RADIOJune 09, 2025

“We’re looking at alternative medicine”: VA Secretary reveals MAJOR changes

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins joins Glenn Beck to review some of the major changes he’s making at the VA, including the possible approval of alternative medicine. For too long, veterans have felt that the VA has failed them. But Secretary Collins promises that’s “not going to be acceptable” anymore.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Doug Collins is with us. He's with the US secretary of Veterans Affairs. Can we privatize the VA? What's being done with the VA? We talk to Doug Collins in 60 seconds. First, let me tell you about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. When you give to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, you're just not making a donation, you're providing essential support to Israel's most vulnerable. And your contribution helps deliver food to the hungry, medicine to the sick, and shelter to those who are displaced by conflict. Again, perfect and the possible. The perfect is everything, you know, goes back to what it should be, where we're all living peacefully, next to one another. That's not really possible, right now. But here's what is possible: If I help, maybe -- maybe we can strengthen the Jewish people to fight their own wars, and we don't have to get involved in it. Let them do their own stuff, so we don't have to get involved. If we want the government to do less, that means we have to do more. And I want to support the good people of Israel. I believe the Bible commands us to do it, or, you know, at least highly recommends it by saying, I will bless those who bless you.

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Doug Collins is joining us now. US Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Doug, how are you, sir?

DOUG: I'm good, Glenn. How about you?

GLENN: I'm really good. I can't thank you for everything you guys are doing at the VA. I mean, I just think there are so many of our veterans that have been treated so miserably, they're killing themselves, like they've never -- never done before. I mean, I -- I know that you heard some of the things that we've talked about here, where, you know, people are just killing themselves trying to -- you know, trying to make a point, that we've got to -- the VA is -- it is in dire need of transformation. So thank you for caring, and thank you for doing everything you are to transform it.

DOUG: I appreciate it. I appreciate it. There's a lot.

GLENN: Can we get out of this? How can we get and privatize as much as of this as we can?

DOUG: Well, I think the issue of privatization is probably not the right answer in this. I think what we have is, is we have the tools that President Trump and I, frankly have worked on when I was in Congress, a couple years ago. Was actually beginning to make this system less about the VA, and more about the veterans. And that is getting care out of the centralization services all the time.

Everything having to do with coming to our hospital, but using our community. One of the big issues that's always brought up is privatization. It's a valid conversation, but it's not something we're looking at.

Mainly because, the thing gets separated so much from the VA is the VA has the other issue, the same issues as the private and the public hospital, and that's in recruitment doctors, a lot of other things going on.

But then the specialty nature of what's going on with them. The big thing we can do.

One, I think we can streamline this issue. To save money. That's what we're looking to do.

Literally, hundreds of millions of dollars of bad contracts. Bad subsidies. But it's the same as getting the veterans, especially those that you just talked about a minute ago, which are on my heart.

That are coming into a system that is not listening to their needs, and then in turn, believing there is nowhere else to turn for them, and many of them are taking their own life. And that's just something that will not be acceptable in anything.

But we're finally asking the right questions. And putting the -- the community. And our private doctors. Our public doctors, to help get these veterans the help they need.

GLENN: Okay. So let's talk about a couple of things that you are doing.

You know, you had a massive backlog of cases. And you've brought -- you've brought that backlog down over 25 percent in 100 days. What did you do? And what does it mean, to the veterans?

DOUG: Well, it means. It's several things. What it means is leadership. That what gets measured gets done. I think there was an accountability factor that we have. And I brought that to us now, an accountability factor that says, you will either do your job, or you will not work for us.

And so 260,000 backlogs. Let me explain what that means. So 260,000 cases of people asking or applying for benefits -- disability benefits, that went over 125 days. Okay? It should never have been there.

260,000. We've cut that to under 200,000, maybe 108.

We've also begun, because that is now freeing up work. We're now actually processing more. And you remember the greater scenario, that all the mainstream media, the New York Times, and the Post said, if you brought people back to work, it would be terrible.

It would be awful. We actually are processing more claims per day right now, than we ever have in our history. We actually are processing more than we are getting in, for the first time in a long time. What it took was simply saying, no, you're going to do this. It's not a choice anymore.

What I inherited, a department, in which -- how do you say it? If it feels good, do it. You know, everybody was just operating on their own time zones. And I said, we're not going to do that anymore. The VA is going to actually be about the veterans. So that's how we've done it, and it makes the difference. And not calling your congressman. Or calling everybody else. They're getting what they've earned, and we're fulfilling that promise

GLENN: So help me out on this. You know, we reached out to you and your team after I interviewed a dad from San Antonio last night, whose son Mark took his own life in April, right in front of the VA hospital. Because he believed he didn't receive adequate care for pain he was having. Mental health issues, et cetera, et cetera.

Speak to the dad who feels like the VA has failed his son, and what you're trying to do to make this right.

DOUG: I will just as I did one night, I was actually on with him. And it shows you a difference, Glenn. I do whatever I can, to say, look, when we're doing it wrong. Or we're doing an issue, that we need to at least address. And in this situation, I think this is something that we need to address. And I did this with him before. Is my heart hurts. And I think it shows that the problem we have in our system, that has drug itself into a point, where we have just sort of handled the mental health process.

We've handled the traumatic brain injury. The PTS issue. In such a way, that this is sort of the way we do it.

And, you know, I've got -- I'm telling our doctors. I'm telling our folks that we partner with, nonprofits and others, saying, we have to try something different. We're not moving the needle.

Since 2008, the suicide number has not changed in this country, and yet we're spending $588 million or more, every year, to quote, prevent it. But yet, in our services, still treating it many times with medicine.

We have got to do a better job of getting more counseling in there. We're getting more clinical. But also something -- I took from -- we've been looking at from many of our veterans groups and others, including folks we've been dealing with.

With Bobby Kennedy as well, and HHS. We're looking at alternative medicine. We're looking at possible use of psychedelics, along with counseling.

Anything we can, to get them the help that they need, so they don't feel like the VA is not listening to them. Or they're getting handed a bottle of pills. And that's something we don't need to be looking at.

They need to be getting help, and not just a medical condition.

GLENN: I mean, it's -- it's interesting to me. That the Germans look -- handed a lot of their soldiers, bottles of pills. So that they can fight, fight, fight, fight. And become animals. And we train our people differently. Humanely. But we train our people to be able to go in and pull the trigger when they have to.

But is it fair to say, we spend all that money doing that. But when they come home, we don't spend enough money and enough time to try to deprogram that. To bring them back into our society, and how to deal with all the stuff that they were trained to do.

Is that fair?

DOUG: Yeah. I think it's a fair assumption. And I think it's also the changing face of warfare. And I'll quit in just a moment here. In World War II, I had, you know, I've had -- they went with only two things in mind. They were either going to win or come home dead.

They had no time frame to come home.

As war as progressed. Now, it's -- you bring it up the last 20 years.

That you have generations.

Less than -- about one and a half percent of population, have participated in foreign soil, in the battle. But we've done it over and over and over again.

So what we're having, these folks, four to six, eight years who have all this stuff built up. We have broken them down to become the soldier, the marine, that we needed.

GLENN: The machine.

DOUG: The machine, and then they come back out, and when they're doing so much, they never have time to process. And for some of them, they get out within four, to six, to eight years. This is something that is not enough time to get into the system. To say, this is how I copy. So you've hit it exactly, in the sense that we're not spending the time in the transition.

This is why Secretary of Defense and I, on an unprecedented level, it did not happen that we found before, where us, as secretaries sat down and said, we've got a transition problem.

And so it's owned by the DOD. They do the transition of something coming out. If anything happens, then I get blamed for it. So I just don't think -- we've got to fix this. We've got to start working -- it may be -- you may own it. But I get blamed for it, and I'm not going to get blamed for something I can't do.

So right now, we're working on getting that transition better so we have a warm handoff, especially for those who are hurting already, to come into our system, and receive all of -- you know, white glove treatment, where they're coming in with a warm handoff, so they have a better chance of affecting change. And here's another thing.

I open it back up, to where we're going to parter with nonprofits. We will partner with groups, that are already doing good stuff.

And instead of us wasting money that we don't need. I will use other groups that are already in this arena to say, help us here. And connect them with --

GLENN: Yeah. It always -- it kills me.

When you have something. For instance, in a different subject.

When you have something like AA. That works. That always works.

And then you find these people, who are running these centers. Who are like, well, we're going to change it. We will do our own thing.

It's like, but that works. Why not just do that?

It's free! Why not just do that?

DOUG: Glenn, you would be amazed what I see here.

We're already starting to fix. And so, you know, we're taking out -- so that our doctors aren't having to go through a second opinion or third opinion, to get somebody to the help they need.

We now actually will be taking amputees. I have real experience with this. My daughter is in a wheelchair.

We will make them going to primary care. To PTs. Before they could just get reset for a new chair.

That's bullcrap. We're cutting that out. So they get a better experience.

We give them the earned respect that they have.

GLENN: Oh, my goodness.

You know, a lot of critics, Democrat lawmakers, especially look at the proposed 15 percent staff reduction, that you -- you know, are -- are championing here.

And they're saying, that will lead to a shortage of doctors and nurses.

How do you plan to protect the front line health care services for veterans and cut 15 percent of staff?

DOUG: Well, first off, the 15 percent is the goal.

That was something the president, we will see what you can do.

And if you don't set a goal, nothing gets done, Glenn.

Your listeners know that.

Can you do that? If you can, how do you do that?

What we did, we knew, and the president knew it, the VA is a really unique organization. With all this everyday facing department, that we have dealing with the medical kind of conditions that we deal with. So what we did early on, we said, we won't put in jeopardy, doctors and nurses, that the Democrats and others are lying about. We protected over 300,000 positions within our health care system and our disability rating system, that said, look, you're not even eligible to take an early retirement.

You're not eligible.

Because we're not going to cut the various things that we need.

But I've got literally thousands of other employees, on duplicated HR processes, contracting processes.

You know, human resource processes.

I mean, I was amazed here. And I talk about a permissive attitude.

We were supposed to centralize our payroll several years ago. The previous administration said, no. You want to -- I figured out, we had over 60 locations doing their own payroll!

GLENN: What!

DOUG: And a lot bigger expense. So this -- look, here's what has come up. Everybody talking about -- GAO has said, for ten years, we've been (inaudible). The Democrats, Republicans, everybody on the Hill, and I've said this in my hearings, all of you, I can show you comments where you say you want efficiency, you want the VA to work better. And yet the first moment I start saying, here's some changes that need to be made, then all of a sudden, it's about the worker. Well, I believe our VA workers are great folks. The VA is not a jobs program. The VA is a service organization.

And we're changing that mindset.

GLENN: Have you thought of -- I'm sure you have. But have you thought of doing things like in a private company, you know, I like to incentivize people and say, hey. We are way overbudget. Or we're trying to make this a better process one way or another.

Just tell us. And then we'll give you the employee, you know, a kickback, or a bonus, or whatever. If that works. And it came from you.

Have you thought about incentivizing the people to streamline, and to save?

DOUG: Yeah. We're looking at that. I've been saying it everywhere I go.

Identify been in 16 states. In our facilities, that I'm not even close to halfway yet.

Everywhere I go, that's exactly what I'm telling them.

Unfortunately, I'm bound on how I can offer incentives and such.

Also offering and saying, hey. How can we make this better?

I found that you empower American workers, Glenn. You empower our American people to do good. They will do good.

When you believe in them, like I believe in them. And say, I want you to go be the best that you can be. And if you see something stupid, you let us know. And we'll fix it.

They will go out and do things.

Also, here's the other alternative. Also, good people aren't working where bad people are tolerated.

And we're making it very much an emphasis to get rid of bad people who are not wanting to do good things. It used to be a culture of failure up here.

Or a failure sideways. If you failed, we just put you somewhere over the top.

That stopped, the minute I came in.

And we're getting rid of people who can't do the job.

GLENN: Doug, I really appreciate it.

I love the fact that you're a servant of the Lord. And, you know, so I know your priorities are right, and that's on people.

So thank you for what you're doing. We appreciate you.

DOUG: I appreciate it. Anything you need, you let me know, okay?

GLENN: You got it. Doug Collins. US Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

“He was one of ours, and he was taken”: Megyn Kelly remembers Charlie Kirk

Glenn Beck and Megyn Kelly remember their friend, TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, a day after he was assassinated at Utah Valley University. They also discuss the manhunt for the killer.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Yesterday was such a surreal day. I was getting to record my special last night. It was in the afternoon. And I'm sitting here in my studio, and I look at the stairs through this glass door that I have here. And my wife is on the phone, and she's standing in the stairway.

And she has her, her hand gripping the stair rail. And I could see it in her eyes, she was on the phone. And I could see confusion, and I could see trouble.

And in my ear, I'm hearing, five, four, three -- and I said, "Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. I need 30 seconds. I need to talk to my wife."

And I motioned for her to come in. And in a confused and dazed sort of way, she kind of stumbles into the room.

And I said, "What's happening, honey?"

And she said, "It's Cheyenne."

I didn't know what that meant. As a dad, you can imagine. I said, "Is she okay? What -- what's happening?"

She meant, it's Cheyenne on the phone.

Cheyenne had just gotten past the crush of the crowd. She called her mom. She said, "Charlie Kirk's just been shot."

"What?"

She sent me some video, and I knew it was true, but hoped for the best until a few minutes later somebody else sent me video that I hope you did not see, of the bullet striking him.

It must have been like what it was when you first saw the Zapruder film, or if you were standing in the Grassy Knoll. You just knew.

I was on with Megyn Kelly, and we were holding on to the hope that he was somehow or another going to survive that. And Megyn said at one point, I don't know why I'm not announcing what everybody else is announcing. But I just can't.

Megyn joins us now. Hi, Megyn.

MEGYN: Hi, Glenn.

GLENN: What a weird 24 hours it has been. Where are you this morning, in unraveling this knot in your head?

MEGYN: I still don't have my arms around it. I -- I don't feel like I've totally digested the fact that he's gone and the way in which he was taken. You know, Charlie truly was such a larger than life figure. We say that term. But it -- it was true about him. At six-five, he truly seemed larger than most of us. And he was, in his gifts, in his tirelessness. And just knowing exactly where the scene. Every story was.

And his raw courage. So many times. We like to think we're courageous in our commentary. You look at Charlie, and you think, now that's try courage. He -- he would just say it like it was.

The things you might be thinking in your head, but you might not want to say explicitly, he said. And he took a lot of slings and arrows for it and was demonized for being all the terrible things, as opposed to people taking him on and saying, "Does he have a point?"

GLENN: You know, I said earlier today, you don't kill the weak. People don't want to try to heal. They just want to speak in anger at times. And anger is part of the grieving process. And I know I'm angry.

But Charlie would face that anger. And what people think is weakness, by showing love and compassion and listening and just having a decent conversation, that's one of the reasons why he was killed. He wasn't -- he wasn't killed because he was weak. Just like Gandhi wasn't weak. He -- he -- he was killed because he was effective.

Megyn, where do we go from here?

She dropped. Can we get her back on the phone. I got an email from somebody today. This morning.

And I want to share the email. I won't share the name. It's short. But I -- I also think I should share the -- my response. Because I think it's how most of us feel.

It -- it comes from a very well-known conservative leader. Glenn, I am devastated this morning.

I am in deep mourning for Charlie. I am in mourning for his family and our country.

And I don't know how to surface from this. I don't know if I do either.

But I would like to share my thoughts with you, a little later on. Megyn is with me.

Megyn, how do we process this? How do we surface from this?

MEGYN: You know, I think as many lost -- we -- we all have to go through the denial and the bargaining. You know, I'm still refreshing my X account, like hoping somehow there's a reversal. You know, like somehow it was all wrong. Somehow we got it all wrong. You know, sometimes the media gets it wrong. It -- it's absurd. We know what the answer is.

But that's a natural reaction when you had a sudden loss in particular. And anger is completely appropriate now too. It's completely appropriate.

You know, we are going to catch this guy. You know, that FBI presser they just held which is very encouraging.

They -- and two things that happened this morning that are of note, Glenn. First, Steven Crowder who is very solid on his law enforcement leak reporting. He has -- he has a proven track history. He's the one that got the manifesto from the trans shooter in Nashville before anyone else. And that's not all.

He's had other leaks, posting a document saying he received from an ATF source on the investigation.

And that says that they retrieved the gun in the would see, behind the campus. Wrapped in a towel. And that there were three unspent cartridges in the gun. That had transgender and antifascist ideology. Something written on them.

Now, that piece of -- that last piece of it was not confirmed by the FBI at the presser they just held, but every other thing was.

The Crowder report was confirmed in every detail, including naming the kind of gun. He had that right. He had the location right. He had the trail and the tracking of the suspect right.

They did not volunteer the business about what was written on the cartridges, nor did anyone there ask. Because those reporters almost certainly don't follow Steven Crowder because those reporters will probably tell you, he's not to be trusted.

Now, this is an early report. And it could turn out to be wrong. But that's the update as far as we know it.

And the FBI revealing that they have a picture of him, that they did, of course, track him on his way to the shooting spot with surveillance cameras, of course, on these college campuses. We would expect that in dorms or class buildings.

And they appear confident. At least to me. That they've got the guy. And if they've got the weapon, Glenn. Well, they may or may not have fingerprints.

But they almost certainly have DNA. They almost certainly DNA, which I'm sure they're uploading right now, into every database, they can.

You know, within we saw -- they're not supposed to use the public databases. Sorry, private like 23andme or Ancestry.com. Though, in Culverter (phonetic), they did. And that is how they found Culverter. Sometimes they do.

And even just a public database of DNA. Can lead you at least to a family member somewhere near a shooter or suspect. And then it's just a matter of charts and a few hours in getting to that person's relative. So I believe they will find the shooter.

And then we'll know the ideology. And then we'll have a place to put some of the anger. Like, an explanation or something that will help us understand what deranged person. And I don't mean that in a clinical sense. Did this yesterday.

I just feel like, I don't know where to go, until I figure out who did this and why.

GLENN: It was about midnight last night, when I talked to the president.

And he was very clear, that we will find whoever is responsible for this. And justice will be served.

He was extraordinarily confident in that. Which gave me an awful lot of hope.

I don't know if you saw his speech last night, that he gave from the oval.

But I thought -- very powerful. Hit exactly the right tone.

Hit exactly the right tone.

But I think the days of us fooling around and nibbling at the edges. I think those days are over.

MEGYN: I agree. And one of the things that Trump said last night that was so good was, he used the word "terrorism." That's exactly right. You know, that's -- that is how a lot of us are feeling.

And I know you've had the same experience I've had in the last 24 hours, Glenn, where virtually everybody I know in the media business has reached out. I think there are a lot of folks who are in Arlene, in particular, in conservative media, who are very rattled by this because he was one of ours.

And he was taken. You know, he -- obviously, we all have concerns about personal security now with the shooter at loose. You know, at large as well. But I just mean that -- like the betrayal and the need to rise up and protect ours. And the people we value and love.

You know, this is like -- I don't want to say a call to arms. Because I'm not encouraging violence. But, I mean, a unifying call for us to stand shoulder to shoulder and stand up.

GLENN: Yeah. It is absolutely a wake-up call. To anybody who thought, you know, "Oh, it's just going to pass us by," it's not. This is -- this is the call of our age. And how we respond, is going to determine the future of freedom in this country. But I have great confidence that we will respond just as we did after 9/11.

We responded with conviction. We responded with an intelligence sort of way. We overreacted in some ways, that I would like to avoid this time.

But we came together as a nation, and did what had to be done.

For the preservation of our nation.

Now, if we can have the moderation lesson learned this time. Perhaps we will be good. But I think the days of Antifa not feeling any ramifications for their work and others, those days are over! As of yesterday.

Megyn -- I just -- go ahead.

MEGYN: Go ahead, Glenn. I was just going to say. One of the things we did after 9/11 was when the stock market opened two days later. We -- we all bought stocks. We just -- it could have been a 5-dollar to being. But everyone did it to send a message that the financial center would stand. And I think we are going to see a reaction on college campuses when it comes to free speech by conservatives unlike we've ever seen before. In a similar vein.

GLENN: I agree. I'm proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, Megyn. And be in the trenches with you all the time. You are a light in a lot of darkness. And I appreciate our years of friendship. And everything that you've done for the country. Thank you!

MEGYN: Likewise, my friend. Thanks for having me.

“Our country has changed forever”: Charlie Kirk's BlazeTV friends reflect on his death

BlazeTV hosts Liz Wheeler, Steve Deace, and Allie Beth Stuckey join Glenn Beck to reflect on the assassination of their friend, Charlie Kirk. They also discuss where the conservative movement goes from here and what they believe the impact of his death will be.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I spoke to you yesterday. And we were both pretty raw at the time. How are you doing this morning?

LIZ: I -- I am in a fog of grief, Glenn. I think that a lot of us are -- it still feels very unbelievable what happened to our very dear friend, Charlie Kirk. I feel like I'm floating up outside of my body in a sense, watching all of this unfold.

It's quite something to see the reaction, from the American people over this assassination. I think you're correct when you say that our country has changed forever. I think this is one of the most significant -- not just political assassinations, but political events that we've experienced since the inception of our country.

And I think I've been praying about this, since you and I spoke for so long yesterday.

I've been thinking about this endlessly.

Obviously, on my knees, praying for sweet Erica and Charlie and Erica's two babies. But I think one of the things that's happened in the last 24 hours is people in our country, and I don't even want to say conservatives.

I don't want to say right-wingers because it's not just that, have realized that Charlie is so normal. He's not radical. He's not extreme.

He's not bombastic. He's not edgy. He's just a regular guy. And he's kind. And they killed him because of those beliefs and opinions, those principles and values, Glenn, that we share with him.

And you and I work in this industry, and you've written a lot of books about this political enemy that we face, and we talk about it a lot.

But for the majority of the American people, this is the first time, Glenn, that they're realizing, exactly who this political enemy that we face is.

And it's jarring, and it's gut-wrenching. Because they realize, that just as easily as they assassinated Charlie Kirk and are now dancing on his grave, they want to do that to us, too. (crying)

GLENN: Liz, I -- and I know you do. I have such faith in the Lord. And I know -- I don't know how our lives end.

I don't know how things work out. But I know everything that happens is used for his good. There is no way to thwart God's plan. You can make it -- you can make getting there harder. You can make getting there more painful.

But if we trust in him, great and glorious things are going to happen. Because of this.

LIZ: Charlie once said --

GLENN: Go ahead.

LIZ: Charlie once said, when someone asked him what he wanted to be known for the most -- and he wore a lot of hats, so he could have picked a lot of different accomplishments and identities. And he said he wanted to be known for his faith.

And that's -- it's so powerful. You and I are clinging to God right now. Everyone sitting here with us is clinging to God. I'm literally sitting here, gripping a rosary as we talk. Evil happens in our world, and we all ask that question, "Why? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good and innocent people?"

And, you know, as Father Mike Schmitz reminded us yesterday, "When evil happens, that is not God's perfect will. It is God's permissive will, which is very different."

God allowed Charlie's death to happen, but he did not want it to happen. God values human freedom and can bring about a greater good through these allowed events. But God does not allow evil. He uses it to achieve his higher purpose. When sometimes we don't know what that is, and I -- I'm human. I find it very difficult not to have an immediate answer to, "Okay. What is that higher good?"

But it could be testing faith or demonstrating compassion, teaching people how to uphold his perfect will of good.

And if God were to remove evil from the human existence, he would also be removing our free will to love him and to love others. And he knows that despite the evil that he allows to exist in the world, this greater good can be achieved for eternity, which is where Charlie is now.

And, Glenn, there are a lot of bad people online right now. You know, celebrating Charlie's death and saying how ironic it was, that Charlie was killed by a gun when he was a champion of gun rights. But you want to know what the real irony is? The real irony is that Charlie, at this moment in eternity, I guarantee you, Glenn, is praying for those who did this to him.

GLENN: You know, yesterday I said, "I think I might have done the hardest things I've done. I walked to the front gate, and I lowered my flag to half-mast for a dear friend."

And I think that is going to be easy compared to the forgiveness and the compassion and the restraint that is going to be required from all of us in the coming days. I think that's going to be very difficult. And I don't know how you do it, if you don't have God.

LIZ: I don't. I can't imagine moving forward without God. The Bible says, "He is my rock. He is my refuge."

And I can tell you, that that's the only thing that's helping me swim through this fog.

Charlie was such a good man, Glenn. Such a good man. You know, he once actually hired me -- this was a decade and a half ago. He hired me to work for Turning Point USA, but I wasn't going to -- my start date for starting that job wasn't going to be for, like, three months down the road because that's a new financial cycle. And in the interim after we had signed that contract, but before I had started, I got offered my first television job on OIN. And so I preemptively quit on Charlie.

And I remembered talking to him. And saying, "I know this is such a sucky move for me to preemptively quit on you after we had agreed. But, Charlie, what would you do?"

And he was so gracious, Glenn. He was so generous. He said, "You are -- you're going to kill it. You're going to -- you will use this platform to glorify God and save this country."

And he was always so encouraging. Yesterday, I was looking back at our text thread, because for as busy as this man was, he never neglected talking to his friends.

And during some of the most challenging moments in my public life, who was texting me encouragement, but Charlie Kirk? This -- it is hard to think about how to move forward, but one of the things -- and I know that it's hard to articulate clearly in this moment. But one of the things that I know with crystal clarity at this moment. Is we are not going to be silenced by an enemy who harms us.

We are not going to back down. We are not going to be quiet. We are going to honor Charlie's legacy. We are going to care for and love Charlie's families.

We are going to understand in a clearer sense exactly what we are up against. And it's going to -- with God on our side, it is going to lead us to victory, in a way that our country has not yet experienced. Because we do have this binary choice.

The left wants violence. The left wants Civil War.

The left wants to hurt us and kill us.

But what's going to happen instead, is these people in our country. People who are politically apathetic. Or lukewarm liberal. Or maybe right-wing, but not that active in politics, the same thing is going to happen as a result of Charlie's assassination. That happened after the Black Lives Matter riots.

Or after the COVID vaccine mandates. Where people realized that the other side does not want the best for us.

That the other side, during the Black Lives Matter riots, was willing to falsely accuse us of being racists when that wasn't true. Or during COVID, to tell us that we couldn't go to church and worship God. And we had to take their medical products because they said so, and they didn't care about the harm. Glenn, this is that, times one thousand!

People are now looking out across our country, realizing, that there are subversive forces. And not just a radical lunatic madman incident.

There are radical forces who want to kill us. And the awakening that is going to happen, the eye-opening, you are going to see churches filled with people turning to God. You are going to see politics, a swell of good people, who want to stand for normalcy, and common sense. Two million, 5 million, 10 million Charlie Kirks are going to be minted because of this!

And that's hard to picture in this moment, and there will be hard choices to make because we're angry right now and the left is taunting us, but I have so much faith. I have so much faith in what Charlie did and in the prayers that he is going to be bathing our country in now from eternity.

GLENN: I want to spend a few minutes with another friend of Charlie Kirk's and a good friend of our program and -- and mine. Steve Deace, who follows me on Blaze TV. Steve, I know it has been a hard 24 hours. How are you holding up?

STEVE: I'm pretty devastated. I think I have sobbed more, Glenn, in the last 18 hours than I probably did since the night of my own conversion.

GLENN: Hmm.

STEVE: I'm angry, as I know a lot of people are. And there will be a time, after we -- we need to mourn, first, Glenn. Because otherwise the anger will come out destructively. And it needs to come out, but constructively. And I think we have to mourn first. I think Charlie's legacy as a father, husband, friend, patriot merits that. And I think TP USA and his family need that.

In the not too distant future, we're going to have to get the message that was sent here. He was the best of us. We saw him behind the scenes or in public, genuinely kind, generous.

I -- I -- too many pastors and ministry leaders thought they were too good for Charlie and TP USA. Didn't want to get their hands dirty, and claimed they were being super friendly. And yet, he was the one that sought out the seekers. He went to the places that those nicer than God pastors didn't go to. And he took the bullet that, frankly, that's part of their calling. That they're supposed to take. And I hope in a good way, it shames some of them this morning. That they wake up and they realize, that they have slept on the job. And that's judge somebody like Charlie had to do their job for them.

And as Charlie, you know, named his own organization.

This is a turning point. We're never going back to the way things were before. What we do, next, will decide whether or not they are better. And as one of Charlie's biggest -- biggest supporters and donors texted me this morning, we can only pray that out of one, many will rise up.

GLENN: That's a guarantee. That is an absolute guarantee, that that is going to happen.
You know, when the tyrant is killed, his reign is over. When the martyr is killed, his reign has just begun. And make no mistake, for liberty, Charlie Kirk was a martyr. He was assassinated and martyred yesterday.

And -- and, you know, I -- I -- I -- I think -- I hope, that America -- I wish America could know him the way we knew him.

Because he was a -- he was such a generous man.

STEVE: Uh-huh.

GLENN: It didn't matter who you were, or what rank in life you were, if you needed help, he was there. And --

STEVE: Yep.

GLENN: No matter how busy he was, everything stopped.

And he would help you.

And I saw it in him over and over and over again. And I wish people could see that, because it -- you know, this cartoon character, where they're making him into this bomb thrower, he was anything, but.

I mean, he would have the greatest conversations with people. I mean, I could have done it. I couldn't do it. I couldn't sit through that nonsense. But he could!

And he could logically and peacefully have a great conversation, with people who despised him. And that was so important for the healing of our nation. And I really think that that's one of the reasons that he was killed, not just because he was effective at what he did, but because he was healing us. Something that is really vital to happen. He was healing all of those divides.

STEVE: I couldn't have said it better myself. And if you just look on social media and see so many people in our movement, who have such incredible -- people I don't know, people that don't know me, such incredible testimonies of everything you just said in their interactions with Charlie.

You know, we had a very divisive presidential primary. And to be honest, I didn't always handle it well. One of the first people I heard from when it was over was Charlie. And he texted me, and he said, "Don't give up. We need you."

He didn't have to do that, he won. And he's got the bigger platform. He's got the bigger show. He didn't have to do that. But that's the -- those are the kinds of things that leaders do.

And the void that is left here is massive. And at my lowest point I've ever had in my faith, the Lord said something to me, that will stay with me the rest of my life. And he said, "Steven" -- I'm sorry.

"Steven, I need apostles, not assassins."

And I want to share that with your audience because to win the fight that will come after this, that is what will be required. If you know me, this isn't about being a pansy. The apostles rebuke. But they don't seek revenge. The apostles confront. But they don't condemn. The apostles did something that Hannibal couldn't do.

No other civilization in the fertile crescent could do, they conquered the Roman empire. They set the stage for Western civilization. And they did not do it because they were passive, and they sit on the sidelines, and they were nicer than God. And they wear pleated khakis and Hawaiian shirts year around with sweater vests.

They did it because they got their hands dirty. They did it because they did the kinds of things we saw Charlie do: Build infrastructure.
Direct, lead, guide.

I mean, we would have to have a literal conclave, Glenn. And literally, everyone in our business and movement. And come up with divisions to do all the various things Charlie himself was leading and doing in that organization.

I told Charlie at dinner recently, "It's like, you were like, if Rush Limbaugh and the Heritage Foundation had a baby. This is what you and TP USA are."

And that's what it's going to take to fill that void. But I can't -- I'm sure with the size of your audience, my inbox -- my wife is going through it, as we speak, it is full of people. You were right. I have to get off the sidelines. I have to do something. My buddy Sloan over at TP USA texted me yesterday, he goes, "You know, I can't tell you how many pastors we're hearing from. They thought they were too pious for us. Too good for us.
And now the stakes have been raised. They're getting it."

And I'm just so sorry, that it took two little children and their -- and their mom's family away from them for two -- for more people to get the message. And I want to -- I want to specifically challenge my generation, Gen X, no more grunge. No more, we're too cool for school. No more, "Well, everything sucks. Nothing we can do." No more.

That was a 31-year-old man doing the work as a young father and husband, frankly it wasn't his time to do yet. He has other primary duties that he should have been given the benefit of devoting to as a husband father, but our generation has set on the sidelines for too long. We must lead. It is our children now that are grown, that are leaving the nest. We are the ones with the free time.

We are the ones with the discretionary income. It is our time now to leave, to stop bitching and complaining about boomers. And I say that to me more than anybody else.

And to stop looking around like we're still listening to Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots and Sound Garden, and nothing is going to get better. It is time now to lead. This is our moment.

And we are the ones that are in a place to do this with the positions of our families and with our productivity and prosperity. We have to step to the forefront now.

GLENN: Such great good will come out of this, Allie.

I know this is a tough day for you, and thank you for joining me.

ALLIE: Yeah. God is in the business of redemption. He's in the business of thwarting Satan's schemes. He's in the business of bringing beauty out of the ashes. He's in the business of bringing glory to himself, and bringing people to himself.

And if Charlie had had the choice, if someone had been able to come to him and say, okay. This is what your death will accomplish, it will accomplish more people hearing the gospel, it will accomplish more people waking up, I know if Charlie had had that choice, he would have said yes. He would have said, "Yes, Lord, send me." And not only would he have, but he did.

He went into the lion's den, and now he is with the lion of Judah. Now he is with Jesus. And everyone is going to know who he was and why he lived and the gospel that motivated him. And that is the only thing right now that is giving me any hope or any peace or any comfort.

GLENN: I know that all I could think of yesterday was how glorious the greeting must have been on the other side. You know, good -- "Well, done, good and faithful servant."

ALLIE: Yes, absolutely.

And before any of us heard the news, before his sweet wife Erica got the phone call, he was already hearing those words. And I am so happy for him.

I'm so happy that he is with the saints and the martyrs and the persecuted through which the Church of Christ has been advanced for millennia. I'm so happy for him. I'm so sad for us. I'm so sad for us, having gained an incredible person. But we -- we lost a huge presence.

GLENN: That's how I know when people have faith. They don't weep for the dead.

They weep for the lost to themselves and to the world and to the families that are hurting.

They -- they mourn that loss on themselves. But they -- they -- when they think of the person who has died, they know exactly where they are.

ALLIE: Yeah.

GLENN: And with Charlie, I -- I -- I -- I mean, I knew him when he was 17, and he was a good kid, but what a change happened to him.

He -- he was on fire for Christ, on fire for that.

ALLIE: Yes. Absolutely. He grew into over the past five to ten years, such a theologically deep and apologetically astute man of God, as he became a husband, as he became a father, as he became even more of a warrior for truth, and that is really what -- that's what inspired me.

And when I heard the news yesterday, I thought, my thought was, that's it. I'm done. I'm throwing in the towel.

That is it for me. I'm not -- I'm not willing to do this anymore.

And then later after he died, I went through some of the texts that he had sent me over the years. He was always sending everyone. All of these friends. These very encouraging texts.

And he sent me this article from a liberal outlet, that of course, had taken some jabs at me. That had made me anxious. And he said, "Well done. Keep slugging."

And I just know that if he were here, that's exactly what he would say, not just to me, but to all of us.

He would say, "No. You can't get out now. You got to keep going. You got to keep going." That's exactly how he would feel, and that's exactly what he would tell all of us.

GLENN: I've received so many emails from people who have said, "I don't know how to get back up again."

ALLIE: Yeah.

GLENN: And I don't know what to tell them other than, faith in God. Faith in God.

ALLIE: Uh-huh.

GLENN: I think if our side, if you will -- boy, I hate that in this context, but if -- if we didn't have God, we would be very much like the left right now.

We would be mired in anger and -- and screaming for vengeance and it would be a really ugly place today.

ALLIE: Yes.

GLENN: If -- if we didn't have God.

ALLIE: Yes. And if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, like if he wasn't resurrected, then we don't have a hope of a resurrection. If he didn't defeat death, then we can't defeat death. If Jesus didn't live forever, then we can't live forever.

And that's exactly what Charlie always preached. What he always posted on X. What he always said, if you were to be able to text him right now. And say, "Look, Charlie. I've got this really tough thing to talk about today. And I don't know how to say it. I don't know what to say. What are your thoughts on it? What should I say?" I know exactly what he would say, the one word he would text back, and that would be, "Jesus. Just tell them that. Just tell them that Jesus is the only way to fulfillment." That is what he would say. People may not realize that. Every time he went on a college campus, he wasn't just talking about capitalism or Donald Trump, and all those things are important. He shared the gospel.

GLENN: No.

ALLIE: He knew that every single person that walked in front of him, was made in the image of God with a soul that was going to live forever, in one of two places. He desperately wanted the people who hated him to go to heaven. And I just pray that I can have that same boldness for the rest of my life.

Charlie Kirk’s Legacy: Courage in the Face of Hatred

Glenn Beck pays tribute to his dear friend Charlie Kirk following his tragic passing. With raw emotion and deep conviction, Glenn reflects on Charlie’s courage, faith, and unwavering commitment to truth in a world that often rewards lies. Drawing parallels to America’s founders, soldiers, and first responders, Glenn reminds us that Charlie’s life and legacy demand an answer to the question: “If not me, then who?” This episode is both a remembrance of Charlie’s extraordinary life and a call to action for all of us to stand firm in faith, defend truth, and carry forward the torch of courage that he so boldly bore.

Watch Glenn Beck's Full 3-Hour Radio Show from September 11, 2025 HERE