2016 hopeful Governor Bobby Jindal joins Glenn

October 09, 2015

WRITER

Joining Glenn on radio for a full hour Friday, Governor Bobby Jindal delved into a variety of issues he hopes to address in a dramatic way as President of the United States. From major tax reform to dealing with Islamic terrorism, Jindal shared his plans on how to address some of the most important issues facing our nation.

By way of introduction, Glenn told his audience, "I don't think you'll disagree with very much that he has to say."

Listen to the conversation or read the transcript below.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.

GLENN: Bobby Jindal, I'll be spending an hour with him on Monday's television show. Then we'll have some more of that on Tuesday as well. So you can really get to know him and hear his policies. But he joins us today on the program.

BOBBY: Glenn, thank you for having me. Look, you and I, we go way back. You're a long-time friend. I'm a big fan of yours. What you're doing to fight for the conservative cause.

For your listeners out at home, I've always done the show, remotely, calling in. This is my first time to physically come into your studios since y'all have modernized, and this is a beautiful, beautiful space.

For the folks that only get to see it on the podcast from TV or hear about it, let me tell you, Glenn has done a great, great job here with this space.

GLENN: Thank you. It's nice to have you here.

BOBBY: Thank you for having me.

GLENN: How is the family, first of all?

BOBBY: Doing well. You can relate. I know you've got -- we've talked about our kids before. My oldest, 13-year-old girl, she just went to her first boy/girl dance a couple of weeks ago. I'm completely against this. I think that's enough to convince every father to be for the Second Amendment.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

BOBBY: I offered to send the S.W.A.T. team with her. She did not want that. My wife offered to chaperone. She didn't want that either.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: My daughter when she started dating, I about put the kid into just a coma because I brought my security to sit down and meet him. And I just told the security, just play along. Sit at the other table. If I look over to you, just look at me. Look at your phone and then shake your head yes. And I had this kid so spooked that I knew all about him. If you need any tips, as she gets a little older, you call me. I have some good ones.

BOBBY: Out of all the fathers, I have to imagine, dating Glenn Beck's daughter has got to be pretty darn intimidating. Any boy that was brave enough to go through that gauntlet earns points for showing up.

GLENN: Oh, this kid -- the father the next day because I actually -- I ended the conversation. I put a plastic bag in my suit pocket. And we were just having pizza. And he had a Coke, and he drank the Coke. And at the end of the meeting, I said, are you done with that? And he said, yeah. And I took the plastic bag out, and I put his Coke can like I wasn't touching it and I was going to dust it for prints.

And he said, "Are you dusting -- I said, "I just -- hey, no big deal." The father called me the next day. And he said, "Mr. Beck." And I said, "Yes." He said, "Did you dust my son's Coke can for prints?" He was pissed. And I was going to say, well, not really. It was just -- and I said, well, yeah. And he said, you, sir, are a genius. I have daughters. I am doing it to them.

BOBBY: Let's not give away all of our secrets. I don't want our daughters listening to this thinking, oh, they were bluffing. Uncertainty is a good thing.

GLENN: Oh, I have more for you, Bobby. So you have a family. You know what this is -- is going to be like. You know what it's going to be like for them. You know that they're going to tear you apart. The next president, no matter who he is, is going to face Abraham Lincoln-style problems. Why would you want this job?

BOBBY: That's a great question. And look, I think it's the same reason you continue to speak out. Look, you could just easily say, I'm going to stay at home and be quiet. Because you know when you speak out, people come after you. If the next president is going to do what needs to be done, we're going to have to upset a lot of people. We're not talking about incremental change.

That's why I've said it's not enough to elect just any Republican. Folks are running because they want fame or they want glory, they're misguided. The only reason to do this, the idea of America is slipping away from us.

Now, look, every politician will tell you this election is the most important one. This one really is. If we don't change direction dramatically, I don't mean gradually or incrementally, I think we're done.

GLENN: So tell me the most dramatic thing that you think -- because this is -- we were talking about this yesterday.

I want tax plans that say, "We're shutting down the IRS. We're going a completely different way." I want to hear big Silicon Valley-type thinking.

PAT: Bold ideas.

GLENN: Really bold idea. Because that's what will captivate the imagination. And, quite honestly, that's the only thing that will heal us. So tell me -- give me some Bobby Jindal Silicon Valley --

BOBBY: Well, and look, we can start with tax plans. Domestically, we have got to shrink the size of the federal government. Not just slow its growth rate. I'm the only candidate who has done that. We cut our state budget 26 percent. 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats.

All these other candidates talk about shrinking government. They've never done that. So my tax plan, every Republican has a tax plan with lower rates. And we've got that. You know, 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent.

Three things that are radically different about my tax plan. So a bunch of these Republicans say -- you know, Trump and Jeb have said, we're going to have half of Americans pay no income tax.

GLENN: That's crazy.

BOBBY: I think that's crazy. I think everybody should pay something.

GLENN: Yes.

BOBBY: So our plan has a 2 percent rate. It's not about how much money we raise, but it's the most important 2 percent rate. We're all in this together. If we want government to stop wasting money, we have to care about it. It has to be our money. It's too easy to think, well, that money grows on trees, if we're not paying something.

PAT: So you have a 2 percent rate up to what?

BOBBY: So up to $10,000 for a single filer. $20,000 for a married filer.

The next level is 90,000 for single. 180,000 for married when you get up to 10 percent. So a middle class family, teacher, police officer married today making 150, they're paying 25 percent today. They would pay 10 percent under my plan. It does two other things that are dramatic. Number one, it also eliminates the corporate tax. Not reduces it. Just gets rid of it.

PAT: Oh, wow.

BOBBY: These guys play games. They hire accountants and lobbyists. They don't pay these taxes. Make the CEOs pay. We get rid of a whole bunch of the deductions and all the loopholes. We preserve five. But we get rid of all the other nonsense they put in the tax code. Here's the thing where the left -- they will attack me on this, but I'm actually proud of this. We shrink how much money -- we dramatically -- we cut 22 percent of the revenues going to the federal government over the next ten years. Now, the left is going to hate it. They're going to say, you can't do that. Well, if we don't do that, we're done.

If we elect a Republican president -- before, we've had Republican majorities, Republican presidents, they slow the growth rate. Nothing changes. We got $18 trillion of debt. We're drowning in debt. Now, this tax plan grows the economy. All kinds of numbers. 14 percent GDP growth. 6 million jobs. You know, 9 percent. Over eight to 9 percent wage growth. But here's the fundamental thing.

Here's the most important thing we have to do domestically. And then one other thing internationally. Domestically, this president has done a great job changing the American dream to be all about the government taking care of us. That's what he's tried to do.

We're on the path towards socialism. Let's just be honest about it. Bernie Sanders calls himself a socialist. Hillary Clinton is no better. Obama is no better. And there are a bunch of Republicans that aren't a whole lot better. They want to be Obamacare-lite. They want to be -- look, if this election is about who can give away the most stuff from the government, we're done. We never win that fight. It's not a fight worth having.

We have to look the American people in the eye and be honest with them and say, what makes the government great is not the government gives you stuff. It's that you have freedom in this country. We have to fight to get that freedom back. Shrinking the government is not just about growing the economy, it's getting our freedoms back. But secondly, internationally, this country better be serious -- and I know you've written about this. I know you feel strongly about this as well. We better feel seriously about the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.

GLENN: So tell me about ISIS. Let's start more basic than that. Tell me about Islam.

BOBBY: The reality is, Islam has a problem. And, you know, nobody on this stage is politically correct. But let's just be honest. I know we'll get a bunch of folks, you're anti-Muslim. You're racist. That's nonsense. This is just true. Islam has a problem. And that's radical Islam. And what we need our president to say to Muslim clerics and leaders, they've got to do two things. At least one, they have to explicitly say, they have to condemn by name these individual -- these terrorists. These murderers. Let's call them what they are.

You can't just condemn a generic act of violence. You can't just say, oh, well, we're against -- no, you have to say, these individuals are not martyrs. They're not going to enjoy a reward in the afterlife. They're going to straight to hell, where they belong.

Then, secondly, they have to explicitly say, we fully embrace religious liberty and all the freedoms for people that have different religious beliefs that we want for ourself. It can't be that we want freedoms for us, but we don't other people to have those same freedoms.

When it comes to ISIS, when it comes to Islam, we have a president who went to the Pentagon a few weeks ago, and said this is a generational conflict. We have to change hearts and minds.

Glenn, they are burning people leave alive. Raping. Crucifying. Torturing. Killing Christians. Other Muslims. Other religious minorities. He wants to negotiate with them? We have to hunt them down and kill them.

He calls Fort Hood an incidence of workplace violence. If we won't name -- Secretary Kerry wants to allow many more Syrian refugees in our countries. We know ISIS wants to send terrorists into Europe and into America. Why are we letting them in? They don't even have to sneak in. If we're going to let them in the front door, why would we do that?

GLENN: Well, we're accepting 15,000 in the next year. They're all being vetted by the United Nations. That's insane. But how do we -- you know, we've just raised -- I just got a note this morning. We have broken the 10 million-dollar mark in what has it been, six weeks? All coming in, in hundred-dollar checks, trying to raise money to save the Christians in the Middle East, the Nazarene fund. $10 million. So that tells me, at least this audience is very well aware of what's going on. That we are now facing the St. Louis, the ship that we turned in the 1930s. That we're facing the same thing that the world faced before. An extermination of a race of people based on their religion.

And I get a lot of heat from people, even in this audience, saying, "You can't bring any of them here." My answer to that is, A, our vetting is far superior than anything the United States is going to do. Second of all, how many members of ISIS are Christian? Zero.

How do you deal with the crisis of not the war refugees because if you're Muslim, as far as I'm concerned, Saudi Arabia has lots of room. Jordan has lots of room. They know the difference between the bad guys and the good guys. The West won't admit it. So they can do that. How do you deal with the Christians and this open door in Europe that's going to crush Europe?

BOBBY: Well, you're exactly right. What I worry about is those folks going to Europe have a much easier time than coming to the United States, where they can do us harm.

GLENN: Yes.

BOBBY: But the vetting is so important. And I applaud the generosity of your audience. Let's get to the root cause of this. This administration wants to talk bandaids. This didn't happen by accident. You have millions of refugees there because of this president's failed foreign policy. Let's for a moment step back and think about what we're seeing today.

So you have Assad and Putin and Iran and Hezbollah working together. I mean, can you imagine -- this all happened because this president, he created a void. He said there would be a red line. He said if Assad crossed that red line and used chemical weapons, there would be consequences. It has been his official policy that Assad has to go, but he's done nothing to accomplish that. He has said his official policy is, we'll hunt down and kill ISIS. He's done not enough to accomplish that. Glenn, we have to take the handcuffs off the military. You've had General Petraeus come to the Congress and offer ideas. You have other military, current and foreign military leaders saying what we should be doing. Why aren't we arming and training the Kurds directly?

GLENN: Amen.

BOBBY: I mean, we're going through Baghdad. The Kurds have been the effective force on the ground. Turkey is willing to help us to go in -- and other Sunni allies are willing to go after ISIS. What they don't want to do is to go after ISIS if it leaves Assad in power. What they don't want to do is prop up Iran, a Shia power. They're not convinced America is in this to win this. So now we're in a position where our friends don't trust us. Our enemies don't fear and respect us. Look, Putin went into the Ukraine and Crimea because he didn't respect the White House. Nothing -- nothing of consequence happened to him, so now he's going into Syria. China is testing us in the South China Sea. Let's be clear about what's going on. These are big adversaries. They respect the Turks. They don't want a conflict with the United States. If they feel like there's no strong pushback, they'll keep doing this.

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.

me liking tweets celebrating the assassination of the united healthcare ceo pic.twitter.com/N41w51ZuZR
— 🔻 (@pegasustits) December 5, 2024

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?

A liberal TikToker is selling a t-shirt that glorifies the recent assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in NYC.
“deny , defend, depose” was reported to have been on the shell casings. pic.twitter.com/IWpHYkx2lF
— SteveSant66 🇺🇸 (@SSant66) December 8, 2024

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.

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