RADIOOctober 04, 2023

The ONE question Mark Levin wants YOU to ask after House ousted McCarthy as Speaker

The House of Representatives has ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker. But was this move — supported by only 8 Republicans and every Democrat — a smart one? BlazeTV host Mark Levin holds nothing back as he joins Glenn to give his thoughts: "This is one of the dumbest ass wars I have ever seen." Levin explains his biggest disagreement with Rep. Matt Gaetz, who spearheaded the ousting: "If you're gonna blow up the House, blow it up for the right reason." And he urges Republicans who are happy about the ousting to remember one thing moving forward (which also happens to be the title of his newest book): "The Democrat Party HATES America."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: My friend Mark Levin. How are you, sir?

MARK: I'm great. Thank you.

GLENN: What is your take on what happened yesterday in the House?

MARK: Well, I've been very outspoken about this, and a lot of people want to get behind Matt Gaetz. I'm not one of them.

So I guess I'm a neocon RINO sellout.

GLENN: Don't you hate this? Don't you hate this?

MARK: I will put it on my business card. Look, you and I spent decades fighting these wars. This is one of the dumbest ass wars I've ever seen. Why? You've got guys who claim to be conservative. One of them Nancy Mace, votes against McCarthy because he wouldn't put an abortion bill on the floor. He wouldn't put a gun control bill on the floor.

She's a complete head case. You have another guy, Andy Biggs, president of the state Senate in Arizona, who blocked Convention of States. He runs for Congress, he wins. He wants to replace us. And then Arizona becomes one of 20 states passing a resolution for Convention of States. That's where my head is. Convention of States. Then you have another guy. This guy from Tennessee. That nobody ever heard of before. Why is he mad?

Because he said, McCarthy criticized the coalition when he spoke of something. I'm like, I'm not a special pleader for McCarthy. And I'm not a special pleader for Gaetz. I call them as I see them.

And so he says what he says. You know why he voted for McCarthy?

Because he chaired a subcommittee. And he said, he worked really hard on this UFO issue. And he wanted to chair this committee on the UFOs. And Comber told him, he's not going to lie to him.

And he got very angry.

That's why he votes against McCarthy. Then we have Gaetz, who goes to the floor of the House. And I'm listening them very, very carefully. This is very important.

And he says, we didn't have regular order. He promised us 12 bills.

I had Thomas Massie on the show, who is a long-time Libertarian conservative. He's the best of the best.

GLENN: I love him.

MARK: He said, that's not what happened. You have to get these bills out of committee.

The Democrats were laddering up these things.

It was the conservatives who killed them in committee.

We couldn't get these bills to the floor. It has nothing to do with violating a promise or anything else.

And he said my show, you can't have it both ways. Regular order. Or whatever comes out of the committee, goes to the floor. And at the same time, we need to cut the budget.

He said, the Democrats were playing us.

And others. Voted against the committee, so it couldn't get to the floor.

So listening to him, and I said, well, then, what's this?

12 bill stuff that Gaetz -- he says, Gaetz knows this.

I said, okay. Then I listed myself. Gaetz say, we have a 33 trillion-dollar debt.

And I said, on the air, I don't remember Gaetz speaking up against all this COVID spending.

Massey, he never did. Not once.

I said, well, that was $3 trillion, right there. They wanted to spend $6 trillion.

Almost none of it went to, quote, unquote, COVID. Or the pandemic.

I'm telling you, that if you're going to blow up the House. Blow it up for the right reasons.

I worked for the administration. We shut the government down eight times. Exactly why we shut it down.

He wanted an MX missile system. He wouldn't give them to them. He wanted weapons in Europe. To defeat the Soviets. Which is what happened.

And he shouted at it, until he got it.

Very specific. This is -- we have a 33 trillion-dollar debt to debt. Let's burn down Washington.

Okay. Great. So what are they going to do in you?

GLENN: That was my question.

MARK: The budget now. They can't control it.

GLENN: I would love to -- you know, I'm not a fan of McCarthy. However, what is your plan now? You don't run away from something. You run towards something.

They weren't running toward anything. Who were they running to? Who was going to take it?

MARK: They ran towards the squad and Hakeem Jeffries. Behind the scenes, they were working with them, while complaining that McCarthy is working with -- I don't want any of them working with them, for anything.

Fifteen percent of the Democrats in the House are Marxists. They're outspoken, quote, unquote, democratic socialists.

Why the hell are you working with these progressive caucuses. And going to whatever, Jamala, whatever. Trying to coordinate with her. Why are you going to AOC, like you have a real love lust for the woman?

It's constant. And then you're raising money on it? And that's right -- sending -- putting together lists to run for governor.

Well, at least I'm not paid for by the special -- hey, bro.

You know the 20-point Republican preference.

You are referencing the Republican panhandle of Florida. And those are wonderful patriots.

They're never going to vote for Democrats. Then you have this guy from Montana, who ran for the Senate, and lost last time. And wants to run again.

And he says, he prayed for a very small Republican majority in the House. So he and the others would have -- wow, that's unconstitutional. So he runs the House of Representatives with the Democrats?

Let me tell you something. He made sure he won his election. But he didn't want enough people to come in, or we had a big majority.

You know, there's a lot of patriotic people, that lost in that midterm election. That many of us voted for.

Like here in northern Virginia.

He lost by 1 percent. In a purple, or actually more blue district.

Loughton County, Virginia, for God's sake. Am I glad he lost?

So Rosendale has more power?

This guy is from Montana. He has nothing to do with me.

And so you've got -- there's so many weird things going on.

And people need to scratch their heads and ask this.

Is Chip Roy a RINO? Is Byron Donalds a RINO? Is Jim Jordan? Is every other member of the Freedom Caucus, who voted against these guys, are they RINOs too?

No. There's a difference between anarchy and constitutional conservatism. Read your Constitution, folks.

There's no anarchy in there. There's no mobocracy. They oppose the mobocracy.

They oppose the central government. You know this.

They set up a complex government system.

Our only hope is the House of Representatives. With a tiny majority.

That Senate Republicans have sold us out.

Here's the bottom line. That man is still as they proposed. It was negotiated by Chip Roy and Byron Donalds.

With Ted Cruz and other conservative Republicans in the Senate.

The plan was that this would pass.
The greatest cut in a short-term CR, probably in American history. Certainly in our lifetime.

30 percent protecting the Defense Department. The Border Patrol. And veterans.

That was it. So that would affect the FBI. It would affect the Department of Justice.

It would affect all this stuff.

And it was negotiated by the conservatives. Got it to the Senate.

So we have some leverage over Mitch McConnell.

Who is a real SOB. That guy.

Every time. Five of them chosen. They said, in. Shut the government down. They said, shut it down.

This is better. We won't know what we will get if we shut it down.

Do this. We have the support. We have negotiated with the RINOs and everything else.

Let's do it. And they kill it.

That's why I've had it with these people. And people shouldn't just follow them.

They're doing nothing. Zero.

And I'll tell you one other thing. I would not negotiate with Hakeem Jeffries, and these democratic Marxists in the squad, and all the rest of them.

If you put a gun to my head. These people are destroying my country, at every turn.

They are the enemy.

Not adversaries. They are the enemy. And you're cutting deals with them.

And then you're sending, you're the true believer. You're cutting deals with the democratic majority?

And now we're going to have a bigger, bloated budget?

The border will remain open, because part of that bill they opposed, had the strictest restrictions on the border, ever cashed by the House of Representatives.

I read it, it's unbelievable. Would it pass the Senate?

Well, I don't control the Senate.

Well, it would give us something to negotiate with.

Look at the house. Look at what they passed, Mr. McConnell. We have to do something about this. Now they have nothing.

Zero.

And so I would ask people who are defending and promoting these people.

Do you know who they are?

How do you know the guy from Tennessee?

How many of you know a guy from Montana?

How many of you really know about Nancy when is a complete head case, out of South Carolina?

So this is my problem. That we have had good momentum going in.

Forget about personalities.

McCarthy. I don't care. We had good momentum going in.

And now we're stuck.

Everything -- everything is frozen.

Everything.

GLENN: And --

MARK: And we're packing the most conservative body we have. It's not conservative enough. The presidency is gone. The Senate is gone. The courts are gone. We have a five-vote majority in the House. We're doing more with that five-vote majority than anybody.

And we just crippled it. That's my take, Glenn.

GLENN: You know, the one thing I love about having a talk show host on.

Is I asked a question about 11 minutes ago.

And it was a great answer. I know. I didn't want to.

It was a great answer.

All right. I want to talk to you about -- all right. I don't think there's anything more plain.

The Democratic Party hates America.

So before we get to the book. How much time do you have, first of all, can I keep you until about a quarter until?

MARK: Actually, yes. I have a lifetime, my brother. How are you?

GLENN: I mean, this is the opposite end of the clock for you too. I mean, you're getting up, and you're this fired up. I love it.

So, Mark, first, let me ask you, do you see a plan? Is there a plan? Is there something that we're hoping for at this point?

MARK: No. I would love to see one. I mean, when the case is asked, who would he accept? He starts with naming liberal members of the House.

I thought, holy crap.

I don't know what the plan is. I don't even know who would want to be speaker at this point.

Forget about McCarthy and so forth.

Thinking, okay.

And the way that works is, from the propaganda point of view. These guys will claim victory, no matter what happens.

So, in other words, let's say they actually -- let's say a Jim Jordan. Who I love.

GLENN: Yes. And they will say, you wouldn't have Jim Jordan.

They have it all planned out.

And the fact of the matter is, one of the biggest supporters of the previous speaker was Jim Jordan.

And he even gave a speech on the floor.
Why? He said, because he let us do what we needed to do.

He never interfered.

He said, whatever you need, I'll take care of it. So forth. So on.

The Rules Committee. There were more conservatives on the Rules Committee in the history of the House of Representatives. Then they had Tom Massey on there, Byron Donalds on there, and another conservative.

Chip Roy, who had the power to block anything, and to promote anything.

And so he said, he's been in the House for a while now.

He said, he came in at the same time, McCarthy did.

And he said, it's never been more open.

And he said, it's on open. That everybody in agreement, was thinking about running against him.

So that's how you get the Nancy Maces in there, and these other people in there.

And that's why, and then Chip Roy -- sometimes we have to accept victory. Well, we have a 30 percent cut, in the ordered security bill, which is the strongest kind of -- that the House has ever passed.

This is -- this is a 30-day bill.

Why the hell wouldn't we just pass it?

I said, it beats me.

That's why I'm not a politician. I couldn't figure you guys out, to be perfectly honest with you.

So --

GLENN: You know, you said, Mark, that the democratic party.

I think you said, 60 percent are named Marxists. They are fine with being democratic Marxists or socialists.

MARK: That's correct.

GLENN: How did this happen?

MARK: Well, here's the truth: The fact is, that's the point of the book. You're very good. It's a very good segue there.

GLENN: Thank you.

MARK: I just wanted to say, everything I know I learned from Glenn.

GLENN: Yeah, right.

MARK: You are. You are top shelf, baby.

Look, here's the bottom line with this book. The book explains that the Democrat Party has never accepted America's founding. It has never accepted its principles.

We wouldn't have had a civil war, if it wasn't for the Democratic Party. The vast majority of Americans, I don't even know if owned slaves. Ever met slaves.

Even in the South, a tiny percentage, tiny. Think about -- don't get me wrong. But not the vast majority of the people in the south. There were two quarters that owned slaves. Slavery was an abomination.

And who perpetuated it? The Democratic Party. Who was prepared to destroy the country to defend it?

The Democrat Party. The party who considers it.

Look, we don't have enough time.

The book is 400 pages.

I will tell you this, I decided to take all their icons. FDR.

GLENN: Good for you.

MARK: The Kennedy family. Lyndon Johnson.

People wouldn't have learned things about these people, they couldn't have possibly known. Because the Democratic Party writes our history -- or I should say, rewrites our history.

So all the things, the Democrat Party today condenses. And we condense.

Back in our history, it's their history.

I mean, they did this to the country.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

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

It's really good.

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

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

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

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

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

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

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

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

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

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

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

It was independents. It was Democrats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

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

SALENA: Yeah.

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

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

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

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

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

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

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

As opposed to what happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To project that we will not be defeated.

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

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

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

And galvanized people.

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

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

I've got to get up.

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

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

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

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

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

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

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

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

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

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

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

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

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

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

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

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

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

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

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

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

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

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

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

He calls you up.

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

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

It's just a great part.

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

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

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

Even though, he was.

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

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

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

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

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

GLENN: Crazy.

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

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

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

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

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

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

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

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

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

And how God was in that moment.

It --

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

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

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

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

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

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

To give him that space, to work it out.

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

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

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

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

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

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

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

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

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

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

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

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