RADIOAugust 26, 2022

Bill O’Reilly: How Progressives are DESTROYING YOUR FREEDOM

The Progressive Left knows the midterm elections could HALT their current progress, Bill O’Reilly tells Glenn, which is why they’re doing everything they can to push voters toward Democrat candidates…even if American cities become further destroyed as a result. It’s all part of a ‘MASSIVE TAKEOVER,’ O’Reilly explains, to diminish YOUR personal freedoms. In this clip, O’Reilly gives several examples of recent attempts to do just that. Plus, he and Glenn discuss the decision our citizenry must make in the coming months and whether the far-left can be stopped before we no longer recognize our nation…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Jeez, where do want to start the biggest story of the week?

BILL: Well, you know, I wanted to start in a more generalized capacity. Because you have the midterm elections, which could put an end to some of the madness. And so the progressive left, which has made unbelievable strides under Biden knows that. And now they're working in conjunction with the media, to put out these phony polls, that show the Biden administration surging in popularity, and the Democrats, and the generic ballot, beating the Republicans, and all of this.

This is not true. But it could have an effect, if it's not countered by people like you and me.

Because we live in a country, where half of the voters don't know anything. And I'm not being supercilious, Beck. Arrogant. I'm not. It's just a fact. They live this a world of their own. A world they create out of cyberspace. They don't pay attention.

GLENN: Correct.

BILL: They don't understand the big picture. They don't understand that gas costs more, and so does bread. But that's all they understand. And so they're subject to unbelievable propaganda.

But if Americans and the Republican party start to really up the urgency of this.

GLENN: Well, part of this is because of Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell has been hurt to say that all we're going to do is just keep pointing out how bad the Democrats are. That way, we won't lose anybody. Are you out of your mind?

BILL: I don't know what he says. They don't care what he says.

There isn't a central force in the Republican Party right now, at all.

And really, there isn't in the Democrat Party either. Because Biden is not in control of this situation. But the Democratic machines allied with the media. Out of K Street out of Washington. Where these political action committees operate. They are well-organized. And the Republicans aren't. So there isn't this urgency of message.

I mean, when you get a poll in Los Angeles. It shows that a progressive leftist is well out in front of a guy who says, look, I'm going to clean up the town.

And that poll is probably accurate. And you say to the people of Los Angeles. Okay. If this is what you want. This is what you've got. You better get a gate. And you better get a gun or security guards. Because this is totally out of control. And you're voting for it. You're voting for more of it.

That's the big story. There comes a point in history. And you know that I'm the history guy.

Where a citizenry has to make a decision. A collective decision.

GLENN: Correct.

BILL: To you and me, it's so clear, right? It's so clear. There isn't two sides of the story, like there might have been with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. There aren't two sides to the story. This is a massive government takeover of everything in this country, to diminish your personal freedom. That's what this loan thing is all about.

GLENN: I know.

BILL: But if the government wants to run education, Pre-K to post graduate. They want to run it all. So they can indoctrinate, just like you did with the Tuttle Twins said. Thus, students from cradle to when they're out.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: This is a massive step towards that. We will pay, if you go along with us, if you agree with us. We'll pay for a lot of your education. They want to run personal protection. Second Amendment.

They don't want you to have personal protection. This is the federal government. But most of all, they want to run the economy, to tell you, the American citizen, what you can and can't have.

This is all tied in, to the progressive vision. I'm not a conspiracy guy. I mock most conspiracies. But you can see, how this has happened in the past, in other countries. And how it is now being attempted in the United States.

GLENN: Yeah. I -- I have never really liked. This is the most important election in our lifetime. Because I've heard it my whole life.

This could be the last midterm election, under the United States of America as we know it.

The Constitution by 2024, could be gone, if there's no speed bump in Congress. There's -- we've got to stop this.

The -- the -- the executive orders, Bill.

I've -- I've always been against executive orders, when they are just -- they're -- I mean, we're writing -- we're not legislating anything anymore. And I don't like executive orders.

Now, I think executive orders have to be stopped. They just have to be stopped.

Because we are in a dictatorship. When a president can do what he's trying to do, that's a dictatorship.

BILL: But you're not going to stop it, unless you have a Republican president elected in 2024. There's no mechanisms to stop it. So the Founding Fathers, they wanted a certain type of government, but they realized, all of them, in their personal letters and papers. That this won't happen.

GLENN: Okay. So let me go. Talking about personal papers, the redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit, is supposed to be made public. Now, redacted. Are we just going to see a bunch of pages with nothing, but black bars over it?

BILL: Yeah. I mean, look, what you can expect to see, is a generalized rationale towards the search. You're not going to get any names. You're not going to know what the person -- the grand jury that Trump took. You're not going to know any of that. I don't even think you'll get specific documents that they're looking for.

GLENN: There's nothing here. That's a nothing burger.

BILL: Right. There's nothing in this whole thing for me.

GLENN: I know.

BILL: All right. This is just -- you know, it's another example of a government trying to destroy an individual, in this case Donald Trump.

So the government -- the Biden administration is trying to destroy the man, because they know, that he still has a massive amount of support.

And the Republicans who hate him, are siding with the Democrats. Which is really, look, I know Trump better than anyone knows him. And I understand the eccentricities of the man. That he did some damage to himself and the country, by being immature and undisciplined. And I told it to him, more times than you can even imagine. But he governs the country well.

GLENN: He did.

BILL: And that is not in dispute, if you look at the border, if you look at the economic deals that he made.

GLENN: But, again, it can't be done by executive order.

It has -- I mean, we wouldn't be having this problem if we had Republicans with a spine.

Let me switch topics here. The FBI is losing credibility so rapidly. We have the FBI, not only with the Mar-a-Lago thing.

But we also have the FBI agents, whistle blowers at the highest levels, according to Grassley. Saying that the FBI was ordered not to talk about Hunter Biden. It was -- they were ordered not to look at any of that.

The -- Mark Zuckerberg was on Joe Rogan. And he talked about how the FBI came to him. And said, you know, there's going to be some Russian disinformation coming out. You know, don't run with it. So we have that.

Plus, we also have the story, that the people who stole Ashley Biden's diary, which I'm all for them being arrested. They stole her diary. But this has really damning information in that -- in that diary.

They arrested those two people. But nobody is looking into the Hunter Biden thing. No arrests have been made on this, at all.

What is the game plan of the FBI?

BILL: Okay. It doesn't really matter, Beck suspect preponderance the House becomes Republican in November. Okay. When that happens, and they're all sworn in, in January. The first thing the Republicans will do, is hold hearings on the FBI.

And then these whistle-blowers will come in, and they'll say, what they are going to say under oath. And that will be the end of the FBI's reign of power. Because it will then be destroyed and charges -- actual charges might come from that. That's number one.

GLENN: But I have to tell you Bill. I'm concerned. I think we're a country. The United States of blackmail. They have been monitoring these congressmen and everything else. And, you know, these congressmen are not the best moral character. Are you sure that of the -- the intelligence agencies, and, you know, look at the power that the FBI had under Hoover.

BILL: Yeah. I mean, I know it, because I wrote Killing the Mob. And everything is in there. But different age now. So that's the FBI. But here's the worst FBI.

You ready for the worst, Glenn?

GLENN: Sure.

BILL: They didn't even look into, who leaked the Alito memo.

GLENN: Do you know that for sure?

BILL: Yeah. Because if they had, they wouldn't have made an arrest. There are only maybe 20 people.

GLENN: I know. I know.

BILL: And probably out of those 20, over maybe six or seven.

GLENN: But doesn't that -- doesn't that also fall to John Roberts. Because they do have their open at least security, that can hire out, to investigate.

BILL: I guess. I don't know. But I do know, that if Trump were president. And this happened, you would have an arrest already.

GLENN: Yeah. You would have.

BILL: Okay? So when you see something that simple, all right? That blatant, that you have a person inside the Supreme Court. Not a lot of them. All right?

And they can't find that person who leaked that memo in a historical fashion. Which makes us a banana republic, if we can't even keep secrets at the Supreme Court level. We're a banana republic. And so, it is a terrible thing.

But there is a resolution to this, if the House goes Republican.

GLENN: All right. Back with more. Bill O'Reilly here in just a second. If you're a sensible person, which I know you are. You know you're never a single disaster away from losing the things that are precious to you. You wake up in the middle of the night to a house fire. What do you won't be?

I mean, this just happened to a neighbor of mine. They had a house fire. Lost everything. They had sprinklers in the House. They thought that would save them.

GLENN: Well, it stopped the fire. But it destroyed everything in the house, including the house. You know, taking pictures out, that are just now garbage. Once things are destroyed, they are gone. Now, you don't have to have a fire in your house. Just time destroys many of our photos. If you have videotapes or anything like that. Man, they're going to be gone soon. Those tapes are meant to last ten years. Everything from my childhood, to my kid's childhood, is on films and tapes and photographs. Preserve them now.

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Bill O'Reilly, a guy who knows how inflation works. Too many dollars chasing too few goods.

So the economy is overheating. We have to slow down the economy. How do we do that?

You make sure that people don't have the money to spend. What Joe Biden did with this -- with this bailout of people, student loans, is absolutely incredible.

Bill, talk to me a little bit about the fallout of this. What you think -- if it's going to stand.

Nancy Pelosi flip-flopping, and what it's going to do with the economy.

BILL: Well, I can't predict the economy. Nobody can. We still have the big consumer engineer in this country. People are out, as in Yankee Stadium for the Mets game on Tuesday.

Fifty thousand people there, spending money and buying, you know, 8-dollar hot dogs. So I can't predict the economy.

The loan forgiveness thing will be obliterated if there is a Republican president in 2024. That will go. It's a ten-year expenditure. I estimate the expenditure, if the Democrats continue to hold power, to be at about 700 billion. The country cannot afford, obviously to keep running up this kind of debt. Biden is not going to stop. The only reason they do this, is to buy votes anyway. Most of the money is wasted.

It's so complex. People don't understand who is going to get the loan. How it's tied into the Department of Labor. I mean, it's just unbelievable.

GLENN: So wait. Wait. Wait.

You -- you say that this is going to -- has to wait until the next president. Do you not think this is going to go to the Supreme Court?

BILL: No. It won't get there. Biden will veto any attempt to rein it in. But, you know, it's only really two years away now. This is how fast time goes. I want to tell your audience, Beck. Because I know you have a very smart and big audience around the world. A couple things, I did an interview with Newt Gingrich this week on BillO'Reilly.com. Everybody should watch that interview.

The way I interviewed these people, is totally different than anybody else. And, you know, that.

GLENN: Yeah.

BILL: And I got a lot of micro information, about really what's happening. Because Gingrich, he went through this. Right.

The whole thing, in the contract for America, and all that. So if you really want an astute analysis, and get away from the propaganda. You see on television, and paper news, watch that. The second thing is that people are getting hopeless now.

And they shouldn't. So, yes.

There are states like mine, New York, and California, and Illinois. Almost irredeemable at this point.

But also states like Florida and Texas, and other places, that are wise enough. That are saying, you know, we want our freedom. We want to hold on to our personal freedom.

I mean, people in California and New York. I'm shocked. They don't seem to respect their own personal freedom.

They want a government to tell them, what they can and can't do. Every single facet of life. I've never seen anything like this, ever. Why do you want to sacrifice your personal autonomy to an incompetent boob like Joe Biden? Why would you ever want to give Nancy Pelosi power over you, or Donald Trump, or any other politician?

You know, you've got to fight for your independence. And we're not there. Because that message is being suppressed.

STU: Well, that message also, you know, Newt Gingrich had the contract for America.

I had been ringing the bell in Congress and the Senate for a year. Contract for America. How about a new one? And they won't do it.

BILL: It's not going to happen -- it's not going to happen this time around, there's no central leadership, like Gingrich brought to the House.

STU: Yeah. Well, then Kevin McCarthy should definitely not be the guy in the House. He should definitely not -- if he can't get that done, then he should definitely not be the leader of the House. Period.

BILL: Whatever. I don't follow that very closely, because I don't -- I know the games that are played.

STU: Yeah. Yeah.

I want the American people to wise up, to see what is happening, in a non-paranoia way.

And discuss it with their children, their families, their friends, and say, you know, this is bad. This is way worse than you think it is.

When the powerful corporate media allies with the progressive left, as it has, there's trouble.

GLENN: Bill O'Reilly from BillO'Reilly.com.

If you watched his No-spin Zone for years, he's still doing No Spin News every night, BillO'Reilly.com.

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.

Shocking timeline: How “protests” turned into radical attacks in 2025

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?

Now, here's what actually happened. I'll tell you in 60 seconds. First, Stu.

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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.