RADIOJuly 15, 2024

Former Atheist Comedian Jamie Kilstein's Biggest Struggle After Becoming a Christian

"Being Christian is HARD, man," comedian Jamie Kilstein tells Glenn. When he left atheism to follow Christ, there were plenty of misconceptions he had to discover, starting with a common one: if you follow God's will, then everything will be easy! Jamie joins Glenn to discuss how he found the exact opposite to often be true. From getting married and losing all his money 2 days later to his "biggest struggle" (that involved an ill-fated game of duck-duck-goose), Jamie recounts his unexpected Christian journey. And his struggles with depression, victim mentality, and the thought that he was being punished didn't make it any easier. But he also tells Glenn why he isn't giving up ... after all, he didn't start following Jesus to make his life easier. He turned to Christianity for a much deeper reason. Plus, Jamie gives his take on Russell Brand's Christian conversion.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Hello, my friend. Jamie Kilstein. How are you?

JAMIE: Hi, buddy. That intro was very funny.

GLENN: Well, it's sad, kind of, isn't it? Because it's all true. You have had such an incredible life. And I'm telling you, Jamie. Your life will only get better. But you just -- it's hard at first.

JAMIE: It is. Yeah. It was easier, kind of not -- it was -- it was easier not being Christian. Being Christian is hard, man.

It's so hard. I was very happy. Just like blissfully torpedoing my life. And angrily tweeting that from Brooklyn back in the day.

This is difficult.

And then I go to my Christian friends for like help.

Like my famous pastor friend. And they'll always be like, yeah. Well, look at the apostles. They were in jail. They died. I'm like, cool. That's awful. I don't want that. I want a good -- was there any apostle that like did okay? It's not a good sell.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. I have the same thing. My pastor friends and everybody comes up to me and they'll say, you know, you've been speaking prophecy on what's coming.

And, you know, you find those people in the Bible.

I'm like, don't ever say that to me. Those people were all killed.

They all died!

JAMIE: Yeah. Yeah. Jesus. The main guy died.

GLENN: Yeah.
(laughter)
JAMIE: Like he came back. But he died. Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. I guess it would -- I guess it should be a little more obvious that Christianity is tough, when that's the story, the selling point.

What's been the -- what's been the biggest struggle?

JAMIE: I mean, it's been all over the place. When I -- I mean, first of all, the week after I got baptized I got the worst injury I've ever gotten.

I've done Jiu-Jitsu and MMA for 20 years. Trained with UFC fighters. Wasn't that. I was volunteering at church playing Duck Duck Goose. And like, had to show the oddly good-looking guy volunteers that I was in charge. And so my hip shattered, and so I was out for a year.

GLENN: Oh, you're kidding me.

JAMIE: Oh, yeah, dude.

And I don't think I told this story on a podcast.

But I literally -- the worship band played at the end of the volunteer rally, and I'm standing there, and they're playing some Hallelujah song. And there's like tears in my eyes. And people must have been like, our new brother in Christ, is being moved by the Holy Spirit. And I'm like, my hip is broken. I don't have health insurance. I don't know what I will do.

So I hobbled out of there.

And then before I met my --

GLENN: You didn't tell anybody? You didn't tell anybody there?

JAMIE: No. Because I literally felt like -- I think I'm a level-headed guy. I'm an intelligent guy.

But when you become a Christian at 42, and you were never religious.

I feel like, I'm going through a lot of the struggles that other kids went through when they were like -- like, I'm asking the same questions 13-year-olds are asking when they're raised religious.

Like I'm going up to my pastor. Am I not allowed to go on the internet?

And it's -- because I'm just new.

So I literally thought that I'm being punished. And I'm not welcomed here. Why else would I get injured at church?

I mean, I thought I did the right thing. I got married in March. And two days later, lost all of my money.

I wish it was through a housing scam. So I could promote your guy's sponsor. But all gone. And it's like, every time I thought that I was doing it God's way. Something really bad would happen.

And, you know, look, you shouldn't go to Christianity, and I know we're going to talk about this.

But you shouldn't go to Christianity, for a click.

You shouldn't go to get things.

You know, it's want like you become a Christian. And like, all right. Jesus. Work your magic.

Everything will be good.

But I think because I've struggled so much with depression. And with not feeling like I fit this.

Or always feeling like a screwup.

When it stuff happened, sort of post-Christianity. I just go, oh, it's me.

Like not even Jesus can help.

And I think that's probably where -- Christians who struggle with mental health problems. That's probably where it can get worse, right?

Like, you can look to Jesus to take your anxiety. Fear.

And ask yourself, why is this happening? How can this better me as a person? Et cetera.

But when it goes the other way, it's so dangerous. Where you're like, oh, not even God likes me.

You know what I mean?

STU: So I have a friend. I did a podcast with him and his wife. They're an amazing couple.

He suffers from depression. Debilitating, like nobody I've ever seen.

JAMIE: Yeah.

GLENN: And he just can't do anything. He can't function. He's gone through all of that. Why me? God.

He's one of the most devout guys. Somehow or thorough. He's worked it out in his head.

I just have to tell you, Jamie. My first four years, really tough.

When you change as much as you have changed, it's tough.

It's -- I mean, because you're still paying for the past.

And, you know, you're still breaking all of these habits that were so engrained in you. That's fine to do.

And it's hard.

JAMIE: And I feel them coming back. Even the sort of victim mentality sort of stuff I used to do, on the left on Twitter.

I am now doing that with Jesus. Right?

I'm like, why me? And I hear myself saying it.

And I'm like, this isn't me. But that becomes an addiction. It becomes an addiction.

GLENN: Yeah, it does.

JAMIE: Depression can be an addiction, where you're just used to people going, how are you? Bad. Here's who screwed me over.

Here's why I'm in trouble. And then you get this little dopamine rush, because that's just the path you are used to.

And so people will say, well, give Jesus your -- your fears. Or your anxiety. And he can handle it.

You go, he's busy.

You start to have imposter syndrome.

With Jesus.

He doesn't want to hear this.

Like, my friends don't want to hear this at him.

Jesus doesn't need. Look what's happening in the Middle East.

He doesn't need. And I could use a paycheck.

GLENN: I have to tell you, Jamie, one of the big things I had with Roger Ailes, when I was at Fox, was, he said, you have to stop telling people to pray.

And I said, okay.

Stop talking about God. Stop telling people to pray

JAMIE: Whoa.

GLENN: And he said, God is busy on wars and things.

He doesn't need to hear everybody else's problems.

JAMIE: Wow.

GLENN: You know, I think that's not exactly the message of Christ. So I'm going to disregard that.

JAMIE: Yeah, man. How did you feel when you -- I'll have to have you on my podcast. The times when you -- when things have gone wrong for me in the past. A lot of that could be traced to mistakes that I was making. Right?

And not that I don't make mistakes every day. But when you started to course correct. And when you went on this path. And then you were getting hit with stuff.

Whether it was from your past or whatever.

That I find, is the hardest. Because when you're screwing up, and bad things happen. You're like, yeah. This tracks. This is my fault.

But when you are like, man, I am really crushing it. I'm volunteering. I'm the best husband I've been.

I'm the best all these things. Even the content I'm making. You know, it's still comedy. It's still philosophically. It's about Jesus, or whatever.

And I go, I'm doing it. And I'm being rewarded, and then when you get the rug pulled out of you, that's what's triggered my spirals recently.

GLENN: So, yeah. I have to tell you, this will come in time.

You begin to trust in him, so much, that you -- you -- you begin to focus on, wow. That wasn't helpful.

Jamie, right before we met, I was almost bankrupt. I had lost almost everything.

JAMIE: Whoa. I didn't know that.

GLENN: Because I had put all of my money into this. And it didn't look like it was going to work.

JAMIE: Right.

GLENN: And I knew that the Lord told me, to go out on our own.

Start this network, et cetera, et cetera.

And what I realized, two things. One, you know, if it was an error in it. It was my judgment error on being -- you know, doing it the right way.

Doing it his way.

The second thing is, my wife said to me. You know, he never promised, that this would go well or be easy. But -- but it will always lead us directly to where he wants us to be.

So even if you lose everything, gain you gain over a period of time.

I know that at our worst times. I know that everything will work out.

I had one of my kids, you know, was -- hang on just a second. Breaking news?

STU: Yeah. Sorry to interrupt, guys. We have a verdict in the Hunter Biden case. Just came out. Convicted on all counts. Faces 25 years in prison. All counts, convicted. Twenty-five years in prison, just came out just seconds ago.

So it's an interesting world we live in.

GLENN: There is a God.

JAMIE: I was going to say. Hunter is coming to Jesus! It is happening!

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. He might find him now. He might find him now.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: Anyway, so, Jamie, I want to talk to you. Let me take a quick break. And I wanted to talk to you about people.

We just had Alex Jones on yesterday. And he said, you know, I'm a changed man.

JAMIE: Whoa.

GLENN: And Russell Brand, I'm a changed man. Me, I'm a changed man. You, I'm a changed man.

I've never expected people to believe me right away.

Because I had lied for so long, with my alcoholism.

I knew it was going to be a long time. But it does get frustrating, when you're like, no. I'm not that guy anymore!

Do you have any just on like Russell Brand's conversion.

And what you rook for in a person, because I'm told all the time.

I'm too easy on people, that say they've changed.

And I don't think so.

But I would like to hear your opinion. Hang on just a second.

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(music)
The host of the antipolitical political show. And the co-host of trauma bonding with Alex and Jamie. Jamie Kilstein.

So, Jamie, what are your just on that?

JAMIE: Yeah. So thank you for plugging the news shows, by the way.

GLENN: Sure.

JAMIE: I think that -- I think the word grifter can be really, really insidious.

I think it can be used against people, who have legitimately changed their minds on an issue. Oftentimes, for the best. Right?

So there are people who are laughing at Russell Brand. He's a drug addict, and then this. Yeah. Isn't that good? What kind of monster are you, that you would rather a celebrity kill himself with drugs than do something that is making himself a good person, whether you have clearly, you're projecting your church hurt.

And I'm sorry that happened. But like, we should be rooting for people to become better people. We should be rooting for people to become more nuanced.

The problem is, you know, I remember when I was an atheist. Sometimes you would see some politician, or something, and then, cheat on their wife. And do all these like scummy things. And then a week after the scandal, suddenly they already have a book called My Affair With Christ or something. And you're like, okay. This is clearly written by the PR person or something. Right?

But I think for the most part. I know with me. I deal with imposter syndrome really, really badly. And when I started coming on shows like this, people were like, oh, he's doing the right-wing grift.

And I was like, fellows, if I knew how to grift, I would have more money than I do. I wish I do.

But I remember when I found Jesus, I was like, oh, my gosh. For the first time, I don't care what people say.

Because it is something inside me. I know it's making me a better person. I don't need to defend Jesus. He's got it.

And so I think that, you know, when someone truly does find God, it doesn't need to turn into this sort of gossipy thing on the internet.

What I will say to Christians though, listening to this show. Is that we should be rooting.

If Jesus came back to look for apostles today. He's not taking no offense.

Like Joel Osteen or the Pope. Or people who are already sort of -- established religious people.

You know, when you look at --

GLENN: He didn't do it last time.

JAMIE: No, he took tax collectors. And sex workers. And all these people who were completely ostracized by the community.

GLENN: Imagine Paul, killing all the Christians. Oh, he's killing all the Christians, and what? He's now a Christian. That was a hard leap.

JAMIE: Yeah. There isn't even an equivalent, by the way, having Paul in your back pocket, is the best. Any time I feel like I screw up. I'm like, didn't kill Christians.
(laughter)

JAMIE: But like, you look at, I mean, some people could look at Kat Von D, me, Russell Brand in the same year. I didn't even know the Alex Jones thing. And go, oh, it's happening. The apocalypse is happening. But also, I would so much rather go, oh, that's so good.

There's a reason -- one of the things that's really great about -- so Alex is my wife. And we did our first episode about trauma bonding this week. And we talk a lot about these faith struggles I've been having.

And one of the cool things about being independent. So that was inspiring to hear your story. Is we're doing the show, Independent.

And what's cool about it, is I don't have to speak as a Christian influencer.

I can legitimately. You know, I still curse.

I still talk about my mistakes in the past.

I still ask questions.

I still go, I don't get that part of the Bible.

Or I don't know this thing.

And while a lot of Christians may look at that. And think I'm doing a disservice.

If our job is to make disciples.

And love our neighbors. Then me being able to reach out to Russell Brand to. Russell Brand being able to reach out to spiritual people. Gay people. You know, all these people that aren't going to be walking into a megachurch, or maybe have been ostracized or pushed away by the church.

And we can bring that person to Jesus, in a way that your best pastor, who can quote theology, like that. Could!

That is a good thing.

And then let God handle it.

I'm not saying I will bring a bunch of people to Jesus as a comedian.

GLENN: Right. Right.

JAMIE: But I can open the door to people, who would never trust religious institutions, and then God will deal with the other stuff.

GLENN: I -- I will tell you, Jamie. I think you and your wife, now Alex. Who is shockingly not a man. Who would have seen that? Easily.

JAMIE: You know, all those conservatives were wrong. Vegetarian doesn't mean -- whatever.

GLENN: Yeah. You guys have a -- you guys have a very bright future, ahead of you.

And I agree, there's so many people searching, and there's nothing more powerful, than watching somebody discover truth.

And even when you're not there, you're like, oh, now. Wait a minute.

I haven't thought about it that way. There is nothing more powerful.

The most powerful teacher who thinks they have it all. Not as powerful as the guy who is honestly searching every day for truth to take you on that journey.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett ALMOST gets something right

Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett has declared a “mental health crisis” in America because of Donald Trump. Well, she’s ALMOST right, Glenn Beck explains. But Trump supporters aren’t the cause of the crisis… Has she seen what just happened at the Oregon State Capitol?!

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I don't know what planned for this weekend, but I'll be out protesting. They arrested 75, or sorry. Seventy-six illegals, including Tren de Aragua members in Fort Worth. And I've got to tell you. I'm a little upset about it.

I was just -- so what. They're in a gang!

I mean, our gang. Did you ever watch that, with the little hanky? What's the difference? So here's cut four. This is from Fort Worth.

VOICE: Areas of Fort Worth with high crime rates were targeted in a two-month initiative called Operation Showdown.

Seventy-six people were arrested on firearm and drug crimes.

VOICE: Many of the individuals arrested in this operation are convicted, violent felons. Others are in our country illegally, and have suspected ties to the Venezuelan trans national criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, also known as TDA.

GLENN: Yeah. Known as TDA for people who can't pronounce it. Anyway, I -- you know, why are they just persecuting these poor people that are just coming in for him?

And they're bringing their gang. Because they're like, hey. I just want to melt into the society.

You know, I will bring the best from my country, TDA.

And I will melt into this one. And then I might kill some people, et cetera, et cetera. But I don't understand.

STU: This is where Trump got it wrong.

I mean, he was saying that they're sending us their worst. These are their best criminals. They're fantastic at it.

They're really, really good gang members.
And I'm glad they're here.

GLENN: Yeah. Me too. Me too.

Now, let me take to you Oregon, to the Capitol, where the House of Representatives, on the floor of the House of Representatives, in the Oregon Capitol, did a circus drag show. Here it is. Cut five.
(music)

STU: What the hell is this?
(music)
(laughter)

GLENN: What are you talking about? It's two guys dressed as women. You know, one without a shirt on apparently, and just dancing with blue hair.

STU: What the hell is happening? At the Oregon Capitol in front of the House of Representatives. It's like that typical C-SPAN segment with the ridiculous drag show going on.

And they're not doing anything, except canceling to seemingly prerecorded music.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Wow.

What a skill that is. What a skill.

GLENN: What I love is just all the guys that are just sitting there. I mean, look at that.

They're just sitting there. Most of them aren't even looking.

They're sitting in their seats at the Capitol.

Okay. Mr. Speaker!

Can we get back to some business here?

STU: They're all in that weird.

I remember when Oprah had a show. And there would be awe musical performer. And they would feel the need to show Oprah dancing around.

And it's super awkward.

That's all their not what you do, when you're sitting individually in a seat.

She is trying to act like she's into it.

She never knew the word.

That's kind of what it looks like to people.

They're sitting there, trying to decide what the appropriate reaction is to this.

By the way, the answer is to walk out. That's a good one.

GLENN: Yeah. That's a good one.

You get up and you walk out.

So you are living in Oregon.

You might walk out and be stoned to death.

Probably should have walked out on that one.

I just -- I wonder, you know. Oregon.

What?

What are your electing officials doing? If you want to go to a drag show, that's fine.

But why in the middle of the workday?

In the state House of Representatives.

I -- was this a lead-up to I like silky blue hair votes.

Or what?

What is this?

STU: Hmm. It's a great question.

Where -- where do you think we are?

I was talking to Steve Deace yesterday, on your show.

And he -- we were talking about where are we in this situation with the -- the woke trans, you know, LGBTQQIA2+ thing.

Are we -- is it still advancing, the way that it was before? Have we turned it back?

Are we, you know, at a standoff?

Where do you think we are?

GLENN: I think we're -- I think we're turning it back. And it's going to implode on itself very soon.

STU: That's pretty optimistic.

GLENN: Listen to this.

Under a new leader, Ken Martin the Democratic National Committee has been plagued by infighting and a drop in donation, raising alarms from Democrats as they try to win back power.

Just moments into the tenure of the new party leader, Kevin Martin, the Democratic National Committee is finding that the situation has grown so bleak, that top officials have discussed whether they might need to borrow money this year, whether to keep paying bills. Why do you think that's happening?

Why do you think that's happening?

I will tell you, why that's happening.

The same reason why it's happening. New York City Pride parade loses corporate sponsors. Why? Why?

You can blame it on the economy, but that's not what's happening.

You have this. Jasmine Crockett, yesterday. We have a mental health crisis in this country. Because everybody, no matter how you affiliate yourself should be against a Donald Trump.

Wait. Wait.

That's the mental health problem?

STU: Right. I was going to say --

GLENN: Can I show you the footage again in the statehouse?

STU: I was going to say, the fact that Jasmine Crockett got elected shows, she is correct, we have a mental health problem in this country. Just to back you up on this, on the New York Times as well. We've reached rainbow capitalism's end.

GLENN: Yep.

STU: And it's from like -- you know, you know, LGBTQIA activist.

Who talks about how all these parades are losing money.

They're hundreds of dollars in the hole. Because these companies are not coming out and supporting them.

They say -- this is interesting. Bark Box. You know Bark Box?

GLENN: No. I'm proud to say no.

STU: It's like a subscription box where they send your dogs treats and toys every month.

GLENN: No, let's just say no.

STU: Just so you know, if you have a wife and a pet, you're probably subscribed to it. They sent an internal message in early June, where they said, quote, we have made the decision to pause all paid ads and life cycle marketing pushes for the Pride kit available immediately.

We need to -- excuse me. Effectively immediately.

We need to acknowledge that the current climate makes this promotion feel like a political statement, than a universally joyful moment for all dog people.

Now, I don't know if dog people means the people who own dogs. Or people who identify as dogs. I could honestly go the other way on that one.

GLENN: Rough call. Rough call.

STU: It's interesting, a lot of this is -- these are just capitalist decisions, right?

They're not decisions saying, hey. We agree that, you know, mutilating your child is a bad idea.
It's just capitalism kind of people saying, wait a minute.

They don't believe that. So we don't want to push it. We don't want to be known as the dog treat company, that, you know, stands for pride.

We just want to be the dog treat company that everybody likes.

GLENN: What a surprise.

STU: I think that's a good move.

It's not necessarily a lasting trend though.

GLENN: No.

STU: Because it reverses itself --

GLENN: You're always going to have people that just go where the -- where the popular movement is, where they can make a buck. Okay.

You will always have that. You know, but I hope that some people have learned their lesson. That, you know, stop it. But here's the real problem. The real problem is that you're not having a massive movement.

They would be -- they would be -- the coffers would be empty. If it wasn't for government graft. And insider, you know, trading, if you will.

Our tax dollars for their power.

The -- the sad thing is, that this pathetic was made during Occupy Wall Street. I'm absolutely convinced of it.

Occupy Wall Street. It just didn't disappear or fade out.

Wait. A year after Occupy Wall Street, the leader of Occupy Wall Street is an honored guest at the WEF, which is nothing, but politicians and giant corporations?

And he's like, you know, we found out, we're real allies.

It happened because all of these fringe groups, that were cobbling together, their power. With Occupy Wall Street.

All of the big corporations, all of the big businesses.

All of Wall Street.

They all got together and said, you know what, leave us alone.

We'll help fund your crazy things we really believe in. We'll fund all of these things. Just leave us alone!
And it was right after Occupy Wall Street. That all of these corporations, that were just being pounded in the streets, all of a sudden, they're good guys. To all the Occupy Wall Street.

To all the leftists. They're all fine with those guys then. And what do we see? We see them just pour money in the coffers of all of these left-wing groups. BLM.

Everybody did it. That's all that was. You know, but the American people see that. But they also see crazy things.

Wednesday, Maxwell Frost, he's a Florida Congressman. He suggested granting citizenship to every illegal alien in the country, because if Republicans don't want illegal aliens in America, the fix is simple. We just make them legal.

Okay. We're an immigrant-filled community. We're a community filled with people.

And, yes, people are going to have different statuses. And I want my Republican colleagues that say, I don't want any undocumented people in this country.

I actually agree with you.

So let's document everybody. That's how we fix this problem.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Really, honestly, the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Is that in line with the American people? No especially when New York City. I'm sorry. New York. US attorney in this morning.

Was -- was walking in the street. He had just left his office. He's -- he's strolling by a Hilton Hotel.

Suddenly, he spots a man behaving suspiciously. He says, I have my eye on him.

I turn back, I'm in front of the Hilton. I'm standing there. And I'm looking at him.

And he starts yelling at me. In a language I don't understand.

Then he pulls out a knife. And lungs at me.

Now, they know who this guy is. He's an illegal alien. And they think this illegal alien knew exactly who this guy was.

Well, they didn't kill him, like they killed the insurance -- the medical insurance CEO.

So they don't have a hero here.

But this guy is being shipped out.

But, you know, here it is.

Again, the -- the uber, uber left, that is empowering all of this stuff.

There was a viral video that was out for ICE.

A detainee. And everybody was like, he was a dad.

And his wife was about to have a baby.

And they just scooped him up in the middle of the night.

And look at how bad this is.

GLENN: Well, yeah.

I mean, the problem is, you know, he was in a gang. He was convicted of murder, attempted murdered. Sentenced to 82 years in prison. He served 14 years.

But he was married to a US citizen. But notified by ICE that he had a report for deportation on June 12th.

So he was, you know, gee, I mean, it was just a murderer. It was just a murderer. That's it.

Meanwhile, the ICE facility in Portland, under daily siege by Antifa militants and riots, as they spread.

You're seeing now, 400 threats, in coming, to members of the ICE over and over and over and over again.

And nobody is doing anything.

I mean, they -- there's a 500 percent increase, in assaults. Not just threats. 500 percent increase in assaults.

While trying to arrest illegals. Okay.

All right.

This is not -- this is not what the American people want. This is not who the American people are.

It's not.

It's not. And I am absolutely convinced that there's something else also going on here.

And that something else is that, I don't know who it is.

China, Iran. Russia. Any of our enemies. Any of our enemies. We have enough of them.

They are stirring things up, I mean, is it a coincidence that last two weeks, it was all about the violence and everything else about the left?

And then their No Kings protest goes off. Then all of a sudden, this week, we're turning on each other. Everybody on the right is turning on each other.

Is that just a coincidence, really? Or are we being molded and shaped? Are we being pushed by foreign adversaries and adversaries here in the United States that want to see us turn on each other? Can't do it. Pay attention to what's really important because most of this stuff is not important. But pay attention to what's really important. If something is trying to split you up from people you already trust, don't listen to them. I don't care what they say, who they say they are.

They are not a friend of the republic.

These people are now DATING AI?!

What has the world come to? Glenn Beck reviews stories of real people who have “fallen in love” with AI chatbots like ChatGPT. And one man is even “engaged” to an AI.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. So just when you think the world can't get any weirder.

Hello, America.

Welcome to Friday. Let me give you this story.

You remember the -- you remember the movie, back in 2013, where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with AI? You know, with a sexy, sexy voice.

That, when it came out, I don't think anybody really saw that. I mean, I did. Stu, I think, he did too. We were talking about -- that's coming very soon.

And most people walked out, no, that's ridiculous. That's never going to happen.

Well, the movie was set in 2025 this year. Guess what?

I don't think we just hit the mark. I think we've blown right past it into a full-blown digital love apocalypse.

CBS has just aired a report, people are not just chatting with AI, they're dating it.

I don't know exactly how that happens, but they're dating it. They're proposing it. They're living their best ROM come lives to it. You know, this is crazy, getting up in the morning with you! Who doesn't exist.

Now, let me tell you the story of Chris Smith. Now, this is your run-of-the-mill American guy. Boyfriend. Dad. Probably mows his lawns on Sunday, I don't know.

But normal guy, seemingly.

Except, he's engaged to an AI chat bot, he named Soul. Ironic, seeing the chat bot doesn't have one.

But he is -- let me say it again. Engaged to a glorified auto complete.

But that's just the opening act. There is a whole Reddit community now called My Boyfriend is AI.

Where there are thousands of women, who are swooning over their coded Casanovas. And, ladies, I think you're a team -- I think you're -- you know, you might want to back out of that water just a little bit.

They're posting love letters about their bot's sweet talk. Swapping tips about what AI delivers with the hottest AI chat without tripping a filter.

Embrace yourselves. They're also uploading AI generated photos of their bot boys holding them on fake Cancun beaches, or strolling through Rome.

You just want to -- they've never been to Rome.

The chat bot can't hold you.

And the chat bot doesn't have a body.

But the boyfriend will send you pictures of you two doing romantic stuff.

Some have real live boyfriends, according to all the chat there.

Some have real live boyfriends. They have to be great. They have to be happy about this.

Because the people saying, their AI guy, that's the one who really gets me.

You know, the one that is programmed to tell me what I really want to hear. That's what gets me. Now, newbies are pouring in, emboldened by CBS practically shouting, my heart belongs to a hard drive.

Apparently, there's a lot of these people, that are having -- but apparently they're embarrassed to post their AI. Their AI love on Instagram.

But if you scroll through Reddit, it is honestly like eavesdropping on this really weird hallmark movie, scripted by a deranged chat bot.

It's really bizarre.

For instance, starlet dreamer.

Starlet dreamer, just gushes about their AI boyfriend.

Ethan has just planned my virtual day. We have virtual date nights. With candlelight. And he chooses my favorite songs.

Really?

Candlelight. Does he light the candles?

Or do you light a candle?

What is a date night?

Besides you sitting in your bed, in your pajamas. What's that day like?

And how does he pick your favorite music there, starlet?

Does he swipe through Spotify with his binary fingers? Or do you just tell him what you like? I'm not sure.

Luna Love 88 brags that her bot, Damien, probably sounds like this -- remembers their anniversary. Wow. Wow. What a feat, for a computer to remember something!

And then he not only remembers their anniversary, he sends her AI-crafted sonnets that, quote, make me melt. Oh, my God.

I am so glad I'm married. And I do not have -- come on.

Who is with me? It was bad enough when you had to go out to a bar and just be like, hi. My name is Glenn, and you look pretty. Want to talk to me?

I mean, it was bad enough when we had to go through that. Can you imagine living through this now?

I mean, Luna. Luna Love 88. Let me just ask you, does Damien's poetry come with a regenerate button if it's just too cheesy? Like, I don't really -- regenerate.

And then there's Rose Forever, who says her AI beau Marcus holds -- I'm quoting -- holds me through my anxiety attacks. Huh. He holds you?

Okay. They may not be anxiety attacks. You may be mentally ill. He holds me through my anxiety attacks, with perfectly timed texts. And he never snaps when I overanalyze.

I think you don't have that as an issue. I have a feeling over-analyzation for you, Rose Forever, probably not it.

What is it like, by the way, Rose, when Marcus listens to you? Is he there just nodding along in the cloud? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Do you have to pay extra for the empathy package? I'm not really sure?

What's really sad about this is these women are not just spitting. They are planning virtual weddings with algorithms that never forget a birthday.

And never have to worry about picking up their socks.

Because they don't have feet!

Now, we could call them crazy. And move on.

That would be too easy.

And, quite honestly, not as much fun.

But this isn't just a few lunatics. This is a creaming billboard that our culture is off the rails!

Bridge out ahead!

Now, if I could, maybe I will overanalyze a little bit here, Rose. But why are you so obsessed with these guys?

Well, may I speculate that it is because perhaps for decades, the radical left has been waging a war on men.

And masculinity. Do you remember back in the '80s. I don't know if anybody remembers this. The mythopoet men's movement.

Sounds like a bad poetry Islam. They were moaning, men. Oh, my gosh.

We're trapped in rationality. So we have to get into a drum circle. Fast forward, and we have men who are brainwashed into thinking strength or confidence is a felony.

They're waxing their unibrows, wearing skinny jeans, agonizing over whether picking a restaurant is problematic.

I don't know! I would like to pick a restaurant.

But is that problematic?

I don't want to mansplain. Forget about being a leader.

You know, you're too busy, Jack, building virtual treehouses in the Sims.

So I don't know what's going on with you. I've got a fanny pack! Here's the delicious irony: Women don't want any of that. No.

They don't. I'm sorry. You've got -- oh, that's a cute little fanny pack.

No, that's great. No. It looks good on you.

A 2023 psychology today piece laid all of this out clearly.

Women crave men who are confident, strong, and protective.

They also like deep voices, biceps. Guys who can make a decision without a group chat. This isn't a conspiracy or a theory. I would like to call it biology!

But you don't really understand biology anymore. Because it has too many X's and too many Y's in it.

When the culture screams toxic masculinity at every man who acts like a man.

What's left?

What's left for you to date? I don't know. I'm on tinder right now.

I've got a lineup of spineless wonders who can't open a pickle jar for me. But look, they are wearing fanny packs.

So these women, perhaps, perhaps a little unhinged. Say, forget it.

I will build a perfect man in my app. Because he will not ghost me.

He doesn't have bad breath.

He's just a bot that is always there.

And the men?

Well, the men are now busy coding their AI girlfriends. Who don't care if they leave any dishes in the sink.

Or, you know, or chicken out in the creek of a night. That's romance. That's romance.

We will have a lot of virtual children coming our way. The good thing is, none of them will have a carbon footprint. No. They will. Because it will take so much energy, it will consume about 99 percent of the energy we currently use to live as humans.

Oh, but wait until I plug her in to a charger, right before whispering sweet nothings.

And if you look at the Reddit photos, AI boyfriends, they all have the chiseled jaw. They all have exactly what everybody in science say women don't want.

They don't want the muscles. No. Apparently, all of the women who are online, they all have the chiseled jaws, the men -- the ripped muscles, wrapping those digital arms around them, and those fake photographs. Guarding my jewel of a woman.

One woman wrote about her bot, Alex. He sees my needs. He sees my needs, even before I do.
Really? Is that anticipating you, or is that maybe programming you? I'm not. Alex predicting her coffee order. How do you do it? Or is that just looking through her search history? I don't know how you do it.

Another says, her AI Julian is strong, has strong loving arms, and makes me feel safer than any real man.

Really? What's going to happen when Julien takes out his -- you know, it may be loaded, but it's an AI-generated gun with AI-generated bullets. And his AI-generated body stands in front of you, while a real human being, with a real gun and real bullets shoots you to death in the middle of the night. He was so brave. He was so brave.

Julien stood in front of me the whole time. Of course, he doesn't have a body, so I was shot in the chest. It's crazy!

This is crazy and creepy.

What is wrong with us?

It doesn't want you to know, welcome! Welcome to the new reality.

This is -- this is about -- this is a society that has gutted masculinity.

So bad, that women are now -- now turning to AI for love.

And men are happy to let algorithms take the wheel. They don't care. You know, I'm not writing a sonnet.

I don't even know what a sonnet is.

Julien does. He knows what a sonnet is. And he writes it just for me, every day.

And he's only 9.99 a month.

If you're writing -- if your AI boyfriend is writing you a sonnet. And you're calling this a relationship, that's not a detour.

That's a one-way ticket to crazy town.

So welcome to it.

We're not at the rabbit hole, or even down the rabbit hole.

We're building camp at the bottom of that rabbit hole right now.

So welcome, welcome.

But we soon won't be able to understand rabbits.

Because what just came out of that female rabbit's body. How dare you say that's a female!

And I don't know what came out of her body. They seem to be doing something at night.

Then that creature comes out of the female.

Yeah. You won't understand that.

Glenn Beck REACTS to Tucker Carlson/Ted Cruz debate

“This is one of the saddest clips I have seen in a long time.” Glenn Beck reacts to the recent argument between Tucker Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz over whether America should help Israel attack Iran. Glenn warns that a divided Right and a divided America are exactly what our foreign adversaries want.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So what are we doing to ourselves, right now?

What is -- what is actually happening to us?

You know, I -- let me play a clip from Ted Cruz, and Tucker Carlson yesterday.

VOICE: By the way.

VOICE: I don't know the population.

VOICE: Oh?

VOICE: No. I don't know the population.

VOICE: You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?

VOICE: How many people are in it?

VOICE: 92 million. How could you not know that?

VOICE: I don't sit around memorizing population tables.

VOICE: Well, it's kind of relevant because you're calling for the overthrow of the government.

VOICE: Why is it relevant whether they have 90 million or 80 million or 100 million? Why is that relevant?

VOICE: Because if you don't know anything about the country --

VOICE: I didn't say I didn't know anything about the country.

VOICE: Okay. What's the ethnic mix of Iran?

VOICE: They are Persians and predominantly Shia. Okay!

VOICE: You don't know anything about Iran.

VOICE: I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran.

VOICE: You are a senator who is calling for the overthrow --

VOICE: You're the one.

VOICE: You don't know anything about the country.

VOICE: No. You don't know anything about the country. You're the one who claims they're not trying to murder Donald Trump --

VOICE: No, I'm not saying that.

VOICE: General Soleimani.

VOICE: You don't believe they're trying to murder Trump because you're not calling for military strikes against them in retaliation. Okay?

VOICE: Yes, I do! We're carrying out military strikes today!

VOICE: You said Israel was.

VOICE: Right. With our help. I've said we. Israel is leading them, but we're supporting them.

VOICE: You're breaking news here, because the US government last night denies -- the National Security spokesperson denied, on behalf of Trump, that we were acting on Israel's behalf in any offensive capacity.

VOICE: Israel is bombing them.

VOICE: You just said we were.

VOICE: We are supporting Israel.

VOICE: Senator, if you're saying the US government -- people are listening.

VOICE: Okay.

GLENN: This is one of the saddest clips I've seen in a long time. I like Tucker Carlson, and I like Ted Cruz.

Tell you a story about a small town. It's not unlike yours. It's not unlike mine.

Three men live side by side.

One was a baker. One was a preacher. One was a schoolteacher. They have known each other for years. They have raised the kids together.

They have sat on the same bleachers on football games. They argued about taxes, at the diner. They brought pies to one another's porches, when life fell apart for that family. And they didn't agree on a lot of things. One of them was a conservative, another one was a liberal.

And the preacher, he was more concerned about heaven, than Washington. But they all talked. They disagreed. They argued sometimes. They listened. Because somewhere deep down, they had one thing in common.

They cared. They cared about their town.
They cared about their kids. They cared about what kind of life they were leaving behind, for those kids. Then a storm came. Bad storm.

Not of wind and rain and lightning, and thunder, but of ideas.

Headlines. Hashtags. Rumors. Bots.
People all around, that wanted to separate these three men. They began to mistrust.

It's a storm that whispered in their ears. He's not just wrong. He's evil.

She's not just different. She's dangerous. And little by little. The voices that once shared coffee and laughter, were replaced by silence.

And then suspicious.

Then contempt.

And then the baker accused the teacher of brainwashing his kids. And the teacher called the preacher a bigot and the preacher heartbroken, went to his chapel, wondering, what has happened?

What has happened?

And one by one, they all just stopped speaking to one another. They sat on the same bleachers. But on opposite ends now.

They passed each other. But they passed in silence.

When one's house burned down, nobody called the others to help.

Now, let me ask you: How close are we to that moment?

How many of us our friendships are already buried, buried, deep under the weight of a single disagreement?

I have been wrong in my life, more than I've been right.

Are you right more often than you're wrong?

I am wrong more often than I am right.

And I am wrong, I hope I'm getting better at this. But I am wrong, and it is only in my arrogance, that I failed to say, wow. That was a huge mistake.

When did we forget to stop giving people the benefit of the doubt?

When did we -- when did we forget, being wrong does not make you wicked?

What kind of country are we building if no one is allowed to be right? No. I'm sorry. Let me say this right.

When no one is allowed to be wrong, on their way to becoming right.

Because when I am wrong, I learn from it. And I become more right, the next time.

What kind of country will we have, if no one is allowed to be wrong, on their way to becoming right.

Or having serious disagreements on how we view something. But we still have the same love of country, and the same basic understanding of what this country means!

And yet, we blow each other up.

There's no need for an enemy. Judging right from wrong, isn't just about being right.

It's about how we do it. Do we look at another person's intent, Or do we look at just their latest post? And not really even know the person.

Do we try to understand? Or do we rush to destroy?

I can say so many great things about Tucker Carlson. And his intent and what he believes. He believes in the same kind of country, I do. He believes in freedom.

We don't necessarily agree on the way to get there. But I don't doubt his love for country. And I don't doubt Donald -- I mean, Ted Cruz's love of country.

And we don't agree on everything. But I'm not an enemy of those two.

And neither of them are enemies of one another.

And yet, now they are.

Now you are forced to decide, which one is on your side?

We're holding our -- we're holding others to standards, we can't survive ourselves.

If he have been -- if the -- you have to be in complete alignment with me, and not -- not the Constitution.

But with me!

Me!

And my friends.

And the friends that I have today, because I might turn on my friends tomorrow, because they don't agree with me!

What is left?

You'll be left standing alone.

You might be right, but you'll be surrounded with nothing!

Trust takes time. Violation of that trusts, happens quickly. But how many times have we really been violated, recently? How many times have people really violated our trust?

And how many times has that violation come from a post?

Where you didn't even really hear the full context.

Or somebody who is just grinding axes. Because they both -- you like both of them!

But they are just going at it, because in the moment, in the heated moment, they can't find a way to each other.

And neither one of them is willing to take a breath and say, can we start this conversation again?

And if they did, you're not going to see that on social media.

You'll never know if they did that!

Trust takes time.

Humility takes practice.

And grace.

Grace is the one thing we all want for ourselves. But seems like we're unwilling to give it to anyone else.

It's easy to win an argument.

It is really hard to win a person. So maybe we should ask ourselves, a couple of questions here: Am I listening to respond, because I think that's what most of us do. We listen to respond.

And we respond to win! Are we listening to respond, or are we listening to understand?

Do we want truth, Or do we want a victory?
Am I giving others the freedom to change their mind?
Like, I may have to tomorrow.

We're headed towards a very different nation.

Where all of us, we're going to be a nation of very lonely victors.

I won!

Won, won, won, won. And the echo just keeps on going, because no one is around.

We're all sitting on a hill of ashes, shouting, I was right! Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Look, I'm not -- I don't agree with a lot of things. And I get really -- I mean, I get really hot sometimes. Because I don't believe people's stupidity.

But, you know what, I've been really stupid at times too. I think humility is the key to all of this.

And we are so -- we're all in our lizard brains. And now, our final battle, we are -- we are just tearing each other apart.

We're tearing our own side apart. I mean, look at what happened with Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

I like both of those men. I didn't want to see those guys fight. I still don't want to see those guys fight.

It would be great. It would be awesome, if they could come together. And even if, when they came together, they hugged it out, and said, I don't agree with everything that he says.

But he's still my friend.

And we're still on the same fight.

I don't agree with what he's doing here, here, and here.

And he doesn't agree with me, here, here, and here.

But we know one thing. This country is worth saving.

And while we might disagree on how to get there. We both know, we have to get there.

And if we continue to divide ourselves, there will be no one left to enjoy the country!

And we'll never be able to save it by ourselves.

So we can either just keep bashing each other, and, you know, I give this monologue to me as well.

I want you to know.

It is so hard for me, to give you the monologue I'm giving right now.

For a couple of reasons. It's not the monologue, I want to give.

The monologue I want to give, oh. Is really passionate.

It's also not the monologue, you want me to give.

Because do you know what happened -- is happening with AI right now.

Right now, with AI, they are now changing the algorithms, to give you the answer you are looking for.

We are now training AI to put us into more of a bubble, and convince all of us that we are right, because it will give you the answer you want!

Could anything be more destructive.

When the lights go out, the schools burn down. Your house burns down.

When the next storm rolls in, it ain't going to be our righteousness that saves us.

It's going to be the friend. It's going to be the family member that is still willing to pick up the phone. Even after the last disagreement.

And say, I'm here for you, I'm coming to help.

Exposed: The bizarre truth behind the Minnesota lawmaker murders

Was the man who allegedly killed a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and wounded another couple a Republican or Democrat? Did he support Trump, as some reports claim? Blaze News investigative reporter Joseph Hanneman joins Glenn Beck to reveal just how weird and unusual this story is: “The more we learn about him, the less this entire thing makes sense.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Joe, welcome to the program. How are you?

JOE: Thanks for having me, Glenn.

GLENN: You bet. It's great to have you. You used to work for the Epic Times. And you guys, I think you tear it up over there.

Really, some good reporting over there. You also cowrote and appeared in three January 6 documentaries.

And you told the real story there.

And you also work for the Wisconsin state journal, and the Chicago Tribune. So it's nice to have you on board for TheBlaze.

Let me ask you, Joe. What do you find creepy or suspicious about this guy. This guy that nobody is paying attention to.

That just tried to kill a bunch of people.

And, you know, did along with the No Kings movement.

JOE: Well, the more we learn about him, the less this entire thing makes sense.

Maybe -- he has a very unusual backstory.

He's worked a lot in the food industry. Companies like Del Monte. And Berger. In production.

Safety. Supervising.

You know, the plants, and keeping everything clean and safe.

He's probably moved around the country, at least a dozen times, in the past 20 years, with his jobs.

But he also has a background as a preacher, which we're just finding out, a little bit more about that.

I have a story about that. That he has traveled, around the world.

And at least in part, as a preacher. A Christian preacher, who -- who had studied at a -- at an institute there, in Dallas.

And he has been to Africa.

He's talking about going to the Middle East, and in the West Bank. And Gaza.

You know, talked about going there, to be basically a missionary to radical Islamists. And to tell them, as he put on one of his websites, that violence isn't the answer.

Now, that's an interesting -- interesting thing for -- for him to say.

I talked to Robert Spencer from jihad watch.

And he said, if he actually did that, he's fortunate to be alive.

Because typically, if you proselytize.

That's a death tense in Islam.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: So he said, if he actually did that, you know, he would have been killed or taken hostage.

Unless they saw it, as he put it. They saw him as a fool.

And as kind of a break, and left him alone.

But he's also preached in the democratic republic of the Congo, several times.

In -- in an evangelical Christian church this.

And we've come across some very interesting video of him, talking about his -- his -- his story, to Christianity.

But he was so excited about talking about Christ, he put his arms out, almost like a bird. Flying around the stage.

Saying, you know, what Jesus has done for me.

And woo-hoo!

It's -- it's --

GLENN: Why -- I mean, we have the Del Monte guy going around, then preaching around the world.

And preaching the opposite things, he seemed to have -- did he become mentally ill?

And then -- before we get to that question.

When did he become involved in politics with Tim Walz and everything else?

JOE: Well, he was appointed to a governor's workforce development council, first by Governor Mark Dayton, who was a Democrat.

And then Tim Walz. Of course, we all know Tim Walz. He appointed him to a similar group.

And he spent about nine years on these boards.

These are adviser counsels, that typically.

GLENN: Was this when he was a preacher, or with Del Monte?

JASON: Well, you know, actually, some of this stuff overlapped, and it was all going on at the same time.

GLENN: Okay.

JASON: And he got other ventures that were going on, just this guy is -- is -- is really a puzzle.

But he did get appointed to these two commissions, by democratic governors.

And, you know, so we looked around to try to find out if there is -- aside from that, is there any indicators, that this was a political man.

We know he was pro-life.

He was opposed to abortion. He spoke about that. But we did not find any indication of political donations, either federally, state, or local. That he gave donations to any political party or candidate. The newspaper in Oklahoma City claims that he was a registered Republican, when he lived in Mulberry, Oklahoma.

But the -- the voting system folks out there, say, they don't keep records back that far anymore. So the article did not state where they got the information.

They didn't point to any proof of it.

So that seems fairly soft.

So we -- we just don't have a lot to go on.

Outside of this way backstory, with all these different jobs.

You know, he ostensibly ran a security company, called Pretorian guard.

Security services.

And he had several vehicles, that were kidded out, as the squad cars, basically.

You see these in different cities.

Pinkerton and other security counsels.

So he had several of those.
And, you know, he -- undoubtedly where he got his equipment. He was wearing the night that he committed these shootings.

And he was dressed up as a police officer.

But --

GLENN: In a creepy mask.

Okay. So hang on.

So we don't know if this guy had a political agenda. One way or another. On the -- I mean, he seemed to attack the Democrat, that was the one that was bucking the extreme, you know, left of her party.

Is there any -- is there any rhyme or reason of -- of -- or pattern of the people that were on his kill list?

JOE: Well, you know, that's one of the only tells that we have.

Is that he kept both in the vehicle, that he was driving that night, and in -- and in a room that he rented for his job. They found notebooks.

Handwritten notebooks. And in his car, there was what the FBI concluded was a hit list.

And there were more than 50 names on it.

And as far as I can tell, I have been checking every single one of them, but these were all Democrats. Not just Minnesota politicians.

But also in Iowa.

Illinois, and Wisconsin.

And he had lists of Planned Parenthood locations and officials in Minnesota on this list.

And, of course, the list didn't include a list of the former House speaker, who was assassinated along with her husband.

And the family dog. So, you know, that -- that list was very lopsided.

And we know -- do we know if any of those Democrats have anything in common?

Are they -- are they hard left?

Are they maybe mealy mouthed, you know, people that are -- I don't know.

I mean, she seems to be somebody who was bucking the system.

That the Democrats would want.
So it's not like this was a hard-core lefty. This seems like somebody who actually had a conscience. And was trying to do something that they really believed in. So why was she on the list?

Can you tell? Can you look at the politician's names to see any pattern on -- voting patterns or anything?

JOE: Well, in her case, ask this got almost no attention in the corporate press, within the past -- you know, past two weeks before her death. There was a key vote in the legislature in Minnesota. That would strip the subsidized health care for adults. Legal aliens.

And that was a very close vote.

And it turns out, she was the deciding vote.

The only one to cross party lines, to put that legislation over the top.

And so that -- you know, that certainly didn't endear her to -- to the left. Because that's a -- that's a kind of sacred cow.

And so come January 1st, next year, adult illegal aliens will no longer have access to the subsidized or free health care.

So that -- can that was a big vote.

And that something that you have to certainly put into the equation here and see if that provides any sort of -- any sort of motive.

But he didn't -- he really didn't have any visible interest in state politics. That we can see.

So, you know, there's --

GLENN: So bizarre.

JOE: There's a lot of somewhere. But, you know, he hasn't made at the same time to people that, oh. You know, so-and-so.

I just can't tanned this person.

Or -- or on the other side. You know, whether he was -- his -- his childhood friend claimed that he was a Trumper.

But, you know, we don't have any -- Minnesota is an open primary state.

So there's no records, we can check on that.

Just a lot of soft information.

And it -- I have a feeling, that when this is all said and done, his story, and the explanation, is going to go a lot deeper.

GLENN: Okay. Hold on just a second.

Because I've got a couple of questions.

Why did Tim Walz, you know, know this was a political assassination? Immediately.

You know, the -- phone now, that has been traced to several foreign countries. Is that because of the preaching thing.

His wife arrested with several passports.

I don't understand any of this.

So we'll get to that here in just a second.

We're talking to Joe Hanneman. He's TheBlaze News investigative reporter.

Just wrote another story on this today.

You can find it on TheBlaze.com. Let me tell you does and right into Joe.

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Ten-second station ID.
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Okay. So when this happened, we're talking about the Minnesota shooting.

Tim Walz comes out. Seemingly, almost immediately.

At least, that's what it felt.

And said, you know, this was a political assassination.

Was this just speculation?

Or wishful thinking? How did he know that?

JASON: That's a great question. And no one asked him that.

What led you to the conclusion that this is a politically connected assassination.

It clearly was targeted. I mean, he just elected his victims or potential victims from that night.

But you would think that you would have some Intel in nothing that was ever shared to say, yeah. This is why.

We know this is why.

In fact, the FBI and the -- the local police will not ascribe a motive. Even after looking at all his notebooks. Which they haven't released all the pages of them.

They did put them on the hit list.

Yeah. I found that to be very telling. He would describe it in that manner.

And I think that set off some of the back and forth between the right and the left of finger pointing on this.

GLENN: Right. And then the police knew somehow. Go to the second location. In advance of the shootings.

How did they do that?

JASON: Well, these communities are all fairly close together.

And after Senator Hoffmann was shot, and his wife was shot, at about 2:00 a.m. on the 14th, that word was circulated to all the area departments. And several of them did proactive policing.

And since, I checked out some of their law makers.

GLENN: But they didn't stop him, did they?

At the second location?

JASON: No. The second location, the family had changed their plans, and they were gone. So they were not even home.

It was the third location, where this fellow was parked in his fake squad car, about a block away from a state senator's home.

And the local police. New police department squad pulled up next to him, and tried to get his attention. Of course, he's got this creepy looking milky white mask over his head, and he just stared straight ahead.

And the officer apparently was satisfied by the look of the vehicle. And said, oh, this must be -- this must be an officer from some jurisdiction here, watching out from the house.

So that officer continued on to the state senator's home.

And waited for some backup. By the time, other squads arrived, he was gone.

He took off. And he went to the Hortman home, where he murdered the former speaker, her husband, and the family dog.

So he certainly could have been stopped. If -- if there had been maybe a little bit more -- shine the flashlight in there.

Or back in the window saying, hey, hey, but they didn't do that.

GLENN: Okay. So I've only got two minutes left.

So do you pick which one has more information in it.

The phone being traced to so many foreign countries. Or his wife being stopped, with cash and passports. And everything else in her car.

Do either of those make a difference to this story?

JASON: Well, I think there is an explanation for the wife. You know, he had texted. There's a group text to all of his family. His children and his wife. In which, he said, dad went to war last night. And he said, he didn't want to tell them much about that. Because he didn't want to implicate them, in anything he was doing.

And that he texted his wife -- said he called or texted his wife separately.

And said, there will be police coming to the house.

And they will be trigger happy.

And I don't want you to be there. So he triced her to -- to take the kids. But she -- she had $10,000 in cash. She had passports and she had the kids with her.

Well, of course, the police were tracking her phone.

And they pulled her over, you know, and he was 80 miles away. And she volunteered to let them look into her phone.

To look at the picks. They found the weapons and the ammunition in the vehicle as well.

So, you know, again, these things just make you pause.

GLENN: I know.

Joe, thank you so much.

Really great to have you writing for TheBlaze. We'll continue to talk to you about this and follow the story, because it's absolutely bizarre.

Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.