RADIOMay 19, 2022

How fixing Hunter Biden’s laptop SHATTERED this man’s life

In the fall of 2020, when the New York Post published its first article on Hunter Biden’s revealing laptop, it wasn’t just the president’s son facing a now uncertain future. The life of the man who originally repaired that infamous laptop — John Paul Mac Isaac — was forever changed as well. He joins Glenn to describe the life-shattering consequences he faced that all began when Hunter Biden dropped off three liquid-damaged MacBooks on April 12th, 2020: ’To have that idea out there, that I colluded with [Russia] to affect an election…I mean, that's treasonous. And to have a traitor attached to my name, it was devastating for me.’

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: One of the guys I've wanted to talk to for months. Is a guy who was born into a military family. Air Force. And he's a -- he's a -- really, I think, a decent American, that was caught in kind of a Hitchcockian sort of film. Because somebody walked into his computer repair store. And said, hey. Can you -- can you fix this?

Well, that was Hunter Biden's and his life has been an absolute hell ever since. He's on with us now, John Paul Mac Isaac. How are you, sir?

JOHN: I'm pretty good. Thanks for having me on the show.

GLENN: You bet. So can you tell me. This whole thing started on a Friday night, and Hunter Biden walks into your shop, right?

JOHN: Yeah. It was Friday, April 12th. About ten minutes before we close. And on a Friday night, I was kind of excited to get out of the shop. Unfortunately, that excitement, was shot down, when Hunter walked in, clutching three liquid-damaged MacBook Pros that he wanted to get data recovery from.

GLENN: Did you know who he was, at first?

JOHN: No. I'm visually impaired.

So I -- when people walk in the store, I can't really see who they are. It wasn't until I started collecting his personal information. When I requested his name and phone number, and email. And he was surprised that I didn't recognize him, instantly. I guess he said, he's some sort of local celebrity.

GLENN: Yeah. All right. So take us through what happened. You had the laptops. And you were asked to take all of this information off the hard drive. When you do that, normally, do you see what's on the hard drive, or is it just a transfer?

JOHN: Well, in a perfect world, if it's say, a transfer from a perfectly healthy machine, to whatever the customer wants me to transfer it to, that process is generally automated.

In this case, the one laptop that I was able to recover data from, that I actually checked in, that was a liquid-damaged machine. It had power instability issues. So I started to do a transfer, and the power cut out on it. So I basically had to piecemeal the transfer, the next couple of days. Where I get it to power on, long enough for me to manually drag a folder to drop it to our secure store server.

In that process, because it's not automated and there's no automatic verification process, I had to verify that the data that I was copying, was intact. And it was in that verification process, that I was made aware, that there was some sensitive, embarrassing, potentially criminal material on the laptop.

GLENN: Okay. So you fixed it. And you expected him to come back. And you weren't going to do anything with the laptop, right?

PAT: Well, at that point in time, I completed the repair on April 16th. I gave him a ring, to drop off an external hard drive. So I could transfer the data back.

And he did. He came into the shop. Dropped off a two terabyte Western Digital external hard drive, I believe he got from Best Buy. And I proceeded to copy the data that I recovered to that drive. He also requested that it pay him electronically through the Square credit card processing, which sends out an email, and an automated reminder.

I then proceeded to call him the next day, to let him know it was ready. And then I continued to proceeded to call him, to let him know it was ready, for a couple weeks after that. And never got a response again.

GLENN: So after 90 days, what happens to the laptop?

JOHN: After 90 days, on the paperwork he signed, it clearly states, that after 90 days, any abandoned property becomes property of the Mac shop.

So when it became my property, I wanted to make sure what I had seen was real, because I hadn't looked at the laptop during that entire time. I think it was mid-July, where I finally dove into it.

And that's when I -- mainly because Burisma and Hunter were in the news cycle, during the summer.

I was very concerned, that, A, somebody would come looking for the embarrassing content, when he dropped off the laptop, his dad wasn't running for president.

But two weeks later, his dad was running for president. I fully expected the Secret Service to kick down my door, take the laptop and me away.

GLENN: That's terrifying.

JOHN: I think we've seen recently, that the Secret Service is the Biden's cleaner service. So I had a legitimate fear. And then also, my concern that there was the material on the laptop, that was part of a criminal investigation. That was when --

GLENN: So you gave it to the FBI. At it point, you still trusted the FBI, somewhat.

JOHN: I trust the FBI enough to know that this was the proper channel. This is what I had to do. I didn't -- after witnessing what happened to Roger Stone, that previous January. Having witnessing the weaponization that the department of FBI, and the Mueller investigation. I was definitely concerned. So that's why I enlisted my father, from this 31-year military colonel, to go to the Albuquerque FBI. Because I didn't -- I was trying to keep myself out of it. Like a secret. I had a business. And a place -- I didn't want to lose any of that.

GLENN: Sure.

JOHN: So I enlisted my father. He approached the Albuquerque. I believe it was October 8, of 2019. The Albuquerque FBI office. And he was promptly kicked out. He was asked to don't talk about this.

GLENN: Holy cow.

JOHN: He made an effort to try to get them to drive. And they seemed not interested whatsoever, and wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

So we felt pretty defeated at that point. And it was about a month later, when an FBI agent reached out to my father, in an effort to get a hold of me.

A couple weeks after that, I had the FBI meet me at my house. I expressed my concerns for my safety. And what I was hoping to achieve by going to the FBI. Which was basically, get this thing out of my shop.

GLENN: Right.

JOHN: And give me some level of protection, if somebody comes looking for it. I want a phone number that I can call, and, you know, I have someone that I can reach out to, should something go bad.

GLENN: When -- when this finally broke in the New York Post, you were destroyed. Your business was destroyed. You were -- what was it? Fifty-one different intelligence experts signed a statement, saying that this was Russian disinformation, which made you, you know, in league with the Russians.

JOHN: Yes.

GLENN: I know. Because we reached out to you. And you were like, I'm just trying to get out of here. I don't want to do any interviews. I want to get out of here.

How afraid for your life were you?

JOHN: You know, it really started the morning of October 14th.

The New York Post released a story at 6:30 in the morning, and I was getting death threats by about 6:45.

So it didn't take long for people to make the connection. Then it really -- initially, it was -- you know, I'm a hacker. I'm a thief. How could I do this?

GLENN: Yeah.

JOHN: Then the narrative slowly shifted to Putin thanks you for your service. And you're a stooge for Russia.

And to have that idea out there, that I colluded with a foreign power, to affect an election. I mean, that's -- that's treasonous. And, you know, I come from a very distinguished military family, to have the label traitor attached to my name. Is just -- it's devastating for me.

GLENN: At you ever -- ever think that your country would do this to you?

JOHN: No. I didn't. I really did not expect what I witnessed on October 14th. Within three hours of the Post releasing the story. There was a digital Iron Curtain that descended around the story. And anyone trying to report on it. The New York Post blocked from Twitter for weeks.

To see that level of collaboration, and collusion, I figured out rather quickly. That this had to be something, they were prepared for. They were waiting for this to happen.

And I think Zuckerberg was dragged before Congress. On October 25th.

And he said that the FBI reached out in the late summer, to Facebook, Twitter, and Google, to warn them, of a massive dump of foreign intelligence, that's going to affect the election.

And to be ready for it. And I can only imagine, that that was the because on August 28th, is when I overnighted, a copy of Hunter's drive to Rudy Giuliani's office. And next week, the FBI warned them. It kind of begs the question. Who was on their surveillance. Was I can monitored? Or was the office of the United States being monitored?

GLENN: You recently filed a lawsuit against Adam Schiff, and I just -- I want to say, I love you for that.

CNN, the Daily Beast, Politico, why are you suing these guys?

JOHN: Well, I think Adam Schiff is pretty clear. He had no problems going on, Wolf Blitzer. On the 16th of October. To tell the American people, that this was an operation run out of the Kremlin.

He is supposed to be the chair of the intelligence committee. But he was handed zero intelligence. If anything, the intelligence community, at the time was trying to convey to them, this has nothing to do with Russia.

And he went on the news, anyway, to spread this narrative. And I think that's a major problem. Because look, the narrative that was spread. Is the narrative that seems to be sticking for all of them. Let's blame Russia for the 2016 election. Let's blame Russia for collusion with Trump.

And they tried it again. I'm the last person you could ever possibly call a Russian. My family has a history of fighting during the entirety of the Cold War against communism. So I think they just chose the wrong guy.

GLENN: You sound pretty together. And I'm glad to hear that.

I -- we prayed for you. I think a lot of people in the country, prayed for you.

I'm doing a special tonight, on how this is about Joe Biden. I'm not sure how much of the laptop, you read. Because it's yours. Isn't it?

JOHN: Uh-huh. Well, the FBI has it now. I gave them the receipt.

GLENN: You'll never get it back. You have a copy of it, though, didn't you? I would have. You did. Okay. Good.

JOHN: I made a copy. I made two copies before I went to the FBI. I made a copy to give to my father, so he could go to the FBI with it. I also made a copy to give to a close friend of mine. Should anything happen to me, she had explicit instructions to hand deliver this to the one person that was in Ukraine, during the summer of 2019, looking up the same information that I was in possession of. And that was Rudy Giuliani. This was a decision that I made back in early October of 2019. So time passes, almost a year goes by. It turns out, that would be the same drive, of Rudy Giuliani. I'm in possession of my father's copy, which predates Rudy. So if there's any question out there, of any data that's been erroneously or maliciously added to any copies that are out there. We have a copy that pre-dates Rudy. So we can always compare it. I definitely offer that as options, to anybody who questions the integrity of the data that's out there.

GLENN: The media says that they are -- you know, yeah, we -- we realize now, it wasn't a Russian operative. You know, and a Russian op. However, they're making this about the son, not the father.

This is clearly about the father, don't you think? That was my concern. Concerns I had for national security, weren't about Hunter.

Sure, there was -- this guy was incredibly reckless with this technology. I wouldn't be surprised if the Russians had a copy of his laptop, or the Chinese have the copy of the laptop.

So, yeah. There was that level of Hunter-based national security. But the blue star strategies was on a weekly basis. Sending information, directly from the White House. Not the vice president's office. But the White House.

All the policies toward Ukraine. Anything that had to do with Ukraine, including the vice president's travel schedule, which should be a state secret. Was being sent in the open, not secured, to private Ukrainian citizens that were running a natural gas company that employed the vice president's son.

That was a concern of mine. Because this is stuff that you shouldn't send out in the open. And you shouldn't send to somebody who is financially benefiting your offspring.

GLENN: Yeah. And now that we are involved in war. I question everything that is going on. I can't thank you enough, John. And is there a way for people to help?

I know that there's a GiveSendGo, because you are under tremendous financial pressure. And I think you can just go to GiveSendGo, Build Back Mac Isaac. I-S-A-A-C.

JOHN: Yep.

GLENN: Is that the best way for people to help you?

JOHN: You know, my friend Kristen -- I never wanted the profit off of my actions, during this entire process.

GLENN: Of course.

JOHN: Even -- even when it came to mailing a copy of the drive to Rudy Giuliani's office, I didn't take the credit card. Because I did not want -- I've seen how money can pervert noble efforts, and I didn't want to fall into that trap.

GLENN: Yep. Yep.

JOHN: And I still was kind of reluctant to go with any kind of fundraising. Because I made my bed. The American people to foot the bill.

My friends convinced me, informed me that any money that I planned to achieve through my book, will probably take a while to get there. So I will need to do something, or I won't survive this. And I need to survive this, so I can continue to fight.

So my friend set up my GiveSendGo for me, and I'm grateful. Actually, I do want to say, how -- I am completely astounded by the report I've received. Not just monetarily, but prayers. And just general support from all walks of life. And all corners of this country.

GLENN: I'm glad.

JOHN: And I can tell you, that support has given me the strength to get this far. Because it got pretty dark, like a year or so, ago.

If it wasn't for the support for the American people, I wouldn't have the strength to continue this fight. And now I know how big this fight is.

GLENN: John, I have to go. I'm against a network break. I would love to have you on again.

GiveSendGo. Build Back Mac Isaac. Back in a minute.

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

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

Fact-check: The 5 LIES circulating about Charlie Kirk

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

Like Stephen King, really?

You really think that Stephen King.

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

I --

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

GLENN: But it shows how unbelievably isolated you are.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay?

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

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

And it was!

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

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

So what changed in those four years?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That Charlie Kirk could say that?

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

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

GLENN: Yes.

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

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

STU: This is true.

GLENN: They rate it absolutely true.

STU: Hmm.

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

STU: Oh. Oh.

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

STU: Hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

GLENN: Well.

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

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

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

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

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

I mean, that is so incredibly dishonest.

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

STU: This is one I heard a lot.

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

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

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

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

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

That's nonsense.

It's drivel.

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

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

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

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

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

GLENN: Yeah.

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

He spoke for himself so eloquently.

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

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

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

Sad, unfortunate fact about automobile travel.

That you do have to deal with some automobile accidents.

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

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

STU: It's absolutely true.

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

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

GLENN: No. They did in England.

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

GLENN: There's no murder there.

STU: No violent crimes there.

I keep reading about them. Is that all false?

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

STU: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STU: The guys from the Young Turks.

GLENN: That's what he was saying.

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

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

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

GLENN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

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

They'll act as if I say it.

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

STU: Uh-huh.

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

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

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

GLENN: No.

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

GLENN: Yeah. And there is a problem.

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

And then on tomorrow.

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

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

So just be very careful what you read online.

And don't necessarily repeat everything that you see.

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

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

Watch This FULL Episode of 'Glenn TV' HERE

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

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And crushing Germany.

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

In theaters. They were called Four Minute Men.

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

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

The government actually encouraged kids to spy on their neighbors.

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

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

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

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

This is Germany.

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

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

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

GLENN: Goebbels.

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

GLENN: Yeah. Goebbels, the douche bag.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay?

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

I want you to think about life during COVID.

What was the goal of the government.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So then why -- why was it repealed?

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

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

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

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

Why did we modernize?

Well, because don't you like transparency?

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

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

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

Now, here's what actually happened. I'll tell you in 60 seconds. First, Stu.

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(music)

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

Okay?

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

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

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

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

This is a direct descendent from this shift. Okay?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But we have systems in place for that.

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

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

Liberty is gone. Okay?

Now, enter Mike Lee.

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

Right or left.

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

Period.

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

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

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

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

Oh, boy. Dangerous.

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

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

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

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

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

Reinstating the Smith-Mundt protections. They're not going to solve all the problems of misinformation, but it reestablishes the ground rules. And tells Washington, you cannot propagandize us, period.
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Once truth belongs to the state, truth itself ceases to exist. Support Mike Lee's bill.

Restore the Smith-Mundt Act.