RADIOMarch 28, 2024

Megyn Kelly: The ONLY 2 Ways Trump Can Beat a Corrupt Legal System

Former president Donald Trump is facing a handful of massive trials, including two that are being prosecuted by extremely partisan attorneys. Megyn Kelly joins Glenn to explain just how unprecedented this is. In New York, Trump is facing a hush-money case where if he doesn’t pay a $175 million bond, Attorney General Letitia James (who ran on a promise to prosecute Trump) has threatened to take his properties. And in Georgia, he’s facing an election interference case run by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has apparently declared herself the “face of the feminist movement.” Megyn gives quite the response to that news and also explains the only 2 ways she believes Trump can survive these blatantly partisan attacks.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Oh, Megyn, Megyn, Megyn. How do you feel about Fani Willis? I want to quote. Because, I mean, she finally came out. She recognized it. She described herself yesterday, as the face of the feminist movement, and the face of women. She said, I feel more love.actually I have a lot of support from women. And that kind of surprised me. I'll tell you this, especially well African-American women who will just come up to me and say, we're so proud. You're such a great representative of us. But I would be lying to say, it was only African-American women. I've had Caucasian women, Asian women, Indian women. I didn't think I was the face of the feminist movement. But somehow, I've become it. Wow. That's --

MEGYN: Oh, my God. I just threw up a little in my mouth. I feel about Fani Willis the way I feel about Kamala Harris. These people cannot be feminist leaders or the face of female success, because they're too dumb. It's too bad for womankind. We can't allow it. Kamala Harris cannot be the first female vice president or president, God forbid. And Fani Willis is not the face of womanhood. What does that mean?

The face of woman hood is do a piss-poor job of managing your money. Wind up flat broke, despite the fact that you have a law degree. Decide to see the world anyway, by getting some guy, who you are -- who is married to another woman, and letting him take you all over the world on his dime. And then lie about it under oath? That's not -- no. She's not my representative, nor most women's.

GLENN: So do you believe her, that she's hearing that? I guess in small numbers, maybe. But there's no groundswell support for her, is there? Am I missing --

MEGYN: You know what, you're only saying that. Because you don't hang out in hard left circles.

I'm sure she's an icon to people who absolutely hate Trump. And think that Jack Smith is a hero. And Letitia James is one. And Alvin brag.

That's why they love fanny. They don't know anything about fanny. They just know that she's trying to get Trump.

They think the future the republic, hangs on this woman. And she needs to be elevated the way we need to ruin Ronna McDaniel. It's opposite side of the same coin.

GLENN: So I was talking to Andy McCarthy yesterday, and he said, Fani Willis and Latisha James. Both the way they have just gone after Donald Trump -- and Latisha James,actually campaigning saying, I'm going to get him. Hire me, and I will get him. He said, 15, 20 years ago. You -- you wouldn't have had a chance. Nobody in, you know, the law industry, if you will, would have respected you at all.

You wouldn't have gotten elected. We've changed.

MEGYN: It's so dangerous. All I have to say, I go to bed at night, sleeping comfortably for now because we have six conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time that I can remember, in my lifetime. And they're the last guard, against this nonsense. They're there. And under the most egregious overreaches, they will correct things. They won't get involved in everything. But thank God we have them. Because the justice system as we know right now, is being perverted by hard partisans, who unlike, you know, as we've seen 10 years ago, to no need to hide it.

He's right, 20 years ago, prosecutors didn't even understand their job to have anything to do with politics. They understood, they would get fired if they looked at justice through that lens. Ten years ago, I think they started doing it, but doing enough to try to hide it.

That it would be considered bad form. And now they're running for office on it. So I've never seen such hard partisans in the prosecutorial decision since Mike Nifong in the Duke case. Right? Somebody who is just completely subverting justice to advance their own interests. In his case, he wanted a higher pension. And if he would get it, if he remained on as DA, in a minority/majority district. And, therefore, he sided with the back fake accuser, against the white innocent defense -- defendants on the lacrosse team. Well, that's Fani Willis. She loves being DA. She's running around telling people she's the greatest DA Fulton County has ever seen. As far as I can tell, she's not particularly talented, definitely not a very smart person. And yet, she's paying somebody ten thousand dollars a year to monitor her media references, that taxpayers are footing that bill, by the way. Because she wants to be a star. That's what Fani Willis wants. She wants you to see her as an icon. Feminism. The one who got Trump. Not the one who got justice.

But let me tell you something, Glenn, her problems are just beginning. There's a very high likelihood that Fani Willis will be disciplined including up to disbarment. That some enterprising committee, whether it's the State Senate Committee in Georgia or potentially The Bar, or someone beyond, will get their hands on the actual substantive texts between Fani and Nathan wade, putting the lie to their on-stand testimony about when their affair began. And that's to say nothing of the case she has against Trump completely falling apart, because there is no Rico violation here.

GLENN: Well, we found out from another icon of women. Another genius woman, AOC, that Rico isn't against the law. It's not a crime.
(laughter)
It's an act.

MEGYN: That's amazing. How do you grow up -- doesn't she -- she grew up in the Bronx, but she didn't. Totally. Okay.

I used to date a guy from New York town heights. It's a lovely superb. His dad is a New York City cop. He lives there. It's not the Bronx. It's in Westchester. It's very different.

So in any event, how do you grow up in any of the Five Burroughs of New York is, and not understand what racketeering is? It's kind of like our favorite crime to bring against the mobsters. It's how we no longer have as active a mob as we used to. She knows very well that it is a crime, and it is something that we use traditionally to get the mob. We have multiple players working together, to advance a criminal enterprise, which as Andy McCarthy mentioned. Said about the Trump defendants and the Rico case. Seems like the only thing they've done together is get indicted.
(laughter)

GLENN: Let me -- let me switch to another court case. The Latisha James case. Seizing of Trump's assets. The bond was reduced from 464 million to 170 million. Which everybody kind of celebrated. Oh, wow.

It's good for -- it's still 170 million dollars. Which is -- in a victimless crime, I don't understand.

MEGYN: It's completely outrageous.

There's no arguing that it's better than 54. I guess that's your silver linings. You pick the ladder. You pick 170 whatever. But, no. You're right. And, look, I think Trump should be able to come up with this, as opposed to the 450, which was scary. And might have cost him a building or two. Which is just so unjust. But it doesn't change much in a case. The injustice against him is patent to anyone who is not a hard left partisan. And what it means, yesterday.

I couldn't believe it. I mean, sometimes the media still surprises me. Was the outrage on the left, about the, quote, special treatment Donald Trump was getting.

GLENN: I know. I read that. I read that this morning. I thought, are you kidding me?

You're saying, there's a double standard for Donald Trump, and it's in his favor. That's crazy be sure.

MEGYN: Yes. Yes. Okay. Laurence Tribe is a Harvard law school professor. He's been there forever, and he's a committed leftist.

He's come on my show. When I first launched my show. He came on. And we discussed, I think it was something around January 6th. I can't remember.

But my point is, he wasn't such a lunatic, that I said, oh, I really don't want to talk to this person. It's too far around the bend. I don't want to deal with them.

He was leading the charge yesterday. About the two-tier justice system, in favor of Donald Trump. Like, they're too far gone.

And unfortunately, their prosecutors and their judges, and some of them are involved in these Trump cases. Which is why I think we understand, the fix is in.

He probably is going to lose potentially across-the-board. On all four of these criminal cases. And the two civil cases, we've already seen. The E. Jean Carroll one going against him, and now this Engoron one has gone against him. It's going up on appeal. And it's all been baked in.

I think at this point, the only thing that will save Trump, is the Supreme Court and us, in November.

Those are the two ways out of this for him. Which is pretty ironic, if you think about it, Glenn. What the Democrats want more than anything, is for him to not be president again. To not run for president again. To skulk off into the darkness. And you think made it such that he must win in order to save his life, his company, his freedom.

He has no choice, but to win. So he will fight harder than ever. I mean, it's kind of perfect.

GLENN: What do you think of Jonathan Turley?

I was thinking earlier today, there's a couple of voices I really trust, when it comes to law. One of them is yours. Alan Dershowitz and Anthony Turley. What do you think of him?

MEGYN: I love Turley. He's great. I used to put him on my show in the middle of the afternoon, when nobody was watching. And he was George Washington professor, and went to visit him a couple of times. And he's brilliant. What I love about Jonathan is he has a way with them word things, that not all real lawyers have. Some lawyers can do it in the courtroom or the brief, but they can't do it on live TV. And he's great at it. I played a sound bite from him two weeks ago, when the Fani Willis judge said, you've got to choose. One of you is going. Fani or Nathan. You guys choose. And he said, it's as if you found two crooks in the bank vault, and you only prosecute one. You know, so, anyway, I love him. He's trustworthy, and he's fair. And I don't even think that Jonathan Turley is conservative. He's just extremely fair.

GLENN: No. I don't think so. Yeah. I think he's a constitutional guy.

MEGYN: Yeah.

GLENN: Which you know constitutional people. Because if they're really based in the Constitution, it doesn't always fall in your favor. You know.

MEGYN: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: Because -- yeah. It's neutral. And sometimes we lose our way.

Can I ask you, the -- all of the stories that have come out today. There's one, I think in Rolling Stone. That talks about the structure, that the left is building, to make sure that Donald Trump doesn't cheat.

I've always felt that whatever they say, that we're doing, they're doing. And there's this amazing article about how they've got lawyers, everywhere. They're lawyering up for any crazy thing. Because he's not going to steal this election.

And their premise on why they're doing this, is because they say, he's lawyering up, and he's going to try to steal the election.

What are we facing? In -- in November? What are we facing?

MEGYN: You know, my mom said a year -- I mean, her lifetime, as a psychiatric nurse at the Albany veterans hospital.

I believe they call this transference. I'll get my psychiatric platform here. What they're doing to him.

I do think this is their best chance of winning. I think they've got more money than the Republicans do. And most of Trump's money has to go to his legal fees. Which I have to be honest, I do also think that helps him.

I also think it increases his chance of winning. People are so angry. I don't think it's a complete waste of flushing money down on legal expenses. Anyway, they have more money. They are better organized. And I think they're dirtier, and they're more afraid. They're definitely more afraid.

You know, I watched 27 minutes of Rachel Maddow last night. Twenty-seven.

I don't think I've ever done that. I said to my teens, is she always this dramatic? She reminded me of Katie Brit. Okay.

Anyway, she is telegraphing 100 percent as she has been for a while. That Donald Trump will get in office, Glenn, and is never going to leave.

That the references by Trump and others to an unfair 2020 election. Forget whether or not you think it was stolen. I think most Republicans would agree, unfair. And not entirely legit.

GLENN: Yes.

MEGYN: That that is all trying to dull the senses for the argument Trump will make when he's reelected. That we can't have any more elections. That the system is crooked. And therefore, we just have to keep him in there forevermore like a king. And that, you know, the country would just go along with that, because we're morons, and we've had the senses dulled. Those are the stakes that the left sees on Trump being elected now. So who would put anything past that group? You know, we listen to Sam Harris, explicitly.

I applaud him for his honesty. At least he's being clear about the way he feels. The left, most of these people are, you know, reluctant to actually say that. But behind the scenes, what are they doing?

I think whatever it takes.

GLENN: God help us all. Megyn, thank you so much.

We'll listen to you, again. Right after my program on XM.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.