RADIOMarch 01, 2022

Reporter details ‘TRAGIC SCENE’ during trek to escape Ukraine

Reporter Manny Marotta flew from Pittsburgh to Ukraine nearly two weeks ago to cover the growing tension between Ukraine and Russia. But he — and millions of Ukrainians — were shocked to wake up to sirens last week, signaling the beginning of Putin’s invasion. Manny walked 43 miles seeking safety in Poland, meeting several Ukrainians along the way. He shares with Glenn those Ukrainians’ stories and experiences — from confused children and weary elderly, to a husband torn away from his wife and a young soldier forced to join the battle. Manny’s reporting paints a picture not only for what Ukrainians are experiencing today, but for the tenacity they have to defend their homeland as well…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: This is the Glenn Beck Program.

We're glad you're here.

Thank you so much for listening.

We have Manny Marotta on. He's going to -- we're having problem with our phone systems. Our software systems have gone down. Putin.

So we're trying to get our phones back online. We'll have him on, as soon as we possibly can.
You know, the one thing I think it is important to think of is that, I think there's a lot of Democrats and leftists. A lot of people that just have Trump derangement syndrome.

That see the Ukrainians as a substitute for them. And Putin is Trump.

So I think they -- they see themselves.

Because how else could you be for the Ukrainian people. And this fight against the power.

Or just across the border.

And yet, you would be for, you know, throwing people in from January 6th, and not have them even see a trial yet.

How is it you're for Justin Trudeau, silencing people?

And saying, in a peaceful protest, how could you be for the protesters in Ukraine.

And it doesn't make sense. Unless you see the Ukrainian people, as yourself.
And you're a Democrat. Or a -- a lefty.

And you see them fighting against their Donald Trump.

STU: I mean, I guess they would argue that they think, their side is just in these matters.

Right?

Their side is right on January 6. Their side is right on Canada. Their side is right on the battle between --

GLENN: Correct. The big bogeyman there is their version of Putin, Donald Trump. I mean, because I'm against Putin.

STU: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: And I'm for the Ukrainian people. And how is it that we're being told that we're somehow or another, for Putin?

We're not. We're clearly not.

STU: No.

GLENN: What's going on?

Let's go to Manny. The phones are working now.

Manny Marotta. He's a freelance journalist. He actually flew from Pittsburgh, to Ukraine to cover the lead-up to the war with Russia.

And he got caught up in it.

He's now in Poland, after a a very long walk.

Hello, Manny. How are you?

MANNY: I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on the show.

GLENN: You bet.

Glad you're out safe. Can you tell us what it was like over there, when the alarms first started going off. And you knew, oh, man. We're in trouble?

MANNY: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, until the invasion, nobody knew that anything was wrong. Then suddenly, on the morning of the invasion, we woke up to the sound of air raid sirens.

And it turned out they can't be cities all over the country, were being bombed, and our city could have been next.

I was in La Vivre (phonetic), which is a Western Ukrainian city. We went outside, and we heard people speaking on loudspeakers. Saying, find shelter. Help the elderly. Stockpile water. It was rather scary. The whole country began at once to panic.

GLENN: And it was literally one day. Nothing is really happening. To, oh, my gosh. Here it is.

MANNY: Oh, yeah. Yeah. For the longest time, the Ukrainians denied anything was happening. Because they wanted to preserve their sovereignty. They wanted to preserve their country.

They said, Putin won't invade. And we all believed it. And we all believed Ukraine.

And it seemed like Putin would not invade. And then they came upon us suddenly. Russian Army was in Ukraine, bombings were happening. And, of course, now thousands of people have died in this war with Ukraine -- war with Russia. It's crazy.

GLENN: So tell us -- I mean, because we're seeing social media. And we're seeing unbelievable heroism, on the part of the Ukrainian people. And the president of Ukraine.

It seems like they're not willing to go anywhere.

Is -- is that the truth of what's happening?

MANNY: Absolutely. Absolutely.

I mean, from what I saw from the Ukrainian people, they will defend their sovereignty to the very end. Ukraine is a relatively newly independent country. 1992. They freed themselves from the Soviet Union.

And now they're trying to defend themselves, in the greatest possible sense.

It's only been 30 years since they've become newly independent. And now Ukraine is trying to establish its own identity in you Europe.

And trying to keep itself free from the reins of Russia, coming back to retake it.

And so the Ukrainian people are going to defend every street, every home, every alley. Every inch of Ukrainian soil they can.

And they are like you've never seen.

GLENN: Because they remember what life is like, under Russia.

I mean, I can't believe that Putin thinks that they would remember things. Like they would forget things like the Holodomor, quickly. You know what I mean?

You tend to have a long memory on stuff like that.

MANNY: Absolutely.

And the Holodomor, is part of the national memory of Ukraine. And they mourn it all the time, in everywhere.

There are monuments to it, in nearly every major city.

And, of course, life under the rest of the Soviet times, was terrible for the average Ukrainian. There were oppressions. You couldn't practice free speech.

You had to stay in line with the party. You couldn't establish the Ukrainian identity. You had to be a part of a Russian identity.

So Ukrainians are worried about that happening again. I spoke to several Ukrainians, who had lived under the Soviet Union. Older Ukrainians.

And they were just terrified. It would be something like that again, that Russia could exert power over Ukraine once again.

GLENN: So when you're walking out. You had about 50 miles, right? That's 70 kilometers?

MANNY: Yeah. Thereabouts. I believe the exact amount was 43 miles, and 74 kilometers was the exact -- was the exact number.

But, yeah. A very long walk. And it wasn't just me. It was thousands of Ukrainians. Oftentimes elderly. Oftentimes children.

And they're the ones that are the true heroes of the story. The -- the vulnerable members of society, were walking out of Ukraine. This huge distance.

GLENN: And what did -- and what did you -- what was your conversation like?

MANNY: My conversation with the Ukrainians?

GLENN: Yeah. On that walk. What did you learn?

MANNY: Yeah. Well, I spoke with a wide variety of Ukrainians. I spoke with children. I spoke with young men. I spoke with old women.

I spoke with a variety of people. And they were all -- first of all, they were all unified by their fear of being taken over by Russia. That's why everyone is walking out.

Everyone, of course, was committed to protecting Ukraine as well.

And their plan to -- to reform on the other side of the border. And to fight for Ukraine eventually.

And so the children, of course, were afraid. The children didn't know why they were leaving. The children didn't know why they were forced out of their beds by this invasion.

Why they had to march out into the cold. Why they had to go without food and water, because these people didn't have food and water for the entire walk.

GLENN: Hmm.

MANNY: And it was just this long and grueling trek. So the elderly people, as I mentioned to you before, they remembered Soviet times. They were mentioning, this could happen again.

That's why they were trying to avoid that.

So they were among, of course, the young men. Who had to fight.

They were conscripted into the army.

And it was -- it was just this wide conglomeration of people. United by a fear and hatred of Russian domination.

GLENN: When you got to -- you're in Poland now, are you not?

I'm in Poland, and speaking to you from Krakow, Poland, right now.

GLENN: Wow.

When you got to Poland, what did that feel like? What did the refugees go through?

MANNY: It was just an incredible sense of liberation among the refugees, to be in a country, that, of course, was not being invaded. But also a country that was still sort of living under the Specter of Russian domination. And now we're in Poland. Which is a free country.

A country that has its own long history of repression by Russia.

And there's a sort of solidarity, between the Pols and the Ukrainians.

And the Pols have been very receptive to the Ukrainian refugees, because of this brotherhood that they have, because of their shared path by Russia.

And so the Pols are taking the Ukrainians in, in private homes, and hotels, in guest houses.

Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. Are staying. And they are welcoming them as well.

And it's this great sense of relief. But the job is not done, until the war is over, of course.

GLENN: Tell me up to two tweets that you made. One you said, we made friends with a 24-year-old named Max, who was pulled out of the caravan, as he talked with us. I had time to get his number before conscription. And he left with a grin of utter disbelief. I'll never forget that face.

And the next one, was a woman screamed for the Army to spare her husband from conscription. A soldier slapped her, and took her husband. Things seemed really desperate.

Tell me about this.

MANNY: Yes. Well, first, I'll tell you about Max. So during the long walk, obviously as I mentioned, I spoke to many Ukrainians, and one of them was this 24-year-old, as you mentioned, 24-year-old named Max. Maxine was his name. And we walked together, for quite a long time.

We learned about each other. He's pretty much my age. So we had to relate to each other, with each other. Even though we grew up on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

So we sort of made friends.

And then towards the end of the walk, in the last ten kilometers. An army -- a Ukrainian Army officer came along, all men aged 18 to 60, step out of this caravan right now. You'll be conscripted to the Army.

And at first, Max, he shouldn't have to go. And then the man yelled at him specifically, and he just looked at me, with this grin, as I mentioned disbelief.

And he stepped out of line, and I didn't see him for the rest of the walk, of course. But, by the way, he did get back in touch with me.

So I've been in contact with him since then. And he's safe. And he's in western Ukraine right now. And he's not currently fighting the Russians.

So I'm glad to hear from him.

GLENN: Hmm.

MANNY: The second story is -- the second story is a lot sadder. As you mentioned, it's this brutal account of a man, being taken away from his wife. What happened in that occasion, as I mentioned to you, Zelinsky ordered that all men 18 to 60 had to be conscripted into the Ukrainian Army.

So this caused a lot of fathers to be taken away from their children. Husbands to be taken away from their wives.

Brothers and sisters. And sons from mothers.

And one of these couples. I won't forget. And it's the one mentioned in the tweet.

The husband and the wife. Began arguing to the soldier. I don't want to go. I can't go. I have to protect my wife. These men were often caregivers to their families. They had to protect their families, as they crossed the border. So this man was just trying to protect his family. And the wife was pleading with the soldier. She was on her knees at one point. She was standing up. She was crying.

And he -- he was a pretty, not empathetic about it. And he hit her.

And it took the husband away. And it was -- it was just this tragic scene. And it was not isolated either.

This happened 100 times, in just the time, that I was there. And I'm sure it's happened, you thousand more times. It's crazy.

GLENN: So is your feeling that most are going, because they want to defend their country?

But there are a few that -- that are like, I have to protect my family.

Or are most of the Ukrainians serving, because they have to?

MANNY: I mean, they're caught between a rock and a hard place here.

They want to protect their families, of course. And their family's safety is their top priority.

But also they love their family deeply, and they want to serve their family well.

So some men have taken the choice, where they prioritized the solidarity of their country, over the sovereignty of their country.

May I say. Over the temporary -- their temporary safety.

Their temporary being alive.

They prioritized the sovereignty of the country. Then there's this other group, who wants to keep the family safe.

And these are two very different groups. And they both have noble intentions. And they're caught in this tragic situation.

GLENN: So, Manny, I have only about 30 seconds for an answer here.

But with what you've seen, I've always believed, if you send in a foreign troop, and you have people that are defending their land. Their family. Their -- their country.

You're -- you're most likely going to lose, unless it's overwhelming force.

With what you've seen. Who are you betting on? The Russians, or the Ukrainians? Manny. You there?

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: We lost him. Putin.

STU: Pretty surprising if he said the Russians though.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: I would be like -- really.

GLENN: Yeah. But to have somebody that was there, and could -- could see it. It would be surprising, to hear that.

But I think you would be able to hear, what was --

STU: The confidence --

GLENN: Yeah. What was emotionally, and what was --

STU: I thought this was a really underplayed, and offensive moment from Joe Biden before this was happening. Remember they kept saying, over and over again. They're coming tomorrow. They're coming tomorrow.

And remember, at one point, he said, look, if the Russians are going to take it. They're going to take it.

And I just remember thinking, yeah, we all know the different sides of the military and the capability. And there's a lot to that. But you can't -- you can't just tell a country, that they're going to lose. They're not going to accept that.

GLENN: Especially the ones who hate the Russians. Have been occupied. And refuse to go back.

All right. Our sponsor this half-hour is Patriot Mobile. The line is in the sand. And it's been for a while. That line is not between Democrat and Republican. Conservative or liberal. It is between Americanism and leftism. Freedom and slavery. Good or evil.

That's it.

Secret Docs Reveal the ENTIRE Deep State Network | Glenn TV | Ep 451

The recent declassifications from Tulsi Gabbard’s ODNI and the Durham annex give us a rare glimpse into something much bigger and deeper than the Russiagate hoax against President Trump. Glenn Beck heads to the chalkboard to connect the dots and map out how the entire deep state operation works. We reveal who the players are, where the funding comes from, and how they exert their influence. From international color revolutions to the Ukraine impeachment and the Russiagate hoax, everything is finally starting to make sense. John Solomon, CEO and editor in chief of Just the News, gives Glenn a sneak peek into a bombshell investigation that exposes how the deep state provided cover for Clinton Foundation corruption.

Former CIA Officer EXPOSES John Brennan's Massive Web of Corruption

Bryan Dean Wright, a former CIA Operations Officer, tells Glenn Beck why he believes his former boss John Brennan belongs in prison and what must happen to prevent a full-blown trust implosion in American institutions.

Watch This FULL Episode of 'Glenn TV' HERE

Why Trump is RIGHT to take back DC

President Trump is cracking down on crime in Washington, DC, and Glenn Beck believes it’s a “brilliant” move. Glenn explains why Trump is taking action, whether it’s legal, and what he believes it says to the world.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So the president yesterday, taking control of our Capitol back. And he said this, cut three. Listen.

DONALD: My father always used to tell me. I had a wonderful father. Very smart. And he used to say: Son, when you walk into a restaurant and you see a dirty front door, don't go in. Because if the front door is dirty, the kitchen is dirty also. Same thing with the Capitol. If our Capitol is dirty, our whole country is dirty, and they don't respect us.

GLENN: It's absolutely true.

This is the broken windows theory. You know what that is? The broken windows theory is something that Rudy Giuliani used to turn the country around. And that theory is, no one, no one, picks up a rock or can or bottle or anything, that's in a nice neighborhood that's clean and everything else.

You don't pick up a rock and break a window. However, if you're in a neighborhood where there is a lot of broken windows and everything is broken down, the average person is much more likely to pick up a rock and throw it through a window.

Why? Because the entire neighborhood says, we don't care.

So what Rudy Giuliani did, was he used this theory, and he cleaned up the -- he cleaned up the subways by doing a couple of things.

First thing he did, was he made sure, that if you were jumping the turnstile, for the -- for the subway, you were stopped right there.

Before, people just weren't paying a fair, they were just jumping a turnstile.

And nobody was doing anything about it.

He says, no one was crossing that turnstile. Now, what is it?

Is it a dollar to ride the subway? No one rides it for free. And so he put police, right there.

And they stopped you, and arrested you, if you were jumping the turnstile.

The second thing is, was he stopped the graffiti. He said, I don't care if they have to be repainted every single day.

When those things pull into the station, at night. If we get there in the morning, and they've been spray-painted, I want them all painted again, and then they go out.

Everything had been covered in graffiti.

And when he changed those two things, all of a sudden, the attitude, of the subway, it became safe again.

Because it was sending a signal to the bad guys and to the good guys, we care. We're not going to let this happen, anymore.

So what he's saying here, about dirty doorstep, means a dirty kitchen. It's absolutely true.

You ever gone into a restaurant. Gone into their bathroom. And you're like, oh, boy.

Oh, God.

I can't eat now.

Because if the -- the bathroom for the customer is like that. What is their kitchen like, where the customer never sees it. That's what he's doing, and he has the absolute right to do it. He's got 30 days, before he has to bring Congress into it.

This is the -- back in 1973, Congress passed this Home Rule Act. And they didn't have a mayor. They didn't have a city council. They didn't have any of these things.

This has been from the beginning of our country, the Founders wanted the District of Columbia, to be a district that is a federal district, run by the federal government. Not by local rile.

And in 1973, they started that. And it was all just to get them to be declared a state. First a city with a mayor. Then we should have power to elect the president of the United States.

Yada. Yada. Yada.

This has not been worked. This has been an experiment that has not worked at all. So he can deploy the National Guard for law enforcement, because there is no governor of DC. He can use it for emergencies, crowd control, and to execute federal laws. However, he just declared an emergency.

Now, under the Home Rule Act, he can assume control of the Metro PD, which he didn't, for up to 48 hours, during special conditions of emergency.
And that time period can be extended.

But he -- what he's doing here, is he's using these 30 days, hoping that the home rules act is going to be revealed. Only Congress can reveal that. But there's movement to reveal it now. And if Congress appeals the home rule act.

Then this nonsense in the District of Columbia is over. And if anyone tells you, you know what, the crime status are going down.

To what?

To what?

Even if they went down to 2019 standards, is that good enough?

I mean, it is still more dangerous than walking around in Bogota, Colombia.

It is twice as dangerous as walking around in Islamabad!

I don't know. I don't think that's really a good thing.

And, by the way, they changed the way -- you're a stat person. Did you read this about the stats.

PAT: Playing with them.

GLENN: Oh, my God. Playing with them.

Felony assault is not considered a violent crime now in their crime stats. Not assault. Felony assault. Felony means usually prison is -- is tied to that.

STU: Yeah. Not just some easy misdemeanor, where you get your hand slapped.

GLENN: Felony assault.

STU: Yeah. If you're not going to include that, it's hard to even take that seriously.

But your point is more crucial to this, than even the statistical games.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: Because they keep -- they keep bragging they're getting it back to 2019 levels, or maybe a tick below. That's not good.

GLENN: No. It's not.

STU: What you're saying is acceptable is not acceptable.

That's the message from the White House.

I would love to see it.

And we're seeing it so far. I would love to see the Democrats try to win that battle those rules.

If what you're trying to tell me, because we were there for the inauguration.

GLENN: Police everywhere.

STU: Of course that was -- police everywhere -- it's a totally different --

GLENN: But I had a guy threaten my life, and not for political reasons. Just because I think he was batcrap crazy.

STU: Yeah. Yeah. Right. I mean, a lot of sane people threatened your life on a regular basis. Crazy.

GLENN: This is a nutjob.

STU: Yeah. But, like, unless you're at the mall, during the day, it's -- and even there, can get sketchy at times.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

STU: You feel it.

GLENN: You feel it. You feel it.

STU: You want to stay inside your hotel room.

GLENN: And, you know what, everybody knows this. Washington Post. There -- this is a story on how safe the city is.

This is a safe city, but overhearing witness game threats and then watching the camera footage of the thuggery is disturbing, said one resident.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, over --

STU: Anonymity, over concerns of personal safety.

GLENN: Yes. Anonymity, over concerns of personal safety. So I don't want my name in the paper, because I'm afraid of the thugs finding out who I am, and killing me. But it's perfectly safe. Oh, my gosh!

STU: Everyone knows this! Anyone who has ever been to DC. You know it, by walking around.
Weird crap happens to you. People approach you, in threatening ways.

GLENN: You know, Rikki told me just a few minutes ago, our executive producer. She said, last time I was in DC. And she lived in DC for many, many years. She said, I was in my old neighborhood.
She said, I used to walk at 2 o'clock in the morning.
I never had a problem with that. She said, I went to this restaurant. And I was there with a friend.

And I had gone there a million times.

She says, it's in the middle of the day. Within just a few minutes, she's sitting on a patio outside, some huge guy, she said, 300 pounds, at least 6 feet, comes up and says, I'm going to kill you. And starts threatening her and her life.

They call the cops. It takes them 15 minutes. She's not far from the Capitol. Fifteen minutes to get there. And then they don't do anything about it.

He -- she's like, anybody who says, this isn't happening, has just never been there. Here's an ABC anchor. Now, remember, their whole spin is, this was fascism.

There's no -- it's a safe city. Listen to this ABC anchor. Listen to this. Cut one.

We've been talking so much about the numbers, and usually that's how you play devil's advocate. You talk about, oh, well, stats say crime is down.

However, I can tell you firsthand here in downtown DC, where we were, right here around our bureau, just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot. One person died. Literally two blocks down here from the bureau.

It was within the last two years, that I actually was jumped, walking just two blocks down from here. And then just this morning, one of my coworkers said her car was stolen, a block away from the bureau. So we can talk about the numbers, going down. But crime is happening every single day, because we're all experiencing it firsthand while working and listing down here.

GLENN: Hmm. Hmm.

STU: You know.

GLENN: Go ahead.

STU: I was just going to say, I was on vacation last week. You know, it's like saying I'm cutting my calories from vacation levels to normal levels.

It's still not healthy. Right?

It's just -- even if there is an improvement from 2023, which some numbers do show, although the numbers are questionable.

2023 was just absolute catastrophe. And this is just terrible. Right?

Like, that -- there's no reason to embrace this norm.

As the norm.

GLENN: So let me give you -- I want to show you the response. The response on the left.

Here is -- show the full screen here of the free DC.

This came out yesterday.

Free DC. Like it's under some fascistic.

Look at this deal. And what it says is it is encouraging residents to protest Trump's federalizing of the city's police force. And what it wants to do is starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. And then every night, go out to stop this occupation.

Go out and bring pots and pans. And bang on them. And then when you're -- your neighbors go, what the hell is wrong with you!

Say, don't you care about the fascistic government.

STU: People will love that.

GLENN: This is crazy. This is crazy.

Now, if Donald Trump and I think with Jeanine Pirro.

I think some things are going to be happening quickly there.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: He actually has a chance. And I don't think he's doing it this way, for this reason.

But he actually has a chance of turning DC Republican.

Because you're living in that. Imagine --

STU: It's hard to imagine.

GLENN: It's hard to imagine. But imagine living there. And now you're seeing your side, that you've always voted for. Say, it's not so bad. And you know it's bad.

You can't have your wife go out to the grocery store at night.

You've had your carjacked. Maybe crazy people on the streets.

And then he's doing something. And if it works, if it works, people will be like, you know what, I'm sorry.

But that is a better solution.

He is -- this is very brilliant of him. He's very good at this.

He knows where people live.

You know, spiritually. And physically. He knows right where they live.

And where they're living in Washington it can't. Is a hellhole.

And everybody there knows it. And if he can actually change their lives, he changes everything.

Are these MAJOR PROBLEMS with our airlines widespread?

What is going on at our airports?! Glenn Beck has noticed an increase in flight issues – delays, technical problems, understaffing. So, he speaks with aviation expert Mike Boyd, who explains where he believes these issues are coming from. Are they widespread? Or is it just one airline? And can the FAA fix these issues under President Trump?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Mike Boyd. Welcome to the program, Mike, how are you?

MIKE: I'm doing fine. It's an honor to be here.

GLENN: Thank you. So thank you for coming on. I've been asking for an interview with Secretary Duffy, and we haven't been able to align the schedules yet.

But I am very concerned about our airlines. I was on a plane. These were all American Airlines, by the way. I was on the plane. The pilot, we got on. It was like two hours, three hours later late. We got on. And the pilot was standing in the aisle. And he said, everybody, I don't want you to blame the airlines. I want you to blame me.

And we're like, oh, okay.

And he said, because I wouldn't accept the plane, that they wanted to us fly because I have flown it before. And it has problems. And they haven't fixed those problems. And the only way it's going to be fixed is if we reject it. And say, I can't fly.

I don't know if that's true or not. Or what this guy -- you know, what the story was. But that didn't fill me with confidence. I'm like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. So you're actually saying, the airline is not repairing a plane.

And I don't think -- I mean, I don't think our airplanes are in trouble, and going to start falling out of the sky. But that has been happening lately.

What is happening with our airlines?

MIKE: Well, I think the experience you had, that one specific one. We've done a lot from -- I come from an American Airlines background. Nevertheless, we've done a lot of work with American pilots unions. These are very professional people. The fact that guy stood up there and said, I'm not confident with this airplane. That's a safety -- that's a safety plus.

GLENN: Oh, I appreciated that. We thanked him for that. Thank you. Thank you.

MIKE: But we have a major problem with American Airlines. If you have pilots saying, I don't trust you. These are not yo-yos. These are not good consumer men's. These are professionals. If they say that, we have a problem in America. If that happens in America, and I think you might want to call the folks down there in Fort Worth, their brand-new American Way headquarters. They spent billions on them and asked questions.

But overall, I haven't seen that. Are there big problems with air traffic control?

Yes. No question about that. And we finally have somebody that the FAA and the DOT, who has a clue. And that will be addressed.

But overall, if it's just one airline, you're on the right track, as far as looking at it.

GLENN: Okay.

So this is -- but are you seeing this kind of stuff happening with other airlines.

MIKE: No. No.

GLENN: I'm flying out of Dallas all the time. So I generally fly American. And I occasionally will fly Delta. But, you know, it's mainly American. So I just assume this is happening on other airlines as well.

Because I'm reading the comments from people. And they're like, I can't trust that I can get there the next day anymore.

And that's a real problem.

MIKE: Well, because air travel is. I have to get there times certain.

This is not a game. I have to get to the bar mitzvah, whatever I'm going.

So if they can't get there, I'm not going to go. And the reason I'm not going to go, is you can't get me there. Now, if you look at reliability.
And again, we've had some issues, like Frontier Airlines, if you want to see Saturday Night Lights, go to YouTube. You'll see a gated -- a gated net, Frontier Airlines. It's really bad. But if you look at others, like our friends at United Airlines -- and I don't work for those guys. They have a system where if you book at United, very often, they're with you the whole damn trip.

If you don't like a lot of text messages, don't book them. They're with you, the whole time. And their CEO is functionally age, about making sure, whatever went on. Whatever it is. Take it or leave it.

From that point, I think you may have stumbled over something that affects the metroplex, more than anything else.

GLENN: So how's -- because I've been on the plane. And everybody is like, we're going to have missing.

You know, you will miss your connections.

And everybody is like -- is this kind of -- is the airline system set up almost like the Just In Time supply line? That if it did ever go into catastrophic failure, it would be a real problem.

Because, I mean, it's just one plane arrives, just in time for everyone to unload and reload and take off again.

MIKE: Well, yeah. That's just the issue. In ancient times, our friends at Southwest could come in and go in ten minutes.

Today, you can't get ten seats emptied in that amount of time. So they're really trying to cut down the amount of time, on the ground. That makes sense.

The question is, they have to have systems they can't be allow them to do that.

Now, delta has put in a very comprehensive system that only works for Delta, where they have been able to coordinate all those things, and do a better job of it.

But you're right. If you're coming in and going out, and that airplane has to do a go-around, coming into Atlanta. That could be 15 minutes.

That 15 minutes could mean, you can't get across the terminal to get your connection. That's going to happen.

GLENN: Tell me about the situation.

Because, Stu, you did a documentary on how bad the air traffic control system was. Right?

STU: Yes, I did.

GLENN: And is that on YouTube still? What was the name of it?

STU: It is. Countdown to the next Aviation Disaster. Unfortunately the countdown was not as long as you would have hoped it would have been.

GLENN: Yeah, it is. I mean, what's going on in our air traffic control.

And I would never want to be an air traffic controller. The stress these guys are under.

And that's not -- I'm not even calculating the stress on how close these planes are flying in and out now.

I mean, I'm just thinking, back in the good old days, where it was very stressful.

Now they're still passing paper to each other. And these planes are one on top of the other one.

When are we going to change this system and update it?

MIKE: Duffy is doing that. Duffy is not -- and finally, we have an FAA administrator who has a clue. Brian Bedford. He's been around. No, I've known him for 40 years. This man knows the business, and he's all business.

And, you know -- and, you know, I know he's good because Chuck Schumer doesn't like him. So that underlines everything right there.

GLENN: Good.

MIKE: So that's starting right now. Look, we testified to Congress in 1994 on this. On a free flight system, that you could make it far more efficient. The FAA blew it off. The FAA has always been a repository of some really great people at the operational level.

But at the top, these are just political appointees. Take a look at the FAA administrator that the -- the last president wanted. Phil Washington. Nice guy. Clueless. But he was a good appointee.

We can't do that anymore. I think we're going to see some major changes right now.

GLENN: Now, can -- how long is it going to take us to fix this?

MIKE: Well, you know, one of the things.

It's sort of -- what Duffy said, well, we have a -- there was a program in place to fix it over the next five years. And that's ridiculous.

So he's on it. I mean, he just went up to Wisconsin. He found the oldest, I think the oldest control tower in the nation. We're going to fix this. He's really making a point of trying to get it done.

And I think he's doing it incrementally. Where like Newark. What a disaster. I don't mean this city, necessarily. I do.
(laughter)
But at the airport, you know.

He's trying to make that work better.

This guy is on it. So I'm thinking 18 months.

It's going to be incremental. But we will start to see this happen.

GLENN: In Newark, or in the country?

MIKE: In the country. Because we can't have a free flight system that is far more efficient --

GLENN: What does it mean, a free flight system?

MIKE: There's a free flight system -- they want to ignore this, where every airplane takes off, and it finds its own ways. Keep in mind, the skies aren't crowded.

You can put 250,000, count them, 737s in a cubit mile of airspace, parked, not moving.

But that's a quarter million of them. And any time in America, today, in the sky, you might have just 14,000 -- 14,000 airplanes in the sky.

GLENN: Wow.

MIKE: But that's like 11 million cubic miles of airspace. So we can use our airspace better.

But what we've had is quite frankly, an FAA that hasn't wanted to think about it. It's more worried about itself. I am convinced that is going to change over the next two years.

GLENN: And are we close to having AI do all of this free flight stuff?

I mean, I would imagine that you don't -- I mean, you don't need to check in with tower, if AI is assisting finding it.

MIKE: Oh, exactly. We've got to use that. And a lot of it -- it's -- the head of the FAA has always been the clown of the Titanic. He says, slow down.

And by the time, it gets back to the engine room, you know, we've hit the iceberg. I think it's one of those things that we have to recognize, a lot of stuff has to change organizationally at the FAA, and at the department of transportation. I think finally we have people that can actually address that.

GLENN: Wow!

That is -- I mean, this is wildly optimistic, but I am happy to hear that. I like Secretary Duffy.

I don't know much about him.

Not enough to say enough like you're talking. That makes me feel really good. I'm very concerned about our air travel.

It's not good. Not good.

Not going in the right direction.

MIKE: It's not going in the right direction.

I find out, if I treat the customer right, they might come back and fly me, and what's happening now, people are getting away from some of these really low fair airlines, where the seat is like, a bucket seat in a C-119.

They don't want to fly those things anymore. And people like United and Delta and other carriers are saying, we'll take your business.

And they are.

GLENN: I have to tell you, at times, I'll be on a plane. And I think we're like one scruffy dog with one blue eye, just walking down the aisle, creepily away from third world airlines. I mean, it's like, there are times I'm like, is there a chicken going to run down the aisle too? What country do we live in?

It's beyond. It really is the greyhound of the sky now.

MIKE: It is. There's no question. My mother was a stewardess in the 1930s. Everybody dressed up.

GLENN: Yes.

MIKE: Today, you're lucky if everybody is dressed.
(laughter)

GLENN: I don't know why we haven't had you on before, Mike. You're very funny.

Mike, thank you so much. For an inside look on this. I appreciate it. Mike Boyd, aviation expert. From the Boyd group international. He's the president and CEO.

MIKE: Me pleasure. Thank you.

GLENN: He's the guy who consults all these airlines and tries to help fix them.

And is also, you know, testifying in front of Congress all the time.