RADIOMarch 18, 2024

This “MIND-BOGGLING” Attack on Freelancing Has Mike Rowe Sounding the Alarm

Have you heard of the Corporate Transparency Act? How about the new gig economy guidelines that the Department of Labor just set? Because if you’re a gig worker, freelancer, or small business owner, your career could be in jeopardy. “Dirty Jobs” host and executive producer Mike Rowe joins The Glenn Beck Program to sound the alarm: “You want to set your own schedule? Forget it!” Mike and Glenn discuss how these new rules could affect 70 million Americans. Plus, they also debate whether our college system is beneficial, harmful, or unnecessary.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Friend of the program, Mr. Mike Rowe. How are you?

MIKE: First of all, with regard to your sponsors. Excellent choices. I love this foundation.

And at the risk of just shameless pluggery and wanton capitalism, this is an American Giant share.

STU: Oh, wow.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. They have that shirt. I have that shirt.

MIKE: I think you wore it last time I was here. And I thought, what are the odds/but you know Byerd (phonetic), he's a friend of mine.

GLENN: I love him.

MIKE: And I've had him on my podcast. And he's featured in a new book that you'll love. If you haven't seen it, it's called flannel. And it's all about what it really takes to make this.

GLENN: Shockingly difficult.

MIKE: It is amazing, brother.

I mean, I know you know that. You gave me a shirt, ten, 11 years ago.

When you were doing -- what was it? Seventeen.

GLENN: 1791.

MIKE: I still have it.

It was like a canvas work shirt. Ever since then, man. I have been obsessed with trying to better understand the drama and the trauma of getting textile manufacturing back in this country. It's mind-boggling.

GLENN: If companies like Levi's would do 5 percent of their -- of their manufacturing here in America, America would change. It would change.

MIKE: For sure.

GLENN: No interest in it at all.

MIKE: When you really start to peel back the layers. I don't know if this is on your agenda to talk about.

It is -- I just did a whole thing on the toothpick.

Like the business. We used to be the toothpick Capitol of the world.

GLENN: We're very proud of it.

MIKE: A giant industry up in Maine. White birch.

I mean, there's -- the book on it is amazing.

And when you slowly see the way, that we basically give up on toothpicks.

You start to understand the way we gave up on textiles. And then you start asking questions, like, well, what hope does Detroit really have?

Like, if we can't get the splinter right. If we can't get the shirt right, right?

So there are no small things.

Anyway, what American Giant is doing, I think it matters. Because they're 13 years at it now. Right?

So good for you.

GLENN: I just -- I know. I love them. I love them.

So, Mike, let's just talk about the state of the world.

Because we are being boxed. If you are a small business guy, you have under 20 employees.

You now have a transparency act, where you'll spend two years in jail.

If you don't tell the federal government the Treasury crimes division, everything that they want to know.

I don't know how much that's going to cost the small businessman. And just time alone.

Plus, you have the Pro Act, which has now just been done with the Department of Labor. We don't vote on anything anymore, it's just the new guide lines.

MIKE: Yes, yes. New guidelines.

GLENN: What is that going to do -- when we think gig economy, we think, you know, Uber drivers, et cetera.

No. No. Truckers alone. Will we have groceries at our store?

MIKE: 50,000 in California alone. 50,000. I had a guy on my podcast, called Tom Otem (phonetic), who is one of these truckers. And he's been written about in the press, and I was just so interested in his story.

In fact, I interviewed him, while he was in his truck, driving across the fruited plain.

You know, he pulled over, and we had this amazing conversation. But people, I like to talk about it in terms of unintended consequences.

But I realize now, that I might be giving too much credit.

GLENN: Way too much credit.

MIKE: Right?

But I'm trying to stay in whatever lane is left to me.

But when I first say the --

GLENN: I'll be taking that lane away from you soon.

MIKE: It's getting narrow. It's getting narrow.

GLENN: Yeah. Very narrow.

MIKE: When I first saw this thing rear its ugly head.

To your point, it aimed toward the gig competent, and Silicon Valley, mostly Uber and Lyft.

And then it just grew and grew and grew. Graphic artists. Writers. Cinematographers.

Dancers. So many people.

And I'm like, how many are, actually, going to be impacted.

And then the question was, how many people are, actually, freelancing right now?

And the answer is north of 70 million in the whole country.

And so what the drafters of AB5 asked us to believe, initially, was that huge numbers of workers were being shamelessly victimized by greedy and rapacious capitalists, who should have hired them as employees.

And therefore, opened the door to benefits and so forth.

Now, did that ever happen?

Yeah. I suspect.

It's a big country. And there's exceptions to every rule.

But the number of people who were adversely affected, prior to this, versus the number of people, who have now lost the freedom to work, the way they want, is mind-boggling.

And it happened in California, of course.

And to your point. It's happened. And it's happening right now.

And when people realize what this means, you know, you want to set your own schedule? Forget it. You want to eat what you kill? Forget it.

We don't want to think that way anymore.

Because that person, might fail. And if that person fails. Well, then the narrative goes, we just can't tolerate that.

GLENN: I'm sure you've been to Buckingham Palace, and Windsor castle.

And I've been there for the first time.

And the new king has been in the castle.

And he has his whole wing by himself.

And he lands this giant helicopter, right there in his backyard.

And I've never been. Like, I've been to the American castles.

MIKE: Uh-huh.

GLENN: I have never had a problem with it. Never. I walked through that castle, and it pissed me off the entire time. Because I thought, there is no one in this country, that could ever build this, except the one who has cornered the market, you know.

MIKE: Right.

GLENN: There's no opportunity. None!

To actually become something, because the government has you so pigeonholed, and people just accept it.

And I don't want to be like that. I don't want to live in that kind of country. If there's no risk, there's no reward.

MIKE: Well, there's the four-letter word.

Risk, and maybe debt, the only four letter words, right now, that I think are truly for sale.

You know, we have to have honest questions about both of those things.

The willingness to accept risk, is the fundamental bedrock of freelancing.

STU: Right. And not everybody is willing to take that risk. Some people just want a stable job.

MIKE: And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

GLENN: Nothing wrong with that.

MIKE: It's so similar -- I think the reason why this has become such an issue for me, is because it translates perfectly, into a four-year education, versus a trade school.

This idea, that we have to put our thumb on the scale. This idea, that one has to be elevated at the expense of the other, is precisely what's informing the Pro Act.

We're not saying that it's -- that it's good to be an employee. We're saying, it's so good, that if you don't do that.

Then you're doomed. You're engaging in a level of behavior, that's so risky, you're actually posing some sort of existential threat, not just to yourself, but to your family, to your neighbor, and so forth.

So it's -- it's amazing how we can't simply put all the options on the table. And let the grownups decide, what fits best.

GLENN: I have to tell you, even in today's world, where universities are taking our children. And molding them into the exact opposite.

Woodrow Wilson said, the job of a university, is to make a man, the most unlike, his father as possible.

Okay?

That was his goal. And that's really kind of the goal now, I think, in many places.

And so many people, will say, because I've got two teenagers.

Are they going to go to college?

No. Probably not.

One of them, maybe.

The other one, trade school, maybe.

Don't know. Don't know. It will be up to them.

And what is the value of a big expensive 250 thousands of individuals dollar education, if you're not going to use it.

If you don't have something, if you're just like, well, I think I'm going to do this.

A, the world is changing so fast. We don't know what jobs are going to be there.

MIKE: I worry. Look, I'm the product of a liberal arts education. I got one. Is served me well. I'm glad I got one.

Did it lead directly to my chosen field?

No. It did not, but it comes in handy, every single day. And mine consists of two years of community college, and another two years at university.

When I finished at '84, the whole thing cost $12,200. All of it.

Today, same school, same course loads. Ninety-two grand.

Now, nothing in the history of this country, has increased faster than the cost of a four-year degree.

GLENN: Bitcoin. Bitcoin.

MIKE: Well, Bitcoin. Or, but that's fallen and headed back. Right? But, I mean, really, if you look at health care, you look at real estate, if you look at food, if you look at energy, the big four -- those things have all been eclipsed by the cost of a four-year degree.

Still, we can't help ourselves. Still, we tell this whole generation, if you don't get one, we're descried.

And that's criminal. It's a shame, because my liberal arts education right now is on this thing.

We have all of it. I have access to 98 percent of the known information right now. For free.

Okay?

But still -- still, we charge. During lockdowns.

Columbia raised their rates.

NYU raised their rates.

And we still paid it, right?

Look, it's easy to look at the Ivy League, especially now.

And point to all sorts of embarrassments.

GLENN: Yeah.

MIKE: But it's not even about that. It's just this bigger thing that is happening. Where a whole chunk of our workforce is tied to a whole chunk of our education system, that has become the proximate cause of derision.

GLENN: I said to my son, where did you learn that?

He said, oh.

I got a course on MIT. Online.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. I mean, you have the opportunity, unlike any human has had. And yet, it's a bad thing. I want to talk a little bit about what you're doing with Mike Rowe Works here in just a second.

So your big push for a long time is you can go to college. But you don't need to go to college.

And you've been, you know, it started with dirty jobs.

Now, you are -- I mean, your -- your foundation has raised a ton of money. How many people are you putting through college?

MIKE: So far, we have close to 2,000 who we have helped master a skill that is in demand.

Mike Rowe Works began really just as a PR campaign in 2008. Dirty Jobs was at its absolute height. The whole country seemed to be unemployed. But, you know, everywhere we went, we saw these help wanted signs. So it seemed pretty clear, there was some other narrative going on. And this idea, that you could fix unemployment by simply creating more jobs.

Was, actually, a canard.

You know, today we have close to 10 million open jobs.

We've got win $.7 trillion in student loans.

And we're still sending the same basic message that we always have.

This path is the best. Everything else will lead to some sort of vocational consolidation prize. That PR campaign morphed into a trade resource center.

And now we're a scholarship fund. We've raised about $9 million, giving it out.

GLENN: You're doing another million this year, aren't you?

MIKE: Yeah. Right now, as we speak, yeah, MikeRoweWorks.org. If anybody is listening with a kid or a grandkid or you yourself want to learn a skill that's in demand. We can help, and we have helped.

But it's really a means to an end, Glenn. The scholarship program in and of itself is great.

But what it's done for me, is it's given me a chance to circle back and talk to people, who five, six years ago, got a welding certificate with our help. Or a plumbing.

And when you ask them the question today, how is it going?

You get amazing answers. Like, now, some of them are still plumbing. They're in a strong union.

GLENN: Hang on just a second.

Still plumbing.

You know what plumbers make?

You do. Plumbers make a really good living if you bust their ass. They make a really good living.

MIKE: And if you're back to that freelance model we were talking about, you can work as much as you want. You can set your own schedule.

And you are busy. I know a lot of guys, both electric, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning. You can basically work anywhere in the country right now.

GLENN: I know. And I have to tell you, I had some. I was building a house. I had the plumbers there. I was talking to them.

The guy is like, I can't get anyone to help me. I'm aging out soon. I don't have to do this.

He said, I'm trying to get all the kids in my family. Hello. Good living here.

MIKE: Here's the math. For every trades people who will retire this year, two will replace them.

That's been happening for 15 years. Now you know where this is going. Right?

GLENN: Yeah.

MIKE: In fact, we're here right now. It's happening right now. So what I'm trying to do with my little slice of the internet is to make sure that I can tell the stories of the people that I just described.

Because, I mean, I can tell a decent story. But I'm not persuasive to a 25-year-old or a 20-year-old. They need to see somebody who looks like them, and talks like them. Who is living debt-free. And making 150 grand a year.

And I have a long list of those people. And they are very persuasive.

So, you know, going back to your first question. You know, how do I feel about the country? What do I think needs to happen?

I have a list of things. For me, somewhere near the top, is a persuasive campaign.

And that's not even the right word. But we need persuasive voices, talking in a credible way, about the value of all forms of education.

And the absolute criticality, of not ignoring the part of our workforce, that keeps these lights on.

Because it's only a matter of national security.

GLENN: Security.

MIKE: It really is, man. And here's the good things. And I'm not sure it's good. Sometimes things need to go splat. We talked about this before.

So rather than having a conversation about, okay. This company is trying to hire skilled tradespeople and they can't. And these people over here don't have a skill. We should get them together.

Yeah. Yeah, that's happening.

But now the real conversation is, how long do you, Glenn, want to wait for a plumber?

How long does Stu want to wait for an electrician when the lights aren't coming on?

GLENN: Yeah. There's a Simpsons on this very thing.

MIKE: There's a Simpsons on everything, and a South Park too!

GLENN: There is. There is.

Okay. Where do people go if they want to find out more about the scholarships?

MIKE: MikeRoweWorks.org.

We're always open. We will be taking applications through the middle of April.

We're giving away a million bucks in this trench, and we'll probably do it later this year.

You know, baby steps, man. You have to push the boulder up the hill.

GLENN: Mike Rowe, always pushing the boulder up the hill. Thank you.

MIKE: Any time, Glenn.

What Glenn Beck Never Got to Say to Charlie Kirk | Glenn TV | Ep 456

Charlie Kirk would have been president. Political violence robbed him of fulfilling that destiny, so now his friends, colleagues, and supporters throughout the world must figure out how to pick up the pieces and ensure that his legacy never ends. On a special episode of "Glenn TV," Glenn replays the most powerful, touching, and inspirational moments from his time guest-hosting "The Charlie Kirk Show" on Wednesday morning, one week after Charlie’s death. In a touching tribute to his friend, Glenn places Rush Limbaugh’s golden microphone next to Charlie’s — a symbol of Charlie’s longtime dream and the influence he has had throughout the world. Plus, Glenn speaks to "The Charlie Kirk Show" executive producer Andrew Kolvet and Turning Point USA COO Tyler Bowyer about who their dear friend was behind the scenes, the influence he’s had on America and the MAGA movement, and how Charlie’s fingerprints will still be present on future elections. Also, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Glenn discuss how Charlie Kirk helped launched her career, and Research Center Investigative Researcher Ryan Mauro shares how he has the smoking gun President Trump needs to take on George Soros’ network. These are the voices who knew Charlie well, but the number of people he indirectly touched and influenced is spread far and wide. Glenn ends with a beautiful song tribute by David Osmond and Cheyenne Grace, depicting just how mournful the entire world truly is. Rest in peace, Charlie.

Fact-check: The 5 LIES circulating about Charlie Kirk

In the first week after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, some in the media and on the Left have tried to either justify or dismiss his death by spreading lies about what he said. Glenn Beck reviews an article by The Federalist, which debunks the 5 biggest lies.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: We were just talking about the five lies that are going around, about Charlie Kirk.

And it is -- it's reprehensible about what's going on.

Because people who are saying these things. Who are starting these things. They really need -- I mean, they know. They know.

Like Stephen King, really?

You really think that Stephen King.

You really think that Charlie Kirk is for the stoning of gay people?

I --

STU: I do think, though. A lot of these people have an image of everyone on the right, that --

GLENN: But it shows how unbelievably isolated you are.

STU: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Now, king, in particular, I think -- like, I don't think Stephen King was lying on that.

I think he's -- and I don't think he's the sharpest knife in the -- in the drawer.

GLENN: He ought to be. You can't write like he does.

STU: He's not an idiot, right? He can form thoughts. But I think he's so completely isolated in his bubble. Like, if someone says something terrible, about a person like Charlie Kirk, and your image of him is he's basically Hitler.

Well, you don't -- you don't spend time fact-checking it.

Of course, that guy -- he's that terrible human being. Of course, he said something like that. You don't even bother to check it.

You know, it's like, if I -- if you ran into a quote from Hitler, you've never seen, that was negative from Jews. As a journalist, you should probably check it.

You might think. That was probably true. He said a lot of things like that. That's how they think about people who are normal conservatives who want lower taxes and less regulation. And that is really, really disturbing.

So these lies are really prominent. People really believe these things.

GLENN: So there's a couple of -- here are the five. The first one is Charlie Kirk said black people were better off in slavery.

How big of an idiot, do you have to be, to believe that?

Okay?

Unless you're Crockett. Unless your last name is Crockett.

And I don't mean Davey. Black Americans were better off than slavery. No. That's absolutely no true -- not true. He never said anything like that. Now, what he -- what you're probably getting this from, and I'm going -- searching. I am on -- way metal detector on the beach with board shorts, sandals, and socks, looking for anything that even kind of sounds like that. But Charlie Kirk did say that, you know, they were talking about Jim Crow and how evil Jim Crow was. But he said with be, but if you look at the family, the black family before the passage of the civil rights act, which ended the Jim Crow laws, he said, the family was thriving.

And it was!

It was. Blacks had a lower divorce rate than whites did in I think 1961. They -- their families were stronger. Dads were in the homes. They had lower crime rates. I mean, it -- something happened around the time of the Civil Rights Act.

Now, my theory is, the Civil Rights Act was a -- was done by progressives. I mean, these are the guys who said no to the Civil Rights Act, just four years before. And -- and worked hard to stop the Civil Rights Act.

So what changed in those four years?

The assassination of President Kennedy. That changed your mind. Not even. Not even.

I mean, Johnson was the biggest racist up until he -- up until he died. Why would he create the great society?

My theory, this is just a theory. But my theory is, is because finally, the progressives had a way to keep blacks under their thumb and destroy the family. And destroy them, as people.

I mean, the Civil Rights Act, and more the Great Society.

The Great Society did more damage to the black family than -- than anybody could have done outside of Margaret Sanger. I think that's what he meant by that. It was evil.

You know, Jim Crow, et cetera, et cetera.

But if you look at the numbers on specifics, family, et cetera, et cetera. Blacks were doing better as families, before the Great Society.

And I think that undoing is absolutely -- is absolutely tied to it. And it was intentional, myself, I believe that.

Also, the next claim is that -- that Charlie Kirk said, black women have inferior intelligence. No, that's not what he said.

Now, they're quoting him saying that black women don't have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.

How -- how bad does your image have to be of people on the other side to believe that they could say that?

That Charlie Kirk could say that?

STU: Like, if you were to -- you know, I think about this a lot of times. When I think about how we react to crazy statements on the left.

My reaction a lot of times, when I hear someone saying that is wait a minute.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: Even if they believed that, they wouldn't just blurt it out. What is the context of this? I want to know. I want to understand. That should be your first question when you run into a quote like that.

GLENN: Well, go to Snopes. They rate this one true.

STU: This is true.

GLENN: They rate it absolutely true.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Until you get to the last paragraph, when they say, well, we should point out, he wasn't talking about all black women. He was talking about four specific black women.

STU: Oh. Oh.

GLENN: So he's talking about Joy Reid, absolutely true. Sheila Jackson Lee, absolutely true.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson Brown, absolutely true.

STU: Well, she's not a biologist, Glenn.

GLENN: No. She doesn't know what a woman is. I'm not a biologist. Yeah.

And Michelle Obama, which I don't think is true. I think Michelle Obama is actually rather smart and conniving and just flatout evil.

STU: Yeah. There's a mix there. Ketanji Brown Jackson, for all the flaws that would happen. There's a Supreme Court justice, obviously isn't a moron.

GLENN: Well.

STU: I would say Sotomayor, I would be more confident saying she is a moron.

Though, I am -- for the job that she has, Ketanji Brown Jackson is a moron. You know, Joy Reid is a complete idiot. Wasn't Sheila Jackson Lee, those two follow the same category? You're right. Michelle Obama, I would not call an idiot.

Again, criticizing four members of a group does not mean you're criticizing the group.

GLENN: And he was criticizing people he thought were unqualified to make statements of -- of any intelligence on whatever topic it was that he was talking about.

And what they did, is they said, he thinks that all black women are just dumb.

I mean, that is so incredibly dishonest.

Charlie Kirk said, gun deaths are worth it to keep the Second Amendment.

STU: This is one I heard a lot.

This is one that a lot of people on the left are using as justification for their celebration.

He said, you know, well, you just have to deal with the deaths if you want to have a Second Amendment.

And, you know, I don't know if you have the context --

GLENN: I have it -- I have his answer right here.

You ready? You will never live in a society where you have an armed citizenry. And you won't have a single gun death.

That's nonsense.

It's drivel.

But I am -- I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year.

So you can have the Second Amendment right to protect your other God-given rights.

It's a prudent deal. It is rational to think that way.

STU: I mean, and obviously -- every time -- if you have a free society, you take risks with it.

There will always be people. Horrible, horrible human beings that all seem to donate to Democrat causes, that will do things, like we saw one week ago today.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: And that is -- you know, I -- again, you can't speak for Charlie Kirk.

He spoke for himself so eloquently.

But he -- even what occurred last week, would not change his mind on that.

Even -- now that something terrible has happened to me and my family, we should overturn the Second Amendment. And people shouldn't have the right to defend themselves.

You know that's how he would feel about it. And this is, if anything, pointing to his incredible consistency on the rights that we have, in this country. You know, it is a sad -- sad, unfortunate fact about so many things.

Sad, unfortunate fact about automobile travel.

That you do have to deal with some automobile accidents.

When you have highways where you can drive 55, 65, 75 miles an hour, we all understand that to be true.

GLENN: It's unreasonable to think that you can live in a society with automobiles, and not have some automobile accidents.

STU: It's absolutely true.

GLENN: It's exactly what he said about guns.

STU: And, frankly, the other thing that is important to understand, if you did eliminate all guns, you would not eliminate all murders.

GLENN: No. They did in England.

STU: Oh, they did. We're all set?

GLENN: There's no murder there.

STU: No violent crimes there.

I keep reading about them. Is that all false?

GLENN: Yeah. That's Donald Trump. You know what I mean?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And he's -- last one, Charlie used an Asian slur. Now, I'm not going to use the slur, obviously. I'm just going to say, it's what happens sometimes with armor. There's a very famous saying with armor, that has nothing to do with the Chinese or Asian at all. But I'm not even going to put those together in this context now, you you'll have to figure it out.

The thing is going around, he used that slur to yell at an Asian woman in the audience.

Now, again, what kind of monster -- or how --

STU: You should know on its face, that's false. You should know that's false.

GLENN: Yeah. How stupid would Charlie Kirk have to be, okay?

So, you know, there's nothing. There's nothing like that. Well, I'm sorry.

He was screaming something at a woman when they were talking about capitalism, and he was yelling, Cenk, not the other word. Okay? And who is that? From the Young Turks --

STU: The guys from the Young Turks.

GLENN: That's what he was saying.

STU: Oh, gosh, that's just so bad. You know, the other one was the Stephen King situation, where he quoted some horrible thing that Charlie Kirk said.

And, again, he knitted eventually, that -- that it was false.

But it was -- it was -- he was quoting someone else, in an incident, and critiquing that position.

GLENN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

STU: Which was a bad position. But he was bringing it up to quote him and critique him, which is a very standard thing they did on the left. This is a standard tactic of Media Matters when you're quoting someone else or saying something.

They'll act as if I say it.

GLENN: You repeat a lie often enough, and the public will remember it. Glenn Beck is quoting Hitler. Glenn Beck loves Hitler.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Yeah. Hitler said that, but that's not what I was saying. That had nothing to do with the conversation, for the love of Pete.

STU: Yeah, again, if you had something against Charlie Kirk, you wouldn't need to go to this stuff. If our opinion of Kirk, which was a guy who worked hard to debate people.

Who tried to practice politics and civic life the right way. Who tried to be a shining light for his faith, which was vitally important to him and his family. If that vision of Charlie Kirk was false, you wouldn't need to go to these things.

GLENN: No.

STU: You could come up with 50 different things he said that were really offensive. Instead, what you come up with are lies. Because that's what you're in the business of.

GLENN: Yeah. And there is a problem.

The -- we now know. And we'll have more on this later today. On the Charlie Kirk show.

And then on tomorrow.

But we now know that the Chinese and Russia are involved with disinformation campaigns.

Based on Charlie Kirk, trying to get us to push us into Civil War. And we know it for a fact now.

So just be very careful what you read online.

And don't necessarily repeat everything that you see.

The Far-Left Attacks in 2025 Prior to the Assassination of Charlie Kirk

In the aftermath of the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk, it is important to realize that a chilling pattern of far-left radical attacks had already emerged in 2025. Glenn Beck heads to the chalkboard to lay out the timeline, connect the dots, and explain why what looks like a “protest” on one day can turn into an actual attack on the next. Glenn walks through each high-profile incident, the groups and ideologies involved, and the national implications for safety, free speech, and public order.

Watch This FULL Episode of 'Glenn TV' HERE

Glenn Beck warns of dangerous government powers in proposed Charlie Kirk act

President Trump and others have posted in support of a proposed Charlie Kirk Act. But Glenn Beck gives a warning: there are 2 versions of this going around. One, proposed by Sen. Mike Lee, would stop the government from using propaganda against Americans. The other would go further, giving the government dangerous powers over truth. Glenn Beck explains the differences as well as what the Smith-Mundt Act was and why an Obama-era decision may be connected to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. I want you to just spend a couple of minutes with me, and switch everything that you've been thinking on, off for a minute. This is very important. I want to take you back to the world in 1948, okay?

The ashes of World War II are still warm. The Cold War is already beginning to chill in the air, and the Soviet Union has a propaganda machine that is in full swing.

Radio Moscow, Pravda, endless streams of anti-American stories are pouring into the homes of men and women, all across the globe.

And Congress looked at this. And said, we need a counterbalance on this.

America needs to tell her story to the world about liberty and about her finding ideals.

And we need to tell it to the rest of the world.

This is the birth of the Smith-Mundt Act. Okay? We needed to launch things, at that time. Like the Voice of America, and radio-free Europe, and Radio Liberty.

These were not just radio stations. For many who were behind the curtain, these were lifelines.

A Polish dissident in the 1970s or a Hungarian who lived through the 1956 uprising, they'll tell you, they're huddled in the dark, and they have that dial of that radio.

And they can tune it. They carefully tune it, listening to an American voice break through the static and break through the darkness. That says, freedom is real. And the world hasn't forgotten you. They remember that as being very important.

But and here is the key: We, as a society, drew a very bright red line, none of this could ever be used in the United States. Congress rightfully was terrified of unleashing a government propaganda machine on its own citizens. Now, I want you to remember. 1948, Congress is still Democrat.

Okay?

You just had 20 years of the same president, FDR.

They're about to say, no president can serve that long.

The Democrats said, no Democrat president. No Republican president can ever serve that long. Because we were so close to fascism.

So the Democrats are very concerned about the government going fascistic.

And they should know about it. Because they remembered the control commission.

Now, let me take you back to World War I. The Creel Commission is something that nobody remembers, and everyone should.

Because it's what whipped America up in a frenzy, to get us to go into World War I.

You know it, because you remember the I want you Uncle Sam poster. And I've always hated that Uncle Sam poster because of the Creel Commission. I love it. I think it's really beautiful. It was created by an artist, that he didn't create it for the Creel Commission. So, you know, he was innocent. But it was the Creel machine that plastered it on every wall, every post office, every train station.

And suddenly Uncle Sam's finger was pointing at you. It wasn't just a poster. It was a summons. It was you. We need you to go to war. Americans did not want to go to World War I. In fact, Woodrow Wilson said, the other side, he will put you into war. I will keep I out of war. He knew that wasn't true.

Within three months after his reelection, we're at war. But he had to bring the country along. So the Creel Commission, through films and songs, films like the Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin, it turned the -- it turned Germany into a cartoon villain. George Cohan, he wrote songs, over there. Over there.

All of these things were done by the government, as propaganda to get Americans to go over there.

And fight. Then the government went even further. And they started hiring these, what were called Four Minute Men.

Now, imagine this, you're sitting in a movie theater.

The film. You're watching maybe the -- the newsreel. And as they're changing the reels, some guy who just in the audience, stands up, walks to the front. Clears his throat. And he delivers this really well-thought out and rousing four minute speech about patriotism. And liberty.

And crushing Germany.

The government had 75,000 volunteers. They gave millions of speeches, when anybody would pause in churches and schools. In parks.

In theaters. They were called Four Minute Men.

This was social media before social media. They were short bursts. And they seemingly were everywhere, and always on message.

Because the message was crafted by the government. Then the Creel group, through our government, published booklets, official bulletins. They planted stories in the press. This is when we really started really getting into the press, and information was -- had one goal. All of the information. And that was rallies for the -- rally support for the war, and drown out anybody that was disagreeing with that. Okay?

The government actually encouraged kids to spy on their neighbors.

That you were encouraged and post -- post men did this.

To go through the mail, if they saw -- if they saw letters that were coming in. Ask they wanted to know, who it was. And are you a German spy. Are you somebody who is going to be against the war?

Postal workers went through your mail. And it was legal at the time!

You were encouraged, operators were encouraged to listen to people's phone calls, and to report if they were on the other side.

This is Germany.

In fact, because of the Creel Commission, Germans, and what's his name?

The head of the German propaganda, oh, what's his name? The German douche bag. I can't remember his name. Anyway, what was his name?

STU: Goebbels, is that who you're talking about?

GLENN: Goebbels.

STU: Although, I like your name for it, frankly.

GLENN: Yeah. Goebbels, the douche bag.

Anyway, he said, we lost World War I because of American propaganda. But we learned how Americans did it.

And that's what Goebbels did in World War II. All of this propaganda. Okay?

By the way, American advertising, up until World War II, it was called propaganda.

What I heard, I wouldn't have said, now a message from our advertiser.

I was delivering literally and it was cool at the time, to call it propaganda.

Because that's what it was. Paid for propaganda.

Bit after Goebbels took it. And did what he did with it. We were like, oh, propaganda is bad!

Okay?

So here's what -- here's what happened because of the Creel Commission. They were pushing uniformity of thought. They did that by making sure Americans were hearing the same slogans. The same images. The same stories from every direction. Which created the illusion of unanimous consent. I want you to think about life today.

I want you to think about life during COVID.

What was the goal of the government.

To crush any dissent, and to control all of the messages that were going out, to make sure that you were hearing the same slogans, the same images. The same stories from every direction, to give you the illusion that it was unanimous consent.

What about the global warming? It's exactly the same.

Then on top of it, the Creel Commission demonized dissent. Okay? German Americans were part of this country forever.

In fact, we were I think two votes away from making German our official language, as the United States, not English. But they were all of a sudden, branded as traitors.

You couldn't -- a priest went to jail, because he gave the last rites to a German who fell down in front of him on the streets and was dying. And a priest spoke German and gave him the last rites in German. That priest went to jail! Okay??

Okay? So they demonized dissent. Then they suppressed free speech. The propaganda campaign dovetailed with the Espionage Act of 1917. The Sedition Act of 1918. If you criticized the draft, if you questioned the war, you could be fined. You would be ostracized, and you would go to jail.

This is Woodrow Wilson, gang. Does any of it sound familiar?

Now, here's what the aftermath was, after the war. When the war ended, the mask came off. Millions were dead, and Americans felt absolutely duped. They felt that they were tricked into going into a war that they were manipulated into. They didn't even understand it. And that's why we were such isolationists, in the 1920s and our 1930s, because our own government had manipulated the population to go in to fight this war, and they felt so manipulated and so betrayed by their own government. They were like, I don't want anything to do with foreign wars, okay?

So why did this -- why did this happen in 1948?

Well, because in 1948, all of this stuff is happening, and we're saying, okay. We need to have some sort of -- some sort of boundary.

Because we're going to start all of this propaganda, for the United States. And it cannot be ever turned on the people of the United States. Okay?

So then why -- why was it repealed?

It was repealed without any really kind of conversation. Because it was slipped in, called the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act.

It was slipped in to a defense authorization bill. Just like it's happening right now, the government didn't pay its bills.

They couldn't come up with the -- with a way to actually fund everything. Because we have to act as an emergency, otherwise all of our war machine. And it's all going to stop. And the world is going to die. And panic and all of that.

;And so somebody has slipped the bill in. And we modernized it.

Why did we modernize?

Well, because don't you like transparency?

I mean, we're doing this overseas. We're doing this propaganda overseas. Do you know -- taxpayer. You're paying for it. Shouldn't you see it?

There was a Congressman Max Thornberry. He was one of the sponsors. And he said, quote, today the law prevents the American people from seeing or hearing the same things we broadcast overseas, and that doesn't make any sense.

We paid for it. Okay. Then they switched that from transparency to, and it's helping fight terrorism. It will let the Department of Defense and the State Department share counter radicalization material both abroad and at home, because we have to modernize this. The internet is everywhere, okay?
So who doesn't want to fight terrorists? Who doesn't want transparency?

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(music)

GLENN: So in 2012, the left decides, we have to get rid of this propaganda thing.

Okay?

Once the firewall was gone, and it's just a blip, no one even really noticed it. Suddenly, the government agencies could circulate diplomacy campaigns, inside of the United States.

And we saw this. This is where you get your USAID. The NGOs. Doing all the things here in the United States.

Because they can all do it. During COVID, you saw this.

You saw government-funded messaging, quietly merging with the media campaigns and big tech content moderation. Narratives weren't debated. They were handed out by the government. And then they were enforced. Then take the DHS disinformation governance board.

This is a direct descendent from this shift. Okay?

It was the government openly declaring it had a role in policing speech at home.

Look at the 2016 aftermath of the elections. Reports now confirm that the US government funds originally intended for overseas information campaigns that had filtered into domestic projects that fact-checked, flagged, and suppressed certain narratives online. The line between foreign propaganda and domestic persuasion was completely gone. Everything they worried about in 1948, was now happening after 2012. Okay. So why am I bringing this up today?

Because after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we have been asking for this to be reinstated.

This Smith-Mundt Act has to be reinstated. But after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there is a new wave of enthusiasm for this as there should be.

But some people on our side, are now demanding more than just a firewall.

You go to change.org. And there's petitions for a Charlie Kirk act.

And it will not only stop government propaganda. But it goes further than that. It starts to punish private media. Educators. Social media platforms. For spreading what they call false narratives. So this is -- this is our side saying, yeah, well, now we want the power to do what they did. Okay? Hear me clearly.

Accountability matters! Lives are destroyed, reputations are smeared. And that matters.

But we have systems in place for that.

What this proposal opens is a new door. A terror where government decides, what is and isn't falsehood.

And the government cannot do that. History teaches us. Once the government claims the authority to define truth.

Liberty is gone. Okay?

Now, enter Mike Lee.

Mike Lee has another proposal. Mike Lee has a version. That he is submitting to Congress. And trying to get it passed. And every American should be for this.

Right or left.

Every American should be for this. He's not going to reinvent the wheel. He just wants the old firewall put back. That's it.

Period.

The government must not, and cannot propagandize its own people. Restore the very bright red line that was attacked in 1948.

It's not about silencing speech. It's about preventing the most powerful institution on earth, with the endless resources of that institution, the government.

And the endless reach, from turning its firehose of influence in on the American people.

This is why it matters. I want you to think of -- I want you to think of football.

Oh, boy. Dangerous.

You wouldn't let the referee this a football game, put on a jersey, and join one of the teams. Okay?

But that's what the repeal did. It let the government be both the referee and the player in the arena of ideas. Mike Lee is saying, put the stripes back on their jerseys. Make sure they're in black and white stripes. So we know exactly who they are!

Change.org and some people on our side want to make the ref not only a player, but the judge, the jury, and the executioner. It cannot happen.

This is -- I'm telling you, if this goes through, Mike Lee is proposing something that is clean. Doesn't have any of this in.

So support the Mike Lee Mundt Act. But if you're hearing people talk about, we have to go further, that is the Patriot Act of our day. We're standing at a fork in the road.

Reinstating the Smith-Mundt protections. They're not going to solve all the problems of misinformation, but it reestablishes the ground rules. And tells Washington, you cannot propagandize us, period.
(music)

Once truth belongs to the state, truth itself ceases to exist. Support Mike Lee's bill.

Restore the Smith-Mundt Act.