RADIOFebruary 25, 2025

SPOILER ALERT: De Niro’s “Zero Day” is Actually CONSERVATIVE?!

Many on the right were anticipating Robert De Niro’s new Netflix series, “Zero Day,” to be woke garbage, especially since De Niro has an extreme case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. But Glenn watched the show and came to a shocking conclusion: The show’s message is surprisingly … conservative? Glenn breaks down the series and why he believes that De Niro’s character in “Zero Day” and Donald Trump share the same villains and solution. So, where’s the divide?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I watched -- and so you know, I watched this, so you didn't have to.

The new -- oh. He was -- he was raging bull. Robert De Niro. I watched the new Robert De Niro series. It was like six episodes. And he plays a former president.

And, you know, it's zero day. And all of the, you know, lights and communications and everything go out for a minute.

And killed all these people. And airplanes crashed out of the sky. And what happened?

And he's got a commission now from the new president to be. Because he's the most trusted guy in the world.

He's so credible. And he's got to figure out -- will he figure out in time?

And so I watched this thing. Because I really want to understand, Robert De Niro. I think the guy has lost it.

Wouldn't you agree? I mean, I think the guy has really, truly gone over the edge on his Trump Derangement Syndrome, you know.

STU: Yeah, definitely on that front.

He's a great actor, but he's never been right on politics. He does seem to have gone to a new level.

GLENN: Just a new level on this stuff.

And I would really like to understand. And so I saw this, and I thought, oh, I have to watch this, because nobody in the audience will. Because it's Robert De Niro.

But I'll watch it, because you want to understand I figured, this was a message film. And it is. It is.

STU: It is. Shocking.

GLENN: Yeah. I know.

And so I wanted to know what the message was. And I get to the end of it. And he gives this long speech. And, yes, I am going to spoil the ending.

Because you will not watch it.

STU: This is good. This is encouraging. You're giving a spoiler alert.

Before you say the ending of the movie, and ruin it for everyone.

You actually tell everyone, this is how you are supposed to do it.

The Hall of Fame is kicking in.

GLENN: You're right. And so you're watching this movie. And at first, he's given this commission, which they suspended the Constitution. Okay?

For this committee. Habeas corpus. He can scoop up anyone he wants. He can question them without lawyers. Use enhanced interrogation. Whatever he wants.

He's put on the committee as the head of it. Because he would never do those things. Then he does all of those things. He puts a plastic bag over somebody's head as he's questioning them, and he's supposedly the good guy here.

And I'm like, okay. Bob, I don't know what the narrative is on this one.

Unless I'm supposed to hate your character. Because I don't agree with that.

And he eventually comes to the conclusion, hey. Maybe we shouldn't have done -- good for you. Good for you.

But at the end, he gives this speech. He finds out who was responsible for it. And it was surprise, surprise, big tech.

But big tech in cahoots with big money, and people on both sides of the aisle, in Washington, DC. That just think that there has to be a unifying moment. To stop all these crazies, at the fringes.

And it's these -- you know, big kind of Deep State people.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: That think that they should control everything. And if they could just get this to wake people up. Then they could pass this bill, that gives them extraordinary powers. And then they can fix the country.

And I'm thinking to myself, okay.

I think Bob, that we agree on the bad guy here. Because that's what's happening.

People on both sides of the aisle, have gone into this Deep State thing. They think they know better that be the average person. They know better that night Constitution. Am I right on this so far?

Right? Isn't that what's happening? Isn't that what we're against?

STU: Right!

GLENN: Right. And then he starts -- he's being told, look, don't. You're going to expose this. It's only going to cause more problems.

Just let these people resign and go away. And at first, he says, okay. And I thought, that can't be the ending here. Because that can't be the ending.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And in the end, again, I'm going to wreck it. But you don't want to watch a Robert De Niro movie. Or series. My God. It took me six hours to go through this thing. My wife was away. So it was me and the dog. And Bob De Niro.

So I'm watching this thing. And at the end, he says, no. You know what will he'll us, is transparency.

And knowing who the bad guys are, and the good guys. And so here are the bad guys.

And he's standing in the joint session of Congress, and he says, the guy behind the Speaker of the House. He's one of the bad guys. And he everybody goes, whoa! And people on this side of the aisle, and that side of the aisle.

And he starts naming names. And I'm like, Bob! I don't know why you're crazy. I really don't know what you're so upset about because that's -- if that's what the left feels like, that's what the right feels like too! You know, that's kind of like where we're, hey. Kash Patel, go in!

Release the secrets. Stop the -- give us transparency. Radical transparency. It's the only thing that's going to heal us.

STU: It's interesting. I mean, I think part of it is everyone wants to see themselves as Jimmy Stewart.

The reason why that movie connected with so many people. Everyone has that vibe, right?

Everyone thinks that who they are. It's like when we say all the time. How can you think that going against the machine means going against the Republicans who were completely out of power? Going back a couple of years.

Of course, what do you mean? When you're going against the machine.

You should be standing up against the machine!

Who was in Washington. And they're mainly all Democrats. I don't understand how you don't see that. They never do. Because no one wants to see themselves as working with the machine.

GLENN: But I think it's more than that.

STU: I do too.

GLENN: I think blindness because of their hatred of Donald Trump. And look, you could say, Donald Trump is going to turn into a dictator.

Well, maybe. I don't have your crystal ball. All right? Maybe. I don't think so.

STU: I hope not.

GLENN: I don't think so. He says a lot of things. It's Donald Trump, that you should not take seriously. But you -- you want to understand that he means direction. Right?

Isn't that the seriously --

STU: Literally.

GLENN: You don't want to take it literally.

You want to take it seriously. Got it?

So he says a lot of things. No. He's not going to go in and shut down the press.

However, will he go out and expose everything?

Yeah. And, yeah. Does he like the right?

No!

No!

Did you see him speak at CPAC?

He was like, we're not really conservative.

We're common sense.

That kind of bothered me. Because, no. I'm a conservative.

It means conserving the things that our Founders put together. Then I'm a conservative. But I don't know how he defines it, in that moment.

But I would -- I would consider that common sense as well. But I don't understand, how can people like Robert De Niro have all this hatred, when he's exposing all of this corruption?

Now, you can say, that's not enough to balance the budget. And you're right.

It's not!

But it's a good start. How -- how you could say, look, if people were doing things, that they weren't supposed to be doing, and funneling money, without the -- you know -- and is going to NGOs, to a political organization. Like the Tides Foundation.

I think those people should go to jail.

And I would say that if they were, you know, funneling that money to some Republican Tides Foundation.

STU: Yeah. I think a lot of it. You mentioned the Trump derangement syndrome.

I think a lot of this comes to, the opposition to Trump is essentially the main part of their identity at this point. Like, it's been -- it's been --

GLENN: It's who they are.

STU: Yeah. It's who they are. There's that book Atomic Habits. That is a big best-seller. And one of the things that it talks about in there, to not think about -- if you want to do something, you want to go and run a marathon one day. You have to go out there, and you have to take those first steps. You have to run a couple of times. You will probably feel bad the first time you run out there.

But one of the ways he talks about, thinking about it, is not thinking about it as I need to go out and run. I need to go out and run.

You have to think about it as, I'm a runner. And it becomes part of -- for example, your level of self-control, Sara, would you say minimal for Glenn. Would you say -- would you say it's impressive, in any way? No. Right? It's pathetic.

GLENN: It might have been this weekend, when my wife was gone. Might have been.

STU: We know that if we went to your home right now. There would be piles of Hostess wrappers around your television set.

GLENN: Well, no, she came back late last night, so those are all in the garage.

STU: Right. But however, there's one thing I know, you never, ever screw up on. Which is taking a drink.

I'm serious. You are a recovering alcoholic. It's how you describe yourself. It is your identity.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: It is part of it.

GLENN: No. It's part of it.

STU: It's part of your identity.

GLENN: The control against it.

STU: It is part --

GLENN: The disease does not define me.

STU: I'm not saying all of your identity. When it comes to alcohol consumption.

You don't get up every day and say, eh. I won't have a drink today.

You are a recovering alcoholic. You know you won't drink, and you don't let that enter into your mind, that there's any other option, except when I bring out a bottle and tempt you.

But other than that, generally speaking.

GLENN: And I'm for that. I'm for more of that. I love the smell of whiskey. It's a problem. It's a problem. You're making me want a drink.

STU: My point here is, you have that rule, it's not just some rule. Like, oh, when you used to say, I won't drink until 5 o'clock. That's a little rule you made for yourself.

GLENN: Correct.

STU: Now you never drink, you're a recovering alcoholic. It's something you're sober. You have been sober for this amount of time.

GLENN: I'm going to drink. If you don't get this back to Trump Derangement Syndrome.

STU: The point is, for a lot of these celebrities, opposition to Trump is the same as you're a recovering alcoholic. They just see it as a central part of their identity.

And if they are proven wrong, it not only overturns some point they made on television.

It overturns their identity when it comes to politics.

GLENN: Yeah. Because they don't -- they haven't allowed for any other option.

They haven't allowed for --

STU: Right.

GLENN: Look, I hated -- I mean, I didn't mind the Republican Party.

I thought the Republicans in this whole, you know, let's go march off to war and save the world, 30 years ago, I was all for that.

I was like, yeah, that's because we're right.

You got to leave an option, you know, a door open to new information, going, you know, I think I have to take the exit here.

STU: Yeah. Understand your fallibility.

We've made thousands of points about Donald Trump.

Some of them I think were really, really right. Some of them were wrong.

And we talked about those that were wrong. It's important to be able to allow yourself to understand, sometimes you're not right on something.

And it shouldn't be something that you possess and hold to your heart, like it's your religion.

That's where they are. Well, God is real. And if he's not, then my whole life dissolves. That's where they are with Trump. Trump is evil. Trump is Hitler. And if he's not Hitler, I -- my entire life has been a waste. That's how they think about it. And I don't think they can come out and understand --

GLENN: I really -- I saw that movie. And I thought, you know, I would have to hit them with a tranquilizer dart first, but I would love to sit down and talk to him.

Because I'm like, I don't understand what you have a problem with. Because I'm for all of those things that you have in the movie. I'm for all of those things, that I think you were trying to preach as your message. I don't get it, Bob. I mean --

STU: He would have a really dumb response too.

GLENN: Yeah. It's not worth having that conversation. Because it wouldn't be an honest one.

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.