The Glenn Beck Program - Best of The Program | Guests: Ian Smith & Rob Smith | 7/28/20

Episode Date: July 29, 2020

Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith gives the latest updates in his battle against government tyranny after he was arrested for refusing to close down. The Democrats’ insane grilling of Attorney General Barr is a new low. “Always a Soldier” author Rob Smith explains why coming out as conservative was harder than coming out as gay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Welcome to the podcast. Glenn starts the show today with a little bit about preserving history. We've lost the cream of wheat guy. We've lost Aunt Jemima. We're losing all of these things from our history.

And they're just being erased. Glenn is out to preserve history and I'll go through his efforts there. Joe Biden in his ties to the KKK. You like that one. By the way, that was the subject of Stu Does America. Stu does Biden in the KKK last night. You can check that out on YouTube. Just search for Stu.

It would be the first one there. also Ian Smith joins us he's one of the jersey gym owners who has been arrested for the crime of opening his business seems very strange but that's where we are today we go through the bar hearing yesterday what a disaster get through all the details of that Rob Smith joins us Keith Sullivan joins us as well it's a it's a great program today make sure to check it out you can subscribe to the podcast here we would really appreciate that and rate it with five stars Because five stars is the appropriate amount of stars. You'd also go over to Stu Does America, and please subscribe there as well. New episodes every day for free. You know how this thing works. And you can get the shows on YouTube as well. Also, quick mention here, Glenn is up for the Radio Hall of Fame.

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This is the gym that went up against the New Jersey governor and was defying the shutdown order. When we first talked to him, it was when he first got into this squabble and the police at first said they're not going to do anything. Then they started doing things. He has bent over backwards to make sure that everybody is safe. and now we're now they've been arrested over this. Ian's with us now. Hi Ian. Hi, Glenn. Good morning. Welcome back to the program. So tell me what the latest is and what you guys are facing.

Okay, so last time we spoke, I think we were about midway through the week that we had first opened in May. And like you said, at first the police weren't doing anything. And then Governor Murphy put the screws to them. and threatened to withdraw funding from the department if they didn't hand out citations. So we were getting hit with citation after citation. That week, my partner and I got 12 in total. And then the health department was then weaponized against us, and eventually by the end of the week, Governor Murphy got Judge Robert Loogie, who is sort of his right-hand man and signs off on anything that he wants to shut us down via a court order

and had our locks physically changed on us by the end of the week. We worked through the court system, and it took about a little over a month to get them opened, and then we resumed operations outside, and then eventually inside on July 4th. July 4th, we said we had enough of sort of dragging the entire gym outside, and we decided, you know, what better day to get arrested than Independence Day. So that didn't come for almost another two weeks. And on Monday morning this week, after we lost a contempt of conference, court case last Friday, in which the governor requested that the judge grant him extraordinary

measures to stop us. My partner and I had removed the doors from the building so that they could not physically change our locks. We had two weeks worth of closing, and we were prepared to stay inside for as long as possible until we were forcibly removed. We were inside for four days, and come Monday morning at 5'10 in the a.m., the county sheriffs came in with the county prosecutor and had us forcibly removed, handcuffed, arrested, and booked, while Governor Murphy then constructed a plywood barrier over where our doors used to be.

We were charged with three charges. They're extremely petty charges. They're a fourth-degree obstruction, fourth-degree disorderly persons, and a violation of an emergency powers act, which is such an archaic statute that might be. The partner and I had a good laugh as we were sitting in the holding cell because the police were trying to put it into the computer. And it's such an archaic statute that the computer didn't even recognize what it was. So they had the right of it manually.

So what are you guys really facing now, Ian? Actually, today we have our hearing on those first 12 charges. So I guess we'll kind of see what comes with that, you know, how the judges want to handle that. oddly enough, we are the only cases in the entire state that have not been dismissed by the Attorney General. All of the cases that went with the George Floyd protests for rioting and protesting all got dismissed. However, Frank and I's charges have remained firm and they will not be dropping them. They're looking to prosecute us. I guess we'll see how that turns out today.

And then on top of that, we got three new charges each on Monday. So we'll see how that turns out. It's probably going to be a lot of fines, potential jail time, I guess. If he wants to go and do that, it is in the statute that we could potentially face some jail time for it. But I guess we'll see. Boy, you want to talk about fairness and equality when you've got one group of people treated one way and another treated the way you're treated. There is no such thing as real justice. We are in the land of social justice now.

So, I mean, you're facing possible jail time. Nobody wants to go to jail. Why are you doing this? You know, I said it on Tucker Cross and the other night. You know, I'm not afraid of tyrants. You can threaten me with jail time. You can threaten me with financial ruin. But what I'm standing for is what I believe in my heart,

and I think what most Americans believe to be right. these shutdowns are unconstitutional. They are very clearly a power grab and very clearly a political play by certain individuals in politics, and I won't stand for it. You won't ruin my life to use me as fodder in a political war. I'll stand up to that any day or the week, regardless of the consequences, because that just doesn't scare me. It scares most people.

is it do you think that's why they're coming after you so hard is you've got to shut down anybody who shows no fear absolutely absolutely i think i think that the longer um the longer that people uh like myself and my partner because we are we're not the only ones although we may be few and far between um the longer that people like us stand up the more it um it builds the confidence and removes the fear from other people, and I think that they are desperate to shut that down because every day that I speak and every day that people

discover my social media and see what's happening to me and the fact that we just keep going, it weakens their hold over the American psyche. They have this fear that grips most people, and I think that they rely heavily on that

fear, and every day that I keep talking, they're losing that. So I think they are in a Matt Dash to shut us up. You had a lot of people from the community, in fact, not just your community from all over America that came to support. Tell me about the people who are showing up and have shown up. We have met so many amazing people through all this, people from all walks of life, people

from all ends of the political spectrum, too, which I thought was interesting. You know, we've had veterans, cops, firefighters, people. that serve the community and serve their country. You know, we've had people that kind of fall more on the left, you know, at least on the moderate side of the left, come out and show us support because in their hearts, they know what's happening as wrong, too. So the range of support has been absolutely incredible.

You know, we get phone calls every day from people that just want to call and figure out how they can help or say a kind word or tell us that they are behind us. And it's been nothing short of phenomenal. all and it's given us the strength to continue because if we had stood up and there was nobody supporting us it's likely we would have crumbled by now, but the fact that there are so many

people that are invigorated by what we are doing gives us that strength to keep going no matter what the consequences are. Do you ever have moments where you think what am I doing? No, because this is what's right.

And, you know, if this is this fight came to Frank and I we didn't we didn't ask for this this came on our doorstep and we decided that we were going to step up to the plate and when we did you know we made a promise to each other that we were going to see it through and that that this was this was going to be our fight so you know it's a little crazy sometimes

I it's hard to remember what life was like five months ago before this all started and even you know 70 two days ago before this really started when we reopened. But I wouldn't, I would never take it back and, you know, you give me the opportunity to change my mind a hundred times. And I'm going to say no, because we're determined to make a change and to make an impact that it take a stand against what is clearly wrong.

You know, you can't justify what you're doing, Governor Murphy. You can't. It's wrong. And he's clearly made this personal at this point. And the longer that this goes on, I think the stupider he looks. You're out of jail, obviously now. Um, yes. Uh, and are the doors still plywood over? They are still covered in plywood.

Yes. But, uh, my partner and I took the day off on Monday, uh, to get some sort of much, much needed rest and recharge our batteries physically, emotionally, you know. Um, so, uh, yesterday we had a couple meetings and, and we have, we have some plans, uh, that we, that we aren't quite finalized yet, but I think on, uh, um, on Saturday, we're going to surprise Murphy with yet another

someone in his side. I don't think he's going to be too happy with us once again, but, you know, oh well. And when is that? Most likely Saturday. We're just kind of ironing out the details legally and

logistically. But on Saturday, I'll probably announce it. I'll be speaking at a rally. in Trenton on Thursday, and I'll probably announce it then, and I'll put an announcement on my social media about what's going to happen and when. But yeah, he's, we have a, we're not out of the flight, yeah.

A little bit of plywood isn't going to stop us, you know. If anybody's ever seen the kind of people that work out in the gym that I own, a little Bob the builder set up of plywood it is not going to stop us from opening our business. Good for you, Ian. Appreciate your spirit, and I appreciate the fact that you are doing all of this legally. You're not setting things on fire.

You're not being like the left is. You are just exercising your God-given rights. Ian Smith, thank you so much. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program. One of the most agonizing congressional inquiries I've ever had to suffer through, and that is actually saying a lot because they all. all suck. But for hours, one by one, Democrats were grilling Bill Barr, but they decided they didn't want to hear any of his answers. They just wanted to get it out on the record that they

despise him as an attorney general. And they descended on him like a pack of wild rabid dogs. Listen to this. Reclaiming my time. Yeah, I'm answering your question. Well, you got to let him answer. Reclaiming my time. On February 10th, sir. On February 10th, I directed. Reclaiming my time, sir. Reclaiming my time. And I know you don't want to answer.

You are wrong, Mr. Turingell. No, that was, he's found the investigation had been initiated properly. He said he found. Reclaiming my time without political bias. He said he's an evident. Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time. That's what the video is from.

Without, without any remedy. I'm reclaiming my time. When people resist law enforcement, they're not peaceful. flaming my time. I'm surprised at your lack of respect. Gentlemen, does not have the time. I don't want the time. I just want the attorney general to be able to have enough time to respond to accusations and questions ask him, and you guys not cut him off. What you want is irrelevant. That's what it was like. The back and forth between the members of the Judiciary Committee exploded into outright ridiculousness yesterday.

yield back. I would remind Mr. Jordan, Mr. Biggs, and Mr. Johnson to stop violating the rules of the committee, to stop violating the safety of the members of the committee, to stop holding themselves out as not caring by refusing to wear their masks. Is it permissible to drink a sip of coffee? It is not permissible. We can't drink coffee in the room now. That's what they were arguing about yesterday. And by the way, if you didn't see the, video, that's, that's Nadler saying that with his mask dangling off his chin. The Democrats came to argue they didn't care to hear anything from the Attorney General. And when their arguments clearly lacked any real substance, they yelled and screamed about coffee. If you thought what happened to Brett Kavanaugh was bad, the assault on bar was, it set a new

low yesterday. Jim Jordan's opening statement ended with a very long video showing the brutality of some of the riots. Americans are not stupid. We know what's going on in places like Portland. I hate to even gratify what was done yesterday with more airtime, but here's a small snippet of what Bill Barr had to endure yesterday. A neutral criteria. But you can't tell me whether you discuss. No, I'm not going to discuss what I discussed with a... Can you commit today that the department will not use federal law enforcement as a prop in the presidency election campaign? I just want to close with this thought.

You really can't hide behind legal fictions this time, Mr. Barr. It's all out in the open, where the people can see what you are doing for themselves. The president wants footage for his campaign ads, and you appear to be serving it up to him as ordered. In most of these cities, the protests had begun to wind down before you marched in and confronted the protesters. And the protesters aren't mobs. they are mothers and veterans and mayors. In this moment, real leadership would entail de-escalation, collaboration, and looking for ways to peaceably resolve our differences.

Instead, you use pepper spray and trunchons on American citizens. Stop, I can't take it, I can't take it, I can't take it. I can't listen to it a second time. Here's the thing. What more can you give to these quote unquote peaceful protesters? What more can you comprehend? on. You're already compromising everything there is to be an American. You've compromised on our security. You've compromised on our sanity. You've compromised our history. You've compromised our

economy. You've compromised absolutely everything. And you know what? You want to say the protesters aren't mobs. Okay, let's agree. The protesters aren't mobs. But the general, the attorney general reinforced that point yesterday, but we're not talking about the protesters, now are we? We're talking about the rioters, the looters, the violent insurrectionist that state they want an end to America. It made no difference that Jim Jordan played that long video clip of the violence. It made no difference that Barr tried to make the clarification. Not only did they never give him a chance to actually respond, they didn't care. You could have taken every single Democrat out of that room and replace them with Marxists dressed as Stalin and you

wouldn't be able to tell the difference in their approach. It would have gone down the exact same way. Whatever is left of the Democratic Party is now dead. They have fully jumped in with both feet with the radicals. They are now pushing within the halls of Congress the same talking points that the violent street thugs are using. JFK would be ashamed of that party. His party has now committed character suicide. The vast majority of NFI may use air quotes questions centered around the conflating of the protesters with the rioters and the government's use of force.

And every time he even attempted to correct their lies, he was shouted down with, I'm reclaiming my time. I've never seen anything. anything like it. Now, I'm not surprised that they didn't veer from their strategy. This entire thing, all of it is about one thing. And Congressman Jordan hit it out of the park during his opening statement. Here he is. Now, how do they continue the cover up? Real simple. Jim Comey leaks his memos with the express purpose of getting a special counsel appointed to investigate something they already know is not true. And that's exactly what happened. We get two years, 19 lawyers, 40

agents, 500 witnesses, 2,800 subpoenas, and a 30 million cost to the taxpayer, and they come back with nothing. Absolutely nothing. And so all they got left is to attack the Attorney General who had the courage to state the truth right from the get-go. The first time he testifies, after he's confirmed, and you guys attack him every day, every week, and now you filed articles of impeachment against him. It's ridiculous. He had the courage to do what no one else would do at the Justice Department. Sally Yates wouldn't call it spying. Jeff Sessions wouldn't do it. Rod Rosenstein wouldn't do it. Chris, wait, Ray, sure as heck, isn't going to do it.

So Mr. Trenge, I want to thank you for having the courage to call it what it was spying. It's amazing that one of the charges the Democrats are lobbying about Barr is that he fired a U.S. attorney because he was investigating Trump. The truth is that the Democrats are trying to impeach Barr for the exact same thing. this is about one thing covering up a coup. Now, that was madness to say that a year ago, but the evidence is clear. The Attorney General is working with the U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the origins of the bogus Russia investigation. That makes him Democratic enemy number one, and they are desperate. They are afraid and cannot let the truth come out.

But I don't know if the truth is even spoken in America, if it matters anymore. But that is what yesterday was all about. But the truth will eventually come out. Even so, somehow or another, I fear we won't be satisfied because there are too many powerful people involved. You know, when it comes to the inevitable fallout from Obamagate, there's one thing you can absolutely count on. There won't be one single high profile indictment. can take that to the bank. We know we have the evidence.

We have the testimony. We have the written documents at the time. We know that Biden was the first one to bring up the Logan Act to go after General Flynn. We know that Obama told the FBI to reopen their investigation into Flynn after they had officially cleared him and closed the investigation the day before, saying there is nothing here. We know that John Brennan was getting information from British intelligence in unofficial meetings. We know that the debunked steel dossier was used to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on members of the Trump campaign. We know all of this. But don't expect any big names to go down for anybody because they're all protected.

They're all protected. They're all part of the clan. And yes, I use that word intentionally. they're all part of the clan that uses fear and intimidation, and they use money, they use their power, and they are going to change the world. That's what they believe. Now, somebody is going to answer for these crimes. I think several people will, but the big dogs, they're going to walk away. The chihuahuas are going to take the rap.

Somebody has to go down, but it won't be from the political elite on the left. the Democrats tried to destroy Donald Trump because Donald Trump will not go along with their hostile takeover of this country and the hijacking of the world. You mark my words. If you think that you don't understand a country today, if you think you've lost your country today, you will not recognize the country a year from now.

This country, you won't. Forget about what you used to think America was. You won't recognize this country a year from now. This is a multi-layer operation. The Democrats tried to destroy Trump during the election. Then later, they doubled down after he won. The first layer is right at the very top. Obama, Biden, power, Rice, Comey, and Brennan. That's it.

The highest levels of this administration. in the worst scandal of American history that nobody wants to talk about, even though we now have the evidence. We have their own handwritten notes from that Oval Office meeting and then later revealed through congressional testimony and the FBI's documentation and their notes. But the second layer, the individual mid-level government employees, people like Bruce Orr over the DOJ and Peter struck at the FBI,

there's more names involved. But these were the foot soldiers in the silent coup. Now I have to point this out because this more information is revealed. You're going to see individuals from the bottom layers of the operation. They're going to start getting in trouble. You're going to see the top layers insulated. They'll be protected. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

A friend of the program, Rob Smith. He's the author of a new book, Always a Soldier. He's a contributor to Turning Point USA. He's one of the guy. He's a decorated rambachers. War veteran, he was one of the guys that was an activist in the movement to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Law, which barred any service from, you know, any gay or lesbian soldiers.

He became famous because of this. He was outspoken, and he then let it slip that he's also a conservative. Gay, black, conservative? Holy cow. What's it like to live in New York City? Rob Smith. What is it like to live in New York City? Well, I'll tell you what, coming out as gay was not a big deal, coming out as

conservative, and let alone as conservative, but an actual gay black supporter of President Donald Trump made me a complete pariah in New York City. There were people that were at my wedding that looked the other way when I walked down the street. It was very much known that who I was was just not accepted in this. sort of coastal elite utopia of New York City. And you know what, Glenn? That is the exact reason that I came out as conservative.

So I came out as conservative about two and a half years ago. And I did this. And I say all the time, coming out as conservative was harder than coming out as gay because it was one of the most disruptive events of my life. I lost friends. Professional repercussions happened. So many things happened.

And the reason why I wrote this book and decided to tell my story, the subtitle is service sacrifice and coming out as America's favorite black gay Republican, Glenn, is because I get Facebook messages, DMs from people all the time that are scared to death to be open and honest about how they fall politically. And it's not right. So I, you know, I just saw this today. Let me see if I can find it here. Since 2020 and just this year since February, 34% in the U.S. identify as conservative.

That is down six points since February. Is that because we're really losing conservatives or we are just afraid to say we're conservative? To tell you the truth, Glenn, I believe that there are more conservatives. So if I came out two and a half years ago, I'm seeing the, movement of different types of people in the party. I'm seeing definitely more black people, more Latino people. I'm seeing the people that are not your quote-unquote traditional conservative because we're standing up and saying the left doesn't control us, the left doesn't own us. And as a matter of fact, America is ours too. And we can love America and we can support

America as well. I do not think the numbers are going down. But where the left is really succeeding is in making people absolutely afraid to be open and honest about their political beliefs. Think about the language. If you support the president, if you're conservative leaning, you are, what do they say, Nazi, white supremacist, racist, sexist, homophobe, all of these different things. And there are some people that just don't want to deal with the blowback and will not be honest about what their political leanings are. We'll not be honest about supporting the president and will certainly not be honest to pollsters when they're polled about their political beliefs. So is that, because that's not the road you chose to take.

You chose to take the road of, I'm going to come out and I'm going to take the blows. Which one's better? Or are they both just necessary and part of the way things are? Well, Glenn, I think that they're both equally valid. Okay, everybody has the decision to make the decision in terms of the direction they want this country to go via the voting booth. I knew personally, with my background in Don't Ask them to Lightivism, and coming from the left and knowing how that works, I knew that in order for me to make the statement that I wanted to make, I needed to make it as big as possible. I needed to get out there, put my face out there, take the blows, and to write always a soldier and to do all these different things because there are so many people. people that do not want to take those heads.

And I'm media savvy enough, and I know enough, you know, I got a degree in journalism from Columbia and an undergrad degree and PR from Syracuse. So I know enough about what is going on to have made the decision to make the biggest possible impact. But I respect people that just want to run their businesses and just want to live their lives and maybe not so much want to be out there and open politically to the extent that I am. So I think that they're both equally valid choices. So I spoke to somebody yesterday who is at our Mercury One leadership training program.

And she is in her 20s, just this sweet, sweet woman. And she's, you know, opened her own business. She's an entrepreneur. And she said, Glenn, I wasn't always a conservative. I'm actually kind of new. I've seen what's happening on the left and I can't deal with it. And then she's broke into tears and she said, but I've lost my family over this. They won't talk to me.

My parents won't talk to me. I've lost my friends over being conservative. And she said, I, you know, I don't know what to do. I feel so alone. I've always wondered, Rob, how do people who have had sense? centuries of having to live in the closet, finally get out of the closet and then force others to go back in. What is this this gay stormtrooper thing that goes on where you have to abide by everything or you're non-existent? Or you're excommunicated.

So this is what I call it. There's a chapter and always a soldier. Chapter 15, the cult of LGBTQ, right? So this used to be a movement that was just about gays and lesbians, wanting to live our lives, wanting to be married legally, wanting to serve in the military, that's what I connected to. Now it has become a cult that is taken over by every strain of leftism that you could possibly think of. And these people are told when they come out as gay or lesbian that they have to adhere to every single thing that the cult says, from transgender toddlers to nine-year-old drag queens dancing in a gay bar in

Brooklyn at 3 a.m., yes, it's a real story, and I get into that in my book. This is all documented. These are all things that have actually happened. So this movement has become a leftist culty movement. And Glenn, the reason why I decided to come out as conservative and do all this stuff, and specifically talk about being a gay conservative, is that I have lived the life that the leftists are pushing to these young gays and lesbians. I believed all that. I did all that. And fundamentally, it leads down a path of destruction. And what is being pushed by the LGBTQ left is not going to make these people happy.

So what they want leftism to become is their new religion. And they want them to worship that instead of worshiping God, instead of thinking about personal responsibility, instead of thinking about ways that we can build. and this is how so many young gays and lesbians get sucked into this, Glenn. And I would hope that they would all read Chapter 15, the cult of LGBTQ, because I break all of that stuff down and all these soldiers. Talk to me a little bit about Joe Biden. We have about a minute and a half less.

Talk to me about Joe Biden and his presidency or his, you know, his viability as a president for the left. He has no viability. The thing about it is is that Joe Biden is a shadow can. candidate. Joe Biden obviously is not there 100% mentally. And the scary thing about it is that everybody around him on the left knows this. And they're looking to run a shadow presidency, which this man will be, he's going to be a puppet for the radical left fringes that have taken over the Democrat Party right now. They know this. And they want to hide this from the American

public for as long as they possibly can, which is why they're going to try to avoid debates, which is why they try to keep him as hidden as much as possible. They realize this. It's despicable. They are leading even Democratic voters down the wrong road. It's actually kind of sad to watch, Glenn. So we're talking to Rob Smith. Always a soldier is the name of his new book. Last question, which one has more destructive power to it? Donald Trump winning, Donald Trump losing. Donald Trump losing will be more destructive because let me tell you something. thing. What the left is doing right now is they are holding people's votes hostages. What they are saying is that if you put us back in power, all of this chaos, all of the riots, all of this

destruction will end as long as we're not in power. And if Donald Trump doesn't get reelected again, that means that that tactic works. And they will use this tactic over and over again in the future. That is why we have to reelect Donald Trump to smash that into the ground for good. Rob, I can't thank you enough for being on. Thank you for your courage. You're being willing to be outspoken on so many issues and taking the arrows. Rob Smith, always a soldier, available now, wherever you buy your book. Pick it up.

No, no, no.