RADIOMarch 17, 2022

Did COVID spark a DARK ERA for America that's only just begun?

Cities and states — even blue ones — have been walking back COVID mandates for weeks now. But, The Federalist’s Chris Bedford tells Glenn, this isn’t the end of the COVID era. In fact, it’s the BEGINNING of a new era in America that’s only just begun. Bedford explains how ‘everything is completely different now’ thanks to COVID restrictions, and why Americans should prepare for ‘trying times.’

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Christopher Bedford, the founding partner of Right Forge, which if we have time to talk about GiveSendGo sure made a huge mistake, by not think a partner with you. You're also the senior editor of the Federalist. And I wanted to bring him in, because he has -- he has an article out. Two years after lockdown, the West's troubles aren't ending. They are just beginning.

By the way, welcome. A great article.

CHRISTOPHER: Thank you.

GLENN: Lay it out.

CHRISTOPHER: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Looking at this covid, the end of covid policies are happening right now. People are feeling springtime is here. It's return to normalcy. The masks are finally going off the children. This morning, the masks went off kids in DC. Public schools for the first time. And people have this -- this reaction, to say, we can move on.

But I don't think that covid -- this is the end of an era. I think this is just the beginning of an era, that we're entering into, in the West. We just made -- over the last two years, we've changed our relationships with every single major aspect of our society. Our churches, we have a different relationship with. A lot of they believe were closed for a period of time.

GLENN: A lot of people -- yeah. A lot of people fell away. And never returned.

CHRISTOPHER: About 20 percent less seats in the pews right now. Because people who -- people who told you that sacraments are essential to eternal life. Said, don't worry, you might get sick. That's a break in faith. Our relationships with the teachers are completely different than they were. The parents are now under the boot of teachers. They're in charge. Parents weren't even allowed in schools, to check on their kids, or make an appointment for years. Our relationship with the politicians are completely different. And the bureaucrats. They make the rules. We just answer them. We're all in this together.

You're selfish to say otherwise. Our relationship, even with the police, if you're in a place like New York City or California, the police officers who are already under assault all over the country now have to come in and arrest people, with their children for dining out.

Our relationships even with health care workers, someone who always thought, well, these folks are on our side. Now they're saying, a husband is dying of covid, can't be with his wife who is dying of covid. They have to die alone.

You can't see your parents when they're dying. You can't visit someone who has terminal cancer or hold your baby after you have one, because somebody might get covid.

We've -- the entire west's interactions are with our society have completely, fundamentally altered. And now everyone just wants to move on. But this is -- I think when historians look at this, just like when they look at black Tuesday. Was the kickoff. The stock market crash. The Dust Bowl. And eventually World War II. They'll look back and say, covid was a kickoff. The lockdowns. Not the disease. The human reaction. The kickoff to the stagflation we're risking. These wildly fluctuating fuel prices, a land war in Europe. This is going to be the to the best of my knowledge of what defines a pretty dark era, for the American people. We need to wrap of our heads around it.

GLENN: What does that mean to you?

CHRISTOPHER: It means that this is going to be a very, very trying time. And --

GLENN: In what way?

CHRISTOPHER: For the American people. Because we'll be pushed into all sorts of policy decisions. You talk about all the time, The Great Reset.

At a time when what's made the American regime possible for all these years is a thriving middle class. Christian beliefs. And strong church attendance.

Civic institutions, that keep us going. Every one of those things has been weakened.

GLENN: And entrepreneurship. The small business.

CHRISTOPHER: The people who are absolutely wiped out. One of my cofounders at Right Forge had a thriving catering company and event space down in Washington, DC, doing over a thousand events. He ended up staying with me for a period of time during covid. Because he lost everything. Fortunately, he's been able to hire most of those employees back for Right Forge, but the entrepreneur class was smashed. If we'll enter this era, where people -- the elites are trying to say, we're doing a big reset. We're changing this world. We'll make it in our image. We lack the civic institutions. The middle class. The economy to really push back. Then we're in trouble. I have news for you. Electing a bunch of Republicans will happen. DC will not fix it.

GLENN: It will not fix it.

CHRISTOPHER: It needs to be local. Actually, talking to Ricky yesterday.

GLENN: The executive producer of TV.

CHRISTOPHER: Yeah. Sorry. Talking to Rick yesterday, blew my mind. Because she said two years ago, no one knew the name of the county judge in Dallas. No one was paying attention to the local politicians. People -- San Francisco couldn't name their school board. Loudon County couldn't name their school board. If there will be a rival, which we really do need, in the spiritual and a political sense, the local politics of it are what's going to drive it. People seizing that.

GLENN: I was talking to a pastor just this weekend. And he said, I'm just disconnected. I don't know what is going on in the world. I'm just focusing on my thing. And I'm like, pastor, you better wake up. Because things are happening. And they're on your doorstep. And your people are going to need to know, how do I weather this?

How do I weather this? If you're not as a pastor, speaking out right now, it's why your pews are becoming more and more empty, quite honestly. You didn't have enough to offer, to be able to have people understand through a Biblical sense, what they're seeing with their own eyes.

CHRISTOPHER: When you see the American great revivals that we've had, and we're famous for, those weren't pastors who simply opened up the church doors, and said, I hope someone comes in. They were people who rode on horseback and carriages, thousands and thousands of miles, up and down the Eastern seaboard, talking and preaching, two, three times a day. To thousands and thousands of people. Having to reach a lot of modern folks would be amazed at their reach. And they did it just by who could hear their voice.

So we need exactly what you're talking about. Priests and pastors can't just open the doors and say, I hope you come in.

We need to go out. We're engaged in spiritual warfare right now at the technological level, political level, and our people need to understand.

GLENN: Big time.

CHRISTOPHER: If they don't -- our religious leaders don't serve governors and mayors. They are princes of the church. They should address each other as equals, not as servants. And go out there and realize, that they're the people who saved this country.

GLENN: You know, I mentioned this a couple of times today. I think it's worth saying.

Was it the grand leadership of any politician in the world, let alone ours, that -- that got Nike and Adidas, and, you know, PornHub. And all these gigantic corporations, to pull out of Russia?

No. It wasn't our politicians.

It wasn't a government. It was The Great Reset.

It is these corporations, who have now put us in a situation to where we're on the edge with Russia, and the American people or its representatives haven't really even spoken yet.

And it's a little concerning, that we're just going along for the ride. And we're not recognizing that we're in the backseat.

CHRISTOPHER: Yeah. I wonder what we could do to make PornHub pull out of the United States. I would like that policy. But exactly. I think this is part of -- some of what we've gone through in the last few years with covid. Where this whole disinformation. This censorship. This shutting down. This deplatforming you. Became normal.

For the good of us all. That switched pretty seamlessly. Republican senators. Or -- or daytime talk show hosts, On the View. Calling for the investigation and imprisonment for those who say, hold on a second. Why am I fighting Putin right now?

I understand what's going on is awful over there. But why is this an American war, and you see these folks coming out and saying, we need to do a no-fly zone. And that sounds nice. It sounds nice.

GLENN: It does. It sounds like World War III.

CHRISTOPHER: It sounds like World War III. It's not a humanitarian action. That's called putting jets in the air with Russian jets at the same time, in a way they will fight. And that's how they get their foot in the door, for -- for the war, that a lot of folks want.

GLENN: You know, it's really disturbing to see -- just like you said, Tulsi Gabbard is called a tool, just for questioning. Just for questioning. She's now a tool for the Russian state, and should be investigated. Tucker Carlson should be investigated. And possibly face prison time.

Russell Brand, they're now coming after him as well. If we don't stop this destroying any idea of freedom of speech, and, you know, toleration of another opinion, we don't make it very long.

CHRISTOPHER: That's part of what covid did. That's what the lockdowns did.

It's disinformation.

That's a freaky word.

That's that phrase, you're on the wrong side of history. It dehumanizes your opponent. It makes it on the right side.

GLENN: We have said this. Many of the people who said, that's disinformation, turned out to be right. Covid is over --

CHRISTOPHER: Masks.

GLENN: Yeah. And what's his name? Fauci. I think he's in the FBI witness protection program, at this point. I haven't seen him at all.

CHRISTOPHER: And it's hard to keep him away from a camera.

GLENN: It's really hard. So we have this. People know it, but nobody is standing up. Why? Why is there this disconnect from what people know, and standing up?

It seems to have only happened at the schools, really.

CHRISTOPHER: The schools, I think. And I hone that's the beginning of something that is broader. It's getting remembering folks who are involved.

I was hopeful that the Tea Party would lead to more local involvement. It seemed like after some of the big great rallies we had. The prayer rallies that we had. A lot of it faded away.

Because went back, because it was comfortable. But the left has made things so uncomfortable for the last two years.

I'm hoping folks do get involved. And I'm really hopeful of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade, or on abortion. Because that will put it back, politics to a local level.

GLENN: It will.

CHRISTOPHER: That will make people. It suddenly really matters who your state representative is. Because that decides whether or not there's baby sacrifice in your state or not. The left and right will be reinvigorated. And this whole kind of national news cycle that we live on, people will start to realize, it's actually my town meetings that matter. It's my state meetings that matter. That's what drives this country. That's what built this country. But at the same time, we have big tech. They won't take their foot off of our throats. Amazon web services, shutting down internet servers for Donald Trump right after the riots. They're -- they're going to keep on trying to censor, keeping us down. That's what they do. At TheBlaze. Build that alternative, because we can't rely on the corporate media.

GLENN: So tell people about Right Forge. If they don't know. Because I think this would be the answer for GiveSendGo. And I think they were with you for a while. And then dropped out.

CHRISTOPHER: Yes. We worked together for a few days. And they were great folks.

But they ended up going the different direction from ours. And then they were hacked shortly after.

Because those hackers are out there, trying to destroy you. Whether your Texas right to life, hackers attacking them. Anonymous group of hackers.

What we do is we build internet servers. The Libertarians, I've always said in DC, if you don't like it, build your own.

A lot of them didn't actually believe that. Because they're working with big tech. So parliament went out and they built their own alternative to Twitter.

Then the powers to be, just decided that they were going to destroy them, for completely spurious reasons. The New York Times and CNN would just cheer it on, like it was a victory for free speech or disinformation.

And the American Dream was shut in public. The idea, if you don't like something, do it better.

So we started an internet service company, because suddenly the infrastructure that the websites are built on, becomes a politicized war zone. Now we're just trying to make one, that is a Bill of Rights, in the internet infrastructure.

It's just American infrastructure. I don't care what your politics are. I want you to be free to express them. What your business is.

People should be free to express themselves, as we are in this country. The laws that govern what we say and do, should be made by the people's representatives. Not by terms of the user agreement in Silicon Valley.

GLENN: You know, what you would have done, would have been championed by the Libertarian. And by the left.

Even, I bet, more so than the right. Twenty-five years ago.

CHRISTOPHER: It's been such a shift.

GLENN: It's been such a crazy shift. And if you're at all awake, put you in a situation, where thinking people are finding themselves in a room. And allies with people that the rest of the world said, you. You should hate. It's weird.

CHRISTOPHER: Glenn Greenwald. Elon Musk. Tucker Carlson. Donald Trump. And Glenn Beck walk into a room together. I wouldn't have believed that five years ago, but now it's all happening.

GLENN: It's crazy. It's really crazy. Thank you so much for everything you're doing. This is Christopher Bedford. He's the founding partner of Right Forge. You should check Right Forge out. Also senior editor of the Federalist. You guys are doing extremely great work right now. Thank you. I I read it every day. The Federalist.com. You can find. Or rightforge.com. Back in a minute.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Epstein's "Blackmail Videos" Being Used for Leverage RIGHT NOW?

What was Jeffrey Epstein's operation all about. If he was at the center of a massive blackmail operation to compromise those in positions of power, who is in possession of that information now? Glenn Beck and ATF Whistleblower John Dodson analyze the details of this situation and give their thoughts on what is the most likely reality surrounding Epstein.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with ATF Whistleblower John Dodson HERE

WARNING: How America Elects a Socialist President in 2028 | Glenn TV | Ep 444

The rise of Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old socialist who just won the Democratic primary for mayor, is not just a political earthquake shaking New York City — it’s a warning for the rest of America. Backed by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani promises free everything, to tax the rich, and to dismantle capitalism. There’s nothing new about this tired strategy, but the media is propping him up as a new political genius. And with Democrat leaders lining up behind him, it’s clear: This radicalism isn’t fringe anymore. It’s the Democratic Party’s future. Mamdani’s rise is part of a larger movement that’s rewriting America’s values. Glenn Beck explains how New York is the prototype for the Left’s socialist makeover of America. Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Standford, gives a terrifying prediction on Mamdani’s mayoral race chances and warns the revolution is coming for mainstream Democrats. He also dives into MAGA’s frustration with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

Salena Zito reveals WHY Trump said “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“I have a new purpose,” then-candidate Donald Trump told reporter Salena Zito after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Salena joins Glenn Beck to reveal what Trump told her about God, his purpose in life, and why he really said, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, as she details in her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland”.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Salena, congratulations on your book. It is so good.

Just started reading it. Or listening to it, last night.

And I wish you would have -- I wish you would have read it. But, you know, the lady you have reading it is really good.

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

The writing of this is the best explanation on who Trump supporters are. That I think I've ever read, from anybody.

It's really good.

And the description of your experience there at the edge of the stage with Donald Trump is pretty remarkable as well. Welcome to the program.

SALENA: Thank you, Glenn. Thank you so much for having me.

You know, I was thinking about this, as I was ready to come on. You and I have been along for this ride forever. For what?

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

SALENA: And I've been chronicling the American people for probably ten more years, before that. And it's really remarkable to me, as watching how this coalition has grown. Right?

And watching how people have the -- have become more aspirational.

And that's -- and that is what the conservative populist coalition is, right?

It is the aspirations of many, but the celebration of the individual.

And chronicling them, yeah. Has been -- has been, a great honor.

GLENN: You know, I was thinking about this yesterday, when -- when Elon Musk said he was starting another party.

And somebody asked me, well, isn't he doing what the Tea Party tried to do?

No. The Tea Party was not going to start a new party.

It was to -- you know, it was to coerce and convince the Republican Party to do the right thing. And it worked in many ways. It didn't accomplish what we hoped.

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

I truly believe that. And a lot of the people that were -- right?

Were with Donald Trump, are the people that were with the Tea Party.

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

So American politics has always had movements, that have been just outside of a party. Or within a party.

That galvanize and broaden the coalition. Right? They don't take away. Or walk away, and become another party.

If anything, if there is a third party out there, it's almost a Republican Party.

Because it has changed in so many viable and meaningful ways. And the Tea Party didn't go away. It strengthened and broadened the Republican Party. Because these weren't just Republicans that became part of this party.

It was independents. It was Democrats.

And just unhappy with the establishment Republicans. And unhappy with Democrats.

And that -- that movement is what we -- what I see today.

What I see every day. What I saw that day, in butler, when I showed I happen at that rally.

As I do, so many rallies, you know, throughout my career. And that one was riveting and changed everything.

GLENN: You made a great case in the opening chapter. You talk about how things were going for Donald Trump.

And how this moment really did change everything for Donald Trump.

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

I mean, Elon Musk was not on the Trump train, until this.

SALENA: Yeah.

GLENN: Moment. What do I -- what changed? How -- how did that work?

And -- and I contend, that we would have much more profound change, had the media actually done their job and reported this the way it really was. Pragmatism

SALENA: You know, and people will find this in the book. I'm laying on the ground with an agent on top of me.

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

And there's -- there's notices coming up on my phone. Saying, he was hit by broken glass.

And to this take, that remains part of this sibling culture, in American politics.

Because reporters were -- were so anxious to -- to right what they believed happened.

As opposed to what happened.

And it's been a continual frustration of mine, as a reporter, who is on the ground, all the time.

And I'll tell you, what changed in that moment.

And I say a nuance, and I believe nuance is dead in American journalism.

But it was a nuance and it was a powerful conversation, that I had with President Trump, the next day. He called me the next morning.

But it's a powerful conversation I had with him, just two weeks ago.

When he made this decision to say, fight, fight, fight.

People have put in their heads, why they think he said it. But he told me why he said that. And he said, Salena, in that moment, I was not Donald Trump the man. I was a former president. I was quite possibly going to be president again.

And I had an obligation to the country, and to the office that I have served in, to project strength. To project resolve.

To project that we will not be defeated.

And it's sort of like a symbolic eagle, that is always -- you know, that symbol that we look at, when we think about our country.

He said, that's why I said that. I didn't want the people behind me panicking. I didn't want the people watching, panicking.

I had to show strength. And it's that nuance -- that I think people really picked up on.

And galvanized people.

GLENN: So he told me, when he was laying down on the stage.

And you can hear him. Let me get up. Let me get up.

I've got to get up.

He told me, as I was laying on the stage. I asked him, what were you thinking? What was going through your head? Now, Salena, I don't know about you.

But with me. It would be like, how do I get off the stage? My first was survival.

He said, what was going on through his mind was, you're not pathetic. This is pathetic.

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

And so is that what informed his fight, fight, fight, of that by the time that he's standing up, he's thinking, I'm a symbol? Or do you think he was thinking, I'm a symbol, this looks pathetic. It makes you look weak.

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

SALENA: He thinks, and we just talked about this weeks ago. He -- you know, and this is something that he's really thought about.

Right? You know, he's gone over and over and over. And also, purpose and God. Right? These are things that have lingered with him.

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

He did think, it was pathetic that he was on the ground. But he wasn't thinking about, I'm Donald Trump. It's pathetic.

He's thinking, my country is symbolically on the ground. I need to get up, and I need to show that my country is strong.

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

And I think that then goes to that image of Biden.

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

How many presidents do you think that you've personally been with, would have thought that and reacted that way?

SALENA: Probably only Reagan. Reagan would have. Reagan probably would have thought that.

And if you remember how he was out like standing outside.

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

SALENA: Had he not been knocked out, unconscious, you know, he probably would have done the same thing.

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

SALENA: Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that affects him today.

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

Because you talked to him the next day. And your book Butler.

He calls you up.

I love the fact that your parents would be ashamed of you. On what you said to him.

The language you used. That you just have to read the book.

It's just a great part.

But he calls you the next morning. And wants to know if you're okay.

And you -- you then start talking to him, about God.

And I was -- I was thinking about this, as I was listening to it. You know, Lincoln said, I wasn't -- I wasn't a Christian.

Even though, he was.

I wasn't a Christian, when I was elected. I wasn't a Christian when my son died.

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

Is -- is -- I mean, I believe Donald Trump always believes in God, et cetera, et cetera.

Do you think there was a real profound change at Butler with him?

SALENA: Absolutely. You know, he called me seven times that day. Seven times, the take after seven.

GLENN: Crazy.

SALENA: Talked about. And I think he was looking for someone that he knew, that was there. And to try to sort it out.

Right? And I let him do most of the talking. I didn't pressure him.

At all. I believed that he was having -- you know, he was struggling. And he needed to just talk. And I believed my purpose was to listen.

Right? I know other reporters would have handled it differently. And that's okay. That's not the kind of reporter that I am.

And I myself was having my own like, why didn't I die?

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

And -- and so I -- he had the conversation about God.

He's funny. I thought it was the biggest mosquito in the world that hit me.

But he had talked profoundly about purpose. You know, and God.

And how God was in that moment.

It --

GLENN: I love the way you -- in the book, I love the way you said that as he's kind of working it out in his own he head.

He was like, you know, I -- I -- I always knew that there was some sort of, you know -- that God was present.

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

All of the things that have happened. And he's like, I realized God was there the whole time.

SALENA: Yes. He does. And it's fascinating to have been that witness to history, to have those conversations with him. Because I'm telling you. And y'all know, I can talk. I didn't say much of anything.

I just -- I just listened. I felt that was my purpose, in that moment.

To give him that space, to work it out.

I'm someone that is, you know, believes in God.

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

And -- and so, I thought, well, this is why God put me here. Right?

And to -- to have that -- to hear him talk about purpose, to hear him say, Salena. Why did I put a chart down?

I'm like, sir. I don't know. I thought you were Ross Perot for a second.

He never has a chart. And he laughed. And then he said, why did I put that chart down?

By that term, I never turned my head away from people at the rally. That's true.

That relationship is very transactional. It's very -- they feed off of each other.

It's a very emotive moment when you attend a rally. Because he has a way of talking at a rally. That you believe that you are seeing.

And he said, and I never turn my head away.

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

I don't remember consciously thinking about turning my head away. And then he says to me, that was God, wasn't it?

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

And he said, that's -- that's why I have a new purpose.

And so, Glenn. I think it's important, when you look at the breadth of what has happened, since he was sworn in.

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

Where you find out, that there was another president that was shot at in Butler.

And that was George Washington. And how different the country would have been, had he died in that moment.

And now think about how different the country would be, had President Trump died in that moment. There would be --

GLENN: We're talking to -- we're talking to Salena Zito. About her new book called Butler. The assassination attempt on President Trump. And it is riveting.

And, you know, it is so good. I wish the press would read it. Because it really explains who we are, who Trump supporters are. Who are, you know, red staters. It is so good at that. She's the best at that.