RADIOOctober 16, 2023

Second Armenian genocide? Ancient Christian population TARGETED in Middle East

As the world reacts to the horrors committed by Hamas in Israel, Glenn wants to bring attention to another tragedy as well: Azerbaijan's continued genocide of the Armenian people. Former International Religious Freedom Ambassador at Large Samuel Brownback joins Glenn to explain the current crisis as Azerbaijan attempts to cut off an Armenian enclave: "This is yet another ancient Christian population being driven out of the Middle East region." And he argues that this is yet another move by the "Axis of Evil" countries to gain power around the world as the United States looks the other way. So, what should the country — and we the people — do?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Something that hasn't gotten attention, that should have is what's happening in Armenia. And all I can think of is -- Kurcrapistan.

But it's Azerbaijan. Thank you, Stu.

In Azerbaijan. There's a liquidation going on. A genocide going on.

Again, of the Armenian people. The Armenian people are the first -- that's the first Christian nation on earth.

And it is the -- it is the Armenian Genocide. Around World War I, that actually taught Hitler, I can go just erase a whole bunch of people, and the world won't say anything about it.

You know, when they say that history repeats itself, some will say, no, it doesn't. Well, maybe it rhymes.

This is history repeating itself.

Currently, under the gun. The liquidation of Christians, Armenian Christians, and Jews.

Ambassador Brownback is with us now. Sam Brownback. He's the National Committee for the Religious Freedom -- he's chairman of that.

He's also an ambassador at large and former Kansas governor and good friend of the program. Sam, how are you, sir?

SAM: Hey, I'm doing well, Glenn. And thank you for addressing this topic. It's just getting precious little play, and more people need to know about.

GLENN: We have been following it, from really the beginning. We've been doing it quietly. Because there's not a lot of people that know about it. And it's getting no play. And it needs to be understood.

So you were just there. Can you -- you can tell us what's happening?

SAM: Yes. You've got Turkey. Basically, behind Azerbaijan. And it's best to think of Azerbaijan like Belarus is to Russia. Turkey is the puppet master here.

And they are pushing and allowing and giving military armament to Azerbaijan, as we have.

And they're -- they're pushing to have this done, while the Biden administration is looking another way. Or is being reckless in our response.

That's basically what has happened. They have long-term wanted Armenia and these Christian enclaves out of there. It's a bone in their throat. Erdogan, the head of Turkey is an Islamist. He wants to take over the world. Certainly, this region. And he's doing this while the United States is distracted.

GLENN: We have 100,000 refugees in you, from this region in Azerbaijan.

It is -- it's almost like a Native American reservation here in America. It's right smack in the middle, surrounded by Azerbaijan.

But it's Armenian. And there's this corridor, that connects to Armenia. And they have been starving these people out.

They have been cutting off everything.

About 100,000 have escaped. How many more are there?

SAM: Probably 20,000, that are still there.

But here again, Glenn, and this is the big point to me, is this is yet another ancient Christian population, being driven out of this Middle East, kind of extended region.

And what will happen, they will go to Armenia.

They'll be absorbed into Europe, into the United States. Australia, Canada, but it will be another one gone.

And we just kind of -- we have had tools to sanctions Azerbaijan, to sanction Turkey.

To press, and put some real teeth out there.

We can stop the army in Azerbaijan, and we have not used any of these tools that are readily available to the administration.

GLENN: How connected is this, to what's happening in Israel?

SAM: Well, I argued that Armenia is to Christendom, what Israel is to Judaism. It's kind of the first, and Israel is the only Jewish nation, and Armenia is the first. And you've got Muslim populations surrounding both.

Trying to kick them out.

And this is a play you see often, in the Middle East.

Where there's just not tolerance for Christians or Jews. And that's why I've been pushing so much for religious freedom for everybody, everywhere. And this is the standard by which governments and nations should stand by.

And we're certainly not seeing it taking place in either of these situations.

GLENN: Talking to ambassador Sam Brownback.

Sam, the -- the administration, you know, you say is asleep at the switch.

But I have a hard time believing that all of these things. I mean, if you see what is -- how much money this administration has been sending Iran without us even really knowing it. They're on the wrong side of things.

But would you say that this is the way the world looks? If we don't turn America around?

SAM: Yes. Look, what you've -- you've got an axis of evil. Evil axis. Malign evil. Whatever you want to call it. Between Iran, Russia, and China.

And they are out to take over the world.

And they have been losing ground.

But now, they are out there pushing to gain background.

So Russia goes after Ukraine.

Iran is behind Hamas and Hezbollah. And pushing on Israel.

Turkey, a regional player, is saying, let's go get these Armenians, which we have wanted to do, for a thousand years.

Let's do it now. While we have an administration in Washington, that won't -- that won't fight back.

Did use the tools that is available.

And I have no idea, honestly, Glenn. Why the Biden administration isn't doing more. They have the tools.

We have the ability to do this.

And we're simply not acting here.

GLENN: What do you suggest, Sam?

What can we do?

What can people do?

SAM: Well, they can push Congress.

And I -- I hope people, even will write the administration.

But they can -- Congress can step up and do -- and put this a lot more out there, on the -- on the map.

Would be something that people could help -- could help out with.

Because we've got to sanction Azerbaijan. We have to sanction Turkey.

And, right now, we have to really go after Iran. They're the puppet master on Hamas and Hezbollah. Hamas and Hezbollah do not act without Iran.

And we have been sending money to Iran. Instead of sanctioning Iran, as you point out.

This has to stop. And people need to yell about it. And call into radio programs. And put it out on their social media.

Iran and this axis of evil. And Turkey as a regional player, just seeking to take over the world, while we're not acting at all.

GLENN: Sam, I appreciate everything that you guys are doing.

You can tell me a little bit about the 125 reasons coalition?

ANN: It's a group of Christians and Jews, primarily, that are trying to stand up for this ancient, Christian population.

And saying, they need to be able to live, in their native homeland. That's been native to them. For thousands of years.

And not being driven out. And that's what this coalition is standing up and pushing.

And it's one of the coalitions that is trying to get some publicity. Some knowledge of the people out there. About this ancient Christian population

Of Armenians. That are primarily orthodox Christians. But love their faith. Love God.

And have been driven out. And in a second genocide.

GLENN: Senator, thank you so much -- or, sorry, Ambassador Brownback, thank you so much for being on with us.

Appreciate all you do.

SAM: Thank you, Glenn.

GLENN: You bet.

OneHundredTwentyThousandReasons.org. OneHundredTwentyThousandReasons.org.

This is something that everybody should check out. And you should share it with your church.

We have got to do more. There is -- Stu said to me, about 15 minutes ago. There's not a lot of good. I've not seen a lot of right in the world.

I am. And let me tell you about it.

As I said to Sam. And I don't even know if he knows this.

But the Nazarene Fund is on the ground.

In Armenia. And Azerbaijan.

We have been doing this, quietly, because there's -- you're -- you're so focused on other things.

But we know what's going on, and it's time now to pay attention.

Because it is -- with what happened in Iran, this is going to run all across the world.

So we are on the ground, right now, helping with temporary housing, and life-sustaining food and medicine.

We are looking to move those who are in danger, away from the border. And the dangerous areas.

There's 100,000 refugees, right now, in Armenia. Practice have and the media concern is just securing warm shelter.

Before the winter arrives.

It's unforgiving in Armenia.

We deployed in Armenia, began -- began our work there.

Preliminary results suggests 300 to 400 Armenians are unaccounted for. Some have chosen to remain in their home enclave, while others have feared being injured or killed or facing imminent danger from Azerbaijani forces.

Some of the casualties are the result of large explosions at a crowded gas station, which left dozens of dead people, and unaccounted.

We are in contact with 15 to 20 families, whose loved ones, predominantly men, are missing.

Our team has already located, recovered, and removed the remains of a father and his son, who were across the border, providing some closure for their families.

Also, residents of border towns, many of whom have family members, considered as war heroes, are currently under threat.

We're committed to their protection.

Our team has also begun extending financial assistance for rent and medical care and food, to numerous families.

There is grave concerns, that this is going to get much, much worse.

These are Christians. That just want to be left alone.

They are the oldest Christian nation.

And they are being liquidated.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

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

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

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

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

INSIDE Trump’s soul: How a bullet changed his heart forever

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

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

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

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

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

I just enjoy the way you tell stories.

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

It's really good.

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

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

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

Since 2006? 2005?

Like 20 years, right?

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it did accomplish a lot of things.

Donald Trump is a result of the Tea Party.

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

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

SALENA: That's absolutely right.

So that was the inception.

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

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

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

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

It was independents. It was Democrats.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Changed the trajectory, changed the mood.

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

SALENA: Yeah.

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

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

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

I'm 4 feet away from the president.

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

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

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

As opposed to what happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To project that we will not be defeated.

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

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

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

And galvanized people.

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

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

I've got to get up.

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

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

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

You're not afraid. Get up.

Get up.

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

Stand up. How do you think that actually happened?

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

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

You know, he -- he thought, yes.

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

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

That our country is resolute.

And I need people to see that.

We can't go on looking like pathetic.

Right?

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

GLENN: You have been with so many presidents.

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

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

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

You know, waving out the window. Right?

After he was shot.

GLENN: At the hospital, right.

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

Because he was someone who deeply believed in American exceptionalism.

And American exceptionalism does not go lay on the ground.

GLENN: And the symbol.

Right. The symbol of the presidency.

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

GLENN: So let me go back to God.

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

He calls you up.

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

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

It's just a great part.

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

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

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

Even though, he was.

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

I became a Christian at Gettysburg.

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

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

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

GLENN: Crazy.

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

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

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

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

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

Right?

Because it went right over my head.

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

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

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

And how God was in that moment.

It --

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

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

He said, but now that this has happened.

I look back at all of the trials.

All of the tribulations. Literally, the trials.

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

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

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

To give him that space, to work it out.

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

I'm Catholic. I followed my faith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I never turn my head away.

Why did I turn my head away?

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

Yes, sir. It was. It was God.

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

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

You see that purpose, every day.

He doesn't let up.

He continues going.

And it brings back to the beginning of the book.

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

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

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

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

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