RADIOSeptember 14, 2022

Expert gives the ACTUAL reasons why gas prices decreased

‘Falling gas prices give Democrats a sense of optimism for November,’ The Hill reported earlier this week. But that doesn’t mean Democrats deserve ANY credit. Financial expert Carol Roth, author of ‘The War On Small Business,’ joins Glenn to explain the ACTUAL reasons gas prices have dropped and the one way Biden actually is just making it worse. Plus, Roth and Glenn discuss whether the coming energy crisis could lead to the federal government nationalizing the entire industry…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Carol Roth, the war on small business author. And former recovering investment banker, that actually can break things down and talk and explain what things mean to the regular schlubs of America.

Welcome, Carol. How are you?

CAROL: You know, just enjoying the Biden economy. How are you?

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. That party yesterday was absolutely incredible. Incredible.
(laughter)
I mean, it was surreal. They were celebrating that the interest rate is coming down. Can you explain what happened with the interest rate numbers. The CPI numbers.

CAROL: All right. Well, James Taylor was there. So we saw fire. And we saw rain. We saw a revery hot CPI report yesterday. As we know, the CPI is one of the measures of inflation. And one of the measures of consumer inflation. We do know it's understated because they have messed with it, for the last several decades. To underplay it. But it's still a benchmark to sort of compare. It was considered hot by all expectations. We knew there was going to be some decline, in the headline number, because of the sharp decline in gasoline prices.

GLENN: Wait. Wait. But could you explain why the price of gasoline was going down?

CAROL: Sure. So before we get to the nitty-gritty.

GLENN: Yeah.

CAROL: So there were a couple of reasons why gasoline is come down. Some of it was our president pulling a little bit of a stunt, pulling oil out of our oil reserves. And putting it out in the markets, to kind of depress it. Some of it was artificial, because the gas taxes have been on hiatus in certain locales. But the biggest reason, that the gasoline prices are coming down. Because of the price of oil is coming down. And the biggest reason the price of oil is coming down is because the price of oil got too high.

It's just pure demand destruction. There's a saying in the commodities market, that the best cure for high prices, is high prices.

And that's we saw. Not only here in the United States, where people maybe decided not to take a road trip. Or reroute their lives. You know, so they're not using as much energy. And particularly gasoline. But also, on a global stage. Obviously, the prices are going through the roof, as we know in Europe. Completely self-inflicted.

But, you know, again, they're having to make those same choices. And then China, as we've discussed previously. Is having its own issues. And particularly, with parts of that country, being under lockdown. And being a top consumer of oil. They weren't using it.

So the demand destruction, is that reason. That big reason, that we had to decrease in oil. And then decrease in gas.

GLENN: So just confirm, this is a good way to look at the words demand instruction. Because you'll hear people to say, what we're looking for is demand destruction in the oil prices. And blah, blah, blah. And, you know, it just kind of goes over people's heads. And I describe it today. Every time you hear demand instruction, put your fame. So Carol Roth, your bank. Your bank account. At let's say Bank of America.

What they're looking for. What they're really looking for, is Carol Roth's bank account at Bank of America to be destroyed. So you don't have the money to go and buy the things. Correct?

Looking to price things so crazy. That you can't -- you can't afford it.

CAROL: Yeah. It's the outgrowth of high prices, that basically Carol Roth says, you know -- I'm looking at my bank account. It's being destroyed.

And there's no way that I can go on that road trip. So I'm just not going to be one of those people in the market, who is purchasing gasoline this month. I'm going to take a reprieve. I'm going to work from home. That's part of the whole story of the Federal Reserve. What they're trying to do to, quote, unquote, slow down the economy. And engineer their -- another big -- you know, kind of financial speak. A soft landing. Trying to quell inflation without tanking the economy.

And that's their tool kit, is all about demand destruction. They don't want the consumer to purchase. They don't want businesses to make investments. And we've already had two quarters of negative growth.

So if they're trying to get the economy to slow down, you know what that means? That means more contraction.

GLENN: Okay. So that's why gas is going down. And that was really the only thing that went down. Right?

We had food prices skyrocketed.

CAROL: Yeah. It's crazy. I saw a stat in there, that food in the house, it was something like they were in the highest levels since the late 1970s. '79, I think. So we have hot numbers in food, in shelter. In medical care services. This isn't like ancillary stuff. This isn't the fancy clothes. This is the stuff that you're -- you know, you need to be able to live your life.

And it was the -- the fact that we thought, maybe -- the lower energy prices would flow through, no pun intended, a little bit more of the economy. But it's just shown that we have a very broad base, in terms of inflation. It's not just coming from that one pocket. It's not just Putin's fault, Glenn.

GLENN: Right.

CAROL: And that is going to take a long time to come back down to normalized levels.

GLENN: So we have something else to add on top of that. And you can call it climate change or just a bad season, or whatever. But I was talking to my aunt, who is like 85 years old, yesterday.

Quite a conversation. I said!

Anyway, she was canning yesterday. And she was like, there have been no peaches. No beans. She said, we planted our bean garden three times. We had a hard time even finding seeds for it.

There is -- we are facing a real crisis just because the crops didn't come through, and that's happening globally. You add to that, all of the other problems. We haven't seen -- we're now just about to get into the time, where we would be using this summer's crops. Correct?

So food prices still have a lot way to -- a long way to go. In the up direction, don't they?

CAROL: They do. And that's part of the issue. Why I'm sort of banging my head against the wall, in terms of these discussion points. Because as we talk about the demand destruction that the fed policy is trying to enact.

Our issue is the broad-based supply issue. And as you mentioned, one of the areas that is undersupplied is food. Part of that, as you mentioned, because of weather events. Some of that because of fertilizer shortages. Some of it is because of by-products from energy that go into dry grains. Some of that, because of, you know, war in Ukraine.

But all of these things happening at the same time, are creating those shortages.

And again, as the consumer decides what to substitute. They may be able to substitute to a lower cost food, but they can't substitute food. And that will continue to be an issue, all across the globe.

GLENN: Well, they can't eat bugs. They're supposed to be very, very tasty.

Okay. Hang on just a second. I want to ask you a couple of things about the fed, and what they're planning on doing. And I'm reading some disturbing things, that I would just like -- talk me down from the tree. We'll do that in 60 seconds.

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(music)
So a couple of things, let's -- let me start with the fed. I am -- I am reading now, that the fed is going to raise the rates again.

But as astonishing as it seems to me, that we are at these historically speaking low rates. And it's going to stop the heart of the economy. They're saying now, the next rate, or rate hike. Or two. Could just put us into a tailspin. Do you believe that?

CAROL: I do. If you go back to Janet Yellen, our, quote, unquote, esteemed Treasury secretary. The one that told us that inflation would be transitory. And that they needed to get information on $600 e-commerce transactions to keep the billionaires in check, Glenn.

She was on -- one of those weekend shows. And she said, basically, that they fed is going need to a great deal of skill. And also, some luck to achieve this soft landing. Trying to bring down inflation, without taking the economy.

Well, we know on the skill side, we know that they don't have the skills. You know, they were behind the curve in terms of raising the rates to begin with. They waited until we were at, you know, historic 40-year highs, before they even started thinking about reversing course.

So obviously, we know that probably is not -- that the skill part of it. The luck part of it isn't on our side either. Because they don't have the right tool set. As we've been talking about this supply side, versus demand side. And the demand destruction. Their tool set, in terms of raising the target interest rate. As well as potentially reducing the assets under balance sheet. Although, I don't know if they'll ever get around to that. That, again, is to destroy demand.

It's just to have the consumer slow purchases. It's to have businesses slow investment. First, they have the government that's working, you know, against them on that. The government policy is spending more. So those two things are at odds. Which makes absolutely no sense.
But the problem we have now, isn't a demand side issue. It's a supply side issue. As we've been talking about, we have brought under supply. So unless the fed knows how to print labor, print food, print oil, print housing, they are not going to be able to solve for that -- for that Delta, that distance between supply and demand without completely slowing the economy to the point that we are in a severe recession. And that is what the market is signaling, both the stock market and the bond market right now.

Is saying, boy, we don't have the confidence, that the fed not only has the tools, but that they aren't going to put us in a worse situation. And on top of that, then you also have the global economy, you know, in tatters as well. Which isn't a lot -- not a lot. So I'm not real bullish on the skill and luck of the fed right now.

GLENN: So I was in -- I was in Italy last week. And just talked to people. Sit at a restaurant or whatever. And we just talk to people. And one of the more disturbing trends that I heard was, you know, that -- that things are getting really bad. And one person described it to me, as the winds of revolution are sweeping Europe.

Because -- and it's fascinating. Everyone knew, it was the same problem, we have here. The elites are going in one direction. And the people are going in another.

The people are saying, give it back to us. And the elites are saying, give it all to us.

And that's not going to last. And I kept hearing things like, we're just going to have to learn to -- that the this year days of having things that you wanted, and easy lives, are over. Can you describe what that means?

That Americans are just going to have to live a different kind of life.

CAROL: Yeah. It's so frustrating. That, you know, we have the leading economy in the world.

And you have all of these first world countries, that really have spent time, using their technology, to help other countries. And to help lift up human flourishing around the globe. I mean, if you think about China, and what we've done in terms of the extreme poverty there.

Lifting out 90 percent of their population, from extreme poverty. Because they were able to trade with us. And basically suck up some of our capitalism into the communist system. You know, that's what we should be doing. We should be taking that leadership, saying that we know how to do things the best way. And we're going to help everybody flourish. Instead, you have these elites, no. You know, we want this to be a third world country. And we want to be in a dictatorship. Where us at the top, have our own set of rules, and have all the power. And you just suffer. And you're going to have to suck it up.

And, unfortunately, there are some people, who will go along with that. Yeah. You know, crisis. We have to do all this together. Kind of what happened with covid. But we should have happened over the past two years. That they don't have our best outcomes.

GLENN: Interest.

CAROL: Yeah. Outcomes at heart. And they will do anything. Lie. Completely do anything they can to get and usurp that power. And we've already seen, you know, smaller amounts of civil unrest, you know, in developed countries. Whether it was the freedom convoy, or in the Netherlands with the farmers. And, you know, you're right. This could end up becoming a much bigger issue. Which, you know, if it changes the tide. You know, in a sense, it may not be the worst outcome. Not that obviously, I ever want to see any sort of violence or unrest. But we need to change the tenor, and the people need to take back common sense and sanity here.

GLENN: So the -- the one thing that kind of makes sense to me. Is -- you know, if you're somebody who wants control of things. You need to control medicine. They do. They need to control education. They do.

But they need to control energy. You know, I'm seeing this happening in Europe because they're ahead of us. And they're all -- people are going to freeze to death, this winter. They will freeze to death. And people did be able to pay their power bill. Which will put the energy companies into distress. And they won't have the money to do it. Because people aren't paying their bills, et cetera, et cetera. And I just think the government will step in and say, they couldn't get it done. This needs to be done by the government. And you could see the West just taking and absorbing all of our energy companies. Do you think that's a possibility?

Because I think it's likely, at least in Europe.

CAROL: I mean, so if you think about the desire to nationalize, control, have sort of a public/private partnership. At least in the US. California is sort of our incubator for that. And they're starting to test that in a lot of different realms. They just put together that fast recovery act. Which is going to be a state council on fast food. So they'll manage the fast food industry.

And, again, that is a step to try to nationalize these industries. I definitely see a place. We've already been hearing from the U.S. and abroad about things like price caps. We have a big problem in Europe, in terms of the way, they have kind of financed themselves, and a potential collapse of, you know, some of the energy companies and utilities out there. So, yes. You're going to have some -- the governments come in with a bailout. And then they may use that as an excuse. Well, we're bailing them out anyway. They can't manage them. We need to take this over. So whether it's food. Whether it's energy.

Whether it's any aspect of our economic freedom. These crisis are their touch points.

And, again, self-inflicted crisis. In order for them to say, we created the problem. But don't look at that. We'll fix that for you.

GLENN: Carol, will you do me a favor? I would like to do a special with just a group of experts, that can tell the average person, what's coming, and how do we deal with it.

I mean, it's so overwhelming to the average person. And I don't think, because people make it so complex. Because it is complex.

But they make it so complex, that they -- they don't even think about breaking it down into smaller bite sizes, that people can understand. So can you find a bunch of people, that you really think get it. That maybe can sit around at a roundtable, and maybe have a conversation about this.

CAROL: Yes. I would love to be honored to. And I will be in touch.

GLENN: Okay. Good. Carol, we'll talk again. Carol Roth. Carol Roth. Make sure you follow her. She's really, really spot-on. You can follow her at CarolRoth.com.

Also, tonight is a special on the energy crisis. And the collapse that is coming for Europe and what it means to America. Not just the explanation. But what we need to do about it. That's tonight. BlazeTV.com.

What Glenn Beck Never Got to Say to Charlie Kirk | Glenn TV | Ep 456

Charlie Kirk would have been president. Political violence robbed him of fulfilling that destiny, so now his friends, colleagues, and supporters throughout the world must figure out how to pick up the pieces and ensure that his legacy never ends. On a special episode of "Glenn TV," Glenn replays the most powerful, touching, and inspirational moments from his time guest-hosting "The Charlie Kirk Show" on Wednesday morning, one week after Charlie’s death. In a touching tribute to his friend, Glenn places Rush Limbaugh’s golden microphone next to Charlie’s — a symbol of Charlie’s longtime dream and the influence he has had throughout the world. Plus, Glenn speaks to "The Charlie Kirk Show" executive producer Andrew Kolvet and Turning Point USA COO Tyler Bowyer about who their dear friend was behind the scenes, the influence he’s had on America and the MAGA movement, and how Charlie’s fingerprints will still be present on future elections. Also, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Glenn discuss how Charlie Kirk helped launched her career, and Research Center Investigative Researcher Ryan Mauro shares how he has the smoking gun President Trump needs to take on George Soros’ network. These are the voices who knew Charlie well, but the number of people he indirectly touched and influenced is spread far and wide. Glenn ends with a beautiful song tribute by David Osmond and Cheyenne Grace, depicting just how mournful the entire world truly is. Rest in peace, Charlie.

Fact-check: The 5 LIES circulating about Charlie Kirk

In the first week after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, some in the media and on the Left have tried to either justify or dismiss his death by spreading lies about what he said. Glenn Beck reviews an article by The Federalist, which debunks the 5 biggest lies.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: We were just talking about the five lies that are going around, about Charlie Kirk.

And it is -- it's reprehensible about what's going on.

Because people who are saying these things. Who are starting these things. They really need -- I mean, they know. They know.

Like Stephen King, really?

You really think that Stephen King.

You really think that Charlie Kirk is for the stoning of gay people?

I --

STU: I do think, though. A lot of these people have an image of everyone on the right, that --

GLENN: But it shows how unbelievably isolated you are.

STU: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Now, king, in particular, I think -- like, I don't think Stephen King was lying on that.

I think he's -- and I don't think he's the sharpest knife in the -- in the drawer.

GLENN: He ought to be. You can't write like he does.

STU: He's not an idiot, right? He can form thoughts. But I think he's so completely isolated in his bubble. Like, if someone says something terrible, about a person like Charlie Kirk, and your image of him is he's basically Hitler.

Well, you don't -- you don't spend time fact-checking it.

Of course, that guy -- he's that terrible human being. Of course, he said something like that. You don't even bother to check it.

You know, it's like, if I -- if you ran into a quote from Hitler, you've never seen, that was negative from Jews. As a journalist, you should probably check it.

You might think. That was probably true. He said a lot of things like that. That's how they think about people who are normal conservatives who want lower taxes and less regulation. And that is really, really disturbing.

So these lies are really prominent. People really believe these things.

GLENN: So there's a couple of -- here are the five. The first one is Charlie Kirk said black people were better off in slavery.

How big of an idiot, do you have to be, to believe that?

Okay?

Unless you're Crockett. Unless your last name is Crockett.

And I don't mean Davey. Black Americans were better off than slavery. No. That's absolutely no true -- not true. He never said anything like that. Now, what he -- what you're probably getting this from, and I'm going -- searching. I am on -- way metal detector on the beach with board shorts, sandals, and socks, looking for anything that even kind of sounds like that. But Charlie Kirk did say that, you know, they were talking about Jim Crow and how evil Jim Crow was. But he said with be, but if you look at the family, the black family before the passage of the civil rights act, which ended the Jim Crow laws, he said, the family was thriving.

And it was!

It was. Blacks had a lower divorce rate than whites did in I think 1961. They -- their families were stronger. Dads were in the homes. They had lower crime rates. I mean, it -- something happened around the time of the Civil Rights Act.

Now, my theory is, the Civil Rights Act was a -- was done by progressives. I mean, these are the guys who said no to the Civil Rights Act, just four years before. And -- and worked hard to stop the Civil Rights Act.

So what changed in those four years?

The assassination of President Kennedy. That changed your mind. Not even. Not even.

I mean, Johnson was the biggest racist up until he -- up until he died. Why would he create the great society?

My theory, this is just a theory. But my theory is, is because finally, the progressives had a way to keep blacks under their thumb and destroy the family. And destroy them, as people.

I mean, the Civil Rights Act, and more the Great Society.

The Great Society did more damage to the black family than -- than anybody could have done outside of Margaret Sanger. I think that's what he meant by that. It was evil.

You know, Jim Crow, et cetera, et cetera.

But if you look at the numbers on specifics, family, et cetera, et cetera. Blacks were doing better as families, before the Great Society.

And I think that undoing is absolutely -- is absolutely tied to it. And it was intentional, myself, I believe that.

Also, the next claim is that -- that Charlie Kirk said, black women have inferior intelligence. No, that's not what he said.

Now, they're quoting him saying that black women don't have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.

How -- how bad does your image have to be of people on the other side to believe that they could say that?

That Charlie Kirk could say that?

STU: Like, if you were to -- you know, I think about this a lot of times. When I think about how we react to crazy statements on the left.

My reaction a lot of times, when I hear someone saying that is wait a minute.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: Even if they believed that, they wouldn't just blurt it out. What is the context of this? I want to know. I want to understand. That should be your first question when you run into a quote like that.

GLENN: Well, go to Snopes. They rate this one true.

STU: This is true.

GLENN: They rate it absolutely true.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Until you get to the last paragraph, when they say, well, we should point out, he wasn't talking about all black women. He was talking about four specific black women.

STU: Oh. Oh.

GLENN: So he's talking about Joy Reid, absolutely true. Sheila Jackson Lee, absolutely true.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson Brown, absolutely true.

STU: Well, she's not a biologist, Glenn.

GLENN: No. She doesn't know what a woman is. I'm not a biologist. Yeah.

And Michelle Obama, which I don't think is true. I think Michelle Obama is actually rather smart and conniving and just flatout evil.

STU: Yeah. There's a mix there. Ketanji Brown Jackson, for all the flaws that would happen. There's a Supreme Court justice, obviously isn't a moron.

GLENN: Well.

STU: I would say Sotomayor, I would be more confident saying she is a moron.

Though, I am -- for the job that she has, Ketanji Brown Jackson is a moron. You know, Joy Reid is a complete idiot. Wasn't Sheila Jackson Lee, those two follow the same category? You're right. Michelle Obama, I would not call an idiot.

Again, criticizing four members of a group does not mean you're criticizing the group.

GLENN: And he was criticizing people he thought were unqualified to make statements of -- of any intelligence on whatever topic it was that he was talking about.

And what they did, is they said, he thinks that all black women are just dumb.

I mean, that is so incredibly dishonest.

Charlie Kirk said, gun deaths are worth it to keep the Second Amendment.

STU: This is one I heard a lot.

This is one that a lot of people on the left are using as justification for their celebration.

He said, you know, well, you just have to deal with the deaths if you want to have a Second Amendment.

And, you know, I don't know if you have the context --

GLENN: I have it -- I have his answer right here.

You ready? You will never live in a society where you have an armed citizenry. And you won't have a single gun death.

That's nonsense.

It's drivel.

But I am -- I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year.

So you can have the Second Amendment right to protect your other God-given rights.

It's a prudent deal. It is rational to think that way.

STU: I mean, and obviously -- every time -- if you have a free society, you take risks with it.

There will always be people. Horrible, horrible human beings that all seem to donate to Democrat causes, that will do things, like we saw one week ago today.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: And that is -- you know, I -- again, you can't speak for Charlie Kirk.

He spoke for himself so eloquently.

But he -- even what occurred last week, would not change his mind on that.

Even -- now that something terrible has happened to me and my family, we should overturn the Second Amendment. And people shouldn't have the right to defend themselves.

You know that's how he would feel about it. And this is, if anything, pointing to his incredible consistency on the rights that we have, in this country. You know, it is a sad -- sad, unfortunate fact about so many things.

Sad, unfortunate fact about automobile travel.

That you do have to deal with some automobile accidents.

When you have highways where you can drive 55, 65, 75 miles an hour, we all understand that to be true.

GLENN: It's unreasonable to think that you can live in a society with automobiles, and not have some automobile accidents.

STU: It's absolutely true.

GLENN: It's exactly what he said about guns.

STU: And, frankly, the other thing that is important to understand, if you did eliminate all guns, you would not eliminate all murders.

GLENN: No. They did in England.

STU: Oh, they did. We're all set?

GLENN: There's no murder there.

STU: No violent crimes there.

I keep reading about them. Is that all false?

GLENN: Yeah. That's Donald Trump. You know what I mean?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And he's -- last one, Charlie used an Asian slur. Now, I'm not going to use the slur, obviously. I'm just going to say, it's what happens sometimes with armor. There's a very famous saying with armor, that has nothing to do with the Chinese or Asian at all. But I'm not even going to put those together in this context now, you you'll have to figure it out.

The thing is going around, he used that slur to yell at an Asian woman in the audience.

Now, again, what kind of monster -- or how --

STU: You should know on its face, that's false. You should know that's false.

GLENN: Yeah. How stupid would Charlie Kirk have to be, okay?

So, you know, there's nothing. There's nothing like that. Well, I'm sorry.

He was screaming something at a woman when they were talking about capitalism, and he was yelling, Cenk, not the other word. Okay? And who is that? From the Young Turks --

STU: The guys from the Young Turks.

GLENN: That's what he was saying.

STU: Oh, gosh, that's just so bad. You know, the other one was the Stephen King situation, where he quoted some horrible thing that Charlie Kirk said.

And, again, he knitted eventually, that -- that it was false.

But it was -- it was -- he was quoting someone else, in an incident, and critiquing that position.

GLENN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

STU: Which was a bad position. But he was bringing it up to quote him and critique him, which is a very standard thing they did on the left. This is a standard tactic of Media Matters when you're quoting someone else or saying something.

They'll act as if I say it.

GLENN: You repeat a lie often enough, and the public will remember it. Glenn Beck is quoting Hitler. Glenn Beck loves Hitler.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Yeah. Hitler said that, but that's not what I was saying. That had nothing to do with the conversation, for the love of Pete.

STU: Yeah, again, if you had something against Charlie Kirk, you wouldn't need to go to this stuff. If our opinion of Kirk, which was a guy who worked hard to debate people.

Who tried to practice politics and civic life the right way. Who tried to be a shining light for his faith, which was vitally important to him and his family. If that vision of Charlie Kirk was false, you wouldn't need to go to these things.

GLENN: No.

STU: You could come up with 50 different things he said that were really offensive. Instead, what you come up with are lies. Because that's what you're in the business of.

GLENN: Yeah. And there is a problem.

The -- we now know. And we'll have more on this later today. On the Charlie Kirk show.

And then on tomorrow.

But we now know that the Chinese and Russia are involved with disinformation campaigns.

Based on Charlie Kirk, trying to get us to push us into Civil War. And we know it for a fact now.

So just be very careful what you read online.

And don't necessarily repeat everything that you see.

The Far-Left Attacks in 2025 Prior to the Assassination of Charlie Kirk

In the aftermath of the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk, it is important to realize that a chilling pattern of far-left radical attacks had already emerged in 2025. Glenn Beck heads to the chalkboard to lay out the timeline, connect the dots, and explain why what looks like a “protest” on one day can turn into an actual attack on the next. Glenn walks through each high-profile incident, the groups and ideologies involved, and the national implications for safety, free speech, and public order.

Watch This FULL Episode of 'Glenn TV' HERE

Glenn Beck warns of dangerous government powers in proposed Charlie Kirk act

President Trump and others have posted in support of a proposed Charlie Kirk Act. But Glenn Beck gives a warning: there are 2 versions of this going around. One, proposed by Sen. Mike Lee, would stop the government from using propaganda against Americans. The other would go further, giving the government dangerous powers over truth. Glenn Beck explains the differences as well as what the Smith-Mundt Act was and why an Obama-era decision may be connected to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. I want you to just spend a couple of minutes with me, and switch everything that you've been thinking on, off for a minute. This is very important. I want to take you back to the world in 1948, okay?

The ashes of World War II are still warm. The Cold War is already beginning to chill in the air, and the Soviet Union has a propaganda machine that is in full swing.

Radio Moscow, Pravda, endless streams of anti-American stories are pouring into the homes of men and women, all across the globe.

And Congress looked at this. And said, we need a counterbalance on this.

America needs to tell her story to the world about liberty and about her finding ideals.

And we need to tell it to the rest of the world.

This is the birth of the Smith-Mundt Act. Okay? We needed to launch things, at that time. Like the Voice of America, and radio-free Europe, and Radio Liberty.

These were not just radio stations. For many who were behind the curtain, these were lifelines.

A Polish dissident in the 1970s or a Hungarian who lived through the 1956 uprising, they'll tell you, they're huddled in the dark, and they have that dial of that radio.

And they can tune it. They carefully tune it, listening to an American voice break through the static and break through the darkness. That says, freedom is real. And the world hasn't forgotten you. They remember that as being very important.

But and here is the key: We, as a society, drew a very bright red line, none of this could ever be used in the United States. Congress rightfully was terrified of unleashing a government propaganda machine on its own citizens. Now, I want you to remember. 1948, Congress is still Democrat.

Okay?

You just had 20 years of the same president, FDR.

They're about to say, no president can serve that long.

The Democrats said, no Democrat president. No Republican president can ever serve that long. Because we were so close to fascism.

So the Democrats are very concerned about the government going fascistic.

And they should know about it. Because they remembered the control commission.

Now, let me take you back to World War I. The Creel Commission is something that nobody remembers, and everyone should.

Because it's what whipped America up in a frenzy, to get us to go into World War I.

You know it, because you remember the I want you Uncle Sam poster. And I've always hated that Uncle Sam poster because of the Creel Commission. I love it. I think it's really beautiful. It was created by an artist, that he didn't create it for the Creel Commission. So, you know, he was innocent. But it was the Creel machine that plastered it on every wall, every post office, every train station.

And suddenly Uncle Sam's finger was pointing at you. It wasn't just a poster. It was a summons. It was you. We need you to go to war. Americans did not want to go to World War I. In fact, Woodrow Wilson said, the other side, he will put you into war. I will keep I out of war. He knew that wasn't true.

Within three months after his reelection, we're at war. But he had to bring the country along. So the Creel Commission, through films and songs, films like the Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin, it turned the -- it turned Germany into a cartoon villain. George Cohan, he wrote songs, over there. Over there.

All of these things were done by the government, as propaganda to get Americans to go over there.

And fight. Then the government went even further. And they started hiring these, what were called Four Minute Men.

Now, imagine this, you're sitting in a movie theater.

The film. You're watching maybe the -- the newsreel. And as they're changing the reels, some guy who just in the audience, stands up, walks to the front. Clears his throat. And he delivers this really well-thought out and rousing four minute speech about patriotism. And liberty.

And crushing Germany.

The government had 75,000 volunteers. They gave millions of speeches, when anybody would pause in churches and schools. In parks.

In theaters. They were called Four Minute Men.

This was social media before social media. They were short bursts. And they seemingly were everywhere, and always on message.

Because the message was crafted by the government. Then the Creel group, through our government, published booklets, official bulletins. They planted stories in the press. This is when we really started really getting into the press, and information was -- had one goal. All of the information. And that was rallies for the -- rally support for the war, and drown out anybody that was disagreeing with that. Okay?

The government actually encouraged kids to spy on their neighbors.

That you were encouraged and post -- post men did this.

To go through the mail, if they saw -- if they saw letters that were coming in. Ask they wanted to know, who it was. And are you a German spy. Are you somebody who is going to be against the war?

Postal workers went through your mail. And it was legal at the time!

You were encouraged, operators were encouraged to listen to people's phone calls, and to report if they were on the other side.

This is Germany.

In fact, because of the Creel Commission, Germans, and what's his name?

The head of the German propaganda, oh, what's his name? The German douche bag. I can't remember his name. Anyway, what was his name?

STU: Goebbels, is that who you're talking about?

GLENN: Goebbels.

STU: Although, I like your name for it, frankly.

GLENN: Yeah. Goebbels, the douche bag.

Anyway, he said, we lost World War I because of American propaganda. But we learned how Americans did it.

And that's what Goebbels did in World War II. All of this propaganda. Okay?

By the way, American advertising, up until World War II, it was called propaganda.

What I heard, I wouldn't have said, now a message from our advertiser.

I was delivering literally and it was cool at the time, to call it propaganda.

Because that's what it was. Paid for propaganda.

Bit after Goebbels took it. And did what he did with it. We were like, oh, propaganda is bad!

Okay?

So here's what -- here's what happened because of the Creel Commission. They were pushing uniformity of thought. They did that by making sure Americans were hearing the same slogans. The same images. The same stories from every direction. Which created the illusion of unanimous consent. I want you to think about life today.

I want you to think about life during COVID.

What was the goal of the government.

To crush any dissent, and to control all of the messages that were going out, to make sure that you were hearing the same slogans, the same images. The same stories from every direction, to give you the illusion that it was unanimous consent.

What about the global warming? It's exactly the same.

Then on top of it, the Creel Commission demonized dissent. Okay? German Americans were part of this country forever.

In fact, we were I think two votes away from making German our official language, as the United States, not English. But they were all of a sudden, branded as traitors.

You couldn't -- a priest went to jail, because he gave the last rites to a German who fell down in front of him on the streets and was dying. And a priest spoke German and gave him the last rites in German. That priest went to jail! Okay??

Okay? So they demonized dissent. Then they suppressed free speech. The propaganda campaign dovetailed with the Espionage Act of 1917. The Sedition Act of 1918. If you criticized the draft, if you questioned the war, you could be fined. You would be ostracized, and you would go to jail.

This is Woodrow Wilson, gang. Does any of it sound familiar?

Now, here's what the aftermath was, after the war. When the war ended, the mask came off. Millions were dead, and Americans felt absolutely duped. They felt that they were tricked into going into a war that they were manipulated into. They didn't even understand it. And that's why we were such isolationists, in the 1920s and our 1930s, because our own government had manipulated the population to go in to fight this war, and they felt so manipulated and so betrayed by their own government. They were like, I don't want anything to do with foreign wars, okay?

So why did this -- why did this happen in 1948?

Well, because in 1948, all of this stuff is happening, and we're saying, okay. We need to have some sort of -- some sort of boundary.

Because we're going to start all of this propaganda, for the United States. And it cannot be ever turned on the people of the United States. Okay?

So then why -- why was it repealed?

It was repealed without any really kind of conversation. Because it was slipped in, called the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act.

It was slipped in to a defense authorization bill. Just like it's happening right now, the government didn't pay its bills.

They couldn't come up with the -- with a way to actually fund everything. Because we have to act as an emergency, otherwise all of our war machine. And it's all going to stop. And the world is going to die. And panic and all of that.

;And so somebody has slipped the bill in. And we modernized it.

Why did we modernize?

Well, because don't you like transparency?

I mean, we're doing this overseas. We're doing this propaganda overseas. Do you know -- taxpayer. You're paying for it. Shouldn't you see it?

There was a Congressman Max Thornberry. He was one of the sponsors. And he said, quote, today the law prevents the American people from seeing or hearing the same things we broadcast overseas, and that doesn't make any sense.

We paid for it. Okay. Then they switched that from transparency to, and it's helping fight terrorism. It will let the Department of Defense and the State Department share counter radicalization material both abroad and at home, because we have to modernize this. The internet is everywhere, okay?
So who doesn't want to fight terrorists? Who doesn't want transparency?

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(music)

GLENN: So in 2012, the left decides, we have to get rid of this propaganda thing.

Okay?

Once the firewall was gone, and it's just a blip, no one even really noticed it. Suddenly, the government agencies could circulate diplomacy campaigns, inside of the United States.

And we saw this. This is where you get your USAID. The NGOs. Doing all the things here in the United States.

Because they can all do it. During COVID, you saw this.

You saw government-funded messaging, quietly merging with the media campaigns and big tech content moderation. Narratives weren't debated. They were handed out by the government. And then they were enforced. Then take the DHS disinformation governance board.

This is a direct descendent from this shift. Okay?

It was the government openly declaring it had a role in policing speech at home.

Look at the 2016 aftermath of the elections. Reports now confirm that the US government funds originally intended for overseas information campaigns that had filtered into domestic projects that fact-checked, flagged, and suppressed certain narratives online. The line between foreign propaganda and domestic persuasion was completely gone. Everything they worried about in 1948, was now happening after 2012. Okay. So why am I bringing this up today?

Because after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we have been asking for this to be reinstated.

This Smith-Mundt Act has to be reinstated. But after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there is a new wave of enthusiasm for this as there should be.

But some people on our side, are now demanding more than just a firewall.

You go to change.org. And there's petitions for a Charlie Kirk act.

And it will not only stop government propaganda. But it goes further than that. It starts to punish private media. Educators. Social media platforms. For spreading what they call false narratives. So this is -- this is our side saying, yeah, well, now we want the power to do what they did. Okay? Hear me clearly.

Accountability matters! Lives are destroyed, reputations are smeared. And that matters.

But we have systems in place for that.

What this proposal opens is a new door. A terror where government decides, what is and isn't falsehood.

And the government cannot do that. History teaches us. Once the government claims the authority to define truth.

Liberty is gone. Okay?

Now, enter Mike Lee.

Mike Lee has another proposal. Mike Lee has a version. That he is submitting to Congress. And trying to get it passed. And every American should be for this.

Right or left.

Every American should be for this. He's not going to reinvent the wheel. He just wants the old firewall put back. That's it.

Period.

The government must not, and cannot propagandize its own people. Restore the very bright red line that was attacked in 1948.

It's not about silencing speech. It's about preventing the most powerful institution on earth, with the endless resources of that institution, the government.

And the endless reach, from turning its firehose of influence in on the American people.

This is why it matters. I want you to think of -- I want you to think of football.

Oh, boy. Dangerous.

You wouldn't let the referee this a football game, put on a jersey, and join one of the teams. Okay?

But that's what the repeal did. It let the government be both the referee and the player in the arena of ideas. Mike Lee is saying, put the stripes back on their jerseys. Make sure they're in black and white stripes. So we know exactly who they are!

Change.org and some people on our side want to make the ref not only a player, but the judge, the jury, and the executioner. It cannot happen.

This is -- I'm telling you, if this goes through, Mike Lee is proposing something that is clean. Doesn't have any of this in.

So support the Mike Lee Mundt Act. But if you're hearing people talk about, we have to go further, that is the Patriot Act of our day. We're standing at a fork in the road.

Reinstating the Smith-Mundt protections. They're not going to solve all the problems of misinformation, but it reestablishes the ground rules. And tells Washington, you cannot propagandize us, period.
(music)

Once truth belongs to the state, truth itself ceases to exist. Support Mike Lee's bill.

Restore the Smith-Mundt Act.