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BLOGApril 05, 2018

Filmmaker EXPOSING Washington sums up how ‘the swamp’ works, and it’s brutal

You already know Washington is a mess. Filmmaker Matt Whitworth is launching a new documentary project that exposes the truth about our government with uncensored quotes from lawmakers willing to go on the record.

In “The Swamp,” Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO 4th District), Rod Blum (R-IA 1st District), Tom Garrett (R-VA 5th District) and Dave Brat (R-VA 7th District) got dangerously candid about how Washington operates.

Whitworth joined Glenn on today’s show to talk about “The Swamp” and what he learned from the four House Freedom Caucus members, who agreed to be interviewed for the series and hand over editorial control.

“They deserve a lot of credit; they took a huge risk,” Whitworth said. He described how the “legislative process” works with this damning quote from one of the congressmen:

“The legislative process in D.C. is ‘leadership writes the bill; they leak it to lobbyists on K Street; the lobbyists leak it to Politico; and then we read about it in Politico.'”

Watch the clip above for the full interview.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: Yesterday, something premiered on Facebook. It is a documentary called The Swamp. And it's a series. And it's going to come out every couple of weeks. Here is just a taste of what The Swamp is all about.

VOICE: I had heard about people losing their seats on committees as a result of not voting the right way.

VOICE: People think this is politics. Politics is just the superstructure.

VOICE: And I often said, if it were a company. Unbelievable. You don't need the rest of us. They make every single decision at the time.

VOICE: The system is not broken. And there are good people here. The system has been poisoned.

VOICE: As soon as you want something, they got you. As soon as you want something, you now become part of the swamp. That's the way the game is played around here.

GLENN: The Swamp, the creator and executive producer is Matt Whitworth, and he joins us now. Hi, hi, how are you doing, Matt?

VOICE: Hey, great to be here. Always nice to be out of The Swamp.

GLENN: Yeah.

So you started working on this, and everyone said you were crazy, including the Freedom Caucus.

MATT: Freedom Caucus leadership as well told the four members that we have, that they were crazy to do this show. Because these guys ended up signing a film participation release, where they have no editorial or creative control. So they deserve a lot of credit. They took a huge risk in allowing us total access to them.

We filmed staff meetings in their office. We filmed them running over to the Capitol for votes. We filmed them with their families. You know, so you get to see that whole picture.

But it took us about six months to get through House Ethics Committee, and office of general council. All of these House agencies that we had to go through, for these guys to sign this film participation release, and to participate in their official capacity as a congressman.

GLENN: So who were the ones that participated?

MATT: So we have Dave Brat, Tom Garrett from Virginia, Rod Blum from Iowa, and Ken Buck HEP from Colorado.

GLENN: Hmm. And what did you learn?

MATT: Oh, it's been fascinating. The first day we were filming with Ken Buck. And I said, you know, tell me just about the legislative process in DC. And he smirked and he goes, the legislative process in DC is, the leadership writes the bill, they leak it to lobbyists on K Street, the lobbyists leak it to Politico, and then we read about it in Politico.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

STU: Jeez.

GLENN: And we're hearing this from everybody. You know, in the Senate, I'll hear from people in the House and the Senate that both say, we -- we have nothing that's -- it -- there is a dictatorship of four. It's Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the turtle, and --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And Paul Ryan.

MATT: Yeah, that's what you hear. This is not a Democrat-bashing show. We actually reached out to Democratic offices in the very beginning. Because I thought, you know, even though we have policy differences, there are people on the other side of the aisle who want to see some of these sort of structural reforms in DC. And none of them were willing to speak on Congress. Because wanted to (?) if you speak out of line.

But that's the big theme that you hear from all of these guys, is the top-down nature of DC. How everything comes down from the top. And then you really hear about the retaliatory actions, where if these guys don't vote the right way, what happens? Ken buck told stories (?) or getting kicked off of committees for be the not voting the right way.

There are members who have had (?) the night before they were due to fly out of for not voting the right way

STU: There's one clip where, I can't remember which congressman it is, who said, I'm a grown man. Because they come to him and they say, you're going to lose your privileges. You're not going to be looked upon kindly if you step out of line. And I forget (?) in their own right a lot of times. Especially with the sort of Tea Party movement. There were a lot of people who were already successful in business. Economists and -- doctors and things like this, who just got into the politics game at that point because they believed something was wrong with the country. Then they get beat up by The Swamp, (?) this has been -- their entire life hasn't been following, it's been leading.

MATT: No. Absolutely. I really wasn't sure how forthcoming these guys were going to be. And remember, the only (?) I was cold calling offices, looking at dozen interviews, YouTube interviews of these guys, trying to find people that I thought would really be forthcoming. (?) we went into his office. And his staff briefed him on what we wanted to do for the series. And we sat down. And Ken said, I'm so glad you're doing this. (?) I turned. And I said, I think this is going to work. I think we may have something.

STU: Yeah.

MATT: But these guys, they really did, they took a huge risk. They had no idea the direction of the series.

GLENN: Yeah, I would never give you that.

MATT: Sort of our vision.

GLENN: I mean, that's -- I want to impress upon the audience how risky that is to have a filmmaker come in and say, you know, you don't have anything to say about it. And we can film whatever you want. And you don't have final say on the edit. There's no way I would give that to you. Because you could edit it -- if I don't know you, you could edit it any way you wanted and make me look any way you wanted me to look. So these guys are extraordinarily brave.

MATT: Yeah, they took a huge risk in doing this. And there were members -- other Freedom Caucus members who told these guys, you're crazy to do this. And Rod Blum, the congressman from Iowa, told me at one point -- we were sitting (?) if I say something stupid and you guys (?) that's on me. That's not on you. But he said, I'm so frustrated with this system. And he said, if this can play (?) he said, I'm willing to take that chance.

GLENN: So what do you shownous what's the biggest thing that you think people are going to take away from this and go, holy cow?

MATT: I think one of the biggest things is exactly what you talked about. The leadership of both parties are in cahoots with one another. So one of these guys told the story, about, if you want to be on the -- internally, the congressmen rank committees, so if you want to be a chairman (?) you have to kick up 1.2 million a year to the party.

GLENN: Oh, my God.

MATT: So it's not about your knowledge or experience, it's about who is the best fundraiser. (?) this apparently started on the Democratic side of the aisle. Where in the D triple C, there's a list of all of the members and what they have to kick up and who is behind kicking up these payments to the party. And apparently, Paul Ryan (?) we should have it on the Republican side.

So now it's on the Republican side as well. And Ken buck showed us the picture of this list. (?) you'll see them having staff meetings, trying it figure out, how are we going to block this piece of legislation. How can we slow it down? And if we get into things, if there's a new speaker in the House (?) you'll see all of that play out as well.

STU: Did you go through this and see -- because, I mean, there are structural problems, and that's kind of what the focus is. It's not about personality, Nelson. It's about the (?) did you come through it and at the end say, okay. Here are concrete things that we could do, to solve solve these problems. (?)

VOICE: These guys are so frustrated. Rod Blum from Iowa, introduced three, what he called drain the swamp bills last fall. And some are simple. (?) another is a lifetime lobbying ban. And the third one is term limits. And he was like, I'm going to submit these bills, but I know they're not going anywhere. You know, so that's how frustrated these guys are.

STU: Wow.

GLENN: So why is it on Facebook? Why not Netflix or Amazon?

MATT: Hey, we went that route. We filmed with these guys a single day in the fall to (?) and we went out pitched Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and probably about a dozen major television networks, and all of them were blown away by the footage. Several of the networks said, we tried to (?) ethics committee or some of these other groups. So they were impressed that we were able to. But I think we sort of hit that insurmountable, you know, political bias of, they didn't want to put four Freedom House members and give them a platform for them to sort of share their stories. We were sitting with an executive at a major network, and I was talking about this, you know, unprecedented access that we have. And I mentioned that we have four members of the House Freedom Caucus. And he rolls his eyes. And then we showed him the footage. And he said, wow, I wanted to hate these guys, but I can't. So at the time, (?) for our chances of selling this show. You know, but hindsight being 20/20, I don't think there was any way they would put these guys on television.

GLENN: Next time you do this and you have original stuff, bring it to me. Bring it to me.

MATT: I will. I will.

GLENN: Because I'll go into those offices with you.

MATT: Good. Good to know.

GLENN: Because, yeah, I'll go in with you.

MATT: So what you see in Episode I is us just sort of introducing these characters and setting them up. I think that's a really surprising aspect of the show. It's really two-fold. (?) and then it's also turned into this sort of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. You know, these character dram as. You get to see (?), you know, what were their expectations coming into Congress, versus running into this wall of basically being quarantined and put in a box by leadership.

GLENN: So you now have these guys. Have you heard and have the Freedom Caucus -- sure. -- have others seen the footage, and what are they saying about it? (?)

MATT: So we've heard sort of mixed things. There are members who have sort of liked footage they saw (?) before we released the first episode. Like I said, there were several Freedom Caucus guys who told our members who said you were crazy to do this show. But we filmed (?) surrounding him. And all the other members started peacocking. And they're like, why does Rod Blum get a television crew. And they're coming up and slapping him on the back. Like, hey, rod, what's going on? (?)

GLENN: Came out yesterday. You can find it at Facebook.com/the swamp. Really, really worth watching. And also, congratulations to Dave Brat, Tom Garrett, Rod Blum, and Ken buck, for having the courage to go on record and say these things. There are a lot of people in Washington that are good. And I think good on both sides. Hmm. I mean, it's hard to find them. But they're -- they are there, that want an end to this. But they don't have the balls to do it. And these four men did. And -- and good job, Matt. Congratulations.

MATT: Thank you very much.

GLENN: You bet.

Cabinet Wins, DOGE Audits, Tariffs: Trump's Third Week Has Been WILD!play icon
RADIO

Cabinet Wins, DOGE Audits, Tariffs: Trump's Third Week Has Been WILD!

It's only been 3 weeks of Donald Trump's second presidency and A LOT has changed! Glenn reviews some of the biggest wins that we've seen in the past few days: RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard were confirmed as members of Trump's cabinet, Kash Patel is one step closer to being FBI Director, Trump has called for “fair and reciprocal” tariffs on US trade partners, DOGE is preparing to audit the IRS, and the list goes on!

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let's see what the president has been up to in the last 24 hours.

Does this guy sleep? What's Melania doing for Valentine's Day today?

STU: One thing. When he's the president of the United States, is he thinking about that type of thing?

GLENN: No. He has people think about it. People who have people.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Yeah, people who have people. Usually, maybe like, maybe his son. Like, Dad. Maybe you should carve out a couple of hours tonight.

Oh, crap. I didn't even. You're president. I think I can make a few calls.

STU: I feel like, it's interesting that we just have a president that is awake, like every day. He seems to wake up. We see him places. Have you noticed this? I don't know if you've noticed this at all. But current president of the United States, we see him out doing things. Isn't that weird?

I feel like it's weird.

I don't know about this system we have, where the president is awake every day. It's changing our traditions, Glenn. I'm concerned about it.

GLENN: It is. It is. Well, Barack knows. We have to change our --

STU: That's true. Trump has kind of dropped the hammer on the rest of the world with tariffs. And I kind of like this tariff. Whatever they charge us, we're going to charge them.

STU: Reciprocal tariffs.

GLENN: Reciprocal tariffs. That's fair. We're not going to charge you -- I mean, maybe China would.

But we will not charge you more than you charge us. You charge us something. We'll charge you.

I think that's good!

STU: Yeah, it's interesting. It certainly seems fair. Right? Like, don't fire up.

Because the rest of the world loves tariffs. They love tariffs more than we love tariffs, even though we --

GLENN: I don't love tariffs.

STU: I don't love them at all.

Trump does love them. We've talked to him even in private conversations. By the way, in case you're wondering, is he just saying this just for the cameras? No. He really loves them. He loves tariffs. I don't agree with him on that policy. Though, he's used it to great effect recently.

That being said, I mean, if someone started charging you 100 percent tariff on a particular item, picking that same item and putting a tariff, 175 percent, certainly is fair. Now, of course, the reason we import things typically is because we don't have them here.

GLENN: Right! But not necessarily, like cars. Cars. Europe charges us a 10 percent tariff to send a Ford over.

And they charge -- we charge them 2 percent to send a Mercedes. I mean, what's fair about that?

STU: Now, again, one of the things that's fair about that. Is it's not paying an extra 8 percent on a car. We get a benefit of that, as a consumer.

That if we want to buy a European car, we will pay a little bit less and now we'll pay a little bit more. So there is a penalty to that.

However, it is certainly fair. The word "fair," I think applies when it comes to nation-to-nation relation.

And one of the things we've liked about having these lower tariffs on our side is getting lower prices for our consumers.

GLENN: Correct.

STU: And so they're -- and as Trump has discussed, he's been very up front with us. There will be pain with these policies. But long-term, we think it's worth it.

And that's really where the rubber meets the road.

GLENN: Okay. So now, everybody is very, very upset about Donald Trump signing off on DOGE and the audit of the IRS.

Now, I do have to question your sanity when you're against the audit of the IRS.

STU: You seem to be for audits. You can't audit them?

GLENN: Yeah. Who do you have to be, to be against an audit of the IRS, and bring every single receipt you have! I want to see every receipt. Oh, I want to help them.

STU: By the way, Glenn, I work with you.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: My job is -- and for multiple decades now, has to be -- become closely associated with Glenn Beck.

GLENN: Yeah, it's good.

STU: Oh, the perks. The benefits. Oh, gosh, I can't even count them!

GLENN: Yeah. Hmm.

STU: Yet, somehow, I made it through the entire Barack Obama administration. And the entire Joe Biden administration.

GLENN: Yeah!

STU: Without getting audited.

GLENN: Yeah. Not me.

STU: No. I know. I remember. And yet what about happens two weeks ago? I get a letter with the IRS, with Trump in office. That I'm getting audited.

And I don't know if this is just a parting gift from the Biden administration. How is that happening?

GLENN: That's what I'm saying. Thank God somebody noticed your shadiness. Somebody finally noticed. He's very shady. He's very shady.

You know, the good thing is, both of us stay -- to our accountants, we always say the same thing. Anybody who is preparing our taxes. Stay way away from the line.

STU: Yes. 100 percent.

GLENN: When in doubt, leave it out.

STU: Still, it's incredibly frustrating. We were talking to Alan Dershowitz, I have every single book -- everything -- yeah. Sure. Somewhere, I have every receipt from 2022. I'm sure.

But, I mean, the -- this is this relationship that we have with the government, that is this adversarial torture fest, that we pay for every year. Oh, gosh. I can't wait to pay by taxes.

Maybe I'll get a refund. Maybe they'll give me some of the money that is mine, back to me, multiple months later.

GLENN: I believe that's actually what happened to me.

I believe they owed me money.

STU: After the audit. Yeah.

GLENN: I stayed away from the line.

STU: That's what you have to be.

GLENN: You know, jail time does not sound good to me. In any way, shape or form.

STU: The wrong IRS agent, that doesn't like your show, happens to be doing it, well, guess what happens? They push it beyond the limits of normalcy. So the good senator and common sense-filled senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden said, this means Musk's henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America.

Wait. What? You mean like the IRS does?
(laughter)

STU: What core of government function are you guys talking about?

GLENN: No, what's up with that? And it could be the very reason behind possible delays, in people receiving their tax refunds for 2024.

What a scare tactic.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: These guys are so freaked out about Donald Trump. I mean, you know, the one thing that happened yesterday, that everybody should recognize. Mitch McConnell was alone. He was alone.

STU: That's huge.

GLENN: That's gigantic.

STU: On two votes. Tulsi and RFK!

GLENN: I know. I know.

STU: And before this, if McConnell said, hey, this is where I'm going, he would always have a bunch of buddies that would come with him. His closest friends. It would always do that.

GLENN: It's weird, you cut off the money, and things change.

STU: Yeah, he no longer has the leadership. He no longer has control of that cash. All of a sudden, he's a lonesome dove.

GLENN: Yeah!

So let me just ask -- I want to ask, are you tired of winning? Let me just give you the winning streak so far number Congress. Marco Rubio, voted to be confirmed, 99 to zero. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, confirmed, 68 to 29.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, seventy-nine to 18. Brook Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, 72 to 28.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, seventy-seven to 22. Pam Bondi, 54 to 46. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner, 55 to 44.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, 59 to 38. Doug Collins Veterans Affairs, seventy-seven to 23. Kristi Noem.

Secretary of Homeland Security, 59 to 34. Lee Zeldin became the EPA administrator 56 by 42.

I have to tell you, Lee Zeldin, there's some stuff he did yesterday, that you're like, holy cow.

STU: Yeah, I have high hopes for the him. He's off to a very good start.

GLENN: Yeah, Russ Vought, who I just absolutely love. Director Office Management and Budget. He's done a lot of incredible things this week. 53 to 47.

John Ratcliff, confirmed as CIA director, 74 to 25. Tulsi Gabbard and RFK were confirmed yesterday. You have Kash Patel who got out of the committee and is going to be voted on early next week. And, of course, you have Pete Hegseth. I mean, and Mitch McConnell, standing there alone, all day yesterday.

This is good. Now, the president did a couple of other things yesterday, that are ground-breaking. But we need to make sure Congress passes all of these things as laws.

And they're not just executive order.

And that's going to require us to keep the heat on Congress. And they're working on the budget.

Congress just put together their budget for next year.

The Senate is squealing like stuck little pigs.

But we need to get them to pass in one bill. And you're going to get some crap in that one bill, I'm sure. But you have -- you really have a hard time, going to get two bills through on reconciliation.

So we need it in one bill.

Elon Musk is NOT a Threat to "Democracy." He's a Threat to Bureaucracyplay icon
RADIO

Elon Musk is NOT a Threat to "Democracy." He's a Threat to Bureaucracy

Elon Musk and DOGE are not threats to "democracy," like Democrats are complaining. They're threats to the bureaucracy that has taken over the government our Constitution established. Glenn explains how this all originated with Woodrow Wilson, who dreamed of "freeing" the government from the "chains" of the Constitution and replacing it with a government of "experts" and administrators. That's where the shadow government began and that's what Trump and DOGE are "destroying."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Elon Musk said, that we're not living in a democracy, we're living in a bureaucracy.

When he said that, my response was, yes. Now, I don't know if you know who Elon. I don't know if you know who Woodrow Wilson is.

But, yes!

Living under a bureaucracy, that's the point. Let me give you the quote, the history of liberty is a history of resistance.

The history of liberty is a history of limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. Who said that?

Sounds like a guy who understands and values freedom. Somebody who understands the delicate balance of power, between the individual and the state. Right?

But the guy who said that, was the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.

Now, does that sound like somebody that we know, maybe on the left, that is now saying things like, we've got to save democracy? We've got to save democracy?

He's killing democracy, by cutting the bureaucracy.

Wilson was exactly the same kind of politician. Except, he was the grandfather of all of this.

He was the architect of a vision, where government would no longer be confined by the rules, the outdated rules. And the chains of the Constitution.

He was the guy who said the Declaration of Independence needed to be cast aside, because it's an outdated relic. He was the guy that wanted you not to be governed by the laws of nature. And nature's God. But by an elite ruling class of scientists, experts, bureaucrats.

That's -- that's what he wanted.

Isn't that what we have right now? We're not -- we don't elect the president. You elect the president and nothing changes. Why?

Not just because both parties are alike. But because the bureaucracy is set in stone!

It's a ruling class, of scientists, experts, and bureaucrats. Wilson believed that the government was no longer the machine of our Founding Fathers, that needed to be shackled and restrained.

He thought government should be a living organism, an evolving entity, free from the so-called outdated principles of 1776. This is where we get the Constitution is a living, breathing thing.

No, it's not. No, that's Woodrow Wilson.

He looked at the Constitution. The greatest safeguard of liberty ever written. And didn't see it as a beacon of freedom. He saw it as an obstacle that needed to be overcome. He -- let me paint you this picture.

Imagine, you're sitting in a grand lecture hall. It's early 1900s. Gaslights are flickering. And a young professor steps up to the podium.

He stands at the podium, everybody starts to be quiet. It's all -- you're in the crowd, everybody there is the future rulers of America.

And he starts in to thunderous applause, with something that, I don't know.

Me. It would -- the back of my neck, the hair on the back of my neck would stand up.

He said, quote, the makers of the Constitution constructed the federal government upon a theory of checks and balances. Which was meant to limit the government's power.

And therefore, its ability to govern.

This was a great mistake. The Constitution was founded on the Newtonian theory of the universe.

But we now understand, that the government is not a machine. But a living thing.

It must evolve. It must adapt. And it must be freed from its chains!

End quote.

Freed from its chains. When I read that line, I -- I thought to myself. I thought of setting the monster free in Young Frankenstein.

You're free! You're free! It didn't work out well.

Okay? When you take something that is like fire. Hello, California. And just release it. It is a very bad thing.

Washington said, government is like fire!

It will be the master of you, if you're not the master of it. Are we the master of our government, or is it the master over us?

What do you think happens, when you -- when you have a government, I free it from its chains?

Does it become a benevolent force?

Does it look out for your best interest. Does it even know who you are, let alone answer to you?

Wilson wasn't just a professor. He was a man on a mission.

To change, and this is his words.

To change a man or a boy, to be the most unlike his father, as possible.

Isn't that what our education system is doing?

Wilson believed that we needed to move away from the messy system of self-government.

And have it all placed into the capable hands of an intellectual elite, that he called administrative experts.

So you can see this throughout our whole government. Anthony Fauci.

The law was, that we are not supposed to do gain-of-function research!

We now know, through all kinds of records, that have been released, that Anthony Fauci disagreed with that. And he made the decision, that we were going to do gain-of-function research!

Because it's not up to him, to answer to the people!

He answers -- he's the expert!

He's the administrator. He knows better than the average person. Even if other scientists disagree with him, he is science!

These experts, that are unelected, and unaccountable, Wilson saw this. This is -- these are the people that need to run the country.

Not as representatives of the people. But as scientists, technocrats, bureaucrats, who know better than you do, on how to live your life.

For Wilson, and now you're seeing his finished product, that Trump and Elon Musk are beginning to dismantle. You are now seeing, that his vision was that the American people were not individuals that were given God-give up rights.

They were just parts of a collective. A mass to be organized. To be managed.

To be directed.

He viewed the old principles of liberty and self-determination. Those are relics of an ignorant past.

Things that have to be replaced. By science. And numbers. Cold, efficiency of science and government regulation.

Now, our founders would say, that's all well and good.

We understand that, let's just take you, at face value and say you're honest in that. But what you're forgetting is that men go bad with power and money!

All men can be corrupted.

So it's not that we are putting chains on the government, because government is bad! No. Government is made up of the people that are in it.

And if you don't limit it, if you -- if you allow them to gain more and more power, and more and more money. It will go corrupt.

And it will begin to oppress you.

The government -- the founders weren't anti government. They were anti-out of control large government. Where the people were servants of that government, not the other way around.

Wilson wrote, the Declaration of Independence. That the -- the foundation of our freedoms.

He said, it was outdated.

He called the principles for all practices and purposes in the Declaration, meaningless.

Meaningless is his word.

The words that inspired the American Revolution, the ideas that all men are created equal, that our rights come from God. Not from government. Were to Wilson, irrelevant. And meaningless in the modern world.

Why? Because you're too stupid to understand what's really going on. You're too stupid to be able to manage the affairs, of not only the nation. But the world!

Every time we try to manage a nation, or the world, we go wrong!

Every single time!

He didn't believe you really have a right to property. To speech. To life itself, unless the government allowed it. If that doesn't terrify you, let me tell you something darker than that. Not morality.

Not faith, not the Constitution. But science should be the guiding force of government.

Well, we saw that with COVID. Didn't we?

Follow the science!

What kind of science?

The experiments that Fauci has been doing on animals and everything else. It's -- it's -- it's -- it's Mengele stuff.

It's really evil stuff! Because it has no medical purpose to it at all. The science that Wilson was talking about. Was eugenics.

And that's the same kind of stuff, that just named it something else. But it's the same kind of medicine that we're talking about now.

The kind that kills those who are unfit. Look at what's happening in Canada!

It's the kind of politics that led to policies of forced sterilization.

And racial segregation.

Which he put into practice. He was the guy who reseparated -- resegregated the military.

He segregated the government.

He praised the film, birth of a nation. Which we don't need to be the Klan. He believed in an America where government, led by an enlightened few, would decide who was fit to participate in society, and who wasn't.

Does that sound like America to you at all?

Or does that sound like the birth of something entirely different?

When he left office, it grew!

It took root in Washington, because they figured out, companies could go to Washington and lobby and get their way.

This was the beginning of all of the lobbyists in Washington.

And it -- it just grew. Ever expanding bureaucracy. A shadow government of unelected officials, who now control almost every aspect of your life! From what kind of car you drive. To what you eat.

To what stove you can have in your house. How you can build your house.

His dream was that a government would no longer be by the people. But by the experts.

The people would be managed. Guided. And nudged in the right direction.

So when they're saying that they're destroying democracy, no. They're destroying the bureaucracy, which is the antithesis to our founding documents.

PBD Reacts to Glenn Beck's Prediction the Epstein Files WILL Be Exposed | Glenn TV | Ep 413play icon
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PBD Reacts to Glenn Beck's Prediction the Epstein Files WILL Be Exposed | Glenn TV | Ep 413

Radical transparency IS coming to America, Glenn says, but only if Kash Patel is confirmed to head the FBI. In fact, Glenn makes one of his boldest predictions yet: Kash will release the Epstein client list on his FIRST DAY leading the bureau. On tonight’s episode of "Glenn TV," Glenn is joined by ‪@PBDPodcast‬ host Patrick Bet-David and co-hosts Tom Ellsworth, Adam Sosnick, and Vincent Oshana. They discuss the damning ramifications releasing the Epstein list (or the Diddy list) may have for those who were associated with the island but were not guilty of partaking in criminal activity there — something President Trump expressed concern for before becoming elected. Plus, what will releasing the JFK files do to the CIA? We now know the CIA was in Miami following Lee Harvey Oswald, so why then didn’t the CIA stop him? Public trust in our federal government dropped substantially after the JFK assassination, and it continued to plummet over the next several decades until it hit a new low (14%) under Biden. Can Trump — with the radical transparency Glenn predicts is coming — turn that all around? PBD predicts Trump could increase that number to 50% or even 60%. Democrats see it coming, too. Their meltdowns over the DOGE and Elon Musk ending wasteful spending now are on fully display: “Accountability is here, and they’re panicking.” Lastly, Glenn and the "PBD Podcast" guys discuss how the first assassination attempt against Trump changed him as a person, providing him with both laser focus and an understanding that his job in the White House is much bigger than himself.

Trump’s Treasury Secretary SHUTS DOWN Reporter Trying to Attack DOGEplay icon
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Trump’s Treasury Secretary SHUTS DOWN Reporter Trying to Attack DOGE

The Biden government hired 80,000 new IRS agents to make sure YOU followed every one of their complicated tax laws. But when President Trump ordered DOGE to audit the government, politicians and the media squealed! That should speak volumes about what their true priorities are, Glenn says. Glenn and Pat review some of the latest pushback from the establishment, including how Democrats are whining about Elon Musk and how a judge tried to block even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from accessing Treasury data.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, it's astonishing how many people have found a very clear common sense voice and a lack of fear.

They seem to be all over this administration.

Stephen Miller is one of them, don't you think, Pat?

PAT: Definitely.

And he was talking about the angry Dems. And had some things to say about them. Deputy chief, Stephen Miller, cut 14.

VOICE: The Democrat use of the term unelected is really quite remarkable here. Donald Trump was elected in an overwhelming landslide.

These are Donald Trump staffers. It's like saying that Mike Walls, National Security adviser is unelected. Or Susan Wiles, the chief of staff is unelected. Or Donald Trump's communication team is unelected.

This is presidential staff that serves at the pleasure and for the president, just as I do. I am a staffer, for the president of the United States. He is elected. He is the one that the American people have chosen to implement his agenda. This is the agenda the American people voted for.

That he is asking his staff. His subordinates. His employees. To implement.

The unelected power in this country is the rogue bureaucracy.

USAID is unelected. The FBI, that persecuted President Trump for eight years, is unelected.

The CIA and those who have laundered intelligence to try to change the foreign policy of the United States are unelected.

President Trump is restoring democracy, by controlling the federal bureaucracy.

There is one man in the country, who is elected bit whole American people, to implement an agenda they support. That is the president.

Every other officer in this country, members of Congress and Senate are elected at the state and local level. The Constitution puts one man in charge of the federal executive branch. And that's the president.

GLENN: Understood. Understood.

PAT: Let him finish.

GLENN: He's absolutely awesome.

And absolutely right.

I mean, that's the thing -- I just don't understand. When they were -- when the federal judge tried to block and did for this weekend.

But it's not going to last long.

Tried to block the secretary of the Treasury

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: From even looking at the data, that is produced by the Treasury?

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Who is running things? My gosh.

PAT: Well, Treasury secretary Scott Bessent was interviewed over the weekend, and he had some things to say about -- just about that!

VOICE: Mr. Secretary, we are inside the cash room in the Treasury department. It's almost impossible to overstate how important the work that's done in the US building. Is the US financial system.

Yet right now, there is widespread concern about the DOGE teams access to sensitive payment systems.

Are you worried at all, that that access and that tinkering of the payment systems, could affect the Treasury's market or cause any disruption.

VOICE: Well, good. Thank you for asking me about that.

Because there's a lot of misinformation out there.

First of all, when you say the DOGE team, these are Treasury employees. Two Treasury employees, one of whom I personally interviewed in his final round. There is no tinkering with the system. They are on read only. They are looking. They can make no changes. It is an operational program to suggest improvements. So we make 1.3 billion payments a year. And this is two employees who are working with a group of long-standing employees.

VOICE: The letter that the treasury department sent earlier this week, talked about how the team currently does not have access to change the system.

Have they, at any point this year, had the ability to make changes?

VOICE: Absolutely not. This is no different than you would have at a private company.
By the way, the ability to change the system, sits at the Federal Reserve.

So it does not even lie in this building. So they can make suggestions on how to change the system, but we don't even run the system.

VOICE: And if they ask her, they request the ability to change the system. Would you grant that?

VOICE: No. Again, they have no ability to change the system.

I have no ability to grant that change. That they can make suggestions. Then it would go to the Federal Reserve. And just like any large system. There would be tests.

There would be this. There would be that.

And then the fed will determine whether these changes are robust or not.

VOICE: As the Secretary of Treasury, you also oversee the IRS.

Do you know what kind of access the team has to IRS data or individual taxpayer data?

VOICE: Well, I'm glad you asked that too.

Because, look, the IRS, the privacy issue is one of the biggest issues. And over the past four years, we've seen a lot of leaks out of there. The IRS systems are quite poor.

When I started in college in 1980, I learned the program. I think, there are 12 different systems at the IRS that still run on COBOL. But as of now, there is no engagement at the IRS.

VOICE: Elon Musk just a few -- half an hour ago, tweeted out that Treasury needs to stop approving certain payments. Has your staff tried to block any payments at the Treasury?

VOICE: We have not.

And I'm glad you asked that too. And just to put it in perspective, Elon and I are completely aligned in terms of cutting waste and increasing accountability and transparency for the American people.

I believe that this DOGE program in my adult life is one of the most important audits of government. Or changes to government structure, we have seen.

That when I was in my 20s, we had the grace report. And there's some great suggestions that came out of that.

Never implemented under Clinton and Gore.

I think it was to government efficiency. Or to reduce government. Nothing happened.

So, you know, President Trump came in. There's a big agenda.

And I think there are gigantic cost savings for the American people here.

And I think it's unfortunate the way the media wants to lampoon what is going on.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: Thank you.

VOICE: These are highly trained professionals. And this is not some broken band going around doing things. This is methodical, and it is going to yield big savings.

PAT: Jeez. And what's wrong with that? Is there anything wrong with that? I don't think so.

GLENN: Right. Did you hear a nonhostile question coming from the Bloomberg reporter?

PAT: No. A nonhostile? No. But he handled it in a nonhostile way.

He was great, wasn't he?

GLENN: Yeah, very well.

I mean, yeah. And it's a little scary, that the Treasury Secretary can't make any of these decisions, they're all made by the Federal Reserve.

That's a problem, which is why DOGE wants to bring Ron Paul in for an audit of the Fed, which would be fantastic.

PAT: It would be great.

GLENN: Can you imagine what we would find at the Fed now?

PAT: Oh, my gosh. I can't imagine it. And it's the fed with the power to make these changes.

That's amazing too.

That they can't even do it from the Treasury. That's kind of eye-opening.

But I think they need to use that term audit of government more. Because what's wrong with that.

GLENN: Yes. That's why they're going into the Pentagon. The seventh audit failed.

Let me ask you something: You know, she brings up the IRS.

The government hired 80,000 new IRS agents, to go over your records. To make sure nothing -- no funny business is going on with you.

That you're paying every dime that you're supposed to pay. Because there's a shortfall.

No! There's not a shortfall.

They're spending too much. When we go in, and try to send accountants in, to say, how did you spend this money?

The same thing the IRS does to you, every year, they squeal like little pigs.

I don't know.

If -- you know, you went in to the IRS every year with the attitude that the Democrats have.

You would be audited every year. Because somebody, probably rightfully so would go, wait a minute.

Why are you panicking so much. Why are you saying we can't have access to your records?

This is a legal operation. What's happening here?

And it -- it kills me that the media is sticking up for corruption.

Whose side are they on?

PAT: Well, they're on the side of corruption. Because they're benefiting from it.

And that's been the problem for how many decades now?

How many centuries now?

GLENN: I know. I know.

PAT: Have we run the nation in a way that the Founding Fathers intended, since, I don't know. 1830. Probably not.

GLENN: No. So, you know what, I have a copy of the first budget. It was on the front page of a Columbia newspaper from South Carolina.

And it -- it lays out George Washington's budget.

And it actually asks Congress to increase the budget for firewood, because the Capitol was cold.

And they needed extra firewood to keep things warm.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: And I don't even know if that got passed. I have no idea if that got passed.

PAT: Jeez.

GLENN: But that's the way we should be. Oh, you know what, put a sweater on, Congress. Oh, you're a little cold in there. Put a sweater on.

PAT: Exactly.

GLENN: They're the ones that should be putting the sweater on. Not us. Not us.

PAT: Look how Thomas Jefferson struggled with the Louisiana Purchase.

I mean, we almost didn't do it. Because he thought, it wasn't proper. He thought it was unconstitutional.

But it turned out to be too good a deal, and we did it anyway.

But they had a completely different mindset. You know, the funds that the federal government had, that they got from American taxpayers, whether they pay in excise taxes, or wherever their taxes came from. Those were sacred funds.

And they didn't just throw them out to anybody for any reason.

GLENN: Yes. And look at --

PAT: We've got to get back to that.

GLENN: We can spend a trillion dollars and have it all just vanish on us.

But if Donald Trump says, let's take $2 trillion and buy Greenland.

Everybody would freak out. Which one should you freak out about?

The investment, or the loss?

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: It's -- it's -- it's an unspeakable horror, what is going on. And how the people are reacting to it.

You know, everybody in America should be happy about this.

One other truth speaker. Somebody else who is just very good at saying exactly what he means. And getting right to the truth. Is Hegseth.

Here he is, talking about our strength. Cut 22.

VOICE: I think the single dumbest phrase in military history, is our diversity is our strength.

I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose. Regardless of our background. Regardless of how we grew up. Regardless of our gender. Regardless of our race. In this department, we will treat everyone equally.

We will treat everyone with fairness. We will treat everyone with respect, and we will judge you as an individual by your merit. And by your commitment to the team and the mission.

That's how it has been. That's how it will be.

Any inference otherwise, is meant to divide or create complications, that otherwise should not and do not exist.

GLENN: I've got to tell you. How is that controversial at all?

We're -- you know why they keep teams together.

You go through buds and you keep that team together, because their strength is their unity. You don't send them into war with a bunch of people that are all different with each other. You send them into war that all have different skills, yes.

But are acting as one, with one purpose.