RADIOMarch 19, 2018

‘Passion of the Christ’ actor Jim Caviezel shares why God works through his films

For someone who played the lead in the greatest story of all time, Jim Caviezel seems like a pretty humble guy.

The Catholic actor, who is slated to play Jesus again in a sequel to Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” joined Glenn in the studio today to talk about what it’s like to be a believer in Hollywood and how he wants to continue to give his career over to God.

Author reveals the one alarming stat that shows US Christians are in trouble

“It was always God through me that would make these films great,” Caviezel said. He added that his goal was always that “I don’t want them to see me; I want them only to see You [God].”

Caviezel is making headlines with another biblical role; he portrays the disciple Luke in his latest film, “Paul, Apostle of Christ,” which is coming to theaters this weekend.

On today’s show, he talked about the contrast between the value his faith gives to his life and the emptiness of Hollywood celebrity on its own.

“People will give up everything for a red carpet,” he said.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: Jim Caviezel is in studio with us. A good man and a friend. We grew up, kind of together. I mean, we went to the same elementary school. And you were, what? Two years behind me, Jim?

JIM: I was -- I was in third grade when you were in eighth grade. But I saw you for a second in third grade.

GLENN: And you remember it.

JIM: I remembered you in the wide-legged corduroy pants.

GLENN: Yep. That was me.

JIM: Was it Robert Conine? Rose Krantz. Peter Janakey.

GLENN: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

JIM: And we rode the bus -- the school bus together. I remember you -- I remember you jumping up and down, up on Peter Janakey's shoulders. I remember Sister Agnes Joseph coming to our class and said she just saw you debate the entire class. Michael Rosencrantz told me that that boy is a genius. And she was saying -- and Janakey was pretty genius too.

GLENN: Yeah, well, none of those stories were true. Yeah, none of those stories were true.

So how are you?

JIM: I'm good.

GLENN: Yeah. Now, you're in a new film called Paul: Apostle of Christ. I haven't seen it yet. When does it come out?

JIM: March 23rd.

GLENN: Last time I saw you, you had -- you were still reeling from, you know, the -- not temptation of Christ. But the --

JIM: Passion of Christ.

GLENN: Passion of Christ. And you were still reeling from that. And I think you are one of the bravest men I think I've ever met. One of the most loyal men to God that I've ever met.

And I think -- wrongfully persecuted for what you've -- what you've done. The standards that you've taken. You've been very careful and very true.

When you were in school, when we were there together, you made a promise to God. Can you talk about that?

JIM: I was given a gift. And I -- I think it's very difficult for God to give certain people gifts. Because once they get the opportunity, it starts out being, here, God, I'll give you all that. And it becomes, you know, nine for you, one for me, and then it eventually becomes nine for me, one for you.

So I just said that I would make the kind of films that would, you know, affect people's lives. Like, you know, It's a Wonderful Life. When I met Jimmy Stewart, I was a waiter for him. And I went and got him a drink. And I was working at a party. And they told me that I couldn't speak to any of the celebrities. And I saw that guy and I said, well, I could get fired for talking to him. So at the time, I had applied to the US Naval Academy. I applied three different times and didn't get in. And I had a shot at West Point. And I told him, you know, I know that you flew the liberators over Germany. And he was just shocked that I knew. Here I am 19 years old, 20 years old, and I knew so much about him.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JIM: And I think that -- Clooney told me one time, George said that when they were at -- he was with Rosemary, his aunt, and they were at Stewart's house. And on the TV was his academy award, and Stewart said, you know, I wish I had done more.

And here's a guy that made arguably one of the greatest films ever made. I watch it every year. It's a Wonderful Life. I want to have that kind of affect on people. But it was always God through me that would make these films great.

GLENN: Is it true that you said, I want to play you?

JIM: No, I said, I don't want them to see me. I want them to only see you. And that became the difference. And to do that was on the cross, I felt the love that he had for me. But when I asked him to come closer than that, he said, you may not like what you're going to get. And I said, as long as they see you, that's all that matters. And what I felt was a broken heart because our Lord is not loved by most of our children. And, you know, I tell people, I know God loves you. And if you don't know that, then, you know, kind of live the life that makes people feel that. But those that say that -- that have accepted that, you know, just get up in the morning and tell Jesus that you love him. He needs to hear that too.

GLENN: You are -- you would have gotten along with Hollywood a long time ago. With the Jimmy Stewarts of the world. I think they were more like you.

JIM: Right.

GLENN: Now not so much. Now not so much. And yet you are consistently amazing in every role I have ever seen you in. You are just tremendous.

JIM: Glenn, I've this said before. Hollywood, at best -- you know, if that really is the world, at best, it can only like you. Because the love -- it does not come from man. It comes from God. So at best, Hollywood can like you. And I can prove it to you, when you go to the Academy Awards. Former winners are on the sideline. It's over the current winner. And you look at some of the films. And the substance that's coming out. And they're making all over that. People will give up everything for a red carpet. But the question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to be liked by many or loved by one?

GLENN: I have a friend, John Irwin, from the Irwin Brothers. And they just made a film. What was the name of it? Yeah. I Can Only Imagine.

It came out this weekend. It's supposed to make $2 million. It's a faith film. It's really good. It has Dennis Quaid in it. Supposed to make $2 million. It made $17 million. It's only in 1600 theaters. It's number three this weekend.

JIM: Yeah, that means the per screen average was more than the two films prior -- that are ahead of them. That's over $10,000 a screen.

GLENN: Yeah.

JIM: That's extraordinary.

GLENN: Yeah. And you're not reading about it anywhere.

JIM: No, you won't.

GLENN: Yeah, but since you were in Passion, things have changed. You don't need Hollywood as much as you did.

JIM: The system -- you know, the -- the truth is out there. And it's not going to go away. And, you know, the -- the --

GLENN: The Irwin brothers?

JIM: Yeah. He came up -- I don't know which one.

GLENN: John probably.

JIM: He did the Steve McQueen documentary. Did you see that? American Icon.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

JIM: He handed it to me when I walked out. And I went home and watched it. And here, we can arguably say that Steve McQueen was one of the greats. Physical actor. A guy who was absolutely the king of cool. But what was cool about him, he was hot about something. He was an orphan kid essentially. And I watched this documentary, and it just moved me to tears. Even at the end, he was searching for something greater. And he said there was a recording of him that his wife had gave out. And he said he wished he had touched more people's lives from Jesus. Billy Graham was there at the end of his life.

And he -- he was looking for his Bible, as he was dying. And Billy Graham gave him his Bible, who was a great that just passed away.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And without Billy Graham, we would not have had the reaction from America. We needed his support, and he gave it to us on the Passion of the Christ.

GLENN: What do you think about the division between our faith sometimes? You know, between, you know, the Baptists and the Catholics and the Mormons and the Protestants and everything else. What do you -- how do we solve that and come together on bigger issues?

JIM: Well, it's certainly not going to be beating you over the head. I mean, if God wanted to, he certainly could beat us over the head.

GLENN: Yeah. Isn't he though?

JIM: What?

GLENN: Beating us over the head. I think he is starting to beat us over the head.

JIM: Well, it eventually can come to that. But right now -- I mean, there is a wrath and a justice that is coming if we don't essentially -- look, I really feel that the ideal way would be love that we would just naturally turn to him. And I got that at a young age.

But the -- we have an opportunity right now, to decide where we want to go. As far as, you know, our feeling, I do believe there is one truth. And we'll know that one day in heaven. If there were many truths, there would not be a truth. And there would be much divisions in heaven.

What there is probably the right way. But I look at Jesus and he did not beat people over the head with either turn or burn. Now, that is out there.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

JIM: But it's -- what I find is that you have the truth. Years ago, that would all -- it would be given to us, just truth. And essentially, that would become fire and brimstone. And now it's all grace. You know, all love and forgiveness and everything. But then that becomes sentimental hogwash. Our Lord is both truth and grace.

GLENN: Are you happy?

JIM: Yes. When I came in here, I was a little frustrated.

(laughter)

But generally, yes. Because I know that I'm -- you know, I -- I have the future forever with Jesus, you know, in heaven. And I tell people that. You know, I do believe it. And I do believe it's worth dying for. And I know I'm going to die someday. And I -- I tell people that because, you know, I tell people, yes, our Lord loves you. But I don't always feel that. It is hard. But, you know, come hell or high water, you do the right thing, no matter what.

You just try to keep doing it.

STU: Yeah. I want to talk to you a little bit about that. Because doing the right thing is really hard. And you're a guy who has actually walked that walk. You've really walked that walk.

JIM: You know Marcus Luttrell. That was the last event we were at. Marcus reached out to me because I put in a movie, The Count of Monte Cristo, "God Will Give Me Justice." And he wrote that on the cave wall.

GLENN: Yeah.

JIM: And he became close. And I was -- the last time I was with him, I was with him and Chris Kyle. And I never saw him again. Obviously, that night, we went out -- a great night. And he wanted to just talk about that. But how many soldiers that come up to me in the airports and, you know, Special Forces, guys just ask me about Jesus. They say, do you really believe in that? Because I heard you suffer. I heard you were struck by lightning. And had open heart surgery. That you went through horrible pains. Do you really believe in that stuff?

And why are they asking me that? And then eventually, they talk about, you know, I've had to take somebody's life, by my own hand.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. And what that's like. And is there a place in heaven for me? You know, almost like daring God. It reminds me of Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump when he's up at the top of the tower. He says, all right. God. You and me. And I just love to -- I identify with them.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

JIM: That there are people out there that will suffer whatever it takes because they feel a brotherhood. And I feel that brotherhood with our Lord. And I want to let them know that they're loved.

GLENN: Back with Jim Caviezel here in just a second. He's got a new movie out, called Paul: Apostle of Christ. It is in theaters Friday, the 23rd. That's this Friday. You can find out more about it at Paulmovie.com. Twitter handle @Paulmovie.

Jim Caviezel, when we return.

GLENN: Jim Caviezel. You might know him from many -- many movies that he has been in. Most famously, obviously, he played Jesus in Passion of the Christ. But also Person of Interest. The People's Choice Award. And -- and now in a new movie, called Paul: Apostle of Christ. And you play Luke.

JIM: I do.

GLENN: Tell me about it.

JIM: Well, the film is right at the end of Paul's life, like the last two weeks. And he's in the Mamertine Prison in Rome. And this is during the -- one of the biggest terror reigns of Christians, which was during Nero. And I basically get into the prison. And I try to bring his message of hope to the Christian communities that are barely alive in that area. And, of course, they're crucifying and burning them. Using them as light fixtures all over Rome. And I'm trying to give this message of hope. And he really doesn't have the message that they're looking for. They don't know what to do.

And so really what the film -- when I read it, I said, this is now -- this is just -- we're all playing characters in Scripture right now. You know, often people, when they look at the Bible, they say, well, it's a piece of history.

It's not the same as if you were to go back -- you know, we were just talking about Berlin, Germany.

And that's a history, you try to learn from history.

But this is something quite extraordinary, when you read Scripture, because it -- it goes -- it permeates your brain, into your heart. And bypasses it, and goes into that. And it's really -- and we're all playing a different character, you know. I got to play Jesus in the Passion. But some of us get to play Judas. And some play the Pharisees, and some are Herod. And that's playing out now.

GLENN: The Pharisees, the real problem there was the hypocrisy. And there are a lot of us, are Pharisees right now.

JIM: Yes. And there are Judases out there too.

GLENN: You've -- you've -- you've taken quite a hit your whole career. What gets you through -- what do you -- I mean, your low points -- you know, you've had -- you are a great actor. And because of what you believe, they -- you're not -- you're not asked to be in all of the great films.

JIM: Uh-huh.

GLENN: How do you get through that?

JIM: I get through it because I was in the greatest film there ever was.

You know, look, the -- I -- I almost never became an actor. I almost never did The Passion of the Christ. I almost never married my wife Kerri. I almost never adopted my three children. All three of them had -- two had tumors. One had the cancer, sarcoma.

And I thought, well, I'm not the kind of guy that can adopt. You know, I'm just not -- I'm too selfish. That would have been the worst mistake of my life, if I had not done those things. The path of Christ is hard.

It is the road less traveled. It is --

GLENN: Yeah.

JIM: It is. But it is one that is beyond -- anything I've ever experienced. And I know it's the way for me. I know -- yeah, sure, I've pouted and played the victim. But I realize that, yeah, it's not really going to get it done.

Victim is not a strong position.

GLENN: Jim Caviezel. The name of the movie is Paul: Apostle of Christ. It is in theaters this Friday. Don't miss it.

GLENN: Welcome to the program. We're glad you're here. Jim Caviezel is here. And Pat Gray has just joined us from the Pat Gray Radio Roundup or whatever it is --

PAT: That's exactly what it is. Pat Gray Radio Roundup.

GLENN: Whatever it's called, it happens after this program. Pat, Jim Caviezel. Jim, Pat.

PAT: Jim, we've met actually before.

GLENN: Yeah. I know. I know. I just wanted to make sure of that. I was being a gracious host here.

PAT: Yeah. That's nice. That's nice. Good to see you again.

JIM: Good to see you.

GLENN: So, Jim, have you been down to Waco? You know Chip and Joanna Gaines?

JIM: No, I don't.

GLENN: Do you know of them?

JIM: No, I don't.

GLENN: Oh, you're kidding me. They're great. Do you watch TV at all or do you --

JIM: I watch a little bit here and there. Obviously, just doing a lot of the scripts --

GLENN: Yeah. I know. I know.

But I was down at Waco.

PAT: This weekend?

GLENN: That place --

PAT: It's amazing.

GLENN: -- has totally transformed. These people are -- they're so good. And -- and people are flocking from all over the country.

PAT: And they've completely repositioned Waco, Texas. Because Waco was, what? It was Branch Davidian. It was wacko Waco. And now they're transformed it into this desirable place to go.

GLENN: Yeah. And it's really -- it's amazing. Because here they are. They're people pretty much like you that just kind of live their principles. And they're not ashamed of their faith. And they do this little show on HGTV. And it's turned into this monster. And I don't think people in the -- I don't think people in New York or Los Angeles even understand it. They think, well, it's a husband and a wife. No, it's their principles and their values that really set them apart. And they just -- there was probably $100,000 down there.

PAT: I bet. It's always jam-packed.

GLENN: It's crazy. Yeah. And they're not even there. It's crazy what they've done.

PAT: Yeah, yeah, but everybody there is hoping for a glimpse. You know, maybe this is the day they'll be running out.

GLENN: No.

PAT: I don't know. Straighten the shelves.

(laughter)

GLENN: Yeah. Straighten things up.

So Jim is here because he's in a new movie, Paul: Apostle of Christ. And, Jim, I love the story of Paul. But the thing that sticks in my mind, in Paul's life -- well, there's many things. But -- but when he's on the wrong side, you know, the -- the death of James, he's -- he's mentioned just -- give me your coat. Kill him.

JIM: Oh, Stephen.

GLENN: Or, Stephen. Yeah, thank you.

He's standing there, and he's listening to Stephen. And he's helping riling up the crowd. And he doesn't do any of the beating himself. Beating to death. He just says, give me your cloak. I'll hold it for you.

JIM: Yeah, essentially. Probably taken their coats and handed them stones, and have at him.

GLENN: Yeah. And just -- just -- I mean, it's real evil manipulation.

JIM: Yeah.

GLENN: Where he was the guy kind of behind the crowd.

JIM: Yeah. I think that when Stephen called out, you know, I see the Son of Man, repeating the words of Jesus, I see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the father, coming in the clouds of heaven, that reflection in his eyes, he probably saw our Lord right there and probably was the beginning of the end of Saul.

GLENN: How difficult would it be for you if you knew that Saul was coming your way and -- and you were told, you know, Jim, I need you to go give him a blessing real quick?

How difficult would that have been for you? I think that would have been terrifying.

JIM: Well, of course. But I look at just some of the videos and pictures that I saw from what ISIS did to Christians last year, during Good Friday, where they literally executed them by crucifixion.

And I -- I think the modern day Christians really have to understand that, you know, we're all going to die some day. And, you know, being in heaven, I want to -- I'd rather be known as someone who did something for Jesus than spending eternity without doing much for him.

GLENN: You spend any time in the Middle East recently?

JIM: Yes. I had to shoot a movie out there. The Stoning of Soraya. And that really exposed Sharia law. And it -- it is just extraordinary what happens to women there.

GLENN: Yeah.

JIM: And I played a guy named Fredom Seronjom (phonetic), who was a guy who was just out there to write a story about the ayatollah takeover of the Shah. It was a peaceful movement and what not. And out of this comes this woman's story of being stoned to death. And the stonings still take place. So it was -- I don't feel like we have a lot of help from many of the groups here, you know, many of the women's groups that weren't there to help --

GLENN: I will tell you that it's been encouraging to us. We've raised probably $30 million now.

JIM: Yeah.

GLENN: To get some of these Christians out. We've taken 7,000 out of the Middle East. We're rescuing slaves --

JIM: That's great. Yeah.

GLENN: And it's remarkable that there is a -- while it's not talked about, there is this -- this, I don't know, underground, would you call it, Pat? Kind of this -- something that's not on the surface. And nobody is talking about. But there is real concern for that. And real -- the people really helping.

JIM: Good. A lot of people are helping. But they're doing it in -- in the -- in quiet ways, working in -- like you say, the underground.

GLENN: Yeah. The Christians are unlike everything I've ever met.

JIM: Chaldeans, Syrians, extraordinary.

GLENN: They're not like anything I've ever met.

PAT: They're committed. They have to be. And they are.

GLENN: You know what, I read a quote this weekend. I had written down a long time ago. And I had forgotten all about it. They tend church. Not attend church. You know, they're tending every day. They are there. They know what it is. It's not just a place they go to every Sunday.

JIM: Yeah.

PAT: And they take it seriously because it doesn't come easy for them, like it does us. You know, when you have to fight for something and put your life on the line for something, I think that changes you inside a little bit. It makes you more -- it makes you more committed. And they definitely are.

GLENN: Yeah. And we get so fat and lazy over here on everything. That we don't know -- it has no value. It has no value.

JIM: There's a great line in the film where Paul says, to live is Christ, to die is gain. You know, I'm sure many of those Chaldeans, Syrian Christians, and Coptics, believe in the same way.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: It true on another topic that there's a passion of the Christ sequel coming?

JIM: Yes.

PAT: And you're signed on for that?

JIM: Yes.

GLENN: As Jesus?

JIM: Yes.

GLENN: Wow.

PAT: Well, he'd have to be.

GLENN: I don't know. It's the next day --

PAT: Now I've turned into John. So surprise!

GLENN: I mean, you don't really look that different. You work out and all that crap all the time?

JIM: Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. It's overrated.

JIM: Fortunately -- well, I have to because so much of the work that you do involves stunt. So if you don't keep that up, you're going --

GLENN: Especially on that. I mean, on that one -- that one was pretty serious. Struck by lightning.

JIM: Yeah. Last shot of the movie. Very last shot.

GLENN: What went through your -- I mean, besides Jews. What went through on that?

JIM: I was -- I was scared. You know, just -- but it wasn't my time. You know, it was -- I had physical problems, you know, with electrical heart and everything like that after that. And I was on a lot of medication. So in 2009, I had my first heart surgery. And then 2014 --

PAT: Wow.

JIM: -- was open heart. They in the clinic saved my life.

PAT: And it was because of that?

JIM: Yes. It was a combination of the lightning bolt and then -- and then the -- the hypothermia and then the -- the -- the pneumonia.

GLENN: Have you thought about suing Mel? Just taking him for everything he's worth?

PAT: He's worth a few bucks now. You might want to think about that.

GLENN: He's a really nice guy. You know, I don't know him at all. In meeting him, he's really quite brilliant.

JIM: Oh, yeah. He's a freak show.

GLENN: Going about 1,000 miles an hour.

JIM: He would be the Michael Jordan in my business of what he can do. You know, he has the -- it's extraordinary with him because, you know -- you've seen him in Hamlet. He can do Hamlet. He can do his range. His humor.

But just -- you know, even looking at Lethal Weapon, when Steve McEveety produced the Passion, produced the lethal weapon with Mel. You know, the opening of the movie, he takes a gun. He's going to put it in his mouth. And he uses a bullet. And he's going to commit suicide. And just how he layers and takes the -- if you have an onion, just peels it away. And later on, he's up on the top of the building. This guy is going to commit suicide. He's smoking his cigarette up on the building. He said, come on, man, it's not good to commit suicide. It's really bad for your health. You know, and you're laughing your head off. Because you know this guy just takes his -- but how he sets it up. And he gets you focused over here. He's smoking a cigarette. Here, you want a drag. And then he throws up another ball up in the air. And while you're looking over here, sleight of hand, he puts the cuffs on the guy's wrist. And then he's like, oh, you jerk, I'm going to jump. He goes, do you really want to do it? Do it? You know, I want to do it. So you go, no. The movie is over. Jumps off. And, of course, they don't show it. But then they jump on that big old bag. This guy is nuts.

Mel goes, oh, that's fun. Let's do it again. But that's just -- I mean, that's flatout, straight-up Gibson.

GLENN: When do you go into production for this?

JIM: I heard -- when I was speaking to him last time, he says, I'd like to be going. And he gave me a certain date, by that particular time.

GLENN: You're not going to give it to us. I'm not looking for a scoop.

JIM: Yeah. But, no, he just said, I would like to be going at this particular time. This is the one, two, three -- he's on the fourth draft of the shift. So I started talking to him about this five years ago. Nothing was mentioned. Then last year, both Randall Wallace -- they wrote Braveheart together. And just to show you how hard it is, that blueprint is everything. And now he's on the fourth draft of this thing. So he finally broke it. That's why -- I had never said anything about it. But he finally figured everything out. It's kind of like Thomas Edison gets to the end. You go through the alphabet. So by way of analogy, he starts at A and gets to Z. And then he goes, oh, my gosh. I figured it out. But now he has to go back to A and start all over again. But he finally figured it out.

GLENN: Yeah. Jim, good to see you. Thank you so much. The movie opens up this Friday. It is Paul: Apostle of Christ, starring Jim Caviezel. You don't want to miss it. It's opening in theaters everywhere. It's Paulmovie.com.

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Israel and Hamas sign Trump's historic deal. Will it work?

Israel and Hamas have signed phase 1 of President Trump’s peace deal, paving the path for the release of all remaining hostages, hopefully in a few days. Glenn and Stu explain the significance of this historic deal and what it could mean moving forward.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Oh. Your initial thoughts here on the peace deal?

STU: It's an incredible opportunity. I think it is important to remind ourselves, that this -- these things typically do fall apart. That is essentially your expectation, any time anything like this happens. Part of this is going to be Hamas coming through on promises.

I have very little belief that they are typically able to do such things.

That being said. They probably also -- you know, one of the things -- a friend of mine pointed this out to me. We were going through all of this.

And he said, you know, one thing to think about it: This is, like, not the B team of Hamas. But the R team of Hamas. They've killed so many of the leadership.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah.

STU: These are people making decisions that were not at the top of this organization and had those ridiculous ideological beliefs that would lead you to October 7th. That's not to mean that Hamas, these people that are left are like, "Hey, you want to invite them over for Thanksgiving."

But I do think there's a possibility here that they're like, you know, maybe this life is not here for us.

GLENN: That would be nice if that were true. I don't know if that were true. But it would be really thyself.

STU: I don't know if that's true. I do think there may be a little bit lower ideological commitment, potentially. And also, the idea that some of these people might be able to make this deal and escape to another third country.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: And live life there, in a different way.

GLENN: So the breaking news that just was announced, Israel, their parliament or their cabinet just met or approved phase one of the deal.

And Hamas has just come out and said, they accept phase one of the deal.

That means the hostages will be released either this weekend or Monday.

Any remaining hostage will be released.

STU: I mean, just that.

GLENN: Just that.

STU: If that occurs, it is a massive achievement.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: So far, it is already the greatest opportunity we've had.

And only possible because of his detection to this idea!

GLENN: And his deal-making.

Not just his vision.

But his ability to work all of the parties and find out what all the parties need.

And make it happen.

You know, we're not talking about peace between Gaza, you know, Hamas, and Israel.

We're talking about peace in the Middle East.

STU: Yeah. It's bigger. It's bigger than just Israel.

GLENN: I mean, it's Egypt and Saudi Arabia and -- and Jordan to some extent. And -- and Turkey. All of them getting together and saying, you know what! We'll rebuild Gaza. We want to make it into a very prosperous kind of area. I mean, think of places in Saudi Arabia that are so prosperous. That's the way Gaza could be. So they're all getting together and they're saying, "We will rebuild. We'll oversee. We will try to make everything -- you know, keep everything held."

They will put their money into it, which means they have a lot to lose if it goes awry. And they're all saying, "We can co-exist with Israel."

Three years ago, did you even think that was possible?

STU: Yeah. And, you know, look, there are a lot of places you can go and find non-stop criticism of Donald Trump. They will say terrible things he does, and everything he does is the worst thing ever.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Also, there are plenty of places you can go where you find that everything that he does is the greatest thing of all time.

I hope you realize that's not what we do here. And I -- on a -- I said this -- and you said this as well when we -- when this was unveiled.

Sometimes, you can get -- people are critical of the way Trump handles these situations.
Sometimes. And sometimes there's arguments on that.
Sometimes it's not the best approach.

You know, we were critical of him, for example, how he handled Canada. You know, probably cost Poilievre that election. And I think that's a really bad thing.

GLENN: I do on top.

STU: That being said, this is a great example of where his instincts work perfectly. This is all set up over a long period of foundational stuff from his first term. With the decision he made, to come out and just announce the agreement with Netanyahu. We agreed. We agreed to this peace deal.

Now, in theory, we have no position to agree between these two parties. But he came out and all of the focus had been, look at all the bad things Israel is doing. Look at how bad, they're so evil. They're so bad.

And he said, we agree with Israel. Now we just need Hamas.

And so the world's attention was like, what's Hamas going to say?

Finally, he was able to focus his attention to the appropriate place. To the party that is holding the hostages, to say, hey. How about asking if they want to a freaking cease-fire for once?

He was able to do that. In a way that I think only Donald Trump could achieve. Which leads to this, over a long foundation.

GLENN: And here's another thing.

You know, this guy has walked through wall after wall after wall of fire. Everybody calling him everything. Nazi, every day.

Here's a guy who, you know, in a time period where the whole world is like, the Jews control everything. Donald Trump is run by the Jews.

He not only kept his relationship with Israel solid and helped them, when he thought they were right. But when they were wrong, in his view, he chastised them.

He knew how to do it. And still hold their respect.

And gained the respect of places like Qatar. And say, so Qatar. When he chastised Benjamin Netanyahu and Benjamin Netanyahu had to I think apologize to some degree about what they did in Qatar.

That's when the Middle East went, wait a minute.

He's not being controlled by the Jews! You know what I mean?

That should be a really big wake-up call to everybody who thinks that Donald Trump is just being controlled by the Jews.

No. No. No. He's not.

He does what he thinks is right. And he'll chastise both sides.

And he will support either side. When they're right, to get to a deal. That's good for everybody.

This deal could be amazing.

I don't have any -- and it's not because of this deal.

I happen to -- I read the end of the book. So I know how this ends.

This will not -- you know, this is not --

STU: You skipped ahead?

GLENN: I skipped ahead. I skipped ahead.

STU: Don't ruin anything.

Don't -- no spoiler alerts.

GLENN: I won't. No spoiler alerts.

Let's just say, this might last for a week. It might last for a thousand years. I don't know.

But we will be in this situation again. We all know that. We all know that. But let's take and celebrate peace while we can.

And the hostage is coming back. That is massive. Massive.

And due to Donald Trump.

Today, if you don't like Donald Trump, fine. Fine.

But how do you take this one apart?

Honestly, how do you not claim this is a massive victory, for the whole world?

STU: Well, I can tell you, that a lot of people on the left are rooting for it to collapse, which is a shockingly revealing moment. I mean --

GLENN: Wait. What?

STU: They are -- you know, they're not going to be out there like, we hope this collapse is.

But you know they hope it collapses.

They don't want to give Trump credit for it.

And they would rather have this continue. They would rather have this war go on.

Than admit that the reason it's ending is because Donald Trump was able to negotiate this deal.

That is central!

GLENN: I think anybody who has played politics with the Palestinian, you know, all that stuff. And all the stuff on the streets. That -- that has been a very effective tool for them. And so I would agree.

And they don't want that tool to be taken away.

STU: You think the Hamas wing of the party wants this? You think Rashida Tlaib is all thrilled about Donald Trump's efforts here. They will hear about Ilhan Omar -- how wonderful --

GLENN: Those are extremists.

STU: I mean that. This is a very revealing dividing line on the left. Right?

If there is anything that is ever going to happen, that Donald Trump can be given credit for. That you think this could be clear. John Fetterman. Fetterman has obviously pretty good on this issue. But Fetterman came out, gave a statement that should be basic. Basic. Like, hey, this is good. And I really hope it works. Donald Trump did a good job on this.

That's the type of stuff that should be obvious for everyone to be able to --

GLENN: That's what "Tip" O'Neill would have done. "Tip" O'Neill and Ronald Reagan, they got together. They disagreed. They fought hard, but they had dinner.

Yeah. Because "Tip" O'Neill could say, that was good. That was good. What he did was just good for all of us.

STU: That worked well. Good. I'm glad that happened. You should be glad that happened. We should all be rooting for the success here.

Even if what the -- you know, like, I rooted -- again, I have all sorts of criticisms the way Barack Obama dealt with the Middle East.

Yeah. Plenty of them. And we went over them over and over and over again.

And plenty of issues with specifically the way he went after Osama bin Laden. But on the day that it happened, really happy about.

Very happy that we were able to do it.

Now, look, it's our military that does it. They can say all this stuff too. They can say, oh, well, the real reason is. Blah, blah, blah.

But we can still be happy, that this occurred. And you can still be excited and give credit where credit is due.

GLENN: This is a win for all humankind. For humanity!

For life!

Stopping Hamas from torturing. You know, torturing kidnap victims.

Stopping the bloodshed that was happening because of the war on both sides.

That is a win. Having the possibility of a stable Middle East, at least for a while. That's a win!

That's a win all the way around. Everyone should be happy. I don't care if you like the president or not.

Everyone should be happy that mankind, put one on the chalkboard for all of mankind today.

This is a huge -- never seen -- this is on the good side. Never seen this one before. Didn't see this one coming.

I mean, we should all be able to say, wow!

And thank you. Because he's the -- I really, truly believe, when it comes to negotiating things like this, there is nobody better.

I mean, that's what he does for a living.

And he knows it. He knows how to read people. He knows how to it.

And this is evidence of it.

STU: And he will do things that are so out of the norm. That it resets everybody's thinking. You know, I mentioned --

GLENN: If he wouldn't have done that. If he wouldn't have done that, we wouldn't have all the Middle East signing on to a peace deal.

STU: I respect. What would they have done in a situation like Trump was with Netanyahu?

Their advisers would have said, "Look, this is great. You guys are together on this. Let's go to Hamas. We'll talk to them. We will see if we can get something done. We don't want to ruin it by announcing it publicly. There are times, where that tactic cannot work. But it worked really well here."

He forced them to basically say, "No, we don't want a cease-fire," or, "Okay. We'll go along with this."

And, by the way, you go down this list, there's a lot of stuff -- this is Hamas never, ever having control of this region ever again is built into this agreement. Now they've only talked about -- they're only on phase one here. So we don't know that we get all of this stuff. But like, there's a lot here that really improves the lives of Israelis, of --

GLENN: Palestinians.

STU: Arab Israelis in the region. You know, Palestinians. Other Arabs in the region.

GLENN: Saudi Arabia. Everybody.

STU: Yeah. Not to mention, just globally.

Right? This is a positive.

GLENN: Look what this does.

That's Turkey. So that separates Turkey from Syria, which is right in bed with -- with Iran.

I mean, think about how this box is. If you have the entire Middle East, now operating with Israel, and saying, we have a right to exist. Think about what that means, for this block, now to Iran. Iran doesn't mind being a pariah.

But now, everyone is officially saying, aisled do business with them.

STU: We will choose business over these guys.

That's a big statement in that world.

GLENN: That's a big deal. Big deal.

RADIO

Big investors buying gold: What does this mean for your dollar?

Gold has reached a record high price of over $4,000 an ounce. So, what does that mean for your dollar? Financial expert Carol Roth joins Glenn to explain why this news is so concerning and why many big investors have started to buy gold.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Well, Carol Roth, welcome to the program. How are you?

CAROL: I'm doing great, Glenn! I'm actually celebrating my 26th wedding anniversary today, so it's a blessed day.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. Congratulations! Congratulations! It's weird. I'm coming up on my 26th on January.

CAROL: Oh, fabulous. Fabulous. It's a good amount of time to be married, yes.

GLENN: It is. It is. So, Carol. Let's talk about the price of gold hitting --

CAROL: It's over 4,000.

GLENN: Which is nuts. And I don't think people really understand. I don't think the average -- this is my guess, and I want you to correct me. I don't think the average person is buying gold. I think this gold-buying is happening from sovereign funds and central banks, mainly. Also, Asian markets. I don't think Americans really understand what $4,000 an ounce means. Can you explain it?

CAROL: Absolutely. I think the world both, investors and central banks are catching up to the things that you and I have been talking about for years. So, you know, we're ahead. We warned everyone. And now this is a little bit of catch-up. Interestingly, you know, as you noted, the average American is very behind in terms of what gold means.

When you look at Chinese households. When you look at Indian household. There are estimates that each one of those country's households owns up to 30,000 tons of gold at this point. Which to put that in context, the US government owns 8,133 times.

GLENN: So the Indian households, all of them combined, 27,000 tons.

CAROL: Right.

GLENN: What we say we have, is he 8100. Wow!

CAROL: So the households in China and India are really ahead of the curve. When you look at data for the US, it's a little bit hard to get good data. But from what I've seen, the estimates are only about ten to 11 percent of US households at all, have exposure to gold.

Now, I know that your audience is very sophisticated and is ahead of the curve. And I would imagine blows through that number. But just shows how sort of unprepared US households are in general.

GLENN: When you're looking at Indian and Chinese households that own gold. Does that include all the gold jewelry?

CAROL: Yes. Yes. That's actually, particularly in India. One of their preferred ways of procuring gold. Yeah.

GLENN: Okay. So gold has -- gold has shot up over $4,000 in record times. I mean, breathtaking time. What is causing that?

CAROL: Okay. So there are a confluence of factors, and I think the two most important factors, which, of course, are linked. Are what Wall Street is now calling the debt debasement trade. Which they're just caught up. And gave it a cute name.

And changing the global financial order. And they're very much linked.

GLENN: Yeah. Tell me, what is it? The debt debasement? What is that?

CAROL: They're doing the debt debasement trade, which is just basically what you and I have been talking about, which is our unsustainable fiscal position.

GLENN: All right.

CAROL: And what all of the money printing that we've seen over the past 17 years, what that has done to our purchasing power, and how that's going to catch up to us.

So as a reminder, our debt to GDP is at emerging market crisis levels. We were at 120 police levels of GDP.

We're running deficits equivalent to a war-time level. Or recession level, while we still have growth.

Which is crazy. We have interesting interest rate -- or interest payments that are outpacing defense spending.

So everyone is now finally catching on to the fact that this is an unsustainable financial position.

And it is going to be very difficult to get out of. Without there being some sort of additional debasement of our currency. Which is a fancy way of saying, a diminishment of your purchasing power.

What's really crazy. There's a chart that's been going around, and they did kind of a comparison of different asset classes. Price in US dollars, price in gold.

So if I look from the end of September 2018, out seven years, and you look at the top 100 NASDAQ nonfinancial companies. It's called the NDX. In US dollar terms, that is up 236 percent. So you think you're super rich, right?

But in gold terms, solid money that doesn't -- you know, that doesn't have its value debased. It's only up 4.7 percent.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

CAROL: Yeah. Of course. The S&P 500 up 133 percent over that period in dollar terms. It's down 27.6 percent in gold terms.

And what's called the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is the value of homes, the way that's measured. Dollar terms, 60 percent. Oh, houses. So expensive In gold terms, it's down 50 percent.

In fact, right now, it takes less gold in terms of ounces, to buy the median single-family house, than it has in decades and decades and decades.

So it goes to show, that even though we see these dollars. They're buying less and less. And now, you and I were talking about this forever.

But now Wall Street is catching on. Oh, that's not a great thing. And so in terms of preserving the hard-earned capital, we need something that is that -- that hedge. That mutual hedge that is going to retain its value.

And that's why more investors, institutional investors. Funny enough, a lot of millennials, more than anyone starting to really get in to gold.

GLENN: You know why? Because millennials have not been trained their whole life. Trust the system!

CAROL: Yes.

GLENN: And they see it clearly. And they look at it, and they're like, well, this doesn't make any sense at all. And they're going to spend this.

And they will wreck the dollar and everything else. They just see it without being trained over and over and over again. Like, trust the system. They don't trust the system.

And once you realize, the system is rigged in a million different ways. And the system is not telling you the truth.

I mean, that is amazing. When you look at the stock market. And you say, it's actually down, when you compare it in US dollars. To gold!

What's happening -- let me explain this to the audience. What all that means is: Gold is only going up in dollars. It's staying -- it's staying stable. But it's costing you more because of inflation. The dollars are buying less! So it looks like you're paying more, but you're really not. It looks like the stock market is going up, but it's really not! It's what it costs to get in with dollars. If you're going in with gold. You'll actually see that if it was all done in gold, the stock market is down. The price of housing is town.

It's the dollar. It takes more dollars to buy, than it does with gold, which holds its value.

That is -- if people could understand that one thing, that changes all the conversations of, the government has to do something to make housing more affordable. No, they don't. They have to stabilize the dollar. They have to stop spending so much money.

CAROL: Yeah, I mean, if you think of the three definitions of money, it is a medium of exchange. You know, how you helped to exchange goods.

It's a unit of account, which we say, things are priced in dollars, and it's supposed to be a store value. The unit of account, that you just talked about. My friend Steve Forbes has a great analogy, and he talks about other measurements.

You know, imagine that your clock, you know, one day, at 12 o'clock, you know, means midnight. And another day, 3 o'clock means midnight. Or 6 inches to measure a curtain one day. And then the same measurement is like a foot, a different day.

You can't have -- a consistent measurement if the unit of account continues to change. And that's what we've been seeing here with the dollar. And unfortunately, it has not been to our favor.

Which means, that when you work really hard to earn something and it's valued in a dollar, that over time, that -- that work that you put out, your productivity is worth less and less.

And so what gold is meant to do. It's meant to be Capitol preservation. It's not a risk asset. It's not meant to take on risk. And maybe go up a ton. And maybe go down a ton. It's really meant to be a counterbalance to what you have earned. So that you can preserve your purchasing power.

GLENN: You know, I've been saying this for a long time. That you put your money. And I have money in the stock market. You put the money in the stock market.

If things really go awry, go ahead. You're going to cash out for an awful lot of money. But those dollars. It will be paid back to you in dollars.

Those dollars will be worth less, even though there's more of them stacked up, than that ounce of gold, or, you know, that 10 ounces of gold, or whatever you had!

The stock market is paid in dollars. And so as the inflation goes up.

But gold keeps its value!

Keeps its value and hold it steady.

So, yeah. You will be paying more in dollars if you try to sell your gold. But that will continue to increase while stock markets will go down. Am I right?

CAROL: It's a counterbalance. So if things were to shift, and for some reason, you know, things were to change with the dollars, which we would need a lot of different catalysts. Then your gold goes down. It's a counterbalance, which is why it's important to have that diversification in your portfolio. And to have the gold hedge.

What's interesting, Glenn. Just the history, we're talking about millennials.

You know, they went through the great recession. Financial crisis.

They're kind of keyed into this. But if you think about when we came out of the '70s with this crazy inflation. We came out of the gold standard. It used to be very commonplace for a financial adviser to sit down and say, okay.

We've been through this. And so you should be putting, you know, five to 10 percent of your portfolio in gold. As the stock market took off in dollars. And became this big thing.

And they started seeking fees. That went away. Financial advisers, who don't get paid sometimes at all, when you allocate to gold. Stop recommending it.

GLENN: Yep.

CAROL: And now we're seeing a shift back, now we're seeing, you know, oh, yes. You should have some. Some of the big names out there saying, even more.

GLENN: Ray Dalio just came out and said, 15 percent.

CAROL: Yes, we've seen big names like that, anywhere from ten to 20.

And when they surveyed high net worth investors, which are $250,000 in assets or more, they're averaging right now, 21 percent of their holdings in gold.

So it's a very big flip in recent years, on how this is being viewed bit people who have accumulated those dollars and are worried about them.

GLENN: Okay. So let me just summarize here before we move on. On to some other questions.

That is exactly what my grandfather who lived through the great depression said. What are the people with big large amounts of money doing?

I want to do that. And if I did do that. I would be better off in the great depression.

You just heard it, 20 percent or more, right?

From big dollars.

They're investing in gold. 20 percent!

You should -- you should have some!

CAROL: And it's interesting. Some of the portfolios we're seeing is coming from not only the equity peace, but from the fixed-income peace, which is pretty interesting too.

GLENN: Amazing.

Unmasking Antifa: The Dark Truth Behind Its Well-Funded Network | Glenn TV | Ep 461

The cities of Portland and Chicago are turning into war zones. Federal agents have been ambushed, police have been ordered to stand down, and mayors are defying the Constitution. It’s insurrection in plain sight. Glenn Beck heads to the chalkboard to uncover the hidden support and funding networks propping up Antifa. Glenn debunks the myth that Antifa is decentralized and leaderless, tracing connections from Soros to Tides and other shadowy nonprofits. Plus, independent journalist Nick Sortor joins from outside an ICE facility in Portland, where he was wrongfully arrested by police following attacks by Antifa members.

Glenn's Show Prep

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Transcript

Big investors buying gold: What does this mean for your dollar?

Transcript

Unmasking Antifa: The Dark Truth Behind Its Well-Funded Network | Glenn TV | Ep 461