RADIOFebruary 17, 2025

JD Vance ENRAGES European Elites by Denouncing CENSORSHIP?!

It seemed like Vice President JD Vance stood alone for free speech at the Munich Security Conference. The Conference’s chairman decried Vance’s critique of European "hate speech" laws, “60 Minutes” treated Germany’s “online hate speech” police raids as normal, and CBS News’ Margaret Brennan peddled the narrative even further, by suggesting that the Nazis “weaponized” free speech to orchestrate the Holocaust. “This is extraordinarily dangerous,” Glenn says. But if America must stand alone to defend free speech, so be it.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So last hour, I played a little bit of J.D. Vance's speech at the German -- or Munich Security Conference. And he talked about how free speech is under attack. In Europe!

And he didn't just point out that it was Europe, that was having this problem.

But he said, it had to end. But let's not stand here and point the finger at you. Pragmatism let's point it to ourselves as well. Cut seven.

GLENN: And in the interest of comedy my friends, but also in the interest of truth. I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship, have come not from within Europe. But from within my own country. Where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation.

Misinformation like, for example, the idea that contester had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people, who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.

So I come here today, not just with an observation. But with an offer. Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds. So the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that.

And Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump's leadership. We may disagree with your views. But we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square. Agree or disagree.

GLENN: Wow! Didn't go over well. In fact, here's the Munich Security Conference chairperson, closing out the convention. Listen to this.

VOICE: This conference started as a transatlantic conference after this speech of Vice President Vance on Friday. We have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore. I'm very grateful to all those European politicians that spoke out, and reaffirmed the values and principles, that they are defending.

No one did this better than President Zelinsky. Let me conclude that this becomes difficult.
(applauding)

GLENN: He was applauded for crying. That we don't have the same values in common anymore.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: If this is the way Germany and the rest of Europe feels about freedom of speech, then, yes. We don't have the same values. And I don't care if we stand completely alone! We've done it before. And when it comes to freedom of the individual, if that's what it takes, that's what we must become. We have to square our shoulders and remember our principles. Yes! If you want to shut down free expression and free speech, which means you have to let the worst be said, so you can actually have dialogue, learn from one another, learn from the past, and not just become a zombie robot, with an out-of-control government that you can never speak against. Well, that's who we are!

That's what we stand against. I will tell you, that their own people -- I can guarantee you, are not for it. How do I know? Well, let me show you what happened on 60 minutes. Here's 60 minutes, joining a German police censorship raid.
(music)

VOICE: It's 6:01 on a Tuesday morning. And we are with state police as they rated this apartment in northwest Germany.

Inside, six armed officers search a suspect's home. Then seized his laptop and cell phone. Prosecutors say, those electronics may have been used to commit a crime. The crime? Posting a racist cartoon online.

At the exact same time, across Germany, more than 50 similar raids played out. Part of what prosecutors say, is a coordinated effort to curb online hate speech in Germany.

GLENN: Now, I don't like hate speech. I don't like seeing racist cartoons. But that is part of life! It depends on who is in power. On how you define hate. And when you have a government, able to take away inalienable rights, you have a real problem on your hand. Sixty minutes continues.

VOICE: Is it a crime to insult somebody in public?

VOICE: Yes, it is. Of course.

VOICE: And it's a crime to insult them online as well?

VOICE: Even higher, insulting someone on the internet.

VOICE: Why?

VOICE: Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face-to-face, you insult me, I insult you. Okay. Finished. But if you're on the internet, if I insult a politician.

VOICE: Then it takes around forever.

The prosecutors explain German law also prohibits the spread of malicious gospel, violent threats, and fake quotes.

VOICE: If somebody posts something that is not true. And then somebody else reposts it or likes it, are they committing a crime?

VOICE: In the case of reposting with, it's a crime as well. Because the reader can't distinguish between whether you just invented this or just reposted it?

VOICE: The punishment for breaking hate speech laws can include jail time for repeat offenders.

GLENN: Jail time. Jail time.

If you say something offense about a politician. Did anybody catch that? If you say something offensive about a politician. You can be charged with a height crime. You do it several times, and you will go to prison!

STU: That's a question of how much do we have in in common, before J.D. Vance's speech?

Apparently, not that much.

GLENN: Clearly not.

STU: If those are your laws, it's a crime?

You can't trust people to be able to decipher whether a quote is fake or not?

It's -- it's not their responsibility to -- to look it up themselves?

GLENN: Listen to cut three. CBS. Not pushing back.

VOICE: To build their cases, investigators scour social media, and use public and government data.

They say, sometimes social media companies will provide information to prosecutors, but not always. So the task force employs special software investigators to help unmask anonymous users.

VOICE: So this is suggest you kill people seeking asylum here.

VOICE: He says his unit has prosecuted about 750 hate speech cases over the last four years, but it was a 2021 case, involving a local politician, named Andy Groat, that captured the country's attention.

Groat complained about a tweet, that called him a pimmel. A German word for the male anatomy. That triggered a police raid, and accusations of excessive censorship by the government. As prosecutors explained to us in Germany, it's okay to debate politics online. But it can be a crime to call anyone a pimmel, even a politician.

VOICE: So it sounds like you're saying, it's okay to criticize a politician's policy. But not to say, I think you're a jerk and an idiot?

VOICE: Exactly. Like you're a son of a bitch. Excuse me for -- these words have nothing to do with a political discussions or a contribution of a discussion.

STU: And it's up to him to decipher whether it contributes or not.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Boy, you better be careful if you're going over to Germany any time soon.

GLENN: 60 Minutes finally asks about some free speech issues. Listen to this.

VOICE: That this feels like the surveillance that Germany conducted 80 years ago. How do you respond to that?

VOICE: There is no surveillance.

VOICE: (inaudible) is a CEO of Hate Aid, a Berlin-based human rights organization, that supports victims of online violence.

VOICE: In the United States, a lot of people say, this is restricting free speech. It's a threat to democracy.

VOICE: Free speech needs boundaries.

GLENN: Hmm.

STU: Ah.

VOICE: In the case of Germany. These boundaries are part of our Constitution. Without boundaries, a very small group of people can rely on endless freedom to say anything that they want.

GLENN: Endless freedom.

STU: Oh, my gosh. It's scary.

VOICE: And your fear is, if people were freely attacked online, that they will withdraw from the discussion?

VOICE: This is not only a fear. It's already taking place. Already half of the internet users in Germany are afraid to express their political opinion. Many participate in public debates online anymore, half of the internet users.

STU: Of course. You're putting them in prison. When they say the wrong thing.

GLENN: I mean, it is Gestapo, with today's technology.

I've warned you. With today's technology, and what is right around the corner, you put a Hitler in charge of it.

STU: And there's not a Jew left in the world.

There's no place to hide in the entire world. This is extraordinarily dangerous.

Now, that's -- that was the extent of the CBS pushback on the Germans.

STU: That was a lot though.

GLENN: Then you get Marco Rubio. And they go to Marco Rubio, to ask him about this. Listen.

VOICE: Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide. And he met with the head of a political party, that has far right views. And some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that, was changing the tone of it.

GLENN: Changing the tone.

VOICE: Well, I have to disagree with you. No. I have to disagree with you.

Free speech is not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by authoritarian Nazi regime, that happened to be genocidal, because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those -- the list of people they hated. But primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none.

There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were the sole and only party that governed that country. So that's not an accurate reflection of history.

STU: Obviously.

GLENN: The free speech caused the Holocaust.

STU: Amazing.

GLENN: Free speech.

You couldn't speak out against the Nazis.

Who doesn't learn that in school? Well, probably most Americans. And clearly the journalists here in America. You had no free speech! How do you get everybody to give the Heil Hitler salute?

You don't do that by becoming popular. They didn't. They did it by beating people in the streets.

You will do this, when we salute. If you don't, we'll beat you to death in the streets. And we can get away with it. Because our guy is in power. There was no free speech! This is insanity! Now, I want to show you what -- what J.D. Vance said, that made the guy cry.

In Germany!

Now, I want you to remember that the Munich security conference chair cried at the closing of the conference.

Cried!

Because he realized the United States was no longer on the same side as Germany and Europe!

Now, that seems crazy. But, no. I'm not on the same side of people who want to silence anyone.

I am not for the silencing of people on the left here, I am not for silencing the people in the middle. Or the right.

Even to the extreme. Free speech is an absolute!

Unless you're calling for violence and it actually turns into violence. No! But you can say whatever it is you want. I know that sounds extreme. It didn't used to. But apparently, it does now.

Here's what J.D. Vance said. And if you think that Germany is the problem. Listen to this from J.D. Vance. Listen to this.

VOICE: I look to Brussels where the EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest. The moment they spot what they've judged to be, quote, hateful content.

Or to this very country prepare police have carried out raids against citizens, suspected of posting antifeminist comments online. As part of, quote, combating misogyny on the internet.

A day of action. I look to Sweden, where two weeks ago, the government convicted a Christian activist for participating in Koran burnings that resulted in his friends' murder.

And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden's laws to supposedly protect free expression, do not, in fact, grant, and I'm quoting, a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.

And perhaps, most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom. Where the backslide away from conscience have put basic liberties of religious Britains in the crosshairs.

A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith conner, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and Army veteran. With the heinous crime of sanding 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes. Not obstructing anyone.

Not interacting with anyone. Just silently praying on his own.

After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for. Adam replied, simply it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his girlfriend had aborted years before.

Now, the officers were not moved.

Adam was found guilty of breaking the government's new buffer zones law, which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility.

He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution. Now, I wish I could say this was a fluke, a one-off crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person.

But no, this last October, just a few months ago. The Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens, whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes, may amount to breaking the law.

Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizen suspected guilty of thought crime. And Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear is in retreat.

GLENN: What part of that, did you disagree with.

What part of that makes you want to embrace the European Union?

For me, it's quite the opposite. I've always believed that Europe, our brothers and sisters, and we're fine.

And we should help one another. But I have to tell you, I no longer am comfortable with a single dollar going over to Europe, to defend those kinds of policies.

You're not on the same side.

We are not on the same side! If you violate freedom of speech, that way.

And remember, this is why Klaus Schwab told Europe, just believe in the system.

Well, what is the system?

We found out, the system is, if the people vote for a candidate that is not going to play ball. If they are at all in line with freedom of speech, they're a radical, need to be shut down.

And we cancel that election. Until the people get it right!

That's a dictatorship! We are seeing the hatred of the old Germany. And Europe. Start to grow again. And Europe could become a very large foe of freedom.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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

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

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

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

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

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

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

It's really good.

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

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

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

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

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

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

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

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

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

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

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

It was independents. It was Democrats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

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

SALENA: Yeah.

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

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

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

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

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

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

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

As opposed to what happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To project that we will not be defeated.

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

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

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

And galvanized people.

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

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

I've got to get up.

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

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

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

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

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

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

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

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

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

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

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

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

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

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

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

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

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

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

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

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

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

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

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

He calls you up.

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

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

It's just a great part.

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

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

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

Even though, he was.

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

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

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

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

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

GLENN: Crazy.

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

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

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

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

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

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

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

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

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

And how God was in that moment.

It --

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

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

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

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

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

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

To give him that space, to work it out.

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

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

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

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

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

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

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

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

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

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

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

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