“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.