Glenn has heard a lot of talk lately about how Americans should hunker down and beg the government for help because the destruction of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key may affect our supply chain for a long time. But Glenn is "SICK" of hearing what America CANNOT do. Instead, Glenn asks us to remember who we are, what we've done, and who we came from. We invented skyscrapers, built the Hoover Dam, and answered the Great Depression with some of the biggest marvels of engineering ever accomplished!“Stop tearing everything down," Glenn says, "and let’s start BUILDING.”
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: All right. I want to give you this -- I want to give you this story today. The immediate upshot for Americans on this bridge collapse. If you're waiting for a new car to come in from overseas, prepare to wait longer. The port of Baltimore stands as the nation's leading import/export site for cars and light trucks. It's also the leading nexus for sugar. And gypsum. Which is used in fertilizer, drywall, and plaster. A record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo was transported through Baltimore just last year.
The bustling port is cut off now after the 1.6-mile bridge crumbled and fell into the river early Tuesday, blocking the only shipping lane into the port. The port is one of the busiest in the US, and saw a record of 52-point-million tons of foreign cargo transported in 2023.
The officials have said the time line for rebuilding the bridge is, quote, years. We will do everything we can to protect those jobs and help those workers, the president said yesterday. The port of Baltimore creates more than 15,300 jobs, with 140,000 jobs linked to the activity at the port. This is a major disaster, and will continue -- and will create significant problems on the east coast, for US importers and exporters. The bridge collapse will mean for the time being, it will not be possible to get to the container terminals, or a range of the other port terminals in Baltimore. The Maryland Secretary of Transportation told the reporters Tuesday, that vessel traffic in the Port of Baltimore would be suspended until further notice, but noted the port is still open to trucks. So we still have trucks going in.
As soon as we clear the bridge, we can get vessels in.
But it's going to be a major hassle for -- over time, for cars, et cetera, et cetera.
An expert on property damage cases in the shipping industry, told the New York Post, that the collapse will have a major impact, on shipping and traffic routes in the east coast, for the foreseeable future. It's not -- quote, it's not going to get fixed any time soon.
It's going to take a lot longer than anyone expects. This is going to be a major problem for the northeast. I'm sick of this. I am absolutely sick to death of all of these stories, that say things like that.
Have we forgotten who we are? Have we forgotten what we've done?
Let me just take you on a little journey here for the American spirit. A spirit so potent and so vibrant, that it has scaled towering mountains. Mountains nobody thought that they could cross. Constructed marvels of engineering. Have you ever been to the Hoover dam? The skyscraper was invented here. Here we are on the threshold of tomorrow, none of us know what is happening tomorrow. None of us. But I'm getting the impression that we've been so beaten down, that we believe we're not going to make it tomorrow. Can I just remind you of who we come from? Our ancestors what they did. Our history, if you just look through it briefly, you will see a group of people, that never take no for an answer. And can do anything. I want to stop just briefly in 1930. The great depression had its icy grip on us. It was a time like the -- where everybody felt the flickering candle. In the vast darkness. It was just barely there.
Yet, it was in this crucible of adversity, that Americans did great things. The Empire State Building rose. It wasn't just a structure of steel and stone. But it was a beacon. A beacon of hope and American resilience and ingenuity. The way that thing was built, no one has ever seen anything like it before and since. In a record-shattering one year and 45 days, an army of workers, as many as 3400 men on certain days, they transformed this audacious vision, into a cowering reality.
The guy who was funding it knew, this thing better come in under budget. And we have to get it here fast. Or this will just destroy all of us.
The Empire State Building wasn't constructed. It was conjured into existence, with a symphony of clanging metal and roaring machines. And, quite honestly, the inexhaustible spirit of its builders.
Their stories. The men who were perched on the steel girders. That were being felony in by giant cranes, and they sat there. They whispered tales about how they could still feel the warmth of the freshly poured metal beneath them. That beam was still warm, even though it was poured in Pittsburgh.
And then pit on a train, then put on a boat. Then put on a truck. Then hauled up into the air. They could fill the warmth. It was moving that fast.
It was a feverish pace of construction. It seemed to defy the laws of time and physics.
For a long time, it was the tallest building in the world. An architectural achievement. It was also a declaration to the world, that America was a land where the impossible became possible. Determination. Innovation. A relentless will to succeed.
Yeah. That's all old, dusty history. Why even look at that? Pause they're not merely historical footnotes. They are blazing torches, illuminating our path forward. They remind us or are supposed to remind that you say when we're faced with adversity, we don't just endure it. We overcome it. We don't wait for history to chart our course. We write it with the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs. That's who we are.
Have we forgotten that?
It's going to be years. We find ourselves at another crossroads, America. Faced with the challenges that threaten to dim the bright future that we all dream for, for our nation, for our children.
The spirit that build the Empire State Building, that laid down miles of railroads. That cut through the Rocky Mountains.
That sent astronauts to the moon.
It's still inside of every heart of every American, somewhere. Awaken that spirit.
Scale new mountains. It's not just rock and earth. Scale the mountains of innovation and stainability.
Build. Not just physical structures. But a future that upholds the spirit of adventure and hard work and ingenuity.
Stop tearing everything down, and let's start building.
Well, we might have another president. You know, who is out there? Who could we?
Why are we waiting? If this isn't a national emergency, I don't know what it is. And I don't mean the bridge. I mean all of it.
Well, our government has to lead. Really? Really?
Does it?
Maybe that's our problem. America is led by its values and its principles, that are found in the soul of those who still remember who we are, and who we serve.
Americans led the way. The government always follows.
Yeah. Well, we can't act without them.
Bullcrap. Where are the bridge builders who will stand up today, and say, I'll get it done?
As soon as that happens, you'll see who is leading, and who is stalling. The government is the one that stalls the engine out. To expect more from our leaders is rational. But to expect the most from ourselves, is essential.
We are the architects of our destiny. We are the builders of our dreams. There's a huge task that's right in front of us. I still believe we can tackle that. We can overcome anything.
The history of America is a tapestry, woven with the threads of bold endeavors. Monumental achievements. Blood, the blood spilled at the Empire State Building, and every other path to greatness. Let's harness the potential, not for glory. Not look at us. Oh, we're the best. We're the best. But because we understood -- we understand that in the pursuit of a better world, action is not just an option. It's our duty.
I often wonder, as I look into the horizon now, in today's America. Is that a sunset or a sunrise?
It depends on you. If Americans rise with the determination that carried our forbearers through the trials and tribulations. If we build with love and compassion and an unbreakable commitment to the spirit of daring adventure and hard work and ingenuity, we restore ourselves and our country.
In the words of our ancestors that are etched in every American heart, somewhere, you can do it. You can become anything. You can do anything.
That doesn't make it easy. It doesn't mean you deserve. You deserve it. You can do it. Because it's hard. And it's in doing the hard things, that we find the best of ourselves. That's why everything that's going on is not necessarily a curse.
It's an honor to serve at this time. Because we can find the best of ourself.
We can step forward into the dawn of a new day with our eyes wide open to all of the problems of the past and the possibilities that are right in front of us.
But we have to resolve to make those possibilities our reality. We are Americans. There is nothing we can't achieve, when we all stand together. United by our dreams, and driven by the will to see them fulfilled.
Don't listen to anybody else that tells you the differently.
