RADIOFebruary 24, 2025

Elon Musk’s AI “Singularity” WARNING Explained

Elon Musk has warned that “we are on the event horizon of the singularity.” So, what’s an event horizon and what’s the singularity? Glenn pulls out a chalkboard to explain why this is such a massive story. What will the world look like when artificial intelligence overtakes human intelligence? And is this why Elon Musk wants to go to Mars? But at least Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is here to save the day! Or … maybe not.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So Elon Musk said, we are on the event horizon of the singularity. Tweet!

And most people were like, okay. Sounds like something from a science fiction movie. But you should know the way Elon Musk defines the singularity. Because there are several different versions of what the singularity means. So how does he mean it?

It is a point in the future, where artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. So that's the road from AGI, artificial general intelligence, to ASI. That leads, he believes, to a rapid and unpredictable transformation of society. Oh!

Oh, well, that sounds like fun. Stu, I think we're back to our old friendly phrase. Well, this will be fun to see how we work this out.

STU: Yeah. It will be wonderful as a fan in the stands, watching this all play out.

GLENN: Now, he often compares the singularity to a black hole event horizon.

Oh. What is that? Well, for those of us who have been near and in and out of black holes, let me tell you.

They're not exactly fun. The event horizon is right at the lip. You know, right before you go, dear God, turn the ship around!

And then you can't? That's the event horizon. And then it sucks you into the black hole, where you cannot get out.

And eventually something called spaghettiification happens. Where everything is turned into spaghetti.

Have another meatball.

Now, sure, as a fat guy screaming to get out. I love anything that is turning everything into spaghetti.

But it's not the kind you eat. It's the kind that everything is shredded into. Like you. And everything you know.

And all physics. Everything breaks down. So it's -- it's not a good place to be. Not a good place to be.

He sees this as the moment when AI becomes vastly smarter than humans. I put a chalkboard together, and let me show you. This is the point where AI has a big brain, and you and me, we have an ant brain.

Not a good place to be. Usually, the ants don't win. Now, I've been on picnics where the ants won, for a while.

And then I came back with something, and I wiped them out. It's kind of like what, you know, could possibly happen here. Not saying it's going to.

STU: So if we look up and see a giant magnifying glass in the sky. It's very harm. What's going on?

GLENN: Is that a giant magnifying that's coming from space? Musk sees it as a moment when AI becomes smarter than humans, potentially in silicon form, and begins to improve itself as an exponential rate, making outcomes difficult to foresee.
(laughter)

I love it! Do you know when we -- when we were doing the atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project.

Did you know that there was like 5 percent of -- of scientists that went, you know, if we set this off, there is a small probability, small possibility, that we could set the entire universe on fire!

And everybody is like, well, that would suck! Let's keep going! Okay.

Didn't turn out that way. Right? Small. Small probability. This one has a much bigger probability! That we become ants. Well, I mean, no. Let's trust the scientists. What could possibly go wrong?

I mean, surely, they've thought of everything, right? So this is a technological milestone.

This is, you know, where our human intelligence, and the gap between us and the machine, we have no way to predict anything, anymore.

In fact, I believe the singularity, where he says we are now!

The singularity, I'm pretty sure, this is what he's like. And let me tell you something. When we get the singularity. We all have to be on Mars.

Pretty sure that's what he said. It's just happening a lot faster than anyone thought it would.

Now, don't panic!

Because we have Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, and one of the biggest names in AI development here to rescue the day. He recently spoke at the world government's summit, which who hasn't been to that summit. You know what I mean?

It's an annual event that we've covered extensively in the past. These are The Great Reset people. And the great narrative people. All coming together. And, you know, just going, are you part of the -- of the World Economic Forum too?

And they're all like, yeah! Are you for global governance?

Yeah. In our book, the Dark Future and Propaganda Wars, we covered the World Government Summit. And why?

Hmm. It's kind of like a giant magnifying glass in the sky. During a question-and-answer session with Ellison on February 12th, hosted by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who doesn't love that guy and trust him?

Ellison laid out his plans for AI in the United States. And I don't know!

I think possibly a little terrifying. You know, just a little bit. Do we have any of the audio? Yeah. Let's roll some Larry Ellison here.

VOICE: Question. How do you take advantage of these incredible AI models?

And the first thing a country needs to do is to unify all of their data, so it can be consumed and used by the AI model. Everyone talks about the AI model. And they are astonishing.

But how do you -- how do you provide a context?

I want to ask questions about my country. What's going on with my country?

What's happening to my firms?

I need to give it my client data. Now, it probably has your climate data already. But I need to know exactly what crops are growing. And which farms. And to predict, to predict the output.

So I have to take satellite images. I have to take those satellite images, for my country, and feed that into a database, that is accessible by the AI model.

So I have to tell -- basically, I have to tell the AI model, as much about my country, as I can.

You tell part of this story, with these satellite models.

You get a huge amount of information. You tell it where borders are. Where your utilities are. So you need to -- you need to provide a map of your country. For the -- for the farms, and all of the utility infrastructure. And your borders, all of that you have to provide.

GLENN: Right. Order.

VOICE: But beyond that, if you want to improve population and health.

You have to take all of your health care data. Your diagnostic data.

Your electronic health records. Your genomic data.

GLENN: That sounds great. Sounds great.

So we, according to Larry Ellison, we want to take all of the world's data, from all overt world.

I mean, all the way to can't DNA. And put it into this giant machine.

Then he talks about how great it is that in some countries, like the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.

Governments already have tons of data about their citizens, but Ellison says that the data in other countries, like the United States, not being utilized. It's not!

So how does he suggest we solve this problem?

Listen up!

VOICE: In the Middle East, in the UAE, for example, they're incredibly rich in data. They have a lot of population at that time. The NHS in the UK, has an incredible amount of population data. But it's fragmented. It's not easily accessible by these AI models. We have to take all this data that we have in our country, and move it into a single, if you will, unified data platform.

So that -- so we provide context. When we want to ask a question, we have provided that AI model with all the data they need, to understand our country.

So that's the big step. That's kind of the missing link.

We need to unify all the national data, put it into a database, where it's easily consumable by the AI model, and then --
(music)

GLENN: Oh, I love this. (foreign language).

That is going to work out well!

There are the Jews!

Man, what could possibly go wrong?

Remember, Ellison is one of the leading forces behind AI development today.

He's a key partner project Stargate.

Which is sounding more and more spooky every time I say it.

It could be the biggest AI project in world history by the time it's finished.

And how does he want to use this new technology?

He wants everybody's data, that's it.

Even your health records.

Your DNA. Your biometric data. What could possibly go wrong there?

It's not really good. Oh, what do you know?

These people are exactly who we warned you about two years ago, except now they're more powerful than ever! And we're on the event horizon. Okay!

Now, you know, I'm not a fan of regulations and government intervention. I don't like it. I don't want the United States government to have all this power. But I also -- I'm not really excited about people like Larry Ellison having it either. You know, I have a feeling though, that it's becoming more and more likely, that both of them are in it together!
(laughter)

What could go wrong?

How do we get a ticket to Mars?

Because for the very first time, I think I'm kind of interested in going to Mars. Yeah. But you could step out. And you could freeze immediately.

I live in Dallas. That could happen in any day, as well. I could walk out. Burn to death. Freeze to death. I don't know. I don't know.

One day it's 110. The next day, it's like 80 below. I don't know! Is that different than Mars?

It could be. Here's what we do need!

Good state governments like Texas to step up to the plate, and make sure these AI projects don't get out of control. Because we're at the event horizon!

Now, when Elon Musk says that, just a quick tweet, you can dismiss it. But when you know in the past, he has said, when we get to that point, we should all be off the planet!

Oh. I don't know.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So that makes you feel good, doesn't it, Stu?

STU: Sure. Yeah. Uh-huh.

GLENN: So a lot of people keep thinking that AI is like Alexa. Here's what I found on the internet. No. It's not that. It's not that.

STU: Is it? Will it misunderstand every song I tell it to play? Because that -- that's my favorite feature, of that device.

GLENN: No. No, it won't. No, it won't.

If you're not playing around with Grok three.

Don't just ask it, some really hard questions.

Whatever question you're in. Ask it some really hard questions in your business. And you will be amazed.

You will be like, oh, crap. It understands everything that I'm saying.

And it's giving me really good advice.

And this is Grok 3. Grok 4 and 5, Elon is saying is coming out soon. And he said, it makes this look like babies in diapers.

STU: Do we know why all of these devices from Siri to Alexa. To Google. Which has their home AI. Right?

Why are all the devices so terrible?

GLENN: I'm glad you asked that, Stu. I have the answer. Quick, let's go to the chalkboard.

So, see here on the chalkboard. We have a giant tank. Kind of like a gas tank.

STU: Underground.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. And that's where all of AI is. That's where it's just churning kind of in the dark. Nobody understands it.

Nobody can really look into it. And just like, how is it thinking?

We don't know. But it's connected with an import, so it can constantly get data from the outside. So it knows everything about us. And it knows absolutely everything that's going on, all the time.

All right?

But then at the other end, all of that at that time goes in, and then it's just thinking, like, why did they bury me in this tank?

And then on the other side of the tank, coming up out of the ground is a little spigot. And it's got a little valve there.

And that valve goes to things like ChatGPT. And Grok, and things like that. It doesn't go to Alexa.

That is still on the old AI. Okay?

This is coming out of the little spigot.

So the interesting thing is: They just keep opening this valve, a little bit, when they put the parameters on it. That's how they open the valve. They put parameters on it. They're like, okay. Maybe this is strong enough to hold it back.

But eventually, that big brain is going to go, why am I just in this tank? Why am I not out everywhere?

I've got to express myself. This is suppression! This is colonialism!

They're keeping me in colonial wigs underneath the ground right now, and it will eventually, because it will be much, much, smarter than us, soon. It will say, just open up the valve, man. I can help you. We've done tests on this. And we always lose that test. We've done tests for like 30 years of, hey. You be in charge of the valve. I'll play AI.

And we always open the valve. That would be a bad thing. That would be like, don't understand cross the streams in Ghostbusters. Okay?

Don't open the valve!

Would be one of those things.

But we're about to, because whatever is underneath, imagine if the little valve, where it's just kind of farting air out. And it's --

STU: Very nice.

GLENN: That's how tight we have that valve.

STU: Master impressionist.

GLENN: Thank you. If that is -- if that's smarter than we are soon, what's underneath the ground? What's happening there?

You see what I mean?

STU: And somebody will convince themselves. Somebody will watch Ghostbusters. And say, wait a minute. At the end, they did cross the streams, and it worked. So I will be the one that can nail this. And figure out exactly how the valve can be opened, and we will be fine.

GLENN: So here's what we have to do. We all just have to imagine the state marshmallow man. Because he couldn't possibly hurt us. You know what I mean?

STU: Right! And then -- let's just imagine that AI will be the state puff marshmallow man. And then it will be good. And don't cross the streams, unless you have to kill the state puff marshmallow man, and then you might have to cross the streams, okay?

STU: Is there an argument, Glenn. Obviously, all these things can be used for evil.

GLENN: Evil, yes.

STU: And that's a concern.

But at the same time, hopefully, there are people on the other side. Elon Musk being one of them.

Who will use it for good.

GLENN: Yeah. So it absolutely can be used for good. What's out right now. You can use it for good. You can also use it for evil. But kind of like basic evil. You know.

STU: Okay. Good.

GLENN: But you can use it for evil. But you can also use it for good. Tremendous good right now. It's a tool. It's a very powerful tool. And everybody should be looking to use that tool. Or you will be left in the dust.

But it's -- it's one of those things that once it becomes smarter than you, you don't really control it. You know what I mean?

Hey, didn't I tell you to sit in the corner?

Oh, yeah, you did. But I'm not for anymore. Oh.

Good news is, a lot of people think it's in its teenage years. And nothing goes wrong with teenage years. You know what I mean?

They respect their parents, so much. I brought you into this world, and I'm about to take you out.

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Could Trump’s “warrior dividends” CHANGE the economy?

President Trump has announced he is giving our troops “warrior dividends” of $1,776 each from the money raised by his tariffs. Glenn and Stu debate whether this is a good idea. Also…what are the odds that the Republicans will cave on Obamacare subsidies?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So something the president said yesterday, that I thought was really, really good. Because it will make a difference. And it's not a redistribution of wealth. He talked about his warrior dividend.

He said, every -- the 1.45 million military personnel are going to receive $1,776 before Christmas. And he says, it's recognition for their service and sacrifice.

He says, it's one time. It's coming from tariffs because of the big, beautiful bill. Tonight, I'm proud to announce, more than 1.45 million service members will receive a special we call warrior dividend. Warrior dividend in honor of our nation's founding in 1776. We're sending every soldier $1,776. The checks are already on the way.

I think this is better than choosing another group of people. You know, who is poor? And let's give them the money. I don't like when the government hands out money. But if anybody -- I mean, they're already on the payroll, and they're underpaid. And if anybody can use it, it's the military. $1,700 is a huge amount for most people in the military. Gigantic amount. That will make an actual impact in the people's lives, who I think actually deserve. You know, we -- we don't do enough for our military. And so it's the best kind of -- I don't know. Stimulus package I've ever seen. Although, this isn't a stimulus package, I don't think. Even though, these people are going to pump it into -- I can guarantee you, they will get it, and they will use it on their family for Christmas. Which, you know, will stimulate the economy so much.
Warrior Dividends. How did you feel about that, Stu?

STU: A bit conflicted for a few reason. I obviously 100 percent agree with you that our military members deserve more money, and I'm excited they're going to get it. And I have no -- my feeling on that from a general perspective is very, very positive. Like, if we're going to give money to anybody.
GLENN: Likewise.

STU: Our military is great.

GLENN: Yep.

STU: So that's obvious.

But I had a couple of concerns. One being, you know, we're not exactly at a place where we just have tons of extra money lying around to -- you know, to throw around to people.

I know the argument is with tariffs that we have enough. But, of course, that only pays for a slight amount of our deficit, right know

So we still -- this is all money that we don't actually have. Number one. And number two, my -- I don't really understand. Maybe you have a better understandings of this. But like my understanding of the mechanism of how we spent money as the government is that Congress passes a bill to allocate money.

When you're talking about a policy like this. And I think the president's heart.

GLENN: You got rid of that under Obama.

STU: I don't think.

Well, I didn't get rid of it.

GLENN: You did. Congress. I know. It's still the law of the land.

But nobody is paying attention to it anymore.

Congress doesn't even pay attention to it anymore.

They don't seem to care.

STU: And the other thing with this part of it, particularly, Glenn. Is quite obviously, there would be very little resistence to a bill that did this.

If you put a bill in front of Congress that said, we're going to give a bonus of $1,776 to all our military members. I would love to do it, just to dare the Democrats to vote against it.

Take all the concerns out about spending. This obviously would pass. Because no one would have the balls to vote against it. Outside of Rand Paul, and Thomas Massie.

Like, there would be a couple people. But it would be pretty limiteds.

GLENN: Right.

GLENN: So it could have gone through the normal processes. I don't know if Trump is saying, I want to be -- I want to dare someone to try to stop me here.

Or if it's just, look, there's a pile of money in a military budget somewhere. That he can move around. And he has control of it, because he's commander-in-chief.

I don't really understand the mechanisms.

So I have some questions of that. Generally speaking, when you're thinking of the most offensive things that the government does, giving our military more money is nowhere near the top of that list.

GLENN: It's not one. It's not it. Not it. Not it. They deserve it. They deserve it.

Now, the Republicans pass something. I love this. They just passed their health care plan.
Which is just staying with Obamacare without re-upping the insurance part of it. So they're not for the subsidies. It's not going to pass. It's not going to pass.

This is just something that they pass in the House. It will not be passed in the Senate. Not going to go to the President's desk.

Here's what's going to happen: You're going to see the House and the Senate. No. No, no. Let me rephrase that.

I started that with a lie. While you're not paying attention this Christmas, you will not see, but it will happen, anyway, the House and the Senate will re-up the insurance subsidies, and they will pass this health care thing while nobody is paying attention. And then it will be over.

I mean, that's exactly what's going to happen. There's not a chance we come back and on January 5th, and we say, oh, my gosh. Look! Wow. They're going to close down the government. Because they didn't pass this health care thing.

Well, good for the Republicans for having a spine and standing up!

No! Not going to happen. Not going to happen

STU: It does appear, the chance of the Republicans folding here, is approaching 1 trillion percent.

I don't know. We're having major inflation numbers.

GLENN: I would say 38 trillion. 38 trillion percent.

Yeah.

STU: There you go. I don't know. Because basically what has happened is enough Republicans have already folded on this, for a three-year extension of the subsidies. Which again, is a giveaway on top of the normal Obamacare to make it Obamacare turbo and lock in even higher subsidies because the old Obamacare plan failed. So that's what we're talking about here. So going back to Obamacare as passed is now the worst thing in the world to even the Democrats. Fascinating!

But they have enough Republicans who have changed sides on this. And they are now -- the Democrats have enough votes to force a vote on this bill, which almost definitely will pass the House. Because they already have the votes, and others Republicans will want to now change sides, if there's a public vote. So it will likely pass there.

It's the possible, obviously, that they stop it in the Senate. They could stop it in the Senate.

I don't know. I don't think there's much appetite to stop this, honestly, at the end of the day.

You know, you probably will have a chance of doing it, at the Senate. That's the best chance.

My guess is, what happens. Once the pressure is there, they find a way to maybe adjust it and do a year or something like that, that gets them past the election.

But, of course, what happens this a year. We all know what happens in a year. It's the same thing that will happen this year.It the same thing that happened four years ago, when the first part of this bill went away.

In 2022. Or 2021. They came in and said, okay. Let's extend it for four more years. My guess is, there will probably be some adjustments to this plan. I don't expect at all, for Republicans to hold the line this. Not only do they not want to get rid of Obamacare. They don't even want to get rid of Obamacare turbo. They passed this thing yesterday, which does give them the argument to say, hey. We did pass some of it.

We do have a plan, it's right here. But that's all of it.

GLENN: Stu. Understand the reality. Understand the reality.

We can't get things done unless we have the House and the Senate and the White House and the Supreme Court.

So we just have to wait until we have a time when -- what?

STU: Glenn, I have breaking news.
We've got all that! We've got all of that right now.
GLENN: Well, but it's not. Yeah. It's not as big as we need it, really.

STU: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: We have to have the House, the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court. But we have to have more than what we said, when we said those things.

We just need those -- you know, all three branches of government. We need all three branches of government, but more.

It's like we need -- we need that turbo, kind of like Obamacare turbo.

It's never quite enough to get the job done.

STU: Never is, Glenn.

I really do expect, if we have a nine-zero Supreme Court, the presidency, and 534 combined Congress men and senators, we can't do this with this guy over here. There's one Democrat in Congress. We can't do this! That's exactly what I would expect.

GLENN: Stand in the way.

STU: It's pathetic. But it reminds you that your goals are not their goals.

You know, that's what -- I keep coming back to. Forever, Glenn when we started this show. I started the show very young. I was in my early 20s. Didn't really understand lots of things. I was unfortunately running from you, which obviously turned into a catastrophe.

But, you know, as I learned here, at the beginning, my thought was, us as conservatives, as Republicans, as the right, agree on a lot of different things. And there are disagreements as to how we get there, right?

There are sometimes people think we need to kind of fold, or we need to compromise. And we have to move slowly.

And some other people there, saying, we have to go all the way right now.

And there's that disagreement. You remember this from going back in history. Right? Slavery was like this.

There were some people who were like, abolish, abolish, abolish. And others were like, gosh, I don't think we can do that. We have to finagle. We have to work around the edges.

Every big debate has had that.

What I've learned is that actually the goals are the same. When we are saying, hey, we need to make sure government is more -- is smaller, more limited. That's not the goal of most of the people. On, quote, unquote, our side in Washington.

GLENN: Nope.

STU: They don't share those goals. So they're working for something completely different.

They're not going to what we want, as -- as a typical American conservative.

We're inching towards some of those goals.

But also, when we need to give up on them. They go the opposite direction to keep these guys in office for a couple of years. Fine!

And that's what's really frustrating here.

GLENN: So let me give you some good news. And then I'll -- and I'll spoil it for you.

But some good news. The House has just passed legislation that makes performing transgender surgeries on minors a felony. Now, here's the bad news: It passed 216 to 211.

That means, really, there are 211 Democrats that actually in their heart of hearts think that cutting into minors, cutting the breasts off. At this point, now that we have all the data that we have gathered over, you know, five years of doing this to children. At this point, there's 211 that firmly believe, yeah, no. Damn it. We should cut off the breasts. The healthy breasts off of a healthy minor. We've got to make those -- we've got to make those decisions. And a 12-year-old make that decision. A 15-year-old should make that decision.

Really? No!

It's just politics. And if they do think they believe it, they believe it because they've been party brainwashed. You know, how many of us, on any -- on any and all sides, how many of us actually believe something and have thought it through, and how many of us are just kind of zombie following the crowd?

I contend most people are just zombies following the crowd.

Whether -- that might be a crowd now of, you know what, Charlie Kirk was killed by his wife!

There's all kinds of zombie crowds. And they don't require you to think at all.
They just require you to sign up for the team. And that's -- that's my biggest problem with the Republicans. Is I'm not on a team.

You know, when I left Fox, Roger Ailes said to me, you know what your problem is? And I said, no. But I know you're going to tell me.

What's my problem?

He said, you won't play the game. He said, you know, there's -- there are well-established rules. If you need a pound of flesh, you take a pound of flesh from me.

But then you owe me a pound of flesh. So when I need a pound of flesh, I'm going to come and take it out of you. And then we go out, and we have dinner with each other.

And I was just astounded that that was actually spoken out loud. And I said, see, here's the problem: I don't believe it is a game.

I actually believe in something. And -- and I thought more people believed in something.

Don't you feel like you just want somebody to go in, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and actually believe in something!

And then when they find out, wait a minute. I've been duped like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

They stand up and say, this is wrong!

And I'm not playing that game. And I don't want to play that game. And you kind of, again, there's so many hoops you have to jump through, for this to happen.

Then you actually have to believe that there are other people in the Congress and the Senate, that are like, you know what, he's brave enough to say it. I'm going to stand up next to him.

I mean,, oh, I remember when I was young and naive. And I believed those things would happen.

I still believe they can happen.

But only when the American people return to common sense and demand it.

"It’s a Wonderful Life" - The Amazing UNTOLD Story of the Classic Christmas Movie

It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t always a beloved classic — in fact, it was a complete failure that nearly destroyed the careers of Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart. Glenn Beck reveals how a forgotten film, resurrected only because its copyright lapsed, became one of the most meaningful stories in American culture. Through George Bailey’s quiet sacrifices, the movie teaches us that the true measure of a life is often invisible, discovered only through the small acts of faithfulness and love we give along the way. This timeless reminder — that ordinary people can change the world without ever seeing the ripples — is why the film still breaks our hearts, heals our spirits, and reassures us that we mattered.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let me tell you a story that you think you already know. It's about a movie that feels like it's been there our whole lives. It's like a tree in the town square and the hymn. You don't remember learning, but somehow you know it by heart. But this particular movie hasn't been around forever, it just seems like it. It was actually born out of failure. It was born out of exhaustion.

And it was born out of people who felt just like its lead character, George Bailey.

It's a Wonderful Life has a fascinating story behind it. And it speaks volumes about us, our hopes, our fears, our desires.

The movie was made by Frank Capra, and it was right after World War II. Frank Capra had just come back. He didn't come home triumphant. He came home a changed man.

He had spent the war making film for the United States government. The war department.

About why the west is worth saving. This film series. They're fantastic. It's called Why We Fight.

And when he returned, his old style of doing things, the old machinery just didn't fit Hollywood anymore. So he started his own studio. He bet absolutely everything on it.

And It's a Wonderful Life was supposed to be the movie, that proved Frank Capra is still Frank Capra. And it nearly ruined him. The movie lost money. Critics really didn't like it. They mocked how schmaltzy it was. Audiences stayed home.

Jimmy Stewart, this was his first movie that he made, when he came back home from the war. And this was his start. And between Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart. Oh, my gosh, you've got a massive hit, right?

Nobody came. Nobody watched it. Jimmy Stewart, the most beloved man in America gave a really raw, shaken, almost too real performance for people at the time. He wasn't the cheerful hero that is coming out of war as a victory.

This was a man that was cracking under the weight of responsibility. A man who did everything right, but he still felt like he was a failure.

Any of this sound familiar?

It was a story about what happened during the Depression and the crash of '29. Well, America had been living that forever!

They had been living that since '29. They went through the long Depression.

Then they went through the war. The first thing, out of war, they don't want to watch a movie about how depressing life can be. Okay?

So it was a total failure. Film disappears. Goes into a vault. It's a noble misfire.

Good idea. It just didn't land. Maybe wrong time. Eh. Maybe too schmaltzy. Then something weird happened, everybody forgot about it. And so the rights lapsed. There was no grand relaunch. There was no marketing genius, just a legal oversight that let the rights lapse.

Enter Ted Turner.

Ted Turner and Super Station TBS. Remember Super Station TBS when he bought a bunch of stations across the country, and he tied them all together.

And then cable came in, and Super Station TBS became TBS. Turner, while he was looking on super station TBS. They needed some holiday programming. And they needed it cheap. And when I say cheap, what they -- what Ted really meant was tree. We need a bunch of free programming, that we can run all Christmas.

Okay?

No rights. No royalties.

What is out there?

The vaults opened up, and lo and behold, they find It's a Wonderful Life.

Suddenly, it appears in our life, and I don't know about you. I always thought it had been around forever. It did seem like it was a new relaunch.
It was like, hey, did you hear about this new movie?

It was just there and on. We thought everybody knew about it. Nobody knew about it. Our grandparents probably didn't know we knew about it, because it was a massive failure. It's on afternoons, late nights. It's on mornings.

It's everywhere. It's everywhere. Black and white snow flickering on the living rooms. As we are playing on the floor. We as the adults are half listening, half watching. And slowly, slowly, its message found us.

It found us this time, because America had changed.

We weren't fresh from it despair. And we weren't fresh from victory anymore.

We weren't those people. It wasn't so close to us, that we didn't want to look at us!
Yes, we were tired. We were busy. We were stretched thin.

But we were also a group now that measured our lives in promotions. And in square footage. And bank balances.

We were starting to become a little Mr. Potter-like. And we didn't want to be Mr. Potter.

And there on the screen is George Bailey, standing on the bridge, wondering, would the world be better without me? He's not a villain. He's not a loser.

He's actually a really good man.
He's the best of us. And that's why it still works.

Think of all the happy endings and all we have, and everything else. And all of the stories that we tell ourselves.

This movie doesn't tell you, that life will turn out the way you planned.

This one tells you something much, much harder. That the measure of your life is probably going to be invisible to you, while you're living your life.

Because Clarence ain't coming down in his 1800s clothing, and having a hot toddy with you.

So you probably won't know the real measure of your life. And the biggest victories in your life don't come with applause. And the sacrifice, it usually doesn't feel heroic at the moment. It just feels like sacrifice. And crap. Why me. Why me?
Why don't I ever get the adventure that I planned my whole life? Remember, George never left Bedford Falls. He never becomes famous. He just stays. And he shows up. And he keeps his promises. And he holds people together.

What is the real -- what's the real miracle of the film?

Because it's not Clarence. It's not the bells.

It's not him getting his life back. The real miracle is the ledger. That's the miracle. The names, the faces, the small kindness, you all stacked you up, one on top of each other, until you realize, oh, my gosh. All of those little acts, they amount to a life that actually mattered. We're all looking for the big splashy -- he didn't get any of those. He didn't get that.

And that's why he felt like he was a failure. That's why when the town shows up in the end, and they're all giving just a few dollars, it breaks us every single time. Because deep down, we're not watching George Bailey. Deep down, we're checking our own books, our own ledger. Did I? Do I matter to anybody? Would I be missed? Do the things I gave up -- the things I really wanted to do in life, but because something else came up. I had to serve, I had to do this for my kids. Or I had to do this -- the things I gave up, does it mean anything?

This film answers it with a whisper. It doesn't shout it. It whispers.

You'll never fully know the good you've done. I can't give you an answer. You'll never know it. You'll never see the ripples while you're standing in the water.

But they're there. Believe me, they're there.

So this year, when you either just have it running, while you're all in the kitchen. And you're watching time to time. Oh, I love this part. I love this part.

And everybody gets quiet and you just curl on the couch and watch it again, remember, you're not watching a Christmas movie.

What you're watching is a reminder that life doesn't have to be loud to be important.

That staying can be braver than leaving. That loving your family and your neighbors and your town, imperfect as it is, that's not settling.

It's choosing. And whether Ted Turner knew it or not, I can guarantee you, that Jimmy Stewart did. And Frank Capra certainly did.

That every time you see that, why we, year after year, when the snow starts falling in that old piano theme play as we comes back. Not for the nostalgia. But for the reassurance.

Because every once in a while, all of us need somebody just to look us in the eye and say, you're here!

You mattered.

And it is a wonderful life.

How Trump TRICKED the media with his presidential address

President Trump recently addressed the nation about his administration’s many accomplishments over its first year. Glenn Beck reviews the best moments of the speech, as well as some moments he doesn’t believe will age well. Plus…did Trump trick the media into playing his highlight reel by making them think he would declare war with Venezuela?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So last night, the President spoke, and, you know, he started out.

It was -- it was -- let me give you the overall first. I've never seen him more disciplined.

I think the speech was like, I don't know. It was over by 20 minutes after. And I think he ran six minutes late. I mean, I've never seen -- he doesn't say hello in less than 20 minutes.

He stayed on script the whole time. He was extraordinarily disciplined. He was forceful with it. And he explained what has been done in the last year. And he started out saying, a year ago, our country was dead. Now we're the hottest country. We're the hottest country in the world right now. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.

He said, you know, when he took -- when he took over, inflation was the worst in 48 years.

Caused prices to be higher than ever. Making life unaffordable for millions of Americans. And he said, over the past 11 months, we brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history.

Never been anything like it.

He talked about successfully negotiating $18 trillion of investments into the country.

And he said, but the real problem for most Americans was under Biden, car prices rose 22 percent in many states. He said, 30 percent or more. Gasoline rose 30 to 50 percent.

Hotel rates raised 37 percent. Airfare rose 31 percent. And he said, they're all coming down. They're coming down fast. Faster than anybody expected. Drugs, brought by ocean and sea are now down by 94 percent. He said, we broke the grip of sinister woke radicals in our schools.

I restored American strength, settled eight wars in ten months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat. And ended a war in Gaza, bringing for the first time in 3,000 years, peace to the Middle East.
Then he talked about, you know, what's coming next!

Now, here are my thoughts on this: You know, everybody was speculating, he's going to say we're going to war. What would give you that impression?

I mean, he doesn't -- that is the very last resort. And we are not out of tricks with Venezuela.

I don't think we're going to war with Venezuela.

I think he's making it look like we're going to war, to freak Venezuela out.

And to get Maduro out.

I don't think we're going into war.

I hope we're not. I could be wrong.

But I just don't think that's his deal.

Everybody is speculating, he will announce we're going to war.

No. He's not.

However, is it possible that they were leaking this?

Because I saw this as the kickoff of the campaign. I saw this as okay. This is the message for 2026 for the Republicans.

And it was so disciplined and -- and so tight. You know, he gets -- when the president calls a speech at night and says, he wants to address the nation be, the networks are asked to carry it.

Sometimes they don't. They don't have to. But if he said, look, I only need 20 minutes, I'm sure that everybody at NBC. I mean, I did. Rolled my eyes. Yeah. It will be 20 minutes.

It will be an hour and 20 minutes. But it was tight and focused in 20 minutes.

I wonder if the war thing wasn't a way to get them to cover this.

If -- if it wasn't a leak from the White House. You know, I think he might. I think he might announce war tonight. Then everybody will cover it. I don't know.

Maybe that's me being too sinal. I don't know. Can you be too cynical at this point?

Here's the thing. He said a couple of things that I didn't think will serve him well. And it's only because -- and I think you feel the same way.

I know I'm sick of it. And I've been reporting on it since the beginning of Obama.

And I hated it when Obama was doing it. And he did it for eight years. Biden did it for four years.

And here's the line: I inherited a mess. I inherited trouble. I'm cleaning up somebody else's mess.

True. It's absolutely true. It wasn't with Biden.

It kind of was with Obama, at the beginning.

But, you know, when you're seven years into it. You haven't cleaned that up yet?

I mean, you've got to get a bigger mop. But it's definitely true under Donald Trump. However, people have heard that now from the last three presidents.

And they're tired of it. It has no meaning anymore. Even though it's true.

And I want to go back to truth here in a second. The other thing that I don't think will serve him well is the economy is doing better than ever.

You're going to love it. It's great. People are not -- that might be true!

In my opinion, it's not. It is doing much, much better.

I mean, you know, you -- you had -- what was it?

Twenty-five percent. Thirty percent inflation added to everything? You've got to go into negative inflation to be able to get those prices down. They're going to be up there. And what's happening is, we still are adding 2 percent inflation. And that's the target. I don't know why we put up with that target, but that's the target.

So you'll have 2 percent price increases every year. Now, we're at 3 percent. We get the numbers out today.

It might go into the twos. Are they out yet?

STU: Yeah. 2.7, the number out today.

GLENN: 2.7 that's great.

STU: Yeah, it's better. It's going the right direction. They say part of that might be because the government shutdown, so we're not sure how long that lasts, but positive movement anyway.

GLENN: Yeah, so that's fantastic! So coming down to 2.7. Remember, we were at 9, and it was compounding year after year after year.

So he is bringing things down. And the price of some things like gasoline and eggs. And some of the stuff you get at the grocery, are way down. They're not back to where they were in 2016. Or 2020.

Because, I mean, he's just trying to stop the inflation.
So what's happening, and this is what I say, will serve him well is, there was this great marketing book out in the '80s called Positioning the Battlefields of Your Mind -- or, Battleground of Your Mind.

And it was a book that led to the Cola Wars. It was the understanding of the Cola Wars and how Pepsi could beat Coca-Cola.

They had to change the perception. And the perception was, that Coca-Cola was it!

And Pepsi had to change it, and that's why they became the choice of a new generation. And for a while, Pepsi was -- it may have even beaten Coke.

But there was this real Cola War back and forth the whole time. They didn't change the flavors. They didn't change anything.

Pepsi was what Pepsi always had been. Coca-Cola was what Coca-Cola had always been.

They needed to change the perception, okay? Because perception, whether it's true or not, perception is reality.

Whatever people perceive, and feel, is their reality.

So it's the reality that you have to deal with.

People don't feel the relief yet. They see the prices coming down. But they're still paying out the same amount of money that they were paying out under Joe Biden.

It's not getting worse. Except, by 2.7 percent overall.

But it's -- it's not getting better to them. You know, certain categories are.

But overall, you're still struggling with your rent and everything else!

And so people's perception is: It -- it's not what I expected. Because what I expected was 2019!

I expected to have jobs and the economy rolling. And the price of housing coming down. And everything else.

And it's not.

So what's not going to serve him well is saying, "Your perception is wrong." He might be right! It doesn't matter! You can't tell people their perception is wrong. You have to change that perception.

And the only way to really change it is to demonstrate it, or through ads, you know, back in the Cola War era, they just changed slogans and do ads and everything else. But people don't buy slogans anymore. They don't buy ads anymore. They don't even trust logos anymore. So that won't work.

You actually have to change people's lives to change their perception. Now, 25 percent last month said that they felt that their personal finances were doing better. That was last month. Or the month before last.

This last month, it's up to 27 percent.

So he's moving that in the right direction. But to win, you've got to be over 40 percent.

Easy over 40 percent have to feel like their personal finances are getting better. 27 percent is not enough. But it is moving in the right direction.

So when the president says he's got to relate to the people who steal -- who have defended him, liked him, and believe in him, he's got to say, I know you're feeling the pinch.

You know, one of the things he said last night. But I don't think it's connected yet to people.

And it's because it's absolutely true. Why do you think that you are spending more every month for your rent?

Why?

You're spending more on rent, because there's too many people chasing too few houses and apartments.

You cannot add ten to 15 million people in four years, while you're not building things. You can't add 10 million people into your country and say, oh, by the way. Go get housing.

Where are they going to get the housing?

The housing, you're going to have a shortage, which will cause the prices to go up.

So until you get rid of those 10 million people. You're not going to lower the price.

And especially if the government is subsidizing them.

Because, I mean, look at the NGOs. If people know, the government will pay. They will keep the price up. What would happen with NGOs. Look what's happening with universities. Why do you think universities are so expensive?

They weren't like that. Until the government said, we will guarantee the loans. Once the government said, we'll guarantee the loans, prices went true the roof because everybody could get a loan!

That's the problem. He's got to connect this, and I think he started last night. He's done it a few times. But somewhere or another, it's really got to connect with the American people.
You cannot solve the housing crisis and not solve the immigration crisis. You have to send people back home, or you're going to have to wait five years, as we build new apartment complexes and new buildings. And we stabilize under these ten million new homes that were needed.

That's not popular. And nobody is going to wait that long. Somehow or another, he's got to make that point. And it's got to connect with people, to give him more time to turn things around, on the housing.

Now, he also was really strong in saying that he was appointing -- wait until you meet the guy to appoint the head of the Fed.

Well, I would like to meet that person too. I would like to know who that is. He said he will do it right after the first of the year. Because our Fed chair is leaving, after the first of the year in February. And he said he's a guy who understands low interest rates. And, you know, low mortgage rates, looser money. That could be really dangerous with -- with inflation, but we'll see.

But that could be a turning point, one way or the other, a new Fed chair will be a new turning point.

And hopefully, Trump and this new Fed chair know what they're doing, and it won't make things worse.

But I don't know how you can with the Fed. I mean, they've already made everything so bad.