RADIODecember 02, 2024

Did “The Chosen” Director just release a new CHRISTMAS CLASSIC movie?

Dallas Jenkins, the director of "The Chosen," have released a new movie with Lionsgate that many are saying could become a new Christmas classic. The film, called, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", is based on the hit book and tells the story of misbehaved kids who put on a Christmas pageant and shock their community. Dallas Jenkins joins Glenn Beck to go behind the scenes of the film, which is in theaters now!

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Dallas Jenkins joins us. Hello, Dallas.

How are you?

DALLAS: Good, I'm actually wanting to write down what you were just talking about. It sounds great.

GLENN: I'm telling you, every school should have these things. Nobody wants to arm teachers. If you put your hand around the corner of the door. And somebody in the hallway. Yes, kids will be hit with tear gas. But nobody will die.

And the police can take that guy down.

It's crazy.

DALLAS: Yeah. No. It sounds amazing. I'm literally going, I'm going to get them for my home.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah. They're great. How are you?

DALLAS: Here's the thing. I'm looking at you, and you're a handsome guy. But behind you is this big picture where you look phenomenal.

And it's -- it's like, it's not good for you to put it right behind you.

Because I'm like, wow. Wait a second. There's a difference. Like, you're -- again, you look good in person too.

GLENN: That's me happy.

DALLAS: But over there you look happy and rugged and handsome. Wait a minute.

GLENN: Yeah. So tell me -- tell me the story of the film Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

I have -- I admit to you. I have not seen it. I have others who have seen it, and just rave about it. I've seen the trailer.

This is before you ever sent me anything.
I didn't know who it was. And I watched the trailer.

And I'm like, this looks fantastic.

It looks heartwarming and funny. And all of it. And it's true!

DALLAS: And I really think -- we talked before. This is your kind of movie. I really think you will really love it.

I read this book almost 20 years ago to my kids. My wife brought it home. And the first couple of chapters, it's been around 50 years. I read it in public school, which is why I was so surprised by what happened when I read it again to my kids. First few chapters, I'm laughing. It's very witty. Very nostalgic. Just a terrific story.

And I get to the last chapter. And I'm going, I don't remember how Jesus-y this was.

Like I don't know how we got away with reading this in public school. I guess because of the Christmas of it all.

GLENN: Right.

DALLAS: I get to the last chapter.

GLENN: You get to Oklahoma?

DALLAS: Yeah. Illinois. I don't know. Yeah, a little different.

GLENN: Okay.

DALLAS: But, anyway, the first -- the story is the six Herdmen kids. The worst kids in the world. The ones that everyone is looking down on.

GLENN: This is -- I just want to read it -- it's not true? Okay. Somebody told me it was a true story.

DALLAS: No. That's The Chosen.

GLENN: Okay.

DALLAS: But this -- she captured, it feels very real. It's very nostalgic. Remember the movie, the Christmas Story. Very much that feel to it.

In this case, these six kids. They're on the wrong sides of the tracks. They're in poverty. They're mean.

They're feeler.

And this church and had this town, don't want them around. And they hijack the town's Christmas pageants. They take over the roles. They bully the other kids into saying, we will play these roles of Mary and Joseph. So of course everyone is scandalized and thinks it will be the worse Christmas pageant ever.

GLENN: Because they're so un-Christ-like.

DALLAS: Right. And so much like Mary and Joseph.

Like you can't have this awful girl playing Mother Mary. Mary is beautiful and sweet and pretty, and always looks clean.

So they get to the performance of the pageant. And I don't want to give anything away.

Of course, it's called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

But we get to that last chapter. I start crying so hard.

I can't see the pages. My kids are looking at me like, what is going on? And my wife Amanda goes, give me the book. Let me read it.

She starts reading it. She starts crying.

We are passing the book back and forth to each other, while the other one recovers.

The story is just so beautiful.

It's because of these kids' poverty, because of their outsider status, they're actually closer to the heart of the true story than anyone else is.

And so it ends up transforming this town and the town, of course. So everyone is learning something new, because these kids have never heard the story before.

So they're asking all this question.

GLENN: Oh, that's a better ending than I thought -- I thought that it was they -- the -- the people that were helping the kids, actually kind of changed the kids to have those kids transform the -- it's fantastic.

DALLAS: That's the thing. The chump learns from these outsiders.

We've taken for granted the Christmas story and the Christmas pageant, and we think of the sweet little nativity.

And the halo around everyone's head. And the kids are going, why wouldn't they let a pregnant woman into the inn? And they're asking all these questions, that we take for granted. And so their perspective on the story is just closer to the truth of it.

Because of their unique perspective. And outsider status.

And so it just was so beautiful. There's a very common connective thread between that. And the chosen.

My passion has always been. And we talked about this before. I'm taking Jesus and the apostles down from stained glass windows.

Down from the pretty paintings that we've seen. And try to give you the most active direct portrayal of the humanity of these people, and their true story. And that's what really stood out to me, about the best Christmas pageant ever.

It's funny, it's witty. It's a traditional Christmas classic. Bits got this -- it's probably the only of the movies that I would consider to be Christmas classics. And hopefully, this becomes one of them.

That really does put a spotlight on the true story of Jesus.

But in a fun way.

GLENN: It's amazing to me how snotty Christians can get.

And maybe it's because they either -- they either didn't have that kind of experience, or didn't need the redemption of Christ as much as others do.

But the -- you know, Christ came for -- for the ones that needed redemption. We all need it.

But needed the redemption really badly.

He -- he was always around those kinds of kids.

GLENN: Yeah. He came for the sick. Not for the healthy. There's a line in the trailer or the movie.

Where the mom is volunteering to do this pageant. Everyone in the church is telling her, no. Just get rid of the Herdmans. We need to protect our sacred Christmas pageant. And at one point, her daughter says, shouldn't we just get rid of them?

You know, and she says, I think that would contradict the whole point of the story.

GLENN: Right.

DALLAS: And she said Jesus came for the Herdmans as much as he came for you and me.

GLENN: Right. He was -- everyone in that story was rejected and despised.

DALLAS: Yes. And there was also a moment where the herd men walk out on stage. And they are wearing the clothes.

They cobbled together at home.

To portray Mary and Joseph instead of the pretty costumes that were given to them by the church. Right?

And one of the girls in the choir, who is against them, goes, look at them. They look like refugees. And the main character is looking at them. Yeah. They do.

And she's smiling going, this is what Mary and Joseph were. They were refugees. They were outsiders.

It's those kinds of moments that unlike some of these other Christmas classics that I love.

You know, Elf and Christmas story. Home Alone. They're all great.

But this is a movie that has all those elements of humor and what not. But then there's these moments that they go, oh, my goodness. That is the true story. I think the moment about Christians and those in America. I think sometimes we -- it's not that we need redemption less. If anything, we need it more.

It's our awareness of our need. Which sometimes goes away if you live comfortably.

Comfort can sometimes cause you to take for granted. What -- who came for us. Not comfortable.

Jesus was born into a stable, into a rough environment on the run.

Hiding. Outsiders. Refugee. All that stuff. He came as a suffering servant.

Not as a conquering king.

And we sometimes forget that.

GLENN: Yeah. And it's -- it's remarkable to me, the best Christians -- I put -- I put a few people like Billy Graham into other categories.

But the best Christians I have met.

Regular people.

Are those people usually from the Middle East. Or from China.

The ones who are just like, oh, they -- they have to know God. Because it's literally all that gets them through their day.

DALLAS: Oh, yeah. I have a friend who runs this ministry. Called world relief.

And he said, the church in Iran is cool, man.

GLENN: Oh, I bet it is.

DALLAS: He said, we just had another great bopping. They were like, what? We had a bombing of one of our churches. We've never been closer to God.

We've never been more desperate for him.

We've never -- and I'm like, man, I wish I could reach that level of passion and desperation. Without needing to be oppressed for it.

GLENN: Yeah. I went to Iraq years ago, and we were rescuing the Yazidis. And I was supposed to come and pick them up.

And then we were going to take them to some other country in Europe.

And so when I get on the plane in New York. I'm told, you may not be able to go see them.

Because ISIS has just targeted the church, at the time, you're supposed to arrive, and they're having a final service.

And so I'm on the plane. Wondering, I mean. What am I going to do when we get there?

And I get there, and they say -- I say, so where are we meeting?

I said, oh, the church. Did ISIS?

They said, no. They're not changing their plans.

And I said, okay.

And then halfway through church, Russia said that they were going to start bombing that city.

And I --

DALLAS: You laughed at this, and said, this is not something we think about in America.

GLENN: Shh should we all maybe -- is there a shelter around here?

They just kept singing and praying.

And they said to me, oh, if we die, we're with God. Right now, we're fine.

This is great.

It was amazing to see it.

DALLAS: Very humbling. And so that's the kind of thing I'm hoping, not only that it reaches me. But the viewer, when I do the chosen. When I do a movie like best Christmas pageant ever.

It's, can we somehow remove these -- sometimes it's religion. Sometimes it's our sin.

Sometimes it's our art. That gets us -- gets us further away from that -- what actually happened. And from that desperation. And from that authenticity.

So in this case, it's wrapped in a fun, PG-rated Christmas movie. But it's all the same intention of, man, I would love to get that level of direct connection.

So connected to Jesus. That everything around you is so irrelevant.

GLENN: This is so important. This Christmas. I mean, I've been fighting Santa.

Not in a -- I didn't want to be that bad dad. We want Santa. Santa.

You know, I had fun as a kid with Santa. But I -- it was a different culture. The culture said, Christmas was about Jesus, not Santa. And Santa was just the fun part.

And it is so important. And this is a fun way to bring your kids to the true story of Christmas.

It's called the best Christmas pageant ever. It's in theaters now.

Are you going to release it, on video, on demand before Christmas or not?

DALLAS: Just close to around Christmas. But I do hope the people see it in theaters now. We want it to last in theaters for as long as possible. But yes eventually, shortly before Christmas, it will be available at home as well.

GLENN: Yeah. I will tell you, that the -- it -- it speaks a lot -- I think this came out November 5th. Yeah, eighth.

DALLAS: Right after the election.

GLENN: And it is doing really well.

This early in the season.

DALLAS: New York Times liked it, Glenn. It's got a 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

GLENN: Wormhole.

DALLAS: I know, there's a glitch in the Matrix.

There seems to be this reaction of, wow. This movie does take me to where Christmas should be about. And it's been a really, really cool -- really cool experience, to see the reaction.

GLENN: That's great. Can you hang on just a second? I have to take a one-minute break.

We are with Dallas Jenkins, the creator/director of the Chosen. And the new movie, must-see, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

See it this week in theaters. It will be great to kick off the holiday, and kind of also remind us. Hey, God just played a big role in our lives here recently. We saw some miracles. Let's thank him. Let's thank him for that.

GLENN: That is part of the Christmas album done by my daughter with the Czech Symphony Orchestra.

Comes out, Black Friday.

It's called home For Christmas. Can we play the trailer of the Best Christmas pageant ever?

Please.

Listen.
(music)

VOICE: They're advertising it on TV now?

VOICE: The pageant is an especially big deal this year. It's the 75th anniversary.

VOICE: I want to be of special mention to Grace for volunteering to direct it.

VOICE: You did, what?

VOICE: Oh, no. Did somebody die?

VOICE: It's worse than that, son.

VOICE: It's going to be the best Christmas pageant ever.

VOICE: Oh, no. It's the Herdmans now.

VOICE: The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.

VOICE: What did they do now, dear? Break another window?

VOICE: Set something on fire?

VOICE: Steal your lunch. And then punch you for not having any candy.

No, even worse.

We're going to be in your Bible.

VOICE: Herdmans in church.

VOICE: Oh, boy.

VOICE: We take the pageant seriously.

VOICE: It's about community and tradition.

VOICE: What do you all suggest? That I kick the Herdmans out of the church?
VOICE: Yes.
VOICE: I want to be Mary, and Ralph wants to be Joe.

VOICE: And the angel of the Lord.
(laughter)

VOICE: The Herdmans shouldn't be here. They're a poor influence.

VOICE: You don't look like any Mary I've seen before.

VOICE: Don't touch him. I'm happy to take over the part at any time.

VOICE: I can't just kick them out.

VOICE: I thought you might all be interested in one of my stops.

VOICE: You never told me you visited the Herdmans.

VOICE: I got the biggest ham for you guys. Is your mom home?

VOICE: Not when the sun is up.
(music)

VOICE: What if the Herdmans ruin this for you?

VOICE: They probably will, but it's not about me. Jesus was born for the herd man's as much as he was for us. We will be missing the whole point of the story if we turn them away.

GLENN: The best Christmas pageant ever. It is playing in theaters, right now.

And I've never heard this before. The people that I know that saw it. And that I trust.

They said, Glenn, I saw the trailer. And I saw the trailer. I thought it was great and funny.

I saw the trailer. And it seemed like a little holiday, you know, Hallmark kind of thing.

And they said, the movie is so much better than the trailer. And I've never heard anybody say that about any movie. Ever.

DALLAS: Yeah, typically the trailer is the very best -- the highlights of it.

GLENN: Yeah. So I can't wait. I'm making reservations at the theater for Thanksgiving. After we've -- we have our Thanksgiving. We'll go to the theater at night. And watch the best Christmas pageant ever.

I have to get you to correct something. There was somebody that I was talking to, that goes to a Christian school, here in Dallas.

And they were talking about it. With a more and more friend, who has a child in that school.

And it came up that the Mormons distorted The Chosen because they were involved. And so you can't believe The Chosen scripturally.

And I want you just to verify that you used the set, I think for the first year, from the Mormon Church.

And there -- all churches are involved. But you have -- I said to them. You need to go back to the classroom and say, that Dallas Jenkins has a group of Bible scholars, that look at it from all angles.

And they argue, make sure it's exactly Biblically correct. Correct?

DALLAS: Yes, 100 percent. And number one, I'm an evangelical Protestant. I have the final say and control of every single piece of content in the show. It's not influenced by anybody.

And as I'm sure you wouldn't be that surprised. But all of the Mormon friends or people that I have, that I work with.

I mean, I have people of all backgrounds.

GLENN: Yeah. All faiths.

DALLAS: And lack thereof.

Half of my cast weren't believers. But there hasn't been any arguments. None of them said, well, we wished we would do this instead.

Like, it's the gospels. It's the story of Jesus.

GLENN: It's pretty cut and dry.

DALLAS: The arguments we have about Jesus. Are based on things that took place after he was here. Or before he was here on earth.

It was astonishing some of the rumors. I use a set that was owned by the church.

It's not like they said, okay. Now, if you will use our set, you have to Mormon this up --

GLENN: Yeah.

DALLAS: Because this set doesn't come free.

GLENN: That was the first time I ever had to defend my Christian friend. Against like the Mormons.

It was weird.

DALLAS: Yeah. No. It's been -- it's been wonderful. And a great, great relationship with everyone who was involved.

GLENN: Thank you so much for everything that you do.

Dallas Jenkins. Movie, Best Christmas Pageant Ever. See it.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.