RADIOJanuary 28, 2025

DeSantis Exposes Shady RINO Agenda to SABOTAGE Trump’s Deportations

Republicans in the Florida legislature are pushing back against Governor Ron DeSantis’ plan to support President Trump’s mass deportation plan. Instead, they’ve proposed the “TRUMP Act,” which DeSantis says is very misleadingly named: “They thought if they came in, gutted the enforcement of doing what we need to do, and just named it the “TRUMP Act,” that somehow, they would be able to get away with that.” Gov. DeSantis joins Glenn to argue that “RINOs” are trying to give immigration enforcement power to the Commissioner of Agriculture, who will do the bidding of companies that want to use illegal immigrants for cheap farm labor: “That’s like the fox guarding the henhouse! They don’t want to enforce it. Are you kidding me?! … I don’t want to house the illegals. I want to DEPORT the illegals.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: The first 100 days of the Trump administration have been breathtaking. A lot like the early days of Ron DeSantis in Florida.

And what he's doing in Florida, is trying to get the state to do everything they can to make sure, that Trump's policies are going through, especially on illegals.

There is a house with these unbelievable RINOs, that in a special session, they must want to come back.

Because they said, it's not an emergency. What are you talking about?

Ron DeSantis called for a special session, because he said, the president was just put in office. I want all of the tools on the table. To help him solve this problem.

The RINOs said no, and then they started to change everything that he wanted, and then have the balls to name it the Trump Act.

Really? The Trump Act. And Ron DeSantis, governor is with us now to tell us a little bit about the Trump Act.

Welcome to the program, Governor. How are you?

RON: I'm doing good.

A week ago, we were preparing for a historic snow storm, and our state record had been four inches.

We actually hit last week, 10 inches of snow in Northwest Florida. In Milton. You saw the beaches covered in snow. So it's kind of an interesting period for Florida. Where is the global warming when you need it, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Okay. So tell me about -- because what I've seen, what -- just what's happening with Wilton Simpson is an abomination. Tell me what --

RON: Yeah.

GLENN: Tell me who you're fighting. And what you're fighting against and for.

RON: Well, you hit it on the head. They didn't want it to do anything, on illegal immigration.

And after the election, I said, this is our chance. This is the number one issue, the president ran on.

And we need to get it right. And on there's no way, President Trump can fulfill his mandate, if the state and local governments and law enforcement are not actively supporting his deportation efforts. I mean, think about it. He's coming out of the gate strong. But they've done about probably 700, 800 arrests on average a day. Which is saying, well, let's just say a thousand.

Well, extrapolate that out. 365 days a year, times four.

Biden let in 10 million illegals on his own. Now, I do think the Trump administration will ramp up.

I think they will get better numbers as times goes on.

If you just had every red state. Saying all police departments. All red departments.

Have to participate maximally in the programs that the Trump administration is offering for immigration enforcement. You would increase those numbers dramatically, and that is what we have to do.

We have to be ready to go.

We have to work hand-in-glove.

Now, what you'll have in California and be in Chicago.

They will be trying to sabotage Trump's agenda. There will be sanctuary jurisdictions. Now, we don't allow that in Florida. But I think most states who are not sanctuary. They will just say, hey, it's the federal government's responsibility.

Yeah. We won't sabotage it. We won't be in that fight.

I don't think that's adequate. This is a historic moment for this country.

We've been talking about this issue for decades. Yes. Trump is absolutely right for going after the cartels. And designating them foreign terrorist organizations.

Obviously, we need to build the wall. And fortify the border.

But you have this massive problem of interior enforcement. And so that's what we're proposing, as well as other things that were important.

Legislature didn't want to do. I called a special session against their wishes. They said it was premature that they could wait. They got blowback from their constituents.

They thought, if they came in. Butted the enforcement of doing what we need to do.

And just name it the Trump act nap somehow, they would be able to get away with that. Obama named Obamacare, the affordable care act. Obviously, it wasn't affordable.

Biden named his spending boondoggle the Inflation Reduction Act. Obviously, that didn't work out.

So they're playing this game, where if they think, if they put Trump's name on a weak bill, that somehow people think it will be good.

And it's totally inadequate.

Here's the thing, Glenn. Before I became governor, Florida was very weak on immigration.

Part of it was they thought, that the Hispanic population. I proved that wrong, because I was the strongest governor, and I had a record Hispanic vote in 2022.

So that was wrong. But then you do have this desire for cheap, illegal alien labor in some of these industries. And I think that's what these guys are trying to preserve. I don't think they want to see immigration enforcement, the way you would need to, to fulfill President Trump's mandate. They made it sound like it's initially a difference of opinion on timing. But understand, what they're proposing, it's a difference of values.

The values that we all ran on, that Donald Trump got elected on. That all your listeners subscribed to.

Those are reflected in the proposals that I did. They are not reflected in what the Florida legislative leaders are doing.

And you mentioned the commissioner of agriculture. They're actually taking away immigration enforcement authority from the governor, and putting it in the commissioner of agriculture.

GLENN: Which is --

RON: That's like the fox voting the henhouse. Are you kidding me?

GLENN: It's crazy.

RON: Even stripping some of the stuff I have now, like E-Verify. They want to put it over there.

It's a really, really bad product.

Here's the thing. I think some of them are caught up.

We don't want the governor getting the win.

We're sick of him doing all this stuff.

I don't need pride of ownership stuff.

They can take 100 percent of the credit.

I just want to get the job done.

If they're not doing what they need to do, to get rid of this.

There will be some successes, don't get me wrong.

But we won't be able to deliver on the man date that people gave us.

Just the final point I'll make. Republicans all ran, for four years in Florida. On bashing Biden's border policy.

Saying we needed to get tough.

Supporting Trump's agenda in 2024.

They all ran on that. Not one Republican ran and said, you know what, we just need to give it all to the commissioner of agriculture. You know, state and local shouldn't be -- shouldn't be required to help the federal government.

They wouldn't do any of that!

And now they're bragging about, they're going to spend money on giving beds for illegals. I don't want to host illegals, I want to deport illegals.

GLENN: It is remarkable to me!

First of all, Wilton Simpson. He wants to be governor. When you're not governor, he is going to run in the next cycle.

He's compromised. He is the guy who supported giving in-state intuition to illegal aliens.

He gave the cutout to e-Verify, so agriculture didn't to have worry about it. Refused to provide law enforcement resources during the original border crisis.

This guy is -- is not a helper when it comes to doing the things that Americans have just said, they want to be done.

Who is -- who is also -- I mean, I'm just looking up you've got the Senate president. Ben Albritton. House Speaker, Daniel Perez.

They seem to be in the same boat, as Wilton Simpson. Who needs the pressure?

RON: Well, look, I think just all the legislators. They just need to hear from their constituents. And they're getting upset they can't be somehow, they're getting threatened.

Some of their constituents are telling them, that's not right.

They need to be held accountable for their actions. And what they did, what they're doing is consistent what they told the voters they're doing. They're not going to have any problem, right?

Glenn, I've been doing this for six years.

I've never seen our base react more negatively on an issue, than what the legislature is trying to pull right now. It is like 99 to one. In terms of opposition.

So I think sunlight is the it best disinfectant. People just have to make their voice heard.

We shouldn't let this slip through our fingertips. I think some of it is some inside baseball up there.

You know, Will Simpson was the Senate president.

A lot of the stuff -- tough immigration policies we did two years ago, I wasn't able to get through when he was Senate president.

Because he did block it. And he did support things like driver's licenses for illegals. When he was in the Florida Senate.

He really exercises a lot of influence over the Florida Senate.

So the fact that he was put into that bill, I don't think that that was an accident.

I think that was definitely something that they were trying to do. And does it even pass the last test.

That no state has been more active in fighting illegal immigration, over Biden's term than me. Than Florida and me.

We've had people at the border.

Martha's vineyard and other transport. We enacted mandatory E-Verify.

We did all these things. And then you want to take all these things away, and give it to the ag commissioner, and create some new, crazy bureaucracy.

GLENN: That they don't even have the infrastructure for in the first place. They would have to be rebuilt in the ag department. Am I right about that, or wrong?

RON: Exactly. And the way the bill is written, we think it's unconstitutional.

Because it actually takes away some of the core executive power, that is vested in the governor's office, under Florida's Constitution.

So it's constitutionally suspect. It's also, as a policy matter, it is not going to work.

And here's the thing: If their proposals were consistent with what they campaigned on. What actually worked.

And they had competing.

Hey. If it works, it works.

Their proposals will not work.

Think of even this issue.

It needs to be a crime for illegals to Trojan vote. We've been trying to do this for years.

That was in my proposals.

They're not including that. So illegals can register in Florida, under their proposals. And they're not requiring to sign an affidavit, that they're a US citizen.

Which our Constitution requires. And there's no penalty. Well, guess what, Glenn.

If you let them register. By the time they vote, even if you prosecutor them after the fact, the vote counts.

The time to stop it, is when they try to register in the first place.

And yet they're not doing anything about that.

We have, in our proposals, a rebuttable resumption that illegals that get brought up on criminal charges are detained and then turned over to ICE!

They watered that down so that judges are just going to release these guys back on the streets.

So it's a lack of seriousness about what it really takes to get this issue right. And I can tell you this.

When they propose their so-called Trump act, misnamed Trump Act, Democrats in the Florida Senate were high-fiving them.

Liberal media in Florida, have been singing their praises. The ACLU of Florida tweeted, thank you for what you're doing.

I can tell you this, Glenn. When we banned sanctuary cities. Democrats were not high-fiving anyone.

GLENN: Oh, yeah. Correct.

RON: When we eliminated DEI a couple years ago. No Democrats were high-fiving anyone. When we eliminated the woke.

When we did the stop the gender insanity. When we do all these things.

That Florida became famous for. No Democrats were high-fiving. No media was singing our praises.

The ACLU was not in our corner. If this was really a tough immigration proposal.

Then why were these people on the left embracing it?

GLENN: I have to tell you, Ron. This is the one went that has stopped me from moving to Florida. I promised my wife that some day we would live on the water. And the only option for me, really is Florida. Because it's a free state and it's a great state and you're the governor.

But I worry about you, when you leave, what are these stupid Republicans going to do.

And honestly, I just -- they -- if we don't get all of these weasels out, and get the people in that actually believe in what we're trying to do.

The state is going to go back to the same wishy-washy garbage. That makes it a garbage state as it always has.

You guys have led the way. And it's the reason why you're leading the United States right now!

Because you're doing what the people are asking for.

These guys who don't get it, man. They should be on notice.

I, like you, have never seen the Republican voters, as awake as they are right now.

They know what they want. They see what's happening in Washington.

They see what's happening in Florida. And if you are a voter in Florida, you need to get on the phone!

Because your state is going to go to trash, the minute this guy leaves. If you don't have people that understand what -- and -- and believe and will execute.

What you want to happen. You need to get on the phone, right now. And call your Florida representative.

By the way, we have Sheriff Wayne Ivey on with us, Governor, in just a few minutes.

I think he will got to be telling the story about what he's actually looking for. Isn't he?

RON: Yeah. Look, people like Wayne. They want to solve the problem. So they want to participate in these federal programs. Not everyone wants to do that. Which is why we have to make it an expectation that all police departments and sheriff's departments want to do it.

Just think about. Yes. We focus on criminal aliens. And that's important. I want to get these guys before they commit crimes.

I want to make sure our schools aren't overrun illegals. I want to make sure our health care system isn't overrun.

I want to make sure that illegals aren't getting into accidents. And you have insurance. And you're out of luck.

So there's so many ways that this problem impacts our society.

And unless we get it right on enforcement right now, under Donald Trump's leadership, we're never going to solve this problem.

And the quality of life is going to increase dramatically. And look, you talked about Florida. What's going to happen. I can tell you this.

I came in. I was bold. They told me, that was a mistake. Because it was a 50/50 state. We were bold. We delivered results. There was a sharp contrast between us and the left.

And we've had more political success in Florida, than Republicans have ever had. When you water down. When you do the corporatism, when you're not standing for working people, but you're worried about things like cheap labor. When you do that, you will lose political support. That's the lifeline.

I think the reasons the Democrats were high-fiving. Is because they see the leaders -- they're giving them a lifeline to regain relevance in Florida.

They're giving them a pathway, where they can return to power, in the future.

We have beat the left. We weren't trying to high five them.

We've beat them on issue after issue. That's why they've been rendered irrelevant.

And the formula is very clear. And even look at the national election. Donald Trump was bold. And he was rewarded.

GLENN: I have got to run. But so great to talk to you. Keep up the good fight.

Governor Ron DeSantis.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.