RADIOFebruary 24, 2025

Bud Light Insider Reveals What Led to Dylan Mulvaney Controversy

The American pushback against wokeness really took off after the Bud Light-Dylan Mulvaney controversy. But how did that partnership even happen? How did the working man’s beer go work? Glenn speaks with Bud Light insider Anson Frericks, who is the former president of Anheuser-Busch Sales & Distribution Co. and saw the company’s culture shift firsthand. He lays it out in his new book, “Last Call for Bud Light.” And he tells Glenn that the driving force behind the wokeness wasn’t business data or the will of customers. It was major shareholders like BlackRock, who pushed the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset principles. So, now that Trump is pushing back against the ”ESG Industrial Complex,” he argues, many CEOs are abandoning these failed policies.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Anson Frericks, I think I have his name right. He's the author of a new book called Last Call for Bud Light.

He was -- he is the Strive asset manager cofounder. He is with Vivek Ramaswamy.

He has written a great book that I think everybody should read. Anson, welcome to the program!

ANSON: Thanks for having me this morning, Glenn. Really excited to be on the show.

GLENN: Oh, you bet. Your book is fascinating. It's a great, great business book. To kind of get into how a great brand is built. And how it's dismantled. And how it went horribly, horribly wrong.

ANSON: Yeah. You know, Glenn, it's really interesting.

If you think about all the pushback on ESG and DEI, and really just, in my mind, it really started with the collapse of Bud Light.

That's when I think you had all these regular, everyday folks that were saying, man, you know, you act like you did not like when the NFL and all the players kneeling. Yeah, I hated it when Disney got involved in the parental rights issues. But, man, when Bud Light, which is the working man, everyday citizen beer, when all of a sudden, they're promoting Dylan Mulvaney, and everything going on with Dylan Mulvaney, that's when I think people said enough is enough. They stopped buying the beer.

Customers left by the millions. The stock price cratered. It's crazy that they still haven't figured out, and there hasn't been a comeback at all.

GLENN: You know, I wrote a book a few years ago, about The Great Reset.

ANSON: Yeah.

GLENN: And how that was changing everything. And all of these companies would be beholden, not to you, the consumer, but would be beholden to people like BlackRock. And as I'm reading your book, I'm like, yes. Yes.

I can't believe how right we were. Because that's really what seemed to have happened. The culture changed. You moved from St. Louis to New York.

You started caring about BlackRock. Not the consumer.

And you were there, watching this happening, knowing what was coming. Or at least it seems that you really kind of knew what was coming.

ANSON: Yeah. No. Absolutely. And, Glenn, you were ahead of everybody on this. With the Great Reset, the phenomenal book on your end. And seeing what's happening. When you have the World Economic Forum. Klaus Schwab, and all these individuals that were pushing more for this European form of corporate governance. Stakeholder capitalism. Companies. They're supposed to create value for all stakeholders. Which is very distinct. For the American -- Milton Friedman view of the world, that said, you have to put the shareholders first, and you have to do what's right for the shareholders, which is create products, services, that actually create more sustainable businesses.

But as many corporations over the last five to ten years adopted this Klaus Schwab, European fake order view, which was foisted on them by the BlackRock world, who were taking money from very progressive pension funds in California, in New York, and in European sovereign wealth funds. We saw this as the least sustainable thing that a business can do. Is try to get involved in all these political and social issues.

GLENN: Right.

ANSON: To fracture your customer base. It's bad.

GLENN: Was that something that you think these business leaders actually believed in? Or were they just saying, hey, it's a new world. And everybody has to do this. Or we're not going to get the money from the banks.

And we're not going to get the funding that we need, et cetera, et cetera.

ANSON: Yeah. I don't think many of these people believed in these programs. But unfortunately, they were foisted by them, by the black rocks. The state streets. And the Vanguards.

They're the single largest shareholders in most of these companies. And then you have this whole ESG industrial complex, built around this.

McKinsey. One of the most influential management consulting companies, had their diversity matters. Diversity wins.

DEI studies, that told companies that they needed to improve their DEI. And, of course, they could hire McKinsey for millions of dollars to figure out how to do that. You had the human rights, which is this activist non-profit organization, that started scoring companies. You know, you talk a lot about the social credit scores. Human rights campaigns are doing to the companies that's shaming them, if they didn't have the right transgender policies in place. If they didn't have the right amount of advertising to the LGBTQ+ community. I mean, there was this whole complex that was built up.

That's why I think you were starting to see a lot of CEOs backtrack on these policies. They had nothing to do with actually creating more value for the shareholders, or actually promoting the business.

It was all about promoting the political agenda. I think most of them didn't want to believe in, but they were most compelled and forced to do over the last couple of years.

GLENN: So the Bud Light, you know, the end of, I think, I agree with you, the end of ESG. At least not -- at least the end of it being the knee-jerk reaction of, no. Of course, we have to have transgender people in every commercial.

The end of that, yeah. I'm reading your book, last night.

And I'm like, okay.

I think maybe -- maybe we've hit the end of this. Maybe this is the beginning of looking back and saying, look how insane all of this was.

Are we on sure footing now, leaving that time period? Or is it still a real lurking danger?

ANSON: No. I think the pendulum is definitely swinging back. You really see businesses dividing in two camps. You have certain companies that have realized, that these policies have failed. And they want to get back to the bottom line. You've seen companies like Meta and Walmart and Tractor Supply Company and a bunch of other people that hold back their programs. But then you have companies that are more in progressive cities. I mean, Costco has doubled down. Costco is based out of Seattle. They're doubling down on their DEI programs.

You have other companies, and I talk about this a lot. But even Anheuser-Busch, which is owned by a Belgium corporation called InBev, that they haven't necessarily publicly backed down. It's just the company that lost the most from this whole movement. And they still haven't publicly backtracked, even though a lot of their American counterparts have. Because, again, they are owned by a European company that promotes more of these -- more of these values. And I think that's where you're starting to see this divide.

And the companies that continue to hold on for to, I think the DEI and ESG philosophies are going to continue to fall behind their American counterparts.

GLENN: So how much of a role did just being out of step, with the Bud Light customer. How much of that played a role before ESG. I mean, if you don't understand the Clydesdales. You don't -- you don't get Budweiser. Would you agree with that?

ANSON: You know, 100 percent, I think there was a dangerous cocktail that was mixing for almost ten years at Anheuser-Busch. And we kind of found this firsthand. So going back, Anheuser-Busch was created by an American family, by the Busch family. It was taken over by a European company called InBev in 2008. And InBev was based in Belgium, and then it was also run by a couple of Brazilian individuals. And they came here to the US. And over 5 years, really dismantled what Anheuser-Busch was.

Even including in the year 2015, they moved the corporate headquarters from St. Louis to Missouri.

And they thought they couldn't have the right talent in -- in -- in St. Louis. They couldn't attract the right people. Even though, St. Louis, Missouri, they had great talent that built this company, essentially the world's largest beer company.

GLENN: Oh, yeah, Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, Missouri. You heard that your life.

ANSON: That's it. So they moved from the epicenter, away from the middle of the country.

Where there's always a saying -- you know, generally placed for American. Peoria, Illinois, is very close to St. Louis. You have all of a microcosm of the US around there.

Which helps you understand the center of the US.

When you move to New York. You hire New York agencies. New York marketing. New York folks. That has really changed.

I think the outlook of the company, combine that with the rise of really ESG and DEI, which really took off, in that 2015 to 2021, 2022 time frame made for a dangerous cocktail, that they just lost who their customer was. And who that core American beer drinker was.

GLENN: I have to tell you, one of the best parts has nothing to do with ESG, of the book. Is moving the company to New York. Because I moved my company out of New York. But at first I left the -- the headquarters in New York. And the company really split. You know, once a founder leaves, things can go awry quickly. And especially if you're in New York, and the founder is in Texas. And we really had some really tough times, because of that. And I -- you know, businesspeople, I hope they -- I hope they recognize the effect. But in your book, it shows, a company like InBev could not. It didn't get that at all.

ANSON: No. They didn't really get it at all. I saw firsthand, the company changing. You read more about this, in the book last call for Bud Light. One of the things I was frustrated with, especially in the 2020, 2021 time frame, after COVID, after George Floyd. And the company which was this meritocracy. That's what I joined. Hey, if you work hard, you get promoted. And one of the key principles of the company was, we promote based off the results you get. And all of a sudden that principle was changed to, we promote based off the diversity of your team.

Then you sort of have diversity dashboards coming in. To see the diversity of your team. On top of that, we couldn't even just get partnerships done. I thought that made tons of sense.

I talk about this in the book a lot. I tried to do a distribution agreement with Black Rifle Coffee Company. And you probably Black Rifle Coffee company, its mission is to serve culture and coffee to firefighters, first responders, police, people who love America.

But that was too controversial of a partnership in 2021 and early 2022.

GLENN: That's crazy!

ANSON: And for me -- for me, it was kind of our external affairs team in New York. They essentially scuddled this deal based off their own political leanings. I said, guys, the same person drinking a six pack of Budweiser at night is the same person drinking six cups of Black Rifle Coffee Company the next morning.

GLENN: Yes.

ANSON: And what do you mean we can't do a distribution deal, where we're putting the same Black Rifle Coffee cans on the Budweiser trucks? This makes sense for everybody.

But that was too controversial of a partnership. And that's where you saw just that center of gravity, when you're looking at America through the lens of Fifth Avenue in New York, versus St. Louis Missouri, where I think you really lose sight of who your customer is.

GLENN: You know, when you talk about how Bud Light sent that can to Dylan Mulvaney, that may surpass. In fact, I think it does, surpass the boob move of, we've reinvented our recipe. Now it's the new Coke!

I mean, just dumb as a box of rocks. You say, I -- you outline clearly how bad it was for Anheuser-Busch, but the average person, I think would think that Bud Light has kind of recovered, and that's kind of past. But that's not true!

ANSON: No, I mean, it really hasn't.

You know, I get into this in the book a lot. About that same organization, that same sort of external affairs team that canceled that Black Rifle Coffee deal. They were the one that green lit the Dylan Mulvaney partnership.

And unlike the Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola, they were in the state. But what do they do? They took accountability for it? Did they apologize for it?

GLENN: Right.

ANSON: They killed new Coke, I don't know, within a couple of months.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

ANSON: One of the big problems. You make bad, bone-headed marketing mistakes regularly in business. The real problem here is, yes, the marketing decision was wrong. But even more importantly, the company's response to it is the reason, Glenn. Like sales are still down 40 percent, 50 percent.

They still lost $40 billion of value, and have not recovered before this. Because the company never took responsibility and accountability, and has not made any changes. The same CEO is still there. They still have not come out. They rolled back publicly DEI policies. They haven't apologized to their loyal customer base. And they haven't been able to admit, and say, we screwed up.

And I think part of it is, is because of this kind of European ownership they have. And, you know, my feeling is that they're not going to actually get their Bud Light customers back, no matter how much money they throw at it. Dana White, the ultimate fighting championship, which I think they gave him $100 million. They have Shane Gillis, they have others. Because the real path to redemption, I mean, goes through forgiveness. You know this. But the only way to be forgiven is actually to admit there was a mistake and there was an area. And they have yet to do that. Until they do that, I don't think a lot of these customers are coming back, no matter what marketing you give folks.

GLENN: So the name of the book is last call for Bud Light. The fall and future of America's favorite beer. I need to take a one-minute break and then come back. And I want to talk to you about what does the future look like, and not necessarily for Budweiser.

I mean, you are -- you cofounded strive asset management with Vivek. A good friend and a really smart guy. Who I think has a really bright future. And so you're looking at these companies and trying to find the right companies that align with the values of their customers.

Tell me, the advice that you give for companies, now that are still kind of in this weird zone. What the future looks like. And what is the path forward?

GLENN: If -- if I could catch hope in a jar and put a lid on it. And give it away, I would. Our nation has been far too short on hope. Especially when will it comes to the economy and our personal ways.

Maybe things are finally starting to get better. Maybe we will have more trouble before it gets better. We have a lot of debt we have to pay.

We made a lot of really bad mistakes. But now that we have good leadership in office, you know, it's going to be a little less worrisome, maybe.

A little more hope.

But you are still in charge of your own personal economy.

Here's the hope I can give you. A sincere recommendation to give American Financing a call. Because they work for you, not the bank. They're salaried employees. When they -- when you call them. They will shoot straight with you. Maybe take ten minutes just to get started. And they are saving the average listener of this program, just around an average of, what? $836 a month.

That's like giving yourself a 10,000-dollar raise. That's a little -- that's a little deposit in the hope bank, isn't it? Start today. You might even be able to delay up to two mortgage payments, which can help get you even further ahead.

Don't take my word for it. I always tell you, and I mean it every time. Do your own homework.
Don't take anybody's word for it. You're smart enough to figure out if it's right for you.

American Financing. 800-906-2440. 800-906-2440, or go to AmericanFinancing.net.
Ten-second station ID.
(music)

GLENN: So what do you see as the current situation, and the path forward in the next three to four years, for American companies and brands?

ANSON: Yeah, so it's funny. I left one year before that Dylan Mulvaney partnership, after they wouldn't let me do the Black Rifle Deal.
I saw the company changing from a diversity standpoint. And Vivek and I, we started a company called Strive Asset management. Which was, we were going to invest everyday citizen dollars into businesses and have them be focused once again on meritocracy. Have them be focused on their mission.

Don't necessarily get involved in a lot of political and social issues, like we saw. I was looking Atlanta, Georgia.

If you remember, Glenn, in 2021, when the governor passed the Georgia rights act. You have to have an ID to vote.

And corporate America lost. BlackRock. One of the companies said, we're pushing back against it. Then they kind of compelled Coca-Cola, Delta to get involved in this pushback. And Major League Baseball cancelled the All-Star Game.

In 2021, in Atlanta, over this Georgia voting rights. You need to have an ID to vote. So we saw a lot of these problems happening. And we came out, and we said we're going to start a new asset manager, compete against BlackRock.

Let's have companies just focus on whatever their mission is. Stay out of politics. That will be good for business, because you will not fracture your customer base, and it will be good for our democracy as well. Because we should have individuals -- are the ones that should be deciding what rules they live by, not these secret national organizations or ESG-promoting asset managers. It's funny.

When we originally launched, this is not even a contrarian position. But this was almost like a subversive position 20 years ago. People called us anti-ESG, anti-DEI, anti-woke. I mean, you name it.

GLENN: Anti-everything.

ANSON: Anti-everything, and I said, guys, we are just pro-American, free market shareholder capitalism. That's what we are pro. We are anti-European stakeholder capitalism. We're anti-the World Economic One. We're anti-the European agendas, yes, we are. But we're very much pro-American. Free market shareholder capitalism.

And there are a lot of people that wouldn't even work with us. Marketing agencies wouldn't work with us. People wouldn't engage with us early on.

And it's so funny now, because now three years later, what was a very contrarian idea has become very mainstream, and the pendulum again has swung back for most of corporate America, who has now -- who has now once again been able to focus on the business.

GLENN: I think this is a book for every businessperson, even just someone who has watched Anheuser-Busch through the years. It's an amazing story, and something that every businessman should read, going forward. Last Call for Bud Light. The fall and future of America's favorite beer. Anson, thank you so much. God bless.

ANSON: Thanks, Glenn.

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

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

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

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

And she said, "It's Cheyenne."

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

She meant, it's Cheyenne on the phone.

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

"What?"

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

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

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

Megyn joins us now. Hi, Megyn.

MEGYN: Hi, Glenn.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Megyn, where do we go from here?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hit exactly the right tone.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For the preservation of our nation.

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

Megyn -- I just -- go ahead.

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

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

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

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

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

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

I've been thinking about this endlessly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIZ: Charlie once said --

GLENN: Go ahead.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The left wants violence. The left wants Civil War.

The left wants to hurt us and kill us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GLENN: Hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STEVE: Uh-huh.

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

STEVE: Yep.

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

And he would help you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Steven, I need apostles, not assassins."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALLIE: Yes, absolutely.

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

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

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

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

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

ALLIE: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALLIE: Yeah.

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

ALLIE: Uh-huh.

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

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

ALLIE: Yes.

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

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

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

GLENN: No.

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

Courage, Faith, and Truth: Glenn Beck's Tribute

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

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