RADIOMay 02, 2022

Use THIS triangle to correctly interpret EVERY Biden gaffe

Stu tells Glenn he has the perfect code to interpret every single Joe Biden gaffe: The ‘triangle of emotions’ that helps decide if a Biden misstep was either scary, sad, or funny. Plus, the guys discuss how President Trump was able to SUCCESSFULLY say crazy things — especially to foreign dictators — while in the White House…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: There was a lot going on yesterday. I mean, not a lot going on, with Joe Biden. Could we play Joe Biden's stumble yesterday, during his speech on Ukraine.

BIDEN: That will enhance our underlying effort, to accommodate, the Russian oligarchs. And make sure we take their ill-begotten gains. We're going to accommodate them.

STU: Accommodate twice.

BIDEN: We'll seize their yachts, their luxury homes, and other ill-begotten gains.

STU: Ill-begotten gains twice.

BIDEN: Yeah.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

BIDEN: Kleptocracy. The guys who are the kleptocracy.

GLENN: They're not kleptocracy.

BIDEN: But these are bad guys.

GLENN: They're not kleptocracies. They are kleptocrats.

STU: No. He's talking about the guys that are the kleptocracies.

GLENN: No. That's a different thing. Okay. All right.

But he also said, ill-begotten. It's ill-begotten. It's ill-gotten goods. Ill-begotten.

STU: It's so funny. There are so many of these things.

GLENN: And my only ill-begotten son. No, it's not it. It's not it. And then accommodation. We're going to accommodate them.

STU: Why are we accommodating the oligarchs? We thought they were bad. Are they saying, America, please take my yacht?

Okay. We'll accommodate.

STU: We'll accommodate. Yes.

GLENN: I mean, that is just -- it's sad. It is really sad. And remember, this is in a speech, that supposedly is directed to Americans. But it's directed right to Putin!

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: He's asking for $33 billion, in additional funding. And we're going to get tough on these kleptocracy people. This is so sad. Do you think anyone in Russia is like, oh, yeah. He's on the ball. Don't underestimate this guy.

STU: No. I don't think anyone in Russia is -- I think this emboldens Russia. Right?

They look at this, and they say, well, this guy. We're really going to be scared of this guy. I really do think that is a major problem we're dealing with right now.

And I -- watching all these gaffes every day. I had to come up with a way to mentally categorize them. So we came up with the Joe Biden triangle of -- of gaffe -- the gaffe triangle of emotions. I can't remember.

GLENN: All right. It's a triangle. It's a triangle.

STU: So you have at the top, you have a scary.

GLENN: Scary, okay.

STU: Because sometimes you watch -- this is scary. You could be in World War III tomorrow. Sometimes, the bottom -- the bottom right is -- is sad.

GLENN: Sad?

STU: Right. Because sometimes you watch Joe Biden. God, this is so bad. Look at this poor guy. Then the bottom left of the poor triangle is funny.

Sometimes you watch Joe Biden's gaffe. And you're like, this is hilarious.

GLENN: Occasionally, you'll get all three.

STU: Yeah. Right in the center of the triangle would be all three. You'll both think it's funny, scary, and sad, all at the same time. In equal portions.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: But most of them, I've noticed, usually lean one way or another.

Like, that one is not funny at all. I don't find that to be funny at all. I find it to be sad and scary.

GLENN: Yeah. And I think equal parts. I think that line becomes -- between sad and scary. It becomes the scales of justice.

STU: Right.

GLENN: It is equally as sad. Because you look at it, and you say, oh, my gosh. I feel so bad. Why is his family doing this?

This is so bad. And then you're like be, yeah. But the Russians are watching this. This could get us all killed. This is terrifying.

STU: Right. It really is.

Just absolutely bizarre circumstance. Because look, we've had presidents, that have given us funny material before. Right?

Saturday Night Live. Back in the day with Gerald Ford, who didn't fall a lot.

GLENN: George W. Bush. Let me just look at -- that was great stuff.

STU: Bill Clinton. Who would come on all the time, and do creepy things. And was funny. And Donald Trump had plenty of funny moments in the presidency.

GLENN: He was hysterical.

STU: This is totally in a different world.

GLENN: And, you know what. You know what, Donald Trump was both hysterical. There's only a straight line. Hysterical.

STU: Yeah. Right.

GLENN: You know what I mean?

Those are the polar opposites. There were times -- and you would -- like when it was with North Korea. You were like, that's funny. He's calling him, you know -- you know, the fat short guy. That's kind of funny.

Although, that could lead to us being vaporized. You know what I mean?

But on that scale, he knew where he was. I think.

STU: That's the biggest difference, I think, between Trump. Because Trump said things that were at times --

GLENN: Scary as hell.

STU: Scary as hell. Going after -- I mean, he says, himself, he says, when he had the situation with Russia. And there were problems with Ukraine. He told them, he was going to bomb Moscow. This is what Donald Trump says he told Vladimir Putin.

GLENN: Yeah, now, I think he told me about Mao. Or not Mao. Or Xi.

Yeah. He said, you know, if you take Taiwan, I take Beijing.

STU: Right. And, again, like, you could look at that and say, holy crap. That could enter us into a conflict, we do not want a part of.

On the other hand, Donald Trump had a way about him, which he was doing these things intentionally. And he thought he had a way. And it seemed to be true. To deal with these foreign dictators. That had a bizarre mindset that the average American doesn't understand.

GLENN: And it's because I think, he did business in New York.

STU: And around the world.

GLENN: Yeah. Do you remember watching the Trump buildings go up in New York in and they would be done before you finished a sandwich. And you were like, how did that happen? Everybody else, it will be done in seven and a half of years.

Literally, in five years, built I think it was five massive skyscrapers. Changed the highway. And had it run under his skyscrapers. And built a park there as well. He got all of that done. Okay?

And you're going, this guy has got to be the shadiest. How does he get that done? Who does he have to pay off? Who is at the bottom of the river with concrete shoes? How do you get that done?

Now we know. It's because people believe, he's just crazy enough to do it. And he's not doing anything illegal. This guy has been investigated by every global intelligence agency.

And you haven't found anything on this guy?

STU: Oh, there's such a sad story in the New York Times about this.

GLENN: Is it in the triangle? Is it scary sad? Funny.

STU: This would be in the sad part. But also sort of funny.

This is the headline. Likelihood of Trump indictment in Manhattan fades as grand jury wraps up. The investigation continues, but new science have emerged that charges against former President Trump are unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future, if ever.

It sounds like they're going to cry. Like, what if this guy just didn't do anything? Is that something that you would maybe, I don't know, consider. Maybe he wouldn't commit a crime. Which is why he's not going to be indicted.

I have to tell you -- and I told him this, to his face. There's no way, Don. No way you build those buildings fast, and get that done. Without at least a payoff to the mob. It's New York for the love of Pete. You can't have a slice of pizza, without, hey, I think a little bit needs to go to Vito, you know what I'm saying?

And there's nothing. There's nothing.

STU: Right. Well, it's funny, he has a bizarre combination, which I think is jarring to people at times. Of real aggressiveness and sometimes anger, and I'm going to do whatever I want, and you're not going to stop me, and the opposite.

Like, remember, part of the Kim Jong-un story is him calling him his friend. And saying, like, and taking this guy, who was an absolute, you know, hermit, and embracing it. Right?

It wasn't just, it started with, I'm going to make you explode. And then turn into, this guy is a great guy. We hang out all the time. And like, neither one of those is the right thing for the average person to say.

GLENN: Correct. For I think Donald Trump too.

STU: Yeah. But I think he knows. He is -- he is intentionally playing these fringes as a negotiating tactic. And has been doing it since his real estate days. He utilized it often through great effect through his presidency. So while at times, he says things that makes people feel uncomfortable. We all know, he's doing it on purpose.

GLENN: But see, here's the thing. Here's the honest to about to do truth.

He is the prime example of something that I have tried to live my life by.

Because somebody, when I was young, gave me this axiom in business. And I absolutely believe it to be true.

And it's easy for me to do now. And, you know, since -- since I stopped drinking. It's very easy. Don't make threats. Make promises.

So when you're negotiating for something, yeah. It's going to be this. Or I'm not going to do it.

Well, okay. Well, let's do this and this. Well, it's that, or I'm not going to do it.

STU: And be okay with walking away. If they say no, you walk away.

GLENN: And you just make people promises. Look, you do this, and I'll do that. And that's just the way it is. And no hard feelings. And people don't know how to react to that. Because you get this reputation. I believe I have the same kind of reputation in business. Where they're like, that son of a bitch. Might be crazy enough just to do that. Right?

STU: Yeah. Oh, yeah. We play that all the time.

GLENN: He's just -- and that's such an advantage. Donald Trump is the prime example of that.

Where he will just say to people. And this is why he built the Trump Tower. And I've told the story. But it's one of my stories of all the time. Let alone the best Donald Trump story.

Donald Trump goes in. You have to buy the air rights. Not just the land in Manhattan. You have to buy up, as well. And if you own a building and you have a lot of money, you can not only buy up above your building. But you can buy across.

So you can buy the air rights over other buildings, as well.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: So Tiffany's, been there forever, has lots of money. They wanted to make sure that fifth avenue, did not have these big skyscrapers. So they bought all of the air rights. Donald Trump buys this space. This whole decrepit building.

On the next block. And he doesn't have the air rights. And he tells his architect. Build the most beautiful, wonderful, spacious, golden building, you can possibly.

Okay? So he's working on that. And he says, oh, I've got a meeting next week.

I want you to draw a four-story monstrosity.

I mean, the ugliest thing you can possibly imagine.

STU: Is this Donald Trump with a cold? What is this --

GLENN: Don't you always notice that? His nose is a little plugged up sometimes. But anyway, so he's -- he goes to Tiffany's. Presents, this is a beautiful building. It's great.

You'll love it. And Tiffany's says, yeah. It's beautiful. But we own the air rights. And we don't want big buildings here. I knew you would say that. Rolls the other one out. I just will make him profits.

If you don't, I will build this monstrosity.

And he had the deal. He left them. He had the deal by the time he got back to the office.

STU: So he told them he was going to make an ugly building, which ruin their beautiful neighborhood. And instead, they were like, okay. Build the tall skyscraper.

GLENN: Build the tall one. And the reason why they did it, is because they thought, he just might do it.

STU: He might do it.

GLENN: And the same thing with Beijing.

You tell President Xi that, he laughs.

Okay? At first, Xi laughed at that. And Donald Trump just looked at him. No. I'm serious.

Now, where weather he was or not, I don't know.

But neither did the president of China. The -- I can guarantee you, at that moment, the president of China went, son of a bitch just might do that.

You know what I mean?

STU: Let's not screw around.

GLENN: Right. But how are we treating Putin?

STU: He looks at this, and says, well, look what just happened in Afghanistan.

This guy, just the wild swings of energy, with Joe Biden. Where sometimes he's out there, and he looks kind of normal. And he's speaking normally. And other times, it's a kleptocracy clip. Where it looks like, he might in the middle of the word, fall asleep. He looks like seriously, he may just keel over and take a nap during a word.

GLENN: You know, they were jacking John F. Kennedy during the missile crisis. They were screwing with his balance.

STU: You're saying medically?

GLENN: Medically. Because they were in so much pain. He needed so much steroids. They needed painkillers. They were injecting them during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And Jackie O had to actually come out and say, no. It's nothing. It's allergies. It's allergies, that's really causing this. No, it was the steroids. And he was flying off the handle. You know, you get very aggressive.

Is this a steroid thing, or is this the president talking?

You know. Because they've done this to so many presidents. You know they've got to be jacked -- B12. Yeah. Right. They're just giving him B12. I can guarantee you, give him something. Or give me something. To get me going. Charge my system. Go. Inject me with whatever is legal, to get me -- to get me going. Because that's the only thing that can understand. How does he go from -- he seems to be functioning, to this is a frail, old man that could break a hip, just standing there.

GLENN: And we know it's legal. Because where would he have access to illegal drugs. It's not like he has one in the family --

GLENN: Amen.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

What day is it today?

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

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

Still today, so revolutionary.

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

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

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

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

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

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And we're imperfect!

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

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

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

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

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

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

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And nature's God entitle them.

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

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

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

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

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

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

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

And you are the ruler.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hate them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

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

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

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

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

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

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

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

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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

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

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

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

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

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

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

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

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

She said, have you been there?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The -- the graves that are there now.

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

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

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

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

GLENN: This is --

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

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

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

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

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

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

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

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

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

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

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

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

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

It's ugly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It starts with what?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

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

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

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

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

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

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

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

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

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

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

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

They couldn't ever get the others.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She's 93 years old.

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

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

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

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

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

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