RADIO

THIS is how the far-left RECRUITS Americans into its CULT

The far-left should no longer be considered a ‘woke’ religion, hyper focused on CRT, COVID restrictions, and gender identity. It’s actually worse than that, Glenn argues. The far-left in America has become a CULT — one that recruits, indoctrinates, and preys on vulnerable Americans in order to further its dangerous ideology. James Lindsay, founder of New Discourses, describes to Glenn the specific signs and tactics used by the far-left that prove this cult — one of the largest ones in human history — is a danger to all Americans the longer it persists...

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: James Lindsey, author of Racist Marxist. How are you?

JAMES: I'm all right. Given the circumstances.

GLENN: Everyone always has to say that now. Other than the country burning down, I think we're fine.

Okay. So, James, I want to talk to you about the cult dynamics of wokeness or wokism. I've been laying out for the audience this week. We don't have a problem with too much -- not enough religion. We have too much religion. What we're seeing, with environmentalism, and wokeness. And CRT. Race. Everything.

That is a religion. And it's become a cult. Can you explain how -- how -- because you've done serious work comparing CRT, and gender, and everything else, to cult behavior.

So take the process, and -- and break it up for us. How do these people become members of this cult? How has this happened to half our country?

JAMES: Well, I'll tell you, the first thing people need to understand, you're spot-on. So that's good. It is a religion. Marxism is a religion. If you want a nutshell, especially for Christians in the audience, where the gospel of John says that the logos, is the Christ.

The word became flesh, their religion is a religion of pathos, of emotion, of feeling, of fear, as a matter of fact.

So they have a religion of pathos. It's the largest cult startup in human history, because they've been able to propagandize. So the way you get people into a cult is by manipulating their vulnerability.

It's a very simple process. You make them feel vulnerable about something. And you give them that vulnerability through the doctor. One of the things -- and you'll probably be surprised since we're talking about Marxism that I will bring up here. Is you can tell people, for example, there's a very dangerous virus. This virus is incredibly dangerous. But if you just start wearing a mask, then you will be safer. So you give them a lot of concern, a lot of vulnerability. You make them afraid. And then you tell them something they can do.

And then that will help them protect themselves. Then you tell them, oh, no. It's much worse than we thought. You have to stay home. Oh, no. It's much worse than we thought. You have to get this vaccine. Then step after step after step, you ratchet up the vulnerability, and you give them something in line with the doctrine that they can do, to commit to. And if they do it and if everybody else does it too, then we'll be okay. And that manipulation of vulnerability is exactly how you induce somebody into a cult. And if you want to mass induce a cult, you can see what we did in the media over the last two or three years.

GLENN: So why is it though, the left is susceptible to this, and I guess the right is -- we have their own cult-like kind of things. But when we're talking about let's just say, the masks. It only worked on half the country. At least, it's only still working on half the country.

JAMES: Well, there's been a very long running program. I still think that this is kind of the master key to everything. I've studied communism now for a number of years. And you hear this again and again. Whether it's Mao Zedong or it's Lenin. It doesn't matter. The right-wing people. The right-wing people. The right-wing people. That's the problem. And they've been laying tracks for years, that whatever the political right wants to do is either evil or dumb or uninformed.

GLENN: Right.

JAMES: Or propaganda. And so conservatives equals bad, is actually the -- the big cult. Right-wing equals bad is the big cult. So it's very effective. To get people to fall -- this is called social identity theory. And social psychology.

Get people to fall into two tribes, or multiple tribes that are kind of against one another. We've been laying tracks. I often like to blame Jon Stewart correctly for this. From The Daily Show, as a matter of fact. To make it out, that conservatives are always dumb, always bad intentioned, always bad people.

So you find otherwise smart, intelligent people, who identify as white liberals. Who, in utter fear of being identified as a conservative, will go along with whatever the establishment says. They also just aren't skeptical of that yet. CNN is TV. It's news. They aren't skeptical of that yet. So when they come and say, here's this thing. It's very scary. They get panicked. And then they get drawn into that pathos, to doing what they're being instructed to do, to resolve that feeling of comfort.

GLENN: So the first step is you find something that connects with people emotionally. You show them, wow, we're really vulnerable. This is really bad. But if you just do this. Then you keep moving them down the road. More and more demanding and insidious traits of the cult. And they just kind of are a frog, boiled slowly. The second step is indoctrination. Right?

JAMES: Yeah. That's right. So, for example, the switch examples of the virus and anti-racism, critical race theory.

You tell somebody, that you know these little things that you're doing in your life is racist. They definitely feel vulnerable.

They start getting pulled in. You give them, at some point, a lot of material to read. Not just something they can do, like you can do better. But now you need to read this book by Robin DiAngelo. That explains racism and white fragility. You need to read this book by Ibram Kendi, that tells you how to be an antiracist. You need to start going to these meetings at work, these DEI meetings, and listening to what they have to say. And you just have to start hammering the cult doctrine over and over and over again.

While in the background, you're still running this vulnerability cycling. And then you can really just get people to just get sucked into the worldview, as a matter of fact. That the cult has -- has decided to occupy. And so that -- that is an indoctrination phase. You're still using the vulnerability to get them pulled in deeper and deeper. And to separate, at this point, people who disagree with them. But you also will start to ask them to read large amounts of cult literature. Exposing them to large amounts of information one way or another.

GLENN: Let me push back a little bit. And I'm playing devil's advocate here. But there was a problem in the Jefferson administration. And the problem was the -- the war in Libya. Against the Barbary pirates. And he wanted to explain that this was crazy. And very, very dangerous what was going on. And so he wanted the -- the Koran published in its entirety. Not clips. And so they published the Koran here in the United States, in English. And he said, you have to read this, because this is a threat. And they won't stop. We might stop them this time. But they will continue to come at us. Until God says enough, or we destroy it.

Why is that not a cult. Giving you lots to read.

JAMES: Yeah. I spent most of my day reading Marxism, in some form or another. And Marxism is a gigantic cult. So it's possible to study a cult doctrine, without being pulled into the vulnerability cycling. The -- if the woke call me racist at this point, it doesn't make me feel vulnerable. I think I must have stumbled on something right. So it adds confidence. So I want to understand, so reading through the materials of a cult. That you can understand how the cult thinks. Is not necessarily the same thing, as being pulled into it. Or made to conform into it. As pain of excommunication or pain of abuse, et cetera.

GLENN: So the difference here, Jefferson made people fear. They said, okay. This is a real problem. Here's what you need to do: You need to understand.

But then there was no indoctrination. No making you feel like a bad person. You have to have those other things, correct?

JAMES: Yeah. The Jefferson get the Koran published and tell you, you're not a real American. And you have to leave, if you don't read it. No, of course not. You left the liberty side open. Whereas, you know, if you start getting pulled into the critical race theory cult, they tell you, you need to read Robin DiAngelo, and you refuse to do it, or Ibram Kendi, and you refuse to do it. Well, that's just you trying to protect your racism. That's just you trying to protect your access to whiteness. That's just you trying to keep the status quo. Or your own benefit from it. So they pull that -- see, that's that emotional vulnerability thing that they start ripping on you again. The second you don't comply. Now, if we go back to the masks, if you don't want to wear a mask, you want to kill grandma. We'll never get out of the pandemic if you don't wear your mask. You're hurting everybody, and that's the difference between a cult, and giving people information about something going on. And letting them choose to study it or not.

GLENN: And it is also the reason why they say the -- the conversation is over. The discussion is up. The science is settled. The earth is going to be destroyed. And if you don't agree, you want everybody to die a horrible death.

JAMES: Yeah. And you're just selfish. And want to ride out your last few years with your pickup truck. Having a good time not caring about anybody else. That's the emotional manipulation they're using to bring people into that doctrine.

And like I said, they give you something to do, every single time, which is going to involve reading a lot of literature, to resolve your feelings of tension. Although, these books will bring you further into that. Which will then help you facilitate how you need to be an antiracist better. Or too your part. Or whatever it happens to be, for the greater good.

GLENN: Okay. So when we come back, I want you to talk about deprogramming. Because that's the hard part. And, James, tell me if I'm wrong here.

We've been approaching this with reason and with political arguments. And every time we get mad. Every time we push back, that's what they expect us to do. And so they're prepared for that. They're not prepared for understanding and kindness. With disagreement. And we keep making the problem worse, by the tactics that we currently use. Because we think, it's a normal conversation. But it's not.

It's a conversation with people who have already been brainwashed. Correct?

JAMES: Yeah. That's more or less correct.

GLENN: Okay. So tell me where I'm less correct, when we come back. And so I make sure I understand it clearly. Then show us how to deprogram people. What are the tactics that would help free people back into their own -- in their own choice, and reason.

All right. So, James, can you take us through deprogramming? And why don't we use gender theory as an in?

Can you do that?

JAMES: Yeah. We can give that a go. Deprogramming is extremely hard. I don't want to give people false hope. That we can just -- you'll listen to the program and just talk to people, and they're going to suddenly realize that there are two genders. And everything is great.

GLENN: Right.

JAMES: Yeah. It turns out to be very difficult. Usually what you have with people in a cult, is they have a very sealed, if you will, belief system. So there's an excuse for everything. You say this, they have some excuse for that. And if you want to get to the deprogramming, one of two things has to happen. Either, you have to say something that gets them to kind of go cross-eyed for a second. Where they don't have their hermetically answer available. Or something has to happen in their life that shakes them up a little bit, and causes them to have that initial doubt. It all starts with an initial doubt in the doctrine. Something they can't resolve. When one of those things happens -- this is where I've said, more or less correct, you wanted me to explain how you're a little less correct. They're not totally hermetically sealed. So when somebody experiences doubt, they are also experiencing starvation for reality. They're very hungry for an explanation for what's going on around them. They may only be able to digest so much. For example, many people who have voted Democrat their entire lives right now, are noticing that the sexual grooming going on in the schools, and the cult grooming, which is by and large, more than the sexual grooming that's happening. When they see that, they see something is off.

They know that childhood innocence is something important, something to protect. That children should not be sexualized. Or gender identities, or identity confusion, as a matter of fact. That's where you're going to find that break. And that's when you can start to have an open and honest dialogue. Because they'll be starving for truth. They might not be ready to hear that the Marxists have run a sexualization of children program to overthrow society, since the 1920s, when Derks Lucoch (phonetic) did it in Hungry. They may not be ready for that.

GLENN: I don't know if I'm ready for that. But God bless you for knowing it. So where do you start?

JAMES: Well, you have to start where they are expressing confusion. When you hear somebody say, for example. And you will hear this very many times. What's going on here?

And then you tell people, well -- where you consult with that is with the gender saying, some very bizarre beliefs about gender have taken hold. And the people who have taken a hold of them. Have decided that they have to put into children as early as possible. And then if you really want to throw a wedge in there, you can point out. Everybody says, it's to protect LGBT kids, who don't have maybe the support at home. Or whatever. If you actually read their literature about it, which is why you do have to do what Jefferson and get informed, you'll see they say in their own words that queer theory, which is what is actually informing this, is not about creating a stable LGBTQ identity. It's, in fact, about creating an identity that stays fluid and never solidifies. And if that alarms you about a child, or seems to open them up to grooming, then we can talk further.

GLENN: James Lindsey. He's the founder of new discourses. You can find this at newdiscourses.com. Newdiscourses.com. And he's also the author of race Marxism. Both, I urge you to check out. Back in a minute.

News

How JD Vance & Marco Rubio Became Trump's Not-So-Secret Weapons

Glenn Beck and Stu Burguiere unpack JD Vance’s viral response to a potential 2028 Vance-Rubio presidential ticket, where Vance praises Rubio as his “best friend” and credits Trump’s “grand strategy” for the administration’s success.

RADIO

The SECRET every young man NEEDS to hear

The world has a plentiful, seemingly endless supply of angry boys. What it's lacking is real MEN. Glenn Beck shares the secret that our young men must learn if they truly want to protect and perfect our country.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: There's a difference between a revival and an awakening. We are in a revival right now, but that doesn't necessarily lead to anything. Except, oh, I have to re-learn those principles. But that doesn't mean you apply them in your life. Okay?

That's an awakening. There's been two great awakenings in American history. One brought us the American Revolution. The second one brought us the Civil War and the freedom of slaves.

We have the possibility of going into a third great awakening. That's the only thing that will save us. If you don't know the difference between a revival and an awakening. Let me give you the negative print of a godly awakening. Our kids right now, they don't have any purpose. They don't have any meaning.

They look at everything, and it doesn't -- it's not real. None of it is real. It's money. It's fame.

It's -- you know, it's ever changing truths and definitions. And they have no purpose in their life. Okay?

So they're looking for that. Because man has to have purpose in his life. Man has to search for meaning.

So they're searching for meaning. And they found a group of people that actually mean something. And they're willing to die for it. And it's ISIS.

And so they're like, at least these people believe in something. They believe it. And they're willing to die for it. I'm going to stand with them. And they put that twisted understanding into action. That's the -- that is -- that's an awakening. It's just an awakening to the dark side. And that one is already happening. It has to happen on the good side. And let me speak directly to young men: Look, you are inheriting a very loud, angry, cynical and worst of all spiritually starving and malnourished society. And you are being sold a future of cheap pleasures and hollow heroes and screens with blue light that just rob you of your strength, one distracted second after another.

And in the middle of all that noise, may I just give you one piece of instruction. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report or praise-worthy, seek those things.

Don't admire them. Don't nod at them. Seek them!

Hunt them. Chase them. Build your life around those things. A man who will do that. A boy. A young man who will do that, will become different. Noticeably different.

He will stop letting the culture feed him garbage. He stops applauding the trivial. He stops laughing at the obscene or cheering for the cruel.

He will become a curator of -- of real, lasting beauty in an age that has forgotten what beauty even looks like.

When other men are chasing down or holding up cynicism, this man holds up hope!

When everyone around him is chasing dopamine, he chooses discipline. When others will blame their circumstance, he'll take responsibility for his own action. When the world worships the shallow, he goes and searches for the deep!

You want to know what the secret of becoming strong is, or becoming trusted, or becoming the kind of man that your future wife, your future children, your future nation can depend on?

Here it is!

You become what you seek. If you seek trash, you become trash. If you seek virtue, you become a man of virtue. You seek excellence, and your life will begin to shine, not loudly, but steadily. Like the steel glow of a blade being forged.

That's who you'll be.

The world has a plentiful, seemingly never-ending supply of angry boys. We don't need any more addicted boys.

We don't need any more distracted boys. The world needs men. Whole men. Clear-eyed men.

Men whose souls are anchored to something higher than the algorithms, trying to own them!

Build a life worthy of admiration. Forget about the applause. Fill your mind with words that make you wiser. Fill your days with work, hard work, that makes you stronger. Fill your home with beauty that lifts every soul who walks into it.

Have your home a place where people walk in and go, man, I say so great here. I just love it here. I don't know what it is about your house. I just love it. It's the spirit that's there! Because you built it! You protect it.

Protect your integrity like a watchman on the wall. Don't lie. Don't cheat. Don't steal. And when you fail, and you will, stand back up again.

Because a man who seeks the virtuous, is not a man who never fails. He just -- he just becomes a man who refuses to stay on the ground.

If you seek things that are lovely and pure, trustworthy, praiseworthy, you'll become a kind of man this age almost never produces. A man whose very existence is a rebuke to the darkness.

That's your calling. That's why you were born.

Not to be lost. Not to play video games. Not to give up. Not to say, there's no hope. Not to end up in the trash bin of human history because you've -- you've taken so many drugs, you can't stand up straight anymore.

You're not destined to be alone.

You were destined for great things. You are destined to find an amazing woman!

Believe me. I didn't think I would ever find an amazing woman. Because I didn't think I was worth it. I didn't think I was worth it.

And until I started understanding how God works. That, yeah. I'm not worth any of the stuff that I have.

When you realize, it's all a gift. It's all a gift. And even if you work your brains out, you may not ever get all the things that you want. But you're going to have everything you need. Once you realize, carefully selecting friends makes a difference. My mother used to always say, show me your friends. I will show you your future.

It's true. Be careful who you select as friends. Watch your language. Watch what you're putting into your brain and what's coming out of your mouth. Because the brain is so amazing. It's being turned to mush. Did you know that there is a new study that just came out. I have to tell you about it next week, maybe.

New study going out. It is -- it's AI. And it has access to social media, and they have found that the AI -- the AI that is scrolling through social media all day, just to keep updated on everything that's going on in social media. It's getting brain mush. It's actually becoming dumber. It's become less effective!

It's a machine. What do you think this, flesh and blood, this thing is going to do?

We say life is meaningless. And life is the only thing that has any value. And yet, we spend all of our time, on things like social media. And that has absolutely no value.

But we think that's life.

I'm not that smart. I've just lived a long time. And I've made so many mistakes.

And I decided at one point, I'm going to stop saying, it's somebody else's fault. I'm going to start saying. Maybe -- what did I do to create that?

What did I do to attract that?

Why does this thing keep happening to me?

Why is it that I always find myself involved with these same kind of people?

Because, Glenn, dummy, it's you!

What you think, it's like -- it's like think of yourself as a -- as a beacon. It's just -- you're a beacon. Your GPS pin, that is constantly saying, here I am. Here I am. Here I am.

Except, it's transmitting more than just your location. It's -- it's transmitting what you're looking for, who you are. And it's attracting other dropped pins to you. It's saying, "I like this. I think this way. I believe these things. I am afraid of these things."

Whatever it is, you're thinking. It's constantly putting that out.

And saying, here I am. Is there anything else like that?

Anything else that can reinforce that? Anything else that can live like this?

Because that's me. Here I am. Here I am. Here I am.

That's why you keep finding yourself in exactly the same situations. Nothing will change, if nothing changes!

And the only thing that you can change, is you!

Seek the things, that have virtue.

Seek the things, that have beauty in music, in -- in art, in life, in architecture, in clothing! Whatever it is. Look for real, lasting beauty and value.

Find the things that are true! Truly true.

Universally true. Find the things that uplift. Seek those things!

And you will change your life and your world!

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Autistic Kids Can READ MINDS? ‘Telepathy Tapes’ Doctor Reveals All | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 273

Autism may not be a curse ... "it may be a blessing that we just don’t understand yet,” says Glenn Beck to groundbreaking neuroscientist Dr. Diane Hennacy, whose research into the telepathic powers of autistic children left the nation stunned in “The Telepathy Tapes” podcast series. The pair go on a mind-bending exploration into psychic phenomena, savant syndrome, the secret messages in our dreams, and the possibility of a spiritual meeting place for autistic children guarded by angels. Glenn says, “This will make you reconsider everything you think you know about autism, the brain, ESP, human consciousness, everything.” That is, only if we’re willing to leave “scientism” behind us and embrace the fact that reality is much more than the material world ...

RADIO

This will CHANGE how you think about NUCLEAR WAR

The new Netflix movie “A House of Dynamite” has caused a stir at the Pentagon and led many Americans to change how they think about nuclear war. The film’s writer, Noah Oppenheim, joins Glenn Beck to address the controversy and explain why his movie ends the shocking way it does…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Noah, welcome to the program.

NOAH: Thank you so much for having me.

GLENN: You bet. I have to tell you, your movie, frustrating, because it ends. And I'm like, wait, there should be five more episodes.
This should just not be a 90-minute movie. There's so much more.

Really compelling the way you told the story. So congratulations on that. First question: Are there going to be sequels?

NOAH: Well, first of all, thank you very much. I really appreciate it. It means a lot coming from you.

There is no plan for a sequel. You know, we -- we wanted the movie to be a provocation, in the best sense of the word. You know, a provocation to a larger conversation about this nuclear issue, which I'm so glad to be having with you right now.

GLENN: Yeah. Was your primary source the Annie Jacobson book, or was that just one of many? Did you go to government sources?

How did you get all this information?

NOAH: We spoke to a wide variety of people, who had worked in places like the White House, the CIA, strategic command.

We -- you know, I had worked as a journalist, previously. And so new folks who had held these kinds of jobs, Kathryn Bigelow, who is the director of the movie had made Hurt Locker, Zero Dark 30. So she has extraordinary relationships in the national security world. And obviously, there is some incredible body of work that has been done over the past several decades.

Think tank folks, authors, journalists, et cetera.

And, you know, it's surprising how much -- a lot of this information is in the public domain. In terms of what procedures the government would follow. In -- in case of an attack like this.

And then a lot of it, you know, you can build by talking to sources. You know, much like you would do, if you were trying to report out a story or get to the bottom of something.

GLENN: You know, it's amazing to me, that most presidents don't ever ask for training on this.

They don't -- they don't do dry runs. This is -- you're the one person that could change the whole world. In 15 minutes.

And you're coming into it, most of them are coming into it, absolutely dead cold. If something would happen. They don't -- they don't know how it works.

And this is not something. I don't know how you would make the decision, in that amount of time.

NOAH: Yeah. Two of the most terrifying things that we -- that we zeroed on early was this question of sole authority and decision time. Right? So the idea that in the United States we live in a nuclear monarchy, the president of the United States has the sole authority to determine whether these weapons are used. It's not like he has to build any kind of consensus with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has to decide. He has to decide under extraordinary time pressures.

So if a missile is launched from the Pacific theater. That part of the world. It's under 30 minutes to impact on the continental United States.

If a missile is launched off our coast by a Russian sub, for instance, it would take ten to 12 minutes. So you do have a scenario, in which one person has arguably the fate of all mankind in their hands, and they have a clock ticking. And, you know, depending on where they are, and what the target is. They're probably running for their life or being evacuated. Worrying about their own family.

And it's all put to them, what you want to do.

And if you -- that's not scary enough. The cherry on top is, we spoke to people who had worked directly with presidents. Directly with secretaries of defense. And we said, how often is the president rehearsing this. Practicing for it. Preparing. And they said never.

Basically never. They get one briefing when they take office, or they're introduced to the military. We're all familiar with the guy who follows him around with the suitcase. The nuclear football, if you will. Their process is explained, how that would work. And then after that, they never think about that again.

And, you know, Ronald Reagan, we were told, was the last president who participated in any kind of live nuclear decision-making exercise.

And it's -- and so the -- the guy who has the most responsibility, all the authority, is also arguably, the least practiced and prepared of any one of his --

GLENN: It's really.

It's terrifying.

You know, I've talked to President Trump about nuclear capability.

And I will tell you, you can say whatever you want about Donald Trump.

But one thing I know he's afraid of, is nuclear war.

He -- that has kept him awake, night after night after night.

He knows. Like Reagan did. And Gorbachev did.

You start that, you push that button. It's over. It's all over.

There's -- I mean, you hinted at it, you know, when you -- you were like, I've got -- if we fly these missiles over this country, what are they going to -- are they going to perceive this as a threat?

You know, missiles with Russia. I think in the movie, you've got Russia saying, how do we know you're not going to bomb -- we should just trust you?

It's over!

NOAH: Yeah. All of which begs the question, I think, for President Trump and for all of our leaders, what do we do about it?

You know, how do we solve this problem? We've lived with this threat, in the background of all of our lives, since the dawn of the nuclear age.

Despite my last name, not related to Oppenheimer.

GLENN: Half the name.

NOAH: We've lived with this dynamite in the walls.

For so many decades now. And really, since the end of the Cold War. We haven't really thought or talked about it very much.

It obviously is on President Trump's mind.

He does talk about it. He talks about trying to build the Golden Globe. And a better defense missile system.

You know, I think -- I think this question of, how do we make the world safer?

And it may be, part of that is building a better missile defense system. It may be part of it is reengaging with an arms control and an arms reduction process. Right?

You start our last remaining treaty with the Russians, that -- that governs the development and, you know, proliferation of these weapons. Is set to expire at the end of the year. Maybe we should engage in a process with Russia and China. To try to dramatically reduce the nuclear stockpile.

There are a lot of levers, that the president can pull to try to make you us all safer.

GLENN: So part of the controversy with your -- your movie, which is House of Dynamite, and it's on Netflix.

Part of the controversy, I guess, with the -- with the Pentagon is that the ground-based missile, interoceptors, and the interoceptors, you say it's 60 percent success. I think -- I think Annie Jacobson says, it's like close to zero.

And the Pentagon says it's 100 percent every time. What do you think it really is?

Is it 60?

NOAH: So there's a few factors involved here. The record of -- the testing record for this system, which was the ground-based mid-course interoceptors, is -- is public.

And it is 61 percent. They have done a series of tests over the last 25 years.

And if you add up the -- you know, the number of successes, over the number of failures, it comes to 61 percent.

The -- the Pentagon in their memo, is trying to say that the last several tests have been successful.

The previous ones were not.

So they say, if you only count the most recent ones, it's 100 percent.

That's like saying, I made my last -- I made my last two free throws. So I am a 100 percent free throw shooter --

GLENN: Exactly right.

NOAH: Yeah. So that being said, they're not wrong, in that that the system is getting better.

The software is getting better.

All of it is improving. It's nowhere close to being able to say, it's 100 percent effective. And part of that also comes down to the conditions under which these tests are undertaken. Right?

If I tell you, Glenn, I'm going to throw a baseball at your head. It's a lot easier for you to brace yourself and be ready and catch that baseball.

If an attack were to happen in the real world, it's far less likely, you know, it's far more complicated to defend against.

So, you know, this though, is not a debate between, you know, us as film makers and the Pentagon. It's really a debate between the Pentagon and a much wider community of experts, about the efficacy of this system.

You know, like I said, it's a good conversation to have. Do we want to improve the system.

Do we want --

GLENN: Yes, we do.

NOAH: -- to get more and more money to build something like Golden Dome?

GLENN: Yes, yes, we do.

Yes, we do.

The -- one thing that you didn't hint on, that was in Annie's book that I thought was fascinating. Was that when the president has to finally make the decision, he still doesn't know if it's nuclear-tipped.

There could be a conventional weapon on a ballistic missile, that is being sent by North Korea, let's say.

I mean, it would be an incredible waste.

But, you know, if we launch, before the missile hits, we don't even know if that's nuclear.

And we would have then started a nuclear war. Because we're launching nuclear weapons.

And they didn't!

NOAH: I think that one of the things that we're trying to capture in the story that we taught, which, of course, is a fictional story. Is the difficulty of making decisions in the thick of war.

And that particularly, when you have such a tight decision window. When that clock is winding down, so rapidly. It's -- you're going to find yourself being forced to make calls with imperfect and incomplete information.

And the other thing that is scary, is that the system that we built to -- that governs the use of nuclear weapons was designed during the Cold War for a specific purpose.

It was to make sure that the Soviets believed they could never get away with a first strike.

That if they launched missiles at us. The president would be able to fire back, so quickly. That our decision-making. Our command and control apparatus. Would be able to retaliate.

And so maintaining that deterrent threat, we needed to make sure that the president could respond, and retaliate as quickly and as easily as possible.

So that's the world we still live in now.

And so, again, if one domino falls, there's not a lot of breaks built into this.

The idea is to make it easy for the president to fire back.

And so, yeah. The mistakes can be made. I think it's miraculous, frankly, that we're all still here.

GLENN: It is. It is.

It really is.

Noah Oppenheim. We're talking about the show on Netflix called House of Dynamite. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a must-watch. It is an absolutely thrilling 90 minutes, that will scare the living daylights out of you. Because you'll be like, that can't be true! Right? That's not the way this works. No, that's exactly the way it works. And we're talking about nuclear war. We will come back for a little bit more here.

I want to know, Noah, because I made a decision, what I would do. But I think that is what would make me a really bad president, maybe.

I would love to hear if you guys had a debate, internally. And decided what you would do, if you were the president in that exact situation. We'll come back in just a situation. First, let me tell you about Chapter. There's a good chance, you've already heard it on TV. The Medicare deadline is coming. It's true. It's December 7th. And that's not far away.

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(music)

GLENN: From House of Dynamite.
(music)

VOICE: Approximately three minutes ago, we detected an ICBM over the Pacific. Current flight trajectory is consistent with impact in the continental United States.

VOICE: Have we seen dead people fall?

VOICE: No.

VOICE: Is this real?
(music)

VOICE: Chi-Com is asking for the launch instructions right now.

VOICE: I'm going to need you to breathe. You're talking about hitting a bullet with a bullet.

VOICE: So what's the point? Us. That's what $50 million buys you!

VOICE: Get in the car, and just start driving.

VOICE: If we do not take steps to neutralize our enemies, now, we will lose our window to do so!

VOICE: If we get this wrong, none of us are going to be alive tomorrow.

VOICE: We did everything right. Right?
(music)

VOICE: We did everything right!

VOICE: None of this makes sense. Making all these bombs and all these planets.
(music)

GLENN: It is --

VOICE: The world is just ready to blow.

GLENN: It is remarkable. House of Dynamite on Netflix.

I'm talking to the screenwriter. The screenwriter and the movie maker, Noah Oppenheim. Noah, there's one part of this I don't understand.

And maybe this is what would make me a bad president.

Because I would say, I am not striking until that thing hits. And we know that it's hit.

And it's blown up one of our cities. And then I'm going to wait. And I'm going to say immediately to the world. Everyone in the world, you isolate, and -- and take action against this guy. Or I will have no other response.

I have no choice, than hit him back.

But I would take the one hit, in order to try to save the whole world.

Why can't the president wait?

Why is it this constant, you've got to launch before it hits?

Why?

NOAH: I don't think that would make you a bad president at all.

I think that's a perfectly reasonable response to the situation.

I think that the counterpoint would be the -- the argument made by one of our characters. The generals in STRATCOM, who says, if you don't -- now that the genie is out of the bottle.

Right?

Now that somebody has kind of broken this nuclear stalemate that's existed for the last 70 years. That if we don't -- it is now increasingly dangerous. It is increasingly more likely that more weapons logical be launched our way.

We've now entered into what they call a spiral of alerts. Where bays that missile. The one missile is coming towards us. We then raise our level of military readiness. Start mobilizing forces. As soon as we start mobilizing our various forces around the world.

Everybody else does too. Now the nuclear genie is potentially out of the bottle. And do we want to wait and see if more missiles are sent our way. Or do we want to try to make sure that it stops with this one.

And take out the other -- you're enemy's arsenals and command and control systems, before they can potentially launch more.

I agree with you. It's perfectly reasonable to say, I'll take that chance.

There are more coming.

But I want to see what happens with this one first. Somebody else might say, don't take that chance. What are the odds it's only one?

Let's hit everyone else's missiles while they're still in their silos, and their bombers while they're still on the ground and make sure that we limit our losses to just this one city.

GLENN: Jeez. Once you do that, it's over anyway. Once you do that.

NOAH: Yes. That's arguably the insanity of the nuclear deterrent.

Which is once you do -- it's -- it's we destroy the entire world, as a means of defending ourselves.

GLENN: Yeah. Noah, great job. I hope there's a sequel. I would love to see what the president -- what he would choose. Noah Oppenheim.

The -- the show is, a House of Dynamite.