not necessarily should be. It's done at the state level. And certain states like Florida and others have worked to have passed legislation in this area. The problem is you have states like California, where there was legislation passed in the -- the state Senate. The state assembly. On a bipartisan basis, that said, foreign hostile governments. It didn't even say individuals. Just foreign hostile governments cannot buy land in California. Gavin Newsom actually vetoed that bill. So the problem is, yeah.

It was that narrowly written, bipartisan support. Vetoed that bill. I think part of the reason was, frankly, he was involved in the wine business.

He had land and vineyards in the wine area. And Chinese state companies have been buying up vineyards in Napa Valley.

So probably would have affected the valuations of his property. That's, I think one of the motivations. And as we've talked about before, he has a -- let's say long history of association with people involved in the United Front groups. And frankly, people involved with Chinese organized crime. So the land issue is not going anywhere. It's a major problem.

GLENN: Peter, if I'm just looking at this on the surface. I immediately think back to what Ukraine did to Russia, with the drones.

Where they were in these trucks.

They were right outside the military base.

And they destroyed things that we get our wildest dreams, couldn't have destroyed just a few minutes ago. And it was because of drones. And it was a whole new line of attack. Everybody knows that China is the leader in drone technology. I mean, they are just way ahead of everybody. If you don't -- if you have a drone and it's not -- what is it? DGI. DJI. It's not the best. It's all coming from China.

If you have property all around the United States, all add adjacent to our military bases, that is a direct threat to our national security.

I mean, you could have a barn full of those drones. Or a truck full of those drones. And you could take everything out of those military bases quickly. And America wouldn't have any time to respond.

Is it deeper than that on concerns?

PETER: No. Well, yeah. I think that's the main one. Right?

The -- the -- the ability not only to cause kinetic damage, as the Ukrainians have shown. By flying drones and blowing things up.

Look, even our most secure military bases will be able to defend against an attack like that.

You have the additional problem, that you could do something more -- you could take drones, you know, with pathogens. With poisons. And introduce them, into a military installation.

GLENN: Yeah.

PETER: So, yeah. It's a massive, massive problem. And the notion that we can't even limit the Chinese government, or government state-owned, you know, companies, from buying real estate. That that somehow is in violation of -- of some Constitutional right, as if the Chinese government has Constitutional rights in the United States is patently absurd.

So this is something we've got to continue to address. We're going to keep exposing it. You've been on the front lines of it, Glenn.

And it's one of the things that people innately understand. When you think about currency close, when you think about money laundering, you get complicated -- this is very real and dangerous and understandable.

GLENN: Yeah. Peter, as always, thank you very much. Thanks for your hard work. We'll talk again. Peter Schweizer.

PETER: Thanks, Glenn.

GLENN: You bet.

RADIO

Glenn Beck: Flag burning vs. freedom of speech

President Trump wants to make burning the American flag punishable by jailtime. But while Glenn Beck also hates to see the flag burned, he makes the case that we can’t make the flag an idol. Maybe there’s a balance with Trump’s focus on stopping incitements of violence, but Glenn urges caution.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: There's something else that I really want to talk about. And that is this flag-burning thing. Now, it's not an amendment.

This is something that the president is putting up in an executive order and has very little teeth to it.

But I -- I -- look, I understand. As a guy putting an enormous flagpole up at my house today.

I mean, an enormous flagpole.

I love the flag. I love it!

And there are a few things that make me more angry than see somebody you set our flag on fire.

For a lot of people, that's a punch in the gut, especially our military people. And it has been planted on distant battlefields. It's raced after victory. Saluted in the morning, or should be in our schools and folded and given to the hands of grieving families. It feels like spitting on every sacrifice, that ever made this nation possible. And the argument against flag burning is really simple: It dishonors the idea of all of that. Okay?

And it defends millions of people, including me. It disrespects, I think the veterans that bled. The families who mourned. The dream that binds us together.

However, here's the hard truth: Symbols only mean something, in a land where freedom is alive.

If you outlaw the burning of a flag, the you have placed the cloth above the Constitution that it represents. You have made the flag an idol.

We don't worship idols. If you can only praise the flag and never protest it, it just stops being a symbol of freedom. And starts being an idol of obedience.

Now, that's the argument for allowing it. At least to me.

Because the real strength of a free nation is -- is to -- it's -- it's how we protect, not the speech we love, but how we endure the speech we hate!

And the Supreme Court has already ruled on this. And, you know, they -- the line they drew wasn't an easy one. Freedom of speech, stops where it directly -- directly insights violence. And that's it same thing, kind of, in this executive order.

You can burn the flag. But if I'm not mistaken, but if it incites violence, then you're in trouble.

And that's true. But the bar of inciting violence is so incredibly high. And it's -- it doesn't have anything to do with speech that offends. It's not speech that stirs anger. Not speech that wants you to punch the speaker in the mouth. It's speech only, that provokes imminent and specific violence.

And unless it's that be with the government doesn't have any right to -- to get into the business of silencing speech. Ever. Ever. Ever.

It is a hard line. And that standard is really hard. It's painfully hard.

Because what our citizenship requires, this is civics. What our citizenships require, is that we defend -- oh, I hate this.

We defend the right of your opponent to mock everything that we hold sacred.

Now, I want you to think of this. You can burn a Bible. You can burn the Word of God. But some want to make it illegal to burn a flag. Where are our priorities? You can burn the Constitution. The words that actually are the ones that stir us into action. But you can't burn a flag.

You can't burn a Koran. Can't burn them. Can't. Can't.

You will -- you will quickly come to a quick end, not legally. But you will come to a quick end. I don't ever want to be like that. Ever!

You burn a Bible. I think you're a monster. What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?

But you have a right to do it. Why are we drawing a line around the flag? It -- the reason is -- is because we feel things so passionately. And that is really a good thing, to feel love of country so passionately. But then we have to temper that. My father used to tell me, that I think this country needs to hear over and over again, every day. My father -- we would talk to somebody. And we would walk away. And he would go, I so disagree with everything that man just said. But, Glenn, son, he would say. I will fight to the death for his right to say it. He used to say that to me all the time. Which now lees me to believe, I know where I've got my strong opinions from. Because dad apparently would disagree with a lot of people all the time.

But that was the essence of freedom. That is the essence of what sets us apart. Standing for universal, eternal rights like free speech. It's not easy. It means you have to take the size of those people that offend you. It means -- it doesn't mean you have to disagree with it. You can fight against it. You can argue back and forth.

But you -- can you tolerate the insults to the things that you love most. That is so hard, and that is why most of the world does not have freedom of speech. It's too hard! But our Founders believed people are better than that. Our citizens can rule themselves!

And the only way you can rule yourself is if you don't have limits on freedom of speech. So the question is, do we want to remain free? Or do we want to just feel good? It really is that simple. It's why no one else has freedom of speech. It's too hard! I think we're up to the task.

RADIO

What you MUST KNOW about Trump's computer chip stock deal

President Trump has announced a deal to buy a10% stake of computer chip maker Intel. Is this a smart business move that will make the US government money to pay off its debt, or is it just another unconstitutional public-private partnership? Glenn and Stu discuss ...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So, Stu, I would love to open -- openly embrace the -- you know, on the surface, there's a new deal with Intel.

And it sounds really smart. And it sounds like, yeah. That's the way we should do business.

It sounds capitalist. It sounds patriotic. But then, again, so did the Patriot Act.

So here's what's happening. Donald Trump is taking $8.9 billion. Money already set aside by the Chips Act. And instead of handing to Intel as a grant, he bought stock in Intel.

Now, that sounds really smart. Right? Sounds like what a businessman would do. Really smart. I'm not going to just give them the money, we'll invest. And that way, we get some profits, when they succeed. So we now own 10 percent of the company. Nonvoting shares. We got it at a discount, and we have $2 billion now worth of paper gains.

I love that! Right? It sounds really good. Why aren't we running this place more like a business? It's pro-capitalist, right? No more government giveaways. Taxpayers are investors. And we benefit when Intel rebounds. Okay. Any other things? Well, yeah. It's really important for national security. We're keeping chip manufacturing at home. We stabilize the economy, without running it. We reassure the markets, and attract other private investors. On paper. It's really good. It's clean. It's efficient. It's savvy.

Now, what is it that's bothering me? Well, it's not exactly the American system. In fact, it might be everything we're not supposed to do. You know, we were never -- government was never supposed to use our taxpayer dollars to be a shareholder in private enterprise.

But, again, we're doing all kinds of things that we've already gone there. Haven't we?

Hasn't the government picked winners and loses now forever?

Haven't they been wasting your money. I would rather extend them a grant. I would rather have it in stock. So if we win, we win. No. We all win. But that's actually the model of state capitalism in China. That's not the free market in the United States. Intel is vital. Absolutely vital. Chips are the lifeblood of anything that will happen for national security. And our economy.

But we cannot get into the habit of -- of -- we can't normalize it anyway.

Washington, DC, buying stock in struggling companies.

Because what's next. Ford? Boeing?

How about your grocery stores?

That's Mamdani, isn't it?

And once that door opens, government no longer just regulates the market. They own a piece of it, now.

What happens after we own a piece of that?

So in 2008, I had a big sponsor.

It was a sponsor that Premiere Radio networks had worked 20 years to get.

We finally landed them. And I had a good working relationship with them.

It was General Motors.

And then the government bailed them out. In 2008. And they promised it was temporary. And I said, great! Call me back, once you've paid them off. I don't -- I don't like this. The government should not be involved.

But they were not going to be involved.

But they were

The first thing they did. Was they cancelled the hydrogen car. Something they really believed right before the election. I know. Because I was talking to him about it all the time. And then after the election, Barack Obama cancels all hydrogen products. And GM was like, yeah, that stupid hydrogen thing. We're with them.

And the precedent was set. And I was out. I was out. I cancelled General Motors. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Business-wise, stupid. Ethically, the right thing to do. And ever since, whenever there's a crisis, that temptation is there. Why not just buy a slice of the company? Why not stabilize it? Make a little profit on it? And that's how you slip to capitalism to corporatism. You know, free markets backed by government winners and losers.

You do not want to go down this road. You know, when we are both the investor and the regulator, which one wins.

Come on!

Not a hard question to answer. Which one wins? Not the regulator. The investor wins. If the investor is also the regulator, look, if we do this, we will make a lot of money, you're going to make a lot of money. You'll have more money for all these projects you want. Okay. All right. Okay.

It's -- it's not -- the taxpayers aren't the one. The company -- the politicians, who really wins? What happens when an administration leans on its own company, for political purposes?

You know what, I think you'll get rid of that hydrogen car. We love the hydrogen car. You know what, I think you'll get rid of that hydrogen car. We hate that hydrogen car. Boy, we hate it.

He -- Donald Trump looks at Intel losing $8.8 billion last year. Lays off 20,000 workers.

Choke hold of Taiwan, South Korea on semi conductors. He wants America protected.

He wants taxpayers to share the upside.

He doesn't want to just bear the cost. We should get the upside. All of those things are good, right?

It's really tempting. But is it what we're supposed to do. Is it the right thing?

I don't like it when Washington holds stock certificates. Not a good thing. It should be reforming taxes. Cutting red tape. Letting capital flow to strong ideas. Making sure national security is cured through policy, but not ownership of these things.

Are you comfortable if the United States just took over AI, or just took it over and said, we're just going to own 10 percent? Oh, they need another bailout. We're just going to own 20 percent. Oh, they need another bailout. Okay. We're going to own 40 percent of that. Do you think that that company wouldn't become beholden to the United States government? And who are they beholden to? The Defense Department? The Deep State? The president, or you?

I think you know the answer to that one. Stu, how do you work around this one. Because I love this idea. I love the fact that we're running things like a business. And if we're giving people loans, why not take a stake? Why not?

STU: Well, first of all, can we step back one little bit and just acknowledge that the original sin here, in the first place, was the Chips Act. The Chips Act was not a good bill in the first place.

And that's not the president -- the current president's fault.

But, you know, he has to live under that law.

And he's trying to improve it. But like, that was a disaster in the first place. And should not have been something that we did, certainly the way that we did it.

With buying into this. Look, I understand, it is better to have some of this money. That, by the way, we're just borrowing and printing anyway. Right?

These are taxpayer dollars that we don't really have. That we're spending on something. That it's good that potentially we have a return. I mean, this was the argument under TARP as well. Where we would go and do all of this. And take control of some of these banks and companies. And they would eventually pay us back. And many of them did, by the way. Many of them did pay us back.

GLENN: With interest. With interest.

STU: Yeah, exactly. And so why not?

Why didn't we do that? We have done it from time to time. Normally, it's been in extreme circumstances. Right? When there's an emergency going on. And I would acknowledge, and I think you were on this, as well, Glenn.

These were not things that we supported at the time. But they were things that the government did at the time. What they saw as a time of financial crisis. And reached in, and took ownership of a bunch of companies.

GLENN: I would say, we went further than not being for them.

STU: I would agree with that analysis.

GLENN: Very much against them.

STU: Very much against them.

The reason for that is: We don't want the government involved in -- you know, jumping into companies and micromanaging companies.

Now, they will say, voting rights.

They will say all sorts of things. We now have a situation where the president of the United States has an interesting interest in Intel's stock price. And like, I know that --

GLENN: Money does not talk, it screams. It's a bad idea. It's a bad idea.

Once the government becomes your partner in business. They're always your partner. Always.

STU: Uh-huh. And I understand where the president is coming from.

Because it -- at some level, it really is important to acknowledge, he's been put in this position to try to make the best out of a bad thing.

Now, I know, you know, the president does really care about the chips. And he does care about these industries, being here in the United States.

That is a -- something that is actually legitimately important. I'm not denying that.

GLENN: Right. He also cares about America doing well, financially. He's tired of America getting screwed. The taxpayers getting screwed every time.

STU: But on that point, because I get what he's saying there. It would be great. Like, we're up a couple billion dollars. Let's say we double our profit. Let's say we make 10 billion dollars off the deal. Nothing wrong with making $10 billion.

Let's acknowledge what this is, though. We have $37 trillion in debt. Making $10 billion does absolutely nothing to this. Nothing.

We're going to waste that -- like, we could just instead, be -- we could have someone actually look at the next spending bill we have. And just cut a few things around the corner, and easily save $10 billion.

It -- the only way that this makes any impact. And this is what makes me nervous. Is if you do it at scale. If you start doing this, in every single company you can think of, that is having problems. Or is in an industry of interest to the United States of America. Then you start getting to a place to where the government is in bed with lots of businesses. And maybe you can make a financial impact. And if we accept this argument now, I'm afraid we accept it then too.

GLENN: But how do we already accept it -- when America embraced public/private partnerships. I haven't accepted that.

I don't -- I'm dead-set against public -- but isn't this a public/private partnership. This is what they were pushing.

STU: Well, this is the concern, right?

Who is cheering this on?

Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders put the -- he actually had this idea, as an amendment, in the Chips Act.

This was his proposal.

He's cheering it on right now. I -- that doesn't mean that every -- you know, everything a Democrat brings up is the wrong idea.

Maybe this was a good one.

You can make that argument.

GLENN: Is he a Democrat or a socialist?

STU: Socialist please. Socialist.

GLENN: So everything a socialist brings up. Probably is fine.

STU: Yeah. Again, it's a road, we should really, really be careful going down.

I would argue, we shouldn't go down it. At his lead to bad things. And it leads to bad things, by the way, when this president is long gone.

It's not just him.

You know, what -- I know we say this all the time. What are Democrats going to do, with this newfound ability to invest in companies?

And -- and, by the way, we should note, Intel doesn't need to accept this. Right? This is -- the Chips Act doesn't require them to sell part of the company. What's happening here is we're pressuring them into this.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: And, you know, I -- I understand the reasoning for that. You brought up really good arguments on this front. We're already suckered into giving these -- these companies money because of the Chips Act. Why not make the situation better?

And Intel is saying, well, they can make our lives miserable. In 25 different ways. Let's partner with them.

I get it on both sides.

That doesn't mean it should be a foundational part of our economy going forward. And, you know, if this is a one time thing. It probably won't be a big deal. If this is a precedent that goes on. It can be.

GLENN: It will be.

Once you start this. Once you start this.

And how long. My whole life, I said, I wish we had a businessman as the president. I wish we had somebody that would look at the country and look at everything. And go, how can we make money?
How can we save money? Let's run this a tighter ship. Well, he's doing that.

Although, we're spending more money.

And he's here. Here he's like, well, let's just offset.

Let's get -- yeah. And he might pick the winner. I don't know if he will or not. But he might -- but tell me the last president that we had, that ever said anything about industry, that you were like, oh, you know what, that was a really good stock tip. No! No!

STU: He would be the guy.

GLENN: Yeah. He would be the one, I think in my lifetime, for sure. Maybe the lifetime of the country.

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