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The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guests: Sara Gonzales & Jonathan Skrmetti | 12/6/24
00:45:12
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- [00:00]
Glenn Beck
The attorney general of Tennessee joins us, Jonathan Scarmetti, he is the guy who is taking on gender affirming care. We get his thoughts after the argument at the Supreme Court this week. Sarah Gonzalez joins us to talk about the news that Dade Phelan has now decided he's not going to run for the Texas speaker of the House. This is earth shattering news and she'll explain why on the podcast. Also, what happens when we're trying to discuss something serious like abortion and buddy the elf shows up in the middle. All on today's Best of Podcast. Let me first tell you about Relief Factor. I owe a lot to Relief Factor. It turned days that were overshadowed by constant pain into weeks and months and years that I've actually been able to enjoy myself again and feel good. I love talking about Relief Factor because it broke the back. I don't even know how, but it broke the back of pain that nobody could figure out how to stop. It's a daily supplement that helps your body fight pain by fighting inflammation, which is the source of most of the pain in our bodies and a lot of our disease. It's 100% drug free, developed by doctors to help reduce or eliminate pain. Whether it's neck, back, joint or muscle pain. Relief Factor can help you feel better and that can help you start to live better. Over a million people have tried Relief Factor's Quick Start kit and yours truly is one of them. And 70% of them, including me, has gone on to order it again and again. Stop masking your pain. Start fighting back naturally. Give Relief Factor a try. Right now, their three week quick start is only 19.95, less than a dollar a day. Visit relief factor.com or call 800, the number for relief 800, the number four relief. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program. So there's some big news here in Texas. The Texas House could have a new speaker as soon as this weekend. Now this is big because the Texas House Republicans have a speaker that for some reason has done. Every time he comes in, he's like, you know what? Yes, we won, but let's be fair. Let's give the Democrats half of the power. What he is absolutely against school choice. He is. I mean, he was the guy, guy who tried to bring down Ken Paxton. He's the guy who is drunk on the floor allegedly. I think I could. Your Honor, may I be sworn in as an expert? Yes, he is on.
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Stu Burguiere
You do know something about this topic, don't you?
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Glenn Beck
He was drunk on the, on the floor and for some reason now he's decided, yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to be here. I don't, I don't me run. What have no idea. Somebody who has been on this from the get go is Sarah Gonzalez from Blaze tv. Sarah, what happened? This story just broke. Do you know?
- [03:17]
Sarah Gonzalez
Yeah, well, I mean, what happened was Dave Phelan finally realized that he was not going to have the votes to maintain his speakership simply because of what you just referenced. He voted. He ran the whole impeachment sham against Ken Paxton. He, you know, a lot of people think that Donald Trump is like the OG of having this weaponized lawfare against him. And Ken Paxton has been dealing with it here in the state of Texas for nearly a decade. So he was behind that. He barely won. He barely hung onto his seat by something like 300 votes over there in the Beaumont area. So, I mean, you are looking at a guy who is seeing the wrath of the Texas grassroots activists. They have come out in force against this guy. And now you're seeing all of these. Even if they're rhinos. We have a lot of work to do in the Texas House. We have a lot of rhinos remaining, Glenn. But the.
- [04:10]
Glenn Beck
Well, here's. Hang on just a second. Let me, hang on. Let me explain this to if, you know, if you live, you probably know this in like Oklahoma or places where it's very, very red. People who are Democrats, they're like, I can't. There's no way I can win as a Democrat. So I'll say I'm a Republican when they're Democrats. And so they become these awful, awful rhinos. And people who don't know will just go, well, you're a Republican. That's great for me. And that's the real problem. Texas is red, but it's not as red as its population is because we've been voting in rhinos. Because that's a Republican.
- [04:55]
Sarah Gonzalez
Exactly right. Exactly right. And so the problem for all of these rhinos is that Texas grassroots activists have had enough. There was a bloodbath at the polls. We have something like 25 new incoming freshmen, House representatives. They're shaking up the system. These are elected by Texas conservative grassroots. I mean, they are as conservative as it gets. We're going to pass school choice. We've got the votes for that. And so we're seeing the makeup of this legislature changing. And Dave Phelan simply did not have the votes from all of these incoming freshmen. These actual true conservative said, we're not Voting for Dade. We want to change. The people elected us to come in and change things, and we're going to do it. And so Dave, feeling, finally had to decide to step down. Now I will say, Glenn, the fight is not over because we have Dade Jr. Dustin Burroughs here in the state of Texas is filing to enter the speakership race.
- [05:47]
Glenn Beck
And he's the same. He's the same thing. I mean, they're friends and they, you know, exactly right in.
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Sarah Gonzalez
He would be the mouthpiece for Dade. Yes, he would be the mouthpiece for Dade if he won it. You know, my hope is that the grassroots activists will still continue to let their voices be heard, put pressure on their representatives to say, you do not vote for Dustin Burroughs. We don't want that. And there is, of course, David Cook would be the grassroots activist choice for the speakership here in the state of Texas.
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Glenn Beck
So what would it mean if we did get David Cook in?
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Sarah Gonzalez
Well, what it would mean is that we would have someone who would not put Democrats in key committee chairs. I mean, that is the most significant, one of the most significant things.
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Glenn Beck
Have you ever heard of that as Stu. Sarah, in any other state, have you ever heard of a Republican putting Democrats in key positions, leading key committees?
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Stu Burguiere
I don't think so.
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Glenn Beck
I've never heard.
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Sarah Gonzalez
No. No. I mean, it's the most backwards thing. Imagine the people elected, the people decided. We want a red legislature, and all you do is you turn over the keys to the car to the Democrats to drive it. I mean, you're talking about key committees like the calendars committee. You know, they decide what comes up on the floor to debate. I mean, these are really, really key committees, and he's handing the keys over to the Democrats. So that won't happen with David Cook, you know, David. David Cook driving the bus into a more conservative, you know, place. So I do think, you know, is he. Would he be my choice if I had the makeup of every single Texas legislator there? Probably not. But the grassroots have said, this is the guy that we can get through, this is the guy who can win the votes, and this is the guy who is going to take us. He has been put on notice that he is to govern in a more conservative way. So, I mean, look, I'll take the win getting Dade off of this. Having him withdraw is absolutely huge for us.
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Glenn Beck
Huge. Huge. Because we will have school choice now.
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Sarah Gonzalez
Yes.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah. Texas has been trying to do this long. A long time. They've been trying to do it. And it is because of this speaker of the House who is Just in the pocket of somebody, probably the teachers unions and just will not let it come to a vote and stomps it down every single time.
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Stu Burguiere
Sarah, did you say. I think you say that we do have the votes you think for it now.
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Sarah Gonzalez
Yes, everything that I'm hearing indicates that we do have the votes for it now. Because even people who were a no last go around, they saw what happened at the polls, they saw all of their friends, they saw all of Dade's lackeys get decimated over the topic of school choice. You had Governor Abbott out there, you know, endorsing people in the primaries solely based off of their school choice vote. So I mean it was just that they saw what happened at the polls. They want to hang on to power if it scares them enough. And they're still rhinos at heart, but they're scared enough that they're going to vote our way. You know what, I'll take the vote because it's, it's embarrassing that we still don't have school choice in the state.
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Glenn Beck
So what do you know about, let me change subjects here. What do you know about our gold backed currency that we're working on?
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Sarah Gonzalez
So I don't, I don't get into that topic very much but I do know that they are working on it. It is something that they have, that they have said that they do want to take up in the session.
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Glenn Beck
We should get David, what is his name, Kevin Freeman on. Because I think this is something that he has been pushing for a long time and I read his book about it and I think he's right. I think he's absolutely right. And it would, you know, every state needs to strengthen itself. You know, the, the idea of let's close the Department of Education doesn't mean we don't care about education. It means we want the money that our states have to stay in the state and we want control. We don't want to send a dollar and get, get 30 cents back in education and then be told exactly what we have to do. It's ridiculous. We have to strengthen our states and when it comes to the dollar, I mean, I'll never forget sitting in Rick Perry's office probably 2010 and Germany had just asked for their gold from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve was like, well, it might take us five years to get it to you. I'm like what? And I talked to Rick and he said I'm very concerned. And I said where's our gold? And he said federal Reserve. And he said, I just asked for it back. And we got it back. So now we have, we have. Texas has its gold in the state and they're now talking about doing what Utah has done and have some sort of gold backed currency that is, you know, good for trade. And I think that's, I think that's really smart. Really smart. Sarah, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
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Sarah Gonzalez
Thank you.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah, the big news coming out of Texas.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah. And Sarah has worked really hard on that issue.
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Glenn Beck
She's a pit bull.
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Stu Burguiere
Oh, yeah.
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Glenn Beck
She gets her.
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Stu Burguiere
Don't get in the way. Don't get in the way. She's coming.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah. She's done so much for not, I mean, not just this issue, but so many other issues. You know, particularly the stuff like, you know, the transing issues and such. So she's worked so hard on this. She's out all the time on the weekends. Like, you know, she's, she's, she is.
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Glenn Beck
An incredible, she's an activist. Let me play one thing. I guess speaking of her, she would. This is so insane. This is how insane the, the transgender thing is getting. Let's see, let's play cut 10 here. Trans child worried.
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Sarah Gonzalez
What concerns have you had about speaking out? That I'm gonna be like murdered like one day I'm gonna be walking down the street and somebody's gonna come up and like shoot me or something.
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Glenn Beck
That's a really scary thing to be.
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Sarah Gonzalez
Worrying about at 10 years old.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah.
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Stu Burguiere
Where would you get an idea like that?
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Glenn Beck
Yeah.
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Sarah Gonzalez
Should not be a worry.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah, well, yeah, you know, it's interesting. I would agree.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah.
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Stu Burguiere
You know, we talk about bipartisanship. Here's some bipartisanship for you. I agree. She shouldn't be worri.
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Glenn Beck
Stop telling your child they're going to be murdered on the street. Can you imagine that idea from their parents?
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Stu Burguiere
Either their parents or like tick tock that you've left them with over the past, you know, or eight hours or school. Yeah. I mean, like, you know, some activist, some crazy per. But again, at school would be one of those two explanations as well from one of their friends. Yeah, you know, it's the same. This very similar thing goes on with climate. The same thing. These activist parents that are insane terrify their children that they're all going to die from climate change. That is just like, that is borderline child abuse. To put that in your kid's head like that.
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Glenn Beck
I have to tell you, I tell my kids, you know, my kids, they live with me. I mean, that's practically child abuse. You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, God, the world's coming to an end. Terrible.
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Stu Burguiere
But like there are real worries and I think especially when they're at that age, I do everything I can to shield my kids from those.
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Glenn Beck
Tanya has shielded them from all of the stuff, you know, and I have brought it to them now that they're 18, et cetera, et cetera. I do talk to them about, hey, these are the real concerns. These are the things you probably shouldn't have to worry about. These. But these things you should watch as an adult now you need to watch these things. You don't tell a 10 year old child you're going to be shot in the street because of who you think you are at 10.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah, I mean, I think back to March 2020 where all of a sudden like NBA games are just, they're just getting canceled with 20,000 people in the stadium, you know, Donald Trump is out there. And we're in that 15 day, 30 day to slow the spread, all that stuff. We still don't know where this is going. And there's moments in that where you're like, like, even if this is wrong and it's not as serious of a pandemic, what's the government going to do? What happens to our economy? Can we reboot this? Will life ever get back to normal? Those are real questions that you asked. We forget about a lot of them now. But there are moments where you're like, what the hell is going to happen here? And I remember thinking to myself, all I can do is try to make my kid's life not feel that way. Right? All I can do is I hope when they get older they will look back at this period and remember, hey, remember when we did all that cool stuff with mom and dad when we were home for all that time? Like that's how I want them to remember it. That's not how these parents operate at all.
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Glenn Beck
No.
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Stu Burguiere
They're terrifying their children, ruining their childhood.
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Glenn Beck
2016. Who was it from? ABC? Or it was Stephanopoulos, I think, who said his children were sleeping in their bed crying themselves to sleep every night because of Donald Trump. Are you out of your mind? Why?
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Stu Burguiere
That's you. That's you. That's not them. That's you.
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Glenn Beck
Half the world is poised to use gold backed currency, the Brics nation moving toward it in an effort to unseat the US dollar as the world's reserve currency. If we hadn't have won this election, I think they would have done it. I think honestly, I think they're going to try. Texas is Standing up and saying, yeah, you know what? If you tube the US dollar, Texas will stand. They're doing the Texas backed gold backed currency. But more and more people and institutions are rediscovering that gold is one of the most stable things you can anchor your currency to. We're not momentum for higher prices strong. This is where you come in with Lear Capital. They can help you get started to protect your savings. Anything that you've saved for retirement, anything. It's going to be worth less and less and less as the dollar just keeps going down. Now is the time. Go to Lear capital. Thousands of 5 star reviews, 24 hour risk free purchase guarantee. Get your free wealth protection guy. Call them today. 800957 gold. 800957 gold. It's Lear Capital. 800-957-Gold. Now back to the podcast. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program and we really want to thank you for listening. Name of the album is Home for Christmas by Cheyenne Grace. You can pick it up now. You will love it. And I can't. I'm sorry. I'm talking about this. I am such a proud father. It is so amazing to see my daughter. I got home yesterday and she said, dad, I just got an email. I don't even know how to answer these questions. She just turned 18. And I said, what? And she said billboard magazine called me and wanted to know about the orchestra and everything else. I said, do you know I was 30 before. I mean, you don't get your name even in Billboard magazine. And she's making the chart of Billboard and it's just, it's exciting as a dad and I can't thank you enough for listening to it and buying it.
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Stu Burguiere
And it's great. Yeah, too. It's not just being nice to you. It's really enjoyable. It makes me smile every time I hear it.
- [17:25]
Glenn Beck
Yeah, it is. I'm so proud. I was so afraid it wouldn't be good and we couldn't release it because I said to her, I said, if it is not, if it's not high quality, something that we would as a family not knowing you listened to over and over again. I will not be that dad who's like, look at, you know that Simon Cowell would go, who the hell has been telling you you have talent.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah. You don't want that moment. I will tell you that's definitely not the case. I went into my daughter's room last night as we put her down, you know, to go to bed and she was Just listening to it again. Again. She loves it. This is all she listens to now.
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Glenn Beck
Wow.
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Stu Burguiere
Which is very, very cool. The other part, too, is that we saw her perform live. Her first live performance the other night. It was just fun for number one just to watch Glenn insides just churn. Like, the stress on Glenn was like 10 times what it was on shy.
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Glenn Beck
Because I've been 18. Totally. You know what I mean? I was 18, and this was the very first time she ever did anything on stage. And I was more nervous than she. She'd come up and she'd be like, dad, I'm nervous. I'm like, you're gonna be great inside. I'm like, run for your life.
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Stu Burguiere
But my point there was to say that, look, you can do a lot of stuff in a studio. You can. You can make anybody. You can almost make you or me sound good in a studio. But she's on a mic on a little stage outdoors with, I don't know, 100 people there, and she sounded just like the CD. She sounded incredible.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah. There's a guy that most people don't know. His name is Roger Love, and he is on the premiere payroll. He was for Russian I. Because if Rush would lose his voice or I would lose my voice, we would call him. He's a. He's one of the best vocal coaches in the world. And, I mean, he did. He does it for Elton John and Lady Gaga and everybody. Beyonce. And you've known him for years. I've known him for years. He's a great guy. And I said to him, hey, Roger, this is like, three years ago. I think my daughter might have talent. And I know you don't really do a lot of, you know, vocal lessons. Would you. And he's like, for you. And I said, yes, if that's a positive. No, if it's not. And he said, no, what are you looking for? And I said, my daughter. And he said, glenn, let me listen to her. If she has talent, I'll take her. And so he's been working with her, and it's. I mean, she's. She's good. She's good. She is proud. Proud daddy. Anyway, I'm sorry for that. Christmas is almost over. I'll stop talking about her soon. Let's see here. We were talking about coming together for the holidays and being able to have conversations. And I think this conversation with Anna Kasparian yesterday, who is on the Young Turks. I mean, she asked me, she said, would you be willing to come on the Young Turks? And I said, probably not. And she said, why? And I said, well, I would if it was just one on one with you, but I've had so many bad experiences with others that I did not ambush you. When she walked into the studio, I. I got up to greet her and I grabbed her hand and I said, I want a welcome to my home. And she said, thank you. And I said, I never invite anyone in my home to ambush them. Please feel relaxed just to have a conversation. I'm going to ask you challenging questions, but I am not looking to get you.
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Stu Burguiere
And that has been your policy, and you stuck to it since the beginning of time.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah. And so it gave us this moment, you know, where she was really. She would stop and ask me. She asked me about war and Ukraine and abortion. We had a great conversation on abortion. Sounds like.
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Stu Burguiere
Sounds like a joyful time. It's a good old Glenn Beck Christmas party right there.
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Glenn Beck
Our Christmas party is happening tonight. You know what else is red blood. Let's talk about abortion. Merry Christmas, everybody. No, but, you know, because she was talking about, you know, transgenderism, and it got to women's rights, and she was shocked. It shows how much we don't know about each other.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah. You see the worst of everybody online and clips and everything. Let me. Let me ask you a question. I don't know exactly how I feel about it yet, but I am a little concerned about.
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Glenn Beck
Yes, I think. I'll bet you. I'll tell you what I'm thinking after you say, okay, I bet you we have the same concern.
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Stu Burguiere
My concern.
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Glenn Beck
May I just say. Please, just come in. Just.
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Stu Burguiere
Oh, my God.
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Glenn Beck
I'm not going to distress it. This is just something that, you know, if you are a Blaze TV subscriber, you'll enjoy. Anyway, your concern.
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Stu Burguiere
My concern is this is going to be very difficult to do now. There's just.
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Glenn Beck
Okay, go ahead. Okay.
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Stu Burguiere
So the concern is that we are working now with many disaffected members of the left.
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Glenn Beck
Do not eat the candle. I'm sorry. All right.
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Stu Burguiere
With many disaffected members of the left who have kind of said, hey, this is a little bit crazy. Like, what's going on right now is insane. Even though we don't agree on a lot, it's good that we talk. And you've done this forever. You've done interviews like this forever, where you will have conversations with people across the aisle and just get different understandings. That's not abnormal for you. As far as the movement goes, conservative movement, There's a lot of embracing of people who previously were not really welcome in conservative policymaking and now are like, I was watching this Elon Musk thing develop, and everyone was like, hey, there's a Democrat joining the Doge Committee. Right, Great. Is it?
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Glenn Beck
Yeah.
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Stu Burguiere
Is it, though? Because I'm a little concerned not only that it's just a Democrat, but also that a congressman is now in this process before it's really even started. And, like, my guess is the Democratic congressman, at the end of the day might be a good guy or whatever. I'm concerned he might get in a little bit in the way of like.
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Glenn Beck
A. I'm sorry, Buddy, the Elf is in the studio. And it is smiley face. It's so smiley face. So does this. Look at that.
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Stu Burguiere
Thank you. Thank you, buddy. I drew a butterfly.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah, I drew a butterfly. That's great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
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Stu Burguiere
Very nice butterfly.
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Glenn Beck
So anyway. Good. Now get out. I can't concentrate.
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Stu Burguiere
I had to go through the whole question. You let him dance around.
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Glenn Beck
And now it's my turn, and I don't.
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Stu Burguiere
And lick candles. And now when you get to answer, you're Santa.
- [24:48]
Glenn Beck
Santa. I know him. No, I'm not Santa. Get out of here. You're giving us a bad name at the North Pole.
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Stu Burguiere
You no longer look like Santa. You look great. Oh, see? Look at that.
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Glenn Beck
Thank you, buddy.
- [24:58]
Stu Burguiere
I love you.
- [24:59]
Glenn Beck
I love you, Buddy the elf.
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Stu Burguiere
Thank you. Thanks, buddy.
- [25:02]
Glenn Beck
He's great.
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Stu Burguiere
This is unbelievable, though. I have to go through this entire long rant while all this is going on.
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Glenn Beck
Right.
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Stu Burguiere
What's the website, Buddy? Where do people go for you? What is it again? The elf.nettheelph.net or you can follow me on social media because we have a lot of fun there and you can follow my adventures. I'm at the Elf Live on most socials.
- [25:23]
Glenn Beck
The Elf Live.
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Stu Burguiere
Thank you, Buddy. I love you, too. Merry Christmas, everybody. What's your favorite color? I love red and green. They're the most Christmassy.
- [25:33]
Glenn Beck
Okay. That's true.
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Stu Burguiere
Okay, thank you.
- [25:35]
Glenn Beck
Okay, so I don't even know if.
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Stu Burguiere
My point made sense.
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Glenn Beck
Yeah. Okay, so. Yes. Yes. So I am of the same concern because I think that there are those. I think the Democratic Party is going to recalibrate and want to do the same thing that they already have done, but they'll just change the language and they'll try to appear like they're one of you. You know what I mean? That's. Republicans do that all the time. Oh, I'm with you. And then they get in and they're not with you. So I am concerned about that.
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Stu Burguiere
However, that's a different concern than I think what we're talking.
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Glenn Beck
Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Buddy was distracted.
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Stu Burguiere
No, no, no. What I just said, I think in the Buddy context here was the point you answered. And so I think that that's concern number one. I think structurally, as this goes on, it's good to bring new people into your fold.
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Glenn Beck
Right.
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Stu Burguiere
That's what you wanna do as a party, as a movement. You want to get people who used to vote against you to vote for you. Right. Like, you want that to happen, so you have to have that happen. But you have to make sure you stay to your principles and you have to worry. I really worry with, like, the Doge thing that, like, the motivations of some of a Democrat hopping on this committee is not the same as my motivation.
- [26:55]
Glenn Beck
I agree.
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Stu Burguiere
Right. Like, they're not really gonna be cost cutters. Like, I don't see that. See that there might be a little bit they can agree on. That's great. Great. When it comes to the. Like, you had a conversation with Anna Kasparian about abortion. You mentioned this, and you had a really, I think, interesting exchange, and you found, I think, some common ground, even though you don't agree on the issue overall, which is. And this is something we've discussed many times, at the end of the day, legislation can be part of it, but you have to get to a place where you win.
- [27:27]
Glenn Beck
So, you know, I don't happen to have this clip. She came at me because she was saying something, and I'm like, huh, sounds like the 10th Amendment. And she said, well, it is. It's state's rights. And she said, but let me ask you, Mr. States Rights.
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Stu Burguiere
Yeah, yeah.
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Glenn Beck
Would you support a blanket ban on abortion? Now? The answer is, I believe it's murder. So, yes, murder is illegal.
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Stu Burguiere
You think that should be illegal in all the states, Glenn?
- [27:53]
Glenn Beck
Wow, what a radical position. But wait, wait, wait.
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Stu Burguiere
No, I know, I know.
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Glenn Beck
So it is murder. So murder is. I said, but you cannot legislate that now because no one. Half the country doesn't believe it's murder.
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Stu Burguiere
Well, you wouldn't get it through, right?
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Glenn Beck
You wouldn't get it through.
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Stu Burguiere
That doesn't answer whether you support it.
- [28:11]
Glenn Beck
Or not, but it doesn't stop it. I said, you know, I have a new understanding of abortion, where it's always been about the children, and it is about the children, but it is also about the mothers. And what they're saying is, hey, moms, go have an abortion and shout your abortion 80% of the women who have abortions regret it within 12 years or 12 months and they begin to have real behavioral and psychological issues with it. Okay? This is not a happy thing for women.
- [28:45]
Stu Burguiere
Right.
- [28:45]
Glenn Beck
If you care truly about women and women's health, we have to then look at the woman and say what is causing her to do it? And there's two things. One, they're believing the lie that it's not a baby. Okay? It is. Because that's why ultrasounds are being fought by Planned Parenthood. They don't want any ultrasound because you see it, you see the heartbeat and everything else and you're like, that's a baby. Okay? The second thing is, once they get past this, we talk about this with preborn. That's why I like them so much, is they feel trapped. I can't tell you how many nurses I have talked to and they've said, the boyfriend or the father or the mother even, you know, the mom of the girl will come in and go, she can't have this. There's no support. There's nothing. Yada, yada, yada. And the girl is like, I have no other choice. So if we begin to look at the actual issue, not the political issue, Right. The actual issue, what is causing these women, those who have abortion as a form of birth. Birth control. I think that should, you know. Absolutely. That you can regulate. No, you're not having 6, 8, 10 abortions for birth control. Sorry, do you have to.
- [30:07]
Stu Burguiere
What do you get? A punch card.
- [30:09]
Glenn Beck
Your tenth one free. But that's not. The vast majority of women.
- [30:15]
Stu Burguiere
Very minority.
- [30:16]
Glenn Beck
Right. And so let's fix that problem and change people's hearts on that. Because no legislation is going to stop. It's like drugs. No legislation is going to stop the drugs. Guns, you can take all the guns off the streets. It's not going to stop murder. They'll go to knives. Let's start looking at actual solutions and the actual problem and what would work.
- [30:48]
Stu Burguiere
Yeah, and I agree, like, the long term, eternal solution to this right. Is similar to what I think has happened with slavery. Right? Slavery. If you overturned amendments and made slavery legal and someone tried to come out and pass a bill to say, hey, African Americans should now go back to the fields. It wouldn't even come close to passing. Everyone who supported it would be thrown out immediately. We would reject it easily. As a society, I want that to. That is the long term solution. However, I just don't want to avoid the fact that, like, I want a constitutional amendment to ban it right away.
- [31:28]
Glenn Beck
I agree.
- [31:28]
Stu Burguiere
We can't abandon those things.
- [31:30]
Glenn Beck
Even with slavery, we still buy all of our products made by slaves in China.
- [31:35]
Stu Burguiere
You're streaming the Best of the Glenn Beck program, and you can find full.
- [31:39]
Glenn Beck
Episodes wherever you die. Download podcasts Mr. Attorney General. Jonathan. How are you, sir?
- [31:46]
Jonathan Scarmetti
Great, great. Thanks for having me on.
- [31:48]
Glenn Beck
So I listened to the case, and I don't know how your head didn't explode with some of the questions that were coming from some of those on the left. Sotomayor, for one. But overall, how did you feel it went?
- [32:08]
Jonathan Scarmetti
I think we did a great job of getting our points across. I thought the court. I mean, it went on for two and a half hours or so. The court asked a lot of questions. They're clearly thinking hard about this. It's going to be a long time before we get our opinion. But I think we did everything we could to win this case. I feel really good about our part of it. Now it's up to the justices.
- [32:28]
Glenn Beck
You know, there was a. Well, first of all, tell me exactly what the case was. What does it actually cover, and what will it do if it's decided in. In favor of Tennessee?
- [32:43]
Jonathan Scarmetti
So we have a law in Tennessee. Our General assembly passed a law that prohibits giving juveniles puberty blockers hormone treatments or surgery for the purpose of gender transition. Surgery was not an issue in this case. So this is just about whether the Constitution prevents the state from banning puberty blockers or hormone treatments for the purpose of gender transition. So if we win, our law will remain in effect and kids won't be able to be subject to that in Tennessee. Potentially, depending on how we win, it could mean that all laws dealing with gender identity are reviewed under a rational basis standard, which gives the people's elected representatives a lot more latitude as to how they regulate.
- [33:33]
Glenn Beck
You know, when you were discussing this and it was Justice Sotomayor said, every medication has, you know, side effects. Even aspirin has side effects. I don't know how you took that question seriously, but you answered it very well. Explain to the average person why this is so different than anything else that is prescribed for kids.
- [34:06]
Jonathan Scarmetti
Every systematic analysis of the evidence shows little to no benefit for kids from these treatments for gender dysphoria. Meanwhile, the risks are enormous. They face losing fertility for the rest of their lives, never being able to have children. They risk losing their sexual function for the rest of their lives. Kids don't know what they're giving up. They risk tumors and blood clots and cognitive disorders and bone density disorders, all sorts of serious lifelong Medical complications. And meanwhile, the evidence is this doesn't help them. You're talking about very severe physical interventions for psychological problems with no evidence that it's helping them with the psychological problems. And so we're looking at a situation where kids are really at risk, where there's not a good medical reason for putting them at risk, and where there are these people saying the Constitution prohibits the state from protecting kids, even where the evidence is so powerfully in opposition to allowing this to happen going forward.
- [35:11]
Glenn Beck
I think it was Justice Souter who asked the opposite side. You said that the science backs this up. Well, now we have all this new science that is coming out. Do you want to withdraw that statement? What, what has happened since you started this process to the evidence that's coming out from everywhere now?
- [35:38]
Jonathan Scarmetti
So there was a lot of evidence beforehand, but the CAST review in England is a large scale, long term study by an extremely respected pediatrician that looked really hard at these issues. It's controversial around the world. You know, England is not a red state. It is not Tennessee. They were, they were making these procedures widely available to kids for a while and they looked at the evidence and they determined that they should not be doing that, that the evidence showed this was hurting kids, they should severely restrict access. And they did. And the CAST report gets into it very thoroughly. It was discussed with a lot of specificity by the court. You know, that it shows there's no reduction in suicide, which is one of the things that we constantly hear, you know, if you don't let kids do this, they're going to kill themselves. We don't want kids to kill themselves. But the evidence is doing these life altering interventions doesn't make a difference. You know, it just looked at a lot of evidence from a lot of kids and it showed what we already knew, which is that there is no benefit to justify these radical interventions.
- [36:43]
Glenn Beck
So what does this mean if it comes out the way we hope it does? Does this have any effect on bathrooms and sports or anything else?
- [37:00]
Jonathan Scarmetti
So it really depends on what the court does. I mean, there's a way that we could win that's narrower, that only deals with kids transitions, or there's a way we could win that's broader. If the court says that gender identity issues do not rise to the level of intermediate scrutiny under the Constitution, in which case a lot of the litigation we're facing about bathrooms and school sports and all the other things people have sued over would be pretty easy to resolve. So it could be very broad ruling.
- [37:29]
Glenn Beck
Did you see any indication that any of the judges were leaning that way. Were there any questions that made you, gave you any indication that that was possible or probable?
- [37:44]
Jonathan Scarmetti
There were indications that the justices are thinking about it. There were questions about sports that came up, but I don't know whether that means they're thinking about issuing a broad opinion or they're just concerned about the potential effect and they want to think through exactly how this is going to play out. Because there's no constitutional law from the Supreme Court on gender identity stuff. We have one case about a very narrow, very specifically worded statute. And the lower courts have been all over the place. They need guidance, they need clarity on this issue.
- [38:16]
Glenn Beck
You know, you can't go into a tattoo parlor if you're young without parental permission. You can't buy a gun at 12 or 16. You can't get married. There's all these laws because we know there are. You're. You're not mentally prepared to make those kinds of decisions. How does that logic not work for this issue?
- [38:46]
Jonathan Scarmetti
You know, there's, there's this argument that it's sex discrimination and therefore the Constitution provides a heightened level of scrutiny. But, I mean, we've done this forever. The law treats people differently based on their age. Kids can't consent to things that will have lifelong consequences, whether it's entering the contract or smoking a cigarette. The consequences for these procedures are so much more profound. And we think we have a strong argument that the state should be able to regulate this, particularly given the evidence that it makes no difference, that it does not help and it increases the risk of all these different horrible outcomes for the kids.
- [39:28]
Glenn Beck
The other side just seems, quite honestly, and I don't mean to slam people, but they seem unhinged. I want you to listen. This is a mom who was standing outside of the Supreme Court building while you were arguing the case. Listen to what she said about her child.
- [39:44]
Sarah Gonzalez
Cut for what motivated you to come out here today? We're supporting our child, Violet, and her access to the medical care that, that she needs.
- [39:56]
Stu Burguiere
Yeah. We're here for her rights and her.
- [40:00]
Glenn Beck
Ability to be who she is.
- [40:02]
Stu Burguiere
And she's not going to let anybody silence her.
- [40:05]
Glenn Beck
And we're not going to stand in her way. In what age do you think most.
- [40:08]
Sarah Gonzalez
Trans kids determine that they're trans? Violet told us when she was one and a half. She's been telling us since she could speak. So she knew since birth?
- [40:25]
Glenn Beck
18 months. 18 months. She knew.
- [40:31]
Jonathan Scarmetti
That I have a 3 year old. Last week she told me she was a pirate.
- [40:37]
Glenn Beck
Right.
- [40:43]
Jonathan Scarmetti
That's a true story, by the way. I mean, gender dysphoria is a real thing and it's really hard for kids to deal with it. But we have seen an explosion in these cases. That sure looks like something very weird is going on. And I don't see how it doesn't come out eventually that there's massive over diagnosis. In England, a doctor saw a 4,000% increase in the number of girls seeking hormone treatments. And, you know, the evidence is very, very strong that the large, large majority of kids who have any sort of gender identity confusion grow out of it unless they're put on medications. For most kids, this is a passing thing. Doesn't mean it's not hard for them. Adolescence is really hard, and I have to think gender confusion makes it that much harder. But most of them are going to grow out of it. And for all of them, the evidence of a benefit is minimal at best.
- [41:38]
Glenn Beck
Well, we'll be praying for the Supreme Court. And I thank you so much for you filing suit and trying to get this corrected. It's. It's truly madness. I don't care what you do as an adult. I mean, I actually do, but it's not my business if you're an adult. But if you can't decide things like smoking, drinking, be responsible for enough with a gun, you certainly should not be able to do things to your body that are permanent and game changing. It's. It's insanity. It's insanity. We got to stop. Jonathan, thank you so much.
- [42:21]
Jonathan Scarmetti
It's an honor to be on the show. Thanks for having me. A Merry Christmas.
- [42:23]
Glenn Beck
Merry Christmas. Jonathan Scarmetti. He is the Tennessee Attorney General who argued just what day before yesterday at the Supreme Court to protect children from gender procedures.
- [42:35]
Stu Burguiere
And we should, by the way, take what he said seriously. If his three year old is about to plunder passing ships, we should report that to maritime authorities.
- [42:46]
Glenn Beck
Don't forget the pillaging and the raping.
- [42:48]
Stu Burguiere
Yes, immediately. We must take it seriously.
- [42:53]
Glenn Beck
If we can save one pillage or pillagette.
- [43:01]
Stu Burguiere
One pillage.
- [43:02]
Glenn Beck
Pillage. We can save one person from being pillaged. We need to act now. Isn't it worth it? Isn't it worth it?
- [43:12]
Stu Burguiere
Just as insane.
- [43:13]
Glenn Beck
It really is.
- [43:13]
Stu Burguiere
It sounds like a joke. Joke. No, it is exactly the argument they're making in front of the Supreme Court.
- [43:19]
Glenn Beck
How many of our kids have said, I want to be an astronaut. I want to be, you know, I want to be whatever. And then later in life they're like, yeah. I said, what? No, I mean, is this it's so insane, but I think we just voted for a cure, so let's see how that goes.
- [43:40]
Unknown
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