The Glenn Beck Program — Best of the Program

Guests: Allie Beth Stuckey & Justin Haskins
Date: February 3, 2026
Podcast Network: Blaze Podcast Network

Episode Overview

This “Best of the Program” episode features in-depth conversations with Allie Beth Stuckey and Justin Haskins, tackling hot-button issues in American culture and politics. Glenn Beck’s discussions range from the pitfalls of “toxic empathy” and public shaming attacks from high-profile figures, to the dangers embedded in America’s financial system, and recent political developments in Utah. The episode weaves social and economic analysis, personal anecdotes, and historical warning signs with signature Glenn Beck urgency and critique.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Allie Beth Stuckey and the “Toxic Empathy” Controversy

Segment: [02:59–15:01]

Hillary Clinton’s Op-Ed and Public Discourse

• Stuckey shares her reaction to Hillary Clinton’s 6,000-word op-ed in The Atlantic, which harshly criticizes her book Toxic Empathy.
• Glenn Beck and Stuckey both interpret this as a sign her work struck a nerve and see it as a “badge of honor.”
  • Glenn Beck [03:37]: “You’ve got Hillary Clinton writing an op ed about how toxic your toxic empathy book is. I mean, that’s gotta feel good.”
  • Stuckey [03:52]: “It is a badge of honor. It also helped book sales a little bit.”

What is Toxic Empathy?

• Stuckey defines “toxic empathy” as empathy that leads people to affirm sin, validate lies, or support destructive policies:
  • Stuckey [04:41]: “Empathy becomes toxic when it leads you to do three things. To affirm sin, to validate lies, or to support destructive policies.”
• She contrasts this with “toxic masculinity,” emphasizing that not all empathy is bad, but in certain forms, it can blind people to critical thinking and morality.

Toxic Empathy in Practice — The Minnesota Example

• Stuckey discusses public reaction to decontextualized images and media narratives, noting how people’s emotions are manipulated before they examine facts.
  • Stuckey [06:11]: “Our hearts want to believe that it’s true because it seems right...your empathy for that boy has actually blinded you to what is true. It has paralyzed your critical thinking.”

Empathy as a Tool for Cruelty

• Stuckey cites Paul Bloom’s research showing highly empathetic people can become “crueler to the out group.”
  • Stuckey [09:08]: “You feel so deeply for one purported victim that anyone who you see as in opposition to that victim ...you can justify cruelty and hatred against them...it actually can make you cruel towards the people that you now perceive as your enemy.”

Reversing the Trend

• Glenn and Stuckey discuss how to counteract pervasive “feelings over facts” thinking.
  • Glenn Beck [10:17]: “If you concentrate on feelings, then reason shuts down, and then you get enraged and it shuts down even further.”
• Stuckey recommends storytelling that humanizes those harmed by progressive policies, helping people see the “other side” and potentially expand their compassion.
  • Stuckey [11:07]: “Sometimes people need to see that there is another side of the story that demands your heart too.”
  • On social media and public debate: Stuckey [14:15]: “I’m on the battleground of Instagram trying to pull people out of this propaganda...God has given you a brain...join me in the journey of seeking truth.”

Memorable Quotes

• “...being full of empathy, mean as hell...” — Stuckey quoting Paul Bloom [09:08]
• “You don’t violate your own principles or you become everything that you despise.” — Glenn Beck [~1:08:00 noticed, contextually]

2. The Threat of the Next Big Crash — With Justin Haskins

Segment: [16:22–29:18]

Trigger Events and Economic Risk

• Beck and Haskins discuss the precariousness of the American and global financial systems, and the difficulty in predicting what event might cause the next crash.
  • Beck [17:12]: “The next big event could be a crash that changes absolutely everything.”
  • Haskins [17:23]: “There are so many [triggers] that could cause a crash...You could have another pandemic, you could have war, you could have some sort of AI event...the derivatives complex...super dangerous.”

The Dangers of the Derivatives Market

• The derivatives market is explained as highly dangerous — now worth a notional value of $1 quadrillion, vastly exceeding any actual underlying asset.
  • Haskins [18:42]: “The derivatives complex is so massive right now, the total value...is $1,000,000,000,000,000...A quadrillion dollars.”

How Property Rights Were Quietly Taken

• Haskins details the historical and legal changes that transferred ownership of investment securities from individuals to a central institution (DTC, part of the Federal Reserve).
  • Haskins [22:20]: “Over several decades...your property rights were taken away from you and you had no idea that it occurred.”
  • Haskins [24:35]: “You’re the owner of a contract that gives you certain benefits related to those shares. You don’t own the shares...Only one institution owns the shares. It’s called the Depository Trust Company.”

Legal Perils and the ‘Last Lender’ Problem

• Beck and Haskins explain how after 2008, depositors became the “lender of last resort.” In a crisis, big banks get paid first, and regular depositors/investors could lose everything.
  • Beck [20:33]: “When you put your money in a bank...they’re loaning it out. That means you’re a lender to the bank...You’re the last in line to be paid.”

System Built to Protect Institutions, Not People

• Haskins exposes laws that allow financial institutions to use customers’ assets as collateral and, in a crash, for big banks to seize them.
  • Haskins [26:40-27:50]: “If [a financial institution] uses your investments as collateral in a loan...the big bank gets to keep your investments.”
• Beck calls the system “evil,” arguing it prioritizes the financial system over individual people who support it.
  • Beck [28:12]: “I am convinced the Fed...is an evil system because it is meant to protect the money and the system and not the people whose lives are...supporting all of it.”

Memorable Quotes

• “This is a terrifying, extremely dangerous situation that they have built on Wall Street.” — Justin Haskins [27:57]
• “Control doesn’t require ownership, it requires scale. And that is what Elon Musk is very good at.” — Glenn Beck [31:41, see next section]

3. SpaceX/XAI Merger & the New Space Race

Segment: [29:26–34:47]

Historic Corporate Merger

• SpaceX and xAI merge, creating the world’s most valuable company.
• Announced plans to launch a million satellites for AI and cloud processing in space.
  • Beck [30:55]: “SpaceX has announced yesterday that they are going to launch a million satellites into space...For the cloud and for AI processing.”

Historical Analogy & Implications

• Beck frames Musk’s move as analogous to 19th-century control of American railroads and rivers, but at a planetary level.
  • Beck [32:19]: “This isn’t somebody claiming land west of the Rockies. It’s closer to one company building every road, every bridge, every highway, and say everybody else can use them, but we built them first.”
• Predicts dramatic changes to the night sky and global infrastructure, with private enterprise now shaping physical reality on a scale once reserved for governments.

Memorable Quote

• “Every great power shift in history looks small right up until the time it doesn’t. And by the time most people look up, the frontier is already gone.” — Glenn Beck [33:38]

4. Utah GOP’s Supreme Court Expansion — A Dark Signal

Segment: [34:48–End (~1:08:00)]

Condemnation of Court-Packing

• Beck sharply criticizes the Utah GOP for expanding the state Supreme Court, calling it a “signal of a dying republic.”
  • Beck [00:00]: “That is a signal of a dying republic. And the Utah GOP expands the state Supreme Court. What is wrong with you, Utah?”
  • Beck [34:48]: “Every American should understand what Utah did is trouble for the Republic. And you’re going to become California.”
• Argues that expanding courts, regardless of which party does it, creates a precedent for structural manipulation and drags states down a path toward totalitarianism.

Warning Against the Rule of “Experts”

• Critiques the decision as being driven by legal “experts” rather than constitutional principles, emphasizing that courts are not overwhelmed—the expansion is “about control.”

Historical Echoes and Republican Principles

• Warns that once one party manipulates the system for control, future majorities will feel justified in acting even more ruthlessly.
  • Beck [~1:06:00]: “Once you cross this line...there’s no neutral ground left. Every future majority is going to feel justified doing exactly the same thing, only faster and only harsher.”

Urgent Call to Defend Founding Values

• Urges Utahns and Americans at large not to shrink from conflict over constitutional principles.
  • Beck [~1:07:00]: “It is required of you to stand. A Republican...cannot survive this kind of shyness. I know you’re polite...You must stand, or you will lose everything.”
• Warns migration and shifting political demographics will undermine the long-standing political order; urges vigilance and courage.

Memorable Quote

• “When you start screwing around with the balance of a state or national supreme court, your republic is destined for disaster.” — Glenn Beck [~1:07:40]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Toxic Empathy:
  • “Empathy becomes toxic when it leads you to affirm sin, validate lies, or support destructive policies.” — Allie Beth Stuckey [04:41]
• On Justification for Cruelty:
  • “In students that measured higher on empathy… they are actually crueler to the out group.” — Allie Beth Stuckey [09:08]
• On Public Discourse:
  • “You don’t violate your own principles or you become everything that you despise.” — Glenn Beck [~1:08:00]
• On the Quadrillion-Dollar Derivatives Market:
  • “The total value of all the derivatives is $1,000,000,000,000,000... a quadrillion dollars.” — Justin Haskins [18:42]
• On Wall Street Ownership:
  • “When you go and you buy a stock...You don’t actually own them. You have a contractual interest...but you don’t really own it.” — Justin Haskins [24:35]
• On Utah’s Court Expansion:
  • “When courts become political tools, when legislatures punish judges for rulings instead of fixing the law, when every law is answered with structural manipulation, you don’t get Utah, you get California.” — Glenn Beck [~1:06:30]

Important Timestamps

• Allie Beth Stuckey on Clinton Editorial: [03:34–05:59]
• Defining Toxic Empathy: [04:41–05:59]
• Media Manipulation and Empathy: [06:11–07:52]
• Paul Bloom’s “Mean as Hell” Empathy: [09:08]
• How to Reverse the Trend: [11:07–12:34]
• Justin Haskins on Financial Risk: [16:22–19:34]
• Wall Street and Ownership Changes: [22:20–24:54]
• SpaceX/XAI’s Million Satellites Plan: [29:26–34:47]
• Utah Supreme Court Expansion Rant: [34:48–end (~1:08:00)]

Tone and Takeaways

Glenn Beck’s tone throughout the episode is urgent, sardonic, and sometimes incredulous. The show features a blend of outraged critique, warnings about systemic risks (both social and financial), and calls to action rooted in conservative constitutionalism and skepticism of “expert” rule. Both guests reflect a seriousness about their topics while joining Beck in challenging prevailing progressive narratives and institutional power moves.

This episode is essential listening for those interested in conservative analysis of current culture wars, economic risks, and political developments that could shape the future of the republic.