RADIOOctober 04, 2024

What Glenn saw while helping hurricane victims in Asheville SHOCKED him

After hearing claims coming out of the Hurricane Helene disaster zone of houses flipped upside down, neighbors helping neighbors, and zero help from the federal government, Glenn had to see it for himself. Glenn recounts the shocking things he saw while in Asheville, North Carolina: Many of the stories are TRUE! The destruction was unbelievable and people are still trapped in the mountains. But instead of relying on authorities, these communities proved that the American Spirit is still alive and well.

The government isn't coming to save these people, Glenn says. Instead, it's generous donations from people like YOU that are making a real difference for the Americans of Appalachia. 100% of the funds go directly to the people in need when you donate at https://MercuryOne.org

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Hello, Stu with, how are you?

STU: Good, Glenn. How are you?

GLENN: Really good. Really good.

STU: Big trip. I saw some of the pictures that were posted.

GLENN: Yeah, I haven't yet. I haven't.

I saw stuff in North Carolina I've never seen before. I saw houses that had been washed down the river. And were upside down, on the train tracks.

I saw train tracks. Where, you know, those things are built pretty strong.

You know, they build a real strong foundation. The foundation completely zero reported away from underneath the train tracks. And just, the train tracks just kind of suspended over nothing.

I mean, everything in this place is going to have to be redone. Everything. I -- I just saw things I didn't expect to see.

The power of the water coming down these creeks, and then rivers.

Literally, like the power of the Mississippi.

I saw a house, I think we have a picture of this.

I saw a house with a bunch of mobile homes.

All stacked up, next to this house, that seemed to be somewhat still on its foundation.

Okay?

And all these mobile homes, stacked and then right behind that house, was another house, that was right on the back of that house. And I said, wow. Look at that. All those kind of washed up next to the house. And he said, no. Those are actually from about five blocks, down the streets.

And the house -- that house stayed kind of on its foundation enough. To where it just -- all these mobile homes were kind of slamming against it. And stopped. Because the house was in the way.

He said, what's really interesting. The house right behind it.

That house, we don't know where that came from. We think that was two towns up river.

Towns!

STU: Towns?

GLENN: Two towns up river.

The water was above -- oh, it's crazy, Stu.

It is nuts. I saw a house upside-down.

I saw semi-trucks, that were like, just tossed by the water, upside down, had rolled, were in the streets.

Had been rolled by the river several -- semi-trucks. Rolled by the river.

And 100 feet away. Maybe 200 feet away.

From the road, upside down.

It was -- it -- this was crazy.

Bridges, just completely washed out. And they -- the water in some places was like 6 feet above the bridge.

I don't know how long it's going to take -- I mean. It will take years to put these towns back together. And, you know, I've never been to the smoky mountains before.

I went -- and it was really strange. Because the only time, I've been in Asheville, is when I went to go visit Billy Graham, like ten years ago. Eleven years ago.

And it's just this beautiful town. Beautiful town.

And he lives right outside of town, up on one of these mountains.

And I remember thinking how beautiful it was, when I was there. But I didn't really -- you know, I wasn't thinking about the mountains or anything else.

And except going up to his house, I wasn't in the mountains. And especially because we were doing Life Flight yesterday. I was on the helicopter a lot, and I was above these mountains.

Two things come to mind. First of all, in my Miami, because I'm from the west coast. And, you know, we have the cascades and the Rocky Mountains I've always joked with my family. Oh, the Smoky Mountain bumps. Oh, that's really. You know, it's not like -- it's not like a mountain range to me, jokingly.

But it actually is. It was the first time I was there. It is stunning. I would live in this area.

Not just for the beauty. But the people are amazing.

This is -- I witnessed yesterday, 9/12. I've talked about 9/12 forever.

That that's the people we need to be.

When -- when nobody cared about who you voted for.

Nobody cared what party you were -- nobody cared about anything.

You would just stop people on the street and go, are you okay?

You didn't know them.

But you could look at them. And see the suffering in their eyes. Because you were suffering as well.

And you would just stop it.

Are you okay, brother?

Can you I do anything for you? That was the most amazing days I have ever lived. That's what this is in North Carolina.

And I bet you it's the same in Tennessee and Georgia.

They know nobody is coming. They know nobody is coming. The -- the mountain range in Asheville, it -- we had to fly over the mountain range. We had airlifted this. She must have been 80-year-old. 85-year-old woman. She had broken her hip and her knee. And she didn't have any insurance.

And she was up north. This was like a month ago.

And she was up north, and she came down to be with her family, in North Carolina, and was supposed to go back up.

But they had her on antibiotics, as they did the surgery. But because they didn't have insurance, they just pushed her out as past fast as they possibly could.

Give her any antibiotics.

Well, now, she was riddled with -- she needed antibiotics.

Her -- her leg was absolutely on fire. It was really infected.

And she was in trouble.

And we flew her. It was 20 the leap minutes, from her place, to the airport.

Or, to the hospital.

And I'm flying with the -- I'm flying with the pilot. And I said, how far do you think -- how long would it take if you had to drive this?

He said, from there, which was just over a couple of mountain peaks. He's like, maybe two hours?

He said, and now, maybe five?

Because how do you get out of here?

Because all of the bridges, and some of the -- I mean, just landslides, coming down.

It's incredible, and then kind of like a tornado.

I've seen ground zero in Oklahoma of a tornado.

There's nothing like that. There's nothing like the damage that I saw here. It -- it -- because it didn't grind everything to a pulp like a tornado does. It just moved everything.

And I just don't know how -- I mean, it's going to take years, to restore this.

But because of the location of it. It's almost impossible. You have to have helicopters to help people.

And the government is doing everything they can, to shut down -- I mean, yesterday, I was calling at the Cajun Air Force.

Because -- or not Cajun Air Force. The hillbilly Air Force.

You know, they had the Cajun Navy.

This is the Hillbilly Air Force.

The guy at the Asheville Harley-Davidson place. I met him yesterday.

That place was wiped out.

And, but it still was standing.

The bikes are all -- he just lost everything. But they shoveled the mud out of that place.

And he said, I've got a field here. You can use that as a landing place.

There were helicopters coming in and going out. And the government tried to shut them down.

And said, you know, this is -- nobody from the FAA is involved here. You're going to have to shut this down. And Adam Smith, who is retired Special Forces who was running it, was like, really? Yeah, you know what you are going to do. You're going to leave. Because I have a helicopter landing and one taking off in a few minutes. They were just pissed.

You know, you're not here. If you had all of the assets here. If you had called one of the, oh, I don't know.

Many forts, bases, and Special Forces, that are sitting on bases in North Carolina, maybe we would shut this down. But you're not sending anything to help people.

So get off our land.

That was a common theme, yesterday.

When we picked up this guy, it was. You know, I just don't think of me as -- you know, as somebody.

I think of me as me. Not the Glenn Beck, radio guy.

And we show up with the helicopter. We land in this field, and we go to pick up this lady. And we're right at the front stairs.

And the son of this -- this -- or grandson, I think of this woman. He turned to me, and he's like, you -- you look familiar.

And I said, hi, I'm Glenn.

And he said, oh, hi, Glenn.

And then he looked at me again. Glenn Beck?

And I said, yeah.

And he's like, that's unexpected. And he's like, you know, you've got to see my -- my cousins. Tom!

Jethro. You know, come up here. No. Don't walk. You run up here. And then he said, don't look directly at them. They're bad runners.

And the whole family. The whole neighborhood didn't call 911.

The son called somebody in the military that he knew. That was retired, and said, hey. Do you know anybody with a helicopter?

Because the -- the -- while they have two helipads at the airport, in the -- you know, city over the mountains. They don't have -- the helicopters, they're out of commission. So nobody can be flown in. So we're doing the LifeLock. And it's -- it's incredible.

What this audience has done is incredible. But he didn't call. And then he called a friend.

And he said, you know what, I think I know. And he called another friend that was formerly in the military.

And then called another friend that was in the military.

And he said, yeah.

They have helicopters right here.

Mercury One is flying the helicopters right now.

I know Adam Smith who is who running this.

So they didn't call 911. It's not that community. And as we were leaving, I said to one of the cousins. I said, hey, you tell everybody you know, that you haven't been forgotten.

That there are millions of Americans that care about you and love you guys. And want to help, and are helping. And he said, that's very kind of you.

Now, will you tell everyone you know, something from me?

And I said, sure. And I expected thank you or something. And he looked at me and he said, you tell everybody you know, that even if they don't care, we'll take care of our own damn self if nobody shows up.

And I was like, I gave him a hug. I'm like, I love you. It is America. And all I could think of yesterday was, this is God's army.

This is exactly what Billy Graham told me would happen.

That people -- I talked to people. And they were like, I don't know. I just felt this calling to come here and help. And now I'm doing this and this and this.

And the people have taken care of it. Now, I mean, they need a lot of help. But wait until I tell you about FEMA. I found a FEMA truck.

And we were driving from seeing some, you know, bad areas. And I said, wait. Wait. Turn the car around. I think I saw a FEMA truck. And everybody is like, no.

Wait. I saw a FEMA truck. It's behind that building.

All right. I turned around. And there, lo and behold, is one FEMA truck with a giant satellite on the top of it. It was a communications truck. So we pull up.

And a lot of them are sitting under a tree at a card table, with folding chairs. All in their FEMA vests.

And I looked at Congressman Cory Mills. And I said, oh, brother, I don't think I can go talk to those people alone.

And he said, come on. I'll go.

So we went. We have it on tape. And Cory said afterwards, he's like, pretty early on, you just shut up. And he said, I could tell, you just wanted to walk away.

I was like, oh, I was doing he went I can to not just go ape on those people.

So I was listening to my mother.

If you don't have anything nice to say. Don't say anything at all.

The Western World is UNDER ATTACK... And THESE Shocking Stories are Proof

A wave of global instability is forcing Western nations to confront hard truths they’ve ignored for years. From Australia’s deadly attack and a media narrative that excuses extremist violence, to France canceling its iconic New Year’s celebration over “security concerns,” the cracks in Western resolve are becoming impossible to hide. This conversation exposes how denial, mass migration without assimilation, and media double standards are eroding public safety, cultural confidence, and the West’s ability to defend itself from growing threats.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, there's more on the -- the shooting in Australia. Did you see the comment from the mom?

The -- the hero who disarmed. He's a hero. He's getting a lot of accolades.

But here's the family of Ahmed al Ahmed. No, no, no. That's the good guy. Hang on just a second.

That's the hero. I'm just looking through all of the stories. Here it is. Here it is.

Mother of the Bondi beach shooting suspect. The mother of Naveed Akram, who along with his father, allegedly killed more than a dozen people at a Hanukkah celebration, said on Sunday, insisted her son was a good boy.

Now, I mean, I can understand, you know, you wanting to believe that, because your son is your son. You know, but I don't think -- I don't think anybody in Rob Reiner's family is thinking the brother is a good boy. They might love him still, but he's not a good boy if he indeed did that.

STU: Yeah, there could be an element of thinking, right? Like, you know, he's been overcome by addiction, or overcome by mental illness. And I think he's a good boy underneath hat. You can have that Islamic extremist terrorist son if you want.

But what you would have to say I think accompanying that, was he got infected by this extremism. And, you know, by his dad who, you know, led him down a terrible path.

GLENN: Right. Her husband.

STU: Right. That's a plausible thing, if you believe. He can't be a good boy if he's murdering people, unless, of course, Glenn, you believe that the outcome was positive.

GLENN: Well, it was positive, yes.

She said, he doesn't have a firearm. Yeah, he does.

He doesn't even go out. He doesn't mix around with friends. Well, now you're describing a loner.

He doesn't drink, smoke, or go to bad places. Anyone would wish to have a son like my son. He's a good boy.

No. No. I'm safe to say, I don't want a son like that.

STU: No. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she was about to say, and he stays away from trans fats.

That's great, just doesn't have much to do with this particular incident.

GLENN: Yeah, I would say that. Also --

STU: Can I follow up, while we're in this realm here real quick with this audio. This is -- you mentioned this briefly. But let's play a game here: Can you find the logical problem with this particular audio from ABC News?

This is about the somewhat associated shooting of the pro-Palestinian group. Or the pipe bombing, from the pro-Palestinian group you discussed earlier this hour. This is a real clip, not edited.

GLENN: All right.

VOICE: Nowhere did they allege that any of these individuals wanted anybody to be harmed as a result of these pipe bombs. Specifically, it does appear that their aim was to sent a political message, as they said, prosecutors yesterday in this news conference.

VOICE: Carol and Page also discussed plans for follow-up attacks after their bombings, which included plans to a target ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs.

STU: Now, can you detect any issue with that?

GLENN: I found two.

I found two.

One, they're not targeting anybody with the use of the pipe bomb!

STU: Right.

GLENN: Now, maybe. Maybe nobody gets hurt like that.

But experience and history tells me. Sometimes when you don't know what you're doing, pipe bombs hurt people.

STU: Right. Yes.
GLENN: And sometimes when you do know what you're doing, pipe bombs hurt people.

That's the -- that's problem number one. Problem number two was, they stated they were then going to target ICE agents?

STU: Right.

GLENN: As if ICE agents aren't people?

STU: You know, Glenn, that is exactly what I came up with. I think, I've heard this statement. You mentioned the same sentiment earlier on the program. A lot of people are saying this. I guess, in their conversations that were, you know, picked off as we were going through this investigation. There were some similarities. If you think back to early environmental terrorist attacks.

ALF and ELF, some of those attacks -- not all, but some of those attacks were targeted at infrastructure, and things around the -- you know, the oil industry. But not -- you know, intentionally trying not to harm the workers or whatever.

And some of their I guess conversations back and forth echoed that sentiment. Like, let's put them this a place where people aren't going to be.

Again, I don't think that's good. I don't think of these people as heroes. But Hollywood would make movies over people like that and how wonderful and glorious they were.

But at the end, they seemed to ignore, that they had attacks planned against ICE agents. And the only way that makes logical sense is if you don't think ICE agents are people.

GLENN: Are people. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Dehumanize. Dehumanize. Dehumanize. That's why I've been saying, we've got to stop MAID. We have to appreciate life again.

We have to stand for life. All life!

If we don't, you can just say, well, that's not really a person.

You've got to stand for life.

One more story in this, just to show you how close we are to losing Europe.

The French who aren't -- are not used to waving the white flag.

You know, they're -- they're -- they're tough. They have decided on New Year's Eve, that they are not going to hold the fireworks show, that they always hold at the art drive.

So they always have a New Year's Eve concert and fireworks show, but this year, they've decided that they're going to scrap it, wait until you hear what they were going to replace it with. But they're going to scrap it because there are security concerns such as, quote, unpredictable crowd movements.
You mean, like the crowds that are coming over on boats and coming on to your shore? You mean those crowd movements? Because, I mean, I think we know what they're saying here. They're saying that they're very concerned that there might be trouble. There might be some sort of, you know, shootings or activity or terrorists. But they're not -- they're just saying, it's unpredictable crowd movements. And so we're -- we're suggesting that we cancel the decades old fireworks celebration on New Year's Eve.

That's like canceling Times Square. Okay?

We're going to cancel that. And instead, replace it with -- this is a quote.

With a prerecorded video to be viewed in the safety and comfort of your French living room.
(laughter)

GLENN: Oh. So we're watching an old celebration.

Why not? Dick Clark. We got all those tapes of Dick Clark. Let's just cancel New Year's Eve and Times Square and just play one from 1977. I mean, who didn't love that?

STU: Not only is that completely insane. It's also a great example of why virtual school didn't work.

Right?

You know, that's not the same thing. My wife say big fan of around this time of year. Every television has the Yule log on it, you know. And at his help you. It's nice. It helps you celebrate the season, a little bit. But it's not the same as going around the fire, and feeling the heat, it's not the same.
GLENN: Right. Yeah. There's no warmth. There's no warmth. But leave it to the French to surrender. I mean, we've lost France. We've lost France.

If they're not willing to say what's going on. Look, there's terrorists here. And we're afraid of a large crowd. And we're lost, because we let too many people in here. We have no idea who they are. And they're dangerous. And they want to kill us and kill our civilization.

We're working on that, so we can have this next year.

This year, we will to have cancel it.

But they're not saying that. They're saying, you know what, watch it from home. And it will be a videotape of an old one. Oh, okay.

For a Night, We Were Human | The Christmas Truce Music Video

In the frozen trenches of World War I along the Lys River in 1914, amidst the relentless thunder of artillery, a miraculous unofficial truce unfolded on Christmas Day. British and German soldiers, weary enemies, emerged from the mud and wire to share gifts, songs, and stories of home together in the ruins. Produced by Glenn Beck in collaboration with AI, this poignant music video and original song recapture the true story of the Christmas Truce, reminding us that even in the darkest times, a single brave act or small light can awaken our shared humanity, allowing soldiers to lay down their weapons and remember they are human... just for a night.

Stay tuned at GlennBeck.com for more musical storytelling inspired by Glenn’s artifacts next year on Torch.

The HIDDEN history behind Trump’s controversial Rob Reiner comments

President Trump recently received heat from his own party over his comments about the allegedly murdered actor Rob Reiner. Glenn Beck explains why he believes Trump’s comments were not a good move, but also tells of a meeting he had with Trump that he believes explains why Trump hates TDS so much…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I don't -- I don't -- I don't want to get into -- into the mix with everybody and personalities. I like -- my goal is to make things about right and wrong, and not about personalities.

But I do want to spend just a second on President Trump's post yesterday about Rob Reiner. It made me sad. It made me really sad. Because I like the president.

And -- and he doesn't help himself when he does things like this. But I think I understand this in a different way.

You know, the President has said, you know, all kinds of things about me at times when I disagree with him. He'll say, "Oh, he's just a failing fat blob," or whatever. And that's just him. That's just the way -- when he's in a fight, he is a -- he's a knife fighter. And I get it. I don't like it. But I get it. This was different. This was different.
And this was -- you know, you can say a lot of stuff politically about Rob Reiner. But politics didn't matter yesterday. We weren't -- I mean, that's not -- it just didn't matter. It didn't matter.

But I think to the President, it does. I saw a change in the President -- I've seen two changes in the President. I've seen a change in him when they started going after him and his family. After 2020. And they really started going after his family. And we know this because we showed you the documents. What they -- they had a plan. Take him down.

Take his family down to stop MAGA at all costs. Put them in jail. I mean, those are their words.

And it's -- it was frightening to read.

And I talked to the president, I don't know. Maybe six months after, you know, we were in 2021. Maybe six months. Eight months.

And I said, how are you holding up?

And he had talked a little about how he felt. He had really let people down because he had things going in the right direction. And now, look at it, and look how screwed up things are going to get. And how the economy is going to be damn near impossible to fix. It will take us time. But we can't fix it. Pragmatism, but they've just destroyed it. And I said, how are you personally.

How are you holding up?

And this is the first change I saw. He -- his body changed. And he said, they're going after my damn children!

And it was this Dad. All of a sudden, he wasn't the president or former president, he wasn't Donald Trump. He was a Dad. And it was every Dad response in him. And he said, "You don't go after our children."

And I saw him really, truly mad for the very first time, and it was righteous indignation.

Then after he was shot, I saw another change. I saw him recognize that God existed. I mean, I know he believed that in God. I don't know that he believed that God was actually part of, you know, the story. The everyday story. You know, I don't know how he views God in that way.

But I know that he recognized that God was in his -- in the story of America now.

Firsthand, he witnessed it. The reason why I said this made me sad yesterday, is because -- I don't agree with what he said. I feel -- it was -- it was sad.

Because he is -- he has been kicked in the head over and over and over again by some of these people, that he -- Christmas is about the baby Jesus coming again.

And what he can do in your life. And the biggest thing that he taught was, love your enemies. Don't hate them. But that's really, really hard to do. And the President isn't there yet. On this. And it -- it made me sad. How did you feel about it, Stu?

STU: I didn't like it at all. I think maybe the same as you. You know, one of the things that bothered me about it.

Because you hit many of the points that I had on it without the personal insight that is illustrative of -- of -- of what he's going through. I think there is something to understand there. You know, obviously I --

GLENN: Big time.

STU: One of the things that is difficult about life in your attempt to master it is to try to act the right way, even when you're faced with circumstances like that. And, you know, I get it. I get why he's angry and doesn't like the guy. The man -- you used a phrase, I think in there, where you said, he's a knife fighter. This guy was actually just in a legitimate knife fight and was murdered. It was a -- it was -- this actually really happened.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

STU: And, look, my honest opinion is, it's indefensible. You know, I like President Trump. I think he does a lot of great things for the country. We've defended him on a lot of different things. A lot of times when he's being attacked, I think he deserves defense. In this case, you know, it is -- you know, it is what it is.

It is priced in to everyone's understanding of who Donald Trump is. And everything I heard about him in personal situations where he cares about the person. Is that he's very generous. He's very likable.

He's very -- he's one of those people that you like being around. You know, that is something that I've heard from tons of people. This part of him is really hard for me to square with what I've heard from -- from other -- from everybody that I've talked to, and has been on the inside with him.

And so I don't -- I don't have a defense for it. I think it's really bad. And I will say one more thing on this real quickly, Glenn.

I know a part of this that I think is difficult. In that, one of the things I took from the aftermath of that immediately was -- I don't know if pride is the right word. But like, I really liked the way conservatives responded to it.

We didn't do what they did, after Charlie Kirk.

We didn't do what they did after they shot the president. Right?

Like we -- they celebrated it. They -- they were horrible human beings, and I enjoyed the high ground, that we had there.

GLENN: Yeah. Me too.

STU: And it's difficult to make the argument that we have the high ground. When, you know, the President of the Republican Party. The Republican President of the United States, the most high profile person on, quote, unquote, our side, whatever that means these days, is a guy who, you know, kind of did some of the things that they did.

You know, so I don't -- I don't like that. I understand as part of Donald Trump. And I think if we're all adults here, we're able to kind of price that in and judge him on everything that he's doing. And when I mean pricing in. I think that's a negative part of him. Overall, you have to take everything into context.

GLENN: Right. And if we're all adults here, you know, we should be able to say, to those we love and respect, bad move. I didn't like that. Don't do that.

And I think, you know, I think because the left always says, well, you never take on your own.

Yes, we do. We take on our own, all the time. All the time. And I think it's important that we say, didn't like that. Thought that was a bad move. It didn't look good. It just wasn't right.

He's -- I wish -- and, again, though, I -- I'm not excusing it, but I am tempering it with none of us have gone through what he has gone through.

STU: So true.

GLENN: His family, somebody is shooting at him. He's being called fascist Hitler all the time. I mean, that wears on you and changes you.

And, you know, he's having a hard time forgiving that. And I kind of understand that. I wish he would take that on and take on the forgiveness, so he could be more a peacemaker in all of those things. But that is his own personal journey.

But --

STU: Yeah. And I think when we talk about like a terrible crime that's occurred.

GLENN: Sad.

STU: Like, I don't know. If there was -- think about some awful situation and at times you'll see -- he'll hear family members say the worst possible thing.

You know, if your kid is murdered. And by some -- somewhat of a particular area or group or whatever.

And they might react with just an awful thing about that group or area.

And you just. We all have a bit of understanding. Right?

A person going through a massively emotional thing.

And lashing out.

You want -- you know, the example you bring up all the time, Glenn.

Of the maybe -- the ultimate example of being able to have restraint was the Amish situation from years ago. Where, you know, you were talking about mass murder. And they were to the family's house that night, right?

And saying, we --

GLENN: Not that night. That afternoon.

I mean, within an hour. The kids were not even out of the schools yet. Their bodies were still laying in the school. And the Amish went, oh, my gosh. The killer is dead too.

He was a member of our community. His wife lives here.

What is she feeling? She's feeling completely alone. My gosh. What an example. I couldn't do that.

STU: Right. I don't even think I come close to that standard in that moment.

GLENN: No. But I would like to.

STU: That's the range. Some people act -- react really well. Some people react really poorly.

And I think we all understand the emotion and everything that takes over in a situation like that. And that has to be factored in, I think, to Trump. Of course, Rob Reiner wasn't responsible to the shooting. He was just a liberal who said bad things about Trump. And look, he's a very unique person. And a very unique situation, that I don't think anyone in the world has ever experienced.

You know, what happened with him over his life.

But may I just say, you still haven't forgiven RFK Jr for what he said about me.
(laughter)
Okay?

STU: As I said, I'm not Amish. You know, I like technology. I don't have any wagons. I didn't say I'm perfect.

GLENN: Right.

STU: No. I have -- I have -- I have absolutely forgiven RFK Jr for what he said. And if you didn't know, he accused Glenn of being a traitor. He said, he should be charged with treason. The penalty of which is death.

So, you know, I don't like that. And RFK Jr. I don't like for a lot of his policies. Some of them, by the way, I do really like. Some of them, I think are really positive. I could give you a list of some of the negative things he's done as well.

GLENN: I can too.

STU: That doesn't mean -- I certainly was find that to be an appropriate context, when the embrace of RFK Jr is occurring.

I think we need to understand what people are, and what they're doing. If he's apologetic about that, I do forgive him in that sense. Do I want him on the show and promoting all his books and his candidacy?

No. I did not -- I did not like that. But, you know, a lot of people do. I will say is, you're right, though.

We all have our hang-ups.

GLENN: I do. I certainly was.

STU: I will say this, though.

And, you know, again, all the context here. I know people are really defensive of Donald Trump, appropriately.

Because of the fact that he's targeted unfairly. I understand why people are defensive of him. I can tell you this. I really don't like RFK Jr.

He's one of my least favorite people in politics. I'm just not a fan. I could give you other names of people. Most of them revolve around Olivia Nuzzi, who whatever. I don't have feelings about her. But the story was packed with people.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Cuomos for sure.
GLENN: Yeah.

STU: God forbid, one of these people that I really don't like, was murdered and his family and his spouse.

I can promise you. I can promise you, I will not be tweeting anything like what Donald Trump tweeted.

That is just a -- is a -- is a situation where I understand -- I understand the context around it, that we just discussed.

I don't think there's a defense to it. I think there's something, I really hope he has an awakening to at some point.

GLENN: I think that is enough to be said on that.

Now maybe we should examine ourselves, and say, where do we have that hardness in our heart that we should learn from and remove this holiday season?

Why America's "Surveillance State" Has Proven to be a TOTAL Failure

America is facing a shocking security breakdown—from a mass shooting at one of the most heavily surveilled campuses in the United States to a deadly ISIS attack in Syria that exposes the cracks in U.S. intelligence and foreign-policy strategy. As surveillance systems fail, former extremists gain power abroad, and radical Islamist networks globalize their reach, the West is confronting a threat both inside and outside its borders. This episode uncovers the uncomfortable truth behind Brown University’s unanswered questions, Syria’s escalating instability, and why the West may be running out of time to get its own house in order.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I wanted to bring Jason in -- I wanted to bring Jason in because the news that we talked about a minute ago in Australia, then Brown.

There's some weird stuff happening with the Brown shooting. And we -- we don't know much about that. And also, Syria. So let me start with Brown University, Jason. Why is this one weird, as our chief researcher, why is this one weird?

JASON: Well, there comes a point where, you know, as a society, we just end up getting used to the massive surveillance state we live in. And I think we're just like, okay. Fine.

We're never not going to be surveilled 24/7. Maybe there's some benefits to it.

Well, no!

It doesn't seem that way. Because the people were asking the people at Brown. Like, how is it that you have not fully identified the shooter yet? And that's a very good question. Because if you go back to around 2021, there were people writing about how Brown University was one of the most surveilled campuses of the United States.

GLENN: How is it we only have one picture of this guy from the back?

JASON: Right!

GLENN: Apparently the one thing that will help you get away with any crime is a hoodie.

JASON: Yeah. Wear something over your head and a coat.

Apparently, that foils the entire surveillance state. Also, we have nothing to worry about with surveillance. I don't know.

GLENN: Yeah. Right. Right.

JASON: And on top of that, Kash Patel, the FBI director said that they sprung into action. And they activated their cellular monitoring system to help identify the person that has now been let go. Again, that's another layer of this surveillance state that I think a lot of us have been worried about.

And that didn't do anything either. That helped give us the wrong suspect? What is all this stuff for?

It's not keeping us safe, that's for sure.

GLENN: Hmm. I don't want to jump to any conclusions on, you know, what we have, what we don't have. I'm assuming that they have more. They just haven't shown it.

I would like to -- you know, we could help. You show us some pictures.

I think it's odd.

What happened in Syria over the weekend with al-Qaeda.

JASON: Yeah. In Syria.

There's a ton of news, especially involving ISIS, who is very much active and still very much planning attacks.

GLENN: So wait. Wait. Wait. Was this ISIS, or was this al-Qaeda?

JASON: This is ISIS. That's what they're saying. They're saying it's a lone ISIS perpetrator. The location was symbolic as well. The location as in or around Palmyra. Which, I don't know if you remember, that was a scene of a gruesome ISIS video back at the height of their caliphate, where they behead a lot of people in that area.

GLENN: Right. Right. Yes. That's where they lined them up in the orange jumpsuits. Remember everybody was kneeling down in the sand. And they started beheading people. Yes, I remember.

JASON: It was one of those UNESCO sites with ruins all around. And it was very crazy. Brutal video. But another brutal attack. I believe it was three US service members that were killed in this attack. There's a lot of speculation about to go, on if this person was working. I think he was actually at a time working with the security services that are in Syria right now, under the new president. He -- he could have been, you know, a sleeper in that organization. Who knows? But for -- the one thing I do know. And I don't understand the direction we're moving in Syria. I don't understand how a former al-Qaeda guy suddenly is an all right guy because he puts a suit on. And now he's the president of Syria. And he's our ally.

I don't understand that. The Trump administration, maybe they have more information, that I don't know.

I would love to get more of an explanation on this.

As of now, I don't see this going any direction other than a whole lot worse.

You look around that entire area. You have a former al-Qaeda guy now the president of Syria.

You have the rest of Syria, an absolute Dumpster fire. You have Iraq. I hesitate to call these countries.

They're so far down the sectarian, you know, spiral that this is.

But I don't see how this is going to go anywhere, but south, from here on out.

We're in an absolute war with these radical Islamists. And it's not just in the Middle East. It's globalize the intifada has landed on shores all over the world. And while there are politicians that will not denounce that. That is exactly what's happening. Sorry!

GLENN: So I think that's where -- I think that's what -- that explains Trump's thinking. That Trump does not want these everlasting wars to go on.

He does not want to be fighting in the Middle East. He doesn't want to really be fighting anywhere. He will, if he has to. But he's focused more on the American homeland. And the American hemisphere.

And so I think he is -- I think he's letting the Middle East take care of itself.

And as long as they can all get along with each other and Israel.

And recognize that, you know, Iran and the -- the -- the al-Qaeda, the, you know, Muslim Brotherhood. Et cetera, et cetera.

Trying to coax them all into. Hey. These are kind of your enemies here.

You know, ISIS is a big enemy to us and to peace.

And I think he's hoping that they will start to take care of themselves. Whether they will or not, I don't know. You know, it's never happened were. But it's worth trying. We've been playing this other game of us getting involved in everything for 100 years. We know that doesn't work.

So I'm guessing what Trump is thinking is, we know that doesn't work. We're not going to do that. Let's try to give peace a chance, and help them stomp this out, because it will be prosperous for all of them and plant those seeds as deeply as you can to see what happens. But we're not getting involved in any of that. I have a feeling, but there will be a military response to this, I'm sure. Won't you agree?

JASON: Oh, one hundred percent, and to tack on to what you're saying, I would hope that the President would go with his gut on this.

Because the previous ways this has been handled with Islamists, especially in this area. They've screwed it up.

They don't know what they're doing. Although, they think they know what they're doing. I'll go back to history. The Iran and Iraq War. We supported both size on that. In a similar -- in a similar strategy. So we're like, okay. We don't like either one of these groups. Sectarian groups to get too large. Let's fund this country at the same time we fund this country. We'll arm them. They'll fight each other, and they'll be fine. We do that all the time.

So now, the only thing I can think of is that's what they're thinking with the Syria president, this former al-Qaeda guy. Okay. Well, fine. They'll be anti-Iran, so they can counter Iran.

It's literally the same exact strategy, that they're going for. And I get it. That means that we don't have to get involved. I guess in the initial point.

But we always end up having to get involved after the fire erupts and --

GLENN: We know -- look, I think he's trying to buy time, quite honestly. Get us out of that.

Let us recover, and hopefully not go back to it. Try to buy hopefully some real peace.

But we all know how this will end. It's never going to work in the long-term. Because we as the West have to concentrate on our own homelands. You're seeing that with what happened in Australia. We have let the barbarian into the gates. And we've got to focus on that. We've got to get this cancer, cut out of our own societies. Because it's not good.