The Glenn Beck Program - The Media's Frankenstein? | Guests: Bill O’Reilly, Amb. Samuel D. Brownback & Dave Isay | 11/30/18

Episode Date: November 30, 2018

Hour 1 'Please, Mr. President, don't lie to us'...Trump indeed had real estate dealings in Moscow?...why did he lie to us?...the media, be all like 'we really have him here'?...baked in results...everyone knew Michael Cohen was a slime ball?...Anything and everything is a 'massive' scandal to the media...Trump = Media Frankenstein? ...Long time listener Carly's letter to Glenn...nothing more fun than trying to get pregnant? ...Stories appropriate for Friday?...A ride to Denny's on a lawn mower?...a farting woman in Florida attacks?...while eating a fantastic bowl of chili? ...Texas, fruits, rocks and parts of the alphabet ABCDEFG?   Hour 2 The numbers are so staggering?...overdose deaths set a record last year?...US Life expectancy falls as suicides rise ...Bill O'Reilly and the wave?...America's drug crisis is our culture...addiction to devices and the 'Internet disorder'...internet addiction is killing books?...Michael Cohen and letter of intents?...So if there is a letter?...Bill got beaten by Glenn's wife?...Stu gears up to play the Cello? ...Priest calls Celine Dion's clothing line 'satanic'?    Hour 3  Religious Freedom not so alive and well?...Amb. Samuel D. Brownback joins Glenn...the Ambassador at Large, International Religious Freedom...20th Anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act...limiting the growth of our country by denying religious freedom...'let the faiths compete'?...bursts of religious freedom after WWII...and it's been very restricted since? ...The latest episode of Story Corps, with Dave Isay... a lesson in forgiveness...meet a mother who forgave the friend who killed her son?...the art of softening hearts?...StoryCorps.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Blaze Radio Network. On Demand. All right, here's some of the questions that we should have our president asked today. He's, you know, he's in Argentina at the G20. Mr. President, Mr. President, how is your meeting with China's president? Mr. President, Mr. President, have you ended the trade war? Mr. President, insert anything relevant here that might show that we've solved any problems that actually will affect us. But that's not going to happen.

Instead, we're going to have, Mr. President, Mr. President, can you tell us what you said to Robert Mueller? Mr. President, Mr. President. You told the American people that you've never had any dealings in Russia, and now yesterday you came out and said, yeah, I was trying to build a Trump Tower in Moscow at the time. What? No problem with that. Oh, dear God. Mr. President, Mr. President, could I ask you this?

Why do you make it so tough? why do you do this to your supporters? Stop it. Stop it. You make it really hard to defend. Because what we have to say is, no, it doesn't matter. And we all know that lying matters. We all know that.

But we don't say that because by saying that, then the press has more ammunition to come after you. But it hurts us because we have to say, what? It doesn't matter. Of course it matters. Of course it matters. You say you care about us. And I believe you. Can you just not lie to us? Just don't just don't lie to us. Since he was president, how many times? 11 times, 15 times since he was president. Did he say, I have no dealings in Russia. I don't, I was never, nobody to the best of my recollection had any dealings with the Russians?

About 14. 14 times. I mean, why? Why? We have now the signed document where you signed off on a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. While you were saying there was nothing going on. Why? Nobody's going to, nobody, nobody, nobody would have had a problem if you would have just come out and said, yeah, I'm trying to build a Trump Tower.

what, I'm a businessman. I try to build them all over the world. Right. Everyone knows that. That's his business. That's your business. Why would you do that? So now we've got really, really important meetings.

The President G is, this is one of the most important meetings. This could decide whether or not the world goes to war in the next two years. Literally, it's that important. meeting with the president of China. Now, the president said last night, you know, that he's not sure Eve wants to do a deal with President Z. Why? Because of all the tax revenue coming in from China because of the trade, you know, embargo or the trade tariffs. Come on.

Now, I'm hoping that that is just hyperbole getting ready to meet. That's, you know, that's what you do. Well, I'm not really interested in that car over there that I've been drooling over for the last two years. I don't know. I'm not really in the market for the car right now. I just happen to be, well, I live across town and I drove 45 minutes in traffic to get to your car lot, but I'm not really that interested. Hopefully it's that kind of thing.

Hopefully it's just a negotiating tactic. The one thing that I have learned is absolutely nothing, nothing this president said or says or tweets should be discussed. Just what he does. Just that. Just that. If we were just looking at what this president does, he'd be pretty popular. He'd be pretty popular. He wouldn't be having all of these problems.

but because of what the president says, people get their panties in a bunch. Look at how much, look at how much every time he tweets, the press goes crazy. And you know what? What's so infuriating about this is the way the press reacts every single time. Once again, I read two stories from two people at CNN that said, you know, this is the first time that I felt. We really have him here. They always feel about it. You said that every time.

It's always the first time for them. This is really the first time. Really? When he was on the bus talking about, you know, touching women, you didn't feel that? It's like a prostitute constantly over and over losing their virginity. That's what happens with the press. Every time. Every time.

Every time it's brand new. Yeah, every time. I think Madonna wrote a song about that at one point. And it's amazing the press can continue to do it. You're right. I mean, and the thing is about what Trump says and tweets, he himself says over and over again that he's negotiating, right? We're not supposed to, you know, talk, like people will talk when we were complaining about tariffs, a lot of people will say, well, he's just negotiating. And, you know, I mean, I think that one he has implemented so that that no longer is really a talking point.

But the point is, he says he's negotiating all the time. So if he's negotiating, he has some, right, some agenda to win some battle he's trying to do behind the scenes or whatever, well, there's no reason to listen to those words specifically. And I, you know, look, it's a double standard because I would not have accepted that from Barack Obama, because when he said things, I wanted to help hold them to them. But, you know, Trump makes an art of form of it. He's not even, I mean, this is a great point in that his supporters should not have to deal with trying to defend these things. Look, I know this. He didn't even do anything wrong trying to build it. His business is building towers in other countries. This is what he does for a living. Do you remember, do you remember

how many times when I was at Fox and we were at the very height of all the controversy around me, how many times I came on the air and I said, I'm really sorry because I know it makes it hard to defend me. Oh, yeah. Okay? I used to say that all the time because I would say something stupid and it would be taken out of context or whatever or it was just plain stupid. And I knew that it caused you trouble to defend me. And you'd be like, oh, thanks, Glenn. Thanks. Now you've added that to the pile. Okay. And I know that. And that's what I'm, I'm begging the president. Please, please. If you look at Trump's policies, he's a good president. Some of them are really good. I mean, I think the best example of the trade thing is kind of a big one that's starting to really

scare the hell out of me. But the best example of this is Russia. If you look at what he says, about Russia, you would think, oh, well, he's way too friendly with Vladimir Putin. A lot of people believe, you know, you see that and it's notable. I mean, I know if... Because it is notable on what he says. Right. But if you look at what he does, his policies are pretty hawkish against Russia. Very hawkish. The administration has taken a lot of major steps against Russia through this period. This has not been a presidency that has kissed the butt of Vladimir Putin. Just because he said a few nice things in press conferences does not mean that the actions of the... administration back, you know, go down that road. And I think if, if you realize that Trump is a guy

who, he's a big talker, right, he's saying that, you know, I have the best, I have the best of everything in the world. And, you know, for years when he was back in the, in the entertainment days, people would know, okay, he's saying that, but it's bluster. He's talking big. We get that. We're not really going to pay it. We know he's not actually meaning it's the biggest or best in the world. And this is the thing here. It's like he, he, because he says something in public or he says something to the press or he's fighting with the press and says something defensive, like I have absolutely no business with Russia, you can't take it seriously. Because you don't know what the truth is until that's why we've been saying with a Mueller

thing. Let's just wait for it to come out and we'll read it. And here's what liberals and the press don't understand. They look at us. And this is what's so frustrating is because there's, look, 70% of this nation sick to death, sick to death of this crap. I think it's actually 80% that they're exhausted by this. They don't want to play this game anymore. They don't want to fight. They just want everybody just to shut up and do their job. Okay? And what the press

doesn't understand is that there are many people in America that are so tired of the lies of the press, not just the Trump lies, but the lies that have gone on forever. And the double standard

forever. Trump hate, I mean, Bush hates black people. they didn't care. They didn't care. How can you possibly say that? What's his name? Dick Cheney blew up the levees.

George Bush knew about the towers. When 60% of Democrats believed that in 2005, that George Bush had something to do with 9-11. Now, of course, they deny it and say, we're not into conspiracy theories. Well, the evidence is there. Okay? And that came from a press not being a bulldog on that stuff.

They were at best neutral. It's why I went on the air and said, we're going to get to the bottom of the FEMA camp thing. I'm going to find out if they're happening or they're not. I'm going to go in with an open mind and I'm going to say, are they happening or not? I get I get bashed as a conspiracy theorist because I said, are they happening or not? We're going to tell you next week.

And the answer, by the way, was no. It was no. And quite honestly, I was pretty sure the answer was no, unless Dick Cheney had been building underground camps. Right. But look at the way the press approached the birtherism stuff, right? They went out and they did segments on it. debunking it every day. They'd show you all the documents. They'd go back and show all the history, the reports and the newspapers. They did such a thorough job debunking that. They did not do that

with Bush. They did not, they did not try to debunk. They don't try to debunk the crazy conspiracies against Trump. They don't do it. They just let them sit out there and don't really answer them. And again, that's how you lose credibility. In fact, at times with him, in fact, they spread them through speculation. They just spread them. and then they don't correct them afterwards. And they never apologize for saying, you know what, we were wrong on this one and make a big deal out of it. Nobody cares about your apology that happened one time two o'clock in the afternoon after you've spent three weeks saying it. Yeah, and it's not universal.

I mean, I've heard Jake Tapper specifically go after. There's conspiracy theories even against Trump and take them on. Jake Tapper, I think, is in a different category most times. It's not universal, but it's common. It is way too common. And it's why it's why so many people agree when he says, you know, the enemy of the people. Because it feels that way a lot of times. Right.

So look at the border. So when you're, when you're sitting here, media, you're like, how can these people, how can they just keep putting up with the president lying about this? Because in our minds, this is what happens. A, I know the president lies. I get it. What, I thought I was voting for the Pope? I was voting for Mother Teresa. Please, I've baked all of this crap in a long time.

You really thought we thought Cohen was a good guy? Come on. We knew he was a slippery fixer. That's who he was. So we've already baked that in. Now, are we happy about this? No. But here's what we think.

if Donald Trump would have said during the election, yeah, well, I'm trying to build Trump Tower, which there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's disclosed. There's nothing wrong with that. That's his job. I was shocked when he denied it so vehemently because I'm like, of course he's trying to build one in my backyard.

He's trying to build them everywhere. What do you mean? In all of Russia, he doesn't want to put a hotel. Of course he does. That's what every businessman wants to do. It's expand and make more money. Correct. And that's one of the reasons we liked the guy.

So we knew that. However, him saying, yeah, I've got business dealings in Moscow right now. What would the press say? He's in bed with Moscow. So if he would have admitted it, they would have made it into exactly what it is. Today, not what it actually was, but what it is today. a big scandal. They would have used it against him.

So what happens, and let me explain this one more time as simply as I can to the media and to people on the left, not to the left, people who are Democrats, look, we don't like this either. We don't like this either. But what is he supposed to do when you've got a, when you have a media, that will take anything and everything and turn it into a massive scandal. When the media, the media created this guy. They created him in two ways. Donald Trump, if we trusted the news during the Obama administration, if they were actually telling us what was really going on

and did investigations when the government was out of control and when Obama was clearly lying about things like Obamacare. That was a third of our economy. That's the greatest healthcare system the world has ever seen. And he lied $2,500 back for every family. No, that's not possible. The math shows that's never possible that you can keep your, doctor. No, here is the documented evidence that that will not happen. But you let it slide until,

what, a year after we lost our doctors and were paying higher prices? Because we didn't trust you at all, we needed somebody like Donald Trump to tell you, shut up. That's not healthy. And you created him in another way. Because you, you created him in another way. Because you you thought he was going to be the easiest candidate to beat, you ran wall-to-wall coverage on him. You took down everyone else in his path, but you just loved him for ratings, and you thought he was going to be the easiest one for Hillary to beat. Well, you were wrong now, weren't you? And you can't live with yourself. You'll never admit to that. But he is, you. You are you. You're not. You're your creation.

So now you don't like it. Oh, what a surprise. All right, let me talk you a little bit about Casper mattress. Switch into a Casper mattress is really a no-brainer. It's a great sleep. You're going to really love it. And if you don't, I mean, I don't want you to take my word for it. Sleep is very individual.

You may hate it. But that's the point. Sleep is very individual. That's why Casper has 100 nights of you trying it off. drying it out in your own home. They send it to you in this little teeny box that you can carry in. You know, you move a mattress and you're like, guys, can you come on? Where are we going to move a mattress? It's not that way. They deliver it to you in this little teeny box that you yourself can pick it up. I mean, literally, it's like it's smaller than the old computer monitors when you had an IBM.

It's that kind of box. You throw it on the bed. You open it up. Trust me, do not cut the cords on the inside until you have it where you want it to be because all of a sudden it just flops open and there's this huge mattress. Now, you sleep on it for 100 nights. If you don't love it, and I mean love it, you call them up. They come and pick it up and refund every dime. So don't take my word for it. Don't take their word for it.

Casper mattress. Try it out for yourself. Go to Casper.com slash Beck. Casper.com. Use the promo code back. You get $50 off the purchase. of your select mattress. That's casper.com promo code,

Beck, terms and conditions to apply. So I just want to let you know that the, well, Albert wrote to me, and he said, Glenn, I brought tickets to your Tampa show. I never in my life have spent so much money to see anyone. I also don't like crowds. I haven't attended a show of any kind in I don't know how long.

My wife and I talked about it and we're going to give you a shot. Oh, oh. I expect a great show and nothing less. Oh, my. But I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Okay. All right. All right.

We are, there are metal detectors at the show, right? And maybe, Albert, there may be refunds. Let's, let's be reasonable about this. It does seem like there could be a little threat inside of that, an implied threat. Yeah, that's going to be great. Yeah, that's going to be fun. It's going to be a fun show today. Should we give away a pair of tickets?

Yeah, if you want to go see the show tonight or tomorrow, tonight in Tampa, tomorrow in Orlando, we'd love to see you. Call us now. The number is 888727 BECK, AAA 727 BECK. Come on out and see us. I tell you, back here in Tampa, it just feels like home. I just love Tampa. I do not like the humidity here. It's nice right now.

It's cool. It's beautiful. You know, it has something that Texas doesn't have a beautiful winter. You know, you go to Texas and it's like, Texas is either hot or freezing cold. And usually in the same week, it'll be like a hundred and then four. Yeah, I mean, there was a time, two parts in the same state. It was 81 and 14. Yeah, it's great.

Well, it's in the same state. The state's a little bit. Yeah, I know. The state's a little bit. state at the same time. It was 81 degrees in one part and 14 and another. What's weird, it's not the same state. It's also the same neighborhood. It's a little, little nuts.

Come and see us. If you want tickets to Tampa, Orlando tonight and tomorrow, 888727 BECK. Len, back. Mercury. Got a lot of email in regards to yesterday's program in this hour. And they all pretty much

were summed up like this, and they were, and mainly from females, this one's from Carly. She said, she said, Glenn, I realize that you receive tons of email every day. I hope this one finds its way to you. I'm just writing to say simply thank you. This morning, Thursday, I was simply doing my normal routine, drinking coffee, checking email,

getting ready to tackle a day at work, and listening to your show on my local conservative talk station, KSGF 104.1 out of Springfield. Around 9 o'clock in the morning, you began reading a story about a young woman who, found out at an early age that she was unable to have kids. She shared the story about her adoption. Listeners around the world, like me, were able to hear the compassion in your voice as you shared the story. But you said something that stuck with me. You explained how something happens to a woman when she finds out she can't have kids. Thank you for being so real and so transparent for a few minutes and sharing this very real reality. I'm a young, ambitious, 23-year-old conservative who can't

have children either. She goes in to talk about she's had just, she's just really had a tough, you know, a few years. She said, but today I'm back to work. I'm back living my new normal life. I'm a survivor who will one day be called mama by a child I adopt. She said, I am a firm believer that Jesus wasn't ready for me to be home yet, and I cannot wait to see what he has planned for my future as an adoptive parent. Thank you for sharing your story. Thanks for being so real. Glenn, I'm proud to be one of your longtime listeners, Carly. Carly, thank you so much.

And for all of the women that wrote yesterday, I cannot relate. I have a hard time. I had a hard time during the whole, you know, trying to get pregnant thing. And there is nothing more fun than when you and your wife are trying to get pregnant. Oh. Super romantic. Oh, my gosh. Come home right now.

Yes, dear. It's just super great. It's what, you know, I never thought this would happen to me. But so it's hard to, it's hard to understand what happens. But there's a piece of a woman that just seems to, they think that they're not complete. And they. I think men have somewhat of an equivalent there with like, when you lose your functions that, to you kind of think of yourself that make you a man, right?

I mean, yeah, I guess that's true. I guess that's, yeah, yeah, you know what? You're right. There's a guttural sort of thing that I think happens, you know, that we're like, it's your function. Wait a minute. I can't do it. And it's not a rational way of thinking, of course.

Like, it's a. Oh, I wasn't even thinking that. I was seeing it, for instance, you know, I've, it's no secret that, you know, I've had some medical issues. I mean, look at me. You basically are a medical issue. Yeah, I know. It's like, oh, it's medical.

issue. What's that, what's his medical issue? Glenn Beck. But, you know, there's, there are many times that my wife has had to get up in the, in the morning to button my shirts or tie my shoes. And she always says, honey, this is no big deal. And it really is to me. Yeah. Well, I, I feel like I'm just, I'm nothing. Yeah. I remember you telling the story of, I think it was your grandfather who got to a place where he could no longer drive. a car and it ripped him apart. And he wanted to, and then he wanted to driving his, his lawnmower to town, right?

Yeah, well, he drove, well, first he drove his truck to Denny's. And then, uh, when he was backing out, uh, he went the opposite direction really fast. So he went through the front window. Okay.

Denny's. So we had to take the keys of the truck away. And then he decided he was going to take the tractor to Denny's. Uh, and so they had to stop him taking the tractors. We had to take the keys away from that. And then we caught him literally on the highway on his little riding lawnmower trying to get to Denny's. And he was just like, first of all, the ultimate commercial for Denny's.

I mean, I like Denny's too. I don't know if I'm going to those lengths. Yeah. But it's true. Like you lose those things and, you know, you feel like you're no longer. Well, but you have two ways to go. Let's be honest. Let me, may I share a story with you from the news?

Okay. Now, imagine you're in line at the Dollar General Store. Okay? Mm-hmm. And the person in front of you is passing gas. And I don't mean passing gas like, oh, boy, I, you smell something? I mean ripping them. Okay.

Okay. It's a woman in front of you, and she is just, okay? That one. That one. Okay. She's just ripping. We've all had that moment. We've all had that moment.

Wait a minute. Okay, I'm done. Okay. Okay. So she's just ripping him. And this guy, you would, what would you do? You would expect the person to go, oh, my gosh, I am so sorry. But she didn't.

And she's like, yeah, okay. And I need one of these. And the guy standing behind her is backing up. You know, there could be a fire. Can we open a door here? And he finally says something because she's just crass about. it and so she she she turns around she said you have a you have a problem with what's happened and he's like well I mean it is just I mean can you I mean can you at least say

excuse me and she reaches into her person he pulled she pulls a knife and she pulls a knife on the guy and he starts to back away and she said You say another word, and I'm going to gut you. And she threatens to gut the guy. Okay. Now, rational reaction to this situation. Now, the one reason why this caught my eye today is guess which state this story is from? I mean, I would probably guess the one we're sitting in right now.

Florida. Yes. Yes. This state is the, this is the home of the craziest news up until probably 2007. Then all news became like Florida. But Florida, I think the reason why Florida is so chill is because they watch the news. They've been seeing that stuff go on for a long time. Yeah.

It's like, that's Florida. So you got a president who's up there. Look, I didn't. Oh, crap. I had a bowl of chili that was fantastic. You know, nobody's, nobody in Florida is like, oh, yeah, yeah, I got a neighbor like that. I, that is, I think, the way they digest this information. I think so, too. Now, I don't have the answer to this one, but I do, there is a problem with this story.

A woman gets on to a plane with her five-year-old daughter. and she gets on the plane and the flight attendants make fun of her daughter's name. And then they go an extra step. And this part is way over the line. They post a picture of the boarding pass and a picture of the daughter online. Okay. Well, yeah, I don't think that's cool. But they're making fun of her because she told ABC News that her that her daughter,

ABCD It was It was not right I'm sorry It's ABCDE It's not right To make fun of her name A B CDE

Is that a A pronounceable name or is it Of course it is It's Abcd Abcd Abcd Abcidi

Abscd Abcd Abcd But it is Spelled A B CD E Okay So if I had to ask you what state the parent was from.

That would name their kids A, B, C, D. E. Abcidi. Absidi. But see, that sounds normalish. Absidi could be a name. Absidi could be a name. This is A, B, C, D, E. Okay?

It's the alphabet. Okay. If anybody is not following this closely, if I had to ask you, what state would a parent be most likely to name their kid, ABCDE? What would you say? I would guess the one we're sitting in right now. I would have said Florida or California. Okay. No chance it's any place other than Florida or California.

Texas. Ah, really. Now, I believe this parent is a transplant. We need a border wall. We do. I think this is a case why we need a border wall. Yeah, yeah, the president can build it on the south side. I would like it on the west side of Texas because they're swarming in these Californians.

And only a cat. No Texan, no self-respecting Texan would ever name their child, A, B, C, C, D.E. Never. That is an immigrant. A Texas immigrant? Like they're from another state? Yeah. That's somebody from California that's like, I kind of like that country of Texas.

No. You're going to name your kid after fruit, after space rocks, or any part of the alphabet. I know my name is also part of the alphabet, but it's arranged in a name. You're not allowed in Texas. I want somebody on the staff of the blaze to take 20 minutes out of their day to day. They don't even have to write a story, but I'm the boss. I want to find out if this is a California immigrant. I want to find out.

I suspect she's a white person who's a social justice warrior from California. I cannot stand white people. I am just, oh, they're just so irritated. The only person that hates white people more. than more than you is probably the white person that names your child, ABCDE. All right. Imagine all the problems every time you put your name in for the rest of your life. Again, I know you think it's this cute thing.

It's not. It's not. Every time they put their name on a form, the person is going to be like, I think you screwed this up. You just put the alphabet. No, that's my name. I mean, I feel bad for Raph. I feel bad for Rave.

Because he's always there. Is that Ralph? Is that Raphael? What? What's Raff? Rath? What is Raff? No, it's Rhaef. And, you know, it's a common name, I guess, over in England, I guess. It's not here. And I apologize to my son. Well, I don't think there's an apology needed for a name. I think somebody that you can't pronounce. He's ever going to get. And you're only doing it publicly. Never privately. Never privately. He flew in last night with us. We got in late. And he's actually in the studio dead asleep. You can check the Twitter feed. He's dead asleep right now.

So this is the only apology he's ever, ever going to get. Son, I apologize to you many, many times. You were just asleep. All right, our sponsor this half hour. What's crypto? What is this crypto world doing right now? That's about four. $4,000.

This is crazy. Mm-hmm. This is crazy. I've been starting, I'm getting to the point now I'm starting thinking when do I just go back into this? I'm hitting that point. I did that too. I haven't done it yet.

I mean, you know, I do have some. If it hits three, I'm going to. That's your number three? Yeah. There's a certain number. I don't know what it is yet. I need to keep thinking about it. But there's some number where I'm like,

jeez, this is crazy not to get back into this. Did you see like coin? It's like, what is it? $100? It was, no, it's way less than that. 31. 31 for light coin. What's Ethereum at?

112. Well, that's the one I was thinking, $112. That was like $1,400. Yeah. I mean, for a very short time, but still, it was $500, $700 for a long time. Still. So, I mean, it's like, it is at that point to where, because here's what's weird. Normally, I would say, done, done.

Get out of it. It was a tulip bubble. Done. But Goldman Sachs, Chase, Manhattan, all of these, all of these huge, huge, trading firms and financial services, they've spent millions of dollars to prepare for a trading desk for cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. Yeah. I mean, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange just said Bitcoin and digital assets are here to stay. Okay. And it's like, oh, if they're here to stay, this might be a good time to... I know. I mean, so they're at the New York Stock Exchange.

Right. And they're, and they've all built these things. New York Stock Exchange has just built something for Bitcoin use. And it's, it hasn't been unveiled yet. And once it's... First quarter of next year, they're saying. It has been unveiled, but it hasn't been in use. And the theory is, is that the rich get richer

by talking all of this stuff down. And then when it gets really low, that's when they open the floodgates and they've bought all of it at the lowest possible price. I don't know what that low price is, but you're right, Stu. I'm getting, I'm starting to

convince myself. Yeah. Anyway, I was supposed to tell you something about cryptocurrencies here in this commercial. Oh, yeah, it's the crypto course. You can get the crypto course where you can find out everything you need to know about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and more importantly, blockchain because that's going to play a very big role in the future. Call 877 PBL back, 877 PBL back, or just go to smartcryptocourse.com.

Take this course. You'll learn a lot. smart cryptocourse.com. There's a couple of things coming. By the way, Bill O'Reilly is going to be joining us in just a few minutes. You do not want to miss Bill O'Reilly. He's got a lot on his mind today as well to share. Also, 217 migrants have been found dead on the Texas border area in ranches in 2018.

They just found another person dead on the... ranch. I mean, these people who live on the border, it's, you know, if you're living in New York and you're like, I don't understand, you know, okay. I mean, so you got some immigrants coming. You don't know what it's like living on the border. Some of these ranchers, I don't know. We had somebody that tried to give us a huge ranch in Texas. Just give it to us. And we were like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. But when we realized, no, they were trying to. to give it to us because they couldn't offload it and it had all kinds of issues. You know, if you're owning it, you have all kinds of issues. They, they could not. It was like a family ranch that they could never go to anymore because it was too dangerous. It's like, no, no thank you. No, thank you.

You have no concept unless you live in a border state. Back. Centers for Disease Control. preventive and prevention because you want to control the disease and prevent the disease. They released a new report yesterday. CDC says 70,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, an all-time high, higher than the peak number of car crashes of deaths in 1972. The higher than the peak number of HIV deaths in 1995. Higher than the peak of deaths from guns in 1993.

Opioid deaths. One of the chief causes of these insane numbers is the sharp spike in deaths related to synthetic opioids called fentanyl. In 2013, the U.S. had 3,000 fentanyl overdose deaths. Last year, 28,000. That is a 45% increase of fentanyl deaths. in one year. If you don't know what fentanyl is, if they ever try to give you fentanyl,

don't do it. I mean, it is an end of life drug, and so if you are at the end of life, go ahead, take it. This is your medical advice? It is my medical advice.

Okay, I'm sure, because you are a doctor. Yeah, I am a doctor. Yeah, a doctor of humanities. I can diagnose anything in the human body. So anyway, but seriously, I've had it. I didn't know that I, because I was in surgery, I woke up on the table.

They couldn't keep me out. They couldn't keep me out of pain. They gave me fentanyl and another cocktail on top of that. Oh my gosh. I had it for like three or four days and I was addicted to it already. It's horrendous. It's wonderful, but it is horrendous. It's made for end of life use only because they know once you start taking it, you're not going to stop. The steep rise in the drug overdose deaths has reduced our life expectancy rate for the third year in a row. That hasn't happened since World War II. Now the leading death for adults under 55 is drug overdose. Federal crackdowns recent years have focused on the opioid prescription and those are down overall. Yet overdose deaths keep rising mainly because of fentanyl's, synthetic.

opioids. They're deadly because literally it says on the box, if you buy, you know, if you buy a real, real doctor prescribed, says on the box, do not touch their patches. Do not touch the patch. If it wasn't prescribed for you, it may kill you just touching it. Unfortunately, there was also another CDC report released yesterday, this one about suicide rates, which rose 3.7% last year. rural America saw the largest increase in suicides. Since 99, the suicide rates for males and females has increased every single year, but the rate remains highest for men. Does anybody care? Gee, I wonder why.

Men are worthless. Men are bigots. Men are haters. Men are misogynists. Men have no value. Let's focus all on women. Let's focus on girls, never the boys. Gee, I wonder what that could.

Mean calling this the opioid epidemic is not hyperbole with the numbers as high as they are you probably know somebody who is affected by this You have to ask yourself what's happening to us our economy is booming unemployment is at low yet There is so much despair in this country America is hurting right now and politics can't ultimately do anything about it but we can you can right where you are it might not seem like

a lot in the big picture but it is everything it is everything especially to that one person that you can affect right now it's Friday November 30th you're listening to the Glimbeck program

it's Friday let me go to Bill O'Reilly hello Bill I wanted to start with this because I know that your column is about another epidemic that you say nobody's really paying attention to. Yeah, and there's a correlation. The rise of drug addiction in the hard drug arena to the massive amount of Internet addiction. We're seeing not only in the United States with the world, there's a correlation to it. and my it's a very complicated issue as you know back um by the way i appreciate you guys labeling me

father christmas because as you know i saved i saved christmas for the uh united states of america yes i know you did and and you've got rosy cheeks and uh and it's you just look at no spin elves on bill o'reilly dot com working around the clock that's right but now back to a dick So it's a very complicated situation because you are dealing with individuals who make a decision. And the decision is I'm going to take hard drugs for recreational purposes. You know, there are people get addicted because of medical reasons, but not that many. And I'm going to do it despite knowing I may die and I might become addicted and destroy my family, but I'm going to do it anyway.

So you're starting with a person who's troubled, because rational people, they don't make that decision. And therefore, all of this pie in the sky about, well, all we need is more money for rehab and the government's fault because they don't provide whatever to these people. I mean, it's just a lie. The second thing is the society itself, with the legalization of marijuana and the basic glorification of drug use in the media in Hollywood, sends a message to young and mature people that, you know what, it's cool. It's cool.

Look at Snoop Dog. Look, look, it's cool to do it. All right. And you know, I get intoxicated when you're 14. That's a good thing. You go right ahead and do it. Okay. So you have that.

massive wave of, oh, inebriation is good. And if you do it, you'll be accepted, and you'll be one of the cool kids. Absolutely happening everywhere. All right. So this is like a wave that comes in, and the final piece to it is, and we're looking at it now, well, if you're a seller of fentanyl, you know, it's a nonviolent crime. Yeah, you might be an ambitone. people poison and they might die but not that bad

you shouldn't really be spent a lot of time in prison uh... we need to rehab you so all of this uh... is why the cdc comes out with this uh... you know by the way more people died last year of drugovers than in the entire vietnam war by a lot so the analysis across the board is pretty bleak.

Well, but there's also something else that you talk about, and that is the addiction to devices and the internet. Yeah. Now there is this actual term. What did you say it was? I just, I heard about it just a couple of days ago, and then I read it in your column. Yeah, it's internet addiction. Yeah.

Disorder. Disorder. So now there are rehab clinics, of course. capitalism you're going to have for kids mostly kids um ages 11 if you're going to imagine to 23 24 and cost a fortune because insurance not going to handle it um to go there and then they try to to you know pry their iPhones out of their hands but every parent and grandparent knows about the addiction and there are plenty of adults addicted to it too they don't pay attention to their kids, they don't pay attention to their pets. I mean, nobody talks about that, but pets used to

be, you know, brought in and you pay attention to them, and you walk them, and you nurture them, and now the pets look at it out, how come nobody's paying attention to me? Because everybody's texting or Snapchatting. No, that's why I mean, that's why I know. That's why I got my dog an iPhone and an Instagram page. That's a good move. Very good back. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's go into politics. Let's talk a little bit about Cohen and what happens. happened yesterday, what you think it actually means, and then what you think it politically means? I don't know what it means, and no one else does either.

Therefore, all opponents who are telling you on television and in the newspaper, op-ed pages that they do know are lying. Okay, well, wait a minute. Hang on. Hang on. Let's just go over what we do know. he came out and said that this is Cohen he came out and he said lied to some congresspeople under oath about a Russian condominion project okay now he is he is already you know not a credible person he's never been credible in my book however he made that claim then Trump who has been saying the whole time 14 times since he's been president, that we've had no business dealings at all over in Russia. I did nothing. Yesterday he came out and he said he's weak and pathetic, don't believe it. Then he came out later and said, yes.

Okay, so I was trying to, of course I was. I'm a businessman. I was trying to build the Trump Tower. But there's nothing wrong with that, which is true, with an exception of the denials, but not under oath. We do understand, we think, this coming from Rudy Giuliani, that the president answered honestly to in his deposition. So there's no, if Giuliani is telling the truth, there is no perjury trap here for him.

So there doesn't look like there's anything, that there was any laws broken. It's just about Trump lying about it. But he didn't lie about it because he said quite clearly, I don't have any business with Russia. this was all pie in the sky maybe we could do it oh my don't cut that one are you really cutting that line I'm telling you in a court of law I'm not talking about court of law

I'm not talking about court of law because we don't as far as I'm concerned Trump and his lawyers can say as they have said we didn't have any business dealings with Russia correct and I'm not talking about I'm not talking about the law because I don't think there's any laws broken here I don't think there's any laws broken.

He's going to say, Beck, and you can disagree with it and disparage him if you want to, but he's going to say, I didn't have any business dealings with him. A conversation about maybe someday we'll build a condo in Moscow is not a business dealing. He did sign a letter of intent. I can say that. And you can say, he signed a letter of intent. I mean, his intent was to do, to do business. business and he formally engaged

them? Who? The letters, I mean, obviously you know, it's been reported on if it comes out. Yeah, I haven't seen any letter and until I see the letter, I don't believe it. So if there is a letter. And he did sign it. Does it matter? Yeah, that would matter. Because if

there's a letter of intent to build a condominium in Moscow, that's a business dealing. So that would matter. Okay. So even if he, see, this is interesting because I buy into the letter and I don't think that anybody's, I don't think it's going to come from. See it in several places. October 28th, 2015 was the date.

It was the date of the third Republican presidential debate. And I think this is an interesting one, Bill, because it's one of those things, everyone can throw out these accusations. This one should be provable. But if they have the letter, they should be able to show it. right? Yeah. If they had the letter, it should be in the Mueller report

when it comes out. It would have been a leak a long time ago. Well, maybe. If Cohen had a letter and Cohen would be the guy. Mm-hmm. But he was a guy just yesterday.

He just yesterday came out and said, okay, yes, I did lie about this two cards. So here's the thing. I don't want to even, I don't really care. I get to the point on this when when the facts are out, then we'll be able to comment on it.

Yeah. I'm not holding the letter out as, because I'm not talking about, I'm only talking about politics here. Don't use the word lie and fall into the trap of all of the hate Trump media. Look, listen to Father Christmas. It's the season of joy. You sit on a throne of lies. A man lied, don't use the word.

Well, this would be proof that. You are saying it would be proof if this letter is. existed and he signed it, it would be true. And then what? So, you build a condominion in Moscow, that is a business dealing.

Okay. So what does that mean then if that did exist to you? About what his contacts with Russia war. So then what would mean? I got it. So then what would that actually mean?

Because it's not illegal. No. So is anybody, Is this going to change anything? Well, unless he said that under oath in his deposition. Right. Right. And no. If it didn't, it would just be, it would just be another thing that the anti-Trump people could say, the guy's not trustworthy.

That's all. Right. Okay. So now, let me ask you this question. Yes. Because if you, Sue and I were talking about this earlier, if you listen to what the president says, you have a good chance at one point or another during your day, I'm getting pissed off, okay?

But if you don't listen to what he says, you just watch his actions, like on Russia. He's very strong against Russia. He has taken real sanctions to Russia that we have not seen before. When you watch his actions, they don't match the words, because he's a guy like,

this is the most beautiful sink ever built. And you're like, okay, it's a sink, man. You watch your hands in it. So you have to, you have to not look at his, his language. But when you, when you actually listen to him, you have to defend it. And, you know, we're put into a role to where we have to somehow or another say it's okay that he said, I had nothing to do with paying those girls off. And we know now that he did if this happens with Russia.

And there's a couple of other things that are like this. Yeah, you have to make a decision whether his policies override his personal behavior. It's the same thing with Bill Clinton. And I think the American people. The same thing with Clinton. As Republicans are doing with Trump. Right. And I think everybody has already made their decision on that.

Right. I'm not sure because if Trump needs, if he wants to be reelected, he's got to win over about 7% more votes than he has now in the polls. All right. So let's, let's. Resuadable people, depending on who runs against him. All right. So let's pick it up there. And our conversation continues with Bill O'Reilly from bill o'Reilly.com.

We are so pleased to be at WFLA in Tampa. Tonight, we're in Tampa. Tomorrow we're in Orlando, Florida. We would love to see you. Tickets are available. You just grab them online at glenbeck.com slash tour. I am not leaving this city without cojacks. And the barbecue place, yeah.

Leaving this city without the house of ribs. This was your favorite place. Oh my gosh. I love this place. I wanted to move into the house of ribs. It is so good. Before we get back into the politics, can I ask Bill O'Reilly a question? Yeah.

Bill, are you aware what happened with your Gettysburg a dream? bid the other day? No, I'm not. I was waiting. What happened? Patiently. Because you bid $20,000 for a copy of the Gettysburg Address. And then there was an auction at the charity event and went back and forth and you were outbid. Right away.

Pretty quickly. Pretty quickly. Unfortunately for you. I will like to tell you that the person who outbid you was this, a blonde woman who was up in the front row. She seemed very nice. Her name was Tanya Beck. You were beaten by my wife, Bill. By my wife.

What's bidding on his own things? What charity does it go to benefit? That particular piece went to do the Abraham Lincoln Museum. But the entire event was my charity, Mercury One, which is... If I had to lose to somebody, Tanya is a person that I would want to lose to. She's so much a nice woman. She is. I don't know why she's with...

Glenn, but you're right. Then it was me that you lost to. Glenn, back. Mercury. Florida, where we are performing tonight in concert. I believe Stu is, you're going to try the cello tonight, are you not? Yeah, I've never tried it before, but I think it looks pretty easy. I mean, your arm goes back and forth.

And I am basically the whole thing. And I am on the electric guitar and electric piano, which I've never played either one of them. And there's no electricity either. Yeah. It's unplugged. Yeah, it's unplugged. So anyway, that's tonight and tomorrow. Tonight in Tampa, tomorrow in Orlando.

glenbeck.com slash tour. Bill O'Reilly is with us. Bill. Wow, you know, I wish I was down there. I really liked to see Stu play the cello. That would be exciting. Thank you, Bill. I appreciate.

A lot of people feel the same way. I know. I know. So if you get the steel drum going, I mean, hey, can Bob Christmas just get a quick plug in so we don't have to do it at the end? Yeah, yeah, sure. All right. The Internet addiction is killing the book industry.

All right. because people don't want to take the time to read a 300-page book when they can just text their brains out or Snapchat or whatever they're doing. If you look at the Amazon 100, top 100 books, there are actually 10 books, 10 in the top 100, real books. Killing the SS is actually the second best-selling book next to Michelle O in the country right now was first last Sunday. but the wonky-dunkey and dragons love tacos are outselling me on Amazon Beck and it's an outrage.

Oh, dragons love tacos sounds really good. Dragons love tacos. I love tacos. We have a lot in common. I got a lot of tacos, all right? So the whole book is fraud. You were the one saying unless you have a confirmation of a lie, don't call it a lie. Don't call it a lie. How do you know dragons don't love tacos? They don't love tacos. How do you know that? eat people. They don't eat, they don't talk. But anyway, killing the S. Those are that, so that's an old charge

on Dragons. Anybody who likes history will love killing ESS for the holiday thing and then Bill O'Reilly.com premium membership spec. You have one. Everyone should have one. So that's it. Father Christmas is done. Go right ahead. All right. So let's talk

about the G20 meeting. The president said, the president said yesterday, which, you know, I love the way he negotiates. He's got a twitchy eye, and everybody's like, I don't know. He just might freaking do it. He said, I don't really even know if I want to make a deal with China because we're getting so much money from him now in this tariff war.

But, you know he does. But he is threatening all kinds of stuff. What do you think is going to happen with the G20? Any progress on the trade with China? I think there will be a breakthrough because China, and I have this very good authority, is going to slap a tariff on Dragons Love Tacos. You're not going to be able to ship that book to China, and that's going to be the deal breaker, and Trump will give in,

and then everything will be good. I have heard that this deal with China has always, already been made. And this is usually the way they do it. People should know this. They don't just show up to Buenos Aires, all right? And then they talk in a room and come out with a deal. That never happens. It's always by minions or the Secretary of State or whatever. And then they have a framework. So they know now whether they're going to have an adjoin announcement on Saturday or Sunday, which I believe they'll have some kind of breakthrough. I do believe

that will happen. So will the trade war, because this is the one thing that I know President Trump really believes in, he believes that, he believes that trade wars are good. He believes that tariffs are good.

A lot of people in his administration have been hoping that he's just using this as a negotiation tactic. So far with Canada and Mexico. No, well, he got his deal with Mexico and then he never changed the tariff. So is he going, huh?

He will. His overdose is coming in this weekend and they will do that, but Trump is smart. He's not going to do it until Obrador gets in, the new president of Mexico. And he sees how he's going to handle a caravan. He sees how he's going to do a whole bunch of other things. So it's

clear. When it comes to Mexico, when it comes to Mexico, I'm not in any hurry to lift it on Mexico just because of the caravan. I want to see what they're doing. Right. Because this guy's a socialist over door, and you've got to see how crazy he's going to be. Yeah. All right. So you think that he's going, we are going to solve this deal with China. I don't know if you're going to solve it, but Trump is a deal maker. That's his whole life, makes deals, all right? And so he wants to put forth to the American people that he's tougher,

smarter and stronger than China. That's what he wants to do. Now, China, they're basically saying, we're not going to take a lot of garbage from Donald Trump, but our economy is listing. Word of the days, Stu, L-I-S-T-I-N-G listing. All right, and it is. So we're going to have to do something to get investment back into China.

That's what China wants. So both sides have big gains to be, made if they can, you know, be nice to each other. And that's what I think will happen. Let's talk about Putin. Yesterday, President arrived. He was going to meet with Putin. And he said, now I've got to look at, you know, I'm not happy that they haven't released the Ukrainian sailors yet. And, you know, so what do you think is going to happen with Putin? And you know, you never know with Putin. Putin is a different character than, you know, China, China has to deal with the United States.

They have to because their economy is so fragile. It's a billion and a half people, many of whom don't have electricity. They don't have a lot of choice. Putin, you do whatever he wants. Putin's like Stalin in the sense that he runs that place. You don't like it. I'll put a bullet in your head. And so Putin, you can't predict what he's going to do.

I think he's just bored over there. It's 14 below zero every day in Moscow. He goes, ah, let's have a little fun with Ukraine. We'll take one of their boats. You know, that's what he is. He's a provocateur. So Trump can't handle him because Trump's got nothing over him. And Trump was smart not to meet with him.

You know, if Trump had his way, he wouldn't meet with anybody. He wouldn't even go there. He doesn't even know where it is. I mean, come on. Last topic. The border. Your thoughts over the week. Well, we've done some excellent reporting on bill O'Reilly.com, tracing the big money.

That's come from Washington to Chicago to Tegusa Galpa, Honduras, to fund this whole ruse. R U.S.E. You know, we don't ever look those up. This is a very well-orchestrated, organized, and funded campaign to break the U.S. asylum system. break it down, break the border, have open borders. And if you go to Bill O'Reilly.com, we've listed all the agencies, all the people running the agencies. Gee, George Soros, oh, wow, in the past, get a lot of money to these organizations. So that's what this is.

You don't have 6,000 people in Mexico City get on buses and drive the Tijuana, unless you have millions of dollars to charter those buses. So it's all ruse, but the real thing is why on earth is the U.S. media ignore the real story here? You know, I mean, do you idiots in Black Rock and Manhattan want open borders? Is that what you want in Hollywood? Is that what you really want? Because that's what you're playing into. I mean, I'm now thinking that the people running the media agencies back, you know, with the exceptions of you and me,

are just stone cold stupid people. Oh, I agree. You know, we know they're corrupt, but now I'm thinking, you guys are just stupid. This is so horrible for the country, you know, perspective of open borders and chaos on our, on our border with Mexico, the narcotics that we talked about the beginning of the hour, coming across. Where do you think the fentanyl's coming from? Mexico. So, Bill, you know, it's annoying me. It's annoying me, Stu.

So I think, spell it out so you can look it up. Bill, I agree with you that they are, they're just blind, just blind. And it may be blind stupid on several things. But when you, I think that the press has, you know, done what Fonzie did, what in 1976 and jumped the shark. I think that they have, they've now entered a rule into. a room where they are literally asking us to deny what our eyes can see. And also deny, to look at what was happening.

The crusher was, the pressure was for the press that they showed these pictures of the tear gas with the kids and the mothers, right? And they went wild, did they not? And then all of a sudden the next day, well, President Obama used to your guests 500 times on the board during his eight years. No, 1600. Oh, it's 1,600. Okay.

Yeah, it's 1600. So did you hear a word of that? No. A word of it in the New York Times, Washington Post. You know, and so you're right. Americans go, you know what? We're not believing anything you say now because you don't deserve to be believed. and that helps Mercury, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Bill O'Reilly.com.

Because people go, you know what, we're going to look for something that we could at least have a semblance of trust in. Not you. I know. Bill O'Reilly. I know. It was beautiful. Spelless. Yeah.

Brilliant. Always leads to speechless. It's really, it's quite amazing. Thank you. Thank you. I want everybody to go see Beck and Stu tonight playing. cello. It's going to be just a blast. I've written a song about you. He's written a song about it. Yes. All right. Bill, great to have you. Bill O'Reilly.com and

Killing the SS is his latest bestselling book, which is really truly tremendous if you're a history lover, or you really just want to delve in and know the truth about some of things that even the United States did in World War II with killing the SS. Bill O'Reilly's book is tremendous. Thanks so much, Bill. Talk to you soon. Okay, guys. See you soon.

All right. I don't know why I like him. It's a very broad statement and question, but an interesting one. Our sponsor this F hour is filter by. Is our mic on when I said that? Filter by is our sponsor. you know, when you have to turn on if you live in a place, I don't know if Seattle is still like this.

Do people in Seattle have air conditioning? Because when I grew up, we didn't have air conditioning. And it's not like, we didn't have air conditioning. We want, I wanted it. But everybody, nobody had it because you're like, what a waste of money. What do you air condition four days out of the year? But when you turn your heat on now, now your heat is circulating. And can you smell it?

Can you smell it? Your heater, your air conditioning unit, you have air filters. And I was in a house the other day, oof, because we're moving and I was looking in a rental house. Because we're, we're, I just sold my house. And so we're moving into a rental house because we're going to build a house. And I'm, I walk in and there is this, this air vent that is just covered in black. You could see through the grain just like so dirty. And I'm like, oh my gosh.

And the filter had got, it had to have been just nasty, worse than mine. And I don't want to ever change my filter until I got with filter by. Filter by, they'll ship your order within 24 hours. Here's the thing. You get, you say 5% if you just, you know, click, you know, renewal. And so they'll send you like every six months. They'll send you a new filter. So it arrives at your door and you're like, oh, time to change the filter again.

because I never think about it. I forget, and I'm not going to Home Depot on my Saturday to go get filters. Yes, you are. You got a lot of time to do. Take that one off the list. They'll send it to you just at filter by filterb u.com. That's filterbuY.com. I got to tell you, I love this priest.

Priest who has been an exorcist for 40 years, has come out and said that Celine Dionne, New Gender Neutral Clothing Line is Satanic, inspired by Satan himself. Aside from the clothing being hideously ugly. Oh, how many Hellmary's do I have to have for laughing at this? Aside from the clothing being hideously ugly, occult themes on children is disturbing.

Babies who look sullen, who would pay $77 for a baby blanket with skulls on it. Anyway, so it's a satanic. And I say we should have known that with her music. Then anything really comes from her who's been inspired by the devil. It's a strong stance there. Well, it is Celine Dion. And my heart will not go on another second longer.

Oh, she did what she's still doing that Vegas thing? That's the new thing. If you were like a big artist and now you could just go to. Vegas and have a residency and just do those shows every day. That's got to be the best life in the world. Yeah. I'm trying to get that gig, but like the Vegas deli. Yes. Yeah. You know, you know. It's got like 12 seats. Yeah. Three tables. But it's sold out. Sold out. Well, almost. Sometimes. Sometimes. Usually people are eating and not necessarily paying attention to your show. But they're like, shut up. Who is this guy? Can you get him to shut up? Um, but I don't know if she's still doing it. But boy, I hope she is because, mm, I just.

You know. That you didn't seem to really express a... Yeah. So we have Ambassador Brownback on... Coming up in just a second. He was the governor of... Kansas and senator from Kansas as well, right? Yeah.

Thank you, Stu. And now he is the ambassador at large for the international religious freedom. Sworn in as Ambassador Alarge. I don't know what that means. Is that a fat joke? I don't think Sam is fat. No, he's not.

So I don't know what it means. I just know this. that we wanted to talk to him about religious freedom, but because he's in the role he's in, he can't talk about a couple of the stories that we were talking about this week. So I don't want to put him in an awkward position. So if you're listening, you're like,

why aren't you talking to him about this issue and that issue? Because I can't put him in an awkward position because he's an ambassador at the time. But we do want to talk to him about religious persecution and religious freedom around the world. Senator or Ambassador Brownback coming up next. Glenn, back. Mercury.

Hey, it's Glenn, and I want to tell you about something that you should either end your day with or start your morning with. And that is, the news and why it matters. If you like this show, you're going to love the news and why it matters. It's a bunch of us that all get together at the end of the day and just talk about the stories that matter to you and your life. The news and why it matters. Look for it now wherever you download your favorite podcast. 20th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act. 20 years this has been in, and I'm not sure that religious freedom is getting better at all.

We have the ambassador at large, Sam Brownback. He was a senator and governor of Kansas, and now the ambassador at large, which I think means he's either on the lamb or they don't give him a cool, you know, residents to live in. I'm not really sure. Let's ask him. That's an important first question. It really is. Ambassador Brownback, how are you, sir? I'm doing well. How are you guys today? Very good. I'm sure that at-large means that you're not on the lamb, right? That's correct. It means you cover the whole world. It's not religious freedom for a particular country, Bulgaria or Iran or something like that. It covers the entire world. So, you know, we work on the issues around the world. I'm stationed out of the State Department, but I do do a lot of traveling at different countries and work around the administration on religious freedom topics that, you're right.

The situation has gotten worse over the last 20 years, but this administration's serious about what we can do to change that trend line, get it going back the right way. Now, I know you're an ambassador, so if we ask anything that we shouldn't be asking, I don't, I don't, we want people to be free and I don't care about, you know, I don't care about the interview or anything else. I just want people to be free. So feel free to say, shut up, Glenn, at any time. But can we, can we talk a little bit about the Middle East and start with the Middle East on what's happening? What's happening there?

We are, you know, Mercury One has done a remarkable job on, bringing thousands of Christians out of the Middle East. And the lion's share really now at this point has gone to Australia. And these are good Christians who were marked for death in the Middle East. We've got one, one, not family, one person into America. How come America is not embracing the persecuted Christians like some other countries? around the world? Well, we historically have. You can look at a number of people that have fled the Middle East, particularly religious minorities, over the last 30 years, and a number have come to the

United States. And I don't know why the recent situation has changed where they're not coming into the United States, because we've always been a haven for religious minorities. One of the new things that we're trying to do more is, though, to make the situation safer in the Middle East for religious minorities to stay. And that's the... Well, I know that's what a lot of them... Yeah, a lot of them want to. So what are we doing to secure that?

Northern Iraq is probably the best example where a number of them are moving back. I toured there first of July. We're rebuilding homes, rebuilding churches, institutions, hospitals. And the key long term is to get a better security environment so that people don't feel threatened. But they are moving back, and now we're starting to focus on that security agenda to be able to tell people that, you know, yes, you can leave. You can seek asylum status in other places and people granted, but we really need you to stay. We don't want to see these historic religions, particularly Christianity, but also the Yazidis in that region, just continue to get pushed out of the Middle East like they have for the past 30 years.

Well, I tell you, they, they, most of them have reluctantly left, the ones that we deal with, they don't want to leave because they, they all say the same thing. If we leave, we are the original people that you read about in the Bible, the ones that were persecuted, the, you know, the ones that the apostles first went to talk to. That's us. And if we leave, it completely, it leaves a vacuum. And so they don't want to leave, most of them. I agree. I agree. And that's why I was happy to hear that a number of them are moving back now into these communities. I had some meetings every week at Tuesday from 11 to noon, Washington, D.C., usually on the hill, we do a religious freedom roundtable with outside groups, and a number of outside individuals then that have been persecuted or represent persecuted communities come in and tell their story. And recently I was at one of those where people say, no, we are.

community, northern Iraq, about 55% have moved back now to the community. The homes have been rebuilt. The churches have been rebuilt. And they're happy to be able to move back home. But the security situation is still tenuous at any time. A new ISIS-type variety could build up. And so, you know, they kind of sleep with a bagpacked ready to flee to Erbil or somewhere else in the region where they can get to near-term safety. But that's the situation we've got to correct, where they don't have to sleep with a bagpack to leave at a moment's notice. So, you know, the Saudi Arabia situation with Khashoggi was an absolute nightmare.

And, you know, they're not the friendliest place to visit, especially if you're Christian and open about it. However, I have heard that things are dramatically changing there. And, you know, there are some areas in the Middle East that are even now openly embracing Israel. Are you sensing something happening in the Middle East more than just an opposition to Iran? No, I am. I am. I'm headed to the UAE, United Arab Emirates, next week. speaking to a major, mostly Muslim leadership conference, I'm going to talk about ending violence between the Abrahamic faiths and talk about that what we need to do is have a respect for each other,

and that these are different faiths, they have different beliefs. There's no question about it. But people, we should have a respect for that, and that there should not be, and that the theologians should say that our religion does not support the use of violence in the promotion, the propagation of the faith, to renounce that use of violence. Now, that seems, you know, that seems just like something that people are going to say and they don't really mean it because that's the way it has been. But I have again heard that in Saudi Arabia, they are now arresting and closing down many of the extremist mosques, the Wahhabists clerics, that they're 1,500 to 3,000 that have lost their mosque and have been stopped because of their view. Is that true? Do you know?

I can't verify that particular thing, but I can tell you that things are changing, just that you are seeing a leadership at the governmental level in these countries that is more open, respectful. And then seeing, too, Glenn, that when you decide as a nation, we are only going to have one faith, and we're only going to have one faith, and we're only going to have one interpretation of that one faith in our country, and all else are not welcome, and they can easily be vandalized, terrorized, killed, you limit the growth of your own country. You limit your potential, and you actually increase extremism and terrorism, and you almost authorize mob violence by doing that. Number of the governments in the region are seeing this is a bad strategy for us, long term. We can't grow based on this strategy. We have to be open and let the faiths compete

in a environment that protects all faith, being able to practice as they see fit as long as they're peaceful. So I'm sure you've seen what's been happening on our borders. And it has been a little agonizing to many people to hear the refugee word thrown around so much and asylum thrown around for people that many of them are on record stating that they are here because they can't find a job or they want to finish their education in America, et cetera, et cetera. I'm sure there are qualified people that need asylum, you know,

that are headed towards our, border, but it's in the vast minority, I'm guessing. And it seems like we've lost touch with what a refugee really is. When the United States opens its arms to say, we will provide shelter for you. It is for something vastly different than what we're seeing on the border. Can you define what a, what persecution looks like? what a refugee or someone who needs asylum looks like in your world of religious freedom? Well, I mean, there are legal definitions.

There are courts that make these determinations, and we have hundreds of thousands, probably of people in the United States currently seek an asylum status. And I pulled that number out of the air, so I'm not certain. But I'm certain it's thousands that are seeking, and courts make that determination. but generally the situation that has to prevail is that they were from or in a country where in their set of beliefs they could not function. They were subject to terrorism, to arrest, that they were not allowed to go to school or to practice their freedom freely, so that they had this level of systematic persecution

that was taking place at the hands of the government, or that they had no protection provided by the government, and this was allowed to take place against them. Those are the sort of factual situations that you're looking for on an asylum status, which can often be pretty hard to actually achieve to meet the factual setting that we require to grant somebody illegal asylum status. Is the increase of religious persecution, is it, a factor of the governments of the world getting worse, or is it a factor that the churches

have pretty much fallen asleep at the switch? You know, I ask this question of experts all the time, because it seemed like to me that we had a burst of religious freedom after the fall of communism. Yes. But those nations opened up, there was a just, there was a freedom that happened that they hadn't breathed for a long period of time. It was more exclusive to there. a nice push of it around the world. And then that things have been constricting since that period of time.

And I was an expert about that earlier this week. And he said, you know, it's a series of factors. It's government seeing religion and its importance and its impact. And then dabbling in it, in some cases funding it. But if you fund something by government, government's tentacles go into you and they tend towards control of a means. In other cases, it's a political move by a government where a majority faith-oriented people don't like a new minority faith that's coming in, and they want them kicked out, limited, and they'll pursue laws that do that. There's any number of factors, but it's probably really reflective as much as anything of the growing importance of religion at a time when much of the world thought religion would be in decline. the impact and the importance of religion is growing around the world and governments are active around that space, more active. So let me ask you this, and it kind of goes to what you just said. As I travel the world and I am with persecuted people and persecuted for their religion, I am struck by how?

how shallow my faith really is. It is remarkable for the country that is known to be one of the most religious, at least in Christianity. How shallow our faith is overall, compared to those countries where Christianity is being persecuted, those people, their faith is remarkably different. Do you agree? Oh, absolutely. I'm around people weekly whose faith astounds me, this beautiful faith. And there's a, there's a calm peace and joy about them that you're looking. This, you can't make that up. I was on the phone with Andrew Brunson, and we worked his case. The president got him out. The president got him out. The president. leaned in and got that done. But that man, Andrew Brunson, has a remarkable calm and peaceful faith. And he spent two years in a Turkish prison and had great difficulty and lots of spiritual

failures, but towards the end, getting successes. And you're just going, yeah, yeah, you just see the purified faith there. And that's what I get to see regularly. And people speaking clearly about miracles and signs and things that they've seen personally that have caused them to make this bold proclamation of their faith. It's a gorgeous thing. Ambassador Sam Brownback, you were a great governor and a great senator, and thank you for all of your hard work through the years, and thank you so much for your work as the ambassador of international religious freedom. Thank you, Sam. Appreciate it.

My honor. Take care. Thanks, Glenn. God bless you all. God bless. All right. Our sponsor, this half hour is Car Shield. I'm in the middle of a Car Shield experience right now.

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wants to blame anybody for my career. It would be WFLA. Thank you. And the program director here at the time was Sue Trichis, who is going to see here. She's still here at WFLA. I love this place. I do too. I'm just walking down the halls.

It brings back so many memories. So many memories. It's crazy. This is the place it started. I mean, you know, this is the mothership of the whole network. And I would just walk by, I just walked by the studio where you and I had a conversation. And I said, I'm telling you it's going to happen.

And you're like, Glenn, you've been saying that forever from the first day show that we were going to replace Dr. Laura. And like three weeks, remember this? Like three or four weeks later, we get a call from Premiere. And they're like, we want you for that nine to noon live thing. I'm just as much a fan of these stories as well because it's like I'm seeing a new movie. You know, it's like you're in theaters. And here's a whole new, brand new story that you've never heard before. just like the audience is here.

Oh, you like to forget them. You like to forget that. Oh, you do. I mean, I don't know what you're talking about as usual. But I do remember, I mean, it was a lot. This was a great time. It was a lot of fun. It was a great time.

It was a great time. And the people here are awesome. I just, I mean, every time we come back here, I love it. I love this town. I really do. Tampa's just great. It's a great place. And you're very excited about the barbecue, which is weird coming from Texas.

You went from Texas to Tampa for barbecue? I'm sorry, but I think the best barbecue ever is. is here at Cojacks. They're going to wall you out of the state of Texas. They get so picky. Every barbecue in every part is different, though. Yeah, it's just different. They're different styles.

Yeah. I mean, you know, Texas is one. There's Memphis. There's Kansas City is another big one, right? There's a bunch of people who, but they're all different. Carolina has a big one too, right, for barbecue? Yeah, I don't know. I only like Cojacks.

Everything else is. Yeah. So your first defense of, it's just different was a lie, basically, is what you're saying. Yeah, for me. Yeah, for me. No, when it comes to Texas, Texans are just like, no, it's Texas barbecue. Well, there's a difference between Texas barbecue and Kansas City barbecue. It is, it's just a different flavor and everything else.

When it comes to Cojax barbecue over any other barbecue, this is just the best. Period. You're that, Texas? Keep them out of the state. We all be better off. Come see the show. You can buy your tickets. I still maybe gojax eating.

cojacks eating but uh grab your tickets now for tampa tonight orlando tomorrow glenbeck.com slash tour yesterday on uh television i got a call from a woman who said glad i need your advice i i have a friend who's been a friend of mine since grade school we grew up together and we have been such close friends our whole lives and she said i think the turning point was on my instagram page I posted a picture of the new Jerusalem embassy and that on the day that it was open and I don't remember what she said, but basically, you know, I put emoji clapping hand emojis

and she said, I think my friend just went crazy at that for some reason. She said, I don't know what else it could have been. She said, but I just got a letter from her saying, I can't be your friend anymore, I can't talk to you anymore. and she said, I don't know what to do. I want to write to her and tell her that she's wrong. And so what I suggested to her was, remind her of your friendship,

remind her of all of the good times that you've had. Remind her, don't accuse her of anything, don't say anything that you're going to regret. Don't try to win. Just say, you are such a good friend. And friends should be able to disagree with one another and I don't know what I've done and if I've done something I please forgive me but I just want to tell you that I will always feel this way about you because we're more than just friends

we've been together since we were in fifth grade or fourth grade whatever it was. Forgiveness is something that we all need to work on and I want to play a piece of audio from StoryCorps. StoryCorps has really done some amazing things. We're telling the story of of America, but they're now looking to try to get people across these political divides and come back together and just get to know each other again. Forget about politics. And there's been a couple of real healing things that I've heard. One was a woman who was marching with, it wasn't Antifa, but it was a, it was a, you know, a lefty kind of thing. And there was another guy who was wearing a Trump hat and he was protesting the

protesters, you know, typical scene. Well, the protesters starts surrounding this guy with a hat and they tear his hat off. Well, she's a Muslim and she was wearing a hijab. And she all of a sudden felt like they're attacking like they attack me, like people attack me. And she said back off and they had this amazing breakthrough between two people who were on the other side of the protest and StoryCorps got them together to tell their story and it's really remarkable. I want to play another one for you. This one is Mary Johnson. Her son was killed by O'Shea Israel. They were in a fight. They were teenagers in a fight and her son is killed by this guy. she is she's got so much anger and hatred in her heart she can't even speak of of it for about 12 years

until she goes to the prison and she shows up at stillwater prison and she sits down and wants to talk to him listen to what happened here is o'shea israel the guy who killed her son and mary johnson you and i met at stillwater prison I wanted to know if you were in the same mindset of what I remember from court, where I wanted to go over and hurt you, but you were not that 16-year-old. You were a grown man. I shared with you about my son.

And he became human to me. You know, when I met him to, it was like, okay, this guy is real. And then when it was time to go, you broke down and started shedding tears, and the initial thing to do was just try to hold you up as best I can. Just hug you like I would my own mother, you know. After you left the room, I began to say, I just hug the man that murdered my son. And I instantly knew that all that anger and the animosity,

all the stuff I had in my heart for 12 years for you, I knew it was over, that I had totally forgiven you. As far as receiving forgiveness from you, sometimes I still don't know how to take it because I haven't totally forgiven myself yet. It's something that I'm learning from you. I won't say that I have learned yet because it's still a process that I'm going through. I treat you as I would treat my son. And our relationship is beyond belief. We live next door to one another.

Yeah. So you can see what I'm doing. You know, firsthand. We actually bump into each other all the time, leaving in and out of the house. And I have conversations. They come from, boy, how come you ain't called over here to check on me in a couple of days? You ain't even asked me if I need my garbage to go out. I find those things funny because it's a relationship with a mother for real.

Well, my natural son is no longer here. I didn't see him graduate. You know, you're going to college. I'll have the opportunity to see you graduate. I didn't see him get married. Hopefully one day I'll be able to experience that with you. Just to hear you say those things and to be in my life or in the manner that which you are, it's my motivation.

It motivates me to make sure that I stay on the right path. You still believe in me. And the fact that you can do it despite how much pain I'll cause you, it's amazing. I know it's not an easy thing, you know, to be able to share our story together, even with us sitting here looking at each other right now. I know it's not an easy thing. So I admire that you can do this.

I love you, lady. I love you too, son. Think of that. Think of that. Dave Isay is the founder, president of StoryCorps, and he's working on a new project called One Small Step. We welcome you to the program and your friendship, Dave. Welcome. It's great to be back, Glenn.

Thank you. So, first of all, that is one of the, I mean, you've got the greatest job in the world. You really do. That is just remarkable. If you're sitting there and you're thinking, I just can't get over my hatred of it. Are you kidding me? If you can't solve a problem and these two, she just called him my son. I love you, my son.

Wow. What can't we get over? So, Dave, one small step. Tell me what the idea is and how people can get involved. Sure. And I really appreciate you having me back on. And I agree with you. You know, it's funny about O'Shea Israel and Mary Johnson,

who I actually had, they recorded this a couple of years ago at StoryCorps. I just had the privilege of meeting them for the first time a couple of months ago, last month, actually. And I think, you know, a lot of people when they hear story, core stories talk about, you know, crying when they hear them. And most stories, core stories aren't sad. I think what makes people cry is just as you said about Marion O'Shea is that we're showing, first of all, it's authentic. It's the opposite of reality TV. You know, people aren't coming on to get famous or rich. It's just this act of love.

And also, we're showing kind of a path that we can all take. And when you hear humanity at its best, you're kind of walking on holy ground. And there's something, you know, sacred about that. And I think that's what, even the funny stories, people just are crying when they hear them. We've had half a million Americans participate in StoryCorps. And it is an experience where two people come together with the help of a facilitator. Or you can use our app. We have an app and have a full.

40-minute conversation to talk about what's really important. People think of it as if I had 40 minutes left to live, what would I say to this person who's so important to me? And then at the end of the interview, you get a copy and another goes to the Library of Congress so your great, great, great-grandkids can get to hear who your grandmother is or who your friend is through her voice. And you know better than anybody, the power of voice. It's like the soul is contained in the voice, right. So it really is, I think in many ways, kind of the best expression of who we are as human being is having these conversations as best sets possible in 40 minutes. We did start, and this is how I met you a few months ago, a something completely different for us called One Small Step,

and we just launched it about a month ago. And basically, what we're doing is everybody who's participated in StoryCorps so far has known and loved each other. And what we're doing now is putting people across the political divides, people who think they hate each other, think that they want, feel contempt for this other human being or want them dead or whatever it is that's happened to this country. You know, it's, you know, I last talked to you a couple weeks ago, and it seems like the sky's just darkened by the week. You know, it's worse now than it was that. We were talking, we opened the show up and said, oh, she's, it's been a rough week. And we were talking about, We say that every week, and it gets worse every week.

So, you know, but there are some good things that are happening. No, there are a lot of good things that are happening. Yeah. And, and, you know, the facilitators who travel the country in these interviews, when they come back and we've had hundreds of them, and, you know, they record every kind of person. The first thing they'll say when you ask them, like, what did you learn from this experience or out on the road for a year or two years,

is some variation of the Anne Frank. quote that people are basically good, you know, and that's everywhere. They are. You know, but our, you know, I was listening to something this morning about talking about how, you know, the brain, like we, the brain pathways, it's like we're building the muscle of fear because we hear fear, fear, fear, fear all the time. And you've got to build the muscle of the truth is that the basic goodness of people. And we've got to feel hope, you know.

I was just talking to a guy. He was a very, very important and influential. CIA station chief operator kind of guy. And we were talking about how much is going on in the world. And when we got to solutions, we both said it's the human heart. You're not going to be able to fix anything unless we soften the human heart. And I mean, I thought for a warrior to get that was pretty remarkable. Yeah, well, you know, it's the people who have been through the hardest things that are, have the, the wisdom of humanity, right? That's why at StoryCorps, where there are a lot of times we work with people who are, you know, close to death or have been through very difficult things because they're the ones, you know, forget the celebrities and everybody else. You know, it's the people who've been through tough things that that are the holders of wisdom. And I think it's, you know, and one of the, you know, theories of StoryCorps, and I don't even think it's a theory anymore is, you know, is just, you know, that, that are the holders of wisdom. And I think it's, you know, is just, you know, you know,

just the idea that how difficult it is to hate someone when up close, you know, and we talked about this last time, but, you know, we've just, we've forgotten as a country that, you know, that we belong to each other. And we've got to remember that. So, so, Dave, you're setting out and you're looking for people, in particular, people from, you know, the conservative, you know, Trump world, et cetera, et cetera, because, you know, StoryCorps has heard a lot. on NPR. And so, you know, everybody on the left knows what StoryCorps is. Very few on the right really kind of know what StoryCorps is. I do. I love it. And you're looking for people that want to come together and figure out a way to each other without talking politics. So tell me what

the experience would be like for people. Sure. And you summarized it perfectly. It's not about finding common ground on a political issue. It's not about finding some middle resolution on abortion or whatever it is. It's just remembering that a person who you disagree with is a living, breathing human being. And what happens is every StoryCorps interview is a 40-minute experience. You sit in a booth or you can use our app. And we suggest questions for you to ask. We have for one small step, which is this across the divides initiative, we have special one small step. questions. And those questions are just talking about your life, you know, and you can pick whatever you want to talk about, a question like who has, who's been kindest to you in your life or who are your parents, you know? And then it gets into kind of politics, but not in a straight on way, questions like, was there a moment in your life? And at some point, I'd love to, you know, talk to you about this. Like, what was a moment in your life that formed your political views? So I tell you what, Dave, next time you're on, bring another story. Next time you're on,

let's go through that together a little bit. Can we? I love that. And if you want to get involved, you can just go to storycore.org, storytore.org. And please, I urge you, everything's going to be recorded in the National Archives. It's important that the good voices of real people are recorded for history purposes. Thank you so much. We'll talk again. Have a great weekend, Glenn. Thank you. You bet. Thank you. All right. I want to tell you a little bit about Simply Safe. Our sponsor this half hour, Simply Safe is going to keep your family safe. It's going to keep your, uh, your, your, your doors, uh, locked and anybody who opens them up, the windows open up. Somebody breaks a window. They're going to alert police. Something's the catches on fire. They're going to,

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Right now they're giving you great discounts on their products. Simplysafebeck.com. That's simplysafebec.com. Welcome to the program. It is Friday. We have a very exciting program for you on Monday. You do not want to miss. If you're going to only listen to one show a year, well, you've already listened to this one.

so I guess. But if you're going to listen to two, listen Monday. You don't want to miss Monday's broadcast. And if you're anywhere in the Florida area, tonight we're live in Tampa. You can get your tickets to the show at glenbeck.com slash tour. Tomorrow, we're in Orlando. Glenbeck.com slash tour. Make sure you come and see us. It's an awful lot of fun and we'll see you back in Dallas on Monday.

Don't miss it. Thanks to WFLA as well, our still kind of our home station in Florida, 970 WFLA. Thank you so much for your hospitality. Glenn, back, Mercury.