Best of the Program | Guest: Alex Adams | 6/1/26

Summary

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Episode Overview

Theme:
This episode of The Glenn Beck Program (June 1, 2026) focuses on the evolving definitions of patriotism and American values, controversies within political discourse (specifically surrounding Texas Democrat James Talarico), and an in-depth discussion on reforming the foster care system with guest Alex Adams, HHS Assistant Secretary for Family Support. Glenn Beck examines cultural and political perspectives on patriotism, critiques progressive ideology, and dives into practical policy with a foster care expert.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Redefining Patriotism and American Identity

[00:06–02:59, 17:10–31:57]

• Patriotism in Crisis: Beck critiques an article in the New Yorker that questions modern patriotism, arguing it's emblematic of an elite detachment from everyday American values.
• Cultural Divides: The way traditional American symbols and narratives are viewed—sometimes positively, sometimes negatively—depending on generational and ideological background.
• The Summer of 250: Beck highlights America’s 250th birthday as a time to celebrate achievements, despite imperfections.
• Critique of Academic Sources: Beck skewers the New Yorker writer’s choice to cite non-American or progressive thinkers (e.g., H.L. Mencken, George Bernard Shaw, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tolstoy, Orwell) to define patriotism, calling them elitist and out of touch.
  • "[On George Bernard Shaw] He's the guy who literally came up with gas chambers for the unfit that would later be used by the Nazis. So you immediately throw this person out." (24:50)
• Statue of Liberty as Symbol: He shares the backstory of the Statue of Liberty, its broken chain, and how it represents American independence and the breaking of slavery.

Notable Quote:
“Real patriotism is deeper, much deeper. It's the steady, bone-deep love of the country that raised you even when it didn't get things right.” — Glenn Beck (28:50)

Memorable Analogy:
“You can hate grandpa all you want for some of the things Grandpa did, but on his birthday... there's a lot of great things that you did in your life and celebrate those things. Can we do that? Apparently some can. The elitists don't want you to.” — Glenn Beck (18:49)

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2. Who Is James Talarico? – A Case Study in Progressive Politics

[02:59–17:10]

• Public Perceptions of Moderation: Beck challenges the narrative painting Texas Democrat James Talarico as a “moderate,” arguing his statements and stances are far-left for Texas.
• Religious & Biological Controversies:
  • Talarico’s claim that “God is nonbinary,” explained using gendered Hebrew nouns and Genesis (“God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non binary.” (04:06)).
  • Commentary on biological sex, referencing “six genders” and subsequent walk back to “two sexes,” with some people born with chromosomal abnormalities.
  • Trans Children & Theology: Talarico’s assertion that “Trans children are God’s children, made in God’s own image. There’s nothing wrong with that.” (05:00)
  • Abortion Debate Reframed: Talarico frames the abortion debate as about “personhood” not “life,” and states that “Christianity is a feminist religion.”
    • “Being Christian and being pro-choice are absolutely consistent because Christianity is a feminist religion.” — James Talarico (12:12)
• Beck’s Critique:
  • Beck questions Talarico’s biblical interpretations and motives for reframing theological debate.
  • Highlights growing complexity and impracticality in redefining “woman” and “personhood.”
  • Points out dangers in arguing about “full humans” and inherent value of life:
    • “Once you get into ‘well, that's not really human,’… you could just kill anybody.” — Glenn Beck (13:19)

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3. Foster Care Reform – Interview with Alex Adams

[35:31–42:30]

a. The Foster Home Shortage

• National Campaign:
  • HHS’s “A Home for Every Child” seeks to correct an imbalance: 100 foster kids per 57 available homes, leading to children placed in unsuitable settings (e.g., Airbnbs, government offices).
• Two-Pronged Approach:
  • Recruiting/retaining quality foster families.
  • Prevention: “The best foster care system is one that is not needed.” (36:35, quoting President Trump) Emphasis on family preservation whenever safely possible.

b. Decision-Making & Predictive Analytics

• Defining Neglect & Abuse:
  • Most entries to foster care result from legally determined neglect/abuse.
  • Adams describes past subjectivity in hotline and case triage—Idaho’s introduction of predictive analytics to improve decision accuracy, now expanded with federal grants to more states.
  • Goal: Focus on serious risk cases, while ensuring families aren’t disrupted due to benign incidents.
• Beck’s Concern:
  • “Is this to try to weed those kinds of things out and get to the most serious?" (39:00)
  • Adams: “Certainly the goal… is to right size the agency’s response… where foster care may be appropriate. But recruiting and retaining good high quality foster homes is another.” (39:36)

c. Red Tape & Licensing Barriers

• Regulatory Overload:
  • Excessive non-essential requirements (e.g., pet vaccines, four-foot fences) stifle recruitment.
  • Adams: “Let’s roll out the red carpet and let's make it easier to get good, high quality foster families into the system.” (40:19)

d. The 'Orphan Tax'

• Definition:
  • Some states confiscate Social Security survivor benefits from children in foster care to cover state costs.
• Action:
  • HHS pressured 29 states to end the practice; 10 states complied via executive order or legislation.
  • Notable pushback in states like Kentucky (legislative override of Governor Beshear’s veto), and criticism of Minnesota’s Governor Walz.
  • Adams: “These states were essentially stealing from orphans and using it to cover government bureaucratic overhead.” (41:17)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Cringy comments. Okay. First of all, let’s give credit where credit do: anybody makes mistakes... But which were the mistakes and which were the cringy comments?” — Glenn Beck (03:17)
• “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non binary.” — James Talarico (04:06)
• “Most Christians would acknowledge that God is beyond gender... if someone’s got a problem with that statement, they shouldn’t take it up with me. They should take it up with the Apostle Paul.” — James Talarico (06:21)
• “Legal personhood evolves with life, and life is change without clear or definite boundaries.” — James Talarico (11:25)
• “Real patriotism is deeper, much deeper. It’s the steady, bone-deep love of the country that raised you even when it didn’t get things right.” — Glenn Beck (28:50)
• “The best foster care system is one that is not needed.” — President Trump (quoted by Alex Adams) (36:35)
• “These states were essentially stealing from orphans and using it to cover government bureaucratic overhead.” — Alex Adams (41:17)

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Important Segments with Timestamps

• [04:06] — James Talarico’s “God is nonbinary” speech.
• [06:21] — Talarico discusses theological notions of gender and Christianity.
• [09:23] — Abortion as a “lens to interrogate patriarchy”; trans community and abortion access.
• [11:06] — Reframing the abortion debate: “It’s a disagreement about personhood.”
• [17:10–31:57] — Beck’s critique of New Yorker patriotism essay, symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, and “elitist” perspectives.
• [35:31] — Introduction of Alex Adams, focus on foster care reform.
• [36:35] — “The best foster care system is one that is not needed” — President Trump/protecting families.
• [39:36] — Predictive analytics in child welfare cases.
• [41:07] — The “orphan tax” issue and action taken against it.

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Tone & Language

• Glenn Beck: Unvarnished, often sarcastic, skeptical of progressive and elite interpretations, emotionally candid when sharing personal or national stories.
• James Talarico (clips): Earnest, academic, progressive; framing issues in contemporary theological and biological language.
• Alex Adams: Policy-driven, pragmatic, focused on actionable solutions, emphasizes child welfare and common-sense reforms.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode weaves together cultural criticism, political analysis, and practical governance. Glenn Beck advocates for a grounded, “bone-deep” patriotism, rebuking elitist redefinitions and progressive posturing. By dissecting controversial public statements and interviewing Alex Adams on the foster care crisis, the program blends spirited debate with real policy discussion, offering listeners both cultural commentary and a look at government efforts to protect vulnerable children.

Transcript

[A]

Great show for you today. It is Monday. We talk about patriotism because of all the crap that's going on in this article that I read from the New Yorker. No offense, the guy just doesn't get it. And I understand that. The way he was raised, et cetera, et cetera. And speaking of that way he was raised, you want to understand who James Talrico is and what he actually believes, you have to know how he was raised, what his mother, how his mother raised him, what they went through when he was a child, and you will know exactly who he is. Also, we spoke with Alex Adams today about foster care. He is with the administration, what's going on there, and an update on Iran that is really important for you all. On today's podcast,

[B]

You're listening to the

[A]

best of the Glenn Beck Program. Democratic Party party, trying to paint themselves as. I don't. I don't know what. I don't know what. We're gonna talk about patriotism here a little while because we got lectured by patriotism. But I. I couldn't get further down on this story from the New Yorker than just his sources of who he's like, going to. You know, I. I just looked into some great people that talk about patriotism. Really? Really. Because those aren't the sources that I would go to for patriotism, but maybe it's just me. So I want to get into that because everything is being redefined right now. Patriotism this summer because of the summer of 250. You know, we have to redefine this. Now, what is it? What does it mean? Well, let's start at something simpler. What does it mean to be a Democrat? I'm not sure exactly what it means to be a Democrat. It certainly does not mean moderate, that's for sure. James Talarico is being painted by the Democrats as a moderate. You know, he's just like any other Texan. You saw him in his T shirt, right? He was wearing a red, white and blue, and he's got his. His Texas flag shirt, and he's eating a turkey leg and wears cowboy boots. Come on. Really? Is that what we're down to? Yeah. And I know who you are because you wear a red hat, even though it doesn't say mag on it. I know what all red hats mean. What? What does a red hat mean? Simpletons. How dare Ken Paxton take this poor man, James Delrico, his words out of context. He's not a radical leftist, Right? Right. Neither is anybody in Virginia. So I asked my researchers, you know, can we look at these claims? Because I want to see, you know, I want to be able to present to you who James Talrico really is in his own words. Okay? Now, earlier this month, he said to CBS News about his past statements and Paxton's attacks, he said this.

[B]

There are some statements that I've made that I. That I certainly regret. There are statements that I've made where I've missed the mark. I'll be the first to admit that. But Ken Paxton is intentionally clipping my cringy comments to distract from his career of corruption.

[A]

Okay, Cringy comments. Okay. First of all, let's give credit where credit do anybody makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. And to be able to say, hey, I've made mistakes and I own up to them. Unfortunately, what he didn't say was which were the mistakes and which were the cringy comments that, that Paxton is taking out of context. So let's start. One of the biggest criticisms of Talarico is that he believes God is non binary. Now we're in Bible country. Not really. Not really? I don't think so. Pretty radical. Lot of people on X are sharing a short clip of him making that claim on the shore, on the floor of the Texas Senate or legislature. But was that taken out of context? Of course it was. Of course it was. So let's look at the longer clip so we can all see. Here it is.

[B]

The first two lines in Genesis use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity. The second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non binary. In Genesis 1:26, God speaks of God's self in the plural, saying, let us make human beings in our image to be like us. That's the infinite multitude of God. The masculine, the feminine, and everything in between.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Trans children are God's children. Made in God's own image. There's nothing wrong with that.

[A]

Wait, wait, wait. There's a lot to unpack here. First of all, let us make man in our image has been debated forever. Forever. He's coming out and stating it like it's just a fact. You know what I mean? It's like, what, what was it one of my favorite comedians said? You know the, the Frank Sinatra song, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And Frank Sinatra just said it, and it was just a fact. It's not a fact. It's a line. What he's saying is not a fact. It might be his opinion, but it is not a fact. Okay, take more than one Bible study class, James. Take. Take more than one. Take more than one. I think there's lots of arguments on what God was talking about there and what Genesis means by that. But maybe this is just one of these statements he missed the mark on because it sounds to me like he believes that God's non binary. So I don't know. I don't know. But here's what he told CNN about it. Listen, what is your response to them using that and explain what you were talking about?

[B]

Well, I understand that that comment is a little provocative. I said it on the House floor when the extremists in the Republican legislature were picking on school kids who were different. But I don't think it's controversial theologically. Most Christians would acknowledge that God is beyond gender. In fact, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, said that in Christ, gentlemen, there is neither male nor female. And so if someone's got a problem with that statement, they shouldn't take it up with me. They should take it up with the Apostle Paul.

[A]

I'm pretty sure that's not what the Apostle Paul meant, but I wouldn't call this an exact backtrack. Okay? Beyond gender is not non binary. Beyond gender means no male or female. I mean, I'm just using your argument here. This is not mine. But your argument he's beyond gender means there is no male or female. It just is. Okay, that's not non binary. Okay, I don't know what you're talking about here. Okay, but what's even harder than gender? Here's a radical claim. Another one from Talarico.

[B]

Listen, this modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six, which, honestly, Representative Hefner surprised me. Surprised me too, because I, I, you know, am not well versed in this, this issue area. I'm not a scientist. I'm a politician. A lot worse than a scientist.

[A]

Ah, not a scientist. Clearly you're not scientist. I, you know what I think people who say there are six genders, they also are not scientists. But that's just me. A few days ago, he tried to walk that one back as well. He apparently now, quote, knows there are two sexes, a man and a woman. But he also suggested that he was referring to a very small percentage of people who were born with chromosomal abnormalities. Abnormalities. You know, they, they're born, they're born with, I guess, six different genders. I, I, I don't know. But God still non binary. Okay. He also believes that because God is non binary, he made some children trans. Here he is talking about trans children, something that you love that's not family or friends.

[B]

I love and just say this because it's on my mind. The trans children who showed up yesterday at the state Capitol to advocate for their humanity, they shouldn't have to, but it was an inspiration to watch. Okay?

[A]

All right. So this is the moderate Democratic platform in Texas. This is the moderate version. Okay? He's not an extremist. He wants you to know in the Democratic Party and everybody's screaming, he's a moderate. He also wants you to know that some of those trans children will eventually need abortions.

[B]

Before we go further, I want to acknowledge that our trans community needs abortion care too. Defending trans Texans is something we have to do every day at the state Capitol, and you better believe I'll be giving sermons on that too. So when I use the word woman, it should not be understood as an exhaustive term, but rather as a. As a lens through which to understand, examine, and interrogate patriarchy.

[A]

Ow. Ow, my head hurts. Okay, so when he talks about women that are going to need a. An abortion, he's not. He wants you to understand that women is just a lens and not an actual fact. But it. It would be the trans men that would need the abortion. You know, the ones that are actually female that claim to be men, they're the only ones that could get pregnant. Not the trans women. The trans women were guys. They don't have a uterus. They don't have ovaries. They don't have a vagina. They have none of it. They cannot push a baby out. They can't create a baby. I don't understand what. He's more on that later. He was saying this, by the way, in a church and delivering, quote, a sermon on that. But it explains an awful lot about what this guy believes. Here's something also you may not have heard from anywhere else to Talarico. The abortion debate is not about what you think it is. Because here's what he said later in that and I'm quoting sermon.

[B]

The disagreement about the legality of abortion is not a disagreement about life. It's a disagreement about personhood. No one disagrees that an embryo is biologically alive. We each have trillions of living organisms inside of us right now as we sit and talk in the sanctuary. So the question is, is an embryo a legal person whose rights are trump those of a woman? I don't know many people who would seriously answer yes to that question? Legal personhood evolves with life, and life is change without clear or definite boundaries. But the only way we can allow the rights of an embryo to trump the rights of a woman is if we believe a woman is not a full person. And let me remind you that that that has been the default belief throughout most of human history. Being Christian and being pro choice are absolutely consistent because Christianity is a feminist religion. Ah.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. I don't know. Ow. Again, this is the moderate. Texas. This is the moderate that they're trying to sell you. Okay, where do I even begin on that one? Okay, so we have a ton of living organisms in us. Is that like we might have a tapeworm? So, like, the baby could turn into a tapeworm? I'm not. I'm not really sure how to. Where to go with that one. That organism that's living inside of you, it is a baby. It's a baby. It might not look like a baby at the beginning, but it turns into a baby. The tapeworm stays a tapeworm. So I want you to understand, yes, abortions do kill humans, just not necessarily full humans. Well, now, let's just get into that. Let's just get into that as a. As a day, as a dad with a child of special needs. Let's just get into. Can you define what a full human is? What is a full human? Is a full human somebody who has a fully functioning body. Arms, legs, brain, eyes, ears, nose, mouth. What is a full human? Because once you get into, well, that's not really human. Well, that's not really life. Then you get into, well, that's not a life worth living. And then you could just kill anybody. Yav. So denying women the right to elective abortions is akin to enslaving women. And Jesus, who is, quote, a radical feminist, empowered women to kill their own babies whenever they wanted to, I guess, because. Screw the patriarchy.

[B]

What?

[A]

What? By the way, it is not in line with Christianity. It used to be called the quickening. It wasn't called abortions. Look, look it up. Look it up. It wasn't called an abortion. They didn't know. They didn't know when they were pregnant. They didn't have a pregnancy test. They didn't sit copper squat and look at the, you know, color and the. Is it a plus sign? Is it pink? Is it blue? What is it? They didn't do that. They didn't have any of that. They only knew they were pregnant when it was called the quickening. When something happened inside of them, and the woman could feel it. Then you throw yourself down the stairs. You're going into colonial jail because you're intentionally trying to kill a baby you know is in there. Hello. So what's going on here? Does he actually believe all this stuff? And there's a lot more. The answer is very clear once you learn where this guy learned this. Okay, because in that same sermon, Talarico gave his testimony not for his decision to follow Christ, but why he became a radical feminist. And it actually starts with a tragedy, a real tragedy. And I want to share that so you can understand him. And you know when he's lying and when he's not, when he's saying, oh, no, I'm really just like, you look up my Texas flag shirt. No, no, no. We didn't have all the experiences that you had, James, and I. I feel badly that you had these. You were horribly, horribly misled, and I can understand how it happened. But the rest of America, and certainly the rest of Texas needs to know this story. You're listening to the Best of the Glenn Beck Program. I saw something on patriotism from the New Yorker that is really sad. It's very sad. But I think a lot of Americans might feel this way. But then you introduce the typical raising of the typical American, and you put them even back into a time period that is before my time period where you were fighting the, you know, the hippie movement in the. In the Vietnam War and all of that crap. And so you get a real taint there. But then you add modern elitists on top of it, and you get the New Yorkers essay, how problematic is patriotism? And I just want to show you how to spot things quickly in this. Then I want to talk to you about patriotism, because it is June. We're in the summer of 250, America's 250th birthday. I went to church yesterday, and I. My. My faith did an hour just on the Constitution. I was so happy to see that. Thank you for that. And it was really heartwarming and positive and a way to not only celebrate, but also remind us that we are here to form a more perfect nation. Meaning we're not perfect. We never have been perfect. We need to try to strive to that perfection, knowing that we'll always fall short as a nation. But let's admire some of the things that we have done right? You know, just. At least for the birthday party. You can hate grandpa all you want for some of the things Grandpa did, but on his Birthday. Maybe we should all get together and say, hey Grandpa. You know, I know we disagree on a lot of stuff, but there's a lot of great things that you did in your life and celebrate those things. Can we do that? Apparently some can. The elitists don't want you to. We'll get into that here in just a second. First, let me tell you about the burner launcher. There is. I mean, here's how much time usually do you have to make a decision in a dangerous situation? Usually it's about that much time. Just a snap of a finger, not very long. You don't get time to go home, think about it, come over, come back with a plan. Whatever happens, happens fast. And that's why I've always believed that the time to think about everything that you do, the decisions you make, and especially your personal savior safety. You have to end savior your personal safety. You have to make those things in advance. That's what I like about Burna. Burna makes non lethal self defense launchers that can help you protect yourself and your family from a distance. They are legal in all 50 states, they don't require a permit and they are designed to give you an option when you need one most. Because when a bad situation arrives, you have to. You have to be ready. You have to make that decision. And you know, a plan is not one that just has you standing there hoping things work out. You really have to have a plan. Make it long before the moment. And that is by calling Burna right now. Go on To Burna's website Burna.com Glenn look at their Burna Le Gen 2 Burna.com Select Yours While Supplies last. There's a great discount on them. It's Byrna B Y R N a dot com okay, so let me just give you a little bit of this. This essay from the New Yorker. It says I did not grow up loving America. Not because I thought I didn't, it didn't deserve love, but because I didn't think about it. America was the Pledge of Allegiance in the Star Spangled Banner. It was Maverick and Gunsmoke. It was Ed Sullivan and high school dances and big cars with big fins. It was soda fountains and Elvis and stickball. It was Valley Forge and George Washington. It was also white, mostly male and invincibly middle class. And I hardly gave it a thought with race or class as much for that matter. Depending on where you hail from, America could be the evening sky above Northfield, Connecticut or the fields of bluebonnets in Texas. To a Teenager living in New York in the 1960s, America was pretty great. It had saved the world from fascism and now stood as a bulwark against communism. Mickey Mantle, good. Nick. Nikita Cruz, Jeff, bad. My memory may be faulty, but I can't recall anyone I know declaring a love for America. Not anyway, until I was 25 and living in Charleston, South Carolina. He talks about how he grew up, you know, in the era of the draft. And, you know, he was singing about draft dodging, you know, flee to Canada or Europe, blah, blah, blah. Vietnam was the first time he actually thought about, you know, the war. And then you had Nixon. And I mean, he grew up in a really bad period in America. He did grew up in a bad period. And I can understand if that's. If that is what you grew up seeing all the time. That's how you can get to where you. Where you are. But then you add, on top of that, you live the life of an elite. Because I want you to listen to this. He talks about, you know, the history of patriots, of patriotism. The concept, if not the word, probably emerged during the formation of, you know, the Greek polis in the 8th century BC blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he talks about, you know, Johann Gottfried Herder's notion of the Geist des Volks. All made national pride seem like a rational outcome of shared habits, traditions, and language. So notice he goes right to Germans and the German Volk and the Germans. You know, it's interesting how the Germans get a really bad rap, because the Germans were the ones that came up with the doctoral system that we have here in America. I mean, in the late 1800s, early 1900s, if you wanted to be a doctor, you would go to the best German schools, and the German schools were teaching you all of this crap, okay? That's how we got progressivism introduced here into America. We went over and we got it from the Germans. But then he goes back into patriotism. He says since then, writers have spilled a great deal of ink over patriotism. Mark Twain, who was an American, was. Had written about it. Okay, so Mark Twain, good guy, American, 1800s. Got it. Then he goes into H.L. mencken, he said, and also H.L. mencken. Who is that? Well, this guy was a deep critic, fierce critic of democracy, progressivism and the New Deal and mass politics. But he was also an elitist and real key here. Anti Eglit. How do you say this words? I sound like such a moron all the time.

[B]

Egalitarian.

[A]

Egalitarian, yes, egalitarian. Thank you. Egalitarians they believe egalitarian means that you believe in the principle that all people are created equal. That's America. Okay? But he was an elitist and an anti egalitarian, okay? That kind of guy believes that it's ruled by the best, okay? It's ruled by the best. Inequality is good. This is a modern progressive because some people are smarter and they should tell everybody what else to do, okay? So you don't listen to that guy for patriotism. He also admired Nietzsche. Okay, problem. George Bernard Shaw is the next on this guy's hit parade list of people he looked to for patriotism. George Bernard Shaw was an Irish Fabian socialist, advocated for socialism. His views are so extreme for eugenics. He also loved certain dictators. He's the guy who literally came up with gas chambers for the unfit that would later be used by the Nazis. So you immediately throw this person out. Then he goes to Ursula K. K Le Guin, okay? She distrusted patriotism. Yeah, I bet she did. She was an anarchist, she liked socialism. She was a feminist, she was a critic of capitalism, okay? Her fiction that she wrote explored anarchist and anti authoritarian themes. Of course she didn't like patriotism. She. Then the next one on his hit parade is Tolstoy. He likened it to slavery. Tolstoy was also Christian, anarchist, pacifist. He was a Russian. That's the most important thing. He didn't even understand America, okay? George Orwell was kinder than most. He writes patriotism. He wrote devotion to a particular place or a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world, but has no wish to force upon people. Good, that's. That's good. You be patriotic like that. The problem is nationalism, which he maintained was inseparable from the desire for power. Well, yeah, in some people, I. Just because I really love my country doesn't mean I want to crush all other countries. Again, you're talking to the elitist. The average person that is patriotic loves the flag, loves America, loves the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence. Liberal, loves our history. But they don't want to dress their kids up into uniforms, put guns in them and tell them, go take over the world. We're tired of that. You know, it is the. It is the progressive elites, mainly in the State Department, that have always been pushing this stuff that we've got to go. This is a Republican progressive idea that, that we've got to go and spread democracy. You know what the best way to spread democracy is the way we used to do it. You know what I've told you the story about the Statue of Liberty a million times. France didn't give it to us because they liked us. They were fighting Marxism in their own country, and they were trying to show America has the best idea. Why does the Statue of Liberty have a broken chain on her foot? Did you know that she wears a shackle and it's broken. Why? Why does the Statue of Liberty have a chain around her foot? Because America broke that chain. Not at the beginning with the Civil War. We broke the chain of slavery. And how did we do it? Here's a tip with what's in her hand, hand by her side, she's holding the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. That's why it says July 4, 1776, on the statue right there on the book. That is the idea of independence and all men are created equal. That breaks the chain of slavery. And what makes man, man. The ability to invent, the ability to dream, the ability to do. That's the torch. The torch is imprisoned lightning. That's what they used to call the electric light bulb. It was imprisoned lightning. And so it's the imprisoned lightning is the free man that can come here under the law and dream, that can light the entire world. So anyway, he goes into George Orwell, by the way. George Orwell was a democratic socialist. So again, I don't think I'm going to him or Voltaire, which is a. A French Enlightenment. Where did the French Enlightenment get us? Then more recently, the philosopher Richard Rorty, capable of defending patriotism. Richard Rorty. He is much more, again, of a. He's an American, but much more of a continental thinker. Okay, and then Martha Nussbaum. Martha Nussbaum, a popular philosophy who advocates cosmopolitanism over strong patriotism and emphasizes global justice and often aligns with progressive left, liberal, academic thought. So throw this entire thing out. This guy grew up in the 1960s where there. There were real scars and America was really wrestling. But up until Barack Obama, we were making real progress on that. We were healing those scars. We were starting to have color blindness. And then Barack Obama and his progressives came in and they started saying, no, no, no, you've got to notice, Col. No, you don't. You don't. Patriotism is not about red hats. It's not about waving flags or chanting slogans at rallies. It's not about God bless the usa. It's not about any of that stuff that can make you feel good temporarily, but that's sugar highs. Real patriotism is deeper, much deeper. It's The. It's the steady, bone deep love of the country that raised you even when it didn't get things right. Do you hate your parents because they made mistakes? If you did, you're a fool. You're a fool. I didn't plan on telling you this, but I'm going to tell you this because I'm. I feel compelled to. My father was horribly abused when he was a kid. Horribly. He ran away when he was 16. He ran to YMCA in Los Angeles where he was repeatedly raped. None of us knew this. I'm the only one in the family he told. None of us knew this. He spent his whole life trying not to be his father. And so when you try not to be something, you're just not there. And my father wasn't there when I was growing up. He just wasn't there. He was working all the time. He was a great guy. He never abused any of us, yada, yada, but he was just not his father. And I understood when he told me this. When I was in my 30s, I began to understand him. He was just not my father because he was not his father. So he didn't know what to do. And so he did really nothing, unfortunately. He married an abuser. He married two of them and he abused. And she abused my sisters, both my mother and my. And my stepmother. I had a falling out. I. I never was close to my dad. Then in my 30s, I sober up, I get to know him. We have a close relation. We're on the phone all the time with each other. He taught me more than any other human being. Then abuse started again of my sisters, again, older, as they have children. And I saw that this was going to be passed on. And I said to my dad, dad, you got to stop it right now. Because if you don't, I will. I will stop it. But it will cause so much damage. We won't. We won't see each other again. It just. Please, please. And he said, son, you have to do what you have to do. And I said, you're telling me, dad, that you agree with me stopping this, But I'm telling you, please, please help me so we don't have to go through that. Well, he didn't. And my father and I had a horrible breakup.

[C]

You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck Podcast. Hear more of this interview and others with the full show podcast available wherever you get podcasts.

[A]

There's a lot going on. We have to talk to you about Iran. There's some breaking news happening with that. I Don't think it's necessarily good, but let's, let's take it step by step. Also, Bill Gates is in the news. What a fraud this guy is. Now we find out that he is, he's actually paid people to help create this Mr. Rogers kind of version of him. He's a terrifying guy, quite honestly. And we have Alex Adams on. He is the HHS Assistant Secretary for Family support. The president has taken the administration for children and families and they are launching a, a, a new initiative to make sure that no child is left behind. And this is specifically talking about families that are foster care families. And this was a hard decision to have Alex on, not because it's not worthy or anything else, but because I know so many people that have been raised in foster care that had the worst, most horrific movie style kind of upbringing that I've ever heard of. And I'm very interested to see how we're fixing all of this and what we're doing to make sure that we don't leave children behind, but we also don't put them into foster care. That is a horror show. We'll talk to, to Alex about that here in just a second. First, let me tell you about our sponsor. It's realestate agentsitrust.com if you're about to sell or buy a home, you know, and you're not getting the real estate agent from a reputable source, you might as well just flip a coin. Honestly. You know, head somebody who knows the local market, tail somebody who communicates well, negotiates effectively, but, you know, doesn't have everything you need. I mean, you could do that or you could get it. You know, you could get somebody by not flipping a coin. You can find somebody who has been fully vetted, has all of the skills and knowledge and systems in place to sell your house quickly, get the most amount of money and get you into the right neighborhood with the right house at the right price, it can be done. You just need the right real estate agent, somebody who can sell your home and get you into new one even in a very tough market. Well, the name of my company says it all. Realestate agentsitrust.com with we're going to help you find the right real estate agent. We've vetted these people six ways to Sunday all over the country. If we have somebody in your area, we'll recommend them. There's no cost or obligation or anything else. Just meet with them, see if you like them. Real estate agents I trust dot com. Realestate Agents I trust dot com. Alex, welcome to the program. The Assistant Secretary for Family support from hhs, Alex Adams. Alex, excited to have you on. As I said a minute ago, I have so many friends that have grown up and co workers that grew up in foster families that were just from hell. And I'm sure there are good ones out there. I know there are, but how. What are we doing to make sure that we increase the number of people that want to take children in for foster care and also catch the bad guys for sure.

[C]

Well, thanks for having me, Glenn. Last November, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump signed an executive order called Fostering the Future. It was a whole of government approach to improve child welfare. Across the board, many agencies have a role. My agency, the Administration for Children and Families, has a specific role. We've launched a campaign called A Home for Every Child where we're trying to increase the ratio of foster homes relative to the number of foster kids. Right now we have a national shortage. If 100 foster kids come into the system, we only have 57 homes to care for them. And what happens to the remainder is they get placed in bad situations. Many of them get placed in Airbnbs, short term rentals, government office spaces, places that are not conducive to a safe, stable, loving family environment that many of us were fortunate to grow up in. So we're trying to get states to commit to increasing their ratio of homes to kids. And there's certainly two ways to do that. First is to recruit and retain better, higher quality foster families. The most important way to do so is to shrink the number of kids coming into foster care in the first place. As President Trump said, the best foster care system is one that is not needed. And we're looking to ensure that foster care is used as the tool of last resort when it is in the best interest of the child, when it is necessary to protect them. But the, the first and foremost goal is to preserve families, keep families together when it is safe to do so.

[A]

Okay, so, so how do you make that judgment? Because, I mean, you get into foster care how, because either all your, you have no, you have no relatives left and your, your parents either abandoned you or died, or most likely it's because the Department of Children and Families comes in and says, we got to get these kids out of here. This is a dangerous situation. Right?

[C]

Yeah. Well, most states define neglect and abuse and in cases of, if a court makes a finding, the child can be removed from the family and enter into foster care. I used to run a state Child welfare system from Idaho as well. So we're neighbors, Glenn, and we. One of the things that we started doing is we started building predictive analytics into the hotline. So usually the first step in a child welfare case is a medical professional or a school personnel calls a hotline alleging neglect or abuse of a child that sends off an entire cascade of events. That cascade of events can change the entire trajectory of the child's life and the family's life. And it was very interesting to me how subjective that whole process felt. So a couple counties had experimented with predictive analytics where it brings additional data into the decision making. It helps triage and it helps right size the response from the agency. Idaho was the first state to go live using predictive analytics. And based on that experience and others, my agency, the Administration for children and Families, just announced competitive grants to allow up to 10 states to experiment with predictive analytics as well. We think that will right size responses and allow agencies to focus on the most egregious cases where safety is truly at risk.

[A]

So this predictive analytics, it's not to widen the scope, it's possibly to narrow the scope. Because I know people who have, you know, their baby fell off of the bed, which my son did, broke his collarbone. I know I have a friend who same thing happened in a different state. And man, they were all over the good parents and they were broken heart. I mean, you know, and the state was all over them for months and months and months and there was nothing going on. So is this to try to weed those kinds of things out and get to the most serious.

[C]

Certainly the goal, the goal is to right size the agency's response to the cases where there is true situations going on, where a child's safety is at risk, where foster care may be appropriate. So that's one of the things. I mean, certainly we talked about preventing entry into foster care, but recruiting and retaining good high quality foster homes is another. And too many states have larded up foster care licensing with red tape. Certainly things are necessary. Let's do criminal background checks, checks, let's do child abuse and neglect registry checks and all of those things. But too many states larded up foster care licensing with just superfluous things like requirements for pet vaccines and other things where when I was a former state child welfare agency director, when my choice was having a child stay in the Red Roof Inn or putting them at the family's home, who is a good high quality family, but we don't know the vaccine status of their pet rabbits That's a very easy. I think it would be in Idaho we had a lot of red tape. Like we required foster homes to have four foot fences around every body of water. I bet no farm in Weston has four foot fences along all of the irrigation canal. Let's roll out the red carpet and let's make it easier to get good, high quality foster families into the system.

[A]

Okay, so tell me about the orphan tax.

[C]

Yeah, it's another thing we've been focused on. And I always say this is something straight out of a Charles Dickens novel where essentially a child's parents died. That child's parents had worked, so they were entitled to some Social Security through earned benefits, through work. Traditionally, the child would be eligible for the survivor's benefit. But in 29 states, when that child entered foster care, the state was saying, we are now the parent of that child. We're going to take that survivor's benefit from them. And they're essentially taxing at a hundred percent and using it to offset permanent costs. These states were essentially stealing from orphans and using it to cover government bureaucratic overhead. So we sent a letter to 29 states asking them to end that practice, which I find morally objectionable. Luckily, 10 states changed their laws this year. Governor Pillin in Nebraska, Governor Landry in Louisiana, Governor Braun in Indiana, right away signed executive orders saying, we are going to end this. Other states took legislative action. In Kentucky, the Republican legislature ran a bill that Governor Beshear vetoed. But luckily the legislature, in an overwhelming bipartisan fashion, absolutely steamrolled Governor Beshear. And I think the House vote was 91 to 3. So his scheme to tax orphans has been effectively ended in that state. But we still have a number of states to go. Probably the most pernicious one is Minnesota. During the campaign, Governor Walz talked about how he was a recipient of survivors benefits and, and how it gave him, quote, unquote, dignity. But he is removing that dignity from his own orphans in his foster care system, presumably to give it to Somali pirates or whatever. So we still have a long way to go and we're going to continue pushing on stage.