RADIOOctober 28, 2024

Pastor EXPLAINS: Does Voting Go Against Christianity?

Should Christians vote in the 2024 election? Some argue that they can't support either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Others say Christians should stay out of worldly politics. But Pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City Church joins Glenn to explain why he has "a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we ARE political." It's time for followers of Christ - both in the pews and at the pulpit - to stand up, speak out, and VOTE: "When the Church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience and government loses its mind and everyone suffers."

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Josh McPherson is a guy I found online, I don't even know how long ago.

And just I love his sermons.

He's a lead pastor of Grace City Church. Founder of Stronger Man Nation, which is a movement to help men get stronger every day in every area of life, and helping dads raise boys to be stronger men, which is one of our problems, in society today. We are teaching everybody to be weak, and helpless. And that is not the way that God would have us to be. Josh, welcome to the program. How are you?

JOSH: I'm very good, Glenn. Thanks for having me.

GLENN: Yeah, thank you. So I have been hearing from a lot of Christians, that are saying, I just can't vote for either.

JOSH: Yep. Yep.

GLENN: And I don't even know how to -- I don't even know where to start on that.

JOSH: Yep.

GLENN: This is so clear to me, that we are not battling Democrat/Republican.

We are truly battling light and dark. Life and death.

JOSH: That's right. Yep. Yep.

GLENN: Good and evil.

So how do you convince people?

JOSH: It's -- it's -- what COVID revealed in terms of our shallowness in thinking, in relationship to our role as citizens in our nation. This election is revealing it at a deeper level.

I think Christians have been misled and wrongly discipled in relationship to their responsibility, as citizens of heaven, to be engaged here, as citizens of earth.

GLENN: Right.

JOSH: And so with bad teaching.

The kingdom of God is spiritual, not physical. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say, the kingdom of God is spiritual. The closest it gets is Jesus saying, my kingdom is not of this world when he's speaking to Pilate.

And he's not using that as an excuse to disengage from the world. He's using it as an apologetic to lean into the world.

He's saying, my kingdom is not of this world, which means I'm above your pay grade. And I don't have to answer your petty questions. The kingdom of God does not hover, Glenn, a mile above the earth. It lands in our sex lives, in our marriages, in our dysfunctional family systems, in our relationships, in our entertainment. In our food. And, yes, in our politics. When Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world, what he's saying, is my people have the authority from heaven to step into the broken systems of earth and be salt and light.

The most basic texts of the Bible. Which Jesus explains how to think as Christians.

You're light. Light exposes lies. In darkness. You're salt.

Salt works against the natural decay of sin in the world. And right now, a pastor trying to convince Christians to be salt, while they're still in the box.

GLENN: And people think, that that adds flavor. No. It stops corruption.

It stops the corrupting of the meat.

BIANCA: That's exactly right.

GLENN: That's the way it was used back then.

JOSH: Yeah, there's this demonic gaslighting, that says that Christians should be political.

I have a fundamental conviction that we cannot be Biblical unless we are political. The entire story line of the Bible, is a story of God against governments. Rogue, empiric governments. Tyrannical. Abusive. Heavy-handed, oppressive governments like Egypt, like Persia, like Babylon, like Rome. And the story is those -- because when you remove God from a society. What replaces it typically is that which is biggest and most powerful, mainly government.

GLENN: God calls governments to submit to his rule of law, just like he calls individuals. And it's the church's job to function as the conscience of a society. And when the church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience. And the government loses its mind. And everyone suffers.

GLENN: I can't understand, when we have -- I mean, when we have one party that is putting up abortion vans for free abortions.

I mean, I wouldn't go to a concert that was doing that. Let alone a political party.

JOSH: No. No. No. Here's what I would say to Christians to wrestle with seriously -- I did five sermons to my church. You see them online if you want. GraceCityChurch.com --

GLENN: I'll tweet them out today.

JOSH: Okay. I wrote a small PDF to help people think through three questions. Should I vote? How should I think about politics? And then how should I vote as a Christian. So I can walk through that very quickly.

Should Christians vote? Here's the deal. 40 million Christians didn't vote in the last election. The last election was decided by 42,000 votes. Your vote matters. When the salt stays in the box, the meat rots.

GLENN: Jeez. Uh-huh.

JOSH: When Christians hold their voice back, culture goes into massive decline. Do you people wish the church would have gotten more political when Hitler squeaked through in an election? And 12 years later, 11 million people were dead.

GLENN: And do you know what the church did?

It stayed silent, and then it went into cahoots.

JOSH: The church abdicated its voice. And then aligned with evil out of fear and deception, and millions of people died.

I have a distinct sense that there are millions of people, the over.

Praying to God Almighty that Jesus Christ would wake up his church in America. Because if America goes off the rails, we haven't seen anything like it historically.

GLENN: Oh, I have heard it from a Chinese dissident, that was in prison in China.

Just because she believed in Jesus. She said, what you know we were praying for in China?

We were praying that you would be humbled so you would wake up to who you are.

JOSH: That's right. Should Christians vote? Here's what I would say, God made three spheres of human sovereignty. The family, the church, and the state. If Christians won't lead their home, Satan will.

If pastors won't lead their church, they become synagogues of Satan.

And when it comes to our constitutional republic, we need to almost stop using the word democracy. We don't want a democracy. We're a constitutional republic.

Which means we're guided by the moral absolutes outlined in the Constitution. Then we vote for men and women to represent us.

To make laws that will reflect the values of that Constitution. If we fail to do our duty in this Constitutional Republic, we are failing our children. And we will pass on to them, a social inheritance. That will bury them.

Right? So when I think about whether or not I should vote. If Christians don't -- if godly voices don't rise up, to speak up.

Godless voices will. And we will be held responsible for what happens. Christians need to carry a burden.

GLENN: People don't understand.

JOSH: For what God holds us accountable for.

I look at it like this.

Christians -- and I want to be sensitive to those who are like, well, I don't want to be partisan. Brother, listen to me. Sister, listen to me.

You cannot follow Jesus. And not be accused of following Jesus.

Because Jesus draws lines, and Jesus takes sides.

Look, I haven't asked the GOP into my heart. I'm a Bible guy. I'm a Jesus guy.

That's my lane.

If a political party happens to step into that lane, I am cheering them all the way. If they step out of that lane, I am prophetically calling them to obedience and submission to God's word. So this isn't me cheering on one particular party.

But let's be honest, one political party is explicitly advocating openly for demonic, horrific, perverse sin, and the other is not.

That's the bottom line. That you have to wrestle with.

What I find most Christians. I find very few Christians.

I'm going to vote for -- I hear a lot saying, but I can't vote for their side. But I don't agree.

Here's the deal. You don't do anything else in life. Was your spouse perfect when you married her or him?

No. You married him anyways.

We don't apply the same standard, where you're using Donald Trump to anywhere else in life. So no matter who is running for office, unless it's Jesus. You would have to hold your nose and vote at some point.

So here's what I would say for Christians to consider who are on the fence. Think of politicians in terms of three tiers.

Tier three is in the category of opinions. In this category, we -- we discuss, and we decide.

This is where the Bible is silent on these issues. And this is like, should Taiwan be granted favored trading status.

GLENN: Yeah.

JOSH: Should feds lower or raise interest rates. Should the post office use planes or horses to go to deliver the mail?

I don't know, but let's discuss. And let's decide.

The Bible will speak to it. I won't stick my nose into it. That's tier three. Tier two is in the category of wisdom.

Okay? We should debate and discern. The Bible speaks to it. But not clearly, how we should go about it. We agree on the goal. But we debate. Have the means. Should we care for the poor?

Yes. We should all agree on that. How do we do that?

Let's have a good debate. Let's pull each other on the extremes, walk in the middle, find the path. We can robustly disagree and debate and then go out and have a beer afterwards.

GLENN: Honestly, that's where we were at one point in our nation.

JOSH: That's Reagan and "Tip" O'Neill. Right?

Where it's like, no. Yes. What? Are you kidding me? I'll buy you a drink.

GLENN: Yeah. Because they had the fellow in common. They vehemently disagreed on how to accomplish it.

The goal was the same.

JOSH: That's right. There was a like-minded shared mindset for life. So what's happened now.

And most Christians are working from that framework. Tier three or tier two politics. It's opinions or it's issues of wisdom, which makes them feel uncomfortable to speak prophetically to it.

Here's the problem. There's a third category. Tier one.

And tier one. If the first -- the third -- the second is to have wisdom.

Tier one is, this is the realm of obedience. This is where we declare and divide. This is thus saith the Lord kind of things. Okay? Where the Bible has spoken clearly to it.

And to discuss -- we don't discuss and debate stuff. We submit to God's word. And we say yes, God, and we obey. These are issues. The sanctity of life. The sanctity of marriage. National sovereignty.

The moral law of God. The rule of law.

Religious freedom. Jurisdictional respect. These are the kinds of things, are the grid through which we think as Christians, where God is clearly and plainly without stuttering spoken, where we must say, thus saith the Lord. Not because it's our opinion.

Because of what we're calling the culture to submit to themselves God himself. Right? When we get into that category, tier one.

A Christian is obligated, I believe to engage. Here's the problem. In politics past, most of the ticket represented tier three and tier two.

And so Christians were reticent to say, thus saith the Lord. The Fed should lower their interest rates.

I agree. Don't stick your nose where God doesn't quote clearly. What's different about this election is almost every issue on the table. Representative on the ticket is a tier one issue, thus saith the Lord. And if the church does not step and up speak boldly through this moment, the vacuum we create will be filled, I believe with the godless and the demonic. Then we will be responsible for having been silent, in a moment where we needed Jesus to speak up.

GLENN: So there are two things that come through my mind, almost every day.

One, we will be held responsible for all of -- are these God's rights. Not ours.

We are put in charge to protect them. Or to elect the government to protect God's rights for future generations.

JOSH: That's right.

GLENN: If we lose these rights here, it's not just here.

It's the entire world could be cast into darkness. And slavery.

And we will be held accountable.

What did you do? And say, well, I just couldn't vote for either one.

It's not going to be an acceptable answer.

JOSH: That's right. Think about the moral dilemma, some Christians are having, about who to vote for right now.

It's nothing. In comparison to the moral dilemma, you'll be facing. If we have an openly rogue demonic evil government. That is using the force of law, and military, to -- to make you disobey, God's law. You will have much bigger moral dilemmas to face then, better to deal with these little ones. Hold your nose and vote.

Rather than, do I need to stand up and do something more than just pray in this moment, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to wrestle with in 1940s.

GLENN: Yes. Yes.

The other thing is, when people say, well, my vote doesn't count.

For the first time in my life, I look at that, as a completely different statement.

JOSH: That's right.

GLENN: That's saying, I'm not going to be held responsible.

JOSH: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: This time. This is like 1933.

At this time, if you don't stand, and it goes awry.

JOSH: That's right. That's right.

GLENN: He's not going to accept, that I just didn't invoke.

Because I didn't think my voice mattered.

In Texas, if you want to vote for a Democrat, it may not count.

You know, here in Texas. Because it will go, hopefully, it will go red. But it does count in your first citizenship.

GLENN: When I think about, my vote doesn't matter. Here's what I think.

No, no, no. It matters, because I'm not voting to appease a candidate or a party. I'm voting in response to God's commands. I'm voting for a holy God.

I'm voting to be obedient to my duty to be an active citizen of heaven. In the current citizen, I'm abiding here on earth.

When I think about that, Glenn, no, I'm voting for the sake of keeping my conscience clear. But before God, so I can look in the mirror and say, kids, I preach sermons. I talk to friends.

I wrote stuff. I joined my friends online.

I did everything I could, to move the needle for the sake of our nation. Friends, don't vote -- if we take this pragmatic approach, well, it doesn't matter. Well, we already ceded the battle. No, no, no. It does matter. It does matter.

If not only for you to say, I will not be shaken and silenced by the lies.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote -- I'm trying to think of it. Live not by lies.

GLENN: So good.

JOSH: And in the essay, he said, look, here's the deal. You may feel small in the face of this massive, tyrannical, totalitarian regime.

But -- but you're not as small as you think. You're only as small as the silence that you embrace.

He said, so if you stand up, they may shoot you in the head of the street, but only you can secede or turn over your freedom. So you can die a free man in the street, or you can live as a prisoner in your apartment. You could be freer in prison. Than you are compromising your values living at home.

And so what he said was, essentially, silence in the face of lies, is itself a lie.

Silence in the face of lies, is to perpetuate, and participate in that lie.

We are in a spiral of silence right now.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about.

Eric Metaxas talks about it.

Which means, the less we speak up, the higher the cost for the ones that do.

GLENN: We're seeing it right now.
Hang on, I have to take a break. We'll be back in just a second. You are listening to Josh McPherson.

I will, on my social media, put out on his sermons on this. Share it with every Christian that you know.

GLENN: We're talking to Josh McPherson, about why Christians need to vote.

JOSH: Yes, yep.

I will say two things. If there are those that are sitting on the fence, I get it. There's been challenging things to figure out, sift through. I understand. Three things within one. This is from many conversations, your vote isn't a Valentine.

You know, oh. I just get the warm fuzzies. That died with JFK.

Right? So like don't vote for warm fuzzies or personalities. Think -- be more sophisticated in your thinking. Think about policies. Personalities will come and go. We'll be left with policies, for the rest of our life. Don't think your vote is a Valentine. Secondly, your selection isn't a sacrament.

So many Christians, well, if I vote for them, they might do something immoral, and then I'm responsible.

No, no. Your vote isn't a sacrament. You're essentially exercising your right as a citizen, to -- to advance people, in positions of authority, that you think have the best shot of aligning most closely to a Biblical worldview.

GLENN: And if they don't, then your responsibility kicks in to speak out to stop them.

JOSH: That's right. We're in the most important in a moment our history, coming up in our election.

Then the next week will be just as important. Don't vote and then back off. Get more engaged. Speak up. Say things that are true, longer and louder. So it's not a Valentine.

How do I say it? Your vote is not a sacrament. Then lastly, this is crazy.

The ballot box isn't a mailbox. I heard a ton of Christians going, well, I'm not going to vote and send a message.

Why write an email and never hit send? No one cares that you didn't vote. The only outcome that matters is who wins.

So don't think you're sending a big message by not participating. That's a lie from the pit of hell, to silence the voice of the church. In maybe the most critical moment in the history of our nation.

And I will say this, pastors, you must be bolder. You must speak up louder and longer.

It may feel weird to talk about politics and the pulpit to you. But that's because you're living in this weird bubble and moment of history.

You're out of step with the great preachers of history in the past, who have always thundered from the pulpit, how to be engaged in politics.

GLENN: I am hungry for preachers to speak the truth, based on the Bible. I am hungry for it!

How do I apply these 2000-year-old teachings to what's happening right now?

JOSH: That's right. It's disingenuous to expect the pastors in their church to be bold in the marketplace, when they're failing to be bold in the pulpit.

GLENN: It is so great to see you.

JOSH: You too, Glenn.

GLENN: I actually will meet with the president tonight. And I'm hoping to convince him to do something with TheBlaze and Trinity Broadcasting. And I would love to invite you to be a part of it, if it actually comes through next week. I would love to have you be a part of it.

Because I have seen your social media, and you are right, spot-on.

JOSH: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Ten seconds. We just started a school. Guard City Academy. There's 286 kids in class, listening right now, learning to become Christians and patriots. I want a huge shout-out to those guys. Go Farmers!

GLENN: God bless you. You guys are great.

Thank you, Josh.

Why Biden’s Pardons for Fauci, Family, & J6 Committee May BACKFIRE

Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz tells Glenn that he would be “very upset” if he was one of the people Biden pardoned in his last few days in office. Members of Biden’s family, Dr. Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and January 6th Committee members all received preemptive pardons, allegedly to stop Trump from taking revenge on them. But Dershowitz argues that now, they look guilty and have lost their right to plead the 5th. So, if they’re subpoenaed before Congress, they MUST admit the truth. Dershowitz also reveals why Trump’s promise to end DEI was his favorite announcement of Day One. Plus, he explains why he’s “much more optimistic” about America than before and why he will “never” call Trump a convicted felon.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: I don't know about you, but I have a real problem with somebody giving people who work in government blanket pardons for anything that they might have done wrong.

It just doesn't seem like American justice. And it doesn't seem like a system where you can hold people accountable for what they've done. It just seemed like that is ripe for corruption, in every way possible. What does it all mean?

Well, Alan Dershowitz is here with us now, to talk to us about the future of pardons. Or the pardons that Joe Biden made. And said he wouldn't just a few years ago. Alan Dershowitz. Harvard law school. Professor emeritus. Host of the Dershow. And the author of get Trump. Welcome, Adam.

ALAN: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

GLENN: You bet. So can you -- I mean, everything that these guys have done, when they try to force their hand. It seems to backfire on them.

I'm hoping this is the case. But, I mean, it just screams trouble, for the future.

ALAN: Look, if I were one of the people that Biden pardoned, I would be very upset.

First of all, it makes it sound like, he did something wrong. Even if they didn't. And second, you know, it denies them their fifth amendment right. So they can go in front of Congress. Investigated completely, as to all of their actions.

So I don't think Biden did them any favors. And he also set a dangerous precedent.

Look, when Ford pardoned Nixon. That was the national interest. Because Nixon was under investigation.

This was a special prosecutor, still operating.

But these folks, the relatives. They weren't under any investigation. And really, weren't under any cloud.

And I just don't understand, why Biden did that, after violating his own promise to the American public. When he said, he wouldn't pardon his own -- all right. I understand your son has been convicted. He's about to be sent to jail. He's a young man, who has had all kinds of troubles with drugs and other things. I understand the father doing that. What I don't understand is on the way out, literally, literally as he's sitting on the platform in Washington, he issues these last-minute pardons to virtually everybody in his family, and the surrounding people. It just -- it establishes a precedent for President Trump. And probably establishes a precedent, because he now has flexibility in the pardons he can issue.

Look, the most important thing -- many of the important things that President Trump said at his inauguration. One of that is that he wants to put an end to lawfare.

And if we put an end to lawfare, which is one of the worst things that has ever happened to this country, you know, I coined that term back in the 1960s in a very negative way.

And it's used in a very negative way.

But if we can end lawfare, then we may see an end to these promiscuous use of pardons as well. Because I think the pardons are seen as an antidote to lawfare. And I'm hoping, we can get back to a situation, which the Framers intended, where people prosecuted not for what party they belonged to.

But for what they've actually done. If we can see a return to that. Maybe we can see a return to the more normal use of pardons as well.

GLENN: Well, I don't think that Fauci is in danger of being prosecuted for what party he belonged to.

I mean, you know, he got along with Donald Trump famously. But if we can't -- if we can't prosecute people, and this becomes a habit of every president. Just blanket pardoning people that were involved in anything.

Then we have a real issue here.

There's nobody that can ever be held accountable.

Who will be held accountable for what happened with COVID?

ALAN: No wonder our system of federalism. You can be held accountable by the space.

As you know, Trump was prosecuted by New York, and that invalid, unconstitutional conviction still stands.

Now, you and I disagree with Dr. Fauci. Now, we may agree that COVID wasn't handled properly.
But, you know, I'm pretty experienced as a criminal lawyer. I can't find any criminal conduct, in what Fauci did.

What he thought was --

GLENN: So I don't think, Alan. I don't think that we disagree.

I just want an investigation done. And if there was something that was criminal, we must -- I don't care who it is.

We must make sure that it doesn't happen again.

All I want is the truth. I'm not after anybody.

And -- go ahead.

ALAN: The investigation is made easier now with the pardons. Because now Fauci can claim the Fifth Amendment.

He has to go in front of congressional committees, and they are controlled by Republicans now. And he can be asked a disclosure of all of his records. He can't destroy records. They're not his records.

They're the records of, you know, government health agencies. And we can have a full and complete and total noncriminal investigation of Fauci and everybody else. And that's what our system is all about.

And I would like to see investigations.

For example, I think one of the best things that President Trump said in his inauguration yesterday.

Was he was putting a final end to DEI.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Which is the single worst thing that has happened to our system of equality and universities in the United States. As you know, DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

What it really means is lack of any diversity, except based on skin color. Lack of equality and the substitution of group equity, and exclusion of Asians, Jews, and other less popular minorities.

So, you know, I love to see -- and I would love to see Congress investigate universities that still have DEA programs that end up being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, anti-Catholicism. You name it. Anti-religion.

It's the worst thing that's happened to universities. It's turning their universities into second and third class institutions, that can't compete in the world today.

GLENN: I really don't like this idea, that we have presidents come in, and dictate through president -- presidential Fiats and executive orders.

We can't -- you just can't run a country that way. You know, flipping one direction, and then entirely the other direction.

Things have got to go through Congress. However, in this particular time period, how else are you going to do it?

How concerned are you, about the -- about the precedent that we're now sealing, from the last two presidents and executive orders?

ALAN: Well, it starts with Thomas Jefferson. Of course, he runs for president in the 1800s. Saying the presidents have too much power. I want to restore Congress.

And the power of Congress, one of the first things he does is buys Louisiana.

It doesn't give Congress any influence. Through executive order.

One of the best things that ever happen to America. You know, Alaska was purchased by presidential order.

So, you know, they're good, and they're bad.

And the one thing about presidential orders as we saw yesterday, is they can be rescinded the moment the new president comes in. The first thing the president -- the first act was to rescind 70 some odd presidential executive orders. So, you know, they're only temporary.

The Constitution doesn't mention executive orders.

It just gives power to the president. And allows him to have that power.

So I would love to see more going to Congress. Look, I think Congress is supposed to declare war.

And yet, we've had so many wars since the last time we declared war. That, you know, presidents have assumed far more power, than the Framers of our Constitution, ever intended.

GLENN: Correct.

ALAN: Remember, Article I is the Congress. Article II is the President. Congress is supposed to be the govern body of America, with the president administering the laws, not making the laws.

GLENN: Correct. Correct.

But people of the administrative state -- I mean, I know we're in an argument now of, you can't fire them.

All of these protections. But if they don't work for the executive. And the executive branch. Who do they work for?

ALAN: Oh, they're supposed to work for the people of the United States.

And it's so complicated. Take, for example, the Justice Department. We have a new attorney general. She's wonderful. I work with her. She's a great lawyer.

She's a great person. But she has an impossible job. She's supposed to be the president's loyal adviser of legal issues. Part of his cabinet, designed to make him look good.

That's part of her job. The other part of her job is to be the chief prosecutor.

For that, she can't be political at all. She has to be completely objective. In most western democracies, those two jobs are divided. We have the director of public prosecution, who decides who to prosecute.

And the attorney general, the minister of justice, who decides policy. But in this country, we have the two -- to merge. And it creates an impossible job. And I think Bondi is capable of doing it. Garland was not. He couldn't strike the appropriate balance, between politics and law. And so these are very, very hard questions. You remember the Bible instructs judges and prosecutors. He refers to (foreign language). Do not recognize faces. Do not do justice based on who the person is. Only do justice based on what they've done. And we have to return to that. It's Biblical. It's Constitutional. And it's the right thing.

GLENN: Correct.

What was your response yesterday when the way everything came off, how do you -- are you more optimistic about our country? Or less?

ALAN: I'm much more optimistic about our country. I spoke to President Trump twice, between the time of the election -- three times, actually.

Between the time of the election, and the time he assumed the presidency.

And we had good discussions about Israel, about the Middle East, about anti-Semitism.

But also about lawfare and the rule of law.
And I think he was a very different person, in these kinds of, one on one conversations. Or one on two conversations. Than he is, you know, when he was on television. And in front of large crowds.

I'm hopeful, that they'll really take advantage of the fact. You know, he's the luckiest guy in the world. That he didn't win the last election in 2000 -- if he had that election turned around.

And they had traditionally ruled that he was the president.

He would have had four miserable years. In which half the country wouldn't have accepted him.

And now we would -- as of now, he is the most -- the president with a mandate. With a popular vote.

The best thing that ever happened to him. And I told him that. Most recently, I said, basically, get over it!

You're so lucky. That you're now the president. You have a full second term ahead of you.

And he smiled. And I think he'll do a good job.

GLENN: Yeah. I have to tell you. I told him similar, but I said, you know, it wasn't necessarily about him. Look how grateful we should be.

Because look at -- if we would have had him in 2020. So much wouldn't have been exposed, that has been exposed over the last four years.

And he would have been doing the same thing. That he was doing in the first four years.

This gave him a chance to step away from it. Reassess. Watch what's going on. People wake up. And now he has a chance of really making an impact.

ALAN: Yeah. I'm calling him now President President Trump because, you know, he's been president twice.

He would like to call himself President President President Trump. But you can't be president three times. So just President President Trump.

And I will never call him a convicted felon, ever. He was not convicted of a constitutionally permissible crime. He is totally innocent. And people should understand that. The New York case is unconstitutional. Nobody can even describe what he was convicted of.

So I'm never going to call him a convicted felon, any more than I would call a civil rights worker who went down south with me, in 1960s and was convicted of a felony for spitting on the sidewalk a convicted felon.

We have to look at what the surrounding circumstances. So President Trump is our president. Whether you voted for him or against him.

Everybody should be praying and hoping for four freight years for America.

GLENN: Alan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ALAN: Always my pleasure. Great talking to you. You too.

GLENN: Thanks. You bet.

Are DC Prisons IGNORING Trump's J6 Pardons?!

Rumors have spread that prison officials in Washington DC are refusing to release many January 6th prisoners, despite President Trump’s pardons for 1500 of them. Sen. Mike Lee tells Glenn that this appears to be true. He explains how he has looked into the situation and argues, “from what we can tell, they haven’t complied with it yet. It’s yet another reason to revisit DC’s Home Rule, which I think should be repealed.” Sen. Lee also weighs in on why he believes Biden’s decision to pardon members of the Jan. 6 Committee will be GOOD for the Republic: since they can no longer plead the 5th, “we can finally get to the bottom of exactly what happened.” So, will Congress “subpoena the heck out of” them?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So I wanted to ask you, you tweeted something last night. Is DC ignoring Trump's pardons? If it is, then this is definitely a time to repeal DC home rule.

You had me at the word "repeal." DC's government has no right to exist constitutionally. Congress shouldn't have delegated its law-making authority over DC. It's time to take it back.

I love you. Okay. Tell me what this means.

MIKE: What this means is that Congress needs to do its job. We've had a problem for a long time with Congress delegating its lawmaking power to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats.

We've got a corresponding problem, in that, we're supposed to be the lawmaker for the District of Columbia. Article one, section eight, clause 17, sometimes known as the enclave clause, gives us that power.

We've been delegating that to the DC government for about a half century. The results have been disastrous. The results have been a government that doesn't serve the interest of the people well. It's a radical leftist regime that runs it. Our schools are failing. Crime rates are soring.

And last night, from what we can tell, after Trump issued a pardon for a number of prisoners involved with January 6, there were only two released last night. And I spoke to someone last night. Who had gone down personally to the DC jail. Saw that only two of them had been released. And jail officials at the DC jail, announced that they would be releasing any more last night.

Now, this is not hard, Glenn. Did he have names? And they have pardons. They can identify those prisoners who have been pardoned.

Trump's direct influence is that they were to be released immediately, as one should, when one sees that somebody has been pardoned.

And they still weren't out. So we're still trying to get names, numbers. And verify it, how this is happening. But from what we can tell. They haven't complied with it, yet.

It's yet another reason to revisit DC's home rule. Which I think should be repealed.

GLENN: That's extraordinary.

That they would be that bold and say, because everybody was watching them. Last night.

I haven't heard this reported, I mean, CNN is the only thing I can get in this hotel. By the way, if anybody on my staff, books me at a hipster hotel one more time, heads will roll! I want actual furniture, not bean bags. Thank you.

STU: The hipster hotel feels exactly the same way, by the way.

GLENN: What did you say?

MIKE: They were very popular with the deputies. I will say.

GLENN: Oh, they're very popular. And who wouldn't love them. I'm not 18 years old anymore, please book me in an adult room.

Anyway, I was watching CNN last night, and they had, you know, people stationed out there. And they were just complaining that criminals that had killed police officers on January 6th were just being released. You're saying that there's only two that were released last night?

And nothing yet this morning, that you know of?

MIKE: That's right.

Former staffer Sean Peterson was down at the DC jail. And he said, that they released two of them through a back door, and then a jail official said, we're not releasing any more tonight. Even though, there were apparently many more to be released.

Now, again, Trump did -- Glenn, these are people, who have been pardoned. And this is a government that has done like -- things like this for a long time.

I've got story after story, of horrible things. You know, DC allows noncitizens voting in your local elections. You know how difficult that can be. To disentangle people who were casting votes in local elections. From those who were voting in true federal elections.

That is a problem in and of itself. You've also got the fact that they've just -- time after time.

They've taken positions that harm the people of DC. Make everything more expensive.

These guys have high tax rates. They spend like crazy. In education. Yet, they have one of those failing school systems in the entire country.

You want to know something interesting. Four years ago, an elite unit from the Utah National Guard was out here in DC. Protecting DC. Protecting the White House from the violence that was erupting in the summer of 2020, in the city.

In the middle of the night, after they had gone through a 36-hour shift. None of these guys had slept in 36 hours. They had worked all night and all day. And all day the next day.

They were evicted by the opposite of the mayor of the DC government. These are the kind of people these are. And they've been begging --

GLENN: Well.

MIKE: For a long time. We need it now. They've been begging for it, by the terrible things they do.

GLENN: I want to cut the mayor of DC some slack. Because they might have been high on crack. And -- and I think that -- because that is a tradition, isn't it, Stu?

For DC mayors to be high on crack.

STU: Yeah. I think it's part of the job subscription.

GLENN: Part of the deal.

You have to at least be high on crack occasionally, at least.

So, Mike, is this going to gain any traction?

What are you going to do?

MIKE: Well, the first thing we have to do is make sure that these prisoners who have been pardoned are, in fact, released.

But I think the word needs to spread. Obviously, this is a niche issue. It really is a local issue, and it's an issue that is very emotional for many of the people who live and around the area.

But I think more and more residents of DC are getting wise to the fact, that something is not working right.

GLENN: Well, hang on. What would this mean for the judicial system?

Because you can't get a fair trial here, in Washington, DC.

And, you know, anything goes wrong in Washington, DC. Anybody commits any crimes, in the Capitol, or in the White House. It's all tried here, in Washington, DC.

And it's so corrupt. It's got to stop. What would this mean, for that system?

MIKE: Well, look, at least for the system of deciding who will be prosecuted. Who will be running the city, would change.

And you would start to see people prosecuted for more things like property crimes.

Sort of the Soros-funded prosecutor of the county has infected this city. And it shows. I lost count of how many members of Congress.

And how many staff members, of members of Congress. People I interact with most when I'm in Washington, of course. Have been assaulted. Have been carjacked. Have been stabbed.

Have been robbed. Often in broad daylight. Often within a block or two, of the US Capitol. Which is one of the more heavily policed. Heavily secured locations anywhere in America.

And yet, this happens here. Because there is an environment of lawlessness. The more this happens, the more members of Congress are seeing that this isn't working. This is our Capitol city. It should be a shining city on a hill. We can't let it flip into this state of disrepair and other lawlessness.

GLENN: It would -- it would be helpful if people started tweeting. And started calling the senator or House member, and started some grassroot effort to repeal DC home rule. It might gather some attention. If people started doing that today.

Mike, let me ask you --

MIKE: I've been tweeting from my at base Mike Lee account. Repeal DC home rule.

So if people want to join in on this, you can retweet me. You can tweet on your own.

Send out a post on X, on any other social media platform. Contact your members of Congress, and tell them. Message is very simple: Repeal DC home rule.

GLENN: Mike, the idea that we can no longer go after Fauci or any of the people on January 6th.

What does that mean, to you?

MIKE: Well, what it means to me, first of all, is that these guys will have a hard time, perhaps an impossible time, invoking the Fifth Amendment.

Not if, but when. They're subpoenaed to testify with Congressional hearings.

Because if they've been pardoned, then one can rationally, logically conclude, that there's no risk of prosecution. And if that's the case, I don't think they can invoke their fifth amendment rights to remain silent.

And we can finally get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

It also means, that there was an understanding, that some things happened.

Some things happened, that would otherwise, likely be likely to lead to an investigation, if not criminal charges to be brought against some of these people.

GLENN: What are you -- because I watched enough CNN yesterday.

I watched CNN enough yesterday, to know that they're spinning this as, they're just doing this, as preemptive against Trump. Because he will go after these poor people.

MIKE: Yeah. So if you believe that, then you're likely somebody who believes Fauci in the first place. And you're quite possibly somebody who even after Anthony Fauci was caught repeatedly lying, in some cases under oath, to Rand Paul, and to -- and others who asked them questions.

But remember, Rand Paul was raising the question very early on. About gain-of-function research.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

MIKE: Tony Fauci repeatedly denied, that there was gain-of-function research happening. Of course, there was all the time.

They were covering it up.

They tried to use a different name to characterize it. It was still gain-of-function research.

Tony Fauci also spread the false rumor, that this was the result of, I don't know, haggling at a monkey, holding hands in a park somewhere, in Wuhan, and that produced the virus.
(laughter)

MIKE: And, you know, a lot of people were harmed as a result of this. The COVID deaths and illnesses, in and of themselves, were bad enough. And the predictable, foreseeable outcome of the US government funding gain of research activities, in places like Wuhan, a place that was known, to have a horrible hygiene record.

And that's how things like this happened.

People get hurt.

And then the country overreacts, and more bad things happen all over the place.

Yeah. This has got to be investigated.

And, yeah. President Biden to Tony Fauci placed real problems here. That's why Trump needed to act. And I'm glad that Trump is going to see to it, the truth comes out.

Biden may well be able to pardon. And he, in fact, did. But in some ways, that helps us get to the bottom of the truth. We've got to subpoena the heck out of these guys, and get the truth out of them.

GLENN: Because if they -- if they tell a lie on the witness stand.

If they know it what we now know, because of documents, to be the truth, they can be prosecuted for that lie, can they not?

MIKE: Yes. Yes.

Of course. Look, the whole point here, is we can't undo the damage these guys did.

And the point here is not to torment them for the sake of tormenting them. The bottom is that we've got to get to the bottom of the truth. Otherwise, this kind of pattern of abusive government continues to happen.

And I will flag here the fact, that if we understood the nature of the federal government. If we read the Constitution and understood the twin structural protections at the heart of it, the vertical protection that we call the federalism, the horizontal separation, we would call separation of powers.

This crap would end!

And so we've got to -- we've got to restore the movement in America.

Getting people to read and understand the Constitution.

Particularly, the structural Constitution, which has been badly neglected and bastardized over the last 80 years.

STU: Senator, somewhat related question, there was a Friday news dump from the New York Times, that outlined the six people who basically covered Joe Biden's decline, mentally over the past three years.

They identify them. They talk about them. And their motivations. And their tactics.

While -- you know, the way they describe it to the Times. It seems really, really bad. Maybe it's not illegal. But my if we say is there's a lot of texts and discovery that would lead us to a different conclusion on that. Is there a possibility that we look into that?

Is that the type of thing that we could do?

MIKE: It's certainly something that ought to be the topic of congressional investigations.

You know, whether or not people will testify, whether or not they will be able to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Privilege and self-incrimination.

Whether or not we'll find anything that is a game changer. Remains to be seen.

But we need to try. We need to ask questions. Because there's enough just on the face of things.

A lot of us saw the mental decline unfolding in real time, in slow motion. Only we saw just the small sliver of what was actually going on.

And then when you add to that, the fact that there was this sham debate, set up in June.

What was it?

Like the fourth week of June.

That was very curious.

That they were agreeing to a general election debate, before either candidate has gone through his national convention phase.

Before either candidate was officially the party nominee. And normally, you don't do that. Until the week before the general election.

And if they were doing this, I thought that was really curious, in and of itself.

But I think the fact that they scheduled it for June, without precedent in modern history. Is just as far as I can remember, indicates that there was some people, on the inside. Including on the inside of the White House.

Who knew there was a problem.

They needed a way to elbow Joe Biden out.

So if they knew that, at least by then, certainly they knew of more things that were happening.

And yet, nobody in the White House, nobody in the administration, was willing to support a 25th Amendment type of discussion. They just covered it up, and that's a real problem, especially when you look at all the problems that the Biden administration was creating. And the fact that we now have plenty of reasons to doubt, whether Biden was even conscious of all these decisions he was making. Somebody was doing that. Somebody was messing with America. But we need to know why, and how, and from whom?

GLENN: And who? And who?

You know, the revelation that came out from Mike Johnson about having -- Joe Biden having no idea what he was doing with natural gas is really very disturbing.

Is This the REAL Reason Trump’s Inauguration Was Moved Indoors?

President Donald Trump’s second inauguration ceremony was moved indoors allegedly because of cold weather – the first time the ceremony hasn’t been held outside since Ronald Reagan’s 1985 inauguration. But Glenn believes there was another reason for the move. Glenn speaks with former Department of Defense intelligence analyst and security expert Jason Buttrill, who agrees that Trump’s staff was likely concerned about security. But the possible threat is likely not domestic. Jason explains why he believes it’s international. Plus, Glenn reveals what he was told by a “cabinet level” source about the Secret Service’s preparedness.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Just saw Marine One moving towards the White House. That would probably be for the departure later of Joe Biden? They're having tea at the White House now. What is this? We're not England. Stop with the tea.

And if -- you know what, if I'm sitting in the morning, and I have to sit there with Jill and Joe Biden, put some whisky in that tea. In fact, just hold the tea. Just whisky. It will be an interesting day. Jason Buttrill is with us now. He's our head researcher, and national security kind of guy. And we're glad to have you here. It's been an interesting weekend, to see security. They put up, what is it? 34 miles of fence?

And this isn't chain linked. This is like especially designed fence for the Capitol. It is -- it's quite amazing, this fencing. You noticed it?

JASON: Yeah. I have. And the other thing I noticed. Coming in like on Saturday, they were dismantling, a lot of the security fencing around the Capitol mall area.

And a lot of people are just kind of wandering around, wondering, well, what do we do?

What's going on?

GLENN: I haven't heard a single complaint from anybody who flew in from some part of the country. And wanted to watch it.

You know, they're all kind of wondering. What are we going to do?

I haven't seen. I haven't heard anybody, but say, if this is security, I am happy.

JASON: Oh, that's absolutely been the main perspective that I heard everyone talking about.

Let's protect the man, and also protect the people.

GLENN: Yeah. And this is not -- at least, I don't think, Jason, you would know better than I would. But from the signs of the kind of security that I'm seeing being implemented, this is not domestic terror they're worried about.

This is international terror.

JASON: From the moment we started seeing video of the president's motorcade, with an electronic devices on top of the vehicles.

I've seen them before. But, Glenn, only in war zones.

I've never seen that just rolling around American cities before.

And those are -- that's the kind of equipment you're using to disrupt IED signals.

GLENN: Right. Or drones. Or drones.

JASON: Or drones. And who has that capability?

Not your average --

GLENN: Well, space aliens. Space aliens, have it.

JASON: Obviously space aliens.

GLENN: They're worried about a space alien invasion at some point today, obviously.

To me, it's very clear, that one of two things happened. Now, I -- I don't want to say, who told me this.

I will just say, it came from cabinet level.

To me. But I -- I got word last night, that it's not only the threats that they have internationally. But also, the fact that the Secret Service appeared to be wildly unprepared. To secure the president, today.

That made them -- made the administration. The incoming administration say, enough is enough. We're moving inside.

JASON: Okay. And that is infuriating.

GLENN: Yes, it is.

JASON: Because the Biden administration has known for four years, that there was a credible Iranian threat.

Four years!

GLENN: Uh-huh. And it seemed like they refused to do anything to beef up his security, once the president declared he was running, and once he was running away in the polls.

It seemed like they were just -- I don't know what they were doing. But we've known about this threat for a long time. Yes. It is a credible threat. Yes, they have said they wanted to do something ever since the Trump administration took out Soleimani of the RJC. This is known. This does not surprise me. Now Trump as he's coming in.

His people are saying, guys, can we for once, he's been a target twice for assassination.

Can we for once take this seriously?

GLENN: I am also very concerned.
There's one place that was very tense, in 2016. And the Secret Service was beg him, please, please, please, don't do this, and I think they'll do it again today.

That is, in the middle of the parade. He is going to say, let me out of the car. And he will walk with Melania and maybe the family.

And I -- pray that doesn't happen. He does not -- likes to project strength. Without fear.

And I know, because he told me what was going through his mind, when he was shot.

Or shot at.

And shot at and hit.

When he went down on the stage.

All he could think of was, this is pathetic. Get up. You're not afraid. You're not somebody who cowers. Get up.

And you can hear that in the audio, if -- if you would go back and listen to it. You can hear him say, get up. I want to get up. I want to get up. Let me put my shoes on. I want to get up.

He was embarrassed by that. He likes to project who he really is. That's not something who you fake. That is who he is. He is not afraid of things. And keeping him in that car, I think is really important.

But I don't think he will stay. We'll see this afternoon on our live coverage on Blaze TV.

Blaze47.com. Save 47 bucks off of your Blaze TV plus subscription. Today is the day to become a member of TheBlaze.

It's going to be great.

So what else are you expecting?

What are the key moments you're looking for, today?

JASON: Well, can I just say, before I get into that?

Hearing you say that, does my heart so well.

Because how many times when I was on your security detail, where we have credible threats. Where you were like, I'm just going to go down there. And we were like, what are you doing? No!

GLENN: But I'm different.

JASON: Stay in the car, sir.

GLENN: He's the president, we can't lose him. You can lose me any time.

Nobody -- there will be no one that's in the car on the way to the grocery store, that hears the news. Glenn Beck has been shot, and they would be like, I'm still going to the grocery store. With him, it's a little different.

JASON: Yeah, I am. It's interesting to see a president now, how he is acting in this moment, versus what we've seen from the Biden administration.

He was an absentee landlord it felt like in four years. Did you see at the Capitol one center yesterday. The president came down in the middle of the crowd.

GLENN: I know.

JASON: Walked through the people. And it felt like, this is the people's president. We finally have a people's president back in the White House.

It's a nightmare for security. But it was just amazing to actually see that.

GLENN: He expects people to do their job.

JASON: Uh-huh. Yeah.

GLENN: You know what I mean?

And he -- he trusts, yet verifies, with the Secret Service.

I mean, he's hired an outside security firm.

What's the name of that firm, do you know?

JASON: No. I can look that up in a second.

GLENN: Yeah. Hang on just a second.

Mark, what's the name of that firm? Marcus.

And he has -- he has hired an outside firm.
And they are on top of it!

I mean, I don't know if you heard this. Because any of us traffic, a couple of times. When the motorcade was going by. And there were helicopters, right up above that motorcade. I mean, I've never seen security like this before.

For a president, in Washington, DC. Normally, the motorcade, they just stop across the streets. And the motorcade goes by.

This time, it was stopped for a long time. Before you saw any blue and red lights.

And then you saw them. And you heard the helicopters first. And there was at least two helicopters, over his motorcade.

JASON: Yeah. And it's going to be needed. Today, we're talking 200-plus-ish. Executive orders.

Many of them targeting not only things like cartels. Terrorist organizations.

But also the Deep State. So I -- and on top of that, maybe one of the largest deportation operations, what? Since Bill Clinton, I guess.

GLENN: He will be mighty unpopular with all of the -- with all of the right people in my book. You know what I mean?

All of the people that should sure afraid, are going to be afraid. And try to make him afraid.

And I have to tell you, they -- they -- and this is not going to happen. This is just not going to happen.

But if they ever really try to take him out, and take him out, I just think of the line from Star Wars. Go ahead.

You will make me stronger than you can imagine.

You know, I don't remember what that exact line was. But strike me down. And I'll be stronger.

And that's true. I mean, J.D. Vance would be the LBJ, and he would reverse all of that Great Society. All that FDR stuff. The American people would be united on, this is going to stop right now.

And so the worst thing they could possibly do is kill him. But that's not going to stop some people from trying, you felt.

JASON: Which is essentially what they did to him, after that last assassination attempt. Look how powerful that image became.

STU: Do you think he wins without the assassination attempt?

GLENN: I'm not sure. I don't think so. Maybe. Maybe. I don't think so.

STU: Yeah. It could have gone the other way, court of appeals enough.

GLENN: Well, remember, that's when Elon Musk got in. It was just a few minutes after the assassination, he was like, that's my guy.

STU: My gut tells me, he still wins. But I'm certainly, less sure of it.

I mean, I think he brought -- brought a lot of people on board because of what happened there.

CHRIS: Even sane liberals!

Going on cable news. And saying, okay. No, that's pretty awesome.

STU: Zuckerberg. Look, Zuckerberg.

GLENN: He was a guy who everybody said. And they're still saying it about him.

He only cares about his personal wealth and his fame.

You don't do that. You know, if it's all about money and fame, you don't do that. But he -- he knew. And Americans knew, that's a guy who is brave. We haven't seen courage, in a very long time.

Just for people to stand up and go, okay.

That's a dude in a dress, man. People don't have a courage to say that.

This guy took a bullet. He's bleeding from it, and he stands up and looks right.

Exposes himself. And says, fight, fight, fight.

That was a moment of courage.

STU: Incredible.

GLENN: That inspired the world.

STU: Should make everyone proud watching this. Even if you don't like him.

The fact that that is the way our country freaking responds.

You try to shoot somebody.

We will put him in office. And he will sign a million executive orders, and he will show that we don't get intimidated by that crap.

Like that is -- that is American, it really is.

It's legitimately inspiring.

And I feel like, I mean, feel like, if you get shot on stage, you automatically get the presidency.

If you're at a rally, you run for president, you get shot on stage. You should win.

GLENN: What's amazing is. What's amazing is. We must know that to be true, until Election Day. Where in any other race, that would have been the winning moment.

STU: Yeah. I mean, it's true!

And we all talk about, you know, resounding victory for Trump.

I can understand it.

There were seven states. He won all seven swing states.

He needed to win one of those three wall blue states. The biggest blowout of those three states was two points.

That's how close we were to freaking Kamala Harris in office today, instead of Donald Trump.

GLENN: Which makes you look at California. I talked to a lot of people in California, last night. Who are here. And I felt bad for them. I happened -- from California to Washington DC. I'm sorry. There is other non-prison territory in the United States.

But, you know, I talked to them about, how is the state faring?

What are they doing? And they all said to me the same thing, if they don't wake up this time, they're not going to. They're not going to.

And it was split half and half, from the people that I talked to, that live in California. Whose houses didn't burn town, but all of their friends and neighbor's houses burned down. They still said, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how this is going to shake out. That's a little terrifying.

Glenn Beck’s LIVE Reaction to Donald Trump’s Second Inaugural Address

President Donald Trump’s second inaugural address let the world know that America is back. Glenn Beck, Stu Burguiere, and fellow BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey give their live reactions to the speech. Trump acknowledged God, proclaimed the day as “Liberation Day” for many Americans, and used “revolution language,” or as Trump put it, “a revolution of common sense.” Trump announced that the US Government will only recognize 2 genders and that he will open America up for drilling, rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, restore the name of Mt. McKinley, stop China from controlling the Panama Canal, and end wars. But Glenn also reveals the one thing Trump said that “disturbed” him because he’s never heard a president say it in his lifetime.