Sen. Mitch McConnell officially has a 2014 challenger... Is he a future conservative leader?

November 15, 2013

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We all know how much Glenn would like to see Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted out of the Senate next year, and on radio this morning Glenn interviewed Sen. McConnell’s Republican primary challenger, Matt Bevin. Today is the day Matt will officially file all the necessary paperwork to begin his campaign, and he spoke to Glenn about what his experience has been like thus far and what his hopes are in this race.

“We have Matt Bevin on, candidate for U.S. Senate out of Kentucky. The people that I trust at the Senate Conservatives Fund called [him] the best constitutional candidate they have seen… and they have endorsed [him],” Glenn said. “Today you are filling out the paperwork to officially run for U.S. Senate and go up against Mitch McConnell?”

“This is indeed the day. This is the day that he has tried very desperately to prevent from happening,” Matt said. “When we the people actually are going to stand up and offer folks a true choice in this primary. So it's an exciting day here in Kentucky.”

Running against any incumbent is an uphill battle, but going up against someone so entrenched in the GOP establishment, who will undoubtedly have a huge war chest, will be no easy task. Glenn asked Matt quite frankly if he actually believed he could pose a real threat to Sen. McConnell.

“The irony is I think it will be harder to beat him in the primary than it will be to beat the Democrat in the general. I have heard from a number of Democrats who are switching parties because they don't vote Democrat in the general [election] anyway, and a number of Democrats who have said, ‘I can't switch, won't switch, but I'll be with you, you know, for May 21, [2014] on." I've had people working in an Alison Grimes [D-KY] booth wearing an Alison Grimes T-shirt come up to me and say, ‘I'm going to be voting for you.’ So there's not a lot of enthusiasm for her,” Matt explained. “I think the fact is: We need to eat this elephant one bite at a time. And I think we will continue to take steps forward. Every time I'm on your show, I know you always chuckle when I say the name of my website, but I kid you not, Glenn, I can't tell you how grateful I am for the amazing bounce that it gets every time I mention MattBevin.com. People come. Your listeners are enthused, they are engaged, and I appreciate that, I really do.”

While Matt understands he is up against the GOP machine, he believes this election will boil down to a fight between limited-government and progressivism.

“But in reality what we are seeing is a battle for the heart and soul, not only of the Republican Party, but for the entire political process because what we are seeing in this race is a microcosm of what's happening nationally – a battle for whether we the people truly still have a voice and choose to exercise that voice,” Matt said. “Or will we be apathetic? Will we sit on our hands? And will we sit back and wait for the handful to self-propagate and self-select to tell us when and where and how we should line up? And I think it is my job to use the best of my abilities to be a good steward of the talents and skill that I have to exercise the will of the people by being in this race and being their voice. This is a battle between progressivism and limited government, between sometimes paying attention to the Constitution or recognizing it as the law of the land.”

Glenn was quick to warn Matt that it is simple to campaign on the message of being a conservative voice and standing up for the Constitution, but once you arrive in Washington, the political game makes it a difficult promise to follow through on.

“I was called into the oval office and the President was a little pissy – it was Bush. And he said to me, ‘Don't worry because whoever gets in after me will pretty much do exactly the same thing because they will see that the president's hands are tied. So no matter who it is, doesn’t matter if it's, you know, the guy who became president or Hillary Clinton, it won't matter because they will do almost the same thing,’” Glenn explained. “He tried to say that as a comforting thing. I found that horrifying. Why is it we should believe you – that you're not going to go in and just become the same thing and realize and be convinced that your hands are tied, Matt?”

“There's a difference between people who go to cast votes and people who go to be a voice. My pledge to people is to be a voice. I can't promise that I'm going to do everything perfectly or that 100% of people will always be happy – but rather than just to go vote, I will be a voice to fight for the American people, to fight for conservative values, to fight for limited government, to fight for a restoration of our Constitution and of every one of our constitutional rights that has been eroded,” Matt said emphatically. “I am married, Glenn. I have a wife who loves me. I have nine children who love me. I have a dog that loves me. I am not going to Washington to make friends. I am willing to be the guy who stands there, as folks like Ted Cruz have recently done, and get my teeth kicked in to do the right thing.”

“MattBevin.com, running in Kentucky for the U.S. Senate against Mitch McConnell,” Glenn concluded. “Matt, good to have you on and we wish you luck as you file papers today to officially announce your candidacy for U.S. Senate.”

Watch the entire interview below:

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:

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