RADIOApril 21, 2022

Economist BREAKS DOWN the Fed’s ‘BOGUS’ plan for inflation

Steve Forbes, Economist & Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media, joins Glenn to break down several economic concepts that may be hard to grasp: What IS inflation, is it calculated correctly, and how did it get SO bad today? Plus, Forbes describes the 'gimmicks' used by today's Federal Reserve that are furthering America's current economic crisis: '[The Fed] wants a slowdown, and they just hope they can avoid a recession. It's bogus thinking.'

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome, Steve Forbes. How are you, sir?

STEVE: Good to be with you, thank you.

GLENN: So I'm really interested in hearing your take on what we are headed for with inflation. So let's --

STEVE: What --

GLENN: Let's start here. Explain what inflation is. You know, some people. You are so used to hearing, we're going to have 2 percent inflation. Oh, that's good. No, it's not. Is it, Steve?

STEVE: No. Just as you don't say, reduce the size of a gallon of gasoline, and that's good for you. No, it isn't. Keep it the same. So inflation. That's why we did this reader friendly book. No jargon. Straightforward.

There are really two kinds of inflation. One is a nonmoney kind. Nonmonetary kind. One you say, you have bad weather. Commodity prices go up. Wheat prices go up. Or you get the kind of shutdowns we have the pandemic, which disrupts the supply chain all over the world. We're still suffering from that. That sends prices up.

And then you have the money kind, where the government reduces the value, in this case, of the dollar by creating too many of them. And we know the government has been spending on a spree. How has that been financed, a large part of it has been the Federal Reserve. Buys those bonds. How does it get the money to buy those bonds? It creates it out of the thin air. The ultimate ATF. Now, unfortunately, Glenn, on the nonmonetary inflation, normally, if you just leave the economy alone, those things will heal themselves. We did it after World War II. And we converted from a wartime economy, to a peacetime economy. Disruption. But we did it. But unfortunately, the Biden administration is putting obstacles in the way. Starting with the role on fossil fuels. A lot of other the crazier things they've done. Seventy-seven executive orders. $200 billion of new regulations. So they're making the problem worse, instead of letting the economy heal. And the Federal Reserve, they've been printing a lot of money. They've been producing gimmicks to try to keep that money from flooding the economy. But that's going to run out. So if they don't get their act together, we're in from a rough time. Let me conclude on this. Unfortunately, this is where we have a real danger now. The fed believes, the way you cure inflation, is not by stopping the printing press. And making the dollar whole again. Making it stable again. They believe you do it by slowing the economy down. Throwing people out of work. And that's what they're up to now.

GLENN: So, Steve, first of all, the -- the idea of inflation, we say it's now at 8.5. That's just because we measure it differently.

If you look at shadow stats that measure it the way we did under Reagan. It's at 17.1. Is that fair to do, or not?

STEVE: Well, this gets to the whole thing of, how do you measure prices? The whole labor department. It has a whole bureau devoted to it. What do you put in the index. One of the crazy things is when people's buying patterns change. Let's say you have meat prices, which they have. So instead of having steak. You might go for cheap hamburger. Well, they don't account that as inflation. They just say, the patterns have changed stop, yes, you can manipulate these things six ways to Sunday. But the bottom line is price are his going up. The cost of living is going up. Part of it is the pandemic, and the Biden administration making things worse. We can cure that, hopefully with a new Congress.

But the Federal Reserve, they have to get over this notion, that when we do work, when we're trying to be prosperous, they got to slow us down. That's really bad stuff.

GLENN: I don't know that anybody really understands the fed balance sheet, and what they've done, and the money that they have loaned out. Trillions of dollars, that they have bailed banks out all around the world.

If you can't -- you know, theory trying to sell off the stuff, they have on their balance sheet. But every time they try that. And/or raise interest rates, the economy stops. And so not sure they're going to be able to do either of those. How do you pull this money back in, to be destroyed?

STEVE: Well, what -- what you do. First of all, which they won't do this part. Is you leave interest rates alone. Let the market set interest rates. Controlling interest rates is like rent control, which as we know, hurts new construction. This is trying to control the price of money.

Affect the price you pay for renting the money, so to speak. So they should just leave that alone, and let the market sort it out very quickly. On your point about what the balance sheet, when you say balance sheet, people's eyes start to glaze. Just think the fed is sitting on a pile of bonds. And too many of them. And so what they should be doing is letting those bonds mature. Not buying new bonds. Let the money supply go down. And if they do that in a responsible way, we'll avoid a huge slow down.

But let me give you something. A gimmick that they've been employing the past year. When they were creating $120 billion a month. Pulling money out of thin air. Let's walk your listeners through on this.

When the Federal Reserve creates money, they call up a dealer, a bond dealer like Goldman Sachs. And say, we want to buy a billion dollars of bonds. So Goldman says, fine. They give the fed the bonds. How does the fed pay for those bonds? They credit Goldman's bank account. Where does that money come from? No place. The fed just says, voila, you have it. And that's how they create the money out of thin air. So they're doing that last year, at a rate of $120 billion a month. To help finance the government's debt. And so what they did, to try to keep it from an even worse inflation, than we've been experiencing. They then create the money. And then borrow it back from the banks, and money market funds, overnight. If you want to get technical, if people want to look at this stuff, they go to (inaudible), they'll find a thing called reverse repurchase agreements. In effect, the fed is pouring money -- pouring a bucket of water at one end of a pool, and then taking it out at the other end of the pool.

Now, that gimmick can't go on forever. You know, a year ago. A little over a year ago, they had zero of these reverse repos. Now they have $1.7 trillion. That's the game they've been playing. Huge damn of money ready to flood the economy. So we are now also by turning the -- taking the money, and saying, oh, no. You're a central bank. Your dollars are no good, to Russia. A lot of countries around the world are going. Jeez, if I get on the wrong side of America, all of a sudden, what I have as gold is no good. That's not safe for me. We are destroying the dollar at the same time we're inflating the dollar. How is this going to end, Steve?

STEVE: Well, ultimately, and this will sound very strange, and you shouldn't say it in polite company. All the -- in a few years, we're going to do again, what we did for the first 180 years of this country's existence. And that is tie the dollar to gold. What it means is that gold for a variety of reasons, keeps its intrinsic value. What it means, it's like a measuring rod. Not perfect. But it keeps the dollar stable in value. If we maintained the growth rates we did for that 180 years. Which was the greatest in human history. And then we went off the gold standard in the early '70s. And since then, the average growth rate for the United States economy, has gone down by at least one-third, from about four and a quarter percent to two and three-quarters. That doesn't sound like that much, but you do that over 50 years. Let me just give you a number.

The average -- the median household income today is about $68,000. If we had maintained our historic rates of growth, which we did for 180 years, through depressions, wars, civil wars, you name it, we would maintain that average name of growth. You know what the median income would be? $110,000.

That's what we've lost over half a century of funny money. It's bad stuff.

GLENN: Can you explain -- you just said that the fed is going to destroy jobs. Or they're -- you know -- how are they doing it?

STEVE: Yes. They have this theory, called the Phillips curve. It's not a baseball pitch. It's named after an economist who said, if you want low unemployment, you have to have higher inflation. If you want lower inflation, you have to have higher unemployment. They believed prosperity causes inflation. They don't realize devaluing the dollar causes inflation. But they can't grasp that. So as a result, you hear this talk about soft landing, what they mean is, can we slow the economy down enough, without going into a full-fledged recession? Usually, their attempts at soft landings is a crash landing. They are trying to slow the economy down. Create unemployment because they think the economy is too prosperous. That's why they think they have this inflation. So they won't say that, explicitly. But you've pressed them on it. Yes, they want a slowdown. And they just hope they can avoid a recession. It's bogus thinking. Experience disapproves it. But if the fed, the Philip's Curve is wholly writ.

GLENN: By the way, we're talking to Steve Forbes. He's got a new book out called Inflation. What it is, why it's bad, and how to fix it.

Steve, when you look at the money printing that we have done, you immediately think of Weimar Republic. I mean, idiots know that, hey. You can't keep doing this for very long. And at huge sums of money. Okay?

Everybody learned that. Weimar Republic. Zimbabwe. Et cetera, et cetera.

STEVE: Venezuela today.

GLENN: Venezuela. So do we know -- or have a guess on -- on how close we are to that?

I mean, is there a possibility we go into hyperinflation?

STEVE: You can't rule anything out with these people. But I think the answer is, no. I think even some people at the fed are realizing, they're on the -- they're in the danger zone. And so they're trying to figure out, they got themselves into this mess. And they were doing this, by the way. Undermining the value of the dollar. Before the covid crisis. This was starting in 2018. So they can't say, oh, we did it because of covid. No, they were doing it before covid. So I think they're trying to figure out now, how do we get ourselves out of it, without getting a disaster? So I think they're going to slow down the money creation. But what they should be doing now, is instead of trying to manipulate interest rates, just let their -- just let the bonds mature. And the size that they hold of those bonds, go down. Nature will take -- nature will take care of it.

Treat the -- keep the dollar stable. And then let the bonds mature. Run off.

And we'll -- we'll get through this. But the other side of the coin, is even if the fed starts to behave itself, then you have a government that is doing everything it can to slow the productive part of the economy. You know, the genius of Ronald Reagan was, when he cured the inflation. At the same time, he cut taxes, deregulation. And that's why we roared in the '80s. After those tax cuts went into effect.

GLENN: We're doing the exact opposite.

STEVE: So we'll have to wait until 2024, to get that done. But with 2022, hopefully with the November elections, at least we can put barriers in the way of the Biden administration, from putting new burdens on the economy. And also start questioning the fed. What in the world are you guys doing? Why do you think prosperity is bad for us?

GLENN: Steve, can I hold you for one minute?

I have about five more minutes, if you have time. Hang on. Sixty seconds, and we're back with Steve Forbes.

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GLENN: Steve, I know this is off the inflation path, a bit. We're talking to Steve Forbes. The book inflation. What it is. Why it's bad. And how to fix it. But I'm really concerned about these ESG programs. You know, going and switching our economy to a stakeholder. Capitalism. Which is just bullcrap. In my opinion.

And -- and -- and the way we are letting BlackRock and others come in and just buy us all up. They're buying in every seven homes, for sale. Going to BlackRock.

STEVE: Well, this -- and the nice -- the good thing about a free economy, free country, and free speech, is when these things start to happen, you can arouse the public. They won't say it publicly. But Coca-Cola, and Delta, really reversed course after they did what they did last year. When they booted the all-star game out of Atlanta. Because they didn't understand what Georgia did with the voting laws. Which are more -- more liberal than they were in New York City.

Hello. And they got burned on that. They got real pushback on that. Disney is getting pushback on it.

So the way -- the way you answer this stuff, is you push back.

And one of the things I think you're going to see happen after the November elections, is looking at ideas on how, if you're a shareholder in a fund, or a group, BPF or something, how can you have a voice on how your share of the shares, so to speak, are voting at these annual meetings? It's complicated. But I think you're going to see a real thinking on that. So it's not just a group of people. You know, decades ago, there was a great business guru called Peter Drucker. And some schools still read his book. Business schools. But he warned of what he called pension fund socialism. He noted the rise of pension funds, owned by the state. And by -- by endowment funds. And he said, they can end up buying the economy. The government doesn't have to do it. They're doing it for them.

So I think you're seeing real pushback, on that. But they get to what you might call, modern socialism. The modern socialists recognize, you don't have to take over a company or an industry. You just have to regulate it, so its survival depends on your whims. And that's what the Biden administration is doing. Practicing modern socialism. And pressuring the BlackRock and others. BlackRock and others, go along. With the pushing that kind of agenda. That has to be resisted. But modern socialism, different from our mind, you have the regulators to do it. You don't have to take them over.

GLENN: Would you -- would you say that we are now doing modern monetary theory in Washington? We have one minute.

STEVE: They're doing a form of it. Modern monetary theory. Is simply modern gash on the old idea of devaluing money, by creating too much of it. You know, in Roman times, they did it by reducing the precious metals in a coin, and putting that tin and junk in it. In modern times, we do it by printing up a lot of paper money. With now ellipses on your handhelds.

And it's the same thing. And what you see unfolding now -- we discuss this in the book, inflation is the old response of government. They scapegoat.

You know, in Roman times they blame Christians. In able times, witches. Now today, we blame company executives, with the same old movie.

GLENN: Okay. Steve Forbes. Thank you. Hold on for just a second. Steve Forbes. His new book is out today. You want to pick it up.

Inflation. What it is. Why it's bad. And how to fix it. More in just a second.

Black Friday spending hits record high, but are we really buying more?

Black Friday broke records as Americans spent over a quarter-trillion dollars, but here's the truth behind the illusion: we’re not buying more, our dollar is simply worth less than ever. From $1 buying 30 Hershey bars in 1913 to barely covering a pack of gummy worms today, the purchasing power collapse is undeniable, and compounding inflation keeps silently stripping wealth from every household. Glenn Beck breaks it all down as he explains why this should be a massive wake-up call...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Did you see that this Black Friday, first quarter of a trillion dollar season. Black Friday. First time ever, quart of a trillion dollars. New highs.

Wow! Okay.

Okay.

Black Friday made up 10 percent total sales for the month of November.

111 billion dollars.

Represents 9.1 percent increase on online sales compared to last year.

They track over a trillion dollars in US retail site visits.

Adobe does.

If this continues, it looks like Christmas will be the first quarter of a trillion dollar season.

That would be a record in the United States. We're still spending!

Of course, you know, it looks like we're buying more. But are we, really? I've got to send this. I've got to send this out. Would you tweet this for me?

The purchasing power of the dollar in 1913. In 1913, you could buy 30 Hershey chocolate bars with 1 dollar. 1929, you could buy ten rolls of toilet paper.

1933, ten bottles of beer. 1944, 20 bottles of Coca-Cola. 1953, ten bags of pretzels.

1964, one movie ticket to a drive-in theater. 1971, you could buy 17 oranges. 1987, with a dollar, you could buy two box of Crayola crayons. 1997, you could buy four grapefruits.

2008, with the same dollar, you could buy two lemons. By 2020, you could buy one McDonald's coffee. And in 2025, you can buy one pack of Great Value gummy worms. I don't know!

I think our dollar has gone down a little bit in worth. This -- this -- this is why gold is so important.

A 20-dollar gold piece in 1913, you could go to the bank, and you could get $20 for it.

Or you can go with $20. Go to the bank, get a 20-dollar gold piece.

Then you can walk in to a good men's clothing store and say, sir, I want your finest suit. And for $20 you could buy the finest suit in the store.

Today, you could walk in with that same gold piece. They wouldn't take it. You would to have cash it in.

You would cash it in, and it would be $4,200.

And you could go into that same men's store, and you could say, I want your finest suit, and for $4,200, you would probably get their finest suit. Gold hasn't changed price! Dollars have dropped in value! What cost you $20, one gold piece, 1 ounce of gold, what cost you $20 in 1913, now cost you $4,200! That's why gold is so important when it comes to inflation. Because the dollar will just keep -- we can buy gummy worms today.

Stu, I don't know how many gummy worms you -- you know, think about how many gummy worms have to be sold for a quarter of a trillion dollars for the quarter. That's a lot of gummy worms.

STU: You say gummy worms.

You keep leaving out that detail that they're Great Value gummy worms.

GLENN: Sorry. Not just any gummy worms.

STU: Right.

GLENN: They're the cheapest.

STU: Would you rather have one pack of Great Value gummy worms, or 33 Hershey bars?

You're on the borderline there. I'm not sure which one you would rather have.

GLENN: I mean. Isn't that incredible?

Thirty Hershey bars. Ten rolls of toilet paper for a dollar! For a dollar!

Ten bottles of beer. You couldn't go in. You could go in with your friends and say, beer for everybody.

I've got two bucks. Think of that.

That's crazy!

STU: And now that we need to get more drunk, we can't even afford the alcohol. It's really sad. What a terrible. Terrible turn of events.

It is amazing. And I think too, we've lost track of that. Because, you know, when inflation rates come down, that is -- you know, a positive, compared to what we were facing a few years ago.

But it is still building on top of those price increases that were locked in. It's not that prices were going down. It's the rate of increases on those prices were going down.

JASON: Right. Why do we accept 2 percent inflation every year? I've heard that my whole life. Oh, the Fed projects 2 percent inflation. That's their target.

STU: Target. Yeah.

GLENN: Why. Why? Would we target our money being worth 2 percent less every year?

That doesn't seem like a good deal.

STU: Yeah. You've always talked about that.

Inertia of money.

And trying to get the dollars flowing.

Which seems to be their motivation on that.

If they were able to hit those numbers. It would probably not be all that damaging.

You would sure have a little bit of money wasting away every year.

Which is not good.

But it wouldn't that be dramatic.

GLENN: Well, we got close. Under Biden it was 9 percent.

STU: Yeah. That was good.

GLENN: Nine.

STU: Then we were like, nine. Six. Four.

Three. We've succeeded! Well, no. Wait. The 9 percent increase, that stayed. And then we built another 3 percent on top of that, and a 6 percent on top of that.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: It keeps going up and up and up. Did you see, by any chance, hopefully you didn't on Thanksgiving weekend. There was a chart tweeted by Amy Klobuchar. Did you see this by any chance?

GLENN: No. I missed the Thanksgiving I should have prayed for Thanksgiving on that. But go ahead.

STU: It was such a -- it was so moronic, that it actually was kind of a holiday gift to all of us.

She tweeted this chart of energy prices skyrocketing.

And she's like, these prices are skyrocketing under President Trump.

I can't believe this happen.

And it is -- it is pretty much a straight-up line.

The issue is, it went back to like 2020. And shows that all of the increases happened under Joe Biden.

GLENN: Jeez.

STU: They just kind of continued to increase.

And it wasn't even a pricing chart. It was how many people are behind on their energy bill.

Which is still skyrocketing. But almost all of this happened during the president that she passionately supported, up until he seemingly keeled over in the middle of a debate.

So, you know, not -- not necessarily the way to go if you're Amy Klobuchar. We kind of accept all of this. We accept the prices going up.

The DARK TRUTH about Maduro and Venezuelan cartels

Venezuela is NOT just a narco state. It’s a TERROR HUB working with Iran, Russia, and China. Glenn Beck's head researcher, Jason Buttrill, joins to explain how he believes this has influenced President Trump's actions in the region.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Jason Buttrill. Welcome. Chief researcher of the program. Also, watches foreign affairs for us. And military tough.

What the hell is happening in Venezuela?

JASON: I think a lot of gamesmanship is happening in Venezuela right now, closing the -- you know, the air traffic control. Even saying -- or even hinting that they will closing that, it's pretty much just saying, that they don't want any of Maduro's people that are going to try to escape out of the country. People that are involved with the cartel. The sons. None of them are going to try to escape. And then eventually come back. So they can start the regime back up again. I don't think there's any way possible. That we're just about to start any kind of land operations inside of Venezuela.

I could be wrong.

I don't think -- it would be very unpopular.

And I think constitutionally, they could pull it off.

I think there's ways they could do that.

But I don't think he's -- he doesn't like to do that kind of thing.

I don't think he's about to start now.

But I think these negotiations are getting a lot more heated. I think they're actually starting to bear fruit, which is why some of the threats are getting a lot more vocal.

And I'm telling you, Glenn, we actually could see Maduro step down, be out of the country, and a new regime there without us having to do much at all, except striking some of these narco boats coming out of the country. It could happen! And it would be amazing.

STU: Okay. So let's start with the narco boats. Because I think that's what the Democrats are now trying to allude to.

These narco boats. They're not narcos. They're not running -- those are just average fishing people. They have nothing to do with it, and this is unconstitutional. And we're shooting them, even when they try to surrender. Do we know if any of those allegations are true?

JASON: Well, I think they're pretty danger sure on the intelligence, on what, who some of these people are, on some of these vessels. You remember back --

GLENN: Why won't they tell us?

JASON: On day one -- I think, that that would actually behoove them to give the full story. The America public is a lot more smart, a lot more educated on what's going on in a lot of these things. They're a lot more prone to research on their own and find out for themselves what's actually happening in Venezuela. We've talked about it a lot with the terrorism sponsorship, that happens there between Hezbollah. A multitude of very scary terrorist individuals have made that kind of their base. Through Iran. Through the entire network.

GLENN: Right.

JASON: I think it makes a whole lot of sense for them, to say, look, this is what is going on. But they decided to go another route.

And I really don't know. I know they are very, very justified in what they're doing with a lot of these votes. And they -- they talked about since day one, when they started designating multiple groups, not only in Venezuela but in Mexico. I think on day one of President Trump's administration.

It designated multiple cartels as terror organizations. And then a couple of more from Venezuela have followed on to that. So what you've basically done is declared any combatants.

GLENN: Okay. I want to get to the terror organizations here in a second. First, let's stick with the drug cartels.

Because that's what he's hanging his hat on.

And I don't think this is about the drug cartels. I really don't.

I think that that might have been the entry point.

Explain who the -- the league of the sons. Or the cartel of the sons.

Explain that. Because -- Cartel of the Suns. You think, you know, S-U-N, sun. It's not. It's S-O-N-S. Correct?

Sons. Sons of, whom?

JASON: No, it's actually the opposite. It's S-U-N. It's Cartel of the Sun.

GLENN: Oh, that's right. That's right. Because of the medallion or the general stars. That's right. That's right.

JASON: It's like a nickname. So they never actually declared themselves, we're the cartel of the suns. That was a nickname because so many people, high level within the military inside of Venezuela were part of this narco terror group, and they were getting kickbacks. It was alleged some of them were giving orders, specifically. All the way down the food chain.

But their generals. I think it's maybe colonel and up. Or maybe general and up.

I think it's general and up. Instead of stars, they have a little sun insignia.

So like three sons. Like a three-star general, so on and so forth. That's why they're given this nickname. Because they were part of this group, and they were part of the military.

Now, the head of that snake was Maduro.

So he gives that orders down to the generals. The generals give their orders down. So that's how they're able to classify the entire government in a sense as part of this cartel.

Part of this entire terror group. And that is where, Glenn, it gets kind of interesting. Where it looks like, constitutionally, what can they pull off.

What can they do as far as military action?

When the head of the snake, who is the head of this cartel allegedly is the one giving these orders, then that really kind of frees them up to do whatever they want.

STU: Right. Because this is -- this cartel is a terror cartel. Explain the island and everything else.

JASON: Yeah, so the cartel is more involved with drugs. But I say that. But, you know, these groups are absolutely in the true sense of the definition, terror organizations, the way they operate.

STU: Right. This is -- this is -- this is where they make their money.

GLENN: Right. And then, but it goes way beyond that, as you're talking about. There's margarita island. An island right off the coast of Venezuela.

Where Iran sends people to be trained there, to be stationed there.

Venezuelans come down from groups like Tren de Aragua and others to train there. Sometimes going from Margarita Island all the way back to Iran, to get more specialized training. Then they come back. Who knows where they go from there? Possibly the United States. Who knows!

They've held meetings. Secret meetings, inside Venezuela, with the top scariest of the scaries. Scariest terrorists to meet with Chavez. And then who knows later, potentially even Maduro.

This is a terror hub. This is also a terror hub, that is -- which I just described is working with Iran.

But also, Russia. Russia sends submarines to -- to guard -- they did this back in 2018. To show support. Military support for Maduro.

China is getting -- is funding a lot of their stuff through oil.

Russia is sending tankers to transport Chinese Venezuelan oil to China.

Glenn, it's all part of the network. And as you're talking about, this goes way beyond. Way beyond anything where you talk about nacro groups coming from Venezuela to the United States.

It is so much more integrated into that. And I agree with you. I think the Trump administration lays it out on the table. Saying, this is what is going on. Congress wouldn't even be able to talk to the Democrats.

They wouldn't even be able to counter any of it. It would be so obvious, they should just do it.

GLENN: I agree. Help me out on the -- on the story that came out this weekend, that said that Russia and China are kind of laying low here.

What does that tell you?

JASON: It tells you a lot for one. Russia has a multitude of problems that they're dealing with. They can't release Glenn's support. They don't have it. They don't even have the military power to complete what they want to complete with Ukraine.

Plus, they're trying to make moves towards this peace agreement.

Putin wants a way out of this war, just as much as Zelinsky does.

Both sides want it. Now the question is, how do they do it? And both make it look to their own people, that they're the ones that won the war. And won the negotiation.

I mean, everything that's been coming out with the Ukrainian peace deal. I see this as just regular negotiations. This is getting leaked.

And you'll see a lot more of this, as it goes on.

The important thing, they're actually working toward it. And China. China as well. They have their own problems.

Most of it trade. They won't screw with trump.

That was very obvious. When they tried to pull out their last minute. We're barring rare earth minerals from everyone else.

Then Trump said, oh, I don't think so. And made them pull back. They don't want to screw with the Trump administration right now.

So they're going very hands off.

To me, it looks like a master class with the Trump administration. They're doing everything it's supposed to do.

And it's all going in the direction, the grand design for where they want this to go.

Which is kind of like a rebirth of the Monroe Doctrine if you really think about it. they've rejected all foreign influence.

The most worst of our adversaries that are out there, that are just embedded in South America.

They are dealing with that.

We haven't been able to say that for how long, Glenn? A long time!

STU: I know. I know.

Okay. So let me go to the -- the next piece. Which is, he's just banned air travel. And said, the skies are off-limits for everybody. You say that's for, to stop anybody from escaping. Maduro was just presented with a, hey. You can get out now while you can.

And Maduro said, I want amnesty for me and my family. For any crimes.

And I want to retain control of the military.

I would imagine that Trump might have said. Might have said, yes to the amnesty thing. But you're not controlling the military after -- no. That doesn't go to you.

Do you think Maduro is close to caving here?

And if so, where does he go?

JASON: Yeah. I think he's very close to caving. He probably will go to Russia or China. One of those two.

He has quite the nest egg.

You can look up all the family members from either Maduro or Chavez. Going on. I mean, they're multi-millionaires, a lot of these kids and spouses and girlfriends.

GLENN: How is that possible? He was a bus driver!
JASON: I know, right!
GLENN: Socialism is neat, kids. Socialism is neat!

JASON: But, yeah. I think -- I think amnesty is probably the top of his list, and I'm sure that that would probably be offered up and given, in some form. Retaining power of the military is not on the table at all. Because what he'll end up doing is, he'll go away for five years.

He'll come back, or he'll pick a successor that will then take control of the Venezuelan military, and they will just rinse and repeat and take back control of the entire country. So that is not going to happen.

But his feet are definitely to the fire right now.

If they're even to the point of negotiating this part of the deal. So that's why I think it's very, very possible that we see something amazing on this front, very, very soon.

GLENN: Oh, that would be great.

Let me -- let me switch topics kind of. To Mark Kelly. I want to play something. Then I want to take a one-minute break.

And come back. As a military guy, what your thoughts are. This is what Mark Kelly. Again, this weekend, encouraging military to defy the orders of the president. Listen to this, cut one.

VOICE: People can tell the difference. Should be able to tell the difference between something that is unlawful. And something that is lawful.

If I was ever given an unlawful order, I would refuse. You know, if you have time, you can certainly go to the judge, advocates, generals, the lawyers, and have a discussion about it. If you don't have time, you just say simply, I'm not going to do that. That's against the law.

VOICE: It puts a lot of burden on the truth.

VOICE: It puts a tremendous amount of burden on officers in the military.

But that is their responsibility.

And they can figure out, you know, a reasonable person can tell something that is legal, and something that is illegal.

GLENN: This is such dangerous territory, and I would love to get your opinion on that in sixty seconds.

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Ten seconds.
(music)
All righty.

So, Jason, if they thought that something was going on, they should just say it. And they have come out and said, they've had reporters ask, well, is this because we've heard rumors. That he ordered people to be killed. Even as they were surrendering. And if that is true, that is against the law. That is not something we do.

We don't do that. But there's no evidence of that. There's just -- it's their word. And I think, you know, again, if that's true, they should say that. And they should present evidence.

But I think what they're doing is saying these things, and putting their soldiers in an impossible situation.

What they're really saying is, you know, we're going to get in, and when we have control of Congress, we're going after all of you. You followed what Donald Trump wants to do? We'll tell you what's legal and what's not legal.

You should define it now.

But this way, they don't have to. They can just use scare tactics. Is that too cynical?

VOICE: No. The United States' soldier does not need your opinion on this, Mr. Kelly. They do not need your opinion on this. They know exactly what a lawful order is.

And there are procedures that they are trained on, on how to go through saying, you know, go through the proper channels to address something like that.

What I see this as being is a political party. In whole, that are experiencing something they're not used to.

They're not used to having extreme partisans and political yes men at the top of the military food chain, people like Lloyd Austin.

They want someone like him back.

They want someone like Mark Milley back.

It's great you're suddenly worried about some of these guys.

Suddenly worried about the military.

Where were you when Mark Milley was calling his counterpart from China. Without orders from the president. Behind his back. Where were you on that?

So what that says to me here, is that you are more concerned about orders, not lawful. But what you can claim are going to be lawful.

And you can have a yes-man there, that will say that they are lawful.

But you do not have that anymore, and it terrifies you. That's what they're concerned about right here.

But the soldier does not need your soldier, marine, airman. They don't need your counsel here on what is lawful or not.

GLENN: So how is this being interpreted by the military?

What's happening? If you were -- you were part of this task force on Venezuela or anywhere in the world. And you heard this.

What would you think?

JASON: Probably a lot of eye rolls. That's how I would interpret this, if I was still in the military.

I don't think this is really bothering too many of them at all.

I think that the fact that some of these rumors as the senators said, if this were true.

They don't even know. They're talking about a hypothetical.

They're throwing out something they can fish around for another impeachment.

It's ridiculous.

It's embarrassing. It's come to this point.

GLENN: Let's say we -- if we had footage. Because we would have footage.

The plane dropped a bomb. And then you had survivors.

And they were going, hey, we're alive. And somebody shot them or killed them. We would have footage of that.

That footage came out. What would you say?

JASON: Well, yeah. If that's what the footage showed. They would definitely look for a lot more investigation. I've been in -- you know, in multiple different military operations.

Where it's never as it appeared, or it looked like on a report, higher up on the food -- you know, up the chain of command.

I would want to know all the details. This would be a huge investigation.

GLENN: Right. It should be.

Because if it was someone saying, shoot them anyway, that's wrong. And that person should go to jail.

JASON: Yeah. Yeah, we've seen no evidence to that at all.

GLENN: None. None. None.

That's the problem. We would be with you, if you would show us the evidence.

And we could do an investigation. We would show that did happen or that didn't happen. We would be with you. But, you know, you're being so irresponsible by saying this. This isn't just to the military and to the military people.

Those statements are going to our enemies in China and Russia and Ukraine and Iran, in Venezuela. They're hearing this too, and using it. And also viewing us as very weak! Not good.

Because the only time that ever happens is right before a revolution, quite honestly.

Uncovering the truth: National Guard ambush in DC

National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe were recently ambushed in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national brought to the US as part of President Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome. What’s the truth about this horrific event? Glenn Beck, who worked with his charity, Mercury One, to properly vet and evacuate many Afghans during the botched withdrawal, explains what almost no one in the government or media will tell you…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So we clearly have a problem with some of the people that have been airlifted into the United States.

And I want to clarify a couple of things.

Because we airlifted people. You did. With your support.

We did it, at Mercury One.

And I want to make sure that you understand what happened there, and where our people, that we airlifted, where they are.

But first, let me say this. What we're seeing experience here is a story that almost no one in Washington wants to say out loud. And it begins with the people. But it -- it begins with the people that are responsible for failure, and that's -- that's our leadership here in America. A failure of honesty, a failure of courage the whole time.

When Kabul fell back in 2021, we rushed in to do what Americans always do, and that's help people out. We run to save. We ran to keep our word, and God bless every soldier and airman and Marine and volunteer who risk everything to rescue the men and women who stood for us, for 20 long years.

But here's the part that nobody prints. We didn't just evacuate our allies. We did. But the United States government evacuated anyone they could grab. In the chaos. Because chaos is the oldest enemy of truth. We opened up floodgates.

Tens of thousands of people, we didn't know. Nobody really vetted. Nobody could verify.

Nobody could fully account for. Even today, we don't know where they are.

That's not xenophobia. That's not fear-mongering. That's the Department of Homeland Security's own inspector saying that. Quote, we don't know who many of these people are. End quote.

This is something that while we're doing it, our vetting is much better than the United States of America.

They're bringing in people they don't know who they are.

Now, think of the weight of the sentence. Came from the inspector general. We don't know who many of these individuals are.

Think about the histories of nations, who forgot the simple duty of understanding who they bring inside the gates.

When that happens, the country is over. Rome did it. The Byzantine empire did it. Europe did it, before the migrant crisis, and now in 2021, we did it as well. And we knew this. We've been talking about it on this program, forever!

Now, inside of our temporary bases, Fort McCoy, Fort Bliss, Quantico, even our own FBI and military police documented things that the media just dusted off.

Eh, don't worry about it. We showed you at the time, sexual assaults that were happening in these temporary bases. Sexual assaults. Domestic abuse. Attempted strangulation. US service women harassed and followed into showers. Did we do anything about it?

These were not rumors. These were not internet stories. They were actual federal charges. Did anybody say anything about them?

Meanwhile, police departments. Virginia, California. Texas. Places with the largest Afghani arrivals began reporting the same exact pattern. Domestic violence, forced marriage concerns. Child protection cases. Cultural classes. And our law enforcement had to deal with them.

And did anybody in the media say anything about it?

No. Why?

You were bigoted if you said anything about it. Here's what happened. Our government took a lot of people from a tribal system.

Patriarchal. War-torn. No skills. No -- imagine going from Afghanistan to Chicago! How do you survive in that? How do you survive in that? Now, that's not the fault of the families. That's the fault of the federal government. A government that through them and us, into a social experiment overnight. Without even thinking about it, talking about it. Accept it.

Some of the people that are paroled into the United States, had ties to the Taliban, ISIS-K, or another, or several other. Terrorist organizations. That's not speculation. That has been confirmed by our own DOD. DHS. And congressional testimony.

We've known this for a very long time.

You know, when the Pentagon warns you, that that person should probably not be in the United States.

I don't know. Maybe we should listen to them. And maybe we should be concerned about a DHS, or a State Department that waves them in anyway. That's not compassion. That's dereliction of duty, period. Period.

Now, add to this, the humanitarian parole system. Meant for rare, urgent cases. It was a revolving door. You -- where are all these refugees from?

I'm not talking about the Afghanis. I'm talking about all the other people that have gone to Europe. That have gone to the United States.

That are swamping countries in the West. Where are they coming from?

Really? There's that big of a -- this is a bigger refugee problem than we've had in World War II. How is that possible. Know

We can't confirm anybody as identity. It doesn't seem that we care. Asylum. Family reunification request. Exploded. Some valid. Some of them unprovable. Some of them just out and out lies, that we knew were lies.

So what happened?

Our cities become strained. Our cities go into disorder. They start stealing from us. Look at Minneapolis.

Here's the biggest strain. The biggest strain on us, is the truth.

Is honesty.

It takes courage to say what actually happened.

But, you know, we're not living in a time of courage. We're living in a time where people saying the truth. You know, you acknowledge reality. And you get labeled.

You notice patterns. Oh, my gosh. You're silenced.

You ask responsible questions, you're accused of bigotry.

Truth doesn't care about the labels. It just sits there.

It just waits for somebody to show up and go, you know. That's the truth. I'm going to have to say it. So let's say it!

Here's the truth: America owes a sacred debt to anybody we promised.

Anybody who was fighting with them, we should protect them. We should honor them. We should welcome them. But that's not what happened. That's not what happened. We didn't perform a moral rescue as a government. We performed a political evacuation.

And I was there, so I know it.

You know, somebody posted kind of a snarky tweet at me, because I spoke at our gala here a couple of weeks ago. And I talked about what the State Department was doing. And I said, you know, it's time to understand how evil the State Department really was during that evacuation. Our people were vetted.

And we didn't bring people into the United States.

We brought people to the UAE. A lot of people went to Australia, a lot of people -- and I said, sat on the tarmac, forever!

Forever!

Because the State Department was shutting town and saying, we can't verify any of these people.

We can verify who these people were.

We knew who these people were.

Most of the people who we brought out, we can show you their baptismal certificate. Because that was part of our vetting. Are you a Christian?

Really? When were you baptized? Who baptized you? What church did you belong to?

Because we knew you were under the gun. Now, if you were like, yeah, I was just baptized three weeks ago. You didn't get on one of our planes, unless the State Department insisted you get on one of our planes. That's what I was saying on this video, that we just reposted. I was saying in the video. Did you know the compromise that they forced to us take.

You want to save these Christians. You have to save these people. You have to put those people on first.

We don't know who those people are. I don't know who those people are.

And those are were the ones that came to America.

We gambled with the future of these Afghani families. Because we just threw them in.

Just throw them in!

They'll be fine!

We threw them into a system not based on reality, of any sort.

We threw them in, without vetting them!

Meanwhile, we would not take the Christians. Hmm. I want you to know, we should not be attacking anybody, except honestly, condemning our government. Because it refuses to tell the truth on what it did and what it failed to do. The mark of a nation that is in decline isn't -- isn't who it lets in.

A mark of the nation in decline is whether it can confess. It can admit to its own mistakes, talk about the truth and the consequences. And today, Congress is whispering. The media is hiding.
Did you read any of the stories?

Hopefully, you didn't. Hopefully you just had a great time on vacation and the holiday.

But I did. My team did. Did you read the stuff from the New York Times?

They still can't admit the truth. They don't even know what the truth is.

I'm still here waiting for the courage of any adult to stand up. A great nation can welcome the stranger. But a dying nation loses the wisdom to ask who this is stranger?

And that -- that -- that gate we passed long ago.

The question is: Do you want to be a dying nation or not? I don't. I don't.

We can't afford to be a dying nation. The world can't afford us to die. So what do we do about it?

Well, the first step is defending your home. And the first step in defending your home is knowing who is inside your home.

And I will show you how we that do quite easily, in a second.

GLENN: Okay.

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, by the way. The largest single day of global generosity in the entire year. We have a goal of Mercury One for hurricanes and all kinds of other things we do. $300,000 to our maximum impact fund.

We would like this to make the biggest giving Tuesday Mercury One has ever had. The Maximum Impact Fund allows to us move before we have the money. I come on, and I say, hey. There's a tornado or whatever.

We need to raise that money. But by the time we can get that money from you into the bank, it's maybe, two, three, four days later. We would like to be there when it actually happens. This gives us the leeway of being able to move quickly.

So if you can -- if you can give, whether it's a dollar, $5. Whatever you can give. Whatever you can give.

It gives us. At a moment's notice. The ability to move during a crisis. 100 percent of it, if you don't count the credit card fees. 100 percent of it goes down range. So it goes right directly to what it is, you're trying to solve and help people. We don't pull anything off of the top. That's tomorrow and today. You can give at MercuryOne.org. MercuryOne.org. Give your tax deductible Tuesday gift, MercuryOne.org.

Okay. So first thing is first.

You've got to draw a line in the sand. And here's the word that every -- shuts every conversation down.

It's a word wielded like a club.

And it's to not illuminate anything. It's to silence.

And here's the word. Islamophobia. You say anything about the rising violence in Europe. The honor killings.

The grooming gangs. The refugees, who are not refugees at all. But sleeper cells.

Examine suddenly, you're a bigot. This isn't about bigotry. This is the first line you have to cross.

This is about civilization.

So let's draw the line between faith and ideology.

Because on Islam is a religion. Practiced by a billion people. It contains families that I've met, I know. Doctors I trust. Soldiers who fight beside Americans. Millions of peaceful, devout people who just want what you and I want, to raise their children in peace. But Islamism, an Islamist is not a Muslim. This is something entirely different.

Islamism is not a religion. It is a totalitarian system that wraps itself inside of the language. The way Mark wraps tyranny with equality. Okay? Hitler wrapped conquest with national destiny.

Islamism is Communism with a crescent moon. Islamism is fascism in a mosque, and it has absolutely zero intent of co-existing with the West. It comes not to blend in, but to rule. And if you doubt me, ask the women in Iran. If you doubt me, ask the socialists that helped the Islamic revolution in the 1970s. Ask me what happened to them! Because all of them lost their heads. Ask the Christians of Nigeria. Ask the families in Paris and Berlin and London, who are now living under police patrols, because their leaders were too afraid to speak plainly.

You know, we love to open our arms. That's fine. America always does that. But you must. When you open your arms, keep your eyes open as well!

A refugee seeking freedom is a blessing. A refugee seeking a

CARLY: Is a Trojan horse. And we have every moral right.

Every moral duty. To know the difference!

It's not about hating anybody.

I don't hate anybody.

I hate those who want to destroy us.

Want to kill my family.

Want to enslave me under some sort of religion.

Yeah. I do hate those people.

But this is about loving civilization that gave the world dignity of the individual, the rights of women.

Yeah, it was. Not -- not a caliphate.
The protection of minorities. Not a caliphate, us. The freedom to speak and worship. Or not worship. If defending those values makes me or you controversial, then, wow. Controversy is a very small price to pay. Don't you think? Because the alternative is, oh, I don't know. What's happening in Europe.

The alternative is silence! And silence in history is always the first sign of collapse. So the first thing we have to do is choose speech!

Choose truth. Choose civilization.

Black Friday used to be a WARNING...

Before the door-buster deals and stampedes, “Black Friday” meant total financial panic (gold crashing, markets collapsing). Then in the 1950s, Philadelphia cops reused the term because the day-after-Thanksgiving chaos felt like the end of civilization. But the real twist? FDR moved Thanksgiving itself in 1939 just to give retailers an extra week of Christmas shopping — dividing the country until Congress finally caved in 1941. So, what started as a sacred day of survival and gratitude got permanently hijacked by Washington and big business.