Have you seen the first backstage footage from The Man in the Moon?

Man in the Moon is just a few short weeks away, and yet only a few bits and pieces of information about the event itself have been revealed. In fact, until today only the storytellers at the American Dream Labs working on the show and a few select members of Glenn Beck’s staff have seen any of the production elements from the event. Earlier today, Glenn decided to publicly release a trailer for the event put together exclusively for a small number of movers and shakers in the film, technology, and entertainment industries that were personally invited to attend Man in the Moon.

For the past year, Glenn has been working alongside a small team in Salt Lake City led by Ben McPherson, who has been leading the creative production The Man in the Moon. The team has pioneered several new methods of stage production in order to tell their story, including projecting video onto a three-dimensional surface. The testing of this technique can be glimpsed in the trailer when the face of the moon is seen on a large white balloon while other video elements are projected on a flat screen behind the moon itself. The balloon seen in the trailer is roughly 20% the size of the balloon that will represent the moon during the actual performance.

It has been difficult for The American Dream Labs team to find a rehearsal venue for the show due to the sheer size of the production elements. The Salt Palace, a 10,000 seat arena was considered for a short time, but they team ultimately decided to rehearse with the smaller scale pieces as a cost saving measure.

"No one has seen the staging yet and what you will see in the video is only a fraction of what will be seen at any given time. The stage itself has been completely redesigned and plays a role as does the entire venue when the show officially launches," Glenn explained.

The trailer hints at some of the dazzling special effects, but Glenn has always emphasized the importance of the story itself over empty spectacle.

“Mercury Radio Arts and the American Dream Labs and TheBlaze boil down to one thing: We're storytellers. Be it news or fiction-based-in-fact, television, film, Internet, TV or radio,” Glenn said, “I have built a company that is uniquely equipped to use the hard facts and the truths that helped build this country and tell the story of what man has done and what they can yet do to become a beacon of light and hope for all the world to see.”

Some have been confused by Glenn’s moves into entertainment and culture, as they are not the traditional spaces occupied by political commentators. But Glenn has always maintained that he is not only interested in simply commenting on the news of the day, but also on spreading a message about hope, inspiration, and the power of good that exists in mankind. From D.C. to Israel to Dallas, TX, his summer events have always aimed to empower ordinary Americans to stand up and reach their full potential and by extension restore America as a beacon of freedom and greatness to people all over the world.

“The ballot box is the last stop. The first stop is the culture and teaching it to our kids and getting them to understand the story. If you get them to understand the story then their whole life will be set. My job as I see it is to tell the story in such a way that it just sears it on their heart,” Glenn said in an interview about Man in the Moon.

Glenn has always seen himself as a storyteller above all else. His first real professional attempt was The Christmas Sweater stage show in 2008, where he toured the country acting out the story of the novel in a one-man show. But he has always had the gift of storytelling, and it’s one of the reasons he has had such unique cross-platform success. Glenn says he inherited the gift from his grandfather.

“Most of my life I didn't know what my gift was, and I certainly didn't see a purpose behind it if I did,” Glenn said. “This one I truly love. It is the gift of storyteller. And I got it from my grandfather. Heaven to me, heaven to me will be able to be to sit with my grandfather under a tree with my family and just remember, to study and watch, watch him weave the stories of life for all those to hear and maybe even a few that will really even listen.”

The story behind Man in the Moon is still mostly shrouded in mystery. Recent promos on TheBlaze have shown some pieces that didn’t make the cut – most notably the “current wars” between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. But the trailer shows that the story will span thousands of years, with Biblical stories like Noah’s Ark and the Tower of Babel playing an important role, as well as key moments in American history like Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Glenn has also said that World War 2 would play an important role in the story, and production staff were known to be working with actual planes from that era as part of the early planning for the show.

Whatever happens on July 6th, there is no doubt that Glenn and his team will once again put together an experience unlike anything that has been done before on stage.

On Wednesday, Glenn travels to the American Dream Labs in Salt Lake City to begin final tweaks on film, score and visual effects, and will also work with the stage performers and acrobats who are part of the show. He will then head to Flying by Foy in Las Vegas, the rehearsal space of Cirque du Soleil, where they have been developing and rehearsing never before seen fly by wire segments.

Glenn said that for weeks the Man in the Moon creative team literally thought he was kidding about the acrobatic portion of the show. When they discovered that he was serious the team spent several frustrating weeks trying to wrap their arms around how to not only create the vision but how to reduce the physical stress the performers bodies would need to endure for an incredibly challenging eight minute segment. Glenn will be seeing the final wire rehearsal in Vegas to approve the effects and scene before it is broken down and sent to join all of the other pieces of Man in the Moon to be constructed next weekend at the venue for five days of overnight rehearsals the week of July 4th.

Stay tuned to TheBlaze and GlennBeck.com in the weeks ahead for more on The Man in the Moon.

Trump's education secretary has BIG plans for the DoE

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Our education system is broken, and the Department of Education is a massive failure. But that all ends now.

It's no secret that America's school system is seriously lacking in many ways. President Trump pointed out that despite our massive spending per pupil, we are behind most of the developed world in most metrics. Our scores continue to plummet while our student debt and spending skyrocket—it's utterly unacceptable performance and America's students deserve better.

That's where Linda McMahon, Trump's pick for Secretary of Education comes in.

The former WWE CEO and leader of the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump's first term, McMahon laid out her harsh criticisms of the DoE during a confirmation hearing on the 13th and revealed her promising plans to turn things around. McMahon described the public education system as "in decline" and promised that under her authority, the DoE would be reoriented towards student success.

Here are the top three changes to the Department of Education:

1. Dismantling the Department of Education

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From the beginning Trump's orders for McMahon were clear: oversee the end of the Department of Education.

During her Thursday hearing, McMahon clarified what dismantling the DoE would entail. As Democrats have repeatedly pointed out, Trump does not have the authority to destroy the DoE without Congressional consent, as an act of Congress created it. That is why Trump and McMahon's plan is to start by shutting down programs that can be stopped by executive action, then approach Congress with a plan to dismantle the Department for good. The executive orders have already begun to take effect, and once McMahon is confirmed she will author a plan for Congress to close the Department.

McMahon also promised that the end of the Department of Education does not mean an end to all the programs currently undertaken by the doomed department. Programs that are deemed beneficial will be transferred (along with their funding) to departments that are more suited to the task. The example given by McMahon was IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) funding, which instead of being cut would be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services.

2. School Choice

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In a huge win for parents across the country, McMahon pledged her support for School Choice. School Choice is the idea of allowing parents to enroll their student in any school of their choice, including religious schools and private schools. It would also mean that part or all of the funding that would have gone to a relocated child would follow them and continue to pay for their education.

This gives parents the ability to remove their children from failing schools and seek a better education for them elsewhere. A growing body of evidence suggests that the way we run our schools isn't working, and it is time to try something new. School Choice opens up education to the free market and will allow for competition.

Our children deserve better than what we can currently offer them.

3. COVID and DEI

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Trump's government-wide crackdown on DEI will ironically serve to increase inclusion in many American schools.

McMahon said as much during her Senate hearing: “It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity, for equity and inclusion. And I think what we’re seeing is, it is having an opposite effect. We are getting back to more segregating of our schools instead of having more inclusion in our schools.” She also spoke in support of Title IX, and the push to remove biological males from women's and girl's sports. In the same vein, McMahon pledged to push back against the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, which many Universities have failed to adequately address.

On Friday, February 14th, President Trump signed an executive order barring any school or university with COVID-19 vaccine mandates from receiving federal money. This only applies to the COVID-19 vaccine, and other vaccine mandates are still standing.

POLL: What DARK government secrets will Trump uncover?

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Will the dark secrets of the Deep State finally see the light of day? Or will they slip back into darkness, as they have many times before?

The Trump administration is gearing up to fulfill one of Trump's most anticipated campaign promises: to make the contents of the JFK files, along with other Deep State secrets, available to the public. Kash Patel, who has promised to publicize the highly anticipated files, is expected to be confirmed next week as Trump's director of the FBI. Moreover, the House Oversight Committee created a new task force headed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna called "Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets," which is tasked with investigating and declassifying information on the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, UFOs, the Epstein list, COVID's origins, and 9/11. This all comes after the FBI found 2,400 "new" records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy following Trump's executive order to release the files.

Glenn discussed this topic with the cast of the Patrick Bet David podcast. Glenn expressed his confidence in Trump's radical transparency—on the condition that Kash Patel is confirmed. The cast was not as optimistic, expressing some doubt about whether Trump will actually unveil all that he has promised. But what do you think? What files are likely to see the light of day? And what files will continue to linger in the dark? Let us know in the poll below

Do you think the JFK, RFK, and MLK files will be unveiled?

Do you think the 9/11 files will be unveiled?

Do you think the COVID files will be unveiled?

Do you think the UFO files will be unveiled?

Do you think the Epstein list will be unveiled?

Transgender opera in Colombia? 10 SHOCKING ways USAID spent your tax dollars.

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The government has been doing what with our tax money!?

Under the determined eye of Elon Musk, DOGE has rooted out the corruption that permeates USAID, and it turns out that it's worse than we thought. Glenn recently read a list of atrocious causes that were funded by USAID, and the list was as long as it was shocking.

Since the January consumer index report was published today, one thing is clear: eggs are bearing the brunt of inflation. That's why we illustrated the extent of USAID's wasteful spending of YOUR taxpayer dollars by comparing it to the price of eggs. How many eggs could the American people have bought with their tax dollars that were given to a "transgender opera" in Colombia or indoctrinating Sri Lankans with woke gender ideology? The truth will shock you:

1. A “transgender opera” in Colombia

USAID spent $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia. That's over 135,000 eggs.

2. Sex changes and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala

$2 million was spent funding sex changes along with whatever "LGBT activism" means. That equates to over 5.7 million eggs!

3. Teaching Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid binary-gendered language

USAID forked over $7.9 million to combat the "gender binary" in Sri Lankan journalism. That could have bought nearly 23 million eggs.

4. Tourism in Egypt

$6 million (or just over 17 million eggs) was spent to fund tourism in Egypt. If only someone had thought to build some impressive landmarks...

5. A new "Sesame Street" show in Iraq

USAID spent $20 million to create a new Sesame Street show in Iraq. That's just short of 58 million eggs...

6. Helping the BBC value the diversity of Libyan society

$2.1 million was sent to the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) to help them value the diversity of Libyan society (whatever that means). That could have bought over 6 million eggs.

7. Meals for a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda

$10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to an Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group. That comes up to be just shy of 29 million eggs.

8. Promoting inclusion in Vietnam 

A combined $19.3 million was sent to two separate inclusion groups in Vietnam inclusion groups in Vietnam (why where they separated? Not very inclusive of them). That's over 55 million eggs.

9. Promoting DEI in Serbia's workplaces

USAID sent $1.5 million (4.3 million eggs) to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

10. Funding EcoHealth Alliance, tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology's "bat research"

EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key NGOs that funded the Wuhan lab's bat virus research, received $5 million from USAID, which is equivalent to 14.5 million eggs.

The bottom line...

So, how much damage was done?

In total, approximately $73.8 million was wasted on the items on this list. That comes out to be 213 million eggs. Keep in mind that these are just the items on this list, there are many, many more that DOGE has uncovered and will uncover in the coming days. Case in point: that's a lot of eggs.

POLL: Should Trump stop producing pennies?

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On Sunday, February 9th, President Trump ordered the U.S. Mint to halt the production of pennies. It costs the mint three cents to produce every penny, which Trump deemed wasteful. However, critics argue that axing the pennies will be compensated by ramping up nickel production, which costs 13 cents per coin.

In other news, President Trump promised on Truth Social that he would be reversing a Biden-era policy that mandated the use of paper straws throughout the federal government. From potentially slashing entire agencies to saying farewell to pennies and paper straws, Trump is hounding after wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

But what do you think? Was Trump right to put an end to pennies? And should plastic straws make a comeback? Let us know in the poll below:

Should Trump stop the production of pennies? 

Do you agree with Trump's reversal of the plastic straw ban?