← Next Up with Mark Halperin
Next Up with Mark Halperin
Is Trump’s Iran Deal Really “Americans First”?
00:56:53
Mark Halperin's reported monologue tells the story you won’t hear anywhere else: what’s really going on with the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran — and the key questions that will determine if the deal succeeds. Then, Glenn Beck explains why the deal is “America First”, why he believes JD Vance could be one of the most consequential political figures of the next generation, which Democrat he finds to be a compelling leader, and why Graham Platner appeals to some Maine voters as a new kind of “Trump.” Chapter: For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial (262) 454-0503 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to https://askchapter.org/mark *Paid Partnership*” Chapter and its affiliates are not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. Chapter Advisory, LLC represents Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organizations and stand alone prescription drug plans that have a Medicare contract. Enrollment depends on the plan’s c...
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Welcome in Everybody. This is NextUp with me, Mark Kalperin, editor in chief of the live Interactive video platform 2way and your guide to everything. Coming next up. Grateful to you for being here, happy that you are part of being a nexter, and for talking about a lot of big stories that are in the news. Our guest today, the great Glenn Beck, the one and only host of the Glenn Beck program, founder of Blaze Media, founder of his new media venture, Torch. We're going to talk to him about everything in the news and about the media and about his long and extraordinary life and career. Before Glenn joins us, though, next up is my reported monologue on Iran. I've been doing a lot of talking to people inside and outside the administration about what is actually going on, what has been accomplished, and what's left to get done. My reported monologue on the real story of what's going on with Iran and the United States is next up. If you're 64 years or older, here's something worth knowing. 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All right, next up, my reported monologue on Iran. I know there's a big tendency to say this is all politics and has this affect the midterms? And what will this do to President Trump's approval rating? I'm not indifferent to those things, but I think we need to go back to first principles. That's what I've been doing this week and talking to my sources inside the government, Capitol Hill analysts, people in Israel. What are the basics here? And, and we're operating a bit in a vacuum because as I'm talking to you today, we don't know what's in the memorandum of understanding. I'm not sure it's going to matter all that much. It's a page and a half. And so it's not a very specific document. The devil will be, as I've and others have said repeatedly, and the details of what they negotiate. But I think again, we got to go back to first principles. Why? Why did this happen? What was President Trump trying to do? He was trying to do a very difficult thing. He was trying to solve a problem that he didn't solve in his first term and that his predecessors didn't solve, which is you got this country, Iran, trying to build a nuclear weapon. Nobody disputes that, although there's dispute about how close they were over the last many decades and how close they were when this conflict started to actually having a nuclear weapon. But stop them from doing that, then a bad actor in the region, greatest state sponsor of terrorism, ballistic missile development, and, and a threat to Israel, not just because of nuclear weapons and threat to the region. So President Trump said. And again, I don't know how anybody could say this is anything but admirable. I don't want to fail here. He talked to our last five presidents. So I'll say one of the greatest, maybe in some cases the greatest responsibility of the president was to keep Iran from threatening the region and Israel and the United States and killing Americans. And the North Korean nuclear program also was seen as a big worry. But this is. This is a big one. So what did President Trump see? He saw three basic ways to try to pressure Iran to change. One was militarily, something his predecessors thought about. The Pentagon planned for it for years, but largely was seen as a little too dangerous to really try to change their behavior through the military force. Second is the economic sticks that all the presidents have used, including this one. Sanctions, freezing their assets, trying to get the regime to change its behavior, if not necessarily to be able to change the regime itself through economics, through clamping down on them. And we saw on the eve of the conflict that seemed to be working to some extent in the sense that the Iranian economy was in shambles and their citizens were in the street. They cracked down on them. But part of the timing of this certainly was not coincidental that the President saw and the Israelis saw vulnerability in Iran. And then lastly was something that has also continued to be talked about and has embodied in what President Obama did with his nuclear agreement with Iran, which is the economic carrots. Could you change Iranian behavior by offering them economic incentives, Maybe taking off some of the sanctions, unfreezing some of the assets, but maybe doing more than that to say, could we take a crazy religious theocracy of liars and bring them into the community of nations by saying to them, hey, you got a robust middle class, upper middle class, you can still be in charge of your government, but do it in a more modern way. Okay, so the war starts and they try the military option. And really there's no indication that that succeeded. Now, maybe that's partly why Iran's coming to the table. And the President would argue that hitting them two nights in a row last week and threatening a third is what got them to the table. And it's possible that's the case. But in terms of fundamentally changing the orientation of the Iranian government, most experts I've talked to say, no, that didn't do it. That wasn't the decisive thing. And obviously, although the President hit them two nights in a row, there was concern, even by the President's own account, Iran still maintains about 20% of its missile capacity. Other countries in the region were very concerned if the war started back up in earnest, that the Iranians would have the capacity to strike Israel and the Gulf states. So military played a role. I probably overstated the case when I said it didn't. I did overstate the case. It played a role, but it wasn't dispositive. It wasn't decisive. It wasn't enough alone. By every indication, I have to pressure Iran into doing this. So we go back to the economic pressure and I think one of the reasons we are where we are this week is something that I really believe has been under noticed undercovered, which was for a long time when the administration was asked, what are you doing here? How are you going to, how are you going to win this conflict? How are you going to get the Iranians to agree to get rid of their nuclear program? There was one answer and that answer was Iran's economy is dependent on oil. And the US Blockade was doing two things. Number one, it was keeping Iran from selling its oil and they needed that hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to keep paying government officials in the military. And then two was if we all became experts on this, if, if Iran couldn't pump oil, they had to store, if Iran couldn't sell oil, they had to, to store it because you can't stop pumping. The way these, the way these oil rigs work is you got to keep pumping. If you shut them down, they're either impossible to turn back on or if you try to turn them back on, it's extremely expensive. And so the thought was Iran's running out of room. Here's what one expert said. This is A1, please. This is back in April. This was the consensus view amongst oil industry experts. Quote, there's some anticipation that the need to shut in producing wells and fields will cause damage to facilities, cause them to, quote, explode or permanently reduce Iran's oil production capacity. Okay, so again, this is back in March, April, May. This was the conventional wisdom that what was going to bring Iran to the table in a serious way was this pressure on them because we were keeping them from selling oil and they were running out of places to put it. They were putting it on tankers that weren't moving. They were putting it in oil storage facilities, but they were running out of room. Here's Scott Bessant on Fox Business. Back in March, the Treasury secretary, this essay, please.
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And their, their oil infrastructure is starting to creak.
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It hasn't been maintained again because of our decades long sanctions against them.
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They are rapidly filling up, filling up storage. And as that happens, they're going to have to start shutting in wet.
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So Scott, Besant respected on the economy in March is saying it's starting to creak rapidly filling up storage. And so people said, okay, just a little while longer, this will happen. Well, then we go five weeks later. And here's the president, the president on Fox talking about the same issue, making the same claim. S9, please.
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Is that when, when you have, you
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know, lines of vast amounts of oil
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pouring through your system, if for any reason that line is closed because you can't continue to put it into containers or ships, which has happened to them, they have no ships because of the blockade. What happens is that line explodes from
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within, both mechanically and in the earth.
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It something happens where it just explodes. And they say they only have about
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three days left before that happens. Three days left. I'm not great at time, but that was April. Here we are in June. No indication it's exploded. Now. Partly it didn't happen because we now know that Iran was smuggling stuff through. We knew they were going to smuggle some stuff through, but they were able to use different tricks to get it through and both through the strait and also over land. So that didn't happen. So what was seen by the president as something that would end the war in two or three days back in April, that didn't happen. And so once the government realized that, and one of my sources said they were way off, they were off by months in their analysis of whether that would bring the Iranians to their knees. Then the United States had to strike a deal and go more back to carrots and to offer the Iranians what they started to talk about as a golden bridge, a chance for Iran to be brought into the community of nations. Now this is a problem. The skeptics of this deal, whether they're Obama, Biden, people who think this deal is not going to be any better than the deal Obama struck and maybe worse President Obama struck, or neocons in this country who are really worried about this deal. Whatever the skeptics are, is you got to assume several things. You got to assume that these Iranian leaders are different than the past leaders. Eric Erickson, my friend, conservative commentator, says these are the same people. These are religious zealots whose religion demands that they build a nuclear weapon and destroy Israel. Are these really different people? And one of the striking things that's occurred since the deal was signed or, or yeah, signed and announced and then signed is the president, the vice president are openly saying this group of Iranian leaders, they're different. Now, the president said that for a while, but they're saying it now, emphatically, they're saying, this is a good deal. You'll see when you see it. But what makes it a good deal is not necessarily only what's in it. It's that we're dealing with a different kind of Iranian leader. Here's the President this week in France at the summit that talking about the new Iranian leadership. S5, please.
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We got along very well with Iran. It's a different set of leaders, as you know. The first set is gone, the second set is gone. And we found the third set to be very smart.
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Strong, very smart, but strong, very smart. And then he, and then the next day in France, he said that the old leadership were irrational people. He says, I think Iran has rational leadership now. Rational leadership. You'll find very few critics of this deal who will accept that they're rational. And then JD Vance this week went even further than the President in talking about the so called new Iranian leaders, the people who the United States is making this deal with. Here's the vice President on CNN talking about something cool. S10, please. The coolest thing about the progress we've made over the last few weeks is
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that you see people within the Iranian system, senior leadership, even IRGC officials say,
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you know what, we may have some animosity, we may have some mistrust, but we recognize the way that we've done business with the United States for 47 years is a mistake. Let's try something else. Let's try something else. So you got the vice president and then Jared Witcoff, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the negotiators to the president. They all believe in the art of the deal. They all, they're all, Witkoff and Kushner are real estate guys. They're like, we can speak their language. They want to make more money. They want to build the economy. They don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. That's a fundamental difference. The vice President says this is a cool thing, coolest thing about the progress we've made. And I don't have any doubt that those three gentlemen in sitting face to face and texting and phone calls with the Iranians they're dealing with, I have no doubt that they see in them humanity. They see in them people who are willing to try to negotiate a better future for our kids and grandkids between these two countries. But I also have no doubt that there is deep skepticism amongst hawks in the United States and amongst a lot of analysts that this Iranian government is suddenly going to become a bunch of people who want to open Ritz Carlton's in Tehran. Okay, here's David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist. He's been a guest on the program here, not liberally biased hopes to the best, has been covering Iran since the year after the Iranian revolution. Here's David's view on the likelihood that this is suddenly a group of people, as we say in the business we can do business with. This is S13 David Ignatius.
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So, Joe, there's a low probability that these people have suddenly seen the promised land and are going to transform everything we know about them. It's safe to say that the chance of that is less than 50%. But it there is a chance, and we.
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So David said less than 50%. I think he's being generous in part because David's view as a very experienced national security columnist and reporter is no one's tried this the way that that Witkoff and Kushner and the vice President, the President are trying it. No one has said we're, we were going to bring you into the community of nations with a massive deal. And, and he said, David said in his column, I don't know of a better idea. When he says less than 50%. As I said, I think he's being generous. Most people are deeply skeptical, despite the president and the vice president's claim that they're, they're hopeful that this is a group of rational people, of smart people, of people they can do business with. Most people who are experts, who I've talked to this week, thinks that the odds are significantly lower, but that's what they're doing. It's going to require trust. Now, how do, how do we go forward from here? In theory, the strait's going to open. I remain skeptical about the modalities of that, but if the sequencing of this deal works the way it's supposed to, they'll sign it on Friday and then the straight will open. They'll get rid of the mines, Iran will be able to start to move stuff through and make money. And so that that track of pressure on Iran to minimize the amount they can make selling oil, that disappears. In theory, this week, the United States will get oil through and world markets will, will settle down. The administration officials say we're going to open the straight in it, not an ad hoc way. We're going to open in a way that will make it challenging and maybe impossible for Iran to close it up again. So that would be good. And of course, critics will say, well, that we didn't have that problem before the conflict started. So this is just taking us back to square one. Well, yes, but it needs to be done. Okay. And then, so the question is the rest of the deal, the rest of deal is focused on their nuclear program. The administration continues to say no American money is going to go to Iran and any investment by third countries that goes in Iran is going to be pegged to performance. It's not pay to play. They don't, they don't get, they don't get the money just for signing. They have to deliver. Now, the challenge here is the nuclear stuff's not going to be delivered for a long time. There's a lot to work out there. And so either this will succeed and the nuclear program will be dealt with. Probably not going to deal with their terror proxies, probably not going to deal with their missile program in any meaningful way. Not going to have a regime change. We're celebrating the current regime and we're dealing with them. But what you do have is the prospect if you can bring them into the community of nations enough on nuclear and with investment, maybe that other stuff just happens. In other words, are they still going to be a terror supporter if they're, if they're in business with the Gulf states, are they really going to be developing all these missiles to threaten Israel if they're in business with the Gulf states? The President says no. Now, in addition, for those critics who say if the nuclear negotiations fall apart, if the Iranians do not prove to be rational and willing to deal, was this a bad idea? And I would say the President's argument that this was still sensible because he got stuff done is not something that should be discounted because he has put the Iranians in a much weaker position to try to develop nuclear. He's buried their stuff underground, for one thing. He's proven to the Iranians that American military can set them back. Here's the President making the case that he's already accomplished a lot. Even if the deal falls apart, in effect. S11, please.
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Well, they're going to need something because
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we blew them up.
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And, you know, you could make the case. I used to make the case that like a week ago, I said, and now it's different.
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We have an agreement.
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But if you, if we left, we did a great job. If we just left, we did a great job because it would take them
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15, 20 years maybe to rebuild.
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And we were going to do a much bigger job. If the agreement wasn't signed, we would have taken it to a level.
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But.
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And if we did that they would
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never, ever, never, I believe, be able
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to rebuild too much.
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He has set them back. And, and in theory, he could go back in again. And that threat of another military strike, let's say the talks bogged down. Let's say it turns out that what happened earlier this year with Kushner and Witkoff when they went to the president, said the Iranians aren't negotiating in good faith. Let's say they sign the deal and don't negotiate in good faith. There has to be the military threat. Everyone I've talked to this week says he's got to be prepared to do that. Here's Nathan Sales, former ambassador in the first Trump term, on Fox and Friends, talking about the importance of a military threat going forward. Even as they talk peace. S14, please. I want to bring back something the
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president just said ahead of me.
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This is very important enforcement.
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How do we know that the Iranians are complying with their commitments under the deal? And what are the consequences for them if, if they do what, let's be clear, they always do lie and cheat and evade. And the president was very clear that there will be ultimate consequences. And that's really important because American diplomacy is always most powerful when it is backed by a credible threat of force, whether military force, economic force, or using other tools of statecraft.
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And it's important that the president is keeping that on the table to show
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the Iranians they're not going to be able to lie and cheat their way out of this.
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Now, all this week, the president's kept it on the table rhetorically, but there is doubt, particularly amongst places like the Wall Street Journal editorial board and other hawks, that, that he will do it, that he would that Iran will feel the, the pressure of bombs and missiles over their head. We'll see. Here are the things, though, that are troubling and reflected in my reporting and the reporting of others. First of all, reports that the CIA director has told the president is an Axis. Iran publicly is saying, yeah, we're going to live up to the nuclear agreement. Privately, they're saying, no, that's, that's obviously troubling and inconsistent with their past behavior. Reports that, that the Secretary of war and the Secretary of State were not really keen on this deal. That's troubling. And then this from the Wall Street Journal, this paragraph, buried in the story, but deeply troubling. And several people, including one in the administration, flagged the paragraph for me early this morning. This is a two, please. A senior administration official said Iran knows the US Is unwilling to return to war, raising the possibility that Tehran could close the strait again for its own diplomatic leverage. So while the US and its allies are going to try to, as I said, position the reopening so that it can't easily be closed again, the notion that administration officials says Iran knows the US Is unwilling to return to war, that's troubling. And then the second sentence is maybe even more troubling. Short of getting concrete commitments to limit or end its nuclear work, the official said the the emerging agreement is likely to be less restrictive than the 2015 deal brokered by former President Barack Obama. That is the, that is the claim of Democrats that this will be no better and maybe worse than the deal Barack Obama had in terms of the United States interest in restraining Iran's nuclear program. And for an administration official to say that it's going to be less restrictive, that is, that is troubling to people who think it's got to be significantly better. And then this from David Ignatius column along the same lines. Even one of Trump's closest advisor concedes, quote, it's inconclusive right now in the sense that you can't say it was a huge success and you can't say it was a failure. And I think that's the right way to frame this. And that's what everybody I talked to said wasn't just so rabidly partisan that they couldn't think straight. The administration's criticizing conservatives who are criticizing them. Wait for the release of the deal, by all means, but a page and a half agreement is nothing. It doesn't matter what it says. It could say Iran promises to put root beer in the water fountains. It doesn't matter what it says. It's going to be in the execution in the further negotiations. And Israel is a big wild card here, too. But what my reporting suggests is let's wait for the agreement. But any deal that relies on Iran going into business with the Gulf states, the US Tolerating, encouraging, which the vice president has done, hundreds of tens of millions, hundreds of billions of dollars invested in Iran is making a big bet that economic incentives, economic carrots, taking off of sanctions, allowing to sell oil is going to foster a change in Iranian behavior, decades of behavior that's different than this. There's reasons for deep skepticism. I hope, I hope it works. I wish the president, his team the best. But my reporting suggests that we're going to need to see a lot of cooperation from Iran, a lot of change from the Iranians, and that the people who know the region, well, including some of the administration at this hour remain deeply skeptical that the conditions, the military threats, the economic carrots and sticks have been enough to count on the kind of fundamentally changed behavior that would be required to make this work. We'll keep covering it. There you go. That's my reported monologue on Iran and where things stand now. Don't think you'll hear that perspective anywhere else. Let me know what you think. Email me your thoughts on what I've reported here@nextup halpernmail.com that's nextup halpern gmail.com we're still building our YouTube audience, our YouTube subscribers. So if you haven't yet subscribed to the channel on YouTube, please do. You can watch our full episodes there and exclusive bonus content. Go to YouTube.com @nextup halperin Some of you like to show in the podcast version, you like to speed me up at 1.5, make me sound like the Chipmunks with Alvin. You can subscribe to the podcast on your finer podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple and everywhere else. Make sure when you do that, you have the downloads turned on so the episodes come flooding in while you sleep, while you work, whatever you're doing. So you get every episode right away after we publish on Tuesdays and on Thursdays right here on NextUp, wherever you like to watch us or listen to us. All right, a quick break. We'll be back after the break. Exciting news for those of you who like Mr. Glenn Beck, he will be here, the host, the Glenn Beck program. Glenn Beck is next up. So right now close your eyes and think about the last 30 bucks that you spent, maybe on a streaming subscription you don't watch or a lunch you've already forgotten. That is $30 and it's gone forever. 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Why have we asked our contractor we found on Angie.com to be our kid's legal guardian?
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Because he took such good care when
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redoing our basement that we knew we
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could trust him to care for our kids. We only met a month ago.
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Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com
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Next up and joining me now, as Larry King would say, the great Glenn Beck host, the Glenn Beck program airing Mondays through Fridays, 9am Unlike, unlike the great Larry King.
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You will actually, you know who I am. Where Larry King would say the great Jerry Seinfeld. So you did a show. What was that show about?
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The thing, the thing that Larry did, which had an upside and downside. He said, I only want to know slightly more than my audience because if I know much more than my audience, I won't ask the right question. So I think you're right. Sometimes he calibrated a little incorrectly and knew.
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Yeah, he did.
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Luke New new. Maybe even less than his eyes. Anyway, Glenn is here. He jumped on in his introduction. So the show's already underway. But the show's. That's all right. I like that. Nine to nine to noon Eastern and then on Saturdays, 6am to 9 Eastern, you can watch this thing. Ladies and gentlemen, Glenn Beck is a king of content, but he follows my rule. Content is king, distribution is queen and promotion is, is jack. You can watch this thing on Blaze TV, Blaze Radio Network, Glenn beck.com, hundreds of radio stations. This man, he doesn't, he doesn't want the content to be hidden. He wants it to be widely distributed. And of course, like all successful people in media, he understands he cannot just be talent. Talent is, talent is mercurial. Talent makes mistakes. Talent is demanding. You also got to be an entrepreneur, business person, author, founder of Blaze Media and Torch Media. Glenn Beck, welcome. Thank you for being here.
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Thank you very much.
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I listen. Yeah.
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Kind introduction.
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Yeah. I mean, I like legendary figures on the show. Glasses to place up. I listened to the top of your show this morning where you had a great interview with the vice president who's both on his book tour and a spokesperson for appeasement. That's a joke. Talking about the rod deal. And I listened to you and your colleague and you said, basically what I say before every interview on the show because we only book people I'm fascinated by. And that means there's 100 things I want to say. I could do the whole time with you on addiction. I could do the whole time with you on the media business. I could do the whole time with you on a bunch of stuff. So we'll skip around, but I'm apologizing in advance.
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No, please, no.
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Not to you, to the audience. I might make the wrong choices, but there's so much I want to talk about. But we'll start with news of the day and we'll talk about Iran and this debate, which I talked about in my monologue. You got the president and the vice president saying, isn't it cool that Iran's now got rational leaders and smart leaders and leaders willing to change, and we're going to have them march over this golden bridge. And then you've got reports that the CIA director and others, the administration, are maybe a little skeptical that all of a sudden these are going to go from religious zealots who want to destroy the great and many Satan to people who want to open Ritz cartons all over Toronto. So what explains, what explains the vice president and the president's school of thought? What do they see that others don't?
- [30:35]
B
Norman Vincent Peale. Yeah, the president grew up going to church with Norman Vincent Peale, who is the, you know, positive thinking guy. If you've ever talked to the president, and I know you have, about, you know, his security and shooting, he will stop you mid sentence. I don't want to talk about it. Don't talk about it. Don't put it out there. He is a guy who speaks things into existence and he's not an idiot or nor naive. I think what the president is saying is they got rational people. They got rational people. We're dealing with the rational people trying to speak that into existence. At the same time, I think he knows that could definitely not be the case. I think he is in a, in a place, and I talked about it after the vice presidential interview with my team today that, you know, the president went in hoping that he could collapse the regime without collapsing it, that the people would rise up and you could kill enough of the IRGC and the good guys would step in. Well, that's not what happened. I don't think. We don't really know who's in control yet, but I think it's still the 12ers who are extraordinarily dangerous. And so he learned two things. One, without putting troops in there, without regime change, it's, it's just not going to happen from the inside. That's not ideal. The, the second thing that, that he learned is the people don't have a stomach for very much of this. Even just because of high prices at the gas tank. Yeah. So unless you're willing to put troops on the ground and regime change and the American. And, and as long as the American people are not for that, you can't fight a war. So I think he has gotten the best deal that he probably could have. I think he's kicked the can down the road. This is my view of this as with the knowledge that I have on the deal so far. I think he's kicked the can down farther than any other president has. That wasn't his intention. But he's also a realist and he does not want to put troops down there and he doesn't want to be in a long drawn out war. He's against those things.
- [32:48]
A
People cast these things as purely political. Doesn't want to do it because Mago the Maga base would be mad. Doesn't want to put troops in the ground because it would be unpopular. But really I give him credit. He's a student of history. What a dumb thing to do. Forget Tucker and pressure all that. What a dumb thing to do. To think that we could march American forces onto the ground into Tehran, depose the government and then we own the whole thing.
- [33:11]
B
Right. Who would?
- [33:13]
A
No one could be for that.
- [33:14]
B
Have you been Rumpelstiltskin? You've been asleep for the last hundred years. That's what we keep doing and it doesn't work. And he has said that my problem with some of the people who have come out against this is there's with this argument that this isn't America First. Yeah. It really is America First. Every single president has said we have to, we have to fix this problem. But he tried to fix the problem. Everybody has tried to fix problem. He tried a new approach.
- [33:41]
A
Yeah.
- [33:41]
B
And he may have kicked it down the road longer than everybody else, but we're still having to deal with the problem. But what's not America first is getting us bogged down into another war in the Middle east with troops on the ground.
- [33:54]
A
Couldn't agree more. And for people who say, who want to waste our time with is he going to put troops in the ground or not? No, he's not. It's a waste of our time. And people who say he didn't get anything done. We're not better off, we're worse off. No, of course we are. Of course we're better off. Of course we're better now. We're not as better off as he would have liked. And there's some downsides, but, but I mean, of course we're better off for, for countless reasons, including we've set back their nuclear program, which was the primary goal here.
- [34:22]
B
And honestly, if, if we had, if we had the coalition that we had with Reagan and Thatcher and the Pope, we might be even better off. Because what happened there is we weakened them from the outside and then there was enough allied ship to go on the inside and help the people rise up. That's. That's the only solution there is. If there's enough will people to rise up and say, we're done with this and isn't the only way to fix
- [34:50]
A
it and it isn't incredible. And I know the President rubs people the wrong way, to say the least, but isn't incredible? With the exception of the Israelis and some secret work in the air by some of the Gulf states, not one country in the world said, Damn right, Mr. President, we're there with you. And to the contrary, they were all a bunch of naysayers.
- [35:07]
B
Yeah.
- [35:08]
A
I mean, what is the Saudi Air Force for? Why, why do they build it if this is not the time?
- [35:14]
B
If people think the world would be better off without America, you're sadly mistaken, everyone else. That no one has the courage, even of some of our, even of, you know, even of, you know, some of the presidents that I don't. I don't like. They still have more courage, generally speaking, than France or everybody else. These are. The world is exactly the same as it was when we went over to Libya and we were fighting on the shores of Tripoli with the, with the Barbary pirates. It's the same story. Europe will pay the bill, they will pay the ransom. Americans say no.
- [35:51]
A
Yep. Couldn't agree with you more. All right, again, stipulating, I could spend the whole time on Iran. I want to talk about J.D. vance. This, my, this is my current fascination is, is why do so many people we know find the guy unappealing? Why do so many people we know say, ugh, JD Vance wouldn't vote for him, don't think he should be president. Phony, fake, rubs me the wrong way. Not just women, although a lot of women. What is it that other people see in J.D. vance that I don't think you see? No, and I don't.
- [36:20]
B
I can, I can see some of the reasons why they might say it, but I'm guessing at those things. So let's say first how I, how I perceive him. Yeah, I like him because he is so wicked smart and he is willing to walk into any room and have any conversation. He is much more like Reagan. He's not Reagan, but much more like Reagan in his approach than he is Donald Trump. He will try to make friends and, and let the steam out of the room while still being exactly sure on who he is and what he believes.
- [36:54]
A
And just, and just to link up, I'm sorry to interrupt, but just to link up your two points because he said the first thing and then the second thing, wicked smart. It's the combination of those two things that I think makes him just extraordinary, extraordinary.
- [37:05]
B
He's an extraordinary, extraordinary man, extraordinary politician and an extraordinary life story. Now, what makes people uncomfortable there is this just like there is an anti Semitism that is real and going on in America. There is also an anti Catholic thing that is going on that I haven't quite buttoned up yet. I don't fully understand it, but I think there's a lot of people that, you know this, you know, the Washington Monument, they had a hard time raising money. I think the Catholics were involved in raising money for the Washington Monument and that became a big deal until it slowed down because we don't want papists and all of this stuff. It's like going back to 1960 with JFK in, in some ways. So I think there's a little bit of that, I think there's a little bit, maybe a lot of his relationship with Peter Thiel and that gets sticky with his religiosity.
- [38:05]
A
Right.
- [38:05]
B
But also the fact that a lot of people, rightfully so, have a very healthy fear of Silicon Valley and high tech people and they see him connected to that. And, and I have heard, and I think this is not true, but I don't know yet. I haven't spent enough time with the vice President to know and ask him enough questions. But that he is, that he'll push almost an oligarchy for the technological elite. Yeah, I don't think he will, but I think that's a fear.
- [38:35]
A
Yeah, I like your list. The Catholic one I got to think about. I'm not sure I, I, I'm not
- [38:40]
B
sure on that either, but I'm not sure on that.
- [38:41]
A
But, but, but I like the rest of your list. And again, this is, this is, this needs a robust conversation. Not just because he may run for president or be president, because I think it's just a great prism to think about the mood of the country and it's attitude. People think he's a phony. They think he's a fake. They think he's smarmy. What is that? Is that.
- [38:58]
B
I don't know. I. I don't see that in him.
- [39:01]
A
Yeah.
- [39:02]
B
At all. At all. Can I go back to the Catholic thing? Because I'm not sure on it either. But, you know, it's. It's this weird thing like, you know, the people who want the Catholic Latin Mass. I don't care what languages speak at mass. I don't care. It's just this weird thing. It was happening on the left, now it's happening a little bit on the right.
- [39:20]
A
Yeah.
- [39:20]
B
And I only really bring the Catholic thing up is because of that. There seems to be something that sticks out at me that I don't understand yet.
- [39:27]
A
Yeah. And he does wear his Catholicism on his sleeve. Not with the book as much as anybody.
- [39:32]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [39:33]
A
If, if he wants to run for president. 28. And I, I've said before, I'm not sure he will, particularly after the baby's born. What mistakes is he making? If, if, if, if. If the goal is to preserve the ability to run, win a nomination and win a general, what mistakes would you say he's making now?
- [39:49]
B
I gotta tell you, I don't see a lot of mistakes from him or Rubio. I think his biggest mistake will be not. Not putting the handcuffs on the corrupt. I mean, he has been given the biggest opportunity to walk in and expose all of the corruption in these states. And he should do it in red and blue states and be very clear that the corruption is in the red states as well. If he can, if he can actually make a dent in that, I think he has a highway to the presidency. If he, if he just uses that in a way that most pres. Vice presidents use appointments of. I'm going to be the blue ribbon task. I'm going to do this and nothing happens. That will be his biggest mistake.
- [40:40]
A
I'm so interested in that story because the, Our colleagues in the press, they want to call the dominant media, they discount the whole thing. They don't cover it like it's a legit thing at all.
- [40:51]
B
Which.
- [40:51]
A
The corruption, the corruption they just covered as, like a, Like a, like a, like a Potemkin attempt to go after blue state politicians is how they cover. Everybody with any sense knows it's not just the American government. Governments breed corruption and there's a ton of it. I just I just don't know how he's going to get any credit for that. Because. Because the press just, they, they barely cover it. I mean, he's doing another event this week on the issue and I could, just. Because of my fingertip feel is strongest for this, of, of the liberal bias in the media.
- [41:25]
B
Yeah.
- [41:25]
A
Just. They just. There's no interest in it. There's no interest in crediting it at all.
- [41:29]
B
Right. I don't think press conferences or anything like that is going to make. What will make a difference is in the end, it will be a lining of people up and went. Then they have to be major. They cannot be a little guy over here and a little guy.
- [41:45]
A
Yeah.
- [41:45]
B
It has to be major. And it also must be in red states.
- [41:50]
A
Yeah.
- [41:50]
B
He's got to do those equally. And if he can get major arrests in both red and blue, forget the press. That will print with the American people. But it can't be small.
- [42:03]
A
Yeah, I hear you. And big people. Red and blue states. Maybe it'd be better to stop doing any of this press stuff until people are indicted and convicted.
- [42:11]
B
I agree. Yeah, I agree. When he has indictments, that's when he should be doing it.
- [42:15]
A
Speak softly. You think about the Democratic Party today. People who are current leaders or who might run for president. Who impresses you? Who impresses you? As, as a, as a strong leader, as a potentially unifying and successful president. Who currently impresses you? I gotta talk to the producers. Glenn's microphone, I mean.
- [42:41]
B
Yeah. Ro Kana maybe is the only one that kind of moderates. I mean, I, I don't, I don't find anybody.
- [42:51]
A
Josh Shapiro doesn't impress you.
- [42:54]
B
Does he have a. Does he have a chance?
- [42:56]
A
Does he have a chance? I'm just saying. Impresses you. You look at that person, you say, I may disagree with them on some issues, but they're impressive. They know what they're doing. They're a strong leader.
- [43:05]
B
Anybody, I guess Shapiro, maybe. I mean, I don't. I, I see what, where the Democrats are and I, I see where they're headed, and I just don't see anybody that will connect with the American people and connect with their voter that they are courting. I think there's lots of Democrats out there that would be like, wouldn't mind stopping with the Marxism and the, you know, let's get rid of all the police and all of that stuff. Can we just have a normal person that believes in bigger government but not spooky government? Yeah.
- [43:43]
A
Platner, Graham Platner may not win I didn't think he was going to win. Now I'm not so sure. He might beat Susan Kahns. If you were lecturing at a, at a college course on American politics and the student raised her hand and said, professor Beck, why is, why is Graham Platner come from nowhere, nobody had ever heard of him, even in Maine, to become the Democratic nominee and potentially a senator, how has that happened? What would you attribute it to? First of all, is this going to be on the final.
- [44:15]
B
Yeah, this is, I would say these things happen because when you believe ends justify the means, this is what you get every single time. Once you say, yeah, okay, so he had a Nazi tattoo and yeah, he most likely, you know, knew exactly what it was. And now some women are testifying that he was very scary, et cetera, et cetera. But I've been saying recently, everything you say before the but is what you actually believe. Everything you say after the but is what you're willing to trade it for.
- [44:51]
A
Right, but. What's the but what's the appeal of Platner to those who voted for him in the primary? For those who say he can win,
- [44:57]
B
they, he will stand up. And they think, but why can he win?
- [45:02]
A
What's appealing about a Graham Platner? Because of Maine.
- [45:06]
B
They are, they're looking for their version of Donald Trump. They don't understand Donald Trump, which is
- [45:13]
A
what, what again, so when I. Sorry, sorry.
- [45:17]
B
That's right.
- [45:17]
A
I understand the base could say we think he can win, but we just got did a poll with Wick on the race. Independents are overwhelmingly for him in Maine. So they're not, they're not partizan Democrats. They're not, they're not Ms. Now, viewers, why are they, what do they like about. They like his issue positions. What do they like?
- [45:35]
B
When, when I was on CNN and Barack Obama was still behind, but he was so slick and so good, I said, if this guy wins, the guy who will follow him will be a guy who is just like, Yep, that's the way it is. He might burp on stage, he might have a mustard stain on his sh. But he'll just be like one of us while he doesn't burp and he doesn't have a mustard stain on his time. That is who Donald Trump is. He was described early on as the guy who, you know, was at the bar and you'd hang out with the bar and he just said it like it is.
- [46:08]
A
Yeah.
- [46:09]
B
That is the appeal now of, of Platner and others like them. The Democrats are tired of the suits. They're tired of the same old, same old, just like the Republicans were. They're tired of these politicians. They just want somebody who's just like them and he'll just say it. You know what? I think the guy is a fascist who maybe we should round him up. They look at that as well. I can trust him because he's not a focus group. He's really who he says he is, even though this guy isn't. He really is who he says he is. And I think that's the kind of guy we need. We just need a bunch of people out there who will just say it like it is. Forget the old system. That's his appeal, I think.
- [46:54]
A
Okay, we're going to take a quick break. More with Glenn Beck. Next up, time for some life talk. Life insurance talk, that is. You probably have it, but do you have much you're paying for it. The truth is you're likely paying too much to get too little. Plus, if coverage is tied to your job and then you're laid off, you're left with zero protection. That's scary. But it's simple to fix with Select Quote unlike one size fits all companies. Select quotes license agents work for you. In 15 minutes they compare top rated providers to provide the perfect fit for your health and your budget. Best of all, their service is free. Don't worry about medical exams. They've got partners offering same day coverage, up to $2 million of coverage without a doctor's visit. Even with pre existing conditions like diabetes. Selectquote finds the protection you deserve. Life insurance has never been cheaper than it is right now. Selectquote they shop, you save, get the right life insurance for you for less and save more than 50%@SelectQuote.com mark again, you heard me right. Save more than 50% on term life insurance@SelectQuote.com mark today. Go there now to get started. SelectQuote.com mark why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster? I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet nibbles after his untimely end.
- [48:19]
B
This is very strange, Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust.
- [48:22]
A
Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com okay. Welcome back. Next up, more with Glenn Beck. Let's switch gears again. Always conscious of the clock as you are when hosting valuable guests. I'm sorry. Impressed by anyone who's dealt with addiction successfully. I just think it's it's an extraordinary achievement. And, and, and to come through that and to have all the professional success you've had and, and do the philanthropy you do, it's just, it's just a great American story. What are you addicted to now?
- [48:58]
B
You know, I would have said work, but I think, I think it is the mission that I feel I have, and I think a lot of Americans feel this way to save the Republic. It used to be work that I, I was so driven by what I do, how I do it, what I'm building, et cetera, et cetera. And I've gotten to a place now to where it's stable and I'm, you know, relatively comfortable. I'm always, I'm always somebody who wants to tear it all down and start something different. But I'm not driven by that now. I'm, I'm really driven by what world am I leaving behind, you know, for
- [49:47]
A
your family, for the whole country.
- [49:50]
B
Family and country. I mean, driven by, you know, what are my kids inheriting? What. And I don't mean money. My kids. I've told them early on, you're not getting a dime. I'm giving it all away. You're not getting a dime. Money will destroy you. But what are we leaving behind, far as a country, what are they going to have? The opportunity that I had of, you know, I was in corporate media and I saw it from the inside, and I'm like this, I don't like this system. This doesn't, this doesn't help people. And how many hoops do you have to jump through to get in that position? And then they still want control over every word that you say.
- [50:28]
A
Right.
- [50:29]
B
And I saw the Internet coming, and I thought if we could do a network on that where you're not really answering to anybody. It's just you, you get to do your own show. I mean, you know, nobody was doing that when I, when I started. And, and so I, I thought that was really, really important at the time. And now I'm in this place to where I think that is happening now everywhere. I mean, you, you don't, you don't have to go to the network. You do do it from your house.
- [51:03]
A
Yeah.
- [51:03]
B
And you're effective. But now my mission really is education. And I, I, I been collecting documents and collecting history. We have the third largest collection of American founding documents in the world. We're only behind the National Archives and the, in the Library of Congress. I'm building a museum this coming year to, to use it as a research library. But also to tell history in a different way and fair history. I don't. You don't have to agree with me. I'm going to tell both sides of history. I'm going to show you some things that I'm like. Some people read it this way, some people read it this way. You decide. This is your history. But I think that that is the most important thing that we can do now. If we don't repair our story, if we don't do those, do those basic things, learn who we are, know the story, we lose.
- [52:02]
A
We lose it all. So important. Has anybody written a accurate and colorful and entertaining this history of the founding of the Blaze? Has anybody written that story of the Blaze? Yeah.
- [52:16]
B
No, I don't think I've ever even been asked.
- [52:18]
A
Yeah, I know. I know a little bit about it because I know some people who worked with you and I studied it and, and other people have founded things. And of course, Rush, I mean, there's, there's all sorts of examples, but what you did was singular. And, and you can see now in what you did, lots of people consciously are not stealing the formula that was so successful. And, and I always say people who understand the story, the production and the business side are the most successful people in our business. And that's. And that's been you.
- [52:47]
B
I've met so many people that are. Are millionaires.
- [52:52]
A
Yeah.
- [52:52]
B
That are broke as hell. Yeah. They have everything it takes except the business savvy or. Except the discipline. You know, there are several things that you have to have to be successful. There's lots of people with opinions. There's also lots of people that are very business savvy who, who would be absolutely a car wreck in business because they don't have the vision to see something different than everybody else. You know, and, and talent, while it is important, it is only a part of it. I am, I am probably more vision than I am talent or business. I wish I was stronger in talent and I wish I was stronger in business. I can just see things.
- [53:34]
A
Yeah, yeah. But, but obviously you don't. You don't sustain as someone with the audiences you've had, not just the size, the audience, but the loyalty without having a connection to your audience. What's that based on? What is the Glenn Beck. The explanation of how Glenn Beck has maintained a connection to millions of people around the country for such a long period of time?
- [53:56]
B
I think it is. Being who you actually are, admitting your mistakes, admitting when you don't know something. I don't know. I don't know, I'll look into it. I could be wrong and then leading when you are wrong, leading with that. But I think part of it is the secret of real capitalism is the secret of my success and others success is people who get into it to be rich or to be famous. You're not going to be famous or rich for very long. The best capitalism is. And you'll learn this from moral sentiments. If you read Adam Smith, it is when you have moral sentiments. When you are getting up in the morning and you're saying, how can I make somebody's life easier? What can I do? So when I look at my shows I'm like, how can I explain things in a way that the people who are like, I don't get it, I just don't get it. That they will understand it in a way that they can now apply that knowledge and it makes their life make more sense. It makes the news make sense to them, it helps them. If you're getting up every day and saying, how can I make somebody's life easier? That's when you'll be success long term. If you're getting up every morning and saying, how can I make more money? You're going to make money for a while, but no one will be loyal to it.
- [55:22]
A
Yeah. All right. We got a rapid round here because I got too much stuff left to do. Place you've never been, you'd like to go.
- [55:29]
B
China, Russia.
- [55:31]
A
You've never been to China or Russia. That's nuts. I'll go with you. I've never been to Egypt. I've been the other two you should go. Skill you'd like to acquire that you don't have.
- [55:44]
B
Being actually able to write music.
- [55:48]
A
Oh, that'd be awesome. A person you've never met, you'd like to meet Clint Eastwood person.
- [55:57]
B
Elon Musk.
- [55:58]
A
Yeah, those are two good choices. I met Clint Eastwood. I actually interviewed him for a book and man, you're good choice on your part.
- [56:05]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [56:08]
A
Person you would make president. If you could just pick the next president, they have to be constitutionally eligible and alive. Your choice.
- [56:20]
B
Nah, I don't, I don't know anybody other than my circle of friends. I mean I would, I would say Lance Bryce, who's a friend of mine, who is the most solid guy that I know. But I don't, I don't know anybody that I would, that I would say I'm gonna be. I'm gonna vouch for that guy because they usually go bad. They usually go bad. I don't know yeah.
- [56:43]
A
Okay. Unfulfilled professional ambition.
- [56:53]
B
Being able to be a part of something bigger than something that I built. Being a part of a, a group of really talented people where none of us are, are where all of us are working together. None of us are getting the glory or the blame for anything. But we are all working together to build one thing. You know what I mean?
- [57:16]
A
That's a beautiful answer. Rather than like say, I'd like to write a bestseller, another bestseller. That's. Yeah. Is all your philanthropic stuff under one digital roof or do people have to look different places to read about it?
- [57:27]
B
No, it's, it's pretty much under Mercury one, but that includes the Nazarene Fund, which rescues people who are religious persecution. That includes the American Journey Experience, which is the new, is the new museum and education effort that we're doing.
- [57:46]
A
And all that's under mercury1.com yeah.
- [57:49]
B
Yeah.com or.org yeah.
- [57:51]
A
Yeah. And it's spelled out mercury.
- [57:52]
B
Mercury. Yep.
- [57:53]
A
Was spelled it again. As Larry King would say, the great Glenn Beck. Glenn, I couldn't be more grateful to you for making time and. Oh please, I need time for you. I know how busy you are. Anytime. So he'll be back next week, ladies and gentlemen, anytime for you. Thank you, really enjoyed it and look forward to talking to you again soon.
- [58:08]
B
God bless. All right.
- [58:09]
A
Again, Glenn show airs inexplicably a lot of days. Monday through Friday night at noon and then again re air Saturday broadcast 6am to to 9 every weekday except when he takes the occasional time off. You can also listen and watch it everywhere. Again, I'll tick off some of these. It doesn't do justice. You can. You probably watch it on Roku too. BlazeTV, Blaze Radio Network, Glenn Beck.com and of course wherever you get your podcast. Grateful to Glenn for spending the program with us and grateful to you all for being here. That's it for today. We'll be back Thursday. Brand new episode of the program, a special Father's Day episode I think you'll enjoy. Subscribe to NextUp on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast so you always know what's coming. Next up.
- [58:54]
B
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A
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