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Christian attorney who helps rescue kids around the world says this simple thing inspires him

Nonprofit founder and author Bob Goff has a four-letter secret to his success: love.

Goff, whose new book, “Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People,” will debut next week, joined Glenn in the studio today to talk about “extravagant love” and the need for “courageous people” in a difficult world.

Goff uses his experience as an attorney to bring justice to places where crimes are overlooked by the culture. He shared the story of a little boy who was kidnapped by witch doctors in Uganda, brutally maimed and left for dead – but survived.

With Love Does, the nonprofit he founded in 2003, Goff gets to fight for kids like him. He pursued the death penalty for the witch doctor who nearly killed the little boy and won, sending a message to the rest of the country that kids will be protected.

Relying on a “childlike faith,” Goff has been able to show love in unexpected ways, and his message on today’s show was to encourage everyone to do the same in their own lives.

“Make your next courageous step, whatever that is,” Goff said.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: So here's the thing: I've given up on politics. Because we keep playing this thing over and over and over again. And expecting different outcomes. And it seems to be the same outcome.

And I'm more of a believer in the individual and the individual going out and doing something. And just saying, you know what, I don't care what people tell me what I can and can't do. I don't care if they tell me that it's ridiculous.

Because it's not. If we just decide to do it. I want to introduce you to a guy, Bob Goff, who I think has a similar attitude. Welcome, Bob. How are you is this

BOB: Thanks a million for having me on. Good to be with you.

GLENN: You're an attorney from the San Diego area.

BOB: Yes, 30 years.

GLENN: And you're a best-selling author now. You have a new book out now called Everybody, Always. But your last one was Love Does.

I want you to give the audience, for anybody who doesn't know you, a sense of who you are. And start with -- start with the fact that you have no television in your house. And what happened on September 11th in your house with your children.

BOB: Yeah. Well, I was practicing law. Had -- I can't tell you about me without telling about sweet Maria Goth, my bride of 33 years, and then we have three kids. And this whole idea, living a purposeful life, like we're confronted with so much information, so much tragedy around us, one of the things that I decided to do was I was just going to start with my family. And so we decided to get rid of the television.

And when the -- when September 11th happened, I came home and I told the kids, there's something horrible that happened in the country.

And we sat around this table we have in the kitchen. And I said, if you have five minutes, in front of a leader in the world, what would you say to them? And I love -- my son was seven at the time, he said, you know what, I would invite them over for a sleepover. And that actually makes a lot of sense.

GLENN: It does.

BOB: Put your hand in the goldfish bowl. See if it makes a B. And it works.

So my 9-year-old said, I would ask them what they're hoping in. Because I would say, like, if you find out what people are hoping for, you find out a lot more about them.

And then our 11-year-old, she was the precocious one, she said, I would say this, if they couldn't come over for the sleepover, I would ask this leader if we could come over to their house and do an interview and ask them, what are you hoping for? And get a message of hope to pass on to another leader.

So we downloaded the CIA website. We felt like we were hacking into NORAD. We got the name of every leader in every country, figured out their addresses, and wrote them.

And we got a post office box. Because we didn't want Ahmadinejad to know where we went. (laughter)

And so we sent all these letters. And after school every day, we would go over. And so they would get the mail out. The kids would be in the backseat. They would ask me about these countries.

I'm like, I don't know. That's east of here apparently, but we always got the most pleasant notes. It was Tony Blair at the time. He said, like a jolly good show. Like forget it. But jolly good show.

GLENN: Right.

BOB: But then they got the leader of Bulgaria. He wrote to them. And he said, if you'll come to the palace in Sophia, I'll give you your interview.

Then the prime minister of Switzerland said, if you come to Bern, I'll give you your interview. Then the president of Israel said, if you'll come to Jerusalem, I'll give you -- we got 19 yeses. So I pulled the kids out of school. Their teachers had a cow. I'm like, sue me.

So there's something just really beautiful about that. And I love that it's this idea of a child-like faith. That idea -- look to your kids. You want to do something awesome for the world, plug into your family.

GLENN: Because you would -- as an adult -- and the older you get, the secret to staying young -- I think that's what Jesus meant when he said, come to me as a child.

BOB: Oh, bingo. Totally.

GLENN: You still believe. You haven't been worn down by the world to say, it won't work. It won't work.

BOB: Yeah. And if you've been convinced that it won't work, get a puppy. Literally, just --

GLENN: No, because then I'm convinced potty training doesn't work.

BOB: Yes. I worked it right in the middle of that. The only thing our dog has missed is the lawn so far.

But one of the things is that, let the children kind of lead us. And we're seeing that in society. We're seeing that over and over. Go do that with your family. So we went.

And there's this one country. They had just been involved in all kinds of stuff.

And the leader walks in. And he said, children, you know, I'm more nervous meeting with you, than if I was meeting with the president of the United States right now. And then he said, and when I get nervous, I get hungry. And he claps his hand. And all these servants come in with jars of candy and ice cream. It's just really beautiful.

There's something about this idea of leading with love. And it takes a child-like faith to get there. Not childish.

Because most of us guys have childish nailed. But child-like, to just remain hopeful, even in the face of overwhelming difficulties.

GLENN: One of the places you went to was Uganda, right?

BOB: Yeah.

GLENN: And we've done some stuff? Uganda. Because there's still sacrifices. Human sacrifices in Uganda with these witch doctors. And they kidnap children and they sacrifice them. And it's horrifying. And horrifying. And then you stop it in one place, and then it pops up in another place.

Because it's still part of their culture. But you being an attorney, you found that for a long time, there wasn't a law. But then like three years before you got there, they had passed a law to stop all this, but nobody was enforcing it.

Is that right?

BOB: Yeah, that's it. Because people were afraid. The judges were afraid. Everybody was afraid.

But it just takes courageous people to make big change. That idea to just -- and we don't measure. God doesn't compare our leaps. I would say for everybody listening, make your next courageous step. Whatever that is.

For me, I was a lawyer. Knew how to try cases. The problem with me, there's always child sacrifice. There's always a victim, but they're always dead. And it all changes.

A couple years ago, a little boy -- we'll just say his name is Charlie. He was walking home from school and gets abducted by the leader of all of these witch doctors.

And they -- they try to do this sacrifice. They cut off all his private parts and leave him for dead. But the kid doesn't die. So for the first time, we had a victim survived. We got the witch doctor.

So I asked, could we try Uganda's first death penalty case. And they said, you will never get a judge who will touch that. But then we found a judge. And we tried the case. And the word of this conviction went to 41 million people. And here was the message: You touch a kid. It's over.

There's something beautiful about that idea of like, there's no love without justice. But there's also no justice without love.

So after this conviction happens, the boy is all torn up. This attack happens with a machete. A doctor in Los Angeles, here's what happened. And he calls me up at home. He said, Bob, I heard what happened with this little kid, and I can fix him.

And I'm like, buddy, you didn't hear what got cut off, you can't fix that. And he's like, I'm the chief of surgery in Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. I can fix him.

And I said, what? So I drive up to Los Angeles. He takes out a piece of paper and he starts drawing out what he's going to do, which is way too much information.

And I asked him -- if they find that at the TSA, I'm going to jail.

And I said, how much would that cost? And he said, it would be staggering. But I'll do it for nothing. I'm like, I can afford nothing.

So I fly back to Uganda. We find the little boy in the bush. And my first stop is court, and I become his legal guardian. And we're flying back for this operation. And I get off the plane in London. And he's holding -- and he said, Father, can we just walk the rest of the way? I'm like, oh, buddy.

And I open up my laptop to see if there's any messages. This is the time when Obama is in office. And there's a message that says, White House. And the message is really short, it just says, we'd like to meet, Charlie. I thought it was some of my friends, like you guys, that would just pull a fast one.

And it's legit. And this kid that was standing in the bush in Uganda is now standing in the Oval Office. And I think, why does this happen? And here's the deal: It's that child like faith. And no matter what age you are, you can actually start thinking about what might be possible.

And I just want to continue to live into that. Even against all of the horrific things going on, to remain hopeful and engaged. Not just to put smiley faces on it. But, what's my next step? What's my next leap?

GLENN: So here's the thing that I think of all the time: If I have cancer -- for instance, go to a doctor over and over and over again. Something is wrong, but the doctors can't find it. If that's happened to you, you get to a point to where, I don't care if it's cancer. I just want to know, you know.

And I think there is hope, when -- when there is knowledge that there is something you can do, that -- whether it works or not. Is unknown.

But once you know -- I have no hope in a doctor who says, oh, you know, it's just a little spot on your lawn. And, you know, it's nothing. And he knows it's cancer. Don't tell me that. I'm hopeless.

Tell me it's cancer, and I can find hope.

We have to -- we have to not just be putting smiley faces on things and going, oh, no, it's not so bad. It is. It's bad. It's bad.

But now, take us from, it's bad, to how to find that hopeful place, when we come back.

Name of the book is Everybody, Always, by Bob Goff. G-O-F-F. Bob Goff. We continue in just a second.

GLENN: We're with Bob Goff. Amazing man.

Not a -- you know, not a Tony Robbins kind of guy who makes his living being a motivational speaker, but is truly motivational. And everybody that I've ever seen him in. Because it's -- he's infectious. Courage is contagious, and so is hope.

And Bob just made the point that we need to find hope. So how do you do that? How do you find real hope? In a sea of despair.

BOB: Yeah. No simple answer for anything. But the first thing that strung to my mind is, it's a life of engagement. And an idea of engaging the people around you. Engaging the issues around you.

But not necessarily with the petition, but engage it with everything that you've got, with your love, with your hope, with your energy. Find these things.

We were talking about a wrong that was done in Uganda. Engage it.

If you're good as a lawyer, go do a bunch of that. If you're good at loving people, go do a bunch of that. I don't want people to meet just my opinions, I want them to actually meet me. And the way to meet me is to be curious about them.

GLENN: So you -- when you sat down, I told you, you passed a test that almost no one passes. I think there's maybe been two people. And we've had great people in a career of 40 years. I've had great people around that I've interviewed.

I think -- I could honestly say two. Maybe there's been five, that have walked into the room, said, hello, to me and then said hello to Stu or the other people on the air.

But then the important thing, looked at the people who are holding the camera, doing the makeup, introducing yourself, looking them in the eye, and engaging with them. That rarely happens. Rarely.

It's sad. But to me, it's a test of, who are you really? And -- and you pass that. And from what I understand, you were out in the greenroom and you were out in the hallway and you were having conversations. You came in here and you started looking around. You're very observant. Which I think kind of passes all of us by, sometimes. We just kind of -- we just engage in the moment and do what we have to do with that person.

BOB: Yeah. I think each of us are looking for these same things in our life, like love and purpose and connection. And then authentic relationships. We just start skipping across the disk, we just turn our life into a bunch of transactions. And I just don't want to be -- I'm not a touchy-feely guy. I'm a trial lawyer.

GLENN: You don't seem like a trial lawyer.

BOB: I'm the only guy trying a 100-million-dollar case with a Mickey Mouse watch.

But I'll tell you, it will be the third month of the trial. And somebody in the box will say, Mickey Mouse watch. I'll be like, I just want -- but this whole idea, this overarching idea that we'll be known for our opinions, but remembered for our love. So I think each of us need to ask, what are we going to be remembered for?

GLENN: I want to -- I could spend a day with you.

But I want to come back here in a second, and show me how you remain optimistic, as a trial lawyer. I can't think of a worst job. I can't think of a worst job.

BOB: Yeah.

GLENN: You're surrounded by dirtbags, lying, the system, and yet you hold it. So give me some real life examples.

BOB: Well, I would say --

GLENN: Wait. Wait. When we come back.

GLENN: Welcome back. We're talking to an incredible guy. I could spend the day with. And he's just invited me to TP some houses for the rest of the day. His name is Bob Goth, the author of Everybody, Always.

And one of the happier guys that I think I've ever met. And you're a trial attorney! And I want to get into that. But we're going to run out of time. So let's start off with one of your philosophies, one of the things that you take away from the Jesus story. And that is, tell no one.

BOB: Yes. I love that big moment. It's this Simon Peter -- you know, Jesus says, who am I? And some say you are a teacher. And actually, he was an awesome teacher. Some say you're a prophet. And he was actually an awesome prophet. And then Simon Peter says, you're God.

And Jesus said, you nailed it. But I love that he said flesh and blood doesn't reveal that to you, but the spirit. And we have a lot of people where faith is important to them. And they're trying to, like, do the spirit's work. Like, just, they're trying to tell everybody what Jesus is.

Two verses later, he says, tell no one.

I love that. I don't think it's supposed to be a secret. I think he means, show them, don't tell them.

So show people what -- we'll know what we believe, when everybody sees what we do. I don't care when somebody says, I got a lot of things I believe. But see what I do. See what you do. You're doing this, you're just spreading a lot of hope for people.

GLENN: So you are -- so -- but do you set out to -- you know, another Jesus thing, and it kind of reminds me of you, pay no attention to what's going to happen tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about where you're going to lay your head. Don't worry about any of it. Just go and do it. That seems to be your mantra.

BOB: Exactly. So know why you're doing what you're doing. So, for instance, I'm married. Got three kids. Two of them -- two of those are married. And I want to be a grandpa. Like, what more in the worst thing in the whole -- I just want that so bad.

GLENN: It's great.

BOB: I'm expecting. They're not expecting. I'm expecting every day.

My son actually with his wife went to Hawaii. He said it rained all week. I'm like, yes!

GLENN: Good.

BOB: More wine to the cabana.

(laughter)

BOB: So one of the things, if you know why you're doing what you're doing -- and I just want to be -- we were talking about being available. So I put my cell phone number in the back of a couple million books. And I get 100 calls a day. I can't get --

STU: It is legitimately the last sentence -- of the book, it talks about, if you ever want to talk about any of the ideas, my phone number is, give me a call sometime, if I can be helpful.

BOB: Isn't that awesome?

GLENN: It's crazy.

BOB: People don't follow vision. They follow availability. And I'm never the smartest guy, particularly right now, but I can be the most available guy in the room.

And so if you know why you're doing what you're doing.

GLENN: So how -- how do you do that?

BOB: I just get constantly interrupted. Like literally just constantly -- Jesus was constantly interrupting. People are tugging on his shirt, calling his name from trees. Just -- just live a life with constant interruptions.

And what it reminds me over and over again, is not to be efficient in the way that I love people, but to be extravagant. That was one of the hallmarks.

GLENN: What does that mean?

BOB: Just not giving people a little bit, just give them your best.

I got -- we took all the money from Loved Does and just gave it all away. And so we've been going around, building schools in countries. Which cracks me up, because my worst subject in school was school.

But we're actually pretty good at starting them. So we've got one in Uganda. One in Iraq. One in Somalia. We've got one going into a country that doesn't do that. That's in two weeks. What could possibly go wrong?

(laughter)

I'll check back in with you in three.

So one of the whole ideas is to fail trying. Don't fail watching anymore. Fail trying. So if you see something, don't just identify with that. But just say, what's my piece in that?

GLENN: We had guys yesterday, they were up in Indianapolis. And they had potholes in their town.

And they were reading -- you know, they knew how bad it was. And they were reading in the newspaper, that the state couldn't afford it. The city couldn't afford it. It was $700 billion or whatever to fix all the potholes. So they went to -- they took 50 bucks. They went to the hardware store. They bought asphalt. And they just started fixing potholes.

BOB: Done.

GLENN: Right. And what is amazing about this is so far the city knows about it and hasn't stopped them. I would think, immediately, oh, you're -- they're going to come -- they just didn't stop. They just went out and did it. But they're in their 20s too. They haven't lived a life of, don't do that.

BOB: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What if the -- as you're constantly thinking about, what do you want to be remembered for? And I just want to be remembered for someone who is engaged. And here's the crazy part, like God isn't dazzled when you go across an ocean. He's wowed when you go across the street. This idea of loving your neighbor. I don't think it's just a metaphor for something else. I think it actually means love your neighbor.

We've got a mailman on our block. He's lousy at it. He's not a detail guy.

So we get everybody else -- actually, one of my neighbors was getting audited. I had to bring it over. Like, stinks to be you.

So Art, after 20 long years finally said he was going to retire. I'm like, praise the Lord.

(laughter)

And so we decided to make him the grand marshal of our parade. We have a parade on our block. Our block is only ten houses long on each side. And so 800 people showed up to see Art to let him know, just how much they loved him, even though he was a lousy mailman. Everybody in the whole community knew it. We got a convertible. We filled it full of envelopes. We just said, Art, throw them in the air. Do what you do every day.

STU: That's a great insult right there.

BOB: And there was such an outpouring of love towards this guy.

He called me up the next day and he said, Bob, I'm coming out of retirement. I'm like, no!

But what will happen, when people know that they're loved, when they actually know they're respected, this idea of being ready to make a defense for the hope that's within you, it doesn't mean to point bony fingers at people. They forget the last sentence. It says, with gentleness and respect.

And if we could just treat people with gentleness and respect, knowing that you've got beautiful things in your life. And God might be doing something different in your life than my life.

Last Saturday, there was a wedding planner that was praying for sunshine. And there was a farmer praying for rain. Right?

And it's just to assume that God is up to different things in other people's lives, and be a little more patient with them as we get there.

But to do the things, we can hope for a lot of things, but hope on the move. People say like love is a verb. I think hope is. I don't know about my grammar. But I'll tell you, hope on the move is unstoppable.

That's what your -- your guys were doing with the potholes. They're saying, that's hope on the move. I'm not waiting for permission. Your life is your permission.

Somebody like birthed you and said, go. Now go do beautiful, immense things, but do it with gentleness and respect. I can try death penalty cases against witch doctors, but that whole idea of loving your neighbor and loving the people, love your enemy. Right?

So after the trial, I started meeting with witch doctors. I sent out word on the bush radio that the consul general for Uganda is here, and I command every witch doctor to meet with me. Glenn, they came. I met with a thousand witch doctors. And they are creepy.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

BOB: They make dolls that look like me and stick stuff into them. No wonder I always have a headache.

So I asked these guys, what do you need? And they said, we don't know how to read or write.

So get this, I started a witch doctor school. We go teach them how to be witch doctors. They already know.

We teach them how to read and write. And the only books we have in witch doctor school are the Bible and Love Does. So this whole idea -- you should see our graduation ceremonies. I mean, they're awesome.

GLENN: Oh, I bet. It's unique.

BOB: Yeah, so I grabbed each of these witch doctors by the face, and I give them a kiss on the forehead. I want be every witch doctor's first kiss. And I just whisper to them, like, do good. Live your life in a way -- they're already the leaders in the community. Live a life in a way that gives great honor and respect to people.

GLENN: Okay. So I just want to take this back, as I understand this story, here's a guy I introduced to you 40 minutes ago. And it started at his table with his children on September 11th. They wrote a letter.

He first asked, what would you say to the world leaders? They respond. Most people would stop there. He said, let's write. And let's invite them to come here. Or we'll go there and interview them and find out what they hope for.

And 20 -- no, 19 of them said yes. Most people would go, okay. Well, we're not going to go -- they went to all 19?

BOB: Yeah.

GLENN: Went to all 19. Interviewed. While he was in Uganda. Finds problems. He's an attorney, he says, well, maybe I can just help. He starts to help. They invite you to be the -- they invite you, you think to be council. Meaning they wanted you to be a counselor and an attorney there. But you're actually an ambassador. Not of -- wait. You're not the ambassador from the United States to Uganda. You're the Uganda an ambassador to America, right?

BOB: The consul, yes.

GLENN: Consul.

So now you're educating witch doctors and teaching them how to do good.

That's a remarkable 15 years.

BOB: What if you just lived a life engaged. It wouldn't be any different than other people. Like, this whole idea of living an engaged life. We're not graded on a curve. Just engaged with the people around you, engage the people you love.

But engage them with love. Like, engage them with that child-like faith. And to see what would happen -- we would finish each interview with these world leaders. Like, what do you bring to some of these guys? Some places the chocolate would melt.

And so the kids brought the key to our front door. And they gave it to them in a little box. And they said, you know, we came over to your house. If you ever want to come to our house, here's the key to your front door. And you know what, somebody -- I'm going to tell you who, but they emailed from the embassy to our kids. Because they don't have my email address. It's the kids doing this. And they said, we'd like to use our key. And they did.

GLENN: Oh, you're kidding me.

BOB: Just engage people. See what will happen. Do a cannonball. Don't put your toe in the water. Grab your knees. And then just see what will happen. Start with your family. Let these concentric rings go out. If faith is a big deal, do it because faith is a big deal for you.

But don't try to talk everybody into it. God will let people know that he's around because he's there.

Like, it will just continue to reveal himself. And not in mystical ways.

It will just be by meeting loving people. So I want to be that guy. And I'm trying. And I'm not quite there. I always get my first call. It's always 5:00 in the morning from some dude in Atlanta. Because it's 8:00 in the morning there, and it's 5:00 in San Diego. I got my last call at midnight from two witch doctors in witch doctor school.

And they said, a little boy has been abducted. And this new witch doctor has taken them into the bush for a child sacrifice, but we know where he is. Should we go get the kid?

And I'm standing on my bed in my boxers, yelling into the phone, get the kid! And four hours later, I get a text message from these two guys that used to be bad guys, and they said, we've rescued the child, he's with his mother. And the last two words of the text message, Love Does.

I've spent my whole life avoiding the people Jesus spent his whole life engaging. And I've just said, I'm not going to avoid people anymore. I'm going to engage the people who creep me out. I'm not going to just avoid them, but I'm not going to engage them --

STU: Is that what this interview is about?

BOB: Oh, you want to know something great? The cover of Everybody, Always looks like a bunch of balloons. I flew over to Uganda after -- you know what it's like when you get a book cover, and they send all these samples. They all look hokey.

So I flew over Uganda. I got the witch doctors to make the cover out of their fingerprints.

(laughter)

GLENN: Wow. Wow.

BOB: But engage people. Engage people. They're like, what's this about? Actually, I'm going to write a book about loving people and loving the people that creep you out. And you guys used to creep me out a lot. You still creep a lot of people out. But I'm learning from you. You're actually teaching me more about love. Because I'm learning about you and your life. And I see who you're becoming. Not who you used to be. And it's starting to change me. They've actually taught me. I don't know if I've taught them anything. They're teaching me a ton.

GLENN: I have to tell you, Bob, and I don't know if you take this as a compliment or not. But I have worked -- but I've been around and worked with some of the biggest spiritual leaders of multiple faiths in the last 20 years.

And have met the worst and the best. Billy Graham. One of the best. I won't list some of the worst.

You may be the best preacher I've ever met. And it's not because you're preaching. It's because you're doing it. And that's the secret.

If we just stop preaching to each other and we stop trying to get each other baptized or trying to fix everybody's life by selling you X, Y, or Z, just live it yourself, it -- people change. People change.

BOB: You know why you're doing what you're doing.

I dressed up to come visit with you by taking off my baseball cap. I wear this Boston Red Sox hat, not because I'm a Red Sox fan. I haven't even gone to a baseball fan.

But one of the reasons I wear it, my neighbor across the street was a big Red Sox fan. And she was going to be with Jesus by the end of the week. So we made a deal. I said, I will wear your Red Sox hat for the rest of my life and represent the Sox here, but every time Jesus walks by you, you need to mention my name.

(laughter)

That's the first thing if I hear, I knew you not, I'm like, Carol!

So if you know why you're doing what you're doing, why you're engaging people in conversation, why you're doing it, it will give a lot of clarity to your life.

GLENN: You're amazing. Thank you so much.

BOB: Oh, thanks so much for having me and for making me feel so welcome and for spreading a lot of joy and hope to people.

GLENN: You bet. Thank you. Bob Goff. Everybody, Always. If that doesn't sell everyone in this audience on buying this book, I don't know what would.

Boy, one of my favorite interviews of all time. Thank you, Bob.

BOB: Good being with you, thank you.

GLENN: You bet.

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Journalist Whitney Webb has worked to uncover some of the most dangerous stories of our lifetime, and she joins Glenn to reveal just how eye-opening it’s been. Her new two-volume book, “One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein,” examines Epstein’s elaborate network of corruption and power, from Bill Clinton to Ghislaine Maxwell and many more. Her research into transhumanism has given her a terrifying perspective on the World Economic Forum and tech elites, including Elon Musk. And she tells Glenn the dark truth about Biden’s push for electric vehicles that she noticed while living in Chile.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Whitney Webb HERE

RADIO

Is America’s bankruptcy INEVITABLE?

The United States is facing possibly the largest debt crisis in our history as our national debt rises faster and faster. Glenn Beck warns: is our bankruptcy inevitable? Plus, Glenn and Stu discuss the recent protest during an ICE raid on a farm in California.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Now, here's another thing. And I will hit this once.

Because it's a little -- it's a little overwhelming.

But I just think you should know it.

Since the dead ceiling was raised on July 3rd. July 3rd.

The US debt is up $410 billion.

Just in the first two days.

Let me say that again.

We raised the debt ceiling. And the US debt goes up 410 billion, almost half of a trillion dollars in two days!

Now, this comes after the US Treasury ended extraordinary measures, raising the debt ceiling by 5 trillion.

We are in the midst of the US' largest crisis.

Largest one ever. Now, listen to this.

After hitting the debt limit of $36.1 trillion in January of 2025, Treasury began extraordinary measures to conserve cash. Last week, when Trump's big, beautiful bill was signed into law. The debt ceiling from 36.1 to $41.1 trillion. And what happened?

In two days, up 410 billion. Raised due to a technical process.

Now, Stu, I don't want to get all technical here. But I think that -- that the debt ceiling going up, and then us spending an additional $410 billion. I think that technical process. And, again, if I'm too wonky, maybe you can explain it, is out of control politicians that are just spending too much.

But maybe that's just me. Is that too technical. Is that too wonky, to get to?

STU: Yeah. You're in nerd world with that one, Glenn. People aren't going to understand it.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

So they were just -- they were just doing what you do, when you don't have the money. They were just moving bills around. And paying what they absolutely had to. Until the debt ceiling was raised.

And then when they did, they were like woo. Because we were completely out of money.

Now we can print some more. Now we're free to borrow a record 41.1 trillion dollars in debt.

Now, here's the part that kind of opens your eyes. To put this into perspective, at the start of 2020, the US had $23.2 trillion in at the time. In 2020, $23.2 trillion.

Where are we now?

Well, we just moved that debt ceiling up to 41 trillion, because we're at $36.1 trillion.

With the new limit, we will mark $17.9 trillion increase, since 2020. That's a 77 percent increase in our debt. Have you thought of it this way?

At our current pace, we will reach the new debt ceiling much sooner than expected.

The treasury posted a 316 billion-dollar deficit in May. That's the third largest in record.

For the first eight months of 2025, the budget gap hit $1.3 trillion. The third largest in history.

Over the last 12 months. The US borrowed 1.9 trillion.

Or 158 billion, every month.

That is half -- this is half of the May levels.

But let's take 158 billion to be conserve.

US current debt stands at 36.6.

We are 4.5 trillion below the limit now.

At our current pace, it will take us 28 months, to hit that limit.


STU: Jeez.

GLENN: In fact, the debt ceiling crisis. It looks like it will hit us now, every two years. The debt ceiling is hit faster than it can be moved. From June 2023 and October 2021, we're the last debt ceiling crisis. The US budget deficit has averaged 9 percent of GDP over the last five years.

But over the last 12 months, the budget gap has hit 7 percent of GDP. That is higher than during 2001, or any of the 1980 recessions.

We now spend 7.1 trillion dollars, 24 percent of our GDP. We have a spending problem.
That's our problem. We are issuing so much debt now, bond prices are falling. And yields are rising. What does that mean? It means, we're charging less, and we're paying out more in interest. That's not going to help us!

The US spent a record of $1.2 trillion on interest expense alone.

That's more than the total spending on defense. Medicaid, and the veterans program.

At our current pace, we're set to see US cost exceed $2 trillion within a matter of years!

Over the next ten years, the US is projected to pay $13.8 trillion just in interest.

For interest alone. This is not taxpayers. This is per person in the United States.

For interest alone, we are now on the hook for $40,500 per person, just for the interest!

This is four times Social Security cash deficit in the next ten years.

Five times the cost of 403 US weather and climate disasters. Since 1980.

403, weather and climate disasters.

It's the cost of 403 of those! Sorry.

It's the -- it's five times the cost of those, since 1980! I just wanted to -- I mean, just want to start there. Wake up to your situation.

People are arguing about all of the wrong things right now, and they are -- we think we are skating. And we think that this can last forever. It's not going to last forever, and then you add things on top of this.

Like, what is happening with -- with ICE?

I don't know if you saw the video of the protesters. Some protester that was firing some sort of a weapon, at a federal agent during the ICE raid at a farm in California. Let me play this. Cut two, please. This is the raid --

VOICE: Take a look at this video right here. It appears a protestor fired some kind of gun at federal agents. This happened this afternoon.

It was a really chaotic scene at the time.
A lot of smoking was being launched at the protesters. Again, it appears that a protestor fired back with that weapon.

It looks like he fired at least a couple of times. We've not heard about any agents being hurt.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: So we are entering a very violent. Very, very violent time. First of all, let me talk about this particular raid. This was at a legal pot farm!

Okay. I think we can probably in the past, just done an hour on that. You know, oh, it's a legal pot farm.

Okay. Forget about that. That's not a problem apparently anymore.

It's being tended, this legal pot farm is being tended by illegals. That are coming across the border.

Well, we don't want to hurt our farming community.

I don't think of our farming community, as pot farms. But maybe that's just me.

Again, why get -- why get down in those details?

STU: Yeah. Glenn, this is just an existential question here.

But is it a legal pot farm, if the workers are illegal?

GLENN: Stu. Stu, again, that would be hour two of any past show that we have ever done together.

STU: Okay. All right.

GLENN: All right. So they go in, and they're trying to bust the illegals.

All right. What happens? Well, there starts to be protests. These protests come.

They start firing at ICE.

ICE has to put tear gas down.

Now the illegals are running to save themselves.

But who is running amongst this crowd?

Apparently, a bunch of children.

Now, I suppose those legal pot farms are providing a good education for those kids.

You know, probably has a pot farm day care center for those kids. So they can be out of the fields. And of course not working for their parents. Because that would be underage labor. You wouldn't want that to happen in America.

You know, all these people that have these bleeding hearts. Like, oh, this is just so wrong.

You're not even thinking anymore.

You're not even thinking.

You just see a video where you have kids running with their parents. Children running from the fields of this pot farm.

What were they doing there?

Certainly, that wasn't underage labor, was that?

Because you would be against that.

Wouldn't you?

Or are you?

Or are you only against that, if it's white children?

I'm not sure. I'm confused.

So you have the underage children. And these bleeding hearts, who are saying, we have to let these people go.

We have to let them just do what they do!

Really? You mean work in the shadows?

You mean engage in possible child labor? Okay. Possibly making, what?

A dollar an hour. Yeah. No, no, no. That's really, really, really good.

Then let's just let these protesters, and they're not protesters.

They are terrorists now.

We just let these terrorists get away with firing guns at our -- at our ICE agents. Things are changing in America. Let's just look at the violence, just in the last couple of weeks.

You have the July 4th ICE ambush, which is what?

ICE 25 miles outside of the city of Dallas. They have a detention center.

A coordinated well-planned attack.

Guy is covered in black. You know, in -- in military gear. They come and they start shooting fireworks at the detention center. Then a few of them break off, and they start spray painting the cars. Which brings unarmed ICE agents out of the building, to try to stop them from defacing the -- the cars.

They're unarmed. Well, this group has snipers in the woods. Hiding in the woods.

As soon as those unarmed agents come out, they start shooting them. Shot one of them in the neck. Thank God, he's still alive. What do you call that?

What do you call that? A Revolutionary War. Terrorism. It's certainly not a peaceful protest. Neither was it yesterday.

And, meanwhile, we have Congressmen who are actually trying to pass a bill in Congress right now, saying that the ICE members can't wear masks.

Well, you know what, when your bad guys stop wearing masks. When your people who are on the -- on the college campuses stop wearing masks, maybe we can live in a community and live in a society where our police officers don't have to wear masks.

Don't give me this. That's gets appear zero stuff.

By the way, the gestapo never wore masks.

They didn't care.

This is the kind of stuff that you see in the third world countries.

You mean like riots on the streets?

Yeah. It's stuff you see in third world countries. And you're dragging us into a third world country.

And, you know what, it's just -- it's -- it's time!

It's time. It's just time to say, enough is enough. And I'm not saying take extraordinary measures.

I'm saying, can our US government, our FBI, our department of justice stop acting like every Bond villain I've ever seen.

And here's what I mean by that. It's like you take these guys off the street, and then you strap them on to a table. And you say, the laser is going to cut your head in half.

No. It's not going to. We all know it's not going to.

Can we stop acting like Bond villains? Can we actually take care of the problem?

Actually arrest these people. Try them. And put them in jail.

We need to start setting a few examples. Otherwise, this is going to ton spiral out of control.

RADIO

Obama's CIA chief behind Steele dossier deception – exposed!

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation against former CIA Director John Brennan. But will Americans finally see justice for his alleged crimes and cover-ups? Or will the Deep State protect him? Former Department of Defense intelligence analyst Jason Buttrill joins Glenn Beck to give his prediction.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let's bring in Jason Buttrill who is our chief researcher on the program.

You know, I'm reading a lot about John Brennan, and, you know, I think everybody knows he's a bad guy.

Well, everybody, but MSNBC and CNN.

They know he's a bad guy. But, you know, Jason, as I was starting to really refresh my memory. And look into Brennan, as we're -- it looks like maybe the Department of Justice is going to take him on.

And maybe prosecute him for some pretty bad perjury. I started looking into him, and I didn't realize. I had completely forgotten.

He was the guy who was the main guy that was pushing for torture, during the war.

I mean, he couldn't torture enough people.
And then he actually had a little group that would meet with the president, and they would develop the kill list. Do you remember, Stu?

Talking about the kill list, that Obama was doing? You know, every week. They developed a kill list. And everybody was like, what do you mean a kill list? Who is on the kill list?

It was John Brennan who was doing all of that stuff. He's a really, really dark dude. And, you know, hopefully we'll actually send him to jail for the things that he allegedly has done, besides, you know, develop the kill list. Jason, welcome to the program.

JASON: Hey, thanks, Glenn. I don't -- you know, it depends on -- I don't know. John Brennan has been one of the most slippery, I don't know how to describe him.

Whether it's like Bond villains. Or actually maybe it's more accurate to kill him like a Batman villain.

You remember like in Batman. You know if like the Joker is connected and remains in that comment or cartoon, or if it's the Penguin.

You know at the end of the comic, they're going to get away.

You will just see them in a slide. You know, all of a sudden in page where they slip away. They have to live again. You know, to the villain in another comic book.

GLENN: Oh, I know.

Yeah, I know.

And we are playing the role of a -- of a -- of a Bond villain as well, when it comes to justice.

Our DOJ is like, oh. And we have sharks that are going to eat you.

We have strapped you to this table. But they are going to start with your shoestrings. And then, we will leave. But before you know it, you will be dead in the belly of a shark. And they're not going to -- it's not going to kill them.

Just shoot them in the head. What are you doing?

Stop with the shark thing. That's what our DOJ is like. They just have these guys get away with murder.

JASON: Yeah. As you point out, with Brennan, it goes way, way back.

He was -- as you outlined. He was one of the guys that were right at the center of the enhanced interrogation, or torture controversy.

He -- he always said, hey, I was not in the enhanced interrogation techniques, air quoted, program.

But he was one of the guys, that was defending transferring some of the suspects, the country, where, you know, the rules are a lot less, you know, strict than they are here in the United States.

Where you can employ some of these.

Yeah. It goes beyond that.

He actually withdrew his name. You know, from being in the BCI director because of this.

But like any fat man villain or Bond villain, if he decides to run again, and he's confirmed by a massive amount. He just keeps on slipping through.

GLENN: Well, how does he get -- let me ask you: How do you think he gets this power?
Because he just keeps slipping through.

And, you know, if I remember right, it was Dianne Feinstein that -- that actually came at him, and said, you and the CIA are spying on the committee in -- in the Senate.

And they were investigating the torture, or enhanced interrogation. And he was knee-deep. Maybe neck-deep in that. And he said, we're not spying -- the CIA would never do that.

It's just unthinkable. Well, it turns out, yes. They were spying.

And then he never -- they never pushed for any kind of penalty on him.

He said, well, I'm going to find out, who did this.

And then they will pay.

Nobody paid. Nobody. Nothing. Does he have stuff on -- on members of the Senate and the House? Is that what -- is that what's happening here? How does he keep getting away with this?

Understanding John Brennan, in my opinion is understanding how the Deep State operates.

That example that you just put out there, with spying on the intelligence committee.

Deny. Deny. Deny.

Later it comes out, Glenn. That five CIA employees. Five, improperly accessed.

Five!

And then finally after a while. Like months later. He's apologizing to the Senate intelligence committee.

You know, all, but admitting this happened.

But no resignations.

No prosecutions. This goes on and on and on.

STU: Hang on.

And then on that same case, five years later, he writes his -- you know, his biography.

And he talks about how none of that happened.

So he admits it.

First, he denies it.

Then he's caught. Then he admits it.

He says, I will take care of it.

Nothing happens. Time goes by.

And then he writes a book. And then he goes, all of that. None of that happened.

That was all wrong. This guy is just --

JASON: Yeah. It really is.

And it's the same with the Steele dossier.

You know, did think it in front of Congress.

And then later, now we're coming out. Now we can see that he totally -- it appears like he was just completely lying.

Now we're trying to figure out what about he told John Durham. Because maybe they can get him for saying the same statements to John Durham. If they can, then maybe we can go after him.

But I really don't know.

I really don't know if the audience wants to hear this right now.

I don't know if it will make a difference.

This is how the Deep State operates.

To understand it, and understand John Brennan.

You understand, the executives don't control Deep State apparatuses. That's not how it works.

You have multiple people, and people that were under John Brennan and the CIA, are still there. They're still there.

The Deep State controls the Deep State apparatus, not the executive. Not Congress.

None of them. It is the shady individuals that continue to get away with things. We catch them in lies that never really matters.

I think if we could actually get some justice on this, that John Brennan could actually get -- you know, outed publicly, that he had in the past. This time, something actually happened. That I think that would be a huge step forward in getting rid of some of these people. That just linger. And secretly pull strings, while we're demanding I couldn't wait.

STU: So tell me what happened with the -- the ICA.

You know, the new report out, about the intelligence community assessment.

What is this story all about?

JASON: Yeah, it's a trade craft. The CIA trade craft review.

GLENN: What does that mean?

A trade craft review?

JASON: It's kind of a sexy way of juts saying, how did we operate, you know, from this time, to this time period?

GLENN: Okay.

JASON: And it points out, you know, how things -- like I said. It points out, in part of it. How things like the Steele dossier, ended up getting included into the, you know, whole Russia gate scandal.

And it looks very, very clear, that -- you know, that should not have -- unverified intelligence should not have gotten as far as the president's desk?

It should not have done it.

Even if it had, then it should have been heavily caveated showing, that this is just opposition research bullcrap.

Well, it didn't.

And if you look at it, very, very physically. It shows that if you are, let's say a Bond villain. Or a Batman villain. And you really, really want this damaging information, that's just opposition research, to somehow make it into the hull of the White House. And then knowing that that's going to get leaked down to the media.

They have perfected, you know, the CIA perfected this kind of operation. They know exactly what they're doing. Who would be responsible for doing it?

Why would they be doing it? And it would be for election interference.

And then that's allegedly what John Brennan was actually doing.

That's what it looks like he was doing.

Now we have the intelligence community assessment, showing that this is what happened. With that information and with now being able to go back to people like John Durham or looking at exactly what statements were made to him. So we can fit them into the statute of limitations. Or before it runs out.

GLENN: Which is in the middle of August.

Which really pisses me off. It's another thing like the -- the debt ceiling. Oh! You know, we've had all these years to fix it. But now we have to fix it tonight, and then it's never fixed.

I mean, I'm telling you, this is -- this is not going to be good!

You know, this -- this Epstein thing is not going to go away. It's just not going to go away.

And I'm sorry, but I think the president is on the wrong side on this.

And I'm not assigning any kind of reason for it, but he wants it to just go away.

And I have my belief, I expressed them yesterday.

It's about Intel, again. But you can't keep stacking these things up. You just can't.

John Brennan is a known bad guy, Russiagate. You would think that Donald Trump would be all over this. Because it affected his life so much. This guy is a very, very bad guy.

And both sides of the aisle know it.

And for some reason, nobody can ever do anything about John Brennan. He's got to be investigated and prosecuted if that's where the evidence leads.

But you can't just walk -- if the statute of limitations runs out on this guy, I think -- I think you've got another chink in the armor. A big one!

JASON: Yeah. Yeah. And not just him. I mean, I would go a lot further and say, who were the people that were directly underneath him?

Who were his subordinates? Who were their subordinates?

How many people had knowledge of this?

What we're really talking about is how it operates.

This is how things happen, outside of the wishes of the president.

You know, the executive or even Congress.

This is how -- you know, this is how outside.

This is how justice and how operations work, you know, from people who are not elected.

People that we did not give a mandate to.

This is how this operates. You have to root out every single one of them.

Identify them.

Have them stand in front of justice and see if we can just finally start to will this thing away.

If we do not, then the future does not look great for what we want for this country.

GLENN: Oh, and it's everywhere.

You know, Kevin O'Conner. He's the White House physician for Biden. The testimony that he gave, well, fine. You know, give him -- give him immunity. Give him immunity.

I don't want to know about the private conversations, you know, about his health.

Although, I do think that is really important. We're talking about the president of the United States. He's not just a private citizen. He's property. You know, the president can't say -- if the Secret Service says, sir, you're not going into that room.

The president no longer has the right to say, I'm going into that room.

Sorry, while you're prosecute. It's almost F you're property of the United States of America. And control over your own person in many ways. I'm sorry. But, you know, the physician, client. Or physician patient confidential, I'm not sure that exists, when you're president of the United States.

But there's no reason why you shouldn't give this guy immunity, and then say, okay. Who said, what?

Were you ever told to lie?

I'm not sure you will get the truth out of this guy. Because he is a -- he is a Biden guy, through and through. But people should start going to jail on that.

I'm so sick and tired of these investigations, that start to show promise and then nothing happens. Nothing.

It's been 20 years of investigations, and no one goes to jail.

It's been 20 years of riots on the streets. You know, people burning cities down. People, you know, looting stores. Destroying our economy.

Destroying the safety in our city. And no one goes to jail. President Trump has got to start sending some big, big messages. And he is on so many fronts.

But this one cannot escape his view.

He's got to be on this one.

All right. Jason, thank you very much.

RADIO

Are fired USAID workers plotting REGIME CHANGE in America?!

Glenn Beck reviews a potentially terrifying story: some former USAID workers, who were fired under Trump, may be planning to use their color revolution tactics to “undermine Trump’s power” and plot regime change. Also, former Department of Defense intelligence analyst Jason Buttrill joins to discuss how the ambush at a Texas ICE detention facility looked eerily similar to what he saw while fighting in Afghanistan.