Podcast Summary: The Glenn Beck Program

Episode: Did the NFL Try to SABOTAGE the TPUSA Halftime Show?! | Guest: Jack Posobiec | 2/11/26
Date: February 11, 2026
Host: Glenn Beck
Guest: Jack Posobiec (Turning Point USA, Human Events Daily), Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi of Iran (interview segment)

Episode Overview

This episode of The Glenn Beck Program is a live, fast-paced exploration of urgent topics in American culture and politics, heavily focusing on the rapid acceleration and dangers of AI, the unprecedented closure (and re-opening) of El Paso airspace, ethics in new technology, behind-the-scenes obstacles to Turning Point USA's alternative Super Bowl Halftime Show, and a hard-hitting interview with Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. The tone is high-alert, concerned, witty and always combative towards mainstream narratives. The episode seeks to expose the “forces at work” behind the day's most pressing headlines.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. El Paso Airport/Airspace Shutdown: Real-Time Breaking News

Timestamps: 11:52, 18:51, 45:35, 50:11

• At the top of the show, Glenn reports a "major closing" of El Paso’s airport/airspace for 10 days – “not happened since 9/11… not even post World War II.”
  • [13:10] Glenn: “No major airport has ever been grounded and closed for 10 days post World War II. Not happened. So something massive is happening with El Paso.”
• By [18:51], Ricky announces live that the closure has already been lifted; “no threat to commercial aviation” per FAA.
• By [50:27], new information:
  • TRUMP official: Closure was a US military response to "Mexican cartel drones” breaching US airspace.
  • [50:51] Glenn: “We took them out… My guess is this is happening near Fort Bliss – a rapid deployment base. There are actors like Hezbollah in Mexico...”
• Glenn and team speculate: Was it a cover for larger intel/military operations? A mistake?
• Jason (military analyst) notes the unprecedented nature:
  • [54:40] Jason: “That hasn’t ever happened. Except for 9/11, that has never happened… Who would have the authority on their own to just go ‘I’ll close airspace for 10 days’?”
• Theories suggested: Asymmetrical warfare, Iranian or cartel “counter”, possible “idiot card” (bureaucratic error).
• Glenn warns the lack of government transparency is unsustainable: “We cannot operate in this secrecy anymore… At some point we have to know what's going on in our country.” ([55:50])
• Discussion turns to the geopolitical context: Iran/Hezbollah activity at the border, and upcoming diplomatic negotiations.

2. AI: Exponential Change, Internal Whistleblowers, and Glenn’s Ethics

Timestamps: 11:52–23:21, 27:02–41:26

• Glenn details the dramatic resignation letter from a leading Anthropic (AI) safety researcher and another from XAI. They warn that internally, AI is now building, debugging, and coding itself — progress “doubling every few months.”
  • [12:35] Glenn: “[He] watched AI go from assistant to coworker to ‘I describe the outcome and it builds the finished product while I go get coffee’… Finished work better than he and his team are able to do.”
  • AI now independently executes multi-hour, expert-level tasks without human help.
  • OpenAI admits the latest version “used itself” to iterate and improve its own successor.
• White-collar job apocalypse:
  • [14:40] Glenn (quoting Anthropic researcher): “Industry leaders predict 50% of entry level white collar jobs will disappear within 12 months to five years.”
  • [20:13] Glenn: “If your job is reading, writing, analyzing or deciding on a computer, you're in the blast radius of the first year… We're describing what already happened to us.”
• Most of the compute is not public; public is “less than 5%” of internal AI usage.
• Glenn’s warning: The gap between public understanding and current reality is “dangerous.”
• Tristan Harris’ warning (audio clip) on “AI code determinism” and the emotional ego of tech leaders seeking to “replace biological life with digital life.”
  • [27:02] Tristan Harris (clip): “They retreat into determinism, the inevitable replacement of biological life with digital life, and that being a good thing anyways… It’s thrilling to start an exciting fire.”
• Glenn shares his own “AI Ethics Guide” and the internal rules his company follows:
  • AI cannot replace human beings or staff, or content creation. Always verify, never trust unchecked “AI facts.” Full transparency with audience when AI is used.
  • Quote from internal memo: “AI is a tool if we treat it that way, but a monster if we treat it like a God.” ([32:30])
• Urges families and companies to adopt their own written AI ethics guidelines, and warns: “Do not fear the technology. Fear the coder. Fear the base of information.”

3. Behind the Scenes: Did the NFL Try to Sabotage the TPUSA Halftime Show?

Timestamps: 90:49–103:21

• Glenn interviews Jack Posobiec, who helped lead TPUSA’s alternative Super Bowl Halftime Show ("the most watched live-stream in US history outside of India’s lunar landing").
  • The event, inspired by Charlie Kirk, aimed to bring "America’s virtues" back to the center after years of woke, divisive, and "non-family-friendly" NFL halftime shows.
• [95:02] Glenn: “People were saying that's a stupid move… When you have 30 million people online within 24 hours watching it, you've made a real impact. And look out.”
• Did the NFL try to block or sabotage them?
  • [95:26] Posobiec: “I’m not going to say I have an email from Roger Goodell saying 'you shall not do this'… but we know what's going on here.”
  • Describes a web of cancellations, permission revoked by venues and musicians, restrictions on songs/artists at the last minute, triggered by “somewhere back in the office, someone says, No Turning Point USA with Posobiec and Kirk. No.”
  • [96:42] Jack: “There were stuff we wanted to do, artists who wanted to do it, we were told at the last minute you are not permitted… They would've sued us tens of millions.”
  • Notable quote from Kid Rock: “It’s David and Goliath.”
• NFL’s motives: shifting from “middle America/Hank Williams Jr. values” to globalism, seeking to compete with World Cup audiences.
• [100:14] Jack: NFL “furious” at their numbers: "#1 US stream in American history, #2 YouTube stream in the world ever.”
• Glenn’s advice: “Make it bigger next year. If you hurt them on halftime, pregame, and postgame… They can't charge all that money.”
• Accusations that the audience was “paid for” dismissed. YouTube “was monitoring the entire night. They would know if it was fake traffic.”

4. Big Picture: Iran, The Crown Prince, and US Foreign Policy

Timestamps: 111:51–120:00

• Interview with Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi of Iran timed with US-Iran negotiations and regional military maneuvers.
  • [111:51] Reza Pahlavi: “This regime [Iran] never negotiated with the intention to actually come back to the fold… This is just buying time… The best investment is in the people of Iran, not a regime dying of mismanagement and corruption.”
  • Argues for supporting “peacemakers,” not “warmongers.”
• On US military involvement/support:
  • [117:35] Reza Pahlavi: “Only a foreign military intervention that can neutralize the apparatus of repression can equalize the playing field… We're not saying foreign countries should do the revolution for us. We're doing it. But we need your help.”
• Glenn notes the media savvy and strategies used to organize in Iran, even under Internet blocks (“very short videos circulated at specific times…”).
• Broader context: Trump’s Middle East strategy to "keep us out of the Middle East" by uniting Israel, KSA, UAE, Egypt—all have a common adversary: Iran.

5. Hostage Negotiation & American Division: What Savannah Guthrie Can Teach Us

Timestamps: 71:11–80:00

• Glenn analyzes the messaging by Savannah Guthrie during her mother’s kidnapping crisis as a model for addressing hostage takers—and draws a provocative analogy to the current American political crisis.
  • [71:11] Glenn: “She’s appealing to the humanity of these hostage takers… Why does that work? Because humiliation, cornered, is volatility unleashed.”
• FBI’s recommended tactics:
  • Humanize the hostage/captor.
  • Avoid ego threats.
  • Reduce escalation.
  • Signal willingness to engage.
  • Glenn extends this to American political/cultural hostilities, warning that dehumanizing, humiliating, and “absolute” language is unproductive and dangerous.
  • “The end goal is not victory through ruin. The end goal is stability without surrender, strength without escalation, preservation without permanent fracture.”

6. DDoS Attack on glennbeck.com & Torch

Timestamps: 43:06, 86:00, 110:01

• During the show, Beck’s website and Torch subscribers experience a sustained denial-of-service attack.
  • Staff suggests a possible state actor, potentially Iran, targeting them due to the presence of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and ongoing attacks against “the movement.”
  • Glenn: “We must be doing something right. That’s when you’re attacked.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI's job apocalypse:
  • “Within 12 months, 50% of entry level white collar jobs could disappear… What do you think’s going to happen to the economy if that happens?” — Glenn Beck, [14:40]
• On ethical AI:
  • “AI is a tool if we treat it that way, but a monster if we treat it like a God. It has no soul and cannot usurp the birthright of mankind unless we allow it to.” — Glenn Beck (reading internal memo), [32:30]
• On the NFL halftime show controversy:
  • “We were going up against Goliath. I had no idea what would happen… There were so many ways that they can get you, gatekeep you, block you… But we know what's going on here.” — Jack Posobiec, [95:26]
  • “When you have 30 million people online within 24 hours watching it, you've made a real impact. And look out.” — Glenn Beck, [95:02]
• On Iran:
  • “The best investment that world leaders… can have is to invest on the people of Iran and not on a regime that is dying as a result of mismanagement and corruption…” — Reza Pahlavi, [111:51]
  • “We're not saying foreign countries should do the revolution for us. We're doing it. But we need your help.” — Reza Pahlavi, [119:04]
• On American division:
  • “The end goal is not victory through ruin. The end goal is stability without surrender, strength without escalation…” — Glenn Beck, [80:00]

Timeline of Important Segments (Timestamps)

• [11:52] Start of main show content, Glenn lays out breaking news on AI and El Paso airspace closure.
• [18:51] Ricky: FAA lifts airspace closure.
• [27:02] Tristan Harris audio clip on tech elite worldview (“inevitable digital life”).
• [32:30] Glenn reads excerpt from internal AI ethics guide.
• [45:35 / 50:11] Glenn returns to El Paso breaking news, reads official government response.
• [90:49] Interview: Jack Posobiec on TPUSA halftime show and NFL pushback.
• [111:51] Interview: Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi of Iran on the regime, US policy, and support for the people’s uprising.
• [71:11] Glenn analyses hostage negotiation tactics and extends them as a metaphor for America's political climate.

Structure & Flow

• The episode moves between real-time news (“live” updates on El Paso), thematic deep-dives (AI, ethics, threats to jobs, cultural wars), and high-profile interviews (Posobiec, Pahlavi).
• The language is direct, urgent, and at times conspiratorial (e.g., “this has never happened before,” “unprecedented secrecy,” “is the government telling us the truth?”).
• Glenn frequently urges both personal action (“prepare for job disruption,” “write your family’s AI ethics,” “education tools must keep up”) and political mobilization.

Conclusion

This episode encapsulates The Glenn Beck Program’s blend of live radio immediacy, deep skepticism of establishment narratives, and culture war activism. Glenn positions himself—and by extension, his listeners—as outliers receiving, exposing, and preparing for epoch-defining changes in tech, geopolitics, and national culture, while always calling for direct civic engagement, ethical vigilance, and resistance to institutional power. The show closes with a reminder to “not fear the technology, but the coder” and a call for moral clarity in a rapidly destabilizing world.