Glenn has a lot of fans across the country, but there is one fan in particular who many may be surprised is a huge Glenn Beck fan – a homeless gentleman named Scooter.
When he brought him on, Glenn asked Scooter to introduce himself to the audience.
“I'm 56, from New Jersey. I've been homeless just over two years now. I'm approaching my third year. I wasn't part of the subprime mess. I lost a house that I had lived in for 27 years. It was bad health, bad luck. And I'm hoping to explore my future. I'm a Tea Party guy. I'm not here because of addiction,” Scooter said.
“I live in my van. I live in a conversion van of wonders. I'm in a Wal Mart parking lot here in Morris County, New Jersey, and I stay alive by using a generator. I'm able to cook in here. I have a new wave oven, I've got a microwave, a coffee maker. And hoping for a much better future.”
“But you want the government to take care of you?” Glenn asked.
“Absolutely not. I take the absolute minimal. As a matter of fact, it wasn't until New Jersey had forced me to that I applied for disability,” said Scooter.
“Because of the type of aid that I do get from the state which is general assistance and food stamps which amounts to a total of 400 a month, they obligate me, because I have a medical situation, they obligate me to apply for disability. And I was made aware of that about a year and a half ago and I just refused to do it and then I was told I had to do it, otherwise I was going to lose what I get,” Scooter explained.
“Ofttimes you have quoted Ben Franklin where he said don't make people too comfortable in the situation that they're in. And I don't want to become complacent. And you know something? When you get to the winter? Like last night we had below 30 degrees, and it becomes appealing. I do look for work. I've picked up some odd jobs over the course of time so that whenever I've seen opportunity, I've grabbed it with both hands and I've gone with it.”
Scooter said he was looking at Wyoming, North Dakota, and possibly Texas. Scooter said that he has a background in television and used to work in the production trucks in New York for live events.
Scooter also commented on politicians a political figures like Maxine Waters and Jim Wallis.
“ Here's the thing with Maxine Waters. I mean, she's been obnoxious in the past, and I've got to tell you even before I heard her quote, I was getting annoyed at the Wall Street people simply because I've been in the van like I said over two years and not once have I ever wanted to defecate out in public. Quite frankly, because I would be so studious in finding where I needed to do whatever it was, I wound up in a hospital with a severe case of diverticulitis. And that these people, they've actually made life for some homeless people in the country harder in certain cities because they've been grabbing resources from churches and things like that that are designated specifically for the homeless.”
Scooter said that the people and businesses around him have been generous. He gets electricity from a generator and he gets internet access from the nearby McDonald’s and a Panera Bread.
How did Glenn hear of Scooter?
Scooter explained, “There was actually a tsunami on Twitter a few weeks ago that was inspired by me. It wasn't instigated by me and I was quite surprised by it. There's a fella by the name of Mark Fullback who came up and did a video with me. The thing I like about Mark is that he's not going after government help for helping homeless people get back on their feet or stay alive. He reaches out to individuals, to institutions, to corporations and he's doing a great job. He came up, shot a video with me at which point he asked me the same question about Internet access and I mentioned that Glenn had the new network online and that I wish I could get it and I looked in the camera and I said, if anybody wants to buy me a scholarship, please do. And then there was this tsunami of tweets that people were saying, ‘Hey, Glenn, reach out to Scooter, he's your biggest fan,’ et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
One of Glenn’s producers saw the tweets and passed the story to Glenn and Stu. Below is the video which led to Scooter ending up on radio:
At the end of the interview, Glenn gave Scooter a subscription to GBTV – but with the caveat that Scooter continues to contribute to segments on radio and GBTV.
“Thank you so much. And listen, God bless you guys for everything that you do. I told these people what you do I cherish because you're boots on the ground and you're pressing the Constitution and you want to take the country back to the greatness that it was that opens up opportunities for guys like me. It really does.”