BLOGApril 11, 2018

Christian attorney who helps rescue kids around the world says this simple thing inspires him

Nonprofit founder and author Bob Goff has a four-letter secret to his success: love.

Goff, whose new book, “Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People,” will debut next week, joined Glenn in the studio today to talk about “extravagant love” and the need for “courageous people” in a difficult world.

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Goff uses his experience as an attorney to bring justice to places where crimes are overlooked by the culture. He shared the story of a little boy who was kidnapped by witch doctors in Uganda, brutally maimed and left for dead – but survived.

With Love Does, the nonprofit he founded in 2003, Goff gets to fight for kids like him. He pursued the death penalty for the witch doctor who nearly killed the little boy and won, sending a message to the rest of the country that kids will be protected.

Relying on a “childlike faith,” Goff has been able to show love in unexpected ways, and his message on today’s show was to encourage everyone to do the same in their own lives.

“Make your next courageous step, whatever that is,” Goff said.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: So here's the thing: I've given up on politics. Because we keep playing this thing over and over and over again. And expecting different outcomes. And it seems to be the same outcome.

And I'm more of a believer in the individual and the individual going out and doing something. And just saying, you know what, I don't care what people tell me what I can and can't do. I don't care if they tell me that it's ridiculous.

Because it's not. If we just decide to do it. I want to introduce you to a guy, Bob Goff, who I think has a similar attitude. Welcome, Bob. How are you is this

BOB: Thanks a million for having me on. Good to be with you.

GLENN: You're an attorney from the San Diego area.

BOB: Yes, 30 years.

GLENN: And you're a best-selling author now. You have a new book out now called Everybody, Always. But your last one was Love Does.

I want you to give the audience, for anybody who doesn't know you, a sense of who you are. And start with -- start with the fact that you have no television in your house. And what happened on September 11th in your house with your children.

BOB: Yeah. Well, I was practicing law. Had -- I can't tell you about me without telling about sweet Maria Goth, my bride of 33 years, and then we have three kids. And this whole idea, living a purposeful life, like we're confronted with so much information, so much tragedy around us, one of the things that I decided to do was I was just going to start with my family. And so we decided to get rid of the television.

And when the -- when September 11th happened, I came home and I told the kids, there's something horrible that happened in the country.

And we sat around this table we have in the kitchen. And I said, if you have five minutes, in front of a leader in the world, what would you say to them? And I love -- my son was seven at the time, he said, you know what, I would invite them over for a sleepover. And that actually makes a lot of sense.

GLENN: It does.

BOB: Put your hand in the goldfish bowl. See if it makes a B. And it works.

So my 9-year-old said, I would ask them what they're hoping in. Because I would say, like, if you find out what people are hoping for, you find out a lot more about them.

And then our 11-year-old, she was the precocious one, she said, I would say this, if they couldn't come over for the sleepover, I would ask this leader if we could come over to their house and do an interview and ask them, what are you hoping for? And get a message of hope to pass on to another leader.

So we downloaded the CIA website. We felt like we were hacking into NORAD. We got the name of every leader in every country, figured out their addresses, and wrote them.

And we got a post office box. Because we didn't want Ahmadinejad to know where we went. (laughter)

And so we sent all these letters. And after school every day, we would go over. And so they would get the mail out. The kids would be in the backseat. They would ask me about these countries.

I'm like, I don't know. That's east of here apparently, but we always got the most pleasant notes. It was Tony Blair at the time. He said, like a jolly good show. Like forget it. But jolly good show.

GLENN: Right.

BOB: But then they got the leader of Bulgaria. He wrote to them. And he said, if you'll come to the palace in Sophia, I'll give you your interview.

Then the prime minister of Switzerland said, if you come to Bern, I'll give you your interview. Then the president of Israel said, if you'll come to Jerusalem, I'll give you -- we got 19 yeses. So I pulled the kids out of school. Their teachers had a cow. I'm like, sue me.

So there's something just really beautiful about that. And I love that it's this idea of a child-like faith. That idea -- look to your kids. You want to do something awesome for the world, plug into your family.

GLENN: Because you would -- as an adult -- and the older you get, the secret to staying young -- I think that's what Jesus meant when he said, come to me as a child.

BOB: Oh, bingo. Totally.

GLENN: You still believe. You haven't been worn down by the world to say, it won't work. It won't work.

BOB: Yeah. And if you've been convinced that it won't work, get a puppy. Literally, just --

GLENN: No, because then I'm convinced potty training doesn't work.

BOB: Yes. I worked it right in the middle of that. The only thing our dog has missed is the lawn so far.

But one of the things is that, let the children kind of lead us. And we're seeing that in society. We're seeing that over and over. Go do that with your family. So we went.

And there's this one country. They had just been involved in all kinds of stuff.

And the leader walks in. And he said, children, you know, I'm more nervous meeting with you, than if I was meeting with the president of the United States right now. And then he said, and when I get nervous, I get hungry. And he claps his hand. And all these servants come in with jars of candy and ice cream. It's just really beautiful.

There's something about this idea of leading with love. And it takes a child-like faith to get there. Not childish.

Because most of us guys have childish nailed. But child-like, to just remain hopeful, even in the face of overwhelming difficulties.

GLENN: One of the places you went to was Uganda, right?

BOB: Yeah.

GLENN: And we've done some stuff? Uganda. Because there's still sacrifices. Human sacrifices in Uganda with these witch doctors. And they kidnap children and they sacrifice them. And it's horrifying. And horrifying. And then you stop it in one place, and then it pops up in another place.

Because it's still part of their culture. But you being an attorney, you found that for a long time, there wasn't a law. But then like three years before you got there, they had passed a law to stop all this, but nobody was enforcing it.

Is that right?

BOB: Yeah, that's it. Because people were afraid. The judges were afraid. Everybody was afraid.

But it just takes courageous people to make big change. That idea to just -- and we don't measure. God doesn't compare our leaps. I would say for everybody listening, make your next courageous step. Whatever that is.

For me, I was a lawyer. Knew how to try cases. The problem with me, there's always child sacrifice. There's always a victim, but they're always dead. And it all changes.

A couple years ago, a little boy -- we'll just say his name is Charlie. He was walking home from school and gets abducted by the leader of all of these witch doctors.

And they -- they try to do this sacrifice. They cut off all his private parts and leave him for dead. But the kid doesn't die. So for the first time, we had a victim survived. We got the witch doctor.

So I asked, could we try Uganda's first death penalty case. And they said, you will never get a judge who will touch that. But then we found a judge. And we tried the case. And the word of this conviction went to 41 million people. And here was the message: You touch a kid. It's over.

There's something beautiful about that idea of like, there's no love without justice. But there's also no justice without love.

So after this conviction happens, the boy is all torn up. This attack happens with a machete. A doctor in Los Angeles, here's what happened. And he calls me up at home. He said, Bob, I heard what happened with this little kid, and I can fix him.

And I'm like, buddy, you didn't hear what got cut off, you can't fix that. And he's like, I'm the chief of surgery in Cedar-Sinai Medical Center. I can fix him.

And I said, what? So I drive up to Los Angeles. He takes out a piece of paper and he starts drawing out what he's going to do, which is way too much information.

And I asked him -- if they find that at the TSA, I'm going to jail.

And I said, how much would that cost? And he said, it would be staggering. But I'll do it for nothing. I'm like, I can afford nothing.

So I fly back to Uganda. We find the little boy in the bush. And my first stop is court, and I become his legal guardian. And we're flying back for this operation. And I get off the plane in London. And he's holding -- and he said, Father, can we just walk the rest of the way? I'm like, oh, buddy.

And I open up my laptop to see if there's any messages. This is the time when Obama is in office. And there's a message that says, White House. And the message is really short, it just says, we'd like to meet, Charlie. I thought it was some of my friends, like you guys, that would just pull a fast one.

And it's legit. And this kid that was standing in the bush in Uganda is now standing in the Oval Office. And I think, why does this happen? And here's the deal: It's that child like faith. And no matter what age you are, you can actually start thinking about what might be possible.

And I just want to continue to live into that. Even against all of the horrific things going on, to remain hopeful and engaged. Not just to put smiley faces on it. But, what's my next step? What's my next leap?

GLENN: So here's the thing that I think of all the time: If I have cancer -- for instance, go to a doctor over and over and over again. Something is wrong, but the doctors can't find it. If that's happened to you, you get to a point to where, I don't care if it's cancer. I just want to know, you know.

And I think there is hope, when -- when there is knowledge that there is something you can do, that -- whether it works or not. Is unknown.

But once you know -- I have no hope in a doctor who says, oh, you know, it's just a little spot on your lawn. And, you know, it's nothing. And he knows it's cancer. Don't tell me that. I'm hopeless.

Tell me it's cancer, and I can find hope.

We have to -- we have to not just be putting smiley faces on things and going, oh, no, it's not so bad. It is. It's bad. It's bad.

But now, take us from, it's bad, to how to find that hopeful place, when we come back.

Name of the book is Everybody, Always, by Bob Goff. G-O-F-F. Bob Goff. We continue in just a second.

GLENN: We're with Bob Goff. Amazing man.

Not a -- you know, not a Tony Robbins kind of guy who makes his living being a motivational speaker, but is truly motivational. And everybody that I've ever seen him in. Because it's -- he's infectious. Courage is contagious, and so is hope.

And Bob just made the point that we need to find hope. So how do you do that? How do you find real hope? In a sea of despair.

BOB: Yeah. No simple answer for anything. But the first thing that strung to my mind is, it's a life of engagement. And an idea of engaging the people around you. Engaging the issues around you.

But not necessarily with the petition, but engage it with everything that you've got, with your love, with your hope, with your energy. Find these things.

We were talking about a wrong that was done in Uganda. Engage it.

If you're good as a lawyer, go do a bunch of that. If you're good at loving people, go do a bunch of that. I don't want people to meet just my opinions, I want them to actually meet me. And the way to meet me is to be curious about them.

GLENN: So you -- when you sat down, I told you, you passed a test that almost no one passes. I think there's maybe been two people. And we've had great people in a career of 40 years. I've had great people around that I've interviewed.

I think -- I could honestly say two. Maybe there's been five, that have walked into the room, said, hello, to me and then said hello to Stu or the other people on the air.

But then the important thing, looked at the people who are holding the camera, doing the makeup, introducing yourself, looking them in the eye, and engaging with them. That rarely happens. Rarely.

It's sad. But to me, it's a test of, who are you really? And -- and you pass that. And from what I understand, you were out in the greenroom and you were out in the hallway and you were having conversations. You came in here and you started looking around. You're very observant. Which I think kind of passes all of us by, sometimes. We just kind of -- we just engage in the moment and do what we have to do with that person.

BOB: Yeah. I think each of us are looking for these same things in our life, like love and purpose and connection. And then authentic relationships. We just start skipping across the disk, we just turn our life into a bunch of transactions. And I just don't want to be -- I'm not a touchy-feely guy. I'm a trial lawyer.

GLENN: You don't seem like a trial lawyer.

BOB: I'm the only guy trying a 100-million-dollar case with a Mickey Mouse watch.

But I'll tell you, it will be the third month of the trial. And somebody in the box will say, Mickey Mouse watch. I'll be like, I just want -- but this whole idea, this overarching idea that we'll be known for our opinions, but remembered for our love. So I think each of us need to ask, what are we going to be remembered for?

GLENN: I want to -- I could spend a day with you.

But I want to come back here in a second, and show me how you remain optimistic, as a trial lawyer. I can't think of a worst job. I can't think of a worst job.

BOB: Yeah.

GLENN: You're surrounded by dirtbags, lying, the system, and yet you hold it. So give me some real life examples.

BOB: Well, I would say --

GLENN: Wait. Wait. When we come back.

GLENN: Welcome back. We're talking to an incredible guy. I could spend the day with. And he's just invited me to TP some houses for the rest of the day. His name is Bob Goth, the author of Everybody, Always.

And one of the happier guys that I think I've ever met. And you're a trial attorney! And I want to get into that. But we're going to run out of time. So let's start off with one of your philosophies, one of the things that you take away from the Jesus story. And that is, tell no one.

BOB: Yes. I love that big moment. It's this Simon Peter -- you know, Jesus says, who am I? And some say you are a teacher. And actually, he was an awesome teacher. Some say you're a prophet. And he was actually an awesome prophet. And then Simon Peter says, you're God.

And Jesus said, you nailed it. But I love that he said flesh and blood doesn't reveal that to you, but the spirit. And we have a lot of people where faith is important to them. And they're trying to, like, do the spirit's work. Like, just, they're trying to tell everybody what Jesus is.

Two verses later, he says, tell no one.

I love that. I don't think it's supposed to be a secret. I think he means, show them, don't tell them.

So show people what -- we'll know what we believe, when everybody sees what we do. I don't care when somebody says, I got a lot of things I believe. But see what I do. See what you do. You're doing this, you're just spreading a lot of hope for people.

GLENN: So you are -- so -- but do you set out to -- you know, another Jesus thing, and it kind of reminds me of you, pay no attention to what's going to happen tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about where you're going to lay your head. Don't worry about any of it. Just go and do it. That seems to be your mantra.

BOB: Exactly. So know why you're doing what you're doing. So, for instance, I'm married. Got three kids. Two of them -- two of those are married. And I want to be a grandpa. Like, what more in the worst thing in the whole -- I just want that so bad.

GLENN: It's great.

BOB: I'm expecting. They're not expecting. I'm expecting every day.

My son actually with his wife went to Hawaii. He said it rained all week. I'm like, yes!

GLENN: Good.

BOB: More wine to the cabana.

(laughter)

BOB: So one of the things, if you know why you're doing what you're doing -- and I just want to be -- we were talking about being available. So I put my cell phone number in the back of a couple million books. And I get 100 calls a day. I can't get --

STU: It is legitimately the last sentence -- of the book, it talks about, if you ever want to talk about any of the ideas, my phone number is, give me a call sometime, if I can be helpful.

BOB: Isn't that awesome?

GLENN: It's crazy.

BOB: People don't follow vision. They follow availability. And I'm never the smartest guy, particularly right now, but I can be the most available guy in the room.

And so if you know why you're doing what you're doing.

GLENN: So how -- how do you do that?

BOB: I just get constantly interrupted. Like literally just constantly -- Jesus was constantly interrupting. People are tugging on his shirt, calling his name from trees. Just -- just live a life with constant interruptions.

And what it reminds me over and over again, is not to be efficient in the way that I love people, but to be extravagant. That was one of the hallmarks.

GLENN: What does that mean?

BOB: Just not giving people a little bit, just give them your best.

I got -- we took all the money from Loved Does and just gave it all away. And so we've been going around, building schools in countries. Which cracks me up, because my worst subject in school was school.

But we're actually pretty good at starting them. So we've got one in Uganda. One in Iraq. One in Somalia. We've got one going into a country that doesn't do that. That's in two weeks. What could possibly go wrong?

(laughter)

I'll check back in with you in three.

So one of the whole ideas is to fail trying. Don't fail watching anymore. Fail trying. So if you see something, don't just identify with that. But just say, what's my piece in that?

GLENN: We had guys yesterday, they were up in Indianapolis. And they had potholes in their town.

And they were reading -- you know, they knew how bad it was. And they were reading in the newspaper, that the state couldn't afford it. The city couldn't afford it. It was $700 billion or whatever to fix all the potholes. So they went to -- they took 50 bucks. They went to the hardware store. They bought asphalt. And they just started fixing potholes.

BOB: Done.

GLENN: Right. And what is amazing about this is so far the city knows about it and hasn't stopped them. I would think, immediately, oh, you're -- they're going to come -- they just didn't stop. They just went out and did it. But they're in their 20s too. They haven't lived a life of, don't do that.

BOB: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What if the -- as you're constantly thinking about, what do you want to be remembered for? And I just want to be remembered for someone who is engaged. And here's the crazy part, like God isn't dazzled when you go across an ocean. He's wowed when you go across the street. This idea of loving your neighbor. I don't think it's just a metaphor for something else. I think it actually means love your neighbor.

We've got a mailman on our block. He's lousy at it. He's not a detail guy.

So we get everybody else -- actually, one of my neighbors was getting audited. I had to bring it over. Like, stinks to be you.

So Art, after 20 long years finally said he was going to retire. I'm like, praise the Lord.

(laughter)

And so we decided to make him the grand marshal of our parade. We have a parade on our block. Our block is only ten houses long on each side. And so 800 people showed up to see Art to let him know, just how much they loved him, even though he was a lousy mailman. Everybody in the whole community knew it. We got a convertible. We filled it full of envelopes. We just said, Art, throw them in the air. Do what you do every day.

STU: That's a great insult right there.

BOB: And there was such an outpouring of love towards this guy.

He called me up the next day and he said, Bob, I'm coming out of retirement. I'm like, no!

But what will happen, when people know that they're loved, when they actually know they're respected, this idea of being ready to make a defense for the hope that's within you, it doesn't mean to point bony fingers at people. They forget the last sentence. It says, with gentleness and respect.

And if we could just treat people with gentleness and respect, knowing that you've got beautiful things in your life. And God might be doing something different in your life than my life.

Last Saturday, there was a wedding planner that was praying for sunshine. And there was a farmer praying for rain. Right?

And it's just to assume that God is up to different things in other people's lives, and be a little more patient with them as we get there.

But to do the things, we can hope for a lot of things, but hope on the move. People say like love is a verb. I think hope is. I don't know about my grammar. But I'll tell you, hope on the move is unstoppable.

That's what your -- your guys were doing with the potholes. They're saying, that's hope on the move. I'm not waiting for permission. Your life is your permission.

Somebody like birthed you and said, go. Now go do beautiful, immense things, but do it with gentleness and respect. I can try death penalty cases against witch doctors, but that whole idea of loving your neighbor and loving the people, love your enemy. Right?

So after the trial, I started meeting with witch doctors. I sent out word on the bush radio that the consul general for Uganda is here, and I command every witch doctor to meet with me. Glenn, they came. I met with a thousand witch doctors. And they are creepy.

GLENN: Unbelievable.

BOB: They make dolls that look like me and stick stuff into them. No wonder I always have a headache.

So I asked these guys, what do you need? And they said, we don't know how to read or write.

So get this, I started a witch doctor school. We go teach them how to be witch doctors. They already know.

We teach them how to read and write. And the only books we have in witch doctor school are the Bible and Love Does. So this whole idea -- you should see our graduation ceremonies. I mean, they're awesome.

GLENN: Oh, I bet. It's unique.

BOB: Yeah, so I grabbed each of these witch doctors by the face, and I give them a kiss on the forehead. I want be every witch doctor's first kiss. And I just whisper to them, like, do good. Live your life in a way -- they're already the leaders in the community. Live a life in a way that gives great honor and respect to people.

GLENN: Okay. So I just want to take this back, as I understand this story, here's a guy I introduced to you 40 minutes ago. And it started at his table with his children on September 11th. They wrote a letter.

He first asked, what would you say to the world leaders? They respond. Most people would stop there. He said, let's write. And let's invite them to come here. Or we'll go there and interview them and find out what they hope for.

And 20 -- no, 19 of them said yes. Most people would go, okay. Well, we're not going to go -- they went to all 19?

BOB: Yeah.

GLENN: Went to all 19. Interviewed. While he was in Uganda. Finds problems. He's an attorney, he says, well, maybe I can just help. He starts to help. They invite you to be the -- they invite you, you think to be council. Meaning they wanted you to be a counselor and an attorney there. But you're actually an ambassador. Not of -- wait. You're not the ambassador from the United States to Uganda. You're the Uganda an ambassador to America, right?

BOB: The consul, yes.

GLENN: Consul.

So now you're educating witch doctors and teaching them how to do good.

That's a remarkable 15 years.

BOB: What if you just lived a life engaged. It wouldn't be any different than other people. Like, this whole idea of living an engaged life. We're not graded on a curve. Just engaged with the people around you, engage the people you love.

But engage them with love. Like, engage them with that child-like faith. And to see what would happen -- we would finish each interview with these world leaders. Like, what do you bring to some of these guys? Some places the chocolate would melt.

And so the kids brought the key to our front door. And they gave it to them in a little box. And they said, you know, we came over to your house. If you ever want to come to our house, here's the key to your front door. And you know what, somebody -- I'm going to tell you who, but they emailed from the embassy to our kids. Because they don't have my email address. It's the kids doing this. And they said, we'd like to use our key. And they did.

GLENN: Oh, you're kidding me.

BOB: Just engage people. See what will happen. Do a cannonball. Don't put your toe in the water. Grab your knees. And then just see what will happen. Start with your family. Let these concentric rings go out. If faith is a big deal, do it because faith is a big deal for you.

But don't try to talk everybody into it. God will let people know that he's around because he's there.

Like, it will just continue to reveal himself. And not in mystical ways.

It will just be by meeting loving people. So I want to be that guy. And I'm trying. And I'm not quite there. I always get my first call. It's always 5:00 in the morning from some dude in Atlanta. Because it's 8:00 in the morning there, and it's 5:00 in San Diego. I got my last call at midnight from two witch doctors in witch doctor school.

And they said, a little boy has been abducted. And this new witch doctor has taken them into the bush for a child sacrifice, but we know where he is. Should we go get the kid?

And I'm standing on my bed in my boxers, yelling into the phone, get the kid! And four hours later, I get a text message from these two guys that used to be bad guys, and they said, we've rescued the child, he's with his mother. And the last two words of the text message, Love Does.

I've spent my whole life avoiding the people Jesus spent his whole life engaging. And I've just said, I'm not going to avoid people anymore. I'm going to engage the people who creep me out. I'm not going to just avoid them, but I'm not going to engage them --

STU: Is that what this interview is about?

BOB: Oh, you want to know something great? The cover of Everybody, Always looks like a bunch of balloons. I flew over to Uganda after -- you know what it's like when you get a book cover, and they send all these samples. They all look hokey.

So I flew over Uganda. I got the witch doctors to make the cover out of their fingerprints.

(laughter)

GLENN: Wow. Wow.

BOB: But engage people. Engage people. They're like, what's this about? Actually, I'm going to write a book about loving people and loving the people that creep you out. And you guys used to creep me out a lot. You still creep a lot of people out. But I'm learning from you. You're actually teaching me more about love. Because I'm learning about you and your life. And I see who you're becoming. Not who you used to be. And it's starting to change me. They've actually taught me. I don't know if I've taught them anything. They're teaching me a ton.

GLENN: I have to tell you, Bob, and I don't know if you take this as a compliment or not. But I have worked -- but I've been around and worked with some of the biggest spiritual leaders of multiple faiths in the last 20 years.

And have met the worst and the best. Billy Graham. One of the best. I won't list some of the worst.

You may be the best preacher I've ever met. And it's not because you're preaching. It's because you're doing it. And that's the secret.

If we just stop preaching to each other and we stop trying to get each other baptized or trying to fix everybody's life by selling you X, Y, or Z, just live it yourself, it -- people change. People change.

BOB: You know why you're doing what you're doing.

I dressed up to come visit with you by taking off my baseball cap. I wear this Boston Red Sox hat, not because I'm a Red Sox fan. I haven't even gone to a baseball fan.

But one of the reasons I wear it, my neighbor across the street was a big Red Sox fan. And she was going to be with Jesus by the end of the week. So we made a deal. I said, I will wear your Red Sox hat for the rest of my life and represent the Sox here, but every time Jesus walks by you, you need to mention my name.

(laughter)

That's the first thing if I hear, I knew you not, I'm like, Carol!

So if you know why you're doing what you're doing, why you're engaging people in conversation, why you're doing it, it will give a lot of clarity to your life.

GLENN: You're amazing. Thank you so much.

BOB: Oh, thanks so much for having me and for making me feel so welcome and for spreading a lot of joy and hope to people.

GLENN: You bet. Thank you. Bob Goff. Everybody, Always. If that doesn't sell everyone in this audience on buying this book, I don't know what would.

Boy, one of my favorite interviews of all time. Thank you, Bob.

BOB: Good being with you, thank you.

GLENN: You bet.

RADIO

THIS could COLLAPSE every major civilization at the SAME TIME

The United States, Europe, and China are all preparing for a coming global reset. Throughout history, civilizations have risen and fallen according to the same cycle of prosperity and debt. But never before has EVERY major civilization been on the verge of collapse at the same time. Glenn Beck breaks it all down.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Because for the very first time in world history. There's something new that has happened. The entire globe is riding the same wheel at the same time.

Okay? We're all in this debt cycle. And this has never happened before.

The cycle always begins the same way. The first step in this at the time cycle is discipline.

Discipline equals prosperity. Okay.

It goes right into prosperity. And every great empire starts with discipline. Rome did, you know, rebuilding after all the wars, strict budgets. Every great empire starts with discipline. Rome did. You know, rebuilding after all the wars. The strict budgets. Silver coinage. Land reforms. It helped restore, you know, the battered middle class. The Dutch Republic did the same thing: They invented modern finance, turning the swamp into the world's largest trade hub. Then the British empire did it after the glorious revolution. It brought fiscal stability and a gold-back pound, that the world trusted for over 200 years.

When that fell, America did it. After World War II, our debts were manageable, our currency was solid, backed by gold, productivity was unmatched, and we prospered. That is stage one. Discipline into prosperity. And prosperity if not darted, always leads to the second stage. Complacency into excess, okay? So excess creates this fatal illusion. The moment, you know, where we all look at each other, and go, this is great. It's going to be like this forever. It was always like this. It will always be like that.

Rome began borrowing heavily to pay for endless bread and circuses. France, funded the palaces and the pensions and the perpetual wars, through loans it could never repay.

Britain, in the late 19th century, took its global empire for granted, and levered -- levered itself into World War I.

Then came World War II. And then America beginning in the 1970s, untethered from -- untethered the dollar from gold. And discovered that debt could replace discipline.

So the second stage of the debt cycle is the age of entitlement, expansion. Imperial overreach.

Cheap credit.

And political bribery disguised as compassion.

Any of that sound like we've been there?

Done that?

The Dutch called it win handle. The trade in the wind.

Paper promises that replace real production.

We call it stimulus.

Easy money. Deficit spending.

Different words. Same exact sin.

That lees you to stage three. Financialization.

That goes to fragility. This is the most seductive stage. Rome debased its money until it was worth less than 2 percent of the original silver. The Byzantines watered down their unshakable dollar, if you will, and confidence collapsed. France printed their money, backed by land, until they were worth less and used as wallpaper.

Weimar, Germany, did the same thing. They destroyed a thousand years of savings in 18 months. Japan, 1990. Papered over its real estate collapse, with 30 years of zero interest rates.

And America, after 2008, discovered this intoxicating illusion, started by George W. Bush. I can violate the free market system, to save the free market system. That's quantitative easing. Money conjured up, without cost. Without any restraint. Without any consequence.

In stage three, nations convinced themselves, they're immune to any kind of gravity. Okay?

This time, it's different! We can manage this debt. Well, modern tools, you just don't understand. You know, the rules no longer apply.

You don't understand. Really?

Don't understand. The older rules always apply.

Because math is math.

And stage three always ends exactly the same way. Wherever it's tried!

The markets no longer trust the promises they're being fed, which leads us into stage four, the breaking point. Every empire eventually reaches a moment where its debts cannot be serviced. They can't be inflated away quietly. They can't be rolled over without consequence.

Rome reached it when they froze prices and shattered the last productive parts of its competent multiply France reached it in 1788, when it can no longer borrow. And that whole thing came to a head. Britain reached it in 1931 when it abandoned the gold standard.

Weimar reached it when inflation ate the soul of the nation. And extremism took over. Yap reached it, when its bond market effectively became nationalize. Propped up by its own central bank. Right now, America, Europe, China, Japan. And every other major power, listen to this carefully, have all hit stage four at the same time.

Never before in human history has this happened.

The bond markets are shaking. The currencies are all volatile. Politicians are praying that no one notices the numbers.

You know, that they no longer add up.

Stage four is not coming. We are now living inside the opening act. This is so important.

Yesterday, there was a story that said, that this is going to be the biggest Christmas season ever. And I'm wondering to myself, I see the prices. I go to McDonald's.

I go to the grocery store.

Any of us Walmart this weekend. I see the prices. And I'm looking at the prices.

And every time I'm looking at the prices, I'm like, how's the average person afford any of this?

And yet, we're spending. Spending. Spending.

And I don't understand it. And I fear we're doing what the government is doing. We're just spending because we can -- we think we can get out of it.

Then comes stage five. It's called the reset. Hmm.

Every debt system ends in one of three ways.

They inflate the money, so they can pay off the debt. And that's just an absolute wipeout. Weimar republic did it. France did it. Rome did it.

Just a wipeout. Then there's a hard default and political upheaval. Russia did that in 1917.

Argentina did it over and over again.

War leading to a new monetary order. That's another one.

And the neo -- the -- the Napoleonic wars. The British gold standard. World War II. Bretton Woods.

All of that. But there's always a reset. Always a new order that's born from the ashes of the old.

And here's what makes this moment unprecedented. Rome collapsed by itself. France collapsed alone. Weimar collapsed by itself.

Britain declined while America rose.

It was always one country coming down, and another one coming up.

This time, all countries. All countries, on both size, the free world and the not so free world, there's no one rising.

China is drowning in its local government debt. It's never going to say this, but it's a paper tiger.

Europe is fractured. And coming apart at the seams. Japan, demographic time bomb.

America is politically frozen and insolvent fiscally.

So for the very first time in world history. Every major civilization has reached its peak of the debt cycle.

This time, all at the same moment.

No one is coming up!

So what does that mean?

Well, for the very first time in human history, it means, when it arrives, it will not be regional. It will be global. It will not be slow. It will be systemic. It will be everywhere. Now, the hope, the history books don't tell, and nobody in the media will tell you this, is when every one of those resets, every collapse, every crisis, it created the conditions for renewal.

Rome, its fall opened the door for a new Christian civilization. France, the revolution there, birthed the modern nation state. Britain's decline cleared space for America's rise. The devastation of World War II led to the great expansion of prosperity, the greatest the world has ever seen. So the next chapter is not written. What happens to us is not written.

And it -- whether we rise or fall, from what's coming depends not on Washington. Not on Wall Street. But on us. In our homes, in our families. In our churches. And our communities.

The debt cycle is not prophecy. It is a warning.

You cannot borrow your way out of moral, fiscal, or spiritual bankruptcy.

Now, I don't feel like I chose this path. This -- with Bretton Woods and then 1972 coming off the gold standard. And what they did in 2008, to bail out all the banks. I didn't have anything to say. Did you have anything to say about that?

I didn't. I didn't. I wouldn't have chosen those things. But the world is putting something together.

And I want to show you what our choices are. Because right now, people say, you know, I don't like what Donald Trump is doing. Or, I don't like the World Economic Forum.

Or, I don't like what China. Okay. Great. But I want you to know, it's going to be one of these systems. Because it's being built.

It always happens. When one is coming down, some new system, usually a country.

But not a country this time. A new system begins to rise.

And it happens before the fall.

RADIO

Mark Kelly reveals his TRUE COLORS while raging over Hegseth’s Franklin meme

Sen. Mark Kelly recently raged over War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to post a meme portraying the children’s character Franklin the turtle blowing up Venezuelan drug boats. But Glenn Beck points out the insane hypocrisy of Sen. Kelly’s outrage…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: First of all, the New York Times. The New York Times has refuted the WaPo reporting on the Hegseth story. Now, if you remember the Hegseth story from the Washington Post is -- was playing backup to people like Mark Kelly, who, you know, were part of that video where like, oh, you know. War crimes. And you will be tried for war crimes. And if you see a war crime. And an illegal border. You should disobey that.

Yeah. They're taught that. And everybody should know that. Again, the Pentagon teaches that to the sorrels. This has never been done by members of Congress. And they were going for something. I don't know what they were going for. But WaPo, of course, you know, sends the message to the rest of the world. That, well, it was our Secretary Hegseth. Who ordered the killing of some people that survived this launch on a boat. They survived. And then Pete called them up and said, kill them!

And that's what Mark Kelly was saying this last weekend. Okay. Washington Post. Now, the New York Times, not exactly a Trumpy kind of paper. Comes out and says, no. We actually have five sources on this.

That's not true. That's not what happened. White House responded yesterday, and they said, yeah. It was the commander that made that call. It was all within the law. Yada, yada.

So it wasn't Hegseth.

Oh. Then you have Mark Kelly coming on and saying, more things. This one is about the Franklin meme. You know, Franklin. The turtle. The kids book about the turtle.

Apparently, Hegseth retweeted or tweeted a picture of, you know, like Franklin magazine. And he's, you know, up on an American chopper. And he's firing down on, you know, drug runners and a boat.

And this causes Mark Kelly to say this.
MARK: -- global mission. And instead, he runs around, on a stage, like he's a 12-year-old playing Army. And it is ridiculous, it is embarrassing, and I -- I can't imagine what our allies think of looking at that guy, in this job, one of the most important jobs in our country. In my view, after the president of the United States, it is the next most important job. He is in the national command authority for nuclear weapons. And last night, he's putting out on the internet turtles with rocket-propelled grenades, killing -- I mean, have you seen this?

GLENN: Oh, it's outrageous. Let me ask you: Where were you on the leadership of the Pentagon when they pulled out of Afghanistan?

Were you saying, what are our allies thinking about that?

How about when, what's-his-face, decided to go get. What was it?

Surgery. Was out on surgery.

Didn't alert anyone that was -- what was his name, Lloyd Austin, right?

And he's out on surgery. And he didn't tell anybody.

Then he goes on vacation. Something happens.

Where are you?

He said, I'll come back, when I come back. Wait. Hold it. You want to talk about being in line with the nuclear weapons. Where was that one?

More importantly, Mr. Kelly, let me ask you: What do you think our allies thought about the health of our nation, when several democratic senators got together, and the for the first time in American history, pulled a Venezuela. And questioned the military and said, we will hold you responsible for any crimes against humanity. By the way, we're not telling you what those are. We'll judge, when we get back into power. And don't listen to the commander-in-chief. Let me ask you: If people -- if people in the Duma would have made that exact same video, and said, question the authority of Putin. And if he's telling you to go into Ukraine. That's going to be a war crime. And we're going to prosecute you.

And -- and don't listen to them. And don't listen to his secretary of war either. What do you think -- how would we analyze that?

Would we think that Putin was strong?

Would we think that their society is strong?

Would we think that they're a nation that can defend itself? Will defend itself?

Is willing to go to war?

Does that -- would we look at that and go, that's a strong nation, don't screw with them. Or if we had designs on that nation, would we say, you know what, up the pressure. Up the pressure.

Because this thing is about to fly apart. So, Mr. Kelly, let me ask you that.

Did you think about what our allies might have been saying, when you made the video and released it to the world?

Bueller.

Anybody? Anybody?

That -- that's the outrage here. The outrage is not that they said it. You can go to the Pentagon and say that. You can go and bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in. And you can call them on the carpet and say, look, I've got to tell you something. We can investigate this, if we have control. But you bring that into a private room, and you say that to all your like-minded senators in a private room.

You don't make a video and release it to the world.

I'll never forget, George Bush called me into the Oval Office. And he was a little upset.

And I had said, you know, you want to impeach the guy, you can impeach him on this. Look what he's doing in the Middle East. Look what he's doing. I don't even remember what it was. That's the stuff that at least if it's true, is impeachable.
That day, I get a call. And Mr. Beck, the president would like to see you in the oval tomorrow.

I go in. And I knew this would be the longest hour of my life. And I sit down in the -- honest to God, it was in the -- the Zelinsky chair. Okay?

And I got -- I got from George Bush what Zelinsky got from Trump.

And he starts out, a lot of people think they know what it's like to be the President. You have no F-ing idea what it's like. And I was like, oh, my gosh. This is going to be very, very long and agonizing.

And we get about a half our into all of this stuff. And he's telling me what's actually going on, on the ground.

And he knows it all. And he's not hesitating. He's not like, and let me search for a word here.

None of that!

And I screw my courage to the sticking place, and say, excuse me. Mr. President, this is the President that America needs to see.

This is the guy. Why don't you say these things to the American public?

And he goes off on another tirade, and he tells me about how he's made deals with the Pentagon. He's made deals with the military. He's made deals -- he's also had all of the eyes. Listen to this. All of the eyes with all of the leaders of the world, including all of their intelligence officials.

And they watch everything that every major official says in the United States, especially the president. And whatever the President says, they analyze. He said, I shift my eyes at the wrong time, they think, well, that means he's not saying this. What he's actually saying is this.

He's like, I'm juggling so many things in my head, that I can't say or can't do, because of X, Y, or Z. And he said, that's the job of the president.

Now, whether you agree with that or not, it doesn't matter.

The reason why I tell you that story is, Mark Kelly, did you seen consider what Five Eyes might be saying about that video? What China, how they might be analyzing that video?

How Russia is analyzing that video. How that affects our national stability in this country.

Screw you're trying to, in my opinion, start a Colour Revolution!

Screw that. Let's just talk about, how's this make us stronger with national defense.

You call people into a private room and say that. Like has always been done in the United States of America.

What you did has never been done in the United States.

Not at the time of the Civil War even. Never has this been done!

Why?

Because people respected the republic. They respected the military.

They respected the fact that their voice would be heard by foreigners. And foreign nations. Many of them, adversaries.

And so they showed just a modicum of -- of restraint. That you, sir, couldn't find.

So please, don't preach to me about how embarrassing it is that he's putting a cartoon out. Yeah. I would rather have my secretary of war not put cartoons out. But unfortunately, that's the way of the world now, isn't it?

I mean, you know, you can only get attention by people doing stupid memes. You didn't need a meme. You didn't need a video.

You needed all of you, to get together, and say, we would like the Joint Chiefs to meet us at the Capitol.

Because they also answer to us. And we have a few things to say to them.

And then you say to them privately. And you make it very, very clear.

That's what you should have done.

I mean, unless you're trying to collapse the United States, make our enemies stronger. And foment a Colour Revolution. Which I'm not sure -- what?

Colour Revolution. I'm not even sure what that means.

RADIO

Country Music star John Rich reveals shocking truth about child predator epidemic

Country music singer John Rich joins Glenn Beck to expose the staggering reality of America’s child predator epidemic, a crisis far larger and darker than most parents realize. With 36 million online targeting reports in a single year and less than 1% of trafficked children ever returning home, Rich argues that parents can no longer be passive; predators, platforms, and cultural forces have infiltrated homes through screens, games, and social media. From demonic networks preying on kids to entertainment giants openly bragging about shaping young minds, this conversation delivers a wake-up call: if American parents don’t go on offense now, the wolves will keep winning.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: It's called the Righteous Hunter, and John Rich is with us now. Hey, John, how are you, man?

JOHN: I'm great, brother. It's been a long time since I had the pleasure of talking to you. So thanks for having me on.

GLENN: I know. You bet. So, first of all, what a great song. Powerful, powerful video. Really powerful. Why did you do this?

JOHN: So I'm a dad. I'm sure there are a lot of moms and dads, listening to you today. I know there are.

And when I started realizing the extent of child predators in the networks they have, in America, I was so overwhelmed by it. I couldn't believe the numbers. The Department of Homeland Security told me that in a 12-month period, they received 36 million reports of -- of kids being targeted online by child sex predators. I said, 36 million?

They said, yes. It's over three million a month. It is so huge and so massive, that regular parents, even Christian parents, patriotic parents, you know, the ones that pay attention, even we can become victims of these people. They are that tricky, that illusive, that demonic.

So that led to me writing the song. I'm sick and tired of us sitting around, hoping they don't get our kids next. You know, it tells us in the Bible, to go on the offense when you're a parent. You're supposed to not just defend, but go on defense.

You know there's a wolf in the front yard, you go out there and handle the wolf.

And that's how I look at these predators.
So The Righteous Hunter, that song was born from that thought.

GLENN: You know, you say, it can even hit us.

I've only told this story once before. But my son, when he was probably hmm. Fourteen.

He was playing on a PlayStation.

And it's, you 1 o'clock in the morning.

And the phone rings.

And we were lucky enough at that time, to have land lines. And the -- and we had multiple lines.

And it rang once. And then it hung up. And my wife was like, what was that?

And I said, I don't know. And then it bothered her so much.

She stayed awake. And she watched the lines. She saw line two light up.

She's like, somebody is on the phone.

And we went up.

We found out that my son was on the phone with a gamer. And we called the FBI. And my son was freaking out. He's like, Dad, he's just a normal kid. Blah, blah. Called the FBI.

They do an investigation. He was an adult. He was working at let's just say a major amusement park in the Los Angeles, Orange County area.

JOHN: Hmm.

GLENN: And was as the FBI agent told us, this is the way it happens, you don't see it. It's in the middle of the night. They had just caught somebody who had just -- in our general area, just caught somebody whose daughter was taken. And taken across state lines. And they said, you know, they just said, hey. We'll send you an airline ticket. Just come and visit us.

And, you know, it didn't turn out well. And they caught that person as well. But that doesn't happen all the time. You usually don't catch it. We were really blessed.

JOHN: Yeah. The stats are that less than 1 percent of kids who -- who wind up being trafficked are ever returned to their parents. This video that you're talking about, that I shot. I had to take some time to think about it.

I wrote this song almost a year ago. And it is such a disturbing subject. But I knew it was written for a reason. It was written to make parents wake up. It was written to make predators hopefully shake in fear from the wrath of God and the American parent. Because I don't think they have any fear. I know they don't have any fear of God. But they need to fear us.

So I took a lot of time shooting it. In this video, Glenn. There's a reenactment of adults, purchasing children in somebody's house.

GLENN: Yeah.

JOHN: Which is accurate because we had -- we had actual supervision in the room, from people who would do this for a living.

They would sting these people. They set them up.

They arrest them. We had them in the room to make sure everything they did was accurate. I urge people to watch it. As hard as it is for people to watch it, you need to look at it.

GLENN: Was the girl who was returned, was that just off the top of your head?

Was that just a hope or a true story?

In the video.

JOHN: There are kids who get returned. But it's less than 1 percent. Less than 1 percent, Glenn. I mean, that is --

GLENN: I can't imagine.

JOHN: That's unacceptable. When there's tens of millions of moms and dads who would go to the ends of the earth to get them. But less than 1 percent get them back. It is one of the most horrific blights, sins existing in the world today. I would say the most.

I mean, Jesus himself. Probably the most aggressive thing the son of God ever said.

STU: Oh, yeah.

JOHN: Is that you would be better off dead, than to hurt one of these kids. A millstone around your neck, as we know this phrase.

GLENN: Yeah. Did Sean Combs and what he was going through, play a role into bringing you this message?

JOHN: Sean Combs. You talking about Diddy?

GLENN: Yeah.

JOHN: Yeah. Well, I saw a video of him, about a year ago, on stage at some award show. And he looked right into the camera, and he said, I own your kids. I determine what they listen to. What they wear. What they think is cool.

I'll take your souls. He looks at the camera, with this demonic look in his eye. And proclaims this to American parents. And, you know, music is his weapon. Sean Combs and the industry, a lot of them, they use their music as a weapon to steal our sons and daughters, as the song says. To take them from us. To wreck their lives. To veer them off the path that God has intended for them to live.

They use their music to do it. And I was so enraged when I saw that demoniac say that with such arrogance. And we know the devil is the most arrogant creature ever created.

I said, oh, let Sean Comb's music, it's his weapon. Well, music is my weapon as well.

So I will write something. Let Sean combs. And the rest of the Sean combs of the world know, how the American parent feels about it. And what we're willing to do to protect our kids.

Because I don't think you guys are really aware of that.

And so that's -- that's where the song came from. I went to Sean Ryan.

A lot of people know Sean Ryan from his podcast. I asked him. He played the dad from the video. This is not a guy that will do music videos. I thought he would say, I appreciate it. But no.

But he said yes!

So Shawn Ryan is playing the dad, and it's his daughter being reenacted that's been taken.

GLENN: Well, it's very -- very powerful.

Let me ask you. What is the -- you know, I was thinking about what TikTok is here in America. And what TikTok is in China.

And TikTok in China is all positive.

It's all positive.

It's all kids doing amazing things. Et cetera, et cetera.

Because they know it's good for society. Here, they perverted it. Went the other direction.

What is it about our society that is attracted to stuff like this?

Why do we consume this garbage?

JASON: I think we have been programmed for decades, you know this. Programmed little by little by little.

Things that were shocking in the '80s, now would be rated PG. Things that were shocking even ten years ago, now you can click on it, and watch it on TikTok.

Degree by degree, they have come further and further into the -- the households of Americans. And conditioned those kids and parents, to just consider it normal.

And that's the trick. That's the deception.

That's why you have 36 million reports in one year in DHS alone. Of kids being targeted online.

Listen, this road is not just to yell into the void.

It's not just, hey. All these predators. We see you.

Yeah. That's part of it.

But bigger. The bigger point of parents watching video.

And the whole thing, by the way, is posted at John Rich on X. That's just at the top of my page, if you want to watch it.

The bigger point is that American parents start looking into their kids' devices. They go online. And figure out how to safeguard against this stuff. Don't let them in your house. Listen you wouldn't let a predator come through your front door, or play glass window in the middle of the night.

He would be met with gunfire. He would die! Inside your home, if he tried to take one of your kids. But we sit here. As we're following up on our emails or whatever we're doing. And our kids are off in the bedroom, they could be getting taken by Roblox.

GLENN: Big time.

JOHN: I mean, all these innocuous games that seem like nothing. These predators are coming in and posing as a kid and doing what you said in that story earlier, and they're very successful at it. We've got to stop that. Parents have to go on the offense. And it starts inside of your own home.

GLENN: Well, the one thing that you could do is cancel Meta. Make sure you don't have Meta. I don't know if you know this.

But Meta, if you were an account that engaged in trafficking of humans for sex, Meta doesn't believe in three strikes and you're out. They believe in 17 strikes and you're out.

Seventeen chances!

I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know what parent that would agree with that.

JOHN: Well, no parent agrees with that.

GLENN: No.

JOHN: But listen, we're up against an Army.

Battalions. Legions of demons in this world.

They are there. They possess people. Just like you and I are possessed by the Holy Spirit.

Because we gave our lives to Jesus Christ.

We're possessed by him. We're possessed by the Holy Spirit.

They're possessed by the spirit of their father. And it's an actual straight-up war.

If you think about it. What probably puts the most tears down the cheeks of Jesus Christ.

When you --

GLENN: Children.

JOHN: When you hurt the kids. Yes. Absolutely.

That's their motive. If they can derail the kids. They think they can win. But we can't let that happen.

RADIO

Tennessee Special Election is a MASSIVE Wake-Up Call for Republicans Ahead of 2026 Midterms

A Tennessee district that voted for Trump by 22 points is suddenly a 2-point race, and the warning signs for Republicans couldn’t be clearer. With a strong GOP candidate, a weak progressive Democrat, and a deep-red electorate, this race should be a blowout. Instead, low turnout and December timing have turned a safe seat into a dangerous toss-up. What happens here could preview 2026 and whether the GOP is ready, or already slipping.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Well, it's an interesting day in Tennessee.

There is an election going on today in Tennessee.

And it's kind of an important one. Because this is a -- this is a district that, you know, went to Trump by 22 points.

And the Democrats are not spending as much money as the Republicans are, which kind of tells you go. We better not lose this one.

Stu. Welcome.

STU: Yeah. It's an interesting one, Glenn. Seventh congressional district in Tennessee. And it is a race, as you point out, that should be very, very friendly to Republicans.

This should not be what they have to worry about. As you noted, a 22-point margin for Donald Trump, in 2024. And this race is going on because of a representative who stepped down and took a job with the private sector.

And so right off the bat, you know, the important part of right now, is the fact that the Republicans have a very small majority in the House. They came in with a small majority. So losing any representatives is a big deal. They've had to deal with a few months of this going on and on. They have to defend this seat.

The two in the race, Matt Van Epps is the Republican.

He is -- you know, you never know in one of these cases. When you have a bright red district, sometimes you get a candidate that is not very good.

Sometimes you get a candidate, you know, where you kind of get a crazy person who wins the primary. Does not seem to be the case here at all.

Matt Van Epps is a West Point graduated, a decorated helicopter pilot. He is seemingly a fiscal conservative, does not seem to be some crazy person with lots of wild tweets or anything like that. He seems to be a --

GLENN: Hasn't been on an island, Epstein or otherwise.

STU: I don't think so. Has avoided all pedophile islands, which is great. Really want -- even peninsulas. He doesn't even go anywhere that has the word pedophile on it. He's stayed away from it, which is fantastic.

GLENN: Yeah, that's great. That's great.

STU: That would be the type of risk that you might have, in a situation like this.

Where you have a fringy type candidate.

He does not seem to be that.

Also, when you look at the Republican side of the aisle, sometimes you get a candidate who is like super Trumpy. And maybe the old school conservatives aren't on board with it. Or you get an anti-Trump Republican that runs, and Trump won't stores endorsed.

It doesn't seem that either of those have happened. This is a guy that the club for growth seems to like.

And Trump has endorsed and rallied for.

So you have --

GLENN: Okay.

STU: They didn't blow this. Like, they didn't go in this with like, okay.

We're super confident. Seems to have handled this relatively competently. The other thing. And you kind of noted a little bit of this. Which is interesting. Is they saw this coming.

They were worried about this from the beginning. And decided to actually spend money on this race. Which sometimes, again, can be a problem.

Sometimes, they're like, we have this 22 points, we don't need to do anything.

Democrat comes in. Spends tons of money, and the Republican loses somehow. That didn't happen here. Republicans have spent I think over $3 million. The Democrats spend about two.

Again, they have both been spending.

This is an important race. The Republicans actually spent some cash in this race.

GLENN: Because if the Democrat wins, it's a one point majority?

STU: One, two. There's a bunch of seats in flux. It's very close, to put it that way. You can't lose seats right now. To the extent, the House majority, it's not completely out of the question, they could lose this before 2026.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh.

STU: With a couple of weird moments happening with -- again, most of these congressmen are over 96 years old, so you never what's going to happen. Retirements. A lot of these people in purple districts are looking at 2026 and are saying, I'm not going to win. So maybe I just bail now, and take a private sector job.

I don't think they will lose the majority because of that. But it is an outlier possibility in this case.

So you look at this race, and the other part about this is, do the Democrats poll a candidate who is great?

Every once in a while, you get a candidate, you know, a military member on the Democratic side who is a smooth talker and can talk to the average person.

Even though, they're a Democrat. And they don't sound like a lunatic.

GLENN: Tulsi Gabbard, that the Democrats would actually like.

STU: Right. Someone they didn't eject out of the party immediately, when they started making sense.

GLENN: Right. There's fewer and fewer of them. But they might still exist somewhere.

I'm not entirely unsure that unicorns don't exist. So it might have.

STU: Did they pull a unicorn. The answer to that does seem to be a flat no.

What they pulled was Aftyn Behn, which this is a candidate running who is seemingly more on, like, the kind of AOC side of the Democratic Party. Not someone who is going to relate to the average person.

Now, she's had a couple of moments, that have made some news as this race has gone on. And she -- this is -- let me give you cut three, first.

This is 2020, a podcast clip of one of her podcast clips of her, that has been resurfaced during this campaign, talking about the area she actually would be representing.

VOICE: Because I hate this city. I hate the bachlorettes. I hate the pedal taverns. I hate country music. I hate all of the things that make Nashville.

STU: So, again, suboptimal, Glenn. You would prefer --

GLENN: That's really kind of a hard thing. It's kind of like saying, I want to represent the part -- or the district, you know, of Orlando, where Walt Disney World is, but I hate Disney.

STU: I hate Disney. I hate talking mice. I don't like dogs without pants on. It's like, generally speaking --

GLENN: Right. I can understand. I don't like Vegas, but Vegas likes Vegas. You know, the states like Vegas. It's really an important thing. I mean, if you happen to have a store or, you know, country music and the stores and the -- you know, the honky-tonks and all that stuff, that's what makes Nashville a destination.

STU: Right. That's the thing.

GLENN: If you want to get rid of that, you're going to not do good things for the economy, just saying.

STU: I mean, Glenn, you and I both know people who live and work in Nashville. They're -- it's not an uncommon sentiment for people to be frustrated about the bachelorette parties and the pedal taverns and the things that go on downtown. It's wild. It's Nash-Vegas, right? It is wild. And it can be that way.

GLENN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

STU: And if you're a resident, there is some of that, that is somewhat common to the area. Though, saying that you hate the city when you're trying to represent the city. Is not necessarily optimal. I would say suboptimal. And I would say it's the economy. Right? It is -- if you hate that, if you're fighting against it, you're fighting against thousands and thousands of jobs, you're fighting against millions of dollars that are coming in.

That's not a great look. Even if you believe it, it's of type of thing that a consultant would correctly advise you to not say when you're running for office.

GLENN: In today's world, that might be the exact right thing to say, the things that consultants say, "Don't ever say that."

STU: Yeah, I think in this case, I would shy away from the city.

GLENN: I would too. I would too.

STU: You know, the other part of this is, we saw much, much worse out of Zohran Mamdani, and he won.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: But he won a Democrat plus-20 city. This is a Republican plus 20 type of district. So probably not the approach you want to take. There is another one that is going on. You know, again, she's trying -- she's very much a progressive. But, of course, trying to message herself, as someone who can work across party lines. That's what you need to do as a Democrat to win in a Republican plus 20 district. That just means Republicans will win by 20 points, typically, on a typical cycle. Here is a 2023 political forum with that debate, talking about her ability to work across the aisle.

VOICE: You cannot work with these people. Working across the aisle has rarely been effective in the last ten years. Okay.

So what we need to do, one, we need to continue organizing external pressures in the Republican super majority, which is exactly what happened in April, when students and teachers came together and forced their frustration, and force Governor Lee to call a special session.

STU: So, again --

GLENN: Okay.

STU: -- suboptimal, probably if you're trying to present yourself that way, which is what she's tried to do.

She's tried to present herself -- her messaging and ads is like affordability. And can you believe these Republicans won't release the Epstein files?

It's like, your party had control of everything for four years, and didn't do this.

You are aware of that, right?

GLENN: And you noticed, as soon as they were released, how the Democrats just went completely silent.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Like Epstein files, no. There's nothing there. What are you talking about? So stupid.

STU: In polls, though, people want the Epstein files out. And that kind of goes across party lines. All of this basically set up to say, the Republicans didn't seem to blow this, with any of their decisions.

The Democrats didn't pick some generational talent to come into this race. And this is a race where you would say, normal times, maybe the Republicans win by 20 points.

The polling has not shown that. And nobody expects the Republicans to win this race by 20 points. That's kind of the bad news. A lot of the polling leading -- and it's -- it's a special election. To give you a quick outlier on that. Quick explaining on that. These races are weird. It's December. It's not an Election Day.

No one knows what the turnout is going to look like. It's a very strange, off-year, special election, anything can happen in these. And there's not a lot of polling to tell us what will happen.

GLENN: Yeah. And the really bad thing about this is, you know, you live in a place like this.

It will happen. And you're just so busy with everything else. You just don't even realize, oh, that was yesterday.

I was going to vote! You know what I mean?

STU: We talked about this. We talked about this yesterday in the meeting before the show. And we said, oh, that Tennessee election is going on. Oh, jeez. That's the one with the crazy lady.

It's out of our mind. We just came off of Thanksgiving weekend. I have no idea what the turnout will be on this.

And that is a real concern --

GLENN: Right. And the ones that win are the ones that can turn their base out. And if you have a democratic socialist. If you have somebody who can take these guys and hold them back, you're going to get your people out.

They will be motivated. Because they'll know, it won't take a lot of us to throw this election.

Just hoping that the tell me can -- or, the Republicans in -- in Nashville understand what they're up against today.

STU: It's a great point. If you're a democratic socialist, and you live in this district, there's no way you're not showing up.

You're going to be there. The question are the Republicans, the typical people who will win this race, going to be there?

GLENN: My guess is no. My guess is no.

Yeah. Twenty-two points, you're like, that will be fine.

STU: Every -- every indicator that we have, and I will say, there's not a lot of those indicators. Because it's lightly polled. And it's a weird time.

Every indicator that we have shows that some of those people that would typically come out and vote for Donald Trump in a presidential election, or a senator in Tennessee, are not going to show up for this election, like every indicator we have.

The polling leading up in a couple -- the couple months leading up to this showed typically Van Epps, the Republican, with a high single digits lead. So not a 22-point lead, which you would expect. More like eight or nine. That's still a victory. And it won't change the balance of the House and everything else.

GLENN: If they show up.

STU: If they show up.

Here's the bigger worry. And this is where you get really scared.

The last poll, the only one that we have that is very recent in the last few days, came out from Emerson. And Emerson is a pretty good pollster.

Did well on Trump.

They had this race as a two-point race.

Two!

GLENN: Jeez.

STU: The Republicans still winning.

But a two-point race. If you happen to be in this district, if you know somebody who is in this district, if you have someone who you know who is like, I think I will vote Republican. But we will win anyway. I wouldn't worry about it. Might be worth a phone call today.

Because if that poll is right, and I don't know that it is.

But if it's that close, this is a massively dangerous thing. To be clear, to say this in advance. So I can't take it back later. Would be completely catastrophic if they lost this race.

It's a special election. So there's asterisks around it.

The idea of what this points to in 2026.

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