RADIOJuly 10, 2024

Who Doomed the Petrodollar: America or Saudi Arabia?

There has been a lot of confusion lately about Saudi Arabia allegedly ending a 50-year-deal with the United States. The "deal" tied oil sales to the US dollar. But many have claimed that the deal never actually existed. So, what's really going on here and should Americans be worried? Financial expert Carol Roth joins Glenn to break it all down, including why she believes the United States and our Federal Reserve are really to blame for the petrodollar's destruction. Plus, Carol explains why the Biden administration can insist the economy has never been better, although our wallets can tell the opposite is true.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Before we get to Carol, I want to give you some highlights from this Blaze media. And TheBlaze.com story.

Biden's phony numbers mask true economic pain. The official government numbers in the US economy have been contradictory and confusing for quite a while now.

What is clear upon closer examination, is that the federal government's overspending and overregulation are doing serious damage to the economy.

And we have yet to see the worst results of those policies.

The unemployment increase, seems to contradict recent signs that the economy has been weakening. In addition to the conflicting rise in unemployment. Other signs of deterioration. Include stagnant retail sales.

A slowing of consumer spending. Weak industrial product. Manufacturing orders. Increasing consumer debt.

Depressed by new housing starts. Falling annual earnings of full-time employees. And rising commodity prices. The Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, knitted, he believes the White House has been cooking the books.

This is the fed chair. Stating last week, you have payroll jobs, still coming in strong.

Even though, there's an argument, they may be a bit overstated. The only job growth, in the US, is for illegal aliens. Listen to that.

The only job growth in the US, are for those illegal aliens, who will work for below minimum wage. Which also explains why inflation hasn't spiked in the past year, as millions of illegal aliens were hired.

Legally resident American workers saw no job increase in the past year. And unlawful residents, willing to accept wages Americans can't are dragging everything down in the wage category.

With employment continues for American workers stagnant at best, the job market is another indicator that the economic growth is slowing, and the Federal Reserve should lower interest rates to reduce its suppression of economic activity.

However, they decided not to. Because it will -- it will spike inflation again.

The markets have already priced three expected interest rate reductions for the year.

However, suggesting a correction is in order.

Even so, the stock market stayed steady after the fed's interest rate announcement with the Dow falling slightly.

And the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, rising to new record highs.

Economist Robert Genetski. Genetski, calculates that the S&P 500 is currently overvalued by 34 percent.

If investors decide the market is near peak and start selling, taking their profits before prices, fall. There is more trouble.

This overspending continues from the federal government, as well.

In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the current government has already accumulated more than $1.2 trillion, in additional debt.

With a staggering deficit of $348 billion last month alone.

Investors were reportedly believed the US economy is about to enjoy a significant expansion, because of AI.

That's boosting the stock markets. The shares in tech companies. Chip makers. And even utilities.

The government's stimulus injection may be waning, and the Fed's interest rate hikes are starting to bite, as indicated by the slowing housing and manufacturing production.

Higher interest rates hinder business from investing in production and consumers from spending on goods.

That support those businesses. Additionally, the Biden administration has implemented a regulatory program, that will directly cost the economy 3.95 trillion dollars in 2025.

And indirectly result in a staggering 75.05 trillion, in opportunity costs, for 2025, alone.

That might take a bite, no matter what AI is going to do.

Carol Roth is here with us.

Carol. Are we beginning to see all of the signs of the wheels coming off of this thing?

CAROL: I think we've been seeing the signs of the wheels coming off of this thing for quite some time.

And they're sort of hanging on by a thread.

Now, certainly, a lot of the numbers that are put forth. Are meant to window dress, and say, oh, no.

The wheels are still turning. And they're doing just fine. And they will last for a while.

We have seen cracks, and when you peel back the onion. And you look at things like the deficit to GDP, which are about two times the historic average at a time when they're telling us, there's an expansion. We know there's something wrong.

Because normally, when you have an expanding economy, that means you're taking in more revenue at the government level. And that means you're running less of a deficit because you have more money input.

What's happening now is the Biden administration has flipped that on their head. And they're using deficits to window dress the appearance, that we have growth.

And we're seeing that start to crack. Because even that, you know, window dressed growth is starting to come down.

We saw the first quarter GDP come in, almost a percentage point lower than expectations.

A first reading. The second reading was even lower.

So now, as of the second reading. We're at 1.3 percent. For the first quarter. And we're expecting a third reading.

And things keep getting revised and revised.

So all of the, you know, appearances that they're putting forth. And to make it seem like everything is looking great.

We've seen those cracks. And they're just becoming larger and larger.

GLENN: So do you think that there's any way possible, that anything, excuse the pun here, Trumps the economy.

I mean, they always say in elections.

You know, it's the economy, stupid.

And no matter how you window dress this.

Everyone knows, I don't have as much money, or my money doesn't go as far as it used to. And I'm having a hard time keeping up.

At almost every level, this is happening.

VOICE: So this is an interesting question.

There was a Monmouth poll, that came out yesterday.

That showed, far and away.

That the economy was the biggest issue.

You know, number one issue on people's minds.

But there's a disconnect by party. And obviously, when you have the -- the Republican side, and I would think to some extent. The independents as well.

There's more of a connection with the -- with the fiscal reality that's going on. And it becomes, you know, we believe so afford literally four more years of that.

There's a disconnect from the Democrats who don't believe in mass and reality anyway.

And so even though, they may be hurting, personally. They're going to make excuses. And say that it's for, you know, any sort of litany of other reasons. And it doesn't have anything to do with these specific policies, that we know have driven these outcomes.

You know, there's weather it's things like the American rescue plan. And they direct stimulus. That's literally called stimulus.

That overstimulated the economy. And caused inflation.

They're going to tell you, oh, no. Look, inflation has come down. Even though, they're still going to the same grocery stores, the same gas stations. Having to pay the same rent. And they're believing and buying into the gaslighting.

So that's my concern.

Is when you have so many people who are decoupled from reality. And can fed the propaganda that's gaslighting. And they're willing to -- basically, you know, they're cults. That that is not going to show up in the polls. The way that it should. If we were operating, you know, with some sort of normal baseline.

GLENN: Carol, I'm going to take a quick break, early here.

Because I don't want to interrupt you on this petrodollar thing.

Because I have seen stories that say, this is true.

Stories that say it wasn't true. I don't think there ever was a -- there wasn't a concrete deal. It was more of a handshake with Saudi Arabia. With the petrodollar. Wasn't it?

Or did we have a written deal?

CAROL: That's right. So I was surprised when I saw this as well. You know, I wrote about this in You'll Own Nothing. We have a whole chapter on it.

And there was a deal put in place. But never once did I come across anything that said, we have a specific expiration. But we know deals that, you know, are made. Can be shifted and changed at any point in time.

And I think that's the point we want to talk about.

GLENN: Correct.

Okay. So we'll do that next.

Because the petrodollar. If the world goes off the petrodollar.

That is -- that is the beginning of the end of the dollar.

It's just a matter of time. And what are people replacing? It with?

And so far, central banks are not replacing it with any currency at all.

We'll talk about it here, in just a second.

Okay.

So, Carol, explain why the petrodollar is so important.

VOICE: All right. So there's this story that was going around last week. That the Saudis had ended this agreement, that had been put in place in the '70s.

So what happened was that when the US went off the gold standard, they were very concerned over what was going to happen. So they created this secret delegation, that went to Saudi Arabia.

As part of a diplomatic chore. And there was a lot of chaos going on at that time. Not only did we go off the gold standard.

There was an oil embargo put in place by the Arab oil exporters. That set the price of oil sky-high.

So the big objective, was basically, they -- the US didn't want crude oil.

You know, energy. Which is obviously really what fueled growth around the world, to become an economic weapon.

And they knew they knew, okay. Well, now we're off the gold standard.

We had the currency. Wouldn't it be great to have somebody to finance their deficits?

So what they did, is they went to the Saudis. And they said, well, look, you come. You take -- you're going to agree to basically price oil in dollars.

And that's -- around the world, oil is going to be priced in dollars. And you will have all this excess money.

We want you to plow that back into US treasuries. Everything that you get in. We want to you plow that back into treasuries?

Why did they want that? Because that obviously helped the US finance their deficits at a very cheap rate.

He said with be okay. We'll do that. What we want in return, basically some economic and military support. And so they made this -- this deal. That was brokered.

The interesting part is there was a secret piece of it, and that was that the Saudis did not want everyone to know, that they had this huge Treasury stockpile. So for more than four --

GLENN: Why?

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Why didn't they?

CAROL: Because they must want everyone to know that this was sort of the underpinnings of the deals of how closely they were in bed, with the US.

GLENN: Okay. With the US. Okay.

CAROL: And that this is what they did. So this was actually uncovered by a Bloomberg report.

So for 41 years, what the US Treasury did when they broke out what central banks held the US Treasury, and you can go see if China holds this. Japan holds this.

They lumped Saudi Arabia in with 14 other nations. So basically, you could see, oh. We cut this special deal, and now it looks like now, that there's all this wonderful demand for treasuries around the world.

And it was kind of unclear that there was this alliance going on.

So what does that do? It creates a massive demand for the Treasury, because not only are the Saudis in there as huge buyers, but when you have -- you know, sort of a de facto basis. The oil price in US dollars. Then every other central bank will also want to make sure that they have a stockpile of a dollar equivalent security. That if they need dollars, they can cash in.

Of course, as opposed to holding actual dollars. When you hold the Treasury you do get some income. Or you get an interest rate. So basically, this has created huge demand for Treasuries. It means that the interest was artificially suppressed by that demand. And that the US government was able to finance their deficits.

It also meant that trade around the world, was done, you know, US dollars. So not only are these central banks, holding them in the reserves. There's all this trade that's happening in US dollars.

So this actually worked out for quite some time.

The Fed holding basically the world's reserve currency. And managing it. They held the US dollar fairly stable. When you saw the price of gas go up. That they would loosen monetary policy.

And when it was too low. They would tighten it, that they would stay in some sort of a range. Sometimes that was at odds with what was going on domestically.

But as the holder of the world's reserve currency, that was their job.

GLENN: Hang on just a second. Stop for just a second.

I just want to make the point: This is right now, where we're about to see the change, and it's not happening now. It's already happened.

We -- when we got off the gold standard. We promised the world, we will never put ourselves, you know, absolutely first. And go off, and do crazy spending.

And, you know, just break everything for America.

And that's why, it was at odds, sometimes. The fed's policies.

Were at odds.

With the United States policy.

Or -- or -- wants and needs.

Because they had to balance it for the world.

And then what happened, Carol?

CAROL: Yes. So for the economic wonks out there, that's called the Triffin dilemma. You sometimes have to make these tradeoffs between what happens domestically and what happens internationally.

What happened, if we come back to today, is that the Fed has managed to hold the dollar, not stable.

Either for the world, or domestically. So it's not like they even made the tradeoff.

They just abandoned it altogether. But going back to 2005, they decided when the price of oil shot up due to China's increase in demand.

Hurricane Katrina, a whole bunch of things. That they just weren't going to play this game anymore, and that's when things started to crack.

Then we had the Great Recession financial crisis, and so on and so forth.

And the US government continuing to run these huge deficits.

And just, you know, creating a really challenging situation, economically.

So the big issue, if you are these countries around the world. That now have everything priced in dollars.

All your major commodities.

It's not just oil.

It's then extending into food.

Everybody is trading into dollars.

When you have these huge swings in the dollar, that means, that threatens as a nation.

Because now you may not be able to afford energy.

Or you may not be able to afford your food for your country.

That's a national security issue.

GLENN: Forty seconds.

CAROL: Countries are getting sick of that. We weaponize the US dollar. And at the end of the day, they're starting to move away from it. Which threatens our ability to have cheap financing and our standard of living.

GLENN: And so the Saudis did not break a deal.

We've broken the deal long ago.

And they're just all doing what would normally be done. It's no longer good for me.

It's got to be good for both of us.

And so they didn't stop the deal. They're just naturally moving away.

And it's -- the money is going to gold, not other currencies at this point. Correct?

CAROL: Correct. You got it. You nailed it.

How Many People HID Biden’s Cognitive Decline During Presidency?!

A new book by Amie Parnes and Jonathan A. P. Allen, called “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” details the real mental state of President Biden during his time in office and how much was kept secret from the American people. Glenn and Stu review some of the biggest revelations, like how the Harris team had prepared a list of judges who could swear in Kamala Harris if Biden’s heart stopped, how they marked his paths with fluorescent tape, or how Biden once completely forgot who Rep. Eric Swalwell was. Glenn also asks: who sanctioned all of this? How many people knew about this when it was happening? And why did NO ONE tell us the truth?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I don't know if you saw the news yesterday. This was a little frustrating, predictable, but frustrating. By 2023, Joe Biden's allies were quietly preparing for the unthinkable, we find out yesterday.

His death in office! By 2023.

STU: I mean, I'm glad he made it. However, it wasn't unthinkable.

GLENN: No. I know. I know. I know.

STU: I just have to say, not unthinkable.

GLENN: Well, because they kept saying, he was in perfect health.

And not healthier than anyone else.

There's a new book out called Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen.

Hey, thanks for the update now, guys. We had no idea. I mean, you did if you paid attention.
And you realized, you weren't being told the truth.

And you just watched. But what we were never shown, were the -- you know, the -- the fluorescent tape marking his path at public events to keep him from wondering off.

Did you know that?

The death pool roster that the White House had, that Kamala Harris' team drew up, listing the federal judges who might swear her in, if his heart stops.

Did you know this was happening?

Did you know -- I mean, his health and his -- his brain activity was so bad, that they had a resident makeup artist on hand, all the time.

Not just to make him up, to enhance his appearance. In case he goes on television.

But to mask the shell, that he had become.

Stephen Miller said, they were literally Michael Jacksoning him. A reference to the late pop star's own cosmetic coverups, while dismissing skeptics as conspiracy theorists.

In some days, Biden would endure the makeup ritual, only then to cancel all of his briefings, entirely, and call it a day!

STU: What?

GLENN: Uh-huh. So I want to know, who sanctioned all of this?

STU: Yes!

GLENN: Because the AIDS knew it. All the leadership in the White House knew it.

The people that applied to makeup knew it. The schedulers who cleared his calendar, knew it.

I mean, why wouldn't they say?

Were they protecting the president.

Because you're supposed to protect the presidency.

The president and the presidency.

And the presidency is even more important. That's why, if Barack Obama, and we talked about this years ago, Barack Obama would have invited me to the White House. I would have absolutely gone, like Bill Maher did. I would have been polite. I would have shaken his hand. I would respect him. Because I respect the office.

I don't have to like the man. I respect the office. Because the office is more important than any man!

Then came the moments, we're finding out in this new book, of the cognitive unraveling. It was there in plain sight.

But if you said anything about it, remember, you were a conspiracy theorist. So Swalwell. Eric Swalwell, the Congressman. He comes to the White House. And he is supposed to meet with the president. They meet. And Biden doesn't even know who he is.

Has no idea who Congressman Swalwell is. Swalwell had to say, remember me?

I'm a Congressman. I worked on this with you and this. And he was like, oh, yeah. Yeah. That's right. That's right. I remember.

Holy cow.

STU: How do we make it through that? Only God could have got us through that, I swear.

GLENN: How did we not know?

Why were no cameras allowed to capture it? Why didn't anyone say anything? Why were there no leaks on this?

You are committing an act of treason, I believe, to the country.

If you swore an oath to the country. To the Constitution. Why are you not warning on this?

Who is making the decisions?

Why did no one sound the alarm?

Shouldn't Swalwell do it himself?

Of course. Of course.

Then everything comes crashing down in 2024.

Biden steps down as the democratic nominee. It was forced on him by Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

And then what we didn't see, was the backstage, back stabbing that was going on.

Harris, remember. When this happened, Biden came out and said, I'm stepping down.

No endorsement. Then like 30 minutes later, this endorsement for -- for Kamala comes out.

Right?

Well, now we know what happened. Kamala calls and says, hey. You've got to endorse me.

Or they will go for an open.

Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. They want an open primary.

You've got to endorse me!

And so he does. He endorses.

Just to screw Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama!

Nobody is talking about the screwing of the system. He's painted as a hero for doing something brave, when he intentionally viewed the system, because he wanted to screw Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

Okay. Nobody says anything about it. Just the noble farewell to him. He's just great. Nobody heard about the power plays. Nobody heard about the back stabbing.

Nobody heard about the subversion of the Constitution. Here.

Okay. Great. And, again, nobody says anything. Nobody says anything.

Huh. Why?

Why weren't we allowed to see? And how deep did this actually run?

Who was responsible? Who was giving the orders?

Who was telling everybody to shut up, as they Michael Jackson him?

Why did no one say, I've got a real problem. We have to put little fluorescent stickies on the floor, so he knows where to walk.

Isn't that a problem?

Well, there was nobody that said, by the way. We're just -- we're just trying to line up the right justice to swear her in.

Because we want that photo op. We want that to look really good. We want the correct justice.

Holy cow.

What else don't we know?

What about the -- the memos?

Any memos buried?

How about the doctors. Remember when the doctors were going, no. He's fine. He's fine.

You know what, I had a problem. I had some toenail fungus. I asked him to look at my feet. He is so fine.

That he is almost a doctor, right now.

He is so sharp. What happened, in those?

Remember those meetings. And the doctors came out. Wait a minute. Aren't you a guy that specializes in dementia?

No! Why weren't we told this?

These are the questions that you must ask, because no one else will.

Who else knew? Cabinet members. Obviously, the first lady. And I'm going to stop calling them the press Corp. Because they really are.

They're dead to me. They are the Press Corps. They really are.

Let's pronounce that, as it's sounds -- as it's spelled. Pronounce it incorrectly. Because they're the Press Corpse. They're just -- they're as useful as dead people.

Why -- why were they so eager to debunk anybody as cheap fakes?

Why wouldn't they dig into any of these?

Why weren't we trusted with the truth?

What medical reports were suppressed?

Who gave the orders to keep this going?

And what's going to happen to the media?

All those that knew. Here's what's going to happen. Nothing. Believe me. Nothing.

They all knew. At best, they all just convinced themselves that it wasn't try. They allowed their own mob to convince them, that nobody really knows what the truth is. And it's better for America to hide it. That's what they've convinced themselves of. But that's not their decision. It's not their job. It's our decision. Their job is to tell America the truth of what's really going on, and let us decide. Because this is all of our country. This is not just the Democrats, or the Republicans. And it's certainly not the elites in Washington. It's we, the people. Not we, the press. Not we, the educated. Not we, the elite. But we, the people. All of us.

We're paying a price for all of this. Will they pay a price?

Will anyone who still watches them, stand up and say, wait a minute? Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

I just read the New York Times. And you're now covering all of the things that you told us, were conspiracy theories on Ukraine.

In fact, it's worse than what the conspiracy theorists were saying, about what we were doing in Ukraine.

You told us, that we weren't funding Colour Revolutions, with USAID. But now it comes out. Yes. We were. The Great Reset. Conspiracy theory? No. It's real.

COVID. No. Didn't tell us the truth.

Masks. Vaccines. Russia gate. On and on and on.

All of the lies.

Will they pay with the price -- the price they should pay.

Embarrassment and shame, for what they've done, just for power.

No!

They won't pay.

And you know why? Because the tale that we are reading or expected to read, in this new book out. The tell-all book, that nobody knew, except everybody knew. The real story there of Biden's decline is a mirror.

And it's not reflecting one man's fall. But it reflects our -- our willingness to look away, until it's too late.

That has to change.

And until it does, that goes right back to the opening monologue in today's broadcast.

Donald Trump is at least telling us, we have to do these things, if we want to be competitive.

That's the closest we've gotten to a doctor, that actually, one, that will tell you the truth.

The country has cancer. And we have to cut it out.

Here's the chemotherapy. It's these trade barriers.

You may not like them.

But you hired me, to cure the patient. And I think chemotherapy, is the only way.

And it will hurt a lot. When was the last time you heard a president tell you the truth on anything?

When was the last time you heard the press tell you the truth?

And here's the truth: Everything we're facing right now, is a little scary.

And you know why?

Because we haven't faced it, when it wasn't scary.

When it was just a choice.

We made all of the easy choices. You know this with your kids.

Just put a little extra work into it.

Your choice. All these doors will open up.

But the more you don't do, the more you avoid, the more doors that close for you. And at the end, you won't like the doors that are left. Because they will be so few. And you will be like, okay. I guess I will be that guy for the rest of my life.

Well, that's what we're doing as a nation. The same thing that we bitch about with our kids. Just do the right thing, and all of these options are in front of you.

But every day, you choose not to do the right thing. Those doors close. More and more, every single day.

Let's open those doors back up. But that requires all of us, and I don't know if you're going to get those people. I talk about it if I have time today.

I don't know if you will get those people who have been sucked into this system.

I mean, here's another example. They're just showing you, they lied to you. They lied to you.

Over and over again.

Are you ever going to be able to convince those people that are still watching the people that lied to them?

You ever going to get them to wake up?

I don't know.

I honestly think, that the left is creating a new Palestinian state.

They are creating, the same thing, that honestly, they created, over the last 70 years.

This bogus story, about Palestinians. This is their land. And the Jews had nothing to do with it. And whipping these people up into a frenzy.

To where they have no other options, other than, kill the other side.

They won't listen to reason, anymore.

They can't even see it! Because they have been trained almost since birth, to hate the other side!

And if you think that's hyperbole, just look at who is supporting the Palestinians and all of the lies.

Look who is saying, on October 8th,, well, that's okay.

The Israelis deserved it.

What?

The same people who are the other of these lies, about our country.

Let's pray, for our neighbors and our friends. And our family.

That haven't woken up yet.

Will Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Restore American Manufacturing?

President Trump has declared April 2, 2025, “Liberation Day.” But will his reciprocal tariff plan work and bring manufacturing jobs and prosperity back to America? Glenn speaks with economist Stephen Moore on what Americans can expect once the tariffs hit. Yes, there will be pain, Moore says. But “Trump is the single best negotiator I have ever met in my life and I think, in the end, he will prevail.” Moore also urges the White House to emphasize its regulation and tax cuts along with the tariffs. Plus, he predicts what America could look like a year from now and what Americans should prepare for.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Stephen Moore. My good friend, how are you, sir?

Stephen, are you there?

STEPHEN: Good morning.

GLENN: How are you, man?

STEPHEN: Hi, Glenn. Great to be with you.

GLENN: Thank you very much. Today is Liberation Day. How are you feeling?

STEPHEN: Well, you know, I -- I think it's a Liberation Day. But I'm feeling a little maybe trepidation day as well.

We will see what's out there. I don't know exactly what the details are. I don't think anybody does.

Except Donald Trump at this moment.

Look, I'm a free trade guy. I understands the benefits. Benefits both countries.

But I would say, on the other hand. Because this is really a debate. Where I can go at either side of it.

Trump has an important point.

A lot of people don't understand. You have a wise listenership.

But A lot of Americans don't understand, that we're the lowest terror country in the world right now, among all the major trade partners. And what Trump is simply saying is it's not a level playing field. It's not fair. These other countries are not playing by the rules.

And they need to trade with the United States. So they better get their act together, they better start treating us fairly, or he will hit them with these tariffs. I've been listening to you, for the last 15, 20 minutes. There will be some costs to Americans.

In buying cars. And we might see a little rise in prices of things. Trump describes this as, you know, short-term pain for long-term gain. And I think it's for every American to kind of figure out where they stand on this right now.

I'm a little bit worried about it. I will say this, Trump is the single best negotiator I've ever met in my life. And I think in the end, he will prevail.

GLENN: So is he going just for a strange level field?

You can't say it's a -- it's a free market. Because there are tariffs involved. But if our tariffs are only reflecting everybody else's. Then it is a free market, if you will.

Just trying to bring everything level up to the -- you know, the place where everybody else is. Is that the goal here, which would lead me to believe, there might be some short-term effects, because we can turn the negotiating power on. Pretty quickly.

Or is he trying to bring manufacturing back, which is -- I mean, I think he's calling it Liberation Day. Because it harkens back to World War II. And he's liberating us from almost everything that we set up, right after World War II.

He's saying, effectively, with almost -- in almost every category. All of that stuff is broken. And we can't do that anymore.

So is he saying, we're not going to be part of this global thing anymore. We will bring manufacturing back here. And that will be tough. But it's the only way to really, truly grow our economy.

By building things here. Which is it, or is it both? Stephen.

STEPHEN: These are complicated questions. You know, and I can't get into Donald Trump's mind. Look, let's start with why he won this election. He won the election by winning blue-collar, middle class voters into the Republican Party, many of whom have voted Democratic, but realized that Trump was the one who really stood behind them.

I believe, gren, to answer your question about how do we make America number one in manufacturing and, you know, obviously technology. And other industries that are so important.

I believe many of the other things that Trump is doing.

For example, lead article in the Wall Street Journal this week, didn't get a lot of attention.

Front page. That Trump is deregulating our economy. It will reduce costs for American companies, by as much as a trillion dollars. So that will make us very competitive.

GLENN: Hang on just a second.

I was just talking about, I'm not seeing enough about cutting the regulation, and also cutting of tax cuts.

STEPHEN: Right. That's right!

GLENN: Because if you don't have those to go along with the tariffs, this isn't going to work. This is just not going to work.

STEPHEN: Exactly. Yeah. Great minds think alike. And that's exactly what I was going to say.

And it was almost like we were saying the same thing.

As you know, you look at the tax plan. As you know, Larry Kudlow and I -- the very first version of that tax plan. Eight or nine years ago.
And it was a huge success. Huge success.

Glenn, one of my frustrations right now, with the Trump administration, with the president. I love this guy. I mean, I would -- I would go through a burning building for him.

And he would do those things for the country. Have you heard him talk a lot about the tax cut in the last month? No. And have you ever heard him talk about deregulation last month? No.

GLENN: No. No.

STEPHEN: No. It's all been about tariffs. And, you know, that's the medicine, but people want to see the good stuff. There are issues that unify the Republican Party, like lowering tax rates, deregulating the economy, pro-America energy policy. Those kinds of things.

Frankly, the tariff issue is the kind of issue that divides us. Some of my best friends are in favor of it. I'm kind of on the fence on it. Others are strongly against it. So I want to see Trump talking a little bit more about all of the benefits of these other things that he's doing.

In fact, I've waited 40 years, Glenn, for a president to say, we're going to dismantle the US Department of Education because it's totally useless. It probably does more damage to our schools. Well, he did it.

I was there when he signed that executive order. That was amazing. He's doing incredible things for our country.

But a lot of it gets overshadowed, because all he's talking about right now is tariffs.

GLENN: Well, he's got to bring a lot of people to the table. So what do you think is going to happen?

He obviously picked 4 o'clock, because the stock market is closed, right?

STEPHEN: I guess so. He may very well be right. I think it's going to be -- nobody knows exactly what he's going to say.

But I think he is going to call for a ten to 20 percent across-the-board tariffs, on just about anything that comes into the US. Now, that will raise prices. I mean, if you put a tax on things that come in, to some extent, you know, consumers will pay the cost of that.

And then, I think he's going to go after certain countries, that are the worst abusers like China.

And, by the way, I'm all in favor of going after China. I think China is a menace. You were one of the first people that started talking about this, 25 years ago. So China is the enemy. One thing I don't get.

And I say this with all due respect, because I do love this president. I don't understand why we've got so much discussion about Canada.

Canada is one of our most important allies. And why aren't we talking about China, and some of these other countries, that are -- you know, dangerous to our economy and national security.

GLENN: I know. Yeah. I've been questioning that.

And so let me ask you, best case scenario. What happens?

What do we look like in a year from now?

STEPHEN: Other countries dramatically bring down their tariffs. Not just tariffs, by the way, Glenn.

Trump made an important point here.

Also, nontariff barriers. The fact that many of these countries have various rules that close the markets to American products. And I'm not just talking about manufacturing products. You know, we're the breadbasket of the world. We have the greatest, most productive farmers in the world. We produce more of our food and agricultural products than any other country.

And yet, many countries lock out our wheat and our corn and our barley and our meat. Our dairy products.

So I think, if this works out. And I would never bet against this president. I think you will see other countries having to open up their markets to American manufacturers and American farmers and American technology. Because, by the way, our technology company is completely discriminated against by these Europeans and these other countries.

So there's a lot to be angry about.

GLENN: Brussels said, I think yesterday, or early this morning. We've got war plans. You know, economic war plans. You go ahead, you launch these.

We're relaunching our own attack. You know, tomorrow.

Bluster or real?

STEPHEN: I'm sorry, who said that?

GLENN: Brussels. Yeah, the EU.

STEPHEN: Oh, the EU. Yeah. Right. Okay. Well, let me address that.

Because, first of all, I'm so sick and tired of these sanctimonious.

GLENN: We don't hang out enough, Stephen. I just love you. Go ahead.

STEPHEN: You know, oh, my gosh. How tear Donald Trump do this. He's starting a trade war.

I know what Donald Trump would say, if he was on your show right now. He would say, what are you talking about?

I'm -- one-third as high as theirs now. They have a lot of nerve to say Trump is causing a trade war!

I mean, you know, it's like -- if I came up to you, Glenn, and punched you in the nose.

And then you tried to fight back. How dare you start a fight with me! I mean, so Trump has the moral high ground here because we do open up our markets.

And the other countries. By the way, there was a very famous incident that happened, I wasn't there.

But my buddy Larry Kudlow was there.

At one of the G20 meetings, I think it was in Ottawa.

And the Europeans were sitting there and complaining and grousing about Trump talking about tariffs. I don't know if you're aware of this.

But Trump, it's on the record. People were there. Trump said, okay! You know what, why don't we all go to zero on tariffs?

They ran to the doors as quickly as they could.

GLENN: I know. I know. I know.

So now, tell me what you think is -- is -- say likely nor a, if things don't go exactly the way. You know, bring this up. Because Paul Krugman. The New York Times.

He said, with Biden. Don't dismiss the careful work of our statistical agencies because you're feeling angry on the check out line.

I don't want to say that about tariffs.

I mean, it's going to make things harder to buy what you need.

And we shouldn't downplay that.

The president is not even downplaying that.

He says, it's going to be a little painful for a while, right?

But people are on the edge financially. And, you know, no amount of political theory helps people pay for the groceries, or makes it feel better when you're paying for the groceries, so I don't want to be in that camp.

What should people mentally respect for, that is a likely scenario, even if it turns out, that it was the right thing? What's coming our way?

STEPHEN: So I think that Trump has -- has -- has made a mistake here, in the sense that, we should have done this tax bill, first!

GLENN: Yeah. I agree.

STEPHEN: That would have been a huge victory. I hope your listeners understand, if we don't get this thing done. We're talking about a 3,000-dollar per family tax increase. On January 1st. And, by the way, every single Democrat in Congress voted for that.

$3,000 per family tax increase. So we should -- I -- I hope as he's talking about these tariffs. He links that to the fact that he's talking about, you know -- a major growth enhancing tax reduction.

You know, I like his idea, for example, Glenn. Where he said, look, if you will bring something into the country.

You will pay a 15 percent tariff on.

But if it's made in America. You will only pay a 15 percent tax.

I love that. Let's do that.

Let's implement that now. What you're doing is giving a little bit of favoritism to some, in Ohio and Maine and Vermont.

GLENN: My guess is, he would have done that, if he could count on the Republicans.

STEPHEN: He can't! I know.

GLENN: I know. There are two groups of people that worry me.

Congress. And, quite honestly, the Justice Department. I don't know where Pam Bondi is, but that's a different story. But Congress needs to do their job.

STEPHEN: And, you know, I think you're right. What are we?

Day 89. I can't keep track.

But it's amazing what Trump has done already. I mean, Trump should have that tax bill -- he has the voter mandate.

Why have the Fed been sitting on this for five weeks?

GLENN: I can't tell you. I can't tell you. So tell me about the -- tell me about the -- tell me about the regulations that you're seeing.

Is the regulation -- because tariffs, tax cuts, regulations.

Tell me about the regulations that you're seeing.

Is it significant? The regulation slicing!

STEPHEN: Enormously so. So remember, you remember. What was the first thing that Joe Biden did when he became president?

GLENN: Energy.

STEPHEN: Yeah. He killed all our energy infrastructure project.

That's something our enemies would have done to us.

Biden did it to us. He shut down the pipelines.

He put incredibly onerous climate change taxes on our goal and gas and coal industry.

Remember Hillary saying, well, that's okay.

The coal miners can become computer programmers or something.

GLENN: That's working.

STEPHEN: Exactly. So Trump is opening up our energy. We have more oil, gas, and minerals, by the way.

You know, this new Secretary of Interior, Governor Doug.

GLENN: Burgum. Burgum.

STEPHEN: Burgum. He's doing an amazing job. You know, we have $10 trillion of mineable, critical minerals in this country. In the mountains of Utah and Dakotas. We can do that.

You know, he's --

GLENN: So, but what I want to ask you.

STEPHEN: He can allow more mergers and acquisitions. So our companies can be more effective. It's all over the board.

It's on transportation policy. And that will cut costs dramatically for American consumers and that's a really positive thing. In fact, when I give talks to small businesses, you give a lot more talks than I do.

I always ask the men and women, I say, which is worse for you? The tax burden or the regulation burden? And you know what they said, the regulations.

GLENN: The regulations, every time.

Why Tesla Vandals May Be the DUMBEST "Activists"

Teslas are being vandalized all over the country by leftist “activists” who, Glenn points out, aren’t that smart. Not only do they fail to realize that they’re committing the “hate crimes” they claim to despise, but they’re vandalizing cars that have cameras all over them! Glenn and Stu review the tape of one vandal who completely changed his tune when the car’s owner confronted him. Then, Stu crunches the numbers: Are leftists who burn Cybertrucks doing more damage to the environment than people who drive gas-powered vehicles?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I want to play a couple of things. First of all, I want to -- Stu, if untilled. We will describe this video here.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: This is a vandal, working some arc on a Tesla. Go ahead. Play this.

There he is. Describing. He's getting out of the car.

STU: He's hiding. Which is always --

GLENN: He's hiding. Now -- he --

STU: Again, these people don't realize that Tesla have cameras. Every angle.

GLENN: Just so stupid.

Okay. So he's hiding in that. Now, he was caught on camera. And so the person that -- who had the Tesla. It was -- his car was keyed. He confronted him in the parking lot. This is satisfying.

Listen to this.

VOICE: Tree service. Free service. (?) how about you pay for the repairs.

Write a check. You bought a Tesla. (?)

VOICE: No. It is a hate crime, sir. Did you write a swastika on there?

VOICE: I'm sorry you're upset. It didn't even work.

VOICE: Did you write a swastika?

VOICE: It's a key, sir. We see it on the video.

VOICE: It's not a keep I was putting my keys in the --

VOICE: Is there a key (?)

VOICE: Yes. Is it a swastika. It's at the police right now. It's being fingerprinted.

VOICE: What do you mean, (?) thankfully, Facebook tracked you down. So your business, your freaking livelihood, everything now. Because you chose to write -- tell Facebook that you're sorry for writing a swastika eye Tesla. (?)

VOICE: I said, I'm sorry.

VOICE: For what? For what?

VOICE: I apologize. I have nothing against the car. And I have nothing against I.

VOICE: So why did you put a swastika against a Tesla?

VOICE: Obviously that's.

VOICE: Because (?) it was bought and paid for. It was bought and paid for a long time ago.

VOICE: That's why it's misguided. And obviously I did not intend to.

GLENN: Total change. What do you mean it's at the police? They're finger printing it? (?), boy, was that, oh. Wow. I feel completely different.

STU: Yeah. His explanation at the end there, say good one.

For like a mean tweet.

Right?

Like, you know, you're right.

I shouldn't. I got carried away.

And I'm upset.

I shouldn't have done that.

You're keying a car. I mean, he says he wasn't keying it.

A lot of people have crayons on their (?)

GLENN: Come out of car. Holding it like a key.

STU: Yeah.

Why are Illegals Receiving 'Maximum' Social Security Benefits

Elon Musk and Valor Equity Partners CEO Antonio Gracias recently announced a shocking discovery made by DOGE: over 4.8 million “noncitizens” have been given Social Security numbers since President Biden entered office. Even more shocking was the discovery that “the defaults in the system, from Social Security to all of the benefit programs, have been set to max inclusion, max pay for these people — and minimum collection,” according to Gracias. And some of these noncitizens even registered to vote! So, how many were legal immigrants on work visas, and how many were illegal immigrants? Musk and Gracias noted that under Biden, applying for asylum became much easier and there was “no interview” required to obtain these Social Security numbers. Glenn and Stu discuss the story …

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. Let me get into the SSI thing.

Social Security insurance.

So Elon Musk and a friend of his, they were out in Wisconsin. Doing a -- doing a rally or a town hall.

And they were talking about how -- how they -- what they found on Social Security, is just horrible.

The government was giving away Social Security numbers. And it wasn't haphazard. It was planned. People were coming across the border.

And they were handing them a Social Security number.

And it was clear, I don't remember the numbers. But it's a very high number.

We are paying people who came here illegally. We're giving them Social Security.

When our -- when our old people can't afford to eat, we're just giving this away, to people who are here illegally.

That's crazy!

Crazy! So, you know, we don't survive as a nation. Without some accountability.

And without some common ground. And I don't know -- again, when did it become okay, to cheer or jeer. For somebody who is stopping corruption in our government.

When did it become okay? I mean, how did we get here? How did we get to the point to where people actually cheer the idea of our government, secretly, and denying it, if you ask them.

Giving them taxpayer funded benefits like Social Security, to millions of people, who are here illegally. And most people don't even blink now.

How did we forget? Forget politics.

Forget red team, blue team. Just let me say this. Let me ask your friend. Ask yourself this question.

If the people who you trusted the least were doing this, would you be okay with it?

That's to my son. Would you be okay with it? I would be fine, if you had an Elon Musk in there, doing this.

Would be totally fine, and exposing all of this.

Yep. It's not a gotcha. It's a principle. It's critical thinking. Would you be okay?

You know, critical thinking really needs to make a comeback. Because when we stop thinking critically. We start defending nonsense. Because our side is doing it.

And we lies something bigger than an argument. We lose trust. We lose connection. We lose the ability to have any kind of honest conversations with the people that we love.

So how do you talk to your friends and family, who just don't seem to see, what we see?

Well, it doesn't start with confrontation. It starts with curiosity. Which brings us to questions you can ask.

You ask them, can we just look at them, as if we didn't know who was in office?

Because then we can find our principles.

Would you still feel like this was okay?

What's the limiting principle here?

If this is allowed, for the government to deny that they're doing this, but give all of this money. All of these benefits to people who are here illegally, while denying they're doing it. And it's not within the bounds of the law!

If we can just do this now, is there any limiting principle? What can't we do?

What happens to a country when the law no longer means what it says? Don't accuse. I -- we just need to start inviting people to answer these questions. Show respect for their mommy. Because deep down, most people don't want to be hypocrites.

They don't.

And that's the conflict they're having in their head right now.

Okay. They want to be consistent.

They want to be fair. But sometimes they need a little help connecting the dots. What they'll say is, well, Trump did. Stop them right there. It's not about Trump. It's about policies and principles right now. Can we judge this on its own merits. The dishonest ones will end the conversation there, and they will want to just go back to the outrage machine. But you stay in reality, because we can't see our neighbors as enemies, just because they see the world differently.

But the first step to helping each other is ask honest questions.

Have the courage to listen to their answer. Not be thinking. Oh, good. They said that. Just listen. Even when it makes you really uncomfortable.

Because we have to find our way back to actual truth. We have to find our way back to logic. Because it's not political.

It's just about right and wrong.

And if we can't do this, then the fight isn't about left versus right anymore.

It honestly isn't even about good and evil.

It's about sane versus the insane.