Glenn breaks down the real-life 'Game of Thrones' playing out in Russia

In January, The Root: Red Storm laid out the shocking and terrifying geo-political developments emerging in Russia. Since TheBlaze aired Red Storm we are seeing our predictions play out at an alarming rate. On Monday's Glenn Beck Program, Glenn revealed the next phase of Russia’s aggressive agenda and connected all of the dots, showing you exactly how their plans will shock the globe and cause a worldwide domino effect.

Below is a highlight from the episode, focused on the shifting balance of power in Putin's own version of 'Game of Thrones'.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment

This is a critical episode that goes into addition of the episode we did back in January where we showed you the shocking and quite frankly terrifying developments emerging out of Russia. It was during our Root episode Red Storm Rising, which we are now making all of those episodes available on demand at TheBlaze.com/RedStorm.

Now, in that, we tried to give you history, but there were things that were happening at the time that didn’t make any sense, and we said we’re going to have to follow this and watch it because it could be even more dangerous depending on which way it goes. We predicted that one of two things would happen, and they’re this: Either Putin would continue his military aggression, and he would start annexing more regions throughout Europe as he did in the Ukraine, or he would be pushed back, and that would actually anger the more dangerous radical fascists such as the guy we introduced you to, this guy, Aleksandr Dugin—really dangerous radical.

He runs the University of Moscow. He is really a bad guy. He thinks that Hitler just didn’t go far enough. This guy loves fascism. If this guy gets pissed off, it will lead to even more violence and possibly a coup attempt on Putin. Those were the two things: He either grows and becomes stronger, or things start to split up, and he’s in trouble.

The only thing we didn’t know was the timing, how long would it take before all of these Russian stacking dolls start to choose sides? It turns out not very long. It’s almost as if the Kremlin is watching TheBlaze because just days after our episode aired, almost on cue, all the dominoes began to actually fall. As it turns out, we find out now from the New York Times that they are watching TheBlaze.

The New York Times reported that Putin has hired armies of Internet trolls to spam and discredit the comment section of a few news sites, one of which was TheBlaze. So, they are watching. But here’s how the series of events began almost immediately, and I want to go over tonight five key moments that we’re going to focus on tonight.

At the time of the episode, Putin’s military aggression was running wild, and everybody was in his camp, especially the radicals. The radical fascists wanted to rebuild mother Russia again. So, here’s the first key moment. It happened on February 11. Suddenly, Putin, who is becoming extraordinarily aggressive, reverses course. For some reason, he backs up.

First key moment, he agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine. Now, here’s why that’s important. Everybody thinks Putin now has given up on what he started. You might not. I might not, but all of these guys do. They thought he was going to begin annexing all of the other regions that Russia once had, and they were hoping for more military action, especially these guys—more tanks, more bloodshed, more war, but instead, Putin says, “Niet,” and puts on the brakes.

That’s when the fascist radicals really begin to step up. They begin to try to push Putin into battle, and they are now angry that you won’t. We’re talking about Aleksandr Dugin is one of the key players. It’s people like Dugin that actually have the ability to start a movement and rally other fascist radicals and possibly stage a coup to take Putin out. And who doesn’t want to see fascists and Vladimir Putin in a bloody battle for power? That could be deadly.

Putin knows because this is a pattern that we have seen with all of the other rulers of Russia in the last hundred years. He knows that by abandoning the military actions, he is putting a huge target on his back for fascist radicals. He knows he’s just triggered the Russian Game of Thrones. So, what does he do? Who is sticking with him?

Well, we know Dugin is out. Putin’s top priority quickly became let’s build a coalition to protect my empire, so he brings us to the second big moment, transfer of power from the Federal Security Service to the Ministry of the Interior. What are those? Well, he started to strip the FSB of its power. The FSB is the KGB. It’s the Russian version of the Secret Service—unbelievably powerful.

Putin said no more power for you, and he shifted all of their power, which takes them out with Dugin. He shifted it over to this, the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of the Interior is like our Department of Homeland Security, so you have like the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security. He’s just stripped their CIA of all their power, and he’s given all of that to the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, this is our Homeland Security on steroids. They have a 200,000 strong military army, and they have already the CIA type intel operation. So, Putin is putting all of the chips with these guys. Now, here is one of Putin’s top henchmen, Zolotov. Right, is this Zolotov? No, which one is Zolotov? I can’t see. This guy, right? Viktor Zolotov, Putin is putting him in charge of this organization. Those 200,000 federal troops are now at his disposal.

Now, think how handy it would be if anybody decides to rise up. There’s a social unrest that happens or an internal threat to Putin, all of a sudden he’s got a military guy in charge who used to be, by the way, his personal bodyguard for years. Putin completely trusts him, needs him now more than ever, somebody that can run this agency and put any unrest down.

Putin knows now he’d better be watching his back. The FSB and the MVP do not have a good history together. They are rivals, and they are constantly locked in power struggles, so you can imagine they’re not happy when Putin gave all the power here. Then on February 27, something crazy happened, an outspoken and influential critic of Putin was assassinated in cold blood on the streets of Moscow.

This was in our episode. You remember this? This was the hit job caught on city surveillance cameras. Theories swirled. Many people jumped to the conclusion that this is the work of Putin. We said at the time we don’t know. He is a Putin critic, and being a Putin critic is kind of dangerous business, and it wouldn’t be the first time that somebody was an opponent of Putin all of a sudden was killed. Nevertheless, what happened?

It’s a headache to Putin. He doesn’t want to have to deal with this. He’s in the news again having to deny I slaughtered a political opponent. But what happened immediately after the murder changed everything, and very few people, but our staff did, paid close attention, and it happened on March 8.

Shortly after the assassination of Nemtsov, Putin’s new enemies in the FSB claimed they had two suspects. Both of them were Chechens. The first one is one of the president of Chechnya, one of the president’s top commanders. So, why does this matter? Because the president is Kadyrov. He’s in the camp of Putin. He’s not over here. So, these guys say the top commander of this man is the one who killed Nemtsov. It’s an implication that this was all set up now by these guys to hurt Putin and potentially unleash retaliation.

Well, Putin’s ally immediately defended the suspect in custody, saying that’s not true, he’s a Russian patriot. He’d never do anything to harm the state. So, now he’s in this camp. He was desperately trying to let it be known that they were framed, and Putin was desperate as well. He responded by awarding Kadyrov one of Russia’s highest awards, the Order of Honor. So, he is strengthening his friends.

The world dismissed this assassination as just another chance to joke about Putin, but it appears more likely it is the opening salvo to something much, much bigger. Then a few short weeks later, the major power structures in Russia, these guys, had to choose sides—are you over here or are you here? It’s Putin and his Department of Homeland Security or it’s the former KGB and fascist radicals.

Which brings us to the fifth and final key moment, another one that the rest of the media just jokingly covered. March 6, Putin mysteriously goes missing for ten days. At the time, we didn’t know why, but when you look at the series of events that we now know happened just prior to his disappearance, the likely reason seems to come clearer into focus because if you’re Vladimir Putin, you just don’t vanish. You’re a big doll. You just don’t vanish off the world stage for ten days, not if you’re him.

Can you imagine if the president was not seen, nobody knew where he was, he wasn’t at the White House, he was just gone for ten days? First of all, a leader like this has far too big of an ego for that. The most likely scenario now is that Putin was being held somewhere against his will. It was a show of force by the FSB, Dugin, or perhaps another influential fascist radical. They wanted to make sure that Putin got back into the business of taking more land and restoring Russia to her previous glory. Whatever the reason, you can bet that Putin wasn’t off writing his memoirs in some remote cabin. Something went down. We don’t know what, but it looks like the fascists took him. There’s even more evidence that suggests this was part of an ongoing power struggle among the elites, and we’ll share that with you next.

For more on tonight's episode and get the rest of the story, watch on TheBlaze TV.

POLL: Is Matt Gaetz in trouble?!

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Trump is assembling a dream team to take on the deep state that has burdened the American people for far too long.

It's no surprise Democrats have been pushing back against Trump's nominations, but one person in particular has been experiencing the most resistance: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump's pick to serve as his Attorney General. The controversy centers around a years-long House ethics probe regarding sexual misconduct allegations made against Gaetz several years ago. Despite the FBI conducting its own investigation and refusing to prosecute Gaetz, his nomination re-ignited interest in these allegations.

Democrats and some Republicans demand the House Ethics Committee release their probe into Gaetz before his Senate confirmation hearing. Conveniently, earlier this week, an anonymous hacker obtained this coveted report and gave it to the New York Times, which has yet to make the information public.

Glenn is very skeptical about the entire affair, from the allegations against Gaetz to the hacker's "anonymity." Is it another case of lawfare by the Democrats?

Glenn wants to know what do you think. Did Gaetz commit the crimes he's accused of? Will he still be appointed attorney general? Let us know in the poll below:

Is Matt Gaetz guilty of the crimes he is accused of committing? 

Will Matt Gaetz still be appointed to Trump's cabinet?

Was the "hacker" really some Democratic staffer or lawmaker? 

3 BIGGEST lies about Trump's plans for deportations

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To the right, Trump's deportation plans seem like a reasonable step to secure the border. For the left, mass deportation represents an existential threat to democracy.

However, the left's main arguments against Trump's deportation plans are not only based on racially problematic lies and fabrications they are outright hypocritical.

Here are the three BIGGEST lies about Trump's deportation plans:

1. Past Deportations

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The left acts like Donald Trump is the first president in history to oversee mass deportations, but nothing could be further from the truth. Deportations have been a crucial tool for enforcing immigration laws and securing the country from the beginning, and until recently, it was a fairly bipartisan issue.

Democrat superstar President Obama holds the record for most deportations during his tenure in office, clocking in at a whopping 3,066,457 people over his eight years in office. This compares to the 551,449 people removed during Trump's first term. Obama isn't an anomaly either, President Clinton deported 865,646 people during his eight years, still toping Trump's numbers by a considerable margin.

The left's sudden aversion to deportations is clearly reactionary propaganda aimed at villainizing Trump.

2. Exploitative Labor

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Commentators on the left have insinuated that President Trump's deportation plan would endanger the agricultural industry due to the large portion of agricultural workers in the U.S. who are illegal aliens. If they are deported, food prices will skyrocket.

What the left is conveniently forgetting is the reason why many businesses choose to hire illegal immigrants (here's a hint: it's not because legal Americans aren't willing to do the work). It's because it is way easier to exploit people who are here illegally. Farmowners don't have to pay taxes on illegal aliens, pay minimum wage, offer benefits, sign contracts, or do any of the other typical requirements that protect the rights of the worker.

The left has shown their hand. This was never about some high-minded ideals of "diversity" and "inclusion." It's about cheap, expendable labor and a captive voter base to bolster their party in elections.

3."Undesirable" Jobs

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Another common talking point amid the left-wing anti-Trump hysteria is that illegal aliens take "undesirable" jobs that Americans will not do. The argument is that these people fill the "bottom tier" in the U.S. economy, jobs they consider "unfit" for American citizens.

By their logic, we should allow hordes of undocumented, unvetted immigrants into the country so they can work the jobs that the out-of-touch liberal talking heads consider beneath them. It's no wonder why they lost the election.

Did the Left lay the foundations for election denial?

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Did Glenn predict the future?

Just a few days after the election and President Trump's historic victory, the New York Times published a noteworthy article titled "How Russia Openly Escalated Its Election Interference Efforts," in which they made some interesting suggestions. They brought up several examples of Russian election interference (stop me if you think you've heard this one before) that favored Trump. From there, they delicately approached the "election denial zone" with the following statement:

"What impact Russia’s information campaign had on the outcome of this year’s race, if any, remains uncertain"

Is anyone else getting 2016 flashbacks?

It doesn't end there. About two weeks before the election (October 23rd), Glenn and Justin Haskins, the co-author of Glenn's new book, Propaganda Wars, discuss a frightening pattern they were observing in the news cycle at the time, and it bears a striking similarity to this New York Times piece. To gain a full appreciation of this situation, let's go back to two weeks before the election when Glenn and Justin laid out this scene:

Bad Eggs in the Intelligence Community

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This story begins with a top-secret military intelligence leak. Over the October 19th weekend, someone within the U.S. Government's intelligence agencies leaked classified information regarding the Israeli military and their upcoming plans to Iran. The man responsible for this leak, Asif William Rahman, a CIA official with top security clearance, was arrested on Tuesday, November 12th.

Rahman is one of the known "bad eggs" within our intelligence community. Glenn and Justin highlighted another, a man named Robert Malley. Malley is an Iranian envoy who works at the State Department under the Biden/Harris administration and is under investigation by the FBI for mishandling classified information. While Malley was quietly placed on leave in June, he has yet to be fired and still holds security clearance.

Another suspicious figure is Ariane Tabatabai, a former aide of Mr. Malley and a confirmed Iranian agent. According to a leak by Semafor, Tabatabai was revealed to be a willing participant in an Iranian covert influence campaign run by Tehran's Foreign Ministry. Despite this shocking revelation that an Iranian agent was in the Pentagon with access to top-secret information, Tabatabai has not faced any charges or inquires, nor has she been stripped of her job or clearance.

If these are the bad actors we know about, imagine how many are unknown to the public or are flying under the radar. In short, our intelligence agencies are full of people whose goals do not align with American security.

Conspicuous Russian Misinformation

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The story continues with a video of a man accusing former VP candidate and Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz of sexual assault. The man alleged to be Matthew Metro, a former student of Walz claimed that he was assaulted by the Governor while in High School. The man in the video gave corroborating details that made the claim seem credible on the surface, and it quickly spread across the internet. But after some deeper investigation, it was revealed this man wasnot Matthew Metro and that the entire video was fake. This caught the attention of the Security Director of National Intelligence who claimed the video was a Russian hoax designed to wound the Harris/Walz campaign, and the rest of the intelligence community quickly agreed.

In the same vein, the State Department put out a $10 million bountyto find the identity of the head of the Russian-owned media company Rybar. According to the State Department, Rybar manages several social media channels that promote Russian governmental political interests targeted at Trump supporters. The content Rybar posts is directed into pro-Trump, and pro-Republican channels, and the content apparently has a pro-Trump spin, alongside its pro-Russia objectives.

Why Does the Intelligence Community Care?

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So what's the deal? Yes, Russia was trying to interfere with the election, but this is a well-known issue that has unfortunately become commonplace in our recent elections.

The real concern is the intelligence community's uncharacteristically enthusiastic and fast response. Where was this response in 2016, when Hillary Clinton and the Democrats spent months lying about Donald Trump's "collusion" with Russia? It has since been proven that the FIB knew the entire story was a Clinton campaign fabrication, and they not only kept quiet about it, but they even played along. Or what about in 2020 when the Left tried to shut down the Hunter Biden laptop story for months by calling it a Russian hoax, only for it to turn out to be true?

Between all the bad actors in the intelligence community and their demonstrated repeated trustworthiness, this sudden concern with "Russian disinformation" that happened to support Trump was just too convenient.

Laying the Foundations for Election Denial

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This is when Glenn and Justin make a startling prediction: the Left was preparing for a potential Trump victory (remember, this was two weeks before the election) so they would have something to delegitimize him with. They were painting Trump as Putin's lapdog who was receiving election assistance in the form of misinformation from the Kremlin by sounding the alarm on these cherry-picked (and in the grand scheme of things, tame) examples of Russian propaganda. They were laying the foundation of the Left's effort to resist and delegitimize a President-elect Trump.

Glenn and Justin had no idea how right they were.

Trump's POWERFUL 10-point plan to TEAR DOWN the Deep State

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Since 2016 President Trump has promised to drain the swamp, but with Trump's new ten-point plan, do we finally have a solid roadmap to dismantle the deep state?

In March 2023, President Trump released a video detailing his plan to shatter the deep state. Now that he is the President-Elect, this plan is slated to launch in January 2025. Recently, Glenn reviewed Trump's plan and was optimistic about what he saw. In fact, he couldn't see how anyone could be against it (not that anything will stop the mainstream media from spinning it in a negative light).

But don't let Glenn tell you what to think! Check out Trump's FULL plan below:

1. Remove rouge bureaucrats

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Trump's first order of business will be to restore an executive order he issued in 2020 that allowed him to remove rouge bureaucrats. Trump promises to use this power aggressively eliminate corruption.

2. Clean and overhaul the intelligence apparatus

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Next, Trump promises to oust corrupt individuals from the national intelligence apparatus. This includes federal bureaucracies like the CIA, NSA, and other agencies that have been weaponized against the left's political opponents.

3. Reform FISA courts 

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Trump's next promise is to reform the FISA courts, which are courts tasked with reviewing and approving requests to gather foreign intelligence, typically through surveillance. These courts have been unaccountable to protections like the 4th Amendment that prohibits the government from unwarranted surveillance, resulting in severe government overreach on American citizens, both on US soil and abroad.

4. Expose the deep state. 

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Trump want to establish a "Truth and Reconciliation" commission that will be tasked with unmasking the deep state. This will be accomplished by publishing and declassifying all documents on deep state spying, corruption, and censorship.

5. Crackdown on government-media collusion

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Next, Trump will crack down on government "leakers" who collaborate with the mainstream media to spread misinformation. These collaborators purposefully interject false narratives that derail the democratic process within the country. The plan will also prohibit government actors from pressuring social media to censor content that goes against a particular political narrative, as was done, for example, in the case of the Biden administration pressuring Facebook to crack down on Hunter Biden laptop-related content.

6. Isolate inspector generals

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Trump promises to physically separate every inspector general from the department they are tasked with overseeing. This way, they don't become entangled with the department and end up protecting them instead of scrutinizing them.

7. Create a system to monitor the intelligence agencies

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To ensure that the intelligence agencies are no longer spying on American citizens, Trump proposed to create an independent auditing system. This auditing system, created by Congress, would keep the intelligence agencies in check from spying on American citizens or political campaigns as they did on Trump's campaign.

8. Relocate the federal bureaucracy

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Relocating the federal bureaucracy, Trump argues, will keep the internal politics of the individual bureaucracies out of the influence of DC. He says he will begin by relocating the Bureau of Land Management to Colorado.

9. Ban federal bureaucrats from taking corporate jobs

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To keep money ties out of politics, Trump proposes that federal bureaucrats should be banned from working at the companies that they are regulating. American taxpayer dollars should not go to agencies run by bureaucrats who cut special deals for corporations, who will later offer them a cushy role and a huge paycheck.

10. Push for congressional term limits

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Finally, Trump wants to make a constitutional amendment placing term limits on members of Congress. This proposal has been popular on both sides of the political aisle for a while, preventing members of Congress from becoming swamp creatures like Nancy Pelosi who was just re-elected for her 19th term.