Barry Loudermilk (4:14)

You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

Glenn Beck (4:19)

Keith Wilson, Canadian attorney, will talk to us about what's happening in Canada. Hello, Keith, how are you?

Keith Wilson (4:25)

I'm great. Good morning. Thanks for having me on. It's an honor.

Glenn Beck (4:28)

It's great to have you on. We've been trying to talk to somebody up in, you know, in Ottawa, I'm sorry, in Alberta about what's happening for a while there. I know things are moving at breakneck speed. Bring us, bring us up to speed. Can we start with the gun thing? What is happening in Canada with, with Ottawa going after all the guns?

Keith Wilson (4:48)

Well, it's really remarkable. You know, here we are, your closest neighbor and, you know, I'm, I'm sure Americans have this image of Canada, you know, strong and free and the, that visual of our Royal Canadian Mounted Police and their red surges riding horses and, you know, all those sorts of things. And the reality is, Jeff, we've just slipped Very badly since the COVID mandates into a very authoritarian, dystopian type phase like we're seeing in other countries. And the gun grab is a good example. A few years ago, the leftist federal liberal government, they have a hate on for anything to do with guns and freedom and Christians and religion. And so they announced that they were going to start building a list of guns we're not allowed to have. They started with what they called assault style rifles, which were really just scary looking guns, anything that was black. Anyway, over the years they've expanded that list now up to three or four hundred different models of hunting rifles, shotguns, sport shooting guns, and there's over 500,000 guns that are now illegal. We still hold them. And this year they've announced they're going to start a confiscation process of rounding up and taking our guns.

Glenn Beck (6:09)

Boy, that is not going to end well, especially in places like Alberta. I mean, do I have it right? Alberta is, is kind of like Texas. It's, it's a, it's a ranch kind of area. It's wilderness. It's tough, tough. People that are independent minded, right?

Keith Wilson (6:27)

Not only that, you know, like, you know, first of all, Alberta is just north of Montana. We're a huge province. We're both the same size and land mass as Texas. And our origins are actually from Texans and people from the Dakotas and Wyoming after the Civil War, moving up here and doing cattle drive. So our background is our origins. Our founders are Americans. But not only that, we have. Alberta has the third largest reserve of oil and gas in the world and Texas has a lot of oil. There's so many similarities. Yes, we have a cowboy culture. We're Texas north. Guns are important to us. We're hunters. We've got that rugged individualism. Our religion and our Christianity is really important to us. So there's a huge amount of parallels between Alberta and Texas.

Glenn Beck (7:15)

So I know how Texas would respond to this and it would be get the hell off my land. How is Alberta going to react to this?

Keith Wilson (7:27)

Well, I mean, we all know that history has taught us that good things don't happen after governments take guns away from citizens.

Glenn Beck (7:36)

Never. Never.

Keith Wilson (7:37)

And so Albertans are very mindful of that. We're fundamentally distrustful of the federal government in Ottawa. And this may sound provocative, but they basically hate Albertans. They hate our conservatism, they hate our Christianity, they hate our sense of freedom, our belief in property rights and the rule of law and all those things that doesn't abide with the new progressive Leftist Marxists. So what are. Our province is like a state, the province of Alberta. So we have a premier, which is like a governor and our premier. Premier Smith has been very adamant that the police forces in Alberta are not to cooperate with the federal government when they come for the gun grab. She's done some other really interesting legal things, like said that that the federal officials will have to get a seizure permit from our attorney general. And she says, she jokes, she has it on good authority that our attorney general won't be issuing them. But, I mean, it will come to a head at some point. It's frightening to think about that. I don't know where it's going to go, but it's part of a pattern of many other events up here in Canada that have led to so many Albertans to say, we want out of here. We want to form our own country. We want to be like Canada once was, true north, strong and free.

Glenn Beck (9:02)

Okay, so that is just terrifying, really terrifying, because, you know, especially with all that oil, no country wants to let that go. Do you think the rest of Canada will just be cool with that?

Keith Wilson (9:21)

Yeah. Well, you know, Alberta really has a unique culture, and, you know, there's great variety as, you know, variability in the culture of the United States. I've traveled extensively with my family over the years. You know, there's a great difference between the folks up in Connecticut and then there is the folks in Texas. But, you know, the rest of Canada, primarily our sister province to the east, it's called Saskatchewan, they're very much aligned with us on everything. And they not only have oil and gas, they also have the largest reserves of uranium in the world, as well as potash, which should go straight down into the farm fields of Iowa and so on. So we're important strategically for the United States, and these two provinces are aligned. I think if Alberta votes to separate, Saskatchewan will come. But other parts of Canada, they're like these blue states in the U.S. the hardcore Democrats, they think the most important thing to do is to display Pride flags. And, you know, we started off with having Pride Week and LGBTQ stuff as a day, and then it became a week, and then it became a month, and it's a national celebration for a month. And all of these extremely progressive views, wide open immigration. Our immigration numbers are out of control. So their mindset in the rest of Canada is very much left leaning, very much wanting government to look after everything, wanting government to care for every aspect of their life, whereas those of us in the west, on the prairies, in Alberta and Saskatchewan. No, we don't think government's very good at doing much of anything. We'll look after our own problems. We're rugged individualism. So there is an incredible divide in Canada. Canada is not a united nation, is not a nation that's united with common values anymore at all. The rest of the country's gone very hard left, whereas Alberta and Saskatchewan have stayed true to conservative principles.

Glenn Beck (11:37)

As a Canadian, how does that feel to you?

Keith Wilson (11:43)

It's very frightening. You know, my wife and I have four kids actually. You and I are the same age. And so, you know, the things we think about. Right. And it's a scary time up here for the future of our kids. Just the economic aspect of a loan. There's the social culture, which is downright frightening. The gun grab. What's happened to Sean Foyt and other examples which we can talk about more. But the economics. Alberta is the largest generator of wealth in our country through our oil and gas activities, our petrochemical, our refining, all of these things, our agriculture and so on. And we have this goofy thing in our constitution where if one province is doing well, we have to send our wealth to the provinces that aren't doing well, notionally. So they call it equalization. Well, a number of the provinces in the other part of the country to the east get 20% of their budget from hard working Albertans and then they impose policies on us. So for example, the federal liberals are all these green, you know, this green leftist stuff. So we've got a net zero rule, we've got a production cap, we've got a tanker ban. We've got all these things because they don't want Alberta to produce our oil and gas. So they're holding it in the ground. They're holding our economy back. Albertans would be richer than citizens of Saudi Arabia or Dubai if they would let us produce our oil and gas. They're not. So all of these things are layering on top of one another. This authoritarianism that we're seeing that started with the COVID mandates. Canada had some of the most restrictive mandates in the world. Many people don't realize that. So it's become a dark time up here. The thing is, the progressives, the lefties and the rest of the country seem to be really happy with this and want government to give them more. We have our notion of free health care now we have free dental, notionally free prescriptions and almost free daycare. Of course the government can't deliver any of those things. They're all you know, they're as real as Mickey Mouse.

Glenn Beck (14:04)

I could contend there, Mickey Mouse is realer than that. But the State Department, the Mouse is very powerful, at least south of your border. The State Department had a meeting, a second high level meeting in Washington, I think on Monday. And our administration is eager to recognize Alberta as an independent state or country. Can you give me any insight on what is happening on this side of the border and what does that mean with our relationship with the nut job parts of Canada?

Keith Wilson (14:46)

Well, sure I can. I received a briefing from that delegation yesterday. You know, I think the Trump administration is very concerned about what's happening in Canada. You know, we're your largest land border. You know what's interesting too, just a friend of mine, actually one of the people involved in the Freedom Convoy protest is a retired army captain up here and he explained to me that part of the defense doctrine for the United States post Cold War is a concern about, you know, Russia and or China teaming up and coming invading the United States from the north. So that would invasion would come through Alberta. Right. And you're smart enough, you're not going to wait till they get to Montana, you're going to come up here. So Alberta is very important strategically as well. In fact, we have the most amount of military bases in Canada are in Alberta and the largest ones. So we're a very important strategic for a number of reasons also geopolitically, look what just happened with our leftist ideological prime minister, Prime Minister Carney. He and his colleagues Steimer and Macron and one other unilaterally announced that they were going to recognize the state of Palestine at the same time that the Trump administration is making progress in trying to negotiate a peace deal. The administration in Ottawa is a lot of things. There's so we have this Chinese corruption, political inference thing. The Chinese government has police stations. So there's a lot of things for the US Administration to be concerned about, about what's happening in Canada, many levels from many different lenses as I've just described. Then you have Alberta, where our Supreme Court of Canada has said that if a province and the people of a province hold a province wide referendum, a vote, and the vote is to leave Canada and become their own nation, that they can do so. Canada is unique in the world in that we're the only democracy where the government, the constitution, the courts have laid out a legal process for a region, a state or a province to secede and become their own independent nation. And one of the critical steps in that process is international recognition. So my Understanding from the meeting that have occurred that the Trump administration officials have indicated that the US Would recognize a vote by the people of Alberta to become independent. So that's very important to us as we go into. We expect the vote to occur in 2026, sometime around this time next year. And I think the Trump administration also recognizes you guys have right above your border in Montana, the third largest reserve of oil and gas in the world. Look at the power of that, the energy independence. It takes you from an energy superpower to a mega superpower and then we're completely culturally aligned. So I think there's a recognition. And Canada's, the leftists in Ottawa are being global disruptors. They're not helping. They're helping build the governments with this anti freedom, anti Christian phenomena that we're seeing that it's hard to believe it's happening, but it is so. Well, it's an encouraging fact that these discussions are occurring.

Glenn Beck (18:26)

Heath, please stay in touch with us. Anything that we can do to help. But we. I want to make sure America understands the world, that we are right on the brink of losing or changing and how dangerous these times are if we don't all keep our level heads. And I've been watching you with great, great interest on what's happening because if we have better access to Culture Wall, I'm all for it. So God bless you. Thank you, thank you for everything you do. And please pass on to your Canadian friends. There are millions of us who pray for you and are with you in this fight. God bless you.

Keith Wilson (19:12)

That means a lot. Thank you very much.

Glenn Beck (19:14)

Thank you. You bet. Let me tell you about our sponsor here. It's American financing. Debt has a way of choking out possibilities for you and your family over time. It starts small. Mortgage here, credit card. There's maybe a personal loan to bridge the gap. And before long, you're working harder than ever just to stay even. Let's not forget interest stacks on interest. Late fees start to creep in and you start to wonder if this is just the way life is now. American financing isn't just about refinancing a home. It's about reclaiming control. Their mortgage consultants don't work on commission, which means they're not there to sell you something. They're there to help you strategize. Maybe that means rolling your high interest debt into a single lower fixed rate. Maybe it means paying off your home years faster without spending a dime more each month. Or maybe it's just about creating a little breathing room so you can sleep better at night. You don't have to stay stuck. There are options. American Financing knows them and they're ready to put them to work for you. So please call American Financing at 8009-0624-4080-0906-2440. It's American Financing.net that's American Financing.net now back to the podcast. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program, and we really want to. For listening from the great state of Georgia, Congressman Barry Loudermilk is with us. Barry, how are you, sir?

Barry Loudermilk (20:32)

Doing good, Glenn. How are you doing today?

Glenn Beck (20:34)

I am really good. I have to tell you, I want to spend a couple of minutes, as we get past some of this other stuff in the interview, talking about a book that you wrote this summer. I didn't hear anything about it. It somehow or another arrived on my desk and I picked it up and I was going on an airplane. And I have to tell you, Barry, I read that thing cover to cover, and I don't even know if anybody really knows about this book. I think it is one of the best history books and the most appropriate for its time. Right now, I actually want to talk to you about recording it myself. I think it would make a series of podcasts that are just fantastic. I just love. Yeah, it's called and they Pray. Yeah, go ahead.

Barry Loudermilk (21:16)

Whatever goes is to do an audio book on this. I just haven't had the time to do the recording yet. So my family's been after me to do it, but I've been a little bit busy with investigations and legislative work.

Glenn Beck (21:28)

Well, I would, I'd love to. I'd love to make it in podcast. I think it's fantastic, Barry. It needs to be heard. We'll talk about that in a second. First, let me talk to you about what is going on. First of all, let's start with the pipe bomb. What is the latest on these pipe bombs?

Barry Loudermilk (21:47)

Well, Glenn, it's amazing what having an administration that actually wants to get to the truth can do to change a narrative. What we have learned and the premise that we went on in the previous two years that I was investigating, is that these pipe bombs were placed in the evening of January 5th. And so everyone was going off of that premise. We start. And of course, I reached out to the FBI several times during that time period. Of course, the Biden administration were not, they were not forthcoming with information. Basically, they always use this excuse, this is an ongoing investigation, so we can't share that information. I'm like, goodness gracious, how long is this investigation going to go. So what we've learned through the Trump administration is that story doesn't fit with the facts that we're finding. It appears to us. And let me give you credit because you brought this up on a show I was doing with you over a year ago, that the pipe bombs had a 60 second egg timer on them. So how could you play, I mean, a 60 minute egg timer, right? Yeah, you brought that up. I started researching that. I talked to some bomb experts and they said, well, quite often that is an override. In other words, you have an electronic trigger that actually sets off the bomb, but you put the egg timer on to basically set it and it triggers the other trigger. You know, it, it enables it, it just basically gives you time to get away. So we were going on that premise. Well, one thing we get is the lab report from the FBI on the pipe bombs. Just got that recently, there was no electronic timer. The only timer was that 60 minute egg timer. So it's impossible that these pipe bombs were placed and armed on the night of January 5th. They had to be placed at some point not long before they were found on January 6th. Because lady that lives close by to the one that was placed by the Republican National Committee and her testimonies, which have been consistent, she said There were still 20 minutes left on the egg timer when she found it.

Glenn Beck (24:03)

Right.

Barry Loudermilk (24:04)

So that's one huge inconsistency. The other is mysterious data or data that has been mysteriously, it's disappeared. And it was when the FBI was doing geofence searches. They went to all the major cell carriers and asked for all the precise data of people who were in that area on January 5th and 6th. All the carriers provided information except for one, AT&T. AT&T apparently corrupted the data. Now, no, we kept hearing that the data was corrupted. And this is in my previous investigation. AT&T claimed they didn't corrupt the data. The FBI did. The FBI, we found out later, said, no, the data was corrupted when we got it. Now that we get the real information, it becomes even more mysterious. There is a entity known as FirstNet. FirstNet was created by Congress after 911 to preempt cell service for law enforcement. So they only serve law enforcement first responders. So in a time of emergency, their calls take priority. So FirstNet actually sits on the AT&T backbone for some reason. And this is where my suspicion started growing is when the FBI contacted AT&T, gave them a preservation letter, said, save all of this data specifically around the areas where the pipe bombs were, because they have to go through the legal mumbo jumbo to actually get the subpoena. So they don't want stuff to disappear. They send a letter telling AT&T to preserve the data. AT&T responds and says, you have to go to FirstNet to get this data. Which raises my suspicion. Why are they telling them to go to the carrier just for law enforcement? Well, according to FirstNet, that data was going to be deleted within just a few hours. So they were in this massive hurry to download all the data before it was deleted and somehow it just got corrupted. I'm not buying stories.

Glenn Beck (26:17)

Okay, so, so wait a minute. Why would FirstNet have access to the data? Why wouldn't it still be with at&t?

Barry Loudermilk (26:26)

My question, I've questioned that. And this is what we're seeking right now. Was it law enforcement information that the FBI was seeking? Our first responder? Why would. First of all, there was a reason AT&T sent them over to FirstNet. We don't know. We've been told that FirstNet had just signed a contract with the FBI and so they were handling all the data retrievals. So that's, that's a possibility. I mean, these are questions we don't have that we are seeking right now. But the bottom line is the narrative that we were sold on is not even close to what the evidence is bringing up.

Glenn Beck (27:10)

So what does that imply? Who is giving us this false testimony and evidence?

Barry Loudermilk (27:16)

Well, that's what we need to find out. Is it? Is it at and T, is it FirstNet? Is it? And probably likely to an extent, the FBI. So we're going to be requesting more information from the FBI as as far as details of their investigation. And you know what FBI had claimed the Biden FBI was, well, obviously the person who placed the pipe bomb. Their data was in that AT&T set that got corrupted. I'm still having an issue with the corruption. I spent 20 years in the IT business when data, data is never really deleted. It's always saved somewhere it may be archived. I can't understand how such a carrier like AT&T would just arbitrarily delete data literally within a few days of a major event. In our previous investigation, we contacted all these carriers and one carrier says, look, when it's a significant event, we keep that data forever. They said we even still have data from the Oklahoma City bombing. Wow. So if that's the case, I'm not really buy in the story that was any other data.

Glenn Beck (28:34)

I mean, they seem to have found everybody. Every grandmother was any Other data corrupted other than this particular area?

Barry Loudermilk (28:46)

That's what we need to know. But my understanding is no, just the area around the pipe bomb. And it was very precise data that would actually give you the distance from the cell tower. So this is what we're, you know, kind of dealing with is you got to go off of some kind of premise. Well, why? We've learned who claimed to have corrupted the data, and what they're saying is they were in such a hurry to download it before it automatically deleted that it overloaded the server and the server corrupted all the data. I'm thinking somebody needs some better servers if that's the case.

Glenn Beck (29:24)

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's weird for AT&T. Let me give you one more question on this and then I want to move on to the shutdown. What about the FBI saying that the bombs were viable and lab never using that word, viable. What does that mean? And also, is there a chance that this was some sort of a training exercise or these were training exercise bombs?

Barry Loudermilk (29:51)

Well, that is something I've recently brought up is when you look at the lab report from the FBI and we're looking a little deeper in that lab report too.

Glenn Beck (30:00)

Yeah.

Barry Loudermilk (30:01)

It never does use the word, as you said, the word viable. It does say that there were, there were explosive components in it, but it never says that it was enough to cause a massive explosion. And so from my time in the military, we did a lot of different training exercises. And if you're going to do a real training exercise, you made things as realistic as possible. I mean, I remember while I was in the Air Force, we had a simulated attack on our base. We literally had jets flying overhead shooting blanks. Right. You try to make it as realistic as possible, especially for an exercise like this, you want a device that looks like a bomb and it smells like a bomb for a bomb sniffing dog. But here's the issue. We have video of the Secret Service with a bomb sniffing dog walking literally within feet of where the bomb supposedly was placed the night before and never hits on anything. So if it was, which makes me think if it is a training exercise, if it is a training exercise, the bomb wasn't there when the dog was walking by or he should have hit on it. So there's more questions than answers, but at least we have a direction to go. So I think there is a possibility that these were whether it was a training exercise or somebody just used training type devices to put out there. But if you go back and you look at the videos we released a Year ago, law enforcement were letting people just walk by these devices. There's one video of a guy in a suit walking within feet of the robot that's about to destroy the device. That makes no sense. Unless somebody knew they weren't viable.

Glenn Beck (31:48)

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Glenn Beck (31:53)

Podcasts where every you get podcasts. I want to talk to you about loneliness, but first I just want to say I don't know your name. I don't know where you're sitting right now, what's in your hands, even if you've spoken to another person today. But I do know you're there. I can feel it somehow or another. I don't know how. Maybe just the same way you know that I'm speaking directly to you, even though this is mass broadcast. But I want to thank you for meeting me here again today and remind you that you're here for a reason. We all are. We're here for a reason. And something. Something wild and miraculous is happening in our country right now. I just want you to recognize first, you didn't have to be here. You could have not turned on the radio. You could have listened to another podcast, but you didn't. For some reason, you're listening to this one. And you and I are both trying to just make sense of a world that just doesn't seem to make much sense. And sometimes it can make you feel incredibly lonely. More and more Americans right now are spending more and more time alone. We have a loneliness epidemic going on. And it's weird because we live at a time where communications have never been easier. You can talk to people all around the world, and yet we're alone. I'm experiencing this in my own life in a weird way. My kids have moved out. My older kids moved from next door. They left for the snowy tundra of the north. And my younger kids are now on their own, and we're selling our house. And we've had time to walk around that big empty house filled with memories. And it's really lonely when everybody is gone. It's really lonely. You know, people always say, nobody on their deathbed ever said, I wish I would have spent more time at work. I'm going through that right now. I'm living a future that it might be, you know, perhaps, like you, a life well spent, but everybody's spread all over the country, and you have a ton of time on your hands alone. And that plays games with your head, doesn't it? Loneliness is A strange thing, because it's not just the absence of people. You can be surrounded by people packed shoulder to shoulder on a subway, hearing their laughter through the apartment walls, feeling the vibration of life all around you. And yet it's like you're sealed inside of a glass room that nobody else can see into. They don't look at you. They don't hear you. And maybe after a while, in dark moments, you start to wonder, am I even really here at all? I can only relate to this in the way I have seen. I lived in New York City, and that is a lonely place to be. You're surrounded by people. I saw this play out in front of me when I was in New York City. I was waiting for my daughter at lunch, and she was running late. And there was this restaurant that we would eat at, and it was down under, you know, Rockefeller Center. It was right at the ice rink at Rockefeller Center. And I was sitting on a table for two by a window that looked right out on the ice. And I saw this woman. She looked much older than she was, I'm sure, kind of like Adrian from Rocky. Do you remember in that first movie? That's how I think of her now, is Adrian from Rocky. She was pretty, but she didn't see it. And maybe it was because nobody in her life saw her that way. I'm not really sure. But she came out and she sat down on this bench and she pulled out of this tattered bag her own ice skates. And they were really nice ice skates. Didn't match what she was wearing or her bag. And they were not new. They were just really well cared for. And I watched her take off her shoes and put each one on and lace them up tightly. And then she stood up and she stood on the ice. And this frumpy woman that honestly, if she hadn't have sat right in front of my window, and maybe because I didn't have a phone to scan, I may not have ever seen her. And she stands up and she gets onto the ice. And she is so graceful. She is floating. Like she became like a natural element, one with the ice. It was amazing. Every move was angelic or like a ballerina. And my daughter came to the table. I said, look at this woman. Look. Watch her. And we watched her for 30 minutes or so. And she was so graceful. She would gracefully just. I mean, it looked like art. She would skate around the clods like me, that were about to crash into her. And she was in her own world. I sat there and my daughter And I talked about her. Was she a professional skater, do you think? Was she in the Olympics at one point? I mean, she's really good. And then she came off the ice and she sat back down in front of our window, and she opened up that frumpy, worn bag. She took off her skates, put them in and put on her shoes. And she once again became the woman who the world, I don't think ever really saw. And it didn't take long before she just blended into the sea of people and just disappeared. I think about her almost. I think about her all the time. Because it's not just her. You know, I wondered, does she come here for her lunch every day? Who is she? Where does she work? Does anybody know what she has in her bag that probably sits on the floor next to her desk? Does anybody know she's really an artist inside? I've thought about her for years. And perhaps more lately. I've written movies in my head about her. Movies that aren't ever going to be made, but I see them on the screen of my mind. She's the star in a world where she does her nine to five. She doesn't dress for anyone because she knows who she is and what other people think is not just important to her. Her job is just that. It's a job. She has friends there. But her real life, her real joy, is at home. And when she gets home, her husband sees her as the beautiful, graceful, angelic woman that she actually is. Imagine she was there alone on her lunch hour because her kids were in school. But most evenings in the winter, you'll find her skating with her children. And her daughter watches mom skate as she holds onto the side of the wall until she can find her own balance. She thinks, while watching her mom, that I want to grow up, just be just like her. How many people exist all around us that no one knows that you don't know? You walk by the desk every day and you don't really know them. Have you ever just sat down in a park and just really looked at a crowd and seen the ones that are alone and unseen by the crowd all around them and wondered, what is their story? Where do they come from? What do they do? And no one stops to notice. And there are millions of us, and maybe sometimes you're left with a gnawing in your chest that whispers, have I been forgotten? I mean, does my story even matter? My mom thought before she killed herself that the world would be fine without her. In fact, she thought it would be better off without her. That was a lie. The game's loneliness plays with your head and it convinces you to stay quiet. Stop reaching out. Because why would anybody care? I just want you to know you are here for a reason. And maybe that reason is because you need to hear. People do care. I care. Or maybe it's because you're supposed to send that message to somebody else today. That right now, in this moment, you're not invisible. You're not forgotten. You're heard and you're seen. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Perhaps too much. I don't. I do not know yet. Looking over the horizon, see what is coming or what is possible. And that is a blessing. It can be a curse. On some days, bad days, it is a curse. But in the end, I always come back to him. No matter what is happening in our world or our life, it is a blessing. Because we write the future. It does not write us. And that is something that is lost too many times. Don't allow time to write your future. Take control of it. Write your own future. Know that things can always change. But wherever you are is the right place for you right now. What is it you're supposed to learn? What is it you're supposed to do right now? What is the next right thing? Knowing that with God, all things are possible. And with him, you're never alone. I want you to know that we may never shake hands. We may never share a table. We may never laugh over something small and stupid together. But if I could, I would look you straight in the eye and tell you without blinking that you matter. And I am grateful that you are here. The world is different because you're in it. And maybe you can't see that right now, but I promise you, it's true. And if you're not struggling with this, somebody else you know is. And you need to tell them what I just told you. In this sea of loneliness so strange, in this epidemic of loneliness, people begin to feel it's because they're broken. Loneliness is not proof that you're broken. Loneliness is proof that you're human. Maybe there is not enough human stuff that we do every day because we were built for connection. One on one, look each other in the eye, talk to each other, feel somebody's hand, their shoulder, whatever it is, that connection, that love, that meaning that we all search for. And every time we reach for someone, every time we put those lies behind us, every small act of defiance like that against those whispers, you are punching a hole in the glass wall. That's all around. We need to tell each other. You're not as alone as you think you are. Nobody wants to say it out loud, but we are all alike. We just have different things that are going on in our life. Different things we are ashamed of. We are all alike. That is the thing that will break the spell. Understanding that we are all alike, that we're not that unique. It's so weird because we are all individuals and we all are unique. And we all have our own talents and our own gifts and our own role to play. That does not duplicate. I can't duplicate you, and you can't duplicate me because we're all unique. But then again, we're all exactly the same. It's this weird thing that. But once you get your arms around that, once you realize I'm not different. We all feel these things. We all have something inside of us that we're afraid of in some way or another. We're afraid we'll be exposed. We're afraid that people will figure out we're a fraud. We don't really belong here. We're not really good enough to be here.

Barry Loudermilk (44:55)

We're.

Glenn Beck (44:55)

Whatever it is, once we realize now everybody in the room feels that way. Some people have just recognized it and conquered it. And the way I conquered it was to talk about it. Talk about the flaws in my life. I remember Stu was with me one of his first days. He was an intern. And somebody had called up and said, oh, you're Mr. Perfect. Because at the time, I had this squeaky clean image, but I was a raging alcoholic. Raging alcoholic. My life was all screwed up. And somebody said, oh, you're Mr. Squeaky Clean. And I stopped. Do you remember this, Stu? And I stopped in the middle of this conversation with somebody and I said, you know what? Let me tell you something. You don't know who I am. Let me tell you who Glenn Beck is. And it was at this time that I was. I didn't want to do radio any anymore. And I was going to throw my career away. And I just. I was looking for a way to implode. So give me excuse to go back to school and honestly become a chef. That's what I really wanted to do, is be a chef at the time. God, what was wrong with me? But I said, you know, let me tell you who. Who I really am. And the whole room went quiet. Everybody, all of the producers, everybody on the show looked at me like, oh, dear God, what is he doing? And I said, you know, who I really am? I Got this problem and this problem, you know, I'm struggling against, you know, alcoholism right now. I'm getting a divorce. And I shut the air and I was really raw about it. And I really did say some of the worst things about me. And I turned the mic off and I looked at Stu and I said, stu, write this day down. This is the day Glenn Beck ended his career here. And the exact opposite happened. It was the weirdest thing. The thing that I had been afraid of, that people would know who I really was, ended up being the thing that taught me we're all alike. Because I had people come up to me after that and they said in whispers, they'd glance around like, is anybody listening? Hey, what you said the other day, I can't believe you had the balls to say that. Thank you for saying that because I'm going through exactly the same thing. I just didn't want anybody to know. I thought I was alone. And after I had multiple people come up to me on the first day and say things like that, always in a whispered tone, hey, don't say anything about this. But I realized, oh my gosh, we're all struggling with the same self doubt, all of us. I look at my kids now and they're struggling through so many things. And I want to say, I know I've been there and done it, but they don't hear it because it's something about, I don't know, teenagers or 20 somethings where you have to just go through this yourself. And you think everybody else who's older is stupid and can't relate. But we can. And they'll figure that out at some point because we all do it. We all go through the same thing. I just want you to know you're not as alone as you think you are. And if the only proof you have is my voice in this moment, let it be enough for you to know that somebody, even though strangely he was the guy on the radio or on the podcast, somebody saw you today. And I'm glad you're here. Really, truly, I'm glad you're here. It makes it worth me showing up every day.

Home Depot Announcer (48:49)

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