Glenn: Obama's treatment of the gov’t shutdown is the ‘sign of a dictator’

The media and the Democrats in Washington D.C. want you to believe the government shutdown is the result of the Republicans’ unwillingness to compromise, but as Glenn proved on radio this morning, it is the President and his cronies who are intentionally inflicting pain on the American people.

“Now they are coming out and saying [the President] will negotiate, but it's the Republicans [fault]. Let me just give you a list of what has happened, what they have closed down,” Glenn said. “And this is what you need to tell your friends. This is what you need to Facebook. This is what you need to tweet: 15% of the government is shut down. What business is so lean that, if they shut down 15%, they go into massive chaos? Certainly not the government… So here's what's happened. And you tell me who's negotiating and who's inflicting pain.”

Glenn laid out just a few of the things that have been inexplicably affected by the government shutdown:

  • “Treatments for children suffering from cancer. The Republicans have agreed to a compromise by funding the part of the government, including the National Institute of Health, which offers children with cancer last‑chance experimental treatment… The NIH was told by the President, ‘You can't start any new testing of anything.’ As soon as the Republicans found out about it, they said, ‘Not a problem. Let's make sure that we fund the NIH. We'll pass a special bill to fund the NIH so we can save children,’” Glenn explained. “If that's what you really picked out of the 100% of the pie, you only need to shut down 15%, if that's what you pick, we'll fund that. So [Republicans] said, ‘We'll pass it." The President said he will veto it if it gets to his desk. That's the compromise.”

  • “World War II Memorial is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It doesn't have a staff to it. It is maintained with private financing, built by private financing, maintained with private financing. The White House knew in advance that these flights come in all the time… And so what do they do? They put a chain‑link fence around the World War II Memorial… You have your National Park Service coming out and saying, ‘We were told to inflict as much pain as possible,'" Glenn explained. "Then when the GOP finds out about it, the congressmen remove the barricades. When one of the park rangers says, ‘Hey, you can't do that’ and starts yelling at the people in the wheelchairs, what happens? The president raises the stakes and then says, ‘I'm going to put guards around that memorial.’ So he's spending money. Does that seem reasonable to you? By the way, the GOP has offered to cover any costs to keep the memorial open for the greatest generation.”

  • “Then there's the furloughed military chaplains. The military chaplains are not allowed to work for free. They have all said, ‘We will celebrate mass. We will do our services. We will do baptisms for free.’ They have been told they will be punished if they do it,” Glenn explained. “So you have a baby to be baptized; the military priest cannot baptize your child or he'll go to jail. He can't celebrate mass anywhere for free or he will go to jail. Does this sound reasonable to you at all?”

  • “In the Florida Keys small businesses, hunters, and commercial fishermen can no longer practice their trade,” he said. “They have tried to close down the ocean. The Feds are saying, ‘You can't do any fishing on the ocean.’ Does this seem reasonable to you?”

  • “The American Forces Network, AFN, these are the people that carry shows like mine, they carry shows like… 50% of the shows have to be liberal. But they also not just broadcast the news and talk,” Glenn said. “They also bring our Armed Forces all of the sporting events, all the football games and everything else. The golf course at Camp David is deemed essential, but AFN carrying the football games, carrying them, carrying them. Not doing them. Carrying them… By the way, Camp David, the golf course and Camp David is open.”

  • “The D‑day Memorial. The GOP has offered to compromise and fund all of the National Parks,” Glenn explained. “The President has said he will veto any compromise on legislation. So the D‑day Memorial in Normandy has now been barricaded.”

  • “Mount Vernon, George Washington's home, is privately funded. The Feds blocked the visitors from entering the parking area because the National Park Service maintains the lot… No federal money is used to operate any of these parks. In fact, the federal government makes money through the operation of these parks,” Glenn said. “He had them all closed down and so the 400 to 500 private employees have been furloughed. And by the way, they don't get any of their money back. They're just destroyed. Because, I forgot to tell you: The GOP and the Democrats did get together in some emergency legislation. They don't give a crap about the 400 to 500 employees that are privately. But those government workers, they raced to make sure they knew, ‘Oh, don't worry. You'll get your money.’”

  • “A self‑sustaining colonial farm that hasn't received a dime of government money since 1980 has been closed for the first time in 40 years. The National Park Service has succeeded in closing the farm to the public. In the previous budget dramas, the farm has always been exempted because the government pays nothing, provides no staff, nor do they provide any resources to operate the farm,” he explained. “The President has closed the Vietnam Memorial. The GOP passed the compromised legislation that would fund the memorial, keep it open to the public, but the president said he would veto it.”

  • “The operator of a 51‑room inn located on U.S. Government‑owned land in North Carolina abandoned his defiant stance on Thursday to keep his property open despite being ordered to shut down as part of the federal government shutdown. October is this inn's prime season,” Glenn said. “The GOP has offered a compromise to open this particular park, but the President said no to that compromise. So here is a private individual that will lose out on the money that he makes in his prime season. State troopers, by the way, have blocked the customers have entering the parking lot. How much are they spending on the state troopers? Again, Park Service ranger said, ‘We've been told to make life as difficult for people as we can.’”

  • “The President has forced residents out of their private homes – the government shutdown being felt close to home for some locals. They say they're being forced out of their private homes on Lake Mead because they sit on federal land,” Glenn said. “Acadia Park, Maine, ‘We've been training at two years at Crossfit for this hike, no kidding.’ She said the shutdown now is going to keep everybody off of Acadia Park.”

  • “A historic restaurant opened during the last shutdown, forced to close. An iconic Philadelphia restaurant been forced to close its doors and turned away book parties because of the government shutdown,” he said. “That is a private restaurant. They won't get any money back.”

  • “There's a road that goes through a Colorado park,” Glenn said. “The forest service announced the Pitkin County commissioners to order that Maroon Creek Road be shut down at the height of the tourist season, ahead of what is supposed to be one of the busiest weekends of the fall. The road is to be closed at T Lazy 7 Ranch pending the resolution of the shutdown.”

  • “And here's my favorite. We joked about this. They actually did it. They are now blocking access to trails, roads, and programs at South Dakota's most popular attraction,” Glenn explained. “The National Park Service has now placed cones along the highway outside of Mount Rushmore this weekend, barring visitors from stopping and looking at the mountain. You cannot stop on the road. And they have officers there to ticket you if you do.”

  • “The U.S. Department of Agriculture has gone turned off its entire website in response to the government shutdown, leaving farmers, reporters, and others with no way to access any of the agency's information online,” Glenn said. “The USDA's total website goes far beyond response of other federal agencies. Seems to be part of an effort to make people feel the effects of the shutdown. Thursday morning calls to the USDA's press office seeking an explanation were not answered.”

  • “The President has closed the Military Commissary. Military members and veterans and families who shop at the local tax‑free store were shocked to discover that the store's doors had been locked. They have closed the PX. This is where you go and you shop if you're a military family. This is at Andrews Air Force base. They have shut the commissary and they have shut the PX,” Glenn said. “So you can't go buy any groceries, you can't go buy any clothes, any medicine. You can't go buy meat, nothing."

But, not to worry, while the American people are adversely effected by the closing of privately funded businesses, monuments, and memorials around the country, the President can still enjoy some R&R at his favorite golf courses.

“However, the President's golf course remains open. But he said that's because the golf course is paid for by private funds. Wait a minute. So is the World War II Memorial. So is the farm. So is the restaurant. So is the damn road that you just put cones on,” Glenn said. “This is a strike and a slap across the face. This, I'm warning you, America, this is the sign of a dictator. He is slapping you across the face and saying, ‘You will behave. You will do what I tell you to do or I will punish you.’ If your friends don't wake up and see the nonsense and see what they are in store for, when you're spending money to put cones on the highway so people can't stop and even see Mount Rushmore, we get everything we deserve. And we are about to get a lot.”

Front page image courtesy of the AP

Without civic action, America faces collapse

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Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

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We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

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Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

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Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

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When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

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Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.