BLOGAugust 23, 2017

Glenn: Do the Things You’re Doing Back up What You Believe?

America is in turmoil, and it’s time to remember who we are as a country.

“Who are we?” Glenn asked the audience on radio Wednesday, reminding them of our country’s beginning. “What is the American story? Who are we as a people?”

Are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and the right to be secure in your own home among your fundamental beliefs?

“I know I believe in the Bill of Rights,” Glenn said. “I know it with everything in me.”

As Americans, we used to be certain that people shouldn’t be able to take your property and you should be able to say what you believe without fear of being thrown in jail. Now, we’re questioning everything. But freedom must be both earned and understood because it comes with “profound responsibility,” Glenn asserted.

“America is a place where tyrants do not win,” he said.

GLENN: Interesting speech last night from the president. He gave a fiery campaign speech in Phoenix. He said he wasn't going to mention any names, and he didn't. Here's the issue: The left hates Donald Trump. Hates him. More than any other president, it seems in history, including George W. Bush, including strangely Woodrow Wilson. Democrats in office want to impeach him. The media has a hysterical hatred of him, so much so that they often compare him to Hitler and Kim Jong-un. And now he's railing against highly influential Republican senators, making bigger enemies of them as well.

The question is: Who will work with him on anything? Please, Mr. President, get off the campaign trail and start governing. That's what you need a media source to tell you: Stop with the bickering and start with the healing and the governing. If you don't have a media source that's telling you that, maybe perhaps it's time to find a new media source.

(music)

GLENN: How is it that we are going down this road? How is it that we are in a civil war, a cold civil war now? I believe it's about to be a hot civil war. How is this happening to us? And on what? On what?

The last time we had a civil war, it was over slavery. It was over something really, really important. It wasn't about state's rights, no matter what the Confederates and the Confederate apologists say today. It wasn't over state's rights, and I can prove that to you very easily. And -- and do your own work.

Just -- just look it up yourself. Read the Confederate constitution. When you read it, if you really loved America, you wouldn't rewrite the Constitution. You would say, "We're going to reset towards the Constitution and include the Bill of Rights." None of that was included in the Confederate constitution.

In fact, you didn't have a state right. If you joined the confederacy, you had to agree to slavery. And you had to agree with the expansion of slavery. That's not about states' rights. That's about slavery. Pure and simple. There it is. Look it up. Read it. Now let's move on.

Our last Civil War was about slavery, about ending oppression. Now, what kind of oppression is this that these statues -- do they -- are we living in a country where it's like Night at the Museum? Do the statues come alive at night? Come over to your house, ride into your bedroom, and oppress you? Do they come off their pedestal and whisper bad things into your ears and tell you that you're never going to make it because you're black, you're white, you're whatever it is?

Or are they just statues? Are they just -- is it nothing more than a bunch of copper or brass or metal that's just formed into the shape of something that sits alone in the dark and pigeons crap all over it? Is that what is oppressing you?

What are we argue you?

And President Trump was out at a fundraiser, a fundraiser. He -- he's -- he was just elected.

Why is he doing a campaign fundraiser now?

I have a lot to talk to you about. And I really, really want to talk to you about the insanity of ESPN, where they have now taken off -- they took a guy off play-by-play because his name was Robert Lee. Not Robert E. Lee. In fact, not even named after Robert E. Lee. He's of Asian descent. It's like Lee's noodle house. Not Robert E. Lee.

But ESPN doesn't want him on the air because they're afraid that will add to the controversy. Oh, my gosh.

Would somebody please look up Dietrich Bonhoeffer, On Stupidity, so I can just read that again? Because that's where we are.

I have a lot to say to you today. And a lot of perspective, I think, that you're not going to get anyplace else. And I just want to ask you -- I just want to ask you a couple of questions first. And I'm...

I really am looking for your answer. I want to know. I want you to call us and tell me these answers. What is it you really believe in, anymore? Is there anything that you had a gun to your head that you could say, "I know this is true?"

What is it you believe in, anymore?

To the core of your being. Who are we? What is the American story? Who are we as a people? Why are we here? Do you even know anymore?

The things that you're doing, do they back up your belief? Are they strengthening your belief, in whatever it is you believe in?

Maybe I should go back and start here, give you an example. I know I believe in the Bill of Rights. I know it. I know with everything in me. You cannot convince me that the Bill of Rights is wrong.

Now, it used to be something we hold these truths to be self-evident, but they're not self-evident anymore. They're not self-evident to most people. Remember, we were a small group of people. Imagine how groundbreaking these self-evident truths were.

See, we've always thought -- I've always thought, you could wake anybody in the dead of night from a sleep and say, "Hey, should people be able to have access to your stuff?" No. Should you be able to say what you really, truly believe without fear of somebody coming and throwing you in jail for your point of view?

I thought we would all say, "Of course, you can say what you want."

I thought those things were self-evident, but they're really not. I could go to China right now, and I could read the Bill of Rights, and they would be so foreign, that I don't know if I could convince them that those things were true in a generation. It's what's happening in Afghanistan. We think we're going to give people freedom. They have to earn freedom. They have to want freedom. They have to understand freedom. They have to understand that with freedom comes profound responsibility.

But those things are not self-evident. You have to go searching for those truths. You have to be quiet enough to listen, to ponder. To seek.

You have to be well-fed enough, to be able to have the time to ponder and to seek. So what is it that you believe?

I believe in the Bill of Rights. And I believe that America is here to stop tyranny, even if it's in our own lives. It is a place -- it is a nation of -- of sanctuary. It is a place that you can go, whether it's on a raft or a ship or a plane, however you get here. It is a place to where you can say, "Sanctuary."

And then after you catch your breath, lift yourself up, not other people. Lift yourself up and be who you were born to be.

America is a place where tyrants do not win. They're routed and they're conquered by a good and decent, fair and just people.

It's a place where virtue triumphs over wickedness. And basic morality, basic decency is the rule, not the exception.

America is a place that is pitched toward the happy ending. I still believe those things. And maybe I'm stupid for believing them, but I still believe them.

I still believe that it is my responsibility, my God-given responsibility to stand up for you, no matter how much I disagree with you.

It is a moral imperative that I do it. It is a moral imperative that I forgive if I want to be forgiven myself. That I have to forgive. And I also have to find a way to believe the best in others, no matter how many times I've been kicked in the face. I still have to believe the best in others. I still have to believe that people can change and that people make mistakes, and that everybody's not evil, that they've just gone astray because of something in their life. They weren't born that way. They become that way.

So what is it that is happening in their life, where they go astray?

What is happening to our friends and our neighbors, who we have always loved and respected and trusted? We used to trust our neighbors. We don't anymore.

Unless you vote -- vote. Vote. Vote.

Unless you vote exactly the way I think you should vote, you're worthless, and that's at best. You're an enemy.

That has nothing to do with America. At least my version of America. And if that is no longer the version of America, then I'm outdated, and I am happy -- happy to walk away in the sunset, in my own belief.

But I will not be a part of going over the cliff anymore. It's why I ask you -- you can call in or -- or just do it yourself. But please, do this. Please. Make a list of the things that you believe in.

It's probably pretty short. And that should tell you something. Wasn't that list longer five years ago? Wasn't that list almost endless 15 years ago?

Are we turning into nothing more than cynics? Are we turning into everything we despise?

Do we have any hope? Once you extinguish hope of a better tomorrow, there is no tomorrow.

And once you know what you believe in, that which you gaze upon, you will become. Who are your leaders? Who are your heroes? Who are the ones you're watching? Who are the ones you're cheering for?

Are they encouraging you to be better, or worse? Are you being encouraged to cheer for something you would never ever, ever in your wildest dreams have thought of five years ago of cheering for? Antifa? You're cheering for Antifa?

You're excusing the neo-Nazis? That's not you. That's not us. So what's causing us to do this?

Look, I don't know how to do my job. And I don't -- I don't know. I'm not in this for ratings. And it's been a really hard thing because, A, I have a lot of stations and a lot of employees of those stations that depend on a successful show. I -- I owe them my loyalty. And it's a responsibility of mine to help all of these local stations be successful. And if I believe in something, I need to be successful to be able to have a voice that can be put out there and heard.

But I think what's being put out into the system, on all sides, is poison.

And so I guess I plead with you to -- to pause for a second. And let's try to have a conversation about empathy, forgiveness, and -- and what we really want in the future -- in the future. What do we really want? Because I don't think we're that far away, when we get to that question.

Jobs, security, a future for our children that's better than this one. Those are the basics.

RADIO

EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Explains His FIERY Rejection of Spending Bill

According to the media, there’s a big fight going on between Republicans over the House’s new slimmed-down continuing resolution spending bill. Some, including President-elect Donald Trump, wanted the bill to pass. But others, like Texas Representative Chip Roy, argued that it still wasn’t ready. However, is the Republican “unity coalition” really crumbling, like the media claims? Rep. Chip Roy joins Glenn to explain what’s really going on. He argues that he IS trying to give Trump and DOGE a 100-day “runway” to fix the country. But he makes the case that, by increasing the debt ceiling by $5 trillion without agreeing on other cuts, this bill gives bad actors the ability to be an “obstacle” to Trump’s agenda further down the line. Plus, he reveals to Glenn that he believes some of these bad actors LEAKED false information about his stance to Mar-a-Lago.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN:

I think we have a great opportunity today. To show you how to have a -- tough conversation, with friends, friends. Where you deeply disagree on something.

But you know that their intent is good. They know my intent is good. Or our intent is good.

And we actually have the same end goal, but we disagree on the path. And we're going to walk away friends.

Chip Roy is joining us today. And, Chip, I love you. And I always will. And I agree with your, we've got to cut spending. We have to. But Liz Wheeler is with me. And we've been talking about it all morning. It's the -- the -- the -- the system of DOGE and Trump, the call-out to the world, in saying, you've got to surrender the Capitol. You know, the bad guys are in and about to take all the money.

Surround, and tell them, come out with your hands up. And that happened. And we scored a massive win, in an entirely new way.

Ask then you stood on principle, one we both agree with.

And it failed!

And so here's -- here's what Liz and I were talking about. Here's what we want to say to you.

And then get your response.

LIZ: Hi, Congressman Roy, this is the way I see it. I want your take on it. I love you. I think you're one of the best members of Congress. I disagree with you on the process that's happening. And I think that is the difference. The process. We elected Donald Trump to be a disruptor. Because Republican members of Congress for decades have been telling they're fiscal conservatives. They want to decrease the debt SEAL. It hasn't happened.

It hasn't -- it hasn't been done. And so Donald Trump comes in with Elon Musk, and uses this DOGE process to first identify these pieces of garbage in the first 1500-page bill. And take those things to the people. We took them to members of Congress. Congress said, okay. We'll listen to you.

So that new process was very effective.

And my question to you is: Once that process was proved to be effective. Which I think is exciting and wonderful.

How do we bridge this divide, with you, to say, okay.

Let's put some faith in this new process. And trust Elon Musk and Donald Trump and the Dow Jones process, to eventually address the debt ceiling, but get this done right now?

GLENN: And not blind trust. Chip.

CHIP: So appreciate you guys. Appreciate being on the show. Particular order. I have to go through a couple of things.

GLENN: Yep.

CHIP: Number one, it's important to remember that my job and my duty is to the Constitution, to God, and the people I represent. I told them, when I came to Washington, I would not -- I would not let the credit card and the debt ceiling and the borrowing of the United States without the spending restraints necessary to offset it.

GLENN: Okay.

CHIP: Right now, all we have are promises and ideas and notions. What I know, that neither of you respectfully no, and that none of your listeners respectfully no are the people that are in the room, that I was in with yesterday. And the day before, who are recalcitrant.

And do not want to do the spending cuts that we need to do.

That I believe the president and the DOGE guys. And everybody want to do.

My job, is to force that through the meat grinder. To demand that we do our damn job. Okay?

GLENN: Okay. So hang on. Okay. So wait. Wait. You're right. You're right. You're right. Go ahead.

CHIP: Number thee, when we were going through the bill, I'm glad the bill dropped from 1,550 pages to 116 pages. Three-quarters of Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it, have been out there spreading false facts that we supported a bad bill and didn't like the better bill.

That's not true. But let's be Lear. The 1400 pages that were cut out. It's a panacea.

There were some good stuff in there. There were some bad stuff in there. There was a lot of disinformation.

There wasn't a $70,000 pay raise. There was a 3,000-dollar pay raise.

I didn't support any pay raise. I didn't support a lot of the stuff in there.

But there's a lot of misinformation. And here's the thing: The 116 pages that were left, and I opposed violently the first bill. I was leading the charge on fighting and killing the first bill.

GLENN: And I love you.

LIZ: The second bill for 116 pages. Turned off -- turned off the pay go requirement. That we slash 1.7 trillion automatically.

And added a 5 trillion that are increase.

My view was, I could not support that, without a clear understanding of what cuts we would get, in mandatory spending next year. And undo any of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The undoing of the student loans. The undoing of the crap with the food stamps.

And everything else. I yield back.

GLENN: Okay. I yield back.

Chip, you're not in a hostile room. We love you. And we agree with your end goals. It's our end goal too. We didn't make that promise that you made to the people that voted for you. So we have more wiggle room here.

But you say -- I think our big difference is, you say, I know the guys in the room.

You're right. You do. And we -- we ceded that earlier today on the show.

You are -- one of us is wrong on trust.

I don't trust any of the weasels in Washington.

But I think Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have earned enough trust, to get a grace period, here for the first -- maybe the first year.

Or at least six months.

To turn the economy around, and also reduce the size of the government.

And totally flip this thing.

And I know, as somebody who is -- you know, run a company, mainly into a ground. But run a company, and have to switch it, in the middle, and totally reshuffle. That -- that actually costs money, while you're doing it, to bridge the gap.

Because you have to fill up holes while you're filling in the gap.

You don't trust the people in the room. Neither do we.

But we do trust the system that worked on Wednesday with DOGE and Donald Trump.

Where do we disagree?

Can you give them --

CHIP: We don't disagree. And yesterday morning, I was making that precise argument in a room full of conservatives and then a follow-up room with people who will call it, less conservatives.

GLENN: Republican. Yes.

CHIP: And so we were making this argument. And then someone infamously. Something leaked out of the room, somehow out to Mar-a-Lago. That I was being resistant. Because I was negotiating trying to get the agreement to achieve the objective that you just said. I was trying to get, okay. In fact, yesterday morning, I made the argument to a group of conservatives. We need to give the president runway. We need to give him his first 100 days. We need to appreciate JD, and Vivek, and all the people -- and everybody involved. For the president to achieve the objective.

But to get there. We have to make sure that the guys in the room, that are an obstacle to that, don't have the ability to block it.

Because information flow matters. And when those guys tell the president, they can't achieve X.

Then the president will not achieve X. Our job was to force and demand, guys, we need actual understanding of what the cuts will be.

And because otherwise, we're asking us to accept a 5 trillion-dollar limit in our credit card increase. In exchange for nothing!

Literally, in exchange for nothing, but -- but hope.

So our job was to force that change.

Unfortunately, while I was trying to make the argument that we needed something in order to get the votes, someone leaked that down to Mar-a-Lago, and the president reacted.

But now I have to now manage that.

GLENN: Right. I know. I know.

CHIP: They're trying to enforce change in town.

GLENN: So hang on.

We have to leave this. Because I'm going to run against the clock.

I could talk to you all day about this. You were in a meeting this morning about J.D. Vance. Can you tell us anything about that meeting?

CHIP: That meeting happened, because despite what happened yesterday, I'm trying to get this done. Last night, talking to JD, we worked to get this meeting done. We had some good progress this morning.

But there still remains people concerned about spending. That we can work out, what agreement we can reach. On what spending cuts. We can actually get next year, in exchange for giving the vote on a debt ceiling increase.

So it remains fluid. Progress was made. But we have to keep working on it.

And I left that meeting to talk to you. Soil get an update in a minute.

GLENN: Thank you for that, by the way.

I hear there is a new bill that may be coming today.

Is that the one you're talking about?

Or is this another bill that could be another nightmare?

CHIP: Despite other people leaking crap, I refused. I can't say, because it's not been decided by the speaker.

And it's not right to talk about things they're talking about in private meetings.

GLENN: Yeah, but it's -- it's this speaker. I mean, is he really the speaker anymore, Chip, really?

CHIP: We need to hear what bill we need to get forward. And I can't talk about the private meetings. But, look, I'm going to keep fighting for what I promised people that I represent.

I'm going to fight to cut spending. I am going to represent article one.

I'm going to support the president's agenda, but we've got to do that together.

GLENN: Okay.

Chip, thank you.

I think we can -- I think we agree, but I await to see what that means to you. Because we may just have to agree to disagree on this.

But I love you. And I still want you to replace Cornyn.

CHIP: The short version is, for inflation's sake, we cannot increase the debt ceiling $5 trillion without knowing what we're getting for it.

And I don't think anybody should disagree with that.

GLENN: But you don't disagree that Elon Musk and Trump and Vivek are serious about gutting the system.

CHIP: I believe that is their objective. I believe there are obstacles to that objective. And I need to know the sincerity of how we deal with those obstacles, both structural, and human. And we have to figure that out. And that's my job.

America's Favorite Villain Is Ready for Nuclear Fallout. Are You? | Glenn TV | Ep 401

In this episode of Glenn TV — a theatrical how-to guide to survive the breakdown of society after a nuclear attack, according to the new movie “Homestead” from Angel Studios. Glenn Beck interviews the movie’s star and executive producer, Neal McDonough, who plays the head of a family trying to survive as society is breaking down in a postapocalyptic world. You’ve probably seen Neal in everything from the hit TV shows “Yellowstone,” “Suits,” and “Justified” to movies like “Captain America,” “Minority Report,” and the groundbreaking mini-series “Band of Brothers.” Glenn asks Neal what it’s like to play a villain so often, how TV and movies are changing, and how he survived Hollywood as a devoted Christian and husband who refuses to do onscreen kissing scenes with any of his female co-stars. They also discuss his battle with alcoholism, what it’s like working the legends like Sylvester Stallone and Kevin Costner, and the cultural craving for Western cinema. Note: Angel Studios is a sponsor of “The Glenn Beck Program.” Get your tickets for “Homestead” at https://Angel.com/Beck.

Glenn's Show Prep

Glenn: Do the Things You’re Doing Back up What You Believe?

Why the REAL story of Hanukkah sounds all too FAMILIAR

EXCLUSIVE: Chip Roy Explains His FIERY Rejection of Spending Bill

Transcript

America's Favorite Villain Is Ready for Nuclear Fallout. Are You? | Glenn TV | Ep 401

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