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This story of the Covington Catholic High School's run-in with Nathan Phillips in the nation's capital has captured the attention of people on both sides of the aisle.
If you haven't heard this story yet you must be living under a rock. But the details of this are so outrageous, listeners have emailed in droves asking how they can help. Watch this clip to hear the steps Glenn says you do now to take a stand and support these kids.
19-year-old Sai Kandula is currently awaiting a detention hearing after allegedly crashing a U-Haul truck into gates close to the White House earlier this week. It was something the Missouri resident reportedly had been planning for MONTHS. Yet the charges against him recently have been dramatically reduced. Why? Glenn breaks down the crash, and he explains why this story just ‘doesn’t make sense.’ Plus, Glenn details how this story directly relates to two more concerning the IRS: ‘What the HELL is going on?!’
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Speaking to CBS news, the IRS whistle-blower revealed himself -- now, this just happened.
This is a new guy since Monday. Okay?
Has revealed himself as a supervisory special agent. Gary Shapley.
He is part of the IRS's criminal investigation's department.
He is a 14-year veteran, at the agency.
And currently, overseas a 12-man team, that specializes in international tax and financial crimes.
He told CBS news, that he began documenting his concerns, about the Hunter Biden investigation, in June 2020, 5 months after being assigned the sensitive investigation.
There were multiple steps, that kept being slow walked. We were -- they were just completely not done.
And it was happening at the direction of the Department of Justice.
When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw a deviation from the normal processes.
It was way outside the norm of what I've experienced in the past.
So this is his first interview.
He sits down with CBS.
And they take him seriously. And treat him seriously.
He said, each and every time it seemed to always benefit the subject.
And I got to the point, to where that switch was turned on with me. And I couldn't stay silent anymore.
So we now know, we have the IRS, along with the Department of Justice.
Doing all kinds of -- all kinds of things that they shouldn't be doing on the Hunter Biden front.
But it's not just Hunter Biden.
IRS investigation into Matt Taibbi. Here's the latest on that.
On Wednesday, yesterday, the House judiciary committee, sent a letter to the IRS commissioner, demanding all documents, and communications, related to the agency's decision, to launch an investigation, into Matt Taibbi.
Now, who is Matt Taibbi?
Matt Taibbi is a journalist. He's always been kind of a left kind of guy. Wouldn't you say?
STU: Yeah. I just that's fair.
GLENN: Yeah. And he has been red pilled.
And he's not a conservative. He's just telling the truth.
And he's being a journalist. He is the guy that really tried to make sense, of the Twitter files.
He was one of the leaders on that.
According to the letter, the IRS's inquiry was initiated December 24th, 2022.
That is the same day that Taibbi released the report detailing the collusion between Twitter and the federal government.
STU: Subtle, guys.
GLENN: Yeah, very subtle.
Well, it was not only on the same day. It was December 24th, so it was Christmas Eve. I don't know about you, but there's not a lot of work going on, on Christmas Eve. But the IRS are busting their ass. December 24th.
And it was a Saturday.
So somebody was burning the midnight. It might have been Bob Cratchit.
Because he was afraid, and he wanted the extra scuttle of coal from the IRS.
So the documents passed on to Twitter by the FBI led foreign influence task force, Taibbi revealed Twitter was receiving content recommendations. Blah, blah. Joe Biden and the energy company, Burisma. The report showed that Twitter, along with Facebook, and other technical-related firms, regularly attended FIT gatherings where companies often received an OGA briefing.
What is an OJA (sic) briefing? That's a euphemism for intelligence services, in general. In particular, the CIA.
So the IRS has said, yes. We sent the letter on the 24th.
Okay?
And that was nine days after he filed his 2018 tax return.
But they said, we called him over and over again, to verify his return.
Because it meant -- it met identity theft criteria. And we couldn't process it.
Nine days after they get this return to them.
Nine days. On Christmas Eve, a Saturday, the IRS is like, we just can't wait any longer.
We just -- we can't do it. We have to process this.
Because we're concerned about him.
This IRS form looks like it might have been identity theft.
So he says, they never reached out to call them.
To call. They said, we did it twice!
And then we just had to send agents over to -- these guys are bending over backwards.
STU: It's really nice of them, to spend all that individual time on one person like that.
GLENN: Very nice.
Now, the tactics that they used, apparently now we know, to dig up any dirt, we could find on Taibbi.
The agent assigned from the IRS, was instructed to perform an extensive investigation, which includes using publicly available search engines. Commercial investigative software.
Consumer affairs. Lexis nexus.
And Google.
The documents provided to the committee, also preferably showed the agency kept a dossier on Taibbi, including information such as his phone number, voter registration records, whether he had a concealed weapons permit, and whether he had hunting or fishing licenses. I don't know.
That seems like maybe they weren't concerned about identity fraud.
So you have now two cases of the IRS, just today.
That I can report on. Now, the FBI has just demanded answers from -- or, sorry. The Republicans have just demanded answers from the FBI. On the January 6th pipe bomb investigation.
Andy Biggs. Jim Jordan.
And Bill Posey. Wrote to the FBI. And director Ray.
Saying, we have been asking for an update on the pipe bomber. We have witnesses, or we have whistle-blowers, that are saying, you ain't doing Jack on this.
In fact, the whistle-blower testimony on the investigation, on the unusual character, including one disclosure, that revealed that the Washington field office, asked the FBI field offices, to canvas all confidential human source nationwide, for information about the individual, that might have put the pipe bomb out.
A year after they laid the bomb.
Now, you would think, that this would be something that they were all on top of.
But they waited a year. Still no motive. Still nothing.
A former FBI assistant director said, they should have yielded some results by this point.
But gosh darn it, they just can't find it. Now, couple it with this last story.
And tell me, you've seen anything like these stories so far.
Okay. I've seen -- I've seen people in the Tea Party. Targeted during the Obama administration.
Before that, I had never seen it before in my life. Okay.
So I had seen that. Got it.
I have not seen the Justice Department go in and stop an investigation by the IRS. That's totally new.
I have not seen anything like what the FBI has been doing lately.
And the pipe bomb and the January 6th, and they can't find the people who are burning churches.
But gosh darn it, they can find those peoples that have violated the face act.
Now this one. The alleged neo-Nazi, accused of ramming a rented U-Haul truck into the White House security barriers, being held in federal jail, pending a detention hearing next week.
Cy Kandula (phonetic), nineteen. Not an American citizen. I believe from India. He appeared in federal court, yesterday.
He is from Missouri. If you don't know this story, it is bizarre. He slammed a box truck.
Now, a box truck, it was either a rider or a U-Haul. And clearly marked.
It's a moving truck. Now, when I think of somebody going after a federal building, in a moving truck. Especially with the information that the FBI knows, that 60,000 tons of ammonium nitrate have just disappeared from the railway.
Have you heard that story?
16,000 tons is on the loose. And somebody pulls a giant U-Haul van, and is trying to break through the fences of the White House. And get close to the White House.
As a police officer, investigator, Secret Service, what is your first thought?
There's fertilizer in the back of that U-Haul truck. Okay? That -- when I saw that U-Haul truck, that was the first thing I thought of, was Timothy McVeigh. And I know that 60,000 tons of that fertilizer has just gone missing.
Okay. So he slammed it into the barriers on Lafayette square. He allegedly has planned this attack for six months.
We know, because of his writing. Has been released. Can't get anything from Nashville. But this guy.
He had to get to the White House. Seize power. And be put in charge of the nation.
So immediately, I think the guy has mental problems. He was accused of threatening.
Accused of threatening to kill the president. If that's what I have to do.
He praised Hitler and Naziism.
He is not a white guy. He was originally charged with threatening to kill, kidnap, or inflict harm on the president, vice president, or family members, as well as an assault with a dangerous weapon.
Reckless operation of a motor vehicle. Trespassing. And destruction of federal property.
That's what he was charged with.
Does all of that make sense so far?
Okay? I can't place the Nazi flag, and the other thing that bothered me. Was the fact that if I am in charge of the White House, and I have access to all of this information.
If Glenn Beck knows, that 60,000 tons of ammonium nitrate is missing. And I see that rider truck. Or that U-Haul truck.
I immediately say, get the hell away from that truck. Back everybody out.
Get everyone out of Lafayette Square.
Now, we have seen pictures of what happens next, because they only backed people up, a little bit.
And this is where it really gets hinkey.
So my first question is, the park police, that are guarding Lafayette square. And the Secret Service at the White House. Everybody involved in protecting the White House. They see this truck. They have a guy who pulled out a Nazi flag, out of his backpack. They put him to the ground. Then they display the Nazi flag. Never seen that before. They lay it out nicely on the ground. Because they've only backed the people up a little bit. So people are taking pictures of it. Then what do you think would be done with that truck? I would think, you would call the bomb squad.
And you would say, get to the White House. We have a truck. There may be a bomb in it.
And you would have video of that little robot coming to open that door, right?
And you probably wouldn't have video, except from the robot. Because you would have moved people out, at least a block away.
They didn't do that. Instead, they just open up the door.
And then they start rifling through stuff, and taking stuff out.
And putting it out almost like you do, you know, when you've confiscated drugs. So the media can come in and take pictures of it.
They lay it out. I've never seen that before. Never seen that before.
Okay. So we either have out of control police, that are working for the safety of our president. Who should not be there.
Because what the hell are you -- why are you -- where was the bomb squad?
But then, it gets really weird.
Yesterday, the DOJ takes his charges -- remember, charged with threatening to kill, kidnap, or inflict harm on a president, vice president, or family member, as well as assault with a dangerous weapon, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, trespassing and destruction of federal property.
He planned it for six months. They downgraded his federal charges to a single count of destruction of federal property. Can somebody help me with that?
They have been trying to put people who are trying to -- who are extremists. White nationalists they say. Extremists.
Here's a guy. He's not white. But he has a Nazi flag.
He loves Hitler. He said, he's going to kill the president.
He actually takes a truck, and tries to get it close to the White House.
And you're only charging him?
Didn't you put grandma in prison for the rest of her life for parading?
You're going to charge him with destruction of property?
Now, I'm not alleging anything. Because it could just be, is this a POC thing. Oh, he's a person of color.
He's a minority. He shouldn't be charged.
I don't know. It could be that everybody on Washington, is on drugs. They're zombie robots. I don't know.
But this isn't right. Something is wrong.
And I just all of these stories tie into the same thing.
The same thing. You cannot have a justice system, and Capitol Police, who have been weaponized, who have this guy planning for six months to kill the president.
And they let him go, on a destruction of property crime.
When you're putting everyone in jail. That you can find, claiming they're a white supremacist.
You can't have it both ways.
What the hell is going on?
Nearly EVERY agency in Washignton D.C. has become an intelligence-gathering one. So, what’s Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ plan to end government’s overreach if elected president? The newly announced 2024 presidential candidate joins Glenn in this clip, explaining exactly how his administration would dismantle the Deep State. It all starts with having the right team, he explains, and being ready for the battle IMMEDIATELY: ‘It's like trench warfare. And you have to be ready on take one.’
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Governor Ron DeSantis from Florida. Announced yesterday, he is formerly announced that he is running for president of the United States.
And so it begins, and it's going to be an interesting 18 months. Welcome to the program, Governor DeSantis.
RON: I am doing great, Glenn. Thanks for having me. How are you?
GLENN: I'm good. I'm good. Enjoyed it not the first 20 minutes. That must have been incredibly frustrating for you with the technical problems. But it was the largest audience gathered on Twitter.
RON: Yeah. I mean, I was just kind of sitting in Tallahassee. I didn't really know what was going on. Because they Twitter handled all of that. And they were just getting so many people, above and beyond what they've ever gotten, that I think it kind of melted the servers, when they were able to -- to correct it and we were able to do an announcement that I think, you know, obviously, I laid out the case at the beginning for five or six minutes.
But then we were able to talk about actual issues, that people should care about. And now I think it's up to 8 or 9 million people that you did, across some of the platforms that have featured it.
And, obviously, when Elon was involved, you get a lot of buzz out of it. So you're getting huge feedback and raising money and doing all that, which is great.
STU: We were talking earlier today. Stu and I, about this choice. That you have always had this approach. Where you don't care what the New York Times said. You're not sitting down trying to get a puff piece out of the New York Times.
You know you won't get them, so you just we're going to it.
And I think that's really, really smart. But very different.
This too, I think will be remembered as the Clinton MTV or Arsenio Hall program.
This was really smart to do. Does this -- is this a sign the end of the mainstream media? Going right straight to people?
RON: Well, I think what Elon did, he opened up Twitter.
These social networks when they first came on the scene, had a lot of potential. Because we could go around legacy media.
And we could converse with ourselves. And that was a big threat to them.
They really helped lobby companies like Facebook. To help censoring.
Then it got to the point, where not only were they trying to enforce a narrative, the tech companies were colluding with federal agencies, like the FBI and the CDC, to censor and stifle dissent.
And so Elon, I think, has put his money where his mouth is, gotten one of those platforms and opened it up.
And so I think open platforms are good for conservatives, because it allows us to go around the filter.
But I do think we have a huge battle on our hands, about tech censorship at large. What Elon has done, is create how many people are worth $250 billion where they can afford to just put 54 billion down to buy a social platform?
And so technical censorship, I think will continue to be an issue. I think we've not dealt with it in Florida. Deal with it more as president, of course, to make sure that the First Amendment actually means something.
Because you can't let the government subcontract out censorship to Silicon Valley, and say you still have a First Amendment.
GLENN: Yeah.
Okay. So let me talk to you about the government. FBI. DOJ. IRS. NSA. CIA. ATF. Everything.
Even the Capitol police now, are an intelligence-gathering agency. How do you even run a campaign, when you know the all of government approach to the last election? How do you -- how do you -- if you win, how do you dismantle this?
Because it's -- it's almost like an unplug it, and plug it back in, and reset it to factory settings.
I mean, it's cleaning house.
RON: And that I think that this is -- this is a fundamental program. So we will look at an example of weaponization, which is obviously many examples. But that's kind of the end point.
Like, why are we here?
And the reason that we're here, is because we have these agencies that have been detached from constitutional accountability.
There was never supposed to be a fourth branch of government. But Congress has not held them accountable. The power of the purse. Or with legislating more precisely.
And presidents have not been able to wield Article II power, to discipline the bureaucracy.
So I think I'll come in. And on day one, we'll be spitting nails.
I understand, and all your listeners should understand. That if we do everything right. If we're disciplined.
If we're strong as anyone could be, it still takes a two-term project. I think it takes eight years to be able to reconstitutionalize this government.
But the question it raises, is do we govern ourselves, or do we not?
Because right now, the most significant issues, tend not to be resolved by our elected representatives. They're done by these bureaucrats and through these agencies. And so it's really I think a crisis of self-government. Now, what you have with lack of accountability, you just have a consolidation of power, amongst people that all have the same worldview.
And so their worldview is different than our worldview. And they view people like us, as factions that they want to exert power over.
And so the weaponization I think flows from human nature. So what would I do, you know, day one?
First of all, I already -- I already said.
New FBI director, day one.
That's a no-brainer. You have to do that. I'll have a attorney general that has a back bone. An attorney general that recognizes, you are doing your job properly.
You are going to be pilloried by the Washington Post and the New York Times and CNN.
And so if that's not something that you're comfortable with. Then don't even apply for this job. Understand, you're going into the lion's den. These people do not want to give up this power willingly.
And so they will smear you, they will attack you. So I think getting the personnel right, if you can't do that, then it just won't work at all.
Second thing, I think, you have to be willing to use Article II authority to its fullest extent. The idea that some FBI agent can collude with a tech company to censor like Hunter Biden, you should be firing these people.
You have the authority to do it. Yes, it will be contested. They will sue you.
But who gets the -- the Article II power? The person that wins the electoral college, or some middle managing bureaucrat in the IRS, or the FBI?
So asserting that authority, making sure that you have political control over those agencies, that is a huge battle.
It's something you have to be disciplined about. It's something you have to be strategic about.
And it's not something that anyone has really tried to do. Because these are tough fights.
It's like trench warfare. And you have to be ready on take one. And incidentally. Who is the attorney general, that is very important.
But it's also very important who is a step or two below that, across all these agencies.
And I think you need to have thousands of people, ready to go to descend on --
GLENN: You know, one of the things that really bothers me about the Republicans, is the Democrats were gaming and putting everything into -- you know, the -- the Obama bill, when he walked in.
That thing was 2000 pages long. They had worked on that for years.
Are you assembling teams and talking about what to do?
So you could just launch if you would win.
RON: Absolutely. So, first of all, we're working with allied conservative organizations, who are already collecting resumes from people around the country. And I will have a message if I'm in -- if I'm in Nevada. I will say, look, some of you who are in this audience, you may need to pick up your family and move to Washington, DC, for two, four, six years. Because you can't just recycle everybody from DC. It's not going to change if that's the case. So you really need to have these people descending on D.C. from outside the country. What we'll also do is I'll issue a directive to all these agencies, that they need to reduce the footprint of their agencies in DC by at least 50 percent.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
RON: Because I think what's happened is, you know, the growth -- the government, the size of it is one thing, of course. But the consolidation of it in Washington, I think has been totally toxic. You know you have a place in Washington, DC. It votes 95 percent Democrat. I think Trump got four or 5 percent of the vote in 2020.
And so this is totally not representative of the public as a whole. And I think the Founders would look at that, and I think they would say, that's a huge, huge problem.
So dispersing power out of DC. Yes, reducing the government overall. But whatever government you have, we want less consolidation in DC. And I think that will make difference.
GLENN: So, governor, the one thing that Donald Trump will have going for him in spades is the economy.
People will trust him on the economy. He's already done it once. He's known as a businessman.
What are you bringing to the table, to this all-out war on the American dream. Corporations have been weaponized. Red tape.
All of the stuff that's been going on. You'll have the fed against you.
The big banks.
How do you change the economy?
RON: Well, look, I would say, push back literally. He did great for three years. But when he turned the country over to Fauci in March of 2020. That destroyed millions of people's lives.
And in Florida, we were one of the few that stood up. Cut against the grain. Took incoming fire from media, bureaucracy, the left. Even a lot of Republicans.
Had schools opened. Preserve businesses. And so Florida since COVID has outperformed virtually any state in the country, when you look at all these significant metrics.
I mean, we're booming. We have people moving in here.
Wealth is coming in here.
And so I think when people look back, that 2020 year, was not a good year for the country, as a whole.
It was a situation where Florida started to stand alone. So I think that's an important contrast, now going forward.
Yes. You rip up what Biden has done on day one. With things like energy.
They are trying to price middle-class people out of having a middle class standard of living.
We're not going to force people to buy electric vehicles, we're going to make sure that people have a choice, to have affordable transportation.
We absolutely reduce federal spending. We're going to fight with the Congress on that. I think the debt has gone up. Under both Republican and Democrat.
I mean, we act like it was just Biden.
Went up 8 trillion. The debt under Trump as well.
We have to stop doing that. That absolutely has driven the inflation since March of 2020, with all the borrowing and spending.
I also think we need to have the Federal Reserve, focus on stable money. And stop trying to be the economic central planner.
You look at all the money they printed since COVID. Of course, you'll get inflation when that happens. So you need a major overhaul with the Federal Reserve.
And so, yes. Fighting woke capital.
Woke capital is absolutely bad for the average American.
Because they're pursuing an ideological agenda. To achieve ideological left-wing goals. That will make it harder for the average American family to make ends meet.
GLENN: May I ask you a question.
First of all, we're doing sitdowns with each candidate. You already done one. But as governor, not a candidate.
Will you sit down, and just talk about your policies with me?
RON: Oh, yeah. Of course. Absolutely.
GLENN: And would you be for a -- a debate or a roundtable, hosted by, for instance, us that would not necessarily get the backing of the Republicans?
I think the Republican Party is -- controls these debates so much. And we keep going back to the mainstream media. I don't understand why.
RON: Well, you guys should absolutely do a debate. And the RNC should sanction it. I mean, here's the thing, Glenn with corporate media.
Some will say, because I say, they shouldn't be involved in our process. Because they're hostile to us, as Republicans.
They have a partisan agenda. Which is fine. It's a free country.
And people say, well, you just don't want to ask the Republicans, tough questions.
No. Their gotcha questions are not tough questions.
Their questions are designed to further a narrative. Their questions though, are not illuminating to Republican primary voters. Because they're not one of us.
So when you have people who lived in kind of our world, you will be asking the tougher questions.
They're not going to be gotcha questions, but they're going to be substantive, and they will require candidates to actually go beneath a talking point. To talk about their vision for the country on these issues.
So I think you guys should do it. I would love to be a part of it. But I absolutely think the RNC should sanction it. You have seen what happens in 2015 or 2016. With some of those debates. It was a mockery. What some of these legacy media outlets were doing.
And their whole goal was to try to make the Republican candidates look as ridiculous as possible. They do not want us to look like serious people.
They want to be able to plow the field, to be able to get Biden re-elected.
So we know that's their agenda. Why would you want to give them a platform, to be able to be involved in our platform. I can tell you, in Florida, we have four congressional seats, that were open seats. Republicans ended up winning, and they were primaries in all of them.
We sanctioned debates with the state party, and we had conservative journalistic moderators doing the debates.
And guess what, they were great substantive debates, and the issues that people actually care about in our party, we discussed.
GLENN: Well, I will tell you, as we took a stand for Harmeet Dillon. We didn't make any friends, at the G.O.P. national level. But thank you so much for coming on.
Congratulations for the rollout yesterday.
We look forward to hearing more from you.
And all the best.
RON: Yeah. We'll definitely sit down with you. I would love for all your folks out there, invest with us, at RonDeSantis.com.
We would love to have your support. I pledge, you nominate me, we will win. We'll go in on day one, and we'll get all this done.
GLENN: Very good.
Thank you very much, Governor.
It seems that self-defense may be a principle of the past, at least in some of America’s far-left cities. In fact, the recent arrest of Marine Corps veteran Daniel Penny, who put Jordan Neely in a chokehold after Neely began harassing other subway riders, shows the right to defend yourself may soon cease to be a right at all. So, what can be done? Tim Pool, host of Timcast IRL, joins Glenn to discuss how we can out-master the far-left’s on-the-ground protests: ‘I want to send a message that these protests don’t work, which means we have to counter them with something that’s more powerful,’ Pool says. Listen to the clip to find out how…
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Tim, my man, how you are, sir?
TIM: I'm good. How you are?
GLENN: Well, I'm good. I want to come on to your show. You've invited me a few times. But I don't know. Getting there, the bag over my head, and being thrown into the back of the van.
TIM: Yeah. We're on the top of the mountain, so we have to keep it a secret, right?
GLENN: How are you?
TIM: Pretty good. Pretty good. Things are going great out here. We're expanding quite a bit. We have a new studio popping up. Very excited about that. Other than that, doing the show. Talking about the news. And I got to a certain degree, giving my money away to people who need it more than I do.
GLENN: Good for you. Good for you.
What you're doing with Daniel Perry. Or Daniel Penny.
TIM: Penny. Perry is the other guy.
GLENN: Penny. What you're doing is so important.
This guy, I can't believe we live in an America today, that is going after this guy.
TIM: Well, I was on the other side of it, to a certain degree, when the story first comes out. Because I've been just really frustrated with what I view as not enough people, standing up for moral values. Or moral framework.
So, you know, Rittenhouse, for instance. 100 percent, we have to save this guy. With Daniel penny. I first said, you know what, obviously this guy should not be going to prison.
He did the right thing. Defended others. But if you choose to live in these cities. And you're not pushing back against the changes.
If you're voting for these people, I have no sympathy. That is what I was saying, the week prior.
Then I had some good conversations. Some people made some good arguments to me. And I realized, you know what, there's a very, very food reason, to actually be in this fight. To make sure Penny does not go to prison.
The first is, you know, I felt kind of bad to see everyone rallying to save this guy from prison. Here I am being this kind of dick. Like screw you. You made your own bed. But I thought about two things. One, somebody said to me, it's not just so easy to leave a city. When you say, Tim, get out of the cities. Because they're getting bad. And the Democrat policies are soft on crime. It's getting worse.
You don't understand, some people can't just up and leave.
And my response was, well, it may be very, very hard, and it may be the hardest thing you've ever done, but you certainly can move out of these cities.
And then someone made a good point. My wife left me through no choice of my own, and my kids are here. And I will not leave them behind. And I'm like, that is a good point. There really are circumstances, where people -- they want to stay there. They want to push back. They don't want the cities to fall into this can of garbage. I was a bit short sighted on that. And I can respect that. But on the better argument, if Daniel Penny loses this fight, then self-defense in this country erodes. And it's only a matter of time before it comes to your suburbs and then to your more rural areas, and that was the most compelling thing to me. I was like, look, I've always agreed this guy, a hero, has done the right thing. But that's actually a good point.
So I wake up one day, and I am looking at the fundraiser, I said, basically because I was such a dick.
GLENN: Okay. We're on FCC airways. I just want you to be careful.
TIM: Oh, sorry. I should probably lead out on this one. And so then I decided to, you know, I looked at what the current numbers were. And I said, I can afford to do better. So I put up 20,000 for Penny. You know, kind of -- I should have donated in the first place. I was wrong to say, you're on your own. And I do want this guy to win. I do want self-defense to win.
And so I put up the 20 grand. And I said, I know there's a lot of people who can probably give more than me, and I challenge them to do so. And there's another reason on top of it. Let's send a message at the protests, which triggered this man's arrest are meaningless. Because you have New York City. These protesters come out.
They're violent. They get arrested. And they use that to garner sympathy. And get this, our reporter who was simply standing there filming, was attacked by these protesters. And I said, I want to send a message, that these protests don't work.
And so that means we have to counter those protests with something more powerful, and that's winning the legal battle here for Daniel Penny.
GLENN: Well, I just -- I look at this story, and I think to myself, what you said about -- come to your town next.
This is going against all of human nature. And this is what progressives do. In the end, it's always going against human nature. It is saying, you don't have a right to defend yourself, or protect others.
And for a guy to stand up. I mean, think of this.
What was his name? Todd Beamer.
Wasn't he the guy, the let's roll guy. All he did was exactly what Todd Beamer did after 9/11, or on 9/11. Where he was sitting on the plane, the hijackers take over, and he's like, let's go. Come on. It's us or them.
And they took them down. And we celebrated. We celebrated that guy. Here's another guy. I don't think he wished him ill. He just wanted to stop him, from doing any damage. Or hassling people.
And we don't have a right to do that?
If he loses, you're exactly right. We have to sit there and take it.
TIM: There's also, I believe -- I can't remember how long it was in New York. Another man was being violent on the subway. And getting in people's faces. And a man put him in a choke hold and subdued him. And he got interviewed on television, as a hero. So something changed, or has been changing the last several years. And I think, while I certainly can point the finger at these far left extremists. And these Soros DAs, and these policies. I think the bigger problem is not that evil exists. But it's that good men do nothing. And so in a place like New York City, I wonder why it is, that people of New York City, knowing that crime is getting out of hand. Why aren't people protesting for Penny. That was initially what got me on sort of the negative side of this. Like look, the people of New York City come out and protest, to have this man arrested. This is what they want.
If the people of New York City wanted something different, they would be standing up. Or Daniel Penny. But they don't do it. Now, all that aside, my ultimate conclusion is, we need to -- we need to be that support then. We need to help this man win this legal case, lest it come our way.
Always be standing up for people who are doing the right thing, lest one day it is you on the firing line, and no one speaking up for you.
GLENN: Go ahead.
TIM: Well, I was going to say, I think it's interesting, that where is the shared conviction and moral framework of the American population?
We can see it with this movement to provide resources to Penny's legal defense. But we don't see it on the ground, the way the left does.
So not only are the left fundraising like crazy, when it comes to political issues. They're out there getting physically violent, and organizing massive protests.
And voter initiatives. And that seems to be the stronger organizational power.
We have to counter that. We have to wake people up. We have to tell people, that the only thing required for evil to triumph. Is that good people do nothing. And we need those good people to stand up.
GLENN: So I think the problem is not that, people are unwilling to stand up. They're unwilling to stand up, under these conditions.
Because I think the January 6th scared people enough, that if they go stand up, there might be an FBI informant there, that will start something.
If the left comes in, starts a fight. They will be ones that are called the terrorist. I think people are much more comfortable being at home.
They feel safer being at home, giving, than they do marching. And that is a problem.
But I don't see a Martin Luther King that is leading that.
TIM: You know, freedom isn't free. And if this is how we as the American people choose to progress. That is to say, the average person says, you know what, it's easier for me to stay home and keep my head down. Than the next generation. The generation after that. Things will just keep getting worse.
I think back to the greatest generation. I think back to the men and women who fought in the American revolution. These are people who said, if I don't do it, who will. And if I don't do it, what am I leaving for my children?
But now it seems very much so, that that mentality, certainly exists among these leftists who believe crazy things.
But the average American, the regular person says, just leave me alone. And this allows the more extreme elements of the left to run rampant, capture institutions. And to be honest, I am fairly optimistic though.
I think freedom, personal responsibility. Meritocracy. I think all that is on a whim. I think this is just a great challenge before us. In our current decade and generation. But I'm pretty sure we got this one.
I do. I don't see the chaos of the left functioning properly. There is a fire that is raging.
But I think we will stop it. I do.
GLENN: I have a sneaking suspicion, that that is true.
I wasn't there a year ago. But I am there now.
I mean, it will be a race to the finish. And I'm not sure for -- you know, I wouldn't want to bet my house on who will cross that finished line first. But they are so out in the open now, and the things that they are pushing are so crazy, that I just don't think that Americans will continue to take it.
Maybe I'm wrong.
TIM: Yeah. I agree. No, I do think so. I think what we're seeing with Penny, I think this is a sign of people saying, okay. Okay. Maybe I do need to be active.
Because it will come to your house. And I talked about this several years ago. I said, when the mob is outside protesting and screaming, the police will have a decision. They'll say, do we arrest the man in his home, one man, or do we try to arrest 200 rioters?
And they are going to say, look, it's easier to keep the peace by arresting the one man. And you know what, we saw that in Milwaukee, a couple years ago. A large group of Black Lives Matter protesters had -- I should say rioters at this point, set fire it a house. Twice.
Because they were demanding that these two young girls be released. Who weren't even there. It was just mob mentality.
This same group. Mostly the same group. Same organizers. Showed up to a man's house. And began a similar protest. When he brandished his shotgun, from inside his own home, as a warning to these people, as what previously burned down the house. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do.
But when he did, the police came to the cheers of Black Lives Matter, had arrested the man in his own home, and carried him away. And they celebrated it.
And it was interesting. Because we said, I thought Black Lives Matter wanted to defund the police. No, no, no.
They want to remove any police, who are willing to support American values, self-defense.
They arrested a guy in his own house. And I warn people, if you don't stand up, if you're not active, the cops will simply say. You don't ever protest. There is no political pressure from you. The violence and the fear that we feel is coming from the far left, so we will do what they want. We got to -- we got to send a message, we're stopping that. We're saying, no, no, no, no. We're going to stand up against this. And we will put pressure in the right way, which is through the legal process. To put an end to the violence and the chaos.
GLENN: Yes. Good for you, Tim. Tim, thank you so much. Great to talk to you, and keep up the good work.
You bet. Tim Pool. Host of Timcast. At Timcast.com. Or YouTube.
Bud Light sales have dropped dramatically since the Dylan Mulvaney controversy, and now Target is taking steps after its over-the-top pride month/LGBTQ products caused backlash nationwide. The boycotts — and YOUR stance against both companies — are working. But will this actually last?! Typical boycotts usually don’t see longterm effects, but resistance from Americans in these two situations may be different. Glenn and Stu discuss what makes today's Bud Light & Target backlash different and what MUST happen to truly make a long-lasting difference…
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: I'm going to tell the story here, of Target. Now, it came out in the New York Post.
Just a couple of days ago. Target's top executive dismisses the social media uproar over the retailer's new line of LGBTQ friendly kid's clothing. Outraged shoppers have posted videos and images on social media, showing bathing suits, that offer an extra crotch coverage, as well as rainbow-colored onesies for infants and children.
Other offerings that raise conservative haggles, include T-shirts that say Pride Adult Drag Queen.
Trans people will always exist. Girls, gays, theys. So in the podcast last week for Fortune, called Leadership Next, the CEO of -- of Target, Brian Cornell, was asked about the backlash to woke capitalism.
And specifically about Budweiser and Disney. He said, you know, I think these are just good business decisions. And it's the right thing to do for society. And it's a great thing for our brand. The things we've done from a D, E, and I -- diversity, equity, and inclusion standpoint. It's adding value. It's helping us drive sales. It's building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for business today.
Spokesperson for the company told the Associated Press, the tuck-friendly swimsuits are only offered now in adult sizes. Kid's collection does not feature the label.
STU: Oh, that's great.
GLENN: Oh, that's nice.
Yeah, when we think about purpose at Target, he said. It's really about helping all the families. And the word all is very important.
Most of America shops at Target. So we want to do the right thing that supports families across the country. I know that the focus on diversity and inclusion and equity, has fueled much of our growth over the last nine years.
Huh. So it was -- last week, the story was. They're going to stick to their guns. Well, Target came out yesterday, Tuesday, and said, the retail giant is going to pull some of its LGBTQ-friendly kid's clothing from its stores, after facing customer backlash.
Just days after the company's top executive dismissed the social media uproar, the Minneapolis-based chain said, one of the main factors in the nationwide adjustment, ahead of Pride Month, was because some customers had become violent with workers.
Well, I hope that that is not true, and if that is happening, I don't want anything to do with that.
STU: Any of it. If you were to harass a Target employee, violently over clothing.
GLENN: You're an idiot.
STU: Of any sort. But still, this is what they always say.
GLENN: Yeah, I know. So I don't know if I believe anything.
STU: Yeah, they always say, we've had death threats. They have always said. The death threat thing is particularly comical for anyone who happens to be in AM talk radio.
GLENN: Yeah. Suck it up, buttercup. Jeez.
Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team member's sense of safety and well-being, while at work, said the Target spokesperson.
Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plants, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.
Target declined to say whether it would remove the tuck-friendly women's swimsuits that allow trans women.
They're men, who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their junk.
My words, not theirs. One of the LGBTQ brands being pulled, however, is Aprallen (phonetic), which makes T-shirts, sweatshirts, bags. Mainly because, you know, it's a cult, and Satanic-themed.
LGBTQ features and stuff. I mean, I don't know. Criticism has been widespread, Target spokesperson said.
Folks are reaching out with feedback. While some are sharing it with constructive criticism. They disagree with product decisions that we have made. Target shares were down, 3 percent yesterday. At closing.
So it's good for their brand. Good for their brand.
No. Actually not good. You are the beginning to have an effect.
You -- anyone -- anyone that you know that is like, let's go and tear it down.
Tell them they're a moron.
You're beginning to win!
Already, ESG -- any ESG fund is way down.
They're not introducing -- they're introducing half of the number of funds, than they did last year.
That's because you're winning.
Now you have Budweiser on the ropes. I mean, have you heard the ads from one of the local bottling companies in Alabama.
Did an ad. And they're -- it's a really bad ad. But it's like, we're sorry. We don't have anything to do with this.
We have nothing to do -- we're all local people just like you. We disagree.
We have nothing to do with this.
But it's getting -- it's bad.
STU: I think this is a really fascinating case study. The whole Bud Light thing.
And I think the Target thing is rising to that level as well.
In which, I don't know exactly how these things work. Or how you do them, or how you make them happen.
You know, we were talking about this a little off-air the other day. Obviously, Miller Lite is one of the big alternatives for Bud Light. I swear Bud Light is the one -- this is Sara Gonzales' point which I'm stealing, but I swear Bud Light leaked the Miller Lite ad because it was old.
GLENN: Oh, sure they did. I'm sure they did.
STU: But Miller Lite is the alternative. Right? But then they were doing this too.
Now, of course, Coors is -- owns Miller Lite. So Coors Light and Miller Lite are in on all this stuff too.
And Michelob Ultra also released an ad a while ago, that had a transgender athlete that we just all missed. I don't even know what happened.
GLENN: That's okay.
I don't care who teaches everybody a lesson, somebody needs to teach -- be taught the lesson.
STU: And that's what's fascinating here.
Maybe that's the answer. Because you really can't boycott everybody that does things that you don't like. It wouldn't even be consistent with capitalism to boycott everyone that disagrees with you.
GLENN: It's not even possible.
STU: It's not possible in this society. It's also not consistent with the principles of capitalism. Like, you're not supposed to do only business with people you agree with.
That being said, when you have things like this, that's making a big difference. Their sales are down 24 percent.
Their stock does seem to finally be reacting to this. For a while, it hadn't really reacted.
GLENN: Because I don't think people thought it was serious. And thought it was going to last.
STU: Right. And so now you're seeing them panic. You see a real reaction. Disney is the same way.
I don't know that Disney's business was particularly harmed by any of the stuff that happened there.
But it might be.
They -- a lot of the stuff that has been talked about.
We talked about it with the DeSantis situation.
They acted like they were blaming DeSantis for this 1 billion project that they shut down.
When in reality, they pretty much shut it down previously.
But still, like, nobody wants to be the next Disney. Nobody wants to have -- nobody wants to be the next Bud Light.
Nobody wants to be the next Target. Why bother with this stuff?
Just stay out of this discussion completely.
GLENN: Well, I will tell you that I hear from Ramaswamy. What's his name?
Yeah. Vivek Ramaswamy. He said, I talked to business leaders all the time, Glenn.
He says, there's a few of them that are held hostage. He said, that they're like, we don't want to do any of this with Vivek.
We just can't not do it.
STU: I think that's more common than we realize.
GLENN: I think so too.
You start teaching.
I don't know if Target is a true believer or not.
Boy, they sure seem like it.
STU: But the fact that they're moving clothes from the front to the back.
GLENN: They're only doing it in certain cities, et cetera, et cetera.
I think they just -- I -- boycott.
Don't -- and this is a women's thing, really. The men who goes -- that go to Target. They're like, I'm going to tear your face off. Are not the ones that they are going to concern themselves with.
STU: Also, are there actually any of the people -- I've never seen one. It's possible. I suppose. Some idiot is doing something dumb.
GLENN: I don't know. But one person does something dumb, and then it becomes the whole thing.
STU: Yes.
GLENN: But women, and I -- I mean, Ricki, our executive producer, she's like, I'm trying not to go to Target. It's been three days. I'm having a hard time not going to Target. I'm like, well, we can -- I can give you a 12-step class to go to.
We'll do 12 steps to get you off of Target. But it's the women that will make the difference in this one. And if you keep this up, if you teach Target the Anheuser-Busch lesson, you've got two in a row. And kind of with Disney. Three.
STU: Yeah. I just Disney counts. I think too, one of the things that's interesting with the Bud Light thing. And I've gone through this myself. It's not as much about some sort of organized boycott against this company.
Honestly, I don't know that -- I've heard a lot of people talking about that. It's not like a typical boycott that we've been on the other side of. Right? Where you have all these big organizations.
One of the things I think with Bud Light. And maybe Target is getting to that point.
Is that it's created some level of like societal, like, ickiness.
Like, it's one of those things. I think I mentioned this story.
I went to a wedding, and they had all the beers up there.
You can choose whatever you like.
And normally, I'll have one beer at a wedding. I'll probably have a Bud Light, just because it's the one I -- but I looked at it, and I was like, eh, I don't want to get a conversation about transgender issues tonight with somebody. I'll take a Miller Lite.
And I think that is like, what is actually affecting sales.
I don't know, that everybody would be like. Yes. We have people who are -- Kid Rock is shooting his Bud Light with machine guns. Maybe that's part of it. But I think part of it, too, is people want to avoid it.
And it's created this societal pressure on people, to just choose something else.
GLENN: That's -- when that happens, when somebody comes into the house with a Target bag, or you say, oh, I got this at Target.
And they'll say, you're shopping at Target?
STU: Yeah. Yeah.
GLENN: That's when this will change. That's when this will change.
STU: That's when it happens. It's amazing.
GLENN: I've been saying this for a while. I have really good feelings. Bad crap is coming our way. Don't get me wrong.
For those of you who listen for the doom and gloom, I'm still here.
But good things are happening as well.
There is something happening in America. Anheuser-Busch going down and staying down. And now, just in a couple of days, I mean, the icky feeling happened with me and my wife.
When we were walking through Target, and it's right there.
It's in your face.
And as I'm walking down the aisle of Target, right in front of the cashier. And I see all of this.
I'm like, you know, really?
This is who you are? This is who you think we are?
You think that transgendered needs a -- a display up front?
How many transgender people are there?
You are grooming our children. It really bothered me. Really bothered me.
STU: Yeah. And, you know, when you look at -- we just talked about this with the social media alert from the government yesterday.
They sent us a positive, one of the things about social media was it helped people -- what was it?
Developed their identity in LGBTQ. That was one of the positive effects of social media.
They had tons of negatives like suicide and everything else. But one of the positives was, if you happen to be LGBTQ, this helps you develop your identity.
And it's like, well, that's just saying, that social media is there, to walk you -- I mean, grooming is -- it's actually a really good word for that.
GLENN: It is. It is.
STU: It's different than the criminal version of it.
But it's a pretty applicable word.
GLENN: You know, they say, the thing that one generation tolerates, the next will embrace.
If you look at casual sex, we tolerated Bill Clinton.
Well, it depends on what the definition of is, is. And all of a sudden, it became totally cool.
Sex, and oral sex. All of that, totally fine.
Kids doing it in schools, almost immediately. Okay?
Remember that -- where was that story that was in Virginia.
STU: Alexandra, Virginia. Anyway, there was a -- this happened over night.
What are we tolerating? We are now tolerating Satanism.
We are now tolerating our children being groomed for trans drag shows. You don't want this embraced as a society.