Glenn interviews Rick and Karen Santorum

Former GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum and his wife Karen phoned in to radio today and talked with Glenn about the Democratic Convention and President Obama’s speech last night. Why were the Democrats so focused on talking war and not the economy?

Read the transcript of the interview below:

Rick Santorum and Karen Santorum are on the phone with us now. Karen, Rick?

VOICE: Good morning, Glenn, how are you?

GLENN: Very good. First of all, can ‑‑ how's Bella doing?

KAREN SANTORUM: Oh, she's doing great. Thank you so much for asking. And it was so nice to be with you and Tania the other night. I should have shared with you her picture. She's beautiful and healthy and we just thank God every day for her life.

GLENN: We had ‑‑ we had dinner in Dallas, what was it, two nights ago? And ‑‑

KAREN SANTORUM: Yeah, it was so fun.

GLENN: Yeah, we had dinner with this roomful of billionaires. I mean, we were the two couples that were like, we were the slugs in the room. And you guys were running for president just a few months ago. And we're sitting in this room and they're billionaires but they all were broke in the Nineties, all of them.

KAREN SANTORUM: Yeah.

GLENN: And we talked about one of them said, you know, I had to push my hill ‑‑ my car down the hill to jump, you know, to get it ‑‑

PAT: Start?

GLENN: Yeah, pop the clutch on it to get it to start?

SANTORUM: Yeah. Well, I thought the best one, Glenn, was when he said he had to turn in his toll tag when he ‑‑ because he used a 50 cent toll when he went to work but he turned in his toll tag because if he hadn't used the toll tag, it was 55 cents. So to save 5 cents a trip, he turned in his tag and paid his cash.

GLENN: Now, these guys ‑‑

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: These guys ‑‑

PAT: That's amazing.

GLENN: ‑‑ said, I had to cancel my call waiting because it was $3 a month.

SANTORUM: Yeah.

GLENN: He turned in his toll tags because it saved him an extra 5 cents a day. That's how broke they were in, like, 1996. They're billionaires now. And we were talking about, look at this country. Look at what you can do. And Barack Obama and the Democrats don't believe that any of us exist. Or that any of us are putting anything of value into our society.

We've been talking today, Karen, about how the Democrats really focused on foreign affairs and war and everything else, and they think this is going to be a winning strategy for them. I think they're wrong. I think the economy's the only thing that matters. But you have, with patriotvoices.com, a new poll that you have seen. Can you tell us about the poll? It's of mothers, right?

KAREN SANTORUM: There was a recent survey of American mothers and what it revealed was that a majority of mothers believe that this country is on the wrong track and they are very concerned about national security issues. You know, President Obama's number one responsibility is to protect us and I think what this study's showing is that he has failed miserably and moms care about that. They care about security.

GLENN: Let me just show some of the polls. The top three concerns of moms in America: Unemployment, most concern, 42%; high gas and energy prices were the number two; and third choices of the moms, hay gas prices directly responsible, energy prices. The president is on record saying his policies would make energy prices necessarily skyrocket. The cost of groceries. The average grocery is up 15% in the last 18 months. But there are some other things here. 73% of mothers are concerned about the type of nuclear strategy that President Obama might pursue.

SANTORUM: Yeah, this is ‑‑ I'm sorry. Let me jump in there.

GLENN: Go ahead.

SANTORUM: That really has to do with this whole conversation with Medvedev, that he'll be more flexible on the START II treaty which gives Russia a built‑in huge advantage on tactical. It's a huge advantage, you know, 10:1 advantage over the United States. And it's now a built‑in advantage that Barack Obama negotiated and agreed to. And said that, you know, he was going to be more flexible. And I think this, I'm convinced that they brought this issue up is because, you know, that swing vote. A lot of these moms are very concerned about this issue of security and they look around the world and they see the hostility and the brewing anger and the hatred for America and our weakness, the president bowing, the president whispering that he will be flexible and they see weakness of this president and they don't want a president who's willing to sacrifice the security of our country so expend more money on entitlement programs.

GLENN: 78% of moms think the United States should increase offshore drilling. 79% of moms think government regulations need to be trimmed to incentivize people to start small businesses are expand existing ones. 53% of moms say it was inappropriate for President Obama to tell Israel that it should alter its borders. 62 of moms are concerned that President Obama said transmit this to Vladimir to President Medvedev. When informed that ObamaCare cuts Medicare funding, only 12% of moms thought that was a good idea.

This is all upside down for the president. What do you think this means in November?

KAREN SANTORUM: I think it ‑‑

[ OVERLAPPING SPEAKERS ].

GLENN: Wait, wait.

STU: Double response.

GLENN: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

STU: Communication between spouses is very important.

GLENN: We've got to talk to you about this. Are you guys even in the same city or the ‑‑ are you guys in the same area?

SANTORUM: Yeah, we are at the airport. We're just about to take off.

GLENN: All right.

SANTORUM: We're headed to Denver.

GLENN: You're not flying American Airlines, are you?

KAREN SANTORUM: We're not going to do that again, Glenn.

GLENN: Good. Thank you very much. All right. Tell me ‑‑ Karen, let's start with you. What do you think this means in November?

KAREN SANTORUM: I think it means that moms care more about just (inaudible). The overriding issue of concern for most of them was jobs. About half are concerned equally with energy and then the national debt and protecting America from the outside, from outside threats was huge. And I think that, you know, a lot of times moms ‑‑ I think it's an insult to women, too, is that we just care about abortion or the life issue. And it goes so far beyond that. It's ‑‑ I think that the moms care a lot more about a broader spectrum of issues, and I know for me personally and all the moms I've talked to, national security is a big deal. And, you know, things like, you know, the nuclear threats, electromagnetic pulse, things like that. You know, once moms are educated on that, they share their concerns.

GLENN: Rick?

SANTORUM: I would throw on top of that that, you know, the reason Obama talked about this last night, because it's a weakness for him. And America doesn't feel better about itself. You know, remember Obama's going to bring back this age, not only are the fees going to go back down but America's preeminence in the world and how people looked at America was going to go up and prestige was going to increase and he was going to get the Nobel Prize and it's just been a complete nose dive since then and that's a real problem because people do look at a president as someone who is, you know, respons ‑‑ that's the one thing the presidents are responsible for and that most Americans look to him with respect to our security.

GLENN: You know, I'm feeling really optimistic about the election but I was really optimistic about your election as well. So do you have any feelings, either of you, on where you think this is headed? How's Romney going to fare? Is Romney going to win or not?

KAREN SANTORUM: Oh, I'm praying he does. I'm concerned because of those issues that we're not talking about that we should be talking about and, you know, we're obviously hoping and praying he gets through. I think four years of Obama would be devastating to our country. And the effects, you know, may not be reversible. So we all just need to work really hard to help Romney get elected. But personally I'm concerned that I wish we had more issues to talk about.

PAT: Yeah, I notice that you guys have skipped the most important issue, Rick, and that's the issue that you started was the incredible war on women where you tried to remove contraception from all women and control their lives in every way. And I just, I find that missing here from the mom survey, too. They gotta be concerned about that, right?

SANTORUM: Oh, yeah, absolutely. There's a widespread fear that the government's going to come in and abolish birth control.

GLENN: Well, I have a bumper sticker. I have a bumper sticker on my car: Rick Santorum out of my fallopian tube.

SANTORUM: You have a bumper sticker on your car?

GLENN: Yeah, I do. I do. The real question there is, you have fallopian tubes?

SANTORUM: Yeah, I'm sort of ‑‑ I don't know.

GLENN: All right, guys. Thank you so much and have a safe flight and I'm glad to hear you're not flying American.

KAREN SANTORUM: Thank you, Glenn. Have a good day.

GLENN: Bye‑bye. Rick and Karen Santorum.

The Deep State's NEW plan to backstab Trump

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

We cannot make the same mistake we made in 2016 — celebrating victory while the deep state plots its next move.

In 2016, Donald Trump shocked the world by defeating Hillary Clinton. Conservatives cheered, believing we’d taken back the reins of our country. But we missed the bigger battle. We failed to recognize the extent of the damage caused by eight years of Barack Obama and decades of progressive entrenchment. The real war isn’t won at the ballot box. It’s being waged against an insidious force embedded deep within our institutions: the administrative state, or the “deep state.”

This isn’t a new problem. America’s founders foresaw it, though they didn’t have a term for “deep state” back in the 1700s. James Madison, in Federalist 48, warned us that combining legislative, executive, and judicial powers in the same hands is “the very definition of tyranny.” Yet today, that’s exactly where we stand. Unelected bureaucrats in agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Justice hold more power than the officials we vote for. They control the levers of government with impunity, dictating policies and stifling change.

This is the fight for the soul of our nation. The founders’ vision of a constitutional republic is under siege.

We’ve felt the consequences of this growing tyranny firsthand. During COVID-19, so-called experts ran our lives, crushing civil liberties under the guise of public safety. Our intelligence agencies and justice system turned into weapons of political warfare, targeting a sitting president and his supporters. Meanwhile, actual criminals were given a pass, turning American cities into lawless war zones.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1816 that “the functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents.” Today, we see Jefferson’s prophecy fulfilled. The deep state exercises unchecked power over our freedoms, and information itself is controlled by the fourth branch of government: the legacy media.

Even when we win elections, the deep state doesn’t concede defeat. It switches to survival mode. Trump’s first term proved this. Despite a historic mandate to dismantle the bureaucracy, the deep state fought back with everything it had: leaks, investigations, court rulings, and obstruction at every turn. And now, with the possibility of Trump returning to office, the deep state is preparing to do it again.

Progressives are laying out their attack plan — and they’re not even hiding it.

U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) recently boasted about forming a “shadow cabinet” to govern alongside the deep state, regardless of who’s in the White House. Nickel called it “democracy’s insurance policy.” Let’s be clear: This isn’t insurance. It’s sabotage.

They’ll employ a “top down, bottom up, inside out” strategy to overwhelm and collapse any effort to reform the system. From the top, federal judges and shadow officials will block Trump’s every move. Governors in blue states like California and New York are gearing up to resist federal authority. During Trump’s first term, California filed over 100 lawsuits against his administration. Expect more of the same starting January 20.

From the bottom, progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union will flood the streets with protesters, much as they did to oppose Trump’s first-term immigration reforms. They’ve refined their tactics since 2016 and are prepared to unleash a wave of civil unrest. These aren’t spontaneous movements; they’re coordinated assaults designed to destabilize the administration.

Finally, from the inside, the deep state will continue its mission of self-preservation. Agencies will drag their feet, leak sensitive information, and undermine policies from within. Their goal is to make everything a chaotic mess, so the heart of their power — the bureaucratic core — remains untouched and grows stronger.

We cannot make the same mistake we made in 2016 — celebrating victory while the deep state plots its next move. Progressives never see themselves as losing. When they’re out of power, they simply shift tactics, pumping more blood into their bureaucratic heart. We may win elections, but the war against the deep state will only intensify. As George Washington warned in his Farewell Address, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force; and force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

This is the fight for the soul of our nation. The founders’ vision of a constitutional republic is under siege. The deep state has shown us its plan: to govern from the shadows, circumventing the will of the people. But now that the shadows have been exposed, we have a choice. Will we accept this silent tyranny, or will we demand accountability and reclaim our nation’s heart?

The battle is just beginning. We can’t afford to lose.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Drone mystery exposes GLARING government incompetence

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

The drone issue is getting way out of hand.

Earlier this month, Glenn first reported on the mysterious drones stalking the night sky over New Jersey, but the situation is increasingly concerning as the sightings have escalated. Not only have drones been seen across the Northeast Coast, including over New York City, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, but recently, they have been spotted over the night skies of San Diego and other parts of Southern California.

It doesn't take an expert to identify the potential dangers and risks that dozens of undetectable, unidentified six-foot or larger drones pose to national security. Yet, our government's response has been one of unimaginable incompetence, leaving us to speculate on the origin and intention of these drones and wonder in astonishment at the government's ineptitude. Here are three examples of the government's lackluster response to the mystery drones:

Iranian Mothership and Missing Nuclear Warheads

- / Stringer | Getty Images

After several weeks of hubbub, New Jersey Representative, Jeff Van Drew gave an interview on Fox News where he claimed that the drones originated from an Iranian "mothership" off the East Coast of the United States. This theory has since been disproven by satellite images, which show that all Iranian drone carriers are far from U.S. shores. Another theory suggests that drones may be equipped with sensors capable of detecting nuclear material and that they are looking for a nuclear warhead that recently went missing! With these apocalyptic theories gaining traction in the absence of any real answer from our government, one can't help but question the motive behind the silence.

Pentagon's Limp Wristed Response

Alex Wong / Staff | Getty Images

In a recent press conference, national security spokesman John Kirby responded to reporters demanding answers about the government's lack of transparency, which has caused increasing public anxiety. He insisted that the drones did not pose a threat and were not assets of a foreign power, such as from Iran or China--even though he is still uncertain about their identity and origin. He also claimed that many of the sightings were simply misidentifications of normal aircraft.

This lackluster answer has only further inflamed national anxieties and raised even more questions. If the government is unsure of the identity of the drones, how do they know if they are a threat or if they aren't foreign assets? If they aren't foreign, does that mean they are U.S. assets? If so, why not just say so?

The Pentagon has also stated that they are leaving it up to local law enforcement to spearhead the investigation after concluding that these drones pose no threat to any military installation. This has left many feeling like the federal government has turned a blind eye to a serious issue that many Americans are very concerned about.

Where's Pete Buttigieg?

Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

We are in the closing weeks of the Biden administration, and with the finish line in sight, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg probably figured nothing else could go wrong on his watch—but boy was he wrong. As Secretary of Transportation, Buttigieg is in charge of the FAA, the agency responsible for managing all air traffic across the nation. One would think that mysterious, 6-foot-long, seemingly intractable drones are invisible on radar and flying above major cities would pose a serious threat to the myriad of legal aircraft that traverse our skies. Yet, Buttigieg has been silent on the issue, adding another failure to his resume which includes: malfunctioning airplanes, the train derailment in Ohio, and the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse, just to name a few.

Glenn: How Alvin Bragg turned hero Daniel Penny into a villain

Michael M. Santiago / Staff | Getty Images

We cannot allow corrupt institutions to punish those who act to protect life and liberty.

America no longer has a single, shared understanding of justice. Two Americas now exist, each applying justice differently depending on who you are and where you live. One America, ruled by common sense and individual courage, praises heroes who stand up to protect others. The other, driven by political agendas and corrupted institutions, punishes those same heroes for daring to act.

This stark division couldn’t be clearer than in the case of Daniel Penny, the Marine whose trial in New York City this week drew strong reactions from both sides across the divided line of justice.

If we let this slide, we accept a world in which heroes are treated as criminals and the law is a weapon for ideological warfare.

Penny was on a subway train last year when Jordan Neely — a man suffering from severe mental illness and reportedly high on drugs — began threatening passengers, saying, “I’m going to kill you all.” The fear on that subway car was palpable, but nobody moved. Nobody, that is, until Penny did what needed to be done. He took action to protect innocent lives.

In the America many of us used to believe in, Penny’s response would be heralded as heroic. His actions mirrored the courage of Todd Beamer on Flight 93, who, on September 11, 2001, rallied others with the words, “Let’s roll,” to prevent further tragedy. But in New York, courage doesn’t seem to count anymore. There, the system turns heroes into villains.

Penny subdued Neely using a chokehold, intending only to restrain him, not kill him. Tragically, Neely died. Penny, filled with remorse, told the police he never meant to hurt anyone. Yet, instead of being recognized for protecting others from a clear and present threat, Penny stood trial for criminally negligent homicide.

In Alvin Bragg’s New York, justice bends to ideology. The Manhattan district attorney has made a career of weaponizing the law, selectively prosecuting those who don’t fit his narrative. He’s the same prosecutor who twisted legal precedent to go after Donald Trump on business charges no one had ever faced before. Then, he turned his sights on Daniel Penny.

A jury may have acquitted Penny, but what happened in New York City this week isn’t justice. When the rule of law changes depending on the defendant’s identity or the prosecutor's political motives, we’re no longer living in a free country. We’re living in a state where justice is a game, and ordinary Americans are the pawns.

The system failed Jordan Neely

It’s worth asking: Where were activists like Alvin Bragg when Neely was suffering on the streets? Jordan Neely was a tragic figure — a man with a long history of mental illness and over 40 arrests, including violent assaults. The system failed him long before he stepped onto that subway train. Yet rather than confront that uncomfortable truth, Bragg’s office decided to target the man who stepped in to prevent a tragedy.

This isn’t about justice. It’s about power. It’s about advancing a narrative where race and identity matter more than truth and common sense.

It’s time to demand change

The Daniel Penny case — and others like it — is a wake-up call. We cannot allow corrupt institutions to punish those who act to protect life and liberty. Americans must demand an end to politically driven prosecutions, hold DAs like Alvin Bragg accountable, and stand up for the principle that true justice is blind, consistent, and fair.

If we let this slide, we accept a world in which heroes are treated as criminals and the law is a weapon for ideological warfare. It’s time to choose which America we want to live in.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

CEO Brian Thompson's killer reveals COWARDICE of the far-left death cult

Jeff Swensen / Stringer | Getty Images

Early on the chilly morning of Wednesday, December 4th, Brian Thompson, CEO of health insurance giant, UnitedHealthcare, was walking through Midtown Manhattan on his way to a company conference. Suddenly, a masked and hooded figure silently allegedly stepped onto the sidewalk behind Thompson, drew a 3-D printed, silenced pistol, and without warning fired multiple shots into Thompson's back before fleeing the scene on an electric bicycle. After a multiple-day manhunt, a 26-year-old lead suspect was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania after being recognized by an employee.

This was not "vigilante justice." This was cold-blooded murder.

As horrific as the murder of a husband and father in broad daylight in the center of New York City is, the story only gets worse. Even before the murder suspect was arrested, left-wing extremists were already taking to X to call him a "hero" and a "vigilante" who "took matters into his own hands." Even the mainstream media joined in on the glorification, as Glenn pointed out on air recently, going out of the way to show how physically attractive the murder suspect was. This wave of revolting and nihilistic fanfare came in response to the findings of online investigators who surmised the murder suspect's motives to retaliate against healthcare companies for corruption and denied coverage. The murder suspect supposedly underwent a major back surgery that left him with back pain, and some of his internet fans apparently viewed his murder of Thompson as retribution for the mistreatment that he and many other Americans have suffered from healthcare companies.

The murder suspect and his lackeys don't seem to understand that, other than depriving two children of their father right before Christmas, he accomplished nothing.

The murder suspect failed to achieve his goal because he was too cowardly to try.

If the murder suspect's goals were truly to "right the wrongs" of the U.S. healthcare system, he had every tool available to him to do so in a constructive and meaningful manner. He came from a wealthy and prominent family in the Baltimore area, became the valedictorian at a prestigious all-boys prep school, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a master's in engineering. Clearly, the murder suspect was intelligent and capable, and if he had put his talent into creating solutions for the healthcare industry, who knows what he could have accomplished?

This is the kind of behavior the far-left idolizes, like communists on college campuses who wear shirts that celebrate the brutal Cuban warlord, Che Guevara. Merchandise celebrating the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect is already available, including shirts, hoodies, mugs, and even Christmas ornaments. Will they be sporting his face on their T-shirts too?

This macabre behavior does not breed creation, achievement, success, or life. It only brings death and risks more Americans falling into this dangerous paradigm. But we still have a chance to choose life. We just have to wake up and take it.