RADIOAugust 18, 2022

How progressive 'puritans' are DESTROYING FUN for us all

Noah Rothman, author of ‘The Rise Of The New Puritans,’ details just how ‘miserable’ the lives are of today’s progressives. And the worst part? They don’t even REALIZE IT! But these progressive ‘puritans’ are ‘pursuing a moral framework and have imposed it on EVERY ASPECT of life,’ Rothman explains, just like the totalitarian philosophy on which their ideology is based. Glenn and Rothman discuss how this kind of moral absolutism — that takes no prisoners — could cause our society to cease to function normally…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Noah Rothman. A guy who I think really gets it. He's the -- just written the book, The Rise of the New Puritans. The war on fun. Really. Noah, welcome to the program, how are you, sir?

NOAH: Very well. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

GLENN: You bet. You bet. So Stu and I are in the midst of reading your book. We haven't gotten all the way to the end yet. But I have to ask you: Do -- do progressives know that they're almost embarrassingly unfun right now? Do they know this?

NOAH: No. They absolutely don't. They would reject the premise. And they sort of recoil at the assertion that they're pursuing some sort of a moral framework. That they have imposed this moral framework on every aspect of life. Especially the apolitical aspects of life. They don't see themselves as less fun, less chill. Less accommodating than their parents or grandparents. But they most certainly are. They're having less fun. They're having less sex. They're enjoying life less than their elders.

GLENN: They're having less sex?

NOAH: Oh, yeah. You haven't gotten to that chapter? That's a good one.

GLENN: No.

NOAH: So that is my very salacious chapter on sex and booze. It's called -- it's titled Temperance. All of these chapters are organized around unimpeachable moral values. Because they are pursuing a moral ideal, about how society should organize itself. So when you think of progressives, you don't think they have sexual prescriptions, right?

But if you dig into the literature around the many proliferating sexual identities. It's not about self-gratification or self-fulfillment. It's about the political program associated with these things. This has to pursue and advance a political agenda. And couple that with the labyrinth theme of consent requirements now, in statute, in places like California, but mostly in dorms and college campuses.

And you have this unnavigable labyrinth that has been erected around consent. Which absent consent is obviously a crime. But we created now, real legal and moral, and social consequences, if a Q is misread or a signal is overlooked, or it's just human behavior that's intervened in the process. The complicated process. The result is less sex, people are reporting, especially young people are reporting have much less casual intercourse than their parents did.

GLENN: Okay. I have to tell you, first of all, it is a religion. It is a religion. So you have Puritans absolutely right. And they are imposing it on all of us. But I look at people who are like this. And I think to myself, how could you not be just miserable, if you believe all the things that they believe, it's just a life of misery.

NOAH: Yeah. They don't see themselves as miserable, but they are making their compatriots miserable. I think nine out of the ten people I spoke with are -- who -- most of them wouldn't go on the record, for fear of consequences, saying the things that they actually think.

GLENN: Which is weird.

NOAH: Yeah. Well, there are real social and professional consequences for going against this movement. It's not a big movement, but it punches way above its weight. And so these guys are Democrat. They vote Democrat. They wouldn't vote Republican with a gun to their head. But they didn't get into the business of making delicious food and writing screenplays and broadcasting sports because they wanted to do politics. They don't. They've just been drafted into this movement. And it's sapping them of enthusiasm for their life's work. And they really, really resent it.

STU: Can you go over some of these? You have so many examples of this type of thing. The hummus place is one.

GLENN: I would like to hear about the burrito truck. Tell us about the burrito truck.

NOAH: A truck that was in the Pacific Northwest, these two women went down to Mexico. Fell in love with the food, interviewed chefs, picked up some recipes, brought them back to the Pacific Northwest, and it was a profound success. They were very commercially successful. In fact, a lot of people targeted by this movement are successful. And their success engenders quite the resentment. But they brought it to the Pacific northwest. And the media environment down there, which is beholden to this progressive set of ideas, just went about destroying the thing, because they had stolen this heritage from -- from the hard-working people of Mexico. They hadn't given them any credit. They weren't giving them the proper remunerations that were due.

It was a very nebulous idea of what they violated. What prescriptions they ignored.

But this thing was destroyed. These two women were driven out of business. And the burrito truck, which was feted, which was loved, which was driven under -- out of business. In part, also because I think it was so good. But they had violated some unspoken, unwritten ideals about whatever culture appropriation is, it's very difficult to define. But it's believed to be some form of theft, as though culture is a 0-sum game. And it's commodified in some way.

GLENN: So when I read that, and I thought about it, I had just seen the new Elvis movie. Have you seen the new Elvis movie?

NOAH: I haven't. I heard it's good.

GLENN: It's very, very good. But it taught me something about Elvis that I didn't know. I didn't know that he was so poor after his dad died, that he and his mom lived in a black community in Memphis. Which never happened. He was like the only white kid in this black community. So he grew up in that culture. He grew up with the music. That's why he moved the way he did. And the -- at the time, the programmers of radio, many of them would have loved to have played the black music. But they couldn't put a black man on the air. And when they heard his music, it was the black culture and black music sung by a white guy.

And, you know, it shows B.B. King and all of these legends who were friends of his, going, man, take it. Take it. I'm glad people are listening to it.

Now, you would look at that, and it would be cultural appropriation. And they would hate. I think they probably do, hate Elvis and anybody like him, because he was just stealing that. No, he wasn't.

He was popularizing it. He was breaking a barrier.

NOAH: Yeah. Popularizing it and creating synthesis. And there's this idea abroad that synthesis in music, in culture, in cuisine, is some sort of form of theft. Is there needs to be -- there's a racial essentialist element that's put to this.

That suggests that any creativity in creative works of art and amalgamating and synthesizing various influences into some finished product represents some form of attack on culture, even though what you just said is absolutely correct. In art, in food, and in music, you're exposing new audiences to this thing. You're creating a broader understanding and acceptance of these cultural traits, albeit, perhaps, amalgamated. Not necessarily adulterated. They confuse the two, probably deliberately. But the expansion of broadening the exposure to these ideas. These cultural traits. Used to be something that we would celebrate and accept as an unadulterated good. It's not anymore.

GLENN: Right. I know there was a guy who I grew up listening to on the radio.

He was very, very good. His name was Charlie Brown. He was originally at KJR in Seattle, and then CUBE. And I studied at his feet. I was lucky enough to work with him when I was very, very young. And I watched him, and I talked to him. When I started doing my own show, I called him up and I asked him. Hey, Charlie, can I -- can I steal this and this and this from you? And he just laughed, and he said. And I think this is true, with almost everything.

Because it's not -- you're not living in a vacuum. And he said, Glenn, you steal from me. You have stolen twice.

And that's what we don't understand, that it all is just kind of -- that's where you get your inspiration. And you take it. And you make it your own. And you move -- not stealing things word-for-word, et cetera, et cetera.

Let me ask you, because I'm watching -- I mean, I know you're -- your IQ is a lot higher than mine. And I don't know if you're -- if you're watching like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which I think is fantastic.

But it centers around this woman in the 1950s, early 1960s, who wants to be a comedian. And one of the running characters is Lenny Bruce. And Lenny Bruce would absolutely be in progressive jail right now, if he lived today. And you had all of these great comedians, that were there to push back, on the man. Whatever it was, they pushed back. These people like Ricky Gervais, make it, I think, because they don't apologize, and they don't stop.

Can you talk a little bit about the effect of apology, and what's happening in comedy.

NOAH: Yeah. The very same sentiments, policing of public morality, that took in Lenny Bruce. George Carlin and Richard Pryor are at work today. The executors of this campaign are not on the right. They used to be.

You know, the tendency that saw something that would corrupt you into great society and innocent cultural fare, used to be a tendency native to the right. In part, because we are all heirs to this puritanical tradition, has found a home in both political coalitions over the years.

On -- when it comes to comedy, one of the things you see now among this particularly puritanically inclined progressives is to emphasize the pain that someone had to endure, in order for you to enjoy something as trite as a punch line. You know, I see this in the fans of the comedian Hannah Gatsby. An anti-comic. And who is funny when she wants to be. She doesn't always want to be. Sometimes she will build the same tension that would otherwise lead to a punch line, give you that release, and doesn't break the tension. Just lets you sit and marinate in it, and absorb her pain. And maybe interrogate you about that joke that you told five minutes ago, and ask you, why you thought that was funny. Why was my suffering funny?

And that's what they love so much. They love the language. They love the ardor. Because it's a sign of your prudent understanding. That suffering exists in this world. And if you don't dutifully dwell on it every second of your life. You're sacrificing a moral mission, to advance a progressive project and make the human experience just a little bit more, you know, tolerable. This is a very puritanical ideal.

GLENN: I've never heard -- go ahead. Well, hang on. Hang on. I have to take a quick break. I want you to get to the apology. And I want you to explain a little bit deeper this anti-comedian. I've never heard that term before. Anti-comedian. And, you know, it's different than like Andy Kaufman. Who just, for his own entertainment, would make people wildly uncomfortable. But that's a completely different look. As I understand it. We're talking to Noah Rothman. He's the author of the rise of the new Puritans. A great book. You want to understand what's going on with the left and this new religion, and how it affects everything? The rise of the new Puritans, by Noah Rothman. Back with him in 60 seconds.

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Noah, I would love to do a podcast with you and spend, you know, at least an hour with you on this -- this topic. You've really nailed it. The book is the rise of the new Puritans. Tell me about the apology.

NOAH: So we are often bombarded with demands that you will apologize for your conduct. The apology provides you no absolution. And that's where I differ from a lot of the very brilliant scholars. Who have called this a purely secular faith. I don't see it entirely as a faith. Because in a faith in the western condition, there is deism, that expiates sin. There can be no absolution for sin in this particular faith because there is no deism. And because it is such an all-encompassing social code, I liken it more towards Puritanism. Because Puritanism wasn't just a phase. It wasn't just congregationalism. It was a way of life. It was a totalitarian philosophy by definition, because it was total.

When it comes to the apology, the apology as we've all observed, makes you just a more delicious target, and trains more fire on you. This isn't just true in comedy. There's several examples of that in the comedy chapter. But there's a particularly interesting anecdote that I lead off the book with, about a grocery -- about a grocer in Minnesota, that was, again, very popular. Very successful.

It was vetted by Keith Ellison on the floor of the House of Representatives. Diners, drive-ins, and dives. Guy Fieri featured it.

So it turned out, the owner of this grocer had a daughter, who in her youth, 14 and 18, respectively, made racially insensitive remarks online. This was picked up by the online community, that they attempted to him, to -- to apologize. And -- and to make absolution for his sins. He had to fire his daughter. That was not good enough. He pledged that she would devote herself to good works for the community. That was not good enough. Eventually, the holder of his lease terminated the lease.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

NOAH: Because that was the penitence that was deserving of the sin he had committed. The careless parentage of a willful daughter. And this is as moral a code as you can find. It goes back to the founding of the country. When you are apologizing in any other tradition, you would find some absolution. This particularly uncompromising tradition offers no -- no absolution for offenses against it.

GLENN: It is. I will tell you, you're right about this. As a completely different kind -- you don't call it a religion. I do. I just think it's an Antichrist-style religion. There is no forgiveness. And without forgiveness, we cease to function normally as a society. You just can't live in a society, where there is no forgiveness. Where you're held accountable, not only for everything you've ever done, but also anything your ancestors have done. That's a pretty shallow pool of good people that can be swimming around.

Noah, thank you so much for being on the program today. I would love to have you back. Love to do a podcast with you. The book is the rise of the new Puritans. Fighting against progressive's war on fun. Noah Rothman is the author

THIS move by Ron DeSantis DEVASTATED Gavin Newsom in debate

California Governor Gavin Newsom entered enemy territory and debated Florida Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. But was that a good decision in the long run? Glenn and Stu review the debate and reveal who they believe won. Glenn also points out the strategy that DeSantis used in the debate that he believes was most effective.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So the New York Times, their buying takeaway with the debate with Gavin Newsom and DeSantis is. That it was unfair. It was stacked -- of course. It was on the Sean Hannity show, on Fox.

That would be like me saying, you know what, I'm going to go on. And I'm going to debate Gavin Newsom, on CNN.

And then the big takeaway from TheBlaze was, it was unfair. Of course it's unfair.

STU: And I don't even know if it's fair to say it was unfair.

GLENN: You're on Fox. He's a conservative.

And, quite honestly, you've got DeSantis, who is really good.

STU: Yeah. Really good.

GLENN: Really good.

STU: So the taking of this debate by Newsom is a high degree of difficulty, right?

It's not an easy task to go on the Hannity Show and beat Ron DeSantis in the debate.

I will say, it's one of those things going in. If you don't think you can absolutely dominate. Absolutely dominate Ron DeSantis. You don't take this opportunity. Quote, unquote, opportunity.

So a couple of takeaways from this. From the big picture. And we should play some of the clips. Number one, Newsom blew up his career last night.

GLENN: He had a good chance.

You don't take this on, unless you're somebody that can actually, you know, do it. Knock him out.

You have to have -- you had to be so confident, that you could walk in, to an opposing field.

You know, where things are going to be stacked against you. Just because.

STU: Right.

GLENN: And take him on. And have a couple of knockout punches. Did he have any?

STU: No. It was really a catastrophe for him.

So you had -- the interesting part of this. If you're going to take this in a way that will make you understand the Newsom choice. This was basically the last wall here, for the person who wants to say, we need to replace Joe Biden.

Like, this is not working with Biden. We need someone who is going to do something different than lose with an 81-year-old candidate. Right?

Like, you need somebody who will do something impressive. Let's just -- let me give you a different scenario here.

GLENN: Okay.

STU: You have a situation where Gavin Newsom comes into this very unfriendly room. Against a tough candidate. And destroys Ron DeSantis in the debate. Let's say that happens.

There would be people excited to say, guys, look, we love Joe Biden.

He served our party for 50 years.

But come on. He's losing to Donald Trump. Gavin Newsom would destroy Donald Trump. We have to make that move.

This is about the last chance you have, to make a move like that.

GLENN: All right. Let me go on a couple of things.

STU: It didn't happen, though. Right?

So we had an opportunity here. It didn't happen.

GLENN: So here is a clip. DeSantis versus Newsom. Watch this.

VOICE: The stats are very clear. On a per capita age-adjusted basis, California and Florida, basically the same. Now, why is that important?

Because Gavin Newsom did huge damage to people in California. He ruined livelihoods. We reopened it very quickly.

We saved thousands of jobs. We saved hundreds of thousands of jobs. Thousands of businesses.

We had our kids in school. He had the kids locked out of school, because of the teacher's union.

That is having a generational impact. California is one of the lowest literacy rates in the country, and the most recent nape exam, Florida came in number three for fourth grade reading.

California was far, far hidden.

So you should apologize for not getting your kids in school.

Why didn't you get the kids in school, in the summer of 2020, like we did?

STU: The only person --

GLENN: That didn't do the job you should have --

I mean, that's what would happen in any debate.

STU: Right.

GLENN: So that's not unfair.

And I don't think Hannity was unfair.

STU: No. Look, he's a conservative. Everyone knows he's a conservative.

GLENN: Right. It's just stacked against you.

It is going -- it's Gavin Newsom going into enemy territory.

But I have news for you, gang.

That's what Republicans do, every debate. Every debate.

STU: All the time! Every debate is that way for conservatives.

GLENN: Right.

So here he is on the gender books in schools. Cut five.

VOICE: Or is it the role of the school? What is the role?

VOICE: The role of the school is to educate kids.

Not to indoctrinate kids. It's not to impose an agenda. It's to do the basics.

And what we've said in Florida is, it's inappropriate to tell a kindergartner that their gender is a choice. It's inappropriate to tell a second grader, that they may have been born in the wrong body.

Now, California has that. They want to have that injected into the elementary school. My wife and I have a seven, five, and a three-year-old. And we don't think that's appropriate.

And I know most parents do not think it's appropriate.

It's also important to respect, parental rights, to know what curriculum is being used in the classroom. And everything should be age appropriate.

I actually have something that I brought, that some parents have objected to.

So this is a book in some of the schools in California. Florida, this is not consistent with our standards. Called gender queer. Some of it is blacked out. You would not probably be able to put it on air.

This is pornography. It's cartoons. It's aimed at children. And it's wrong.

So this should not be at schools. When people like, on the left, say, somehow you're banning books. When you're removing this from a young kid's classroom. No, this is not age appropriate.

So we will stand for the rights of parents. I think we will do that nationwide. I don't think you can have a situation where some states just trample on the rights of parents.

Parents have a fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their kid.

GLENN: I have to tell you, I think DeSantis should take this, as a massive win.

What Gavin Newsom was trying to do with be to -- to tell the Democrats, I'll destroy these guys.

DeSantis just did.

STU: This should be DeSantis entire campaign right now.

Show people what it would look like, if he were the candidate. If you were in the general, this is what you would get.

Remind people, that this is what he should do. Now, look, you won't get idiotic governors to come and debate you.

It wouldn't make sense to do debates with governors. You do have an entire liberal media. You have The View. You have a million opportunities where you can go and do these types of things.

It's like, take those opportunities. And show those -- it's difficult to walk the line. Right?

As a Republican candidate in this primary. We've seen zero people be successful as Trump walked in. Dozens have candidates have tried this.

It's really hard to walk this line. A lot of people like Trump. You can't really say anything bad about him. It's just a difficult thing to do.

This is not difficult. There are a million people on the left, that want to take their shot at Ron DeSantis.

Go in there. Mix it up with the left constantly.

Act like you're the general election candidate.

Go there and show everybody, how much better you will be than any of the other candidates. That's probably his about best path to winning this thing.

GLENN: Let's go to cut seven.

VOICE: Do you think 100 percent. 100 percent.

VOICE: By the way, results matter. Inflation now is down to 3.2 percent. Wages are up to 4.4 percent. The economy is booming.

5.2 percent GDP growth in the last --

GLENN: Booming.

VOICE: Those are facts you don't hear on Fox news, 14 million jobs.

VOICE: That was a lightning round. Now, on March 31st.

GLENN: Bidenomics. He's selling.

STU: Yeah, by the way, Biden has stopped saying this. You notice this. He's not said it in a month.

He's touted Bidenomics constantly. All of a sudden, he completely stopped saying it.

GLENN: Right. Let me play one more here. This is DeSantis showing a map of San Francisco.

Watch this.

VOICE: This is a map of San Francisco. There's a lot of plots on that. You may be asking, what is that plotting?

Well, this is a map that they plot the human species on the streets of San Francisco.

STU: He's horrible.

VOICE: Because that is what has happened in one of the previous, greatest cities this country has ever had.

Human feces is now a fact of life. Except when a communist dictator comes to down. Then they cleaned up the streets. They lined the streets with Chinese flags. They didn't put American flags there. They cleaned everything up.

So they're willing to do it for a communist dictator. But they're not willing to do it for their own.

STU: Incredible.

GLENN: Just he was stunning. He was stunning. Last night.

STU: And this is one of the things. Gavin Newsom in theory, is much better than Gavin Newsom in reality.

This idea, he's a younger guy. He's a good-looking guy. He's well-spoken.

Watch him. All you can say watching that television screen last night, any rational observer would look at Gavin Newsom, and just think of the word douche. That is who that guy is.

I know it's not the nicest way to put it. I got it. But that's all you would think about watching him. And the idea that this is their bench. This is the guy that they're defending on for the future of the party, should give you incredible optimism for the future of conservatism.

What the media got WRONG about Elon Musk's 'go f*** yourself' statement

Elon Musk shocked the media when he told companies that are trying to use advertising money to blackmail him to "go f*** yourself." But that's not how the media is reporting it. They're suggesting that Musk just doesn't want advertisers who disagree with him. But Glenn, who has faced these kind of attacks before from the likes of Media Matters, explains what he really meant: "He’s saying, 'if you want me to bend and silence people so you could pose and you won’t be boycotted, screw yourself.'" "I'm not selling my soul," Glenn says. And he encourages Elon to continue doing the same.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: The Elon Musk audio yesterday, CNN is saying he said to advertisers that didn't want to advertise on X, to F off. That's not what he said. Listen.

Do we have it?

VOICE: Apology tour, if you will.

That this had been said online.

There was all of the criticism. There were advertisers. We even talked to Bob --

VOICE: Don't advertise.

VOICE: You don't want them to advertise?

VOICE: No.

VOICE: What do you mean?

VOICE: If someone is going to try to blackmail with advertising, blackmail me for money, go (bleep) yourself.

VOICE: But.

VOICE: Go (bleep) yours.

I hope it is. Hey, Bob. I'm sure he's in the audience.

GLENN: So what was he saying? He wasn't saying, if you don't want to advertise. He's saying, if you want me to bend and silence people so you could pose and you won't be boycotted, screw yourself.

I'm not playing that game. I don't want your money that badly.

This is the way Americans, all Americans should be.

I don't want your blood money.

No, thank you.

I don't want it. If you want me to sell my soul. Because that's what's happening here. You are selling your soul.

Every time somebody tells you to compromise, to just go along to get along.

Angel Studios is coming out with a movie on boon horrify. And I can't wait. I saw the trailer yesterday.

I can't wait.

But Bonhoeffer said, our silence in the face of evil is evil itself.

We're by remaining silent, by not standing up. By compromising. By just letting the bullies win. It's evil.

What you're doing. And it will cost your soul. So I'm sorry. But if somebody is coming to me and he's driven by what he truly, really believes -- and I'm not saying Disney isn't. But if you come to me with a threat, and say, you better change this, or we're going to all boycott you.

We're going to destroy you.

Is there a bigger definition of evil than that? I'm not selling my soul.

I wouldn't -- he's saying, I'm not going to sell my soul, for what? $55 billion.

It's a pretty high price tag. But I'm not going to sell my soul.

My number is a lot smaller than that.

It's amazing. Tomorrow, I want to talk to you about it. Because Stu and I have been talking about, has a a genius. He's a genius of geniuses, okay?

And we rarely see these people.

But there is something to Tesla. He picked Tesla, for a reason.

And I don't think enough people. They're like, oh, yeah. Well, he was, you know, the electric guy. And he wanted to electrify things. And, you know, Tesla.

No. There's a lot more to Tesla's story than that. And I think if you really want to understand him.

I could be wrong on this. I think if you really want to understand him, you have to understand Tesla.

You have to understand Edison. Tesla.

You have to understand Howard Hughes.

You have to understand Orson Wells.

You have to understand these people, who when their back was against the wall went, screw you!

I will talk a little bit about that tomorrow.

STU: Yeah, this is the ultimate power, to be able not to care about this. And this just doesn't come with his money for Elon Musk.

GLENN: No. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of people.

If he cared about money, he would fold.

STU: Yeah. And everything -- everybody from his younger years, says he never talked about money, when he was trying to develop these ideas.

It was never the idea that drove him.

He figured, eventually, it would come from this.

He at one point, said, I'll either end up incredibly wealthy or have $0.

GLENN: I think I've been quoted saying that too.

STU: Zero for you than him.

GLENN: We'll -- we'll be living the high life or I'll be living under a bridge.

STU: Right. But I think that's essential to understand his mindset. You know, at some -- it's like, one of the reasons why I started reading the book about him. Was because I don't fully understand some of the stuff that happens with him.

At some point, I'm like, is he the most amazing businessman in the world? Or is he not really good businessman at all?

It's not even a criticism. It's like, he doesn't care about the business side of it, in some way. It's not exactly true. Because obviously he's built these giant companies, and he's been very successful.

GLENN: He's a genius.

He's just -- he doesn't seem to care as much about the business side.

STU: Right.

The priority for him is whatever emission he's decided. And he, early on in life, believed.

It was three things that he believed were really important.

One was space travel. One was the environment. I'm trying to think what the third one was.

GLENN: It wasn't chicks.

STU: No.

GLENN: No. Again, he seemed to have participated in this book a lot.

So I don't know how -- if he would say it was completely fair.

They definitely make him out. At times to be pretty rough. On some of his -- of his mates.

As throughout life. Like, they had some pretty rough relationships on both sides.

GLENN: Look at the way he was raised. Both sides.

STU: Of course, I think it was central to who he is.

GLENN: It is. It is.

STU: Look, I don't think he's the easiest person to deal with. People in his life say that. But also, that's part of the way he's been able to achieve what he's been able to achieve.

GLENN: I knew a guy who was a genius. Absolute genius.

STU: Thanks, man.

GLENN: No. Nothing like you.

An absolute genius. The guy could do and think in levels you can't even imagine. Okay?

He so many times, would just be frustrated. You know, I would talk to him and think -- and he would be like, oh, God. No. Glenn. This.

And I said to him at one point, you -- you get tired of people talking to you, who just cannot think as fast. I don't think -- I've never seen Elon talk down to people.

I mean, he may, in his private life. I have never seen him in public, talk down to people. I've never seen him frustrated.

But he's got to be.

Because he's thinking it -- it -- at different levels.

And all of these press people. How -- how frustrated are people who actually are trying to do something, they believe in.

And then, everyone around them, is trying to make it about something that is so much smaller.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Your fame. Your fortune. Whatever. Politics.

Yeah. You've got to just be, oh, God.

Would these people, shut up. They -- I mean, open your mind a bit. And see a bigger picture.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: I -- I -- he has to go through that, a lot. A lot.

STU: I think he does.

I think that's definitely true.

THIS is who the government is TARGETING instead of REAL terrorists

Instead of protecting our skies from actual threats, the Department of Homeland Security has ordered federal air marshals to focus on 2 things: doing menial tasks at the border and following people affiliated with January 6th. But if that isn't frustrating enough, Glenn speaks with former federal air marshal Sonya Hightower-LaBosco, who is blowing the whistle about who our government is targeting. According to her, the list of people affiliated with January 6th includes an 8-week-old BABY who wasn't even conceived at the time of the riot. Sonya explains the insane illogic behind that decision as well as what she believes all this nonsense may lead to: "My biggest concern is we're going to have another 9/11."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. So last night, I was having a conversation, with Sonya Hightower LaBosco. And this is how it ended. Listen to this.

This person returned to the hotel. It is important to know that, blank, never set foot in the Capitol grounds. In fact, suffered from a disability that makes it difficult for her to walk.

This air marshal, the 27 years of experience. Do you remember this case?

What was he assigned to do?

SONYA: I do. And that's his wife we're talking about, Glenn. He's a special air ops marshal, and he assigns the teams of air marshals to follow these individuals that are on Quiet Skies or Select D. So this air marshal actually came in. It was his job to assign the missions for that day. Opened his computer and saw a photograph of his wife listed as a suspected domestic terrorist, knowing that she had nothing to do with the Capitol. She didn't even go to the Capitol that day. And we proved that through many, many different ways from geo tracking, her cell phone, her Uber receipts. You name it. We proved it.

GLENN: All right. I have less than a minute. You have to tell me if this is true. Did we actually use the air marshal to track a four -- what was it? A four-month old, four-week-old baby?

SONYA: Yes, Glenn. We're doing that now. The baby is eight week old. The baby was not even conceived. An eight-week-old baby, who is on the terrorist watch list. That is correct.

GLENN: I didn't have time to fully delve into why our air marshals are following. And I bet it's not hard to track, the eight-week-old newborn that is now on the terrorist watch list.

Now, one of my kids, well, two of my kids, they were born with I believe explosive stuff in their system.

And when they would drop a bomb, sometimes, it was nasty. But I never thought, we should call an air marshal.

But apparently, at eight weeks, I mean, that's basic boot camp, isn't it?

Eight weeks. What can these babies do to us?

Sonya is with us again.

Sonya, tell us the story of the eight-week-old baby.

SONYA: Okay. So, Glenn, this story was just broke by Uncover DC and Wendy Mahone. This eight-week-old baby is on the terrorist watch list. And it's not just one air marshal that will be signed. It's a minimum of three. So you will have three air marshals following this eight-week-old baby. No matter if the baby travels with the grandparents. If the baby just travels with cousins. It doesn't matter. Once the baby is on the list, by their name, the baby is going to stay on that list.

GLENN: Okay. Hang on. Hang on.

Did the parents do something?

SONYA: The father, I think the father was -- I think they got him for parading on January the 6th. I think he faced a charge. Yeah. He either walked through the Capitol. Or he did something of that nature, on January the 6th.

GLENN: Parading. Oh, my gosh. Not parading.

SONYA: And this is -- I think it was his fiancé that booked the ticket for her and the baby. I don't know if they're married. I think this was his fiancé. But she booked the tickets for her and the baby to go on, I think a holiday vacation down to Puerto Rico.

GLENN: So he wasn't even with them?

SONYA: No, he wasn't with them then. He wasn't. No. He wasn't.

GLENN: Huh.

SONYA: So he's with them now, they are a family. So they were flying down to visit family, I just in Puerto Rico. And lo and behold, you know, they get to the airport. She gets to the airport. They print out the boarding passes.

And here's the baby. As you can see, I think I sent you the picture.

It's the infant on the boarding pass. It says INFT, and it has the four showcasing that they're on the watch list.

GLENN: Well, has the baby blown anything up? I mean, just I have to ask. Has the baby -- is the baby involved in things right now? I mean, you never can tell.

SONYA: I mean, Glenn, the baby wasn't even born. The baby wasn't even conceived. Wasn't even thought at that moment.

This was back in January of 2021. We're going three years later.

GLENN: This is unbelievable.

SONYA: I mean, I knew -- I knew that we had been following a 6-year-old boy and a 9-year-old child. I knew that. That was the all-time low for the information we received. But when we received the information on the eight-week-old baby, I mean, how -- how low can you go, within the government, for these -- these -- to pacify the swamp, right?

Because this is what we're pacifying with TSA and the air marshals.

We're pacifying the swamp members that want Americans targeted because they exercised their First Amendment right or they attended a rally, or they weren't even there. Anyone affiliated with January 6th, whether you were at the Capitol or the rally. It does not matter. The swamp wants you targeted.

GLENN: So to give people perspective, and Sonya, I believe one of the most -- I think we did two things right after 9/11.

We put air marshals on the plane. And we made the -- the door to the pilots bulletproof. Those two things, I think are the best things we ever did.

Everything else was just government nonsense, for the most part, I think. At least the way it's been executed.

The -- the air marshals are not on board of our planes now.

Because they're not only just following babies and children. But they are also on our border.

Correct?

SONYA: That is correct, Glenn. We have been forced to go down to the border for over two years now.

The Air Marshal National Council, the group I've worked with. We've been fighting that because we know that we have very limited resources in the first place.

I mean, the air marshals are only a couple of thousand, specialty group, inside of TSA, which TSA is a big administrative 65,000 bureaucratic agency.

I mean, you have this little small law enforcement component, inside of this administrative agency. And they're smothering, our duties as law enforcement, with all their bureaucratic administrative red tape that they are using for a political agenda.

GLENN: And our air marshals are doing what, on the border?

SONYA: They're doing non-law enforcement duties, non-law enforcement. They are driving people to the hospital. They are walking around the facility once an hour, and checking -- while everything is quiet. I didn't see any doors unlocked. They were at the front gates, signing vehicles in and out.

Okay. Well, there's a delivery. All right. This first came in at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. They left at 2:30. They're handing out water. They're making sandwiches. They are doing nothing, nothing that they should be doing to thwart hijacking in the aircraft.

GLENN: What's your biggest concern on all of this?

SONYA: My biggest concern is that we're going to have another 9/11, Glenn. We're blinking red. If there was ever a time in this country. It's not even incompetence.

This is not incompetence. This is intentional.

How can you take the only resource we have from the air. And put them down on the border, to do no duty.

That's the thing.

We're not even doing anything down there, and we're letting the American people. We're ushering in illegals. We're catering to the illegals.

And the American people who buy train tickets. And pay security fees. And expect to be safe. Have nobody looking out for them.

GLENN: You know what is amazing to me is I didn't even put the air -- I didn't even think of the air marshals. Story after story, sometimes it feels like it's once a week.

We'll hear about some crazy person on a plane. That started an argument. Or whatever.

And not once have I thought, wait a minute.

Where is the air marshal?

Because the air marshals are the ones that -- hey. Sit down. If there's a problem. You don't usually have to land the plane right away. For some jerk, which the airlines have been doing.

These -- all these incidents of these jerks on planes, that's maybe happening more often, because we don't have an air marshal. Is that logical?

SONYA: Glenn, that's logical. Look, and these have been some very serious incidents. If you look over the last two years. Just alone, when we're fighting. We know the air marshals are on the are border.

We have had flight attendants stabbed. We have had breaches of the cockpit.

GLENN: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.

What?

SONYA: Yes. We've had -- United Flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston, in 2022, there was a flight attendant stabbed on that aircraft. That's correct.

GLENN: How -- what did they use? A plastic knife?

SONYA: He -- he went in, we're not sure where he got it.

He made some type of homemade shank in the bathroom. We don't know if he had it on him or did he get a spoon. We don't know how he -- he made a shank.

GLENN: Okay. So that happened in the last two years, and we still don't know how he did that.

Okay. And then the cockpits have been breached?

SONYA: Yes. Well, there's been level four threats, that's been called out, with the captain stating that the cockpits, they were trying to reach the cockpit.

There has been incident after incident that has happened. And every one of these incidents were normal flights air marshals would have been on. The long hall flights. Remember, that's when al-Qaeda took our planes for, when they took them. They took the planes with the most fuel, so that's east coast to west coast. Those are flights we normally would have been on. But we're not on those flights. Because we're at the border, or following January 2021 people that were at the rally or at the Capitol. That's what our duties are doing.

GLENN: Your organization.

You know, you represent the federal air marshals, and you've done this.

How -- how worried are the air marshals about -- I mean, you know, the country is at red alert. We know this.

We've heard it. We've heard the -- the Homeland Security say, we're on high alert right now.

For terror.

What are they saying? What are the actual air marshals saying?

They have to be going crazy.

SONYA: They're going nuts. They're going nuts, Glenn. This is 22 years they've been fighting.

22 years. A lot of the women who came over, came over after 9/11. Went to -- we tried to prevent this from happening again.

And we are being handcuffed by this administration, totally handcuffed. There's nothing we can do.

Because this administration doesn't want us to do anything.

GLENN: Okay. So what do we do?

I mean, besides expose us.

SONYA: Glenn, we have to get out of TSA.

This is what happens when you have an administrative bias. Political bias association. Like TSA, running a law enforcement program.

They weaponize -- they weaponize the air marshals for their political gain.

GLENN: Well, we won't send them to the FBI or any other government institution. I think they should be locally -- you know, wherever they're living, that airport should possibly do it.

You know, San Francisco is the only airport that doesn't hire the TSA to run their security. And they catch more things than any other airport.

And I can't believe I'm giving credit to San Francisco. You can't give it to another government agency.

Sonya, thank you so much. I would like to talk you to again, on how we can serve you, and help get our air marshals back our planes.

Something is going to happen. And there will be no doubt, no doubt, who exactly is responsible for terrorist activity in this country.

I can name them right now.

Sonya, thank you for exposing this. God bless you.

3 examples of EXACTLY why CBDCs are a THREAT to your freedom

Despite the popularity of private monetary systems like Bitcoin and payment systems like Venmo, governments around the world are still pushing for the creation of "central bank digital currencies" (CBDCs). But what are these currencies and what would they mean for societies? Glenn plays 3 clips from officials around the globe who have explained exactly why CBDCs — which ARE coming — are "imprisonment dressed up as freedom."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So I just saw that Bitcoin is down, what $537 today?

STU: Panic!

GLENN: Yeah. I know. Panic. It is incredibly -- it's almost up to 40,000 again. It's like 38 or $37,000 now per Bitcoin.

STU: Legitimately incredible.

Considering, there's been a slew of bad news over the past year. People may know Sam Bankman-Fried. There's a big finance thing that happened last week.

GLENN: But you also have the government saying, we're never going to do that. We're going to introduce our own fed coin.

STU: Yeah. Elizabeth Warren, is not on board.

So if Elizabeth Warren is on board, should you be?

I mean, shouldn't you agree with whatever Elizabeth Warren says.

GLENN: She's not on board for --

STU: She's not a big fan of Bitcoin. I'm sure she would be fine with that.

But does not want Bitcoin.

This is decentralized. They don't have control of it.

So, of course, people don't like it. But it is interesting to see. This is a big part of what the Argentinian, the guy Milei has done there.

He's a big Bitcoin guy.

You know, there's --

GLENN: I would love to see.

STU: A lot of the candidates are pretty good on this topic as well.

Including, even, I would have to say, RFK Jr is good on this. I'm not a fan of.

Ramaswamy is big on this.

DeSantis has been really good on the Central Bank Digital Currency.

People are like, why is he even talking about this a year ago is if

Well, I think we've seen how important it is.

GLENN: Let me show you. Because I want to put together a show next year on CBDC. And show what it really is.

Let me just show you a couple of things that I've found here recently.

Cut 11. This is a Dutch political commentator. On Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Because this is happening all over the Western world. Listen.

VOICE: If we accept the fact that a QR code grants us access to society, what makes you think, that they won't link that to anything else except for your vaccination status?

What if that green screen on your phone, that grants you access to society, turns red the moment you take a flight. Or you eat meat too much. Or you didn't recycle your plastic yesterday? How dare you.

What if that green screen on your phone, that is linked to your digital wallet. That's filled with nothing more, but -- I'm going to say it.

Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Will turn red, the moment you say, something the government classifies as hate speech.

What if they can turn off your life, at the push of one button.

If they can do it to China, they can do it here.

Ladies and gentlemen, freedom that is limited to those who do and say exactly what the government wants to do and say, is no freedom.

It's imprisonment, disguised as freedom.

And we need to see it for what it is. If we want to turn this around, that is.

We need to wake up. We need to speak up.

We need to say no. Draw a line. And disobey these laws.

GLENN: Now, listen in Australia, here's a politician in Australia, warning the Australians about Central Bank Digital Currencies.
Cut 50.

VOICE: Every month, the Trusted Digital Identity Bill represents a watershed moment in Australian history. We stand at the divide between a free personal enterprise future and a digital surveillance age.

If nothing is done to stop this bill, government will sit in the middle of every interaction Australia has had with each other and with the world.

And achieves this in the same way that China does.

By creating a digital identity, that forms a central part of a person's life. You can call it a license to live.

What began with perfect contact tracing, vaccine passports, and QR check-ins will soon be formalized by an inescapable digital identity.

It signals the complete end of consumer privacy, the end of citizen enormity, and the beginning of a Big Brother digital age that treats the people of Australia as products rather than free human beings.

The government intends to build a complete digital record of every Australian, to be shared and used.

Our medical history. Our shopping preferences. Who we associate with.

Whether our choices are really so-called green. Social Security. Veteran services.

Travel records. Website viewing. Employment data. And social media comments.

Everything will go on the record, and be available to any large corporation that can pay for access.

GLENN: Now, let me give you one from the United States.

This is a member of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. This is the president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.

This is what he says about CBDC's. Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Do you think that that is something you should be looking into seriously? And to what degree should you be looking into it seriously?

What are your thoughts on CBDC?

VOICE: My colleagues at the Federal Reserve may have talked about it. We are examining it.

I'll tell you, my personal bias is I'm pretty skeptical. I keep asking anybody, anybody, at the fed. Or outside the fed. To explain to me, what problem this is solving.

I can send anybody in this room, $5 with Venmo right now. No, seriously. So what is it that a CBDC can do, that Venmo can't do?

And all I get is a bunch of hand waving. Like, well, maybe it's better for financial inclusion. Maybe, it's better for cross-border -- maybe. Is there any evidence that it is?

And, you know, they say, well, what about China?

China is doing it. Well, I can see why China would do it. If they want to monitor every one of your transactions, you can do that with the Central Bank Digital Currency. You can't do that with Venmo.

If you want to impose negative interest rates, you can do that with the Central Bank Digital Currency. You can't do that with Venmo. And if you want to directly tax customer accounts. You can do that with the Central Bank Digital Currency. You can't do that with Venmo.

I get why China would be interested. Why would the American people be for that?

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: So this kind of goes into what I'm talking about tonight, on TV. Gaslighting. Do you know what that term even means?

STU: Yeah. I did. I didn't for a long time. But I do now.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Mainly because so many people say it, I made myself look it up. And I was like, what does this even mean? I don't even understand it. And it is. I mean, it is -- it is really -- it seemingly is really going on.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

I'm going to prove it to you tonight.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: First of all, I'm starting this show tonight, going back to the 1940s, and showing you where, you're being gas lit. They're gaslighting you. Where that term came from. Where that went.

It's important context. Because the polls are in.

The two issues Americans are most concerned about right now. Number one, the economy. Number two, immigration.

And the gaslighting on these two issues from the Biden administration and the media, are -- it's crazy.

It is crazy town. Bonkers. We're being lied to about the state of the economy. We're being lied to, about what's happening at the border.

Tonight, I will show you the real numbers. And they are a little shocking.

They're a little shocking.

Don't miss tonight's Wednesday night special. 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Blaze TV.

9:30 on my Eastern channel. YouTube.com/GlennBeck.

Are we still running TheBlaze TV cyber, that was just on Monday?

You can join us now, and you will save 20 bucks with the promo code Glenn at BlazeTV.com/Glenn.

We'll see you tonight, at 9:00 p.m.