RADIOJuly 21, 2022

How BlackRock uses YOUR MONEY to push ESG & far-left plans

BlackRock — the largest asset manager in the WORLD — lost an unprecedented 17 BILLION DOLLARS over the last 6 months. BlackRock’s losses are in part due to the overall market downturn, Vivek Ramaswamy tells Glenn. BUT the policies BlackRock continues to push, like ESG, are responsible for today's struggling market. Ramaswamy, author of ‘Nation of Victims,’ describes just how toxic ESG policies are to America, to our economy, and most recently, to energy companies and oil supplies around the WORLD. And, thanks to BlackRock, it’s only getting worse. Plus, he explains how YOUR money could be helping BlackRock push ESG and other far-left initiatives and plans…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Vivek, my friend, how are you, sir?

VIVEK: Good to talk to you, Glenn. How are you?

GLENN: Very, very good. You are a guy, who I think -- one of the few that actually really gets ESG and the Great Reset. Believes and understands how dangerous it is, and is working to educate people, and also help us beat it. Let me -- let me start with what's happening with ESG and BlackRock.

Is -- is BlackRock's downturn in their profits, is this something that is caused by ESG? Or is this just the downturn of the market, that everybody is feeling?

VIVEK: Well, the answer to that question, Glenn, is it is both of those things. In part, because BlackRock is contributing to the downturn in the market that everyone is feeling because of ESG.

So I'll explain to you how that works. Where, this is the largest asset manager in the world, managing over $10 trillion. $10 trillion.

About half the U.S. GDP in the hands of one firm. And if you add Vanguard and State Street to the list, the top three, they manage more than the U.S. do. And what they do, they're aggregating the money of everyday citizens -- probably most people listening to this program, actually. Probably you and me included. Which, we don't know it, through our 401(k) accounts, through pension fund accounts, et cetera. And what they do, is they use that money to advocate for these ESG policies in corporate America. Climate change plans. Emissions caps. Diversity, equity, inclusion quota systems for race and gender on board, et cetera. They use our money to advocate for those principles in corporate America, that makes companies less successful. And as we've seen this year, has actually contributed to stock market declines, as well, in my opinion. And the ESG specific funds, this year, Glenn. Have underperformed the broader market as a whole. Even though the broader market as a whole, have done badly enough. And I think a big reason why the broader market has done badly. Is because of these demands of these ESG-linked asset managers. But the ESG-specific funds have done even worse. So the answer to your question, is there a downturn because of the broader market? Or is it because of the failures of ESG?

The answer is both. Because part of the reason the broader market is turning down, is exactly because of some of these toxic policies, that cause companies to focus on these social agendas.

GLENN: So let me ask you if -- because this -- I'm -- I'm not an investor guy. I really -- I mean, I should never be around money. I'm horrible at investing. However, it's -- it would be my feeling, that if you are in a place, to where oil is as scarce as it is, if we didn't have ESG, wouldn't the -- the energy market be the place to put your money, or is that just a Glenn Beck, you know, thought?

VIVEK: You know what, it's not just Glenn Beck. It's Warren Buffett, quietly starting to behave this way too, Glenn. So you might give yourself a little bit more credit, than you just did.

But actually, if you think about it, you know, this is -- the potential moment for U.S. energy to really shine, and rise to the occasion. Not just as an investment proposition. But as a proposition to meet the needs of Americans, at a time when there's a massive supply/demand imbalance, right? You remember, as recently as 2018, the U.S. was the world's largest producer of energy. How quickly things have changed now, with the U.S. president groveling in front of foreign dictators around the world, begging them to produce more oil, that the U.S. could be producing instead.

And now, I know the Biden administration is trying to walk this back. I think a lot of ESG managers like BlackRock are trying to walk this back, and say, well, we didn't really want to end fossil fuel production. Actually, he's making good on a campaign promise. In September of 2019, on the campaign trail, I'm quoting him exactly. Here's what President Biden. Then candidate Biden said, I guarantee you, we're going to end fossil fuels, end quote.

That was a campaign promise, that he's now delivering on. But he has multiple tools to deliver on it. Because normally the way constitutionally, you would deliver on that campaign projects. You would get a law passed through Congress. Well, he doesn't have the political support to do that.

American people haven't given Congress the political support to do that. Joe Manchin won't even stand in the way of doing -- won't even allow that to happen. And so what are they doing now?

They're resorting to other means, like executive action. Through the climate change emergency. We'll see -- we'll hear more about what that means. They're doing it through the private sector.

Deputizing the cronies like BlackRock, many of whose alumni, by the way, work in the Biden administration. But large private sector actors, they do favors for them, in return for those private actors, doing it through the back door, what government could not get done through the front door through Congress, the constitutionally ordained way for actually passing laws.

So he's delivering on that campaign promise, but doing it through the back door in ways that I think will make our Founding Fathers shun her, if they actually knew the way the government was -- was treating big -- private sector and using the invisible fist of government, instead of the invisible hand of the market to actually reach these outcomes.

GLENN: So one more -- one more question on -- on food now. Would food be the same thing? Because we have -- we have the ability. We have the property. The land. We have the farmers. We have the history of being the world's breadbasket. If it wasn't for ESG, wouldn't this be the time that farming would be the best kind of investment, where you would -- we would be selling our wheat and our food, all over the world. We would literally be feeding the world. If it wasn't for ESG. Am I wrong on that?

VIVEK: And at a time when there's real demand and need for it as well.

GLENN: Correct.

VIVEK: So, Glenn, these are all part of the same categories. Because energy is upstream of food production as well. Right?

It takes energy to transport food, to be able to export food, to be able to produce food, to be able to put the ingredients together. So I agree with you. I kind of look at energy as even more fundamental. Because it's upstream of nearly every other sector and nearly every other production means. But the thing for people to understand here, is that this is -- this is damage that's been done in the last few years, by the merger of public power and private power. So that's what makes it so hard to find the source. Because the one hand, Biden can say, this is not my fault. This is just the decisions of the private sector, that stop drilling for oil. That stop fracking for a natural gas. We didn't do that. There's no policy that you could point to. But, actually, the reason why they're doing it is because of the ESG movement in the private sector, that this administration, and the modern left, supports through the back door.

So that's kind of how they're able to really trick the public, through this Jiu Jitsu move, saying that, oh, this isn't the private -- this isn't us passing laws to do this. We're just seeing the private sector under investigation. Oil and gas. That's why they feel gas prices are high. When, in fact, they're responsible for causing it. And that's what people need to wake up to.

GLENN: Okay. So they are -- they are not talking to the American people about this. They're blaming the private sector. And that usually means the investors and the companies. But the investors are not necessarily a part of this. A lot of us are invested in these companies. Through our 401(k) et cetera, et cetera.

And we're not telling the companies to do this. Do the companies want to do this, or is it based just on the pressure from places like BlackRock who have a lot of those shares, because we've -- we run our money through BlackRock for our 401(k)s.

VIVEK: It's really the latter, Glenn. So the U.S. energy sector. The potential of U.S. energy to be able to supply not only America's needs, but the global needs is staggering. And this isn't just a policy failure. It's an American travesty, when those same countries have been hamstrung from being able to do their jobs. Now, most people choose -- choose (cut out). Production. This is the travesty, and then. It's the fraud of our time. When Americans are paying for $5 a gallon at the pump on the one hand. Want knowing that their own 401(k) accounts, and brokerage accounts are actually subsidizing the very ESG agenda that gives them 5-dollar gas in the first place. And I think that once people start to see that with clear eyes, the good news, is we find our way to a better way forward. To say, we're not going to let somebody else abuse my money. Abuse my savings. To be able to send messages to the U.S. energy industry, that I absolutely don't want to be delivering to the U.S. energy industry. I want them to make great products.
That's actually what I think accepting this battle looks like.

GLENN: Well, we have a ton of states now, that are looking to move their money. And, you know, all of the pension funds and everything else.

We have a lot of states that want to do that. We have a lot of people that want to do that. But I'm assuming, this is what you're working on. You -- I think you told us, last time you were on. That you were going to start something, and go right after BlackRock. And is that -- is that happening?

VIVEK: I started to strive earlier this year. Creating a firm. To compete head-on versus BlackRock. These are problems, Glenn, created in the market, that need to be solved through the market. So that's where I started to strive. And we'll take these guys. And I've learned a lot over the last few months, even. About how broken that pension fund system, at the state level really is.

And this isn't even a Republican or a Democrat issue. You know, we talk about -- you want to talk about the Deep State and the federal government. I think it exists at the state level. I think it exists at the corporate level.

These are institutionalized, bureaucratized actors. That you know BlackRock and State Street and Vanguard, they've mastered this system over the last ten to 20 years. And it's an ossified system, that in absence of everyday citizens speaking up and demanding change. You'll have a mid-level bureaucrat, who will happily sit and collect his paycheck, without wanting to be board. That's going to say, well, this is what I've done. And I'm not going to pay any more if I serve my citizens or not, so leave me alone. You know, I'm overstating the case. But only by a little bit. Which is exactly how many of these mid-level bureaucrats at the state level think, or even communicate. And I think at the end of the day, the right answer is going to come from everyday citizens demanding change. Kind of what you saw on a small scale, the school boards last year. Parents taking educational control back into their own hands, not leaving it to some sort of bureaucratized school board and saying, that it's your job to educate my children. No, they're my children. And I have a say in how do you they're educated. It's the equivalent. I think bottom-up. You know, sort of a positive revolution of sorts, that we need to see.

GLENN: Yeah.

VIVEK: To say, this is my hard-earned savings. I want to take control. Just like, it's my kids, it's my money. It's not your money. It's definitely not your money, BlackRock. That's what we're going to need to say.

GLENN: Yeah. I -- I -- I think the same thing could be said, for what we saw with Afghanistan.

I mean, just this audience, raised almost $50 million, in -- in like three weeks. To go and save and rescue people. From the Afghanistan debacle.

We flew the last plane. This was the deal we had to make with the State Department. That we could get our people out, if our first plane, that flew out, would carry our special forces. We're the ones that paid for that.

I mean, it's incredible. But it's also a great -- a great example of what a group of people can do, if they really set their mind for it.

Vivek, hang on just for one minute, I have one more question for you. But first I have to tell you about the Tuttle Twins. They have a powerful, powerful new book. It's called American history. 1215 to 1776. It is a history book. It's a storybook. It's not about the dates and the -- and the memorization of names. It's about the ideas.

Because that's what history is supposed to teach us. What idea replaced the old idea? And how did we get there? And what did we learn from it? If you learn from history, and not the names and the dates, if you learn from the story, you'll be able to apply that to our future. And that's what's missing right now. We don't know our own history. We're not teaching why fascism. How it came about. Why it happened. And how bad it was. We're not teaching -- we're teaching more that than of communism.

We're not even teaching what worked here in America. And what set us apart. The Tuttle Twins book, does it. They have an amazing deal right now. They're throwing in 200 pages of companion curriculum, and activities. An audiobook version. Videos to help the lessons from the book to come alive. It's like 250 pages itself. Your kids will love it. You will love it. I think every American home, needs to have a copy of American history. By the Tuttle Twins, in their home. TuttleTwinsBeck.com. TuttleTwinsBeck.com. You can preview a free sample of the chapter, and you can see for yourself, why it's, I think crucial to own. It's TuttleTwinsBeck.com. Ten-second station ID.
(music)
Vivek, earlier this week, I came back from vacation, and I -- I said, the most important story, since I've been gone, was the Sri Lanka, overthrow of the government. And kicking out of the president. Because, the World Economic Forum said, this is the motto. And there was a story up at WEF.org. That said, the headline was, how we're going to make Sri Lanka rich by 2025. So they implemented all of this stuff. They did everything the World Economic Forum said to do. And I talked about it, and read that story, on the air. By the time I got off the air, the World Economic Forum had taken that story off of their website.

But do you agree that Sri Lanka is the example that we should all be looking at, saying, they're the ones who did it. And look how it turned out.

VIVEK: I think it's a great example, unfortunately, Glenn, I would like to see it is the example. Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more examples by the day. Look at what's happening in Ghana. Look at what's happening in the Netherlands. Look at what's happening in the United States and Canada, at a smaller scale.

We have an energy supply shortage that we just talked about in this country. But you're right, Sri Lanka is a great example, to see what happens when these toxic philosophies are taken to their logical extent.

And, you know, I think this is a trans national issue, Glenn. It's a trans partisan issue. Goes beyond partisan boundaries, national boundaries. It is a global monarchy. And it's going to take a revolution to fight it.

GLENN: I agree. I agree. You're exactly right. Vivek, thank you so much. Be a part of that revolution. Because we're in one, whether you like it or not. And we don't need to pick up our guns. We need to inform ourselves and inform our neighbors. Knowledge, knowledge is power.

WEF'S Terrifying Plan to Revive the Great Reset EXPOSED | Ep 409

“By 2030, you will not recognize life on this planet,” Glenn Beck foretells in this episode of Glenn TV. We are at the precipice of a new form of intelligence — but not in human form. There’s a global arms race to find out who will be the first to create artificial general intelligence and then superintelligence. It’s no longer a matter of if it will happen but when and who will pull it off first. The wolves are at the gates. China just unveiled DeepSeek, an AI chatbot that claims it’s on the same level as ChatGPT. Glenn downloaded the Chinese app so you don’t have to, but what he found was dystopian. The other wolf at the gate is the World Economic Forum, which just held its annual gathering in Davos. While this audience helped crush Klaus Schwab’s dreams of a Great Reset and a weaponized ESG system, the WEF elites have a new sinister agenda called the “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.” Glenn reveals what’s in their plans in their own words. But can the U.S. afford to stay out of the intelligence race while globalist elites plot ahead? Trump put our enemies on notice when he announced the Stargate Project, which got a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure from Oracle, SoftBank, and OpenAI. This could be the Manhattan Project of our generation, but can we trust the tech titans suddenly flocking to Trump? Big Tech veteran and Brownstone Research CEO Jeff Brown tells Glenn, “No ... they are still actively censoring political content.”

BlazeTV subscribers get exclusive access to Jeff Brown’s entire interview available now at https://get.blazetv.com/glenn/.

Why the Reagan National Airport Crash Isn’t Surprising

A mid-air collision has occurred between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter at Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport. While the facts are still coming in and it’s unclear whether the pilots, the FAA, or something else was at fault, it appears that there were no survivors. But while the event was tragic, it wasn’t fully surprising. Glenn and Stu review how there has been an increase in near-misses at airports over the past few years, as Stu revealed in his Blaze Originals documentary, “Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster.” But it’s not just the FAA that has had issues. Glenn discusses how the entire government was focusing on the wrong things under Biden and how Trump and his cabinet nominees, like Tulsi Gabbard, can fix things.

Watch “Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster" HERE: Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: First, let's start with the plane crash in Washington, DC. First thing that has to be said. Is pray for the families and the rescue workers. It is horrible. An experienced pilot of a passenger jet collided with what a -- what they're saying, is a fairly experienced crew of a Black Hawk helicopter. There appear to be no survivors. Sixty-seven people believed to be dead. They are still diving in the icy, icy waters of the Potomac.

The Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, is a very dangerous airport. So pray for everybody involved.

Now it's too early to assign any blame, but the usual is happening in the world much politics. Donald Trump is responsible. Blah, blah, blah.

But we do know that there is a problem. A real problem with our air traffic control system. Nobody has talked about it. Nobody in the press wants to talk about it. But there have been several near-misses and something is happening. Now, in the end, it may not be this.

But I want to bring this up. Because Stu did a whole Blaze original documentary on the dangerous conditions that are currently par for the course in our control towers.

STU: Yeah. It was called Countdown to the Next Aviation Disaster, which turned out to be 70 days from when we released it. You know, we talked about a lot of this. We don't know the cause obviously. There's still a lot of investigation to do.

You're talking about these air traffic controllers are overworked and understaffed.

And, you know, we -- of course, there are lots of concerns about things like DEI. No idea at this point whether that has anything to do with it.

One thing we did know and did see over and over in the documentary, how many times we had close calls over the past couple of years.

The pace has picked up like crazy.

The fact that we had gone all these years, without one of these incidents. Was a miracle.

I mean, it's bound to happen. There's still a lot of investigation to find out.

But this is America's like busiest runway.

GLENN: I know. And one of our shorter runways.

STU: Shorter runways.

GLENN: It's dangerous.

STU: We were just there. I just took off from that airport, a week or two ago. It is tight. Everything around there is really, really tight. It's amazing that that many helicopters could go up and down that river, and not have more of these incidents. It's very scary.

GLENN: Right. Here's the audio from the control tower.

VOICE: Aircraft in sight?

VOICE: (inaudible)

VOICE: Fire command, the accident happened in the river. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river, the approach end of Runway 33.

VOICE: Is the airfield closed?

VOICE: Yes. The airfield is closed.

VOICE: Runways are closed?

VOICE: Yes, all runways are closed. Nobody is landing. No one is moving at all.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: Our government is out of control, and we all know this. If you are being honest with yourself, we know this. Our government is given billions of dollars out in COVID fraud. They -- they were fraudulent with what they even said about COVID. When they gave all that money out. Nobody caught it. We're not going to get it back. Hundreds of billions of dollars at the Pentagon has just been misplaced.

They've done like 18 audits.

They have no idea where they put $600 billion.

Our Navy was told to build a dock to distribute aid to the Palestinians. After millions of dollars, it failed.

Our -- our -- our extraction from Afghanistan, everything we have touched. Not just in the last four years. But everything that had -- we have touched from the financial situation, that our government was involved in. Our health care.

Everything over the last few decades has revealed incompetence, graft, stupidity, waste, and I think intentional sabotage of our nation's will, wealth, and reputation.

But we don't have to go over that. Because that's why Donald Trump was elected.

But as I told you before, we have many dark days, ahead of us.

But then, if we allow this administration, to do what they promised, the clouds will break and be it will be a morning in America again.

And we will be able to write a new chapter. But we are in the thick of it.

Let me give you this.

You and I both know, something deeply. It deeply wrong with our intelligence agencies in this country. And every American, I don't care who you voted for. Every American should be concerned about this.

Because these agencies were supposed to be on the front line of our defense.

Keeping us safe from foreign threats, working in the shadows to protect the freedoms that we all take for granted.

That was the idea.

But I don't know when it changed. But it changed.

Somewhere along the way, the people trusted to defend our Constitution and be our rule of law. Started seeing the American people as the very people they swore to protect, as the enemy!

You've seen it. You may have even felt it personally.

The agencies that are supposed to protect us from threats abroad have turned inward. Instead of focusing on the real dangerous like China's economic warfare.

Cyber threats.

Terrorist networks.

They've been caught spying on American citizens. Censoring their dissent. Manipulating public perception.

The intelligence community, whether intentionally or through sheer institutional rot, has become a political weapon.

And you cannot deny it. This is not just some theory. You don't have to go digging into the shadows to find proof.

You don't have to listen to any conspiracy theories. It's right there in plain sight!

We watched intelligence officials interfere with the election. They buried stories that were inconvenient for the powerful. They targeted sitting presidents. They excused other sitting presidents. And if you spoke out against it, those people became a target. The best example is, well, Donald Trump.

But the next one is Tulsi Gabbard. She was a Democrat. You probably remember the moment she went from being a rising star in Washington, to a threat that had to be destroyed.

It wasn't when she served as a Democrat in Congress.

It wasn't when she was deployed to Iraq. And served honorably.

It was when she started asking questions and refused to fall in line. When she called out the war machine, they smeared her.

She became a traitor when she started to question the political machine. And when she challenged the intelligence community's narratives. She was labeled a Russian asset, almost immediately.

When she stood up to the establishment, she was quietly and without cause placed on a government terror watchlist.

Now, think about that for a second. Somebody, who is a lieutenant colonel, I believe, served honorably. I believe still serves. Ran for president of the United States, as a Democrat!

A sitting member of Congress. A woman who swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Labeled as a potential terrorist. By the institutions that are supposed to defend American democracy.

That's out of control.

You know it, and I know it.

But she, despite everything they threw at her, did not back down. She fought back. She stood.

She refused to stop asking questions.

That is exactly why she needs to be confirmed as the Director of National Intelligence.

She is a proven warrior. That has shown she is not afraid to take a bullet in the field. Practice ever or a metaphorical, or physical bullet here in the country, to defend our way of life.

To ask the questions that must be asked. The person leading the intelligence community right now, should not be and cannot be another Washington insider.

It cannot be somebody who spent their year from moving from one agency to another.

It cannot be somebody who has just made all the right connections.

Learned to play the game. It must be someone who has seen the system from both the inside and the outside.

And truly understands, in her case, firsthand, how broken it is.

Because she was targeted by it.

Believe me, there is a difference between the Donald Trump of 2016, and the Trump of 2024.

What is it?

He saw the machine from the inside and the outside. And it tried to destroy him.

So he knows how dangerous it is. Much of this, in our country, is coming from black ops.

Money that just is never accounted for. Our intelligence agency turning all of the weapons, in coordination with five eyes, on you.

You know, when I talked to Donald Trump, I feel the same way I feel about Tulsi Gabbard.

When Donald Trump was on the stage in Pennsylvania, bleeding, he told me, his only thought was, this is pathetic. Get up!

Don't show them weakness. Get up!

And he got up and said, fight!

I feel the same way about Tulsi Gabbard. She has been under the gun. And she has had the courage to stand up, and face it! And continue to say it to their face. You want somebody that has the courage to make sure that what happened to them, never happens to you?

Tulsi Gabbard is that person. She knows what needs to be fixed. She knows these agencies have been abused.

And unlike the career bureaucrats, who see reform as nothing, but a talking points, she actually has the will to do something about it.

Now, think about what that means to you. A Director of National Intelligence, that isn't owned by a party.

Left or right!

Who isn't loyal to an administration.

Biden or Trump!

But is loyal to the truth.

Who has a record of saying, you know what, I was wrong about that.

Who isn't interested in maintaining the status quo.

But in restoring intelligence agencies to what they were meant to be. And if not, shut them down!

They are supposed to be defenders of the American people and our Constitution, not enforcers of an agenda! This is not about left or right. It is about whether you believe the intelligence agencies should be used to protect the country, or control the country.

Whether you think these agencies should work for you, or whether they should -- should have to live in fear, that one day, they might, might decide that you're a problem.

I know, because I've talked to senators. And I've talked to congressmen, who have told me, in the dead of night. With no cell phones around. And outdoors. They are afraid of the intelligence agencies, because they're being watched and monitored.

And they feel under threat. Now, the Senate today, is going to try to make this all about politics. They'll ask all the stupid questions like yesterday.

Are you for onesies or not? They'll pretend they're vetting her like any other nominee. But what they're really deciding is whether they want somebody in that position who will challenge the system, or just let sleeping dogs lie.

Do you want somebody who does that? Or who will shine the light where the light isn't supposed to be shined?

You want somebody who can be bullied? Can be compromised?

Or do you want someone who cannot be bullied, bought, or blackmailed into compliance.

If that's what you want, the latter. If you believe intelligence should serve truth, not power, let your senators know Tulsi Gabbard is the only choice.

Why Tulsi Gabbard Faces a TOUGH Battle to Get Confirmed as DNI

Tulsi Gabbard faced tons of hostility in her congressional hearing as President Trump’s DNI nominee. Glenn speaks with The Federalist National Correspondent Tristan Justice, who argues that the Deep State will go after her, even if she’s confirmed. “She can’t afford to lose a single vote on the committee,” he says, and there are quite a few Republican senators on this committee who are questionable. Tristan also touches on Kash Patel's nomination hearing and RFK Jr.’s hearing, in which nearly every Democrat was hostile towards him.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: One of my favorite guests is Tristan Justice. The Federalist national correspondent. Coauthor of Fat and Unhappy.

Welcome, Tristan. How are you?

TRISTAN: Good. How are you?

GLENN: So I read your story in the Federalist, and I think it tells everything people need to know about what Tulsi Gabbard is facing. Can you -- can you relay it, your main points here for the audience?

TRISTAN: Yeah. Of course, the New York Times came out with a story that Tulsi Gabbard came under scrutiny from the Deep State for her overseas travel.

That includes intelligence that she apparently met with this leader of Hezbollah. And that is based on two anonymous terrorist sources.

And so this is really just kind of the same playbook, that they always use, whenever there's been a disruptor, threatening to change the status quo. The Deep State can and will make up, and do anything it really wants, to topple that political opponent.

The same thing they do with Donald Trump.

And now it's the same thing they do with Tulsi Gabbard, as she threatens to take over the director of National Intelligence.

GLENN: I think she has the most dangerous job. I mean, the president obviously.

But when you get into the Deep State and Intelligence, you've got spooks everywhere.

And, you know, I -- I wouldn't be -- I wouldn't be sleeping well at night.

Knowing that I was going in to take down black ops.

Take down things that nobody wants to have the light of day come on.

Even people in your own party. Would you agree with that assessment?

TRISTAN: Yeah, I mean, I think out of any of Trump's nominees, I think the one who probably has -- is probably Tulsi Gabbard.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

TRISTAN: But it's not too hard to imagine, because what she is up against.

She is running as the disruptor of the status quo that has been in Washington for decades at this point. You saw how hard the Deep State went after Donald Trump for eight years. You know, it didn't stop once the Russiagate hoax fell apart in 2018, after the Mueller Report.

So you saw host after host after host, culminating in 91 state and federal charges trying to bankrupt their political opponent.

And so I think whenever these cabinet nominees, whenever these politicians raise their hands and threaten to disrupt, that regime in Washington, you know, the nail that sticks up, gets knocked down.

That's exactly what's happening, against the Deep State.

GLENN: Right.

I mean, the church commission happened in the '70s. And it exposed all kinds of things that America didn't understand.

What her job is, as I understand it, you know, the DNI was created after 9/11.

So it is responsible for all of the agencies talking to each other. So she has access to all of the agencies.

And Trump has said to her, I want you to go in and find all the bodies that have been buried. I want to find out exactly what's going on. What's corrupt. What's not. And we will shut it down.

This is -- if people think, well, what about the CIA?

She's going to be the one leading -- how many is it?

How many agencies are there? Like 118?

No. Eighteen. Good, not 118. Eighteen intelligence agencies and bureaus.

That's a lot.

TRISTAN: Can you imagine if there would be 118 agencies and bureaus?

So we just created this massive government, Washington has just been out of control.

And when we think, that, oh, Americans might be safer with someone like Tulsi Gabbard, taking the role of DNI. And making the DNI. And the intelligence community do what it's supposed to do.

And that is protect our national security to the highest standards, while protecting our civil liberties of Americans.

And so, but, you know, Tulsi is about to go into this hearing. It probably will be a hostile hearing.

There should be no surprise on fireworks, that I think people are about to see. Hear in a couple of moments.

But I would just say this about Tulsi. She should not be going into this hearing, guns blazing as the destructor and reformer that she has campaigned on.

Because she has to convince them, that is reluctant to reform that status quo, that her top interest in running the nation's intelligence agencies is protecting our national security while safeguarding American civil liberties.

If she goes in there, guns blazing as the disruptor, and she will not score points to the very senators she has to convince with their vote.

Especially for the secret vote like this one.

GLENN: So Tristan, tell me about the Republicans that are on this committee.

How many of them do you think are interested in reform?

TRISTAN: Well, she can't afford to lose a single vote on the committee. Or else, she won't pass the committee.

But it's not unprecedented for a nominee to be voted on for the full Senate vote. While not passing the committee.

One lawmaker that people are watching here, is Senator (inaudible) called -- she had just voted against Trump's pick for the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth last week.

She's not -- she never was intimidated to reject nominees from President Trump. There's also a number of other senators on the committee, who are questionable. Senator Todd Young, who did not support Trump.

People are saying, he -- so I think Collins and Young are the two primary senators to watch this process, continues to unfold.

GLENN: Are we going to find out. It's my understanding.

DNI. The committee vote is always a secret vote.

You will know the number. And you won't know who voted what.

But I think is an abomination. Are we going to have that vote out in the open?

Are we going to know?

TRISTAN: Well, I certainly hope it will be public and transparent. I think Americans deserve that, especially after elections where President Trump was given such a mandate.

Right?

I think his nominees should enjoy that same mandate, unless something is abjectly disqualifying, that were issued to keep them from a power position. Democrats have often picked their battles. Some of their other nominees made it through, no problem.

Sean Duffy, transportation. Doug Burgum can confirm. And these other nominees have gone through with very little drama.

Obviously, honed in on unsurprisingly the two nominees who were former Democrats, prior to this last election. Robert F Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. It seems one of their biggest defenses to Democrats, is meeting the party in the first place.

So I'm a little surprised, Democrats honed in on details in particular.

GLENN: Right. Right.

So let's talk about the other nominations.
How do you think RFK did yesterday?

TRISTAN: Well, Robert F. Kennedy as big Pharma and the chief antagonist is no surprise.

He went into another hostile hearing yesterday.

GLENN: Oh, my gosh. It was insane. It was insane.

TRISTAN: But I do think there was some surprise as to how hostile Democrats were in that hearing yesterday. The hostility was near unanimous among every Democrat on that panel. And I think there was some -- at least some hope from the Trump transition team and the Kennedy's team, that they might pull a Democrat or two. But I think those hopes probably faded. And right from the getgo, when the first thing Ron Wyden did once they opened the questioning period was, enter into the Congressional Record, a letter sent from Kennedy's cousin, Carolyn Kennedy, the former ambassador to Australia with still personal hysterical attacks that Robert F. Kennedy that he has predators as pets, and putting chickens in the blender.

I mean, the fact that the Democrat-ranking member on the Senate finance committee would enter a letter full of personal attacks from a family member, said all you needed to know about how the rest of those three and a half members went for the Democrats and Kennedy.

GLENN: Is he going to make it, do you think?

TRISTAN: I think Kennedy is up in the air. I think Republicans largely showed, that they're not too willing to resist Trump's wish for this pick for Health and Human Services. I think if Republicans are going to reject Trump's pick on any of these nominees, it will probably be Tulsi Gabbard after they pose -- oppose Pete Hegseth for McConnell.

But I -- I'm not sure Kennedy is a sure thing. And I don't think Kennedy thinks he's sure in a confirmation bill either.

So I think a lot hinges on this next hearing here in a couple of moments.

GLENN: So tell me about Kash Patel.

TRISTAN: Hmm. Well, Kash Patel is running against the same apparatus of Tulsi Gabbard, of course. He hasn't faced the same level of attacks with anonymous sources, leaking to the New York Times. These terrorists are claiming, that he met with -- overseas.

GLENN: Right. Right. No pictures of him with Hitler. Yet!

So it's good.

TRISTAN: But Kash Patel, he's been a conservative media personnel for the past four years.

He's blown the whistle on some of the lies of the January 6 committee, claiming that he was formerly the chief of staff, the Department of Defense at the end of Trump's first term, and he blew the whistle on, no.

Trump did actually demand 10,000 national guard troops to the Democrats, both to the Democrats, both within the Department of Defense and running Washington, DC.

And running House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's death, reduce the president's request at every opportunity they had. And so Kash Patel, Democrats, and probably some of the Republicans, with someone more in the role of Christopher Wray.

Who was perfectly weathering to weaponize the agency, to -- to prosecute political dissidents.

And I think it's -- it's -- but Kash Patel, what Tulsi has to do today.

And that is, convince what the senator, what his top priority is.

Returning the FBI to its intended purpose. Which is to keep Americans safe, while protecting civil liberties.

GLENN: Tristan, thank you.

I'm a big fan of your writing.

And thank you for being on the program. I appreciate it.

TRISTAN: Thank you for having me.

GLENN: The Federalist National Correspondent Tristan Justice.

Will DOGE’s “Fork in the Road” Strategy Save the Government BILLIONS?

Elon Musk’s DOGE has gotten to work. Glenn and Stu discuss the “fork in the road” email that some US federal workers recently received, which is very similar to the memo that Elon sent Twitter employees after he bought it. The email offers employees a choice: either resign now and get paid until September, or probably get fired at some point. So, will this save the government billions of dollars a year?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Okay. Where should we begin, Stu? Should we start with the golden parachutes?

STU: Ah. Yes, the email.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: I mean, this is DOGE entering the chat. Right? DOGE has turned -- I don't know if it's a fully powered battle station yet, but it's definitely powering up.

GLENN: Yeah. I mean, it's -- I think we're not far away from a million voices crying out and then suddenly being silenced.

STU: Right. It's kind of one of those things.

This is straight out of the Twitter playbook from Elon Musk.

GLENN: Oh, my.

It starts the same way.

In fact, do we have the fork in the road tweet.

Okay. Let me show you, the fork in the road is -- is an art piece, that Elon Musk, I guess financed in the -- looks like it's in the middle of nowhere.

STU: I didn't know --

GLENN: A giant fork sticking out of it.

STU: I had no idea this part of it.

GLENN: This is real.

STU: I know the phrase. He put a fork this a road.

GLENN: He put a giant. He had a road built, where it goes off. And there's a gigantic fork sitting in the middle of it.

STU: Hmm.

GLENN: So this is the thing with him.

STU: Kind of the fork in the fork.

GLENN: Right.

STU: Because the road forks by itself when it turns into the Y, but it's a fork in the fork.

You don't have to believe that, Stations.
I'm just saying that. It feels close to it, but you don't have to.

GLENN: Yeah. You use the F-word a lot.

STU: I do.

GLENN: So when he went to Twitter, he put a fork in the road memo out that said, hey. You might want to get out now.

Because it's going to be a different place here, so I'm giving you the opportunity to bail right now.

Just let me know. And he said, at the very beginning, it's a fork in the road. They have issued a memo that is almost exactly like it, except it's got a bunch of subsections. You know, 1CB.

STU: A little more legalistic.

GLENN: A little more legalistic.

But Trump is offering the people, the money to not be hit with a giant fork.

STU: Yeah. It's -- it's sort of two approaches.

One is anybody who wants to leave right now, will pay you to September.

So we'll give you --

GLENN: That's very generous.

STU: A nice eight, nine month ramp to get a gig.

If you don't work here. Please go. Of course, this combines with the hiring freeze. The idea is five, ten, 25 percent of people accept this deal, and you shrink the government employment.

And then you don't rehire those people.

This is the way you cut. This is the way he did it at Twitter. And then secondarily, it's sort of a carrot and stick approach. The carrot is, hey, we'll pay you to September for no work. It's great for you.

And then the stick is, by the way, if you stick around, we'll probably fire you anyway.

That's kind of what the tone of it is. Like, look, I'm sorry. If you stick around, we will really be cutting. So it might be you.

GLENN: This is what it actually says: During the first week of his administration, President Trump issued a number of directives concerning the federal workforce. Among those directives, the president required that employees return to in-person work.

Do you know what that number is?

How many federal employees actually show up for work, since the beginning of COVID-19?

STU: You know, I don't know the number. What is it?

GLENN: Take a guess.

STU: We're now many, many years past COVID-19, Glenn.

GLENN: Yeah. What is the number of federal workers that are actually showing up for work?

STU: I really -- I have to guess, it's very low.

But if I were just to guess, without any preknowledge, I would have to say, it's like 60. Right?

I don't know. 40 percent of people not showing up seems significant.

GLENN: The number of people not showing up to work is 94 percent.

Only 6 percent of federal workers are showing up.

STU: What? With the knowledge that it was going to be a low number, I'm shocked by that. 6 percent.

GLENN: Six. Six. It is 6 percent.

STU: No way. Is there certain categories? You go to the Pentagon right now, 94 percent empty?

That can't be true.

GLENN: I don't know about the Pentagon.

STU: Okay. Certain areas of the government.

GLENN: Well, I do know this also, that the mayor of Washington, DC, said all of our businesses are dying. And said this to Biden. You have got to get people to go back to those buildings. Or let those buildings loose.

And let's bring other businesses into Washington, DC.

STU: Because we're holding them empty, essentially.

GLENN: We're holding them empty, so there's no business on the street. Because nobody is coming in.

So restaurants are going out. Shops that aren't for tourists, are all going out.

STU: Now, complete economic destruction happened to Washington, DC, would you be able to tell the difference, I guess is the question.

We were just there.

GLENN: No. I think if there was a raging wildfire, I'm not sure I could tell the difference.

Among those directives, the president required employees to return to work in person. Restored accountability for employees, who have policy-making authority.

Let me hang on. I think I hear the knives sharpening here. Restored accountability for senior career executives, and reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit.

As a result of the above orders, the reform of the federal workforce will be significant. Want out?

STU: Yeah, take your out now.

And like, just a couple of things.

GLENN: I would.

STU: It's interesting. He sent it to everyone.

Basically said, none of you are essential. Any one of you can be replaced. Which is a message you send.

Important message.

You're not too important, essentially. I know you've worked here for a few decades. You're a career employee and all that. It doesn't mean anything anymore.

That's one message it sends. If you put yourself in a position of, you're someone on the left. Who got into government. Because you have left-leaning ideas.

GLENN: Why else would you get into government?

STU: That's true.

GLENN: I can't think of a reason on the right, why they get into government, except to stop the people on the left.

STU: To stop it. And that is a real problem we have. Because it's the same thing with universities.

GLENN: Yeah, it is.

STU: We don't go in there. We don't mix it up in those areas, and then they take them over.

GLENN: Yes.

STU: But let's say, you're someone who leans left. You get in there, you think, you support all these big taxes and big government programs. And you're working on administrating them. And you realize, Trump is coming in. He will try to cut them anyway.

Do I really want to be here, supporting -- like cutting people, and not distributing this money I think is so important? Maybe I do just take it.

Just because I'm opposed, and I don't want to go through this agenda. I don't want to be responsible for these evil cuts.

So maybe I just take the money and leave.

GLENN: I think if you're a career politician or career, you know, government worker, if you've put in your time and they're going to give you, you know, really good exit package.

I don't know if you're -- if you've been there for 25 years. Do I get -- do I get my pension?

STU: Yeah. You probably do.

GLENN: So, you know, I would definitely look at it.

If I had been there for a long time. I would be like, I'm getting out now.

Because you just don't know.

You know, Vivek Ramaswamy said, we should just say, everybody with an odd Social Security number. And ends in an odd number, you're fired.

STU: What helps him here.

Because there are dumb protections built into some of these places for civil service types.

That makes it sometimes difficult to fire them.

And this is like sort of like the self-deportation option when it comes to the border.

GLENN: It is.

STU: You go. You take it. It's optional for you.

And if they do that, you not only will likely get rid of more people that will thwart your efforts. Because they typically will be able to take that deal. But you also get a portion of your cuts done, without having to make the cuts.

There are some legal questions to this.

Of course, it will get challenged. There is a clause, I think it's in the Homeland Security Act.

That allows the government to offer employees $25,000 to resign, essentially if they want to make cuts.

So that much of it is pretty much straightforward protected.

The -- when you say all the way to September, some of those numbers will go above $25,000.

And there, they might get legal challenges.

GLENN: That's amazing -- that people will challenge you.

STU: You're giving me too much money. You're giving me too much --

GLENN: That will never happen.

STU: In reality, of course, the left does not want these employees to go away.

They don't want the size of government to shrink, so they will find any legal loophole they can to challenge what he's doing.

GLENN: It will be fascinating to see the conversations of people right now in Washington, DC. That are those die-hards.

I mean, because he's doing exactly what he's doing on the border, for the government.

He's -- he is --

STU: It's the --

GLENN: We're coming for the bad guys.

And we will cut.

There is in more fooling around. There's a new sheriff in town.

He hopes, just like on the border. He will get the bad guys. But a lot of people, just like you said, will self-deport.

I don't want any part of it.

STU: Yeah. I don't want any part of it.

Not to mention, in nine months of pay. Combine that if you happen to be an entrepreneur type. Of leaving a job. Getting paid for nine months. Then getting paid for another job.

It could be great for your finances.

GLENN: If you had another job. If you knew you could get another job, you would be stupid not to.

STU: Yeah. To get paid 9 months for doing nothing.

Of course, it's taking it out of our pockets, which I'm not exactly thrilled about. But long-term, it's great!

GLENN: Yeah, if he gets enough people. It's like 100 -- 150, or $150 million a year is what they're expecting to get out of this. That's a lot of savings.

STU: Hmm. Hmm.

I mean, it's a drop in the bucket, unfortunately.

GLENN: No, I know it is. I know it is.

STU: $150 a year is a pretty small acceptance.

GLENN: A million or billion.

As I said that, you don't pay attention. Million, billion. It doesn't matter anymore.

STU: Just wait until the quadrillions hit. Then you'll know. Then you'll know.

GLENN: And million will seem like.

You know, it's like -- it used to be like, they're a millionaire. And then it became, they're worth like 100 million dollars. And then it became, they're a billionaire.

It's going to be soon. They're a trillionaire.

STU: You knew we would cross that line, when Bernie Sanders needed to take millionaires out of his speeches. Because he used to say millionaires and billionaires.

Now he says billionaires because he's a millionaire.

And it's like hilarious that Mr. Socialist, with his multiple houses, can't even criticize millionaires anymore.

GLENN: Right!

Because he's most likely a millionaire.

STU: He is, 100 percent.

GLENN: I mean, how does a socialist get that?

STU: I mean, he's making a decent six figure salary and has been forever. He has multiple houses.

Just the equity in those homes, I'm sure, makes him a millionaire.

You know, I mean, he's pretty -- he wants to spend everyone else's money. If he spends like that in his own life.

He doesn't seem to be all that -- he doesn't seem to take advantage with fancy cars or anything like that, that we know of.

But he has a couple nice houses. He saves on hair products, that's for sure.