BLOGMarch 08, 2018

Gawker takedown: Author chronicles Hulk Hogan’s epic smackdown that bankrupted liberal website

How much do you really know about one of the biggest media stories of all time?

Ryan Holiday, the author and strategist behind the marketing expose “Trust Me, I’m Lying,” is back with a book about the famous battle between billionaire Peter Thiel and the now-defunct website Gawker.

Thiel had it in for Gawker after the site revealed in 2007 that he was gay, but the investor was smart enough to bide his time until he could catch Gawker doing something illegal: publishing without permission parts of a sex tape of Hulk Hogan and his former best friend’s wife.

In his new book, “Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue,” Holiday gives an insider’s perspective on the famous Gawker takedown based on his time with both Thiel and former Gawker chief Nick Denton.

According to Holiday, Thiel’s chance meeting with a mysterious “Mr. A” was the turning point. “Mr. A” and attorney Charles Harder worked together to find any potential dirt on Gawker and jumped on the opportunity when the site published the Hogan footage.

Where is “Mr. A” now? Holiday didn’t say who he was or exactly what he’s doing now, but it’s a safe bet to imagine he’s set for life.

“I would imagine when you solve a problem for a billionaire like this, the world is sort of your oyster from that point forward,” Holiday said.

Want more? Listen to the full interview with Holiday in Hour 2 of today’s show here:

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: Do the ends justify the means? Are there real white hats and black hats anymore? Can you actually be a white taking down a black hat?

If you've done them in nefarious ways, are you wearing a gray hat, or are you wearing a black hat?

There are so many things today that we would all like to see, you know, dishonest, bad media go away and collapse on its own weight. We might even cheer when something like gawker, which was a despicable website, when gawker went out of business and had to shut down, we might all cheer.

However, are we all comfortable with the idea that a billionaire can conspire and make that happen?

Even though, the end is good.

STU: Ryan Holiday is an author. He wrote a great book called Trust Me On Lying, which is a fantastic read, to go back and see how the news you see every day gets to you.

GLENN: Sausage.

STU: It's incredible.

GLENN: You'll find teeth and shoes in it.

STU: You have to read that. The new book is Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue. And it's -- it brings us through this entire story, and Ryan joins us now.

GLENN: So, Ryan, can you tell this story like only you can? Tell this story before we get into what we're supposed to learn from it.

RYAN: Well, it's an almost unbelievable story. In 2007, Gawker Media, a gossip website in New York City, has a Silicon Valley arm called Valley Wag, and they out the Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel as gay. He's at that point the founder of PayPal. He was an early investor in Facebook, but a relatively unknown person whose sexuality was known to his friends. But he was not publicly gay.

He's -- he's humiliated by this. He's frustrated by it. He's hurt. Gawker's headline, I believe, was Peter Thiel is Totally Gay, People. So imagine your most sensitive secret being made public in such a flippant way. And he finds this not to be illegal, but to be disgusting. And --

GLENN: Now, hang on just a second. Ryan, when this happens with gawker, is this -- because I find gawker despicable. They've done things to me and my family that are just despicable.

RYAN: Sure.

GLENN: But on this, people were saying, well, we should out people, because that's only going to make people more comfortable with -- you know, with gay people if they know you're around them all the time. So were they using the ends justify the means at that time to do something good, or are they just dirtbags?

RYAN: I think it's a little bit of both, right? I think they thought, why should he keep this secret? And I think they also thought, why should this be a jet? This isn't something to be ashamed of. But the truth is be with he didn't want it to be public. And I believe that's his prerogative.

GLENN: Yeah, it's his story to tell, not anybody else's.

RYAN: He sort of despairs of being able to do anything about it for five years. He just sort of sits on this. He's frustrated. He's hurt by it. But he can't do anything about it. And it's only in 2012, when Gawker makes another enemy, they run an illegally recorded sex tape of the professional wrestler, Hulk Hogan, that Thiel sees the opportunity that he's been looking for this whole time, that he had been looking for. He had hired a lawyer to spot opportunities like this.

He approaches Hulk Hogan, and he says, look, what they did to you is not only despicable, I think it's illegal both federally and in Florida, where you're a resident. I will fund this. Thiel approaches him through an intermediary. This is totally in secret.

I will fund this case as far as you're willing to take it. And he approaches a number of other people in similar cases. And then for the next four years, this case winds its way through the legal system. And he eventually wins 140 million-dollar bankruptcy-inducing verdict against Gawker in Florida, to the shock of all onlookers and legal strategists at the time. And he achieves that thing that he had set out to do in 2007, which was to both get his revenge and to prevent this -- this website that he believes to be evil, from doing what it did to people.

GLENN: So --

STU: Wow.

GLENN: -- I know Peter -- he is a very, generally quiet guy. You know, he's -- he's an odd duck.

RYAN: Sure.

GLENN: He's a really nice guy. Doesn't seem like a guy who is driven by vengeance. But does sound like a guy -- or feels like a guy who will take all the time necessary in the world. He is not in any hurry. He'll wait until it's right.

RYAN: Well, that's what's so brilliant about what he did. I think most of us, when something is done to us, we react. We respond. Right? A fight breaks out.

A conspiracy, to me, is more something that bruise, that develops. And that's what it was so brilliant about Peter. He didn't -- he said, look, what they did to me I don't think was right. And I'm angry about it. But it's never good to be driven by anger. And so, instead, he steps back. He never forgot what happened. But he looked for an opportunity, where he actually had legal -- legal ground to stand on, where he actually could have an impact. Where the public would be so universally repulsed by what these people did, that he would have a shot at making a difference. So I think both that patience and that ability to be strategic, is why he was able to solve a problem, if that's what you want to call it. That many other powerful people had looked at, and said basically, there's nothing you can do about this.

GLENN: But he didn't do -- did he become the thing that he despised?

I don't get the impression that he did. He -- he did this on the up-and-up. The only thing -- the reason why it's a conspiracy is, he didn't want to be out front. But now that it's known -- he doesn't mind. I mean, he's owning it now.

RYAN: Sure. Look, I think secrecy is a fundamental element of a conspiracy. And I respect that he was willing to see that the optics of a billionaire being publicly in front of this thing completely changes how the public would look at it. You know, he said to me, he got this advice from one of his friends. His friends said, Peter, you have to choose your enemies carefully because you become just like them. So that's really the danger of spending nine years scheming to destroy or ruin someone or something, is that you study them so much, they consume so much of your mental bandwidth, that you can kind of become like them.

I don't think that he became anything like Gawker. But, for instance, there's a seminal moment in jury selection, where they notice that overweight female jurors are the most sympathetic to their case. Now, that's not disgusting. But there is an element of unpleasantness in selecting a juror to then exploit their most vulnerable body issue to win a case --

GLENN: But don't you think -- that's done in the court system every day of the week.

RYAN: Agreed. My point is, I think we -- we tend to be idealists about change.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

RYAN: We think that we can make change without getting our hands dirty or without dealing with some of this unpleasantness.

GLENN: Yes.

RYAN: And so there's compromises of pursuing something of this magnitude. And I think Peter was so committed to what he was doing, that he felt that that end did justify -- that means did justify the end.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: So Ryan has spent a lot of time with Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel -- this is not an anti-Peter Thiel book. Peter worked side by side. He had unprecedented access to Peter. And while Peter didn't -- I don't think, Ryan, unless there's another conspiracy theory. He didn't fund this book. He just gave access. More with Ryan Holiday.

The book is Conspiracy. And there's some tough questions that we have to ask ourselves. More in a minute.

GLENN: We're with Ryan Holiday, he's the author of a book called Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue. It's a very tough question that we have to tackle, but I want to get a couple more facts out of the way here before we do with Ryan.

STU: Ryan, a couple of things that we picked up from the book, one thing that Peter had conversations about his strategy, trying to get Gawker to go away.

RYAN: Uh-huh.

STU: They discussed at least seemingly -- he comes off a little flippantly, but at least considered doing things actually illegal when it comes to the approach.

GLENN: Yeah. What was the -- what was the example, Stu?

STU: Well, I'm sure -- I'm sure Ryan can walk us through the examples. I don't have them in front of me.

RYAN: Sure.

GLENN: Go ahead, Ryan.

RYAN: Sure. It struck me as a little bit of a tempest in a teapot by the media coverage. Because it's like getting in trouble for thinking about speeding and then not speeding.

GLENN: Yeah.

RYAN: But, you know, if you think about Thiel's position, he finds Gawker to be this great evil. He's trying to do something about it. But as a billionaire, he has essentially limitless resources. He's also the majority owner of one of the most powerful in intelligence and defense companies on the planet. So he has these immense resources.

And so it's a question then of, which of them is he going to use and what limitations is he going to impose on himself?

So theoretically, could he hire private detectives to follow Gawker writers and attempt to find dirt on them, that would be embarrassing? Could he start a rival website that would focus, but nothing on their personal lives? Could he bribe employees to leak information to him? Could he -- could he lobby politicians to go after them?

Like there's many things that he could do. But what he decides, actually, early on, after sort of laying all these options on the table, is that he -- that he wants only to do what's legal and ethical, because he's -- he's both, I think an ethical and moral person. But also, because at some point, your involvement is made public. At some point, you win.

And then the public looks at what you did, and they judge you for this. Right?

And so his belief was that, if they accomplished this thing they were trying to accomplish with unethical or illegal means, the victory would stand. And it would also be, as we were talking about earlier, it would be pyrrhic, in that it would come at a great cost to himself because he would have had to become the thing that he was trying to change in the first place.

GLENN: I have to tell you, this is kind of being spun as an anti-Peter Thiel book, and just that alone speaks volumes. I don't know how many billionaires there are that would have the self-control that he had, to say, no, I want to do it -- I want to do it the right way.

Can you tell me anything -- because you have an exclusive in this about a guy named Mr. A. I know you're not going to tell me who. But what is Mr. A's role?

RYAN: Well, that's -- it's one of the weirdest twits of this story, this incredibly well-covered story.

I think people thought, I guess myself included, felt like Peter Thiel was involved on a day-to-day basis. And, in fact, he sort of follows the start-up model, which is, in 2011, he has -- he has dinner with this promising young college graduate, who has told Peter he has an idea. They sit down to dinner.

And this kid says, Peter, I think I can solve your Gawker problem. I think that buried in their archive of posts are illegal acts or acts that make them vulnerable to -- to civil judgments. And I think -- he says, if you give me $10 million and three to five years of time, I think I can make something happen here. And basically, on the spot, Peter invests in this kid. And this kid is Peter's go-between, his operative who hires the attorneys, who vets the cases, who makes the decisions day-to-day. And Peter is -- is -- and the way that Peter puts $500,000 in Mark Zuckerberg's hands and he goes and makes Facebook, Mr. A goes and makes this conspiracy a reality.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: So what do you think Mr. A is going to be doing now?

RYAN: Well, I would imagine when you solve a problem for a billionaire like this, your world is sort of your oyster from that point forward. I think he's got basically limitless options now. And has one patron who is probably willing to back him on any project under any condition.

GLENN: Holy cow.

STU: Wow. What was Peter's motivation in cooperating with you, Ryan, on this book?

RYAN: Well, as I'm sure you guys have seen, in the coverage just talking to me. This is a story that has been intensely covered, but with such bias and such sort of tribal instincts on behalf of the media. Because the media sees what happens to Gawker. And they think, oh, that could happen to us. Let's circle the wagon. So there's been this incredible amount of judgment about what's happened.

And I think that's greatly impacted the coverage, right? To such a degree, that Peter has become, in many people's eyes, this sort of James Bond villain. And that's really not what he is, when you read him and you see what he did and why he did it. So I think -- I had written critically about Gawker many times. You know, myself. My emails were once hacked and leaked to Gawker. So I know what that feeling is like. So I was willing to at least be fair. You know, I told Peter, look, you're not going to get to see the book before it's printed. You're not going to have any input on it. I'm going to play it down the middle, but I think he at least believed that I would play it down the middle, rather than holding him up as the villain, if that wasn't true.

GLENN: Yeah. So, Ryan, there's -- if -- I'm just trying to think this through. If a billionaire -- let's say George Soros, who is not a friend of mine. If he decided to go after me and I was doing something -- and TheBlaze was doing something that was blatantly illegal. And I don't mean death by a million paper cuts, what a billionaire could do.

RYAN: Sure.

GLENN: I don't think I would have sympathy for Peter, if he had just been paper cut after paper cut, technicality after technicality, just keep him in court and bleed them dry.

RYAN: Right.

GLENN: I don't think this is a problem for the First Amendment, if they're going after things that are really, truly illegal and they're big.

And I'd like to get your response on that when we come back. What does this mean for the First Amendment? That a billionaire can mark somebody and then take them out? Is that good for the republic? When we come back.

GLENN: I am -- I'm currently on a -- on a couple-week rant of, we've got to do something, and how that always leads to bad things. You just don't make good decisions when you're angry, upset, emotionally. We've got to do something usually also means, I'll violate my principles because I want this pain to stop.

So what are our principles? I -- I don't -- I didn't like Gawker. Gawker did some things that were dangerous for my family. I thought they were despicable people. And I did wish them to go out of business. But I wouldn't have done anything to get them to go out of business. And I like the way Peter Thiel did this. He waited to see, is there something that they have done that breaks the law? When they had Hulk Hogan, that was an illegally recorded tape. And for what? What was the purpose of exposing that?

So Peter took them to court on that. The problem is, he's a billionaire, has unlimited resources. And are we setting a precedent that somebody who has an axe to grind can put another company out of business? One man can put a media company out of business if they want to?

Are we -- did anybody learn that lesson in a negative way? Ryan is with us.

Ryan Holiday is the author of the book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue.

What have you come to, Ryan, on that?

RYAN: Well, that is the big question. And it is potentially scary to think a billionaire could shut a media outlet down? And then when you step back, you know, your point about not reacting emotionally, well, did Peter actually do anything new that doesn't happen every day, anyway, right? The ACLU. The Sierra club. The NRA. They back cases all the time that they think move their ideology forward or stands up for one of their constituents. And so the idea of a wealthy person backing a lawsuit, not out of financial gain, but out of ideological alignment is actually not remotely new. And if you were to ban it, society would undoubtedly become a worse place, right?

Why shouldn't your rich uncle be able to support you against a person who ran into you, with their truck, right? You want that.

GLENN: So there's the legal question, which I think he did everything right. And then there's the ethical question, which I think he did everything right.

But you have to ask that ethical question too. And would you have felt different if he would have taken Gawker on, with -- with almost frivolous lawsuits and just done death by 1,000 paper cuts? Do you think it would have been a different story for you?

RYAN: Absolutely. Because there you're not attempting to win. You're not attempting to have your argument validated. You're attempting to destroy someone for something they may not have done something wrong.

So Peter's decision, for instance, not even an attack on First Amendment grounds because he believes that's sacred. But to look instead at the individual's right to privacy, right? Is there a newsworthiness in this sex tape, or is there a copyright claim here? He specifically did not sue them on say frivolous, libel, or defamation grounds because he was worried about the precedent that it might set. And he didn't believe that there was anything wrong there.

So his distinction is really, really important. And I think, you know, a potential hypothetical would be, what if a liberal had backed Shirley Sherrod in her lawsuit against Breitbart, when they ran that deliberately edited, manipulative tape of her in I believe it was 2011.

GLENN: Yes.

RYAN: And I don't think many of the people who are deeply upset about what happened to Gawker, I don't think they would be upset if Breitbart had gone out of business in 2012. I think they would be cheering at the exact same way.

STU: It's very interesting. Yes, that's absolutely true. I wanted to get your take quickly on -- I can't remember the guy's name who actually wrote the story.

But he -- he's become somewhat of a cause celeb on the left of a guy -- because he's not the guy -- he's not Nick Denton who ran Gawker. But the guy who actually just did the post.

He's a lowly --

Yes. Yes. Just -- you know, a writer. And he's working for Gawker. Not making a ton of money. And he was involved in this lawsuit. And he has been presented as this guy who got in the middle of this thing. And he was helpless in this situation. And now he has no chance of making any money. He owes an ungodly amount of money for this lawsuit and can't do anything about it. He wasn't wealthy. He didn't own Gawker. Do you have any perspective on that and how that went down?

RYAN: Yeah. So in a way, he's just doing his job. Gawker publishes these stories all the time. It's so unremarkable when you get to the Hulk Hogan tape, that Nick Denton, the CEO isn't even notified, right? The case that bankrupts the company, the CEO doesn't know about it until after it is published. Because that's how run-of-the-mill it actually was.

So, yes, it was unfortunate that this individual, this writer doing his job, takes the full brunt of it in the public eye. You know, during the trial. And then is held liable -- the jury says -- holds him personally liable for about $100,000 of this 140 million-dollar judgment. But what people forget is that months after the verdict, Peter and Hulk Hogan settle with Gawker that releases both Denton and Daulerio from these individual claims. And they're able to walk free.

You know, they were not necessarily ruined by it. And Peter said, look, my goal was to destroy Gawker, not to ruin these people personally. But individuals are held accountable for their actions.

GLENN: Yeah.

RYAN: And that's life.

GLENN: I mean, we all have choices, no matter if everybody else is doing it. We still have a choice.

You know, I'm so intrigued by Peter. I think he is a real force for good. And I think he's a deep and thoughtful man, that doesn't make everything that he -- everything that he does right or good. But he really seems to think about things.

RYAN: Yes.

GLENN: And I heard him say once, it's not that I think I'm right, I'm not even sure if I'm right, I just don't think other people are even thinking about these things. What does that tell you about him?

RYAN: He would say that even about this case. That it's often not that he was right and other people were wrong. It's that Gawker wasn't even -- Gawker just assumed that this Hulk Hogan case would get settled. They weren't even taking it seriously. And so Peter is a person who has theories about the world. And he's willing to put some skin in the game. Right? He's willing to throw some weight behind them and see what happens. And I think -- to me, the lesson of what happened, and what I tried to write about in the book, is that, you can fundamentally disagree with what Peter did, and you can think that it's dangerous and alarming that Gawker doesn't exist anymore. But there is something to study, a lesson to learn, about how this guy did it. And why he did it.

And how he was able to effectuate the change that he needed to happen, outside of writing op-eds or putting out a petition. You know, he -- he made real change in the real world, where other people said, there was nothing you could do about it. And to me, that's a lesson that -- and in some ways, that's an inspiring things right now, in this society, where we're stuck, you know, on both sides of the aisle. I think we just feel like change can't happen. And here, a guy made something happen.

GLENN: Yeah. When -- I saw that in the book that -- that phrase.

I -- I thought to myself, that is something that the world is not even rewarding now. It doesn't reward you to think. It doesn't reward you to think outside of the box and to think differently. And it doesn't reward you to say, I'm not sure if I'm right. I just want us to think about that. And that's really what we're missing.

RYAN: And the irony is that in some ways, Gawker was part of that problem, right? I think one of Thiel's objections to them is not just the despicable things that they did and the violations of privacy, but as the site that just sort of made fun of everyone for every mistake, every failure, every personal idiosyncrasy.

They were dis-incentivizing people from thinking outside the box, from being weird. And weirdness is where innovation comes from and creativity. And we should want people to take risks and turn out to be wrong. What we don't want to do is mercilessly mock them, to the point where nobody tries anything because they don't want to end up on the front page of Gawker.com or any website.

GLENN: Ryan Holiday, thank you very much.

RYAN: Thanks for having me.

(music)

STU: I think we sold you on that story.

GLENN: Good story.

STU: Ryan tells it well.

GLENN: Good book.

STU: And there's a lot in here that's not previously been reported on.

Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday. Also, we should have Ryan back on for Trust Me On Lying.

GLENN: For Trust Me. Yeah. He is a guy who has had firsthand experience, really, with fake news. I mean, it was really kind of his job as a PR person.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And he knows how it works. And it's really fascinating.

STU: Yeah. Quickly on it, the concept in that book was that he -- you know those weird stories that bubble up to the national media. And you're like, how did we even hear about that?

It was his job to try to get them elevated from -- from a blog to a local media, to regional media, to national media, to try to get attention for clients and all sorts of stuff. So he was in the media manipulation business for a long time.

GLENN: And, you know what, it goes to -- remember the first thing that I said when we went to CNN and I said, I'm really uncomfortable with this. The ingesting of news.

STU: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: Because if you make one mistake, that is your basis forever.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: And it's interesting. Because what he did was, it was on a blog. And then he would call the local news and say, did you see this? Did you see this blog?

STU: Did you see this blog?

GLENN: And they would use that as a credible source. And then he'd go to the regional news and said, did you see this in the newspaper? And it got more incredible as it went on.

STU: Yeah.

RADIO

America Has Taken a BEATING. But We Must "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

It’s been a long 3 weeks. America has been beaten and shocked day after day. There was Biden’s disastrous debate, the failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the Secret Service’s failure to uncover why it happened, Biden’s flip-flop on the 2024 presidential race, the Democrat elites’ coronation of Kamala Harris, and most recently, the pro-Hamas riots in Washington, DC. If the events of the last 3 weeks had happened in the Soviet Union, we would all call it a coup! But yet, the media continues insisting that everything is fine. “Nothing’s changed for them. Your whole world has changed,” Glenn says. “Our country is in dire trouble.” But we can’t lose hope. Glenn reminds us of 2 heroic moments that should inspire us to, in the words of Donald Trump, “fight, fight, fight!” But not on the streets like the leftist mobs. We must fight by learning the truth and refusing to be silenced.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So it's been a long three weeks. Remember, this phase, this chapter of America, this birth pang, started just a few weeks ago when we had a debate and the president froze on stage. He couldn't remember where he really was at -- at any given time.

He wasn't making sense. He had no word retrieval. It was a frightening moment for many Americans.

Not because, oh, my gosh. He will lose to Donald Trump. But because that guy is the guy who is running the country right now.

That's not an easy job. And we have enemies, breathing down our neck. And they are looking at us. And licked their chops.

We, because of the policies of this president, we for the first time, since I was a kid, we were actually talking about the use of nuclear weapons!

That's insane.

So when that shock hit us, and we were like, this is the guy running the country. What was happening?

And the shock of, we've been lied to by everyone. They've told us, he was fine. Sharper than ever.

He's the sharpest tack in the drawer. And we realized, he's not in control.

Who is?

What did this mean?

Why didn't anybody say anything?

Why hasn't the cabinet invoked the 25th Amendment. And all of that leads us to, who can we trust?

Who has actually been running the country?

Why hasn't anyone said anything. And if you do say something, how come you're labeled a conspiracy theorist?

Remember, if you said four weeks ago that he was incompetent and unable to continue as president of the United States, you were a conspiracy theorist.

A year ago, when Democrats were saying, he can't run for another term. We want somebody else. The Democratic Party squashed those people. Wouldn't you have a primary. Because he's our guy.

So that's what began four weeks ago.

And then what was it? A week, week and a half after that, we have this moment with President Trump in Pennsylvania.

DONALD: -- I really see something that said -- take a look at what happened.
(yelling)
GLENN: So we don't know who is in charge, and then a week later, the guy running against him, is gunned down on live television.

And we don't know, really, what happened. In fact, we still don't know what happened. Because the head of the security. The Secret Service, we all figured out and found out, was hired by the First Lady, not the president. The First Lady was the one who pushed for her DEI hire at the Secret Service, and she was protecting Pepsi Co.

And now, the most important leaders of the world. And so, we went okay. Well, there's another shock.

But let's hear her out. And she testifies, and she says this.

VOICE: Was this a colossal failure?

KIM: It was a failure.

VOICE: Yes or no. Was it a colossal failure, yes or no?

KIM: I have admitted it was a terrible --

VOICE: This is a yes or no series of questions. Was it a colossal failure? Yes or no?

KIM: Yes.

VOICE: Have you provided a list to the Oversight Committee? Yes or no?

KIM: I'll have to get back to you on that.

VOICE: That is a no.

Have you provided all audio and video recordings in your possession to this committee as we asked on July 15th? Yes or no?

KIM: I would have to get back to you.

VOICE: That is a no. You're full of (bleep) today. You're just being completely dishonest.

GLENN: I know you're reeling. This is all in a three-week period. Now you're reeling from that. Wait a minute. Was this a setup? What are they covering up? If they're not covering something up, why wouldn't they just be open and honest and transparent? Why wouldn't they feel like most Americans. And now they realize, well, maybe they feel like most Americans. Those we saw on social media, right after the assassination attempt, like they were screaming like they were crazy people.

You missed!

How did you miss!

And a little bit of the American soul just kind of vaporizes and disappears. What is this?

So after that happens, just a few days later, the president is being pressured to resign.

And will let it be his decision. Well, I've already made my decision.

God will have to remove me himself. Saturday, he's saying the same thing.

Then suddenly, Sunday morning, I believe he was given a choice. A coup happened! And our president resigned. Now, I think he should have resigned. Not just from the candidacy, but from the presidency of the United States. Another shock to you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

He's not okay to run a campaign, but he's okay to run the country!

What? And then his replacement is announced. Here is Chuck Schumer. Listen to this.

VOICE: So now that the process is played out. From the grassroots, bottom-up, we are here today, to throw our support, behind vice president Kamala Harris.

I'm clapping. You don't have to.

GLENN: Okay. Good. Thank you.

As the process played out? From the grassroots up? No grassroots movement was going for Kamala Harris. None. None.

Nobody at the bottom voted for her. She was in the primary. She had -- let me count all of the delegates that she won. Zero!

Zero. She was rejected by the voters. And then she was strangely just picked as, oh, she's the one we want.

And the party elites picked her. And then, they had a coup, and picked her again.

And are trying to convince you, that that was a grassroots effort?

What is happening?

Well, the same thing, they've just changed faces. The same kind of cover-up. The same exact kind of garbage that you got from the press before, is happening again.

Who is Kamala Harris.

Well, we know she is fine. And she has a spotless record, right?

We know she's fine. Just like they knew Joe Biden was absolutely fine.

And you're a conspiracy theorist, if you say anything differently.

Well, now, we watched it, with our own eyes.

And media has confirmed it for the last three and a half years. That she was in charge as the border czar.

We have the videotape of all of them saying it. But, no, no, no. Now, we have to change our history.

We have to change our news.

Here's the media. Cut 31, please.

VOICE: Quote, unquote, border czar. Vice President Harris was not a border czar.

VOICE: Meantime, Vice President and border czar, Kamala Harris facing some back lash.

VOICE: What he said about Harris and immigration was not true. She was never appointed border czar.

VOICE: And this will be her first visit to the US/Mexico border region since she was appointed as the border czar by President Biden.

VOICE: People are going to have to tell me about the misinformation. You already hear folks talking about the border czar. She wasn't the border czar.

VOICE: President Biden tagged Kamala Harris -- Vice President Harris to be the border czar.

VOICE: Now, she wasn't the border czar. That's what Republicans labeled her.

VOICE: They were very critical of Kamala Harris, especially in her role as border czar.

VOICE: Now what she's up against is folks lying about her border record, calling her a border czar.

VOICE: Kamala Harris, who was appointed as the border czar.

VOICE: The Biden team didn't declare her the border czar. They wanted her to work on kind of the root causes of immigration.

VOICE: There has been so much criticism against Kamala Harris, you know, she was the border czar.

VOICE: Calling her sort of the border czar, which wasn't necessarily the case.

VOICE: So the border, if they weren't planning to address it in a major way, do not make her your border czar. She met with some of the northern triangle countries, but nothing has effectively changed.

GLENN: Nothing has changed for them.
Your whole word has changed. Our country has changed.

Our country is in dire trouble. There is a clear and present danger off our shores.

It's called China. North Korea. It's called Hamas.

It's called Iran.

Russia. Do you think they're playing this little game of border czar, he's fine, you're a conspiracy theorist!

They know. Just like you know.

And you are looking at this going, this is madness. But that's not all that's happened.

In the last three weeks, let me pick it up here in 60 seconds.

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(music)
I just want you to recognize, why you might be on edge.

Why you might be so tired, right now. A lot has happened, your country, that you love, assuming that you do love it.

Your country has taken a beating over the last just three weeks. Presidential debate. Let me just remind you of that moment again.

VOICE: Until we get the total ban on the -- the total initiative, relative to what we're going to do with more Border Patrol, and more (inaudible).

VOICE: President Trump.

DONALD: I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.

Look, we had the safest border in the history of our country.

GLENN: Stop. Here's the amazing thing. That was a body blow to many Americans. I knew what this state was of our president.

You can see it. But for half the country, it had been denied.

And we were called liars and conspiracy theorists. I didn't celebrate, when I saw that.

I was terrified when I saw that. So yesterday, the president resigns. Cut eight. From the race.

Cut eight.

BIDEN: In the honor of my life, to serve as your president. But in defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it's more important than any title.

I draw strength, and I find joy, in working for the American people.

But this sacred task, of perfecting our union is not about me.

It's about you! Your families. Your futures. It's about we, the people. And we can never forget that. And I never have.

GLENN: Hmm.

Another body blow last night. The -- well, I'm not going to get into it. If you don't understand what I meant by body blow of just that portion of the speech, I don't think you understand.

But he's talking about our republic is at stake. And while he's speaking, just a block and a half, from the Capitol building, at the union train station, they're taking down the flags and burning them in the streets.

Here's what happened with the Palestinians in Washington, DC, yesterday. Cut four. They are painting our statues, Hamas is coming. And they are taking down our flags. This is a federal property.

They're taking down the flags, and they're burning them. Imagine, on January 6th, if they would have done that. If they would have spray-painted on the wall, the right is coming.

Imagine the jail time for parading. Nothing happened yesterday.

Ronald Reagan's voice echoes almost every day this my head now.

Not from his presidency. But when he was standing up in 1961, or '64.

And he was talking about a time of choosing.

He had been a Democrat his whole life. And I think he was the first one to say, I didn't leave the Democratic Party, they left me. And he said, it's a time for choosing. And it is.

The president said it last night in his own speech.

You and I both know, and I don't know why our -- our friends, who are Democrats, and I'm not talking about the ones in Washington, or the real de-political people.

I'm talking about the average person. I don't know why they won't admit it. Or they can't see it.

But this is not America. The last three weeks, could be coming from the old Soviet Union.

Prejudice Nevada. Speaks. Loses his place. And looks confused.

Then his challenger is shot after everybody is saying, he's not in charge. He can't be the guy. His main competitor is shot and almost killed.

Would we except that at face value in the Soviet Union? No. Then a coup happens. And Brezhnev is saying, I'm not leaving yet, yet, yet. Then a note is issued with a weird signature that you've never seen before. A weird signature on it, that says, yes. Okay. I'm leaving.

Would we accept that at face value?

And what would we expect to happen? Brezhnev, a couple of days later, coming out and having a press conference, after some sort of deal seems to have been brokered. And he would endorse the new guy, stepping in.

And the press would say, what a hero Brezhnev is! What a proud son of the republic. Right?

That's Soviet stuff.

That's not American. The protesters on the streets, nothing happens to them.

You are seeing our history destroyed. The real time destroying of news and history.

Rewriting of history. You're seeing our traditions destroyed. But I want you to keep one thing in mind: This is where you are right now.

Most likely. And you're like, jeez. I just feel horrible. Great!

Let me say some things to you that the mainstream and the -- the political party, does not want you to hear.

GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.

Pat Gray joins me today. If you just joined us, you missed an effort to try to explain probably why you feel beat up and you feel tired. We all do. Because we have watched our country take an absolute beating from the debate, right into the assassination, right into the, you know, people and social media screaming, how could you possibly miss? Which was just another assault on your senses.

Then the Secret Service director Cheatle saying, yeah. Well, it was a slopy roof. And we don't like to put people on hot, slopy roofs. And then another -- then a coup happens. Kamala is made the nominee. And they start changing history again.

And start saying, oh, no. She was never the border Florida. When they were the ones who told us she was the border czar. Then last night, the president, while he's doing that, the Palestinians are marching for Hamas, in Washington, DC. And burning an effigy of Bibi Netanyahu, and taking down the flags in front of the Union Station, a federal building. And burning the flags. That's what happened in the last three weeks.

And you're like, there's nobody doing anything.

There's nothing. Well, let me show you another side.

And let me show you what happened when the Palestinians took the flag town. They started burning it.

And there was a group of Americans that went in for that flag. And they were police officers. Let me show you the bravery, it took to go in. And get that flag.

Here you see, maybe what? Ten police officers.

They are surrounded by an angry Hamas crowd. And they are getting the flag, off of the ground.

And people aren't happy. And they lock arms with the flag, and back out of the area. I watched this, and I am moved by the bravery of those officers and I am grateful to those officers.

That they remember who we are. You have a right to burn the flag. You're a moron if you do it. But you have a right to burn the flag. But you do not have a right to deface our monuments, to write Hamas is coming on our monuments.

Take town our flags, and then fly the Palestinian flag. No. I'm sorry.

You don't have a right to do that. And in a sane America, you would have been arrested. But we're not a sane America. We're a sick America.

But I want to show you the parts that are standing. The left immediately went after Donald Trump, when he stood up, after being shot in the head.

Secret Service wanted just to rush him out of there. But he said, and you can hear it on the tape, no. No. No, no.

I need to say something to people. No.

Wait. Wait.

And then he did something, that I fear too many of us have already forgotten.

VOICE: Wait. Wait. Wait.

GLENN: He stands up with a clenched fist and says, fight, fight, fight!

VOICE: USA! USA!

GLENN: The press immediately tore him apart saying, look, he wants violence. No. He does not want violence, he is saying, fight for your country. Stand up for your country. Do what those police officers did yesterday. Fight for your flag!

Fight for our history. It's not violent, it is passionate.

And it is rooted in eternal truth.

There are far too many examples, of people being cowards. Far too many examples of people being stupid.

I come to you today, to ask you to recognize the light, the shadows are growing so very dark. But that is only possible when the light begins to get brighter.

Be that light. Be that beacon of hope, in somebody's life.

My executive producer Ricky, this morning. Said, it's been a rough three weeks. And she had tears in her eyes, and she said, I'm just watching my country be destroyed.

And all of us on the -- all of us on the meeting, we all fell silent, because we all felt exactly the same way.

But it's because of her bravery, to say how she felt, that I am giving you and her, this monologue.

It's always darkest before the dawn. They have trashed our country for 20-plus years. They have brought us to the point to where we're at a breaking point.

A place where I said, we would be.

I hoped that we would not. But the country cannot go on, much longer like this.

But I want you to take courage, from the things, the two things that I just showed you, that also happened this week.

And they were big things. They're just not getting play in the media, because that's not their narrative or their agenda.

Your narrative. Your agenda. My narrative, my agenda, is to save the republic!

Now, remember, it was just four weeks ago, that we were having the discussion, whether we were a republic, or a democracy.

And the same people that are lying to you today, about Kamala Harris and the border czar and are in this sudden whipped up frenzy to change history.

All of them are doing it. It's because they're exactly the same people. And they are answering to exactly the same people.

It's just Kamala that they're helping and covering for now.

And not covering for President Biden.

Because President Biden, he has been used up. He's finished.

Move on! They are also the same people, that were telling you, four weeks ago, that we are a democracy. And when we spoke out and said, no. It's a very important distinguish -- distinguishing characteristic.

We are a republic.

We have a democratic vote. But after that vote is taken. Then we're a republic!

They told us we are conspiracy theorists.

That are whipped up, by the right and -- and Donald Trump, because it's our plot. To make people believe we're a republic. Well, let me quote President Biden last night!

Cut 15.

BIDEN: When Ben Franklin was asked, and emerged from the -- the convention going on, whether the Founders had given America a monarchy or a republic, Franklin's response was, a republic, if you can keep it.

A republic. If you can keep it. Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands.

GLENN: Yes. It is. But what he means is, go out and vote. What Franklin meant was educate yourself. Be a responsible citizen. Care about these things. Talk amongst yourself about these things. Discover the truth.

Because the truth will be -- there will always be people who try to hide the truth from you. And it is your responsibility, not the media's responsibility, not my responsibility, but your responsibility.

To educate yourself. And when you see an injustice, fight!

Fight! Fight.

You fight for what is true. And then you go to the ballot box.

You fight for the truth, because it's worth fighting for. It's worth living for. It's the only thing that will change our children's life for the better. Is the truth!

So damn right, fight!

And use that one day that we have a democratic democracy tool, at our disposal. And vote.

You know, I was going to say, may God save the republic. But I was reminded that it was a millimeter, that the president walked offstage two weeks ago. Bleeding from the side of his head, his ear was clipped off.

You and I both know that was a miracle. How dare us feel beaten and discouraged. When the arm of God was made bare. He's doing his part, may you do your part, meet my part.

May we save the republic.

RADIO

The REAL Threat to America: Pro-Hamas DC Riot or Jan 6?

Pro-Palestine protesters took over parts of Washington, DC, to show their hatred of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas was on the ground to document it. Julio tells Glenn how the protesters spray painted monuments with messages like “Hamas is coming,” tore down American flags at Union Station and replaced them with Palestinian flags, and burned the American flags. He also recounts the heroic actions of the US Park Police, which he says was sorely understaffed. Plus, he reveals the biggest differences between these protests and the January 6th Capitol Riot, which he also documented.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Julio Rosas is with us.

He's a Blaze media national correspondent. He was actually standing with the protesters yesterday. Not protesting. But I'll bet he was parading. He should be arrested.

But he was with the protesters, the Hamas protesters, who were absolutely vile. Outside of Union Station, where they took down the American flags, replaced them with Palestinian flags. And then defaced all of our monuments there at Union Station. Saying Hamas is coming.

Which I really like. You know, I like that warning. I don't think I needed it. But I like that warning. Julio is with us now, to tell us what it was like in the crowd. Hi, Julio.

JULIO: Hi, Glenn. Thanks for having me.

GLENN: You bet. So what did you see that surprised you? And what did it feel like?

JULIO: Well, nothing surprised me. I mean, the whole reason why I -- the whole reason why, you know, we were willing to -- Blaze was willing to send me is because I told them.

I said, this is going to get out of hand. Because this is not Biden. This is not Harris. This is Benjamin Netanyahu that is speaking to Congress. I mean, this is their guy, that they hate the most. He's in town.

So this will be their only shot to make their -- their attack, in terms of destruction and rioting.

And so I'm not surprised at all, that they are no longer hiding their Hamas support. And like you said, we've all known this for a while.

You, but now they're really letting the mask slip. Just because the war has continued. In Gaza. And there has been a cease-fire. There has been no -- Israel hasn't ceased with this. They are getting madder and madder as the months go on. It was crazy. Them tearing down the American flag. Inside Union Station. Again, it's not surprising.

They've done that. Similar groups have done that all across the country. To the credit of the US park police. They did move in to stop -- and I filmed that for TheBlaze media.

GLENN: Yeah. I have to tell you, I watched it. Hang on just a second.

Can we play that video? If you happen to be watching TheBlaze right now. We'll play that video. And I'll describe what's happening. You're not seeing this anymore. You're seeing the depressing part of defacing and an angry crowd, and the Palestinian flags going up.

But you don't see what the US park police did, and it was -- they were greatly outnumbered.

And they go right into the crowd. In what was there, probably ten of them, Julio?

JULIO: Just about. Unfortunately, the park police, like other law enforcement agencies, they are severely understaffed. And that's something that their union has been vocal about for a very long time.

And so that's why, you know, they were able to make the arrests. They were able to save the flag, but they weren't able to prevent further destruction to the monuments or to the other flags.
And that's just because they didn't have the manpower to do that.

GLENN: Yeah. Well, we're $35 trillion in debt.

The cupboards are bare. You know, we're spending $4 trillion. But we don't have the money for extra law enforcement.

The -- the other picture you took. And I don't know how you got in there, to take this. But the picture you took of them folding the flag, inside the office. They took the flag back. And folded it up. And preserved it. That's remarkable.

JULIO: Yeah. And that is their -- they take that very seriously. I mean, the park police. They protect the national mall. They protect the monuments.

In New York and San Francisco as well.

And they take their job seriously. Because they protect these highly trafficked tourist areas. Things that are -- you know, when people say the United States. They automatically think of the national mall. You know, all these monuments and stuff.

So they try their best, in these United Nations situations to mitigate and prevent the destruction from happening. But like I said, unfortunately, they don't have the manpower to completely secure these areas, when there's that many rioters in the area. And this is the unfortunate consequences of the George Floyd -- post-George Floyd world.

They're not really allowed to, because the -- the police command and the general, you know, higher level in terms of politicians. Their approach is now, well, the police had to de-escalate. And what that is fancy for. The police have to leave the area. And not engage. And let people do what they want.

That's basically what they're told to do. But obviously, when they're able to take action, they -- they will try their best to do that.

GLENN: So can you compare this -- I mean, you weren't at January 6th. But can you compare the tone of the crowd, and the things that were happening at all.

Did it at all resemble January 6th?

JULIO: Actually, I did -- January 6th. I was there that day, and I made it.

GLENN: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that.

JULIO: No, no, no. It's all good. It was quite the day. But, no, so I can kind of compare the two.

So, obviously, the big difference between January 6th and July 24th -- J24, is that the authorities were actually prepared this time.

They brought in police from New York. They brought in police from Maryland. They brought in extra law enforcement. They actually secured the perimeter of the Capitol of the complex.

Which didn't happen January 6th. And I have always maintained that, yes. It was a riot. But it was the most preventable riot of that season.

You know, political violence is something that we have been experiencing for months. Prior to January 6th.

And so I don't know why -- so I -- it is my belief, that they allowed it to happen. By not adequately preparing for it.

So that's why, yesterday, you know, J20 tower. They didn't get close to the Capitol building. They tried. And that's why, within the first five minutes of the march.

They tried to push their way through a police line. That's why the police had to pepper spray, to get them to stop.

But, again, the rhetoric is openly praising terrorist groups. And making it known by defacing monuments.

I mean, that is -- that is something that has been happening for a long time.

I've actually been telling Congress, that they need to take this seriously.

And as typical of DC. They don't really start to get going, until it happens in their backyard. There are things happening now.

Okay. We should probably focus on the street protesters. There's a lot of focus on the college campuses. I'm not saying that is not important. But the street protests have been happening since October 8th of last year. And they have caused massive amounts of damage, a lot of violence.

And that's something that needs to be looked at, at the federal level.

So this was obviously not nearly as bad in terms of the Capitol building being breached. Because that didn't happen.

But again, that know didn't happen pause they actually prepared for it.

It's sad. If there will be a major protest. We have to wall up the White House.

We have to wall up the Capitol building. Or wall up the Supreme Court.

And nine times out of ten. It's because of the far left.

GLENN: Are you going to share the pictures of the cleanup, that you took this morning? have you shared them already? Or have I been misinformed? I understood that you were there taking pictures this morning of the cleanup or maybe not.

JULIO: No, I -- my flight was early this morning. So unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that. Sorry about that.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

I hear that they were out scrubbing the monuments and cleaning up, you know, all the aftermath. Did anybody go to jail?

JULIO: So I was told by park police, that at least ten people were -- were arrested. And that was sort of the instruction of government proper. For defacing. And resisting arrest. Fighting.

But true to the area. A lot of them were quickly released.

That the -- the Palestinian groups were posting videos, showing their, quote, unquote, comrades, being released within -- within hours.

So that's another reason why the police are reluctant to go out of their way to put themselves into harm's way. They do know, even if they do arrest people, for not minor offenses, in these liberal jurisdictions. The rest of these -- it's just going to let that go.

GLENN: Julio, thank you so much.

Julio Rosas. You can find his personal Substack MostlyPeaceful.live. This was mostly peaceful, yesterday, I'm sure it was.

And you could also find his reports at -- on Blaze media and TheBlaze.com. Thanks, Julio, I appreciate it.

JULIO: Yeah. Thank you for having me.

RADIO

A Complete Sellout?! Harley Davidson's Woke Agenda EXPOSED

Harley Davidson is seen as an all-American company. But recently, filmmaker Robby Starbuck exposed Harley Davidson's internal commitment to woke DEI initiatives. Starbuck reviews what he found: holding "explicitly racist" anti-white trainings, funding "all ages" Pride events with questionable activities, donating to extremely progressive groups ... "This is a complete sellout of common sense," Glenn says. So, why would Harley Davidson go woke? And will the company reverse course with enough customer backlash?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So I don't know if you know the name Robby Starbuck. He's a filmmaker. And I know Matt Walsh. Rightfully gets a lot of credit for, you know, exposing the pediatric transgender clinic in Nashville. But it was actually Robby and his wife, that actually exposed that. And Matt picked it up and ran with it, and changed a lot of things. He has been exposing those companies, that are all in on DEI and LGBTQ and everything else. He's exposed John Deere. Gosh, what are the other companies that he's done?

Big ones. I mean, Bud Light did one commercial with a transgender person. And they were almost destroyed.

He now has exposed Harley-Davidson. I just want to go over what Harley-Davidson is doing. Harley-Davidson is, as you know, one of the most beloved American brands out there.

Harley and Indian, to me, are more American than -- than Chevy and Ford. I mean, these are true American brands.

And what he found is a complete sellout of, I think, their customers. And a complete sellout to -- of common sense.

He just -- they just sold common sense out. It's gone at Harley-Davidson. Robby is with us now, to explain exactly what he found, and what we can do about it.

Robby, how are you?

ROBBY: I'm doing well, thanks for having me, Glenn.

GLENN: You bet. And thanks for all your hard work on this. You've done some amazing things. So expose Harley-Davidson.

What did you find at Harley-Davidson?

ROBBY: Well, you know, it's pretty incredible. When somebody came to me first with Harley being one of these little companies after we went through Tractor Supply and John Deere, I didn't believe it. I kind of had a hard time believing it. Because the Harley brand is like this macho brand, and, you know. Everybody knows somebody who has a Harley.

And it's so diametrically opposed to who they are. So we kind of pulled the thread. And as we looked into it, you know, lo and behold, in these stainability reports, which usually reveal a lot about the company.

We found that they had put 1800 employees through these woke trainings, including one group of employees, specifically white males.

They sent to a white male only diversity training. And if you look at the company that does this, it's not like, trust me. It's not a favorable training.

You get the worst training. You get the one that white people bad. You know, white men have a specific, you know, place to have to behave a certain way.

It's explicitly racist in my opinion. When you go further down the line, they have a plan to what they call diversify.

Their supply chain. Which is really just corporate speak for we want less white people. And you think about that -- just the idea is just so far and away from what the American dream is. It should be about merit. And who are the best suppliers. Who is providing the best stuff?

How do you do all this? So if you force diversity in your supply chain, what's going to happen to safety, what is going to happen to all these other things? Because you have this benchmark that you want to reach. And so all these arbitrary benchmarks pop up. But then there's also the pride stuff. They're funding events. They fund one pride event that was considered, quote, all ages. Where it was described as a rage room, in the marketing materials, for people who need to let off steam.

And that's right across the area where drag queens interact with kids, for story time.

And they play catch with Dad area for anybody who had daddy issues. And I'm not joking. That's actually, those were the three things that were next to each other.

Okay? That's a sponsorship for events like that. It is so diametrically opposed to the values of Harley riders. And they're also a founding member, a platinum founding member of the Wisconsin, LGBTQ plus Chamber of Commerce.

Which, I would question, why does there even need to be a Chamber of Commerce, for what type of -- you know, I think that's pretty weird.

GLENN: I know. It's very weird. It's very weird. They also make February, March -- they also made February, March, months of inclusion.

Because we need three months? Not just Pride Month?

I mean, the money they have donated now to the United Way, promoting, you know, Antiracist Baby. You know, the Ibrahim Kennedy thing. They have a Pride ride.

Let's see. They have events at their corporate offices. Their legal department has -- has -- is being celebrated for its racial equity and literacy challenges. I mean, it goes on and on and on.

ROBBY: That is insane, by the way. Yeah. That permeates the legal industry. Just so people know. That 21-day training is something that is happening, you know, pretty much throughout most of legal America, if we could call them that.

And it's one of the craziest trainings out of them. They're right up there with the United Way 21-day -- they have the 21-day equity challenge United for Equity, is what they call it.

It's some of the most explicit, Marxist training programs you could possibly have, pushing, you know, the landmarks to disorganization, to you know, reparations. And people like, you know, Ibrahim Kennedy and Robin DiAngelo.

You have the whole list of these left activists, for not just the Democratic Party. But kind of for modern day communism. That's what they're pushing through.

GLENN: So Harley-Davidson is -- and a macho guy's bike. Always been. An American bike.

And I don't see a lot of transgender business going Harley-Davidson's way. What -- I mean, I know one of my close friends, that I work with, owns a Harley.

And he said, everybody in my bike club, is just -- their eyes are bleeding. They're so crazy about this. Because they just feel Harley-Davidson has betrayed them.

What are -- what is Harley-Davidson's reply?

ROBBY: So there's no response yet. But, you know, I would caution that in the case of Tractor Supply, it took three weeks of us continuing with the story and not letting it go. Releasing little bits of information every day, for them to relent and turn back on everything. In the case of John Deere, it took a week for them to backtrack on a good portion of the stuff that we had -- in Harley's case, I don't know if they can wait a week. They have Sturgis Rally, which if people don't know, it's a big biker rally that happens August 2nd.

And Harley has a booth there. I don't think -- and they have an event there, actually, too. I don't think that they want to talk to all these bikers out there, about this program and all of these donations. And what they've allowed corporate offices and everything. I think they would probably like to clean this up before then.

That would be my guess. If they don't, they are dumber than I thought they were. I think they're doing this to please a certain element within the sort of financial world that's pushing these DEI scores and everything.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

ROBBY: And it's not just -- as much as I would like to say it's BlackRock pushing this stuff. Because I have my issues with BlackRock and with Vanguard and State Street. On more insidious things, the real poison is -- you know, the woke mind virus is a virus. It's carried by somebody.

And it's carried by the HR people who have come out of these colleges, totally indoctrinated into leftism. And so their job when they get inside there is, okay. Spread the virus through the whole network.

And so they'll use societal down points. Societal pressure points. Like what happened with George Floyd. As a way to put pressure on the higher ups to say, hey. We need to do this. To respond effectively. We need to show our employees that we care.

So the higher ups, in many cases, they just relent because they don't want to look racist. They don't want to look bigoted. At least that's how it used to be.

Now, a lot of those executives are looking for a way out. We have had executives reach out to us, and beg us to go after their companies in the future.

Because they want an excuse to get rid of DEI, which I think it's still cowardly.

Because it's still going backwards. We have companies we really need to go after.

We have now, at this point. Since we started this against Tractor Supply, over a thousand whistle-blowers.

So we are just trying to scale up the operation to work with all these people and go through all the documents and evidence that has been handed over to us, so that we can look at, you know, how have these great corporate American brands betrayed their customers and the values, especially the ones that depend on conservative America?

Because if we can't save them, then we can't save our country.

GLENN: So, Robby, I really believe all of this started, because of Occupy Wall Street.

You know, when you look at -- it was -- they were -- they were, you know, camping right in front of all of the big financial firms.

All of the banks. All of, you know, Wall Street. And corporate.

And then all of a sudden, it just kind of stopped and went away. And I -- I am absolutely convinced that a deal was struck at that point. Don't come after us. We'll help you.

And it was right around that time, that all of this money, from these financial firms, and from corporations, started to go these radicalized groups. For the first time.

And I think this was a deal cut, by the banks and by the giant corporations, just stick it on the American people. We'll be your ally.

We'll help pay for it. And now they're destroying their own businesses.

ROBBY: You know, Glenn, there could be an element of that. And I wouldn't doubt it in the slightest. I almost think it's even more insidious that be that. Because the long march to the institutions. Corporations are not exempt from that. And there's been an element of these -- you know, folks that I would say, are really, really, deeply committed to Marxism. Who they have embedded themselves in every segment of the American life.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

ROBBY: And I think they've done a much better job at it, than we have as conservatives, protecting our country. And that's really on -- you know, we could go on and on about who is at fault for that. But honestly, it doesn't matter. The people who are here now, like you and me and others, we need to be -- we need to be the line. You know, we're the line that says, okay. We're pushing back.

We're not just defending. We're going on offense. And that's what we're doing here. It's like, we have to go on offense, and take back some of these institutions. And that will help through election. It will help through getting Trump into office. It will happen a lot of different ways.

But you have to go through each one of these institutions.

I'm more concerned about this people embedded inside. How do you get rid of those people? The people who -- even if you beat back DEI, if you don't get the whole department fired, are going to reinvent it in some other name. You know, that's the real virus at this point. It's like, how do you get that out of the company?

GLENN: Robby, I'm big fan of what you do and your wife. Make sure you say hi to her for us.

Please let us know. We'll continue to watch. But please let us know how you can help.
Thank you for exposing it.
ROBBY: Appreciate it.
GLENN: You bet. Buh-bye.

Robby Starbuck. You can follow him on Twitter, and follow the story.

It is -- this one was a big one.

John Deere was bad. Tractor supply was worse. This one is crazy bad.

RADIO

Tulsi Gabbard: Why "Anti-Democracy” Elites Are FORCING Kamala Harris on Voters

The Democrat Party claims to be the champion of "democracy." But Party elites seem to be practically coronating Vice President Kamala Harris to be their 2024 presidential nominee - WITHOUT consulting the voters. Former Democratic presidential candidate-turned-Independent Tulsi Gabbard joins Glenn to explain what's going on: "It is just a facade. [The nomination process has] already been wrapped up." Plus, Gabbard explains why Harris is NOT a moderate "unity" candidate. In fact, she may become the most progressive Democratic nominee ever. And Tulsi also discusses whether she would accept an offer to be Secretary of State or Defense in a second Trump administration.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome to the program now, Tulsi Gabbard. How are you, Tulsi?

TULSI: Aloha, my friend. It's great to talk to you, always.

GLENN: By the way, I'm pushing for you to be the Secretary of Defense if Trump would win. I think you would make a great Secretary of Defense.

TULSI: I appreciate that. I think there will be opportunity, should Trump get elected, to serve as Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense. Be in a position to actually begin to reshape our country's foreign policy, to one that Trump has advocated for all along. One that puts the interests of the American people and our country first, and prevents from us getting into these unnecessary counterproductive regime change wars, and begins to enact those policies that allows our country to succeed.

GLENN: So I never thought of you as Secretary of State. That is an interesting idea. That might even be better than Secretary of Defense. But, anyway, let's talk about Tulsi Gabbard. I'm sorry. Kamala Harris.

Kamala is probably the most left candidate we've ever had. And she's being really installed by the Democratic Party.

I want to talk to you about the installation here in a second.

But first, what would we be getting from a cam Harris?

JIM: You know, the Democrats themselves tout President Biden as the most, quote, unquote, progressive president our country has ever seen. And this was supposed to the guy who was going to come in and be a moderating influence on the Democratic Party. The guy who said that he would unite all Americans and serve all Americans. And from day zero, he did exactly the opposite in dividing us by race. And enacting these radical, woke agendas, that are hurting our children, hurting our education system, hurting the safety of our communities. I could go on and on. You talk about these issues all the time.

We've talked about foreign policy. Really, when you look at Kamala Harris, you can expect more of the same. But worse. I think what it comes down to is just the need for us to make sure that we remind voters over and over, as we head into this election, even if a Democrat has changed their horse in this race, the substance, the policies, and, quite frankly, the real decision makers behind the scenes. Who have been pulling the strings.

Whether it's Robby Mook from Hillary Clinton's campaign. Or Tony Blinken Biden's.

You know, decades with President Biden. Or President Obama's lackeys in the White House.

These people were making decisions over the last three and a half years.

They're going to continue to call the shots. Which means we can expect the same disastrous policies that we have seen and worse.

GLENN: I really think that Biden was forced out.

I think they held something over his head, either the 25th Amendment or, you know, hey, look at your son. We may not be able to stop the impeachment proceedings because of the Hunter stuff. And they gave him a deadline of Sunday.

This is all my speculation, by the way. Gave him a deadline of Sunday, and he folded.

And I don't -- I mean, it's clear, that he's not running the country. He's not really running the presidency.

Because why -- why are you okay to be the president, but you're not there enough to run a campaign. That makes no sense.

But then they pick Tulsi Gabbard to replace her.

And it's surprising --

TULSI: Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris.

GLENN: Barack Obama is not for it.

What did you say?

PAT: Kamala. You said --

TULSI: You said they picked Tulsi Gabbard. They picked Kamala Harris.

GLENN: Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry.

TULSI: If it was me, I'm telling you, we would be having a very different conversation here.

GLENN: Yeah, I know we would. I knew we would. I know we would. I'm sorry. They picked Kamala Harris. And I don't think she's going to be running the -- the presidency either. I agree with you.

But who is actually -- who is this cabal?

Shouldn't we be asking that question and getting that answer?

TULSI: We absolutely should, Glenn.

You know, it's the people who are invested. Ultimately, it's those who -- whose power relies on having a figure head that they can role.

So, you know, you can look at some of the people that I have mentioned already. Who have been around Hillary Clinton. They are Hillary Clinton's lackeys. President Obama's lackeys.

People who have been with President Biden for a long time.

It's the military industrial complex that profit from our country being in a constant state of war.

It's those who are -- who are the unelected people in the national security state. Whose ability to -- to control and take more of our liberties. Again, relies on us being in a constant state of war. It's their friends in big tech and propaganda media.

Who benefit from them having access to that power, and that information.

And it's the big money billionaires. Yes. It's the George Soros source.

But others. Reid Hoffmann and others. Who are -- are being -- who are incredibly influential, beyond belief.

Because of their money and their ability to exert control. Fundamentally, what is at the heart of this?

All these different people who make up this cabal of woke warmongers.

Of course, Hillary Clinton is the lead of that.

They are people who don't care about our country.

And they don't believe in the Constitution.

And they're trying to remake this country into something that is their utopia of some sort. But that devise the very foundation of what our country was founded upon.

GLENN: So you were a Democrat. You still -- we still would disagree on many policies.

But I respect you. Because you're at least honest, and love the country.

And I truly believe, that there are millions of Democrats, that are all across the country that I may disagree with, but they love the country. And they don't want to see it fundamentally destroyed and transformed.

They don't agree with these policies. And they've been so brainwashed. That they don't stand up, against -- they believe that Donald Trump is the threat to democracy, and they don't see what their own party is doing.

How is it they can go out and vote, and then have these delegates, and these superdelegates, disregard that vote, entirely.

And say, no. This is who you get.

How are they not up in arms, Tulsi?

TULSI: Well, first of all, let's just go back, there were a number of states that did not even hold primaries. And so to -- and those that would not allow other Democratic candidates. Because, you know, obviously, Bobby Kennedy was running to be the Democratic nominee.

GLENN: Right.

TULSI: There was a member of Congress. I can't remember his name at the moment. Who was running. Obviously, Marianne Williamson, and may have been a few others who were running to be the Democratic nominee. Many other states would either not allow them on the ballot, or did not hold primaries at all.

So the Democratic party, led by President Biden, that claims to be the champions of democracy, would not even allow a democratic process within their own primary. So the anti-democracy initiative began there, and it continues through. So we shouldn't be surprised to see what they are doing today. You know, they are trying to pretend that this is not a coronation of Kamala Harris. President Obama saying, oh, you know. This will be brought to the convention, and delegates will have the opportunity to choose who the next Democratic nominee for president will be.

GLENN: Delegates.

TULSI: But we know that's just a facade. It is just a facade. It's already been wrapped up.

GLENN: Tulsi, thank you so much. Appreciate it. I know you've got to run. And you've just been overseas. And keep it up. Thank you so much.

TULSI: Thank you, Glenn. I appreciate you. Talk to you soon.

GLENN: You bet. You bet.

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