EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Behind the scenes on the campaign trail with Donald Trump Jr.

August 19, 2020

Writer

The year 2020 has been one for the record books, that's for sure. Any election year gets especially feisty at this point in the calendar, but you mix in a worldwide pandemic, chaos and rioting in the streets, and oh yeah, an asteroid that barely missed Earth, and you get history in the making.

With all that going on in such a short period of time, the last presidential election seems like a lifetime ago. In the lead-up to November 2016, many conservatives — Glenn Beck included — had reservations about what a Donald Trump presidency would look like. Considering how contentious and heated the rhetoric got, you might expect those closest to President Trump to hold a grudge — but not Donald Trump Jr.

"I get it. In 2016 I totally understand why people didn't believe he'd follow through on his promises," Trump Jr. said. "Especially when it comes to pro-life and religious liberty issues. He was a New York guy that had to work with liberals to get things done. But now he's got a track record and he's doing what he said he'd do. He's accomplished so much and has followed through on what he promised. I think the people in this country are really responding to it and will come out and support him on Election Day even stronger this time around."

"Now he's got a track record and he's doing what he said he'd do."

Once in office, it didn't take long before President Trump started to fulfill his campaign promises. In 2016, without any history in public service and with celebrity as his main source of recognition, it's easy to understand why his primary opponents and later Hillary Clinton didn't see him as a serious threat — at first. Luckily for him, they made the fatal mistake of miscalculating how well he connects with the average American.

"My dad spent his formative years walking construction sites, talking with the workers and the contractors, and he got to know all kinds of people. He's always been very hands-on with his projects, and it gave him the opportunity to get to know what people care about and what issues are important to them. That was key for him to understand the problems the people of our country face right now," Trump Jr. said.

Aside from connecting with the common man, Don Jr. shared how his dad's time working in "the lion's den" of New York City helped him govern once he took office.

"As a businessman and a developer, my dad has always had to deal with bureaucracies and red tape, so he's had hands-on experience dealing with politics — especially as a conservative in New York," Trump Jr. said.

"Unlike Joe Biden, who's been an elected official since he was in his 20s, my dad has real-world experience and knows how to get things done."

"My dad has real-world experience and knows how to get things done."

Watching Don Jr. in front of a crowd or one on one with an individual, you can see he has some of the same abilities as his father to relate to the people he meets. Sincerity is often lacking in politics, but Don Jr. credits one very simple reason why both he and his father resonate with the people.

"The reason we connect with people and appear genuine is because we are genuine. It's easy to appear genuine when you aren't a phony and you are just yourself," Trump Jr. said.

If you follow Don Jr. on Instagram, you can see he enjoys "poking the bear" as the president does on Twitter. The memes and quips he posts often highlight the hypocrisy in government and show a side of him that many thought didn't exist.

"If you were to ask people before all of this, even family, they would say I've been the member of the family least like my father my whole life. But now I realize our personalities are much more similar than I thought," Trump Jr. said.

The similarities between Don Jr. and the president don't end there. Neither will back down from a fight, but like to take on bullies head-on, something the president's base had been longing for. After years of being silenced during the Obama administration, Republicans found their champion in Trump. Now as the president's top surrogate, Don Jr. has joined the fight and is taking on the enemy head-on, just like his dad.

"There are certain traits you are born with, but a lot does come from the way we were raised," Trump Jr. said. "We grew up around business and real-world problems, and he definitely helped shape who we are and how we view things."

When you are an outspoken member of the first family, you become subject to attacks and criticism. For Republicans, that criticism often comes from the mainstream media. The latest such attack on Don Jr. was a CBS News story blasting him for appearing in promotional images for a rifle company.

"I've been a lifelong conservative and a big supporter of the Second Amendment, and a guy asked me to go shooting with him when I was in town. Now the media is smearing him and throwing out all kinds of accusations. The guy had a contract with the military and went through that approval process, but I'm supposed to do a deep dive into his past and vet him even further? Give me a break," Trump Jr. said.

When CBS News asked for a quote for its story, Don Jr.'s spokesperson, Andrew Surabian, provided a statement that called out the journalistic double standard of assigning two investigative reporters to Don Jr.'s story and none to cover the recent Bill Clinton/Epstein allegations. CBS ultimately published a clipped version of the statement, omitting the part that highlighted its own hypocrisy.

You can read the full statement here:

Dishonest gutter level smear by @CBSNews. Don didn't appear in a promotion, he got invited to go shooting & they posted a pic of it on their instagram.

PS: They also refused to run my full statement. Maybe because I called CBS out for protecting Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein? https://t.co/OTGyyoJmB4 pic.twitter.com/t8ZcrLR0CS
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) August 19, 2020

"I can't go shooting at a range for half an hour because they dug up info about a guy I hadn't met before, but it's totally cool for Bill Clinton to sign off from his Secret Service detail 28 times to visit Jeffrey Epstein on 'pedophile island' — I mean, come on," Trump Jr. said.

For the amount of hate directed at President Trump, there is a part of the country that loves and supports him as well. This was evidenced by Don Jr.'s July appearance in Utah to help Burgess Owens' congressional bid. To conclude the day's events, he was asked to participate in a special tribute to Gold Star widow Jennie Taylor at a local rodeo. Taylor's husband, Major Brent Taylor of the Army National Guard, gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of his country. After Trump Jr. was announced, he walked out to a standing ovation and chants of "USA." Following his remarks to the crowd, he presented Mrs. Taylor with a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol building.

"We love the crowds and the support has been amazing, but there was something different about this one. Obviously with the COVID situation, we haven't been around as many people as we'd like. When they asked me to present a flag to the widow of the mayor [of North Ogden, Utah] who died in combat overseas, I was totally humbled," Trump Jr. said.

"Obviously the stump speech went out the window and I was just honored to be able to present that flag to her."

Due to the current pandemic, President Trump faces a hurdle that hits him right in his wheelhouse — limiting in-person events. His advantage of connecting with the average Joe appears to be hamstrung, and this should be detrimental to the campaign, but Don Jr. explained the Trump campaign has something the Biden campaign doesn't.

"Obviously we love the crowds and we haven't been able to hold the rallies that we'd hoped to, but we're confident about our ground game. Especially considering we actually have a ground game. We have over a million trained volunteers to help with the campaign, and Biden just doesn't have that kind of grassroots support," Trump Jr. said.

"We have over a million trained volunteers to help with the campaign, and Biden just doesn't have that kind of grassroots support."

It's this grassroots movement that won the 2016 election, and it's what the campaign is counting on to pull off the win this year, Trump Jr. said. The mainstream media would have you believe Trump is way behind Biden in the polls and that he's so power-hungry he will go to any lengths to stay in office. They claim he will rig the election via the postal service or that he'll hold on to power and refuse to leave office.

Conspiracy theories aside, Don Jr. says their concern is not Joe Biden as president; it's what the radical left has planned for his administration.

"First off, we know it's not actually Joe Biden who will be president. The Democrat Party has gone completely to the left and people like AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Bernie Sanders are going to be pushing their radical agenda, and we'll have a totally different country if Biden wins. That's why we're so passionate about this election," Trump Jr. said.

Vitriol is at an all-time high, and it's not just left vs. right or Democrat vs. Republican any more. It's anti-Trumpers vs. pro-Trumpers. If there's one thing separating President Trump from his predecessors, it's the amount of hate coming from his own side.

"They are a bunch of losers that haven't been able to accomplish anything, and it pays better to be anti-Trump right now. So we aren't concerned about what they are doing," Trump Jr. said.

But not even this level of hate seems to stick to the "Teflon Dons."

Love the Trumps or hate 'em, there is no denying they have something special. Whether it's connecting with the average American, having real-world experience, or just an ability to recognize the issues people are most passionate about, they've got it in spades.

Hopefully that's enough to defeat Biden come November.

Watch Glenn's interview from radio Thursday with Donald Trump Jr. here:

DONALD TRUMP JR: We Can't Let the Media Cover for Biden's "Mental Decline"www.youtube.com

Is the U.N. plotting to control 30% of U.S. land by 2030?

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A reliable conservative senator faces cancellation for listening to voters. But the real threat to public lands comes from the last president’s backdoor globalist agenda.

Something ugly is unfolding on social media, and most people aren’t seeing it clearly. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — one of the most constitutionally grounded conservatives in Washington — is under fire for a housing provision he first proposed in 2022.

You wouldn’t know that from scrolling through X. According to the latest online frenzy, Lee wants to sell off national parks, bulldoze public lands, gut hunting and fishing rights, and hand America’s wilderness to Amazon, BlackRock, and the Chinese Communist Party. None of that is true.

Lee’s bill would have protected against the massive land-grab that’s already under way — courtesy of the Biden administration.

I covered this last month. Since then, the backlash has grown into something like a political witch hunt — not just from the left but from the right. Even Donald Trump Jr., someone I typically agree with, has attacked Lee’s proposal. He’s not alone.

Time to look at the facts the media refuses to cover about Lee’s federal land plan.

What Lee actually proposed

Over the weekend, Lee announced that he would withdraw the federal land sale provision from his housing bill. He said the decision was in response to “a tremendous amount of misinformation — and in some cases, outright lies,” but also acknowledged that many Americans brought forward sincere, thoughtful concerns.

Because of the strict rules surrounding the budget reconciliation process, Lee couldn’t secure legally enforceable protections to ensure that the land would be made available “only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests.” Without those safeguards, he chose to walk it back.

That’s not selling out. That’s leadership.

It's what the legislative process is supposed to look like: A senator proposes a bill, the people respond, and the lawmaker listens. That was once known as representative democracy. These days, it gets you labeled a globalist sellout.

The Biden land-grab

To many Americans, “public land” brings to mind open spaces for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation. But that’s not what Sen. Mike Lee’s bill targeted.

His proposal would have protected against the real land-grab already under way — the one pushed by the Biden administration.

In 2021, Biden launched a plan to “conserve” 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. This effort follows the United Nations-backed “30 by 30” initiative, which seeks to place one-third of all land and water under government control.

Ask yourself: Is the U.N. focused on preserving your right to hunt and fish? Or are radical environmentalists exploiting climate fears to restrict your access to American land?

Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor | Getty Images

As it stands, the federal government already owns 640 million acres — nearly one-third of the entire country. At this rate, the government will hit that 30% benchmark with ease. But it doesn’t end there. The next phase is already in play: the “50 by 50” agenda.

That brings me to a piece of legislation most Americans haven’t even heard of: the Sustains Act.

Passed in 2023, the law allows the federal government to accept private funding from organizations, such as BlackRock or the Bill Gates Foundation, to support “conservation programs.” In practice, the law enables wealthy elites to buy influence over how American land is used and managed.

Moreover, the government doesn’t even need the landowner’s permission to declare that your property contributes to “pollination,” or “photosynthesis,” or “air quality” — and then regulate it accordingly. You could wake up one morning and find out that the land you own no longer belongs to you in any meaningful sense.

Where was the outrage then? Where were the online crusaders when private capital and federal bureaucrats teamed up to quietly erode private property rights across America?

American families pay the price

The real danger isn’t in Mike Lee’s attempt to offer more housing near population centers — land that would be limited, clarified, and safeguarded in the final bill. The real threat is the creeping partnership between unelected global elites and our own government, a partnership designed to consolidate land, control rural development, and keep Americans penned in so-called “15-minute cities.”

BlackRock buying entire neighborhoods and pricing out regular families isn’t by accident. It’s part of a larger strategy to centralize populations into manageable zones, where cars are unnecessary, rural living is unaffordable, and every facet of life is tracked, regulated, and optimized.

That’s the real agenda. And it’s already happening , and Mike Lee’s bill would have been an effort to ensure that you — not BlackRock, not China — get first dibs.

I live in a town of 451 people. Even here, in the middle of nowhere, housing is unaffordable. The American dream of owning a patch of land is slipping away, not because of one proposal from a constitutional conservative, but because global powers and their political allies are already devouring it.

Divide and conquer

This controversy isn’t really about Mike Lee. It’s about whether we, as a nation, are still capable of having honest debates about public policy — or whether the online mob now controls the narrative. It’s about whether conservatives will focus on facts or fall into the trap of friendly fire and circular firing squads.

More importantly, it’s about whether we’ll recognize the real land-grab happening in our country — and have the courage to fight back before it’s too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

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

Establish basic liability laws

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

Pass increased whistleblower protections

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

Prevent AI from having legal rights

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

Oppose the state moratorium on AI

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Operation Midnight Hammer

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

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

What comes next

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

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

That would be catastrophic.

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

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

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

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

Now we pray

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

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rising Islamism

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

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

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

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

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

Blending the worst ideologies

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

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

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

Call out radicalism

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

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

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.