Glenn Beck - Senator DeMint: 'Very much against' the bailout

September 29, 2008

The Glenn Beck Program

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina

GLENN: Senator DeMint from Washington, D.C. Last week I talked to you, Senator, you were against the bailout. I was for a bailout but I am certainly not for this one. Have we switched places?

SENATOR DeMINT: Well, no, I am very much against it. It's curious if you look at really what happened. You know, Paulson introduced a plan and then congress added a whole lot of boogiemen to it, or bad things, and now they've come back and taken out a lot of the boogiemen in saying we've accomplished something and that it's better. The fact is it's pretty much the Paulson plan, yet it's a little bit worse because it not only allows Paulson to go out and buy mortgage assets but any assets he deems necessary.

GLENN: How about this one. Section 103, the Treasury can buy from counties and cities that may have suffered significant loss or markets in turmoil. Protecting the retirement security of Americans by purchasing troubled assets held by or on behalf of an eligible retirement plan. This means the secretary of the treasury suddenly can now buy retirement plans.

SENATOR DeMINT: Exactly. A lot of these pension funds and retirement plans for, you know, state employees as well as for individuals contained these securitized mortgages which have lost value. I mean, this is, you know, a rabbit hole we'll be going down for decades trying to chase down any asset that's lost value. This is just an incredible power grab by the federal government. You know, we've created the problem by our own bad policy and now we've created a panic by our irresponsible rhetoric and our promises to fix it, and

GLENN: Look. Hang on just a second, Senator. The irresponsible rhetoric, I have not heard irresponsible rhetoric because I haven't heard I have yet to hear someone step up and say, "America, don't talk to me about recession. America, we are headed toward 1929 economic crash, quite possibly some of the worst stuff that we've ever seen, and this bailout, it will make it right and we won't have that." I have not heard anyone say that. I haven't even they are still talking, some people are saying, "Well, it might be a very deep recession." What?

SENATOR DeMINT: It is being said here and whether or not it's being reported in the news or not but they are trying to say this would be even worse than the Great Depression if we don't do this. And then there are people who are saying if we do this, it could make it even worse.

GLENN: Right.

SENATOR DeMINT: That the market needs to correct and if we try to inject ourselves in some kind of central planning model, we're likely to make it much, much worse. And the problem running alongside this, Glenn, is we've got such a huge national debt that companies like Goldman Sachs and others have been involved with actually helping to buy our debt and sell it to other countries and this is just kind of an insidious model here. If we are not able to borrow money here as a country, we default on our loans very quickly because we're in debt and we're creating more debt. And so that's our big problem. If we could get on a pathway to balance the budget here as a country and begin over 50 years to start paying down our debt, it would create a whole lot of faith in our dollar. But right now the value of the dollar's going to continue to drop because I think countries are seeing we're not able to pay our debt.

GLENN: Senator, have you ever seen more public involvement on the phone and the switch boards before?

SENATOR DeMINT: No. I didn't think we could ever top the illegal immigration/amnesty debate but last year we got over 1,000 calls, it was 9 1 against the bailout. I think the ones were the bankers. But a lot of bankers don't want to do this. They know it will get the Feds in their business. BB&T has said don't do this. They have had kind of a responsible loan policy and they know that this is bringing the federal government into a business that in effect they'll be having to compete with the federal government.

GLENN: So how are we even and I understand that we're a republic and not a democracy and this is exactly what we hire you guys for.

SENATOR DeMINT: Right.

GLENN: To represent us, and I know you can go against public opinion, but I have to tell you, Senator, have you heard anyone on Capitol Hill say "If I vote for this at 9 1 against the American people and these things that we're predicting happen after we've done this program, I'm a dead man. I mean, I can't go back to the people and say, hey, I need one more handout."

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SENATOR DeMINT: Yes.

GLENN: And that's what's going to happen.

SENATOR DeMINT: It is because they are not even telling us this is going to fix the problem.

GLENN: Thank you, thank you.

SENATOR DeMINT: And the problem I have is we're not telling Americans the truth about why this happened and that it was really bad policy over many years and it was the intrusion of the government into the private markets that caused the failure. The private markets have not failed us. And it's not like we've learned from our mistakes and we're saying we're going to fix the things that caused the problem and we're going to implement some real good free market principles of lower taxes and get rid of Sarbanes Oxley and fix some accounting things that are hurt, but we're not doing any of that, Glenn. All we're doing is this trillion dollar Band Aid and

GLENN: You are going to have I mean, Newt Gingrich said to me today if he were in the House, he would vote for it only because he couldn't sleep at night knowing he could do everything he could. And I said, but you are dismantling the free market system with this bill. You can't dismantle the free market system. That's what he even said, before the election three or four times more the government will have to come and bail people out. The people will go crazy if that happens.

SENATOR DeMINT: Yeah, we're going to have some pain regardless because of years of just bad policy. I mean, you can just the thing that's the plainest is like our energy policy. I mean, we've starved ourselves of energy. We're sending $700 billion of our dollars overseas every year. We're paying through the nose. It's just sucking the life out of our economy. But we still won't fix it, for heaven sake.

GLENN: No, Senator, no, Senator, please pass this on to all of your friends because I you know what? I said this about the economy a year and a half ago I was talking about, and I said the Great Depression could be around the corner; look out, this is unstable. Nobody would listen. A year and a half ago I started saying something else: Politicians, please, I'm begging of you, you are read the Declaration of Independence. This is the way the American people feel. And if these guys go and are not clear with the American people and they do this bailout against our wishes, when you have to come a second and a third or a fourth time, the people will not stand for it. We are at a breaking point. A breaking point, Senator. And not me. I am so afraid of what some people in this country are willing to do because they feel they have been betrayed.

SENATOR DeMINT: Well, I really do think this government has betrayed the people and, you know, we swear an oath to the Constitution and there is no respect for the constitutional boundaries of the things we spend money on, of local projects. I mean, these things are not in the Constitution, and the Constitution certainly does not give the government the ability to go in and buy parts of businesses. And so it's like we're setting aside our Constitution and our free market principles in order to get through this crisis, and everyone's saying we've got to do something. We're not willing to do the right things. So we've got to do this thing because it's something. And, you know and then they are saying, well, if you don't do this wrong thing, it's going to just be terrible. So it's just a dysfunctional congress that has caused the problem, now says they are going to solve it. You know, and people like I mean, I don't know what to do except I'm going to say you guys don't know what you're doing, you haven't been right this year and I'm going to go with the free market system and vote against this thing and I hope the American people will show their anger at election day.

GLENN: If I may, you could quote, I believe he was a senator. If not, he was in the House. You should quote Daniel Boone: You can all go to hell. I'm going to Texas. I mean, it is, it is a place here in our capitol building and in our White House and all throughout Washington where they are disconnected from the people, and real people are going to be hurt with this or without this, and the people who have poisoned the system are now telling us they can heal us.

SENATOR DeMINT: Right. And they are blaming our free enterprise system for this.

GLENN: Yes.

SENATOR DeMINT: And that's the biggest casualty of all of this is that people are going to come away thinking our markets have failed, that the free enterprise system doesn't work, capitalism is not the right model. And they did the same thing after the Great Depression. And we know, Milton Friedman knew that that was caused by bad the Federal Reserve bad monetary policy, meaning he proved it very well in my mind.

GLENN: Right.

SENATOR DeMINT: But Roosevelt used that as a way to intrude the government into all areas of our life. And the same thing's happening again right now.

GLENN: Exactly right. And that's what caused, that's what caused the Great Depression to last for ten years was nobody could trust that the government wasn't going to just change the rules and get involved. It's a decade mess we're creating. Senator, is this going to pass?

SENATOR DeMINT: Yes, I think it's going to pass easily. And they are trying to

GLENN: Easily?

SENATOR DeMINT: They are trying to choreograph it to cover people so that they can get an equal number of Republicans and Democrats so that no one can be blamed.

GLENN: How dare whoever is who is responsible for this?

SENATOR DeMINT: Well, it's primarily coming from the administration, but they have so frightened the leadership and congress and frankly I think the Democrats are chomping at the bit over this. They have wanted to get their tentacles into Wall Street and the financial markets. They feel like capitalism is out of control. So what has happened is Bush feels like we have to do something. The Democrats are seeing this as a way to leverage a lot of their regulations and control and ownership frankly of the American economy and so they're going to help Bush if he helps them, and it's the same thing that happened on prescription drugs for Medicare, same thing that happened on No Child Left Behind. Bush is working with the Democrats.

GLENN: This is an abomination.

SENATOR DeMINT: It is.

GLENN: This is a betrayal of the this is why in 2004, if you were a listener of this program, I said get the hell away from these Republicans. You vote for the individual, not for the party. These Republicans, please, call your Republicans and say do not vote for the please do not vote for this. Don't disenfranchise me even more.

SENATOR DeMINT: Those calls, Glenn, are so helpful. That's why I've been on as many radio and TV shows as I can be on is just to get people to call and show their anger. It's the way we brought down the big amnesty bill. There were only five senators against that when we started. But it was you and others, people saying, hey, this is not the right way to do this. I mean, we need to have a rule of law system and control our borders, and the people were heard. And they have been heard on this energy issue. We were able to usher in energy freedom day and let the bands expire because we stirred up anger.

GLENN: But you know and I know that nobody's going to invest until they again nobody is going to invest in those oil wells and start to move forward on that until they know the next congress and the next President isn't going to change the rules on them.

SENATOR DeMINT: You are exactly right. Democrats are already talking about reinstating the moratorium.

GLENN: Sure they are.

SENATOR DeMINT: So this has got to be a movement of the people because this is a huge drag on our economy that the whole energy situation's hurting every American. The bad policies up here are incredible. I mean, I'm just pulling my hair out that in the middle of this crisis I mean, we passed more pork spending last week than in history.

GLENN: Excuse me?

SENATOR DeMINT: Yes. I mean, this was, the dollars, over $20 billion between the spending bills and the military authorization, more and we were supposed to cut them in half and Bush wasn't going to sign any bill, and we just have forgotten about that and so we're saying the world is in a financial panic, yet we're spending like there's no tomorrow here. It's just shameless. And they don't think the American people can figure this out.

GLENN: You know what, the American people are busy. We're busy working hard. Most Americans are not following it but I'm telling you, Senator, and this is what you need to tell your friends up on Capitol Hill well, not your friends. I have a feeling that your friends

SENATOR DeMINT: Former friends.

GLENN: Yeah, you need to tell the people up on Capitol Hill, the American people may not know exactly what's going on, but Republican, Democrat, independent in their gut, they know something's very, very wrong and they're not they know that the leadership on both sides are not telling them the truth at best and lying to them at worst. And when that gut catches up to their pocketbook, there's real hell to pay, real hell to pay.

SENATOR DeMINT: I think you are right. Americans are starting to see through the double speak here that, you know, they've told us for years, "Well, we don't have to drill for oil but we're going to have cheap energy." You know, they told us things that can't be.

GLENN: Yeah.

SENATOR DeMINT: And my hope is in the anger and involvement of the American people at this point, that's the only I mean, but we shouldn't kid ourselves. If we don't pass this bill, we're going to have pain.

GLENN: Yes.

SENATOR DeMINT: And economic difficulty. If we do pass this bill, we're going to have pain and economic difficulty.

GLENN: Senator, will you be clear on the pain? Because I've talked to people who have been working side by side with Paulson, I have talked to people at the highest levels, all off record. Will someone please tell the American people the truth that whether we pass it, whether we don't pass it, there is a good possibility we are looking at 1929 style Depression.

SENATOR DeMINT: Yeah. I hope we're not looking at that, Glenn, and actually the frustrating thing is we do have good fundamentals in our economy, but the credit markets and the financial part has been so misplayed by our government and we've messed things up, we've taken the risk out of capitalism and insulated people from bad decisions and we've hurt ourselves. And we've got to fix that. But I just don't think Treasury can fix it, I don't think $700 billion's going to fix it and I think we need to basically send a signal out there is we've got to fix this ourselves, we've got to encourage local banks to loan money. We could fix some accounting rules that would make it easier for them without spending a dime of taxpayer money, but we won't do that. So I think the anger has got to precede any positive development.

GLENN: Senator, we hope to check in with you again, if you have time, we'd like to check in with you again and get a progress update.

SENATOR DeMINT: Sounds like I'm going to be here for a while.

GLENN: Appreciate it. Bye bye.

Trump is INDICTED: Here are the TOP 5 questions about Trump's indictment ANSWERED

Brandon Bell / Staff, J2R | Getty Images

BREAKING NEWS: Trump has been INDICTED.

Today marks the first time in U.S. history that a President has been criminally indicted—but what does that actually mean? Unless you have a legal or political background, it is difficult to follow what will actually happen surrounding Trump's indictment.

Glenn will provide more clarity in coming days as this story continues to unfold. In the meantime, Americans are wondering what Trump's indictment means and what comes next.

Here are five things you NEED to know about Trump's indictment.

1. What does "indictment" actually mean?

To "indict" someone is the formal term used when a person is notified that they have been officially charged with a crime. In this case, the Manhattan grand jury found that the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, brought forward enough evidence to criminally charge Trump with a crime.

2. What crime is Trump being charged with?

Though the story is still developing, at the time of this article's publication, Trump was apparently being charged with mislabeling campaign finance funds. A week before the 2016 Presidential election, adult film star Stormy Daniels claimed she allegedly slept with Trump years prior and threatened to go public with the story. Trump's then-advisor Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 and labeled the fee as "legal fees" in their campaign finances. Trump repaid Cohen once he was elected to office.

Mislabeling legal fees is a misdemeanor—not a felony—yet Trump is being federally charged. Hillary Clinton was guilty of the same misdemeanor, mislabeling funding for the Steele Dossier as "legal fees" in her campaign finances. Why did she get away with paying $130,000 to the Federal Election Commission, while Trump is facing federal criminal charges?

Mislabeling campaign finances can't be considered a felony unless there is evidence it was used to shield a federal crime. So what was Trump covering up? Even NBC admitted that Bragg's case to prove this point was flimsy to begin with. It has not been revealed what evidence was presented to the grand jury to determine that Trump is guilty of a federal crime.

3. What is a "grand jury" and how are they able to indict Trump?

A "grand jury" is a type of federal jury that evaluates criminal cases. A U.S. prosecutor has to submit evidence before a grand jury, who will determine whether there is “probable cause” to believe an individual has committed a crime and should be put on trial. In this case, the Manhattan grand jury ruled that the evidence submitted by Manhattan DA Bragg was sufficient enough to believe that Trump had committed a federal crime.

Grand jury proceedings are closed to the public, thus, we don't have access to the evidence Bragg submitted before the jury.

4. Will Trump be arrested?

The simple answer is: yes.

Trump's arrest won't look like your typical crime shows with police officers busting through Trump's door and handcuffing him. The district attorney’s office will ask Trump’s attorney when he plans to come to New York to be arraigned, which means to appear before a court to face criminal charges. Once Trump arrives in Manhattan, he will likely surrender himself at the courthouse where he will be formally "arrested," taken to get fingerprinted, get a mugshot taken, and even a DNA test. He will then await his trial to defend himself against the charges.

5. Will Trump appear in court?

Yes. Once Trump is arraigned, he will await his court date to defend himself against his charges. Trump will likely pay bail to avoid being confined to the courthouse or a jail cell.

Buckle up, America! Be sure to tune into the Glenn Beck Program to stay up-to-date on all the developments surrounding Trump's indictment. And if you haven't already, be sure to check out last week's episode of Glenn TV where Glenn dove deep into the "big distraction"—the REAL reason they're going after Trump.

Message to America after the Nashville massacre: We are worshiping a FALSE GOD

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Contributor , DEA / A. VERGANI / Contributor , Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images.

We had yet another tragic school shooting. There is only one way to begin to address this tragedy, a tragedy that has repeated itself all too often. We must begin by mourning with the families of the victims. Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire community affected by this senseless act of violence.

I'm a parent, and I mourn with you as one.

I'm also a concerned citizen deeply concerned with the profound brokenness that pervades our current culture. All of us fear for the safety of our children and our loved ones. We share the same goal of creating a safe and secure environment for everyone, especially for our children, in our schools, in places of learning and growth.

It is natural for all of us to feel anger and fear during these times, and it may seem unnatural to rise above it. But we must. It's essential to remember that we have to come together as a society, together, and address the root causes of violence. Let me state it plainly: the root cause is not the gun, but rather, the misuse of them by individuals who are mentally ill or have criminal intent. I, for one, want to address the problem of gun violence. I am worried about this with my own children. Every American, regardless of who you voted for, feels the same.

But enough is enough.

When will we address mental health? Do you know the damage we have done to our children, just because of COVID? We have destroyed the mental health of our children. Our country's suicide rate is proof enough that something has gone deeply awry within the soul of our nation—the souls of our children. What is causing all of this? It is the loss of the old guards of our civilization.

Something has gone deeply awry within the soul of our nation.

There are several groups that we need to address. First, to the parents and families of the Nashville victims, I'm sorry. We love you. Our society is sick—it is sick and unrecognizable to most of us. Your loved ones have paid the ultimate price for that illness. I'm sorry because I'm part of the society that has an unwillingness to see the truth, apparently.

Second, to the mother of the 27-year-old shooter, we mourn with you as well. I've read your old posts. You've been fighting against guns in school. While we disagree, we both want this violence to end. I've also read your posts about your children, and how proud you are. There were so many moments of beauty. You feel the same way every mom and dad feels about their child, and you were right to feel that way.

Today, I can only imagine how confused you must be. You should know, we love you too. You lost a child as well. You lost a child to the same society that has an unwillingness to see the truth. You should also know, you are part of our community, and we mourn with you as well.

You lost a child to the same society that has an unwillingness to see the truth.

Now, lastly, to the political class and the media elites. You have been dividing us for years. At first, I think I was a part of that. I've tried really hard not to be. However, you're not sincere in anything you do. At first, maybe you thought you were right in your motivations, but then every time society proved you wrong and you just dug your heels in.

Why do you continue to divide us? Is it just to win over your opponent? Is it just to crush the other side? Is it because you believe that everyone who doesn't vote your way is evil? Or is it that you just no longer care? I'm one American among many who no longer believe in you.

I can understand how easy it is to think people who vote differently than me are the problem. I really can, and those people aren't the problem. The problem begins with people, like you, who only care about money or power, or are so arrogant that they think they know better than the rest of us. You make yourselves and your system into a false god. The arrogance.

You make yourselves and your system into a false god.

You go after the disaffected, the weak, and the hopeless, and you prey on these people, promising to be their savior, hoping they will help you gain power over those who you call your enemies. You have lied. You have lied through half-truths. You have lied through omission. You have lied through fabrications. You have distorted the truth to the degree that it's no longer recognizable.

You call men women, and women men. In your world, our children are legally children until 25 for insurance purposes. Yet you also consider our children "adult" enough to alter their own bodies at eight years old. You have called evil good, and good evil. We do not have a gun problem in America. Per capita, there were more gun owners 50 years ago than there are right now, yet they didn't have these problems. Is it the gun, or is it the people?

What we have in America is a TRUTH problem. We have turned ourselves inside out. We have turned ourselves against the basic principles that gave us life and freedom, and the promise of a fuller life. Our women have no more children, and our men have lost all meaning, reason, and faith.

What we have in America is a TRUTH problem.

Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal released a poll that showed what principles the American people value most. Children, God, family—the values that used to define us as Americans—were LAST on the list. What was on the top? Money was in the top three. Money? Since when has money become a principle?

Perhaps it is because money is the god that so many worship—money over principles every time a corrupt bank is bailed out, money over principles for those who never want to pay their school tuition, every time we make someone who didn't go to school pay for someone else's tuition.

What kind of god do we worship, that makes children so allegedly flawed that we lay them on our metal alters to the gods in the surgical gowns, who can mutilate and sterilize them to make them "just the way they were intended?" That's an ancient god I don't recognize.

We all know the words that were written in the summer of 1776: "We hold these truths." But other words were written later that year when things weren't so sunny. It was December 21st: "These are the times that try men's souls." These words turned our nation around. These truly are the times that try men's souls, and the modern-day patriots—the lovers of truth and justice—must stand firm in the face of an ever-growing storm of disinformation and division. The weak-hearted are not going to be able to weather the storm, but those with the courage to fight for what is true will emerge victorious.

Lovers of truth and justice must stand firm in the face of an ever-growing storm of disinformation and division.

We live in a time when our faith in institutions, our faith in everything we know, is at an all-time low. Our republic is under siege, and the only way out is to remember our founding principles. We are drowning in a sea of lies. Cling to the life raft! Cling to the enduring belief in life and liberty, truth and justice. We'll only be able to find our way out if we can rekindle the flame of unity and embrace the American spirit that carried us through so many crises before. We have been here before.

But this time, in our current American crisis, we have to constantly remind ourselves that our fight isn't against an external enemy that we conquer. Our enemy is causing the internal divisions that are threatening to tear us apart, divisions that are created by monsters of men. These monsters are not just tearing us apart individual to individual, but tearing us and our children out from the inside out.

Cling to the enduring belief in life and liberty, truth and justice.

America, it is high time to reaffirm our commitment to the values that define us as a people. It is our collective responsibility, as free people, to stand up for those principles of truth. The seeds of division have been sewn by those who seek to manipulate and exploit us for their own gain. They shatter our trust in one another to instill fear and hatred where there should be understanding and compassion.

Truth is now clouded by conspiracy. The lines between fact and fiction have been blurred. Truth is a light. Everything we face is not insurmountable, but now is the time to return to truth and decency and justice for all.

Our kids are the ones who are going to pay the highest of prices for what we do now.

What's on Glenn's desk? THIS graphic novel's dystopia has TERRIFYING similarities to our world.

Matt Battaglia

Imagine a global health crisis. Everyone is ordered to "stay-at-home" and only to venture out for "essential" purposes. Travel is regulated by government surveillance, with only permitted workers allowed to go into the city. Inflation is at historic levels, and basic necessities, such as food and gasoline, become invaluable commodities.

Sound familiar?

As the COVID pandemic begins to recede into our cultural memory, it is harrowing to remember the sheer breadth of power we surrendered to our government in order to "keep us safe." We would be foolish to think that the pandemic wasn't a repetition of an age-old tale in the west, and we would be even more naive to believe that we aren't at risk of repeating it in the future: the government's manipulation of a crisis to secure its complete control over its people.

We would be foolish to think that the pandemic wasn't a repetition of an age-old tale

Filmmaker Matt Battaglia published a first in what is likely to become an emerging genre of post-pandemic apocalyptic literature, bringing to life the harrowing consequences of what could happen if we continue to surrender our liberty to the government for the sake of "safety and security."

Battaglia's graphic novel, House on Fire, brings this world to life in an even more vivid dimension through pictures, telling the story of a single day of a man living in this apocalyptic world that doesn't seem too distant from our own.

The setting

Imagine there is another global pandemic of a respiratory virus that is similar to COVID. The government implements COVID-like lockdowns and restrictions from their 2020 blueprint, but this time, the regulations are here to stay. After all, this pandemic isn't the only threat allegedly facing the American people. The future of our planet is at stake. On top of the pandemic regulations, our government restricts the types of food available for consumption, implements individual carbon quotas, mandates electric vehicles, eliminates gas-powered heating, cars, stoves, etc.

Of course, the pandemic and climate change policies require major government funding, so the President uses his emergency powers and executive orders to push through a multi-trillion-dollar proposal that secures the funding necessary to finance the "clean and safe transition." Yes, inflation will be an issue, but that is a small price to pay to secure our health and the future of our planet. Don't forget to include foreign aid for our warring allies in the multi-trillion-dollar packages as well.

Inflation is a small price to pay to secure the future of our planet.

Now fast forward 20 years of living under these all-too-familiar draconian policies. This is Battaglia's apocalyptic world where we meet our nameless main character, causing the reader to question whether our world could devolve into Battaglia's in such a short amount of time.

The plot

Battaglia's story begins with our character kissing his wife goodbye and leaving their country home on a one-day mission to the city in search of a cure for his wife's most recent bout of the illness that is, presumably, a result of the pandemic.

All of the themes that contribute to the apocalyptic nature of Battaglia's world are familiar to us, disturbingly so. Our character drives through country roads, passing by gas signs that list $20 per gallon prices. His radio reports on another invasion of Poland, while country fields transform into steeple-like towers of run-down factories, like old monuments to former industries of a time long past.

Our character reaches the city limit, a border-like security checkpoint where he is required to scan his identity card to enter the city, the likes of which we see in China today. Masks required. He then drives through empty streets of a once bustling city, save for several suspect people who seem to blend into the crevices of alleyways and corners, shrouded by their masks.

Finally, our character meets with his "contact," who gives him some type of canister, supposedly a remedy for his wife's ailment. He barters with several cuts of meat, a rarity more valuable than inflated cash in this "Green New World." From this point onward, things take a turn for our character—for the worst.

Glenn's warning

Many of these scenes bring to life themes that Glenn has been warning about for years, from the government's use of a pandemic to seize control over its people, the depleted dollar and record-high inflation resulting from government spending and foreign conflicts, the Great Reset's goals to eliminate meat, gas-powered products, and other "high emissions products." All of these will be done in the name of seemingly righteous goals: "health," "safety," "security," and the "future of our planet" come to mind. However, we won't realize our freedoms will be a faint memory of the past until it is too late.

All of these measures will be done in the name of seemingly "righteous" goals.

House on Fire's poignant ending leaves the reader with a terrifying yet vitally important question: are the issues plaguing our society latent within society itself, or do they stem from the troubles within our own souls? Does society mold the human soul, or is society, as Plato puts it, the human soul "writ large?"

Battaglia's short yet powerful graphic novel brings to life many of the themes that Glenn has been warning his listeners. It is sitting on his desk, and we hope it will sit on yours too. It gives the reader a glimpse into our society after years of decay and oppression, calling on the reader to halt its progression before it's too late.

Click HERE to get your own copy!

Elon Musk comments on Glenn's podcast with David Sacks, takes jab at U.S. foreign policy

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Elon Musk chimed into Glenn's conversation about foreign policy with PayPal's founding COO David Sacks on the most recent installment of the Glenn Beck Podcast.

Musk tweeted, "US foreign policy is bronze tier on a good day!" He hit the nail on the head, as Glenn and Sacks discussed the deterioration of U.S. foreign policy and the rising probability of war with Russia and China.

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Glenn asked Sacks, "How likely do you think it is that we'd be headed towards war?" Sacks responded that he has been warning about the imminent threat of war since the Ukraine situation started and lamented that we have entered into a "proxy war of choice" with Russia.

"We engaged in a series of actions going back to 2008 that the Russians have viewed as highly provocative," Sacks said, decrying the continued expansion of NATO into Ukraine. Russia has continually warned the U.S. against expanding NATO into Ukraine, yet the State Department "crusaders" have persisted in their NATO-driven objective, which is "unacceptable to the Russians," Sacks said, "in the same way the Soviet Union trying to put nukes in Cuba was unacceptable to us in 1962."

If NATO expansion isn't enough to provoke a response from the Russian bear, our ongoing and escalating aid to Ukraine certainly is. As Sacks explained, "We're not just providing [Ukraine] with money and weapons. We are providing them with intelligence, we have commandos on the ground" and we are even directing Ukrainian soldiers on how to use our weapons on how to hit specific Russian targets. As Sacks said, "We are providing the kill chain" for Ukraine.

To put this in perspective, that would be equivalent to Russian soldiers instructing Taliban members on how to use Russian weapons to hit specific U.S. camps in Afghanistan. In that situation, wouldn't we accuse Russia of engaging in an act of war? The term "proxy" is increasingly diminishing in its relevance towards the U.S.'s involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. We aren't engaging in a "proxy war" anymore. As Sacks said, "We are effectively a co-belligerent in this conflict."

It is no wonder that we are driving Russia into China's arms while both Putin and Xi continue to forge ties with sworn enemies of the U.S., including Iran and North Korea. If we continue to "poke the bear," it is only a matter of time before Russia finds its confidence with its newly-forged allies to retaliate against its aggressor.

Musk rightly said, "US foreign policy is bronze tier on a good day." But U.S. foreign policy has not even had a "good day" in some time. We are not only jeopardizing our own international reputation with ongoing aid to Ukraine; we are jeopardizing the whole world order by marching NATO increasingly toward war. Elites in the Biden administration and the military industrial complex may benefit from aggravating Russia towards war, but it certainly doesn't benefit anyone else, in the U.S. and abroad.

There are few tools in the conservative's kit to fight back against the elites' dangerous agenda. However, Musk mentioned one of these vital tools in a comment he tweeted on Glenn's interview with San Fransicko author and Twitter Files contributor Michael Schellenberger back in January: "Citizen journalism is vital to the future of civilization."