Glenn Beck speaks with a PhD candidate studying George Washington about how America has forgotten the truth of its founding. Together, they uncover the miraculous, morally grounded legacy of Washington — a man guided by divine purpose, not myth — and expose how modern academia and media have twisted history into ideology. From Washington’s providential survival in battle to his moral transformation on slavery, Glenn reveals why rediscovering the Founders’ own words is essential to restoring truth in a post-truth age.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Let me go to Paul in Pennsylvania. Hello, Paul.
CALLER: Hello, Glenn, I never would have called the show if I didn't have a dream about speaking to you last night, on the phone. So I thought that was profound. Stu will tell you that: If you're dreaming about Glenn, things aren't going well.
GLENN: Wow, you've got to raise your standards, there. My wife doesn't even dream about me, yeah.
CALLER: Well, yeah. I better jump on it. What we talked about on the phone call was George Washington. I'm actually writing my PhD dissertation on George Washington, and I never had a mixture of excitement and heartbreak in my heart like George AI. So I was heartbroken, and I wasn't involved in it.
And so I'm just calling about that, because I don't know. When you're dreaming about Glenn Beck in the phone call, you know, I feel you should jump on it. So...
GLENN: Well, okay. So, Paul, you're getting your PhD in history.
CALLER: Correct.
GLENN: And specifically with George Washington, or just that is your final paper?
CALLER: My -- currently it's American history. My dissertation is on George Washington.
GLENN: That is fabulous. And what did you come away thinking about George Washington, learning about George Washington?
CALLER: Well, I grew up in Pittsburgh, so Washington is all overt Pittsburgh area because of the French and Indian War.
GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.
CALLER: And you kind of wonder how much of it is legend and how much of it is true. And then the more you look into it, you realize, these things weren't written about him, after or during the revolution to, you know, pump him up. These things were actually written minutes or weeks after it had happened.
GLENN: Yeah.
CALLER: What pastor, like Samuel Davies, is riding after the Battle of Monongahela, "This man might be being saved for our future purpose."
GLENN: Right.
CALLER: And that stuff has happened 20 years before the Revolution.
GLENN: Is that --
CALLER: The more you know, the more awe-inspiring it is.
GLENN: Yeah. Go ahead.
It is. Isn't it amazing, you look at George Washington, and I can't believe we lie about his teeth, we lie about the cherry tree when he is the most honest forthright and heroic guy, I think in all of American history. I mean, he is one of a kind.
And we lie about him. And we don't talk about all the things that happened, that are absolutely real and just confounding, miraculously!
CALLER: And "miraculous" is a correct term. It's shocking when you think of all of the instances where his life -- I mean, I know you had Salena Zito on a couple months ago, and she was talking about the incident in Butler, where he was shot at. He was 21 years old.
And then a bullet flies between him and a guy, inches away. I mean, the -- as much as American history gets altered, if he dies before the war, world history is altered.
GLENN: Everything, I know.
So what is the worst thing you could find about George Washington? I could only find that his mother said that he ate a lot of ice cream, and that was too extravagant, his Mother Mary.
(talking over)
GLENN: Not at all. No.
CALLER: Kind of --
GLENN: You know, the more you learn about her, the more I think George Washington's mom, probably sounded a little like that, you know what I mean?
She just --
CALLER: She would essentially sound like her.
GLENN: She's not a likable person.
CALLER: Yeah, probably why he went on adventures so early, just to get out of the house. She kind of chased him out.
GLENN: Yes. Yes.
What's the worst thing you learned about him?
CALLER: I don't know. It's hard -- it's hard to find the dark, when the light is so bright within.
GLENN: I know.
CALLER: Are you aware that one of the reasons that he ended slavery, ended it was a dream he had.
That he was being --
GLENN: Not aware of that.
CALLER: And he -- he told her, I'm rewriting the will, and that's when he's on a deathbed. He brings up the two wills. He brings out the new will that he wrote that freed the slaves after he had this dream!
GLENN: I'm -- where did you get -- what source is that?
CALLER: That is in a book called Imperfect God.
GLENN: I have to tell you, have you seen original sources on it? Is it quoting where it's coming from?
CALLER: Yeah, it does quote. It does quote where it's at. I mean, I have the book on my desk. I don't know exactly where it's from.
GLENN: So, you know, Paul, I would really to get your information. Put him on hold. And get his information. And he should go over to -- I mean, he had a dream. I mean, we should at least pursue this, to see if there's anything there. Seeing that we're building George AI. And that's what you're all about.
You know, there -- it is -- if you can get through college and you want to learn history, I don't know how -- you know, I don't know how Paul did it and made it with his -- with his brain not just Jell-O. You know.
Because this is the difference between -- look, George AI is not going to be -- it's are not going to be complete for a long time.
It has -- there's just too much in there.
But it is going to be a -- a doorway into learning about the Founders in their own words with the founding documents.
You know, when you go to a university, or you learn from history in class, you're -- you're -- you're -- you're trained to quote the interpreters of history, not understand the originators. Instead of -- instead of reading Madison, you're standing there, and you're sitting there. And you're listening to a teacher or a professor trying to explain what Madison really meant.
Well, why didn't I just go to Madison?
I don't want the modern context. I want it in his writings.
Can you imagine, 100 years from now, Trump -- Trump in the history books, how do you think that guy will be remembered, with historians?
How are they going to get -- we can't even -- half the country doesn't even know who he is.
Half the country!
And they're watching him in realtime.
What's the difference? They're not actually watching or listening. They're listening to the interpreters.
If you actually listen to him, if you actually watch him, you learn, that's a completely different guy. There's a show going on, and there's things that he does, that I don't necessarily like. But that's not who he is. That's not what he's doing.
That's -- that's why, first sources are so important. You know, you're not -- you're not -- you're not learning the interpretation. When you read about Washington and the farewell address and Lincoln's second inaugural, you see -- you see men who believed that truth existed outside of them!
Moral and divine, and it was -- it was outside of them. Universities are also teaching that, you know -- I don't know.
Truth is in you!
It's your truth. No. No.
Real truth is outside of me. I don't know how Paul made it through without hating America. You know, because usually you're taught that the Founders were hypocrites.
And you're not reading the original sources. When you read the Federalist papers. When you actually read the words of Frederick Douglass. Not the interpretation of Frederick Douglass. But read the words of Frederick Douglass. You see a guy who is really struggling, trying to figure it out. Not a perfect guy.
Not perfect. Same with the Founders. Not perfect.
They're really struggling. And that's not even understood I don't think in today's world. The struggle for truth, the struggle for thinking. You're not taught to critically think anymore.
You're conform, conform, conform. Write this down, kids. It will be on the test. Parroting is what they want.





