RADIOSeptember 15, 2022

4 ways Democrats are RUINING energy & 5 ways we can save it

It’s not just that America needs more energy to run the nation NOW. But we’ll need much more if we actually want to run the technology of the FUTURE. So, it’s a good thing there’s no knowledge OR physical resource deficits to creating more, low-cost energy in thousands of places around the world, Alex Epstein, author of ‘Fossil Future,’ tells Glenn. Rather, he says, today's energy crisis is due to current political reasons instead. In fact, Epstein lists the four steps Democrats seem to be taking — especially within the Inflation Reduction Act — to ruin American energy. Thankfully, Epstein has the answer to save it. He discusses the 5 steps to his ‘energy freedom platform’ and explains how YOU can become involved to help save American energy too...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So last night, I laid out a kind of bleak look for the future of energy. And I don't think most people understand. We don't need just the energy to run things now. We need more energy to run the technology of the future. And Alex Epstein is with us. He's from the Center of Industrial Progress. Founder and president. And also, the author of a book you must read, it's Fossil Fuel.

And he's come equipped with some real solutions to our energy problem, to be able to stave it off. And, really, all you need is support from the American people. Right?

ALEX: Yeah. The great thing about energy, is there's all the potential to produce low cost reliable energy for billions of people in thousands of places. There's no -- there's no physical resource deficit for doing this, and there's no knowledge deficit.

Human beings know how to produce reliable electricity. Right? We know how to produce energy on a scale of billions of people. We're just being prohibited from doing it politically. Which means that there's a political solution, if we are liberated to be able to do it.

GLENN: So we have -- I mentioned that in Colorado -- I mean, people who have these smart thermostats. I've said for a while. Don't do that.
ALEX: That's a euphemism.

GLENN: Yeah. I know. In Colorado, they had to -- they lost control of their thermostats. And I mentioned that and said, you know, if your right to touch your thermostat is only worth $25 a year to you, good luck. But people are bashing back saying, well, that's because the coal-powered plants went down. And, you know, it was an emergency at the coal-powered plants. Because coal is just not stable.

ALEX: Yeah. We're really in this Orwellian world, right? I mean, the inflation act is called the Inflation Reduction Act. Freedom is slavery. And coal is unreliable. And solar and wind are reliable. Despite the obvious.

GLENN: Right. Right.

ALEX: Yeah. What they always point to, they did this with the Texas blackouts too.

They'll point to some individual failure of some fossil fuel plant. And then say, oh, well, this inherently doesn't work.

But we know that we can produce reliable electricity with fossil fuels, because we've been doing it for generations. And we've done it in all weather conditions. You can do it when it's really cold, when it's really hot. So if you know a fossil fuel plant fails, that's just something about the specific situation. That's not the technology. Solar and wind, they do not produce electricity most of the time, and you can't rely on them, almost any time. That's the basic nature of them. And part of what happens when you see fossil fuel failures is often, they have to account for the intermittency of solar and wind. So they have to cycle up and down, or be shut down and restarted more. Much more than they would be if they were on their own.

And -- or what happens is they'll get defunded, the way the whole subsidies just expanded unfortunately. Is that they defund reliable powerplants, including things like weatherization, say, for natural gas in Texas. So we know that we can -- again, we have all the ability to produce reliable electricity at low costs. We're just not using it because of political factors.

GLENN: Okay. So go over can't five-point plan.

ALEX: So I call this the energy freedom platform. And I encourage politicians of all parties to adopt this opinion unfortunately -- I mean, unfortunately right now, Democrats are not being very good in terms of energy. They almost all supported the inflation act. I think basically all of them did.

GLENN: And, by the way, I played the audio from an activist group, that was a part of this inflation reduction bill.

And they admitted, they were talking to their own supporters. And they were like, look, it's not about inflation.

It's really a green bill. Which we all kind of knew, if you were paying attention.

It's a green bill. It's stuffed with stuff about green energy.

ALEX: Yeah. And we can talk about how -- I mean, I consider that a four-step recipe for destroying American energy basically. Because just very quickly.

So it involves increasing dependence on unreliable electricity. If you want to destroy American energy, that's a good step one. Step two is add taxes and restrictions to fossil fuels, during fossil fuel shortages. That's a good -- that's a good step two. What were the other steps? I mean, it's so bad. Oh, yeah. Increase the power of the EPA to shut down fossil fuel projects. We need more of that, obviously. And then increase the power of environmental justice activists to stop all energy development.

GLENN: And you've just done that the lie the DOJ now.

ALEX: Yeah. They have this four-step thing, which if you're trying to destroy American energy, it's hard to think of a better plan. So let's talk about how to improve American energy, with the Energy Freedom Platform. So I'll give the five, and then we can go into depth in any of one of them.

Okay? So number one is liberate responsible development. Number two is end preferences for unreliable electricity. Number three is reform air and water emission standards to incorporate cost-benefit analysis. This is a really important one for EPA stuff. Number four is liberate -- is rather, reduce emissions long-term, through innovation, not through punishing America.

Through liberating innovation, not through punishing America.

And then number five, which I know you will be sympathetic to, is decriminalize nuclear energy. So we can talk about any of those, but they're all crucial.

GLENN: Okay. Let's just take them one by one real quick.

ALEX: Okay.

GLENN: First one.

ALEX: So liberate responsible development. Energy inherently involves developing the world around us. And yet we have an anti-development movement that is setting energy policy, and running many of these agencies. So there's opposition to development even in the investment world. But in particular, just all these antidevelopment policies that are restricting fossil fuel development, nuclear development, et cetera.

GLENN: So ESG is a good example. Well, ESG is a kind of quasi political. But if you just look at how difficult it is, if you take nuclear. Like how difficult it is to start a nuclear plant.

You know, you say, four years.

Now it takes 16 years. Part of that is you have these antidevelopment so-called green activists that can stop things on a dime. So you really need policies that are pro development. And they're responsible development, if they try to stop endangerment. So you don't want to endanger local people, or endanger some national treasure. But you can't have the idea that it's wrong to develop nature.

And that terrible anti-human idea is at the root of so many of our laws and policies.

So when I go into the details, if people go to EnergyTalkingPoints.com, you'll see there's a lot of specific policies that need to be reformed, that are antidevelopment right now.
GLENN: Okay. All right. Number two.

ALEX: So is end -- end preferences for unreliable electricity.

And on that website, there's something called electricity emergency, which goes into the details.

But basically, right now, we do three things. We have mandates for unreliable electricity. We prefer them in that way. Many states have those. Like my state of California, unfortunately has those.

We have subsidies, which we just expanded under the Inflation Act.

Right? So we did that. And then the most insidious that people don't know, is that we have very unfair pricing. Because there's no cost penalty for selling unreliable electricity into the grid. Now, you think about that. Imagine you have a car company, and you got to charge the same for a car that works a third of the time. And a car that works all the time. That's how the grid works. You get the same alternate for selling unreliable electricity. Reliable electricity. And actually, you get more. Because all the subsidies, that we just extended. So you actually get paid a premium for selling something that is not nearly as valuable. And sometimes unreliable electricity is of negative value. Sometimes if you have too much electricity, you need to off-load it. So this is -- if you pay a premium for you be reliable electricity. Guess what, you get unreliable electricity.

GLENN: Okay. Number three.

ALEX: So this had to do with the air and water emissions standards. So right now, let's look at what the EPA is doing. We have in that article, electricity emergency.

I talk about, there's slated to be 93 gigawatts of coal shutting down, in terms of already announced things. That's almost one-tenth of a reliable capacity.

One-tenth. This is by 2030.

But there's also the threat of 92 more.

So almost a fifth of our reliable capacity. There's a reliability bloodbath that's scheduling to happen. The lion's share of this comes from EPA policies.

So it's EPA deliberately trying to do things that will shut down these coal plants, even though as you've talked about, there's no viable replacement in the pipeline. We have almost no nuclear scheduled. Not nearly enough gas.

So how does the EPA justify this? Well, one thing is they don't use real cost-benefit analysis when they're making decisions. So they'll say, hey, wouldn't it be great to have lower emissions? But they don't think about, what is the cost of that, in terms of what is the cost to human life of an unreliable grid. They're almost incalculable. So the EPA is making these decisions, and they're not giving any consideration to the reliability of the great. So that's an example of you need real cost-benefit analysis.

GLENN: These people -- are there any honest people on this side? I mean, I don't understand how an honest person can look at it and not say, yeah, but this will make things more unreliable. And people will either die from heat stroke, or they will either die freezing in the winter. You know, you can't just have an unreliable grid like this? Is there anybody on the other side that is asking these questions that's honest?

ALEX: I think one. I mean, there are some people who are really anti-energy. So essentially, they're honest. They hide it from the public. They want less power. They want to industrialize. That kind of thing. I think one of the challenges is. I talk about this in chapter one, of Fossil Future. We rely on what I call a knowledge system to give us expert knowledge and guidance on all these specialized areas. And what you have is multiple of these specializations are failing, at the same time. But each specialization thinks the other is doing its job. So, for instance, the electricity people have been hiding the electricity emergency.

They're not acknowledging. Many of the companies have not been acknowledging. You talk behind the scenes, yeah. This is a disaster. But publicly, they won't say anything. The regulators are kind of silent. And so the public thinks, oh, there's not that big a threat. And then the EPA people, they'll distort the science about the side effects of coal.

But they'll kind of think, oh, yeah. We don't have to worry about reliability. Because the isn't saying that.

There's dishonesty kind of everywhere.

But one reinforces the other. I mean, we've got a world, that thought legitimately, you could rapidly eliminate fossil fuels by 2050, and it would work well. This was the mainstream view.

And part of it was there were all these false views, that are being combined. And people have this idea. Well, most people -- the experts, so-called.

The people that were told they're experts. They can't be that wrong. But they can be that wrong in part because what we're told the experts think is usually a massive distortion of what actually the researchers in a field think.

GLENN: Yes. That's happening with global warming, all the time.

ALEX: Oh, yeah. Of course. It's the idea that the world is going to end, if it gets one or 2 degrees warmer on a planet where far more people die of cold than of heat.

The researchers don't think that, but that gets distorted by what I call our knowledge system to make it. Oh, it's an apocalypse. And you have to take a crash emergency action and destroy all your energy. And then the planet will be nice to you. And then life will be great.

GLENN: Give me the fourth one.
ALEX: So the fourth one is --

GLENN: Reduce.

ALEX: Reduce emissions long-term. It's very important. It has to be long-term. Because there's no short-term producing of emissions. That's a pipe dream. So it's reduce CO2 emissions long-term, by liberating innovation, not punishing America.

GLENN: When did we lose that in America?

ALEX: Lose which one?

GLENN: The idea that we innovate our way out of problems? Instead, we're just -- we're just dismantling everything. Instead of saying, you know, hey, we've got -- we've got a food storage problem. And somebody comes up with the refrigerator, you know what I mean? We are already seeing technology, that is -- we have reduced greenhouse gases. Better than anybody else.

And a lot of it is because of new technology.

But we just dismiss that.

ALEX: I just there are a couple of things going on. So one of this is there's this idea that CO2 emissions are an emergency. And when you think of something as an emergency, you need to get rid of it immediately.

And if that's your view. The only thing you can do is just massively destroy human life.

I mean, that's the only way you can do it.

To reduce emissions now, in a world where fossil fuels are 80 percent of the world's energy. In a world that needs vastly more energy, 3 billion people using less electricity per person than one of our refrigerators.

Like, the world is going to be using more fossil fuels for a while. So if you think of it as an emergency, the world is going to end, then you are going to do these crash problems and accept these terrible consequences. Which we're just beginning to see. Because we've only reduced fossil fuels a little bit, compared to what has been asked for, in World Economic Forum, and all these other people. So one is this emergency mindset is really bad.

And it's not justified. We're safer than ever from climate. CO2 emissions have a warming impact and a greening impact. It's not a catastrophic impact. If you want to lower emissions. You have to think of it as a long-term thing. That's the only moral way, and it's the only practical way. China and India will not lower their emissions until there's a cost-effective alternative. Now, the greens say they want cost-effective alternatives. They say they want solar and wind. But notice that their approach is to first restrict fossil fuels. I know you've talked about, and then promise a replacement. That's not how markets work. That's not how freedom works.

GLENN: Right. That's not how anything of common sense works. You don't say, I know all the machines in the hospital are keeping your husband alive, but we're going to try something that's never been done before. So we'll turn off all of those machines. And then hope that something works. That's -- that's insane.

ALEX: But that has been the policy. Part of it has been disguised. They said, to take your analogy. They've said the equivalent of, hey, we have this amazing new machine. We're developing green machines. Right?

But what they didn't say, is their main policy is shutting down the machines that worked. Like, what did Biden do first? Shuts down the Keystone XL Pipeline. Bans leasing on federal lands. He didn't come up with some new energy innovation and prove it.

He shut down, what was -- what was working. And that's the huge prison. And so the approach has to be, you liberate innovation, so you get things like cost-effective nuclear.

But you don't dictate inferior alternatives, and call that innovation. Unfortunately, that's what passes for innovation today. That's what the whole inflation act is about. It's about mandating or coercing us to do these things that don't work.

GLENN: All right. Back in just a second. Now, this is five-step platform. However, we need your help on this.

And it's a -- it's a real thing, that could make the -- a significant difference, and turn things around for us. We'll give it to you, in just a few minutes.

Inflation. Hyperinflation. Recession. Depression. The Great Reset.

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You -- you might need emergency food, in situations, that you cannot see coming. Please, go to preparewithGlenn.com. Grab your three-month emergency food kit for $250 off the regular price. $250 off today by going to preparewithGlenn.com. PreparewithGlenn.com. Ten-second station ID.
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GLENN: So you are working with like 100 different legislative offices, correct?

ALEX: Yeah. To various degrees. So two years ago, I was very frustrated by -- I was having success with the public. And I was success with the corporate world. But the political world was just totally ignorant of the kind of pro-human, pro-freedom energy, thinking I had been developing.

And I figured out, like the thing I could do, was I needed to figure out how to give them messaging and policy, in a way that was useful for them.

So I started this website, EnergyTalkingPoints.com. Like, everything on that, can be fit in a tweet. So it's really efficient ways of explaining pro-freedom views.

So if you go there, there's probably thousands of individual talking points, all really well referenced.

And then I found that I got demand for people to get custom help.

So I created something called Energy Talking Points on Demand, where I would have biweekly briefings. And it's just with high-level offices. So it's congressional offices, U.S. Senate offices, and governor's offices.

And so we have about 300 staffers, that are part of it, over 100 offices, and increasing the meetings with the elected officials themselves. I spoke to a group of 20 last time I was in DC. I'm going to DC next week. And what I found there was a real appetite for this. Because many of these offices want to be pro-energy and pro-freedom. But they didn't have the messaging to explain -- to refute all the myths. And also clarity on what to do, going forward.

And that's why I developed the energy freedom platform. Was the clarity on what to do going forward. So what I've been encouraging them to do is, hey, this is a blueprint. You can win on these issues. And you can do something really good. So say Republicans.

Not politically -- not political, really. But let's say Republicans right now, are much more pro-energy. If you guys take over Congress, you need to advocate something positive.

You can't just -- once you take over, you can't just react to negatives.

There's a lot of reacting to negatives, and not a clear having positives. So I would ask your listeners, if they like this, it's really, really simple. Just call your office. Call your office -- oh, are you going to say something?

GLENN: I have got about 20 seconds before we break.

ALEX: Oh, sorry. Just say. Talk to Alex Epstein. Give them my email. Alex@AlexEpstein.com. Just tell the office to email me, and I will set up a call with them, and I'll tell them all about how to use the energy freedom platform.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Whitney Webb EXPOSES the Shocking Rise of the Surveillance State

Big Tech and the government are using AI not just to watch us... but to predict us. Glenn Beck and Whitney Webb expose how predictive analytics and Digital ID systems are turning surveillance into pre‑crime, threatening the very notion of freedom. Are we about to live in a world where an algorithm decides your guilt before you act?

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Whitney Webb HERE

Glenn Beck predicts THIS is why Democrats won’t end the government shutdown

Glenn and Stu discuss the ongoing government shutdown, noting the unusual lack of media coverage about people affected by it, which they attribute to Democrats being responsible this time rather than Republicans. They argue that mainstream media bias protects Democrats from political pressure, making the shutdown likely to last longer. The conversation shifts to broader economic concerns, including rising gold prices as a sign of global instability and speculation that major financial changes may be coming.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: And, of course, the government shutdown, still continues to throw people out on the streets.

STU: It does.

GLENN: Well, I haven't seen any coverage on that.

STU: You know, I haven't seen any either. It's weird. How many of these have we been through, Glenn, over the years? An uncountable amount.

GLENN: And before they even start, they're at the food banks going, there's not enough food in the food bank. These people will be starving within, you know, two days.

STU: Yeah, if you happen to have a fetish for single moms, great way to find them: Watch the shutdown coverage. They'll always find new single moms in your area.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: That are about to have their economies crushed because of his oncoming government shutdown, every single time, except this one. This one, I haven't met anyone yet.

GLENN: So true. So true.

I have. I listened to the New York Times last week.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: And they were talking about how much they love the military.

STU: Oh.

GLENN: And how --

STU: That's believable.

GLENN: And how they're concerned they are for all these military moms who are now struggling to make ends meet, even though the president paid the military and the -- the Republicans continue to keep presenting a bill that says, pay the military.

STU: Right.

GLENN: We can argue about everything else. You've got to keep national defense going, pay the military. And they won't do it.

STU: Democrats keep rejecting that one.
GLENN: Yes, over and over again.

STU: And that kind of leads me to my thesis here, Glenn, tell me if you think there's anything to it, which is the reason we haven't met any of the sob stories that we always meet during government shutdowns, is because this one, the, quote, unquote, Democrats are responsible for it. Normally, they blame the Republicans for it. This time, it's almost impossible to come up with a coherent argument to make that happen.

GLENN: Correct. So may I express this a different way?

STU: Sure.

GLENN: The mainstream media is just a propaganda organ for the Democratic Party.

STU: Oh, yes. Maybe that's it. Maybe that is it. Because I'm fascinated by that. I've always found that to be kind of silly. Right?

You can always find individual people who are going through a tough time, based on any policy, right know

GLENN: You close it for three days. It's not been -- isn't this the longest shutdown in history, I think?

STU: Not yet. No. But it is -- let's see if I --

GLENN: Since when. Since when. I've not seen one go this long.

STU: There's one in Trump's administration, that's gone 35 days I think. Which was the record. The longest record was 35 days. Kalshi has a market on this, to see. Which is interesting. Fifty-five percent chance it goes over 35 days.

GLENN: Oh, I think he could go through Christmas.

STU: Well, it's hard to -- you think Christmas?

GLENN: I mean, the Democrats are -- as long as the Democrats will not negotiate, I mean, the Republicans keep saying, okay. Look, we'll fund it. And let's just go, but we're not adding new stuff. And we're not cutting laws that were just passed. You know what I mean?

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: So we'll just fund this, and let's just continue to work it out. They won't even do that. It's like -- Friday, I think was the 12th vote they had held. And Democrats were just like, nope!

STU: And they were promising votes on their stupid health care requests.

Like they're trying to give things.

GLENN: Yeah. We'll give you the vote on health care.

STU: What will stop this, right?

The only thing that stops these things are perceived political consequences.

And so right now, what you have is a situation where in theory -- like, in theory, they can -- maybe the American people decide, it's the Republican's fault, it's Trump's fault. But Trump is not typically, like, a guy who folds to that type of pressure.

At times, he will give to his own side.
Like, you know, he said stuff like, well, take the guns first.

Then we will have the trials.

And then the Second Amendment people were like, no. It's not the right order there.

And to his credit, he listened to his constituents.

Sort of changed on that.

We've seen situations like that. Very rarely though, do you see, hey, the media is complaining a lot about Donald Trump. He will change what he is saying.

If anything, it makes him double or triple down.

GLENN: I think they wanted to have the No Kings.

Remember, they kept saying, "We will get to the No Kings. We will get to the No Kings," talking about the government shutdown on the No Kings thing.

That wasn't the point of the No Kings thing.

STU: Right. It wasn't being covered at all.

GLENN: The Democrats got no gain out of that.

STU: No. And that's the other side of this.

Which is, typically the way this might work, is Democrats start this over a policy concern. Like Republicans have done this.

They started a shutdown over a policy concern.

And at some point, when it doesn't seem like the policy concern will be resolved.

They start feeling pressure, that they are the ones holding the government closed. They start feeling the government pressure.

And they fold. That's usually what Republicans wind up doing in these situations.

The issue here is, number one. They're not getting any pressure from the media.

That's not being built at all.

There's no pressure from the Democrats to fold on this issue.

The only pressure that exists from the Democrats is to hold the line.

Because what they're getting is pressure from their left flank, saying, hey. You guys better not give in to Donald Trump.

So the length of this shutdown, seeming could be a very long, long period.

Because really, the only crack you're seeing right now are -- I will say, some on the right. Who are saying, actually, we should give a bunch of subsidies for Obamacare.

There are some on the right doing that. That is, I think, the only crack we've seen on either side so far.

GLENN: I would really like to see in this time, somebody in the Republican side, making the case about Obamacare and freeing up the medical system.

STU: Yeah. Right.

GLENN: Why -- why do they not have another plan?

This is the time. This is the time.

No, I shouldn't say that. Every day, since 2009, has been the time to have this plan.

STU: Yes.

GLENN: And they -- they just -- they never do it. They never do it.

STU: Bits and pieces of stuff. That's not what their desire is.

GLENN: I talked to Dr. Oz. I know --

STU: This is a very strange sentence. But go ahead.

GLENN: I know. I talked to Dr. Oz. And I know at HHS, they are working on plans to dismantle a lot of this stuff and put the free market back in charge. But they're doing it at the state level. I've got to have him back on. Because, I mean, nobody paid attention to this. I had an interview with him. Just, everybody paid attention to the other thing he was talking about -- oh, the -- the -- the jab. Why would we would -- you know, why we would partner with, what was it? Moderna, or who it was recently, for the drugs -- or, Pfizer for the, you know, drug discount. Everybody paid attention to that. In that same interview, he was talking about going to the states and tying their money, their government funding for Medicaid, and Medicare, tying that directly to ending this hostage situation, with, you know, no insurance over state lines. Once they allow the whole -- the whole country and insurance companies to offer plans over the whole country, the dynamics change entirely. The -- financial incentives. The payouts. Everything changes. And that's supposed to be happening in the next 30, 40 days. And we would see it in the next year. I would love to see them start to come up with new plans. Why do you have this face? Looking at me.

STU: No, I'm -- I'm listening to you.

But also, looking at just something I'm noticing, on -- on these markets for how long the shutdown will last.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: So it has been -- like I'm looking at over 40 days, for example.

It has been a slow and steady rise. Like, at the beginning, it was a 10 percent chance it would go over 40 days. Slow and steady rise, all the way up to a 55 percent, 57 percent chance as of five hours ago. The last five hours, it's dropped from 57 to 38. Now, famously people -- there's a lot of people on these markets. A lot of people who know a lot about these things in these markets. We saw a -- a -- we have seen many things happen.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Like, who is going to play -- who is going to play -- who will win the Nobel Prize was one of them.

Person who was not barely listed at 1 percent suddenly in the last few hours, kind of shot up.

Somebody who knows something. Was in there, buying, buying, buying.

All of a sudden, multiple of these markets, more than 35 days has also dropped from 70 percent, as of five hours ago.

GLENN: I've not seen anything in the news, at all, so that's inside information.

STU: It could be. It could be. It could just be somebody guessing. That's a big bet to guess.

These markets have decent liquidity.

Kind of -- kind of interesting, Glenn. I don't know.

It could be absolutely nothing. This market has had over $13 million bet on it.

You know, how long these things go. To move them, sometimes could be a lot of money. Yes.

GLENN: That's a lot of money.

The other thing. What is gold? Is it still at 4325 today? It was this morning. I mean, that is --

STU: 4363.

GLENN: 4363.

STU: I mean, you want to talk about a chart that is consistent. I mean, it's consistent up movement from the beginning of 2024, till today, but really rocketship up in the last three months.

GLENN: This is the world saying, things are changing.

That's the -- that's the -- the thing you have to take from that, is the world is saying, the financial center will not hold, as far as the -- the way we have set up the entire world with America being the -- you know, the big mover and shaker.

You know, when -- when Biden went in and said, we will take all these assets from Russia. He violated that system.

We're no longer going to let them use the SWIFT movement. All of that began this unraveling. Something is happening. This is big money saying, something big is coming. And I want to be prepared for it.

And it's disturbing. You should keep your eye on gold. That is a disturbing sign of instability. I can't at this point go any further than that. And I hope that it slows down or stops or reverses itself.

We do not want 5,000 that are gold. You know, and there -- I mean, Goldman Sachs came out I think last week, 6,000. Was it six or 7,000-dollar gold? In the next year!

The HIDDEN DANGER of the "No Kings" movement

The “No Kings” movement has a major issue that can lead to America’s destruction: The protesters on the ground don’t realize what the movement actually wants. Glenn reviews the big questions that every American must ask before protesting and the secret to finding the truth…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. Let me just -- I wish I would have thought on this on Friday, before the No Kings. Because but we're not done with these stupid things. Before anybody raises a sign. Before you chant a stupid slogan. Before you pledge allegiance toward a movement, or a political party.

I want you to stop. And I want you to ask yourself, one simple question. Why am I here?

We live in a time where outrage is easy, and thinking is really hard. We live in a time when it feels good to belong, and very dangerous to question. We live in a time where emotion is mistaken for morality. And that is exactly how free people become unfree, okay?

Not because tyranny kicks down the door one night, but because we handed the keys in the name of change. When we're not thinking!

So before you do anything, before you march, before you protest, before you make a sign, before you argue with somebody, pause. And think to yourself, "Why am I drawn to this?"

When you're watching things on X, "Why am I drawn to this? Is it anger? Is it fear? Is it guilt, or is it principle?"

When I want to stand up for something, I don't want to do it in anger, I don't want to do it in fear, I don't want to do it in guilt. I want to do it in principle. And having a principle means you have a deeply held belief, that this cause reflects truth and justice.

Now, be careful. Be really careful. Because you may have been convinced that you're right, because of what you're against. But what is right and what you're against are not the same thing. For instance, right now, with conservatives, I guess it's becoming more and more popular to be against Israel. Okay. That's fine. You don't have to agree with Israel. I don't ask you to agree with Israel. I don't want to fight their fights. I don't agree with their policies on everything. They're not the United States of America. They're their own country. So I disagree with them, just like I disagree with Britain, sometimes.

Okay? I don't really care. But being against Israel does not mean the same as being for Hamas. You've joined something the different. That means, you have allowed your passions and your feelings to rule over you. That's why it -- that's why everybody wants to make something -- you know, a,that's why our Declaration of Independence and does our country has lasted 250 years. It's the only revolutionary document that's ever lasted. And only one. Only one in world history, that ended with the same people that started the revolution.

The only one!

Why?

Because it didn't start with anger. It started with principles. We hold these things to be self-evident. We don't want to be against something.

Being against Trump, you can be against Trump!

But that doesn't mean you're for Antifa. Being for justice doesn't mean you're anti-ICE. Unless your passions have overcome your logic.

So the first thing you have to do. Why am I here?

And if I strip away the crowd. The pressure. The popularity. Would I be standing here? If no one ever knew that I joined. If there were no such things as likes. No cameras. No praise. In fact, if everyone I knew and admired were against this, would I still believe it, and do it?

If the answer is no to that, then you're not following conviction. You're following a crowd.

You have to be convicted, that even if I stand alone, I'm willing to do it.

So what does this movement stand for?

Am I willing to stand all by myself? Do you know? How many interviews this weekend did you hear, "I don't know?"

And they always say the same thing, "I don't want to talk to you." Why?

Because they can't answer the question. They don't have any idea what this is about! Other than the bumper sticker or the press release, do you know what the real agenda is? What is the goal?

Who is behind it?

What methods are they willing to use to get there? Do the ends justify the means?

Now, this is really important. Because people are starting to believe, yeah. I can kill people.

That's what -- honestly, Virginia, you may not look at it this way. But this is the way I look at it at the Virginian elections. Virginia, have you decided that the ends justify the means. Then it doesn't matter if people say, I can kill their children to change their political point of view. The ends justify the means.

Okay? If the ends justify the means, you have to ask yourself this question: What principles or freedoms have to be or are okay to sacrifice for that end?

Because once you start sacrificing those things like saying it's okay to kill children for political purposes, you become Hamas in the end.

History has a real warning for us. Every single authoritarian movement. Left or right, it doesn't matter. All of them promised liberation. Every single one.

They promised equity, justice, safety.

And they delivered control, science, and fear. If the message of a movement -- if the -- if the methods of the movement betray its message, if it has to sensor or coerce, if liberties have to be violated, then it's not liberation. It's manipulation.

If they have to manipulate people and cut corners, coerce, sensor, or betray liberties to get there, they will not stop doing it.

Next question you have to ask: Does this movement make people more free or more dependent?

Freedom is not just the absence of chains.

Okay?

This was the big thing -- this was the big went -- that Booker T. Washington was all about.

You can be free, but not know how to be free unless you're educated. Unless you're willing to stand on your own. Here's a slave that pulled himself out.

Divide all of the odds. Became one of the greatest black Americans in American history.

And he was talking about being more independent. Not dependent. That's what freedom is.

It's not the absence of chains. It is the presence of responsibility.

So if you think that freedom means, I don't have responsibility, I don't have to do anything, you will be under the chains of somebody else.

Because that means somebody else has to do those things. Has to feed you. And so they will require you to do things, because they're feeding you.

Ask, does this movement actually promote policies that trust have I seen to make decisions for themselves? Or do the people leading this, believe they know better than everyone else?

Will it hand more people power, to bureaucrats, and experts, and elites.

Does it always defend free speech? Especially for those who disagree. Or does it silence them in the name of progress?

Does it expand choice, or does it force compliance?

The only choice -- only choice you could say is the one that the right says, and I believe is not a choice. To kill another human being.

I don't believe that's a choice, if you're a doctor. And you want to give somebody medication, to end their life. I don't believe it's a choice for you, you can kill yourself if you want.

But I'm not going to help you do it.

And I don't think it's a choice to kill a baby.

It's not! It's not a choice. That's the only choice, that -- that they always point to. My body, my choice.

Well, but if it's your body, how come you're forcing everyone to take a vaccine, that not everybody wants?

That has to be consistent. If it's not consistent, then you are living a lie. You are picking and choosing the choices you want.

You don't actually believe in choice.

If it makes people less capable, of living without the state.

It's not freedom.

It's dependency dressed up as compassion.

If I want others to be free, what does that require of me?

We love talking about freedom in this country. We love it. As if it's something that politicians can hand out.

You know, vote for me. More freedom. What?

It's not!

Freedom is not sustained by our laws. Freedom is sustained by our character. This is what this means. It means, you have to defend the right of people that you despise. Not just those who you like and agree with. You must stand for the rights of people you despise!

You must stand for the rights of people to say horrible things, that you despise! Otherwise, you don't actually believe in freedom and freedom of speech!

See, freedom requires you to do the hard work. And the hard work that nobody is doing.

Understanding issues deeply. Reading the original sources. Not the headlines. Not the clippings.

Not the tweets!

Anybody who gets their news off of Twitter and Facebook, you are less educated and less informed than the people who read nothing at all!

You have to do the hard work. And you have to do the hard work of mastering yourself. Your impulse. Your ignorance. Your anger. So you don't become the thing you're fighting against.

Has anybody noticed, that when you're watching these carouse. The biggest thing is hypocrisy.

You're like, are you kidding me?

You're saying these things. Do you not know that you are the thing that you're fighting against?

And freedom requires courage. To stand alone. It requires virtue. It requires humility. And it requires the truth. But how do I know what's true?

GLENN: So this is the hardest part of all, I think. And that is, how do I find what is true? How do I know what is true?

Truth doesn't come prepackaged as a slogan.
Truth is not usually found in a trending hashtag. Truth requires years and years and years of work. Most importantly, it requires humility.

If you're searching for truth, you must be willing to change your belief or your behavior when you find it. If not, you're not actually searching for truth.

Okay? Ask yourself. Am I willing to challenge my own belief?

Am I willing to end up at a place where I don't believe any of that stuff. I thought I believed it.

But I don't. It's shocking to me.

But I don't. If you're not willing to go there. Then you're not seeking truth.

You know, are you seeking voices you disagree with.

Or just people that are echoing what you believe.

Who benefits if I believe this?

Who benefits?

Who profits? Who gains power?

Truth has nothing to fear from questions. All kinds of -- you don't ever have to fear. Truth doesn't care.

Okay? Lies have a lot to fear.

So here's a test you should run, before you commit to picking up or making any sign.

This is something you should commit to, before you go to Thanksgiving.

If your side achieved everything they wanted, every law, every reform, every revolution. Would ordinary people become more self-governing and more responsible and more free, or more managed, more dependent, and more controlled?

If the answer is the latter, do not join them, no matter how righteous they may sound. Do not join them. No matter how noble their intentions, do not join them.

Because tyranny wrapped in good intentions still is tyranny. We're standing on a knife's edge as a nation. I mean, have you seen the price of gold today? What is it? Forty-three --

STU: Over 4300, yeah.

GLENN: $4,300. Does that mean anything to you?

If it doesn't, you should check it out. It does. It does.

It's going to mean something to you, in the end. It means the rest of the world is saying, "I'm not sure about this whole system, that it's going to last." That should change everything that you think.

It should change the way you say, "Well, okay. I used to like this program. But I'm not sure we could afford this program anymore."

You know, I used to vote for this person, but that person will not stop the spending. I want my kids to be able to have freedom. I -- I may not like everything about America. But I think America is the best system out there. I don't want it -- you know, I -- what is it?

Singapore, or something. One of the really -- I think it was Afghanistan. Saw some numbers this weekend. Afghanistan has arrested lining 2000 people for, you know, speech problems.

In the last year. 2000 people have gone to jail. For something they posted or something they said.

Twelve thousand people have gone to jail in Great Britain this year for the same thing. Twelve thousand people have gone to jail for free speech.
One of them is a kid who said, "I love bacon!"

We're on this knife's edge. And the difference between liberty and bondage is going to come down to whether ordinary people start asking better questions. Before you march, before you say anything, are you thinking? Before you join, have you learned? Have you spent the time to ask any questions? Before you speak, do you understand what you're actually saying?

Before you follow, make sure you're walking towards freedom, not away with it. And check the people you're following.

Is this a group of people, that 25 years ago, you would have been comfortable with?

And I mean that saying, you know, I don't think any of us were fine with walking with communists.

I don't think we were fine walking with anarchists.

None of us were.

So they're not walking towards freedom. They're walking away from freedom.

Why are you walking with them?

History is really clear. Nations don't lose their liberty all at once. They lose it one unasked question at a time.

Is THIS why Trump sent CIA and B-52 bombers to Venezuela?!

President Trump is cracking down even harder on Venezuelan cartels. He has bombed boats carrying drugs, flown B-52 bombers off Venezuela's coast, and just recently authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela. So, why so much focus on Venezuela? Glenn and Stu discuss their theories, including Maduro's mysterious island with connections to Iran and Hezbollah...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: How do you feel about this kind of flying under the radar. We have B2 bombers flying over Venezuela. We're blowing boats out of the water.

STU: You know, how under the radar is it when we're blowing up boats in the international waters?

GLENN: Well, it's not under the radar. It's like, nobody is really talking about it.

STU: It doesn't seem like the highest priority, I will say.

And usually, when we're in the middle of what seems to be a conflict. By the way, the only way we would be able to do this, legally. Is by basically saying, we are in some sort of conflict with them. Right?

Like, we have to -- Andy McCarthy had a long write up about this, a read about a couple weeks ago. When it comes down to justifying a strike like this. We have to be able to sort of say, we're in some sort of conflict. You don't just do that typically. Now, the question, of course, the --

GLENN: The War on Drugs.

STU: Right. He broke it down. It might be worth explaining this at some point.

GLENN: War on terror. Yeah, yeah.

STU: But he's concerned about what's the process to get to the decision. Not, of course, whether we want drug dealers here. Nobody wants that. But there is a legal process that has to happen. And at his seem like it also has to escalate beyond just the cartel situation. Remember too, Trump's first term.

GLENN: Tried to get Maduro out.

STU: Very clearly. The Peace Prize winner, right? Someone from Venezuela, who dedicated to Donald Trump, knowing that Trump has fought really hard for the people of Venezuela, whether you agree with what he's doing or not. He does really care about the situation.

GLENN: He also knows something.

And, you know, I'm -- I'm -- I'm not surprised, the press isn't talking about Margarita Island, but I think that's one of the main reasons why he's --

STU: You're talking about Margaritaville?

GLENN: No Margarita Island. It's just off the coast of Venezuela. It's run by Maduro.

STU: Jimmy Buffett.

GLENN: No. Jimmy Buffett has nothing to do with it. Not involved at all. The Iranians have a lot to do with it. It's a Hezbollah-Hamas training island. And Maduro has been sending Venezuelans and gangs to that island, just off that coast, to train for terrorist activities.

They train there, and then they fly over to Iran, to finish their training. They come back to Venezuela, and then they're unleashed, wherever Maduro wants them unleashed.

So there is actually a terrorist camp that is part of this. And we have been talking about it, you know, on my show. Television. I don't even know.

Five years. Six years. We found this out. And kind of been wondering, why are we not going after this?

Why -- why are we not at least talking about this terror island?

You're looking it up right now, aren't you?

STU: Yeah. Looking at it, just how, first of all, very close to the coast. But you look at the islands that are around it are massive vacation destinations, like Aruba.

GLENN: That's not.

STU: What is that?

GLENN: Margaret Island is not a vacation destination.

STU: No, that's what I'm saying. It's fascinating. Like, you book a trip to Barbados, and you're, what? A couple hundred miles away from a terrorist island.

GLENN: A terrorist island. Yeah. Did you even know that?

STU: I didn't.

GLENN: That's Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran --

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: -- in bed with Maduro.

And I'm convinced that this is one of the main things that he's going for. I mean, yes. He is -- I mean, this is Tren de Aragua. Or whatever the hell that thing is. That -- that's part of this.

The unleashing of the prisons. That's also part of this. I mean, this is Maduro trying to unleash along with the Iranians, unleash chaos on our streets.

And I don't know why we don't talk about it. Because I think that's a better case, that's a cigar boat that has drugs in it.

You know.

STU: Yeah. I mean, that seems like it. How -- what's your feeling on the drug boat thing?

Have you spent a lot of time thinking this one out?

And isn't it interesting --

GLENN: I know as an American, I should. I haven't.

STU: It's kind of -- well, it's sort of --

GLENN: That's what I mean flying under the radar.

STU: It's sort of commentary of what you're just saying. It has flown under the radar for a lot of people. Mainly because I think we all recognize there's a real problem with obviously, not just illegal immigration. We always summarize it as illegal immigration. These are people oftentimes that are criminals, drug dealers. Gang members that are coming across the border and committing --

GLENN: Terrorists. Terrorists.

STU: Yeah. It's not just the mom who is trying to get a job here, that's better for her children. That's a separate economic issue associated with that.

But when you talk about drugs coming in. First of all, this is something Trump has been very clear about. Does not want this going on.

And I think we all -- the ends are there. For sure.

The means, I guess are the question. And, you know, what's interesting about this is, you feel like, it's all about a message being sent.

Right?

There's no reason why in theory, we could be the not just stopped these vessels. You know what I mean?

We could pull. We could get the Coast Guard over there. We could get the Navy.

There's all sorts of different things we could do to stop these boats. We're blowing it up, and telling everybody about it, for a reason. And I think quite clearly, this has caused a maritime decrease in traffic, if you will.

From Venezuela. To here.

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

STU: This is seemingly working quite well.

The question is, process-wise, is it aligning with what we should be doing?

GLENN: Here's my guess.

Because you know how much Trump hates war. He hates war.

He'll use military force.

But he likes to use quick force. And getting things done.

And he likes overwhelming torso.

STU: And public.

GLENN: Yeah. He likes -- he's sending a message. Not just to Venezuela. He's sending it to the whole world.

And after this last week, where he has walked around like the victor of the world. And all of the other nations coming to him. And bowing knee. And going, okay.

Yeah. Thank you. We're good. We're good.

He is sending a message to three countries, I think.

He's sending a message to Iran. Which is tied right directly to Russia.

And also Venezuela. Which is also tied to China! And Iran.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: And I think -- I think he's -- I think he wants this week, especially to be a week that Maduro goes, "You know, things might be changing. I don't know if this is the right" -- and I think he's just using very strong images and power.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: He's using it the right way, to say, back off, buddy. Don't do it right now.

And also, I don't like this. Sending the CIA in.

I just don't trust the CIA in anything anymore.

STU: That's a new development, as of the last 24 hours, that we found out about it. Can you explain that? What are we doing there?

GLENN: Don't really know. Don't really know. Trying to go after the drug lords is what we're saying, but this is also what we kind of do with regime change, you know.

STU: And we've attempted literal regime change with this country. And we've not --

GLENN: Correct. He's a bad guy.

STU: Oh, yeah.

GLENN: He is part of -- he is a drug lord. Maduro was this bus driver. He's now the head of the drug crime syndicate called the sun or something like that. So he's actually a drug lord himself now. So he's not the sweet little bus driver he used to be.

STU: Moving on up.

GLENN: Moving on up. And making friends with all of the wrong people. At least on our hemisphere.

STU: I will say this. If you were a Venezuelan citizen, would you take a boat outside of your territorial waters for --

GLENN: I wouldn't put a boat in my bathtub.

STU: Yeah. They -- they -- they really need to come up with a new way to get their drugstores here.

I think that's probably been a big focus of these networks now.

Because it's difficult to do by land.

GLENN: This is -- this is kind of what I expected him to do in Mexico.

And that's -- that might be another thing.

If he's -- if he's going after the drug lords. If you start to see these trucking lords just show up dead. He's sending that message to Mexico. You know, I'll do it. I'll do it.

You're not safe wherever you are. And it might have been easier for him to do it in Venezuela. Or so he thinks. Than in Mexico.

And so he's sending that message. Because the drug lords in Mexico are sending big messages to him.

STU: Yeah. I mean, they're putting bounties on ICE members.

GLENN: Oh, yeah. Up to $50,000. Yeah. You kill a certain rank of ICE or politician. And they'll give you 50 grand.

I mean, this is the wild west. When it comes to these -- these drug runners and these cartels. It's become the Wild West. And I think that -- I think that play plays a role.