Glenn: Time to get out of the herd because you're being led to the slaughter

It was twelve years ago people were inspired by the words "let's roll", willing to undergo self-sacrifice to help others. Today, people seem willing to just be cattle. The latest example? A Baltimore man was arrested for simply standing up and asking tough questions during a Common Core town hall meeting. Could this just be the latest step to government taking control of the American people, and using force and intimidation to suppress objections? Glenn thinks so, and he opened the show by explaining just what happened and what it all means.

Watch:

Below is a transcript of Glenn's opening monologue:

If you’ve been watching my show for a long time, you are familiar with this – nudge, shove, shoot, and it’s how every Marxist utopian dream begins with just, it starts simple with just a little nudge. It’s cash for clunkers. It is trying to figure out a way to make energy prices necessarily skyrocket, nudge you into hybrids or french fries versus carrots, you know? You put them in front of the chip so the kid eats healthy.

Then when this doesn’t work anymore, then they have to start shoving, and that’s when it gets more serious. That’s when they use the IRS to shut down the opposing voices. They use the NSA to monitor and track American citizens. They use labor intimidation, send the labor unions over to people’s houses. Then they start using regulation, and they start arresting people to scare everybody.

Eventually, that doesn’t work anymore, because people want to be free, and they understand common sense, and they want to live in a world that makes sense to them. And so when this doesn’t make sense, and this no longer works, if you really want your Marxist utopia, then it goes to this, and that’s when you start shooting. You start shooting people or you send them to a reeducation camp or you send them to an internment camp.

It happens every time, and it happens when you forget about the individual, and you make it about the collective. It happens with every revolution, whether it is a revolution in the French Revolution or if it is a revolution in Egypt. So now where are we on the scale? Are we at nudge, shove, or shoot? Well, it really comes down to this, how do you transform a nation? How do you do it?

This is the list that I made about six years ago when I first started, maybe right before I started at Fox. I saw what was coming, and I thought okay, so if you’re going to do fundamental transformation, what do you need? How do you do it? How do you take a nation that’s free and do it? And I came up with a list of things you had to control.

You had to control the media. They had that one a long time ago. They control the media. They control the culture through Hollywood. Education, they’re putting the final nails on that. They’ve controlled it for a long time but not like they’re trying now. Banking, well they pretty much control everything. They control through the Fed your money. They control the value of what you’ve even saved.

Medical, they’ve got that coming in the next couple of weeks. Communication, three little letters, NSA, they pretty much have that done. Food and farms, they are currently working on that like you wouldn’t believe. We’ll show you in the next couple of weeks. Police, have you noticed how much money the Department of Homeland Security has put into your local police force? Have you noticed that the Department of Homeland Security is actually being used now as a local police force?

And the military, I never thought they’d get that one. That one’s almost completely done, and of course labor. So they have all this done now. They didn’t have all this done six years ago. They do now. And then they have to do one other thing, they have to use, exploit, or create an economic crisis, security fears, war. And when you’re in war, you get to define who your enemies are, so you redefine the enemies.

Propaganda, we just had, our government just okayed, our Congress actually said it’s okay for our United States government now to do propaganda on our own people. Since when? Why did they need that piece? They have to use behavioral scientists. They have to figure out how to nudge and when to reeducate. Well, we know from The New York Times the president uses behavioral scientists, and nudge, shove, shoot. So where are we? Where are we?

Well, on Thursday, there was an event that happened that I found out about Friday night, and I couldn’t sleep for two hours, because I believe it is a very important piece that moves us further towards shoot. It happened in Towson, Maryland, an upscale, or it used to be upscale suburb of Baltimore. A dad was arrested after a public forum. This is it, Common Core State Standards. This was the invitation. This was the flyer that went out.

It says here “Your chance to get answers to your Common Core questions.” Well, that’s what it was. Dad stands up, and he’s got a question about Common Core. His name is Robert Small, and he wasn’t merely arrested. He was removed with excessive force and today, he faces ten years in prison.

By the way, this story is getting national coverage now. It hasn’t received any local coverage yet. Now, if I told you that story, you would say there’s got to be a catch. I want you to decide for yourself, because it’s all thank goodness captured on video.

But before I show it to you, here’s what was going on: The school board decided that they instead of actually engaging with the parents in a back-and-forth question-and-answer session, that your questions, all the answers to your Common Core questions would need to be written down on paper and then handed in to the schoolmarm.

Now with this method, sure, maybe it’s a little more orderly, but it also removes the possibility of follow-up questions on the spot, takes the microphone out of the crowd, takes the emotion out of the room, which I guess could be argued good thing or bad thing. But what happens is you suppress and minimize any possible objections.

Okay, so you could play that either way. You could be okay, well, they’re just trying to move things along, make sure people don’t get longwinded, and make sure nobody gets angry, but then they screened and edited the questions in advance. So for over an hour, the crowd had to listen to the county superintendent talk about how wonderful Common Core was. Then they showed a video on how great Common Core is. Then they started reading some of the softball questions, and that’s when Robert Small couldn’t take it anymore, but he stood up in total self-control, and here’s what happened. Watch.

VIDEO

Robert Small: I went to Community College. I finished at the University of Maryland. And now I move my family out to Howard County because of the reputation the schools. My children are being prepared for community college. You’re not talking to them about which colleges. You’re not preparing them for Harvard.

Take control. We’re sick of this. This is not a CNN political debate. This is a public town hall. Don’t stand for this. You’re sitting here like cattle. You have questions. Confront them. They don’t want to do it in public. Is this America? This is not a CNN political debate. Parents, you need to question these people. Do the research. It’s online.

Look at this. Okay, now did he look at all out of control? That guy was intimidating him. He was manhandling him. This is the way it used to happen in mother Russia, not America. Now here’s the kicker: The reason why I couldn’t sleep on Friday is because this guy, the father, was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, faces a $2,500 fine and up to ten years in prison. Excuse me? Show me the physical threat. Show me the assault.

The assault happened the other way around as the officer was violently yanking him by his arm in an attempt to remove him. Remove him from what? What was his crime, asking a question about what’s going to happen with his children? What law did this man break that warranted such a use of force? I’ll tell you what it was, doing this, doing this. You know this picture? You know what that is?

That’s Norman Rockwell, a guy standing up in a school board meeting and speaking his mind. That’s what Norman Rockwell said was one of the four freedoms, stating your opinion. As Small was being dragged out, he said don’t stand for this. You’re sitting here like cattle. Mr. Small’s admonition to the herd is spot on.

Where were the teachers as he was being removed, you know, the ones that always teach about it’s a wrong to bully people? Did no one feel that he was being bullied? Did not one person have the decency to say stop, stop, stop? Up there on the board, no one said lets him…stop? One woman taping asked that question. Another woman stood up, said something to the guard to no avail, but other than that, nothing, nothing.

We have seen in the last few months teachers stand up for a colleague who sexually molested and raped an eighth grade student, but the teachers don’t stand up against this? No one, none of the parents dare ask a question out loud or directly addressed the almighty school board without writing it down on paper first; otherwise it will turn into the Salem witch trials. Cattle, time to get out of the herd, because you’re being led to slaughter.

Perhaps people were afraid to speak because they were afraid of being dragged off by a police officer, and so the option is I sit here with my mouth closed like cattle. And when nobody is there to stand up for you, it’s because you weren’t there to stand up for everybody else that was dragged off. I just want you to put this in perspective. It was 12 years ago. We’re still the same Americans. It’s not like some past generation. We’re still the same generation that 12 years ago we were inspired by the rallying cry of the typical American that said let’s roll.

We’ve gone from let’s roll to cattle in 12 years. Don’t tell me that we haven’t lost our country. Don’t tell me that we haven’t been fundamentally transformed. I don’t even recognize Americans anymore. Now, here’s why I want you to remember this video: I want you to write this down. If you keep a journal, I want you to write this down, because you’re going to look like a prophet to your kids someday. Believe me on this.

Do you remember when I was at Fox and I told you about the fruit cart vendor in Tunisia that set himself on fire? And I said that guy, that, nobody will understand, and everybody will call me crazy, which they did, but that will lead to a watershed moment, and it will spread across the Middle East, and it will turn everything into chaos. And it did. Write it down in your journal. This is a watershed moment.

It doesn’t matter if this guy goes to jail or not. Did people learn their lesson? It’s dictatorship 101, make someone an example, and the rest will stay in line. The next meeting of that school district, they should have 10,000 people there, but I doubt they will. To quote Mr. Small, “is this America?” I don’t know.

Now, I want to take you to the other big story that happened this weekend, but I want to make sure you couple it with this story, because remember, we started with that list of how do you take over a nation like this. This story’s happening on the other side of the globe. It happened in Kenya, where at least 62 people are dead as terrorists have taken an upscale mall by violent and coordinated attack that targeted non-Muslims.

Now, by the way, Kenya is a country that has all kinds of gun restrictions, can’t have an automatic weapon, can’t have a semi-automatic weapon. You can’t even have a handgun yourself. If you use a gun in self-defense, you’re in trouble. So what happens? The group responsible for this was an Al Qaeda affiliated group, you know, Al Qaeda, the one that’s on the run that we’ve pretty much put out of business.

This group is called Al Shabaab. You need to know the name, Al Shabaab. They claim to be retaliating against “what Muslims in Somalia experienced at the hands of Kenyon invaders.” So when they went into this mall, they asked the shoppers what is the name of Muhammad’s mother? Sylvia isn’t the right answer apparently. If you couldn’t answer it, you got shot.

They tweeted the rampage live, “Like it or loathe it! Our mujahideen confirmed all executions were point blank range.” I loathe it, I don’t know about you. So people will watch this, and they’ll say how does this even affect me? I mean, we’re here in America. Well, here’s how: One of the Twitter accounts used by the terrorists identified ten of the gunmen. Three of them, at least three they say, were Americans, two allegedly from Minneapolis, an area which is Al Shabaab.

They have actively recruited in Minneapolis. Now, U.S. officials don’t have any confirmation of Americans having been involved in the attacks as of yet. They’re still working on it. We’ll focus on that angle tomorrow, but you’re not going to believe who our government is inviting and moving into our country, and you won’t believe the numbers that they’re doing it in.

This administration says they believe the U.S. is not really a priority for Al Shabaab right now. Really? That’s not what For the Record tells us. Two weeks ago, For the Record, a new program, the 60 Minutes of our generation – mark my words; put that in your journal as well – they reported just two weeks ago that there was documented proof that Al Shabaab members had crossed oh, our unsecured Mexican border into the U.S.

VIDEO

The Al Qaeda linked terrorist group Al Shabaab based in Somalia has attracted dozens of American recruits.

Sara Carter: I’ve covered stories where we know Somalians were attempting to cross into the United States from the Mexican border that were connected to Al Shabaab. That was documented. The documents were right there. I was able to write the story, prove that there were terrorists connected to Al Shabaab trying to enter the United States from Mexico. The Mexican authorities had released them, and then they disappeared inside Mexico. And there was a scramble to try to find them.

Really? Are they coming here looking for some undocumented jobs? Is that what it is? We have an administration that has sided with radical Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, who by the way were banned once again today in Egypt, while our own government is cozying up to the Brotherhood and turning a blind eye to dangerous extremists and making it easy, beyond making it easy, they are sending them here. We’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

In 2010, the president issued an executive order allowing 80,000 refugees to immigrate to the U.S. So what happens when all hell breaks loose? What happens to us when, let’s say, Al Shabaab members start shooting in our Westlake malls, and people plead for help? The top comes crashing down all too ready to help with all kinds of excuses that will be made to remove more freedoms from America, all of course in the name of safety.

And as the people in Baltimore demonstrated, even though people know it’s wrong, they won’t do anything. They’ll sit like cattle. Anyone who disagrees and stands will be deemed an enemy of the state, a security risk, and will be shoved and eventually shot. I said at the beginning, this is happening in Egypt. This is current. Fifty-five thousand unlicensed clerics were rounded up this weekend because they were deemed a threat to Egypt security. See, it happens this way every time.

If Egypt can round up that many people, I mean, do you think our government could do…I mean, can you imagine what we could do in a weekend? And please don’t start with me oh, yeah, he’s crazy talking. It’s never happened here. It already has happen. You need to go back and look at the images from the Japanese internment camps? All you need is a war. All you need is a threat. All you need is somebody at the top, and it’s always a Progressive that says round them up.

Oh, and in totally unrelated news that would make it easier for government to round people up, President Obama turned the naval yard memorial into a gun control speech, believe it or not, arguing that transformation was needed. Watch.

VIDEO

President Obama: These families have endured a shattering tragedy. It ought to be a shock to all of us as a nation and as a people. It ought to obsess us. It ought to lead to some sort of transformation.

And it will. Translation: We have to disarm more Americans. Watch the speech. It’s outrageous. Disarm more Americans, all in the name of safety, of course. Let me ask the question that I’ve asked a few times here, and I don’t seem to get an answer to. We are arming Al Qaeda and the rebels in the Middle East, not just with guns but automatic weapons and rockets, and some of the rebels are from here in the U.S., and yet at the same time, the same guy arming them is trying to disarm loyal American citizens.

The time to decide who you are and what you believe and what’s worth standing for, fighting for, dying for, going to jail for, is not when you’re sitting in a school district meeting. The time to decide who you are is right now, long before you have to make that decision.

EXCLUSIVE: Tech Ethicist reveals 5 ways to control AI NOW

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By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

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The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

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If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

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The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.