RADIOOctober 28, 2024

Pastor EXPLAINS: Does Voting Go Against Christianity?

Should Christians vote in the 2024 election? Some argue that they can't support either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Others say Christians should stay out of worldly politics. But Pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City Church joins Glenn to explain why he has "a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we ARE political." It's time for followers of Christ - both in the pews and at the pulpit - to stand up, speak out, and VOTE: "When the Church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience and government loses its mind and everyone suffers."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Josh McPherson is a guy I found online, I don't even know how long ago.

And just I love his sermons.

He's a lead pastor of Grace City Church. Founder of Stronger Man Nation, which is a movement to help men get stronger every day in every area of life, and helping dads raise boys to be stronger men, which is one of our problems, in society today. We are teaching everybody to be weak, and helpless. And that is not the way that God would have us to be. Josh, welcome to the program. How are you?

JOSH: I'm very good, Glenn. Thanks for having me.

GLENN: Yeah, thank you. So I have been hearing from a lot of Christians, that are saying, I just can't vote for either.

JOSH: Yep. Yep.

GLENN: And I don't even know how to -- I don't even know where to start on that.

JOSH: Yep.

GLENN: This is so clear to me, that we are not battling Democrat/Republican.

We are truly battling light and dark. Life and death.

JOSH: That's right. Yep. Yep.

GLENN: Good and evil.

So how do you convince people?

JOSH: It's -- it's -- what COVID revealed in terms of our shallowness in thinking, in relationship to our role as citizens in our nation. This election is revealing it at a deeper level.

I think Christians have been misled and wrongly discipled in relationship to their responsibility, as citizens of heaven, to be engaged here, as citizens of earth.

GLENN: Right.

JOSH: And so with bad teaching.

The kingdom of God is spiritual, not physical. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say, the kingdom of God is spiritual. The closest it gets is Jesus saying, my kingdom is not of this world when he's speaking to Pilate.

And he's not using that as an excuse to disengage from the world. He's using it as an apologetic to lean into the world.

He's saying, my kingdom is not of this world, which means I'm above your pay grade. And I don't have to answer your petty questions. The kingdom of God does not hover, Glenn, a mile above the earth. It lands in our sex lives, in our marriages, in our dysfunctional family systems, in our relationships, in our entertainment. In our food. And, yes, in our politics. When Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world, what he's saying, is my people have the authority from heaven to step into the broken systems of earth and be salt and light.

The most basic texts of the Bible. Which Jesus explains how to think as Christians.

You're light. Light exposes lies. In darkness. You're salt.

Salt works against the natural decay of sin in the world. And right now, a pastor trying to convince Christians to be salt, while they're still in the box.

GLENN: And people think, that that adds flavor. No. It stops corruption.

It stops the corrupting of the meat.

BIANCA: That's exactly right.

GLENN: That's the way it was used back then.

JOSH: Yeah, there's this demonic gaslighting, that says that Christians should be political.

I have a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we are political. The entire story line of the Bible, is a story of God against governments. Rogue, empiric governments. Tyrannical. Abusive. Heavy-handed, oppressive governments like Egypt, like Persia, like Babylon, like Rome. And the story is those -- because when you remove God from a society. What replaces it typically is that which is biggest and most powerful, mainly government.

GLENN: God calls governments to submit to his rule of law, just like he calls individuals. And it's the church's job to function as the conscience of a society. And when the church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience. And the government loses its mind. And everyone suffers.

GLENN: I can't understand, when we have -- I mean, when we have one party that is putting up abortion vans for free abortions.

I mean, I wouldn't go to a concert that was doing that. Let alone a political party.

JOSH: No. No. No. Here's what I would say to Christians to wrestle with seriously -- I did five sermons to my church. You see them online if you want. GraceCityChurch.com --

GLENN: I'll tweet them out today.

JOSH: Okay. I wrote a small PDF to help people think through three questions. Should I vote? How should I think about politics? And then how should I vote as a Christian. So I can walk through that very quickly.

Should Christians vote? Here's the deal. 40 million Christians didn't vote in the last election. The last election was decided by 42,000 votes. Your vote matters. When the salt stays in the box, the meat rots.

GLENN: Jeez. Uh-huh.

JOSH: When Christians hold their voice back, culture goes into massive decline. Do you people wish the church would have gotten more political when Hitler squeaked through in an election? And 12 years later, 11 million people were dead.

GLENN: And do you know what the church did?

It stayed silent, and then it went into cahoots.

JOSH: The church abdicated its voice. And then aligned with evil out of fear and deception, and millions of people died.

I have a distinct sense that there are millions of people, the over.

Praying to God Almighty that Jesus Christ would wake up his church in America. Because if America goes off the rails, we haven't seen anything like it historically.

GLENN: Oh, I have heard it from a Chinese dissident, that was in prison in China.

Just because she believed in Jesus. She said, what you know we were praying for in China?

We were praying that you would be humbled so you would wake up to who you are.

JOSH: That's right. Should Christians vote? Here's what I would say, God made three spheres of human sovereignty. The family, the church, and the state. If Christians won't lead their home, Satan will.

If pastors won't lead their church, they become synagogues of Satan.

And when it comes to our constitutional republic, we need to almost stop using the word democracy. We don't want a democracy. We're a constitutional republic.

Which means we're guided by the moral absolutes outlined in the Constitution. Then we vote for men and women to represent us.

To make laws that will reflect the values of that Constitution. If we fail to do our duty in this Constitutional Republic, we are failing our children. And we will pass on to them, a social inheritance. That will bury them.

Right? So when I think about whether or not I should vote. If Christians don't -- if godly voices don't rise up, to speak up.

Godless voices will. And we will be held responsible for what happens. Christians need to carry a burden.

GLENN: People don't understand.

JOSH: For what God holds us accountable for.

I look at it like this.

Christians -- and I want to be sensitive to those who are like, well, I don't want to be partisan. Brother, listen to me. Sister, listen to me.

You cannot follow Jesus. And not be accused of following Jesus.

Because Jesus draws lines, and Jesus takes sides.

Look, I haven't asked the GOP into my heart. I'm a Bible guy. I'm a Jesus guy.

That's my lane.

If a political party happens to step into that lane, I am cheering them all the way. If they step out of that lane, I am prophetically calling them to obedience and submission to God's word. So this isn't me cheering on one particular party.

But let's be honest, one political party is explicitly advocating openly for demonic, horrific, perverse sin, and the other is not.

That's the bottom line. That you have to wrestle with.

What I find most Christians. I find very few Christians.

I'm going to vote for -- I hear a lot saying, but I can't vote for their side. But I don't agree.

Here's the deal. You don't do anything else in life. Was your spouse perfect when you married her or him?

No. You married him anyways.

We don't apply the same standard, where you're using Donald Trump to anywhere else in life. So no matter who is running for office, unless it's Jesus. You would have to hold your nose and vote at some point.

So here's what I would say for Christians to consider who are on the fence. Think of politicians in terms of three tiers.

Tier three is in the category of opinions. In this category, we -- we discuss, and we decide.

This is where the Bible is silent on these issues. And this is like, should Taiwan be granted favored trading status.

GLENN: Yeah.

JOSH: Should feds lower or raise interest rates. Should the post office use planes or horses to go to deliver the mail?

I don't know, but let's discuss. And let's decide.

The Bible will speak to it. I won't stick my nose into it. That's tier three. Tier two is in the category of wisdom.

Okay? We should debate and discern. The Bible speaks to it. But not clearly, how we should go about it. We agree on the goal. But we debate. Have the means. Should we care for the poor?

Yes. We should all agree on that. How do we do that?

Let's have a good debate. Let's pull each other on the extremes, walk in the middle, find the path. We can robustly disagree and debate and then go out and have a beer afterwards.

GLENN: Honestly, that's where we were at one point in our nation.

JOSH: That's Reagan and "Tip" O'Neill. Right?

Where it's like, no. Yes. What? Are you kidding me? I'll buy you a drink.

GLENN: Yeah. Because they had the fellow in common. They vehemently disagreed on how to accomplish it.

The goal was the same.

JOSH: That's right. There was a like-minded shared mindset for life. So what's happened now.

And most Christians are working from that framework. Tier three or tier two politics. It's opinions or it's issues of wisdom, which makes them feel uncomfortable to speak prophetically to it.

Here's the problem. There's a third category. Tier one.

And tier one. If the first -- the third -- the second is to have wisdom.

Tier one is, this is the realm of obedience. This is where we declare and divide. This is thus saith the Lord kind of things. Okay? Where the Bible has spoken clearly to it.

And to discuss -- we don't discuss and debate stuff. We submit to God's word. And we say yes, God, and we obey. These are issues. The sanctity of life. The sanctity of marriage. National sovereignty.

The moral law of God. The rule of law.

Religious freedom. Jurisdictional respect. These are the kinds of things, are the grid through which we think as Christians, where God is clearly and plainly without stuttering spoken, where we must say, thus saith the Lord. Not because it's our opinion.

Because of what we're calling the culture to submit to themselves God himself. Right? When we get into that category, tier one.

A Christian is obligated, I believe to engage. Here's the problem. In politics past, most of the ticket represented tier three and tier two.

And so Christians were reticent to say, thus saith the Lord. The Fed should lower their interest rates.

I agree. Don't stick your nose where God doesn't quote clearly. What's different about this election is almost every issue on the table. Representative on the ticket is a tier one issue, thus saith the Lord. And if the church does not step and up speak boldly through this moment, the vacuum we create will be filled, I believe with the godless and the demonic. Then we will be responsible for having been silent, in a moment where we needed Jesus to speak up.

GLENN: So there are two things that come through my mind, almost every day.

One, we will be held responsible for all of -- are these God's rights. Not ours.

We are put in charge to protect them. Or to elect the government to protect God's rights for future generations.

JOSH: That's right.

GLENN: If we lose these rights here, it's not just here.

It's the entire world could be cast into darkness. And slavery.

And we will be held accountable.

What did you do? And say, well, I just couldn't vote for either one.

It's not going to be an acceptable answer.

JOSH: That's right. Think about the moral dilemma, some Christians are having, about who to vote for right now.

It's nothing. In comparison to the moral dilemma, you'll be facing. If we have an openly rogue demonic evil government. That is using the force of law, and military, to -- to make you disobey, God's law. You will have much bigger moral dilemmas to face then, better to deal with these little ones. Hold your nose and vote.

Rather than, do I need to stand up and do something more than just pray in this moment, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to wrestle with in 1940s.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

The other thing is, when people say, well, my vote doesn't count.

For the first time in my life, I look at that, as a completely different statement.

JOSH: That's right.

GLENN: That's saying, I'm not going to be held responsible.

JOSH: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: This time. This is like 1933.

At this time, if you don't stand, and it goes awry.

JOSH: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: He's not going to accept, that I just didn't invoke.

Because I didn't think my voice mattered.

In Texas, if you want to vote for a Democrat, it may not count.

You know, here in Texas. Because it will go, hopefully, it will go red. But it does count in your first citizenship.

GLENN: When I think about, my vote doesn't matter. Here's what I think.

No, no, no. It matters, because I'm not voting to appease a candidate or a party. I'm voting in response to God's commands. I'm voting for a holy God.

I'm voting to be obedient to my duty to be an active citizen of heaven. In the current citizen, I'm abiding here on earth.

When I think about that, Glenn, no, I'm voting for the sake of keeping my conscience clear. But before God, so I can look in the mirror and say, kids, I preach sermons. I talk to friends.

I wrote stuff. I joined my friends online.

I did everything I could, to move the needle for the sake of our nation. Friends, don't vote -- if we take this pragmatic approach, well, it doesn't matter. Well, we already ceded the battle. No, no, no. It does matter. It does matter.

If not only for you to say, I will not be shaken and silenced by the lies.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote -- I'm trying to think of it. Live not by lies.

GLENN: So good.

JOSH: And in the essay, he said, look, here's the deal. You may feel small in the face of this massive, tyrannical, totalitarian regime.

But -- but you're not as small as you think. You're only as small as the silence that you embrace.

He said, so if you stand up, they may shoot you in the head of the street, but only you can secede or turn over your freedom. So you can die a free man in the street, or you can live as a prisoner in your apartment. You could be freer in prison. Than you are compromising your values living at home.

And so what he said was, essentially, silence in the face of lies, is itself a lie.

Silence in the face of lies, is to perpetuate, and participate in that lie.

We are in a spiral of silence right now.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about.

Eric Metaxas talks about it.

Which means, the less we speak up, the higher the cost for the ones that do.

GLENN: We're seeing it right now.
Hang on, I have to take a break. We'll be back in just a second. You are listening to Josh McPherson.

I will, on my social media, put out on his sermons on this. Share it with every Christian that you know.

GLENN: We're talking to Josh McPherson, about why Christians need to vote.

JOSH: Yes, yep.

I will say two things. If there are those that are sitting on the fence, I get it. There's been challenging things to figure out, sift through. I understand. Three things within one. This is from many conversations, your vote isn't a Valentine.

You know, oh. I just get the warm fuzzies. That died with JFK.

Right? So like don't vote for warm fuzzies or personalities. Think -- be more sophisticated in your thinking. Think about policies. Personalities will come and go. We'll be left with policies, for the rest of our life. Don't think your vote is a Valentine. Secondly, your selection isn't a sacrament.

So many Christians, well, if I vote for them, they might do something immoral, and then I'm responsible.

No, no. Your vote isn't a sacrament. You're essentially exercising your right as a citizen, to -- to advance people, in positions of authority, that you think have the best shot of aligning most closely to a Biblical worldview.

GLENN: And if they don't, then your responsibility kicks in to speak out to stop them.

JOSH: That's right. We're in the most important in a moment our history, coming up in our election.

Then the next week will be just as important. Don't vote and then back off. Get more engaged. Speak up. Say things that are true, longer and louder. So it's not a Valentine.

How do I say it? Your vote is not a sacrament. Then lastly, this is crazy.

The ballot box isn't a mailbox. I heard a ton of Christians going, well, I'm not going to vote and send a message.

Why write an email and never hit send? No one cares that you didn't vote. The only outcome that matters is who wins.

So don't think you're sending a big message by not participating. That's a lie from the pit of hell, to silence the voice of the church. In maybe the most critical moment in the history of our nation.

And I will say this, pastors, you must be bolder. You must speak up louder and longer.

It may feel weird to talk about politics and the pulpit to you. But that's because you're living in this weird bubble and moment of history.

You're out of step with the great preachers of history in the past, who have always thundered from the pulpit, how to be engaged in politics.

GLENN: I am hungry for preachers to speak the truth, based on the Bible. I am hungry for it!

How do I apply these 2000-year-old teachings to what's happening right now?

JOSH: That's right. It's disingenuous to expect the pastors in their church to be bold in the marketplace, when they're failing to be bold in the pulpit.

GLENN: It is so great to see you.

JOSH: You too, Glenn.

GLENN: I actually will meet with the president tonight. And I'm hoping to convince him to do something with TheBlaze and Trinity Broadcasting. And I would love to invite you to be a part of it, if it actually comes through next week. I would love to have you be a part of it.

Because I have seen your social media, and you are right, spot-on.

JOSH: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Ten seconds. We just started a school. Guard City Academy. There's 286 kids in class, listening right now, learning to become Christians and patriots. I want a huge shout-out to those guys. Go Farmers!

GLENN: God bless you. You guys are great.

Thank you, Josh.

Witnessing a SpaceX Launch & Predicting Elon Musk's Legacy in 50 Years

Glenn Beck recently witnessed a SpaceX rocket launch from hours away, and the raw power of it sent him into a passionate breakdown about the wonder of space travel, the brilliance of Elon Musk, and the insanity of a culture that’s turning on its greatest innovators. From the days of the Space Shuttle to Musk’s Starship and self-driving Tesla vehicles, Glenn argues that Elon isn’t just a tech founder, but rather a once-in-history mind, a modern Edison who revived an American spirit we had forgotten.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Last night, here in Florida, Tania said SpaceX is going to launch another missile. About 15 minutes. Let's go outside and see if we can see it. And we live right on the coast. And all of a sudden, you know, we're watching it, ten, nine, eight, seven, six. And about 45 seconds after the launch. We're like, oh, but we can't see it. Then all of a sudden, over the top of the trees, we just see this flame coming up. And it was absolutely. I posted it on the Instagram last night. On my Instagram page. It was absolutely one of the most amazing things I've seen.

From a distance. I've seen it once before. I've seen the last space shuttle lift off in the middle of the night. And I really close. I was across the water. I was just right across from -- what is it?

Cape Kennedy.

And I could not believe, it was a wonder of the world. 3 o'clock in the morning. All of a sudden, it was just day light.

And now, I'm -- oh, I don't even know.

Three hours away. Two, three hours away?

And it's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

It just starts coming up. And then, you know, you see the rocket. The boosters detach.

The -- the first stage rockets go out. They turn blue. Then they go out.

And then you see them. And it just picks up so much speed. And just racing through the sky.

It is incredible. It's incredible.

If you've never seen a rocket launch, I can't wait to see his -- what is the -- that was a falcon.

What's the big, big heavy one that he's working on.

Nobody knows.

VOICE: Falcon Heavy, isn't it?

VOICE: Is it the Falcon Heavy?

I don't know.

I don't think so.

I think -- somebody look this up.

Starship. That's it.

I think it's based on the original Soviet design. The Soviets, the reason why we beat the Soviets up in space, is they had this great design of like 24 rockets.

Where we had like four, big, huge ones for lift.

They had like 24, 25 rockets, at the bottom of it.

But they couldn't synchronize them.

You know, this was when computing was really, really bad.

They couldn't synchronize them.

So they couldn't keep it level.

So it would take off. And spiral out of control and blow up.

That's the reason why we beat them into space.

I saw the bottom end of one of these rockets in a video. And I think -- I think it's the original Soviet design. I'm not sure. Because now we have the ability to synchronize everything. But I can't wait to see that thing. Because it's bigger than a Saturn rocket. Bigger the ones that we send to the moon.

JASON: At some point, I don't know if the wonder of space travel left.

JASON: We get bored with things.

JASON: It's so weird. But Elon Musk just brought it back. I mean, we're doing just amazing stuff.

GLENN: It's like everything.

We did it. We mastered it. We put people on the moon. Everybody was crazed about it. I remember sitting in class and seeing the astronauts, you know, on the moon. We would go in. They would bring in an old TV.

And they would sit the TV. Before these things were even on the little -- you know, wheel, you know, AV kind of things.

It was just a big old TV.

And we all went into the regular -- you know, the gym, and we watched it on a regular TV.

And them walking around, on the moon. And that must have been in the early '70s.

And then after that, everybody was like, yeah. So we've been to the moon. Now, nobody believes we've gone to the moon ever.

Now we're going back up. And, I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing to watch. Because you just think, I just watched it last night. I'm like, my gosh. Look at the power of that thing.

I could -- how far are we away?

Three hours?

Two hours?

You could hear it. You could hear it. It got to a certain place. Where my wife said, you can see it on the tape on Instagram. My wife at one point said, can you hear that?

You could! You could hear the crackle of it. It is -- I mean, it's incredible. Just incredible.

I really want to go see a liftoff in person, again. Just amazing.

STU: Yeah. We should. To be clear, we should excommunicate him out of our society. Because you wore a red hat a few times. That, I think is a smart -- it's a smart move.

GLENN: I know. What a dummy.

STU: Yeah. He's an idiot. And obviously, we don't need him helping our country, right now.

Why?

Because he voted for lower taxes or something.

We -- that's a good way to run our society.

GLENN: Hate that guy. Hate that guy.

STU: Amazing.

GLENN: What a dope.

We have just -- we have just become morons.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: We really -- really have.

History will look back and go, at what point, they just became morons. You know.

STU: Do you find it interesting, Glenn. He was at this turn with the Saudi Arabian, you know, delegation, I guess.

Trump did a turn and invited a bunch of VIPs to it.

I thought a good sign from the perspective of the relationship between Trump and Elon Musk, that he was invited in, was there.

Right?

Remember, they had a total falling out. It was over the Epstein files. If you --

GLENN: No. They made nice at Charlie Kirk's funeral.

STU: Yeah. So that's what you think earlier repaired. Somewhat repaired at this point?

GLENN: Yeah. Somewhat repaired. And, you know, if you're trying to showcase the best of America. Who better to have at the table than Elon Musk?

I mean, he is the Tesla or the Edison of our day. There's nobody -- is there anybody in the world that everybody, with an exception of those who are just so politically, you know -- I don't know.

Pilled. That they just can't stand anybody that votes differently than them.

I mean, be even when he was -- we thought he was a real big lefty.

I still wanted to meet the guy.

I still wanted to be, man, I would give my right arm to sit and listen to that guy in the same room.

You know what I mean?

It would be great.

This is a guy who will be remembered for hundreds of years.

After Jesus comes.

Well, we may not have history books at that point.

But he's going to be remembered for hundreds of years, as one of the greatest human beings ever. When they were still human beings.

So, I mean, who doesn't want to meet that guy?

How is it that we have half of our -- we have half of our country now just hating on that guy?

It's genius. Would you be happier if he was Chinese.

STU: Thank God, he's here.

GLENN: Thank God.

STU: And wants to be here.

And wants to be in this environment.

I think that, you know, you look at everything.

And it's going to be a great biopic.

The movie on Elon Musk's life. Is going to be absolutely incredible. Because he is a somewhat complicated figure at times.

There's a lot to discuss on the Elon Musk front.

GLENN: Oh.

STU: Just think of the fact that this guy has put, I don't know.

You know, hundreds of thousands. Millions of cars on the road right now.

That are, you know, capable and are driving themselves.

Think of -- that's like -- an incredible accomplishment!

This is a guy who is putting cars that are -- you know, have full self-driving. You can sit in there.

The thing will drive itself from point A to point B. Without you touching really anything.

And that is -- think about the fact that that's just being said. That even people are allowed. You know, that governments are just like. Yeah. We trust this guy. To let all these cars drive themselves.

It's an amazing accomplishment. That's just one of many.

It's really an amazing life.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Cracker Barrel CEO Finally Addresses ‘Woke’ Rebrand Controversy | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 275

“I feel like I’ve been fired by America,” says Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino, in a vulnerable tell-all that goes behind the scenes into the explosive Cracker Barrel rebrand which Glenn describes as “stupid from start to finish.” In August 2025, Cracker Barrel unveiled a minimal new logo with modern fonts, cozy colors....no nice old man....and no BARREL for him to lean on. But it wasn’t just the logo; the restaurant chain was also getting a “modern” remodel. In short: We hated it. Social media erupted with brutal reviews, calling it “minimalist,” “soulless” and “downright ugly.” Cracker Barrel stock tanked, their attempt to tamp down the pushback backfired, and it looked like this was their “Bud Light moment.” But then, Cracker Barrel surprised us. They listened. Within weeks, they scrapped the new logo, reinstated the original, and hit pause on every remodel. “Covid even made Cracker Barrel start drinking,” says Doug Hisel, Senior Vice President of Store operations, as he takes Glenn behind the scenes as to what REALLY led to moment that brought Cracker Barrel to its knees. In Julie’s first interview since her time on “Good Morning America” when she said the response to the new logo, “was overwhelmingly positive,” she is here to say to America: “I’m sorry....I regret it.” Now the question is: will America forgive her?

Jasmine Crockett just DEFENDED this Jeffrey Epstein claim?!

Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett recently claimed on the House floor that Republicans, including EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, had taken money from “somebody named Jeffrey Epstein.” But it wasn’t THE Jeffrey Epstein. Glenn and Stu review this incredibly dumb attempt to smear Republicans and the even more insane excuses she gave to CNN.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let's start with Jasmine Crockett. Yesterday, she came out, and she said that Lee Zeldin was receiving money from Jeffrey Epstein!

And Lee Zeldin is like, what?

No, I didn't!

Now, he knows that he did get money from Jeffrey Epstein. Just not the Jeffrey Epstein. Another Jeffrey Epstein.

Here is -- here is Jasmine Crockett trying to spin her mistake, on CNN last night.

Listen to this.

VOICE: Senate Democrat, who has been on defense over Jeffrey Epstein is Stacey Plaskett. She represents the Virgin Islands. She was texting with Jeffrey Epstein the day of Michael Cohen's hearing. Her questions pretty closely followed the text messages between the two of them to ask about Rhona Graff, Trump's long-time assistant. You were defending her today and in recent days, yesterday. And you talked about Republicans taking money from a Jeffrey Epstein. Here's what you said.

VOICE: Who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly. Mitt Romney, the NRCC. Lee Zeldin. George Bush. When (inaudible). McCain/Palin. Rick Lazio.

VOICE: You mentioned Lee Zeldin there. He's now a cabinet secretary. He responded and said, it was actually Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, who is a doctor that doesn't have any relation to the convicted sex trafficker. Unfortunate for that doctor. But that is who donated to a prior campaign of his.

And do you want to correct the record on --

VOICE: I never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein. Just so the people understand when you make a donation, your future is not there. And because they decided to spring this on us, in real time. I wanted the Republicans to think about what could potentially happen.

Because I knew that they didn't even try to go through FEC. So my team, what they did was they Googled. And that is specifically why I said agent, because unlike Republicans, I at least don't go out and just tell lies.

Because it was -- when Lee Zeldin had something to say, all he had to say was it was a different Jeffrey Epstein. He knew he did receive donations from a Jeffrey Epstein. So at least I wasn't trying to mislead people. To find out who this doctor was --

GLENN: Can we stop for a second. There's so much to digest.

We have to stop for just a second.

You weren't misleading people. Because you didn't see it was the Jeffrey Epstein.

You said it was a Jeffrey Epstein. What is the problem with getting money from Jeffrey Epstein?

There's no problem. That would be like, and Stu Burguiere has been taking money from Bob Stevenson. And?

What's the problem?

He's been working for Bob Stevenson for years. He was delivering papers as a kid to Bob Stevenson's front door! Who is Bob Stevenson?

There's not a problem with that. Why would you go out and say -- if she had come out and said, you know what, Lee Zeldin was also taking money from Bob Stevenson and Jim Furstenbergersteinberg.

I mean, then it would be fine.

You clearly were smearing. Not misleading? Not misleading?

STU: Oh. I --

GLENN: What's the problem from taking it from -- other than poor Dr. Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, my gosh.

STU: First of all.

GLENN: I feel bad for that guy.

STU: That life sucks.

If you're Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, you got to think about a name-change.

But there's hundreds of Dr. -- not doctor, but hundreds of Jeffrey Epsteins across the country.

GLENN: Hundreds.

STU: And I -- I mean, she was designed in a lab to make me happy. Jasmine Crockett.

I -- I love her so much.

GLENN: True. I do too. I do too.

STU: If you could formulate the perfect Democrat. I think I would just have to put her out there.

She just says the dumbest.

Like, she can't even get her bad defense right over this.

Like, she's trying to say, well, I didn't lie. Like, that's your defense in theory. I threw this in here. I noticed it, at the time. We talked about it, I think yesterday.

That she said -- yeah. She did.

She knew -- which actually makes it worse. She knew she was lying. She knew there was a good chance this wasn't Jeffrey Epstein.

But the last thing in the world --

GLENN: It's not a problem if you would have said -- it wouldn't be a problem if you would say, look!

All of these people have taken money from a Jeffrey Epstein.

Doubt that it's the same Jeffrey Epstein. Might be.

Might not be.

STU: I mean -- what value would be that?

GLENN: I know. I know.

It would be no value. But at least you can say, I'm not trying to mislead people.

STU: Right.

GLENN: I am trying to create doubt in people's minds.

But I'm not saying he's taking money from Jeffrey Epstein.

You know, when she just lists all of these people.

I mean, let's look at her donation. Let's see if she's ever taken money from a Charlie Manson.
(laughter)

You know what I mean? She's taken money from a John Wayne Gacy.

Hello!

A Ted Bundy has been seen around her house.

I mean, it's crazy! It's crazy!

And she knew exactly what she was doing.

And I hope that she continues. I hope that she continues to gain power.

STU: Yes!

GLENN: And love and respect from the Democrats. Because she is insane.

She's insane? She's so reckless. She's insane.

STU: She is. And, by the way, this is the person that we are told that should be the face of the party, that they should lean into the way she talks.

Because she's such a good communicator.

And she gets on all these shows, Glenn. This is a massive problem in our politics. And it affects the left more than the right.

It affects both sides to some degree. We're incentivized. The entire system is set up to reward people like her.

Who just say the dumbest things possible. And the most irresponsible and reckless things possible. And get all the clicks.

This woman has been on Colbert. Why?

She has been a complete nobody who is wrong all the time. She's getting on all these massive shows. She's getting booked everywhere. She's living the ultimate life of today's modern congressman.

And what is going to stop her?

The incentives are right there for her to continue.

GLENN: Do you think she doesn't know that she's dead.

Because didn't a Crockett die at the Alamo. Is that her?

I think that's her.

I know a Crockett died at the Alamo.

I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure.

I mean, just, what a dope.

JASON: Can I just point out? It's like, I'm a part of her research team, because she put her team on this.

GLENN: But quickly. But quickly.

JASON: Yeah. I always thought, especially Congress research would have these amazing tools.

GLENN: No, they don't.

JASON: And we, like -- our team struggles over this. We're constantly trying to stay ahead of the curve.

GLENN: And the last thing we do is Google. Google.

JASON: Google searches. That's what you do in Congress.

GLENN: Yes. Yes. That is what you do. That is what you do.

STU: Don't you have to fire your whole team after this.

GLENN: I would. I would. No. But she -- I don't think.

I have a feeling that her team briefed her.

It's why she did say, A, Jeffrey Epstein.

They briefed her, and said, this is probably not the same guy.

It might have even said, if you're Googling, it might have said, Dr. Jeffrey Epstein.

Why wouldn't it?

If that's who gave that money, it most likely said, Dr. Jeffrey Epstein.

And so they would say, it's not the Jeffrey Epstein. Yes, but that's okay.

I mean, she clearly knew. So who is she going to fire? This is what she wanted. Just the smear.

STU: Do we have time to play the rest of this clip? Because there's more to this. It's amazing.

GLENN: Yeah. Go ahead.

VOICE: So I will trust and take what he says. Is that it wasn't that Jeffrey Epstein. But I wasn't attempting to mislead anybody. I literally had maybe 20 minutes before I had to do that debate.

STU: So good.

GLENN: Okay. Stop. Stop. Stop.

So you don't say it!

I literally had 20 minutes. So I -- I didn't know, that the sky wasn't on fire, that that was actually the sun.

I only had 20 minutes before I said, my God, the whole sky is on fire!

STU: This is why I love her.

GLENN: What were you thinking?

STU: She had no idea whether the accusations she was making was true.

And she didn't even consider not saying it. The only thing that she could come up with in her brain, whatever information that comes in, in this rushed time period, just go with it.

And it's like --

GLENN: Do you know why?

STU: Why?

GLENN: Do you know why?

And I don't know if she's smart enough to know this. But you can say whatever you want as a congressman on the floor of Congress, and you cannot be held liable.

STU: That's true.

GLENN: You could say the worst thing. You could say, he was having sex with 4-year-old with his Jeffrey Epstein.

And it could be a complete lie. And you could not be held responsible because you said it, on the floor of the house.

That's why the standards are so low.

The standards are absolutely so low for these Congress -- she could say whatever she wants. If she would have said, not on the floor of the house. Lee Zeldin would sue her.

You could say, you knew what were you doing. You were smearing me and my reputation, intentionally. You knew exactly what you were doing so you couldn't sue.

She could have said, and he was having sex with a 4-year-old.

As long as he said it on the floor of the House, not a problem.

STU: This is the --

GLENN: Yeah. That is how bad our Congress is out of control.

They've you written all these laws for themselves to protect them. So they can be completely irresponsible, and it's fine.

STU: Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's that, or if she's just a dunce.

It's hard to know with her.

GLENN: She's just dishonest. She's just dishonest.

STU: Yeah. She's dishonest and bad at it. And that's one of the things that I love about it.

There's no wool being pulled over anyone's eyes. It's just pathetic.
GLENN: No. No.

Is there more to this?

Play the rest of it out.

VOICE: Make it sound like he took money --
VOICE: I did not know. I just heard registered sex offender.
VOICE: I literally did not know.

When you search FEC files, and that's what I had my team to do. I texted my team and said, listen. We're going up. They're saying the sheets --
VOICE: Similar to saying, well, your team should have done the homework to make sure it wasn't the convicted sex trafficker.

VOICE: Within 20 minutes, you couldn't find that out. The search on FEC. So number one, I made sure that I was clear, that it was a Jeffrey Epstein.

But I never said it was specifically that Jeffrey Epstein. Because I knew that we would need more time to dig in.

VOICE: Well, Stacey Plaskett was texting the Jeffrey Epstein, talking about -- you voted against the censure for her, to remove her from her committees. You know, we pressed the -- the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries on this last night.

Maybe you don't think she should be removed from her committees. Why do so many Democrats seem unwilling to say, it's inappropriate to be texting with a registered sex offender about what you're going to ask a witness at a Congressional hearing?

VOICE: So I'm not going to say that was necessarily the case. Now, this was someone who was a former prosecutor. Now, I haven't sat down and talked about all the specifics of why Stacey was doing what she was doing.

I know that when she got up, and she spoke. She talked about the fact that this is one of her constituents. At the end of the day, what I know with prosectors, is that they are typically talking to codefendants. They're typically talking to the people who had the best information.

What you had was the former attorney for the president that was sitting there. And honestly, we knew. Or she knew or at least Jeffrey Epstein presented that he was very cozy with the president.

He had more information, registered sex offend or not. The bigger question is why is it that the president was so cozy with a sex offender. Even if he after ultimately ended up with some of his convictions.

And seemingly he absolutely was on the plane with him. We know about the birthday card. The bigger question is why is the president of the United States not the one in the hot seat for his relationship instead of us saying, oh, you know what, we're going to take her off of her committee.

Because he decided to text her.

GLENN: Stop. Stop.

I can't take this. I can't.

STU: Literally, none of the stuff she said was true.

GLENN: None of it is true. And she's presenting it as absolute fact.

CNN is presenting it as absolute fact. And the latest is the smear last week on the Epstein stuff.

It shows that Epstein that the reason he was going to jail or going through all of the problem is because Donald Trump was the whistle-blower!

I mean, it's -- it's incredible, what they can get away with.

It's absolutely incredible.

STU: All of those happened before this conviction happened. I don't know that she doesn't know that happened. It's so fascinating to watch CNN's response to that.

GLENN: Which is nothing.

STU: How many times they said, Donald Trump said this without evidence.

Where is that on the Jasmine Crockett allegations here?

GLENN: Right.

STU: How about the situation with Caitlin Collins, who at least -- I would say at least kind of asks questions here.

But she can't even take responsibility for them. She's like, oh, well, some people are saying, you shouldn't blurt out obvious lies in the middle of a House session.

Like, what do you mean some people are saying? You never say that when it's the president of the United States.

From Anthony Weiner Intern to Media Royalty... The Scandal-Ridden Rise of "Reporter" Olivia Nuzzi

Reporter Olivia Nuzzi’s career is one of the strangest success stories in modern journalism. From volunteering on Anthony Weiner’s collapsing mayoral campaign to becoming a 24-year-old Washington correspondent with jobs created specifically for her... Nuzzi's rise through the media ranks defies every norm of the industry. Glenn Beck and Stu Burguiere explore how an unknown college student was elevated into a media celebrity overnight, why institutions continued to protect her even after major ethical scandals, and what her story reveals about how power truly works inside the press. Is this talent, luck, or something far more engineered?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

STU: Yes. And I will begin the story at the very, very start, Glenn. And I will start it with a question for you.

And this is a question that I think sets the scene for the entire journey we're about to go on.

GLENN: Okay.

STU: Journalist.

GLENN: Let me get my boots on.

STU: Let's do it. She starts her career, very first job, she volunteers as an intern for what campaign? Volunteers as an intern for what campaign?

GLENN: Just -- it just has to be Bill Clinton. Has to be.

STU: It's a good guess. However, timing wise --

GLENN: Oh, Anthony Wiener.

STU: Anthony Wiener is the answer.

GLENN: Yes. Yes! Yes!

STU: She volunteers for the failed mayoral campaign.

GLENN: Fascinating. Fascinating.

STU: Of Anthony Wiener. So this is how this story starts.

GLENN: Oh, Anthony Wiener. So she starts covering Wieners.

STU: Yes. She starts covering Wieners. And the whole story is her doing more of that. We'll get into that as we go.

GLENN: All right.

STU: She starts with the Wiener campaign. It's a disaster. It's kind of a legendary catastrophe. They have a documentary about to go. We talked about that at the time. You know, totally the whole thing flames apart.

GLENN: By the way. By the way. I'm just sitting here thinking, I don't think I was technically wrong when I said it was a Clinton campaign.

Because remember, Hillary Clinton is all over the Wiener.

STU: But that's -- please, don't say it like that.

But, yes. That is accurate.

GLENN: Yeah. Because if I say it like that. It leads you to believe. And that is absolutely not true.

I don't think she's ever --
(laughter)

STU: I think, yes. Because if you remember Huma Abedin, at this time is married to Anthony Wiener.

GLENN: Can you use air quotes? Air quotes on that?

STU: Yes. On her wonderful path to marry a Soros. She's at that time, married to Wiener. And she is helping out Hillary Clinton as her top dog main assistant.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: That's ongoing. That's the first thing. Almost has nothing to do with the story.

GLENN: Did you use air quotes for the word assistant there, as well.

STU: I did not. So how does Olivia Nuzzi get into our lives? She goes to -- she goes from the Wiener campaign and leaves, and writes basically a tell-all, you know, scandal log of what was going on during the Wiener campaign. Basically, this thing was a catastrophe. She tells the inside story. And releases it to the Daily News. Who prints this column, from at this point a 20-year-old aspiring journalist. And, you know, she's pretty. She's glamorous. She's kind of like the New York elite journalist that you would exactly picture in this situation.

So she gets this, and turns that one column into a job, while she's still in college. She's at Fordham. She's still at college.

GLENN: Oh, she's in Fordham.

STU: Fordham, of course. I thought you would like that detail.

GLENN: Yeah, sorry.

STU: For multiple reasons.

GLENN: My daughter went to Fordham. They actually -- they actually had the balls to -- they held rallies against me on the Fordham campus, and then they had the balls to come and ask my wife and I to come in to meet with the dean, because they wanted to know if we would help them build a library.

STU: No.

GLENN: There were words that started with F that were not fruit!

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: As we left that meeting.

STU: Was it Fordham? Was the F-word Fordham? You Fordham!

GLENN: No. Fordham you!

STU: Yeah. That's the university.

GLENN: That's what I mean. Fordham University. Fordham you! Anyway, go ahead.

STU: Okay. So she gets hired from one that column, as one of the main presidential campaign correspondence for the Daily Beast, which tells you yet again, something about the standards of the Daily Beast when it comes to journalism, which are exactly zero. They have higher standards at Fordham.
(laughter)

GLENN: And those are pretty low.

STU: Those are low.

She is going to cover the Chris Christie campaign. The Rand Paul campaign. And some of the early bubbling beginnings of the Donald Trump campaign. This is back in 2014, '15, and there. She -- in 2015, as you note, as she's in this job. She does that tweet about House of Cards. And how women should not -- or Hollywood should not misportray the journalists that are females. Because they're always saying that they sleep with their sources. And that's a terrible thing -- point that out.

Which is an amazing thing for multiple reasons, Glenn. Because, well, I'll get into that here in a second.

GLENN: Yeah. Okay.

STU: So she see that. She then gets named by Politico one of the 16 breakout media stars of the presidential election. This is November 2016.

GLENN: Wow.

STU: She then in February 2017 parlays that into a job, as the Washington correspondent of New York magazine.

She's 24 years old. Twenty-four years old, Washington correspondent, at New York magazine. You're saying, wow. That's a prestigious position. Who held it before her?

No one. They literally create this job for her, which is incredible. Again, she's 24 years old.

GLENN: Again, it's probably not the only position created for her.

STU: She may have several that she's documented in -- in a book or two, that we could go over later. Okay. So -- and you wonder. And this is a time to pause.

GLENN: Jesus would not be doing this segment, I just want to let you know, right here and now.

STU: Right. That's true. That's true.

GLENN: Go ahead.

STU: You think about what a meteoric rise this is.

Glenn, you know this. This is not how media operates. You don't do what she's done here.

Like, incredible. It's like, she -- someone who never played basketball before, and is in the NBA three years later. It's legitimately an incredible rise. You wonder how that rise occurred. Those questions may be answered later on.

GLENN: Stop using the word "rise." You're making me uncomfortable.
(laughter)

STU: 2018, she's included in the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Which is a very prestigious list. October 2018, as a member of -- working for the New York magazine. She's invited for an exclusive interview in the Oval Office to interview Donald Trump. Again, she's 25 at this point.

Very prestigious. She's awarded a next award by the American Society of Magazine editors. She gets a documentary on MSNBC. She portrays herself on the show time show Billions. In 2022.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

STU: Again, this is someone who is a massive celebrity in that world. You may not know her name. But she is a massive celebrity.

GLENN: Okay.

STU: She gets a six-part interview from Bloomberg. And then she does a profile of RFK Jr, the candidate who you may remember running for president as a Democrat.

Okay. I can't remember if the profile happened when he was running as a Democrat, or he had kind of flipped to an independent. But it's before he's endorsing Trump, or there's MAHA or any of that stuff. Right? It's in that period.

GLENN: Sure. Sure. Sure.

STU: And she does this profile of him that I guess goes pretty well. And it comes out much more favorable, I would say than many of the other previews. Profiles of RFK Jr in this period.

But, again, has some criticism. And some quirkiness in it. And her style of writing has all sorts of weird details. You know, sometimes it's kind of -- I think it's actually pretty good. I think her reporting was regulated. She did have some really fascinating stories that she wrote over this period.

But like, the celebrities seemed to overextend past maybe what she had achieved in her career so far. So she writes this profile of RFK Jr.

And then it is -- the news breaks that RFK Jr and Olivia Nuzzi are having what they call an emotional affair, which seems to be lots of very detailed loving text messages back and forth. Promises about --

GLENN: When you say loving. Is it like, you know, you are a child of God. And I just love you and want to help you in any way. Is that what you mean by loving? Or do you know do you mean like Barry White loving?

STU: Well, to put it in another word, we're talking about a Kennedy. So I'm talking about Kennedy style loving.

GLENN: Okay. Ding-dong, pizza delivery.

STU: It's important to note that Olivia Nuzzi is engaged to another journalist, Ryan Lizza at this time. And so she's engaged to somebody. RFK Jr.

Not that this makes seemingly any difference to him whatsoever, is married at the time, and is still currently married to an actress in Hollywood. So he's doing this. She's doing this.

This is suboptimal not only for a marriage, but also a presidential campaign. This goes on, the news finally breaks this is happening. This is a problem for a bunch of reasons. Number one, you're -- you have a fiancé. Number two, the person you're texting with is married.

Number three, though, a really serious journalist problem, right?

Like, you're profiling someone and having an affair with them at the same time. That's frowned upon, at least in theory, in the world of journalism.

Now, in practice, God only knows. But in theory, you're not supposed to do that, Glenn. This is something they tell you relatively early on in journalism school, I assume.

And so he --

GLENN: I've got to apologize to all those people that I've been sleeping with that I've been on the show.

STU: How many people have you profiled, Glenn? You just profiled the Great Mufti. Have you ever had any relations --

GLENN: Yeah, have you ever had the relations with the Mufti? I've got to tell you the truth, Stu. Yep. Yep. Back in 1942.

STU: Oh, no.

So all of this comes out in the -- in the media. And she sort of goes -- she gets fired from the New York magazine because of this journalistic lapse. And she sort of goes into hiding.

Okay? She goes into hiding. She moves. She is -- not saying word one about this. And, you know, she talks a lot.

So that's notable.

In this period, Ryan Lizza, her ex-fiancé now, they broke up. Ex-fiancé and her are -- are negotiating according to him, a do not -- what is it?

A non-disclosure. Don't talk about this. Don't talk about this. Don't disparage. Let's just let this be over.

He also gets a message, according to him, from an intermediate friend that says, "Hey. She never wants to talk about this again. She hopes you'll never talk about this again. Can we just move past this?" And he according to him says, "You know what, I'm on board with that. Let's just never let this go."

So a little bit of time goes on. What we learn is, her time in exile has actually been spent writing a book, which is called American Canto. It's coming out in a couple of weeks from today, or from yesterday.

Two weeks from yesterday.

And it's a book --

GLENN: Is this one -- does the book include her time with governor Mark Sanford?

STU: Well, we're getting to that.

GLENN: 2019, 2020.

I mean, was she sleeping with him, too, before the JFK thing.

STU: That's a big part of the story we're getting to. At this point in the story, we have no idea about that. We only know about the RFK Jr. thing. So she releases this book, and in it, is all these details about the RFK Jr thing.

Now, you would think the way the media would handle this woman who they've just ejected from their society for massive journalistic and immoral lapses would be hammering her over her activity here.

GLENN: No.

STU: Instead, she gets a glowing profile in the New York Times with, like, her -- with an incredible -- you have to seat footage, Glenn. You would love it. It's her, she's driving in a convertible. Hair in the wind. Like, Chanel glasses. She looks spectacular, as she's going down. This is how the New York Times rolls this out for her.