RADIOMay 31, 2024

We Must DECIDE: Glenn’s Response to Trump’s “Guilty” Verdict

“Today is the day of choosing,” Glenn declares. When a Manhattan jury convicted former president Donald Trump on 34 counts after a trial that every credible attorney said was ridiculous, Glenn asked himself: Is America witnessing a rising sun or a setting sun? Will we step up and save our republic or will the world watch us fall? As for Glenn, his answer is clear: He will NOT surrender to bullies and tyrants who won’t stop at Trump. He will stand and declare, “May God save the republic.” So, what do you choose?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Yesterday, I asked myself something that Ben Franklin asked himself.

As they were writing the Declaration of Independence and as they were going through what they went through, he sat in his chair, after the Constitution.

And he had been looking at John Hancock's chair. And it had a sun on it. Half a sun.

And he said, this whole time, I have been sitting here, thinking, wondering, praying, is that a setting sun, or a rising sun?

He deemed at the end, it was a rising sun. I asked myself yesterday with be is this a setting sun or a rising sun?

Is this the day historians will write down as the end of America, where its people were still asleep, and just didn't really recognize it?

Or is it the beginning of a new chapter?

We are in our history. And in our lives, faced with challenges, that test our resolve. All the time.

Push us to the limits.

And it's in these moments, where everything seems unwinnable. Everything seems so steep.

The odds are all against us.

And those are the times you discover who you really are.

Those are the times you forge your character.

We as a nation, because we have been fat and lazy and we have had everything handed to us. Don't really know who we are.

Most people never change because they're afraid, at least I'll speak for myself.

When I was at my worst, I was afraid there was nothing good in me.

There was nothing good to discover. So I was afraid to look.

But you'll never find those things unless you look, unless you embrace the hard things.

You have to understand, that every trial, every setback. Will make you stronger. Will make you wiser.

Will make you more gentle. America, today is the day of choosing. Today is the day. It is now our turn, to step up, and save the republic.

And the world. Make no mistake. The world is watching. And I hope you feel the weight of that expectation.

I hope you realize the sting of failure. That will come, if we don't step up.

I thought a lot about Rudyard Kipling last night. I thought a lot about Teddy Roosevelt.

If I may paraphrase his poem, in the man of the arena. It's not the critic who counts. But the one who dares to step into the ring. To risk everything.

Who will fail over and over and over again. But continues to get up.

Tired. Face marred with blood and mud. But he goes up again and again and again and again.

It's really easy to quit. It is. It's easy to say, well, we have no chance.

Easy to be knocked down. And as humiliating as it is, to lie face down in the dirt, that's exactly what every bully wants you to do. That's why every bully, they command, stay down! Don't get up again! Stay down, or I'll give you a bigger beating!

But the man who inspires others to stand, continues to get up.

Wobbly. Barely able to fight. But he refuses to bend the knee.

Refuses to surrender to the bully. Failure is not the end.

Nor was this stain on American I couldn't wait yesterday. It is simply a steppingstone to the path of greatness.

A steppingstone to make America great again.

That's not just a slogan for a campaign.

That is true. We have lost our way. We have become an embarrassment for everything we say we stand for.

Each fall teaches us resilience.

Each setback strengthens our determination.

Every time the bully knocks us down and says, stay down! Every time, we get up, there's someone in the crowd watching who then turns our way, and sees the bully for who they really are.

Oh, Lord, hear the words of my mouth. Save our republic. But he will only match us, if we don't get up. He will not help us.

If we don't follow him, he will not. He cannot help us. So what we have in front of us today, is a decision. Do we get up? Or do we lie down, face down in the dirt?

What is possibly worth taking these beatings?

Donald Trump is just a symbol. He's a symbol of what bullies do to anyone who refuses to play it my way. To stay down.

Bullies come to town all the time. And they teach everybody in town, go along, get along.

Whisper. Don't you even whisper! Don't you try to help that beaten man to stand up. Don't you do it. We must decide, will we stand idly by, while the crowds chant Barabbas. We want Barabbas.

Building anything of value, whether it's a country, a career, a relationship.

We're simply our own character.

Requires unwavering dedication.

We have to be willing to get back up, time and time again, to face our fears. To face our doubts. To press on, no matter what happens to us.

It is through that relentless effort, that we become Americans.

We discover our true potential!

Not just as people.

But as a people, the world has always known, as Americans.

Not the kind of Americans we've become! But the kind of Americans we've all striven to be!

Or thought we did.

I've always believed the American was defined by a can-do spirit.

A people who crossed the Rockies.

Tamed the West.

Changed the world!

Rescued and healed. I didn't realize how much until I studied history.

Real history. Not the crap they teach you in school.

Real history.

I never really understood how stained our name is. From those in power. Those who only serve through corruption and greed and sometimes out and out evil.

That I have truly always believed. And I -- I still do today. That the American truly believes in honor and integrity and truth and justice. That that is the American way.

I will tell you this: Yesterday, for those who live in the shadow of fear around the world. Yesterday may have changed that belief for those people.

But it did not change it for me. I will not surrender to those words. I will not surrender to the belief, that puts me and other Americans into action. Yesterday, was a defeat. But we are not done!

Each of us coming together, you're not going to do anything grand. I'm not going to do anything grand.

I'm not telling you today anything you don't know. We just have to remember, every step forward, no matter how small, contributes to the journey.

Where people who continue to stand up, those people who refuse to give in, always end up winning.

The value is not in just the destination, but the courage and perseverance that we show along the way. It wasn't that we always one with no cost. Americans have always paid a high cost!

For what we believed in. That's what's admirable. And, quite honestly, that's what Americans have lost that put us into this position.

By doing the hard things, by refusing to give up. We build a legacy of strength and integrity. And I fear we've squandered it. Because we must understand it.

That's what we've lost.

That is what the world will lose, should we fail.

Should America fail.

Biden's Message of Unity is a LIE if He Doesn't Do THIS For Trump

After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Democrats including President Biden called for unity and a lowering of the political temperature. But do they really mean it? Senator Mike Lee joins Glenn and Stu to reveal the one thing Biden could do to prove that he’s serious: “It’s really cute for the media and for people on the Left to tell us to take the temperature down when they themselves do quite the opposite of that…The best thing that they could do to take down the temperature would be to end the political lawfare.” Plus, Glenn and Sen. Lee discuss the clear differences between this RNC and previous years.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let me tell you about Senator Mike Lee, who is joining us now. The good senator from Utah. Mike, I don't -- are you at the RNC convention this week?

MIKE: I am. Very much so. It's good to be here.

STU: Thank you so much, Senator, appreciate that. Glenn is having a little bit of audio trouble, and cannot hear anything. So we're going to pick this up from -- it's been a heck of a take. It's been a heck of a week, as you may have noticed.

Senator, we're at the RNC, and what we're getting just after a terrible, terrible weekend, and weekend that changed the country for a very long time. We're getting an idea, from every source, right now, to attic temperature down.

And, of course, this is a good instinct.

I know something that I think you agree with.

But do you agree with the -- the messaging here from the media, who I think has participated in rationing the temperature up quite a bit over the past few years.

MIKE: It's really cute for the media and for people on the left, to tell us to take the temperature down, when they themselves do quite the opposite of that. And then nitpick at every single stage, what Republicans do, what nonprogressives do.

Look, the best thing that they could do, to take down the temperature, would be to end, for example, the political lawfare.

I have said from the beginning, that President Biden really wanted to do that.

He could call for the criminal charges against his political opponent. To be dismissed.

You know, he can do that directly for the federal charges. For the state charges. He could call upon the governors of New York and Georgia, to do that.

That was a better signal than anything I could think of. And, look, it's not going to cost them anything anyway.

Because the way things are going with the Florida charges being dismissed, with the likelihood that the other cases will run into trouble anyway.
It's not panning out the way they had hoped.

It doesn't look like there's a credible path for them to be able to lock him up before November anyway. He would get some credibility, I would think, by doing that.

But instead, the left continues by saying, yeah, Republicans got to change their messaging. And they nitpick at anything, any Republican says, by highlighting the differences between the parties as a reason why we're doing it wrong.

GLENN: So, Mike, Keith Olbermann just came out yesterday. And said, the judge in the Florida case, needs to be arrested by Merrick Garland, even if you have to make up charges. There's nothing like made-up charges to save a democracy.

But what is it, they're definitely going to take this to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Is -- do you know anything about the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and how this might play.

MIKE: Well, look, the judge was right to dismiss those charges. Justice Thomas pointed out some very legitimate reasons why Jack Smith's appointment would pass Constitutional muster. I think he's right. I think the district judge was right to do this. It's very difficult to predict how the 11th Circuit might respond to this.

But I think if the 11th Circuit held this correctly under the law, they are going to affirm that decision.

And in any event, the idea that Keith HEP Olbermann would say that, and I've not heard that until now. It's disgusting.

That is -- it doesn't get much more Third World dictatorish, than that.

It doesn't get much more state-owned media than that. For a media figure to come out and suggest that a judge making a ruling should be arrested, even if it's necessary, based on trumped up, contrived, nonexistent legal charges.

GLENN: So, Mike, yesterday, when -- when I was watching the convention. Before Trump got in there.

It had a sense of joy to it, that I have not -- I mean, it was the happy warrior. It was Reagan 1984.

Ask it at least connected with me. I don't know what it felt like on the floor. And then when Donald Trump walked out, he seemed different. Is it just me?

What did it feel like in the room?

MIKE: He seems much more somber.

He seems shaken, but reinvigorated by the support that he's getting. And I think that shows.

And I think it's impossible for him to have gone through that experience. Nearly getting killed.

It almost being possible to not feel that.

To feel something had changed.

And perhaps, even on kind of the spiritual level, to have felt like he had a mission, and a purpose for which he had been preserved. And that's my sense of things.

GLENN: It is -- does it feel like to you, that we've turned a page, and we're in a different chapter now of this American story?

MIKE: Absolutely. Now, particularly, as it relates to this election cycle. My sense is that on the left, there are -- there are still some weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth going on as to this election. But I think they've almost ripped it off now. They're almost to the point now that -- where they're realizing, this is a lost cause.

Because whether they stick with President Biden or try to cast him off, for someone else. There's so many political problems with that happen.

There's not really a good outcome. But regardless, now that President Trump has been attacked like this. And shot. There's so much sympathy. That naturally goes out to have.

I don't like to use the word unbeatable, because we don't tempt fate. But it's target to feel a little bit like that.

GLENN: Are you hearing that from your colleagues on the other side of the aisle?

MIKE: No. They don't say it. They don't say it out loud. But there are -- there's very much a sense of -- I don't know. It's not quite resignation.

But there's less fight in them.

They don't really have a clear path anymore.

All along, they've been relying on all sorts of things. To demonize Donald Trump. With media. Demonize him further, through the lawfare against him. There were very much looking forward to the perp walk moment where they could cuff him, arrest him, and take him into custody.

And they've thought that that was going to be their big shining moment. And now with the immunity ruling, with yesterday's ruling. From U.S. District Court for the southern district of Florida.

And the -- more recent developments with Trump. Being shot.

Nog none of those things are panning out for them well. And it almost seems like they've all backfired for him. Because again, the public sympathy is turning toward Trump.

GLENN: So it looks like, when Lester Holt asked who was in charge of Secret Service, that the president didn't even really know who was in charge of the Secret Service.

MIKE: He mis-gendered her. He mis-gendered her. He said I -- the head of the Secret Service, it's a woman. So that really raises all kinds of questions, as to whether he knows or is in touch with who is running the Secret Service or not. And I think we know the answer to that now.

GLENN: So the idea that this could happen. And honestly, no one would even have the honor, to step down.

It's another case where something horrible has happened, and no accountability. Is there going to be accountability on this?

MIKE: But there will be an accountability. It's -- it's unfortunate. But the accountability doesn't seem to be coming, because as you pointed out, this thing happened on Saturday. And we absolutely should have seen some accountability, by now.

Even though, it's only Tuesday. But with each passing hour, that nothing happens. It seems less likely during this administration.

But I can assure you with the way things are going. We're going to have most likely, Republican control of the Senate and the House and the White House this year. So I can absolutely assure you, that by then, we will have robust, aggressive investigations. And we will be able to figure out what happened here.

But in the meantime, just basic conversations that I've been having, that I'm sure you have been having, Glenn.

With people who know what they're doing in this area. With current and former Secret Service agents that I know, and people who have sharp shooter experience from the military or otherwise.

Have had conversation after conversation with experts in this area. Who point out things like, look, it is the most elementary point of securing an area, that you don't allow an elevated perch only 148 yards away from the place where you're supposed to be protecting someone.

You don't allow that to go unintended. To go -- you also don't ignore multiple observations, by multiple attendees. Saying, hey. There's a guy with a rifle on that roof.

Somebody ought to check that out.

The minute they were made aware of that.

The president should have been kept off the stage. Or if he was already on the stage, removed immediately.

Until they neutralized the threat.

It's also difficult to understand, why it is that there were so many requests made apparently, from President Trump's campaign for increased security, when they didn't provide it. They just didn't offer that. And that's unfortunate. So it's kind of a perfect storm, in some ways.

Some of it was an unfortunate asset of circumstances.

My understanding is Jill Biden. Vice president Harris. Former President Trump, were all in Pennsylvania, on the same day.

And the Secret Service is stretched thin.

That too, is something we have to look at. Glenn, if they're stretched that thin, maybe we need to restructure the Secret Service.

Maybe, just maybe, we should look at the fact that the Secret Service ought to be devoted entirely to dignitary protection. My understanding is that at any given moment, most of the human resources are devoted to the investigation of financial crimes.

That things like counterfeiting and stuff like that, had been historically part of their mission. Look, the mission of the Secret Service, is kind of a dog's breakfast.

It reminds me a little bit of a union, that Homer Simpson belongs to in the Simpsons. It's like the union of nuclear power plant workers, valet dancers, and patriot chefs.

This -- this odd combination of things that have nothing to do with each other. Maybe the Secret Service needs once in a while, to just about dignitary protection.

GLENN: Well, I -- as somebody who has spent a lot of time with Secret Service, and I admire some of the Secret Service agents, even those though that are just Treasury agents. When they come to town, when a Donald Trump or a dignitary comes to town, these guys are called off their desk, and they're put in the line of duty. And they're not trained for that. I mean, maybe they're trained.

But they're not prepared for it. They're desk people. And it's a totally different mindset, from -- from a desk person, to somebody who has to put their body in the way. And absorb a bullet.

Mike, the thing that you hope you will see, or we will see, this week, from the RNC?

MIKE: Okay. One of the things I want to hear. I haven't heard yet. I hope and expect that it's copping coming.

We hear a lot of talks that sound like a little bit of a diagnosis of the problem. Without a prescription for the cure. I want to hear as much detail as possible. About what it is, that we're going to do to get at the ailment. And by the ailment. I mean first and foremost, the ailment within. And the ailment surrounding the ailment infecting our government. Our federal government.

I -- I want to hear some fairly specific plans about what we're going to do to deweaponize the platform, that is the United States government. I want to hear plans about tax reform, about regulatory reform.

Plans that talk about how it is that we're going to shift power back to the American people, where it belongs.

GLENN: Was it significant to you, that -- what's-his-face?

Turtle head. Stu. That he was -- McConnell was booed yesterday?

MIKE: You know, things like that happen from time to time. And you hate to see that. Any person going through that. I think there are some people who don't like him, and they make their minds known, yesterday, loud and clear.

I don't know whether that's exactly the most productive way of going about it. But it is what it is. I was a little surprised to see it.

GLENN: Yeah. Well, there you are. I'm a better Christian that you, says Mike Lee. (laughter)
Thanks a lot, Mike Lee. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Good to talk to you, my friend.

THIS is What Trump is Fighting For

The Left insists that former president Donald Trump is a fascist, practically akin to Hitler, whose immediate response to nearly being assassinated was to tell his followers to "fight." But Glenn has a different take: Trump clearly wasn't telling his supporters to take to the streets. In fact, Glenn believes there's only two reasons why Trump threw his fist in the air: “Either he’s a psycho or he actually believes in something that’s worth fighting for.” That "something," Glenn explains, is the true American way, not the ACTUALLY fascist global government system that President Biden is all on board with. In fact, Glenn says, that's why the global elites must destroy Trump: He's the only one standing in their way.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program. Well, the convention started last night. And something unusual happened.

Donald Trump appeared at the convention. That's something that doesn't usually happen on the first night. But Donald Trump was anxious to get there. And he walked in, about halfway through. I think it was probably 10 o'clock Eastern. 10:30 Eastern.

And he was different. He was different.

I don't know how to describe it. Don Jr had tears in his eyes. I think probably a lot of people did, and I saw a softer man.

I -- for the first time, I saw -- I don't know how to describe it. Maybe somebody who went I shouldn't be here. I -- I was not supposed to be here.

And here I am. And I think it was a humbling moment, and I'm anxious to see what Donald Trump has to say.

He walked in. People are making fun of him, for walking in with a big bandage on his ear.

Well, he lost part of his ear. I mean, this is -- this is such a miracle. There was a 5 miles an hour wind, and just that and him turning his head, made all the difference in that.

Remarkable. Now, when he walked out, people were chanting at the convention, here's that sound, cut seven.

VOICE: Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

GLENN: So now, let me put this into context. Because you will hear people say, they were screaming fight, fight, fight. Yeah. They were.

They were.

For a couple of reasons: First of all, in something that I thought was one of the most heroic things I have seen from a president, in a very long time.

President Trump, unlike, I think I would be, stood up after being shot in the head.

He's disoriented. You can see that he's kind of had the wind knocked out of him from the dog pile of the Secret Service.

He's standing up. And he makes a point. You can hear him on the tape, saying. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait a minute.

And he's telling the Secret Service to stop rushing him off of the stage.

So he can let the people know that he's okay.

And he raises his fist. And he says, fight! Fight! Fight!

That is a hero moment. No matter who you -- what you think about Donald Trump, I'm sorry. That is just stirring to see somebody, who for political reasons, they tried to kill.

They hid him, and he still stands up. The reason why people admire Donald Trump, is that, they have put him through everything.

They tried to bankrupt him.

They tried to call him all kinds of names. They tried to destroy his business.

Then they've tried to put him in Yale.

They've done everything. Impeachment, two separate sometimes.

They smeared him and his family. And now they tried to kill him. And the guy is not stopping! Why? Well, either -- either he's a -- a psycho, that just loves pain and destruction, which earnings.

Or he actually believes in something. That's worth fighting for.

And what is that? Donald Trump doesn't believe in the global government.

He doesn't believe in the global economy. The way it's being fashioned now, in a much more fascistic way. With public/private partnerships. You know, you play ball with us. And then you'll be able to take over. And crush your competitors. And everything else.

Because we'll protect you. But you need to play ball the right way. We're going to change capitalism. That is what's happening.

There is a new economic system, that has already been introduced. And that economic system, part of it, is -- is called modern monetary theory.

I talk about it in my book, The Great Reset.

And, again, in the follow-up book.

Modern monetary theory, six years ago, was insane!

Basically, what it says is, we don't have to have the tax revenue, to pay these bills.

We can just print as much money as we want.

Well, that's what they're doing! Well, that's what they did in Germany, in the Weimar republic. We know, because math remains math. There is something as an absolute truth.

And the closest we can get to it is mathematics.

It doesn't work.

But that's just to bring the United States. In my opinion. To bring the United States down, to everybody else's level.

For 40 years, we tried to bring the world up.

And it worked. Not universally.

And not everywhere. But wherever it was truly tried. And tried without corruption, it did improve the lives of people.

Capitalism works. Well, the Chinese thought of this new idea of fascism.

Bringing the state in with business.

Instead of taking businesses away from people. And owning the businesses. They let people own and run the business.

As long as you're in line with the state.

Well, that's what we're building now.

Donald Trump does not believe in that.

In fact, the reason why they have to kill him, I believe. Is because he's the only one that stands in the way of this new global government. And this new global business elite.

He doesn't believe in it. People are saying, he's saying fight. The first words out of his mouth were fight, fight, fight.

Yes. Isn't there anything worth fighting for?

And I don't mean with guns.

I don't mean a Civil War.

Isn't there anything -- are your children worth fighting for?

Of course they are. Your children worth standing up for? Of course they are. Are your children worth dying for?

Yes. Yes, they are. Hopefully, you don't ever have to get there. But, yes, they are.

You know you would sacrifice your life for your child. You know it.

Here's what I want you to do. When you hear the fight, fight, fight.

I want you to think, Donald Trump doesn't mean just that it's worth dying for.

Because I do believe our country and our freedom of our children. And the future of our children, is worth dying for.

But I don't want to get there. I hope we don't ever get there.

Fight, stand up.

Because our children and our children's future is worth living for.

That's the key. Now, yesterday, there was a really awkward interview with Lester Holt.

Where Joe Biden is just engaging in the same lies.

And I would really like to make it very apparent, by using the audio of both what Biden has been saying over and over again, and the audio of what was actually said, at the time.

And then you decide.

Who is telling you the truth?

Here is Lester Holt, and Joe Biden, talking about Charlottesville, again.

Listen.

BIDEN: I wasn't going to run again. Because I lost my son. I must feel -- until I watched what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia. Those folks are coming out of the woods with torches. Carrying swastikas, singing the same Nazi bile, accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan. And a woman was killed. And -- and it was a bystander.

And the president -- then president was asked what he thinks. He said, there are very fine people on both sides. There are not fine people on both sides. No excuse.

GLENN: Okay.

You can go to Snopes, and look this up.

But I urge you to do that. But why take the time to do that, when I can just present you with the actual audio, of what Trump said in 2017.

Listen. And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people. On both sides. You had people in that group, excuse me. Excuse me.

I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group, that were there to protest, taking down to them, a very, very important statute, and a renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another that I am. And you had people -- and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned, totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay?

GLENN: So now you are left with this question: Why would president Biden continue to tell this lie?

There's one thing you can -- you can dismiss that, you know, no. No joke. I was a truck driver. No, he wasn't.

No. No joke. I was a constitutional scholar for many years. No, he wasn't.

No. No joke, the ladies loved me. No, Joe, they don't. Well, the children love me. No, they don't either. They're creeped out by you.

The one thing that you can say about Joe Biden, is he always is self-aggrandizing. And I think that's because he's really never done anything. I mean, he was a senator, yes.

But he was not the world's greatest senator by any means, and there's lots of senators on both sides, that kind of fall into this category. And he thinks of himself as a great man.

You can take those kinds of lies and kind of feel sorry for him.

Not this one. And these -- these lies like this one, that the left continues to tell, they are told for a reason. To get you to believe, something that is not true.

So if you're listening today, for the first time. And you're thinking anew. And you're thinking, maybe I missed something.

This is what you're missing. I talk to people all the time, who have no clue as to what is going on in the world.

They -- they have only heard the mainstream media. And the left. And they have left out facts. Now, we can spin things any way we want.

But facts are facts.

Why listen to people, who constantly, knowingly, tell you something about a fact, that is not true?

Don't worry.

Inflation, it's transitory. Don't worry. People are doing better.

Is that true? And can you afford another four years of that?

The ONLY Thing the Left Gets Right About "Project 2025"

Democrats have a new boogeyman: The Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025". They claim that former president Donald Trump has endorsed the program and will use it to turn America into a dystopian fascist dictatorship. But what's actually in Project 2025? The Heritage Foundation's president, Kevin Roberts, joins Glenn to debunk the myths and lies. In fact, he says that the Left has only gotten ONE thing right about Project 2025.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: One of, I believe, the real, true patriots in America.

Is Kevin Roberts. He's the Heritage Foundation president. We have gotten to know each other quite well over the last year or so. And I have tremendous respect for him, his courage, and what he's also doing at the Heritage Foundation. I had a -- a family reunion this weekend, this last weekend. And we had about 30 people -- 35 people here. And, you know, not everybody votes the same way that I do. In fact, some of my family kind of rolls their eyes at some of the things I say. And that's fine.

And we're still family, and we love each other. And we had a great conversation about what was going on, especially after the assassination attempt.

And what came up over and over again, was project 2025. They're making it into a fascistic state, they are going to -- they are going to give the presidency so much more power. And I laughed, and I said, that's not Project 2025. That's -- in fact, that's the opposite of what they're trying to do.

This is something the Heritage Foundation has done every election year for many years, but never to this degree.

And Kevin Roberts is here to tell us about it. Hello, Kevin, how are you?

KEVIN: Glenn, my friend. Great patriot, it's a pleasure to be with you.

GLENN: Thank you. So, Kevin, talk to people who are hearing from the media, that this is nothing, but a way to carve out special exemptions for the president for fascism.

KEVIN: The best way to start. And we'll go into detail. Is to say, it is total projection by the left. I mean, you, perhaps more than anyone in our modern age. Has shown us, that whatever the left has accused our side of. Is actually something they themselves are guilty of.

So project 2025, is actually a corrective to the very thing, the left is accusing us of doing. That is, they are the ones particularly since LBJ's presidency in the 60s take it. Who have accrued all this power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats in DC.

We feel that in every respect. Every industry. Every business. And even in most of us in sort of our everyday lives.

But ultimately, what project 2025 will do is address the problem of the administrative state in DC, being weaponized against the everyday American. It's the biggest threat, as you know, the administrative state, Glenn, to a republic, where citizens vote for a new president, and a new direction. And yet, nothing changes.

In fact, what we will see, is any aspects of project 2025, are implemented. Is finishing of the scope of Washington, DC, and an increase in freedoms. And the presidency and the legislative branch and the judicial branch. All being returned to proper order.

In other words, it really is the -- I think the single best set of policy ideas, about how we go back to the original founding vision as our Founders had it of this constitutional republic.

GLENN: You know, I said to some of my relatives. Look, you and I agree on one thing. I think.

And they did. And that is, no citizen should ever be afraid that the president of the United States, is going to get them.

That this election would put somebody in office, where he could take away freedoms of people he didn't like, or didn't agree with.

That's -- I'm absolutely against that. Because I know it always come to bite whoever did it in the butt. Because they'll eventually get to you. And that's not our system. This ensures that the president, no matter which side they're on, doesn't have that power to get his enemies, or to just rule his way without the consent of Congress and the people.

KEVIN: That's right. And if that kind of abuse and weaponization against the American people, using the administrative state we've seen against the right, the political right, by President Biden, were for some reason to be done by a conservative administration.

We at Project 2025 and to Heritage, to your point, Glenn, would be just as apoplectic. Every one of us, from the far left to the far right, wherever someone is on that political spectrum needs to wake up in this country, and believe that of all entities, the federal government is going to be objective and neutral and fair and just, and equal, in how it treats all of our citizens. And so the real problem that we're trying to address, isn't just the accrual of power since the '60s, in particular.

It is, without getting engaged in hyperbole. Which you know I detest. Addressing the weaponization of the federal government, against individual citizens.

I will give you a quick story. That's a personal reference.

But it's emblematic of how people feel.

I'm as you know, a traditional Roman Catholic. It doesn't mean that people have to agree with that. But that's my religious liberty, and my family's to practice that. We have, over the last few years, those of us in that category. Not just been fearful of, but we know the following has happened.

We know this from the director of the FBI. And the attorney general of Biden's administration. They have targeted faithful, traditional Catholics because we like the Latin mass, as somehow being domestic terrorists.

It's that kind of nonsense, that project 2025 would bring to an end, if the next administration so desires to implement.

GLENN: So has Trump signed on for any of this?

KEVIN: Look, it's informal. The president of course has distanced himself from this, which is I think a smart political move, given how successful the left's mischaracterization of this has been.

Ultimately, though. To your question, great ideas, and great people rise to the top.

And so without it all being presumptuous, which you know I am not, and Project 2025 is sort of designed to sort of be in the background. Those great ideas and those great people, I think are going to be apart of this conversation, once the Trump fans and administration takes office.

So I would, for people trying to make sense of President Trump's comments, his campaign's comments and the project, understand, that we are in the political season right now.

And soon, we will move into the transition, and policy making season.

And I just have great confidence in the policies and people who are a part of it. And think that we will have a great era of good, common sense policy reform. That ultimately, is sort of neither conservative nor liberal. It's just right. And it's just common sense.

GLENN: I will tell you, that I read the website. And we're doing a show on it, tomorrow night.

To go through, what it is. And what it's not.

And if people will read it. I mean, I think the -- I think the media is doing a great service in a way. If people go to the website, and -- and really look up, what project 2025 is. And reads it. I think most Americans will agree with a lot of it. You know, you're -- you're talking about dismantling the -- the -- not the DOJ. But the -- the DHS.

You're returning the component parts to other agencies. You're talking about eliminating harmful regulations that have stifled innovation and small businesses.

More oil and gas leases. Less climate extremism.

No more overregulation of dish washers and gas stoves and everything else, that they said they definitely weren't doing.

I think, Kevin, the idea here is the administrative state has been made into something that can do all the things that they know they can't get past into laws. And that's what's got to stop. These people -- these elites are running these organizations, and they decide what's best. And it never comes to us.

And if we want to change, then we'll change. You can't force us to do that, especially as an unelected official.

KEVIN: That's the key issue. That Congress, of course, is complicit in this by not being forceful enough over the last decades.

GLENN: Big time.

KEVIN: And what it's done, frankly under both Democrat and Republican administrations is create this yo-yo effect of the Democrats and the Republicans issuing these executive orders.

I'm still hopeful enough about this country, Glenn, to believe that maybe a vast majority of us across the political spectrum.

Understand, that's not how we ought to make law. And so what we're trying to do with the proposals that we have in Project 2025, in addition to what you've said, is call for an end to DEI and CRT.

This is something that is vastly supported. Unfortunately, we probably see in addition to all of the aspects of the failure, on Saturday's near assassination.

The effects of that. That that was a higher goal.

DEI for the Secret Service director. Than real competence.

This is the point. Americans understand what is going on. Which is that a small group of people, have concentrated power. They are not elected.

They might be good people. We don't have to get into the personal side of this. But they are people who do not want those of us who are regular, normal people, to go about our lives. It's imperative that people understand, that the very reason the left has spent more money demonizing project 2025, than we've spent putting it together, tells you, it is a threat to their power.

And that ought to excite us, about the possibilities ahead.

GLENN: You know, you talk about in project 2025, something that I haven't heard for a long time.

And that's a flatter and fairer tax code with a 15 percent bracket and a 30 percent bracket. They, of course, will say, this is tax cuts for the rich, et cetera.

But it has shown, math does not lie. It has been shown over and over and over again. No matter what you do with the tax code. The government brings in about 18 percent, total.

And if you bring the tax code and bring it up to 95, people find loopholes. Don't pay their taxes, et cetera, et cetera.

And they still get about 17 to 18 percent, going into the Treasury. So why not do a flat tax, where everybody pays, you know, what's appropriate.

And you don't have all of these loopholes. That would be fantastic!

Chance that that happens?

KEVIN: I think there's a chance. In fact, in some recent interview. The last a couple of weeks.

President Trump has even hinted at that.

Obviously, we will have to deal as I country with tax policy. Because the Trump taxes are up for renewal.

And I think there's an opportunity, depending on the president, the Vice President of course will want to do. We will be of service to that.

Is to insert into that, a flatter system. I mean, I'm old enough to remember, when as a country, ten or so years ago. We were on the cusp of implementing that kind of thing.

This is an excellent example of something that is in Project 2025. That is wildly supported by a majority of people. And it leads me to the following connected point, Glenn. You touched on this, just a minute ago.

Project 2025 covers, literally, every policy issue known to man. It is a menu of policy options. I have not met one fellow conservative whether that's my wife or one of my siblings. Or my dad. All staunch conservatives who agree with 100 percent of what's in there.

The point is not to seek unanimity. The point is to provide a menu of options that represent the popular will, that if President Trump and vice president Vance so choose, there's actually a substantive plan behind that political impulse.

And that actually, I would like to think, for people who are more objective in the political center, or the political left.

Give people a little bit of comfort. That actually what we're trying to do here is have a governing agenda, following the lead of the people who make these decisions. And I think as time goes on, to sum up here, the more we understand that's actually what this project is about. The more we're not only telling the truth. But we're actually kneecapping what has been a last ditch desperation attempt by the left, which can't run on the record.

GLENN: Can you do me a favor? I have about 60 seconds. I just want to run through some true and false. Because these are the things that are being said it. I just want to know if it's true or false. In Project 2025, there is a call to end no fault divorce. True or false?

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Complete ban on abortions without exceptions, true or false?

KEVIN: Extraordinarily false.

GLENN: Ban contraceptions, true or false?

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Higher taxes for the working class?

KEVIN: False. The exact opposite.

GLENN: Additional tax breaks for corporations and the 1 percent?

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Elimination of unions and worker protections? My gosh, look at what they're saying.

KEVIN: I know. So false.

GLENN: Cut Social Security.

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Raise the retirement age.

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: End the Affordable Care Act.

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Raise prescription drug prices.

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Eliminate the Department of Education.

KEVIN: True, my friend. That's the one thing they get right.

GLENN: Love that. Use public taxpayer money for private religious schools, true or false?

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Teach Christian religious beliefs in public schools.

KEVIN: False. We understand it's a pluralistic country. We love those schools. But that's up for people to decide.

GLENN: End civil rights. And DEI protections in government.

KEVIN: Well, we definitely want to end DEI nonsense. But obviously the great thing about project 2025, we're restoring civil rights, if anything.

GLENN: Ban books and curriculum about slavery?

KEVIN: False.

GLENN: Ending climate projections. Or protections.

KEVIN: Well, the ones that aren't based on science, will come to an end. But we certainly understand the value of science, and protecting the environment.

GLENN: I have to tell you, this is why we're doing a whole show on it.

What they're saying about this is incredible.

What it is, it's not. You can find it at heritage.org.

Or go to project 2025. I believe that's project 2025.org.

Kevin, great to talk to you. We'll talk to you again.

KEVIN: Thanks, Glenn. Take care.

“This Should Have Been Identified”: Security Expert Explains Failures at Trump Rally

It's clear that many things went wrong with security on the day of Trump's near-assassination at his rally in Pennsylvania. "The Secret Service, in my view, is inept," Glenn says. Former Department of Defense intelligence analyst Jason Buttrill, who spent years planning and leading protective details for politicians, stars, and other high-profile people, joins to explains what he believes the biggest failures were. Why weren't law enforcement officers placed on the rooftop the attacker used? Should the Secret Service have shot first? Why has it taken so long for the government to release more information on the killer? And — scariest of all — did he work alone?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: All right. We have Jason Buttrill with us. Who is my chief researcher.

And also, in charge of national security, and -- and -- and global wars and everything else, that we have to look at. He has extensive background in military intelligence. And that's why you know military intelligence was a joke, because Jason was involved in it.

But it was also -- you were never a lead of my detail, right? Of my protective detail?

JASON: I was never the lead, but I was the manager on your detail, and I led many other details in the past.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

So the reason why I'm still alive today, is Jason was not in charge of the detail.

JASON: That's good. That's good.

GLENN: Yeah. But I will tell you, that we have had many dealings with Secret Service. And without getting into any of the details, but I would be running to testify on it, the Secret Service is in my view, inept. It's nothing against the agents or anything. I think the people who run it, they rely on money and technology, and they just don't think.

And we have seen things that could get people killed, quite honestly. We've experienced it, with the Secret Service ourselves.

And I've been warning about this, for a very, very long time.

Now, Jason, you have actually planned events like this with the Secret Service. You have been with major politicians, and done major events, not only with me, but with others. And worked side by side with the Secret Service. How could this have happened?

JASON: I'm glad you had me on today, Glenn. Because I saw a lot of speculation. I think it's important to understand how these things happened.

How did we get to where we got to on Saturday. And I just want to briefly run down.

I will reveal a few tricks of the trade here. I think it's good for crazy people and potential attackers to know this as well, to know how difficult it is.

It should be almost impossible to pull off what happened on Saturday.

But, as you know, Glenn. You've seen this work, an advance team is always sent out. This is copied from the Secret Service level all the way to the governor's protected details. All the way to public officials. Or, you know, personalities like yourself.

But an advance team would go out. Secret Service would go out, weeks in advance. They would go out and set up a multi-tiered security plan. So basically, like let's say you see a president on a rope line. And he's shaking hands.

And, you know, patting people on the back. That's political smoke and mirrors.

Those are not people that just randomly show up. Those are friends, family, highly trusted people that have been vetted. That talks a little bit of the sexiness out, but that's the same way as when Donald Trump is on a stage. The people right in front of him are supposed to be there.

They have been given access. They have a wristband or lanyard. They're wanded. They're checked. They're fully vetted, trusted people right in front of them. There's another tier beyond that.

They're usually high level donors. They're also very, very trusted. Vetted. They've been searched. Then once you get beyond that, there's not a thousand Secret Service agents out there. So they have to delegate to law enforcement officers. Local law enforcement officers, SWAT, just regular beat cops. They designated those areas.

Now, as all this is happening, they also identify further out threats. And they -- they identify sectors of fire. Positions of fire.

Potential sniper positions. Going all the way to like a thousand yards.

130-yard sniper position. Absolutely, which -- which is where this attacker was. Would have been identified.

And there would have been several designated. They would have said, this is alpha position. This is bravo position. Whatever.

They can go through them. So they can quickly address the situation. They would also, in this instruct the witness not to answer plan, have local law enforcement guarding those areas to make sure no one would gain access to those areas. And they would number contact with the Secret Service.

Now, there's multiple different questions here, that need to be asked. As you said in full transparency. Knowing this entire complex plan, A, did the Secret Service designate those sniper positions as they always do, and as they're supposed to?

Now, let's assume they did. The second question. Did law enforcement adequately man those positions?

It does not appear so, on the videos that we have seen.

I mean, we've got tailgaters, basically, screaming at law enforcement. The only thing missing was like a couple of beer cans hanging off their helmets. And they're chugging down beers. That's basically -- hey. Look over there. There's a guy climbing up there. How did no one respond? That breaks the entire plan. There should have been a law enforcement officer or officers watching it.

GLENN: Right. So there's also the fact that when you have a position like that.

First of all, that position, if it was left open.

They keep saying. Well, it wasn't part of the secure perimeter.

It was 130 yards away. You know, when you are on rooftops and sniper positions, you don't have to be on just the building right across the street. You can be watching all of the rooftops, all the way around, that have any kind of angle at that street. So not only should they have somebody there, or at least had a team around. And it looks like they had local police. And I don't know if local police failed.

But they also, when you have a position like that, and, for instance, there's woods in this same venue area.

You always put up something that blocks the view, so you would go up on that roof. And you would say, okay. There is the podium.

So let's put up a big screen. Or a big sign, or something, that blocks that view from that position. They didn't do that either.

PAT: Yeah. To say, as an excuse, that it was outside the secured perimeter, is absolutely ridiculous. I cannot believe someone would say that. I've been at events where Secret Service was there. Where there was a river, hundreds of yards away. But they still had local law enforcement driving Zodiacs up and down the river, because they were worried about potential snipers coming from a boat. That was not inside the perimeter, but that was a potential firing position that they had identified.

Now, that's the key right here. They would have identified all these positions, especially 130 yards, with a clear line of sight to the president. That would have been identified. There would have been a team of law enforcement officers, or should have been, protecting that area. Now, did they leave that -- this is the second question. First question was, did Secret Service identify them? I'm assume they did.

Second question, did law enforcement adequately man those positions? Third, and this is probably the scariest part of the question, was there a law enforcement officer there?

Was there help given to the shooter? Now, this is not a conspiracy theory. It's a question. It needs to be asked. Because we heard people saying, there's the shooter, no one did anything about it.

So they -- look, this has to been done in full transparency. Can you imagine, Glenn? And the JFK assassination. All these weird things that happened. Right?

You have, let's just say, there were cell phones and camera phones. And they were like, again with their beers and helmets. And they're like, look at that. And they're film the grassy nothing like. Look, officer, there are guys at the grassy nothing like. They have fedoras on. They have sniper rifles.

And they're about to shoot. Like, can you imagine, if we had all of this evidence, what would the conspiracy theories be like then? This is what we have right now. We need to ask these questions. It's very, very rational to do so.

GLENN: So we're about to have Dallas Alexander on. Do you know who he is?

JASON: Oh, yeah. Very, very famous sniper here.

GLENN: Yeah. So he's a sniper, and he says, there's no way this happened without help. I don't want to go there. I don't want to believe that.

Because that takes us into an entirely different world.

JASON: Yeah.

GLENN: Do you believe that as a realistic possibility?

JASON: Okay. Okay. I think it is a possibility. There are also the other random possibilities that it was just lackadaisical security, by the local law enforcement, in my opinion. I'm not jabbing law enforcement. But I don't think they make great security guards because they're primarily reactionary.

GLENN: Right.

JASON: The Secret Service aspect of security like that is not reactionary. It's preventing the attack before it happens. The law enforcement, as a security --

GLENN: It's why they -- it's why the shooter, which I don't believe was a Secret Service sniper, may have only shot after shots were fired.

JASON: That's what I mean.

GLENN: Where Secret Service. You're in Secret Service, you have permission. You see a guy with a gun, pointed at the president, shoot him before he shoots.
Where, law enforcement would need the permission to shoot, unless he shot first. Would they not?

JASON: Right. That's exactly right. Secret Service is a different mindset than other law enforcement. Basically, they don't manage a situation with a firearm. If you see a Secret Service with a firearm, it typically means someone is getting shot. Law enforcement is completely different.

But I will not rule out the fact that it could just be very lax security. Maybe they were big Trump fans. Maybe they weren't fans at all. Maybe it was the exact opposite.

And they weren't as vigilant as they could have been, and someone was able to sneak over there. That is possible.

But the most random things in assassinations happen. Who would have known that Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian activist, would have been posing as, or blending in with hotel staff, and would have been in the right place at the right time, and caught RFK going through that private areas. You've been through those areas yourself, in public events? It's chaotic. Who would have known? Things like that happen.

Who would have thought that a crazed Hinckley would have -- looking to gain the support of Jodi Foster. Had no political ideology at all, just was a crazy guy looking to impress a movie star, would have been able to get to Ronald Reagan. These things do happen.

GLENN: So I want to ask you about the things that are being said now about the shooter, that we really don't know who he is.

I don't believe that for a second. If so, what the hell is the CIA and NSA doing with all of the eavesdropping on all of our communications? I don't believe that at all.

And this ruse, this lie, that, well, we just don't know. We don't know anything about him. We don't. You know, it smells of the Nashville shooter. Now, it's still early. But if they don't come out with the full detail on this guy, they're going to lose all credibility.