Best of the Program | Guests: Nick Shirley & Jack Carr | 5/8/26

Summary

The Glenn Beck Program — Best of the Program

Guests: Nick Shirley & Jack Carr | Date: May 8, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode of The Glenn Beck Program centers on in-depth conversations about the realities of communism in Cuba, insights into American global influence and military credibility, the motivations behind new literature by best-selling author Jack Carr, and a forceful critique of progressive economic ideas as espoused by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Through candid interviews and commentary, Glenn Beck, alongside guests Nick Shirley (independent journalist) and Jack Carr (author and veteran), explores contrasting visions for America’s future, using personal stories, cultural analysis, and historical parallels.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nick Shirley’s Reporting from Cuba

[02:28–13:03]

• Firsthand Experience with Cuban Decay:

  • Nick Shirley describes his observations after a recent trip to Cuba, intending to document the country’s conditions before anticipated changes in US-Cuba policy.
  • Quote:

    "If you just look at the buildings ... they're beautiful buildings, but they have not been kept up for nearly 60 years. The buildings are actually, like, crumbling.... People are starving. Seven out of ten people are going without three meals a day.... Kids aren't going to school because there's no power. The university is actually shut down."
    — Nick Shirley [03:27]

  • Beck affirms and expands on the visible contradiction between Cuba’s famous facade and underlying societal decay.

• Debunking the Embargo Narrative:

  • Glenn asks whether US embargoes are to blame for Cuba’s conditions.
  • Nick responds critically:

    "Cuba's had 60 years to figure something out. ... They're literally 90 miles away from the United States, and they've decided to be our enemy for so long, and now the United States is even offering support, it looks like, and it seems like they've rejected that support."
    — Nick Shirley [04:16]

• Responding to Criticism from the Left:

  • Beck brings up Hasan Piker’s accusations that Nick’s trip and reporting are mere “propaganda for additional US intervention.”
  • Nick points out the hypocrisy:

    "He actually went on a paid trip ... to promote how it was taking communism inside of Cuba. ... And he thought it's still a good idea to promote communism and socialism inside of a country that is letting their children starve.... I'm seeing people suffer ...."
    — Nick Shirley [05:13]

• Absence of Hope in Cuba Compared to Elsewhere:

  • Nick, referencing his missionary work in Chile, underscores the lack of hope he sensed in Cubans compared to other poverty-stricken Latin Americans:

    "These people in Cuba ... there's no hope left in their eyes, which is something you don't see even in poor circumstances [elsewhere]."
    — Nick Shirley [06:42]

• Government Harassment and Suppression:

  • Nick recounts how his independent status (without an official government guide) led to suspicion, surveillance, and potential detainment by Cuban authorities:

    "There's a two-star general waiting at the bottom of my hotel room for me in the lobby when I tried to leave."
    — Nick Shirley [08:17]

• Communism vs. Freedom:

  • Nick critiques American leftists who push for socialism/communism, highlighting the irony that such regimes suppress exactly the freedoms these activists enjoy in the US:

    "They're wanting something that would actually suppress them and stop them from doing exactly what they are doing here inside the United States."
    — Nick Shirley [09:55]

Notable Quote:

"Underneath communism there is no freedom of speech.... It's very similar to a country like North Korea, in reality."
— Nick Shirley [09:55]

• Personal Advice and Mentorship:
  • Glenn encourages Nick to stay grounded, warning of temptations and pressures:

    "There's going to be forces that come against you, both friend and foe, that could lead to your destruction. Please follow the spirit. Keep the spirit close at hand or you'll be lost."
    — Glenn Beck [12:10]

---

2. Jack Carr on Writing, War, and America's Global Status

[13:03–23:23]

• Motivation for a New Novel Series:

  • Carr, well-known for his James Reece/Terminal List novels, discusses why he began a new series and new characters:

    "I saw that expansion ... Tom Clancy ... he branches out into both nonfiction ... and guided tour series ... I had a ton of stories to tell.... For this one, it's really based on Have Gun, Will Travel, but instead of a hero in the Old West ... now I have Chris Walker, former SEAL, former CIA operative, a student of philosophy."
    — Jack Carr [14:43]

• Afghanistan Withdrawal as a Story Catalyst:

  • Carr’s new protagonist is haunted by the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, shaping the novel’s emotional and narrative landscape:

    "Watching that, and you don't have to be a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan to be horrified with the way that we left Afghanistan in August of 2021."
    — Jack Carr [18:10]

• Loss of Global Deterrence and Ensuing Consequences:

  • Carr reflects on America's loss of deterrence post-Afghanistan, connecting it to current geopolitical hotspots:

    "We lost that deterrence, that hard earned deterrence that really provided stability across the entire globe. So the stakes are much more than [regional]."
    — Jack Carr [19:54]

• Foreign Perceptions and Military Credibility:

  • Glenn asks how America's enemies perceive U.S. strength, especially after fluctuations between administrations:

    "How do they perceive our military? Is this just all based on Trump? And don't worry, it'll go back to being, you know, a joke?"
    — Glenn Beck [21:05]

  • Carr suggests the “jury’s out,” particularly after mixed results in Venezuela and Iran, emphasizing the importance of not projecting American values onto adversaries during negotiations:

    "We tend to make that mistake of mirror imaging what's important to us and putting that on the other person that we're talking to."
    — Jack Carr [22:05]

• How Does This End?

  • Carr predicts most conflicts eventually end at the negotiating table but warns that in places like Iran, immense pressure ("a lot of violence") is needed before adversaries will seriously negotiate:

    "It's going to take a lot of pressure, a lot of violence to get them to where we want them ... Now we've added to that the destruction of a navy, destruction of a ballistic missile capability, drone capability, obstruction of an air force, and the Strait of Hormuz, which is very odd to me, that that wasn't secured right out of the gates."
    — Jack Carr [23:23]

---

3. Humorous Banter & Commentary with Jason

[25:24–28:20]

• Glenn and Jason engage in light-hearted, satirical banter about appearances (Jason’s sleeveless shirts and Botox, Glenn’s all-white ensemble reminiscent of “Highway to Heaven”), providing comic relief between heavier segments.
  • Quote:

    "The spirit of Christ compels you to tell the truth. ... Jason Botox Petrel."
    — Glenn Beck [26:07, 28:20]

---

4. Glenn Beck’s Critique of AOC’s Wealth Statement

[28:20–End]

• AOC’s Claims about Wealth:

  • Glenn plays and dissects AOC’s remarks from a comedian’s podcast:

    "There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. ... You can't earn a billion dollars."
    — AOC (played clip) [approx. 28:30]

• Beck’s Counterargument — Capitalism and Innovation:

  • He vehemently disagrees, citing innovators like Edison, Ford, and Musk as examples of billionaires who “earned” their wealth by profoundly impacting the world:

    "Are you telling me that Elon Musk ... didn't earn the million dollars of extra profit after paying all of the hundreds of thousands of employees and changing their lives? Really? What do you mean you can't earn it?"
    — Glenn Beck [approx. 28:50]

  • He shares a lesson from John Huntsman Sr.:

    "A millionaire comes up with something that helps people. A billionaire comes up with something that helps people every day."
    — John Huntsman Sr., as related by Glenn Beck [approx. 29:50]

• Personal Responsibility and American Economic Dynamism:

  • Beck argues that the American system allows for wealth creation that isn't “zero-sum,” countering leftist assumptions:

    "Because I'm wealthy doesn't mean you—I'm not taking that money from you.... There's plenty of water for everybody."
    — Glenn Beck [approx. 30:30]

• Moral Sentiments and True Capitalism:

  • He cites Adam Smith's "Moral Sentiments" and argues that true capitalism elevates society when guided by strong morals—contrasting this with what he sees as modern cronyism or political corruption.

    "If capitalism is understood through the eyes, the way our founders saw it and the way Adam Smith saw it, with moral sentiments, that you get wealthy because you've created something that helps other people live an easier and better life ..."
    — Glenn Beck [approx. 31:20]

Memorable Riff:

"The person that came up with the idea of toilet paper ... the world would make him a billionaire. And damn well he earned every bit of that money. Every bit of it."
— Glenn Beck [approx. 30:10]

---

Timeline of Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:28 | Interview with Nick Shirley begins: realities of Cuba | | 06:06 | Details on Nick’s upcoming Cuba documentary | | 08:17 | Shirley recounts being surveilled and harassed by Cuban authorities | | 09:55 | Shirley’s key insights about communism vs. protesting in free societies | | 13:03 | Jack Carr joins: discussion of new novel and philosophy | | 14:43 | Carr explains inspiration for new series | | 18:10 | Reflections on the Afghanistan withdrawal and its global impact | | 21:05 | U.S. military credibility and adversaries’ perceptions | | 23:23 | Carr weighs in on likely endgames for international conflicts | | 25:24 | Humorous interlude with Jason Petrel – light banter | | 28:20 | Glenn’s critique of AOC’s economic statements – capitalism defense | | 31:20 | Beck on moral sentiments and the true function of capitalism |

---

Notable Quotes

• Nick Shirley [03:27]:

  "If you just look at the buildings... they're beautiful buildings, but they have not been kept up for nearly 60 years... People are starving. Seven out of ten people are going without three meals a day."

• Jack Carr [19:54]:

  "We lost that deterrence, that hard earned deterrence that really provided stability across the entire globe. So the stakes are much more than [regional]."

• Glenn Beck [28:50]:

  "Are you telling me that Elon Musk ... didn't earn the million dollars of extra profit after paying all of the hundreds of thousands of employees and changing their lives? Really? What do you mean you can't earn it?"

• John Huntsman Sr., via Glenn Beck [29:50]:

  "A millionaire comes up with something that helps people. A billionaire comes up with something that helps people every day."

---

Tone & Style

• Direct, candid, and sometimes caustic in commentary (Beck), blending humor, personal anecdote, and forceful opinion.
• Interviews are conversational, with a focus on real-world experience and sharp contrasts between ideological viewpoints.
• Frequent use of analogies, historical references, and “everyman” language to underline points.

---

Summary Takeaways

• Cuba’s plight is used as a cautionary tale against adopting socialist or communist ideologies in America.
• American military credibility is in flux, with recent global events exposing vulnerabilities and triggering both external and internal debates.
• True capitalism, in Beck’s view, is moral and generative, not exploitative, and innovation should be celebrated as a path to wealth—not demonized.
• Humor and camaraderie serve as palate cleansers in an otherwise densely political and philosophical conversation.

This episode delivers thought-provoking, impassioned discussions on contemporary American challenges—making it a comprehensive snapshot of the show’s blend of investigative journalism, political analysis, and sharp cultural critique.

Transcript

[Glenn Beck]

Well, just when you think AOC can't get any more stupider, she goes and says something even more stupider. That's where we lead the show. Nick Shirley is on, talking about his time in Cuba. That got a little dicey. And the one and only Jack Carr is on with us. It's a brawl. You don't want to miss a second of today's podcast. And here it is. Let me tell you about Relief Factor. Human beings will adapt to absolutely ridiculous things if you give them enough time, right? You move into a house next to a train track and after six months, you don't hear the trains anymore. You know, somebody at work has a terrible personality and eventually your brain just files it under, you know, that's just Jason or what, whatever. I'm just picking a name out of the air. People put up with almost anything if it happens slowly enough. Pain works the same way. At first it's a small thing. Your shoulder bothers you a little and your back gets stiff from the long drive. Then your knees complain when you stand up and you're like, ah, it's just normal. I've been living with it for a while. That's why so many people have decided to try Relief Factor. It's a daily supplement that helps fight pain and helps you conquer it. Over a million people have tried Relief Factor. Two thirds of them go on to take more month after month. I'm one of those. My wife is one too. We're celebrating 250 years of freedom now in our country. Live with the freedom you deserve from pain. Try the three week quick start. See how it can work for you. Visit relief factor.com relief factor.com or call 800, the number four relief. That's 800 for relief. Hello America. You know, we've been fighting every single day. We push back against the lies, the censorship, the nonsense of the mainstream media that they're trying to feed you. We work tirelessly to bring you the unfiltered truth because you deserve it. But to keep this fight going, we need you right now. Would you take a moment and rate and review the Glenn Beck podcast? Give us five stars and lead a comment. Because every single review helps us break through Big Tech's algorithm to to reach more Americans who need to hear the truth. This isn't a podcast. This is a movement. And you're part of it, a big part of it. So if you believe in what we're doing, you want more people to wake up, Help us push this podcast to the top rate review. Share Together we'll make a difference. And thanks for standing with us. Now let's get to work.

[Jack Carr]

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

[Glenn Beck]

Nick, how are you?

[Nick Shirley]

Oh, I'm doing great. I'm happy to be back in America.

[Glenn Beck]

Good. Yeah, good. Good to have you back in America. Why did you go to Cuba? What were you planning on exposing, and what are you now going to expose?

[Nick Shirley]

So I've had Cuba on the back of my mind for nearly a year now. I've been tracking kind of this rise of communism and socialism here in the United States. And I see that Trump and Rubio are talking more aggressively about taking over Cuba. So I figured I probably only have a few weeks left to go to make this video until they do take it over. And so I decided last week that last week was the date that I was going to go do it. And I went. And I was shocked by what I saw inside of Cuba.

[Glenn Beck]

Somebody described Cuba to me just the other day as from a distance, it looks beautiful and quaint, and then when you get right up to it, it is rot and decay and suffering. Is that what you found?

[Nick Shirley]

100%. I mean, if you just look at the buildings, like, the architecture of these buildings, like, they're beautiful buildings, but they have not been kept up for nearly 60 years. Like, the buildings are actually, like, crumbling. The streets are obviously not in good condition as well. And then people are starving. Seven out of ten people are going without three meals a day. There's no. Kids aren't going to school because there's no power. The university is actually shut down because there is. They can't go to school when there's no power, there's no electricity. So kids aren't even learning. College students aren't even learning.

[Glenn Beck]

They would say that that's our fault because we've put the embargo on them. So that's our fault that people aren't going to school and they're not having the electricity and they're living in the dark. How would you respond to that?

[Nick Shirley]

Yeah, well, I think Cuba's had 60 years to figure something out. And for 60 years they've been underneath this communist regime and they haven't figured it out. I wonder how long it would take for me or you to figure something out. If we've been facing the same problem for 60 years and they're literally 90 miles away from the United States and they've decided to be our enemy for so long and now the United States is even offering support, it looks like. And it seems like they've rejected that support.

[Glenn Beck]

So I don't know if you know who. I'm sure you do, Hasan Piker is, but he responded to you and says, I obviously don't believe this even a little bit. This is your last post, you know, that went to Cuba to document the humanitarian crisis, blah, blah, blah. I don't even buy this a little bit. But it is ominous that this medically stupid, he called you a foul name, is going to Cuba to manufacture propaganda for what I assume will be additional US Intervention. How do you respond to that?

[Nick Shirley]

Well, he's the same person who went to Cuba with Ilhan Omar's daughter to promote how it was taking communism inside of Cuba. So he actually went on a paid trip from an organization to go to Cuba. Yet he saw what I saw with my own two eyes. And he thought it's still a good idea to promote communism and socialism inside of a country that is letting their children starve, letting the people go. Without Internet, they don't even have access to freedom of speech inside this country. Yet he still wants to promote that. And so he's going to call me stupid. Meanwhile, he's seeing what I'm seeing. I'm seeing people suffer. I'm seeing a civilization that is depressed, has no hope left in their eyes, and yet he's still advocating for more of that.

[Glenn Beck]

So what is the video that you're releasing today? What is on it? What are we going to see?

[Nick Shirley]

Yeah, so you're going to see how people really don't have freedom of speech inside of this country and how the buildings are eroding, how these children aren't going to school, how there's no hope in the eyes of these people. That's one thing that shocked me the most, is I've spent a lot of time with Latinos. I lived amongst them for two years. And even in poor circumstances, these people are some of the most happy people I've ever spent time with. These people in Cuba, when you say

[Glenn Beck]

you spent time in their community, you were in Chile for two years, right? You lived in Chile on a mission. Yeah. Okay.

[Nick Shirley]

And so I've spent a lot of time with Latinos and inside south and Central America as well. And these people are just. There's no hope left in their eyes, which is something you don't see even in poor circumstances. In Chile, for instance, people may not have that much money or they might not have all the food they would like, but they're still happy. And that's something I didn't see in Cuba. Which was different.

[Glenn Beck]

They. Did they know you were an American? Did you see any, did you get any comments at all from people saying, hey, please Trump, back off us or please help us? Either way?

[Jack Carr]

No.

[Nick Shirley]

A lot of them, I would ask them about that and a lot of them are ready for change. There was only one lady who was supporting the regime actually, and she was one of the ladies at the university who was trying to cover up for the mess of the university. And all the young people that I spoke to, they're all ready for a change. A lot of them even said communist is the worst thing that can possibly happen.

[Glenn Beck]

When you went, you said you got there and they started following you. You're not necessarily unrecognizable. You know, if you're coming into a country, especially a communist country, they're going to run your name and they would find out who you are. Why were you surprised that they would be following you? Because it's pretty clear. I mean, if I were a communist and I see you in my neighborhood, I'm like, he's not here to help me.

[Nick Shirley]

Maybe I was surprised because I had filled out all the required paperwork. It said my visa said journalistic activities, yet they seized all that. Other people had gone and made videos on Cuba. I guess I didn't realize that all those people had gone with a guide from the government. So I was kind of going rogue. And the government obviously didn't like that. And for that same reason, there's a two star general waiting at the bottom of my hotel room for me in the lobby when I tried to leave early because we were being held 24 7,

[Glenn Beck]

I was going to go. When Hugo Chavez was alive, they asked me to come and speak a bunch of pastors from all over the world. And I was in Africa at the time and I was flying back and we landed in, I don't know, somewhere in the Caribbean. And we got off and I was going to board a plane to go over to speak to the pastors in Venezuela. And Hugo Chavez had said that he was ringing the church where this meeting was supposed to take place with soldiers and he would arrest me and everyone, all of the pastors in the building, if it was going to happen. And so I was asked, please, please don't come. We'll get be a, we'll be able to get away with it maybe without you, but once you come, you're a lightning rod. And it was very eye opening to me to see the difference between what a communist country, you know, everybody's marching, no kings no kings. That's what it means to have a king. You can't say anything when you're in a country with a real king or a dictator. It's not like it is here in America.

[Nick Shirley]

Yeah, that's what another takeaway from this trip was. Okay, so right now we have this huge movement inside of our country for ideas like socialism for communism. And these people are protesting every week underneath the communist regime. They would not be able to protest. So they're wanting something that would actually suppress them and stop them from doing exactly what they are doing here inside the United States. Yet when their influencers go and show that they still will advocate for more of that, which just shows that there is. Either they're getting paid heavily to promote this communist idea that it would be great here inside the United States, or quite literally, they are brainwashed to the point where they have somehow believed that capitalism has felt them so bad that they want to accept government that make them so suppressed that they would not even be able to voice their opinions out in public. That's what really shocked me, is that it's real when you hear that underneath communism there is no freedom of speech. We've heard stories from North Korea. We've heard people who've escaped North Korea. It's very few people that we've heard who's left Cuba and have shared their story in a way where it's resonated so much with people that, wow, it's very similar to a country like North Korea in reality.

[Glenn Beck]

So there was a story this week in Texas about another leering center. Literally, there was a story about this Muslim only water park event that was canceled. People start looking into it. I think it's. I think it's Sarah Gonzalez that looked into it right from Blaze. She's just tearing it up. She's just.

[Nick Shirley]

She's doing great work.

[Glenn Beck]

She's brave. Yes, she is. She's very brave. But she found the organizer of this event and. And they run a leering center. Same sign, same misspelling, everything else. She's running a leering. You'd think they'd learn. I mean, maybe. How many leering centers are there in the country, do you think?

[Nick Shirley]

There's a lot. There's a lot of learning centers. A lot of people just don't know how to lear and they want to keep making money.

[Glenn Beck]

Nick, I worry about you. Honestly. I have in my career seen young people come and get involved and they get tempted by one thing or another and they lose their way. I know you work hard to Be on your knees every day and pray and stay close to God. There's going to be forces that come against you, both friend and foe, that could lead to your destruction. Please follow the spirit. Keep the spirit close at hand or you'll be lost. And I've seen it over and over again. And you at your age, you can make a real difference for decades to come. Please be careful.

[Nick Shirley]

I will. I really appreciate that advice, Nick.

[Glenn Beck]

Thanks. Appreciate it.

[Nick Shirley]

Thank you.

[Glenn Beck]

Nick Shirley, independent journalist and his video is coming out of what his, what he experienced in Cuba. You can find his website, antifraudclub.com and of course you follow him on exit. Nick Shirley, you're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program. Jack, I don't know what I have to do to get, you know, a copy before the book comes out. I, I pre ordered your new book. I can't wait for it to come out. I love, I love your, I love your work. Love your work. Welcome to the show.

[Jack Carr]

Thank you. You are the best. I love that bumper music. That, that, the intro music just fires me up. I'm sitting here in my hotel room in New York doing media in the, in the lead up to book publication and I just listened to that and watched that intro. It just fired me up. So thank you. And you should have a way, you should have a book I sent. Hopefully I didn't send it to the wrong address. I never know exactly where you are. I should have asked you before I sent it. You have a blade that's coming that's supposed to help open the second package that comes which is the book in a very interesting new package.

[Glenn Beck]

I can't wait. I can't wait.

[Jack Carr]

It's on its way to you and

[Glenn Beck]

I pay for the, I'd pay for the book. I just want to know the book before I talk to you because I just, I just love your books. So tell me why. I mean you are known for, you know, some of the best characters you know, in fiction today. You know, James Reese is just a iconic character. Now why start a new series and all new characters? What are you accomplishing here? What, what, what's driving this?

[Jack Carr]

Well, from the fan perspective, I was very aware as a kid that Tom Clancy started with Hunt for Red October, moved on to Red Storm Rising, then went to Patriot Games, then Cardinal of the Kremlin, then Clear and Present Danger and then the early 90s, he branches out into both nonfiction with a Study in Command series and a guided tour series. And then he also starts with a co written thriller series to expand that audience, to broaden that base, more offerings out rather than. And for him, it was every couple years a book. Now for me, it's every year, but still the same type of. Type of model. So I saw that. And of course, he's doing video games and he has the movies. And of course now after he's passed on, there's the television show for him. But as a kid reading all those books from the fan perspective, I saw that expansion, and so I knew I had a ton of stories to tell. This was one that I wrote down in December of 2014 when I wrote a bunch of different ideas down as I was getting ready to leave, the military decided on the terminal list, which I think was a good decision. But I kept coming back to this one before. And it's. It's really based on have Gun, Will Travel, which is old. Well, first it was a radio show in the 1950s, then it became in the late 50s, into the 60s. And I used to watch those with my dad growing up. So really that's the foundation for this. But instead of a hero in the old west getting on his horse and riding into a new town as that stranger comes to town type of a narrative, now I have Chris Walker, former seal, former CIA operative, a student of philosophy. These philosophers are battling for control of his soul. But he gets in his Volkswagen bus, pop top camper from the mid-80s with his Belgian Malinois dog next to him. And for his first city, he rides in to New Orleans. And that's a place that has always stood out to me, a place I always wanted to set a novel because it's just such a colorful city, a lot to work with in terms of corruption, with the police force, with the government, the government officials, that sort of thing. So it's very ripe as far as a background for a novel like this. So this is another offering outside the James Reese terminalist universe. And I'm just. I'm fired up with how it. How it came out. And for those who are fans of, let's say, a Pale Rider or a Shane or a High Plains Drifter or a Magnificent Seven, there'll be little drops of that in there, too. But it's my modern interpretation, stranger comes to town narrative.

[Glenn Beck]

So tell me, because Walker, if I'm not mistaken, is haunted by a loss of a friend in Afghanistan. And you wrote this down, you said, in 2014. Did, did you. How did the. How did the withdrawal from Afghanistan play into this? Or did it. That shameful ending of Afghanistan?

[Jack Carr]

Right, right. So James Reese terminalist series. Those books started well before our departure from Afghanistan, so that's not part of James Reese's experience. Chris Walker, a little younger, he's there, he's a former seal, but now he's in the CIA and he's in Afghanistan as we're starting to withdraw. And the CIA wants to leave an asset behind that they've recruited, report on what happens after we're gone. And Chris Walker and his, his buddy John Staub, they know that this guy's going to get killed, his family's going to get killed. He's too associated with the Americans. So they go off the books and try to get him across the border into Pakistan so he can get to Islamabad and claim asylum. And of course that goes horribly wrong. And this isn't too much of a spoiler, but Chris Walker's best friend is killed in that, in that attempt to get their asset across the border here. But watching that, and you don't have to be a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan to be horrified with the way that we left Afghanistan in August of 2021.

[Glenn Beck]

You don't.

[Jack Carr]

And neither do you have to have any sort of touch points with the military or degrees in military history. You need to have studied tactics or strategy to know that there was a better way to go about. All you have to do is apply common sense and apply logic to that problem set. And anyone could have done it so much better if they had just done that. So it was very painful to watch not just for veterans, but for any, for just citizens to see our, our country. It was, that is our best effort after 20 years. Come on. So, but that, what that also did and how it ties into Iran now is that it taught our enemies a lesson and it taught them that Americans, one, are tired of, of war and two of the Americans do not know how to effectively their military to get a desired political end. So that's the lesson. They walked away from our withdrawal from Afghanistan with direct line between Russia invading Ukraine. And of course, now China is watching what we're doing in Iran. So really now that we're engaged there, we have no choice but to win that thing. Because it's not regional, it's not just energy prices. This is global in nature. Meaning after World War II, we had, we could deter, we could deter our enemies because of our strength. Following World War II, we ushered in an unparalleled era of, of economic stabilization. Stabilization, but prosperity across the globe. We took that burden on taxpayers. Our military took that especially the Navy took that on, in terms of providing security across the globe, then we lost that deterrence. Especially with what happened In August of 2021, we lost that deterrence, that hard earned deterrence that really provided stability across the entire globe. So the stakes are much more than,

[Glenn Beck]

so how does the world perceive us? Because I look at people who are enemies now and I gotta believe they're just like, they're just thinking, hold on, just hold on till 2028, because he's gonna be out and the American people are tired of all of this and they're just, they're gonna go back. And so all of our enemies, you know, they're kind of, they're kind of just holding out and you in. And if it does go back the other way, we'll see all of this stuff roar back. But I'm trying to square this here with, I thought for sure we, we, I know we were a laughing stock. Our military had become an absolute laughingstock and we just gutted all of our credibility with, with, you know, a big stick. Then Donald Trump comes in and boy, I've never seen a bigger stick. And I've never seen a, an, an operation like our military. I've never seen it this effective. You know, and the question is still out on Iran, but still it's been pretty effective. How do they perceive our military? Is this just all based on Trump? And don't worry, it'll go back to being, you know, a joke. How do they perceive us?

[Jack Carr]

Well, I think that jury's out right now. So after Venezuela, of course they can say, oh, wow, look, the same types of, let's say, early warning systems that we have are the same ones that did nothing to stop the Americans going into Venezuela in January. Okay, we need to reevaluate our defense systems here because we have the exact same ones made by Russia, made by China, perhaps, but that was a, that was a message right there. And if we had stopped right there, I think we were on some pretty secure footing when it comes to what our capabilities are as a military. And then we try a similar thing with Iran and it hasn't quite worked out, I don't think the way that the administration anticipated. Based off our performance in Venezuela, it's a different part of the world. It is a puzzle. And we, and when it comes to negotiations, when we think about that, we make this mistake in the United States. If you're sitting across the table from another American doing that mirror image and thinking that that person across the table from you in this negotiation has the same values as you do. Has the same concerns as you do, then you amplify that by 10, 20, 100 times. When you sit across the table from someone with a tradition, having grown up in a ra, that is a very different person or people to be negotiating with. And you cannot, certainly can't, if he doesn't work in the United States, American citizen, it's certainly not going to work across the table from somebody from Iran. So we tend to do that. We tend to make that mistake of mirror imaging what's important to us and putting that on the other person that we're talking to. So maybe we have gotten down to a level of leadership that is more,

[Glenn Beck]

more,

[Jack Carr]

more, more receptive to negotiation. But hopefully. I'm not sure.

[Glenn Beck]

Yeah, I'm not sure either. So how does, how does this end, Jack? I mean, as a fiction writer, I'm just asking you write the, write the most logical ending for me on this.

[Jack Carr]

Well, thanks for not putting me on the spot, but how is that?

[Glenn Beck]

I mean, just as fiction. I know. I'm not asking you for prediction. I'm asking you because this is what you do for a living. You look at things and say, okay, if I had to do this, you know, what, what would I say would be believable? I'm not asking you to predict, but what would. What do you think is believable that could happen.

[Jack Carr]

I was getting so. I mean, most conflicts need to get to that negotiation table. Eventually Russia will get there with Ukraine. It's just a matter of how much time. So for, for us, I think we, we definitely underestimated the impacts. And we are, we tend to do this over and over again. I don't know why. Because there's history here that we can go back to, to look at. And we look at, let's say, 1972, 1973, we look at the oil embargoes there. The reverberations of that were not just during the embargo. They went all the way through the rest of the 70s. And I don't know why we don't go back and see that and anticipate that as being the outcome here with these global energy markets very similar to the early 70s. But now even we're even more dependent on that area of the world. So we tend not to do that. So that's a, that's a very long way of me saying that there are so many factors here and eventually it'll get to the negotiation table. Eventually. It's just how much pressure that the United States can put on through violence. In order to get them there. And they're willing to sacrifice a lot. They're willing to sacrifice their entire country, their countrymen there. We're almost giving them an opportunity to make it up to their version of Nirvana or heaven, and they're willing to sacrifice all those people under them, them to get there. So it's a. It's a very different part of the world to negotiate with. So I would say it's going to take a lot of pressure, a lot of violence to get them to where we want them, which is getting those, those things that we were negotiating for before the war. So now there's that. But now we have. We've added to that destruction of a navy, destruction of a ballistic missile capability, drone capability, obstruction of an air force, and the strait of her moves, which is very odd to me, that that wasn't secured right out of the gates. And, you know, we'll go back and look when someone writes books about it five, ten years from now about what that problem set entailed, what those discussions were, and. And why we didn't secure that right out of the gate. 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.

[Glenn Beck]

So I notice I come in and Jason is wearing, again, a shirt without sleeves, which is. Which is always a credible look.

[Jason]

Well, you know.

[Glenn Beck]

You know, and I thought to myself,

[Jason]

criticizing my sleeves,

[Glenn Beck]

you shall not pass. I am wearing an awful lot of white today. I wear a T shirt and a sweatshirt that's white. And then my white hair. I mean, if I had a white background, you wouldn't see anything but a pink little smudge in the middle of your picture. If you're watching us, I hate to ask, but what color are your shoes? I don't know. They're tennis shoes. They're white. They're white.

[Jason]

They're white.

[Glenn Beck]

Sweet baby Jesus. I just. The spirit of Christ compels you to tell the truth. So, anyway, I'm in the new Michael Landon, you know, reboot of Heaven. What was it? Heaven Angel. What was that called? Heaven Can Wait.

[Jason]

Heaven Can Wait.

[Glenn Beck]

Yeah. No, no, no.

[Jason]

I went to Heaven. Highway to Heaven.

[Glenn Beck]

Highway to Heaven. That's unlike highway to Hell, which was in a different direction entirely. But anyway. So, Jason, you're just embracing your hillbilly. I mean, I think that's fine. I really do. I think.

[Jason]

I figure if I have Botox in my face, I have to compensate somehow with it with a little bit of more of A. I'm still trying. I'm still trying to.

[Glenn Beck]

Wait, wait, wait. Smile. Let me see you smile. It's starting to set in.

[Jason]

Is it? Can you smile? It's still kind of bad.

[Jack Carr]

Yeah. Jason looks a whole year younger.

[Glenn Beck]

No. Look at that. He's got. I mean, I'm worse. I've got just. Have you seen this giant scar on the side of my face? Everything about you is perfect except for your outfit today. Thank you. Thank you.

[Jason]

I'm a little bit worried.

[Glenn Beck]

Like, a giant scar on my face.

[Jason]

I. I don't see any. Anything. Yeah, it's supposed to take two weeks, but, I mean, I'm starting to think this might be sailing. I guess that's what you get with.

[Glenn Beck]

Yeah.

[Jason]

You know, with Ali Bot.

[Glenn Beck]

That makes your story worse. About. About passing out. You had saline injected in you, and you almost passed out. Okay, smile. Just smile hard. Yeah, his upper cheeks are not moving. This is a day to become a. This is a day to become a torch insider. So you can watch. Look at that moving.

[Jason]

It is.

[Glenn Beck]

That's terrifying. It's not moving. Look it. Make a straight face. Straight face. Watch. Watch it. If you're watching. I'm sorry. We'll describe it. We'll do the play by play. Okay. Put your smile down. Put your smile down. Okay, okay, now. Now smile. You're. You're laugh lines and everything. Nothing's moving up there. It's like I'm very, very happy. I'm normal. I'm happy. I'm normal. I'm happy. I mean, there's no change. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well.

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Glenn Beck]

The man with a paralyzed face is joining us. Jason Botox Petrel. Oh, wow. Wow. I think I need the T shirt. Okay, so let's see. Let me just go through the things that are probably the, you know, the most important. And I think. I think because it's Friday, I have to start with aoc. Wow. She is historically stupid. I mean, she is one for the record books. And she was doing an interview on a podcast hosted by a comedian, Elena Glazer. I don't know who that is. And. And there's a few things that she said here. Let's start with cut one. There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. Right. Stop, stop, stop, stop. I want to start at the beginning. Remember what. Remember what Barack Obama said, that everybody had a cow over. That's what he said. Look, there's a certain amount of money where, you know, it's just too much money. Really? What was that certain amount of money, Barack Obama. Is it, is it enough money for, I mean, you have to have enough money to buy a house in Hawaii and a house in Washington and a house in. Where is it not Nantucket, but Martha's Vineyard. Is that the cap? Where is the cap for these people? You know, where is the cap? So, but that's not, she's, she's going further than that in this. She's not just saying there's a certain amount of money where it's just too much money. She is going further. Start it from the beginning and listen to what she says. There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned. Right. You can't earn a billion dollars. That's right. You just can't earn that. That's exactly correct. Stop. No, it's not. No, it's not. Who are you? You're a comedian. Shut the pie hole. What do you mean? That's absolutely correct? You can't earn a billion dollars. There's a difference between you can't earn it and aoc. You would never be able to earn it. Are you telling me that Thomas Edison. Are you telling me that Henry Ford. Are you telling me that Elon Musk. Are you telling me that all the jobs created, that he created all of these jobs, introduced all of this new technology, changed the world and he didn't earn the million dollars of extra profit after paying all of the hundreds of thousands of employees and changing their lives? Really? What do you mean you can't earn it? This, this bothers me so much. Look, what you do with the billion dollars. Now that, that could be discussed privately. I mean that, you know, we don't have a reason to judge people on what they do with their money. You know, what they do with their money is their business. Okay, I do think you know somebody who has a trillion dollars. Imagine what you could do with a trillion dollars. You could either live the life and have a, you know, 500 foot yacht and do an awful lot of charitable work, but, you know, what you do is up to you, the individual. But you were the one who had the vision. You were the one. It's, it's, it's a little different than being somebody who comes into a company and you're not going to be a trillionaire or a billionaire if you're the one that just comes into the company and you're just running a company that's run for 100 years and you're making more money just by cutting people. You know what I mean? That's, that's different. And I don't think, I don't think you could earn a billion dollars. Not that you wouldn't. Not that you couldn't be paid a billion dollars. I don't think you would be paid a billion dollars in that case to just cut jobs. Okay. Although there is a kind of a scary skill in that. But when you are creating something, I mean, look at Elon Musk. He's going to be the first trillionaire. It's going to be, I can't even imagine what that's like. I mean, you, you will have, he will have more money. I mean, he'll honestly, he'll have more money than the United States of America has. He won't have more assets, but he'll have more money than the United States of America as a country. So having that kind of money, that kind of wealth. But tell me, if it wasn't for him, think of self driving cars. That's pretty much him. Electric cars as we know them. That's pretty much him. All of the technology that he developed for his electric cars, he gave it to the world for free. He didn't take a patent on that. So now you're telling me that he didn't earn it. There's nobody that could do what Elon Musk. And believe me, you're not going to become a billionaire if you're not doing something, if you haven't come up with something that changes everybody's life. I, I, A good friend of mine, John Huntsman senior big industrialist, passed away, I don't know, five years, 10 years ago. He told me one time, he asked me the question, what's the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire? And I said, money. I said, I don't know, John. He said, a millionaire comes up with something that helps people. A billionaire comes up with something that helps people every day. Okay? That's the difference. You've made such an impact in people's lives that you have come up with something that people use every single day. You know the guy, if, if toilet paper hadn't been invented and some guy, you know, Mr. Crapper comes out and he's like, hey, you know, just have that indoor plumbing thing. But I also have this other idea, Toilet pa. I think the world would make him a billionaire. We'd go from, I don't even know, using towels or whatever they use leaves. I don't know what people use before. I don't even want to think about it. But I'd pay. The person that came up with the idea of toilet paper. I think the world would make him a billionaire. And damn well he earned every bit of that money. Every bit of it. I despise these people who look at money as only evil or not infinite. They are the people who go, and if I took a water truck and I backed it up into the ocean and I filled that water truck, they'd say, how much water are you? I mean, leave some for the rest of us. And all you'd have to do is turn back to the ocean, go, have you seen how big and deep the ocean is? There's, there's plenty of water for everybody. They think there's this finite amount of money and that's why people get trapped in. We gotta cut, we gotta cut, we gotta cut. Yes, we do have to cut our expenses here as a nation. But the other way also to get out of this hole is to grow the economy because there is much more money to be made and earned. That's why we're putting all this money into energy. And energy is what? To be able to have the power to power AI AI is to do what? To change the way all of us live, hopefully in a good way, change the way we all live. And to be able to create things like new medicines that nobody has ever done before. It's an infinite amount. It's an infinite. Because I'm wealthy doesn't mean you. I'm not taking that money from you. Why do they feel such personal offense? Why? I believe it's because they've convinced themselves and others that they can't make money. They can't be rich. They can't. And that rich is the only thing that matters and the only way you can get rich. And I bet you in her world, the only way to get rich is to do something, you know, in politics, probably unethical. How do you get rich in politics? You shouldn't be able to get rich in politics yet they're all getting rich. Why? Because honestly, they do stuff and they make it legal for them. So they can say, I'm living by the letter of the law, they make it legal for them. Stuff that's illegal for us to DO, insider trading, etc. Etc. So the only they see in their own world, the only way to get rich is to cheat other people. No, capitalism is the greatest. If you really understand capitalism and you've read, please read Joseph, Joseph Smith. Adam Smith's not just wealth of nations, but what's the one before it? Moral Sentiments. Read Moral Sentiments because that's when you'll begin to understand capitalism. If capitalism is done the way it is now, it's grotesque. But if capitalism is understood through the, through the eyes, the way our founders saw it and the way Adam Smith saw it, with moral sentiments, that you get wealthy because you've created something that helps other people live an easier and better life. That is toilet paper or, you know, Tesla or SpaceX or the satellites he's now ringing the earth with that has cut down on, on, on, on people being completely voiceless all around the world. You can now communicate with people all over the world at an affordable way because of Elon Musk. He didn't earn that. He has made life easier and better for other people. When you set out and you, if you're thinking, you know what, someday I'm going to get rich, you'll never get rich. You'll never get rich. If that's your goal, to get rich, you will end up compromising and doing things just to get rich. That won't be good. You should get up every day and go, how can I make people have an easier life? What can I provide? This is what we say every day. What, what do the, what does the listener need today? What do they need to learn today? What do they need to understand today? What do they need to hear today that we can help them with to make their life easier? When you do that and you do it genuinely, that's why people beat a path to your door, because you're providing something that nobody else is providing. And moral sentiments says, if you're a bad group of people, you know, that have no moral standards at all, then it will be drug and pornography and everything else. But if you're a good people, if you have moral sentiments, then you're providing things that uplift and empower aoc. Stop thinking of your own world where you can only get rich by doing things that are dirty. You can get rich by helping people, by empowering people, by making their lives better. That's true capitalism as our founders saw it. And the only way to return to that is to return to a people that have moral sentiments, not people who preach one thing and live another.