RADIOMay 13, 2024

Why Glenn Beck Predicts America Has Reached PEAK WOKENESS

Woke progressivism has taken over much of America, from our schools to our corporations, and of course, many aspects of our government. But Glenn is optimistic that the pendulum may be starting to swing back. As Americans wake up to how wokeness has destroyed the country, they are standing up and pushing back. So, have we already reached "peak wokeness?" And can we change course without going too far in the opposite direction? Glenn and Stu give their predictions.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: our problems are so easy to fix. You could go into any coffee shop in America. And you could grab, you just the five -- people who are paying attention. Out of everybody. There are five people here who could name the president. And the three branches of government. Can you come on over to my table. We would be able to fix this. If you were put this charge, you would be able to fix this. A lot of this stuff is so common sense.

STU: That's interesting. Because I think if applied. If applied, common sense would solve a lot of these problems.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: But think about that in the real world. In this world that we live in. How? Even if you convinced the medical establishment. Which I think is a real goal here. And I think it is, something that is potentially achievable. The medical establishment. Look, what you guys have done over the past 15 years. With all this gender stuff, and all this is bad.

We're seeing it happen in foreign countries. Right? The reversing path.

GLENN: France. Sweden.

STU: Yeah. The UK.

But we're seeing progress in that world.

To get back to some sort of rational view here. But even if you were to accomplish that, there are so many people, with so many goals, that are at odds with that approach. You think the mainstream media will abandon this. Because the medical establishment changes? I doubt it.

Think about all the sites and bloggers and influencers. And all the people, that people actually get their news from. That would continue down this road anyway. And would still -- would still create people, like the person who seems to be in this case today. What we know of them. Those many examples.

GLENN: Those people existed before. They just didn't have positions of power. So the first thing that has to be done. Is you fire a lot of people. I'm sorry. You know, here's -- here's the problem. Common sense. Common sense should always rule with rare exception. You know, there are times, that you are like, okay. I know that makes sense. However, this time, cut the white wire. You know what I mean? You know. No. It should be the green wire. No. No, no, no. Usually red and green. But this time, don't cut the green wire. But the problem is: Everything is so over Ivy Leagued, that the average person goes, well, I don't know. You know what I mean? Because they'll be like...

STU: Right.

GLENN: You're like, what?

STU: Well, we saw this with the Claudine gay situation. Everybody knows, when you steal other people's work, you will get fired as an academic. And yet every institution went to bat for this woman, to explain why what she -- how what she did was not actually bad. And it was actually racism. And you guys don't understand the systemic racism that pushed her to have to do this. And why we should ignore.

GLENN: Right.

STU: And everybody is like, all right. I just don't want to get involved in that.

GLENN: And the thing is. Most people will back away from it. Because they will feel stupid. I don't know. Who am I to argue against Harvard.

STU: Fewer and fewer.

I think that's going away.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

Because we used to have. You know, there's balance in all things.

Balance in all things.

There's somebody to be pushed and pull. If you don't have that. There is no growth.

So what happened is, we had common sense.

And then common sense was looked down upon from an Ivy League. Isn't that cute? Well, I have uncommon knowledge.

And everybody was like, well, he must know something, that I don't know.

No. Really. Really, the only thing that you may know, that he doesn't know, is humility. And the one thing that he may know, that you don't know is arrogance. You know, I know.

Me and my people. We know. You need to be taken care of.

STU: Are you concerned that the balance is not something we're finding right now?

GLENN: No. Because I think it's coming.

STU: Is it coming. And is it closer to what you've talked about for a long time. More of a pendulum effect.

I'm worried, it had seem at times, that we're getting to a place where we're completely ignoring experts. I don't think that's the answer either, right?

GLENN: No. It's not. Until the experts are held by other experts.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: Until the medical community can say, you know what, enough is enough.

This COVID thing, it was good here, here, and here. It was really bad here, here, and here.

And we have to stop, you know, just saying that, oh, no.

Now science knows. Because that's happened throughout all of mankind.

And then science learns. And they're like, oh. Well, now we know. As soon as it's cleaned out by its own people, you know. God will clean out his own house first. That's in Isaiah. I will clean out my own house first. And he will. And that's what needs to happen in all of the institutions. In media. It's got to be cleaned up.

Now, it's going to probably take outsiders to do it, or a new generation.

But look, it's already happening. It's already happening.

It's just that there's so much money involved, at the establishment level, and they're just holding on by their fingernails.

And they'll -- I mean, they'll pull all of us down, to stop from drowning themselves.

STU: Are you optimistic about the path here?

Are you optimistic that the pushback that has come from, I think, common sense.

I would argue, that usually equals a lot of conservative-type values.

But like, there has been a pushback in the media. There has been a pushback, when it comes to our institutions.

From more constitutional, common sense type thinking.

Will that result in something that is positive in the end? Are you comfortable with that?

GLENN: We are at the wire. We are coming around the fourth turn. And we're all dead even, as we're coming towards the wire. Who is going to win. And it will be won by a nose. And I think it will happen this year. But what is encouraging is we're seeing things that we haven't seen before. I think we're at peak wokeness.

You know, I had been talking about that pendulum theory that Stu has been saying. I've been saying for a while. 2020 -- what did I say? 2024. 2025. Is where we hit the peak. And then it starts going the opposite way.

I've said that for -- forever. Now, this means, it's going to take just as long, as it did to get here. But we will -- the dog returns to its vomit. We will go back to being a very selfish, me, me, me, you know, forget the collective culture. It will take us 40 years. But we will get right back to where we were. The key is, don't destroy yourself at any of the peaks. Because it's the middle where we really flourish. It's the balance of, no. The individual is really important. But so is the collective. We have to balance that. Right now, we're just not balancing. The individual just doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter. But I see this coming back, from really important people.

I think Elon Musk has been a turning point on that. You look at what Bill Ackman said this week, or Mark Cuban. What a difference. What a difference.

STU: Well, the Mark Cuban thing, it was bizarre. We should go through that.

GLENN: No.

STU: I don't even know if he knows what the word mean.

GLENN: He doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't.

STU: It's weird.

GLENN: Again. It's the arrogance of people thinking they know. That's what Bill Ackman said. He said, I went to talk to the students.

And you realized, what I thought they were saying, is not what they're saying.

I didn't understand it.

Mark Cuban just hasn't gone through that. But he will. Because it's happening. It is happening.

But keep running flat out. Because it's going to be won by a nose.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.