RADIOJanuary 28, 2025

Colombia Quickly Realizes Trump is NOT MESSING AROUND With Deportation

President Donald Trump sent a clear message over the weekend: There’s a new sheriff in town and you don’t want to mess with us! Glenn reviews what happened when Colombia’s president refused to let US planes carrying deported illegal immigrants land. Long story short, he quickly changed his mind after Trump threatened massive tariffs. Glenn explains multiple reasons why this matters, including that it shows Trump is serious about “America First.” Plus, Glenn reviews some other big Trump moves, including his comments on ending FEMA and big changes to USAID and foreign aid reviews.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: This is J.D. Vance, I believe. Cut four.

VOICE: Well, this is a country founded by immigrants. This is a country -- this is a very unique country. And it was found by some immigrants and some settlers. But just because we were founded by some immigrants, doesn't mean that 240 years later, that we have to have the dumbest immigration policy in the world.

GLENN: So they're just going for it. Just going for it. No more catch and release. No more waiving of migrants across the border without proper vetting. It's all over. Proper vetting, by the way, here's J.D. Vance again. Cut three.

VOICE: When you talked to us in August, you said, I don't think we should abandon anybody who has been properly vetted and helped us.

Do you stand by that?

VOICE: I don't agree all these immigrants or all these refugees have been properly vetted.

In fact, we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks on our country.

That happened during the campaign if you remember. So clearly not the all these --

VOICE: There were 30,000 people in the pipeline, Afghan refugees. Do you stand by it?

VOICE: As the vice president, Margaret, is to look after the American people. And now that he we know we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country.

VOICE: These people are vetted. These people are vetted.

GLENN: This is so ridiculous.
VOICE: Just like that guy who planned a terrorist attack in Oklahoma a few months ago. He was allegedly properly vetted, and many people in the media and the Democratic Party said he was properly vetted. Clearly, he wasn't.

VOICE: Yeah.

VOICE: I don't want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted. And because I don't want it for my kids, I won't force any other American citizen's kids to do it either.

VOICE: No, and that was a particular case. It wasn't clear if he was radicalized when he got here. Or --

VOICE: I don't really care, Margaret. I don't want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me.

GLENN: I so love the fact that the media still just cannot get their arms around common sense.

STU: This guy will stop getting booked. He will stop getting interviews. They're going to stop asking him. He's winning too much. They're not even going to allow this to occur.

GLENN: Yeah. Okay. So last week, President Trump made it clear males are males. Females are females. The two shall never meet in school bathrooms and athletics, and areas where sexes are sensibly separated for the safety and privacy of women.

He also pulled out -- America out of the China-fawning Communist-enabling World Health Organization, yanked America from the Paris Climate Agreement.

He designated cartels and terror groups as terrorist groups. I have to tell you, the cartel thing, you watch. They're just going to start disappearing. They're just going to start disappearing.

What happened, what happened to Geraldo?

Hmm. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what happened.

STU: Geraldo. It's not the Geraldo?

GLENN: Yeah, it is. That's who I was thinking. I think he's a drug cartel member.

I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

Anyway, he also called on his Treasury and Commerce chiefs to root out all unfair trade practices and recommend America first policies. And to take their places. He started the External Revenue Service to take money from foreign sources.

He banned government officials from using social media as a tool of censorship and propaganda.

He got rid of all of the climate change mandates and the electrical vehicle thing.

It was a snowstorm of Biblical proportions yesterday. Or last week.

And he sent the clear message: New sheriff in town. I don't think you're going to want to screw with us.

Then he went to North Carolina, who is still suffering. And he told them, you know what, I think I will get rid of FEMA.

STU: Woo.

GLENN: So then he went to California. And, oh, wasn't that satisfying?

So let me get into what happened, just over the weekend. First story, probably the most important story.

I don't know. You might have been watching football like I was, yesterday. And Stu was.

But there was something really important going on all day yesterday, with Columbia.

And I have to tell you, this was incredible. To have a president, who is like, I don't care. I don't care.

I don't care what you say. You're Columbia. We're the United States of America. You're taking your -- your illegals back.

So here's what happened: We start to deport, and we let Columbia know, that two aircraft are coming their way with their citizens who were in jail.

And we're flying them back. So these are the prisoners that they let out. And shipped them to the United States. We're shipping them back. Halfway there, the president of Columbia says, no. Close the airspace to those planes. They're not coming in. We're not taking those people back.

So President Trump, who is on the golf course. Hears that. And says, oh!

Okay.

Well, turn the planes around. And bring them back. But just tell the president of Columbia, I'm going to put -- I think he said a 25 percent tax to everything they sell to the United States.

And so the Columbian president said, okay. Okay. Okay.

I tell you what, when they get down to the ground, I'll send my presidential aircraft to go pick them up.

Okay? But then, after that, a couple hours passed, and he's like, yeah. You know what, they are being bullies. We've got a lot of leverage here.

And he said, so, we will pick them up. But we're not going to let you do anything with your military around Columbia. And Donald Trump said, perfect. Okay.

We're cutting your foreign aid. We're stop -- we're closing our embassy. We're stopping everything in Columbia.

It was -- I don't know. Maybe 20 minutes went by. And he was tweeting. Just reached a deal with the United States. We're good. We are good!

STU: I believe his exact quote was, thank you, sir. May I have another? It was unbelievable.

GLENN: That is exactly. Exactly.

Okay. So this matters for a lot of reasons.

One, it's showing, the United States is going to do what is best for the United States.

If you sent people here, you're taking your people back. Because they're not our people. And we're not dealing with it. You sent them!

We told you, take them back.

You won't?

Well, then the United States is going to exercise its powers.

It is good for Americans. Good for national security.

But this not only affects the US and Columbia, this -- he puts a couple of these things on his belt, and nobody is going to screw with us.

Do you see, he is playing -- he's playing five-dimensional chess with Putin right now. He is moving things around, and pushing -- I mean, he is in full-fledged negotiation with Putin to get the war stopped. But he also wants a renewed nuclear treaty with Russia.

He's freaked by our nukes. And he told me, at one point. He said, Glenn. Well, he said this also with Elon Musk. On -- on Musk X broadcast. He said, I'm freaked by nuclear. I rebuilt this.

I know what it can do. We don't want ever to open any of this stuff up.

And so what he's doing is he's trying to end the war. But he's also pushing Putin and kind of kicking at him, because he's actually going for a bigger deal. This guy is -- I mean, he's really learned a lot in the last four years.

Now, this is also going to help our jobs here, in America. And, you know, I want to look at everything he does, and say, is he -- is he following conservative values, or are we going into -- what was it, that the New York Times said? Signs of --

STU: Yeah. This is funny. This is the AI summary of the New York Times coverage over the past like 24 hours. And it says, let me see if I can pull it up. Here it is. Trump return to power. Early signs of tyranny. Kansas City will play Philadelphia in Super Bowl. That's what they've been covering lately.

GLENN: Signs of tyranny.

STU: Signs of tyranny. Just throw it out there.

GLENN: So I want to know, are these signs of tyranny? Or is he following our principles as conservatives?

First, a nation without laws or borders, isn't a nation.

The answer is no!

If we don't equally apply our laws, to everyone, can there be equality?

Can there be equal justice under the law?
The answer is no! He's also protecting American workers by taking the unfair competition out.

I mean, I don't know if you've seen some of these places, where nobody is showing up for work now.

There was this huge construction site, like eight workers showed up. Everybody else wasn't there. I mean, they couldn't do anything. They couldn't build everything. Because they had eight Americans. The rest of them are illegals. Well, now America, go take those jobs back.

Demand the right salary from those people.

The next thing he did was America-first foreign aid. He just released a memo that instructs the US agency for international development. This is absolutely a CIA front. USAID, to prioritize America first in foreign aid reviews. Now, this is a very big deal.

Because USA ID has been a CIA and, honestly, Marxist kind of operation. They've taken your tax dollars.

And they've done all kinds of horrible things with them.

And they have given them to our enemies. And they still have been giving it to our enemies, and they're bribes.

That's all this is.

You do not garner love and respect from people you are bribing. And that's what our State Department and USA ID think they're doing.

Is, well, we've got to give them this money, or they won't like us. Well, I don't want them to like us because we give them money. That's the worst kind of relationship.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.